To Rebuild, or Not to Rebuild ... That Is the Loggers' Dilemma

After another sub-.500 season, the Loggers look like they should pull the plug on this roster and start over. 

But with the prospects of batting Big Dumper second and seeing him smack 60 home runs, a bounce-back year by Pete Alonso, and the ascension of all-stars Julio Rodriguez and Brice Turang, maybe the Loggers roll out this lineup just one more time in the Sunrise Baseball Association. 

On the eve of APBA Go releasing the 2025 season cards, it's hard not to be optimistic about the Loggers' starting lineup, which could look something like this:

1-Brice Turang, 2b -- 0-0-0-11-7 4-14's

2-Cal Raleigh, c -- 1-1-1-0-0 4-14's

3-Bryce Harper, 1b -- 1-0-0-0-10 4-14's

4-Julio Rodriguez, cf -- 1-0-0-0-11 2-14's 42

5-Pete Alonso, dh -- 1-1-6-6 3-14's 42

6-Brandon Nimmo, lf -- 1-5-6-7-10-10 3-14's

7-Sal Frelick, rf -- 0-0-0-11-7 3-14's

8-J.P. Crawford, ss -- 0-0-7-7-10 4-14's

9-Nolan Arenado, 3b -- 0-0-0-7 2-14's

With the exception of Arenado, the long-time Loggers stalwart who is now past his prime, the rest of the lineup is solid. This team is going to score some runs, along with playing some Gold Glove-caliber defense.  

The pitching on the other hand ... 

They have Drew Rasmussen (BYZ-31 starts) and Michael King (BY-15 starts) and ... ???

The bullpen at least begins with Josh Hader (AXY), Danny Coulombe (BY) and Jose Butto (BYW). 

That's something, and nobody else in the SBA has all that much pitching either going into this year's free-agent draft in February. 

So that begs the question, is this team potentially better than last year? 

It can't be worse, considering the Loggers went 75-87 this year and 74-88 the year before. and 74-88 the year before that. The last winning season was 2022, when the Loggers went 91-72, including winning a walkoff tiebreaker playoff game. That team scored 780 runs, compared to only 675 this past year. 

On the pitching side, this year's team allowed 675 runs (so with better luck and few favorable dice rolls they could have finished as well as 81-81)! The 2022 squad allowed only 632 runs -- not completely dominant compared to the current squad. 

The Loggers have the fifth overall draft pick, so the potential to get a strong BZ or better starting pitcher with 25-30 starts, or a stud prospect or a third-baseman with some potential to take over for Arenado.

Unlike real life, I don't have to worry about anyone playing out their last contract/arbitration year or exceeding some absentee owner's spending limit. Perhaps most important, his team is build largely around players from my two favorite teams, the Mariners and the Brewers, so I'm not looking to trade Cal, Julio, Turang or Crawford. And why would I trade Alonso or Harper after another stellar campaign? 

As painful as this last losing season was ... it could be worse, right? There's certainly optimism moving forward, and who knows, maybe the Big Dumpter pays even bigger dividends. 

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Bryce Harper easily was the Loggers MVP for 2025. He batted .264/.348/.534, scoring 97 runs, driving in 95 and smashing 36 HR's. 

As a team, the Loggers hit 236 home runs, including 39 by Anthony Santander, 36 by Alonso and 29 by Raleigh. Turang led the team in stolen bases with 50. After being acquired early in the season, Rodriguez scored 51 runs, drove in 51, hit 12 HR's and stole 19 bases. 

Overall, however, the team batted .220/.294/.408 -- clearly, getting on base and scoring runs was a problem. Here's a link to the overall team stats. 

On the pitching side, Zach Eflin went 12-6; Garrit Cole was 9-6; and Albert Suarez had a record of 9-8. Bryce Miller won 10 games, but he lost 16, while Michael King was 8-15. The team ERA was 3.89, so not terrible. Relievers pitched to an ERA of 3.59 with 31 saves (Coulombe had 13; Derek Law chipped in 8).  

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