SIM COMPLETE - 2001 - SIM 18

[Clay]

Happy Mother's Day, Bitches!

Next SIM: Tuesday

***

CAR - 26 @ AAA - Check your DFA

[Jake]

Spoiler

Hate to see that happen to Basil.

[Matt]

Spoiler

And Salazar.

[spot]

We'll gladly take a split at Washington and Virginia. Especially when we gain a game on Caroline in the process!

Baby steps.

[funclown]

Haven't wrote one of these in awhile.

PAWTUCKET 3-3 52-59 overall tied with what seems to be 20 teams with this record.


The good
Looking at the glass half full, we are a better team then last season. 4th overall in starter ERA, 4th in team batting average, 4th in homeruns. Take away the crazy April month and we've been a .500 ballclub.

Ruben Apracio doesn't look great on paper, but really having a nice season (#3 DL league ERA currently)


The bad
We suck against lefties which is a new trick for us. Doug Gill barely played this season which could be why lefties are scary right now. When healthy the vision we had was working, but injuries are a part of life. Without Gill, we just are having a tough times scoring runs right now. Speaking of injuries our OF has been patch work since seemingly all season.

Each of the past 4 weeks we have blown least one game (two a few weeks back)

Oh and after a couple of seasons of "bandits on the basepath", the same guys get thrown out now!!! Coaches have a pretty tight leash with sending them now.


Baffling
Despite several offseason moves, the bullpen is actually WORSE then last season. Almost seems impossible looking back at talent level of last seasons pen. Chemistry or just new players finding they're roles its been very difficult to replicate the Caden Hill/ Ivan Gallo/ Bud Phillips combo of the early 90's. We can produce power hitters here out of nowhere (Robby Lopez, Jon Montalbo, examples), but developing good RPers has been a complete mystery.


The farm -ranked #7 at this writing.
Had a hunch, but my scout is now on the Jon Montalbo bandwagon!!!! Kid was a monster in AA this season and we brought up to join Tyler Quinn in AAA. Quinn struggled in the big show, but he keeps developing in AAA so maybe we just rushed him a bit.

SP-Tom Vaccarella might be suffering a bit from boredom, but his time will come soon enough. SP-Ed Kisselburg is actually getting his act straight and Diaz has been solid so far.



Outlook
After a pair of 60 something win seasons, management made a decision to start getting back into the mix. Like alot of teams already posted, some things just didn't bounce our way. While you have to give of up something to get something, our minor league system has not been gutted.

As for the bats, we have some serious lumber not too far away from the big show. Haven't seen this in Pawtucket system since the late 80's.

Gerald and Pierce aren't spring chickens, but not over the hill either and some help is on the way. Bullpen......for now keep throwing shit on the wall til something sticks.

The Ale is always very active so nothing will be easy ever in this division, but I see enough pieces in place to battle with everybody.

Guess I'll call it : 77-85 probable record with 81-81 being optimistic. Improved, just not ready yet.

[Jistic]

Happy 23rd birthday to JJ Caplan. And that's all I got.

[Delandis]

Baltimore Bulldogs (70-41, Porter Leader by 1 Game)
3-3 for the week
2-1 vs MOR
1-2 vs DAV

• I guess our undefeated week last week came at a heavy cost this week. The Greek Demi-God has been struck down with a torn flexor tendon in his throwing arm. You can tell the guys are bummed about the injury because not only did we lose the game against Morgantown where Petrohilos was hurt, but we also lost the following series at home against Davenport.

The Good

• As much as I have been gushing about the 2nd half turnaround by SP Sadaharu Katsura, I've got to give some attention to SP Hector Castre who has every bit as impressive since the All-Star Break. Since 7/10/01, Castre is 4-1 with a 1.51 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. Last week, he threw his 10th career complete game (6th with Baltimore) and 3rd career shutout (all with Baltimore) in an impressive 5-0 win over Morgantown.

• With the injury to MR Basil Petrohilos, the responsibility to close will fall squarely on the shoulders of MR Franklin Martinez and MR Danny Rodriquez. Franklin is an all-around workhorse and a team leader, so I expect him to pick up some slack. However, Danny is a bit of an enigma. Rodriquez has this terrible habit of ALWAYS giving up a hit or walk when he comes in to close. The good thing is that Danny has been looking pretty good of late. Last week, Danny came in a pitched a solid 3.7 innings with no earned runs, 6 K and 3 BB.

The Ugly

• There is no bad, just ugly this week. Obviously we are completely shocked at the injury to SP Basil Petrohilos. To add injury to insult, 2B Pete Phelps also goes down to an arm injury for one month. Phelps was having a good year for us platooning with 2B Colin Reed. Obviously, I've got a few decisions to make.

The Farm

• Due to our rash of injuries at the BLB level, it looks like a couple of young guys make be getting a chance a bit sooner than I expected. First, 22 year old reliever MR Danny Ybarra was going to be promoted to the bigs in September anyway. This just pushed the timetable up a bit. Ybarra has posted a 1.68 ERA, 84 K in 53.2 IP in Annapolis (AAA) so far this year. There really isn't anything else left for him to prove at that level so its sink or swim time for the youngster.

• Our callup to replace the injured Phelps will likely be none other than former 4th round pick, 2B Pat Riley. Riley has shown a little bit of ability put his bat on the ball and although he doesn't have the eye that Phelps has, he's got good speed and his defense is comparable.

The Week Ahead

• Definitely a week for huge injuries. This week we head back on the road to face the Playboys and the Salaazar-less Bats. However with the bullpen Washington boasts, I doubt the miss a beat. We normally play better on the road than at home but I really think we are in for another 3-3 week and will likely lose our lead in the Porter.

[umd]

Bunch of my guys cleared waivers. We re back open for business.

[Carlos]

2-4.

The honeymoon phase with the new guys has passed.

Guys are angry. Fans don't care anymore. So we will win more games than last year but we will still have a bunch of losses.

But it's the farm that matters and my AAA squad is doing extremely well.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Jake]

4-2 with an offensive explosion! Not sure what to think about that.

Dusty Reber is done. His control magically dropped to a 3 after getting his ERA below 3.00. Hasn't been the same.

On the otherhand, Dave Heath's been nice for us, at least over the last two starts - 17.2 IP, 9H, 4BB, 1ER.

[fsquid]

We'll gladly take a split at Washington and Virginia. Especially when we gain a game on Caroline in the process!

Baby steps.

its really at the "who sucks less" point now.

[spot]

its really at the "who sucks less" point now.

Truth.

Welcome to the Bock.

[Pat]

Top of the rankings. Feeling good.

[Matt]

Pick 1.1 is out for the rest of the year with shoulder inflammation. Bustavia back in effect!

[Carlos]

Pick 1.1 is out for the rest of the year with shoulder inflammation. Bustavia back in effect!

One of my guys keeps getting injured despite a good health record.

Just saying.


Sent from my mobile device.