[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 4-4
Seasonal Record: 43-48 (6th, 19 GB)
Stars of the Week
Doc Love : 29 AB, 15 H, 5 HR, 11 RBI, .517 AVG, 1.645 OPS
Mike Taylor : 30 AB, 14 H, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .467 AVG, 1.233 OPS
John Kincaid : 35 AB, 14 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .400 AVG, 1.004 OPS

Weekly Schedule
7-16: Win vs Cannons (2-3)
7-17: Win vs Stars (6-14)
7-18: Loss vs Stars (5-4)
7-19: Win vs Stars (4-6)
7-20: Loss vs Stars (6-2)
7-21: Loss vs Saints (11-10)
7-21: Win vs Saints (2-4)
7-22: Loss vs Saints (16-11)

Summary
Not going to lie, I still have not recovered from the Tommy Wilcox injury, but I am going to do my absolute best not to mention it every sim. No promises, but I'll try to cover the better stuff. This was a mediocre week, 4-4, but when Norm Stewart and Herb Lowman have to make starts in a season that doesn't matter, 4-4 almost feels good. As crazy as it seems, we'd pick 6th in the draft if the season ended now. We conceivably could pick top five and after another injury (Bill Ashbaugh) chances are we are going to keep on losing more. The Wolves and Chiefs are tied for the fourth pick at 39-51 while Detroit (35-54), Washington (31-58), and Baltimore (29-63) are the top three.

This was a weird week, but Doc Love took home Player of the Week. He crushed the ball like I thought he would at home, going 15-for-29 with 5 homers and 11 RBI's. He really heated up this month, batting .393/.452/.667 with 7 homers and 16 RBI's in 21 games. For the season he boosted his batting line to .332/.379/.529 (125 OPS+) with 14 homers and 50 RBI's. He's on pace for 24 homers and 85 RBI's in his first full season as a starter. He's not the best defensively, but he more then makes up for it at the plate.

Love likely had the best offensive week of the entire year (303 OPS+), but both Mike Taylor and the now injured Bill Ashbaugh did excellent. Taylor was 14-for-30 with 2 homers and 9 RBI's while Ashbaugh was 5-for-11 (got hurt game four) with a homer and 3 RBI's. Taylor was named an All-Star, but he's hit just .280/.340/.453 (97 OPS+) on the season. He's hit 13 homers and drove in 51 RBI'S and he's on pace for his third straight 20+ home run season. Taylor still is one of the best catchers in the game, but he's having such a poor season in comparison. His career average is .312/.377/.487 (126 OPS+) and he consistently put up excellent seasons. In his six previous seasons, he had a 125 or higher OPS+ in all but his 1930 season. It's nice he's also starting to heat up, but I'd love it if he saves all the good weeks for next year. Ashbaugh will miss at least five weeks with a sprained knee, so he's almost guaranteed to have his worst season. He's hitting just .290/.350/.438 (96 OPS+) with 4 homers, 5 steals, and 41 RBI's in 243 trips to the plate. This is after three straight seasons with exactly a 124 OPS+ and 10+ homers and 75+ RBI's. Unfortunately for us, the 20+ homer and 100+ RBI Ashbaugh is a thing of the past and this is injury #10 for the 30-year-old. The former 4th Overall Pick will hit the DL which opens up more playing time for Woody Armstrong and Clyde Hinzman.

A few other Cougar hitters had strong weeks, including Joe Masters who really struggled his first two weeks as a Cougar. He was 12-for-32 with 7 RBI's. He's done awful as a shortstop, but John Kincaid hit .400/.432/.571 with a steal, a double, triple, homer, and 2 RBI's. Like many other Cougars, 1934 has been a career worst, batting .336/.378/.453 (107 OPS+) with 3 homers, 3 steals, and 36 RBI's. Cy Bryant did well too, going 13-for-30 with a triple and 6 RBI's.

On the pitching side, it was kind of a nightmare. Dick Lyons looked well in his two starts, 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts, but Norm Stewart and Herb Lowman were roughed up. Stewart made his first two big league starts of the season and they could not have gone much worse. He gave up 28 hits and allowed 12 runs in 13 innings with 5 walks and 4 strikeouts while we lost both of his starts. Lowman got a no decision, but allowed 7 (6 earned) with 12 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Even Dave Rankin struggled, allowing 12 hits and 4 runs in 7 innings with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts, but at least he picked up a win. Dick Leudtke split his starts, going 15.1 with 22 hits, 8 runs, 7 walks, and 7 strikeouts. We allowed 52 runs in the eight games so even though we scored almost seven a game, we still lost half of them. A healthy Wilcox would have got the two Stewart starts, so I'd have to imagine this would have been a 5-3 if not 6-2 week. The 5-4 loss to the Stars could have still been a loss with Wilcox, but I can't imagine Wilcox would've gave up 11 runs to the Saints.

Of course, with Ashbaugh going to the DL, I get to call someone up from AAA. Art Black will make his major league debut, making him the 26th of our 30 top prospects from 1929 to appear in an FABL game. Black will move Lowman back to the pen, and will get a few starts to show me what he can do. Norm Stewart will get at least one more go around, but I've got a bunch of AAA arms that could replace him. I could bring back Johnny Walker, who tossed a 5-hit shutout in his return to AAA or perhaps one of the former Toronto starters Frank Howk or Bert Sweet. I could bring Gus Cain or Mickey Williams up, but Williams had only made a few AAA starts and Cain has been used mostly out of the pen. Even below AAA are a few big league options, including Gordie Thompson, Bobby Love, or Joe King who would all be set to debut. Former Forester Harvey Tully and former Cougar Tommy Russel make up the AA rotation with them and I even have former Gotham Phil Hicks down in A working on regaining his form from when he was taken 5th Overall in 1928. I have the rest of the season to look forward to 1934, as I have at least two open rotation spots with no Wilder and no Wilcox.

Speaking of Wilder, he lasted just 7 starts in the FA before heading back to the CA. He was traded to the Kings who are looking to reach the Foresters who sit five games ahead of them. Wilder struggled with Boston, going 3-4 with a 5.24 ERA (85 ERA+), 1.62 WHIP, 23 walks, and 21 strikeouts. One of the prospects I got back, Johnny Cox, I sent to the Chiefs over the weekend in a minor trade for 2B Ray Ford. He's not much of a defender, so I'm working him out at first base in A ball. The former 14th Round Pick went 6-for-16 this week in Lincoln. He's got a good eye and elite contact skills, but he's got to hit if he wants to make the majors as I don't trust the glove. I wanted to keep Cox, but he doesn't go too deep into games. He's a really good arm, but I'm betting on Ford's upside versus the high floor of Cox.

Another thing I didn't mention was that we replaced Pozza with former Forester manager Hank Leitzke. The 57-year-old was the Foresters manager from 1930-1933, but was a minor league Manager from 1914-1927 with the Kansas City Packers/Eagles and then the Cincinnati Steamers manager in 1928 and 1929. He'll get three months to impress me, but I'm not if I'll prefer him over Hank Sims. The Saints signed Pozza, who threw Saints Ace George Thomas 151 pitches in his first start. This was the most of the season for the league leader in pitches per start (134). Thomas tore his labrum last season, so all I can do is hope that the 24-year-old (who I've been a huge fan of since high school) does not face a similar fate as Wilcox. And you can see why I hate Dick Pozza...

Looking ahead, we finish the series with Montreal (44-45) before the Kings (56-33) come to town for four. For some reason, the Kings cannot beat us (well, or the Foresters, but who can) while they've beat up on every other team in the league. I expect them to significantly outplay us in this upcoming series. Speaking of Cleveland (61-28), the first place Foresters will join us for three to end July. We're off on the 31st, where our long homestand ends. We've already lost 13 games in July, equal to the 13 we lost in both May and June where we were 16-13. I have little faith in our performance this week, so I'd expect us to drop most of these upcoming games. We're likely going to have our worst month since the dreadful 1932 July where we were 11-18. We need to go 3-5 to match that, but we face the two best CA teams.

Minor League Report
Leo Mitchell had a strong performance on the 21st, going 5-for-5 in a 9-7 loss to the Atlanta Peaches. Mitchell ranks as our top prospect, and he's hit .386/.430/.503 (148 OPS+) with 4 homers and 56 RBI's as he continues to rake in AA. Mitchell projects to be a top notch contact hitter with decent speed and a strong glove. If he didn't throw left handed, he could probably be a shortstop if not a third basemen due to his excellent defensive abilities. Johnny Waters hit the DL this week, so I'm going to try Mitchell out in right until Waters is back. I have no clue if he can handle the outfield, but I'd love it if Mitchell wasn't stuck to first base. He's in the middle of a 20 game hit streak as well and is hitting an insane .434/.482/.513 in the month of July.

Amateur Report
I know exactly who I want in this draft. That would be Ray Tracy! Tracy went 7-4 with a 3.04 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 43 walks, and 100 strikeouts in 112.1 innings pitched. These numbers aren't very great and Tracy projects to be a "relatively ineffective contributor," but the 6'1'' righty from Chicago, Illinois is a senior at Jones in Chicago. Now known as William Jones College Preparatory High School, me, Ray Tracy, and 1936 draftee Bud Canfield all share the same high school! Canfield is the better prospect, and went 6-2 with a 1.51 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 19 walks, and 89 strikeouts, but Tracy was the first OOTP player I've ever seen from my high school! I've seen a ton from my college, but this was something I never expected. At my time there, we were pretty good, but just a handful of guys went D1 and no one was nearly good enough to be drafted. I won't waste an early pick on him, but he'll be at least an 11th Round pick this year. I plan on taking a lot of Illinois kids (especially in the auto rounds), but I can't see anything cooler then having a guy from my high school throw meaningful innings as a Chicago Cougar.