[mikev]

The Crusaders Season: Done, Finished, and What Have You

So long, 2009 season.

After being relatively free of the rash of injuries that has plagued the GUBA, the Crusaders were hit hard during the final days of August. Several key players were lost, and with the team being 6.5 games out of first place, any chance of a postseason appearance has faded away.

Leadoff hitter and left fielder Francisco Mendez suffered a fractured wrist on August 21st, shelving him for 3 months. Obviously, his season is over, and now the team just hopes that he doesn't suffer any talent hits while injured. With the team's offense struggling, losing a signifigant level of production at the top of the lineup is an absolute killer.

To make matters worse, center fielder Jose Avila dislocated his finger, landing him on the DL for 2 weeks. Avila had bounced back signifigantly from his horrible July, breaking the .300 mark and knocking 10 extra base hits in the month.

Defensive specialist Tony Leslie was the third, and final, blow to the starting lineup. A dislocated finger meant 2 weeks of sitting, taking out one of the better defensive shortstops in the league.

As stated before: our hopes of making the playoffs are, yet again, crushed. The team has underperformed yet again (-3 pythag) and is going to need to be reloaded, with probably holes at shortstop, possibly a corner outfield spot, and third base to be addressed in the offseason. The team is still negotiating with incumbent 3B Pedro Cruz, but his desire to nearly double his current salary is pretty signifigantly more than the team has been willing to spend so far.

With not much on the horizon in the way of upcoming free agents, Cruz still looks to be the team's best option. Team officials are hopeful that his salary demands will become more reasonable.