Maple had their 3rd consecutive improving monthly result in August finishing at 16-12, .571 winning pct. July they were 13-11, .542 winning pct and in June we were 14-12, .538 winning pct. We manage to climb from last place to 2nd place within 2 games of front runner San Francisco. At one point we swept four consecutive divisional series!
The teams hitting has really started to take off! We are in the top quarter of the TML in many categories including; bavg, obpct, hits and home runs. Pitching hasn't really improved as Maple ranks in the bottom quarter in almost every pitching category except; bullpen ERA, BB and Ks. The defense also is 2nd last in the TML.
Maple's top prospects rank 12th - middle of the pack with Robert Osborne SP acquired from Nottinghamshire maintaining the top ranking at 19th, Manny Palma CL acquired in the same trade from Nottinghamshire ranks #39th and Tee Wilson CF who was our 1st round pick (14th overall) this year ranks 41st overall.
From an organizational stand point; Maple is ranked in the top 5 in the following positions: LF, RP and CL. SP and 1B are our worst positions strength wise.
Down on the farm the following players are going through hot streaks: AAA - SP Ronnie Haynes, 3G, 1-0, 1.47 ERA w/ 18.1 IP and 14Ks.; AA - Miguel Jimenez SP, 3G, 2-0, 1.06 ERA, 17 IP w/ 11 Ks; and A - Daniel Irwin OF - 7 G, 14 for 28, .500 bavg, 2 HR, 6 RBI, Stephen Joseph MR, 14 G, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 17.1 IP w/ 22Ks - 0 ERS! and Jose Medina 1B, 11 G, 10-24, .417 bavg, 3 HR, 9 RBI who is stuck in A due to a log jam at 1B above him.
Schedule outlook for September:
@ SFE x 3
@ JER x 3
H SOU x 3
H EUR x 3
@ LAS x 3
@ BOS x 3
H JAC x 3
H SFE x 4
H JER x 2
We will need to sweep SFE in our final 4 games and play .600 baseball in the rest of the games this month to have a shot. That would give us 4-0 + 14-9 = 18-9 record.
Jason GM Maple
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
MAPLE JULY UPDATE - Season #4
Another above .500 month for Maple in July; finishing 12-11. Maple did not make any last minute trades before the deadline. We were trying to move some older SPs with some not so good contracts such as Pat Super Sellers and also an interesting hurler in Jesse George who is arbitration eligible and having a good season. Alot of teams inquired about our youth namely Billy Greer OF. Greer is not going anywhere anytime soon! Towards the end of the month, Maple called up from AAA SP Victor Enriquez and Pancho Lopez. While Enriquez has not looked sharp in his two starts, Lopez has been on fire going 2-0 and yielding only 1 run in 12 IP!
Maple in almost every hitting category is around the middle of the pack in the TML. Pitching is another story for a disappointing season for the rotation ranking towards the bottom in the TML. Combine that with a poor defense efficiency (12th in the TML) and you start to figure out why Maple is likely not going to defend their Billy Martin Division title for the 4th consecutive season.
The current bright spots on the Marauders are: Pitching: Johnny Tiller CL - 1-3, 26 Saves, WHIP 0.97 and MR Ambrosio Cuco 2-3, 1 Save, WHIP 0.98. Hitting: Vic Jennings 1B, .313 bavg, .383 obpct, .516 slg pct with RC/27 of 6.96
Prospects Watch: Maple ranks 14th out of 24 teams in the ABL according to the Top Annual Systems report. CF Tee Wilson AAA (23rd), SP Robert Osborne AAA (28th)* and Manny Palma CL AAA (60th)* - * both acquired in the Roberto Martinez trade to Nottinghamshire.
Tee "Off" Wilson looks to be the real deal, hitting .295 bavg, .356 obpct, .465 slg pct w/ .821 OPS in his first season of AAA ball. Wilson has been playing CF, however; his best position is LF. Hopefully he can show signs of development in CF for us. Another nice aspect of his game is his speed - 24 SBs but, also 14 CS!
We sit 8.5 games back of SF for the division lead. We will need a big run in August to see if we even have an outside shot at a miracle in September like we did in Season #1. :-) SF has done it before (choke) so we will see what happens :-)
Maple in almost every hitting category is around the middle of the pack in the TML. Pitching is another story for a disappointing season for the rotation ranking towards the bottom in the TML. Combine that with a poor defense efficiency (12th in the TML) and you start to figure out why Maple is likely not going to defend their Billy Martin Division title for the 4th consecutive season.
The current bright spots on the Marauders are: Pitching: Johnny Tiller CL - 1-3, 26 Saves, WHIP 0.97 and MR Ambrosio Cuco 2-3, 1 Save, WHIP 0.98. Hitting: Vic Jennings 1B, .313 bavg, .383 obpct, .516 slg pct with RC/27 of 6.96
Prospects Watch: Maple ranks 14th out of 24 teams in the ABL according to the Top Annual Systems report. CF Tee Wilson AAA (23rd), SP Robert Osborne AAA (28th)* and Manny Palma CL AAA (60th)* - * both acquired in the Roberto Martinez trade to Nottinghamshire.
Tee "Off" Wilson looks to be the real deal, hitting .295 bavg, .356 obpct, .465 slg pct w/ .821 OPS in his first season of AAA ball. Wilson has been playing CF, however; his best position is LF. Hopefully he can show signs of development in CF for us. Another nice aspect of his game is his speed - 24 SBs but, also 14 CS!
We sit 8.5 games back of SF for the division lead. We will need a big run in August to see if we even have an outside shot at a miracle in September like we did in Season #1. :-) SF has done it before (choke) so we will see what happens :-)
Thursday, June 20, 2013
June Update
Maple finished June with an above .500 record at 14-12. This was the first time all season we have played over .500 ball in a month. However; we trail SF by 8.5 games and made no ground up this past month. A 7-3 record in the past 10 leading into July has Maple playing 2nd best overall in their past 10 next to Montreal who posted a 8-2 mark.
Maple's W/L improvement came from their play in close games. We sit 17-13 now in 1 run games. The pen is a strength of the club and they are doing their best holding the fort for a team that features one of the worst SP rotations in the league. How things change so fast after only 1 season! In summary, we have a very poor rotation & defense, excellent bullpen and average hitting with some great pop. Might explain the 35-47 overall record as we approach the allstar break.
June started off with a big bang as Roberto Martinez was dealt to Nottinghamshire. This was a deal consisting of two teams going in the opposite directions and fast. We are happy with the pickup of youngsters Manny Palma CL and SP Robert Osborne.
We then decided to give two youngster a shot at the ABL when we called up OF Billy Greer and SS Clay Wadden. Billy has added a nice bat facing RHP where Big Stick Anthony Shelton has really struggled despite being in the top 3 in the league in HRs. Shelton though is crushing southpaws! Clay hasn't hit too much but he has added much needed team speed and within one week had the team lead in SBs for the entire season! Top prospect Dave Guenette 3B was sent down to AAA to make room. The team also released veteran Derek Beimer SS. He cleared waivers multiple times. He does possess a decent power bat but, his limited defensive abilities really hurt him as a everyday player in the ABL.
Jason/Maple
Maple's W/L improvement came from their play in close games. We sit 17-13 now in 1 run games. The pen is a strength of the club and they are doing their best holding the fort for a team that features one of the worst SP rotations in the league. How things change so fast after only 1 season! In summary, we have a very poor rotation & defense, excellent bullpen and average hitting with some great pop. Might explain the 35-47 overall record as we approach the allstar break.
June started off with a big bang as Roberto Martinez was dealt to Nottinghamshire. This was a deal consisting of two teams going in the opposite directions and fast. We are happy with the pickup of youngsters Manny Palma CL and SP Robert Osborne.
We then decided to give two youngster a shot at the ABL when we called up OF Billy Greer and SS Clay Wadden. Billy has added a nice bat facing RHP where Big Stick Anthony Shelton has really struggled despite being in the top 3 in the league in HRs. Shelton though is crushing southpaws! Clay hasn't hit too much but he has added much needed team speed and within one week had the team lead in SBs for the entire season! Top prospect Dave Guenette 3B was sent down to AAA to make room. The team also released veteran Derek Beimer SS. He cleared waivers multiple times. He does possess a decent power bat but, his limited defensive abilities really hurt him as a everyday player in the ABL.
Jason/Maple
Sunday, June 2, 2013
May in Review
An 11-18 month in May has shifted the focus of top management from playoff contender to pretender. We might have enough to win the division at .500 but, this will not be enough to win a championship this year. We have Cabo San Lucas, Las Vegas, Nottinghamshire, Montreal, Seattle and yes Boston and many others all with better teams this year at the ABL level. We have decided to be a seller right now and based on this decision we sent Robert Martinez our ace SP packing to Nottinghamshire for a couple of pitching prospects. In return Maple acquired Robert Osborne SP and Manny Palma CL. Osborne will start his Maple career in AAA Astoria and Palma will start in A ball Kingwood.
Rumors also swirling that Pat Super Sellers last years Allstar representative for the TML is on the block. At 34 years old, this SP can still get the job done for a contender. At $12M next year plus a pro-rated remaining contract value this year it will be interesting to see if a contender jumps at the opportunity to pick up a veteran down the stretch for this rotation. Sellers has always rated higher than his potential in his ABL career.
Anthony "Big Stick" Shelton has continued his hot ways. He leads the ABL in HRs with 19 and 30 of his 42 hits have gone for extra bases. Anthony who is not hitting his weight at .211 vs. 226 lbs is crushing south-paws this year at .328 bavg with a OPS 1.296. Shelton has always shown amazing flashes of POWER in the ABL and he can be very streaky when he is healthy. Original on the trade block, this latest power burst has management thinking he can stick with Maple and his team friendly $800K for the next two seasons.
Down on the farm nothing spectacular in terms of W/L records is happening however; there are some bright stars waiting in the wings to make the ABL.
Astoria AAA:
Billy Greer OF and Clay Wadden SS have been called up to the ABL.
Sandy Springs AA:
Oliver Davis OF and Antonio Paz 1B have been pounding the baseball all season long.
Kingwood A:
Jose Medina 1B is tearing up pitchers in A Ball.
Minor League Systems is currently ranked #14 overall. Watch out for Tee Wilson OF in AAA he is a couple of years away from being at the big dance.
Financial Watch:
Attendance is down -2.7%, Budget is #11 and payroll is #10 so the move of Robert Martinez puts us in line to help re-sign our FA eligible players such as Eric McSwan DH if desired.
At 20-32 we are still in the hunt for the division title strangely enough. We are sitting 5.5 games back of SF after recently being swept by them last sim. Keith K Thompson moves into the rotation for Martinez and Dan Wilder receives the long awaited call up back to the ABL at MR to take Thompson's spot in the pen. Dave Guenette 3B was demoted in order to not rush him. He has been struggling at the ABL level. Jeff Morgan UTIL has been called up to fill his active roster spot.
In June we face Texas, Jacksonville and Georgia with 2 games also with SF. It will be interesting to see if we can "hang around" the TML Billy Martin division a bit longer to make things interesting.
Rumors also swirling that Pat Super Sellers last years Allstar representative for the TML is on the block. At 34 years old, this SP can still get the job done for a contender. At $12M next year plus a pro-rated remaining contract value this year it will be interesting to see if a contender jumps at the opportunity to pick up a veteran down the stretch for this rotation. Sellers has always rated higher than his potential in his ABL career.
Anthony "Big Stick" Shelton has continued his hot ways. He leads the ABL in HRs with 19 and 30 of his 42 hits have gone for extra bases. Anthony who is not hitting his weight at .211 vs. 226 lbs is crushing south-paws this year at .328 bavg with a OPS 1.296. Shelton has always shown amazing flashes of POWER in the ABL and he can be very streaky when he is healthy. Original on the trade block, this latest power burst has management thinking he can stick with Maple and his team friendly $800K for the next two seasons.
Down on the farm nothing spectacular in terms of W/L records is happening however; there are some bright stars waiting in the wings to make the ABL.
Astoria AAA:
Billy Greer OF and Clay Wadden SS have been called up to the ABL.
Sandy Springs AA:
Oliver Davis OF and Antonio Paz 1B have been pounding the baseball all season long.
Kingwood A:
Jose Medina 1B is tearing up pitchers in A Ball.
Minor League Systems is currently ranked #14 overall. Watch out for Tee Wilson OF in AAA he is a couple of years away from being at the big dance.
Financial Watch:
Attendance is down -2.7%, Budget is #11 and payroll is #10 so the move of Robert Martinez puts us in line to help re-sign our FA eligible players such as Eric McSwan DH if desired.
At 20-32 we are still in the hunt for the division title strangely enough. We are sitting 5.5 games back of SF after recently being swept by them last sim. Keith K Thompson moves into the rotation for Martinez and Dan Wilder receives the long awaited call up back to the ABL at MR to take Thompson's spot in the pen. Dave Guenette 3B was demoted in order to not rush him. He has been struggling at the ABL level. Jeff Morgan UTIL has been called up to fill his active roster spot.
In June we face Texas, Jacksonville and Georgia with 2 games also with SF. It will be interesting to see if we can "hang around" the TML Billy Martin division a bit longer to make things interesting.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Maple Season IV - April in Review
Maple started the 4th Season of ABL OOTP 13 baseball in slow fashion going 9-14. Maple's typically strong pitching staff is ranked around the middle of the pack so far this season. Maple's bats are about the same as last season with the long ball helping them win some games (#2 in the league).
Maple made one significant trade sending prospect D.J. Richardson to Eureka in return for Leon King MR and SP Dave Blake. Maple was trying to find a new home for Derek Beimer SS but, after being waived nobody claimed him. So Derek is now back up with the big club as a bench player. His age, the $1.75M contract combined with his poor defensive skills most likely the reason for passing him up. In the past he has had some big games for Maple and definitely still has the power to hit in the ABL.
Maple closed out the spring training with a new look this season with the following news:
A) Cale Hines 3B demoted to AAA. Last years starting 3B.
B) Carl Dalton MR demoted to AAA. He had an incredible ST but, no room for him on the active roster.
C) Brandon Crawford MR demoted to AAA. He had an incredible ST but, no room for him on the active roster.
D) Ramon Villa OF demoted to AAA. One of my bright young OFs started some games last year as the 4th OF but, this year no room for him on the active roster.
E) Don Strickland 1B demoted to AAA. Some may remember his incredible 1st year and his amazing hit streak of 20+ games.
Maple made one significant trade sending prospect D.J. Richardson to Eureka in return for Leon King MR and SP Dave Blake. Maple was trying to find a new home for Derek Beimer SS but, after being waived nobody claimed him. So Derek is now back up with the big club as a bench player. His age, the $1.75M contract combined with his poor defensive skills most likely the reason for passing him up. In the past he has had some big games for Maple and definitely still has the power to hit in the ABL.
Maple closed out the spring training with a new look this season with the following news:
A) Cale Hines 3B demoted to AAA. Last years starting 3B.
B) Carl Dalton MR demoted to AAA. He had an incredible ST but, no room for him on the active roster.
C) Brandon Crawford MR demoted to AAA. He had an incredible ST but, no room for him on the active roster.
D) Ramon Villa OF demoted to AAA. One of my bright young OFs started some games last year as the 4th OF but, this year no room for him on the active roster.
E) Don Strickland 1B demoted to AAA. Some may remember his incredible 1st year and his amazing hit streak of 20+ games.
The
starting lineup for Maple will feature some youth this year:
Bobby
Shine – C, 22
D.J.
Richardson – 1B/DH, 21 (TRADED TO EUREKA)
Jacques
Carpentier – 2B/UTIL, 21
The
rotation/bullpen will also see some new faces:
Chet
Carver SP (Acquired from Mile High)
Johnny
Tiller takes over the CL role full time (Acquired from Texas last year)
Down on the minors:
Astoria AAA features an up coming OF Billy Greer (.294, 10 HR, 25 RBI)
Sandy Springs AA features an up coming CL Ariel Goldberg (6 SV, 2.16 ERA)
Kingwood A features an up coming OF Rob Johnson (.300, 1 HR, 14 RBI)
Finances:
The attendance is down -2.8% so far this season. The 6th largest player payroll will have to get winning soon otherwise expect a player or two to be moved by the deadline if we are not in the running for the division title for the 4th straight season.
Extensions:
Eric McSwan is asking for a 7 year, $105M dollar contract. He is 32 years old and a DH with a big power bat. It will be interesting to see if I am able to resign him to a shorter deal with more favorable money :-)
Eric McSwan is asking for a 7 year, $105M dollar contract. He is 32 years old and a DH with a big power bat. It will be interesting to see if I am able to resign him to a shorter deal with more favorable money :-)
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Whatever happenned to Double 7?
Top Flight Prospect receives ABL call-up!
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