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ayaghmour2 · 09-05-2022, 04:06 PM

Cougar fans can only watch as the Minutemen and Cannons prepare for a crazy game seven, and it's hard for them not to think they could have been here. Had it not been for a mix of enlistments, injuries, and underperformance, the Cougars could have been getting their revenge on Boston for the '41 series. But above all things, what plagued the Cougars the most is what always seems to; the lack of winning close games. This year was far worse then most, as we played .400 ball (18-27) in one run games. If that was an overall record, it would have been worse then every team other then the Gothams and Foresters, which really shows how ineffective we were in those pesky one run affairs. And as you'd expect, our record in non-one run games (68-41, .624) was better then every team in baseball. So yes, we were the best team in baseball if you forget about those stupid one run games...

Of course, that's not how things work, as we ended up 86-68, 8 games behind the pennant winning Cannons. There was a lot that went wrong, but let's first focus on what went right. Joe Brown really found his foot at 29, and helped anchor a rotation that was missing it's top three starters. The Illinois native was one of the most valuable pitchers in the CA this season, going 18-11 with a 2.51 ERA (134 ERA+), 1.05 WHIP, 63 walks, and 119 strikeouts. His wins were tied for second, his strikeouts third, and his WAR (5.6) third as well. Brown set many personal bests, including wins, ERA, FIP (2.91), starts (33), innings (273), strikeouts, WHIP, HR/9 (0.3), BABIP (.242), FIP- (86), and WAR. Brown stepped up when we needed him most, and he finished the season ranked in the top 10 for pitchers in the FABL.

Brown wasn't our only productive starter, as we've had numerous arms step in and produce in the past three seasons. This is all because of the WAR, but since 1941, we've had eight different pitchers have at least one season with 150+ innings and an ERA+ above 110. Joining that club this season was our ageless wonder Dick Lyons, who put together his best season since he won the Allen in '38. Lyons was 11-11 with a 2.65 ERA (127 ERA+), 1.08 WHIP, 33 walks, and 30 strikeouts. He led the league with his 1.5 BB/9, was worth a full 4 wins above replacement, and cracked 200 innings for the 13th time in his career. Lyons will be back for 1944, and will turn 44 next June. He's now won 228 games and is a bit over 200 innings away from 4,000 for his career. Each season I wonder if this is it for the crafty vet, but we will keep trotting him out until he's ready to call it quits. And even if he has a steep decline next year, there are plenty of talented arms to fill in. We'll get a full season of Art White (15-13, 2.88, 66), who was 10-6 as a Cougar with a 3.04 ERA (111 ERA+) and 1.21 WHIP, and hopefully Harry Parker (6-3, 2.89, 41) can stay healthy. I'm excited to see if Johnnie Jones (15-8, 2.93, 97) can take the next step as a sophomore, and Cougar fans will get their first look at former 1st Rounder Rusty Petrick (8-15, 1, 4.41, 116). The pen was pretty strong too, with Ben Curtin (3-8, 11, 2.32, 26) and Cal Knight (2-1, 1, 1.76, 18) putting together really good years, and we'll see guys like Ken Matson (5-4, 2, 4.65, 28), Frank Crawford (7-6, 3.78, 30), Pug Bryan (1-0, 2.66, 11), and Merritt Thomas (2-3, 1, 2.72, 9) compete to fill the pen. We have a lot of pitching depth on the big league club, which is helpful as the farm doesn't have much at the upper levels. Until Pap comes back, we'll be second to the Cannons staff, but there is a lot to like going into 1944.

The offense was a real mixed bag, as there was a lot of underperforming and a total lack of consistency, but we still managed to score the most runs in the Continental Association. The defense was also very good, and we had the most valuable infield in all of baseball. Of our four All Star starters, just Hank Barnett (4.9) failed to crack 5 WAR, and the quartet (24.8) was worth more then the entire offensive rosters of all teams excluding the Minutemen, Cannons, Chiefs, Sailors, and Wolves. A big part of that was the breakout from Clark Car, who has quickly emerged as one of the best players in all of baseball. Car currently ranks 4th of all positional players, and the 29-year-old hit .283/.326/.445 (124 OPS+) with 29 doubles, 9 triples, 13 homers, 16 steals, and 58 RBIs while worth 7.2 WAR in 133 games. Skipper was worth the same, with worse offense and elite shortstop defense, slashing .280/.336/.372 (106 OPS+) with an astronomical 36.3 zone rating. If Skip stayed healthy all year, he'd have led the CA in WAR, and could have surpassed his 7.9 from last season. Both Walker (.270, 11, 64, 23) and Barnett (.301, 12, 83) posted OPS+ above 125, but Barnett's performance was a bit disappointing none-the-less. The now 34-year-old slugger a still impressive .301/.387/.415 (134 OPS+) with 27 doubles and 82 walks. The drop in homers were a little concerning, but offense was down around the league.

The biggest disappointment of the whole season, however, was the cratering of Harry Mead's bat. Mead was a top three catcher last season, hitting an impressive .287/.352/.456 (139 OPS+) with 30 doubles, 16 homers, 81 RBIs and an elite 47-to-10 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Pretty much everything went wrong for the 29-year-old backstop at the plate, as while his defense was sill as reliable as always, he hit just .238/.308/.339 (88 OPS+) with 27 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homers, and 69 RBIs. He had similar walks totals (44) but with far more strikeouts (29), and he was worth half as many wins above replacement as last season. The drop in power really hurt, but Mead was making far less hard contact and he wasn't finding holes. His average and .288 BABIP were his worst since his 67 game sample when he was 23, and this year was his first season with 250 or more PAs a sub .260 average. I'm not the least bit worried, I knew last year was more likely a ceiling then norm, and we will not be looking to replace him. A backup could be helpful, as Mike Taylor (.188, 9) and Steve Mountain (.148, 7) were both completely useless with the bat, but but both offer strong production behind the plate and Taylor is a well liked veteran leader.

The outfield was very weird this season, as there was a ton of guys in the lineup at everywhere except left field. That's because we have the batting title winner and iron man Leo Mitchell cemented out in left. Mitchell started 153 of our 154 games (think it was some double header against a tough lefty he got the day off for), hitting a personal full season low .326/.368/.402 (124 OPS+) with 22 doubles, 8 homers, and 69 RBIs. It was his first season with 250 or more at bats and a sub 130 OPS+, but his 132 WRC+ is in line with his 135 career average. The strikeouts were down, just 79 in 658 PAs after 113 in that same sample last year. The 30-year-old continues to be one of our more reliable hitters. The former 2nd Rounder has worked his way up on our leaderboards, currently ranked 4th All Time in batting average (.333), 6th in OBP (.379), 10th in OPS (.820), 9th in runs (660), 6th in hits (1,426), and 9th in total bases (1,890). Of course, he's already near the top of our strikeout list, striking out more (729) then every Cougar excluding Ike Martie, who was set down 751 times in 4,394 PAs. Mitchell will surpass that next year quite easily, but he'll also continue to move up the better counting stat totals.

Right field was expected to be shared, as it has been for a bit, but both sides of the platoon missed time. When they were healthy, Rich Langton (.287, 2, 29, 4) and Cliff Moss (.291, 9, 41) were impressive, but the duo missed about three months in total. This opened time for Billy Hunter, who of course misses time with injury himself, and he was passable in right while hitting .296/.335/.382 (109 OPS+). He also got some time in center, which was a revolving door of prospects, vets, and journeymen. We trotted out Hunter (11), Dan Fowler (28), Bunny Hufford (15), Moss (3), and Orlin Yates (90), with not much success from any of them. Yates finished the season really strong, with an OPS+ of 158 in August and 151 in September, raising his season total to .248/.324/.335 (92 OPS+) in a career high 350 trips to the plate. His defense is productive too, with a 12 zone rating and 1.038 efficiency, and with Hufford on his way to the Big Apple, the now 32-year-old Yates will enter camp as the projected Opening Day starter. There aren't many good center fielders available, but depending on Yates and Fowler's production, we may see Don Lee force his way into the picture.

We have a lot of depth in our system, but without headliner prospects, it will be tough to add a big name to the roster. I think our team as built is good enough to win a pennant, we'll just need a few more breaks to go our way. After the Hufford trade, we're projected to have just four top 100 prospects, but 39 more between 101 and 500. A lot of our better prospects are in the service, but we have a few prospects who could make an impact next season. Gloveman Jim Dickinson is set to start the season in AAA and could fill in if Skipper and Hunter get hurt again, and we have a bunch of depth arms in Jack Huston, Ed Fisler, Harry MacRae, and Bill Chapman who can offer upside in the pen. What bodes well for us is the Cannons prospect cupboard is bare aside from #3 prospect Dick Blaszak, so it will be tough for them to upgrade. The Stars and Foresters won't be looking to compete, so we won't have to worry about the #1 and #3 farms going all out, but the other three are the Sailors, Saints, and Wolves, who all boast competitive teams. It will be interesting to see if the Wolves move one or both of their top 10 prospects to add a big bat to support Walt Pack, but with few obvious sellers it might be a relaxing offseason. Regardless of what our opponents do, I think we're set up very well for another run at the pennant, but with all the uncertainty involving the war and the usual injury/regression issues that have haunted organizations from the beginning of time, we can't take anything for granted.

Well, other then that it will be another fun season in Figment!

09-05-2022, 04:06 PM	#892
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,033	End of Season Review Cougar fans can only watch as the Minutemen and Cannons prepare for a crazy game seven, and it's hard for them not to think they could have been here. Had it not been for a mix of enlistments, injuries, and underperformance, the Cougars could have been getting their revenge on Boston for the '41 series. But above all things, what plagued the Cougars the most is what always seems to; the lack of winning close games. This year was far worse then most, as we played .400 ball (18-27) in one run games. If that was an overall record, it would have been worse then every team other then the Gothams and Foresters, which really shows how ineffective we were in those pesky one run affairs. And as you'd expect, our record in non-one run games (68-41, .624) was better then every team in baseball. So yes, we were the best team in baseball if you forget about those stupid one run games... Of course, that's not how things work, as we ended up 86-68, 8 games behind the pennant winning Cannons. There was a lot that went wrong, but let's first focus on what went right. Joe Brown really found his foot at 29, and helped anchor a rotation that was missing it's top three starters. The Illinois native was one of the most valuable pitchers in the CA this season, going 18-11 with a 2.51 ERA (134 ERA+), 1.05 WHIP, 63 walks, and 119 strikeouts. His wins were tied for second, his strikeouts third, and his WAR (5.6) third as well. Brown set many personal bests, including wins, ERA, FIP (2.91), starts (33), innings (273), strikeouts, WHIP, HR/9 (0.3), BABIP (.242), FIP- (86), and WAR. Brown stepped up when we needed him most, and he finished the season ranked in the top 10 for pitchers in the FABL. Brown wasn't our only productive starter, as we've had numerous arms step in and produce in the past three seasons. This is all because of the WAR, but since 1941, we've had eight different pitchers have at least one season with 150+ innings and an ERA+ above 110. Joining that club this season was our ageless wonder Dick Lyons, who put together his best season since he won the Allen in '38. Lyons was 11-11 with a 2.65 ERA (127 ERA+), 1.08 WHIP, 33 walks, and 30 strikeouts. He led the league with his 1.5 BB/9, was worth a full 4 wins above replacement, and cracked 200 innings for the 13th time in his career. Lyons will be back for 1944, and will turn 44 next June. He's now won 228 games and is a bit over 200 innings away from 4,000 for his career. Each season I wonder if this is it for the crafty vet, but we will keep trotting him out until he's ready to call it quits. And even if he has a steep decline next year, there are plenty of talented arms to fill in. We'll get a full season of Art White (15-13, 2.88, 66), who was 10-6 as a Cougar with a 3.04 ERA (111 ERA+) and 1.21 WHIP, and hopefully Harry Parker (6-3, 2.89, 41) can stay healthy. I'm excited to see if Johnnie Jones (15-8, 2.93, 97) can take the next step as a sophomore, and Cougar fans will get their first look at former 1st Rounder Rusty Petrick (8-15, 1, 4.41, 116). The pen was pretty strong too, with Ben Curtin (3-8, 11, 2.32, 26) and Cal Knight (2-1, 1, 1.76, 18) putting together really good years, and we'll see guys like Ken Matson (5-4, 2, 4.65, 28), Frank Crawford (7-6, 3.78, 30), Pug Bryan (1-0, 2.66, 11), and Merritt Thomas (2-3, 1, 2.72, 9) compete to fill the pen. We have a lot of pitching depth on the big league club, which is helpful as the farm doesn't have much at the upper levels. Until Pap comes back, we'll be second to the Cannons staff, but there is a lot to like going into 1944. The offense was a real mixed bag, as there was a lot of underperforming and a total lack of consistency, but we still managed to score the most runs in the Continental Association. The defense was also very good, and we had the most valuable infield in all of baseball. Of our four All Star starters, just Hank Barnett (4.9) failed to crack 5 WAR, and the quartet (24.8) was worth more then the entire offensive rosters of all teams excluding the Minutemen, Cannons, Chiefs, Sailors, and Wolves. A big part of that was the breakout from Clark Car, who has quickly emerged as one of the best players in all of baseball. Car currently ranks 4th of all positional players, and the 29-year-old hit .283/.326/.445 (124 OPS+) with 29 doubles, 9 triples, 13 homers, 16 steals, and 58 RBIs while worth 7.2 WAR in 133 games. Skipper was worth the same, with worse offense and elite shortstop defense, slashing .280/.336/.372 (106 OPS+) with an astronomical 36.3 zone rating. If Skip stayed healthy all year, he'd have led the CA in WAR, and could have surpassed his 7.9 from last season. Both Walker (.270, 11, 64, 23) and Barnett (.301, 12, 83) posted OPS+ above 125, but Barnett's performance was a bit disappointing none-the-less. The now 34-year-old slugger a still impressive .301/.387/.415 (134 OPS+) with 27 doubles and 82 walks. The drop in homers were a little concerning, but offense was down around the league. The biggest disappointment of the whole season, however, was the cratering of Harry Mead's bat. Mead was a top three catcher last season, hitting an impressive .287/.352/.456 (139 OPS+) with 30 doubles, 16 homers, 81 RBIs and an elite 47-to-10 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Pretty much everything went wrong for the 29-year-old backstop at the plate, as while his defense was sill as reliable as always, he hit just .238/.308/.339 (88 OPS+) with 27 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homers, and 69 RBIs. He had similar walks totals (44) but with far more strikeouts (29), and he was worth half as many wins above replacement as last season. The drop in power really hurt, but Mead was making far less hard contact and he wasn't finding holes. His average and .288 BABIP were his worst since his 67 game sample when he was 23, and this year was his first season with 250 or more PAs a sub .260 average. I'm not the least bit worried, I knew last year was more likely a ceiling then norm, and we will not be looking to replace him. A backup could be helpful, as Mike Taylor (.188, 9) and Steve Mountain (.148, 7) were both completely useless with the bat, but but both offer strong production behind the plate and Taylor is a well liked veteran leader. The outfield was very weird this season, as there was a ton of guys in the lineup at everywhere except left field. That's because we have the batting title winner and iron man Leo Mitchell cemented out in left. Mitchell started 153 of our 154 games (think it was some double header against a tough lefty he got the day off for), hitting a personal full season low .326/.368/.402 (124 OPS+) with 22 doubles, 8 homers, and 69 RBIs. It was his first season with 250 or more at bats and a sub 130 OPS+, but his 132 WRC+ is in line with his 135 career average. The strikeouts were down, just 79 in 658 PAs after 113 in that same sample last year. The 30-year-old continues to be one of our more reliable hitters. The former 2nd Rounder has worked his way up on our leaderboards, currently ranked 4th All Time in batting average (.333), 6th in OBP (.379), 10th in OPS (.820), 9th in runs (660), 6th in hits (1,426), and 9th in total bases (1,890). Of course, he's already near the top of our strikeout list, striking out more (729) then every Cougar excluding Ike Martie, who was set down 751 times in 4,394 PAs. Mitchell will surpass that next year quite easily, but he'll also continue to move up the better counting stat totals. Right field was expected to be shared, as it has been for a bit, but both sides of the platoon missed time. When they were healthy, Rich Langton (.287, 2, 29, 4) and Cliff Moss (.291, 9, 41) were impressive, but the duo missed about three months in total. This opened time for Billy Hunter, who of course misses time with injury himself, and he was passable in right while hitting .296/.335/.382 (109 OPS+). He also got some time in center, which was a revolving door of prospects, vets, and journeymen. We trotted out Hunter (11), Dan Fowler (28), Bunny Hufford (15), Moss (3), and Orlin Yates (90), with not much success from any of them. Yates finished the season really strong, with an OPS+ of 158 in August and 151 in September, raising his season total to .248/.324/.335 (92 OPS+) in a career high 350 trips to the plate. His defense is productive too, with a 12 zone rating and 1.038 efficiency, and with Hufford on his way to the Big Apple, the now 32-year-old Yates will enter camp as the projected Opening Day starter. There aren't many good center fielders available, but depending on Yates and Fowler's production, we may see Don Lee force his way into the picture. We have a lot of depth in our system, but without headliner prospects, it will be tough to add a big name to the roster. I think our team as built is good enough to win a pennant, we'll just need a few more breaks to go our way. After the Hufford trade, we're projected to have just four top 100 prospects, but 39 more between 101 and 500. A lot of our better prospects are in the service, but we have a few prospects who could make an impact next season. Gloveman Jim Dickinson is set to start the season in AAA and could fill in if Skipper and Hunter get hurt again, and we have a bunch of depth arms in Jack Huston, Ed Fisler, Harry MacRae, and Bill Chapman who can offer upside in the pen. What bodes well for us is the Cannons prospect cupboard is bare aside from #3 prospect Dick Blaszak, so it will be tough for them to upgrade. The Stars and Foresters won't be looking to compete, so we won't have to worry about the #1 and #3 farms going all out, but the other three are the Sailors, Saints, and Wolves, who all boast competitive teams. It will be interesting to see if the Wolves move one or both of their top 10 prospects to add a big bat to support Walt Pack, but with few obvious sellers it might be a relaxing offseason. Regardless of what our opponents do, I think we're set up very well for another run at the pennant, but with all the uncertainty involving the war and the usual injury/regression issues that have haunted organizations from the beginning of time, we can't take anything for granted. Well, other then that it will be another fun season in Figment!