Making The Move Upstate: A Buffalo Nickels Story

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Salary Scenario


Bresnahan's big bucks and uncertain rotation status make it a big gamble. Farr is on his final year and a lot of money is tied up in bullpen arms like Tucker/McCammant (who is in Portland) and maybe Bresnahan. There isn't a lot coming free next year to replace Farr so we won't be buying a better team, we can trade and make cheap signings but we are up against our budget.

Top 20 Players
hitters-none
pitchers: Farr #11, Kirkpatrick #17

Unit Rankings
Position Players: 10th
Pitchers: 6th
Overall: 9th

We are counting on Duncan and Yates performing better than the experts say and then Peterson/Zavala developing quickly so we can beat this 9th place projection. To go backwards in year 2, with so little cap room would be devastating to fan confidence, player confidence and really to a lot of our teams confidence in this project. It doesn't feel like a finished team but maybe that's just how all teams in the USBL2 feel, there is such little difference between 3rd and 9th, it's time to quit worrying about finishing the team and simply produce.

Top 3 Predicted Teams
1. Richmond Eagles
2. Las Vegas Lights
3. Nashville Hounds

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Team Stats: 6-3, 3-way tie for first
Run Differential: +20, tied for first
wOBA: .386, 1st
FIP: 3.61, 4th
Zone Rating: +1.1, 6th

The bats came out to play. Last years anemic offense is nowhere to be seen. Last year we scored 20 runs in a series once, we've averaged 21 through the first 3 series this season. 19-23-21. The lack of starting outside Farr has been a worry, but that's the only one so far. This feels like a strong team, one that expects to play well and has so far. I'd love to take all the credit for the bats, but it's one of those baseball things. We didn't expect an elite offense and will just cross our fingers and hope it continues. That's really our front office genius secret.

Upstate Rivalry
A much different feeling after solidly outplaying them this year vs last years "Welcome to the USBL" unveiling where we got swept. Too soon to return the favor with a banner of our own, but I've got ideas, I promise.

Stromgren seems more focused, whispers among the coaching staff that the rough stretch last year and being forced to compete for his job this year has him locked in and ready to unleash all that talent.

Series Star: Jared Farr (6 shutout innings)


vs Pittsburgh
A huge 5-run 8th inning rally to win on Saturday and move to 4-1 felt like the beginning of something big. To blow that momentum and ruin a sweep possibility by allowing 4 runs in the 9th on Sunday had an analyst punching the wall in our offices after the game. Bresnahan labored through a terrible start (13 baserunners, 5 runs in 6 innings) It hurts to see your highest paid and most well known player ever struggle in the early going. Kirkpatrick is already out of the rotation, he's walked 8 through 7.1 IP.

Series Star: John Stewart (6-14, 2 2B, HR)


vs Palo Alto
Another sweep went begging on Sunday after two dominant wins on Friday and Saturday (11-1, 8-2). Kuruc only lasted 3 innings (5 runs takes his ERA to 7.94 over his 11.1 league innings) in the finale but at least Bresnahan gave us our first solid non-Farr start (6.1 IP, 2 R, 8 K, 2 BB). He's earned another start next week and then who knows Sunday? Maybe Buchanan or Tucker?



It can't be missed just how great Farr has been, 25/1 K/BB and a 2.07 FIP is absurd. He's just 27 but will be a free agent next year, at this rate he is playing himself well out of our price range. We will try to feel him out and see what he wants soon, but we aren't hopeful. I really hope he loves smashing tables, we are offering him a prime Bills tailgating location.




Series Star: Joe Duncan (8-13, 3 2B)



Players of the Month
1. Jared Farr (3-0, 1.37 ERA, 25 K, 1 BB, 1 HR over 19.2 IP)
2. John Stewart (0.9 WAR, 425/465/650)
3. Chris Yates (0.7 WAR, 500/500/650)
4. Adam Stromgren (0.6 WAR, 375/515/708)
5. Joe Duncan (0.6 WAR, 474/500/579)

Farr won the league wide Pitcher of the Month award, his first time ever winning that award.

Yates made it 2-for-2 for Nickels and major April awards as he won his first ever Batter of the Month award, he once was the player of the week back in 2057 for LA in the WBA.

Who's Cold?
Jason Kuruc (11.1 IP, 7.94 ERA, 3 HR, 6 BB, 9 K)
Trevor Kirkpatrick (7.1 IP, 8.59 ERA, 8 BB, 7 K)
BJ Peterson (623 OPS)
Jaeden Burton (569 OPS)

Victor Zavala hasn't exactly gotten off the blocks quickly and then we see this story,



It was that damned Brian Brick wasn't it? Stirring **** up in the clubhouse. Stromgren is crushing the ball and he gets the young guy who doesn't know how to deal with Brick's **** and twists him into some quote he can stretch into a story. Right as we are off to a good start and our coaches were quietly hoping Stromgren has his head on straight. We hope he won't bother with this nonsense and Zavala won't let it trouble him either, but it's just annoying. Overall the team looks good, in such a tight division every game matters but our baseline performance feels solid.

[dward1]

by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball



Victor Zavala is not a loudmouth, he's not one to spout off without feeling it deep inside. Zavala, proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, isn't shy about smartly talking about the perceived over-the-top nationalism of the USBL and how it feels to exclude Puerto Rico for some reason. Adam Stromgren, one of those Red Californians, from the Mission Viejo area, isn't shy about his American patriotism and one could get the idea he doesn't see Puerto Rico as part of that. Nonetheless, the issue between the two that's bubbled over is over Stromgren's work ethic.

Zavala took a shot at Stromgren when I asked how it felt to see players who might not have put in the work he did get the positive press earlier this year



When I got comment from Stromgren and put it up top of this website (most hits since the Gerry Thomas news), Gerry Thomas blamed me for cornering his young 21-year-old 2B. But Victor is a smart guy, he can handle himself. Zavala and Stromgren settled into a peace after a meeting with Thomas for a short time. And then a few weeks later it erupted again during a humiliating 19-7 loss when Stromgren was seen laughing in the 7th inning after Zavala tripped leaving the box. Zavala unleashed on Stromgren after the game



Naturally I went across the locker room to get a quote from Stromgren, but a staffer came sprinting across to cut me off. I saw Gerry Thomas across the room coming toward me and made my way out. But I've got an email from Stromgren today responding, you can't keep a good reporter down...here's my straight piece that ran today



I've heard that the players stopping Stromgren were BJ Peterson and John Stewart. Peterson's leadership for a 23 year old rookie has been astounding so far, but that didn't keep Stromgren from shoving a teammate to the ground. Gerry Thomas is apparently mulling over a suspension for Stromgren, but is also said to be unhappy with Zavala for speaking out twice , the second time after he'd clearly been told to keep everything in house. He is of course not happy with Buffalo Ball and yours truly either, but we just report the news. He reportedly wrote that I was "stirring **** up" and my questions were "Brick's ****". Well, what are you going to do now Gerry?

This is the type of problem Buffalo cannot have, the margin is so small in a season like this. It must be dealt with quickly before it eats away at the club's morale.

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Adam Stromgren has been suspended 5 games. Pitcher Josh Rieger has been demoted to Portland and OF Jon Land has been promoted.

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by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball



I talked today with Adam Stromgren. He called me from his patio in his LA home, where he's flown to for his week off after Gerry Thomas suspended him for decking Zavala in the clubhouse after Zavala offered a second broadside against him through the press...here's my straight story published earlier today



He said the club is playing favorites and that many in the front office haven't liked him since the "new regime" came in. He said he has to prove himself over and over and that they've been looking for an excuse to demote him or get rid of him since they've been here.

Stromgren returns to the club next week after his five game suspension ends.

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Season Totals: 15-6, 1st place (1 game lead on Las Vegas Lights)
+44 run differential, best in the league
.378 wOBA, best in the league
4.08 FIP, 3rd in the league
+5.9 ZR, 4th in the league



Series 4, @California, sweep (28-12)
The power of money. The Grizzlies budget is 75% higher despite being ranked literally last in the global rankings. They signed 5 big name free agents last year. That, plus their sort of arrogant advertising campaign implying they had somehow arrived just because they signed Mike Maino and Justin Maupin…I mean come on. I really wanted to teach these guys a lesson.

And we absolutely did. We just kicked their faces in. None of their high priced pitchers could get an out. I’m almost worried to say anything about this offense, it’s beyond what we could ever have imagined so far, 7.6 runs a game is just silliness.

Series Star: BJ Peterson (9-15, 2 2B, 3B, HR)

Series 5, vs Madison, win (16-22)
We are almost giddy with how we are playing but must stay focused, even against a pathetic Lakers offense that was dead last in the world last year in runs and this year has 5 batters under the Mendoza Line (poor Mendoza, it’s been almost a century and people still call it that, “John Brown Line” “Brown Line”, that sounds both more fitting and impossibly dirtier).

Saturday was one way to end a 4-game winning streak. Getting bashed for 19 runs, and it was Bresnahan to boot. He gave up 9 in the 3rd, then Carree and Kirkpatrick poured fuel on the fire. We rebounded and we still haven’t lost a series but that slowed the runaway train of giddiness.

Series Star: Ben Buchanan (6 IP, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K)


Then this Brian Brick **** again getting more quotes and stories out of the Zavala-Stromgren dispute. I can’t blame him completely, both of our guys are way out of line. The hopes that Stromgren had actually learned his lesson last year have proved unfounded, he’s as lazy as ever, he’s just crushing the ball with no character change. It’s frustrated us to no end to see him loaf in the weight room and on the field so what Zavala said does make sense. But to tell Brick that the second time was just undisciplined and dumb. Not as dumb as decking your teammate later though. Stromgren is suspended for 5 games, sent away from the team to train on his own. Land will take his spot in the lineup, I don’t know if this will solve it, I admit I’ve thought about shopping Stromgren around: that bat, that pedigree…we could get a lot… but for now we want him to come back and apologize and keep hitting. I mean the guy is 2nd in the league with 1 WAR already and has a 1148 OPS. It hurts me to suspend that.


Series 6, @ Nashville, win (23-12)
The offense rolls on without Stromgren. 23 more runs and Yates is up to .432 with Duncan at .410 for the season. Buchanan hit a bump in the road (10 hits, 0 K in 3.1 IP), it makes us worry that it will be last year all over again with a hot start fizzling out. Bresnahan walked 5 in 5 innings. Tucker is going to get a shot in the rotation.

Series Star: Matt Mallow (4-12, 2B, 2 BB)


Chris Yates won player of the week in the league and didn't on our team, that's a good weekend for the Nickels.

Series 7, vs Richmond, win (15-11)
The opener was a punch to the face. Farr had fallen from his amazing start (1.37 ERA over first 3 games) to just a strong level his last few starts (3.54 ERA) but this one start will destroy his season-long stats. 11 hits, 8 runs, 2 home runs allowed over 3.1 IP, meanwhile Paul Stone was shutting out the sizzling Buffalo offense.

John Tucker got his first start under our new regime on Saturday, he had 2 seasons as a starter but his K rate collapsed so we kept him as a reliever when we arrived. Now, with a desperation for any reliable start he gets the nod. He threw 6 shutout innings in a win with just 1 hit, but that only 1 K has to be a little worrying.

And then Bresnahan delivered a 5 shutout innings without a walk in the finale and Joe Duncan hit his 2 first home runs of the season. If he can develop any power at all, he might just destroy this league. Adam Stromgren returned with a 1-2, 2 BB game and a “No comment” to Brian Brick after the game with a smirk. What guts to come back from that Friday smashing to get the win. We are still in first and cruising along, no series lost, but have been destroyed twice by 11 runs in the past three series. I hope those aren't warning signs.

Series Star: Joe Duncan (5-13, 2B, 2 HR)

Players of the Month
1. BJ Peterson (1.1 WAR, 420/483/680)
2. John Tucker (3-0, 1 SV, 15 IP, 0.60 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 6 BB, 10 K)
3. Ben Buchanan (2-0, 18 IP, 2.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 2 BB, 14 K)
4. Matt Mallow (0.7 WAR, 222/294/422)
5. Victor Zavala (0.6 WAR, 364/397/436)
6. Chris Yates (0.5 WAR, 400/404/636): he is up to 1 walk on the season through 97 PA. Hitting .442 covers up for that.

Peterson was hitter of the month and rookie of the month. The slow start is gone, the progression continues. This guy could be very scary, he's showing leadership in the clubhouse as well...it's a dream to have him here. We've now won hitter and pitcher of the month for both April and May with 4 different players.

Who's Cold
John Stewart (263/323/281)
Trevor Kirkpatrick (7 IP, 16.71 ERA, 2.43 WHIP, 1 BB, 8 K): up to a 12.56 ERA over 14.1 innings on the USBL2 season
Jared Farr (24 IP, 6.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 18 K, 5 BB, 3 HR)

Standings


Up next...the Las Vegas Lights visit Sahlen Park as the battle for the first spot heats up.

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Series 8, vs Las Vegas Lights, loss (18-18)
Jared Farr’s form is officially in worry mode. He gave up 7 more, it’s now 15 earned runs allowed in his past two starts, and his ERA is up to 4.78. We lost on Saturday as well in a heartbreaking one-run loss which meant our first lost series of the season and we tumbled out of first place for the first time since the 2nd day of the season. We won the finale pretty easily but Las Vegas are clearly our equal. We had unnamed people upstairs talking about making the Champions League earlier and wondering who we’d play in the CL Qualifier. That sort of talk was ridiculous then and is now also.

Series Star: Matt Mallow (4-12, 2 2B, HR, great defense)

Series 9, @ New Orleans, loss (9-5)

Duncan’s 24-game hit streak was snapped finally. If there’s anyone to challenge Joltin’ Joe for 56, it will be Joe Duncan. 9 walks in 117 career games and a .395 career average so far in the USBL2. Pedro Vargas, Palo Alto’s stud, has the USBL2 record at 30 games.

42 games in the global record.

The pitching was amazing this weekend, but this was 2062 Nickels offense levels of anemicness. 9 runs on the series and we got 3 extra innings on Sunday and could only score 1. New Orleans came in with the second worst starters ERA in the league but shut us down. Two straight lost series now and out of first place.

Series Star: Jared Farr (7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K) nice to see him return to form getting the win on Friday.

Pittsburgh fired their GM and manager as they are off to a 7-20 start. Still looking for their first top half finish…ever.

Jaeden Burton’s agent came to us asking for an extension and he has a point. Burton will be a free agent next year, we have no other adequate catchers and he’s been solid (720 OPS). But so much of that is tied up in the 299 AVG I think we will wait a bit. Catchers are so hard to find though, a solid one just eases the mind.

Series 10, vs Charlotte, win (10-7)
The offense was quiet again but we got one big hit from Adam Stromgren on Sunday, his second Grand Slam of the season and that was enough to tip the balance and get us a much-needed series win. His OPS had dropped 200 points since coming back from the suspension and while he seems fine, lazy as ever, there are always worries when the OPS heads into a free-fall.

Series Star: Jared Farr (7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K)

We brought up a future contract with Farr's agent, he’s looking for $700k a year (earlier in year was talking about 7 digits) for 4 years. We can’t afford that now, there’s a chance we could open up enough in the offseason to offer it though. His ERA is now at 3.86 in the league, whip is at 1.19. $700k would be the 7th highest paid player in the league this year...we currently have no one in the top 20.

Series 11, @ Kansas City, win (15-10)
Tucker struggled again as a starter, he shows so little stuff and can’t go long, he’s not a long term solution. Just 8 K’s and 13 walks in 27.2 innings as a starter, over 5 starts. 2.6 K/9…prehistoric almost. But who else now...Bresnahan another shot? Kirkpatrick has been covered in dust in the pen with his 4 digit ERA, Kuruc has been throwing well but that would leave me lefty-less when going to the bullpen. Zamora flopped last year, Carree has been blah.

The offense has drastically slowed down as the following chart shows, at least the pitching is improving as well.



Series Star: Adam Stromgren (8-13, 2 2B, HR)…the Grand Slam last Sunday seems to have awoken Stromgren from his post-suspension slumber, his OPS is back into the stratosphere, up 100 points over the last 4 games to 1042. No more big problems with in-game effort (weight room is still a pain to watch) or Zavala-deckings. We just have to avoid Farr bringing up Puerto Rican statehood, that political animal. Then a Zavala or Stromgren-decking is merely minutes away.



It was disappointing to see the offense cool so much, we all knew some cooling was coming but this was too close to 2062 Nickels for comfort.


Player of the Month
1. Adam Stromgren (0.6 WAR, 333/396/521)
2. BJ Peterson (0.6 WAR, 295/396/477)
3. Jason Kuruc (9.1 IP, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 K, 0.5 WPA)
4. Ben Buchanan (26 IP, 3.46 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.5 K/9...yikes, 0.7 BB/9...ok, 0.7 HR/9)

Who's Cold
John Tucker (2.9 K/9 rate, 21.2 IP, 4.57 ERA, 1.62 WHIP...not a starter)
Victor Zavala (0 WAR, 250/280/312)
Chris Yates (-0.2 WAR, 234/308/468)
Jose Rodriguez (-0.3 WAR, 277/320/447...he's oddly been a negative defender in RF after winning Gold Gloves in left for Rochester and California in 2059/60)

Standings


Overall Stats
.354 wOBA (1st), -.024 this month
4.09 FIP (3rd), +.01 this month
+8.9 ZR, 4th, +3 this month

Players among league leaders at halfway mark
wOBA: Stromgren .435 (1st), Yates .417 (4th), Duncan .411 (5th)
WPA: Stromgren 1.22 (8th)
WAR: Stromgren 1.7 (3rd), Peterson 1.6 (6th), Duncan 1.6 (6th)
Zone Rating: Mallow +5.4 (2nd)

ERA: Buchanan 2.72 (3rd), Tucker 3.00 (4th)
rWAR: Buchanan 1.5 (5th), Farr 1.5 (6th)
WAR: Farr 1.2 (8th)
FIP: Bresnahan 3.43 (3rd)
WHIP: Buchanan 1.09 (2nd), Tucker 1.16 (3rd), Farr 1.16 (4th)

[dward1]

by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball


After the easy Friday night win behind Jared Farr's 7 shutout innings, Buffalo needed just one more home win to take the season series and 'Turn Upstate Maroon' as the cheesy promotional videos go. They were in great shape on Saturday to do so with a 6-4 lead until the 9th inning when with two outs John Tucker walked back to back batters, Jim Diddle in a 10 pitch battle and left the game for Jason Kuruc who promptly walked in a run and then served up a Grand Slam to Jeff Hecker. Gerry Thomas after the game wasn't really fazed "We don't ever deserve to win a game when we can't strike a single batter out." was his take.




The next day he was a bit more fazed. Despite Bresnahan slogging through 5 IP (99 pitches, 4 walks, 2 ER), the Nickels had again grabbed a 6-4 lead in the 9th inning. With the bullpen run a bit ragged from yesterday, Thomas tried to finish it off with Justin Carree who gave up a single and a walk to start the ninth. Jorge Zamora, who had thrown 39 pitches the day before, came jogging in to try and hold onto the game and the season series. The first man he faced was Triple L member Lentz, who took him deep to left center.



Two days, two devastating go-ahead homers allowed in the ninth inning. One Upstate Series thrown away.

The normally calm and collected Thomas lost it a bit this time when I asked him "Why did you go to Zamora?"
"Well, who else did we have?" he snapped back, and that's a fair point. The bullpen does not inspire confidence at all this year, and after this weekend they will have some scarring going forward. A huge missed chance and the Rochester fans will celebrate this split and did. Lynch stayed for an hour after the game, sharing a beer with the traveling support and simply saying "They seem to struggle to beat us, maybe it's a bit mental at this point." with a smirk when asked about the rivalry.

It's now been six years of Buffalo in the second tier and they have finished above Rochester just once, and beaten them in a season series just once.

Rochester are now just a game behind Madison for the final playoff spot, and just three games behind the Nickels. Could we get an Upstate Series in the playoffs? There'd be a huge mental block for at least Jorge Zamora, John Tucker and the rest of the bullpen if so.

[dward1]

by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball


Those two famous, stunning 9th inning wins against Buffalo had Rooster players in the stands, drinking beers and smirking while talking big in the press about how Buffalo just couldn't figure this league out. Well, neither can Rochester. Since that dramatic Lentz home run to pull the Roosters back into the playoff race...they have not won a game. 6 straight losses to the Cali boys (Palo Alto and the Grizzlies). Well under .500 they've gone, now 6 games back of 3rd place and in 9th place, which would be their worst finish in franchise history.

Read your bible Roosters, particularly Proverbs 16:18...and also remember that roosters come home to roost...in 9th place. Wait, chickens come home to roosters...no that's not it.


Never mind. Try winning a game Rochester.

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Series 12, vs Rochester, loss (20-18)
BJ Peterson just gets it. He delivered a Grand Slam to make it 7-0 vs Rochester on Friday night and pulled a Joe Carter esque leap and fist pump when it went over, that's called being locked in. During the “Let’s Go Buffalo!” chants afterwards he turned and faced the crowd and egged them on. All authentic. This guy is something special.

Attendance has been fantastic by the way, prices are down but 15,400 per game in a 16,900 capacity stadium is excellent. Last year just 10,900 came.

Games 2 and 3 I don’t want to talk about, you can read Brian Brick's click-baity piece if you want. We don’t strike out a single batter on Saturday and then give up 5 in the 9th...no I'm not going to talk about it. Zero ****ing strikeouts.

Series Star: Jared Farr 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K

Series 13, @Pittsburgh, win (19-15)

Mike Stone came into the Friday game with a 8.11 ERA and a 1-9 record. Mike Stone shut us out. 3 straight losses for the first time all season.

I told our guys after Saturday's crazy 11-9 game that was a Gut Check Win. The kind that changes mentalities. Ben Buchanan got torched and we went down 5-2, came back to pull ahead 6-5 only to immediately go down again 9-6. Down 3 runs, facing a 4 game losing streak and possibly our hold on the playoffs in a nearly empty stadium against the worst team in the league, we fought back.



In the finale we didn’t score after the 1st inning…and that was plenty.

An 8-spot led off by an Adam Stromgren home run and a rare positive emotional outburst from him as he let loose a big scream after it went over. That was emblematic of how we played.

I know it was Pittsburgh who are in last again, but that Gut Check Saturday was enormous.

Series Star: Joe Duncan (7-13, 2B, HR)


Series 14, @ Palo Alto, loss (11-11)
The revolving door of the rotation might crack open again as Justin Carree got his first chance in the rotation and struck out 0 over 5.1 mediocre innings (4 runs). The total evaporation of strikeouts from some our guys has been a mystery, I hear Brian Brick has an article coming out about Buchanan’s odd drop.

The truth is, this has been a .500 club for about 2 months. Mentally we don't accept that, but the record is your record.

Series Star: John Stewart (7-13, 2B, HR)

Series 15, vs California, sweep (10-3)
An impassioned plea to be more aggressive mentally and some deep film study helped Carree correct whatever bothered him last week and he struck out 7 over 5.1 scoreless, 2-hit innings on Sunday (rainout Saturday) to make it 5 straight wins over California.

Later that day we made it 6, we allowed just 1 run in each of the 3 games in the series. Great starting pitching makes this game so much easier.

A season sweep of the big-spending Grizzlies, sending them back to 11th place and making our playoff spot look much safer. Las Vegas just isn’t losing though, 7 straight wins and they are 4 games clear of us.

Series Star: BJ Peterson (5-10, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB)

Series 16, @Madison, win (22-14)
Odds are we will face the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, a good time to measure ourselves up against them.

Kuruc allowed his 3rd walkoff bomb of the year in the opener, he’s got to be gunshy by now about pitching in big situations.

Carree has solved his strikeout problem, he K’ed 9 over 5 IP. He allowed 5 runs as we pushed him too far but a positive outing as he didn’t walk anyone.


We thank the weather gods for the finale. We led 4-0 in the first but the lead never felt safe as they chipped away and chipped away, it was 6-4 in the 8th when the game was calledand we sprinted away from Wisconsin with a series win.

Series Star: Matt Mallow (3-11, 2 HR)

Month Summary


Standings


We thought we were the best team in the league for much of the first couple months but this 10 game win streak by Vegas has us admitting we aren't. Thank god there are playoffs here, we are at a pretty stable spot in the table right now where it looks like we will host the First Round series.

Overall Team Stats
wOBA: .352, 2nd (-.002 this month)
FIP: 4.16, 4th (+.07 this month)
Zone Rating: +14, 2nd (+5.1 this month)


Players of the Month
1. Joe Duncan (441/459/576)
2. BJ Peterson (294/390/529)
3. John Stewart (390/419/475)
4. Danny Bresnahan (32.1 IP, 3.34 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 28 K, 11 BB)
5. Jared Farr (26.1 IP, 3.08 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 15 K/9 BB)

Who's Cold
Victor Zavala (259/273/315)...he hasn't been the same since the Stromgren scuffle, his league OPS is down to .665 and he's looking more replacement-ish than we thought at the start of the year
Jose Rodriguez (277/327/362)...the glove is not as advertised (flat 0 Zone Rating), he hasn't been bad but just 0.5 WAR
Ben Buchanan (7.2 IP, 8 ER)...the mystery of Ben Buchanan. What an odd player.


Summer Market
Rumors are flying that at this years Big Meeting the summer market financial caps will be changed. The numbers were absurd from the USBL this year, two separate players got $1 million plus bonuses. For them to be the only league with a soft cap simply isn't fair. I will lobby for all caps to be lifted..we signed two players.

J.J. Davies who has a potentially huge bat, that defensive profile is a bit worrying but we take the bat and figure that out later.
and


Chris Block
a control specialist who might have been the best pitcher available to us. $130k for these two.

Just to point out the resources gap, Indianapolis meanwhile will wind up spending $7 million for their international haul...twice our budget just on 10 young players. But I mean look at the talent they grabbed, Adam Strickland and Roberto Santiago my god, the scouts are in agreement on him. Davies my scout is a bit out on a limb.

The Arrows are maybe in a bit of a desperate push to find another golden generation. They won 11 titles in 11 years from '34-'45 but it's now coming up on two decades since they've won anything at all.

[dward1]

What a night in Piraeus. In the midst of a relagation battle in the WBA that just claimed their manager's job on the weekend, PSG called up minor leaguer Johnny Gutierrez to get a midweek start in the Cup. That did not go well. Gutierrez was out of the game in the first and the Greek side with legendary fan support was up by double digits. If it ended there, you wouldn't be reading about a random European Cup group stage match. PSG immediately started a comeback for the ages, eventually winning the game comfortably by 4 runs. I'd wager this is the first time ever a double-digit lead in the first inning wound up in a loss.

Paris leads their group by 4 games with 4 games to go.

[KendoMN]

Really enjoying this. Please keep it up! Hope Zavala rebounds for you!

[dward1]

Originally Posted by KendoMN

Really enjoying this. Please keep it up! Hope Zavala rebounds for you!

he was always a bit of a stretch to be a solid contributor this young but that early season start gave me unrealistic expectations. I hope to see some progress though, he's rumored to have potential power...0 HR this year in the league. a few would be nice!

and thanks a lot for the words, it's a blast to play...perfect Corona work

[dward1]

Last offseason Miami turned heads a little bit by making Beddis Sahere the first ever $2 million man. This would have been laughable back in the MLB days, but with sport never quite recovering from Corona and labor issues, the salaries have cratered over the past 40 years. Miami signing Sahere wasn't outrageous, he was clearly the best pitcher in the league and many other players made above $1.5 million. To give $2 million a year over 5 years to the Guinean Sensation coming off back to back years of sub-2.15 ERA and sub-1 WHIPs might have actually been a bit of a steal.



Since Sahere was signed, the global competition values have skyrocketed. The prize pools have doubled or tripled in almost every competition due to the media rights package offered by Elita, a Russian media company that overwhelmed the market with their bid. Everyone knew contracts would rise at the top end but what Miami and New York have done with their extensions this season signals something behind a "rise" and might signal a new era in baseball.

Jose Gonzalez is a 34-year old shortstop, not exactly the profile most look for when breaking barriers for spending, but Gonzalez isn't normal. He's in the midst of the best stretch of his career (7.5 WAR/162 while in NY) and can still hang at SS. So a pricy extension wasn't shocking but when New York nearly doubled the Guinean Sensation's pay wage it left the sports world shocked.




$3.8 million a season. That's more than the Washington Statesmen, 2 time WBA champions, currently pay their entire team. It's more than what 10 separate teams in the USBL2 payroll. While it stunned many, it got Mark Sauer and his agency drooling. Sauer, at 25, is on a trajectory to smash all kinds of records.



The homer is still king and Sauer is hitting a bomb every 3.2 games, a pace above every legend ever. Look at this table

Games Per Home Run, All-Time (min 200 HR in GBF or 500 HR in MLB + Sauer)
1. Mark Sauer (MIA), 3.2
2. Mark McGwire (OAK/STL), 3.2
3. Babe Ruth (NYY), 3.5
4. Dave Blevins (RAL/SA), 3.5
5. Fred Smallwood (QUE/MIA/TOR), 3.8
6. Sammy Sosa (CHC), 3.9
6. Javier Perez (NY/MIA), 3.9
7. Barry Bonds (PIT/SF), 3.9
8. Nate McCary (OKC), 4
9. Alex Rodriguez (SEA/TEX/NYY), 4
10. Frank Carlino (JAX/BRK), 4

His career OPS of 1038 is 40 points above the next highest in this new era of baseball (Carlino), though Ruth/Williams/Gehrig look out of reach. All that to say is, Sauer is currently playing at an all-time great level and is just 25 years old. This year he's gone even higher (378/471/756/1227), 4 HRs behind leading Triple Crown race. So while he got $3.4 million a year for 8 years, the Gonzalez extension somehow made it feel...cheap in a way?



70% more yearly than the 3rd-highest paid player in the world and it feels cheap. It's a new financial world we are living in, thanks to the growing popularity of these global competitions, mainly the Champions League and Baseball Cup we figure but they were bought in a package with the Super Cup, Global Cup, Wold Cup and continental cups by Elita.

How can teams outside the top tier break in? Teams like Rotterdam or Vancouver or California don't have a clear path to making it to the money-spinning rounds of these tournaments and are at risk of falling further behind. Chris Hayes has a meeting set this winter with the Euro/Asian heads to talk expansion before his big meet with Pierce Carlson coming in December. The distribution of money, so carefully watched in the WBA so everyone has a shot, will certainly come up.

Free agency will be fascinating to watch. It's a new era.

[dward1]

We draw the #5 seed in Group F in the continental competition. The big spenders of New York and Miami, who both are going to be paying a single player more than our entire budget, are coming up soon but first we play the #6 seed Atlanta. Any chance we have of advancing, small as it is, must start with a sweep of the first set. Hartford, one of the lowest ranked top tier teams in the Cup, is having one of their better seasons ever. It could be only their 4th season over .500 in their long, 31 year journey in the USBL. That makes it an even tougher group. I'd put our odds under 10% of advancing, but it's fun to measure ourselves here, gives us a hint of what playing in the top tier will be.

[dward1]

Series 17, v Nashville, loss (8-9)
Ever since the 2-hour long “Come-to-Jesus” meeting/film study with pitching coach Matt Bailey 3 weeks ago, Justin Carree looks like a different pitcher. He didn’t strike out anyone in his first start vs Palo Alto where he gave up 4 runs in 5.1 IP. Since then he’s struck out 24 and walked 2 in 18.2 IP, almost got a shutout vs Nashville.

The next day Bresnahan looked like he was going to finish his shutout, until a 2-run bomb with 1 out in the 9th tied it up. Tucker blew it in the 10th…something is wrong with him that the shift back to the bullpen hasn’t fixed (11 IP, 8 R, 7 BB, 6 K since moving back). He took both losses this weekend

So many late game losses this year, often in jarring and brutal fashion. Zamora has been very good, but we need multiple dominant relief arms next year. My best teams in Brooklyn had multiple shut-down K machines in the pen. This pen is a mess (7th in league in bullpen ERA).

Series Star: Justin Carree (8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K)


Series 18, at Richmond, loss (7-11)

Just 15 runs scored over the past 6 games as the offense looks to be running out of gas a bit. We came very close to getting swept by the preseason favorites who have disappointed, it took an extra inning win in the finale to avoid it.

Victor Zavala finally hit his first home run in the league after being called out for lacking power this week.

Josh Rieger was just called up from Portland and delivered 3 perfect innings of relief with 5 K’s and appeared in every game.

Series Star: Jorge Zamora (4 shutout innings in finale out of bullpen in a tie game)


Series 19, @Las Vegas Lights, win (22-14)

A hopeful USBL2 finals preview.

Malik Luster had gone 7+ innings in his last 6 starts and had gone fewer than 5.2 innings just once this year (4.1 in New Orleans). Today, he lasted just 2 innings as he gave up 6 runs, the most allowed this year.

On Saturday we faced Nick Rincon and his 2.83 ERA. He hadn’t given up more than 4 runs in a game all year and he was sent packing in the 4th with 8 earnies and 0 K’s (had a >9 K/9 rate pregame). Carree had a meltdown, walking 5 and allowing 6 runs in 3.2 innings as well and it was an old-fashioned shootout, 8-6 through 4 innings. A Stromgren blast re-established the lead and then Rieger cut through their lefty-heavy lineup to finish off an 11-6 win. I really like this Rieger guy, he’s eased my bullpen worries so far.

They have a 57 point OPS gap between righty pitchers and lefty pitchers…I think I’ll give Buchanan a start tomorrow just to see, test the waters for our likely playoff battles.

The Buchanan move was a good one, he went 5.2, 1 R and Zavala continued his recent surge, smashing a 2-run bomb. But it was one of those sudden, late blowup innings again, this time from Danny Bresnahan. Vegas scored 4 in the 8th to avoid a sweep and even the season series between us.

If we had finished off the sweep, we’d have been 2 games back with 9 games left and that sweet bye and guaranteed global competition via Champions League or Global Cup would have been in reach. Instead, that’s likely gone.

Series Star: Chris Yates (7-12, 2 2B, HR)

Series 20, vs New Orleans, win (12-9)

New Orleans comes into the series limping badly, they just suffered a 30-3 loss to Iowa midweek in the Cup. Iowa who was battling in the USBL2 just two years ago, now looks likely to make the playoffs in the top tier and is putting 30 on teams. Jared Farr won his 12th game, tying Joe McCammant’s 2061 season (now struggling in Portland) for most wins in franchise history.

We got shutout in game 2 but the more worrying thing was Bresnahan. He allowed 14 baserunners in 5 innings. His league ERA is 4.01 but it feels like 5.5, it’s a chore to watch his games you feel like you can’t ever breathe.

We saved Carree for the righty-heavy New York lineup in the Cup and gave Buchanan a start, he delivered with 7 strong innings of one-run balland struck out 5.

Series Star: Jaeden Burton (5-10, HR, BB)

Month Summary


Standings


With just 6 games remaining in the regular season our fate is pretty much sealed. We are likely to host the best-of-3 First Round series, but who will it be against? The Pennant Chase computers say
57% Madison
24% Nashville
15% Rochester!!
And 4% Palo Alto

Overall Team Stats
wOBA: .347, 2nd, -.005 this month
FIP: 3.97, 1st, -0.19 this month
Zone Rating: +13.2, 4th, -0.8 this month

A great month FIP-wise, led by Zamona and Rieger having a 1.56 FIP over 18.2 innings. Starters combined for around a 3.40 FIP as well. Can we put it all together in the playoffs?


Players of the Month
1. Jorge Zamora (12 IP, 0 R, 0.81 WHIP, 18 K, 1.2 WPA)…our relief ace is having the best year of his career.
2. Jaeden Burton (386/438/477)…he’s come back to us asking for an extension again. He only wants $210k for 2 years and we don’t have any other catchers. I am likely to offer about $185k with maybe team option for year 2 and 3 soon.
3. BJ Peterson (298/389/574)
4. Chris Yates (375/423/625)…the 32 year old has reached double digits in HR for the first time in his career. Last year Land was the only player to reach 10 HRs, this year we are already at 4 with a chunk of games to go. Yates, Peterson, Stromgren and Mallow.
5. Ben Buchanan (15.2 IP, 2 R, 12 K, 3 BB, 0.89 WHIP)

Who’s Cold
Joe Duncan (269/296/365)…a rare blue month for the 21 year old
John Stewart (291/304/327)…no pop
Matt Mallow (163/196/302)…a stunning 18 K’s in 12 games, up to 82 on the season. Once struck out 91 when he played in San Fran.

[dward1]

Set 1, vs Atlanta
The must-win part of the deal came up first and we handled the Braves, 3 time WBA2 champions but only 1 year spent in the top tier, pretty easily. 4-1 and 7-1 were the finals, Carree took a no-hitter into the 7th in the second game. 2-0 is the start, but much tougher opponents await.

Set Star: Justin Carree (6.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 8 K)

Set 2, @ New York
What a stage, it was very fun for our guys to see the enormity and scale of GNB Ballpark, one of the most beautiful parks in the world. It felt like it might just be a fun trip when we struggled out of the gate, going down 4-0 in the 3rd even against their swingman, journeyman Carlos Carrillo. Then we took advantage of an error to load the bases for Jose Rodriguez, who delivered his best moment by far as a Nickel with a Grand Slam to tie the game. Farr held strong through 6 and in the 7th Rodriguez delivered maybe his second best moment as a Nickel, singling, stealing second and then scoring on an aggressive baserunning move after a Burton single. Then it was over to Jorge Zamora, who allowed 1 baserunner in his 3 innings, striking out 5. A huge, famous victory for us, the best game since I’ve been here. Buffalo 6, New York 5. Kings of the state? Well, we’ve got to play them tomorrow.

Game 2 we clearly weren’t facing Carlos Carrillo anymore, Jim Williams held us hitless until the 5th and hit double digit K’s shortly after that. Carree muddled through 5 innings (8 baserunners, 3 K’s) somehow giving up just 1 run. We were down 2-0 in the 8th but it felt like we were getting massively outplayed. With 2 outs in the 8th, Mallow singled, and then Stewart doubled home a pair to tie the game. Then Joe Duncan flared one into right and suddenly we had the lead in Manhattan. Rieger finished off the 8th and we were 3 outs away from a sweep and 4-0. A leadoff double made us more nervous in the 9th but we stuck with the rookie Rieger, mainly because Zamora was exhausted. Rieger has earned this chance. He got 2 outs, and got the count to 0-2 vs the $3.8 million man Jose Gonzalez. One out, one strike away, and then…gone. A walkoff two-run bomb meant we left New York with a split.

Heads held high, we played well, but it hurts.

Set Star: Jose Rodriguez, 1-6, 2 BB, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, SB



We play Miami next week.

[dward1]

1 year with two team options, but if he keeps playing at this level we would love to have him all three seasons. A .711 OPS from a catcher is nothing to sneeze at. A hard-working guy, he's 31 and should have many seasons left. Being a backup/part-time catcher in Vegas should have saved his legs a bit. At least catcher shouldn't be a gaping hole tearing apart our team anytime soon.

[Englishtide73]

this is killing me! how do you start a tournament in OOTP20? The instructions don't really tell you. id like to have some during the season.

[dward1]

Originally Posted by Englishtide73

this is killing me! how do you start a tournament in OOTP20? The instructions don't really tell you. id like to have some during the season.

what do you want to know? it's not easy, I haven't done the playoffs like I wanted really...I have them as single knockout games because you can't make the playoffs like the regular season (only Tue/Wed) as far as I can tell