A Future that Never Was: Continental League Expansion, 2012

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So, I've been debating how to end this thread, since my game file seemed to be corrupted. I went through the Association draft and was pondering the best way to report it when I discovered I still had the league drafts enabled and that I couldn't advance a day because those drafts weren't completed

Well, I don't know how but after getting frustrated with another season I've been playing I loaded this one and lo and behold in commish mode I could autodraft and move on! So, hopefully, more to come!

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BERKELEY (AP)- You'll have to forgive the Golden State Grizzlies if they celebrated a bit too much today. A midweek win over a Minnesota Twins team barely over the .500 mark might not seem like much to you, but to a team that's lost 6 in a row and 7 of their last 10 games, it's a welcome relief to the club.

"It's hard to stay positive when you're on a slide like that", winning pitcher Ricky Nolasco said. A week ago in Minnesota, the Twins bombed him for six runs on 13 hits. Today he avenged that with a three hit, 8 2/3 inning masterwork. "We really went back over films of the last game and developed a real game plan. Santiago [catcher Perez] put down all the right calls, I don't think I shook him off once." Nolasco struck out 7 and walked 3 en route to bringing the Grizzlies home happy for the first time since June 9.

Perez helped his buddy out in another important way, when he blasted a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth off Jeremy Guthrie who had allowed only one Grizzly hit to that point in the game. Second baseman Danny Espinoza added an insurance run with another solo shot off Guthrie to start the 8th inning, and after Nolasco ran out of gas and allowed Eric Hosmer his second double of the game, Bobby Parnell came on to lock up the win with a strikeout of Garrett Atkins.

"We've certainly had some bad luck over the last few days", manager Torey Lovullo said, "but it seemed like we couldn't get the big hit or the key strikeout or double play when we needed it. Today Ricky and Santy carried us, and that's great, but we need to find a way to pull out more of these close games if we want to have any chance at all to stay relevant in the pennant race."

The Grizzlies are now looking up at everyone in the CL Northwest, 8 games behind the red-hot Seattle Mariners (who have won 9 of their last 10 games). To get there, they'll have to climb over the Twins and Rockies, who are tied 5 1/2 games out of first.

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BERKELEY (AP)- Deja vu all over again for the Golden State Grizzlies as they watch yet another late-game lead evaporate, this time a 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Again, they got great pitching from their starter, this time Ricky Nolasco. He lasted 8 innings, striking out 7 and walking two with only one hit allowed. He left in the 9th without retiring a batter, with leadoff man Adam Eaton reaching on a bunt single and DH Cole Gillespie drawing a walk to send Nolasco finally to the showers, content with a solid 4-1 lead.

And then the worm turned. For the second game in a row, lefty specialist Joe Paterson failed to retire the two lefthanded batters he faced as Cliff Pennington singled and Gerardo Parra doubled to bring the Diamondbacks within a run. Closer-of-the-moment Bobby Parnell came on to try to salvage the game but instead gave up back to back RBI singles to Aaron Hill and Derrek Lee to push Arizona over the top.

A good offensive day went down the drain as well, as SS Erick Aybar and CF Carlos Gomez both homered, and corner outfielders Nate Schierholtz and Blake Tekotte both went 2 for 4.

A downcast Torey Lovullo spoke only briefly with writers after the game. "If it's not one thing, it's another. We struggle for offense for a few weeks and our pitchers keep us close but not quite close enough. Now, our bullpen can't hold a lead when they get it. We're only 7 1/2 out of first place still, but now we're a game and a half out of third place. We can't give up more ground to everyone else in the division and hope to have a chance to win this thing."

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ARLINGTON, TX (AP): The Golden State Grizzlies combined for 5 extra base hits and managed to salvage one of three against the Rangers today, as Felipe Paulino held Texas to 2 runs in 8 innings today. The 8-2 victory brings the Grizzlies to .500 for the road trip, but going 6-4 in their last 10 games still leaves them 9 games behind the roaring Seattle Mariners.

".500 ball won't really get us anywhere, we've got to do better than that", manager Torey Lovullo said, "but we're glad to salvage one from Texas and push them a little closer to the Angels." The 44-30 Rangers saw their lead dwindle to just a half game over California.

Paulino notched only his second win of the season for Golden State with an efficient 80 strikes in a 115-pitch outing, allowing two solo homers to the powerful Texas lineup among 8 hits, walking only 1 while striking out 4. "I felt good today," Paulino said. "I feel like we've had some bad bounces this year, and with some better luck in the second half maybe more of these close games will go our way and then we can enjoy this kind of game where the offense comes up big."

Things were in doubt for most of the night, however, as the Grizzlies answered the Rangers' second homer in the 5th with an Erick Aybar double to score Blake Tekotte and give them a 3-2 edge.

That's where things stood until the top of the 8th when Golden State hammered lefty Neal Cotts for 4 runs. Nate Schierholtz followed Paul Goldschmidt's first-pitch single with a first-pitch triple, when Rangers manager Ron Washington made the interesting choice to walk Danny Espinosa to get to catcher Salvador Perez. Perez responded with a single, scoring Schierholtz and giving the Grizzlies two baserunners with no outs. Righty Mark Lowe entered to stanch the bleeding, and got Tekotte on a fielder's choice before giving up RBI singles to Maicer Izturis and Carlos Gomez, finally getting Mike Moustakas to ground out to end the inning.

Paulino survived a final jam in the 8th, giving up a two-out double to Michael Young to move Adrian Beltre to third. Paulino got Ian Kinsler to fly out to Gomez to evade the trouble, and Alexi Ogando pitched a flawless ninth to finish up. Paul Goldschmidt added an insurance solo shot in the top of the ninth for good measure, as the Grizzlies have needed an awful lot of insurance in their games this year.

Golden State's struggle to stay relevant moves back to the East Bay as the Grizzlies return to host a two game set with Buffalo in their first encounter of the year. The Bisons are playing .500 baseball so far this year, now falling to 5 games behind the Mets and Maple Leafs in the CL Northeastern Division.

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Playing .500 ball this season, the Bisons are 5 games behind the Mets, third place in the Eastern Conference's Northeastern Division. Expected to march through the regular season, the Bisons have somehow parlayed an offense in the top 3 in their conference in average, OBP, runs, and stolen bases, and starting and bullpen ERAs in the top 4 of the conference into just a .500 record.

Surprising Shaun Marcum has piled up 12 wins already this season, offset by #1 starter Yovani Gallardo's mediocre start, a 6-5 record with a 105 ERA+. The rest of the rotation (Mike Fiers, Tyler Thornburg, and Wily Peralta) has performed well enough, a microcosm of the Bison's .500 record through the first three months of the season.

The Bisons' bullpen is solid, with John Axford saving 13 to date as the closer. He's set up by two righty Franciscos, Rodriguez and Cordero, with Jose Veras, Kameron Loe, Hong-Chih Kuo, and Manny Parra taking care of middle and long relief.

Catching is a strength so long as Jonathan Lucroy holds up, posting a .765 OPS with excellent defense. Young Martin Maldonado is a standard all-glove no-bat backup who manager Doug Melvin has only seen fit to play in 7 games so far. Humberto Quintero is playing well in Nashville, perhaps well enough to end up trade bait after the All-Star Break.

The infield is one of the most potent in baseball, with Corey Hart at 1B, Rickie Weeks at 2B, and 3B Aramis Ramirez tearing up the league with an .859 OPS. SS is a concern with the indifferent Alex Gonzalez manning the gap, but he's slugged .426 to date so the weak link hasn't hurt the Bisons too much yet.

The outfield is less impressive. Nyjer Morgan handles leadoff duties and patrols CF but is spending a week in LF while all-world slugger Ryan Braun heals up from a minor injury. Norichika Aoki holds down RF, providing an as-expected .271/.341/.402 so far with plus defense. Young CF Logan Schafer has come up from Nashville to fill Braun's spot and looks to be headed back down to AAA in short order.

The Bisons' bench is uninspiring, with 1B Travis Ishikawa and AAAA filler Joe Thurston providing sketchy infield depth. 3B Russell Mitchell is currently the only outfield depth; even with Braun's return the Bisons don't seem to have the kind of bench necessary to survive a long season and playoffs.

The farm system is about as mediocre as the big team. Infield help may be on the horizon in the form of Jean Segura and Ryan "Scooter" Gennett. Starting pitchers Hiram Burgos and Cody Scarpetta look to be about the same sort of pitchers the Bisons already run out 3/5 of the time.

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BERKELEY, CA (AP): The Golden State Grizzlies lost another close game to the Buffalo Bisons today, falling 4-3. The Grizzlies suffered a mini-sweep in their first two games ever against the Buffalo Bisons franchise, losing by a total of two runs in those games.

Bisons starter Tyler Thornburg proved to be the real story today, striking out 9 and walking only 1 in his 7 2/3 innings of work. While Thornburg gave up 3 runs on 7 hits, Buffalo's offense provided just enough to get him only his 3rd win of the season. 8 of the 9 Bisons starters got a hit, and Rickie Weeks provided the main jolt of the evening with a three-run blast off Golden State starter John Lannan in the 5th.

Salvador Perez and Danny Espinosa combined for 5 hits, Espinosa bringing the Grizzlies within a run in the bottom of the 4th with his solo homer, and scoring Golden State's third and final run in the 7th on a Carlos Gomez double.

Lannan coughed up 10 hits in his 7 1/3 innings of work, walking two and striking out 7. Matt Lindstrom, Joe Patterson, and Brad Ziegler combined to finish out the string.

After an off day tomorrow, the Grizzlies will jet up to Seattle for three games against the division-leading Mariners. After another day off, Golden State returns home for three games against the Colorado Rockies (second in the Northwest Division, 5 games out) and three more against Seattle. The Grizzlies can make up some ground in the division with solid play over the next two weeks, or see their 9-game deficit sink them into seller's mode.

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PORTLAND (AP): In any minor league clubhouse, players are dreaming of the majors with every waking moment. For some, the dream gets more and more real every day. For others, memories of past glory get more fuzzy as the dream dies.

In Portland, 20 year old Beavers 2B Wilmer Flores sees his future more clearly every day. The highly-regarded prospect was disappointed to leave the New York Mets' system, but he felt a lot better when he heard that the Mets wanted Lastings Milledge so bad, and that Golden Gate thought he was the best possible return they could get.

"And pretty soon I saw what a great chance this is", Flores said. "I was in Salt Lake and Binghamton before the trade, and now I've been through Beaumont and Portland, all in a few months." Grizzlies GM Kim Ng has said that Flores will be at Portland for the rest of the year, but if he keeps his great play up he might make her eat those words. Flores was named American Association Player of the Week, and in 117 AB in Portland he's hit ..308/.333/.538. Although he's had some trouble in the field in previous stops, he's handled 107 chances at 2B in Portland and made only 1 error. "I love hitting, but defense is a big part of my game too."

At the other end of the clubhouse, 33 year-old pitcher Brandon Webb hangs onto slim hope that he can turn things around. "If you're breathing, you still have a chance, right?" Webb said. But that chance has to be slim to none at this point for the veteran. After 3 years away from the game, Webb has appeared in 20 games in Portland and lasted just 48.2 innings, allowing 44 earned runs and 81 hits, including 6 homers. "I stink right now, everybody knows," Webb said. "But can I turn it around? Maybe." The 2006 Cy Young Award winner was excited when the Continental League announced expansion plans, "because I knew that meant a few more spaces in the bullpen, even if I had to start in the minors. And Portland's a great town, a great place to live these past few months. But I'd love to be looking for an apartment in Berkeley in September, that's for sure."

Grizzlies GM Ng praised Webb's attitude but wouldn't confirm or deny whether Webb would stay on the roster for the rest of the year. "We never say never, you know, as an expansion team you have to believe in yourselves and all of your players... but we have a lot of promising kids that need work, so it wouldn't be fair to keep Brandon on if we come to see there aren't enough innings to go around for everyone."

Ng was more forthcoming about the other pitchers changing places, young Martin Perez heading up to Portland while veteran Erik Bedard is bound for Berkeley. "We love Martin, no doubt, but he's had a rough patch since we got him up here. Some bad luck, and some missed pitches, and 25 rough innings. We want him to get some time with the coaches down there out of the spotlight."

That makes room for Bedard to return to the majors, after rehabbing an injury in Portland for a few weeks. "He looked pretty good in his 10 starts, and we think he might be able to break us out of our funk a little", Ng said. Bedard was beaming as he caught the train to PDX. "Portland's fine, but it's not the big leagues. I want to get back with the guys and get going again," Bedard said.

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SEATTLE (AP): Spirits were high in the Golden State clubhouse today as the Grizzlies celebrated their first series win in a long time, sealed today with a 3-0 defeat of the surprising Seattle Mariners.

"Some days, everything just works, and that was today for me", Grizzlies starter Felipe Paulino said in a postgame interview. He worked hard in his 115 pitch outing, striking out 8 but managing to keep the 5 bases on balls from hurting him. "The guys came up big with those three double plays, too," Paulino noted.

The Grizzlies matched their defense with an effective offense, begun by Maicer Izturis in the top of the first with an RBI triple to drive home Erick Aybar, who led off the game with a single. Nate Schierholtz followed with an RBI single of his own, and Mariners starter Kevin Millwood found himself behind for good after only three batters faced.

Daniel Ray Herrera came on with two outs in the ninth to strike out red-hot Mariners rookie Dustin Ackley to strand Mike Carp and save the game for Paulino.

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ANAHEIM, CA (AP): Bad blood could be brewing between the Angels and the Astros. In yesterday's contest at Angel Stadium, California's 5'8", 165-pound Mike Fontenot and Houston's 6'0", 200-pound Aneury Rodriguez caused the benches to empty when they went toe-to-toe against one another after Rodriguez hit Fontenot with a pitch. Although the benches cleared and the brawl went on for quite a few minutes, only Fontenot and Rodriguez were ejected by the umpires.

Upon hearing that the two players had been suspended 9 games each by the league office, harsh comments came from both clubhouses. League officials have warned both organizations about the consequences of premeditated retaliation.

Looking at his season stats, Fontenot has compiled a .200 batting average and a .258 on-base percentage, while hitting 4 home runs and driving in 34 runs. Meanwhile, in 12 starts this season Rodriguez has compiled a 2-7 record and a 4.35 ERA.

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Milwaukee, Kansas City Swap Players: Both sides appear content with the trade finalized today that will send 28-year-old second baseman Martin Prado and $750,000 in cash to the Kansas City Athletics, while the Milwaukee Brewers will receive 34-year-old closer Grant Balfour and 19-year-old minor league shortstop Wilfredo Solano. "This is a move that filled a few gaps in our roster," said Brewers general manager Frank Wren. For his part, Athletics GM Billy Beane said the trade was made "in the best interest of our organization's future. Prado is a solid player and helps us up the middle, and we're hoping he can keep us in the pennant chase." BNN analysts reported that on paper the trade seemed to be a plus for both ball clubs. The players involved are expected to join their new teams for the next scheduled game.

Presently Prado is batting .236 with 5 home runs and 30 RBIs. He has played in 50 games and scored 22 times.

To date Balfour has 22 saves with a 3-2 mark and 2.48 ERA. Opposing teams are hitting .190 against him.

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Mudcats, Mariners Agree to Swap: Done deal! The Carolina Mudcats have agreed to send 40-year-old left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Seattle Mariners for speedy 22-year-old minor league South African utility infielder Anthony Phillips. The trade, rumored for days, was completed in the wee hours this morning.

So far on the season Ramirez is hitting .238 with 4 home runs, 7 RBIs and 10 runs scored. He has 20 hits and played in 26 games, a disappointing performance for the expansion Mudcats in their disappointing first season. Mudcats GM Ted Simmons explained that "Manny has done his job for us, but really his best role would be as a pinch hitter, and he'll get a chance to do that in Seattle."

Ramirez said he liked coffee and salmon, but not at the same time, so he'd like to play in Seattle.

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Strasburg Fans 15 Mets: It was a 15-K day for Toronto pitcher Stephen Strasburg at Rogers Centre today. He really put on a show in beating the New York Mets 5-2. Strasburg had his good stuff and good location and that was good enough to chalk up a Maple Leafs victory. He gave up 4 hits in the game and issued 1 walk in a strong performance, but didn't surpass his season high, when he mowed down 18 Montreal Expos on June 19.

This season Strasburg has compiled a 12-3 mark, 3.18 ERA and made 18 starts.

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BERKELEY (AP): The Golden State Grizzlies dropped their second game in a row to the visiting Colorado Rockies today 6-3. The win keeps the Rockies just 3 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the Northwestern Division.

"We hung in there, the bullpen came up big and we didn't quit", Grizzlies manager Torey Lovullo said. "[Grizzlies starter John] Lannan really didn't have his good stuff today and dug himself a hole; it's nice to stay in a game but it would have been nicer to convert that last chance at the end."

The "chance" Lovullo referred to was the unfortunate 9th inning which featured a single from Mike Moustakas and a double from Paul Goldschmidt to give the Grizzlies two runners in scoring position with none out. But Golden State could come no closer as Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt mowed down Salvador Perez, Danny Espinosa, and Nate Schierholtz in order to end the game.

Lannan survived by the skin of his teeth, stranding a runner in the first, striking out Troy Tulowitzki in the third with the bases loaded to end that inning, and finally giving up the lead for good in the top of the 5th with a leadoff walk to Eric Young Jr. and an RBI double to Ramon Hernandez. Finally disaster struck in the top of the 6th, after Lannan started the inning with two walks and a single to Michael Cuddyer to load the bases. Righty Brad Ziegler entered with his gas can, walking Augie Ojeda to force in a run and then surrendering singles to Morgan Ensberg and Hernandez to clear the bases and sink the Grizzlies.

Golden State wasted 12 hits overall, 9 off Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin, including doubles by Goldschmidt and Erick Aybar and a homer from Maicer Izturis. Moustakas and Perez end up wearing the dunce caps, Moustakas for stranding 5 baserunners while striking out twice and Perez for his two throwing errors.

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Mobile Bay Bears (A/ARI) third baseman Matt Davidson led his team to a 17-3 triumph over the Jacksonville Suns, crushing three home runs.

"He's scary good when he's swinging the bat like that," said the Mobile skipper.

Indeed, Davidson put up some "scary good" numbers: three homers, 3 hits in 4 at-bats with 4 runs and 5 RBIs.

"Guys like that," said the manager, "make my job ten times easier."

In this current campaign Davidson is hitting at a .290/.393/.472 clip with 14 home runs.

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BERKELEY, CA (AP): Golden State Grizzlies GM Kim Ng took the podium in the Tien-Haas Park press room to announce completion of a four-for-five swap with the Texas Rangers. "Like I told you earlier this year, life with an expansion team means roster changes, and as we've lagged behind in the pennant race we've taken a hard look at our roster and payroll and had an opportunity with Texas we couldn't refuse."

Golden State sent 32-year-old reliever Brad Ziegler, 32-year-old left fielder Scott Hairston, 35-year-old minor league reliever Dennys Reyes, 31-year-old minor league left fielder Freddy Guzman from the Grizzlies to the Rangers in exchange for 26-year-old minor league left fielder Julio Borbon, 25-year-old minor league right fielder Yangervis Solarte, 23-year-old minor league closer Ryan Rodebaugh and 20-year-old minor league catcher Kellin Deglan.

"As before, it's not that we were unhappy with Scott and Zieg", Ng said. "But all these guys we drafted were up for arbitration raises, and although we might have been able to afford them, the truth is that we would probably have had to nontender some of them anyway."

Hairston had been underused, only getting into 35 games this season. "I really want to get a chance to play, and of course the Rangers are right in the playoff hunt, so that's great." Hairston said. "I liked Berkeley and the guys there, but they want to develop younger guys, and I understand that even if I resent basically being called old."

Ziegler could not be reached for comment.

Ng had nothing but praise for the players acquired in the trade. "Julio Borbon is a promising outfielder, and we needed a younger guy with speed and a good glove," Ng said. "He'll be in Portland for the moment but he might well be up soon." Yangervis Solarte will be given a chance to keep developing his versatility in the minors, possibly with a September callup. "We could use a little more infield flexibility", Ng noted.

Highly-regarded righty reliever Rodebaugh and his battery mate Deglan will likely land with the Class A Fresno Grizzlies. "Rodebaugh has really had a hard time, but our scouts have loved him. Deglan is a solid prospect, and we need some higher-quality catching depth in the system," Ng said. "Overall we feel like we got exactly what we wanted: salary relief and some pieces for tomorrow."

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ANAHEIM, CA (AP): Not satisfied with their current roster, California Angels general manager Jerry DiPoto shook things up by acquiring 35-year-old reliever J.J. Putz and 21-year-old minor league right fielder Marcell Ozuna from the Arizona Diamondbacks for 25-year-old minor league left fielder Jeremy Moore. DiPoto said, "We're a better team now. We've added several pieces to the puzzle." Arizona GM Kevin Towers could not be reached for comment, but with the Diamondbacks 11 1/2 games behind the Angels, they may be making more moves before the deadline. Veterans Randy Winn and Derrek Lee are widely known to be on the trading block, and both have been quite vocal in their anger at the team.

In 31 relief appearances, Putz has 44 strikeouts in 41.1 innings with a 2.61 ERA and a 5-3 mark.

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DENVER (AP): The Golden State Grizzlies finally moved out of the Northwestern Division cellar with their win 8-1 win tonight over Colorado.

Luke Hochevar held the powerful Rockies hitless until the 5th inning and cruised to his fifth win of the season. He held Colorado to only 3 hits, striking out 6 and walking 3, the only run scoring when Jason Giambi advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an Akinori Iwamura single.

The game was close until the 9th inning, with Rockies starter Matt Belisle allowing 3 runs in his 6 1/3, striking out 5 Grizzlies on the way. Golden Gate opened the scoring with three singles and a balk in the first inning to take an immediate 2-0 lead.

Two relievers combined in the ninth inning to play the goat for Colorado, as Matt Reynolds surrendered singles to Nate Schierholtz and Carlos Gomez and a walk to pinch hitter Kyle Blanks leading up to a 2-run double by leadoff hitter SS Erick Aybar. Troubled lefty Jonathan Sanchez relieved Reynolds by serving up a first pitch 3-run blast to Maicer Izturis.

The win takes Golden State's record to 7-4 in July after taking four of six games from the division-leading Mariners and three out of five from the Rockies, with two more games to go in the four game set in Denver.

"It's nice to be out of last, for sure", Grizzlies RF Schierholtz said after the game. "But we're still 8 games out and 3 behind Colorado. So it's nice to right the ship against the toughest teams in our division, but we're going to have to keep this up for a few weeks to really have any chance again."

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NEW YORK (AP): It won't turn either team into an instant contender or provide a huge franchise shakeup, but the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox finalized a trade today. New York will send 25-year-old shortstop Eduardo Nunez and 19-year-old minor league third baseman Dante Bichette Jr. to the Red Sox, while the Yankees will receive 27-year-old starting pitcher Clay Buchholz. "We think this is a deal that will help out both teams and we're glad to get it done," said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman". The unusual in-season trade between the bitter rivals is expected to be officially completed later today with the players to join their new ball clubs by the end of the day.

This year Nunez has hit at a .364 clip with 17 RBIs, 1 home run and 13 runs scored. In 18 starts this season, Buchholz has recorded 9 wins and absorbed 5 losses. He has pitched 120.2 innings, allowed 112 hits, struck out 111 and has a 3.65 ERA.

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Polanco Suspended, Out 3 Games: During the Philadelphia-Milwaukee game yesterday at Milwaukee County Stadium, Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco threw a fit arguing a third-strike call and was issued a 3-game suspension by the league office for his inappropriate behavior and aggressive conduct.

In 88 games this season Polanco is batting .296 with 104 hits and 2 home runs. He has scored 45 runs and driven in 23, and was in the news just two months ago for pounding out his 2000th career hit.