Many Go; Few Understand

The Mad Platooner, Mark Shapiro, is at it again, signing David Dellucci to a three year deal to platoon with Jason "My Bat Is Weary" Michaels for the upcoming 2007 campaign. Yes, the man who gave Indians' fans the tender Alex Cora/Jose Hernandez experiment is back, shooting for a Broussard/Perez success story in left field. A Michaels/Dellucci platoon would probably put up about an .875 OPS, which is a great deal production that Michaels put up last year. That translates to about eight Win Shares Above Bench, which is about nine WSAB better than left field last year.

Couple that with the improvement at second base with Josh LaRoy Barfield (6 WSAB in 2006) over the cast of misfits that shouldn't be allowed in a Rudolph X-Mas Special (+1 WSAB), and Shapiro's recent additions should net the Trine almost five wins from last year. Not a shabby start, but the bullpen is still a mess, and Paul Byrd is still in the rotation. Until those problems are rectified, all Shapiro is doing is putting nitrous oxide on a go-cart.