Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2035, Season 29

[Nigel]

Finished the sim with a two-game winning streak was the neatest thing, probably. Before that it was a sorry take of coughing up homers, being heavily outhit and showing that we are that side down the bottom.

We only managed four homers ourselves all week, the wackiest of which was the only non-solo one as Andy Sterling somehow managed a 2-run . . . Inside the park home run !

[Borealis]

After a Not So Neat 1-6 opening to the spring schedule, a 3-3 week Constitutes Neat - especially when this time around we win the 1-run games! Amongst the Neat and Not So performances of the week...

- 3B David Simmons, after a 1-13 start, was 4-9 - with a 2B and a homer. The 'drafted way back in 2029' prospective '3B of the future' has been a slow haul grower, but hopefully a strong spring will justify hope eternal...
- CF Tony Munoz continues to shine and make the case that Aurora's faith in giving him the starting CF job was not just hyperbole - 6-14 on the week with a 3B and homer has the 21-year old at 11-30 for the spring - plus, he cut the strikeouts for the week in half! Good news for the youngster who consistently puts the ball in play.
- Looking like he's stopped moping about his role, Stewart Arundale was 7-18... Pre-ordained starting catcher, Pedro de la Cruz was 3-8... Why am I getting no respect infielder Hector Moran also 3-8... Raul Munoz, perhaps the best hitting in the land - average-wise, bounced back from a slow first week to go 7-20 with 3-2B... All Neat-O...
-Not So Neat-O? FA SS Francisco Montoya 2-13 and rookie SS Jose Aleman 2-14 - the former with a double and the latter with a triple... Dean Walden 2-18... Randy Love with an 0-fer (14)...
- 'Matchbox' (2-11) and Kirk Carr (3-15) each had a homer - giving Aurora 4 HR on the week - Home Runs? What's wrong with this club??

The pitchers all seem to be on pace, so more on that another day...

[Underground]

Didn't update after ST sim #2, so will do a comprehensive 2-3 one now. After a rough 2-5 start I am pleased to report we are now 10-10. Unfortunately it's still Spring Training so good or bad it doesn't really mean anything. However I am pleased that we allowed just 3, 1, 3, 1, and 3 runs in those wins and one of our losses was a 4-3 nailbiter against who else but West Virginia.

On the individual batter side, Rocky Nichols hasn't slowed down at all, slightly increasing his BA to .278 while continuing to hit for some power and drive in runs. Jose Cruz is struggling to make contact but when he does he sends them a long way, leading the team in home runs despite just a .214 average. He lost most of last season to injury though so I expect him to be working off more rust than usual. Finally, CLOGGER is adjusting nicely. His BA was just .158 after the first week of Spring but has since risen to .226. Still not too great, but moving in the right direction as he adjusts to a new league and a new team. Hopefully he'll be fully locked in for the start.

I also have a surprise battle brewing for starting catcher. I brought Ju-Chan Park for a cheap, short-term backup but his BA and OBP are currently outpacing that of Villanueva, so we'll have to keep an eye on that battle.

On the pitching side we are all over the place. Only Duane Moss is really dominating from the starting spot with just a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings. Reyes is looking good too, and new acquisition Raul Cruz is doing well considering he's still adjusting. Luis Lopez is struggling though, as is Troy Rush which is bad news for his bid to make it onto the big team full time. The bullpen has some encouraging news in the form of Dennis Bauer who after 13.2IP is sitting on a 0.66 ERA and 8.6 K/9. Him and Batstone should create a pretty nasty combo for any game I can make it to the 7th inning ahead in.

With this sim I am starting to send down the guys who are uncompetitive for roster spots, including:
SP Antonio Pena (to AA)
RP Mitsuhide Yamaguchi (to AA)
LF Ethan Dodgson (to AAA)
3B Butch Ellis (to AAA)

[Alleghenies]

A WV Update:

My backup catcher role is down to Luo-Shan Lin and Jorge Martinez. Lin has probably won it with his bat, but Martinez is the best of the best on defense. That being said, I am starting Lin the last game and if he has a lights out game it's his spot, but if not, he might marinate in AAA this year for a little bit. The losers Tony Jarvis and Tomas Rubio are in AAA and only 1 will make the team.

Also Troy Alexander has won the 26th spot on bench by default as Kody needs PA's so is going back to minors until Garza (hitting over .400) finds a new home and Gomes I think is better served in minors 1 more year. Yagawa was brought up to get some starters rest and faired well. Takahashi has shown that next year he will be fighting for a spot because he performed well and Pedro Gonzales while not getting a ton of time due to no space, did well too.

The big cut is going to be Zhao-dao Lew. He is hitting .459/.545/.784 in spring in 44 pa's. While we would love for him to be in the majors, Yosai Otani did well himself and secured the CF spot.

I had planned on sending Monzaemon Nakashima down, but like any good GM is supposed to know, I had no idea he had zero options left. So this last sim I threw him in the rotation and he went 4 innings 3 hit ball 1 run and 4 k's. He is getting 1 more start and if he does well he wil lbe in my rotation.

Combes looks ready for PEBA, but will have to wait 1 more year or for a major injury. Ronald Turned and Ramiro Perez turned some heads, but with no space will have to be in AAA. Sebastiaan De Roode had 2 very good starts, but like the last pitchers will be in AAA. Seichi Sakaguchi looked the part in the pen for the team and will step back into rotation in AAA. Jorge Flores showed he needs a little more time in the minors and having just turned 24, he will get some.

Xiao-Mei Cheung in 3 starts has gone 12 innings, 10 hits, 3 ER, 0 hr, 4 walks and 14 k's. With his first start being the rockiest.

[Borealis]

The Borealis saw some improvement over the third week of Spring Training with a 5-2 week, leaving them 9-11 this spring, and a reasonable chance at a .500 finish. Amongst the Neat and Not So:

- C Pedro de la Cruz was 4-8 with a homer and has his spring average up to .346, giving fans on the front range hope for solid production out of the catcher position. Also hopeful is the 4-14 and .258 from back-up Yasuoka Matsumoto for the spring. If the season approaches that, the fans will chant 'Domingo, Who?' and 'Fido, Who?'
- Life caught up to Tony Munoz, as he had 3 hits in 13 AB for the week, but he's still at .326 for the spring. With four spring games left, he's certain to start in CF on Opening Day - providing Aurora hope that the youth movement continues to be successful...
- Ed Madore - who spent most of 2034 saying 'what did I do wrong' after his 2033 performance, is hitting .323 after a 5-13 week, and will make it awfully tough to dump - he is out of options...
- Not Neat? Heading into the last four games, Montoya is at .200, 'Matchbox' at .189, Dean Walden at .180, Randy Love .179, and G-Rod .170 - Did I hear correctly that it's just Spring Training?? Excellent!!
- The 'Hyena', over worked by 'someone' is out for 5 weeks with an oblique strain, and that sucks - and makes having 'Machete' Gutierrez a nice thing. For the Spring, 'Machete' has 19 K in 14 IP and just 2 BB and a run...
- Man Sim and Ryan Tate continue to mirror each other - 1.50 ERA's over 14 IP - Man allowing 6 H and Tate 5 H - thoughSim has 13 K and 3 BB and Tate and uncharacteristic 4 K and 6 BB...

Looking to the future...
- David Simmons is 7-31, but he hoes have 2 HR, and only 5 K...
- Angel Silva is 9-41 with 3 BB and 3 K...
- Maybe the biggest surprise is Kirk Carr - 10-31, with 1 double, 2 triple and a homer...

[Alleghenies]

I noticed on a re-scout that Colton Roman on my DL with his 2nd UCL surgery in 2 years, arm has failed to recover. About 3 years ago he was penciled in as one of my future setup men. Hopefully he invested some of the 3.8 million we paid him over the years.

[Nigel]

Andrew Sterling had virtually won the starting SS role and then turns in an 0-13 week making me think twice. Rule 5 pick Masaharu Noguchi has a pretty good shout of being a starting corner OF, probably in right as he's been demonstrating a cannon of an arm in ST.

First trade completed to the normal choruses of "I'd have paid more" & "you should have got more" which I why I don't often trade, a slow rebuild through FA and the draft is much more my style lol.

[KenH]

Going into the year with some exciting, unplanned developments...

Knopp is out for the first two weeks of the season with a "knee contusion" which, while sounding scary, WebMD has confirmed just means he's got a bruise. He is listed as Day-to-day, so we immediately put him on the DL... I wouldn't push any player -- much less the face of the franchise -- in the first week of the season!

I'm sure some fans will be bummed out to not see Knopp out there, but we have a VERY enticing consolation prize for fans coming through the turnstyles early on... The young Jose Rios, only 20 years old, will be making his PEBA debut! I and the rest of Farstriders country can't wait to see what the kid can do. While we don't expect his stay to be more than a couple of weeks, it does add some excitement back despite the obvious disappointment of not seeing Knopp on the field.

We are also rolling out Mike Roberts early on in the season as well. This one feels more like a shoe-in and may last the whole year... but may not. I try not to count my eggs before they hatch. He'll need to show that he's ready for the bigs, but with a bang-up Spring Training, there are definitely more promising than discouraging signs.

Despite the best pitching staff in the league last year based on ERA, WHIP, FIP and a handful of other factors, we've seen some pretty significant rearranging of our stable of arms. Our rotation sports three top-flight starters with two others mere steps behind. We're placing some hope in Ramon Gonzales that he can put his heretofore insalubrious outings in the rearview, and become a very talented fifth starter. If not, well, we have WAYS of DEALING with underperforming starters *cracks knuckles* (we usually just DFA them or something, idk)

Otherwise, we have some great teams in AAA and AA. Chesapeake's rotation strikes me as very good with newly acquired Arturo Acevedo anchoring at the #1 spot, followed by Santiago Sandoval, Kevin Gallegos, Ernesto Gutierrez, and Carlos Valverde. There are definitely some question marks with the bats, however, so we'll see how that goes. Personally, I think it will go well, but I can't say for sure.

[Borealis]

The Not So Neat will be 'Hyena' missing the first month + of the season... The Neat was the excellent spring out in by Pedro de la Cruz, who Aurora hopes will be the next in a long line of long-term catchers on the Front Range!

In the 'Looking Forward' category is young Tony Munoz, who is being thrust right from the pot and into the fire, hitting lead off for the Borealis... fingers crossed...

[Borealis]

Neat and Not So from a week that, on the surface and by definition, was Neat!
- Rookie CF Tony Munoz, thrown into the fire, was 10-25 with 2-2B, a 3B and an inside-the-park homer - good for 5 R and 6 RBI. He struck out just twice (encouraging) - he even threw a runner out on the bases! That's a Big Neat-O...

- Rookie SS Jose Aleman was 8-21 with 2-2B and surprisingly 2 HR - I say surprisingly, but then I look at his record and in 550 AB split between AA and AAA last year (a near 50-50 split) he hit 11 homers. 6 R, 7 RBI... Neat...

- Rookie C Pedro de la Cruz was 7-26, with an XBH of each flavor - he even caught two runners stealing!

Not So Neat?
- 'Matchbox' 5-26, no XBH, no RBI - but at least he walked as many times (4) as he struck out - there's something productive there...

- G-Rod 5-21, with just a double, 3 R and an RBI. Aurora expects (requires) big things from Gabe...

- Randy Love (0-4) and 'Litterbug' (1-8). Both relegated to platoon/back-up roles - by need and Spring performance

For the sake of equity, on the mound...
- Neat is 'Slug', who allowed just a run in two starts - after a 7.2-inning shut out in the opener over Palm Springs. Clark had 14 K in 14 IP and walked just 3...

[Nigel]

Not so neat was my manager inexplicably handing a Rule 5 pitcher, who had barely made the team, the ball on Opening Day. Neat was him almost pulling it out of the fire.

In a 1-6 week the best thing was hidden down in the minors. In Double-A Monterey. 22-yr-old Will Godron, drafted 28th overall by Calzones in 2030 pitched a No-Hitter beating Rockville 5-0 with just a walk allowed while striking out nine batters. Meanwhile in Tiple-A Joplin Damien Neighbour was No-Hitting Raleigh at exactly the same time, allowing just a walk too while striking out 11. The next day 25-yr-old Roberto Rodriguez gained his second win of 2035 in Double-A beating Rockville 1-0 by pitching eight innings, only allowing two hits & a walk.

[Alleghenies]

Not so neat: Veteran GM forgetting 7 day lineups on to start year and my rotation and lineups show it.

Neat I still went 4-2 despite being an idiot.

[Nigel]

After a 1-3 series loss to Arlington in Week one it was nice to sweep Arlington in four games back at Laredo this week. Even better than the sweep was the fact that we kept the Bureaucrats to just three total runs scored in the series.
In fact in Calzones six wins in 2035 only one saw us give up more than a run, and that one game was only two runs.

[KenH]

Two weeks into the season and wow... some pretty fun developments so far....

+Through 12 games, the Farstriders have shutout their opponents 8 times. That's a little ludicrous. If I stay on this trajectory I should end up with around 100 shutouts on the year, blowing past the old record of 29

+If Danny Burton feels like he missed out on spring training, he certainly isn't showing it. The 37 year old put on a clinic in his first week. I'm sure Hayagawa is a little offended since he was going to be permanent DH, but he'll get over it.

+We have 3 starters that have yet to give up an earned run. George Moss is extremely locked in. As long as his arm holds up, he should at least be in the Golden Arm conversation.

+Vito van Wondel has been playing really well at 3b and has also been knocking the cover off the ball. This feels like the year where he becomes the player we thought he could be.

[Borealis]

Well, nothing kills a reasonably Neat 4-2 week than a pair of walk-off catcher errors against your rivals. Yup - Pedro de la Cruz throws the ball in to LF to lose a 2-1 game, and Matsumoto dropped Jose Aleman's force-out throw in the 12th of the other loss (3-2) to the Bears. Not Neat At All... Otherwise, the week's Neat and Not So:

- Claudio Hernandez was the SL PoW, after complaining that week 1's homers all come from rookies. 'Matchbox' was 7-19 with 4 HR, 5 R and 9 RBI. That ups his season average to .267 after a 5-26 start. Those were his first homers and RBI's on the year. Two of the homers (and 4 RBI) came in a 9-3 win v. BAK and the other two came in a 8-3 win over Tempe - also with 4 RBI. H was a combined 5-9 in those two and, if you do the math, 2-10 in the other three games he played...

- Raul Munoz may just be one of those guys needing an extra week of ST. After a .250 start, he was 7-20 with 2-2B, a 3B and homer - his first XBH of the year - Neat... the 'other' Munoz, rookie Tony, so a steep decline 3-21. Too soon to make a judgement - ample time to let this play out, but for the week, it's nonetheless Not So Neat...

- The other rookies also had a bit of a fall back to earth, Pedro de la Cruz was 4-18, but did have a double and homer, and Jose Aleman was 6-24 - but with 3-2B and 4 SB...

- Speaking of SB's - Aurora had 16 in 18 attempts - the two unsuccessful were Tony Munoz v. Mauro Mata... All in All - Neat!

- And just because - there are 9 teams in the SL with fewer homers than Aurora! Will it stay that way? Nah... but we are tied for 5th!!

- Armando Batista may not have gone deep in his two starts (5.2 v. BAK and 5.0 v. TEM) but he allowed just a run to the Bears in the 2-1 loss, and 2 R to the Knights in the 8-3 win to cap the week. He's 2-0 with a 2.65 ERA - a Neat start for the Cuban leftie!

- Also Neat is Brian Clark, who held Tempe to 2 H in 6 IP and has allowed just a run in 3 GS - Neat-O...