Wingnuts’ championship leads to offseason of roster questions

Kevin Hooper can usually come back around to something positive.

Even though the Wingnuts lost in the American Association championship series in 2012 and 2013, Hooper, their manager, could trumpet league wins records, individual milestones and sending players to affiliated baseball when evaluating those seasons.

After this year, the evaluation process needs only one bullet point:

▪ Championship.

The Wingnuts captured the first title in their seven-year history, eliminating any need for shallow optimism and changing Hooper’s outlook entirely.

“We needed to enjoy this season,” Hooper said. “You win that many games, what a special season it was. Win, lose or draw in the playoffs, nothing is going to take away from this season. Obviously, we got there and that made it even more special, winning the whole thing. It’s something we’re never going to forget.”

The Wingnuts broke the league record for wins – which they set with 68 in 2013 – by finishing 73-27 before going 6-1 in the postseason, including a three-game sweep of Lincoln in the finals.

Hooper called it the least-stressful season in his six years as manager, but the offseason may not be as smooth as Hooper and general manager Josh Robertson look to rebuild the roster.

Several players, including double-play combination Ryan Khoury and Jake Kahaulelio, are leaning toward retirement and one major contributor, outfielder Carlo Testa, has already been traded to St. Paul.

“I’m sure things are going to be a little different,” Hooper said. Especially guys that are on the fence. You always have guys on the fence about whether or not to come back. When you win a championship, what a way to go out.”

The Wingnuts will likely build around former major-league outfielder and American Association player of the year Brent Clevlen, who won the batting title while hitting 20 homers with 80 RBIs, and infielder Abel Nieves.

After rejoining the Wingnuts during a season that began with him in Grand Prairie following an offseason trade from Wichita, Nieves hit .558 in 13 regular-season games.

Wichita appears to have no definite returning position players beyond those two.

“That might be the big question mark, I would say,” Hooper said. “In years past when we haven’t won, guys want to get back and make another run at it to get that championship. That might be different, I would think, but from what it sounds like we could have a couple really good core guys coming back.”

The most important task could be replacing Khoury, who continued the Wingnuts’ tradition of standout shortstops, following Hooper in Wichita’s inaugural 2008 season and Josh Horn.

Khoury was the backbone of the Wingnuts’ defense and of their lineup, batting .315 this season, his third in Wichita, with a .436 on-base percentage.

“You know me, I always like a challenge,” Hooper said. “Me being a middle (infield) guy, I’m pretty particular on those guys that we bring in. It’ll be a lot of hard work to put into it, a lot of homework being done on whoever that guy might be.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2014 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Wingnuts’ championship leads to offseason of roster questions."