Cabo 2016 Lineup, Chasing Best TML Offensive Season Ever

Though we are only in our 5th season of the ABL, the 2016 Cabo San Lucas lineup projects to be one of the best offensive teams the TML has seen over that time.  The top scoring team is the 2014 Las Vegas Jokers club who scored 946 runs, who hit .291 for the season and led by stars Colin St. John, Phillip Smith, Troy Tracey and Juan Ramirez.  The 3rd highest scoring TML team also played in 2014, and that was this team from Cabo who scored 28 fewer runs.  The 2012 Las Vegas Jokers are the only other TML club to put up more than 910 runs in a single season.

That brings us to 2016 where we sit nearly 70% into the season and two teams are on pace to put them in the company of these offensive powerhouses.  No surprise these two teams are the Toreros and Jokers. This article will just focus on Cabo San Lucas, but the teams offensive output is very similar.  

Cabo San Lucas's lineup features a vast array of talent ranging from veterans, glue guys, 2nd year players to producing rookies.  The lineup features a former MVP, former ROY, former batting champion and former league leader in VORP......and those are all different players.

As a higher percentage of games has been played against RHP, let's sift through the lineup:

1. CF Takanibu Kobayashi.  Former 1st round pick, 2012 first-year player draft.  At 26 years old, this 2nd year player has elite speed and is one of the best CF in the game.  Prototypical leadoff man.  Little power, above average eye, great contact and great gap power.  He is hitting .303 on the year, stolen 26 bases, on pace for 61 doubles and only seems to be getting better as the season progresses.

2. LF Dave Carlisle.  Carlisle was the 1st player ever to don a Cabo jersey, as he was their 1st pick in the inaugural ABL draft.  At 31 he is the elder statesmen of the Torero bats.  A rash of injuries has kept him off the field over the last 5 years and this season has been no different as he missed nearly a month.  While his game overall seems to have taken a step a step back, he is still an offensive weapon.  Hitting .313/.394 and on pace for 42 doubles he is a great compliment to Kobayashi as table setters at the front of the lineup.

3. DH Dan Smith.  Like Carlisle, Smith was also drafted in the inaugural draft (Round 5) and is also 31 years old.  Smith has been a model of consistency in his 4 years in a Torero uniform, averaging 48 2B, 27 HR, and 125 RBI per year.  He led the TML in VORP in 2012 with 75.0, but waited until this year to have his best season to date.  He leads the league in batting and RBI while on pace for 36 HR and a career best 142 RBI.   Consistent? Boring? Whatever you want to call him, he gets the job done.

4. 1B Hideyori Kiyomizu.  A gift.  Kiyo was drafted in the 5th round of the 2012 first year player draft despite his potential.  He was 24 at the time of the draft, and even though he dominated Nippon Baseball College League, he still fell in the draft.  He dominated AA and held his own in AAA his rookie season.  In his 2nd season he improved and was called and hit .372 in 58 games.  Last season in his first full season he burst onto the scene and won the league's MVP award with a .349/.444/.613 line, leading the league in HR with 44.  He has shown a mild sophmore slump, which for most players are career numbers.  On pace for 40 HR and a VORP of 82.  Best 3-4 combo in the TML?  

5. RF Hubert Morris.  25 year old former 1st round pick of the 2013 first-year player draft.  Combination of contact and power make him a great up and comer.  Has always hit well in the minors outside of his 1st year.  Finally showed his power potential this season with 14 HR in 137 AB in AAA.  He has been on the big league club for 62 games, hitting 14 HR, 45 RBI, hitting .283/.389/.537.  Great addition to the big bats.  His downside is defense.

6. 2B/SS Bill Conway.  25 year old who came over from Mile High in 2015.  Thought to be a stop gap when acquired, all Conway has done in the past 2 seasons is produce.  Last season h hit .298. 46 XBH on way to 40.9 VORP.  This season, while he isn't taking as many walks, has hit for more power and is on pace for another 40+ VORP season.  Currently is struggling making the in-season transition from SS to 2B.

7. C Bredon Palmer.  The one true weakness in the Cabo lineup.  After Carlos Martinez completely fell off defensively and offensively, Palmer was deemed the starter.  Signed as a FA before the 2014 season as a backup, he has big power and that's about it, though he does a decent eye.  7 HR in 77 AB looked promising last year, but only has 2 in 81 AB this year and anything out of him would be a plus.  Hitting 7th to help break up the left handed bats.

8.  SS Milliard Pearce. The jewel of the same trade that brought over Conway.  23 year old rookie with above average defense, a hawk eye and above average tools all over the board.  Killed AAA this year.  Has only played 14 games with the big league club, has 9 XBH and is hitting .353/.400/.667.  Could be among the best SS in the league within a few years.  Very good up and comer.

9.  3B Chad Peck.  73rd round pick in the inagural draft by Jacksonville.  Was released by JAX, signed and released by LA before he even had 100 career AB.  Struggled to fight his way through the minors, was called up out of necessity in 2014 because of injury.  Showed flashes of being a regular average player last year and the beginning of this year.  Has shown he cane be an asset lately though.  Hitting .310/.370/.461.  Added 21 2B, 10 HR while driving in 53 in 98 games.  Plays above average defense.  Not bad to have in your 9 hole.

Bench:

C Qi-Chao Ya.  Was just recently called up. Drafted in the 4th round of the 2012 first year player draft.  Shows above average power but other than that pretty average skills, looks to be a solid backup.

SS: Bret Garrison.  29 years old, 28th round pick in the inaugural draft. Do it all utility man with plus plus speed.  Sees most of his time in late inning defensive replacement situations and pinch run duty.

LF Ed Shannon.  Waiver wire pick up last season.  Used speed and power to accumulate 20 2B, 28 HR and 22 SB in 444 AB last season.  Has been dreadful in limited time this year.  4 for 39.  Plays good defense and is a late inning defensive replacement often.

RF Raymond Moor.  Cheap FA find for Cabo.  Won ROY in 2014 hitting 23 HR.  Followed up last season with 30 HR and 90 RBI.  Has struggled with the bat this year, but does get the start against LHP.  Is the only player on the bench with knowledge of CF.  Power off the bench is always helpful.

There you have the current 2016 Cabo San Lucas Toreros.  Will the make a run at the 2014 Las Vegas offense?  Is this team good enough to actually win something in the playoffs?  Will the offense disappear in the postseason?  Will the pitching be good enough? Has it even been good enough?  Only time will tell.  

2012 Banner Year for Cabo San Lucas

After an 88 win season but finishing a couple games out of the mix for the WC, the Toreros of Cabo San Lucas new it was a lost season.  They just had too many injuries.  The OF was decimated.  Major injuries to 4 starting pitchers.  A long injury to their 1st overall pick Dave Carlisle.  The used 11 different players in the OF over the course of the season.  The season could have been worse, but it could have been so much better.  They had a great core of players, with the majority of the team coming back they knew 2016 could be special.

What started with an 18-9 record in April, finished with an overall record of 94-68 and a division title.  The injuries came, but weren't nearly as severe or often.  The addition of slugger Kieran Simmons payed major dividends.  All around great hitting, above average pitching, the Toreros finished with the #1 seed in the TML and the 2nd best record in baseball behind only the Seattle Sasquatch.  

Hitter of the Year

Dave Carlisle

This was a tough decision.  With 3 players amassing 50+ VORP, offense was clicking this year in Cabo.  But the Hitter of the Year for Cabo this year  goes to CF Dave Carlisle.  Carlisle was the team's first overall selection in the inaugural draft and after being limited to only 83 games due to injury last year, he showed the league what he was capable of this year.  He led the TML in batting average hitting at a .365 clip, while amassing 103 walks for an astounding .469 OBP.  He hit 46 doubles, scored 119 runs, piling up 7.3 WAR and 73.5 VORP which both lead the team. His WAR was only 2nd in the TML to Mike Burgeron of Eureka.  Carlisle added 18 SB, and proved he is a premier leadoff man and table setter in the ABL.

Runner Up:

Dan Smith 

For the 2nd straight Dan Smith put up a very strong campaign hitting out of the 3 hole in the Cabo lineup. While his average and power were down from last season, he finished very strong with 20 HR, 131 RBI and a triple slash of .326/.375/.518.  He had his 2nd straight 200 hit season and lead the TML in doubles with 56.  His 131 RBI also led the league.  The VORP of 52.7 he finished with was 2nd on the team only behind Carlisle.

Pitcher of the Year

Charles Luce

In 34 starts Charles Luce produced a record of 16-10 while leading all starters on the Toreros with a 3.12 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP.  In 219 IP, Luce struck out 173 batters and produced an ERA+ of 144 which far surpassed the 110 he put up last year in 21 starts.  In the offseason Luce signed a 4 year extensions which will most likely keep him throughout the rest of his career.  

Runner Up:

Wilfred Brooks

Brooks became the first Torero pitcher to record 20+ wins winning 21 this year and finished only behind Maurice Gould in that category.  His ERA was 2nd on the team only to Luce, ending with 3.62. which was nearly .75 points lower than a season ago.  He struck out 195 batters in 236.1 innings and had an ERA+ of 124.  With Luce and Brooks going strong Cabo has a chance against any team in the ABL.

Newcomer of the Year

Kieran Simmons

With not too many players to choose from this was an obvious choice.  After a horrid start to the season in San Fransisco, the Earthquakes placed Simmons on waivers in mid May.  Cabo put in a claim and was award Simmons on May 13th. Simmons had a great last season hitting 36 HR, 123 RBI while hitting .300.  His numbers in first month and a half were nothing close to that.  Part of the reason for being waived was the contract Simmons carried.  Last season he signed a 5 year deal worth $25 million dollars that Cabo would now be responsible for.  Simmons came out of the gate hot for Cabo hitting .343 in May with 5 HR.  That would be his best month but finished the season with 26 HR, 98 RBI and hit .283 in 123 games with Cabo.  Simmons gave Cabo the RH power bat they were looking for and a perfect compliment to the left handed hitting Smith.

Rookie of the Year

Pepe Lopez

It's not often you see a 33 year old get a Rookie of the Year award in any sport, but that's just what we have here with SP Pepe Lopez.  He entered into the ABL this year from Cuba and was signed by Cabo before the season on a 4 year $16 million dollar contract.  He was the #4 starter on opening day and would hold that position until late in the season when he would get injured with a foot injury.  In his rookie year, he started 28 games, going 11-6 posting a respectable ERA of 4.2 in 165 innings.  He won 2 starts in every month except August and was a valuable commodity, especially when Edward Griffith went down with a season ending injury in May.  

As a team Cabo finished 1st in the league in many batting categories including batting average (.289), OBP (.354), OPS  (.786), Runs (867) and K's (811).

On the pitching end of things while they were 5th in ERA, their starters finished 3rd (4.08), 2nd in HR allowed and 2nd in walks.  

The stats and regular season show success but we start a new season now.  Cabo will start a 7 game playoff series with the Eureka Hornets with Cabo getting home field advantage.