In the meantime in San Antonio...

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In the meantime in San Antonio...

#1 Post by Simon »

Construction site - press conference in San Antonio
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By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
-------------------------------

San Antonio Calzones of Laredo’s general manager Simon Kuliszewski’s year-end press conference went about as one would think. The Calzones are in a „compete and development” mode. It means they have only slim chance at the 2021 postseason, but it’s better than last year, which had no chance at all. Developing young talent is the priorioty.

Here are few statements by Kuliszewski worth analysing.


Kuli: „We’re going to be competing while we continue to develop young players.”


Analysis: This is the crux of the whole conference and it speaks for itself. Kuliszewski understands that he has many young talented players in the team and they need time to develop their full potential. Even now they could – with few additions – make some noise in the standings in the Dixie Division, but it’s one of the youngest team in the league and there is no need to rush things.


Kuli: „I was hired here for long term plan and my moves show it.”


Analysis: Let’s check it. One of Simon’s first decisions was to part ways with few of the older players. Two trades in particular involved San Antonio’s veterans and young prospects on the other end:
1) MR Cipriano Pena (33 y/o) was traded for SP Danny Burgess (24),
2) SP Vincente Coronado (32), MR Roberto Rosado (30), MR Ed Stanley (30) were all traded for 2021 4th round pick and OF Jimmy Hudson (24).

Both Danny and Jimmy should become useful additions to the team in the future, especially Hudson who in 2020 was named #38 prospect in PEBA, looks promising. These moves didn’t strenghten the team at all, Calzones were losing pretty much the same percentage of games as they were before (win/lose record before Simon’s reign 38/49 and 30/45 since). But it is obvious it’s not what Kuli was looking for. Other than swapping old players for younger ones, secondary goal here was to free some salary cash for future moves. And you can say mission was accomplished: total salary of traded players was 31,75 millions/year. Not bad, right? Losing these players, especially Ed Stanley, who was a Calzone since 2014 is indeed painful, but it’s the part of the game. Future will tell if these were the right moves by Kuliszewski, but at least you can’t say he doesn’t have a plan.


Kuli: „We’re not planning to sell out for 2021, we need all of the most talented players to stay with the team for next season.”


Analysis: And that’s the right call. Obviously, 2020 season wasn’t good at all, every fan wants the team to be winning right away, but you can’t wave a magic wand and gain experience. You need time for that and this team should be granted at least one more year to prove its worth, before any radical moves to be made.


Kuli: „We need Glenn [Dixon] to still be a part of this team. We believe he’s someone for the long term plan worth betting on.”


Analysis: It’s the most controversial statement made by Kuliszewski this evening. Obviously he will not say anything negative about any of his players publicly. No doubt Glenn Dixon is a good pitcher, he was great for the team in the past, but his last season was mediocre to say the least. He had more losses than any other starter in the team, out of last 11 games he started San Antonio lost 10. He is already 29 years old, one of the most experienced players in the team, and you should expect better performance from player of this calibre. He wasn’t the worst in the staff, but he didn’t show you can rely on him in pressure situations eighter, so let’s hope Simon knows what he’s doing. Especially because Dixon isn’t getting any younger, in 2023 his contract is rising to 25,5 millions a year, and it will be much harder to trade him then if he still doesn’t perform.


Kuli: „We decided the Calzones will not extend contracts of Leslie McDonald and John Gaines. We wish them good luck in Free Agency and we hope they can continue to play good ball for another organisation, as they were for us.”


Analysis: Leslie McDonald was good for Calzones in the past, but 2020 season wasn’t his best one here at all. .212/.299/.405 stats are far from expectations and it is not real surprise 2020 season was Leslie’s last in San Antonio. Especially because his contract was quite high (almost 12 millions a year) and from unofficial source i know that for an extension he wanted even more than that (source says up to 17 millions a year). It is much more than Calzones can afford to pay and it’s the right decision not to extend McDonald.

John Gaines situation is quite different story tho. He wasn’t earning that much (5,1 millions a year), his last season was decent too. In 63 games he played (13 as a starter) he had 9/8 w/l record, 4.36 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9. Not bad stats at all, i’m sure he still could be useful pitcher for Calzones staff. Why is he leaving then? I think it was actually John’s decision to try free agency. He stated few times in the past interviews he isn’t happy with team’s performance and that he wants to be part of the winning team. Well good luck to him then and let’s hope Kuli can find good replacement for him.


Kuli: „We might be adding talent from outside the organisation as soon as this offseason.”


Analysis: ‘Might’ word is crucial here. Depends on whether or not Front Office decides it is the right time to invest money into expensive free agent to help in the playoffs race. Signing Jim Ratzlaff, Javier Sáenz or Cristo Santiago looks great at first, but free-agent contracts can look really bad really quickly, as most of the players signed come at the age where things can go wrong fast. Therefore hesitation here to promise anything makes perfect sense to me.


Summation: As Kuliszewski said in the press conference, if you haven’t been following their plan, you might be confused by it, but this all make sense. Development was the most used word this evening. Calzones are getting close to be fully competing, but they are not quite there yet, so dedicating all resources to the 2021 season wouldn’t be the right decision here. San Antonio won’t sell out for 2021 eighter and should be one step closer to reaching their peak in 2022. That is if their young players become as good as we all are hoping for.
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#2 Post by richard_v »

Particularly interesting read actually as I'm trying a similar tactic of getting rid of the contracts I can't really afford, while trying not to make the team any worse next season.

Would've liked to have seen how it would have unfolded in the division but I'm moving out of the IL Dixie.
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#3 Post by Simon »

San Antonio's GM interviewed by fans
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By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
-------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO, June 21st -- Today i've got something special for our readers. It's a report from my interview with Simon Kuliszewski, San Antonio's General Manager. Two weeks ago we asked you guys to send us your most difficult questions and we promised Simon will answer them later. He was kind enough to accept my invitation yesterday, so here you go, most unclear things that concern our fans finally solved!

Joe Ricotta: „Hello Simon, thanks for accepting my invitation, i really appreciate it and i'm sure fans too.”

Simon Kuliszewski: „Hey Joe, it's always a pleasure.”

Ricotta: „Before we go to fans questions, let me start with asking you about the most recent news: Glenn Dixon is not a Calzone anymore. What's changed since your last press conference („We need Glenn [Dixon] to still be a part of this team. We believe he’s someone for the long term plan worth betting on”) ?

Kuli: „Yeah, i really was a believer that time. Glenn told me he still wants to play for Calzones and that he wants to prove everyone he deserves all the money in his contract. He had a good start to the season too. But then few losses happened and something has changed. I don't know what it was, but you could tell he isn't happy in San Antonio anymore. And when you are thinking about leaving, you can't give your fullest on the mound.”

Ricotta: „Are you happy with the return for Dixon though? I'm sure he could be a valuable addition to quite a few PEBA rotations”

Kuli: „It may be surprising, but there wasn't big market for Glenn. His recent performance and salary left in his contract didn't help. And i like what i've got for him, three useful pitchers all of whom can start games. Yoichibei Sakai already started two and we won both of them. He is motivated to play and we need players like that. If someone doesn't like here in SA, the doors are open. We aren't forcing anyone to play for us.”

Ricotta: „Ok, let's move on with fans questions then. Johny1234 asks: How come we didn't sign any big names in free agency? You freed so much payroll and it all goes to waste... :-P

Kuli: „Yes it's been our plan from the start to reduce our salary to get some free space for future moves. We tried to sign a starter, we were in talks with two established pitchers, but their asking price was too high. We didn't clear the house out of big salaries just to get another burdening contracts on our backs in free agency. Our goal is to build competetive franchise and to stay up there for years, not just for one year. And all this money didn't go to waste at all. We were able to rise our development and scouting budgets and i think it already is paying off.”

Ricotta: „Speaking of scouting, iLikeCalzones asks: how do you like this year's draft by SA and how many players from your initial list you were able to pick up?”

Kuli: „I had one player on my draft list and it was Bob Burns. I'm just kidding, it would be unprofessional, but i really liked Bob Burns. We needs pitching badly and he was the best one in the pool. After his first strong two starts in Drumright, he was already promoted to our double A team Sea Lions. We are hoping for his fast development. I'm happy with the rest of the drafted guys as well, especially catcher Vincent Ward and center fielders Mike Harris and Miguel Dominguez.”

Ricotta: „LealFan2000 asks: Why did you release Jorge Leal?! :shake: He was one of our favourites here in Drumright and he played so good! :evil:

Kuli: „Well i'm really sorry to hear that. He wasn't developing fast enough and we decided to let him go. I heard RGV picked him up already, so you can watch him there !+)

Ricotta: „UnsteadyAnette asks: Are you planning on trading away anyone else in the near future? I have to dump another jersey every month :cry:

Kuli: „You can feel safe at least until deadline, we don't have plans for trading more players until that, especially since we finally started winning. And our jerseys aren't that expensive anyway :grin:

Ricotta: „SeriousAnswerPlz asks: Do you have many inquiries about 'Tugboat' and are we going to lose him as well?”

Kuli: „Few teams asked me about Randy, but as of now he isn't going anywhere. After Dixon's departure we need him more than ever.”

Ricotta: „JeremyCalzones asks: Why did you trade away Bob Harris? With all our problems with starting pitching he could help us a lot now.”

Kuli: „It's a very good question. Yes, our pitching looked bad even before Bob was traded, but we needed second baseman even more and in the same trade we were able to free ourselves of some of the most expensive salaries, including Octavio Pexego's 16.6M, Xavier Gomes's 4.2M and Pablo Cabrera's 9.9M. And Jose Escobido is one of our two best batters now and he is top 2B defensively in the league as well.”

Ricotta: „PoorFan asks: Will you guys lower ticket prices? They are way too expensive! :shake:

Kuli: „No. Ok, maybe.”

Ricotta: „GoCalzones! asks: What's gonna be your next move and what upgrades San Antonio needs right now?”

Kuli: „Obviously we could use a starter, or better two of them. Center fielder would be useful as well as additional infielders. I can't say anything right now, but something may still happen before deadline.”

Ricotta: „Thanks for taking your time to answer all these questions and good luck for the rest of the season! ;-D

Kuli: „No problem, thanks for having me.”


And that's it for today. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and see you next time.
Go Calzones! :bang:
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#4 Post by Simon »

Pitching rundown 05.04.2021-28.06.2021

Stable and consistent is the last two words one would use to describe San Anotnio's pitching staff in 2021.
We used 8 starters and 8 relievers (those who didnt start any games). Only 3 original starters didnt relief any game, and only two of them are still in San Antonio: its our ace Randy Smith and less-of-an-ace Clarence Flores. Third one is Glenn Dixon who recently changed surroundings. Lets check our pitchers, their performance this season and history how they got here.


Solely starting and still in 25-man:
1) Randy Smith - the one and only. He isnt our ace, he is a whole deck. 16 started games, 10 wins 3 losses, 8.4 K/9 (3rd in IL), 1.1 BB/9 (4th), 7.6 K/BB (2nd), 2.72 FIP (5th), 3.9 WAR (4th). The only superstar we (still) have.
2) Clarence Flores - 15 starts, 4 wins 4 losses, 6.3/4.4/1.4, 4.74 ERA. Pretty decent numbers for his ratings. On 90 pitching count since i noticed he had more problems around 5-6th inning than beginning of the game.

Mostly starting (and in 25-man):
3) Jorge Cordova - normally he should still be playing in triple A, but with our problems finding able arms, he had to grow up fast. He had really good first month (3.23 ERA, 3-2 win-lose record in 6 stars), but next two werent so great. Overall he's now at 5.43 ERA, 4-6 win-lose, 7.2/4.5/1.6 in 14 starts. He briefly was sent down to bullpen where had one relief appearance: 2.1 innings, 1K, no runs allowed.
4) Alejandro Barrios - acquired in offseason. 5.64 ERA, 2-8 win-lose, 2.9/3.2/1.6 in 11 started games and 9 relief showups. We expected a little more from him. He will stay mostly in the bullpen from now on, since hes got only 3 stamina and truck with new arms just arrived.

Solely starting (and not in 25-man):
5) Glenn Dixon - oh man, this guy again. I promise its the last time i write about him. Despite his bad contract he was meant to be our solid 3.50 #2 starter, but ended up our worst pitcher in the rotation. 5.72 ERA, 3-7 win-lose, 5.7/2.9/1.2 in 13 starts.

Mostly relieving (and NOT in 25-man):
6) Tim Dundee - acquried in the offseason, but he was meant more as salary dump than useful pitcher. He jumped briefly into the rotation after one of good long relief showings. Overall he showed up in 23 games, 3 started, 5.60 ERA, 2-3 win-lose, 7.1/5.1/1.5. After bullpen slowly getting crowded he had to be sent down to start for AAA team.

New faces in 25-man and solely starting (for now at least):
7) Yoichibei Saito - got him only recently in Dixon trade from RGV. 3 started games, 2 wins no losses, 4.50 ERA (but 3.60 FIP), 8.1/2.7/0.9. Since he is only 26yo his chances to stay in the rotation for longer are pretty high.
8 ) Jose Avalos - acquired in the same deal as Saito. 2 starts 2 wins, 0.56 ERA, 9.0/1.1/0.0, 739 ERA+ :shock:
A bit older than Saito (30), but should stay useful at least for the remaining of the contract (2 years)

--------------------------

Solely relieving in 25-man:
1)Shawn Marshall - our closer, probably is having his best season so far. 19 saves, 2.36 ERA, 8.9/2.9/0.5
2)Jorge Estrada - setup, young and talented lefty. 2.60 ERA, 8.6/2.3/0.3
3)Steve Hall - second setup, similar to Estrada but righty. A bit down year with 4.45 ERA, 5.6/2.5/1.1, but having nice stints like 1 allowed run in last 8 games.
4)Jesus Morales - solid middle reliever having much better season than expected. 3.49 ERA, 5.3/3.9/0.6
5)Jesus Guerra - drafted in rule 5 draft from Crystal Lake. 21yo and pretty talented. Shouldnt be a big leaguer yet, but cant send him down obviously. 5.56 ERA, 9.1/5.6/1.6
6)Jose Caballero - coming back after few months of injury. Claimed him on waivers from Manchester. Pretty solid 5 games, including MVP award pitching 4.2 scoreless innings in 17 innings 7-6 victory over Hartford. Overall stats 2.89 ERA, 8.7/1.0/1.0.
7)Joe Riley - unhappy lefty specialist, because he wants to be a closer. He is complete lights out vs lefties: no runs allowed in 22 games (11.1 innings), 10.3/4.8/0.0. Versus righties isnt as good, allowed 4 runs in 16 games (thats why he is lefty specialist :-B ).

Solely relieving and not in 25-man:
8 )Irwin Delaney - the only reliever who isnt in the 1st team anymore. It proves that our bullpen is doing great job this year (4th ERA in the league atm). Delaney is pretty talented, but had really rough first mlb year and had to be sent down to AAA. Overall stats 9.87 ERA, 6.7/5.5/1.5.
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#5 Post by Simon »

Bumping the thread since i know everyone was waiting for 2nd part of my last post :bang:

Adding one more thing to that:
Even our closer Shawn Marshall started few games this year, but in spring training. He was seriously considered to be our 3rd starter in the regular season. Mission was aborted after Edgardo Rodriguez got season ending injury.
Spring stats for Marshall: 4 starts, 1-3 win-lose, 7.24 ERA !+)
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#6 Post by Simon »

Schocking news! 'Tugboat' sailed away!
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By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
-------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO, July 5th -- Just few hours ago we heard these terrible news: Randy Smith is Calzone no more!! How can this be, our only hero, our savior, our champion traded away just like that? Only few weeks ago i was talking with Simon Kuliszewski and he said Randy isn't going anywhere. What the hell happened?

No way i could leave it at that, my readers deserve answers, and they need it directly from the source. I got into the car and drove to Laredo where Calzones' main offices are located. And Simon Kuliszewski's as well.
Here is the coverage of my trip with timestamps, so you will know how fast it all happened.

11:34 AM - We received disturbing reports that two teams are involved in Randy Smith trade talks. We didnt take this report too serious. There's always someone talking about 'Tugboat', no way San Antonio would do such a thing while still having real chances in wildcard race.

11:48 AM - Another similar news incoming from few different sources. This time i tried to contact someone from Calzones' front office. Without any success.

11:59 and 59 seconds - Finally i was able to talk to well informed inside source and the worst-case scenario was confirmed, 'Tugboat' is sailing away fast from San Antonio!

12:01:22 - I'm in the car on the way to Laredo.

2:05 PM - I finally arrived. I can see angry mob outside of the building, cant hear anything from here.

2:07 PM - I'm trying to ask around about current situation, but no one came to talk to people and no one is allowed inside the building. Here is few quotes on what fans outside had to say:

"You are this reporter, Joe Ricotta? How come you didn't know anything about all this?! You just talked to the guy!"

"We're gonna make speedy effort to cook Kuliszewski alive for trading Randy. I've got pot ready for him right here, he's not gonna get away with this!"
( this guy really had a pot with him, i'm not kidding!)

"You know what i $%# think about this? I'm gonna %$$# him and $#&* %$*. F&*%!!"

"I think i'll be Ocelots' fan from now on. They aren't that far away and they just signed my favourite player: Jorge Leal"

"You think they're gonna lower ticket prices now?"

4:13 PM
- People burned an effigy of Kuliszewski. Fans in Texas are serious about their baseball club.

around 7 PM - The mob started to disperse slowly, just few more rocks were thrown here and there and around 8:30 i was standing alone outside of the building.

I was still waiting for something to happen until around 9:00 PM, but no one came out to speak to me. I think everyone left using rear exits or something. I heard they digged out underground tunnel for emergency situations like this one, they might be in Mexico right now.

I got into the car and drove back to San Antonio. It's 00:24 now when i finished writing this, what a wicked day...

We will keep you updated on the situation as fast as we receive any new information.
And despite all of this: Go Calzones! :bang:
Last edited by Simon on Wed Apr 15, 2015 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#7 Post by Borealis »

That's Awesome Simon!
Michael Topham, President Golden Entertainment & President-CEO of the Aurora Borealis
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#8 Post by Denny »

I would be mad too if I were a Calzones fan!
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#9 Post by Simon »

San Antonio's GM is still alive!
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By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
Full article featuring all the fancy pictures you will find here: link
-------------------------------


SAN ANTONIO, December 1st -- It's been awhile since last time we heard anything from Calzones' front office. I've been trying to reach Simon Kuliszewski, but he mysteriously vanished soon after unfortunate events in Laredo in July (you can find full coverage here: link). There were rumors he joined pilgrimage to Holy Land few months ago to pray for San Antonio's better results, but who would trust unverified sources like that.

Truth is no one really knew where did Kuli hide himself. You can imagine how big of a shock was for me when i received an email few days ago containing: "Meet me in Juarez tommorow. I'll give you specific coordinates when you get there. S.K." Pretty creepy.

I didn't have plans for the weekend anyway, i could as well spend few days in Mexico if it turned out to be somebody's stupid joke. But it wasn't a joke, i actually met San Antonio's General Manager in one of the worlds most dangerous cities, in the filthiest motel room i ever seen. And he felt safer there than in Laredo.



Simon Kuliszewski: „No one followed you?” - he asked before i could say anything.

Ricotta: „No, i did everything as you suggested". Actually they were orders not suggestions. For example i had to put my cellphone into the fridge, shit like that.

Kuli: „Good. Man can't be too cautious these days."

Ricotta: „I understand. Why did you want to meet me? I mean why now? And why me?"

Kuli: „I always thought of you as a decent and honest man, Joe. I think the time has come to step forward and speak to the fans, try to explain..."

Ricotta: „Explain what?"

Kuli: „Explain the reasoning behind the 'Tugboat' trade."

Ricotta: „Ok..?"

Kuli: „First of all i never wanted to trade him away, i knew he was our only star, but sometimes you have to make difficult decisions."

Ricotta: „Are you kidding me? Aurora just won PEC and Randy was big contributor in that achievement.."

Kuli: „Do you honestly think we would be in that series if i kept Randy with us? Truth is we were .500 team with or without him. At least now we have 2 years younger starter (Junior Cook), great infield prospect (Jack Speed) and two early round picks for the future. We can't compete sooner than in 2 years anyway and Smith isn't getting any younger. Cook may never pitch at the same level as Tugboat, but good 2B is hard to come by. Sometimes you have to let it go and move on"

Ricotta: „It all looks good and well, but the timing for the trade was awful. San Antonio still had real chances to make playoffs back then".

Kuli: „Our june was pretty good indeed, but if you look at the schedule, most of the teams we faced that month weren't contenders. Also how many more wins we could hope for with Randy around? Five, six more? Still it would not be enough to make wild card spot. Also..."

<suddenly i heard gunshots and screams outside>

Ricotta: „What was that?!" - i jumped out of my chair.

Kuli: „Chill out, it happens all the time in this neighbourhood. Don't look out the window"

<after few minutes of trying to calm down>

Ricotta: „Ok, enough of Randy or im gonna start crying. What are your plans for the future, how long will you stay in this shithole?"

Kuli: „I'm not sure if the people are ready for my return just yet. Maybe closer to the opening day if i can get few popular players, like Jorge Leal. What do you think?"

Ricotta: „He was pretty popular around here before you released him, but i'm not sure it's gonna be enough to calm the mob down”

Kuli: „Yeah i thought so. I'm working on few other trades. I feel we're gonna need good center fielder, a starter, catcher and maybe another infielder. Also i lowered tickets price!"

Ricotta: „Yeah even the homeless can afford them now.”

Kuli: „Hmm, maybe i should rise them back a bit then..”

Ricotta: „I think so, yes. But what about those future trades you mentioned, any specific names in your mind?”

Kuli: „Can't give you any names yet, but I've been in contact (using secure lines) with few general managers. One or two free agents coming our way isn't out of the question either. Also i'm not trading away our best players”

Ricotta: „I think i heard something like this before..."

Kuli: „Yeah but this time it's true"

Ricotta: „We'll see about that one. Ok Simon, i think i have enough material for one article. Hopefully next time we'll meet back in Laredo."

Kuli: „I hope so too, thanks for coming. I will contact you. And don't tell anyone about this motel, I won't be here tommorow anyway"

Ricotta:
„Sure thing, good luck and see you soon!"

Kuli: „See ya, close the door behind you"



Man, what an adventure that was! Return journey was pretty calm though, no one was shooting at me while i was crossing the border.

As always, Go Calzones! :bang:
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#10 Post by Simon »

San Antonio's GM is still breathing!
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By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
Full article featuring all the fancy pictures you will find here: link
-------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO, Novemver 7th -- It's been almost a year since my last contact with San Antonio Calzones de Laredo General Manager - Simon Kuliszewski. I tried to reach him few times after our last talk in Juarez, but without any succes. After few tries i gave up, after all he was suppose to contact me, not the other way around. But on 5th of November, only few minutes after last game of the season, he finally reached me out.



Simon Kuliszewski: „No one followed you?” - he asked before i could say anything.

Ricotta: „No, i was careful. After a year one would think you're gonna feel more safe now".

Kuli: „Man can't be too cautious."

Ricotta: „So i heard. So....did you watch the game? Randy was MVP of the series..."

Kuli: „Yeah i did."

Ricotta: „And?"

Kuli: „And what?"

Ricotta: „How do you like it?"

Kuli: „Good for him, but I'm actually trying to forget about Randy. Fans can't forget though and his performance doesnt help."

Ricotta: „You still receive those threatening letters?"

Kuli: „Yeah, but only around 10 a week now. Most of them from the same people anyway."

Ricotta: „Good to hear, i guess. So let's talk about San Antonio's last season. We missed playoffs again..."

Kuli: „Yeah, but only by 7 games and if we had more luck in 1-run games, we would.."

Ricotta: „If my mom had a p..."

Kuli: „Yeah yeah, i know, but let me finish. At the end of season our pyt difference was -6. Teams ahead of us were +3, +6 and +4...If everybody were at +0, San Antonio would actually be tied with Kentucky for 2nd place.."

Ricotta: „I dont even know what pyt diff is, and i bet most of the fans dont either. And even if they did, they wouldnt care. The only thing that matters is the number of wins, and thats only 80."

Kuli: „True, but that proves our roster has the potential to be much better next year. They are still young, we just need more consistent performance from them."

Ricotta: „You said the same thing 2 years ago. And last year. These guys are actually 2 years older now but we didnt win many more games than 2 years ago.”

Kuli: „Do you think i dont see that? Im very much aware of the issue and its about time these guys start performing instead of having only potential to do so. .640 july and .630 september are prove they can do it, we just need consistency. We were also working on keeping good spirit within the team and i think its much better now. Seems Bob Harris has good influence on the younger guys. Anyway, i dont have much choice but to trust our guys..."

Ricotta: „What do you mean?”

Kuli: „I mean after 3 straight under .500 seasons, our budget was finally cut by thirty millions”

Ricotta: „Thirteen is not that much, im sure you can handle it..”

Kuli: „ThirtY. Three and zero. Actually thirty four. Since Randy trade, hot-dogs arent selling as good as they used to. Also some of the fans became Ocelots.. All of this doesnt leave me with much flexibility in the offseason, few of the guys will have to go...”

Ricotta: „I know i will regret it, but which guys?"

Kuli: „Thom Wright."

Ricotta: „What?! Ok, Wright didnt have great season, but 2021 was pretty good, surely he is able to bounce back in 2023..."

Kuli: „Antonio Carbezola"

Ricotta: „No way, he was signed only in May, had .937 OPS and you let him go?!"

Kuli: „Rafael Rodriguez"

Ricotta: „You've got to be kidding me!! You are about to let go our #3 starter, with 3.77 ERA and 11-7 winning record?"

Kuli: „Hey, if you have 20 millions laying around, i'll be glad to extend them all. Until then we're gonna play with guys we have, we will continue to draft new players and teach them how to play San Antonio Calzones baseball. We also gonna try to find bargains in the free agency market..”

Ricotta: „I'm not sure its gonna be enough..."

Kuli: „Me neither, but its new reality in SA. We arent big market team anymore, but i stay positive. We found Hernandez (.800 OPS for 1,2M), Carbezola (.940 OPS for 1,8M), Gardner (3.25 ERA, 14-10 for 1M), Yoshimura (3.07 ERA, 10-10 for 800k) and Wunderkid candidate SS Roberto Diaz. We'll find new guys."

Ricotta: „Well i sure hope you're right about this... Hey, when you're coming back to Laredo? You can't hide here forever.."

Kuli: „Yeah i'm planning to move back to my old house before Opening Day. Just need to put in new window panes and erase some graffitis, like 'Traitor' or 'Thug-Goat'.”

Ricotta: „Nothing you can't handle... Ok, gotta run. Next time we're gonna see each other in Laredo, right? Thanks for the meeting!"

Kuli
: „Oh forgot to tell you, Robert Johnson is on the block.”

Ricotta
: „Wait, what?!"

Kuli: „See you in Laredo!”



I'm not sure what to think about all of this. Once again we're losing good players in the offseason, how can SA be consistent with so much movement in 25-man every year? ...

Go Calzones!
Simon Kuliszewski
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Since mid 2020 (268-293 .477)
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#11 Post by roncollins »

Fans can be demanding, eh?
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#12 Post by Simon »

Rebuild on the fly - Calzones' style (07.2020 - 09.2023)
Disclaimer: not every single trade or move was mentioned, only the ones author of this article (read: me) feels were important enough to mention.
Also better version of this article you can find here: link
Its not only with links, but slightly more updated (im too lazy to copy dashboard version now and change all html tags back to BBCode)


A little bit of club's history

San Antonio's list of accomplishments is short: they were in playoffs twice (2007 and 2018), finished 2nd once and 3 times 3rd (if 3rd place can be called an accomplishment). That's it.
Suffice to say, except for 2007 (8 GB) Calzones never finished closer than 13 games behind the winner and were as far behind as 65 (!!) in 2013. Also lost 100+ games 4 times.

Mid 2020 season when i took over was no different. Record around .430 and double digit number of games behind. At first i tought my team is underperforming and with time can play better. But when i spent some time in the league and looked around, confidence that i can accomplish something with these guys faded away. Teams like Aurora, SS or Florida had so much more talent than us. There was no way i could compete with them, even if all of my guys had a career year all at the same time.

Side note: Matt had a different opinion on this, he actually thought SA was close to competing. But im not a magician like him to make something out of nothing. We both make quite a lot of trades (about my trades will be later), but his approach and mine differ a lot. For example i didnt think what he did with RGV in such a short time is even possible, yet here we are.

I was new to the league, didnt want to rush things and make stupid trades right away, so i did let most of my players finish the season and decide what to do after that. ...Except for 2 small trades !+)
1) Cipriano Pena to New Orleans for Burgess (Burgess never proved useful, but at least i dumped 4.6M salary)
and 2) Rosado (30yo, 12.6M), Coronado (32yo, 6.8M) and Stanley (30yo, 11.6M) to Maulers for Jimmy Hudson (24yo). Rosado and Coronado were decent starters and Stanley very good reliever, but i couldnt pass on the opportunity to lower salary by ~32M.

Anyway we finished season at 5th place, 23 games behind with a .420 record. Obviously we were not happy with that, so...


Purge time :twisted:

There was two main things i didnt like about my team except bad performance: age and salaries page. Paying 105M to players who win only 42% of their games felt way too much. When you look at it, it was pretty convenient the most expensive players were also the oldest. Meaning i could fix both problems at the same time :-B
Obviously trading away old, overpaid vets isnt easy, especially if they arent performing. Some of those guys i was willing to move away for almost nothing, just to get rid of them.

The biggest trade of 2021 offseason was when Pexego (37yo, 16M), Cabrera (30yo, 10M), Gomes (28yo, 4M), Harris (30yo, 4M) and Clark (he wasnt expensive nor old, but not extremely useful either) were all shipped away to RGV for 1B Okubo and 2B Escobido. I didnt need 1B too much, but Okubo's bat looked good at the time and he was cheap. Escobido was 30yo, but i thought he was very good 2B (later he was traded for a closer Kichida). Basically i lowered our payroll by another 30M in one go. 8) The most useful out of the players i lost was Pexego, but he was old and i wasnt going to compete anytime soon.

Fans didnt like moves i made at all. If i remember right, after this trade fan interest dropped under 50. I spent a lot of CP to make it higher.
But there was still one more expensive player i hated the most...


Glenn Dixon situation

This guy again. He was suppose to be part of our double-barreled shotgun: Pizza and Tugboat. Instead he was shooting blanks.
In 2020 he had 4.36 ERA and 5-15 record in 35 starts. I thought maybe he was just unlucky and will bounce back in 2021. Nope, first half of the year was even worse than previous one. In 13 starts he produced 3-7 record and 5.72 ERA. And on top of that his contract looked like this: 7.5, 7.5, 25.5, 25.5, 25.5. Virtually untradeable. But again Matt for the rescue!
I actually got three decent SP for him: Sakai, Rodriguez and Avalos. Avalos didnt play well, but Rodriguez had 2 good years in San Antonio, and Sakai one, good enough.

Fans didnt share my point of view, another few points of fan interest were lost...


Tugboat sails away

But we really broke Calzones fans' hearts one month later when decision was made to trade away Randy Smith. He was our only real superstar and the only reason we still had decent attendance every evening. After that nobody wanted to watch our games anymore, since we basically traded away every player fans could identify with. Any jerseys bought before the season were outdated by now. Also back then we still had outside chance to make playoffs, but this trade definitely closed the door.

We received two good young players for Randy: INF Jack Speed and SP Junior Cook, but overall i think everyone in the league was shocked by this trade, and i cant blame them. After 2023 and good performance from both these players, i think you can finally say trade maybe wasnt as bad, but more of the same from them is needed for fans to fully forgive us this move.

San Antonio finished 3rd with .463 record and 32(!) games behind Florida...


2021 offseason

I made one more trade before deadline: SP Tadamasa Hashimoto from Neo-Tokyo for 1B Okubo (and maybe some picks, i dont remember now).
Hashimoto had solid 13 games for us and (along prospects SP Gillard and LF Tully) was quickly flipped after the season for one of the league's top prospects 3B Adrian Fuentes. I heard voices saying i slightly overpaid here, but i really liked Fuentes' potential and was willing to pay to get him. Of course there was a chance he wont develop as planned, i also liked Gillard a lot as SP prospect, but without a risk there is no gain, right?

After this trade my future infield looked very promising: 1B Memde (already experienced at MLB level, but still very young), 2B Speed, 3B Fuentes. But i still needed shortstop (i had Thom Wright who was after career 4.5 WAR year, but i didnt think he will reapeat that performance; next 2 years showed i was right), so i went out and looked for one.

I think i found 2 candidates i liked, and Roberto Diaz was worse ouf the two, but not as established, so potentially cheaper (i didnt even contact GM about the other player and now i dont remember who that was). I got him for a lefty reliever Jose Estrada, who was my best (and only) lefty in the pen, so loss was quite painful, but good SS was more important to me.
I didnt expect Diaz to be this good right away either. He didnt spend a single day in SA minors, he played very good from get go. He finished 2022 with 3.7 WAR and 2023 with 4.0. And i think there is still potential for him to play even better.

Now i finally got my dream infield ready to go (almost, some of them needed development) and was very happy about the future...


2022 season and offseason

Since not much happened in 2022 reagular season when it comes to trades, offseason will be in this paragraph too.

The only noticeable trade in 2022 was aquisition of lefty SP Kyoichi Yoshimura for two of my relievers: Edgardo Rodriguez and Jesus Morales.
I got pretty lucky here, because at the time i desperately needed lefties for my bullpen and Yoshimura came as one of them. I never imagined he will be a starting pitcher for us, and definitely not this good: 3.07 ERA in 2022 and 3.58 in 2023.

One other thing worth mentioning was signing a free agent SP Hoyt Gardner, who became one of the better players in 2022 if you take cost effectiveness into account: 14 wins, 3.25 ERA, 2.9 WAR for 1 million.

We finished year on 4th place with .494 record and 19 games behind Florida.
By the way we were very unlucky in pyt rec, i think it was -7 at the end of year. Otherwise we could easily be over .500 team already.


Offseason was a bit more eventful.

First we acquired SP Xavier Mota for 2B Juan Hernandez. I liked Hernandez as utility infielder, but since i established my future infield already, any good infielder was expendable. Mota had very good following 2023 season and despite having only 4 stamina he should be very good SP for us also in the years to come.

Second trade was a bit controversial to some people, probably even more so than Randy trade.
Our best batter LF Benton Hawkins and second best prospect 2B Errol Landry were traded for CF Yoishii Ohayashi and OF Alejandro Rivera. I wont write about this one too much, since you can find extended argument about it somewhere on the forums.

Only facts:
Ohayashi had pretty good season, especially defensively with few good months in the batters box as well.
Rivera had great start as platoon OF vs lefties, then he got injured and didnt play as good after that, especially in september (like almost everyone else in SA).
Hawkins was the best (imo) batter in SL last year.
Landry is still developing in Shin Seiki A team. My scout doesnt see much development from him, but numbers are good.


The future

We finished 2023 season 2 games behind wild card, with .512 record (13 games behind...Florida). Its best year since 2019, but we had real chances to get into playoffs for only 3rd time in club's history. Looks like in september we ran out of gas. Schedule didnt help us as well, but its not like we had to play some .650 SL teams, .500 september was definitely within our reach.

What future holds for us then? Hopefully another season better than previous one, .550 record would be nice. But for that i need to make few moves. Big bat and a catcher are most needed additions, outfielder to replace Johnson would be useful as well. Maybe i can find someone in free agency, but money in San Antonio has always been a problem. We're also longingly waiting for Bob Burns to join big leagues team permanently and consolidate pitching staff.


2020-2023 era in numbers

I did some research to check what players i had on the roster in 2020 (when i joined PEBA) are still here.

Who was in 25man (5):
C Joe Johnson (has been trying hard to find replacement for him though), 1B Ruben Memde, LF Robert Johnson (leaving after season), RF Charlie Tucker, 3B Juan Carlos Flores

Who was in the minors (3):
SP Jorge Cordova, MR Irwin Delaney, MR Steve Hall

Another case is SP Bob Harris. He was traded away to RGV after 2020 season, then released by them after 2021, and picked up again by SA as a free agent. He is leaving after the season because he wants too much for an extension.

So out of 25 players i had in ML when i took over, only 5(!) survived the purge and if you take whole organisation into equation its 8 (i count only players with a debut in ML). Pretty shocking, isnt it? :-o After the season these numbers numbers will be respectively 4 and 7.

Now number of moves...
In 3.5 years i made 19 trades (24 players traded for and 27 traded away; these numbers include players both traded for and away later), claimed 8 players on waivers, signed 23 free agents (most of them showed up in ML later) and picked up 1 player in rule 5 draft. Thats total of 56 new players coming in, not all of them are still in the organisation obviously.
Is this number high or low? I'm not gonna check whats happening in other teams, but i think in 3 years its a lot of new players and most of them played in ML. Of course that not include 15 rounds of draft every year.
I didnt force myself to count how many players left organisation in those years, but i can imagine quite a lot (just check above how many survived).

Fun fact i already wrote about before here and here: in 2021 season total of 11 pitchers had at least 1 started game for us, out of that bunch only 4 were kept for next year and only 2 of them are still here now.
Im proud of myself that in 2022 and furthermore in 2023 i finally managed to somewhat stabilize our rotation and overall pitching staff :bang:


Maybe it wasnt the most entertaining article ever, but at least it was quite fun to write for me. Also its nice for me to look back and check what i was able to achieve in 2 real life(!) years.
Interview with SA General Manager to summarize 2023 season incoming later as well (i think).
Simon Kuliszewski
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Since mid 2020 (268-293 .477)
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#13 Post by Leones »

Calzones wrote: ... Maybe it wasnt the most entertaining article ever, but at least it was quite fun to write for me. ...
I enjoyed it. A good read. It's fun to read about what other GMs are dealing with and how they view things in their club. Nice to know we share many of the same issues with running one of these clubs! :D
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#14 Post by roncollins »

San Antonio is clearly under very strong ownership. Nice work.
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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

#15 Post by Nigel »

I told you I wouldn't be the only one interested in your writing Simon. Very insightful thoughts, this was just the sort of thing that I envisaged going into blogs
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