All-Decade Team: Reserve

The offseason project of a Wild Things All-Decade Team and short essay on each selection draws to a close with the 24th and final roster spot.

It was a tough call between several quality players. There were many hitters deserving of mention, such as catcher/designated hitter and three-year player Jay Coakley, slick fielding Ryan Ellis and some one-year guys like outfielders Matt Swope and Jarod Rine. There was simply too many quality hitters to mention all of them in this space.

In very Frontier League-like fashion, I could go with 12 pitchers on the roster. There were many quality pitchers who just missed the cut, guys like J.J. Hollenbeck and Tom Cochran, the latter the only former Wild Things player to make it to a major league roster.

But the final roster spot came down to one position player (shortstop Jon Cahill) and one pitcher (Brendon Davis).

Cahill joined the Wild Things in 2003 after beginning the year in Class AA in the Angels' organization. He quickly established himself as the best-fielding shortstop in the league, and was a better hitter than you might recall. Cahill batted .287 and .274 in his two seasons. And he was durable, missing only three games in two years.

The 61 double plays Cahill turned in 2004 remains a record for Washington shortstops.

Davis was the one pitcher who I can't give a reason for not being on the All-Decade Team. As a reliever in 2004, the hard-throwing Davis was reliable with a 3-2 record, four saves and 2.76 ERA. Converted to a starter in 2005, Davis was even better, posting a 9-1 record and dropped his bothersome walk rate to 3.1 per nine innings.

But when I began the process of selecting an all-decade team, I wanted 11 pitchers and 13 hitters. Davis would be a 12th pitcher. Plus, when selecting an all-star team, you can't go wrong picking a player who is on the field each night instead of once every five nights.

All-Decade Team Reserve: Jon Cahill (2003-04).


All-Decade Team:
C--Shaun Argento
1B--Bill Greenwell
2B--Brian Stoecklein
SS--Brett Grandstrand
3B--Pat Peavy
OF--Mike Arbinger
OF--Josh Loggins
OF--Chris Sidick
DH--Jacob Dempsey
C--Randy McGarvey
OF--Chris Carter
INF--Brad Hensler
INF--Jon Cahill
SP--Ben Ally
SP--Dave Bradley
SP--Ryan Douglas
SP--Jared Howton
SP--Aaron Ledbetter
RP--B.J. Brosa
RP--Justin Edwards
RP--Robert Garvin
RP--Kevin Hammons
RP--Anthony Kozol
RP--Jim Popp