WEEK 5
1 @ Detroit Off Day 3 vs CHI 2 @ PHX
GM NOTE: Here is our standing statistically through the seasons first 22 games. Not anything to talk up at all, anywhere.
4/25
FLA 10 DET 4 Dunham W (1-4 7.81) 7 IP!!!! 5 H 5 K 3 ER Tovar 2-3 2B HR 4 RBI
LEAGUE NEWS: San Diego (7-16 13.5 GB) Lost setup man Jeff Cole for the year. Maybe they're in the market for a RP???
4/26
OFF DAY
4/27
FLA 7 CHI 2 Barranco 4-5 2 RBI (.400-5-17) Downs 5.2 IP 5 H 8 K's 1 ER (1-3 4.63)
LEAGUE NEWS: Doug Tune (WSH) 8.2 IP 2 H 10 K 0 ER (2-2 2.31) Juan Mercado (SF) 5-5 3 RBI
4/28
CHI 8 FLA 5 8-1 into the 9th, Nabbe (3) and McDowell (2) with 2R HR. Barranco 3-5 2B RBI (.410-5-19) Baldwin can't get past the 4th (0-2 6.14) 4 IP 7 H 2 ER 3 BB 3 K's 84 pitches
RJ Stanton (CHI) (3-0 2.40) 7.1 IP 6 H 1 ER 7 K
GAME NOTES: RP Jared Neuman pulled up after his 1st toss in the 6th with a stiff back. Post game it became clear it was more than that and the recommendation is to shut him down for 2 weeks.
LEAGUE NOTES: Luo-Iang Koo (MEM) 3-3 3 HR 4 RBI 4 R (.292-7-16)
LEAGUE NEWS:
Trouble in Oklahoma:
The Oklahoma Drillers have 8 playoff appearances and 1 World Title (2000) in their 16-year history. After a division title in 2003, they fell to 79-83 last year. Off to a 10-16 start this year the leagues most insufferable owner, Jeremy Imel decided he'd seen enough. GM Gerald Donaldson (hired in 1999 helped them to 2 division titles and their only world series win in 2000, then a third, second and first place finish over the following 3 years.) was let go He has an amazingly good reputation amongst the leagues other GMs and baseball ops folks and I have no doubt he'll find a home soon. Just as stunning was the firing of manager Kevin Burgess. Burgess was the inaugural manager for the franchises 1st two seasons, winning the wild card both years. He walked out after the '91 season after a public fallout with the ownership family and was immediately hired to skipper the Kodiaks in Alaska and would lead them to 104 win season and the playoffs where they were beaten 4-1 in the LCS by New York. They plummeted in '94 falling 26 games to a 78-84 record though injuries played a huge part in that. They were at 58-78 the following year when he was let go again. That winter, again in a highly public manner, Burgess and ownership 'kissed and made up'. Oklahoma got off to a horrid 6-20 start that year and he was rehired as the teams on the field skipper. They would go a combined 115-164 through the end of the '95 season and then he would help them to 5 straight divisional titles in '96 (lost 3-1 in DS to LA) '97 (again downed 3-1 by LA in DS) '98 (beaten 3-2 by Pittsburgh) '99 (AGAIN beaten 3-2 by the Miners) and culminating in 2000 where they bested the Generals of Ohio 4 games to 3 in the World Series. Bench Coach Jeff Datz will take over in the interim and no one has been named to the GM position as of today.
GM NOTES: Neuman's injury is hazy enough that the 10 day DL is our best recourse. Ben Herman, just acquired from Memphis on waivers will get the call. We'd likely have gotten Chris Fitzgerald back on the Alamogordo to Miami express but he's thrown 3 straight days and with our rotation, there's no doubt we need arms ready every night. I'm also thin enough at AAA and AA that I need to look to the market. 31-year-old Ab Van Gaalen has sat through the winter FA market and is still sitting. He wants a 1.7m deal and I have the budget room. I'm clearly making the offer to a guy I would PRAY is not here past the deadline. He's a career 42-35 with 62 saves with his best season in '99 where he went 9-8 with 40 saves and a league-leading 76 appearances and a 3rd place finish in the Rivera award. He's punched out 675 in 613 career innings. On a personal note, he was a 1990 find of the Hitmen who signed him at 16 years old out of Aruba.
4/29
CHI 8 FLA 4 (11) Baeza 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 K Morrison .1 IP 5 H 5 ER in 5 run 11th.
LEAGUE NEWS: Ignacio Justiniano (MIN) CG SHO 3 H 8 K (3-2 3.08)
4/30
FLA 3 PHX 2 Bzios 5 IP 6 H 1 ER 91 pitches (4-2 5.90) Quiller 3-5 2B 3B 2 R (.303-0-3) Barranco 2-4 ends April hitting .404-5-18
LEAGUE SUMMARY FOR APRIL
American leagues leading hitter?? Not going to lie it kind of snuck up on me. Hell of a month. Hard not to notice Loetzschs' month either. LA is clearly the class of the league right now. After a 1-11 start, we've managed to go 8-7 over our last 15.
And the April Award Winners
AL POTM- Domenic Loetzsch (LV) .388-13-36
NL POTM- Dave Manzer (KC) .345-9-27
AL PITCHER- Chad Ragan (BRK) 5-0 2.25 42 K 40 IP .184 AVG
NL PITCHER- Toshiyoshi Nakata (LA) 5-0 2.43 40 K 42 IP
AL ROOKIE- Juan Barranco (FLA) .404-5-18
NL ROOKIE- Steve Campagna (WSH) .398-2-11
ORGANIZATION SUMMARY FOR APRIL
When the upside to an entire page dedicated to your organization is your 3 hole hitter and lone A ball team you know there's a safe distance between you and a world series
Seriously though the most disturbing numbers on here are those of my starting rotation. Yes the offensive sucks, for the most part, the defense is kind of holding its own but everything starts and finishes with your rotation and mine is a huge problem. I certainly didn't expect awards to be flowing but I did expect more consistency in at least innings pitched. The WHIP category would be awesome if it we're in fact ERA, but it isn't.
The outfield isn't great but it also isn't bad enough to push buttons right now. Our #8 hitting prospect, Hidetoshi Fujimoto is hitting .326-3-9 at Alamogordo and I was tempted earlier to think about a call-up. I'm glad I didn't. 2B Sergio Salinas is hitting .437-0-15 in AA alongside 3B Luis Figueroa who is at .314-3-13. Pitching, like in the ABA, is killing me at all levels. There was not nearly enough on the market in the way of serviceable arms to fill out rotations and the biggest mistake I could make would be forcing young arms too fast. Our top-ranked prospect has yet to hit the field as he works out at the international complex and our top-ranked hitting prospect (Luis Salinas) is waiting for the draft, some new teammates and the Short Season schedule to get here.
LEAGUE NEWS
OKLAHOMA FILLS ITS HOLES
A move sure to cause conversations around the league the Drillers hired 59-year-old analyst Nehemiah Sanon to take over as their new GM. No one saw this coming given the volume of great names on the market. He somewhat old school in his love of speed and defense and sabermetric guys everywhere deplore him for the simple fact he takes his scouts word as religion. Known to want a deal, and aggressive looking for them to. He's a fan of younger players.
44-year-old John Russell returns to the dugout after a decade advising different clubs and trying his hand at running amateur baseball camps. Russell managed the Washington Jets in 1995 finishing 76-86 and walking away from the game in a mutually agreed upon parting. Not really sure his old school hit and run and love of the sac bunt will still be popular.