Seals Back in Business
By Richard Turner
March 16, 2010
Alameda, CA - Richard Turner was announced as the new General Manager for the Seals this week and is looking at putting them back in the playoffs for a third consecutive season. "Except this year we are going to see this through to the end."
Not many changes have been made to the batting line-ups, but Turner has been concerned with the bullpens productivity, or lack of. 10 out of the Seal's 15 losses have been accredited to bullpen, 5 of which were blown saves. Announced today was a trade between Alameda and Brooklyn sending Kasper Van de Loo (0-2 7.02 ERA) to the Dawgz, in return for John Bolen (3-2 1.93 ERA 9 SV). "Kasper is young and has excellent talent, but I was looking for someone who could put up solid numbers and hold games for us. Bolen will help solidify our bullpen and close out games we should be winning." Turner has also called up a couple youngsters Todd Lowry and Mototsune Nishiyama from Berkeley (AAA) who have been dominating hitters in the lower league. Lowry has pitched 18.1 innings in 16 games, only allowing 3 earned runs this season with the Badgers. Nishiyama has pitched 41 innings, sports an ERA of 3.20 with a 4-0 record and 35 K's.
With these additions, the Seals' bullpen should be able to hold it's own in the Williams Division. Currently a game behind San Diego's Surf Dawgs the Seals have been leading the division for most of the season. They are currently riding on a 6 game winning streak and have won 10 out of their last 15 games. The new GM has an optimistic outlook for the season saying, " We should make it to the playoffs... but that's why we play the regular season, to give the other teams an opportunity."
