Unga Bunga: A Warriors Blog

[Bill]

Warriors Acquire Outfielder McKee
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
December 17, 2018



Duluth made a key retooling move today, bringing in right fielder William McKee to replace the outgoing tandem from last year of Jeff Wilson and John Knight. In return, the Warriors give up outfielder Jim Owens and two prospects plus some draft considerations.

McKee has a potent bat, posting an .898 OPS (5th in IL) and a .377 wOBA (8th in IL) last season for the Maulers. Just as important, he swings from the left side - a trait lacking in the middle of the Warrior lineup last last couple season. He has a good combination of power and speed that should be a plus for the ball club.

The most intriguing part of this move I see is where to slot McKee in the lineup. The most obvious spot would be to plunk him between current sluggers Angel Cortez and James Heard for righty-lefty balance. However, an unnamed source with the club has told Unga Bunga that he prefers to hit at the top of the lineup. There has been no official word from the team, so this may be a wait-and-see situation.

The biggest loss in the deal is prospect Jimmy Hudson, a former first round pick from last season. The club really liked how developed he looked coming straight out of college as he batted .306 with 7 HR and 29 RBI in a partial season at High-A Rapid City. Hudson struggled to adjust to AA pitching last season, but is still advanced for his age and should be a good investment for the Maulers farm system.

***************

The Warriors still need to address a couple key areas to remain competitive in the Sovereign League next season. Second base has been a big hole in past years. Artie Marsh filled this void well last season and provided a big spark to the lineup before injury prematurely ended his season. The team decided not to renew his contract at the end of the season, but the Unga Bunga staff seems to think there may be some interest in bringing him back for another year. You heard it here first.

[Bill]

Wait...Who is That at Short?
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
April 6, 2019

I've been watching the Warriors for a long time. And for a long time, Miguel Cortez has manned the shortstop position in green-and-white. In fact, I have opened the press bulletin 1428 times before a game and seen Cortez's name in the starting lineup with a '6' next to his name.

But on Opening Day 2019, I did not see that. Instead, I saw '6, Marcos Martinez' in the eighth spot of the lineup, printed just below team captain Pat Holman. The next day, I saw the same thing. A little piece of me died each time.

Sure, I saw the same thing everybody else saw last year. The grounder up the middle just out of reach. The double play turned just a bit slower with the runner safe at first. The jump throws from the hole that bounced three times to first base. The -11 Zone Rating (for the stat dorks at home). The .259 batting average, a career low for a full season.

At age 35, it was getting hard to justify his everyday presence on a team trying to win a pennant this year with declining ability. Manager Jeff Manning had to make the impossible choice to give rookie Marcos Martinez a shot at shortstop this year. Martinez has plenty of glove (+22.5 ZR in 200 AAA starts), though his bat is pretty questionable. He's done little to dispel either reputation so far in 2019 (0-for-9, 2 BB, +0.5 ZR in 3 starts).

Was it the right decision? It's obviously way too early to tell. But Martinez has big shoes to fill in either event. And find myself wanting him to succeed and fail at the same time - my own impossible choice.

[Bill]

Warriors Move to 4-Man Rotation, Mota Skipped
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist

The Warriors have announced they are moving to a four man rotation down the stretch as they find themselves 1/2 game back in the SL Wild Card race with 8 days left in the wild 2019 season. Alex Stinnett will finish out the Fargo series and Barker, Slayer, and Sutherland will face the Badgers. Following the day off Thursday, Duluth will matchup Stinnett, Barker, and Fernandez in the season's final series against Crystal Lake. Xavier Mota will be moved to the bullpen for the stretch run.

The move comes after Mota gave up 6 runs in each of his two outing last week. "Every game now is essentially a playoff game, so I have to manage like it is the playoffs," stated skipper Jeff Manning. "That means going with the guys that give us the best chance to win."

[Bill]

ST Week 1: Still No Answers
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
March 15, 2021

So, unsurprisingly, the first week of action has not really answered any of the questions the Warriors had going into Spring Training. For instance:

1) Closer
Uh, hmmm....young flamethrower Matt Nielsen gave up 3 runs in consecutive outings, not the answer yet. Michael Ayers threw 9 pretty decent innings in the first week, but I think he'd be better suited to a different role. I guess the early leader in this tortoise v. tortoise race is Japanese import Shigatoki Watanabe, who gave up 1 run in 4 innings against Yuma and Bakersfield this week.

2) Fifth Starter
Knuckleballer Ricardo Aguilar threw 4 shutout innings against Niihama-Shi. If you are a left-handed knuckleballer, does that still make you crafty? Maybe a crafty knucklehead? Former Gnat farmhand Steve Major (he's just regular crafty) also threw four decent innings out of the pen. Each is slated to get a start next week. Hopefully one of these guys can hold their own.

3) Shortstop
The question on international free agent Andres Hernandez is not if but when. The team has cleared the way for him to be the everyday shortstop on Opening Day. But the team is prepared to send him to AAA with the rest of the prospect crop if he doesn't hit or can't quite field the position yet. So far, he is a pretty empty 5-for-20 with 1 E. He has looked decent turning the double play though. Wait and see.

Meanwhile, it is a balmy -9°F on Silver Lake with my cousin Sven! At least the ice fishing is good.
Check in next week - Olaf

[Lions]

this tortoise v. tortoise race

Riveting!

[Bill]

Draft Recap 2015
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
Jun3 7, 2021

Warrior fans didn't blunder through a 90+ loss season for no reason, right? Our consolation prize was, of course, high draft picks. Let's see what the Bong/McKenzie brain trust got in return for those miserable months of 2020 that I can't get back.

Pick 1-6: CF Tomas Flores from Rice University
The Puddings routinely send top prospects to the PEBA and Flores appears to be the next in line. He put up a .414/.492/.701 line in four years in Houston with 54 HR and 38 SB. 2019 College Player of the Year. 3-time all-star. Oh, did I mention he already has a PEBA-ready CF glove? There is a lot to like here.

Pick 2-7: OF Dewitt Berry from Arizona State University
Berry is more of a long-term project with good upside and occasional flashes of brilliance. Meh sophomore season, brilliant junior season capped with a UCSBA World Series Title, just OK senior season ending in injury. Potential plus contact/batting eye/power with decent legs, though no obvious projectable defensive position.

Pick 2-10: IF Barry Wallace from Chatsworth (NJ) HS
The Warrior front office is known for preferring collegiate players in the draft. But in a draft bereft of good infield talent, they took a shot on Wallace. Projects to have a middle infield glove, good contact and batting eye. Liked by teammates, though apparently less so by coaches where he routinely lost playing time for lack of hustle and obvious disregard for authority. Sounds great, huh? Well, now he's our problem.

Pick 2-32: OF Hitoshi Sugahara from University of Tokyo
Hard to project this import from Japan. Word on the street is that his swing provides good lift that could project to 30 HR power someday. Decent outfield skills, legs, and intangibles. Though picking a third OF in the first 2 rounds seems, at best, unnecessary.

Rounds 3-5 were used on nominal 1-2 star pitching talents, which may provide some organizational depth at some point. Rounds 6-7 saw the team add a couple second basemen to the mix to add some needed infield depth to the organization.

All in all, the Warriors followed a strategy of high upside with the extra picks in this year's draft. From my perspective, it seems a bit of a missed opportunity for the Bong/McKenzie era. This definitely appears to fall short of the 2020 draft, where second round picks Herrera and Kao seem to be diamonds in the rough and ready to knock on the PEBA door by 2022.

[Matt]

I love Flores. If we had held onto the first overall pick, he would have been our choice. A very talented player at a premium position. He should be an all-star for many seasons to come.

[Denny]

Our elves had Flores rated very highly also. Of course there was no chance he was going to last until pick 23.

They liked Barry too, and Sugahara seemed like good value for where he was taken. They did not care for Barry Wallace at all, though.

All in all I'd say the Warriors set themselves up with an excellent draft class!

[Matt]

Our elves had Flores rated very highly also. Of course there was no chance he was going to last until pick 23.

They liked Barry too, and Sugahara seemed like good value for where he was taken. They did not care for Barry Wallace at all, though.

All in all I'd say the Warriors set themselves up with an excellent draft class!

I remember liking Wallace quite a bit for the same reasons as the Warriors. I even held out hope that he would make it down to our first pick of the day in the 4th rd, though I knew it was unlikely. Out of the whole group, I was sort of 'meh' on Sugihara going into the draft.

[Bill]

Yeah, if i had been present at the draft, I doubt I would have taken Sugihara. I really don't need more corner OFs. Probably would have taken a less talented pitcher just out of need. That's the big problem with lists...you tend to triple up on positions just on how lists get made.

In good news, we got Berry, Wallace and the 3rd round pitcher already signed. Not Flores yet though.

[Borealis]

That's the big problem with lists...you tend to triple up on positions just on how lists get made.

Yup! That's why I hate having to list - we drafted four straight SP to start our listed draft. I'm thankful I was able to adjust the list on day two and move lots of position players up-list - we had lots of pitchers remaining high on the list. 20 SP would have been a sweet draft... :eek:

[Bill]

Unleash the Bandit!
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
June 21, 2021



The team has announced that OF Silas Martin will be placed on the 14-day disabled list due to a sprained ankle from yesterday's loss to Palm Springs. More importantly, the team has also announced that prospect OF Joe Kenny will take his place on the roster and will make his PEBA debut against Reno tomorrow.

The 22-year old speedster obtained in the Dave Barker trade last season has been nothing short of spectacular at AAA Madison, hitting .313 with 60 R and 33 SB in 63 games. And in June, he has posted a ridiculous .385/.522/.577 line in 14 games. Not mention the 2 hits he got batting leadoff in the AAA all-star game. "Joe has nothing left to prove in the minors," remarked GM Bill McKenzie after the announcement. "Now he gets his opportunity to show his talent on the big stage."

That opportunity may be at the cost of the playing time of others. "Kenny's gonna play," noted manager Jeff Manning. "He's not coming up here to sit. We'll move him around the OF and use the DH slot as well for probably 5 games a week." Manning also insinuated that Larry Jones will likely bat ninth more frequently, not undeserved hitting .177 in June.

To paraphrase the great Jerry Reed: Joe's eastbound, just watch ol' Bandit run....

(now is not the time to point out that Duluth is northwest of Madison, just play along...)

[Bill]

All Star Roundup
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
July 15, 2021

July (and really extending back into late June) has been the Month of Doom this season for the Warriors. After flying near .500 for most of the first half of the season, they have played just well enough to lose most games lately. The recent sweep at the hands of the Longshoremen leave the home squad at 36-47 going at the All-Star Break. Oddly, the team still has a +2 run differential despite the lowly actual record.

The Nielsen Rating
The back end of the bullpen may be a large culprit for that discrepancy. Various closers for the team have accounted for 8 losses already. The bullpen gave away two games to Canton just this week. Currently, young flamethrower Matt Nielsen is being given an extended chance to solve the closer role. The team really likes his ability to create swings and misses, though his propensity to give up the long ball (3 HR allowed in 5 appearances) may prove problematic in the long term. This experiment could go either way.

All-Star Andres
Congrats to rookie shortstop Andres Hernandez for representing the 2021 Warriors at this season's PEBA All-Star Game. Not too shabby for a guy that almost didn't make the team coming out of spring training. Hopefully this is the first of many for the team's cleanup hitter.

The Future is....Soon
The team's recent woes in the standings may accelerate the call-ups of many players currently leading the way at AAA Madison. Joe Kenny got a two week tryout recently with the minor injury to OF Silas Martin. Though he looked a bit overmatched, the team expects he will be back with the big club sooner rather than later. Other players Like CF Bruce McGuire, DH Jeff Prat, and 2B Cesar Torres may get a look earlier than expected as well. SPs Matt Allison and Robinson Herrera have been great all season and should get at least a taste of bullpen action by August.

Go, Paul, Go!
Top pitching prospect Paul Norris made a seamless transition to AAA this week after spending the first half of the season at AA Mississauga. His first two outings were fine (14 IP, 3 ERA), the only quibble being a few extra walks. Hopefully some work with AAA pitching coach Cade Phillips will correct the control issues. It is apparent that his work on a sinker during the offseason has paid dividend for the hard thrower that was obtained in the trade of Bingo Suarez last season. It wouldn't be out of the question to see Norris in green and white this season either.

[Bill]

Happy New Year! (and Who's at First)
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
January 1, 2022

Welcome both readers of this fine publication to the 2022. I, for one, am especially grateful for the 2022, mostly because:
a) it isn't 2020 or 2021, which were of course quite miserable for Warrior fans (did those even happen..let's pretend not)
b) well, we might actually win 75 games this year - hip, hip, huzzah! (OK, well, we might NOT win 75 games either, but let's continue pretending)

The team just finished it's most active Winter Meetings ever, acquiring an ace in Julian Thomas plus a closer in Tapper Gonzalez. The team also signed international free agent Luis Nieves to a 4-year contract with a team option for a fifth season. These moves should setup the best rotation in Duluth since Barker/Sutherland/Cruz many moons ago. One unnamed PEBA executive I talked with even compared Nieves to fellow Sovereign League flamethrower Yakamochi Suitani. We can only hope.

The lineup should look pretty solid with the addition of 3B David Uribes plus continued development of C Miguel Angel Galvez and SS Andres Hernandez. Smokey and the Bandit are expected to join Flint the Wonder Boy and his hot second half of 2021 to produce runs at the top of the order.

Though many of the positions appear set going into 2022, some questions persist as to who will play first base this season for the Warriors. The best in-house solution is prospect Jeff Prat, who hit 18 homers and knocked in 99 runs at AAA Madison last year. Prat also looked good at winter ball this year as well. The team could always go out and pull in a free agent slugger as well (wouldn't Jamie Boyd or Dean Bailey look nice in this lineup?). Personally, I think the the team should go out and bring in a young player. There are rumors that the team is looking at players like Amsterdam prospect Mike Harris, who seems like a good fit to me. But what do I know.

Happy Fishing Duluth fans. See you at Spring Training!

[Simon]

I had my eyes on Nieves as well, looks pretty good, but with only 2 pitches he can have problems starting games.
I decided its too big of a risk for me to pay 12M+ a year for a closer if it doesnt work out.

Im gonna check on his situation in the next year, hopefully he can manage

Julian Thomas is mighty good obviously