Monty Brewster Baseball Association Recruiting Thread (historical)

[mikev]

Powers dealt for infield help

It has just been leaked that the New Orleans Crawdads and the Hackensack Bulls have finished up a deal that will send reliever Marty Powers to Hackensack in exchange for infielder Tim Syed.

Syed, who has only 11 ABs this season through 20 games ("It's tough to be a backup to Butter, Mash, and Nails," said Syed) will be inserted as the starting shortstop for the Crawdads until Kosuke Fukudome returns from injury, at which point Syed is likely to slide over to Third Base and relegate Pepper Brooks to a backup role.

"It's tough to lose Marty," said GM Mike Voelker. "He's been a rock for us, and replacing his 90 innings per year won't be easy, but we really needed the infield help as there's not a lot in the minors for us right now."

Powers said it was bittersweet leaving New Orleans. "You know, I had a great time here, and there's not much that's more fun than Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I guess the Jersey Turnpike is okay, but the chance at getting beat in the first round of the playoffs is something that you don't get to do a lot, unless you're a Bull."

To complete the deal, the teams agreed to swap 2nd round picks. Hackensack moves up to the 4th pick in the round, while New Orleans will now pick 19th.

[Recte44]

- League name: Monty Brewster Baseball Association (MBBA)
- League URL: http://montybrewster.com
- League type (historical, fictional, etc): fictional/historical
- Special league rules: Lots. It's a writing league. See the League Constitution
- Number of teams: 24 in MBBA, we have two independent leagues that we may fill with human owners once we switch to 2007 (MLB and AABA)
- OOTP version: Currently 2006, plans to switch to 2007

[mikev]

(repost)

[mikev]

Getting worse... Osborne and Sato Awarded!

A very unspectacular 3-6 sim leaves New Orleans with a 17-20 record, in a 3 way tie with Birmingham and Des Moines in the FLM and 2 games behind division leader Austin. With only 1 team over .500, it's a far cry from the glory days of the once-dominant FLM.

We opened the sim by dropping the final 2 games of a 3 game set with Seattle, by scores of 6-4 and 8-2.

Next, in what can be unequivocally described as the low-point of the season so far, New Orleans was swept by the friggin Calgary Marauders. Seriously, that's horrible. Everybody on the team should be fired.

Luckily, we played [urll=http://www.sixfivepony.com/mbbauniverse/leaguesite/news/html/teams/team_13.html]Montreal[/url] next and had a bit of an opportunity to stop the bleeding. It was a good start, with a 10-5 victory. The middle game would go to the Blazers, 3-2 in 11 innings before the 'Dads would take the series with a 9-1 romp that featured Lee Dedeaux throwing a complete game with 14 strikeouts and 1 walk.

After an off day, New Orleans notched a 4-0 victory over division leader Austin.

Not a very good sim, but really it's where we expected to be with this very young group of guys.

However, there was some good news that we didn't touch on last issue. Starting pitcher Donovan Osborne was awarded the Frick League Pitcher Of The Month for April. Donovan went 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 48 innings to take the award. Then, rookie centerfielder Tsukasa Sato was given the Rookie Of The Month award, with a .293/.322/.405 line with a homer, 8 rbi, and 11 runs scored for the month. He's sinced raised his numbers to a very solid .325/.350/.457 and is looking like he could be a ROY candidate.

Upcoming Schedule

5/11 - v. Austin
5/12 - v. Austin

5/13 - @ Birmingham
5/14 - @ Birmingham
5/15 - @ Birmingham

5/16 - v. Atlantic City
5/17 - v. Atlantic City
5/18 - v. Atlantic City

5/19 - v. Buffalo
5/20 - v. Buffalo

[mikev]

Originally Posted by Millsy, Washington Bobwhites GM & MBBA Commish

5/11/96

It’s official. At 14-23 the Washington Bobwhites are the worst team in the MBBA.

Let us see.....

Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average            .242 - 11th in JL
On-Base Percentage         .301 - 10th in JL
Slugging Percentage        .378 - 7th in JL
On-Base + Slugging         .679 - 8th in JL
Runs Scored                 147 - 8th in JL
Hits                        308 - 9th in JL
Extra-Base Hits             94 - 6th in JL
Home Runs                   35 - 6th in JL
Bases-On-Balls              106 - 5th in JL
Strikeouts                  285 - 6th in JL
Stolen Bases                14 - 10th in JL

Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average          4.66 - 12th in JL
Starters' ERA               4.66 - 12th in JL
Bullpen ERA                 4.67 - 8th in JL
Runs allowed                190 - 12th in JL
Hits allowed                358 - 11th in JL
Opponents AVG               .276 - 11th in JL
BABIP                       .328 - 12th in JL
Home Runs allowed           36 - tied for 8th in JL
Bases-On-Balls              106 - 9th in JL
Strikeouts                  280 - 7th in JL

Its hard to imagine that as bad as our offense has been, that we actually fall into the middle of the JL pack. However, the pitching staff tells another story. Through 37 games the Bobwhite pitching staff is the absolute worst of the JL.

The question now becomes, can we actually come up with a pitcher/batter of the sim? We think it can still be done.

Pitcher of the Sim:
Kevin Drury. 2 starts for a record of 1-1 with 14 innings pitched. Went 8 innings vs. Hackensack, giving up 0 runs on 4 hits while striking out 6. Went 6 innings vs. Omaha, giving up 3 runs on 10 hits while striking out 4. Season record stands at 3-3 with a 3.67 ERA.

Hitter of the Sim:
Ramon Echague. Despite an OPS of .697 for the sim, the Bobwhites left fielder managed to lead the team in hits (9), RBI's (5) and was 2nd in Runs Scored (5). Despite even this less than stellar performance, Echague is hitting .296 on the season with 5 HR's and 20 RBI's.

PGHBATP of the Sim: That would be, Please Get Hit By A Truck Player of the Sim. There are simply to many to list at this time.

Needless to say there is a major shakeup on the way in Washington. Stay tuned for a trade block near you.

[mikev]

We're not very good.

The Crawdads began the sim on a good note, splitting the last two of a 3 game series with Austin. New Orleans then took two of three to division rival Birmingham. Then the sim started to go downhill, as we lost two of three to Atlantic City. The lone bright spot in that series was starter Donovan Osborne picking up a win to raise his record to an impressive 7-1 on the season.

Consecutive losses to Buffalo finished out the sim with a lackluster 3-7 mark. Currently at 21-26, New Orleans is still only 3 games behind FLM leading Austin, the only team over .500 in the division. It seems as if nobody wants to take control of the division at this point.

The team is seriously considering bringing up one or two of its exellent prospects, most notably outfielder Tipper Kengos and pitchers Paul Alfred and Leonel Oliphant. Kengos has virtually no more development left to do, but his numbers at AAA Baton Rouge aren't really anything worth writing home about. Alfred, on the other hand, still his room to grow in both the Stuff and Control categories, but his peripheral statistics (8+ k/9, 1.16 WHIP, 3hr in 89 IP) seem to point at him being ready to finish his developing in the MBBA. Oliphant seems to be in between Kengos and Alfred, as he's still got a bit of devleoping left but sill has above average stats in AAA and could boost the Crawdads bullpen.

Upcoming Schedule

5-21 - v. Buffalo

5-23 - @ Long Beach
5-24 - @ Long Beach
5/25 - @ Long Beach

5-26 - v. Des Moines
5-27 - v. Des Moines
5-28 - v. Des Moines

5/29 - @ Hackensack
5/30 - @ Hackensack

[mikev]

Jagger dealt to Calgary

The New Orleans Crawdads and Calgary Marauders have completed the second trade between the two teams this season, with New Orleans sending outfielder Arthur Jagger in exchange for Brad Komminsk.

Komminsk, 35, is expected to be mostly a reserve, but will see most of his time against left handed pitchers.

When GM Mike Voelker was asked about the deal, he offered his comments: "We had two guys in AJ and Moonlight (Graham, New Orleans outfielder) that could both hit righties fairly well and play good defense, but we didn't have enough spots in the lineup. With Brad, we get a guy that hits lefties and is content to be mostly a reserve. It's a good fit, and he's been around awhile so he can give Tipper (Kengos, New Orleans prospect OF) some pointers if and when he is called up this season."

Is this a hint at a possible callup of Kengos to play center, with a platoon of Graham and Jason Stucky, who leads the team in HRs despite only playing against lefties), and Sato manning left field? That's what the rumor mill has been churning out, but apparently the team is not sure if they want to start Kengos' clock this season or not.

[mikev]

Knock Knock. Who's there? Last Place

So, the Crawdads are 25-32, 6 games behind Austin and in last place in the Frick League Midwest. The sim started with a win over Buffalo, then losing 2 of 3 to Long Beach, getting shut out twice by Des Moines (it's okay, we laid a fifteen spot on them in game 1 of the series), and then losing 2 of 3 to Hackensack. Ho-hum.

The biggest question about the team being terrible: Why? The answer: Offense. After trading away team aces Robert Grove and Shawn Boskie before the season started, Expectations weren't high for the pitching staff.
However,

Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 3.44 - 2nd in FL 
Starters' ERA 3.22 - 1st in FL 
Bullpen ERA 4.32 - 10th in FL 
Runs allowed 217 - tied for 4th in FL 
Hits allowed 468 - 2nd in FL 
Opponents AVG .245 - 2nd in FL 
BABIP .305 - 5th in FL 
Home Runs allowed 46 - tied for 5th in FL 
Bases-On-Balls 178 - 8th in FL 
Strikeouts 482 - 2nd in FL

Not bad considering that we were supposed to be horrible in all aspects of the game this year, so the good pitching is a nice surprise. The offense is another story though, as their highest ranking in any offensive category is 5th (extra base hits). There's lots of 9ths or worse, which is bad in a 12 team league.

To try and rectify the situation, outfielder Arthur Jagger was dealt to Calgary for veteran Brad Komminsk, who will be one half of a platoon with [url=http://www.sixfivepony.com/mbbauniverse/leaguesite/news/html/players/player_2310.html]Archibald Graham[/url[, with the other corner outfield spot taken by a platoon of Tsukasa Sato and Jason Stucky.

What about Centerfield, you ask? Say hello to the Crawdad's new leadoff hitter, Tipper Kengos Kengos will be a tablesetter for the team and his defense is above average. His Eye and Avoid K's are very developed, as is Contact, and he's equally effective against lefties and righties. We love him, and the Kengos name is an institution in New Orleans.

Upcoming Schedule

6/1 - v Las Vegas
6/2 - v. Las Vegas
6/3 - v. Las Vegas

6/5 - @ Seattle
6/6 - @ Seattle (Happy fake online birthday, Mikey!)
6/7 - @ Seattle

6/8 - @ Calgary
6/9 - @ Calgary
6/10 - @ Calgary

[mikev]

Stumbling towards the All Star Break

Things aren't looking any better. Let me put is this way: When all the Breaking News on your Team Homepage is about other guys beating the crap out of your club, you've got some work to do. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a rebuild year to keep from getting really pissed off. Losing sucks, even when it's fake online baseball. I don't even think I've had a .500 season yet in New Orleans. Ouch.
Anyways, we're 27-39, 8 back of Birmingham who happened to come into 1st this sim, overtaking Austin, while Des Moines has clawed their way into a tie with Austin, 1 behind the assBandits.
The sim started with a win over Vegas that was sandwiched between two losses (Recte cheated to win), That was followed up by a 3-game sweep at the hands of Seattle, who still refuses to give me Dash, and then we took the first game of a series with Calgary before dropping the last 2. So, there you have it. Two ****ing wins, seven losses. Deep breath. We're rebuilding.

Well, at least Jason Stucky is doing his part. I'm so happy he finally started to develop. He's got a 1.015 OPS in his first full season, and leads the team with 10 homers. I love that guy.
Tipper Kengos, on the other hand, didn't quite make as big of a splash as was expected. Several other GMs in the league agreed that it was time to call him up and let him run wild on the league. Instead, he decided to go 8-for-36 in his first 9 games. He hit a double though! The promising part: 6 walks, 3 strikeouts. That's a positive. Hopefully he makes the transition soon, because the guy's got the ratings to be one of the best leadoff men in the game.

We also called up starter Paul Alfred, who has stopped developing in the minors. He's still got some room for his stuff and control to improve, so he'll be inserted as the spot starter for now, but we'll make sure he gets plenty of opportunities. As of now, the starting rotation is still decent, and the offense is killing the team. As usual. Either way, Alfred is too old to be in AAA anymore and we will still control him for 6 more seasons.

The upcoming sim is also the final sim of the first half, as the All-Star Game is going to be played on 6/22. More than likely Donovan Osborne will be the only representative from the Crawdads.

Upcoming Schedule

6/11 - v. Montreal (trade me Bolt)
6/12 - v. Montreal (trade me )
6/13 - v. Montreal (trade me Bolt)

6/14 - @ Austin
6/15 - @ Austin
6/16 - @ Austin

6/18 - v. Birmingham
6/19 - v. Birmingham
6/20 - v. [urll=http://www.sixfivepony.com/mbbauniverse/leaguesite/news/html/teams/team_17.html]Birmingham

[mikev]

League feature, posted by Tedesco23, Baltimore Monarchs GM

On June 15, the all-stars were announced for both leagues, and I thought that it would be interesting to go through each team, see who was selected, and more importantly, who might have a case for having been snubbed. This post will focus on the Johnson League:

BALTIMORE
IN:
SP LaSalle 11-2, 2.58, 1.12 WHIP
CL Henry 19 sv, 2.60, 1.12 WHIP
2B Black .322, 9, 56, .832 OPS
1B Torres .299, 15, 54, .882 OPS
RF Renner .313, 7, 39, .828 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Cordero 7-6, 3.05, 1.17 WHIP
It's hard to argue for snubs for the team that placed the most players on the all-star team, but Cordero has a reasonably strong case, with solid numbers across the board, including 11 quality starts.

LOUISVILLE:
IN:
SS Hauser .332, 15, 45, .974 OPS
3B Lueras .310, 11, 41, .921 OPS
C Cruz .270, 17, 47, .887 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Nastay 8-4, 3.20, 1.13 WHIP
No Louisville pitchers are all-stars in 1996, but if any has a case, it's Nastay. Excellent numbers across the board; opponents are hitting just .209 against him.

WASHINGTON:
IN:
3B Davidson .270, 14, 41, .831 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Howell 6-4, 3.12, 0.98 WHIP
Howell's case is made on WHIP alone, really. Probably hurt by low innings totals due to low endurance. But very solid numbers thusfar.

GREENVILLE:
IN:
SP(?) Logan 23 sv, 2.16, 1.15 WHIP

SNUBBED?
CF Hayes .314, 4, 17, .813 OPS
Hayes gets recognized here for his solid numbers at the top of the order, in particular his 24 steals (which are perhaps offset by being caught 8 times).

MADISON:
IN:
CL Dever 20 sv, 2.62, 1.22 WHIP
1B Lee .294, 17, 52, .911 OPS
RF Moniz .302, 12, 49, .901 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Barbosa 7-5, 2.35, 1.13 WHIP
Madison has gotten good season out of several starters, but Barbosa's ERA--good for 5th best in the entire MBBA--puts him a class above.

OMAHA:
IN:
SP Vanness 9-3, 1.55, 0.87 WHIP
SP Mitrani 10-4, 3.04, 1.19 WHIP
1B Greene .332, 9, 37, .955 OPS

SNUBBED?
LF Elsner .301, 12, 49, .858 OPS
A very good year for Elsner in his debut in the MBBA, after clubbing 42 homers in the AABA last season.

PHOENIX:
IN:
CL Washington 18 sv, 1.39, 1.08 WHIP

SNUBBED?
SP Nebraska 5-6, 2.52, 0.96 WHIP
Several snub candidates for Phoenix on both offense and defense, but Nebraska gets the nod in spite of his losing record. His other numbers are uniformly good. Opponents are hitting just .208 off of him, and he's put up 11 quality starts out of 15 total.

CHICAGO:
IN:
SP Steadman 10-8, 1.94, 1.02 WHIP
CL Wasson 18 sv, 1.91, 1.24 WHIP
CF Malkowski .300, 19, 41, .939 WHIP
1B Fort .299, 8, 42, .847 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Nepal 7-7, 2.96, 1.11 WHIP
It'd be hard to argue that a last place team with four all-stars had any snubs, but Nepal has the best case. 19 starts already due to Chicago's 4-man rotation.

VALENCIA:
IN:
CL Braunstein 19 sv, 2.35, 0.85 WHIP

SNUBBED?
1B Jackson .272, 18, 48, .812 OPS
Sort of the opposite of Chicago here, where we have a first-place team with just one all-star. Lots of candidates here, but Jackson leads the pack, with excellent power and run productions as Valencia's #3 hitter.

CALIFORNIA:
IN:
SP Rebhan 7-4, 2.58, 1.06 WHIP
CL Taylor 20 sv, 5.93, 1.79 WHIP
C Reyes .290, 13, 42, .866 OPS
RF Benson .298, 4, 22, .776 OPS

SNUBBED?
Sp Combs 8-8, 2.84, 1.01 WHIP
Solid numbers for Combs, but the bigger surprise here: how the hell did Taylor (he of the -5.8 VORP) actually qualify as an all-star???

VANCOUVER:
IN:
LF Manville .271, 19, 54, .934 OPS

SNUBBED?
1B Plantier .248, 22, 54, .770 OPS
I know the average is low, and he has an anemic .273 OBP, but those power numbers at least deserve a second glance.

HAWAII:
IN:
RF Quintero .296, 11, 31, .802 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Palomo 7-5, 3.36, 1.33 WHIP
It's honestly hard to find a plausible snub candidate on the Tropics, but Palomo has a winning record for the worst team in the MBBA, and that counts for something, I suppose.

[mikev]

League feature posted by Tedesco23, Baltimore Monarchs GM

Just like I did for the JL, I thought it would be interesting to take a kind of inventory of who made the all-star team, and also to take a quick look at who didn't make it and might have a case for being an all-star. Here goes:

HACKENSACK:
IN:
MR Poso 8 sv, 1.55, 0.91 WHIP
LF Alleyne .321, 1, 18, .858 OPS
CF Mohler .314, 6, 40, .781 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Neidnagel 7-3, 2.93, 1.11 WHIP
Neidnagel has posted the best WHIP and ERA on what is a deep and talented rotation. He's thrown 122.2 innings in 15 starts, which works out to over 8 innings per start.

ATLANTIC CITY:
IN:
Sp Brochtrup 10-2, 2.94, 1.15 WHIP
CF/C Angle .271, 10, 33, .839 OPS
RF Murphy .296, 15, 34, .896 OPS

SNUBBED?
1B Luna .296, 10, 37, .825 OPS
Luna is one cog in a solid overall offense. He's got 17 doubles already.

MONTREAL:
IN:
SP Rivera 8-3, 2.60, 1.17 WHIP
CF Vanderhugen .332, 17, 50, .972 OPS

SNUBBED?
2B Pere .315, 4, 30, .853 OPS
Pere's easy to miss at the top of Montreal's lineup, but he's putting together a very solid season, with an OBP of .394 to go with 17 doubles and 5 triples.

BUFFALO:
IN:
CL Ripken 16 sv, 2.60, 1.24 WHIP
MR Nilson 5-1, 2.19, 1.05 WHIP

SNUBBED?
SP MacGyver 6-4, 2.74, 1.25
MacGyver is putting together a solid season near the bottom of Buffalo's rotation. He's the only starter with a winning record on the struggling team.

AUSTIN:
IN:
CL Wendon 15 sv, 1.52, 0.73 WHIP
3B Barfoot .311, 13, 36, .869 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Dickson 5-8, 2.49, 1.01 WHIP
Despite a poor record, Austin's ace has had an excellent year, with phenomenal ERA and WHIP and 12 quality starts out of 16 total.

BIRMINGHAM:
IN:
CL Lopez 15 sv, 4.31, 1.15 WHIP
2B Cain .350, 3, 32, .865 OPS
1B Larkin, Jr. .437, 2, 21, 1.161 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Bodeen 7-2, 2.01, 0.95 WHIP
Perhaps one of the biggest snubs in the entire league. Bodeen has the 4th best ERA in the entire MBBA, and he has an astonishing BB/K ratio, with 13 walks and 125 strikeouts.

DES MOINES:
IN:
SP Harris 11-5, 1.60, 0.97
1B Matsumoto .309, 8, 41, .805 OPS

SNUBBED?
C Cascio .296, 3, 18, .773 OPS
Cascio gets acknowledged here on the basis of an excellent .403 OBP, and 41 runs scored in 64 games.

NEW ORLEANS:
IN:
SP Osborne 8-5, 2.96, 1.32 WHIP

SNUBBED?
SP Fagg 6-4, 2.48, 1.18 WHIP
Fagg has quietly put together a very good year near the bottom of the Crawdads' rotation.

LAS VEGAS:
IN:
SP Madorin 10-3, 2.86, 1.29 WHIP
CL Avalos 20 sv, 1.67, 0.80 WHIP
3B Picou .306, 15, 59, .850 OPS
SS Williams .316, 5, 28, .786 OPS

SNUBBED?
1B Lynch .315, 13, 36, .934 OPS
So many players have contributed to the Hustlers' great 1996 season thusfar, but Lynch has been right in the thick of it, posting a 24.2 VORP to this point.

CALGARY:
IN:
SP Vazquez 9-4, 2.75, 0.92 WHIP
C Avatar .324, 13, 39, .904 OPS
RF Iraq .348, 10, 40, .977 OPS

SNUBBED?
SP Plemel 9-4, 2.40, 1.27 WHIP
Plemel has a rock-solid case to be an all-star, with excellent numbers across the board. He's got 13 quality starts out of 16, and he's given up just three home runs in those 16 starts.

LONG BEACH:
IN:
SS Jackson .323, 10, 26, .891 OPS
1B Sale .307, 12, 43, .912 OPS

SNUBBED?
CF Ashley .323, 7, 26, .827 OPS
Not an overwhelming case here, but in a year of low averages, anything over .320 is worth noting.

SEATTLE:
IN:
RF Kelly .420, 4, 29, 1.001 OPS
SNUBBED?
CF Pennebaker .300, 16, 48, .904 OPS
There's several players on the Storm who could make all-star cases, but Pennebaker gets the nod here for all-around solid numbers as the #4 hitter on the Storm.

[mikev]

1996 Amateur Draft Recap

Since the big league club totally sucks, we're going to do what we can and look towards the future. That said, here's the recap from the Crawdad's 1996 Amateur Draft: Our first 2 picks now show up in our top prospect list

SP Joaquin Adonte (Round 1, Pick 7, 7th overall Pick). - Adonte is an 18 year old 10/9/9, 14 endurance monster with a fastball that can touch 94mph. He also features a changeup and a splitter for his out pitch. He'll start in single A, and looks to be an Ace in training.

2B Doug "Pogo" Wells (Round 1, Pick 11, 11th overall Pick) - Defense be damned, Wells 8/10/9/5/7 talent set as a middle infielder are impressive. He projects to be an offensive powerhouse if he develops, but will probably see some time at first base in the minors to hide his subpar defense.

CF Broderick "Bud" Bundyt (Round 1, Pick 19, 19th overall Pick). - Bundy may very well be my favorite pick in the draft. His 7/8/2/7/7 talents are nothing spectacular, but since I have a gigantic mancrush on Dash Kelly and Bundy has slightly better talents, I'm in love with the guy.

MR Esteban Garcia (Round 2, Pick 7, 31st overall Pick) - Good endurance, decent stuff and control, movement off the charts. He gets more groundballs than flyballs, and has the ability to pitch 3 or 4 innings in relief. We like him, and he could be an "uberMR" in the future.

SS Trace Wilcox (Round 2, Pick 19, 43rd overall Pick) - Low contact, decent eye, above average defense. Hopefully Wilcox will develop into a serviceable utility player, and will get some time at second and third to (hopefully) develop both of those positions as well, making him a more valuable defensive player.

MR Tetsu Yama****a (Round 3, Pick 7, 55th overall Pick) - Getting a 7/6/7 lefty in the 3rd round isn't bad at all, especially when he throws 90pmh and features a screwball! He could be a decent reliever, but realistically probably needs a bump to be anything more than a back of the bullpen guy.

MR Billy Simpkins (Round 3, Pick 15, 63rd overall Pick) - If getting a 7/6/7 lefty with pick 55 isn't bad, then getting a 7/7/6 lefty who throws even harder and has more endurance at #63 is downright cool. It's hard to fathom a guy who throws 95mph as only having a 7 Stuff rating, but whatever. Our pitching prospects suck, and this guy makes them better.

CF Marcel Dufort (Round 5, Pick 7, 103rd overall Pick) - CPU pick. Uh, he's kinda fast I guess.

C Blayne Davis (Round 6, Pick 7, 127th overall Pick) - CPU Pick. Minor league filler. Good defensive rating at Catcher, but not a lot else to look at here.

RF Kamatari Shirane (Round 7, Pick 7, 151st overall Pick) - CPU Pick. He's actually not a horrible pick at 151, with an 8 gap rating at least there's something to work with, and he's got plus speed to go along with a 20 rating in RF. Still, probably a career minor leaguer.

2B Cubert Leister (Round 8, Pick 7, 175th overall Pick). - CPU Pick. Q-BERT! NICE!

LF Heinz Rickerly (Round 9, Pick 7, 199th overall Pick) - CPU Pick. Heinz Ketchup = Pretty freaking good. Heinz Right Fielder = Not so good.

SP Jon Hamilton (Round 10, Pick 7, 223rd overall Pick) - CPU Pick. 3 stuff, 4 movement, 16 endurance. He's going to give up about a million runs in his career.

1B Arturo Abasta (Round 11, Pick 7, 247th overall Pick) - CPU Pick. This low in the draft, a guy with 6's across the board who will probably be a decent minor leaguer isn't bad. He'll probably never make the bigs.

MR Cal McSourley (Round 12, Pick 7, 271st overall Pick) - CPU Pick. He's McCrappy.

1B Pedro Cavazos (Round 13, Pick 7, 295th overall Pick) - CPU Pick. This guy might be the slowest player ever, but somehow he's got a 20 rating at 1B. I'm going to stick him in center field.

MR Ted Honaker (Round 14, Pick 7, 319th overall Pick) - CPU Pick. Whoa, wait a second here. You're telling me that there were 318 players on the board better than this guy? I mean ****, he's not a world beater and he's got low stuff, but 7 movement, 6 control, 71% groundball rating, and above average fielder for a pitcher. Please just give him one little bump, and this dude could make the bigs.

MR M. van Schaack (Round 15, Pick 7, 343rd overall Pick) - Not bad, an 8 in movement and pretty good endurance for a reliever. For a 15th round pick, whatever.

[mikev]

39-53. We're out of it, we've been out of it, and we're not gonna get back in it. That was expected this season, can't forget that. We're supposed to be bad. Gotta remember that.

Hey, Willie Williams won the POW award. Good job. Take off that Mets hat, a**hole. Of course once Tipper Kengos (no I will not trade you Kengos) gets rolling, with an OBP just a hair below .400, he gets hurt. At least it's only for another week, because our offense still totally sucks.

The good news is that help should be on the way. By on the way, I mean in the next couple seasons. Ninteen year old Rogelio Morales earned himself a promotion to AA after posting a solid .807 OPS in A ball, with 12 homers and more walks (43) than strikeouts (41). Hopeully playing against better talent will help jumpstart his ratings growth. Speaking of ratings growth, what does Rolland Plemons have to do to get some increases? He's gota .371 OBP, a bunch of doubles, 54 walks and only 37 strikeouts but his power won't develop. I guess a 22 year old in AAA is acceptable. Oh, and ping: Jeremy - .963 OPS in 22 games so I figured A ball wasn't where he should have been.

My current dark horse to win a spot on the Crawdads sooner rather than later: Bud Bundy, who has a .462 OBP in his first month, and already has a 10 overall contact and avoid Ks. I don't think my love affair with Dash Kelly is a secret, and Bundy could very well be better than Kelly Oh BTW, Kelly is still hitting .400. Insanity. ickles:

On the mound, Donovan Osborne continues to have a career year (which, of course, is obvious since it's his walk year), George Fagg continues to make himself invaluable to the team. Hell, even Nate Minchey has decent numbers this year. Recently promoted Paul Alfred is showing that he belongs in the bigs. He's made 2 starts, both wins, the first an 8 inning 1 run performance against Des Moines, the second a complete game 4 hitter against Hackensack, with 8 Ks and only 2 walks. We'll take it.

In an attempt to improve the crappy bullpen, the team has placed a waiver claim on Joe Shippee, who will be featured as the teams lefty specialist. This probably means that Abdal Tutmosa will be waived to the minors to make room.

Upcoming Schedule

7/12 - @ Las Vegas

7/13 - v. Seattle
7/14 - v. Seattle
7/15 - v. Seattle

7/16 - v. Calgary
7/17 - v. Calgary
7/18 - v. Calgary

7/20 - @ Montreal
7/21 - @ Montreal

[mikev]

A flurry of moves at the deadline for New Orleans

In a trade season that was relatively busy, the Crawdads made a quick flurry of moves, once involving the de facto team Ace, and another seeing a ridiculous salary brought on.

The first trade:

Long Beach sends:
SP Charlie Lindquist
IF Donnie Rotten
1997 1st round pick
1997 3rd round pick
New Orleans sends:
1B Albert Merico

Obviously a salary dump for LBC, but as talks with Hawaii for taking on the contract of Tim McGraw had died down, and Long Beach was extremely eager to move Rotten's estimated 28 million dollars owed over the remaining season and next year. It's definitely a hefty sum, but the 30 million dollar team payroll, combined with the fact that New Orleans would have been well above the league's cash max anyways, led to the completion of the deal.

"The way we looked at it, that money was literally gone if we didn't use it," said GM Mike Voelker. "We're already near the maximum amount of cash on hand for the season, so essentially we're getting a better than average pitcher and 2 picks for free."

It's slightly ironic that Rotten's contract would be dumped onto New Orleans, as the Crawdads were the ones who signed him to the initial deal and he was sent to Long Beach to alleviate salary cap hell several seasons ago.

In Lindquist, New Orleans gets a 23 year old pre-arbitration starter who is fully developed and already doing well in the MBBA. He sports an ERA below 4.00, strikes out nearly a batter an inning, and walks less than 3 per game. The front office is excited, when looking at his above average .340 BABIP, expecting it to regress to league average will make his stats look that much better. He'll immediately have a slot in the rotation, mostly due to the second trade:

Valencia sends:
1B Ernest Van Pelt
New Orleans sends:
SP Donovan Osborne

So, officially, thats THREE #1 starters that New Orleans has traded since the end of last season. Osborne had indicated that he wanted to test the free agent market after the team was leery of inking him to a deal worth over 8M per season earlier in the year. The decision to make a deal involving Osborne was made at the 11th hour, and the list of teams that were even available to deal with was slim. "We put out some feelers, but there just wasn't enough time to wait for responses, so we went with what we could." said Voelker.

It just so happened that Voelker ran into Valencia Stars GM Anthony Puhl as Puhl was stumbling out of an, ahem, Gentleman's Club. Puhl jumped at the chance to aquire Osborne, and agreed to deal Vanpelt with little hesitation.

Vanpelt is a first baseman without much pop, but he sprays the ball to all fields and is a fantastic baserunner. His plate discipline leaves something to be desired, but so far in the minors he's had very good numbers, putting up an .803 OPS in his first full season in AA as a 21 year old.

Combining the two deals, the team probably got an upgrade at SP and 2 extra high draft picks in exchange for a pitcher who wasn't resigning anyways and (possibly) 28 million dollars. If somehow the team convinces Rotten to retire at the end of the season, the total cash outlay drops to about 7 million, which would make the team ecstatic.

[mikev]

End Of Season Report

Finishing the season 67-95, the Crawdads mercifully saw the end of a rebuilding year and will have yet another Top 10 pick in next year's Ammy Draft (#3 overall).

The end of season awards will be brief, as there wasn't a whole lot to be excited about. The team had turned towards the future, with youngsters like Tsukasa Sato, Jason Stucky, and Tipper Kengos getting vast amounts of playing time. Obviously this would backfire, as Sato's talents would be shredded to the point of probably being a 5th outfielder at best. Kengos, who the team was VERY cautious with promoting in order to avoid bringing him up early and lumping, did just that. 7/8/2/9/9 talents should still be a serviceable MBBA'er though, hopefully. Then again, this is the New Orleans Crawdads we're talking about, and everybody knows that this team is cursed.

Batter Of The Year

1B Willie Williams - Williams basically wins this by defaultt. Everybody else on the team hits like ****, so the only guy who is reasonably productive is going to lead New Orleans in basically every offensive category. It'll be interesting to see how badly he kills me with his arbitration this year.

Pitcher Of The Year

SP Nate Minchey - Minchey was clearly the most valuable starter on the team. He lead the team in a majority of pitching categories including Wins, IP, Complete Games, and VORP.

Reliever Of The Year

Gunga Oogalagunga - You all know it was coming, but nobody else in my bullpen was worth a ****. Gunga had 35 saves, a 1.18 WHIP, struck out nearly a batter an inning, and hardly walked anybody. He cracked the 500 save mark this year, currently at 522, and he's got 101 wins on his career as well. That means out of the 1,080 games he's been involved in during his career, 623 of them have been victories. I guess .576 is a decent winning percentage (FYI, only one team had a winning percentage higher than that this year). In short, F U to all the HOF naysayers. I'll Wagner him in anyways.

Rookie Of The Year

CF Tipper Kengos - Kengos was supposed to be a monster. One of the best prospects in teh MBBA, his 9/8/2/10/9 talents were the stuff that superstars are made of. After a slow start, his OBP crept up towards .400 and he was playing like expected. Then the lumps came to Contact and Strikeouts, and he's now sitting below a .700 OPS. Great.

[mikev]

With the 1996 Regular Season having come to a close in the MBBA, we're going to have a brief recap of the postseason, starting with Round 1, The DoubleDay Series:

Doubleday Series Game 1

JL
Baltimore vs. Valencia: Valencia 4 - Baltimore 3. Lasalle and Hollins would battle to a 2-2 tie after 8 innings and leave it up to the bullpens. Valencia would prevail in the end. Valencia leads series 1-0.

Washington vs. Phoenix: Phoenix 5 - Washington 3. The Phoenix bats would prevale by scattering 12 hits for 5 runs. Phoenix leads series 1-0.

FL
Las Vegas vs. Hackensack: Las Vegas 14 - Hackensack 1. Las Vegas brought the sticks early and often. Las Vegas leads series 1-0.

Austin vs. Calgary: Calgary 3 - Austin 2. Things would be tied 2-2 at the end of regulation with the Calgary bullpen holding tough in extra innings. Calgary leads series 1-0.

Doubleday Series Game 2

JL
Baltimore vs. Valencia: Valencia 7 - Baltimore 2. The Stars would jump out early and stretch the lead in the later innings. Valencia leads series 2-0.

Washington vs. Phoenix: Phoenix 4 - Washington 1. Again, more hits equals more runs despite solid pitching on both sides. Phoenix leads series 2-0.

FL
Las Vegas vs. Hackensack: Hackensack 5 - Las Vegas 2. Burgundy would go 8 strong innings to cool off the Las Vegas bats. Series tied 1-1.

Austin vs. Calgary: Austin 14 - Calgary 4. Another FL blowout would see Austin score early and often. Series tied 1-1.

Doubleday Series Game 3

JL
Baltimore vs. Valencia: Baltimore 5 - Valencia 4. Baltimore would get into the win column and hold off the Valencia bats as LaSalle goes 8 strong. Valencia leads series 2-1.

Washington vs. Phoenix: Washington 3 - Phoenix 1. Solid pitching on both sides would see Washington come out on top. Phoenix leads series 2-1.

FL
Las Vegas vs. Hackensack: Las Vegas 4 - Hackensack 1. Las Vegas would jump out early and Hackensack could not mount an attack. Las Vegas leads series 2-1.

Austin vs. Calgary: Calgary 8 - Austin 4. Calgary would again jump out to an early lead and despite Austin's best efforts would hold on for the win. Calgary leads series 2-1.

Doubleday Series Game 4

JL
Baltimore vs. Valencia: Baltimore 5 - Valencia 0. 3 run shot by Torres in the 1st sealed the deal for Baltimore. Series tied 2-2.

Washington vs. Phoenix: Washington 2 - Phoenix 1. Scoreless thru 7 and tied at the end on 9. Washington's bullpen would hold on for the win. Series tied 2-2.

FL
Las Vegas vs. Hackensack: Hackensack 7 - Las Vegas 2. Do pitching duels not exist in the FL? Again the Bulls would grab an early lead that Las Vegas could do little about. Series tied 2-2.

Austin vs. Calgary: Calgary 7 - Austin 3. Austin would grab and early lead but the Marauders would not be denied. Calgary wins series 3-1.

Doubleday Series Game 5

JL
Baltimore vs. Valencia: Valencia 5 - Baltimore 1. The LaSalle magic would finally run short as the Stars pounded out 15 hits for the win. Valencia wins series 3-2.

Washington vs. Phoenix: Washington 2 - Phoenix 1. A 2-run shot by Moronobu in the 1st would be all the Bobwhites would need in what would be an excellent pitchers dual. Washington wins series 3-2.

FL
Las Vegas vs. Hackensack: Hackensack 4 - Las Vegas 1. The Bulls would finally prove to be to much and Spivey would go 8 strong to close out the series. Hackensack wins series 3-2.

Congratulations to the Calgary Marauders, Valencia Stars, Washington Bobwhites, and Hackensack Bulls on advancing to the Cartwright Cup and the chance at the Landis Memorial Series!

[mikev]

The MBBA's league championships are known as the Cartwright Cup. This season, the Johnson League saw the Valencia Stars take on the Washington Bobwhites, and in the Frick League the Hackensack Bulls faced the Calgary Marauders:

JL: Game 1

Washington vs. Valencia: Valencia 2 - Washington 1. Howell and Nollins would each go 8 full innings in a fantastic pitchers dual. In the end it would be the Washington bullpen who would cough up the lead. Valencia leads series 1-0.

FL: Game 1

Hackensack vs. Calgary: Hackensack 4 - Calgary 1. Vazquez would struggle and Hackensack would grab an early lead and never look back. Hackensack leads series 1-0.

----------------------------

JL: Game 2

Washington vs. Valencia: Valencia 4 - Washington 2. Again it would be Washington who would grab the quick lead and again it would be the Washington pitching who couldn't hold on. Valencia leads series 2-0.

FL: Game 2

Hackensack vs. Calgary: Calgary 3 - Hackensack 2. Calgary would score 3 in the 4th and that would be all they need despite a late charge by the Bulls. Series tied 1-1.

----------------------------

JL: Game 3

Washington vs. Valencia: Valencia 3 - Washington 1. Washington would out hit Valencia 10-4, but the name of the game is who scores more runs. Valencia leads series 3-0.

FL: Game 3

Hackensack vs. Calgary: Hackensack 4 - Calgary 1. Again, The Bulls would grab that quick early lead that the Marauders couldn't over come. Hackensack leads series 2-1.

----------------------------

JL: Game 4

Washington vs. Valencia: Valencia 10 - Washington 2. The game would be tied 1-1 through 6 but then the flood gates would open as the Stars would not be denied. Valencia Sweeps series 4-0!!!

FL: Game 4

Hackensack vs. Calgary: Hackensack 2 - Calgary 1. Scoreless through 7 full, it would be a 2 run shot by Magohachi that would put the Bulls ahead to stay. Hackensack leads series 3-1.

----------------------------

FL: Game 5

Hackensack vs. Calgary: Hackensack 10 - Calgary 8. Calgary scores 4 in the 1st. Hackensack scores 5 in the 1st. Calgary would fight back with 2 in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd to take a 7-5 lead. However the Bulls would tie things up in the 4th and then put the game and the series away with 3 in the 6th. Hackensack wins series 4-1.

Congratulations to the Valencia Stars and Hackensack Bulls, League Champions and representatives in the 1996 Landis Memorial Series!

[railroad_ross]

Might be fun for people to watch the Free Agent Market.

Nate Hollins SP – After leading the Valencia Stars to the MBBA championship Nate is sure to get a huge payday. However he is going on thirty-five years of age and may end up taking his nearly 4:1 K:BB ratio with him to another league. He currently make 11 million and it is not out of the question with the surplus of money in the MBBA that he could end up making more than that with his next contract. In 1996 he was 10th in the league in WHIP and had two shutouts help the Stars win the JL en route to a golden season.

Donovan Osborne SP – Another Valencia pitcher sure to get some attention is the recently acquired Osborne. Donovan had an All-Star season with a 3.00 ERA and was rewarded by New Orleans with a swift kick out the door. Valencia was all too happy to pick up the tab on the twenty-seven year old. Although his ERA jumped with his new team he still managed a 4-3 record down the stretch with the Stars. Currently Osborne makes 3.8 million per season and we can’t think that this will last.

Hoyt Perea SP – Hoyt played most of last season with the California Crusaders but looks to be winding down on his ten season career. He had a decent year last season before getting picked up by the Atlantic City Gamblers. He only made 2.5 million last season with is not bad for a pitcher that managed a 1.33 WHIP last season with the Crusaders.

Eric Van Leemer SP – Las Vegas certainly got their 3 million out of this guy last season as he helped bolster the teams starting staff by going 9-9 with a 3.38 ERA in 26 starts. Although he is thirty-six I’m sure some team is hoping he has enough left in the tank to post another 1.27 WHIP season.

Niles Renfork SP – Poor Niles. You suck.

Fernando ValenzuelaSP – Fernandomania lasted seven games in Chicago this season after being aquired from a hundred plus loss Buffalo team. He lit up the windy city by going 5-2 with a 2.42 ERA. He only made $505,000 last season so some team may give this aging Mexican wonder a shot.

Hipolito Pichardo SP – See Renfork.

Vincent Worthington MR – might be the best of a weak group of relief pitchers. At age twenty-nine I would have thought that Atlantic City would have tried to keep him since he only made $620,000 last season.

[railroad_ross]

Last place finish with League worst 51-111 record!

Hawaii Topics 1996 Hit Parade.

After a roster purge sent most to the Tropics 1996 major league team to green pastures the teams offensive production dropped like a busted piñata. The team which was near the top of the JL in batting average much of the season finished a meager .251 batting average good for 10th in the league. While the team had very few highlights, we will attempt to encapsulate a few for our year end hitters review.

Rookie Review

The team featured six rookie hitters on the major league squad by the close of the 1996 campaign. The most impressive was infielder Randy Square who was acquired off waivers from the Las Vegas Hustlers in 1995. Square played primarily thirdbase while hitting .301 with a .336 on-base percentage this season. While he is more of a stop-gap solution he does bring a decent glove to the field to support the wanting Tropics pitching staff. Two rookie shortstops split time toward the end of the season as Carl Jenkins and Chris Hartley finally got their calls to the Majors. Jenkins hit .269 in 108 at-bats while Hartley wracked up a .301 mark in 166 at-bats. More impressively Hartley played an error free Shortstop. Thirty-year-old rookie Sylvester 'Huck' Finn took over catching duties from Glen Linehan and went on to hit .270 in 230 at-bats while throwing out 45.5 percent of would be base stealers. The team will continue to feature inexpessive young talent for the next several seasons in an attempt to reclaim the teams rightful place as JL West champions. In the meantime we are kindly letting the Valencia Stars borrow the division and keep our place at the top warm.

Wily Verterans

Only three Topics players currently on the major league roster have more than three seasons of MBBA experience and none of those was good enough to be called Wily. However, 1995 waiver wire claim Ricky Jordan managed a .294 clip in 310 at-bats while slugging .413 for the season.

Outstanding Hitter for 1996

With the weak performances that Tropics batters displayed in 1996 it is hard to say that there is a player on the team that deserves the honor of being called outstanding. The only player with enough at-bats for qualify for the MBBA leaderboard is Santiago Quintero. The 2nd year outfielder walks away leading from 1996 leading the Team in every major offensive catergory after being aquired from Austin in the off-season.

G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
150 615 166 29 3 22 64 70 21 125 2 2 .270 .300 .434 .475 16.0

Hawaii Topics 1996 Pitchers Paradise.

If there is an upside to the Tropics miserable one-hundred eleven loss season it probably won’t be found on the Stating Staff. Veteran hurler Todd Swader lost twenty-one games to become the first Tropics pitcher ever to accomplish the feat. Meanwhile the staring staff combined for a colossal 4.61 ERA good for last in the JL. In fact, the Tropics staff was deal last in the JL in every pitching category except Home Runs Allowed and Base On Balls. However, the Tropics bullpen, despite trading both Ralph Desjardins and Darren Dreifort, did lead the team to a 12-9 record in extra inning games while compiling a mediocre sub 4.00 ERA.

Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average  4.45 - 12th in JL
Starters' ERA 4.61 - 12th in JL
Bullpen ERA 3.99 - 8th in JL
Runs allowed 768 - 12th in JL
Hits allowed 1613 - 12th in JL
Opponents AVG .286 - 12th in JL
BABIP .325 - 12th in JL
Home Runs allowed 163 - 9th in JL
Bases-On-Balls 415 - 6th in JL
Strikeouts 1005 - 12th in JL

In Sanner

After trading away Desjardins, Henry Sanner stepped up and filled in nicely at closer. The twenty-four year old rookie pitcher managed to post a 1.89 ERA in 62 innings with 10 saves and a WHIP hovering just above 1.00 and even made the JL relief award ballot.

Starting Staff Sucks S… (better stop there)

The starting staff needs a lot of work in the off-season. Francis Garza almost joined Todd Swader in the twenty loss club after posting a 1-18 record and a horrendous 1.70 WHIP. The teams second best starter Noah Lampan lead the team in Ks and posted a 4.02 ERA and 1.19 WHIP en route to a 9-16 record. The Lampan deal remains one of the better deals under GM Ross Grooters tenure in Hawaii.

Tropics Pitcher of the Year

Last off-season the Tropics where ridiculed for not bring over James Luker from the Bosie Hawks of the AABA. Instead the club brought in Starting Pitcher Kyle Palomo and paid him over six and a half million dollars for the next three seasons. Palomo responded by becoming the clubs best pitcher and leading the Tropics in ERA and Wins while throwing the teams only shutout of the season against Baltimore.

 G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP BABIP VORP
36 36 13 16 0 3.70 250.2 289 109 103 9 53 124 5 1 1.36 .332 30.2

Down on the Farm

Maui 2nd place finish Lee Honigsfeld Division 57-73

Dave O’Brien is the teams leading hitter after leading the Mullets in average, home runs, and runs batted in.

Ricardo Vina is the teams leading pitcher finishing second on the team in ERA and Strikeouts and first in wins with a 1.28 WHIP. The twenty-six year old Was also selected to the 1996 Matt Rectenwald League All-Star Game.

Big Island 3rd place finish Joshua Gottesman Division 55-65

After a demotion from Maui, Joe Lawson was second on the Surf in Average, Runs Batted In, and Home Runs. He also was perfect behind home plate.

Michael Myrie was the Big Islands leading pitcher with a 2.27 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 11 Wins, and 149 Strikeouts. Tops on the team in all of those categories Myrie earned the Award for the clubs leading pitcher.

Guam 2nd place finish (tie) Simon Wright Division 56-64

Guam had two clear cut team leaders, first baseman Emmy MacQuisten put up a nice line .269/.343/.415/.758 while leading the club in every major and most minor offensive catergories. His VORP was 31.9 and he played in all but one of the teams 120 games.

Meanwhile, picher Bob Miller won ten games for Guam with a 2.39 ERA, and 105 strikeouts, all best on the team.

[railroad_ross]

Not a ton of info here but the links should work. Have fun following all the signings. I know I will.

MBBA Free Agent Hitters

Holly cow. Either some teams in other leagues are gonna pay a ton for these guys or some MBBA teams are going to get a crack at some very good players. We really thought that a few of these guys would have been resigned by now and still think some deals are in the works but here goes our attempt at a top ten list for MBBA free agent hitters:

10. Ed Miller – Finally got dumped by California just in time to lose the LMS. He’s getting old but has a great glove. Looks good on paper but hasn’t hit more than .350 in the last five seasons. My guess is he will ask too much.

9. Joe Belinda – The power this guy displays in awesome. He is also aging fast but has to hit home run number 500 somewhere, right? My guess is he gets a huge payday in another league.

8. Red Leinenkugel – I was surprised to see Red is only thirty years old. He had a decent season and puts up ok career numbers so I can’t figure out why Calgary is letting him walk. Somebody will take advantage of the situation and reward him with a payday.

7. Roy Nicoletti – Made the list over some higher profile talent because he had a career year. Shopped heavily by Las Vegas last off-season he ended up splitting time between Des Moines and Birmingham. He might be the poor man’s version of the OBP Jesus but my guess is the secret is out. His only downside is he might be a platoon player and plays only an average outfield.

6. Arturo Lueras – Might be the first player to play in both the AABA and MBBA all-star games. My guess is this thirty-five year old will find his way back to the AABA.

5. Sean Feinkhol – Is still only twenty-eight and has time and potential to turn things around. Still he hasn’t put up impressive numbers. In fact only had 18 home runs and a .663 OPS this season. Guh!

4. Akiru Matsumoto – Matsumoto has lived out of his suitcase the last few years after playing for five teams in the last three seasons. He is a solid player and deserves a good home but my guess is he does not want to get attached, misses Japan, or is just a greedy son of a bitch. Either way you can’t argue with his production

3. Sadaharu Oh, Jr. – Son of a legend. Steady. Plays an excellent right field. Had his best season in the last few years after an off-season change of scenery. Amazingly he is only age twenty-seven.

2. Jim Malkowski – Wow! What a year. If “The Carp” had a cooler nickname, like” OBP Jesus” for example, he would have been ranked number one.

1. Mike Clarke – Fell off last season a bit but is still young. Besides he is the “OBP Jesus.”