Terra Baseball League: Bryant Warriors

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The Terra City Capitals won the 2012 TBL Championship Series in five games over the Freeton Crusaders. Marty Drury won the series MVP, hitting .381 with two home runs. Former Warrior Reiji Kono drove in the go-ahead run in the tenth inning of the deciding game. This was Terra City's first championship since 1996, and their fifth in team history.

Rich Prieto of the Stephens Rattlers hit .318 with 51 home runs and 147 RBI to win the Player of the Year. The Sidney City Scorpions' Dylan Barton won his second straight Pitcher of the Year with an 18-6 record, 2.86 ERA and 256 strikeouts. Takanobu Satou of the Lenaway Storm won the Reliever of the Year (2.05, 32 saves), and the Wal Titans' Aiden Moore won the Rookie of the Year, with 34 home runs and 126 RBI.

Iweka Kinyanjui and Miguel Bello both won Gold Gloves for the Warriors.

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The Warriors had their first losing record since 2003, and our season score was a measly 293, the worst mark since that season. Keith Little Jr. is mad at us for our performance and cut our salary accordingly. We ended up drawing just 2.1M fans, the lowest total since 2007, and lost about $10M.

The budget is in disarray for next season, and we'll have to make some cuts. I exercised team options for Luis Del Rosario, Al Rendon, Bryce Richardson and Gaby Shade, though it's possible one of them could be trade bait if we need to cut salaries further.

Successes:
1. Miguel Bello. While not quite at the Player of the Year heights he achieved in 2011, this was still a great season, and well worth the higher price tag.
2. Aaron Heller. He started off miserably, but in the end, he provided a .329 OBP, 14 homers and excellent defense for the minimum salary.
3. Al Rendon. The reliable veteran provided his sixth straight solid season in the rotation.

Disappointments:
1. Matt Franklin. We traded away in the disgruntled infielder in August- good riddance.
2. Zack Enriquez. The rookie made six starts for us and hopefully will never be heard from again.

Our minor league system slumped to 15th overall, and as usual, all of our teams had losing records. Rich Mitchell dropped to the 59th overall prospect, and outfielder Edison Rios is now our top overall prospect at #41.

Among former Warriors, Gus Zahakis had another excellent year and appears well on his way to the Hall of Fame. Murtagh Pettijohn slid to .258 but should return for another year. Wyatt Cox put up another 24 home runs, and Loran Hamrick hit .323 in part-time play. Aiden Montpetit and Pete Lemke both had good years (though Montpetit of course may be at the end of the line), while Josiah Willis had a truly awful season (8.31 ERA).

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This year we honor Hernan Flores, longtime center fielder for the Uniontown Aces. Flores was signed as an international amateur out of Valoria back in 1987. The left-handed hitter became a top-ten prospect and made his debut in 1991 with the Aces. He quickly became a star, combining a high average with good power and solid defense in center field, and amassed 5.1 WAR in his first full season. Flores managed four seasons of 8 WAR or better, including 1997, when he won the Player of the Year with a .378 average, 120 runs scored, 23 home runs and 40 stolen bases. Flores was an 11-time All-Star, eight of them with the Aces. He only made it to the postseason once, but took Uniontown to its first championship in 23 years in 2000, winning the series MVP with a .391 average. Flores finished his career with a .324 average, 2600 hits and 73 WAR.

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The Scorpions are a franchise that have had more lean times than good times, with an overall losing record over the course of its history. They didn't win their first championship until 1955 and have only three to their name total, with the others coming in 1993 and 1994.

Sidney City is the eighth-largest city in Terra overall, and the second-largest in Marenia behind Sungate. It's considered a relatively small market, though, probably due in part to all the losing for the Scorpions franchise. Over its history, the Scorpions have lost over $300M. They play in Scorpions Park, a neutral park overall.

Highlight: 1993 and 1994, when the Scorpions won 103 and 106 games and won consecutive championships.

Lowlight: The 1932 season, when they lost 108 games, the third-worst mark in league history. There were other possibilities as well...

Best Player: The Scorpions have had two players go into the Hall of Fame in the last decade, so it depends whether you care more about peak or total career. Rich Cutts had the highest peak- playing seven seasons in Sidney City, and managing an amazing 11.5 WAR in 1991- while Bill Reber had the highest career WAR with the Scorpions, at 59.

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Rowenia won the 2013 ABC, beating Freeland in three games, with third baseman Nigel Hart hitting four home runs and driving in eight runs in the series. Both clubs had 9-2 records in tournament play. It was Rowenia's second championship in three years, and 14th overall. Marty Drury continued his remarkable year by winning the Player of the Year, hitting .312 with 8 homers and 22 RBI for Rowenia. Logan Forbes of Dunstan went unscored upon and won two games to win the Pitcher of the Year.

Current Warrior Mike Fenwick led the tournament with a .451 average and .500 OBP for Rowenia. Iweka Kinjanjui hit .380 and scored 12 runs for Nyambe. And newly-acquire Toby Green went 2-0 with a 2.78 ERA for Oldham.

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The nice thing about not having any good players leave is that you don't have to replace anyone. Of course, we didn't really have any money to do anything anyway... I waited out the market and eventually picked up 31-year-old starter Toby Green for $2M. Green won 21 games five years ago, but posted just a 4.55 ERA last season. I also picked up outfielder Blake Bertrand in the Rule 5 draft- he'll end up starting the season as our DH. Otherwise, it was just minor league filler.

Generally speaking, it was a slow offseason for the rest of the league- the biggest free agent contract went to Tony Cummings, who will join the Stephens Rattlers for $106M over six years.

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Things are not looking as rosy for the Warriors this season overall- outside of Miguel Bello, the club lacks the top-end talent that it's boasted over the course of the last decade. We're projected to win 85 games, which would put us in the middle of the pack. Keith Little Jr. expects us to have a winning season.

The rotation is decent, but not great, and doesn't really have an ace. The bullpen looks OK, but Percy Taylor leaves something to be desired as the closer. The lineup is thoroughly unimpressive- with a Rule 5 pick in the cleanup spot and a minor league free agent batting fifth to start the season- and I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up last in home runs once again.

Our system is ranked 14th overall. We have seven players in the top 100, but no true top prospects, with Edison Rios topping the list at #29.

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The 2013 season has started in dismal fashion, with a seven-game losing streak to end the month dragging the Warriors into last place. Pitchers Toby Green and Icarus Fischer have both been lost for the season to arm injuries. Fourth outfielder Kato Smith (hitting .158) talked about how his individual performance was more important than the team's (for the second year in a row) and was suspended again.

The one shining star in this universe of crappitude is Miguel Bello, hitting .320 with seven homers and 19 RBI in the early going. Mike Fenwick, Shane Dunlap and Iweka Kinwanjui are off to good starts with the bat as well.

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Another disappointing month leaves the Warriors at just 22-30, and hopelessly out of first place. It's been a tough turn for the franchise, which had been so good for a decade... The offense is essentially Miguel Bello (.291/13/37) and a bunch of stiffs. The pitching is Al Rendon and a packet of milk duds. Iweka Kinyanjui became our third player to go out for the season with an injury. Everything is awful.

We had the ninth overall pick in the draft, and I selected college pitcher Davis Pineda. He could make a decent mid-rotation starter.

Around the league, the Adamond Bruins have jumped out to first place in the East with a 34-18 record. The Bruins had memorably gone last-to-first-to-last from 2002-2004, and have been terrible ever since.

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Oh this has been a pitiful season. We remain in last place in the TBL East with a 33-45 record. We have a bad offense and a bad pitching staff, allowing the second-most runs in the league. We won the losing-streak bingo for the month, with losing streaks of five, four, three, two and one games. The low point was probably a three-game sweep to first-place Adamond, including a 12-inning loss on a walk-off homer, and a 14-2 blowout.

I would love to unload a veteran at the deadline- Al Rendon, Matias Nelson, Gaby Shade and Bryce Richardson are the best candidates.

Around the league, the Bruins have the best record in the league with a 52-26 record. The Stephens Rattlers and the Crestmont Bobcats are tied for the lead with 44 wins in the West.

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The miserable 2013 season continues as the Warriors had their fourth consecutive losing month. We remain tied for last place. It's tempting to just blow everything up, though I feel like Miguel Bello is a good enough building block that I'm hesitant to do so. Bello and rookie catcher Shane Dunlap were our only All-Stars this season. Kato Smith was suspended for mouthing off (again).

Al Rendon is our best trade chip, but no one's really given us a compelling offer as of yet. We've got a month to figure that out...

I came up short in attempts to bring in an international amateur free agent- which is unfortunate as I was ready to spend $6M.

Around the league, Eli Sanders of the Silverley Mustangs hit his 400th career home run. At 33, Sanders has a shot at the all-time home run record of 621, but he's got to keep his 40-homer-a-year pace up to do it. And star pitcher Dylan Barton signed a whopping $372M extension with the Sidney City Scorpions- and with two Pitcher of the Year awards to his name, he might just be worth it.

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As the calendar turned to September, the Warriors remained in the cellar with a 56-72 record. Fifth starter Zack Enriquez (who really shouldn't be on a team anywhere close to contention) continued his awful year, losing four games and posting an ERA of 11.10 for the month. Miguel Bello slumped to a .231 average on the month. One surprising bright spot was center fielder Max Martikainen, who hit five homers and drove in 29 runs.

Matias Nelson requested a trade, and I obliged him, sending him to the Sungate Falcons for middling infielder Matthew Hughes. I also shipped out Al Rendon, to the Stephens Rattlers for pitcher August Showers. That's a great name, and Showers was the #2 overall draft pick just three years ago, but he's a marginal prospect at this point. The 33-year-old Rendon ended up with a 112-78 record and 3.70 ERA over eight years in Bryant- he'll be missed.

The Adamond Bruins have a solid seven-game lead in the TBL East, while the Rattlers and the Crestmont Bobcats are neck and neck in the West. The Bobcats' Jimmy Potter leads the league in pitching WAR- I had traded him to Crestmont for Sebastien Paoli five years ago- oops!

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The consistent Warriors managed their sixth consecutive losing month, dropping 14 games en route to a 67-86 record. Miguel Bello reached 100 RBI and has 37 home runs on the season. The club leads the league in batting average and stolen bases, which shows what that's worth. We are dead last in runs allowed, a far cry from the great pitching staffs of Warriors past.

Around the league, Andreas Soberg of the Lenaway Storm hit his 500th career home run and is second in the league with 43 this season. Still productive at age 37, he's also got an outside shot at the all-time record.

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The Warriors' 2013 season has mercifully come to an end, with a 72-90 record- which was not last place as we nudged in front of the Sungate Falcons in the last two games of the year. It's easily the club's worst record since I've been in charge, and unfortunately, I don't see a great path forwards to get better.

Miguel Bello easily led the team with 38 home runs, 104 RBI and 4.3 WAR. Blake Bertrand and Max Martikainen, both former Rule 5 picks, surprisingly surpassed 20 homers apiece. Mike Fenwick had a .323 average and 27 stolen bases, third in the league. The pitching staff was a complete disaster.

The Adamond Bruins capped off a stellar season with 97 wins, and will face off against the Crestmont Bobcats in the postseason. It's the Bruins first playoff appearance since 2003, when they won their first championship in franchise history.

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The Adamond Bruins won their second championship, beating the Crestmont Bobcats in six games. Reed Turner had ten hits and drove in eight runs to win the series MVP.

Center fielder Aksel Petterson of the Timberton Dragons won the Player of the Year Award, hitting .325 with 28 home runs and 96 RBI. The Silverley Mustangs' Frisco Cespedes was the Pitcher of the Year, with a 22-6 record and 2.42 ERA. The Bruins' Stuart Ruley (.295/25/90) was the Rookie of the Year, and the Freeton Crusaders' Sal Sauza won the Reliever of the Year (19 saves, 2.69 ERA).

Miguel Bello won his second Gold Glove award.

In other news, the storied Freeton franchise has moved away from its previous nickname- and will now be known as the Freeton Cougars.

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What a miserable season! I knew it wasn't going to be the best season for the Warriors, but I did not expect this debacle. It was the worst record for the Bryant franchise in 13 years, and we drew under two million fans. Our season score was just 221 and Keith Little Jr. is mad, mad, mad.

Successes:
1. Mike Fenwick. The second-year second baseman took a big step forward in 2013 and looks like a solid leadoff man moving forward.
2. Max Martikainen. I knew Martikainen would give us solid defense, but 22 homers was an unexpected surprise.
3. Shane Dunlap. Another young player who gave us more than what we thought we would get.

Disappointments:
1. Charles Davies. Somehow the veteran retread got 434 plate appearances, with a .256 on-base percentage. Woof.
2. Gaby Shade. The former postseason hero fell apart in his final year in Bryant.
3. Kato Smith. Special prize for hitting .185 and getting suspended three times in two seasons.
4. Derek Hairston. A woeful season in the bullpen for the normally reliable Hairston.

Former Warriors Aiden Montpetit, Nadif Awuah, Loran Hamrick and Lou Harte have now retired. Toby Younger and Murtagh Pettijohn continued to play well. Wyatt Cox hit 37 home runs and now has 351 in his career. Pete Lemke had a surprisingly good year.

Our top two prospects, pitcher Davis Pineda and outfielder Edison Rios, both struggled in AA this year. This ship is sinking fast...

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Nicky Willey was honored as the 2014 selection to the Hall of Fame. Willey was a two-time Player of the Year and two-time TBL champion. He was drafted in the third round out of college, and started his minor-league career as a two-way player, pitching and playing the infield. His bat was a bit slow to develop, but eventually the Marsh Heroes realized they had a special player, and he made his major-league debut as a third baseman in 1995 at the age of 25. Willey quickly blossomed into an All-Star, with a .404 OBP and 7.0 WAR the next season, and in 1998 he won the first of two consecutive Player of the Year awards, hitting .323 with 38 home runs and 105 RBI. The following season, he led the Heroes to a championship. Early in 2000, he suffered a severe concussion, missing most of the season, but he managed a solid bounce-back season in 2001. He signed with the Bryant Warriors as a free agent the next season, and led the league in runs scored, walks and WAR en route to a second championship and the first in Warriors history. Willey was a nine-time All-Star and six-time Platinum Stick winner and finished his career with 67 WAR.

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The Adamond Bruins are one of the lowliest teams in the TBL, and one of only two teams that didn't win in championship in their first hundred years of existence (the other being the Warriors). Since then, they've come upon much better times, winning their first championship in 2003, and their second this past year.

Adamond is the seventh-largest city in Terra, and the largest city in the Northlands province. Despite that, Adamond is considered a relatively small market, and the Bruins generally are in the lower half of the league for budget and payroll. The Bruins play at Bruins Field, which is a very good home run park, but not so good for average.

Highlight: The 2003 season, when the Bruins came out of nowhere (101 losses) to win it all (97 wins) and then retreated back to nowhere (100 losses).

Lowlights: Probably 1971, when the Bruins lost 105 games amidst five consecutive losing seasons.

Best player: The Bruins haven't had many great players that have stuck around for a long time, so probably Colin Vona. The right-hander was excellent early on in his career, winning a Pitcher of the Year and making six All-Star teams in Adamond.

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Silverley won the 2014 ABC, beating Valoria in a three-game championship series. Silverley scored runs in the eighth and ninth to tie game three, then won it on a walk-off homer by third baseman Shawn Allbritton. This was Silverley's second championship, and its first since 1978. Both teams were 10-1 in tournament play.

Rowenia's Damian Smith was 2-0 with 24 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings to win the Pitcher of the Year. Phillipe Kony of Nyambe hit .368 with seven homers and 16 RBI to win the Player of the Year.

Miguel Bello hit .321 with four homers for the defeated Valoria club. Luis Del Rosario hit .359, while past-and-future Warrior Matias Nelson was 3-0 with a 2.86 ERA.

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The Warriors are regressing into rebuilding mode! I slashed ticket prices, pumped the development and draft budgets, and got ready to suck for a couple of years. I signed 2011 Rookie of the Year Iweka Kinwanjui to a six-year extension worth $18M- and he promptly suffered a setback in his recovery from a torn PCL and will miss the entirety of the 2014 season.

I traded away Vasileios Kyriakopoulous- whose name was impossible to spell and had no real position- for pitcher Braylon Mullen, a finesse pitcher who could be a back-of-the-rotation starter. I also brought back a couple of former Warriors in 38-year-old Tobias Nelson ($3M with a team option for a second year) and 33-year-old Syd Duke ($4M with team option).

Bryce Richardson signed with the Marsh Heroes for $27M over four years, while Al Rendon got $124M over five years from the Patrick Legends.