Omaha Reynolds' Fictional Baseball Project

[OmahaReynolds]

September 8th, 1871 - Newark Stars (11-12) @ Jersey City Hudsons (10-13)

Newark
R Davy Genegal, CF (.296)
L George Doyle, SS (.304)
R John Mathewson, RF (.346)
L Jack Dorgan, 1B (.278)
R Maurice Prado, 2B (.324)
R Jack Coleman, C (.298)
R Jim Zay, LF (.237)
R Fred Hoster, 3B (.277)
R Ben Dammann (6-8, 4.55)

Jersey City
L Joe Ryder, CF (.242)
R Red Creegan, 3B (.323)
S Thomas Kling, 2B (.430)
L Varney Lalor, RF (.412)
L Mark Flazenor, 1B (.150)
R Oscar Turner, LF (.259)
L Joe Millett, C (.295)
R Joseph Cuff, SS (.284)
R Henry Truax, P (1-7, 2.62)

Watching this team try to play baseball is like digging out a splinter with a pair of chopsticks. It looked like a real ball game until everyone decided to field the ball wrong-handed in the 7th and give away 6 runs to Newark. The Stars outfield make easy work of everything we hit out there. Line drive, fly ball, it didn’t matter. We put up more errors than hits and runs COMBINED. It was a loss, it’s expected at this point. I’m going to throw some virtual chairs in clubhouse.

Newark 8, Jersey City 1
W - Ben Dammann (7-8, 4.31)
L - Henry Truax (0-6, 4.17)

Player of the Game

SP Ben Dammann, Newark
9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER

Around the MBA
Brooklyn 11, New Haven 0 * Brooklyn SP Wiley McCaffery threw a 4-hit shutout
Albany 16, Hartford 7
New York 10, Troy 11

[OmahaReynolds]

September 15th, 1871 - Jersey City Hudsons (10-14) @ Brooklyn Eagles (17-7)

Jersey City
L Joe Ryder, CF (.235)
R Red Creegan, 3B (.323)
S Thomas Kling, 2B (.413)
R Jim Farr, 1B (.281)
L Varney Lalor, RF (.333)
R Oscar Turner, LF (.250)
L Joe Millett, C (.286)
R Joseph Cuff, SS (.286)
R Henry Truax, P (1-8, 2.86)

Brooklyn
R Ernie McGlone, RF (.369)
R John Forred, CF (.302)
R John Young, 3B (.362)
R Poindexter Sarvis, LF (.259)
S Bill Jacobs, C (.284)
R Jack Lynch, 2B (.276)
R Ed Lackey, SS (.265)
R Jesse Bowes, 1B (.256)
R Wiley McCaffery, P (10-3, 1.86)

Jim Farr weaseled his way back into the lineup for this one, which I’m happy with because Flazenor wasn’t exactly passing the “eye test.” Brooklyn put up a two-spot in the 3rd and 4th innings and we were in our familiar spot of being down several runs to zero with no end in sight. There was a different feeling on this team, though. We were making plays. The gloves were awake. But would the bats wake up?

We answered back with a run in the 5th and two more in the 6th. We managed to tie the game up in the 8th and headed into a critical 9th-inning showdown. Henry Truax led off the crucial inning (of course) and flew out to right field. Joe Ryder, who was 0-4 for the day, managed to drop one into left field for a single. Creegan followed up with a base hit. Thomas Kling hit a long fly ball, allowing Ryder to go from second to third.

Two outs, winning run 90 feet away. Here comes Jim Farr, back from his vacation on the bench. Farr, like Joe Ryder, was also sporting an 0-fer for the day. But he came through. A two-run triple. Varney Lalor followed up with a run-scoring error to give us a 7-4 lead. Brooklyn got their chance and were retired in order.

WE BEAT BROOKLYN!!!

Jersey City 7, Brooklyn 4
W - Henry Truax (1-6, 3.74)
L - Wiley McCaffery (10-4, 1.87)

Player of the Game

SP Henry Truax, Jersey City
9 IP, 11 H, 4 R, 2 ER, K

Around the MBA
Troy 8, New Haven 4
Hartford 10, Newark 12
New York 6, Albany 10

[OmahaReynolds]

September 22nd, 1871 - Jersey City Hudsons (11-14) @ New York Empire Citys (14-11)

Jersey City
R Fred Humphries, LF (.287)
R Red Creegan, 3B (.337)
S Thomas Kling, 2B (.404)
R Jim Farr, 1B (.277)
L Varney Lalor, RF (.385)
L Joe Millett, C (.284)
R Joseph Cuff, SS (.287)
L Joe Ryder, CF (.234)
R Henry Truax, P (2-8, 2.75)

New York
L Kid Hart, CF (.333)
R William Crowley, 3B (.291)
L Buck Wright, 1B (.311)
L George Tierney, RF (.321)
R John McKenna, C (.339)
R Jack Ramp, SS (.269)
R Thomas Roche, LF (.275)
R John Burns, 2B (.327)
R Mike Williams, P (12-8, 3.47)

New York came into this one looking to keep their pennant hopes alive. They clobbered us with four runs in the 1st, two in the 2nd, three in the 3rd and another in the 4th. We finally managed to eek out a couple runs in the 8th and 9th innings but overall this was an embarassing effort by the Hudsons. We managed only 6 hits this game. Thomas Kling went an uncharacteristic 0-for-5. Jim Farr and Varney Lalor each picked up a pair of hits.

Jersey City 2, New York 12
W - Mike Williams (13-8, 3.34)
L - Henry Truax (1-7, 3.81)

Player of the Game

Mike Williams
9 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER

Around the MBA
Brooklyn 7, Hartford 5
New Haven 7, Newark 5
Albany 6, Troy 7

With their win at Hartford today, the Brooklyn Eagles have clinched the 1871 MBA pennant!

[OmahaReynolds]

September 29th, 1871 - Hartford Colonials (9-17) @ Jersey City Hudsons (11-15)

Hartford
R John Bagley, 2B (.207)
R Cornelius Bell, CF (.275)
R David Treadwell, RF (.375)
R David Mohler, 3B (.355)
L Steve Wolf, LF (.301)
R Kid Eakin, SS (.358)
R Frank Flynn, 1B (.327)
R Charles Williams, C (.250)
R Frank Donaghy, P (9-11, 3.66)

Jersey City
R Fred Humphries, LF (.275)
R Red Creegan, 3B (.327)
S Thomas Kling, 2B (.386)
R Jim Farr, 1B (.286)
L Varney Lalor, RF (.414)
L Joe Millett, C (.274)
R Joseph Cuff, SS (.281)
L Joe Ryder, CF (.281)
R Henry Truax, P (2-9, 2.84)

We managed to put a couple early runs on the board and hold our two-run lead until Hartford tied it up in the 5th inning. Joe Ryder gave us another chance at a win with this two-run triple in the 6th, and we picked up an insurance run in the 7th to give us a comfortable three run lead. We took the lead into the 9th inning and were two outs away from winning before a triple, two errors and a single tied the game up for Hartford. They tacked on another run in the 10th. At this point I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But we somehow got a rally going in the bottom of the 10th. Edgar Haney tied the game with a single. Thomas Kling hit the walk-off run scoring single to save us from losing to the worst team in the league! Kling went 4-5, raising his batting average to an even .400.

Hartford 6, Jersey City 7 (10)
W - Henry Truax (2-7, 3.62)
L - Andy Fulton (0-2, 7.40)

Player of the Game

CF Cornelius Bell, Hartford
4-for-6, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI

Around the MBA
Albany 23, New Haven 8
Troy 8, Newark 4
New York 19, Brooklyn 7

Troy 3B John O'Brien hit for the first cycle in MBA history!

[OmahaReynolds]

October 6th, 1871 - Jersey City Hudsons (12-15) @ Albany Dukes (14-13)

Jersey City
R Fred Humphries, LF (.268)
R Red Creegan, 3B (.313)
S Thomas Kling, 2B (.400)
L Varney Lalor, RF (.419)
L Mark Flazenor, 1B (.111)
L Joe Millett, C (.264)
R Joseph Cuff, SS (.287)
L Joe Ryder, CF (.239)
R Henry Truax, P (3-9, 2.83)

Albany
R John Keenan, CF (.384)
R Henry Douglass, LF (.351)
S James Harris, 2B (.213)
R George McHale, SS (.341)
R John O'Brien, 3B (.346)
L Thomas Brady, RF (.248)
R Fred Powell, 1B (.260)
R John Griffin, C (.216)
R Maurice Dillon, P (6-10, 4.89)

Another battle that took us into extra innings, this game was sort of bittersweet. On one hand, we managed to win a close ball game for the final game of the season. On the other hand, Thomas Kling has a perfect .400 average going into his final at bat, and he flew out to bring his final season batting mark down to .397. I'm not sure if I'd take the loss just to see him finish with a .400 batting average. Some good performances, though. Fred Humprhies, Red Creegan, Thomas Kling, Varney Lalor and Joe Ryder all had multiple hits.

Jersey City 12, Albany 11
W - Pat Murphy (8-5, 3.26)
L - Arthur Irwin (5-2, 5.40)

Player of the Game

LF Fred Humphries, Jersey City
4-for-5, BB, 2R, SB

Around the MBA
New Haven 7, New York 30
Hartford 14, Troy 13
Brooklyn 4, Newark 6

[OmahaReynolds]

Jersey City Hudsons 1871 Final Report

1871 was a tale of two seasons for the Hudsons. On July 4th, with exactly half the season's games played, we were 8-6, just two games behind Brooklyn. After that we went into a tailspin, going 5-9 the rest of the way and finishing in 6th place.

I had the early season starting pitching emergency, where I had to send two prospects away to get some reinforcements. William France and Ira Turner were shipped off to New Haven for Pat Murphy, James Wood and Red Creegan. France actually fit into New Haven pretty well, playing at third base and leading off for a .280 average, 31 runs scored and 11 stolen bases. Catcher Ira Turner was rated the #36 prospect going into the season before jumping up to #14 in the mid-season update. Going into the offseason he's listed as the #26 prospect. Red Creegan became our starting third baseman, hitting .303 but playing HORRIBLE defense at third - 37 errors (2nd highest at the position in the league) and a depressing -4.8 zone rating. He was shopped multiple times and put on the trading block at the deadline, but no teams were willing to part with anything more than a bat boy. He was "accidentally" left on the trading block after the deadline and spent the last two months of the season in an angry cloud. Pat Murphy helped us get our pitching game on the right track, going 7-5 with a 3.13 over 14 starts . James Wood hung out on the reserve roster.

By far the most impactful member of this club was 2B Thomas Kling, who was insanely consistent over the course of the season. His fielding wasn't great, but his bat couldn't be ignored - A .397/.417/.675 slash with 30 runs scored, 26 RBI and 17 SB. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Joe Ryder. Joe Ryder definitely had his struggles at the plate, but while Kling was chasing .400, Ryder was achieving something even more remarkable for the era. He ended the season as the only non-pitching regular to have a 1.000 fielding percentage. That's right. In 28 games, 241 innings, he never recorded an error in centerfield. His +7.5 zone rating was 2nd in the league across all positions, behind Brooklyn SS Ed Lackey. He's a lock to win the Gold Glove.

The rest of the team contributed at times and helped us lose at others. Fred Humphries and Jim Farr gave us a little boost. William Day and Joseph Cuff ultimately disappointed. Joe Millett who suprised by getting the starting role over Larry Fogg came out of the gate hot but fell off in the second half.

But at the end of the day, it was a 28-game season. It's a small sample size. This team might be better than their .464 winning percentage. They might be worse.

I was expected to give this team a winning record. I didn't make it happen, but owner Jack Smith doesn't seem to mind. He's very happy. Now I'll turn my attention toward the offseason. I'm not sure how or if I can improve this team. I can't buy talent in the free agent market. It's going to have to happen with trades. Do I sell off my most valuable pieces and take the long-term approach? Or do I try to fine-tune what I already have?

[OmahaReynolds]

1871 AWARD WINNERS

Gold Glove Awards

P - Charles Edmondson, Jersey City (1.000 PCT, +0.6 ZR)
C - Bill Jacons, Brooklyn (.878 PCT, +2.0 ZR, 1.68 CERA)
1B - Jim Farr, Jersey City (.955 PCT, +3.8 ZR)
2B - James Harris, Albany (.899 PCT, +0.2 ZR)
3B - William Crowley, New York (.816 PCT, +4.0 ZR)
SS - Ed Lackey, Brooklyn (.841 PCT, +8.5 ZR)
LF - Jim Zay, Newark (.926 PCT, +2.1)
CF - Joe Ryder, Jersey City (1.000 PCT, +7.5 ZR)
RF - Jack Gilbert, New Haven (.904 PCT, +1.5 ZR)

Charles Edmondson and James Harris both robbed someone of their awards. They didn't play regularly throughout the whole season. Hopefully the Silver Sluggers go a little better. But... good job to Jim Farr and Joe Ryder!

Reliever of the Year

Pat Fisher, Hartford (0-3, 3 SV, 43.2 IP, 10 BB, 6 K, 2.27 ERA, 0.3 WAR)

Silver Slugger Awards

P - Mike Williams, New York (.271/.292/.329, 1 HR, 74 wRC+)
C - Jack Coleman, Newark (.323/.346/.403, 112 wRC+)
1B - Frank Flynn, Hartford (.333/.370/.408, 3 SB, 122 wRC+)
2B - Thomas Kling, Jersey City (.397/.417/.675, 17 SB, 177 wRC+)
3B - Ed Flowers, Troy (.381/.394/.540, 4 HR, 6 SB, 150 wRC+)
SS - Kid Eakin, Hartford (.353/.374/.429, 1 SB, 125 wRC+)
LF - August Daupt, Troy (.402/.408/.461, 137 wRC+)
CF - Kid Hart, New York (.363/.432/.629, 27 SB, 155 wRC+)
RF - David Treadwell, Hartford (.374/.393/.519, 1 HR, 20 SB, 145 wRC+)

Rookie of the Year

2B Thomas Kling, Jersey City (126 AB, 30 R, 50 H, 7 2B, 14 3B, 26 RBI, 5 BB, 17 SB, .397/.417/.675/1.091, 199 OPS+, 1.4 WAR)

Manager of the Year

Nap Chamberlain, Brooklyn Eagles

Pitcher of the Year

CL Frank Dwyer, Newark (2-2, 3 SV, 2.17 ERA, 37.1 IP, 1.29 WHIP, 0.2 HR/9, 1.7 BB/9, 1.4 K/9, 182 ERA+ 0.2 WAR)

This is a ridiculous pick for Pitcher of the Year. I guess I'm going to have to uncheck "relievers can win this award"

Most Valuable Player - THOMAS KLING! The silver lining on the season!

[OmahaReynolds]

Metropolitan Baseball Association 1871-72 Offseason Report

Metropolitan Baseball Association president and New York Empire Citys owner Harry DeMille declared the inaugural 1871 season a success, with every franchise turning a profit and drawing more spectators than their non-association counterparts. The 1871 campaign was viewed by most franchise owners as a test to see if the all professional, closed-association concept would work. Well, it did, and DeMille has some plans to expand the MBA's influence in 1872:

First up is the relocation of the Colonials and the Dukes. The Colonials will move from Hartford, Connecticut to the major hub of the New England region, Boston, and play the 1872 season as the Boston Colonials. Likewise the Albany Dukes, sharing a crowded market with the Troy Trojans, will head south to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia Dukes. Both clubs pulled lower attendance numbers than the other six.

The next change for 1872 is the expanded schedule. All clubs will play 42 games in the upcoming season, a 50% increase from the previous 28-game schedule.

Finally, it's worth noting how I plan on approaching league evolution and other changes during the offseason. I purposely started this league in a small geographic area and put teams in small markets so I could emulate the way leagues constantly changed in the early years. I won't ever be folding teams, but I plan on relocating teams frequently until they settle into sort of the 8 largest cities east of the Mississippi and north of Washington DC.

So what I plan on doing is using the league ERA at the end of the season as sort of a random number generator. If it ends in 0, no teams will change. If it ends in an odd number, I'll consider one team for relocation. If it ends even, two teams could possibly move. As for which teams relocate, I look at the teams with the worst attendence and determine if there's a suitable, larger market for them to move into. If New York had the worst attendence, they probably wouldn't move, because there isn't a "more desirable" market available.

I'm also expandin each team's stadium capacity after each season. They all start around 1500, which is fine for now but the crowds are going to quickly outgrow them. So during the offseason each team will get new seats equal to the number of regular season wins they had multiplied by 5.

As for schedule expansion, I'm trying to keep in line with the average number of games teams played in real-life major league baseball. By the end of the decade the schedule will be up around 100 games.

[OmahaReynolds]

November 12th, 1871 - Winter Meetings

Before the 1871 season started I thought I had a pretty good team. Everything looked nice on paper. What I've come to realize is that I was looking at the team in a vacuum. I didn't do any side-by-side comparisons with other team's rosters. Of course, the short 28-game season could've had a lot to do with it.

In any case, my job now is to try and make this team better for the next season. I started by scoping out the successful teams to try to get a feel for what made them great. The first thing I noticed is that runs allowed correlates almost perfectly with the league standings. Brooklyn had the fewest runs allowed, but were 2nd to last in runs scored and managed to win the pennant. New York, who came in 2nd, had the 2nd fewest runs allowed. The other big thing was that runs allowed seemed to correlate with defensive efficiency and zone rating and had almost no connection to starter or bullpen ERA.

All of the above leads me to believe that the key to improving the Jersey City roster is to upgrade my defense. The worst offenders defensively were Red Creegan and his woeful .584 fielding percentage and -4.2 zone rating. Surprisingly, the next worse was Joseph Cuff, who isn't rated as a wizard with the glove by any stretch. It's just my scout says he's a plus fielder at short. Watching the games play out, I always thought Jim Farr (who won the GG at 1B) was dropping a lot of balls but the majority of those were THROWING errors.

It seems the best move would be to upgrade at 3B. I started exploring trade options. Philadelphia would trade 3B John O'Brien, a Captain who put up a 133 OPS+ +2.2 zone rating for 3B Red Creegan AND LF Fred Humphries. I'd get to dump Creegan (who I see as having negative value) but I'd lose Humprhies, who's 2 years younger than O'Brien and was decent as a leadoff hitter. If I went with this option, I'd have to call up top prospect Joe McQuaid to play either RF or LF.

The first trade I made was a salary dump/depth move. For some reason my owner decided to give Edgar Haney a pretty sizeable raise going into 1872: $190, which was tied for the 2nd highest on the club (with Fred Humphries). I shopped him around and got the most bites from Philadelphia, who seems to be looking to make deals this winter. We settled on the following:

To Jersey City
2B James Harris

To Philadelphia
3B Edgar Haney

So who's James Harris? Well, he somehow won the Gold Glove at 2B last year even though he only played in 14 games. But I guess he was good enough in that short span to merit the award. He's about the same age as Haney but makes significantly less money and has a better bat (at least against RHP). He also has some wheels and can swipe some bags. He's a slightly above average defender at 2B, his only real position. Ultimately he's a cheap backup for Thomas Kling. Philadelphia agreed to pay 90% of his salary.

So that trade was fine, but it doesn't really help me with my infield defense. So the next step was to get rid of Red Creegan, who's the fan favorite on the team but I can't afford that horrible glove in my infield

To Jersey City
3B David Mohler
SS Philip Roeber

To Boston
3B Red Creegan
LF Oscar Turner

Mohler represents an immediate upgrade at 3B. He's a year older than Creegan, but he has a much better infield arm and is overall a better player. He hit .342 last season for Hartford and posted a 0.5 WAR. I had to add Oscar Turner to get the deal done, and while he's good and young, he doesn't really have a future on this team. I have plenty of good outfielders on the roster and even more outfield prospects who are getting closer to the big leagues. Roeber was someone I threw in because I felt Boston had to give up one more player. He won't be a Hudson very long:

To Jersey City
C Joseph King

To New York
SS Philip Roeber

Having a solid backup catcher seemed like a better improvement for the bench than Roeber. King is a below average defender with a good bat, which gives me a different dimension over my other backup Larry Fogg who is all glove and no bat. I'll probably keep King on the active roster since he has use a pinch-hitter.

I got a few more trade offer, but decided to quit tinkering with the team. We'll see how we fare in 1872.

[OmahaReynolds]

1872 Jersey City Hudsons

SP Henry Truax, 27 - Righthander from Rossville, Maryland. Truax was a 1.03 ERA starter when I got him from Albany in a trade last season. With Jersey City, he pitched to a 4.02 ERA and 2-7 record over 10 starts. He was consistent for both teams in FIP, where he finished the season with a 3.66 mark. His BABIP rose from .273 to .329 after the trade which I partially blame on my horrible infield defense. I'm looking for a bounceback season from Truax and he'll be the teams ace to start 1872.

SP Pat Murphy, 29 - Another righty from sunny Phoenix Arizona, Murphy had better numbers than Truax last season but never took back the starting job. My manager must have really had some faith in Truax to get it together. Pat's 1871 season line: 8-5, 3.26 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 2.3 WAR in 129.2 innings. Murphy's the #2 starter (the MBA is moving to 2-man rotations this year) but if things continue like they were last season he might get bumped to the ace role.

CL James Wood, 31 - Not much to say about my stopper. I got him in the same trade with New Haven that brought Pat Murphy over, but I never had a use for him and he sat on the reserve roster all season. He's a finesse pitcher with a cutter/changeup combo and plus movement and control. He could be a starter, but his other two pitches (fastball, knuckle curve) aren't impressing any scouts.

C Joseph King, 30 - Joseph King was acquired through a trade with New York over the offseason. He hit .292/.320/.354 last season in 48 AB. He rates as a below average defensive catcher and will most likely be relagated to pinch-hitting on this team. Fun fact, his expectation is to be in the bullpen but he has absolutely no ratings as a pitcher. Maybe that means he wants to be the bullpen catcher?

C Joe Millett, 27 - Millet's a lefty hitter with huge platoon splits. He managed to hit .265/.297/.389 last season, good for a 95 OPS+ and a perfect 0.0 WAR. His 15 runners thrown out were negated by 66 passed balls, and his -1.6 ZR leaves a lot to be desired. Still, he rates as above average at catcher, so maybe this season will see him take it to the next level.

1B Jim Farr, 33 - The Avon Lake, Ohio native is the rare speedy first baseman. He was above average at the plate (107 OPS+) and managed to take home the Gold Glove at first base. OSA has him penciled in as the top 1B in the MBA this season. I hope he lives up to the hype.

1B Mark Flazenor, 28 - Flazenor is a decently rated hitter, but he only put up a .129 average last season in very limited playing time. Of his four hits last year, one was a double and one was a triple, so he definitely has some pop in his bat. He'll be on the bench this year, but could see playing time if Farr gets injured.

2B Thomas Kling, 30 - The extremely popular reigning MVP is the cornerstone of this lineup. His numbers last season were staggering. .397/.417/.675, 207 OPS+, 1.4 WAR. He led the league in slugging, OPS and triples (14). He managed to play in all 28 games for Jersey City despite some recurring knee tendinitis (this has me a little nervous). His only downside was a -3.9 ZR at 2B, but his bat makes up for that.

3B David Moehler, 36 - My replacement for Red Creegan, who was shopped one too many times and probably hates my guts by now. Moehler hit .342 for Hartford last season, posting a 119 OPS+ and 0.5 WAR. He's a slight defensive upgrade at the position with a very good infield arm. Is a leader.

SS Joe McQuaid, 22 - I'm going to try an experiment this season. Joe McQuaid is currently the #7 prospect in the league, and his bat already looks like it's ready for the big leagues. He's got above average contact ability to go with plus game power and stealing ability. The most interesting thing about McQuaid is he only has experience playing the outfield, but his skills make him look like a natural shortstop. He has plus-plus range, above-average error and arm ratings, and plus double play ability. But since there's no spring training or minor leagues, the only way to get him rated at short is to play him there.

SS Joseph Cuff, 27 - Cuff didn't have the greatest season, and he was part of the reason we gave up so many runs with his lackluster defense. His rating at SS has improved over the offseason, so hopefully he pulls it together and helps keep that middle infield defense solid. He put up a slightly below average batting line of .276/.315/.352 last season.

LF William Day - William Day is a highly-rated hitter who just couldn't hit last season. A .227 BABIP was probably the biggest culprit for his .229 batting average, which is surprising considering he's known as a line drive hitter. I expect Day to be the biggest comeback candidate on this team. He's not as talented as Humprhies in the field, so he's going to be forced at left this season.

CF Joe Ryder, 27 - I'm looking for Joe to imrove on his .246/.286/.356 season this year with a little more life at the plate. In the field he's fantastic. He took home the Gold Glove at CF and was the only position player in the entire league to not have a fielding error. He also has top-of-the-charts stealing abilities. He just has to get on base enough to unleash his speed.

RF Fred Humphries, 26 - I got a lot of interest in Humprhies over the winter meetings, but ultimately I decided he was to valuable to let go. He plays LF at an elite level and is passable at center, right and second base. He has the best arm out of the bunch, so he's going to get some time in RF to start the season. He's a solid leadoff hitter, putting up a .354 OBP and stealing 14 bags (getting caught 6 times wasn't so great...). He's also one of the team leaders.

RF Varney Lalor - The 32-year-old veteran had a strong showing in limited play - .432/.462/.541 in 8 games. He'll make a good 4th outfielder.

[OmahaReynolds]

Opending Day Lineup

R Fred Humphries, RF
R Jim Farr, 1B
S Thomas Kling, 2B
L William Day, LF
R David Moehler, 3B
L Joe Ryder, CF
R Joe McQuaid, SS
L Joe Millett, C

Bench

R Joseph King, C
L Mark Flazenor, 1B
R Joseph Cuff, SS
L Varney Lalor, RF

Pitching Staff

R Henry Truax, SP #1
R Pat Murphy, SP #2
R James Wood, CL (or stopper, if you prefer)

Top Prospects

SS Joe McQuaid, 22, 7th
3B Charlie Kelly, 20, 9th
CF John Smiley, 21, 18th
1B Eddie Carter, 23, 23rd
2B William Wood, 19, 36th
3B John Kling, 20, 38th
LF Ed Virtue, 19, 40th
CF John Bowers, 20, 41st

[OmahaReynolds]

Quick note: For this season, I'm going to try a different approach with these reports. I'm going to do monthly recaps. It was getting a little tiresome to write out lineups and try to recap every game. I like playing out the games, but it was taking like an hour per game to play out the game and do the writeups.

I'm still sort of trying to find the reporting style that works best for me.

Onward to 1872!

[OmahaReynolds]

On the Mound
We started the season with Henry Truax and Pat Murphy in the starting rotation and James Wood in the stopper role. But Truax's 1871 struggles seemed to carry over into April. He started off hot, with a 8-inning, 2-run performance on Opening Day but allowed 9 and 7 runs over his next two starts. Looking to shake things up after his 8.10 ERA start, I sent him to the reserve roster and called up Charles Edmondson for bullpen duties. Pat Murphy moved into the ace role and put up a perfect 3-0 record in April, posting a 3.33 ERA in 27 innings with a 1.22 WHIP and 2 strikeouts. James Wood's been good for a 2.57 ERA in his time split between the pen and the rotation, though he lost his only start so far, a 6-14 defeat at the hands of New York in which he gave up 8 runs (3 earned). Charles Edmondson has pretty lousy numbers in a very small sample size, giving up 2 runs in 2 innings for a 9.00 ERA and 2.50 WHIP. The staff's combined efforts have added up to a 5.17 starter's ERA (8th in the league) and a 3.00 bullpen ERA (good for 5th). On the more advanced metric side, we have a 3.05 team FIP (2nd best in the MBA) and a 1.1 team pitching WAR (1st in the league). Which means most of our run prevention troubles lie in the hands of our fielders.

At the Plate
This team has been tearing the cover off the ball. We lead the league in several offensive categories: runs scored (95), batting average (.362), on-base percentage (.380), slugging percentage (.458), OPS (.838), batting WAR (1.6), wOBA (.370), hits (121), extra-base hits (25), and base running (+2.1). By far the best performer on the team so far has been rookie Joe McQuaid, who's slashing .486/.486/.571 for a staggering 204 OPS+. Fred Humprhies is having a dominant start too: .432/.421/.486 with 11 RBI (most on the team) and 10 runs scored. Thomas Kling has yet to hit one of his famous triples yet, but he's still batting .400 with 5 doubles. The only two lineup regulars hitting below .300 are Joe Millett (.250) and David Mohler (.282). I don't expect the bats to stay this hot all season but the lineup is looking solid so far.

In the Field
Here is where we're struggling. We're 7th in the league in both defensive efficiency (.558) and zone rating (-8.9). Aside from center fielder Joe Ryder, the entire starting lineup has been below-average to flat-out terrible in the field. Joe Ryder's been outstanding, but not perfect like he was last season. He's logged 2 errors in center but is posting a +2.2 zone rating and a .950 fielding percentage. The worst offender has been SS Joe McQuaid, who's playing a brand new position this season. He's made errors on exactly one third of his chances (13 errors!) and is currently rocking a dimsal -6.3 fielding rating. His incredible skills with the bat has kept his WAR in positive territory, and his ability at shortstop has been slowly ticking up with each game. He had no SS rating Opening Day, and he's rated as a 30/80 there now after 7 games. Fred Humprhies, who's been moved over to right to make better use of his great arm, has struggled in his new position, posting an .808 fielding percentage and a -2.0 zone rating. 3B David Mohler has struggled at the hot corner with a -2.1 zone rating, but he still looks better than the guy he replaced, Red Creegan. I expect McQuaid and Hummphries to improve as the season goes on and, hopefully, our team's run overall prevention to improve as well.

Under the Knife
No major injuries to the Hudsons this month. Fred Humprhies suffered a strained rib cage muscle on April 19th, and he's still day-to-day for the next six days with minimal effects on his hitting and running. Kling has a brief day-to-day injury early in the month (abdominal strain) that only put him on the shelf for a few innings.

On the Farm
Top prospect Joe McQuaid (#7 OSA) has already been called up at the start of the season. CF John Smiley (#18 OSA) looks like he's almost ready to hit big-league pitching, but I don't see him getting a call-up this season. And with my current crop of outfielder, he looks to be either a 4th outfielder or a replacement for Jim Farr at first base down the line. 3B prospect Charlie Kelly (#9 OSA), hopefully the 3B of the future, might be a year or two away but looks to be a plus contact hitter with some good extra-base power in his bat. 1B prospect and Rutgers draftee Eddie Carter (#23 OSA) has seen his overall and potential outlook improve to 25/40. Finally, high-school draftee 2B William Wood (#36 OSA) has improved his power (65) and eye (60) outlook, bringing his potential rating from 35 to 40.

In the News
SS Joe McQuaid won his first award, the MBA Rookie of the Month for April. He hit .486 with 17 hits, no home runs and 9 RBIs.

[OmahaReynolds]

The Hudsons had a solid May, going 4-2 to raise their season record to 8-5, good enough for a three-way tie for 1st in the standings. The highlight of the month was a key 12-8 victory over the then 1st place Boston Colonials.

On the Mound
Pat Murphy struggled on the mound in May, going 1-1 across 14.2 innings and allowing 12 earned runs. His 7.36 May ERA raised his season average to an unsightly 4.75. Murphy's issues could be due to his high groundball rate and our questionable infield defense. James Woods, however, was hot this month and managed to get 4 out of 6 starting assignments. He went 2-1 over that span, pitching to a 3.03 WERA over 29.2 innings and holding opponents to a .276 batting average. Charles Edmondson got sent back to the reserve roster and Henry Truax got to take back the Stopper role. It was a good decision as he was effective over his 6.1 innings. Edmondson looks like he still needs to develop (he's 24 so he'd better hurry), and Truax has a good FIP despite his high ERA (currently sitting at 6.84).

At the Plate
Jersey City's big star hitter of the month was 1B Jim Farr. Farr hit .409 in 22 PA with 2 doubles, a triple, a home run, 6 RBI and 6 runs scored. 2B Thomas Kling continued his dominance, batting 11-for-27 (.407) with a double and 2 triples, 6 RBI and 6 runs scored. SS Joe McQuaid slowed down a bit, but he still managed to hit .381 in May. Our worst hitters were RF Fred Humphries and C Joe Millett, who hit .192 and .182 respectively. LF William Day's .231/.259/.346 batting line in May looked more like his underwhelming 1871 season than the hot start he had in April. CF Joe Ryder and 3B David Mohler have been solidly above average, hitting in the low .300's for the month.

In the Field
The fielding situation has improved in May. Joe McQuaid is still dragging the team down a bit with his error-prone play at short, but most of the other position players have moved into positive zone ratings. The left side of the infield still looks like it will be the biggest weakness defensively as the season unfolds. But middle infielder Joseph Cuff has proven to be a solid late-innings replacement at SS for McQuaid, and he looks way better with the glove than he did last year. Good news, though: Joe McQuaid's SS rating continues to improve. It's up to 35 at the end of May. I see his ceiling being a 55-60 at SS. Fred Humphries improved at RF, and he's now scouted as a plus defender over there.

Under the Knife
No injuries, day-to-day or long-term, to any of the Jersey City Hudsons this month.

In the News
It's not every day a 31-year-old wins the Rookie of the Month award, but James Wood did just that. 2-1 with 2 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.03 over 29.2 innings was impressive enough for the OSA writers to give him the honors.

[OmahaReynolds]

Round 1, 3rd Overall
CF Thomas Cullen, 20
Mission College (JuCo)

In keeping with last year's theme, I decided to take the highest contact potential bat I could find in the draft pool. That turned out to be this guy, who looks an awful lot like Joe McQuaid did when I drafted him. He's a left-handed hitter who projects to plus contact, above-average gap power and an average eye. He should have plus speed but slightly below average baserunning and stealing ability. In the field, he's got above average range, plus-plus fundamentals and an average arm. With that said, he hit .355/.392/.472 in junior college this year, and he's looking to attend Cal State Fullerton. I believe he'll sign with us. I see him as a future LF who could make the active roster in 1875/76.

Round 2, 11th Overall
3B Ashes Roberts, 21
University of Miami

Ashes is a 1B/3B/LF who doesn't seem to have the skills to stick at either position. He's not tall enough for 1B. He's doesn't have the arm for 3B. He could probably be an average LF. He projects to be an average contact hitter with above-average gap power. He does have high adaptability and intelligence, so I'm drafting him in hopes that a position will reveal itself in the future. These three-round drafts aren't exactly deep with talent. Plus, I like his name. He's probably a long-shot to make any impact in the majors.

Round 3, 19th overall
C Lee Little, 18
North Star HS (Lincoln, NE)

Little looks like he has little talent with the bat. He's committed to the University of Arkansas and is considered extremely hard to sign. So why did I select him with my last pick? Well, I still don't have any catching prospects. He projects to be an average catcher. But he has a high work ethic, and he's young. Plenty of time for some talent spikes. As it stands, he projects to be well below-average at the plate. He did hit over .400 the past two seasons in high school against average competition. Who am I kidding? He'll probably spend his entire career on the reserve roster.