OOPS I did it again

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2 @ Fresno 3 @ Washington 2 vs Pittsburgh
RUNS SCORED: 744 (t-3rd)
RUNS AGAINST: 791 (16th)
OBP: .326 (3rd)
STARTERS ERA: 4.77 (16th)
RELIEVERS ERA: 4.21 (11th)
DEF EFFICIENCY: .679 (11th)
ZONE RATING: -8.3 (10th)

RESULTS (77-81 7 GB)
0-2 @ Fresno 2-1 @ Washington 2-0 vs Pittsburgh\
9/18- FRE 9 CIP 4 Floyd 6 ER 5 BB 6 H 5.1 IP (10-11 4.46) Nieves 2H 2B
Ryan Ward (FRE) Grand Slam (25) 4 RBI (88)
9/19- FRE 4 CIP 3 Pelletier ND 5 IP 7 H 2 ER Hawkins (L) 7-16 5.22 Cook HR (8) Wheeler 3-3 2B
Brian Pennington is slated to come off the DL. He's been out 2 months but he'll go to the pen for some innings. RHP Melvin Lozoya is released.
9/20- CIP 7 WAS 5 Ayala 2H 9th inning game tying Grand Slam Matson 3H Guijosa 5 ER 4.1 IP Pennington 3 IP 3 H K 0 R Becker SV (8)
Sergio Ramirez (WAS) 8 IP 5 H 1 R ND
9/21- CIP 15 WAS 11 (10) 1-0 end of 4. Powers 6 R 5 ER 4.1 IP 3R 7th, run in the 8th and 9th and 5 in the 10th. 32 total hits just 1 HR. Gutierrez 4H 2R 2 RBI SB Roberts 3H 2B (32) SB (33) Ayala 2B 3R Martinez 3H 2 RBI Matson 2B 4 RBI Nieves 3H 2B 3B 3R
9/22- WAS 8 CIP 4 Joey Morris (L) 11-3 3.67 5 R 3 ER 7 H 4.2 IP Stachowski HR (10) Pennington 3 R 5 H 1.2 IP.
Wakasa Sato (WAS) (14-7 3.20) 7 IP 4 H 1 R
9/23- CIP 6 PIT 5 (12) Roberts 2H walk off HR (19) Ayala 4H Matson HR 2 RBI Ferguson 5 ER 6.2 IP 6 K
9/24- CIP 6 PIT 3 Floyd (11-11 4.39) 7 IP 7 H 5 K 2 ER Garcia 3R HR (16)

LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS
AL POTW- LF Jake Tillie (CLE) 12-28 3 HR 8 RBI (2nd time POTW this month)
NL POTW- RF Alex Bazaldua (EP) 10-25 5 HR 12 RBI 2009 MVP hit 55 HR 144 RBI

• On Wednesday two time Koufax winner and ace of the 1st place Utah Mammoth Dave Larios sprained his ankle and will miss at least the next 3 weeks. He'll likely miss the 1st round of the playoffs. He's made every start of his career in a Mammoth uniform and never been on the disabled list. He led the league with a 2.02 ERA and 239 K's in winning his 2nd Koufax last year. Utah is 1 up on Cleveland for the top seed and 3 up on Charlotte. A first round bye would be huge as they have lost 4 SP's to the DL in the 2nd half.

IRON PIG NEWS

• Nashville won their 1st round series 2-1 and swept the LCS 3-0. They will play for the league title in a best of 5.
• 3B Andy Williams continued his magical year taking home LCS MVP honors on top of his .327-21-50 campaign.
• 2011 draftee Josh Dufault homered twice in the series and drove in 5. Dufault ended the year slashing .232/.358/.496 with 22 HR and 67 RBI's in 75 games.
• Albuquerque is headed to the championship series after LCS MVP Jerome Jones went 8-19 in the 3-1 series win. Jones has had a remarkable season hitting .354/.417/.511 with 30 2B 15 HR and 47 RBI in 127 games.

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Heading into the final series of the year here's the picture.

• Boston Clinched the AL East
• Dallas Clinched the AL Central
• Utah Clinched the AL West
• Cleveland and Charlotte are separated by a game with Cleveland ahead. Both will make the playoffs.
• San Jose is 2 games up on Denver for the final AL wild card.
• Utah and either Dallas/Cleveland, or Charlotte will take home the Wild Cards.

In the NL:

• We just swept Pittsburgh and they've lost 4 straight. They are tied in the NL East at 85-74. New York is 3 GB
• El Paso and Indianapolis are tied at 84-75.
• Fresno won their 100th, and the NL West going away.
• Las Vegas is 2 up on Phoenix.
• Here's the picture of the NL Wild Card.
• Two of the top 4 will win their division.
• New York, and Phoenix will likely need to win out to tie for a spot.
• There are no tie-breakers, teams have to play in.
• New England will play Phoenix
• Pittsburgh plays El Paso. If needed Adam Sharpe will start the seasons final game.
• Indianapolis hosts Washington.

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Need to win out to have a .500 season.
1 vs Pittsburgh OFF DAY 3 @ Las Vegas


RESULTS (81-81)
1-0 vs Pittsburgh 3-0 @ Las Vegas
9/25- CIP 7 PIT 1 Pelletier (W) 2-1 2.83 7 IP 3 H 8 K 1 ER Gutierrez 2 2B 3 R RBI Krieg 3H 4 RBI (101) Mike Johnson 3 BB
9/26- OFF DAY
9/27- CIP 6 LV 4 Guijosa (14-11 4.52) 5 IP 6 K 3 ER 112 pitches Becker SV (9) Roberts 2B (34) HR (20) 5 RBI (78) SB (34) Matson HR (8)

• New England, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis all clinched post-season berths.
• El Paso is 2 games up on New York and Phoenix for the final wild card spot. Fresno easily takes home the 1 seed and Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and New England will take home the 2 seed, with the Miners 1 up on Indy and New England with 2 to play.

9/28- CIP 7 LV 2 Powers (12-9 5.01) 6.1 IP 7 H 4 K 4 BB 1 R 112 pitches Nieves 2 2B RBI Garcia 3H 2 2B 2 R 2 RBI Krieg 2H HR (16) 2 RBI (103) 2 BB

• El Paso clinched the NL's other post-season playoff berth.
• Heading into the final day of the season 4 teams are with a game of each other. Indy leads El Paso by a game, New England and Pittsburgh are tied. All four will make it.
• In the NL South Vegas is desperate as we are trying to sweep them to get to .500 while they are just one game up on Phoenix for their division. The team losing does not make the post-season.
• 9/29- CIP 6 LV 4 A season high 6 game win-streak to finish the year 81-81! Nate Draper 2 huge innings of relief and Rick McKitrick gets the final 4 outs for his 2nd save. Gutierrez 2H 3B R SB Nieves 2H RBI
• New England (Matt Green 10-10 3.39) and Pittsburgh (Christian Robinson 12-13 4.57) in a one game playoff for the division.
• In the AL Cleveland (Travis Hilly 16-9 3.51) plays Charlotte (Logan Evans 4-4 4.32) in a one game playoff for that division.
• All four teams are in, the winners will get a 1st round bye.
• New England's Cory Peterson slammed a walk-off 3R HR in the bottom of the 9th to give New England the win and the division title vs Pittsburgh.
• Cleveland's Travis Hilly dominated Charlotte tossing a CG in a 7-1 win. Hilly ends the year 17-9 3.42

IRON PIG NEWS
Class A Albuquerque took home the LCS with Marcos Hernandez winning the MVP. They take on the Lobitos Sun Dogs for the class A title.
Heath Christman took home series MVP honors as Nashville advanced to the Short Season world series.

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AL PLAYER OF THE MONTH- LF Jake Tillie (CLE) .321-5-21 27 R
NL PLAYER OF THE MONTH- RF Alex Bazaldua (EP) .283-11-27 19 R
AL PITCHER OF THE MONTH- Isaiah Wiggins (CBK) 5-1 2.03 Entered the month 5-12 5.25
NL PITCHER OF THE MONTH- Joe Grosch (ATL) 2-0 1.26 8-8 Saves
AL ROOKIE OF THE MONTH- John Newbrough (BOS) 5-1 2.20
NL ROOKIE OF THE MONTH- 1B Mike Geiselman (SD) .350-5-18

BATTING CHAMPIONS

• In the AL 2010 MVP Andrew Jacobi hit .346 to win his 2nd straight batting title. Leading the league again in hits with 204 3B (9) OBP (.402) OPS (.954) and WAR (8.0). H, AVG, OBP, OPS, WAR were all categories he led the league last year in, as well as 2B's last year he hit 58. Jacobi also won the 2006 Jackie Robinson Award. He's a 5 time all-star and a 4-time Silver Slugger. Also won a Gold Glove in 2002 in left.
• In the NL San Diego's Lourenco Manhas hit .355 to beat Chicago Iron Pigs CF Justin Krieg who hit .327. It was his 2nd batting title, having won in 2008 when he hit .329. He also led the league with 199 hits, a .437 OBP and .947 OPS. The 5 time all-star will enter 2012 on the last year of a 3 year 34.3 million dollar deal. He's spent his 8 year IBL career in San Diego after signing as a 16 year old out of Venezuela in 1999 with Philadelphia. They released him in March of the next year. He played independent ball as a 17 year old before signing with Phoenix in February of 2001. In November the Roadrunners traded him to San Diego for veteran Bobby Vazquez who would go on to lose 20 games, going 6-20 4.32 before a 6-10 2002 and turning it all around in 2003 going 19-3 3.18 to lead the league in wins and ERA. Vazquez was a member of LA during their 3 title run from 1993-1995. His named popped up on the top prospect list at #73 in 2003 and in 2007 he finished 3rd in the Hank Aaron vote.

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Final standings

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• In the Wild Card series over in the AL:
• Charlotte will visit Boston
• Dallas will host San Jose
• Utah and Cleveland are on byes.
• In the NL Pittsburgh goes to Las Vegas
• El Paso visits Indianapolis
• Fresno and New England are on byes.

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• Vegas sweeps Pittsburgh 5-3. 4-3, and 6-5 with RF Jay Hammer winning series MVP.
• Boston, 3-9 vs Charlotte this year, took just 4 games to oust the Defenders and OF Vittoroano Azzopardi had a WC Series record 12 hits in 17 at-bats to win series MVP.
• Dallas beat San Jose 3-1 with OF Justin Barlow going 7-15 HR 5 RBI to win series MVP.
• El Paso and Indy went the distance with the Huskies winning game 5 2-1 and 1B Francisco Hernandez went 9-20 to win the series MVP.

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• October is just a different game. New England handled El Paso winning 9 of 12 this year. El Paso just completed a 4 game sweep as 1B TJ Gunn went 8-18 to win series MVP honors.
• Cleveland took Dallas in 5 with 2B Santos Bobela going 7-19 3 HR and winning series MVP.
• Las Vegas downed heavily favored El Paso 4-2 with 2B Hank Dini going 9-23 2 HR 7 RBI to win series MVP. Vegas was the only team to be .500 or better in the regular season against the 101 win Enforcers.
• Boston and Utah went the full 7 with the Colonials winning the win-or-go home game 7-3. CF Vince McGinnis hit .278-2-7 to win series MVP honors.

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ALCS
Boston and Cleveland went the distance with the Colonials winning game 7 6-3. OF Vittoriano Azzopardi slammed 4 HR's to win series MVP honors after winning the Wild Card round MVP honors
NLCS
Las Vegas downed El Paso 4-3 in game 7 to win the series 4-3 with OF John McDermott hitting 2HR's and driving in 6 for series MVP.

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• Boston enters their 2nd World Series, having won in 1998 over Atlanta while Las Vegas is playing in their 2nd World Series, seeking their 1st ever title. Staten Island beat them in 1999.
• In a tight 6 game affair the Boston Colonials won their 2nd World Series title 4 games to 2 with OF Orlando Cintron hitting .450 to win the World Series MVP.

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• Detroit fired manager Costodio Eubanks after a 2nd straight sub 70 win season. Eubanks was the bench coach in Detroit from 2000-2002 before takin gover in 2003 and guiding them to back to back playoff appearances, where they have not been since.
• The Chicago Hitmen fired GM Tae-kon Kim after they slipped to 74-88 this year. On the heels of 3 straight playoff appearances after coming over from Dallas.
• The Austin Roughnecks did not renew the contract of GM Jonathan Long. His 4 year deal saw the team go 289-359.
• Wyoming let manager Eric Victory go after their 81-81 season. This year was the only year of four the team finished .500.
• Portland fired manager Lance Johnson after their 78-84 finish. Johnsons 6 year stint ended at 504-471 with 3 post-season appearances.
• In a somewhat surprising move Columbus fired the only GM to ever serve. Mike Weems built an organization that made the playoffs from 2003-2010, just 2 years after their founding, including winning the 2004 world series.
• I am definitely interested in possibly bringing him in as my assistant.
• Scott Donnelly was one of the original IBL general managers. Starting in New England before his move to San Diego in 2002. The Missions fired him today after their 'disappointing' 83-79 season. His first 7 seasons in New England the Revolution made the playoffs every year.
• Atlanta (75-87) fired GM Ian Haik.
• Jacksonville and the only manager to ever helm the team agreed to part ways after 20 years. Seth Spicer, two time manager of the year (2000, 2010) and 2 time world champion (2000, 2010) is moving on and many don't think he'll be away long.
• Phoenix did not extend the contract of GM Luke Dobbins.

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• Anthony Johns informed me that the front office surveys came back with exceptional responses. Fan loyalty is on the rise and everyone is excited apparently.
• For some reason that didn't seem to translate to our budget. It will remain at 60 million again for 2012. That 60 ranks us 14th in the IBL. Given our market I can't say I am not a little disappointed. Thats likely to put our payroll in the mid to high 20s all in. I am unsure of what that means right now but as the off-season plays out I'll get a better grip.
• The leagues Development baseline is 720K and we're a bit above twice that, at 1.57m, where we will stay, if not increase. Our draft position, made much worse by the great finish, slots us at 305K while we've allotted 795K which will allow us to possibly reach for an 'unsignable' HS player or two.
• The Int. Amateur FA budget is a hard cap at 750K.
• It's not public news but I plan on a significant overhaul of the coaching personnel up and down the system where I feel it's needed (Rookie league for sure) and I'm going to see if there's a solution on the IBL club that does not involve firing the manager. He's the reason for the chaos in the coaches room but he also just helped a 1st year expansion team win out to finish .500.

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IRON PIGS INK PELLETIER
Chicago announced the signing of 27 year old SP Brian Pelletier to a 4 year 3.9 million dollar contract. Pelletier was hurt most of 2011 after being taken by the Iron Pigs in the Expansion draft. He was a member of the Fresno club that won it all in 2009. Pelletier was 3-1 2.88 in 5 rehab starts at New Orleans before going 2-1 2.83 in 5 September starts in Chicago. Chicago GM Curt Schilling has made it known that they plan on him being a major competitor for the 2012 Iron Pig Rotation.


BACKROOM CHATTER
This one went under the radar as it was mainly done during the Wild-Card series. Pelletier is a talented lefty our scouts have at 2.5 stars. A legitimate mid-rotation arm with a chance to be very good. His 5 pitch repertoire still has room to grow and his elite cutter make him a bullpen option should the starting thing not work out. At an AAV under a million there was no reason whatsoever to not get this deal done. Iron Pig fans were pretty fired up at the announcement.

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Albuquerque takes home the Class A crown.

• The Albuquerque Matadors found their spark in the usual place and handled the Lobitos Sun Dogs (SJ) 4-2 in the Class A world series. Soon to be league MVP Jimmy Young took home MVP honors homering 3 times and driving in 7.
• Short-season Nashville was beaten 3-1 by the Egypt War Eagles to cap off a fantastic 1st season.

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25 year old IF Juan Ayala and the Chicago Iron Pigs have come to terms on a 6 year 6.94 million dollar contract extension that will keep the 25 year old Infielder in Chicago through 2017. As a 4th infielder the RHH hit .291/.345/.417 with 17 2B 6 HR and 41 RBI's in 82 games, 77 starts. A joy in the clubhouse and great teammate Ayala is a solid middle IF and backup 3B. The contract buys out his arbitration years and 1st year of free-agency. That final year is at 2.4 million, well below what we think he will be valued at, at that time. Some may remember Juan was our 31st pick in the Expansion draft from the Brooklyn organization.

BEHIND THE SCENES
I took little time looking through the finances heading into the off-season and next year. I spoke to most, if not all the guys I am interested in retaining and both Ayala and Pelletier are pieces who are talented enough to be a part of a championship roster. Certainly not lineup anchoring or opening day ace, but solid middle of the road depth pieces who both could step up if needed. In other talks Justin Krieg had a phenomenal season and his initial reaction was seeking a deal with an AAV of almost 5 million. If there's a way to get him at or around 4m per year I'll jump. He's just gotten back to us actually and is mulling a 5 year 18 million dollar offer as of today.

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A contract extension between Justin Krieg and Chicago was announced today.
Krieg will stay on in Chicago and make 18 million over the next 5 years. The Iron Pigs said the extension “shows our level of confidence in him and the type of player and person he is.”
Krieg hit .327, 2nd in the league, with 16 HR's and 104 RBI's and scored 85 runs. His 199 hits paced the National League and he was 21-23 in SB. Our scouts have him as a solid 3-star talent with potential to be even better. He'll be the starting LF on the 2012 roster barring some unforeseen event. That or he'll take on the CF job where he's rated an 11 to our people.

1B Peterson thrilled to be staying in Phoenix.
12-time all-star Andy Peterson and the Phoenix Roadrunners have announced the terms of a 4 year 46.4 million dollar contract extension that will keep the 15 year veteran in the only IBL home he's ever known. The 2000 Hank Aaron award winner is a career .313/.381/.536 hitter and his .293 average is the 2nd lowest of his 15 year career. This year he hit .293-16-69 with a league leading 53 2B's and scored 88 runs.

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• Albuquerque manager Pat Lamantia took home Class A Manager of the year in his 1st season as a coach. Albuquerque went 87-53
• In what is likely the least shocking news in baseball this year 19 year old CF Jimmy Young took home Class A MVP honors. Young had a season to remember hitting .256/.357/.583 with a league record 42 HR's and 118 RBI's.
• Our 2011 9th round pick SP Kyle Fay won Short season Pitcher of the year going 6-2 2.06 and garnering 31 of 32 1st place votes.
• I am planning on replacing the entire staff at Rookie League Milwaukee. They were horrible, at 23-45 and I saw little if any progress among the prospects there.

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AL JACKIE ROBINSON AWARD- 1B Bernard Gruber (WYO) .311-18-68
NL JACKIE ROBINSON AWARD- 1B Mike Geiselman (SD) .292-18-94
AL SANDY KOUFAX AWARD- Dave Larios (UT) 15-8 2.80 (2nd straight, 3rd overall)
NL SANDY KOUFAX AWARD- Juan Laurel (SD) 20-6 2.53
AL-MARIANO RIVERA AWARD- Bill Gamblin (DAL) 4-1 41 SV 1.53 (2nd time)
NL MARIANO RIVERA AWARD- Joe Grosch (ATL) 11-2 19 SV 1.73
AL TREVOR HOFFMAN AWARD- Bill Gamblin (DAL) 4-1 41 SV 1.53
NL TREVOR HOFFMAN AWARD- Demetrius Leonard (JAX) 2-5 40 SV 2.36 ERA 14 K/9
AL HANK AARON AWARD- LF Andrew Jacobi (SJ) .346-16-99 (2nd straight MVP)
NL HANK AARON AWARD- LF Lourenco Manhas (SD) .355-9-96

No Chicago player won a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger.

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Recently fired GM Mike Weems announced on social media today that he had been approached by GM Curt Schilling from Chicago and that the two parties are in talks about Weems joining one of the IBL's newest franchises. Weeks, who helped guide Jacksonville to 8 straight playoff appearances and a 2004 world series title, has told people he would like to look around before making a decision.

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Former Jacksonville Manager Seth Spicer is the new Manager in Chicago. The 62 year old 2-time Manager of the year and 2-time world champion announced he'd agreed to a 5 year 1.9 million dollar deal.
“I could not be more proud of what this club did this year. To finish at .500 was a monumental accomplishment and Bill Belfiore was a major reason why. That being said there are larger issues involved here and I won't air any of them publicly but to say changes had to be made. Seth is and has been a winner over his 20 years. 2011 was the first year a team he managed had not made the playoffs since 1998. All of the intangibles are there, and we felt this was too good of an opportunity to pass up as talent this good is available only rarely and never for long.”

BACKROOM CHATTER
Our coaches room was in utter turmoil. The entire staff seemed to be at odds with the manager. While we are certainly not against turnover there seemed to be one piece involved in every “issue” concerning our chemistry in the coaches room.
Weems is a winner, and everything about him is likeable. He's far more controlling in game, which is fine, but I'll need to adjust. I'll dictate the lineup choices and staff roles but after that he asked for, and received, complete control over every decision made from the first pitch on.