Why did Maple Management look to improve at 3B?

Rosters have expanded in the ABL in season #10 - 2021.  Maple is in a great position to win the Billy Martin division in the TML.  Jersey and South Carolina are giving us a run but, a double digit lead this late in the season places the Marauders in an unique position they have never been in before.  This division usually comes down to the wire but, this year Maple has to decide to continue to plug away with the regulars are look to rest some players for the post season.  We are not counting a playoff spot until we pop the champagne but, with a magic # down to 16 we are close.  We have a tough game remaining tonight versus South Carolina who is 1 of only 2 teams we have a losing record with this year (Eureka is the other team).  Then we fly north to Jersey to face a strong team coached by a GM that actually spoke today or yesterday - I can't remember.  Then we continue to fly north home to face a team that we aspire to be after this season is over and that is an ABL Championship club.  Kansas City is still fighting for their playoff lives with a slim lead in the Wild Card race in the TML.  Maple would love to play spoiler here for sure.

So rosters expand and this is an exciting time of year.  So many players in the organization so many choices.  Some are personal & some are made with smarts.  Our first move prior to the SIM tonight is having Bill "The SINGER" Nelson, OF on a REHAB stint to Astoria, NY.  Bill is a critical player to our offense and we don't want to take any chances prior to the playoffs.  My second move was a sentimental one in calling up Don Strickland, 1B from Astoria AAA to the big club for his last hoorah! in the ABL.  Those original ABL GMs will remember his early days on Maple where he started his career as a R18 pick in the inaugural draft #423 overall.  Don had a dream first season, winning a gold glove, player of the week twice and rookie of the month.  Nobody expected him to hit .332 bavg with 20 homers that season!  Don will have some value on the team during the stretch run as his defense is still very solid and he will give some late inning rest to Blake Reynolds.  Our other moves included;  Archie Sardeson INF, Brian Daniels MR, Jake Robinson SP and Martin Jenkins OF being called to Maple for the stretch run.  This will be the last stunt with Maple for Archie as he will become a Free Agent in the offseason.  Daniels and Robinson are getting close looks for next years team.  Martin Jenkins was a highly touted player in our organization acquired from New York.  His OF defense will be a welcomed addition late in games.

So back to the title of this PR - why did Maple look at 3B before the trade deadline?

The answer is clearly below:

By Position (regular season games only)

Split G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS C 136 531 64 150 27 1 19 84 34 104 0 0 .282 .324 .444 .769 1B 136 533 80 140 22 1 29 80 46 120 2 0 .263 .327 .471 .798 2B 136 551 76 154 50 3 11 61 39 113 18 8 .279 .324 .441 .765 3B 136 494 60 109 18 6 7 41 34 86 9 5 .221 .276 .324 .599 SS 136 494 49 106 27 4 3 52 34 128 23 10 .215 .264 .304 .568 LF 136 527 85 160 34 4 24 83 44 92 10 4 .304 .364 .520 .884 CF 136 506 90 145 28 6 30 87 65 116 28 14 .287 .378 .543 .922 RF 136 519 80 154 22 10 9 71 54 38 16 12 .297 .369 .430 .798 DH 136 542 86 158 36 5 24 85 49 85 15 2 .292 .349 .509 .858

Good luck to everyone in the stretch run!

Maple in July finished at 14-10 and has started August in a disappointing 2-5 record.  Maple continues to lead the TML Billy Martin Division by 8 games over Jersey and the pesky Bombers of Sout Carolina by 10.  San Francisco is looking towards the 2022 season.

We haven't done well since being swept by Portland in a 4 game series, said #GOLDI.  Playing .500 ball the rest of the way may still get us in the playoffs though.  Like many other teams in the ABL, we have suffered through our share of injuries and when that begins to hit the consistency of the team is thrown off a bit.  Namely the hitting has been off of late and when our big guys get back we will be fine.  Pitching has no doubt been a blessing for us this year.  Gould, Nelson, Ramos and the sparkling pen have been simply awesome.

Some interesting statistics about Maple so far this year:

We have an upcoming series vs. South Carolina and what I have learned about our batters versus them this year is not so impressive.  We are hitting .215 against them the 2nd worst of any ABL team (SoCAL #1 @.194).  An important 4 game set tonight to see if Maple will hold server, take a bigger lead or will another team such as South Carolina bring some pressure to the race.

Maple is 61-5 after leading through 8 innings this year.  Maple is 3-31 after trailing through 8 innings.  Maple is 53-11 when we score at least 5 runs in a game.

Maple is a remarkable 19-0 versus the following ABL teams:  Cabo San Lucas 7-0, Brooklyn 3-0, Carolina 3-0, Seattle 3-0 and Duke City 3-0.

Prospects Watch:

CF Felipe Navarro has taken off since being picked in R2 #44 overall in the past years Amateur draft.  He started off in Single A and after batting .377 with a 1.100 OPS he was promoted quickly to Double A where he has settled in at .270 and .808 OPS.  Our scouts didn't see a lot of raw talent there but, we saw a hard working player that tries hard at everything he does in life.  He plays an excellent CF and can handle 1B too.  He also has top notch speed.

Maple Marauders Update

Big Club UPDATE:

Maple jumped out in front in the Billy Martin Division in the TML very early on and appear destined to win another division title.  We have a 7.5 game lead over Jersey and despite a recent tail spin the pitching should no doubt carry this club into the playoffs.  South Carolina and San Francisco are both double digits behind as we near the Allstar game.  Maple has had some lineup inconsistencies, however; we are getting healthier despite Bill Nelson OF going on the 60 day DL this past SIM.  What has been a great surprise has been our over matching pitching in both the starters and bullpen.  We are 1st in the TML in ERA, Starters ERA, Bullpen ERA, RA, HA, Opp AVG and Ks.  The bats though are pretty much in the middle of the pack if not lower in major hitting categories.

We are doing well equally vs. southpaws and RHP.  We are doing great in 1 run games 18-14 with our only poor record coming in Extra Inning games at 3-6.  Our Winning Pct though has been dropping each month from .750, .643 to .571.  In July we are sitting 2-1, .667 but it is still early.  We suffered a huge sweep vs. Portland that has sent the team in a bit of a tail spin at 3-7 in our last 10.

Our best bat has been Arama "Valley" Huanu OF, .332 AVG, 16 HR, 61 RBI, 9 SB.  Our best arm has been Maurice "Doughboy" Gould SP, 11-4, 2.34 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 8.46 K/9.  John Jones from the University of South Carolina (Gary thanks) - has been dominant in the CL role, 4-2, 2.09 ERA, 21 SV, 0.98 WHIP and 15.28 K/9.  The staff features 2 other star SPs in Jose "Smooth" Ramos and Jake "The Snake" Nelson each with ERA well below 4.00.

Amateur Draft Summary:

Round 1 #15 overall

Srinivasan Shubhashish, SP

He is currently starting in A Ball for Kingwood but, will most definitely anchor a bullpen in the near future for Maple.  He is elite in all categories including 2 elite pitches.

Round 2 #44 overall

Felipe Navarro, CF

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  Not sure he will ever make it to the ABL level unless he improves his contact.  His defense at a hard to play position in the ABL may see him as a 4th OF type.

Round 3 #73 overall

Greg Green, RF

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  We like his batting abilities and especially his power to all fields.  He needs to work on his defense otherwise he may end up as a DH only in the ABL.

Round 4 #99 overall

Wayne Soileau, 2B

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  Very similar to Greg Green we love his bat and also his speed.  He will need to work on his defense if he wants stick with a middle infield position at 2B in the ABL.  If not, he might be a DH type player.

Farm System:

Astoria AAA is in 2nd place 3.5 games back while Sandy Springs AA and Kingwood A are both in 1st place in their respective divisions.  The Maple farm system has been one of the best in terms of results the past several years and this year we look to be in position once again to possibly send all three minor league affiliates to the playoffs.

The OSA ranks the players within our organization in dead last #24 overall.

Key players include:

Dustin "Bird" McMahon, 3B (#49 ranked) - acquired from Duke City recently, this hot corner man has been promoted to Maple and is seeing full time play.  A .521 OPS is not a great start by any means but, we are going to give him more than a fare shake at keeping this job.  To make room for him on the roster, Garrett Bennett was demoted to AAA.

Loeck "No Name" Jurgens, SP (#87 ranked) - discovered in the Netherlands and promoted to A ball from the International Complex this SP has been effective with very average statistics.  4-3, 4.32 ERA in 17 GS, WHIP 1.65.  We love his change up and control and based on that we feel he will be at the ABL level within the next 3 years.

Close but no cigar...

Maple's run at a league championship ended in 5 games vs. SoCAL.  We were just over matched by a better club in all areas.

It was a great run by a team that has rebounded nicely after a few seasons of horrible baseball.  The owner is happy, the fans are happy and more importantly #GOLDI is happy with the teams' direction for the 2021 season.

Maple ownership made $62+ M last year and set an attendance record at 4,559,305 fans.  Maple also set a team record for team batting avg at .283 and BABIP at .328.  The 2020 season was the 5th time in 9 years that Maple has made it to the playoffs.  The 4 time division champs made it in this season as wild card losing the division title to SF by 1/2 game.

We were very happy with the 2020 Amateur draft results as well.  Pitchers:  Durrani, Stroud, Hanson & Hastings all look to have a chance to make it to the ABL one day!

Meanwhile in the farm system, Single A Kingwood won their 3 straight league championship and AAA Astoria and AA Sandy Springs were eliminated in Round 1 of the playoffs.  It was the 2nd consecutive season in the ABL that the Maple organization sent 4 teams to the post season.  Last year we won 3 minor league titles and were knocked off in the ABL playoffs by Jacksonville.

One area where we have slipped is in the minor league rankings.  Maple currently sits at #24 with 0 points.  We have been promoting some of our youngsters especially in the OF to cover for injuries of late and have made some risky trades to improve now thus, this has hurt our overall minors system ranking in the ABL.

We are excited entering the 2021 season with stars ready to go;  Maurice Gould will again anchor the starting rotation with Jake Nelson as the #2 man.  The batting lineup is again loaded with Bill Nelson, Bartolo Valentin, Brad Thomas and Ronnie Talley leading the way.  Watch out for 2nd year players Pete Moore and Arama Huanu in the OF to step up big time in 2021.  Blake Reynolds at 1B and SS Sardeson now don't have to feel all the pressure in performing at a high level.

Maple makes it to the POST SEASON!

Maple needed 163 games to make it and they did!  After going 0-7 in the sim prior to the final week of the season;  the fans weren't holding their breath.  However; the team pulled off a 4-2 final week despite losing on the last day to end up tied with Kansas City to force a 1 game tie-breaker for the TML Wild Card spot.  San Francisco who was a dark horse all year came through with the Billy Martin Division title ending up 1 game ahead of the Marauders.

Maple had their best month in August going an incredible 21-6! but cooled off in September with a 15-13 record and then finally in October going 3-2 including the win vs. KC in Game #163.  This was by far the most balanced team we have coached said, #GOLDI after the win at home vs. KC.  The team in both hitting and pitching was in the top half of the TML including;  3rd overall in the ABL in FIP.  The acquisition of Maurice Gould SP really paid off this year as he led the ABL in Ks with 249 and WINS with 21!  Bill "THE SINGER" Nelson OF also tied Oliver North for the league lead in SBs at 60!  Very unusual to see individual stat leaders coming from Maple.

Jake #THE SNAKE Nelson pitched the playoff clincher for Maple in a 3-0 shutout win at home in front of 52,092 fans.  Jake was acquired from Eureka via trade the year before.  Jake (14-14) will now get a chance to face the team that dealt him away in Round 1 of the TML playoffs.

Maple for the 2nd consecutive season will have playoff teams at all levels in the ABL.  Astoria (AAA), Sandy Springs (AA) and Kingwood (A) all qualified by winning their respective divisions.  Last season the minor league affiliates all won their league titles but, Maple was eliminated in Round 1 vs. Jacksonville.

Maple poised for another division title....

Maple is starting to play some good baseball as we enter mid-August of the 2020 season.  The Marauders sit in last place in the TML Billy Martin Division at 4 games back of Jersey.  In addition to playing some better baseball through the summer months, they also have the experience of "being there" when it counts.  We don't expect Jersey to hang around when October comes along.  In August so far Maple has a 6-2 record.  In tonight's sim we have 4 at home vs. Jersey and 2 at home vs South Carolina.  This will be another big sim in this division with a target number of wins set to be 85 in order to win this division again this year.  The team has recently called up two future stars of the ABL in Pete Moore OF and Arama Huanu OF.  The free spot on the roster became available shortly after Marty Silver hit the DL before the trade deadline.

A great addition to the offense has been Bartolo "LEGACY" Valentin OF who probably will be a Super 2 this year and seek a big contract.  He has a 5.7 WAR after 91 games.  The big ?mark for him will be health.  He has missed big chunks of games before and has already seen the DL this year.  Watch out this year for the speed game from Maple who feature Top 3 SB man Bill "THE SINGER" Nelson with 32 swipes so far this season.

A great addition to the pitching staff has been Jose Ramos, SP who was recently acquired from Mile High.  He is on FIRE right now after his two impressive starts with Maple vs. Mile High and San Francisco going 2-0.  Quietly Maple is #2 in the TML in FIP as well.  Lets not forget about Maurice Gould, SP as well.  Maple may have its better staff since the inaugural season in the ABL.

Down on the farm, Maple's organization is in 1st place at the AAA, AA and A levels.  We have a ton of players asking for promotions but, nowhere to play them :-(  We were hoping to make 1-2 more deals at the deadline but, activity this year was "quiet".

We remain confident that we will be on top by seasons end in the Billy Martin division.  We have better hitting, speed and pitching vs. last years club.  We also feel with some luck we could be representing the TML in the World Series.

Maple heads into the Allstar break in 3rd place in the Billy Martin Division, 3.5 GB of San Francisco.  The team troubles vs. Southpaws is becoming a big concern for management.  Currently, Maple is 11-18 vs. Lefties on the season while 31-29 vs. Righties.  Maple also has been subpar on the road at 17-25 while 25-22 at home.  Our record vs. Lefties and on the road will need to improve if we are going to win this division again this year.

Entering the trade deadline, Maple will be on the market for a SP and will be looking to trade from one of the deepest farm systems in the league.

Maple for the first time, will feature two of its top prospects in the OF in Arama Huanu and Pete Moore due to injuries suffered by Bill Nelson and Marty Silver.  We are excited to see what these kids can do up with the big club.  Another surprise this year is the bullpen.  Currently, the pen is 3rd in ERA at 4.09 and improving each month.  Joshua Goldberg who struggled poorly as a Starter is showing signs of bouncing back for a decent year in the pen as a long reliever.  Kent Tukulve Jr. has also been a nice surprise.  Kent is the son of the former MLB submarine closer of a team called the Pirates.  I wonder what happen to that league?  I'm glad the ABL exists!

Maple overall is more balanced as a team so we remain confident we can make the playoffs again this year and hopefully get past the 1st round.

Down on the farm;  Astoria in AAA, Sandy Springs in AA and Kingwood in A ball all lead their divisions.  We have a ton of prospects ready for the promotion but, really no where to put them.  Our best SP prospects Rick Hill and Gabresilassie Cherono have pitched well.  Unfortunately, Rick "BOY" Hill went down with an injury last sim and will miss some time.  Good news is nothing serious about this injury the doctors say;  just a sore shoulder.

This years draft pick is turning heads - John Stroud in A Ball Kingwood.  Stroud has posted a 2-0 record in 4 GS with a 3.28 ERA in 24.2 IP.  We loved him out of College and was really happy to see him slip to us in Round 1 Supplement Pick #2.  This kid is a winner at Auburn and a former allstar caliber player.

We end July with some big series;  4 @ South Carolina, 3 H vs. Jersey and 1 H vs. San Francisco  prior to the Trade Deadline.

Maple is in 2nd place in the TML Billy Martin division 5 games behind San Francisco.  Maple is used to coming from behind to win the division so there is no real panic with just over 100 games left in the 2020 regular season.  Maple has improved each month so far early in the season posting 10-13 opening April result, followed by a 13-15 May and an early 4-3 start in June.

Statistically speaking, Maple ranks no worst than 8th in the TML in any batting category.  3rd in Stolen bases & 8th in Bavg is their best and worst mark in the TML.  Pitching wise, Maple's staff has struggled with BBs (12th in the TML) meanwhile the team is 1st in Strikeouts and 2nd in Bullpen ERA.  Compared to the past few seasons, the overall statistics for Maple have improved relative to the other contenders in the TML.

Down on the farm system, the once top rated minor league crop is now ranked 20th.  The former R1 phenom Rick "BOY" Hill has slipped considerably this year to #45.  Meanwhile Cherono SP has moved up quite rapidly to #38 and is simply dominating with the Ks this year in A Ball Kingwood.  SP Capel has been in and out of the top 100 the past few sims and currently sits #99.  Both Cherono and Capel were highly bid on by Maple in the inaugural INT FA frenzy in the ABL.

Injury wise, Maple remains pretty healthy at this point in the season with only Domingo Pena MR and Ju-wei Yuan MR on the DL both due back within the next 3-5 weeks.

The farm system features 3 first place teams - Astoria AAA, Sandy Springs in AA and Kingwood in A Ball.

Watch Outs - OF Arama Huanu and OF Pete Moore are waiting in the wings for a shot at the ABL.  There is a big log jam in the OF in Maple right now so look for a move or two depending on Maples' position come late July.  SS Christian Rivera in AAA is also receiving alot of interest from fellow ABL teams.  The jury is still out on C Dean Smith and OF Dominic Owens both in AAA ball too.

It should be another fun season in the TML - Billy Martin division where things are usually settled in the last sim of the season!

ABL - 2020 Season - Year IX - Maple Marauders Opening Months

Maple had high hopes entering the 2020 season after finishing strong last year to win the division and make the playoffs.  The major additions late last year of SP Maurice Gould and SP Jake Nelson combined with the off season acquisition of LF Marty Silver positioned Maple to be one of the favorites in the competitive TML Billy Martin Division.

However, Maple sits 13-19 after the first month and half of ABL play, 2.5 games back of rival South Carolina in 3rd place in the division.  The pitching has been average and the bats have been really inconsistent to start the season.  Maple is 9th in runs scored and 7th in runs against.  Maple has been known in the past to be a team that can hit the long ball but, this year we have hit 24 blasts which is ranked tied for 10th in the TML.  One bright spot has been the speed game where Bill Nelson leads the team with 11 swipes of Maples' 28 in total to tie for 2nd in the TML.

Brad "Super Man" Thomas is our best hitter so far batting .359 bavg, 6 HR & 22 RBI.  Maurice Gould to no surprise is our best pitcher, 3-1 record, 3.65 ERA, 49.1 IP, 40 HA, 2 HRA, 15 BB, 40K with a 1.11 WHIP.

Maple has been fairly healthy to start the year with only minor bumps and bruises so far.  The spotlight for the rest of May will be on once prized prospect SP Joshua Goldberg.  The son of the owner has been up and down throughout his minor league career and has struggled in the rotation at the ABL level.  He has the stuff and movement to be effective at times but, he just can't seem to throw strikes with any of his pitches.  Joshua will move from the rotation to long relief and hopefully this will give him some shorter outings without the pressure of taking the ball in the starting role.

The minor league system continues to dominate with AAA Astoria, AA Sandy Springs and A Kingwood all leading their divisions.

The prospect watch has seen R1 phenom SP Rick Hill drop from the top 10 list to #45 meanwhile IFA acquisition SP Gabresilassie Cherono has climbed the Top 100 chart to #52.  SP Hayden Capel is ranked #98 and made his first appearance in the Top 100 this past week.  He was another one of the expensive IFA's that Maple went after in year 1 of IFA.

Maple Year in Review & Year to Come...

Maple finished the 2019 season with an impressive 85-77 record considering what the expectations were going into the year.  For the first few months, Maple had their ups and downs but, things started to change around the trade deadline.  Maple acquired several players to help their stretch run when management felt no team in the TML Billy Martin division was going to run away with the division title.

Maple acquired SP Jake Nelson from Eureka, SP Maurice Gould from Montreal, MR Dennis Inman from San Francisco & MR Domingo Pena from Eureka.  The key difference makers were definitely Nelson and Gould who combined for 20-10 W/L record down the stretch.

In the post season, Maple went up against Jacksonville the #1 seed in the TML.  It was a hard fought series losing 4-2 in games with each of the 4 losses by 1 run.  Jacksonville has been renamed "walk off city".

The outlook for the 2020 season looks promising.  Marty Silver was acquired from Brooklyn and will most likely see time at 1B, OF and DH throughout the year.  Bartolo Valentin was acquired from Dallas and will hold down the starting CF job as Maple looks to improve the defensive efficiency in 2020.  Outside of players such as Gould, Pena and 1B Reynolds nobody on the Maple active roster is older than 30.  This team should be competitive for the next few years.

Down on the farm, the #1 ranked minor league system took a hit making those blockbuster trades.  Currently ranked #17th overall with Rick Hill SP the top prospect.  CL Zeus Hallman is the 2nd highest rated prospect followed by Gabresilassie Cherono SP ranked as the 3rd highest in the organization.  Some may remember a couple of seasons ago Maple opening the vault to land some big names in the International Free Agency Frenzy.  Cherono was one of those names that signed for a whopping $4.4M to leave South African and join the Maple International Complex.  It was nice to finally see someone make an impact in our organization from that spending spree.

Maple management goes for it!

After "hanging" around through the allstar break in the Billy Martin division, Maple made a huge splash in the ABL acquiring top notch SP Maurice Gould.  The price was high in terms of top prospects being sent back to Montreal but, the Maple organization was poised to end their 4 year playoff drought.

Maple sent to Montreal SP Ramu Pavi, SP Jesus Ramirez, SP Yoshiaga Ueno and MR Manny Palma.  All 4 of these pitchers were either R1 picks and/or top 100 OSA prospects at one point in their careers.  In return Gould landed in Maple and is arguably one of the best all time players in the ABL history and without a doubt its most dominant pitcher during that time.

The addition of Gould along with SP Nelson, OF Dave Carlisle and MR arms Inman and Pena make Maple a true contender for a title this year in the ABL.  Since the end of June, Maples record is 16-8 in July, 15-13 in August and 1-0 in September (32-21).  Maple sits 1 game behind South Carolina and 2 games ahead of Jersey who is also "hanging" around.

The Schedule for September features:
1 @ JERSEY, 3 HOME vs. JERSEY
3 @ SOUTH CAROLINA, 3 HOME vs. SOUTH CAROLINA
3 HOME vs. MILE HIGH
3 HOME vs. GEORGIA
3 @ CABO SAN LUCAS
3 @ KANSAS CITY
4 @ SAN FRANCISCO

14 on the ROAD and 12 at HOME.  The final 3 games at HOME vs. SOUTH CAROLINA should be a deciding factor for a playoff spot in the TML.

There is a chance that 2 teams in the Billy Martin Division may qualify for the post season.  The Wild Card hunt is very close right now.

Maple / Georgia tied for the lead
Jersey / Boston 2 games back
Las Vegas 3 games back

Anything can happen in the ABL down the stretch as we have learned many times before.

Maple allstars & June Update 2019

The TML allstar team was announced for the 2019 season early in July and the following Maple Marauders made the team:

SP Jeff Nelson (acquired from Eureka); 7-2 record; 3-1 with Maple.
CL John Jones; 6-2 record, 10 saves

Maple struggled in June going 12-15 and have opened July a better at 4-2.  We stand in 3rd place in the Billy Martin Division 2.5 GB after entering June with the division lead.  This past month Maple was involved in a couple of trades that brought prime time ABL SP to a team that has struggled to have any consistency from their front line starters.  Maurice Gould and Jeff Nelson had a solid 1-2 punch to the rotation and should be a dangerous pair if Maple can find a way to make the post season this year.

One of the bright spots in the Maple organization this season is Bill Nelson LF.  Bill is batting .314, .401 obpct and .453 slugging with 34 SB in 48 attempts.  Maple hasn't seen too many players like him in terms of stealing a bag or two in a game.

Down on the farm, Astoria AAA, is in 2nd place, Sandy Springs AA, leads the division and Kingwood A, is in 1st place.

The minor system ranking has dropped due to the two blockbuster trades.  The system was ranked as high as #1 overall but, now sits at #15.  Rick "BOY" Hill SP selected in the Rookie Draft a few weeks ago is the highest ranked prospect according to OSA at #11.

It should be an interesting stretch run in the Billy Martin Division.  The race is wide open between all four clubs.  South Carolina and Maple have been the most active in the trade front but, I am sure that Jersey and San Francisco haven't shown their cards yet.

Maple back in 1st place!

Maple has climbed back to 1st place in the Billy Martin Division through June 9th, 2019 of play.  We are tied with Jersey meanwhile the other two teams San Francisco and South Carolina are not far behind at 1 and 3 GB.  Maple has been very solid in Extra Inning games;  5-2 so far this season.  Winning the close games is something we haven't done in recent years.  We are also playing a lot better within the division.

Maple made a major trade to enhance their SP rotation by acquiring from Eureka Jake Nelson who is 3-1 on the year with a 3.32 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.  He will face SoCAL in his debut with the Marauders next sim.  Maple gave up promising hurler Pedro Perez who was ranked a top the OSA and also sent packing 1B Braden Murphy who had hopes of making the team within the next couple of seasons playing behind FA acquisition Blake Reynolds from Seattle.  Murphy was also part of the $10M trade with Dallas.  Maple trade winds are still swirling as management as made a decision to go4it this year and see how far we can ride this momentum.  After the first three years in the ABL, Maple has not made the playoffs.

The Annual Rookie Draft has just been completed and Maple only had one selection in the first two rounds after acquiring FA Colin St. John (formerly with Las Vegas).  In the first round with pick #3 - Maple took highly touted phenom Rick "The Franchise" Hill, SP from the CBL Calgary organization.  The fans cheered #GOLDI, #GOLDI after making this pick.  You have to appreciate the spirit of the 10th man in Maple.  Hill only played one season in the CBL posting 117 Ks in 86.1 IP with a 6-4 record, 2.08 ERA and a modest WHIP of 1.23.  He also was the main work horse in their Lester B. Person Championship Cup win.  Unlike past drafts we didn't land a bunch of solid players that we have very high hopes in eventually making the ABL one day.  Hill will be our make or break draft this year.

In the minors, all three teams are poised to win their divisions again, Astoria in AAA, Sandy Springs in AA and Kingwood in A ball all are in the lead or withing 1 game of the leader.  A ton of players demanding a promotion with really no where to put them in general.  We have been less patient with the veterans in order to give some of the youngsters a chance to move up in the organization.

Maple dropped to 4th overall in the Top Minor League Organizations after the trade with Eureka this past sim.  The new entry into the top five for Maple is Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman, CL in AAA Astoria.  He sits at #51 overall and has 20Ks in 10 IP in AAA since his promotion.

Maple is looking forward to the next ABL event - International Free Agency which takes place end of June just prior to the ABL Allstar game.

Maple outlook looking good!

Maple finished the opening month of the 8th season of ABL baseball in winning fashion going 14-13.  Maple after finishing .500 in the 2015 season has had 78, 68 and 58 wins seasons.  Currently Maple is at 17-15 after the 1st week in May and looks poised to return to their glory years in the ABL (2012-2014) when they won divisional titles in the first three seasons of the ABL.

Starting in 2015, Maple has had some decent success building through the draft as the team has drafted current 40 man roster players;  Jesus Ramirez SP/RP, George Evans DH/OF, John Jones CL and Brad Thomas OF.  The immediate future looks promising too with Zeus Hallman CL, William Lee 1B and Ramu Pavi SP waiting in the ABL wings to make a mark in the league.

Maple is scoring 5.4 R/G this season which is their all time high pace.  The previous best was 5.2 R/G in 2015.  Pitching wise the team is giving up 4.8 R/G which is their best mark since 2016 (4.7 R/G).

Leading the way for Maple so far has been;  Garrett Bennet 3B, .302 bavg, 9 HR, 30 RBI.  Garrett was acquired from Las Vegas in 2017 in a trade for MR Pancho Romero.  Pancho is currently in the AAA farm system of Las Vegas after a short successful stint at the ABL last year. 

In the rotation, the waiver claims of SP Luis Lopez from SoCal and Diogo Negreiros from Jacksonville have been stabilizing as the Starters ERA has improved to 8th overall in the TML.  John Jones the CL from the University of South Carolina who pitches with a chip on his shoulder after divisional rival GM Gary Altman refused to put the Gamecocks in their draft pipeline;  has been effective with 5 saves and a ERA of 0.55 / WHIP 1.22.  How does Gary sleep at night knowing his team is in South Carolina?

The minors are all playing very well especially in Single A where the Kingwood Knights the defending league champions are off to a torrid 25-7 start and 1st place in their division!  AA Sandy Springs is in 1st place in the division at 20-12 and AAA Astoria is in 3rd place in the division sitting 4 games back at .500, 16-16.

The Maple minor league system has moved up again ranking 3rd overall with 126 points and the following players on the list:  Ramu Pavi SP (A) - 9th, William Lee 1B (AA) - 25th, Pedro Perez SP (AA) - 37th, Yoshiago Ueno SP (AAA) - 46th and Jeff Kimball SP (AA) - 50th.  The potential is no doubt there but, statistically speaking these players are off to very slow starts and it will be something to watch moving forward.  William "CANNON" Lee has already been demoted to AA after starting the season at AAA.

In the International Complex, we have trimmed our prospects to 20 players after nearly reaching 50 last year.  The reasoning being that Maple management agreed to pour much more money into player development and scouting this year.  We are hoping to find higher initial raw talent than before.  Our best prospect is Hayden Capel SP ($4.1M) signing bonus.  He should make the ABL as a 4/5th type starter.  The other higher ranked prospects have been called up to Single A Kingwood starting this season.  We don't expect to be very active in the International Free Agent signing period this year so we will have to count on our scouting department to get it done.

Maple with the 16th highest payroll and some cash available and a ton of specs could be an interesting team to watch come trade deadline if they are hanging around in the Billy Martin division in late July!


 

2018 Season - Year VII in Review - Maple Marauders

Maple finished with their worst season in seven years.  At 58-104 the Marauders for the 2nd straight season finished dead last in the TML Billy Martin Division.  GM Goldberg said after the season was over, "When you finish 35 games out of 1st place you can't do any worse".  Maple did show some promise with the bats this year returning back to the playoff years for a team batting average of .263 but, the pitching continued to struggle posting their worst ever team ERA at 5.23 and BABIP at .325.  Overall Maple is now 565-569 in sever seasons of ABL action.  Attendance has taken a strong hit as well.  Only 2.4M~ fans showed up to see the Marauders play this year.  That is 700K worse than last season and the lowest mark in seven seasons.  Fans have questioned team spending or lack of it this year as team payroll dropped from $122M~ down to $59M~.  The good news is that management has aligned the balance sheet to go after highly touted INT FA, leverage player contracts and pour funds into Player Development and Scouting as the team tries to build from the minor leagues up.  Maple's exact finances are not know but, speculation has it that they made close to $38M~ this year and if correct it would be the 2nd highest profit in seven seasons.

The 2018 Draft was a successful one for the Marauders.  They landed SPs Pavi & Kimball and OFs Huanu & Tenegesdal & 2B Reaveley all of which look poised to jump to the next level in 2019.  This represents the 2nd consecutive season for Maple in the draft arena where they have had favorable results.  In 2017, Maple landed 1B Lee and Knaus both look like future starters in the ABL and SS Omori is already playing in Maple after being called up this past season.

Outlook for 2019 is promising due to a promising rookie emerging in the OF.  Brad Thomas in his first season with Maple posted statistics that put him on the all time single season leader board for the team.  His .320 bavg was good for 5th, his .381 obpct was good for 9th, his .518 slugging pct was good for 9th, his .899 OPS was good for 5th.  John Jones also took over the CL role for the Marauders this year.  His 24 saves was good for 4th all-time in a single season.  Meanwhile there is still uncertainty with former R1 pick Jesus Ramirez out of University of Florida.  He did pile up the Ks as predicted with 185 this season good for 2nd all-time in a single season sitting 2 Ks behind Mr. Roboto Martinez who had 187Ks in 2012.  The issue with Ramirez is his control.  The depth at SP coming along to Maple in the next 1-3 seasons might result in Ramirez finishing his career off as a solid MR.

News from Maple

Maple closes out this season as the teams worst season of all-time in the ABL.  We are currently 50-86 and a substantial 29 games out of first place in the TML - Billy Martin Division.  However, the future looks very bright in Maple as our farm system is stacked with incredible talent.  Maple has been showcasing some of the youth this season with the inclusion of Jesus Ramirez SP, Rob Young SP, Ovidio Montanio MR, Manny Palma, MR, Ju-Wei Yuan MR, John Jones CL, Ronnie Talley 2B, Taro Omori SS, Bill Nelson OF, Brooks Petersen OF and Brad Thomas OF who might have a chance at finishing in the top 3 for ROY in the TML.

Injuries took away any momentum Danny Burris SS had after winning the Gold Glove at SS in the TML.  He is scheduled to return just before the season but, likely we will be sent for a rehab stint at AAA Astoria all but ending his 2018 campaign.  A few weeks ago, more disappointing news hit Maple as OF Martin Petersen suffered a CEI.  In order to shore up the middle infield moving into 2019, Maple acquired SS Archie Sandeson from San Francisco.  GM Goldberg said, "SF has been the cream of the crop in our division, maybe he can help us steal some signs...."

The most exciting news comes from our SP rotation in Single A Kingwood.  We feel we have an elite staff of up and comers that in the next 3 seasons will be a force in the ABL for years to come.  We are speaking of; Ramu Pavi SP, Pedro Perez SP and Jake Robinson SP. 

Meanwhile in our International complex where the PS4's are buzzing til midnight, watch out for SP Gabresilassie Cherone (say that 10 times to win a prize!).

So Maple will continue to play hard, slide with passion and HR trot with pride until the end of the season.  We will give some valuable play time to some youth to see if they are ready to make the jump to the big leagues.  Until then, we await for the Rookie draft and hope that there is a superstar in ready to play in the ABL at our selection!

Maple Rookie Draft Results & Blockbuster deal with NY

One of the largest trades in ABL history took place this month.  The details of the trade were as follows:

TO NEW YORK:

CL RON CUTTER (ABL), MR CHANDLER FISHER (ABL), MR BRANDON WILSON (ABL), OF BILLY GREER (ABL)

TO MAPLE:
SP PEDRO PEREZ (A), OF MARTIN JENKINS (A), SP TOM COLLINS (AA), 2B RONNIE TALLEY (AAA) AND MR LYLE ARNOLD (DL-ABL)

New York acquired a solid, streaky power hitter to join their lineup together with some excellent bullpen help.  All 4 players should help their stretch run as they try to qualify for the playoffs in the difficult RCL..

Maple acquired some nice future talent including another pitching prospect.  Lyle Arnold has a huge team option contract that will not be executed according to team officials.  OF Martin Jenkins 1 week after the trade suffered an injury forcing him to the DL to join SP Tom Collins.  2B Ronnie Talley was immediately called up to the Maple team to play full time.

Rookie Draft:

Maple selected with the sixth overall pick SP Ramu Pavi.  We were thinking of taking a hitter with this pick but, to our surprise when we saw Pavi still on the board we just couldn't pass up on his arm.  Maple then continued to take another SP in Round 2 by selecting Jeff Kimball.  In Round 3, Maple selected LF Arama Huanu their first hitter of the draft.  From there on out, Maple rotating between selecting a pitcher and a hitter until the draft reached round 9 and 10 where the organization decided to take back to back catcher selections (Jasper Anderson & Phil Bowman).

Maple was then announced to be the host site for the 7th annual ABL Allstar game.  Unfortunately for the TML fans, the RCL won the game 5-2.  Dean Graham, 3B for Montreal was selected as the games MVP.

Maple Marauders: 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back...

Maple heads into the Rookie Draft in last place in the Billy Martin division, 11 GB.  Maple had some good momentum going up until the past 2 sims (3-10) to finish the month at 11-17.  Our struggles continue to be with divisional games.  San Francisco, South Carolina and Jersey are taking care of business versus our team.  Our divisional record is:  6-13.

Our bullpen, defense and team speed have improved;  however, our SP has been 1 step foward, 2 steps backwards since the 2014 season.  Our team SP ERA is 11th (2nd last in the TML).  Our organization had high hopes on some trades made to boost the rotation but, they just haven't paid off.  Dave Blake sits on rehab in Triple AAA Astoria & Robert Osborne has been inconsistent at the ABL level.  Our hope rests on last years International Free Agent sweepstakes win in landing:  SPs Gabresilassie Cherono, Felipe Moreno, Robinson Pedercini and Hayden Capel.  So it was no big surprise that in Round 1 of this years rookie draft, GM Goldberg took the mic and announced Ramu "Pepper" Pavi's name at the 6th overall selection.

The team has also announced it will take offers on OF Billy Greer & CL Ron Cutter.

Young & Palma enter the Managers office...

A couple of top prospects for Maple were asked to Manager after their AAA game with Astoria last night.  Rob "Tangles" Young SP and Manny "Blitz" Palma CL were given notice that they are heading to Maple to join the big club tonight for their first ABL action.  What a time to be called up, as the 2nd worst team in the league Maple hosts Brooklyn for a 3 game set.  Brooklyn has been over the past four seasons the elite team in the league.  Young will get the ball in Game 2 of the series while, Palma will settle in at middle relief to start.  There is strong speculation this move opens the door for Ron Cutter CL to be shopped to a contender before the deadline.  To make room for this prospects, Maple sent down Jonathan Martin MR and Jeff Andrews SP to AAA Astoria.  Martin refused to comment if the demotion was about his ABL stats or the fact that one of his teammates was rumored to have been intimidating Martin with nasty text messages.  In the Andrews case, he was just plain awful.

According to the OSA, Manny was 9th and Rob was 43rd overall rated prospects in minor league baseball.  Lets face it, Manny has had a roller coaster ride in the minors from the time he was acquired in a trade with Nottinghamshire.  "Blitz" finally got his game straight in very limited action in AAA Astoria this year;  8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 HR, 1 ER, 3 BB, 12 Ks, 1.04 ERA and a WHIP of 0.92.  So this is a gamble that the youngster is ready to take his game to the next level.  Meanwhile, "Tangles" who was acquired in a trade deadline move with division rival San Francisco last season for the "Big Ticket" has been stellar in the Maple Minor League system.  He had am impressive AA season last year to close out the year and in AAA Astoria this year he posted in five games started, 29.2 IP, 18 H, 3 HR, 11 ER, 9 BB, 16 K, 3.34 ERA and a WHIP of 0.91.

Maple is already 9.5 games back of Jersey and 6.5 games back of the wild card race in the TML.  They are also 2 games ahead of Dallas for having the worst record in the ABL.

Maple Spring Training Report

Maple entered Spring Training coming off their worst ever ABL season.  Interestingly enough, Maple only invited 27 players to camp which meant only two jobs were up for grabs.

Fifth Starting Pitcher in the Rotation:

The rotation into Spring Training is:

1. Jesus Ramirez; former R1 pick from University of Florida
2. Nicolas Rodriguez; former AAA Cy Young winner acquired from Brooklyn
3. Robert Osborne; acquired from Brookyln in the Roberto Martinez deal along with Manny Blitz Palma
4. Jeff Andrews; acquired from Mile High
5. Ronnie Haynes; R40 inaugural draft pick by Washington
6. George Clay; acquired from Mile High

Six SPs with only five spots available.

I did not know what to expect because this group which ranges in potential all are about even in terms of current rankings.  Happy surprise has come from Ramirez who is 3-0 so far this spring with an ERA of 1.13 and a WHIP of 1.31.  I hope he can get a command of his pitches and finally break through this year with Maple.  George Clay unfortunately was the man out.  Clay was demoted to AAA Astoria, NY this past sim.  Clay was upset about this transaction, however; his sinker wasn't sinking and his forkball wasn't forking.  His pitching performance this spring was awful.  We haven't given up yet on Clay.  Clay has been a former pitcher of the month in the minors.  Clay has also recorded a 15K game and did make the Allstar game back in A Ball in the 2016 season.


Utility Middle Infielder - 3 Players - 2 Jobs:

1. Eric Rice; former R7  2014 Draft pick
2. Jerry Morgan; R54 inaugural draft pick for San Diego who also hit for the cycle against Maple in AAA Astoria in 2016
3. Clay Wadden; Originally in the Mile High system; signed minor league contract with Maple in 2013

The middle infield has been a shopping cart of poor nutrition ever since opening day in 2012.  We have tried almost anything and everything to get going at 2B/SS.  We felt we came close last year when we acquired Danny Burris from Brooklyn and before then acquired Jesse Clark from Dallas.  Clark just never performed in a Maple jersey and with his high dollar contract on the books and a free for all spending spree by the Maple owner at the 1st annual International FA bidding day;  we just had to part ways.  Clark now plays and actually has hit well in a San Francisco uniform.  Burris started out the same way;  slow.  He did come on towards the end of the season to hit above .300 and win a Gold Glove at SS for Maple.  So we now look for a partner to play with Burris on his left side.  Someone that can help turn the critical double play to get out of the jams that likely our pitching is going to experience this year.  We like Eric Rice for his glove at 2B.  He has no arm but, we also remember Steve Sax of the former MLB who had a similar issue.  It is a shorter throw so we will take our chances here.  Jerry Morgan has just been getting on base and has been hitting some nice line drives right at people.  We are going to roll the dice and give him the last spot this season.  Poor Clay Wadden he is yet again odd man out and was waived this past sim to hopefully outright him to AAA Astoria, NY.  Clay is speedster on the bases and a gamer but, we know what we get with him already and just wanted to see what we "might" get out of Morgan.  Sometimes in the ABL you are the ODD man OUT with so much batting talent in the league.

Preseason predictions have come out already and Maple has been pegged to play about .500 ball which we are excited to read.  We know these predictions are not so accurate.  Who are these experts? What do they look like?  OSA was seen in the Toronto area asking for handouts at a recent Car Show event.  I really hope one day they get the funds they need.  On that note, have a good morning everyone and I am going to check my MAX MILLIONS ticket.  If you don't hear from me.  Email me :-) haha

Maple Organization Update

Maple finished the year with a horrible 8-21 record thanks to a poor divisional record especially versus the Billy Martin champs - San Francisco.  We will have to match up better vs them next season if we hope to make it back to the post season.

This has been our worst season ever and we are glad it is finally over.  There are some exciting things ahead as we prepare for Season #7.  I'm excited about my bullpen, my OF and my future at 1B & 3B.  I will need some of that high priced International talent to pay off in order to build a stable and dominant rotation.  Maple for the first time also reached the #2 spot in the top minor leagues system report.  The likes of Manny "BLITZ" Palma CL, William "CANNON" Lee 1B, Gary Bennett 3B, Rob "TANGLES" Young SP and Subaru "EXPERT" Kishita SP are waiting in the wings to reach the ABL and hopefully their potential will be reached.  We also have high hopes for Michale Knaus 1B, Yoshiaga Ueno SP, Nathan Owens MR, Brad Thomas OF, Brooks Petersen OF (DL), Martin Petersen OF, Floyd Lowery OF and a few others in the bullpen in A ball.  The list of prospects is by far the largest we have ever seen in our organization.  We need Jesus Ramirez and his blazing fastball to light up again as he had a horrible season in Maple this past year.  He finished the year in AAA and did well in his last few starts. 

In post season action, AAA Astoria and AA Sandy Springs lost in the first round of the playoffs.  Astoria lost 4-1 to Chicago (Jacksonville Farm team) and Sandy Springs lost to 4-2 to Phoenix (Jacksonville Farm team).

Decisions Decisions Decisions...

Billy Greer has begun contracts extension talks with Maple.  Maple is likely going to offer him a 1 year deal to hopefully avoid arbitration.  Billy deserves a contract for the way he came on late last season especially with his power stroke.  One of the challenges we have as an organization is that Billy isn't a youngster anymore and there are plenty of talented younger players that might have more potential to take his spot.  For that reason we will play it year by year with Billy and as long as he produces he will be wearing a Maple jersey.  We believe through his agent that Billy will sign a 1 year deal that will pay him $4.5M this season with no incentives and a guarantee to start.

The foundation of the Maple organization namely;  OF Frank Powers, OF Anthony Lewis and 1B Vic Jennings (acquired from Las Vegas) all most likely will not be offered a contract this year making them free agents.  Also likely heading to free agency is SP Chet Carver (acquired from Mile High) who pitched his way back to the big leagues late last year and injury recovering SP Aaron Nelson.

Should be another exciting off season in the ABL!

Maple continues to show improvements....

As we head into the final month of the season, the Maple Marauders continue to show signs of improvements and optimism heading into next season.  A 16-12 record in August is their best monthly performance of the season.

BULLPEN & OUTFIELD:

Pitching especially the bullpen of late has carried the club to some exciting wins.  Add in some new faces in the batting lineup and the right chemistry appears to be developing on the team.  Maple gave some coffee time at the ABL level to some future players that will be looking to crack the starting lineup namely;  Martin Petersen OF, Floyd Lowery OF and Brooks Petersen OF who is currently on the 60 day DL.  The existing OF of:  Billy Greer 34 HRs, John Powers .810 OPS who is on the 15 day DL and a rotation of youngsters including Antonio Alvarez are already young and performing at a good level in the ABL.  There is a lot of depth in the OF position in this league so it will be interesting to see what moves are available to Maple in the off-season to improve their club at other positions.

DANNY BURRIS:

Danny is finally showing the reasons why Maple management brought him here.  He is hitting .319 with an on base pct of .374 on the year for us.  He is also flashing some nice leather at SS with ZR of +3.7 and only 5 errors and a .990 fielding percentage.

ROTATION:

Maple had to address their rotation last year which was one of the worst in the league.  This year we had a very young, unproven and rushed staff that had its typical ups and downs as predicted.  Maple sits dead last in the TML in SP ERA.  The staff has some promise as indicated by being #1 in Strikeouts.  So the stuff is there it is just a matter of gaining some experience to reach their potential.  Three of the hopefuls have had a miserable season including;  Jesus Ramirez who struggled right out of the gate and now has been demoted to AAA Astoria to work on his delivery.  This phenom out of University of Florida will have to prove that he belongs in the rotation versus a potential change to CL or Setup man.  Dave Blake was transferred to the 60 day DL after being moved out of the rotation to get some work in the bullpen.  Shortly after this stint in the pen he went down with an elbow injury.  Our staff and scouts didn't see this coming as his fastball didn't lose any mph.  Dave just like Jesus may end up in the pen longer term.  Lastly, we have Robert Osborne (no relation to Ozzy) who has been barking at the moon all season long looking to find his release point.  He has struggled as a SP this year and did find his groove in the pen so going into the final month he will be given a chance to earn a job next year.  We have a bunch of prospects in the farm system all around the same type of potential but, the organization is most excited about the recent acquisition of Rob Young from SF at the trade deadline.  Young looks ready to maybe earn a shot at the rotation next season and will no doubt be promoted to AAA by seasons end.  Rob is currently rated as the 48th prospect by the OSA in their top 100 listing.  Rob is pretty consistent with his stuff, movement and control and features a fastball topping the radar gun at 98 mph and gets his fare share of ground balls.  He has a nasty fastball and curve and hopefully his two other pitches continue to develop (Slide & Changeup) so he can be a future #1 or 2 ace rather than a middle of the rotation player.

YOUNG GUNS @ 1B.COM:

William "Cannon" Lee and Michael Knaus at 1B are smashing line drives all over the A level parks these days and the organization is simply "excited" to have them.  Vic "Cold Pillow" Jennings has been just that this season "brrrrrr".  He is likely going to test FA as Maple has already gone on record stating he will not be back next season.  Maple is also excited to see Garrett Bennett at AA step up at 1B as well.  He was acquired from Las Vegas this season in a trade.  Expectations for Bennett are high over the next couple of seasons until either Lee or Knaus develop.  Maple most likely will promote Bennett to AAA Astoria by seasons end.

NO BULL IN THIS PEN:

Maple traded a slew of lively arms from their strong pen this season and also has a stable of young nasty arms waiting in the wings to be called up to the big team next season.  Some of the names you might see over the next couple of seasons include:  Manny "Blitz" Palma who struggled at AAA and AA and is finally finding the right mechanics at A ball to gain some momentum in development.  "We likely rushed him to early in his development", said Maple scout Alfonso Gil.  Zeus Hallman was on a torrid pace this season in A ball Kingwood before starting to show signs of fatigue and eventually went on the DL proving he his no demi god.  Team doctors are confident he will return in fine form and will compete again next year at the A level to be the shutdown closer he was at the beginning of the 2017 campaign.  Maple already features some talented young arms in the pen who have been called up and are making a big splash in the ABL namely;  John "Toad" Jones MR who will be on the TML ROY ballot with 118 Ks in 76.2 IP with a WHIP of 1.17.  He only pitched 4.2 innings in AAA ball before the call up to the big leagues, after he was drafted from the University of South Carolina (Gary start recruiting locally!!).

NICKNAME NEEDED!:

Brad Thomas OF in AAA Astoria is putting together one of the strongest offensive performers of all-time at this level.  Brad is hitting for average, getting on base and has shown some pop while posting a OPS of 1.021.  He has to work on his defensive game and will never be considered a true 5 tool player with his lack of speed.  Maple is very confident his future is bright in the ABL and have posted on their teams' website a contest to come up with a nickname for him!  If you have any ideas please email me directly....

Overall, Maple looks to be heading in the right direction this season.  Their team is playing much better towards the finish line, they rank #5 overall in minor league systems talent and their minor league teams at AAA and AA are contending for league championships.

Improvement in Maple

The outlook in Maple is bright as we head into August of Season #6.  The Marauders will finish with a better record than in they did in June and May.  One game remains in July vs. Eureka and Maple rests at 11-15 for the month.  In June the team was 10-16 and in May the team was 10-17. 

Despite a losing month there are signs of improvement throughout the organization:

Team Improvements:

1. The bullpen is 3rd overall in the TML in ERA
2. The pitching staff is 3rd overall in the TML in HR allowed
3. The pitching staff is 1st overall in the TML in Strikeouts
4. 7-3 in the last 10 games with two consecutive winning sims 

 Minor Leagues:

1. Ranks 8th overall in the Annual Top Systems report
2. Astoria seeking their 1st division title in AAA;  7.5 game lead

 ROY Candidates:

1. John "Toad" Jones MR;  3-2, 1 save, 2.60 ERA, 1.16 WHIP,  89 K in 55.1 IP
2. George Evans DH; .298 bavg, .332 obpct, .535 slgpct, 18 HRS, 68 RBI

Oliver North has the ROY all clinched but, the above two players should draw some votes.

Future Top Prospects:

1. Brooks Petersen OF;  currently on the DL;  was crushing the ball this year
2. Martin Petersen OF; currently on Maple and getting his shot to stick
3. Floyd Lowery OF;  currently in AAA - had a coffee with Maple this season, crushing the ball
4. Brad Thomas OF;  currently in AAA - might get a September call-up, crushing the ball
5. Manny Palma CL;  currently back in A after struggles at higher levels
6. Zeus Hallman MR;  currently in A ball, working more innings and giving Palma a chance as CL
7. Garrett Bennett 1B;  currently in AA ball - crushing the ball since being acquired from LV
8. William "Cannon" Lee 1B; 1st round pick this year, currently in A ball - 0 HRs!?
9. Rob Young SP;  currently in AA after being acquired from SF at the trade deadline
10. Subaru Kishita SP;  currently in AA ball but, struggling

Our team has set a goal to finish within 10 games of SF.  We have started to gain ground sitting 18.5 back after being more than 20+ games back just this past month.  We will have to do better versus SF in our head to head match-ups to achieve this result.  This year SF leads the seasons series 11-2 including winning the first six games.

International Complex Update

Maple made a big splash in the ABL inaugural IFA bidding signing 7 prospects for a whopping $43,940,000 USD including $19,470,000 in tax penalty.

Maple said afterwards, "We were sitting there with ~$43M in projected profit and thought this would be the best opportunity for us to rebuild even if the risks were unknown".

Last year our owner took a lot of money from us with the maximum cash set at $20M and we really didn't want to go out and pick up anymore high dollar players on top of the recent acquisitions of Danny Burris SS and Jesse "Big Ticket" Clark 2B contracts.  We felt we had a decent draft picking up 1B help with the picks of William "Cannon" Lee and Michael Knaus.  We don't feel like Vic Jennings will be around next year so we will need a 1B developed soon to join the big club in Maple.  We also feel very confident about our OF which appears to be a strong position in the ABL for most teams.  Our young SP is having a rough year so just before the Allstar break it was decided to put a couple of the youngsters (Osborne & Blake) in the pen to build some momentum.  Jesus Ramirez (University of Florida grad) will stay in the rotation though to work out some mechanics rather than being demoted.  We are very happy with our bullpen and the future looks tremendous with Manny Palma and Zeus Hallman among a few others that will provide the depth.  We are very pleased with the development of Dave Guenette, 3B since being called up from AAA Astoria.  He is out of minor league options so if he wants to stick around Maple now is his time to shine or risk being waived.  At catcher we are also very happy with the play of Billy Bishop who we acquired from Nottinghamshire.  Billy was one of our top players on our Rule V draft list and we were very sad to miss out on him.  Luckily we were able to work out a deal to bring him to Maple.  We see no risk of him being returned to his original team this year as a Rule V roster player.

So who did we land in IFA?

#1 - Gabresilassie Cherono SP - South Africa
0.5/4.5* potential;  15/12/16 and 3 pitches 11/12/20
We love his very high work ethic and intelligence.

#2 - Felipe Moreno SP - Venezuela
0.5/4.5* potential, 16/16/12 and 4 pitches 16/9/18/7
He has normal work ethic and intelligence.  My scout says he will compete for a #1 SP role.

#3 - Robinson Pedercini SP - Argentina
0.5/4.5* potential, 14/14/16 and 4 pitches 11/13/14/15
We love his high work ethic and intelligence.

#4 - Hayden Capel SP - England
0.5/4* potential, 15/13/14 and 4 pitches 12/18/13/10
He has normal work ethic and high intelligence.

#5 - Seung-Ryong Pak SP - Korea
0.5/4* potential, 13/11/18 and 4 pitches 9/15/6/9
He has high work ethic and intelligence.  We have already moved him to the bullpen.

#6 - Masaaki Koike SP - Japan
0.5/3.5* potential, 16/13/10 and 3 pitches 12/2/13
He has high work ethic and very high intelligence.  We also have moved him to the bullpen.

#7 - Flavio Mansi SP - Venezuela
 0.5/3* potential, 8/16/17 and 4 pitches 11/12/10/14
He has normal work ethic and high intelligence.  We also have moved him to the bullpen.

So it will be exciting watching these kids hopefully develop into something special at the ABL level.

We haven't had an injection of talent into our organization at any point in the past five seasons so, we feel this was our best shot to try to make things happen longer term for our organization.

Only time will tell!