Neat stuff sim thread PEBA 2023 Season 17

[Matt]

Wait, if you use 7-day lineups and a rain out causes a doubleheader, does your starting pitcher for that day start both ends of the doubleheader?

That's what Alfonso Romero did on April 12th.

Stupid.

Setting a long reliever to have a secondary role of emergency starting pitcher usually alleviates this. Not having an emergency starting pitcher guarantees thos.

[Bill]

Wait, if you use 7-day lineups and a rain out causes a doubleheader, does your starting pitcher for that day start both ends of the doubleheader?

That's what Alfonso Romero did on April 12th.

Stupid.

Yeah, that is stupid. I had that happen once last year. I think you can use the 7-day lineups for just the hitters (i.e. leave starter empty) and let the Pitching page dictate the starters to avoid this also. Another alternative.

[Borealis]

Pschyzzo opening weeks for Aurora as the pitching mostly does as expected, but the hitting looks woefully poor: 37 runs scored in 11 games is 15th best?? Off-set by the 26 RA, which is tops in the SL. Gotta figure we won't hit .226 all year... A quick Neat and Not So...

- Not So Neat is SS Nick Giles continuing back issues, including two-set backs in one week... Looks like he'll be back in June? The infield badly needs that bat: Crespo (.150), Parsons (.154), Toro (.000) and de los Santos (.206) ain't cutting it - and when your best hitter on the diamond is at .235 (Gabe McIntyre), you know you've got trouble...
- We knew Manny de los Santos wasn't going to be a long term solution, and that his big drawback, K's, was going to doom him in Aurora - 10 K in 34 AB, but he does lead the team in HRs with 4...
- More distressing, from a K perspective, is Pedro Ferringo. The DH is hitting just .222, but he has 9 K in 36 AB. He had 86 over the previous two seasons of 960+ ABs...
- Oh... and just to complete the hitting No So's - Jesus Negrete thinks it's 2022 all over again (.219) and Wilson Mercado (.174) looks good only when you consider that Matt Ferrell is already hurt for the Alleghenies...
- Paul Carlisle is the one hitter off to a solid start (.345, .586 SLG). Mike Hale is hitting .310 and his 5 SB lead the SL early on...
- 'Tugboat' (1.59), 'Train Rollin'' (1.96), Gunner (2.38) and Romano (2.53) all off to good starts in their first couple of outings - but 'Sawmill' looking a bit shaky at 8.22 - thanks to a 6 ER, 3.1 IP stint in his last start v. the Codgers...
- Maybe 'Massacre' is more suited for the bullpen: 10 IP, 15 K, 5 BB...

What's on Tap:
The 5-7 Longshoremen and the 6-6 Akira arrive on The Front Range before the 'Gnat's hit town next week. Canton recently took 2 of 3 from the 'Gnats - though at home (and, man, do we hate playing in Canton...). Both NT and Canton have lost 2 of 3 to the Win-d's and took 2 of 3 from K-Zoo... 'Tugboat', Gunner and 'Sawmill' lined-up for Canton...

[Coqui]

Wait, if you use 7-day lineups and a rain out causes a doubleheader, does your starting pitcher for that day start both ends of the doubleheader?

That's what Alfonso Romero did on April 12th.

Stupid.

Setting a long reliever to have a secondary role of emergency starting pitcher usually alleviates this. Not having an emergency starting pitcher guarantees thos.

Ugh. I'm pretty sure I had an emergency SP set - Hirohisa Narita.

[Matt]

Wait, if you use 7-day lineups and a rain out causes a doubleheader, does your starting pitcher for that day start both ends of the doubleheader?

That's what Alfonso Romero did on April 12th.

Stupid.

Setting a long reliever to have a secondary role of emergency starting pitcher usually alleviates this. Not having an emergency starting pitcher guarantees thos.

Ugh. I'm pretty sure I had an emergency SP set - Hirohisa Narita.

You have rotation set to strict order. In order to get the emergency starting pitcher into a doubleheader, the OOTP matrix requires the rotation to be set to Strict, On Occasion Highest Rested. Yes, I learned this the hard way during our run of ten doubleheaders last year.

[KenH]

So apparently the ace of my staff had a pitch limit of 10? That sums up my week.

[Zephyrs]

What is wrong with Reggie Myers? I considered him to be a great hitting outfielder but last season and so far this season he hasn't hit well enough to justify a roster spot. His BABIP currently sits 120 points below his career average.

[Bill]

Blech...taking our lumps early. We knew this couple weeks would be tough and it played out that way. The middle of my order is ice cold (made so in part my some good opponent pitching). My young starters haven't lived up to expectations either. The hope is that by the end of the season, they are up to stuff. If it even matters by then. We certainly aren't playing like a playoff team at the moment. Not sure whether to fiddle more or fiddle less to improve. (probably neither will help of course....)

A couple bright spots have been Luis Nieves and Bruce McGuire, who have had good starts to the season.

[roncollins]

What is wrong with Reggie Myers? I considered him to be a great hitting outfielder but last season and so far this season he hasn't hit well enough to justify a roster spot. His BABIP currently sits 120 points below his career average.

Still too early to tell, but it seems to me that he's never recovered from his back injury at the end of 2022's spring training.

[roncollins]

We take 2 of 3 from both Neo-Tokyo and Yuma. Can't complain.

Veteran Sadatake Sato is leading the offense with a .377 average, and a couple homers. It's nice to see him swinging freely now. We're hoping that his struggles have been about his injuries. Rookie Iván Juárez is also impressing with his .329/.431/.419 and league average+ glove. The tandem of José Escobido and Shiro Adachi platooning at the top of the lineup has been good and solid--Escobido in particular. New RF Iván Rosa has been solid at .347/.389/.469.

Bottom line: every bat is playing with about the same frequency, and is contributing something valuable right now--though the run production is sporadic at times.

On the mound, we're seeing some good, some not-so-good. Akira Watanabe and Tadamasa Hashimoto have been lights-out--making us very happy that interest in Hashi was minimal in the off-season. Shinobu Takeuchi is showing flashes of his old brilliance. Tsuyoshi Nishiyama has pitched well enough in the 5-slot. The only concern is that newly-inked ace Clayton Lewis has struggled mightily after coasting through a fairly uneventful spring. Could the back discomfort he suffered just before the season started be more than the team medical staff is reporting?

Newcomer Raul Cruz has now registered 9 saves, and other than Chad Miller, the bullpen is all sitting here with ERAs of under 3.00.

The team sits at 12-6, leading the Rising Sun division despite many nay-sayers who had us third (or, at least the team that used to be us!), and fans are starting to wonder if the promise the front office built in the winter might actually be taking root.

[Duane]

Injuries continue to plague the Dixie .... Ky loses leadoff and CF/LF Jesus Lopez - for the friggin season with a ruptured Achilles.

[Hitmen]

The pain train for New Jersey continues as we are now 4-13 for the month of April, hot out of the gate and into a pile of manure. Rule V stop gap SP Thurman Collins out 8 weeks with a partially torn labrum after a solid showing to start the season. Probably not more than a bottom of the rotation inning eater who we can expect to keep us within reach of a win but so far I was liking the pick up. Luckily it was perfectly timed with the return of Tomás 'B' Esparza, our big ticket off season investment.

More exciting though is the return of highly touted prospect SP Takashi Shiraishi from the disabled list from last year. Takashi went down for 14 months with elbow ligament reconstruction surgery and actually returns ahead of schedule by about two months. He will be slotted in to AA Camden to continue his progression with the talent already there. Despite the severe injury early in his career we still have high hopes for the lefty out of Nakajo, Japan who was a 9th overall pick in 2021 draft.

[Leones]

Our problems all relate to hands and fingers. Our pitching stinks so far. 'Decoy' is only good for sticking forks in. He's done. Our fielding is obviously inspired by our pitching; 17 errors on the season so far. Fans are avoiding the ballpark. In spite of all that we're making money and our record is on the ups. Go team!

[Borealis]

Neat and Mostly Not So Neat seems to rule the roost on The Front Range so far, despite a tidy 11-7 mark after 3 weeks of play...

- First off, the Bears have predictably bounced back and ran off a 7-0 sim, a 15-4 start and 'Fireworks' is 2-0, 1.93... Not So Neat for the rest of the SL... I think we'll be say to our selves a lot of 'you were so far back last season...'...
- Aurora hitting has been abysmal thus far - particularly the infield: Crespo (.152), Toro (.200), Parsons (.200), de los Santos (.207) - although Santos leads the team in HRs at 7 - which is currently 3rd in the SL. Britt (.279, 4 HR, 17 RBI) is saving the infields A**, with a slight assist to Gabe McIntyre (.263). With Nick Giles out for another month-plus, Aurora may look to Rod Martin, on rehab at Thornton, hitting .273 after 11 AAA AB...
- All we have to say is 'thank god for Paul Carlisle, or we'd be 0-season, as he's hitting a robust .392, 4-2B, 3B, 3 HR. Mike Hale, whose 2022 season was a part of the imperious to ship Matt Ferrell to West Virginia, is at .302, but after his PEBA record 14-3B last season, has yet to have a single XBH...

And yet, Aurora is 11-7...

- Could have been better, but Aurora pitching couldn't keep Canton away from a big inning, leading to a home series loss to the Longshoremen - I don't think that's happened often - if at all; they usually get us on the road. Gunner and 'Sawmill' the culprits there... Then after jumping to an early 3-0 lead on NT, a pair of unearned runs in the 8th inning of game 1 ruined what, ultimately, could have been a 4-game sweep...
- 'Sawmill' has struggled - and the long-ball bug seems to have remained, despite Anastasio Lopez' departure: 5 in 13 innings for Francisco, leading to a 7.62 ERA... Gunner: 4 starts - 0-2, 3.68, 28 K, 3 BB...
- Not struggling is 'Massacre' who seems to be liking the 'pen - despite giving up his first runs, he has a 0.53 ERA in 17 IP with 24 K and 5 BB - Those 24 K are 10th in the SL thus far. Not bad for a reliever...

What's on Tap:
The 'Gnats arrive as a team that seems to be mirroring Aurora - including losing 2 of 3 to Canton. Burns v. 'Sawmill', then Provost v. 'Mayor' and 'Tugboat' v. Velazquez... Burns, like Francisco, has struggled, as has the 'Mayor', despite his 3-0 mark... The Ghosts then make their first trip to the Hills portion of the DH...

[Dinosaurs]

So on the good news side, the Dinosaurs of Fargo went 4-2 this last sim, losing 2 of 3 to Crystal Lake in Fargo at first but then sweeping Reno in three games while on the road.

A couple hitters are hot right now, 2B César Torres who was a waiver wire claim last season from rival Duluth has turned in a triple slash of .296/.345/.500 for a wRC+ of 143 thus far in 59 plate appearances. He earned the starting 2B job out of spring training and is doing well to prove the decision right so far.

36 year old 1B slugger Jarrod Wright had a slow start to this season, but in this last sim has been crushing it (3 HRs) and now has a 129 wRC+ and has been particularly lethal against left handed pitching as he has a .967 OPS against southpaws at the time.

On the not so hot side, starting RF Dave Yarbrough is sidelined with a elbow pain and will require surgery to remove bone chips. This will keep him out of the lineup for 3 months and he will be put on the 60-day DL. This is a pretty big blow as Yarbrough was the team's leadoff hitter and was doing a great job of setting the table with a .385 OBP before being injured. In the short term, 4th outfielder Matt Holcomb will take over in RF and get a shot. He's had success in the past and still carries above average power and a decent eye at the plate, though his contact skills have eroded some and he's always been a free swinger that ends up striking out a ton.

Up next sim will be a major test against the red hot Bakersfield Bears with I expect Burns and Hancock lined up in game 1 and 2 respectively vs. Dinosaurs ace Edward Molina in game 1 and returning from a brief 3 week DL stint Bernardo Moreno in game 2. The 3 game series will take place in Bakersfield and will be followed with a return to Reno for another 3 game set.