Oklahoma Thunder

Oklahoma Thunder
Owner: Mark Alexander
       (1st season)
Ballpark: SkyDome
AKA: 

Projected Line-Up

Rotation 
1. J. Lima
2. J. Rosado
3. C. Ho Park
4. M. Portugal
5. B. Anderson/
   B. Boehringer

Closer 
G. Swindell/
R. Rincon

Line-Up
1. H. Bush 2B
2. E. Taubensee C
3. B. Jordan RF
4. T. Helton, 1B
5. T. O'Leary LF
6. K. Caminiti 3B
7. J.D. Drew/ CF
   L. Johnson 
8. M. Caruso SS

Can Park repeat
his awesome
performance of 
last season?

It could be a
breakout season
for the 26 yr
old Lima. 

     A new season and new ownership for the Thunder. The 
team has been moved from Oklahoma to Carolina but kept the 
team name of Thunder. This new team moves to the NL Central 
and has to contend with the Potatoes and the Gnats who swept
the NL Wild Card right out of the grasp of the Thunder last 
season. Can the Thunder make a run at the division? Perhaps
not this year but all signs say this team will be real good,
real fast.

Rotation

     Twin Jose's Lima and Rosado give this rotation a great 
set of arms from which to build, and when Park rediscovers 
his control, the front three will all give opposing hitters 
fits. For this year, however, the bottom three spots are 
likely to give Thunder hitters fits instead.
     Undoubtedly, Lima and Rosado will churn out the wins 
this year. Both are highly effective, professional pitchers 
still on the rise. The durable Lima has excellent control, 
good for a better than 4:1 strikeout/walk ratio. He gives 
up a few longballs, but in the mold of Shane Reynolds and 
Jon Lieber, his control compensates effectively. Rosado is 
more likely to post a 2:1 control ratio, but he keeps the 
hits and homers down. Thunder's top two starters provide 
solid righty/lefty punch.
     Park's control needs to improve, and when it does, he 
can actually move up in the rotation order. This is probably 
not his year, however, so he'll temporarily serve as an 
innings eater for Oklahoma. The 4 and 5 slots, featuring 
some combination of Mark Portugal, Brian Anderson and Brian 
Boehringer, is a weakness for now. Innings eaters all, 
Oklahoma will count on the bullpen to preserve some scraps 
for the offense to pick up. In 2000, Thunder are likely to 
take some knocks from the lower part of the order.

Bullpen

     Swindell, Rincon, Clontz and Telemaco. That's it. 
While a reasonably effective foursome - Swindell and 
Rincon are better than average - there simply isn't 
enough depth here to give Oklahoma much margin for error. 
While Lima and Rosado will be able to ease the burden, 
the weakness of the latter half of the rotation is likely 
to put strain on the Thunder pen. If Thunder hope to 
contend, they'll need to acquire some extra help in this 
area.

Catching

     Taubensee and Reed will split catching duties, with 
Taubensee seeing about 80-85% of the playing time. 
Taubensee is about a .350 OBP hitter, which is good for 
a catcher, and displays good power versus righties. So 
there is some punch at catcher. Reed has poor power, and 
can't hit lefties, but will be an effective backup 10-15% 
of the time against righties. The problem at catcher is 
that defense is a serious negative. Taubensee has a poor 
throwing arm at best, and Reed's is only fair. Opposing 
teams are likely to run at will against these two, and 
this is going to hurt Oklahoma throughout the season.

Infield

     It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 
This Jekyll and Hyde infield is a Hitchcockian version of 
A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens would have approved. The 
infield is a perfectly balanced picture of the strong and 
the weak. On the right side, we have Todd Helton and Homer 
Bush. Helton has displayed ever-increasing power with a 
strong batting eye, which should translate into 30-40 HR 
with strong peripheral numbers, while Bush is looking 
forward to a breakthrough season at about .350 OBP, with 
good speed. Both are solid defensively at their primary 
positions.
     On the other hand, we're looking at Mike Caruso at 
shortstop, and a combination of the aging Ken Caminiti 
and Herb Perry at 3B. Caruso is one of the worst hitters 
in baseball - he likely won't even crack a .300 OBP. His 
defense is average at best, which doesn't make up for the 
negative offensive contribution. Caminiti, while he still 
shows a little pop, is in overall decline, both offensively 
and physically, and will only be able to handle about 60% 
of the 3B duties this season. Herb Perry and Craig Wilson 
will split the remaining time, but have nothing to add to 
the offense.

Outfield

     Outfield is a bright spot for Oklahoma, with Brian 
Jordan, Troy O'Leary, JD Drew and Lance Johnson covering 
the field. While Jordan and O'Leary are each solid if 
unspectacular, JD Drew and Lance Johnson provide a 
curious balance: the former's best years are ahead of 
him, while the latter's are behind. Overall, the picture 
looks average this year, although we like this outfield 
for the future.

 
JD Drew is the future.
Can he be the player he
is expected to be or will
it take him another year 
or two to adjust to major
league pitching?

PRESSURE PLAYER

The success of the team
may lie on what Ken can
do in 2000. He needs to 
be healthy, hit for 
power, avg, and provide 
leadership. Will he be 
up to the task??