Calzones blog

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roncollins
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Re: Calzones blog

#31 Post by roncollins »

I don't view trades as win-lose between teams, but win-lose for each team--if they got what they wanted, it's a win. I project that deal will be a win for both teams. We absolutely needed a solid pitcher and could afford his price tag (Hashimoto has been a reliable guy, and yeah if he keeps going as he is, then that's great...but unlikely). And we got a few interesting pieces.

You got one of the better young third basemen coming up, and looks like you'll have three very cheap and very good years coming your way.
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Re: Calzones blog

#32 Post by Simon »

We're slowly crawling up there, 2023 should be finally my 1st over .500 year. I hoped for something better than .514 though.
Still we are only 1 game behind wild card so anything can happen. Making playoffs with 29th payroll would be something i guess.

By the way the biggest concern still remains the same: our budget. Projected 2024 is at the 99M level :cry:
Fan interest is slowly improving, owner is charitable so if we can continue to win, budget should rise as well.
We already have full house every game with 14$ ticket price. Need to make it higher for next year ;)
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Re: Calzones blog

#33 Post by Simon »

My offence is so awful, as well as bullpen.
Closer Ichida went up around +1.0 in era in just a couple of games, similar to setup Hall. Not to mention terrible middle relievers sitting on around 5 era :puke-front:

Fuentes didnt have great first 7 MLB games, only .500 ops, but after first 2 without a hit, he had 4 games hitting streak (+ a walk in two of them), so he wasnt completely lost in there. Ill give him anotehr week and decide what to do after that.

But Bob Burns was completely destroyed in his 2 starts this week. :-#
He allowed 11 runs in 6.1 innings (3.48-->8.10 ERA), 3 homeruns and only 2 strikeouts and is going back to Joplin for more seasoning.

Jack Speed is coming back in 3 days, as well as SP Cordova, so hopefully they can help us get some more wins.
Because right now wild card spot is drifting away
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Re: Calzones blog

#34 Post by Simon »

You've got to be f*#$% kidding me. Jack Speed came back after injury, played 3 games and he's back on injury list for 5 weeks :angry-cussingblack:
Our most valuable player in the lineup right now, if hes healthy that is. In those 3 games he scored 3 runs, had 6 hits, homerun, a walk and a steal. God damnit :-#


Anyway time for good stuff now. 5-1 week and we are only 1 game behind wildcard once again :bang:
Overall offence was a lot more lively this week: 39 runs in 6 games, not bad at all ;-D

Hudson was twice on base in each of his last 5 games (1 walk and 9 hits), also 2 homeruns, 2 doubles, 6 rbi's. Its kind of performance ive been waiting for few years now. Its only 1 week so im not jumping out of joy just yet.
Tucker has been one of the few solid players whole year: .310/.355/.433 for a year, though vs lefties he performs a lot worse than that.
Ohayashi- YES, i can finally write something good about his bat: He is on a 10 hitting streak (including 2 hits in 3 games) and finished june with pretty good .270/.291/.500 slash line. Now if he can keep this up. Also his defense is one of the best (if not the best) in the league: +11.8ZR, 1.091 EFF.
Rivera had good 3 games: 4 runs, 5 RBI's, 4 hits, 2 homeruns, a triple and 2 walks. Overall he has decent .242/.294/.485 slash line, though he isnt playing very often.
And ofcourse, Robert Johnson is again on fire, but he's leaving after a season, so im not so excited about his performance. But he definitely helps before he leaves. 12 hits in last 6 games.

And now pitching. Man, i love my (starting) pitching this year, they've been so great. Ive got 4 starters under 3.0 ERA (including Cordova with only 3 starts though) and one under 4.0 :clap:

Junior Cook is having career year, actually i think he is an All-Star. Its been 1.5 months since last time we lost a game he started (and not because of him). 2.77 ERA, 10-3 record (1.80 ERA june).
Xavier Mota: 2.83 ERA, 6.3/1.7/0.8. Very solid year from him. But what i love the most about him is this: 7/2, 9/2, 10/4, 10/1, 10/1 in last 5 games (GB to FB ratio).
Kyoichi Yoshimura - 2nd in a row great season from him. He came as relief help, and now is having 2nd ~3.0 ERA year as a starter ;-D
Hoyt Gardner - the only guy with over 3.0 ERA(!) in the rotation - 3.86. He had some up and downs this year, but overall very solid.
Jorge Cordova - 1 game after injury and already great one: 8.1 IP, no runs, only 3 hits, 5K, no walks.

Relievers didnt lose us any games this week, so thats good too ;)


And last thing: best prospects situation:
Adrian Fuentes sadly had only .437 OPS in his first 12 big leagues games and hes going back to AAA Joplin. At least his glove was over 0 ZR.
Bob Burns started 1 game in AAA after demotion: 6 innings, 1 run, 6K, 3 BB. He is now at 1.62 ERA in 13 games in AAA.
Ed Brown had 3-2-2 hits and 2-3-2 RBI-s in last 3 games in AA Monterey. Good to see.

Also we signed every draftees except one 5th rounder we didnt want to sign ;-D
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Re: Calzones blog

#35 Post by DanD »

Xavier Mota: 2.83 ERA, 6.3/1.7/0.8. Very solid year from him. But what i love the most about him is this: 7/2, 9/2, 10/4, 10/1, 10/1 in last 5 games (GB to FB ratio).
And the love affair will continue for 6 more seasons! :grin:
Jack Speed came back after injury, played 3 games and he's back on injury list for 5 weeks
Our most valuable player in the lineup right now, if hes healthy that is. In those 3 games he scored 3 runs, had 6 hits, homerun, a walk and a steal.
:wink:
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Re: Calzones blog

#36 Post by Simon »

You are commenting on very old posts ;p
Speed had .400obp .400+slg when i was writing this and my offence was around last in the league :D

Edit: and gotta love Mota. Signed for minimum i could offer him (and was his initial demand too) in the multiple years deal ;-D
Very reasonable guy 8)
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Re: Calzones blog

#37 Post by Simon »

Bob Burns suspended

August 22nd, 2023 - Joplin Red Racers' SP and San Antonio's best prospect, Bob Burns was ejected in the 7th inning of the game vs Beantown Browns. What happened?

"He (Tommy Washington) made some comments about my mom, so i replied she would have done a better job in the batters box than he did".
That little exchange led to a bench-clearing brawl and both Bob and Tommy were ejected and then suspended for 8 games.

"I have to apologise guys for that. We are fighting for playoffs and im letting the team down. I promise it wont happen again."


In the Wild Card race Joplin currently is tied for 2nd with Beantown and Worcester and 1 game ahead of Chesapeake. They have still two series to play, vs Raleigh El Dorados and Texarkana Bandits.
Bob Burns himself is the best SP of the team, with 9-4 record and 1.91 ERA.

Tadasuke Hagiwara suspended

August 24th, 2023 - Two days later, another Joplin's player was ejected from the game, this time Hagiwara. Any comments from him on that?

"I've almost got hit out there, im pretty sure it was intentional. We just beat them twice and they cant accept it." After Gonales was ejected Beantown's bullpen allowed 17(!) runs and lost the game 4-19.

"I'll be ready for playoffs, don't worry. I'm pretty sure we'll get there"

Maybe so, but Hagiwara won't help that to happen, he's been suspended for 10 games. He's now the 2nd player not available in the key part of the season. Hopefully manager Roberto Aragon can keep guys in line from now on, because at this rate they might soon have problems setting up lineups.

Both teams fight for playoffs spot this year and currently are tied up for 2nd. As you can see the pressure is enourmous and some players cant handle it.
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Re: Calzones blog

#38 Post by DanD »

Man, what kind of clubhouse is Roberto Aragon running in Joplin? Not the kind of behavior a club wants going on one step away from the majors! :-o
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Re: Calzones blog

#39 Post by Simon »

No trade happens without Calzones approval

This statement is true for this year's (2024) Winter Meetings. Sadly only 3 trades were made and all of them involved San Antonio. Trades werent super huge either; we didnt received any superstars, actually other way round - we lost few good players: starting 2B Jack Speed, two pitching prospects Mario Martinez (AAA), Josh Thornton (A) and bench infielder Ken Keddy.
Speed had down year and Keddy terrible one, so return couldnt be huge (and wasnt).

First trade of the day was sending Keddy and his 16.5M salary to Shisa for 1 dollar (in cash). Its obvious now signing him in last free agency was a mistake, but we didnt expect him to be this bad in San Antonio. He didnt like our bench at all, so we're happy he's not around anymore.

For those two pitchers we received 1B Jorge Esparza. Not huge power, but good contact, gap, eye and avoid K should make him useful for our lineup (and he has 5-6 power still). He's also righty, on minimum contract, with good traits and still has some development potential.

And finally for Speed we have #1 Supplemental pick, which should be 1.31 overall. One year ago i'd never accept something like this, but now he's after .240/.327/.323 season, he hates our ballpark and we also received 2B John Shoemaker in other trade (also with CL), with better glove and better hand (right), so Speed's out.


Other trades (one) this offseason so far:

Before Winter Meetings we managed to finalize one big trade between us and Crystal Lake, who are quickly becoming our best trading partners.

For 1B Ruben Memde and our 2nd (or 3rd) best prospect 3B Ed Brown, we received already mentioned 2B Shoemaker, two pitchers Jose Carmona and Jorge Martinez, OF prospect Roberto Lopez and a couple late round picks. Carmona has the chance to become a starting pitcher for us with some luck in development. And if not he'll be useful in the pen as long reliever/emergency starter. He's also lefty, so thats a plus. Martinez looks like a strong reliever and Lopez might develop into something useful. Shoemaker obviously becomes our new starting 2B right away.

Losing Brown is suboptimal, but with Adrian Fuentes around, he probably would be blocked anyway. Memde had another bad year in San Antonio and he already tweated he is excited to leave Elysian Walls...err i mean Fields, behind him.


Free Agency

SP Goro Honma - im very happy with this signing. Honma had terrible 2024 season (7.90 ERA, 1-12 record in 17 started games), but we believe chances for his bounce back are pretty high. Signed to reasonable 20M / 3 years deal.

OF Tom Higman - 30 yo rookie from England. My scout likes his bat, not so much his glove. But he's righty (yeah i know im boring) and we needed outfielder or DH with power. Signed to moderate 26M / 4 years deal.

Last free agent was pitching prospect Andrew Yeandle. He might even develop into starting pitcher, but for that he would need to add 4th pitch in Winter Ball, because his changeup is hopeless. 765k / 1 year.

------------------
Overall pretty exciting offseason for us so far. A bit of retooling going on and changing things around is always good for keeping hopes high next season will be better.
I'd still like to add few pieces, but we already look better than 1 month ago.
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Re: Calzones blog

#40 Post by Sandgnats »

Nice write up Simon. It's always interesting to see how one or two teams needs can match up well like we did this off season.
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