Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers of the WPK

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

You know something just occurred to me. You had mentioned sometime previously that Oscar Vargas' future was not certain with the Brewers. You might start to be on the lookout for his replacement (an elite defense super sub) either in trade or free agency. Easier said than done finding a player like that most likely, depending on the WPK. Maybe you are already doing this, if so please disregard this message.

Have a Great Day!

Palaaemon

I hear this. But mostly the reason that Vargas is expendable is that Joe Willemse provides pretty much the same value as a utility infielder. Maybe not quite as excellent defensively as Vargas, or with as much power in his bat, but a better contact hitter and with even better intangibles. From the moment I drafted him I thought of Willemse as the future Vargas and I think that time has come.
Plus, if there is one thing our farm system is good at it is producing versatile infield defensive backups (B.J. Drew, Emile Brunelleschi, Kevin Flieder, to name a few who could be WPK-ready in utility roles now or very soon.)
Of course, if another player like this falls into our lap before the trading deadline, I won't say no.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird, stevem810, pauwoo and everyone else,



Off the top of my head I do not have a suggestion but I would rank those above as (1) Kinsela Fall Classic (I really like this one. It just sounds good ) (2) Kinsella Championship Series (little more generic sounding) (3) Kinsella Autumn Classic (Kinsella Fall Classic just sounds better). As far as giving you an idea of how far apart each one is in ranking for me, on a scale of 100-1 100 being tops (1) 100 points, (2) 50 points and (3) 5 points.

Hope this all helps. Have a Great night!

Palaaemon

I just realized the only problem with Kinsella Fall Classic (which, by the way, I am pretty fond of also). It might be shortened to KFC.
And we can't have that.

[BirdWatcher]

Okay, I should probably wrap up this post which I started a few days ago.

So picking up where I left off, with the remainder of the players on the Possible Hall-of-Famer list:

Two veteran third basemen- Jamison Bash and Trevor Leach- also might have a case for inclusion. Bash has been the most prolific slugger in the WPK this side of Nate Bennett. His JAWS of 59.6 ranks 9th. His Hall of Fame Monitor score is a bit of an underwhelming 80 (18th best.) He is 26th in HOF Standards at 33. His Black Ink is 15 (21st) and Gray Ink 102 (22). He has a reputation for laziness and while he is a pretty strong candidate for the Hall, at age 39 he won't be adding much to his credentials. My instinct is he has about a 60% chance of enshrinement at best.
Trevor Leach is only 31 years old and still playing at a pretty high level. He is 29th in JAWS at 42.8 but doesn't show up in the top 30 of any other metric we are looking at right now. He has time to build his case and he should at least get some support as a steady performer and likable character. But he's still a long shot for now.

Finally, a pair of outfielders- 29 year old Cody Kane and 28 year old Lazarro Lowndes.
Kane is a great leader and a fine, if unspectacular, player. He is not in the top 30 in JAWS, has a 60 HOF Monitor score (26th), does not rank in the top 30 in either HOF Standards or Black Ink, but has a solid 153 Gray Ink points to put him 6th overall. If he continues at his current pace for much of his 30's he could get elected. He likely won't be a first ballot guy and might just end of being one of those guys who falls short and is more a Hall of the Very Good type. But he has a chance and his reputation helps.
Lowndes is still very young and has been one of the better contact hitters in the game for years now. He has a JAWS of 49.8 (18th), a HOF Monitor score of 102 (16), HOF Standards of 38 (14th), is 13th in Black Ink (21) and 23rd in Gray Ink (102.) If he retired today he'd be a borderline HOF'er. But he's not retiring today and he should be good for years to come so I would gauge his eventual enshrinement at about 80% chance of success.

The last list I made was of Dark Horse Candidates for the Hall.

They are: starting pitchers Jesse Hartong, Jason Wilson, and Mike Hiatt, first baseman Bobby Erbakan, second baseman Mike Robinette, third baseman Jesse Cibula, and outfielders Curtis Horah and Danny Sanchez. And now I realize in looking through the metrics that I now realize that outfielder Antonio Sosa should be added to this list.

Hartong is the highest paid player in the WPK right now. And at age 32 he is still going strong. He is 23rd in JAWS at 46.4, 19th in HOF Monitor at 75, HOF Standards of 37 (16th), Black Ink of 20 (16th), Gray Ink of 129 (15th.) Depending upon how he ages he has a real shot.
36-year old Jason Wilson has quietly been one of the more reliable starters in baseball for many years. He does not rank in the top 30 in JAWS but is 21st in HOF Monitor at 67, and is 6th in Black Ink at 39 and 14th in Gray Ink at 130. If he has several more strong years and pitches into his early 40's he has a real shot. But at this point I'd only give him about a 20% chance.
Mike Hiatt is the only WPK hurler to throw 2 no-hitters in his career- and one was a Perfect Game. But the reality is that he doesn't make the top 30 in any of these metrics so unless he does a lot more before retirement there is no reason to assume he will make the Hall.

And shoot- I've run out of time now and will have to conclude this in a third installment.
Sorry.

[BirdWatcher]

The Boston Berserkers 27-year old star third baseman, Kasey O'Neil, saw his consecutive game hit streak end at 30 games yesterday.




This is now the second longest consecutive game hit streak after Nick Haran's 34-game streak in 1969.

[pauwoo]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

I just realized the only problem with Kinsella Fall Classic (which, by the way, I am pretty fond of also). It might be shortened to KFC.
And we can't have that.

Kinsella Classic has something snappy.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by pauwoo

Kinsella Classic has something snappy.

Without the Fall portion?

BTW- did you see that we extended Matt Helm for 4 years? I thought you would like that.
Plus, about to post about his most recent start, which was maybe his best ever.

[pauwoo]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

Without the Fall portion?

BTW- did you see that we extended Matt Helm for 4 years? I thought you would like that.
Plus, about to post about his most recent start, which was maybe his best ever.

I did see that. I thought I liked that post... just finished ‘the Interlopers’ by D. Hamilton as well - it's all Helm, all the time in Texas, my friend.

Edit: dropped ‘fall’ to avoid the wrath of the Colonel.

[BirdWatcher]

The Columbus Whalers, leading the SJL by six games over the Boston Berserkers, will be forced to try to hold onto that lead for approximately the next month and a half without the services of their ace starting pitcher, and future Hall-of-Famer, Jake Harris.


The 36-year old Harris was having his best season probably since 1972 and was looking like a strong candidate for the 1975 Pitcher of the Year award in the SJL before leaving his most recent start with a sprained elbow. Harris has been remarkably injury free during his career up to this season, having never missed more than a week due to injury or illness. But this is the third time this season that an arm issue has sidelined him, though the first two times amounted to three weeks missed combined.
It could be that over 2,600 innings of big league pitching is finally catching up to the veteran star.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by pauwoo

I did see that. I thought I liked that post... just finished ‘the Interlopers’ by D. Hamilton as well - it's all Helm, all the time in Texas, my friend.

Edit: dropped ‘fall’ to avoid the wrath of the Colonel.

I guess we could call it the Kinsella Classic Series and refer to it as the KCS, which combines a couple of stevem810's terms.

I'd still love more suggestions if anyone else out there wants to play.
But at the moment this is probably the leader in the clubhouse.

[BirdWatcher]

So let me start with the caveat that I was originally intending to make this post live within the reality of the WPK but then decided that it would be much easier to be clear by sharing this from a more external, OOTP-focused view.

Short version is:
I was more right about the value of Jonathan Koch in trade as compared to Harry Lyerly and Chad Brown than I realized.
In fact, when I add either Brown or Lyerly into the mix with Koch the offers get worse.
When I offer just Koch there are several acceptable options for trade, including very fine defensive shortstops. None of them are perfect, with the best overall players among them also being the players with the most questionable personality attributes.

When I offer Chad Brown straight up I get offered nothing, nada, zilch. When I offer him while retaining a decent percentage of his salary, still nothing. I'm sure if I took on a quite large portion of his remaining salary I could get something, but it feels like it might be better to just keep him for now but use him in a lesser role.
When I offer Harry Lyerly straight up, same thing. Nada, zilch. I suspect that if I package Lyerly right, and retain a portion of his salary, I might get something useful. Need to negotiate further to find out.
But for now it seems as though trading Koch separately is the best option.
Just need to decide which imperfect choice at shortstop is the best.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 59-35, 1st place, MGL (season).

July 20-22, versus Portland: 4-3, 5-8, 3-1.

The Brewers bullpen was unusually successful in the first game against Portland, holding onto 1 run lead to preserve the victory for Cheol-han Lee. Lee (11-3, 3.29) lasted 7 2/3rds, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits. Jeremy Walker (5.06 ERA) earned his 5th save. Joe McPhillips hit his 11th HR in the game. Josh Schaeffer and Joe Willemse each went 2 for 4.

Erik Sloan (5-4, 3.40) took the loss in the second game, giving up 5 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits in 6 innings pitched. Josh Schaeffer (.318/.404/.552) went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI, hitting 2 doubles to get to 11 on the season. Schaeffer also threw out 2 runners at home plate.

Steve Green's (10-2, 3.11) strong season continues, as he worked 8 innings, giving up just 1 run on 9 hits, striking out 6 and walking 1 in game 3. Tim Shore pitched the 9th inning for his 6th save as a Brewer (7.11 ERA.) Josh Schaeffer hit his 4th triple of the season and threw out a runner at third base who had wandered too far on a fly out to Schaeffer in right field. Schaeffer has 11 outfield assists and has been involved in 2 doubles plays as a defender during this breakout season for the 26 year old. Ryan Rodgers (.291/.454/.318) went 3 for 4 in the win.

July 23-25, at Charlotte: 1-0, 6-0, 3-2.

The strong starting pitching continued in the first of three games against the Sting. Perhaps Harry Lyerly had gotten wind of the trade rumors swirling around involving him and felt he had something to prove. If so, mission accomplished, for this day at least. Lyerly lasted 7 1/3rd innings, giving up no runs on 4 hits, striking out 5 and walking 1. The bullpen upheld his shutout, with Tim Shore getting his 7th save (6.75). Good thing too, since the Brewers could only manage a single run, which came when Joe McPhillips doubled (15) in the 8th inning and came home on a Sepi Koller single.

In game 2, Matt Helm gave the Brewers likely the best start of his career. In spite of some wildness (he walked 6 batters) Helm got a complete game one-hit shutout to improve to 8-3 with a 2.24 ERA. Jonathan Koch (perhaps also aware of rumors of possible impending trade) went 2 for 4 in the game, scoring twice and driving in 2 and hitting his 6th HR. Jorge Gonzalez hit his 2nd HR of the season.


The Brewers barely held on in the 9th inning to get the series sweep and get Sadahige Kawasaki (11-4, 2.65) another win. Sadahige pitched 8 1/3rd, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits, striking out 6 and walking 1.
Tim Shore got save #8 (6.59 ERA.) Joe McPhillips hit his 16th double. Andrew Kennedy (.363/.395/.446) went 2 for 3 and hit his 1st triple of 1975.

July 26, versus Baltimore: 4-5.

Sekien Hamasaki gets just his 2nd start at the WPK level this season and it didn't go well. He gave up 5 runs (4 earned) on 10 hits in 7 innings pitched to take the loss and drop to 1-1 with a 4.11 ERA. Ben Flynn pitched great in relief, with 2 scoreless innings, and drove in a run in the 8th inning, an inning in which the Brewers scored 4 runs to get oh so close to getting back to even. But it ended there, a 1-run loss. Joe McPhillips (.308/.388/.570) went 3 for 5 and hit his 17th double. McPhillips also threw out a runner at 3rd base for his 8th assist.


This was a week where the starting pitching was mostly terrific, the bullpen was mostly good enough, and the Brewers managed to get just enough offense to have a good week.

Notes from around the league: Columbus remains the best team in the SJL at 65-29. Boston is now 6 games behind (59-35.) Philadelphia, winners of 7 in a row, are in third at 55-39.
The Brewers are currently 4 games ahead of Brooklyn (55-39) in the MGL. The L.A. Spinners fell flat again a bit and are 5 games back in 3rd place.

[BirdWatcher]

So as long rumored, the Brewers do trade away second baseman Jonathan Koch for not one, but two shortstops.


From the El Paso Dawgs the Brewers get former 1st overall draft pick Rich White, who is expected to take over as the starting Brewer shortstop immediately. White is in the midst of his rookie season and hasn't been particularly successful thus far, but he has a reputation as a supremely gifted defensive infielder with very good speed, and eye at the plate that has potential to be elite, and an overall bat tool that is not so bad and not so good. There are some concerns about White's personality, which can be a bit abrasive, but the team decided that with their strong leadership they could probably weather any ruffled feathers his presence might provoke, and he was by far the most talented shortstop they could get in trade.


They also pick up 24-year old Jason Hopper, who is a good candidate for a utility back-up role both in the infield and the outfield. He is a hard-working strong fielder with plus plus speed and ability on the base paths. He doesn't have much of a bat but could be a decent contact hitter ans should rarely strike out.


The deal was a net gain for the Brewers in terms of fan interest (White, as a former 1-1, has good name recognition) and while in the short term it doesn't alter the budget, it does favor the Brewers in the long term as White is under team control for the next 7 seasons and isn't arbitration eligible until 1979.

[stevem810]

Regarding hitting streaks, the FBL record is 26. After that five have 22 including Herve Delage.

That 56 game streak always seems like the one that will eternally be out of reach for most leagues. I love how enduring it is in the history of the game.

[BirdWatcher]

Largely in an effort to clear a space on the active roster for Rodrigo "RodRod" Rodriguez to return from the IL and to open up a little room on the 40-man roster, the Brewers today traded first baseman Sepi Koller ,AAA shortstop Kevin Flieder, and AA catcher Lance Ivkovic to the Philadelphia Mud Hens for a pair of infield prospects- 24-year old second baseman Aaron Allen and 23-year old corner infielder Jake DiCesare.


Koller has basic big league talent with a power bat but is blocked at first base by Bobby Erbakan and Andrew Kennedy and the Brewers farm system is pretty strong at his position at this time. Flieder, the Brewers first round draft pick in 1971 (19th overall), is a fine defensive middle infielder and a smart player with good base running skills but shows no indication of ever having a big league bat and was made expendable by the recent acquisition of Rich White. Ivkovic is basically just a throw in, a hard working backstop with decent defense and no bat, likely to never see action in the WPK.


As for Allen- the Brewers like his work ethic, his contact skills and his ability to turn the double play on defense. He could develop a bit of pop in his bat as well, but at his point he is far from big league ready and likely projects mostly as a future back up or league average starter. DiCesare could be an excellent defender at either infield corner spot, looks to have good gap power, and while possessing below average speed he does have some savvy on the base paths. He could develop into a pretty good contact hitter, with the potential to be strikeout resistant. Like Allen, he doesn't look like a future star but could still develop into a big league player in some capacity.



As for the other trade rumors swirling around the Brewers, indications are that Harry Lyerly and Chad Brown will likely stay put as no deals could be found for them which made much sense for the team at this time.

[BirdWatcher]

The top prospect to take over the second base job for the Brewers in the near future, 24-year old Brett Taranto, now has a 20-game hitting streak playing for the AAA Chester Big Stick.


The most recent scouting report, just delivered, from the Brewers crack scouting staff shows that their estimation of his future potential has dimmed a bit, but there is no doubt that he has a bat that might be big league ready right now.

[BirdWatcher]

The Boston Berserker's terrific third baseman Kasey O'Neil gets July Batter of the Month honors in the SJL.


In the MGL, the honor goes to veteran Phoenix right fielder Ju-ao Ju, who is in the midst of one of the finest seasons of his illustrious career and is on pace to finish with 51 home runs, which would break the WPK record of 50, currently shared by Jamison Bash and Eric Brakeall.

[BirdWatcher]

Little known 25-year old Philadelphia starting pitcher A.J. Allen might be just a bit better known now after having a wonderful July that earned him SJL Pitcher of the Month honors.


In the MGL, Oklahoma City's Ben Bakeman earned the distinction. Bakeman led the league in saves last year (30) and at age 26 is well on his way to being considered the best closer in the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

For the third time this season, Philadelphia's 28-year old second baseman out of Taiwan, Xiao-mei Mah, earns the Rookie of the Month distinctions in the SJL. He will almost surely be the SJL Rookie of the Year but beyond that he should also be in the discussion for league MVP.


And San Francisco's 25-year old rookie closer, Mike Ryan, has now twice won the MGL Rookie of the Month award.

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

Let's keep the updates, reports, rants and general "get off my lawn" comments coming! What the hell are you doing in those mountains anyway, playing games? Chop Chop!!!

Have a Great day!

Waiting patiently,

Palaaemon

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

Let's keep the updates, reports, rants and general "get off my lawn" comments coming! What the hell are you doing in those mountains anyway, playing games? Chop Chop!!!

Have a Great day!

Waiting patiently,

Palaaemon

So, how do you feel about the Koch deal that brought over Rich White?
I will say that when I shopped Koch a bit earlier in the month I received at least one offer of a bonafide great shortstop (Seattle's Mike Silviera) but now, with the deadline fast approaching, not quite anyone like that. Although I was offered some veterans having great seasons- Ju-ao Ju, Trevor Leach, Drew Johnson, Cody Kane- but these were all guys I really didn't have any need for (outfielders, a first baseman, and a third baseman) and players headed towards decline.

Lyerly and Brown remain Brewers. It really just didn't make sense to trade Lyerly for an even older and more expensive veteran who I didn't need when it might be easier to just let him go to free agency (or try to get a better trade in the off-season before arbitration hearings) and I couldn't give Brown away.