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.