[Syd Thrift]

Major Transactions
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After the draft last week I kind of, um, forgot that these existed. So instead I'm running the whole week's worth of transaction on Sunday...

June "8": The Red Sox purchased RP Eddie Sanchez (2-0, 5.27) from the Mets for $5,000. The Mets are running short on pitchers but the Red Sox are arguably even shorter so, you know, it sort of works I guess?

June "9": The Brewers purchased OF Kenny Augsburger (.176, 0, 2) from the Giants for $2,000. Augsburger was used extensively as a pinch-hitter and 4th OFer last year for the Giants' AAA club but has barely played in the majors for them this season. The Brewers could definitely use some better outfielders, even with the trade below...

June "11": The Brewers traded RF Richard Berman (.317, 0, 27) to the A's for SP Chris Granahan (4-6, 2.97) and RF John Marsden (.344, 7, 18). This was, frankly, a bizarre trade IRL (Steve Hovley, a 26 year old OFer best known for shaving his head in spring training of 1969 and then not cutting his hair again all season long, for 2 guys at the end of their rope). I guess the Brewers just didn't want a hippie on their team or something. Here, Richard Berman is waaay better than Hovley but arguably John Marsden might be better. He's also 4 years older and McGranahan is one of those guys who can't stay in rotations because he keeps getting hurt (I did manually lower his proneness in the offseason though). Also, Berman was literally the only non-red player in the Brewers' lineup outside of catcher Jonathan Victoria.

June "13": The Astros traded OF/PH Steve West (.276, 1, 5) and SS Dusty McCully (.264, 2, 19 at AAA Oklahoma City) to the Cardinals for RP Adam Eastin (5-1, 2.01, 9 Sv). Even though the Cards are technically listed at "win now" mode, this is a white flag trade. The Astros have been hurting in the bullpen all year long (they're 9th in the NL in bullpen ERA) and Eastin, on his 3rd team in 2 years, figures to give them a real shot in the arm there. For St. Louis, the guys they got back are major league ready and will probably fill in somewhere.

June "13": The Royals traded 2B Victor Hernandez (.241, 1, 10 at AAA Omaha) for MI Luke Dunnahoe (.284, 1, 7). This is, as IRL, one of these moves where one team seems to send a meh but starting quality player to an expansion club just to, like, help them out or something. Dunnahoe was the Phillies' starting SS last year but doesn't really field well enough to stick on a good team. He should get lots of opportunities for the Royals. Hernandez got a cup of coffee with Seattle last season but I'd be surprised if he makes it back into the majors to be honest.

News
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June 8: Dodgers second baseman Billy Tristan (.333, 7, 25) became one of the oldest players in MLB history (maybe the oldest, who knows?) to win NL Player of the Week after an 11-23, 4 RBI week. This was Tristan's 4th such honor, which, hey, matches how many times he's made it to the All-Star Game. He's 3rd in the league in All-Star voting at his position, too, so a 5th entry is not out of the question.

June 8: Twins 1B Angelo Martinez (.290, 13, 36) won Poty number 16 and his first this year after an MVP 1969 season. Still only 31, it's clear that Martinez still has a lot left in the tank. He had 11 hits in 28 at-bats with 3 HRs, 7 runs scored, and 7 RBI last week.

June 8: Padres SS Akiho Fujimoto (.298, 1, 25), a dark horse / possible lone entrant for the All-Star Game, will miss the next 6 weeks with a hamstring strain. It's a bad hamstring strain, OK? Dan Litrell (.316, 2, 7), who put in a surprisingly decent year as the regular at short for San Diego last year, will take over in his stead.

June 9: The Cards were having a relatively injury-free season so far, but that's gone by the wayside a bit, as it was announced today that 2B Chris Johnston (.234, 1, 3) will miss the next month and a half with a strained abdominal muscle. I swear, the real 70s would have guys just rub dirt in it but this is not a day to day injury so OK I guess. Johnston has a bit of a history of injury proneness and St. Louis already acquired his backup over the offseason, middle infielder Luke Dunnahoe (.241, 1, 6), so it's more of bad news for Johnston than it is for the organization, as Johnston was having a rough year.

June 9: Orioles OF Andrew Cutler (.167, 2, 6) is demanding to be traded. He's been a 4th OF for the O's who's occasionally popped into the lineup, but he's 33 now and I just don't see what he offers outside of the pinch-hitting he's been doing (poorly). The incumbent Matt Nugent (.214, 4, 14) has been struggling, it's true, but he's also a full decade younger than Cutler and as such has a much better chance to be decent in a couple years. Finally, Baltimore's fallen back to earth after a hot start (they're .500 now, 27-27). If the team was doing better I guess I'd care more about continuity but... I don't. I guess congrats, Andrew? You get to find your next job yourself.

June 10: The Astros are dealt a pretty severe blow as SS Jordan Green (.292, 4, 20) was diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back and will miss the next 2-3 months. With 2B Adam Blake looking pretty underwhelming (.202, 1, 10), I'm going to go ahead and not send Alejandro Chairez (.309, 3, 14) to that position and instead will use the classic good-field no-hit John Timonen (.238, 0, 0) until/unless I get sick and tired of him hitting .150 (if you think I'm exaggerating, okay I am but only slightly; his career average is .182).

June 10: Yankees RF Frank Meneses (.325, 13, 37) hit his 13th HR on the season. No big whoop, but I thought I'd point it out because he hit 12 all last year in 428 at-bats. For that matter, he also had only 45 RBIs last season and he's closing in on that mark already too. He's having one monster of a career year.

June 10: Also, the Royals lost today 4-1 in 11 innings to push their losing streak to 13 games. They were a game over .500 when this started; now they're 2 games out of the AL West cellar.

June 10: The Cubs are 6-1 in June and have taken sole possession of first in the NL East. They're 31-20 now and are a half game up, but a half game is still a half game. They've had the major advantage of having played the Dodgers and Padres during this time whereas the Mets just wrapped up a 6 game set of games at Cincinnati and Houston, where they finished 3-3 (which is pretty damn good considering those are the two teams competing for the NL West title).

June 12: This is barely even news but Orioles CF Bryant Tarala (.199, 11, 23) is hurt again, this time out for a month and a half with an undisclosed shoulder injury (hey, it's better than "sore shoulder"). Rich Kemm (.268, 5, 23 at AAA Rochester) played about half the year last year as the Seattle Pilots' main man in center so the O's will make do with him as they try to tread water in the AL East.

June 13: It just keeps getting worse for the Mets' chances to repeat. Today they learned that SP Joe Beane (10-3, 2.05), who's only been the ace of the staff all season, will be out until after the All-Star Break with shoulder bursitis (now there is a good 70s era injury). This comes just a couple days after finding out that set-up man Roberto Marin (1-3, 3.91) was going to miss the entire season with a torn labrum. I guess things could be worse - see the Red Sox - but Chicago's already staked out a 1 game lead in the East and it looks like the Mets are going to need to have a great summer to outlast their new rivals.

June 13: Cardinals OF Danny Jiminez (.231, 0, 3) walked into my office and demanded a trade (look, in this reality I simultaneously exist in 24 locations at once. Deal with it). Well, specifically, he said "play me or trade me". Um, dude. You're a left fielder and the corner OFers in front of you are the single-season leader in HR in Lorenzo Martinez (.249, 14, 43) and the team leader in hits in Casey Satterfield (.298, 7, 32). I guess what you're asking for is your release then? OK I guess. Good luck in Mexico...

June 13: Nothing official yet but the Brewers are about to get absolutely eaten with the draft this year. They're already way over budget for signings and have yet to sign their 3rd and 4th round picks. Also their 10th and 21st rounders were impossible-to-sign HS players. All those guys are almost certain to go back into the draft next year with zero compensation. I have to admit, I'm kind of loving that the 3rd round guy is a college junior out of the University of Washington - the irony here of course is that the UW (my alma mater!) is based in Seattle, Washington, the city this team moved away from in the middle of the night in late March.

June 13: "The Long And Winding Road" becomes the 20th and final single by the Beatles to reach #1 on the Billboard chart. Also, it's the worst Beatles song to hit #1 and arguably their worst song, period (I kind of like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", shut up).

June 13: The Royals' tailspin continues and the team's frustrations are now getting out onto the playing field. Today in a 12-4 loss to the Yankees, pitcher Ryan Hicks (3-4, 7.59) hit NY shortstop Ty Stover (.298, 13, 42), who charged the mound and ignited a bench-clearing brawl. Both players have been suspended by the league. Kansas City has now lost 15 games in a row.

June 14: AL All-Star voting update:

CATCHER
1. Jon Hernandez, Baltimore Orioles: 258,862
2. Armando Flores, Washington Senators: 254,295
3. Brad Reed, Minnesota Twins: 251,590

FIRST BASE
1. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 390,839
2. Alex Cardenas, New York Yankees: 368,635
3. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 295,824

SECOND BASE
1. Danny Villegas, Detroit Tigers: 318,782
2. Danny Fager, Baltimore Orioles: 297,619
3. T.J. Pritchett, Cleveland Indians: 275,958

THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 344,638
2. Marco Perez, Baltimore Orioles: 340,608
3. Mike Brookes, Minnesota Twins: 337,072

SHORTSTOP
1. Ty Stover, New York Yankees: 356,903
2. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 314,852
3. John Johnson, Cleveland Indians: 296,054

LEFT FIELD
1. Alonzo Huanosta, Cleveland Indians: 331,162
2. Willie Vargas, Chicago White Sox: 316,192
3. Matthew Levario, Oakland Athletics: 315,719

CENTER FIELD
1. Bryant Tarala, Baltimore Orioles: 308,903
2. Tom Brown, Chicago White Sox: 290,836
3. Norm Hodge, California Angels: 271,238

RIGHT FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Washington Senators: 316,021
2. Frank Meneses, New York Yankees: 301,932
3. John Marsden, Oakland Athletics: 267,413

STARTING PITCHER
1. Chris Benavides, Minnesota Twins: 172,259
2. Tracy Mosher, New York Yankees: 170,351
3. Sandy Hinojosa, Boston Red Sox: 159,402
4. Josh Matthews, Cleveland Indians: 154,538
5. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 148,584

RELIEVER
1. Montay Luiso, Baltimore Orioles: 176,787
2. Pete Lynn, Minnesota Twins: 153,394
3. Alex Madrigal, Detroit Tigers: 150,007
4. Matt Brock, Boston Red Sox: 123,752
5. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 122,900

Mike Miller (.280, 11, 35) is not having a great season in Mike Miller terms but it's still enough to lead everyone. It'll be interesting to see who takes over in CF with Tarala hurt, too. I mean, I guess that's Tom Brown, especially with Norm Hodge in a bit of a slump recently, but I guess we'll see. At catcher, Jon Hernandez is now a first baseman and that gap for catcher is really small, which is for the best since Armando Flores is having a singular season for a backstop.

And in the NL:

CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 288,660
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 254,168
3. Greg Darrow, Chicago Cubs: 242,401

FIRST BASE
1. Joshua Waltenbery, New York Mets: 441,135
2. Justin Stone, St. Louis Cardinals: 369,736
3. Rafael Disla, Los Angeles Dodgers: 359,738

SECOND BASE
1. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 440,311
2. Pedro Ortiz, Cincinnati Reds: 401,464
3. Billy Tristan, Los Angeles Dodgers: 291,991

THIRD BASE
1. Bobby Kraljevic, Cincinnati Reds: 314,858
2. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 307,576
3. Sean Gabel, Chicago Cubs: 298,631

SHORTSTOP
1. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 295,674
2. Tyler Webster, Pittsburgh Pirates: 253,305
3. Akiho Fujimoto, San Diego Padres: 247,539

LEFT FIELD
1. Jason Workman, Chicago Cubs: 374,526
2. Barry Cooper, San Francisco Giants: 350,415
3. Ernie Griffin, Los Angeles Dodgers: 334,979

CENTER FIELD
1. John Lopez, Houston Astros: 308,897
2. Curtis Hope, New York Mets: 291,163
3. Mark Tooley, Chicago Cubs: 271,557

RIGHT FIELD
1. Jaden Weaver, Houston Astros: 420,409
2. Nelson Hernandez, San Diego Padres: 344,608
3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 323,007

STARTING PITCHER
1. Robert Rivera, San Francisco Giants: 158,155
2. John Mash, New York Mets: 156,710
3. Steve Waiters, Cincinnati Reds: 155,495
4. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 143,764
5. Mike Stuckey, San Francisco Giants: 139,700

RELIEVER
1. John Winn, Atlanta Braves: 226,687
2. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 157,596
3. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 156,649
4. John Booth, San Francisco Giants: 154,051
5. Adam Eastin, St. Louis Cardinals: 143,521

I love that relievers are getting more traction than starters this year. Heh. I personally would vote Pedro Ortiz in over Kevin Dwyer at second but Dwyer's doing pretty well and Atlanta baseball fans need something to root for in this horrific season gone wrong.

June 14: Something something finesse beats power something something. Tigers starter Vince Akright (4-6, 3.58) set a new American League record for strikeouts in a game with 16 but it wasn't enough to outpitch his opponent as the Angels wound up beating the Tigers 2-0. California starter Gary Bruno (6-3, 3.30) went all the way with the shutout, losing his Maddux on the 2nd to last batter. Somehow the Angels collected 9 hits off of Akright, who led the league in wins and shutouts last year but has had some terrible, terrible luck in 1970. The winning run came in the 6th on a bases-loaded walk by backup catcher Juan Cavazos (.222, 1, 7).

June 14: Kansas City keeps finding new ways to lose. Tonight they came back from being down 7-4 in the 9th inning with 2 HRs off of Yankees closer Jesse Kelly (4-1, 2.76, 7 Sv), only for their own bullpen to blow up 2 innings later and lose the game 11-8. Eddie Euceda (0-7, 5.55) took the L for the Royals although this was his third game in three nights and he was clearly coming in tired.

June 14 (evening): And it's a topsy-turvy week and here are the power rankings:

1st (4th) Chicago (N) 34-21
2nd (3rd) Minnesota 37-22
3rd (10th) New York (A) 35-25
4th (5th) Houston 38-24
5th (2nd) Boston 33-22

Yeah, that's the Yankees, not the Mets, in 3rd place this week. They've won 5 in a row - playing the Royals helped! - and are just 1/2 game in back of the Red Sox. They're also the biggest gainers at +7. The biggest losers are Pittsburgh (31-30, 6 GB), who dropped from 9th to 15th. Which, they aren't really a top 10 team anyway but still.

The bottom five:

20th (20th) Atlanta 21-36
21st (17th) Los Angeles 25-35
22nd (22nd) Milwaukee 21-39
23rd (23rd) Montreal 18-40
24th (24th) Kansas City 21-36

KC's at 16 straight losses now. It's too bad OOTP doesn't track winning and losing streaks; I'd be interest to know if it's the worst such streak in history. Anyway, otherwise the bad teams are pretty well set there with the exception of the Dodgers, who are finally beginning to do what everyone thought they'd do at the beginning of the year, which is to say they're not very good.

Teams In Review
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June 9: So... when I said we were done with these for 20 losses, I was wrong... the Chicago Cubs (29-20, T-1st NL East) just now lost their 20th. Part of my missing that was that they've been sneaky good, part of it was because they just haven't played much baseball so far - pretty sure the 49 games they've played is last in the league. So far the Cubs have been quite a bit more sane on defense than I thought they were earlier in the year (213 runs allowed; 4th) although the offense, while good (284 runs scored, 3rd), it hasn't quite been outstanding.

Rotation: The rotation has been... fine. Good, not great, particularly now that Jason Sanders (7-3, 2.85) has come along from San Francisco. He's by default the staff ace, which is good because he cost them their top-class stopper Chad Nies (2-1, 5.23, 7 Sv). I'm seeing not a lot ready to go in the minor leagues so I'm going to zig where I've zagged with most teams and am keeping the Cubbies on a 4-man rotation... for now.

Bullpen: With Nies gone, Nick Paulus (2-1, 3.81, 3 Sv) is now the default option for stopper. He's... mediocre. That kind of describes the current state of the entire bullpen. The one guy who looks truly awful is LH Ryan Gurley (4-2, 6.52) and he was really good last year so I don't really want to cut bait on him so soon.

Infield: I'm not a really huge fan of either Tim Mantero (.286, 0, 3) or prospectish David Holcombe (.214, 0, 2) as the answer for second base. Juan Perez (.301, 6, 25) comes back in a month so it's maybe not a gaping black hole, but it's certainly a place where the Cubs are losing ground compared to the rest of the league.

Outfield: I'm facing a real dilemma with RF Adam Groves (.211, 5, 13): he's not really hitting, but the guy led the league in walks (86) and hit by pitch (11) in 1968 before missing all of last year with an injury. It feels bad, man, to force him to give up his gig after 200ish plate appearances. On the other hand, they have Alex Vallejo (.300, 0, 6) who hit .317 last year with Philadelphia and who is 3 years younger and a potential Gold Glove level fielder. I'm going to stand pat here with the rationale that the Cubbies are playing too well to mess with success, but Adam Groves, you're on notice! (also, Vallejo is already spelling Grove and CF Mark Tooley (.286, 6, 22) so he's getting some PT at least)