Life is Full of Ups and Downs in the Otis Association

[luckymann]

Well, having resolved myself - after negotiations with him had reached a complete impasse and shopping trips proving fruitless - that I'd simply have to non-tender Michael Kmet at the end of the season, a trade falls into my lap that I simply cannot pass up, and he's off to the Dodgers.

Not only does it free up a space for Ken Magown to make a late-season cameo, but it also allows us to offload John Cerutti who just didn't work out for us. That reduces our '93 commitments below $50m, which should allow us to have a real crack at the FA market.

It also hopefully nets us the quality lefty reliever we've been chasing. JT - who won the Penthouse Reliever Award last year as a rookie - will be looking for about $1.5m for '93 but we'll have a look at him over the remainder of the season and, if all works out, try and lock him down on a multi-year deal.

I'll obviously be keeping very close tabs on Kmerce, both for my own better understanding of how to deal with players like him in the future, and because he is such a fascinating specimen.

[luckymann]

Nathan Dickerson, who it is fair to say is carving up the Skylobby for the Rangers this season, sets a new record with his 210th hit of the campaign.

[luckymann]

And what a bumper edition we have for you this time around, with action aplenty at all three levels. Sad to report we are not amongst it in what has been a somewhat disappointing season at Rogers.

Here's how things stand entering the final week from top to bottom in the OA.

Penthouse

• No problems at the pointy end, as the Yanks assert their authority over the second half of the season and will cruise into the Otis Cup final.
• Their crosstown rival Mets, on the other hand, find themselves in an absolute fight for survival with minnows Seattle and the Twins, who have done magnificently to hold their spot at the top flight since earning promotion back in '83.

Skylobby

• Drama at both ends here, with the Nats and Cubs duking it out for promotion, and the RedSox and Guardians tied for last. This should be a ripper.

Basement

• The promotion battle in the Basement has been a cracker all season, and the Snakes have had their chances to lock it down but failed to do so. Still, they hold their destiny in their hands with a small lead.
• KC looks destined for another stint in the Gimp Room unless they can fashion a miracle.

[luckymann]

Let's get cracking!

Penthouse

Twins 9 v Mariners 7
Mets 3 @ Tigers 2





Skylobby

Nationals 7 v Guardians 4
Red Sox 3 @ Blue Jays 9
Cubs 0 v Rangers 2





Basement

A's 4 @ Brewers 2
Diamondbacks 5 v Orioles 1
Padres 2 @ Pirates 9

[luckymann]

Penthouse

Twins 1 v Dodgers 3
Mets 0 @ Yankees 4
Mariners 0 v Astros 6





Skylobby

Nationals 4 @ Cubs 8
Red Sox 8 v Cardinals 17
Guardians 8 v White Sox 0





Basement

A's 3 v Rockies 4 (10)
Diamondbacks 0 v Pirates 5
Padres 5 @ Marlins 4 (10)

[luckymann]

Penthouse

Twins 4 v Dodgers 5
Mets 6 @ Yankees 7 (17) after giving up a 3-run lead in the 9th.
Mariners 1 v Astros 0





Skylobby

Nationals 4 v Cubs 12
Red Sox 11 v Cardinals 3
Guardians 1 v White Sox 7





Basement

A's 7 v Rockies 10
Diamondbacks 3 v Pirates 4
Padres 2 @ Marlins 3

[luckymann]

Penthouse

Twins 5 v Dodgers 8
Mets 0 @ Yankees 6
Mariners 3 v Astros 2





Skylobby

Nationals 1 v Cubs 9
Red Sox 4 v Cardinals 5
Guardians 4 v White Sox 0 behind a Warren Hacker 2-hitter





Basement

A's 4 v Rockies 3
Diamondbacks 1 v Pirates 7
Padres 3 @ Marlins 1

[luckymann]

Three to play and it couldn't be much closer.

Penthouse

Twins 2 @ Tigers 5
Mets 1 @ Phillies 2
Mariners 5 @ Dodgers 10





Skylobby

Guardians 8 @ Cubs 3
Red Sox 4 v Rangers 2
Nationals 0 @ Giants 3





Basement

A's 1 @ Orioles 7
Diamondbacks 11 @ Royals 7
Padres 3 v Brewers 2 (10) but still eliminated

[luckymann]

Amazingly, all still TBD.

Penthouse

Twins 7 @ Tigers 2
Mets 4 @ Phillies 1
Mariners 5 @ Dodgers 3





Skylobby

Guardians 5 @ Cubs 4 (11) and safe for the Ians
Red Sox 1 v Rangers 6 and gone
Nationals 3 @ Giants 0 as Marty Cerny gives them 5 no-hit innings and is then pulled... the no-no is eventually spoiled with one out in the 9th, but the win gets the Nats level again.





Basement

A's 0 @ Orioles 4
Diamondbacks 5 @ Royals 14 to clinch

[luckymann]

What drama will the final day bring? Tiebreakers almost assured somewhere. Interestingly, the Marlins are now within reach of the Royals at the bottom of the Basement.

Penthouse

Twins 2 @ Tigers 3
Mets 2 @ Phillies 3
Mariners 0 @ Dodgers 12

Wow. A three-way tie! Lord knows what happens now.





Skylobby

Cubs 7 v Guardians 1
Nationals 2 @ Giants 1 with a run in the top 9th to force another decider.

[luckymann]

OK, so for whatever reason I'm not seeing any tiebreakers scheduled for that relegation situation in the PENT. Will have to investigate further what this means in the big scheme of things, but this could simply be yet another shortcoming of this type of save, which really does need to be looked at from top to bottom (sorry) by the devs and sorted out - it is a lot of fun but is more bug-riddled than an abandoned piece of fruit and fairly poorly thought out to boot. The quintessential "phoned-in" feature.

At least it still provides plenty of similarities to the IRL as Cubbies fans get their hearts broken and the Nats earn their first visit to the top tier.

[luckymann]

Penthouse




Skylobby




Basement

[luckymann]

Washington Nationals (LOBBY) v Arizona Diamondbacks (BASE)
Best-of-five, Nationals with the home-field advantage.

Game 1 in Washington

Game 2 in Washington

Game 3 in Arizona

Game 4 in Arizona

Game 5 in Washington

Arizona wins series 3-2

[luckymann]

New York Yankees (PENT) v Arizona Diamondbacks (BASE)
Best-of-seven, Yankees with the home-field advantage.

Game 1 in New York

Game 2 in New York

Game 3 in Arizona

Game 4 in Arizona

Game 5 in Arizona

Game 6 in New York

Game 7 in New York

New York wins series 4-3 [2]

That Game 6 will forever haunt Snakes fans and players alike, as Yankees 3B Vince Castaldo belts a two-out 2-run homer in the 9th off Don Cross, who then gives up another 2-run job in the 10th to Murphy Malattia to give the Yanks a walkoff win. The rest, as they say, is history.

[luckymann]

Given that promotion was the goal, 1992 has to be looked upon is slightly disappointing terms for our club. All the same, to win 89 games and finish within a half-dozen isn't too bad at all. Moreover, I do believe our squad is a stronger one than it was a year earlier. We just have to put it all together and get over the hump.

I doubt it is unrelated that our second-half drift coincided with us reverting to type and becoming too much of a TTO lineup, with the Ks up and BBs down yet again. We scored 60 fewer runs in the second half than the first despite hitting one more HR, a sure sign that less men were on base when we were going deep. This, among other factors, undoubtedly proved the difference between ourselves and the Nats in the end.

BATS

Solid throughout, with the exception of Clough who struggled to contribute and is unlikely to see much more action with us. Obviously this is missing some key producers with LaMarr and Kmet traded, and Torres on the IL. Ramirez once again proved himself to be top-shelf, a book Clarke needs to take a leaf or two from. Kingery, Rich and the three mentioned above all posted 2 bWAR or better campaigns. Our middle IF was good but not great, with Armstrong falling off the cliff after that splendid first half. In Wickham, Jensen, Torres and Armstrong we have four solid but completely unspectacular players. That said, those sorts of players at those positions are pretty much unicorns in this league and the few that do exist are out of our price range. I'll definitely continue my quest to find them, however, as I believe this is our weakest area.

On a brighter note, both Steve Platt and Ken Magown shoed in their brief cameos that they'll be very handy players indeed for us moving forward. Dave Castillo also showed flashes of brilliance that I hope are indications of more to come.

SHOPPING LIST: Plus-grade IFs aplenty.

BALLS

Good and bad news here. Braxton is a god and should give the Pitcher / RoY double a real shake. Baker was a huge add for us, going 6-2 / 3.24 for us after the trade. Fleming was having a stellar year before being bitten by the injury bug. Jordan started slowly but then was outstanding once he found his mojo. Fekete was decent enough. So, all in all, we've got the makings of a really solid spin for the next few years, with Romasco, Stanley and others working well as swingmen.

I'm also really happy with how the BP is looking, with their 3.53 ERA the Lobby's 3rd-best. Fernandez was brilliant, Turner a crucial addition, while Magliozzi also provided good service in middle relief. We've called up Cliff Breehl now, but he only got one expensive out and so the jury remains deadlocked on him for now.

But we had a few busts, too, most notably Cerutti, now gone, and Parker, now stuck in AAA. Clear, too, went down and stayed down and of course Eastwick is elsewhere now as well. George Starrette is another who didn't come on as planned.

So, while our front line looks great there's no doubt we need to upgrade the depth chart.

SHOPPING LIST: Reinforcements for now and later.

GLOVES

Somehow managed a positive, 4th-ranked ZR despite Jensen's eyesore numbers. Everywhere other than the IF looks AOK.

SHOPPING LIST: See BATS, above.

WINGS

As I mentioned, we gave Platt, Magown and - sort of - Breehl a run in the final weeks of this season. I have mentioned before I see Lucas as the better catching prospect than Platt, and the experts seem to agree with that assessment, albeit marginally. Both are bat heavy and poor defensively, so I'd love to find a good D-replacement for the late innings to couple with one or both of them.

Of the others, those who show most promise at this moment in time are Aikens, Paiement and Gallagher - although I doubt any of the three are stars in the making.

Here's our pipeline at season-end:

We've been given $92m for next season, and the boss has insisted some of that be spent upgrading SS. He also wants more HR (we were ranked 5th again this year) and is still harping on about that stupid staff cohesion. Scouting Director Jim Bishop has unexpectedly retired, so I'll use that opportunity to fix these feuding (actually, they're only "Unhappy", but you get the drift...) idiots once and for all. Gonna be a busy break.

[luckymann]

We non-tender both P Rick Forney ($700k est) and P Charles Smith ($1.4m), and offer IF John Whitehouse $500k, which he later accepts. I think we can get replacements for the two pitchers at much cheaper rates.

OF Earl Hill is an FA and we canvass him about the idea of hanging around in a mentoring role at AAA but he feels he still has some time left in the game at the major level and turns us down.

OF Eugene Clough executes his contract option so we have him for another year, but at just $450k I don't mind that - even if he'll almost certainly spend that year at Buffalo.

Two huge surprises kick off FA season, as we sign both P Ken Chase and P Craig Kimbrel on minor-league deals with small bonuses. No idea why they aren't chasing beaucoup coin, but that's OK with me.

Chase looks pretty much ready to go now, while Kimbrel could take a while but will hopefully be worth the wait.

The only middle IF that really grabs me among the FAs is Liover Peguero, and we offer him a 2/$8.9m deal which is still unsigned as we hit Draft Day.

He comes back to us playing silly buggers, so I change tack and get a bit more aggressive elsewhere, offering Chester Trail a 2/$12.4m deal after he hits us up for 2/$13.5m.

Meanwhile, I sit down with P Waite Hoyt and we offer him what I think is a cheeky 3/$10.5m deal.

We do the annual Rule 5 shuffle, trying to dangle a few unwanted guys on the WW and then in the draft itself. We get rid of Eugene Clough (who then ends up going to Boston via the Rule 5) and Verton Minor on waivers, then Daniel Wooldridge, Richard Bauerle, Mark Clear and Julian Morgan in the R5 - a total of $4m in payroll freed up.

We find out via the news wire that Trail has signed with the Nats for a million less than we were offering, sending us back to the drawing-board again. That leads us to veteran Warren Butts, to whom we offer a 1/$2.7m deal. After an interminable wait, he counters with double that. (He eventually splits the diff when he signs with the 'Stros.)

Peguero also settles for lower than what we had offered - and just as I'm starting to take all of this nonsense quite personally, Hoyt comes back with the signed contract.

Finally the solution comes, almost by accident. In shopping Jarrod Parker, now superfluous to our needs, the Nats offer up a decent high-contact prospect who just happens to play SS. I check what it would take to get Trail thrown into the deal. The answer, when it comes, is more than amenable, and so this deal is consummated.

Dornbusch is not much of a gloveman but profiles as a nice DH type down the track. Trail is just plain solid around the IF and hits better than is rating say he should, with some thunder in his bat as well.

Let's hope it really is true that good things come to those who wait.

[luckymann]

We now enter into a much nicer run with the Drafts, next year in particular. Our picks for this one aren't too shabby either with our first in the middle of Round 2, and we have decent enough hopes for stocking the shelves. Would love to have had Jim Bishop around for this, but in his absence and with his replacement Fount Dickerson being relatively inexperienced, I take control of it myself.

Here's who we choose:

• 49: IF Marcos Yepez, 20
• 62: 3B Tripp Martin, 23
• 89: LF Cecil Rodriques, 20
• 92: P Pat Cristelli, 22
• 119: IF John McCowan, 19
• 132: P Wes Brooks, 20

Not quite sure we've managed to replicate Jim's previous hauls with this group; but I doubt they'll all be busts, either.

Number 1 overall for the Red Sox is a "Juan" Santaella, who I believe to actually be another NeLer, IF Anastasio Santaella.

[luckymann]

Less than the ideal start for us as we lose David Castillo for the season to a broken elbow suffered in ST, taking some of the gloss off our 12-2 performance.

BATS

And after all that, Jensen starts OD at SS...

I have resisted the urge to rush Cecil "C-Rod" Rodriques up in Castillo's place, with Craig Adams getting the gig for now. No doubt we'll see him at Toronto sometime soon. A key season for Tim Torres, who has already lost his starting role and may well be on the way out if he can't get it back.

BALLS

This staff is looking fantastic with just perhaps one more plus-LHP needed for balance - but who would make way? Given his injury history and the apparent toll it is taking on his ratings, Dave Fleming looks and ideal BP candidate with Tom Baker in the spin. Depth is a slight concern, but if we can stay healthy I like our chances.

GLOVES

'Nuff said here.

POCKETS

To have bolstered this group while actually reducing payroll is a thing of beauty - provided we have actually bolstered it, that is.

Still a wad of cash at our disposal if and when needed.

WINGS

Prospects up the wazoo is nice - but which, if any, are MLB stars in waiting and which are nothing more than prospects? Discerning this is one of our chief goals for this - and, let's face it, every - season.

HEARTS & MINDS

Blurg to Staff Cohesion...


We are again the pundits' pet but I don't see this being anywhere near the cakewalk they are predicting.

We need to get this done.

[luckymann]

Mezzanine Mayhem is looking pretty subdued according to the boffins, although that relegation battle in the Penthouse might make up for quietude elsewhere.

[luckymann]

The '93 season's first no-no comes in the Basement courtesy of KC's Dan Brainard against the Rays.