[MAW] 2020/2021 Offseason Notebook #1

The Champs Change it Up

Teams that win back-to-back championships usually do not drop two of their key players, especially not less than one week after winning title number two. That is exactly what ERL did, however, in the wake of their win at the 2020 Mid Atlantic Championship Tournament in September.

In these situations - one where a successful team moves on from key players rather than the other way around - it is tempting to assume that a personality clash drove the change. The story here, however, is much more benign and amounts to little more than crossed signals. Operating under the assumption that both Devin Torres and Jordan Robles were definitively moving on in 2021, ERL captain Connor Young acted quickly to shore up his 2021 roster. He re-acquired Johnny Costa and Dan Whitener - both of whom were briefly members of ERL in 2019 - to make up for the anticipated departures of Robles and Torres. As it turned out, Torres and Robles did not necessarily have both feet out the door as assumed, but by that point the additions of Costa and Whitener were a done deal which shut the door on either player returning. All sides report that despite the confusion, the split was ultimately an amicable one.

Dan Whitener is rejoining ERL for the 2021 Mid Atlantic season. (September 26, 2020)

If their offseason moves stopped there, a roster of Young, Whitener, Costa, and Kenny Rodgers Jr. would have made ERL one of the odds-on favorites for the 2021 season. But they were not done yet. ERL put an exclamation point on its offseason by adding Ryan “Teddy” Drecher in early November.

Although a Teddy/ERL pairing looks like a strange fit at first glance, it is a sensible move for both player and team. Without Drecher, the 2021 ERL roster was likely one pitcher short of ideal. It would have been difficult to put together a successful tournament season with a pitching rotation of Connor, Johnny, and Dan without overusing anyone. A best-case scenario in that situation likely amounts to Connor handling two to three pool play games, Costa pitching two games to bridge the gap, and Whitener being saved for the semi’s and finals. That plan would have left little room for error. In the likely event one of those three were unavailable for a tournament, they would have been very short-handed.

In Teddy, ERL has another arm that they can trust in either pool play or early elimination round games. The acquisition could move Costa to more of a “if needed/one game per tournament” role, which is a great weapon for any team to have in their back pocket. Teddy should also benefit from a diminished workload. Although still relatively young, he has run up a lot of mileage on his right arm over the past three years. It is hard to see Teddy being asked to throw more than three games at any tournament where ERL has all their pitchers available. The potential to save some bullets cancels out the fact that Teddy will go from team ace to somewhere in the middle of the pitching depth chart by moving from the Shortballs to ERL.

There is no replacing Devin Torres or Jordan Robles, but there is also no sense in denying that the 2021 ERL is still very well positioned to threepeat, even without that pair of star players. It is a different look ERL for sure, but one that has all the ingredients necessary to win a third straight Mid Atlantic title.

Four Aces

Around the same time the 2020 champions were finalizing their 2021 roster, a new 2021 Mid Atlantic franchise emerged. As announced on October 2nd, the Four Aces, comprised of MAW mainstays Dennis Donegan, Cam Farro, Zane Johnston, Gino Joseph, Jack Liberio, and Noah Silverman, are scheduled to debut next spring.

The sheer talent on that roster is undeniable. As the team name heavily implies, the Four Aces believe they have four upper tier pitchers between Farro, Johnston, Joseph, and Silverman. Donegan and Liberio took significant steps in the right direction at the plate in 2020 and if those two can find more consistency, that Four Aces roster will have a lot of options on both sides of the ball.

And therein might lie the one weakness of an otherwise strong-looking roster. So much talent on a roster is never an outright bad thing, but we have seen in recent years in MAW how that could become a burden. The most obvious example is the 2019 Juggernauts. Like the Four Aces, the Juggernauts formed relatively early in the 2018/2019 offseason and maxed out their six-person roster immediately. Given how each player performed in 2018, a roster of Red, the McElraths, Dan Potter, Adam Milsted, and Ben Stant looked like a monster on paper. Instead, the team struggled early, were left with zero roster flexibility, and found it increasingly difficult to find adequate playing time for everyone. That does not mean the Four Aces are destined to face those same issues, but it might be a challenge to find consistent innings and at bats for everyone throughout the spring and summer.

After one year with the Longballs, Cam Farro is departing to join the upstart Four Aces. (June 27, 2020)

From a pitching perspective, it will be interesting to see whether the Aces go with the hot-hand approach or more of a pre-determined rotation in the bulk of their tournaments. The former is a proven successful fast pitch Wiffle®Ball strategy, but it also means potentially going a full tournament with two or even three of the four pitchers not throwing a single pitch. With the latter, the risk is in losing a game with a fresh pitcher who just does not have it on that day instead of riding the pitcher that has already proven he does. There is no right answer and like the 2019 Juggernauts, the Four Aces will have the challenge of finding that right balance. Similar challenges await on the offensive side, where the team will have to weigh the cost/benefit involved in batting five or sitting players.

Of course, some of these worries could prove to be moot. No roster is final-final this early in the offseason and the Aces’ roster specifically is still in a state of flux.

Here and There

• What’s next for Robles?: Since parting ways with ERL, Jordan Robles has been rather quiet concerning his 2021 plans. The four-time Mid Atlantic champion is in no rush to make any public announcements but that does not mean he has sat on his hands since the season ended. Robles is expected to captain a new MAW franchise in 2021, with some big names being floated about. An official announcement on the new team, however, may wait until early in the next year.

• Torres and Stengel back together?: Jordan’s former ERL teammate Devin Torres has been equally tight-lipped on his 2021 landing spot. The belief in the ERL camp at the end of the 2020 season was that Devin planned to strike out on his own and build around a core of himself and longtime Palisades Diamondbacks teammate, Kenny Stengel. That direction still feels like the most obvious one for Torres, although the free agent route should not be completely ruled out.

•  Heeeeyyyy Skip!: If Chris Scipione plays in Mid Atlantic next season, it will likely be as a member of the York Yaks. Skip played with Way Too Beautiful at United Wiffle®Ball in October. That gives him an obvious connection to the team, given that W2B captain Adam Milsted is a tenured member of the Yaks in MAW. The two sides are said to be deep into discussions to make that a reality.

•  Jonkman set to debut: The New York Meats have held the Mid Atlantic rights to two-time NWLA Player of the Year, Caleb Jonkman, since 2019. Despite plans for him to debut in both 2019 and 2020, however, Jonkman has yet to participate in a MAW tournament. That may finally change next year. Earlier this fall, Jonkman posted on his personal Twitter account that he is committed to being a “key part” of the Meats’ roster in 2021. Jonkman got his first taste of the legal ball alteration/no base running style at the United Wiffle®Ball NCT in October. He went 1-2 during the tournament as the pitcher of record, with one of those losses coming at the hands of the Meats.

• Campanile on his own: When the Shortballs franchise dissolved, it appeared that Teddy Drecher and Frankie Campanile would be a package deal for any team that wanted one of the players. That of course ended up not being the case as Drecher latched on with ERL and Campanile remains on the open market. Frankie could be of value to many different teams looking to add or start from scratch in 2021. He had his best year at the plate in 2020 (.204/.241/.407 with 3 HR’s in 48 plate appearances) and finished tied for 3rd in homeruns in Ridley Park this past summer with four. At the very least, Campanile is likely to bring an experienced bat with nice power to any interested teams. He did not pitch in MAW at all this past year due to an elbow injury (he did throw some in RPWL). Frankie has not entirely ruled out being able to pitch in 2021, but it will depend on the health of his arm. Campanile was one of the hardest working and best pitchers in the entire sport just two years ago.

Even if he cannot pitch in 2021, Frankie Campanile is still a good pick up for any team looking to add. (September 12, 2020)

• Nate Smith’s stock rises: Another former Shortball still weighing his options is Nate Smith. Smith was an attractive free agent from the start, but his stock improved greatly after the United Wiffle® National Championship. As a member of the Cheeseballs, Nate shut down both the Juggernauts and Sueno on his way to winning the Saturday MVP award. He pitched admirably versus C4 early in the morning on Sunday, but ultimately came up short against the defending three-time champions. Nate is a solid hitter as well, which makes him an interesting option for any team hoping to improve on both sides of the ball with a single player addition.

Jimmy Flynn - shown here playing with the Cheeseballs last July - is on the free agent market. (July 25, 2020)

• The Rest: In other Free Agent news, Jimmy Flynn has expressed interest in latching on with a team for the 2021 season. Jimmy led High Cheese with a 1.264 OPS in their lone MAW tournament of 2020 . . . The York Yaks are likely to field a pair of teams next year, with an “A” and “B” squad . . . After scuffling to a 1-3 finish at the United Wiffle®Ball NCT in October, Chaos plans to enter some MAW tournaments next year to pick up additional fast pitch reps. The Massachusetts based squad is hoping to add a free agent or two before then . . . Who - or what - exactly is this mysterious Voodoo Wiffle? Your guess is as good as mine, but we will apparently find out on New Year’s Day.