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

[Badgers]

I am, admittedly, being whiny at this juncture but this game continues to mystify me. We've reached a statistically significant amount of ABs (200) and the guy with 7/9 contact, 7/7 eye, 7/8 avoid K's is batting .190 with only a .244 OBP. He doesn't have low adaptability (and played 30 games for me at the same level last September anyway). Even if my scout is off by a bit, OSA actually has his contact higher and his avoid K's the same, with 6/6 instead of 7/7 eye. It seems impossible for both sources to be so wrong?

By this standard I guess I am inclined to be happy that CLOGGER is at .196/.265 given he sacrifices avoid K's for power comparatively and is brand new to the team. But when you are relatively pleased with someone for hitting below the Mendoza line that is a bad sign.

Overall despite spending big and having by far my best team ever on paper, I find myself about to fall below an expansion team in my own division and playoff relevance is quickly fading even before we hit June. Five regular starters below the Mendoza line and not a single bench player hitting above .119, even when the league adjustments to hitting go in this team will still look pretty anemic compared to the competition.

My next 6 games are all within the Trans Atlantic, so it feels like a bit of a make or break week for the team. Already. Ugh.


On the long-term good news front, I have continued to raise ticket prices with every sim this season and have still been filling the building so at least my financials are going through the roof. Currently at a 25.4% increase in revenue per game!

One thing I have found that works is figuring out where in the lineup a player hits best. For some reason Claudio Perez cant seem to hit a ball if he is batting 3rd, but regains that skill at 4, 5, or 6. Same with Sam Olson. He hit .190ish, maybe lower last season, but now is at .300ish. He is a bottom of the lineup guy that doesn't produce many runs or RBIs, but he is at least getting on base more.

[Underground]

I am, admittedly, being whiny at this juncture but this game continues to mystify me. We've reached a statistically significant amount of ABs (200) and the guy with 7/9 contact, 7/7 eye, 7/8 avoid K's is batting .190 with only a .244 OBP. He doesn't have low adaptability (and played 30 games for me at the same level last September anyway). Even if my scout is off by a bit, OSA actually has his contact higher and his avoid K's the same, with 6/6 instead of 7/7 eye. It seems impossible for both sources to be so wrong?

By this standard I guess I am inclined to be happy that CLOGGER is at .196/.265 given he sacrifices avoid K's for power comparatively and is brand new to the team. But when you are relatively pleased with someone for hitting below the Mendoza line that is a bad sign.

Overall despite spending big and having by far my best team ever on paper, I find myself about to fall below an expansion team in my own division and playoff relevance is quickly fading even before we hit June. Five regular starters below the Mendoza line and not a single bench player hitting above .119, even when the league adjustments to hitting go in this team will still look pretty anemic compared to the competition.

My next 6 games are all within the Trans Atlantic, so it feels like a bit of a make or break week for the team. Already. Ugh.


On the long-term good news front, I have continued to raise ticket prices with every sim this season and have still been filling the building so at least my financials are going through the roof. Currently at a 25.4% increase in revenue per game!

One thing I have found that works is figuring out where in the lineup a player hits best. For some reason Claudio Perez cant seem to hit a ball if he is batting 3rd, but regains that skill at 4, 5, or 6. Same with Sam Olson. He hit .190ish, maybe lower last season, but now is at .300ish. He is a bottom of the lineup guy that doesn't produce many runs or RBIs, but he is at least getting on base more.

I am trying to balance trying guys out in different spots with also not wanting to move guys around every sim, as it's probably not ideal to be evaluating from 6-7 game sample sizes at a time. One case where it clearly has worked is moving Jose Cruz up the order. In a few weeks he's blossomed into my best hitter pretty much, but the move hasn't stoked the flames of any other part of my lineup. Few more shifts coming for Thursday, we'll see.

[Borealis]

Not So Neats abound as a strong start has fizzled into mediocrity with a 10-9 mark over the past three weeks, where beating Yuma and Okinawa is as tough as beating Crystal Lake and Toyama.

- Pedro de la Cruz has definitely mimicked the clubs struggles - his average dropping from .290 at the start of May to .222, and his 8 E in 40 games are the most in the SL - with only 10% RTO. We knew it wouldn't be pretty, but it goes beyond a simple Not So Neat...
- Richard Neely has contributed big time to the slide - losing all four of his May starts (CL, OKA, YUM, and TOY) in ugly fashion: 20 IP, 27 H, 17 R, 4 HR, 9 K and 6 BB - he allowed just 3 HR in his previous 6 starts. His ERA has ballooned from 3.13 to 4.71...

- On the bright side, Raul Munoz - still burning over last seasons batting title chase, has a 23-game hitting streak and is hitting .348 - doubles are down, but homers are up and he looks a cinch to improve his WAR for a third straight season - Neat-O!
- Then there is the case of Ed Madore, who is off to a fabulous start - hitting .312 and has stolen 18 of 20 bases.

- I'd be remise not to mention 'Matchbox' at this moment, for whatever he didn't supply after his trade deadline acquisition, he's giving Aurora this season: .275, 12 HR and 36 RBI. Without Claudio, Aurora - tied for 14th in the SL with 39 (with Duluth) would be dead last by a WHOLE LOT of homers as Aurora continues to struggle with the long ball...

[Apollos]

While overall Tempe continues to disappoint, we’re finally starting to see silver linings in the desert as some of the first wave of prospects make their way to the majors. 2B Juan Rincon who was a mild disappointment in his first big league action last year has cemented his position in the lineup and is producing at a very solid clip, currently on pace for a 5+ WAR season as he hits .279/.335/.404 on the year.

Newly promoted C Alejandro “Evil Genius” Garcia is doing exactly what we called him up to do - put the damn ball in play - and despite a recent and expected drop in BABIP, is still chugging along with an almost .700 OPS. Given where the Tempe offense has lived for the last couple seasons, we’ll take that kind of production from the catcher position.

The real question thus far this season is what’s going on with prized offseason trade acquisition Jacob Gill. We acquired him to be a middle of the lineup staple for the next decade and he’s been anything but, thus far OPSing below .400 It’s been an awful season for him which was likely made worse by a demotion to triple A in hopes that he’d straighten himself out. That hasn’t happened as yet.

[Ghosts]

Neat:

Almost a third of the way into a season and it continues to be a confusing and miserable season in Niihama, but at least our minor leagues had a good week. Our AAA through SS-A teams went a combined 23-3.

SP Jerome Evans continued to make all-star noise with his 2 hit shutout of Reno. He's been player of the game for four straight starts.

IF Miguel "Headhunter" Fernandez saved the day with a 2 HR game to eek out a 5-4 win over Madison. He's now owns a .915 OPS in 91 PAs.

Not so neat:
Rookie RF Harold Stowe continued to struggle and will return to the minors, presumably for the remainder of the year. He amassed an OPS+ of 7 in his debut.

[Thoroughbreds]

33-24 overall now after going 8-2 in the last 10.

Kowalski had a 3 homer game against San Antonio - he now leads the league in RBI's and is 2nd in homers. We managed to give George Moss of Florida his first loss of the season.

Not sure what to do in CF - Bermudez is really struggling with a .168 average.

[Arroyos]

With 8 decisive losses in their last ten games, the Yuma Arroyos have, at last, assumed the position they are annually assigned at the bottom of the Desert Hills. Relief accompanies the news. The Yuma police chief can stand down the riot squad, the Suicide Hot Line volunteers don't have to work double shifts, the Emergency Room waiting time will diminish from hours to minutes, and all of the Yuma Front Office personnel will be getting a full night's worth of sleep. The sleepy desert town of Yuma, Arizona can stop pepping up on expresso and enjoy a bite from Anna's Taco Truck. The PEBAverse has self-corrected and all is well. Winning produces such anxiety.

[Badgers]

This isn't necessarily an update from this sim, but Cheong-Sang Yun has officially become Kalamazoo's career strikeout leader with 1279 K's in his 3 1/2 years in PEBA.

[Ghosts]

This isn't necessarily an update from this sim, but Cheong-Sang Yun has officially become Kalamazoo's career strikeout leader with 1279 K's in his 3 1/2 years in PEBA.

Lol WOW. That is just... astounding.

Niihama doesn't have a tremendous history of success on any level, so we've been enjoying some record setting at a high pace. Garry Charron just set a new single game runs record for Niihama at 5 runs. He went 5/5, homering off star Toyoma pitcher Alfredo Gonzalez twice to open the game. That led to a 12-2 rout of the powerhouse Windies and was the first game of a three game sweep of Toyoma. I honestly don't know if Niihama has ever swept Toyoma, but it's been a while for sure - at least since the expansion.

[Reg]

A 3-3 sim. I'll take it.

My manager is still hell-bent to put guys like Bob Villa as leadoff (batting .148 right now), when we have a perfectly capable guy in Louis Kossan. He's not 'fully' the ideal leadoff guy, as I wish he could steal a bit more, but still. Silly managers...

Our team has been gradually showing signs of life and has finally started to hit, even if pitching needs to be stupidly good to even compete in PEBA right now.....

I'm not expecting a playoff push, but I feel there is a possible .500 team in here somewhere.

[Arroyos]

For the umpteenth year in a row, Yuma has signed all of the rookies we drafted. There will likely be a party with cake and rum punch to celebrate. (Losing teams have to find alternative events to celebrate.)

[JDC]

7th round pick, catcher Tony Fuller, hit a home run in his first at-bat for Class A Kingston Suns in a 7-2 loss at Utrecht on June 4th, 2035, the same day he was drafted. Fuller pinch-hit in the 8th inning before playing 1B the rest of the game. This has been Fuller's only appearance thus far for the Suns.

[Ghosts]

Orlando Barron, signed off the street in late April and promoted to the PEBA roster in mid May, hit his 2000th hit in a 10-3 win over Palm Springs.

The Ghosts stayed hot this week, going 5-1 while sweeping the Codgers and beating Toyoma 2-1. They won nine in a row, which is the longest streak since our return (and by a wide margin I would think). We're still virtually hopelessly out of contention, but it feels good to see some quality performances out of players that have struggled.

Ernest Middleton, who was our assigned all-star last year, opened the season by earning a 5.85 ERA and blowing 4 saves in 12 attempts. After a rocky stint in AAA, the injury to Shohei Murakami lent him the chance to start. He held Toyoma to 6 hits, 0 BBs, 2 R (1 ER), while striking out 7 in a 7.1 inning appearance. The Ghosts won 6-2 off his player of the game performance.

Also called upon to fill Murakami's spot was Takuji Kino, who continued to show himself very capable as a PEBA starter. He pitched a 3 hit shutout in a 10-0 rout of the Codgers.

The offense stayed red hot - 7 players posted OPS+ marks in excess of 200 for the week. Webb, Zambrano, Charron, McDonald and Gilberto Fernandez led the charge, each homering at least once this week.

[Apollos]

The offense stayed red hot - 7 players posted OPS+ marks in excess of 200 for the week. Webb, Zambrano, Charron, McDonald and Gilberto Fernandez led the charge, each homering at least once this week.

Perhaps all those guys needed to motivate them, was the threat of a trade. Glad to see the Ghosts making some hay

[Borealis]

While the Big League club seems stuck in a treading water kind of a mode, a few Neats from the Farm:

- 3B David Simmons, Aurora's top pick in 2029 (33rd overall), has been on a slow simmer his entire pro career, but he finally feels like he's about ready for The Show. Coming off a week in which he was the RML PoW, he was 2-2 with a homer and was MVP of the GBB All-Star Game. Simmons is on pace to set personal highs in most categories: he's hitting .281 with 12 HR and 43 RBI. He's scheduled to spend the winter working on his otherwise pathetic defense.
- CF Angel Silva, the oft desired trade piece, may find himself with Aurora before the season - and before September, is hitting .308 with 9 HR and 28 SB (though he's been caught 14 times - suggesting he has Arundale-itis).
- If you want to know who are the toughest teams in the PCAL, take a look at Victorino 'Lanza' Guerra's record. The 21-year old future starter for the Borealis is 6-2 with a 2.39 ERA in 14 GS. He has 111 K and 21 BB in 86.2 IP. Half those starts he has allowed 0 runs. He's allowed just 1 in starts and 2 in 2 starts. He has four games in which he allowed 4 or 5 runs - the most he's allowed on the year, and two were Seoul (SS) and two were to Quebec City (TEM). Get rid of those four starts and his ERA drops to 0.84.
- CL Toshikuni Kichida, a 3rd round pick last season (I think Aurora's top pick), had 27 saves and a 0.93 ERA at Short A last year, and he's continuing to be tremendous, with 16 saves and a 2.01 ERA at A Ball, with 30 K and 7 BB in 22 IP. Kichida is close to ready for The Show - so say the scouts, and will get a AA promotion once the NAFTA All-Star game passes.

Fun Fact: Mokule’ia SP, 7th round pick (2034), Spencer Williams opened the season with 31.2 consecutive scoreless innings before allowing a 2-out homer in the the 5th to Lana'i City's (PS) Huai-yu Eng. That left Williams ERA at 0.27 with 37 K in 33 IP. He also has 16 K. His future may be in the bullpen, but for now, he's having a great 2035.