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ayaghmour2 · 06-03-2021, 01:02 PM

Weekly Record: 1-5
Seasonal Record: 1-5 (8th, 4 GB)
Stars of the Week
Russ Griffin : 7 AB, 4 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .571 AVG, 2.054 OPS
Paul McLain : 21 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .381 AVG, 1.000 OPS
John Lawson : 26 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .385 AVG, .792 OPS

Schedule
4-20: Loss vs Sailors (7-3)
4-21: Win vs Sailors (2-3)
4-22: Loss vs Sailors (6-4)
4-23: Loss at Wolves (9-7)
4-24: Loss at Wolves (4-5)
4-25: Loss at Wolves (3-8)

Recap
It's pretty difficult to accomplish, but with just a single win we managed to already fall four games out of first place! Not only that, we are the only FABL team to win less then two games in the first week! Nice! #1 pick, here we come...

Yes, too soon to panic. I know. We could have just as easily been 0-6 and since a pennant isn't in the cards, I'm hoping there won't be many of these 1-5 weeks. Or if there are, hopefully it involves weeks where Dave Rankin and Pug Bryan don't struggle too. Starting with the soon-to-be four-time loss leader, Rankin was the only Cougar to make and lose two starts. To make matters worse, they were both truly awful starts. The first was Opening Day where he was tagged with 9 hits and 7 runs (3 earned) in 7 innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The second finished the Toronto sweep where he allowed 10 hits, 8 runs, and 5 walks with just a single strikeout in only 5 frames. I'm not worried, this is the same guy worth over 6 wins above replacement last season and four error games will make anyone pitch bad. Nothing to worry about here. Now Pug did not have a dream debut, 6 hits, 5 runs, 7 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 6.1 against a tough Sailors team. I almost pushed his start back to the Wolves series so Oscar Morse could pitch against his former team, but I'm not sure the result would have been much different. The pitching wasn't all bad, just one earned run charged to the pen and both Fritz and Lyons had strong starts. Shoutout Clarence Crane as well, four more scoreless innings to extend his streak to 22 consecutive innings without allowing a run.

We didn't hit much, and in fact mustered up only one homer for the week. It was from an unlikely source, the almost cut Rule-5 Pick Russ Griffin who was our #1 star of the week despite not starting a single game. He was excellent off the bench, 4-for-7 with a walk, double, triple, homer, and two runs scored and driven in. That won't get him any time over Lawson, however, who was 10-for-26, but failed to record an extra base hit. Despite a three error week, Paul McLain handled the bat, going 8-for-21 with 3 doubles, a triple, 2 RBI's, and 3 runs scored. Doc Love was an identical 8-for-21, but he had 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 3 RBI's. Overall, lot's of empty hits, as despite six of our hitters (10 or more PA's) featuring .300 or higher averages, only one had an OBP above .400 and only one had a slugging above .500. It's a little early to worry too much about fractional stats, but singles alone aren't the way to win games. At least we can only go up from here! Can't fall into 9th place!

Looking Ahead
It wasn't on purpose, but to start week two, the best team in the CA gets to feast on the worst team. The Cleveland Foresters have started the season 5-1 despite their new look. The Foresters of old featured Max Morris, Leon Drake, and Eddie Quinn, but that trio has been replaced with Bill Moore, Roy Bradley, and Lou Martino. Moore was part of the Drake/Morris trade, Martino came over from the Stars, but Bradley is the biggest new piece. Washington's 3rd Round Pick in 1932, Bradley broke out in a part time role last season and the soon to be 26-year-old has developed into one of the brightest young outfielders in baseball. But after acquiring Moxie Pidgeon from the Gothams, the Eagles tapped into their impressive offensive reserves to acquire Eddie Quinn and a 2nd Rounder from Cleveland. Bradley had a down first week, but in 545 FABL plate appearance he owns a nice .337/.374/.521 (121 OPS+) batting line with 6 homers, 16 steals, and 108 RBI's. He's sandwiched himself between Dan Fowler and T.R. Goins, creating a very strong middle of the order. Of course, the true strength is the pitching, and while I think that means Dean Astle, OSA really likes Sergio Gonzales. I'm not as sold on the 25-year-older, but he entered the season in the top 5 for pitchers. Regardless, him and Lee Drouillard are as good of a 2-3 as you can get, and they have reliable vets in Lyman Weigel and Lou Martino to wind out an impressive rotation. I expect them to have zero trouble with up, but since we are home, maybe we'll steal a game? Maybe?

On the road after that, but it'll be just for two with the Sailors. They're an even 3-3, dropping a series to the Foresters after facing us. I'm a little surprised they have John Kincaid on the bench in favor of Mack Deal (former Cougars!), but the exciting new addition to the lineup is longtime top 10 prospect Rip Lee. The 23-year-old topped out at 5 in the 1936 offseason rankings, but he beat out Hal Carter (who may move to third) for the starting job. Currently ranked 11th in the league, Lee projects to be a strong contact hitter with decent enough speed to take an extra base. His glove and arm are good enough for short and I can see him holding down short for years to come. He's a nice addition to a very deep and well rounded lineup. The rotation is missing Oscar Morse, but towards the end of last season Walt Wells took his rotation spot anyways. The other four arms are the same, but there's never an easy game in Philly.

We finish the week with another two game series against a team we've already played. This time the Wolves will be in Chicago before our first off day of the season. The Wolves started their season by getting swept by the Foresters before returning the favor to us. We'll look for a little revenge, but will have to do a much better job stopping the Chicago native Levi Redding. Already one of the top center fielders in the league, the 26-year-old rookie got a cup of coffee last season and is off to a fast start to his likely first full season. The leadoff hitter swiped four bags and was 10-for-26 with a pair of doubles week one. The former Forester draft pick has long been on my radar, and he's really looking like a long term building block for them. The strength for them is their pitching, and they'll get another full season of Joe Hancock with top prospect Buddy Long potentially joining him in Toronto later in the year. We'll need to win at least one of these, but considering we're projected to see Hancock and Chuck Cole, I don't really like our chances.

Minor League Report
The minor league season got underway on the 23rd, but after a little shuffling atop the prospect rankings, the Cougars extended their lead for top system. Hal Wood jumped into our top 5 and the top 50, but the biggest movement is at the tip top! We now join the Dynamos with the only pair of top 5 prospects! Rufus Barrell II dropped down to seven, pushing Peter the Heater to the #2 spot. Then Billy Hunter hopped over a few of the upper echelon prospects to secure the #5 spot. It's a nice little birthday gift for Pete who turns 19 today. He made his first minor league start; 6 innings with 4 hits, a run, 4 walks, and 6 strikeouts. And no, not in La Crosse. That's in Lincoln! In the wise words of Michael Jordan, "the ceiling is the roof!"

06-03-2021, 01:02 PM	#484
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,010	Week 1: April 19th-April 25th Weekly Record: 1-5 Seasonal Record: 1-5 (8th, 4 GB) Stars of the Week Russ Griffin : 7 AB, 4 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .571 AVG, 2.054 OPS Paul McLain : 21 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .381 AVG, 1.000 OPS John Lawson : 26 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .385 AVG, .792 OPS Schedule 4-20: Loss vs Sailors (7-3) 4-21: Win vs Sailors (2-3) 4-22: Loss vs Sailors (6-4) 4-23: Loss at Wolves (9-7) 4-24: Loss at Wolves (4-5) 4-25: Loss at Wolves (3-8) Recap It's pretty difficult to accomplish, but with just a single win we managed to already fall four games out of first place! Not only that, we are the only FABL team to win less then two games in the first week! Nice! #1 pick, here we come... Yes, too soon to panic. I know. We could have just as easily been 0-6 and since a pennant isn't in the cards, I'm hoping there won't be many of these 1-5 weeks. Or if there are, hopefully it involves weeks where Dave Rankin and Pug Bryan don't struggle too. Starting with the soon-to-be four-time loss leader, Rankin was the only Cougar to make and lose two starts. To make matters worse, they were both truly awful starts. The first was Opening Day where he was tagged with 9 hits and 7 runs (3 earned) in 7 innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The second finished the Toronto sweep where he allowed 10 hits, 8 runs, and 5 walks with just a single strikeout in only 5 frames. I'm not worried, this is the same guy worth over 6 wins above replacement last season and four error games will make anyone pitch bad. Nothing to worry about here. Now Pug did not have a dream debut, 6 hits, 5 runs, 7 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 6.1 against a tough Sailors team. I almost pushed his start back to the Wolves series so Oscar Morse could pitch against his former team, but I'm not sure the result would have been much different. The pitching wasn't all bad, just one earned run charged to the pen and both Fritz and Lyons had strong starts. Shoutout Clarence Crane as well, four more scoreless innings to extend his streak to 22 consecutive innings without allowing a run. We didn't hit much, and in fact mustered up only one homer for the week. It was from an unlikely source, the almost cut Rule-5 Pick Russ Griffin who was our #1 star of the week despite not starting a single game. He was excellent off the bench, 4-for-7 with a walk, double, triple, homer, and two runs scored and driven in. That won't get him any time over Lawson, however, who was 10-for-26, but failed to record an extra base hit. Despite a three error week, Paul McLain handled the bat, going 8-for-21 with 3 doubles, a triple, 2 RBI's, and 3 runs scored. Doc Love was an identical 8-for-21, but he had 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 3 RBI's. Overall, lot's of empty hits, as despite six of our hitters (10 or more PA's) featuring .300 or higher averages, only one had an OBP above .400 and only one had a slugging above .500. It's a little early to worry too much about fractional stats, but singles alone aren't the way to win games. At least we can only go up from here! Can't fall into 9th place! Looking Ahead It wasn't on purpose, but to start week two, the best team in the CA gets to feast on the worst team. The Cleveland Foresters have started the season 5-1 despite their new look. The Foresters of old featured Max Morris, Leon Drake, and Eddie Quinn, but that trio has been replaced with Bill Moore, Roy Bradley, and Lou Martino. Moore was part of the Drake/Morris trade, Martino came over from the Stars, but Bradley is the biggest new piece. Washington's 3rd Round Pick in 1932, Bradley broke out in a part time role last season and the soon to be 26-year-old has developed into one of the brightest young outfielders in baseball. But after acquiring Moxie Pidgeon from the Gothams, the Eagles tapped into their impressive offensive reserves to acquire Eddie Quinn and a 2nd Rounder from Cleveland. Bradley had a down first week, but in 545 FABL plate appearance he owns a nice .337/.374/.521 (121 OPS+) batting line with 6 homers, 16 steals, and 108 RBI's. He's sandwiched himself between Dan Fowler and T.R. Goins, creating a very strong middle of the order. Of course, the true strength is the pitching, and while I think that means Dean Astle, OSA really likes Sergio Gonzales. I'm not as sold on the 25-year-older, but he entered the season in the top 5 for pitchers. Regardless, him and Lee Drouillard are as good of a 2-3 as you can get, and they have reliable vets in Lyman Weigel and Lou Martino to wind out an impressive rotation. I expect them to have zero trouble with up, but since we are home, maybe we'll steal a game? Maybe? On the road after that, but it'll be just for two with the Sailors. They're an even 3-3, dropping a series to the Foresters after facing us. I'm a little surprised they have John Kincaid on the bench in favor of Mack Deal (former Cougars!), but the exciting new addition to the lineup is longtime top 10 prospect Rip Lee. The 23-year-old topped out at 5 in the 1936 offseason rankings, but he beat out Hal Carter (who may move to third) for the starting job. Currently ranked 11th in the league, Lee projects to be a strong contact hitter with decent enough speed to take an extra base. His glove and arm are good enough for short and I can see him holding down short for years to come. He's a nice addition to a very deep and well rounded lineup. The rotation is missing Oscar Morse, but towards the end of last season Walt Wells took his rotation spot anyways. The other four arms are the same, but there's never an easy game in Philly. We finish the week with another two game series against a team we've already played. This time the Wolves will be in Chicago before our first off day of the season. The Wolves started their season by getting swept by the Foresters before returning the favor to us. We'll look for a little revenge, but will have to do a much better job stopping the Chicago native Levi Redding. Already one of the top center fielders in the league, the 26-year-old rookie got a cup of coffee last season and is off to a fast start to his likely first full season. The leadoff hitter swiped four bags and was 10-for-26 with a pair of doubles week one. The former Forester draft pick has long been on my radar, and he's really looking like a long term building block for them. The strength for them is their pitching, and they'll get another full season of Joe Hancock with top prospect Buddy Long potentially joining him in Toronto later in the year. We'll need to win at least one of these, but considering we're projected to see Hancock and Chuck Cole, I don't really like our chances. Minor League Report The minor league season got underway on the 23rd, but after a little shuffling atop the prospect rankings, the Cougars extended their lead for top system. Hal Wood jumped into our top 5 and the top 50, but the biggest movement is at the tip top! We now join the Dynamos with the only pair of top 5 prospects! Rufus Barrell II dropped down to seven, pushing Peter the Heater to the #2 spot. Then Billy Hunter hopped over a few of the upper echelon prospects to secure the #5 spot. It's a nice little birthday gift for Pete who turns 19 today. He made his first minor league start; 6 innings with 4 hits, a run, 4 walks, and 6 strikeouts. And no, not in La Crosse. That's in Lincoln! In the wise words of Michael Jordan, "the ceiling is the roof!"