2003 Regular Season 19 SIM Complete - Next SIM Saturday 10/12

[funclown]

Our problem is that guys who are in or entering their primes and who are career .700-.800 OPS hitters with DWI-caliber defense are OPSing in the .500s and .600s and have been for the entire season.

Obviously it would be nice to have Memmoli or Reyes on this team right now. I thought that Munoz would give me most of that production for a fraction of the price.

And you know what? I was right! He's given me a 148 OPS+ for $5M.

Unfortunately, he hurt his ankle and missed a month, and no one else in my lineup has been able to do anything even though I quite reasonably expected them to OPS around their career averages.

I thought guys like Suarez, Watkins, Sherrod, Lebron, Romarigues, and Shumway, most of who are in their mid- or late-20s, would give me the kind of production I was accustomed to from them, or better.

It didn't work out that way, and I know I have to decide what to do going forward.

So in hindsight, yeah, we would have been better off getting another bat.

But I figured in advance that what ended up happening was an unlikely worst case scenario that I could rectify by signing Reyes or trading for someone like Sakamato.

Unfortunately, some financial analyst in our organization secretly invested $9M of our budget money with Bernie Madoff or something, and we went from having plenty of budget room to add an impact player or two, to not being able to take on any salary at all, without any kind of warning.

So there wasn't anything I could really do other than ride it out and hope for guys to start hitting like they should, which I'm still waiting for.

This season's been a perfect storm of things going awry. The one bright spot was nabbing Twinkle Toes 17th in the draft.

Depending on what we decide to do with Warren, we'll either have a lot of money to spend or A LOT of money to spend. I'm ready to just forget about this season and move on.

I'm sure you'll retool and be ready to go next season. Was just calling out "Ale Pride". I guess I'm use to seeing a bunch of .500 teams. The "nuclear" age.

[Pat]

Our problem is that guys who are in or entering their primes and who are career .700-.800 OPS hitters with DWI-caliber defense are OPSing in the .500s and .600s and have been for the entire season.

Obviously it would be nice to have Memmoli or Reyes on this team right now. I thought that Munoz would give me most of that production for a fraction of the price.

And you know what? I was right! He's given me a 148 OPS+ for $5M.

Unfortunately, he hurt his ankle and missed a month, and no one else in my lineup has been able to do anything even though I quite reasonably expected them to OPS around their career averages.

I thought guys like Suarez, Watkins, Sherrod, Lebron, Romarigues, and Shumway, most of whom are in their mid- or late-20s, would give me the kind of production I was accustomed to from them, or better.

It didn't work out that way, and now I have to decide what to do going forward.

So in hindsight, yeah, we would have been better off getting another bat.

But I figured in advance that what ended up happening was an unlikely worst case scenario that I could rectify by signing Reyes or trading for someone like Sakamato.

Unfortunately, some financial analyst in our organization secretly invested $9M of our budget money with Bernie Madoff or something, and we went from having plenty of budget room to add an impact player or two, to not being able to take on any salary at all, without any kind of warning.

So there wasn't anything I could really do other than ride it out and hope for guys to start hitting like they should, which I'm still waiting for.

This season's been a perfect storm of things going awry. The one bright spot was nabbing Twinkle Toes 17th in the draft.

Depending on what we decide to do with Warren, we'll either have a lot of money to spend or A LOT of money to spend. I'm ready to just forget about this season and move on.

Your lineup has no patient hitters....that's a big issue.

[Carlos]

2003 Regular Season 19 SIM Complete - Next SIM Saturday 10/12

A 3-3 week. We've been playing just below .500 the past two+ months.

I don't know or care about everyone's rosters to look but I have four hitters with a current contact rating of 6 and they all hit like its a 4. It's probably the worst luck I've ever seen and neither of them appears ready to finally play to their ratings. I can see if maybe they hit like a 5, but we are definitely talking 4 here. That's dramatic.

Some of it could be my park but it's the same on the road.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Pat]

A 3-3 week. We've been playing just below .500 the past two+ months.

I don't know or care about everyone's rosters to look but I have four hitters with a current contact rating of 6 and they all hit like its a 4. It's probably the worst luck I've ever seen and neither of them appears ready to finally play to their ratings. I can see if maybe they hit like a 5, but we are definitely talking 4 here. That's dramatic.

Some of it could be my park but it's the same on the road.


Sent from my mobile device.

Maybe Chad Melson will help.

[funclown]

Just realized if the playoffs were to start today the matchups in the DL are identical as 2002.

Hmmm, hope the outcome is different.

[Z]

Your lineup has no patient hitters....that's a big issue.

It is, but that doesn't excuse the impatient hitters who normally hit .280-.300 with gap power from hitting .210-.220 with mostly singles.

I'm under no delusion that I have a lineup of sluggers like I did a few years ago, but the expected production from them at the plate, coupled with their defensive prowess and our pitching, projects as a 90-95 win team.

[funclown]

It is, but that doesn't excuse the impatient hitters who normally hit .280-.300 with gap power from hitting .210-.220 with mostly singles.

I'm under no delusion that I have a lineup of sluggers like I did a few years ago, but the expected production from them at the plate, coupled with their defensive prowess and our pitching, projects as a 90-95 win team.

Never did the preview for the Ale, but for what its worth I had you at 85-88 wins.

I liked your team better last year. You were a pain in the ass matchup for us.

[Carlos]

Maybe Chad Melson will help.

So my claim went through? I need whatever help I can get and he's super cheap and knows what it takes to lose.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Pat]

I'm under no delusion that I have a lineup of sluggers like I did a few years ago, but the expected production from them at the plate, coupled with their defensive prowess and our pitching, projects as a 90-95 win team.

I didn't make any projections this year like I had planned but I fail to see how you expected this squad to win 95 games! You have above average pitching, great defense and well below average hitting. I think the 80-82 wins you are heading for sounds accurate...maybe even exceeding expectations.

A quick look at positional strength, besides Danny Lebron and Dani Munoz, your regular players are all bottom half of the league. Even Lebron and Munoz are just slightly above that ranked 8th and 10th at their respective positions. And you were extremely lucky to get that type of production out of Munoz this year to begin with. Your pitching has been solid but not enough to make up for one of the worst lineups in the DL. Your top four hitters in ABs, Suarez, Roma, Lebron and Sherrod, have a combined 57 walks! For an example of how poor that is, there are four hitters in the IL that have 80+ by themselves.

[Z]

And if those guys were hitting .290 instead of .230, they'd be average hitters for their positions instead of terrible, in spite of the walks.

[Delandis]

It is, but that doesn't excuse the impatient hitters who normally hit .280-.300 with gap power from hitting .210-.220 with mostly singles.

I'm under no delusion that I have a lineup of sluggers like I did a few years ago, but the expected production from them at the plate, coupled with their defensive prowess and our pitching, projects as a 90-95 win team.

It happens. See Baltimore 2002. Fresh off a championship and absolutely nothing went well for us, injuries, poor hitting, giving up tons of HRs...etc. Just prepare to retool and I'm sure you'll be back around next year.

[funclown]

It happens. See Baltimore 2002. Fresh off a championship and absolutely nothing went well for us, injuries, poor hitting, giving up tons of HRs...etc. Just prepare to retool and I'm sure you'll be back around next year.

I say just hold. Its what we do in Pawtucket.

[Pat]

Decided to call up veteran slugger Don Castor from the minors. The 33-year-old has 266 career BLB homeruns, 40th All-Time, however he has spent the last few seasons raking in the minors for Mississippi, Batavia, Virginia and Washington. After hitting 28 bombs in 91 Double-A games, Washington called him up to Triple-A this past week where he hit at a .990 OPS in six games.

He will DH this week against the Maine Guides.

[Jake]

I'm not surprised no one else noticed, since I've been so busy that I didn't even realize how big of a deal this was until tonight, but last sim Hector Coronel tied Subaru Hiraki at 32 straight games with a base hit. I a)forgot he was on a streak, and b)thought the record would be a little higher than that.

In the next game, the would be 33rd straight game, Coronel had 7 plate appearances over 15 innings and went 0-6, striking out in the top of the 15th to end the streak.

Crazy.

[funclown]

I'm not surprised no one else noticed, since I've been so busy that I didn't even realize how big of a deal this was until tonight, but last sim Hector Coronel tied Subaru Hiraki at 32 straight games with a base hit. I a)forgot he was on a streak, and b)thought the record would be a little higher than that.

In the next game, the would be 33rd straight game, Coronel had 7 plate appearances over 15 innings and went 0-6, striking out in the top of the 15th to end the streak.

Crazy.