EL Awards:
Batter of the Month:
Chicago 1B
Justin Farrell(28, 3.5*) .356-6-22 1.043OPS 1.4WAR
3x All-Star
Pitcher of the Month:
Cincinnati RHSP
Andy Spicer(25, 3.5/4.5*) 4-0 1.32 49K 41IP 6GS 1.7WAR
270K for the year…
Rookie of the Month:
Chicago 2B
Melvin Chacon(34, 3*) .323-7-29 .998OPS 1.3WAR
Cuban defector...
WL Awards:
Batter of the Month:
Oakland 1B
Tye Dowling(29, 3.5*) .355-6-28 .981OPS 1.1WAR
2019 WL All-Star
Pitcher of the Month:
Padres RHSP
Jerry Sullivan(24, 4/4.5*) 5-0 1.36 42K 39.2IP 5GS 1.5WAR
2021 WL All-Star
Rookie of the Month:
San Francisco RF
Jason Bartlett(23, 3/5*) .383-1-12 .943OPS 1.2WAR
1st overall 2018
Playoffs baby! We finished the last month +1 game with a 15-13 record, which barely qualifies as over .500. The sad and sorry truth is, our offense will be running on all cylinders, but we will lack the top three arms for the playoffs. Yes,
Brett Asselin ‘should’ be able to return from his sprained ankle during the playoffs… but I don’t want to risk him.
Hinton is already as fragile as porcelain figure, don’t need another strong starter with the same built in feature.
For the playoff tree… we await the winner of a Wildcard series between… drumrolls… the
Cincinnati Eagles and the bloody
New York Mets. THE
NEW YORK METS… We may have to face the team with the second best record in the Eastern League in the ELDS… man are we a lucky bunch…
Now, to put the season in perspective. The first playoff berth since 2018 and with 97 wins… THE BEST SEASON in
Montreal Expos history! The sixth division crown… we are happy.
One thing I didn’t talk about enough… money. We have $60M available still from our $190M budget and currently, our 2024 outlook is a budget increase to $200M. Verall, we are expected to run a profit of $56M without playoff revenue. All that with $35M of retained salary from our latest trade shenanigans. What does that mean salary wise? That we are golden until roughly 2026 when a lot of arbitration estimates come up from the existing group. And, we have to lock up some guys for extensions. But overall, we are in a good financial position!
Pitching:
DL: RHSP
Austin Roy(26, 3.5*, 15-5 3.21 173K 3.7WAR)
torn rotator cuff 12 months, RHSP
Dan Hinton(24, 4/5* 3-1 1.58 49K 1.4WAR 8GS)
sore shoulder 4 weeks, LHSP
Brett Asselin(24, 3/4*, 16-6 3.84 172K 2.7WAR)
sprained ankle unknown
NMBL Montreal Expos Players on the leaderboard:
RHSP
Austin Roy 3.21 ERA – 3rd
RHSP
Austin Roy 15 W – tied 3rd
RHSP
Austin Roy 1.17 WHIP – 3rd
RHSP
Sam Griffin 4.5WAR – 4th
RHSP
Sam Griffin 4.7 K/BB – 4th
RHSP
Sam Griffin 1.4 BB/9 – 1st
RHSP
Sam Griffin 3.53 FIP – 3rd
LHSP
Brett Asselin 16 W – tied 1st
RHCL
Paul Ide 38 SV – tied 2nd
Playoff rotation:
Griffin,
Murrietta,
Miranda,
Alvarado. Or in other words, elite control, effectively wild, gives up home runs like its candy, luckiest flyball pitcher on earth.
Now, with all that, we have a dynamite pen… that was horrible in September apart from
Paul Ide of all people. Yet, with us , he is 2-3 20SV 3.64 50K 0.9WAR… it sounds not bad, but still a long shot from what we hoped he would be…
Position Players:
DL: nobody
NMBL Montreal Expos Players on the leaderboard:
1B
Dave Grochowski .321 Batting Average – 3rd
1B
Dave Grochowski 115RBI – 1st
1B
Dave Grochowski .372 OBP – 5th
1B
Dave Grochowski .570 SLG – 1st
1B
Dave Grochowski .942 OPS – 1st
1B
Dave Grochowski 4.2WAR – 5th
1B
Dave Grochowski 186 H – 3rd
1B
Dave Grochowski 9 3B – 3rd
2B
Fernando Perez 37HR – 2nd
2B
Fernando Perez 206 K – 2rd
LF
Ignacio Benavides 96 R – 5th
RF
Ian Messer .317 Batting Average – 4th
RF
Ian Messer 184 H – 4th
CF
Vicente Rodriguez 7 TP – 5th
We are a really good offensive team. Not quite top notch, but adding home run power in
Perez and a great season by
Matt Talbert and a sneaky power season
Dave Grochowski REALLY made us a high scoring team.
Ian Messer added a career year, amassing more WAR in one year than in the last two years combined,
Rich Meilleur also had a sneaky career year, batting for an OPS+ of 99 while providing gold glove defense in 148 games. And
Julian Hernandez had a good rookie season. And the best thing is… this group is here to stay.
Prospect Watch:
AA RHSP
Alejandro Corral(2.5/3*) 5-13 5.52 121K 151.2IP 28GS 2.2WAR
S A RHSP
Adam LeRoy(17, 1.5/4*) 3-0 1.73 28K 5GS 0.9WAR
shoulder inflammation 3-4 months
R LHSP
John Slade(19, 1.5/4*) 6-0 2.15 47K 9GS 1.7WAR
A RHRP
Luis Solano(21, 2/3.5*) 4-6 11SV 2.14 39K 46.1IP 0.9WAR
S A RHRP
Josh Reinke(19, 1.5/3.5*) 0-2 22SV 2.43 24K 33.1IP 0.2WAR
R RHRP
Jose Herrera(17, 1.5/4*) 4-6 20SV 3.74 46K 45.2IP 1.6WAR
R LHRP
Manuel Sanchez(17, 1.5/4*) 6-2 10SV 3.64 49K 47IP 0.5WAR
R RHRP
Dan Fabela(18, 1.5/3.5*) 2-5 9SV 5.16 49K 52.1IP 1.0WAR
AAA LF
Santiago Rodriguez(2/3.5*) .260-8-41 .748OPS 83G 7/14SB 1.3WAR
AA 1B
Joe Townsend(2/3*) .253-8-34 .744OPS 43GS -0.1WAR
A OF
Tyler Dean(20, 2/5*) .354-26-102 1.051OPS 122G 7.0WAR
A SS
Bryan Booth(22, 2/4*) .270-21-64 .835OPS 120G 2.4WAR
R 2B/3B/SS
Manny Ramirez(1/4*) .335-28-96 1.013OPS 112G 2.2WAR
S A LF
Antonio Estrada(18, 0.5/3.5*) .241-8-20 .749OPS 43GS -0.3WAR
R 1B
Jose Velasquez(18, 0.5/3.5*) .310-4-23 .808OPS 39GS -0.2WAR
There was not much movement in September here apart from Dave G. ranking up RHRP
Dan Fabela a star to 3.5* potential… which is nice. Apart from that, our AAA affiliate got eliminated in the Wild Card series, our A afflilate with
Tyler Dean in the Division Series
The rookie league affiliates? Well, our very own Newport News Barons are in their league’s World Series, albeit one game down, 2-3.
Now the great news:
Tyler Dean #1,
Manny Ramirez #5,
John Slade #7,
Bryan Booth #30. #1 system in baseball. We will need that in the future. In order to bolster our farm system with depth, we also offered a bunch of minor league contracts to some minor league free agents with some upside… there is a major announcement coming our way soon after the All-Star break.
Those four are a lock for the development lab. Assuming, he is back healthy,
Brett Asselin is #5 and #6…
Julian Hernandez for power? Plus two slots for short programs?