Calzones blog

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Calzones blog

#1 Post by Simon »

So far I've been more active in "Neat things after..." topics than San Antonio's dedicated one, but i guess it's time to change it. I like my team a lot more now, than i did 1.5 year ago, so im more willing to write about it without annoying whining !+)

For now I'll copy paste one post i wrote already in official articles thread, but new one is on the way.
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#2 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.

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: Calzones blog

#3 Post by Simon »

Ok so here we are, after few offseason trades and free agent signings. Let's see what we were able to achieve and what's still need to be done..

We'll start with the most exciting thing for me and that's our future infield. :clap:

1st baseman is already in place and its Ruben Memde. He is still only 25 years old, but already after 3 full MLB seasons. The last one was his best so far, as he produced his best slash line to date: .283/.381/.486. Seems like 2021 may be his breakthrough season. By the way last offseason i was contemplating who should i trade, him or Okubo and im glad ive chosen Okubo :)

2B Jack Speed (23 yo). We got him (back) from Aurora in Randy Smith deal mid season and we love his potential. Good glove, great patience in the box, decent contact and power. Also he is one of our few really fast running players and that probably makes him our future leadoff hitter. Hopefully he will be ready for big leagues this year, or at least mid season.

SS Roberto Diaz (23 yo). We were looking for someone with better glove than Thom Wright and found Diaz in New Orleans. Very similar player to Speed, young and talented. We still need Wright (27 yo) and his bat (.276/.323/.511) obviously, but he will be moved to 3B position until our youngest infield prospect becomes ready...

...and that is Adrian Fuentes (20 yo), received in one of the two trades between us and Lupin. We lost starter Hashimoto and few other pieces in the process, but its should be well worth it. If he can develop as planned that is. Very similar player to Speed and Diaz (yes, they are similar!), but with better contact. There is still some work to be done (especially with Eye and glove), but hopefully he can develop one of these on his own and the other in Winter Ball next year.

Until our youngsters are ready, we still have solid veterans on the roster:
- free agent 2B Jose Hernandez (30 yo), great glove and decent bat. Should play at similar level as Escobido, though he never played in PEBA before.
- 28 yo 3B Juan Carlos Flores (.276/.326/.427), his glove is lacking though.
- Lowell Peterson (32 yo) - he plays good defense on EVERY infield position and he's got bat too: .289/.359/.491. Injuries been slowing him down though.

-------------------
Yeah, im really excited about my future infield :clap:
They are just this kind of players i like, maybe not much power but high obp numbers and good gloves ;-D
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Re: Calzones blog

#4 Post by Simon »

Outfield:
Not many (if any) changes are expected to happen here before opening day. Especially center field could use a better bat than Dand has, but good glove is a priority there. There's not many 10 range center fielders around and probably none that we can afford.

LF Robert Johnson (27yo) - one of the most respected players in the clubhouse. He's been with us since 2015 and never let us down. Last two years werent his greatest in the box, but what his bat dropped down his glove picked up. He is still in our future plans as the starting LF.

CF Johnny Dand (23 yo) - .383 OPS(!!) in his first 51 PEBA games, but defensively was great. There is no real alternatives for him at the moment, so he has to play no matter what. One guy who can replace him is last year's 2nd rounder Mike Harris, but its still a long shot before he's ready.

RF Jimmy Hudson (26 yo) - #42 prospect in PEBA in 2021, aquired in a deal where i got rid of 3 expensive relievers. His rookie season was decent, .239/.294/.402. Not the greatest numbers, but he continued to develop on the fly and he already showed some power (finished season with 11 homeruns). He should secure RF spot for us in the years to come.

RF/LF Charlie Tucker (26 yo)- he is after 3rd season in PEBA, but it was his worst one with under .700 OPS. Glove is still there though and he is expected to go back to his regular .760+ OPS numbers next year.

LF/DH Benton Hawkins (26 yo) - one of our two best sluggers last season with .305/.334/.539. He's not really an outfielder, since he plays mainly as DH these days, but could play decent defense if needed as well.

As you can see my outfield is pretty young too, age average is 25.6 :bang:
I could use better bats in LF and especially CF, but for now we stick to what we have at the moment. There are more urgent needs at hand, about which will be next post.
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Re: Calzones blog

#5 Post by Simon »

Ok time for pitching, the least stable part of my team last year.

As you can read in one of my previous posts, until end of june we used 8 starters and most of them wont be around next year.
Randy is gone, Dixon is gone, Avalos and Barrios wont start any games anymore, Flores will probably be put on waivers soon, Dundee is waiting in AAA to be released next year.

But as it turned out later, 8 wasnt the final number. Our 9th starter became Rafael Rodriguez. He was aquired in the same deal as Sakai and Avalos, but wasnt expected to show up in 25man, yet to start any games. But it happened and he did pretty decent job in his 11 starts. Actually he was good enough to secure himself an 5.5M extension and spot in the 2022 rotation (at least for first few weeks).

Finally at the trade dealine we traded for another (10th) starter, 'Six Pack' Hashimoto. He managed to start 11 games for us. But he is gone too !+)
I said finally, but i forgot about 3 starts in september from our minor leaguer Danny Burgess.

That makes 11, pretty decent number :)
Out of those 11 guys, only 4 are still here with chances to stay in the rotation for a whole next year. That is Cook, Sakai, Cordova and Rodriguez.
5th spot should take new/old free agent Bob Harris, unless we find someone else in the meantime.

Im still looking for other options in free agency and around the league. I was thinking about going all-in and trading away my 1st rounders for an ace, but its probably not the right time for this yet. Some of my prospects are still not ready for big leagues and it would be a shame to mortgage our future and play under .500. One or two more free agents arent out of the question though.. !+) As history showed, San Antonio's rotation isnt set in stone and anything can happen :)

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

Hmm, there are still relievers and catchers i wasnt writing about... Lets do it quick, nothing special here anyway.

Recently aquired Jo Kichida should secure closer spot, not far behind him are Taizo Ine (last year's free agent) and Steve Hall. Beyond that we have another 7-8 relievers at the similar decent level. Who should stay in the team will be decided after Spring Training.
The only problem here is that we will need to find at least one lefty after Estrada departure.

As for catchers, at this time we have 3 guys fighting for the 2 spots in the roster: Kettley, Johnson and Dan Glenn. It should be either Kettley + Glenn or Johnson + Glenn, since first one in each duo got a bat and the other great glove.

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

I predict we will be winning over .500 next year if our players perform at least on the similar level. We had 80-82 pyt. rec. last year, which is pretty close to .500 already. With few changes i made in the offseason we should be stronger in 2022 so who knows, maybe wildcard spot isnt out of our reach anymore ;-D
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Re: Calzones blog

#6 Post by Simon »

Well, that didnt take us long, new arms incoming! !+)
Free agents SP Hoyt Gardner and a reliever Vincente Medina.


Hoyt Gardner is only 27yo and it is surprising he became a free agent with still 1 more option left. His single season on PEBA level wasn't great, but it was back in 2019, now he's older, more experienced after 2 more AAA seasons and he's ready to go. He will probably take a starting job away from Bob Harris (Bob didnt even start one game yet, i know) and become our #4-5 SP next year.
Signed 1 year, 1 million deal.

Vincente Medina is another righty (yes, i know :() reliever in our crowded pen. He's been known for his great stuff and command, but no movement whatsoever, leading to many homers allowed. This should be somewhat mitigated by our deep outfield though.
1 year, 1.6M deal.

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

Also there was one more thing. San Antonio's coaching staff sent one of our promising prospects to Winter Ball! :bang:

"It's been a while since last time we sent someone there", says asked about it Taizo Sugano, Calzones' manager "but we think Jimmy is worth spending our resources on him. He showed us during last year he is commited, he wants to become better ballplayer and we want to help him with that"

Image
What Jimmy says about his last two weeks spent on training instead of resting and waiting for new season? "Sure, season was long and exhausting, but if you want to achieve something, you need to work hard for it. And i'm not satisified with being one of the guys, i want to be something more".
What are the results? "I think my instincts on the field are much better. Somehow i know where the ball will land before it does. Overall i feel a lot more comfortable out there now".

Glad to hear things like this, but only time will tell if resources were well spent.
Go Calzones :bang:
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#7 Post by Bill »

Nice to hear about two former Warrior draftees in Gardner and Hudson. Time flies...after looking him up, I was surprised to find Gardner was drafted way back in 2013...I think that was my first PEBA draft. I actually thought for a minute they might have been in the same draft, but it was several years apart. Hopefully they both stick with SA this year.
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#8 Post by Lions »

Calzones wrote:As for catchers, at this time we have 3 guys fighting for the 2 spots in the roster: Kettley, Johnson and Dan Glenn. It should be either Kettley + Glenn or Johnson + Glenn, since first one in each duo got a bat and the other great glove.
Kettley has a great glove, too.
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#9 Post by Simon »

I thought the same, but last year's stats say otherwise.
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#10 Post by Simon »

Three new guys incoming :)

First one, and probably most useful, is Won-Il Chon claimed on waivers from RGV.
He can play good defense on 3 infield positions and his batting numbers were pretty good last year (only 120 PA though): .322/.342/.443. He is still only 28yo, earning 750k in 2022 (minor league contract in 2023 and onwards) and still with 2 option years. Im not sure why he was on waivers, but i wont complain ;-D

The other 2 are free agents, infielders Nick Rose and Taro Kouno.

First one should be walking machine in the future, though he is 30yo already and his glove isnt great. In case of injuries or bad performance, he can provide some OBP support to Memde at 1B or Hawke on DH. Id rather avoid playing him on 2B or 3B.

The other one is a candidate for winning Gold Glove award on every infield position, but he wont have enough playing time to achieve this, his bat is non-existant. But if i need glove back-up in the infield, he is our guy.

Note: Kouno is 2nd after SP Bob Harris former RGV player, signed as a free agent. With Chon claimed on waivers it makes 3 of them :)
-----------

Projected budget for 2023 is still 88M, but i hope when tickets price is unlocked again, i'll get more optimitic projections.
Hopefully i can get higher attendance per game than projected 16k :)
Too bad i have to set development and scouting budgets now, not after i know the 'real' numbers :shake:
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#11 Post by Matt »

Calzones wrote:Three new guys incoming :)

First one, and probably most useful, is Won-Il Chon claimed on waivers from RGV.
He can play good defense on 3 infield positions and his batting numbers were pretty good last year (only 120 PA though): .322/.342/.443. He is still only 28yo, earning 750k in 2022 (minor league contract in 2023 and onwards) and still with 2 option years. Im not sure why he was on waivers, but i wont complain ;-D
The biggest reason Chon was on waivers was the need for a spot on the 40 man roster to accommodate our recent signings. He did a nice job for us when given the chance, but it took multiple injuries to get him that chance last season, and he likely would have been in the same spot this season. He is useful, his glove plays well everywhere on the infield, and he can even play the corner outfield positions in a pinch. The downside is he has neither power nor speed, meaning he has to hit for average to be of any real use offensively, and we weren't convinced last years small sample size was enough to keep him around. Being a little crowded on the infield going forward, he became expendable, as has 3b Oliver Lucero, who we are presently shopping. Plus, we just freed up 750k to use in our search for more misfit toys. :grin:
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#12 Post by Matt »

Calzones wrote:Three new guys incoming :)

First one, and probably most useful, is Won-Il Chon claimed on waivers from RGV.
He can play good defense on 3 infield positions and his batting numbers were pretty good last year (only 120 PA though): .322/.342/.443. He is still only 28yo, earning 750k in 2022 (minor league contract in 2023 and onwards) and still with 2 option years. Im not sure why he was on waivers, but i wont complain ;-D
The biggest reason Chon was on waivers was the need for a spot on the 40 man roster to accommodate our recent signings. He did a nice job for us when given the chance, but it took multiple injuries to get him that chance last season, and he likely would have been in the same spot this season. He is useful, his glove plays well everywhere on the infield, and he can even play the corner outfield positions in a pinch. The downside is he has neither power nor speed, meaning he has to hit for average to be of any real use offensively, and we weren't convinced last years small sample size was enough to keep him around. Being a little crowded on the infield going forward, he became expendable, as has 3b Oliver Lucero, who we are presently shopping. Plus, we just freed up 750k to use in our search for more misfit toys. :grin:
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#13 Post by Matt »

Calzones wrote:Three new guys incoming :)

First one, and probably most useful, is Won-Il Chon claimed on waivers from RGV.
He can play good defense on 3 infield positions and his batting numbers were pretty good last year (only 120 PA though): .322/.342/.443. He is still only 28yo, earning 750k in 2022 (minor league contract in 2023 and onwards) and still with 2 option years. Im not sure why he was on waivers, but i wont complain ;-D
The biggest reason Chon was on waivers was the need for a spot on the 40 man roster to accommodate our recent signings. He did a nice job for us when given the chance, but it took multiple injuries to get him that chance last season, and he likely would have been in the same spot this season. He is useful, his glove plays well everywhere on the infield, and he can even play the corner outfield positions in a pinch. The downside is he has neither power nor speed, meaning he has to hit for average to be of any real use offensively, and we weren't convinced last years small sample size was enough to keep him around. Being a little crowded on the infield going forward, he became expendable, as has 3b Oliver Lucero, who we are presently shopping. Plus, we just freed up 750k to use in our search for more misfit toys. :grin:
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#14 Post by Matt »

Calzones wrote:Three new guys incoming :)

First one, and probably most useful, is Won-Il Chon claimed on waivers from RGV.
He can play good defense on 3 infield positions and his batting numbers were pretty good last year (only 120 PA though): .322/.342/.443. He is still only 28yo, earning 750k in 2022 (minor league contract in 2023 and onwards) and still with 2 option years. Im not sure why he was on waivers, but i wont complain ;-D
The biggest reason Chon was on waivers was the need for a spot on the 40 man roster to accommodate our recent signings. He did a nice job for us when given the chance, but it took multiple injuries to get him that chance last season, and he likely would have been in the same spot this season. He is useful, his glove plays well everywhere on the infield, and he can even play the corner outfield positions in a pinch. The downside is he has neither power nor speed, meaning he has to hit for average to be of any real use offensively, and we weren't convinced last years small sample size was enough to keep him around. Being a little crowded on the infield going forward, he became expendable, as has 3b Oliver Lucero, who we are presently shopping. Plus, we just freed up 750k to use in our search for more misfit toys. :grin:
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#15 Post by Simon »

Projected attendance is now at 12k per game, lowering our budget projections for 2023 to 81 millions 8-o

-------

So far our guys performance is pretty good in ST, except only for 3 power hitters Hawkins, Wright and Hudson. Each of them is sitting on .180 obp :)
On the other hand Diaz and Speed been better than expected, maybe they can hop into 25man right away.

Pitching wise everything goes as planned, good performance from everybody i count on next year.

---

Oh and we signed free agent CF Ben Page. Our CF position is so weak he has real chance to win the spot for himself.
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