Terra Baseball League: Bryant Warriors

[jaa36]

The mediocre Warriors head into June just one win over .500, with a 25-24 record. That's five games behind the Sidney City Scorpions and the Sungate Falcons. Miguel Bello cooled off a bit, but is still second in WAR at 2.7. Aiden Montpetit still has a 2.14 ERA but hit the IL for a month. Syd Duke is putting together a solid season, with 11 homers and 40 RBI. Luis Del Rosario has gotten out of the gate slowly, with just a .225 average and 3 homers. Former Warriors Reiji Kono and Colton Sapp have had cameos with the club after they were signed on minor-league deals.

We drafted high schooler Beckett Kodish with the #11 pick in the draft. Kodish can hit, and might be OK at third base but will probably wind up at first eventually.

Around the league, Shawn Kristofferson of the Patrick Legends had a 38-game hitting streak, the longest since the all-time record of 43 games, set by Doug French way back in 1922.

[jaa36]

The Warriors are back in business! We won eight of the first nine games in June, and 18 games overall. We're now just one game behind the Sidney City Scorpions for first place in the East, with a 43-32 record. We've got the best run prevention in the league, with our top four starters all checking in with sub-3 ERAs. Miguel Bello had another solid month and heads into the second half with a .315 average, 17 homers and 56 RBI. Unfortunately, our lack of power leaves us with a second-division offense overall.

Olav Rossland finally returned from injury- but we don't have a great need for a mediocre starting pitcher making $14M who typically misses half the year with an injury. I shopped him and was offered a couple of closers on expiring contracts in the $10M range- they would have been fine- but in the end I took 25-year-old Darrell Burnand in return- a former top prospect on a minimum salary. He'll give us a little bit of budget flexibility to swing a trade near the deadline.

I'm also hoping to land Leo Broadhurst, a 16-year-old out of Rowenia who's asking for $4M.

[jaa36]

The Warriors had another solid month, winning 17 games in July, and now have a 60-42 record overall. That's the second-best record in all of baseball, but unfortunately it's four games behind the Sidney City Scorpions. That club is actually very similar to us, with a very good starting rotation (led by Pitcher of the Year favorite Dylan Barton) but a mediocre offense that lacks power.

We had six All-Star selections- starters Aiden Montpetit and Matias Nelson, closer Percy Taylor, DH Rick Pugh, third baseman Luis Del Rosario and outfielder Miguel Bello. Bello currently leads the league in WAR, and got more votes than anyone in baseball. Del Rosario was blistering in July (.385 average) and had a 26-game hitting streak. Montpetit leads the league with a 2.14 ERA.

Bryce Richardson sustained a minor injury- he's since returned, but it gave us a reason to call up our top prospect, Mike Fenwick. He actually slots in at first base for now- Syd Duke had temporarily relocated to the outfield, but is on the IL himself at the moment.

I didn't get Leo Broadhurst, but ended up signing Valorian amateur Amos Luna- a lefty who ended up just outside the top-100 prospect list- for $4M.

We now have about $2M in budget room- so we have an opportunity to trade for a bullpen arm, or even possibly a bat.

I had brought up journeyman Joey Surber to make one start for us- then DFA'd him. He was picked up by the Patrick Legends- and proceeded to go 6-0 with a 1.56 ERA and win the Pitcher of the Month! Oh well.

[jaa36]

A very promising August ended in disappointing fashion... we managed to catch the Sidney City Scorpions and move a game ahead of them, but then dropped five games in a row while he Scorpions won seven straight- including losing a sweep to them. The last game of that set was a 12-inning loss on a walk-off single to light-hitting shortstop Chris Wright. The offense had a pretty wretched month- Bryce Richardson and Miguel Bello were OK, but not spectacular. Aiden Montpetit continued to dominate at age 40, going 4-0 with a 2.36 ERA.

Unfortunately we didn't have many great opportunities to improve the team- there were a few potential relief options, but the price tag ended up being too high on most of them. I ended up bringing back old friend Josiah Willis- who makes $8.4M this year- for a minor league pitcher. I forgot to mention, I had also added catcher Camden Gonzalez a few months ago for Alexios Ioannou- Gonzalez is splitting time (ineffectively) with Johnny Reinas.

We still have time to make up our deficit against Sidney City, and three more games against them this month. In the West, Wal has a big lead- the Titans haven't made the postseason since 1992. Sam Carlson leads the league with 118 RBI.

[jaa36]

With 11 games to go, the Warriors have inched to within three games of the Sidney City Scorpions. We took two of three from them in mid-September, including a dramatic 16-inning win that saw Bryant come back from a three-run deficit. Miguel Bello won the Player of the Month, hitting .386 with 9 home runs and 28 RBI, and he's the odds-on favorite to win the Player of the Year. Gaby Shade hit .441 in September, and Syd Duke hit .327 with eight homers and 25 RBI. Al Rendon was 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA, and Percy Taylor was 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA and 4 saves.

We don't have any more games against the Scorpions, but the rest of our schedule is pretty easy. Let's see if Bryant can make the postseason yet again...

[jaa36]

The Warriors finished the season with 97 wins- but that was still two games short of the Sidney City Scorpions, who ended up with 99. Our record was actually the second best in my tenure in Bryant, and tied for the second best record in Warriors history (with the best record being 103 wins in 2002). We won the last three games of the season, but were eliminated before that final series.

Miguel Bello finished with a league-leading 8.4 WAR, and finished third with 126 RBI. Aiden Montpetit's 2.54 ERA was second in the league. The Warriors allowed just 561 runs, easily the best mark in the league, and the best in team history.

The Scorpions will face off against the Wal Titans, who finished with a 95-67 record. Neither club has won a championship recently, with Sidney City last doing so in 1994, and Wal all the way back in 1969. The Titans boasted a dominant offense, leading the league in scoring, with three players hitting 39 home runs or more, including Sam Carlson, who led the league with 144 RBI. Meanwhile, the Scorpions have a great pitching staff, led by Triple Crown-winner Dylan Barton, who went 20-8 with a 2.05 ERA and 291 strikeouts.

[jaa36]

The Wal Titans won their first championship since 1969, defeating the Sidney City Scorpions in six games. E.J. Martin won the series MVP, winning two games and allowing just one run over two complete games. Former Warrior Wyatt Cox had a 40-homer season for the Titans.

Miguel Bello won the Player of the Year award, hitting .323 with 37 home runs and 126 RBI. The Scorpions' Dylan Barton was the Pitcher of the Year (20-6, 2.09 ERA), with Aiden Montpetit finishing second in the voting. Our shortstop Iweka Kinyanjui was the somewhat surprising winner of the Rookie of the Year, hitting .289 and playing flawless defense at shortstop. Blaine Young of the Patrick Legends won the Reliever of the Year (having replaced the usual winner Ian Gusman), and the Warriors' Percy Taylor finished second in the voting.

Bello won the Platinum Stick for left field, and Matias Nelson won the Gold Glove at pitcher.

[jaa36]

The Warriors had a very successful season, winning 97 games, but fell short of the playoffs. All in all, the team performed better than I expected they would, particularly the pitching staff, which stayed healthy and excellent all season. Incredibly, we only needed six starting pitchers to get through the season. We finished with a season score of 598. We ended up drawing about 2.75M fans, down a bit from last year, and lost about $4M- which was considerably better than the last two seasons. Keith Little Jr. was upset with our performance- playoffs or bust I guess.

Successes:
1. Miguel Bello. The Player of the Year put together his best all-around season, and at age 28, likely has many more great seasons ahead of him.
2. Iweka Kinyanjui. I wouldn't have expected his level of offense from the rookie, and he could be a valuable anchor at shortstop moving forward.
3. Aiden Montpetit. The 40-year-old was able to turn back the clock and provide a vintage Montpetit season; he's now second all-time in WAR for pitchers.
4. Chad Goree. The young Goree replicated his excellent 2009 season, providing excellent performance out of both the rotation and the bullpen.
5. Percy Taylor. A former rule 5 pick, Taylor stepped in as the closer and performed admirably.

Disappointments:
1. Reiji Kono. I shouldn't have expected much out of the veteran in his second stint in Bryant, but a .268 OBP left a lot to be desired.
2. Gianluca Dellafiore. Dellafiore was a rule 5 pick and stashed on the bench for the year, but was miserable when he did play.
3. Darryl Burnand. Acquired at midseason for Olav Rossland, he was pretty bad out of the bullpen.

We have a fair number of moving pieces heading into this offseason, but much more flexibility than before. Montpetit declined his option, and wants $110M over three years, which is too much for a 40-year-old pitcher. Matias Nelson also declined his but appears willing to sign for a more reasonable three-year deal for $30M. Syd Duke, Josiah Willis, Gaby Shade, Loran Hamrick, Pete Lemke and Johnny Reinas are all slated for free agency as well. I offered Bello a seven-year extension worth $168M- which would keep him in Bryant through his age-35 season.

Our minor league system was dreadful as usual, with each team losing at least 96 games. Our top prospect Mike Fenwick played half a season in the bigs but was pretty unimpressive. Our second-best prospect Rich Mitchell put up a 6.12 ERA in AAA.

Among former Warriors, Gus Zahakis, Murtagh Pettijohn, Toby Younger and Wyatt Cox all had terrific years, with Pettijohn winning both the Platinum Stick and Gold Glove at catcher with the Patrick Legends. B.J. Pallister had a comeback season with the Stephens Rattlers. Pogo Turner had a 13-2 record and 2.88 ERA out of nowhere with the Terra City Capitals after serving as a closer the year before. Kyoshi Anno, Michael Schneider, Rocky Long and Braden Hammel have all retired.

[jaa36]

This year's inductee to the Hall of Fame is longtime Freeton Crusaders third baseman Santino Giotto. Giotto was originally signed for the princely sum of $22M as an International free agent out of Laria in 1979. He advanced through the ranks and became known as a top-20 prospect, making his debut with the Crusaders in 1984. By 1989, he had become one of the top players in the game, hitting .364 with 251 hits, 52 doubles, 21 home runs and 135 RBI, winning the Player of the Year award and making his first All-Star team. Though he never quite reached those heights again, he remained a steadily excellent player for years, going to the All-Star game a total of ten times, with six Platinum Stick awards. Giotto stuck at third base until age 40, and mostly was able to avoid injury, eventually reaching 3500 hits and 74 WAR for his career. He won six rings with the Crusaders (though the first two of them came at the beginning of his career and he wasn't on the postseason roster), hitting .319 with eight homers in the playoffs. Perhaps most impressively, Giotto stayed in Freeton for his entire 21-year career.

[jaa36]

The Wal Titans won their first championship in 42 years this season. The club is below .500 overall in its history, and really has only had one period of significant success- from 1963 through 1970, during which the Titans made the playoffs all eight seasons, and won the first four championships in its history. Before winning its first championship in 1965, the club had gone to the postseason seven times without winning a series.

Wal is just the 12th-largest city in Terra, though the largest city in the northwestern province of Kilwinning. Despite that, the Titans have developed a fairly rabid following and are considering at least a mid-to-large market. Historically the Titans have tended to lose money, but they've been in the black for 13 of the last 16 seasons. Titans Field is one of the larger stadiums in the TBL (48,000 seats) and is a fairly neutral park overall.

Highlight: The 1963 to 1970 period is one that any franchise would be proud of. The Titans captured their first championship in 1965, and won it all four years out of five. The 1969 season was probably the apex, a 111-win campaign that is tied for the second-most wins of any team.

Lowlight: The Titans finished last in five out of six seasons from 2000-2005, mixing it up with a seventh-place finish in 2002.

Best player: George Tinka, AKA Mr. Titan. The third baseman played his entire career in Wal, and was there for the entirety of the Titans' peak, providing a steady 3+ WAR every years from 1956 through 1970. Tinka finished his career with 2751 hits, 421 home runs and 81 WAR.

[jaa36]

Sorenheim won the 2012 ABC, defeating Silverley 2-0 in the finals. Sorenheim went 10-2 in tournament play, defeating Takama in a tiebreaker, while Silverley went 9-4 after winning two tiebreaker games.

Miguel Bello won the Player of the Year for Valoria, hitting .488 with 7 home runs and 17 RBI. Wilbur Ramirez went 2-0 over 22 innings for Freeland to win the Pitcher of the Year. Among other Warriors, newly acquired outfielder Max Martikainen hit .318 with three homers and 14 RBI, and Matias Nelson went 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA over 26 innings. Percy Taylor, meanwhile, was shelled to the tune of a 15.26 ERA over 7 2/3 innings.

[jaa36]

For the second straight season, we saw a top-tier free agent depart the Warriors, as Aiden Montpetit signed with the Patrick Legends for $80M over three years. Syd Duke went to the Freeton Crusaders for $25M over two years.

I was able to bring back Bryce Richardson, who signed for $7M with a team option for a second year, and Gaby Shade, who came in at $5M with a team option. Our biggest signing was reliever Blaine Young, a three-time Reliever of the Year (including just last season) and seven-time All-Star who inked a deal worth $7M/year for two years, with a team option for a third. The 34-year-old lefty still has an excellent fastball and curveball, and should help stabilize the back end of the bullpen.

Otherwise it was just little moves around the margins... catcher Jeremy La Due, outfielders Aaron Heller and Joel Copeland and infielder Matt Franklin were all brought in on minor-league deals, and speedy outfielder Max Martikainen was a Rule 5 pick.

Around the league, third baseman Shawn Kristofferson signed the biggest deal of the offseason, $183M for seven years with the Sungate Falcons. The Crestmont Bobcats signed pitcher Leo Bishop for $179M over six years.

[jaa36]

We had a few minor injuries in spring training, but nothing too terrible, and we're relatively close to full strength. Keith Little Jr. is upset with me, and expects us to make the playoffs. The BNN pundits have us finishing in the middle of the pack this year.

In my estimation, our offense has declined somewhat from recent years... other than Miguel Bello and Luis Del Rosario, this is not a group that has a lot of punch. (I forgot to mention- Del Rosario asked us to contribute to his charity- but being a bunch of skinflints, we declined.) The rotation is still very good, even with the loss of Aiden Montpetit and Pete Lemke, and the bullpen is probably a bit stronger this year with Blaine Young joining the group.

We continue to slide in the prospect rankings- we are now the 14th-best system overall- with Rich Mitchell checking in as our top prospect at #19 overall.

[jaa36]

Woof... the Warriors have gotten off their worst start in my tenure, going a miserable 9-15 in April. Most of the damage came in a nine-game losing streak in the middle of the month. I thought the offense would not be very good- but I didn't expect anything quite like this- dead last in the league in runs scored. Leadoff hitter Aaron Heller is hitting an impressively-terrible .113, and the team as a whole is getting on base less than 30% of the time. Miguel Bello is a lone bright spot, hitting .280 with 7 home runs and 16 RBI.

Around the league, the Terra City Capitals have jumped out to an 18-6 start in the West, led by center fielder Marty Drury, who had a remarkable 40 RBI in April.

[jaa36]

We followed up an atrocious April with an equally miserable May, going 11-16 on the month. We sit all alone in last place, with a 20-31 record, 13 games behind the division-leading Freeton Crusaders. That's almost certainly too much of a gap to make up, at least with this offense... 22-year-old Mike Fenwick has played well in taking over the leadoff spot, with a five-hit game this month, and his average is now up to .338. Miguel Bello continues to be an oasis of production in the desert of the rest of our lineup. The pitching staff has sunk from its remarkable heights of last season back to mediocrity- with Percy Taylor turning mortal again, to the tune of an 8.44 ERA. Rookie outfielder Kato Smith came up for eight games, told the media he wasn't bothered by the team losing, and was summarily suspended for five games (by me) and demoted back to AAA.

In short, everything is bad, the Warriors are terrible now. I'll be figuring out what I can buy at the trade deadline- we don't have any terrible contracts, though I'm not sure if anyone will be looked at as terribly desirable by other teams outside of Bello.

Our first-round pick this year (15th overall) was high school outfielder Timmy Giles, a switch-hitter who's slightly above average in all five tools if you squint a bit. At least next year, we'll be looking at a really high pick!

[jaa36]

We had a .500 month! And remain in last place. The Warriors are at 33-44 overall, 12 games out of first, at the bottom of the TBL East. Miguel Bello continued raking, with a .330 average and four home runs. Camden Gonzalez hit .375 with three homers in part-time play. Meanwhile, Blaine Young lost five games in the bullpen, with a 5.92 ERA.

Most of the heroics came on other teams... Loran Hamrick, now playing for the Crestmont Bobcats, just reached 2000 career hits and has a 25-game hitting streak. Wyatt Cox, now with the Wal Titans, hit his 300th career home run. Andres Soberg of the Lenaway Storm reached 2500 hits. And Rasean Polite of the Silverley Mustangs made it to 250 wins, just the ninth pitcher in TBL history to do so.

Marty Drury of the Terra City Capitals continued driving in runs, with 82 in just 77 games. The all-time record is 156, so he has a decent shot. The Capitals have jumped out to a nine-game lead in the Western Conference.

[jaa36]

We managed to get out of the cellar with a 15-10 record in July. We were helped along by another strong month from Miguel Bello, who provided another five homers and 18 RBI. He, Al Rendon, Tomas Hunstad and Darryl Burnand (for some reason) were all selected to the All-Star team. We've actually won the last five games in a row heading into the All-Star break, including the last two in 11 innings.

I signed catcher Wiki Loscano, a 16-year-old native of Valoria, to a $4.5M bonus. No other major deals, though I'll likely be kicking the tires on trading some veterans at the deadline.

[jaa36]

The Warriors treaded water in August, and head into September with a 60-67 record. We're in danger of having a losing record for the first time since 2003. The offense remains fairly dreadful, and we have a league-worst 84 home runs on the season. The rotation has definitely taken a step back from last year, with Al Rendon the only starter posting an ERA under 4.

We made two trades... infielder Matt Franklin demanded a trade, and was sent to Lenaway in exchange for third baseman Mauricio Lajara, who was just selected sixth overall in the draft. And Blaine Young, who had 24 saves for the Warriors, was sent to the Sidney City Scorpions in exchange for 25-year-outfielder Josh Moss, who can hit and is a good character guy, but defensively challenged.

Around the league, Marty Drury has fallen off the pace for the all-time RBI record, and Rich Prieto leads the league with 116. The Freeton Crusaders and the Terra City Capitals lead their decisions, marking a return to the top for the largest-market teams in the league.

[jaa36]

A nice 16-win month has helped us to inch closer to .500, but the Warriors were officially eliminated from contention. Matias Nelson had a nice month, winning four games, Miguel Bello hit eight more home runs and drove in 19, and Aaron Heller chipped in with five homers.

The Terra City Capitals have more or less locked up the TBL West, with a seven-game lead in the conference. Meanwhile, the Freeton Crusader retain a three-game lead over the Sidney City Scorpions in the East.

Chris Schneck of the Adamond Bruins reached 3500 career hits. The 40-year-old Schneck has a .307 career average, and is seventh on the all-time hits leaderboard. Sadly, Aiden Montpetit's season ended with a torn UCL- he ended the year with 280 career wins (third all-time) but will be out for most of next season- and at age 41, it's doubtful that he would mount a comeback.

[jaa36]

A loss on the final day of the season left the Warriors below .500 at 80-82. It was a disappointing end to a season that started poorly and just never really got much better.

Miguel Bello finished off a good (but not great) year with 37 home runs and 101 RBI. The rest of the lineup was essentially punchless, as we finished dead last in home runs. The rotation also fell back to the middle of the pack this season.

The Terra City Capitals won the West with a 102-60 record, while the Freeton Crusaders took the East with a 94-68 mark. Rich Prieto of the Stephens Rattlers led the league with 51 home runs and 147 RBI.