Onward and Upward

OK, I think I've allowed Mack to bask in the glory of his Cecil Cup championship long enough. Time to move on.

There will be two more sims for making offers to your pending free agents before they go free. The first will be Tuesday night and the second will be Wednesday night.

Zev

Monarchs Make First Trade of 2014-15 Offseason

Making the first trade of the offseason, the Seattle Monarchs struck quickly to address the looming hole at first base created by the impending departure of star slugger Dong Lutz. Seattle acquired from the Danville organization AAA first baseman Stephen Jackson. In exchange, Seattle sent two young arms from its minor leagues, AAA starting pitcher Salomon Candelas and AA starting pitcher Frank Ogrady. As part of the deal, Seattle and Danville also agreed to swap places in the first round of the next amateur draft.

Candelas is rated by Baseball America as the second-best prospect in the Seattle organization. Pitching in AAA Tacoma last year at the tender age of 22, Candelas posted a 3.97 ERA and won 11 games. "He's a live arm who is probably ready for the majors right now," said Seattle Owner/GM Mack Shultz. "But it's a crowded rotation ahead of him, so we thought we needed to send him somewhere he could progress."

Ogrady bounced back from a serious injury in 2013 to post a 2.86 ERA in 14 starts in class-A Kent last year. "We've always liked Frank's upside," explained Shultz, "but you have to give up something to get something."

The something Seattle got was a soon-to-be 27-year-old minor league first baseman in Stephen Jackson. Jackson has posted OPSs of .885 and .878 in AAA the last two years, but was trapped in the organization behind Juan Guzman.

Shultz was enthused about his new acquisition. "Like Candelas, we think Jackson is ready for the majors and just needs that opportunity. We're going to give it to him. We don't expect him to replace Dong Lutz, because nobody can replace a Dong that mighty. We just wanted him to come in and do what we think he can do. Whether that's as the everyday starter or in a platoon at first base will be sorted out in spring training."

Jackson was thrilled by the deal. "So let me get this straight, I get to get the hell out of AAA Debois County and go to the five-time champions, where they're going to give me a starting job in the majors? Sweet! Let me go pack before somebody changes their mind!"

Your 2014 Cecil Cup Winner...

Saskatoon

Testing to see if I now post as that wonderful Canadian city (town? province? wilderness?)

Change of Plans

Fellow owners/GMs/OOTP addicts,

I'm actually going to take over the Saskatoon franchise, which also apparently came open recently too. So I've got that going for me. I'll have to spend some time trying to learn that team (and the league), but hopefully will be up and running soon and can get started.

I'll also have to figure out how to change my posting profile on the blog here to avoid confusion.

And It All Comes Down To Game 7....

The Cleveland Steamers have pushed the Seattle Monarchs into a Game 7 with a 5-2 victory in Game 6 of the Cecil Cup.

Seattle jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Dong Lutz home run. Cleveland matched that with a run in the top of the second with an RBI single by SS William Midkiff. Cleveland took the lead for good in the sixth on Tyler Thomas' RBI single and an RBI groundout by John Clawson.

The Steamers added another run with an RBI single by John Grondin in the seventh. Seattle came back with one run in the eighth, but it wasn't enough.

Game 7 (for all the marbles) will be Monday night.

Hello, league

Greetings. My name is Eric Lent and I'm taking over management of the Walla Walla team. I've got some work to do getting up to speed on the players and league, but am excited to try and bring a championship to Eastern Washington, which has apparently been clamoring for a title. I look forward to being a part of the SDMB league.

Seattle Takes Game 5

The Seattle Monarchs took Game 5 of the Cecil Cup with a 6-3 victory over the Cleveland Steamers. Seattle took a 5-0 lead in the second inning on five hits (including two home runs0 and never looked back.

Game 6 will be simmed on Saturday night. (The Mrs. and I are going to see Avenue Q tomorrow night.)

Zev

Steamers Pitching Silences Monarch Bats... Series Even at 2 each

Next game on Wednesday night.

Seattle Wins Game 3, 10-1

The Seattle Monarchs won Game 3 of the Cecil Cup with a 10-3 victory. Unfortunately, it's too late in the day for me to write a summary.

Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Cleveland Pounds Seattle Pitching for 10-run 2nd; Takes Game 2

The Cleveland Steamers put on a hitting display in the first two innings of today's game, taking a 13-0 lead by the time the first inning and a half was over.

They started out by scoring three runs in the first off of Monarch starter Thomas Cohen on a walk and five hits, including a double by Monte Goss. But the Steamers were just getting started. After retiring the Seattle hitters 1-2-3, the Cleveland bats went to work again.

The inning started with Nathaneal Burton reached first on Thomas Cohen's throwing error. Next Goss singled, followed by a single by John Grondin and a throwing error by Seattle RF David Kerry. With an additional run in and runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out, Thomas Cohen seemed to settle down. He got the next two batters to strike out (one swinging and one looking). But after that, he went into meltdown mode. Samuel Santos singled, bringing in both runners. That made the score 6-0.

At that point, the Seattle manager sent Thomas Cohen to the showers and brought in southpaw Ernesto Amell. Facing SS William Midkiff, he gave up a single. C Chet Daily then walked on four pitches to load the bases. Next up was pitcher Ernest Gerth, who hit a 3-2 pitch deep to left field for a double which scored all three runners. The score now stood at 9-0.

Having batted around, Burton came up again, this time reaching on a walk. Amell then threw a wild pitch, sending the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Goss singled scoring Gerth, making the score 10-0. Grondin hit a single scoring Burton for the eleventh run and the eighth of the inning.

Seattle then brought in Joshua Stoker, a 20-year-old lefty. Stoker's first pitch to Ronald Aikin went wild, moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Aiken then hit a single bringing home the two runners. Tyler Thomas then hit a single, bringing up Samuel Santos who grounded out to first to finally end the inning. 10 runs, 9 hits, two walks and two errors left Seattle thirteen runs in the hole.

Seattle managed to score a run in the third on two hits, but Cleveland responded with a solo home run by John Grondin in the fourth to make the score 14-1.

But Seattle didn't give up. They managed to string together three hits, two walks and a sac fly in the sixth to put a three-spot up on the board. And in the ninth, they did not go down without a fight. A double, two walks and a groundout put another run on the board. That was followed up by a three run homer by Eugene Alustiza, making the score 14-8. But that's all Seattle had as Pio Ramirez came in to retire Dong Lutz to end the game. But the efforts of the Seattle batters at least changed the game from a 13-0 laugher to a semi-respectable 14-8 loss.

Game 3 on Monday night.

Zev

Some Tech Help?

My specialty is in databases, not operating systems. Perhaps someone with some experience can help me out with this league related problem.

As you all know, I switched hosting companies about a month or two ago. When the league was hosted on Yahoo!, it was hosted on a Windows server. Now, we are on Linux. Since we are on Linux, I can zip up the league report files, upload the one zip file and then unzip the file on the server.

However, there is one small catch. I am in the Eastern Time Zone, whereas the server the league is hosted on is (I believe) in the Central Time Zone. As a result, if I try to unzip the reports right after I upload them, it fails because the timestamp on the files are in the future when compared to the server time. As a result, I often have to wait close to an hour after I upload the files before I can unzip them.

I suppose that one solution would be to change the time on my computer before generating the files and then changing it back when it's complete. However, I'm wondering if there might be a way to change the time on the server (and yes, I'm aware that the server is shared with others) so that I can unzip the files right away.

Anyone have any ideas?

Zev

Seattle Takes The Lead

The Seattle Monarchs took a 1-0 lead in the Cecil Cup series today with an 8-1 victory over the Cleveland Steamers. The Monarchs scored eight runs and punished the Steamer pitching staff with sixteen hits. Four Monarchs had three hits for the game, including Dong Lutz who had a solo homer and a double.

Reports will be up in the morning. Game 2 on Saturday night.

The Steamers Win The Pennant!! The Steamers Win The Pennant!!

The Cleveland Steamers have captured the Zotti League championship and earned their first trip to the Cecil Cup with a 4-3 victory over the Sternwheelers.

Cleveland took an early 1-0 lead in the third on a double by William Midkiff, a sacrifice bunt and a sac fly. They added a run in the fifth thanks to a single and another double by Midkiff.

The Sternwheelers started their comeback in the sixth when Timothy Palacio sent an Anthony Koepp pitch over the left-center field wall for a solo home run. Cleveland responded with another run in the eighth on three hits (including a single by Midkiff), making the score 3-1.

River Cities tied it up in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run blast by John Hukill. In the top of the ninth, River Cities brought in John Miller to pitch and his second pitch to lead-off hitter John Grondin went over the fence, giving Cleveland a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the inning, River Cities tried to come back, getting the tying run on second base on a single and an error. However, with one out, John Hukill grounded into a double play, ending the game and clinching the series for Cleveland.

Game 1 -- Cleveland @ Seattle -- Thursday night.

Zev

Seattle's Going To The Cecil Cup!!

Seattle's returning to the Cecil Cup again by finishing off the Hickroy Hiskers with a 7-3 victory. After David Kerry's first inning grand slam, Seattle never looked back and cruised to victory behind Christopher Hester.

River Cities tied up their series against Cleveland with a 3-2 victory against Cleveland. In the Zotti League, it all comes down to Game 7 tomorrow night.

Zev

Cleveland, Seattle Take 3-2 Leads

Seattle's Ronald Placencia had his stuff on tonight as he threw a complete game shutout in defeating the Hickory Huskers 9-0. The Huskers managed to get five hits, but never more than one in any inning. Placencia also exhibited excellent control, issuing only one walk over the course of the game. The hitting star for the Monarchs was David Kerry, who was 3 for 4 with a grand slam in the fifth inning.

In contrast, the Cleveland-River Cities game came down to the last at bat. The Steamers took an early 1-0 lead in the first on a single, error on a stolen base attempt, and a balk. The Sternwheelers responded in the top of the second with a walk, reached on an error, a triple by Jesse Dubreuil and a single by Gerald Odum. Cleveland re-took the lead in the bottom of the second with a hit batsman, stolen base, two singles and two doubles, making the score 4-3 in Cleveland's favor.


River Cities took the lead back again by producing four runs in the fourth on a three run homer by Gerald Odum, a triple by Ronald Quijada and a groundout. They added an insurance run in the fifth by Timothy Palacio, making the score 8-4 River Cities.

Cleveland answered back with another two runs in the bottom of the fifth when Ronald Aiken hit a 368 foot shot to left, reducing the Steamer's deficit to two runs. Cleveland took the lead back yet again in the seventh with a two run home run by John Grondin and an RBI single by Samuel Santos. After seven innings, the score stood at 9-8, Cleveland. A Monte Goss RBI single in the eighth made it a 10-8 game.

River Cities tied the game up in the top of the ninth with back to back solo homers by Patrick Valdez and John Hukill. However, Cleveland finally secured the win when Ronald Aiken hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the inning, making the final score 11-10.

Game six on Monday night.

Zev

Once Again, We're All Even

Hickory tied up its series with Seattle with a 3-2 victory. Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the third on a two-run homer by Dong Lutz. Hickory, responded with a three spot in the fourth on three hits (including a Willy Guzman triple) and a sac fly.

River Cities had to claw back by inch-by-inch to avoid falling into a 3-1 deficit in the series. The Steamers started off the game by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first off of starter Ed Scull. It was looking bad for the Sternwheelers - but then they started inching their way back.

They scratched together one run in the fifth on a single, walk, hit by pitch and a fielding choice. Another run was produced in the sixth on a walk and a double. However, it was in the ninth that the Steamer's defense fell apart. River Cities pushed across three runs on two errors, two hits, a walk and a fielder's choice to send the game into extra innings. 3B Bill Allen's solo home run in the 11th put the Sternwheelers ahead for good and tied up the series.

Game 5 on Saturday night.

Zev

Cleveland, Seattle Take 2-1 Leads

Sorry... I don't have much time to write a recap of the games.

Game 4 on Wednesday night.

Zev

The Curious Case of Frank Wooster

For two seasons now Mack and I have been arguing back and forth concerning the value of my #4 starter Frank Wooster. I have, of course, been arguing for his inclusion into the ranks of the top flight starting pitchers of the league whereas Mack has held out the traditional ‘good but not great’ line of argument (Mack, feel free to clarify if I’m misstating your opinion here).

Well and good, as far as it goes. Such arguments are, essentially, the lifeblood of the fan’s life in baseball. The fact that we can argue this for a year is a sign of our buying in to the life of the league and our enjoyment of such.

However, regardless of one’s point of view there are truly unusual things concerning Mr. Wooster that it could stand to be pointed out. I will attempt to summarize them now. It may prove illuminating to all and sundry. At worst it’ll be fodder for discussion.

First off is the wildly divergent opinions on Wooster’s ratings between my in-house scouting corps and the league scouts. Here are the two for comparison:

OSA (potential is in parens)
Stuff: 26 (3)
Movement: 56 (7)
Control: 54 (7)

My Scout (potential is in parens)
Stuff: 77 (10)
Movement: 96 (10)
Control: 79 (10)

Truly, an astonishing divergence. While there are generally divergence opinions in scouting in OOTP9 this exceeds the norm quite a bit.

Another odd thing about Wooster is his astonishing consistency in his two seasons. He has pitched the 2013 and 2014 seasons in the majors now. Here are some select stats from those two seasons:

GS
2013 33
2014 32

IP
2013 212.2
2014 212.1

HA
2013 210
2014 203

HR
2013 17
2014 19

BB
2013 54
2014 56

K
2013 155
2014 155

CG
2013 2
2014 2

WHIP
2013 1.24
2014 1.22

BABIP
2013 .297
2014 .293

However, even with producing what is essentially the exact same pitching performance his ERA dropped from 4.40 to 3.56…a 20% gain in ERA due to 20 fewer earned runs allowed! That allowed his VORP to rise from 27.6 to 41.1! Almost a 40% gain! A true sign that even so-called solid stats like ERA can be impacted strongly by random events.

So the jury is, apparently, still out but confounded by the randomness of it all. Wooster has been a league top ten pitcher in these categories in both of his major league seasons:

W, W%, IP, K, ERA, BABIP, WHIP, K/BB, RA/9, H/9, BB/9, K/9, VORP, CG, CGP, and SHO.

Still, the question remains: Wooster, 3 star starter or 5 star starter? What does the league think?

Hickory, River Cities Each Tie Their Series

Richard Shipp was super sharp in Game 2 of the Adams League Championship Series as he held the division leading Seattle Monarchs to five hits and no runs over eight innings. Shipp walked only one batter while whiffing eight to earn the victory.

There was far more excitement in the Cleveland-River Cities game. The Sternwheelers took the lead in the first with a three run homer by Timothy Palacio. After that, both starters settled down and no one scored until Cleveland managed to push across a run with two singles and a sac fly.

In the top of the ninth inning, however, the Steamers came back with a vengance. With starter Juan Villatoro out of the game, Cleveland feasted on the River Cities bullpen. With two outs, the Steamers Charles Salee walked. That was followed by three hits, a hit batter, another walk and a passed ball. When all was said and done, the Steamers held a 5-3 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.

To pitch the bottom of the ninth, the Steamers turned to 18 year old rookie Gregg Faila, who had 11 saves this season. Unfortuantely, Faila could not find the plate. After giving up a single to lead off hitter Ronald Quijada, he then proceeded to walk the next three batters to force in a run, making the score 5-4 with the winning run at second base and no one out. Palacio, who hit the home run in the first inning came up to the plate and struck out swinging. CF Anton Suarez hit the next ball to second base. Unable to make the play at home, the Steamers took the out at second. That allowed the tying run to score.

That brought up light hitting CF Richard Hudock (who it .083 this season and has a lifetime average of .189). After fouling off the first pitch, Hudock hit a single, driving in the winning run and giving River Cities a 6-5 victory.

In other league news, we have an opening as Mike, the Walla Walla owner has bowed out due to personal obligations. I've posted a recruitment thread on the SDMB here. Please feel free to answer any questions that any potential owners may have.

Game three of each series will be on Monday night.

Zev