SIM COMPLETE - 2001 - SIM 15

[Clay]

NEXT SIM: Wednesday

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REMINDER: Trade Deadline will pass at the beginning of Friday's SIM. Please make sure trades are formatted properly.

[funclown]

Wow, RF has been a death trap for my players recently

[Delandis]

Do I have any other options for a guy who has cleared waivers and refuses to be demoted, that doesn't include releasing him or putting him back on the active roster?

[Jistic]

Nope.

[Delandis]

Nope.

Damn. Wish it didn't have to end like this.

[Jake]

3-3. Rex comes back to Syracuse and has a monster week, winning DL POW honors, but the rest of our O is worse than usual. I've got to get Luna/Pepe hitting worth a damn or it's going to be a long second half.

Got a message from Rex already about an extension. I think we worked something nice out that keeps him around for a year or two. Nice guy, that Rex.

Travis Skinner has really blossomed this year following up a great second half of 2000. Doesn't strike anyone out but he's been extremely solid. Martinez too, finally having a year worthy of his scouting report (despite going back to a "bullpen" projected role).

Our bullpen is a machine. Nakashima is a total stud. 2 ER all year, both off of solo shots. 0.40 ERA (Yi still going strong at 0.23 as well). Ballos leads the league in FIP, Rod Phillips still going strong. Olivo out for 3 months hurts, but, barring any setback he'll be back for the postseason.

[Spectre]

3-3 sim. Barely staying above .500 for now. Big week for us as we square off against Hartford and Los Angeles.

[umd]

Like to sell off some more guys.

[Delandis]

Baltimore Bulldogs (57-34, 1 GB in the Porter )
5-2 for the week
1-0 vs WAS
2-1 at MOR
2-1 at VIR

• We continue our winning ways on the road. Away from home, our record is still a league best at 32-12. I conveniently left out the two losses we earned at home last week against Washington, as we'd like to forget that slow start out of the 2nd half gate.

The Good

• LF Pat Marlin's bat is heating back up and that could be just what we need to pull out of this funk where we cannot win consistently at home. Last week, Marlin went 10/22 with a .538 OBP. Although he isn't putting up the gaudy home run numbers of 2000, statistically, Marlin is having an even better 2001. The most surprising statistic is that despite the lefty-friendly Phillips Field that Marlin is used to playing in, he is hitting significantly better on the ROAD, than at home.

• During the All-Star break, we made a trade for 30-year old C Cale Hill. We needed an upgrade vs. RHP since potential HOF C Kyoden Kubota, just doesn't seem to have the ability to play everyday behind the plate anymore. Cale wasn't happy about leaving the Batavia organization, but was obviously ecstatic about the opportunity to play in the BLB. Last week, the switch-hitting, Ohio native played exceptionally well hitting just about .300 for the week with a team high, 4 doubles.

• I'm not sure if it was the rest after the All-Star break, the acquisition of C Cale Hill or just a combination of both, but our pitching looked amazing this week. Our starters went out and dominated the Stout, including SP Doug Coates' 3H, 6K, CG shutout of his former mates. Another refreshing stat was that the bullpen only had to pitch a total of 11 innings giving up just 1 ER. If our starters can continue to take the pressure off the 'pen by pitching later into games, I like our chances for a Porter crown down the stretch.

The Bad

• I think CF Ernie Bornstein has lost all confidence in his ability. The former 1st round pick has hit terribly all year which coincidentally, is worse than last year's numbers. He's getting caught stealing at an alarmingly high rate, not hitting with any power, and has a laughably low on base percentage. Fortunately, I've learned over the years that Ernie is a team-first guy, and will understand when I bench him to give a RF Alex Gomez a few more at-bats over upcoming few weeks.

The Ugly

• As a GM, you hate when this time comes around. You have that former star player who has given his all for the team over the last decade (or more) but just doesn't have all the amazing tools that he once did. C Kyoden Kubota and the Bulldogs' organization have arrived at this crossroad. Signed to monster 6-year, $95M contract way back in '92, Kubota earned it all and had been the offensive glue to the Baltimore offense over the years. Now however, we no longer have room on our roster for him. Hopefully some team that would like to get an (All-Expenses Paid) boost in gate and merchandising revenue for just a 10th round pick, will give him an opportunity so that we won't have to cut this great player.
  

The Farm

• Quite frankly, I'm not sure what has changed, but all of a sudden our Annapolis (AAA) squad has played significantly better of late. After starting the season 21-28, the Admirals have gone 28-19 and moved up for a 2-way tie for 2nd place in the Northeast Division.

The Week Ahead

• Big, big week coming up. After a 3-game tussle with the Bock leading, Tobs we host 4 HUGE games against the dangerous Kodiaks. For the first time ever, I'm worried about the fact that the games against the Kodiaks are home games and not road games. I don't know what to expect this week but with our roster, I always expect to have a winning week. I'll say 4-3.

[Carlos]

...he'll be back for the postseason.

Bold words, my friend.

[Delandis]

Rex finally has his first real chance to make an impact the playoffs. At 34...so sad.

[Jake]

Knock on wood...

[Carlos]

We still aren't good, but we are considerably better since I sent the kids down. DeBenedetti, Potter, Armstrong, Porter, etc. just weren't ready yet and it showed. Mueller pitched really well, but I figured I might as well give him even more AAA time just because.

For me, it's okay because I get to see them improve in AAA along with the other young guys I hope to bring up in the next year or two.

But we went 3-4 this sim making us 11-12 since we stuck to the old vets sprinkled with some AAAA fodder.

I'll take it. I signed those guys because I wanted to win a few more games and raise attendance knowing that losing did absolutely nothing for us without that first round pick. So we'll lose, but at least I won't feel as bad when a franchise pitcher goes number 2.

[Carlos]

By the way, has anyone ever since this?

Bulls Aren't Talking About Injury to Julian
Sunday, July 15th, 2001: An undisclosed injury has taken Tom Julian out of the lineup for some time. When reached for comment, several players, staff, and coaches all denied any allegations of how the injury occurred. "All I can tell you is that he will miss at least a couple of weeks, and that's best case scenario", said his manager Tom Julian.

His player card says: 07/15/2001 Injured ( ), out for 4 weeks.

And injuries list him below:

RF Tom Julian 3 weeks 6 day(s) left


I wonder what Julian did.

[Jake]

I wonder what Julian did.

I'm not going to talk about it.