2016 Regular Season SIM 14 Complete - Next SIM Thursday 04/28

[BradZ]

Next SIM: THU 04/28

- Files due by 8 am ET | 5 am PT, any later and you run the risk of missing the sim
- HTML and utility in a bit
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Stat of the Day!
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DFA: CAL
Roster: LAD (A), CAL(A), CAR(A), MOR (AA), DAV (A)
Single A Age:
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- Watch your DFA/Roster/Single A please!

[bparks1987]

Took 3 of 4 from Washington but god damn we cannot beat Philly this year at all.

[funclown]

Pawtucket 4-2.

Better. Expecting more of this going forward versus us going nuts like we did earlier this season. After Allstar break just need to give guys they're proper rest until Sept until we can call our veteran AAAA up.

As Pat mentioned in his mid season review we did have a decent amount of injuries and to be honest I was pushing the guys hard. The benefit was this nice big lead we can go ahead and sit on.

7 Allstars this season , SP J.D. Robillard & CL Diego 'Red' Lovera as first timers. Nice.

[Carlos]

Banuelos got screwed.

3-3 week. We are playing much better baseball the past 30 days but can't make up any ground.

7 games back. Bullpen and defense solid. Offense improved but not much better. Chidester has been the unsung hero at the bottom of the rotation.

[liquidcrash]

It's amazing how much Wilmington just kills us this season. We just have no hope of beating them. 2-4 week for the Bats, ending our run of good play. Not with a road trip @ Philly and @ Morgantown, all of our good work the past month could be undone in about 10 games.

[BradZ]

3-3 week; just a puck moving week heading into the All-Star break. Couple of injuries to the pitching staff this SIM, so the break couldn't come at a better time. May have to start beating the bushes a bit to scare up a couple of additional arms for the staff before the deadline.

[Z]

Is Fernando Hernandez the oldest starting pitcher to make an All-Star team?

Can I get a stat check?

[Hank]

And the slide continues.

What really hurts is seeing Izzy Briseno hit so many HR's while Mike "Dirty" Sanchez gives them up.
Especially since my owner wants to see our HR totals jump beyond 5th in the IL.

Oh well. Glad to see him doing well and I hope Sanchez straightens things out.

One thing I recently noticed was that Pang no longer has a rating for 3B.
His defensive stats aren't bad, but he's certainly not the glove he once was in California where he averaged more than a +20 zone rating in the last few years as a Kodiak.

My owner is demanding I upgrade 3B, make a big trade and extend Maher.
He must be reading twitter feeds from those dumb Mowhawk fans.
I have no money to make a big trade (thanks asshole!) and the only extension Maher will get is from my middle finger.

Despite my grumblings, still having a blast this year.
I moved my top 3B prospect, Diego Garza, up from AA to AAA and he did very well in his first week with the Badgers, hitting .320 with a homer and was a + glove at 3B.

My scout rates his hitting skills as fair and he's pretty much matured right now.
I'm going to give him a long look during SP for next season as a possible replacement for Pang.

[Spectre]

Come crashing back down to Earth with a 1-5 sim against division foes Hartford and Maine

[Delandis]

4-2 and a great way to go into the All-Star break. Just 3.5 back of the #2 wildcard and our guys did well finally getting a few wins in against Philly.

*Gosser hits 2 more bombs to put him at 14, leading the league in home runs among BLB rookies. To put it in perspective, Gosser has hit 14 home runs in 170 at-bats. The two rookies that have 13 home runs, have 326 AB and 311 AB. This kid is a MONSTER.

*Tom Griffiths is loving Baltimore. Last week he hit 10/22 with 2 doubles, 1 home run and just 2 strikeouts. All of a sudden the old man can field again, and he is right handed. We ARE sure he never played for Virginia, right?

* Zack Cook was impressive in his debut. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Cook didn't allow another ER through 7 IP, with 7 K and 2BB in his first BLB win over the Freedom.

All in all, I'm very excited to see what this team can do in the 2nd half IF we stay healthy. I'm seeing a LOT of promising performances from a LOT of young guys.

[Cory]

A 4-3 sim, and our 6th straight sim where we go .500 or better. I didn't like losing the series to Cali, but we take what we can get.

Our attendance finally started going back up since we've been winning a bit more. Hopefully I can get my owner to up his budget projections for next year. I don't like the idea of facing another $7 million drop.

[Z]

I feel cautiously optimistic we filled our holes.

Tom Abrams brings good early returns at third base, replacing the traded Tom Griffiths. .838 OPS in two weeks here so far after pounding the ball at AAA. He's in a platoon with J.R. Johnson, who crushes southpaws.

Roman Heiber is an outstanding defensive shortstop, the best we've fielded since Tristan Romarigues's heyday. He was hitting .344 with a .919 OPS at AAA, so I have reason to believe his bat should be at least adequate for a defense-first shortstop here.

The newly signed veteran Johnny Patterson replaces Deathblow Robicheaux in left field. Patterson is past his prime, but I feel optimistic a stable situation and friendly ballpark should make him a useful contributor -- certainly more than what Robicheaux gave us.

Shigetaka Saito stepped into the starting center field job last week. He's been terrific with the glove and solid with the bat for a premium position.

Our bullpen has been trending up, too.

We shall see.

[Sharkn20]

SP Pat Cinelli
CL Stinger Jimenez

Both Sharks will stay in Pittsburgh for the all-star game. Very happy to see our 1st Overall selection in 2013 (#4 Overall selection) having his first ticket to play with the Stars of the DL.

[PaulC]

Welcome Back

What a triumphant return after a stint on the DL for Dusty Filar!

Player of the week...
The California right fielder battered the opposition for 11 hits, 4 home runs, 5 RBI and scored 7 runs. He hit .324 and posted a .324 on-base percentage.

I thought we were out of the playoff race, but...

[Z]

Here's another fun Maine prospect story I'm watching develop.

(I know Shark enjoys these.)

We drafted Erik Gauthier as a 17 year old high schooler in the fourth round in 2013. He had pitched pretty well as a starting pitcher in a hitting-oriented league, though his raw numbers hardly jump off the chart.

He barely hit 90 MPH on the gun at the time. He mostly threw in the high 80s.

He drifted between the rotation and bullpen in single-A for two years before moving to the bullpen full-time in 2015.

Still in single-A, he started figuring it out that year.

He earned a promotion to AA Bar Harbor, where his 1.16 ERA in 16 appearances led to another promotion, this time to AAA Portsmouth.

And he began throwing harder ... a lot harder.

He's hitting 96 MPH with his fastball now.

He just earned the closer's job starting this sim, as he has a sizzling 1.71 ERA at AAA and made the All-Star team, even though he's only 20 years old pitching against much older hitters!

Someone to keep an eye on.

I hope the expansion teams aren't watching too closely...