Tweet
The Sim: 4-3 road week: 0-1 WC, 2-1 Denver, 2-1 Davenport - I'll take it. The Blues won 3/4 of our series leaving them 4.5 above us in the standings. However, we know are just 1.5 games back of Denver and two games back of Philly for the final Wild Card spot.
The Good: Catcher Pat McKinney has been a big surprise for us this season. During the FA period, I made a big offer to C Farber, another LH catcher. After deciding to go all-in on Nieto/Ulloa, I had to pull the offer. The plan was for Farber to split duties with C Ted Sandy, as I didn't think McKinney was up to the challenge of being even a part-time starter. This season he has hit .322 with a .857 OPS and now ranks above Sandy on the positional strength. Originally a 5th round pick from Seattle's inaugural amateur draft, he has surpassed what I thought he would be. He currently ranks 1st in the BLB in defensive efficiency and 5th in CS%. I doubt he keeps this up, as his BABIP of .340 is the best amongst starters, but even if he drops down to a season OPS in the low .700s, he's been a savior at the position. Sandy has played likes shit and his days in Seattle could be numbered.
The Bad: This defense is killing me. I should have listened to Shark. It's funny how different these Seattle teams have been than my DC model. This week, we had even more errors and our defensive efficiency is back to 10th in the IL. In one game alone, Ulloa had two errors, responsible for four runs, costing us a game against Davenport. If we don't turn it around soon, I will probably have to sacrifice a little offense as our biggest weakness has been the defense...not helping maybe the youngest rotation and bullpen in the BLB.
The Minors: Crunch time. A lot of players on the hot seat with prospects coming in. Triple-A and Double-A are currently contenders but a lot of the veteran filler will be cut in favor of long shot prospects. I doubt any team makes the minor league playoffs which I'm not sure has ever happened in my BLB career. The prospect itching to get to the BLB is 2B Colin Niebauer. We have had issues agaisnt LHSP this season and the RH 2B would probably slide in to regular playing time but I'm not 100% sure he is ready. We have been going with 40-year-old Fernando Ortis and he has hit .300/.900 in nine games. He's wrecked and one of the oldest players in the BLB universe so counting on him to keep this pace or stay healthy is foolish. It's only a matter of time until Niebauer is in the pros. Post rookie entrance, he ranks #36 on the Top 100, and the 5th highest MIF. He's hitting .321/.833, and has been getting semi-regular reps at SS, not his natural position.
Next Week: Seattle's upcoming three opponents are WC and PHO (twice), the Bock's two best teams. This week is 3@PHO, 4vs. WC. Pretty early in the season for a make or break sim, but these 10 games are pretty crucial to our playoff chase. I'm banking on a poor sim. If we go 2-4 this week, or worse, we will likely find ourselves more than four games back of the 6th seed. If we have a good showing against these two teams, I would feel comfortable to say we are a legit playoff team. But it doesn't seem probable.
Comment