The Career of Julien Henri - A look back in time

[stevem810]

The Diamonds are one of the most improved teams based on acquisitions and releases.

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Anse d'Arlet took a gamble on an elite free agent this season when it signed the 30 year old Didier Morel. As a reliever he accounted for 4.2 WAR. However, his injury plagued history took a turn for the worse this spring suffering a career ending injury in the form of a torn ligament. He never threw a single regular season pitch for the Sting Rays, but cost the team $91,000.

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The game did not save opening day. As a result, Le Diamant is tagged with a 5-4 loss instead of the Opening Day win. Disappointing.

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Le Diamant gets off to a slow start as they manage only one win against a weak, but game, Artist squad in Paris. Anse d'Arlet travels the short distance on D7 to Le Diamant and pretty much owns the series, taking 2 of 3.

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Quite an honor for me to pitch the Season/Home opener in front of the Waverider fans. We will host the Le Lorraine Norse in the afternoon contest later today. Facing Chauvin will be no easy task. Like me, he plays a postion (3b), too.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

The game did not save opening day. As a result, Le Diamant is tagged with a 5-4 loss instead of the Opening Day win. Disappointing.

In a previous save (my Colorado Rockies historical starting with their inaugural season, not exactly previous actually, just not getting much attention these days) I once saw my team get off to a terrific first week start only to have the game crash without having saved that week. Of course, the second attempt at week 1 was much less successful. Still had a good season in the end. But boy is it frustrating to see history just disappear. I tend to explain it in my brain as some fevered dream I had about a great start, not something that actually happened.

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

In a previous save (my Colorado Rockies historical starting with their inaugural season, not exactly previous actually, just not getting much attention these days) I once saw my team get off to a terrific first week start only to have the game crash without having saved that week. Of course, the second attempt at week 1 was much less successful. Still had a good season in the end. But boy is it frustrating to see history just disappear. I tend to explain it in my brain as some fevered dream I had about a great start, not something that actually happened.

Agree. The odd things is I did not see a crash. I lost a no-hitter in 1960, too, the same way.

[stevem810]

I was out pitched by Chauvin in a big way today. I tip my cap to him. Surprisingly, his skipper left him for so long. A CG win as he held the Waveriders to just 4 hits. I don't ever remember giving up three triples in a week, let alone one game. Chauvin had two hits and one of the triples. Corentin was deservedly the Player of the Game this afternoon.

[stevem810]

It has not been much fun in Le Marin. Not anyone's fault, but, the losing is a hard pill to swallow. We say all the right things in the dugout ('we'll get em tomorrow', 'it's still early', 'bring your A game') but there is no pretending that being 2-10 doesn't weigh heavily in your mind.

[stevem810]

Le Marin (AAA) looks much better today than last week. It seems the team effort intensified after Manager Ludovic Beaulieu lit into to us at the end of last week. He's a mild mannered guy, by all accounts, so to see him livid was quite a surprise. I'll tell you what....we needed a wake up call. Because, right after that we started focusing more, playing harder, taking extra bases. Night and day.

My last two pitching efforts were rewarding. A pair of W's for our team made me feel real good about where we are going. We have to keep up the effort and see what happens. We saw it work in AA last season with the Parrots as we stormed the league the final month.

[stevem810]

Ludovic gets along well with most of the players. I've never had any problems with his style.

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There is some talk that Robert Bour may come back to AAA. After a very impressive spring training, the 19 year old has struggled at the FBL level. But, an even more important, he left his last game early with an injury. Fingers crossed on this one. He means a lot to the org.

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As a team we finished on a low note. We're all doing our best.

As an individual player I'm having my finest season as a hitter. Surpassing my wildest expectations, I am now hitting .435 as we enter May.

[stevem810]

Our starting catcher, and one of my favorite players in the system, is a guy who has had to deal with high expectations out of the gate. At one point our #1 prospect, his struggles have translated to reduced expectations of future performance. We were chatting the other day and he had this to say, "Julien, I think it might help me in the long run. I was getting so much attention from the press, really on a daily basis, that it was cutting into my practice time. Nothing comes easy for me, so, I need the structure of a routine that allows me to cover all the bases of learning to be a great catcher. So, yeah, no problem on my end....they can rate me wherever they want."
Heckuva of a guy, Frederick.

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I saw Herve the other day and he was a bit down over the start of the season. Another play with high expectations, he wasn't happy about the low batting average. Imagine, Herve with a .184 BA, with his smooth swing. He was going to start taking extra batting practice. He even spoke with our AAA hitting coach, Gerald Denis, about trying to square up the off-speed stuff. Gerald spoke to him about a number of hitting components, even Herve's mindset when he enters the box. Well, it must have helped. DeLage looks like himself, again. Ripping it.

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I'm chasing a 30 year old journeyman for the batting title. Francois just loves the game. He bounced around Montreal, Cap Chevalier, and Quebec for a few years hitting .266. He still dreams of a call up but told me recently he'd be okay if he stayed in AAA. 'Baseball is baseball, no matter where you are." Gotta love the guy.

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Francois, with his limited FBL resume, has acquired two Championship Rings. As he told me in our conversation, "It's not always about the money, Julien."

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The month began with 4 straight wins but the Waveriders stalled out in the second week. Here are the standings, schedule, and team page.

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The Diamonds have an opportunity to make the post-season. Here is how they are looking. Secretly, I'm hoping to part of that push.

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There is more than ample speculation that the owner of the Diamonds will start directing $ towards player salaries. The writers are contending that if Le Diamant wants to take the next steps, player contracts, at least to pending free agents, will be a part of the successful equation.

Laurant Mercier will be eligible for free agency at the end of the season, along with a few other players. But, he's the big one and an extremely popular player in Martinique.