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.
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
HOME OF THE 10TH MAN
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
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:
Future Top Prospects:
Despite a losing month there are signs of improvement throughout the organization:
Team Improvements:
- The bullpen is 3rd overall in the TML in ERA
- The pitching staff is 3rd overall in the TML in HR allowed
- The pitching staff is 1st overall in the TML in Strikeouts
- 7-3 in the last 10 games with two consecutive winning sims
- Ranks 8th overall in the Annual Top Systems report
- Astoria seeking their 1st division title in AAA; 7.5 game lead
- John "Toad" Jones MR; 3-2, 1 save, 2.60 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 89 K in 55.1 IP
- George Evans DH; .298 bavg, .332 obpct, .535 slgpct, 18 HRS, 68 RBI
Future Top Prospects:
- Brooks Petersen OF; currently on the DL; was crushing the ball this year
- Martin Petersen OF; currently on Maple and getting his shot to stick
- Floyd Lowery OF; currently in AAA - had a coffee with Maple this season, crushing the ball
- Brad Thomas OF; currently in AAA - might get a September call-up, crushing the ball
- Manny Palma CL; currently back in A after struggles at higher levels
- Zeus Hallman MR; currently in A ball, working more innings and giving Palma a chance as CL
- Garrett Bennett 1B; currently in AA ball - crushing the ball since being acquired from LV
- William "Cannon" Lee 1B; 1st round pick this year, currently in A ball - 0 HRs!?
- Rob Young SP; currently in AA after being acquired from SF at the trade deadline
- Subaru Kishita SP; currently in AA ball but, struggling
Monday, January 6, 2014
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!
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!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Maple Marauders June Update: "Slow Start, More Trades & Draft Results"
A 4-6 start in June for Maple has the fans and owner concerned. We have tough week ahead of us. We play SoCAL at home and then travel across the country to play in Seattle. Maple is in last place in the Billy Martin TML Division trailing front runner San Francisco by 15 games. Maple in previous years has been down by double digits but, this year optimism in the locker room is faint.
There is some good news though longer term. The team has managed to rebuild with some youth and star potential. After the team recently waived the following main stays in Marauder gear: Frank Powers, Anthony Lewis, Doug Smith and Vic Jennings; the team announced some youngsters will get some major playtime in the ABL. The AAA roster call ups include: Ronnie Haynes SP, Brandon Farmer 1B, Clay Wadden UTIL, Floyd Lowery OF and Brooks Petersen OF. Chandler Fisher will return to his familiar role in the pen as a MR. The team also waived & DFA 1B Vernon Burns. We are excited about giving an opportunity to Lowery and Petersen both of which were tearing up the baseball in the minors.
Recent trade activity also gave an opportunity to a couple of RPs; Jonathan Martin and Mitchell Thompson. Mitchell was an interesting player to follow in the minors. He was drafted as a 2B but, was quickly converted to a RP in the minors. A very unique player for sure. In addition the recent trade activity has risen the Maple organization from the bottom of the ranks to 8th overall in the top prospects category compliments of Brooks Petersen's acquisition from Dallas for MR Ken Dixon.
The draft according to sources in Maple went as planned. We were very pleased with our draft choices. Only a couple of players drafted have been released, however; their 1st Round pick William "CANNON" Lee is already ranked as the #17 overall prospect after he quickly accepted his bonus. He will start his career in Kingwood, Texas playing A Ball the rest of the year. In the 2nd Round, Maple could not resist another big hitter 1B in Michael Knaus. Knaus has been a consistent .400 type hitter at Fresno in the NCAA. SS Taro Omori was taken as the Round 3 choice. This NBL allstar combines a "hoover" vacuum cleaner defense with a strong contact bat. Maple also landed the best knuckle ball pitcher in the draft; John Wallace in Round 11. John will be the 5th man in the rotation in Single A Kingwood this year to see what he can do.
We are also optimistic on some future talent coming up through the organization including; SP Subaru Kishita (he really drives a honda) AA who has bounced back and forth between AA and A this year, CL Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman last years Round 1 pick who is dominating in A Ball, CL Manny "BLITZ" Palma who has struggled in the minors and has also drawn alot of interest from ABL teams, Garrett Bennett 1B, AA who may have a short term 1B job in Maple by the end of next year to keep the base warm for the "CANNON" and the OF duo of Brad Thomas and Martin Petersen at AAA. Brad, Martin, Floyd and Brooks were making up the solid 4-some in AAA Astoria that put the "HURT" on SPs.
There is some good news though longer term. The team has managed to rebuild with some youth and star potential. After the team recently waived the following main stays in Marauder gear: Frank Powers, Anthony Lewis, Doug Smith and Vic Jennings; the team announced some youngsters will get some major playtime in the ABL. The AAA roster call ups include: Ronnie Haynes SP, Brandon Farmer 1B, Clay Wadden UTIL, Floyd Lowery OF and Brooks Petersen OF. Chandler Fisher will return to his familiar role in the pen as a MR. The team also waived & DFA 1B Vernon Burns. We are excited about giving an opportunity to Lowery and Petersen both of which were tearing up the baseball in the minors.
Recent trade activity also gave an opportunity to a couple of RPs; Jonathan Martin and Mitchell Thompson. Mitchell was an interesting player to follow in the minors. He was drafted as a 2B but, was quickly converted to a RP in the minors. A very unique player for sure. In addition the recent trade activity has risen the Maple organization from the bottom of the ranks to 8th overall in the top prospects category compliments of Brooks Petersen's acquisition from Dallas for MR Ken Dixon.
The draft according to sources in Maple went as planned. We were very pleased with our draft choices. Only a couple of players drafted have been released, however; their 1st Round pick William "CANNON" Lee is already ranked as the #17 overall prospect after he quickly accepted his bonus. He will start his career in Kingwood, Texas playing A Ball the rest of the year. In the 2nd Round, Maple could not resist another big hitter 1B in Michael Knaus. Knaus has been a consistent .400 type hitter at Fresno in the NCAA. SS Taro Omori was taken as the Round 3 choice. This NBL allstar combines a "hoover" vacuum cleaner defense with a strong contact bat. Maple also landed the best knuckle ball pitcher in the draft; John Wallace in Round 11. John will be the 5th man in the rotation in Single A Kingwood this year to see what he can do.
We are also optimistic on some future talent coming up through the organization including; SP Subaru Kishita (he really drives a honda) AA who has bounced back and forth between AA and A this year, CL Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman last years Round 1 pick who is dominating in A Ball, CL Manny "BLITZ" Palma who has struggled in the minors and has also drawn alot of interest from ABL teams, Garrett Bennett 1B, AA who may have a short term 1B job in Maple by the end of next year to keep the base warm for the "CANNON" and the OF duo of Brad Thomas and Martin Petersen at AAA. Brad, Martin, Floyd and Brooks were making up the solid 4-some in AAA Astoria that put the "HURT" on SPs.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Maple May Movements
Maple continued tweeking their lineup in the month of May. From the ABL active roster; Incoming = Danny Burris, Billy Bishop & Jessie Clark and Outgoing = Rich Bussell & Jacques Carpentier. Maple was set on improving their middle infield which has been piece work for over five seasons. Bussell didn't stay long in Maple but, management was just not convinced after our slow start that we were a legitimate contenders in the ABL let alone the TML.
Maple went from 1st to last in the Billy Martin Division over the past month and currently sits 8 games back of San Francisco.
Maple is closely monitoring the progress of a couple of rookies this year: John "TOAD" Jones MR has been lights out; 3-1 Record - 19G, 18.2IP, 10HA, 6ER, 1HR, 13BB, 28K & 1.23WHIP; George Evans OF/DH had been hot until the past couple of weeks; 36G, 151AB, 12R, 40H, 10DBL, 2TRI, 6HR, 19RBI, 6BB, 35K, .265avg, .291obpct, & .477 slugging pct. The past couple of weeks Evans has struggled at a 7 for 43 clip! Maple management remains steady forward with these two youngsters.
Down on the "Farm"; we are very excited about our Triple AAA OF which features potential ABL players and maybe stars! - Brad Thomas (R5 pick in 2015), Floyd Lowery (Acquired earlier this year from Mile High), Martin Petersen (Acquired earlier this year from Nottinghamshire), Tee Wilson (R1 pick in 2014) & Antonio Alvarez (R2 pick in 2014). Joshua Goldberg the son of the owner also received a call-up to the big club in Maple to fill in the rotation while Nicolas Rodrigues spends some time on the DL. In Double AA Tad Williams appears ready to jump to Triple AAA soon. We would like to see some improvement in his 2B defense though. It may be while because after the Jessie Clark trade; Eric Rice 2B was demoted from Maple to AAA Astoria. In Single A 2B Tony Baird is having a great start in Kingwood, TX. Defense again is an area he must work on before taking the jump to Double AA.
Our Top prospects according to OSA sources is Subaru Kishita SP which was drafted this year in R4 and recently was promoted to AA from A. Manny Palma CL has tried to jump to AAA a couple of times but, appears set to finish the season in AA based on his recent stint in Astoria. Then there is Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman our R1 pick this past season; who was drafted as a SP out of College (Arkansas) but, has been the CL in Kingwood Single A. Big Thunder has been terrific so far with a 2-0 record and 9 saves spotting a tiny 1.07 WHIP.
The rumor mill is swirling still in Canada as Frank Powers OF/1B, Vic Jennings who just returned back from the DL along with power hitting SS Doug Smith are all available for a contender this year.
The fans certainly have shown their approval so far this year with the changes. Attendance is up +1.0% over last season.
Maple went from 1st to last in the Billy Martin Division over the past month and currently sits 8 games back of San Francisco.
Maple is closely monitoring the progress of a couple of rookies this year: John "TOAD" Jones MR has been lights out; 3-1 Record - 19G, 18.2IP, 10HA, 6ER, 1HR, 13BB, 28K & 1.23WHIP; George Evans OF/DH had been hot until the past couple of weeks; 36G, 151AB, 12R, 40H, 10DBL, 2TRI, 6HR, 19RBI, 6BB, 35K, .265avg, .291obpct, & .477 slugging pct. The past couple of weeks Evans has struggled at a 7 for 43 clip! Maple management remains steady forward with these two youngsters.
Down on the "Farm"; we are very excited about our Triple AAA OF which features potential ABL players and maybe stars! - Brad Thomas (R5 pick in 2015), Floyd Lowery (Acquired earlier this year from Mile High), Martin Petersen (Acquired earlier this year from Nottinghamshire), Tee Wilson (R1 pick in 2014) & Antonio Alvarez (R2 pick in 2014). Joshua Goldberg the son of the owner also received a call-up to the big club in Maple to fill in the rotation while Nicolas Rodrigues spends some time on the DL. In Double AA Tad Williams appears ready to jump to Triple AAA soon. We would like to see some improvement in his 2B defense though. It may be while because after the Jessie Clark trade; Eric Rice 2B was demoted from Maple to AAA Astoria. In Single A 2B Tony Baird is having a great start in Kingwood, TX. Defense again is an area he must work on before taking the jump to Double AA.
Our Top prospects according to OSA sources is Subaru Kishita SP which was drafted this year in R4 and recently was promoted to AA from A. Manny Palma CL has tried to jump to AAA a couple of times but, appears set to finish the season in AA based on his recent stint in Astoria. Then there is Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman our R1 pick this past season; who was drafted as a SP out of College (Arkansas) but, has been the CL in Kingwood Single A. Big Thunder has been terrific so far with a 2-0 record and 9 saves spotting a tiny 1.07 WHIP.
The rumor mill is swirling still in Canada as Frank Powers OF/1B, Vic Jennings who just returned back from the DL along with power hitting SS Doug Smith are all available for a contender this year.
The fans certainly have shown their approval so far this year with the changes. Attendance is up +1.0% over last season.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Maple hoping not to get Heart Burn over Vernon!
Maple after sim #2 called up a 26 year old who hasn't seen the ABL for six years. His name Vernon Burns. Maple had been after him for a long time during the off-season, however; Burns' agent would not get him to accept a Minor League contract. Fast forward to the 2nd week of baseball and Vernon is going to get his chance to play for Maple in the ABL and hopefully add some pop to the lineup while fielding at 1B. Burns last year made the AAA allstar team and won a gold glove at first base. What really caught our eye was his 82 EBHs with 42 of those going over the wall. Too make room for Burns, Don Strickland cleared waivers and Chandler Fisher SP/MR was placed on the 15 day DL.
Horizon City, TX will be watching the satellite dish tomorrow to see how he does in a Maple uniform.
Horizon City, TX will be watching the satellite dish tomorrow to see how he does in a Maple uniform.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
The latest news from the Marauders organization as we begin Season #6 in the ABL.............
Maple enters the 2017 season with a conflict of opinion. The owner feels we should be an above .500 club this year, however; the GM feels we are in a rebuild mode.
Over the past five seasons the TML Billy Martin division has been arguably one of the weakest divisions in the ABL so, a .500 record in fact may put you in the playoff hunt come September. The OSA scouts though predict a horrible outlook for the Marauders with a 2nd last place finish and a well below .500 record. Fans in Maple were surprised to see the OSA prediction with the Marauders double digit games behind a surprising 100 win San Francisco club. Only time will tell if the Marauders are this bad or if San Francisco is really this good.
The off-season saw Maple pick up a quality starter from Dallas as Rich Bussell was acquired in exchange for allstar catcher Bobby Shine. We hate to lose Bobby as he was a nice surprise last season for our team and the catcher position in the ABL has been a tough position to fill at a high level. On that note, acquiring Rich gives us a chance to be more competitive this season and gives us more options near the trade deadline if we should be really as bad as the OSA predicts. Teams have already contacted Maple to see what the price is for Bussell and the response from Maple has been a consistent; "we will let you know IF and WHEN he is on the market". This trade also allowed us to call up Manuel Fernandez known as "Stubblebeard". Our scouts predict only a backup role for him but, if there is any chance he can turn into anything beyond that now is his chance. Fernandez does shine with the glove behind the plate.
Another interesting off season move saw Nottinghamshire and Maple again continue their interleague relationship in making deals each season; Maple acquired last seasons AAA KSL Cy Young winner - Nicolas Rodriguez in exchange for hard throwing Van "Shooter" Smith. The GM feels a change of teams sometimes can help the players involved so we will see longer term how this trade works out. Maple fans were happy to see that Rodriguez made the team out of spring and will be in the rotation for Maple to start the year.
After a mediocre spring training Maple was on the phone again after the 1st regular season week trying to improve his club and deal with some tough decisions on their 25 man active roster. This team has a lot of players out of options and having the flexibility to call up players like in the past is now just a memory. Maple finished 3-4 after the 1st week of the season and quickly made two more transactions that were announced shortly afterwards. The first move shipped SP Vern Poulin to Nottinghamshire in exchange for hitting middle infield prospect Alfonso Alonso. We felt we have an excess of SPs in similar quality to Poulin and needed some more depth in the middle infield. It is always a pleasure to deal with Mr. William Atteberry. We both discuss which players are of interest and then either quickly agree or move on. Nottinghamshire has been the flagship organization for the ABL and whenever you can pick up some young players that play within that surrounding we feel it is a benefit to our minor leagues. In the second trade, Ron Harrison of Mile High agreed to send OF Floyd Lowery AA to Maple in return for MR Leon King ABL. This deal was to help to get some value from a very decent prospect and young pitching arm in lieu of managing the 25 man roster and possibly losing a player for nothing. We also like Lowery's ability to play all OF positions namely CF. CF has been a long time need for Maple from a defensive stand point. Lowery will begin in AA and based on his results will be given a quick promotion to AAA if the results meet expectations. Lowery's time to make the ABL is now and he knows it. Meanwhile Alonso will start in AA as well and will see some time at 3B. The sales of Sandy Springs Spartans' Alfonso Alonso jerseys skyrocketed quickly after the deal was announced. Fans have been saying in the Atlanta area, "how can't you not like this kid and his name"! We will see how far this 21 year old progresses in the minors over the next year or two.
After all of the minor juggling, the Maple organization announced two more organization changes. Both might have implications for the TML ROY race. 1st call-up was John "Toad" Jones MR from AAA. He was our R1 Supplemental pick this past draft. John was looking very strong out of spring training and didn't pitch for Maple in any spring training games but, had several effective outings in International play. John has bloomed very quickly and we are pleasantly surprised and very happy to have him in the ABL this soon. This southpaw pitched at South Carolina and has told reporters, "I would love to compete versus my favorite team growing up the Bombers"! Gary Altman was not available for comment. Gary has taken some bad press for neglecting to pick the local fan favorite. The 2nd call up saw power hitting OF George Evans get the promotion from AAA ball. Evans was Maple's R2 pick the year previous and is coming off a monster season in AAA for Astoria when he hit 38 HRs and had 78 Extra base hits. Maple is confident both players will be on the ROY ballots for the TML at the end of the year.
Over the past five seasons the TML Billy Martin division has been arguably one of the weakest divisions in the ABL so, a .500 record in fact may put you in the playoff hunt come September. The OSA scouts though predict a horrible outlook for the Marauders with a 2nd last place finish and a well below .500 record. Fans in Maple were surprised to see the OSA prediction with the Marauders double digit games behind a surprising 100 win San Francisco club. Only time will tell if the Marauders are this bad or if San Francisco is really this good.
The off-season saw Maple pick up a quality starter from Dallas as Rich Bussell was acquired in exchange for allstar catcher Bobby Shine. We hate to lose Bobby as he was a nice surprise last season for our team and the catcher position in the ABL has been a tough position to fill at a high level. On that note, acquiring Rich gives us a chance to be more competitive this season and gives us more options near the trade deadline if we should be really as bad as the OSA predicts. Teams have already contacted Maple to see what the price is for Bussell and the response from Maple has been a consistent; "we will let you know IF and WHEN he is on the market". This trade also allowed us to call up Manuel Fernandez known as "Stubblebeard". Our scouts predict only a backup role for him but, if there is any chance he can turn into anything beyond that now is his chance. Fernandez does shine with the glove behind the plate.
Another interesting off season move saw Nottinghamshire and Maple again continue their interleague relationship in making deals each season; Maple acquired last seasons AAA KSL Cy Young winner - Nicolas Rodriguez in exchange for hard throwing Van "Shooter" Smith. The GM feels a change of teams sometimes can help the players involved so we will see longer term how this trade works out. Maple fans were happy to see that Rodriguez made the team out of spring and will be in the rotation for Maple to start the year.
After a mediocre spring training Maple was on the phone again after the 1st regular season week trying to improve his club and deal with some tough decisions on their 25 man active roster. This team has a lot of players out of options and having the flexibility to call up players like in the past is now just a memory. Maple finished 3-4 after the 1st week of the season and quickly made two more transactions that were announced shortly afterwards. The first move shipped SP Vern Poulin to Nottinghamshire in exchange for hitting middle infield prospect Alfonso Alonso. We felt we have an excess of SPs in similar quality to Poulin and needed some more depth in the middle infield. It is always a pleasure to deal with Mr. William Atteberry. We both discuss which players are of interest and then either quickly agree or move on. Nottinghamshire has been the flagship organization for the ABL and whenever you can pick up some young players that play within that surrounding we feel it is a benefit to our minor leagues. In the second trade, Ron Harrison of Mile High agreed to send OF Floyd Lowery AA to Maple in return for MR Leon King ABL. This deal was to help to get some value from a very decent prospect and young pitching arm in lieu of managing the 25 man roster and possibly losing a player for nothing. We also like Lowery's ability to play all OF positions namely CF. CF has been a long time need for Maple from a defensive stand point. Lowery will begin in AA and based on his results will be given a quick promotion to AAA if the results meet expectations. Lowery's time to make the ABL is now and he knows it. Meanwhile Alonso will start in AA as well and will see some time at 3B. The sales of Sandy Springs Spartans' Alfonso Alonso jerseys skyrocketed quickly after the deal was announced. Fans have been saying in the Atlanta area, "how can't you not like this kid and his name"! We will see how far this 21 year old progresses in the minors over the next year or two.
After all of the minor juggling, the Maple organization announced two more organization changes. Both might have implications for the TML ROY race. 1st call-up was John "Toad" Jones MR from AAA. He was our R1 Supplemental pick this past draft. John was looking very strong out of spring training and didn't pitch for Maple in any spring training games but, had several effective outings in International play. John has bloomed very quickly and we are pleasantly surprised and very happy to have him in the ABL this soon. This southpaw pitched at South Carolina and has told reporters, "I would love to compete versus my favorite team growing up the Bombers"! Gary Altman was not available for comment. Gary has taken some bad press for neglecting to pick the local fan favorite. The 2nd call up saw power hitting OF George Evans get the promotion from AAA ball. Evans was Maple's R2 pick the year previous and is coming off a monster season in AAA for Astoria when he hit 38 HRs and had 78 Extra base hits. Maple is confident both players will be on the ROY ballots for the TML at the end of the year.
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