2011 Iron Pigs Team Grades

Starting Pitching:
The starting pitchers included two individual performances that are in the top 6 all time ERA's. New IronPig Josh Johnson had the 6th best individual performance at 2.51 and rookie Clay Buchholtz secured the lowest individual season ERA at 1.77. These two backstopped the IronPig starting pitchers which had a season ERA of 2.95 and a record of 80-39.
Grade: A+

Relief Pitching:
Not to be outdone by their stamina endowed brethren, the relief pitchers did an even better job of shutting down the opposition and held opponents to an ERA of 2.08 and had 43 saves to go along with a 27-14 record. Leading the way were Joakim Benoit (5-1, 4 sv, 0.94 ERA), Billy Wagner (1-0, 8 sv, 0.41 ERA) and rookie closer Neftali Feliz (4-4, 26 sv, 2.03 ERA).
Grade: A+

Team Defense:
The pitchers benefited from very good team defense. Groundball specialist Clay Buchholtz in particular was happy with the infield defense. Only Hanley Ramirez (natural position is DH) was a liability. All other infield positions were manned by 1e somethings. The outfield featured a 1 in CF and 2's (with - arms) at the corner spots. Combine that defense with the pitchers ballpark and you have a recipe for success.
Grade B+

Offense:
The offense performed well despite playing half of their games in the pitcher friendly PigPen. The offense was good enough for 5th in NASBL in 2011. The team was loaded with doubles hitters (2nd only to powerhouse TRY) and had good team speed (144 sb, 3rd in NASBL). Surprisingly, HR's were not a weakness as the team hit 179 which was good for 6th place in NASBL. The offense played well enough to win and carried the pitchers in a couple of playoff games against very strong offenses (OJW and TRY).
Grade: B-

General Manager:
As mentioned in a previous article, the front office sold out for success this season at the expense of future seasons. Time will tell how much damage was done to the upcoming seasons, but with the playoff success realized this year, the GM is not taking the heat that he probably should be.
Grade: C