Fiscal Responsibility

[pogue_mahorsey]

First of all, credit where credit is due. I only started this thread because of .Around The World by LobSteve (http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54572). it's the best dynasty I've read, and I stole much of his style. Sue me.


The Challenge:
Take a team that is leveraged to the hilt and unable to keep their current stars, and turn that team into a World Series champion.

The Setup:
First things first, you need to create the situation. What I did was start a new league and immediately give the computer control of all of the teams. Easy enough. Now, play through a couple seasons and take a look at the Finances report to see if anybody is really hurting.

With the new settings available in 2005 (7.06 patch), I've set the salary requests to -20%. Based on some reading in these forums, that seems like a good place to start.

And The Game Begins:
After just one season, the Houston Astros are in debt $23.7M! Nice start. Second place in the race to bad things is the Philadelphia at -$9.7, third is Toronto at -$9M. The key here is not to jump right in. You have to wait until the team has suffered a little and started to lose their ability to pay for scouting and so forth. I will be waiting at least three seasons, and then I will pick a team that is in the hole at least $10M.

After two seasons:
Toronto -$12.4M
Houston -$12M
Philadelphia -$11.8M

After watching the Minor League Draft roll by twice now (I just bought 2005 after playing 2004 to death), I'm very anxious to get started. Now, if someone would just bite the bullet and lose some money!

After three seasons:
Toronto -$11.2M
Philadelphia -$2.5M

It would seem that my salary adjustment is allowing teams to break even at least. Toronto has managed to stay in their hole, so that's going to be my team.

TIME TO GET STARTED
===================
I officially accept the General Manager post for the Toronto BlueJays at the beginning of the Free Agent period, November 6, 2006. The team has been racked by poor financial management the last couple of years and has been reduced to half of the roster making the Major League minimum.

After the "Not allowed to sign players for more than $300k" Free Agent bleeding... here are the
Highest Paid Players Remaining
Roy Halladay (SP - 9.8M/4yrs)
Vernon Wells (CF - 5.7M/3yrs)
Jose Cruz Jr. (RF - 4.8M/3yrs)
There are a four other players making aroud $2M

Goals for 2006
==============
1) Get out of debt!
2) Improve the record. We've lost 99 games last year. This is definitely going to be the hard part.

Top Free Agents for 2006 (aka People I Can't Have)
==================================================
$16.1/7yrs : Albert Pujols (o:100 p:100) coming off a .334/47HR/158RBI season
$12.5/6Yrs : Mark Mulder (o:93 p:93) 2.72ERA .209OBA 17-8


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Draft Preview (Top 10 by Peak)
==============================
Pablo Gaite (SP) o:88 p:95
Zach Petrick (SP) o:87 p:95
Sean Tutschulte (SP) o:85 p:93
Neville McLendon (RP) o:82 p:93
Barry Sironen (RP) o:80 p:91
Zach Keepnews (RP) o:80 p:91
Miller Warner (SP) o:85 p:91
Keith Hutchison (1B) o:85 p:91
Kevin Noonan (RP) o:78 p:90
Bob Robinson (C) o:66 p:89

I'll likely have the 3rd pick in the draft behind Houston (L:127) and Kansas City (L:103). I need a lot of help defensively, but I need pitching even worse. I have no minor league pitchers, so I'll be looking for anyone that can contribute right away, preferably a starter.

Round 1 - #3 Overall
Zach Petrick (SP) o:84 p:95. The kids a machine with great control and power. Projection: A year in the minors with a September call-up.

Round 2 - #33 Overall
Adam Kempner (RP) o:72 p:77 Projection: Middle or long relief.

Round 3 - #63 Overall
Jeremy Andrew (RP) o:66 p:77 Projection: Minor league relief.

Round 4 - #93 Overall
Esteban Ortiz (CF) o:64 p:74 Projection: Drafted for his Defense, he may become my starting CF.

And to round out the draft:
Tad Siefker (1B) o:67 p:72
Alex malley (LF) o:59 p:69

Not a bad draft. I got some pitching help that will be useful next year, or late this year. And I needed the depth, let's face it.

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Coming out of spring training, here is my Opening Day Roster (oh, so glorious) with some Spring Training numbers
+ Rookie

Starting Lineup
===============
+Casero, Pedro DH .260 BA
Cruz Jr., Jose RF .284 BA
Berg, Dave 2B .289 BA
Wells, Vernon CF .319 BA
Bernal, Jose 1B .256 BA
Woodward, Chris SS .204 BA
Kelly, Ozzie 3B .255 BA
Lamison, Quimby C .286 BA
Lawrence, Quentin CF .257 BA

Bench
=====
Petty, Rick LF
Mendez, Donaldo SS
Taylor, Reggie CF
McKillen, Alex C
Menechino, Frank 2B

AAA
===
Morgovejo, Alano 2B
Marinkovich, Ted LF
Biros, Nijel RF
Ortiz, Esteban CF
Siefker, Tad 1B
Malley, Alex LF

Starting Rotation
=================
Halladay, Roy P
Chatham, Andy P
Hentgen, Pat P
Yoshida, Gidayu P
+Karno, Ethan P

Relief Corps
============
Ligtenberg, Kerry P
Speier, Justin P
de los Santos, Valerio P
Walker, Pete P
+Kempner, Adam P .246 OBA
Hendrickson, Mark P .204 OBA

AAA
===
Petrick, Zack P 3-0 3.44 with a .184OBA in spring? Maybe I won't wait until September...
Andrew, Jeremy P 2-0 3.63 .246. Good start
Brandner, Nick P
Gistinelli, Bruno P
Creek, Doug P

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April 2007

4/2: (2-0) We open with two games in Boston and somehow win both, 5-1, 5-0.
4/12: (3-2) Vernon Wells goes down with a sore heel for 6 games.
4/18: (5-7) Final day of a 10 game homestand in which we go 3-7. Bad News as Quimby Lamison (C .333BA) goes down for 36 days. Reggie Taylor hit a measly .107 while filling in for Vernon Wells.
4/22: (6-9) On the road in Baltimore and we drop two of three, 6-2, 2-8, 2-6.
4/25: (6-12) Manager breaks down crying as we are swept by the Detroit Tigers 0-4, 4-5, 5-10. In the second game, Ligtenberg serves up a two run shot in the bottom of the ninth. Thanks a lot Kerry. Lineup changes as some things just aren't working out.

Pedro Casery (DH) and his .227 BA head down to AAA and Ted Marinkovich (.261 in AAA) takes over as DH and moves down to the #7 slot. LF Quentin Lawrence moves to the top of the order so he can exercise his legs.

4/29: Team responds by taking only 1 game of three from the D-Rays. 1-13, 8-9, 4-1. In game 2, Ligtenberg blows it again.

April in Review
Record: 7-14 (7-14 overall)
Team Player of the Month: Since everyone is doing poorly, Quentin Lawrence (my new leadoff man) gets the nod for his .303 average. Not bad for a defensive minded CF.
Team Pitcher of the Month: Andy Chatham (SP#2) with his 3-1 2.57 is an easy choice.
Minor League PotM: Easy. Zack Petrick (SP) Mr. Number One is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA and .196 OBA. He's qiuckly earning a spot in the rotation, but not just yet.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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May 2007

5/2: (9-15) After dropping game one at home to the Athletics 7-1, we rally for back-to-back victories 10-8 (2-run homer in bottom of 9th) and 7-6 (Cruz Jr. RBI single, bottom 10th). Let's see if we can take that momentum with us on a 7 game swing through the AL-West.
5/9: (12-19) The short answer is No. We go 1-2 against the Rangers and 2-2 against the Mariners. Along the way, I realize that every team MUST have three catchers as my backup (Alex McKillen) goes down. Alex Malley comes up from AAA to play out of position for me and gets off to a decent start, hitting .273 through three games.
5/10: I can take it no longer. Pat Hentgen and his 1-4/7.20 ship out to AAA to make room for Mr. #1 who is 5-0 in 6 starts in AAA, with a 3.08 ERA and .194OBA. Anyone want to argue with Mr. #1 becoming my #3 starter? Ok good. There he goes.
5/11: (13-19) In his first start, Mr. #1 does quite well, tossing 6 shut-out innings before giving up 3 in the 7th. We win 8-4, but he gets a no-decision. His final line:
--------------------------------------------
Z. Petrick 6.2 4 2 0 3 3 12 105 4.05
--------------------------------------------
5/16: (14-23 -8.5) In his second start, Mr. #1 gets his first victory. Fortunately for my sanity, he also snaps a four-game team losing streak. 5-3. His line this round:
--------------------------------------------
Z. Petrick 7.1 6 2 0 3 2 1 104 3.21
--------------------------------------------
5/17: Chris Woodward, my best hitter this year, breaks his hand and is out for two weeks. Frank Menechino will step in and see if he can keep hitting .300.
5/20: (17-23) Start the chant! Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Great pitching (Where'd that come from?!?) holds back the D-Rays as we win three straight. 3-2, 4-1, 5-2.
5/21: (18-23) In his much anticipated third start, Mr. #1 catches some luck in the bullpen, but still gets his second victory.
--------------------------------------------
Z. Petrick 5.1 9 0 0 3 3 9 86 3.72
--------------------------------------------
5/23: (18-25) Frank Menechino seperates his shoulder, leaving me no choice but a really bad AAA shortstop for the next 9 days until Woodward can return. Menechino was hitting .283. A good homestand begins with a 4-2 record, though we drop the last two games to the ChiSox 2-4, 2-4.

5/27: (20-26) Mr. #1 outlasts Josh Beckett for his 3rd consecutive victory, giving up only 2 runs and striking out 9 in 7IP. Beckett is almost identical at 7IP 2ER and 5K. So sorry Mr. Beckett. Your bullpen could not hold on.
5/30: (22-27) We take two out of three from the BoSox, completing a twelvey game homestand with a 8-4 record. Nice work from a bunch of minimum wage AAA players.

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May in Review
Record: 15-13 (22-17 overall) Winning Month?!? Yowsa!
Team Player of the Month: Vernon Wells kicks it up a notch and raises his average to .277 with 9HR and 20RBI. Nice of him to show up.
Team Pitcher of the Month: Roy Halladay (SP#1) has lowered his ERA to 2.65 and sits at 6-2 with a .232 OBA. Zach Petrick is nipping at his heels with a 2-0 3.08 .252.
Minor League PotM: Calling up Petrick leaves a hole in AAA. Nijel Biros (o:72 p:93) is tops with a .278 average. Hopefully I can get out of debt so he can develop into the star he should be

[pogue_mahorsey]

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June 2007

6/1: (22-28 -10.5) First day of the month, and my DH sprains his thumb. On the bright side, WE HAVE PROFIT! Time to spend some money on keeping my players alive and developing. That's a relief. On the downside, the Royals win game one of our series 10-6.

6/3: (23-30 -11) Completing our four game series, we win the last game. Mr. #1 lost yesterday, giving up three runs in four innings for the loss in a 14-4 laugher.

6/6: (25-31 -9) Three days in Baltimore is good for the soul. We take two. 1-3, 5-4, 5-3. Ozzie Kelly hit a solo shot to break the tie in game two, and Vernon wells cranked a two-run blast to win game three. It's good to have him healthy again. Mr. #1 gets the win in game three, throwing 7 innings of 2-run ball.

6/10: (28-31 -8) Amazing! We sweep three at home against the Rockies. Wells wins two of the three with clutch hitting. Frank Menechino (o:61 p:61) brings his .283 average back to the lineup to play 3B and bat 8th, giving Ozzie Kelly a break from killing me with his .226 average. We'll see how long he can hold up.

6/11: (29-31 -8) Time for Mr. #1 Petrick to take the hill against the Dodgers, their 40-20 record, and their $150M payroll. Result?
--------------------------------------------
Z. Petrick 8.0 5 4 0 0 0 12 124 2.58
--------------------------------------------
And Mr. #1 get's the win. 3-0.

6/13: (29-33 -10) It's sad to watch my 4 & 5 starters pitch. Sad. We lose the next two 1-7, 1-7.

6/17: (30-35 -11.5) After dropping two out of three to the Padres, I re-evaluate Menechino. He's hitting .230, so he's out. This will be his last year. I swear on my Steelers Nerf football.

6/24: (31-40 -13.5) We're sliding fast. Losers of 5 of our last 6. Our offense is fairly enemic, hitting .248 compared to an AL average .269. Our pitching is about on the mark with a 4.84ERA compared to 4.77 average. Still, we're in 4th place and making a little money.

TRADE TIME!
Seeing no reason to keep three poor players around who are on the tail-end of their contracts, I decide to get a jump start on the free agent season.
SEATTLE GETS: Bruno Gistinelli (P o:60 p:60) Frank Menechino (2B o:61 p:61) and Reggie Taylor (CF o:72 p:72)
TORONTO GETS: Lucas Ambarian (P o:63 p:72)
WHY: I was not going to re-sign the three I gave up, and Ambarian should be a useful inning-sponge in my bullpen next year. I score a little salary space, and a little usefulness. That's what I keep telling myself.

6/30: (35-42 -11.5) The Mets came to town and took us for 2 out of three, basically making us look really bad. 3-12, 4-3, 6-7.

To follow that up, Mr #1 shut down the Yankees, and we managed to win three straight! 7-2, 9-8, 3-2. In the Make Me Really Happy Because I Live In Seattle realm, A-Rod goes 0-the series. :)
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June in Review
Record: 14-14 (35-42 overall) Not a bad Month. Not great. Killing my draft options while we make money.

Team Player of the Month: In a race for last place, Chris Woodward get's this month's honor. His return to the lineup put our #1 RBI man back in the 3rd slot. His .276/12/38 outpaces, ever so slightly, Vernon Wells at .302/12/32.

Team Pitcher of the Month: Halladay and Petrick continue to hold the staff together, but NailInTheCoffin Ligtenberg is showing up strong! He's 2-2 with 21 saves in 41 appearances. His .210 OBA is solid, and he's on pace for a career year.

Minor League PotM: Nijel Biros

(o:72 p:93) gets the nod again. His average is up to .282 with 8HR and 54 RBI. I'm looking forward to him being in the bigs next year.

Cash Situation: We're in the black $5.4M and I have resumed spending on the Farm, Scouting, and Medical Staff at a $10M pace each. This puts me 5th for all three, and should dramatically improve my results over the next couple years. Average attendance is at 36,317, so I'm drawing some fans. Things are looking good for the rebuilding effort. I may even look to pick up some prospects in the Trading Deadline Rush.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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July 2007

7/1: (23-28 -11) What a start to July! One final game at home against the Yanks before we head out of town and it goes down like this...First inning, NY manufactures a run. 0-1. Bottom of the first, Vernon wells singles with the sacks juiced, followed by a Cruz Jr. sac fly and we lead 3-1. Top 3, Pujols (**** those Yankees!) singles to drive in a run. 3-2. Top 5. Marcus Giles doubles in a run to tie the game. Carlos Delgado (oh, cruel fate) singles to drive in another. We then walk Lance Berkman to load the bases and manage to squirm out of it. NY leads 4 to 3. Bottom 5. Resilient Blue Jays? Bases Loaded with nobody out. Cruz Jr. hits a sacrifice fly to score the game. That's all we get. Tied at 4. Top 6. Morgan Ensberg hits a solo shot and the Yanks lead 5-4. Bottom 7. Cruz Jr. hits a shot to left to tie the game at 5.

In the top of the Ninth, it gets crazy. This has already been one of those games a fan loves to watch, but the Yanks put their fat payroll to work. Giles doubles with one out and then steals 3rd. Pujols is walked. A-Rod grounds out, but we throw it away and give up the lead run. Two runners on when Delgado singles to right, loading the bases with 1 out. Lance Berkman, with no where to walk him, hits a Grand Slam. ouch. We get out of the rest of the inning, but the inning, but we're down 10-5.

Bottom of the Ninth. Rebuilding Blue Jays versus Payroll Monster Yanks. Down by 5. Insurmountable? Very Likely So! But what's this? Dave Berg singles to right. Chris Woodward pops out. Ok, certainly insurmountable. Vernon Wells singles, and Quimby Lamison flies out. Two on. Two out. Down by 5. Here comes the Karmic Pain, Yankees! Cruz Jr. singles, loading the bases. In comes Mariano Rivera. Jose Bernal walks, plating a single run. Down 4, bases loaded, 2 out. Rick Petty, my recently (weeks ago) promoted DH, smokes a single to right that scores 2 more. down 2, two on, two out. Up steps Ozzie Kelly. Ozzie Kelly is my 3B for three reasons. 1) He's cheap at 300k. 2) He has average (mid-70s) defense. 3) he has 80 Power. And now, 4) Ozzie Kelly, Muscle UP! Three run bomb to win the game!

I wish I had been there.

7/11: (39-49 -14.5) We limp into the All Star Weekend. I'm thinking we'll send a couple pitchers perhaps, and maybe Vernon Wells...we'll see.

Home Run Showdown aka Karma Doesn't Like Yankees
------------------------------------------------
NY sends A-Rod and Pujols to the game to strut their stuff, but the top four in round one are:
Alfonso Soriano (TEX) 7
Juan Gonzalez (CIN) 7
Eric Chavez (CLE) 6
Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 5

Round 2 sees Karma setting up for Her fun as A-Rod and Alfonso advance
Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 4
Alfonso Soriano (TEX) 3

In the final round, Soriano outslugs A-Rod 4-3 to send the slap all the way to New York.

In the All Star Game, the AL has an easy time of it, winning 6-1 behind homers from Lance Berkman and Magglio Ordonez.


7/18: (42-50 -13.5) We play four at home against the Orioles, and lay the smack down. 4-2, 3-1, 0-11, 6-3. Mr #1 throws 8IP in the 3-1 victory, and we get surprisingly good pitching all around. Yes, I am ignoring the 11-0 loss. It's ugly and should not be looked at.

TRADE TIME!
SAN FRANCISCO GETS: Kerry Ligtenberg (RP o:83 p:83) departs because I wasn't going to pay him $4M next year. My pitchers will benefit greatly from improved defense, and I'll go shopping in the off-season
TORONTO GETS: Ozzie Friedman (2B o:76 p:86) At 300k through 2012, and with stellar defense already, Ozzie will definitely be my 2B for the next few years.
WHY: Huge salary difference, and I'm of a mind that a good position player has a greater impact than a good pitcher. They're out there every day. We'll see how it works.

7/31: (46-58 -16) We limp through the rest of July, seemingly the team has decided they want higher draft picks or something.

=================================================================
July in Review
Record: 11-16 (46-58 overall) We're losing, but at least we're winning some too. Tampa Bay is 7.5 games behind us, so we have a good hold on 4th in the AL East. Baltimore is 11 in front of us, so we're pretty much stuck.

Team Player of the Month: Vernon Wells (CF) takes it this month. He's been consistently near the top in the offensive categories on this crew and raised his level of play this month. His average is holding at .304, he hit 3 HR, but he drove in 18 to bring his season total to 50.

Team Pitcher of the Month: Mr #1, Zack Petrick gets it this month. His ERA is down to 2.84. paired with his 6-3 record 104/28 K/BB and 10 Quality starts in 15 tries, this is a dominant rookie campaign.

Minor League PotM: Nijel Biros

(o:72 p:95) gets the nod yet again. His average is holding at .282 with another 5 HR and 16 RBI (13/74 total). He continues to impress. With a little more improvement, he's going to be a star.

Cash Situation: We're in the black $6.7M and average attendance is at 36,669. We may not have a lot of wiggle room financially, but we're young and nobody is taking the Free Agent plunge at the end of this year.

[Lobsteve]

I'm flattered. Good luck with the Jays Pogue.

Lobsteve.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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August 2007

It occurs to me that since Baseball mogul is all about managing an organization and developing talent, that perhaps ya'll would like to hear more about those things, and less about what the scores were. So...I'll try to shift the topics of my writing so we can all enjoy what's going on with the New Kids in Toronto.

Highlights
8/1: Zach Petrick (Mr #1) is up to o:90 p:95. He throws 7 quality innings against the New York Payroll, giving up two solo home runs. Sadly, the bullpen blows it, but this guy gives me the willies he's so good.

8/6: Mr #1 follows up with an outstanding outing against Anaheim. 8IP, 1ER, 7K. Lowering his ERA to 2.69. I'm beginning to wonder if he might have a shot at Cy Young? Let's check the numbers. Top ERA: John Tompson (BAL) @ 2.55. Most Wins: Brett Myers (BAL) with 15. Petrick is suffering from my lack of putting him in the rotation to start the season. His 2.93 ERA (at end of August) and 8 wins just aren't going to catch up.

8/11: After being shut out for three consecutive games, Mr. Petrick takes the mound and rallies the troops. We slug out 11 runs on 21 hits. Only one player in the lineup goes hitless, and everyone else has at least two. Just to make sure we get the win, Petrick and Ambarian (pciked up in a trade on 6/25 from SEA o:63 p:75) shut down the D-Rays, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits.

8/13: In a surprising display of offensive efficiency, we score 6 runs on 7 hits. Q. Lamison (8), O. Kelly (11), V. Wells (18) Lamison is my second year catcher (o:81 p:81 cnt:81 pwr:77 spd:53 eye:74 arm:74 rng:81 fld:91 hlt:79) and he's not dissapointing at all as his pro numbers this year are matching what he did in AA for three years before getting the chance to be the full-time catcher last year.

8/15: Petrick, Petrick, Petrick. is that all I ever talk about? Well, when the sun's shining, people talk about it. Petrick goes 8 allowing 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 9 to lower his era to 2.60. That alone should have been enough to win, but we were also held to 5 hits. It just happens that one of those hits drove in the winning run in the top of the 10th. No 'W' for Petrick, but he earned it.

8/23: Chris Woodward (.278/23/68) is having the kind of year nobody thought he could have, and he drives two solo shots. Sadly, we only manage one other hit and lose 6-2.

8/25: Petrick to the good again. 7ip 1run. The bullpen almost blows a 5-1 lead, but we hang on to win 5-4.

8/27: Power Ball. After a day off, the Jays bust out the sticks. Again, every run is driven in by the long ball: J. Bernal (15: 2-run shot), O. Kelly (14: 3-run shot), C. Woodward (23: 2-run shot), J. Cruz Jr. (16: grand slam, also 3 runs scored) Cruz has been surprisingly valuable, despite his .233 average.

Lowlights
8/18: 5 pitchers combine to give up 16 runs to Seattle. Seattle, powered by Adam Dunn's 5RBI and Boone's 2HR/6RBI performance, blew out of the starting gates and left the Jays to play cribbage in the dugout all night and watch them hit.

8/20: More Petrick, but this time bad. His line:
ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
Z. Petrick 1.0 2 4 1 6 6 1 43 3.02
Ouch.

Injuries/Transactions
Well, there were a couple of injuries during the month. Sadly, two of them were to my starting pitchers. Halladay missed 6 days and Gidayu Yoshida (my horrible #5 with the 5.99ERA and .279OBA) missed 15. They were back to back, so unfortunately a very old, very bad Pat Hentgen got 4 starts, losing all four and increasing his era from 8.23 to 8.42. It's sick, but I didn't have any other pitchers with the endurance to soak up the innings.

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August in Review
Record: 13-15 (59-73 overall) We're losing, but at least we're winning some too. Tampa Bay is still 6.5 games behind us, so we have a good hold on 4th in the AL East. We're 19 games back of the AL-East leading New York Payroll, and 19 games out in the Wild Card race, currently led by Boston at 78-54.

Team Player of the Month: This month we go with Lamison Quimby (C o:81 p:81) He's hitting .281 in the 5 slot with 11HR adn 55RBI.

Team Pitcher of the Month: Mr #1, Zack Petrick gets it in a no-contest. He goes 2-1 this month, but kept the team in all but one game that he pitched. 15 Quality Starts in 21 appearances paired with his 8-4 record 139/39 K/BB and .214 OBA ... this is STILL a dominant rookie campaign.

Minor League PotM: Nijel Biros (o:72 p:96) gets the nod yet again. His average is up to .284 with another 6 HR and 19 RBI (19/93 total). He's still got 24 points to improve?!? Nice. He'll be in the starting lineup next year. He probably should be now...but I'll wait and not risk the injuries.

Cash Situation: We're in the black $8.2M and average attendance is at 36,234. We're spending a ton on scouting, medical, and the minors compared to other teams. $10M each (3rd) We're projected to clear $20M this year, which should leave us at $10M in the bank. A nice year so far, and it looks like our No Super Star lineup and Two Good Pitchers staff will hold on well enough to give us a decent improvement over last year, keep drawing the fans, and we'll still get some ok draft position.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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September 2007

Injuries/Transactions
9/2: Ozzie Kelly (3B) has just gown down with a 'Hip stress fracture' for 7 days. It

seems to me that something like a hip stress fracture might hurt longer than that.

Anyhow, this is why I keep Dave Berg around...to fill in and not die.

9/19: DH Ted Marinkovich goes down with...dun dun dunnnnn...a Hip stress fracture for 8

days. Apparently I should not worry about hurting my hips in my old age as hip stress

fractures are not a big deal? This time I give Nijel Baros a shot to come up from AAA

for a few games.

9/20: What's up with my doctors?!? Jose Bornal (1B) fractures his foot. With is peak

of 85, I'm sending him down to AAA until next year. Once he heals, I don't want any

more setbacks. Tad Siefker (Rookie 1B o:66 p:80) comes up after hitting .267 with 18HR

in AAA. He's no superstar at this point, but he can have some ABs.

9/29: Bad News! Chris Woodward (SS) has gone and busted his ankle. He's out for 13

days. Donaldo Mendez (SS/Bench Jockey) will play out the year. He's completely average

in every way. We will miss Woodward's .273 with 24 HR.

Highlights
- Petrick has another solid month. One outing he only lasts 4.2, but only gives up three runs. He has a knack for keeping us in games and goes 4-1 for the month. In an attempt to not be outdone, Roy Halladay goes 2-2 with three complete games.

-After Baros came up, he immediately went on a string of 1-for-3s that lasted 6 games. He took a couple o-fers after that, but his average is at .250 with a .334 OBP in 9 games. With Woodward being out, he's moved up to the three slot

-Tad Siefker. Tad Siefker. Tad Siefker. Is he for real? in 11 games he is 10/29 for a .345 average. .424 OBP is nice too. For a guy who's average at best, with a little pop, he's doing ok filling in.

Lowlights
-Donaldo Mendez, my fill-in SS is hitting a whopping .218. If I didn't have to have a live body at Short, I'd pull him.

-Gidayu Yoshida, #5 SP. This guy is horrible. In 32 games (27 starts) he has pitched 161 innings. 115/77 K/BB isnot good, and his .293 OBA isn't good either. At best, he should be long relief...but sadly he starts for me.

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September in Review
Record: 15-12 (74-85 overall) 8 back of Baltimore for 3rd. 12 ahead of Tampa Bay for fourth. We put together a winning month despite losing our #3 hitter. Pretty fortunate.

Team Player of the Month: Broken Record. Vernon Wells, though Siefker's performance was worthy as well...just 11 games however, does not a month make. Vernon "The Bus" Wells (VW Bus, get it? heh. heh. ok, I'm done) has raised his average to .318 with 28 dongs and 90 RBI. If it wasn't for him, this team would be losing to the D-Rays.

Team Pitcher of the Month: Mr #1, Zack Petrick gets it in a no-contest yet again. He goes 4-1 this month. In the regular Petrick Report:
-19 Quality Starts in 27 starts
-paired with his 12-5 record
-181/46 K/BB and .225 OBA
-o:91 p:95 end:79 ctl:93 pwr:96 mvm:77 hlt:90

Minor League PotM: With Nijel baros on the major league roster, Ted Marinkovich takes over down in AAA after his rehab stint. He's hitting .310 with a .595 SLG. He'll finish out the year down there so perhaps he can come back next year.

Cash Situation: We're in the black $10.6M and average attendance is at 36,373. Our minor-league sponsored roster is generating more profit this year than any other team. Personally, I'd trade that for a better record than any other team, but you have to start somewhere.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
October 2007
After we drop our final three games of the season, we're left with a 74-88 record. Well improved over last year, and profitable to boot. This off-season we'll look to get two SPs, an RP, and any available bat that can contribute.

Now that we have some financial wiggle room, I expect to sign one or two low-mid price free agents. I doubt our draft position will be high enough to get another Mr. #1, but perhaps we can get a contributor and a few projects.

Season in Review
Record: 4th place 74-88 overall 32 games behind the Yankees

Team Player of the Year: Vernon The Bus Wells has an average year (for him .318/28/90), but it's the best on this club.

Team Pitcher of the Year: Petrick. Easy! The only starting pitcher with a winning record. Best ERA on the team. Fabulous K/BB ratio of 188/47. Mr #1 Draft Pick is about to become Mr Staff Ace

Minor League PotY: Nijel Biros, who's name I have been misspelling. .284/19/93 in AAA was easily the best. He'll be on the field in the majors next year with his o:73 p:97 self.

Cash Situation: From in the red, to in the black by an almost mirror margin. Great year financially. We have 10.6 to spend, and no contracts expiring. At the end of next year, we'll have lots of problems there, but not this round. Let's load up!

=================================================================
2007 Wrap-Up

[B]Big Milestones
These were my favorites in the list...ignoring plenty of 1000th hits and whatnot
-4/15 Bret Boone hits HR #300
-4/19 Troy Percival Save #400
-4/25 Jim Thome HR #500
-5/27 Carlos Delgado (I miss him) HR #400 (Ugh. For the Yankees. Blech)
-7/4 Alex "I'll provide the Fireworks this time" Rodriguez hits #500
-7/23 Gary Sheffield HR #500
-9/21 Chipper Jones hist #400
-9/24 Randy Johnson strikes out 18
-10/2 Carlos "I Used to be a Blue Jay" Delgado hits the only cycle of the season

Playoffs Round 1
Cleveland Indians (105-57) vs Boston RedSox (94-68)
New York Payroll Yankees (106-56) vs Oakland Athletics (81-81) How bad was the AL West for a .500 team to take it?

Chicago Cubs (104-59) vs San Diego Padres (90-72)
Los Angeles Big Money Dodgers (107-55) vs New York Mets (93-69)

Results
CLE 3 BOS 1
NYY 3 OAK 0
CHC 3 SDP 1
LAD 3 NYM 2
No surprises there, though I was rooting for the BoSox. Sigh.

Playoffs Round 2
Results
CLE 4 NYY 2
CHC 2 LAD 4
Both series split the first four games. I get half of what I want when the Yankees go home, but the Cubs won't get a chance to extend the curse.

World Series: Cleveland vs LA
Results
Game 1 @ LAD (C0-L1): Odalis Perez holds on through 6 to pick up the 4-2 win featuring nothing at all worth watching.
Game 2 @ LAD (C1-L1): After pitching 7 strong innings, C.C. Sabathia gives way to pinch hitter Chris Magruder (.261 in 14 games) who promptly drives in two to give Cleveland a 5-3 lead and the win.
Game 3 @ CLE (C2-L1): Jason Davis (11-7 4.04) serves up a leadoff home run to Marlon Byrd, then gives up nothing for the next 9 innings. Eric Chavez's Grand Slam and Travis Haffner's 2-run shot provide the offense. Cleveland wins 6-1.
Game 4 @ CLE (C2-L2): Brian Tallet serves up 5 runs and LA wins it 8-3
Game 5 @ CLE (C3-L2): Once again Cleveland rides the Long Ball. Carl Crawford leads off with a solo shot. Eric Chavez and Travis Hafner each chip in 2-run jobs, and they survive a John Rocker save attempt to win 5-4. Rocker gave up 2 in the 9th to make it scary.
Game 6 @ LAD (C4-L2): Cleveland Wins! C.C. Sabathia goes the distance, giving up 1 run. Hafner drives one in to tie, and then Nomar (No-Maaaah!) Garciaparra hits a solo shot for the winning run.

Best in the AL
AVG: Marcus Giles (NYY) .344 (Vernon The Bus Wells .318 is 9th)
HR: Alfonso Soriano (TEX) 50 (The Bus tops our team with 28)
ERA: Brett Myers goes wire-to wire for (BAL) with his 2.92 (Petrick 4th with 3.08, Halladay 7th with 3.55)
WINS: Brett Myers (BAL) 18 (Petrick 12, Halladay 10, Andy Chatham 10)

Toronto Awards
-Andy Chatham, the almost entirely un-talked-about 3rd starter on my team led the AL with 255 Ks. Way to go Andy!
-Jose Cruz Jr. was our lone all-star. Uh, I have nothing to say about that.

AL Awards
Cy Young: Grant Kierse (CLE) 16-5 2.96 with 9CG and 5 shutouts. Tough to complain
MVP: Marcus Giles (NYY) .344 34 139 Now that's the kind of 2B everyone would love to have
ROY: Zach Petrick (TOR) 12-6 3.08 Was there any doubt? Ok, there was. But he earned it.
[U]Gold Gloves{/U]
P Mark Buehrle (CHW)
C Victor Martinez (CLE)
1B Albert Pujols (NYY)
2B Marcus Giles (NYY) Nice year, Marcus!
3B Eric Chavez (CLE)
SS Jack Wilson (MIN)
LF Garrett Anderson (CHW)
CF Vernon Wells (TOR) YeeHaw! Bring home them trophies!
RF Jose Cruz Jr. (TOR) Again. YeeHaw!

NL Awards
Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano (CHC) 15-5 2.13. 2.13?!? Wow.
MVP: Jason Phillips (PIT) .372 37 123 Serious production from a 1B. .372? Get real!
ROY: John Riordan (LAD) 12-2 3.08 Looks a lot like our man Petrick.
[U]Gold Gloves{/U]
P Wes Boyd (CIN)
C Damian Miller (NYM)
1B Doug Mientkiewicz (ATL) Please, someone take over from him. That name is hard to type
2B Oliver Walsh (STL)
3B Jim Reid (MIL)
SS Cesar Izturis (LAD)
LF Stan Gillary (HOU)
CF Ramon Banderas (SDP)
RF Ichiro Suzuki (SDP)

Lesson to be learned: Gold Gloves are good. The more you have in the field at once, the more likely you are to make the playoffs. Especially when paired with MVPs and Cy Youngs.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
Post Season Transactions

It looks like I should be drafting around #9, which looks like I'll be able to pick up a #3-4 starter. That's just fine by me! With all the money I spent last year on scouting ($10M) I've got +-0 on my scouting reports, so I'm pretty confident that I can get an immediate contributor here. I'm going to focus heavily on pitching, and perhaps go after a free-agent position player once we see what's there.

Free-Agent Transactions
Pedro Casero LF (o:70 p:87) signed to 1 year extension at 310k. He needs the freedom to develop, so will likely start in AAA this next year

I'm eyeing two spots for Free Agent signings. 1B & 3B would be great to get some solid sticks. The guys I have in place are decent, but they don't have the top end to stick around, and there aren't any really great position players in the draft.

A-Rod is the top position player in the draft with his o:100 p:100 s:10 but he wants 15.4/7 and he's 31. Uh, A-Rod? We know you're good, but you're not going to be worth $16M at 38!
Adam Eaton is the top Pitcher, coming off an amazing 2.36 18-6 year for San Diego. His o:84 p:84 s8.8 belies his overpayment request.
If you ask the scouts, they say that Barry Zito's o:95 p:95 s:9.9 is tops and his 9.4/6 request seems in line with that. Still, I won't be signing him.

Alex Malley, Rick Petty, Ted Marinkovich, Doug Creek, Pat Hentgen for Edgardo Alfonso 4.9/5
Sign Brian Buchanan
Minor League Draft

Top 10
Instead of sorting by Peak, I'm sorting by the scouting rating, so I'll add that to the player descriptions
1) Jaime Parliament SP o:84 p:94 scouting:9.6 This guy will go off and win rookie of the year
2) Kelvin Grushayev RP o:83 p:93 s:9.5 with 100 power and 21 endurance, here's a future all-star closer
3) Bill Rogers RP o:78 p:90 s:9.1 solid reliever with above average control, power, and movement
4) Bernie Clark 1B o:70 p:96 s:9.0 Great power at 86 already, but he needs a couple years to get those contact(60) and eye(75) numbers up
5) Benji Untalan RP o:78 p:88 S:9.0 another very solid RP for the taking.
and to round out the top 10
6) Chris Robbins SP o:77 p:88 s:8.9
7) Ray Garland SS o:77 p:88 s:8.8
8) Carlos Estete SP o:76 p:88 s:8.8
9) Ramon Mattez 1B o:70 p:93 s:8.8
10) Walt Nolan SP o:75 p:88 s:8.7



Top 10 Actual Picks
1) HOU - Jaime Parliament (P) - no surprise
2) KCR - Kelvin Grushayev (P)
3) PHI - Ray Garland (SS) - quite a move up, the phillies must have a need
4) SFG - Bernie Clark (1B)
5) TBD - John Leybenzon (CF) - not sure where this guy came from...no where in the top 10 with o:68 p:89? Huge range for a CF though
6) STL - Bill Rogers (P) - Nice to get such a good reliever at #6
7) PIT - Benji Untalan (P)
8) CIN - Chris Robbins (P)
9) TOR - Ramon Mattez (1B) - His peak was too tempting...and I bit. o:70 p:93 power: 87 already and eye 82, but he needs work, and he'll get it in AAA
10) ANA - Carlos Estete (P) - he was my other option. Let's hope I'm not kicking myself all year

My remaining picks
Rd 2) Vern Kershner (RP) - o:69 p:81 and he's got great tools for late relief
Rd 3) Bert Coggin (RP) o:68 p:77 phenomenal control (99) to go with better than average movement will land him in my relief corp
Rd 4) Scott Jones (SP) o:62 p:77 average all around, he'll be in the starting rotation soon
Rd 5) Nick Cantor (LF) o:58 p:75 superb defensive player
Rd 6) Larry Dodd (C) o:60 p:68 no chance at making my major league roster, unless I need backup at backstop. That's where his 96 fielding will come in handy

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
Off-Season Continues

I'm really focused on improving my defense at the corners, and providing some offense. Edgardo Alfonso should be a good pickup, but after looking at my roster (below), it becomes clear that I still have a hole at 1B.

Roster Report
Fielders
Name Position Overall Peak Arm Range Fielding
Pedro Casero LF (o70 p87 a67 r93 f91) is my new starting LF. replacing Quentin Lawrence (o:72 p:72). They're identical players at this point, but Casero has the huge upside, so he gets the playing time. Lawrence will be a fine backup OF off the bench.
Ozzie Friedman 2B (o79 p83 a86 r92 f75) hit .225 last year, and I expect him to improve that a bit this year.
Chris Woodward SS (o84 p84 a85 r93 f72) had a solid year hitting .273/24 and OBP.328. I don't like him as a #3 hitter, so his spot in the lineup is going to change, but he's good chicken.
Vernon Wells CF (o93 p93 a79 r93 f85) .316/28/90 is going to land him in the 3 slot this year
Quimby Lamison C (o81 p81 a74 r81 f91) .265/13/63 is good enough to keep him catching, though I may look to replace him at the end of the year. $300k is a great price though.
Jose Cruz Jr. RF (o81 p81 a98 r90 f94) Gold Glover in RF with a bad average and decent power. He'll keep on trucking for me and keep on batting down in the lineup
Tad Siefker 1B (o67 p75 a71 r76 f61) Yikes. He's got some pop, but he's below average in too many places to make him a good choice as my regular 1B. He'll do for lack of better though.
Edgardo Alfonso 3B (o82 p82 a81 r81 f84) Free Agent pickup for his .290 average and solid defense, gives me a nice healthy(96) defensive upgrade at a decent price (trade info in previous post)
Donaldo Mendez SS (o74 p74 a75 r75 f63) A stop-gap backup. He's not long for the team if he decides he wants to get paid.
Alex McKillen C (o68 p71 a77 r71 f96) Backup catcher who fields better than the starter. If he could hit for any average, I'd start him over Lamison, but his cnt59 isn't going to cut it.
Quentin Lawrence LF (o72 p72 a77 r96 f89) Converted to LF last year and hit leadoff for me with .292 OBP. He was holding the slot until something better came along, and now he'll be a defensive replacement off the bench.
Dave Berg 2B (o69 p69 a77 r61 f64) Played in waaaaay too many games last year as a sub/injury replacement. His defense is atrocious, but he hits ok at .269 with .313OBP. He's a bench warmer and trade bait.
Alano Morgovejo 2B (o61 p62 a76 r59 f62) Uh...he sucks. he's really fast with a great eye, but nothing else. In fact, I'll release him as soon as I have a little more infield depth.
Nijel Biros RF (o:73 p:93 a78 r76 f67) is still an average fielder and average hitter. Despite a little success as a late-season call-up, he'll be developing in AAA this year.
Esteban Ortiz CF (o68 p77 a96 r86 f77) Likely to get some time on the bench this year, he's average all around (mid-70s) except for his arm and range, which are nice. he has some room to develop into a pretty good OF, and I'll let him work on that in AAA as long as I can
Jose Bernal 1B (o76 p81 a70 r66 f68) Started waaaaaay to many games at 1B last year, but held his own. He has some power (86) but low average and everything else makes him a bench-warmer and trade fodder.
Ozzie Kelly 3B (o74 p76 a75 r75 f71) Did his best to hold down the fort at 3B last year and hit well enough to stay in the lineup at .256 with 19HR. he'll back up Alfonso and pinch hit this year.
Brian Buchanan 1B (o73 p73 a70 r58 f66) Free Agent signing to do some hitting for me, and originally I thought he'd start at 1B. Now I'm concerned that he sucks and I need to work a trade. Quickly.
Ramon Mattez 1B (o70 p95 a71 r63 f61) #1 (9 overall) draft pick in 2008. He's my project for 1B, and I really really really hope he comes along quickly.
Nick Cantor LF (o58 p81 a80 r87 f92) With great defensive numbers like that, you know he can't hit yet. His 93 speed is a good start, and I'll let him work on the rest in AAA
Larry Dodd C (o60 p72 a66 r68 f96) grabbed in later rounds for his defense and average power, but he needs work before he can be my bench-backup.

Pitchers
Name Role Overall Peak Endurance Control Power Movement
Roy Halladay SP (o92 p92 e89 c96 p79 m78) An All-star pitcher says my scouts, and I agree. He's a rock in the rotation, and will stick in the staff ace slot this year again.
Zach Petrick SP (o92 p95 e79 c93 p96 m77) Solid. Had a great rookie season, and only his average endurance keeps him from moving to #1 in the rotation. He's good enough, but I'd like to put him in the 3rd slot and get someone at 2 to soak up more innings
Andy Chatham SP (o93 p93 e93 c82 p97 m69) Strikeout pitcher all the way. His ERA tends to be high, but he goes the distance. with some stronger D behind him, he should be better than the 31-36 career he has going. I would like to put him at 4th in the rotation, as soon as I find #2...
Ethan Karno SP (o69 p70 e90 c69 p83 m68) Doesn't have the movement or control to go with his average power, and that leads to his 5.47 ERA. he may have a spot at long relief, but he stuck in the rotation last year.
Gidayu Yoshida SP (o65 p67 e74 c73 p72 m77) Mr. Average. Career 19-38 as a starter. He can be useful in the bullpen, but we haven't had the depth to put him there. Soon, my son. Soon.
Justin Speier CL (o81 p81 e20 c81 p83 m91) Shouldn't be a closer, but I didn't have anyone better. His 17/5 S/BS was bad, but we had only an average defense and not much offense last year. I'd like him to be my setup guy for a solid closer.
Valerio de los Santos SU (o69 p69 e22 c73 p78 m82) he's experienced and respectable, but should be moved down a slot or two. His 1.2M contract has me thinking that a decent prospect makes him trade bait.
Adam Kempner SR (o75 p81 e40 c84 p76 m86) drafted in the second round last year, he had to develop in the Bigs. He's doing alright, and will probably stay in the Short or Middle role.
Mark Hendrickson MR (o66 p66 e54 c85 p68 m72) Middle relief stop-gap based on his control. His career .302 OBA after 5 seasons tells the truth though, he doesn't belong on my team
Pete Walker LR (o58 p58 e47 c75 p70 m71) Another stop-gap who handled long relief. Performed as well as could be expected, but needs to be replaced at 37 years old
Lucas Ambarian ALT (o63 p73 e65 c69 p74 m79) I picked him up in a trade because he's only 19 and has OK numbers. He won't get much better, but I didn't have better at the time.
Nick Brandner RP (o65 p69 e30 c74 p77 m80) Has some decent average numbers and I picked him up for 300k per year as a Free Agent when I needed some depth. He's a AAA pitcher at best, and soon he'll be packing his bags because I have enough depth
Jeremy Andrew RP (o69 p78 e19 c84 p75 m78) Drafted in the 3rd round last year, he will likely see some time in the bullpen late in the year. His numbers took a dive in AAA, but he has some promise of decency
Vern Kershner RP (o69 p82 e20 c84 p78 m73) Drafted in the 2nd round this year, my scouts like him. After some time in AAA, he should be able to handle closing or late relief
Bert Coggin SP (o68 p77 e73 c99 p72 m81) Has the control and ok movement to be a long man in the pen, or a decent #5 once he gets closer to peak. He will likely see the bigs this year
Scott Jones SP (o62 p79 e71 c83 p69 m72) A lesser version of Coggin, he'll get time in AAA to see if he shows up well.

Trade Time
After seeing how bad off I was at 1B, it was time to shuffle some trade bait for a decent performer until Mattez Develops.
DETROIT GETS: Dave Berg, Jose Bernal. A couple of low-cost bench-warmer fill-ins
TORONGO GETS: Carlos Pena 1B (o81 p81) has great range (94) and should give me a .260/30 performance.
WHY: At 4.2M/5, he's more than I want to spend, but there's room until Mattez is ready for him to start.
Berg and Bernal were bench-warmer backups anyhow...so let's roll the dice. If Pena doesn't hit, then I made a mistake. There was a prospect offered with numbers that are close and a contract of 300K for another year. I'm thinking Mattez will take longer than that, so I went with Big Money Pena.

Lineup Shuffle
After reviewing the roster and making that final trade, my lineups going in to Spring training sit like this (Anyone not mentioned is in AAA)

STARTERS
LF Pedro Casero
3B Edgardo Alfonso
CF V. The Bus W.
1B Carlos Pena
SS Chris Woodward
C Quimby Lamison
RF Jose Cruz, Jr.
DH Brian Buchanan
2B Ozzie Friedman
BENCH
3B Ozzie Kelly
OF Quentin Lawrence
C Alex McKillen
SS Donaldo Mendez
2B Alano Morgovejo
ROTATION
Roy Halladay
Andy Chatham - soakin up innings and rackin up Ks
Zach Petrick - Lack of endurance lands him #3
Ethan Karno - despite average-ness, he soaks up innings.
Bert Coggin - the rookie gets a shot to work, he's as good as Yoshida already, and will improve
RELIEF
CL Justin Speier
SU Valerio de los Santos
SH Adam Kempner
MR Jeremy Andrew - he'll get his chance to learn in the Bigs
LR Pete Walker
ALT Mark Hendrickson

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
Spring Training Wrap-Up

Cash Situation: Farm $10M, Scouting $8M, Medical $10M. With salaries of $45M, I'm projected to profit $4M this year. That's good enough to get started, and with some wins we should be able to keep a couple of free agents at the end of the year. Wells, Woodward, and Cruz are all in the last year of their contracts, and they all want raises. In the 'pen, Speier and de los Santos want raises as well as four fillers wanting extension. None of their wishes are granted just yet.
Outlook for the year: Decent. I say we'll take third and win more than we lose. If health holds out, prospects will get the chance to work in AAA and we should be sitting decent for a run at the Wild Card next year.

Spring Roster Report
Fielders
Name Position Overall/Peak Notes
Pedro Casero LF (70/87) .310 with 15 runs scored and 5 doubles. .378OBP is nice.
Edgardo Alfonso 3B (82/82) .378OBP
The Bus CF (93/93) His nickname sucks. Back to Vernon Wells.
Carlos Pena 1B (81/81) .316 with 13RBI - maybe he's earning his money?
Chris Woodward SS (84/84) .314 BA
Quimby Lamison C (81/81) .266 BA
Jose Cruz Jr. RF (81/81) .268 BA .563SLG 6HR moves up in front of Lamison in the order
Brian Buchanan DH (73/73) .25BA 4HR -and age is catching up
Ozzie Friedman 2B (79/83) .293BA 2HR 4SB

The only items of note on the Bench/AAA
Ozzie Kelly 3B (74/76) .315BA -might replace Buchanan at DH if he doesn't step up
Donaldo Mendez SS (74/74) .295BA
Ramon Mattez (70/95) hits .258 with 4HR ... let the bombing begin in AAA!
Tad Siefker 1B (67/75) .281BA shows he can swing a little...maybe he's not worthless

Pitchers
Name Position Overall/Peak Notes
Halladay SP (92/92) 1-1 3.77 .246OBA 10/3 K/BB
Chatham SP (93/93) 1-0 3.38 .158OBA 16/2
Petrick SP (92/95) 1-0 3.25 .194OBA 27/5 I love this guy.
Karno SP (69/70) 0-1 6.43 .250OBA 15/5
Coggin SP (68/77) 0-1 4.26 .296 3/0 Not a bad start...in line with his AA numbers

From the Bullpen and AAA
Speier CL (81/81) .214 OBA
Kempner MR (75/80) .233 OBA
Andrew LR (69/78) 3.57 .221 11/3
Ambarian AAA (63/73) .181 OBA? He keeps them off the bases
Kershner AAA (67/82) .203 13/4 K/BB 2SV -Closer in Training
Yoshida AAA (65/67) .239OBA but 6.35ERA? How so?
Jones AAA (62/79) .240 11/4 Kershner Jr. somehow plays as a starter in AAA?

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
May 2008

An amazing start for our guys in Toronto. We're running neck-and-neck with the Yankees for most of the month, and sit at 4 games back with a 16-8 record. Amazing. 16-8 and we'r e4 games back?!? Our team ERA is at 2.45, led by Andy Chatham and his near-perfect 4-0 0.66 in 5 starts. 2 Complete game shutouts and one no-decision. Oh, and a .130 OBA. Very Nice.

As you would expect with a nice low ERA like that, our defense has been outstanding. Free Agent signing of Edgardo Alfonso has paid dividends with his .984 fielding. At this point, the two worst on the team are both guys who won Gold Gloves last year, Vernon Wells (.949) and Cruz Jr. (.962). Gotta love the D!

Highlights
-4/6 Start the season 3-0, lead by back-to-back complete game shutouts by Roy Halladay and Andy Chatham. Both games were won 2-0 over the D-Rays. That's a nice way to set the tone for the month, boys.
-4/11 Complete a three game sweep of the RedSox, in Boston! We're lead by Alfonso and his .367 average in the 2-slot. Also, Alfonso just picked up hit #2000.
-4/18 13 games into the season and our best hitter is Ozzie Friedman (2B o80 p83) who is hitting .389 coming off a season in which he played from the bench and hit .255.
-4/22 Chatham outduels one Mr. Pedro Martinez giving up one earned run through 8. We win 3-2.
-4/29 Four game sweep of the Angels (in Toronto). We win the first game 3-2, but then the whole team turns it on and the next three aren't very close, 8-0, 5-1, 5-2.

Lowlights
-4/21 RedSox come in to town charged up after the humiliation we issued them a couple weeks ago. They take the first two games in offensive outbursts (6-3, 10-5) but Andy Chatham salvages game 3 (3-2).
-Hey, when you win twice as many as you lose, there won't be many.

Random Commentary
Vernon Wells and Carlos Pena (my 3 & 4 hitters) are seriously underperforming with .237BA/.297OBP and .169/.296 respectively. In an effort to shake things up, I don't change anything. Tricky reverse psychology.

Ozzie Kelly is hitting .286 off the bench, and Quentin Lawrence, who hit .254 for me last year, is hitting .346 as a defensive replacement. DH Brian Buchanan is holding his own with a .273BA/.378OBP for now, though Kelly is ready to step in at any moment. Justin Speier is a perfect 9/9 in save opportunities and has appeared in 15 games so far. His 1.88ERA is tops in the bullpen, though I have three guys with 6IP or less that have yet to give up a run.

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month No contest. Andy Chatham leads all of Baseball with his 0.66 ERA. His 4 wins are one off the pace.
Player of The Month Tough call on this one. With a team batting average this low...they don't make it easy. Edgardo Alfonso, come on down! .286BA is tied for second among my starting lineup, 3HR is one off the pace, and .393OBP is leading the pack. Couple that with his defense, and he's the bright spot.
Minor Leaguer of The Month RP Vern Kershner. Drafted #39 overall this year, he's throwing nicely with a 2.55ERA in 9 appearances and 17.2IP. .185OBA and 2 saves. He's off to a good start, and only o67 p80 at this point. Well done!
Other Minor League Notes
o73 p93 Nijel Biros is progressing slowly. He's hitting .275 down on the farm, and I'm hoping that giving him the season down there will give him the chance to close in on peak performance for next year.
o70 p95 Ramon Mattez is slugging away. His .265BA 9HR and .578SLG are nice for the kid drafted #9 overall this year. Here's hoping some spending on the Farm will let him develop.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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June 2008

Not quite as stellar as last month, we post a 17-10 record for the month, bringing us to 33-18 overall. We are only 5 games back of the Yankees, and lead the Wild Card (hey, it's never to eary to start hoping) by 2 over Oakland. Pitching and Defense continue to carry us. 3.04 ERA is second in the Majors to only the Cubs (2.70). Our team batting average is still looking gloomy at .265, but then the MLB Average this year is at .266, so we're not horrible.

Cash Update
When you're winning, things are good. We're drawing 40,000+ for our games, and the money is rolling in. We're $2.9M to the good so far this year. Since I'm greedy, and because our ticket prices are $8 below league average, I up them $0.50 to $16.25. If it looks like we'll be this good again next year, they'll go up another buck or so.

Highlights
-5/1 Vernon Wells goes 3-4 1BB 1HR 3RBI. Perhaps the start of a turnaround for him? Cross fingers.
-5/5 Edgardo Alfonso 2HR, driving the Jays to a 7-2 victory over Detroit.
-5/13 10-9 victory over the Tigers in Detroit. Notable as all runs score before the 5th inning. Toronto lead by SS Chris Woodward 2-4 2HR 6RBI (.286)
-5/19 After two horrible outings, Chatham shuts out the Angels on 4 hits through 9IP. ERA to 2.25
-5/23 Complete a 3-game sweep of the Mariners (17-33) as Roy Halladay goes 9 and lowers his ERA to 2.07. Offensively, we have some fun as Ozzie Friedman (2B) and Jose Cruz Jr. (RF) have nearly identical lines (both missing the cycle by a double):
----------------------------------------------------
J. Cruz Jr. (RF) 4 3 1 1 1 2 1 0 .264
O. Friedman (2B) 4 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 .309
----------------------------------------------------
3B: O. Friedman (2), J. Cruz Jr. (2)
HR: O. Friedman (2), J. Cruz Jr. (6)
-5/27 The bright side of Andy Chatham's explosions (below) has been Zack 'Mr #1' Petrick following with quality outings. He does so again, allowing only 1ER to the Yanks as we win 5-3.
-5/31 We end the month with another curious game. All 8 of the game runs score in the first two innings. Petrick gets the win, giving up 1ER in 7IP. We score 7, and manage to spread them all out. The only person with more than 1 RBI is Cruz Jr, who hit a two run bomb.

Lowlights
-5/8 Andy Chatham "implodes" giving up 5ER in 5.1IP. His ERA doubles, and stands at 1.50.
-5/13 In the same game that Woodward drives in six, Chatham blows up. Badly. 8ER in 5IP, ERA to 2.39. Amazingly, he gets the win.
-5/15 Quimby Lamison ruptures a cervical disk and goes down for 60 days. Last year, at about the same time, he broke his wrist and was out for 5 weeks. Though he was only hitting .217 at the time, replacement Alex McKillen is only hitting .174 at the end of the month.
-5/20 Angels, unhappy with being shut-out on 4 hits the game before, return the favor. Petrick (5) Hedrickson (2) and Coggin (5) combine to give up 12 runs in 7IP.
-5/25 Chatham gets Ugly (note the capital U) against the Yanks. 1IP, 6ER and his ERA bloats to 3.0.
-5/30 Vernon Wells sits for 4 days with a sore tricep. Quentin Lawrence takes over in CF.

Random Commentary
Brian Buchanan can't hit a breaking ball. His .228BA sucks bad enough to offset his .326OBA and 4HR. Alano Morgovejo (2B o61 p62) will take over and bring his 89spd and 85eye to the DH slot and bat 9th. Ozzie Friedman, still hitting well with a .301, moves up to 7th.

Carlos Pena is hitting .199 with 5HR and .301OBA. what to do with a #4 hitter that isn't hitting? Move him down. He's got enough power to back somebody up, so that's what he'll do. Chris Woodward (.267/10HR) to #4 and Pena to #5.

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month It got tough this month. Chatham blew up all over the place, but still went 4-1 (8-2 overall). Roy Halladay lowered his ERA to 2.24, but is just 5-4. This month's winner is Mr #1, Zach Petrick (o93 p95). His ERA is down to 2.75 with .210OBA and 70/20 K/BB. 8/11 Quality Starts. That's a heck of a #3 in the rotation.

Player of The Month Another sort of tough call. Edgardo Alfonso continues to perform, raising his average to .309/7/.383, but Vernon Wells started using Aluminum Bats or something. After hitting just .237 through April, he's up to .313/5/.383 after May. VW, you da man!

Minor Leaguer of The Month 1B Tad Siefker (o67 p75) has been quite a surprise. His 73cnt and 80pwr are serving him well for a .286BA/5HR/.364OBP down in AAA with 33RBI. He's below average in all other respects, but if he continues to improve he could be a DH for me.

Other Minor League Notes
- o85 p100 Nijel Biros (was o73 p93 last month) Is doing fine! He's still hitting .290, and now his scouting stats are picking up. Look for a late year call-up perhaps.
- o77 p100 Ramon Mattezo (was 70 p95 last month) Is picking up as well. His 86eye and 92pwr are improvements, and his 74cnt is better. He has 16HR in 200ABs down in AAA.
- o67 p81 Vern Kershner is doing well down in AAA, picking up another 4 saves in another 9 appearances. He's going 2IP per outing and has a 22/11 K/BB to go with his .197OBA and 2.83 ERA. Pretty good for 19 years old.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
June 2008 (aka This Month Is Not Good)
10-16 for the month, 43-34 overall. 13.5 behind NY in the AL East, Tied with Detroit for the Wild Card.

Injuries rule the day. My starting catcher went down last month. This month, I lose my #2 and have to go sign a lame free agent just for depth. I hate that.

Signed on 6/17: Karl Schwartz (o55 p65) for $300k for 2 yrs. Ick. he's just here in case I lose #3 and have to fill the roster spot. I feel I have a good 1-2, so didn't want to make a trade for depth. He's an average (73/70/75) defensive catcher, so that'll do.

Editorial Note: It occurs to me that my highlight lowlight has been a littl tough to read because they're not in order. So, from now on, they'll be in order.

Highs And Lows
L: 6/2 We give up 13 runs to the Yankees, and have to bring our closer in just to get out of the 8th. He's the only one of 5 pitchers not to give up a run. All the others gave up at least 3. Yuck.
H: 6/4 Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells take on the Red Sox and win. Halladay allows 1R in 7.2IP and Wells goes 3-4 1HR 3RBI. Who needs the rest of the team?
L: 6/5 Valerio de los Santos is having a bad year as my setup man. He takes yet another loss in late innings as he serves up 2ER. He's 3-5 with a 5.97ERA at the end of the month, and I think it's about time for him to leave. He doesn't get all the blame though, as Andy Chatham gives up 4ER in 4.2IP.
H: 6/9 In a crazy Bizzaro-World, we win 3-2. That's not the crazy part. This is:
----------------------------------------------------
C. Pena (1B) 5 1 2 3 1 1 1 0 .194
----------------------------------------------------
That's right. Carlos Pena went 1-5 and scored all three runs. It just so happens that his one hit was the Game Winning solo Home Run in the bottom of the 10th. Weird.
H: 6/10 One day after Pena goes crazy, Chris Woodward hits a game winning Grand Slam in the bottom of the 10th. we win 6-2.
H: 6/11 One day after Woodward's 10th inning slam, and two days after Pena's Bizzaro-World, Jose Cruz Jr. wants to play. Blue Jays win 6-2 on Crus Jr's bottom of the 10th, Grand Slam. Right about now, it really sucks to be the Padres. Two straight in extra innings? By grand slams? Ouch
H: 6/12 Just for kicks, we complete the sweep of the Pads, 5-3. No game winning grand slams, no extra innings. However, Carlos Pena got only one hit again. It was a solo HR.
H: 6/13 Vernon Wells hits for the cycle!
L: 6/15 After kicking the Padres around with the long ball, we head to LA and Roy Halladay promptly serves up 4ER in 3.1IP. We lose 6-2
L: 6/19 Halladay started a trend. We drop 5 straight. Each game, the starting pitcher gives up at least 4ER and lasts no longer than 4IP. Bad news.
H: 6/20 The only way to cure a losing streak is with Heap Big Offense! Apparently Coors field forgot to put the balls in the humidor as we pour 14 runs across on 15 hits. Cruz Jr 2HR/5RBI, Wells hits a solo shot, Edgardo Alfonso hits a 3-run blast, and 3rd string Catcher (starting because of injuries and hitting .400) Larry Dodd hits a 2-run jack. Halladay still gives up 3ER in 5IP, but he gets the win.
L: 6/22 de los Santos serves up a run to the Yankees, blowing a 2-2 tie and costing us the game. I feel changes coming on.
H: 6/23 How do you keep dlSantos from blowing it? Start Mr #1 Petrick and have him go 8.2. (2ER) win 3-2.
L: 6/24 With a capital SUCK! We manage 5 hits, 0 runs against the Yanks. They manage 18R on 19H against us. We lose. Home Runs to Pujols (17th) and Delgado (8th), but otherwise it's a doubles parade as we serve up 6. You know, there was a time when I couldn't afford Carlos Delgado. Now I can. I wonder...
L: 6/25 Worn out pitching staff...throws BP to Mets. 14-2. Double-Ouch
H: 6/26 Roy Halladay shuts down the mets, allowing only 3ER as we win 4-3. Hey, that's great. He rests the bullpen.
H: 6/27 Talk about resting the bullpen! Andy Chatham goes 9.2IP and allows only 3 hits. Does he get the win? No. The win to Justin Speier for his 1.1IP and 1hit as we win 1-0 in 11. Sadly, we put just one run over on 11 hits.
L: 6/30 Bert Coggin (o69/p77) is my #5 starter. He has phenomenal (99) control. Everything else is average, with 81 movement. He's 4-4 this year, with an ERA of 6.27!!! His OBA is .291. He's being victimized. In 13 starts, he has 7 quality starts. It would seem then, that when he's off he's waaaaaay off. I'm torn as to whether or not he gets to keep starting. Today he serves up 6R in 4.2IP and takes the loss.

Random Commentary
I'm having trouble finding a DH, and play with a couple different guys in that spot this month. In the end, I choose Quentin Lawrence for his decent contact(75) and good speed (85). he's rewarding me with a .301BA. Finally, a DH that's getting on base. In a HUGE surprise, 3rd string catcher Larry Dodd (cnt60 pwr73 o64 p77) is hitting .283. I'll take it, since he's just supposed to play D and not die. Alex McKillen (#2 C) should be back in 3 days, but he'll ride the pine until Dodd stops hitting.

When the offense dies, the Pitchers certainly suffer. Bad outings strung together, and worrisome relief from dlSantos shot us in the foot this month.

TRADE! TRADE! TRADE!
New York Yankees get: Carlos Pena (81/81), Brian Buchanan(73/73), Scott Jones(62/79) and $1M
Toronto gets: Carlos Delgado (88/88), now hitting #4 behind Vernon Wells and in front of Cruz Jr.
The Breakdown: Pena and Buchanan aren't hitting, but they can. Their contracts are only as useful as their bats. I only let Delgado go because I didn't have the money, and at 34 he's still a quality player. He's as good as what I'm giving up,and could move to DH as he gets older. I had to give up Scott Jones and $1M to make it happen, because apparently the Yanks aren't stupid. Jones should develop into a decent bullpen pitcher.
The Winner: Will depend entirely on how well Pena and Delgado hit. My bet is on Delgado, so I win.

TRADE: Redux
Tampa Bay gets: Valerio de los Santos RP (69/69), his 1.2M/1yr contract, and his 5.97ERA in the bullpen.
Toronto gets: Jerry Thornhill C (63/69), his entirely average numbers, and his 300k/5yr contract
The Breakdown: dlSantos has been shooting me in the foot for months now, and it was time for him to go. He's in the last year of his contract, and I have some depth issues at catcher. With this trade, I clear 900K in salary and get decent 4th string catcher to stick down in AAA. That means I can release Schwartz, who was a very short term rental anyway.
The Winner: Tampa Bay gets something they can use, I get cheap backup. Let's call it a draw.

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month The Starters all had a rough time, but CL Justin Speier is dominating the late innings. 34G 35.1IP .153OBA 0.76ERA all adds up to 21/21 in save opportunities this year. He should make the All-Star squad, i would think.
Player of The Month Wells continues to hit, as does Edgardo Alfonso, but this month it goes to Super-Surprise Larry Dodd. In 15 games he's hitting .283. Not bad for an emergency fill-in
Minor Leaguer of The Month o85 p100 Nijel Biros has bumped his average up to .300 with 11HR and 64RBI. He's almost ready.
Other Minor League Notes
o77 p100 Ramon Mattezo (was 70 p95 last month) continues to bomb and has added some average to the mix. .289/26 is looking nice.
o68 p82 Vern Kershner finally blew a save, as he had a rough month. His ERA is up to 3.98 in 30 games. He's still 9/10 in save chances.

Lineup Moves
With the recent trades, some shuffling had to happen. In the bullpen, dlSantos departs the Setup role, bumping everybody up one slot. Nick Brandner (65/69) whom I signed as a free agent for bullpen depth, gets a shot at the Alt. spot with his 3-1 4.12.

On the hitter side of things, the lineup shuffles a bit and looks like this:
LF Pedro Casero - he's been leading off all year and doing ok with .322 OBA and 14steals
2B Ozzie Friedman - .283 moves up from the 7 spot
CF Vernon Wells
1B Carlos Delgado - .226/9HR isn't great, but I'm hoping old friends will help.
3B Edgardo Alfonso - .277/9HR drops from #2 to #5 to put some production in the middle
RF Jose Cruz Jr. - .265/15
SS Chris Woodward - .255/11
C Larry Dodd - .283 is a Huge surprise
DH Quentin Lawrence - .302 is the first decent average I've had at DH this year

Injuries
Alex McKillen (#2 C) out 3 more days with stretched ankle ligament. Will ride pine until Dodd stops hitting or...
Quimby Lamison (#1 C) out another 14 days with his ruptured cervical disk. Will ease back into the lineup after a little recovery time in AAA.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
July 2008 (aka This Time it's Not June)

Before we sum up the month, let's get to the All-Star Break. I know that's a weird order, but hey, I'm running the show here.

Home Run Showdown
The Yankees send three players?! Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Marcus Giles. Other familiar names include Hank Blalock, Richard Hidalgo, Ivan Rodriguez, and Geoff Jenkins

In Round One, it's all Yankees, as Jaime Sevilla (MON 84pwr) leads the way with 8, Pujols (93pwr), A-Rod (93pwr) and Giles (93pwr) each tap 5. Giles, Pujols, A-Rod, that's a heck of a #3,4,5 in your lineup.

In Round Two, Pujols and A-Rod hit 4, with Giles at 3. Sevilla returns home with 1.

I predict a Yankee will win it. Tough call. A-Rod, 4-2.

In the All-Star game, the AL wins 4-2. We sent Andy Chatham (9-3 3.02) and Justin Speier (0.67 24sv), but neither got to play.

We now return you to your regularly formatted update

17-10 for the month, 60-44 overall. 13.0 behind NY in the AL East, 5 up on Cleveland, Detroit, and Oakland for the Wild Card. (cue the chant...Play-Offs! Play-Offs! Play-Offs!)

After recovering from injuries, it would seem that simply having better players in the vicinity improved spirits. The lopsided games tended to go our way this month. I'm wondering (before looking at the games and stats) just what kind of impact Carlos "Welcome Home" Delgado is having in the middle of that lineup.

By the way, I released Karl Schwartzhe sucks and I don't need him. It was work the $200k to get rid of him.

Cash situation is great. We're up $7.6M this year and drawing 40k fans per game, 4th in the AL. Fan Loyalty is a meager D+, which I don't like, but I expect that to rise if I make the playoffs.

Highs And Lows
H: 7/1 Roy Halladay starts us off right (Remember April?) with a 1 Hitter. Thankfully, we also won, 8-0.
H: 7/2 Two straight now against the Braves as Welcome Back Delgado goes 4/5. He misses the cycle by a triple and home run, though he got two doubles in there.
H: 7/3 Petrick gets the start and gives up a run in the bottom of the first. He goes 8, giving up just that one run. We don't manage to score until the top of the 9th, when we put three across for the win (Petrick 9-3). Welcome Back Delgado with a double and an RBI.
L: 7/4 Three Blue Jay Fireworks (HR) aren't enough to overcome Ethan Karno's pitching, as our #4 starter gives up 7ER in 5.1IP. Ouch, and no 4-game sweep this round.
H: 7/7 Another Two-Man-Game, Baseball style. Andy Chatham gives up 2ER in 8IP as we win 3-2 in 10. Welcome Back Delgado hits a solo shot to tie the game at 2, and another to win it in the bottom of the 10th.
H: 7/14 Lamison returns from DL and will spend 5 days in AAA. Larry (#3 C) Dodd hears the news and promptly goes 5/9 over the next two games. Somebody likes being in the Bigs.
H: 7/19 In his final start, Dodd goes 3/5 again, pushing the Jays to an 11-9 win. Quimby Lamison hits .333 (6/18) with 2HR and 5RBI in AAA before returning. Larry Dodd returns to AAA for development, after hitting .287 with 2HR in 25 games. Not bad Larry "Don't call me Filler" Dodd. Edgardo Alfonso 100th career RBI
H: 7/24 In another game of "Score Quick, Here They Come!" we win 9-3 in 4 innings. Oh, wait. We played 9. All the runs scored in the first four.
H: 7/26 Andy Chatham goes 8.2 giving up 1ER as we win 5-2. Great game.
H: 7/28 In a 14-inning marathon, 0 for 5 Chris Woodward gets the game winning rbi with a single in the bottom of the 14th. Both teams used 6 pitchers.
H: 7/31 We wrap up a good month by taking 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium. Take that, you All-Star team you!

Random Commentary
We're healthy again, and that counts for something. Lamison is still hitting just .220, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't just let Dodd roll as long as he can keep his average up...In fact, Dodd gets the nod, with Alex McKillen moving down to AAA. I'll check back in after two weeks and make a call there.

Pitching was solid this month again. Speier continues to shine late with his 0.83 ERA. Zach Petrick has taken control of things while Andy Chatham settles back in to Quality but not Godlike status.

At The Trade Deadline
I've already made my moves for the year, and we stand pat. We're looking good for a wild card birth, and we're making money.

Otherwise, just one deal happens at the deadline as the Twins (45-57 12GB) dump $4M in payroll to the Padres (56-51 18GB) for a quality 2B. There were good players moving here, at least ML-Average guys, so the ratio doesn't make sense to me. San Diego is 13 out of the wild card. Minnesota must have been dumping salary from their cellar. But San Diego, why did you do this? You have no shot!

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month Zach Petrick. He's now 11-4 3.11 and .239OBA. Solid as the day is long. (This was tough, as Speier is still absolutely DOMINATING with 26/26 saves, .157OBA and 0.83ERA)
Player of The Month Welcome Back Delgado! Since returning to Toronto, he's hitting .340 with 8HR and 23RBI. I guess it was a good trade after all, eh?
Minor Leaguer of The Month o85 p100 Nijel Biros has bumped his average up AGAIN to now .315 with 13HR and 88RBI. He's already ready already, but I'm going to let him work in AAA. He's an RF, and I've got someone DHing pretty well...
Other Minor League Notes
o77 p100 Ramon Mattez .286/29/95RBI
o68 p82 Vern Kershner is having a rough time now, blowing a couple saves and watching his ERA go to 4.52. He'll work it out.

Lineup Moves
Dodd returns to starting C, with Quimby Lamison moving to the bench. Dodd is an equal fielder and hitting 70 points higher...That could change in a hurry, so I'll check in weekly

Injuries
None! Hallelujah!

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
August 2008 (aka This Time it's Sorta Like June)

13-14 for the month, 73-58 overall. 20.5 behind NY in the AL East, 1.5 up on Detroit for the Wild Card. $19.5M Cash

Quimby done got himself hurt again. Dodd was beginning to lower his average, so I gave Quimby a shot and he broke his foot, so Dodd returned.

I should have known the month was bad when we didn't start with great pitching.

Highs And Lows
L: 8/1 Yankees 12, Blue jays 5. Slugfest as 5 balls leave the yard. Only one hit by Toronto (Welcome Back Delgado)
H: 8/8 It's not a pretty month, but Andy Chatham throws a nice game to win 6-2. He gives up 2 unearned runs in 8IP for the win.
H: 8/9 Jays win 3-1 on a three run shot by Vernon Wells.
Ahhh...I give up. This month is just ugly. There's not much good, and there's not much horrible enough to write about.

H: 8/20 Delgado 2000th career hit

Random Commentary
My pitching staff is woefully unbalanced. I have three great starters, a couple really good relievers, and then a bunch of Major League filler. This team does not deserve to make the playoffs, even though we might.

For example, #5 starter Bert Coggin is 10-7 with a save. This is his rookie campaign, and it's not bad, right? .278 OBA, 85/21 K/BB 12/25 Quality Starts. Not bad. His ERA is 5.45. How On Earth Is He Winning?!? Let's look at his starts this month, shall we?
8/4: TOR 6 - ANA 3, Coggin: 7IP, 5H, 2HR, 3R, 3ER 5.58
8/10: TOR 6 - SEA 11, Coggin: 3.2IP, 7H, 2R, 6R, 6ER 5.88
8/15: TOR 1 - BAL 10, Coggin: 3.0IP, 6H, 0HR, 5R, 4ER 6.03
8/25: TOR 8 - TEX 1, Coggin: 9IP, 4H, 0HR, 1R, 1ER 5.67
8/31: TOR 6 - BOS 4, Coggin: 6.2IP, 6H, 2HR, 4R, 1ER 5.45

Well, he's either on, or OFF. Note the capital letters? Yeah. In the 8/31 start, we made three errors behind him. Gross. His 99 control and 81 movement apparently isn't enough when he tries to sneak a 72 fastball by.

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month Justin Speier. It's a contract year for him. Naturally. At the beginning of the year I was thinking that $3.4M was too much. Now he wants $5.7M. He'll get it from someone else because these numbers won't show up again next year. 53G 1-0 32Sv 0.85ERA .142OBA

Player of The Month Edgardo Alfonso has been a rock all year at ~.300 He's still there, and that kind of reliability is worth his $4.9M and solid D. He gets player of the month over Carlos 'Welcome Back' Delgado and his .329/15/48 since returning to Toronto

Minor Leaguer of The Month Let's give it to 077 p100 Ramon Mattez this time. .286/35/121 is definitely going to need a home in my lineup next year.

Other Minor League Notes
o85 p100 Nijel Biros has bumped his average up YET AGAIN to now .320 with 20HR and 112RBI. He and Mattez may just have to fight for spots.
o68 p82 Vern Kershner still getting roughed up. But then, I only have three pitchers down in AAA
-I am in serious need of some AAA pitchers. I only have 3, and only one of them is a decent prospect (Kershner).

Lineup Moves
Pete Walker is slowly dying. His 6.18 ERA is no longer welcome in my Short role. He goes down to the minors to await his release at the end of the year. Everyone else moves up a notch, with Gidayu 'Remember Me?' Yoshida stepping into the Alt. spot. For those of you that don't remember Yoshida, picture the number 72 in every scouting area and a .294 career OBA. He'll sponge some innings for a while, but I'll be after pitching like crazy when the draft rolls around.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
September 2008 / October 2008 (aka June? How long ago was that?)

17-11 for the month, 90-69 overall. 22 behind NY in the AL East, 2 up on Detroit for the Wild Card. $21.5M Cash. We're playing well enough to hold on. If it weren't for two June-like months, we might even be competing with those 112-47 Yankees. Or not. Team average is at .267 (5th in AL) with ERA of 3.91 (3rd in AL). Hey! I'm a believer that we just might deserve this Wild Card! To enjoy the excitement of a two game lead with three to play, I'm going to watch our final three games (in October against the 57-102 D-Rays) and share highlights. But first...

Highs And Lows (September)
H: 9/1 Blue Jays 11, BoSox 5. Behind 5-1 after three, the Jays climb back with dribblers to tie it up with 2 in the 8th. In the 9th, Keith Foulke blows up and allows 5ER in .1IP. Mike Crudale gets the final two outs of the game, but not before Toronto tacks on the 6th run of the inning.
L: 9/2 Jays 1, BoSox 5. We couldn't stop the David Ortiz show, as he drives in all 5 runs for the Sox with a Grand Slam and a double. Andy Chatham taks the loss, giving up 5 UNEARNED runs in 6.2IP.
H: 9/5 Jays 7, Yanks 4. Welcome Back Carlos Delgado goes 3/6 2HR 4RBI and Vernon Wells 3/5 1HR 2RBI power the lineup to earn us a 2-1 series win against the Yanks. Atta boys!
L: 9/8 We drop two of three, at home, to the 68-91 Royals. Come on guys, you have to play them all. Chatham gets the only win of the series.
H: 9/12 We take two of three from the Yanks (again) which gives me great hope for the playoffs. I'm sure we'll be playing them in the first round.
H: 9/19 Back-to-back-to-back series wins! 2/3 from the Yanks, 2/3 from the Orioles, 2/3 from the Royals (take that you, you, AAA club!) and we're looking pretty good. Offense is putting up 5+ runs per game and the pitching is doing decent.
L: 9/23 Worried. I am worried. We just split a 4 game set with the D-Rays. All four games decided by a single run. It's possible that my 2 game lead is in jeopardy! Ugh.
H: 9/26 2/3 from the Indians restores a little faith that at least we can win at home.
H: 9/30 3/4 at home against the Orioles and the offense is back on track, putting up 5+ per game again. Let's kick some D-Ray butt!

10/1: Game 1 of the final three. It will be a battle of #4 starters, which concerns me. Ethan Karno is nothing to write home about. Top 1: Karno serves up a two run shot to Robert Fick. Bad Start. Bottom 1: Ozzie Friedman reaches on an error and scores on a V. Wells double. Welcome Back Delgado follows with a single and Wells is thrown out at home. TB 2 - TOR 1. Bottom 3: Delgado walks with 1 out. Edgardo Alfonzo muscles up to right. Jays 3 - Rays 2. Top 8: Robert Fick hits a solo shot off of Adam Kempner (relieved with 1 out) tied 3-3 Top 9: Bad news. Leadoff double and groundout put a runner at 3rd with 1 out. We bring the infield in, only to take the force at 1st and let the run score. Nice, guys. Rays 4 - Jays 3. Bottom 9: Can we do it? Pedro Casero (leadoff man) walks and steals second. Ozzie Friedman walks. Vernon Wells hit by pitch and the bases are loaded with nobody out. Good Start! Welcome Back Delgado K's and Edgardo Alfonso hits a fly to center. However, the CF boots it and we score two. Jays win 5-4. 3 up in the wild card, but not yet clinched. Coggin (Remember he of the high era and winning record?) serves up a run to kick off the game. Rays 1 - Jays 0. Bototm 1: I'll just tell you what happened, it's fun to read. Single. Single. Double, two runs. Single. Fly Out, one run. Fly out. Single. Single, bases loaded. Single, run. Single, two runs. K. Jays 6 - Rays 1. Top 6: Cruisin! Sean Casey double and Adam Tyner single make it Jays 6 - Rays 2. Top 7: Uh Oh. Double. Single, run. Error puts two on. Single, run. (Kempner to pitch) line-out/double-play. Single, run. K. Jays 6 - Rays 5. Worried. Bottom 8: We load the bases on a walk and two infield singles for Delgado with 2 down. He grounds out to second. Jays 6 -Rays 5. Top 9: Justin "Can't Touch This" Speier to close. Lineout. Goundout. walk. Flyout. Jays win 6-5. What's with the 1-run games?!

10/2: Game 2 of the final series. For all the marbles? Maybe.
Ahhh...I give up. This month is just ugly. There's not much good, and there's not much horrible enough to write about. The victory seals the wild card berth by three over Detroit. WooHoO!

10/3: Final Game. With the wild card locked up, I should have started someone other than Roy Halladay. Big Mistake. He wins the game 8-4 behind a Cruz Jr Grand slam, but now he's not available for the upcoming playoff game 1. Bad GM, BAD!

H: Toronto Makes the Playoffs! After four straight losing seasons, we turned it on! Money matters, baby.

Random Commentary
Let's revisit the pitching notes from last month. Here are the season ending numbers for my rotation:

Roy Halladay 14-10 3.37 224.1IP 154/48 K/BB
Andy Chatham 16-10 3.12 224.2IP 260/79 K/BB (I'm seeing the K Leader again, you?)
Zack Petrick 18-8 3.14 206.1IP 218/51 K/BB (Mr #1 still kicking rear)
Ethan Karno 8-12 4.81 200.1IP 198/112 K/BB (Not a surprising record, given the ERA)
Bert Coggin 11-8 5.25 171.1IP 103/31 K/BB (How did he do it? With an ERA like that, and he wins?)

PoTM / FarmHands
Pitcher of The Month I'm going with Zack Petrick. He's been rock-solid consistent all year. Chatham settled in as well, but Petrick is my boy, so he wins.

Player of The Month Edgardo Alfonso takes it again. He raised his average 17 points in September to finish .317/22/97 in the 5-slot. Very Nicely Spent $4.9M if you ask me.

Minor Leaguer of The Month Defensive Wizard Esteban Ortiz earned a couple cups of coffee this year, and his o76 p88 self hit .294/8/38 in AAA. I got him as a development project with stellar D (99arm 95rng 79fld) to play some OF for me, and it's looking like he'll probably make the roster next year.

Lineup Moves for the Playoffs
Larry Dodd limped through September and his average dropped to .223. He's still good defensively, but not a major difference between him and the recovered Quimby Lamison. Lamison returns to the lineup with his whopping three years of experience. He's not the same as before his injury, but I think he can do the job. Dodd will be on the bench.

In an effort to bolster the bench, Ramon Mattez and Nijel Biros replace Nick Cantor and Alano Morgovejo. Bats will be useful in the post-season, and they have good ones.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Playoffs 2008 (Psst. Don't tell anyone. We're in!)

Round 1 Pairings
Rangers (110-52)
Blue Jays (93-68)

Yankees (114-48)
White Sox (91-71)

AL Summary: I was afraid we'd draw the Yankees, but the Rangers led by Alfonso Soriano and his .347/50 (2nd consecutive HR championship) are no easy mark. Thankfully though, the White Sox will have a shot at the NY All-Star squad first. Assuming, that is, that I can somehow squeak past the Rangers.
My AL Pick: I'd love to say me, but I'm going with the Yankees.

Cubs (114-48)
Braves (95-67)

Dodgers (112-50)
Mets (99-63)

NL Summary: Cubs and Dodgers, and the rest. The Cubs did it with power. Their starting lineup averaged 25HR each. Yikes! Oh, and their starting pitcher with the highest ERA? Gil Meche at 3.29.
My NL Pick: Cubs to win it all over the Yankees. In 5.

Here we go...Round 1 begins. I messed up and let Halladay start the final game of the season, so my rotation is out of whack to start with. Not good.

Game 1 TOR 0 @ TEX 0: I'm going to need some offense, so Nijel Biros steps in to DH and bat 9th. Andy Chatham shows up huge and shuts out the vaunted Ranger sluggers over 8.2. Jays win 2-0 on a 2RBI double by Ozzie Friedman.
Game 2 TOR 1 @ TEX 0: An amazing Pitchers duel as Zack Petrick faces off against Brian Reynolds. A solo home run by Javy Lopez in the 4th is the only run of the game as both starters go all the way. Rangers win 1-0.
Game 3 TEX 1 @ TOR 1: Having planned poorly for the post-season, the Jays start Ethan Karno (#4 SP). His 3ER over 7IP are good enough to keep the game tied until the bottom of the 9th when the Jays load the bases with one out on a single, and error, and a walk. Quimby Lamison grounds to second, but Soriano boots it to let the winning run score. Jays win 4-3
Game 2 TEX 1 @ TOR 2: Are we for real? Can we win this thing? Roy Halladay, our #1 on the hill with a shot at beating the Rangers?!? Nice. Right up until he gives up 6ER in 2.1IP. Coggin relieves and serves up 5 in 3.1IP. Brandner relieves and gives up 3 in 2IP. Rangers 14 - 6. Alfonso Soriano 3HR / 7RBI. Pure Machine.
Game 2 TOR 2 @ TEX 2: Completely humbled, I now pray for luck. Andy Chatham takes the hill against Tim Hudson, in Texas. Not great odds once you factor in Soriano. Hudson get's rocked early on back-to-back-to-back shots by Wells, Delgado, and Edgardo Alfonso and it looks like the Jays are in control. 7-2 after 8, the Jays tack on two more and bring in Hendrickson to mop up. He promptly loads the bases and gives up 3 runs, forcing the call to Justin "Can't Touch This" Speier to get the final out, which he does!

JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! Unbelievable.

Yankes 3 - White Sox 1 - Yankees needed one more game than I thought, but then I also didn't think we'd beat Texas.
Cubs 3 - Braves 2 - The Braves battled, but the Cubbies were just too much.
Dodgers 3 - Mets 0 - Shameful Mets. They won 99 games in the regular season, only to get swamped.

Round 2 Pairings
Blue Jays (93-68)
Yankees (114-48)
Preview: Yankees have pitching and a serious 3,4,5,6 with Marcus Giles (33HR), Albert Pujols (35HR), A-Rod (42), and Morgan Ensberg (42). (BTW, Carlos Pena never did pick up for them, hitting .220 for the rest of the year, go me!) Add in Kyle Lohse and his 23-3 season, and we're in trouble. However, they sport two starters with 5+ ERAs, so who knows? Naw, we don't have a chance. My prediction: Yanks in ... 5. Let's win one.

Cubs (114-48)
Dodgers (112-50)
Preview: Should be entertaining, but I think the Dodgers got a lot more luck than skill this year. I pick the Cubs in 7.

Here goes nothing:
Game 1 TOR 0 @ NYY 0: Tilt. 13 runs, and extra innings. Petrick starts against Javier Vasquez, and they both exit after giving up 4ER in 3IP. The bullpens don't fare well until late in the game as we go to the 11th tied at 6. Top 11: 2outs. Vernon Wells solo shot! 7-6. Bottom 11: Speier returns to the hill for a second inning. Pujols grounds out. A-Rod doubles. Ensberg intentionally walked to set up the double play. Lance Berkman walks. Bases loaded, one out, Adam Kempner in to pitch. Keith Zahler pops up to the catcher and Chad Moeller grounds to third. Jays win 7-6. There's our one.
Game 2 TOR 1 @ NYY 0: After examining the rotation and schedule clearly, Jays determine that they have to let the #4 Ethan Karno start. All the runs score in the first four innings. Yankees win 6-2.
Game 3 NYY 1 @ TOR 1: Halladay returns to the hill against Lohse. Tied at 0 through 8, Halladay serves up one run and leaves two on for Kempner to finish it. He gives up a double, and the yanks win 3-0.
Game 4 NYY 2 @ TOR 1: Chatham starts. Ozzie Friedman hits a two-run shot to take the early lead. Yanks get 1 in the 4th and 1 in the 7th to tie. Top 9, Kempner pitching. Yanks rally for two more to win 4-2.
Game 5 NYY 3 @ TOR 1: Final Jays Home Game. Petrick vs. Vasquez rematch. Vasquez repeats with 4ER in 4IP but Petrick goes long, giving up 3ER in 7IP. Speier shuts the door. Jays win 5-3. (Hey, we won two! What a year!)
Game 6 TOR 2 @ NYY 3: And so we return to NY, having played all three home games for the cash, and beating my prediction. Ethan Karno to start again, so it's surely over. But then we score 5 in the first 3 innings. Karno holds on through 6, giving up 4ER, but Kempner and Speier close it out! Jays win 5-4
Game 7 TOR 3 @ NYY 3: We need a chant. CIN-der-ELL-ah! CIN-der-ELL-ah! CIN-der-ELL-ah! We survived Karno and send Halladay to rematch with Lohse. The duel is on! Lohse 3ER in 5IP. Halladay 2ER in 7IP. That's all she wrote. Jays win 3-2.

JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. We have no right.

Cubs 4 - Dodgers 2 - Hey, I can pick winners on occasion, but clearly not the number of games. And so we'll go against what I believe to be the best team in baseball this year, and I have little hope if any. Seriously, we've got the Cinderella thing going, but our rotation is messed up still and the Cubs are loaded for Bear. (and we're just birds!)

World Series
By virtue of All-Star glory, we get the home-field advantage. Still, I'm saying Cubs break the curse in 5.
Game 1 CHC 0 @ TOR 0: Kerry Wood (238 NL Leader) and Andy Chatham (260 AL Leader) square off in a strikeout matchup, and live up to billing. Wood sets down 6 via K and Chatham 8. However, Chatham serves up a solo home run. Cubs win 1-0.
Game 2 CHC 1 @ TOR 0: Zack Petrick vs. Matt Clement. Jays get 4 in the second to chase Clement, but Cubs nibble off Petrick all night long. He leaves with the lead (4-3) after 6, but Kempner gives one up and we go to bonus frames. Top 11: Speier comes in to pitch. Brandon Berger says Thank You and hits a solo shot. Cubs lead 5-4. Bottom 11: Strikeout. Single. Sac Bunt. Runner on second, two outs. V. Wells intentional walk. Delgado infield single. Bases loaded, two out. Ozzie Kelly (pinch hit in the 8th) singles to drive in two. Jays win 6-5.
Game 3 TOR 1 @ CHC 1: Roy Halladay vs. Carlos Zambrano. Looks like a solid matchup until Halladay chokes. Cubs win a laugher, 8-0.
Game 4 TOR 1 @ CHC 2: Andy Chatham takes the hill again, but not against Wood. I don't know why. Bullpen Alt Desiderio gets the nod and hands us 6ER in 2IP. Chatham lasts 6, striking out 7 and giving up 4ER for the win, 8-4.
Game 3 TOR 2 @ CHC 2: Oh, this is why. Zack Petrick vs. Kerry Wood. We've gone further than I figured, and Petrick is solid. I now believe we hace a chance to win. Wood crumbles and gives us 3ER in 5IP. Petrick lasts 7 shutout innings before handing it to the pen. Sadly, Kempner gives up 3R (1ER) and we go to extra innings. Top 11: Vernon Wells 2-run double seals the deal. Jays take two in Chicago! 5-3.
Game 3 CHC 2 @ TOR 3: Amazing. Leading The Series and Home Field for two more games?!? Could it be?!? Oh no. Karno vs. Matt Clement. Hank Blalock T's one off in the 2nd for a 1-0 Cubs lead. Chris Woodward RBI single in the 5th ties it up as both starters are cruising. (Karno? Cruising? Amazing.) Top 9: Karno in a jam with 1 out, Kempner comes in and strikes out the next two batters. Bottom 9: Edgardo Alfonso groundout. Chris Woodward groundout. Playoff Callup Nijel Biros (DHing) SOLO HOMER TO RIGHT!

TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!
TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!
TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!

My heavens, it's a crazy world. I need a break. Some food perhaps. I can't wait to check out those post-season stats!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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HAND OUT THE RINGS!

I neglected to mention the injufy to Jose Cruz Jr at the end of Round 1 against the Rangers. He suffered an ankle stress fracture and missed the rest of the playoffs. Esteban Ortiz came up from AAA with his stellar glove work and filled in throughout the remainder.

And now, a whole slew of Top 3 lists!

Team Batting Average
AL#1) Alfonso Soriano TEX .347
NL#1) Hank Blalock .353 (MLB#1)
1) Vernon Wells .318 (6th in AL)
2) Edgardo Alfonso .317 (7th in AL)
3) Carlos Delgado .310 (since coming over from NY)

Team OBA
AL#1) Albert Pujols NYY/Marcus Giles NYY .412
NL#1) Austin Kearns NYM .446 (MLB#1)
1) Carlos Delgado .396
2) Edgardo Alfonso .392
3) Vernon Wells .380

Team HR
AL#1) Alfonso Soriano TEX 50 (MLB#1)
NL#1) Chipper Jones ATL 47
1) Cruz Jr. 31 (Delgado also hit 31, but only 22 for us)
2) Wells 28
3) Alfonso 22

Team RBI
AL#1) Magglio Ordonez CLE 142
NL#1) Chipper Jones 154 (MLB#1)
1) Wells 107 (Delgado 107, 67 for us)
2) Alfonso 97
3) Cruz Jr 85

Hmm, sensing a trend here. My #3,4,5 hitters led the team in everything. Handy. Fortunately they all stayed healthy.

Team Wins
AL#1) Kyle Lohse NYY 23 (MLB#1)
NL#1) Bart Canton NYM 22
1) Zack Petrick 18-8 (5th in AL)
2) Andy Chatham 16-10 (9th in AL)
3) Roy Halladay 14-10
t4) Bert Coggin (SP), Adam Kempner (Setup) 11-8

Team ERA (all pitchers eligible)
AL#1) Scott Rodd CHW 2.72 (Roy Oswalt CHW #2 @ 2.80)
NL#1) Mark Mulder NYM 2.55 (MLB#1)
1) Andy Chatham 3.12 (6th in AL)
2) Zack Petrick 3.14 (7th)
3) Roy Halladay 3.37 (9th)

Saves
AL#1) Vic Rowe TEX 48 (MLB#1)
NL#1) Joe Borowski CHC 42
1) Justin Speier 38 (8th)

Team Runners/9IP
AL#1) Roy Oswalt CHW 9.75
NL#1) Bart Canton NYM 9.32 (MLB#1)
1) Zack Petrick 10.42 (4th in AL)
2) Andy Chatham 10.5 (7th)
3) Roy Halladay 10.55 (8th)

Post-Season Awards
Post-Season MVP Andy Chatham! 3-1 in 5 post-season starts, his ERA was 2.13 with a .201OBA. He was clutch when we needed him and gets the nod. Petrick put in a solid 2.78 ERA but only went 1-1.

Pitcher of The Year Petrick again with a very solid performance, but Chatham was out of his gourd this year to go 16-10. 22/33 quality starts narrowly edges Petrick's 20/33, and .218OBA was slightly better than Petrick's .237. Halladay was an animal with 26/33 quality starts, but gave up too many hits and runs to take the cake here.

Player of The Year Edgardo Alfonso is a good choice here. Signed as a free agent, he hit .317/22/97 and played Gold Glove caliber 3B. He didn't get the Gold Glove, but he get's the Toronto Player of the Year.

Minor Leaguer of The Year Based on the regular season, Nijel Biros (o85 p100) wins out with his .328/20/112 performance. Esteban Ortiz gets props for his fill-in work in the post season, hitting .284 when Cruz Jr. broke his ankle. He was a big reason we won, picking up hits in the 9 slot.

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Off - Season Preview

I've got a few guys to deal with as free agents this year:

-Vernon Wells CF (age 28 o93 p93) wants 9.9M/7, and I'm inclined to give it to him. This horribly violates my $6M per player cap, but he's a Toronto lifer if I have anything to say about it.
-Chris Woodward SS (30 o84 p84) wants 8.0M/7. This one I don't think I can swallow. .245/20/70 isn't worth that kind of cash, and his defense is starting to deteriorate when he gets hurt each year. I have nothing to replace him. I'll take my chances. NO DEAL.
-Jose Cruz Jr. RF (32 o79 p79) wants 4.8M/6. His average is bad (.240 career). His power is good (31HR). His fielding is stellar (4 straight Gold Gloves). However, he's deteriorating and I have some quality young outfielders. NO DEAL.
-Ethan Karno #4SP (32 o72 p72) wants 2.1M/2. I'm stuck. I have no depth in the bullpen, and he can soak up innings.
-Justin Speier CL (33 o81 p81) wants 5.7M/5. He had a monster year, but it was way out of normal and he's 33. Time to walk. NO DEAL
-Mark Hendrickson RP (32 o67 p67) wants 1.0M/4. Another guy who had a career year. I need depth.
-Nick Brandner RP (23 o66 p69) wants 310k/2. He did an admirable job for his skills, and can stick around for cheap.
-Pete Walker RP (37 o56 p56) wants 300k/2. Uh, no. Go coach Little League.

Next Post...Free Agent Time and the Minor Leagu Draft. In which I desperately seek a Shortstop and some Bullpen Help.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Off Season Madness

I drew 3.6M fans last year, first time we've cleared 3M, and we blew it away. As such, I'll do my best Seattle Mariner impersonation and jack up the ticket prices for this year. League average is at $23.37, so my $16.25 is way low. I'm now up to $18. Concessions and TV are left alone for this year.

I'm a little put off about winning The Series this past season. I had certainly figured it would take longer. However, since there's a very minimal chance of repeating this year...we'll play on.

Free Agent Transactions
SIGNED: Vernon Wells extended at 9.9M/7. Blue Jay for Life.
RELEASED: Chris Woodward and his 8.0M/6 demands.
RELEASED: Jose Cruz Jr. All power and glove. I've got prospects that need to play.
SIGNED: Ethan Karno to 2.1M/2 extension. I need someone to soak up innings in my hurting bullpen.
RELEASED: Justin Speier and his 5.7M/4 demand. He played out of his gourd last year, but he's starting to decline.
SIGNED: Mark Hendrickson to 1.2M/2 extension. Merely for bullpen depth.
SIGNED: Nick Brandner to 310k/2 extension. He's young and I need pitching.
RELEASED: Pete Walker. At age 38, he's not even worth the 300k/2 he's asking.

This leaves me pretty shy of pitching, with only one guy in AAA. I'm also now lacking in the ShortStop department, with only Donaldo Mendez (o74 p74) to play the spot. He's average all around, but I'd like some better 'D' there.

I have only 6 players on the roster making more than the ML Minimum, and they make a combined $34M. Crazy. This is a free agent year for Halladay who's currently asking 7.7M/7 at age 30. Pedro Casero (o81 p89) is now asking for 4.1/2. I'm afraid Halladay is going to start slipping soon, but Cassero is going to be in the lineup for a long time.

EXTENDED: Pedro Cassero signs a 5.0/7 extension. I believe he has what it takes to seal up Gold Gloves for a century, and his bat is starting to really come around with great contact and speed.
EXTENDED: Roy Halladay signs a 8.0/7 extension. He'll now be a Blue Jay until he turns 37. I'm rolling the dice that he's got the years left. Time will tell.

That leaves me with no free agents coming up next year, and the extension actually lowers the bill for Halladay by 1.9M this year. However, the penalty may be steep, as Woodward is the only half way decent SS available in Free Agent Land. I'll be drafting for pitching depth and a good SS prospect, if at all possible.

Minor League Draft Preview
Top 10 by Scouting Assessment (My scouts are +-0, so a good way to sort!)
1) Joe Hilt SP o83 p93 - All around decent with crazy movement.
2) Ross Curtin SP o82 p92 - 19yrs old and 141lbs, you can imagine he's a control/movement pitcher.
3) Wyatt Gibleski RP o81 p91 - Fastball hits 100
4) Marcus Boland RP o81 p91 - Wyatt's long lost American twin. pwr100
5) Armando Ordillas SP o80 p92 - Very strong arm with good control and movement. My pick for the best pitcher in the crop.
6) Reginal Flaherty RF o76 p93 - All around average with great Defense and Contact. He'll bat high in the order.
7) Upton Phipps SP o79 p90 - high 90s control and power says he's going to be a star.
8) Tony Helson SP o77 p89 - a little softer than Phipps, but still very solid
9) Lucas Doonan RP o78 p86 - high 90s heat in the pen, and the best name in the draft. DOONAN!
10) Bobby Hogan RP o70 p87 - right behind Doonan in the race for setup man

My Draft Picks
Overall (Team) Description
#24(1) o59 p82 Luis Rozadilla SS: 23yrs old, 5'8", 186lbs, he's built to be an Omar Vizquel type defensive shortstop, but he'll need time to iron out the kinks.
#50(2) o53 p75 Bill Klotz SS: 21, 6'5", 215lbs. He's the tallest available and the fastest. If he can swing the stick someday, he may just crack the lineup.
#76(3) o58 p77 Grady Driessen SP: 24, 5'6", 134. He's tiny, but phenomenal control. Think Shigetoshi Hasegawa when he's good. He's got the endurance to be a 4 or 5 starter. Someday.
#102(4) o59 p71 Cy Presto SP: 26, 5'9", 145. Another lightweight with great control. He'll need time for certain.
#128(5) o55 p68 Corey Farrar SP: 19, 6'7", 213. Reminds me of me after High School. Wicked tall and out of control. Below average, but healthy. Maybe someday he might mop up some innings.
#154(6) o50 p69 Bill Potter RP: 20, 6'1", 179. First things first, I'll re-name him Harry. Then I'll watch him wallow in AAA for a few years and trade or release him.

My Amazing Farm System
Ok, so the draft has just now completed, and I decide to check my roster. Here's some interesting notes about my new guys:
Luis Rozadilla: One day in my AAA system, and his peak is now 87. His 7.5 scout rating is identical to the guy I have starting. Still, I must try to be patient.
Bill Klotz: Peak upped to 79. I love my minor league instructors!
Grady Driessen: Peak +2 to 79. Still, he's got a ways to go.
Cy Presto: What a great name. Seriously. Great. Peak +1 now that he's on my roster.
Corey Farrar: Peak went up 3 to 71.
Harry Potter: I told you I'd change his name. Peak up to 71.

Next Post...I take a quick cruise through the Free Agent market and then set up my roster for Spring Training.

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Pre Season Moves

Feeling a lack of confidence about the lack of depth in my bullpen, I hit the free agent market just after the draft to see what was there. And what was there was:

Kazuhiro Sasaki RP: 40yrs old, but still throwing 94 with average control and movement. Rental Depth for 700k/1 and may very well be in the bullpen to start the season.
Andrew Lokam RP: o70 p75 28yrs old. 610k/1yr. Drafted two years ago in the 4th round, 117 overall by the Cubs, he was released two years later and picked up by Anaheim. After a year in AAA, he was given a two year extension, then released after the minor league draft. He's got above average stuff, and I believe that with a chance to play in the bigs he can prove his worth.

Kaz and Andrew will be the first two to see action out of AAA in the bullpen, as everyone else needs time to get ready.

On the line-up side of things, I am a bit overstocked with quality young outfielders. I may be making a move for a Short Stop in the first few months of the season. Ramon Mattez, he of the 50 oz. Home Run Hitting Bat, is getting his shot to hit in the bigs and will be my DH. He displaces Quentin Lawrence who hit .284 last year with speed. If Mattez swings the stick and my other outfielders hold up, Lawrence should bring a nice prospect in return.

Start Of The Season Awards Show
AL Cy Young is Stan Chavez. Drafted #47 overall in 2006 he has steadily improved and put up a 2.99 ERA with a 19-2 record for the White Sox last year.

AL MVP: Marcus Giles who hit .307 with 33HR and 129 RBI for the Yankees. His career average is now at .314 and he is probably the #1 2B in the game.

AL ROY: Kansas City SS Will O'Leary (Man, did they pluck him off the farm, or what?) hit .277 with 7HR and 42RBI. Couple that with outstanding Defense and he was a good choice.

NL Cy Young: Bart Canton NYM was drafted #2 back in 2005, and has improved every year since. His 22-6 2.64 campaign in 2008 is the mark by which his future will be measured. He's 62-37 3.28 career, and only 22!

NL MVP: Austin Kearns NYM .337/37/139 was a powerhouse year and nearly identical to last year when he narrowly missed MVP. His reward? a 14.4M/7 contract extension.

NL ROY: Virgil Fatalevich MON hit .316/9/63 after being selected #12 overall this year. At 24, he's just nearing his prime as a Catcher.

Starting Lineup
POS Name Age O/P Spring
LF Pedro Cassero 25 81/89 - .316
2B Ozzie Friedman 26 87/87 - .297
CF Vernon Wells 29 93/93 - .306/3/19
1B Carlos Delgado 35 87/87 - .289/4/17
3B Edgardo Alfonzo 34 81/81 - .305/3/13
RF Nijel Biros 27 85/98 - .380/4/13
DH Ramon Mattez 24 77/96 - .280/3/20
SS Donaldo Mendez 29 74/74 - .229
C Quimby Lamison 25 81/81 - .296/1/13

Pitching Rotation
Slot Name O/P Spring
1 Roy Halladay 93/93 2-3 6.02
2 Andy Chatham 93/93 0-0 5.13
3 Zack Petrick 95/96 0-1 6.39
4 Ethan Karno 71/71 2-0 3.18
5 Bert Coggin 71/75 0-1 7.94

CL Andrew Lokam 0-0 4.22 0/2sv -a solid enough spring to try the closer spot
SU Adam Kempner 78/81 1-0 4.00
SH Jeremy Andrew 72/78 0-0 4.50 3/3sv
MR Mark Hendrickson 66/66 0-1 4.94
LR Nick Brandner 66/69 0-2 5.50
ALT Gidayu Yoshida 65/65 1-1 5.09

AAA Notables
CF Esteban Ortiz 76/83 - .286/1/12
RP Lucas Ambarian 63/71 0-1 5.73
RP Kaz Sasaki 65/65 0-1 3.55 3/4sv
RP Vern Kershner 68/80 0-1 5.12 2/2sv
RP Harry Potter 50/71 1-0 3.52

Next Post...the 2009 season begins!

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
Almost April 2009

Before the season gets underway, Let's take a quick look at the team ratings, shall we?
Area: Rating (Ranking/AL Average)
Batting: 79 (2nd/73)
Lineup: 85 (2nd/85)
Rotation: 87 (1st/80)
Bullpen: 50 (LAST in the AL, tied with Montreal for LAST IN MLB!/74)
Bench: 75 (3-way tie for 8th in AL/75)
Pitching: 69 (8th/79)
Defense: 98 (t-3rd/87)
Overall: 79 (t-4th/79)

AAA Batting: 84 (2nd-to-last/100)
AAA Pitching: 77 (3rd-to-last/100)
AAA Defense: 80 (2nd-to-last/91)
AAA Overall: 81 (2nd-to-last/98)

Hmm. All in all, I'm concerned. I've got a good lineup and starting rotation, but then it all falls apart. Based on those assessments, I feel that this is not going to be a stellar year. And so...

2009 Predictions
Finish 3rd in the AL East, 15 games out behind NYY and BOS.
82-80 record
Ramon Mattez will spend the year in AAA
Quentin Lawrence will be traded for young talent
Esteban Ortiz will be DHing and will hit .300
I will draft in the top 15 next year.

And now, we play!
First, I make the Ramon Mattez prediction come true. He's at 77/96, and I don't want to ruin his potential. If the year's shaping up this way, he can have a year in AAA.

Next, I turn in the first trade of the year and send Quentin Lawrence (OF), Tad Siefker (1B), and Harry Potter (P) to Houston for Ted McClellin (SP).

Lawrence is a 3rd or 4th OF, Siefker and Potter were 5th and 6th round picks that were just sucking up money and filling space. In return, I get McClellin (o67/p77) who was drafted #47 overall this year. He's young and healthy (89) with average to above average stuff all around. After the year Coggin had, I need a new #5. McClellin will start the year in AAA, but is likely to be called up by mid-season to take over for Coggin or Ethan Karno.

And the last thing I do before the games begin...Vernon Wells will DH, and Esteban Ortiz will start in CF. Why? These numbers: 79/93/85/75 vs. 99/95/79/93. The first is Wells, the second is Ortiz. The numbers? Arm/Range/Fielding/Health. Welcome to the bigs, Gold Glove Ortiz!

Also, I'm switching to the smaller font because I think it's easier to read...Let me know if not.

Next Post...April 2009 Results

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Actual April 2009

We're off and running, and right on track for a .500 year.

Record this month: 11-12 (4th -5)
Team Average: .304
Team ERA: 5.16
Runs Scored/Game: 131/5.6
Runs Allowed/Game: 132/5.7
Current Pythagorean Record: 11-12 (exactly on track)

The team is doing a great job of hitting, which I certainly had hoped for. The Yankees, with their 97 Lineup rating, are hitting .324 to lead the division, but the AL average is just .269, so we're well ahead of that curve.

Unfortunately, that's not the only curve that matters, as our ERA is 0.50 higher than league average. Our Defensive average is at .670, slightly off the average of .687, so perhaps that's the extra couple of runs...though our .980 fielding percentage is right on the average. ANYHOW, there's plenty of evidence to support the fact that we're about a .500 team right now.

Here's how the month went down:
H 4/1: No April Fool, Nijel Biros hits a two-run blast in his first AB of the 2009 season. Behind a quality start from Halladay and HRs from LF Pedro Cassero and 2B Ozzie Friedman, the Jays coast to an 8-3 opening win.
L 4/2: Lest we forget that we're supposed to be a .500 team this year...we serve up 19 runs on 23 hits, all in the last 5 innings to lose 19-4.
H 4/8: Zack Petrick shuts down the Indians on 6 hits (1ER) in a complete game 11-1 victory.
L 4/11: After Mr #1s fine performance, we promptly drop 3 straight, featuring never having the lead. Ouch.
H 4/12: In his second start of the season, both against the Yankees, Andy Chatham achieves redemption, allowing 1ER in 8IP for a 6-3 win.
L 4/15: After Chatham's fine performance, we forget how to pitch, as the bullpen blows two of the next three, even though we lose all three. Apparently that '50' rating for the bullpen is pretty accurate.
H 4/19: At least we can beat the Orioles. 18-7 featuring 7 doubles and not a single home run. Nice! This game completes a four game road series, in which we take three.
H 4/21: Riding a wave of Oriole-clubbing, we take the next two against the Indians. Starters continue to do well, but the bullpen is on shaky timbers.
L 4/22: Unable to take advantage of 3 Indians errors, we lose 4-1. Three home runs provided all of the scoring in a game that saw only 8 hits.
H 4/23: After 10 games on the road without a day off, we return home for three against the Baltimore WhippingBoys. Baltimore, you remember Zack Petrick? Yes, he'll be throwing a complete game shutout tonight allowing only 3 hits. Thank You.
L 4/30: After taking 2/3 from the Orioles and the next game against the Mariners, we drop two to the Ms and one to the Royals. Sad, sad, sad, sad.

It's absolutely crystal clear that the bullpen is killing me. Bright spots are few and far between out there.

Just for kicks, here's the pitching staff:
pos name record era innings
1 Roy Halladay 2-1 3.34 29.2
2 Andy Chatham 1-4 4.64 33.0
3 Zack Petrick 2-1 2.65 34.0
4 Ethan Karno 2-2 7.14 29.0
5 Bert Coggin 1-3 5.31 20.1

CL Andrew Lokam 0-1 6/7sv 6.10 10.1
SU Adam Kempner 0-0 4.66 9.2
SH Jeremy Andrew 1-0 6.75 14.2
MR Mark Hendrickson 2-1 4.05 13.1
LR Nick Brandner 0-0 10.54 13.2
ALT Gidayu Yoshida 0-0 8.00 9.0

It's just that bad. Karno and Coggin continue to be off and on, and there are serious issues in the pen. That being the case, it's time for a couple moves.

1) Kazuhiro Sasaki returns to major league duty as my short man, bumping everyone down a notch.
2) Nick Brandner drops down to AAA, as does Gidayu Yoshida.
3) Ted McClellin takes Ethan Karno's spot in the rotation. Karno drops to the alternate spot.
4) In the lineup, Vernon Wells moves from DH to RF, and Nijel Biros will DH for a while to give us a defensive upgrade.

Finally, the April Awards!

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Zack Petrick is continuing to show that he's the real staff ace, even from 3rd in the rotation. In 5 starts, he has 4 quality starts and a 2-1 record to go with his 2.65 ERA.

Player of the Month: Nijel Biros 86/98 is hitting .385 with 2HR and 14RBI from the #7 slot. He moves up to #2 in front of Vernon Wells to produce some more runs.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: Vern Kershner 68/80 (drafted in the second round in 2008) is off to a solid start with a 2.82ERA .173 OBA and 3SV in 11 games down on the farm. He will probably see the Bigs this year.

Other Roster Notes:
1B Ramon Mattez 77/96 was hitting .316/1/5 off the bench in 17 ABs before being returned to AAA.
LF Nick Cantor 68/80 is hitting .304, well above expectations in AAA.
C Quimby Lamison 81/81 is hitting .391 in the 9 spot with 20 RBI. Here's hoping he can keep healthy this year.
SS Donaldo Mendez 74/74 is performing well above expectations with a .306 and 15 runs scored in the 8 spot.

Next Post...We find out if a few tweaks to the roster can produce a winning month in May. I'm predicting 3 more wins than losses.

[pogue_mahorsey]

=================================================================
Busted Up May 2009

After a dull grey cloud of a start, we break through April. Too literally. Many injuries this month, but somehow we improved?!?

Zack Petrick missed 17 days when he fractured his hand on April 15th (**** Tax Day! Lucas Ambarian fills in)
Bert Coggin missed 15 days when he busted up a finger on April 21st (Gidayu Yoshida takes #5 slot)
Roy Halladay missed 5 days with a sprain
Kaz Sasaki sprained something in his 1.1 IP and had to be replaced for a week by Vern Kershner.
C Quimby Lamison missed 3 days with elbow inflammation, then played one, then missed three more for the same reason.

Record this month: 16-11 (t2nd -10.5)
Team Average: .294 (down .010 from last month)
Team ERA: 4.83 (down .30 from last month)
Runs Scored/Game: 277/5.4 (down .1/game)
Runs Allowed/Game: 260/5.0 (down .7/game)
Current Pythagorean Record: 27-24 (exactly on track, still)
Pyth Projected Finish: 86-76

The hitting continues, with most everyone at the .300 mark or nearby. Leadoff man Pedro Casero is only hitting .269 with a .338OBA, so DH Nijel Biros .310/.378 takes over and Casero moves to 7th. Rookie CF Esteban Ortiz to 2nd, batting .302/.377.

The bullpen is settling in a little, to more reasonable ERAs, though they're still around 5, led by Andrew Lokam (rent-a-closer) at 3.54 with 12/14 saves.

Here's how the month went down:
H 5/2: The first two games of the month go 11 innings, and we split them with the Royals. The offense overcame the pitching of Bert Coggin, only to fail Roy Halladay in the second game.
L 5/6: We drop 2/3 in Seattle in a series of close games. The defense is starting to play better at last, and now we need some hits to go our way to turn up the wins.
L 5/9: we drop 2/3 in Texas. Carlos Delgado is off to a very streaky start, hitting .232, but with 8HR and 3 multi-HR games. Once he turns it on, look out!
H 5/13: Carlos Delgado has now homered in 5 consecutive games as we sweep the Athletics in Toronto.
H 5/14: Delgado goes deep in game #6 as we trounce the Rangers 14-4.
L 5/15: Delgado shut down for two straight games as we lose 5-1 and 12-1 to the rangers.
L 5/18: Delgado goes deep again, but we lose 9-5 in Oakland as Lucas Ambarian throws BP filling in for the injured Zack Petrick.
H 5/23: Jays crank up the run-scoring machine as we take 5 straight on the road against Oakland and Anaheim. Delgado now has 13HR
L 5/25: In a heartbreaker, the D-Rays snap our winning streak 4-3.
H 5/27: But, revenge is ours as we start a new streak, taking the next two games 6-5 and 11-3.
L 5/30: It's a bad idea to send replacement pitchers to the mound in Yankee stadium. We struggle valiantly, but the New York AllStars take two of three, 8-3, 3-4, 4-3.
H 5/31: To cap the month, we back Roy Halladay with 5 runs and beat the D-Rays for the third consecutive time.

It's months like this that give me hope. We were a Cinderella team last year, and rode our starters all the way, but can they hold up two years in a row? That will be the question.

After a poor April, Delgado cranked it up in May and is now hitting .282 with 14HR and 43RBI

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Injuries limited Petrick to two starts this month, and opened the door for Roy Halladay. 5-2 3.63 and 8/10 quality starts so far this year.

Player of the Month: With Biros' average dropping to .310, we're going with MadMan Delgado! Raising your average 15 points and working your way up to 5th in the HR race will get you some hardware. So let it be written.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: While Kershner continues to pitch well in AAA, it's an easy call to give this to 1b Ramon Mattez. He makes it very hard to keep him in AAA by raising his o/p to 83/100 while hitting .327/6/24. Sadly, there's no room for him upstairs, as I have four quality OFs taking up the outfield and DH slots, then Delgado at 1B. For now, he waits and improves in AAA. Did I mention 95 power? He should be good for 40+ in AAA if he sits there all year.

Other Roster Notes:
1B Ramon Mattez 77/96 was hitting .316/1/5 off the bench in 17 ABs before being returned to AAA.
LF Nick Cantor 66/95 is hitting .281 (his peak is up 15 points!)
C Quimby Lamison 81/81 has returned to planet Earth with a .297 avg
SS Donaldo Mendez 74/74 is performing well above expectations with a .309 and 28 runs scored in the 8 spot. How?!? Definitely the surprise of the year so far.
P Ted McClellin is 2-2 with 4.81 ERA since replacing Karno. With a little more experience, he may be worth his trade bait.

Next Post...Can we stay healty and keep winning games? Which of my 4 OFs will falter and make room for Mr. Mattez? Ah, the excitement of June...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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June 2009

June 19th: Roy Halladay goes down with a pulled groin and will miss two weeks. Ethan Karno returns to the rotation from the Alt slot, and Vern Kershner moves into the Alt role to get some Major League innings.

Record this month: 14-11 (2nd -15.5)
Overall Record: 41-35
Team Average: .289 (down .005 from last month)
Team ERA: 4.50 (down .33 from last month)
Runs Scored/Game: 396/5.2 (down .2/game)
Runs Allowed/Game: 367/4.8 (down .2/game)
Current Pythagorean Record: 41-35 (exactly on track, still...after three months)
Pyth Projected Finish: 87-75 (+1 from last month)

Hitting holds up, though runs fell a little. Pitching is keeping pace and the net result is a slightly improving record as the year progresses. Biggest surprises at this point in the season? SS Donaldo Mendez whom I expected to hit .250 and play average defense is hitting .294 and holding his own at short. Rookie CF Esteban Ortiz is doing a great job in the 2 hole, hitting .287 with .364 OBP. He's a defensive star and has already scored 50 runs, second on the team to Vernon Wells' 51.

On the pitching side, surprisingly good Kazuhiro Sasaki has a 2.52 ERA in short relief and rental player Andrew Lokam has 17 saves (2 blown)

Here's how the month went down:
H 6/5: Solid pitching and timely hitting get us off to four straight wins to start June over the D-Rays and Anaheim.
H 6/10: Proof once again that the Rockies can't hit outside of Coors Field, we take two of three and outscore them 20-5. Only a well-pitched game two allowed them a victory.
L 6/13: Roy Halladay and Andrew Chatham explode in back-to-back slaughters at the hand of the Giants in interleague play 9-2, 11-7. Zack Petrick recaptures a little respect with a complete game 6-0 shutout to take the rubber match.
L 6/17: Coggin and Halladay serve up another pair of close losses 5-4, 4-2 in LA. Andrew Chatham does one better in a 2-1 victory to take the rubber match. Clearly it will take great pitching to take down the Dodgers this year.
H 6/20: If you're ever feeling bad, just head to San Diego. We sweep the Padres aside, 10-6, 4-1, 5-0 as Coggin goes 8IP in the finale.
H 6/24: And the D-Rays are pretty good for a shot in the arm too, we take 2/3 in Tampa behind 24 runs over the three games.
L 6/27: Lest we get cocky, the Phillies remind us that you have to score to win, as they come to Toronto and issue us a three game sweep, 6-5, 4-2, 5-1.
L 6/29: To continue our recent woe, the Orioles issue a 10-1 drubbing.
H 6/30: Finally, we get off the losing streak with a 5-4 12th inning victory as Wells, Delgado, and Alfonso string together three straight hits to put the winning run across.

Off to a great start, then took a bit of a dip once Halladay went down. Still, we beat up on the little guys and played the big guys close. That's a good way to make the playoffs, if we keep it up.

Minor lineup change: Gidayu Yoshida returns to the Alt role after pitching well (as well as he ever has, 5.15ERA) in AAA so that Vern Kershner can return to more active duty in AAA.

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Petrick is on fire, but we're going with Old Man Sasaki. His 2.52 ERA in 25IP has led him to a 3-0 record from the short relief role. Nice pitching for a 40 year old 700k player.

Player of the Month: Vernon Wells is now hitting .330/12/47 and leads the team in runs scored with 51. Thankfully he's only 29, and not slowing down any time soon, even if I do have him playing RF these days.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: Mattez would be the easy choice again with .311/11/48, and I'm picking him. Done.

Other Roster Notes:
1B Ramon Mattez 83/100 was hitting .316/1/5 off the bench in 17 ABs before being returned to AAA, and was 76/93 last month.
LF Nick Cantor 66/95 is hitting .293 (his peak is up 15 points since the start of the year)
I have no future in the AAA bullpen, at least none within the next year or two. Not good.

Contract Extensions:
Ozzie Thurmond SS Bench - Given another year at 300k to fill the spot or be traded.

Andrew Lokam RP - signed to get some bullpen depth, he's been a good closer in this, his rookie year. He's earned a two-year extension at 910k, even if he doesn't stick in the closer role.

Next Post...This Time It Counts! How many Jays will make the All-Star Roster? Will I trade my wonderful outfield depth for pitching depth?...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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July 2009

Record this month: 15-13 (2nd -16)
Overall Record: 56-48
Team Average: .293 (up .006 from last month)
Team ERA: 4.51 (up .01 from last month)
Runs Scored/Game: 550/5.2 (no change)
Runs Allowed/Game: 502/4.8 (no change)
Current Pythagorean Record: 56-48 (exactly on track, still...after FOUR months)
Pyth Projected Finish: 88-74 (+1 from last month)

Here's how the month went down:
Bert Coggin and Zack Petrick went down with shoulder issues for two weeks each. Having two starters out really exploits the weakness in my bullpen. We were playing .500 ball this month heading into the All-Star Weekend.

All Star Game
We send Zack Petrick (who got hurt pitching in relief) and Carlos Delgado to the bench. Decent, but Vernon Wells deserved a little more respect than he got. The Yankees sent their entire starting infield, again.

Home Run Derby: The Yankees infield were all there, but it was A-Rod who held up the longest, beating Todd Helton 3-1 in the final.

Trade Time
Like they said in the Wild West days of old, 'When in doubt, pull the trigger'...so right after the All-Star break, I go to town shopping for some bullpen improvements. No big blockbusters for a future Cy Young, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I just couldn't part with my Outfield, or with Carlos Delgado.

Trade Time
To San Francisco Giants SP Ethan Karno 71/71 33yrs old 2.1M/2 + $1M
To Toronto RP Jose Nascimento 75/75 22yrs old 300k/5
The Breakdown Karno was chewing up salary as well as space. He was being used as an Alt, or filling in for injured starters. Nascimento is going to be a great middle/short relief man for me, he's got above average control and power, and he's young. For now, he'll move to middle relief.

Signed Free Agent Jaime Dobson In need of bullpen depth? Go to the free agent market and get a decent pitcher for 300k/yr. Always nice. He'd been released by Anaheim in January, and with above average control and power to go with 88 movement? I'll take a shot at o69/p75 being worth 300k. He replaces Nick Brandner as my Alt.

To Los Angeles Dodgers RP Vern Kershner (o71 p82 $300k/5), SP Corey Farrar (o55 p71 $300k/6), $2M
To Toronto RP Wyatt Gibleski (o82 p92 $300k/6) - after the trade, he upped to o84!
The Breakdown Vern Kershner was my closer of the future. Wyatt Gibleski is the closer of RIGHT NOW. His 100 power made him the #6 overall draft pick this year, then he was traded to LA and stuck in AAA. Now he's ready, and Kershner still needed time. Farrar is a long ways from useful, and was likely trade bait anyhow. It took $2M to even out the deal, even though LA is one of the richest teams in baseball. Instant improvement to a bullpen that has been improving all year. Dobson moves down to AAA, Gibleski takes over as closer, Sasaki to setup man, Andrew Lokam to short relief.

League-Wide Trade Highlights...all one of them
To San Francisco Giants P Gidayu Yokota, RF Raul Mondesi, C Mike Piazza, 1B Reggie Burgess, 3B Luis Acuoa
To Seattle Mariners P Jason Shiell, P Jonathon Kirchner
The Breakdown Seattle gets a couple of decent relief pitchers. San Fran picks up Reggie Burgess, a decent power hitting 1B without much else to speak of, Yokota is a decent relief prospect, and the other three are filler. Winner? Seattle dumps some aging has-beens and gets some useful relief pitching for the second-half push...even though they're 13.5 behind Texas and in last place in the AL West. But then, San Fran is 24 games out, so who cares?

After all the trades and signings, my bullpen rating is up to 56, so we definitely got better. We're relying on some young and old arms out there, but I think they can get us to the wild card. We currently have a 1 game lead over Oakland for that.

And after the bullpen improvements, we went 9-7 to finish out the month. The offense exploded for 11 runs in four straight games against the Red Sox, and we mixed in a couple of shutouts. Apologies for the lack of detail in this month's breakdown, but I'm heading out to lunch soon. :)

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Roy Halladay stayed healthy this month, and has improved to 4.30 9-4. Petrick has missed too much of the month to take it this time around.

Player of the Month: Vernon Wells is now hitting .345/17/74 and leads the team in runs scored with 70. He's tearing through the league right now, absolutely amazing.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: You pick. it won't be hard.

Other Roster Notes:
1B Ramon Mattez 83/100 continues to hit very well in AAA, and will definitely be in the lineup next year, I think. Probably.
LF Nick Cantor 66/95 is hitting .299 but his peak took a major dive down to 79. Not sure what's up with that...
AAA Pitching continues to be bad. I'll continue to chase down prospects this offseason.

Next Post...After shoring up the bullpen a bit, can we push all the way to Wild Card Winner status? August will have a lot to say about that...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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August 2009

Record this month: 16-12 (2nd -21)
Overall Record: 72-60 (Wildcard leader by 3)
Team Average: .295 (up .002 from last month)
Team ERA: 4.36 (down .15 from last month)
Runs Scored/Game: 702/5.3 (+.1 since last month)
Runs Allowed/Game: 618/4.6 (-.2 since last month)
Current Pythagorean Record: 74-58 (Apparently we were a bit unlucky this month, as this finally differs from our actual record)
Pyth Projected Finish: 91-71 (+3 from last month)

Our pitching continues to improve while our batting holds strong. The combination continues to improve our projected record, and we're looking much better than I would have thought to start the year. Young pitchers are performing well, as the bullpen is improving every day.

Here's how the month went down:
L 8/1: Stupid D-Rays win 4-3. It's a good game, but we lost and that's not a good way to start the month.
H 8/5: Thanks Mariners! Three straight wins is a good way to make up for the game against the D-Rays. Chatham, Petrick, and the surprising Bert Coggin each go 7+ and give up 1 run.
H 8/8: The BoSox snapped our win streak with a 7-2 win, but we returned the favor two days later with a whopping 16-1 thrashing!
H 8/12: Three straight wins in Anaheim, and we're looking good. Last months trades and pitching changes are showing, as our team ERA continues to drop.
L 8/15: And I spoke too soon. The offense takes three days off against the Rangers, 8-3, 1-0, 6-1.
H 8/19: Not to dwell on our suffering, we blow out the Twins in Minnesota, 12-0, then split two more for a series win.
L 8/22: We return from Minnesota for three games at home against the A's and drop 2 of three. No travel day to get home beforehand, but we won the first game 12-5.
H 8/26: No travel day to get to Detroit, but it doesn't slow us down as we split the series, 5-4, 2-3, 1-5, 5-4.
L 8/29: And then to Boston, where we drop two of three. A very poor end to the month.
H 8/31: We go out on a slugging, winning, run-scoring note, beating Detroit 11-8 in Toronto. Delgado hits a 2-run job, his 11th HR of the month, including his 1500th RBI.

Zack Petrick has earned #1 starter status, as Halladay is slipping a bit. Petrick to #1, Halladay to #3. If I make the change now, perhaps the rotation will work out in time for the playoffs I hope to make. :)

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Zack Petrick puts together a solid month, lowering his team-leading era to 2.55 with a 12-4 record and 18/22 quality starts. Wyatt Gibleski 2.91ERA in 11 appearances. 4/5 in save opportunities. Tough call. Gibleski, you're new. You can win it later. The winner, and still champion, Petrick.

Player of the Month: Nijel Biros hitting .294/13 with .394OBP in leadoff, not bad. Carlos Delgado hitting .277/37 with 11HR this month, not bad. Edgardo Alfonso hitting .317/16, not bad. This month's winner: Vernon Wells. After going nuts last month, he did it again. He's now hitting .340/23/98. Oh good lord, will he ever stop? I hope not.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: We're not giving the award this month, because Mattez has no more room on his shelf for trophies. He's hitting .313 with 23HR down there. Yep, in the lineup next year. Almost for sure. Mostly.

Other Roster Notes:
It's Mattez, Cantor, and a surprising Jerry Thornhill (C o65 p76) hitting .289 in what may be a career year for him).
AAA Pitching continues to be bad. I'll continue to chase down prospects this offseason.
Jaime Dobson and Nick Brandner have ERAs at 4.20, but then they're all at 4.8 or over. Ouch.

Next Post...We have a 3 game lead for the wild card, and the rotation needs to straighten out, can we hold on? Will VW continue to hit better as the season continues? Will Delgado crack 50?...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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September/October 2009 (aka The Playoff Push)

Record this month: 18-12 (2nd -20)
Overall Record: 90-72 (Wildcard Winner by 5)
Team Average: .294 (-.001 from last month)
Team ERA: 4.42 (+.06 from last month)
Runs Scored/Game: 877/5.4 (+.1 since last month)
Runs Allowed/Game: 771/4.7 (+.1 since last month)
Current Pythagorean Record: 91-71 (gaining one of those unlucky games back!)
Pyth Projected Finish: 91-71 (same as last month)

Some injuries slowed down our pitching staff this month, as Gibleski stretched an ankle and missed two weeks. In his absense, Super-Rental-Setup-Guy Kaz Sasaki racked up 4 saves.

Here's how the month went down:
L 9/1: Ouch. Tigers 15, Jays 3. Andy Chatham serves up 5 gopher balls, and that's all she wrote.
L 9/3: After that drubbing, we drop the next two, one each to the Tigers and D-Rays. Not a good way to start a playoff push!
H 9/5: Petrick/Gibleski and Chatham/Lokam put together a couple of fine pitching tandems to take two from the D-Rays, 2-1, 4-3.
L 9/9: Yanks come to town. Halladay touched up in an 8-3 game 1 loss. Coggin fantastic in 8-2 win. Delgado hits #40 & 41 in a 15-6 rout. Yanks and Kyle Lohse pour through five Blue Jay pitchers to even the four game set by a score of 8-2.
H 9/15: After splitting at home with the yanks, we win 5/6 on the road against the D-Rays and Royals, by an average score of 9-3. Fun!
L 9/19: And then we drop 2/3 to the Orioles. I hate the Orioles. Our wild-card lead is 1 game.
H 9/23: We win 2/3 at home against the BoSox. That'll cheer me up. +2 in the wild card race.
H 9/26: We take 2/3 from the Orioles in Baltimore to get a little self respect back. +3 in the wild card, as the White Sox are fading fast.
H 9/30: Three straight, capped by a 2-0 Bert Coggin CG shutout and we're +4 in the wild card race, officially clinching with three games remaining. I'm glad I promoted Coggin to #4 starter, as he's doing much better with regular outings.
L 10/3: We finish with three in Boston, and Pedro shuts us out in the season finale as we drop 2/3. We Win The Wild Card by 5!

Time to revisit my 2009 Predictions
1) Finish 3rd: FAIL - we're 2nd :)
2) Finish 15 games out: FAIL - we're 20 out, but 16 better than Boston, who finishes 74-88 this year.
3) 82-80 record: at 91-71, we beat this by 9. We'll draft low again, but it's nice to make the playoffs.
4) Ramon Mattez will spend the year in AAA. - Mostly. He got 22 ABs in the bigs after Donaldo Mendez got hurt and he moved up to the bench. He'll come along for the playoff ride.
5) Quentin Lawrence traded: Yeah, that happened right away and he rode the pine all year for his new team too.
6) Esteban Ortiz will DH and hit .300: FAIL. He played gold glove quality CF and hit .270/10 batting #2.
7) Draft in the top 15: FAIL - we'll draft 22nd.

Time to revisit my 2009 Trades
Quentin Lawrence, Tad Siefker, Harry Potter to HOU for Ted McClellin: Well, hmm. Lawrence hit .207 in 71 games off the bench for Houston. Siefker and Potter spent the year in AAA. McClellin went 5-8 in 23 starts with a 5.96 ERA as my #5 starter. He's better than that, or at least he should be, but now he's in AAA for some work until next year. Let's call it a draw.
Ethan Karno to SFG for Jose Nascimento Karno went 5-10 for San Fran with a 6.43 ERA. Nascimento 3-0 with 4.40 ERA and .212OBA in 24 games for me. I win that one.
Vern Kershner, Corey Farrar to LAD for Wyatt Gibleski While Kershner and Farrar continue to work in AAA, Gibleski appeared in 18 games, saving 7/8 with a 1.86 ERA. I win that one, too.

Playoff Preview
Starting Rotation
Zack Petrick 2.55 15-6
Andy Chatham 4.03 12-15
Roy Halladay 4.35 15-9
Bert Coggin 3.36 13-7
Gidayu Yoshida 5.68 2-3 - let's hope he never starts.

Big Bats
Nijel Biros .290/16/.391
Esteban Ortiz .270/10
Vernon Wells .341/26/115RBI
Carlos Delgado .277/43/114RBI
Edgardo Alfonso .306/19/106RBI
Ozzie Friedman .282/12
Pedro Casero .313/22/89RBI
Ozzie Kelly .283/4 - filling in for Donaldo Mendez for another 6 days
Quimby Lamison .279/12/80 RBI

PoTM/FarmHands
Pitcher of the Month: Let's go with Long Man, Mark Hendrickson. Finishes the regular season with 2.87 ERA in 91 IP. That's some good bullpen work.

Player of the Month: Wow. Vernon Wells raises his average again, to .341 with 26HR, he scored 109 times and drove in 115, missing a career best by 2. Oh, and by the way? He wins the AL Batting Title.

Minor Leaguer of the Month: No award this month, as nobody has done anything particulary worthy, and Mattez is on the big league bench.

Other Roster Notes:
Luis Rozadilla managed to hit 22 HR this year in AAA, and he had no right. He's got a long way to go before he's ready for the bigs with his .235 avg

Next Post...Wild Card Cinderella again? I doubt it, but who's to say?...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Playoffs 2009 (We're the AL WildCard for the 2nd straight year)

Round 1 Pairings
White Sox (94-68)
Blue Jays (90-72)

Yankees (110-52)
Rangers (93-69)

AL Summary: Once again, we avoid the Dreaded Yanks in Round 1 because we're in the same division or something. They have an All-Star Infield (much less the rest of the team). They have 4 batters in the top 10 average (2 from infield). 3 in top 10 HR (2 infield). 5 in top 10 RBI (4 infield). Yeah, I'm glad the Rangers get them first. I'm picking the Yanks in 6 for the title.

Cubs (100-62)
Rockies (94-68)

Dodgers (100-62)
Mets (97-65)

NL Summary: The only change from last year is the Rockies instead of the Braves, and the teams aren't much changed. I'll go with the Cubs from the NL again.

This year I learned my lesson and did my best to set up my rotation for the post-season once it looked like I'd make it. It worked out pretty well, as Halladay (#3 starter) will kick things off, followed by Petrick and Chatham.

Game 1 TOR 0 @ CHW 0: Halladay on the hill. Top 3: Ozzie Kelly (filling in at SS) homers for a 1-0 Blue Jay lead. Bottom 3: single.steal.single and the game is tied at 1. Top 4: Ozzie Friedman doubles with Edgardo Alfonso on base, followed by a Pedro Casero 2RBI single. A couple batters and singles later, Vernon Wells hits a bases-loaded infield single. Toronto leads 4-1. Top 8: Nijel Biros RBI single, Vernon Wells 2-run single and it's 7-1. Halladay CG 6hits, 1run.

Game 2 TOR 1 @ CHW 0: Top 1: Vernon Wells goes solo for a 1-0 lead. Bottom 1: Garret Anderson RBI double ties at 1. Top 3: Carlos Delgado GRAND SLAM for a 5-1 lead. (I'm so happy I got him back from NYY) Bottom 3: Garret Anderson 3-run shot. I hate Garret Anderson. Top 5: We take advantage of a fielding error, Edgardo Alfonso 2RBI single and Ozzie Friedman RBI single to take an 8-4 lead. Bottom 6: Andrew Lokam relieves and cruises through the inning. Top 7: Vernon Wells hits his second solo HR of the game for a 9-4 lead. Bottom 7: walks score. It happens. So, a leadoff walk pairs with a double and our lead is reduced to 9-5. Bottom 9: Sasaki on the hill. Two singles and Gibleski relieves. two straight walks forces in a run before he records an out with a Strikeout. Garret Anderson (AGAIN?!?!) singles to drive in a run and the score is 9-7. Nick Johnson pops up, then Carlos Lee gets a pinch hit single to make it 9-8. Jose Nascimento relieves and strikes out pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to seal the 9-8 win. Whew.

Game 3 CHW 0 @ TOR 2: After surviving a Bert Coggin start to win game 2, we send Petrick to the mound, and begin to feel good about advancing. Petrick? At Home? Come on! Bottom 1: Biros Singles to lead off, and two outs later Delgado doubles. Edgardo Alfonso legs out an infield single for a 1-0 lead. Ozzie Friedman matches, and then Pedro Casero reaches on an error. 3-0. Top 6: Both pitchers cruising, but Petrick gives up a single and a triple and the lead is 3-1. Bottom 7: Don't get Vernon Wells mad! Quimby Lamison singles, then two groundouts and Wells steps up. I think they said something, because he hit a two-run jack. New pitcher is Carlos Silva. Delgado welcomes him to the game with a shot to left. 6-1. Bottom 8: With 1 out, we leg out three straight singles to load the bases. Esteban Ortiz rips an RBI single to cap the scoring as the Jays win 7-1 behind a Petrick complete game. JAYS ADVANCE 9-0!

JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! Well, that's surprising. I figured we had good chances, but that went very well and now our rotation gets a couple days to rest up and reset for the next series...likely the Yanks.
Rangers Defeat Yanks 3-2! 3-0, 3-5, 5-4, 3-9, 5-3. Quite a series of see-saw battles, and astoundingly the Yankees exit the Playoffs again!
Cubs Sweep Rockies 3-0. No surprises. 6-2, 5-1, 4-2.
Dodgers Sweep Mets 3-0. Not really surprising either. 2-0, 5-4, 6-3.

Round 2 Pairings
Blue Jays (90-72)
Rangers (93-69)
Preview: Astounding. The Yankees scored 195 more runs than the next team in all of baseball. Texas does it with pitching. They hit .275 with some power, but had the best ERA in the AL at 3.95. If we can hold them in check, we might have a chance. Still, I pick the Rangers in 6.

Cubs (100-62)
Dodgers (100-62)
Preview: A rematch of last season, when the Cubs won in 6. I'm picking them in 6 again.


It's been a good ride:
Game 1 TOR 0 @ TEX 0: Ozzie Friedman kicks it off with a Grand Slam for a 4-0 Jays lead. Bottom 2: Sox string together a couple singles for a run and trail 4-1. Bottom 3: Sox load the bases with nobody out. Halladay Ks the next three to get out unscathed. Top 4: Nijel Biros walk and Vernon Wells double makes it 5-1. Bottom 5: Sox load the bases with 1 out, and Halladay promptly Ks 2 to escape. Top 8: Ozzie Kelly singles and Quimby Lamison goes deep for a 7-1 lead. Bottom 8: Yoshida relieves Halladay and gives up 1 unearned run to finish the scoring. Jays win 7-2.

Game 2 TOR 1 @ TEX 0: Top 1: a walk, HBP, and an error load them up for Carlos Delgado. So, he hits a Grand Slam to center. I like this kind of start! 4-0. Bottom 1: Andy Chatham rolls through with his 4 runs and strikes out the side. Top 2: Lamison walks, Biros doubles. Esteban Ortiz hits a 3-run shot to left. 7-0. Eric Milton relieves. Vernon Wells single. Delgado Ks. Alfonso single. Ozzie Friedman single to load the bases. Pedro Casero? Grand Slam! 11-0. So Nice! Bottom 2: Chatham Ks the side again. Bottom 3: Three singles and double make it 11-3. Top 4: Friedman and Casero double to drive one in. Rich Babcock relieves. Ozzie Kelly triples in a run. one out later, Miros singles. Esteban Ortiz reaches on fielding error, scoring one. Vernon Wells grounds out, then Delgado is hit by pitch to load the bases. Edgardo Alfonso? Care to guess? GRAND SLAM!!!! 18-3, and it's a slam fest! Holy cow. Bottom 4: Chatham likes runs. Ks the side. Again. Top 5: What? We're not done? Casero walks. Lamison doubles, scoring Casero. 19-3. Bottom 5: Chatham Ks two more. Top 6: Oh My Goodness! Edgardo Alfonso solo shot, his 2nd HR of the game. 20-3. Bottom 6: An error, a single, and a bad pitch that Jimmy Rollins slams to left, and it's 20-6. Gidayu Yoshida relieves. Top 7: we load the bases with one out. Esteban Ortiz? No! groundout. Vernon Wells? Deep drive to right, but snagged at the wall. 20-6 still. Bottom 7: Single.Double.HR.HBP.Single.two popups.Single.Single.K and just like that Gidayu serves up 6 runs to make it 20-12. Bottom 9: Yoshida relived by Jose Nascimento, who closes it out. Jays win 20-12.

Game 3 TEX 0 @ TOR 2: After the slugfest, we had a day off. Now it's Halladay vs. Hudson. The first three innings feature popups, groundouts, and Ks. So does the 4th. And the 5th. And the 6th. And the 7th. Top 8: leadoff double. Carlos Beltran sac bunt?!? Jays bring the infield in. Jimmy Rollins pops up. Joe Crede Lines out. Still 0-0. Bottom 8: flyout and two groundouts. 0-0 Top 9: Alfonso Soriano flys out. Alex Priatko singles. two Ks and it's 0-0 going to ... Bottom 9: Carlos Delgado leadoff double. Edgardo Alfonso walks. Ozzie Friedman sac bunt (there's one I agree with). Pedro Casero SUICIDE SQUEEZE! With Carlos Delgado on 3rd?!? It works, and the Jays win 1-0 in a pitching duel equal to the slugfest of the previous game. Both starters go the distance.

Game 4 TEX 0 @ TOR 3: Amazingly, we lead 3-0. I figured us for two wins, and now we have a chance to finish it at home. However, Bert Coggin is on the hill. Top 1: Texas two singles before Alfonso Soriano hits a 3-run jack. 3-0. Bottom 1: Nijel Biros solo shot. Jays Trail 3-1. Bottom 2: Ozzie Friedman doubles, Pedro Casero RBI single. 3-2 Texas. Bottom 5: Nijel Biros Strikes Again! Solo HR ties it at 3. Coggin cruises, and in the bottom of the 9th, Ozzie Kelly walks. Lamison flies out, and Kelly is caught stealing 2nd. With two down, Biros walks, Ortiz singles, Vernon Wells walks, and up steps Carlos Delgado. he watches four sail wide, and for the second straight year the Blue Jays go to the World Series! 4-3.

There must be some SuperLuck adjustment in this game that I have magically flipped all to my side, because I really didn't think this team would sweep it's way into the World Series!
Dodgers defeat the Cubs in 7 games 8-6, 5-4, 4-7, 8-1, 3-4, 2-3, 4-3 in what must have been a great series to watch.

And so it is, that somehow the Miracle Jays of 2008 are again the Miracle Jays of 2009...

Next Post...The WORLD SERIES! I need a break from the excitement...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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World Series 2009

This begs two questions.

1) Can a Cinderella team possibly do it twice?
2) If we won the World Series last year, then get to play in it again this year, are we really a Cinderella team?

The mind boggles...

World Series
Ok, We're taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers who finished 100-62. Our rotation is set and well rested. Theirs features nothing but winners with ERAs under 4 and Eric Gagne closing. They're also very fast, with a lineup featuring high averages and SBs but nonetheless 6 guys with 15 or more HR, lead by Aramis Ramirez at .294/32.

Toronto, Meanwhile, features a lineup of near .300 hitters, all of whom have at least 12 HR this year (It's been a good year to be a Blue Jay hitter). Our pitching is weak, but has been coming on strong in the bullpen, and we have a really good top 3 in the starting rotation. I say we have a chance, but I'm going to pick the Dodgers. let's say...6, maybe 7 games. By The Way, How did we make it this far again?!?

Game 1 TOR 0 @ LAD 0: Zack Petrick vs. Ben Sheets - Both pitchers cruising. Top 5: Bases loaded with 1 out, Ramon Mattez pinch hits for Zack Petrick. Tough call, but that's what managers get paid for. Mattez pops up. Esteban Ortiz grounds out. 0-0. Bottom 5: Jose Nascimento relieves and gets out of a 1 out 2 on jam. 0-0 Top 6: Delgado walks with one out. Edgardo Alfonso grounds out. Ozzie Friedman 2-run HR 2-0. Top 7: Lamison singles. Pinch-Hitter Alano Morgovejo grounds out. Esteban Ortiz singles. Edgardo Alfonso singles a run in. Ozzie Friedman walks to load the bases. Pedro Casero? Two run double! 6-0. Gidayu Yoshida relieves in Bottom 7 and gets out of a bases loaded 1-out jam. Bottom 8: This is why Yoshida belongs in AAA. Single. Single. Double/RBI. groundout. Double/2 runs. groundout. Single/rBI, and just like that it's 6-4 before anyone could warm up. Top 9: Eric Gagne pitches. Blue Jays strike out. Bottom 9: Wyatt Gibleski to pitch. Leadoff walks score, and Grant Carrie gets one. after a strikeout of Alex Cora, Carlos Naharro hits a two-run bomb to tie the game. Gibleski finishes the inning, but we're going to extras. Bottom 10: Kaz Sasaki to pitch. Infield single. Sac bunt. RBI Single. Dodgers win 7-6. Disappointing finish.

Game 2 TOR 0 @ LAD 1: Andy Chatham vs. Shawn Chacon - Top 1: Esteban Ortiz leadoff triple. Vernon Wells RBI single. Carlos Delgado 2-run jack. It hurts to not have Nijel Biros in the lineup (he's the DH), but this is a good start. Two outs later, Pedro Casero singles. Ozzie Kelly two run HR! Jays lead 5-0. Bottom 1: Dodgers get one back on three singles. Top 2: Carlos Delgado RBI double. 6-1. Bottom 3: single.double.single for two runs, then another RBI single makes it 6-4. Bottom 6: Andrew Lokam takes the hill. Alex Cora leadoff single, then two Ks. An Error and a single puts a run across with two on. Back-to-back RBI singles, then an RBI double brings Kaz Sasaki in to pitch, but not before the Dodgers take an 8-6 lead. Top 8: Alano Morgovejo pinch hit single. Esteban Ortiz double puts two in scoring position. Vernon Wells Ks. Carlos Delgado RBI single. Jays trail 8-7. Bottom 8: Wyatt Gibleski in to pitch and puts together a 1-2-3 inning. Top 9: Hello Eric Gagne. Goodbye hope. Casero lineout. Ozzie Kelly groundout. Quimby Lamison intentionally walked to get to the pitcher. Alex McKillen (backup C) pinch hits a single through the hole. Esteban Ortiz Walks. Vernon Wells? DANG SKIPPY! GRAND SLAM! 11-8 Jays. Bottom 9: Mark Hendrickson in to pitch for the Jays. he gives up two singles, but gets through. Jays win 11-8. GO VW! Let's see...that's FIVE! FIVE! FIVE! Grand Slams this post-season. WOW! Too bad they don't show in the team transaction history because they're postseason.

Game 3 LAD 1 @ TOR 1: Odalis Perez vs. Bert Coggin - This was gross. Coggin didn't have it today as we gave up runs almost every inning to lose 11-3.

Game 4 LAD 2 @ TOR 1: Carlos Lee vs. Zack Petrick - I love a good pitcher's duel, and through 4, we had one. Bottom 4: Biros and Ortiz single. Delgado two-run double. Jays lead 2-0. Bottom 6: Ortiz, Wells single. Delgado? two-run double again! Edgardo Alfonso and Ozzie Kelly walk, then Quimby Lamison hits a three-run jack for a 7-0 lead. Top 8: a fielding error and two doubles put two in and one on before Mark Hendrickson can relieve Petrick. He loads up the bases between outs, then forces a run in with a walk to make it 7-3. Bottom 8: Friedman singles. Casero singles. Ozzie Kelly rbi double. Quimby Lamison rbi single. 9-3. Top 9: Three straight groundouts. Jays win 9-3 to even the series

Game 5 LAD 2 @ TOR 2: Ben Sheets vs. Andy Chatham - Both starters cruise through 5. Bottom 6: Ozzie Friedman walks. Pedro Casero doubles in the run to make it 1-0. Bottom 7: Biros singles. Ortiz sac bunt. Vernon Wells rbi double. Carlos Delgado 2-run jack. Ozzie Friedman single. Pedro Casero rbi double and it's 5-0. Top 8: with two outs, Larry Bigbie walks. Jayson Werth singles up the middle and Big Bat Aramis Ramirez steps up. He singles in a run before Greg Colbrunn lines out. 5-1. Bottom 8: Lamison doubles. Vernon Wells brilliantly intentionally walked. Tim Spooneybarger relieves. Carlos Delgado. You don't want to, but you have to pitch to him. 3 RUN BOMB for his second HR of the game. Jays lead 8-1. Top 9: Jose Nascimento relieves Chatham who goes 8IP with 1ER. Carlos Naharro hits a solo shot, but that's all as the Jays win 8-2.

Game 6 TOR 3 @ LAD 2: Bert Coggin vs. Shawn Chacon - Amazingly, we have a chance to close the series?!? Seriously, this is nuts. Coggin has been much better this year, but Chacon beat Andy Chatham in game 2. Bottom 1: three singles put LA up 1-0. Bottom 4: a single and a double put two on. With Chacon pitching lights-out, he gets to hit, and rips a two run single. LA leads 3-0. Top 5: Pedro Casero walks. Ozzie kelly rbi double. LA leads 3-1. Bottom 8: Kaz Sasaki in to pitch, and Big Bat Ramirez greets him with a solo shot to make it 4-1. Top 9: Jays put two on, and bring Ozzie Kelly up with two outs as the tying run. Enter Eric Gagne. Dodgers win 4-1 to even the series.

Game 7 TOR 3 @ LAD 3: Zack Petrick vs. Odalis Perez - Ace vs. Ace, just the way a game 7 should be. We're in LA, so I give them the advantage. Bottom 2: two singles put runners at first and second with one out. two Ks later, it's still 0-0. Bottom 4: Dodgers strand their fourth runner (both teams have stranded 4 through 4), this one at 3rd base, and its 0-0 still. Top 5: Petrick tries to help his cause with a single, but that's all we get. 0-0 Top 6: Carlos Delgado leadoff double. Edgardo Alfonso grounds to 3rd for a crazy double-play. 0-0 Bottom 6: Leadoff single, groundout advances runner. Jayson Werth rbi single is thrown out trying to stretch to a double. LA leads 1-0. Top 7: two outs. Ramon Mattez pinch hits for Petrick and grounds out. Bottom 7: Lokam in relief Ks the side. Top 8: Esteban Ortiz leadoff double. Vernon Wells Ks. Carlos Delgado intentionally walked. Edgardo Alfonso grounds out. Ozzie Friedman two-run double! Tim Spooneybarger relieves and intentionally walks Pedro Casero. Donaldo Mendez lines out. Jays lead 2-1. Bottom 8: ground out. pop out. strike out. Top 9: Alex McKillen grounds out. Ozzie Kelly pinch hits for Andrew Lokam and grounds out. Esteban Ortiz flies out. Jays cling to a 2-1 lead. Bottom 9: Enter Wyatt Gibleski, he of the mid-season trade. Enter Aramis Ramirez, he of the MVP credentials for several straight years. Fly Out. That had to be deep. Grant Carrie singles. Alex Cora grounds out, advancing the runner to 2nd. Marlon Byrd pinch hits. Dave Roberts pinch runs. Marlon Byrd intentionally walked. Greg Colbrunn pinch hits. Pressure. Colbrunn Ks. Jays win 2-1.

and amazingly...for the second straight year...
TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!
TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!
TORONTO WINS THE WORLD SERIES!

It's still a very crazy world, just like last year. The big difference this year was setting up the rotation. That and FIVE GRAND SLAMS in the postseason.

Next Post...The VERY HAPPY STATS! AKA: How Did They Do It?!? AKA: I need a break from the excitement...NEXT TIME!

[Lobsteve]

Hey! History -does- repeat itself. Buck the trend though: Go For Three.

Congrats.

[alvarez16]

I think ur dynastys are cool, u should start another one

[pogue_mahorsey]

Thanks for reading! This is fun. I'm tempted to start a second dynasty, but this one is taking enough time for now. :)

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Post-Season Phase 1

The first thing to try and figure out is how the heck we managed to win the World Series. Seriously, Wild Card and Champ two years in a row? Especially when I had picked us for a .500 year or so.

So, here's what I say are the reasons why we made it to the World Series, and why I say we won. Since you don't have my files, and you didn't watch it happen, you'll just have to trust me on this. :)

Top 10 Reasons the Blue Jays Repeated
10- Free Agent Rentals!
Signing of Kazuhiro Sasaki for $700k/1. While not dominant enough to close, he had a 3.08 ERA in 54 setup appearances. Nice rental!
Signing of Andrew Lokam for $610/1. At 27, he was good enough to save 22/27 win an inappropriately high 5.95 ERA (.232 OBA) Lokam held down the closing fort until we could make a better move.
9- While the trade of Quentin Lawrence, Tad Siefker, and Harry Potter to HOU for Ted McClellin didn't work out (McClellin was 5-8 in 23 starts), the guys that went to Houston all sucked just as bad. Good dump!
8- Trade of Ethan Karno (8-13 record this year) to San Francisco for reliever Jose Nascimento. Jose went 3-0 in 24 appearances with a 4.14ERA and .212 OBA. A very nice mid-season bullpen pickup.
7- Painful trade of RP Prospect Vern Kershner and Corey Farrar to Los Angeles for CL Wyatt Gibleski. This was a move to shore up the bullpen and swap the developing Kershner for the Ready Gibleski. It paid off as Kershner continued to work on his control in AAA while Gibleski saved 7/8 with a 1.86 ERA during the stretch run.
6- Donaldo Mendez. SS put in the lineup to fill the gap with his 75s all around and he promptly hit .296 with 30 doubles 14HR and 77RBI. He made 40 errors, but his bat made up the difference while I search for his replacement.
5- Vernon Wells. He put on a show, getting better every single day of the year to finish with at .341 with 40 doubles 11 triples 26 HR 109 runs scored and 115 RBI. That's a man earning his $9.9/yr.
5- Zack Petrick. 2.55 ERA 15-6 in 28 starts. 21 of 28 were Quality Starts, now that's nice! And he moved to the #1 slot in the rotation, much deserved after racking up a 45-20 record with 2.93 ERA over three years since we drafted him. In a few years, he's going to ask for a boatload of money. Yikes. Did I mention that in 5 playoff starts this year he was 3-0 with a 1.11 ERA?
4- The Improving Andy Chatham. He's a strikeout machine, and he's learning how to do the rest. He's 59-61 over 5 years, but every year his Quality Starts goes up (17, 18, 19, 22, 23) and I have a feeling that he'll continue to soak up innings and rack up Ks, even if he's not a big-time winner.
3- Nijel Biros. .290 with 40 doubles 16HR and 96 runs scored in the leadoff spot, getting his first chance to start this year. Then he went off in the playoffs, hitting .366 with a .480 OBP. He's going to get expensive fast.
2- 35 year old Carlos Delgado. Hit 43 HR, just one shy of his career high, with a .399 OBP 116 runs and 114 RBI. Then he turned it up in the post-season with a .315/6/24 and .778 slg.
1- Riding the Grand Slam Wave and Three Good Starters (Petrick, Chatham, Halladay). It was great.

Awards Show
AL Batting Average: Vernon Wells (TOR) .341 (Pedro Casero .313 10th)
AL Home Runs: Alfonso Soriano (TEX) 47 (Carlos Delgado 43 4th)
AL RBI: Marcus Giles (NYY) 138 (Vernon Wells 115h 10th, Carlos Delgado 114)
AL Earned Run Average: Zack Petrick (TOR) 2.55 (Bert Coggin?!? 3.36 6th)
AL Wins: Tomas Minoza (CHW) 19 (Petrick, Halladay 15)
AL Saves: Billy Koch (CHW) 45 (Lokam 22)
AL Quality Start %: This one's fun. Petrick (TOR) 75% (Andy Chatham 65.7 6th, Roy Halladay 65.5 7th)

AL Cy Young: Zack Petrick. It took him three years to go from Rookie of the Year to AllStar, ERA Leader, and Cy Young winner. Oh my.
AL MVP: Marcus Giles (NYY) .334/45/138 PLUS a Gold Glove...at 2B! I hate the Yankees.
AL Rookie of the Year: Esteban Ortiz (TOR) OH YEAH! At 24, this guy is a defensive wizard (99 arm, 95 range) in CF. He hit .270 with 101 runs scored and also earned a Gold Glove! This...is the reason I have a problem at 1B. (more later)

NL Batting Average: Aubrey Huff (COL) .330
NL Home Runs: Aubrey Huff (COL) 56
NL RBI: Aubrey Huff (COL) 163 - Mr. Triple Crown!
NL Earned Run Average: Gil Meche (CHC) 2.22
NL Wins: Cliff Lee (LAD) 19
NL Saves: Joe Borowski (CHC) 42
NL Quality Start %: Gill Meche (CHC) 77.8

NL Cy Young: Gil Meche (CHC) 17-2 2.22
NL MVP: Todd Helton (NYM) WHAT?!?! Not Huff?!? Must be because the Mets won. .327/47/154 is great, but how can you diss a Triple Crown like this?!?
NL Rookie of the Year: Ulysses Kaplan (PHI) CF won a Gold Glove but hit only .206.

Next Post...With 2 quality 1Bs, 4 great OFs, and only 1 DH slot, what will we do? Free Agent Time and the Minor League Draft...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Post-Season Phase 2

After some aggressive trading of people in the free agent years, I have only a couple to deal with this season. It's going to get ugly in another year or two though. Real ugly.

2009 Free Agent Activitiy
Released - Kaz Sasaki. After a successful rental, he asks for $1.5M at age 41. No way.
Signed - C Victor Martinez for $3.4/7. He's 30, so I should get several good years out of him, and catcher isn't exactly my best spot on the roster in any regard.

So, I have a few problems I need to address. At 1B I have super-kid Ramon Mattez just dying to come up and hit some bombs at the major league level, but I have Carlos Delgado in the way. In the outfield, I have Gold Glove Rookie of the Year Esteban Ortiz, All Around Monster Nijel Biros, Vernon Wells, and Pedro Casero. Yeah, that's 6 guys for four spots in the lineup, plus the DH slot (currently held by Biros) All of the OFs (except for Ortiz, whos still at $300k for 3 years) are making $5M (Wells $9.9M) and Delgado is making $6.2M. It's expensive to put any of them on the bench. I'll hold out to see what's there in the draft, but expect a move the fans won't like shortly after.

Minor League Draft
I need someone better at SS, and I still have issues with my bullpen being so shallow...let's see what I can get.
1st Round, #22 Overall - Dennis Duval SP o71 p83. 85end 88cnt 79pwr 63mvm, but 96 health and I have a great AAA system. I'm hoping he can take the #4 or 5 slot in a couple years.
2nd Round, #52 Overall - Hector Murray C o65 p83. I'm going with potential this year, as I have a healthy squad that's won The Series for two years running. 83 eye and 96 health, plus 70+ in all other categories gives me hope for the future of this 22 year old catcher.
3rd Round, #82 Overall - Tony Dixon SP o63 p72. mid 70s all around with 96 control. I'm seeing him in the long bullpen spot or perhaps a #5 starter in a couple years.
4th Round, #112 Overall - Jeremy Rapidas CF o60 p76. average fielder with 95 speed. He may work out, he may not.
5th Round, #142 Overall - Kelvin Wyatt RP o51 p74. 20 years old with 84 power. I'm hoping he can improve his control (68) and movement (50) enough to be an effective relief pitcher.
6th Round, #172 Overall - Oscar Perdiguero o50 p73. 22 with 80 endurance and 85 health. everything else is high 60s. With a couple years, perhaps he'll be effective.

As you can see, I wasn't able to shore up the SS spot, and nothing else really got clarified for me, so now it's decision time, as Mr. Mattez must play or go away, and he's just too good to ship out.

Post-Draft Trade Show
To PITTSBURGH
-RP Nick Brandner 66/69 - has a 5.68 ERA after two seasons of working in my bullpen
-SS Ozzie Thurmond 57/64 - I signed this guy off the free agent market last year and dumped him on the bench. His peak shot way up, and I extended him at $300k for two years. After the trade, his peak dropped 20 points to the 64 it's at now.
-C Larry Dodd 66/68 - Filled in great last year, for a little while, then returned to his real numbers at .223.
To TORONTO
-SP Otto Murray 76/88 - #5 draft pick this year with 87end 91cnt 70pwr 80mvm and 94 health.
Breakdown
-I needed to shore up my pitching, and Otto will jump right into the rotation. Ozzie Thurmond was the draw in this deal with is inflated peak of 84 making it look pretty even. Of course, Pittsburgh didn't take into account my heavy spending...I win.

Signed - RF Nijel Biros to a $4.9/8 extension. At o93/p95, this is quite the bargain. He's 28 though, and last year was his first shot at full-time starting. His defense is solid enough to start anywhere, and he's a complete offensive package. I couldn't let him slip away, so he got the extension.

To ST. LOUIS
-1B Carlos Delgado 85/85 - he's starting to slip, just a bit each year, but at $6.2M, it's time to make way for Ramon Mattez. I'll probably regret it, but. Well, that's it.
To TORONTO
-SP Willard Ward 71/90 - #8 pick in this year's draft. 85end 94cnt 74pwr 67mvm and 96 health. He's going to be great, and he's only 19. I hope to give him time in AAA, but I'll likely be starting him next year.
Breakdown
-Well, It was either trade Delgado, Mattez, or one of my stellar OFs. Delgado's the oldest, and the 2nd highest paid right now. Sad to see him go, but I get a future all-star pitcher in return.

To TAMPA BAY
-C Alex McKillen 72/72 - as my backup catcher, he's been getting about 50 ABs a year, and not doing all that well. I have plenty of catchers after the draft and signing V. Martinez, so off he goes
To TORONTO
-SS Tony Winkelstein 63/85 - 19 year old Tony was the top SS in the draft this year and was drafted 36th overall. He's got average numbers all around and 95 health. His peak shot up right after the trade, and I'm looking for him to take over at short later this year or early next.
Breakdown
-Tampa Bay gets a decent catcher who's ready for a shot, and I get a quality SS prospect. They need catching, I need future, pretty good deal for both, but I'll win in the long term.

Next Post...I need a break to do some crying over the Delgado Departure, and some thought needs to go into the new lineup before Spring Training. Up next, the New World Order and Spring Training Numbers...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

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Pre-Season 2010

After back-to-back world championships, it's time to adjust the cash flow. First, ticket price is up to $23, which is just above league average of $22.28. Fair enough, if you ask me, and 38,000 per game agreed last year. Concessions are all now at 0% (league average) as I upped the beer charge. We're still free to watch on TV, and that's good for about $19M/yr these days. And I'm leaving the other expenses as is: $17M for the Farm (3rd), $8M for scouting (6th +-0), $10M Medical (4th). I've got healthy players, and a farm system that improves peaks very nicely, which I need with the low draft positions. With my salary as is, my 2009 numbers were $95M revenue (10th) with $77M expenses (18th). I'm up to $39M (2nd) cash on my way to a new stadium someday. With more seats. Yeah.

So, that's all addressed. Now, let's shuffle some lineups, evaluate the team, then give you some Spring Training numbers, ok? Ok.

The big trades of the offseason are basically going to result in two things. First, the two quality pitching prospects I got will start in AAA as I roll with my existing rotation. Whichever establishes himself first will make his way to the rotation before the trading deadline. Second, with Delgado's departure Mr. Ramon BigBat Mattez takes over at 1B. His spot in the order is up for debate, but it'll probably be 4th or 5th.

2010 Pre-Season Team Ratings
Area: Rating (+-last year) Rank/AL Average
Batting: 80 (+1) t2nd with Boston/72 (NYY: 98)
Lineup: 89 (+4) 2nd/73 (NYY: 100)
Rotation: 89 (+2) 1st
Bullpen: 58 (+8) 2nd to last!/68 (such improvement, we were last last year.) (DET: 73)
Bench: 83 (+8) 6th/80 (BOS: 91)
Pitching: 77 (+6) 2nd/75 (DET: 79)
Defense: 100 (+2) 5-way tie for 1st (NYY, BAL, CLE, CHW)/88
Overall: 84 (+5) 2nd/76 (NYY: 92)

AAA Batting: 81 (-3) Last
AAA Pitching: 96 (+19) 9th
AAA Defense: 71 (-9) Last
AAA Overall: 87 (+6) Last

Pretty good. Improvement all up and down the major league roster, even though AAA still looks bad. Give me time! Bench, Pitching, Defense, and Overall are all improved, though I still expect to take 2nd to the stinking Yankees and their Multi-Billion-Dollar payroll. Last year I picked a lesser squad for 3rd and an 82-80 record. This year, I'm calling my shot.

2010 Predictions
Record: 95-67 2nd place in the AL East behind the Yanks, who will win 115.
Ramon Mattez for Rookie fo the Year with .290/30/120.
As much as I may want to wait, both Otto Murray and Willard Ward will be in the rotation come playoff time.
2 Gold Gloves and ROY again.
Petrick may just win Cy Young again.

Team History
because I think it's interesting...(I took over for the 2007 season)
year attendance revenue profit record finish
2004 2.38M $58.1 (-$24.1) 59-93 5th
2005 2.54M $66.6 (-$3.4) 74-88 4th
2006 1.99M $62.7 $1.1 63-99 5th
2007 2.95M $75.7 $21.9 74-88 4th
2008 3.68M $93.7 $21.8 93-69 World Champion
2009 3.46M $95.4 $18.1 90-72 World Champion

Opening Day Roster (spring highlights)
Lineup
LF Pedro Casero 87/87 (.344 3HR 18 runs scored 18RBI)
DH Nijel Biros 93/95 (.300 4HR)
RF Vernon Wells 93/93 (.349) - may he never slow down
1B Ramon Mattez 83/95 (.278 8HR) - check the bat for cork!
3B Edgardo Alfonso 80/80 (.341)
CF Esteban Ortiz 85/85 (.325)
2B Ozzie Friedman 87/87 (.299)
SS Donaldo Mendez 75/75 (.325)
C Victor Martinez 86/86 (.304)

Bench
3B Ozzie Kelly 81/81 (.296)
C Quimby Lamison 81/81 (.293)
2B Alano Morgovejo 61/62 (.273)
LF Nick Cantor 67/76 (.317) - great speed and defense, he'll be on my bench for a long time
SS Bill Klotz 60/83 (.277) - of my long term ss prospects, he's closest. The others can work in AAA

Rotation
Zack Petrick aka Mr #1 aka Mr Cy Young aka 3-0 1.88 in spring
Andy Chatham 1-0 4.06
Roy Halladay 2-0 2.82
Bert Coggin 0-0 4.26 - Hopefully he can keep his numbers from last year until the new guys are ready
Cy Presto 1-1 3.55 - gets his shot to fill in for a year or two with o70/p75

Bullpen
Wyatt Gibleski 1.38
Andrew Lokam 4.05
Jose Nascimento 4.19
Mark Hendrickson 1-1 4.38
Adam Kempner 1-1 5.46
Ted McClellin 0-1 5.23

AAA Highlights
SS Bill Klotz .277
C Hector Murray (2nd round pick) .282
CF Jeremy Rapadas (4th round pick) .281
Tony Dixon (3rd round pick) 2-0 3.05
Otto Murray 3-0 3.34 - I think he may be ready already, so Coggin and Presto are on short leashes.
Willard Ward 0-2 7.71

Next Post...It's about time we played some ball, wouldn't you say?...NEXT TIME!

[pogue_mahorsey]

After back-to-back World Series wins that almost killed me with shock, I am resigning my post as Blue Jays GM effective April 1, 2001 (now).

My apologies to those of you who wanted to see the Three-Peat opportunity, or to hear how many home runs Ramon Mattez would hit.

If you would like to continue this dynasty, I will happily hand over the mogul file for you to play on through.

I have started a new dynasty based on the Seattle Mariners of 1989.

Happy Reading, Simming, and Mogul-ing.

(anyone that would like the mogul file should post a request for it and let me know where to email it. In the meantime, I will look for a place to post it, as it is too large for this forum.)