Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2039, Season 33

[Lions]

Neat: Rookie Isaac Kennedy threw a 8 inning, 6 hit shutout vs Yuma throwing 88 pitches. That is an average of 11 pitches per inning, in the MLB a pitchers goal is 16 pitches per inning (nerdy pitching coach info)

Not so neat: The following day Yuma shutout the Codgers limiting then to 6 hits.

An 8 inning shutout confused me! I see Vázquez got the save. Nice start for Kennedy, although I read Ian every time I see I. Kennedy.

[Underground]

Neat:
- Earned our first player of the week award this season, second year pro Eichiro Nakashima hit .462 with 5 dingers and 9 RBI for the week. For the season he's up to .310 with 8 HR and 15 RBI, so this week really was the breakout for him

- As I mentioned in Slack, quite happy to be 10-7 and in second in the division at this stage having not had Zak Osmond in the lineup yet due to a Spring Training injury. He will make his season debut against Hartford in the next sim. By WAR Osmond was my best player last year by a good margin and is certainly one of the three most skilled players on the team, so having him back should provide a boost offensively and defensively.

- Despite looking cooked for much of last year and Spring Training this year, Duane Moss has rediscovered his "Megavolt" form three starts in this year, sitting at 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 164 ERA+ he actually leads all of my starters in those categories currently

- After the first week of the season I noted here we were in last place among most offensive categories in the IL. Since then we've climbed into the top 5 of runs scored and batting average and (thanks in large part to Mr. Nakashima) are now second in the league in HR. Pitching has started a bit slower with starters in the middle of the road and the bullpen falling a bit further down.

Not so neat:
- Old crappy veterans refusing to be demoted making me make unfortunate choices in roster construction, particularly as Osmond has returned and needs a spot

[Evas]

Neat: Jorge Castillo picked up 2 wins to improve to 4-1, which is pretty great for being only 21 games in to the season. But more than that, it brought his career win total to 204, passing HoF'er Enrique Vazquez for sole possession of the #7 slot on the PEBA career wins leader board. Next up is Dean "Fate" O'Monahan at 210. JC even has a shot at catching this season Manuel Corona at #4 with 214. Everyone from 1-9 on the all-time win list is in the HoF already, except JC and Kenny Ashley (who seems like a likely inductee). Actually, I'm not sure how KA was missed on the ballot previously. We'll have to correct that.

Not Neat: Flores is 0-4 so far, despite being my best SP with a 2.13 FIP and a full 1.0 WAR in the first month.

[Codgers]

Neat and Not So Neat at the same time: The Codgers played four extra inning ball games the week of April 17th. 11 inning loss to the Malts followed by a 12 inning win against the same opponent. Two days later a 13 inning loss to the ghosts following by a 16 inning loss two games later. 16 extra innings decimated the pitching for the Niihama series.

The good: The Codgers won two consecutive series against Tempe and Madison

The bad: Following the two series wins the Codgers were swept in a four games series vs Niihama

Codgers offensive player of the week: 3B Benjamin Gentileschi with 9 hits, .321AVG and .387OBP

Codgers defensive player of the week: Nathan Comyn got two starts in place of the suspended Shigochiyo Yamaguchi and threw 13 innings with a 1.38ERA. Unfortunately he got two no decisions for his efforts.

[Borealis]

I've just two words on Aurora's Not So Neat list:

Brenden Clymo

Clymo has yet to pitch well with an 8-point ERA, allowing 24 H and 16 R in 16.1 IP - and 4 HRA in 4 GS - all despite 17 K and just 2 BB...

The fans on The Front Range are already getting antsy...

[Underground]

Neat: Zak Osmond is back and did not miss a step, ending his opening week of the season with a .321/.367/.571 line to go alongside a home run and 2 RBI. He also stole a base for good measure.

Neat: Back to back weeks with a London player collecting IL Player of the Week honors, this time it's Rocky Nichols who hit .462 for the week including 5 home runs.

Kind of neat: Manuel Santos broke his wrist on a HBP, which allows me some temporary but longish term flexibility on my roster unexpectedly

Not so neat: Despite Osmond's return to the lineup and Nichols going off we only managed a 3-4 sim, including a gutting 1-3 series against WV who actually entered into the series with a worse record than us. After beating them up 7-0 in game one we went on to drop the next three straight

Not so neat: Our bullpen started poorly and if anything seems to be trending in the wrong direction from there, currently 11th ranked in the IL. Particularly concerning is Richard Higgins who has been one of the best arms in my pen for the last half dozen years is currently sitting at a 6.75 ERA and an abysmal 57 ERA+. While it's still early and one has to be careful about overreacting, it is nonetheless concerning and causing some shakeups in the pen.

[Underground]

Neat: A 4-2 sim despite playing two very solid teams ahead of me in the standings, Manchester and New Jersey. Lost two of three to New Jersey but then swept the first place Maulers so definitely happy overall

Neat: Duane Moss' redemption arc continues as he extends his win streak to 5 games and is still without a loss after 7 starts. Sporting a 2.56 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 150 ERA+ Megavolt has turned back the clocks to 2036 so far this season.

Not so neat: The pitching continues to trend downward. The bullpen ERA is now 13th in the IL, down from 11th last sim.

Not so neat: Tough start to next sim with a three game series in Scotland. In fact that begins a 13 game road trip which will take us almost to the end of May. So far we have not been a great road team so this could be a real test. Working in our favor, at least on paper, is 7 of those games are against last place teams.

[Ghosts]

Neat: Niihama is off to a relatively normal start, which has made them the exception among the Rising Sun hopefuls, where Okinawa, Shin Seiki, and Toyoma have been more or less sluggish. While the pitching had been lackluster, it's started to come around as "Biceps" cruised in two starts (2-0, 15.0 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 15 K, 0 R) and rookie Dave Lopez continued his strong starting debut by handcuffing the Warriors a 6.1IP, 2 R, 5 H, 3 BB, 6K winning effort. The hitting has stayed hot, as the Ghosts own the best team OPS in PEBA. "Gigantor" is off to a Royal Raker pace, owning the highest WAR and appearing across offensive leaderboards. Stowe (.352 AVG), Gilberto Fernandez (.985 OPS), "Blinky" (10 HR), and "Splits" (.999 OPS) are all off to career-high starts as well.

Not so neat: Van Dam has yet to settle into Niihama nearly a year after the organization spent big to acquire the Golden Arm awardee. He's sporting a 73 ERA+ this season as he continues to display substantial vulnerability to the long ball despite playing in a park generally favored by pitchers. Is this indicative of the difference between pitching against Dixie and Rising Sun competition? More time may tell. Yuji Yamashita, the team's #1 overall selection in the 2030 WIL draft, has been an impressive performer for the last several seasons, and his start this year put him atop the Wins leaderboard, but sadly he's suffering from dead arm and will require at least two weeks to recover.

[Trendsetters]

Neat: The hitting continues to be solid. Middle of the lineup is producing more or less and we are 5th in the league in hitting. The bullpen continues to be the strength of this team and are ranked near the top.

Not so Neat: The starting rotation is dead last and Nathan Gallard, the only real talent on the staff just went down for 3 months. We are last in ERA, have allowed the most runs and are generally just abysmal.

[Underground]

Neat: The long road trip is over and it proved to be a big success, a combined 10-3 including series wins over both the Claymores and Hitmen

Neat: Signs of life in the bullpen, which has improved to 8th in the IL....not great, but much better than where we were!

Neat: Couple early All Star watch contenders (imo) - Zak Osmond (.326/.357/.470), Rocky Nichols (.321/.386/.611), Duane Moss (6-1, 3.06 ERA, 125 ERA+) and Raul Cruz (5-2, 2.87 ERA, 133 ERA+)

Unsure: Despite a very successful two week stretch that put us atop the IL Wildcard picture, the team is in sort of a weird place right now. Pitching is still not very reliable across the board and the offense is living and dying by the long ball currently. Granted, we have enough power up and down the lineup to probably survive this way but BA and OBP in the bottom half of the IL is not ideal and feels unsustainable, particularly if the pitching doesn't turn around

Not so neat: My AAA team is currently on an 0-11 bender and has won just 4 of their last 20 games. They were in first place at the start of May, so this has been quite an incredible tailspin to watch.

[Borealis]

In a week that included a bullpen meltdown, a near bullpen meltdown and an outstanding bullpen effort from the 'other Gutierrez', the week will be known for the Not So Neat loss of 'Slug' for 8 weeks (at least it's not the season?), who had been pitching the best of the rotation. Aside from bringing to light the glaring lack of talent in the minors, it brings to question the trade of Ramon Gonzales to Madison. So for now, in Clark's stead it'll be former-Ghost and former-Badger, Anthony MacDonald, who was originally a 3rd round pick of Palm Springs, and thus far in 2039 has a 3-4 record and a 3.52 ERA at Thornton. If that doesn't work out, perhaps the 'Other' Gutierrez, rookie Martin, will get a shot.

Also Not So Neat - getting out-homered by Niihama 8-2 in losing 2 of 3, and 9-4 overall.

Looking for a Neat?? Don't look Brenden 'Not So Neat' Clymo's way - 8 IP in his lone start, but 3 HR allowed - they were all solo, so does that count as a Neat/Not So wash??

[Trendsetters]

Trendsetters Neat:

The bullpen continues to pitch well, despite inheriting very few leads. At 4th in the league, the bullpens has been one of the few bright spots. Manuel Velasquez has been stellar with a 1.74 ERA over 18 outings.

The minor league system, while not producing a ton of prospects (24th in the league) is at least winning. AAA, AA and Single A all sport winning records this year.

Not So Neat:

The rotation continues to get hammered. 16th in the league with 4 of the 5 starters sporting ERAs above 5. This last sim NO went 2-4, which was not surprising vs WV and FLA.

Possibly Neat?

NO has seven picks in the first three rounds with a 1st rounder, three 2nd rounders and three third rounders.

Possibly Not So Neat?

Pretty weak draft class.

See you all on Saturday!

[JayA]

Gotta love Edgardo Trevino picking up Pitcher of the Week, Pitcher of the Month, and learning a new pitch all in the same sim.

[Trendsetters]

NEAT:
* Finishing the sim 3-3 and putting together at least a respectable June.
* Joe Arnold is starting to get it going. A CG win in the last sim and has a 1.70 ERA over his last three starts.
AAA, AA and Single A all playing .500 or better ball.
Pedro Martinez getting a call up for next sim after belting .328 at AAA, Fayetteville. OF Steve Doss on his way up as well after hitting .329.

NOT SO NEAT:
We’ve hit a power shortage and are now 10th in the league in HR. We are also last in walks

Pitching continues to be just disgusting.
Last in Staff ERA, Starters ERA. Runs allowed, Hits allowed, Opponents Avg., and BABIP.

15th in walks allowed, 15th in strikeouts and tied for 14th in Homers allowed.

However our bullpen is 4th in ERA.

[Trendsetters]

3-4 this sim vs ARL and KTY

NEAT
Joe Arnold appears to heating up. His ERA is in the mid 3’s and he has two CG this month and his WHIP is 1.15. He is still drastically overpaid, but it is nice to see.

The New Orleans Trensetters minor league system jumped from 24th to 12th with addition of WestonHarris and Marques Jimenez to the prospect list. That’s highest it has been for a couple of years at least. This may change next sim as the final draftees are signed and assigned.

We are no longer in the basement as we are now only the 4th worst team in the PEBA.


NOT SO NEAT
My offense continues to sputter as my average has dropped to 9th and I am last in the league in walks.

Pitching, aside from Arnold and the bullpen continues to be weak. At least 14th in every category except bullpen which fell down a notch to 5th.

Let’s see what Pablo Martinez has to say next sim. He was testing it up at a .328 pace in AAA and now replaces John zLightbody at 1B