Earl Weaver Baseball League

Mounds Hearn

August 27th, 2008 by Admirals GM

That is pretty interesting, that they would convert him.  Two things to mention in connection...

 

1. Boston signed Marc Jones this offseason, who had 30 saves and a 1.09 ERA for Atlanta last year.  When I saw it, I thought they were overpaying for a setup man.  But now, the move makes sense.  (Note, though: Jones has struggled badly so far this year.)

 

2. Hearn is scheduled to become a free agent after 1993.  If he can establish himself as a capable starter between now and them, he figures to command top dollar.  I can personally say that if Washington has the salary room then, we would not hesitate to pay him, say $12M or $13M a season.  You're talking about a 14 pt. pitcher, as a starter.  You do not see those, ever.

 

Think of it like this: Emilio Romano got 5 years, nearly $10M a year from Omaha this past offseason.  Romano is not anywhere close to being in the same league as Hearn, ratings-wise.  Again, the big IF here is whether Hearn can establish that he has the durability to make it as a starter.

Sporting News: Early May 1992 News & Notes by Johnny Orker

August 27th,2008 by Banditos GM

Hello Earl Weaver Baseball Fans!  It's your favourite color man Johnny Orker with the News and Notes segment.  I'll be taking over for my esteemed colleague John "Senor Bandito" Hayes who recently became the Manager of the Coral Springs Greyhounds.  Lot's going on in the baseball world:

- Let's start with the surprising Washington Admirals.  Although no one ever discounts them totally considering their history, many picked the Admirals to finish in the lower half of the division.  As of today the Admirals have the best record in the AL.  Bob Washington has his players playing lights out baseball.  It's not just the stars Robinson and Jackson.  Veteran 1B Will Lund looks rejuvenated in his 2nd year in Washington.  Roy Wilson is blazing out of obscurity with his flashy baserunning and excellent hitting.  And of course star prospect Artie Bicknell is exceeding even the highest expectations.

In fact Washington accomplished a feat I have yet to see in my many years of baseball.  They swept the April Awards.  Robinson won AL Player of the Month, Sergio Garcia won Pitcher of the Month and Bicknell won Rookie of the Month.

-  However, The Gods of Fortune can make or break you and Washington is learning quickly the wrath of misfortune.  First it was Mark Jackson going out for the season.  Next Rimfire Latham was struck in the face by a 97mph fastball thrown by Wolverine Punk Perez.  The pitch fractured Latham's cheekbone and will keep him out for 8 months.  Roger Wright was the next to go down, out for 5-6 weeks.  Finally, young reliever Russell Ramsey hurt his arm for 6 weeks.  The Admirals depth will be tested.  This run of injuries can really hurt a team not just physically but mentally as well.  Washington needs to stay on top of the players and keep up the morale.

- Joe Torre and the Omaha Wolverines have been fortunate to avoid the injury bug.  In Lincoln though, Mike Murphy's career was unfortunately ended.  Murphy was a mid to lower range LF prospect who may have made it as a utility OF.  Murphy hopes to take this tragedy and turn it into an opportunity to get into coaching.

-  Speaking of former Wolverines, "Mr. Wolverine" is still an unsigned Free Agent.  When I reached him at his home in Omaha, NE he reiterated that he is NOT retired and is looking for an opportunity to climb aboard a team that can compete for a championship.  GM Gilmore has never shown any inclination to bring Kimble back to the Wolverines other than a trite trade offer to the Admirals.  I believe Kimble resents this.  Kimble also expressed subtle surprise when Washington did not even contact his agent when Jackson went down.  Kimble may be getting old and skills are lessening.  He has not "lost a step", as the old cliche goes.  Kimble still has immense speed on the basepaths.  His defense is suspect but his eye is keen.  Kimble will draw walks and steal bases.  Look for some team to latch onto him as the pennant races heat up.

-  Meanwhile, in Omaha, MikeG is desperately trying to move the disgruntled Herman Thomas.  Thomas, considered a decent reliever, wants to be the closer and stated as much when he signed last year.  Some blame Thomas for having a bad attitude and not falling in line with the assigned role.  Others blame MikeG for knowingly signing a multitude of Closers last year, Medina, Thomas, Roe etc.  And then bringing on Punk Perez.  Whoever you blame, the question is can they make it work or is Thomas leaving a necessity?  So far MikeG hasn't really come close to getting what he is asking for with Thomas, so we will see.

-  In Minneapolis, the fans are in an uproar about the new GM, Matt Egghead.  Local media have started calling him "Egghead."  Egghead took over a hot 5-1 Mutiny team.  Since his arrival the Mutiny dropped several straight and have gone 7-17 dropping to last place.  Egghead is under pressure and seems flummoxed by the responsibilities and pressures of his new position.  By virtue of his age some called this the wrong move but now that the press has seen him at his media events, many are convinced he is an Egghead.  The future of the Mutiny is in doubt.  In Eggead's defense, the same perception was held about the other three teen GM's at first.

- In Miami the young team seems to be gelling a bit.  Hinkle and Rollins are hitting decently and Dave Johnson seems to be a double machine.  Pitching is GM RobM's concern.  The big question is when is Stapylton going to make an appearance in the majors and when is Davila going to be released.  Davila was the main piece in the Jose "The Bandit" Ortiz trade and after many good years has recently fallen apart.  On top of that he is angry and bitter and is not a good influence for the Miami Youth.  Barring a trade Davila could be released if he does not succeed in his last chance in the bullpen.  He is going to pulled from the rotation.

-  Boston, desperate to keep up with rival NY, has made a strangely, unprecedented move.  Moving Frank "Mounds" Hearn to the starting rotation.  It is not unprecedented that a reliever goes to the rotation, but most scouts I talk to say Hearn rates a 3 on the 10 point scale of endurance.  I, in my many years of baseball, have never seen such a low rated endurance pitcher go to the rotation.  With Hearn talent it should be interesting.  In his debut he pitched against the tough El Paso lineup going 7.1 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs and 13 K's in a 1-0 victory!  Wow!  This should make the Colonial divison race a little more exciting.  If the Hearn experiment is successful, will more managers try this brazen, ballsy move?  Sparky Anderson is considered one of the best managers in the game, if this gutsy move works he will definitely cement that reputation.

-  Another former Wolverine 1B is making a splash with another team.  In the long line of successful former 1B Wolverines, Robert Huot is playing well for the Carolina Colonials.  The Wolverines let Huot, a Lincoln Wolves/Hustler mainstay, go to free agency.  Carolina signed him and put him at DH batting 3rd.  Huot is batting a respectable .287/.405/.446 with 4 HR/ 12 RBI.  The Wolverines are a 1B factory for the rest of the league.

-  Inside word in the Admirals organization, is that Will Lund has expressed an interest in resigning with the Admirals, saying that he is happy there.

Hall of Fame Position

August 27th, 2008 by Admirals GM

The Hall includes 6 First Basemen, 2 Outfielders (1 LF and 1 RF), and 1 Catcher.  It includes no other position players: no 2B, 3B, or SS (or CF).  Should this affect our voting, going forward?

 

Once Ronald Ramsey retires from Las Vegas, he's a lock to enter the Hall as a 2B.  He has 3,000 hits.

 

Once Porter Scott retires, he's a lock to enter as a SS.

 

Once Charlie Olsen retires, he has a good chance to enter.  He split time at 3B and SS, with a little more time at 3B.

 

Pedro Lopez retired last year, and was not elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.  If Lopez eventually is voted in, he'll become the first CF in the hall.  Does this speak in his favor?  That's he arguably the greatest CF in EWB history?

Ron Paul...

August 27th, 2008 by Admirals GM

... is a former EWB player, not just a politician:

 

http://ewb.allsimbaseball1.com/lgreports/news/html/players/player_13922.html

 

Pretty good too.  A 3-time All Star with a lifetime batting average of .317, he could also steal a base: 54 in 1981, and +30 or 40 many other years.

 

The most fateful period of his life was a half-week in late June, 1984.  Paul was having a nice year with Montreal, batting .314 with 9 HR in the first half.  Paul and Montreal executives had been talking about setting up a contract extension for some time, but Montreal was dragging their feet.  They wanted to delay an announcement of a deal until after the All Star break.  For whatever reason, Paul decided to press the issue -- not having the deal done was giving him a nagging feeling.  So he called his agent and told him to give in to finalize things as soon as possible, and on June 18th of 1984 Montreal announced a 5 year $26M deal with Ron Paul -- a big deal for the time.

 

Two days later, Paul woke up on June 20th to a call for the commisioner's office.  He had been named to the All Star game once again.  Everything was coming up Paul.

 

But then, that very evening, in a game against the Pittsburgh Crusaders, Paul suffered a ruptured disk in his back, ending his career.  Within 2 days, Paul had signed a massive contract -- which ensured his family's security, despite the end of his career -- made the All Star team, and then saw his career ended prematurely.  And Monteal was stuck with a huge contract for a player who couldn't play.

Re: Newest 4 Star Admiral

August 26th, 2008 by Wolverines GM

The Omaha Wolverines will not be part of any event that honors other teams players as we find it to be tacky and pointless and to be quite honest it is very presumptuous of another GM to assume that another team will commit without even asking. Secondly why would we even honor him we don't care about him that's like another team having to honor Jeff Reardon. Why my team has to take time out to honor a sub par reliever I don't know. If you are looking for us we will be in the Da Vista Ga visitors clubhouse playing cards until gametime.

 

                                                        MikeG

                                                      President and GM

                                                Omaha Wolverines Organization

Re: 4/30/1992 Uploaded

August 26th, 2008 by Admirals GM

The Jackson injury hurts, but not as badly as it could.

 

1. Place Jackson on the 60 day DL.

2. Promote Dale Reinert from AAA to Washington to fill Jackson's place.

3. Change Bicknell's primary position from CF to RF.
4. Here is our new OF & DH Depth Chart

 

LF: Robinson, Latham, Pak

CF: Wilson, Latham, Pak

RF: Bicknell, Latham, Pak

DH: Reinert, Moore

 

5. Here is our new lineup

 

1. Wilson, CF [Latham, down to 1/5]

2. O. Cole, SS

3. M. Robinson, LF

4. Bicknell, RF

5. D. Smith, 2B

6. Lund, 1B

7. Reinert, DH

8. Kennedy, C

9. P. Cole, 3B [with Boggs playing 1/4]

 

 

By the way, the very slow emergence of Roy Wilson should be a story.  In 1990, when I first took over, I considered him a non-entity.  He was a 27-year-old primary minor leaguer, who had never really shown anything.  The only reason I gave him playing time at all was because of injuries, and then because I lost track at the end of the year when we were out of contention and Wilson played for the injured Mike Robinson.  If I had been paying attention, I would have given Robinson's lost playing time to Darryl Bryant, not Wilson.

 

Going into 1991, I expected Wilson not to make the ML team -- I thought Bryant would win the extra OF job.  But then Wilson had a kick ass spring training and Bryant struggled, so with reservations, I made Wilson our 5th OF.  Once Bob Washington took over as manager, he used Wilson like crazy, inserting him as a pinch runner seemingly all the time.  Part of the story has to be how Washington saw something in Wilson no one else saw.  At any rate, Wilson ran up a storm, stealing 27 bases while getting only 150 At Bats.  How many pinch runners steal anywhere near 27 bases over a year?  At that point, I thought Wilson was a solid contributor, but certianly not a starter -- he was a nice backup, and an excellent pinch runner, maybe the best in the game.

 

Heading into this year, we were looking to add a CF (Chad Church), or go with Gerald Latham again.  We would play Wilson 1/4 games for Latham, mostly to rest Latham rather than to get Wilson playing time -- we're convinced Latham wears down as an everyday player.  But Wilson has been phenomenal, batting .386, with a .429 OBP and a major league-leading 15 SBs, still in relatively limited playing time because he was splitting time with Latham.  Wilson has played 20 games, with 15 steals.  Project that to 162 games, and those 15 SBs become 120+.  Also, Wilson plays good CF defense: 8/8 (arm).

 

I suspect Wilson is playing a little over his head right now: after all, he's 29, and has nothing like a track record of success.  Still, his ratings are respectable, and his ability to steal and play defense is unquestionable.  If he can sustain a .350 OBP or so over the year, we would be perfectly happy for him to become our everyday leadoff hitter and starting CF.  On the other hand, we're a little worried that our team success this year is based on players like Wilson and Lund who can't keep things going over 162 games, because they're just not all that good.  We'll see.

Early AL Notes

August 26th, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. So far this season, Sergio Garcia hasn't given up a single earned run in 29.2 IP (4 starts).  Antonio Aranda hasn't given up a single run in 11.2 IP (2 starts).  Thanks in no small part to their efforts, Washington has the top Starters' ERA in the AL, at 2.48.  That, more than anything else, is why we have the top record in the AL.  No doubt, this will drop: there's no way we can sustain a 2.48 ERA for too long.  Still, it should assuage concerns that the loss of Ty Moore would wreck our rotation.  Our rotation is always good.  The key to our success this year is to keep the offense performing -- right now, we're 2nd or 1st in all major categories -- and keep the bullpen respectable -- right now, their 3.89 ERA isn't spectacular, but it will do.  If we can keep the bullpen average and the offense above average, we think our starting rotation will keep us in the hunt all year long.

 

2. Why is Los Angeles struggling so badly?  Pitching.  Nelson Rowland has been good, but Geoff McKnight is looking his age (2-2, 4.55) and Cliff Hunter has been poor (0-3, 5.75).  Far worse than the starters, though, has been the bullpen, which has a league worst 6.53 ERA.  We don't doubt that L.A. will make a run later on, and we still regard them as the favorites in the division.  Still, this start has to give hope to the rest of their division, and for that matter all of the AL.  There's a possibility that their bullpen could haunt them all season long, in which case they won't end up as the 100 Win team everyone was expecting.

 

3. Why is Chicago struggling so badly?  Again, pitching.  Carlos Pena, fresh off signing his mega-deal (which many opposing GMs regarded as a mistake, even at the time), is presently 0-1, 4.28.  The rest of the rotation has been even worse, with the exception of Shawn Price.  Their offense has been below average as well, though not nearly as bad as their pitching.  Again, you have to expect Chicago will rebound.  Still, their early struggles should give confidence to Omaha and Kansas City, the two up and coming teams expected to make a run at the division title.

 

4. Despite high expectations, the Omaha pitching staff has been pretty average so far.  6th in total ERA; 6th in Starter's ERA; 9th in bullpen ERA.  Still, the offense has been so good that it hasn't mattered: the offense is 1st or 2nd in most major categories.  Omaha has to be especially excited with the early emergence of Lyle Washington, and the recovery of Orlando Diaz and Felix Rojas.  You have to expect they'll be in the hunt most of the year.

4/30/1992 Uploaded

August 26th, 2008 by Banditos GM

League Notes:
- Robert Guevara is out for 3 weeks as LA's woes continue.
- Carolina loses former Gargoyle Jamie Rees for 11 months.  Miami is pleased.
- Ernesto "Meltdown" Perez wants out of Montreal.  He is pissed he is not the closer. 
- C Jose "The Bandit" Ortiz, after a Damon-esque move from Boston to rival NY, is dominating for the 5 Points.  New York is 20-4!
- A player noticeably absent from the leaderboards is Mr. Don Kelly.  Kelly is batting under .300 and has an  OPS of under .800.  This is probably temporary as Kelly often gets off to slow starts.

Wolverine notes:
- Atlanta says NO WAY to trade offer that was submitted.
- Ricardo Hernandez won the prior Player of the Week award.

Admiral Notes:
-  Mark Jackson is out for the year (7 months).
- Will Lund is the Player of the Week.  If Lund keeps up his performance it will be quite the career turnaround.  GM Justin would have to be given credit for believing when nobody else did.  Perhaps Bryant Gumbel would do a story on you two.

Banditos Notes:
- Ed Hartley was demoted.  Sadly, that will probably end his EWB career.  AA CL Steve Halter was brought up to support the bullpen.  Halter is one of our mid range prospects.  Quick ascent in the minors and looks EWB ready according to our scouts.  We'll see.
- Joe Townsend was demoted to mop up duty.  Townsend needs to get his shit together.  He's pitched horribly and we depend on him, he's rated well.
-  Whit Gaul is nearing demotion from the closer role.  We love the way Lou "Franchise" Bennett has pitched at the end of last year to now.
- Aurelio Davila will probably get pulled from the rotation and Stapylton called up.  We have no illusions about the quality of our team, overall we have too many injuries and question marks.  The thing is our division sucks and if we can win the division well we need to do whatever it takes, even if our team looks like a AAA team with all the youth.

Re: Newest 4 Star Admiral

August 26th, 2008 by Banditos GM

STILL, why no Gizmo Delgado recognition?  This is bullshit.

Newest 4 Star Admiral

August 26th, 2008 by Admirals GM

On Saturday May 2nd, prior to our home game against the Omaha Wolverines, the Washington Admirals will be honoring Miguel Villareal as the newest 4 Star Admiral.  In addition to throwing out the first pitch, Villareal will appear in photographs with Admiral and Wolverine players, and venders will distribute Miguel Villareal honorary coins to the first 23,500 fans.  Here are some of the most noteworthy facts regarding Villareal.

 

1. Villareal was drafted by the Admirlas in the 9th round of the inaugural 1970.  From the beginning, the 24-year-old Villareal was slated to be their closer.  But, closers were used very differently back in the early 1970s, and Villareal saved only 11 games in 1970.  That was followed by 13 saves in 1971, 11 saves in 1972, and 19 saves in 1973.  Villareal didn't break through in terms of save totals until 1974, when he recorded 42, at the age of 28.  Had the beginning of his career taken place in a different era, Villareal would have recorded far more than the 516 lifetime saves he ended up with.

 

2. Along with Mal Collier, Villareal is tied for the most Fireman of the Year Awards of all time: 4.  Villareal won in 1977, 1980, 1981, and 1982.  As the years of these awards indicate, even though Villareal was the Admirals closer throughout their dynasty run in the 1970s, he probably hit his own personal prime after this period, during the early 1980s, when Villareal was in his mid 30s.  His top year was probably 1980, when he had 48 Saves and a 1.78 ERA at the age of 34.  If Villareal hadn't had these great years relatively late in his career, he probably wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame today.

 

3. Fitting with Villareal's career trajectory is that he never had what scouts regarded as even average "stuff": he got a 2 rating every year of his career.  His strikeouts were never anywhere near 1 an inning.  More like a little over a half an inning, or 6 or so per 9 innings.  No flamethrower, Villareal had very unconventional stuff for a closer, getting by with exceptional movement and contol -- he routinely had 5-5 ratings.

 

4. As good as Villareal was during the regular season, he became even better during the postseason, where he recorded 32 Saves, had a 2.12 ERA (as compared to 2.62 during the regular season), and a 1.04 WHIP (as compared to 1.16).  He was lights out during the Admirals championship years of 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1978: he had 21 saves during the stretch and an ERA below 1.40.

 

5. Villareal's career as an Admiral did not end happily.  After a productive 1983 season with 38 Saves and a 3.34 ERA, the Admirals decided that they didn't want to retain the 38 year old Villareal as their closer.  Deeply hurt, Miguel went on to sign a 2 year free agent contract with the Carolina Colonials.  Villareal ended up leading the AL in saves for Carolina in 1984 -- the 5th time in his career he accomplished the feat -- and making the All Star game.  But, his heart wasn't in it.  Still hurt by the Admirals letting him go, Villareal retired after the season, walking away from over a million dollars in guaranteed money for 1985.

 

6. Villareal's anger continued all the way to the Hall of Fame.  For his Hall of Fame portrait, Villareal wore the Carolina jersey he had on for only one season (1984), rather than the Admirals jersey he wore for 14 years (1970-1983) and which fans associated him with.  Today's ceremony is meant to go some way toward healing the riff between Villareal and the Admirals organization.

 

7. Villareal, a native of the baseball factory that is San Pedro de Marcoris, Dominion Republic, is a legend in his home country.  He is the only Dominican presently in the hall.  Today, he spends most of his time there, living the good life and coasting off his fame.  In his retirement, he has gained a good deal of weight and lost a lot of hair.

Player Morale

August 25th, 2008 by Admirals GM

In connection with the pending Herman Thomas trade, I would definitely say that one thing I'm much more sensitive to now than I was when I started is player morale.  It really does seem to make a big difference to production.  Also, as I learned in 1991, things can snowball.  We lost some games we shouldn't back in May.  That caused a few players to become unhappy.  Their unhappiness caused them to play worse, which caused us to lose more, which caused more unhappiness, etc.

 

Mike Robinson is an especially sensitive soul.  We were worried this year about getting off to a slow start: if we did, we feared he might fall apart for the year.  So far, our hot start has him happy.

Re: Nicknames and Matt Egghead

August 24th, 2008 by Banditos GM

1)  Done
2) Himmelfarb is injured for the year.  In light of this we will reconsider if he continues to play well after returning
3)  Egghead will be installed as GM of Minneapolis.  What ties does he have with Minnesota?  I didn't know that he had ties to Minnesota.  He becomes GM (not President also) of the Mutiny and he should thank the T Family (Tom and Justin) for their Heavy lobbying on his behalf.  Without their influence Egghead would never have reached this pinnacle.  Kevin Reed who was having heart problems stepped aside.  Minneapolis is probably known best for being the team that Angel Rosa played for.  I'll let Justin elaborate on how Matt got this position.
4)  My Whitfield nominations

Keith "Wrong Side" Whitfield-  It is known by many not to get on the wrong side of Keith Whitfield.  However, being that he is such an asshole, everybody is on his wrong side.

Keith "KGB" Whitfield-  His teammates and family members believe that his cold, soulless, masochistic nature would endear him well to the KGB.

Keith "Sour Puss" Whitfield-  Many of the oldtimers use Whitfield as an example of "what's wrong with the game today."  Old timers like to use the term SourPuss and call Whitfield that a lot.

Keith "Gadfly" Whitfield-

1 : any of various flies (as a horsefly, botfly, or warble fly) that bite or annoy livestock 2 : a person who stimulates or annoys especially by persistent criticism

Nicknames and Egghead

August 22nd, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. Luis Martinez is "Cujo."  EXPLANATION: I was asking Ariela for a good nickname for an Argentinian from Mendoza, and she was suggesting "Cuyano," (prounounced Cu-Zhano), derived from Cuyo ("Cuzho"), which sounded sort of like "Cujo."  In fact, when she was first telling me I thought she said "Cujo."  So, I figure Cujo is pretty good.

 

2. Heshel Himmelfarb probably *should* be the Hebrew Hammer, in part because it keeps with H aliteration.

 

3. I think Matt should be either Montreal or Minneapolis.  I guess my inclination is to say Minneapolis, although they did make the playoffs in just 1989.  Still, Matt actually did have a connection to Minnesota, and Montreal has more historical success (back in the 1970s) than does Minneapolis.  Also, I think he should be given a permanent GM job.

 

4. I feel like Keith Whitfield should get a nickname, something reflecting his bad reputation.  (By the way, did you see that El Paso also signed Jon Houston as a free agent?  He's another big addition: their #1 starter.)

Wolverines Year ????

August 22nd, 2008 by Wolverines GM

Hey there kemosabes Arthur here for a Omaha Wolverines team preview for 1992. The Wolverines hired a new manager in Joe Torre, we really don't know much about him so either MikeG knows something we don't and he has found a diamond in the rough or he has been fucking Paula Abdul too much and ignored his duties as a GM, so I really don't know what to say other than we will see because if this guy (Joe Torre) fails to win this year with a team that is talented, maybe the most talented since 1985, MikeG will be lambasted about why he would hire a no name to take over a good team that arguably could go far this year or if this works? he will be looked at as a someone who can spot talent and be lauded as a top flight GM, time will tell.

        The Wolverines made another big splash in free agency this off season where they signed one of the best closers in the game in Julio "Punk" Perez, in which he has had an inauspicious start so far as he has dead arm syndrome to start the year. Hopefully this is just a beginning of the year incident and doesn't linger on as it would be somewhat of a blow to the team, but they do have proven closer and now setup man Herman Thomas to take over if this lingers on, but it sounds like it is nothing major. The only major loss would be the 6.2 million dollars they shelled out over 4 years for a closer with a dead arm, maybe Miami knew something and that's why they didn't re sign him, only time will tell, but again it does look as though it is nothing to get worked up about. 

        They traded former closer Mauro Medina to division rival Denver for catcher Jose Rodriguez, Medina after coming off a stellar year for the world champion Dallas Brahmas signed with Omaha last year and let's just say didn't have one of his better years, so Medina was traded to Denver for promising young catcher Jose Rodriguez who will start for the Wolverines this upcoming season.

        They made a big commitment in SP Emilio Romano, Romano has a bit of a history with injuries in his young career, but you can't deny he has enormous upside and is only 26 years old and the best starting pitcher on the market. This in effect not only gives you a number one starter but moves everyone down one spot in the rotation and that is big when you think about it because instead of Orlando Diaz as your number one he is number two and that is huge for a guy who is coming off labrum surgery. That also moves Felix Rojas from 2 to 3 and who is also coming off surgery.

        They signed former Amigo SS Lyndon Bray this off season to start at SS so that Jimmy Garrett can move back to his original position 3B, Lyndon is a solid player who gets on base enough for the big hitters. That moves young prospect Miguel Gonzalez to the bench, but he will be probably the first person off the bench for pinch hitting. Gonzalez is a few years away from being an everyday SS or 3B, so Bray will take the reins for a few years until Gonzalez is ready.

         Aaron Ellis is back and looking to top last years stellar year for one of the worst teams in EWB, Shannon Townsend will look to only get better and be one of the better hitters in EWB, Jimmy Garrett will be moving back to 3B and we look for him to have a breakout year and become the best 3B in EWB, Ricardo Hernandez will be back at DH and you have to give MikeG credit on this one as he got him off waivers from Chicago 2 years ago and Hernandez has not disappointed as he is one of the most reliable DH's in the league with his numbers across the board, Tom Jordan is back in CF as he had a good rest of the year last year after coming over from Austin, Jordan always gets on base and hits for a high average and will steal his share of bases, I think his season is critical for the rest of the big hitters on this team and if he can get on base at a high percentage the hitters behind him will have a slew of RBI's and will make Omaha one of the best hitting teams in EWB. Lyle Washington is back after an elbow injury that kept him out for over 7 months he was hitting his stride and hitting his way into the starting lineup this year.

       Overall I think Omaha will have a good year, and maybe win the division for the first time since 1985.

        This is Arthur Thunderpussy signing off and am going to Winnevegas and going to lose money to my family. HAAHAHAHA

       

 

     

Very Brief Notes

August 22nd, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. Artie Bicknell has gone up again.  Now, his contact potential is up to 5, whereas of 2/6 (last update) it was only 4.  So now Bicknell is a potential 5-5 player, with 4-4 actual.  When I traded for him in November, he was potential 4-4.

 

2. Heshel Himmelfarb, the 3B prospect for San Antonio who we were discussing during the Dong-min Kim trade, has seen his potential shoot up.  His potential contact-power numbers are now 5-4; I forget what they were before the trade, but not this high.  He's also listed as the #6 prospect in EWB.  The Kim trade could still make sense for San Antonio in that Himmelfarb, only 18, is years away from EWB, and Kim can play 2B in addition to 3B.  Also notable: Himmelfarb is "disliked" by the local crowd in Blair, Nebraska.  Could it be small town Anti-Semitism directed at the Israeli Himmelfarb?

 

3. Dave Tyler got a 2 year, $4M per year contract out of San Antonio, even though they already have John Hennesay at 1B (who they are paying $4.5M per) and there's no DH in the NL.  Tyler is slated to be a (very expensive) pinch hitter.  Nice job, Aztecas.  San Antonio had money to burn this offseason, and spent $12.5M on the combination of Tyler and Dong-min Kim.  For roughly that amount, they could instead have signed Keith Whitfield and Bob Wiederanders.

1992 Admirals Preview

August 22nd, 2008 by Admirals GM

For better or worse, the 1992 Admirals are a very different team from the one that was expected to compete but collapsed in 1991.  Most notably, the 1992 Admirals are YOUNG.  Whereas the 1991 squad started with veterans George McFarland, Roy Abbott, and Dave Tyler in their starting lineup, the 1992 team is filled with youngsters.  On one hand, this means that the present lineup is filled with palyers with bright futures -- players whose best years are still ahead of them.  On the other hand, it means that 1992 is probably too early for them to compete.  It's doubtful that all their youngsters will click at once -- in all likelihood, they will take time to find themselves, and some might not manage to do so until 1993.  Still, for fans' sake, it's always best to have a team with a hopeful future, and the 1992 Admirals team can at least offer this

 

C: 22-year-old Leo Kennedy took over for Admirals legend George McFarland last year.  (McFarland is expected to be given his own stars ceremony sometime in the near future.)  Kennedy, the #66 prospect according to BA in 1991, put up numbers of .227/6/22 in half a season last year.  He's expected to have better power but less avereage and OBP than McFarland.  He also plays much better defense -- in the last couple years, baserunners were going wild on McFarland, but Kennedy is quite solid in shutting down the other team's running game.  The Admirals would be very happy with .265/15/65 from Kennedy this year, with even better numbers down the line.  Newly signed Chirs Graham provides Kennedy with a capable veteran backup.  GRADE: C+.

 

1B: Last season, the Admirals traded first baseman Dave Tyler in exchange for Will Lund.  This trade was based on two deep convictions held by GM Tiehen: (1) that OBP is overrated for middle of the order hitters (however crucial it is for top of the lineup batters), and (2) that K's are underrated for such hitters.  If you accept both premises, the trade makes a lot of sense: Lund strikes out much less than Tyler, although he walks less as well.  In 1991, Lund put up numbers of .234/18/74 for the Admirals in a little more than 3/4 of a season.  The team would like to hope they could get similar production this year as well, but they aren't confident they can count on it -- scouts believe Lund's ability to hit for average will fall even further this season.  In short, Washington strongly suspects that Lund's career is wrapping up.  If this turns out to be the case, look for Clyde Moore -- who's a Luis de los Santos type (i.e., AAA legend, who has yet to become a ML contributor) -- or top prospect Dale Reinert (who starts the season in AAA) to take over the position.  Depending on their salary situation, the Admirals are eyeing 1B free agents for the upcoming offseason.  GRADE: C-

 

2B: Daniel Smith had an especially productive year in his first season as a starter, after being acquired from Los Angeles in a controversial trade.  The Admirals would like to see the 28-year-old repeat his stat-line of .285/17/83/16, which is really exceptional production for a second baseman.  Smith's defense at 2B is decidedly below average.  Utility man and team leader Min-chul Pak is a capable backup 2B and utility man.  GRADE: B.

 

3B: 23-year-old Patrick Cole was acquired last July from the New York 5 Points in exchange for MR Ken Milligan and OF prospect Tyrone "Skull Crusher" Taylor.  On the downside, this meant that Cole missed out on a chance to win a World Series with New York.  On the upside, Cole gets his first chance to start with the Admirals.  Cole was ranked as the #84 prospect in 1991, and has been downgraded slightly to the #93 prospect in 1992.  His numbers of .208/1/13 in a quarter of a season for Washington last year are obviously subpar.  In 1992, the Admirals would be pleased if they could get production of .260/10/65; down the line, they would like to see numbers more like .290/20/85.  Cole provides nice defense at the hot corner.  GRADE: C.

 

SS: In his first season with a big (3 year, $4.4 per year) contract, Oliver Cole made that contract look like a mistake.  Affter making the All Star team in 1991, Cole put up horrible numbers of .247/3/47/8 in 1991.  Cole isn't really all that old: he's just 30, so there's reason to hope for a comeback in 1992.  Also, he showed up at spring training this year looking like a man possessed, so again maybe good things are in store this year.  Utility man John Boggs backs up Oliver Cole, and figures to get a good dose of playing time at short stop.  Boggs is a defensive standout with a good bat for contact and nice speed.  What's prevented him from becoming a starter is his complete lack of power and inability to draw hardly any walks.  GRADE: C-.

 

LF: Mike Robinson is still one of the best offensive players the Admirals have, but given the expectations, he put up his second straight defensive season in 1991.  He may have been al All Star, but a statline of .271/14/82/47 is unacceptable for one of the highest paid players in the game.  Perhaps most disconerting, Robinson started to become something of a clubhouse cancer, complaining constantly about how the team used him (he refused to bat leadoff, even though it makes sense for the team) and the lack of team success.  Admirals executives worry that if the team starts out slowly in 1992, Robinson will let it effect his production, which will cause the team to perform even worse, which will cause Robinson to be even unhappier, and so on.  A downward spiral.  If this turns out to be the case, 1992 may be Robinson's last year with the team.  GRADE: B+.

 

CF: Gerald "Rimfire" Latham was a surprising All Star in 1991.  Some scouts will tell you he was undeserving, but the truth is that he was an offensive catalyst for the Admirals in the first half of the season.  His final stat line of .253/10/73/25 is okay, but it reflects how much he fell off in the second half of the season.  The Admirals are convinced that Latham probably isn't a full-time player, but he can be a nice complement, or even primary starter.  They look to spell Latham with backup Roy Wilson.  The veteran Wilson has seen his stock rise each of the last two seasons, swiping 27 bases last year despite receiving very limited playing time.  The Admirals look for Wilson and Latham to split lead off duties.  GRADE: C+.

 

RF: Mark Jackson put up a spectacular first half, leading all of baseball in BA on his way to his first All Star game.  Jackson cooled off quite a bit in the second half, which ended up costing him the batting title.  Still, his final numbers of .328/18/93 are more than respectable.  One thing that 1991 did convince the Admirals of is that Jackson isn't cut out to be a cleanup hitter -- he just doesn't have enough raw power.  GRADE: A-.

 

DH: Artie Bicknell, newly acquired from Carolina in exchange for Ty Moore, has already sparked the interest of Admirals fans.  The #1 prospect in all of EWB, Bicknell posted numbers of .347/28/124/25 across AA, AAA, and ML last year.  Most scouts view Bicknell as a favorite to win Angel Rosa honors in 1992.  The Admirals are hoping for a stat line somewhere in the vicinity of .300/30/100/20 this season.  GRADE: B+.

 

Offense Overall: C+.  Here is what the Admirals hope.  The veterans who struggled in 1991 (Robinson, O. Cole) return to form in 1992.  The veterans who put up respectable performances (D. Smith, Lund) can repeat their performances this year.  And then a few of the young prospects (P. Cole, Bicknell, Kennedy, Reinert) can elevate their game in 1992, even if not all of them are able to do so.  If all of the pieces click this year, the Admirals might have a respectable offense.  If -- more likely -- not all of this happens, the Admirals offense should be substandard yet again in '92.

 

STARTING PITCHERS: Even with the loss of Ty Moore, the Admirals believe they have an above average starting staff in 1992.  GRADE: B+.

 

SP1: Sergio Garcia is what he is at this point: a 12-8 pitcher with a 3.02 ERA and almost 200 Ks.  That's not a bad stat line, but it's not the Bob Gibson contender the Admirals thought they were getting back when they signed him prior to 1989.  Garcia's limited endurance (remember, he started his career as a closer) prevents him from getting wins that more durable starters could get.

 

SP2: Newly signed Joe MacGregor was among the more talented starting pitchers on the market this offseason, but his substandard 1991 season kept his salary down.  The Admirals hope that MacGregor resembles his 1990 self (15-11, 2.51) more than his 1991 self (13-14, 4.14).  If these hopes are realize, MacGregor will actually constitute an upgrade over Ty Moore, who he's replacing.

 

SP3: Roger Wright seems to pitch consistently above his ability, which is a very good trait in a pitcher.  His 1991 numbers of 15-10, 3.21, were exceptional.  The Admirals would willing settle for less.  If Wright can continue to win in the vicinity of 15 games while posting an ERA below 3.50, he will be one of the top third starters in the game.

 

SP4: Rookie Antonio Aranda had a horrible run of bad luck in 1991.  Given his respectable 4.30 ERA, he deserved a record much better than his awful 7-15.  Scouts are starting to worry that Aranda's stuff is falling off.  It's probably critical to Aranda's long term future that scouts are wrong about this.  We'll see.

 

SP5: Gustavo Chavez continues to bounce in and out of a starting role for the Admirals.  His 1991 numbers of 7-7, 4.03, are really pretty respectable.  Given Chavez' talent, the Admirals are planning on him spending an entire year in the rotation this season.  We'll see.

 

BULLPEN: A horrible, horrible weakness in 1991, the Admirals are hoping that their bullpen will be much stronger in 1992.  There is reason for hope, but not enough of a track record to count on it.  GRADE: C+.

 

MR: Doug Kelly keeps eating up a lot of innings as a middle reliever/spot starter, and he keeps posting solid ERAs.  One thing has changed this year though: Kelly became arbitration eligible for the first time.  If the Admirals had more depth in their high minors starting pitching, they almost certainly would deal Kelly for some team looking for a starter.  Because they lack that depth, though, look for Kelly to spend another year bouncing between the rotation and middle relief.

 

MR: Dan Fulton pitched extremely well at the beginning of his 1991, but then struggled down the stretch.  The Admirals are not at all convinced that he has what it takes to be a major league pitcher on a consistent basis.  Fulton didn't earn his major league job this spring training.  Instead, he won it by default, due to his being out of minor league options.  If Fulton falters, look for the Admirals to replace him with Cory Davidson, who was exceptional as a rookie in 1991.

 

MR: Ben Fleming is an unlikely closer, but he filled this role nicely when the Admirals' bullpen was struggling so badly last year.  His 3.28 ERA in 49.1 IP was top notch.  If Fleming is able to post another sub 4.00 ERA this year, the Admirals will be more than happy.

 

Set Up Man: Russell Ramsey, the Admirals 6th round pick in the 1991 draft, is ready to make his major league debut this season after shooting up the minor league system in 1991.  A 10 pt. pitcher with the potential to become 11 pts., the Admirals see Ramsey as a potentially elite set up man.  If the need develops, though, the Admirals may try to press Ramsey into service as a closer.

 

Set Up Man: Expectations are high for the newly signed Felipe Lopez, given that the Admirlas had to give up a 2nd round draft pick in order to sign him.  The Admirals hope that Lopez, a 10 pt. pitcher, can post a low 3.00 ERA, just as he did last year.

 

Closer: Rookie Carlos Hernandez was exceptional in the closer's role last year, posting 11 Saves and a 2.43 en route to winning 3rd place in the voting for the Angel Rosa award.  But then he suffered a torn tricep muscle, which knocked him out for 7 months and took 3 MPH off his fastball.  Hernandez has also seen his potential ratings fall just a bit: he's now a potential 11 point picher instead of a 12 point pitcher.  Still, scouts say he hasn't lost anything off of last season (when he was a 10 point picher), so maybe there's room to hope he can continue to be the solid closer he was last year.  The Admirals very much need it.

1992 Algorithm

August 22nd, 2008 by Admirals GM

Here are the rankings, passed on without any personal input

 

AL: SUNBELT

1. Miami

2. Carolina

3. New Orleans

4. Atlanta

5. Memphis

 

AL: PLAINS

1. Omaha

2. Kansas City**

3. Chicago

4. Minneapolis

5. Denver

 

AL: MOUNTAIN WEST

1. Los Angeles

2. Las Vegas

3. Portland

4. Washington

** Wildcard

 

NL: COLONIAL

1. New York

2. Boston**

3. Philadelphia

4. Montreal

5. Washington D.C.

 

NL: OHIO VALLEY

1. St. Louis

2. Pittsburgh

3. Detroit

4. Cincinnati

5. Indianapolis

6. Cleveland

 

NL: TEXAS

1. Austin

2. Dallas

3. Houston

4. El Paso

5. San Antonio

 

**Wildcard

 

PLAYOFFS

 

AL WILDCARD: Los Angeles over Kansas City, 4-1

AL WILDCARD: Omaha over Miami, 4-1

NL WILDCARD: New York over St. Louis, 4-1

NL WILDCARD: Austin over Boston, 4-3 (7th game goes to extra innings)

ALCS: Los Angeles over Omaha, 4-1

NLCS: New York over Boston, 4-3

World Series: Los Angeles over New York, 4-2

 

***COMMENTARY***

 

1. The World Series prediction is the same as last year.  However, this year the margin between L.A. and New York is much bigger.  The 1992 Los Angeles Gargoyles are the best team, Algorithm-wise, since we've been doing this.

 

2. The toughest division is the AL Plains.  Omaha, Kansas City, and Chicago are all neck-and-neck.  Omaha is the 2nd best team in all of EWB; Kansas City is the third.

 

3. The worst division top to bottom is the AL Sunbelt, with the NL Ohio Valley running right behind it.  In both divisions, the Algorithm sees a repeat of 1990 rather than a repeat of 1991.

 

4. The Algorithm is totally unimpressed with El Paso's big offseason.  Note, though: the Algorithm hated El Paso during their Wild Card year of 1990.

 

5. The worst teams in EWB are Memphis (worst by far), Washington D.C., and then Atlanta.  Memphis has been in a franchise-wide funk for a while now.

 

6. Even though Omaha is better than Miami, Miami projects to have an easier pennant race than does Omaha.  Omaha has to compete with both K.C. and Chicago, who are excellent.  Minneapolis is also okay.  Only Denver is bad in the division.  By contrast, Miami is the only decent team in their division.

 

7. Washington projects to last, but if it's any consolation, the difference between them, 3rd place Portland, and 2nd place Las Vegas is miniscule.  If I were to assign "win totals' to these teams, I would say that each will win betweeen 82-78 games this year, while Los Angeles will win 100+.

1992 NL GM'S

August 21, 2008 by Banditos GM

BOS TAKUMA ENDO
MON CEDRIC BACKMAN
PHI JOHN DENNIS
NY RON MORSE
WAS RON GARRISON

CIN DAN ALEXANDER
CLE MIKE THOMAS
DET MAURO HERNANDEZ
IND GUILLERMO AYALA
PIT RAMIRO NAJCREA
STL MICHAEL GOODMAN

AUS TRAVIS GARNER
DAL KEN BRANCH
ELP DAVE BAKER
HOU AROGHETTO VALLONE
SA  BOB RIEHL

1992 AL GM's

August 21, 2008 by Banditos GM

To begin keeping track of GM performance, here are the 1992 AL GM's as of Opening Day:

ATL JOSE BRUNO
CAR ROBBIE JOHNSON
MIA ROBM
MEM LOWELL ALLEN
NO ARTHUR MILLER

CHI PABLO LARA
KC JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
MIN KEVIN
OMA MIKEG
DEN STEPHEN WRIGHT

WAS JTT
LA   VICTOR HERNANDEZ
POR  TIM HILL
LV    BRODY HARVEY

Spring Training Notes 1992

August 21st, 2008 by Banditos GM

Notable Injuries:
PHI Jose Morales    8 months
AUS Cliff Webb       8 weeks
PIT  Jesus Villanueva   5-6 weeks
DAL Isaias Rosa      2-3 months
CHI  Henry Morrow   13 months
MIA  Joe Young       11 months
CAR Flint Evans       11 months
NO   Millard Kenney  6 weeks

Human Records:
Washington 11-13
Miami          14-10
Omaha         15-9

Owner Expectations:
WAS  Reach Playoffs
MIA    Reach Playoffs
OMA  Play .500

Bad Blood

August 21, 2008 by Banditos GM

Justin,
Just wanted to let you know about the history of bad blood between your newly acquired primadonna and one of our starting pitchers:

Wednesday, September 4th, 1991: Colonials Bicknell and Banditos Hartley Suspended for Fight
Carolina Colonials left fielder Artie Bicknell and Miami Banditos left fielder Ed Hartley got into a wrestling match yesterday at Colonial Stadium and now must pay the consequences for violating league rules. They have both been assessed 6-game suspensions by the league for inciting the heated altercation between the two clubs.

This season-to-date Hartley has 7 wins and 7 losses and a 4.17 ERA.

Rules

August 19th, 2008 by Banditos GM

Clarify what we went over:

1)  Coaches/Managers cannot be hired away from other teams unless to fill a Major League Manager position or Bench Coach Position.

2)  Waiver Wires will continue as we've been doing.

3)  Trades can be vetoed by the other two humans.

4)  We are going to stick with balanced schedule because I was messing with it and there's just too much that can get fucked up.

Historical Notes

August 21, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. This year, Vincent Carter is poised to move ahead of Sherwood Johnston as the top RBI man in RBI history.  As of opening day, Johnston has 1458 RBI while Carter has 1374.  (So, Carter needs just 85 RBI to take sole place of first, and he's had at least that many every year since 1985.)  Carter figures to have a huge lead over Johnston by the time he retires: Carter is only 34, and so a run at 2000 lifetime RBI isn't unthinkable.  The real question is whether Carter or Don Kelly will end up with the most RBI when everything is said and done.  Don't bet against Carter.

 

2. One more thing about Carter: last year he won his 6th Gold Glove award.  In discussing who is the greatest EWB player in history, the most obvious candidates are Johnston, Kelly, Carter, and perhaps Chris Henry.  One thing that shouldn't be forgotten is that Carter plays defense at a level far above anyone else on this list.

 

3. The last two years saw the first two men enter the 3,000 hit club: Carlos Gudino in 1990, and then Ronald Ramsey in 1991.  We might not see the club add another member for a number of years to come.  Porter Scott has 2631 hits right now, but he's about to turn 38 (on 3/31) and he's out most of this year with injury, so he's no sure bet to get there.  After Scott, the next strongest candidate is probably Carter, who has 2281 hits, is 34 years old, and shows no signs of slowing down.  The earliest possible that Carter could make it to 3,000, though, is the end of 1995.

 

4. Last season, Cory Banks of the Boston Irish tied the EWB record for hits, with 237.  The co-owner of this record is the enigmatic Dave O'Conner.  Check out O'Conner's career:

 

http://ewb.allsimbaseball1.com/lgreports/news/html/players/player_16647.html

 

His .3307 lifetime batting average is 4th all time, and tops among all retired players (which is significant, since batting average tends to go down in the last few years before you retire).  And yet, no team signed O'Conner when he became a free agent in 1988, even though he was just 29.  Under mysterious circumstances, he retired on 1/1/1990 (right before we took control), despite having 5-1-4 (contact-power-eye) ratings on the day of his retirement.  Also odd about O'Conner: despite being a great average hitter, he was horribly strikeout prone, leading the league in 1985.

 

5. Also setting an EWB record in 1991 was Doug Bennett, 1B of the Las Vegas Renegades.  Bennett played in 163 games: all 162 regular season games, plus the play-in game for the Wild Card.  That's one record that will never be topped, and it's a longshot to even be tied.

 

6. Would it help David Kimble's Hall of Fame chances if he could reach 1,000 Stolen Bases in his career?  Right now, he's got 944.  The good news is that Kimble has stolen 68 and 77 bases the last two years, so he certainly hasn't lost his wheels.  The bad news is that he is yet to catch on with any team.  By the way, Kimble is second on the all time steals list, behind Charlie Olsen's 1,029.  Just as in real life, EWB players generally steal less in the early 1990s than they did back in the 1970s and early 1980s.  So, there's a good chance that Olsen & Kimble will remain #1 and #2 on the list for a long time to come.

 

7. Ever so slowly, Forest Thomas continues to creep toward 300 wins.  Right now he has 294.  If he duplicates his 6 wins from 1991, he projects to reach the mark in 1992.  Question: will Miami be patient enough to give him the starts to win 6 games this year?  Here's one possible scenario: Miami is competitive, and Thomas pitches not great, prompting them to take him out of the rotation; meanwhile, Washington struggles, and falls out of contention by August 1st; in light of this, the Admirals and Banditos engineer a trade to try to have Thomas win his 300th game with Washington.  I'm not saying the scenario is likely; I'm only saying that it's possible.

 

8. By the way, Geoff McKnight is making a real push for 300 W right now.  McKnight has 265 presently, and will be 36 as the season opens.  If McKnight keeps roughly the same productivity in his late 30s that he has had in his mid 30s, look for him to surpass 300 early in 1994, when he's still just 38.  Barring injury, McKnight looks like a very solid bet to rush past 300.

 

9. Tom Mitchell, presently with Denver (after spending most his career with Detroit), is poised to surpass Gizmo Delgado and set the EWB all time strikeout record this year.  Right now Mitchell has 3437 Ks, while Delgado's record is 3533.  Look for Mitchell to pass Delgado sometime around the All Star break.  Mitchell is only 38, and so he has a decent chance at passing 4000 Ks in his career, if he can pitch effectively at 40 or 41.  You have to wonder, does this hurt Daniel Pena's shot at being inducted into the Hall of Fame, given that Pena's primary claim to fame is being the greatest K pitcher ever?  Also: is Mitchell a Hall of Fame candidate?  His win/loss total is okay, but not spectacular.  Same goes for his ERA.  Do the K's take him in?

 

10. Another Delgado record in jeopary: his 657 lifetime starts.  Heading into 1992, Forest Thomas has made 634 starts.  So, if Thomas makes just 24 starts this year, he'll be tops of all time.

 

10.

Re: Reflections on the Offseason

August 20th, 2008 by Banditos GM

Algorithm is just that, an algorithm.  When it comes to play on the field our team severely underperformed last year.  Not just on the basis of the algorithm but also against their financial contracts.

Their is no question Dong Min Kim is a good player.  However, he does not perform to the standards of an $8 million dollar player.

Punk Perez is, in our estimation, the best closer around.  He too though is not worth $6 million dollars.  This is partly the fault of Jack McKeon.  We would like to see our managers use high priced, quality relievers substantially more.  If Perez was literally winning and saving more games, we would have no problem giving him that money.  Instead we are going to go for more depth in our bullpen and perhaps sacrifice at the elite level.  However, we did make an effort to resign him and it was he who refused us.

In other words, our goal is to compile a team where all our players outperform their contracts.  This is regardless of the amount of their salary.  If we pay a guy $5 million a year we want to see $6-7 million performance. If we pay a guy the league minimum we are happy to see them perform at a $400 to $700K level.

I am hesitant to say we are rebuilding, because we definitely expect to compete this year.  This franchise is going through a transformation, though.  I am putting my fingerprint on the team with my style, as are Washington and Omaha.  I said a long time ago that it will take a couple of years for these franchises to really become our own, and I may have underestimated the time table.

Another note:  Once again I plead ignorance with finances but hopefully the game has some kind of correction to prevent teams from continually going in the red.  If not we will have to monitor it because I think we would all agree that it is not too fair if you can exceed your budget on a yearly basis.  So Mike I would try to make plans to come to some financial equilibrium.  But once again the game may self correct this in one way or another.  For example I could see Omaha being strapped for the next couple of years, which could spell doom if they are struck with poor performance or injury.

Reflections on the Offseason

August 20th, 2008 by Admirals GM

I'm going to wait to run the algorithm until opening day, just because there are bound to be further roster moves between now and then.  But as of this moment, the Omaha Wolverines would have the highest score of any Plains Division team.  In other words, if the Algorithm rankings came out right now, Omaha would be the favorite to win the division.  The Algorithm especially likes their infield, and it loves their pitching staff, which looks to be the best in baseball.

 

Omaha is moderately more highly rated than Miami, although in this case you can pin the ranking difference entirely on Miami's loss of Punk Perez and Dong-min Kim.  Had Miami retained those two players, it would still be ahead of Omaha by a significant margin.

 

Omaha is significantly more highly rated than Washington.  This is unsurprising because (a) This still looks to be a re-building year for us (our timetable is to compete seriously in 1993, not this year); and (b) The player ratings are dependent not just on talent but also on past production, and many of our players are too young to have significant past production (e.g., Artie Bicknell, Dale Reinert, Patrick Cole, Leo Kennedy).  Still, it should be a wake up call for Admirals fans that, right now, Washington is projected to be last in their division by a wide margin (again).  If it's any comfort, the Algorithm picked Washington to be 1st in 1990, and 2nd in 1991, so we do know that it's gotten them wrong before.  Moreoever, it got those teams wrong in telling ways: those teams were loaded with veterans, and I'm starting to suspect the algorithm is biased in favor of veteran teams and against young teams, which is what we have right now.

 

The top team in the Mountain West is still Los Angeles, by a wide margin.  As good as Omaha is, the algorithm likes L.A. much better.  Especially impressive about Los Angeles is that they have such a good team despite working with a smallish, $32.7M payroll.  That still leaves them projected in the red for this year (the Gargoyle's owner must be stingy), but they are spending $8M less a year than me.  Even better news for Los Angeles is that their (estimated) committed payroll for 1993 is just $25M, which means they probably could afford to sign a big time free agent next year.  The secret to Los Angeles' success is to have a bunch of young, highly productive players who make major contributions while still making the league minimum (e.g., Caleb Lang, Nelson Rowland).  This is partly good scouting/development, but it's also partly a savvy minor league strategy: Los Angeles could have promoted Lang back in 1990 or maybe even 1989, and let him put up okay (but unspectacular) production as a young first baseman.  Instead, they allowed him to get almost overly ripe in the minors, delaying his debut until 1991.  Because they waited on him, it looks like the 3 years that they get him for the minimum salary will be highly productive (he was 2nd for MVP last year), rather than 3 years in which he's still finding himself.  So, there you have it: an argument in favor of being very slow in bringing up prospects.

 

One caveat about Los Angeles: I think they overpaid for Juan Freitas, given that he's 38 and coming off a year where he played only 9 games.  If we are to have any hope of catching up with L.A. as a franchise, we probably need them to make mistakes.  Hopefully, this was a mistake.  If I were them, I would have spent the money on starting pitching, where the loss of Rees figures to make them much thinner than in 1991.

 

Because of their team makeup, Los Angles figures to be competitive throughout the mid 1990s, barring injury.  I'm not sure you can say the same for Omaha.  Not only does their $38M payroll have them $2M overbudget in 1992, but their estimated payroll for 1993 is $41M; for 1994 it's $45M; and for 1995 it's $41M.  Barring a major influx of money, Omaha projects to be in the red every year between now and 1995, and sometimes significantly so.  The problem is their long contracts (via free agency) plus the upcoming arbitration eligibility for some of their young producers, like Ricardo Hernandez and Shannon Townsend.  I wouldn't necessarily say that 1992 is a do-or-die year for Omaha.  However, I would say that if they want to be competitive in the years that follow, they will probably need to make some salary-based trades in the years ahead and get creative managing their finances.  For example, maybe they trade Ricardo Hernandez for a prospect or two, once Hernandez becomes arbitration eligible.

 

Miami is in a very different situation.  They have a $34M payroll for 1992, but then only $8M in commitments for 1993.  That's because a huge number of Banditos become free agents all at once: George Banks, Ken Hamilton, Luis Caranza, Aurelio Davila, and others.  This will give Miami a lot of freedom to re-shape their team next offseason.  Based on a quick glance, my impression is that next year's free agent crop isn't as deep as this year's one, especially at SP.  However 1B Cliff Webb of Austin and 1B Rafael Valentin of Boston are both free agents to be, and I might rank both of them ahead of any offensive player on the market this past year (including Keith Whitfield).  This is very much a year in limbo for the Banditos.

 

We're in a very different situation yet.  Our $40M payroll isn't overbudget -- I assume our past success gives us a little more money than other teams to play with.  But, there are structural concerns with our payroll.  For one thing, just about every productive player we have right now is already arbitration eligible.  I mean, we have a number of young players making the league minimum, but they're all guys who are yet to produce (in some cases they have a lot of potential; e.g., Bicknell).  I'm fully convinced that in order to have a good team, you need players making the minimum to be big contributors.

 

Also, the Mike Robinson contract is really hurting us right now.  I can't say the contract was a mistake, given that he won the MVP and the World Series in 1989.  But, right now we're paying $10M for a guy who went .271/14/82 last year (he also did have 47 SBs, but still).  For all the bitching he does, if I had to cite the biggest factors as to why we missed the playoffs in 1990 and then fell apart in 1991, Robinson has to be high up on the list.  If we're going to pay him so much, we really do need MVP-contending performance.  I would call 1992 a huge year for Robinson's future as an Admiral.  If he's able to right the ship, there's a good chance we stick with him throughout the duration of his contract (which runs through 1994).  If he has another subpar season, though, we almost certainly will try to trade him next offseason.  Robinson still has good ratings, and the computer still likes him a lot, so I figure I'll be able to get good value for him.  Plus, if I can free up $10M, next offseason we would figure to be major free agent players.

1991 Minor League Awards

August 19th, 2008 by Banditos GM

In case anyone missed these, last years Human Minor Awards.  Round of Applause for the following:

Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, Nebraska League
Bill Wright, Dundee Democrats

Outstanding Hitter of the Year, NY-Penn League
Joseph Reed, Vermont Mountaineers

Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, Northwest League
Clayton Meadows, Everett Petty Officers

Outstanding Hitter of the Year, Gulf Coast League
Fernando Alvarez, Fort Lauderdale Hurricanes

This list does not include Gold Gloves because our teams win an inordinate amount of them.

1991 Rule 5 Draft

August 19th, 2008 by Banditos GM

The following players were picked from Humans:

Washington
SP Wayne Gary by Memphis.  He is slated to be their spot starter.
MR Juan Torres by Pittsburgh.  He is slated to be their #1 MR on the depth chart.

Miami
SP Thomas Graham by Pittsburg.  He is slated to be #4 MR.  We were surprised anybody took this bum, although we wish him well.
SS William Cook by Montreal.  Projected to be backup 2B, SS, 3B.  At one time was decent prospect.
MR Pedro Hernandez by New Orleans.  Slated to be #3 MR.  Disappointing he got drafted and by NO none the less.  Could've possible contributed to Miami bullpen this season.

Re: Issues to Address

August 18th, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. You have a better sense of how easy/difficult it is to make trades than I do.  Also, whenever I've asked you to "shop a player," I've been extremely underwhelmed with the offers I've gotten back.  I've never tried to shop someone as desirable as Kim, though, so maybe the picture I've gotten is distorted.

 

As far as multi-player trades, I think it makes sense to be very careful.  I don't have a great sense of how the A.I. works, but it would be unsurprising if the computer is smarter at assessing 1:1 trades than it is 3:5 trades, for instance.  On the other hand, there really are cases where a 1:3 trade could make sense, either for salary or for talent reasons.  To take a present example, suppose I decide to really pursue Chad Church.  Cincinnati won't do it for Ty Moore straight up, but I don't really have a single player better than Moore who I would be willing to offer.  So, 1:1 looks impossible -- if it has to be 1:1, I simply can't get Church.

 

Suppose I add Jose Rivera to the deal, to give Cincinnati my top prospect.  This might make Cincinnati feel somewhat better, but they still might worry that they have no one to play CF in 1992.  (I'm not sure if the computer is capable of this sophisticated a thought, but suppose it is.)  So, I add Gerald Latham to the deal, since' he has no more value to me if I acquire Church.  Alright, now Cincinnati is happy, but I start to fear that I'm getting ripped off.  I'm giving them two ML starters, plus a top prospect, for 1 starter.  I can't even things out by subtracting any player from my side (if I take any one player off the board, Cincy is no longer willing), so instead I have them add a player on their side: a decent MR, say.  I don't think this sort of 3:2 trade should be outlawed.  It strikes me as realistic.

 

That being said, I think I can see what you're worried about.  What *is* unrealistic is to have multi-player trades where multiple players on each side are highly desirable.  I mean, the Joe Carter/Roberto Alomar for Fred McGriff/Tony Fernandez trade happened, but it was really rare.  Usually, if there's a multi-player trade, it's more like 1 centerpiece (or maybe 1 on each side) plus some peripheral players.  So, imagine this were a rule: in a trade, you should pursue at most one "centerpiece."  Whatever other players you acquire should be peripheral.  So, for instance, the Cincinnati trade would pass, since Church is the centerpiece while the MR is something of a throw-in.  But, Ken Cooper + Pittsbrugh's top prospect wouldn't pass, since both players are centerpieces.  I don't know how we could formalize this rule, or even whether we would want to, but it's worth thinking more about and discussing.

 

 

2. I haven't paid attention to the caliber of players being placed on waivers, recently.  I would say this: part of what originally convinced me that the waiver system was screwed up was that I was able to get Carlos Moreno away from New York last year.  In 1991, though, Moreno sucked horribly, and now I've released him.  So maybe New York knew what they were doing.  If we were to bring back waivers (not saying we should, only saying if we were), I would like to retain some oversight, so that we can veto certain waiver claims if we find them unrealistic.

 

 

3. As far as rookie roster limits, I say keep it as it is.  Right after I wrote the part about maybe changing the rules, I changed my mind.  Memphis was stupid, or at least made a decision of their own free will.  Most teams haven't made similar decisions.

 

4. I don't have much to add here.  The one thing I would say is that I myself am not too worked up about hiring the "right" coaches.  Look at the history of EWB, and you'll see as many coaches with 11-8-9 ratings win the World Series as you will coaches with 20-19-20 ratings.  I mean, I don't discount coach ratings entirely, but I don't think they're the end-all-be-all.  What I look for most in a coach is a story.

 

5. I might be interested in experimenting with an unbalanced schedule, but only if you are confident we could do it without fucking things up.  If that's in doubt, I'm happy to continue with balanced.

 

6. I continue to have a slight preference for no DH in the NL, only because that's how it is in real baseball.  Obviously, this imposes some constraints on NL teams: Austin is forced to put Dave Tyler down in AAA, while Pittsburgh has no open spot for Frank Patterson.  But, I'm not convinced that's a bug; I'm thinking instead it's a feature.

 

7. I've got nothing.

Coaches

August 18th, 2008 by Admirals GM

1. I assume that Chuck Tanner is now out of contention for the Wolverine manager's job?  Was it the cash gift?  Because I meant like $500 or something.

 

2. I've noticed the age vs. experience thing before too -- Bob Washington, my present manager, is 59 but has 48 years of experience.  I imagine it like this: before the consolidation of EWB, back when there were a bunch of little leagues around competing, some of them were pretty wild and disorganized.  Just as there were 11 year olds working in factories back in 1900, back in the 1950s, some leagues would have teenagers hit groundballs and take on "coaching" roles during their summers.

 

3. Coach re-signings

 

a. We would like to re-sign Dan McCray as hitting coach of Quebradillas.

b. We would like to re-sign Jaime Rangel as manager of Ralston

c. We would like to re-sign Alfono Fernandez as pitching coach of Ralston

d. We would like to re-sign John Sheffield as pitching coach of Everett.

e. We will let go Pedro Siverio as hitting coach of Everett.  Thank him for his service.

f. I can't find Luis Riaz, pitching coach for High Desert, so I'll assume someone else already picked him up.  No problem.

g. We would like to re-sign Aaron Rouse as hitting coach for High Desert

 

4. Coach movements (within the organization)

 

a. For AA Trenton, move Emory Walker from manager back to hitting coach, his natural role.  (Walker took over interim manager duties when Chuck Tanner was promoted to ML bench coach.)

b. Promote manager Bryant Hoskins from Everett to Trenton, making him our new AA manager.  Hoskins is one of the few managers in our organization to overachieve in 1991; because of this, he's rewarded with a promotion.  He's working his way up the organization, from Quebradillas in 1990, to Everett in 1991, to Trenton in 1992.  Trouble is, he's 60, and has no ML potential.  Still, he's become a valued member of our minor league staff.

 

5. Remaining holes.

 

If I'm right, that leaves me with open jobs for Tacoma Manager, hitting coach; Trenton pitching coach; High Desert pitching coach; and Everett manager and hitting coach.  6 total, which is much more manageable.

 

6. I'm having a hard time thinking of a good candidate for a former player I want to turn into a coach.  I mean, obviously I could pick someone like Sherwood Johnston, but that strikes me as unrealistic -- you don't see Mike Schmidt or Reggie Jackson, say, become minor league managers.  The lesser profile players who I might otherwise think about are still playing: I think George McFarlane could become a coach, but he's still active.  Same for Brad Robertson (admittedly, he's only nominally active; he hasn't retired yet).  I could choose an old Admiral like Gary Knowles, but I don't have any special connection to him.

 

I'm starting to think about Gizmo Delgado as a possible option.  Other ideas would be appreciated though.

 

7. What about players from other teams, or real life managers?  For instance, it might be interesting if Orlando (was that his name) Garza became a coach in a few years, now that his career is over.  If I thought more about it, I could probably think up more candidates along these lines.  I wouldn't necessarily want to hire Garza myself, but it might be cool to pick him (among others) as a minor league coach to be hired by a computer.  That is, it might be cool to see certain stories continued.

 

Also, how about adding other real life managers?  Like, say, Cito Gaston?  Or Joe Torre?  Again, I wouldn't want to hire these managers myself -- I personally like the idea of having computer-generated coaches.  But it might be cool to add them to the league.

 

Finally, how about Curt Shokkxey?  It would be interesting to follow his career, if he were added.  Even though we're Ralston, we would be glad to leave him to other teams to hire/promote/fire/etc.

Issues to Address Post 1991 Season

August 18th, 2008 by Banditos GM

We can discuss these tonight or through email but they should be addressed.

1)  Trades-  Basically I am still not content with how trades are working.  I believe that the settings are either too difficult or too open to exploitation.  I also believe "Shop a Player" causes the computer to offer bad deals when on the lower setting.

What I propose is this.  We keep it on the lower setting, with the following provisions.  One, that if the computer accepts then it goes to the 2 other humans but not for approval.  Instead, if nominated for review the other 2 humans decide to ok or veto trade.  The trade is vetoed only if both humans believe it should be. 

With this system, trades are still fluid but we have an extra barrier with the human approval.  Also, requiring both humans to veto will ensure there is no political or competitive vetos that only needing one owner vote could impose.

I also strongly suggest that trades be one for one, two for one,  two for two or at the most involving a three player for 1 or 2.  Most trades involving more than that get convoluted and become somewhat illogical.   For example, if I am aiming to trade for Ken Cooper, why involve their number 1 SP prospect in the trade?  Or why make massive 5 for 5 trades which change the whole identity of teams?  I'm not saying outlaw multi-player trades but instead be very judicious and be able to justify it. Thoughts?

2)  Waivers-  Mike brought up the idea of bringing back Waiver claims.  Supposedly it's been improved in this version, however, I haven't noticed.  My opinion is to continue how we are.  However, I would be open to the idea of being able to claim other humans waiver wire players.  Thoughts?

3)  Rookie Roster Limits-  Justin mentioned this in his last email.  There's not much I can say, it's a lesser of two evils.  With unlimited limits they hoard an immense amount of players, with a limit they cut players they shouldn't.  The only thing is that Lebro got cut and Memphis has roster room, also, I believe that this behavior has been reduced A LOT since we started being proactive.  I don't see too many draft and releases anymore.  My thoughts are let's keep it how it is.  Thoughts?

4)  Coach Signings-  This issue has become really inflamed and gone over quite a bit so I am not going to rehash the arguments.  However, I will add this, there is no shortage of coaches and quality coaches.  Right now there is over 700 available coaches, scouts and GM's.  This I believe is another reason why there shouldn't be much, if any, poaching from the AI teams.

5)  Schedule-  Another issue Mike and I discussed.  For the history of the league we have always played a balanced schedule.  We could change it to play in division more.  I am fine with your guys' preferences except my only concern is fucking with the schedule can be disastrous sometimes and I get nervous about fucking our league up.  Thoughts?

6)  NL DH-  Self Explanatory. For the purposes of 1992 I vote no just cause I am not ready to commit to it yet but just thought I would throw it out.  Thoughts?

7)  Anything Else-  I'm sure once I hit send I will remember something that I forgot to put on here.  But also if you guys have any ideas or desires let it be known.

Minor League Notes (After 1991 Season)

August 18th 2008 by Admirals GM

1. BA's ranking of minor league systems has changed recently.  As of this moment, Pittsburgh has the best minor league system, Miami is #2, Omaha is #16, and Washington is #17.  Obviously, things will change a lot between now and opening day 1992.  But, it's still interesting.  By the way, this marks a significant move up for both Miami and Washington.

 

2. Top prospect Juan Bravo had an awesome 1991, posting numbers of .355/23/105/42 in time split between AA and AAA this year.  BUT, he suffered a devestating Achilles tendon rupture at the end of August, which is expected to keep him out of action for an entire year.  Best case scenario for Houston: Bravo is able to make a full recovery, but his arrival at the ML level is delayed until 1993 or (more likely) 1994.  Worst case scenario: the injury robs him of becoming the player he could have been.

 

3. The #1 pick of the 1991 draft, Tommy Brown, put up nice numbers of .307/15/103/13 in rookie league this year.  Those numbers are fine, but not the sort of thing that will push him into a top 10 prospect for 1992.  Let's see if Brown can have a breakout 1992, as he moves more quickly up the organizational ladder.  (In fairness, no player drafted in the top 10 of 1991 put up much better numbers than Brown, and several put up far worse numbers.)

 

4. In many scouts eyes, the top prospect of that 1991 draft was Brazillian Odoardo "Mr. Cool" Lebro, who was taken with the 2nd overall pick by Memphis.  Rated as the #17 prospect in baseball before he even stepped on the field, Mr. Cool had a tumultuous year.  For one thing, his production was shoddy, posting numbers of .250/6/65/12 across two separate Rookie league teams for Memphis.  For another, the fiery SS turned out to have quite a bad attitude (he was too "cool" to run out routine grounders, or show up for the team bus on time, or acknowledge other players' existence), forcing Memphis to actually release him at the end of the season -- a major blow to the organization, considering how highly they drafted him.  Other teams were not long to call Mr. Cool, and he managed to sign a minor league free agent contract with El Paso before the day was up.  Look for EWB to revisit their roster numbers rule for Rookie League teams, in order to avoid situations like this in the future.

 

5. Pittsburgh faces a nice dilemma.  On the major league level, Ken Cooper was an All Star and an MVP candidate for them this year, leading the Crusaders to the doorstep of the playoffs.  On the minor league level, AAA 1B Frank Patterson was dominant: .345/25/129, with 227 hits!  This is the 2nd straight year Patterson posted huge numbers in AAA, so it's official: he's major league ready.  Look for Pittsburgh to try to deal either Cooper or Patterson, since they can't play both players next season.

 

6. Speaking of logjams, the Cincinnati Rebels have the top CF in all of EWB in Chad Church, and then they also have the top CF prospect in baseball in Robert Anderson (ranked the #3 prospect overall).  Here, though, things might be a little less urgent than with Patterson.  Anderson has developed all his tools quite nicely except for his power, where scouts think he has 3 potential even though he only has 1 ability right now.  Even if he didn't have Church ahead of him, Cincinnati would probably want to allow Anderson to spend another full year in AAA before debuting him in 1993, or maybe even 1994.  Still, the presence of Anderson in the system casts trade rumors regarding Church in a new light.

 

7. Speaking of Chad Church, here is a story of (Wolverine) tragedy for you.  If you look over the last several years, arguably no team has drafted better than Omaha.  However, almost no team has made as many controversial player development decisions as the Wolverines, especially when it comes to releasing or trading their young prospects.  With these decisions, the Wolverines have negated their good drafts.  Check out the following list...

 

In 1980, with their 6th round pick, Omaha selected Paul Sims.  The powerful Sims was released by Omaha after just a year in their system; he went on to sign with D.C., where he thrived and became one of the best hitters in EWB.  Omaha signed Sims to a $10M a year contract this past offseason (before trading him), but if they had been more patient back in the day, they could have had him for free.

 

With their 10th round pick in the same draft, they selected Gonzalo "Cougar" De la Torre.  Again, De La Torre spent one year with Omaha before he was released.  He went on to sign with Los Angeles, where he became a consistent +25 HR hitter.

 

In 1982, with their 13th round pick Omaha selected Norman Banks.  Again, Banks lasted 1 year in the organization before being cut.  He has gone on to post 18 win, 16 win, and 14 win seasons for Denver and Austin.

 

In 1983, Omaha selected Drew Brown with their #1 pick.  This time, Brown lasted 2 years before being released.  He went on to sign with Washington D.C., where he's become a solid #2 type pitcher, winning 16 and 14 games the last 2 seasons.  In the same draft, they selected Doug Kelly with their 5th pick.  Kelly, who's been a solid contributor for the Washington Admirals the last several seasons, is a nice player, though not of the same caliber as many of the other names on this list.

 

In 1984, Omaha selected Darryl Bryant with their top pick.  Here the tragedy isn't that Bryant was released, it's that he fell off the face of the earth after winning the Angel Rosa Award for Omaha in 1988.

 

In 1986, Omaha selected CF Chad Church with their first round pick.  (Side note: this was coming off their World Series season.)  This time, Omaha released Church before he played even half a season with them.  Today, Church is ranked as the top CF in all of baseball, and the #14 overall player.  He is the target of Washington Admiral trade rumors.

 

In 1987, Omaha selected 1B Ken Cooper with their top pick.  In 1991, playing for Pittsbrugh, Cooper was an All Star and a top MVP candidate.

 

In 1989, Omaha selected 1B Frank Patterson first.  Today, Patterson is the #2 prospect in all of baseball, and already has monster ratings.  Patteron is almost a sure fire .300/30 HR hitter in the future.

 

In 1990, Omaha selected 1B Juan Bravo.  Despite his recent injury, Bravo is still the #1 prospect.

 

If Omaha had simply kept all these players, they would probably have among the more talented rosters in all of baseball.  An OF with Church (#1 CF), Sims (#2 LF) and a Darryl Bryant who didn't fall apart?  It would have been the best in baseball.  A 1B/DH mix consisting of some combination of De La Torre, Cooper, Patterson, and Bravo?  Again, dominant.

 

I know that a number of teams released their draft picks prior to our taking things over in 1990, but I'm not aware of another team who gave up as much talent as Omaha.

 

8. Candidate for the strangest nickname in baseball: Bill "Baby Gandhi" Cowan, of the Indianapolis Black Jack organization. I don't know the back story here as to how Baby Gandhi got the moniker, but he's quite a player: he has 4-4 (contact-power) potential, plays an incredible RF, and is ranked as the #8 prospect in baseball.

 

9. By my lights, here is the draft order for 1992...

 

1. Montreal Knights

2. Memphis Razor Backs (#2 for the 2nd straight year; here's hoping they have better luck than they did with Mr. Cool)

3. Omaha Wolverines

4. Washington Admirals --tie-- (this is their highest draft pick in organizational history)

4. Cleveland Rockers --tie-- (same record as Washington; not sure who gets the tiebreaker)

6. San Antonio Aztecas

7. Denver Amigos

8. St. Louis Savages

9. Miami Banditos --tie--

9. Cincinnati Rebels --tie-- [again, not sure who gets the tiebreaker]

Kansas City Wheat Kings and Richard Pacheco

August 18th, 2008 by Banditos GM

I've written about KC's great minor league system before when I discussed the Naguabo Crickets.  Well I was looking at Austin's manager Richard Pacheco, who's had a great career.  Specifically when he was the manager of KC's Rookie Idaho Falls Energy.

I don't know what it is about KC but they have kick ASS minor league affiliates.  While Pacheco managed them from 1984 to 1988 they won over a hundred games 4 of 5 years.  Even more amazing in 1986 they went 144-18 and won the championship, in 1987 they went 141-21 and won the championship.  Still even more amazing, in 1986 they had a team average of .337 scoring 1262 runs and an ERA of 2.27 allowing 418 runs.  In 1987 they had an average of .344 scoring 1323 runs and an ERA of 2.58 allowing 499 runs.

Pacheco has managed from 1970 to current.  Only coaching in 1981, 1983, 1989 and 1990.  He has managed his teams to a batting average of .273 and an ERA of 3.90, made the playoffs 6 times and won 3 Championships.  Not until 1991 did he get his chance in EWB but he has made the most of it leading Austin to the Playoffs.  Although many would say the team underachieved during the regular season.

EDIT: Also, I forgot to include this tidbit....Pacheco coached Erie Silverbacks for several years, leading them to one of their 3 Championships in 1980.

Arthur Thunderpussy

August 17th, 2008 by Wolverines GM

Hey folks it's your kemosabe Arthur here with some Wolverine rumors surrounding the Wolverines managerial opening.

 

    The word around Sears Field is that MikeG is down to 3 or 4 candidates for the manager opening. The names we are hearing are...

 

1) Forrest Gaines- 42 years old- He is the AAA manager of the Fresno Ostriches of the Austin Marshalls organization. He is a fiery guy who gets the most out of his teams as they have finished high in all but one of the years he has been a manager.  Only negative I see is that he has only 6 years of managerial experience, but has been very succesful.

 

Managing History

Year League Team G W L WPct Finish Post-Season Wins 1987 PCL Albuquerque 0 0 0 .000 4th - 1988 PCL Albuquerque 162 78 84 .481 2nd - 1989 PCL Albuquerque 162 81 81 .500 2nd - 1989 PCL Fresno 0 0 0 .000 3rd - 1990 PCL Fresno 162 93 69 .574 1st Won Championship 1991 PCL Fresno 162 103 59 .636 1st Made Playoffs

 

2) Lou Frye- 44 years old- Another name we are hearing this guy has no history of coaching, but is highly reccomended by all baseball minds.

 

3) Hayden Anderson- 59 years old- Has a long track record of winning and most recently with St, Louis. It is a bit of a surprise that he still hasn't found work, but I guess doing studio work for ESPN is a little easier than managing.

 

Other names of interests

 

Pete Arrington

Jorge Ayala

Warren Burch- 33 years old

 

One thing that is circulating is that the new manager may be able to bring in his own bench and hitting coach, but it sounds like Mike really likes Andy Hanson the pitching coach he brought in when he took over. Mike I hear likes what he has done for Murray Morgan, Adam Hamilton, Felix Rojas, and John Roe.

 

That's all for now folks so don't take my land gringos. HAHAHAHA just kidding see ya next time.

Miami Bandito Organizational Memo

August 17th, 2008 by Banditos GM

From: RM@MiamiBanditos.com

To: HumanResources@MiamiBanditos.com, JMcKeon@MiamiBanditos.com, PlayerDevelopment@MiamiBanditos.com, CRipken@GreyhoundsBaseball.com

BCC: MikeG@Wolverines.com, JTT@WashingtonAdmirals.com

Subject:  Organizational Reassignment and New Position

I've made it clear to everyone in the organization that we are tightening the budget up.  This will apply to all aspects of our business, not just player payroll.  With that in mind, I am happy to announce a merging of positions.

With the departure of Brendan Hancock, the former Bench Coach, I have decided to reevaluate the duty and role of the Bench Coach in the Miami Banditos system.  I am reluctant to pay a hefty salary to another coach for them to give "wise and sage" advice to our manager, whom we specifically hired to have all the answers.  We have faith in Jack McKeon and he will still maintain the services of a Bench Coach.  However, we are changing the position title to "Executive Bench Coach and Vice President of Player Development."

I'm turning over some of my responsibilities with regards to my minor league management, as I feel the Organization's best interest is served by my focus on the Banditos.  Therefore, the development, promotion/demotion and lineups will be delegated to the EBC/VPPD and the minor league managers.  The bottom line is the buck will stop at the new Executive Bench Coach.

The new EBC/VPPD will serve as Bench Coach at all home games, however for road games he will not travel with the team.  Instead he will use that time to visit our minor league franchises and scout those teams and players.

That being said, I am happy to announce that Cal Ripken Sr. will be promoted from the Rookie League Coral Springs Greyhounds manager to the Executive Bench Coach position.  Ripken has manned the helm for the Greyhounds from 1988 to 1991 and won the Championship in 1989.  We think he has the baseball sense to make this position work.  We are also looking to get a young and upcoming coach in our Rookie League, sorry Cal not a slight but we just think you are suited for higher purposes.

I am excited to hand the reigns over to Cal and am confident he will succeed in the dual tasks of being a bench coach and overseeing our complete minor league system.  If he doesn't we'll find somebody else when his contract expires in 1993.

Rob M
President and GM
Miami Banditos