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Old 09-28-2019, 04:51 PM   #18
Paulie123
All Star Starter
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 1,945
September 2055

Record
  • 76-86 (14-9 this month)
  • Runs scored: 663 (10th in Eastern League)
  • Runs allowed: 667 (10th=)
  • Def: .708 (9th)

Central Division standings
Albany Firefoxes 96-66
Annapolis Mustangs 88-74
Richmond Eagles 76-86
Indianapolis Wildcats 72-90
Trenton Colts 68-94
Columbus Heatseekers 59-103

Month summary
  • We finished the season on a 7-game winning streak. Our hot form meant that, despite sitting 23 games below .500 at the end of July, we actually ended up with 3 more wins than last season. All segments of the roster have played well down the stretch.
  • This performance is hugely encouraging for next season, but we’ve in fact been so good the last two months that our first round draft pick next June is no longer protected. I have an incredible amount of headroom in the budget next season (a projected payroll of just $58m against Bryan Huang’s ceiling of $200m) and had planned to be in the market for top-tier free agents. I’ll now have to think carefully about that as I hate to lose my valuable first round pick, unless it’s in return for an exceptional player who will stay with us for some considerable time.

Who’s hot?
  • MR António Ramos (2.20 ERA, 3.81 FIP) was a low-key call-up to the bullpen in July, and has been quietly effective ever since. He has locked up the LOOGY role for next season.
  • SP Haden Monroe (13-11, 3.24) has excelled down the stretch to cap a magnificent year. He’s eligible for arbitration after next season, and if he maintains his form he’ll earn himself a very tidy contract indeed.
  • DH Ben Phipps had another great month, and finished with a season line of .279/.398/.509 with 20 homers. I’m looking forward to seeing a full season from him in 2056.

Who’s not?
  • LF Scott Reynolds (.192/.284/.355) is a ‘feast or famine’ hitter at the best of times, but as the season has drawn on there has been less and less of the feast part.

Noteworthy individual performances
  • 4 Sep: SP Adrián Cortéz (11-11, 4.18) produced a magnificent performance against the Romans, throwing 8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K.
  • 6 Sep: C John Wooten hit 2 solo homers to give us a 2-1 victory over Providence.
  • 8 Sep: SP Haden Monroe threw 8 innings of 1-run ball in the series-clinching win against the Blue Rocks. Lorenzo Colón bagged his 25th save of the year.
  • 15 Sep: CF Will Brown went 3-5 with a triple and 2 doubles in a 12-10 defeat to Montgomery. We relinquished the lead 3 times during the game.
  • 16 Sep: Cortéz (8 IP, 1 unearned run) and MR Joe Mathis (6 IP, 0 ER) were terrific against Boston, but we lost in the 15th inning.
  • 20 Sep: We hit a staggering TEN home runs in a 23-5 thrashing of Columbus in their own back yard. DH Ben Phipps, 3B Paul Jackson and RF José Montoya each hit 2 bombs. 1B Robert Numbers went 4-4 and SS Vicente Madrigal was 5-7.

Biggest worry
  • That the season has finished. We’ve shown playoff form the last two months.

Trades and transactions
  • Nashville signed free agent pitcher MR Chet Andrews on a cheap contract in early September. Our fans were, for no fathomable reason, upset about this. They seem not to have noticed that Andrews hasn’t been on our roster all year, and no other team has wanted him until now either. Some people.
  • 3B Paul Jackson (.219/.275/.331) has requested a new contract for next year. He has done okay over the last couple of months but has hardly set the world alight. I might bring him back again next year as infield depth, but I want to see the full free agent market first.

Roster moves
  • MR Héctor Álvarez and MR Luis Mendoza both came off the DL at the start of the month. Both were added to the major league bullpen to give me an extra couple of arms there.
  • Our 2-1 win over Providence was marred by a season-ending injury to SP Gerardo Rivera. Rivera has said for some time that he wants to test the waters in free agency after this season, so he may well have pitched his last game for us. Álvarez replaced him in the rotation.

News from around the league
  • DH Ben Phipps’s fine form continued, as he won EL player of the week for the first week of September. He went 8-23 with 6 home runs. He leads the team in wOBA (.368) and OPS (.864).
  • Lansing DH David Miller reached another milestone with his 3000th career hit. He should enter the SCL’s all-time top ten during next season.
  • Phoenix’s journeyman pitcher Cameron Powers threw a rare perfect game against Salem. He retired all 27 Ironclads hitters he faced, fanning 11.
  • Phoenix slugger Jeremy Black won the Western League batting triple crown. He compiled a .361 average with 44 HRs and 126 RBIs.
  • Eastern League postseason qualifiers: Albany (96-66), Boston (101-61), Raleigh (93-69), Hartford (90-72), Annapolis (88-74).
  • Western League postseason qualifiers: Carson City (83-79), Des Moines (97-65), Phoenix (99-63), St. Paul (92-70), Lansing (88-74). The North Division’s remarkable run of providing both WL wildcards continues: that’s now happened 8 of the last 10 years. Phoenix won their first South Division title for 24 years.
  • Wildcard game results: Annapolis 8-9 Hartford, Lansing 6-3 St. Paul
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