SIM COMPLETE - 1994 - SIM 17

[Clay]

NEXT SIM: FRIDAY @ NOON

***

Deadline has passed

[Clay]

FYI - Batavia and Pittsburgh were both over 25 at a minor league level. Please check your DFAs for the guys I moved.

Thanks

[liquidcrash]

2-5 this week, wrapping up July at a cool 6-20.

[Delandis]

BIG injury for us:

Marv Barnes Out of Action

Tuesday, July 26th, 1994: Baltimore fans will be disappointed to learn that Marv Barnes suffered a fractured foot while running the bases in today's game. After the doctor informed the Baltimore Bulldogs manager that Barnes was expected to miss 4 weeks, the manager told the press that the rest of the team would have to step up their play until the right fielder could return. "You can't make excuses in baseball, because there's always a game tomorrow," said the team's skipper.

Barnes is batting .291 this year with 15 home runs, 61 RBIs and 61 runs scored. He has 109 hits in 374 at-bats.

[Jake]

Why I hate this game (and Clay... and of course Carlos thanks to his one liner):

Gugs first start after extension: 0.0 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 7 ER.

[Jim]

The Diaz trade has turned out to be gold for Pitt:

DL Top Pitcher in July: Díaz
Monday, August 1st, 1994: Adrián Díaz was the anchor in the Pittsburgh bullpen last month and snatched up the Domestic League Pitcher of the Month honors for July. The 31-year-old is in the prime of his career and pitching like he intends to stay around baseball for quite some time to come.

He threw 19.1 innings over 14 relief appearances and collected a 3-0 record with 19 strikeouts and 7 saves while etching his 1.40 ERA.

To this point in the year Díaz has put up a 7-1 won-lost mark, made 48 relief appearances and rung up 26 saves. He has a 2.76 ERA and has allowed 52 hits over his 62 innings of work, struck out 64 batters and walked 20.

[Jistic]

The Diaz trade has turned out to be gold for Pitt:

Pitt's the best trader in that division by a mile.

[Carlos]

Why I hate this game (and Clay... and of course Carlos thanks to his one liner):

Gugs first start after extension: 0.0 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 7 ER.

You think Sully is thinking about his children when he sees that boxline and I come out singing:

"Biiiig Mistake! oooh, yeaaa!"


By the way, thank you, Ryan, for letting me score at least a run in each game. Much appreciated.

[liquidcrash]

Carolina Tobs- 2-5 this week (43-62 overall)

Another awful week for my team, finishing a terrible month. This July has to be one of the worst months I've ever had. It's more frustrating than usual, since I didn't expect the team to just tank like this. In the past, I knew the team was terrible and saw it coming.

Positives:

SP Alex Rivas has been the lone bright spot in our otherwise terrible rotation. He pitched a complete game against Davenport this sim, giving up 1 run on 2 hits. In the month of July, Rivas went 3-1 with a 1.52 ERA and he's now 7-5 with a 3.27 since we traded for him. He got off to a rough start in the stronger IL, but seems to be settling in.

1B Ismael Reyes hit .308 with 2 HRs and a 1.049 OPS this sim. He's clearly been my best player this year and is becoming one of the better 1B in the league. I hope this is what I can expect from him going forward, he's going to be in Carolina for a long time.

Negatives:

The rest of my pitching staff, outside of Rivas. Val Aparicio has been ok, but for the month, Doug Howe posted a 6.75 ERA, Hector Perez 8.84 and Noel Botiglieri's ERA was a staggering 12.05. It's past time to change some things up.

This week:

We get Adrian Romero back from the disabled list (he's been out 3 weeks), so hopefully that will help a little. He's been a disappointment this year and certainly wasn't getting better before injury, but I think he can do better.

On the schedule, we have 3 vs Baltimore and 3 vs Philadelphia, all at home. I think we'll go 1-5 or 2-4. If we go .500, I'll be ecstatic.

[Pat]

Thank goodness. I was tired of the pity party! Can you go 6-1 against Virginia and Wilmington though?

Close.

Washington Bats (59-46; leader in WC)

2-1 @ Virginia
3-1 vs. Wilmington

Huge series vs. the Colonials. Each game could have gone either way. And after winning the first 10 straight games against the Wildcats in '94, we lose one, a shutout. This season the Bats are 10-1 vs. Wilmington, 6-3 vs. Virginia and 8-5 vs. Morgantown.

The Good
-Has there ever been a season in the BLB quite like Len Jenkins in 1994? Seriously. In six seasons with Hyundai, Jenkins best ERA was 4.54 and best WHIP 1.40. This year Jenkins has a 2.14 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. Fourth-highest VORP in the IL. This week, he dueled eight shutout innings against Pancho Herrera, in Virginia, and the Bats won 1-0.

-Cost me a lot to bring him back but where would I be without Mike Murdock? After struggling with injuries and performance in '93, Murdock is on pace for his second best season as a pro.

-After a lackluster debut in '93, Kel Murphy returned to the BLB this sim and posted very solid numbers vs. WIL: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

The Bad
-After months of bitching, I move Clint Johnston to the top of the batting order and he flourishes. Killin' it. Then this week, he goes 3/27....and has an ice cube next to his name now. Back down ya go brother.

-Reliever/Starter P.J. Brooks is such an interesting character. The super flip-flop. One season, he expects to start. One season, he expects the pen. One season he can't get the ball over the plate as a starter, and then will flourish in the pen and vice versa. This season, he wanted to be in the pen, I played him out of it and he struggled. Bad. On pace for his worst season as a pro. So, on a whim, I move him to the rotation, a spot he hasn't been all year, and he posts two solid starts. @ MOR: 7 IP, 1 ER, vs. WIL: 6 IP, 4 ER


The Ugly
-I'm already done with my file and now have to wait...

The Week Ahead
-Three @ California and then home for three vs. Los Alamos. With Baltimore, Philly and WC still in the WC hunt, I could use 3rd straight solid week.

[Matt]

FYI - Batavia and Pittsburgh were both over 25 at a minor league level. Please check your DFAs for the guys I moved.

Thanks

Sorry about that!

Edit...Why did you pick Colonel though? He was listed as a starter in both lineups while there are several players who are only backups. Plus there is room in my A team to move someone down who's a scrub. He went from Happy to Unhappy in one sim after being DFA'd.

[Delandis]

Baltimore Bulldogs (57-48, 3 GB in Porter, 2 GB in WC)

1-2 v BAT
3-1 v PHI

-Another 4-3 week, but we still dropped a game against Batavia in the race for the Porter, and a game in the race for the Wildcard. I like the fact that we played these two teams tough as they are two of the better teams in the IL.

The Good
-Just F* It : Rather than swing, make contact, for an easy out, I'm guessing Loren Wallace decided it would be in his best interest to just take a few more pitches. The struggling star led the IL this past week with 12 walks. With only 3 hits for the week, he hit .231, but Wallace did post a .600 OBP. If that's what you need to do Mr. Wallace, keep being patient.

-Getting Your Money's Worth: I almost feel like I'm robbing the kid. Baltimore ace, Donnie Greene makes no more than $2.8 mil/year in the remaining 3-year contract. This past week, he pitched another gem, 7.1 IP, I ER, 1BB, 4K. The win pushes him to 11-5, giving him one of the most attractive contracts in the league.

Light's Out: Don McKay has done well for us in the closer role this year. With 25 saves on the season to date, McKay has been crucial in Baltimore's blistering, 21-8 record in 1-run games. McKay is amazing because he gets the job done, despite not having overpowering stuff. Even more impressive is McKay's 96% save conversion rate. At one point in the season, McKay went 23 straight opportunities without blowing a save.


The Bad
-Who Are You, And Where's My Pitcher: Juan Jose Garcia had been the guy that I could count on to go out and give us a good effort every game. However this year, JJG is just off. His last outing ended in an embarrassing, 6-21 loss to Philly at home. In his defense, he has four or five outings where the offense didn't support a great performance by him, but there have been whay toom many times where JJG is giving up 4, 5, or 6 runs in a start. We need more, sir.


The Ugly
-This Is Why You Don't Steal: How in the world do teams stay healthy stealing bases? As stated earlier, ROY candidate, Marv Barnes is out for 3-4 weeks with a fracture in his foot that occurred sliding into 3rd. This is a huge injury. With Loren Wallace not swinging the bat well, we are going to have to look towards other bats to pick up the slack. I'm not sure that we have the offensive power to keep up with Batavia and Washington without Barnes in the lineup.


The Week Ahead
-We head to Carolina to face the Tobs and then head back home to face Wilmington. These are the games we have to win if we want to have an inkling of a chance to make the playoffs this year.

[Carlos]

-Getting Your Money's Worth: I almost feel like I'm robbing the kid. Baltimore ace, Donnie Greene makes no more than $2.8 mil/year in the remaining 3-year contract. This past week, he pitched another gem, 7.1 IP, I ER, 1BB, 4K. The win pushes him to 11-5, giving him one of the most attractive contracts in the league.

I swear I told people this and you and one other GM were the only ones that understood it.

Greene in the IL. I had no doubt he'd be good there and even if he was simply above-average, he makes $3 MM a year!

[Matt]

He's a great pitcher...I would have loved to have him.

We're not all like Prez though and can turn 4th and 10th round picks into Top 100 prospects in order to have the firepower to trade for him.

[Carlos]

He's a great pitcher...I would have loved to have him.

We're not all like Prez though and can turn 4th and 10th round picks into Top 100 prospects in order to have the firepower to trade for him.

Hey, Greene was a 6th round pick by Philadelphia. Just one trade in the many chapters of the Philadelphia-Denver trade exchange thing that doesn't have a cool name like the Keystone Alliance.