Your 2021 Oakland Athletics - Page 6

bucketsndimes · 06-14-2007, 05:15 PM

Thanks, that should help if I decide to create a dynasty and also to get me more familiar with the game world, since I do mostly fictional leagues.

Actually, now I think I'll probably start a dynasty, but with a fictional league.

thehatfield · 06-17-2007, 11:52 AM

Next Up: 3-game series at home against Kansas City

We swept a 3-game series against the perennially hapless Royals in Kansas City back at the end of April and the Royals have lost at least 90 games for 8 straight years – both nice signs heading into the next to last series before the All Star break. The team has just two winning seasons in the 15-year history of Major League Baseball and both times they could only muster 83-79 record. This year the Royals are 38-42, 13½-games behind the 52-29 Chicago White Sox and mired in a swamp at the bottom of the American League central with the Minnesota Twins (38-43) and the Cleveland Indians (37-43). Kansas City’s 729 collective hits in 2,764 at-bats this season is worst in the American League.

It’s not all bad for the Royals, however. The big story is 21-year old third baseman Jose Funk, whose fantastic name and big numbers have people turning heads. Despite being the #8 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Mariners, Seattle unexpectedly released him at the end of the 2020 season considering him a major bust. All he’s gone on to do is lead the Royals in home runs (19), RBI (56), and runs scored (49) and nab the Rookie of the Month award for June. He still strikes out a lot but at 21-years old the sky seems to be the limit for this budding star.

The Royals just haven’t had the pitching this year with a couple of injuries and a couple of players not panning out. The serviceable 36-year old starter Yoshinobu Hayashida has been unlucky in terms of run support with his 4-4 record and 3.52 ERA in 100 innings of work to lead the starting rotation. 26-year old closer Beacon Hubbard has an ERA over 3.00 and three blown saves in what is considered a make-or-break year for him. The Kansas City press is picking up on 23-year old righty reliever and sport starter Mike MacKendrick who has a 0.00 ERA through 10.2 innings pitched.

We’d be trotting out the usual suspects:

1. Yamasita CF, L
2. Galdames 2B, R
3. Revelez, LF, S
4. Guevaro, 3B, R
5. Byers, RF, R
6. Arce, 1B, L
7. Alison, C, R
8. Quinenes, DH, R
9. Volquez, 2B, R

Although the lineup has been pretty stable and we’re certainly looking good overall we were flirting with the idea of some minor adjustments, like moving Larry Alison up a spot or two. But those decisions won’t be made until the All Star break.

Sunday, July 4, 2021
Game 82 vs. Kansas City Royals
6-2 Win; 29,059 in attendance
W: Dickson (13-2) L: Argelio (5-12) SV: Mathis (28)

Recap: It seems like we’ve been owning the first inning of games lately and today was no different as Teddy Revelez doubled in two runs before Jose Arce plated Revelez with his 10th home run of the year. This is the fourth game in a row that we’ve scored at least a run in our initial at-bats. It wasn’t all roses on the day for Arce though as he committed his 4th and 5th errors of the season at first base which contributed to an unearned run for reliever Josh Frank. Starter Rowley Dickson didn’t look great and had to come out of the game with two outs in the 6th inning with some soreness in his shoulder. Initial reports from Dr. Rick Hartshorn are encouraging as Dickson is listed as day-to-day and should be ready to make his next start. It’s hard to say that a guy hitting .370 hasn’t really been doing much lately but it was nice to see Mumbles Yamasita get back on track going 2-for-3 with a double, 2 RBI, a run scored, a walk and a stolen base. Terry Rogers threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Bill “Crunchy” Mathis got his Major League-leading 28th save but allowed a double to 26-year old Kansas City second baseman Ripley Johnson in the 9th. A solid if mechanical effort as we sort of went on cruise control after the 1st inning. We were definitely worried about Dickson because it was immediately after allowing a run in the 6th inning that his shoulder soreness appeared to affect him and Larry Alison called for Dr. Rick. Not to cast any doubt on the type of competitor that Dickson is, but it’s something I’ll now be looking at going forward because we’re going to need this guy to have his head on straight in our biggest pressure situations.

Monday, July 5, 2021
Game 83 vs. Kansas City Royals
7-2 Win; 27,944 in attendance
W: Glaus (3-2) L: MacKendrick (0-1)

Recap: Mike MacKendrick’s scoreless innings streak came crashing down in the 1st inning as Edgard Galdames sparked a three-run rally with a run-scoring double and a run scored – our fifth consecutive game with 1st inning runs. Mumbles Yamasita and Galdames at the top of the lineup combined to go 5-for-9 but Galdames also committed his 3rd error of the year at shortstop on a poor throw to first base after making a nice play to get to a ball off the bat of the Royals’ Ripley Johnson. Jose Arce chased MacKendrick from the game in the 4th inning with a 400-foot solo home run to left-center. It was Arce’s 11th of the year and second straight game with a home run. Gib Glaus looked strong and had great control, scattering 7 hits and not walking a batter in 8 innings of work. The winning performance was certainly a big plus in Glaus’ column but it was the Royals we were playing and we were probably going to stay the course and go with our initial idea to send Glaus down at the All Star break. Terry Rogers pitched a scoreless 9th inning to bring his ERA down under 5.00 for the first time in recent memory. Strangely, Kansas City designated hitter Nobuatsu Saitoh, a Brooklyn, New York native, took Player of the Game honors going 3-for-4 and knocking in both of the Royals’ RBI with a 2-run shot off of Glaus in the 3rd inning. Arce finished the game 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, perhaps responding to the rumors that he should be dropped in the lineup.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Game 84 vs. Kansas City Royals
4-2 Win; 22,141 in attendance
W: Nakamura (13-2) L: Bair (6-4) SV: Mathis (29)

Recap: We didn’t get on the scoreboard in this one until the third inning when Francisco Quinenes doubled in a run snapping a 5-game streak of 1st inning scoring. But still we were getting very used to playing with the lead and even though Kansas City’s 26-year old lefty Henry Bair put in a valiant 7-inning performance we never trailed, got the key hits, and turned it over to the best closer in baseball. Travis Byers broke out of his 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series by going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Teddy Revelez was also 2-for-4. Nori Nakamura allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 11 batters. He lowered his ERA to 4.40 on the season. Kansas City’s 30-year old second baseman Oakes Deery went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Royals. Royals shortstop Jim Soper and third baseman Jose Funk both committed errors in the 8th inning which contributed to an unearned run allowed by K.C. reliever Alvin Gonzales.

Current Oakland Record: 57-27

A big 3-game sweep of the Royals has us on a 5-game win streak overall and feeling great going into our final series before the All Star break against the Rangers. But all was not well in Denmark…

Fast Stats
Setup man and second on the pitching staff in terms of appearances Fairfax von Schoening (22) hasn’t been used in a game since June 29.

All Star Snubs
The American League announced the team that would be representing them at the 2021 All Star Game. We would be sending the follwing players:

SP Rowley Dickson – second in AL in ERA (2.57), first in opponents’ batting average (.214), tied for first in wins (13) and shutouts (2), second in strikeouts (162)
SP Nori Nakamura – tied for first in AL in wins (13)
CL Bill Mathis – leads AL in saves (29)
CF Mumbles Yamasita – leads AL in batting (.375) and stolen bases (30)

It was an obvious snub for Teddy Revelez who is 5th in the AL in batting (.360), second in slugging (.668), the leader in OBP (.518), OBPS (1.186) and walks (98), third in RBI (75) and runs scored (75) and fourth in home runs (21). Dome Guevaro is probably another snub with his 21 home runs and 79 RBI. Travis Byers is off to the best start in his 2½-year Major League career, hitting .310 with 14 home runs and 71 RBI and hit for the cycle back in June in a memorable performance against the Dodgers. If anything positive can come from the snub news I hope it’s that the news is enough to fire these guys up in a defiant way for the final four games against the Rangers.

bucketsndimes · 06-17-2007, 01:51 PM

Team can't be stopped.

RoyalsBlue · 06-17-2007, 01:58 PM

at least the Royals were somewhat competitive.

Really like what you're doing here, PC. Mumbles Yamasita? I think I have a new favorite player now. KUTGW!

ifspuds · 06-17-2007, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

Fast Stats
Setup man and second on the pitching staff in terms of appearances Fairfax von Schoening (22) hasn’t been used in a game since June 29.

Get that kid in a game. I've been wearing my von Schoening jersey around and people keep saying, "I think I remember somebody by that name on the team..."

thehatfield · 07-03-2007, 01:55 PM

Thanks for the nice words folks!

Next Up: 4-game series at home against Texas

The Rangers are being led by 26-year old second baseman Steve Wickenden who has blossomed into Texas’ only All Star selection this season in his second full year with the big club. The switch hitting Wickenden is hitting .320 with 19 home runs and 67 RBI to lead the club in each category. 27-year old catcher Danny McCreery is a home grown 20th round draft choice that has blossomed into a .317 career hitter in 2,664 Major League at-bats. While he’s never had much power he’s a great contact hitter even though he’s hitting .308 this year (down from .339 last year) with 51 RBI. 34-year old journeyman starting pitcher Emilio Davila is enjoying a resurgence in the first half of 2021 with a 10-3 record to lead the pitching staff. Davila hasn’t had a 20-win season since he won the Cy Young Award while pitching for the Devil Rays in what turned out to be a career season back in 2008 when he went 24-7 with a 2.40 ERA. Davila, though, has struggled in the intervening years and basically carries the burden of being known as a wonderkid gone wrong. 26-year old lefty reliever Adam Clay (1-0, 1.42 ERA) and 35-year old closer Danny Snyder (2-1, 1.82 ERA, 13 SV) have been standouts in an otherwise shaky bullpen.

The Rangers are 44-39 on the year, a game behind the second-placed Angels and 12½ games behind us in the division. They’re coming in on an 8-game win streak that includes sweeps of the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians and they’ve been a streaky team all season long which has kept their record near the .500 mark as it seems that just when they get on a good run and start feeling good about themselves they go into the toilet for a brief stretch. We were hoping their good fortune was about to come to an end as we kicked off our final pre-All Star break series.

Our regular starting lineup had dropped the hammer on the American League West over the last two weeks going 10-3 over 13 consecutive days. Still without a break between games going into these last four we were likely going to give starts to all of the bench players and give some of the everyday starters a nice long rest. Only makes sense; we wouldn’t want to risk injury to any of our key pieces at this point especially with a double-digit lead in the division. We might give a spot start to someone from AAA Sacramento as well to take a look at him against MLB competition.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Game 85 vs. Texas Rangers
6-5 Win; 27,877 in attendance
W: Mathis (4-1) L: Snyder (2-2) BS: Mathis (4) BS: Pallant (3)

Recap: You know when your closer has a blown save and a win and the opposition closer has a loss that it must have been a wild ending and this one didn’t disappoint when you also consider the Hollywood ending for an All Star snub! And perhaps because there were nearly 28,000 in the house on a Wednesday evening there was a tangible “big game” atmosphere for what ended up being one of the most exciting games of the year. Travis Byers knocked in a run with a single in the bottom of the 1st inning to give us the early lead on Texas starter Xavier Ayala. But the Rangers got to our starter Fred Cake in the top of the 4th for three runs with a couple of singles with men on base and a walk with the bases loaded to take a 3-1 lead. We got one back in the bottom of the 5th when Mumbles Yamasita scored from second on a Dome Guevaro single. We both went to our bullpens after the 5th inning, Texas bringing in 36-year old righty sinkerballer Marcellas Pallant and us bringing in young flamethrower Fairfax von Schoening, who some fans have taken to calling “The Baron.” After a leadoff walk to Jose Arce in the bottom of the 6th we tried to surprise Texas with a stolen base by the plodding Arce and it worked as backup catcher Marmaduke Anderton overthrew the second baseman and allowed Arce to get all the way to third. Arce would go on to score the tying run on a fielder’s choice. Later, with one on and two out in the bottom of the 8th inning, Francisco Quinenes dumped one just over the left-centerfield wall for his 13th home run of the year and a 5-3 lead heading into the 9th with lockdown closer Bill Mathis ready to go. But after striking out the first batter he faced Mathis beaned the next hitter, clearly by accident, and then allowed a run-scoring double to leftfielder Bemabe Flechas when Yamasita’s throw overshot the cutoff man and rolled to the catcher. Flechas took third on the throw and scored on a fielder’s choice tying the game at 5-5 before Mathis got the final out. Rangers’ closer Danny Snyder was in and struck out Yamasita and Edgard Galdames before Teddy Revelez stepped in. The sequence was fantastic: two called strikes, a ball, a foul ball, a foul ball that was dropped by third baseman Prospero Denz for an error on what would have been the third out, two more balls to fill the count, three more foul balls, and then a 92-mile-per-hour fastball that Revelez hammered 529-feet over the closed section of upper deck seats going down the right field line. It was a thunderous walk-off home run for All Star snub Revelez, his 22nd home run of the year, and certainly the loudest I had heard the Coliseum all season long!

Thursday, July 8, 2021
Game 86 vs. Texas Rangers
6-4 Win; 28,125 in attendance
W: Knisley (9-7) L: Littles (5-8) H: Frank (5) SV: Leverett (1)

Recap: The bench players went off! Reydel Vazquez, Javier Raymundo, Victor Corliss, and Cornelius McInally combined to go 9-for-17 with 3 walks and Raymundo delivered the key blow – a grand slam off Texas starter Johnathon Littles in the second inning which seemed to take all of the air out of Texas’ sails especially when considering our walk-off win yesterday. It was Raymundo’s first home run of the year and the first of his Major League career and he was given the silent treatment in the dugout by the coaching staff and the regular starters taking the day off until he got his helmet off at the bat-rack at which point he was swarmed by happy teammates! J.D. Knisley didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up a solo home run to Prospero Denz in the 3rd inning and a two-run shot to Steve Wickenden in the 6th but those were the only three runs Knisley would allow in 7 innings of working into and out of tight spots. Reliever Josh Frank gave up a run in one inning of work in the 8th before handing the ball over to Jonathan Leverett for Leverett’s first save of the year. Leverett, of course, was the Oakland closer for the last two years and this was basically a showcase appearance for anyone that might need a lefty arm for their bullpen at the trade deadline. I think we have misused Leverett this year, actually. From looking at his history he seems at his strongest when he only pitches one inning and we’ve been extending him past that during just about every appearance this year. I could see another team getting him and having him become a key piece to their puzzle. 29-year old Texas reliever David Masterson pitched 2.1 innings of hitless relief for the Rangers, striking out 4 batters in the process. Raymundo was named Player of the Game and was pied by Jose Arce while giving an interview after the game.

Roster Move
Between games we sent lefty reliever Josh Frank down to AAA Sacramento and recalled right-handed starter Rick Stanely who has put together a promising 6-2 record with a 3.23 ERA in 86 innings. 25-year old Stanely had a horrible stint with us earlier in the year, starting four games and notching just 19 innings while allowing 26 hits, 17 walks, and 5 home runs to go 0-2 with an ERA of 8.84.

Friday, July 9, 2021
Game 87 vs. Texas Rangers
7-3 Loss; 29,176 in attendance
W: Gonzalez (8-8) L: Stanely (0-3)

Recap: This was an extremely odd game as Rowley Dickson started and came out of the game after getting one out in the top of the 1st inning again complaining about shoulder soreness. So Rick Stanely, whom I had hoped to give one more day of rest to before starting him, came in to pitch on three days rest. The game was tight through six innings as Stanely and Texas starter Abelando Gonzalez both showed strong command of their pitches and a willingness to throw strikes. With Texas up 2-1 going into the 7th, Stanely promptly walked two and allowed a two-run double to designated hitter Don McCann as the game got away from us. The Rangers built on a 5-1 lead in the 8th inning against reliever Gregg Basnett, manufacturing two more runs on two hits, an error and a walk. Francisco Quinenes hit a 2-run home run, his 13th of the year in the bottom of the 8th off of Gonzalez for the final 7-3 margin. Jonathan Leverett threw another scoreless inning of work despite allowing a couple of singles in the top of the 9th. Player of the Game Steve Wickenden went 4-for-5 with 4 RBI for the Rangers. We took considerable flack from the Texas press for using starting pitcher J.D. Knisley as the designated hitter so that regular DH Quinenes could spell Mumbles Yamasita in center field. Knisley was 0-for-3 with a run scored after reaching on an error. Victor Corliss committed an error playing out of position at second base. Despite allowing 5 runs in 7 innings Stanely lowered his ERA from 8.84 to 8.20. The thankful word on Rowley Dickson after the game was again nothing serious and he’ll be fine for the All Star game, but this is the second time in a week where Dickson had to come out of a game early due to soreness.

Saturday, July 10, 2021
Game 88 vs. Texas Rangers
7-5 Loss; 29,756 in attendance
W: Davila (11-3) L: Glaus (3-3) H: Clay (4) H: Masterson (10) SV: Snyder (14)

Recap: Despite some regular starters coming back into the lineup for the last game before the All Star break and despite two more angry home runs by Teddy Revelez the Rangers scored at least one run in every inning from the 4th on to gradually coast by us and leave us with a 2-2 split in our 4-game series. Gib Glaus allowed four runs but only two were earned as shortstop Edgard Galdames committed a throwing error which led to two runs in the 5th inning, Galdames’ fourth error of the year. Texas designated hitter Don McCann crushed a Glaus pitch 423-feet to left field, just his third home run of the year. 25-year old Rangers center fielder Lorenzo Gonzalez also got his 3rd homer of the year when he took Fairfax von Schoening out to dead center with a solo shot of his own in the 7th inning. 23-year old right fielder Beltran Ramirez went 4-for-5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored for Texas but Revelez was named Player of the Game in the losing effort, walking three times after hitting solo home runs in his first two at bats. Victor Corliss, Galdames, and Revelez all had two hits for us while catcher Danny McCreery and center fielder Gonzalez did the same trick for Texas. This game was kind of a listless performance all around despite pushing two across in the bottom of the 9th to make the scoreline look more interesting.

Current Oakland Record: 59-29

We went from the great emotional high of Wednesday’s win to losing our final two games before the All Star break and falling one win short of 60 for the first “half” of the season. Still, the Rangers had been the hottest team in baseball coming into the series and at the very least we were able to slow them down a little bit by taking the first two games of the series. We optioned Rick Stanely back to AAA Sacramento and recalled Josh Frank who threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief while striking out 3 in his one performance for the River Cats on Friday in an 11-3 loss to the Salt Lake Bees.

Next up will be player stats at the break and a look around the league.

bucketsndimes · 07-14-2007, 04:08 AM

Is this done? My favorite dynasty on the board, is it over?

metzrule3 · 07-15-2007, 08:15 PM

Great dynasty, keep up the good work. I really like Yamasita and Francisco Quinenes. I've been wondering something: whatever happened to Jose Reyes and David Wright?

thehatfield · 07-16-2007, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucketsndimes

Is this done? My favorite dynasty on the board, is it over?

Nope... all's well. It takes me a while with my RL job, a seemingly endless parade of weddings to attend, and all of the "research" I do so my All Star break recaps are just taking a lot longer that I thought. But I plan to have the American League finished & up tonight!

Quote:

Originally Posted by metzrule3

Great dynasty, keep up the good work. I really like Yamasita and Francisco Quinenes. I've been wondering something: whatever happened to Jose Reyes and David Wright?

I'll check it out for you later today!

thehatfield · 07-16-2007, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metzrule3

Great dynasty, keep up the good work. I really like Yamasita and Francisco Quinenes. I've been wondering something: whatever happened to Jose Reyes and David Wright?

Okay, Reyes missed two months of the season back in 2008 with a torn muscle in his hip and many thought he should have had surgery and stayed out of the lineup much longer than he did to fully recover because he struggled so mightily upon his return that he ended 2008 with AAA Norfolk. The next season in 2009 he was knocked onto the disabled list again, for a month, with a knee injury that in conjunction with his lingering hip injury permanently hampered his speed. The injury happened just after being called back up from AAA in May. He was never really able to get into a groove after that in 2009 but he was off to a solid start to 2010 until a dislocated shoulder while sliding into home plate against the Phillies put him on the shelf for five more weeks. The Mets decided his injury history was too much and so didn't renew Reyes' contract after the 2010 season ended and nobody signed him in the off-season. Reyes eventually accepted a minor league deal with Detroit in August of 2011 but he didn't spend a day in the minors as he was signed to cover an injury for the last month of the season. Reyes hit .231 for Detroit in 21 games (71 at-bats) and again wasn't offered a new contract from his team. Once again he went unsigned in the off-season but this time the Chicago White Sox came knocking in July of 2012 with a minor league offer. Reyes quickly found himself back in the majors after a three week stint of hitting .476 at the AAA level for Chicago. He went on to get 63 at-bats with the big club and hit .270. It earned him a 2-year contract worth a total of $1.54 million. He stayed on in Chicago as a bench player from 2013-15, playing in only 40 games and seeing only 100 at-bats over the three year span. He was released by the White Sox after the 2015 season and spent a year out of baseball working at his cousin's real estate company in 2016 before signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2017. After hitting .163 in 96 at-bats the Pirates put him on waivers and he was claimed by Milwaukee. Milwaukee never used him in a game at any level and he was released at the end of 2017. Enough time had gone by that the New York Mets brought him back as a fan-favorite bench player for the 2018 season and Jose hit .264 in 106 at-bats but he was aging and slower and packing his bags for Cleveland in the off-season. Reyes hit .242 in 194 at-bats for the Indians and stole 20 bases in what proved to be his final season in baseball. Reyes' 298 career stolen bases currently ranks him 30th all time. Reyes was a career .265 hitter in 3,962 at-bats. He had 1,051 hits, 159 doubles, 37 triples, 47 home runs, 337 RBI, .296 OBP, and .360 SLG. He struck out 487 times and walked only 172 times.

Wright was a serviceable player who averaged .272/20/86 (avg./home runs/RBI) in 17 seasons in the majors. He just retired prior to the 2021 season. Mets fans will never forgive Omar Minaya for trading Wright to the Boston Red Sox in June of 2010 and Wright went on to star for the Sox in the post season on the way to a World Series title that year. Wright filed for free agency and cashed in with a 3-year $10 million deal from Baltimore but with the Orioles out of the race at the trade deadline the O's sent him to the New York Yankees in a straight-up exchange for pitcher Jake Westbrook. He only hit .235 in two full seasons in the Bronx before he went back to the National League with Houston through free agency in 2014. While there he regained his stroke and finished 2015 with a .273 average and 30 home runs. Feeling good again he signed a two-year $18.6 million deal with Minnesota prior to the 2016 season but by the end of 2017 he had been traded to Oakland after hitting under .230 for most of the year. Oakland didn't retain him after 2017 and he signed a one-year $900k contract with Atlanta. Playing everyday he only hit .259 but he was back to 30 home runs and 92 RBI. In 2019 he hit .267 with 23 homers and 80 RBI but it wasn't enough for him to keep the everyday third baseman job and he played in a platoon in 2020 before deciding to retire in the off-season. For his career he hit .271 with 2,051 hits in 7,571 at-bats with 371 doubles, 27 triples, 263 career home runs, 1,134 RBI, .335 OBP, .430 SLG, 1,724 strikeouts and 665 walks.

metzrule3 · 07-16-2007, 11:29 PM

Oh man, that's dissapointing. I was hoping they would go on to hall of fame careers with the Mets.

bucketsndimes · 07-17-2007, 12:12 AM

lol, that's alot of information. And what a disappointment those two were.

thehatfield · 07-19-2007, 12:47 AM

Here's the AL. Better grab a beverage!

Code:

 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STANDINGS - JULY 12, 2021

   AMERICAN LEAGUE           NATIONAL LEAGUE
   Eastern Division          Eastern Division
 Boston      52-35  -      New York     58-30  -  
 Toronto     44-43  8      Philadelphia 57-31  1 
 Baltimore   44-44  8½     Florida      44-45 14½  
 Tampa Bay   40-49 13      Washington   39-49 19
 New York    38-50 14½     Atlanta      29-60 29½

   Central Division          Central Division
 Chicago     53-35  -      Chicago    54-34  -       
 Detroit     47-40  5½     Cincinnati 45-43  9
 Cleveland   40-47 12½     St. Louis  40-48 14 
 Minnesota   40-47 12½     Pittsburgh 36-52 18
 Kansas City 39-48 13½     Houston    31-57 23
                           Milwaukee  30-59 24½
   Western Division
 Oakland     59-29  -        Western Division
 Los Angeles 48-39 10½     Arizona       55-34  -
 Texas       46-41 12½     Los Angeles   53-35  1½
 Seattle     37-50 21½     Colorado      48-39  6
                           San Francisco 37-53 18½ 
                           San Diego     36-53 19

Division-By-Division

American League East
The division has basically been holding to form all year thusly: the Boston Red Sox out in front, Toronto and Baltimore in a dogfight about 6-10 games back, and then Tampa Bay and the Yankees battling each other at the bottom 12-15 games out. But the Red Sox have left the door open for a second half of the season challenge by posting an 11-14 record during the month of June. If they’re not careful the Red Sox could easily hit a long bad patch because beyond All Stars Zach Duke and Eloy Furse the Boston starting rotation, which is the only one in baseball at the break to sport three men with at least 10 victories (36-year old Joseph McAteer is the third with 10 in addition to Duke (10) and Furse (12)) and which has been the paragon of consistency over the last 12 years, just isn’t as dominating as it has been in recent years. It’s actually a tribute to just how dominating they have been to say that a team with three 10-game winners seems to be falling off but the difference is certainly noticeable: starters aren’t lasting as long into games and whereas in the past there was no chance to get a key hit in a big situation against these guys we’ve actually seen it happen a few times this year. There’s still a lot to be confident about as Boston’s team batting average of .289 leads the division and ranks them 3rd in the American League while their 489 runs scored places them 1st in the division and 4th in the league. The common refrain of Red Sox fans is something along the lines of: “We’ve ghat Zach Duke, and you don’t!” which roughly translates to an underlying confidence that the Sox in fact still have enough starting pitching to play with anyone in a short series. But Duke is 37, and even though he looks like he’s going to finish off yet another brilliant season people in the Hub are now wondering aloud if this might be the last run for this core group of players. Duke has 338 career victories (third all-time behind Roger Clemens (353) and Greg Maddux (341)) against just 101 losses including a career-high 27 in 2016, and a staggering 2.13 career ERA.

Toronto are a feel-good story as their payroll of $48.6 million ranks them 26th out of 30 MLB teams, a far cry from Major League leading Boston’s $139.8 million. 31-year old catcher Alex Dawson is the marquee player but he must feel out on an island as there isn’t a whole lot of talent around him. Despite his .344 batting average this year Dawson has never hit more than 11 home runs in a year in six full big league seasons so he’s not really equipped to carry a batting order all by himself. The Sunrise, Florida native is in the last year of his contract and there are plenty of clubs that could use a solid defensive catcher than can regularly hit .300 so it will be interesting to see if he’s on the move at the trading deadline. Toronto lost veteran third baseman Ruben Gotay for the season when he was pegged in the face by Boston legend Zach Duke back in April. A good-humored Gotay was quoted at the time as saying: “At least if I’m going to get my cheekbone fracture… my cheekbone fractured I think you say, it can happen by the best pitcher of our generation!” but it was certainly a blow to the everyday lineup.

The decline and fall of the New York Yankees has been one of the biggest stories of 2020-2021 according to certain media outlets and certainly, along with us, one of the biggest surprises in the American League this year. The Yankees crashed spectacularly at the end of last season when, holding a 4-game lead in the Wild Card race over the Minnesota Twins with 5 games to play in the regular season, lost all 5 games while the Twins won all 5 to the stunned disbelief of the New York metro area and to the sheer joy of New England. The 91-71 record last year and the $102.9 million payroll this year (8th highest in baseball) have insiders and experts alike scratching their heads wondering how the team could possibly be 12 games under .500 in the first half of this year. Adding to the mystery are the facts that their 91 home runs as a club lead the division and their collective .280 batting average is more than respectable. 32-year old starter and perennial fan-favorite Pellegrin “Javelin” Lindeman, traded to the Yanks from Seattle earlier this season, is already ingratiating himself to the bleacher creatures with a 3-1 mark and 3.60 ERA in his four starts since the trade.

Tampa Bay tried to step up their spending to be competitive with Boston and New York but fans are similarly perplexed by a 40-49 team whose $87.4 million salary is 10th highest in baseball. But it’s no great mystery when you learn that Tampa’s .264 team batting average is worst in the division and second-worst in the league behind Kansas City’s .262. 32-year old first baseman Shunen Nagao is hitting .289 and leads the club with 20 home runs and 63 RBI but beyond that the lineup really lacks players that can threaten consistently at the plate. Tampa, however, have a number of good young arms developing around 36-year old veteran Scott Kazmir, he of the 248 career victories and an outstanding-in-the-AL East career ERA of 3.13. Tampa Bay’s 59 team stolen bases lead the division and are second in the American League to Cleveland’s 76. 27-year old center fielder Tom “The Flying Canadian” Dionne, an Edmonton, Alberta native, leads the club with 19 steals and is easily the most popular player on the team. During the All Star break the Devil Rays completed a trade with Cleveland which landed them 23-year old left handed starter Ricardo Colon in exchange for two prospects in what many people consider a steal in favor of the Rays. Colon, who went 5-7 with a 4.49 ERA in 18 starts with the Indians in the first half of this year, needs plenty of work but he has great stuff and scouts agree that he has top of the rotation potential.

Toronto, New York, and Tampa Bay did not send a single member to the All Star game!

This off-season Baltimore, of course, was the destination of lifelong Athletic Rich Harden in the Travis Byers trade which initially brought me a lot of scorn from the Oakland press and faithful. But there’s no denying the immediate impact of the deal: Byers is hitting .310 with 14 home runs and 72 RBI for us this season while Harden is his usual 5-9, 5.49 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. Add into it that Harden is 38 and signed for big money through 2024 while Byers is 24 and on the minimum and no further justification is needed. Harden remains poised at the precipice with 199 career victories and I’m sure many a Miller High Life will be raised in Oakland bars when Harden does get the job done. A hopeful qualifier for the future is that aside from 7-time All Star right fielder Michael Piper (the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year and a 3-time Gold Glove winner), Baltimore is young. VERY young. “17 players on their active roster are making the league minimum salary” young. 26-year old right-handed starter Oscar Tucker may well be a name to remember, he’s off to a 10-6 start this season with a 4.13 ERA in his 3rd full year in the majors and he’s never won more than 11 games in a season. 24-year old closer Jose Sanchez is also in his third year and has 21 saves and is an All Star despite his 3.58 ERA. The biggest story in Baltimore right now is Chinese sensation Ming Chew, a 25-year old rookie left fielder. Chew is hitting .315 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI for the Orioles and was widely thought to be snubbed from the All Star team solely because of his rookie status. Baltimore has sold boatloads of the #12 Chew jersey both in the U.S. and abroad and it is, in fact, one of the highest selling jerseys in all of baseball.

AL East All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#15 Zach Duke, 37, SP, BOS, 12
#22 Eloy Furse, 31, SP, BOS, 3
#4 Jose Sanchez, 24, CL, BAL, 1
#93 Aberto Aripez, 29, SS, BOS, 1
#24 Allister Scaggs, 34, RF, BOS, 7
#30 Michael Pieper, 29, RF, BAL, 7

American League Central
The defending American League Champion Chicago White Sox went 21-6 in June and appeared to be pulling away from everyone in the AL Central until a 7-game slide in the first week of July, including being swept in a 3-game series in Chicago by the second place Tigers, opened the race back up to Detroit. The losing streak was the first prolonged slump of the year for Chicago and began on the same day that the Sox released 20 minor leaguers in an organization-wide purge that was designed to intentionally attract national headlines. The Sox made headlines this past off-season when they signed away two key members of the team that beat them for the World Series title, lifting 33-year old starter Bowie van Ingen and 28-year old left fielder Brandt Wurz from the New York Mets via free agency. Both have transitioned easily to the AL and were again named All Stars. Van Ingen, a late bloomer who has only been dominant on the mound for the last two-and-a-half years, leads the staff with a 13-2 record and 3.69 ERA while Wurz is on pace for his best season as a pro with a .345 average and a team-leading 28 home runs and 91 RBI. Chicago just flat-out mashes as a club with a host of star caliber players throughout the lineup that can easily wear out opposing starting pitching. Their .295 team batting average and 145 home runs lead the American League. They’ve also scored 593 runs which leads the American League by 80 from the next closest club and is tied with Arizona for the most in all of baseball. The winners of the AL Central for the last seven years running, the club sports the second-highest payroll in baseball at $139.1 million but with an aging pitching staff and no Major League ready prospects waiting in the wings the Sox may have to continue to spend in order to keep their stranglehold on the division.

You can kind of tell the story of Detroit’s last 15 years by looking at the starting pitcher that’s been there for all of them - Jeremy Bonderman. Despite 243 career victories which places him 16th all-time, Bonderman has never won 20 games in a single season. In recent years Detroit has almost become used to playing second fiddle to Chicago (and often third fiddle to Minnesota) so turning around that mindset is going to be the key challenge in the second half of the season as the Tigers attempt to be the team to unseat the White Sox. Detroit is predicting a bright future for 26-year old right-handed fireballer Erek Pugh who is off to a 7-5 start with a 4.64 ERA in 2021. The Tigers have one of the most colorfully named outfields in the history of baseball with Horst “Roast Beef” Haggard, Walt “The Banker” Brinkworth, and Stu “Jelly Jar” Jarrom manning left through right respectively. Overall, despite the $83.2 million payroll, the Tigers’ lineup lacks the depth that would disallow opponents the chance to pitch around trouble spots and without a major acquisition at the trade deadline I just can’t see them being able to keep up with the White Sox or the Wild Card race over the rest of the summer. 37-year old Bonderman is second among active players in innings pitched with 4,114.2, behind only 39-year old Arizona lefty C.C. Sabathia (4,220.2 innings). This team seems to live and die by the home run, hitting 128 which is second best in the AL, but seem to have trouble from time to time when they have to manufacture runs (their 118 doubles and 11 triples are both next-to-worst in the league). The general feeling around baseball is that Detroit is not a legitimate 47-40 club and that they will decline steadily over the rest of the summer.

About six weeks ago Cleveland was in last place, 8 games under .500 and 7 games out of first place with a 22-30 record. Now at the All Star break the Indians are 7 games under .500 at 40-47, 12½ games out of first but tied for third place thanks to Kansas City’s spectacular collapse. For the most part Cleveland is a pretty young team with some older stopgap type players sprinkled in the bullpen and on the bench. It’s probably going to take a couple of seasons to really see what the Indians have in terms of their homegrown talent but there’s a decent core there in 33-year old 5-time All Star third baseman Roydrick Williamson and 27-year old left fielder Totoya Yoshida. But the big story both locally and nationally is the fact that Cleveland, with plenty of funds seemingly available, spend just $27.4 million in total payroll, by far the lowest of any franchise (St. Louis is 29th at $45 million). This sort of fiscal restraint at the expense of upgrading the on-field talent has made Cleveland the butt of many jokes from corner bars to penthouse suites and from late-night TV to podcasts. Jon Hewlett, a former Oakland prospect, is going to the All Star game as Cleveland’s closer. Hewlett has 16 saves, a 2.03 ERA and a 0.74 WHIP in the first half of 2021. Right handed Canadian Jordan Cole is on pace to throw 100 innings out of the bullpen for the Indians and aside from Hewlett has been the most trusted reliever for Indians manager John “Flash” Flaherty. Cleveland hitters strike out more than anyone in the American League and their 711 as a team ranks them third worst in baseball. Despite the current bunch up at the bottom of the division it seems unlikely for things to improve for Cleveland. They currently sit 8 games out in the Wild Card race but I think with so many young faces finding the consistency to put a strong enough run together to actually challenge is going to prove to be impossible.

The miracle Twins who won the 2020 Wild Card on the last day of the regular season have been surprisingly active in the trade market this year, trading away five members of last year’s team over the last three months in what appear to be clear salary dumps, lowering the Twins to $71.9 million in total payroll, down from the $87 million they spent last year. With this apparent retooling underway it’s hard to speculate on the players or the second half of the season except to say that it looks like it will be a great opportunity for young players to get valuable experience in game situations. Former Dodgers catcher Martin Labady is 34 and on the downside of a successful career but is still probably the most recognizable Twin position player, even behind all of that protective equipment. 31-year old second baseman Mike Hoffmann leads the club with 21 home runs and 62 RBI and was on his way to being an all-time sort of player until he ruptured his Achilles in 2018. Hoffmann has received tremendous support from the fans since the injury and it will be interesting to see if he’s still in a Twins uniform after the trade deadline. 27-year old former #2 overall pick Dorey O’Honan, a right handed starter, is a class apart from the rest of the arms in the starting rotation with his 12-4 record and 3.34 ERA. 30-year old lefty starter Kynan Parker, a 15-game winner last year, is 6-4 with a 4.51 ERA. Dave Hershberger, the only new player acquired through the trades to contribute, has 2 saves and a 2.60 ERA in 17.1 innings of relief work since coming over from Arizona. 25-year old Cranford, New Jersey native Julio Cabral is in his second full season as the Minnesota closer. The lefty youngster who saved 37 games for the Twins last year and garnered serious Rookie of the Year consideration has 17 this year and 37 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched and joined Dorey O’Honan as Minnesota’s representatives in the All Star game.

Despite the obvious lack of talent Kansas City hasn’t been horrible, they were only 5 games under .500 over the last 6 weeks, but it was enough for them to crash to the bottom of the standings in what sportswriters have taken to calling “the swamp” (Cleveland, Minnesota, and K.C.) in the AL Central. As a team the Royals have most of the worst numbers in the American League including team batting (.262), OBP (.339), SLG (.392), hits (788), doubles (107), and runs scored (371). The pitching staff is second-to-worst in the league in team ERA at 5.55, only trailing (or in front of) Detroit’s 5.71. Opposing batters are hitting .282 with a .372 OBP against the Royals’ arms. As was mentioned when we played the Royals, 21-year old rookie third baseman Jose Funk is all the rage in K.C. these days and led the club in the first half of the season with 19 home runs and 59 RBI. Funk’s #20 shirt is one of the best-selling jerseys in all of baseball and if the kid can stay healthy the Royals have a name they can pencil into the lineup everyday for the next 10-15 years. Aside from young rising stars Funk, Ronald Smith in center field, and Javier Cabrera in right field, the Royals do not have players skilled enough to play everyday and the results certainly suffer because of it. 26-year old right-handed starter Yoshinobu Hayashida leads the Royals pitching staff with a 5-4 record and 3.54 ERA but overall the Royals really need some starting pitching help as their best starter prospects are still at the AA level. To that end they just pulled off an All Star break trade for 26-year old Seattle lefty Salvatore Lopez in exchange for two prospects but an anonymous ex-teammate told ESPN that Lopez was extremely unhappy with the trade and speculated that he thought it was going to be hard for Lopez to give his all for Kansas City considering the circumstances. The Lopez deal was basically an acknowledgement of the mistake of trading away similar 26-year old starter Henry Bair to Pittsburgh for a couple of prospects earlier in the year. 26-year old closer Beacan Hubbard, who already has 119 career saves (20 this season), was named to his third All Star team as the Royals’ only representative. The bullpen as a whole, though, has been very bad at getting hitters out all year.

AL Central All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#2 Bowie van Ingen, 33, SP, CWX, 6
#78 Dorey O’Honan, 27, SP, MIN, 2
#45 Alex Pinto, 29, CL, DET, 1
#28 Jon Hewlett, 27, CL, CLE, 1
#32 Julio Cabral, 25, CL, MIN, 1
#24 Beacan Hubbard, 26, CL, KC, 3
#8 Roberto Darna, 29, C, CWX, 3
#21 Lou Argyll, 33, C, DET, 5
#12 Michael O’Toole, 26, 2B, CWX, 2
#24 Roydrick Williamson, 33, 3B, CLE, 5
#43 Brandt Wurz, 28, LF, CWX, 3
#58 Damario Rosado, 30, CF, CWX, 2

American League West
Over the last six weeks we’ve been able to stretch our lead atop the AL West from three games over the Rangers to the current 10½-game margin over the Los Angeles Angels. The strange part is that despite rolling into the break with the best record in baseball we’re not getting on big long rolls and dominating all comers. What we have been doing, though, is doing enough to win series after series. The balance of pitchers being bailed out by the lineup and vice versa has helped create a genuine team atmosphere in the locker room and with the occasional Jose Arce flare-up aside everyone seems to really respect and get along with each other well. Of all the good moves that have been made this year I don’t think it’s too early to say that we’ve probably overpaid for 34-year old hard-throwing starter J.D. Knisley. Initially we thought he would hold down the #1 spot in the rotation but that now clearly belongs to Rowley Dickson while Knisley looks more like a #2 or even #3 starter. But regardless I think Knisley’s signing this off-season sent a message to the free agent market that we were serious about making a run this year and helped us in other negotiations. Plus the fans really seem to like him – a big, straight-talking Louisiana kid who is a former Dodger and loves the west coast lifestyle. Presently at the break we’re looking to trade at least one of our left-handed relievers. Prospects would be great. There’s also been a slight change in the wind about the return of starter Neifi Villaluazo. An idea has come up to shop Villaluazo and one of either Gib Glaus or Fred Cake to see if we can bring back a solid #3 type starter and a prospect in return. I think that would reinforce our starting rotation and makes us extremely formidable from top to bottom which would make us a real danger in a short series. I know the paint hasn’t even dried yet on the Thomas Goodloe for Dan Volquez trade but I’m still not thrilled with our second base situation either. More to come on Oakland and our first half of the season when we look at the individual player stats.

The Los Angeles Angels are in jeopardy of having their three-year reign as AL Western Division Champions come to an end this year and it has been more than a small embarrassment that the Angels, whose $135.1 million payroll trails only the Red Sox and White Sox in all of baseball, trail us (a team spending just $71.2 million in comparison) by double digits in the standings. The Angels need to revamp their own starting pitching staff as they have three starters either 36-years old or older. They also have to be careful not to let 28-year old lefty Steve Collins go to free agency as he came into 2021 with 54 wins for the halos and three All Star selections between 2018-20. This year he’s 7-4 but his 4.16 ERA is about half-a-run higher than his career ERA. 38-year old closer Abram O’Cahan, a former 4-time All Star who hasn’t been used as a closer since 2018, is enjoying a resurgence with 15 saves and a 1.63 ERA but clearly isn’t the long-term option at the back of the bullpen. 33-year old setup man Tony Gaborde has been one of the better setup men in baseball over the last several years. He spent the bulk of his career in a Mariners uniform and is still booed when he comes into games in Seattle. The Angles have one of the really strong young names in the game, 23-year old reliever Steele Slee, but Slee has recently vented his displeasure at not being the closer publicly so it will be interesting to see if Slee remains in Los Angeles after the trade deadline. Of course one cannot talk about the Angles without mentioning two names: Mark Teixeira and Danilo “Silencer” Tabarez. Earlier this year 40-year old designated hitter Teixeira became just the second player in MLB history to hit 700 home runs and his 706 at the break has him 22 behind Barry Bonds’ 728. Teixeira’s contract runs through next season with a player option for 2023. Tabarez is one of the best young players in the game. Known as “the Silencer” for his finger over the mouth home run ritual in visiting ballparks, Tabarez was the AL Rookie of the Year last year with 47 home runs and 151 RBI in addition to snagging a Gold Glove at third base. No sophomore jinx this year as Tabarez is a legitimate MVP candidate with an American League-leading 33 home runs and 112 (!) RBI. Last year the Angles acquired 27-year old All Star-caliber center fielder Phillips Wortman from the Reds and he’s been a solid contributor all year for Los Angeles. The Angels just announced a 3-year, $11.6 million contract extension for Wortman that will see him earn the bulk of that total, $9.3 million of it, during the 2023 season.

The Texas Rangers struggled a bit by going 13-13 in June but are 8-2 thus far in July, bringing themselves back just enough to be a possible darkhorse in the Wild Card race. We finished the first half of the season by splitting a 4-game set with then red hot Texas at home in Oakland so much of the comments about the Rangers are the same - they’ve been a streaky team all season long which has kept their record near the .500 mark as it seems that just when they get on a good run and start feeling good about themselves they go into the toilet for a brief stretch. The Rangers are led by another rising young star, 26-year old All Star second baseman Steve “Rodeo” Wickenden who has blossomed in his second full year with the big club. The switch hitting Wickenden is hitting .322 with 20 home runs and 73 RBI to lead the club in each category. 27-year old catcher Danny McCreery is a home grown 20th round draft choice that has blossomed into a .317 career hitter in over 2,600 Major League at-bats. While he’s never had much power he’s a great contact hitter even though he’s hitting .308 this year (down from .339 last year) with 51 RBI. 34-year old journeyman starting pitcher Emilio Davila is enjoying a resurgence in the first half of 2021 with an 11-3 record to lead the pitching staff. Davila hasn’t had a 20-win season since he won the Cy Young Award while pitching for the Devil Rays in what turned out to be a career season back in 2008. He went 24-7 with a 2.40 ERA that year. Davila, though, has struggled in the intervening years and basically carries the burden of being known as a wonderkid gone wrong. 26-year old lefty reliever Adam Clay (1-0, 1.51 ERA, 3 SV) and 35-year old closer Danny Snyder (2-2, 1.75 ERA, 14 SV) have been standouts in an otherwise shaky bullpen. There has been a lot of speculation both in Texas and nationally about the performance of 27-year old former All Star first baseman Felix Galacia. Galacia, who averaged .330/33/110 (avg./HR/RBI) over the last two years for the Rangers was expected to be a major contributor this year in the heart of the lineup but instead he’s hitting just .249 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI. His OBP of .336 is nearly .100 lower than last year when he finished at .439 for the season and his SLG is .200 lower. The Rangers have been complete non-players in the trade market for the last 10 months so it will be interesting to see if they’re prepared to complete any deals before the deadline. Texas spends about $1 million more than we do on total payroll at $72.3 million and they are 16th overall in MLB.

Seattle, a team that has never finished higher than second place in the division and has never made a playoff appearance in their 15-year history, comes into the All Star break in a firesale mode that has brought their total payroll down under $50 million for the first time in a few years. In the space of several days they traded away a regular starting pitcher and two members of their bullpen in exchange for prospects in deals with Kansas City, San Francisco, and Washington. Last month the writing was already on the wall as they sent starting pitchers Pellegrin Lindeman and Ardley Klein to the New York Yankees and Houston Astros respectively. For now Seattle does still have 25-year old starter Allen Swain, a Cy Young Award winner as a 23-year old in 2019 when he went 25-4 with a 1.27 ERA. Swain hasn’t been the same pitcher since a knee injury last year had him on the shelf for two months and this year his ERA of 4.52 is nearly two full runs above his career ERA of 2.67. Veteran 33-year old first baseman Julian Diaz is enjoying a career year thus far for the Mariners with a team-high .357 batting average along with 15 home runs and 49 RBI. The 2018 American League Rookie of the Year Hermon James, a 27-year old second baseman, was named to his first All Star team this year after hitting .294 with 18 homers and 59 RBI in the first half of the season. By all accounts Seattle have an extremely talented third baseman coming along in 25-year old Innes Gray who is hitting .307 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI so far this year. 32-year old fan favorite dirt dog Dave MacRobie, a left fielder, is having a down year with a .247 average and .304 OBP, both far off from his career averages. Seattle of course also boasts the extremely popular 37-year old designated hitter Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera, who has spent time with Florida, the New York Yankees, Cleveland, and Texas, has 609 career home runs which places him 8th all-time and second among active players behind Teixeira. If Cabrera stays healthy he will have a shot at passing Hall of Famers David Ortiz (624) and an outside shot at Vladimir Guerrero (631) on the career home run leaderboard this year. One has to wonder, though, with the firesale on and Cabrera now the highest paid Mariner at $5.3 million per year if Seattle won’t try to get his contract off their hands. The 10-time former All Star and 4-time American League MVP is box office for the last place Mariners even though he is playing nowhere near the level he did just five years ago.

AL West All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#10 Rowley Dickson, 26, SP, OAK, 2
#35 Noritoshi “The Bandit” Nakamura, 27, SP, OAK, 1
#29 Bill “Crunchy” Mathis, 27, CL, OAK, 3
#31 Julian Diaz, 33, 1B, SEA, 1
#32 Steve “Rodeo” Wickenden, 26, 2B, TEX, 1
#7 Hermon James, 27, 2B, SEA, 1
#29 Danilo “Silencer” Tabarez, 26, 3B, LAA, 2
#12 Teodor “Teddy” Revelez, 30, LF, OAK, 3
#74 Phillips Wortman, 27, CF, LAA, 2
#34 Tomiichi “Mumbles” Yamasita, 22, CF, OAK, 1

BadluckinOOTP · 07-19-2007, 12:58 AM

Still fantastic.

sfaustin3 · 07-30-2007, 06:17 PM

I just discovered your dynasty today - it rocks! Hope you keep it up.

A few questions came up as I was reading so bear with me:

Whatever happened to Albert Pujols?

Does Cleveland really have a guy named "Poison" Saliva? Don't let him spit on you!

You must have your own way of pronouncing the players names, so I'm wondering if you say Nees-lee, Nice-lee, or Nizz-lee (perhaps Ku-nizz-lee) for Knisley?

And for Rowley Dickson, does his first name rhyme with Holly, Holy, or Cow-lee?

Anyway, great stuff. Go Mumbles!

thehatfield · 07-31-2007, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfaustin3

I just discovered your dynasty today - it rocks! Hope you keep it up.

A few questions came up as I was reading so bear with me:

Whatever happened to Albert Pujols?

Does Cleveland really have a guy named "Poison" Saliva? Don't let him spit on you!

You must have your own way of pronouncing the players names, so I'm wondering if you say Nees-lee, Nice-lee, or Nizz-lee (perhaps Ku-nizz-lee) for Knisley?

And for Rowley Dickson, does his first name rhyme with Holly, Holy, or Cow-lee?

Anyway, great stuff. Go Mumbles!

Hi, thanks for the kind words! Good stuff about Saliva! Almost all of the nicknames have been created by the game except the Detroit outfield and Tom "The Flying Canadian" Dionne (real original!) of Tampa Bay. I'll see how Saliva has been doing when I check in on Pujols for you tonight. I do know Pujols is one of the 20 Hall of Famers that have been inducted in the 15 years of the league (like all players active at the start of the savegame his pre-2006 stats are "grandfathered" into his career totals).

Things are going slowly with work & real life but once I get through this All Star break the pace will pick back up. I just have Houston, Milwaukee & the NL West left to do hopefully I'll get it done tonight.

As for pronunciations, I think of Knisley with the "K" silent and call him "Niss-lee." You know how players sometimes change the pronunciation of their names and request to be called something else? I was thinking about doing a story about him wanting to be called "kuh-niss-lay" but he's nearly in his mid thirties already so I figured that would be a little too silly. For Dickson I personally go with a pronunciation that rhymes with "Cow-lee" for his first name but some broadcasters do call him "row-lee."

thehatfield · 08-05-2007, 05:57 PM

Code:

 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STANDINGS - JULY 12, 2021

   AMERICAN LEAGUE           NATIONAL LEAGUE
   Eastern Division          Eastern Division
 Boston      52-35  -      New York     58-30  -  
 Toronto     44-43  8      Philadelphia 57-31  1 
 Baltimore   44-44  8½     Florida      44-45 14½  
 Tampa Bay   40-49 13      Washington   39-49 19
 New York    38-50 14½     Atlanta      29-60 29½

   Central Division          Central Division
 Chicago     53-35  -      Chicago    54-34  -       
 Detroit     47-40  5½     Cincinnati 45-43  9
 Cleveland   40-47 12½     St. Louis  40-48 14 
 Minnesota   40-47 12½     Pittsburgh 36-52 18
 Kansas City 39-48 13½     Houston    31-57 23
                           Milwaukee  30-59 24½
   Western Division
 Oakland     59-29  -        Western Division
 Los Angeles 48-39 10½     Arizona       55-34  -
 Texas       46-41 12½     Los Angeles   53-35  1½
 Seattle     37-50 21½     Colorado      48-39  6
                           San Francisco 37-53 18½ 
                           San Diego     36-53 19

National League East
Despite losing two All Star caliber players to the Chicago White Sox in the off-season, the World Series Champion New York Mets have led the NL East for just about the entire year. They are a complete team highlighted by one of the best pitching staffs in baseball (the Metropolitans’ 3.96 team ERA is second in MLB behind only the Chicago Cubs and their .313 opponents on-base percentage is tops in the National League) and a lineup that leads the majors in home runs (167) and is second in the NL in runs scored (578). The Mets’ starting rotation isn’t as deep as it’s been in recent years but they are still anchored by 30-year old former Red Sox ace Brandon Radley who has been one of the premier pitchers of his generation. Radley, an 8-time All Star and 4-time Cy Young Award winner, is an amazing 262-89 in his career which places him 9th on the all-time wins leaderboard and second only to Zach Duke in career winning percentage in league history. Radley also boasts a 2.60 career ERA in over 3,200 innings pitched. Beyond Radley, though, expensive 37-year old free agent signing James Barnes is thought to be a soft 7-3 with his 4.57 ERA but 27-year old righty Gene DeVaughn is 12-3 in his second full season in the majors with a 4.17 ERA and is looking like he might be the real deal. Although snubbed this year, the Mets still have one of the best hitting catchers in all of baseball in 31-year old 6-time All Star Leith MacIlwhom but there’s no doubt that the lineup is anchored by 30-year old first baseman Hippolyte “Workhorse” Ashe (a 5-time All Star) and 31-year old second baseman Adelardo “Wild Man” Arguijo (a 3-time MVP, 9-time All Star, and 2-time Gold Glove winner). There has been a lot going on with these two as both were potential free agents after this season. Ashe currently leads the majors with 37 home runs and has 99 RBI and last month it was announced that he signed a 4-year contract extension worth over $62 million. Arguijo on the other hand has over 100 more career home runs than Ashe (398 to 286) and a better career batting average than Ashe (.335 to .320) in roughly the same number of at-bats but has not been offered a new contract. These situations have been the focus of the NY daily tabloids and talk radio and will be reported heavily until something happens either way with Arguijo. The Mets, by the way, presently have the 7th highest payroll in baseball at $103 million. Rocky Trowbridge, a 26-year old developing young star in his second season as the Mets’ closer, is going to his second straight All Star game and his ERA is down nearly a run from last year (2.18 now compared to 3.11 last year). Two young can’t miss players you’ll hear a lot from in the future, Winthrop McDonnell and Jose Cortes, a center fielder and shortstop respectively, are both on the disabled list for a couple of weeks with some minor injuries. McDonnell, a rookie at 26 years old, is hitting .335 with 9 home runs and 35 RBI in 221 at-bats while 22-year old Cortes is hitting .348 with 19 home runs and 63 RBI in 210 at-bats.

The Phillies have won three division championships in their history including back-to-back in 2017-18 but for the last two years have finished third behind the Mets and Braves. So far this year, though, different story. Despite 12 players on the active roster that are at least 33 years old the Phils are thought to be doing wonders to be just a game behind the Mets on a $75.6 million payroll. Philadelphia haven’t really been bashing the ball and indeed some of their usual All Stars like 33 year old center fielder Seiichi Takahashi (6-time All Star) and 34-year old right fielder Lee Parker (2-time All Star) have fallen off this year. But they have been led by their pitching this season including 28-year old left-handed starter Collin Penney who the Phillies have been waiting on the last couple of years to develop into their ace. Penney, a homegrown talent, has struggled over the last three years after posting an 18-4 record with a 2.94 ERA in 2017 in his only other All Star season. This year he’s on pace for his first 20-win season with a 12-5 mark and 3.13 ERA. At the end of the bullpen, 24-year old superstar closer Jose Martinez boasts an absurd 0.25 ERA with 27 saves in 35.2 innings of work and has garnered national attention and hero-like status in Schwilladelph. The native Mexican has walked only 6 batters in his 33 appearances while striking out 43 and hasn’t blown a save. The Phillies have a big decision to make about the future of 26-year old first baseman Vincent Bresnan. Bresnan is a 6-time All Star and this year is the singular threat at the heart of the lineup with a .332 average, 29 home runs, and 81 RBI but his contract is expiring and no extension has yet been signed. If the Phillies can’t come to a deal in the next couple of weeks I wonder if he’s going to be available at the trade deadline because he’s going to command some major money on the open market. Bresnan is a .350 career hitter who already has 235 home runs in just 5½ seasons as a pro. The Phillies are thought to have the best catching prospect in all of baseball in 20-year old minor league slugger Morrie Walker.

Florida have made a remarkable 27-10 run over the last six weeks to claw back to within a game of .500 at 44-45, 14½ games behind the Mets. Operating on the 10th lowest payroll in baseball at $61.3 million the Marlins have struggled since winning the 2019 World Series and are searching desperately for a long-term turnaround back to the top. They certainly don’t have the most talented team but they are extremely aggressive on the basepaths (95 stolen bases as a team is second in baseball) and they end up scoring a lot of runs they ordinarily wouldn’t through their relentless smallballing. 34-year old right-handed journeyman starter Carlos Guetieriez is 9-6 with a 3.91 ERA to lead the pitching staff. In fact, he’s the only starter in the rotation with a sub-5 ERA this year. 24-year old righty Jhon Hernandez has some potential though and is projected to be a #2 or solid #3 starter somewhere down the line but has been taking his lumps this year with a 2-6 mark and 5.40 ERA. Cash is always a concern for Florida and so the club came under a tremendous amount of fire from the local media when they announced they were giving a 2-year, $11.3 million extension to 39-year old reliever Chin Hu Tsao, he of the 6.00 ERA, 22 earned runs and 34 hits allowed in 33 innings of work this year. It’s not all bad in the Marlins bullpen though, as they do have a couple of decent young arms being thrown right into the fire in 21-year old Frederico Nanarro and 22-year old Steve MacCaul. 28-year old homegrown closer Dario Rojas has arrived as a star and is going to his first All Star game in his fourth full year as the Florida stopper. 35-year old third baseman Ryan Call, a lifetime American Leaguer who you associate with Baltimore when you think of him, leads Florida with 19 home runs and 64 RBI. 26-year old first baseman Belen Fern, the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year, is the club’s most consistent hitter at .307 and leads the club in OBP at .392 but is putting up disappointing power numbers with only 9 home runs on the year. 33-year old second baseman Phil Leverett and 25-year old center fielder Marty White each have 26 stolen bases and are tied for second in the National League behind San Francisco’s Adriel Holder who has 45. Despite their recent run the word out of Florida is that the Marlins are not going to be buyers at the trade deadline as they sit 13½ games behind Philly in the Wild Card race and just don’t have the funds to finance any major moves.

The Washington Nationals have finished in last place since 2018 and seem to be all over the place in terms of their dealings with the rest of the league – one month they’re trading away prospects for a professional hitter they think will make a difference and the next month they’re sending a solid starting pitcher away for some prospects. They are having an opposite parallel season to Florida, going 11-25 during the last six weeks to fall to 10 games under .500 and 19 games behind the Mets, effectively eliminated from contention. The Nats do have a good young nucleus already in place both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen and indeed it has been the pitching staff that has kept Washington in most games this year. The lineup, though, is severely lacking with 26-year old superstar second baseman Jerry Williams struggling greatly at the plate in the first half with a .245 batting average. Only 26-year old left fielder Steve Penrose (.297/19/51) has been contributing regularly to the offense this year. Washington is, of course, the current home to 38-year old closer Francisco Rodriguez. Rodriguez is 6 saves shy of tying Brad Lidge’s career record of 460 saves, and for Nationals fans those 6 or 7 saves couldn’t come quickly enough. The aging Rodriguez has really fallen off this year and is having his worst season as a pro, posting a 1-4 record with a 5.00 ERA in 27 innings pitched. K-Rod has 5 blown saves in 23 opportunities, giving him 17 saves on the year. You have to think that as soon as he gets the record they’re going to take him out of the closer spot and open that slot up for one of the young arms to attempt to take. The Nationals have the third-lowest payroll in baseball at $46 million but will have a lot of flexibility at the trade deadline and the off-season as K-Rod has agreed to a 1-year extension for just $610,000, a severe reduction from the $16.1 million he’s collecting this year on the tail end of a 4-year contract. Washington’s .260 team batting average is 4th worst in the National League while their 4.07 team ERA is 5th best.

The Braves have been enduring hard times since a run of four division championships in five years between 2009-13 – four fourth place finishes and a last place mixed in with placing second twice (no Wild Card in those second-place years). This year the bottom has fallen out for the team and the Braves have the worst record in baseball. Experts point back to their offering us Mumbles Yamasita back in March for two highly touted prospects and reliever Anastasio Aviles as the deal that just took the life straight out of the team. Yamasita has gone on to lead the American League in batting with a .374 average while Aviles has a 5.14 ERA in 61 innings of relief work. The Braves went on to fire Ernest Chapman, the General Manager that composed the Yamasita deal, back in May and replaced him with Chris Nutting. The Braves under Nutting aren’t afraid to spend money, their $79.9 million is right near the middle of the baseball pack at 14th overall, but it seems to me like to their detriment they keep players signed to good money deals late in their careers where the production simply isn’t matching the expense. Whether it is an institutional policy to be financially generous to those who have been loyal to the organization or simply the sentimental decisions of the previous regime remains to be seen but Nutting thus far seems pretty calm and cool at the helm and has not yet tipped his hand as to what direction he’s looking to take the franchise. Atlanta has a reliever I’ve coveted all year, 22-year old Illinois native Jake Large. Stat-wise Large took a big step forward last year from his debut season in 2019 and this year thus far he’s improving again in almost every category, especially home runs allowed (3 this year as opposed to 15 last year). He’s also a righty and we need righty arms in the worst way. I’ve actually put some feelers out but Nutting will be reluctant to let Large get away, especially since Atlanta’s last transaction with us cost the General Manager his job! The Braves this year have two players over the 20-home run mark in 28-year old first baseman Jeremias Herrera (24) and 29-year old left fielder Carl Cleere (21) but not a single member of the regular starting lineup is batting higher than .282 and their team batting average of .245 is the worst in baseball. Atlanta’s usually reliable 29-year old closer Pascual Caracheo is having a down year with an ERA (3.66) that is a run-and-a-half higher than his career average and 5 blown saves, the highest number since his rookie year of 2016 when he blew 9. Despite all the doom and gloom the Braves have the 10th best minor league system in baseball and with the acquisition of 19-year old starter Buck Foulke, one of the prospects in the Yamasita deal, Atlanta boasts two of the top four pitching prospects in baseball according to Baseball America, 22-year old Sam Smith being the other.

Washington and Atlanta do not have any All Star representatives.

NL East All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#45 Brandon Radley, 30, SP, NYM, 8
#9 Collin Penney, 28, SP, PHI, 2
#27 Rocky Trowbridge, 26, CL, NYM, 2
#5 Jose Martinez, 24, CL, PHI, 4
#16 Dario Rojas, 28, CL, FLA, 1
#7 Hippolyte “Workhorse” Ashe, 30, 1B, NYM, 5
#24 Vincent Bresnan, 26, 1B, PHI, 6
#6 Adelardo “Wild Man” Arguijo, 31, 2B, NYM, 9

National League Central
The National League Central Division has produced more World Series Championships and Champions, seven titles between Chicago (2), Cincinnati (2), Houston (2) and Pittsburgh (1), than any other division in baseball and as you can imagine has been the most hotly contested division year in and year out over the last 15 years. This year is an exception to that rule as three teams have at least 50 losses and another is sitting on 48. Coming into the season all eyes were on the Chicago Cubs as their collapse while leading the Mets 3-games-to-2 in the 2020 National League Championship Series denied the Windy City a Subway World Series and sent the Cubbies into a long, hard winter. But the Cubs didn’t do anything drastic because they have three exceptional starters at the top of their rotation and they’re doing the business again this year: 32-year old Anthony Wilson (9-4, 2.54 ERA, 124 K, 40 BB, 131 IP), 38-year old Alejandro Herrera (12-6, 2.91 ERA, 81 K, 19 BB, 130 IP), and 34-year old Brayan Travez (13-2, 3.02 ERA, 113 K, 36 BB, 122.1 IP). The pitching staff as a whole sports a 3.94 ERA, the best in baseball. The lineup is built around two probable Hall of Famers in 33-year old catcher and team captain Dave Bellhorn (490 career home runs, 9 All Star selections, 2 Gold Gloves, 1 MVP), and 38-year old third baseman Donald “The Crab” Shill (473 career home runs, 2 All Star selections, 2 Gold Gloves). Bellhorn and Shill combined this year are hitting .317 with 44 home runs and 131 RBI at the All Star break. 19-year old shortstop Joe Bowen has been touted as a huge superstar in the making as the teenager is hitting .328 with 13 home runs and 64 RBI in his first full year as an everyday starter. Bowen will be the youngest player at the All Star game by three years from the next oldest player. Last season in 304 at-bats for the Cubs as an 18-year old he hit .365 with 21 home runs before he was inexplicably left off the Cubs’ postseason roster. An early-season trade with Cleveland yielded solid 31-year old right fielder Lennie Mager in exchange for some prospects and Mager has been just as advertised: .281 batting average, 17 home runs, and 55 RBI. Prior to winning the division title for the sixth time in their history last year the Cubs hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2013, a six-year absence. But they’re certainly paying for their recent resurgence; their $103.8 million payroll is 6th highest in baseball and tops in the division. The Cubs will be bolstered in about a week when 30-year old 3-time Gold Glove winning center fielder Albert Teek comes off the disabled list. He has been out of action for over a month with a fractured nose. In such a weak division it seems impossible to imagine anyone catching the Cubs with their pitching staff.

Until last season the Cincinnati Reds had made the playoffs for six straight years during which time they won back-to-back World Series titles in 2015 and 2016. But last year the team finished a disappointing 79-83 and in third place behind Chicago and St. Louis. This year they got off to a bad start and six weeks ago they were still sitting 17½ games out of first place and 8 games under .500. Things have turned around a bit for Cincy recently as they currently find themselves 9 games out of first place at 45-43. Despite having one of the best lineups in the National League and boasting three men sitting on 25 home runs (28-year old second baseman Russ “Evil Ways” Floyd, 30-year old right fielder Calvert Kennedy, and 30-year old third baseman Will “The Wall” Whiteaker [the single-season MLB RBI record holder with 191]) they just don’t have good enough pitching to put a true scare into the Cubs. A major fiasco this season has been at the back of the bullpen where 38-year old closer Fernando Cabrera lost his closing job in May to 37-year old Wes Marvel! It has caused a major rift in the bullpen and the visible unhappiness of the Cincy relief corps shows in the way they carry themselves in silence for most of their time together during games. Something is going to have to be done to help out the pitching staff and even though the Reds had to pay large contract extentions to keep Whiteaker (3 yrs/$47.3 million) and Kennedy (3 yrs/$50.8 million) in town the ownership group is going to have to find even more money to invest in better pitching. As it is, 32-year old righty Nathan Wunsch is the best by default with an 8-9 record and 4.59 ERA, 109 strikeouts against 59 walks in 131.1 innings pitched. Cincy’s 5.57 ERA as a team is the third worst in the National League and again it’s hard to see them staying in second place for the rest of the summer if they can't bring in any solid new arms. 28-year old star first baseman Bip Fleming has just gone onto the disabled list for three weeks with a strained Achilles tendon. Fleming, the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year, is hitting .321 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI so far this season.

With just one playoff appearance in 15 years and no division titles, you might think it obvious or morbid depending on your sensibility to say that the St. Louis Cardinals are a team on the rise. But the redbirds have some great young players in place on the team already and are just lacking the consistency that more maturity will certainly bring. 25-year old starter “Country” John Fuller is 8-3 with a 2.41 ERA in 20 starts this season and is consistently mentioned among the brightest young arms in the game after his 14-5, 2.99 season last year in 34 starts. Fuller was selected to his first All Star team this year and is the Cardinals’ lone representative. To say that this current group of players is underachieving a bit for their talent is probably fair, but a lot of the blame has been heaped upon 30-year old closer Wiatt Gesler who has 7 blown saves in 18 opportunities and sports an obscene 0-7 record and 8.18 ERA and a WHIP near 2. Gesler is seen as a sort of symbolic representation of the last 15 years of futility and fans and radio pundits have been calling for him to be traded or at least removed from the closer spot in order for the club to take its next step forward. 25-year old lefty reliever Tom Bedingfield, an All Star in 2019, is being eyed as the possible closer replacement. Despite all of the young talent it’s 34-year old catcher Landon Henry who leads the team in home runs (20) and RBI (63) but it’s 24-year old second baseman Per Lenn that leads the club in batting (.298) and on-base percentage (.427). It seems to everybody that with just a few moves - one more power bat, another consistent starting pitcher, and a quality reliever - the Cards could be a force to be reckoned with but that’s so much easier said than done, especially when you consider that the Cards might be so young out of necessity (their $45 million payroll is 29th out of 30 MLB teams).

The Pittsburgh Pirates became famous for winning the first “new” World Series back in 2006 behind Zach Duke and then they became infamous for trading Zach Duke to Boston for Matt Clement prior to the 2011 season in the worst deal in league history, hands down. Pittsburgh hasn’t finished higher than 3rd place since the Duke trade but they’ve also been among the lowest spending teams in the league for the last 10 years. This year the Pirates are 23rd in baseball in overall payroll at $54.5 million but don’t be surprised to see that number drop by the time the trade deadline expires. That might mean one or more of the three core players, 30-year old center fielder Pompey Crawford (4-time All Star & 304 career home runs), 34-year old second baseman Jeff Chase, or 38-year old starter William Boffey, might be moved at the trade deadline to make room for younger players on the roster. 33-year old closer James Howarth, the only Pirate All Star, might also be moved to a team needing a closer as he’s got some legitimate trade value with his 20 saves and 1.71 ERA in 31.2 innings. Last year Pittsburgh won just 63 games and so it would appear that despite the firesale signs in the window that slight progress has been made with the club sitting on 36 wins at the break. The Pirates have a really strange situation at third base in 34-year old Yoritoki Ohayashi. A first round draft choice of the Brewers back in 2009, Ohayashi hit 246 minor league home runs over 7 seasons without getting called up by the Brewers. The Brewers, in fact, released him outright and he was quickly picked up by Toronto who turned around and immediately traded him and a draft choice to Pittsburgh prior to the 2017 season. Despite the power potential he didn’t hit for a great average (he’s a .268 career hitter in 4,493 at-bats at all levels) and strikes out a ton. After spending 2017 and 2018 bouncing back and forth between the Pirates and the AAA Indianapolis Indians, Ohayashi at 32 years of age played his first full Major League season in 2019 and he ended up 4th in the National League in home runs (52) and second in RBI (155) while hitting a career best .307. Last year his average dipped to .258 but he still had 42 homers and 115 RBI. Coming into this season the media had pegged Ohayashi as a player to watch but the Pirates decided to bench him at the start of the year in favor of 23-year old light-hitting rookie Pat Greenhill in what was regarded at the time as a shocking development. After Greenhill started the season going 5-for-52 with 37 strikeouts the Pirates put Ohayashi into a game and he ruptured his Achilles Tendon which put him on the disabled list for three months. With Greenhill still hitting under .100 on the year it will be interesting to see if a healthy Ohayashi is re-inserted into the lineup after the All Star break.

The once proud Astros haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 and last year saw a streak of 11 consecutive 3,000,000-attendance seasons come to an end when they finished in 5th place with a 69-93 record and brought only 2.2 million bodies out to the ballpark. This year is much of the same as their .261 team batting average is 4th worst in the National League while their 6.32 team ERA is by far the worst in baseball. They’ve gained a reputation for being too loyal to the old guard and have several position players that have played for the club their entire Major League careers. The Astros have one of the brighter young prospects in baseball in 23-year old second baseman Junior Moreida but keeping Moreida healthy and on the field has proven to be difficult in the youngster’s three seasons with the big club. Last year Moreida hit .354 in 461 at-bats but missed 40 games with a string of injuries that included a fractured rib. This year he was hitting .372 through the first 57 games of the year before a dislocated shoulder put him on the disabled list for three months. He’s still about two months away from being completely healthy and if he gets back in time will probably get a few garbage-time games at the end of the year to try and get on track heading into next season. 32-year old left fielder Willie “Chopper” Denniston, a carrer Astro and Houston’s lone All Star, has 427 career home runs and leads the club again this year with 22 at the All Star break. Denniston is hitting .309 which leads the Astros’ regular starting position players. 26-year old third baseman William Manners is another rising star, winning a Gold Glove and hitting 37 home runs with 123 RBI last year in his second full year as an everyday player. He too doesn’t hit for a very high average and strikes out far too often (169 K’s last season) but he’s only 26 and still developing. This year he’s hitting just .244 but has 21 home runs and leads the club with 64 RBI. Another career Astro, 36-year old veteran first baseman Juan Tort, is hitting .301 with 12 homers and 63 RBI. Two more career Astros, 39-year old shortstop Dave MacAldonich and 37-year old catcher Roland Shealy are at the very tail end of successful careers and it’s a bit painful to watch these former All Stars flounder on the bench as part-time roleplayers. There’s not much to say about the pitching staff except that they have a couple of good young arms developing at the Major League level in 25-year old lefty starter Ruddy Puente and 25-year old righty reliever Raylee Lansing but that’s about it. Houston’s 37-year old closer is the well-named Leonard Buttery.

Sitting in last place with the second-worst record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers will extend their playoff drought to 11 consecutive years this season and the crew hasn’t drawn at least 2,000,000 fans to the ballpark since 2014. It’s not like they haven’t been spending money either – they’ve been averaging about $80 million in payroll for the last five years – but this year they’ve dumped salary down to $58.4 million in a straight-up rebuilding year. Baseball America, however, rates Milwaukee as having the 8th strongest minor league system in baseball with a number of good pitching and position player prospects. The Brewers have an old starting pitching rotation with no one younger than 33 and then just the reverse on the position player side of things with no one older than 32. The young bullpen is fairly talented and have great names like Xander Middendorf, Bogart Menefee, and Branden Priddy but the Brewers really need starting pitching because their relievers are usually coming into games that are already lost causes. Only 33-year old Dennis Street is having a decent year on the hill for a Brewers starter but despite his 3.02 ERA in 122 innings pitched he’s 3-7 on the year thanks to a lack of offensive support. Milwaukee’s 67 home runs and 378 runs scored as a team are both the worst numbers in all of baseball. The Brewers’ lineup is centered around 28-year old catcher Auggie Compton and 26-year old center fielder Patrick Nicely but the club sorely needs a consistent power bat to compliment those two rising stars. As it stands now, 32-year old second baseman Luis Chur is the cleanup hitter but he’s never hit more than 28 homers in a single season in six years as a professional. He would be an ideal #3 or #5 hitter since he can draw walks and hit around .300 but he just can’t be counted on to provide all of the offense and it shows as he’s hitting just .227 with 4 RBI in 66 close/late at-bats and sporting a .267 average in 92 at-bats in innings 7-9. Milwaukee doesn’t have any players named to the NL All Star team.

NL Central All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#30 Brayan Travez, 34, SP, CHN, 1
#3 “Country” John Fuller, 25, SP, STL, 1
#81 James Howarth, 33, CL, PIT, 1
#23 Dave Bellhorn, 33, C, CHN, 9
#5 Joe Bowen, 19, SS, CHN, 1
#19 Will “The Wall” Whiteaker, 30, 3B, CIN, 6
#24 Willie “Chopper” Denniston, 32, LF, HOU, 8
#13 Calvert Kennedy, 30, RF, CIN, 3

National League West
On June 1 of this year the Arizona Diamondbacks were 30-23 and in third place, 6½ games behind the Dodgers in the division. Since that time they’ve been a blistering 25-11 and have surged past Colorado and Los Angeles and into first place. Arizona’s slow start was cause for concern especially with their $116.4 million payroll, the fifth-highest in baseball. In the preseason most experts had the Diamondbacks finishing second behind the Dodgers (whose $131.7 million payroll is fourth-highest) but thus far it has been a fantastic race in a hotly contested division. In terms of team payroll this should be the toughest division in baseball but the Rockies, spending a division-low $51.9 million, are 10 games ahead of 53-game losers San Francisco and San Diego who are both spending $30+ million more than Colorado this year in player salaries. Getting back to Arizona, the Diamondbacks made the playoffs last year as the National League’s Wild Card with a 90-72 record, 4 games behind the Dodgers. Back in June the D-backs acquired 28-year old star left fielder Martyn Hatchett from the Twins and he’s only gone on to hit .402 with 11 home runs and and an amazing 47 RBI in 132 at-bats since the trade. His Minnesota/Arizona combined stats this year are truly superior - .310 batting average, 26 home runs, 95 RBI, and a .608 slugging percentage in 332 at-bats. Arizona have no deficiencies in the lineup with a team batting average of .308 which is second-best in baseball and 593 runs scored which leads the NL and is tied with the Chicago White Sox atop MLB. While not really thought of as a slugging club they do boast five players who have double-digit home runs and aside from 38-year old catcher Bill “Franchise” Watson (473 career home runs) Arizona fans take comfort in that fact that most members of the lineup are just now hitting their primes which should ensure a decent run of success for the club over the next several years. 29-year old center fielder Antonio Fernandez, acquired from the Yankees in May for two top prospects, is having his best season as a pro with a .349 batting average and 54 RBI in 360 at-bats. They’ve got a pretty good pitching staff too but despite the fact that two starters are ancient and nearing the end of the line, C.C. Sabathia (39 years old, 290 career victories) and Brandon Webb (41 years old, 255 victories) are a combined 18-6 with a 3.50 ERA this season. 24-year old righty starter Nathan “Gobbler” Webb (no relation to Brandon) leads the rotation with a 10-4 mark and 2.34 ERA in 123 innings pitched. If I was running this club I would try to acquire another starter because just one injury to the present starters would cause big trouble for them down the stretch. 33-year old shortstop Kelvin Daniels was off to a career start to the season hitting .371 in 321 at-bats before a strained calf muscle put him on the disabled list here at the All Star break. 28-year old second baseman Jose Selgado is going to his first All Star game after hitting .384 in 359 at-bats in the first half of the year. 31-year old third baseman John Blazer also goes to his first All Star game and is more of an all-around threat, hitting .335 this year with 18 home runs and 66 RBI. For his career Blazer is a .300 hitter in nearly 5,000 at-bats, 7 home runs shy of 200.

The Dodgers have been an enigma all season long. With talent at nearly every position they have dropped into a funk as a team at the end of every month this season. In April they lost 3-of-4 games in the last days of the month. In May they were 3-6. In June it was a horrible 2-9 stretch which seems to have carried over into a 3-5 mark here in July just before the All Star break. Still, despite the disturbing pattern being exhibited in those late-month swoons Los Angeles is sending five players to the All Star game and many in baseball including myself believe that they are the only team with the top-to-bottom talent necessary to challenge the Mets in the postseason this year. Rocky Basurto, the #1 overall draft choice by the Dodgers in 2012, has been the rare #1 pick to live up to the hype by becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball. Since breaking in to the Majors in 2016 he’s gone 90-32 with a 2.96 ERA. So far this year he’s 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 123 innings pitched. L.A.’s 34-year old lefty closer Paul Martin has been one of the most dominant relievers in baseball throughout his 13½-year career (10 of those years spent with the New York Mets). His 414 career saves ranks him 9th all-time (3 behind #8 Mariano Rivera who had 417) and third among active pitchers. If he can stay healthy for the last three years of his contract and anywhere near the 4-2, 21 saves in 21 opportunities, 1.66 ERA in 38 innings that he’s showing this year there’s no reason why the 7-time All Star wouldn’t be the all-time saves leader by the time he retires. There’s great buzz around 23-year old right-handed starter Stacey McMath who is a solid 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA so far this season and the opposite sort of buzz around former Philadelphia top prospect Andres Garza who is 2-3 with two blown saves in three chances and a 7.17 ERA in 47 relief innings pitched. The Dodgers’ lineup is led by 29-year old Willie “Long Haul” Matarranz, the former truck driver turned global superstar. Matarranz catapulted himself to fame by hitting 71 home runs in 2016 and took home the National League Most Valuable Player Award that year. The homegrown 4-time All Star has 312 career home runs in just over 3,600 at-bats and boasts a .643 career slugging percentage since his debut in 2014. Even more dangerous is 3-time National League MVP Jose Calvario who has 410 career home runs and a .356 career batting average in 4,900 at-bats. Calvario won two World Series titles with the Cincinnatti Reds in 2015 and 2016 before signing a 5-year, $100 million contract with the Dodgers prior to the 2019 season. Overall the Dodgers have seven players with at least 10 home runs and their 137 home runs as a team are second in the division to Colorado and tied for third in the National League. Dodgers fans are quietly confident about their postseason chances but with the Phillies and Mets playing so well it’s likely that the only way into the playoffs from the National League West is through the division championship. And if they decline again at the end of July and August as they’ve done all season Arizona might be too far away from them to make some legitimate noise in September.

After a good start to the season behind a potent offense the Colorado Rockies’ bats have cooled and they have settled into being about 4-8 games behind the division leaders for the last 2 months. The Rockies have only been to the playoffs once since losing the 2010 World Series to the Boston Red Sox in 6 games, and that was back in 2014, so the feeling around Denver right now isn’t one of mile-high confidence. Despite that dubious fact they have the man who is widely regarded as the best position player in the game – 4-time All Star, 2016 National League Rookie of the Year, and 2020 Most Valuable Player – John O’Hennessy. Last year center fielder O’Hennessy broke Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record by slamming 76 blasts and in 5½ full Major League seasons he has 336 home runs to go along with a career batting average of .320. This year O’Hennessy is hitting .295 but slugging over .600 with 32 home runs and 91 RBI (second in home runs and fourth in RBI in the National League). The 29-year old left-handed hitter was the #4 overall pick by the Rockies back in the 2012 first-year player draft. Fourth year player Ritter “Nellie Shawver, a 29-year old left fielder, is having his best season as a professional this year as he’s hitting .356 with a .415 OBP, 24 home runs and 95 RBI making it hard for teams to pitch around O’Hennessy. The Rockies have a well above average hitting catcher in 28-year old Francisco “Everyday Eddie” Riverez who is hitting .334 with a .449 OBP, 13 homers and 59 RBI in 287 at-bats in the first half of 2021. 23-year old first baseman Antonio Salcedo is getting tremendous support to be National League Rookie of the Year after hitting .351 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI in 348 at-bats in his first year in the bigs. The Rockies have a pretty good bullpen and have been grooming 25-year old former Twins prospect Michael Lucier to be the permanent closer but despite 16 saves in 16 chances they have been alternating Lucier this season between closing and middle relief. The problem this year with the Rockies has been their starting rotation. They have three solid starters in 31-year old Kozue Ninomiya, 29-year old Venezuelan Frascuelo Moledo, and 27-year old Damaso Lopez but none of those three could honestly be called a dominant #1 starter. In other words the Rockies have no true ace and might finally be able to make a run at the division leaders in the second half of the season if they can somehow land a big-time starter before the trading deadline. Colorado’s Gold Glove winning 31-year old third baseman Jules MacCodrum, a key cog in their offense since arriving from San Diego in the middle of the 2019 season, has six weeks left on the disabled list after straining a hamstring. He was hitting .326 with 14 homers and 42 RBI at the time of the injury last month.

After three straight division titles from 2016-2018, the San Francisco Giants fell to a .500 ballclub in 2019 and 2020 and this year the bottom has fallen completely out. With a payroll in excess of $80 million this year they’ve got a lot of older players finishing out big money deals and may find themselves unable to make any significant moves at the trading deadline unless someone is willing to take on a bad contract. The good news for the Giants is that they do have a very strong minor league system and some of the most highly rated prospects in the game according to Baseball America so if they can clear out some roster space at the trading deadline the rest of the summer might be used to give valuable big-league innings to the younger kids. The Giants’ 71 home runs as a team in 90 games played are second-worst in the National League behind only Milwaukee. 28-year old catcher Jeremy Lindberg is hitting .311 with 5 homers and 31 RBI and 32-year old Alfonso “Shotgun” Blamphin is hitting .308 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI to lead the offense. 33-year old lefty starter Paco Rosa, a free agent signing who played for the Yankees last year and is locked in for two more seasons at around $5 million per year, leads the pitching staff with an 8-4 record and 3.90 ERA in 110.2 innings of work. The Giants are likely to release 39-year old journeyman Daniel Cabrera who has just shown nothing at all this season (1-5, 9 GS, 10.13 ERA, 34.2 IP, 39 ER, 44 H, 31 BB). The bullpen has been very shaky including 28-year old closer Jerry Poland who has 5 blown saves and a 5.12 ERA in 38.2 innings this year to ago along with his 13 rather meaningless saves. The Giants aren’t sending anyone to the All Star game this year.

The Padres made their one and only playoff appearance back in 2013 when they took the division and since then have tried spending over $100 million on big-ticket players one year to a youth movement using almost exclusively homegrown talent and $60 million payrolls the next and everything in between. But despite the wildly changing conditions and faces in the friars’ clubhouse the results have been exactly the same: third or fourth place finishes in the division. It looks unlikely that San Diego will extend the contracts of their two highest earners, both of whom are eligible to become free agents at the end of the season. 32-year old left fielder Reed Marengo is making $21.1 million this season but is hitting only .262 with 12 home runs and 36 RBI while 36-year old shortstop Andres Blanco is being paid $17.5 million to hit .263 with 8 homers and 22 RBI. Talented 22-year old shortstop Jame “Heavy” Nihil has spent almost the entire first half of the season on the disabled list with a herniated disc in his back. Nihil was expected to be the regular shortstop out of spring training while Blanco was going to shift to second base but circumstances dictated otherwise. With Nihil ready to return to the lineup we can only hope his back troubles were just a one-time injury and not an indicator of the sort of chronic back trouble that can shorten a career. 24-year old third baseman Bob Bartlett, acquired last month from Pittsburgh in exchange for highly-rated 21-year old catching prospect Leland Smith, has been the most consistent San Diego hitter this year if you count his Pittsburgh stats, going .308 at the plate in 292 combined at-bats with 15 home runs and 45 RBI. 23-year old rookie first baseman Dave Heinrichs leads the team in power production with 21 home runs and 54 RBI to go along with his .277 average but has struck out 67 times in those 314 at-bats. Despite being the 51st overall pick in the 2016 draft not much was really expected from Heinrichs and I’m interested to see how he finishes out the season without his team in contention or if the Padres try to move him now while his value is probably at its peak. Many think that 35-year old Padres closer Felipe Tirado was given a “lifetime achievement” pass to the All Star game this year as his 2-5 record, 2.43 ERA, 1.5 WHIP and 15 saves aren’t exactly lights out sort of numbers but the Chilean has been known as a great humanitarian and I’m sure it’s meant as a nice gesture. Our former starter Ash Stapely, traded in the offseason for Terry Rogers, is 3-4 with a 5.21 ERA in 13 starts and 65.2 innings for San Diego. Rogers is 0-1 with an ERA of 4.99 out of the bullpen for us so you figure out who got the better of that deal. It’s a familiar refrain but San Diego needs lots of help in their starting rotation as 36-year old Canadian Ted Batten with his 7-6 record and 3.15 ERA in 128.2 innings isn’t getting any younger and clearly can’t carry the entire pitching staff by himself.

NL West All Stars: (Number, Name, Age, Position, Team, Times Selected)
#37 Nathan “Gobbler” Webb, 24, SP, ARI, 1
#9 Rio “Rocky” Basurto, 27, SP, LA, 4
#27 Paul Martin, 34, CL, LA, 7
#52 Felipe Tirado, 35, CL, SD, 1
#29 Bryan “Giant Killer” Blatchford, 36, C, LA, 6
#44 Jose Selgado, 28, 2B, ARI, 1
#28 John Blazer, 31, 3B, ARI, 1
#32 Martyn Hatchett, 28, LF, ARI, 1
#34 Willie “Long Haul” Matarranz, 29, LF, LA, 4
#35 Ritter “Nellie” Shawver, 29, LF, COL, 1
#13 John O’Hennessy, 29, CF, COL, 4
#44 Jose Calvario, 30, RF, LA, 9

HALL OF FAME SPOTLIGHT: Albert “Prince Albert” Pujols
Albert Pujols is one of many former Major League players who had their existing Major League stats prior to the 2006 restart grandfathered into the new MLB record books. But despite having six years worth of stats to build on Albert would go on to play 10 more years and average .309 with 41 home runs and 121 RBI over a 16-year career. At the conclusion of the 2008 season he stunned the city of St. Louis and his own teammates by signing a 5-year, $92.2 million contract with the New York Mets, the team he would remain with until his retirement in 2016. Exactly half of his 16-year career was played in New York and was brought to a premature end, like an alarming number of other players over the last 15 years, when a fastball hit him in the face. Pujols’ 563 career home runs and 1,674 RBI are presently good enough for 13th all-time on both leaderboards. Very consistent, very unspectacular. With his career coming to an abrupt end we never really had the chance to see any significant deterioration of skill over time; he left the game while still highly proficient at it and with two years remaining on a lucrative contract. “I get dizzy when I stand in there and try to focus on the ball,” a dejected Pujols related in the spring of 2017 when attempting to take batting practice. “It’s just not happening.” The overwhelming amount of support Pujols received from Mets fans after the injury prompted him to go into the Hall of Fame with a Mets cap on.

thehatfield · 08-05-2007, 06:23 PM

(Scroll up for NL recap)

OAKLAND BATTING STATS

Code:

Name           G   AB   R   H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS  AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Byers RF      85  355  51 110  15  1  14  72  17  34   2  3  .310  .338  .476  Byers RF
Guevaro 3B    85  333  56  99  11  0  21  80  42  43   0  0  .297  .378  .520  Guevaro 3B
Yamasita CF   83  329  88 123  22  3  10  38  64  39  31  9  .374  .480  .550  Yamasita CF
Arce 1B       87  320  39  84  14  0  11  50  40  57   2  2  .263  .358  .409  Arce 1B
Galdames SS   77  319  59  99  16  1   3  37  30  40   5  2  .310  .374  .395  Galdames SS
Revelez LF    85  292  80 106  21  2  24  78  97  13   0  1  .363  .523  .695  Revelez LF
McInally C    66  239  22  52   6  2   5  26  17  79   0  1  .218  .272  .322  McInally C
Quinenes CF   51  188  26  52   7  1  13  38  10  44   1  3  .277  .322  .523  Quinenes CF
Page 2B       34  129  10  26   4  0   0   5   4  41   1  1  .202  .235  .233  Page 2B
O'Bryant 2B   30  112  14  30   8  0   1  17  16  18   0  0  .268  .374  .366  O'Bryant 2B
Corliss 1B    33  101  16  26   5  0   1   9   8  19   0  1  .257  .315  .337  Corliss 1B
Vazquez SS    25   75  11  17   2  0   0   3  11  24   1  0  .227  .326  .253  Vazquez SS
Meagher C     23   66   9  17   4  0   0  12   5  14   0  0  .258  .324  .318  Meagher C
Alison C      14   52  10  17   4  0   1   4   7  12   1  0  .327  .407  .462  Alison C 
Volquez 2B    17   50   5  13   3  1   0   6   6  14   0  0  .260  .351  .360  Volquez 2B
MacFall 3B    20   38   5   8   2  0   0   0   4   7   0  0  .211  .286  .263  MacFall 3B
Raymundo LF   17   28   5  11   3  0   1  11   4   6   0  0  .393  .469  .607  Raymundo LF
Holsinger CF  12   23   2   2   1  0   0   1   1   9   0  0  .087  .125  .130  Holsinger CF
Dickson SP     3   10   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   4   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Dickson SP
Knisley SP     3    9   1   2   1  0   0   0   0   2   0  0  .222  .222  .333  Knisley SP
Nakamura SP    1    4   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   0   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Nakamura SP 
Cake SP        1    3   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   2   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Cake SP
Glaus SP       1    2   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   1   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Glaus SP
Basnett RP     2    1   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   0   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Basnett RP    
Leverett MR    2    1   0   1   0  0   0   1   0   0   0  0 1.000 1.000 1.000  Leverett MR
Mathis CL      5    1   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   0   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Mathis CL
Villaluazo SP  1    1   0   0   0  0   0   0   0   1   0  0  .000  .000  .000  Villaluazo SP

OAKLAND PITCHING STATS

Code:

Name              G  GS  W  L HLD SV BS   IP   HA HR   R  ER  BB   K   ERA  OAVG. CG SHO Name 
Knisley SP       18  18  9  7  0   0  0 134.1 118 23  64  60  40 162  4.02  .231   6  0  Knisley SP
Dickson SP       19  19 13  2  0   0  0 133.1 106  8  38  38  20 163  2.57  .214   4  2  Dickson SP
Nakamura SP      17  17 13  2  0   0  0 114.2 133 12  66  56  40 117  4.40  .286   1  1  Nakamura SP
Cake SP          14  14  7  4  0   0  0  78.0  84 20  59  58  45  77  6.69  .267   0  0  Cake SP
Villaluazo SP     9   9  4  2  0   0  0  56.0  55  7  26  26  21  67  4.18  .255   0  0  Villaluazo SP
Glaus SP          7   7  3  3  0   0  0  50.0  43  8  22  19  10  53  3.42  .226   1  0  Glaus SP
Mathis CL        36   0  4  1  0  29  4  40.2  29  1   7   7   5  42  1.55  .196   0  0  Mathis CL
von Schoening MR 24   0  2  0  7   3  1  36.2  21  2   9   9  10  39  2.21  .165   0  0  von Schoening MR
Leverett MR      21   0  2  2  4   1  1  31.2  42  3  20  20   5  30  5.68  .311   0  0  Leverett MR
Rogers MR        21   0  1  0  6   1  0  30.2  47  3  17  17   5  23  4.99  .343   0  0  Rogers MR
Frank MR         20   0  1  1  5   0  1  29.2  31  4  15  14   8  29  4.25  .267   0  0  Frank MR
Basnett MR       22   0  0  2  5   1  0  29.1  41  4  25  23  15  22  7.06  .325   0  0  Basnett MR
Stanely SP        5   4  0  3  0   0  0  26.1  37  5  24  24  18  14  8.20  .327   0  0  Stanely SP

thehatfield · 08-10-2007, 08:26 PM

Monday, July 12, 2021

Oakland Pitching Staff (role, name, righty/lefty, age)
SP Rowley Dickson, L, 26
SP Nori Nakamura, L, 27
SP J.D. Knisley, L, 34
SP Gib Glaus, L, 28
SP Fred Cake, R, 32
MR Gregg Basnett, R, 23
MR Josh Frank, L, 26
MR Jonathan Leverett, L, 29
MR Terry Rogers, L, 26
MR Fairfax von Schoening, R, 21
CL Bill Mathis, R, 27

The big problem for us is that right now we only have four righties on the 11-man pitching staff. When going up against right-handed heavy lineups is where you’ve seen us drop a series or get blown out this year so we have to take measures to prevent this from happening with an eye toward the postseason and the possibility of running into a buzzsaw in a short series. When we reactivate 25-year old Neifi Villaluazo from the disabled list we’ll have two right-handed starters and six serviceable starters overall so we have to clear out one lefty who is in the rotation now and it’s not going to be Rowley Dickson, J.D. Knisley nor Nori Nakamura. So it has to be Gib Glaus. It won’t be fun because Glaus has finally settled in this year after spending the last three seasons on a taxi between the majors and AAA. Glaus may only be 3-3 in his seven starts but his 3.42 ERA in 50 innings pitched is better than three runs per game better than Fred Cake, who is 7-4 despite his 6.69 ERA in 70 innings thrown. But Glaus is out of minor league options and there’s no doubt he would be claimed if we tried to clear him through waivers.

The other problem is that dealing one of our starters will leave us open to troubles in the second half of the season if one of the current starters gets hurt or if it turns out that Villaluazo has returned from his injury too early.

Trade Negotiations Heating Up

First of all, I’m upset because the Sacramento Bee had somehow gained access to both of my All Star break trade negotiations. Whether the press is being fed this information from player agents or from someone involved in the negotiation process I’m the one that wants to keep control over the situation and perhaps seed a story to the East Bay Express rather than being blindsided. Something is going to have to change about the way we do business I just haven’t figured out what yet.

Anyway, we made a preliminary offer to General Manager Chris Nutting of the Atlanta Braves for 22-year old right-handed reliever Jake Large and a minor league prospect in exchange for our 26-year old left-handed reliever Josh Frank and another prospect, 25-year old starter Rick Stanely who we believe is one full year away from being a regular starter at the Major League level. Large has been solid this year for the Braves making 45 appearances and going 2-2 with 2 SV, 3.24 ERA, 58.1 IP, 21 ER, .239 OAVG, and 3 HRA.

Recognizing our lefty logjam in the rotation Atlanta’s GM said he would be willing to part with two solid rookie ball prospects that we had already been keeping tabs on, 19-year old reliever Jack Allington and 22-year old starter Benoit Curry, if we threw Gib Glaus into the deal. Neither Allington nor Curry is considered a “big-time” prospect but both are projected to be regular Major Leaguers as they mature.

While I personally like Rick Stanely he’s shown us absolutely nothing this year in his limited chances. This deal to me seems extremely fair all around although our manager Jeff Hance thinks we’re giving up too much and should send Villaluazo down to the minors and let Glaus continue his run. I let him know I’d put him on the record as against the trade and a story will probably appear about that shortly. If you look at it objectively Frank can eat up the innings Large was throwing for the Braves and Glaus would go straight into their starting rotation. Large would be another solid righty in our pen to pair with setup man Fairfax von Schoening and perhaps even evolve into the long-term successor to Bill Mathis at the back of the bullpen.

As for the second trade, you’ll hear all about it from a story in the Sacramento Bee due out after the All Star game which is later tonight. Presently I have no comment. The fans don’t seem to care either way as well as long as we don’t trade Mumbles Yamasita, speculating that new second baseman Dan Volquez might be the surprise name that turns up as the one on his way out of town.

thehatfield · 08-13-2007, 10:33 AM

Monday, July 12, 2021
The Mid-Summer Classic
American League vs. National League
Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
American League 9, National League 5
39,576 in attendance

Recap: Boston legend Zach Duke and former Red Sox and current New York Met Brandon Radley were the starting pitchers for the 16th MLB All Star Game. Since your guess is as good as mine as to who won the past All Star games I’m going on the theory that the American League has won all of them to build in some drama for the 2022 All Star Game. I’m sure I remember the American League winning last year’s game, so it’s at least two in a row after this year.

As usual with events of this nature, the pageantry outshined the action on the field. Beloved old man of comedy, Gilbert Gottfried, up for an Oscar nomination this year for his acting as “God” in a remake of the classic 1977 George Burns vehicle “Oh God!” threw out the first pitch. The frail and shaking Gottfried moved in a few steps before he floated one right into the mitt of the American League’s starting catcher “Thrifty” Lou Argyll of the Detroit Tigers.

Former child star-turned-singer Emmanuel Lewis and his singing partner former First Lady Laura Bush belted out an awkward and offbeat version of the Star Spangled Banner where each performer took turns singing a line as the song progressed as if the duo were singing a love song to each other. There was so much booing and rubbish thrown on the field during this time that the pair had to stop halfway through and a more traditional version of the national anthem, without lyrics, was played over the Fenway Park sound system.

A squadron of four fighter jets in formation with one missing wingman soared over the greater Boston area and rumbled the hallowed grounds on Yawkey Way and surrounding avenues.

Members of all of the armed forces walked around the outfield with flags and a snare drum.

Then there was a 30-minute strobe light/rave session with an inaudibly loud performance by ancient, broken-down industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails.

After that there were representatives from many, many different little leagues, American Legion, Babe Ruth Leagues, etc.. who got to walk out onto the Fenway field and stroll around the outfield and wave to the impatient crowd. These kids had either been the best players from their respective leagues or they had sold the most candy bars to help raise funds for new equipment. One private school, the D.C. Preparatory Academy, donated $375,000 for equipment to be given to public schools in the Washington D.C. area and they made the presentation to the mayor with an oversized check. Not to be outdone, Don Bosco Prep students donated $500,000 in the name of Princeton and Harvard Universities to developing the sport in Boston, MA and Trenton, NJ.

After all of the formal presentations it was time for the country music part of the show, with talented Colorado native Samoset Bojangles playing several of his hits (“This One Might Be Another One Of Them Things,” “Unclean Whiskey,” “I Can Only Eat Four Burgers Without Getting Sick,” “Awake Man”) to a clearly annoyed Boston fanbase. Bojangles’ grande finale, the finale of the pre-game, incorporated everyone with one last flyover by the fighter jets. It is rumored that Fenway Park’s concession stands set a new record in pre-game sales.

As for the game, the National League jumped on Zach Duke in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead on an RBI groundout by Adelardo “Wild Man” Arguijo (NYM) that plated Willie “Long Haul” Matarranz (LA) and an RBI single by Hippolyte “Workhorse” Ashe (NYM) which scored the Cubs’ 19-year old shortstop Joe Bowen. But in the bottom of the frame the American League answered right back against Brandon Radley, as Thrifty Lou Argyll pulled one right down the left field line and into the seats for a 3-run shot. In the bottom of the third and fourth innings the American League manufactured three more runs with seven singles to give them a 6-2 lead going into the 5th. After a scoreless inning in the 5th Kansas City closer Beacon Hubbard served up a two-run homer to Cincinnati’s Will “the Wall” Whiteaker in the top of the 6th to cut the lead to 6-4. Four more singles and a walk in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the AL breathing room again at 8-4. A walk and two more singles in the bottom of the 7th gave the Americans their final run. The National League got the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the 9th against Minnesota closer Julio Cabral but could only push across one run one run as Cabral ended up striking out the side.

Better luck next for for the NL, who see their consecutive All Star Game loss streak hit 16!

06-14-2007, 05:15 PM	#101
bucketsndimes Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: The States Posts: 409	Thanks, that should help if I decide to create a dynasty and also to get me more familiar with the game world, since I do mostly fictional leagues. Actually, now I think I'll probably start a dynasty, but with a fictional league. __________________ Last edited by bucketsndimes; 06-15-2007 at 12:21 AM.

06-17-2007, 11:52 AM	#102
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series at home against Kansas City We swept a 3-game series against the perennially hapless Royals in Kansas City back at the end of April and the Royals have lost at least 90 games for 8 straight years – both nice signs heading into the next to last series before the All Star break. The team has just two winning seasons in the 15-year history of Major League Baseball and both times they could only muster 83-79 record. This year the Royals are 38-42, 13½-games behind the 52-29 Chicago White Sox and mired in a swamp at the bottom of the American League central with the Minnesota Twins (38-43) and the Cleveland Indians (37-43). Kansas City’s 729 collective hits in 2,764 at-bats this season is worst in the American League. It’s not all bad for the Royals, however. The big story is 21-year old third baseman Jose Funk, whose fantastic name and big numbers have people turning heads. Despite being the #8 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Mariners, Seattle unexpectedly released him at the end of the 2020 season considering him a major bust. All he’s gone on to do is lead the Royals in home runs (19), RBI (56), and runs scored (49) and nab the Rookie of the Month award for June. He still strikes out a lot but at 21-years old the sky seems to be the limit for this budding star. The Royals just haven’t had the pitching this year with a couple of injuries and a couple of players not panning out. The serviceable 36-year old starter Yoshinobu Hayashida has been unlucky in terms of run support with his 4-4 record and 3.52 ERA in 100 innings of work to lead the starting rotation. 26-year old closer Beacon Hubbard has an ERA over 3.00 and three blown saves in what is considered a make-or-break year for him. The Kansas City press is picking up on 23-year old righty reliever and sport starter Mike MacKendrick who has a 0.00 ERA through 10.2 innings pitched. We’d be trotting out the usual suspects: 1. Yamasita CF, L 2. Galdames 2B, R 3. Revelez, LF, S 4. Guevaro, 3B, R 5. Byers, RF, R 6. Arce, 1B, L 7. Alison, C, R 8. Quinenes, DH, R 9. Volquez, 2B, R Although the lineup has been pretty stable and we’re certainly looking good overall we were flirting with the idea of some minor adjustments, like moving Larry Alison up a spot or two. But those decisions won’t be made until the All Star break. Sunday, July 4, 2021 Game 82 vs. Kansas City Royals 6-2 Win; 29,059 in attendance W: Dickson (13-2) L: Argelio (5-12) SV: Mathis (28) Recap: It seems like we’ve been owning the first inning of games lately and today was no different as Teddy Revelez doubled in two runs before Jose Arce plated Revelez with his 10th home run of the year. This is the fourth game in a row that we’ve scored at least a run in our initial at-bats. It wasn’t all roses on the day for Arce though as he committed his 4th and 5th errors of the season at first base which contributed to an unearned run for reliever Josh Frank. Starter Rowley Dickson didn’t look great and had to come out of the game with two outs in the 6th inning with some soreness in his shoulder. Initial reports from Dr. Rick Hartshorn are encouraging as Dickson is listed as day-to-day and should be ready to make his next start. It’s hard to say that a guy hitting .370 hasn’t really been doing much lately but it was nice to see Mumbles Yamasita get back on track going 2-for-3 with a double, 2 RBI, a run scored, a walk and a stolen base. Terry Rogers threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Bill “Crunchy” Mathis got his Major League-leading 28th save but allowed a double to 26-year old Kansas City second baseman Ripley Johnson in the 9th. A solid if mechanical effort as we sort of went on cruise control after the 1st inning. We were definitely worried about Dickson because it was immediately after allowing a run in the 6th inning that his shoulder soreness appeared to affect him and Larry Alison called for Dr. Rick. Not to cast any doubt on the type of competitor that Dickson is, but it’s something I’ll now be looking at going forward because we’re going to need this guy to have his head on straight in our biggest pressure situations. Monday, July 5, 2021 Game 83 vs. Kansas City Royals 7-2 Win; 27,944 in attendance W: Glaus (3-2) L: MacKendrick (0-1) Recap: Mike MacKendrick’s scoreless innings streak came crashing down in the 1st inning as Edgard Galdames sparked a three-run rally with a run-scoring double and a run scored – our fifth consecutive game with 1st inning runs. Mumbles Yamasita and Galdames at the top of the lineup combined to go 5-for-9 but Galdames also committed his 3rd error of the year at shortstop on a poor throw to first base after making a nice play to get to a ball off the bat of the Royals’ Ripley Johnson. Jose Arce chased MacKendrick from the game in the 4th inning with a 400-foot solo home run to left-center. It was Arce’s 11th of the year and second straight game with a home run. Gib Glaus looked strong and had great control, scattering 7 hits and not walking a batter in 8 innings of work. The winning performance was certainly a big plus in Glaus’ column but it was the Royals we were playing and we were probably going to stay the course and go with our initial idea to send Glaus down at the All Star break. Terry Rogers pitched a scoreless 9th inning to bring his ERA down under 5.00 for the first time in recent memory. Strangely, Kansas City designated hitter Nobuatsu Saitoh, a Brooklyn, New York native, took Player of the Game honors going 3-for-4 and knocking in both of the Royals’ RBI with a 2-run shot off of Glaus in the 3rd inning. Arce finished the game 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, perhaps responding to the rumors that he should be dropped in the lineup. Tuesday, July 6, 2021 Game 84 vs. Kansas City Royals 4-2 Win; 22,141 in attendance W: Nakamura (13-2) L: Bair (6-4) SV: Mathis (29) Recap: We didn’t get on the scoreboard in this one until the third inning when Francisco Quinenes doubled in a run snapping a 5-game streak of 1st inning scoring. But still we were getting very used to playing with the lead and even though Kansas City’s 26-year old lefty Henry Bair put in a valiant 7-inning performance we never trailed, got the key hits, and turned it over to the best closer in baseball. Travis Byers broke out of his 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series by going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Teddy Revelez was also 2-for-4. Nori Nakamura allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 11 batters. He lowered his ERA to 4.40 on the season. Kansas City’s 30-year old second baseman Oakes Deery went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Royals. Royals shortstop Jim Soper and third baseman Jose Funk both committed errors in the 8th inning which contributed to an unearned run allowed by K.C. reliever Alvin Gonzales. Current Oakland Record: 57-27 A big 3-game sweep of the Royals has us on a 5-game win streak overall and feeling great going into our final series before the All Star break against the Rangers. But all was not well in Denmark… Fast Stats Setup man and second on the pitching staff in terms of appearances Fairfax von Schoening (22) hasn’t been used in a game since June 29. All Star Snubs The American League announced the team that would be representing them at the 2021 All Star Game. We would be sending the follwing players: SP Rowley Dickson – second in AL in ERA (2.57), first in opponents’ batting average (.214), tied for first in wins (13) and shutouts (2), second in strikeouts (162) SP Nori Nakamura – tied for first in AL in wins (13) CL Bill Mathis – leads AL in saves (29) CF Mumbles Yamasita – leads AL in batting (.375) and stolen bases (30) It was an obvious snub for Teddy Revelez who is 5th in the AL in batting (.360), second in slugging (.668), the leader in OBP (.518), OBPS (1.186) and walks (98), third in RBI (75) and runs scored (75) and fourth in home runs (21). Dome Guevaro is probably another snub with his 21 home runs and 79 RBI. Travis Byers is off to the best start in his 2½-year Major League career, hitting .310 with 14 home runs and 71 RBI and hit for the cycle back in June in a memorable performance against the Dodgers. If anything positive can come from the snub news I hope it’s that the news is enough to fire these guys up in a defiant way for the final four games against the Rangers. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem

06-17-2007, 01:51 PM	#103
bucketsndimes Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: The States Posts: 409	Team can't be stopped. __________________

06-17-2007, 01:58 PM	#104
RoyalsBlue Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Section 406, Row A, Seat 1 Posts: 375	at least the Royals were somewhat competitive. Really like what you're doing here, PC. Mumbles Yamasita? I think I have a new favorite player now. KUTGW! __________________ A bad day at the ballpark is still better than the best day in the office!

07-03-2007, 01:55 PM	#106
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Thanks for the nice words folks! Next Up: 4-game series at home against Texas The Rangers are being led by 26-year old second baseman Steve Wickenden who has blossomed into Texas’ only All Star selection this season in his second full year with the big club. The switch hitting Wickenden is hitting .320 with 19 home runs and 67 RBI to lead the club in each category. 27-year old catcher Danny McCreery is a home grown 20th round draft choice that has blossomed into a .317 career hitter in 2,664 Major League at-bats. While he’s never had much power he’s a great contact hitter even though he’s hitting .308 this year (down from .339 last year) with 51 RBI. 34-year old journeyman starting pitcher Emilio Davila is enjoying a resurgence in the first half of 2021 with a 10-3 record to lead the pitching staff. Davila hasn’t had a 20-win season since he won the Cy Young Award while pitching for the Devil Rays in what turned out to be a career season back in 2008 when he went 24-7 with a 2.40 ERA. Davila, though, has struggled in the intervening years and basically carries the burden of being known as a wonderkid gone wrong. 26-year old lefty reliever Adam Clay (1-0, 1.42 ERA) and 35-year old closer Danny Snyder (2-1, 1.82 ERA, 13 SV) have been standouts in an otherwise shaky bullpen. The Rangers are 44-39 on the year, a game behind the second-placed Angels and 12½ games behind us in the division. They’re coming in on an 8-game win streak that includes sweeps of the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians and they’ve been a streaky team all season long which has kept their record near the .500 mark as it seems that just when they get on a good run and start feeling good about themselves they go into the toilet for a brief stretch. We were hoping their good fortune was about to come to an end as we kicked off our final pre-All Star break series. Our regular starting lineup had dropped the hammer on the American League West over the last two weeks going 10-3 over 13 consecutive days. Still without a break between games going into these last four we were likely going to give starts to all of the bench players and give some of the everyday starters a nice long rest. Only makes sense; we wouldn’t want to risk injury to any of our key pieces at this point especially with a double-digit lead in the division. We might give a spot start to someone from AAA Sacramento as well to take a look at him against MLB competition. Wednesday, July 7, 2021 Game 85 vs. Texas Rangers 6-5 Win; 27,877 in attendance W: Mathis (4-1) L: Snyder (2-2) BS: Mathis (4) BS: Pallant (3) Recap: You know when your closer has a blown save and a win and the opposition closer has a loss that it must have been a wild ending and this one didn’t disappoint when you also consider the Hollywood ending for an All Star snub! And perhaps because there were nearly 28,000 in the house on a Wednesday evening there was a tangible “big game” atmosphere for what ended up being one of the most exciting games of the year. Travis Byers knocked in a run with a single in the bottom of the 1st inning to give us the early lead on Texas starter Xavier Ayala. But the Rangers got to our starter Fred Cake in the top of the 4th for three runs with a couple of singles with men on base and a walk with the bases loaded to take a 3-1 lead. We got one back in the bottom of the 5th when Mumbles Yamasita scored from second on a Dome Guevaro single. We both went to our bullpens after the 5th inning, Texas bringing in 36-year old righty sinkerballer Marcellas Pallant and us bringing in young flamethrower Fairfax von Schoening, who some fans have taken to calling “The Baron.” After a leadoff walk to Jose Arce in the bottom of the 6th we tried to surprise Texas with a stolen base by the plodding Arce and it worked as backup catcher Marmaduke Anderton overthrew the second baseman and allowed Arce to get all the way to third. Arce would go on to score the tying run on a fielder’s choice. Later, with one on and two out in the bottom of the 8th inning, Francisco Quinenes dumped one just over the left-centerfield wall for his 13th home run of the year and a 5-3 lead heading into the 9th with lockdown closer Bill Mathis ready to go. But after striking out the first batter he faced Mathis beaned the next hitter, clearly by accident, and then allowed a run-scoring double to leftfielder Bemabe Flechas when Yamasita’s throw overshot the cutoff man and rolled to the catcher. Flechas took third on the throw and scored on a fielder’s choice tying the game at 5-5 before Mathis got the final out. Rangers’ closer Danny Snyder was in and struck out Yamasita and Edgard Galdames before Teddy Revelez stepped in. The sequence was fantastic: two called strikes, a ball, a foul ball, a foul ball that was dropped by third baseman Prospero Denz for an error on what would have been the third out, two more balls to fill the count, three more foul balls, and then a 92-mile-per-hour fastball that Revelez hammered 529-feet over the closed section of upper deck seats going down the right field line. It was a thunderous walk-off home run for All Star snub Revelez, his 22nd home run of the year, and certainly the loudest I had heard the Coliseum all season long! Thursday, July 8, 2021 Game 86 vs. Texas Rangers 6-4 Win; 28,125 in attendance W: Knisley (9-7) L: Littles (5-8) H: Frank (5) SV: Leverett (1) Recap: The bench players went off! Reydel Vazquez, Javier Raymundo, Victor Corliss, and Cornelius McInally combined to go 9-for-17 with 3 walks and Raymundo delivered the key blow – a grand slam off Texas starter Johnathon Littles in the second inning which seemed to take all of the air out of Texas’ sails especially when considering our walk-off win yesterday. It was Raymundo’s first home run of the year and the first of his Major League career and he was given the silent treatment in the dugout by the coaching staff and the regular starters taking the day off until he got his helmet off at the bat-rack at which point he was swarmed by happy teammates! J.D. Knisley didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up a solo home run to Prospero Denz in the 3rd inning and a two-run shot to Steve Wickenden in the 6th but those were the only three runs Knisley would allow in 7 innings of working into and out of tight spots. Reliever Josh Frank gave up a run in one inning of work in the 8th before handing the ball over to Jonathan Leverett for Leverett’s first save of the year. Leverett, of course, was the Oakland closer for the last two years and this was basically a showcase appearance for anyone that might need a lefty arm for their bullpen at the trade deadline. I think we have misused Leverett this year, actually. From looking at his history he seems at his strongest when he only pitches one inning and we’ve been extending him past that during just about every appearance this year. I could see another team getting him and having him become a key piece to their puzzle. 29-year old Texas reliever David Masterson pitched 2.1 innings of hitless relief for the Rangers, striking out 4 batters in the process. Raymundo was named Player of the Game and was pied by Jose Arce while giving an interview after the game. Roster Move Between games we sent lefty reliever Josh Frank down to AAA Sacramento and recalled right-handed starter Rick Stanely who has put together a promising 6-2 record with a 3.23 ERA in 86 innings. 25-year old Stanely had a horrible stint with us earlier in the year, starting four games and notching just 19 innings while allowing 26 hits, 17 walks, and 5 home runs to go 0-2 with an ERA of 8.84. Friday, July 9, 2021 Game 87 vs. Texas Rangers 7-3 Loss; 29,176 in attendance W: Gonzalez (8-8) L: Stanely (0-3) Recap: This was an extremely odd game as Rowley Dickson started and came out of the game after getting one out in the top of the 1st inning again complaining about shoulder soreness. So Rick Stanely, whom I had hoped to give one more day of rest to before starting him, came in to pitch on three days rest. The game was tight through six innings as Stanely and Texas starter Abelando Gonzalez both showed strong command of their pitches and a willingness to throw strikes. With Texas up 2-1 going into the 7th, Stanely promptly walked two and allowed a two-run double to designated hitter Don McCann as the game got away from us. The Rangers built on a 5-1 lead in the 8th inning against reliever Gregg Basnett, manufacturing two more runs on two hits, an error and a walk. Francisco Quinenes hit a 2-run home run, his 13th of the year in the bottom of the 8th off of Gonzalez for the final 7-3 margin. Jonathan Leverett threw another scoreless inning of work despite allowing a couple of singles in the top of the 9th. Player of the Game Steve Wickenden went 4-for-5 with 4 RBI for the Rangers. We took considerable flack from the Texas press for using starting pitcher J.D. Knisley as the designated hitter so that regular DH Quinenes could spell Mumbles Yamasita in center field. Knisley was 0-for-3 with a run scored after reaching on an error. Victor Corliss committed an error playing out of position at second base. Despite allowing 5 runs in 7 innings Stanely lowered his ERA from 8.84 to 8.20. The thankful word on Rowley Dickson after the game was again nothing serious and he’ll be fine for the All Star game, but this is the second time in a week where Dickson had to come out of a game early due to soreness. Saturday, July 10, 2021 Game 88 vs. Texas Rangers 7-5 Loss; 29,756 in attendance W: Davila (11-3) L: Glaus (3-3) H: Clay (4) H: Masterson (10) SV: Snyder (14) Recap: Despite some regular starters coming back into the lineup for the last game before the All Star break and despite two more angry home runs by Teddy Revelez the Rangers scored at least one run in every inning from the 4th on to gradually coast by us and leave us with a 2-2 split in our 4-game series. Gib Glaus allowed four runs but only two were earned as shortstop Edgard Galdames committed a throwing error which led to two runs in the 5th inning, Galdames’ fourth error of the year. Texas designated hitter Don McCann crushed a Glaus pitch 423-feet to left field, just his third home run of the year. 25-year old Rangers center fielder Lorenzo Gonzalez also got his 3rd homer of the year when he took Fairfax von Schoening out to dead center with a solo shot of his own in the 7th inning. 23-year old right fielder Beltran Ramirez went 4-for-5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored for Texas but Revelez was named Player of the Game in the losing effort, walking three times after hitting solo home runs in his first two at bats. Victor Corliss, Galdames, and Revelez all had two hits for us while catcher Danny McCreery and center fielder Gonzalez did the same trick for Texas. This game was kind of a listless performance all around despite pushing two across in the bottom of the 9th to make the scoreline look more interesting. Current Oakland Record: 59-29 We went from the great emotional high of Wednesday’s win to losing our final two games before the All Star break and falling one win short of 60 for the first “half” of the season. Still, the Rangers had been the hottest team in baseball coming into the series and at the very least we were able to slow them down a little bit by taking the first two games of the series. We optioned Rick Stanely back to AAA Sacramento and recalled Josh Frank who threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief while striking out 3 in his one performance for the River Cats on Friday in an 11-3 loss to the Salt Lake Bees. Next up will be player stats at the break and a look around the league. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 07-03-2007 at 04:24 PM.

07-14-2007, 04:08 AM	#107
bucketsndimes Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: The States Posts: 409	Is this done? My favorite dynasty on the board, is it over? __________________

07-15-2007, 08:15 PM	#108
metzrule3 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 22	Great dynasty, keep up the good work. I really like Yamasita and Francisco Quinenes. I've been wondering something: whatever happened to Jose Reyes and David Wright?

07-16-2007, 11:29 PM	#111
metzrule3 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 22	Oh man, that's dissapointing. I was hoping they would go on to hall of fame careers with the Mets.

07-17-2007, 12:12 AM	#112
bucketsndimes Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: The States Posts: 409	lol, that's alot of information. And what a disappointment those two were. __________________

07-19-2007, 12:58 AM	#114
BadluckinOOTP All Star Starter Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: OKC Posts: 1,534	Still fantastic. __________________

07-30-2007, 06:17 PM	#115
sfaustin3 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2007 Location: St. Louis Posts: 22	I just discovered your dynasty today - it rocks! Hope you keep it up. A few questions came up as I was reading so bear with me: Whatever happened to Albert Pujols? Does Cleveland really have a guy named "Poison" Saliva? Don't let him spit on you! You must have your own way of pronouncing the players names, so I'm wondering if you say Nees-lee, Nice-lee, or Nizz-lee (perhaps Ku-nizz-lee) for Knisley? And for Rowley Dickson, does his first name rhyme with Holly, Holy, or Cow-lee? Anyway, great stuff. Go Mumbles!

08-10-2007, 08:26 PM	#119
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Monday, July 12, 2021 Oakland Pitching Staff (role, name, righty/lefty, age) SP Rowley Dickson, L, 26 SP Nori Nakamura, L, 27 SP J.D. Knisley, L, 34 SP Gib Glaus, L, 28 SP Fred Cake, R, 32 MR Gregg Basnett, R, 23 MR Josh Frank, L, 26 MR Jonathan Leverett, L, 29 MR Terry Rogers, L, 26 MR Fairfax von Schoening, R, 21 CL Bill Mathis, R, 27 The big problem for us is that right now we only have four righties on the 11-man pitching staff. When going up against right-handed heavy lineups is where you’ve seen us drop a series or get blown out this year so we have to take measures to prevent this from happening with an eye toward the postseason and the possibility of running into a buzzsaw in a short series. When we reactivate 25-year old Neifi Villaluazo from the disabled list we’ll have two right-handed starters and six serviceable starters overall so we have to clear out one lefty who is in the rotation now and it’s not going to be Rowley Dickson, J.D. Knisley nor Nori Nakamura. So it has to be Gib Glaus. It won’t be fun because Glaus has finally settled in this year after spending the last three seasons on a taxi between the majors and AAA. Glaus may only be 3-3 in his seven starts but his 3.42 ERA in 50 innings pitched is better than three runs per game better than Fred Cake, who is 7-4 despite his 6.69 ERA in 70 innings thrown. But Glaus is out of minor league options and there’s no doubt he would be claimed if we tried to clear him through waivers. The other problem is that dealing one of our starters will leave us open to troubles in the second half of the season if one of the current starters gets hurt or if it turns out that Villaluazo has returned from his injury too early. Trade Negotiations Heating Up First of all, I’m upset because the Sacramento Bee had somehow gained access to both of my All Star break trade negotiations. Whether the press is being fed this information from player agents or from someone involved in the negotiation process I’m the one that wants to keep control over the situation and perhaps seed a story to the East Bay Express rather than being blindsided. Something is going to have to change about the way we do business I just haven’t figured out what yet. Anyway, we made a preliminary offer to General Manager Chris Nutting of the Atlanta Braves for 22-year old right-handed reliever Jake Large and a minor league prospect in exchange for our 26-year old left-handed reliever Josh Frank and another prospect, 25-year old starter Rick Stanely who we believe is one full year away from being a regular starter at the Major League level. Large has been solid this year for the Braves making 45 appearances and going 2-2 with 2 SV, 3.24 ERA, 58.1 IP, 21 ER, .239 OAVG, and 3 HRA. Recognizing our lefty logjam in the rotation Atlanta’s GM said he would be willing to part with two solid rookie ball prospects that we had already been keeping tabs on, 19-year old reliever Jack Allington and 22-year old starter Benoit Curry, if we threw Gib Glaus into the deal. Neither Allington nor Curry is considered a “big-time” prospect but both are projected to be regular Major Leaguers as they mature. While I personally like Rick Stanely he’s shown us absolutely nothing this year in his limited chances. This deal to me seems extremely fair all around although our manager Jeff Hance thinks we’re giving up too much and should send Villaluazo down to the minors and let Glaus continue his run. I let him know I’d put him on the record as against the trade and a story will probably appear about that shortly. If you look at it objectively Frank can eat up the innings Large was throwing for the Braves and Glaus would go straight into their starting rotation. Large would be another solid righty in our pen to pair with setup man Fairfax von Schoening and perhaps even evolve into the long-term successor to Bill Mathis at the back of the bullpen. As for the second trade, you’ll hear all about it from a story in the Sacramento Bee due out after the All Star game which is later tonight. Presently I have no comment. The fans don’t seem to care either way as well as long as we don’t trade Mumbles Yamasita, speculating that new second baseman Dan Volquez might be the surprise name that turns up as the one on his way out of town. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 08-10-2007 at 08:28 PM.

08-13-2007, 10:33 AM	#120
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Monday, July 12, 2021 The Mid-Summer Classic American League vs. National League Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts American League 9, National League 5 39,576 in attendance Recap: Boston legend Zach Duke and former Red Sox and current New York Met Brandon Radley were the starting pitchers for the 16th MLB All Star Game. Since your guess is as good as mine as to who won the past All Star games I’m going on the theory that the American League has won all of them to build in some drama for the 2022 All Star Game. I’m sure I remember the American League winning last year’s game, so it’s at least two in a row after this year. As usual with events of this nature, the pageantry outshined the action on the field. Beloved old man of comedy, Gilbert Gottfried, up for an Oscar nomination this year for his acting as “God” in a remake of the classic 1977 George Burns vehicle “Oh God!” threw out the first pitch. The frail and shaking Gottfried moved in a few steps before he floated one right into the mitt of the American League’s starting catcher “Thrifty” Lou Argyll of the Detroit Tigers. Former child star-turned-singer Emmanuel Lewis and his singing partner former First Lady Laura Bush belted out an awkward and offbeat version of the Star Spangled Banner where each performer took turns singing a line as the song progressed as if the duo were singing a love song to each other. There was so much booing and rubbish thrown on the field during this time that the pair had to stop halfway through and a more traditional version of the national anthem, without lyrics, was played over the Fenway Park sound system. A squadron of four fighter jets in formation with one missing wingman soared over the greater Boston area and rumbled the hallowed grounds on Yawkey Way and surrounding avenues. Members of all of the armed forces walked around the outfield with flags and a snare drum. Then there was a 30-minute strobe light/rave session with an inaudibly loud performance by ancient, broken-down industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails. After that there were representatives from many, many different little leagues, American Legion, Babe Ruth Leagues, etc.. who got to walk out onto the Fenway field and stroll around the outfield and wave to the impatient crowd. These kids had either been the best players from their respective leagues or they had sold the most candy bars to help raise funds for new equipment. One private school, the D.C. Preparatory Academy, donated $375,000 for equipment to be given to public schools in the Washington D.C. area and they made the presentation to the mayor with an oversized check. Not to be outdone, Don Bosco Prep students donated $500,000 in the name of Princeton and Harvard Universities to developing the sport in Boston, MA and Trenton, NJ. After all of the formal presentations it was time for the country music part of the show, with talented Colorado native Samoset Bojangles playing several of his hits (“This One Might Be Another One Of Them Things,” “Unclean Whiskey,” “I Can Only Eat Four Burgers Without Getting Sick,” “Awake Man”) to a clearly annoyed Boston fanbase. Bojangles’ grande finale, the finale of the pre-game, incorporated everyone with one last flyover by the fighter jets. It is rumored that Fenway Park’s concession stands set a new record in pre-game sales. As for the game, the National League jumped on Zach Duke in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead on an RBI groundout by Adelardo “Wild Man” Arguijo (NYM) that plated Willie “Long Haul” Matarranz (LA) and an RBI single by Hippolyte “Workhorse” Ashe (NYM) which scored the Cubs’ 19-year old shortstop Joe Bowen. But in the bottom of the frame the American League answered right back against Brandon Radley, as Thrifty Lou Argyll pulled one right down the left field line and into the seats for a 3-run shot. In the bottom of the third and fourth innings the American League manufactured three more runs with seven singles to give them a 6-2 lead going into the 5th. After a scoreless inning in the 5th Kansas City closer Beacon Hubbard served up a two-run homer to Cincinnati’s Will “the Wall” Whiteaker in the top of the 6th to cut the lead to 6-4. Four more singles and a walk in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the AL breathing room again at 8-4. A walk and two more singles in the bottom of the 7th gave the Americans their final run. The National League got the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the 9th against Minnesota closer Julio Cabral but could only push across one run one run as Cabral ended up striking out the side. Better luck next for for the NL, who see their consecutive All Star Game loss streak hit 16! __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem