[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-2
Seasonal Record: 62-65 (5th, 19 GB)
Stars of the Week
Lou Kelly : 20 AB, 9 H, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .450 AVG, 1.638 OPS
Cy Bryant : 17 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .529 AVG, 1.176 OPS
Joe Masters : 22 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .409 AVG, .871 OPS

Weekly Schedule
8-27: Win at Saints (6-5): 13 innings
8-29: Loss at Cannons (9-10)
8-30: Loss at Cannons (3-6)
8-31: Winn at Cannons (6-1)
9-2: Win at Sailors (6-4)

Summary
We're a super boring and mediocre team who will probably play well enough to ruin our draft position and end up picking 8 through 10 instead of 5th. Things are much more exciting in Brooklyn as the red hot Kings (81-46) are riding an 8 game win streak and are somehow three games ahead of the struggling Foresters (78-49) who dropped five in a row including a three game sweep at the hands of the Kings. I don't know what's going on there, but I still think Cleveland will finish in first. Brooklyn has to deal with a ton of road games and they're better at home. After two games in Chicago, the Foresters have all but three of the rest of the season at home. They're also better at home, and I learned the hard way (and the easy way) how helpful finishing the season at home is.

So we won just two games this week and I am shocked that they were both against the Cannons. At 43-85, they probably want to keep losing, although they have the #2 pick locked up as the Chiefs (56-72) and Wolves (54-75) probably can't catch them. The Fed gets the first pick this year, so Washington (43-83) is basically on the clock.

Looking at the final month of the season, we'll play one more against the Sailors (67-62) before heading home for a double header with Cleveland (78-49). We get another off day before welcoming both New York (66-62) and Baltimore (43-85) for four. It'll be interesting to see how we end the year as we've been decent (30-27) in Chicago and the offense tends to really pickup. We finished August 13-14, so at least half of our months will be .500 or worse. We're 1-0 in September, so we already have a head start on a .500 month. May and June were both 16-13, but there aren't enough games this month to copy that.

Lou Kelly keeps taking things personal, putting up another excellent week that should have earned him Player of the Week. He was 9-for-20 with 3 homers and 10 RBI's (plus 7 runs) in just five games. All the homers and 8 RBI's came in a 10-9 loss against Kelly's former employer, the Baltimore Cannons, but he did get three hits in the Montreal game and a hit in each other game. Nothing against Harry Barrell, but I don't see how 17-for-33 (5 RBI's, 11 runs) is better other then the fact he played more. Cy Bryant also had three great games, going 9-for-17 right after I started taking away more of his starts. He had three hits in all three games including a pair of doubles in our 6-5 win over the Saints to start the week. Tom Taylor, Doc Love, and Mike Taylor all added another homer. That's 27, 19, and 16 for our top three. Masters and Kelly are at 15 and 14, so perhaps we can get five guys to 20 before the season ends. It's probably pushing it, but if Kelly stays hot who knows what will happen. Most of our games are at home, and our stadium is easy for anyone to hit a homer in, so the deck is in our favor. Love did have another rough week, 5-for-25, so he's definitely psyched to return home.

On the pitching side, half the rotation did excellent and the other side, well... Left a little to be desired. Starting with the bad, Ace McSherry made likely the worst and final start of his career. He went 6.2 innings with 13 hits, 6 runs, a walk, and a strikeout in a loss to the Cannons who are dead last in the CA in runs scored. In his three starts he allowed 12 runs, 23 hits, and 9 walks in 21.2 innings pitched. The other poor start was also against the Cannons, as Dave Rankin went just 6 with 9 hits, 8 runs (5 earned), 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

Dick Lyons got the final start against the Cannons, going 7 and a third with 4 hits, a run, walk, and 2 strikeouts to pick up his 11th win on the year. Dick Leudtke made the two non-Cannon starts, but drew a pair of no decisions. The one against the Sailors was the better, 8 strong innings with 7 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), and 3 walks. He pitched nine of the 13 innings in the finale with the Saints, and despite his 15 hits allowed just 5 runs (4 earned) with 2 walks and strikeouts. He's back even with walks and strikeouts (70), but his August was excellent. He was 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 8 walks, and 11 strikeouts in 5 starts. He's shown improvement each month, dropping his ERA and WHIP in each month.

With rosters expanding, I'm bringing up a few reinforcements. Milwaukee is playing meaningful games right now as they're in first, so I'm not going to completely deplete the team. Norm Stewart will come up to make some big league starts and I'm bringing up veterans Forrest Sylvester and Ed Calvert to give us a few pieces on the bench. Neither is too important to the team, and it allows me to bolster the bench a bit. From Mobile, Herb Lowman returns from his rehab assignment and Harry Simmons will also rejoin the big league club. Bill Ashbaugh will stay down in Lincoln a little longer as I want him to get more reps at third. With Ashbaugh, that will give us 29 of 35 roster spots taken up, but I'm not too sure if I'll fill up our roster. I want Art Black and Johnny Walker to continue making starts, so they'll probably finish the season in Milwaukee. Most of our other 40 man guys are older depth players and it's not worth bringing up Rich Langton, Ray Moore, or Leo Mitchell since they aren't Rule-5 eligible and I'd need to burn an option in the Spring as none of them would enter the starting lineup next year. In the AA rotation I have both Pete Carey and Bobby Love who are Rule-5 eligible, but I'd prefer them making starts in AA as opposed to sitting in our pen. If Stewart gets roughed up too much, I may bring one up to eat a start or two. Next week I may bring up AAA catcher Ken Wyatt so we have a third one on hand, but he'd need his contract purchased (like Carey and Love). We have three empty spots, but it's really only two as Wilcox and Combs will eventually take one up. There are a handful of guys I can DFA, but I think Milwaukee will be better served with Wyatt staying down there.

Minor League Report
The Class C season ends today, and La Crosse will finish third, either 79-61 or 80-60, so I'll cover some of the guys with a strong season:

Freddie Bennett: He hit just a slightly average .280/.338/.512 (101 OPS+), but hit 24 homers, stole 20 bases, and drove in 112 runs. He also added 27 doubles and 11 triples in an overall strong season. He spent time at second, third, and short and excelled defensively at all three spots. He's got legit 20/20 potential and I'm a big fan of the 20-year-old. He showed tremendous improvement from last season and likely will start next season in San Jose. There are very few infielders with his power/speed/defense combo, but he does strikeout a lot and doesn't have the best eye. I think his future is at shortstop, but he could be an awesome off the bench player who can fill in at all four infield spots.

Gene Evans: Another 20-year-old, Evans spent time at first, second, and third, but he's likely never going to play third base again. First may end up being his final spot, but he's relatively passable at second. He's a strong hitter, and slashed .334/.383/.495 (109 OPS+) with 9 homers, 18 steals, and 88 RBI's in 621 trips to the plate. He's got good contact and strong speed with developing power. He'll get a late season call up to San Jose and he'll spend the rest of the year playing second base for them.

Cuno Myer: He didn't play much last season, but the 1932 22nd Round Pick made the most of his 318 trips to the plate this year. He hit .352/.400/.530 (121 OPS+) with 7 homers and 48 RBI's in a strong season. The switch hitter boasts above average contact potential with a strong eye and great power. He is a beyond awful defender, with a somewhat impressive -14.9 zone rating in just under 600 innings. I can never count on his glove, but if his bat continues to improve like it did this year, it won't matter how many errors he makes.

Bobby Mills: Recently added to the top 100, Bobby Mills checks in at 97th in the league. He split time between San Jose and La Crosse, and will likely join San Jose again if I callup another outfielder. In just under 200 trips to the plate, Mills hit .309/.369/.511 (109 OPS+) with 8 homers and 39 RBI's. "Nutball" spent most of the season in right, but he didn't look all that great in the field. He's a plus contact hitter with an excellent eye, but I'm a little worried about finding a position for him. He's young and raw, so he's got a lot of room to grow, but there is no guarantee he ever reaches his lofty potential. My scout thinks he could be better then Tom Taylor (well, current Taylor not prime Taylor), who seems to be on the decline. He's our #3 outfield prospect, behind left fielder Rich Langton and center fielder Marty Roberts, so he's currently set as one of our future starters.

El Long: He may not be the most heralded prospect on the team, and even after allowing 5 runs in just a third of an inning in his last start of the season (we somehow won 18-17), he went 7-6 with an impressive 4.44 ERA (121 ERA+) and 1.54 WHIP (by this leagues standards) with 56 walks and 50 strikeouts. The jump in walks this season was a little alarming, but the 6'1'' righty added some more on his cutter and he hovers around 90. He needs to polish his curve or change if he wants to start in the majors, but he's got a long way to go. He's done a great job adding speed each year and he's as hard working as it gets. If he can just polish up his control, Long has a bright big league future.

Cy Sullivan: The highest touted prospect in our system, the extremely raw former 4th Round Pick had a dominate July and ended the season with a 5.29 ERA (101 ERA+) and 1.76 WHIP. The 6'6'' righty walked 71 and struck out just 39, but this is much better then the 84 and 24 from last year. He added two miles to his fastball and he's really started to polish his repertoire. His fastball, curve, slider, and changeup all look like big league quality pitches and his slider should develop into a really strong strikeout pitch. He's got to polish out his control, but my scout thinks his ceiling is higher then every pitcher in our organization except good 'ol Tommy Wilcox, who at one point ranked as the #1 pitcher in all of baseball. Sullivan currently ranks 37th in all of baseball and fourth in our organization, but I have high hopes for the former high school shortstop.

Harry Mead: Finishing off with another top prospect, Harry Mead ranks 47th in the league and sixth in our system. He didn't have a great year, but he improved on his first pro season with a decent .324/.380/.444 (97 OPS+) batting line. The lefty catcher from Harvey, Illinois added 10 homers and 87 RBI's in 568 plate appearances. My scout says he's "been making real and significant improvement at the plate" which really bodes well for his future. His plate discipline is excellent and anything with the bat a catcher can provide is a plus. My scout raves about his defense and I'm really excited with how his development has gone. He may end up at first, left, or right because of his throwing arm, but I'm going to ride the left catcher until he shows it's a hinderance to his defensive ability.

Amateur Report
Checking in on another Chicago kid, Earl West gets the headline today. He goes to school in New York, but he was born in the Chi and he'd love to be a Cougar! He had a strong senior season, batting .448/.524/.667 with 2 homers, 31 RBI's, and 34 steals. He walked 13 times and struck out just 3 times while spending time at first, second, left, center, and right. He's tiny, just 5'6'', but he's got a ton of offensive talent plus the speed and athleticism you love to see in a natural centerfielder. He's got "obvious talent both on the field and at the plate" although supposedly he relies too much on that natural talent. He's committed to White Sands University and potentially will defer a draft selection and head there instead.