Current Week: 4-1 (94-48, +22)
Next Week: 2 vs Wilmington Iron Pigs, 2 vs Newark Millers, 3 vs Baltimore Barons
Power Ranking: 2 (-)
Fan Interest: 96 (-)
Owners Mood: Ecstatic
Runs Scored: 744 (3rd)
Avg: .276 (3rd)
HR: 148 (t-7th)
SB: 155 (1st)
Runs Against: 446 (1st)
Starters ERA: 3.00 (1st)
Pen ERA: 3.09 (1st)
Def Eff: .714 (1st)
Game 138: Norfolk 12, Chesapeake 2
Cornell Pearson: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 K (left injured)
Rafeal Rodriguez (1-0): 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 K
Dan Nelson: 2.0 IP, 3 H
Ramon Granados: 3-4, 2 HR (8), 2 R, 4 RBI
Javier Janchez: 2-4, 2 HR (13), 2 R, 5 RBI
Augusto Rodriguez: 3-5, 2B, HR (4), 2 R, 2 RBI
Francisco Gallegos: 2-4, 2B (46), R
H: 12, LOB: 5
Game 139: Norfolk 7, Chesapeake 4
Takayuki Iemochi (17-5): 7.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 K
Dalton Whitaker (SV 34): 1.0 IP, 2 K
Francisco Gallegos: 4-5, 2 R
Jeff Lewis: 3-5, HR (16), R, 2 RBI
Javier Janchez: 1-5, HR (14), R, RBI
Tom Dundee: 3-5, R, 3 RBI
H: 17, LOB: 12
Game 140: Ocean City 1, Norfolk 0
Vaughan Griffith (2-6): 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K
Ramon Granados: 2-4
H: 7, LOB: 7
Game 141: Ocean City 2, Norfolk 7
Miguel Contreras (19-9): 8.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 11 K
Jeff Lewis: 3-5, HR (17), R, 2 RBI
Tom Anderson: 2-4, 2 R
Peter Alexander: 1-3, HR (6), 3 RBI
H: 10, LOB: 7
** The Cavaliers have Clinched the Western Division, for their 6th straight season **
Game 142: Ocean City 0, Norfolk 5
Matt Hollis (15-7): 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Javier Janchez: 2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI
Tom Anderson/Sergio Gavlez: 2-4, RBI
H: 8, LOB: 8
Cavaliers News:
Who's Hot:
Javier Janchez, .350, 3 HR, last 5 games
Who's Not:
none
Injuries:
King Brock, Broken Foot, 6 days
Cornell Pearons, Strained Hamstring, 8 weeks
Other News:
Cornell Pearson left the game early on Tuesday after throwing 28 pitches, and the new we got 2 days later wasn't good at all. Cornell Peason has strained his hamstring and he will be out 8-9 weeks. The future ace of the staff was 14-7 3.11 on the season and will be missed.
"He was our #3 man, we needed him strong for the playoffs. This hurts."
Paul Brown will be called up to take his spot in the rotation. Brown has had a great year in AAA, going 18-3 2.77. He will assume the #3 spot in the rotation.
GM Notes:
Vaughan Griffith has been really impressive since moving to the rotation. In his last 7 games, all starts, he has only given up 5 runs 1 time and 4 runs 1 time. Its hard to see his record at 1-3 in those 7 starts. The games he lost he gave up 3, 3 and 1 runs over 7 innings. Tough luck for the kid. I am going to have to a lot of thinking about next seasons rotation.
Miguel Contreras has now made 29 starts this season, which means his vesting $15 M option for next season will kick in. The 33-year-old will have at least one more year anchoring down this staff. I doubt I will trade him, but you never know, I have a lot of youth in the organization. It would be hard, especially since he is having an amazing year. I have done it before when I traded Jose Matos after his Golden Arm award winning season. He seems to be getting better with age.
Now that I know that Miguel will be with us next season, I decided to take a look at our salary obligations for 2022 to see if anything will need to be done. We are coming in a little high at $111 M, which would be our 3rd highest payroll yet, but still under budget. We only have 2 upcoming free-agents, four players which are due big raises due to arbitration, and one player with a player option.
We are schedule to lose Will Rose (1-0 4.70 this year) and Julio Saldana (2-0 0.74) to free agency. This would be two fairly big hits to our bullpen, especially the way Saldana has thrown the ball this year. But we have a lot of young pitchers, and in the end I am not overly concerned. Saldana sat out last year, and I am not sure why this guy has been a beast.
Mauro Candelaria is sitting on a player option for 2022 worth $6.5M. With his "wrecked" health record and string of injuries over the past 2 years it would be hard to see him say 'No'. Deep down inside however, its what I want. He isn't worth $6.5M anymore, sad to say. I would think about bringing him back for less money, however.
Not sure what to do with the arbitration crew. Javier Janchez made $2.5 this season and is expected to make $3.8 next. Derek Carter made $2.5 and is expected to make $2.9 next (probably more). Tom Anderson made $490 this year and is set to make over $6 next. And finally, Cornell Pearson is expect to get a bump from the minium ($490) to $5.8. Going to be an intersting off-season.
This is going to start getting tough. I really like this group of guys and it will be hard to move any of them. Next years team might look really different. Here are our top-5 paid players for 2022.
1) Miguel Contreras: $15.1
2) Jeff Lewis: $14.4
3) Matt Hollis: $13.9
4) King Brock: $9.8
5) Mauro Candelaria: $6.5
I reached out to Cornell Pearons and offered him an extension that would keep him here for 4 more years, through his arbitration years. I offered him, originally, a 6-yr deal, but wanted nothing to do with that long of a contact.
I also reached out to Javier Janchez, but he wants some crazy amount of money. That won't be happening here. Maybe he wasn't fond of vesting options with PA limits. I may just have to sit back and see how his arbitration years pan out.
The reason I called up Paul Brown over Armando Lopez is simple. Since going down to AAA, Lopez has continued to struggle. In 4 starts with Yokohama, Lopez is 1-1 5.79. He is a much better pitcher than the record shows. There is a good possibility he could end up being the odd man out of the rotation next season. He will have a bright career in the DBL no matter where he ends up. I just have too much big-league ready pitching. The rotation will be interesting next season to say the least.
Lets just finish off this season, as you can tell I get easily distracted.
Around the League:
Standings Leaders
DE Southern: Lewes Braves 78-64 (+2, M#-19)
DE Northern: Milford Clippers 81-61 (+3, M#-18)
MV Eastern: Baltimore Barons 89-53 (+7, M#-14)
MV Western: Norfolk Cavaliers 94-48 (+22, Clinched)
Players of the Week:
Delaware: George Corbett, Wilmington Iron Pigs, 10-23, 2 HR's, 6 RBI's
MarVa: Sozen Kawamaura, Baltimore Barons, 8-19, 3 HR's, 5 RBI's
Power Rankings:
1) Norfolk Cavaliers (123.2)
2) Baltimore Barons (111.8)
3) Milford Clippers (105.7)
4) New Castle Colonials (103.1)
5) Newark Millers (102.9)
News:- Glenn Jenkins is struggling to recovery from his injury and will be out the rest of the season. It will be 5-6 more weeks until he is able to resume baseball activities. Jenkins hit .294-7-52 on the season. "At 39 you don't bounce back as you do when you are 25. To say this is disappointing would be an understatement."
- Frederick Taylor of the Seaford Blue Jays has struggled this season and now his season is going to end on an injury. When things go wrong they go wrong. Taylor was 1-7 6.41 with 12 saves in 30 games with the Blue Jays. He was 2-2 2.95, in 37 games with the Generals before a mid-season deal.
- Jacob Chaney of the Christiana Blue Hens is hoping to be ready for next season after recieving his injury update. He was diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and is expected to be out 7-8 months. Chaney hit .267-14-50 this year, and will be a free-agent at the end of season.
- 33-year-old James McLaughlin has agreed to a 4-year, $53,200,000 extension to keep him in Ocean City. McLaughlin has gone 7-9 5.21 in 25 starts so far this season, for his career he is 126-73 3.54. He has been Ocean City since 2017.