OOPS I did it again

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PLAYOFFS DAY 19
CIP 5 WAS 3 (10)

• Guijosa 4.2 IP 4 H 3 BB 3 ER Wright 2 IP 0 H K (W)
• Jesse Roberts PH 2R 2B to win it
• Nieves 3H 2B
• Chavez 2H HR (2) 3R RBI
• Chris Cross 2B 3 RBI (7) Trahan 2H R
• Series tied 1-1

• Brooklyn beat Boston 6-4 to take a 1-0 series lead

.

PLAYOFFS DAY 20

• Brooklyn beat Boston 8-1 to go up 2-0 in the ALCS.

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2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 21
CIP 4 WAS 2

• Brumfield dropped to 6th, Nieves to 2nd.
• Bush 7.1 IP 4 H 2 ER (W) Wright 1 IP K SV (4) Nieves 2H RBI (13)
• Garcia 2H R Brumfield 2H HR (3) R RBI (8) Stachowski 2 2B (4) RBI (5)
• Villarreal (L) 7 IP 11 H 7 K 4 ER
• Chicago leads the series 2-1

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2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 22
WAS 11 CIP 2

• Morris 9 H 7 ER 4 IP (L)
• Brumfield 2H HR (4) RBI (9)
• Dan Trahan 3H R RBI
• Series tied 2-2

• Brooklyn beats Boston 5-1 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.

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2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 23
WAS 3 CIP 2

• Avendano 6.1 IP 4 H 3 ER (L)
• Sergio Ramirez 7 IP 6 H 5 K 0 BB 2 ER (3-1 2.81)
• Dan Trahan 3H HR (1) 3 RBI (4)
• Washington leads the series 3-2

• Boston snags an extra inning win 3-2 to get on the board in the series, they're down 3-1.

2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 24

• The Colonials score 6 times in the 8th and 9th to come back and win 10-5 and make the series 3-2 Brooklyn.

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2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 25
CIP 5 WAS 0

• Garcia 4-4 2 2B 2R 2 RBI SB (2) Perez 3 RBI
• 4 run top of the 1st
• Guijosa (W) 6.2 IP 2 H 6 K 6 BB
• Henderson 2.1 IP 3 K BB 2 H

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2013 PLAYOFFS DAY 26

• Down 3-1 entering the 9th Bill Brumfield slams a 2-out 2-strike 2R HR to tie the game! Joe Bush was incredible. He goes 8 allowing 3 ER before Matt Wright comes in for the 9th. He gets the 1st out, then a Mike Palo 2B. He fans Enrique Galvez for the 2nd out before hitting Daniel Gonzalez with the 1st pitch.
• Russell Matson, on a 2-2 pitch, lines it to right center and Palo beats the throw home to give Washington the walk off series win!
• Dan Trahan goes 12-30 HR 4 RBI to win series MVP

• Boston destroys Brooklyn 12-2 and for the 2nd time this post-season a team has come back after being down 3-0 to force a win or go home 7th game.
• Washington came back from down 3-0 to beat New York in the Division series.
  
• After never happening once in 23 years of post-season play, it could possibly happen twice in the same post-season.

ALCS GAME 7

• And they do it! Beating Brooklyn 2-1 with series MVP Chris Willis (.357-4-6) driving in the winning run in the 8th.

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2013 WORLD SERIES

• Boston defeats a heavily favored Washington Jets club rather easily, 4 games to 1.
• OF Kyle Griffin goes 8-20 3 HR 6 RBI to win the WS MVP.
• It's Boston's 2nd title in the past 3 seasons, and their 3rd overall.
• They defeated Las Vegas two years ago and Atlanta in 1998.

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IRON MINOR LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

• At AA the following Hawks won Silver Sluggers
• 1B- Adam Higgins .329/.386/.548 19 HR 54 RBI
• 2B- Marco Hernandez .281/.394/.441 14 HR 43 RBI
• 3B- Andy Williams .275/.333/.543 32 HR 92 RBI
• LF- John Tite .250/.354/.542 31 HR 59 RBI
• DH- Adam Higgins .311/.392/.570 20 HR 51 RBI

• AA Manager Justin Wellman took home manager of the year. He's been offered a 3 year extension.
• In the AA MVP voting Indianapolis C prospect Jim Deutsch took home the honors hitting .343/.401/.524 with 22 2B 13 HR and 66 RBI's.
• Adam Brigham, Andy Williams, Adam Higgins, Marcos Hernandez, and John Tite took 2nd through 6th in the voting with Williams (7) and Brigham (4) getting 1st place votes.
• Justin Tar (AAA) finished 2nd in AAA Reliever of the year voting getting 4 1st place votes for his 2-2 12 Save 2.27 ERA season. He went 43.2 IP 30 H 53 K and 16 BB
• OF Matt Chiquete hit .297/.355/.495 23 HR 70 RBI to win the AAA RF Silver Slugger
• At Albuquerque 1B Mike Johnson and LF Rick Arbuckle took home Class A Gold Glove awards.
• John Timmerman went 8-6 2.60 to win Class A Pitcher of the year. Astute readers may remember Timmerman being involved in the 1st big trade I made with Fresno back in May of 2011, along with SP Alex Espinosa and a 2nd pick for Closer Mario Mendoza and OF Andre McAdams.
• David Arroyo 10-4 4.09 finished 8th in the voting and Joe Holsinger (10-4 3.78) 10th. Holsinger set an Albuquerque record with 152 K's in 128.2 IP and walked a record 82 hitters.
• As expected 3B Jason Schwartz took home AA MVP after his monstorous .288-42-96 year with Milwaukee. The only shock was he did not garner all 32 votes. The other vote went to teammate Rick Arbuckle who hit .321/.412/.510 with 24 HR and 83 RBI.
• Teammates Gil Ermatinger (6th) Jaden Brown (8th) and AJ Lanigan (11th) also appeared in the final vote.
• Nashville RF Dusty Blair won the Short Season Gold Glove in RF
• Rookie league Minneapolis saw 3 Berserkers take home Gold Gloves.
• P Alex Espinosa, 1B Phil Richards, and LF Diego Martinez.
• Nashville LF Edwin Mejia hit .292/.383/.534 with 9 HR and 24 RBI to win the Silver Slugger

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IBL OFF-SEASON BEGINS


CHICAGO IRON PIGS PERSONNEL, CONTRACTS, FINANCIALS AND FRONT OFFICE NEWS

• The immediate news is that backup catcher Chris Davis player option will not be picked up. He was fine in that he stayed healthy and gave Brian Stachowski a rest, but he hit .195 and was an average defender and he's 37. Like to get younger here.
• LH reliever Mark Williams went 6-0 2 Saves 2.66 ERA 44 IP 26 H 49 K to 17 BB with an 0.98 WHIP. An easy decision to pickup his 1.8 million option.
• After pocketing 47+ million, revenue sharing almost 17 million, the budget drops? Just a million but still? A 79 million 2014 budget is more than enough but man, what's a guy gotta do?
• For the 2nd year in a row we led the league drawing 3.8+ million. Our ticket prices will rise from 17 to 20 dollars.
• We will spend the cap on scouting, 1.34 million, same with the International budget at 770K. Player Development we will hit the cap at 2 million and today project to make “just” 14 million after all expenses next year with a 44.6 million payroll. That will change.
• We have 3 arbitration eligible players.
• Rick McKitrick is going to be around 700K, and he wants more than I want to offer on a long term deal right now as he's looking for 18+ over 5 years.
• Pete Ricks wants 1.4 million, and is worth it. We are talking about an extension to avoid arbitration.
• Juan Chavez looks to be around 978K, talks on an extension broke down for now.
• Chris Davis will not get a QO, and will be allowed to walk.

OWNERSHIP MEETING
Mr Johns had to be pleased right, we made him a truck load of cash and were 1 game from the World Series?
“I'm disappointed you could get a Hank Aaron award winner here. The fans are starving for a superstar. And I don't understand your inability to reap rewards on the Int. FA market. This country is about diversity Curt!
“I'd hoped we'd see a marked improvement in the one area I counted on you to know, starting pitching. Any way to crack the top 5?
But all that being said I am ecstatic you have this team so close to a title, it was totally unexpected this year and even next year would have been great.
Let's reach the playoffs again next year, improve that staff ERA, get my a Hank Aaron award winner and get this minor league system into the top-6 again. The coaches room isn't as good today as it was opening day, fix that and for gosh sakes find us an international star!
I'd like to have a WS Trophy in my office within the next 5 years.”

You're welcome......
Hank Aaron award winners A) don't grow on trees and B) Aren't generally found on the trading block.
I accept full responsibility for the SP issue, that will be addressed this winter if at all possible.
The Coaching staff will undergo some changes. I've let our base coaches go, our scouting director position is open with a huge offer out to a star GM.
I have zero clue what you mean by your displeasure with the international FA market other than we traded our best prospect in a trade I am still unsure on whether I should have made or not.

IBL PERSONNEL AND TEAM NEWS

• Indianapolis was sold to business entrepreneur Brian Butts. Reported to be a fairly tolerant guy that will spend and let his baseball people do the baseball things he pays them for.
• He's a winner and wants to win above all else.
• Denver fired GM Jake McDonald and Manager Justin Farmer after a 75-87 finish.
• Pittsburgh fired their first GM Chris Bruckner. After making the playoffs in year 1 they've gone 138-186.
• San Diego fired Manager George Griffith whose been there since 2003. He had his worst year since coming on at 65-97 and was 891-891 in 11 seasons making the playoffs 5 times.

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2013 AWARD WINNERS
HANK AARON AWARD (MVP)
AL- 2B Colin Courtright (BRK) .328-48-128 142 R
NL- 2B Luis Corona (SF) .256-59-160 107 R

SANDY KOUFAX AWARD
AL- Jose Martinez (CLE) 13-7 2.88 160 K 203.1 IP
NL- Juan Laurel (SD) 11-9 2.76 237 K 209 IP (His 2nd)

JACKIE ROBINSON AWARD
AL- 1B Kenny Andrew (CBK) .249-36-81
NL- LF Jon Parillo (LA) .260-33-93

MARIANO RIVERA AWARD (Best Reliever)
AL- Jima Zahur (CLE) 7-4 34 Saves 1.59
NL- Demetrius Leonard (JAX) 6-6 33 Saves 2.12

TRAVOR HOFFMAN AWARD (Best Rolaids total)
AL- Jeremy Harris (BOS) 4-4 45 Saves 1.54
NL- Alberto Torres (EP) 4-5 41 Saves 2.94

GOLD GLOVE AWARDS
None for Chicago this year

SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS
3b Jose Nieves .285/.348/.529 32 HR 89 RBI

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IRON PIG GOINGS ON THROUGH EARLY NOVEMBER
11/4

• Bench coach Raul Chavez, 1B coach Dave Stephens, 3B Fred Stackbein, scouting Director Justin David, Hitting Coach Eng-hee Leong all left the club after being informed their contracts would not be renewed.
• Some may seem odd but behind the scenes things deteriorated once again. There was some dissent in the coaches room and for a team to be as good as we were in the first eight weeks and to see the spiral after coincide with the club struggling, was, to me, not a coincidence.

11/6

• John Stapleton signs a 3 year deal to become the new 1B coach
• SP Matt Boyles was claimed off waivers from LA. The 24 year old will be out 9-10 more months after elbow surgery.

11/17

• Hitting Coach Bill Degner signed a 3 year contract
• SP Rodolfo Nunez was claimed off waivers from Brooklyn
• RP Yadier Perez was claimed off waivers from Los Angeles
• Nunez is an interesting case as a potential 3-star talent and just 24
• Perez has 3-4 months of recovery time remaining after shoulder surgery has kept him out the past 12 months.

11/8
CHICAGO MAKES 2 SIGNIFICANT MOVES

• On Friday the Iron Pigs announced the signing of their new Scouting Director Rogelio Barrera to a 5 year deal. A brief cup of coffee back in 1992 (8 at-bats) before retiring and working in various capacities for multiple organizations over the last 20 years.
• This is his first full time scouting directors job and he comes with a highly touted set of talents.
• One of the best international scouts in the game who excels at talent evaluation of IBL level players and apparently has a very keen eye for amateur talent as well.
• Additionally reliever Pete Ricks was signed to a 5 year 8.6 million dollar contract extension.
• The 27 year old had a fantastic season going 5-1 1SV 1.34 over 61 games and 60.1 IP allowing 47 H 62 K's with 18 BB. The deal carries him through his age 32 season.

11/10
CHICAGO AND CHARLOTTE MAKE A DEAL
The Chicago Iron Pigs have traded recently signed RP Pete Ricks and 1B Jesus Ramirez to the Charlotte Defenders for 24 year old 1B Joe McLain and a 2014 3rd round draft choice. Ricks, signed just 2 days ago, was ambivalent about the deal “Hey, we all know it's a business and the deal I signed probably made me more attractive to other clubs, no biggie.” the former Chicago reliever stated as he packed his locker at the “Pig Pen”.
Ramirez was on the IBL-AAA shuttle the past 2 years and just never seemed to stick with the parent club due to their surplus of good defending 1B and the rise of power prospect Bill Brumfield.
McClain is apparently built in the same mold as Brumfield with power projected to be 20+ and an eye that will draw 100+ walks. He'll whiff more than his share of times and likely never win a batting title but he'll hit for power and get on base. He could play 1B every day if needed.
McLain was the 1st overall pick in 2007 out of East Side HS in New York and rose to be the IBL's #1 prospect in 2008 and was the 21st ranked prospect in 2012.

BACKROOM CHATTER
This deal was made without a head scout, and immediately after the Ricks deal. McLain is a virtual carbon-coby of Brumfield all the way to their defensive tool sets. Huge power, almost looks to be a young Adam Dunn with a tad more hit.
Bounced around the minors but mainly at AAA since 2009 where he's hit .218/.341/.399 with 118 HR's in 636 games. He's whiffed 743 times to 372 BB in 2781 PA's.
Ricks was 27, and a RHP and someone at a place we feel we have good depth. Not an easy arm to let go of.
Ramirez actually started to hit a bit this year (.279/.340/.419 in 47 PA) while at AAA he hit .328/.385/.449 but the power thing will not be part of his tool set. Charlotte is apparently going to give him a shot at SS where we've always had him as a below average defender.

11/11

• Placed both Perez and Boyles on the 40-man roster for now.
• Signed 3B Coach Ian Hanson to a 5 year contract and Bench Coach Josh Ulmer to a 2-year deal.
• AA Manager Justin Wellman was promoted to AAA New Orleans as the new manager there.

11/14
I gave myself a birthday present.

CHICAGO, GARCIA, COME TO TERMS
Happy times in Chicago as the Iron Pigs and star 2B Gus Garcia put the finishing touches on an 8 year 60.6 million dollar contract extension that will keep the star in Chicago through age 33.
Garcia is a career .310 hitter with a .377 OBP and has hit 75 HR's, 99 2B and 26 3B's (leading the league with 11 each the past 2 years) while driving in 248 runs and scoring 269 times. He's 38-59 in SB.
He's a 2-time all-star and finished 2nd in Jackie Robinson voting in 2011. His best position is 1B and he's a solid 3B as well but can play 2B, SS, and LF well enough if he wanted/needed to be moved to accommodate the team.
He'll earn 2.2, 5.2, 6.2, 7.2, 8.2, 10.2, 10.2 and have an 11.2 million dollar player option in year 8. Money he should far exceed being worth if he stays healthy (he's played in 309 of 324 possible games the past 2 years).

BACKROOM CHATTER
We've got enormous financial flexibility and I absolutely believe if you can spend it on a known commodity you do so. A solid defender and a game changing bat who can hit anywhere in the top 4 spots based on the lineup. Destroys LHP.

11/15
CHICAGO SIGNS HENDERSON
2012 draftee Allen Henderson and the Chicago Iron Pigs today agreed to a 7 year 7.985 million dollar contract extension. With just 90 days of service this was seen as a very generous move on the clubs part. Henderson figures to be a high-leverage back end lefty for years to come. Taken 56th overall out of the University of Oklahoma in the 2012 draft.

BACKROOM CHATTER
Easy deal. Yes he gets a lot more than arbitration may have allotted him but the savings, if he's the pitcher we believe he is, will come through buying out his arbitration years.
Never a bad move to show young players league-wide you invest in your own and don't need to be 'forced' to pay more via arbitration or free-agency.

MANAGERS OF THE YEAR
San Francisco's Phil Torres took home the NL Manager of the year award while World Champion Boston Colonials manager took home his 2nd award for the AL prize.

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FREE AGENTS FILE

• Markets getting a bit younger and there's a ton of older pitching out there this year. I've set my sights on an ace.
• Alberto Meera is a 32 year old former Koufax winning righty who won his 3rd world series last year. He's 127-78 3.38 lifetime over his 9+ years.
• He's thrown 1862 IP fanned 1869 to 560 BB allowing 1630 hits. He's led the league in wins twice, K's once and WHIP once. His most important stat? Since 2005 he's never made fewer than 31 starts. Surpassing 200 IP 6 times (barely missing this year at 197). He works in the upper 90's and consistently hits triple digits. He's also a 6-time all star.
• He's asking for an 8 year 13.66 million AAV contract and he is not a Compensation free-agent.
• We've gone in at 6 years 67 million and he's talking with his agents.

• Jacksonville signed their own FA John Simmons to a 3 year 17.4 million extension with the third season a vesting option at 25 GS. Simmons, 34, is a 5-time all-star and 2008 Koufax winner. He's 169-140 4.06 lifetime over 427 G and 2762 IP with 2655 K's and a 1.26 WHIP.
• Austin inked 2-time Aaron award winner Andrew Jacobi to a 5-year 59.3 million dollar free-agent contract with an opt out after year 2. The 32 year old 6-time all star and Jackie Robinson award winner is a .313/.396/.528 career hitter with 365 2B 168 HR and 743 RBI's in 1233 games and is 226-300 in SB. He's won 2 batting titles, led the league in hits twice, 2B once, 3B once, OBP 3 times, SLG% once, OPS twice and WAR twice. He's also won 6 Silver Slugger Awards.
• A few days later Austin announced the signing of 2-time all-star Mike Carson Jr to a 5 year 43.5 million dollar deal. The 30 year old spent last year in New England hitting .268/.341/.407 while leading the league in stolen bases for the 6th time, and 5th consecutive year with 64. he's 514-580 lifetime.

CHICAGO GIVES STACHOWSKI 5 YEARS
Catcher Brian Stachowski and the Chicago Iron Pigs announced agreement on a 5 year 21.8 million dollar extension for the 26 year old catcher. The final 2 years are team options at 6.1 million each with base salaries of 1.5, 3.5, and 4.56 the first three years of the deal. Those are three arbitration years and the club options represent his first two years of free-agency.

BACKROOM CHATTER
Another example of giving money to “what you know”. He's solid on both sides of the game. Not a legend by any stretch but a big presence in the clubhouse and steady hand on the field. He's hitting .266/.338/.394 over 368 games with just 35 HR's. Most importantly he shows up. He's hovered around 30-35% in RTO and after a solid 2012 .3.3 ZR and 1.211 EFF he dropped to -1.5 and .936 but his RNG went up for a 3rd straight year. Did have a career high 11 PB this year and his ERA shot up to 4.26 though I can't blame him if our pitchers can't throw strikes. Good, solid deal imo.

2013 WINTER MEETINGS

• New England kicked off the meetings announcing the signing of former Austin Roughneck SP Francisco Alvarez to a 3 year 20.9 million dollar deal with year 3 being a vesting option at 180 IP. He also received a limited no-trade clause. The 14 year veteran is 193-129 3.32 ERA over 425 games, all starts. He's a two-time Koufax winner, 9-time all-star and a world champion.
• He's led the league in wins (3x) ERA (2x) IP (4x) K (1x) K/9 (3x) WAR (2x) and has 2708 punch outs to 750 BB in 2870 IP.
• Indianapolis Signed FA 1B Marco Lopez to a 3 year 22.5 million dollar contract. The 37 year old his .303-18-70 for the Chicago Hitmen last year and is a careeer .329/.398/.517 hitter over his 16 years. He's a two time MVP, Rookie of the year, 8-time silver slugger and a 13 time all-star including 3 post-season series MVP awards.

RULE 5 DRAFT
Pittsburgh selected 23 year old Tony Mejia off our New Orleans roster in the AAA draft. Mejia was 10-10 3.41 in 26 starts at AAA last year. He's just 23.

CHICAGO HANDS OUT LARGEST CONTRACT IN BRIEF 3 YEAR HISTORY
The Chicago Iron Pigs held a press conference today to announce the signing of 32-year-old Alberto Meera to a 6-year, $76 million contract. The contract calls for a player opt out in the final year of 12 million. The base salaries are 12, 12, 14, 14, 12 with the additional option year.

BACKROOM CHATTER
A true “Ace” with a track record. It cost me. I rearranged the base to try and insure I was paying for productive years rather than 30'ish million for a final 2 years at 38+. Him, Joey Morris and Bush are a solid top 3.

SAVIGNANO OPENS THE IBL HALL OF FAME
Catcher Nick Savignano became the first player in history to be inducted into the IBL HOF and he did so in his first year of eligibility.
The 11-time all-star and 1998 MVP Hit 421 HR's while slashing .251/.350/.469 over his 18 years. He spent the bulk of his career in Las Vegas, whose hat he will don on his plaque. From 1991 to 2004 he called Vegas home, hitting exactly 400 of his 421 career HR's.
He is the IBL career leader for C in G, AB, R, TB, HR, RBI, CS and K's.

MORE SIGNINGS

• Los Angeles signed 32 year old C Adam Higgins to a 4 year 10.4 million dollar deal.
• The same day, after hearing New England had ended their pursuit of Higgins (where he spent the last 2 years) the Revolution announced they'd signed 37 year old SP Nick Thomas to a 3 year 19.2 million dollar deal.
• The Chicago Hitmen signed 1B Eric Hamilton (from New England) to a 4 year 13.44 million dollar deal.
• The Boston Colonials gave 28 year old closer Brian Myers 48.6 million to call Boston home for the next 4 years.
• Denver signed 35 year old Closer Jerrod Osborn to a 2 year18.4 million dollar deal.

CHICAGO NABS MILAZZO
31 year old catcher Dan Milazzo signed a 1 year 550K contract with the Chicago Iron Pigs. The 2012 gold glove winnner was said to be ecstatic at the opportunity to backup and be a part of what he called 'one of the best young teams in the game'.

BACKROOM CHATTER
The best defensive catcher I've ever seen in this league. My previous high was a scout grade of 17 on Defense, Milazzo is a 20 from OSA and our guys rate him a 19. He probably won't hit a lot but he also won't be a hollow spot in the lineup. Great sign at a great price.

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IBL ANNOUNCES MAJOR RULES CHANGES

• The IBL has announced a change to both free-agency and arbitration for IBL players.
• Players will now be required to have 8 years of service time prior to becoming free-agents and eligibility for arbitration has increased by one year as well.
• Players around the league are extremely unhappy and there is some rumors about a potential work stoppage...

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2014 SPRING TRAINING

• Jacksonville's Ricky Ramirez was hurt on day 1 of camp and will miss all of spring training.
• Charlotte SP David York (12-6 3.81) will miss all of 2014. The 27 year old will have elbow surgery.
• San Francisco lost a shiny new acquisition as 35 year old Dallas Nafus (4-10 24 SV w/OKC last year) will have season ending elbow surgery.
• San Francisco 3B Matt Jones will miss the 2014 season. Jones, 28, hit .245-15-58 last year will have knee surgery for a torn MCL.

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2014 DRAFT LOTTERY RESULTS
Pick/Pre-Lottery position
1/3 Columbus Black Knights
2/2 San Diego Missions
3/1 Oklahoma City Tornado
4/4 Detroit Phantom
5/5 Portland Spartans
6/7 Phoenix Roadrunners
7/6 New England Revolution
8/8 Pittsburgh Miners

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CHICAGO, PHILADELPHIA AGREE TO TRADE
The Chicago Iron Pigs have finalized a deal that will send RHP Dan Ferguson (22) OF Dave Wheeler (29) OF Cory Dillon (27) and RHP Marcos Acosta to the Philadelphia Patriots for 27 year old CF Rico Guzman.

BACKROOM CHATTER
This was a combination of things, most important guys without options not making the big club, a surplus of OF'ers and the ability to get a GG winning CF who can hit and is just 27.
Rico Guzman is rated a 4.5 star CF with the 2013 Gold Glove in his pocket. He hit .267/.315/.403 with 40 2B 10 HR and was 25-27 in SB. He led the league with 55 2B in 2012.
He's a career .265/.315/.419 hitter with 168 2B 30 3B and 49 HR and is 119-144 in SB. He's Kevin Dietz with a bat.
Both OF'ers were RHH surplus guys for the most part and Ferguson, who actually had a nice spring was not going to take a rotation spot and just isn't fit to relieve.
In my mind this could end up being the biggest acquisition and roster upgrade of the year.

• To make room LHP Trevor Carlson is DFA'd, while Dietz is optioned to New Orleans.

That should have our roster at 26 for opening day.

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2014 OPENING DAY CHICAGO ROSTER
ROTATION

1. Alberto Merera (33) RH
2. Joey Morris (26) RH
3. Joe Bush (27) LH
4. Ricky Avendano (33) RH
5. Bobby Guijosa (30) RH

BILLPEN
Lefties
Mark Williams (33), Allen Henderson (23), Ramon Rivera (25)
Middle/Long RH
Hayden Eichele (22)
Setup
Rick McKitrick (25)
Chris Becker (25)
Stopper
Nate Gross (26)
Closer
Matt Wright (35)

The bullpen should be solid. League leading if all holds. Gross improved his control enough over the winter that he will likely be the backup should any issues arise with Matt Wright.
I still worry about control and our SP, and their ability to eat innings.
Having said that I am actively looking to move Guijosa and I don't need Cy Young in return. What I need is a solid SP who does not walk 5+ per nine and can give me 60%+ quality starts? Maybe that's too much of an ask but I feel like the top 2 are legit, and I would have confidence going into a post-season series with them at the top. Lots of younger arms in the minors but Luis Ornelas is the only one that feels anything like a top of the rotation arm in the making. Need him to get off to a good start at AAA. I have depth in AAA starting for an injury or two but not to the top 2 for sure. I'd like to see Henderson progress to the high leverage late inning arm I drafted him to be.

Catchers
Brian Stachowski (26) RH, Dan Milazzo (31)
Infield
1B/DH
Bill Brumfield (22) LH, Joe McLain (24) RH
2B/SS/3B
Juan Chavez (24) RH, Gus Garcia (25) RH, Jose Nieves (21) LH, Dave Pedraza (23) LH, Mark Calkins (33) RH
OF
Jesse Roberts (29) LH, Rico Guzman (27) RH, Justin Krieg (28) RH, Daniel Perez (22) RH

• I expect this offense to be good. Calkins just needs to catch the ball and hit a bit more and the move for Guzman changes the career path for Kevin Dietz. He does not hit anywhere near enough to be a backup OF and hopefully something clicks in AAA or someone shows an inordinate amount of interest. I have a slew of young OF power hitting prospects for depth and to potentially move for a solid IBL level player.
• One issue is Brumfield and McLain, they truly are carbon copies offensively. Huge power, .350+ OBP eyes but will likely be sub .250 average guys. Neither is a base clogger but neither will win a SB title.
• Brumfield alone carried us for a few weeks last year, if by some force of nature BOTH get hot at the same time, with Garcia and Nieves? Look out.

• Our 79 million budget ranks 4th with our now 61 million payroll (ranked 5th)
• Season Tickets were kicked up to 20 bucks (+14.9%)
• Sales were down 5% with per game attendance predictions at -9.2%
• Our revenue per game is predicted to bump 9.2%
• We've capped our Scouting budget at 1.3 million, draft expenditures at 500K as well as our Int. FA budget being capped at 1.55 million.
• Our minor league system is ranked 14th at season opening.

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2014 PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS

• Boston, Dallas, Wyoming and Charlotte are predicted to win their divisions and Dallas is predicted to do it with a 78-84 record!
• San Jose and Cleveland are the predicted WC.
• Once again experts are predicting an monster season for Philadelphia's Zach Stewart. This year he's predicted to hit 82 HR's!!
• In the NL it's New York and Washington in the East, El Paso, Fresno, and Las Vegas.
• San Diego and Washington are the predicted WC with Fresno and Wyoming to be the World Series participants.
• Gus Garcia is predicted to have another huge year (.318/.387/.598 34 HR 110 RBI's with Zach McMillion taking home the Koufax at 19-9 3.44. Jamie Morris is predicted to go 16-8 4.07.

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WEEK 1
3 vs Washington 3 @ OKC
RUNS SCORED: 44 (1st)
RUNS AGAINST: 40 (16th)
OBP: .357 (1st)
STARTERS ERA: 6.50 (15th)
RELIEVERS ERA: 4.85 (12th)
DEF EFFICIENCY: .688 (14th)
ZONE RATING: +0.8 (10th)
ERRORS: 2 (t-3rd)

RESULTS (3-3 t-1st)
1-2 vs Washington 2-1 @ OKC
4/7- CIP 5 WAS 3 Merera (W) 6.1 IP 9 H 2 K 2 BB 3 ER Wright SV (1) Krieg 2H SB R RBI Garcia 2H R RBI Stachowski 3H 2B R 2 RBI
4/8- WAS 7 CIP 6 Wright BS 0.2 IP 4 H 4 ER walk off grand slam Morris ND 6 IP 7 H 3 K 3 ER Krieg 2H 2B SB 2R 2 RBI Brumfield HR 2 RBI Garcia 2H Roberts 2H SB
Chris Cross (WAS) 3H 2 HR walk off grand slam 5 RBI
4/9- WAS 6 CIP 4 Bush (L) 7H 2 HR 6 ER 3.2 IP Roberts HR (1)
Chris Cross (WAS) 3H 2B (3) HBP 2 RBI (8)
4/10- OKC 8 CIP 5 Another bullpen implosion Williams 5H HR 4 ER 0.2 IP BS (L) Avendano 5 IP 6 H 4 ER Stachowski 2H HR 2 RBI (4) Brumfield 0-5 4K
Carlo Ambrogi (WYO) went 5-5 in a 10-6 win over Philadelphia
4/11- CIP 9 OKC 6 Rivera 0.1 IP 2H 3 ER Guijosa (W) 6 IP 2 H 6 BB 5 K 1R Krieg 3H leadoff HR 4 RBI (8) Guzman 2B 3B 3 RBI McLain HR (1) RBI
4/12- CIP 4 OKC 2 Down 2-0 entering the 9th. Merera ND 5.2 IP 4 K 2 ER McKitrick (W) Wright SV (2) Krieg 2H R 2 RBI (10) SB (2) Chavez H 2 RBI 1st start of the year


LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS
AL POTW- 1B Carlo Ambrogi (WYO) 17-31 3 HR 4 RBI 10R
NL POTW- 1B Jonathan Battle (SF) 13-26 2 HR 10 RBI 5R

[gehrig38]

WEEK 2
3 vs Indianapolis 3 @ Los Angeles OFF DAY
RUNS SCORED: 78 (1st)
RUNS AGAINST: 65 (t-13th)
OBP: .370 (1st)
STARTERS ERA: 5.57 (15th)
RELIEVERS ERA: 5.23 (12th)
DEF EFFICIENCY: .693 (10th)
ZONE RATING: +2.4 (8th)
ERRORS: 6 (t-6th)

RESULTS (8-4 +3)
3-0 vs Indianapolis 2-1 @ Los Angeles
4/13- CIP 11 IND 8 Krieg 3H 2R RBI (11) Garcia 2H HR (1) 3 RBI (6) McLain 2H HR (2) 2 BB 2R RBI Brumfield 2H Guzman 2H 2B 2 RBI (6) Stachowski HR (2) 2R RBI (5) Morris 7 ER 3.1 IP ND Wright SV (3)
4/14- CIP 13 IND 6 Bush ND 5.1 IP 10 K 3 ER McLain 3-3 2 BB 2B HR (3) 3R 3 RBI (6) Daniel Perez 2 HR (2) 5 RBI (5)
4/15- CIP 6 IND 5 Brumfield 2H 2B walk off 2R 1B McKitrick BS (W) Wright SV (4)

• 23 year old SS Sal Castro (NE) broke his elbow and will miss the entire season.

4/16- LA 12 CIP 5 Guijosa 3.1 IP 8 H 2 HR 7 ER 'Pen 4.2 IP 9 H 5 ER McLain 2H HR (4) 2R 2 RBI (10) Nieves 2H HR (1) 2 RBI (4) Error Stachowski 3H 2B Perez 3H
LA 17 hits, 4 players with 3 apiece
4/17- CIP 2 LA 1 Merera (W) 6 IP 4 H K 0 BB ER Wright SV (5) Garcia 2B HR (2) 2 RBI BB R
4/18- CIP 9 LA 1 Morris (W) 8 IP 2 H 6 K 1 ER Krieg 2 2B (3) 2R Garcia 4H 2B (3) 2 RBI (10) Rico Guzman 3H 2B SB (2) 2R RBI Brumfield 2 2B (5) HR (2) 3 RBI (8)
4/19- OFF DAY


LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS
AL POTW- 2B Manny Martinez (CHI) 10-22 2 HR 5 RBI
NL POTW- 1B Bill Brumfield 11-23 2 HR 6 RBI 6 R