Chicago Cougars (FABL)

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 5-2
Seasonal Record: 76-67 (2nd, 18 GB)

Schedule
9-1: Win at Mavericks (8-4)
9-2: Loss at Mavericks (7-9)
9-3: Win vs Sailors (1-8)
9-4: Win vs Sailors (1-5)
9-5: Win vs Stars (4-5)
9-6: Loss vs Stars (7-6)
9-7: Win vs Stars (1-11)

Recap
Now that August is over, we decided we can start winning games again, giving us a nice cushion over the CA East leader. We split with the Mavs, swept the Sailors, and won the Stars series, giving us a winning week for what seems like the first time in forever. The offense was really rolling, scoring 5 or more runs each time out, and to be honest I can't tell you why. Literally everyone was hot this week, with eight players getting at least one start and a WRC+ above 150. This even includes guys like Henry Watson (1-3, HR, BB), Mel Hodges (4-7, 2B, HR, 2 R, 5 RBI), and Bill Rawdon (2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB), but plenty of guys hit and plenty of guys homered.

Finally, the homer man himself Gene Homer homered, and unlike most homers, Homer's homers came in bunches. Is that enough homers for you!?!?!?!?!

Well, three was enough for Gene, while my sentence had six, who was 9-for-23 with a double, 5 runs, and 9 RBIs. Three was enough for John Babb too, 9-for-25 with a double, 4 walks, 5 RBIs, and 8 runs scored, giving him 18 homers and 85 RBIs on the season. Now hitting .278/.379/.448 (128 OPS+) he might get to 20 homers after all, having played in all but one of our games this season. Andy Babel, Charlie Sanders, and Clarence Johnson (3-6, RBI) joined in the 150+ fun, with the two regulars homering. For Babel, it's a long time coming, as it's his only homer since August 1st. Finally in double digits, he was 8-for-22 with 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, 5 runs, and 5 walks, now hitting a decent, but still disappointing .287/.341/.412 (107 OPS+). It's not too far from Sanders' .280/.340/.417 (108 OPS+), and he's even got an extra homer. 5-for-18, he added 2 doubles, 3 walks, 4 runs, and 4 RBIs.

We had three more homers, if you can believe it, including Sam Morrison, who did it despite going 6-for-27. He grabbed 2 walks, 4 RBIs, 6 runs, and a steal, but homer aside he doesn't quite look back to 100%. Tom Halliday hit his 8th homer, 8-for-26 with a triple, 4 RBIs, and 5 runs scored. Somewhat playing for a job, the almost 37-year-old has upped his season line to a respectable .266/.301/.379 (87 OPS+) with a 3.0 zone rating (1.014 EFF). With how he started the season, I was pretty sure we'd need to add a middle infielder, but a strong end to the season could give our longtime shortstop a 16th season as the starter.

The last was Cleo Harris' replacement, Chuck Ennis, who actually did quite admirably in the short-term. Sure, Harris is coming back and Ennis probably never starts multiple times a week again, but hey! He was 7-for-23 this week with the homer, 2 walks, 3 runs, and 3 RBIs. Through 59 PAs, the 10th Rounder hit a decent .278/.339/.352 (91 OPS+) with a better 104 WRC+, but there was no way he was going to stay in the lineup when the team position player WAR leader returned. A tenth of a win away from 4, Harris has hit .251/.328/.355 (89 OPS+) with 10 homers, 16 doubles, 56 RBIs, 51 runs, 47 walks, and elite middle infield defense.

Again, Bill Bartlett was prevented from a shutout due to factors out of his control, but thankfully, this time it didn't prevent him from winning. This time it wasn't for lack of run support, as we did plenty of that this time around, but instead his defense. The only reason Charlie Jarzombek (.296, 8, 49, 8) scored in the 2nd is the Sailors getting a fourth out, as Chuck Ennis couldn't handle a somewhat routine grounder. Rest of the way, the defense was mostly perfect, as he went all nine with 3 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. It's hilarious he should theoretically have five shutouts in his first 18 FABL starts, but what he does have is a stretch of 43 innings with just a single earned run allowed. He now also has a 1.85 ERA (212 ERA+) in 145.2 innings pitched, and for the first time all season he's projected to finish the year with more then 162 innings.

With two starts this week he could theoretically do it, but with at least three starts in the season he seems like a lock. Now the #2 rated pitcher in baseball, I will be vigorously campaigning for him come Allen voting, and at this point I can't see a case against him. I don't care if it's barely 20 starts. No pitcher has an ERA within shouting distance of him right now, and if he keeps delivering starts like this how could you not give him the award? No one has been able to solve him, allowing just 3 homers and 30 earned runs. For comparison's sake, two other FABL pitchers have 30 earned runs, pitching 65.2 and 58.2 innings, while just Arrows stopper Jim Hart (5-10, 19, 2.65, 78) has allowed 3 homers and thrown more then 75 innings (95). I do know at some point he's going to have a stinker, but last time he did that he started this run, and and even with his 8 run outing he has yet to allow more then ten runs in any three start span. Whether it's true or not, my story is starting him in AAA is what allowed him to explode like this, and until further notice there's not a pitcher in the universe better then him.

Case in point, Hal Adams, who is responsible for two of our losses as well as three beautiful innings in Jim Norris' 337th career win. He's definitely started sputtering, but I'll give Adams a break on the other two for holding on in this 5-4 game. Adams' first save since '65 was proceeded by 6 up-and-down innings. On the bright side, there were no walks and 5 Ks, but on the other side he allowed 9 hits and 4 runs. His 12-6 record is backed by a now adjusted league average 3.95 ERA (100 ERA+), with an above average 3.79 FIP (96 FIP-). Considering he's 45 and it's 159.2 innings, that's pretty remarkable, but there's now a slight bit of doubt in my mind that he can start well again for us next year. He'll still get the chance, of course, and three wins away from 340 I can't see him not coming back for at least one more go.

Last little piece of note is for Bob Goldman, who threw a gem against the Sailors. No shutout for him either, but he went 8 with 8 hits, a walk, a run and 7 strikeouts as we cruised to a 5-1 victory. A guy I'm very glad I didn't trade, he's gone 13-8 with a 3.05 ERA (129 ERA+), 1.36 WHIP, and 92 strikeouts, and his re-emergence has allowed us to take the load off the retirement home pitchers. We now have three legit arms now and at least for five more years, making it easier for us to focus on upgrading the offense, even if we have multiple guys call it quits. Unless all three go, we don't need any outside help, and I'm more then comfortable with a revolving fifth spot until Lyle Lessard is ready. An underrated prospect, he tore up Yakima and is doing great in Yakima, but at 21 he's still at least a full season away. His stuff is great and the command even better, showing shades of Bill Bartlett I'll start to see in any quick rise from here on out.

Looking Ahead
Three more week left in the Bill Bartlett show, and he'll open the quick two game series with the Mavericks. We split the two in KC, and will now draw Dave Dalton (7-11, 4.11, 112) and Orville Johnson (9-14, 4.76, 76), which will definitely work in our favor. Dalton is definitely talented, but at 23 he's still hittable, and a good matchup for our lineup. Half defense and half pitching, this staff gives up a lot of runs, even more then they are able to score. Somehow one spot above us at 5th in runs scored, and this is where the power I mentioned last time comes into play. Dick Anderson (.291, 11, 56), Tony Keil (.277, 14, 70, 5), and Bob Howard (.278, 13, 61, 5) can all put a jolt into their swings, and until you get towards the bottom their are very few holes in the lineup. We'll need more of the offense we showed this week, but I still trust our staff enough to carry if they need to.

Road games finish the week, starting with the reverse of our two game sweep of the Sailors. This time out west, we get to go from 12th ranked staff to offense, which I guess accounts for a portion of our offensive surge. I expect Jim Teal (11-12, 3.34, 165) and Johnny Baylor (15-8, 4.06, 77), and Teel's the one to worry about. A consistent veteran arm, he's done well as a starter and reliever, and he's far better then the rest of the bunch. Facing him could inhibit our run production, but they got just single runs on Bartlett and Goldman, and would have issues putting up runs on pretty much anyone. We need to win both of these games, but they may be able to steal one on their home field.

We stay west for the weekend series, hosted by the third place and now eliminated Stars. At 72-71 they are at risk of falling below .500, leaving their fans longing for the better days of 1974. I'm really not sure what went wrong for them, as they score a ton and the staff isn't bad. Aside from rookie callup Lee Yeager (.217, 5) who's a veteran of seven games, there's no easy outs or OPS+ below 100. Sure, a bunch are right around that mark, but they can all start a rally. The focus on offense, however does lead to a poor defense, ranked 12th in zone rating and efficiency, and I'm sure the reason they aren't that low in errors is because scorer's don't expect them to make play or they just don't get to enough balls to boot them. Especially if we're stuck with Bill Dunham (12-7, 3.14, 149) who can absolutely mow down hitters, we are going to strike out ourselves, so I'd love to see guys make adjustments to put the ball in play. Andy Babel (.287, 10, 69, 5) will be critical in this series, and I'm hoping he can erase a lot of poor play with a big series performance.

Minor League Report
RHP Ernie Hull (AA Memphis Cougars): I don't usually shout out no upside minor leaguers, but considering Ernie Hull one upped Bill Barrett, I absolutely have to. Not only did Hull throw two shutouts, but the second was a 10-inning one, as Gene Crandall thankfully walked it off with a crucial three run homer, as Hull was pinch hit for with his spot in the order scoring one of the runs. Between the two shutouts, he allowed just 10 hits and 4 walks, striking out 10 in his return to the rotation.

Yes, I had this guy in the pen for a little and then he goes and does this!

The reason for that, of course, is we have a lot of interesting pitching prospects and Hull hasn't even started regularly since 1972. Through 24 appearances (4 starts) he's an impressive 11-3 with an excellent 3.40 ERA (121 ERA+) and even lower 3.04 FIP (73 FIP-). Now 27, I don't think he magically figured it out, but hey maybe he should be starting regularly even if I don't think he can ever pitch in the big leagues. Likely to be a major outlier in an uninspiring career, perhaps he'll do enough for someone to snatch him from us in the Rule-5 draft.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-6
Seasonal Record: 77-73 (2nd, 23.5 GB)

Schedule
9-8: Loss vs Kings (11-1)
9-9: Loss vs Kings (11-1)
9-10: Loss at Sailors (2-0)
9-11: Loss at Sailors (11-3)
9-12: Loss at Stars (2-3): 10 innings
9-13: Win at Stars (5-0)
9-14: Loss at Stars (2-3)

Recap
I don't know what's worse. The fact that we went 1-6 against the teams that aren't the Seattle Kings who we are stuck with the next two weeks.

BUT THE FACT THAT WE STILL HAVE A BETTER RECORD THEN THE STUPID DIVISION LEADER OF THE STUPID CONTINENTAL EAST

I mean, we're not even trying that hard anymore!!!

Ugh...

Well, somehow our outstanding pitching staff allowed 11 runs three times in a four day stretch, and that included a start by the usually unstoppable Bill Bartlett. Despite his god-level status, sometimes he's mortal, and to start the week he allowed Failing to get out of the fourth, he allowed 9 hits, 7 runs, and 3 walks, striking out just 1, raising his ERA almost 40 points.

It didn't stay raised long, as five days later, guess what he did? Finally got that fourth shutout! Most in FABL, he spun a 8-hit shutout with a walk and 3 strikeouts, dropping his ERA right back down to 2.10 (187 ERA+). Now within four innings of qualifying, he's worth 4.0 WAR with a 12-5 record, 3.08 FIP (78 FIP-), and 1.07 WHIP. What's most impressive, however, is his breakdown of starts. This season he has three starts with 7 or more runs. This 16.2 inning sample accounts for 21 of his 37 earned runs, 57% of them, leading to a disturbing 11.67 ERA. Now the rest of his starts? 141.2 innings of a 1.02 ERA. Yes. 1.02 ERA in basically 90% of his innings pitched this season. That's. Just. Insane. I mean, he's a top-5 pitcher I guess it makes sense. But. Like. INSANE!!!

That also, of course, describes how I feel about this week, but hey there were some solid things that happened too. Cleo Harris had a nice return to the lineup, 5-for-22 with a triple, a homer, and 6 walks. Now worth 4.3 WAR in 134 games, he's got 11 homers, 57 RBIs, 52 runs, and 53 walks, and a .250/.332/.360 (91 OPS+) line that looks pretty good when it comes with his patently elite defense. Otherwise, we didn't get much hitting aside from a few homers and a lot of walks. Aside form Harris, John Babb was our only above average hitter, 6-for-23 with 2 runs, 3 walks, 4 RBIs, his 26 double, and his 19th homer. I think he has twenty in the bag, and he's hit nearly twice as many homers as anyone else. Harris and Babel both hit their 11th homer this week, while Charlie Sanders was already there, and somehow we've got the 4th most in the CA. It certainly doesn't feel like it, especially after such an awful week, but despite all my complaints the offense is really close to being great. Just a superstar away...

We get one more player of the week, as Fuzzy Cronin will return from the IL. Cronin will reclaim center from Mike Van den Huevel, who started 12 of his first 13 FABL games. Now 26, the rookie went 9-for-39, and hit his first FABL homer in our second 11-1 loss to the Mavericks. The defense was not very good (-2.2, .924), even if it is a really small sample, so at least the staff will be happy to have Fuzzy's defense back. One of the quickest players in the league, he dropped out of the CA's top three for stolen bases, but his 31 steals are one off 3rd. The .236/.297/.300 (65 OPS+) triple slash has been real tough to swallow, but I would still expect to see him patrolling center for us in 1976.

Looking Ahead
I really hate that we lost all the easy games this week, as basically half of our remaining games our against the Seattle Kings. Like everyone but I guess the Sailors, the Kings have had no trouble beating us, and in Seattle you can pretty much give us losses each time out. Thankfully, that would still be 77-76, but I just hate that now a .500 record is not a lock. Even 3-4 puts us at 79, meaning three wins in two weeks, and that's something that if we failed we'd deserve our .500 or worse fate. Lucky for us, they're running a strict six man, so we get Rule-5 castoff Charlie Martin (0-0, 5.06, 2; 7-8, 4.70, 65), who made his first 21 stats with the Millers. 23 will come against us on Monday, and if we can't bash his brain in then we will not win a game this series. We finish off with Allen winners Moe Lowery (20-8, 2.73, 171) and Swede Hawkins (13-9, 3.71, 137) and unless we can also bash in Lowery's brain, I think he's winning the '75 Allen.

Funny enough we'll feature two Allen winners and a 7-Time All-Star, so maybe I'm not giving us enough credit. Casuals will love then Lowery/Alford (14-12, 3.38, 112) duel on Tuesday, and Kings fans should enjoy a series win. I don't know how we'd stop one of Bob Glowacki (.260, 22, 51), Fred Tollefson (.285, 24, 86, 20), and Mike Griffith (.307, 18, 86, 7), let alone all three, and they also have prestigious slugger Hank Williams (.252, 12, 68) who's four away from tying Rod Shearer (.266, 507, 1,946, 122) for the fifth most in FABL history. The only guys in their lineup I wouldn't slot directly into out lineup is their middle infield, and even they have WRC+ of 99 and 108, just with the combined defensive ability of Cleo Harris. Or arguably less. I guess you can count on the out in the pitcher's spot, but with runner's on base it's a bunt, and knocking the starter out early doesn't help either. Chicagoan Billy Collins (6-2, 36, 1.63, 47) is the envy of pens everywhere, set to lead the Conti in saves in three of seasons, and Ray Eddy (6-1, 3, 1.69, 24) is a year younger and arguably the second best reliever in his first season out of the pen. Two other pen arms have at least 40 innings and ERA+ above 150, something we only have from Bill Jackson's 11.2 innings (2.31, 170). Without our no longer secret weapon, we could be left out to dry, but I'm confident in taking the opener and who knows what can happen after that.

We then have arguably our biggest series of the year, as if we win all four home games against the Wranglers, we will at least finish the season .500. Winning one in Seattle would then give us 82 wins, but it's far from a guarantee we even split. Probably the most inconsistent team, the former 90 win club switches off between sucky and elite. In May and August they sucked, in June and July they looked like they could run away with the East, and now September it's back to cellar dweller status. Lucky for us, we should miss Pete Rosenbaum (18-7, 2.41, 132), who's easily the standout in the rotation. Only swingman Jack Mead (9-11, 2.98, 74) has good stats and his ERA is definitely empty. We should be scoring a lot, but they can do the same. Another talented Chicagoan Nick Parker (.334, 25, 93, 6) has not only been a top hitter when healthy, but when dealing with a variety of minor injuries, and he's taken home each of the last two Batter's of the Month. Behind him Buck Stout (.294, 14, 85, 8) and John Miller (.315, 12, 88) can be lethal, and this might be the one week all season where I'm not confident in our pitching staff. As good as they are, they were awful last week, and these are two of the top three offenses we'll face this year. That's all they get now, and it will be quite interesting to see how they perform down the stretch.

Minor League Report
AAA Omaha Plainsmen: I feel vindicated leaving key contributors like Jay Richardson (.351, 18, 83) and Walt Wilson (15-7, 4.01, 122) down in AAA knowing that the Omaha Plainsmen will get a chance to redeem themselves after losing the Century League championship last season to the Denver Bruins. Likely to face our old AA affiliate, the Little Rock Governors, we're 2 games above them and they're 5 clear of Indianapolis, as they enter the final week of the season. An interesting mix of young players and veteran cast-offs, they still lost plenty of pieces, but Johnnie Allen's (.314, 3, 46, 4) return from the IL and Earl Wade's (.263, 2, 10) recall from AAA have been huge boosts, and the carousel of minor league free agents eventually got us to something looking like a solid team. Before the fast forward it was just a pennant, no playoffs, so instead of an tense week on Monday to determine it all, we're just playing for homefield, counting the days before having a chance to bring something to the organization. Injuries have tried getting in the way, but as long as Jay Richardson is in the lineup this team can win ballgames.

A Yakima Rams: We'll have at least two teams competing in the postseason this year, as even after sending a lot of talent up during the season, they cruised to their first division win since 1971. Set to face the Bakersfield Bears (88-46) next week, we could play for home field, but with us two games behind the chances of passing them our unlikely. We won't have a pitcher qualify for any team ERA award, as guys like Lyle Lessard (12-1, 1.33, 84), Bill Clark (9-3, 2.68, 76), Howie Kurtz (3-6, 3.81, 77), and Joe Austin (4-4, 2.74, 83) all moving up and through. Despite that, there's always been someone to pick up the slack, with the current front four of Bob Hays (10-1, 2.37, 91), Wally DeMent (3-0, 1.50, 33), Dixie Rodgers (6-5, 3.39, 104), and Pete Elder (4-2, 1.26, 54) all fit to start a playoff game. It's a nice group, including a top-20 prospect, two guys from our draft class, and a former top-500 prospect we inherited that probably still deserves a spot on the list. The offense took a few hits, most notably Carl Carroll (.282, 5, 22, 7), but Joe Williams (.258, 5, 29) has a 122 WRC+ at 18 and Rams have gotten consistent production from Joe Irwin (.332, 4, 45, 5) and Tony Rawlings (.302, 6, 46, 5). Sill, I think we'll be leaning heavily on our staff to claim the teams first title in the C-O-W's playoff era, as it's the clear strength of the team.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-6
Seasonal Record: 78-79 (2nd, 27 GB)

Schedule
9-15: Loss at Kings (3-4)
9-16: Loss at Kings (1-7)
9-17: Loss at Kings (0-5)
9-18: Win vs Wranglers (2-3)
9-19: Loss vs Wranglers (2-0)
9-20: Loss vs Wranglers (6-3)
9-21: Loss vs Wranglers (9-7)

Recap
Yeah so we kind of suck now and the season is almost over, so this will be short and not very sweet. We lost all three to the Kings, and they threw a debut pitcher who shut us out instead of one of their Allen winners, and the Wranglers somehow took three of four from us in Chicago. A complete and utter shock.

Of course, the only win came form Bill Bartlett, but even then it wasn't really a Bill Bartlett like win. I guess because it was tied and Pug wanted a pinch hitter, Bartlett was taken out after just 6, throwing just 76 pitches. He did get the win, 6 innings with 3 hits, 2 runs, and 2 strikeouts, and he's now officially qualified for the ERA title with 164.1 innings in 21 starts.

Now the sad thing is this pretty much effectively ends his regular season. Sure, I could give him a start against the Kings in the final week, but since he threw so few innings and didn't really dominate, is it even worth risking his season stats over a meaningless start? I mean 18 of his 21 starts were pretty much the best ever, and even with three three awful starts, he leads all FABL pitchers in ERA (2.14), WHIP (1.05), ERA+ (183), and BABIP (.214), and even though he could lose the sole lead, I don't think any FABL pitcher is getting two shutouts in the last week, and for it to impact Bartlett that pitcher would have to be Marco Middleton (14-3, 1, 2.90, 125) or Herm Quinn (15-12, 2.94, 166). Sadly, the Allen is likely out of reach, and I'm not even sure he has my vote, after the stinker against the Mavericks, but he'll be the 1975 Kellogg winner, and a favorite for the 1976 Allen now that he'll make his first Opening Day roster.

I guess one other thing worth talking about is Tom Halliday, who pretty much had all of our offensive production for the week. An even 10-for-20, Halliday added a double, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 3 walks, 2 runs, and a steal. Red hot in September, he's hit .343/.397/.537 (157 OPS+), raising his season line to a pretty solid .274/.314/.395 (95 OPS+). Somehow his WRC+ is up to 101 in 139 games, and he's added 19 doubles, 5 triples, 10 homers, 51 runs, 53 RBIs, and 13 steals. His defense has hovered around a 3.4 zone rating at short, still great for a guy who will be 37 soon, and it seems like his early season struggles were a true aberration.

Looking Ahead
I won't waste too much time on what's next, as I can't wait for this season to end, but we host the Kings twice, are off, and then visit Dallas for three more. Not only am I shutting down Bartlett, but Roger Alford, who's been awful all month. His best start saw him allow 4 runs, followed by three with 5, and then 8 runs in less then 2 innings. His ERA has jumped from 3.17 to 3.76 (104 ERA+), dropping him outside the top-5 for pitchers. I'm guessing it's bad luck, he's way better then this, and five starts don't erase 29 of dominance. With no Alford or Bartlett, Hal Adams returns, and with the day off Pug White will get two starts. I'd love to at least win once, but it's so disappointing that what looked like an easy over .500 season has evaporated due to 12 losses in 14 games.

Good thing we weren't in a pennant race!

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-4
Seasonal Record: 79-83 (4th, 28 GB)

Schedule
9-23: Loss vs Kings (5-4)
9-24: Win vs Kings (4-5)
9-26: Loss at Wranglers (0-13)
9-27: Loss at Wranglers (2-10)
9-28: Loss at Wranglers (7-8): 11 innings

Recap
Holy cow. I'm so glad this season is over. 16 of our last 19. We lost. How? I don't really know...

What I do know, however, is this nightmare of September is over for us, and on the bright side we'll be picking much earlier in the draft then I would have expected. 79-83 is tied for the 5th worst record in the CA, though I think we will be picking before the Saints as their record fell and ours improved. Really. We only won 74 last year, so even after a huge plummet off a cliff, we still won more then last year! Progress!

There's not really much to share from the week, except for Gene Homer doubling his season homer total with 3 in 5 games, but we did have a few top-3 finishes in the CA. Most were leads for Bill Bartlett, who had the best ERA (2.14), WHIP (1.05), ERA+ (183), BABIP (.237), and opponent average (.214). Sadly, Herm Quinn threw a shutout in the final week (stupid inept Arrows offense...), so him and Bartlett tied there, while Bartlett's .722 win percentage was third among CA hurlers and his 9 complete games were second. Over a third of his starts he went the distance! Aside from Bob Goldman's Conti high 22 homers (which didn't impact his excellent 3.32 ERA and 118 ERA+), the only non-Bartlett pitcher to be recognized was Roger Alford, who's 2.2 BB/9 was second lowest. And on the position player side, just Fuzzy Cronin made a top-3 showing, as his 34 steals were tied for 3rd.