Daaaaa Bears Blog

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Daaaaa Bears Blog

#1 Post by Ghosts »

It has only been a few days, but new GM Bobby Fuhrman is making his presence known. The Bears have announced a re-shuffling of the middle infield and a four time All-Star will be relegated to bench duty despite a $31M salary. That's right, the first official presser coming from the Bears front office is that Rafael Suarez will no longer serve as the team's second baseman and there are rumors that he might not be a candidate for DH role either. It's looking likely that the Bears are content to let his $31M salary ride the bench and pay the $7.75M buyout on next year's salary. The California native, known as a clubhouse leader, is taking the news in stride and embracing his mentor role as the Bears look to rebuild. A proud yet humble ending to a career that's seen an .860 OPS with a career WAR of 58.3 seems to be slowly coming to a close.

When asked of the rationale for the move Fuhrman responded, "I respect the career Rafael has put together, but it is time to see what Javier Torres can do on an everyday basis. I don't think Rafael is suited to play the field much anymore anyways and Bryan Cleveland was out of place at shortstop. Our baseball analytics department certainly doesn't want to see Suarez and Cleveland up the middle together. We are very excited about the defensive upgrade we're going to see with Cleveland/Torres manning those spots in their natural positions."

Javier Torres peaked as the #10 rated prospect in the PEBA back in 2019 and finally broke through to the Major League level last year. In just 89 plate appearances, Torres slashed his was to a .256/.341/.397 line with 2 stolen bags. He should continue to develop his bat, but his move to shortstop and the corresponding shift of Cleveland has extreme groundball pitching ace Neil Maes ready to sign on the dotted line.


In Summary:
Rafael Suarez - To the bench you go
Javier Torres - Named starting shortstop
Bryan Cleveland - Moving from shortstop to second base
Neil Maes - In contract year, digging the new infield
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#2 Post by Ghosts »

I've been quieter than expected with all of my time going to trying to learn more about the PEBA, my ML club, the farm, and now digging my teeth into the draft class. The first 35 games of the season have been a pleasant surprise with us off to a 25-10 start. We've only lost 1 series, a three game set to Duluth, and are 11-1 against the Division. Just wanted to pop in and give an overview of how I'm viewing things in the early going and share something that has me constantly thinking of my division rivals.

Biggest Surprise:
1. Declan Littleworth - He has developed much faster than anticipated with 2 shutouts to go along with his 6-1 record, 1.69 ERA, and 0.90 WHIP. The highlight of his season was the 1-hit masterpiece against the juggernaut Shin Seki lineup.
2. King Bailey - His .268/.331/.480 slash pairs quite nicely with the exceptional defense he has provided. He ranks 2nd among PEBA centerfielders in runs saved. The raking is well ahead of last seasons .199/.251/.310 full season line so we expect some regression but it's been an eye opening start.
3. The Bullpen - Across the board the pen has been great with a 2.17 ERA that is good for tops in the PEBA. The highlight has been closer Joshua Hall who has 14 saves to go along with 19 K's in 16.1 innings pitched. He has allowed no runs and only 4 hits.

Biggest Disappointments:
1. Neil Maes - An ace who has not had the results we expect for him. Maybe the contract and negotiations have distracted him, but we've tried to overlook his performance as some of it can be chalked up to the highest BABIP on a good defensive team. We're trying to lock in a 3 year extension with the hope that he returns to form. His last start, a 13-0 shutout win over Reno, could kickstart his season.
2. Luis Renteria - A free agency signing that really hasn't panned out. He had an .800+ OPS with Shin Seki the last 2 seasons in limited AB's as a utility man but hasn't produced. He was supposed to be in that same role in Bakersfield until the Murray injury mentioned below thrust him into more playing time. The lone positive is there was some improvement in the first 2 weeks of May but the leash is getting shorter.
3. Gilbert Murray and Todd Burns - These were some pretty devastating injuries that have happened losing our #2 SP for the season and our top hitting for 5 months. The lone positives are that the injury to Burns happened just before we gave him a contract extension and Gilbert Murrary will be back in time for the stretch run and playoffs if we're lucky enough to make it that far.

Connections to the Division:
Aurora Hoppyallis - This is one of my top 3 favorite beers, with the brewery right down the street from me. Last night, I was enjoying a few and preparing my export for next sim where I take on Aurora. When I drink this beer, I now think of the PEBA and my division rivals.
Palm Springs - This is my favorite long weekend spot due to it's proximity to San Diego. My next trip there is for the weekend after our draft to unwind after a long run in the draft war room. As I drink my Hoppyallis by the pool, I'll wonder where the Codgers complex is located and maybe catch a Codgers-Bears game in person instead of from my PEBA.tv connection from San Diego.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#3 Post by Borealis »

Bears wrote:Connections to the Division:
Aurora Hoppyallis - This is one of my top 3 favorite beers, with the brewery right down the street from me. Last night, I was enjoying a few and preparing my export for next sim where I take on Aurora. When I drink this beer, I now think of the PEBA and my division rivals.
I'm going to have to see if I can find this somewhere in San Francisco - might have to be my sim day brew (though hoppy brews aren't necessarily my fave...)...
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#4 Post by Ghosts »

We went 4-3 but Aurora went 7-0 to extend their division lead to 3.5 games. We have signed all 15 of our draft picks and wrote a draft analysis here. In addition to those signings, we've gone a bit overboard on minor league free agency signings with the cash in our pockets clearly burning a hole... There were a few other signings but the following 3 players received bonuses in excess of $100k:

3B Connor Dempster - Our scout has him as a 5 star talent with maximum home run potential and is quoted as saying, "it's possible he could be Hall of Fame material." Probably an overly ambitious evaluation for a guy who found his way to free agency at Age 17, but we saw it as a bonus 1st round quality prospect and gave him $5.3M to sign. Yes, $5.3M. He filed for Free Agency as a shortstop but we will position him at third base where we expect him to be a plus defensive player. I would be curious to hear if other teams were offering him a bonus and just how much I overpaid. I was initially going to offer around $2M but decided to go all in on Dempster and withdraw a $3M offer to a veteran free agent. He struggled his way to a .475 OPS in SS-A last year but was just 16 years old at the time.

SP George Farleigh - We gave Farleigh $1.5M to ensure we would get him as our scouting team envisions him as a potential middle of the rotation guy, and he has the intelligence and work ethic to realize that potential someday. It is a bit concerning that he has been released by so many different organizations along the way, but we're blindly putting faith in the evaluation we were given. You can never have enough young arms and we have loaded up the farm with some fresh talent. If one of these mid to late rotation prospects ultimately makes it, the investments will have been worth it.

OF Tom Wills - We had him on our draft board for middle rounds and was prepared to pick him when he went in Round 8, so I was happy to see him available. We gave him a bit north of $100k to bring him into the Bakersfield organization. He had a solid .828 OPS in senior high school season before declaring for the draft.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#5 Post by Sandgnats »

I had offered Dempster a small bonus... my scout did not quite see him as yours did, but I did see some upside - not 5 mill worth...
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#6 Post by Akira »

Sandgnats wrote:I had offered Dempster a small bonus... my scout did not quite see him as yours did, but I did see some upside - not 5 mill worth...
No wonder he didn't accept my $10,000 offer.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#7 Post by Ghosts »

Akira wrote:
Sandgnats wrote:I had offered Dempster a small bonus... my scout did not quite see him as yours did, but I did see some upside - not 5 mill worth...
No wonder he didn't accept my $10,000 offer.
When you're paying this guy $9M a year, I guess $5M seems like peanuts :grin:
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#8 Post by Sandgnats »

Holy... hell.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#9 Post by Ghosts »

Dude better be teaching them how to use jedi mind tricks to strike people out without using up a pitch. Fully expecting a 12-pitch perfect game from someone or he's not worth the money.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#10 Post by Alleghenies »

Bears wrote:Dude better be teaching them how to use jedi mind tricks to strike people out without using up a pitch. Fully expecting a 12-pitch perfect game from someone or he's not worth the money.

He is super nice :-)
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#11 Post by Borealis »

Bears wrote:Dude better be teaching them how to use jedi mind tricks to strike people out without using up a pitch. Fully expecting a 12-pitch perfect game from someone or he's not worth the money.
How do you think he ended up in Bakersfield...

Muuuuuhahahahah.... :twisted:
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#12 Post by Ghosts »

The Bears are happy to announce that we will have 4 representatives at the 2025 PEBA All-Star Game. Three of them are home grown draft picks and one is this past offseason's big acquistion.

SP Declan Littleworth 8-4, 2.93 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 2 CG Shutouts - He was the #28 overall pick in the 2021 draft out of the University of Sydney, and has not disappointed in his first full PEBA season. The southpaw's signature game was a 1-hit shutout of the juggernaut Shin Seki lineup. He really picked up the slack at the beginning of the season when ace SP Neil Maes was struggling. This is his first PEBA All-Star Game, and now the Bears can boast that each of their top 3 SP's have been PEBA All-Stars.

CL Joshua Hall 1-1, 19/20 Saves, 1.14 ERA, 0.92 WHIP - Another home grown talent, he was a supplementary round selection at #39 overall in the 2018 draft and took the long road through the minors before a strong rookie season last year. The good rookie year and his overpowering fastball/slider combo got him promoted to the closer role this season. In 31.2 innings, he has only allowed 12 hits but has issued 17 free passes while struggling with control. Known as a great clubhouse leader, the Bears are all very happy that Hall will be making his first All-Star appearance.

CF King Bailey .254/.307/.405, 6 HR, 7/8 SB's, +10.2 ZR - He has provided spectacular defense in centerfield and this year his bat has made the step to being about league average. The defense was always there but last year he hit below .200 which made his value questionable. The Georgetown product was drafted #31 overall in 2019 by Bakersfield after Canton failed to sign him with the #17 pick in 2018. Another clubhouse leader, it makes us very happy to see him recognized for the value he brings our club despite not having your typical All-Star statline. This is his first ASG appearance.

LF Jesus Torres .259/.337/.498, 7 HR, Total of 37 XBHs - He is an injury replacement in the game but we're happy to have another rep making the trip to Toyoma. This is his first All-Star game and it comes on the heels of his $147M deal he signed to come over to Bakersfield from Kentucky. He has the skills to play CF and had a +7.4ZR there last season, but has settled for LF due to the emergence of King Bailey. In what could have been an awkward relationship, Bailey and Torres became great friends immediately. Torres is a really intellectual player and his work ethic and analysis of baseball data have rubbed off on others in a good way.
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#13 Post by Ghosts »

The Bears have been fading fast and just made their first trade under GM Bobby Fuhrman. Bakersfield sent veteran reliever Michael Ayers to Arlington in exchange for minor league shortstop Alex Flores and a fourth round draft pick. Ayers signed a low risk 1 year, $1.5M deal with the Bears during Spring Training and has magically come up with one of the best years of his career at the ripe young age of 36. Despite 14 years of PEBA service, he has never won a Championship but will get the chance to contend as Arlington has surged to a 1/2 game out of the division lead.

Coming back in return, Alex Flores is a fringe utility prospect who is known for his glove at shortstop, speed on the bases, and ability to rally a clubhouse. He was a 3rd round pick of Tempe in 2022 but is still trying to find his way at the plate in the low minors. If he can even develop into a .600 OPS type player he will likely find his way onto a PEBA roster because of the value his glove provides. Another interesting fact is that he was born in Bakersfield and has some extra motivation to set food on the Chocolate Factory Field in a Bears uniform. The 4th round pick will also allow us to further stock up in the minors, which will likely be our focus for the near future as we attempt to rebuild while staying respectable.

It is said that the Bears are deep in negotiations on a Neil Maes trade, and that he has been scratched from his next start. Stay tuned as Bakersfield sources are saying that a deal is imminent. No word yet on where he is going...
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#14 Post by Ghosts »

The Bears have acquired the 2026 5th Round selection of the Kentucky Thoroughbreds, as well as three minor league pitchers and 1 newly promoted to the PEBA pitcher. The Bears now have 7 picks in the first 5 rounds of the 2026 Draft and will make an effort to get a couple more picks by the time next summer's draft rolls around. Heading to Kentucky will be ace starting pitcher Neil Maes, who has pitched his whole stellar career with the Bears but is due for a big contract extension or free agency. We were not willing to cave to his demands but will pursue him in free agency at a lower rate if he makes it there. Also leaving Bakersfield is starting rightfielder Rodrigo Rodriguez who is due another $14M next season for slightly above replacement level play. With Gilbert Murray returning to the lineup next season, it will be a crowded outfield and Rod-Rod would have struggled to find at-bats. The trade will save the Bears about $12M of prorated salary this year and $14M next year.

SP Fred Womack - Easily the most promising player and the centerpiece of the deal, he will pitch in AAA next season and with a good performance could find his way into the PEBA by the end of 2026. He has one of the best personalities you'll ever find in a baseball player, which has led to him turning into a legitimate prospect despite being undrafted out of Rutgers in 2021. He has a 2.82 ERA in 128 IP in 2025, and his first outing in our system saw him throw 8.1 shutout innings. We're very high on his potential and fully expect him to be a mainstay of the rotation by 2027.

SP Lance Harris - He has been exceptional with a 0.90 ERA out of the AA bullpen in 30 IP so far in 2025, but we think he might be able to stretch out and become a starter. He was a 2nd round draft pick out of Seton Hall in 2022 by Okinawa prior to being traded to Kentucky. In his first start of the season, he put up 5 shutout innings for our AA affiliate. We're going to need to him to pitch deeper in games but it was an encouraging first start. If his 2024 and 2025 bullpen performance is even close to being duplicated, he will start 2026 in AAA with the expectation that he could find his way into the 2027 PEBA rotation. In the worst case, we're expecting he'll be in the PEBA bullpen by 2028 if he can't make the conversion to starting.

MR Michael Hill - He's a former 3rd round pick by the NJ Hitmen back in 2018 whose development seemed to stall out as a solid AAA player who may not have the skills to pitch at the highest level. However, he has been nothing short of sensational this season in AAA registering 50 K's in 37 IP, while allowing just 23 hits and 7 walks on his way to a 1.70 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. We will be experimenting with players for the rest of the season, and he'll get a trial run as a lefty specialist reliever in the PEBA. So far, he's pitched 4 shutout innings for us so good start. If this continues, he could earn a 2026 roster spot.

MR Phil Russell - At this point he's an unspectacular pitcher with a ceiling that appears to be just below that of PEBA caliber. However, he works very hard, is a clubhouse leader, and throws with his left arm so there's always a chance! He's had an exceptionally bad 2025 with a 4.74 FIP out of the pen, which comes on the heels of a 3.28 FIP from the rotation in 2024. We will likely try to find a way to work him back into a minor league rotation but it might not be until 2026.

All 3 of the minor leaguers (Womack, Harris, Russell) are joining a 65-36 AA Sherwood Park Hoods squad that has the #1 offense in AA but has struggled to shut opposing lineups down. The 3 minor leaguers combined for 20.1 shutout innings this past week. Well Bakersfield fans, don't say you have nothing to root for... The Hoods are going for a title and teaching our prospects how to WIN!

All in all, this was a painful trade to make because it meant throwing in the towel on 2025. It was a very promising start but ultimately it doesn't seem like we have the firepower to compete with some of the other teams out there. However, the core of the team remains intact and I think we can build with what we have without tearing everything down. Only time will tell...
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Re: Daaaaa Bears Blog

#15 Post by Ghosts »

The Bears are on a nice hot streak winning 11 of 14 over some pretty good teams. In a make or break portion of our schedule, we've swept Duluth and Toyoma, took 2 of 3 from Kalamazoo, and split a 4 game set with defending Champs Crystal Lake. This has been enough to pull within 2 games of a playoff spot, which is pretty amazing for a team that ownership declared dead enough to sell a few key pieces at the deadline.

After dealing Maes, we have had trouble filling out our rotation but Juan Martinez has seemingly stepped up to fill the void for us. He had 3 career starts for Aurora in 2019, but aside from that has exactly zero PEBA or minor league starts. In 6 starts for the Bears, he is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 30.1 innings pitched. Our strong bullpen has been able to deal with his short starts but he's starting to stretch out a bit, with 2 of his last 3 starts going 6 innings. We've won all 6 games he has started.

Yoichibei Sakai nearly fell out of the rotation with a hideous June where he racked up a 10+ ERA. He has recovered nicely to pull his ERA/WHIP down to 3.38/0.94, and 2 of his last 3 starts are complete game shutouts of Kalamazoo and Crystal Lake. He hasn't been as toxic in the clubhouse as we expected and I'm happy we have him locked up for another year at $1.5M.

Nolan Kuhn has parlayed a minor league contract in April into a 2 year extension after posting a 1.26 ERA in 28.2 innings with 34 strikeouts. He's likely to be a low leverage middle reliever and lefty specialist in 2026, but has shined in a more intensive role this year.

Down on the Farm:

Sherwood Park will start their playoff set soon and they have 2 of the most dominant minor league starters set to go in Games 1 and 2. Both were acquired from Kentucky in the Maes trade and this will be their farewell to Double-A before they make the jump to AAA in 2026. Since being acquired and starting 9 games each, Fred Womack is 7-0 with a 0.91 ERA and 0.74 WHIP, while Lance Harris is 6-2 with a 1.14 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

Antonio Figueroa has had an extremely difficult time learning to play centerfield this year. He has all of the tools to do it, but posted a -27.7 Zone Rating for the season which is why he's only at a 3.2 WAR. His offensive slash has been a solid .267/.319/.513 with 30 Homers and 14 steals. We are debating on trying to teach him left field next year in AA or having him play centerfield in AAA. We have the AA CF position slotted to top hitting prospect Scott Carpenter who has a 5.6 WAR in Single-A. He's got a +12.2 ZR to go along with a .270/.325/.442 slash. He's had a power surge late in the season posting a .900+ OPS for Aug/Sept with 8 of his 13 HR's during that stretch. He's also swiped 28 bags.
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