SIM COMPLETE - 2000 - SIM 8

[umd]

Jose Guzman gets hit #3400 (along with 6 more) this week. He's now 37 hits behind Keppel from becoming the all-time hits leader.

Send him to Pawtucket to kill his career and make it fair.

[funclown]

Send him to Pawtucket to kill his career and make it fair.

Lol, is he a lefty??? No problem. Send him my way!

[Clay]

Babilo brought an infection with him.

Hepatitis FC

[Jistic]

Hepatitis FC

Don't bring Prez's favorite footie club into this.

Funclown curse continues. Come to Windy city for your shopping needs. Most of our players are untainted and made with the freshest ingredients.

[Jim]

Don't bring Prez's favorite footie club into this.

Funclown curse continues. Come to Windy city for your shopping needs. Most of our players are untainted and made with the freshest ingredients.

Jistic, I like trading with you, but your players never work out for me. I held out hope Angelo Hernandez would be the exception, but no.

[Carlos]

So by giving Dusty Simmons a contract I've reduced my ability to work the system?

Estimated payroll is an expense, not a budget.

You lowered your expenses and therefore increased your ability to spend more. This is a good thing.

[Carlos]

Easily my favorite first generation player.

Agreed. I have always loved Guzman. Always.

He would be my favorite player to watch if BLB had video.

[Jake]

Tyrone Abbott is out for 5 months and #4 prospect Ruben Luna is crushing the ball in AAA. Decisions.

[Delandis]

Tyrone Abbott is out for 5 months and #4 prospect Ruben Luna is crushing the ball in AAA. Decisions.

He's killing AAA, he's 24, and he's unhappy about not being in the BLB.


You betta' promote that man.

[Jake]

Not sure if you guys noticed but thought I would mention that Lim is on waivers... again... for the 84th straight week. Just making sure you knew he was available if you hadn't noticed. Trying to help Carlos out.

Again, Lim on waivers. Bargain price. Don't miss him because he might not be on there next week.

[Lintyfresh85]

Someone sign him so he can get to 100 saves. He's at 98!

[Delandis]

SIM 8: Baltimore Bulldogs (33-18)
1-2 at CHI
2-2 vs CAL

We continue to struggle on the road. At just 9-11 on the road, the problem is not our pitching which is statistically as good if not better away from home. However, when you hit .198 on the road, you probably should consider yourself lucky to be 9-11.

THE GOOD

-Oscar Lerma looked damn good again (albeit limited action) in his 2nd week in the BLB. Going 5/10 with 4 RBI this week, his triple slash line is .500/.591/.500 since being promoted. Also, he's been playing at 2nd base and although he isn't awesome, he does seem to still be improving in the field. He'll never have a cannon to beat the speedsters, but I believe he will improve enough to be a capable defender at 2nd base. Look for Lerma to move higher in the order so that we can make better use of the kid's ability to get on base.

-After a rocky start in April, Angelo Barrios has started to get into a bit of a groove. He just ended a 12 game hitting streak, winning IL POW honors last sim. Barrios hit 0 home runs in April but exploded for 7 home runs in May. I've seen at least two, back-to-back home run trips by Marlin and Barrios already. Add to that his IL leading range in center field, you have a great candidate for a vote for the All-Star game.

-Cy Gray seems to have appreciated sending Sze Zhu packing to Hartford. Since 5/22 (the day Zhu left), Gray has gone 7/23 with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Gray only has 11 hits on the season. With normal infield starter, Kazuyoshi Maekawa struggling a bit, Gray may be seizing a tailor-made opportunity to win back a starting position at this point in the season.

-Sadaharu Katsura may not make my prediction of winning the IL Pale Ale come true only because he is on an insane pace himself. The 23 year old, Japanese pitcher has not given up more than 2 ER in any start this year, posting a BLB leading 1.43 ERA. Katsura does play with fire a bit with 33 walks in 66 IP, but makes up for it with by keeping baserunners from touching home plate with a 5.24 H/9IP ratio and just .29 HR/9IP.


THE BAD

-My demotion of Lonnie Fowler and Don Newman was out of anger and probably a bit hasty. I will likely be paying for it with a lost year of min imum pay for Danny Ybarra. I'm going to promote Don again and send Danny back to AAA after his league debut giving up 7 hits, 4 ER (but he did have 3 K) in just 1.2 IP. I think that Danny can pitch at this level, but there is no reason to put too much pressure on him this early and I need an extra lefty in the bullpen. He'll definitely get the call in September and be around for ST next year.

-If there is a weak link in our rotation, that link would be Hector Castre. Lookng at his history he just seems to have those unexplainable years where he just sucks. In his defense, he has had some very good starts this season, however last week's 3.2 IP, 5 hits, 3 BB, 5 ER performance against Windy City wasn't one of them. With waiver acquisition, Raul Guzman's recent performances as a viable lefty option, Castre needs to improve if he doesn't not want to lose starts to the Argentinian lefty.

ON THE FARM

-Robbie Williams (SP) of our AAA Annapolis Admirals squad, cracked the Top 100 again following the 6/1 rescout. Robbie has thrown at least 10K in 4 outings so far this season and after losing his 5 of his first 6 starts, has now gone 3-0 in his last 4 starts with 32 K and just 7 BB. Still keeping an eye on this guy because I just FEEL like he has the potential to be something special.

NEXT UP
-One more week of division play before we host the bottom half of the Ale. 2 vs. PHI, 2 vs. BAT and then 3 more crucial games against California, but this time in San Jose. Prediction: 5-2.

[Carlos]

Not sure if you guys noticed but thought I would mention that Lim is on waivers... again... for the 84th straight week. Just making sure you knew he was available if you hadn't noticed. Trying to help Carlos out.

Again, Lim on waivers. Bargain price. Don't miss him because he might not be on there next week.

He will be there all season. He's angry. I don't care.