Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by CHOWDERHEAD

Trading with a divisional rival always makes things interesting. Hopefully it turns out well for you. Hate seeing a former player dominating the team.

Thanks, I hate seeing that too. I'm nervous, especially because he's a former MVP, but hopefully everything works out.

[NYY #23]

The Kodiaks made our second move in two days today to fill a position of need, but hopefully this isn't a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The Phillies are rebuilding, and over budget. Catcher Tomas Flores is making $20 million per year, and under contract through next year. He'll be 34 next year, but is coming off a season in which he hit .240 with 28 home runs and played solid defense and was worth 4.4 WAR.

We acquired Flores and a pair of young relievers, 22 year old Gabriel Alexander and 24 year old Murilo Simas. In exchange we gave the Phillies who they asked for, 32 year old Chris Stark. Stark is halfway through his contract and was 10-11 with a 3.29 ERA last year, worth 2.3 WAR.

I didn’t want to trade Stark, but with Michael Leslie returning from the disabled list before next year I felt we could survive trading Stark to fill a bigger hole.

[NYY #23]

After making a couple of trades our offseason priorities have shifted. With Tomas Flores aboard at catcher we'll focus our attention on a second base upgrade, an upgrade at closer, and some starting pitching depth. We've decided to keep Dustin Ackley as our hitting coach because of the lack of a clear upgrade.

The Kodiaks didn't win any major awards, but Steven Borden did win a Gold Glove at first base. Jason Browning was the runner up for Reliever of the Year after he went 5-1 with 2 saves and a 0.97 ERA in 65 innings. Browning also finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.

In former player news, Matt Moore won the Reliever of the Year in Carolina after going 5-3 with 29 saves and a 1.20 ERA in 67 2/3 innings. Looks like he's found a niche as an expensive closer.

[NYY #23]

No players were elected to the Hall of Fame this year:

SP Jason Threlfall 74.0 (5th year)
1B Jesús Espaillat 70.7 (2nd year)
SP Will Shaw 69.0 (7th year)
2B Robbie Raines 51.0 (2nd year)
RF Martín Castro 49.7 (3rd year)
SP Luis Varerla 47.0 (2nd year)
SP Daniel Hicks 9.7 (10th year) Dropped
2B Brian Moore 8.7 (5th year)
1B Augusto Rodríguez 7.0 (2nd year)
CL Aaron Shaw 7.0 (3rd year)
CL Bob Kirby 5.0 (3rd year)
C Joe Craft 4.7 (2nd year) Dropped
SP Lee Hull 4.3 (2nd year) Dropped
SP Scotty Bodhe 4.3 (2nd year) Dropped
SS Paul Peterson 2.0 (1st year) Dropped

[NYY #23]

Bill Olson was our closer with the Expos, and hit free agency this year. He did return from injury last year and went 9-4 with 7 saves and a 1.96 ERA in 96 1/3 innings, after being replaced as closer while injured. We agreed to a five year $29 million contract with Olson with the last year being a team option.

We also signed Jesus Reynoso to a one year $1.4 million contract after he was 7-4 with 43 saves and a 3.08 ERA last year. I'm hoping the late innings will be covered with a combination of Olson, Reynoso, Keith Hahn (1-6, 48 saves, 3.08 ERA), Jeff Gibbons (69 IP, 2.09 ERA), Jason Browning (65 IP, 0.97), and Marshall Roberts (31 2/3 IP, 1.42).

Our next signing was 36 year old 2B Ben Bevan who agreed to a one year $10.5 million contract with a team option for the same amount in 2046. Last year Bevan hit .302 with 25 home runs, 73 RBI and was worth 5.5 WAR. He has good defensive ratings at 2B, 3B, and decent ratings at shortstop.

Third baseman Ambrose Whaley signed a one year $1.6 million contract. Last year he hit .227 with 14 home runs and 52 RBI. Starting pitcher Billy Duckering was signed to a one year $2.2 million contract to provide some depth. He was 6-11 with a 4.20 ERA in 171 innings.

Hopefully this will be enough to get us to the next level. According to the offseason report we've added 11 WAR this offseason. On paper that should be enough to get us back to the postseason.

[NYY #23]

April was good for the Kodiaks going 19-8, although we've cooled off with an 8-5 record to start May. We're still in first place though, and in good position with a four game lead.

Some things haven't gone exactly as I expected though, and my manager Fytor Anacoreta won't let me mettle with player strategy. That's caused some roles to not line up how I envisioned, with players like Ben Bevan playing off the bench, Ambrose Whaley playing shortstop, and Bill Olson not closing, and even making a spot start that's killed his ERA.

But we're in first place and I think things will stabilize as the season progresses.

Around the league 31 year old Michael Ford picked up his 2000th hit for the A's, and our very own Bill Bevan hit his 300th home run of his career.

[NYY #23]

While the Kodiaks have the best record in baseball at 39-17 the red hot Rockies are right on our heels with a 37-18 record. Once again we're being carried by our pitching and defense. Offensively it just seems that Vancouver is a place where offense goes to die, but as long as we can score more than our opponents that’s all that matters.

[NYY #23]

A 10-3 start to June has the Kodiaks opening up an 8 1/2 game lead over the Rockies, who have started June 3-10. Things are going well in Vancouver.

We did get some bad news when Marshall Roberts hit the disabled list. Roberts was 7-2 with a 3.08 ERA in the rotation this year.

The Kodiaks were drafting 26th in the amateur draft, and this year I turned over drafting responsibilities to my scouting director. In the first five rounds we've selected -

CF - Randy Burns
SS - Alfredo Rocha
CF - Cal Kuhn
CF - RC Weaver
SP - Tom Keller

[NYY #23]

June turned out to be the worst month of the season for the Kodiaks where we went 16-10. We still hold a comfortable 7 game lead over the Rockies and Mariners though.

In addition to Roberts hitting the disabled list we also lost both Will Alvarez and Fernao Dimas to injury. Luckily we have some depth though, and I think we'll be able to get by while they are out. We'll get a glimpse of top prospect, centerfielder Tony Garcia. He's still just 20 years old, but the international amateur moved quickly through the minors and he looks ready for the majors.

Jason Clair of the Mariners collected the 3000th hit of his career. 39 year old Antonio Delgado of the Brewers also reached a milestone with his 2000th career hit this month.

[NYY #23]

The Kodiaks had a big month going 19-5 in July and have opened up our lead to 12 games in the NL West. Our offense is starting to come around as well, and we decided to stand pat at the trade deadline.

The Kodiaks saw Jesus Concepcion, Cesar Delgado, and Danny White selected to the All-Star game.

We also gave extensions to manager Fytor Anacoreta, bench coach Steve Burns, and trainer Jim Harold who all had contracts expiring after this season.

The Kodiaks also dipped our toes back in the international amateur free agents, signing 16 year old starting pitcher Marcos Cruz. He's a long way away, but has front of the rotation potential. Hopefully I'll be out of Vancouver by the time he arrives in the majors.

A couple notes around the league, Jim Houlbrook of the Cardinals hit the 400th home run of his career. It was just the 2nd home run of the year for the 37 year old. Jose Mejia of the Rangers pitched a no-hitter this month. Mejia is 13-3 with a 2.30 ERA on the season.

[JaBurns]

Pitching & Defense seems to be the key. Bet the Red Sox hope so at $217M for Price.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by JaBurns

Pitching & Defense seems to be the key. Bet the Red Sox hope so at $217M for Price.

Wow - I didn't see the news yet, quite a big haul for Price. I'm hoping that pitching and defense is the key though!

[NYY #23]

There isn't much to say this month - the Kodiaks went 18-9 and hold an 11 game lead over the Dodgers. With the Dodgers up 9 1/2 games in the Wild Card race we're in good shape.

Hector Sanchez of the Padres became the second player this year to reach 3000 career hits. The 36 year old is hitting .294 this year. 39 year old Adrian Saucedo and 37 year old Jim Houlbrook each picked up their 2000th career hit for the Cardinals this month. Mark Graves of the Knights hit three home runs in a game this month.

[NYY #23]

It's hard to believe, but with 111 wins this year the Kodiaks have now won more games than any other team in my worst to first history, four more wins than the 107 win Expos from four years ago. I definitely feel like we have a good team, and a team capable of winning the World Series, but I certainly don't feel like we have the best team ever.

We did get a little bit lucky, our expected record was 106-56, but pitching and defense has definitely carried us. It's a little bit ironic, but we acquired both Cesar Delgado and Jesus Concepcion in the same deal. While Delgado was the big time prospect, Concepcion was the third reliever in the deal, just a spare bullpen arm. Concepcion never made a start in the minors before we acquired him, and didn't until his second year with Vancouver. Things just started to click for Concepcion, and he went from a reliever to #92 prospect in baseball to #11 prospect in baseball to a major league debut where he went 9-7 with a 3.04 ERA.

Throw in Whitfield, who we traded for after going 5-8 with a 4.44 ERA before Vancouver, and 9-5 with a 2.31 ERA after the trade. They've certainly formed a dominant, but unexpected trio.

[NYY #23]

Let's take a look at the playoff tree:

[NYY #23]

We'll begin our playoff journey taking on the Colorado Rockies. We've faced off against our division rival 12 times this year, and won 8 of those games. While Colorado had a better offense we have a bigger advantage with our pitching staff. Vancouver allowed 487 runs this year, compared to 655 for the Rockies. We match up well, so hopefully we can get the job done on the field.

[NYY #23]

Cesar Delgado got the Game 1 start for the Kodiaks today and would pitch seven strong innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 5 and walking 2 batters. He left with a tied 1-1 game after Will Alvarez singled and Lorenzo Moreno doubled.

Despite the solid effort by Delgado he would get a no decision. Keith Hahn would take over and pitch a scoreless eighth. The ninth was a little bit of de ja vu with Jason Browning coming in to the game with the score tied. Browning was 4-4 this year with 36 saves and a 2.17 ERA as our new closer. Tonight he gave up a home run to Roberto Hernandez to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead.

The Kodiaks would need to score to avoid going down in the series, and Aurelio Sanchez would come off the bench to draw a walk. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ambrose Whitley. A single by Flint Reed would tie the game at 2.

Alonso Navarro would come off the bench and deliver a pinch hit single to put runners on first and second with one out. Tomas Flores would draw a walk to load the bases, and the Kodiaks would send another pinch hitter into the game, Tony Price. Price has hit .266 this year with 5 home runs as our fourth outfielder, outperforming AC Bancroft who we traded to acquire Price.

I was worried we made a mistake originally making the deal, but even discounting his regular season performance, Price made the deal worth it tonight after Price delivered a pinch hit walk off single to give us the 3-2 win and take a 1-0 series lead.

[NYY #23]

The Kodiaks would score first today when Fernao Dimas reached on an error in the second inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single by Stephen Borden.

The Rockies would come back and tie the game in third, but the Kodiaks would score two runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by Ben Bevan and Fernao Dimas.

Rob Whitfield would pick up the win after six strong innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. Terry Brown would pitch two scoreless innings in relief, and Jason Browning would pick up the save with a scoreless ninth.

Steven Borden would add a solo homer in the eighth to give us an insurance run in our 4-1 win that puts us up 2 games to none.

[NYY #23]

Jesus Concepcion was making the start today for the Kodiaks, and he had a rough start. Concepcion lasted just 3 2/3 innings while allowing 5 runs on 10 hits, four of those runs coming on a grand slam by Pascal Sisto.

The Rockies would beat us 6-3 today, and now trail the series 2 games to 1. Our offense had trouble scoring today, with a two run home run from Tomas Flores our only sign of life.

[NYY #23]

It was a rough day for the Kodiaks' bullpen today. Cesar Delgado would leave after 5 innings after allowing just 1 run on 5 hits today and a 2-1 lead.

Bill Olson is a pitcher that I really had high expectations for when we signed him as a free agent. He's had a solid season this year with a 5-3 record, 2 saves, and a 3.11 ERA. The ERA probably doesn't tell the entire picture though, because there were really four games this year that Olson would like to forget. Take away those four outings and his ERA would be 1.29. While that's not a totally fair exercise, my point is really 60 of the 64 times Olson pitched this year were good.

Tonight he had the fifth game he would like to forget giving up 4 runs in an inning and a third. He was relieved by Terry Brown, who was 7-0 with 2 saves and a 1.11 ERA this year. Tonight Brown gave up 3 runs in a third of an inning.

It just wasn't the night for our bullpen, and we lost 8-3 and suddenly the series is tied at two games. We'll send Rob Whitfield to the mound for Game 5 to try and take back control of the series.