Maple had its best month of the season in August going 16-12, however; an early 1-3 start in September has us sitting 5 games back of San Francisco in 3rd place in the Thurman Munson League Billy Martin Division.
We might not be a collective group of the best teams in the ABL, however; each year our division races have come down to the wire! Jersey who is in last place is just as likely to win this division this year as San Francisco who sits in 1st place. I am going to predict that 80 wins will win this division this year!
In September we have the following schedule ahead:
Home
1 x South Carolina
3 x Jersey
3 x Las Vegas
3 x Cabo
4 x San Francisco
Away
3 x Boston
3 x Eureka
3 x South Carolina
1 x Jersey
In October:
Away
2 x Jersey
So overall 14 at HOME and 12 AWAY for the Marauders. To get to 80 wins I will need to go 16-10 the rest of the way. This looks on paper to be a big task as we face playoff teams Cabo, Las Vegas and Eureka. We will need to get the broom sticks out at HOME vs. SF, Jersey and South Carolina to have this happen. We are also hoping our record in close games pays dividends as the pressure turns on. We are 8-3 in Extra Inning games and 19-18 in 1 run games.
September Call Ups:
Maple has called up the following players for their stretch run:
Ramon Torres MR - He will add some depth in long relief for a team that has a very tired pen.
Don Strickland 1B - Remember his glorious 1st season in the ABL? After acquiring Vic Jennings from Las Vegas he was a lost member of the Maple Organization. He could provide that clutch pH off the bench and also is a vacuum cleaner at 1B defensively
John Powers CF - Our OF has been on / off injured all season and our biggest weakness defensively has been the CF job. Powers can hopefully contribute as well offensively. He was the source of many trades at the deadline which Maple passed on.
Tom Hunter 2B/INF - Tom is no stranger to the ABL. He is also a defensive specialist that will be asked to fill in at 2B/SS/3B as needed. He might also get the odd RF duty during the final weeks of the season.
Oliver Davis LF - Oliver has been a terror to minor league pitching. Like so many others he has yet to get his chance and prove his value at the ABL level. This might be his last opportunity to make an impression.
Antonio Alvarez CF - Similar to John Powers, Antonio is an interesting prospect and based on his defensive capabilities and the numerous injuries and fatigue in the OF he will get some swings and also some late inning work.
Minor League Report:
George Evans OF will remain in the AAA Astoria team the rest of the way barring any further injury to big club. He is likely to roam the OF for Maple next season joining youngster Billy Greer. Evans is hitting .293 bavg, .357 obpct and .606 slugging so far this year in 108 games at AAA including 35 bombs. If you had this to his AA #s he is on pace to hit 50+ HRs in the minors this year!
Brad Thomas OF has been fast tracked to AAA Astoria after some excellent play at Kingwood A ball. Brad has come out of no where on the organization depth chart to rank among the top 100 specs. He was hitting .285 bavg. .382 obpct and .417 slugging this year with 32 extra base hits (16 HRs) in 128 games so far this year.
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Maple July in Review
Maple sits in 3rd place tied with South Carolina and 2.5 games back of San Francisco as July comes and goes in the ABL. Despite a 47-57 record, Maple stays alive in the subpar Billy Martin TML Division.
Maple did comes to terms with Mile High for SP Jesse George. Maple sent $2M cash + SP Jesse George for young SP Jeff Andrews who will instantly get a promotion to Astoria in AAA and 2B Kazuhiro Kojima who also gets the instant promotion to AA. We hate to see Mr. Consistency go but, we don't feel we can win the championship this season with the likes of Cabo San Lucas and Nottinghamshire around. This will free up some contract money next year in free agency for Maple and we will play the wait and see game with both prospects of which are borderline ABL players at this point in their projection.
Maple finished July at 12-15. We have slipped in the team batting categories and team pitching has been overall respectable and still a surprise to us. Losing George will hurt our Team ERA which ranks 5th in the TML currently. Ron Cutter has been hot of late in the CL roles since Johnny Tiller went on the 60 day DL. Ron in his past 16 G, 9 SV, 0.52 ERA and 21 Ks in 17.1 IP. Also hot is Dan Wilder in his new SP role, he has gone 1-0, 1.57 ERA in his last 5 G with 22 Ks in 23 IP. Highly touted spec Dave Guenette 3B just can't get it going at the ABL level, since his call up he has struggled in his opportunity going 9 for 79, .114 bavg with 0 HR, 5RBI in 22G. The organization is growing impatient with him and perhaps a change of scenery is best for him at this point in his career. Anthony Lewis OF coming off waivers as unclaimed sparked him to a super 17 for 42 clip, .405 bavg, 4 HR and 10 RBI in his past 12 G. Anthony was pretty vocal about his disappointment being waived by Maple's management. It is clear if you don't produce the patience in MAPLE will be short with any high paid players.
Maple management is very high on OF George Evans who at AAA is batting .273/.337/.553 with 21 HR in 311 ABs for Astoria. He might join Billy Greer in the OF next year for Maple :-) CL Manny Palma was demoted back to AA based on his wild performance at AAA this year. OF Brad Thomas has been a pleasant surprise at A Kingwood this year batting .296/.381/.426 with 12 HR in 371 AB. He might get promoted to AA by the end of August if he continues to swing the bat at this pace.
Astoria in AAA is 45-59, 13 1/2 GB and in 6th place; Sandy Springs AA is 55-50, 8 GB and in 3rd place and finally Kingwood A is 59-45, 14 1/2 GB and in 4th place despite playing over .500 for the first time in their teams history.
Maple's MVP is Billy Greer so far. This OF is batting .300 with 26 dingers, 62 RBI and recently moved over to DH with the call up of defensive specialist Antonio Alvarez to roam CF.
It will be interesting to see who gets the September call ups from Maple this year as there are a few youngster that would benefit from some ABL experience going into next year. Then again, we might be in 1st place in this division so you never know what can happen in the wild and worst division in ABL baseball...
Jason/Maple
Maple did comes to terms with Mile High for SP Jesse George. Maple sent $2M cash + SP Jesse George for young SP Jeff Andrews who will instantly get a promotion to Astoria in AAA and 2B Kazuhiro Kojima who also gets the instant promotion to AA. We hate to see Mr. Consistency go but, we don't feel we can win the championship this season with the likes of Cabo San Lucas and Nottinghamshire around. This will free up some contract money next year in free agency for Maple and we will play the wait and see game with both prospects of which are borderline ABL players at this point in their projection.
Maple finished July at 12-15. We have slipped in the team batting categories and team pitching has been overall respectable and still a surprise to us. Losing George will hurt our Team ERA which ranks 5th in the TML currently. Ron Cutter has been hot of late in the CL roles since Johnny Tiller went on the 60 day DL. Ron in his past 16 G, 9 SV, 0.52 ERA and 21 Ks in 17.1 IP. Also hot is Dan Wilder in his new SP role, he has gone 1-0, 1.57 ERA in his last 5 G with 22 Ks in 23 IP. Highly touted spec Dave Guenette 3B just can't get it going at the ABL level, since his call up he has struggled in his opportunity going 9 for 79, .114 bavg with 0 HR, 5RBI in 22G. The organization is growing impatient with him and perhaps a change of scenery is best for him at this point in his career. Anthony Lewis OF coming off waivers as unclaimed sparked him to a super 17 for 42 clip, .405 bavg, 4 HR and 10 RBI in his past 12 G. Anthony was pretty vocal about his disappointment being waived by Maple's management. It is clear if you don't produce the patience in MAPLE will be short with any high paid players.
Maple management is very high on OF George Evans who at AAA is batting .273/.337/.553 with 21 HR in 311 ABs for Astoria. He might join Billy Greer in the OF next year for Maple :-) CL Manny Palma was demoted back to AA based on his wild performance at AAA this year. OF Brad Thomas has been a pleasant surprise at A Kingwood this year batting .296/.381/.426 with 12 HR in 371 AB. He might get promoted to AA by the end of August if he continues to swing the bat at this pace.
Astoria in AAA is 45-59, 13 1/2 GB and in 6th place; Sandy Springs AA is 55-50, 8 GB and in 3rd place and finally Kingwood A is 59-45, 14 1/2 GB and in 4th place despite playing over .500 for the first time in their teams history.
Maple's MVP is Billy Greer so far. This OF is batting .300 with 26 dingers, 62 RBI and recently moved over to DH with the call up of defensive specialist Antonio Alvarez to roam CF.
It will be interesting to see who gets the September call ups from Maple this year as there are a few youngster that would benefit from some ABL experience going into next year. Then again, we might be in 1st place in this division so you never know what can happen in the wild and worst division in ABL baseball...
Jason/Maple
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Maple Month in Review - June
Maple improved their play in June after a poor May going 12-14, and still staying within striking range, 2.5 games back in the TML Billy Martin division. At home Maple is playing .500 ball and on the road struggling at 16-24 for an overall record of 36-44 for the season.
Team Batting statistics are pretty much middle of the pack ranging from a low of 5th overall in the TML to a high of 12th in the TML overall. Power on the batting side is still a strong point with 90 HRs on the season and not getting on base with free passes is hurting the team with only 212 bases on balls.
Team Pitching statistics are a bit stronger for Maple. We rank #1 in Strikeouts meanwhile we are 10th in giving up the long ball. We expected our pitching to be a weakness this year but, so far the youngsters are holding their own.
Maple made some adjustments in June. First move was to place Dan Wilder in the rotation. There was a lot of interest from teams in acquiring him but, we have decided to see what he can do for us on the mound as a starting pitcher. So far in two starts he has been very good, 1-0 with 13.1 IP, 7 HA, 4 ER, 1 HRA, 3 BB, 7Ks. In both games Maple ended up winning (Vs. GEO and vs. SFE). The 2nd big move was the call up of 2B Eric Rice, 3B Dave Guenette and CF Antonio Alvarez. Dave Guenette was a highly rated prospect but has yet to find his stride at the ABL level. This could be his last shot. Eric Rice has been a surprise player ever since being picked in the 7th Round of the draft a couple of years ago. Alvarez was taken in the same draft as Rice but in Round 2. So far Rice is doing the best, batting .368 and a RC/27 of 7.64. Alvarez and Guenette are struggling to bat their weight.
Down on the farm;
Astoria AAA - Kevin McConnel DH has really picked up his game hitting .288 with 11 HRs and 46 RBI. Nobody has really stood out on the mound so far.
Sandy Springs AA - Antonio Paz 1B has been mr. consistent batting .363 with 14 HRs and 60 RBI. On the mound Joshua Goldberg who has struggled at AAA is a solid contributor at the AA level with a 2.16 ERA.
Kingwood A - Brad Thomas OF is leading the way with a .279 bavg, 7 HRs and 36 RBI. Nobody has really stood out on the mound so far.
Playoffs at the minor league level maybe in the sights for Sandy Springs sitting at 44-37 and 2.5 games back. Kingwood who has never reach .500 is playing their best baseball ever sitting at 46-36 but 12.5 games back.
The Maple minor league system has dropped to last in the league according to the experts at OSA, however; keep in mind that most of the solid prospects for Maple are at the ABL level at this time.
The goal for this team is to improve and get younger and keep the financial machine turning out money. We feel we can still move a few aging players such as Jesse George SP to a contender and still compete in the Billy Martin division.
Jason/GM Maple
Team Batting statistics are pretty much middle of the pack ranging from a low of 5th overall in the TML to a high of 12th in the TML overall. Power on the batting side is still a strong point with 90 HRs on the season and not getting on base with free passes is hurting the team with only 212 bases on balls.
Team Pitching statistics are a bit stronger for Maple. We rank #1 in Strikeouts meanwhile we are 10th in giving up the long ball. We expected our pitching to be a weakness this year but, so far the youngsters are holding their own.
Maple made some adjustments in June. First move was to place Dan Wilder in the rotation. There was a lot of interest from teams in acquiring him but, we have decided to see what he can do for us on the mound as a starting pitcher. So far in two starts he has been very good, 1-0 with 13.1 IP, 7 HA, 4 ER, 1 HRA, 3 BB, 7Ks. In both games Maple ended up winning (Vs. GEO and vs. SFE). The 2nd big move was the call up of 2B Eric Rice, 3B Dave Guenette and CF Antonio Alvarez. Dave Guenette was a highly rated prospect but has yet to find his stride at the ABL level. This could be his last shot. Eric Rice has been a surprise player ever since being picked in the 7th Round of the draft a couple of years ago. Alvarez was taken in the same draft as Rice but in Round 2. So far Rice is doing the best, batting .368 and a RC/27 of 7.64. Alvarez and Guenette are struggling to bat their weight.
Down on the farm;
Astoria AAA - Kevin McConnel DH has really picked up his game hitting .288 with 11 HRs and 46 RBI. Nobody has really stood out on the mound so far.
Sandy Springs AA - Antonio Paz 1B has been mr. consistent batting .363 with 14 HRs and 60 RBI. On the mound Joshua Goldberg who has struggled at AAA is a solid contributor at the AA level with a 2.16 ERA.
Kingwood A - Brad Thomas OF is leading the way with a .279 bavg, 7 HRs and 36 RBI. Nobody has really stood out on the mound so far.
Playoffs at the minor league level maybe in the sights for Sandy Springs sitting at 44-37 and 2.5 games back. Kingwood who has never reach .500 is playing their best baseball ever sitting at 46-36 but 12.5 games back.
The Maple minor league system has dropped to last in the league according to the experts at OSA, however; keep in mind that most of the solid prospects for Maple are at the ABL level at this time.
The goal for this team is to improve and get younger and keep the financial machine turning out money. We feel we can still move a few aging players such as Jesse George SP to a contender and still compete in the Billy Martin division.
Jason/GM Maple
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)