The Mallards

[Muskies]

Record: 83-68, .550, 11 GB
Position: 3rd (behind Tampa and Columbus) – WC – 3rd (2 GB, Columbus and Baltimore)
Avg.: .254 (10th in NL)
Runs Scored: 705 (8th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 582 (1st in NL)
Defense: .721 (2nd in NL)
Fan Interest: 100
Power Ranking: 96.3 – 14th

• Last Week: (2-4) – 0-2 vs. San Francisco, 1-2 vs. Jacksonville, 1-0 vs. Washington
• 9/7: SF 4, MAD 1: Campbell was injured while pitching, and we had to use six pitchers out of the pen to get through the game. Campbell will will be out five days with shoulder tendonitis, given we have a day off in the week he shouldn’t miss a start.
• 9/8: SF 8, MAD 2: Wilder 7 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, L (5-10, 4.01)
• Joe Powers is looking for a higher salary to be at AAA Louisville. Last year at R level he made $340k, he wants a contract extension for 5 years at $610k. I think we will look in another direction for this position.
• 9/10: JAC 3, MAD 1: Higgins 8 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K
• Modesto Colon (AUS) reached the 2000 hit mile mark
• 9/11: MAD 10, JAC 0: Juarez 9 IP, 5 H, 9 K, W, (9-10, 3.76)
• Liu was injured being hit by a pit, will be out for two weeks
• Hubbard 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B
• These injuries coming down the stretch, are killing our chances at the Wild Card position
• Injuries to Liu and Riuz expose a weakness in depth in the infield. To fill this void we will bring up Greg Wilson who was signed to fill in for the injuries earlier in the season.
• 9/12: JAC 4, MAD 3: Aquino 7.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, BB, 4 K, L (20-6, 2.53)
• 9/13: MAD 4, WAS 1: Campbell 8 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 3 K, W (10-8, 3.74)
• Chamings 2-3, R, 2 RBI, HR
• Next Week: 2 vs. Washington, 3 vs. Memphis, 2 @ Dallas

Players of the Week:
NL – Israel Colon (Columbus) – 13-26, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R
AL – Claude Boucard (Ft.W) – 11-23, 2 HR, 7 RBI

Record speaks for itself. We are still hanging in the Wild Card race, but the injuries are slowing down. With two weeks left in the season, no playoff position have been clinched. Here are the following Magic Numbers:

NL Eastern – Washington (86-65) - 11
NL Central – Tampa (94-57) - 3
NL Western – Mesa (88-63) – 1
NL Wild Card – Columbus/Baltimore (85-66) - 12

AL Eastern – Cleveland (87-64) – 10
AL Central – Ft. Worth (83-68) – 8
AL Western – Los Angeles (96-55) - 4
AL Wild Card – San Jose (88-63) – 9

[Muskies]

Week 25 Results

Record: 87-71, .551, 11 GB
Position: 3rd (behind Tampa and Columbus)
Avg.: .256 (9th in NL)
Runs Scored: 744 (8th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 608 (1st in NL)
Defense: .721 (2nd in NL)
Fan Interest: 100
Power Ranking: 99.1 (9th)

• Last Week: (4-3) – 2-0 vs. Washington, 2-1 vs. Memphis, 0-2 vs. Dallas
• 9/14: MAD 3, WAS 1: Wilder 8 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 5 K, W (6-10, 3.86)
• Mesa clinches the NL West
• We are two games back in the WC behind Washington, Columbus and Baltimore
• 9/15: MAD 12, WAS 7: Higgins was injured in the third inning, shoulder soreness, day to day for 6 days with shoulder soreness.
• 9/16: MAD 13, MEM 2: Juarez 6 IP, 7 H, ER, 3 K (8-10, 3.69)
• Hill 2-5, R, 6 RBI, 2B, GRAND SLAM
• 9/17: MEM 5, MAD 1: Aquino 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 2 K (20-7, 2.58)
• 9/18: MAD 6, MEM 5: Campbell 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
• Martinez 3-5, 2 R, RBI, K, 2 2B
• Tampa (NL Central) and Los Angeles (AL Western) clinched their respective divisions.
• 9/19: DAL 4, MAD 3: Wilder 7 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 K
• Jennings 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, K, L, BS
• Greg Wilson’s agent contact me looking for a contract extension
• Higgin’s will miss his next start due to the shoulder soreness, we are forced to go with a spot start from Baca (1-2, 3.03).
• 9/20: DAL 2, MAD 1(11): Baca 6.2 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, K
• Jennings took the second loss in as many days in the bottom of the 11th.
• Ft. Worth clinches the AL Central
• San Jose clinched the AL Wild Card
• Next Week: 1 @ Dallas (80-78), 3 vs. Mesa (93-65)

Player of the Week:
NL – Jeff O’Halloran (Memphis) – 9-24, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 6 R
AL – Steve Bender (IND) 13-27, 4 HR, 5 RBI

Last week of the 2009 season there are three races still in play:

NL Eastern:
Baltimore 89-69, .563
Washington 87-71, .551

AL Eastern:
Philadelphia 89-69, .563
Cleveland 89-69, .563

NL Wild Card
Columbus 90-68, .570
Washington 87-71, .551
Madison 87-71, .551

[Muskies]

Week 26 Results

Record: 88-74, .543, 12 GB
Position: 3rd (behind Tampa and Columbus) WC 4th 3 games behind
Avg.: .255 (9th in NL)
Runs Scored: 760 (8th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 621 (1st in NL)
Defense: .722 (1st in NL)
Fan Interest: 100
Power Ranking:

• Last Week: (1-3) 0-1 vs. Dallas, 1-2 vs. Mesa
• 9/21: DAL 3, MAD 2(12): Jaurez 8 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 5 K
• Madison is officially eliminated from the Wild Card
• 9/23: MES 2, MAD 0: Aquino 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, L (20-6,2.56
• 9/24: MES 5, MAD 4: Campbell 6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB, 7 K
• Going into the last day of the regular season, both the NL and AL Eastern Divisions are tied at the top:
o NL Eastern
• Washington 90-71
• Baltimore 90-71
o AL Eastern
• Philadelphia 91-70
• Cleveland 91-71
• 9/25: MAD 10, MES 5: Wilder 8.1 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 5K, W (7-10, 3.66)
• Vallejo 3-4, R, 5 RBI, HR
• Greg Wilson was injured during the game, diagnosis pending
• Cleveland wins the AL East on the last day
• NL East is headed for a one game playoff
• Columbus wins takes the NL Wild Card
• Next Week: None

We tanked down the stretch, going 10-13 in September. Pitching and defense rose to the top by the end of the season, but our anemic offense could provide enough support.




We were middle of the pack in most categories, with the exception of strikeouts, we ranked second. One obvious area to look at will be the offense’s ability to see the ball.

Preseason predictions had us finishing first in the NL Central with a record of 93-69. We fell short of that prediction, despite over performing at the plate and on the mound.

[Muskies]

Washington and Baltimore finished in a tie in the NL Eastern:



Baltimore takes the last playoff spot with 6 – 5 win over Washington. The highlight of the game was the Grand Slam in the top of the 7th by Washington’s Scotty Dyer to tie the game. Elliot O’Malley put Baltimore ahead for good with a double in the bottom of the 8th scoring Carlos Rosario for to get the win for the Baltimore.

ABL’s Top Hitters

NL – Israel Colon (Columbus) - .328, 29 HR, 114 RBI
AL – Brooks Brown (CLE) - .342, 10 HR, 80 RBI

[Muskies]

The Baltimore Pinnacles are the best team in the American Baseball League! After winning a one game playoff to get into the playoffs, they knocked off the Los Angeles Madhouse 4-2 today at the Ballpark of the Los Angeles to Win the World Series 4-3.

It was the Pinnacles 1st league championship.

“This team’s got a lot of heart,” the champs manager said. “We worked rally hard. We just beat a very, very good team, an excellent team. We had to do the little things.”

Baltimore wrapped up the regular season with a 91-72 record and finished first in the National League Eastern Division.

[Muskies]

Aquino and Higgins had strong season’s on the mound for Milwaukee. Aquino has a shot at winning his third pitcher of the year award.

[Muskies]

The good news is all of our top performers are under contract for the next couple of years. The SA and R league teams had strong seasons finishing, 2nd and 1st in their respective divisions. Louisville’s 1B John Hickman had a good year, we are loaded at first base, so we maybe able to move him for prospects.

[Muskies]

First day of the offseason, to do list

· Personnel Decisions
· Review and exercise (or not) team options
· Offer arbitration to eligible free agents
· Free Agency

Personnel

We have some work to do hear, given that we let a number of contracts expire.

ML – Manager and Trainer
AAA – Hitting Coach and Pitching Coach
AA – Pitching Coach and Hitting Coach
A – Manager
R – Hitting Coach

Not a lot of choices have on the market for coaches, I was hoping for a little more activity on the market to pick from. I have made the following offers to open positions below. I am going hold on the AAA positions hoping for some additional activity.

AA – Hitting Coach – Julian Navarro offered 2 years at $90,000
AA – Pitching Coach – Mauro Bocanegra offered 3 years at $150,000
A – Manager – Neil Johnston offered 2 years at $340,000
R – Hitting Coach – Kelly Thompson 2 years at $135,000 – Did not sign.

ML Trainer – I offered the position to Fernando Sanchez (55 years old). He has spent the last 5 years with the New York Mudfish. He is Outstanding and Arms and Legendary at healing the back. We are offering him 4 years at $600,000 per year

[Muskies]

Player Options

MR – Joe Snow (30/R/2*) - (9-3, 2.70, 3SV) has chosen to execute his option year at $1.9 million. He has complained all year about being unhappy not being in the closer role.

Team Options

CL – Mike Howell (35/L/4.5*) – (3-6, 3.77, 28 SV) – He as a team option for $7 million with a $1.5 million buy out. He closed 28 of 33 saves for us last season. Our future at the closer role Albert Davila (24/R/4*) struggled at the ML level in his limited opportunities and didn’t exactly tear it up at AAA. Any comparable players on the free agent market are going to cost at $7 million per year.

[Muskies]

2010 Budget

I have just decided your budget for the upcoming season. You will have $132,000,000 available for total team expenses. I have also set the suggested draft budget for the first year player draft to $6,800,000. You may spend more than that in the draft, but additional costs will be deducted from your money you have available for signing free agents or contract extension.

You have time until the end of the pre-season to set your scouting and player development budget.

Good Luck!
Chad Stuart Jr.
President & CEO

This is $4 million less than last years budget, I guess finishing with a profit of $20 million was not the best thing for my future budget. Our current estimated payroll is about $95 million, prior to arbitration, trades and free agent signings. Last year in in a planning mishap I failed to increase the budgets for scouting and player development prior to the end of preseason. As such, I will use a significant portion of the difference to boost these budgets.

Our payroll for 2009 was $108.1 million, this will decrease to $93.7 million and will subsequently increase to $103.1 million in 2012.

Our three highest paid players are:

· CF - David Chamings (31/R/4.4*) - (5 yrs @ $17M) – (.267/.382, 15 HR, 82 RBI, 86 K) – Extremely Popular
· SP - Robert Aquino (30/R/3.5*) - (4 yrs @ $16M) – (20-8, 2.57, .233 OAVG) – Extremely Popular
· C - Scotty Hubbard (31/R/4.5*) - (4 yrs @ $16M) – (.236/.340, 14 HR, 57 RBI, 46K) – Very Popular

These are three pretty hefty contracts that will take these players into their mid to late 30’s. Neither Chamings nor Hubbard played up to their contract in 2009, so hopefully there will be some improvement in 2012. I may be looking for some opportunity to move Hubbard, I may take a hit to popularity, but defensively there is room for improvement. I will give him into 2010 to hit up to his potential.

[Muskies]

Pitching Staff

· The starting rotation of: Aquino, Higgins, Campbell, Wilder and Juarez are all under contract, with Higgins, Campbell & Wilder up for arbitration. The rotation excelled in 2009, so I don’t see any changes to be made here.
· We need to some strength to the bullpen. We will exercise the final year of Howell’s contract at $7 million and offer a contract extension to Barrios. Any replacement for Howell, will be cost at least $7 million and we don’t have anyone ready to take over the closer role. The rest of our gaps will be filled through free agency or trades.

Offense/Defense

We need to improve at the plate, defensively, we finished first in the National League, this did provide a big boost to our pitching staff. Somehow, we need to improve out batting average and decrease our strikeout rate while maintaining our current level of defense. I think that the best way to improve this is through coaching; there are not strong alternative on the market for hitting coaches and we let the contract expire on Nolan Meredith, despite the emotional attachment.

Offseason Changes

The following changes took place this week:

· Sacramento has a new owner: Juan Moran, who immediately changed the name from the Sacramento Atomic Bombs to the Sacramento Kings
· New York has a new owner: Joe Myers, who immediately changed the name from the Mudfish to the Highlanders
· Memphis has fired manager, John Finley
· Kansas City has fired manager, Carl Rollings
· San Francisco has fired manger, Justin Casey
· Phoenix has fired GM, Johnny Kelly
· San Antonio has fired manager, Domingo Gonzalez
· Long Beach has fired GM Robinson Espinoza

[Muskies]

Gold Gloves

National League
P - Kenny Campbell
C -Tien-kai Chin (KC)
1B - Craig Thompson (DAL)
2B - Domingo Perez (SF)
3B - Chris Richards (DET)
SS - Rick Gorton (NY)
LF - Duncan Hall (CHA)
CF - Clyde Patterson (Mesa)
RF - Cecil Douglas (DET)

American League
P - Joe Peterson (IND)
C - Jesus Degranda (HOU)
1B - Manuel Colon (BOS)
2B - Jeremy Kelly (FtW)
3B - Antonin Schmid (BOS)
SS - Miguel Martinez (FtW)
LF - Dave Cone (LB)
CF - Brooks Brown (CLE)
RF - Cameron Parkinson (LA)

Newcomer of the Year
NL - 2B - Mark Wright (COL) - .311, 4 HR, 62 RBI
AL - CF - Hank Miller (CHI) - 306, 27 HR, 78 RBI

Manager of the Year
NL - Alfonso Ornelas (BAL) - 91-72
AL - Manny Garcia (LA) - 105-57
First Award for both managers

Pitcher of the Year
NL - Robert Aquino (20-8, 2.57) - 3rd pitcher of the year award
AL - Carl Moore 8-4, 2.50, 71 IP -
A MR received the award, didn't see that coming, I let the AI choose the award winners

Outstanding Hitter
NL - Shuichi Takeuchi (BAL) .309, 14 HR, 78 RBI - he was the Newcomer of the year two years ago
AL - Stanely Davis (IND) - .303, 36 HR, 113 RBI

[Muskies]

We offered the job of manager to Jose Machado. For the last 5 years Jose was the Hitting Coach for Houston. Jose is excellent at teaching hitting and good at handling veterans an rookies. He has managed in the minors but not at the major league level. He is signed to a three year deal at $980k per year. Our first choice, Mike Wheeler, signed with San Antonio. Nolan Meredith, our manager last year, landed a 5 year deal with San Francisco.

[Muskies]

We have the following players eligible for arbitration:

SP - Kenny Campbell (25/R/4.5*) - (10-9, 4.91) - estimate is $3.4 million, I did not change, received $4.2 million
SP - Albert Higgins (29/R/4*) - (15-6, 2.37) - Super 2, estimate is $5.5 million, did not change, received $6.9 million, his rating also decreased to 3*
SP - Jeremy Wilder (26/R/4*) - (7-10, 3.66) - estimate is $3.6 million, I did not change, received $3.8 million

These are core guys to the rotation, I did not change the estimates, and given their performances wasn't surprised at the loss in arbitration.

We also have the following Free Agent eligible players, none of which are compensation eligible:

MR - Carlos Barrios
MR - Ray McGrain
MR - Sixto Rojas
C - Carlos Garza
SS - Calvin Taylor
SS - Greg Wilson

I offered Carlos Barrios arbitration, I like how he performed for us, but I also believe he benefited tremendously from the defense behind him. I though if I offered arbitration I could get another year to see how he performs. He opted for free agency.

[Muskies]

After Arbitration my 2010 projected expenses are as follows:

Player Payroll $98.3
Staff Payroll 5.0
Scouting 2.4
Draft 6.8
Player develop 2.4
Total $114.9

I would like to leave about $12 - $14 million to improve the scouting and player development, which would leave me about $6 million in profit for the year. I still have some holes to fill in the bullpen positions coming off the bench. We also continue to have a significant weakness at Shortstop.

[Muskies]

Madison sends Hickman to Houston

Sometimes a change of scenery can be beneficial to a baseball player. that is the hope in Madison and Houston. The teams cam to an agreement today which sends 25-year old minor league first basement John Hickman(AAA) to the Copperheads and 21-year old minor league shortstop Christian Ryan to the Mallards. "Only time will tell if this is the right move for everyone," stated the Houston GM.

Ryan Christian is the #26 prospect in the ABL and was selected to the Rookie League All-Star game in 2009. His expectation is to be playing in the majors so hopefully he can fast track it to the minors. He will probably get an invite to spring training.

Around the league:

2B - Ed Etheridge signed with Phoenix for 5 years and $80 million, Etheridge is a 2 time All Star how only played in 41 games last year due to a broken collarbone.

[Muskies]

Filled our last coaching vacancy by signing Julio Martinez as hitting coach for the AAA Louisville

Around the league:

3 time All-Star C - Stephen Anderson (37/S/5*) signed a 2 year $32 million deal with Nashville
MR Steve Alexander (36/R) signed a three year $33 million deal with Cleveland

Rule 5 Draft

We have a large contingent of players eligible for the Rule 5 draft, but very few actually worth protecting. We did protect a couple of low level prospects that could provide some help off the bench in future, bringing the total of men on our 40 man roster to 27. We select 22nd in the draft and Davies encouraged me to select MR - Qu-zhen Zhao (23/L/4*). The kid is currently at two stars but was a strong performer in AAA last year.

We were identified by the league that we lost 22 year Catcher Stanton Jones, who was selected by Kansas City. In 3 years he has not made it past A ball.

Winter Meetings

We did not make any deals in the Winter meetings. We had a lot of offers, but all entailed either taking on additional payroll, which I am holding onto to increase the scouting and player development budget or our potential superstars who remain under club control.

[Muskies]

Mallards Offseason Signings

Signed SS Greg Wilson to a one year $950,000 deal. This is a good deal for his defense in close games
MR Dave Booker (31/R/3*) - 8-6, 3.59 in 2009 to 3 years at $1.6 million per year, with the third year vesting based upon 85 innings pitched
MR Jason Bowden (28/R/4*) to a one year deal for $723k. A classic underachiever who could benefit from our strong defense
MR Carlos Barrios (30/R/4.5*) to a 4 year deal at $2 million per year. I should have locked him up during the season, but dropped the ball

Other signings around the league

Freddy Hawkins - C - (31/S/4*) signed a 4 year $61 million contract with Kansas City. I would guess we can expect to Stanton Jones back in our organization before too long.
Donald Patrick - (37/R/4.5*) (wrecked) signed a 2 year $32 million deal with Washington
Hwi-Gon Kim - CF (27/L/5*) - signed a five year deal with Houston for $91.7 million
Top free agent Xu gang Liu signed with Kansas City for 6 years and $97.7 million. Kansas City finished 6th in Central division with a record of 68-94, but they are certainly spending money for 2010.
Vincente Valentin - SS signed with Mesa for 6 years and $66 million
Isreal Colon the 2009 batting champion signed late with Washington, getting 5 years and $95 million.

[Muskies]

The first order of business as the calendar moves to preseason is to adjust the scouting and player development budgets. I increased the scouting budget to $8 million and added Venezuela to Cuba as preferred scouting countries. I also increased the player development to $7 million. I did not want to miss the boat on these increases two years in a row. That would have been grounds for firing.

My 40 man roster currently sits at 38 which will give me a little room to maneuver if the opportunity arises, but at this point I am content to sit until the Spring Training. This is to be a work in progress, but continuing to draw the fans while improving the minor league system.

Currently our minor league system is rated 8th in the ABL with four prospects in the top 100, with newly acquired SS Christian Ryan leading the pack at 17.

[Muskies]

Team following teams had the most prolific offseason:

Washington Birds (+9.3) - added 1B - Israel Colon (5.4) and SP Donald Patrick (4.6)
Los Angeles (+6.5) - SP Ricky Cooper (4.2) and C Tien-kai Chin (3.4)
Austin (+6.0) - 1B Claude Boucard (5.2) and C Jon Davis (2.7)
Fresno (+4.2) - SP Wayne Park (1.8) and SP Bob Farmer (1.7)
Kansas City (+4.0) - LF Xu-gang Liu (4.3) and C Freddy Hawkins (3.4)

Mallards (-1.4) -
Biggest Additions
MR Dave Booker (0.7)
SS Greg Wilson (0.4)
Biggest Losses
CL Sixto Rojas (2.0)
3B Calvin Taylor (0.2)
C Carlos Garza (0.2)



Roster

The Mallards head into Spring Training with roster looking as such.

Starting Pitching - The starting rotation will be the same as last year with Aquino, Higgins, Juarez, Wilder and Campbell. The order will be determined by the spring training performances.

Bullpen - We have the following players battling for positions - Barrios, Booker, Bowden, Edmonds, Hinton, Jennings, Snow, Zhao, Davila and Howell. The only position that will likely be set in stone is Howell as the closer.

Offense

C - Scotty Hubbard
1B - Katai Nishikawa
2B - Wing Liu
SS - Miguel Ruiz
3B - Juan Cruz
LF - Gerardo Martinez (Christian Ryan may take over the position during the year, he will be given a shot during Spring Training)
CF - David Chamings
RF - Dave Hansen
DH - Mike Funk / Steve Shaffer