The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

Borealis are also, for now, pretty happy with the draft. If guys grow to meet their expectations, things will be fab. Such as 57th overall Nate Vanrenen - hit .201 his senior year, but Aurora's scout sees him as a 4-star prospect... Our top position player on our board, Stewart Arundale, had a nice opening week going 8-24, 5 R, 2B, 3B, 5 BB and a K... Top pick, Armando Batista did give up 4 R in 6 IP, but struck out 7 and had a BB - a rough first inning of his pro career made the stat line look worse than it was...

Meanwhile, Aurora has swung four trades over the past week (5 if you head back a month), bringing in some fresh help at the ML level as well as some depth - and future PEBA-level help, to the minors:

- Mark Monroe had a pair of scoreless outings before his back seized up - it was a short week's injury, but he took some DL time to be conservative. He'll be back after Thursday's sim.
- Arturo Velasquez, the former-Alleghanie ace, comes to The Front Range for some starting pitching depth - even though he's been used more in the 'pen at Amsterdam. Rob Imhoff's recent set-back (biceps strain) was kind of the final straw for 2028 (he'll be out 4-weeks) - and with 5 weeks before the trade deadline, it was time to gather some insurance. It's likely he'll slide into the rotation as a 6th starter for a turn, then a decision will be made on who hit's the 'pen - Rivera, Diaz, or Velasquez.
- Tam Lochhead, picked up from the Scottish, pitched 2-innings and gave up 4 H and 3 R and is not happy having been assigned to the Hawaiian Islands, after earlier A Ball stints in Wyoming and Scotland. Basically a 2-pitch pitcher, Aurora hopes to give him a look at starting, if late summer roster moves clear the way.
- Theo Holder, a young reliever from the Arlington system, who was pitching well at AA. He needs to focus on his control some, but he's a hard throwing guy who keeps the ball down (only 2 HRA in his 53 pro innings).
- Henry Cluett - he started it all, this move of young arms into the organization, and has a 2.86 ERA over 11 starts (85 IP) at SLRC. He's struggled of late - 8 HRs attest to that, but his upside is still bright!
- Pedro Moralis, who came in the same deal as Cluett, was assigned to Mokule'ia and thus is just now getting his first outings. He's made two starts for the Oceanic, and given up 3 R off 14 H in 11.2 IP (2.31 ERA). He's got 15 K and 3 BB. Certainly the 19-year old had a high upside - especially if he can build his stamina.

Next double for Rob Raines is #500.

Alleghenies wrote:Next double for Rob Raines is #500.

G.O.A.T.

Well I lost my #1 and #2 SP this year to torn Labrum, woohoo. But we are still doing well so I won't be too upset.

Also my bullpen will be almost all new in 3 weeks. I just brought up Wilton and Uchiyama this upcoming week, traded for Lawson and rumor has it I will be adding another Lopez to the pen because you can't have enough Lopez's in the pen!!! Also might be the end of the line for York in my pen according to the same rumor mill.

One good, one bad for Hartford this sim.

Good: Shojiro Kotara hit the first ever “inside the park” homer I have ever seen from any of my PEBA teams. Didn’t help the team though lol, still got pasted by Florida.

Bad : I picked up Robby Holmes as a minor league free agent in the hopes I could turn him into some sort of semblance of the pitcher I drafted way back when. This week the 33-yr-old blew his elbow out and with 10 months out has probably finished his career

DEFINITELY NOT NEAT, ootp suddenly decides when I'm riding a rare 4-game winning streak that middle reliever Wayne Prior should start the final game of the London series and not the fully rested (last pitched at the end of June), uninjured, staff ace Eduardo Romano for some unfathomable reason????

Wayne did his best but got no support and we lost 1-0. Furious is not the word Manager Ramón Morales is now up on a misconduct charge and may well lose his job over the error

What PEBA pitching god did I piss off?

First I lose my closer for 9 months
Second I lose my #1 SP for 9 months.
Then I lose my #2 SP (who was now #1) for 9 months.
And now my #1 MR for 13 months.


Other than that I have ZERO complaints :-).

Let's crowdsource the Longshoremen's 5th rotation spot as we come out of the ASB, shall we? Here are the candidates:

Mark "Mushy" Ray - The former #3 overall pick has been injury prone. Indeed, thanks mostly to injury, he made all of 18 minor league starts in the minors before being called up to PEBA (and 4 after that on a rehab assignment). After a mediocre 7 start debut in 2026, Ray has been perfectly cromulent in the bullpen, recording ERAs of 3.38 and 3.10, respectively. If you like predictive stats, that 3.38 ERA from last season corresponded with an icky 5.01 FIP, while this season's 3.10 has matched a 2.34 FIP. The main difference from 2027 to 2028 is that Ray has kept the ball in the park, giving up only 1 homer in 29 IP, compared to 4 HR in 18 IP a year ago. FWIW, the long ball was Ray's nemesis in his abbreviated rookie campaign of 2026 to the tune of 8 HR in 35 IP. Has he learnt a new skill or is 2028 a small sample size blip so far?

Manuel Flores - A former 2nd round pick, Flores has continued to improve at AAA in his third season at the level. Flores's slow rise from a high school draftee to a sixth year pro who was called up last sim week (but has yet to pitch at the PEBA level). Flores has steadily improved, needing anywhere from 1 to parts of 3 seasons to advance to the next round. This season has been his crowning achievement: 15 starts, 2.64 ERA, and a 3.26 FIP. His Achilles' Heel? The long ball. His strength? Stingy with walks. Flores is still just 23. Can he overcome his flyball tendencies enough to succeed at the top level?

Chris Acevez - Another former first rounder, Acevez has been a fast riser, skipping SS-A altogether, spending a season and a half at full season A, and climbing from a-ball to AAA in his second pro season. Acevez held his own in AAA in his third pro season a year ago (13-6, 26 starts, 3.33 ERA, 3.06 FIP) but he's topped that with a breakout 2028 (7-3, 15 Starts, 1.73 ERA, 2.07 FIP). He appears to have nothing to prove in AAA, although that BABIP (.234) is probably more than a wee bit lucky. Even though at 25, he's 2 years older than Flores, and the same age as Ray, our scout still thinks he has some projection left, which is the biggest reason not to promote him.

What say ye?

I'm very impressed with Scottish leading the wild card race at the halfway mark.

Longshoremen wrote:Let's crowdsource the Longshoremen's 5th rotation spot as we come out of the ASB, shall we? Here are the candidates: ... What say ye?

Given the recent rash of either injuries go with the guy you can most afford to get hurt; given his injury history and experience, roll the dice with "Mushy" Ray

Sandgnats wrote:I'm very impressed with Scottish leading the wild card race at the halfway mark.

Me too, I miss my old team.

I’m impressed that Canton actually has a choice for fifth starter. I’m scrambling around , all hands on deck, to find a warm body

Mark Ray seems like the safest choice here. Chris Acevez is a good story but you still have him off your 40 man and if you have someone who you are liking at SP, I'd pretty much always choose that person unless I have no other choice. I don't think I'd trust Flores due to his high hr/9 throughout the minors. With an exponential increase in batter skill at the major league level, I think mlb batters would expose him in a starting role. Could be wrong though! 6 pitches is impressive.

Speaking of pitchers with 6 pitches, Aurora's top pick, Armando Batista - who has 6 legitimately great pitches, gave up a 3-run homer in his debut, and since has 18 IP, allowing 3 R on 9 H... 18 K and 6 BB in his 19 total Short A innings for Mokule'ia... a promotion looks to be on the near horizon...

Toyama's 1st round pick is also close to a call-up as he's been tearing up single A. In 5 starts he is 2-2 with a 1.08 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, 0.5 HR/9, 1.9 BB/9, and 11.1 K/9. His Tommy John surgery back in 2025 was a worry, but he's looking very promising at the moment.