Colonial Living: April '89 Edition

[Clay]

Welcome to Volume 1 of a new monthly feature from the Virginia Colonials' organization that we're calling Colonial Living. Each month, we'll take a quick look at some of the hot topics from all levels of the Colonials' franchise.

Virginia Colonials
12-7 (2gb in Stout)
12-7 in April

Here's The Pitch - When the Shaver Family took control of the Virginia organization before the 1980 season, they promised that they would rebuild this franchise from the ground up. With baseball minds, good decisions and homegrown talent. While their decisions both financially and simple baseball IQ have not always been perfect, their quest to build the team through the draft and raise them "the Colonial way" is finally starting to show through. 10 of the 11 members of the Colonials current pitching staff were drafted by Virginia (George McSwain was acquired via trade). That Virginia-bred staff has come out of the game firing as one of the top crews in the IL.

Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 2.55 - 1st in IL
Starters' ERA 2.33 - 2nd in IL
Bullpen ERA 3.19 - 4th in IL
Runs allowed 56 - 1st in IL
Hits allowed 134 - 1st in IL
Opponents AVG .214 - 1st in IL
BABIP .258 - 2nd in IL
Home Runs allowed 10 - 2nd in IL
Bases-On-Balls 44 - 1st in IL
Strikeouts 136 - 3rd in IL

Though the bullpen is still looking for the right chemistry, it's hard to argue that the arms on this roster are starting to look like a strength.

Oh Danny Boy - Seems like every off-season the bars and barbershops around Virginia are flooded with the same broken record debate - is this the year Virgina cuts ties with Danny Nelson? While many fans argue that the long leash given to Nelson as a thank you for his tremendous IL New Brew season of 1979 is deserved, others think he's deadweight and simply taking up a roster spot. There were even rumors of a potential deal with another IL Contender this off-season that centered around Nelson. Sources around the team had Nelson moving into a full-time reserve role in 1989, that is until Florian Tosselli went down late in Spring Training. Forced into the starting lineup, Nelson came out swinging in April batting .286 and smashing a team leading 6 HRs in the month and adding 13 RBI. He even brought home a Player of the Week Award, his first since August of 1983. With Tosselli back, questions now center around Nelson potentially unseating Artie Rhodes. Should be an interesting May.

Broken Doorbell - After looking like a repeat Stout Slugger season may be in order coming out of the gate, Mel Woodbury suffered a foot injury on the 19th that he simply has not been able to shake. The 32 year old is set to miss at least another week recovering and there is talk around the clubhouse that Woodbury may have lost his starting job in Centerfield. Before fans start jumping off buildings, a source close to team think Woodbury may be moved to a corner outfield position in hopes that removing the responsibility of covering the massive centerfield area at Colonial Park may expose him to less nagging injuries.

Rotation 2.0 - As young and exciting as the current Colonials' rotation is, there is another young group coming right up behind them. Though in some cases just a few months their juniors (or even older in some cases) these kids are already looking to guys like Pancho Herrera, Nate Magness and Jerry Morgan as heroes and elevating their game to hopefully find their place in the rotation some day soon. In April , the kids were rock solid:

Gus Jenkins (A - Blacksburg) 4-1 - 1.33 - 27K/3BB
Raul Gonzlez (AA - Battle Creek) 2-0 - 2.00 - 28K/5BB
Ivan Olivo (AAA - Detroit) 2-0 - 1.32 - 18K/5BB
Tsugumichi Miyakawa (A - Blacksburg) 2-1 - 1.44 - 16K/4BB
Ty Scott (A - Blacksburg) 3-1 - 2.20 - 12K/7BB

Heating Up - A few guys to watch as we turn the Calendar into May:

Vincent Nino - Reigning IL Player of the Week hitting .545 with 3 HRs over the past 6 games.
Rod Phillips - After a slow start, the IL New Brew runner up hit .524 last week and looks to be finding his swing.
Florian Tosselli - Back from the injured list just last week, he opened his season .391/.440/.609

May opens with 4 more Stout Division games before 24 straight games outside of the Division. With Stout action notoriously unpredictable, it will be imperative that the Colonials make hay this month. Their classic heavy road schedule during the early months of the season continues as they'll spend every single weekend in the May on the road. Staying competitive during this early slate of buses and hotel rooms will be key in making 1989 a season to remember.

Please join us next month for another edition of Colonial Life.

LINK

[Carlos]

Interesting move with Woodbury to a corner spot. He's still only 32, but he is at that age that you begin to wonder how you can stretch his ability beyond his prime. I feel that the mostly healthy Zamarida is in that same time and after a hamstring injury, I'm going to have to consider his health on a regular basis and give him more rest - hard to do with a reigning Glove Wizard winner at 3B.

It's great following young pitchers through the minor league system. You have very good arms right now and it does seem that more are coming.

I have to say that I'd watch a weekly reality show centered on the Rhodes/Nelson drama that unfolds every season in Virginia. I picture them as best friends constantly bickering over who is the better player with Rhodes every now and then talking down Nelson behind the camera.

[Clay]

Interesting move with Woodbury to a corner spot. He's still only 32, but he is at that age that you begin to wonder how you can stretch his ability beyond his prime. I feel that the mostly healthy Zamarida is in that same time and after a hamstring injury, I'm going to have to consider his health on a regular basis and give him more rest - hard to do with a reigning Glove Wizard winner at 3B.

He's in a contract year too and, needless to say, wants a pretty penny. If I'm committing long term (or at least 4 more years), I need him to get 600+ at bats. He's on base a lot and likes to steal so he's already a bigger risk there. I think moving him to a corner is a must right now.

It's great following young pitchers through the minor league system. You have very good arms right now and it does seem that more are coming.

Changes may be coming to Virginia sooner than later. I need help in the BP badly. Jayson McQueen may go back to the pen where he's performed in the past and open up that #5 for the first guys who's ready - my guess Olivio or Raul Gonzalez.

I have to say that I'd watch a weekly reality show centered on the Rhodes/Nelson drama that unfolds every season in Virginia. I picture them as best friends constantly bickering over who is the better player with Rhodes every now and then talking down Nelson behind the camera.

Sadly, besides his speed, I think Rhodes has somewhat lost it. I wish I could combine Nelson, Rhodes and Tosselli into two great OFers instead of what they are.

[Andrew]

Interesting move with Woodbury to a corner spot.

Wonder where he got that idea.

[Jim]

He's on base a lot and likes to steal so he's already a bigger risk there. I think moving him to a corner is a must right now.

So why not change his strategy to not steal as much?

[Lintyfresh85]

Wonder where he got that idea.

Speaking of which... Clay, you should move Nickell out of CF while there's still time left.

[Pat]

I'm not sure if I'm a believer in that. Michio Nago gets hurt whether he is playing RF or CF.

Got hurt already this year for almost a month, while playing RF.

[Andrew]

My theory is that we already know position players get hurt too much in comparison to pitchers. In OOTP it's about 50/50 pitcher/batter when IRL I think it's more like 75/25.

Batters can get hurt in one of four ways. HBP, running the bases, fielding and throwing. Since CF's typically have good range and good baserunning skills they have more opportunities to get hurt in 3/4 of those categories (running, fielding, throwing). Given that position players are already getting hurt on a higher rate than they should, it's only natural that CF's would get hurt at a higher rate as well.

I've never done any concrete analysis but a quick review of the history of CF's in the BLB makes me think its worth looking at.

[Delandis]

I'll have to agree. I've lost 3 CF to injury in the last 3 sims.

[BradZ]

So why not change his strategy to not steal as much?

Because his 5 tool-edness is what makes him the best player in the game. Plus, the steals fill up the stat sheet which impresses the ladies.

[Pat]

Because his 5 tool-edness is what makes him the best player in the game. Plus, the steals fill up the stat sheet which impresses the ladies.

And Clay loves leading the league in steals. So much, it costs him in the standings. Kind of his M.O.

[BradZ]

I honestly toyed with the idea of moving Woodbury to 1B for the '88 season to reduce the "wear and tear" on him under the assumption that a trained chimp with a glove taped to its hand could field the position adequately. Short of that he was definitely going to be moved to RF but there was a miscommunication and he was moved to VIR instead.

[Clay]

Wonder where he got that idea.

And I thanked you...

So why not change his strategy to not steal as much?

I did... but wild horses have to run sometimes...

Speaking of which... Clay, you should move Nickell out of CF while there's still time left.

Too late... I'm out... I think new guy starts Friday...

Because his 5 tool-edness is what makes him the best player in the game. Plus, the steals fill up the stat sheet which impresses the ladies.

Agreed...

And Clay loves leading the league in steals. So much, it costs him in the standings. Kind of his M.O.

Blow me...

I honestly toyed with the idea of moving Woodbury to 1B for the '88 season to reduce the "wear and tear" on him under the assumption that a trained chimp with a glove taped to its hand could field the position adequately. Short of that he was definitely going to be moved to RF but there was a miscommunication and he was moved to VIR instead.

And I thanked you...

[Pat]

I honestly toyed with the idea of moving Woodbury to 1B for the '88 season to reduce the "wear and tear" on him under the assumption that a trained chimp with a glove taped to its hand could field the position adequately. Short of that he was definitely going to be moved to RF but there was a miscommunication and he was moved to VIR instead.

Yeah, that's why I moved Dave Robbins to 1B. He hasn't been great as a fielder, but I have to get that $16,000,000 bat in the lineup.

[BradZ]

Yeah, that's why I moved Dave Robbins to 1B. He hasn't been great as a fielder, but I have to get that $16,000,000 bat in the lineup.

That's playing a little loose with the English language there. Does he make $16m? Yes. Does he swing a bat? Yes. Would I consider him a $16m bat? No.