The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

[luckymann]

Most PAs without a walk (excluding pitchers)

[luckymann]

One of the most fascinating elements this year will be the way clubs handle the fist batch of Legacy Players, all of whose contracts expire at the end of this season.

We have already re-signed Honus but will be letting Jack Chesbro walk, I'm afraid. Our third foundation Legacy, Deacon Phillippe, has as you might remember retired.

A reminder of the rules in this regard. While I am not allowed to trade for any Legacy Players, even if the trade is instigated by the other side, once they enter the FA market they are fair game.

The Cubs are the first of the other clubs to take decisive action.

[Brad K]

Impossible to replace a guy who can play CF and hit too.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Impossible to replace a guy who can play CF and hit too.

We're lucky in that we've got Vin Campbell, who has stepped up mightily in Max's absence and will push for an everyday role even when he returns. We've also got Matty McIntyre and Rip Cannell as backup. Like I said, a surfeit of LH OF here, a dearth in the AtHoL. Even Killefer and Del Howard can play decent enough CF.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[Brad K]

Yea, lousy loser, take THAT!

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

From a career that looks like this:



This is the arcane stat the AI has pulled out for Honus...

[luckymann]

Six weeks in and things are going pretty well for us as we sit atop the NL by a half-game from our old friends the Cubs. An excellent 20-8 May turned us around nicely after our 8-9 April, leaving us at 28-17.



Over in the AL, the Browns have cooled off after their torrid start to the season, and the A's now lead a really tight field, with just 1 1/2 games from them to the fifth-placed Naps. The White Sox are the real surprise so far, deep in the AL cellar at 15-28 and swirling in rumours of clubhouse strife.



To this point it has been our offence doing most of the heavy lifting, compensating for our young rotation's inconsistency. Vin Campbell has taken the opportunity presented him by Max Carey's injury with both hands and then some, currently leading in all three Triple Crown categories with a 381 BA, 5 HR and 31 RBI, and rightfully snagging the monthly award. But he hasn't been alone, with every one of our starters in good nick. Our 204 runs scored leads the NL, but our comparatively low +35 run diff backs up what I said about our rotation, which - with the exception of Louis Drucke - has given up way too many runs and hits.




Here are the Awards and some news from around the league, back with another recap at the end of July.






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[luckymann]

Most PAs without a HR (excluding pitchers)

[luckymann]

Win Probability Added, Hitters (May 1910)

[Brad K]

Surely Vin is doing well enough at the plate to compensate for his defensive deficiency.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Surely Vin is doing well enough at the plate to compensate for his defensive deficiency.

Well, here's his fielding stats: minus 12 fielding runs means he is a liability, no doubt. So it will all come down to how well his hitting holds up over a larger sample.



If it does, I have a real dilemma. Murphy is a poor defensive RF but continues to star at the plate. If anyone is most at risk - presuming Carey comes straight back in at CF - it is Zaza. But he's hitting 300 as well.

It's a nice problem to have right now...

[luckymann]

Any thoughts we might have had about trying to steal a pinch on the division prove to be the folly of a delusional mindset as we regress heavily, with the mid-month section seeing us lose 8 of 9 including 6 straight at one point and falling out of first place. We keep losing and keep falling and when the dust settles from our 9-17 June, we sit in equal 4th place, 5 GB the Cubs, who have reasserted their dominance for now.



It’s fair to say the wheels have fallen off. But why?

Well we knew our early form was almost certainly unsustainable, but our form in pretty much every facet of the game has deserted us. Bats went very cold with the exception of Harvey, Wagner and the redoubtable Murphy, while our rotation remains far too unreliably inconsistent. This latter point was OK when the bats were going off, but now we’re just getting beat up pretty bad on almost a daily basis. We need to regroup and get things back on track post haste.

The AL remains tight, with the Tigers parlaying a 17-7 sectional into a 2 1/2 game lead.



Another Legacy player re-signs, with the Cubs locking down Danny Green until 1914. Pretty astute move on their part, he is a bit of an unheralded gun.

Here are the awards and some other news.




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[luckymann]

Most innings with a 0.00 ERA

[luckymann]

Our stuttering form carries over into the new month as we fall further off the pace and inexorably slide back to 500 ball. This from at one stage being 33-18. Which is 10-25 since that peak of June 7, or a .286 winning record.

Unfathomable, really. Have a look at these monthly stats and see if you can spot something.




I mean, sure, I'll be the first to admit our pitching isn't doing as well as hoped. But it is a young rotation and we expected that. It's not as if they are experiencing a blowout or anything. And look at those huge offensive numbers.

It doesn’t stop there. No surprise, when Carey finally comes off the IL we rush him straight in. I resolve the OF logjam in a totally unsatisfactory way, by moving Murphy to 1B. As I say, it is totally unsatisfactory, especially given we are already last in the NL with -45 Fielding Runs. But for now it will simply have to do, I can’t see any other options. I also move Cole into the rotation at the expense of a struggling Drucke. Things are going so bad I nearly move Chesbro in there as well for one final hurrah, and haven’t completely ruled the move out yet.

I do rule it out when, in the final game of a horrendous 10-16 month, Chesbro gives up 5 runs in an inning of relief as we lose a walkoff 11-10 heartbreaker to Cincy in 10 innings. Yeah, that ain’t happening. More likely he’s going to finish his long and storied stint with us just like Phillippe did, on the Reserve Roster. At 47-50 and 13 games off the pace, this season is pretty much done for us, so I need to look toward the future.




To say I'm exasperated is putting it ever so mildly. Perhaps the greatest shame of it is that we are wasting another exceptional season by Dutchie, as well as the coming-of-age of Vin Campbell.

The AL looks like it is going to be one heck of a race, with plenty of teams right in it. The Red Sox have come good at last, with Speaker leading the way.

Noodles Hahn finally gets to 200 wins after his long injury layoff, while Nap Lajoie becomes the first player in league history with 2000 career hits.

Rube Waddell’s season ends early after he suffers a torn elbow tendon.

And in an almost inexplicable trade, Sam Crawford is traded by the Reds for two fairly ordinary players, Billy Purtell and Doc Johnson. He is a FA at season end, which is the only reason I can think they’d make such a lopsided deal. This is the first trade involving a Legacy Player.

Here are the awards, news, and leaders.






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[luckymann]

Most IBB without a HR

[luckymann]

More of the same from us in August: the occasional blinding flash of brilliance that merely teases with a glimpse of how good this team could and should be, interspersed with an utter lack of cohesion resulting in more losses than wins in this overwhelmingly disappointing campaign.

And if there is one three-game window into just why this season is such a wasted one, it is our utter demolition job on the division-leading (at that time) Phillies in a 3-gamer. Get a load of these line scores:





And how about the numbers our bats have put up thru end August:



And yet, for all our firepower, we post yet another losing sectional, going 12-13 to now sit 4 games under 500.



Another costly implosion by Chesbro to make it three straight losses against the 7th-placed Doves is the final straw and he’s off to the RR, with Lou Fiene called up in his place. In the final days of the month, with Dismukes looking fatigued, I call up Barney Pelty, move Dizzy into the pen and Fiene back to the RR.

But it is all just shifting deckchairs on the Titanic, really. This ship looks to be going down without a trace.



Onto more pertinent news. Both the Superbas and Giants enjoy an excellent month and move into contention, although this race in all reality looks down to the Cubs and Phils, who enter the stretch tied at 72-49. Over in the AL, it again looks to be a race in two, with the Sens and Red Sox now double-digits clear of their rivals.



Awards (note Max Carey's prominence here), news, leaders. Only key updates from here to the end of the regular season.






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[luckymann]

Most Pitching WAR with Entire ML Career for One Team