Presents
Seattle Storm 2000 Off-Season Review
Due to the financial mismanagement of the former regime, this off-season was a very tough one to work through. There were several holes within the team, and unfortunately $0 to work with. GM Jon Robinson said when asked about his plans "We made a lot of our moves during this past season. Hopefully some of the moves we made will show the fans that we are serious about building a long term success story here in Seattle." While Mr. Robinson's statements are all well and good, it remains to be seen how the moves from last season pay off. With Russell Vanness already harping about a new contract, and Will Simmons seemingly having trouble getting his off-season work in, the new guys are not exactly making very good impressions within the city, or even organization. Robinson did say that he has assigned a personal trainer to Simmons, and that he expects better things from him going forward. Vanness is the huge question mark at this point...if a deal cannot be worked out long-term with him, then it may mean a step back from the direction the team was looking to go. The GM recently tweeted that with Spring Training rapidly approaching, several decisions had been made about the roster. At this point, the offense and bench are pretty well set, but that the entire pitching staff is up in the air. There are three SP opening in which 6 pitchers are competing for, and the losers of those battles would then have to compete for bullpen positions. With CL Marvin Lewis still on the DL, and expected miss half the season or more, the closer role is wide open, and it is unknown who the team is leaning towards as it's closer. Robinson also mentioned that he expects several youngsters to get extended playing time during this Spring Training in order to gauge their ability to contribute going forward.
We are mere weeks away from the start of the 2000 Spring Training...I'm ready, are you?
