American Baseball Association.

[gehrig38]

WEEK 2
3 vs New York 3 @ Brooklyn
A tour of the Big Apple after our 1st ever home game/series.

4/4: NY 2 FLA 1 Agresta (NY) (W 1-0) 7 IP 1 ER 6 K Fletcher HR (2)

GM NOTE: News from the training room. It appears Juan Pedemonte is not recovering on schedule nor as expected. His timetable has been moved out from this week to “Unknown”. I don't like the sound of that and am kicking myself now for not having dealt him this winter. There were offers and I was made very aware of his fragile past....

ABA NEWS: POTD Domenic Loetzsch (LV) 3-4 2B 2 HR 7 RBI Amari Tutson (JAX) 3-3 2 2B HR Nate Doddridge (PORT) 4-4 4 RBI

4/5 NY 9 FLA 5 (11) Richardson (NY) 11th inning Grand Slam. HR from Barranco (3) and Tovar (1) . Baldwin 4 IP 4 H 4 BB 4 ER.

GM NOTE: I'm only 5 games in I know, but there is a very disturbing pattern developing. One time through the rotation and I'd expect 30ish or so innings from the starters. To date they've pitched a grand total of 22.1 innings. On no planet does that work. That burns my pen by the all star break. I've met with KJ and we've talked about a longer leash. I know he's trying to win, and I am too, but given who and what we are we have to 'manage' some things a bit differently. Managed to snag a 28 year old FA outfielder named Kevin Curtis. Legit corner defender who has 2 hole skills as a hitter. No pop but puts the bat on the ball and gets his walks. I am going to roster him up and send him to AAA for now. Their season opens in 2 days.

ABA NEWS: POTD Chris Hatch (DET) 6-6 6 Runs 2 HR and 5 RBI. Just the 8th game in league history that someones managed 6 hits. Zainal Montebon (SF) 3-4 2 HR 4 RBI

4/6: RAINOUT. Rescheduled for 6/30

4/7: BRK 10 FLA 1 (1-5 4GB) Maddux Dower (POTG) goes 4-5 2B HR 5 RBI's. Chad Regan (W ) 2-0 goes 6 IP 1 ER 8 K's.

ABA NEWS: Ed Dempsey (NE) 5-5 3 2B HR 5 RBI Sergio Chamorroa (NE) 4-5 HR 3 RBI New England drubs Portland 15-5.

4/8: BRK 13 FLA 5 Fletcher 2-5 HR (3) Beltre (BRK) 3-4 HR 2 RBI

ABA NEWS: Chris Wright (AK) POTD 3-3 2 HR 7 RBI

MINOR LEAGUE NEWS: All three levels of the minor leagues kick off their seasons today. Here is our top prospects list.



(On a side note a HUGE THANK YOU to this community once again. Every team in every franchise has uniforms and logos thanks to this amazing group!. FWIW if anyone knows where I can get the uniforms and logos of the Korean, Chinese, Mexican league and a few others I'd be grateful!)

GM NOTES: Pre-game meeting with the skipper. 7 games into the season and Jimmy Owen has exactly ZERO plate appearances. Now I am NOT one to meddle, but I do expect that when I make an ask, or an order, it is followed. I thought we were in agreement that he would get a larger portion of the innings this first week? KJ tells me it was his fault and that he completely misunderstood our meeting earlier in the week? Rodolfo Duenas will go to the bench vs RHP, Romero and his .281 OBP will move to the 9 hole Silence will move to the top of the lineup and Jimmy will slide ,into the 2 slot. In other news Juan Pedemontes' DL time is up, but he isn't. I'm starting to think he may not throw a pitch this year. I don't know why but “Bicep Tendonitis” and “Forearm stiffness” are nine times out of ten code for “Tommy John”.

4/9: BRK 4 FLA 1 Guiomar Cortezos' 3R HR in the 6th broke 1-1 tie. Ziersch W (BRK) 1-0 2.25 7 IP 8 K's 1 ER

GM NOTES: Head Scout Luis Mora has sent his minions abroad as the preparation for the first ever amateur draft comes to a close. There's about 2 months left for them to come to some consensus on the talent pool. We have the 1st overall selection in the June Draft.

4/10: BRK 3 FLA 0 Jared Graham (W) POTG 8 SHO innings 3 H 3 K 0 BB. Darrin Downs throws 5 scoreless but Cardenas comes in and walks 5 over 1.1 innings for the loss.

LEAGUE NEWS: Doug Tune (SD) punched out 9 in a 10-0 win over Washington. Mike Torgenson (MIN) POTD 2-4 2 HR 4 RBI 15-2 win over Memphis. Whip Sonier (OK) 3-4 2B HR 4 RBI in 21-4!!! win over Portland.

WEEK 2 FINAL
AL POTW-Yulieski Gurriel (MIL) 17-33 HR 5 RBI
NL POTW- Andy Mutch (LA) 13-26 2 HR 6 RBI
Power Rankings
1-Brooklyn 154
2-Detroit 153
3-Chicago 151
…
26 Florida 6

WEEKLY SUMMARY
I didn't expect to win 150 gsmes this year. But I sure as heck didn't expect to lose that many. 1-8 after our 1st 9 games. Why? 14th in Runs 11th in AVG 10ths in OBP 14th in HR 12th in Starter and Bullpen ERA. Our Def is ranked 5th, so there's that....

[gehrig38]

WEEK 3
2 vs Alaska 3 @ Milwaukee 1 vs Denver

4/11 AK 8 FLA 5 (11) Morrison BS (1) Gilmore (AK) PH in the 7th and goes 3-3 with GW 3R HR off Lucier (0-2 15.19 more on this coming up).

GM NOTES: Chris Lucier is 37 years old. He had little to no business on this roster to begin with but in trying to build a staff there are going to be pieces you HAVE to keep even if you don't want to. That being said I can get a 15+ ERA frowner's owners wife. Lucier was DFA after the game and took it like a veteran does. He knew he wasn't coming close to helping himself or us taking up a spot here. Hopefully he catches on with a contender. Couple different options I would have liked but with the league rules set at a 38 man roster the game changes when you're moving players around on a team looking to build from scratch. Options become enormously important in both develoment and retention. 26 year old Chris Fitzgerald will get the call from Alamogordo.

LEAGUE NEWS: Ohio slugger Joey Vertz hit 3 homers and drove in 7 to take POTD honors.

4/12 AK 2 FLA 1 Samedi (AK) ( W 1-1 6.28) 7 IP 8 H 1 ER 9 K's 0 BB Elizondo (AK) 2 R HR in the 3rd. Barranco 2-3 (.366-3-9).

GM NEWS: The streak reaches 9. I'll say it again, I didn't expect an LCS appearance but I do expect some competitive games. Last night was one of those. Problem is we aren't having enough of them. 7 runs over our past 4 games isn't going to cut it. I'm thinking that even though our attendance is a bit ahead of our projected pace, that won't keep up if the team isn't at least enjoyable to watch. It will have a direct impact on our revenue projections if we don't address that.

LEAGUE NEWS: Amari Tutson (JAX) 3-4 2 HR 4 RBI POTD Ernesto Banderas (OH) 4 hit SHO pumching out 9 and walking 0 (1-1 4.42)

4/13 OFF DAY

4/14 MIL 6 FLA 3 Streak reaches 10. Bzios (L 1-2 9.49) 5 IP 10 H 4 ER Gurriel (MIL) 3-4 HR (5) 2 RBI (11)

LEAGUE NEWS: Steve Moden (PHX) POTD 3-4 2 HR 7 RBI

GM NEWS: Closer Juan Pedemonte is cleared to be activated. Little surprised but in a pleasant way. Fitzgerald will be optioned to Alamagordo. The pen now has a 2nd lefty and he slots into the setup role with Medina.

4/15 FLA 9 MIL 2 Streak ends at 10. Finally. Cobus Nabbe 3-5 HR 4 RBI's POTG Benavides 3-4 RBI Bzios (W 2-1 7.62) 5.2 IP 5 K 91 pitches.

GM NEWS: Closer Juan Pedemonte has cleared the physical hurdles needed and is ready to be activated. We'll send Fitzgerald back down after a quick plane ride, Pedemonte will move into ,a setup position and gives the pen 2 true LH's for the first time.

On another note the continued lack of innings from the rotation is troublesome to say the least. Guan (short for Guancollo because I refuse to call him that) needed 91 pitches to battle into the 6th and it was just a 3-2 game so I understand to some degree KJ's reluctance to keep him in, but a bullpen only has so many innings per season. A tried and true stat is to go back and look at the top 4-8 teams every year and the portion of innings their opening day starting 5 throw vs their bullpen over the course of a season. It won't be surprising what you find.

Also wanted to mention Nabbe's 3-4 day puts him at .317-1-11 and Sincere Quiller went 3-5 to move to .400 on the season and is providing a bit more of a spark at the top of the lineup. Fletch hit his 4th homer of the year and Juan Barraco's 3-5 day moves him to .391-3-9 on the year. None of that is game changing but keep those guys in mind as the season progresses for the simple fact no one on the roster, or any roster for that matter, is untouchable.

LEAGUE NEWS: Jared Simon (TEX) goes 6-6 in a 14-5 drubbing over Portland marking the 2nd time in less than 2 weeks the rare 9 inning 6 hit game has been achieved.

4/16 MIL 10 FLA 3 Dunham (L 0-3 9.39) 4.2 IP 5 BB 7 ER Dan Harrison (MIL) 3-3 3 R

GM NOTES: Sigh....In actually interesting news Alamagordo won 15-0 yesterday. Hidetoshi Fujimoto, a corner OF went 3-5 to move his average to .375 on the season while C Max Ramirez (.444) and OF Kevin Curtis (.333) had 4 hits each. Righty Luis Mieses (2-0 0.63) went 8 scoreless.

4/17 MIL 9 FLA 1 Darrin Downs gives up 5 in the 1st. Yulieski Gurriel (MIL) 3-5 HR (5) 4 RBI Takeru Ogera (MIL) (W 1-0 2.45) 6 IP 1 R 5 K's

GM NEWS: I placed a waiver claim on a 26-year-old flamethrowing righty named Ben Herman. An upper 90's arm with a devastating curveball and the beginnings of a changeup. Never pitched an inning in the big leagues. His story is 'unique' in a way. A 1995 3rd rounder by Detroit, he failed to sign and went back to college at the U of Arizona. Less than a week later he was kicked off the team. He loitered for a year before signing a free agent deal with the Memphis Blue Sox and went to rookie ball. He made the all star team in 2001 in AA, which in and of itself would be great except for the fact he made the same AA all star team 2 years later. Luis is really high on the kid. We're gonna put him on the 38 man roster and give this a try.

I never like to be an “I told you so guy” but I hate even more being the target of the “I told you so”. At our meeting earlier this month I was adamant that Jimmy Owen be given AB's and a chance to show his skills. It's only been 3 starts but he's 0-13 with 7 punchouts and hasn't walked once. I'm giving it another day or two and if nothing happens I'll be the “You were right” guy when I say it to KJ. Come on you little bastard, go 5-5 today!

4/18 FLA 5 DEN 4 Winton Alward (DEN) 8 IP 6 H 1 ER 12 K's........
GAME NEWS: Down 4-0 entering the bottom of the 9th. Barranco singles bringing Denver reliever Zion Ndaye into the game (not their closer). Tovar greets him with a 2R HR, 4-2 0 outs. Fletcher punches out, Nakamura singles. Medina into PR when Dusty Barber K's for the 2nd out. Coyotl draws a 4 pitch walk, Jimmy Owen singles (THANK GOD!) to make it 4-3. Sincere then rolls a grounder to second and Denver 2B Terukatsu Yagi watches it roll between his legs as both runs score for the "walk off"! Apparently Denver's newly signed and annoited closer Clint Mcalhaney ( a guy we had made overtures to this winter) was gassed from his last 2 days of appearances (1 SV 2 IP 5 K's) so they let Ndaye suck on this one all alone.

GM NEWS: Jimmy Owen was a fly on the wall last night...I hope. He went 3-5 driving in a run today.

LEAGUE NEWS: Adrian Beltre (BRK) went 3-4 and drilled 3 homers in a 10-6 win over Chicago. Juan Burruel (WSH) kept a streak he ended last season with, and picked up opening day on. His hitting streak reached 25 games today. Chris Frederick holds the ABA record of 35 games set in LA in 2002. Andy McDEvitt (MEM) at 34 in 1994 is the only other player to ever reach 30 games.


WEEK 3 NEWS
AL POTW-Arturo Capellari (DET) 11-21 4 HR 7 RBI 10 R (.351-5-8)
NL POTW-Teagan Ings (TEX) 9-16 3 HR 7 RBI's (4 games) (.304-5-15)


(AUTHORS NOTE: You guys will notice some MLB names. Those are the players but they all started out playing overseas for some reason. Most if not all that are in the ABA are so after a lengthy career over there. Example being Beltre and Tanaka. BTW it was some sort of HUGE bug. The game started and ALL players that were 'real' that made it into my league (assuming I had a bad setting?) were all 0-5 or 18 years old and 0' to 3' to 7'+ tall and over 300 pds. )

I'm not a math guy per se but I do believe being 10 games back after playing just 15 is not good....
Dominic Loetsch of Vegas has 25 steaks in just 15 games....

[gehrig38]

WEEK 4
2 @ Denver 3 vs Las Vegas 2 @ Detroit

GM NOTE: Wanna guess what these numbers are? 15.1, 14, 13, 14.1, 15.1? Those are the 5 innings pitched totals of my starting rotation after 3 starts each. That is a problem and one that will begin to hurt much quicker than folks think. I've asked KJ to ease up a bit on the quick hook if for no other reason than to save the pen and help it at least limp into the all-star break.

4/18 FLA 2 DEN 1 Baeza 6 IP 11 K's (1-3 5.48 Romero (2) and Nakamura (1) solo homers. Owen 0-4.
Denver's Nate Aucoin CG loss 8 IP 10 K's 2 ER 4 H

ORG NOTE: At 24 years old he's too old to call a true “prospect” since he's in A ball, but over the first 10 games of the season Mike Valle has gone .471-7-16! Clearly earning a promotion to AA. He's a corner OF with elite speed decent pop but also (at least before this year) is someone who swings and misses too much. Just 4 K's so far this year in 38 PA.

LEAGUE NOTE: Phoenix Roadrunner RF Andy Burgett went 5-6 in a 14-3 drubbing of New York.

GM NOTE: I've been getting daily scouting reports and the draft looks to have some potential franchise players.I also have found 2 'special' players. Kansas State Senior Robby Givens served as their closer this year and as did Junior Jon Girard for Texas Tech. The reason I label them "special"? Both are knuckleballers and BOTH are projected to have well above average knucklers. I'm wondering how 'onto them' the rest of the league is?

4/19 FLA 5 DEN 3 Fletcher 2-3 2 HR's 2 RBI's (.219-7-11) Barranco 3-5 (.364-3-9)
Bzios (3-1 6.63) 6 IP!!! Two days in a row! 7 H 3 ER and 5 punchouts Pedemonte SV (2)

GM NOTE: 3B Dusty Barber is 2 for his last 26 and hitting .098/.214/.115 overall. 3B Steve McDowell is .325/.400/.400 through Alamogordo's first 10 games. The issue is we have 36 of 38 spots taken up on the roster and McDowell is not currently on the roster. On another note, he may be the fastest player in the entire organization at a lengthy 5'11'! I don't want to ruin a kid struggling but I feel like leaving Dusty here, remember he'd never had an AB above AA before this year but had a great spring, could destroy his confidence. I gotta tell you he seemed to let out a sigh of relief when we informed him post game of the decision. He's a hard ass worker and I fully expect him to figure it out. McDowell will slide into the 9 hole vs RHP and hit 2nd vs lefties for now.

LEAGUE NEWS: Dan Benson and Chi-ming-Xie (POTD) of Texas go a combined 7-7 3 2B HR 7 RBI and 6 Runs in 16-3 win over NE.

4/20 LV 10 FLA 4 Josh Haynes (LV) 2 2B's 5 RBI's Jorge Izazaga 4-5 Humberto Abeyta 6.1 IP 6 H 0 R 6 K
Quiller 3-4 Owen 2-4 McDowell 2-4 2B in big league debut Dunham (0-4 9.15) 5.1 IP 9 H 5 ER

LEAGUE NEWS: Kevin Allen (MEM) 2-3 2 HR 6 RBI in 15-1 win over St Louis
Joel Aris (WSH) 7 IP 2 H 9 K 0 R (3-0 2,84)

4/21 LV 5 FLA 1 Chris Helinski (LV) 5 IP 4 H 0 R (left after 5 with unknown injury) (3-1 3.52) Dave Chase 4 IP 1 ER SV (1)
Downs 3.1 IP 6 H 3 ER 86 pitches. Owen 0-4 McDowell 1-1 2B HBP SAC

LEAGUE NEWS: Mike Hunter (STL) 5-5 2 2B HR 3 RBI Matthew Crownover (MIN) 8 IP 0 R 0 BB 7 K (2-2 3.00)

4/22 LV 5 FLA 4 Juan Gallegos (LV) 6 IP 7 H 1 R (3-1 2.37)
Romero 2-4 2B HR (.239-3-10) Baldwin (0-1 6.50) 4 IP 9 H 5 ER Owen 1-5

LEAGUE NEWS: Winton Alward (DEN) 8.2 IP 17 K's (2-1 3.06) Burruel (WASH) hitting streak halted at 28 Eric Fontenot (SAN) 4-5 2B 2 HR 6 RBI

GM NOTES: Division-leading Detroit (15-5) in today. 10 games up after 20 played.

4/23 FLA 10 DET 3 Fletcher 3-5 2B 5 RBI (.266-7-17) Barranco 3-5 (.373) Quiller 3 Runs
Loan Auffret (DET) 3-3 2B HR (.374-6-22)

4/24 DET 11 FLA 3 0-0 game into the 5th. Tye Eagleton (DET) 4-5 Chris Mattingly 6.1 IP 0 R 7 K (3-0 1.03) SEE GAME NEWS BELOW
Barranco 2-4 HR (.379-5-15) Bzios 5 IP 4 R 4 BB 4 K (3-2 6.75)

GAME NEWS- Chris Mattingly game into the game 204-162 4.12 ERA and 2792 lifetime punchouts. The win today made him the all time leading winner in ABA history.




WEEK 4
AL POTW-Dan Risdale (CHI) 15-31 4 HR 8 RBI (.393-7-20)
NL POTW-Ed Dempsey (NE) 15-29 2 HR 5 RBI & R (.313-4-16)

The first week ever Florida is NOT the 26th ranked team!
1. Los Angeles 180.5
2. Detroit 133.9
3. Chicago 133.5
.....
25 Florida 46.1
26 St Louis 36.0

[gehrig38]

I was thinking about this during the last write up. I wanted anyone reading this to know when I go into a player interaction with someone the player's reaction is one I either exhibited myself or saw happen with someone else.
Just a little FYI

[gehrig38]

WEEK 5
1 @ Detroit Off Day 3 vs CHI 2 @ PHX

GM NOTE: Here is our standing statistically through the seasons first 22 games. Not anything to talk up at all, anywhere.



4/25 FLA 10 DET 4 Dunham W (1-4 7.81) 7 IP!!!! 5 H 5 K 3 ER Tovar 2-3 2B HR 4 RBI

LEAGUE NEWS: San Diego (7-16 13.5 GB) Lost setup man Jeff Cole for the year. Maybe they're in the market for a RP???

4/26 OFF DAY

4/27 FLA 7 CHI 2 Barranco 4-5 2 RBI (.400-5-17) Downs 5.2 IP 5 H 8 K's 1 ER (1-3 4.63)

LEAGUE NEWS: Doug Tune (WSH) 8.2 IP 2 H 10 K 0 ER (2-2 2.31) Juan Mercado (SF) 5-5 3 RBI

4/28 CHI 8 FLA 5 8-1 into the 9th, Nabbe (3) and McDowell (2) with 2R HR. Barranco 3-5 2B RBI (.410-5-19) Baldwin can't get past the 4th (0-2 6.14) 4 IP 7 H 2 ER 3 BB 3 K's 84 pitches
RJ Stanton (CHI) (3-0 2.40) 7.1 IP 6 H 1 ER 7 K

GAME NOTES: RP Jared Neuman pulled up after his 1st toss in the 6th with a stiff back. Post game it became clear it was more than that and the recommendation is to shut him down for 2 weeks.

LEAGUE NOTES: Luo-Iang Koo (MEM) 3-3 3 HR 4 RBI 4 R (.292-7-16)

LEAGUE NEWS:
Trouble in Oklahoma:
The Oklahoma Drillers have 8 playoff appearances and 1 World Title (2000) in their 16-year history. After a division title in 2003, they fell to 79-83 last year. Off to a 10-16 start this year the leagues most insufferable owner, Jeremy Imel decided he'd seen enough. GM Gerald Donaldson (hired in 1999 helped them to 2 division titles and their only world series win in 2000, then a third, second and first place finish over the following 3 years.) was let go He has an amazingly good reputation amongst the leagues other GMs and baseball ops folks and I have no doubt he'll find a home soon. Just as stunning was the firing of manager Kevin Burgess. Burgess was the inaugural manager for the franchises 1st two seasons, winning the wild card both years. He walked out after the '91 season after a public fallout with the ownership family and was immediately hired to skipper the Kodiaks in Alaska and would lead them to 104 win season and the playoffs where they were beaten 4-1 in the LCS by New York. They plummeted in '94 falling 26 games to a 78-84 record though injuries played a huge part in that. They were at 58-78 the following year when he was let go again. That winter, again in a highly public manner, Burgess and ownership 'kissed and made up'. Oklahoma got off to a horrid 6-20 start that year and he was rehired as the teams on the field skipper. They would go a combined 115-164 through the end of the '95 season and then he would help them to 5 straight divisional titles in '96 (lost 3-1 in DS to LA) '97 (again downed 3-1 by LA in DS) '98 (beaten 3-2 by Pittsburgh) '99 (AGAIN beaten 3-2 by the Miners) and culminating in 2000 where they bested the Generals of Ohio 4 games to 3 in the World Series. Bench Coach Jeff Datz will take over in the interim and no one has been named to the GM position as of today.

GM NOTES: Neuman's injury is hazy enough that the 10 day DL is our best recourse. Ben Herman, just acquired from Memphis on waivers will get the call. We'd likely have gotten Chris Fitzgerald back on the Alamogordo to Miami express but he's thrown 3 straight days and with our rotation, there's no doubt we need arms ready every night. I'm also thin enough at AAA and AA that I need to look to the market. 31-year-old Ab Van Gaalen has sat through the winter FA market and is still sitting. He wants a 1.7m deal and I have the budget room. I'm clearly making the offer to a guy I would PRAY is not here past the deadline. He's a career 42-35 with 62 saves with his best season in '99 where he went 9-8 with 40 saves and a league-leading 76 appearances and a 3rd place finish in the Rivera award. He's punched out 675 in 613 career innings. On a personal note, he was a 1990 find of the Hitmen who signed him at 16 years old out of Aruba.

4/29 CHI 8 FLA 4 (11) Baeza 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 K Morrison .1 IP 5 H 5 ER in 5 run 11th.

LEAGUE NEWS: Ignacio Justiniano (MIN) CG SHO 3 H 8 K (3-2 3.08)

4/30 FLA 3 PHX 2 Bzios 5 IP 6 H 1 ER 91 pitches (4-2 5.90) Quiller 3-5 2B 3B 2 R (.303-0-3) Barranco 2-4 ends April hitting .404-5-18

LEAGUE SUMMARY FOR APRIL
American leagues leading hitter?? Not going to lie it kind of snuck up on me. Hell of a month. Hard not to notice Loetzschs' month either. LA is clearly the class of the league right now. After a 1-11 start, we've managed to go 8-7 over our last 15.




And the April Award Winners
AL POTM- Domenic Loetzsch (LV) .388-13-36
NL POTM- Dave Manzer (KC) .345-9-27
AL PITCHER- Chad Ragan (BRK) 5-0 2.25 42 K 40 IP .184 AVG
NL PITCHER- Toshiyoshi Nakata (LA) 5-0 2.43 40 K 42 IP
AL ROOKIE- Juan Barranco (FLA) .404-5-18
NL ROOKIE- Steve Campagna (WSH) .398-2-11



ORGANIZATION SUMMARY FOR APRIL
When the upside to an entire page dedicated to your organization is your 3 hole hitter and lone A ball team you know there's a safe distance between you and a world series Seriously though the most disturbing numbers on here are those of my starting rotation. Yes the offensive sucks, for the most part, the defense is kind of holding its own but everything starts and finishes with your rotation and mine is a huge problem. I certainly didn't expect awards to be flowing but I did expect more consistency in at least innings pitched. The WHIP category would be awesome if it we're in fact ERA, but it isn't.
The outfield isn't great but it also isn't bad enough to push buttons right now. Our #8 hitting prospect, Hidetoshi Fujimoto is hitting .326-3-9 at Alamogordo and I was tempted earlier to think about a call-up. I'm glad I didn't. 2B Sergio Salinas is hitting .437-0-15 in AA alongside 3B Luis Figueroa who is at .314-3-13. Pitching, like in the ABA, is killing me at all levels. There was not nearly enough on the market in the way of serviceable arms to fill out rotations and the biggest mistake I could make would be forcing young arms too fast. Our top-ranked prospect has yet to hit the field as he works out at the international complex and our top-ranked hitting prospect (Luis Salinas) is waiting for the draft, some new teammates and the Short Season schedule to get here.



LEAGUE NEWS
OKLAHOMA FILLS ITS HOLES
A move sure to cause conversations around the league the Drillers hired 59-year-old analyst Nehemiah Sanon to take over as their new GM. No one saw this coming given the volume of great names on the market. He somewhat old school in his love of speed and defense and sabermetric guys everywhere deplore him for the simple fact he takes his scouts word as religion. Known to want a deal, and aggressive looking for them to. He's a fan of younger players.
44-year-old John Russell returns to the dugout after a decade advising different clubs and trying his hand at running amateur baseball camps. Russell managed the Washington Jets in 1995 finishing 76-86 and walking away from the game in a mutually agreed upon parting. Not really sure his old school hit and run and love of the sac bunt will still be popular.

[gehrig38]

5/1 FLA 13 PHX 10 McDowell 5-6 3 R SB Quiller 2-3 2 BB 4 R 2 RBI Barranco 3-3 4 RBI (.420-5-22) Medina 3 run HR in the 9th

GAME NOTES: Down 10-8 entering the 9th. GO, 2B, Jimmy Owen PH 2B, GO, 1B, 1B, 3 R HR



GM NOTES: I float names almost daily to other GM's looking for any angle into a deal that helps us. Today I got a call from Minnesota GM Paul Herman. He's been interested in Closer Juan Pedemonte since the day I signed him. Juans' is the one name I am reluctant to shop but one I know will always draw interest. Paul got back to me and we went back and forth before he decided to sit for a day on my last offer. Pedemonte, RP Rogelio Cordenas (0-2 6.38) AAA 2B Micah Gilliard (27-year-old hitting .259/.355/.444) and starter Guoncallo Bzios. Yes, the guy with 44% of our wins to date. Here's the thing. He's tossed 29 IP given up 37 hits walked 21 to the tune of a 5.90 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP. His BABIP is .356 and he's had exactly one season, at any level, where that number has been below .300. That was 2 years ago in AA. There's also this:

2000 Kidney stones (4 days)
2001 Sprained Elbow (3-4 weeks)
2002 Forearm soreness (5 days)
2003 shoulder tendonitis (6 days)
2004 mild calf strain (6 days) and finally
2004 back tightness (1-2 weeks).

Nothing there overly concerning other than it appears he'll hit the DL at least once a season. I've learned that sort of thing doesn't decline in its consistency as you get older.

Yes, he's just 24. Physically? He's 6' 180. I'm not expecting a top end 235 innings guy by any stretch.

He's been released 2 times already. 2005 was sort of big year in that it was the first season he's appeared on a top prospect list anywhere (ranked #95 on the ABA list this year). I don't think trading him in this deal makes us better today.

However, the return package starts with Minnesota's 4th rounder (92nd overall, also makes up for 8th rounder we dealt this winter) and includes 23 year old 6'7” lefty Brad Turner. Brad was their 1st rounder in 2003 (25th overall) out of Texas Tech. He routinely hits triple digits with a curveball every scout I've spoken with believes will end up as one of the games best. He's a pure reliever who made the jump from AA last year to the big leagues this year. He is a legit candidate to close for a winner inside of the next 3 years.

24-year-old RH bookend Mike Allen stands 6'7” as well. Another high 90's arm he's setting up in Minnesota right now. A ++ fastball to go with a strikeout slider. A 3rd round pick in 2001 out of Texas he's been a picture of health through today and like Turner he jumped from AA to the big leagues in 2004. Last year he was 1-6 4 SV 4.86 ERA over 92.2 innings. Punched out 83 to 37 walks (a number I'd like to see lowered) and gave up 97 hits. This year he's 0-1 3.00 through 9 innings with 10 punchouts and just 2 walks. These two guys immediately move into my pen and possibly resolve relieving needs for the next decade at the back end of the bullpen.

There is definitely short-term pain losing Bzios but I'm comfortable in the thought he won't be a top end arm in the future. Pedemonte is 29 which to me means he's on the backside if he's even still pitching when I feel I can be ready to make a run. I'm not concerned with the pen in all this anyway. Other than the return solves some longer-term issues down there.

To sum it up. My "#1 starter", Big league reliever, AAA IF for 2 6'7"23-year-old flamethrowing relievers and the 92nd pick in the draft. I am thinking along the lines of "sell high" when thinking about including Bzios in this deal because I cannot see him being thought of as more valuable, and if he get's hurt (which is likely to happen if history is any indicator) it could be 4 months instead of 4 days. I don't deal thinking OMG! This guy could get hurt, but it is a factor.

WEEK 5 SUMMARY
AL POTW- Luo-Lang Koo (MEM) 9-15 5 HR 6 RBI (.325-8-17)
NL POTW- Eric Rew (JAX) 9-19 5 HR 7 RBI

POWER RANKINGS
1. Los Angeles 158
2. Chicago 119.9
3. Las Vegas 118.7
…......
23. Florida 66.3

[gehrig38]

WEEK 6
1 @ Phoenix 3 vs Minnesota 3 @ Memphis

GM MEETING: Had a pre-game meeting with Mr. Medina. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I absolutely did NOT expect him to be as happy as he is. He's simply ecstatic at what's happening. Our budget is tied for 25th lowest our payroll is dead last and our record is 10-18. Our gate revenue is lagging just a tad behind the projected preseason number (7.7m to 7.9m) but apparently, Tarpon merchandise is all the rage as we are exceeding our pre-season predictions. Also, our marketing department has told Mr. Medina that fan interest cannot be any higher than it is right now. All that and we've won just 10 of 28 games!

I should also mention we just signed two veteran players who both have fascinating histories and great personal stories to go along with them. Both were signed to help at AAA and should the deal we're talking about come to fruition. 36-year-old slugger Pat Stevenson, a career .254 hitter and the ABA's all-time leader with 597 career home runs (closest active player is a former teammate in LA Chris Frederick at 554) was signed and reported to Alamogordo. Now he's from Nurillo, Texas where he is a local legend. Needless to say, there's some buzz down there and that can't be a bad thing. Pat has written a HOF resume since being drafted in the ABA's inaugural draft by the Texas Cowboys (3rd round 55th overall). He's won a silver slugger at 1B (2000 .275-47-128) he's had 4 50 HR seasons he's a 6 time all-star and a 2-time “world champion”. I say it like that because he went to Korea in 1995 where he hit .329-25-80 for the LG Twins winning their World Series MVP along with the title. He signed a 5 year 15 million dollar deal that winter with the New York Punishers. Was dealt to the LA Storm in 1997 where he would hit his 300th, 400th and 500th career home runs as well as help LA to it's World Series win in 1999. He's hit 11 career grand slams and had 2 3 HR games in his illustrious 15-year career. He signed a 3-year deal in 2000 with LA and then another 2 year deal after the 2002 season. He suffered what was thought to be a career-ending back injury that kept him down for 5 months in late 2004, causing him to fail in meeting his vesting criteria. Was let go that winter and has been 'hanging out' ever since. He's a great find and will bring an enormous presence to the clubhouse in Alamogordo. I honest to God never expected him to accept a minor league deal! But it never hurts to ask. We've made it very clear to him that he can write his own schedule down there knowing full well he will set a pace few of the young players will be able to match.

34-year-old Demario Lorenzana has spent the bulk of his career toiling in the Mexican league with the Leon Bravos. Another really good story simply because he was born and raised there. He's a 5 time all-star and won the “Cy Young” in 1997 while finishing 3rd in their MVP voting. (He went 15-3 2.02 in 23 starts and followed that with a 15-5 1998 season. He then ventured overseas and spent the next 3 years in the Japanese league.

Both of them reported today and Demario is actually starting tomorrow for Alamogordo.

5/2 PHX 3 FLA 2 Pen blows 2-0 lead after 6. Cardenas 1 IP 4 H 2 ER BS (2) (0-3 7.01)
Roadrunner Knuckleballer Steven Wright 6.2 IP 4 H 3 BB 5 K 2 ER Andy Burgett 3-4 (.327-1-11)

LEAGUE NEWS: Jarod Gaynon (WSH) 6-9 2 2B 2 HR 4 R 5 RBI in a double header 4-4 2 HR 4 RBI Whitney Beal (AK) 3-4 2B 2 HR 5 RBI Chris Kellermann (MEM) 4-4 2 HR 3 RBI Alaska beat Memphis in this game 9-6.

ORGANIZATION NEWS: And why not? Pat Stevenson stepped up to the plate and received a 3 minute standing ovation ON THE ROAD at the Camden Wyoming Kings ballpark. He promptly deposited the 1st pitch he's seen in 2 years over the batters eye in dead center field with the longest HR in the parks 77-year history. Lorenzana starts for the Rivermen tomorrow night at home vs Ft Lauderdale.

GM NEWS: Scouring the FA market again. Some injuries and a few guys who opted out of their split contracts make it necessary.

5/3 MIN 10 FLA 1 Mik Keller (MIN) 2-4 2 HR 6 RBI 9th inning GS Tanner Roark 7 IP 4 H 7 K 0 BB (3-3 4.24)
Barranco 2-4 (.420-5-23) Pedemonte .2 IP 1 H 3 BB 4 ER (think he may have heard about the deal on the table?) Baldwin 6 IP 4 ER 3 HR (0-3 6.11)

GM NEWS: Got a call about 10 minutes after the game (and I will assume BEFORE he saw ESPN and the highlights tonight) from Paul Hermann.



So where does that leave us? Both Turner and Allen are added to the 25 man roster. We will play today with 24 guys in hopes we get word from van Gaalens' agent before tomorrows game. If so he gets the spot and the ball. If not we will cross that bridge when we get there. Allen and Turner will both enter setup roles. Jeremy Morrison will move into the closer's role. A birdie has told me that Morrison is beyond upset. Pissed about his performance, the team's performance and I just heard he's also pissed about the trade. Going to wait a few days to see how this plays out before possibly looking deeper into this. KJ has told me that he and Jeremy have started butting heads a little bit. I don't tolerate that, not even a little. You play let us 'manage'. I do find it interesting that Dunham and Tovar are the guys running this clubhouse. Quiller is clearly a press favorite, never at a loss for words. Guys in the clubhouse say he's “Schilling'esque” whatever that means....

Was sort of odd watching 5 guys, just traded, walking across the field to each other “new clubhouse”. For what it is worth we now have the 1st, 31st, 56th, 85th and 102nd picks in the upcoming draft. 5 of the top 102 picks is where we cannot miss as we look to build this thing.

OUT OF GAME NOTE: Wanted to mention I have a feeder league which is the “NCAA” plus in settings. I got the draft list 75 days out. And I am unsure if that creates a problem because as of now I don't see any HS players in the draft pool. I am assuming that will change? Also, I have injury settings as hidden. I don't want to see them and want to try and surmise for myself what their health history 'translates' to.

5/4 MIN 3 FLA 1 Ignacio Justiniano (MIN) 6 IP 9 K 3 H 1 ER
Baeza L (2-4 4.32) but he throws our first ever CG! What a HUGE help for our pen! 9 IP 5 H 3 ER 2 BB 8 K's


GM NOTES: Got a call from Ab van Gaalen's agent just before 1st pitch tonight.



Also managed to net a decent number of free agents with minor league offers. Luca Martignoni, a 29-year-old lefty who's been overseas most of his career will head to AAA to help out in that rotation.

LEAGUE NEWS: Kieron Love (BRK) 4-4 2B 2 HR Andy Burgett (PHX) 2-2 2 HR Ziven Eliseikin (PORT) 8.1 IP 10K's 0 BB 0 R

The San Diego Missions are in the midst of a dreadful year. Adding insult to injury they found out that Starter Luis Cora went down today and it looks serious. They're saying at least a year or more before he can throw again. That makes 5, yes 5, of the 25 man roster arms who have hit the DL in the past 3 weeks. 4 out for the year and another out for at least 5 weeks. 4 of the original 7 in their bullpen have gone down. Meanwhile their closer Andy Farrington has 12 saves and a 0 ERA...

5/5 MIN 4 FLA 1 Luis Tronsco (MIN) 3-4 2 2B 4 RBI Ryan Verdugo 7 IP 3 H 6 K 1 ER (2-1 2.63)
Dunham 5 IP 6 H 1 K 3 BB 4 ER (1-5 7.68)

LEAGUE NEWS: Los Angeles SP Toshiyoshi Nakata tossed a 4 H SHO with 10 K's to move to 6-0 1.99
Brooklyn lost SP Dave Young for 2-3 months with ulnar nerve entrapment
Texas RH Rob Gourly went 8.1 scoreless with 13 K's in a 13-0 win over San Antonio


5/6 FLA 3 MEM 0 Downs 5 IP 2 H 3 K (2-3 3.15) van Gaalen SV (1) Barranco 2-3 HR (.408-6-24)


5/7 FLA 4 MEM 1 Baldwin 5.2 IP 3 H 5 K 1 ER (1-3 5.35) McDowell HR (5)

LEAGUE NEWS: Mike Priolo (LV) 3-5 2 HR 6 RBI

5/8 FLA 14 MEM 12 Romero 4-6 3 RBI (.266-3-18) Owen 3-5 3B 2 R 3 RBI (.224-0-8)
Amari Geneus (MEM) 3-5 2B HR 4 RBI Mike Lloyd 3 IP 8 H 10 R 3 ER (3-2 3.40)

LEAGUE NEWS: NY lefty Alfredo Almagauer punched out 8 in a CG SHO 9-0 win over Brooklyn.


WEEK 6 SUMMARY
AL POTW- Juan Maciel (BRK) 11-21 3 HR 7 RBI (.328-14-32)
NL POTW- Jarod Gaynon(WSH) 14-33 5 HR 11 RBI (.321-11-28)

POWER RANKINGS
1. LA 153
2.Brooklyn 125
3.Ohio 124.1
…..
21. Florida 69.9

[gehrig38]

WEEK 7
Off day 3 @ Ohio 3 vs St Louis

5/9 OFF DAY

5/10 OH 8 FLA 7 Jorge Casarez (OH) 2-5 4 RBI walk off 2 R HR
Barranco 2-2 2 BB 2 HR (.404-8-30) Allen/Herman combind 4 IP 6 H 6 K 0 BB 4 ER

GM NOTES: No bigger learning curve for young relievers than understanding high leverage outs are not all created equal. The “Twin Towers” cough up a 7-4 lead.

ORGANIZATION NEWS: AA Clovis pounded out 21 hits en route to an 18-3 win yesterday. Luis Aguilar and Silvas Villarreal combined to go 6-8 3 HR 10 RBI's

5/11 OH 6 FLA 2 Chris Burdette (OH) 3-4 2B 2 RBI's.
Dunham 5 IP 5 H 5 ER (1-6 7.83)

GM NOTES: Sometimes there are things that are beyond your control. Dave Dunham has made 8 starts, thrown a grand total of 43 innings and sports an ERA near 8. The problem is there really is no option right now. If I react to every poor performance over weeks of time I'll end up using every option on every player in the organization. I can find solace in the fact the fans and the owner are having 'fun' I guess. I know I am not.

Jared Newman is eligible to come off the DL. Given our bullpen situation here and at AAA a rehab assignment is the best option for all parties. At 37 I am having issues even getting a call back on shopping him around. He has the RtR being optioned but short of a rash of injuries, I am unsure of another route. I do NOT like to treat the veterans on this team and in this league with anything other than the utmost respect and he is no different.

LEAGUE NEWS: All Star voting begins today.
Juan Maciel (BRK) 3-5 2 HR 7 RBI's (.333-16-41)
Giobbe Funicello (AK) 5-5 2B 3 R (.371-5-19)
Zacharia Qualtrough (BRK) 9 IP 3 H 1 ER 6 K 0 BB (5-2 4.82)

5/12 FLA 5 OH 2 Baldwin 7 IP 5 H 0 BB 6 K (2-3 4.65) van Gaalen SV (4) Duenas (2) Nabbe (4) and McDowell (6) all homer


5/13 STL 3 FLA 2 Costales (STL) 6 IP 4 H 2 ER (2-2 7.75) Downs 3.2 IP 4 H 5 BB 3 K 3 ER (2-4 3.55)

LEAGUE NEWS: Chris Edge of LA gave up just 1 hit and punched out 14 in 7.1 innings in a 4-0 win


5/14 FLA 2 STL 1 Medina 6 IP 4 H 0 R 3 BB 3 K (2-1 4.50) Nabbe solo HR (5) in the 6th GW

LEAGUE NEWS: Ben Francis (SAN) 2-4 2 HR (.256-7-13)
Jorge Hurtado (NE) 8 IP 2 H 1 ER 9 K (3-1 2.76)
Chris Keller (TEX) 8 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 K (2-2 4.02)

5/15 STL 5 FLA 2 Andy Greene (STL) 2-3 2 HR 3 RBI 3 R 2 BB Juan Valle 8 IP 4 K 0 BB 6 H 2 ER (3-3 4.42)
Benavides 2-3 HR (1) Baeza 4.2 IP 3 H 7 BB 4 K 4 ER (2-5 5.01)

GM NOTES: 4.7, 4.4, 5.4 are the three walk rates for Juan Baeza in his 3 longest stints in the big leagues. He's prone to the long ball so walks are especially dangerous for him. In his last 39 starts he's 17-10 over 224 innings with 206 K's to 194 hits, pis he's ishe's walked 114. An acceptable top of the rotation number would be like 40ish, not 114. He's given up 36 homers to boot. I need to see some sort of improvement. I've taken down some important under the surface numbers and set up a reminder to check it in 30 days.

LEAGUE NEWS: Washington Jets Sean Cockley tossed a 3-hitter, punching out 12 He's 3-3 4.12


WEEK 7 SUMMARY
AL POTW- Greg Westerman (AK) 15-27 2 HR 5 RBI 6 R (.312-13-31)
NL POTW- Dave Manzer (KC) 10-24 3 HR 8 RBI (.331-12-38)

POWER RANKINGS
1. LA 130.9
2. Las Vegas 130
3. San Francisco 122

…...

22. Florida 64.9
23.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by gehrig38

Jared Newman is eligible to come off the DL. Given our bullpen situation here and at AAA a rehab assignment is the best option for all parties. At 37 I am having issues even getting a call back on shopping him around. He has the RtR being optioned but short of a rash of injuries, I am unsure of another route. I do NOT like to treat the veterans on this team and in this league with anything other than the utmost respect and he is no different.

Rehab assignment to stall is a widely used tactic in these cases. After that, assuming no change in the bullpen situation, you just have to call him in and give him the choice of a minor league assignment or outright release. The growth of your organization comes first. It's a business. He knows that.

To quote another favorite movie: "We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't...we don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told."

[gehrig38]

5/16 NY 8 FLA 5 Connie Park (NY) 2-2 3 BB 2 HR 3 R 4 RBI Talbot Pottle 3-5 HR
Jimmy Owen 3-5 2B 3B (.247-0-10) Dunham 4.1 IP 8 H 2 BB 3 HR 7 ER

GM NOTES: It's time. Dunhams given up 81 baserunners in just 48 innings over 9 starts. Neither veteran at AAA is on the 38 man. Both have thrown fine since signing. Given Lorenzana's ability to go deeper in games it makes the decision a bit easier. I'll swap the two and add DeMario to the 38 man roster.


5/17 NY 2 FLA 1 Mike Loree (NY) 7 IP 2 H 4 K 0 R (2-2 4.35)
Fletcher pulls up lame on a 7th inning double. Update post game.

GM NOTES: It's serious. Our cleanup hitter will hit the DL for at least the next 5-6 weeks. ABA Legend Pat Stevenson will get the call-up. Going to need to add him to the 38 man. Now down to one open slot on the roster.

5/18 NY 7 FLA 3 Steve Richardson (NY) 3-4 HR 4 RBI
Pat Stevenson gets his 1st start in awhile... 0-4 4K's

ORGANIZATION NOTE: (Little reality sidebar. During the winter of 2000, after I was dealt to the Dbacks I signed onto a company called athletes performance. It was in Tempe, across from ASU. I spent the winter there working in ways I'd never worked before. I think my 2001 and 02 seasons are a testament to their work. Jump ahead to 04 winter. I had what amounted to 6 surgeries on my ankle and it was a bloody mess post op. I had to wait 8 weeks before I was even allowed to put weight on it. During that time I was using a trainer at AP named Sue Falsone. Fast forward and Sue was the first female head trainer in MLB history. Now, in OOTP, I happened to be perusing the available personnel and guess who I see? Ya, hired her...


5/19 BRK 7 FLA 1 Dan Goodman (BRK) 2-4 HR 3 R 3 RBI
Stevensons 2nd game 1-3 HR (1)

5/20 BRK 13 FLA 5 Kieron Love (BRK) 2-2 4 BB 4 R 5 RBI 2 HR
Sam McDowell 2-4 HR (7) (.262-7-18) Medina 7 ER 5 BB 7 H 4.1 IP (2-2 5.85)

LEAGUE NEWS: San Diego's Eric Leonard went 6-6 with a BB 2 2B HR 4 R and 6 RBI in their 16-11 win over Kansas City

GM NOTES: The June draft is about 2 weeks away. I've been scouting prospects daily for the last 2 months. (Outside game note. I set my draft pool to arrive 75 days prior. I love to truly try and scout as an MLB team might when it comes to regions and looking for that hidden gem. I am unsure right now, but it appears I may have an issue in that ALL of the prospects in this draft are 20+-year-old college players and literally no HS players at all).

There are a ton of potentials and given I have the #1 pick I have been working on anyone and everyone. Right now the leader at the turn is a 21-year-old Michigan State righty named Joe Linn. He's upper 90's with an outstanding fastball and cutter and what looks to be a potential HOF level changeup. Also has an above average forkball. He's a leader and an unbeatable worker. I have just one major issue. In the past 3 years, including this year he's had some sort of arm issue. In 2003 it was a shoulder issue that shut him down for 4 months. In 04 it was two very minor issues but in March of this year, he was down for 3 weeks with an elbow strain. I'm going to be writing up a draft assessment in the coming days.

5/21 BRK 10 FLA 6 Guiomar Cortezo (BRK) GS (9) 4 RBI Kieron Love 3-5 2B HR 2 RBI (.275-13-28)
Pat Stevenson-See follow up news Baeza 3.2 IP 8 H 3 BB 8 ER (2-6 6.00)

GM NOTES: Sue came to my office after the game. Reliever Ryan Richardson has been complaining of elbow soreness and tonight it became a serious issue. He's got elbow pain so we'll put him on the 10 day and recall Jared Neuman off his rehab assignment in Alamogordo.



5/22 NO GAME


WEEK 8 SUMMARY
AL POTW- Kieron Love (BRK) 7-15 4 HR 9 RBI (.275-13-28)
NL POTW- Jahiem Kouassi (OK) 10-21 4 HR 13 RBI (.286-18-44)

ALL-STAR VOTING: Las Vegas' Domenic Loetzsch is leading all AL voting with San Antonio's Leith McNayr leading all NL vote-getters.

POWER RANKINGS
1. Los Angeles 128.5
2. Brooklyn 125
3. Las Vegas 122
…..
26. Florida 44.4

Hard to complain about the rank when you look at this past week.

Outscored 52-23 during an 0-7 week. It's next to impossible to write interesting content for team struggling so badly in pretty much every single phase of the game right now. The only potential + is the fact we rank 5th overall in defensive efficiency.

Our team ZR is +0.9 and our team Range rating is 4.08. Both put us in the top 5 which is nice in that I definitely want to build a franchise based in fundamentals. I think those numbers are made more amazing by the fact this pitching staff keeps our team on the field far longer than pretty much every club in the league.

All that said we knew it was going to be a rough road and we're in a rough patch for sure right now.

[gehrig38]

WEEK 9
3 @ Alaska (25-23 6 GB AL West) 3 vs Minnesota (27-21 5 GB AL East) 1 @ Denver (23-25 8 GB AL West)

DOWN ON THE FARM: Every few weeks I'll try and give a look at a prospect at each level of the system. In case anyone's following as a 'fan'
Alamogordo Rivermen – SS Robby Flowers Age 24 Hgt 6'1” Wgt 195
2005 Stats
AA-.276/.326/395 1 HR 17 RBI 86 PA
AAA-.328/.368/.469 1 HR 7 RBI 68 PA
A 2002 graduate of Virginia Tech where he was a 2000 All American Robbie was drafted iin the 11th round (88th overall) as a sig,n and follow. However something changed and he took the 125k offer from Oklahoma. A player we had on our short list from day 1 we managed to deal SS Chris McCune, SP's Ajani Kirnon and Whitney Roswell along with our 6th rounder to acquire him in January of this year.

He is an elite defender at 2B, SS and 3B with one of the games strongest arms. Has oustanding range too. An above average runner who puts the bat on the ball. He's a potential 2 hole or 9 hole sort of hitter. His flexibility on defense makes him a tremendous off the bench option if he ends up having issues being out there every day.

Clovis Kangaroos – 3B Luis Figueroa Age 24 Hgt 5' Wgt 205
2005 Stats
AA-.353/.486/.727 13 HR 35 RBI 177 PA
An international find out of Panama Luis signed on with Milwaukee as a 16 year old. He spent a few years in their system and played in some all star games before becoming a minor league free agent last year. We signed him in November and he's done nothing but hit ever since.
He has + power line to line and will hit for average a bit. He's posted an OPS of 1.002 or higher in every minor league season since 1999. He might also be the slowest runner in the entire ABA, possibly the western hemishpere. Has an above average arm but that hasn't translated to anything yet as he's seen as a below average defender. His speed also limits him to 3B for the most part defensively. He's been nothing short of a surprise hitting to this level of power. He was promoted to AAA today.



5/23 AK 6 FLA 0 Streak now at 8. Giobbe Funicello 2-3 GS (8) 4 RBI Nate Walker 6 Scoreless 9 K's (6-0 4.24)
Baldwin 6 ER 3 BB 6 H 4.2 IP (2-5 5.19)

ORGANIZATION NEWS: Luis Figueroa wemt 2-6 with a HR and 4 RBI's in his first game at Alamogordo.


5/24 FLA 3 AK 2 Barranco 3-4 6th inning 2R HR is GW. Downs 6.1 IP 6 H 5 K 2 ER (3-5 3.91) van Gaalen SV (6)

LEAGUE NEWS: Memphis' Kevin Allen went 4-4 scoring 4 times and driving in 2 as he hit for the cycle in an 11-3 win.


5/25 FLA 6 AK 1 Stevenson 2-3 2 HR (601 and 602) 4 RBI Romero 3-4 Lorenzana 8.1 IP 2 H 0 R 4 K (1-1 1.26) van Gaalen SV (7)

ORGANIZATION NEWS: Luis Figueroa is now 6-14 with 2 HR 5 RBI through his 1st 3 games in AAA

GM NOTES: Recently signed free agent Luca Martignoni hasn't even made a start yet but my old buddy in Minnesota Paul Herrmann reached out today. He offered up a 24 year old infield prospect in Tim Richards, I asked him to add a relief prospect in Jeremy Mycroft AND their 5th round pick, and I added our 6th to the deal. Richards hit 31 HR in A ball last year and .355 during a short stint at AA. This year he's hitting .304/.345/.473 with 6 HR and 26 RBI's through 43 games. He's a ++ defender at short and above average at third. Also can play some 2B and left. He was their 3rd pick in 2002 out of Missouri U. Mycroft was the Texans #1 pick in 2003 out of the University of Arizona (13th overall). He was traded this February along with SS Greg Graves to Minnesota for starter Rob Gourley.

He's taking time to think it over. This was exactly the reason I keep scouring the wires and checking on free agents. This guy was out there for them to sign a week ago, now I may potentially be sending him there for two prospects and a better pick in the draft.

5/26 MIL 12 FLA 8 Braedon Newbury (MIL) 4-5 HR 2 RBI
Baeza 3.1 IP 9 H 4 BB 6 ER (2-7 6.59) McDowell 3-4 3 RBI Barranco HR (10) 3 RBI (37)

LEAGUE NEWS: LA's Jeremy Horst tossed a 3-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over New England.

ORGANIZATION NEWS: Dave Dunham hasn't stopped the bleeding. In 2 starts at AAA he's 0-2 11.70 giving up 19 hits in just 10 innings.

5/27 MIL 12 FLA 3 Tim Lins (MIL) 3-4 2 2B HR 4 RBI Steve Pearce 3-5 GS 2 HR 5 RBI (.342-11-20)
Neuman 4.2 IP 7 H 5 BB 10 R 3 ER

LEAGUE NEWS: Chris Yoder (LA) goes 4-5 homers twice and drives in 3 in 13-5 win over Alaska
Taichiro Matsushima (PIT) threw a 3 hit shutout and punched out 11 in a 4-0 win over Washington He's 2-0 0.68

5/28 MIL 9 FLA 3 Randy Brown (MIL) 2-4 HR 4 RBI Mike Havens 6 IP 2 H 2 ER 7 K 4 BB
Baldwin 4 IP 9 H 4 BB 9 R 4 ER (2-6 5.63)

Hammered 33-14 in the series. Pitching feels like it cannot get much worse. Defensively we've been bad the past few days as we've given up 11 unearned runs in the past 2 days alone.

5/29 DEN 13 FLA 12 (16) Tovar 2-8 HR (6) 4 RBI Owen 3-5 HR (1) 3 RBI (.231-1-13) Medina 3-8 HR (2) 2 RBI
Pat Scott (DEN) 2-6 3 BB 2 3R HR's 6 RBI (.310-13-37 out of their leadoff spot)

Down 5-1 entering the 7th we threw up an 8 spot. Pen gave it back over the next two with 3 and then 1 in the 9th. We scored 3 in the 13th only to give it back in the bottom. Luis Terrero hit a walkoff 1B

WEEK 9 SUMMARY
AL POTW- Loan Auffret (DET) 14-27 5 HR 9 RBI 7 R (.350-19-56)
NL POTW- Eddie Anderson (SD) 15-31 1 HR 10 RBI (.275-10-32)


POWER RANKINGS
1. Los Angeles 135.6
2.San Francisco 130.8
3.Ohio 118
….
25. St Louis 49.9
26 Florida 46.7

[gehrig38]

Subject: Week 10 Notes

Record: 18-42 20 GB
Position:5th 11.5 games out of FOURTH place
Runs Scored: 250 13th
Runs Allowed: 361 12th
Defense: .687 6th
Power Ranking: 45 (26th)
Owner Mood: Delighted (down from ecstatic but still far beyond where I would be)
Fan Interest: 100 (that's some people starving for baseball)

• 5/30: DEN 6 FLA 1 Denver's Robinson Chirinos Grand Slam (7) Benavides was injured

• Ex-Tarpon Juan Pedemonte recorded his 1st save in Minnesota 10 IP 9 H 10 K 1 BB 1.80

• Benavides is DtD with a strained shoulder. Going to give it a day or two and if need be make a move

• At Farmington (A) 24 yr old LF Kiwamu Nishimura went 5-5 and drove in 3 in a 9-6 win

• 5/31: DEN 7 FLA 0 Winton Alward POTD 9 IP 6 H 11 K Quiller 3-4 Baeza 6 ER 2.1 IP (2-8 7.24)

• AL POTM: Domenic Loetzsch (LV) .348-12-37 (.369-25-73)

• NL POTM: Amari Myrthil (SF) .356-10-24 (.324-16-43)

• AL PITCHER: Ignacio Justiniano (MIN) 5-0 2.61 (8-2 2.84)

• NL PITCHER: Mike Kelly (SF) 2-0 9 SV 27 K 18 IP (6-1 13 SV 2.01)

• AL ROOKIE: Joe Vertz (OH) .287-8-27 (.279-17-56)

• NL ROOKIE: Deshawn Snowton (POR) .240-9-18 (.274-12-34)

• In his past 10 games newly acquired reliever Mike Allen has tossed 15 IP 0 ER 21 K's

• 6/1: LV 8 FLA 6 Vegas has a 6 run 7th. Josh Haynes 3-3 3 RBI Juan Castillo 3-3 Juan Guerra 3-5 HR 3 RBI

• Barranco goes 3-5 2B HR 3 RBI (.342-12-42) Neuman 6 IP 7 H 1 K 4 BB 2 ER)

• And the aforementioned Mike Allen? .1 IP 5 H 4 ER BS (2) L 0-2

• 3 days from the draft and our scouts have narrowed our 1st pick to 3 guys. Far and away the most intriguing player is Kansas Jayhawks 3B/P Arturo Mendoza. At 21, 6'3” 190 he's got a great body for both roles. This year he's hitting .226/.289/.436 which is a galaxy apart from his past 2 seasons. Our group thinks he's a legit .300 40 HR potential guy. On the flip side he took to the mound full time this year and is 3-2 1.73 over 41.2 IP with 28 H 50 K's and 9 BB. As a righty he has little issue with RH/LH hitters as far as a split is concerned. His velocity is legit 97+ on a consistent basis and he features 6 different pitches. Although the group feels he can stick to just 3-4 and still be dominant. Also has an outstanding work ethic.
• Left handed 1B Steve Eisentrout out of Northwestern is the 2nd player in the mix. He's got the most raw power of any hitter in the draft. Scouts love his handling of the strike zone. He's nearing the NCAA record for HR's in a season this year hitting .321/.415/.841 with 28 HR 58 RBI's in 50 games. Another outstanding worker. Right now he is a well below average defender at 1B, RF and LF. His speed is likely to keep him at 1B and that's the rub. Using the first overall pick on a below average defending 1B seems like the wrong move.
• The class of the pool on the mound appears to be Michigan State righty Joe Linn. A mid to high 90's righty with 4 above average to exceptional pitches. Scouts think his change up is already in the top 5 of this league. He has a fantastic work ethic. The only concern we have, and it's a consensus opinion, is health. Since 2003 he's had health issues and in '03 he missed most of the year with shoulder problems. I need a clear read on this from our medical staff (OUT OF GAME COMMENT!! Markus I think you should add another real-world element to this. Let me send my medical staff to look over a player “Give them a physical” and have the trainers values equate to the accuracy of the report.)

• 6/2: LV 5 FLA 3 Gallegos 6 IP 6 H 1 ER (8-3 3.30)

• Baldwin 5 IP 5 H 6 BB 0 K 5 ER (2-7 5.92)

• Another losing streak reaches 8. We are now 17-41 with a .293 winning percentage.

• San Francisco managed to get closer Mike Kelly to sign a 3 year 6.9 million dollar extension. He's have a great year so far too 6-1 13 SV 2.01 46 K's 31.1 IP

(BTW Financial settings in this are mid 90's. A star makes 4+ million per, Superstar just south of 5 million. Minimum salary is 128k. Average player makes 1.6m.)

• 6/3: FLA 12 LV 3 Barranco 2-4 HR 3 RBI (.345-13-45) McDowell 3-5 2B 2 HR 3 R 5 RBI (.27-10-29) Nabbe 3-4 2 2B HR 3 R 2 RBI Herman 5 IP in relief 2 H 3 K W (1-0)

• Luis Figueroa went 2-5 last night and since his AAA call up he's at .362/.400/.532 in 50 AB's

• 6/4: OFF DAY File under things I didn't see coming. Veteran slugger Pat Stevenson has approached me about a possible extension. After expectations of a phone call with his agent, he came straight out and said: “I'd like to give it one more year, not looking to break the bank but how does 1 year 1 million look?”. I can see no reason what so ever that this isn't a no-brainer. He's already insanely popular here and every homer he hits is some sort of celebration. Also? I wonder just how valuable he may be at the deadline for a team looking for veteran leadership? For a million bucks or even a small part of that, I think he'd be very valuable.

• 6/5: DET 9 FLA 5 Loan Auffret (DET) 3-5 2 HR 4 RBI

• Romero 3-4 Lorenzana 5 IP 9 H 5 HR 7 K 7 ER (1-3 3.47)

AL POTW Greg Westerman (AK) 10-25 4 HR 11 RBI (.301-19-47)
NL POTW Rob Anderson (PORT) 8-21 5 HR 12 RBI (.313-13-47)

This Week: 2 vs Detroit (38-22 +.5 AL East) 3 @ Chicago (33-28 -2.5 AL Central) 2 vs Phoenix (23-38 -16 AL West)

[gehrig38]

One of the facets of the game I enjoy digging deepest into and having the most fun with is the draft. This is one of the areas I assume will differentiate this blog from others as much of the commenting is my actual thoughts on player development and drafting.

2005 JUNE DRAFT
This is the first ever draft for us and we have the #1 overall pick. We are on the clock and it's actually unanimous. Despite the questions around his health starter Joe Linn is the 'no-brainer'. Some other concerns have now cropped up. He is looking for a 2.8 million dollar bonus and the recommended slot is 1.38 million. We have the cash to reach in this draft but I was hoping NOT to do it on our 1st rounder. I'm stuck between Steve Eisentrout and 3B Ben Chase out of Texas Tech. While he is the #1 prospect Chad Lawrence is also a reliever. Huge arm but no chance I spend the 1st pick on a pen arm. Notice the plethora of corner infield bats too.



I'll follow this round until these 10 guys are picked and then stick with my picks for a few rounds. (#) = prospect ranking by OSA.

After free agency this year there are just 21 picks in the 1st round. A further 8 in the sup round before we pick again at 30. We pick 1, 30 56, 85, 101 in the first 4 rounds.

1: Florida – Joe Linn RHP Michigan State University 6'2” 195 lbs 21 yr 57 days. I will meet his 2.8 demand and get the ball rolling. I think he's ready for AA now but I will get him a few starts in Frederick before that.
2: St Louis – Ben Chase 3B (4) Texas Tech
3: Wisconsin – Tyshawn Ogarro 1B (9) Wisconsin Badgers
4: Kansas City – Joe Austin LHP Wake Forest (Huge arm, but a bullpen guy with no 3rd pitch)
5: Jacksonville - Chad Mohr 1B Miami Hurricanes (Had this guy on our board too, love him)
6: Phoenix – Zach Page RHP (2) Texas A&M
7: Chicago – Eric Mitchell 1B Boston College (This guy was nowhere to be found on our 1st 5 rd board) BTW BC won the NCAA title this year over Florida State
8: New England – Steve Eisentrout 1B Northwestern (Guy I would have taken 1st overall)
9: Ohio – Ismael Saldan 1B Texas Tech (2nd TT player taken in top 9)
10: Brooklyn – Eric Cox LHP Minnesota (another guy we like but another 2 pitch reliever)
11: San Diego – Mike Topolski 1B Texas
12: Portland – Juan Ramos RHP (3) Kansas State (a guy our scouts weren't that high on but I loved. 6'7')
13: Oklahoma – Dave Grohs 1B (7) Miami (13 picks in 7 1B and 1 3B 5 Pitchers)
14: Las Vegas – Kody Pollock RHP (5) Georgia Tech (Love the arm, but a starter in a 5'11” body 14th overall?)
15: New York – Dave Haynes RHP (8) Clemson (Big arm HUGE command issues now and we think in the future)
16: Pittsburgh – Jonathan Claypool LHP Illinois (starter, awesome change, but 5'10”)
17: Minnesota – Mike Moss RHP Texas
18: San Francisco – Zach Sheppard (6) 1B Minnesota Think this was a steal. This kids actually going to be a 2B our scouts think, who will hit and has great speed.
19: Los Angeles – Jon Girard RHP Georgia Tech DAMN! LA grabs a kid who we think is going to be incredibly successful as a knuckleballer. That now begs the question on Givens. The only other legit prospect with a knuckleball and many believe it can be as good or better than this kid. Where does he slot?
20: Texas – Rob Monrose 2B University of Arizona First true middle infielder to go. Also notice not a single OF has gone yet. FWIW we didn't have this kid anywhere near the 1st round.
21: Detroit – Jeremy Pannebaker 3B Maryland

That's the end of round 1. The OSA's top ranked prospect is still on the board. If by some incredible twist of fate Mendoza is there that's our target. A legit 2 way talent. Robbie Givens the Knuckleballer is on our list too. 6'7” Mark Carpenter is also on our list of hopefuls.

SUPPLEMENTAL ROUND
1. Milwaukee - Josh Miles 2B Washington State
2. Jaxonville – Jarrod Calhoun RHP Stanford
3. Ohio – Layne Meloche SS Penn State
4. Texas – Jeff Lewis LF (10) Indiana (first OF to go in the draft) Lawrence now remains as the only top 10 prospect on the pre-draft board.
5. Chicago – Harland Daig SS Arizona State
6. Los Angeles – Jeff Faulkner RHP U of North Carolina
7. Denver – Chris Feggins SS Duke
8. Chicago – Davon Legion SS Florida State

Ok wow. I wasn't expecting ALL THREE of the guys I was looking at to be there. Our scouts are screaming for triple digit lefty Chad Lawrence. I just don't think a reliever is the right pick A) this early and B) for our needs. I think I've proven that this league has a plethora of relievers available almost year round. I don't think the 2nd round is the place to get one. That being said he's a Billy Wagner type arm in my opinion but his below average control now, and as a projection, makes this a no-brainer of a NO on him right here. I'm taking the guy I am stunned is still around. And if by some miracle either one of the other two arms are there I will absolutely jump on them to start round 3.

2nd ROUND
1. Florida – 3B/SP Arturo Mendoza
St Louis grabs Lawrence with the very next pick.

3rd – Mike Carpenter RHP Kansas State 6'7” beast with advanced skills already.
4th – Chris Baggett LF/RF UCLA very different case. Kid was behind all american and didn't get AB's but if our scouts are to be believed he has insane raw power and a great eye.
5th – Teagan Beairsto 2B Indiana U uses the bat like a katana. Can bunt his way on with blazing speed
6th – Ignacio Camargo SS Illinois already a ML defender at SS. Has hit very little but our scouts honestly think he's a potential middle of the order bat. Biggest discrepancy in the draft between OSA and our guys. Guess we'll find out if the salary is being earned.
7th – Marc Gammel 3B Virginia Tech Another large chasm between our scouts and OSA here. OSA thinks very little of this kid and our scouts love him
8th – Dave Weller RF Minnesota Olympic track star speed with a cannon of an arm.
9th – Chris Brodman IF/OF Oklahoma Huge utility potential defensively and our scouts honestly think he's a potential .400 OBP with 30 homer pop. Why do I sound surprised? He hit .193 this year. Our guys have been recommending him since the 4th round.
10th – Dave Conover 2B Kansas State
11th – Eric Duson C Ohio State
12th – Sergio Medina LHP Georgia Tech another guy our scouts disagree with OSA on. They've wanted him since round 7
13th – Mike Stauffer C Purdue our guys wanted him before Duson 2 rounds ago
14th – Dave Briones RHP Texas Tech
15th - Jon Persinger LF Indiana U
16th – Bobby Lapenna RHP Nebraska
17th – Jeremy Moorefield 1B/OF Wake Forest
18th – Robbie Givens RHP Kansas State Scouts love his knuckler but do not believe he will ever gain command of it. We'll find out
19th – Chris Weiss C Maryland
20th – Jake LeClerc RHP Purdue

[gehrig38]

Subject: Week 11 Notes

Record: 18-49 25 GB
Position: 5th 15.5 games out of fourth
Runs Scored: 277 13th
Runs Allowed: 424 t-13th
Defense: 684 8th
Power Ranking: 26th 32.4
Owner Mood: Stll delighted, and no idea how...
Fan Interest: Still 100! Stevenson signing did get some fans pretty fired up.

• 6/6: DET 5 FLA 4 Baeza 5.1 IP 6 H 5 K 0 BB 3 ER Allen 1.2 IP 2 H 3 BB L (0-3 3.27)

• Denver righty Winton Alward 12 K's 4 H 8 IP 1 ER

• 6/7: DET 12 FLA 9 Eric Miles (DET) 2-4 2 BB 2 HR 3 R 3 RBI

• Duenas 2-4 3B HR 3 RBI Ben Herman implodes again 0.1 IP 1 BB 3 H 4 ER (1-0 7.76 ERA) van Gaalen gives up 3 in the 9th

• Dan Goodman (BRK) goes 5-5 2B 2 HR 4 RBI and scores 5 times in 18-4 rout of Minnesota

• Connie Parks (NY) goes 3-4 2B 2 HR and drives in 7 in 15-3 drubbing of Memphis

• I've tried waiting this one out but Herman needs to go down and figure this out. 22 walks and 36 hits in just 26.2 innings. No worries, but it might have been a bit too early. He's already used his option this year and he has 1 left so the move costs me nothing on his end. Chris Fitzgerald will be recalled.
• 2nd rounder Arturo Mendoza and 4th rounder Chris Baggett both agreed to terms today.

• Mendoza goes to single-A Farmington where he will start every sixth day and play 3rd the rest of the week. Baggett, along with 7th rounder Marc Gammel will start the year with the rookie club at Rio Rancho. The short season and rookie leagues kick off on the 20th.

• 6/8: CHI 8 FLA 5 Luis Nava (CHI) 2B 3B 2 HR 6 RBI (.331-15-46) AL POTD

• Baldwin 5 IP 8 H 4 ER (2-8 6.02)

• 6/9: CHI 14 FLA 2 Pen gives up 10 over 5 innings. Downs 3 IP 4 ER 84 pitches

• Dwain Milazo (CHI) 6 IP 4 H 9 K 1 ER (3-5 6.32)

• Mathew Crownover (MIN) 3 hit SHO 2 K 1 BB 6-5 2.96

• 5th rounder Ignacio Camargo agreed to terms. He'll report to Rio Rancho.

• 6/10: CHI 7 FLA 3 Dan Ridsdale (CHI) 3 run homer in the 7th to break the 3-3 tie.

• RJ Stanton punches out 13 in 6.2 innings (6-2 3.41) 135 k's in just 87 innings this year

• Loenzana 5 IP 2 H 3 K 4 BB 0 ER Stevenson hits his 7th (604th career)

• Hall of famer Pat Stevenson agreed to a 1 year extension today. The contract totalled 1.64 million and it appears all sides are happy with the deal.

• 1-9 in our last 10, lost 6 in a row and there are the beginnings of some clubhouse problems.

• 2nd rounder Arturo Mendoza is 4 for 9 in his 1st two starts for Farmington and he gets the ball to start tonight.

• 6/11: PHX 13 FLA 1 Mike Sestak(PHX) 2-3 3 R 2 HR 5 RBI

• Baeza drops to 2-9 7.57 4 IP 6 H 7 BB 7 ER

• I can't keep this up. Not with him and not with this staff. I am thinking it's time to send him down and bring in a veteran arm. Not like we're going to get pounded worse and there's no chance this is helping his development in any way. The problem is that he's out of options and there's no way he makes it through waivers.

• In minor league news, I have managed to sign a slew of undrafted free agents to round out the Rio Rancho and Hobbs rosters.

• Also, 1st overall pick Joe Linn agreed to terms today. Luis is convinced he's ready for AA so that's where he's headed. Teagan Beairsto, our 4th rounder agreed to terms as well

• Milwaukee Hawks 2B Chris Ryan broke his hamate bone a few days back. He'll miss at least the next 3 months. They recalled AAA 2B Jon Harris, their 2001 2nd round pick to make his ABA debut.

• On May 16th these were Juan Baeza's numbers. BB/9 = 5.4, today 6.4, BABIP .242, today .294, WHIP 1.45, today 1.83, FIP 6.34 today 7.11 and K/BB 1.50, today 1.20. Significantly worse in every single category.

• 6/12: PHX 4 FLA 3 (10) van Gaalen BS (2) in the 9th Allen loss in the 10th (0-4 4.32)

• Our third 8 game losing streak. Jimmy Owen was drilled and had to come out. No word yet.

• Linn 8.1 IP 9 K 1 ER in professional debut.

AL POTW- Guiomar Cortezo (BRK) 13-29 3 HR 8 RBI (.337-14-51)
NL POTW- Zach Hogue (PORT) 11-21 4 HR 6 RBI (.298-16-38)

This Week: 1 vs Phoenix 3 (28-40 14 GB AL West) @ Minnesota (34-34 9.5 GB AL East) Off Day 2 vs Memphis (30-38 7.5 GB AL Central)

[gehrig38]

Subject: Week 12 Notes

Record: 19-55 27.5 GB
Position: 5th place (17.5 GB of 4th)
Runs Scored: 293 13th
Runs Allowed: 467 13th (-174 run differential)
Defense: .688 6th
Power Ranking: 26th
Owner Mood: Still delighted (for a demanding guy he's showing extraordinary patience)
Fan Interest: 100

• 6/13: PHX 5 FLA 1 Chris Blowers 3-4 2 2B HR RBI Seth Moden HR (12) 3 RBI Griff Honeyford 5 IP 1 H 6 K 6 BB 1 ER (4-4 6.72)

• Jimmy Owens hip is fine, he's tender but no DL stint needed

• Vegas' Domenic Loetzsch went 2-3 2 HR 3 RBI in a 4-2 win. He's now at .351-28-79 and a legit triple crown threat in the AL

• Mike Carpenter signs and reports to Rio Rancho ending the 2005 draft class with all top picks signed and reported. Short season and rookie ball start one week from today

• 6/14: MIN 10 FLA 0 10-0 loss for a 10th straight loss. 2nd steak of 10 this year. Now 18-51.

• Mathew Crownover 6.1 IP 3 H 0 R 10 K W (7-5 2.74)

• Downs 5 IP 7 H 1 K 0 BB 4 HR 4 ER (3-7 4.73) Neuman 1,1 IP 5 BB 4 ER (7.30 ERA)

• Jared Neuman is placed on Waivers and designated for assignment after the game. A staggering 80 baserunners in just 37 innings. I go into tonight with 24 rostered players. Reliever Ryan Richardson is due off the DL tomorrow and will skip a rehab

• 6/15: FLA 6 MIN 3 (12) Barraco 3 R HR in the 9th ties it, Nakamura 2 R HR in the 12th wins it.

• RJ Stanton (CHI) moves to 7-2 3.09 with a 4 hit shutout punching out 12 mvs Detroit

• Vegas beats Phoenix 15-3 and Domenic Loetsch and Juan Castillo combined 7-10 2B 2 HR 5 R 10 RBI

• 6/16: MIN 5 FLA 3 Baeza 5 IP 6 H 5 K 3 BB 5 ER (2-10 7.66) Tovar 2-3 2 HR 3 RBI (.197-9-26)

• Ignacio Justiniano 7 IP 5 H 4 K 2 ER (9-4 2.82) Korey Rick 3-3 2B HR 3 RBI (.258-27-66)

• Pat Stickler (NE) tossed a 3-hitter punching out 5 in a 19-0 win over Jacksonville 1B Ed Dempsey went 5-6 2B 3 R 5 RBI

• Miners SP Mike Duhon (7-4 3.42) tore his UCL on Wednesday and had surgery today. He'll be out at least 7 months.

• 6/17: OFF DAY

• 6/18: MEM 8 FLA 2 Chris Pennington 3-3 2 HR (19) 2 RBI Chris Kellermann 2-5 2 HR (6)

• Sam McDowell 1-3 HR RBI (.241-12-32)

• 6/19: MEM 3 FLA 1 Memphis scores 3 in the 1st and it is enough. Mustering just 5 hits Nakamura 2-3 BB 2B 3B

AL POTW- Domenic Loetzsch (LV) 8-20 4 HR 9 RBI (.351-30-85)
NL POTW- Joel Greaves (POR) 6-10 3 HR 6 RBI (.211-6-14)

• 6/20: MEM 9 FLA 3 Downs 3 IP 6 H 3 BB 5 K 6 ER (3-8 5.32) McDowell 13th HR

• Entering the break with a 2-16 July record.

• Micah Stolz of Denver punched out 14 Hitmen over 8 scoreless (10-1 3.26)

• Luis Rocha went 8 with 10 K's in San Antonios' 2-1 win over Pittsburgh

[gehrig38]

Can't complain when you're a 19 win team at the all-star break about the # of players 'deserving' of a selection. Having said that Juan Barranco absolutely deserved to be there.



Just what the players love, an extra-inning all-star game.....
The ABA chooses to learn from past mistakes and ensures a roster large enough to provide ample arms for this sort of occurrence.



Chi-Ming Xie is the starting shortstop of the Texas Cowboys. Came to the ABA through free agency after an early career spent in Tawain. In 2001 he was an all-star, 5 time rookie of the month, World Series Champion and MVP of the Series and the 2001 NL Silver Slugger at short and finally crowned the 2001 NL Rookie of the year. Taking home the Jackie Robinson award after a .322/.391/.537 203 hit 41 2B 30 HR 106 RBI season. He's won 4 Silver Sluggers, 2 Postseason MVP awards (2001 World Series and the 2004 Division Series) as well as being a 5-time all-star.

[gehrig38]

The ABA has reached the halfway mark. Here are the storylines to follow as we move into the leagues 2nd half.



Domenic Loetzsch is going to make a serious run at a triple crown and another MVP. His monster season is one of the many reasons Las Vegas finds itself in the drivers seat. Koufax in the AL looks to be a 2 dog hunt between Alward and Stanton. Neither has won one yet, Stanton, many believe, has legitimate odds to be the greatest pitcher by a wide margin the league has ever seen. He's just 23 (Alward is 30 btw). There will be a player profile coming up on him shortly.
Texas' Teagan Ings (pronounced IN-JA) is a potential triple crown threat as well. He's .001 off the leaderboard at the break.



Our race is with St Louis. I'd really like to try and beat their final record. That's my "playoffs" this year. Brooklyn hasn't seen the playoffs since 1999 and just 4 times overall. No Titles yet.
Detroit? They've missed the postseason just one time since the league began. Taking home the World Series in 1997, 2002 and 2003. They are a perennial powerhouse and very much a team other clubs try to emulate on and off the field.
In the Central Ohio started their ABA career as a playoff team from 1990 to 1997. They made it again in 2000 but nothing since then and have never taken home a world title. Chicago enters the break with a DL made up of not a single player. Their offense is clicking on all cylinders but many wonder if their 12th ranked defense will bite them in the end. They've made 7 appearances in the postseason including a 1998 to 2003 run of 4 division titles and 2 wild card appearances.
Vegas paces the west. An 8-time playoff club and one-time world champ (1996) they are coming off a 3-year dry spell and an 82-80 2004.
Alaska is a 10-time postseason team but a zero time world champion. They are coming off a 92, 97 and 97 win seasons and have been to the dance 7 of the last 8 seasons.
Denver is the defending world champion. Their 6 postseason appearances have seen them do it 5 times as a wild card. Their lone division title was last season when they took it the distance.



Over in the NL East, the Miners look to make the dance for the 14th consecutive season. Their lone world series win was back in 1995 when they were at the beginning of a 9 year run as NL East champions.
New England is looking to make it to the dance for just the 4th time. They've never won a title and have spent 12 of the leagues 15 seasons as a bottom half of the division club.
In the central Texas is trying to make it back to back division titles and a third straight year as a postseason club. That's actually the sum of their postseason resume, 2 appearances with 1 division title.
Kansas City made the postseason from 1990 to 1994 and won the ABA's first two world series. They have not been to the postseason since. They haven't finished above 3rd since 1998.
Oklahoma has been a playoff team in 8 seasons and taken home one world series (2000). They finished 79-83 and 12 games back last year after a 94 win Division title season in 2003.
The Storm has been the NL's answer to Detroit. 2003 was their first year in existence NOT making the playoffs. Even more impressive is the following. They've never finished below .500 (81-81 in 2003) and they've had 9 100+ win seasons including winning 101 or more games from 1995 to 2001. They've taken home 3 ABA World Series titles. They left April this year at 23-5 and were 29-7 on May 8th. They've gone 17-22 since then. Their staff is 2nd in starters ERA their pen is 1st and their offense leads the NL in OBP. San Francisco has never had a 100 win season but they are in the midst of an 8 year run of postseason appearances. Seven of those years have come as the wild card with their lone division title coming in 2003. 22-14 on May 8th they've gone 24-15 since, picking up 7 games on LA.

[gehrig38]

Tarpons deal 4, including Baeza to Alaska for a pair of outfielders.
The Florida Tarpons today sent 25 year old right hander Juan Beza (2-10 7.66) 24 year old switch hitting outfielder Wilfredo Romero (.253-4-25), infielder Joe Benavides (.228-1-12) and minor league pitcher Sam White (11 IP 5 K 7 BB between AA/AAA) tp the Kodiaks in exchange for a pair of 25 year old outfielders. Geoff Wimer (.260-30-101 in 171 games) and minor league outfielder Geoff Gilmore (.198-2-6 in 27 games of big league time and .303-4-12 in 21 AAA games).

“Listen, we knew coming in this was going to be a challenging year for both the organization and its loyal fans” GM Gehrig Schilling stated at the press conference to announce the trade.

“However when we launched this thing there were certain standards we expected not just from the players but the entire organization,” he added.
This move gets us two bats we feel are both middle of the order capable as well as two young players we will have control over in the coming years. Both of these guys are our type of player, willing to do whatever it takes to make the team better.”

Kodiak GM Mike Cosgrove “We are in this to win, now. This is a deal that was hard, very hard, it's why it took so long for the pieces to come together. We have nothing but respect for both young men we traded and wish them the best while at the same time we are ecstatic to add 4 players we think can help us to a world series title.”

This deal took two weeks to come together. Pieces were added and subtracted, picks were put in, then taken out. Alaska moved Benavides into their starting SS role and he's apparently going to lead off. Starting shortstop Eric Schmidt separated his shoulder 5 days ago and they sent journeyman Tim Ruszkowski down to make room. Romero is a rule 5 guy so he has to remain on their roster and he becomes their 6th outfielder. Baeza moves into their pen as a long man. White had no future value here according to our scouts and Alaska ended up sending the 25-year-old to the single-A Fairbanks club.

Our return in this?
Geoff Wimer – A 25-year-old outfielder whose best position is right but we are going to see if we can get him a crash course in manning center field. The 11th overall pick in the 2001 draft out of Georgia Tech he was a 2 time all American. He's a left-handed hitter who absolutely destroys right-handed pitching. He's a below-average runner but is an instinctual outfielder which gets him the range he has in center. He's shy of 2 years service and has all 3 options remaining. Luis rates him 2.5 stars. He'll take Romero's spot on the 38 man roster.

Geoff Gilmore – A 25-year-old outfielder as well. Plays right and possesses a ++ arm. Limited range even though he's a tick above average in the speed department but if his glove touches the ball he catches it. Another 2 time All American out of Oregon State he was originally taken in the 2002 draft by New York (2nd round 36th overall). He returned to school and was drafted the following year by the Kodiaks in the 3rd round (65th overall). He's had some shoulder and back issues but our trainers believe it can be taken care of. He blew through the minors, hitting at every stop. He was hitting just .198/.274/.302 this year before going down to Anchorage (AAA) where he was hitting .303/.354/.539 over 82 at bats. The slump this year was the first time in his professional career he hit below .300 at any level. He is a right-handed hitter but honestly has no weak side. His power is line to line and he has an above average awareness of the strike zone. He is added to the roster and will head to Alamogordo where he will get at-bats.

This trade prompted a ton of roster shuffling. Veteran Luca Martignoni was put on the roster and called up to take Baeza's' spot in the rotation. Left fielder Hidetoshi Fujimoto and infielder Dusty Barber had their contracts purchased as well. OF Juan Medina was designated for assignment and placed on waivers. The moves also allowed SS prospect, Jeremy Crimi, to move from AA to AAA where he will play every day.

[gehrig38]

Subject: Week 13 Notes

Record: 20-57
Position: 5th 29 GB (4.5 GB of St Louis)
Runs Scored: 304 13th
Runs Allowed: 488 13th
Defense: 686 7th
Power Ranking: 26th
Owner Mood: Delighted (just going to stop trying to figure this out and enjoy it)
Fan Interest: 100 (That's a loyal group right there. We're also 17th in attendance)

• 6/24: OH 11 FLA 0 Ernesto Bandaras 8 IP 9 K 6 H (4-3 5.08) Luis Santillan 3-5 HR 5 RBI

• Lorenzana 4.1 IP 10 H 9 ER (1-5 4.89)

• Fletcher suffers a setback and will need another week on the DL.

• Sergio Chamorro (NE) 4-4 HR 5 RBI 9-2 win over Pittsburgh

• 6/25: FLA 9 OH 1 Baldwin 5 IP 2 H 4 K 1 ER (3-10 5.90) Nabbe 3-4 RBI McDowell (14) and Barranco (15) homered

• 6/26: OH 9 FLA 2 Chris Burdette Grand Slam 4 RBI's

• Downs 3.1 IP 6 H 6 K 6 BB 6 ER (3-9 5.83)

AL POTW- Jared Reilly (BRK) 11-18 2 HR 7 RBI (.269-8-33)
NL POTW- Chi-ming-Xie (TEX) 8-14 2 HR 3 RBI (.271-11-37) pretty good week after his ASG MVP

WEEK 14
3 @ St Louis (25-53 18.5 GB) 4 @ New York (Friday DH) (36-40 12.5 GB) 1 @ BRK (49-29 .5 GB)

[gehrig38]

Tarpons continue to retool 'on the fly' as they deal 2 to Kansas City.
The Kansas City Spartans today announced a deal with the Florida Tarpons in which they sent 26-year-old utility infielder Utermaro Nishida and 23-year-old minor league reliever Eddie Hein to Florida in exchange for a pitcher and the 1999 5th overall selection Marsel Kharmandarian and 25-year old minor league LHP Josh Gilbert.
Nishida is a super utility guy who can play every position but Catch and Center. Puts the bat on the ball, outstanding baserunner despite a lack of speed and has legit pop. He hit 38 homers in AA back in 2000. With the need for as many arms in the pen as we can a versatile utility guy that can actually perform is a must. He's 26, making the minimum, and is another player I think will carry potentially big value around the deadline. Hein was a 6th round pick out of Colorado in 2003. He's a little guy (5'9”) with a really big arm. Doesn't have the physical makeup to be an innings guy or a starter even though he features 3 + pitches. He is however absolutely dominant on right-handed hitters. He's 23, all 3 options remaining and a hard working good kid.
Marcel was the 5th overall pick in 1999 out of Oklahoma U. by the New England Minutemen. A two time all-American he has a huge arm. We grabbed him in the 20th round of the expansion draft and he's gone 1-8 6.01 in 15 AAA starts. The talent has never carried over here. He's punched out 52 and walked 62 in 85.1 innings. All in all, it wasn't working out, and this was a huge 'get' in my opinion.
I don't want to carry a DH "only" player. With our rotation as dreadful as it is, and likely will continue to be, every player on this roster has to have diversity in use, both non-starting pitchers and position players other than catchers. Having said that I think Pat Stevenson is going to bring back a player at some point this year. Nishida will be added to the 25 man and we'll keep riding that option on Chris Fitzgerald, getting him back to AAA and some meaningful innings. Hein heads to Alamogordo where our guys want him to close, and after trying to move him and failing I've informed 37-year-old Jared Neuman we will be giving him his unconditional release.

Mid Season meeting with Owner Juan Medina
Had no qualms about the meeting kicking off with his expressing disappointment at the on the field performance. I could respond with nothing more than “We'll keep mixing and matching and I'll keep trying to get younger and more talented players through every outlet, including trades. No one in this organization is untouchable”.
Not sure why but he was very specific when discussing our prospects. He's clearly optimistic, but also in a somewhat surprising revelation, he seemed to not be real high on 1st overall pick Joe Linn. My guess is the 'friends' he surrounds himself have taken their daily fantasy 'smarts' into the owner's office here.
I was very happy to hear his excitement around our farm system. I think he clearly sees where we are headed and is in lock step with that course.
He ended the meeting by using the word “ecstatic” when talking about our progression as an organization to our pre-season goals but made it clear the on the field product needs to improve.

Personnel news:
There is a slew of contracts up at years end starting with manager Kevin Jackson. I am not going to reach out right now as I am not totally sold on him being the guy. No one outside my office knows that.
Overall I am very happy with how our minor league clubs are doing (though Hobbs and Rio Rancho just started their seasons) but where our clubs have underperformed I am more than ok with looking elsewhere.
(OUT OF GAME COMMENT) I was particularly intrigued by Orcins 'gameplay' in the area of organization personnel. I felt past iterations of the game had not fleshed out the AI enough to 'trust' the process. I am hoping that the gameplay I am seeing is true to form as it feels like letting them 'coach' is actually a thing now.)