The Secret Diary of Paulie Beane, Aged 43 3/4

[Paulie123]

5-7 Aug 2035

HUL 1 LEE 3: Jackson 7.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER (11-4, 3.05). Hayashi 3-4, HR. [53-62]

HUL 4 LEE 6: Baldwin 2-3, 2 HR, SB. Carlton 2-4, HR, DBL. [54-62]

HUL 1 LEE 15: McGinnity 8.0 IP, 1 ER. Brown 4-4, 2 HR, DBL, BB. Baldwin 3-5, 2 HR. Hayashi 3-5, HR. Carlton 3-5, DBL. Evans 3-5. What a performance! 21 hits in total. Caveat: the Avocets are now 45-72. [55-62, =3rd place, 11 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

8-10 Aug 2035

LEE 8 LEI 1: Brown 2-4, 2 HR (35), BB. van Buuren 2-3, DBL, 2 BB, SB. [56-62]

Essex Supernovae's star pitcher Don Wheeler threw his first shutout of the season. The 24-year-old former EBA #1 prospect is a 3-time all-star already and won the Southern League Outstanding Pitcher award the last two years. I know a pitcher's W-L record is largely meaningless, but over the last 2.5 seasons Wheeler is a ridiculous 62-10. I could probably just about find a spot for him in my rotation.

LEE 9 LEI 5: Brown 3-4, HR, TPL, DBL, BB. Guerrero 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 1-2, DBL. Brown is smoking hot. [57-62]

LEE 4 LEI 1: Jackson 6.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER. Carlton 2-4, DBL. The Trailblazers were 66-51 coming into this series, and we've just swatted them aside. [58-62, 3rd place, 10 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

11-13 Aug 2035

COV 7 LEE 6: van Buuren 2-4, HR, BB. Douglas, Campos and Bannatyne combined to let slip 5 runs in the 8th and 9th. [58-63]

COV 1 LEE 2: McGinnity 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K. [59-63]

COV 7 LEE 6: Carlton 3-5, HR, DBL. Baldwin 2-4, DBL. Simpson blew a 2-run lead and the save in the 9th. [59-64, 3rd place, 11 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

14 Aug 2035 - rest day

In our usual rest day performance review meeting, the discussion focused heavily on struggling third baseman Steve Chappell. The lad has stellar defense at his position, but his batting is frustrating. His .173 batting average is worse than pitchers Alexander Jackson and Raúl Guerrero. Luckily, I don't pay the slightest attention to that misleading statistic. His OBP (.246) and wOBA (.253) are statistics I do look at, and unfortunately they're pretty terrible. He is highly rated by both my scouts and other teams, though, so there is no question of an offseason trade. Well, yet. Even though the RHB's splits are slightly better against righties than lefties, he's getting platooned with LHB Ken Evans in the infield. Shortstop Jack Starkes (wOBA an excellent .343) will now play every day.

[Paulie123]

I'm afraid there'll be no posts for maybe a week or so now, as I'm going away for a bit. More on the Hedgehogs probably next weekend.

[Paulie123]

15-17 Aug 2035

LEE 9 LIV 11: Starkes 3-4. Givens 3-4. We scored 8 runs in the top of the 6th to establish an 8-2 lead; but still lost. This is why pitching is the offseason priority. [59-65]

LEE 4 LIV 0: Jackson 8.2 IP, 0 ER, 9 K. Evans 2-4 DBL. What was I saying before? Our pitching is good sometimes. [60-65]

LEE 9 LIV 1: McGivern 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 11 K. van Buuren 2-4, HR, DBL. [61-65, 3rd place, 12 GB from SUN]

The Sunderland Wizards (73-53) are now 8 games clear at the top of the division and it's theirs to lose. We're 8 games off a wildcard spot. We'd need to go on a brilliant run to make that up over 36 games. The Cumbria Pythons are 60-66 and have the 10th worst record in the EBA at the moment, so we wouldn't get a protected pick as things stand. But there'll be no tanking here, I hate losing too much.

[Paulie123]

18-20 Aug 2035

LEE 5 STO 3: McGinnity 8.0 IP, 2 ER. Brown 3-5. [62-65]

LEE 2 STO 8: Sears 5.2 IP, 5 R, 0 ER. Evans 2-2, DBL, BB, 2 E. We committed 4 errors in total on the day, leading to 5 ER. [62-66]

Iain van Buuren got injured in the 1st when diving into first base on an infield single, and had to come out of the game. Art Attack rarely looks me in the eye these days, and afterwards he capped an all-round bad day for the club with the news that van Buuren broke a bone in his elbow and will miss 8-9 months. He should be back in May, but in the meantime can compare war wounds with Armando Cabrera on the long-term DL. Van Buuren had been having a great season, with a .835 OPS and .357 wOBA. Henry Harris makes a return to the active roster. Ken Moore's desire to bat lead off means he takes over van Buuren's #1 position. He wouldn't have got the job based on OBP alone.

LEE 5 STO 1: Guerrero 8.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER 1 BB. Hayashi 2-3, 2 HR, BB. Sensational from the lefty Guerrero. [63-66, 3rd place, 11 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

21-23 Aug 2035

NOT 7 LEE 4: Jackson 7.0 IP, 2 ER. Chappell 2-3, HR. Bannatyne and Tenno contrived to blow it in the 8th. [63-67]

NOT 6 LEE 5: Moore 3-6, HR, DBL. Lost it in the 13th inning. [63-68]

Outfield Alec Pierson's agent contacted me after the game to say wants a new contract for next year. No can do, Alec. His form has been too patchy, and his .262 OBP and .278 wOBA should be easily replaceable.

NOT 2 LEE 4: McGinnity 8.0 IP, 2 ER. Hayashi 3-4, DBL. The rookie starter is now 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA. [64-68, 3rd place, 13 GB from SUB]

[Paulie123]

24-26 Aug 2035

LEE 4 BIR 5: Sears 7.1 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 0 BB. Brown 1-3, HR, BB. Brown now leads the EBA this season with 39 HR and 90 RBI. [64-69]

LEE 13 BIR 10: Brown 3-4, HR, 2 DBL. Carlton 3-5, DBL. Pierson 3-4, HR. [65-69]

Catcher Juan Sierra came into my office today to moan about his lack of playing time. The guy needs to get some perspective. He has a .231 OBP, a .536 OPS, a -2.6 zone rating, and is on a cold streak. He's competing at that position with legendary figure Kenshin Hayashi (.836 OPS, +2.3 ZR, 4-time all-star). He was told to leave my sight pretty swiftly.

LEE 7 BIR 3: Hayashi 3-5, 2 DBL. 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K (14-4). [66-69, 3rd place, 13 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

27 Aug 2035 - rest day

I gave everyone in the playing, coaching and front office staff the day off. At home, I reviewed our bullpen staff, who collectively have a 4.37 ERA. They are struggling and giving up runs, although fortunately they haven't directly cost us many games recently. Beau Simpson has managed to under-perform his predecessor as closer, Jeff Carlson, with a whiffy 5.22 FIP. No-one has utterly stunk the place up, they've just all generally been not good. In the minors, Cisco Valentín is rated 3.5* by the scouts but they clearly want his 4/10 standard control to improve just a touch before they think he's ready for the majors. He'll come straight onto the roster at that point, but in the meantime I'll back the current mob to turn things around.



George Brown is having a phenomenal career year, by the way. He is setting career season-best marks all over these statistics, but it's his slugging percentage which is most remarkable. His .602 mark leads the EBA. Incredibly, it's so much better than his next best season slugging mark of .483, achieved back in 2028. I fully expect that next season he'll be nowhere near as good.

[Paulie123]

28-30 Aug 2035

SUN 3 LEE 0: McGivern 7.0 IP, 1 ER. Simpson 1.0 IP, 2 ER. [66-70]

Hot bat George Brown has a virus, but luckily he'll only miss a couple of days so he won't go on the DL. Chappell (vs righties) and Evans (vs lefties) will start in the infield in his place.

SUN 2 LEE 1: McGinnity 7.0 IP, 2 ER. Chappell 2-4, DBL. [66-71]

SUN 3 LEE 6: Givens 3-4, DBL. Sears 7.2 IP, 3 R, 1 ER. [67-71, 3rd place, 14 GB from SUN]

A series loss, but we put up a decent fight against the runaway North East Division leading Sunderland Wizards. The Manchester Falcons and Wolverhampton Brigadiers also look to have their division titles and postseason berths pretty much sewn up. The wildcard race will be exciting. We don't look like we'll quite make Rodrigo Miller's desired .500 season.

[Paulie123]

31 Aug - 2 Sep 2035

LEE 24 SHE 4: Baldwin 4-5, 2 HR, 2 BB, 6 R. Brown 4-6, HR, DBL. Hayashi 2-4, 2 HR. Evans 4-5. Extraordinary. I think that's the highest score in my GM career. We trailed 3-1 after 4 innings but then in the remaining 5 innings our scoring went 3-4-10-4-2, on a day where we totalled 23 hits. [68-71]

Rosters expanded, and my only call-up was 24-year-old second baseman Mark Bradford. Bradford is a non-prospect who was the Hedgehogs' 3rd round draft pick back in 2029 and has barely improved since. However he has the speed of a whippet on the bases, and is rated 10/10 for running speed, stealing bases and baserunning. He won't appear on the depth charts but is intended to be available to Manny Jerr solely as a pinch-running option. Outfielder Mario Valenzuela is equally rapid, but as a legitimate backup to the 25-man I don't want to add to his service time (1y 151d so far) and speed him towards arbitration unnecessarily. Bradford is very unlikely to ever be in contention for a roster spot. I usually take this approach at roster expansion time. I may in due course add a further reliever, probably Cory Murray or Cisco Valentín, if the bullpen gets tired and needs an extra arm's help.

LEE 2 SHE 10: Baldwin 2-4, TPL. Jackson 4.0 IP, 8 H, 8 ER. Jackson was doing ok until he let the first six batters in the bottom of the 5th get on base, and the Flames eventually scored 8 in the frame. [68-72]

LEE 3 SHE 1: McGivern 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER. Evans 3-5, 2 DBL. [69-72, 3rd place, 14 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

3-5 Sep 2035

CMB 1 LEE 2: McGinnity 9.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2-2. Sierra 2-4, DBL. Magnificent from young McGinnity, but not a complete game as we won it in the 10th. We've beaten last year's 69 wins. [70-72]

CMB 1 LEE 3: Sears 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB. Starkes 2-3. [71-72]

Sunderland Wizards' closer, 8-time all-star Carlos Ramírez, notched up his 400th save today. That puts him 10th on the EBA all-time list. At 31 years old he may yet remarkably catch the leader, Birmingham's 42-year-old Jarred Stevens, who has a ludicrous 767 saves, and counting, in a nearly 20-year EBA career. Somehow Stevens has NEVER made the all-star game.

CMB 1 LEE 0: Guerrero 7.0 IP, 1 ER. Carlton 2-4, 2 DBL. [71-73, 3rd place, 15 GB from SUN]

Right fielder Alec Pierson strained his hamstring in the game. He'll be out for 4 weeks, so his season, and possibly his Hedgehogs career, is over. Pierson becomes the latest Hedgehog on the DL, and recently-signed veteran free agent Walt McKinney takes his place on the roster.

[Paulie123]

6-8 Sep 2035

LEE 3 BLA 4: Starkes 4-4, DBL. Jackson 7.0 IP, 4 R, 1 ER. Starkes is quietly having a terrific season. [71-74]

LEE 6 BLA 7: Brown 3-4, TPL. [71-75]

LEE 1 BLA 3: Carlton 2-4, DBL. McGinnity 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER. [71-76, 3rd place, 16 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

9 Sep 2035 - rest day

I spent the day sitting in my office fuming over how, five days after our 3-1 win over the Cumbria Pythons where we closed to within just a single game of .500, we suffered an intensely irritating sweep by the hopeless Blackpool Dragons. We need to finish 10-5 to meet owner Rodrigo Miller's 81-81 target. I only intentionally destroyed two chairs in anger. The third broke all on its own accord.

The team lawyer, Clare Incourt, was one of the few members of staff who also came in. She helped me clear away the shattered remnants of the furniture, and then we had a good talk. She's really nice. I like her, and I think she likes me, too. This is making me sound like a teenager, I know. I also don't have time for this, really. Being a GM is more a lifestyle choice than a job.

Back to business. Our current Pythagorean record puts us at 79-68, so we're 8 whole games adrift of that. Realising this at first only made me more frustrated, but when I calmed down I reflected that it gives encouragement for next year. If I can secure the improvement in the pitching that I'd like, we may start winning some of the 1-run games we've lost this year that have led to this actual record / Pythagorean record disparity.

The other weakness in our team is on defense, where our .706 DEF score ranks only 10th in the Northern League. I'm not worried about catcher (Hayashi) or the infield. Jack Starkes has made 13 errors in 93 games at shortstop, more than I'd like from a guy as talented in the field as him. But ultimately he, Evans, Moore and Chappell are all young and stunningly good. The worry is in the outfield. Dale Carlton (rated 3/10 by my scouts at his preferred left field and -13.7 ZR this year) is a liability. Van Buuren (ZR -1.1) should be better but is now age 32 so won't improve any, and Matt Baldwin (-11.1 ZR at centre field) hasn't been great either. They just haven't chased down many deep-hit balls and are letting too many hits become doubles and triples. My ideal solution ahead of next season is to get a strong defender in the crucial centre field position, and shift Baldwin across to his favoured left field, where he should be a lot better. Mario Valenzuela is the best option from within the organisation, and has been superb in the field at CF this year. But I have serious reservations about his bat, so free agency or trade look better routes. I've no idea yet specifically how I'll tackle this and which player(s) I'll go after, but it's a problem I can park until free agents have filed after the season ends. But at that point I'll formulate an action plan rapidly. My offseason business is already starting to take shape in my head.

[Paulie123]

10-12 Sep 2035

MAN 7 LEE 6: Moore 2-4, HR, DBL. Sears 4.2 IP, 6 ER. We've now gone 2-12 over our last 14 one-run games. [71-77]

MAN 8 LEE 1: Guerrero 2.1 IP, 5 R, 3 ER. [71-78]

MAN 4 LEE 5: Jackson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2-3, DBL. Moore 3-5, HR. Erratic closer Beau Simpson blew a 4-1 lead in the top of the 9th, but fortunately Matt Baldwin's 2-out walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the 9th snatched back the win. [72-78, 3rd place, 16 GB from SUN]

Sunderland have a 12 game lead over Sheffield and a magic number of 1, so the division pennant will be theirs. They'll be the first EBA team to grab a playoff spot.

[Paulie123]

13-15 Sep 2035

WOL 10 LEE 2: Baldwin 2-4, HR, DBL. [72-79]

WOL 12 LEE 6: Baldwin 2-4, HR. McGinnity 3.2 IP, 7 ER. The first time the rookie has really gotten beaten up. [72-80]

WOL 7 LEE 0: Sears 8.0 IP, 4 ER. Campos 0.2 IP, 3 ER. Ken Moore got both our 2 hits today. What a series walloping. [72-81, 3rd place, 17 GB from SUN]

[Paulie123]

16-18 Sep 2035

LEE 2 DER 4: Chappell 2-3, DBL. Moore 2-4, DBL. [72-82]

LEE 1 DER 4: Jackson 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 9 K. He was superb, but the Locos' ace Olivier Mongrut (21-4, 1.72) was even better and just too good for us today. [72-83]

LEE 6 DER 7: Moore 3-5, DBL. Hayashi 2-4, HR, BB. We were 6-0 up heading into the 5th, but 3 unearned runs helped us contrive to lose it. [72-84, 3rd place, 19 GB from SUN]

The three teams we've played in the last three series are all playoff-bound. Manchester have 87 wins and have won the North West Division, while Wolverhampton and Derby have 93 and 90 and have both secured at least a wildcard spot. So we've played good teams, but it is frustrating how, having fought so hard to get back to the cusp of .500, the season is petering out. My analysis of our biggest weaknesses, pitching and outfield defense, still holds I think, and half the pitching staff are going through a cold spell. I'm back on the yoga to try and calm my emotions when we hit the skids like this. Before I break any more office pot plants.

[Paulie123]

19-21 Sep 2035

NEW 3 LEE 1: Starkes 3-4. McGinnity 7.2 IP, 3 ER (4-5, 2.85). [72-85]

NEW 5 LEE 3: Moore 3-4, HR. [72-86]

And just to cap off this terrible month, Carl Sears came out of today's game after pitching just 3 IP. Art Attack's diagnosis? Torn elbow ligaments, and a 9-month layoff. So him and Cabrera makes two of my probable rotation for 2036 missing at least the first couple of months of next season through injury. Bennie Smith is called up from the minors. Sears's rotation spot won't come round again so Smith will be used out of the pen.

In the bullpen, Julián Campos has struggled badly recently after a fine start to his Hedgehogs career. My scouting team say that Cisco Valentín is finally ready for the show, and Campos makes way for him on the roster. Chance over the final 5 games to see a smidgeon of what Valentín can do.

NEW 5 LEE 0: Baldwin 2-4. 2 DBL. Guerrero 5.0 IP, 5 ER. Valentín 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K. [72-87, 4th place, 21 GB from SUN]

That horrific sweep by the Newcastle Swordfish has extended the losing run to 9, and seen them leapfrog above us in the North East Division. We will definitely be getting a protected first round draft pick.

[Paulie123]

22 Sep 2035 - rest day

I took the day off. I don't want to even think about how badly we're finishing the season and the three long-term injuries we're carrying into next year. With three games remaining there is nothing to do about it. The silver linings saving me from turning to the whisky are the belief that when all our best players were fit and playing reasonably well we were a decent team, and that I've identified some key objectives for the offseason to improve our lot.