Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2031, Season 25

[Ghosts]

The first games of the WILWH (WIL With Humans) Spring Training are in. Niihama bests Tempe twice in a pair of close games. Newly acquired closer, who minored out of the Fargo organization two years ago, is racking up Ks and looking strong. Jose Torres, jumping from the San Juan Winter Leagues to the WIL as the Ghosts presumed #1 SP is getting rocked - 6 runs, 12 hits, and 2 BBs in 8 innings. Ray Bond, released by Reno in 2028, is another new arm that's struggling for the Ghosts. Could be a long year for the defense. Offensively, star CF Jose Delgado is raking (.421/.500/.895) and the $22M man, 2B Dave Hurley, looks... adequate (.263/.263/.474).

[Arroyos]

A very revealing week of Spring Training. Not only did Yuma shock itself by winning more games than they lost (4-3), but Vinnie de Brouwer won a game! The world has gone topsy-turvy, gentlemen. Watch out for the Arroyos!

[Lions]

The new look Lions have had a pretty decent spring so far. We're doing it with pitching, as the offense has scored fewer runs that most IL teams. While none of our big boppers are hitting yet, the pitching staff has been the IL's stingiest this spring. Hopefully that continues into the regular season. It is making it a bit hard to decide on who to keep for the back end of the bullpen, though.

[Alleghenies]

Suffered a minor injury to Garza but should be fine for opening day.
Also my team might be only around.500, but I am pleased overall with how they have performed. Debating on going with a 6 man pen and 6 man rotation or 7 man pen and 5 man rotation.

Other than that I don't have any real races. Silva has won starting catcher with Gallagher as his backup.
And need to decided between Carter for platoon vs lefties or Juan Fuentes for defense and speed.

[Alleghenies]

I just noticed I actually have a good race for a spot in the rotation which then affects the pen situation.

I Have Alfredo Reyes and Juan Guerrero fighting for last rotation spot. If Guerrero wins, Reyes goes to pen and there is no pen race. If Reyes wins, Guerrero goes to AAA and the last spot in the pen is between starter Manuel Avila, Dave Parkinson, Conner Hurst and Dan Field. Could be an interesting last 4 games...

[KenH]

Exciting spring for the F-Heads who are opting for a completely different look than we've had in the years leading up to his one. Fun fact: Florida's projected payroll is the lowest it's been since 2021! I'm hopeful that, although I've decreased my budget by a large margin (>-46 million less than last year), win probability still remains good enough for a wildcard spot.

I've been taking notes on my players and this is the latest incarnation of them... I should probably put these in a blog post but until then, here's a sneak peek of my bats thus far...

C – Roberto Ortega… Great hitter vs LHP and has been consistent against RHP as well. Very pleased with his spring thus far. He will get the lion’s share of starts to start the season. It’s his to lose now.

C – Roberto Jiminez… Hasn’t been very good thus far. Was meant to be the starter against RHP, platooned with Ortega, but Ortega’s taken the lead. Jiminez will start every 3rd gm vs RHP.

C – Scott Phillips… Hasn’t gotten the reps he deserves. Did great in a backup role last year but just doesn’t really have a spot on the team. I’m probably going to have to demote him and at 29, that’s not a good sign. I would really like to find a trade partner.

1b – Wilson Munoz… bad spring but has been very consistent

2b – Christian webb… looks to be working well at 2b. Excited to see him there.

Ss – Edison Terry… a decent spring. Fantastic in the field. A little expensive but not too bad.

3b – Yosuke Morimoto… If that bat works, it’s going to be very hard to see him going anywhere for the next decade.

IF – Hideaki Sakai… Making a good showing to get regular plate appearances with a fantastic spring. I was down on him this offseason, but he’s reminding me why I extended him 2 years ago.

IF – Carlos Saenz/Bill Navarro… Saenz has the RH bat that I love, but contributes nothing to the field, Navarro is the exact opposite. LH bat with no offense and a good defense.

LF – Bob Blanchard… Terrible spring, punctuated by declining ratings. Incredibly frustrating since the ratings are there.

LF – Jose Villareal… Also very concerning. He is ostensibly an LHP specialist but has gone 0-12 with 1 walk. By some sort of weird twist of fate, he’s having a great spring vs RHP which is completely contradictory from everything else he’s done in his career.

OF – Mario Ramirez… Very good spring. I hope these are signs of things to come.

CF – Mike Thompson… Bad spring, but I have too much riding on his success. He’ll have a month to figure it out before we have to scramble for other options. Ramirez is a possibility.

RF – Pedro Coronado… Brought up on a lark but has been doing great. Scout thinks he’s ready to play in the majors but I’m less sure. Will start in AA.

RF – Michael Rutherford… Another rookie RF having a spectacular spring. Not on the ML roster so will more than likely start in AAA, but Rutherford’s been a welcome surprise.

DH/RF – Alfredo Hinojosa… Hinojosa’s looking like the Hinojosa of old. I’ll probably keep in DH for as long as I can. It limits his ability to get hurt so I feel like I can have him steal more.

[Borealis]

An 11-9 Spring is a perfectly fine start, with a variety of Neat and Not So Neat tidbits to share...

- Particularly Neat is Orinosuke Fujii, an international free agent from 2025 who broke out from the IC last season, and had an excellent 12 game (10 GS) stint at Mokule'ia. Over 14 spring innings he's allowed 7 H and a run, with 22 K and 8 BB. Aurora's scouting department is highly confident that he's just about as good as he'll get. It's unlikely he'll begin the year at Aurora, but I'd suspect AA Gatineau is his likely home...

- Not So Neat are 3/5 of the expected rotation: Esquivel (5.02), Diaz (5.91) and Sim (6.00) have allowed 6 combined homers in 36 combined IP... Neat, from the starting pitching department, is 'Tugboat' - who also has allowed a pair of homers - and 14 H in 16 IP, but his 1.69 ERA and 8/1 K/BB ratio suggest he's not beating himself...

- The bullpen has been mostly a solid - Burns, Gray, Ling, Imhoff, Lagerveld and Shimizu (11 of the expected 12/13 man staff) have a combined 1.83 ERA - of particular interest is Burns, who has a 1.50 ERA, with 14 K in 12 IP - and it looks like he'll be staying...

- Behind the plate, Domingo is outplaying 'Fido' by a sizable amount, and after a superb 2030, Castro may begin 2031 on the bench...

- Ricardo Zamora continues to frustrate (.156), Nick Heath has had a quiet spring (.245), but the rest of the likely 26-man OFers are having excellent springs: Hutchins (.308), Arundale (.333), Joyce (.343) and Martin (.321) - and throw in former-T-bred, Jorge Vargas (.357) - That's all Pretty Neat...

- On the infield, Jose Torres is making it clear he wasn't happy about riding the pine through the playoffs and is hitting .364 with 5 HR and 13 RBI (most in the SL). Brandon Johnson isn't making it difficult for Jose, as he's hitting .188 - though with 4-2B... Roy Duke and Mike Barton are both hitting over .300, Felipe Lopez is looking good at .324 - all making it unlikely that Dan Frazier will be sticking around - with his .200 average... Already guaranteed roster spots, incumbent shortstop, Teddy Loetzsch is hitting .255, but showing the surprising pop - as always, and FA signee, John Dickson is hitting .442, though with an utter lack of power...

- Henry Cluett has already been sent to AAA camp, after four outings (3 GS) with a 3.46 ERA - against four potential playoff squads. Pedro Morales, also had 4 outings (1 GS), with a very different result: 11.81 ERA, thanks in part to 3 HR allowed... Both will hang out at AAA Thornton, and join a potentially top RML rotation, along with Armando Batista and Brian Clark.

What's on Tap
Yuma, Neo-Tokyo, Madison and The Evil Evas to end the spring - and then the Evas will hang out at their hotel in Denver, as the Borealis and Evil Evas open the year at Northern Lights Park. It'll be a rough April for Aurora, as their first 8 series include Shin Seiki, Palm Springs, Neo-Tokyo (all twice), Fargo and Toyama - and begin May with Toyama and Crystal Lake - the first 28 games (18%) will be key to Aurora's season finish...

[Lions]

I really don't know what to make of Spring Training. Normally, there's nothing terribly noteworthy that happens outside of an injury or two. However, this year, we tied with a few other teams for the best spring record at 17-7. That normally would be pretty exciting... hey we're looking good. But I'm just not comfortable with how we did it. We scored 84 runs, which was more than just 3 other teams in the IL. All of the other teams that had good spring records scored quite a bit more often than we did.

Our big offensive acquisitions over the offseason were all pretty much useless. 1B Dave Peterson and 3B Guillermo Justavo, who were both brought in for their power, failed to hit a single home run all spring. Neither posted an OPS over .500. That's just terrible. Dave Yarbrough, who we hope will get on base for us a bit, is already injured. That's really been his thing, which is why he came relatively cheap. We are really just kind of hoping with him that he'll stay healthy.

So, if the offense was lousy, the pitching must've been pretty good... and it was! Too good, in fact. There are some promising performances when you look at the staff, both in the rotation and the pen. We gave up just 62 runs, which was the best across the entire PEBA. Only Palm Springs (66) and Kentucky (72) were even within 10 runs of us. But really, that level of performance can't hold. John Turner and Carl Ford both had ERA's under 1.00.

So we head into the season optimistic that if things bounce our way and players stay healthy, we've maybe got an outside shot at a wild card. At the very least, we should be much more competitive than last year. Even after spending big in the offseason, our owner has very reasonable expectations for our season, so I'm feeling pretty good about our chances of making him happy at a minimum.

[Fishermen]

I think I was lucky to survive opening sim with 3-3. I forgot to turn off the 60 pitch count limit for my starters(to prevent injury in ST) so my average-at-best bullpen was up a lot for the week.

[Borealis]

I'd say there wasn't much Not So Neat on the week - a 5-1 record would do that, but when the AI decides to skip your closer in Game 3 of the season, in a 2-1 game, and he didn't pitch but to one batter game 2? UGH! John Gray's BS in the 9th against The Evil Evas not only cost Aurora an Opening Series sweep of their dreaded Japanese rivals, it cost Aurora a perfect week. Then again... Bob Burns, and... who knows...

Amongst the Neat and Not So Neat:
- 'Tugboat' pitched into the 7th against the Evas and shut them out on 3 H and 3 BB... He Ling was amongst the relievers in that game, and for Ling, he threw 6 IP on the week, allowed 2 H, 0 R, struck out 8 and walked a batter... Both qualify for the Neat Scale!
- Sticking with the pitchers, Richard Neely pitched into the 7th as well (as the Starters are still building their pitch counts) and though he gave up 8 H to the Win-D's, an early solo HR to Gandarilla in the first was all the damage done in Aurora's 2-1 win - the second of 4, 1-run wins on the week (three against Toyama)... Man Sim (he's told the Aurora press to drop the 'hyphenated' part of his name - 'it's more American' (truth is, the Jersey press all these years refused it - that Jersey accent mangled the -Yoon part) also had an early struggle, allowing 3 runs in the first, before settling down to go 5 innings and allowing 4 H with 6 K and 2 BB - Neely was a Neat-O, Sim just a Mild Neat as we await his second start against against the Codgers...
- Julio Diaz was a partial victim of the Gray BS, as he left in the 5th after allowing just a run on 5 H, but Aurora trailed Suitani 1-0, would take the lead on a pair of solo runs (Jose Torre's homer off 'Zoom' looked like a game winner). Pitch counts cost starters decisions early, and early pulls, so we'll see what start number 2 looks like against his former club, the Akira. Hold the Evas to a run? Always Neat!
- At the plate, Brandon Johnson had a horrid spring - and then the season started and he is hitting .444, with a pair of homers - seemingly he's picked up right where he left off! Neat for Sure... Nick Heath(7-23) and Domingo Gutierrez, who earned the starting catching job during ST, was 5-18 with a rare homer - Neat starts...
- Not So Neat at the plate: Harry Hutchins - his 3-21 being the exact opposite of last years start... 'Litterbug' is also 3-22, Roy Duke 3-17 and John Dickson 4-21... Throw in Torres' 4-20, and a 5-1 week seems even more improbable...

Down on the Farm
Just a few brief notes on key names...
- Henry Cluett, seemingly unhappy with not making the Opening Day roster, after his post season efforts for the club, has his worst two-game stretch of his pro career: 11.1 IP, 16 H, 9 R, 2 HR and only 5 K (1 BB) - Thornton is a bad club, but they have the pitching to be competitive, but that's not competitive...
- Raul Munoz, last years top pick, is 8-29, with 5-2B - he had 21 over the second half of the A Ball season...
- Gabriel Rodriguez, Aurora's second pick last year, skipping A Ball after his season on The Islands last year, is 13-29, 6-2B, 2 HR and was the initial GNL Canadian League PoW - Neat!

What's on Tap
Neo-Tokyo (3-3) follow's their division rivals to Northern Lights before Aurora heads to the Desert Portion of the Desert Hills, to face the Codgers in the first of consecutive weekend series with the also 5-1, defending division champion Palm Springs.

[Denny]

Our big offensive acquisitions over the offseason were all pretty much useless. 1B Dave Peterson and 3B Guillermo Justavo, who were both brought in for their power, failed to hit a single home run all spring. Neither posted an OPS over .500. That's just terrible.

Better send him back where he came from!

[Alleghenies]

I am super happy I overpaid but got German. I think he will make my lineup an even bigger headache with the added power.
I was happy with my first week results in AA,AAA and PEBA. My PEBA real test comes this week with games on the road versus 2 really good teams in KY and FL.

[Zephyrs]

Reno is heating up thanks to some stellar pitching. In our 4 game sweep of Duluth, the Reno Starting Pitcher was the Player of the Game in each victory.

[KenH]

Overall happy with a 4-2 week. My lineups didn't get moved over for some reason. I could have sworn I exported my changes but I guess not.

Neat:
My starting pitching is, overall, doing a good job of rising to the unique challenges of the 2031 campaign. Van dam and Ashley are performing admirably with Acosta and Alvarez also pitching well.

Munoz is doing Munoz things... low BA but when he does connect, it goes for a mile.

Bob freakin' Blanchard has come out of the gate on FIRE. He's always had a ton of talent but it's never translated to on-field success. I'm excited to see if he can keep up his great two weeks and finally have a good season.

Chesapeake (AAA) is off to a flying start... 10-4 start to the season with bats and arms performing. There's a lot of older guys on my AAA team which I've not really done before. I liked the idea of stashing potential fillers in AAA so seeing them get off to a hot start makes me feel good.

Not So Neat:
A little concerned that we may not have as strong a 'pen as I had previously thought. It's early and small sample sizes abound, but to say I'm pleased would be a lie. Still, I have had some very good performances from some of my younger arms which is all gravy to me.

My rookie CF Mike Thompson and long-time FHead Alfredo Hinojosa have gotten off to rough starts. While I'm slightly concerned, I wouldn't say I'm looking too much into it. I am relying on them to be at least consistent with the bat. If they're not, we'll have to find some other options which I am loathe to do.

[Lions]

So far, we're playing about .500 ball, which is better than last year and what our owner has asked us to do. We weren't particularly gracious guests on our visit to New Orleans, easily winning our two game series there. Maruyama pitched a complete game despite giving up a decent number of hits. We then went to Havana and had the tables flipped. I don't much care for their pitchers or their offense. After two blowouts, John Turner shut them down for 6 innings, but we could only mange 2 runs and the bullpen then coughed up 3 over the final two innings. Our big bullpen arms are struggling and Ju-hyung Park, who had pitched very well so far, is now out for the year.

In Spring Training, we couldn't score but held the opposition to hardly any runs. In the regular season, we scoring a decent amount but giving up too many. Carl Ford and Kelsey Buck are the Mr. Hyde of the rotation... just terrible in their brief starts. The top 3 have pitched great.