Lions review
Caracas recognizes the fiasco of the campaign and already thinking about next
According to the directors of the Lions of Caracas, the injuries, the roster of 34, the poor performance of imports and the failure of Tim Teufel as manager, caused a lethal cocktail for the aspirations of the team in the 2011-2012 season. The result was the worst season in ten years for the Lions, with a record of 28-35, enough to finish next to last, nine games out of first place. The last time the club recorded a negative balance was in 2001-2002, in which they finished with 24 and 37.
After each season, technicians and senior members of the organization deliver a detailed report of what happened. The high command does not have all the reports, but believes that they have enough information to talk about what happened. "It is a fact, the roster of 34 did so much harm to the Leones del Caracas that they failed to achieve their goals "said president of BBC, Luis Avila. "We suffered so many injuries and the roster of 34 had its limitations and as a result, it was almost impossible to make corrections and timely replacements," he explained.
Since before the singing of the first "play ball", the Lions were already suffering from the lesions. Imported star in recent years, Josh Kroeger, branded MVP the previous season, hurt his knee and had to eliminate his plans to wear the shirt of the Lions in what would have been his fourth consecutive year with the team. The injury to Kroeger seemed to be an omen of what would be the case for this season. From the infielders and outfielders to pitchers, suffered major injuries. "It was almost impossible to form any teamwork or cohesion for this season. For example, it cost us very much to have an unstable rotation, "Avila said.
In addition, Avila acknowledges that it was the right choice to fire Tim Teufel as manager. "It was the right thing to do, "he summarized. "Clearly we failed." Teufel was fired with a record of 12 and 16, and Carlos Lezcano led on an interim basis before handing the job to Rick Sweet, who managed the team for the rest of the season. Sweet won 16 and lost 18, however, for the Lions experience was important in key aspects of his leadership. "Sweet arrived late and when he was making an ideal environment within the team, we were almost eliminated," Avila assimilated. "He managed and had a very good rapport with the players and with the policy. I think that was his best side." Avila stops. But when asked if Sweet will continue at the helm in 2012-2013. "He's one of the candidates, but it is still too early to decide," he said before clarifying that the chemistry with the players managed by Sweet was a strong point in its favor, when making the decision. "It's not easy to lead a Caracas team. This is a media team. A team with history. A team that is supposed to win," added the president.
The fact of already having experience with the Lions is another argument for the side of Sweet, but also was the cast for Frank Kremblas, in 2008-2009 who won the Manager of the Year award before losing the finals in seven games against the Tigres de Aragua. Dave Hudgens graduated in the 2009-2010, but his performance in the round robin of the 2010 -2011, failed to convince the directors at the time of renewal.
What we do know at this point is that Ricky Bones will not return as pitching coach.
On the imported players, we lamented the overall performance, but we wanted to remember the case of Josh Satin. "Satin was one of the largest poster boys imported this year and perhaps one of the most expensive, but he could not get the job done," snapped the boss. "He was fired. These are things you can not control."
Another thing that is out of our control is the fact that fans do not come to the stadium as a protest at the defeats of their darlings. It is estimated that there was a 12% drop in attendance between last year and this.
"I do not blame them, no one likes to lose, especially us. Anything that is not a title is considered a failure for us," Avila said.
