Turn Around, Bright Eyes: 2015 Shapecity Preview
Every now and then
I get a little bit nervous
That the best of all the years have gone by
These are lean times. Shape began play in the Defectors with the 2002 season. Everything else no one can be completely sure of, what with the Great Fire of '03, Brook's trusty 256 MB external hard drive succumbing to Avian Flu in South Korea and more web hosts than Farrah Abraham has sex tapes. But if we had to guesstimate we'd peg him for one or none playoff appearances from then through the end of the aughts. As far as I can remember, not much in the way of shrewd nor taken-behind-the-woodshed moves occurred. There was that year featuring an accident (car? skiing? tummysticks?) right before the draft that left the minors with a glut of dudes named 'Void' (isn't that Angelina's dad?) and a dearth of honest-to-goodness quality.
Every now and then I fall apart
17th in 2011. 16th in 2012. Salad days these were not.
I get a little bit restless
And I dream of something wild
Addition by subtraction? It sounds too simple. Too quaint. But no team (save the supernova that will forever be the 2013 LongBallers) has turned the melting down into soap of the brothers Chin into fantasy gold as quick as the Shapecity Shapecitizens.
The same year that LongBallers came and died for our sins, Shape made his first playoff appearance in...probably a very long time. Possibly forever. He followed this up by (barely) holding on down the stretch last fall to claim his first-ever division title and advancing to the semifinals to boot.
Big League Chew
In addition to repackaging the leftover copper wiring from Massive Dynamic and Wolfram & Hart, Attorneys at Law's old main office on Spring Street, Shape is aggressive in free agency. Never being satisfied has fleshed out and strengthened this lineup. Limited to 109 games last season, Paul Goldschmidt still made the All-Star team, clubbed 19 HR, 69 RBI, a .300/.396/.523 triple slash and a not-too-shabby .904 OPS and 145 OPS+. Forget about the other 24 guys on that roster (except for Tuffy Gosewich; please continue to remember that he exists and will start at catcher on most nights), Goldy is gonna get his. When you see him ahead of Miggy in 1B rankings across the internet and no one pens the journalist's version of collapsing on a fainting couch as a clutch of pearls bounces across the pinewood floor you know dude can play. Yadier Molina, even with his advancing age and last season's injury and struggles, is above average at his position. Neil Walker was more than solid at 2B in 2014 and should hit in the middle of a strong Pirates lineup. Charlie Blackmon has a chance to shut up all the doubters who think last year was a Coors-boosted mirage.
Fernando Rodney and Huston Street combined for 89 saves and around 880 points last season. The Mariners should be very good (and can never seem to win by more than 1 or 2) in '15 and Rodney will again threaten 50. Street, not getting extended because J-Ham won't be suspended, is a good regression candidate. He's alternated good and bad seasons since 2011. Danny Duffy seems to have no lingering issues after late-season shoulder inflammation and up-and-down postseason appearances out of the Royals 'pen, perhaps caused by a stress reaction in his ribcage. He will look to improve upon his 2.53 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 6.8 SO/9 in 149+ IP. Michael Wacha moves further away from his enchanted 2013 playoff run with each passing day but this also likely means he's heading in the right direction in terms of shoulder health. Lance Lynn seems not to get enough credit for his results but Shape won't complain about the 48 wins over the past three seasons, 200+ IP each of the past two seasons and a SO/9 still above 8 (well, at 8). You know what you're getting with him, and it's pretty darn good.
E-I-E-I-O
This farm system operates more as a halfway house for useful and semi-useful major league vets. There are some young faces in the crowd, and some of those faces are attached to skilled arms and legs. Addison Russell is a stud. Theo Epstein must've had a 2-week priapism after prying AR away from Billy Beane. As legit an infield prospect as there is once you acknowledge that Kris Bryant is his own ecosystem. Nick Tropeano did, then didn't, then did again, make it to the safe shores of AAA-Shape Lake. Phil Bickford said 'thanks but no thanks, eh' after being selected 10th overall by Toronto in 2013. He's now "attending" College of Southern Nevada in order to be draft eligible this summer. He hopes to be taken in the first round again and join fellow Coyote "alum" Bryce Harper in the bigs. Max Fried got a lot of west coast area scouts wet as he marched through Harvard-Westlake opponents before going 7th overall to the Padres. Tommy John surgery (so hot right now, Tommy John surgery) wiped out nearly all of 2014 but the future is probably still very bright for the young lefthander. At least, Atlanta's front office sure hopes so.
(Aside time: we've shared this league since 2006 and I've never asked: what is the creation myth of the name? I've come across a small assortment of Shapecity logos on the internet in my quest to, ahem, borrow images for the myriad DFB league sites. The answer, however, proves elusive.)
Juan Lagares is the Mets starting centerfielder and has a good chance to bat leadoff for a lineup with the potential to be decent. Billy Burns steals bases like the Krampus steals naughty children. If for some reason Addison Russell finds himself in Wrigley Field (bring your hard hat!) he could mash.
Prediction
And if you only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
'Cause we'll never be wrong
Shape has stepped up one rung of the ladder each year since Los Hermanos Chinos (their given name just works too perfectly in this Breaking Bad reference; Seriously, I'm not being racist) closed down. Does that mean he's destined to wake up in the Defectors Cup on the morning of September 23rd? Not necessarily. Shup advanced to the quarters, semis and finals from 2011-2013 before being bounced in the first round last year. Additionally, the presence of Shup and Pess means another division title might be unlikely. However, firmly sliding into one of the last two wild card spots seems more doable. He'll push 90 wins and make it a third consecutive trip to the second season.
