Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2033, Season 27

[Borealis]

Noticed something neat from our latest sim? This is the place to post it!

Please use this thread for post-sim discussion only.

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[Borealis]

Aurora made the bold move of bringing up a number of youngsters, so here's a little Spring Neat and Not So Neat...

- Dueling CF Angel Silva (2-9, 2B and 3 K) and Tony Munoz (0-9), both 19 and both expected to start the year at A Ball, starting out with a Not So...
- LF Gabriel Rodriguez was 2-12, definitely a Not So Neat when he's expected to win a spot on the roster this spring...
- SS Jose Aleman, 4-12 with a pair of doubles gets a Neat nod, but will start the year at AA...
- C Pedro de la Cruz struggled at 2-10...

As for some of the names already set on the roster...

- 1B Raul Munoz, 1-10 - while Jose Torres was 4-8, seemingly set on making this a competition...
- SS Brian Coleman was 3-8 with 3 R, a hopeful glimpse at increased production...
- OF 'Litterbug' was the story of the week - 8-17, picking up where he left off in 2032 - though one game he was 4-5...

On the mound...

- The Real Neat story was Jose Suarez with 4.1 scoreless innings with 9 K! The disappointing storyline included 'Hyena', with 5.1 IP, and 4 R - including a homer, although there was some hope - he walked just 1...
- Henry Cluett had a pair of starts and allowed 6 H and 2 R over 8 IP, with 5 K and no BB - That's Neat! As was Neely, with 4 IP, 4 H and no runs...
- Not So Neat includes: Batista (3.1 IP, 4 R) and Man Sim (2 IP, 2 R) - but it's early, right??
- Two youngsters vying for a possible last roster spot, Orinosuke Fujii and Pedro Morales both threw four scoreless innings - Fujii with 5 K...

What's on Tap?
More spring madness, with the youngsters likely getting their last ABs and IP before some (at least) slide over to the minor league camp...

[Zephyrs]

I feel somewhat disappointed in my off season. I came in hard on offers for SP Ashley and LF Patton but, I have not been able to target much for the other holes I wanted to fill. I am at a point where I think I will stand pat and see what this squad can do but, I know I will second guess my off season decisions if things fall apart.

[Lions]

I'm feeling much the same as you, Scott. After going all in on Old Nick, it's been hard to fill some of the other holes. I'm not confident at all in my SS/2B situation. Plenty of options, but none of them stood out before spring training, and none of them are making convincing ST arguments, either.

The one "position battle" where someone has stepped up a bit is 3B Lindsay Durrington. He's playing well enough that if he does that over a full season I'll be happy. Not a star by any means, but enough to get the job done.

On the pitching side, the top 4 in the rotation are all set. Still waiting to see if Canales can take claim of the #5 role. He had a good start against Arlington and then a lousy one against Kentucky. Home runs have been a problem, which is his weakness, so we'll see how it goes over the last two weeks.

[Zephyrs]

I'm feeling much the same as you, Scott. After going all in on Old Nick, it's been hard to fill some of the other holes. I'm not confident at all in my SS/2B situation. Plenty of options, but none of them stood out before spring training, and none of them are making convincing ST arguments, either.

The one "position battle" where someone has stepped up a bit is 3B Lindsay Durrington. He's playing well enough that if he does that over a full season I'll be happy. Not a star by any means, but enough to get the job done.

On the pitching side, the top 4 in the rotation are all set. Still waiting to see if Canales can take claim of the #5 role. He had a good start against Arlington and then a lousy one against Kentucky. Home runs have been a problem, which is his weakness, so we'll see how it goes over the last two weeks.

Durrington looks very promising to me. I like his minor league accomplishments and he looks well above average with the glove. Some more Triple A time wouldn't hurt though.

[Borealis]

Ray may have discussed the out of spring roster decisions, but there were a number of youngsters who were never expected to make an impact, but still got a little playing time:

- Tony Munoz, who will begin 2033 at SLRC, had a rough go of it. In 16 AB, he had a double - that's it, but he only struck out 3 times, and he managed to score 3 runs and have an RBI.
- Angel Silva, who looks to be Munoz' minor league shadow, had 17 AB and managed 4 hits, including a couple of doubles. Angel may have had more hits, but he had more difficulty putting the ball in play with 6 K - Although Kenny Ashley was responsible for 3 of the combined 9 K...
- Jose Gonzalez, the third of three outfielders Aurora envisions arriving in '35 or '36, was 2-18, with a triple and 8 K.

It was expected that these three would experience difficulties, so there's not a lot of disappointment here, but Aurora is trying something different - I believe it is the first time such young prospects have been invited to ST. Perhaps it'll make a difference?

Then there is SS Jose Aleman, who started spring well, 4-8, with a pair of doubles, but then finished 0-15, but he only struck out twice in 23 AB, so that's promising. Aleman is viewed as being a bit more advanced, and he'll begin the year at Gatineau.

No pitchers from the lower minors got an invite, but amongst those with eyes on them are 'Haggis' Uige, 31st overall in the 2030 draft, whose minor league numbers include 19-27, with a 2.84 ERA, 406 K and 179 BB in 437 IP... He will begin '33 at Thornton; Carlos Herrera, 2030 6th rounder, is 19-25, with a 2.74 ERA, 310 K and 149 BB over 347.2 IP... He will begin '33 at Gatineau; 'Machete' Gutierrez, 22nd overall last season, was 4-8, with a 4.00 ERA for Mokule'ia, with 67 K and 53 BB in 99 IP. He'll start the year at SLRC, to get more work, but may return to the Islands if he struggles too much...

[Underground]

Jose Cruz is off to a hot start in AA with 6HR and 15RBI in the first week.

Also my experiment in making Norm Batstone a two way player may be off to a promising start - he hit is first career home run!

[Zephyrs]

I know it is just Double-A but we had a perfect game pitched. Kind of exciting.

http://pebabaseball.com/reports/news/ht ... 91244.html

[Borealis]

Rough week out of the gate, a hopeful start with a nice win over Kzoo on opening day, and a solid come from behind win in the opener of the series with Reno constituted as the only Neat for the Borealis - aside from Munoz hitting .417... More to come, but the Neat and Not So down on the farm...

Of note at Thornton (AAA)
- LF Gabriel Rodriguez showed his displeasure of being sent back to AAA, hitting .400 with a homer...
- Want a Not So Neat? C Pedro de la Cruz, maybe showing his anger in a different way, was 4-23 (.174)...
- CL Jose Suarez, who was one of the last to be demoted after ST, allowed 3 H (and a homer) in 5 IP, with an OAVG of .167, though the homer led to an extra inning loss to Chandler

Of note at Gatineau (AA)
- SS Jose Aleman (AA) may have only opened at .227, but he did have 3 homers for Gatineau - the most in the Organization...
- SP Carlos Herrera had two starts and in 15 IP posted a 1.20 ERA with 10 K and 2 BB... He had a 1-hitter over 8 IP in the Balloonists 1-0, 14-inning win v. Red Deer on Opening day, won by a 14th inning walk-off homer by Antonio Rivera (.259)...
- Pedro Serna pitched 7-shut out innings in his start against Red Deer, only to see Gatineau lose 2-0 in the 9th...
- Rivera's efforts on the week were the best at AA for Gatineau...

[KenH]

Neat:
Gordon Knopp has opposing pitchers wrapped up in a gordian knot. The IL player of the week is hitting a scant .423/.731/1.215 on the young season with the highlight coming on the first swing of the 2033 season where he deposited a homerun into the center field bleachers against David Tucker. He's also sporting a 3.4 ZR in center field after 6 games. Trying to stay level-headed about this kid...

Our new closer Bob Burns has looked particularly Bob Burns-y early on. He has 10 strikeouts in 4 innings, good enough for a 22.5 k/9. We're not complaining.

If it wasn't for Knopp's ridiculous start, we'd be talking about Pedro Coronado and Yosuke Morimoto, so let's do that now... Pedro is off to a flying start as well, hitting .393 and Morimoto isn't too far behind at .389. The youngsters are making their presences felt.

Not so Neat:
Tom May is the anchor for our offense... and by that just absolutely dead weight. He's 0-12 and our other SS Eduardo Gonzales is hitting a sweltering .083. Hm.

After a great 8 inning no hitter by van Dam in the first game, he got touched up for 5 against Hartford. The first two came with 2 outs in the first with the next three coming from a flurry of offense in the sixth. He's still looking good so we're not worried, but it's a little aggravating.

[KenH]

Neat:
Gordon Knopp is still hot. Not quite as insane as the first week, but still very good. If he keeps this pace for the rest of the month, I'll start being a believer in his MVP chances, but it's a looooong season.

Our rotation has been very consistent which I love to see. Arnold, Acosta and Alvarez all have almost identical FIPs and WAR through two weeks which is kind of exciting. They're not on pace for amazing seasons, but if I can get 3-5 starters all with ~4 wins, that's a 20WAR rotation which is pretty solid! Especially with my AAA rotation waiting in the wings, I think we're in for a pretty fun team in the immediate future.

Tony Cuellar struck out something like 7 or 8 straight batters in relief against Hartford. He has really taken to the long relief role with aplomb... so I'm moving him back to the rotation!

Not so Neat:
I'm moving him back to the rotation because... van Dam is outfor five weeks. Very sad. Gnashing of teeth, etc. I'm worried he may have an injury problem which is something we're trying to avoid as much as possible. We had him on an 80 pitch maximum and are trying to keep him healthy... the problem is he got hurt on pitch 20 or something. He was doing very well, too. Let's hope this 5 week break is enough for him to figure out his back issues.

Our Wunderkind candidate Vito van Wondel has gotten off to a slow start. He's not hitting the ball particularly hard and is striking out a bit more than we'd like. Our scout is still 100% convinced that he is further along than his stats imply, but we need a big bat at 1B -- especially with our 2B and SS bats being so uninspired. Luckily there's still a pretty good 1B bat in FA that we're going to make an offer to if Vito can't figure it out soon.

[Borealis]

A little Neat and Not So...

Mark Powers (10.80 in 3 bad innings) and John Gray (7.11 in 6.1 not great innings) have already worried the Borealis coaching staff and thus Ryan Tate (10.1 IP, 0.87) will get a shot at the closer role this week and Orinosuke Fujii (4.2 IP, 0.00, 11.6 K/9) will move into the 8th inning role. Across the board, the young arms are out pitching the old arms. Consider this a tryout phase for these youngsters as Aurora shows more patience with starters Julio Diaz ((5.00 ERA in 2 GS worth 9 IP) and Man Sim (4.26, in 2 GS, 12.2 IP). Waiting in the wings for a starting job is Armando Batista (3.38 in 8 IP) is probably better suited for a starting job, but for now, he bids his time...

[Underground]

I am quite happy with this sim. The big club continues to ride an easy early schedule to a respectable .500 schedule and while Oliver Martinez suffered his second ulnar nerve entrapment in as many seasons, his prolonged absence frees up a spot for Wesley Adams who was briefly waived/DFAed. One note of concern is for Luis Reyes, who is entering year 2 of a 6 year contract. Last year he had his worst career season before being shut down in July with injuries. This year he is off to an abysmal start, sporting a 7.40 ERA and 0-3 record in 4 starts. The team sure hopes he turns this around or else it's going to be a very long four years.

The minors are even more exciting:

In AAA, Nelson Altagacia leads the league with a 0.20ERA while having pitched a (league leading) 45.1 innings. He's also second in WAR and strikeouts. For you fancy statheads, he also leads with a 1728 ERA+ which is more than 3x the next guy and his 3.2 rWAR is a full point above the next guy. All this and he somehow has just 3 wins and managed to lose a start!!! His development report this month saw him gain velocity, stamina, and control on top of a move to 3 star potential. I apologize for gushing, but it's a rare bit of surprise good news out of the Underground org.

In AA a 6-0 week saw the team move to 20-6, good for 1st place in their division and second in the subleague. The team is the beneficiary of all of my hitting prospects all coming together in one spot along with 1st round pick SP Rich Jones and 2nd round pick RP Dennis Bauer. First year hitting coach Tony Vega has the team batting .267.

In A the team managed to play above .500 ball and is still riding its hot first week to a 10-4 record, first in their division. This one is a little more surprising, as this team is a bit less stacked with futures compared to AA. Last years 15th overall pick Dave Robertson carries a 0.69ERA through 13 relief innings. He's the only pitcher on the roster projected to end up above 2 stars though. Offensively there are 4 possibly future PEBA bats, led by 2030 30th overall pick Jonas Budding whose sporting an OBP of .365.

[Zephyrs]

Nick Shaw is a bit of a puzzle to me. He was the first overall pick in 2024, was projected to be a stud by my then head scout, was very prone to injury and had subsequent downgrades to his projections throughout his minor league career. My current scout thinks he is a fringe player at best. His control is abysmal, movement sub par and stuff slightly above average. Yet he has 3 well above average pitches and he seems to perform quite well at the PEBA level.

[KenH]

Week of 5/2-5/8

Neat:
My offense is coming alive thanks to Claudio "Matchbox" Hernandez. I gave up a fair amount to get this guy, but so far he's been great. I love his power in the middle of the line-up. He's getting it done against LHP and RHP and has really been the DH we were looking for.

Really enjoying most of my pitching right now... Except for the one blow out against Havana, the team has been absolutely transcendent. Hopefully we can keep it up and get some of our guys heating back up.

Luppe's almost back! I'm excited to get him back into the fold. We will need him as we get deeper into our schedule.

Our AAA rotation is fire right now. I can't wait to see these guys in Florida soon!

Not So neat:
van Wondel continues to struggle. He's keeping his head up but he hasn't been the kid we were expecting this season at all. We're moving him to the 9-spot for now. We have 2028's 10th round pick Tokaji Ohayashi playing very well in AAA right now if we get the feeling that Vito's just not getting it, but we'd rather leave the rosters the way they are.

Half of our AA pitching squad just up and left as soon as possible. We're all of a sudden lacking pitching which I wasn't expecting. We'll be running with a bit of a weird pitching setup in AA and A until we can sort through the mess.

On Tap:
In one of our hardest weeks of the season, we have 7 games this week... 4 vs Kentucky and 3 vs Havana. Excited to see how we stack up against two of the other hottest teams in the IL right now. Week after that we got WV who is going to take off like a rocket at some point.