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We were just 15-13 in May and we find ourselves in a tight race:
Dodgers 31-22
Padres 29-24
Astros 28-24
Reds 28-24
Giants 27-25
Braves 26-26
We are now 1st in runs but still 7th in pitching, we need to improve our pitching by the end of the year. We have 3 pitchers in the top 50 prospects but none above AA. I may move one to see if we can get an upgrade at the deadline.
The best thing I did was sign Ellis Valentine. With Tom Brunansky still under .200, Valentine has basically ripped away the RF job. He's gone .333/.377/.583 with 5 HR/7 2B/4 3B 19 RBI in just 120 AB. Bruno has 2 years and $6 million owed after this year, that contract ain't looking good. We signed Valentine to a 2-year extension as a reward.
My starters don't have enough stamina. I have 3 guys who really can't go past 7 innings, so we need a strong bullpen. Sid Fernandez got off to a bad start allowing 8 runs in 1 inning in his first start with us, but he has won his last 3 starts and leads the NL in strikeouts per 9 innings, but he only averages 5 2/3 innings per start.
We signed Bedrosian to an extension and got Michael Elliott to sign much cheaper than he should have gotten in the offseason.
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