All-Star Break: Grade Yourself

[Delandis]

Baltimore Bulldogs

Overall: B+

Pitching: B+
-We have two All-Star pitchers in Taylor and Tamieke. There seems to be no slow down for either guy, both may be in the conversation for Pale Ale. Ruedas is a really steady #3 for us but if he was in Washington, he'd be an ace. Matoon is just having pretty bad luck with an abnormally high BABIP this year, while Boutin looks a lot worse than he is with a 6.00 ERA / 1.46 WHIP in Phillips Field, but a 3.43 ERA / 1.21 WHIP outside the friendly confines.

Of late, our bullpen has been giving up a lot of late inning runs. Our biggest culprit is Marco Perez who had given up just 1 home run in 22 innings in April and May but 7 home runs (and 4 losses) in June and July. That is an issue that needs to be resolved.

As a whole we don't see too significant of a difference in ERA pitching at home vs. on the road which is a testament to the overall consistency we are getting from our staff.


Hitting: B+
-It is no secret that the Baltimore lineup is always built to win at home and then we let the chips fall where they may. This time, the chips fell in our favor with four more All-Stars voted to play in Denver this year. Abraham Santana (C), Billy Alvarado (3B), Jimmy Jones (OF), and Oscar Sanchez (OF) all have started the year very well and we will need all of them to continue this pace to hold on to a Porter race that is getting a little too close.

-The play on both sides of the ball by a resurgent, Roberto Crespin at shortstop has helped this team immensely. We haven't had a guy who could field the position at this level while hitting well since the departure of Kazuyoshi Maekawa to FA in 2003.


2nd Half Outlook:
Its going to be a dogfight since Batavia has found some confidence, California's offense has caught fire, Philly is getting healthy and our bullpen is struggling. I think the lynchpin will be the return of Chiba for us. If he comes back in MVP form, I like our chances to make the playoffs.

If not, we will may have trouble holding on to a playoff birth.

[fsquid]

Overall: A+
Hitting: A+
Pitching: A+
Defense: D

Outlook: PAIN!

[Spectre]

Overall: D
I went into this year fully expecting a rebuild- however a hot April got me too optimistic about the team and I made a trade to get Danny Gonzalez and took on some money and lost some draft picks. I've recouped those picks with some trades and now I'm fully focused on a true rebuild. Going forward, low priced bargain veterans and young players that are cost controlled are gonna make the backbone of the team. All of my success in the 1990s and early 2000s was driven by good pitching and I'm going to focus on re-establishing that.

Hitting: D
Didn't expect much here but the guys that I hoped to produce have not. Jan Parson was horrible in his final season with me- I thought he'd do better when Santana was traded but I was wrong. The OF has been disappointing- mid-season acquisition BJ Mulcahy has stunk. Travis Monty continues to hit for power which is positive- he'd be a nice complementary player but not a key player. My infield is the highlight of the team- Medina at 3B is a nice player as is JR Bachleda at 2B. I haven't had a legit 1B in a while and I hope Gugliotta will fulfill that role some day. Gleason has been a nice free agent signing and is raking this year in a nice bounce back season.

Pitching: C
My starting pitching has been horrible. Ron Burton has been very unlucky and is now gone. Danny Gonzalez has actually pitched pretty well for me. Dusty Verhaege, who pitched to a 1.19 WHIP last year was off of his game. Leo Aguilar has done a decent job in the bottom of the rotation. The bullpen is really driven by two elite arms in Travis Warkentin and Pat Fink- fortunately both guys are locked up for a while. Rookie Akihiro Nakamura is doing a fine job in the pen too. The rest of the guys are mediocre- Armando Ureste isn't his young self.

Defense: C
Have a lot of mediocre defenders playing positions they shouldn't be playing. This will be a priority going forward for me to recreate my past success.

My 17 year olds in A-ball are hitting the ball real well right now so I'm optimistic that they'll develop nicely- its unusual to see .300+ BA from these fresh draft picks so I hope they develop. Like the Mets, I'm looking forward to next year (always)

[Pat]

Washington Bats (49-38; 2 GB)

Overall: B

Starting Pitching: C+
-The off-season trade for ace Dave "Pizza" Lippert has paid off so far. The All-Star snub is 10-3, 2.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and is on pace for 200+ innings which is extremely rare in DC ever since Romano Gonzalez and Joe Chavaragga retired. The other big surprise has been Tyler Salzman who is finally living up to the hype of being selected 14th overall in 2003 and being ranked as high as the #19 Prospect. The 27-year-old is 7-3, 2.12 ERA and .98 WHIP. Troy Martin has pitched like his normal, mid-rotation self.

-The rotation ERA ranks only 7th in the IL because of Robby Duffy, Jimmy Razza and Tony Osorio, at 5.20, 4.27 and 6.13 respectively. The trio last year had ERAs of 3.46, 3.72 and 3.39. Because of this, the Bats will look to use a 5-man rotation in the 2nd half.

Relief Pitching: A+
-Washington is 1st in the BLB in relief ERA at 2.49. The group is lead by All-Star "The Sheriff" CL David Rodriguez. He has 24 saves, 1.40 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. The set-up combo of Israel Rodriguez and Dusty Casserino have 1.58 and 2.20 ERAs and each have 11 holds. In middle relief, both Armando Fuentes and Shane Ward are having career years. Fuentes has just a 1.35 ERA and Ward leads the team in K/9 at 14.2. He routinely has games where all his outs, or majority, are by strikeout.

Hitting: C
-What was expected to be a major strength this year has underperformed up to this point. While this group has excelled at minimizing strikeouts (1st), taking walks (3rd) and stealing bases (3rd), they have failed to score a lot of runs (7th) because of hits (9th) and homers (10th). The only other All-Star from the Bats is hometown favorite RF Pat Ladd. On pace for his best year since 2007, the 33-year-old is hitting .303, .888 OPS and has more walks than strikeouts. The other impressive story is the resurgence from SS/3B Antonio Cardenas after last years so-so performance. However, given a one-year $15M extension, Cardenas came to play in 2012 and currently leads the team in HR (14) and RBI (51). The disappointments are too many to name. Four regulars are hitting .100 less on their OPS from last season. Because of this, Washington has been busy on the trade lines to improve (see: Trade Announcements).

Defense: A-
-This group is currently 2nd in the IL for Defensive Efficiency and have a small handful of potential DWI candidates at catcher, second base and left field with Wayne Nelson, Danny Romero and Manny Reyes. There are holes at right field, third base and first base but as a whole this is a strength of the team.

2nd Half Outlook:
The Stout will very likely come down to the final week of the season with Death Valley, a week in which the Bats host the Scorpions for a three game series. An old cheater used to say, "water will find it's level" and I do believe that to be very true in the BLB. Guys like Salzman and Ladd will come down a bit, and as my two most fragile players, I'm not even counting on them to stay healthy. However, I do expect a 2nd have bounce back from a lot of hitters in the lineup and with the shift to a 5-man rotation, I think that group stays solid. Behind Washington in the Wild Card #2 hunt looms Batavia and California. I think our teams are near equal but they have much tougher schedules to face in the Porter. Especially if Philly stops shitting the bed.

Prediction: Win Stout by 1 game

[BDub]

F for all of the above.

[mike]

Pittsburgh Millers
56-32
1st place -- 3.0 Game lead

Pitching Grade: B-
Thomas, Brooks, Angulo have been really good. Hightower has been a bit unlucky, but still quality and Robillard is giving me what I expect from him his first year as a full time starter.

The Pen has been good, Raymer, Tubby, Sadiki, and Rackham have been great.

Hitting Grade: A
DL Ranks
1st in Runs Scored (472)
1st in Batting Average (.286)
3rd in OBP (.332)
1st in HR (136)

Second half outlook

Division from hell. Maine and Pawtucket aren't going anywhere. Can't worry about them, just need to keep taking care of our business and winning games.

Overall Grade: incomplete. Anything less than a Brewmasters is a failed season.

[funclown]

Pawtucket Patriots

Overall: C-

Pitching: A

-The starters are solid and deep as they have been the past 3 seasons. We can probably bring 'Beanpole' up today and be a solid #5 pitcher, but Farris can hold this spot until he cools off or Nygaard figures it out in the second half. No rush. The 3 headed bullpen monster had a little shake up with Franco taking on the closing role, but 'Red' seems to have calmed down some and might retake the top spot in the 2nd half. Without those 3 guys logging heavy innings I don't think we lead the league in runs per game. If us and Maine end up in the wildcard one game one hellva pitching staff gets removed from the DL playoffs.


Hitting: D

-Is Tom Smith really a .240 hitter? CF Mason on pace for 15 homeruns? Where the hell is .280 hitter LF Johnny Patterson? Where the heck has leadoff hitter Tony Infante gone? Things really didn't go right to start the season as we fell as low as 3.1 runs a game into May. Do I expect a little surge here? We better if we want to even think about making a run in the Ale or even hold the Wildcard. Historically this many people can't possible be off in the same season.

2nd Half Outlook:

The table is set the next few weeks to get off to a nice run to start the 2nd half off. Like Mike from Pitt said can't worry about what the rest of the Ale does, we just need to play to our talent. I think we end up as a wildcard, but this team isn't old so were gonna have seasons like this.

[Ryan]

I give us a C overall, with the pitching getting a slight edge over the offense. We've been so damn inconsistent, and I have no clue where this team's going. I really hope we figure out what we are soon, but how fitting is it that we're 7-7 so far this month after posting winning percentages of .550, .393, and .571 in April, May, and June?

So far I've been really happy with R.J. Manning in the 'pen and J.R. Richards in the rotation. English has been good, but not great. That'll need to change if we expect to contend in the second half.

Travis Wallis has been a pleasant surprise, but I believe he'll find his level eventually. Tom Estes has played as advertised, providing much needed speed on the basepaths, along with excellent defense. Szeto Mao has really stepped it up this month, so I'm interested to see what what he does the rest of the way. So far I've been really happy with him.

Former Rule V pick from Washington, 2B Jimmy Lamb has really impressed after a disastrous 2010 season. After a demotion to Triple A last season, followed by a September call up, we gave him another shot this year and he's not disappointed.

[Pat]

Former Rule V pick from Washington, 2B Jimmy Lamb has really impressed after a disastrous 2010 season. After a demotion to Triple A last season, followed by a September call up, we gave him another shot this year and he's not disappointed.

I thought there was no way in hell he would be selected in the Rule V after just one season in Double-A. Definitely a nice "draft and stash" player. The Clowns went 55-107 that year so playing him at the BLB level was no big deal. Nice move.

[Carlos]

I tried doing that a few times in the past but the players never reached their potential.

Glad to see the strategy can work.

sent from my mobile device

[Ryan]

I thought there was no way in hell he would be selected in the Rule V after just one season in Double-A. Definitely a nice "draft and stash" player. The Clowns went 55-107 that year so playing him at the BLB level was no big deal. Nice move.

Thanks man. I hate being bad, but when the fruits ripe, you better be picking from all the trees. Or something.

He's still not playing up to what my scout thinks he should, but I have a feeling my scout may be over selling him.

I will say, this is the ONE reason I hate that we did away with the Rule V draft.