Thursday, December 30, 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sim's Done

Game Date:  11/6/2017

League webpages have been updated.

Next sim:  Thursday night

Huge Surprise at MVP Press Conference

As Brian Frison stepped to the microphone to accept the SDMB OOTP Outstanding Batter of the Year Award, the crowd was looking forward to nothing more than the usual bland platitudes that accompany such occasions. However, this was far from a normal press conference.

As Frison was saying, "I'd like to thank my teammates for their support," or some similarly mind-numbing soporofic, Seattle Monarchs Owner/GM Mack Shultz and Saskatoon Amigos patriarch Eric Lent strode into the room together. A hush came over the room as the assembled media wondered what could have brought these two bitter rivals together.

Frison stumbled to the end of his remarks and yielded the podium to Lent and Shultz. Lent took the stage and thanked Frison for his 12 years of exemplary service to the Amigos and then stunned the crowd by announcing that Frison, a lifelong Amigo, had been dealt to the Seattle Monarchs, effective immediately. Lent then began sobbing and ran out of the shocked room.

Shultz took the microphone and, smiling, announced the details of the trade. Seattle acquired Frison and Saskatoon's second round pick in next spring's draft in exchange for starting pitcher Floyd Crown, catching prospect Cristobal Cordero, and $800,000 cash.

Shultz then turned to Frison, said, I think this actually belongs to you, and handed the surprised outfielder $800,000 in cash. "This is your bonus for the MVP award, right?" asked Shultz. "We like to pay our players their bonuses promptly and in cold, hard cash. That's just how we roll." Shultz then pulled out a Seattle Monarchs jersey with Frison's name and number 82 on it, Frison's long-time number with the Amigos.

Although Frison has just one year left on his contract, it remains to be seen whether the Monarchs will be able to extend the long-time star before free agency in 2018-19.

Brooklyn-Seattle Trade

The Brooklyn Wolves executed their first trade in well over a year by shipping young reliever Robert Riddick to the Seattle Monarchs in exchange for prospects and cash.

"We all recognize Robert's talent," said Zev Steinhardt, the Brooklyn GM.  "But our bullpen in Brooklyn is so strong that we felt we could deal from that strength to improve ourselves in other areas.  In fact, even after this trade, we still have potential excess relief pitching that we can trade."

In exchange for Riddick, the Wolves acquire SS Luis Cedeno, OF Rocky Washington and $2 million in cash. 

"We like the players we're getting in return,"  Steinhardt said.  "Cedeno's a great young shortstop who has shown continuous improvement during his three minor league seasons.  He can hit for average, has soft hands in the field and even has some pop in his bat.  We expect that he's going to give [starting shortstop] Jeff Wardlaw a run for his money.

"Washington's a young outfielder whom we feel has a bright future.  We believe that he's going to blossom into a fine hitter with excellent running speed and basestealing ability.  He won't be Rickey Henderson, of course, but we think he has the tools to become someone special.

"Riddick's been a fine player for us in the Wolves bullpen for the last three seasons.  We wish him the best of success as he continues his career on the Pacific coast."

Sim Done

Outstanding Batter:  Brian Frison, Saskatoon.

Next sim:  Wednesday night.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sim Done

High school feeder league added.

Next sim -- tomorrow night.

Zev

(PS -- someone has to put up a trade post)

Los Angeles re-acquires the best pitcher in the game

Rehabbing superstar shortstop Ricky Peppers cut his workout short today and rushed back to team headquarters at the Scorpion Pit when he heard the news that the team had traded for all-universe closer Junior Cuomo.

"Junior and I are best buds," Peppers said. "And, when he won the Cecil Cup in Seattle this year, he told me that it just wasn't the same as when we won it together in '07." 2007 was the last of a league-record four-straight Cecil Cup championships for the Scorpions franchise.

"We decided to do it again, and petitioned our GMs to make it happen."

And, it happened. The Los Angeles Scorpions traded prospects Barney Maxon, a catcher who was the team's first round pick in the 2017 draft, outfielder Steve Keo, and the Scorps's second round pick in the 2018 draft, to Seattle in exchange for Junior Cuomo.

"I have lunch with the Man all the time," Peppers said, referring to GM Michael Weintraub. "And we both agreed that our bullpen was our weak link this past season. Nothing against the hard work the guys did, but we definitely needed to get one more quality arm out there."

Rookie closer Joseph Curry, who had 40 saves for the Scorpions this past season, welcomed the move. "He's the best, and I'm still learning," Curry stated through his agent. "I welcome the opportunity to learn from the best."

Sim Done

Game Date:  10/16/2017

Next sim:  Monday night.

Zev

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Chad Nelligan To the Hall of Fame

Chad Nelligan, longtime starting pitcher, has retired and been elected to the Hall of Fame. 

Nelligan burst onto the major league scene with an 18-9 record in 2004 for Saskatoon.  He then racked up nine consecutive seasons of 14 wins or more, including four seasons with an ERA under 2.00.

His most dominant season was 2011, when he posted a 28-3 record for the Seattle Monarchs with a 1.82 ERA and a BB/K balance of 31/213.  During the three year period of 2010-2012, he won 75 games while losing only 13 with an ERA of 1.92.

He retires with 212 lifetime wins (3rd place), 2952 IP (2nd), a 2.83 ERA (7th), 2240K (6th), 27 complete games (4th) and 20 shutouts (2nd).  

Nelligan is the second member of the Hall of Fame, joining Michael Fay, another player who started with Saskatoon.

One Day Simmed -- Future Schedule Posted.

I simmed one day to October 10, 2017.  I decided to shorten the sim when I realized that owners have to exercise or decline any options for the coming season.

The next sim will be Sunday, December 26.  That will cover one week.  After that, there will be one-week sims on each of the following days of the week:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Saturday night (although I reserve the right to postpone it to Sunday morning depending on my schedule)

We'll do this until we hit Spring Training.

2017 Team Records

And, with the updating of the league history chart comes the post that probably only interests me. Not very many league-wide team records set this year.

River Cities set a record this year with 331 doubles, besting 2015 Maui's previous mark of 322.

Danville allowed 1,021 runs (6.41 per game), surpassing the mark of the 2016 Los Angeles squad that gave up 1,008 (6.25).

Danville also allowed the most unearned runs in history, 122, more than the 2005 Hickory squad that yielded 115.

Finally, Danville and Maui this year had probably the two worst defenses in league history. Danville posted the lowest fielding percentage ever at .975 and made the most errors with 152. Maui was right behind, second in league history in both categories, with .976 and 150, respectively. (Maui also turned the fourth fewest double plays ever, with 89, nearing the league-low record of 84 by the 2013 New York squad.)

Playoffs: Fate or Luck?

There's been some talk in the past about whether the playoffs are basically a coin flip (as I contend) or not (as others contend). I just finished updating my SDMB OOTP history spreadsheet to include everything up to the 2017 season. Here are some numbers from SDMB OOTP history that I found interesting about playoff performance.

In the 25 playoff series where one team won more regular season games than the others, the team with more regular season wins won only 11 of the 25 series and went 65-73 overall (.471).

In the 22 playoff series where one team had a better Pythagorean record, the team with the better Pythagorean record won 11 of the 22 series and went exactly 62-62 (.500).

By way of contrast, the home team has gone 75-65 (.535) in the playoff games so far.

I'm sticking with my coin flip theory.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Time To Move On...

OK, I think we've given Mack enough time to celebrate out in Seattle.  :)

I'll be running the next sim on Wednesday night.  This sim will cover one week.  At that time (when I'm actually in front of my laptop with the game) I'll post a schedule.

In addition, unless there are any objections, I am going to add a high-school feeder league.  If you recall, adding a college feeder league had the unintended consequence of making all the draftees 22-year-olds.  Hopefully, by adding a high-school feeder league, we will get some younger prospects as well.

If you have questions/objections to a high-school feeder league, please let me know and we'll discuss (and eventually bring it to a vote).

Zev

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Lucky Seven For Mack!!

2009 Cecil Cup Champion
2010 Cecil Cup Champion
2011 Cecil Cup Champion
2013 Cecil Cup Champion
2014 Cecil Cup Champion
2016 Cecil Cup Champion
2017 Cecil Cup Champion


Congratulations Mack!!

The website's been updated.  We'll give Mack a few days to bask in the glory of his accomplishment and pick things up next week.  I'll post a preliminary schedule on Sunday.

River Cities Gets To Play Another Day!

Juan Villatoro pitched seven innings of one-run ball to lead the River Cities Sternwheelers to a 5-2 victory over Seattle.


Game 5 on Thursday night.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Game 3 to Seattle

The Seattle Monarchs are just one win from winning the Cecil Cup, after defeating the River Cities Sternwheelers 5-3 in 10 innings.

The Sternwheelers scored single runs in each of the second, third, and fourth innings, but lost the lead when Seattle took the easy route and scored three in the bottom of the frame, including two on a single by Bas Bijkerk (remember that name, folks...).

There the game remained tied for the next five and a half innings, until Bijkerk drove Pedro Ramos's last pitch of the game over the fence, driving in Alberto Grenado, and himself, to give Seattle the win and a chance to win the Cecil Cup in any of the next four games.

Zev's got the controls again for game four, which I'm guessing will be on Wednesday night.

SEMI-IMPORTANT DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NOTE: I've been lax this season maintaining the Traded Draft Picks list for the 2018 draft. Looking at the draft order in the game, I think it has all of the picks correctly assigned, from trades.

But, please take a look at it when you download the league file and make sure your picks are correct. If they're not, let me know and I'll investigate.

Thanks!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Game 2 to Seattle

Placencia pitches complete game shutout.

Game 3 -- tomorrow night, courtesy of Michael.

Zev

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Game 1 To Seattle...

The Seattle Monarchs have taken Game 1 of the Cecil Cup series with a 9-4 victory over the River City Sternwheelers. 

Things started going wrong for the 'Wheelers from the first pitch when Ronald Quijada hit a 385 foot home run off of starter Juan Villatoro.  A single, a balk, a triple and another single brought in two more runs in the top of the first for the Monarchs.  Seattle put another four runs on the board in the fifth, chasing Villatoro from the game.

Meanwhile, Christopher Hester kept mowing down the River Cities players, with only one runner even reaching third before the eighth inning.

Seattle piled on another two runs in the eighth against reliever Damian Coppock, on a single, double, ground out and single.

The boys from River Cities finally got to Hester in the eighth, leading off the inning with four hits in a row.  By the time the inning was over, Hester was pulled and four runners had crossed the plate.  But, as the saying goes, it was too little, too late.  After allowing a lead off double to Guillaume Fournier, John Burgess retired the next three batters to finish the game.

Game 2:  Monday night. 

Friday, December 10, 2010

It's Seattle-River Cities Again

I'm sorry, guys, but it's time for finals and final projects and the like.  I don't really have time to write up game summaries as I sometimes do.

Nonetheless, I can tell you that River Cities defeated Saskatoon and will meet Seattle for the Cecil Cup.

Game 1 -- Saturday night. 
Game 2 -- Monday night
Game 3 -- Tuesday night
Game 4 -- Wednesday night
Game 5 -- Thursday night
Game 6 -- Saturday night
Game 7 -- Monday night.

Of course, be sure to pay attention.  If the series finishes up before seven games, we won't wait to begin the offseason. 

Good luck, Mack & Nate.

Zev

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Seattle Wins Series, River Cities Takes 3-2 Lead

The Seattle Monarchs have moved on to the Cecil Cup series by defeating the Maui Mashers 4-0.   Seattle starter Ronald Placencia shut down the Masher bats by pitching a 2 hit complete game shutout.

The Sternwheelers moved ahead of the Saskatoon Amigos with a 6-5 ten inning victory. 

Game 6:  Thursday night.

Zev

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Seattle Takes Lead, River Cities, Saskatoon Tied at 2

The Seattle Monarchs took a 3-1 lead in their playoff searies against Maui behind eight strong innings from starter Joseph Macaluso and a 2-4 day from catcher Alberto Granado. 

Both teams were scoreless until the fourth inning when a triple, a walk and then a three run homerun by Granado gave the Monarchs a lead they would never relinquish.  Maui loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with one out, but Macaluso induced a ground ball double play to end the inning.   Seattle added two more in the top of the fifth on three hits, a wild pitch and a fielder's choice.  After that, Maui never even got close to being back in the game.  They got a duece in the eighth off a two-run homerun, but could not score again in the game.

The Sternwheelers outlasted the Mashers 2-1 to tie up their series at 2 games apiece.  Both teams were scoreless until the fourth when the Sternwheelers pushed across a run with a one-out single by Patrick Valdez and a triple by Lindsay Walker.  The 'wheelers put another one on the board in the sixth with a single, followed by a double by Walker.   Saskatoon managed to make it a 2-1 game with a solo home run by Bruce Frison, but they could not get the tying run across the plate.

Game 5:  Wednesday night.

Seattle, Saskatoon Take Leads

The Seattle Monarchs outlasted the Maui Mashers winning Game 3 of the series 1-0 in 13 innings.

Starter Nicholas Vargas pitched eight scoreless innings for the Monarchs, striking out five and not even allowing a single Masher to reach third base.  Anibal Ottman matched Vargas goose egg for goose egg.  Both bullpens continued shutting down the opponents' bats until Bas Bijerk finally managed to drive in a run with an RBI single in the top of the 13th.


The Amigos only needed nine innings to beat the River Cities Sternwheelers by a score of 3-1.  The Amigos scored two in the first on a home run by Bruce Frison.  River Cities managed to push a run across the plate in the third on a Thomas Geter RBI single.  Saskatoon added one more run in the third on a single, wild pitch and single.

Game 4:  Tuesday evening.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Seattle, Saskatoon Tie Up Serieses

Christopher Hester pitched eight innings of three-run ball and hit an RBI double to lead the Seattle Monarchs to a 5-3 victory over the Maui Mashers. 

Over in River Cities,  the Saskatoon Amigos beat the Sternwheelers 7-2 behind a complete game by
Demarcus Ramirez and RF Brian Frison's triple, home run and 4 RBI.

Game 3:  Monday night.

Friday, December 3, 2010

River Cities, Maui Take Early Leads

Sorry, but it's too late for me to do full game reviews.  :)

Game 2 on Saturday night.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Nominate your teams ROY candidate!

So what the hell, with all the chatter of the playoffs I thought we could spend some time looking at the best of the young players breaking into the game this year. Feel free to nominate your own or others and we'll find out which way it breaks when the playoffs are over.

For the Sternwheelers I'd like to forward two young hitters into the discussion. Both exceeded my wildest expectations this year.

Lindsay Walker. This 24-year-old first baseman come up with the major league team from Spring Training this year expecting to share time with Travis Sparrow, the Sternwheelers other young first sacker. But sharing wasn't really in the discussion as Walker earned the majority of the playing time. In 152 games Walker hit at a .344/.402/.564 clip with 49 doubles, six triples and 17 home runs. In his first major league season he drove in an even 100 runs while earning more walks than strikeouts. This young man now has a lot to live up to.

Guillaume Fornier. This Quebecois outfielder played center field for the Sternwheelers this year. Called up unexpected due to the decline of Anton Suarez Fournier (pronounced for-nee-AY, for the American crowd) missed the first three weeks of the season but still put up numbers that would make any established major leaguer proud. In addition to playing near flawlessly in the outfield with one error in 121 games Fournier also proved a potent offensive force. In 509 at bats the Montreal Masher hit to the tune of .291/.324/.436. With 42 extra base hits and 56 stolen bases (against 12 times caught stealing) Fournier has the promise that may make him the next toast of the town. Poutine for all!

How about others? Who from your team would YOU nominate for Rookie of the Year?

To Anyone With Deep Pockets...

To anyone not currently participating in the playoff party looking ahead, Hickory is interested in shedding payroll. I don't have any serious superstars to offer, but extra pieces like Michael Slye, Kareem King, Cesar Pla, Danny Lorenzen, and most of my farm system apart from Jesus Flores are available at modest cost to the buyer, as long as some of my dead salaries - Lucien Weber, Mohammed Stelly, or dear God Frank Osborne - go your way as well. Frankly, if any of you want Osborne, just let me know, and he's yours for whatever compensation you see fit to offer.

Obviously we'd have to wait a bit to actually consummate a deal, but there's no harm in starting a discussion.

ferrarafc@comcast.net