tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209479722024-03-13T13:50:45.727-05:00BRASS League<b>I use my single windup, my double windup, my triple windup, my hesitation windup, my no windup. I also use my step-n-pitch-it, my submariner, my sidearmer, and my bat dodger. Man's got to do what he's got to do. -- Satchel Paige</b>Other Sidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06475658453374184885noreply@blogger.comBlogger825125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-32949460595430997132013-10-13T16:47:00.000-05:002013-10-13T16:47:59.719-05:00Mammoth Browns Free Agent Signings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you have been following the SoCal Knights lately, you
will have heard that they have been sold and the franchise has been moved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Fredriksen is the new owner of the SoCal
Knights and one of the first things the new owner did was he moved the team to
Mammoth ,CA and appropriately renamed the team to the Mammoth Browns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Mammoth Browns management team wanted to make it clear
that although the team was abruptly moved to another city that they are still
dedicated to the original fans, and will continue to field a competitive team
every year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Browns had some major holes to fill in Catcher, 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup>
Base, and Outfield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Browns are proud
to announce that we have added A.J. Pierzynski , Mark Ellis, and Angel Pagan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A.J. Pierzynski solidifies the need for a catcher as the
Browns had backup catchers Hank Conger and Tony Cruz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pierzynski was signed to a three year deal
and brings tremendous experience needed to catch the quality pitching staff
that the Browns have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pierzynski will
bring the following stats to the already potent Browns offense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">League<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">R<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">H<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">HR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RBI<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SO<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">E<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 30.05pt;" width="40">
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AVG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OBP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SLG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OPS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.5pt;" width="27"></td>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 46.75pt;" width="62">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chicago WS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.7pt;" width="64">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.45pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">135<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.45pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">479<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.8pt;" width="25">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">68<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.45pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">133<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.9pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.9pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.45pt;" width="30">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 27.35pt;" width="36">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">77<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.4pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.8pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">78<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.9pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.5pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.7pt;" width="17">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 30.05pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.278<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 30pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.326<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.25pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.501<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.45pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.827<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Ellis was a much needed addition to the infield as the
Browns were missing that go to everyday gold glove, with the ability to give
you a solid at bat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ellis will be
bringing the following stats to the team this upcoming season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="margin: auto auto auto -44.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 748px;">
<thead>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 32.15pt;" width="43">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 48.8pt;" width="65">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Team<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.5pt;" width="63">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">League<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.75pt;" width="25">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">R<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">H<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.35pt;" width="30">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">HR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 27.25pt;" width="36">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RBI<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.3pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.75pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SO<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.4pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.65pt;" width="17">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">E<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.9pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AVG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.85pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OBP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.1pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SLG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.3pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OPS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 32.15pt;" width="43"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 48.8pt;" width="65"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.5pt;" width="63"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.75pt;" width="25"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.35pt;" width="30"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 27.25pt;" width="36"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.3pt;" width="28"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.75pt;" width="29"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.4pt;" width="27"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.65pt;" width="17"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.9pt;" width="40"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.85pt;" width="40"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.1pt;" width="39"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.3pt;" width="39"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 32.15pt;" width="43">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 48.8pt;" width="65">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LA Dodgers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.5pt;" width="63">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">110<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">415<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.75pt;" width="25">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">62<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.35pt;" width="34">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">107<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.35pt;" width="30">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 27.25pt;" width="36">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">31<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.3pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.75pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">70<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.8pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.4pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.65pt;" width="17">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.9pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.258<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.85pt;" width="40">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.333<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.1pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.364<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.3pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.697<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Browns needed an outfielder that could compliment Andre
Ethier, Jason Werth with Niger Morgan rotating in the outfield to give days
offs to the starters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Browns signed
Angel Pagan which will give you a true centerfielder along with speed and average
at the plate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Browns can expect to
get the following production from Pagan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="margin: auto auto auto -44.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 748px;">
<thead>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 31.9pt;" width="43">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 53.55pt;" width="71">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Team<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.05pt;" width="63">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">League<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.55pt;" width="25">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">R<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">H<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3B<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.1pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">HR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 26.95pt;" width="36">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RBI<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.1pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.5pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SO<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SB<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.2pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.5pt;" width="17">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">E<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.6pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AVG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.55pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OBP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 28.85pt;" width="38">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SLG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29pt;" width="39">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: white; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OPS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 31.9pt;" width="43"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 53.55pt;" width="71"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.05pt;" width="63"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.55pt;" width="25"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.1pt;" width="29"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 26.95pt;" width="36"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.1pt;" width="28"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.5pt;" width="29"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.2pt;" width="27"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.5pt;" width="17"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.6pt;" width="39"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29.55pt;" width="39"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(235, 235, 236); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 28.85pt;" width="38"></td>
<td style="background: rgb(221, 222, 223); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 29pt;" width="39"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 31.9pt;" width="43">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 53.55pt;" width="71">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">San Francisco<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 47.05pt;" width="63">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">154<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">605<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 18.55pt;" width="25">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">95<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 25.1pt;" width="33">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">174<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 22.1pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 26.95pt;" width="36">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.1pt;" width="28">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">48<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 21.5pt;" width="29">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">97<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.6pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(218, 219, 220); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 20.2pt;" width="27">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: rgb(206, 207, 209); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) rgb(0, 0, 0) white; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid white .75pt; padding: 2.25pt; width: 12.5pt;" width="17">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-16003145008119848522011-07-02T14:20:00.002-05:002011-07-02T14:23:37.249-05:00DRAFT REVIEW 2011The draft went reasonably smoothly this year, but there were some things I wasn't too pleased with. Way too many time violations, for one thing. Some of the early ones--maybe all of them--were my fault, as the last-minute test I ran caused the pre-draft lists to reset. But after that, it was simply a matter of setting up a valid list for the next pick as soon as the last one was made, and too many didn't do that.<br /><br />We also could have done a better job of explaining the contract rules to the newcomers. I don't think it was made clear that the players listed on the Free Agents page of the roster sheet (URFAs who didn't get a bid) had to be signed to a U contract if drafted.<br /><br />As always, there wasn't much available for any team in need of immediate help. It would have been worse if we were allowed three AMs instead of two; guys like Boesch, Moreland and Jaso would certainly have been stashed last year. Now that the third AM has been voted in, you'll see the effect in the draft after next. I hope that at least we go back to our traditional early May time frame for the draft, so that a couple of players have the chance to come out of nowhere without being snatched a year early.<br /><br />The one position you can usually find plenty of help at in the draft is relief pitcher, but that wasn't the case this year. Most years you can build a serviceable bullpen from scratch in the draft, but this time around the only guy who was effective over a more than a few innings was Jonny Venters.<br /><br />The first round:<br /><br />1. Eric Hosmer, Andover - In a non-DH league, a first baseman shouldn't go first overall unless he's the next Pujols. When drafted, Hosmer looked like he might be all that and a side of onion rings, but he's been pretty ordinary lately.<br /><br />2. Mike Trout, Southtown - Hard to argue with this one; Trout is behind only Bryce Harper on BA's list of prospects. If the draft had been held a week earlier or later (before Hosmer came up or after he cooled off), Trout would almost certainly have gone first. The only quibble is that he might tie up an AM spot for another year, while Pineda will definitely get a card.<br /><br />3. Michael Pineda, Chuckanut Bay - Not the top available name on the BA list, but his performance in MLB makes this an obvious pick. I'd have probably taken him #1 if I'd had that chance.<br /><br />4. Shelby Miller, Maine - Not sure why Miller was picked ahead of Wil Myers or Jameson Taillon, both of whom outrank him on the BA list. Then again, I don't research the AMs as well as I should, which is why I drafted one last year who'd had brain surgery two months earlier. BA does project Miller to arrive a year ahead of Taillon, which is important when you have only two AM spots to play with. (We didn't find out until later that we'll have three next year.)<br /><br />5. Manny Machado, Belmont Park - Also ranked behind Myers and Taillon, but he's a shortstop, which has considerable value.<br /><br />6. Brennan Boesch, Lancaster - I think this is the first time we've gone five picks without a carded player being taken; whether this reflects the quality of AMs available this year or the lack of quality carded players, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure his bat is quite good enough to carry his glove this high.<br /><br />7. Jonny Venters, Portland - It really doesn't pay to draft a reliever this high unless he's going to be a starter someday. But if any reliever was ever going to be worth it, this is the year and Venters is the guy.<br /><br />8. Matt Moore, Duluth-Superior - See Miller, Shelby. Moore's projected to arrive the same year as Taillon, but coming up with the Rays instead of the Pirates has to be a marker in his favor.<br /><br />9. Colby Lewis, Madawaska - If you're looking for immediate rotation help, the list starts and ends here. The only problem is, he has to be signed to a U contract. He's certainly worth it this year, but you have to decide now how long to commit, instead of being able to go year to year like you could if he was a Y1.<br /><br />10. Mitch Moreland, Meridian - This may still be too high to take a first baseman who's a good-but-not-great hitter. But Moreland has improved his numbers, is getting much more playing time, and has added positional flexibility by playing some outfield.<br /><br />11. Brandon Beachy, Hoth - If Beachy hadn't been on the DL when the draft started, he'd have deserved to go ahead of any of the AM pitchers except Pineda; he was doing better than any of them could reasonably be expected to do when they arrive, and he doesn't tie up an AM slot. Now that he's healthy and picking up where he left off (two runs in 12 innings, 3 walks, 20 strikeouts since his return), this pick is highway robbery.<br /><br />12. Travis Wood, Green Bay - OK, Colby Lewis isn't the only decent starter in the pool; Wood is about as good, albeit in half as many innings. He's getting knocked around this year, though, so who knows which is the real version?<br /><br />13. Jordan Lyles, Montgomery County - Good performance in MLB this year gives him a big boost from his prospect ranking.<br /><br />14. Alexi Ogando, Plainsfield - Should have gone much higher; he gives you a nice relief card this year, doesn't use up an AM, and has been lights-out in the Rangers' rotation. I was starting to think he might fall to me. . .<br /><br />15. Jake Arrieta, Andover - He gives you some innings, and he's in a major-league rotation, but first round? Meh. However, if you look at my summer league's draft, and consider only the players who were available in both draft pools, he went 16th.<br /><br />16. Zach Britton, Inyo - I started second-guessing this pick the moment I made it. I had an open AM slot, and I wanted to use it on someone who was already in the majors, as my other AM (Aaron Hicks) doesn't look like he's arriving any time soon. Britton's doing OK, but his K/W stats don't inspire confidence going forward, and anyway, what I really need is a catcher.<br /><br />17. Danny Espinosa, Montreal - If all Espinosa does is maintain his 2010 rate stats over a full season, this is a very good pick. If he keeps up the improvement he's shown so far in 2011, it's a great one.<br /><br />18. Wilson Ramos, Montgomery County - This is who I should have taken. Or Arencibia, or Lucroy, but Ramos is doing better than either of them so far this year.<br /><br />19. John Jaso, Franklin - And this is who I should have taken last year, instead of brain surgery patient Ryan Westmoreland. Not so sure he's such a great pick for the Kites, since he's tanking in real life and they're flush with catchers. It does put them in a position to dump Russell Martin's salary.<br /><br />20. Philip Humber, Plainsfield - Coming into last season, Humber had pitched 29.2 innings over four brief MLB trials, giving up 37 hits and 17 walks. But history is full of pitchers who were that bad or worse, found a new pitch or new delivery or something, and turned it around the way Humber apparently has. One red flag: his strikeout rate this year is only 5.5 per nine innings, and success at that level can be fleeting.<br /><br />21. Jordan Walden, Belmont Park - The usual caveats on first-round relievers apply, plus is Walden a better pick than Craig Kimbrel? Their performances this year are close enough that for me, the deciding factor would be the extra 6 innings on Kimbrel's card. Then again, since both are M0's, you might not get to use all those innings. (I note with amazement that the proposal to allow players like this to be signed to Y1 contracts instead of M0 failed handily. Why would anyone oppose this?)<br /><br />22. Dillon Gee, Ashland - He's in a rotation, pitching well, doesn't tie up an AM, and his card is good enough to take over a spot in a BRASS rotation when he comes up in February. Why didn't I take him instead of Britton? Damifino.<br /><br />23. J.P. Arencibia, Duluth-Superior - In a non-salary keeper league, you'd probably take Lucroy ahead of Arencibia, since he has a usable card this year. The BRASS contract system makes Arencibia an arguably better pick, since the extra Y year he'll give you later should be more valuable than Lucroy's current card. The Dukes could have used Lucroy this year, as the catchers they had don't cover the position full time, but they picked up Humberto Quintero later to cover that need.<br /><br />24. Brandon Belt, Diamond - There were definitely better ways to use an AM slot. That's not hindsight talking; Belt was on the DL when the draft started, and had hit .211 with a .609 OPS to that point.<br /><br />The rest, by team:<br /><br />Alexandria (Atchison, Collmenter, Herndon, Mortensen, Nava, Ryal, Ty. Walker; reclaimed Pierre) - With no picks until the third round, the Dukes did about as well as could be expected. Collmenter was a nice find (who never would have been picked if we'd drafted in May), Mortensen and Herndon are doing OK in the majors, but neither inspires confidence going forward. Nava has a nice pinch-hitting card.<br /><br />Andover (Kimbrel, Nova, Perkins, Pestano, Revere; reclaimed Bard, Coffey, Milledge, Thames) - Kimbrel was the first pick of the second round, and could easily have gone in the first. He and Pestano will certainly upgrade the bullpen next year. Perkins too, but in order to get that from him you have to commit to at least a U2 contract. If Perkins tanks in the second half, the entire contract's a waste. Personally, I'd have passed on Perkins and gone for someone without the contract baggage. Daniel McCutchen, whom I picked later the same round, has (in real life this year) a better WHIP and more innings than Perkins, and a Y1 contract.<br /><br />Ashland (Atilano, J. Castro, C. Coleman, Herrmann, Hultzen, Penny, S. Rodriguez, Texeira, Valaika, R. Valdes) - I like Rodriguez, even though he hasn't shown he can be anything more than a utilityman on a good BRASS team. The rest. . . not so much. I don't think it's a good idea to use an AM spot on a new MLB draftee like Hultzen unless he's in the Strasburg/Harper class. I suppose the innings Penny's munching this year are worth a fourth-round pick and a U contract.<br /><br />Belmont Park (Baxter, Bourjos, D. Carpenter, Cousins, Craig, De Aza, Gentry, St. Hill, J. Hoffpauir, Mathieson, C. Nelson, Nieves, Br. Petersen, Slama, Stavinoha, D. Sutton, J. Turner) - Lots of back-of-the-draft roster fill, but a nugget or two as well. Bourjos is hitting just enough to be worth playing for his glove, Craig was hitting enough to force a team to find a place for his glove (before he got hurt), and Gentry has the kind of role which could produce a 150-PA supercard by sheer luck.<br /><br />Chuckanut Bay (Ambriz, A. Burnett, Conrad, Donaldson, Duda, Kohn, Mathis, A. Oliver, Sogard, Ru. Tejada, Valencia; claimed Bonine) - I sure hope Valencia is better than he's shown this year; I have him in another league. Duda is supposed to be a hitter, but hasn't proven it yet. Tejada might turn out to be real good, since he was playing last year at age 20.<br /><br />Diamond (Deduno, S. Duncan, Guzman, Jansen, An. Laroche, Monasterios, Sale, B. Thomas) - Pretty nondescript lot, not that the Gems need much help. Sale and Jansen will be ace relievers if they ever live up to their hype.<br /><br />Duluth-Superior (Halman, L. Hughes, R. Lopez, Pauley, Repko, Trumbo, Jo. Wilson, Wise; claimed Quintero) - I don't think Trumbo was such a good idea. For tying up an AM slot, you get one year of substandard 1B production, after which he goes back to the minors when Kendrys Morales returns. Halman might stick, and this year he's on pace for one of those 100-PA flukes.<br /><br />Franklin (Berg, R. de la Rosa, Goldschmidt, B. Hayes, Laffey, Tr. Miller, Miranda, Moehler, Nippert, Ondrusek, Rhymes, Rodney, H. Rodriguez, S. Shields, Joe Smith, J. Wright) - It's not as bad as last year, when Everth Cabrera went #1, but. . . Fernando Rodney? With the 25th pick overall?? Despite that, there's some upside here. De la Rosa and Rodriguez are 100-MPH throwers, Goldschmidt could make Chris look like a genius (or an idiot), Miranda has a regular job, and Rhymes has a cheap, useful card even if he never gets another. Shields, however, wouldn't have been taken by anyone familiar with the contract rules. If you're short of innings (which is the only reason to touch him at all), you wait until secondary free agency and put in a minimum one-year bid, or even month-to-month, and save yourself more than half a million.<br /><br />Green Bay (Blevins, Braddock, Kipnis, Lincoln, Morel, Moseley, J. Russell; claimed R. Perez, Sheets; reclaimed Ad. Laroche) - Kipnis is certainly a prospect, but I don't know if it was a good idea to take him when Lonnie Chisenhall was still available. (Chisenhall went on the very next pick.) Chisenhall was rated well above Kipnis by BA, and seemed more likely to get a callup this year (which in fact just happened), thereby freeing up the AM slot next year. Morel and Russell are still being given chances by their respective Chicago teams, but aren't doing much with them.<br /><br />Hoth (Cain, Dobbs, Enright, D. Hughes, Kotsay, D. Norris, Parra, Sanabia; reclaimed M. Ramirez, C. Young) - It can't be too long before Cain is a fixture in KC; not when the alternative is Melky Cabrera. I don't know what the Marlins have planned for Sanabia, but what he did last year at age 21 is encouraging. Dobbs is another one who could end up costing more than he's worth; you have to give him a U2 and hope he doesn't turn back into Dobbs 1.0 in the second half. Parra. . . I guess if you're short on innings he's worth a U1 contract. Barely.<br /><br />Inyo (Bray, W. Castillo, Cishek, Escalona, B. Hicks, Jay, Lillibridge, D. McCutchen, Do. Murphy, S. Santos, Viciedo, C. Wells, E. Young; reclaimed Buehrle, Figgins, Franklin, Howell) - Sure enough, all the good catching prospects disappeared before my second round pick: Arencibia, Lucroy, even Conger. So I took a scattershot approach, picking up anyone who's young and either has known potential or is having a good year in MLB this year; toward the end, young was enough. The exception was Donnie Murphy, who has a fluke card and will hopefully win me a couple of games with pinch hits.<br /><br />Lancaster (Albuquerque, Butera, M. Carpenter, Feldman, Hawksworth, Tomlin; reclaimed T. Buck, C. Carter (Mets), E. Chavez, Encarnacion, Kendall) - A lot here I don't like. Tomlin and Hawksworth don't strike out enough people to sustain the success they're having, and figure to regress. Albuquerque does, but it rarely pays to use an AM slot on a reliever. The other AM pick was Matt Carpenter, and I don't see any reason he got the call ahead of several dozen others.<br /><br />Madawaska (Beimel, Capuano, Kalish, Litsch, Cr. Martinez, Mesoraco, C. Tatum, R. Thompson, Tolleson, Ja. Turner, Weinhardt, B. Wilson, D. Worth) - You don't hear much about Kalish, but someone in my summer league thought enough of him to take in the first round. If nothing else, he and Worth bolster the defense this year. Capuano gets a U contract, but his card and his performance this year are good enough to warrant it; you just have to decide whether to roll the dice and go for three years. (Patrick settled for two.) Mesoraco and Turner are good choices for the AM slots, and it was good strategy to wait until the 7th round to fill the second one. Once everyone else has filled theirs, you've got your pick of what's left no matter how long you wait.<br /><br />Maine (Burrell, C. Guillen, Hendrickson, Iglesias, Ka'aihue, Talbot, W. Valdez; claimed A. Moore, R. Paulino, Ro. Tejeda) - With all the U players and free agent claims, Maine might have taken on more salary than any other team. At least none of them are dead weight, except maybe Hendrickson. And that's about all the Lobs are getting out of this draft; I don't think any of the cheaper players are going to make it, other than first-rounder Shelby Miller.<br /><br />Meridian (L. Anderson, Bourgeois, Lecure, Mayberry, McGee, Plouffe, A. Sanchez; reclaimed Garland) - I like the Anderson pick. He's young, was once a high-rated prospect who's been forgotten; last year in my summer league's draft, that formula got me Neil Walker in the 9th round. For McGee, see the comment on Albuquerque above, plus McGee hasn't actually done anything in the majors. I don't think the Astros want to give Sanchez the shortstop job, but Barmes may force them to. As for Trevor Plouffe. . . has there ever been a worse baseball name? It belongs on a hairdresser in a Mel Brooks movie, fercrissake.<br /><br />Montgomery County (C. Carter (Oak), B. Davis, W. Harris, D. Kelly, Lugo, Lyles, Manship, E. Nunez, Resop, C. Rosa, Salas, Jor. Smith, Tim Wood, Del. Young) - Salas and Resop will put a big charge in next year's bullpen, and nobody's giving up on Carter yet.<br /><br />Montreal (Br. Anderson, Donald, Gillespie, Morse, W. Myers, Br. Snyder, Es. Vasquez, Walters; claimed J.D. Martin; reclaimed Navarro) - Wil Myers should be a real good AM pick; he's higher on the BA list than several who went before him and was called the best hitting prospect in the Royals' system even while Hosmer was still there. Lately it seems that every year, one banjo-hitting utilityman breaks out with a big year. Two years ago it was Zobrist, last year Betemit, and now it's Morse's turn.<br /><br />Plainsfield (J. Bell, R. Cedeno, G. Holland, J. Johnson, Lucroy, Moscoso, Y. Navarro, C. Ramos, Renson, Rizzo, Ty. Ross, Sizemore, Worley) - One reason Kevin wins every year is that he stockpiles high draft picks (two in each of the first 3 rounds this year) and uses them wisely. He and I took turns picking players the other one wanted; he got Ogando and Lucroy, I took Santos, Viciedo and Lillibridge. I'm not crazy about his AM picks, because one's a first baseman and the other hasn't played pro ball yet, but as I've said before, you disagree with Kevin's judgment at your peril. Bell has been a bust so far, but the same could be said about Neil Walker two years ago.<br /><br />Portland (Cortes, Demel, Germano, Je. Gomez, Jeffress, Marinez, O. Martinez, Sano, Sborz, Taillon, Veras) - Don't see much upside here, except for the AMs. And they're both at least a couple of years away, so those spots will be tied up. At one point it looked like the Marlins might move Hanley Ramirez to the outfield and put Ozzie Martinez at short, but that ship would appear to have sailed.<br /><br />San Jose (Andino, Cole, Descalso, Ellis, Estrada, J. Herrera, Maya, An. Miller, Pagnozzi, Paul, Sipp, Stewart) - David says he was drafting for need, and there's some immediate help here in Ellis, Herrera and even Andino. I stayed off Ellis because my need for a catcher is next year and beyond, and Ellis was in the minors when we drafted, but the Dodgers just called him up. Sipp was a nice grab in the fourth round, as he's lights-out in MLB this year and has a good enough card that a U contract isn't a waste.<br /><br />Sierra Nevada (W. Aybar, Barney, Ceda, M. Dunn, Dyson, G. Infante, Luebke, McClendon, Presley; reclaimed J. Guillen) - No picks until the third round, so getting Barney and Luebke there wasn't bad. Hard to believe, but this team is so short at firstbase that it made sense to draft Willie Aybar.<br /><br />SoCal (G. Blanco, Carlin, Chisenhall, Conger, Inglett, Maxwell, McCoy, A. Russell, Schneider, Slaten; reclaimed Nathan) - Conger was my last hope for a real catching prospect, and Chisenhall is a solid AM who just came up to the majors. The rest of these are among the more useful cards in the draft; spotted properly, Blanco, Maxwell and McCoy add up to a very good outfielder. Don't look for much down the road, though.<br /><br />Southtown (Doubront, B. Wood; claimed Lind, Zumaya; reclaimed 10(!) free agents) - Who's hoarding all the first basemen? There should be way more than enough to go around, but here we have two teams drafting stiffs to cover the position. (Lind won't be a stiff next year, but he also won't be a Miser, unless Henry outbids everyone.) Doubront has as good a chance as anyone to be a rotation starter eventually, but Wood is at the Last Chance Saloon.<br /><br />Washington Crossing (T. Bell, Denorfia, Giambi, Harrell, Kirkman, B. Logan, W. Lopez, McKenry, Nicasio, Matt Reynolds, Fr. Rodriguez(LAA), M. Rogers, R. Santiago) - Denorfia went more than a round after my pick of Jon Jay, and I could easily wind up regretting that. But I think Dave will regret using an AM slot on a pitcher who isn't one of BA's top 100, isn't one of his own team's top 7, and isn't exactly tearing up the majors.Rex Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686894129667009601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-421563663663560462010-12-09T02:12:00.000-06:002010-12-09T02:14:06.044-06:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Jump Out to Copper Division LeadAfter winning the BRASS Copper Division crown in 2090, the Sierra Nevada Goldens are on their way to repeat as division champs in 2101. At the season’s midway point, and three winning months in the books, Sierra Nevada has a (46-38) record and holds an 8-game lead over the rival SoCal Knights (38-46) and a 9-game lead over the 3rd place Duluth-Superior Dukes (37-47). The Goldens are not on pace to match the magical 102-win season of 2090, but they have been pretty competitive to this point earning a series win in 8 of 12 chances versus the Gold League. The Goldens have held at least a tie for 1st in the Copper for all but 3 days since May 1st.<br /><br />Sierra Nevada lost some key players from the 2090 roster as long-in-the-tooth veterans Jermaine Dye, Jason Giambi, and Edgar Renteria were bid farewell. Along with current infielders Adam Dunn and Dan Uggla, this core took the powerhouse San Jose Scorpions to 7-Games in last year’s Divisional Playoff Series. Looking to avenge last season’s heartbreaking playoff series after taking a 3-Games to None lead, the Goldens have gotten a bit younger and speedier. Rookie of the Year candidate Elvis Andrus is having an outstanding start to the season batting 2nd in the lineup. In 75 games, he is hitting .298 to lead the team, has scored 41 runs, and stolen 20 of 27 bases while exhibiting great range at 2B. The Goldens filled a lingering hole in CF with an off-season trade when they acquired Curtis Granderson. While leading off, Granderson is having a great season to date. From the leadoff spot, he has a respectable .371 OBP with 46 Runs and .290 BA, 11 HR, 31 RBI. After a slow start to the season, Adam Dunn & Dan Uggla heated up a bit in June in the #3 & #4 spots in the order. With a combined 40-Doubles, 29 HR’s, and 100 RBI thus far, the manager expects them to start thumping homers at a higher clip as the season enters the dog days. Perhaps the MVP of the team so far is another player acquired via off-season trade, J.D. Drew. The right fielder has batted in the 5-hole all season and has produced with some nice numbers, .287 BA, 15 HR, 52 RBI. The trio of Dunn, Uggla, and Drew figure to be a formidable bunch in the heart of the order for the rest of the season and it will be fun to see of any of them can reach 35-40 HR’s by the end of the season. Another key offensive contributor had been youngster David Murphy who has had a breakout season in the outfield with a .289 BA, 13 HR, 38 RBI.<br /><br />The Goldens have had a pretty successful season so far with the bat, scoring just enough to win close games. While they have only been shutout twice and scored only 1 run on three occasions, most games have been very tight with 4, 5, or 6 runs being scored from each side. Sierra Nevada is 14-5 in one-run games and 9-1 in extra-innings in 2101. With both the starters and bullpen both putting up nearly identical ERA’s of about 4.17, the late-inning guys have been getting the job done most consistently. Heath Bell 2-0, 8 SV, 1.91 ERA and Carlos Marmol 3-1, 10 SV, 3.66 ERA have been slamming the door closed on the opposition with the game on the line. As for the starters, Josh Beckett leads the staff with 8 Wins thanks to the best run support of all the starters, but a disappointing 4.78 ERA, 4 losses, and a whopping 19 HR’s allowed. Offseason trade acquisition Jason Marquis has been even better than his 7-3 record would indicate with a 2.40 ERA despite calling Great American Ballpark home. Young lefty Brian Anderson may also be earning some attention in the Rookie of the Year chase while he sports a 7-5 record with a 3.51 ERA in his 17 starts.<br /><br />The Sierra Nevada Goldens will be looking for some improvement offensively from the likes of Yadier Molina, Mike Lowell, and Ryan Theriot as the season goes on. If they can heat up, along with Dunn and Uggla, Sierra Nevada should be hoisting its 2nd Copper Division Championship in as many seasons in a few short months.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-11684929822201387122010-06-21T19:41:00.002-05:002010-06-21T19:47:04.911-05:002010 Draft ReviewHere's my second annual draft review. Like last year, I'll say something about each first-round pick separately, followed by a synopsis of each team's draft in the second round and later. Like last year, I won't always be kind, but I also won't hold myself out as any kind of expert.<br /><br />I'd say this year's talent pool was more than a little better than last year's. That's partly hindsight; a year from now, I'm sure some of this year's first-rounders will look as bad as Jordan Schafer, Jose Arredondo, Jody Gerut, Lou Marson, Greg Smith, and some other firsts from last year do now. But also, one of my beliefs about drafting is that you don't take a relief pitcher early unless he's just absolutely lights-out, is expected to develop into a starter, or there just aren't any decent position prospects available. This year there was just one pure reliever taken in the first round, Andrew Bailey. (Jennry Mejia hasn't started yet in the majors, but he's expected to eventually.) Last year there were five.<br /><br />The first-rounders:<br /><br />1. Everth Cabrera, Sarasota - I hate to start on such a negative note, but this has to be the worst choice I've ever seen for a #1 overall pick. He's a Rule 5 pick who was playing over his head last year and has come down to Earth with a resounding thud. Granted, he's got the best shortstop card in the pool, the Gators needed a shortstop (Jack Wilson can't do it alone) and with no more picks until the fourth round they'd lose Cabrera if they waited. But the #1 pick in the draft could have been traded for a better shortstop than this, or traded down to a middle-to-late first-round pick which would still have gotten him.<br /><br />2. Desmond Jennings, Hoth - Certainly has to be in the discussion of who would have been the best choice for the first pick. Jennings was second to the top position player on Baseball America's top 100 prospects list not already owned by a BRASS team (behind Jesus Montero, but a catching prospect comes with a bit more downside), and position players are less risky than pitchers.<br /><br />3. Mat Latos, Chuckanut Bay - This would have been my choice for #1. He's a pitcher, but the risk is much mitigated by the fact that he's in a major league rotation and pitching very well. And he doesn't tie up an AM spot like Jennings does.<br /><br />4. Dustin Ackley, Duluth-Superior - Mike's comment with this pick was, "Seriously, did you think I'd take anyone else?" I won't say this is a bad pick, but seriously, I'd have gone for Montero or Starlin Castro instead. If Ackley doesn't stick at another position and has to come to the majors as a first baseman, his value is much diminished in BRASS.<br /><br />5. Casey McGehee, Sugar Creek - Could have been picked first without raising my eyebrows. He's older than you'd like, and wasn't highly rated when he came up, but he's got the best card in the pool with the possible exception of Garrett Jones, and is following it up with an even better year so far. It would be nice if the Brewers would restore his positional flexibility instead of confining him to 3B as they have so far this year.<br /><br />6. Starlin Castro, Plainsfield - Behind Jennings, Ackley and Montero on the BA list, but the fact that he's up and hitting major league pitching at age 20 pushes him ahead of all of them in my opinion. And Kevin's track record suggests that you disagree with his evaluations at your peril.<br /><br />7. Brian Matusz, Andover - Not a lot to choose between him and Latos--except that Matusz is lefthanded and has been getting hammered lately.<br /><br />8. Andrew Bailey, Great Kills - You normally wouldn't want to take a reliever this soon, but what a card! And he's doing it again this year.<br /><br />9. Ike Davis, Green Bay - I don't think I'd have taken him this high. Granted he's a major-league regular and hitting well, but first basemen are greatly devalued in a non-DH league.<br /><br />10. Domonic Brown, Colorado - This is the pick I traded to get Yunel Escobar. If I'd kept it, I'd probably have gone for Montero, but Brown's a close second. They're the top two on the BA list at this point.<br /><br />11. Aroldis Chapman, Diamond - His ceiling might be higher than anyone else in this draft; as a triple-digits lefty, he could be the next Randy Johnson. He could also be the next Steve Dalkowski, though that's less likely.<br /><br />12. Daniel Hudson, Meridian - Way down (#66) on the BA list, and hasn't pitched in the majors yet this year. But everyone higher on the list who was still available would use up an AM slot. I suppose he's not a terrible choice if you're determined to take a flyer on a pitcher, but I'd have gone for Randy Wells, who has a good year in the bank and has a pretty good lock on a rotation spot, even though he's hit a bad patch of late.<br /><br />13. Jesus Montero, Washington Crossing - As I've already suggested, I think he should have gone sooner. The only downside is that if he can't stay behind the plate he becomes another 1B-DH type, and thus a drug on the market in BRASS. (Well, that and the fact that he's off to a terrible start this year.) But if he can catch half a dozen games a year for the Yankees while smoking the ball at 1B and DH the rest of the time, he becomes an All-Star catcher in BRASS, playing 150 games a year at the position.<br /><br />14. Martin Perez, Diamond - The top name on the BA list at this point, but that list was made before Mike Leake came up and dominated. I think if you're going to take an AM pitcher here, it's got to be Leake.<br /><br />15. Randy Wells, Ashland - A young pitcher with a good card, enough innings for 25 starts, and a rotation job? In a BRASS draft pool? Damn right you take him here, and give thanks to all the baseball gods that he fell this far.<br /><br />16. Jhoulys Chacin, SoCal - Only #71 on the BA list, but I think he was the highest rated player at this point who was carded, and Scott didn't want another AM pitcher. Can't give you a real reason why, but I have a "next Ubaldo" feeling about him.<br /><br />17. Kris Medlen, Columbia - Might turn out to be a real good sleeper pick and make up for missing out on Chacin. He's in the rotation and pitching real well, with K/BB rates which suggest it's sustainable. If he goes back to the bullpen, though, it's kind of a waste. Interestingly, he had a strong reverse platoon split last year, and so far is keeping it up.<br /><br />18. Doug Fister, Sugar Creek - Like Medlen, except that Fister's K rate doesn't bode well for success going forward. On the other hand, he seems a lock to stay in the rotation all year (barring injury, of course).<br /><br />19. Mike Leake, Great Kills - Love this pick. The season's young, and the NL could catch up with Leake and turn it into a waste, but so far so great. And even if he posted, say, a 5.00 ERA the rest of the way, his season line would still be right around 4. His strikeout and walk rates aren't all that, but they're not bad either.<br /><br />20. Kyle Drabek, Montgomery County - Not the top BA prospect available at this point, but very close, and much closer to being ready than those above him. That's important. This is actually the second time Rob drafted Drabek.<br /><br />21. Bryce Harper, Chuckanut Bay - Not on the BA list--not even drafted as I write this--but the potential is obvious. Tony actually thought about taking Harper with the #2 pick instead of Jennings, and <em>somebody</em> was going to take a first-round flyer. The only thing is, even if nothing happens to derail his career, he's going to tie up an AM slot for years.<br /><br />22. Ian Desmond, Duluth-Superior - Probably won't ever be an All-Star, unless Strasburg is hurt one year and they need somebody to fill the Nationals' quota. But nobody else available at this point is an established major-league shortstop. And the high-upside longshot bin has been pretty well picked over.<br /><br />23. Garrett Jones, Ashland - Carded players of this quality usually go much higher in a BRASS draft than in my summer league, because in that league the pool hasn't been diluted by removing previous years' uncardeds. (19 of the 24 players in that league's 2010 first round were already owned by BRASS teams.) But Jones went 20th, three slots higher than here. I believe this is explained by the DH rule; in BRASS, there are 24 fewer lineup slots available for a player like this.<br /><br />24. Jenry Mejia, Montreal - We're getting to the point where no player clearly stands out, and an argument can be made for any of several, but I'm having a hard time seeing it for this one. Sure, he was the Mets' top prospect going into the season, but isn't that kind of like being the smartest kid on the short bus? He's well down the overall BA list, he's not pitching all that well or much, and it'll take a lot of minor-league seasoning before he's a useful starter--and if he's not that, he's not worth a first-round pick. At least he'll be carded next year, so he won't tie up an AM slot.<br /><br />The rest of the draft, by team:<br /><br />Andover (Bernadina, Carillo, D. Gordon, Hayhurst, D. McCutchen, R. Perry, Runzler, Saunders; reclaimed Milledge and Thames) - Past the first round, you can get guys who are moderately useful now, or who have a chance to be somewhat more so later. Andover went for the future straight down the line. Bernardina's ceiling is probably somewhere between fourth outfielder and platoon stopgap, but Saunders is supposed to become a regular. Gordon (AM) rates behind several other position players who weren't taken, but he's a shortstop, which is a consideration for a team which will need one pretty soon. The pitchers. . . well, they're pitchers. Law of averages says one or two of them will stick around long enough to get a U contract.<br /><br />Ashland (O'Flaherty, Pagan, Scheppers, Storen, S. White; reclaimed Garciaparra, K. Greene, Hampton, Loretta, K. Wood) - Ashland, having gotten two first-rounders who are useful now, went for more of the same, except of course for the AMs. Even those are in the majors now, so their slots will be cleared for action next year. With their extra picks, the Penguins were all done by round 4 except for reclaiming free agents.<br /><br />Chuckanut Bay (Avila, Blanks, J. Francisco, N. Green, Maloney, Reddick; reclaimed Batista, Burrell and Lugo) - On top of their two first-rounders, the Tubas got some serious upside potential here. Blanks would have been a first-rounder if he'd gotten off to any kind of start this year, Avila quite possibly the same, and I've got a Mike Greenwell feeling about Reddick. Lugo. . . I look at his contract and wonder: was there really a moment in history when it seemed sane to give him five years and $36 million? That didn't happen on Dave's watch; it was either Ben Gauthier or one of the revolving-door cast who played hot potato with the franchise until Dave came along.<br /><br />Columbia (Axford, Buckner, Coghlan, A. Huff, Kearns, West; reclaimed Atkins, O. Perez, Wang) - Like Blanks, Coghlan's poor MLB start cost him a first-round position. The 2B rating Strat gave him, despite only one game there, saved him from dropping much farther, because without it he'd be a DH in a non-DH league. Kearns could be a real find if he's actually come out of his three-year funk. Problem is, you have to get your bet down (in the form of a multi-year contract) before you know how long this phase of his career will last. And the upside limit is two full good years (plus his current card, which is nothing special) before he becomes a URFA, unless you give him an A contract.<br /><br />Cream City (D. Bush, Carp, Coste, M. Downs, Fisher, C. Guzman, Jacobs, Keppel, Nieve, O'Sullivan, M. Palmer, Parra, Petit, Scales, C. Sullivan, M. Valdez, V. Vazquez) - The Pirates came into the draft with lots of holes, no picks in the first two rounds, and no manager. Vaughn drafted for them, and seemed to go mostly for stopgaps to allow a team to be fielded for 162 games. I think he went a little overboard on pitchers; they ended the draft with 24 of them, with over 1800 innings among them. At the end, when I was drafting for them, I took Scales and Sullivan because they only had three other guys with an OF rating.<br />Dayton (Norris, H. Rodriguez, Sipp, Thole, N. Walker; reclaimed Delgado, Kuroda, C. Wade) - Holding our draft a month later than we did last year made a big difference to some players. I've already mentioned some who fell because of poor starts, but there were also those whose stock rose considerably. Perhaps none more so than Walker, a bonus round pick who a month earlier would have been taken near the end, if at all. In my summer league draft (held in February) I got him in the ninth round.<br /><br />Diamond (Belisario, Bulger, Clippard, Colvin, Gregerson, Hawksworth, Medders, A. Ojeda, Thatcher, E. Vazquez) - This draft was all about pitching for Vaughn no matter what team he was picking for. Note that both his first-round picks were AM pitchers. If you want to know where all the innings are this year, look no further than Diamond and Cream CIty. Vaughn had the only compensation pick this year; I forget who he lost to get it, but Gregerson is making it look like a great deal.<br /><br />Duluth-Superior (Alfonzo, Geer, Griffey, D, Huff, A. Moore, Morse, C. Patterson, Stammen, Stokes, Sutton, J. Vargas, R. Vazquez, R. Webb, Jo. Wilson, Delwyn Young) - The early picks all aimed at improving the starting rotation, with mixed results: Vargas is doing well, Huff is still in a rotation but doing poorly, and Stammen just got sent down to make room for Strasburg. Moore has as good a shot as anyone to be the Mariners' catcher for awhile down the road, and meanwhile Alfonzo has his spot.<br /><br />Great Kills (Bergmann, B. Carroll, J. Castro, Dickey, C. Duncan, French, D. Hernandez, Jaramillo, Kendrick; reclaimed DeJesus, W. Harris, Madson, Sowers, N. Robertson, B. Webb) - Nothing in the second or third round, and flotsam after that. A real shame about Webb--a year and a half already down the drain, at $20 mil a year.<br /><br />Green Bay (Bergesen, Duensing, Hu, Lawrie, Manzella, Meek, Jo. Morales, Mujica, L. Powell, Sampson, Stavinoha) - A good balance of future and present value, which was Bob's plan. Bergesen isn't doing as well as one would hope for this year, but Duensing is doing much better. I think Powell is established as a backup catcher; once he runs out of options, the A's will stop jerking him around like they are this year. Manzella and/or Hu might develop at the plate enough to have an Adam Everett career; stranger things have happened. Lawrie (AM) probably could have been had later than the third round, but Bob wanted to make sure he got him for his Brewers connection. There are worse reasons.<br /><br />Hoth (J. Fox, LeBlanc, Matzek, Narveson; reclaimed Garko, J. Hairston, Lidge, P. Martinez, Villanueva, C. Young, Zambrano) - The Rebs certainly had quantity going into the draft--they protected their full quota of 30 and still had 8 left over. So after grabbing three cards and their second AM, it was all reclaims. Any or all of the carded guys could stick around long enough to get U contracts, though only LeBlanc is distinguishing himself this year. Matzek (AM) was close to the top player available on the BA list at the time, but Tony might have been better advised to drop down to someone closer to being ready.<br /><br />Inyo (T. Abreu, M. Adams, Fulchino, Hicks, Kilby, Ni, D. Ross, Ryal, Schlereth, A. Torres, Westmoreland) - I had no picks until late in round 2; they were dealt to bolster my upcoming pennant run. (After what I gave up, and the money I spent in free agency, anything less than a division title will be a severe disappointment.) Torres, Adams, Ross and Fulchino were drafted for the same purpose; the fact that Torres and Adams are kicking butt this year is a bonus. I wonder if the league knows something about Hicks (AM) that I don't; he was out there for a long time as the top player available on the BA list. Westmoreland was tops on that list when I finally got around to filling my other AM slot, but I probably should have taken the same advice I just gave Tony. Right now I'm kicking myself for not using the spot on John Jaso. Ni is a sentimental pick; his surname is the same as that of an ex-girlfriend I remember fondly.<br /><br />Meridian (Allen, Cecil, F. Garcia, Gwynn, D. McDonald, R. Pena, Santos, Simon, Takahashi, M. Taylor) - Cecil's looking good, and Taylor is as good a bet as any AM past the first round. Quite a few analysts thought the Padres got hosed when they traded Jody Gerut for Gwynn, but even as poorly as Gwynn is doing this year, he's still miles ahead of Gerut. McDonald's no prospect, but it looks like he'll provide more than the moderately useful platoon card he has this year.<br /><br />Montgomery County (A. Arias, J. Arias, R. Castro, Evans, E. Gonzalez, Inge, J. Johnson, Marte, B. Pena; reclaimed Kazmir, F. Rodriguez) - Another team with a big gap between the first round and the rest. These were used to fill a couple of holes, take a flyer on a few longshots, and pull back the albatross contracts that nobody would take off their hands.<br /><br />Montreal (J. Flores, Litsch, Melancon, Poreda, Tazawa, Veal) - Yet another thin draft, with no second-round or bonus pick. Dan took all pitchers except for Flores (a catcher), so it's a crapshoot. None of these guys is exactly setting the world on fire this year so far.<br /><br />Phoenix (J. Anderson, L. Cruz, Freeman, Giminez, T. Greene, Hart, Di. Hernandez, Mi. Hernandez, S. Jackson, Loux, MacDougal, A. Romero, L. Rosales, C. Smith, Stubbs) - I'm rooting for Smith; not only do I have him on my other Strat team, but he comes from Apple Valley CA, which is just down the hill from where I live. Stubbs is a regular, if not exactly a star. Freeman was a strange pick; if you're going to take an AM first baseman, why not Chris Carter?<br /><br />Plainsfield (Bastardo, Belisle, T. Bell, Frieri, Joaquin, C. Johnson, Kottaras, B. Mills, Montgonery, W. Ramirez, D. Robertson, E. Rogers, Stauffer, Stevens, R. Tejeda, Zavada) - Stauffer was lights-out when picked, but has since been hurt. Even when he comes back, his track record makes him a prime candidate to regress. The rest of these guys, picked in the fourth and later rounds, represent the spaghetti approach to building a pitching staff: throw a plateful at the wall and hope a few strands stick.<br /><br />San Jose (Cashner, S. Casilla, Condrey, Hacker, Heisey, D. Mathis, E. Patterson, R. Roberts, R. Ruiz, Rzepczynski; reclaimed R. Johnson, Hafner, Westbrook) - Good call on Cashner; he hadn't been called up yet when the pick was made, but has been lights-out since (admittedly in a very limited sample). We really need Rzepczynski to make it back, now that it looks like Jeff Samardzija has washed out. With Ruiz gone to Japan, it's a shame that all our rules allow him is an M0 contract and one month's play. The Scorps ought to be able to at least switch him to MTM.<br /><br />Sarasota (G. Brown, R. Diaz, Durango, F. Guzman, B. Hayes, Hester, J. Molina, Putz, Rios, Teheran, Wise) - I really don't understand the Gary Brown pick. When you only have two AM slots, why use one of them on a guy who hasn't played an inning of pro ball unless he's a totally outsized talent like Strasburg or Harper? In the MLB draft, 22 players besides Harper were chosen ahead of Brown; you do the math. If Rios keeps hitting the way he is this year, he'll probably turn out to be the best value for the money the Gators got in this draft, even with the $10 mil they have to pay for this year's useless card.<br /><br />Sierra Nevada (Aubrey, Bonine, Crowe, Ely, Everidge, Fuld, Gervacio, K. Gibson, Jakubauskas, D. Richardson, Uehara, Whiteside) - Another team which traded its first round pick and others for more immediate help, but at least they had two seconds. With these they took a couple of AM pitchers, Gibson and Ely, who figure to bolster the rotation sooner than later. Crowe, the third-round pick, was what they had to settle for in CF, as the better prospects were gone. The rest will either fill small roles this year or provide some small hope for the future. Bonine is doing amazingly well in MLB for a 12th-round pick, but his K rate and past scouting reports say he'll turn back into a pumpkin.<br /><br />SoCal (Barden, A. Blanco, Bruntlett, Z. Cox, Frandsen, Karstens, Lehr, Mitre, W. Nieves, Paul, Thurston) - As mentioned earlier, Scott didn't want another AM pitcher. Since the top hitting prospects were gone by the time his next pick came around, he decided to take a flyer on the best available bat in the MLB draft class, which he figured was Cox. MLB teams, however, didn't seem to agree, taking 11 position players (not counting Harper and Gary Brown) ahead of Cox. Frandsen seems headed for one of those freak years bench players sometimes have, where they go on a 100-AB hot streak which constitutes their whole season. The rest of these guys were picked to fill usage holes.<br /><br />Southtown (Albers, Bard, Berken, Borbon, Chen, E. Gonzalez, Hanrahan, C. Kelly, J.D. Martin, J. McDonald; reclaimed Bako, Colon, Cruz, A. Jones, C. Lee, J.C. Romero) - No first-round pick, but Bard is likely to turn in a better career than many of those who were taken there. Borbon probably would have gone earlier than round 3 if the draft had been held in April, or if it were held now. Carlos Lee was passed around like a hot potato in pre-draft trades; two different teams offered him to me. Between his fielding rating, his contract and no DH, he's a liability.<br /><br />Sugar Creek (M. Boggs, Brantley, R. Chavez, Daley, Freese, Gload, J. Jennings, Kelley, Lillibridge, Perdomo, Mi. Sweeney, C. Tracy, P.J. Walters, Young Jr.) - Freese and the two first-round picks should really pay off next year. Age and other factors don't bode well for much beyond that, but Brantley and Young could help in that department.<br /><br />Washington Crossing (Andino, Si. Castro, Crain, Flowers, D. Reyes, O. Salazar, Sanches, Silva; reclaimed D. Marte, J. Miller, Wigginton) - If he doesn't collapse, Silva is a great value even for a U contract, and Salazar is about the best platoon partner you could imagine for Lance Berkman. Down the road, I don't see much coming out of this draft except Flowers.Rex Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686894129667009601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-87600310067637151162010-06-05T02:39:00.003-05:002010-06-05T17:27:19.369-05:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Draft ReviewSierra Nevada really went for it in 2090 and was left without a 1st Round, a Bonus Round, a 4th Round, or a 7th Round pick in the 2101 Draft. We had 2 empty AM slots as well, since we graduated Elvis Andrus and Brett Anderson this year. Going into the 2101 season, we were in the need of CF depth, 1B depth, and needed to fill in about 150+ innings in the middle of the rotation to follow Beckett and Anderson . Looking forward to the 2112 season based on 2010 MLB performances thus far, we can determine that SP is our BIGGEST need with Beckett having a miserable start and Anderson on the DL early. The philosophy going in was to select 2 AM pitchers in the 2nd round that could make the rotation sometime between 2112 & 2123.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 1, Round 2:</strong> Kyle Gibson (SP/AM) - We are THRILLED with this pick and both happy and surprised he dropped to us. A true, groundball pitcher is exactly what we need, playing in Great American Ballpark. He figures to put up good numbers in pitcher friendly Target Field once he reaches the Twins. Also, he is dominating AA ball as we speak. He has a 1.68 ERA in the minors this season, with a .211 BAA in 69 IP. His GO/AO ratio in currently 3.48. Many had him as the best pitcher in the MLB draft behind Strasburg.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 2, Round 2:</strong> John Ely (SP/AM) - This pick made sense for us because he is already contributing to the Dodgers starting rotation and will help the Goldens in 2112. While I think we may have been able to get him in a later round, we did not want to risk seeing him go to another club, especially in our own division. While Ely may be obscure to many around the country, living in Los Angeles & watching Dodger Games every night, I see this guy pitch and he is SOLID! I know my rivals, the SoCal Knights & Phoenix Phoenix, get a lot of visibility to him, and it seems Duluth-Superior gets his share of Dodgers players as well. While watching him pitch thus far, he is very composed and really locates and hits his spots well and is holding an ERA at 2.54 and a WHIP of .91 thru 7 starts. His ceiling may not be top of the rotation SP, but he looks to me like a Greg Maddux the way he can hit spots, change speeds, and not walk batters. Plus he pitches at friendly Dodger Stadium which will help us out when he plays for the Goldens at Great American.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 3, Round 3:</strong> Trevor Crowe (CF) - At this point, we were looking to do SOMETHING in CF. We were a little disappointed to see Borbon, Gwynn, & Brantley get picked ahead of us, so we made the best of the situation. With Borbon and Gwynn struggling an in CF in 2010 so far, maybe we will end up with the right guy in Crowe anyway. Crowe is struggling himself, but at least he's leading off and playing a regular CF with Sizemore on the shelf. Plus, Sizemore could get traded, leaving an opportunity for Crowe if he can seize it. We like that he switch hits, too.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 4, Round 5:</strong> Koji Uehara (SP) - He gives us a solid 67 IP to help fill the #3 slot in the rotation in 2101. He's aged and has injury issues, so he is pretty much a stop gap for this particular season.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 5, Round 6:</strong> Chris Jakubauskas (SP) - While is ERA in 2009 was 5.32, his BAA of .254 & WHIP of 1.27 are respectable and his 93 IP will help fill the #3-#4 slots in our rotation in 2101. He's a late bloomer, so I'm not sure we expect much from him long-term. Like Uehara, he's filling innings and anything productive long-term would be a bonus. To be honest, we are much happier we got Uehara & CJ than to have picked Josh Geer or Dave Bush who were both picked well ahead of this pair. <br /><br /><strong>Pick 6, Round 8:</strong> Sammy Gervacio (RP) - We are happy to get this potential future closer for the Astros. He's ranked #4 in BA for Houston & he will be handy for a September call-up this season, too. He seemed like a good value here. We were a little frustrated at this point as we were going to select a LH Reliever with this pick like, Schlereth or Ni, but they both got nabbed ahead of us. No lefties remaining really caught my eye.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 7, Round 9 & Pick 8, Round 10:</strong> Michael Aubrey (1B) & Tommy Everidge (1B) - With Aubrey being LH and Everidge RH, this will be a nice tandum this year to sub for Dunn. Aubrey brings good Range-2 DEF and will kill RH Pitchers in Great American. While neither is getting his shot in the bigs right now, they will provide useful cards in 2101. I have read rumors that Aubrey could get a shot in Baltimore, so we are crossing our fingers. We were a little shocked to get both of these useful bats so late in the draft.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 9, Round 11:</strong> Eli Whitside (C) - Simply a backup to Yadier. We really had our eye on Jose Molina, but he got snagged.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 10, Round 12:</strong> Eddie Bonine (RP) - SHOCKED he was still here! While his 2009 card is not so hot, the knuckleballer is quietly doing a great job for the Tigers in 2010 posting a 1.79 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, in 25 IP. He should be handy in 2112.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 11, Round 13:</strong> Sam Fuld (OF) - Kind of surprised he was sitting here to pick, too. While he will probably never be more than a 4th OF for the Cubs, he has a useful LH vs LH card in 2101. He can play CF, and we needed help there.<br /><br /><strong>Pick 12, Round 14:</strong> Dustin Richardson (RP) - It's funny, we had our sights in Trevor Bell of the Angels with this pick, but he got snagged by Plainsfield a few picks prior. Richardson is a lefty and has been doing very well at AAA in 2010 for Pawtucket. Maybe he will be a callup for the Red Sox sometime this year and we will strike gold with our last pick of the draft. He's the Red Sox #27 ranked prospect in BA, and currently has 38 K's in 29 IP and holding opponents to a .158 BAA.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-87530076331467135682010-03-28T13:11:00.000-05:002010-03-28T13:12:14.116-05:00Goldens Clinch Copper Division; Will Face San Jose or Dayton in Divisional RoundAfter going a perfect (11-0) at home during the month of September, the Sierra Nevada Goldens went (5-6) on the final road-trip, playing just well enough to clinch the Copper Division Crown with a final record of (102-60). The SoCal Knights finished only two games back of the Goldens with a final record of (100-62). After sweeping the September home series vs. SoCal at Great American Ballpark, the Knights looked to return the favor as the Goldens traveled to Nationals Park. Sierra Nevada’s Mark Buehrle made sure that would not happen as he outpitched the Knights’ Clayton Kershaw for the 2nd time in the 8-Game series, this time earning a 3-2 victory. Buehrle battled through the first 5 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. The Goldens’ hurler got the run support he needed in the top of the 6th when Mike Lowell doubled in two off Kershaw and then Yadier Molina knocked in Lowell during the next at bat. Buchholz, who was acquired at the August trade deadline, did what he was brought in to do as he held the Knights from getting anything going for the next 2 2/3 innings, setting up the save for Brian Fuentes. The win was pivotal for the Goldens as they lost the next three games to the Knights, but won the season series going (5-3) against the division rival. The Knights went on to go (12-2) in the remaining September schedule, while the Goldens went (11-3). <br />Had the Knights swept Sierra Nevada at home, the teams would have been deadlocked with 101 wins & would have had a series split, causing a 1-game playoff for the division title. But, it was not to be as the Goldens rolled on with their 2nd highest win total in the 19-year franchise history; only the 2056 Happy Valley Heroes were better, going (108-54). The 2056 Happy Valley team was the last to finish atop the Copper Division and was the 3rd Heroes team in 4 seasons to do it, but failed to make it to the BRASS World Series. The Sierra Nevada Goldens finished (92-70) in their inaugural 2089 season, but completed the season 3-games back of the Duluth-Superior Dukes and missed the playoffs. The 2090 season marks only the 4th playoff appearance for the franchise, all of them by way of division title. Between the 1991-1992 and the 2001-2002 seasons, none of the Crescent Hill Cubs (1991-1994), Racine Regals (1995-1996), or Happy Valley Heroes (1997-2007) teams in the franchise’s history were able to make a post-season appearance. But, starting with the 2002-2003 Happy Valley Heroes team, the franchise has won the Copper Division 4 of the past 8 seasons, starting a much better trend while finishing with 93 wins or better 5 times. With the newly found divisional success, the franchise has yet to make the World Series representing the Silver League.<br />The 2090 Sierra Nevada Goldens team hopes that this will be the first time the franchise gets put on the map and can make it to the BRASS World Series. The team is packed with power throughout the lineup and plays well in their home field, Great American Ballpark, where they set a franchise record for home wins in 2090 with a (60-21) record. The Goldens line-up features a quartet of home-run hitters who combined for 171 bombs in 2090. Silver League MVP candidate Dan Uggla had 48 dingers to go with his .305 batting average and 101 RBI’s. Another MVP candidate, Jermaine Dye hit 38 HR’s, led the team with 113 RBI’s and finished with 39 doubles and a .314 batting average. The two right-handed sluggers are flanked by two big lefty sticks. Adam Dunn slugged 45 homers with 99 RBI’s and walked a whopping 126 times. Veteran Jason Giambi launched 40 HR’s and was 2nd on the Goldens with 106 RBI’s. It was an amazing season to watch three guys top 40 homers in 2090 and Dye just came up two homers short of making it a quartet.<br />The starting pitching staff of Sierra Nevada is led by veteran left-hander Bark Buehrle who finished the year with a (19-12) record and a 4.60 ERA. Buehrle carried the team at times posting 9 wins and a no-decision from May 2nd thru June 16th and also earned wins in 5 straight appearances in the stretch run from August 27th to September 18th! Josh Beckett, (15-6) with a 4.18 ERA, was equally as dominant at times. Beckett started the season (8-0) with a 3.83 ERA in his first 12 starts and didn’t lose until June 9th against the Platinum Division champion, Diamond Gems (119-43). Gil Meche was a workhorse for the Goldens going (13-9) with a 4.37 ERA in 204 IP. He notably gave left-handed hitters a hard time, holding them to a .238 BA and striking out over 25 percent of the lefties he faced. Meche was up-and down, but down the stretch he was solid, posting a (4-1) record with 3 no-decisions in which the Goldens ultimately won, between August 14th and the end of the season. Meche led the team in complete games with 4 and shut-outs with 2, and his best game may have come in his last start of the season when he threw 10 2/3 innings on 9/22 @ Phoenix as he struck-out 11 batters. He left the game tied and 3 and the Goldens eventually won in 17-Innings as the Sierra Nevada team was still trying to secure the Copper Division title. The 4th pitcher in the playoff rotation will be southpaw, Jamie Moyer. The lefty came over in a trade with the Plainsfield Hitmen at the end of May. Moyer, who came over to the Goldens with a (8-1) record and a 3.10 ERA at the time of the trade, struggled early with his new team. He got injured on a base hit against the 1st batter he faced as a Golden, and went (0-1) with 5 no-decisions breaking in and saw his ERA climb to 4.02 before finally pitching to victory in a 9-2 game vs. Olympia and pitched 8 1/3 innings. Moyer ended up with a (8-6) record as a Golden and posted 5 of those wins between 8/22 and the end of the season. His victory on 9/7 at home vs. SoCal was the highlight of the season and made the trade completely worthwhile. Moyer tossed 8 Innings of 3-hit ball while striking out 4 Knights before turning over the ball to Taylor Buchholz to close the game down. <br />The Bullpen was the glue that held things together for the Goldens in 2090. As a collective group, the pen posted a (34-12) record with a 2.61 ERA. Opposing hitters only batted .207 against the pen and they struck out nearly 28% of the time. Brian Fuentes earned rock-star status coming in to close games, finishing the season with 33 Saves and a miniscule 1.17 ERA while striking out 71 batters in 61 innings. Fuentes did not earn a loss from June 29th until the end of the season and has a good shot to earn a Fireman of the Year or Cy Young award this year. Taylor Buchholz came over in a trade with the Meridian Trojans at the August 31st trade deadline. Buchholz was amazing in the pennant drive posting a 0.86 ERA in 21 IP & 20 K’s in the final month, including 5 appearances against SoCal totaling 9 2/3 IP in which he did not give up a single run and earned a save in the final game against the Knights. The other three big arms in the Goldens bullpen are Carlos Marmol, Heath Bell, and Jared Burton. Marmol, (7-1) with a 2.14 ERA and 7 Saves, blew away opposing batters with 126 K’s in 88 1/3 IP! Heath Bell (8-3) was solid with a 3.62 ERA in 79 2/3 IP and struck out a batter per inning. Jared Burton was acquired from San Jose prior to the season for Willie Bloomquist, and turned out to be a nice surprise as he finished (5-0) with a 2.11 ERA in 55.1 IP.<br />The Sierra Nevada Goldens are chomping at the bit to get the playoffs rolling, but the competition will be fierce in the Divisional series whether they play Dayton or San Jose. The opponent will be determined on the Dayton / SoCal Wildcard series. It looks like the playoffs will be about matchups for the Goldens. Mark Buehrle had a tough time vs. San Jose’s left-hand heavy lineup and may become neutralized if they face the Scorpions. The Goldens may need to lean more heavily on Gil Meche, Josh Beckett, and Jamie Moyer who handle lefty hitters much better. The Dayton Dragons gave the Goldens a very tough time as Sierra Nevada went (2-5) against them and the starters were knocked around quite a bit. It looks like the Goldens will need to try to shorten games in order to get past either of these mighty lineups. If the starters can get 5 or 6 solid innings and exit with a lead, it looks like the bullpen will have the best chance of taking the game home. With Buchholz, Marmol, Bell, Burton, and Fuentes available to close things out, each game figures to be a nail-biter, especially in Dayton’s and San Jose’s pitcher friendly parks. Against either opponent, the Sierra Nevada Goldens are ready to try and climb to heights of the Silver League LCS.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-35394289323855377882010-02-15T17:30:00.001-06:002010-02-15T17:33:03.825-06:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Set Franchise Home Record after Perfect September Homestand; Sweep SoCal in Fight for Copper Division SupremacyThe Sierra Nevada Goldens entered the month of September riding the wave of a 6-Game home winning streak at Great American Ballpark and with a 1-Game lead over the rival SoCal Knights as they awaited their divisional nemesis as their 1st opponent on the home schedule of the BRASS League’s final month.<br /><br />The 1st game of the 4-Game set versus the Knights featured Sierra Nevada’s Gil Meche against SoCal’s Mike Mussina. First Baseman Joey Votto got things going for SoCal with a 2-Run bomb in the top of the 2nd. The Goldens then bounced right back, a common theme in the series, as Dan Uggla doubled and Jack Wilson singled him in. Both Meche and Mussina cruised along through the 3rd and 4th innings until Mussina lost his control in the bottom of the 5th, leaving pitches over the plate. With two outs, David Ross doubled, Conor Jackson singled, and Jermaine Dye Doubled consecutively giving the Goldens a 3-2 lead. In the top of the 7th, the Golden’s defense gave the lead back to the Knights as second baseman Dan Uggla committed a 2-base error off the bat of Bengie Molina, giving the Knights a 4-3 lead and blowing the chance of a win for Meche. The Goldens didn’t hang their heads however. Adam Dunn stroked a “no doubt about it” shot off reliever Mike Adams in the bottom of the 8th tying the game at 4 apiece. The Goldens completed the comeback in the bottom of the 9th when Mike Lowell drew a 1-out walk and gave way to speedster, Fernando Perez, making his MLB debut following a September call-up. Pinch hitter Jason Giambi then stepped to the plate and clubbed a double to center scoring Perez all the way from 1st, giving the Goldens the series opener 5-4 and a 2-game lead in the standings.<br /><br />In Game-2, SoCal’s Clayton Kershaw faced Mark Buehrle of the Goldens. Kershaw got an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd, but the Goldens line-up bounced back with 2 in the bottom of the 2nd and 4 in the 3rd, knocking the young lefty out of the game early. Left fielder, Jose Guillen, did the damage hitting a 3-run homer and finished 3 for 4 with 4 RBI’s in the 6-3 Goldens victory, giving Buehrle his 16th win of the season.<br /><br />Game-3 was a hard-fought contest with veteran Jamie Moyer on the hill for Sierra Nevada and Shaun Marcum throwing for the Knights. Moyer was brilliant giving up only 1 run on 3 hits over 8 innings as the SoCal bats struggled against a lefty starter for the 2nd day in a row. Marcum was just as effective while pitching a shut-out thru 6, but Dan Uggla popped his 39th HR of the season in the 7th, tying the game at one apiece. In the bottom of the 8th, Marcum walked pinch hitter Jason Giambi to lead off the inning. An out later, big Adam Dunn stepped up and clouted a 2-run shot, his 42nd of the year, and gave the Goldens a 3-1 victory.<br /><br />The Goldens sent Josh Beckett to the mound in search of the series sweep against Jesse Litsch. Beckett gave up 3 earned runs and struck out 7 thru 7 1/3 Innings while Litsch gave up 4 earned runs thru 6 1/3 innings. Each pitcher gave up 7 hits, but the big hit came with 2-outs in the 6th when Goldens’ catcher Yadier Molina singled in Jermaine Dye giving the Goldens the 4-3 lead. Closer, Brian Fuentes, earned his 32nd save and preserved Beckett’s 14th win, the 4-game sweep, and gave Sierra Nevada a 5-game lead in the Copper Division standings. The Knights had early leads in all four contests, but the Goldens were able to come from behind each time. Adam Dunn was the series MVP slugging 2 late-inning HR’s, but the Goldens starters deserve credit as Buehrle, Moyer, & Beckett all earned victories. Closer, Brian Fuentes also earned a win and 2 saves in the series.<br /><br />The Goldens continued the homestand by sweeping 4 games against the Duluth-Superior Dukes & 3 games against the Phoenix Phoenix. Games 1 & 3 against the Dukes were tough, extra-inning victories for the Goldens but overall, Sierra Nevada outscored their opponents 53-20 in the 7 games. During the 7 games, Dan Uggla hit 4 HR’s giving him 43 on the season, tied with Adam Dunn for most on the team. Mark Buehrle earned his 17th win and Beckett earned his 15th.<br /><br />The historic 11-0 homestand gave the Goldens their best season home record in franchise history at 60-21, topping the 2005-06 Happy Valley Heroes mark of 57-24. The Goldens finished off the home schedule by winning 17 straight and 19 of 21. Sierra Nevada has now cut the magic number to 4 over the Cream City Pirates for the wild-card, so barring a miracle; the Goldens will be heading to the playoffs. The Goldens will see if they can clinch their 1st Copper Division title on the upcoming 11-game road trip to finish off the season. The magic number to clinch the division over SoCal is 7, but the Knights will be chomping at the bit to redeem themselves and take back control of the division as the two teams square off for 4 games.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-23315054746914123702010-02-06T21:35:00.001-06:002010-02-06T21:40:16.774-06:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Enter Final Month with Playoff Aspirations and Copper Division Title Within Reach After Wild Month of AugustThe month of August started out very humbling for the Sierra Nevada franchise as they entered the month in a 1st place deadlock with the SoCal Knights. Sierra Nevada had stood alone in 1st from April 24, 2090 until July 30th when SoCal joined them atop the Copper Division and shared the division lead at month’s end. Two weeks into August, the Goldens suddenly found themselves 4 games behind the Knights as management wondered if the storm was ever going to subside. The swoon began on July 22nd when Sierra Nevada lost the final two home games against the feisty Washington Crossing Generals and it carried on against the Zinc Division leading, San Jose Scorpions as the Goldens lost 6 of the final 9 games of July. August started out even worse as the Montreal Sunsets & Dayton Dragons, the top dogs in the Iron Division, battered Goldens’ pitching winning 10 of 14 and outscoring them 92-74. The bad stretch included a 7 game losing streak and losses in 9 of 10. For that 3-week stretch, the clouds over Sierra Nevada were extremely ominous and management was feeling perplexed as a run into the playoffs that had once appeared to be a sure thing had now become questionable. <br /><br />Fortunes soon changed for the Goldens when the skies parted as the Goldens looked up at the 1st place SoCal Knights, suddenly 3-Games back following the thrashing by the Dayton Dragons. After losing the series opener at the Meridian Trojans, the Goldens went on a roll by winning 5 of the next 6 versus Meridian and by piling up a 7-Game sweep of the cellar dwelling Southtown Misers. The stretch included a 9-Game win streak and the Goldens won 12 of the final 13 games of August and it launched them back into 1st, a game up on the 2nd place SoCal Knights! The bats had reawakened and the pitching gelled again as the Goldens outscored Meridian and Southtown 102-39!<br /><br />The down-and-up month pointed out a couple of interesting facts for Sierra Nevada. It has become clear that the Goldens struggle against teams .500 and above while they demolish teams below .500. As of the end of August, the Goldens are 54-16 (.771) against teams with losing records, while they are 32-38 (.457) against teams .500 and above. The Goldens also handle their business quite well at home as they are 49-21 (.700) in the comfortable setting of Great American Ballpark, but they are also respectable on the road with a winning record of 37-33 (.529). The facts stated above suggest the importance of the Goldens winning the Copper Division crown. It appears clear that the 2nd place finisher of the Iron Division will be the top wild-card entry, either Montreal (96-44) or Dayton (93-47), while the 2nd place finisher of the Copper Division, either Sierra Nevada (86-54) or SoCal (85-55), will be the 2nd wild-card entry. The Goldens’ World Series dreams could rest on avoiding a wild-card matchup against Montreal or Dayton since they were (2-5) against each opponent and a division crown would secure a 1st round bye. <br /><br />The other observation for the Goldens is that the starting pitching is less than dominating, especially against top clubs. Meanwhile, the bullpen has been especially solid all season long and it appears that Sierra Nevada has some advantages as the game reaches the final innings. Starters Josh Beckett, Gil Meche, Scott Feldman, Mark Buehrle, Jeff Karstens, Jamie Moyer, & Kyle Kendrick have combined for a record of 56-42 while the bullpen has a combined record of 30-12. The early season trade of Scott Feldman to the Plainsfield Hitmen for veteran lefty starter Jamie Moyer hasn’t exactly panned out as he is only 5-5 with a 6.00 era since the trade. Since the starting rotation is a little soft, management acquired some more relief pitching as the Goldens try and shorten games and leave it up to the bullpen. Taylor Buchholz was acquired from the Meridian Trojans and comes to the Goldens with a 6-1 record and a miniscule 1.45 ERA. He will fit in nicely with the other bullpen arms who are having outstanding years. Closer Brian Fuentes is 2-4 with a 1.34 ERA and 30 Saves, Jared Burton is 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA, & Carlos Marmol is 7-1 with a 2.23 ERA and 7 Saves. Heath Bell has been formidable versus lefty hitters, holding them to a .228 BA.<br /><br />All in all, the success of the Goldens this fall will lie at the feet of the big boppers throughout the Sierra Nevada lineup. The quartet of Adam Dunn (.243, 40 HR, 87 RBI), Jason Giambi (.271, 40 HR, 105 RBI), Jermaine Dye (.321, 38 HR, 36 2B, 110 RBI), & Dan Uggla (.301, 38 HR, 82 RBI) have been devastating and have been terrorizing opponent’s pitching, especially at Great American Ballpark. Mike Lowell missed time in the opening two months of the season, but he too has enhanced the power numbers with his (.305, 15 HR, 21 2B, 47 RBI) in 84 games. As a team, the Goldens have walloped a league leading 260 HR’s. The home park has assisted in these numbers, but the pitching staff has managed to hold its own while limiting the opposition to 146 HR’s. Sierra Nevada ranks 6th in team batting average at .284, and ranks 7th in team ERA at 4.27.<br /><br />The month of September will start off with a bang as Sierra Nevada and SoCal square off for 8 games as they try and gain superiority over one another, separated by only a game going in. Both figure to beat up on the other two division rivals Phoenix Phoenix (57-83) and Duluth-Superior Dukes (53-87), but anything can happen when September call-ups come into play in the final month and while managers are resting overused players. It will be a true test for the Goldens to see if they can continue their torrid power numbers against a tough SoCal pitching staff (3.61 Team ERA) while continuing to lean on Fuentes, Marmol, & Buccholz to close out games. The x-factor will be whether Beckett, Buehrle, and Meche, & Moyer can keep the Goldens in games during the early innings. <br /><br />The Silver League playoff spots seem set, unless the Cream City Pirates (78-62) make a last minute surge. With the San Jose Scorpions (97-43) about to clinch the Zinc Division and either Montreal or Dayton winning the Iron, Sierra Nevada and SoCal will be fighting for that Copper Division title as they desperately fight for the 1st round bye and avoid the mighty Sunsets and Dragons.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-76686849844287157592009-12-10T12:21:00.002-06:002009-12-13T02:28:32.892-06:00Goldens Spot Pirates 9-Run Lead and Complete Comeback with Slam in Bottom of the 9thThe Sierra Nevada Goldens’ fans left Great American Ballpark in a raucous frenzy as they witnessed the greatest comeback of the Goldens’ season to date. After 4 ½ innings of play, the Goldens were waving the white flag as the red-hot Cream City Pirates jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Sierra’s Kyle Kendrick was completely ineffective giving up 8 hits, including 2 HR’s and 7 earned runs in only 1 1/3 innings of work. In the 2nd Inning, Kendrick gave up a 3-run bomb to B.J. Upton & a 2-run shot to All-Star hopeful Mark Teixeira leading the way to a 6-run inning, extending the early lead to 7-0. The Goldens’ Matt Albers held his own giving up 2 runs over 4 innings, but things looked hopeless as the Goldens came to bat in the bottom of the 5th staring at a monstrous 9-run deficit.<br /><br />With 1-out in the bottom of the 5th, first baseman Jason Giambi ripped a single off Pirates starter Daniel Cabrera who had thrown up a string of zeros for the first 4 innings. Staring at an enormous mountain to climb, the Goldens’ manager elected to remove defensive shortstop Jack Wilson in an effort to offer some much needed rest for the duration of the blowout. The decision seemed to ignite the Goldens’ bench as switch-hitting replacement Aaron Miles stepped to the plate and laced another single to right moving Giambi to second base. The next batter was back-up catcher David Ross who was giving star catcher Yadier Molina a day off. Ross seized the moment and smashed a 3-run dinger, cutting the lead to 9-3. Adam Dunn and Jody Gerut promptly grounded out to end the inning, but the home town players seemed to gain a bounce in their steps.<br /><br />While the Goldens’ bullpen went to work holding the Pirates scoreless in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, the Sierra Nevada bats continued to heat up. Dan Uggla blasted a solo shot in the 6th, cutting the lead to 9-4. In the bottom of the 7th, consecutive 2-out singles by Adam Dunn, Jody Gerut, & Jermaine Dye plated another run off starter Daniel Cabrera giving way to reliever Russ Springer. With two runners on and now trailing 9-5, star second baseman Dan Uggla hit his 2nd homerun in as many innings (his 28th of the season), this time a 3-run cruise missile cutting the lead to 9-8!<br /><br />The Goldens nearly tied the game at nine in the bottom of the 8th as Mike Lowell and Jason Giambi reached base to start the inning, however Miles, Ross, & Dunn stranded the tying run at 3rd base. After 2 shut-out innings of work from Sierra’s Heath Bell, Adrian Beltre seemed to deliver the death blow with a solo shot to lead off the 9th. Bell held the Pirates to the solo run and sent his team to bat with one last chance to complete the comeback staring at a 10-8 deficit.<br /><br />After squashing the Goldens’ rally in the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates’ Yasuhiko Yabuta came out to start the 9th. Sierra’s Jody Gerut wasted no time as he smoked his 7th homer of the season and the stadium went crazy as the Goldens were once again within a run of catching the mighty Pirates! With the heart of the Goldens’ order due up, the stage was set for an amazing finish. Team MVP Jermaine Dye greeted Pirates closer Jose Valverde rudely as he ripped a double into the left field gap putting the tying run in scoring position. After homering in his previous 2 at-bats Dan Uggla worked a walk. The next batter, left fielder David Murphy was unable to move the runners over as he struck out. Next, the Sierra manager brought Yadier Molina off the bench to pinch hit and sure enough he singled to left fielder Upton. With Giambi on deck, the 3rd base coach elected to hold Dye at 3rd rather than test Upton’s strong arm. With the bases juiced and Giambi looking for his 24th homer of the season, Valverde toughened up and got him to line out causing no damage. With 2-out and the Goldens looking at the prospect of stranding the tying run at 3rd for the 2nd consecutive inning, Aaron Miles came to the plate with his chance to shine. Ironically, he was the one who entered the game for Wilson in the 5th when the game seemed completely of reach and most had all but given up hope. Miles was up to the task and Valverde challenged him with a heater down the heart of the plate, daring him to catch up to his 97 MPH gas. Miles delivered a mighty swing and sent the fastball soaring into the right field bleachers giving him a GRAND SLAM and his 1st tater of the season!!! Miles was mobbed at home plate and the fans were delirious in celebration of the Goldens’ 13-10 shocker of a win lifting their record to 60-35 overall and 37-12 at home. Heath Bell got credit for the win providing 3 solid innings to close out the game while Uggla and Miles accounted for 8 RBI’s in the final 3 innings while Dye got the other. It sure seems that the Goldens may quite possibly be a team of destiny this season as no game is ever out of reach.<br /><br />Pirates......... 1 6 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 - 10 15 0<br />Goldens......... 0 0 0 0 3 1 4 0 5 - 13 16 0<br /><br />ATTENDANCE- 48,475 DATE- Tuesday, July 15th 2090 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good<br />UMPIRES- Scott Higgins, Kerwin Danley, Angel Hernandez, Andrew Fletcher<br />T- 3:55<br />LEFT ON BASE- Pirates: 6 Goldens: 5<br />DOUBLE PLAYS- Pirates: 0 Goldens: 0<br />DOUBLES- B.Upton(22nd), B.Roberts(22nd), M.Teixeira(21st), J.Dye(24th)<br />HOME RUNS- B.Upton(4th), M.Teixeira(20th), A.Beltre(4th), S.Victorino(9th), J.Gerut(7th), D.Uggla-2(28th), A.Miles(1st), D.Ross(6th)<br />STOLEN BASES- B.Roberts(18th), D.Roberts(2nd)<br />WALKS- M.Teixeira, T.Hunter, D.Uggla<br />HIT BY PITCH- J.Giambi<br />STRIKE OUTS- B.Upton, A.Huff, J.Hardy, S.Victorino-2, A.Pierzynski, D.Murphy, J.Giambi<br />WILD PITCHES- D.CabreraDoug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-40722584725733420982009-11-30T02:50:00.002-06:002009-11-30T03:02:50.512-06:00Walk-Off by Adam Dunn in the Bottom of the 9th Stuns Gems and Preserves Series Win for Goldens!Adam Dunn proved to be the hero in the rubber match of the Diamond Gems annual visit to the Great American Ballpark of the Sierra Nevada Goldens. Dunn completely spoiled the sensational start of Adam Wainright in one thunderous crack of the bat. The home fans went into a frenzy as Dunn lofted a LONG blast into the night air as the ball splashed into the Ohio River once again off the bat of Adam Dunn. This time it was after a heated pitchers duel between the Gems' Adam Wainright and the Goldens' Mark Buehrle in a potential World Series match-up.<br /><br />The Gems, a Platinum Division leading (40-16) entering the series squared off against the hosting Sierra Nevada Goldens with a Copper Division leading (44-19) record. The defending BRASS champion Gems showed who was boss in the first game of the series in a blowout of the Goldens defeating the staff ace Josh Beckett. He was lit up spoiling his early (9-1) record in a blowout 13-4 loss. Uncharacteristically, Beckett was scorched like never before this season as he gave up 7 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings giving up 6 walks. The Diamond’s John Danks was up to the task earning the win bringing his record to (8-2) while pitching a strong 7 innings with the run support of star 3rd basemen Alex Rodriguez who broke open the game in the 6th with a 1-run double and finished the game off with a 2-run bomb in the 9th.<br /><br />The 2nd game of the series featured a pitchers duel between the Gems’ Ervin Santana who was (10-1) entering the game against the Goldens staff work –horse, Gil Meche, who entered the game with a respectable (7-4) record. Each starter gave up five hits in a solid 7 innings of work, but the damage was done n the bottom of the 3rd as the Goldens’ Josh Anderson and Dan Uggla launched back-to-back jacks en route to a Goldens 3-1 victory. Brian Fuentes finished off the game with his 18th save in 1 1/3 innings of work.<br /><br />In the finale, the Gems’ Adam Wainright went toe-to-toe with the Goldens’ Mark Buehrle. Today, Wainright stole the show allowing only 1 hit in 7 innings of baseball. He allowed 2 walks and struck out 5, and allowed only one hit as the Goldens’ squad was held scoreless through his 7 innings of work. The Gems staked Wainright to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 5th as Franklin Gutierrez singled in Geovani Soto for the 1st run of the game. The game got dicey for Wainright in the rubber match of the series as he beaned Mike Lowell with 2-out in the 6th. On the next pitch, Jason Giambi doubled off the wall, but the Goldens’ 3rd base coach elected to hold Lowell at 3rd. Wainright’s manager Vaughn Nuest then decided next to intentionally walk CF Josh Anderson to load the bases for slugger Dan Uggla who whiffed after hitting the game winner the day before. Wainright and Vaughn were out of the jam.<br /><br />Giambi’s double proved to be the only Goldens hit of the night until there were 2 quick outs in the 9th. The Gems’ J.J. Putz came in to save the game for Adam Wainright and quickly struck out the Goldens’ Jason Giambi and Josh Anderson on 6 pitches. After mustering only 1 hit all day, the Goldens got the glimmer of hope they were looking for with 2 down in the 9th. Putz glared in at the Goldens’ Dan Uggla who is among the league leaders in home runs with 22 and plunked him right in the ribs. Uggla refused to even acknowledge any pain and ran to first as big Adam Dunn entered the batters box with the game on the line. On the first pitch, Adam Dunn launched a missile into the Ohio River giving the Goldens the rubber-match victory on only their 2nd hit of the night in a 2-1 walk-off win. The entire Goldens team bounced around home plate as the Goldens improved their record to (46-20) as they won another series.<br /><br />While Wainright allowed only 1-hit in 7 innings, the Goldens’ Mark Buehrle manned up and pitched 8 1/3 while giving up only 1 run and striking out 7 Gems. Carlos Marmol (7-1) pitched 2/3 IP for the win in support of Dunn’s dramatics. Adam Dunn now has 26 HR’s on the season with 52 RBI’s in 76 games, on pace for 54 HR’s this season, a serious candidate for at least an All-Star bid and possibly MVP. Tonight the thunderous bat of Adam Dunn preserved the win for the Goldens, and we will have to wait till October to see if he can bring a BRASS World Series crown to Sierra Nevada.<br /><br />Gems............ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 1<br />Goldens......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 2 2 0<br /><br />Gems (41-18) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET<br />A.Wainwright 7 1 0 0 2 5 0 93 4.93 A1 C6<br />B.Ziegler HOLD(8th) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2.05 C7 C9<br />J.Putz LOSS(0-1) BS(1st) 0 2/3 1 2 2 0 2 1 12 2.45 D1<br />[1]Totals 8 2/3 2 2 2 2 7 1<br /><br />Goldens (51-22) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET<br />M.Buehrle 8 1/3 6 1 1 0 7 0 113 3.89 A1 D2<br />C.Marmol WIN(7-1) 0 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 11 2.32 D3<br />Totals 9 6 1 1 1 8 0<br /><br />ATTENDANCE- 16,934 DATE- Wednesday, June 11th 2090 TIME- Day WEATHER- Bad<br />UMPIRES- Mark Hirschbeck, Wally Bell, Brian O'Nora, Dan Iassogna<br />T- 2:12<br />LEFT ON BASE- Gems: 4 Goldens: 3<br />DOUBLE PLAYS- Gems: 2 Goldens: 0<br />ERRORS- H.Ramirez<br />DOUBLES- J.Giambi(18th)<br />HOME RUNS- A.Dunn(25th)<br />STOLEN BASES- H.Ramirez(24th)<br />CAUGHT STEALING- A.Rodriguez, F.Gutierrez<br />WALKS- M.Reynolds, J.Anderson, A.Dunn<br />HIT BY PITCH- D.Uggla, M.Lowell<br />STRIKE OUTS- I.Suzuki, H.Ramirez-2, A.Soriano-2, M.Reynolds-2, P.Fielder,<br />J.Giambi-2, J.Anderson-2, D.Uggla-2, A.DunnGIDP- D.Murphy, M.LowellDoug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-29755421064822403002009-11-14T13:27:00.007-06:002009-11-15T11:13:53.916-06:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Jump Out to Quick Start; Make Deal to Solidify RotationThe Sierra Nevada Goldens have experienced a very promising start to the 2090 BRASS season, as they have their best record at any time during their young 1+ year franchise history. They finished the May Schedule 22 Games over .500 with a 39-17 record having held at least a tie for 1st place since April 15th and currently have a 5 game edge over the rival SoCal Knights. The hometown fans have been treated to exciting games at home while watching their club win 75% of their games at Great American Ballpark, good enough for a tie with Meridian Trojans for the 2nd best home record in the BRASS league behind the Plainsfield Hitmen. The long ball has been the name of the game for the Goldens as balls have been dumping into the Ohio River off the bat of early Silver League MVP candidate, Adam Dunn, who has 19 dingers trailing only Washington Crossing’s Ryan Braun who has 21 of his own in the early going. The Goldens home run total thus far is staggering as they have already launched 101 bombs, which are 18 more than the Meridian Trojans! The home park obviously has a lot to do with this as they have hit 66 homers at home and 35 on the road, but opposing teams have not taken advantage of the long ball at Great American as they have only hit 28 homers on the Goldens’ field. Dunn surely hasn’t been alone hitting bombs in the early going as Goldens players make up 3 of the top 5 league leaders in TOTAVG. Dan Uggla has jumped out of the gate 3rd in the league with a 1.177 TOTAVG followed by Dunn at 1.164, & Jason Giambi at 1.090. The Goldens have 4 players with double figure home run totals with Dunn at 19, Uggla with 15, Giambi with 13, & Jermaine Dye with 12. Dye is also 9th in BRASS with 121 total bases.<br /><br />To compliment the power surge, the Goldens’ high-priced top of the rotation has been doing its job as well. Leading Silver League Cy Young candidate Josh Beckett has been dazzling with an 8-0 record in 11 starts with a 3.71 ERA. He’s been devastating to opponents striking out 73 and walking only 18 batters in 77 innings. Gil Meche is 7-3 with a 3.43 ERA as the staff workhorse, and Mark Buehrle is 9-2 with a 4.11 ERA. It will be interesting to see if these 3 starters can keep up the torrid pace and win 20 games apiece and try to keep their ERA’s under 4.00. Relief pitching has been solid as well with Brian Fuentes closing the door at the end of games having saved 14 contests in 15 opportunities with a 1.27 ERA, while Carlos Marmol has been keeping the 8th under control with a 5-1 record, 2.66 ERA, while picking up 4 saves of his own. Management has been pleasantly surprised with a staff ERA of 3.88 thus far.<br /><br />While the Goldens have got off to a great start, the competition in the Silver League is fierce and the schedule should keep getting tougher as we enter the dog days. Five other teams in the Silver have a winning percentage of .607 or better and only 5 games separate the Silver League leader and missing the wild card altogether! Some areas of concern for the Goldens after the first two months are the team’s overall defense, the lack of a true lead-off hitter who can steal bases and maintain a high OBP, depth in center field, and the #4 & #5 starters. It would be nice if the Goldens could improve the platoon situation at shortstop of Edgar Renteria & Jack Wilson with a true everyday leadoff man, but the current state is tolerable. Left field is also a platoon with Jose Guillen, David Murphy, & Conor Jackson, but it is going to be hard to move either Guillen or Jackson due to poor performances in MLB 2009. The key to the team’s defense to this point has been All-Star candidate Yadier Molina behind the plate. With cat-like reflexes and cannon for an arm behind the plate opponents have stolen only 9 bases in 14 attempts! With the help of Buehrle, Meche, and Beckett holding on runners, the Goldens have been able to keep big innings by opponents to a minimum and have kept the double play ball in tact snuffing out rallies.<br /><br />Following the month of May, the Goldens addressed the #4 starting pitcher slot and CF depth as a deal was consummated with the league leading Plainsfield Hitmen. The Goldens traded utility infielder Ramon Santiago, middle reliever Chad Bradford, and starting pitcher Scott Feldman for defensive center fielder Brian Anderson and starter Jamie Moyer. While Moyer was brought in to improve the #4 spot in the rotation, he could conceivably battle Beckett and Buehrle for the #2 & #3 spot as he comes to town with an 8-1 record and 3.10 ERA in 11 starts with his former club. The month of June will be fun to watch as Moyer makes his Goldens debut and 3B Mike Lowell makes his season debut after sitting out the 1st two months with an injury. The series to watch this month will be against the Platinum Division leading Diamond Gems who have a 40-16 record. The series figures to be home run derby as the venues will both be dinger friendly at Coors Field & Great American Ballpark.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-73908515072548938932009-08-27T19:00:00.003-05:002009-08-27T19:09:13.955-05:00Pitchers HittingIf you open this up it is going to lead to stratball. The retro leagues I run, the pitchers have to bat in the 9th spot and they cannot PH unless it is for another pitcher and there are not any more hitters available. Yes, I know Larussa is sometimes batting a pitcher 8th, and over the years occasionally a pitcher has PH'd for a postion player, but 99.99% of the games in the last 30 years the pitcher bats 9th (in the NL games) and does not PH for a position player. Open this up and it will be abused.<br /><br />On the topic, in my leagues that have the pitchers bat, because this is a pretty significant advantage to the manager actually playing the game instead of HAL managing the game, we have teams play their road games and turn on Home Field Advantage. This helps offset some of the advantage of making your pitching moves while you watch the game unfold.<br /><br />My .02<br />ScottSoCalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12729885412375102745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-22191917826969151972009-08-25T11:50:00.002-05:002009-08-25T13:43:13.760-05:00Pitchers HittingWe voted some time ago to abolish the DH after the upcoming season, but we never decided exactly how we would change the rules to implement this. There's a rule in our constitution which prohibits pitchers from batting; obviously that will have to be removed, but what will go in its place? I'd like to lay out the possibilities and get a discussion going, so that when the time comes to vote on something we can do so with informed opinions.<br /><br />The first question is, will we allow pitchers to pinch-hit? The answer to this drives the rest of the discussion. The simplest course would be to say that pitchers cannot pinch hit, that they may only bat if they are in the game when their turn at the plate comes. With that rule, we wouldn't need any other limits on pitcher batting. (You could abuse the system to a slight extent by bringing in a good-hitting reliever with two out the inning before the pitcher's spot is due to bat, but I don't think there's a way to rule this out short of bending the game completely out of shape.)<br /><br />On the other hand, the case for allowing pitchers to pinch hit is that we're playing National League rules, and in the NL pitchers can and do pinch-hit. Teams with good-hitting pitchers are, I'm sure, looking forward to taking advantage of them. (Full disclosure: Micah Owings is on my roster.) And there may not be a way of preventing the CM from pinch-hitting with a pitcher; I've never played a game on the computer without the DH rule, so I don't know how the CM functions under that condition.<br /><br />If we do allow this, we absolutely need limits on the number of times each pitcher can bat; otherwise every pitcher with a #3 rating or better will be trotted off the bench 130 times a year. We can't base the limit on real-life at-bats; an American League starter will blow by his actual total his first month in a BRASS rotation. Maybe someone has another idea, but I see only two alternatives: a flat limit for any pitcher (say, 80 PA for starters, 15 for relievers) or a limit based on innings (perhaps 1/3 of a pitcher's IP; it would have to be at least that, or some starters might be forced to leave games late in the season because they were running out of PA's).<br /><br />And this leads to something which might not have occured to everyone. Any reasonable limit rules will leave a team with some 200-odd available pitcher PA's more than are needed for the normal in-game situations where pitchers bat for themselves. A team with position-player shortages will be able to pinch-hit for position players with pitchers just to save at-bats for the position players. You may consider this a welcome addition to the toolbox or you may think it's an abuse, but it's something to keep in mind.<br /><br />If you do consider it an abuse, you might want a rule which forbids pitchers to bat for position players, while still allowing them to hit for other pitchers.<br /><br />I think that lays out the issues we need to consider. Now let's see some comments.Rex Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686894129667009601noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-42384113431049211752009-05-18T11:17:00.003-05:002009-05-18T11:30:49.756-05:00Dharma Strat-o-MaticFun piece in the <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">NY Times</a></em> today. Apparently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/books/16kero.html?_r=2&th&emc=th">Jack Kerouac </a>was a big fantasy baseball fan. So big and so mysterious about it that even his closest friends like Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs had no clue.<br /><br />Kerouac created his own game with imaginary teams and players, collected their stats, analyzed their performance and even had contract disputes.<br /><br /><blockquote>... Kerouac played an early version of the baseball game in his backyard in Lowell, Mass., hitting a marble with a nail, or possibly a toothpick, and noting where it landed. By 1946, when Kerouac was 24, he had devised a set of cards with precise verbal descriptions of various outcomes (“slow roller to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ss</span>,” for example), depending on the skill levels of the pitcher and batter. The game could be played using cards alone, but Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Gewirtz</span> thinks that more often Kerouac determined the result of a pitch by tossing some sort of projectile at a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">diagramed</span> chart on the wall. In 1956 he switched to a new set of cards, which used hieroglyphic symbols instead of descriptions. Carefully preserved inside plastic folders at the library, they now look as mysterious as runes.</blockquote>Very cool. I made up my own game when I was a kid using simple die throws, too. For example, two 3s thrown in succession would result in a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">home run</span>. I don't remember many of the other combos, but I do recall keeping copious stats. Interestingly enough, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">home run</span> hitters like Hank Aaron tended to hit more in my game. Other player performances would be similar to real life.<br /><br />To this day, since I was absent a calculator, I can add and subtract numbers in my head rapidly -- all because of the dice game.<br /><br />I'll bet Kerouac would have been a hell of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Strat</span>-o-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Matic</span> player.Other Sidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06475658453374184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-78141374146797055392009-05-08T20:37:00.001-05:002009-05-08T20:43:38.951-05:00Draft ReviewThis year I thought I'd start a new annual tradition and review the BRASS rookie draft. I've been doing this for my summer Strat league forever; don't know why I waited so long to start it here. My standard format is to say something about each of the first-round picks, in the order they were taken. Then, for each team, I list everyone they chose after the first round, and say something that's at least vaguely related to one or more of them. It won't always be kind, so I hope no one takes anything I say personally. I also hope no one thinks I'm some sort of expert; if I was the world's greatest judge of young talent, would my team have been in the draft lottery this year?<br /><br />Speaking of the lottery, my strongest overall impression of this draft is that if you weren't in the lottery, it was barely worth having a first-round pick at all. The pool of available talent was the shallowest I can remember. Even though we've cut down on AMs, past ones have seriously drained the pool. It's not going to get much better until we finish phasing out AMs and the existing ones graduate to having cards.<br /><br />My other overall impression is that some managers haven't adjusted their thinking to the current contract rules. I see quite a few U contracts (minimum value $1.2M) given to drafted players who would never have drawn bids that high in free agency, let alone secondary free agency (which is where they'd be if they'd gone undrafted).<br /><br />The first-rounders:<br /><br />1. Chris Davis, Duluth-Superior - He's got a nice power card, he's got serious 40-HR potential, he's only 23, and he's playing regularly. No one else in this draft has all those markers; not many can claim even two of them. That said, there are negatives. A year ago, when Davis was eligible for the Top 100 prospect lists, he was only #65 at Baseball America and #74 at Baseball Prospectus. (Of course, if he'd been much higher, he wouldn't be in this draft pool, because someone would have taken him as an AM.) His walk rate is terrible, and if he doesn't fix that you can forget 40 homers--he won't see 40 hittable pitches all season. And there's a limit to the value of a player whose only position is first base, especially after we dump the DH next year.<br /><br />2. Stephen Strasburg, SoCal - Yeah, I know--he's the B*E*S*T P*I*T*C*H*I*N*G P*R*O*S*P*E*C*T E*V*E*R!! It's still a big risk to use this high a pick on someone who's never pitched an inning in the pros. Just too much can go wrong between now and a major league career, including the possibility that the Gnats bring him up as soon as they sign him. Bad teams have done that before with young pitchers, and it rarely ends well.<br /><br />3. Trevor Cahill, Chuckanut Bay - Not believed to have Strasburg's upside, or Hanson's for that matter, but he's in a major-league rotation, which greatly reduces the risk that the pick will turn out to be worthless. His control has been awful so far this year, but it's early, and his record doesn't suggest a real problem in that area.<br /><br />4. Alcides Escobar, Colorado - The difference between his ranking on the Baseball America list of prospects and the Baseball Prospectus list was over 30 spots, because no one knows for sure if he's going to hit. Everyone agrees the glove is something special. If he turns out to be the next Omar Vizquel, this was a great pick. If he's the next Adam Everett. . . not so much.<br /><br />5. Denard Span, Andover - Had the draft been held a month earlier, Span probably would have gone a lot lower, because it wasn't clear at that time that he'd remain a regular. But now he seems to have settled in as a player whose leadoff skills and defense more than compensate for his total lack of power. If you pencil him in for about half of Richie Ashburn's career, you shouldn't have to worry about keeping the eraser clean. There will be players picked after him who will return more value than that, but I don't have the balls (crystal, that is) to tell you which ones.<br /><br />6. Tommy Hanson, Inyo - One observer told me he'd have taken Hanson #1 overall. Myself, I'm nervous about picking him even this high when he hasn't pitched in the majors yet. At least he's almost ready; rumor has it that the Braves are just trying to manage his service clock and delay arb-eligibility as long as possible.<br /><br />7. Jordan Schafer, Phoenix - Will probably outdo Span over his career; he's two and a half years younger and has some power. <br /><br />8. Mat Gamel, Colorado - The anti-Escobar: possibly the best bat in this draft pool, but doesn't have a position he can play. Since the Brewers are in the National League and already have Ryan Braun, it may take a trade to get Gamel to the majors. And this type of player doesn't always make it--remember Sam Horn?<br /><br />I would say that the above players are the ones who someone might have gone into the draft hoping to get. Everyone else is basically what you settle for.<br /><br />9. Cory Wade, Dayton - Lights-out card, plenty of innings, and he's doing OK so far this year. But when a reliever goes in the upper half of the first round, the pickings are slim.<br /><br />10. John Baker, San Jose - And when a 28-year-old batter with less than half a season's playing time goes this high, the pickings are pathetic.<br /><br />11. Jose Arredondo, Hoth - See Wade, Cory. He's pitched more than Wade so far this year; the ERA isn't good, but the K/W ratio is excellent.<br /><br />12. Matt Joyce, Phoenix - Nice part-time card, and he's still in the majors, but he's not playing much and doesn't ever figure to be much more than a good fourth outfielder.<br /><br />13. Daniel Murphy, Colorado - Probably should have gone before Joyce; he's playing every day, has a great OBP, and might approach 20 HR. His defense sucks from all reports, but you can live with that in left field.<br /><br />14. Jody Gerut, Sierra Nevada - Probably the most useful card in the draft with the possible exception of Span, but he's 31 and off to a mediocre start this year. Plus he's a U player, so you don't even get a cheap Y1 year out of him.<br /><br />15. Lou Marson, Colorado - Probably a better catching prospect in the long run than Nick Hundley, although the Phils seem all too willing to let Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste block him as long as they're healthy.<br /><br />16. James McDonald, Meridian - The Dodgers are the closest thing I have to a local team (or maybe the Angels are; I'm not really sure which one is closer), but I honestly didn't know who this guy was when his name came up. I saw "J. McDonald" and thought, no, it can't be that no-hit shortstop the Jays have. All you need to know about him is that according to his ESPN web page, Jeff Weaver is about to take his spot in the rotation.<br /><br />17. Greg Smith, Chuckanut Bay - Smith has by far the most innings of any pitcher in the draft--yet another indication that we need to finish the process of phasing out AMs. Pretty nice card, too, as long as his opponent doesn't stack too many righthanders against him. But what you see is probably all you're ever going to get. He's a curveballing lefty now pitching in Colorado, or rather not pitching.<br /><br />18. Grant Balfour, SoCal - Probably the most dominating card in the set, but he's 31 and getting the snot beat out of him so far this year. If Scott isn't contending this year, he really needs to flip Balfour to someone who is.<br /><br />19. Madison Bumgarner, San Jose - This is about where a pitching prospect like this should go; the risk is worth the upside at this point. Between Bumgarner and Hanson, it's a total crapshoot at this point who winds up with a better career.<br /><br />20. Jordan Zimmerman, Green Bay - And Zimmerman could be better than either one. Like Cahill, he has the advantage of being in a major league rotation right now, and he's pitching better than Cahill<br /><br />21. Brad Ziegler, Diamond - Not nearly as dominating as his ERA or his scoreless-innings string would suggest, and no spring chicken at 29, but he's doing better this year than any of the relievers taken earlier. But not as well as some taken later--see below.<br /><br />22. Nick Hundley, Green Bay - I guess he'll have a job for awhile, since the Padres don't seem to have anyone pushing him. But for the production he'll give you, you might as well take a couple of second-string types in the back end of the draft every year. Mike Redmond and Javier Valentin didn't go until the 10th and 14th rounds, and I'd rather have them out there for me than Hundley. They won't be there next year, but someone else just as good will be.<br /><br />23. Chris Dickerson, SoCal - When I did the draft review for my summer Strat league, my comment on Dickerson was that he was "so far over his head he risked being sucked into the engine of a passing jet." His play so far this year bears this out. Like Balfour, he belongs on a contender.<br /><br />24. Jesse Carlson, Cream City - I look at their cards, their ages and how each of them is doing this year, and I don't see any reason Carlson shouldn't have been taken ahead of Brad Ziegler unless you just really need a righty instead of a lefty.<br /><br />After the first round, by team:<br /><br />Andover (Chris Getz, Mike Stanton, Matt Harrison, Edgar Gonzalez [the infielder], Roy Corcoran, Mike Hinckley, Clayton Richard, Burke Badenhop) - The Cougars drafted just ahead of me, and they did it to me twice. I wanted Getz in the second round; I really thought he'd go much earlier, but it was heartbreaking that he lasted until just ahead of me and then got taken. Then, early in round 6, I noticed that Clayton Richard was still on the board, and thought he'd be worth a flier at that point. I changed my list to put him at the top, only to see him go to Andover.<br /><br />I'm skeptical of Harrison as a second-round pick, simply because he's a Ranger. Much-hyped Texas prospects like Volquez and Danks never amounted to a bucket of warm spit until they went somewhere else. I'm not sure I'd want a Rangers pitching prospect if he was cloned from Roger Clemens' DNA.<br /><br />Ashland (Ramon Ramirez, Joe Inglett, Mike Hampton, Greg Norton, Omar Quintanilla, Eric Bruntlett, Kason Gabbard, Mike Redmond) - Nothing but U contracts and free agent claims, but still the Penguins netted more money than anyone else because three of their own free agents were claimed. Inglett, Quintanilla and Bruntlett would seem to do no more than replace a year of Placido Polanco, which begs the question of why Polanco was left unprotected in the first place. And why pay $1.2M for Kason Gabbard's 56 crappy innings when Tom Glavine's 68 innings--a little crappier but not much--will be available in secondary free agency for a fraction of that?<br /><br />Speaking of Gabbard, his case illustrates an anomaly created by the relatively new rule that a drafted player must be signed to a U contract if he ever before had a BRASS major-league deal. Gabbard last year was a Y1 player; if he'd been kept by his old team, he'd be a Y2 this year. Instead he was released, presumeably because he wasn't deemed worth a Y2 deal--so now if he's drafted, he has to be signed for twice that? I think the rule should be amended such that if a drafted player's last contract was a Y, he must be signed to whatever contract he would have rated if his last team had kept him.<br /><br />Chuckanut Bay (Max Ramirez, Chris Perez, Aaron Cunningham, Josh Outman, Miguel Batista, Shawn Chacon, Patrick Misch, Denny Bautista, Nelson Figueroa, Mark Redman, Brett Wallace) - When Dave took this franchise over, he was its fifth manager in two years. I don't know who among the other four gets the blame, but the team was desperately short of pitching, and it was left to Dave to apply spackling compound to the bomb crater. He did that here while still picking up at least five serious prospects, but with two free agent claims and four U contracts, it's going to cost him.<br /><br />Colorado (Jose Mijares, Ryan Tucker, Mike Gonzalez, Phil Coke) - These guys are basically afterthoughts compared to the Challengers' four 1st-round picks, but the law of averages says one of them should settle in at some point for a few years of solid relief work. It won't be Gonzalez, though; he was signed to a U2 contract, which will return one good year if he keeps up his good start, and basically nothing for the $3M if he blows up this year.<br /><br />Cream City (Wesley Wright, Keichi Yabu, J.P. Arencibia, Carlos Santana) - Arencibia and Santana are good prospects--there's really no such thing as a bad AM prospect when the league as a whole can only have 48 of them--but Yabu looks like one year and out, and Wright will be a generic middle reliever in the very best case (and even that looks unlikely the way he's started out this year).<br /><br />Dayton (Placido Polanco, Craig Breslow, Arthur Rhodes, Ryan Hanigan, Yonder Alonso, Daniel Herrera, Scott Lewis, Paul Janish, Logan Morrison, Laynce Nix, Cliff Pennington, Eddie Kunz) - Polanco was easily the best value among the unprotected players, and John did well to jump on him early. I guarantee he wouldn't have lasted another round. Who knows what will happen with the rest of these guys, although several of them have started this year well. Foremost among these, to my amazement, is Nix.<br /><br />Diamond (Jason Motte, Steven Shell, Jose Veras, Chris Tillman, Scott Schoenweiss, Billy Sadler, Jesse Chavez, Jonathan Meloan, Michael Aubrey, Jolbert Cabrera, Kurt Birkins, Jonathan Albaladejo) - There's a bullpen in here somewhere. With pitchers--especially relievers--throwing a bunch of them against a wall to see who sticks is a better approach than trying to identify one guy.<br /><br />Duluth-Superior (Colin Balester, Charlie Morton, Sidney Ponson, Glendon Rusch, Lance Cormier, Luis Rivas, Rob Johnson, Franquelis Osoria, Juan Rincon) - Who is hoarding all the innings in this league? (Besides me, I mean.) There are 30 MLB teams feeding 24 of ours, but still we have teams like the Tubas (covered above), Hoth (who was willing to pay five and a half mil and use a bonus round pick to take Joel Pineiro off my hands) and the Dukes, who need innings badly enough to give U contracts to Ponson, Rusch, Cormier and Rincon. (OK, Rusch has perhaps the best card I've ever seen on a pitcher with an ERA over 5, but still.)<br /><br />Great Kills (Ricky Romero, Kory Casto, Chris Waters, Guillermo Quiroz, Bryan LaHair, Paul McAnulty, T.J. Beam) - Romero didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but he wasn't on any top-prospect lists (except for being eighth on BA's list of Toronto prospects) going into spring training. Do you use your only AM pick on someone like that who's off to a hot start, or on a higher-rated prospect who maybe is still in the minors? Always a tough decision, especially now that we draft a couple of weeks earlier than we used to.<br /><br />Green Bay (Brett Gardner, Shairon Martis, Angel Salome, Brian Bixler, Mitchell Boggs, Will Venable, Jeremy Reed, Eric Stults, John Bowker, Ryan Raburn, Freddy Dolsi) - Gardner was worth a flyer; he was going to get every chance because of his speed, and once in awhile this type of player learns to hit. Not this time, it seems. Martis is in a rotation and winning, if not impressively. I was surprised to have Raburn claimed, but he's back in the majors and has a platoon role.<br /><br />Hoth (Blake DeWitt, Travis Ishikawa, Joel Pineiro, Joe Thurston, Gaby Sanchez, Mark DiFelice, Adam Rosales) - DeWitt probably would have been a first-round pick if the Dodgers hadn't signed Orlando Hudson. Gaby Sanchez was a very nice gamble in the fourth round; if the Marlins clear the logjam ahead of him, he'll probably have a better career than Ishikawa, at the very least. But the question all America should be asking is, who is this guy playing second base for the Cardinals and what has he done with the real Joe Thurston? The real Thurston is 29 years old, seven years removed from being a failed Dodgers prospect and has had five cups of coffee for a total of 66 at-bats during that time. The impostor has more at-bats than that a month into the season, and an OPS some 200 points higher than what Thurston managed over his "career".<br /><br />Inyo (J.A. Happ, Ben Zobrist, Ramon Troncoso, Anderson Hernandez, Paul Lo Duca, Francisco Cervelli, Koyie Hill, Mike Hessman, Justin Smoak) - Zobrist is a similar case to Gabbard, mentioned above; if I'd kept him continuously instead of cutting him after he cratered in 2007, he'd be getting a Y2 contract instead of a U3 this year. Hill is almost as surprising as Thurston; I'd have sworn there was a fork sticking out of him three or four years ago.<br /><br />Meridian (David Purcey, Scott Proctor, Brendan Ryan, Dusty Ryan, Nick Evans, Josh Banks, Ramon A. Ramirez, WIll Nieves, Toby Hall) - Oh, great! Two pitchers with the same name, both righthanded, a year apart in age. Let's hope this one either makes the starting rotation or washes out completely so we have some way of telling them apart.<br /><br />Montgomery County (Wilson Betemit, Lou Montanez, Alberto Gonzalez, Darren O'Day, Zach Jackson, Clete Thomas, Scott Holm, Matt Tolbert, James Parr) - Gonzalez would be a very useful backup--great shortstop defense, nice batting card with some pop against righties--except that our contract rules keep him from playing in any month with 30 days.<br /><br />Montreal (Derek Holland, Jesse Crain, Doug Waechter, Carlos Rosa, Jose Ascanio, Matt Tuiasosopo, Jeremy Blevins, Kevin Cash) - Holland was BA's #31 prospect in their Top 100 issue a couple of months ago, and he was taken in the second round, #42 overall. Justin Smoak was #23, and I got him over 180 picks later. Granted, Holland is pitching in the majors now, but he's also in Texas. I'm just sayin'. . .<br /><br />Olympia (Micah Hoffpauir, Brian Bass, Brandon Boggs, Garrett Mock, Jarrod Washburn, Adam Eaton, Angel Berroa, Clayton Mortensen, Vince Mazzaro, Mike Lamb, Chris Burke, Andy Marte) - Hoffpauir's awfully old for a rookie, but it looks like he'll turn out real well if the Cubs ever decide to focus on what he can do in the future rather than what Derrek Lee has done in the past. Mortensen and Mazzaro are AMs, and Kai must have some deep inside information on them. I don't see either one on a top prospect list or a major league roster.<br /><br />Phoenix (Emmanuel Burriss, Gregor Blanco, Darrel Rasner, Tony Pena Jr., German Duran, Humberto Quintero, Masa Kobayashi, Chris Carter, Jeff Salazar, Alex Romero, Ivan Ochoa, Cesar Jimenez) - Burriss has a nice card and a job, and if he turns it around and hits well enough to keep that job, this was a great pick. So far, no. Blanco would be Denard Span Lite if Jordan Schafer hadn't sent him back to the minors; as it is, he's good insurance for the team that drafted Schafer. Chris Carter is. . . the wrong Chris Carter.<br /><br />Plainsfield (Mike Aviles, Buster Posey, Brian Anderson, Sean Rodriguez, Matt Antonelli, Kila Ka'Aihue, Craig Monroe, Greg Golson, Logan Kensing, Sergio Romo, Josh Roenicke, Tommy Hunter, Jayson Nix) - On the one hand, Aviles should have gone earlier in this draft pool, even the way he's (not) hitting this year. On the other hand, for Plainsfield he's an overqualified utility infielder. Monroe seems overpriced, especially at the cost of the U2 contract he was signed to, but he does give the Hitmen a go-to guy off the bench if they need a homer off a right-hander.<br /><br />San Jose (Felipe Paulino, Brian Barden, Bobby Parnell, Conor Gillaspie, D.J. Carrasco, Richie Sexson, Dan Meyer) - Sharp of Dave to notice that Paulino was in Houston's rotation and doing well (although since the draft he seems to have gone to the pen). Chuckanut Bay, with its pitching shortage, could ill afford to lose him. Fitting that this team got Gillaspie, as Dave gets to watch him right there in San Jose. Sexson seems like an overpriced FA claim, but he's devastating in a strict platoon role.<br /><br />Sierra Nevada (Luis Valbuena, Fernando Rodney, Fernando Perez, Alfredo Aceves, Josh Geer, Kevin Jepsen, Kam Mickolio, Clint Sammons) - All through the draft, I had a feeling that I should move Aceves up on my lists, that I'd regret it if I missed out on him. The Yankees just brought him up, so we'll see. Mickolio is on the Orioles' list of top prospects, which isn't saying a whole lot but is good for the 199th pick.<br /><br />SoCal (Jonathan Niese, Jim Thome, Mike Adams, Brian Bruney, Dan Giese, Joaquin Arias, Matt Brown, Joe Mather) - Several players here who at one time seemed to be good bets to come through, but none seems to have so far except maybe Giese. Thome begs two questions: 1)Why did Ashland give him a two-year free-agent contract knowing that next year we dump the DH, and 2)Why was SoCal willing to assume that contract?<br /><br />Southtown (Rafael Soriano, Sean Burnett, Emil Brown) - The biggest cash gainer of the draft next to Ashland, as the aptly named Misers had nearly $9M worth of free agents claimed away. As for draft picks. . . in my summer Strat league, there used to be a guy named John Sokol who every year would trade away all his choices and sit out the draft. Since he left, every year we award the John Sokol Trophy to whoever comes closest to emulating him. This year in BRASS, that would be Henry.<br /><br />Sugar Creek (Kyle McClellan, Fernando Tatis, Mike Lincoln, Juan Rivera, Andrew Carpenter, Justin Speier, Michael Wuertz, Brian Stokes, Shawn Camp, Juan Castro, Angel Guzman, Javier Valentin, Claudio Vargas) - Wow. 13 players, and only two of them (McClellan and Carpenter) won't be unrestricted free agents after the upcoming season. I really, really don't understand why Guzman was signed to a U1 contract, as his card has only 10 innings.<br /><br />Washington Crossing (Joe Nelson, Gabe Kapler, Gordon Beckham, Eddie Guardado, Aquilino Lopez, Reggie Willits, Jeff Larish, Bryan Corey, Mitch Maier) - It pays to study the cards. I looked at Reggie Willits' stat line and saw a .194 BA and a .552 OPS, and assumed he'd be on the SFA scrap heap at the end of the draft. Dave looked at his card and saw a 46% on-base chance against lefties, and of course he can fly once he gets there.Rex Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686894129667009601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-86300651586137970802009-05-06T13:57:00.002-05:002009-05-06T14:06:38.495-05:00Scouting Report: the San Jose GiantsThe team that started the season with the Giants’ A-level affiliate in San Jose may be broken up via roster moves & promotions at any time, but man, has it been sweet so far. There are two probable and five possible future MLB All-Stars on this squad, and as many as 8 likely ML regulars. Keith Law from ESPN did a recent write-up on San Jose’s *opposition* after a recent visit (ouch, that hurt Keith!) but practically every serious reporting organization (Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, etc etc) has written jaw-dropping praise for the recent drafting & international signings done by the much-maligned San Francisco front office, as evidenced by their high A-club. Given that it’s only 10 minutes’ drive from my house & general admission = $10, I figured I’d offer a firsthand take after seeing them Sunday May 3rd & Monday May 4th<br /><br />When I went to see them on Monday night, a night when San Jose will normally draw 500-1000 fans, I arrived a bit late, after the 1st half-inning, and decided to splurge $15 for a box seat instead of the $10 general admission ticket. Good choice. The stadium seats around 4000, and it was about ¾ full on a Monday night, with rain clouds in the offing. I ended up with really the best seat in the house to watch a lefty pitcher – just to the right of home plate, 5 rows back from the field. And that set the stage for…<br /><br />…The Lefty<br />The talk this spring has been all about Madison Bumgarner, who has rocketed up the prospect charts after showing quick improvement in a slider that looks like a future out-pitch at the ML level. The fastball is fierce, reportedly at a David Price-like 94-96 mph. If MadBum’s change (he is working on it now) becomes a plus pitch, he should join Price as one of the best young LHs in years and a #1 starter.<br /><br />When I saw him, the fastball sat at 93-94 and touched 97 at times. I have read that he displays “easy” velocity, and can confirm that assessment. The arm slot is around ¾ but there is a not a lot of effort in the delivery, which he repeated fairly well most of the night. The changeup was on display vs. RH on several occasions and was usually taken for a strike or called for a ball just off the plate outside/high, and came in at 77-81 mph. The concern there is that he’ll need to start it lower in the zone vs. top-level hitters or they’ll make him pay. At the A-level, when the batters were looking for a heater or maybe the slider, they were caught off guard by the changeup. He used it on at least three occasions when he was ahead in the count, 1-2 or 2-2. The slider he had working was a touch faster than the changeup at 81-83 mph. Against RHs it mostly started belt-high in the middle/outside portion of the plate, and breaks in to the batter’s back foot with good tilt. He got several swinging strikes with this pitch. He also displayed some of the toughness that has been mentioned about him, coming high & inside on an 0-2 pitch that hit the batter on the arm. This was definitely a message pitch, intended to try to get the batter off the plate so that the pitcher could own the outside on a 1-2 count. Unfortunately it backfired as the hit batsman came around to score on a SB, error on the throw (catch actually, the throw was perfect), and a sac fly, but the concept was good even if the execution was a bit lacking. I would give his control pretty high marks at this stage though command was average and needs work.<br /><br />Physically MadBum looks like he can hold up well over a long season. He’s not tall, but has noticeably thick thighs that support him well on the mound. Given the relative ease of the delivery he’s probably got as good a shot at staying healthy as any young pitcher especially if he can avoid over-reliance on the slider in favor of the change.<br /><br />The Righty<br />With all the focus on MadBum, we have to add 6’6” RH Tim Alderson to the mix as well when we talk about high-ceiling prospects on this team. He’s mainly a FB/curve pitcher though is adding a changeup as well. When I saw him, the FB was slower than it has been in the past, sitting at 89 and ranging from 88-91. Most scouting reports have it sitting at 91-92, and not having all of his velo on the FB would explain his slow start to the year. That said, the curveball he showed was outstanding all day. He seemed completely comfortable throwing the pitch in any count and broke it off on both sides of the plate at 71-74 mph, generating both called strikes & plenty of swings & misses. If the FB comes back to 91-92, we’re talking about a #2 or #3 SP, and if the changeup comes along, he could even reach #1 status. With his height, I think it’s reasonable to assume he gets 1-2 more mph in the FB as he fills out, and his command is excellent.<br /><br />Great sequence to illustrate this in the 6th inning as Alderson had a 2-2 count on the batter and broke off a curve that may have missed, but if so it was by just an inch or two. Alderson was visibly upset that he didn’t get the call, to the point where I thought “Ok, he’s flustered here”. But he went right back to the pitch for a called strike three, something the batter clearly wasn’t ready for on a 3-2 count. Amazing confidence in the pitch, signaled to him by…<br /><br />…The All-American, and everyone’s future All-Star backstop Buster Posey. Posey put up an OPS of over 1.000 in April, and the Florida State alum really looks the part. For a RH his swing is very smooth, and though he went 1 for 4 and 0 for 4 on the 2 days I was there, he made up for an off day at the plate by nailing a runner going to 2b on a steal attempt on day 1, and making a perfect throw on day 2 that was alligator-armed by the SS. Every throw down to 2b looked smooth and easy, no effort at all, but the ball arrived with plenty of zip. I can see him as a 2eX -2 or -3 type C, and most reports put his power in the 18-20 HR range, with a very high BA and OBP. I saw nothing to discourage that opinion. He’ll be ready for prime time very soon, a RH version of Joe Mauer, and like Mauer also a multi-sport star in HS. High ceiling but also a pretty high probability of reaching that ceiling.<br /><br />The Cowboy<br />Providing lineup protection for Posey in the San Jose order I was surprised to find Wichita State product Conor Gillaspie. Wasn’t hard to know when he was batting though – the intro song he chose is pure Country, some cowboy song whose name I’m sure I should know but have no clue about, an affectation stemming from his alma mater no doubt. But what was interesting was to see him batting 5th when original reports on him had him as a high-average, moderate-power, use-all-fields type of hitter, a #2 guy. I heard David Bell or Bill Mueller comparisons when he was drafted, and thought “Ok, Giants can do worse”. That said, he’s a pure LH, not a SW like Mueller, and the swing & body type I saw (listed at 6’1”, 200) project to more power than I remember those two guys having. In one AB Gillaspie went down the 3B line for an IF single, showing a good ability to go with a pitch on the outside and decent speed (he forced an error on the play), and followed that up with a long RBI double off the wall in straightaway CF. In San Jose the CF sign is at 390 feet, and it was a rainy day with a breeze blowing in at 10 mph & knocking balls down. I think in most ML parks that ball has a good chance to go for a HR, and he hit it well but didn’t quite get all of it. He hit almost exactly the same ball into a much stronger wind on Day 2 of my visit and it died at the track in front of the 390 sign. From what I saw it was crushed, better contact than the double on Day 1, just hit to the wrong place at the wrong time. He has no HRs to date this year, but the park in San Jose was really favoring pitchers on this homestand. I think we’ll see a 2-range 3B with 15-20 HR power there and a chance for more if he fills out & if he learns what pitches he should pull vs. staying back on and driving to LF/CF.<br /><br />The Kid<br />After Posey, the hitter who gets the most attention on this team is teenage 1B Angel Villalona. One look at him will tell you why he got moved off 3B. He’s huge in the midsection, from chest/belly through thighs, a miniature (and RH) version of Boog Powell, as the calves seem small by comparison. He competes well for an 18-year old in high A, and was never close to being overpowered at the plate, but like many young Latino hitters with power, it doesn’t seem plate discipline has been a part of his baseball upbringing. He’s athletic enough to stay in the field for the bulk of his career, but projects to average range at best. The power that should come will be substantial. Lots of torque in the swing, and he has the natural hand-eye coordination to make pitchers pay for mistakes.<br /><br />The Longshot<br />Brandon Crawford was pretty much a no-name when it came to prospect reports. That is, until he played in April. Putting up an OPS of 1.053 in your 1st month of pro ball will get you noticed. The UCLA product plays SS and stands 6’1”, and hits from the left side. The knock on him is that’s he’ll swing at anything, but as long as he hits it, who are we to criticize? He got 2 hits each day I saw him, and the glove was not bad to the 2B side, though I didn’t see him tested by any balls deep in the SS/3B hole. He did short-arm the throw in to the bag from Posey that I mentioned above, but he’s a guy to keep your eye on.<br /><br />The Sleeper<br />2B Nick Noonan got on some radar screens as a 1st round pick in the 2007 draft, but had a quiet first full year in the pros in low-A. This season in high-A he continues to build his resume. He has good speed and baserunning ability, and combines those with good bat control though less than ideal OBP so far. He looks like a #7-8 hitter in the bigs, can play SS as well as 2B, and could also eventually see some PT in the outfield. However, if the plate discipline develops, we could see a reasonable top-of-the order bat here. He should be an average to above-average defender at 2B as well.<br /><br />The Nephew<br />Some of you may remember the occasional 2-way card, where a pitcher is used as position player on occasion, enough to receive a rating in the field. The last such guy was Brooks Kieschnick, if memory serves. Well, meet his nephew Roger. Roger is a 6’ 3” OF with a bit of power potential. He’s athletic and a decent runner, but still best suited for corner OF. His OPS is .823 so far in his 1st pro season out of Texas Tech, and he’s not young for A ball at 22, but with 3 HRs in the early going, a good summer and continued production could put him on the list for a tryout at the pro level late this year or maybe a 2010 spring training invite. He reminds me of a Travis Buck type and is likely headed for a platoon/4th OF role at the ML level unless the power really ramps up.<br /><br />Right now I am just hoping the Giants decide to keep this crew together another couple of months. There is no better value in the game today than $10 or $15 to see a group of youngsters with this much promise. Great beer selection too! I definitely recommend any of the BRASS SoCal contingent to go see these guys when they're in town.Qksilverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13201728580833453065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-83958680132394328002009-03-31T14:22:00.000-05:002009-03-31T14:24:26.589-05:00Yoopers-going forwardLike our country and many industries and people, the Yoopers currently have money woes. It seems we made a few miscalculations on our way to enjoying some wealth, and now it is time for a payback. Sound familiar? Part of the organization is holding out hope for a bailout, or a stimulus bonus. But business goes on.<br /><br />The Yoopers are coming off a very strong 109-53 regular season. This was the I build for, putting many of our eggs in one basket (it is close to Easter). However, Murphy’s Law and a very strong Diamond team visited us in the playoffs, and we meekly bowed out 4-1, and were not even competitive in the losses. So it is back to the drawing board in some ways, but also the same as usual as we have some very big contracts.<br /><br />Of immediate concern is having operating cash for the upcoming season. That problem has been solved by a trade that will be announced. Of a greater concern to me is the following off season. I have Sean Marshall, Fausto Carmona, Bobby Jenks, and Ryan Theriot all on A3 contracts this year. It is doubtful I will be able to sign them all in the way I want. I already had to Give McCann an A3 contract instead of an A5 that I would have liked. It is my hope that I will move one of my big money guys next off season.<br /><br />The key to our continued success will be to continue to draft well. I have used prospects like Briednac, Buchholz, and Adam Miller (there are more, this is off the top of my head) to acquire veteran help. The focus will now shift to maintaining more of our prospects. The only amateur I currently have is Nolan Reimold, who I hope will graduate this season. My other amateur, Jaime Garcia, graduated, but now faces Tommy John surgery. But I also need some Y1 and Y2 guys to step up. Luckily, my favorite part of strat leagues (I am in two) is drafting and following how young players are doing. So I am excited to try to rebuild thru the draft.<br /><br />I anticipate being a playoff contender for the upcoming season. I am strong in the infield with Beltre, Theriot, and Berkman all coming off good years. I will have to get more Abs at 2B, where I have Bonifacio and Punto. But Punto will probably also be a backup SS. Burrell will be my DH. And McCann is coming off a very good year, although I will need to draft a back up catcher.<br />My outfield is more of a concern. Crawford is coming off a down year, and will have to miss about two months. The only back up I currently have is Barton. Although I could put Burrell out there and DH Buscher. CF is great with Tori Hunter. But I have no other rated CF on the roster, so I need a backup. RF is a hole, I have nobody currently. It is a high priority in either the draft or trade.<br /><br />I should be solid at the top of the rotation with Guthrie, Oswalt, and Lannon. Currently the 4-5 spots will be filled in my the disappointing Carmona, Sowers, Laffey, and maybe Dumatrait and JoJO Reyes. It is my hope to use Marshall’s innings in the bullpen. I hope for one starter in the draft as well.<br /><br />I will also have to fill in my pen. I have a closer in Jenks. A good lefty set up guy in Thornton, and another lefty in Marshall. But I will need RH relievers.<br /><br />In short, we have our work cut out for us. But I look forward to it. When I joined the league, my franchise had never been to the playoffs (we have been in the last two years) and was among the dregs of the league, with cap problems We have transformed our selves into a solid contending franchise, and I hope to continue those ways. And all, start saving those pennies, as a big name guy will be available next offseason. LOL. Best of luck to everyone this offseason.<br />Bob-GB Yoopersboblordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18132215927305407153noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-36818894261153724042009-03-24T09:45:00.003-05:002009-03-25T23:23:21.606-05:00San Jose = Cinderella?<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:shirotashun@jcom.home.ne.jp" target="_blank" href="mailto:shirotashun@jcom.home.ne.jp"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cdavidsb%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:"MS 明朝"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-1610612033 1757936891 16 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-1610612033 1757936891 16 0 131231 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">It's an age-old story, and one with even more meaning this time of year, with the NCAA tourney grabbing headlines. After a miserable start, the Scorpions are now window shopping for glass slippers and are one step away from the title.
<br />
<br />It's been a long haul for the squad, through the winding path of all wild card teams with big dreams. This was a team that almost punted after losing its first ten games of the season, and going 13-14 in April. Rumors had team star Carlos Pena on the trade blocks, but instead management saw opportunity despite the sluggish start to the year, and managed to trade for Mark DeRosa and Brandon Webb in order to make a stretch run. Webb went 7-2 after the trade, and carried the team to the playoffs while helping to save a somewhat beleaguered bullpen.
<br />
<br />In the WC round, the Scorpions matched up against a tough <st1:place st="on">Meridian</st1:place> squad with a similar regular season record. In a seesaw game 1, Ryan Doumit came on against <st1:city st="on">Meridian</st1:city> closer Matt Capps with <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> down a run 6-5 and down to their last out with a man on base. Doumit came through in the clutch with a 2-run jack that sent the home fans into a frenzy. Game 2 saw Doumit continue his torrid regular season (1.053 OPS) by going 3 for 3 and DeRosa go 3 for 4 with 3 RBI to lead <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> to a 2-0 series edge with a 6-3 win. After a Game 3 loss on the road where Vlad Guerrero smashed 2 homers for the Trojans, Roger "The Pincushion" Clemens tossed a complete game shutout and Josh Bard hit a PH 3-run homer to close out the series and advance <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> to the Silver LDS round.
<br />
<br />In the LDS, <st1:city st="on">San Jose</st1:city> squared off against a <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city> squad that finished a scant 1 game behind the Scorpions in the regular season. <span style=""> </span>The Sunsets took game 1 in spectacular fashion, scoring 3 runs to erase a 5-3 deficit in the top of the 9<sup>th</sup> inning.<span style=""> </span>Moises Alou went 2 for 3 with a HR and 3 RBI to lead the way, and the heretofore untouchable Manny Delcarmen took the loss.<span style=""> </span>Game 2 saw the home team mount a furious rally in the bottom of the 9<sup>th</sup>, down 4-1, but we came up just short for a 4-3 final.<span style=""> </span>Derek Lowe notched the “W” with 7 strong innings of work.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Scorpions then donned their road jerseys and made the trek to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Montreal</st1:city></st1:place> to try stop the Sunset steamroller.<span style=""> </span>Game 3 featured a pitcher’s duel with Joe Blanton and Daisuke “Dice-K” Matsuzaka going toe to toe with neither starter giving an inch.<span style=""> </span>In the top of the 9<sup>th</sup>, <st1:city st="on">San Jose</st1:city> managed to eke out a run off the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city> bullpen as pinch hitter Jayson Werth singled home the only score of the ballgame.<span style=""> </span>Blanton lasted 8 innings and gave up just 5 hits and no walks.<span style=""> </span>Delcarmen was back in form to close <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city> out in the 9th.<span style=""> </span>In Game 4, the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> bats came to life in the 4<sup>th</sup> inning, putting up 6 runs against Sunsets starter Carlos Zambrano, and the team held on for a 7-3 victory.<span style=""> </span>Webb went the distance in the win, and just like that, the series was even at two games apiece.<span style=""> </span>In Game 5, the Sunsets took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the 7<sup>th</sup> and held on for a 6-2 win, with Lowe once again providing 7 strong innings of work.<span style=""> </span>DH Jonny Gomes drove in 3 runs on 2 hits to help the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city> cause.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">With a 3-2 lead in games, the series went back to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> and the tension was palpable.<span style=""> </span>In games 3 & 4 in <st1:city st="on">Montreal</st1:city>, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> sparkplug Reggie Willits had been beaned in the 1<sup>st</sup> inning in each game and knocked out each time, and the Scorpions crowd was calling for retaliation on their home turf.<span style=""> </span>That set the stage for an ugly game in every sense of the word.<span style=""> </span>Sunset had struck first blood, and <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> was down 5-1 in the 5<sup>th</sup> inning when Country Joe Blanton came high and tight to Macier Izturis, who couldn’t avoid the 91-mph heater and went down hard after it caught him on the earflap.<span style=""> </span>The dugouts exchanged angry words and but Blanton managed to settle down and retire the side.<span style=""> </span>In the bottom half of the inning, Chris Snyder was at the plate for San Jose with two men on when Chad Billingsley cut loose a fastball that hit Snyder square in the back.<span style=""> </span>Both dugouts emptied, but after a huddle the umpiring crew determined that there could be no intent on Billingsley’s part to hit Snyder and therefore load the bases.<span style=""> </span>A couple of singles cut the lead to 5-4 and chased Billingsley from the game, accompanied by catcalls from the partisan crowd.<span style=""> </span>In the 6<sup>th</sup> inning, the Scorpions rallied for 4 runs on a gland slam by Carlos Pena to grab a 8-5 lead.<span style=""> </span>San Jose would add 2 more in the 7<sup>th</sup> for a seemingly commanding 5-run margin at 10-5, but the bullpen almost gave the game away in the 9<sup>th</sup> as Montreal pushed 4 runs across the board before Delcarmen came in to put out the flames, and San Jose hung on for a 10-9 win to force a game 7.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After the huge buildup, Game 7 turned into a laugher quickly as the home team scored almost at will against Dice K, putting up 9 runs in the 1<sup>st</sup> 4 innings of play.<span style=""> </span>Pena, completely quiet in the series until his clout in Game 6, confirmed that he had found his power stroke by sending two more balls over the wall, good for 4 RBI on the day.<span style=""> </span>Webb absolutely dominated from the mound, tossing a complete game shutout on 125 pitches, striking out 10 in the process & giving up just 4 hits & a walk, and San Jose moved on to the LCS with a convincing 12-0 win.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the LCS, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> was matched up against a Duluth-Superior squad that it had dominated during the regular season, winning all 7 games.<span style=""> </span>But in the LCS, fond <st1:city st="on">San Jose</st1:city> memories of the season sweep were quickly erased as the Dukes took the 1<sup>st</sup> two in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style=""> </span>Albert Pujols and Erik Bedard starred for D-S in Game 1, a 6-2 win, and in Game 2 the Dukes scratched out a 3-2 win behind 3 innings and 6 Ks from their 2-headed bullpen monster of Joe Nathan and Mariano Rivera.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once again, the Scorpions needed some magic on the road, and Game 3 did not disappoint as WC hero Doumit and LDS hero Webb contributed epic performances.<span style=""> </span>Doumit set the tone with a Grand Slam in the 1<sup>st</sup>, and he went on to pound the Dukes pitching for 3 hits, 2 dingers, and a jaw-dropping 7 RBI.<span style=""> </span>Webb once again went the full distance, this time needing just 120 pitches, giving up 1 earned run and 7 hits on the day against 7 Ks.<span style=""> </span>Game 4 was a back-and-forth battle that went to extra innings.<span style=""> </span>In the 10<sup>th</sup>, pinch hitter Josh Hamilton hit an RBI single with the bases jammed that held up.<span style=""> </span>Ryan Franklin got the win with 3 scoreless relief innings, and the series was tied at 2 games each.<span style=""> </span>Game 5 was over quickly, as the Scorpions erupted for 5 runs in the 3<sup>rd</sup> and cruised to an easy 14-3 win.<span style=""> </span>Mark Ellis was 3 for 3 with a Grand Slam and 5 RBI to lead the way for <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">San Jose</st1:city></st1:place>, and Blanton needed just 112 pitches to nail down the victory in a complete game effort.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Game 6 was close throughout, and after Webb went 7+ strong innings, the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> bullpen came on to preserve a 5-3 win.<span style=""> </span>Ellis and Hamilton chipped in 2 RBI each to lead the way for the home team, and the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city> fans held a raucous postgame celebration on the field with their team as they completed the comeback series victory and claimed the Silver League crown. Now we await the outcome of the Gold League to see if the glass slipper might actually fit...
<br /></p> </a>Qksilverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13201728580833453065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-30107927610965811232009-03-24T09:26:00.001-05:002009-03-24T09:27:57.647-05:00Duluth-Superior Dukes Postseason RecapThe Dukes first opponent was the Cream City Pirates. The Dukes got off to a fast start in Game 1 scoring 5 runs in the first three innings. Alex Rodriguez had a 2-run homer in the first to keep the home town crowd quiet for the rest of the game. Five pitchers combined to beat the Pirates with Nathan finishing the job and a 5-2 victory and Duluth-Superior taking a 1 game to none lead.<br /><br />Game 2 the Cream City Pirates dominated all game and whipped the Dukes 7-0. Shane Victorino was the star of the game as he went 3-4 and scoring 2 runs and knocking in one. Four Pirate pitchers combined for the shutout and Cream City and Duluth-Superior are tied at 1 game apiece.<br /><br />With the series ties 1-1, the Dukes were feeling pretty good playing the next three at home. Game 3 saw the Dukes start right away scoring 3 runs in the first. Alex Rodriguez went 3-5 and was one of three Dukes to drive in two runs. The others were Justin Morneau and Albert Pujols. Chris Young pitched a gem going 6 innings while only giving up one earned run. The big three Rodriguez, Morneau and Pujols each homered in the game. The Dukes won 6-5.<br /><br />Game 4 went to the Dukes to take a commanding 3 games to one lead in the series. Pirate pitcher Jeff Francis gave up seven walks in 3 and 2/3 innings pitched. Offensively, Michael Cuddyer came through with a bases clearing triple.<br /><br />Game 5 saw a low scoring 3-2 11 inning Pirate win, each starting pitcher went 7 2/3 innings. Dukes pitcher Eric Bedard struck out 11 batters while walking only one. Alex Rodriguez hit his 3rd homerun of the series. B.J. Upton was the difference as he hit a game winning homer in the top of the 11th, his second of the series.<br /><br />Game 6 in Cream City was another nail biter. The pitching matchup pitted Javier Vazquez and Rich Hill. Vazquez pitched in to the 8th on a two-hitter and striking out nine Cream City Batters. Rich Hill walked seven batters and was tagged with the loss. The Dukes went on to win game 6 and the series with a 2-1 score. Millar homered for the Dukes.<br /><br />The Dukes were on to meet up with the San Jose Scorpions. The Dukes were on the road again for games 1 and 2.<br /><br />Game 1 matched Eric Bedard and Barry Zito. Bedard pitched 6 strong innings striking out five batters. Bedard would be the winning pitcher as the Dukes outscored the Scorpions 4-2. Offensively the Dukes got big hits from Albert Pujols (2-4) knocking in three of the four runs scored. Scorpions’ Jimmy Rollins went 3-3 and two runs scored.<br /><br />In game 2, Javier Vazquez kept his strong postseason going, getting seven strikeouts and allowing only one earned run. Joe Blanton also pitched well for San Jose going six innings. The winning run was scored in the 7th inning as Rafael Furcal doubled and stole third. With Furcal on third, Juan Pierre delivered the game winning RBI single. The Dukes won game 2 by a score of 3-2 and had a commanding 2 games to none lead in the series with the series coming to Duluth-Superior for the next three games…..How could we lose?<br /><br />Game 3 saw the start of the Dukes bats go silent as the Dukes would only score 11 runs in the last four games. The Scorpions won game 3 by a score of 9-2. San Jose’s big hitter was Ryan Doumit hitting two homeruns, going 3-5 with 7 RBI. Others hitting homeruns were Willie Harris and Nate McLouth.<br /><br />Game 4 was a little closer but same result, San Jose wins outscoring Duluth-Superior 4-3 in 10 innings. Travis Hafner hit his first homerun of the series. In the top of the 10th, Carlos Pena walked, Hafner doubled him to third. Jimmy Rollins was intentionally walked to load up the bases. Josh Hamilton the singled in the eventual game winner. With the series now tied at two, the Dukes were feeling pretty down.<br /><br />Game 5 was a laugher and the San Jose bats really woke up torturing the Dukes inning after inning totaling 15 runs on 12 hits. Dukes pitchers allowed 8 walks and four hit batters. Joe Blanton went the distance for the Scorpions allowing only five hits while striking out six batters. Mark Ellis had a grand slam homerun to start off the slug fest.<br /><br />Game six capped off San Jose’s four game streak and end the series. San Jose won 5-3. The key at-bat was Josh Hamilton’s double in the fourth innings plating two runners. Winning pitcher Brandon Webb won his fourth game of the postseason. Webb finished the series with a 2.19 ERA.<br /><br />Some notable Dukes stats:<br /><br />Team Batting Average: .213<br />Homeruns (12 games): 10<br />Opp. Homeruns: 14<br />Stolen Bases: 14<br />Dukes batters hitting above .250: ONE-Alex Rodriguez<br />Dukes batters K’s: 78<br />Dukes pitchers K’s: 113Other Sidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06475658453374184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-56658668795429958322009-03-24T09:24:00.001-05:002009-03-24T09:26:14.786-05:00Dukes' DominanceThe Duluth-Superior Dukes find themselves in quite a quandary. A rough season or two may be in their future.<br /><br />After seasons of 112-50 in 2006-07 and 106-56 in 2007-2008, the Dukes were picked as preseason favorites to come out of the Silver League to challenge the Plainsfield team. The Dukes did win the Copper division but with only a 95-67 record.<br /><br />Consider the years their players have had in the “real” major leagues.<br /><br />We aren’t talking just run of the mill players but high dollar contract players saw a lot of time on the disabled list.<br /><br />Take a look.<br /><br />Tim Hudson, $12.1M, pitched only 142 innings. Not all that bad one might say. The problem….of the four remaining starters totaling a little more than $28M, he has the most innings pitched.<br /><br />Chris Young, $1.2M, was signed to a U1 contract this year mainly because he is so injury prone, a broken nose, strained arm. He amassed a total of 102 innings.<br /><br />Brad Penny, $10M, he had to have pitched hurt all year. Penny pitched only 95 innings and his stats were horrible. 6.27 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP, striking out only 51 batters in those 95 innings.<br /><br />And then there is Erik Bedard, the one my real favorite team (Seattle Mariners) just had to trade for. His contract is $4.8M and I am going to get a whopping 81 innings out of him. He did strike out 72 batters though, so hopefully I will get quality there.<br /><br />Rafael Soriano was hurt most of the season too. Soriano was a huge part of the Duke bullpen this last year. One of the strong areas the Dukes have is their bullpen. “I knew if we had the lead after 6 innings and we turned it over to the bullpen, I knew we had the win,” manager Mike Swanson said. Soriano totaled 14 innings last year for the Braves.<br /><br />My injury bug does not stop there though. My offense was hit as well too.<br /><br />Rafael Furcal was able to get in 163 plate appearances before his season was done. My cost: $10.8M. He did hit well before the injury. His batting average is equal to that of his Dukes teammate (well teammate for now) .357.<br /><br />Another Duke to get injured was Mike Cuddyer. Cuddyer was released from his contract with the Dukes because of the shortage of money. Cuddyer was able to get 274 PA’s last year but not enough to warrant a long term contract from the Dukes.<br /><br />Other players that saw reduced playing time was Juan Pierre $10.5M. In his limited 397 PA’s he was able to steal 40 bases and still was unable to become a fulltime outfielder for the Dodgers.<br /><br />Tadahito Iguchi saw a reduction in playing time as well, which forced the Dukes to release him.<br />The Dukes have only 20 players under contract before the free agency period and have only $2.7M to spend.<br /><br />Players like Justin Morneau, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez may have to be traded to keep this team afloat.Other Sidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06475658453374184885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-33503519895012104422009-03-15T16:21:00.002-05:002009-03-15T16:40:16.116-05:00The Face: Looking UpA year ago in this space, I painted a very bleak picture of the prospects for the Inyo Face. The season bore me out, as we finished with 95 losses and an entry in the draft lottery. But a number of developments have brightened the picture considerably:<br /><br />- Last year I handed out a number of inexpensive two- and three-year contracts to free agents to provide respectable roster fill. These players have almost all held their value, providing me a base from which to build. The only major exception is Tom Glavine, who went from ace of the staff to most likely to have his contract on the cafeteria menu.<br /><br />- Pitchers blossomed all over the place. Chris Volstad came up from the AM ranks to take the quality part-time rotation role held by Ubaldo Jimenez last year. Jimenez, meanwhile, graduated to staff ace. Nick Blackburn takes a full-time rotation slot right behind Jimenez. Seemingly failed prospects Seth McClung and J.P. Howell had their best MLB seasons ever. Chan Ho Park, who provided nothing at all in the second year of a three-year contract, is back as a solid swingman in his walk year.<br /><br />- Dioner Navarro's breakout happened on schedule, allowing me to trade Mike Napoli (who has a fine card himself, albeit with limited usage). Milton Bradley, an RFA re-signed for a bargain price, put up one of the best cards ever seen. He was included in the Napoli trade (more accurately, Napoli was included in the Bradley trade) to net two very promising youngsters.<br /><br />- Jorge Cantu came back from a wasted year to take over as the full-time third baseman. He's also the team's best power hitter, which points up our main weakness.<br /><br />Contention might be out of reach with Plainsfield in our division, but the Face should be able to manage a .500 record and avoid another draft lottery.<br /><br />**************************************************************************<br /><br />On a different subject, you've got to take a look at the Dayton Dragons. The talent they have on Y contracts is absolutely jaw-dropping. This was foreshadowed in the financial review and the minor league review, but it's still amazing to see it take shape.<br /><br />Despite ranking the Dragons #1 in my minor league review, I didn't really do them justice, because I somehow overlooked Jay Bruce. I wrote that the talent behind Evan Longoria was such that they'd rate in the upper half of the rankings even without him. What I should have said was that they'd be #1 even without Longoria, assuming Longoria didn't go to anyone else.<br /><br />In my other Strat league, which only uses carded players, Longoria and Bruce went 1-2 in the rookie draft this year, and the consensus was that there was a big gap between #2 and #3. Here in BRASS, the same team has them both, along with other cheap stars and the most financial muscle in the league. I've always felt sorry for myself for being in Plainsfield's division, but I'd sure rather have to deal with them than with Dayton over the next five years.Rex Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686894129667009601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-63116394546535778442009-03-15T14:16:00.002-05:002009-03-15T14:22:59.038-05:00A re-introductionI remember when I joined Brass five years ago, I wrote an introduction of myself. Five years later, there are still many of the same managers in this very stable league. But there are also some new managers, and I wanted to re-introduce myself to them. It has always been a penchant of mine to put a personal touch on things.<br /><br />I grew up in Menominee, Michigan, an hour from Lambeau Field. So technically, I am a Yooper, but was right on the Wisconsin border. I graduated form Northern Michigan, in Marquette. So I spent four years on the shores of Lake Superior. Eventually I settled into a teaching position in Wautoma, Wisconsin. I taught 5th grade, and did some coaching.<br /><br />In fact, I have head varsity football experience (one interim year), and head freshman experience. I also served as a varsity assistant some years, and ran the middle school program others. I coached football for a total of 15 years. I also coached 7th grade boys and girls basketball for a combined 12 seasons.<br /><br />In 1989, I was diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition called Myasthenia Gravis (it causes weakness and fatigue).. I worked with the condition as long as I could. But as I pushed past 40 years old, it became more and more difficult to teach full time with it. In 2000, I applied for, and got, disability.<br /><br />Upon going on disability, I moved to Green Bay, for girlfriend and family reasons (hence the name Green Bay Yoopers). I bought a condo in 2002, and have been here since. When I first moved here, I coached the 8th graders in football at De Pere, for something to do. I did that for four seasons. But even that got to be a little much, so I gave it up.<br /><br />So now I spend lots of time with friends and family, as well as Nancy and her family. I am in two Brass leagues. I go to the Y almost daily. In fact, while teaching, I weighed in the 240s and wore a size 42 waist. Now I weigh 190 and have a size 36 waist. I pride myself as being a good race handicapper, and go to the OTB room at the local casino about three times a week (I bought this computer out of profits lol). I am a crossword person as well. About 18 months ago, I started a message board for Packer fans . It is going well, and even in the off season we get as many as over a hundred posts like last Thursday. It is at:<br /><a href="http://members6.boardhost.com/TALKinPACKERS/">http://members6.boardhost.com/TALKinPACKERS/</a><br />If you would like to check it out. I am DTB on the board. (it stands for Dog Track Bob, as a few of my friends like to call me)<br /><br /> I have a few of you as friends at Facebook. If anyone else has a page and would like to add me, please feel free.<br /><br />So that’s me. I enjoy the Brass league and have every intention of seeing my team through the salary cap mess I created. I did drag my team out of despair once, and can also deal with this. LOL.<br /><br />Coming in about a week: The state of the Green Bay Yoopers!boblordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18132215927305407153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-10286708199784047352009-02-28T23:21:00.002-06:002009-02-28T23:34:31.093-06:00Best Seasons in BRASS HistoryAfter the depressing chore of cataloging the worst seasons in league history, I thought I should balance it out by posting the best seasons (defined as 115 or more wins)...<br /><br />135-27: 1995-1996 Diamond Gems<br />133-29: 1998-1999 Diamond Gems<br />133-29: 2000-2001 SoCal Knights<br />132-30: 2004-2005 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />129-33: 1994-1995 Diamond Gems<br />127-35: 1999-2000 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />126-36: 1999-2000 Diamond Gems<br />126-36: 2008-2009 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />125-37: 1994-1995 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />122-40: 1998-1999 Long Island Knights<br />122-40: 2001-2002 Diamond Gems<br />121-41: 1996-1997 Meridian Trojans<br />121-41: 2003-2004 Iowa Roscos<br />120-42: 2002-2003 Diamond Gems<br />120-42: 2007-2008 Diamond Gems<br />119-43: 1997-1998 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />119-43: 1999-2000 Long Island Knights<br />119-43: 2002-2003 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />119-43: 2007-2008 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />118-44: 2000-2001 Washington Huskies<br />118-44: 2006-2007 Cream City Pirates<br />117-45: 2002-2003 Andover Cougars<br />117-45: 2003-2004 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />116-46: 1995-1996 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />116-46: 2001-2002 Plainsfield Hitmen<br />116-46: 2003-2004 Dayton Dragons<br />116-46: 2006-2007 Montreal Sunsets<br />115-47: 1999-2000 SoCal Knights<br /><br />The Plainsfield Hitmen this year tied for the 7th best record of all-time. Way to go Kevin Kolb!dwdickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11588142816330685843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-22311347507414030762009-02-28T22:32:00.002-06:002009-02-28T23:20:55.722-06:00Worst Seasons in BRASS HistoryGiven my team's poor performance this year, I thought it would be fun to post the worst seasons in BRASS history (worst defined as less than 50 wins)....<br /><br />27-135: 2001-2002 Iowa Roscos<br />30-132: 1996-1997 Petoskey Stones<br />31-131: 2000-2001 Andover Cougars<br />32-130: 2002-2003 Iowa Roscos<br />36-126: 1998-1999 California Bums<br />36-126: 1999-2000 Happy Valley Heroes<br />37-125: 2005-2006 Southtown Misers<br />38-124: 1993-1994 Midland Canucks<br />38-124: 1997-1998 California Bums<br />39-123: 1994-1995 Santa Monica Sharks<br />39-123: 1999-2000 Andover Cougars<br />40-122: 2002-2003 Montreal Sunsets<br />42-120: 2008-2009 Olympia Seariders<br />42-120: 2004-2005 Duluth-Superior Dukes<br />43-119: 2002-2003 Leesburg Spartans<br />43-119: 2005-2006 Duluth-Superior Dukes<br />43-119: 2008-2009 Chuckanut Bay Tubas<br />44-116: 1992-1993 Crystal City Cherokees<br />45-117: 2000-2001 Meridian Trojans<br />45-117: 2004-2005 Meridian Trojans<br />46-116: 1993-1994 Long Island Knights<br />46-116: 1996-1997 Berkeley Hippos<br />46-116: 2001-2002 Twin Cities Challengers<br />47-115: 1996-1997 Racine Regals<br />47-115: 1998-1999 Happy Valley Heroes<br />47-115: 1999-2000 Washington Huskies<br />47-115: 2008-2009 Phoenix Phoenix<br />48-114: 1995-1996 Avenel Raptors<br />48-114: 2001-2002 Andover Cougars<br />48-114: 2006-2007 Meridian Trojans<br />49-113: 1996-1997 Kalamazoo Koszmics<br />49-113: 1997-1998 Hoth Rebels<br />49-113: 1999-2000 Meridian Trojans<br />49-113: 2003-2004 Milwaukee Magicians<br />49-113: 2004-2005 SoCal Knights<br /><br />Whaddya know, I'm barely in the top 20. :-)dwdickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11588142816330685843noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20947972.post-71092219018438676562009-02-21T14:12:00.007-06:002009-02-21T14:28:49.957-06:00Sierra Nevada Goldens Finish Home Schedule Strongly by Going 9-2 vs. Division Foes for Best Home Month of 2089 SeasonThe Sierra Nevada Goldens entered the final month of the 2089 Brass season trailing their Copper Division rival Duluth-Superior Dukes by 2 games and the Iron Division’s Montreal Sunsets by 7 Games for the Silver League’s final wildcard slot. The September schedule saw the SoCal Knights come to town for 4 games, the Duluth-Superior Dukes for 3 games, and the Phoenix Phoenix finished the homestand with a 4-game set.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Goldens Sweep SoCal Knights 4-0 with Four Comeback Victories</span><br /></strong><br />The series against the Knights was a wild one. In all four contests, SoCal jumped out to an early lead and each time, the Goldens stormed back like a team surging to win the Copper Division title and enter post-season play.<br /><br /><strong>Game 1:<br /></strong>The Knights jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the 3rd inning off of the Goldens #5 starter, Kyle Kendrick who gave up 3 HR’s in the early going to Kelly Johnson, rookie Joey Votto, & Gabe Gross. Kendrick hung in there though and he didn’t allow any more runs and left the game tied after 5 1/3 innings. The Goldens smashed 3 HR’s of their own, the last two coming in the bottom of the 7th by Jim Thome & Dan Uggla giving the Goldens all they would need for the 8-6 victory. Thome was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s & rookie CF Josh Anderson was 2 for 3, got beaned twice, and scored 3 times as the lead-off man. Andy Sonnanstine took the loss giving up 11 Hits, 2 Walks, & 2 HR’s in 6 1/3 innings of work.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Knights: 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 6 10 0<br />Goldens: 2 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 X - 8 13 1</span><br /><br />W: Brian Fuentes<br />L: Andy Sonnanstine<br />S: Francisco Cordero<br /><br /><strong>Game 2:<br /></strong>The 2nd game of the series was expected to be quite a pitching matchup featuring Jeremy Bonderman for the Knights vs. Mark Buehrle of the Goldens. To the contrary, both starters were roughed up severely and neither figured in the decision in what was the wildest game of the homestand. The Knights exploded early with 3 runs in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, and a whopping 7 runs in the 4th to knock out Mark Buehrle who gave up a total of 11 runs (9 earned) on 11 hits & 3 walks. He left the game losing 9-3 after letting 7 consecutive Knights batters reach base in the top of the 4th without recording an out. Amazingly, once rookie sensation Kevin Hart entered the game relieving Buehrle, the Knights did not get another hit until the 8th inning. On the other side, as soon as the Knights went ice cold, the Goldens went to work to erase the 8-run deficit by scoring 17 consecutive runs from the 4th inning on. The Goldens sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the 5th to score 7 runs of their own off Bonderman and Chad Durbin in relief, and they never looked back as they scored 3 more in the 6th, 2 in the 7th, and 4 in the 8th. Sierra Nevada had a season high 20 runs on 23 hits & scored in every inning except the 2nd, the only 1-2-3 inning. Kevin Hart was excellent in relief of Buehrle, going 4 innings with 4 walks and 4 K’s to earn the win. For the 2nd straight game, Josh Anderson had a big night. Today he was 5 for 6 with 4 runs & 2 RBI’s. Jermaine Dye had a solid game going 2 for 4 with a walk, a double, a homerun, and 4 RBI’s. DH Adam Dunn was 3 for 4 with 2 doubles & 2 RBI’s. Bengie Molina went 4 for 6 with 4 runs, a homerun, and 2 RBI’s. Every starter for the Goldens had at least 1 hit.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Knights: 3 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 - 11 14 1<br />Goldens: 1 0 2 1 7 3 2 4 X - 20 23 3</span><br /><br />W: Kevin Hart<br />L: Chad Durbin<br /><br /><strong>Game 3:<br /></strong>This matchup proved to be the closest of the series, but the Goldens overcame an early & a late lead to win 5-4 in their 3rd come-from-behind win of the series. The Knights’ Jered Weaver started against the Goldens’ Aaron Harang & both made it into the 7th inning before departing. Weaver left the game leading 4-3 and was stingy giving up only single runs in the 1st, 2nd, & 5th innings on 9 hits and 7 strikeouts. He walked 1 and did not allow a homer. Harang battled him tough giving up 4 earned runs on 6 hits and a walk thru 6+ innings.<br /><br />The Knights started quickly once again as the first three batters of the game got hits and two of them scored. Coco Crisp led off the 2nd inning with a triple and scored on the Knights’ 2nd sac fly in as many innings jumping out to a 3-1 early lead. The Goldens tied the game at 3 in the 5th as Aaron Miles, Josh Anderson, & rookie David Murphy hit 3 consecutive singles off Weaver. In the 7th, the Knights took a 4-3 lead with a double from Eric Chavez off starter Aaron Harang followed by a single from Adam Lind two outs later off of young phenom Carlos Marmol. The Goldens completed their thrilling 5-4 comeback with 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th when Edgar Renteria led off the inning with a pinch-hit single off Ron Flores, stole 2nd, & scored on a double by Dan Uggla. Matt Herges then came in to relieve Flores and was greeted with the game-winning pinch-hit double by Hank Blalock. Francisco Cordero saved the game after loading up the bases on a single and 2 walks in the top of the ninth. Rookies Josh Anderson and David Murphy each had 2 hits and an RBI at the top of the lineup for the Goldens.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Knights: 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 10 0<br />Goldens: 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 X - 5 12 0</span><br /><br />W: Kevin Hart<br />L: Ron Flores<br />S: Francisco Cordero<br /><br /><strong>Game 4:</strong><br />The series finale featured the SoCal Knights’ Shaun Marcum against the Sierra Nevada Goldens’ Gil Meche. The Knights scored in the 1st inning for the 4th straight game, this time on a grand slam from rookie catcher J.R. Towles, his first career homer. The Goldens cut the lead in half with a 2-run homerun by Adam Dunn in the 3rd, but Meche gave up a solo shot to Adam Lind in the 4th knocking him out of the game losing 5-2 on 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings for another ineffective Goldens start. The Knights extended the lead to 7-2 in the 6th when Brian Fuentes surrendered a 2-run double to Michael Young.<br /><br />Entering the bottom of the 6th, it appeared that the Knights would finally be safe with a 5-run lead, but Jermaine Dye crushed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 6th off Marcum and he left with a now 7-4 lead. In the 7th, pinch hitter Conor Jackson touched up reliever Chad Durbin with a double with two men on and scored when right fielder Andre Ethier misplayed his ball into a two-base error to tie the game! The Goldens scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to give them their 1st lead of the game and the margin of victory on an error by Knights shortstop Michael Young & a clutch 2-run double by Goldens rookie first baseman, Joe Koshansky. It was his first hit in his first major league at bat. Francisco Cordero earned his 3rd save of the series with Kendry Morales representing the tying run at the plate in the 9th.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Knights: 4 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 - 7 14 2<br />Goldens: 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 3 X - 10 14 1</span><br /><br />W: Carlos Marmol<br />L: Chad Durbin<br />S: Francisco Cordero<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Goldens Win 2 of 3 vs. Duluth-Superior in Fight for Division Crown</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Game 1:<br /></strong>The series opener gave the Goldens their 5th consecutive comeback victory in as many games on the current homestand. This time is was the Dukes who took the brunt of the Goldens opportunistic ways as they overcame a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 8th and a 1-run lead in the 12th to win the game. The game featured Dukes’ starter Erik Bedard against the Goldens’ Josh Beckett. Each starter allowed a solo homerun. Bedard allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings while striking out 6 and left the game winning 2-1. Beckett had it a little tougher as he battled through 6 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits while fanning 2 batters. The heroes of the day started to appear in the bottom of the 8th as the Goldens overcame a 2-run deficit with solo blasts from Jose Guillen & Dan Uggla (his 2nd of the day) which led to extra innings. In the top of the 12th, it appeared the Dukes scored the eventual winning run when Jamey Carroll hit a 1-out triple and scored on a Heath Bell wild pitch. But in the bottom half trailing 5-4, the Goldens rallied back with leadoff pinch-hit double by Carlos Beltran. Josh Anderson then singled Beltran to 3rd & then Adam Dunn walked to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Hank Blalock then hit a sac fly to tie it at 5. Aaron Miles then came in to pinch-hit for Jermaine Dye and won the game on a single for a thrilling victory.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Dukes: 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 5 11 0<br />Goldens: 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 - 6 14 1</span><br /><br />W: Heath Bell<br />L: Joe Nathan<br /><br /><strong>Game 2:<br /></strong>The Goldens won their 2nd game in as many nights as the race for the Copper Division crown got even tighter. Sierra Nevada knocked Duluth-Superior starter Brad Penny out of the game after only 2 2/3 innings who gave up 5 runs on 5 hits with 3 walks. The big blow came in the bottom of the 3rd as Penny surrendered 4 runs on 3 RBI doubles to David Murphy, Adam Dunn, & Dan Uggla and a bases loaded walk to Bengie Molina. Mark Buehrle pitched a strong 6 2/3 innings for the Goldens and left the game with a sizable 8-3 lead. The Goldens bullpen was good enough behind the arms of Heath Bell & Carlos Marmol and won the game easily 11-6. Bengie Molina had a big day for Sierra Nevada going 2 for 3 with a double, a homerun, and 3 RBI’s. Conor Jackson also chipped in with 3 RBI’s on a bases loaded triple in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs to put the game out of reach.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Dukes: 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 - 6 10 0<br />Goldens: 0 1 4 1 2 0 3 0 X - 11 12 1</span><br /><br />W: Mark Buehrle<br />L: Brad Penny<br /><br /><strong>Game 3:<br /></strong>The Duluth-Superior Dukes avoided the series sweep with an amazing pitching performance where the Goldens barely made a whimper in a 15-0 shutout. The game featured the Dukes’ Chris Young against the Goldens’ Aaron Harang. Young earned the win on the day and gave up only 3 hits and 4 walks in 5 1/3 while striking out 4. The shut out was carried to the end with solid relief performances by Wes Littleton and Jon Rauch. On the other side, Aaron Harang was torched as he gave up 8 runs on 7 hits & 3 walks in only 3 1/3 innings of work. The finishing blow was a big 3-run homer by Alex Rodriguez in the 4th, an inning where the Dukes piled on 6 runs for a 9-0 lead. The Dukes finished with 15 hits on the day. Alex Rodriguez went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI’s with a double and a homerun. Leadoff man Juan Pierre was 3 for 6 with a double and scored 3 times. Michael Cuddyer also had a big game for the Dukes as he was 2 for 3 with 3 RBI with a double and a homerun.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Dukes: 0 2 1 6 0 3 1 0 2 - 15 15 1<br />Goldens: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 2<br /></span><br />W: Chris Young<br />L: Aaron Harang<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Sierra Nevada concludes 2089 Home Schedule Taking 3 of 4 Versus Last Place Phoenix</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Game 1:<br /></strong>The Goldens suffered their 2nd consecutive shutout on the homestand, this time to the Phoenix Phoenix in the series opener. Phoenix’s Josh Fogg went the distance in a complete game as he gave up only 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 8 in a 5-0 victory. Sierra Nevada’s Gil Meche was roughed up for 5 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings of work. The Phoenix had a balanced attack with 10 his. Kenny Lofton had 2 hits, including a triple, 1-run, and an RBI.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Phoenix: 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 10 0<br />Goldens: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0</span><br /><br />W: Josh Fogg<br />L: Gil Meche<br /><br /><strong>Game 2:<br /></strong>The Goldens jumped over Phoenix starter Jason Schmidt early en route to an easy 8-2 victory behind the arm of Orlando Hernandez who pitched a solid 5 innings for the win. Schmidt’s demise came in the 4th as the Goldens pounded out two singles and two doubles and two stolen bases in the 5-run inning. Schmidt left the game after 3 1/3 and was charged with 6 runs on 8 hits and walked 4. The Goldens pitching was solid behind Hernandez, Brian Fuentes, and Heath Bell, giving up only 2 solo homers to Kenny Lofton & Garret Anderson in the 6th. For the Goldens, Conor Jackson led the charge going 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI & scored twice. David Murphy & Jermaine Dye also produced with a double apiece and 2 RBI’s each. The game was never in doubt after the Goldens led 7-0 after 4 innings.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Phoenix: 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 2 4 2<br />Goldens: 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 1 X - 8 11 0</span><br /><br />W: Orlando Hernandez<br />L: Jason Schmidt<br /><br /><strong>Game 3:<br /></strong>For the second straight game, the Goldens jumped out to an early lead as Aaron Harang pitched a gutsy 10-4 complete game victory. Matt Chico took the loss for the Phoenix as he gave up 9 runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. The Goldens scored 4 in the first inning on 3 singles from the top of the lineup, followed by a 2-run homer by Dan Uggla who finished with 3 RBI’s on the day. Rookie David Murphy had a big day going 4 for 5 with a double, a triple, and an RBI & scored 4 times! Jermaine Dye had his second straight big game going 3 for 3 with a homerun, 2 RBI’s, and scored twice. Harang struck out 12 for the Goldens in the 9 innings as he walked only 1 batter and spread out 9 hits. The only Phoenix threats came in the 2nd and 4th innings as they scored 2 runs in each frame to keep the game close until the Goldens broke the game open in the 5th with a pair of runs for an 8-4 lead.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Phoenix: 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 9 2<br />Goldens: 4 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 X - 10 12 0<br /></span><br />W: Aaron Harang<br />L: Matt Chico<br /><br /><strong>Game 4:</strong><br />The Goldens defeated the Phoenix Phoenix for the 3rd straight game to win the series 4-1. Today’s game saw a matchup of Phoenix’s Josh Towers against Goldens’ rookie Juan Gutierrez, making his 1st big league start. Gutierrez was very impressive pitching 7+ innings while striking out 5 in hitter friendly Great American Ballpark. Gutierrez pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball until he gave up a solo shot to Jason Smith to lead off the 8th. Fuentes preserved the victory for the youngster with 2 perfect innings while striking out 3. Sierra Nevada jumped out to a 1st inning lead for the 3rd straight game as rookie David Murphy remained hot with a 2-run bomb and finished 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and added a double. Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye also added a homerun each in the 7-1 victory.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Phoenix: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 4 0<br />Goldens: 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 2 X - 7 11 0<br /></span><br />W: Juan Gutierrez<br />L: Josh Towers<br /><br />The Goldens completed their best homestand of the year going 9-2. The upcoming road trip figures to be very exciting as they continue to hunt down the division leading Dukes. The division figures to be settled during a 4-game set at Duluth-Superior in the middle of the trip.Doug Fredriksenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11311875460837631162noreply@blogger.com0