The Aftermath

[NYY #23]

William Carter has been everything we have asked for since coming over from the Yankees going 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.7 WAR. There are three problems with Carter though - he's 34, in the final year of his contract, and wants a four year $80 million extension. His price tag seems to be getting more expensive, and after failing to sign our first round pick I really don't want to lose Carter for nothing.

If money weren't an object he'd probably be worth an extension, but realistically we have two options for Carter, offer arbitration or shop him around. So I shopped him around, and wanted to only consider National League teams, but the White Sox Mark Sharp, the number 30 prospect in baseball. Sharp is the type of talent I want in return, but he's not close enough to the majors to help this year.

If we added either Burt Mays or Eddy Cook to the deal the White Sox agreed to send back starting pitcher Shaun Austin. Austin is 25 years old, and is 5-4 with a 4.74 ERA this year. He peaked as the #39 prospect in baseball, but hasn't lived up to the hype yet, although I'm comfortable he can slide into the rotation, and maybe benefit from some solid offense.

I struggled with whether to include Mays or Cook, thinking of Cook's 18-6 record last year and WAR of 4.1. He's 30 years old though, 5-4 with a 5.31 ERA this year, and pitching as our number 5 starter. His salary is expected to increase to over $6 million in arbitration. Mays is making the minimum, and was 7-2 with 3 saves and a 1.76 ERA in 87 innings out of the bullpen last year. This year he was sent down to AAA after a poor spring and start to the season and is 7-1 with a 2.02 ERA in the rotation at 27. He deserves a call-up, and another chance.

In the end I went with youth and wish Cook well. Pedro Jimenez will take over in the rotation along with Austin with Mays getting the call-up to the majors and Travis Rainwater next in line if we need a starter.

Starting June 20-3 has given me enough confidence to trade 40% of my rotation I guess, but we need to keep an eye on the future. And sometimes it's better to trade a player a little too early than too late, as I found out with Todd Thomas. After starting the season 9-2 with a 2.32 ERA for the Dodgers Thomas is out for the year with a torn labrum. That's his second major injury.

[NYY #23]

Michael Gibbs homered in the All-Star game while Pedro Jimenez picked up the win as the American League won the All-Star Game 7-6. They were two of five Monks who were elected to the All-Star game joining Alex Terry, Mauricio Maio, and Pedro Torres.

The Monks will enjoy an extra day off at the All-Star break before resuming our season at home hosting the White Sox while trailing the A's by just a 1/2 game.

The Monks also made one trade over the All-Star break, shipping off reliever Ken Branch to the Rays for minor league reliever Tommy Barton. Branch was in the final year of his contract, our owner wouldn't approve an extension, and was struggling with a 5.14 ERA. Barton is pitching in AA and 24 years old, but this was more about getting something back rather than lose Branch for nothing.

[NYY #23]

While the Monks finished the month 15-10 and just a game and a half behind the A's I have some concerns with the team, specifically about the bullpen. I really like Burt Mays, except he's 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA. I'm starting to wonder if his 2064 season was a fluke, but he just looks overmatched. I also really like Ben Patrick as well, but his signing hasn't just worked out and he's 0-4 with a 9.14 ERA.

So we looked to the trade market, packing Burt Mays, Ben Patrick, and shortstop prospect Trevor Burke and sending them to the Rays in exchange for Roberto Ramirez. Ramirez is 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 36 2/3 innings this year, appearing in 4 games in relief, and making 4 starts. Long term he should be in the rotation, but this year I'm hoping he'll help solidify our pen.

Anibal Guerrero of the Rangers hit the 300th home run of his career this month, as did Anthony Webb of the Dodgers. Fred Henderson of the Twins saved the 300th game of his career.

Then finally, after failing to sign our first round pick the Monks received a compensation pick in next year's draft. Failing to sign a draft pick wasn't ideal, but that led us down the international amateur path and we signed future potential ace Ramiro Luengas to a $6.4 million bonus. Of course at 16 he's a long way away, but at least we were able to add some potential talent to the organization.

[NYY #23]

Last year the Monks equaled our franchise record of three consecutive winning seasons, and this year we've set a franchise record with our fourth after clinching a winning record with an 18-8 month. August also put us on top of the American League West with a 3 game lead over the A's.

As we head into September I'm feeling pretty good about the team, and think we're in a good position. We shouldn't have any problem heading back to the postseason, but winning the West would make our playoff push that much easier.

Sometimes you forget how young a player really is, as is the case with Pedro Jimenez. As a 20 year old he made his debut in the rotation in 2061 going 11-15 with a 4.64 ERA. After three injury plagued years Jimenez bounced back and forth between the pen and the rotation. This year he was an afterthought, but after trading William Carter and Eddy Cook he moved into the rotation and is 12-4 with a 2.75 ERA in 121 innings with a 4 WAR. He's still just 24 years old though, and I'm glad we stuck with him.

28 year old Sergio Munoz hit his 300th home run of his career for the Indians this month.

[NYY #23]

It was a costly end to the regular season for the Monks, who won our final six games of the regular season to clinch the AL West, but lost Cam Gross for the rest of the year, Pedro Jimenez for two weeks, and Lawrence Sutton for two weeks. We'll hope for a five game series between the Twins and White Sox to allow us to rest up as much as possible.

With a 106 win season the Monks have won 100 or more games in 3 of the past 4 years. Let's see if we'll have some playoff luck!

Around the league Edward James set a record with 244 hits this year for the Rockies. Carlos Robles of the Angels hit his 300th career home run, and picked up his 2500th hit of his career. Then finally Armando Ruiz of the Cubs hit his 500th career home run.

[NYY #23]

The Twins didn't do us any favors winning the Wild Card Series in four games against the White Sox. So that didn't give us much time to heal before taking on the 91 win Twins, but we jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the series behind strong starts by Alex Terry, Cipriano Castillo, and Shaun Austin. In his first start back Pedro Jimenez didn't look like himself allowing 5 runs in 2 innings as the Twins won 9-4, then followed that up with a 4-2 win in Game 5. But Game 6 the Monks came back and won 3-2 to win the series. Pedro Torres won MVP of the Series after hitting .333 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 5 runs scored.



The Tigers were our opponent in the American League Championship Series after they upset the 101 win A's. We matched up well against the A's this year (8-4) and the Tigers (5-1) so I felt good about our chances and it was an uneventful five game series win. Pat Thompson hit .474 with a home run and 5 RBI to win MVP of the Series.



That set us up for an epic World Series against the 109 win Dodgers. Game 1 of the Series ended with a bang - a 10th inning home run by Pedro Torres that sealed our 3-2 win. The Monks went deep six times in a 20-8 Game 2 win. The Dodgers would come back and win Game 3 by a score of 8-1, but the Monks held on for a 3-2 win in Game 4 to move within one game of winning our third straight World Series.

The Dodgers would storm back and win the next two games to even up the series at 3 games apiece before a Game 7 that saw Richie Bennet hit a three run homer and Michael Gibbs hit a solo homer in a 6 run second inning and Shaun Austin dominating for 6 1/3 innings. But the bullpen almost let the game slip away, but the Monks held on for a 7-5 series win, and our third straight World Series.



With 307 home runs this year the Monks topped last year's all-time record of 304 team home runs. As we head into the offseason I don't expect major changes, but we'll see what happens.

[NYY #23]

Our first move of the offseason was shopping veteran Richie Bennett. He was worth 3.4 WAR this year, but will be 38 next season and if we found a good deal I was going to take it. The Tigers offered LF Travis Kaiser and 21 year old 1B prospect Jeremy Rogers if we threw in 29 year old catcher Julio Hernandez. Kaiser just turned 25 and hit .220 with 6 home runs last year, while Rogers is a poor fielder with a lot of home run potential. If all goes well he could be our DH of the future.

That move also clears up a roster spot for Zach King who lacks the power Bennett offered, but is better defensively at second, third, and shortstop.

Next up was the signing of 36 year old Armando Ruiz to a one year $5.5 million contract to play DH. Last year he hit .255 with 14 home runs and 58 RBI in limited action, but you may remember his as the latest member of the 500 home run club.

I expect that to be it for the offseason, although I won't rule out signing a pitcher if the price comes down, most likely a reliever.

The Monks didn't get much love in the awards department this year. Cam Gross won a Gold Glove on the mound, while Michael Gibbs won a Silver Slugger Award at shortstop, and was crowned MVP.

While my owner is happy with my performance he does want me to acquire a top 20 prospect, and build up a top 7 minor league system. Those will be a little bit challenging to do given our situation, but I feel like if we keep winning I should be ok.

[NYY #23]

This year's top vote getter began his career with the Expos, and initially I didn't think I had a connection with Medina because of the timing, but after doing some checking I found this:
"While this is my last year in Montreal I do want to leave the Expos in as good of shape as possible. We signed the top international amateur prospect, 16 year old starting pitcher*Jose*Medina*to a $4 million bonus."

So while I never got the pleasure of watching Medina's career grow, I do feel some pride in the fact that we signed him as an 16 year old amateur. During his career Medina was 62-60 with 452 career saves and a 2.50 ERA, striking out 1304 batters in 1057 innings.

Medina won his first Cy Young Award in 2051 with the Reds when he went 7-1 with 56 saves and a 0.73 ERA in 86 1/3 innings. His second Cy Young Award came two years later with the Rays when he went 5-3 with 42 saves and a 1.00 ERA. Medina went to five All-Star Games



The second player inducted into the Hall of Fame was former Pirates' great Melvin Lambert, a .296 career hitter with 346 home runs, 1067 RBI, and 125 stolen bases. Lambert won three MVP Awards during his career, all between a four year stretch (2049-2052). A six time All-Star, Lambert won 7 Silver Slugger Awards, and won his only Championship with the Nationals in 2056 when I traded three players to acquire the veteran.



The third player inducted into the Hall of Fame was shortstop Barry Colbert, who I have no ties to. A .278 career hitter, Colbert finished with exactly 400 career home runs. Colbert won one Gold Glove, seven Silver Slugger Awards, and went to eight All-Star Games.

CL José Medina 91.9 (1st year) Inducted HOF
LF Melvin Lambert 84.5 (2nd year) Inducted HOF
SS Barry Colbert 82.2 (2nd year) Inducted HOF
SP Cornell Thompson 50.2 (1st year)
SP Hal Ramey 43.8 (2nd year)
RF Francisco Burgos 41.4 (7th year)
RP Davey Gibson 33.0 (1st year)
CF José Álvarez 32.0 (1st year)
CL Myron Martin 24.2 (9th year)
SP Ipe Bekema 21.5 (5th year)
3B Jon Pierce 19.5 (1st year)
CF Jorge Álvarez 12.5 (1st year)
CL Tynan Velásquez 11.8 (5th year)
CL Will Irwin 11.8 (1st year)
C Manuel Batista 11.1 (7th year)
C Wayne Mathews 10.1 (5th year)
CL Scott McCotters 9.4 (2nd year)
SS Doug Richard 9.4 (2nd year)
1B Javier Ledezma 7.7 (4th year)
RP Marvin Pittman 6.7 (1st year)
SP Claudio Castellanos 6.7 (2nd year)
1B Ben Jones 6.4 (3rd year)

[NYY #23]

I keep going back to my owner goals about requiring a top 20 prospect and building up a top 7 system, and have to admit I explored doing so. Trading Michael Gibbs would get us pretty far toward reaching that goal, but I'm not quite ready to do that. I'd like to keep the core intact one more year at least, despite the intrigue of a couple of the potential deals.

We did a little tweaking over the offseason signing three free agents and making one trade. 2B Hector Martinez signed for one year and $1 million after hitting .218 with 3 home runs and 24 RBI. LF Eric Hughes signed for one year and $1 million after hitting .223 with 14 home runs and 28 RBI. Then finally we signed insurance policy (and closer) Dalton Ward to a one year contract. Over the past three years he saved 45, 47, and 39 games for the Marlins respectively.

With Cristo Hernandez coming back from injury adding another solid arm to the back of the pen was a luxury. Ward was looking for a three year $12 million contract, but we convinced him to come to San Antonio by offering him one year and $10 million. With about $20 million available this year we needed some way to spent the money.

Then finally to get down to our opening day roster we needed to trim one player. Ray Jackson struggled in Spring Training with a 7.84 ERA, and last year he pitched just 13 innings. He refused to be demoted though, so we needed to trade him. After six years in San Antonio it's a little sad, he was a valuable bullpen piece, but never really was the same after his shoulder injury. There was a lot of interest around the league, and we shipped him off to the A's in exchange for LF Alex Dickson. He's just 26 and a speedy outfielder capable of playing solid defense, but has yet to show any success in the majors in parts of two years.

The Monks rolled in Spring Training with a 24-6 record, and we're predicted to win 107 games. We're dealing with some early season injuries, but I'm anxious to see how things play out this year, and feel like we have the depth to survive and return to the postseason.

[NYY #23]

I hate when I do a bad job of managing our 40 man roster. There is nothing like putting someone on the DL and then not being able to take them off without designating someone for assignment, and even a minor league rehab assignment isn't possible early in the season. That happened twice in the first week of the season, with Cam Gross needing to be activated, and 22 year old Ilusuarte Calazans being sent down. We didn't want to send him down, but he was someone we could send down despite having a great spring.

Next up was needing to activate Alberto Vazquez. 30 year old Hector Martinez was the obvious candidate to send down, but he refused to be demoted. So we traded him to the Carolina Knights along with backup catcher Andres Flores to the Carolina Knights in exchange for pitcher Francisco Rodriguez and minor league catcher Ronald Sanders.

Rodriguez is the intriguing piece who my scout likes and thinks is capable of pitching out of the rotation, despite pitching out of the pen in the minors. So if we can add a #5 starter candidate for a backup infielder I'll be happy.

On the field the Monks started the season with a solid 16-10 record, tied for second and a game out of first place. Cam Gross has been phenomenal in his return from the disabled list going 4-0 with a 1.16 ERA, but did suffer a sprained ankle that could effect him for the next 8 weeks. For now I think we'll let him pitch and monitor him closely.

Two players hit their 300th career home run this month, 31 year old Luke Sutton for the Astros and 34 year old John Gilbert for the Tigers.

[NYY #23]

A 19-8 month has put the Monks in first place with a 4 1/2 game lead in the American League West. Things are going well in San Antonio and I'm feeling good about things.

An injury to Pat Thompson could have big consequences for our future. While Thompson is out Zach King gets to audition as our starting shortstop while Michael Gibbs slides over to third base. If King can hold his own that could lead to the trade of Thompson when he returns with Gibbs continuing to play third base. Meanwhile in AAA Porter Dyer is hitting .272 with 10 home runs as one of our best prospects. I've viewed him as our third baseman of the future, so he could become expendable. Of course, King is hitting just .143 so far, so maybe the big moves will still come after the season where we explore dealing Gibbs.

Armondo Ruiz has had an injury plagued year as our designated hitter, but he's hitting .247 with 8 home runs and starts to be putting things together at the plate, and has picked up the 2000th hit of his career this past month. Given his age it's not very likely he'll come close to reaching 3000 hits.

Joe Robinson of the Twins also reached 2000 career hits this month, and at 36 he's also unlikely to chase 3000. Three players swatted the 300th home run of their career this month - 31 year old Roy Thomas of the Cubs, 31 year old Jose Mendoza of the A's, and 33 year old Marcos Heredia of the Dodgers.

[mirrf]

Welcome back.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Welcome back.

Thanks! A two week vacation has me refreshed, and I came back with a couple of ideas that I'll be trying shortly once I get things caught up.

[NYY #23]

The Monks were drafting 34th and 35th in the first round after failing to sign last year's first round pick. We needed to add talent this year and selected college centerfielder Jared Jones and 18 year old starting pitcher Kyle Cooper with our two first round picks. In the second round we selected college shortstop George Bennett, while in the third round we took a chance and drafted 18 year old 3B Victor Avila. He's first round talent with a commitment to go to college, so we'll need to swing for the fences if we expect to sign him.

We rounded out the top five rounds with 18 year old centerfielder Cornell Patterson and 23 year old pitcher Peter Hernandez.

The Monks have started the month 8-4 and maintain a 4 1/2 game lead over the Angels. One of my former Angels' players was in the news this month with Jose Moreno hitting the 300th home run of his career. Moreno is 30 years old and has hit over 30 home runs in seven of the last eight years and is signed through the 2068 season.

[NYY #23]

The Monks finished June with a 20-6 record and opened up a 10 1/2 game lead over the Angels. The Monks also saw Cam Gross, Cristo Hernandez, and Pat Thompson return the final days of the month. I'm pretty sure not too many teams were able to add three All-Stars to their team like we did.

The Monks were able to agree to terms with all the players we drafted, including third baseman Victor Avila. He jumps to the top of our prospect rankings with Mark Sharp our for the year with an injury. I'd definitely like to see our farm system improve, but we do have just two starts over the age of 30 - 30 year old Pat Thompson and 37 year old DH Armando Ruiz. We're not going to get to a top 7 farm system unless we deplete our core.

[NYY #23]

Nelson Flores is one of our best prospects and deserves a call-up to the majors, hitting .321 with 15 home runs in AAA. He's 25 years old and my biggest obstacle to calling him up is his subpar defense. It hasn't improved defensively, yet he appears to be able to hold his own at the plate. I really want him to turn into our right fielder of the future, but that just doesn't look like it will happen unless we take a hit defensively.

Currently right field is being held down by Armond Sciorra, a 28 year old who has been worth between 1 and 2 wins since coming to the Monks. His salary keeps growing though, and I know there are better options out there. The trade offers for Flores continue to ramp up though, so we decided to explore one of those offers for Flores, and ended up replacing both the players that were going to be sent for Flores, and Flores as well. If I didn't write that I wasn't going to make a trade at the deadline I at least thought about it, because that was the intent. But it just didn't work out.

Going to Houston is RF Armond Sciorra, 22 year old starting pitcher prospect Ilusuarte Calazans, 21 year old right fielder Terry Simmons, 23 year old center fielder Anthony Lester, and 26 year old starting pitcher Larry Perez. Coming back to San Antonio is 24 year old right fielder Juan Delgado and minor league reliever Patrick Hanson.

Delgado is the #30 prospect in baseball, and he'll take over at right field. He's the big fish that we wanted if we were going to make a move. Calazans is the piece I didn't want to give up. The only reason he's not in our rotation in San Antonio is because of our depth. That's really why Perez is still in AAA as well. The Astros have four starters in the DL, the worst ERA in the American League among starters, and both should join the Astros rotation. I like Lester a lot, and think he's capable of playing center field in the majors. He got a shot this year and hit just .160, but he's not quite ready and only got the shot because of Sutton's injury. It was a tough trade to make.

While it's only been a couple of days Delgado is hitting .333 with 2 home runs for the Monks. We also called up Flores as well with Armando Ruiz hitting the disabled list.

The Monks finished July with a 16-9 record and have a 15 game lead in the AL West. Cam Gross, Pedro Jimenez, Julian Williams, Mauricio Maio, Pedro Torres, Michael Gibbs, and Lawrence Sutton were the seven Monks selected for the All-Star game.

32 year old catcher Esteban Albizu hit the 400th home run of his career for the Rockies.

[NYY #23]

With a 17-9 month and a 15 1/2 game lead the Monks are just running out the clock as we anxiously await the playoffs.

[NYY #23]

With a 108 win season the Monks won the American League West by 18 games and will get a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The newest addition to our lineup, Juan Delgado, has hit .294 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI in 53 games with the Monks.

With 302 home runs this season the Monks fell short of the record for team homers last year of 307, or 304 in 2064, but three straight years of hitting 300 home runs is a nice accomplishment.

[NYY #23]

The Monks began the postseason at home against the 86 win Rangers and quickly fell behind 2 games to none after dropping the opener 8-7, and Game 2 by a score of 4-3. A 14 inning heartbreaker, and allowing 3 runs in the final two innings. I won't lie, I was frustrated and didn't really feel encouraged by our chances. The Monks are a good team, but I didn't feel too good about our chances this year for some reason, and after falling behind 2-0 and dropping both of those games at home I was realistic that our postseason success was going to come to an end sometime soon.

So I did what any good GM never does and just simmed to the end of the postseason. The results did surprise me as the Monks came back and won the Division Series in seven games over the Rangers. Michael Gibbs had a "down season" for him hitting .301 with 32 home runs, 96 RBI, and a 6.3 WAR. Of course in his first postseason last year for the Monks Gibbs hit just .206 in the postseason, so it was nice to see him take our team on his back and hit .345 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI to win the MVP of the Series. The duo of Cipriano Castillo (2-0, 15.1 IP, 16 K, 0.59 ERA) and Pedro Jimenez (1-0, 12.2 IP, 20 K, 1.42 ERA) dominated to help us overcome some subpar pitching.

The ALCS would also go 7 games against the Cleveland Indians, winners of 90 games in the regular season. Sadly I missed watching Game 7 end like this:



Michael Gibbs would be elected mayor of the city if he ran right now. The Monks were outscored 39-36 in the series, and everyone seemed to forget how to pitch. Our offense carried us this series.

The World Series proved the old adage that pitching and defense wins championships. This year it was home runs that won championships. 3 in Game 4, 4 in Game 5, and 5 in Game 6 as the Monks topped the Reds in 6 games.

Pedro Torres would hit 7 homers in the postseason, Michael Gibbs 6, and Mauricio Maio and Alberto Vazquez would each hit 5.

That makes it four in a row, which feels pretty nice.

[NYY #23]

While players declared for free agency today the Monks have almost wrapped up our offseason plans in what I expect to be a slow offseason. A trade of reliever Will Winters to the Mets for 32 year old 3B Pat Lynch was the final in what was a flurry of moves. Lynch is an interesting player who hit .209 with 41 home runs last year.

I have to admit the whole concept of extending players before they become free agents is a foreign one. I don't usually worry about that, because it's on to the next team. San Antonio is a growing market, but our payroll is small enough that we need some payroll certainty. In doling out contract extensions I've also decided that I don't care about my owner's goal of building a top 7 farm, we want to keep our core intact, so despite the fact that my owner is "disappointed in my progress toward that goal" we've given the city four World Series Championships in the past four years so he'll just have to fire me if he doesn't like it.

Here are the deals we've agreed to:
• SP Alex Terry - signed three year $33.3 million extension
• RP Cristo Hernandez - 3 year, $7.62 million extension
• 1B Pedro Torres - 7 year, $116.7 million extension, player opt out after four years
• C Mauricio Maio - 3 year, $26.6 million extension
• SP Pedro Jimenez - 3 year, $38.1 million extension
• 2B Alberto Vazquez - 3 year, $13.5 million extension
• CF Lawrence Sutton - 8 year, $87 million extension
• SS Michael Gibbs - 3 year, $19.5 million extension
• SP Cam Gross - 9 year, $96.8 million extension
• SP Cipriano Castillo - 9 year, $104.4 million extension, player opt out after five years

Nothing like shelling out over $500 million in contract extensions.

Julian Williams was named Reliever of the Year, while Mauricio Maio, Michael Gibbs, and Lawrence Sutton won Silver Slugger Awards. Pedro Jimenez was named Cy Young winner, while Maio finished second in MVP voting