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2010 Roll the Bones Team Capsule |
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| 11th PLACE - 71.5 PTS
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 With one of the best keeper bases of any team entering the 2010 draft, optimism was high in Roll the Bones camp. Studs Ryan Howard, Matt Kemp, Grady Sizemore and off-season acquisition Cliff Lee were expected to carry the club, with Corey Hart, Franklin Gutierrez, Chris Davis and Chad Qualls supporting as well. Owners Joe Mato and Daniel Elkins bolstered the team with draft day purchases Adrian Beltre, Zack Greinke, Carlos Marmol, Michael Young and Conor Jackson, and the team was looking good out of the gate, standing in 2nd place in the middle of April. From that point on, it was all downhill as three players completely derailed Roll the Bones’ season. Sizemore struggled with a bum knee until finally giving up the ghost and having season-ending surgery. Qualls lost his role as closer by the middle of June before a deadline deal to Tampa Bay, posting a horrendous 7.79 ERA and a WHIP approaching 2.00. And Davis was so bad that by the end of April, he found himself in AAA Oklahoma City, but still locked in the Bones active roster. As if that triumvirate of doom was not enough, others failed to contribute up to expectations as well. Jackson struggled with injury all year and even when healthy, he was average at best. Greinke was good, but not great and surely did not come close to earning his $30 draft day price. And Even though the Bones got great production out of Howard, Hart, Beltre, Lee and Marmol, it was not enough to overcome three of the worst keepers in the league along with a handful of other shoddy performances. The Bones bottomed out at 14th place at the All-Star break before inching their way back to respectability by the end of the season and their second straight 11th place finish. |
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| TEAM MVP - CLIFF LEE |
When Mato and Elkins traded away a somewhat disappointing B.J. Upton in the off-season for Lee, they were hoping to land an ace pitcher who could carry their rotation. Things did not start out well, as Lee suffered a strained abdominal muscle in spring training and missed the first month of the season, and it started to look as if the Bones had ruined another career. However, Lee bounced back and put together 13 scintillating starts in Seattle (8 wins, 2.34 ERA, 0.945 WHIP) before a trade to division-leader Texas in early July had the Bones even more optimistic for the stretch run. Although Lee was not nearly as successful in Texas as he was in Seattle, most of it was due to bad luck and his stats at the end of the year were still good enough to make him Roll the Bones MVP for 2010.
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| TEAM RO-SHAM-BO - GRADY SIZEMORE |
 For Sizemore and Roll the Bones, 2010 would bring the end to a six-year run, as he entered the final year of a long contract. The Bones were no doubt expecting great things from the face of their franchise, considering at 27, he was entering the prime of his career. He had put up outstanding numbers the previous five years, averaging 28 homers, 85 RBIs, 117 runs, 28 stolen bases and a .276 average over that time period, and was a three-time team MVP. Unfortunately for the Bones, those numbers would be a pipe dream in 2010, as Sizemore struggled out of the gate and got progressively worse. By the middle of May, his numbers were approaching horrendous – ZERO home runs, 13 RBIs, 15 runs, 4 steals and an embarrassing .211 average. At that point it was announced that the 27-year old Indians’ star would have season-ending microfracture surgery on his apparently 77-year old arthritic knee, ending any hopes that Roll the Bones would have of finishing near the top of the standings and lengthening their streak of killing careers of star players.
Grady Sizemore sure aged quickly in 2010, leading to an arthritic knee and a Ro Sham Bo award. |
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| OUTLOOK FOR 2011 |
With two expiring contracts and only one reup available, the Bones got busy in the off-season and traded away Howard for Dan Uggla ($26), filling a need in the middle infield. The Bones will use their reup on Kemp ($21) and will be hoping for a rebound from his substandard 2010 season. In addition, they’ll have a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter in Shawn Marcum ($9) and late season free agent acquisition Craig Kimbrel ($6) should be in the mix for saves in Atlanta. But the Bones 2011 hopes ride largely on their stable of free keepers. Speedster Jose Tabata should be a cheap source of speed and starters Wade Davis and Kyle Drabek will be expected to anchor the back end of Roll the Bones rotation. As long as the Bones have a good draft and if their keepers can avoid being the worst keepers in the league, they should be able to contend for a money finish in 2011.
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