Chicago Cougars (FABL)

[StLee]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

I had a little free time this weekend, so I decided to look back to my initial Cougar draft class and see how those players turned out 10 seasons later. Unlike our current 25 round drafts, this draft was only 15 rounds. There were a ton of undrafted FA's signed after, but I won't include those guys in this report.

7th Round, 100th Overall: 2B Rabbit Forrest
Johnny Douglas is the worst... Not only did he cost us John Lawson, but I had to use Forrest to get some sort of value from him. After being traded in July of 1929 to the Keystones, Forrest was named the 72nd best prospect next season. As a rookie in 1930, he made 649 trips to the plate and hit .342/.388/.422 (114 OPS+) in an excellent rookie season. He's lost playing time recently to Buck Sargent, but the switch hitter manned third for the Keystones during most of the 1930-1934 seasons. He's tallied 2,786 FABL plate appearances and hit .307/.360/.396 (105 OPS+) with 322 RBI's and a single FABL homer. He's likely to hang out on the Keystones bench, but he does have the talent to start for an FABL team.

A little late to the reading party, but I had to let you know that I am poaching this guy's name for the 2299 rookie class in my dynasty! I love the name!

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by StLee

A little late to the reading party, but I had to let you know that I am poaching this guy's name for the 2299 rookie class in my dynasty! I love the name!

Love to hear! As much as I love being an unbiased observer, if he becomes a big time player I might have to pick a favorite team

[ayaghmour2]

Another quick report. We followed the 5-1 week with a 1-5 week, so we're back to the expected mediocrity. I guess Leo Mitchell forgot how to hit, just a .115 Spring average. I guess better he gets it out now... Roy Moore basically took the lead in the center field race, as he's hitting everything while Carlos Montes isn't. He's 9-for-16 with 4 walks and a double compared to Montes' 5-for-23 with a triple and 4 walks. The surprise star has been Ed Pinkham, 8-for-16 with 3 doubles, 3 walks, and a triple. He was pretty much guaranteed the backup catching job, but he's exceeded all expectations. No other real standouts, but also no one doing all that poorly.

On the pitching side, Tommy Wilcox pitched like the spot starter my scout thinks he is, 9 hits and 6 runs with 4 walks in 4 innings against the Stars. That's now 9 walks in 8 innings. Everyone else who started other then Dave Rankin, he struck out 2 and allowed 5 hits in 4 innings. A lot of my optimism about the staff has fallen, as I should have known last week was an aberration.

[ayaghmour2]

After a 5-1 and 1-5 week, we decided to go 6-1! Now we're 12-7 and just the Kings have played better meaningless baseball then us! You know it's meaningless when the reigning CA champs are 5-14. Rich Langton has been elite this Spring, slashing .400/.462/.886 with 2 homers and 11 RBI's while getting a lot of time in right field. Doc Love has come to life a bit, batting .368/.390/.658. Mike Taylor is getting in on the fun, .394/.487/.455. Still, lots of guys with poor numbers including John Lawson, Carlos Montes, and Bill Ashbaugh as well as a few of the NRI's like Orlin Yates.

On the pitching side, Tommy Wilcox kind of did good. 8 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 2 unearned runs, 4 walks, and 2 strikeouts. These walks are killing me as his career BB/9 is just 2.0. Last year it was 3.9, in Spring it is up to 7.3. Yikes... But, not to fear, Dave Rankin tossed a 2-hit, 2 walk, 1 strikeout "shutout" while Dick Lyons had a 2-hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout "shutout" of his own. After a good first week, both Allen Purvis and George Johnson have struggled, so I'm giving their starts to Mac Watters and Chuck Matthews. Watters now has a legit shot to steal the 5th spot in the rotation, as the Chicago kid tossed 4 innings with 6 hits, a run, walk, and 2 strikeouts. Matthews has only tossed one frame, but I'm almost pulling for the hard working 25 year old. I shipped Hank Spencer off to the Dynamos for Illinois arm Joe Brown which helps with the roster jam a bit. For potentially five spots, we've got Ace McSherry, Art Black, Johnson, Purvis, Matthews, and Watters. Wayne Robinson and Bill Kline are also going to fight for a spot, and I really don't want Robinson in AAA. I can see Kline starting there, but this means two cuts.

Just a few more games will be played tomorrow and then we start Opening Day on Monday. Should be a fun weekend putting things together as I have a lot of work ahead down in the minors as well as the final roster construction.

[ayaghmour2]

THE CHICAGO COUGARS ARE YOUR 1936 SPRING TRAINING CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

*crickets*

Well, we did finish the last week 3-2, good for a 15-9 Spring which was one game above of my pick for the 1936 Continental Association champs, the Brooklyn Kings. Before last year's mix-up, I predicted three of the four CA champions, but now it looks like I just get it right every other year.

Anyways, big shoutout to Dave Rankin and his excellent spring, 16 innings with 12 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Dick Lyons looked fine, 16 innings with 13 hits, 5 earned, and 3 strikeouts, but he did walk a batter every other inning. Some of my optionable pitchers are making things really hard on me, with Pete Walker, Bill Kline, Wally Larkin, and Norm Stewart all recording 10+ innings with a 1.00 or lower WHIP and sub 2 ERA (Walker was the only above 1). Stewart actually struck out 8 in just 11 frames with 4 hits and 4 walks. The only run was a solo homer.

On the offensive side, no Cougar came to the plate more then utility man Russ Franklin. He did his best, hitting .345/.379/.527 with 2 homers, 12 RBI's, and 13 runs scored while also swiping three bags. Is that enough to earn him the starting center fielding job? I've got the weekend to decide, but Montes hit .256/.360/.465 while Moore hit .286/.375/.310. Moore looks like a longshot to break the roster, but I still have the weekend to decide. A lot of our hitters hit, with Love, Mitchell, Ford, Langton, Ed Pinkham, Mike Taylor, and even Johnny Turner and Pete Asher all boasted .300+ averages in 30 or more PA's. Very few guys struggled, just autograph signer John Lawson, Orlin Yates, Ollie Page, and Bill Ashbaugh not reaching that mark. I've started to trim down the roster today, so here's who is left in camp:

RHP Art Black
RHP Milt Fritz*
RHP George Johnson
RHP Wally Larkin
LHP Dick Lyons*
RHP Chuck Matthews
RHP Allen Purvis
RHP Dave Rankin*
RHP Mac Watters
RHP Tommy Wilcox*
LHP Bill Kline
LHP Ace McSherry*
LHP Norm Stewart
RHP Pete Walker
C Ed Pinkham*
C Mike Taylor*
1B Joe Masters
1B Leo Mitchell*
2B Bill Ashbaugh*
2B Russ Combs
2B Ray Ford
2B Clyde Hinzman
3B Pete Asher
3B John Lawson*
3B Jake Moore
3B Johnny Turner
SS Ollie Page*
LF Doc Love*
CF Russ Franklin*
CF Carlos Montes
CF Roy Moore
RF Rich Langton*
RF Mike Smith*

* denotes guaranteed spot

That's 33 players for 23 spots, so ten of them won't make Opening Day. I've already got 15 spots locked, so 18 players will be battling for 8 spots. Out of options members include Black, Franklin, Johnson, Matthews, McSherry, Pinkham, Purvis, Rankin, and Smith. Technically, I could keep all my out of options guys if needed, but my guess is I won't hang on to both Black and Matthews. There's also the Rule-5 pick Mac Watters, who I don't think will break camp. I'll have a busy weekend, but nothing beats a real life Opening Day that coincides with a simulated one!

[StLee]

Congrats on the championship!!!

[ayaghmour2]

I still haven't finalized my Opening Day roster, still three more cuts to go, but I wanted to write a little more (Spring Training writeups aren't all that fun) and one of my favorite things to do while watching baseball is writing about baseball or playing OOTP, and this allows me to do both! I like to invest, and one of the jokes is how a monkey throwing darts at a board with stick tickers on it is just as good as following the "expert" stock pickers. That got me thinking as I've done some Amateur Reports where I try to cover some of the draft prospects who may be worth taking a flier on. So to start, I looked back at the 1929 season and decided to see how I did:

Players Covered (in order of appearance):
CF George Pumphrey
2B Jake Shadoan
SP Jake DeYoung
LF Ed Reyes
SP Rocky Williams
1B Ed Jordan
RF Sam Brown
RF Bobby Many
SP Fred Collins
SP Don Esposito
SP Harvey Childers
SP Tom Blalock
SP Chick Stout
SP Tom Barrell
RF Vic Crawford
SP Ike Joyal
SP Bud Hastings
3B Buddy Kircher
SS Phil Barber
CF Bill May
3B Al Murphy
RF Joe Jones
SP Jim Green
LF Cotton Riley
SP Dave Smith
LF John Collins
LF Ron Wilson
C Clem Bliss
CF Paddy Smith
SP Hank Beard
SS George Dawson
CF Gail Gifford
2B Freddie Jones
SP Luke Ellison
RF Elmer Nolde
SP Dick Smith
SP George Pratt
CF Dick Walls
SS Joe Foy
SP Charlie Bingham
RF Roy Zingale
CF Max Long
SP Claude Bradbury
SP Jim Trippe
SP Lenny Bellucci
SS Steve Clarke
LF Jim Behnke
RF Earl Fisher
SP Ernie Scott
2B Joe Fretwell
CL Allan Fuller
2B Al Haynes
SP Gary Swanson
RF John Sexton

Categories:
Current FABL Players: 20
In an FABL Organization: 45
On an Independent Team: 3
Current Top 100 Prospect: 2
1929 Draftees: 27
1930 Draftees: 6
1931 Draftees: 21
1st Rounders: 12
2nd Rounders: 9
3rd-5th Rounders: 13
6th-10th Rounders: 12
11th-25th Rounders: 6
Undrafted: 1
Retired: 3
Current Cougars: 0
Minor League Cougars: 2
Cougar Draftees: 3
4+ Years in FABL: 7
2+ Years in FABL: 13

Notes
* For current FABL players, I included anyone who has both a 40-man roster spot/FABL contract and at least one day of service. Joe Jones, for example, is on the Minutemen's 40-man roster, but he has no service time and is not included in the current FABL player list.

** I could not find Dave Smith, who went to Somerville HS. There are six Dave Smith's, two are over 50, one is mid 30s, and the other two are 25 and 26. The 25-year-old is a shortstop who was undrafted in 1928 and the 26-year-old retired without a HS PA. The Smith I saw was 16 in 1929, would be 23 this season, and is nowhere to be found. I also could not find Allan Fuller or an Allen Fuller or even an Al Fuller. I even looked for a Fuler. Nada. Allan Fuller was a Chicago HS closer who I only mentioned because of the Chicago connection.

*** For years, I used calendar years not full seasons. This really doesn't effect many players, but one of the 4+ years guy is Elmer Nolde who only has 432 career FABL PA's. All/most the other 4+ guys (like Barrell and Jones) have 4 full seasons.

**** Earl Fischer makes the numbers a little weird as he is listed as both a 1929 draftee and 1930 draftee. He was a 5th Round pick by the Chiefs, failed to sign, and was then the Wolves 2nd Round pick the year after.

***** Something that goes against me is about a third of the prospects are guys I covered strictly based on team. I covered all four title teams as well as the three Chicago schools. A lot of the misses come here as I was going pretty deep through the teams.

So what did we learn? I don't even listen to myself! I should have known that! I always say things (like I won't make a big trade) and then end up doing the exact opposite! In fact, I had the #1 pick in the 1929 draft, so I actually could have only taken players I wanted (for the round they were taken) and likely had a much better draft then in reality. I only took three of the guys I covered, good old Tom Barrell, Fred Collins, and Ed Reyes. Two were 1st Rounders and made the FABL, the other is Collins who was my 5th Rounder who sits in our farm. The other farmed Cougar is Buddy Kircher, who was the only undrafted player of the bunch.

I then decided I had to construct a team with the guys I suggested, seeing what the best roster I could come up would be:

C: Clem Bliss
1B: Vic Crawford
2B: Freddie Jones
2B: Al Haynes
3B: Jake Shadoan
SS: George Dawson
SS: Joe Foy
SS: Steve Clarke
LF: John Collins
LF: Elmer Nolde
CF: Paddy Smith
CF: Gail Gifford
RF: Sam Brown
SP: Tom Barrell
SP: Charlie Bingham
SP: Jake DeYoung
RP: Chick Stout

Yes, I know I have too many position players and literally no pitchers, but that's because I really swung and miss with most of the pitchers. Still, a 1-2-3 of Barrell, Bingham, and DeYoung looks deadly and Chick Stout is a decent enough stopper. The only option I had for catcher was Clem Bliss, but the offense is loaded: Freddie Jones, Vic Crawford, Jake Shadoan, Sam Brown, and personal favorite George Dawson are all top players and we have a lot of quality youngsters like Gifford, Smith, and Haynes.

I then decided to look back at some of the classes to see what guys I "missed". You could consider Sam Orr, Ray Barnes, and Lou Williams, but they're just alright. Dan Fowler, I definitely missed, but of the first rounders I think I did really well. I avoided Phil Newcom and Ben Bernard and missed on Blalock like everyone else. Amos LeBlanc, Bill Kirby, and Nellie Dawson look like they won't be doing much, so my opinion of the 1929 first round looked good.

I personally had a pretty bad 1929 class, with Joe Johnson never hitting his potential, Roy Byrd's injuries costing him, and a lot of misses in the late rounds. I did get Ken Allen in the 4th and Gordie Thompson in the 5th, both guys who did debut while Jim Hatfield (6th), Tom Spitzer (7th), Elmer Hutchins (8th), and Billy Marshall (10th) are all on 40s with just Spitzer left to debut.

There were some interesting guys after the first round selected. In the first 10 rounds on the offensive side, Johnny McDowell (2nd), Larry Colaianni (2nd), Bunny Stapleton (3rd), Ray Russell (4th), Al Couch (4th), and Mel Carroll (4th) slipped through, but just Stapleton and Carroll were not on my draft shortlist (guys who could've been in the Amateur Report, in the feeder era I would use the headlines to determine who got a writeup or the league leaders). Of course, pitching is next to impossible to predict, but of the guys selected in the human portion, just 10th Rounder Lou Marion has done anything. Some guys like Clay Jackson (4th) have at least debuted, but good ol' Tom Barrell may finish his FABL career with more wins and strikeouts then all other pitchers selected in this class. Even after the 10th, nothing!

Now, the 1929 draft class is still not all that long ago. This will be professional season seven for these guys, so obviously a long way to go, but a 40% hit rate on FABL players (20/51) seems to be pretty impressive especially considering that number will only get better. I'd imagine I can get better then 50/50 with a lot of guys almost a lock to debut. Still, the true test will be 20+ years down the row when all their careers are over. Looks like one sure fire hall of famer picked, although I also made the excellent pick of trading him for a pitcher who no longer has a usable right arm.

So, does this mean you should listen to my prospect picks? Or do like I do and unintentionally ignore them? Well, that's for you to decide. I do try my best to publish these as if I was an OSA scout (although I do use my scout for player descriptors) or Baseball America writer and I don't try to "hide" any of my targets (unfortunately prospects do develop July/August on after I stop writing them) for the upcoming draft. I like to think more information is always better because there is no one "right" way to determine if a player is good. There are so many different stats, reports, player qualities to sort through and personally I think the best strategy is to be flexible. With all the information available, there are so many different ways to draw the same conclusion and it never hurts to have more things to help you get to your eventual decision. I also do like to think I've become much better at identifying talent, as I was still adjusting to stats only even during the '29 season. I'm hoping with each pool that I become better and better at predicting the next group of stars, even if they don't end up in Cougar uniforms.

Well, time to cut three more players...

[ayaghmour2]

Fake baseball is back! The Cougars start the season with three in Toronto before three hosting the defending Continental Association champion Foresters. Even with a 6 man rotation, OSA actually expects the Cougars to finish fourth at 77-77 with John Lawson the frontrunner for MVP with a .361/.421/.526 batting line to go with 18 homers and 115 driven in. We're also now ranked 6th in the farm system ranks, with Billy Hunter the lone top 20 prospect and system leader ranked 16th. We do boast 12 in the top 100 and another 12 between 101 and 200, but down to just 42 in the top 500. Our #30 prospect is Art Saunders who checks in at 262, but we have no prospects between 276 (Cuno Myer) and 405 (Bill Dickens) who rank 33rd and 34th in our system respectively.

Take a look at your 1936 Chicago Cougars!

RHP Milt Fritz
RHP George Johnson
LHP Bill Kline
LHP Dick Lyons
RHP Chuck Matthews
LHP Ace McSherry
RHP Allen Purvis
RHP Dave Rankin
RHP Tommy Wilcox
C Ed Pinkham
C Mike Taylor
1B Leo Mitchell
2B Bill Ashbaugh
2B Ray Ford
3B Pete Asher
3B John Lawson
3B Jake Moore
SS Ollie Page
LF Doc Love
CF Russ Franklin
CF Roy Moore
RF Rich Langton
RF Mike Smith

We have one lone representative in the top hitters John Lawson (12th), and one pitcher, Dave Rankin (16th) to start the season, although these are very volatile. Looking at position ranks, we seem set at third (2nd), short (5th), left (5th), and catcher (5th), and right (7th), with the right field number only expected to increase as Langton gets more experience out in right. Of course, the league now seems to be against Leo Mitchell, who I'm more then expecting to prove all the doubters wrong. I'm really conformable with the team we are able to field and while I don't expect an overly successful season, I am really excited for what is yet to come

EDIT: I guess I might have accidentally given Ray Ford a 40 man spot yesterday, so instead of burning an option, he'll join the big league roster. This will send Russ Combs to AAA. I'm going to give him a few reps at first as it seems like he's got no glove left. He used to rake, maybe he still does? Worst case, he becomes a better utility player.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-5
Seasonal Record: 1-5 (8th, 12.5 GB)
Stars of the Week
Leo Mitchell : 26 AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .423 AVG, .983 OPS
Rich Langton : 25 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .320 AVG, .906 OPS
Mike Taylor : 14 AB, 7 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.088 OPS

Weekly Schedule
4-14: Loss at Wolves (1-6)
4-15: Win at Wolves (6-2)
4-16: Loss at Wolves (6-9)
4-17: Loss vs Foresters (8-1)
4-18: Loss vs Foresters (6-3)
4-19: Loss vs Foresters (7-4)

Summary
Yikes, we kind of suck... See, Spring Training doesn't mean anything! We managed just one win in a poor start to a likely poor season. Still, I had very low expectations to start with, and it's only just one week. The offense did really struggle, so that is in issue, but it's really early in the season. Leo Mitchell and Rich Langton both had good weeks. They combined to go 19-for-51, with three doubles and triples, but neither hit a homer. There won't be as much power for us this year with the park factors being adjusted, so I'm expecting a lot less homers from both this season. Mitchell should reach his 1935 total, but Langton may not. He only played four of the games but, Ray Ford looked great at the plate. He's awful in the field, so that's really going to be tough to watch. Still, he was 5-for-14 with a double and 5 RBI's. Interesting enough, the only guy to homer this week for us was Doc Love, but we also were stuck in Toronto for three of the games. Love had a rough week, just 4-for-25. He didn't strike out, so perhaps it was just a lot of bad luck, but Love did not have much luck.

I want to talk Milt Frtiz too. He got the only win, and really had the only start worth mentioning. Fritz won 104 games in his first seven seasons, so my goal for him is to win 104 (at least) more with the Cougars. He went 8 and a third in Toronto with 11 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He lost his second start to end the week, allowing 13 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), and 5 walks. He also struck out three in the same amount of innings as the first start. Shoutout to the bullpen as well, nine and a third scoreless so far.

Looking Ahead
It's a busy week, as we continue a long stretch of games. We have an away/home four game series against the Sailors to start the week. They've started the season 4-2 with two new offensive starters. The Sailors have taken David Merchant out of center field in favor of rookie Hank Dunn. They've seen an excellent start from Dick Walker who's 11-for-20 with 4 doubles, 4 RBI's, 5 walks, and 2 steals in a really impressive week. Former Cougar John Kincaid had a nice start too, 7-for-18 with 3 doubles, 3 walks, and a pair of RBI's. It's shaping up for us to see William Jones, Herb Flynn, Oscar Morse, and Merritt Thomas. It will be a tough series and I do think we'll struggle on the road. At home we can out hit them, and we'll get the back two starters. I will use a fifth starter this week, Allen Purvis, and he's likely going to pitch the first game in Chicago to give the entire rotation an extra day off. I was a little unsure of starting Wilcox on four days, but I would much rather him pitch in Philly then Chicago.

After the Sailors, we get to head to Cleveland for three more with the Foresters. They're 5-1 and tied with the Kings, and already swept us in Chicago. They have a pair of .500 hitters, star T.R. Goins and second year right fielder Fred Quinn. Quinn had a hot start last season too, but ended up hitting .257/.361/.372 (91 OPS+) with 10 homers, 56 RBI's, and 14 steals. Still, his impressive 13-for-25 with a double, triple, and five steals in the leadoff spot is amazing. Their pitching is great too, the offense is filled with great hitters, and there is a reason they won the CA last season. I wish they would start Ben Turner over Lyman Weigel, but for now we'll only have to deal with one former Cougar pitcher in their rotation. Of course, Weigel tossed a gem in his start, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walks, and 3 strikeouts in a complete game victory against us. Only Eddie Quinn missed us, and he'll likely beat us in this series.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-4
Seasonal Record: 4-9 (8th, 6 GB)
Stars of the Week
Doc Love : 24 AB, 12 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.562 OPS
Leo Mitchell : 25 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .320 AVG, .770 OPS
Rich Langton : 13 AB, 5 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .385 AVG, 1.236 OPS

Weekly Schedule
4-20: Loss at Sailors (2-3)
4-21: Loss at Sailors (2-11)
4-22: Win vs Sailors (2-6)
4-23: Win vs Sailors (3-4)
4-24: Loss vs Sailors (7-1)
4-25: Win at Foresters (4-3)
4-26: Loss at Foresters (3-7)

Summary
I didn't realize the home part of the Sailors series was a three game set, so we had a five game series. We lost both games in Philly and won the two in Chicago. We then split the first two with the Foresters, and will start this week with the finale.

Lots of concerns still. The pitching has been downright awful. Outside of Allen Purvis, none of the pitchers with more then five innings have above average ERA+'s. Purvis, however, has made two relief appearances and a start for 11 total innings. He allowed 12 hits and 4 runs (2 earned), walks, and strikeouts. Tommy Wilcox has really struggled, and this week walked 10 batters in just 10 and a third innings. He's also allowed 28 hits and 20 runs (18 earned) with just 6 strikeouts. Wilcox's control has deserted him, but since we don't really have better options, I'm still going to let him start. My scout, however, thinks Purvis and even George Johnson are better rotation options.

Doc Love got hot this week, an even 12-for-24 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, and 6 RBI's in a really nice all around week. He's got 75% of our homers and is hitting an inflated .327/.353/.694 (165 OPS+) with 3 homers and 8 RBI's. Mitchell and Langton are both homerless, but neither are having bad starts. Mitchell is hitting .373/.407/.471 (127 OPS+) while Langton is hitting .342/.390/.632 (160 OPS+). As you can tell by the slugging percentages, Langton has been much more productive, with 3 doubles, 4 triples, and a steal to go with a very impressive batting line. He does have a pair of DTD injuries, so he'll miss the next two games. I'm going to put Ray Ford out in left and Doc Love in right for those two games. Neither are good defenders, but this allows Bill Ashbaugh to enter the lineup.

Looking Ahead
No off days in sight, so former Forester Allen Purvis will pitch the finale against his former team. We head home for three after, but have to face the first place Brooklyn Kings. With an 10-3 record identical to the other Chicago team, they're off to start the week so we may draw the top 3; Tom Barrell, Joe Shaffner, and Mike Murphy. I wish I had all those guys in my rotation, but I decided to trade two of them. Not only is the pitching good, they have Illinois native Al Wheeler who I really wanted to trade for, but the Kings were also willing to take Frank Vance and Jack Beach. Vance has hit well for the Kings and the Wonder Wheel has been a homerun machine. They've got most of the Barrell's, all the Lightbodys, and a bunch of other well known baseball players. There really isn't a weakness on paper, but for some reason the Kings always come up just short. I think this is their year, but for one reason or another we'll end up sweeping them for no reason.

After that it's two with the Saints (5-8) who sit tied with the Cannons in 6th place. They lost the reliable Earle Whitten for 4 moths with shoulder inflammation and that hurt their rotation. The recently acquired Bill Ross might step into their rotation, that being the Ross we traded to the Chiefs. His two starts haven't gone too well, 1-1 with a 7.98 ERA (57 ERA+), 1.64 WHIP, 4 walks, and 7 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. Montreal's rotation has been hit really hard to start the season with even George Thomas starting out slow. They have gotten production from Jim Watson, however, who's off to an electric .410/.419/.656 (165 OPS+) start. As you can see, he doesn't walk too much, just one in 62 PA's, but he's got 9 extra base hits and 12 RBI's. Vic Crawford has launched three homers and drove in 13 RBI's, one more then Watson for both. He's also hitting .320/.390/.560 (135 OPS+) in the cleanup spot. Young catcher Adam Mullins is off to a nice start after taking the starting job from Tom Bird. Bird was sent to the Chiefs, which is how the Saints got the previously mentioned Ross.

We then finish the week with the first of a three game set against the New York Stars. They're 6-7, but have gotten a lot of production from the top four in their rotation. It's the exact opposite of last year, as other then Lou Martino, Les Zoller, Harry Carter, and Gene Stevens all had their share of struggles. The offense is Lawsonless, but Pete Layton has hit for the both of them. He's slashing an outstanding .447/.476/.812 (223 OPS+) with 3 homers and 13 RBI's. Larry Colaianni has also gotten off to a nice start, batting .395/.491/.535 (161 OPS+) while Dave Trowbridge is off to a strong start with three homers and a .327/.404/.531 (136 OPS+) batting line. We have seven home games this week, so I really want to see a lot of wins, but I know it's not all that likely.

Minor League Report

SP Harry Parker (A Lincoln Legislators): It's going to be a tough start to match, but the first one of Harry Parker's season involved 16 strikeouts in 8 and a third innings pitched. Not only that, just 3 hits, 2 walks, and a run in a 4-1 win over the Terre Haute Brewers. It was the only win Lincoln got last week, but Parker was firing on all cylinders. The towering 6'6'' righty upped his fastball to 91-93 in the offseason and that's just one of his six pitches. He's got excellent control of all his pitches, especially his changeup which he consistently can fool hitters with. The only worry for me are his flyball tendencies, but when you strike out 16, it's okay if you allow a longball or two every so often.

SP Doc Smith (C La Crosse Lions): It may just be one start, but it is very reassuring to see that the first start the 21st Overall Pick made this season resulted in a 1-hit, 7 strikeout shutout. Smith looked excellent in his first taste of professional ball. Smith is a tiny lefty, but it is really hard to elevate the ball against him. He has a nice five pitch mix with a fastball, sinker, cutter, change, and splitter. He doesn't throw all that hard, just 83-85, but the harder his pitches get the better his results will be. I'm hoping his time in La Crosse is short, but my scout didn't think he was ready to start the season in San Jose. A few more starts like these and it won't matter if he has a red arrow or not.

[StLee]

Oh no! I was unplugged a couple of days. I come back to the Spring-Champion Cougars starting the season at 4-9?!? Who are the bums at general manager and manager on this team?

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 4-3
Seasonal Record: 8-12 (7th, 7 GB)
Stars of the Week
Roy Moore : 22 AB, 13 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .591 AVG, 1.336 OPS
Ollie Page : 25 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .360 AVG, .949 OPS
Rich Ford : 26 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .346 AVG, .854 OPS

Weekly Schedule
4-27: Loss at Foresters (4-5)
4-28: Win vs Kings (1-2)
4-29: Win vs Kings (5-10)
4-30: Win vs Kings (5-8)
5-1: Loss vs Saints (6-1)
5-2: Loss vs Saints (6-4)
5-3: Win vs Stars (5-9)

Summary
Well, what do you know! We swept the Kings! Who would have predicted that! Also, it's our first series win of the season and I'm thinking we should only play teams from New York. We were 4-0 against New York teams this week, 0-3 against the rest. Full season, 4-12 against non-New Yorkers. Still, a very mixed bag this week as I thought we would've swept the Saints and been swept by the Kings, but we're much better off with the reverse.

I haven't really mentioned him much, mainly because his first couple starts were awful, but Roy Moore went an insane 13-for-22 last week with a homer, 6 RBI's, and 2 steals and took home both Player of the Week and Rookie of the Month in the Continental Association. Moore has looked good in 16 games, batting .393/.417/.482 (131 OPS+) with 10 RBI's and a nice +3.3 zone rating and 1.055 efficiency out in center. I was afraid the 23-year-old might have found himself down in Milwaukee sooner then he wanted, but really only Rich Langton has hit the ball better then him. Langton is still homerless, but his .339/.381/.542 (136 OPS+) batting line is much more complete with the 4 doubles and triples which make up for the lack of homers. He's added a steal too, and has a respectable +0.6 zone rating and 1.022 efficiency out in right. Really not much else good at the plate right now, Doc Love's last week was basically the only time he hit a ball and John Lawson's 71 OPS+ through 20 games is leaving a lot to be desired.

The pitching? Well... Dave Rankin has looked good! He's 2-3 with a 3.80 ERA (119 ERA+), 1.62 WHIP, 11 walks, and 20 strikeouts. Still, he's been hit or miss: 3 starts with 6 runs, 2 with 1 earned. Really no in between for him to start the year from him while Milt Fritz and Dick Lyons both have been hit hard on occasion. Of course, there's also the formerly reliable Tommy Wilcox who's walked 20 and allowed 24 earned runs in just 25 innings. His WHIP is 2.32, almost double his combined 1933-1934 WHIP. He's still sort of striking batters out, 9 in 25 which is good for a 3.2 K/9, right around his average.

Looking Ahead
Our first off day is in site, as we get our first off day on the 11th. We get two more with the Stars, two with the Cannons, and three with the Wolves. All the games are at home, and we'll start with two of Les Zoller, Harry Carter, and Dick Leudtke. They could stick Leudtke all together, but I'd love to hit off the former Cougar. Their offense has looked really deflated, with Layton, Trowbridge, and Colaianni trying to keep the team afloat. Our next guest, the Cannons, have also had issues hitting with even Bunny Stapleton off to a rough start. The first basemen is hitting a slightly below average .278/.314/.468 (98 OPS+) with 4 homers and 12 RBI's. Both Joe Watson and Jim Mason have gotten off to really poor starts. Their best performer so far is second year starter Ed Roberts, who's .338/.405/.521 (136 OPS+) batting line is much improved from his .286/.327/.345 (81 OPS+) from last year. Pinky Conlan has been hurt, and their rotation has really struggled in his absence, but Dutch Leverett's 5 starts have been excellent. The 33-year-old is 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA (160 ERA+) and 1.32 WHIP, but with 12 walks and 8 strikeouts in 38 innings.

We'll then finish the grueling stretch with three against the Wolves, who bested us earlier in the season. Their pitching has really struggled, generally the exact opposite is true. Other then Jake Smith, who's a perfect 3-0 with a 2.78 ERA (138 ERA+), 1.11 WHIP, 3 walks, and 10 strikeouts, the other four starters have ERA's above 5. Offseason acquisition Larry Vestal has raked, however, slashing .400/.489/.575 (164 OPS+) with a homer and 14 RBI's in the early going. Nick Wallace is also batting an impressive .413/.483/.507 (147 OPS+).

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-4
Seasonal Record: 11-16 (6th, 7 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Lawson : 29 AB, 15 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .517 AVG, 1.243 OPS
Doc Love : 29 AB, 10 H, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .345 AVG, .961 OPS
Ray Ford : 29 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 11 RBI, .345 AVG, .820 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-4: Loss vs Stars (6-3)
5-5: Win vs Stars (2-10)
5-6: Loss vs Cannons (11-9)
5-7: Win vs Cannons (5-14)
5-8: Win vs Wolves (6-8)
5-9: Loss vs Wolves (2-1)
5-10: Loss vs Wolves (8-3)

Summary
Since we won't win a pennant, the goal is to win Player of the Week awards. Last week was Ray Moore, this week it's John Lawson. It was only a matter of time before he started hitting, and this week he was 15-for-29 with 5 RBI's and his first Cougar home run. The run included going 5-for-6 in the 14-5 win over the Cannons. That wasn't the game he homered, but he scored three times and drove in a pair of runs. He was actually hitless the last two games. Now, Jack the Ripper has a respectable .333/.383/.448 (113 OPS+) line with 8 walks, 3 strikeouts, 9 doubles, a homer, and 14 RBI's. It's still a small sample size and with just one good week Lawson already looks like a much better player. Expect a few more weeks like this one as Lawson will take over games. Like Doc Love, he just always hits, it's just some times it's always right at someone.

Oh yeah, poor Tommy Wilcox. Another minor injury, this time he left after finishing the second with back spasms. He's fine, won't miss another start, but that's injury #7 for Wilcox in his last 16 starts. That's after zero in the first 228. He didn't look good in the start, four hits, a walk, and two runs in just two innings. Ace McSherry also got hurt in the same game, a mild abdominal strain in his case. He'll miss the next two games. It was a rough week for McSherry, 10 hits, 3 runs, a walk, and a strikeout in 4 innings.

Allen Purvis got two starts this week, and the second one was brilliant. He got the loss, but threw a complete game with 10 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts. His start in the 6-3 loss against the Stars wasn't as good, but Purvis has looked alright. He's started four and relieved two, working to a 3.38 ERA (136 ERA+) and 1.62 WHIP in 34.2 innings pitched. He walked 12 and struck out 19 and has quietly become a reliable pitching option. He now has 74.1 innings in a Cougar uniform and despite being 2-7, he's got an impressive 3.39 ERA (131 ERA+) and 1.56 WHIP with 22 walks and 33 strikeouts. This season, three of his starts have been at home and he's done well by keeping the ball on the ground. He's not the only starter with success, with Dave Rankin leading the CA with 30 strikeouts. He's 2-4 with a 3.86 ERA (119 ERA+), 1.58 WHIP, 14 walks, and 30 strikeouts in 58.1 innings pitched. I am loving the control he's shown with very few walks. He walked 100 last season and has dropped his BB/9 a full point for this season. Dick Lyons has also shown some signs of rebirth, 2-2 with a 3.93 ERA (117 ERA+) and 1.36 WHIP. The walks are up a little from 2.1 to 2.5. Last year it looks like he got really unlucky, so this season is sort of making up for it.

Looking Ahead
After a much needed off day, we'll head to Montreal for three with the Saints. Bill Ross has looked good, 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA (123 ERA+), 1.24 WHIP, 8 walks, and 19 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. Glad to see him with the club, just unfortunately we actually have to face him. Montreal is off to a tough start, a game behind us and tied for last. I can't believe how bad George Thomas is pitching right now, so the offense has been the strength of the team. Vic Crawford has launched 5 homers and hit .301/.357/.524 (117 OPS+) while Jim Watson and Adam Mullins are both hitting over .360 with a 129 and 139 OPS+ respectively. They have another former Cougar prospect, starting second basemen Red Moore. He's hitting .324/.354/.446 (98 OPS+) with a homer and 15 RBI's in his first 82 FABL plate appearances. He came with Ross in exchange for Frankie Cohen and Tom Bird.

We get two in New York before starting a three game series with the Cannons. Stars have 11 wins like us, but have lost two fewer matches. They've seen Harry Carter throw back to back 0 run outings to improve his ERA to 2.53 (184 ERA+) and WHIP to 1.41 WHIP. He's tossed 32 innings with 13 walks and 17 strikeouts. Lou Martino and Les Zoller have each looked fine and Pete Layton is still pushing .400. He's up to .413/.458/.640 (176 OPS+) with 3 homers and 19 RBI's.

Haven't really done a minor league report yet, so I may spend some of the weekend doing that. Draftees will get their stats soon, so Amateur Reports will be on the way as well. Even before the extra players are added, this pool is still much deeper then one from last season.

[StLee]

It's good to see a bit of improvement after the slow start. I see the Foresters are tearing every other team up right now. Time to take advantage of this week's schedule against three teams not winning many games on their own, especially the Stars.

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by StLee

It's good to see a bit of improvement after the slow start. I see the Foresters are tearing every other team up right now. Time to take advantage of this week's schedule against three teams not winning many games on their own, especially the Stars.

Yep, after the nightmarish first week we've been as mediocre as expected. Could be a nice week for us

[ayaghmour2]

RHP Pug Bryan (AAA Milwaukee Blues): Ever since he was a freshman in the feeder leagues, my view on Pug Bryan was quite simple: he's going to be an ace. The mock draft disagreed, my scout disagreed, and the eventual prospect rankings disagreed, but that didn't stop me from taking Pug in the 2nd Round of the 1934 draft. He then dominated in 6 starts with San Jose, dominated in 14 starts with Lincoln, and then dominated in 4 starts with Mobile. Against my better judgement, I started the recently turned 23-year-old in Milwaukee. He's made three starts with the Blues, and while not dominant, Bryan has an impressive 2.79 ERA (155 ERA+) and 1.24 WHIP in 19.1 innings so far. He did have a lot of unearned runs in his last start, but when your a groundball pitcher and your shortstop makes two errors it's bound to happen. That's Bryan's biggest appeal, he's an extreme groundballer with a really nice high 80s sinker. He throws a fastball, slider, forkball, and change up as well, all four big league quality. His command, especially of the changeup, is excellent and helps contribute to his impressive strikeout numbers. He's really polished up his command this season, just 4 walks so far. Last year in his 14 Lincoln starts he had a 3.7 BB/9. My scout has turned around a bit on Bryan, now calling him a "fifth starter" but he recently dropped from top 150 to 252 in the top prospect rankings. That doesn't change how good of a pitcher Bryan is, and if he keeps pitching like he is he will be starting games in Chicago soon. Both him and Wayne Robinson are waiting for someone on the big league roster to misstep (or likely the next Tommy Wilcox injury) so they can claim a more permanent spot.

CF Carlos Montes (AAA Milwaukee Blues): I really wanted him to win the opening day spot, but he had a tough spring. He's hitting a strong .292/.397/.538 (145 OPS+) with a homer, 4 steals, and 11 RBI's in 79 plate appearances to start the season. Unfortunately for him, Roy Moore has excelled in the lineup so the 20-year-old Montes will likely be down in Milwaukee for a majority of the season. He's one of the more highly rated prospects, 6th in our system and 52 in the league, and my scout raves about Montes potential. According to Marv, "with his talents the light of Montes's star could be blinding." Montes is one of the fastest players in the league and it translates to excellent center field defense as well. He also has a great feel for the zone, walking more then he's struck out so far in our system. He showed a power boost last season in Milwaukee, 5 homers in 19 games, but I can't see him every hitting that many homers at the big league level. Still, Montes is cemented as the center fielder of the future and extremely developed for someone who only has 117 minor league games under his belt.

3B Phil McKenna (AA Mobile Commodores): It may be just 17 games, but last year's 5th Rounder is hitting .400/.429/.523 (159 OPS+) with 9 RBI's, 4 walks, and just one strikeout over 70 trips to the plate. McKenna has spent his season at first base with Hank Stratton at third, and he's looked okay there. Defense has been a weakness for McKenna, but I still think he can handle third base. He does a good job working the count, makes consistent contact, and when he gets a hang of one, can really put a drive into it. He's not a superstar by any means, but he could be a reliable big league asset.

RHP Charlie Wheeler (A Lincoln Legislators): Our second of two first round picks in the most recent draft, Wheeler was the first pitcher I've selected in the first round since I took Tom Barrell #1 overall in 1929. No one will confuse Wheeler for Barrell, but he's off to a nice three start start up in Lincoln. He's 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA (159 ERA+), 1.14 WHIP, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts in 22 innings. It's an excellent start from the Rainer College alum who's five pitch repertoire features an excellent mid 80s sinker. He has command of the other four pitches, but none of the other offerings are at the level of the sinker yet. Still, with just three pro starts to his name he doesn't have to have three polished big league pitches. Interesting enough, Lincoln is the only level where all of my starters don't have a red arrow and he's outperforming fellow top prospects like Stumpy Beaman, Harry Parker, and Karl Wallace. Wheeler projects to fit comfortably in the middle of a big league rotation, and it's only a matter of time before he cracks the top 100.

C Harry Mead (A Lincoln Legislators): In hindsight, I should have went with Bill Van Ness at 5, but with how good Harry Mead has looked I didn't want to clog up the catching depth chart. Mead has had a slow climb up our system, but is off to a red hot start. The lefty thrower is hitting .358/.485/.415 (153 OPS+) with 13 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 9 RBI's. He hasn't hit many extra base hits, just three doubles to his credit so far, but his plate discipline has been fantastic. Mead has really improved all facets of his game since being selected back in 1932, and the next tool he's polished is his hit tool. My scout now thinks he has the potential to hit .330. He's gone from a glove with a good eye to a really well rounded catcher. Add a little power into the mix, and we may not have to watch Mike Taylor continue to underperform for much longer.

CF John Johnson (B San Jose Cougars): Our third round selection in the '35 draft, Johnson skipped past La Crosse and started in San Jose. Perhaps it should have been Lincoln, as he's slashing .410/.455/.557 (159 OPS+) with 2 homers, 3 steals, and 11 RBI's in the early going. He's also looked alright in the field, with a decent +1.4 zone rating and 1.012 efficiency in center. He's a lefty swinger with a strong glove and excellent speed who seems to have decent power as well. He hit 6 homers in both his college seasons and could hit 20 this season in the minors if he maintains his current pace. He's as hardworking as it gets, and I think Johnson is going to grow past his potentials and develop into an everyday center fielder.

RHP Grover Donohue (C La Crosse Lions): There were rumors the Brooklyn Kings were looking at Donohue in the second round, but they went with a Brooklyn born pitcher so I grabbed Donohue with the last pick in the 2nd Round. He hasn't gotten much love in the prospect rankings, but he's looked strong in his first three outings. He's 1-1 with a 2.74 ERA (171 ERA+), 1.43 WHIP, 8 walks, and 10 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched. The walks are a little concerning, but I already know that the key to his success will be how well he learns to command his pitches. He throws five pitches; a fastball, curve, slider, change, and split, and he has enough stuff to go the distance in an FABL game. I'm not too sure why Donahue ranks outside the top 500 (OSA even had him as a #2 starter in their scouting report last season), but I'd imagine he'll eventually find himself in our top 30.

CF Oscar Panduro (C La Crosse Lions): He can pretty much play anywhere, but the Chicago kid has spent his season in left field so far. He's looked good in the field, but what's more impressive is his .391/.442/.543 (145 OPS+) batting line. He's homered, stole two bases, and added seven RBI's as well. Drafted out of Bluegrass State, the 10th Round selection is an excellent athlete with a solid hit tool, but right now he profiles more of a utility player then a starter. It helps that he can play first, second, short, left, center, and right (I'd imagine third too), but if you want to start you have to do more then just defend, run, and hit a little. Panduro will have to add some pop or improve his eye if he wants to be irreplaceable on a roster, but he seems like a lock to be a useful bench player four to five seasons down the road.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-3
Seasonal Record: 14-19 (7th, 8 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Lawson : 23 AB, 10 H, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .435 AVG, 1.388 OPS
Doc Love : 19 AB, 8 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .421 AVG, 1.003 OPS
Rich Langton : 26 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .346 AVG, .777 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-12: Win at Saints (13-2)
5-13: Loss at Saints (1-4)
5-14: Win at Saints (11-3)
5-15: Loss at Stars (2-3)
5-16: Loss at Stars (1-2)
5-17: Win at Cannons (11-5)

Summary
Runs scored in wins vs. losses: 13, 11, 11 vs 1, 2, 1
Run Differential in wins vs. losses: +25 vs -5

With a little bit better luck, this would have easily been a 6-0 week! That's what I like to see! But what I liked most of all about this week was the pitching! Most runs allowed this week was just 5! Who's pitching staff represented the Cougars this week? Definitely not ours!

So what happened? Well, our dice roll starter Milt Fritz shook off his stretch of low rolls extended his win streak to five despite three of those starts allowing 5 runs. He tossed 17.1 with 14 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), 8 walks, and 5 strikeouts. The 26-year-old is now 6-2 with an adjusted league average 4.50 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 31 walks, and 26 strikeouts. Fritz does not usually walk this many hitters, as his 4.4 BB/9 is significantly higher then his 2.9 career average. In a full season he's never surpassed a 4.0, but Fritz is plagues with inconsistent command at some times. I'm expecting this to average down after more starts, but Fritz is a lazy and doesn't show much effort, so I'm expecting high highs and lower lows.

The rest of the staff was really strong with Tommy Wilcox finally putting together a strong start. He didn't get the win, and is now 0-5 on the season, but tossed 8 strong frames with 7 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. If we didn't score just one run, I'd imagine Wilcox would have had no trouble finishing the Stars in the ninth for his first complete game of the season. I'll save us all the trouble of looking at his career stats, so I'll probably only mention his good starts from now on so I can reminisce about the good old days. Allen Purvis continues to earn starts, 8 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts in a complete game win over the team that waived him, Montreal. Purvis continues to excel with us and will continue to pitch out of the rotation. Dave Rankin only struck out two in his start so now Tom Barrell has passed him in both strikeouts (39, 32) and WAR (1.9, 1.8) on the season.

Rich Langton is still homerless, but riding a 15 game hit streak. He's actually cooled down from his excellent April, batting .296/.342/.338 in 16 May games with a huge drop off in extra base hits. He has just one double and triple after four of each in the previous season. Langton's speed is dazzling and he's excellent at taking the extra base. I want him to steal more, just 1-for-2 on the year, so I'm telling my manager to start stealing more. We have a lot of good base runners, and I want to see if it starts making a difference.

John Lawson was red hot this week, slashing .435/.519/.870 with 2 homers, 4 doubles, RBI's, and walks and he scored 8 times as well. Dude is a beast, just had a slow start, and is now hitting .352/.408/.523 (141 OPS+) in 142 trips to the plate. He's added 3 homers, 18 RBI's, 12 walks, and 13 doubles with just 5 strikeouts. Our stadium is not the kindest to hitters anymore, so Lawson has enjoyed hitting away from Chicago. Same thing happened for Doc Love, who slashed .421/.476/.526 with 2 doubles, 2 walks, 3 runs, and 4 RBI's without a strikeout. Love hits is homers at home, but on the road he does exactly what Lawson does, puts the ball in play. It feels weird he hits better on the road now, .396/.429/.774 with 3 homers and 10 RBI's.

Looking Ahead
I hate that I'm doing this, but I'm optioning Leo Mitchell to AAA. Ray Ford is unplayable at second base and that means he's going to have to play first base. Mitchell is a lefty thrower, so that means the only option is outfield. He'll play left field while Milwaukee's current left fielder Bret Wilson will take his place. This is not a knock on Mitchell, but I really think he could be a good outfielder as well and having him be able to play multiple positions is going to really help us. Now at second base, both Bill Ashbaugh and Pete Asher will get time there. We start with two in Baltimore. The Cannons are 12-20 and the only team worth then us in the CA. Pinky Conlan is almost healthy and that will really help their struggling rotation. We got to see Lou Forbes second career start and put up 10 hits and 7 runs on him in the opener. We now get to face current ace Dutch Leverett before 30-year-old Ben White. White has really struggled, a 5.70 ERA (79 ERA+), 1.73 WHIP, 28 walks, and 6 strikeouts in 60 innings. It may be tough to hit Leverett, but I'm hoping we can touch up White.

We then get two with the struggling Kings who are somehow 16-16 and five and a half behind the 22-11 Foresters. I have no idea how us or the Wolves swept them, but they are not a .500 team. They should beat us this time. Mike Murphy is blossoming, 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA (229 ERA+), 1.07 WHIP, 10 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 58 innings. I love seeing our former 2nd overall pick succeed, as with Barrell. Al Wheeler continued his torrid pace, hitting .372/.447/.612 (165 OPS+) with 7 homers and 39 RBI's in 150 trips to the plate. Some of the other hitters are struggling, but it's still just a small sample size. The will heat up soon, and likely at our expense.

We're off on the 22nd, and we'll head to Canada for three with the Wolves. They're an impressive 19-14 and have brought up former #1 overall pick Joe Hancock to the majors. He's impressed in his two starts, winning both with 16 hits, 6 runs, 4 walks, and 6 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched. The rest of their rotation has looked good, with Chuck Cole, Jake Smith, and Chick Wirtz having ERA's below 4. Even #5 Otis Cook is 2-2 with a 4.44 ERA (105 ERA+), 1.56 WHIP, 15 walks, and 20 strikeouts in 52.2 innings pitched. Larry Vestal has loved hitting in Toronto, slashing .362/.439/.523 (140 OPS+) with a homer and 22 RBI's to start the season. I think that if the Wolves added a bat (cough, Doc Love) they could be a serious contender. The pitching is great and they're staying afloat even without their reliable infielders Tom Roberts and Frank Huddleston. They have reinforcements in the farm too, with a ton of top pitching prospects like George Garrison and Buddy Long as well as Chicago center fielder Levi Redding waiting in AAA.

Minor League Report
LF Bert Wilson (AAA Milwaukee Blues): Last year's Rule 5 pick is back in Chicago after hitting .365/.370/.490 (120 OPS+) with 12 RBI's, 4 steals, and 2 doubles, homers, and triples. I gave Wilson reps in left because Carlos Montes is in center, but Wilson is a natural center fielder who will get at least one start this week in center for us. Last season was rough, hitting just .246/.298/.309 (64 OPS+) in just under 200 trips to the plate. Wilson won't walk much, but he's consistently puts the ball in play and his speed allows him to take an extra base. Lot of groundballs leading to a lot of infield singles, but not much pop from the 24-year-old. We have a lot of good outfield options, so Wilson may end up a fourth outfielder.

[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 4-2
Seasonal Record: 18-21 (t-5th, 8 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Lawson : 24 AB, 12 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.253 OPS
Bill Ashbaugh : 14 AB, 7 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.605 OPS
Doc Love : 25 AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 7 RBI, .440 AVG, 1.003 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-18: Win at Cannons (8-7)
5-19: Win at Cannons (10-5)
5-20: Win at Kings (10-5)
5-21: Win at Kings (9-2)
5-23: Loss at Wolves (1-4)
5-24: Loss at Wolves (6-8)

Summary
I need to say every team is going to sweep us! We capped off a five game win streak with a sweep of the third place Kings. The current second place Wolves are about to sweep us in the finale to start the week, and they find themselves just two games out of first. We really should have won game two, but Tommy Wilcox was awful. We don't talk about bad starts, so we'll talk about his first big league save! On the 18th against the Cannons, he relieved Bill Kline after two shaky innings. Wilcox walked just one in a scoreless frame to earn the save in a tight 8-7 win.

Bill Ashbaugh is not a superstar defender, but compared to to Ray Ford, he's at least above average. He also decided to rake, 7-for-14 with a double, two triples, a homer, 4 runs, a steal, and 6 RBI's. Pete Asher did fine too, but Ashbaugh will get a majority of the starts next week. John Lawson was excellent as well, going 12-for-24 with a double, homer, 5 walks, 5 runs, 5 RBI's, a steal, and zero strikeouts. Honestly, the entire offense was hot this week, and with less defensive pressure was 11-for-26 with 4 doubles, 3 RBI's, and 7 runs scored. Rich Langton finally got his first homer, and was 10-for-27 with 4 doubles, 6 RBI's, and 8 runs scored, but his hit streak was stopped at 20. Doc Love was 11-for-25 with a triple and 7 RBI's.

Milt Frtiz was on against the Kings, 11 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts in a complete game win against another of his former teams. He's now tied for second in the CA with seven wins and has almost 40% of our team wins. Dick Lyons looked good in his one start, 6 innings with 7 hits, an earned run, a walk, and 3 strikeouts. He did allow four unearned runs, but we did still win his start 8-7. One of the errors was his, misplaying Dutch Leverett's bunt, but that only led to half of them. Dave Rankin started two games, winning the worse of the two starts and losing the better. He combined for 17 innings with 19 hits, 9 runs (7 earned), 7 walks, and 10 strikeouts. He now has a one strikeout lead over Barrell for the CA lead and a 0.3 WAR lead.

Looking Ahead
Our pretty successful road trip ends on the 25th, and we'll return home for four with the first place Foresters. They have the best record in the Continental Association just as they finished last year. Dean Astle sits atop the rotation, but 32-year-old Lyman Weigel has preformed really well. He's had a breakout season with a 1.96 ERA (243 ERA+), 1.13 WHIP, 21 walks, and 29 strikeouts in 64.1 innings shared between 6 starts and 5 relief appearances. We may miss him, but will likely get Lee Drouillard who's 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA (167 ERA+), 1.36 WHIP, 11 walks, and 7 strikeouts in 31.2 innings pitched. We're also set to face Ben Turner, who's had a rough start to his season. He's got a 9.61 ERA (50 ERA+), 2.14 WHIP, 9 walks, and 5 strikeouts in 19.2 innings pitched. Centerfielder Dan Fowler is off to an excellent start, slashing .329/.421/.651 (161 OPS+) with 41 RBI's and a league best 14 home runs. He's on pace for 55, and is unlikely to reach that, but Fowler has launched 22 or more homers in each of his first four seasons. Fred Quinn has a league best 18 steals and is slashing .357/.424/.435 (111 OPS+) with a homer and 17 RBI's. He's likely not going to keep up his 71 steal pace, but Quinn is easily one of the fastest players in the league.

After Cleveland it's three in two days with the Sailors in what looks like it's going to be a tough homestand. We're off to start June, but the Sailors are tied in third with the Kings at 21-18 and they always field a competitive team. Dick Walker is killing it, slashing an insane .377/.464/.552 (150 OPS+) with 4 homers, 7 steals, and 28 RBI's in 179 trips to the plate. Lou Williams has found his groove, batting .386/.440/.462 (124 OPS+) with a homer, 12 steals, and 11 RBI's. Jack Cleaves is hitting an impressive .350/.424/.483 (124 OPS+) with 2 homers and 30 RBI's. Unfortunately John Kincaid has struggled, batting just .317/.364/.381 (85 OPS+) with 2 steals and 19 RBI's. Doc Newell has shined, 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA (219 ERA+), 1.20 WHIP, 16 walks, and 16 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched. Hal Carter is filling in at short and has done well, batting .356/.429/.493 (127 OPS+) with a homer, 10 RBI's, and 10 walks.

Minor League Report
3B Hank Stratton (AA Mobile Commodores): It was an impressive week for Hank Stratton with the peak of a 5-for-6 performance over Birmingham. Currently ranked 84th in the league, Stratton is hitting .341/.365/.465 (119 OPS+) with a homer and 23 RBI's. I'm moving him over to first this week as I'm giving Billy Hunter some reps out at third. He profiles as a more then capable defender at third in the big leagues, this move is just to get more positional versatility for my youngsters. "Jitters" is young, just 21, and with John Lawson keeping the seat warm I can take my time and let him develop at his own pace. He spent all of last season in Lincoln, and may spend all of this season down in Mobile. I love his contact ability and he reminds me a lot of John Kincaid, just as a left handed hitter. I'm hoping Stratton will hit for more power, but a floor of John Kincaid is not bad at all.

CF Oscar Panduro (C La Crosse Lions): After going 14-for-28 with 13 runs driven in, our 10th Round Pick was named UMVA Player of the Week. He's stuck down here in La Cross despite hitting .432/.491/.621 (168 OPS+) with a homer, 3 steals, and 24 RBI's in 108 trips to the plate. He's been playing left field, but I'm moving him over to center to give Billy Jordan Jr. more at bats in place of Izzy Sevilla. Panduro can do a little bit of everything, playing multiple position, stealing bases, and consistently putting the ball in play. With an injury to an outfielder he's likely the first man up, as he's more then ready for tougher competition.

[ayaghmour2]

I had a really nice writeup, something happened to the page while I was still working on it, and now I lost it all. Unfortunately, that killed my interest to write a report for today, so just a few notes while I finish getting my team ready and screenshots for the end of the month.

It was a 3-5 week. Off to start next week. Two home series, first Montreal, then Brooklyn. Rich Langton hit for the cycle in a 12-9 loss. This kid is going to be so good. Phil McKenna won Player of the Week in his first week up in AAA. 15-for-31 with 2 homers, 13 RBI's, 2 walks, and zero strikeouts. I think he's felt personally attacked by me adding John Lawson. I will do an amateur report, however, as I saw a prospect I liked after that was worth mentioning:

LHP Jim Morrison (Indiana A&M): After a rough sophomore season where he saw his ERA and WHIP balloon to 4.15 and 1.24 while his walks (45) and strikeouts (57) went in the wrong direction, most pitchers would just give up and focus on school. Not Morrison, a 6'2 lefty who is as hardworking as it comes. He upped his velocity on his fastball from 85-87 last offseason to 87-89 for the coming season. He's got five pitches, a fastball, curve, change, splitter, and forkball as well as the current starter role. My guess the three pitches are legit, the fastball, curve, and change and Morrison just got on my scouts radar. He's upped him to a spot starter and must have not said nice things about him before because it is very rare I miss a 6'2'' lefty. He's got good stuff, good control, and is adept at serving up groundballs. The reason I wanted to write this report is because I'm trying to guess who's going to have a really good season. The new set of stats will be generated soon and I think Morrison is bound for a breakout. The Sycamores face great competition, but I think he's going to be closer to his freshman year numbers then sophomore year. He was 8-3 with a 2.78 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 34 walks, and 73 strikeouts in 106.2 innings in an excellent freshman season. I'm expecting a big season from Morrison, and if I'm right, he's probably going to fly up my personal draft list.

[StLee]

Despite the last two losses, great week! Keep doing that, and you'll be a contender!

Edit: Oops! And I left this open from earlier and see that you reported on the next week, which was not as productive. I also understand about losing a full post. Aweseom about Langton's cycle, too.