Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2030, Season 24

[Borealis]

A 2-4 week to open the season is a total Not So Neat, but there were a couple of Neats on the week:

- Stewart 'Litterbug' Arundale made his anticipated debut, after winning the DH job out of Spring training, and he was 6-22, with 3 R, and 3-2B. Aurora hopes his base running improves over his first set of games...
- Harry Hutchins, the former Canton CF, who was brought in to replace Tomas Flores, has started well, 6-20, 3 R, 2-2B and 3 SB... He doesn't have the potential power Flores has, but for a team starved for power, that is the lone bummer...

[Borealis]

A 'Flipped the Script', 4-2 week bought the Borealis to a 6-6 mark, and feeling better about the early season... Amongst the Neat and Not So...

- There has been a lot of anticipation over the year-and-a-half since Stewart Arundale was drafted, anticipating his debut, and two weeks into 2030, after winning a spot outright during spring training, a 7-20 week has him hitting .310 two weeks in, 10 R, 4-2B, a 3B, and an .848 OPS... Certainly and uber-early candidate for Wunderkind...
- Also new to the Aurora roster, Harry Hutchins, rode a 12-27 week and is hitting .383, with 5-2B and 6 SB... He's looking like a more than satisfactory replacement for Tomas Flores - Neat-O...
- A 7-20 week for 'Fido' Castro has himself at a hot .386, likely his best start of his career. After a 23-23 SB rookie 2026, he's only stolen 20-22 in the past three years, so it would be nice if the manager would show 'Fido' the green light a little bit more - he has no attempts thus far...

- Not So Neat is former-closer, now set-up man, John Gray, who in 3 appearances and 2.1 IP showed why he lost his role, despite 131 saves over 3 seasons: 5 H, 5 R, 2 HR on the week, for a 19.29 ERA and a 1-1 record...
- Hector Prado's 2-14 week added to the early season agony, a .172 average for the two weeks and 12 K... Not Neat At All...
- I've mentioned this on Slack, but it's worth a repeat: In Aurora’s game 3 v. Canton, John Gray allowed Canton to hit ‘for the cycle’ in the 9th in, as four successive batters hit in order, a single, double, triple and finish with a homer… That’s certainly Not Neat… then again…

Down on the Farm
Aurora's top three pitching prospects, pitching 1-2-3 in the Gatineau rotation, are all looking good after three starts: Henry Cluett is 3-0, with a 1.66 ER, 19 K, 3 BB in 21.2 IP; Pedro Morales is 1-0, with a 2.50 ERA, 20 K, 5 BB in 18 IP; and Armando Batista is 2-1, 15 K, 6 BB and a 1.93 ERA in 18.2 IP... That's all Neat!!

[DrewV]

Great sim for Duluth and encouraging to see some offseason decisions coming together--however briefly.

Orlando Trujillo is #1 in WAR and FIP in PEBA after 29 innings. Scott Francis, a late trade for cash + a 3rd rounder, blasted 5 dingers in 6 games. The #1 and #2 pitchers by FIP are both Warriors--Orlando Trujillo and Chris Acevez. I'm satisfied with my rotation, despite slow starts from Santos and Nakamura (not to mention old Kata's suspension for pegging known douchebag Juan Mercado--article to follow!).

For the second year in a row, I feel like my lineup should have more OBP than it's producing in the early season. However, the 5-1 sim puts Duluth right where I expect them to be in the Great Lakes.

Income per Game is up 33%, Attendance per Game is up 25%, and Season Tickets are up 7%. 2030 has the groundwork for a satisfactory season for the Warriors.

[Lions]

Michel Provost is our only starting pitcher with a win so far. He has 2 of them.
SP José Martínez, who was brought in on a cheap deal to strike people out is giving us what we paid for. Lots of K's, and when a guy who strikes out players as often as he does gets such a cheap deal it's because that's all he can do. He's giving up hits left and right resulting in a 6+ ERA. That .417 BABIP has to come down, right? He's actually got positive WAR.
The offense is sputtering. No one is hitting well, and the OPS leaders are all part timers or cheap pickups. C Carlos Galván has been a nice suprise. Rule 5 pick Randy Laing has as many walks as vaunted on-base machine Rubén Jiménez. Both are tied for 2nd in the SL right now.

On the farm, Juan Carlos Ornelza has shaken off a rusty spring training. We need to move someone to get him up to the big leagues.
SP José Orozco is also showing he's ready, but left his last start with a sore elbow.
Dave Nash, who's on one of those prove you can still play contracts, is not proving he can still play.

C Claudio Pérez did not look good in AA Hamilton last year, but a bit of extra work in the offseason is paying off. He's got a 1.051 OPS through two weeks, and is starting to look like the prospect scouts thought he was.
Despite the loss of Robby Wiggins, our AA rotation is looking pretty strong. The top 3 of Ross, MacQuistan, and Canales are all pitching well early. Nampa starter Pedro Novaro is making an early bid to join them.

Down in NAFTA, Cheong-sang Yun currently has 19 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings of work... but a 5.59 ERA.

[Alleghenies]

The Bad:
My pitching which has been a strong point during my tenure, has decided that 2030 is not the year to keep that going. Everyone is having a down year and I keep giving up Homers like it is MLB19.

The Ugly:
My 1b starter vs lefties is batting 1-26.

The good:
Raul Cruz has gone 3 sims without getting hurt.

[Borealis]

The good:
Raul Cruz has gone 3 sims without getting hurt.

I'm not sure what the appropriate smilie for this may be, so I'll keep it safe:

[Borealis]

It feels like it's been a while since Aurora had a 7-0 week, so that's always going to be a Neat! Amongst the Neatness:

- Harry Hutchins continues to show his pleasure being in Aurora Blue, as he wins the PoW award with a 14-27 week that included 5 R, 4-2B, 9 RBI and 6 SB - AND... he was just 1-5 in the week's first game (13-22, .590, for the rest of the week). Amazingly Neat! Not So Neat? A little patellar tendinitis is going to shelve him for a week. Hutchins' history is one massive minor injury after another, so we knew the risk, but here's hoping he'll be back in time for the schedule to get ugly...
- We're starting to feel like a broken record here, but Hutchins' partner in crime atop the Aurora line-up, Stewart Arundale deserves accolades, too. He was 12-29, with 8 R (he leads all of PEBA with runs at this point) and is hitting .352 for the year - Neat-O. 'Litterbug' began the year at DH, but Aurora has opted to play him more in RF and allow 34-year old Paul Carlisle to DH and rest his legs some. It'll bare watching at this point to see if that helps one of the most consistent hitters in PEBA history... He was 8-21 on the week...
- Hector Prado started really slow, but managed a 10-26... Manny Castro slowed his pace, but still hit 2 homers and drove in 7...
- Bartolo Esquivel had a Very Neat week, with a pair of starts (that only went 6+ IP each, still handcuffed by pitch counts this early season), but he gave up only 7 hits and no runs, 11 K and 3 BB...
- JT had one start - but it was a complete game, 2-hit shutout of the Yumans, with 8 K - Uber Neat!
- Mark Powers continues to look solid, as he's allowed just a run in 10.2 IP thus far... Lando Lagerveld (8.2 IP, 5 H, 8K, 0 BB) and Rob Imhoff (7.1 IP, 4 H, 8 K, 5 BB), two former 1st round picks with starter aspirations, both looking solid in the 'pen thus far...

What's on Tap
On the road with a pair v. Duluth, then home for a pair v. K-Zoo and 3 with Fargo... Those three with the Dinos begins a stretch through May with some of the top contenders in the SL (FAR, BAK, OKA, SS, NT, CL, PS - with a pair of series vs the 'Gnats and the Boys in Pink...

[Wind Dancers]

Things have been moving as expected in Toyama though there have been more positives this season so far than last season.

The Good:
- Armando 'Gorilla" Gandarilla is earning his nickname because he's been an animal this season so far. Hitting .408 with 15 RBI's and a whopping 9 doubles he's just shy of a double a game at this point. Even defensively he has been positive which is the last thing I expected to praise him for.
- Starting pitching hasn't been too bad. Mito Nomura has been a beacon to start the season with a 1.38 ERA including giving up just 1 run against Fargo and 0 against SS.

The Bad:
- The bullpen is performing poorly as expected. A hodge-podge of aging relievers and bubble players is biting us in the butt right now.
- Winning 2/3 against Shin Seiki. We are clearly the better quality team and losing even 1 game has to be considered a failure.

The Farm:
- AAA Yokohama Plumbers are starting off hot yet again. Last year's champions are 14-6 in the competitive RML Pacific.
- CF Guang Liu (#40 prospect) is hitting .296 in AAA and is REALLY close to breaking through with a struggling Ishikawa in front of him.
- Zenko Okada has me worried, after 2 major injuries, the day to day injury he just got usually isn't a great sign. But working on a pitch count to stay healthy he is throwing very well and is one pace for a promotion in September or next season.

[Zephyrs]

The Neat: The Zephyrs Offense is off to a hot start. Boyer (1.040 OPS), Stuart (.926 OPS) and Fuentes (1.055 OPS) are all on fire. The team is 1st on OPS, 1st in Extra Base Hits, 2nd in Runds Scored and 2nd in Home Runs. I don't know how long they can keep this up but, so-far-so-good!

Not So Neat: The Zephyrs Pitching has not impressed so far. The team is 10th in Runs Allowed, thanks to being dead last in Starter ERA. I expect things to improve on this front as 4 of the 5 starting pitchers have abysmal ERA's. The only SP to look decent so far is 26 year old Toby Ayers. He has a 1-1 record with a respectable 3.47 ERA.

On the Farm: 1B Leonard "Ratchet" Inman is looking pretty good as he gets his first taste of AAA. The former 2nd round pick will likely get to see some PEBA action sooner rather than later.

[Alleghenies]

The Good: In first place. My minor league teams started slow, but all coming together now. Raul Cruz back to being a great closer.

The Bad: My pitching still isn't where I need it to be. I think I am 1 RP and 1 starter away from being to the WV standards.

The Ugly: My 1b vs lefty is still awful. The good thing is I am playing guys good on Defense so that helps with the groundballs. Eric Perkins 5 game suspension.

[Vic]

The neat: Vincent Powell finally had a decent week at the plate (.357/.471/.714) after an alarmingly slow start in April (.127/.183/.345). He's dug himself such a hole, he may have trouble digging himself out statistically - but the bright spot might be a more reasonable arbitration decision this time around.

The not-so-neat: Sadakuno Nakagawa is struggling big time (6.46 ERA). His FIP isn't quite as alarming (3.77) and he's still got his strikeout touch. Hopefully, this is just a rough patch ... the Scottish need him to pitch to form!

The Inexplicable: My minor league teams - Aberdeen at AAA, Inverness at AA, and Govan at A - all have winning records. If you look at the talent levels on those clubs, even winning a single game would verge on miraculous. This, simply, cannot last.

[Maulers]

The Maulers got off to a disconcertingly adequate start - winning 7 of their first 12 games and sitting, by themselves, in 1st place after the second week of the season. Since that 7-5 start, the Maulers have gone a much more reassuring 2-18 and now sit in that familiar and comforting last place position. "Big" free agent signee Michinaga Ueda has been a unmitigated disaster at the plate (a -46 OPS+!!), which would bother me but since it gives me an excuse to give rookie Cesar Salgado more at-bats it's fine. Last season's encouraging rookie Scott Carpenter, meanwhile, has managed the Herculean feat of striking out 34 times in only 103 at-bats while Rule 5 draftee Robinson Sandoval has been both terrible (.422 OPS) and has embraced his inner hooligan, instigating a brawl with Amsterdam's Jesus Cantu for which he is currently serving a 5-game suspension. So, as you can see, everything is going great!

[Zephyrs]

You know what isn't so neat? My pitching. I mean c'mon man! I can't seem to climb out of this hole. I doubt my team will remain 2nd in runs scored and both CF Steve Boyer and RF Rowan Stuart are bound to cool off but, I just don't get why my team of so hitting heavy and pitching light.

[Wind Dancers]

I fully expect to slow down soon, but Toyama is doing unusually well a month and a half into the season. Sitting at 20-18 with this team is definitely a surprise but the biggest head-turner is our 6-5 record against teams above us in the standings INCLUDING series wins over SS and CL. Add in the fact that we are actually beating teams we should be beating and here we are. We are currently 4th in the SL in runs scored as the bats have been hot. Our two best hitters historically are both hitting career lows but the likes of Gandarilla, Kotara, and Gonzalez are running rampant. Pitching is still weak as expected, but our pitching balance is very strange. Our "solid" bullpen has been throwing batting practice while our "always disappointing" starters have the 2nd lowest ERA in the SL. Mito Nomura has been a blessing but Juan Cervantes has returned to form and even Dylan McIntosh is playing very well despite the unlucky defensive struggles (2.91 FIP).

On the horizon, we have games against Bakersfield (x2), Aurora (x2), Yuma, PS (x2), and CL so it looks like we are getting thrown into the deep end for the next month or so.

[Dinosaurs]

In the not so neat side of things, Fargo has lost both their primary set-up reliever Javier Gómez and our closer Lúcio Rodríguez for the season. The invaluable Dan Boorman will take over closing duties for now. We'll be active on the trade market looking for reliever help.