Big Battle in TC in Early April
As the calendar turns to May we are sitting at 11-11 and frustration has begun to set in. While we are by no means out of anything and we have a lot of talent coming back this week and by mid-May, it's the way we are playing. SP Jose Cedeno and LF Robert LeRoy are basically saving the club. Yes there are others who are playing well but there are a lot of proven guys who have not exactly gotten off to the type of starts we are accustomed to.
1B Reagan Osborn has never been in such a slump at any time in his first 3 years in the league. He has been twice runner up to TC OF Earl Foote for the USA MVP award, but this year he’s off to a 193/292/641 stat line with just 3 home runs and 9 RBI’s. Not exactly the type of stuff we are used to here with Osborn. Whether its the impact of bringing in a big time hitter that is affecting him or something else, the fact is we need Osborn to be that key hitter.
Another somewhat disappointing performance has been the play of C Juan Duran. He is highly rated and pegged as the 5th best position player at the start of the season. Now maybe that was high praise for a 24-year-old who hasn’t had a complete season of big league ball, but he has been the heir apparent to be the starting catcher the last 2 years. Injury derailed his start of last season, but he played in 35 games last season and hit 302 so our expectations at least had some backing. To start this year he’s hitting 242 and again we are not overly concerned about him, but backup C Joe Hunt who is asking for more playing time might get some more than he has. So far Duran has started 65% of the games and maybe he will get a few more starts. By no means are we moving away from Duran or considering trading him, but he is worth keeping an eye on.
SS Pablo Farrulla was never known for his hitting, but he was traded to the Architects last year and got off to a very good start. He settled down as the season wore on but still hit 240 for the season last year and with his glove that was acceptable. To start off this season though Farrulla has completely lost his way with the stick having an OPS+ of (17). While it’s still very early, this is the area we are focusing on. We don’t really have anyone else at this point unless we move John Lambert over to SS or Kent Noseworthy. They would be adequate defenders but with most of the pitching staff struggling with BABIP, we need good defense at SS and Lambert is much better as a 2B. So we are looking but the choices are very few who are available.
We had the best offense for most of April but cooled off a bit with the Duluth series when we scored just 4 runs and lost 3-2 in the last two games of that series. Last season those were games that we won 70+% of the time. This year that hasn’t been the case so far. I am hoping that with 3B Thomas Arnaud back (he only appeared in 6 games in April), DH Jose Aranda will be back on May 5th and the real Reagan Osborn we hope will make an appearance sometime in May, preferably sooner than later.
There are guys that have done well and some of the youngsters that we have put in positions have gotten off to nice starts. Last year John Lambert was a super sub as he is very versatile in the field. He hit 282/358/840 with 3 home runs, 11 RBI’s 20 runs scored and has stolen 12 out of 13 bases in the leadoff spot. He has taken over the stolen base mantra that we have been known for with OF Matt Graves not starting and only appearing in 4 games in April. His fielding has also been pretty good so far with 2.0 ZR and 1.103 EFF, but he has committed 5 errors so far. Not too alarmed about that as this is really his first shot at being the everyday 2B.
Another player who struggled a lot in his first couple of seasons was CF Cris Luna. Luna hit just 201 his first season in 2054 once he came up and was pretty much the full time CF last season where he hit 249 on the season. There was improvement as the 2nd half of last season saw him hit around 290 and this season he is off to a solid start hitting 280. I did wish he would draw a few more walks, but his glove is good in CF. One thing I like is to be solid defensively up the middle and with CF Luna, 2B Lambert, SS Farrulla and C Duran we should be very good defensively up the middle. We are 2nd defensively in the USA division but of course the team with the great pitching and right now the best offense (Toledo) is also the best defensive team by defensive efficiency ratings.
Pitching wise we are 5th in ERA with a ghastly 5.34 ERA and the bullpen topping out just a hair over 7 in ERA. It’s not just one or two guys either, it’s the whole bullpen. Last year RP Larry Stott had a rough start to the season with an ERA over 11 in his first 3 games and then pitched in 44 more games last season and had an ERA below 1.00 in those 44 games. This season he has give up 4 home runs in 8 IP. Everyone is looking for pitching so just finding other arms at this point in the season is not very likely. We do have some pitchers at AAA who are doing well and they might get a chance pretty soon if things don’t improve. JJ Walker, despite his contract, is looking at being DFA, but nobody will pick him up. Hulburt will return soon so that is about how long Walker has to show he can do anything besides allow people to get on base and score against him. That WHIP at 2.17 is just not something that will stay up long.
Thankfully Monday May 1st is an off-day. It will give me a chance to really see who is and isn’t available in several areas, but I am not expecting a lot of for sale signs posted after 1 month. Too many clubs still think they have a shot, unrealistic perhaps but they are hanging around.
Chicago Architects 11-11 @ Traverse City Bears 11-11
May 2nd-4th 2056
Traverse City’s The Den
The Architects took two out of three during the opening week of the season at home from the Bears, but they have hung around at 500 so far. I don’t think they have the pitching to hang around, but so far this season their pitching is better than ours as they have an ERA below 5!!!!
So far this season we are 7-7 on the road, while the Bears are 4-2 at home.
Game #1 - Monday, May 2nd 2056
Chicago @ Traverse City
John Moore 2-0 4.66 vs RHSP John Nelligan 1–1 4.50
A - 31,929
The Bears rough up the Tects in John Moore’s first start of the season. Billy Harris doubles in the first of three third-inning runs and, in the sixth, hits a three-run homer, Wally Whitaker singles in two. John Nelligan (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K) and two relievers hold Chicago to a single run. Nelligan has been one of the few Bears pitchers over the years that seems to give us occasional fits.
Traverse City 9, Chicago 1.
LF M Graves 2-3 BB SB, 3B T Arnaud 2-4 DB
HR - CH C J Duran (4) TC - C B Harris (2),
POTG - Traverse City C Billy Harris
Game #2 - Tuesday May 3rd, 2056
Chicago 11-12 @ Traverse City 12-11
Joe Johnson 0-1 8.74 vs RHSP Bradley “Hurricane” Sentner 0-1 6.41
A - 33,644
The Architects come into today one game below .500. Rodeo Leroy does his part to get the Tects back to even. With former Architect Bradley Sentner on the hill this should have been a game where the Architects lit up the scoreboard. Unfortunately only Robert LeRoy does that early. He goes 5-for-5, singling in a run in the third and doubling in the middle of a three-run eighth. That eighth inning puts Chicago ahead, 4-1. Traverse City comes back. Leroy’s old teammate Hamilton teammate, Ewan Heseltine, steps up in the bottom of the ninth. His three-run home run ties the game, 4-4. On the first pitch of the 10th, Rodeo Leroy homers, his fifth hit of the game. In the bottom of the 10th, a walk, two singles, and a sac fly re-tie the game. In the 11th, Pedro Farrulla, who comes into today batting a dreadful .117/.179/.133, hits his first home run of the season.
Chicago 6, Traverse City 5.
11 innings
SP J Johnson 6.1IP 5H 1R 2BB 6K, RP T Noble 1IP 0H 0R just 8 pitches save #1, LF R LeRoy 5-5 2DB, HR 2R 2RBI’s, C J Hunt 2-4 RBI, SS P Farrulla 2-4 HR 2R RBI,
HR - CH SS P Farrulla (1), LF R LeRoy (10) TC - PH E Heseltine (1)
POTG - Chicago LF Robert LeRoy (5)
Game #3 - Wednesday May 4th, 2056
Chicago 12-12 @ Traverse City 12-12
Jose Cedeno 3-0 2.30 vs RHSP Walt Bader 0-1 2.45
A - 32,518
Chicago’s John Lambert and Thomas Arnaud start the game with a single and a two-run home run. José Cedeño (8 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 B, 4 K) makes those two runs stand up. The Tects do give him a couple of late insurance runs: Kent Noseworthy singles in a pair.
Chicago 4, Traverse City 1.
CF J Lambert 2-5 R SB, 3B T Arnaud 2-5 HR R 2RBI, LF R LeRoy 3-5 DB R
HR - CH 3B T Arnaud TC - none
POTG - Jose Cedeno (4)
Summary - We escaped out of the Den 2 out of 3 and now are 4-2 on the season against TC. LF Robert LeRoy got a day off in game 1 and just pinch hit going 0-1, but in games 2 & 3 he went 8-10 with 2HR, DB but just scored 3 runs and only drove in 2. Thankfully between him and SP Jose Cedeno we got out of town winning the series. It’s a familiar theme but I can’t pitch Cedeno once in every series. Cedeno’s IP is 2nd in the US division trailing Toledo’s Nick Keddy by just ⅓ of an inning.
So far our pursuit of help has not turned up anything although there are a couple of possibilities. We will see if anything comes from them, but I do favor one deal over the other at this point. The John Moore start in game 1 of the series was a major disappointment. But we also brought back into the rotation Joe Johnson who was much more like himself. Johnson will stay in the rotation and we will decide between Moore and Noble the next time around.
I have been toying around with the idea of bringing up SP Curt Hopkins from AAA who had a great month of April going 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 30 IP. But then wanted to see what he would do in another start or two. His next outing lasted just 1 ⅔ IP with 7 hits and 6 runs given up. “Flounder” is going to be a major pitcher for us, but I still just don’t think it is quite his time yet. In any deal we are talking about Hopkins is on the untradeable list as he’s a LHSP and the #12 prospect and the players I am looking at do not rank as good enough to deal him.
DH Jose Aranda will make his much awaited debut as the club heads to Milwaukee next to take on the Eagles who are not flying high. In 10 rehab games between stints on the DL, Aranda hit 207/422/1.017 with 3HR and 13 RBI's. We need his left handed bat in the lineup.