Around the League:
WAR Gained:
1) Milford Clippers: 15.3
2) Chesapeake Blue Crabs: 14.5
3) Ocean City Tourists: 6.8
4) Lewes Braves: 5.4
5) Port Penn Ducks: 3.7
WAR Lost:
24) Christiana Blue Hens: -6.3
25) Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs: -8.4
26) Seaford Blue Jays: -9.1
27) Cape May Beacons: -10.2
28) Washington Senators: -11.0
Pre-Spring Games Predictions:
Delaware Conference:
Colonial Division: Milford Clippers: 86-76 .531 (+10.0)
Northern Division: Chadds Ford Cannons: 98-64 .605 (+10.0)
Atlantic Division: Lewes Braves: 91-71 .562 (+5.0)
MarVa Conference:
Beltway Division: Washington Senators: 94-68 .580 (+11.0)
Mountain Division: Martinsburg Mountaineers/Richmond Cardinals: 91-71 .562 (+11.0)
Coastal Division: Chesapeake Blue Crabs: 87-75 .537 (+1.0)
** These predictions are going to be so different than the acutal predictions **
Spring Training Results:
Delaware Conference:
Colonial Division: Seaford Blue Jays: 18-12 .600 (+4.0)
Northern Division: Chadds Ford Cannons: 20-10 .667 (+4.0)
Atlantic Division: Lewes Braves: 22-8 .733 (+5.0)
MarVa Conference:
Beltway Division: Washington Senators: 17-13 .567 (+1.0)
Mountain Division: Richmond Cardinals: 18-12 .600 (+1.0)
Coastal Division: Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs/Chespeake Blue Crabs: 20-10 .667 (+3.0)
Spring Leaders:
AVG: Jesus Vazques, Lewes Braves: .443
Hits: Jesus Vazques, Lewes Braves/David MacKinney, Annapolis Admirals: 27
HR: Jon Hughes, Martinsburg Mountaineers: 9
RBI: Jon Hughes, Martinsburg Mountaineers: 20
Runs: Miguel Urbina, Seaford Blue Jays: 18
SB: Gonzalo Magana, Harrington Ponies: 12
ERA: Alvin Richardson, Chadds Ford Cannons: 0.40
Wins: Woody Anderson, Lewes Braves/Errol Arthur, Ellicott City Express/Derek Parkinson, Seaford Blue Jays: 4
Saves: Robert Galloway, New Castle Colonials: 11
K's: Scott Vanciny, Lewes Braves: 34
WHIP: Derek Parkinson, Seaford Blue Jays: 0.64
IP: Tom Watons, Chadds Ford Cannons: 24.0
Around the League:
Milton Brewers: SP Carl Powell came to camp bulked up adding 10 pounds of muscle. He has confidence that he can do better than his 17-win season last year.
Free Agents/Signings:
Annapolis Admirals: Signed SP Shusaku Yamasaki to a 4-year/$26,100,000 deal. The 28-year-old comes over from Japan after a very successful time in Japan.
Port Penn Ducks: Signed CL Mike Orr to a 1-year/$1,180,000 deal.
Trades:
Ellicott City Express: Needed pitching and reached out to the Washington Senators for SP Jorge Gonzalez (12-9 4.32), in exchange for OF Mark Moyer (.268-14-48, 19 SB).
Christiana Blue Hens: Received MR Tanner Cote (1-4 1.21, 2 SV) from the Cape May Beacons for 2B prospect Jeff Brown.
Fruitland Ports: Dealt away OF James Wyatt (.242-0-3) to the Harrington Ponies for OF Josh Weber (.224-1-14) both players were rookies last season.
Injuries:
Lewes Braves: Lost OF Ron Todd for 5-months with a fractured knee. Todd was trying to make the jump from AA to make the team.
Milford Clippers: Will be without MR Michael White to start the season. White is out 3-months with a partially torn labrum.
Harpers Ferry Raiders: Lost Dustin McNeil for the season with a torn labrum. McNeil went 2-6 6.31 in 18 games last season.
Harrington Ponies: Will be without ace John Denton for the season. Denton once a great pitcher has been ravished by injuries as he has aged. Denton will miss 13 months with a torn UCL.
Fruitland Ports: Lost MR Beau Love for the year. Love will be out 9-months with a stretched elbow ligament.
King George Royals: Lost 1B Bob Rowe (.285-26-88) for 7-8 months, a huge loss for the team. Rowe claims he broke his kneecap while saving a woman during a mugger attack.
Ellicott City Express: Lost SP Armando Santos (16-9 3.49) for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
Wilmington Iron Pigs: Will be without SS Roberto Ocampo (.285-17-64) to start the season. He is expected to miss the first month with a fractured hand.
Lewes Braves: MR Alfonso Andrade will miss opening day with a elbow tendinits. He should be back before April ends.
[B]Ellicott City Express: Lost MR Raul Madrid (3-3 6.07, 2 SV) for the year with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.
Milford Clippers: Got some good news when they were told MVP 2B Patrick Coates will only miss 4-weeks, only 2 weeks of the regular season.
Chesapeake Blue Crabs: Lost MR Shawn Bell for 6-months with a torn labrum. Bell threw in 55 games last season and played an important role for the Crabs
Lewes Braves: Lost pitches Andre Mobley for 6-7 weeks with a fractured coracoid bone. Mobley was trying to make the roster after pitching in AA last season.
My Notes
The early pre-season predictions have us winning 89 games and winning the division. If we can win the division and make the playoffs then we are that much closer to winning it all. Our first goal? Make the playoffs. Winning it will be tough with the additions the big money spending teams made, but anything can happen in the post season.
Early season predictions to watch and compare to see what happens come the season predictions:
Naganori Matsuo: .305-33-99
Murray Wallstreet: .281-21-62, 15 SB
Tom Watson: 15-8 3.41
When the next predictions come after spring training it will be interesting to see where these guys fall... but one thing is for sure I need my starting pitching to step it up... I mean these same predictions last year had us winning 98 games, but when the final predictions came out we were down to 76. So yeah you can't take these too seriously.
I head into opening day with roster moves to make as I have 17 position players and 14 pitchers on my roster. I need to cut this down to 14/11, which I am not sure how I will make this work. Too bad the roster don't expand to 28 players, that would make it so much easier.
This team is deep with talent, is it great talent or just "ok" talent I am not sure, I am hoping it somewhere in between talent.
We played well this spring, but I really don't know what that means. I think we played well last spring too, and look where that got us. I am not sure what to expect from this team, I do believe we are better than we were last year. Can we score more than 720 runs this year? I believe we can. Can we give up less than 807 runs this year? Yes, we better. All around we are a better team than 2039, not just because we are acquired players, but because we matured and we developed. We have veteran leadership (Johnson, Costello and Cantu) we have young guys who are still finding their way (Carillo, Ayala, and Maxwell), and we have players who have been here a few years and know what we expect (Pearl, Cuesta, Guzman and Todd). All around we have talent. Yes we did last year too, but we blew the team up heading into the season. This year not much happened, expect we brought in a few guys. Does that make us better? I don't really know, but I'd like to think so.
I have made some crazy deals over the years and some people may say I ruined this team, but I would argue that. I have protected this team. I have protected this teams budget, made the owners happy and done the best I have. I haven't been fired in 10 seasons. I haven't been not asked back... so I am doing something right. Yes we haven't won the big one yet, and yes we really haven't come close... but we have had the team to do it, we had that team here in Chadds Ford. Things just didn't work out for us, and if all things come together this year we will be making a charge again. We just need to make the playoffs and then anything is possible.
Time to contemplate the opening day roster... I am really not sure what to do. Details below.
I can't wait to get this season kicked off and to see what is going to happen.
Off-Season Profile:
2040 Budget: $83,000,000 (20th)
Payroll: $61,362,250 (20th)
Money for Free-Agents: $649,300
Money for Extensions: $0
Fan Interest: 78
WAR Gain/Loss: +1.9 (13th)
Owner: Delighted
2042 Long Term Goal: Reach the playoffs
Free Agents/Signings:
none
Trades:
none
Major Transactions:
none
Injuries:
MR Francisco Franco, torn UCL, 2 weeks.
SP Juan Cuesta, torn rotator cuff, 4-5 months
OF Juan Torres, partially torn labur, 6 weeks
OF Antonio Garza, oblique strain, 5 days
SS Otto Carillo, DtD, 4 weeks
Garza was going to be my opening day CF'er, but this injury means he will be heading to AAA. We will what happens in April.
Current Offense Depth Chart:
With 21 position players I had to let 7 go, well send them down to AAA or where ever. This isn't going to be an easy task, at least I don't think so so lets see how things go. I may end up putting off a move or two till opening day, but I am not sure... after looking over the roster I am at a standstill and will have to make 3 more moves over the next couple of days... not really sure what to do at this point. Not sure who these final 3 are going to be... do I really have too much talent or am I just being weird and its obvious who I should demote.
Catchers:
Jose Matos (.189-0-3, 7-37)
Pedro Cantu (.377-4-14, 23-61)
First Base:
Eugene Todd (.175-3-12, 7-40) (out of options)
Hector Solis (.395-1-6, 15-38)
Second Base:
Jose Ayala (.267-0-4, 12-45)
Juan Guzman (.222-0-2, 10-45) (out of options)
Third Base:
Tully Maxwell (.193-2-5, 11-57)
Otto Carillo (.436-4-9, 24-57)
Shortstop:
Murray Wallstreet (.362-3-10, 21-58)
Felipe Suarez (.351-1-5, 20-57)
Outfield:
LF Juan Rosales (.216-0-4, 8-37)
RF Naganori Matsuo (.203-2-7, 12-59)
LF Ogai Takahashi (.279-1-12, 17-61)
DH Ambrose Gutierrez (.333-0-3, 17-51, 4-11 SB)
RF Pedro Diaz (.241-4-14, 14-58)
LF Ramon Gonzalez (.180-0-3, 9-50)
LF Mike Johnson (.288-3-9, 17-59)
On the pitching side it "should" be an easier decision as I have 14 active and will need to get down to 11... how hard can it be demote 3 pitchers?? With the player who was supposed to be our ace Juan Cuesta out for a bit this may get a little interesting. A few guys who have pitched mainly in the pen are going to need to step up... I am at a loss at this point. I may end up demoting guys who deserve to stay here and see how these out of options players perform. I may end up DFA'ing Jose Ruiz but I am not sure if anyone will want him.
Starters:
SP Gehrig Pearl (5 G, 3-1 4.95)
SP Juan Monjardim (3 G, 2-0 3.38)
SP Tom Watson (6 G, 1-1 4.13)
SP Don Stewart (4 G, 1-1 6.75)
SP Geregorio Costello (4 G, 1-0 1.69)
SP Gallin Krall (4 G, 1-1 2.25)
Bullpen:
CL Alvin Richardson (14 G, 1-0 0.40, 9 SV, 22.2 IP, 31 K)
MR Jose Santos (8 G, 1-3 3.00, 21.0 IP, 26 K)
MR Bob Bradford (8 G, 2-1 6.60, 15.0 IP, 15 K)
MR Antonio Orozco (11 G, 0-1 3.20, 19.2 IP, 19 K)(out of options)
MR Theo Bomas (7 G, 0-1 2.87, 15.2 IP, 10 K)
MR Chris Adkins (20 G, 1-1 4.02, SV, 15.2 IP, 21 K) (out of options)
MR Dan MacNeilage (11 G, 3-0 4.86, 16.2 IP, 13 K)(out of options)
MR Jose Ruiz (10 G, 0-0 4.74, SV, 19.0 IP, 22 K)(refuses demotion)
Demonted:
C Kyle Glendinwyn (.280-2-6, 7-25, sent to AAA)
C Miguel Cortesini (.225-0-0, 9-40, sent to AAA)
2B Augusto Ramos (.175-0-2, 7-40, sent to AAA)
3B German Scrovegni (.238-0-3, 5-22, sent to AAA)
MR Ryan Sanders (7 G, 2-0 5.40, 10 IP, 8 H, 9 BB, 13 K, sent to AAA)
Coming Up:
04/02/2040: Top 10 prospects
04/02/2040: Top Minor League Systems
04/02/2040: Final Predictions
04/02/2040: Introduction to the 2040 Chadds Ford Cannons
04/02/2040: Opening Day