Chicago Cougars (FABL)

[ayaghmour2]

Spoiler: I'm working on a review of the 1929 Draft (or was), until I found a story while looking at #1 overall pick Tom Barrell. Here is what I wrote once the 1929 regular season ended:

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

The Philadelphia Sailors (103-51) of the Continental Association and the Detroit Dynamos (91-63) of the Federal Association will square off in the 1929 World Series. Philadelphia is the defending champions, and will look for their 4th Title in franchise history. Before last season, however, they had a playoff drought dating all the way back to 1897 when they won their 2nd championship. Detroit will be looking for their 5th championship, and their last playoff appearance came in 1919 where they won their third title in four years. Both teams have serious star power and it should be an excellent postseason match-up. Neither team has a former player of mine.

We are also unofficially on the clock with the first pick of the 1929 draft. My goal is to never finish as bad as we did this season (62-92) and slowly work our way up in the Continental Association. I really need a good draft, as it seems last year's was a miss with just C Ben Richardson (17th) and SP Mike Murphy (27th) ranking in our top 30 prospect list. We will be selecting SP/1B Tom Barrell with the first pick in the draft, but what is more important is finding quality players in the other rounds. With two second round picks, we have the chance to add an extra high upside pick. I'm hoping all the scouting I did throughout the season will pay dividends with a strong draft class.

During the offseason I will likely make both additions and subtractions trying to make the Cougars a more competitive team. The biggest goal is to find reliable starting pitching which is a rarity in this league. I like Dick Lyons, but I think he's more of a #2 or #3 then an ace. There were times when Dick Kadlec looked like the same type of pitcher, but he was just terrible in July and August. He have four open rotation spots with at least 8 guys competing, but I will have to add some out of the organization. I will also have to remedy the outfield situation, with George Jordan, Vince York, Bob McCarty, John Dibblee, Dick Fessel, Mike Smith, Art Panko, and Johnny Johnson all fighting for spots. I'd love to find a taker for Panko, but it doesn't look as if anyone would want him. Another big position to deal with is second base. Bill Ashbaugh is easily our best hitter, but he was awful defensively and may end up moving to first. This would be tough for Luke Nixon who looks like a dependable big leaguer in his own right. I'm hoping for a busy offseason as we look to emerge from the basement.

As a team, we somehow finished 1929 with the best batting average in the CA (.302) and least strikeouts (128) while stealing the most bases (128). Of course, the pitching was pitiful as we finished 7th or 8th in every pitching category (except bullpen ERA) and we had the worst defense in the entire league. I'll blame the defense on Ashbaugh (-16.7) and Dibblee (-9.9) at first, as most of our starters were positive or around zero. I do like that our best month was a September of 10-12 which should be signs of better things to come.

This was more or less my intent to compete. I was ready to work the phones and get things going as we finally had a few pieces to work with. I made a lot of takes in this post, and I can actually review them. Let's look at some of the things I touched on, starting with my favorite (and last sentence):

" I do like that our best month was a September of 10-12 which should be signs of better things to come."

It definitely was a sign of better things to come! We went from 62 wins to 84 and 4 games out of first in a season. We followed that up with three 90+ win seasons, two Continental Association Pennants, and of course, one Championship. I could not have expected to win a World Series two years after being awful because of a 10-12 September, but I was read to get things going. The system was ready and I just needed to find the pieces for the puzzle. Let's see some of the other things I discussed:

"My goal is to never finish as bad as we did this season (62-92) and slowly work our way up in the Continental Association."

I did it! Well, so far at least. We've gotten better in each season since. Although, I can't say it was a slow work up. Obviously, at this point I hadn't started working the phones as I made a bunch of trades sense. I was just about ready to make additions, but did not know who they would be.

"I really need a good draft, as it seems last year's was a miss with just C Ben Richardson (17th) and SP Mike Murphy (27th) ranking in our top 30 prospect list."

First, Ben Richardson was a 1927 pick, so I was just wrong with that part. So it really shows how bad this class is...

I was always right about Mike Murphy, and he was way better then the game gave him credit for. He was part of the Tommy Wilcox trade, and I think he's going to be a really dependable arm in the Kings rotation. I'm a big fan of 3rd Rounder Johnny Walker, but 2nd Rounder Ike Quinn got hurt so much he just isn't good anymore. 4th Rounder Buck Waldrop was moved for three picks and debuted as a 23-year-old this year with the Kings. Him and Murphy are the only two to debut, so that really was a rough draft.

I do have hope for Johnny Walker who I added to my 40. Unfortunately, our rotation is really good and Walker won't start right now, but this kid is a total stud. He's a strikeout king with an excellent curve and a reliable mid 90s fastball and cutter. His change is passable, but he doesn't always need it. He keeps the ball on the ground, but sort of reminds me of Rabbit Day who kind of just strikes out or walks guys (well, the equivalent in this era of course). This kid looked really good in the minors and the 24-year-old deserves to start. If someone gets hurt, he's the first one up as I think he's big league ready. Other then that, I could care less about the other 20ish. I guess 7th Rounder Lynn Albright is in camp as a non-roster invitee, but 10 guys are retired, 3 in independent ball, and one in free agency. 17th Rounder Tex Young was sent to the Eagles in the Tommy Russel trade and is still in the organization. I think at one point Jim Dyer might have been on the Gothams 40-man roster, but the 11th Rounder never got a day on the active roster. Definitely a lot of misses in this draft...

"We will be selecting SP/1B Tom Barrell with the first pick in the draft, but what is more important is finding quality players in the other rounds. With two second round picks, we have the chance to add an extra high upside pick. I'm hoping all the scouting I did throughout the season will pay dividends with a strong draft class."

So who did those two seconds become? My second was Joe Johnson. That's a hit! The second was Roy Byrd who had a 5.57 ERA (75 ERA+) in C Ball (84 innings). As a 22-year-old...

Byrd was a miss, but Johnson was an excellent pick. Forgetting the fact that he has 451 FABL plate appearances at 25, the Central Ohio alum has long shown great potential. He's ranked as high as 18th in the top prospects and was part of the 1932 trade (with Mel Leonard) that brought in Bobby Sprague from the Gothams. He's an excellent defender, and if he can stay on the field, he's going to be a really valuable centerfielder for the Gothams. It's still early to judge this class, but there are a lot of guys either on 40-man rosters or in the high minors getting ready to debut. With Barrell and Johnson it could be a really top heavy class, but Gordie Thompson could be a strong pen arm while Jim Hatfield, Tom Spitzer, Elmer Hutchins, and Billy Marshall all rank in the top 200 prospects.

"The biggest goal is to find reliable starting pitching which is a rarity in this league. I like Dick Lyons, but I think he's more of a #2 or #3 then an ace. There were times when Dick Kadlec looked like the same type of pitcher, but he was just terrible in July and August. He have four open rotation spots with at least 8 guys competing, but I will have to add some out of the organization."

Yes Dick Lyons, I'm sorry I didn't realize how truly terrible we were. I know 17-7 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 37 walks, and 63 strikeouts in 248.1 innings is what an ace does. If Dick Kadlec wasn't a dick "he's disruptive" he probably would've still been on our 40. The partially torn UCL in 1931 killed his chances as a starter, but he's not part of our plans. Not sure who those 8 guys competing were, but I added Max Wilder and Tommy Russel who both pitched out of the rotation that year. We followed the really poor Lyons-Kadlec-Taylor-O'Hare-Douglas rotation with a much better Lyons-Wilder-Russel-Crawford-Kadlec draft. Crawford was selected in the independent league draft, so I definitely went out and added arms. Russel looked good pre-injury, but both Wilder and Crawford are definite hits. And while Dick Lyons had the only bad season of his career in 1930, the rotation was much improved. I truly think if he pitched at his career average levels we go worst to first (which I did not expect/plan). I think all the failure in '30 is why I had no love for Lyons, but I still think I was trying to trade him before all that.

"I will also have to remedy the outfield situation, with George Jordan, Vince York, Bob McCarty, John Dibblee, Dick Fessel, Mike Smith, Art Panko, and Johnny Johnson all fighting for spots. I'd love to find a taker for Panko, but it doesn't look as if anyone would want him."

If you told me of those eight players, who was the one guy left, I would not have guessed Mike Smith. So where is everyone else? Well, George Jordan was sent to the Sailors in the 1930 Tom Taylor trade, Bob McCarty was recently DFA'd, Dibblee of course retired, and Vince York was moved to the Pioneers last offseason for a 2nd Round pick (I think this ended up being Rich Langton). Fessel, Panko, and Johnson were all cut loose at one point, and only Panko did anything. No one wanted to trade for him, but he was claimed off waivers by New York in April and actually had a strong 1931 with the Stars. He saw 96 games in 1932 with the Wolves, but spent all of 1933 was spent in AAA. He's in big league camp in Toronto now, but I don't know if he'll win a roster spot.

The outfield did change a little from 1929, where left to right it was Fessel-McCarty-Panko. In 1930, McCarty kept center, but Dibblee went to left and York went to right. The tinkering continued after 1930, with '31 showing York-Bryant-Taylor. '32 was a repeat, but '33 saw Sprague-Bryant-Taylor. I have no idea how '34 will end, but I'm expecting (or at least hoping) Sprague-Taylor-Love will be this year.

"Another big position to deal with is second base. Bill Ashbaugh is easily our best hitter, but he was awful defensively and may end up moving to first. This would be tough for Luke Nixon who looks like a dependable big leaguer in his own right. I'm hoping for a busy offseason as we look to emerge from the basement."

1929 was the last time Ashbaugh saw most of his time at second base, but that's probably how it will be in 1934. I grabbed Russ Combs from the Foresters in the offseason to play short (where he'll be now) which allowed me to shift Harry Simmons to second. He spent three seasons there before Slim Bloom/Russ Combs replaced him there this year. Nixon was actually used in the Combs trade, but he found his way back to Chicago in 1932 and was just recently DFA'd. Nixon didn't quite hit in the majors, so it looks like I was wrong there. In 1931 he had a good 13 game sample, but in more time he never got close to his strong 1929 rookie season. But of course, it was a busy offseason!

[ayaghmour2]

The 1929 draft was the first draft class I had on the dynasty report. 1925 was my first draft class (and it turned out pretty solid), but I don't have any written reports on that year. I do, however, have one for all my 1929 picks. We were real bad in 1929, and even though we didn't have the worst record in baseball (second worst), the CA got the first pick this year (1928 we had the worst record and would have got Wilcox if the FA didn't get the pick). I used that pick on Tom Barrell, who I knew I would take #1 overall pretty much the entire season. This is all I wrote on draft day:

"We were picking first, and we went with what we felt was the obvious choice in P/1B Tom Barrell out of Georgia Baptist. Somewhat of a legend in the Figment realm, the younger brother of current Cougar C Fred Barrell was a rare four year college player who holds numerous records for counting stats both at Georgia Baptist and in the entire AIAA. On the mound, he finished 34-8 with a 2.54 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 489 strikeouts in 425 innings. He also owned a solid batting line (especially his senior season) and is a potential two-way superstar. He slashed .355/.401/.585 (151 OPS+) with 11 homers and 50 RBI's as a Senior and he can play a little of first and left. On the mound he throws in the high 90s with a fastball, slider, and change. At the plate, he's a disciplined hitter with average power and he can field his position. The 21-year-old is extremely developed and could be on a fast track to the Cougar rotation." (Start of the 1929 Offseason).

Yeah, so really don't too interesting, but Barrell is probably the best NAIA player of all time. His 34 wins are the most all time and his 15.81 WAR is the best. You could argue Wilcox was better in college, but Barrell pitched an extra season and was also a really good hitter. Here are some of the things I wrote during the year:

"In a 5-0 shutout over the Cumberland Explorers, the brother of Cougar farmhand Fred Barrell, the righty struck out 11 and allowed just 4 hits while also going 2-for-4 with an RBI. It's been a great season all around for the senior, who's 6-2 with a 2.13 ERA (224 ERA+), 0.82 WHIP, and 103 strikeouts in 76 innings. He's also hitting .357/.431/.591 (158 OPS+) with 7 homers and 30 RBI's as a first basemen. The scouts loves Barrell (maybe because his dad is one of them?) and his velocity has reached the high 90s. He looks like a future ace and cleanup hitter and is the early favorite to be taken #1 overall by whichever CA team has the worst record." (May 6th, 1929)

"A rare four year player, Tom Barrell finished his college career 34-8 with a 2.54 ERA (186 ERA+), 0.97 WHIP, and 489 strikeouts in 425 innings pitched. No college player has more wins, innings pitched, or accumulated WAR then Barrell, who also hit .263/.342/.539 (125 OPS+) with 26 homers and 86 RBI's." (September 30th, 1929)

Now 26, Tom has 373 FABL innings under his belt, most of those coming with the Brooklyn Kings. He's 23-19 with a 3.43 ERA (120 ERA+), 1.26 WHIP, 116 walks, and 190 strikeouts in 47 starts. He's still young, but it appears that Barrell should be a really dependable big league arm for Brooklyn, who's taken most of the Barrell population. He didn't do two-way for very long (that's on me), but my scout thinks Barrell is an ace who will anchor Brooklyn's rotation for years to come. Of course, he was part of the cost for Tommy Wilcox, so I can't be too upset he's gone, but there is a good chance Barrell may be my most successful draft pick once it is all said and done.

"2nd Round, 17th Overall: CF Joe Johnson (Central Ohio Aviators): I was hoping that SS Joe Foy would fall to this pick, but when he didn't, I was debating really hard between Johnson and high school CF Gail Gifford, but I decided to trust my scout and take the college guy. He has had some injury trouble in college, but he finished his three year career a .342/.438/.581 (183 OPS+) hitter with 22 homers, 37 steals, and 114 RBI's in 525 plate appearances. His junior season was his best, as he slashed .384/.463/.717 (210 OPS+) with 10 homers, 11 steals, and 58 RBI's. The 21-year-old is a speedy switch hitter who projects to hit for high contact from both sides of the plate with decent power as well. He's got good range, but not elite and while he looks like he can stick in center he may eventually have to move to a corner. He looks to have the tools to become a premier center fielder."

"2nd Round, 28th Overall: SP Roy Byrd (Omaha HS Plainsman): Since I had two second round picks due to the Johnny Douglas trade I decided to take a risk on the 18-year-old righty who burst on to the scene this season in Roy Byrd. He was an average pitcher as a sophomore and junior, but was nearly unhittable this season. He went 5-1 with a 0.82 ERA (404! ERA+), 0.65 WHIP, and 60 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched. My scout isn't the biggest fan, but anyone who puts together a season like that has to have some sort of talent. He throws in the 90s and has a fastball, change, and slider. We are going to take it slow with him, but I have high hopes for the righty that he could anchor a rotation one day."

A pair of second rounders who brought various levels of success. Bryd really sucks, but I knew there was a risk. He just looked so good as a senior that I thought there had to be something there. Unfortuately, he never really caught on. He was okay in his first pro year, but he got his first taste of Class B in 1932 and it was awful. He did almost as bad this year in LaCrosse, going 2-7 with a 5.57 ERA (75 ERA+), 1.74 WHIP, 35 walks, and 32 strikeouts in just 84 innings. Byrd will likely toil around in our system for a bit, but I doubt he'll ever be more then filler.

Johnson, however, was a much better pick. He was instantly ranked high in the league, never being ranked below 30. He was part of the Bobby Sprague trade, sent to the Gothams after debuting in 1932. He had an okay rookie season in New York, hitting .251/.309/.355 (89 OPS+) with 4 homers, 13 steals, and 50 RBI's in 435 trips to the plate. I guess I was unsure of his range (that changed quickly), but he's more the capable out in center. The bat hasn't quite matured, but there is still a lot of time for Johnson to settle in to a role. I'm still high on him, and it would appear the Gothams are too.

"3rd Round, 33rd Overall: LF Jim Mason (Ellery Bruins): I usually avoid corner outfielders (especially this high), but Jim Mason is an excellent hitter who flat out hits. He's got elite contact and power potential which makes up for his below average defense out in left. He was just a two year player in college, but hit .382/.443/.582 (171 OPS+) with 18 homers, 11 steals, and 91 RBI's in 469 plate appearances. Mason reminds me a lot of Vince York, but with a little more speed. He looks to be pretty well developed, and should be able to fast track his way to the big leagues."

"4th Round, 49th Overall: CF Ken Allen (St. Matthews College Senators): The problem with lists is sometimes you get a lot of the same position. This is what happened as I got a third outfielder in Ken Allen with my 4th Round Pick. It was a down year for Allen, but he finished his college career with a .353/.414/.595 (162 OPS+) line with 30 homers, 23 steals, and 109 RBI's in 663 trips to the plate for St. Matthews. He's a dependable defender who projects to hit for a high average and good eye. He looks to be a decent defender, but shapes up as a well above average future center fielder. My scout is a big fan, and I'm willing to bet that his 111 OPS+ this year was a fluke and the 195 and 184 the last two years are closer to the real him."

"5th Round, 65th Overall: SP Gordie Thompson (Wisconsin State Brewers): When you look at his stats, Gordie Thompson doesn't look too impressive. He was 9-13 with a 4.28 ERA (112 ERA+), 1.35 WHIP, and 218 strikeouts 235.1 innings pitched for Wisconsin State. He does have a nice four pitch arsenal and he lives in the low 90s, but that's not why I picked him. I took a leap of faith on him because OSA considers him to be the #4 draft eligible pitcher out of college. 5th Round Picks are the last round pick you have to offer a signing bonus to, and Thompson is asking for slot. Its a risky gamble selecting someone like him (especially since I can't see his ratings), but I think this might be a steal if my hunch on his actual talent is correct."

Finishing off the picks that signed, two of the guys are still in the organization while the other never even showed up in our organization. That would be Jim Mason, who was just part of the huge blockbuster Rabbit Day trade. Currently one of the best prospects in baseball, I'll confess I didn't sign him because I thought we'd get a compensation pick (this league does not have any). He hit well, but I never thought he'd be much of a defender. That more or less has been the case, but he just flat out hits. He's ranked the 20th best prospect in the league as a 25-year-old, and I expect him to be up in Baltimore soon. I'll regret letting him good, not considering how poor Allen and Thompson turned out. Both guys are in big league camp, and could be useful bench/relief guys, but I'm not expecting much value from them.

And here our the rest of the reports:

"6th Round, 81st Overall: 1B Jim Hatfield (Buffalo HS Bisons): It was an excellent senior season for Jim Hatfield who slashed .374/.428/.589 (191 OPS+) to finish his high school career. In three years as the starter, he hit .355/.407/.560 (160 OPS+) with 11 homers, 30 steals, and 68 RBI's. He's got excellent speed and is a great defender at first. It makes me think he may be able to handle a position other then first, but for now, the 18-year-old will spend his time there. "The Bandit" doesn't quite have the power you expect in a first basemen, but he's definitely no slouch. He's got an excellent work ethic, and I can see Hatfield developing into a dependable big leaguer."

"7th Round, 97th Overall: SS Tom Spitzer (Houston HS Hurricanes): I may have reached with this pick, but Spitzer has solid pop as a shortstop and he should develop into a passable defender at short. He only started for a year and a half in high school, but hit .323/.361/.500 (154 OPS+) with 8 homers, 7 steals, and 47 RBI's in 266 trips to the plate. A bat like his is hard to find at second, although third base may end up being where he calls home. He's definitely going to be given the shot to stick it up the middle and I think he'll evolve into at least an average defender."

"8th Round, 113th Overall: 2B Elmer Hutchins (Portland HS Lumberjacks): We continued the shift to high school prospects with a middle infielder from Portland HS. Hutchins best year was as a junior, but his .340/.396/.569 (154 OPS+) is extremely impressive. He hit 14 homers and drove in 86 runs in just over 100 high school games. He's not the greatest defender, but he's a good hitter who will make up for the mistakes he may make in the field. He's a low floor, high upside pick, but is of good value in the 8th round."

"8th Round, 115th Overall: SP George Deemer (Washington DC High School Senators): This pick belonged to the Foresters, but we acquired it in the Barney Green trade. I used it to take a southpaw in George Deemer who seems pretty intent on going to college. I'm willing to persuade him not to, as he was an extremely consistent and dependable starter in high school. He finished his career 12-5 with a 2.88 ERA (152 ERA+), 1.21 WHIP, and 221 strikeouts in 169 innings pitched. He saw his velocity tick up 7 points this season and he hovers just under 90. He has a four pitch arsenal composed of a fastball, slider, change, and forkball. I'm giving him a lot of money to convince him to join our organization instead of testing the waters in college."

"9th Round, 129th Overall: SP Phil Clarke (Dallas HS Rangers): He's a groundballer who doesn't throw all that hard, but Phil Clarke has the potential to pitch in a big league rotation. He was 11-8 with a 3.59 ERA (127 ERA+) and 1.44 WHIP to go with 124 strikeouts in 155.1 innings pitched. There's rumors that he developed a new pitch (knuckleball?) in August to go with his fastball, change, and, knuckle curve. If Clarke does develop the knuckle, his value could be on the rise."

"10th Round, 145th Overall: CF Billy Marshall (Birmingham HS Bulldogs): After a rough junior year, the center fielder rallied with a dominant senior season that saw him hit .391/.419/.503 (178 OPS+) with a homer, 10 steals, and 32 RBI's. This was much more in line with his sophomore season (161 OPS+) then his junior year (72 OPS+) and Marshall regained some of his prospect shine. He's likely not going to stick in center, but my scout thinks he's going to flourish in the big leagues. So much so that I almost considered taking him as early as the 4th Round, although I am extremely glad I waited until Round 10. He should hit for a high average, and his 10 homers as a sophomore shows he may have a ton of raw power potential."

Interesting enough, Deemer is the only one really not to do anything. He did not sign, but was a 6th Round Pick of Detroit in 1932. He really struggled in his first go at pro ball last year, but he's got a chance to turn into a decent pitcher.

Hatfield and Marshall are both out of the organization, but frequently ranked in our top 30. Hatfield was used to trade for Lou Kelly while Marshall was lost in the Minor League Rule-5 (he shouldn't have been available, but while he is pretty good, it's not the end of the world) to the Gothams. He's actually teammates with Hatfield now, as Marshall was part of the Day trade. Hatfield ranks 100th and Marshall 175th in baseball. Hutchins Spitzer and Clarke are all Cougars, but rank outside the top 200 prospects in baseball.

Looking at the actual reports, it looks like I got a steal with Billy Marshall. I won't get to reap the benefits of it, but I was defintely on top of him. I'm not going to say he'll "flourish," but this kid has a lot of talent and will get a shot to stick with the Cannons. Same goes for Hatfield, who has overachieved for a 6th Rounder. Now technically a top 100 prospect, Hatfield should be a reliable starter at first base.

While I was right that Spitzer would call third home and he's been at least passable, he doesn't seem likely to make much of an impact. Same with Hutchnis, who I expected to hit much better in proball. Both guys still have time to work their way up, but it's going to be hard for these guys to see much time. Phil Clarke never added that knuckleball, and he never did much in the minors. I cut him last season as he really never did much of anything.

I wouldn't call this a great class, but we hit on two of our top three picks and added a lot of value in the 6th through 10th Rounds. Looking back to that draft, there have been a lot of quality players from that draft. There's too many hits to name, as so many of the top draftees are either top prospects or strong big leaguers. On the pitching side, however, Barrell is one of the few to debut and most top pitchers haven't done much of anything. It used to be color coded to show who made the majors and who didn't, but since it is not it made searching through a little too hard to target all who debuted. I recognize almost none of the pitchers, and the ones I do are from their prospect days not big league days.

[ayaghmour2]

Spring Training just finished and regular season games will start being played once again on Thursday. We finished 8-16, good for second to last tied with the Cannons. I'm not worried, as most of the games I didn't use starters. Maybe I should be a little worried as we lost four of our last five when I started to use a few more of my actual players. We stayed healthy, which is really all that matters, as every sim I cross my fingers hoping that Russ Combs doesn't find a 30th reason to miss time (88% of the times it's a sore back or other back related ailment...) or one of my aces decides to throw out his arm trying to strike out someone who's never going to get past AA in a game that doesn't matter.

Of course, that is not an attack on Spring Training. In fact, I actually love Spring Training. I love getting a chance to see all my young guys face better competition and give my established guys some time at new positions. It's early, but I think by the end of the year Tom Taylor is a more then capable center fielder and a lot of that is because he gets stress free innings now. I'm really not looking forward to Bill Ashbaugh and Russ Combs as my double play combo, but it's nice knowing that they didn't make an error every game and still kind of did things. It also allows me time to think of how to assemble a 23 man combination that maximizes are utility (in this case, wins) to get ring #2. Here are the 23 lucky players who will start the season on the active roster:

Okay, so maybe I can't quite make up my mind...

There's still a decision for the 23rd spot. I will be carrying five relievers, and I'm not entirely sure which five they are. The locks are Chick Meehan and Bill Kline. The rest are Claude Purvis, Herb Lowman, Ace McSherry, and Dan Grossman. Four guys fighting for three spots. Really hoping I can move one of them, but for now, I'll cover the rest of the roster.

Well, first let's preview the Opening Day lineup for our opener hosting the Wolves on the 18th:

CF Tom Taylor
3B John Kincaid
C Mike Taylor
RF Doc Love
1B Lou Kelly
LF Bobby Sprague
2B Bill Ashbaugh
SS Russ Combs
SP Tommy Wilcox

Rest of the Roster:
SP Dick Leudtke
SP Dick Lyons
SP Max Wilder
SP Jim Crawford
ST Chick Meehan
RP Bill Kline
C Claude Ramsey
2B Slim Bloom
SS Arnold Bower
CF Cy Bryant
RF Bert Harrison

So how does this compare to last year?

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Here's the 23-Man Roster for 1933:
SP Jim Crawford
SP Dick Leudtke
SP Dick Lyons
SP Tommy Wilcox
SP Max Wilder
RP Bill Kline
RP Chick Meehan
RP Claude Purvis
RP Norm Stewart
C Claude Ramsey
C Mike Taylor
1B Bill Ashbaugh
1B Phil Vaughan
2B Harry Simmons
2B Russ Combs
3B John Kincaid
SS Slim Bloom
SS Arnold Bower
LF Bobby Sprague
CF Cy Bryant
CF Bob McCarty
RF Mike Smith
RF Tom Taylor

A few notable names are missing. Phil Vaughan, Mike Smith, Bob McCarty, and Harry Simmons have made multiple opening day rosters and they are now down in the minors. A lot of positions have changes as well, and at least one (if not two) pen arms changed with Stewart starting the season in AAA with goals to start.

And not only does the lineup look much different then last year, we'll have a few new names in the lineup. Lou Kelly and Doc Love replaced Arnold Bower and Cy Bryant who will now function as bench pieces. I will be trying to get Bryant some time and hopefully he'll be at least content with a 4ish day a week role. I expect to run a 12 player rotation with Bert Harrison functioning solely as a lefty power bat off the bench. Bloom and Bower will help fill in around the infield to keep Combs healthy and the defense passable when needed while the best defensive outfielder in baseball Cy Bryant can fill in wherever he is needed.

While the lineup is fluid, I don't really expect that to be the same with the rotation. More or less, we will run the same five in the same order, with the only exception being Tommy Wilcox gets to skip starts. He actually suffered his first ever injury, a dead arm in his last spring start. It cost him 4 days, but he's already healthy. It's always impressive when a pitcher has the same amount of injuries as Pitcher of the Year awards. It'd be awesome to see him win another, but I don't expect him to match last year's numbers. Our defense isn't going to be nearly as good, but I think the extra offense will more then offset it.

Since the minor league season has just begun, I can also do a minor league report. La Crosse is the only team to play, and they're just 3-10. While the overall performance hasn't been great, that doesn't mean it has all been bad. A former 2nd Round Pick back in 1931, John Hartz has gotten off to an excellent to the season. In his 2 starts he's got a 1.64 ERA (267 ERA+), 1.09 WHIP, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts in 11 innings. Last year Hartz started the season in San Jose, but he didn't do very well. He was just 7-12 with a 5.79 ERA (77 ERA+), 1.75 WHIP, 57 walks, and 32 strikeouts in 164.2 innings pitched. With San Jose's season not starting until the 26th, I'm leaving Hartz down here to build his confidence back up. This also helps protect some of my younger arms.

One of our top prospects took a huge hit, as Walker Pearce will miss the next three months. Taken in the 2nd Rounder the year after Hartz, Pearce was just two starts into his second pro season. He was diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow, which hopefully has no lasting effects I'm hoping it's his right one, as the left elbow is really important. The 19-year-old is the current 77th best prospect in baseball and projects to be a future middle of the rotation arm. Pearce added a mile on his sinker in the offseason and the lefty generally does a good job generating groundballs. His defense let him down in his first start, with just 1 of the 7 runs earned and then in start 2 he left after just an inning. He'll return in time to start again this year, but we have to hope for a setback free recovery.

To end with some good news, last year's 1st Rounder and our top prospect Billy Hunter has absolutely raked to start the season. He's hitting .442/.467/.674 (192 OPS+) with 2 homers, a steal, and 6 RBI's in just 45 trips to the plate. The defense hasn't been good, as he's made 10 errors already, but I'm hoping he'll be able to clean this up. I don't need another Russ Combs shortstop, and Hunter is projected to be a much better defender. I'm hoping it's just inexperience, as he is just 19 and he has a lot of time to grow. I didn't really plan on starting him in San Jose, but if he keeps hitting like this I'll have to promote him once their season starts.

[ayaghmour2]

Before we start, let's just say I have mad beef with OSA. Maybe Rufus has a grudge against me for trading both Tom and Fred, but the preseason predictions give no love to the Cougars. Like, did I miss the part where I traded all my good players away? After winning 97 games last season and coming a game short of a title, we added who OSA themselves consider to be the 3rd and 10th best hitters in the league this year, didn't lose any member of our pitching staff or starting lineup, and now we're going to finish with:

Takes a close look

Squints

...

80!

WE'RE ONLY GOING TO WIN 80 GAMES THIS YEAR

Yeah...

Fat chance...

Don't get me wrong, I do think Cleveland will win 90+ games. I think OSA is right about that.

BUT ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT WE ARE GOING TO WIN 80 GAMES THIS YEAR

A BETTER VERSION OF THIS TEAM WON 97 LAST YEAR

WE WON 97 THE YEAR BEFORE

WE WON 91 BEFORE THAT

WHY ARE WE ONLY GOING TO WIN 80 GAMES THIS YEAR!!!

TELL ME OSA!!! TELL MEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Hahaha

I got a little too excited...

Deep breaths...

Okay.

So let's start with the thing that bothers me most.

Last year, I had a rotation of Tommy Wilcox, Dick Leudtke, Dick Lyons, Max Wilder, and Jim Crawford. OSA predicted us to allow 543 runs. In reality, we allowed an even more impressive 526. This year, I have a rotation of Wilcox, Leudtke, Lyons, Wilder, and Crawford. OSA predicts us to allow checks notes 803!

803 RUNS! WHAT! HOW! WHERE! WHY!

Look, I know our defense is going to be a little worse this year, but there is no way we are going to regress so far that every team in the Continental Association other then Baltimore is going to allow less runs then us. Did Tommy Wilcox somehow lose his right arm over the offseason? Did Max Wilder announce his retirement? Did both Dick's Leudtke and Lyons lose their arms? Did they forget about Jim Crawford like even I occasionally do! I mean, OSA does the positional strength rankings too, and think that we're 3rd and 2nd in stating and relief pitching so something doesn't quite add up.

Anyways...

Enough complaining....

This is bulletin board material. This is anger fuel. This is something that should light a fire under these ones and zeros so they actually win the championship this time. My own owner even doubts us, he doesn't even care if I make the playoffs this year. He's happy with just finishing over .500.

Anyways, let's move on. I think that we are going to win the pennant. OSA doesn't. Agree to disagree. Let's move on to the Fed:

After their big addition of Rabbit Day, the Gothams are predicted to edge the Keystones by a single game. These are two really talented teams, as we'll see the impressive 1-2 of Day and reigning Allen Award winner Jim Lonardo take on the impressive 1-2 punch of Bobby Barrell and Rankin Kellogg. Detroit and Pittsburgh are predicted to be a little further out, with the rest of the league all .500 or worse. The biggest thing in the race will be health, as the Gothams have a lot of fragile stars and that could allow a young team like St. Louis or Pittsburgh to take the next step.

I emptied out the farm system a little bit, and we now sit in 10th, same place as last Opening Day. We have 11 top 100 prospects, 21 top 200 prospects, and 43 top 500 prospects. There's a lot of hitting depth, but we really lack pitching. At the top is balanced, but after Sullivan, Pearce, and Ross there really aren't too many highly ranked arms. There are a lot I personally like, but OSA is always weird about ranking pitchers.

[ayaghmour2]

My first attempt at a new weekly format (if only we can get a new week):

Weekly Record: 1-4
Seasonal Record: 1-4 (7th, 3 GB)
Stars of the Week:
Mike Taylor : 21 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .333 AVG, 1.010 OPS
Tom Taylor : 21 AB, 6 H, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .286 AVG, .994 OPS
John Kincaid : 23 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .348 AVG, .812 OPS

Weekly Schedule
4-18: Loss vs. Toronto (3-5)
4-19: Win vs. Toronto (8-5)
4-20: Loss vs. Toronto (2-4)
4-21: Loss vs. Cleveland (3-6)
4-22: Loss vs. Cleveland (5-6)

Wow...

Soooooooooooooooo

Maybe OSA was right?

I thought we had an easy home sweep to start the season before a tough series against Cleveland. I was quite wrong... Instead, we decided to win just game two against the Wolves before dropping both games to the Foresters (totally forgot to set my Sunday lineup, but it wouldn't have mattered) and finishing with our worst week since 1932:

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Not going to have time tonight or tomorrow morning for a write up, but it's probably for the best. Another 2-5 week including a four game sweep at the hands of the struggling Kings has pushed us back to three games out of first. Dick Lyons was excellent, winning both of our games and Tom Taylor launched 3 homers, but besides that, we were more or less pathetic. Russ Combs also bruised his toe, but he won't really miss any time.

(July 18th, 1932)

That was when I was still sad about how bad Tommy Wilcox was....

Good thing that changed quickly!

I can't remember, but I feel like last season we only had two losing sims (well, in the regular season...). And I know for a fact that we didn't have any 1 win sims. So I guess we can only go up from here?

Again, not really scientific, but I can guarantee there was no sim last year where we allowed 4 or more runs each game. And I can't imagine there was a sim with 5+ runs four different times. Was I wrong about the pitching? Is it panic time?

Of course not...

Bad luck? Probably, but is there more to it?

Let's take a look:

I hate looking at defense this early, but why not? Something has to explain being really bad? Right? Here are the guys at new position:

1B Lou Kelly: 2 E, .961%, +0.3 ZR, 1.039 EFF
2B Bill Ashbaugh: 1 E, .971%, -1.3 ZR, .936 EFF
SS Russ Combs: 1 E, .947%, -0.9 ZR, .954 EFF
CF Tom Taylor: 1 E, .933%, -0.4 ZR, .946 EFF
RF Doc Love: 0 E, 1.000%, -0.2 ZR, 1.002 EFF

Shoutout Doc Love for not making an error! And Russ Combs for actually overperforming my expectations! But yeah, when you already have five errors from five players you are probably doing something wrong. I usually don't care about errors, range is more important, but I know I will be sacrificing some there. I'm not ready to give up, it's a week, but this will be something I have to look at.

What's worst though is the fact that the offense decided not to score. 21 runs in 5 games is not going to cut it. We couldn't score on Cleveland's 4 and 5, so how are we going to hit Eddie Quinn, Dean Astle, and Roger Perry? Probably not well...

Ok, enough complaining. Some stuff did go well! Both Taylor's launched a pair of homers and Lou Kelly added another so we also had 5 homers in 5 games. Cleveland and Toronto are the only teams we play in April, so we might as well just move on. After the finale with the Foresters, we get our first off day of the year. On the road to Toronto for three and then Cleveland for three. I'm hoping this is the farthest under .500 we'll be all year, but there is a lot of baseball left to be played.

I do expect to write more in future posts, but it's hard to find much to write about when you don't win games. I think the plan is to hold steady through May. If things need to change, changes will be made, but I trust my team and I know things will turn back around. It's far too early to panic, but I never envisioned starting the year with just a single win.

[ayaghmour2]

I was just scrolling through my thread looking for really old bad sims while writing my report yesterday when instead I came upon my old top prospect lists. What caught my eye was on the 11-20 post who sat right at the top. That would be our former 11th best prospect Dean Astle who currently pitches for the Cleveland Foresters. Since my interest was piques I looked at all the players, and I could not believe it. All of them had made major league debuts! I thought this had to be a fluke, but then I checked all the 1-10 guys. 9 of 10! And the last is on a 40! And 6 of the 21-30 guys did too! Did I do something right? Or did I just promote my own players to pad my stats? I have nothing to compare this to, but I don't think I've ever seen a real life team have anything similar. In a very unscientific sample, the 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers top 30 prospect list had 17 of 30 debut. The 2015 Houston Astros 19 of 30. 2016 Tampa Bay Rays had 22 of 30. The 2016 Atlanta Braves 21 of 30. For giving about the same amount of seasons passing, these are four of the better farms I remember from that time period.

Let's take a look at our 1929 prospect group:

1. 3B Mack Deal (26th Overall)
2. SP Ben Turner (29th Overall)
3. C Fred Barrell (31st Overall)
4. SP Heinie Bretz (49th Overall)
5. SP George DeForest (51st Overall)
6. 2B Rabbit Forrest (55th Overall)
7. SP Dick Kadlec (61st Overall)
8. SS Clyde Hinzman (63rd Overall)
9. 3B Harry Simmons (64th Overall)
10. SS Pat Schuring (72nd Overall)
11. SP Dean Astle (75th Overall)
12. SS Slim Bloom (76th Overall)
13. RF Vince York (77th Overall)
14. CF George Jordan (97th Overall)
15. SP Lou Gaffin (116th Overall)
16. SP Ben Curtin (141st Overall)
17. 1B Jim Fisher (160th Overall)
18. RP Ed Woodward (165th Overall)
19. CF Mike Smith (178th Overall)
20. LF Earl Johnson (they stopped at 200 back in the day...)
21. SP Mickey Williams
22. SP Milt Nelson
23. RF Ray Ross
24. SP Fred Carter
25. CF Erv Frith
26. RF Ralph Collier
27. CF Tom Thomas
28. SP Art Black
29. CF Joe Davis
30. SP Gus Cain

And the breakdown:
Players with FABL PA/IP: 24 (80%)
Debuted with us: 16 (53.3%)
Debuted somewhere else: 8 (26.7%)
Played only for us: 8 (26.7%)
Played somewhere after us: 8 (26.7%)
Didn't play for us: 8 (26.7%)
Still in organization: 5 (16.7%)
Current Cougars: 1 (3.3%)
2+ FABL Seasons: 17 (56.7%)
4+ FABL Seasons: 8 (26.7%)

One of those who played only for us is the out of options Dick Kadlec who was claimed by the Keystones and he has a chance to pitch with them. Dean Astle (starting season 2) is left out of the 2+ seasons and he's going to pitch for a long time. Jim Fisher was also claimed off waivers, but he's not out of options. He still has a chance to debut as well. I also think it is unfair that Gus Cain counts as someone who debuted with us and only played for us as he was drafted in the Rule-5 Draft twice (Saints, Sailors), with the first time before we gave him big league innings.

Still, I'm really impressed with the numbers. 24 of the 30 prospects have already debuted, but let's look at the six that didn't:

5. George DeForest (on Brooklyn's 40)
21. Mickey Williams (was on my 40 at one point)
23. Ray Ross
24. Fred Carter
26. Ralph Collier
28. Art Black (on my 40)

It's padding stats now if I call up the 29-year-old lefty Mickey Williams who's more or less AA depth, but I can't imagine DeForest and Black don't join the list. 26 of 30 is almost a 90% hit rate and it's not like these guys were close to the big leagues. A few were Rule-5 Picks (Simmons, Davis, Smith) so they got a head start, but Simmons and Smith both made last year's Opening Day rosters and have been important pieces. We're 5 years in the future and we have ages from 24-31 so this is 19-26. Most were on the younger side as the oldest guy Fred Carter really wasn't much of a prospect.

Enough about the misses, how good were the hits?

The best was Dean Astle who currently ranks as the 8th best pitcher in baseball as a 24-year-older. Mack Deal and Fred Barrell have played in the majors in each season since 1929. 8 of the 30 played in more then four seasons. Rabbit Forrest is a World Champion and everyday starter, Ben Curtin was an inaugural All-Star, and Ben Turner beat us 6-5 yesterday. (He's also a dependable big league starter). Vince York was a dependable outfielder for three years with us and he hit well in his first season in St. Louis.

The loan current Cougar is Slim Bloom, who had a really strong 1933 season that might lead to an expanded role. My scout thinks he can defend at short, so when Combs gets injured he might get the call over Arnold Bower. Back to my scout, he thinks Bloom "can put a hammerlock on the shortstop slot" so perhaps Bloom can reach to the level of Barrell, York, or Deal.

I do find it interesting how many of these players I traded away, but let's see what they got us:

RF Tom Taylor (also gave up C Jim Stevens)
SP Steve Castellini
1/2 of SP Tommy Wilcox and C Mike Taylor
Brooklyn 1930 2nd and 5th Round Pick (SP Mel Leonard and SP Fred Collins)
SP Joe King and Keystones 1929 2nd Round Pick (SP Roy Byrd), (also sent SP Johnny Douglas)
1/4 of SP Max Wilder and SS Russ Combs (via. Schuring)
3B John Kincaid
1932 Pioneers 2nd Round Pick (CF Marty Roberts)
CF Cy Bryant
SP Dick Leudtke
1931 Dynamos 2nd and 6th Round Pick (1B Leo Mitchell and SP Joe Cotton) (also sent SP Cotton Taylor)

Looks like a decent enough collection. Only time will tell if what I added will be worth more then what I subtracted, but I'll take a 1931 World Series ring and a 1933 Continental Association title over the uncertainty of the future.

Although I might feel a little different if I'm watching Dean Astle pitching in October...

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 2-4
Seasonal Record: 3-8 (6th, 7.5 GB)
Stars of the Week
Russ Combs : 17 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .471 AVG, 1.315 OPS
Doc Love : 24 AB, 8 H, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .333 AVG, 1.137 OPS
Mike Taylor : 22 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .409 AVG, 1.019 OPS

Weekly Schedule
4-23: Loss vs Cleveland (5-6)
4-25: Win at Toronto (7-5)
4-26: Win at Toronto (6-4)
4-27: Loss at Toronto (4-5)
4-28: Loss at Cleveland (4-5)
4-29: Loss at Cleveland (3-5)

Is it time to panic?

Of course not! Sure, the pitching has been rough, but it's really hard to pitch at home and the defense is still adjusting. It's too early to draw anything from the numbers, but they haven't quite killed us. I'm glad we took two out of three in Toronto, but we have to steal the finale where we likely see Dean Astle. Dick Leudtke takes the mound for us, so it's a battle of the #2s. Cleveland has won all five contests so far, and we cannot afford to drop this one. Today is the last date of April and we'll start May back home to host the Sailors. They are sitting just above .500 at 6-5, four and a half behind the 11-1 first place Saints. We're off on the fourth and we'll use that day to travel to New York. We'll get three against the Stars (3-9), who find themselves tied with the Cannons for last. We really have to put together a good week, as back to back sub .500 seasons is unacceptable.

In some good news, Russ Combs is riding an 18 game hit streak into today's contest. Just 10 of those games came this season, but Combs is hitting an impressive .382/.432/.529 (124 OPS+) with 3 walks and 4 RBI's. Of course he's not as good of a shortstop as he his second basemen, but he's made 10 putouts, 28 assists, and 6 double plays in 40 total chances. Combs sees some time batting 8th, and I'm going to keep it that way. He's going to get so much to hit and with his speed he'll be in scoring position for the top of the order. The problem is that everyone other then Combs, Mike Taylor, and Doc Love aren't hitting.

Now that Love has been freed from the horrors of Thompson field, the two homers Love hit match his career total and that number is going to keep rising. The 27-year-old is hitting .333/.413/.590 (151 OPS+) with 2 homers and 5 RBI's in 46 trips to the plate. Love has always hit, but the lefty was stuck behind Henry Jones in Detroit and their stadium suppresses lefty power. The North Side grounds are the easiest park to hit home runs in for lefties, but he also got a homer out in Toronto which is tough to do as well.

Taylor is hitting the best though, .372/.460/.558 (156 OPS+) with 2 homers, 7 RBI's, and already 7 walks. He's absolutely crushing everything he's seeing and the 27-year-old continues to be one of the best offensive catchers in the game. He's been able to play all 11 games this season with all the off days, although he'll get one to start the week. I'm a big fan of what he's done so far and I can't wait till everyone else catches up.

I'll probably regret losing Claude Purvis to the Foresters on waivers, but I wish him the best of luck. I could've optioned Bill Kline, but he's so good that it wouldn't be worth it. I had have faith in Don Grossman and Herm Lowman is a much needed leader, but I feel like either had a chance to slip through. I didn't want to take the risk, so I let Purvis go. He's been a really effective reliever for us, but I think a lot of it was luck. There's a chance he'll be great for the Foresters, but we are already carrying more relief arms then most.

There isn't much to report on in the minors, but we do have the makings of a breakout prospect down in La Crosse. 19-year-old Neal Wilkinson has done great in four starts, working to a 2.45 ERA (201 ERA+), 1.32 WHIP, 6 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 4 starts. The former 16th Round pick is a groundballer from Elmira HS who didn't make any starts last season. He worked really hard in the offseason, adding four miles on his fastball which has made his four pitch arsenal so effective. He also has a curve, slide, and change with the curve the best secondary offering. Even though he isn't too tall, he can reach the 90s before wearing down. Done of his starts have seen him finish the 7th, but I'm okay with him starting slow. He was a decent pitcher in high school, but the speed bumps are coming in handy and I think we've got a future big leaguer on our hands.

Before I finish, I have to talk about the tragedy that is Tommy Wilcox. No, it's not because he's pitching poor; in fact it's quite the opposite. The tragedy is that he's 0-3. He's drawn Cleveland twice and has a 2.77 ERA (168 ERA+) and 1.38 WHIP with 4 walks and 12 strikeouts in 26 innings. The defense has let him down a bit, but no more then the recent 6-5 loss where Lou Kelly and Russ Combs made an error while Dick Lyons made two.

Yes, you read that right...

Dick Lyons...

In a Tommy Wilcox start...

I accidentally started Dick Lyons in left field...

I don't even want to know how that happened...

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-5
Seasonal Record: 4-13 (7th, 9 GB)
Stars of the Week
Tom Taylor : 24 AB, 7 H, 3 HR, 4 RBI, .292 AVG, 1.013 OPS
Lou Kelly : 24 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .333 AVG, .777 OPS
Chick Meehan : 1 Win, 2.2 IP, 1 BB, 0 K, 3.38 ERA

Weekly Schedule
4-30: Loss at Foresters (5-7)
5-1: Win vs. Sailors (6-5)
5-2: Loss vs. Sailors (1-5)
5-3: Loss vs. Sailors (3-5)
5-5: Loss at Stars (0-3)
5-6: Loss at Stars (2-6)

I give up...

Seasons over...

It took *three* full sims to win four games

We averaged 4.04 wins per sim last year

That includes partial sims (Opening Day, All Star Week, Last week), but of course, not the postseason.

We also had only three losing sims (again, postseason notwithstanding)

Already reached that this year...

It's really been bad lately...

Since September 1st of last season (including postseason), we are 18-29 (.383). Before then, however, we were flat out dominant. From August 1st, 1932 to August 31st 1933 we were a much better 118-65 (.644). That's a little more then a full season, but that translates to 99 wins.

I think it's just a rough patch. Every team has them. The season is far from over and even though we are 9 games out, we have 5 months left not just 5 weeks (and we still almost did that...) and eventually we are going to start to pitch or hit. We're 8th in runs scored and 6th in runs allowed. That's not going to continue. Dick Leudtke, Max Wilder, and Jim Crawford are not going to maintain 5+ ERA's the entire season. Bill Ashbaugh probably isn't going to hit .161 (although his playing time is a little in question...), Tommy Wilcox isn't going to finish 0-34, and Dick Lyons shouldn't find himself in left field again.

For all your Chicago Cougar fans out there (this is more for me), don't panic. This is still the best team in the Continental Association. Just give them a second or two to catch their breath. No one else has won 91 or more games each of the past three seasons. Or even twice ((ha, see what I did there Philly)! And we have a ring!

So take a deep breath. 1934 just might not be our year. Cleveland is great. Brooklyn and Montreal look really good this season. We can't even hang with the Wolves, Sailors, and Stars. And even a team who traded their two best players looks like they could give us trouble in a seven game series. We're not going down without a fight, but I do have to say almost ten games under .500 less then 20 games in gives you some perspective.

But hey, Tom Taylor is leading the CA in homers! The goal this year was to hit more homers!

[StLee]

Rough start to the season! Ouch. What's going to turn it around?

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by StLee

Rough start to the season! Ouch. What's going to turn it around?

Hopefully the offense starts to hit. Run in the league are up, but we're scoring less then 4 a game which is about 3/4 of a run less then last year. I just edited the original post to show team stats, and the page is pretty telling.

[DD Martin]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

[

For all your Chicago Cougar fans out there (this is more for me), don't panic. This is still the best team in the Continental Association. Just give them a second or two to catch their breath. No one else has won 91 or more games each of the past three seasons. Or even twice ((ha, see what I did there Philly)! And we have a ring!

Now not to throw salt on any wounds here as your note above is correct. I do have one small and meaningless caveat to throw in. Last season Cleveland started 5-12 which cost manager Hank Leitke his job. We promoted AA pitching coach Jim Wilson (former Forester who’s career was taken from him by an arm injury and unsuccessful surgery) to be the new manager. Wilson went 82-55 last season as the club finished 87-67. This year 13-4 start for Wilson’s Foresters give him exactly 1 full season (154 games) at the helm. The record for those 154 games, 95-59. So in a twisted way of thinking Cleveland has won over 90 games in a bridged season

Of course Cleveland has never won a FABL World Series Championship and Chicago has 5

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Now not to throw salt on any wounds here as your note above is correct. I do have one small and meaningless caveat to throw in. Last season Cleveland started 5-12 which cost manager Hank Leitke his job. We promoted AA pitching coach Jim Wilson (former Forester who’s career was taken from him by an arm injury and unsuccessful surgery) to be the new manager. Wilson went 82-55 last season as the club finished 87-67. This year 13-4 start for Wilson’s Foresters give him exactly 1 full season (154 games) at the helm. The record for those 154 games, 95-59. So in a twisted way of thinking Cleveland has won over 90 games in a bridged season

Of course Cleveland has never won a FABL World Series Championship and Chicago has 5

I keep trying to sign Leitke to be a minor league coach (literally since you released him lol) and he has yet to even consider one...

What's probably more scary is if you start counting at the Dan Folwer/T.R. Goins trade and go 154 games from them how good the Foresters Record would be. I think the Cougars are 2-9 (I will look back to check this) against you guys since.

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

(I will look back to check this) against you guys since.

I'm a little scared that I was right that since July 31st, 1933, when the T.R. Goins to Cleveland trade was official, the Cougars are 2-9 against the Foresters.

[DD Martin]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

I keep trying to sign Leitke to be a minor league coach (literally since you released him lol) and he has yet to even consider one...

What's probably more scary is if you start counting at the Dan Folwer/T.R. Goins trade and go 154 games from them how good the Foresters Record would be. I think the Cougars are 2-9 (I will look back to check this) against you guys since.

I have tried to bring back Lietzke as a minor league guy last off-season, but he has been rather quick to tell me where to go. I think he is still being paid by Cleveland this year. I think he is a solid manager, but the team has taken off under Wilson.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-4
Seasonal Record: 7-17 (7th, 11 GB)
Stars of the Week
Tom Taylor : 30 AB, 8 H, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .267 AVG, .894 OPS
John Kincaid : 28 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .357 AVG, .871 OPS
Lou Kelly : 26 AB, 7 H, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .269 AVG, .844 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-7: Loss at Stars (4-9)
5-8: Loss at Saints (1-2, 10)
5-9: Win at Saints (9-3)
5-10: Loss at Saints (4-6)
5-11: Loss at Cannons (9-10, 11)
5-12: Win at Cannons (9-0)
5-13: Win at Cannons (6-5)

Sounds the victory bells! 3 wins!!! Still not a winning week, but finally a lot of good things happened this week. There was obviously more bad, with the worst being the end of the season for Russ Combs. 1934 lasted just 19 games, going 20-for-67 with a steal and 4 RBI's. Slim Bloom and Arnold Bower will move into the shortstop role and Phil Vaughan will make the trip back up to Chicago. Bloom went like 0-for-20 this week, so I have little to no faith in how this will go.

This was a really weird week though. Tommy Wilcox was dominating all season until Monday. The Stars just destroyed him, 14 hits and 9 runs in just 5 innings. He battled right back, tossing a 5-hit shutout with a walk and 2 strikeouts against Baltimore. Take away the start against the Stars and he's been as good as it gets. Dick Lyons has been the star of the rotation, 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA (130 ERA+), 1.61 WHIP (yeah, our defense is that bad...), 13 walks, and 12 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. I'm a little scared as his walk rated has already jumped from a league best 1.3 to 3.2. Lyons has never walked hitters, and all of a sudden control has completely deserted him. He also pitched our most painful game this week, the 2-1 loss in 11. He went nine with 8 hits, an unearned run, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. A Russ Combs error in the 7th is the only reason Montreal scored in regulation, and then catcher Curt Squillante walked it off in the 10th with a double off Chick Meehan.

Looking ahead, we sit 11 games out already and join Baltimore as the only sub .500 Continental Association teams. I can't believe we're probably already out of it, as Cleveland (18-6), Brooklyn (16-9), Montreal (14-11), Philly (13-11), and New York (14-12) may be the pennant race this year. We get one more in Baltimore before heading to Brooklyn for three. We'll be off on the 18th so we'll head home to prepare for a series with the Stars. It's a long homestand for us, as we'll be home the rest of May. We got to start running off 4-2 and 5-1 if we even want to reach .500. Four losing sims is already more then last season.

I do have to give some love to Tom Taylor though. Since I've traded for him, I've always thought superstar while my scout(s) keep telling me he's just a really good leadoff hitter. I probably just should've listened. He's hit 5 of his 7 homers this season batting leadoff and only the Pioneers Alex Ingraham (8) has hit more then him this year. He may just be hitting .269, but with a .336 OBP and .519 slugging percentage is translates to a 115 OPS+. He's stolen a pair of bases and drove in 18 runs while handling center fielder pretty well for someone who came into the season with less then 300 FABL innings at that position. Other then CA RBI leader Lou Kelly, Taylor is the only Cougar with above average offensive production this season. Last year we had nine hitters with significant playing time that had above average offensive seasons. I think our pitching is what it is now, middle of the road. But, you cannot tell me that our offense last year plus Lou Kelly and Doc Love is bottom three now. But, that is how they've played (minus the home runs) and it's killing us. Just like our 11-13 Pythagorean record...

A few minor league notes before finishing. Down in Mobile, 24-year-old Pete Carey was off to a steaming start, and he took it to the next level in start three. In an 8-0 win over Memphis, he allowed just 6 hits and a walk in a complete game shutout. He's only allowed one earned run in 27 innings (0.33) and he has walked just 3 with 11 strikeouts and a 0.74 WHIP. I'm really high on this kid as he throws in the high 90s. His changeup kind of sucks, but I really want it to develop into a third pitch. The former 17th Rounder has came a long way, and he could see himself on the 40 by time the season ends. Down in AAA Ed Calvert won Player of the Week. The former bench player was 16-for-27 (.593).

EDIT: I have decided not to callup Phil Vaughan. Instead, veteran shortstop Forrest Sylvester will return to the big league team. He has hit poorly in AAA, but his purpose is just for defense. He kind of hit last year off the bench, has guys sometimes do for us.

[ayaghmour2]

There was a sim (spoiler alert, about four times better then some of our other sims!) already, but I've got about 30 minutes (from when I started writing) before round two of exams. There will be another post today, but for now, a little trade interlude:

Even before Russ Combs' inevitable injury, I needed someone to play shortstop. Before adding Lou Kelly, I spent most of the offseason looking for a fulltime shortstop before eventually letting Combs have a try. I went on my search for a new shortstop, and found the perfect seller, the Toronto Wolves.

I call Toronto the perfect seller, because unlike most, they have a lot of quality options for shortstop. Their everyday starter is former 2nd Overall Pick Tom Roberts, but they also have Steve Clarke, Clyde Hinzman, and starting first basemen Frank Huddleston who are all on the active roster and all natural shortstops. While looking at those four options, one in particular stands out; the former Cougar 6th Rounder Hinzman. Sent to Toronto in the 1930 offseason for Cy Bryant, Hinzman just missed a shot at winning a World Series. Instead, the now 27-year-old has spent part of the past four seasons in Toronto. He's hit .257/.337/.360 (102 OPS+) with 5 homers, 3 steals, and 50 RBI's in 670 plate appearances. Hinzman's main appeal is his glove, as in our system he accumulated over a +60 zone rating at short. His strength is his glove and speed, but perhaps he'll be able to hit a little too. Slim Bloom and Arnold Bower have been awful at the plate, so anything Hinzman can add is a plus. He's likely set to get most of the starts the rest of the season at short and potentially until #29 prospect Billy Hunter is ready for the majors.

The cost to us was a young outfield prospect named Reginald Westfall. Our 7th Round Pick in 1932, Westfall is hitting a strong .352/.429/.582 (151 OPS+) with 4 homers and 11 RBI's in 23 games with San Jose. The 20-year-old from Flint, Michigan is right outside the top 100 prospect list and will rank 4th in Toronto's system. He was 12th in our system, but is 104th in all of baseball. He's a dependable corner outfielder with a great eye and excellent hit tool. He's a lefty version of Vince York, and I think Toronto will be happy with what he develops into. We have a lot of outfielders, and with guys like Langton and Reyes ahead of him, as well as centerfielders like Roberts and Carson, Westfall had no easy path to the majors. He's part of that strong 1932 draft class that I'm hoping I'll be able to tap into whenever I need a reinforcement.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 4-2
Seasonal Record: 11-19 (7th, 11 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Kincaid : 28 AB, 12 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .429 AVG, 1.162 OPS
Doc Love : 21 AB, 10 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .476 AVG, 1.234 OPS
Tom Taylor : 29 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 7 RBI, .310 AVG, .805 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-14: Win at Cannons (8-5)
5-15: Win at Kings (10-8)
5-16: Win at Kings (7-6)
5-17: Loss at Kings (4-6)
5-19: Win vs Stars (9-6)
5-20: Loss vs Stars (3-7)

OH MY GOD!

WE DID IT!

A WINNING SIM!!!

Poor Brooklyn...

We took two out of three from them and now they are 18-14 and 5 games out of first. We also split the first two against the Stars (19-13) who sit in second place and four games out of first. We're hosting them and have one more game. We'll get to face Les Zoller, who just threw a no hitter.

In his last start on May 15th, the 25-year-old from Chicago (I wanted to draft this guy) walked three and struck out two as Zoller didn't allow a single Sailor to record a hit in a 9-0 win. He was an All-Star last season, and is 23-15 with a 3.82 ERA (109 ERA+), 1.30 WHIP, 131 walks, and 170 strikeouts in 53 career starts with New York. This year has gone well for him, going 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 16 walks, and 22 strikeouts in 46.2 innings pitched. And we get him next!

Anyways, back to us...

I can't believe our most challenging week of the season is our first winning season. I also can't believe we allowed six or more runs in each game and still won four of the six. The offense has started to wake up (minus the shortstop position) and I love how Tom Taylor is leading the way. He's up to 8 homers now, tied with Max Morris for the most in the CA. He's hitting .278/.333/.511 (111 OPS+) with 2 steals and 25 RBI's in 147 trips to the plate. And it's still early, but in 191 innings in center he has a respectable -1.0 zone rating and .981 efficiency. The switch hitter Taylor has been our most consistent hitter this season, which is crazy considering how inconsistent he generally is. I'm even more impressed with how his walks (12) and strikeouts (13) are almost even. He almost always strikes out way more (led the league with 106 in 1931) and is on pace to what would be a Chicago best/least 67 for the year.

Looking back at the individual games, one of the losses was round four of Wilcox vs. Barrell. Tom had the 2-1 lead coming in, and he increased the lead to 3-1 as he was the only King to win. Arnold Bower really lost this one for Tommy, with his two errors leading to 5 (of 6) unearned runs. Wilcox allowed just 4 hits and 3 walks with a strikeout in seven innings pitched. Bower is lucky that Combs is hurt, but his playing time will be almost gone now that Clyde Hinzman is here. Bower is hitting just .091/.259/.182 (13 OPS+) with 2 RBI's in 27 trips to the plate. With better defense, we go 5-1 this week and Hinzman can't hit worst then that.

Of course, there was a ton of good. I'm giving passes to all my starting pitchers as long as some of the runs are unearned or they pitch well enough that we actually win the game. We got to see George DeForest's first big league start (debuted on the 7th) the day before the Wilcox-Barrell Matchup. It was an error filled 7-6 affair. The Kings rookie allowed 8 hits and 7 runs, but only three were earned. He walked and struck out three, but was tagged with the loss. Jim Crawford picked up his first win of the year, going all nine despite allowing 12 hits and 6 runs (4 earned) with 2 strikeouts. Crawford did some work with the bat, scoring twice and doubling with the bases loaded in the 6th. He got some support from Lou Kelly, who was 2-for-5 with a steal, double, and 2 RBI's.

Kelly hasn't hit great, but really no one has. He's finally got the OPS+ above 100, batting .313/.354/.452 (103 OPS+) with 2 homers, 2 steals, and 27 RBI's. The RBI's are impressive, as just New York's Pete Layton (32) has driven in more runs then him. It's impressive considering how little we score and how little we get on base.

Looking ahead, we'll finish the Stars series before the Cannons (8-24) come to town for what has to be a three game sweep. After that we'll face the Saints (18-13) who sit just four and a half out of first. I feel like I truly won't know how this season will go until we play Cleveland again. At 22-8, none of those 8 losses come from us and six of those wins are accounted for us. We see them next on the 6th of June for a three game set in Chicago. They're in first, so if we can't beat first, we have no chance of being first. There is no way I sell, but at some point I just will shift my focus more on the future then the present.

And speaking of the future, on the 15th Billy LeBeau tossed a 4-hit shutout with 2 strikeouts and no walks as we beat Davenport 3-0. It's been a decent season for the former 4th Round Pick who's 1-2 with a 2.42 ERA (192 ERA+), 1.39 WHIP, and 5 walks and strikeouts in 22.1 innings pitched. He's lost more of his prospect shine, but he's seemed to hit a bit of a lull in his development and may not end up as a starter. He's almost 25 and I'm hoping after a few more of these starts he'll be ready for AA. His teammate Ed Reyes just lost his 20 game hit streak, but the former 1st Rounder is hitting .426/.476/.543 (170 OPS+) with 2 homers and 15 RBI's in 105 trips to the plate. I want these to be his last plate appearances there, but the outfield situation above him is rather crowded (which is one of the reasons I traded Westfall) up in AA.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 6-1
Seasonal Record: 17-20 (6th, 10 GB)
Stars of the Week
Clyde Hinzman : 23 AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .478 AVG, 1.084 OPS
Lou Kelly : 25 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .360 AVG, 1.029 OPS
Tom Taylor : 32 AB, 8 H, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .250 AVG, .825 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-21: Win vs Stars (3-6)
5-22: Win vs Cannons (4-5, 10)
5-23: Win vs Cannons (3-6)
5-24: Win vs Cannons (3-4)
5-25: Win vs Saints (5-10)
5-26: Loss vs Saints (3-2)
5-27: Win vs Saints (4-11)

6 and 1! Plus two more Tom Taylor homers! And Clyde Hinzman has himself a week! And the pitching allowed 5 or less runs each game! And we won two more then when we allowed 6 or more! Is it time to boldly claim the Cougars are back?

No... We're still 10 games out and five teams sit in front of us. We're at least closer to first, but only Brooklyn (24-15) is within five games of Cleveland (27-10) who holds a very enviable record.

Last week it was all the hitting, while this week the pitching started to step things up. Tommy Wilcox was big in a 10 inning affair with the Cannons, pitching all ten with 8 hits, 4 runs, a walk, and 8 strikeouts. Jim Crawford (9 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K) had a decent outing against them as well as he's gotten back on track with two respectable starts. We then finished the sweep with a Dick Lyons win. He went 7 with 7 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), a walk, and 7 strikeouts. Lyons has been our most effective pitcher this season, but it's crazy seeing his walk rate jump from 1.3 to 3.2 in just a single season. This may be a league wide thing, as offense is on the rise, but the overall numbers from Lyons have been encouraging. He's 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA (129 ERA+), 1.54 WHIP, 18 walks, and 20 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.

Only two players in all of baseball have hit double digit home runs this season: Alex Ingraham and Tom Taylor. Taylor added two in a 11-4 win over the Saints to end the week. He was 3-for-5 with a double, 3 runs, and 4 RBI's in an amazing offensive showing. The Canadian Club is on pace for 42 homers to go with his .273/.326/.515 (112 OPS+) batting line. The offense is starting to heat up as a unit, and I think having Taylor bat leadoff has been one of the few things I've gotten right. I also feel like every time I trade for a mediocre shortstop they decide to rake for a few weeks just to get me excited for nothing. Arnold Bower did it two years ago after coming over from the Kings, and now Clyde Hinzman has done it in his reunion. In a Player of the Week worthy performance, Hinzman was 11-for-23 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI's. Bloom and Bower combined have 15 hits, but in 80 trips to the plate. It's only down from here for Hinzman, but he's surpassed what I expected offensively. Last note offensively goes to Doc Love, who's started to find himself hitting again. After a strong week, he's hitting .309/.360/.478 (112 OPS+) with 4 homers and 12 RBI's. He's got a chance to reach the 20 I projected, but he's already tripled his career output. With is power I try to get him into every home game as I can as the pop really makes a difference.

Down in the minors, Ernie Carson just saw his 21 game hit streak end. The 20-year-old is hitting an impressive .349/.376/.524 (125 OPS+) with a homer, 2 steals, and 13 RBI's in 30 games with the Cougars in Class B. The former 5th Rounder profiles as a future big leaguer, with a quick smooth swing that leads to a lot of hard contact and extra base hits. He doesn't have center fielder speed, but he's a smart baserunner and has held his own defensively so far. He ranks 87th in all of baseball and 8th in our system, right behind fellow center fielder Marty Roberts. They were drafted the same season, but Roberts has a level and 2 years over Carson. This will likely cause a slower climb up the ladder for Carson, but with the crowded outfield picture (I feel like I mention this all the time, and also made this problem worse in the offseason...) he may end up blocked or out of the organization.

And speaking of outfielders, despite suffering a mild-hamstring strain, Rich Langton brought home Player of the Week in the Dixie League. The former 3rd Rounder was 16-for-29 with 11 RBI's and 6 runs scored in an incredible week. He's hitting .397/.440/.570 (167 OPS+) and it is getting harder and harder to keep him in AA. It's hard to think that with about 150 minor league games Langton is probably more then ready for the FABL. Ranked 48th in all of baseball and 3rd in our system, he's the closest prospect to the majors and by far the most advanced. This guy can flat out hit, and may be crucial in a potential September comeback chance. If I actually believed we were a 6th place team, Langton probably would've made his debut tomorrow.

Our last minor league player of note was taken in the round between Langton and Carson. That would be 4th Rounder Harry Mead. The lefty catcher took home the UMVA Player of the Week award down in Class C. He was 14-for-28 with 3 homers, 9 runs, and 13 RBI's. With Joe Rainbow in Baltimore now, Mead has finally gotten everyday at bats behind the plate. He's had an alright season, batting .314/.365/.461 (101 OPS+) with 6 homers and 38 RBI's. At just 19 (20 in June), Mead has a lot of time to reach his immense potential. He's already tabbed as the Mike Taylor replacement, and considering they bat from opposite sides, worst case I eventually have a catcher platoon set up. I know myself too well to call anyone untouchable, but Mead has a very low likelihood of being moved. Our system is pretty desolate when it comes to catchers, and there is really nothing behind Mead. Besides Ramsey and Taylor, he's the only one with a future beyond the minors.

Looking towards the end of the month, the second place Kings and the newly acquired Ken Carpenter come to town for three. We'll spend the last day of May in Philly (19-19) where we face the Sailors three times in two games. We're off the 2nd and will head home to host both the Wolves (15-22) and Foresters (27-10). That Foresters series is circled, bolded, and underlined and I'm hoping we can mess around and get a sweep or something to really vault us back into things. The Kings series is huge as well, but I'm ready for them to get their revenge on us.

[ayaghmour2]

Just finished finals, so I actually had time to spend time looking at the minor leagues today! Over the weekend, I'm hoping to post a "What-If" report. Here's a few early season notes:

#2: Leo Mitchell (29th Overall): Best known for being Harry Barrell's teammate on the elite Atlanta HS Peaches team, Mitchell was the third Peach selected in 1931 and second one we selected. The 2nd Rounder now ranks as our second best prospect and has consistently gotten better as he's advanced. In 1932 with La Crosse he hit .294/.341/.399 (97 OPS+) with 13 homers and 59 RBI's. The power disappeared in 1933, but with San Jose he hit .346/.383/.451 (131 OPS+) with a homer and 75 RBI's. He'll likely spend all of this year in Mobile, and he's slashing a remarkable .366/.403/.520 (144 OPS+) with 2 homers and 19 RBI's in 134 trips to the plate. Mitchell is an excellent contact hitter with strong extra base hit power. I'm hoping that will eventually develop into homerun power, as Mitchell is an extremely skilled lefty hitter. He's a team leader at 21 (May 1st!) and I think I have a future All-Star first basemen in Mitchell. Eventually the Illinois native Lou Kelly will age out, but I think Mitchell is a good enough teammate (sorry Phil Vaughan) to accept a reduced roll until it's his time. He won't play in AAA this season, but I may decide to give him a callup. I don't have to worry about free agency, and I won't mind burning his options early on. I've always wondered if he could play in the outfield, so I'm looking to give him a few starts in the outfield as well. He's an excellent defensive first basemen and a decent runner, so I'm hoping he's got some sort of outfield skill. He got one game back in high school, so there may be some sort of hope.

#8: Ernie Carson (87th Overall): While most struggled in La Crosse last season, Carson hit .295/.337/.477 (116 OPS+) with 3 homers, 2 steals, and 29 RBI's in 193 trips to the plate last year. He was hurt part of the season, but I was comfortable moving him up to San Jose. He hit .349/.376/.524 (125 OPS+) with a homer, 2 steals, and 13 RBI's in 133 trips to the plate so far, so I think I made the right choice. He's looked fine so far in center and that is one thing I was a little worried about before. He's dealt with injuries so far, so I can't imagine I let him stay in center his whole career. He may get some time in a corner every so often to give him a little rest without missing a game. His speed isn't too great either, so the range eventually may not be enough. I love the bat though, and Carson looks like a strong starting outfielder. The lefty lines the ball to all fields and is an extra base machine. He might spend all year in San Jose, but at 20 I can take my time with him.

#9: Ed Reyes (88th Overall): The 21-year-old has been absolutely demolishing the ball in the early season, batting .419/.486/.548 (174 OPS+) with 2 homers and 18 RBI's in 142 trips to the plate. This is much different then how he did in Lincoln last season, batting .303/.343/.372 (98 OPS+) with 23 RBI's in 255 trips to the plate. He matched his 10 double total from last season and has more walks (17 to 14) and less strikeouts (14 to 24) then last season. With the injury to Rich Langton, Reyes will get two to three weeks in the AA starting lineup. There are openings in AAA, so I'm hoping one of his teammates Roy Moore or Johnny Waters hits enough to earn the call. Moore is the better prospect, but Waters is the favorite (and will be covered later on) to move up to Milwaukee when Langton returns. Reyes is a natural left fielder, but he's honestly terrible defensively. He spent all 30 games this year with the Legislators in right, but he'll move back to left at least to start. Langton was the starting left fielder, so if Waters gets the call, Reyes will end up moving back to right. I wish Reyes had a little more pop in his bat, because that's the only thing stopping him from being Doc Love. Love eventually settled into a position, and even though he's not a great defender, he's at least passable. I really hope Reyes can eventually not kill a defense (or be saved by a Cy Bryant type center fielder) because his bat will be worth keeping in the lineup. Worst case, he's an off the bench lefty pinch hitter that can get a hit when you need it.

#11: Hank Stratton (106th Overall): Last year Hank Stratton started off strong and faltered, but he was never hitting .392/.434/.569 (143 OPS+) last season. In 50 games Stratton has hit really well with 3 homers and 37 RBI's to go with the extremely impressive batting line. I'm not quite ready to promote him, but I can definitely rearrange the San Jose infield once I think Stratton is ready. Last year was bad, hitting just .256/.283/.350 (69 OPS+) with 4 homers and 49 RBI's in 513 trips to the plate. I'm hoping he ends the year in San Jose, but I want to give him more time flourish. He's really improved the glove and I think he's got the chance to be a John Kincaid type defender. He may hit like him as well, and I'm liking Stratton as the eventual replacement to the soon to be 30-year-old Kincaid.

#14: Homer Ray (143rd Overall): Happy 21st Homer Ray! Have your first drink! The 21 year, 1 day old former 3rd Round Pick is on the exact same path as Leo Mitchell. He started in La Crosse and did poor, but then went up to San Jose the next year and broke out. Unlike Mitchell, Ray has been consistent this season, with a similar .350/.367/.496 (126 OPS+) batting line in 121 trips to the plate. Ray is a really weird prospect, as there's really not much he does. But that's not a bad thing. He won't really walk, but he also won't strike out much. He won't hit too many homers, but one thing he does do is put the ball in play. He won't try to pull it, but he won't try to go opposite field. He won't try to hit it in the air, but he won't hit it on the ground either. Ray will just hit it. If you give him a pitch he can handle, he'll unleash. If you give him a tough pitch, he'll just try to do something with it. And if he can't, he'll just push it foul or lay off. I am really hoping he develops some sort of power, but he's already started to get the defense straightened up a bit. I really think Ray is going to be a good second basemen, but he's got a few years to go before he's ready for the show.

Norm Stewart: I've always thought this guy could start and I think I'm right. He's lost in a numbers battle right now, but is being stretched out in AAA. He's been excellent, 5-1 with a 2.74 ERA (163 ERA+), 1.28 WHIP, 15 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 7 starts. The 27-year-old lefty has a nice four pitch arsenal and features a low 90s fastball. He has strong command on all three of his pitches and he'll keep home runs managed despite his flyball tendencies. The fact that he debuted is impressive enough, as Stewart was a 20th Round Pick by the Dynamos in 1927. I signed my 20th Rounder this year, but that's the first one since 1930. That was Guy Gill, who retired in 1933. Stewart, on the other hand, was a Rule-5 Pick who has pitched 36.1 big league innings. He's 2-1 with 2 saves, a 2.72 ERA (136 ERA+), 1.18 WHIP, 10 walks, and 17 strikeouts in 16 appearances with us last year. I'm a huge Johnny Walker fan, but if one of my starters goes down Stewart is the next one up. I think this guy should be starting in the big leagues, but I'm glad I have him as insurance.

Bobby Love: It's been a rough climb up the system for the 1927 2nd Rounder, but Bobby Love has had a strong start to 1934. In 7 starts he's 5-1 with a 2.86 ERA (155 ERA+), 1.50 WHIP, 32 walks, and 17 strikeouts in 56.2 innings pitched. He's always walked far more batters then he's struck out, and I think a lot of that has to do with Love trying to do too much. He has five pitches and only his sinker is really an effective pitch. This is one of those things where I wish I could tell him "hey just pick three" and I think he would have been a quality starter. He's a tall 6'5'' righty, but he's an extreme flyball sinker baller and something just didn't quite go right with Love. At 25, he could still find a little more magic, but Love may go down as a 2nd Round miss.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-4
Seasonal Record: 20-24 (6th, 11 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Kincaid: 26 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .346 AVG, .856 OPS
Chick Meehan: 1 Win, 1 Saves, 3.0 IP, 0 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
Lou Kelly: 25 AB, 7 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .280 AVG, .899 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-28: Win vs Brooklyn (7-8)
5-29: Loss vs Brooklyn (9-2)
5-30: Loss vs Brooklyn (13-2)
5-31: Win at Philadelphia (4-0)
6-1: Loss at Philadelphia (3-5)
6-1: Loss at Philadelphia (2-3)
6-3: Win vs Toronto (3-5)

After two good weeks in a row, it makes sense that we would decide to drop in another sub .500 week. This was a crazy week for sure, as somedays we looked really awful and one game we looked absolutely amazing. So let's talk about that one amazing game. That was the lone win in the three games in Philly. This game had a little vintage Max Wilder, but he did walk 5 and allow 6 hits in just 7 innings. He struck out 5 and picked up the win after Chick Meehan's two innings save with a hit and a pair of strikeouts. The offense was fine, with Bloom, Kelly, Bryant, and Love all recorded a pair of hits. Bryant led the way, 2-for-3 with a walk, double, and two runs scored. Kelly added a solo homer and a pair of runs scored. Bobby Sprague had a pinch hit single in the 8th and then picked up his 7th steal on the year.

Now let's talk bad:

So what happened to Dick Leudtke?

Sure, 1932 would never be repeated. 1933 was strong as well, and I thought that might be the regular Leudtke. He was 17-11 with a 2.87 ERA (129 ERA+), 1.22 WHIP, 61 walks, and 89 strikeouts. Those are more or less ace quality numbers, so even a little regression from that would be alright. But in his 9 starts so far, 4-5 with a 6.18 ERA (71 ERA+), 1.74 WHIP, 33 walks, and 28 strikeouts in just 62.2 innings pitched. His BABIP is up 40 points, but what's worse is all the walks. He's walking 4.7 batters per nine despite a 2.3 career mark. He's really got to get back on track, as he's gone from one of the most effective to least effective pitchers in the FABL (see Tommy Wilcox) and now my scout is hitting him with the insults:

"The only pitch he throws is a decent cutter, a slider which flattens out too often, a circle change that won't fool too many hitters, a circle change that won't fool too many hitters, and a change up that won't fool too many hitters."

Ok Marv... I get it... Dick isn't pitching too well. BUT YOU DONT HAVE TO INDIVIDUALLY LIST OUT ALL HIS PITCHES AND TELL ME HOW THEY SUCK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!

Sigh....

I miss the top of the rotation quote at the bottom, but at least "a polished starter who has mid-rotation potential" still is a really highly regarded compliment.

This were even starting to get better! On the 25th against Montreal he was excellent! Well, kind of? It was a 5-hitter with 5 unearned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Those were the only unearned runs all season, both caused by Lou Kelly errors at first. HOW DOES THIS MAN HAVE 10 ERRORS ALREADY! WHY ARE WE SO BAD AT DEFENSE!

Anyways...

I really thought Leudtke was back! Then comes the game against the Kings, were he allows 10 runs (9 earned) with 7 hits, 6 walks, and just 1 strikeout in 3.2 innings pitched. Just when things were starting to get good again...

And to make matters worse, Tom Taylor fell apart. He went 2-for-28 this week with 9 strikeouts and not a single walk. He's hitting just .242/.290/.444 (84 OPS+) now, but the rest of the offense is starting to heat back up. All starters but the two Taylors and Ashbaugh have raised their averages above .300. I think this means more Cy Bryant and less Bill Ashbaugh, as Bryant is hitting .340/.469/.460 (137 OPS+) in 64 trips to the plate.

Looking ahead, we'll host the Wolves (17-27) for two more before a huge three game series against the Foresters (31-13). The Kings are right behind them (30-16) as a two team races is starting to develop in the CA. After that we hit the road for three games in two days in Toronto before another off day. We actually finished May above .500, 16-13, but we've already lost two games in June already I'm leaning towards selling a player or two at the deadline. It's been awhile since I've considered subtracting, but I'm not sure who I want to move. I'm hoping we catch fire because I don't know how much longer we can keep losing.