Soothsaying for Sixteen: Duane Below

[Edgy MD]

Hey, I'm Duane Below, a veteran lefty with some big league experience who got a sniff or two last year. They farmed me out and I pitched effectively (effectively!!) in Vegas to the tune of a 2.19 ERA split between the rotation and the pen. I even won a PCL Pitcher of the Week Award!

Then things went pear shaped. Or nashi-shaped. I asked the Mets for a release because Yokohama Bay Stars were inquiring after me, and you know, the Japan Central League pays better than the PCL. Maybe the Mets got a little compensation for that act of generosity. I don't know nothing about that. But it was a risk for them and me, because I'm a lefty, and I may have come in handy before all was said and done in 2015.

But man, over in Japan ... “I’d like to use him quickly. I’m counting on him,” said BayStars manager Kiyoshi Nakahata. Yeah, right. I got into one game. ONE! I pitched and inning and a third, and walked five. FIVE! Know how many runs scored? FIVE!

It was one and done in the Land of the Rising Sun for yours truly. Since then, when a gaijin pitcher gets his head handed to him in Japan, they call him a “Below.” I don't know what happened after that. Maybe I was hurt. Somebody probably wrote it down, but I can't read Japanese.

So here I am, back in the USA, where I frankly kicked azz last year. But that strange detour has led to suspicion. I understand.

But suspicion cuts both ways. What do you suspect for me in 2016? Have arm, will travel!

[Edgy MD]

OK, yeah, I'll go.

Dropped now to, at best, fifth on the lefty reliever depth chart, and perhaps 10th (behind deGrom, Harvey, Syndergaard, Matz, Colon, eventually Wheeler, Montero, Verrett, and Gilmartin) on the starting pitching depth chart (possibly Pimentel, also), Below doesn't see time all summer, but gets a call up in September to save some arms for October. He throws 4 2/3 innings, gives up two runs, and cashes a big league check.

Sometime over the summer, the mystery of his relationship status is solved.

[Frayed Knot]

At some point during the season a hard liner is going to be hit right back through the box at him prompting some wise-ass announcer (probably Howie) to yell: Look Out Below!!!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Meets and marries a cocktail waitress at Circus Circus.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Odds of Metly impact are well below likely.

[Edgy MD]

Duane Below spends a second season getting no calls from the Mets. All you SfS participants who saw that coming, congratulate your bad selves. Not predicted by anybody, but still notable: He led the PCL in homeruns allowed.

[Lefty Specialist]

Edgy MD wrote: Duane Below spends a second season getting no calls from the Mets. All you SfS participants who saw that coming, congratulate your bad selves. Not predicted by anybody, but still notable: He led the PCL in homeruns allowed.

So for people in the bleachers it was "Look out, Below!"