Season review: Pickle Bugs

Pickle Bugs

Owner: Jon Bullock

Points, placing: 4067 points, 9th place

Drafted team: 1B Lance Berkman; 2B Kaz Matsui; SS Jimmy Rollins; 3B Chipper Jones; C Russell Martin; OF Corey Hart; OF Jay Bruce; OF Lastings Milledge; SP Brett Myers; SP Johnny Cueto; SP Chris Carpenter; SP Oliver Perez; RP Matt Capps. Bench: Kenshin Kawakami, Casey Blake, John Lannan

Players added (18): OF Daniel Murphy (W2), 2B Mike Fontenot (W2), SP Jeff Karstens (W4), SP Todd Wellemeyer (W5), SP Barry Zito (W5), OF Dexter Fowler (W5), SP Livan Hernandez (W9), SP Tommy Hanson (W10), OF Chris Young (W11), OF Mark DeRosa (W13), RP Trevor Hoffman (W14), 1B Todd Helton (W17), 2B Martin Prado (W17), OF Lastings Milledge (W18), 2B Casey McGehee (W21), OF Angel Pagan (W21), 3B Juan Uribe (W23), SP Tom Gorzelanny (W25)

Players dumped (17): SP John Lannan (W2), 3B Casey Blake (W4), OF Lastings Milledge (W5), SP Jeff Karstens (W5), SP Kenshin Kawakami (W5), SP Todd Wellemeyer (W7), SP Livan Hernandez (W11), OF Daniel Murphy (W12), 2B Mike Fontenot (W13), RP Matt Capps (W14), OF Chris Young (W20-x), SP Oliver Perez (W22-x), SP Martin Prado (W24), 2B Kaz Matsui (W24), RP Brett Myers (W24), OF Dexter Fowler (W25), OF Lasting Milledge (W25)

x-players released with season-ending injury

Players on DL: SP Chris Carpenter (W3-6), SP Oliver Perez (W6-14), 2B Kaz Matsui (W8-11), SP Brett Myers (W9-23), OF Jay Bruce (W14-24), OF Mark DeRosa (W15), 1B Lance Berkman (W17-18), OF Corey Hart (W18-23), OF Dexter Fowler (W21-23), SP Johnny Cueto (W21)

Time lost by players on DL: 69 weeks

Points-ranking by position: 1B-347/8; 2B-300/8; SS-422/2; 3B-308/6; C-259/4; OF-322/9; SP-317/7; RP-195/6

Final analysis: Early season slumps by Berkman, Rollins, Jones and Martin put the Bugs in a big hole. Only Rollins completely recovered. Plus, Jon waited to draft his first pitcher, then that first pitcher (Myers) was lost for 15 weeks to the DL. When he returns, he pitched from the bullpen. However, there was the standout performance by Chris Carpenter. And the additions of Zito and Hanson boosted their pitching and sparked the late-season surge to the consolation prize.