There was no place to go but up for
Half Cajun in 2010 – but by the time the season ended, owner Adam Caveney watched his franchise put up a tremendous campaign that nearly resulted in his team becoming the first ever in the HCBB to accomplish the feat of going from worst to first. The 2009 plunger winner was coming off a busy off-season, as a series of deals had given Caveney a number of new faces on his roster. The major acquisition had been Mets shortstop Jose Reyes ($36), who was expected to provide the team’s main source of speed, while the returning face-of-the-franchise, Josh Hamilton ($16), was being counted on to rebound from an injury-plagued season and carry the power end of the offense. However, a number of riskier keepers – like Dexter Fowler ($6) and Juan Rivera ($6) – didn’t inspire confidence around the HCBB in the team’s chances of emerging as a contender. But while Fowler (who would be bought out by Caveney before the summer had even warmed up) and to a lesser extent Rivera (who would be nearly out of a job by fall) would disappoint, almost everything else Caveney touched would turn to gold – and
Half Cajun sprinted out of the gates to take command of the HCBB race as the season gained steam. Led by a pitching staff that would set an HCBB record for ERA (at a miniscule 3.08),
Half Cajun would extend their lead all summer long, opening up a double-digit margin over their nearest competitors while looking like the clear favorite to take home the gold. Hamilton would win the AL MVP, ace Felix Hernandez ($39) would nab the AL Cy Young, and youngsters Colby Rasmus (free) and Jason Heyward (free) established themselves as two of the best young players in the game. But just as it looked like the race was over, cracks in the armor of Caveney’s team began to show – an injury to Hamilton and disappointing results from a number of trades foreshadowed the team’s eventual fade, and by the time the final two weeks arrived,
Half Cajun was in a dogfight with three other teams for the championship. On the final weekend, a disastrous performance in batting average – headlined by late pick-up Wilson Betemit (who had joined the team after the shocking release of
Cajun favorite Andruw Jones) – would knock Caveney’s squad out of the lead.
Half Cajun would finish a scant 1.5 points from HCBB immortality in 3rd place in a stunning reversal of what had otherwise been a dominating performance in an unforgettable season.
How does a player who accumulates only 29 at-bats for a team – and who was barely on the roster for more than a couple of weeks – walk away with Ro-Sham-Bo honors for that franchise? The answer is that you need a unique situation – and the case of Wilson Betemit and Half Cajun provided exactly that in 2010. Almost everything had gone right for the franchise in its search for its first HCBB title last year, but the acquisition of Betemit in the waning weeks of the season would prove to be ill-fated. The Kansas City third baseman was supposed to provide offense for a struggling Cajun squad, but instead, he gave Caveney nothing but out after out – hitting a feeble .103 with only 3 hits for his owner. Betemit’s atrocious showing would cost Half Cajun dearly in batting average – points that would eventually cost the team the title.