Trenton Grades- Position players

After completing a 84-78 campaign, here are the grades for the key players from the Traffic season.

Lineup

C Vasco Lopez: A-. ROY candidate wore down at bit at the end, but had a very nice season. Hit .300 for most of the year, dropped below at the end and hit 21 HRs. Threw out a respectable 30% of runners trying to steal. Only 25 years old.

1B Stephen Mills: C. Hit for a decent average, but 78 RBIs is a bit disappointing for a guy who had driven in 100 his previous two seasons.

2B Scot Hutton: C. Played way too much for the Traffic front office's liking. Had a decent season (.265-23-75, solid defensively), but strikes out way too much and wasn't worth $7 million.

SS Carlton MacDougal: B. Had his best offensive season since season 1 and wasn't terrible at short (20 errors). Could have driven in more runs.

3B Enrique Park: A-. Put up big-time power numbers (46 HRs, 116 RBI). Doesn't get a full A only due to the strikeouts (112).

LF Rico Valdez: B-. Scored over 100 runs, stole 72 bases, so he did what was expected of him. Just seems like something was missing- maybe it was all the games he missed or all the strikeouts.

CF Phil Nakajima: C+. Another guy who had a solid effort but just not enough to live up to his contract.

RF Duffy Brewington: C-. Only gets this high a grade because it wasn't really his fault- he was supposed to be the utility guy and wound up with the full-time job when Moss was shipped to Seattle. Hit some homers (13), but often looked lost at the plate, striking out almost once a game.