Draft re-cap

This is just a quick re-cap of the players taken in the draft. A few notes: I only looked at rounds 1-5 so if you got an all-star in round 6 way to go and sorry I missed him. Also my scouts didn't catch every player drafted (I put some notes about that in the forum) so some teams notes are less complete than others. At the bottom I also added an "awards" section.

A couple things I also noticed by looking at almost 150 players drafted. First off as a whole there seemed to be a much stronger group of position players than pitchers. There really only looked to be about 4 impact SPs in the draft -impact players meaning they should have multiple all-star appearances. SS and 2B seemed to be strong position groups, both offensively and defensively. There seemed to be less super hitting catchers than in the past, but they might have just fallen to later rounds since so many people have them. Also it seemed the player generator made lots of copies of fast CF with average splits, low power, and great range. Also there seemed to be quite a few 1B with high L/R splits, BE, but just average power ratings. Outside of the top couple of picks COF seemed to be an average group.

Arizona - very nice Closer, a RP/LHS type player, and a speedy OF/3b

Atlanta - 2nd Best pitcher in the draft with 29th pick Mullen, another solid SP in McLaughlin, and a solid RP in the 5th round

Austin - Solid SP with 11th pick, a CF with nice range, another speedy OF

Boston - unknown 1st, two very solid OF with above average bats and gloves,

Chicago - No first round pick, but picked up a nice SP in round two and a defensive specialist.

Cincinnati - Stud 3B Gaetti that should be MVP contender, Above average hitting 2b/CF, abd a fine IF prospect in Flores.

Cleveland - Solid SS in Kane, All round very good 2B Crespo, a rangy LH CF that hit RHs well, solid RP, another speedy OF, and a solid hitting 3B. Maybe no MVPs but solid core group.

Colorado Springs - A couple holdouts that might not sign, a very solid #2 hitter type RF prospect, a good hitting/defensive 2b/CF, and a decent backup OF type player.

Florida - MVP Candidate Hutton with first pick, a decent 3B, a power hitting DH, and a number of tough signings.

Hartford - no first round pick, still got a solid hitting 1B, Speedy defensive specialist 2b/CF, average hitting major league COF

Houston – My scouts didn’t get his prospects for round 1 and 2 but obviously focused on pitching. Looks to be a nice SP prospect if he signs, future closer, a solid 2B, a high OBP C/DH, and a LRA type P. Multiple decent ML prospects.

Indianapolis - Potential All-Star SP in Cortes, a couple of decent tough signing guys. There were only 4 SPs in the draft that have star quality and Cortes is one of them.

Las Vegas - Very nice SS prospect with a great bat in Boliver, a solid hitting speedy 3B, a decent hitting quality fielding SS.

LA - A nice SP that should do well in their park, some other decent SP/RPs but no position players until 10th rd.

Louisville - Best defensive SS in the draft that could hit, followed by another one, a good SP, a SuA type player, a power hitting 2b/OF, and a number of borderline SP/RP in picks 52 through 141.

Memphis - a speedy top of the order type OF, a couple of decent hitting 2b/CF types, and a future major league backup IF.

Milwaukee - Top SP in the draft, a speedy quality defensive CF/2B that can hit, a good OBP/RBI 1B prospect, another slugging 1B/DH.

Minnesota - A decent Outfielder. Heavy on the SPs, but so many have average to poor L/R splits they might find the road to the big leagues tough.

Monterrey - A beast of a 2B prospect in Cesar Park, followed by some decent SP prospects. Also a power hitting 1B.

Montreal - Grabbed one of the few exceptional SPs, a few unknowns, a very nice power hitting SS that can field well, a couple more decent middle relief type guys and a speedy CF.

NY - Picked up a decent hitting 2B Cambell that could lead the league in SBs, and a power hitting OF. The 4th rd C/DH should be a superior OBP players.

Oklahoma - Jimmy Colon looks to be an all-star/gold glove SS and will be an impact player. Also got a couple of decent RPs.

Richmod - picked a light hitting phenomenal fielding SS late in rd 1. A decent hitting 2B in rd 2 followed by a borderline RP prospect.

Sacramento - A solid SP prospect, he also grabbed two power hitting 3B and a speedy CF.

Salem - No 1st rd, a decent hitting speedy 2b with a great glove, followed by 3 light hitting SS.

Salt Lake City – Their first round pick is playing hardball and might not sign. 2^nd rd pick looks to be a great #2 hitter in their lineup, a couple of OFs in round 3 and 4 should also make the majors.

Santa Fe - A phenomenal prospect in Anderson that will put up MVP numbers in that ballpark. Followed up with a power hitting SS that has a good glove and a switch hitting 1B that should have a decent OBP.

Scottsdale - 11 picks in 5 rounds, mostly slugging types. No SPs in their first 14 picks.

St. Louis - Only had one pick in rd 1-5 and my scouts didn't see him.

Texas – My scouts missed two of his picks top picks (P and 2B) looks like they might be holding out. Savage is a 2B with a good glove and nice bat, Locko is a light hitting speedy CF with a good glove.

Toronto - If he signs Isringhausen could be a powerful hitter, he picked up another great bat in Presley but he really projects to a DH. Also added a couple of fringe pitchers.

Washington - Focused on pitching, Chapman looks to be a quality middle relief player. My scouts did see 1st round pick.

Best Value Award

Atlanta – To pick up 2 quality pitchers (one with all-star potential) and a solid RP with their picks is a great job. One of the top 5 drafts of the day.

Building with Depth Award

Cleveland – They had a 4 picks from 17-51. There is not a HOF in the group, but there are a bunch of solid ML quality players that will make a solid core for the team.

Was it enough? Award

Florida – It looks like 3 of the top 4 picks won’t sign, and they aren’t exactly in the position to be giving up decent draft picks. Then again if you draft Albert Pujols do you really complain about the draft? Most guys from pick 15 down would give up their draft to get Hutton.

First one to 100 wins Award

Santa Fe – Derrick Flynn partnered with JP Anderson in a couple of years could be a scary lineup, outside of Hutton he’s the most dominating player in the draft. But not picking a pitcher until round 17 might not be a formula for success every year particularly in a need area.

Scottsdale - was honorable mention in this group. A lot of power hitters and zilch on the pitchers.

Back to the basics Award

Montreal – This team did not make the sexy picks, but it was a solid draft. The picks were quality players and they focused on defense and pitching.

Best Drafts

I really thought two team did very well.

Cincinnati – Not only did they get a superstar in Gaetti they also got two other IFs that should combine to make a nice young core.

Monterrey – Probably the most well rounded draft in the league. Most teams were heavy on pitching or heavy on position players. They got all-star position players and still managed to land a couple of good pitching prospects.

The Best

National League
Best Hitter: Carlos Johnson (Hartford) - His batting line reads like something out of a horror story for pitchers… a .380 avg, .498 OBP, .843 SLG…30 HRs, 80 RBIs. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.

Best Pitcher: Douglas Parker (Richmond) - This was a tough pick as nobody really took control. This guy has a WHIP of 1.21 and an ERA of 2.96. He has struck out 56 while walking only 26. He’s also thrown 4 complete games. Pretty solid all-around right there.

American League
Best Hitter: Rusty Jones (Scottsdale) - .430/.533/.804. That says it all right there. 18 HRs, 58 RBI, only 10 K's. This was a no brainer.

Best Pitcher: JC Russell (Salem) - Through 90.2 IP his ERA of 2.08 leads the AL by nearly a full point and his WHIP of 1.04 is best by .13. This is a no-brainer.

The Best & Worst of Division Play

National League
Best: NL East - With 3 teams within 4 games of first place and all 3 teams are at least 10 games over .500. This division has a shot of landing 3 teams in the playoffs when the season is over.

Worst: NL North - This could be a barn-burner of mediocrity and awfulness. 4 teams. 5 games separate them. Unfortunately the division leader is 30-31. It’s looking more and more like 80 games could win this division.

American League*
Best: AL West - Scottsdale could run away with this division, but the rest of the teams are still within a multi game winning streak of making this into an interesting division race.

Worst: AL South - There was no clear-cut winner so I just went with the division whose bottom teams were worse than the other divisions’ bottom two.

* You could make a case for any division in the American League for both classifications. In each division (minus the South) the second place team is 5.0 games out. It's early, but that's quite a ways out of first place.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – NL EAST – SEASON ONE

No need in lying about this…the signings for this division are easily the worst of any division I’ve reviewed yet.

1) Best Value

Vasco Suarez is a Honduran third baseman that signed with Hartford for $610K. He’s currently spending his third consecutive season in AA ball and is on pace to demolish his previous high of 14 HRs in a season. His .312 career batting average in the minors is evidence of his offensive strengths. Vasco’s weakness is his defense, as he averages an error in every 4.22 games. His range and glove ratings seem to imply that Suarez may find at best a pinch hitting role in the majors.

2) Lowest Production Per Dollar AND 3) Best Overall

Hartford also signed Colombian pitcher Omar Castillo with the hopes that he could earn a spot in the major league rotation. He was dropped immediately into the Low A roster, where he was shelled (10.57 ERA, 2.45 WHIP) in 10 starts.

Despite the horrible start in Low A, he was promoted to High A for Season 2. Over the next 2 seasons, Castillo pitched 280 innings and put up a 21-12 record, 4.24 ERA, and a 1.40 WHIP. In Season 4, he moved to AA and has since pitched 261 2/3 innings with an 18-12 record, 3.20 ERA, and a 1.35 WHIP.

Looks good, right? So why does he get the "lowest production" award? There were no other highly paid International players in the NL East, and Castillo seems prepared for Triple A ball at this point. His $3 million signing bonus seems high now for a AA player, but there is a very good chance that Castillo could start paying dividends in the majors within a few seasons.

***This was authored by Chrispy***

League Notes at the 1/3 point

Biggest Surprises

Santa Fe - After season three when this team made an 80 game improvement and a second place finish things looked up for the new ownership. But season 4 came along and so did another 100 loss season. This season started a little rough for them, and then a decision from management came down to move perennial MVP candidate Flynn from SS to the OF and be replaced by a quality fielding SS. Flynn had 50 errors at SS 3 out of 4 seasons and was well on his way this season before the move. While playing in Santa Fe probably will never earn a pitcher a Cy Young award, with their potent offense (eight players might reach 100 RBI mark) they are not out of any game.

Salem - In Season 4 this team made its mark by signing the two best FA pitchers available, but pitching in the thin air of Colorado was rough and they finished their fourth straight season in 3rd place and ranked towards the bottom on the league in pitching. With a move to Salem they have been a much tougher opponent. Pitching is ranked 4th in the league and their offense is still in the top 1/3 of the league.

Montreal - Statistically this team is below average, but the owner is a vet of sim league baseball and that knowledge must be of some value in HBD because he has taken a team the has lost 100+ games the last two seasons and got them playing .500 ball.

Honorable Mention

Cleveland - They have won the division two straight seasons, but got little love from the pundits for doing so. Most picked St. Louis and Toronto to dethrone them.

Florida Phoenix - While hovering around .375 is usually not something to cheer about this team has reached a level of respectability and you just can't ignore them. They have taken series from Scottsdale, NY, and Minnesota.

Salt Lake City - While there are no easy divisions in the league, it is tough compete in a division that 113 wins equaled 2nd place last season. Ownership has brought together a team can score some runs, which is always needed in the AL.

Colorado Springs – There has been one team that has won their division title every season, the Arizona Scottsdales. Colorado has been in the top 1/3 of pitching and above average for hitting. If Colorado Springs is going to stay in first they need to get more from their 5^th starter and maybe add another bat.

Head Scratchers

Toronto - Morgan's first championship team has always put together good team. This is shaping up to be their toughest season yet. Yamid is still in MVP form, but only one other player that projects to get 75 RBI. The pitching has been decent, but inconsistent. A trade for a big bat could help, but in 5 season's their owner has yet to make a trade so its not likely to start now.

St. Louis - Admittedly this hasn't had a history of success. But the new ownership came in and signed 3 of the biggest FA pitchers on the market. That got the entire league's attention. The pitching has been good, ranked in the top 10 most the season, but their unproven offense has let them down. They don't play small ball and don't have enough power to wait for homers. The good new for this team is that if they were able to add a couple of potent bats to the lineup they are within striking distance of the division leaders. As bad as they have been, nobody wants to face that staff in the playoffs.

Boston - This is a young team and they should do well in the future. The owner has won championships with other teams so he knows what he's doing. But the goal of at least competing this year barely seems reachable. They’re ranked 31st in pitching and hitting which makes it difficult to win. The troubles can’t be blamed on lack of attention from the owner. This team might be using MLB’s Florida franchise as an example to build a strong young team, but this isn't their year.

Sacramento - The questions about last year's 113 Win performance being a run of good luck persist. They ranked 2nd in both pitching and offense last year, while pitching is just barely above average this season offense has been non-existent. Ranked in the bottom 5 offenses of the world won't ever get you in the AL playoffs. They might get three guys with 100RBIs, but after that nobody projects to 60.

Texas - While Chicago is probably the most surprising poor performance, Texas has to be the biggest drop for no apparent reason. Some decent signings and they kept most the players from last year's 98 Win team, this team might not get 1/2 the wins as last year. The biggest culprit was Ben Musial's colossal slide from his MVP form, but he's getting back on track. It might be to late though for this team. They only have one SP with sub 5.25 ERA. Last year their pitchers weren't dominant, but they had the offense to overcome average groups of SPs. Now their offense is mired in the bottom third of the league which won’t cut it for that staff.

Chicago - There isn't a bigger surprise on this list. Its not like Pitching and Offense have completely tanked for this team, both are above average in the league. A couple players like Santayana are not playing as well as they have in the past. FA pickup Buddy Parrish who was expected to give a lift to the offense and pitching with his skills behind the plate has barely been adequate. His catcher's ERA is a full run higher than it was last season, and he doesn't look to get anywhere close to the 100 RBIs he has averaged over the past three seasons. Usually superb SPs Joey Diaz and former cy young winner Ted Riveria have really fallen on hard times for this team - when they haven't been hurt. The good news for Chicago is that they are only a few games back and have the talent to still make a run for it.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – NL NORTH – SEASON ONE

1) Best Value

The Cincinnati Reds signed P Tomas Alonso for $910K, hoping Alonso could develop into a major league starter. While Alonso likely won’t be an ace, he could make for a decent #4 or #5 starter with his solid stamina and above average control.

Alonso was a workhorse in AA ball, with 68 starts over two seasons and an 18-8 record in Season 2. He was promoted to AAA in Season 4 and turned heads with a 13-8 record with a 4.17 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Thus far in Season 5, he looks likely to improve on those numbers.

Don’t be surprised if Alonso gets a mid-season promotion to the big show.


2) Lowest Production Per Dollar

I was tempted to give this to either Cleveland AA pitcher Willie Gutierrez ($1.8 mil) or Toronto AA pitcher Jimmy Vazquez ($2.5 mil), but there is still a chance for both pitchers to crack into AAA or higher.

No such opportunity exists for Miguel Lee. The Dominican pitcher signed with St. Louis for $1 million, but had a disappointing Rookie ball debut in Season 1. For some reason, he shuttled between Rookie and Low A in Season 2 despite an inability to keep his WHIP below 2.50.

Then, in Season 3, came the breakthrough. In Low A, Lee had a 3.23 ERA and a WHIP of 1.14 WHIP over 64 innings. Half of his appearances were starts, showing his flexibility. He was then promoted to High A, and although his 5+ ERA and 1.61 WHIP weren’t great, he had pitched less than 14 innings.

Surprisingly, instead of staying in High A for Season 4, he was demoted….all the way back to ROOKIE ball.

He pitched 38 half-hearted innings in Rookie, then retired.


3) Best Overall

Two players are worthy of mention in this category.

Honorable Mention would go to Juan Carrasco, currently on Cincinnati’s AAA roster. After receiving a $2.8 million signing bonus, Carrasco was immediately through into the fire of the AAA roster. Averaging a .296 batting average over his minor league career, Carrasco has been bounced from 3B to the outfield. He could play either position adequately and is a potential starter for the Reds in the very near future.

The award goes to Toronto pitcher Ichiro Li. The Storks dished $3 million to sign the set up man from Japan, and Li has delivered in every level of the minors that he has pitched. He was dominant in Low A, producing a sub-1.00 WHIP in 42 total innings. In Season 4, he made 50 appearances (including 2 suspect starts) in High A. Li’s 3.57 ERA and 1.34 WHIP would likely have been improved without the starts, where he simply does not have the stamina to pitch. His 40/11 K/BB ratio was especially impressive.

This season, Li is off to a great start in AA. His 2.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP could land him a mid-season promotion if maintained. Li’s potential weakness is that he produces significantly more flyballs, although he has only surrendered 12 HRs in 152 minor league innings.

***Chrispy is the author of this post ***

RANDOM FACTS (ML)

Oldest Team: Salem (30.5)
Youngest Team: Santa Fe (25.0)
Highest salary (per): Las Vegas ($3.8M)
Lowest salary (per): Milwaukee ($847K)
Most drafted: Santa Fe & Boston (7)
Fewest drafted: 12 teams with 0
Most experience: Richmond (6.9)
Least experience: Milwaukee (1.6)

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – AL WEST – SEASON ONE

1) Best Value

The Anaheim Long Ballers spent $2.91 million on 5 international prospects, and the current Salt Lake City Bonnevilles GM isn’t complaining about a few of those players.

SS Fernando Chavez signed with Anaheim for $430K and currently sits on Salt Lake’s AA roster. Chavez spent his first two seasons in Rookie ball, but only played in 73 games in Season 2 despite hitting over .300. He started Season 3 in Rookie, but earned a promotion to Low A after 15 games. Chavez responded to the promotion by hitting .364 and splitting time between SS and RF defensively. After starting Season 4 in Low A, he once again earned a mid-season promotion. Chavez hit .315 in 73 games, this time exclusively at SS.

While lacking in speed and power, Chavez could possibly earn a major league bench role with a solid batting average in the next few seasons.


2) Lowest Production Per Dollar

I really wanted to give this award to Hector Rosado, a pitcher that signed for $5 million with Albuquerque and currently sits on Atlanta’s AAA level. However, all of the trades that are tied into Rosado and Sacramento make Rosado’s value to Sacramento a bit arguable. (If you have 3 hours, feel free to trace down Rosado and all of the players that went to SacTown after his trade.)

Rodrigo Gomez signed with Anaheim for $1 million. After two seasons in Rookie ball, he finally “earned” a promotion to Low A (7-4, 5.35 ERA, 1.59 WHIP). Season 4 saw Gomez put up a 5-10 record in 25 starts with a 4.73 ERA and 1.44 WHIP and seemed primed for a potential promotion to High A.

No such luck, as Gomez retired before Season 5. Reports were that he had figured on two more seasons in Low A before another promotion, putting his expected age before a major league promotion to be around 174.


3) Best Overall

Anaheim signed 3B Luis Seneca for a mere $890K, which Salt Lake could view as a bargain in a few year.

In Season 1, the power hitting Seneca hit .281 with 28 HR and 106 RBIs in Low A. Surprisingly, Seneca was DEMOTED to Rookie ball the following year, where he hit .341 with 17 HRs and 98 RBIs in less than half of a full season.

In Seasons 3 and 4, Seneca turned High A ball into a playground, putting up 82 HRs, over 300 RBIs, and a .325 batting average.

He starts Season 5 in High A, and Salt Lake might want to consider promoting him immediately or risk losing him to retirement. Luis could likely end up as a backup 3B on the major league level, especially with his power and ability to hit right handers.

Lineup Strength and Position Player Rater

I run my players through a formula that recalculates their overall values to something I feel is a little more in line with production. So I decided to expand it for the entire league. Its not rocket science, just focuses on some of the more important attributes and tries to penalize for low numbers in certain areas. For example a bad player with a 99 health rating is still bad, but a great player with a 30 health rating is taken down a notch or two. I will also admit that it does suppress the value the elite base stealers of the league. I would almost rather devalue the 3-5 true game changing lead-off players (ala Rickey Henderson) than to overvalue the 20-30 guys that are one dimensional (ala Tony Womack)

It obviously fluctuates, but we keep a little over 400 position players at the big league level. Below is rough estimate of how many players in each range there were and how I would categorize the values.

how many players rated 20-49 70 (usually one dimensional or just bad)
how many players rated 50-59 86 (below average ML players)
how many players rated 60-69 100 (Average ML talent)
how many players rated 70-79 87 (Above Average Player)
how many players rated 80-89 40 (all-star)
how many players rated 90-100 23 (HOFers)

This is a list of how the average lineup rated. I just rated the top 10 players so in most cases I dropped the worst two players from each team so as not to penalize a team that kept a lowly rated player as a specialist (defensive specialist, pinch runner, LH power, backup catcher, etc) except in the cases of a couple of team that have 10 or less position players.

Team Avg Rating

HOU	80.02
SCO	77.80
MNT	76.72
ARI	76.57
NY	75.94
HAR	74.66
TOR	74.06
ATL	73.64
CH2	72.02
SAC	71.42
RIC	70.32
BOS	69.64
SFE	69.56
CSP	69.24
IND	68.82
LV	68.23
STL	68.16
CLE	67.98
MEM	67.61
MIN	66.73
OK	65.42
TEX	64.66
CIN	64.40
AUS	63.52
SAL	63.45
SLC	62.38
LA	60.13
WAS	59.53
MIL	58.66
MON	57.01
FLA	55.13

I have also included a list of currently Rated Top 100 players. This doesn't take into account future projections, just how they are rated for this season. I don't mind sending someone the entire list, but its way to long for the blog.

Name	Team	Age	Rating
Tim Smith	HOU	31	104.56
Darrel Perez	SCO	27	102.33
Rusty Jones	SCO	30	100.27
Doug Connelly	ARI	30	99.94
Dick Yeats	ARI	33	98.35
Derrick Flynn	SFE	26	97.25
Glenn Kubenka	MEM	25	96.12
George Spence	CH2	30	96.07
Rafael Cedeno	SAC	24	95.52
Carlos Johnson	HAR	24	95.50
Robert Black	HAR	30	94.99
Al Pena	RIC	31	94.91
Sam Rivera	LOU	29	94.79
Mark Lee	LA	30	93.59
Mark Ross	NY1	28	93.15
Vic Saenz	ATL	33	93.14
Steve Taylor	HOU	22	92.89
Pablo Johnson	MNT	28	92.65
Homer Monroe	MEM	26	91.95
Tony Chang	ARI	28	91.40
Vladimir Goya	CLE	25	91.33
Raul Gonzalez	SLC	24	90.80
Dan West	TOR	32	90.28
Hugh Moore	MNT	32	89.46
Alan O'Malley	MIN	24	89.31
Benito Vazquez	MNT	27	89.16
Enrique Ruiz	RIC	26	89.13
Alex Green	SCO	25	88.82
Tony Rivera	ATL	26	88.11
Albert Guzman	WAS	31	87.83
Kiki Lopez	NY1	25	87.77
Walt Keeler	MIN	27	87.60
Stan Jackson	CH2	27	86.89
Del Castro	SAC	24	86.76
Bey Buckley	ATL	24	86.62
Carlos Javier	TOR	31	86.60
Ken Jefferies	MIL	25	86.39
Ricardo Santana	ARI	25	86.23
Ozzie Dougherty	HOU	32	85.90
Bonk Linton	BOS	25	85.88
Brian Scott	STL	30	85.67
Mendy Messmer	STL	30	85.40
Tim Durbin	SCO	23	85.01
David Pineiro	HOU	33	84.85
Ben Musial	TEX	30	84.30
Willie Sikorski	IND	31	84.21
Chili Olsen	HOU	22	83.08
John Blank	BOS	25	83.05
Carl Cochrane	MIN	24	82.55
Yamid Sierra	TOR	27	82.41
Brady Reese	MNT	31	82.38
Wes Davies	OK	24	82.37
Tim Lincoln	AUS	28	82.20
Jon Zentmeyer	CSP	27	82.09
Cliff Brocail	MNT	27	81.85
Barry Durocher	STL	31	81.27
Heath DeRosa	HAR	27	81.15
Buddy Munoz	LV	28	80.83
Aaron Cooke	SAL	33	80.78
Danys Ramirez	LOU	22	80.77
Jim Stewart	RIC	30	80.47
Victor Maradona	LV	27	80.44
Kirk Jenkins	NY1	30	80.36
Paul Ogawa	MNT	21	80.30
Carlos Martin	IND	29	80.18
Will Ford	ATL	30	80.16
Lawrence Trammell	BOS	23	79.94
Ralph Kydd	CH2	32	79.62
Ernest Strange	FLA	34	79.05
Miguel Cruz	CIN	21	78.87
Don Melhuse	SLC	26	78.78
Alex Cordero	NY1	23	78.64
Julio Guerrero	MEM	29	78.61
Geoff Leonard	NY1	25	78.41
Rudy Griffiths	CLE	28	78.21
Otis Martin	SAC	27	78.21
Thom House	ARI	29	77.99
T.J. Hornsby	LV	29	77.70
Brian Maeda	LOU	32	77.58
Buddy Parrish	CH2	32	77.33
Sammy Vega	LA	31	77.27
Happy McNamara	ARI	27	77.05
Willie Hawkins	HAR	31	76.89
Archie Saunders	CLE	30	76.77
Mark Bradley	TOR	24	76.61
Gus Andrews	AUS	29	76.42
Pedro Mesa	SFE	23	76.30
Yogi Lieberthal	HOU	30	76.17
Joe Hansen	HAR	28	76.08
Eli Oliva	CIN	22	76.05
Timothy Bryne	HOU	23	75.90
Sammy Dillon	CIN	30	75.63
Dennis Burnitz	IND	24	75.48
Hong-Jin Ramirez	LA	34	75.40
Preston Riggs	WAS	29	75.14
Stewart Stieb	CH2	26	75.11
Cristobal Alvarez	SAC	31	75.11
Juan Castillo	FLA	30	74.78
Ben Busby	SAL	27	74.19
Achilles McMurtry	MON	28	74.14
Greg Brinkley	NY1	29	74.06

Predictions for Division Winners and Wild Cards

Well check these in 75 days and see how close they are

AL North	Chicago	Chicago	Chicago	Chicago
AL East	NY	Washington	Indy	NY
AL South	Texas	Memphis	Texas	Memphis
AL West	Scottsdale	Scottsdale	Scottsdale	Scottsdale
Wild Card	Salem	Salem	Minnesota	Minnesota
Wild Card	Memphis	NY	Sacremento	Sacremento
NL North	St. Louis	St. Louis	Toronto	St. Louis
NL East	Hartford	Hartford	Louisville	Hartford
NL South	Houston	Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta
NL West	Colorado S.	Arizona	Arizona	Colorado S.
Wild Card	Richmond	Louisville	St. Louis	Richmond
Wild Card	Louisville	Cleveland	Houston	Cleveland

Biggest Off-season waves

Below is the list of 10 teams that made the most waves during the off-season/free agency period. This list focussed on FA and trades, not minor league call ups.

St. Louis Bluebirds – Made the biggest splash in free agency when they signed All-Star caliber SP’s Joel Coleman, BC Sierra, and Donald Nakajima, plus an offense minded C in Barry Durocher. They focused on pitching, and now have a world class pitching rotation, but you can’t win games 0-0 and they will need to find offense somewhere.

Houston Texans – Picked up perennial all-star/MVP candidate Tim Smith. They bolstered their bullpen with a young closer in Ralph Kell, and solid setup men in Placido Ayala and Moises Ordaz. Adding a star player and patching up their bullpen should put this team on the short list of championship contenders.

Salem Mad Monks - Didn’t sign the hottest names on the market (like last season) but made a couple of solid RP signings and picked up a top notch defensive SS. This is exactly what this team needed, the fastest way to fix a bad defense is to get a superior defensive SS. Their solid SP core will appreciate having a great closer.

Chicago Knights - This team didn’t need much to improvement. They didn’t sign the best FA on the market, but they might have signed the best FA for them. Buddy Parrish will add punch to their potent lineup while helping out the pitching staff too. Plus they re-signed their closer to one more season.

Boston Blood Sox – This team did a modest amount to help their ML staff. Traded for young SS, signed power hitting Michael Hernandez, and 2B Jim Purcell. But they really added to minor league system by adding four young guys that should all make the majors. Obviously their plan is to build a solid foundation for this team in the future, even all their FA signing were young players.

Scottsdale Mad Jesters – A curious off-season for this team. They lost Cy Young winner Coleman, and gold glove 2b/leadoff hitter Sikorski, then traded All-Star 3B Tim Smith. Teams usually don’t improve by getting rid of great pitching, gold glove defense, and power hitters. What they did do was trade for last year NL ROY Benji Clark, sign a washed up season 1 Cy Young winner JP Mercado, perfectly average SP Garrett Judd, and OF Kyle Carroll. They do have 6 picks in the top 75 draft picks so something can be said about not giving up on the future, but should they have focussed more on the current.

Sacramento Air Force - Their big move this year was to trade for Dorian Tracy, a young SP who has pinpoint control and is very effect against righties. They also resigned Mac Ramirez and signed 2B Carlos Lee. Not a bad off-season for them, but they will be asking if it was enough to catch the Mad Jesters.

Memphis Elvi – They went for quality over quantity. Signed Eric Monroe, a pitcher with the stuff to be an ace, but has not yet played for a team that has gotten the best out of him. His huge contract obviously kept them from making many other deals, but they are a solid team and he should do well for them.

NY Mugger Funk – Traded for Phil Hernandez and Kiki Lopez, both are under 26 years old and solid players. Hoping they return to their season 2 forms when both had better than .425 OBP. Plus he resigned Kirk Jenkins at a reasonable rate for the next two seasons.

Montreal Beaver Tails – Signed a top of the order OF in Louis Henderson and an interesting SP in Vladimir Johnson. They can really make a statement on the draft since they now own picks 3, 18, 33, and 38

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – AL SOUTH – SEASON ONE

1) Best Value

The New Orleans Zephyrs spent $560K to sign Dominican 2B Santiago Padilla, and the Texas Black Socks could benefit greatly from the previous GM’s discovery.

Padilla has spent the last three seasons in Low A, which is amazing when you look at his numbers during that time frame: a .309 batting average, 198 RBIs, 199 runs scored. He’s currently listed on the High A roster, but don’t be surprised to see him promoted to AA before the end of the year.

While he is not strong in any particular attribute, he’s consistently average across the board. Padilla could end up as a backup in the majors, making him a decent value.


2) Lowest Production Per Dollar

SS Andres Valenzuela has a career .347 batting average and a 1.013 OPS over 4 seasons in A ball. After a season with a .328 batting average, 24 HR, and 157 RBI, Andres seemed ripe for a promotion to AA or possibly even AAA. His $1.3 million signing bonus seemed like a bargain for New Orleans, and Texas appeared to inherit a future major leaguer.

So why did he retire?

My guess: wasn’t promoted quickly enough

My guess at the lack of promotion: 242 errors in 522 games

My solution: move him to another position

This may be the biggest bungling of a potential major leaguer yet.


3) Best Overall

There are a few great signings worthy of this award.

Texas has a bargain in RF Del Sosa, who signed for $1.6 million. He put up impressive stats in High A last year, hitting .344 with 16 HR, 90 RBIs, and 38 steals in only 425 at bats. It’s hard to understand why he wasn’t in High A before Season 3, as he hit .339 in over 1200 at bats in Low A. He’s currently on the High A roster, but one wonders if he should be in AA or higher at this point. His speed and ability to hit left handers imply that he’ll be a platoon OF at worst on the major league level.

The Nashville Sounds get credit for a solid signing in 3B Hector Mercedes, currently playing for the Santa Fe Locomotive’s High A squad. After not playing after his signing in Season 1, Mercedes played one season in each of the lowest 3 levels of the minors and proved he is ready for another promotion. Last year in High A, Hector hit .346, hit 17 HRs, and drove in 117 RBIs while playing moderate defense at the hot corner. As long as he doesn’t become a defensive liability, Mercedes looks primed to claim a spot in the Locomotive’s major league lineup within 2 years.


***this post was authored by Chrispy. ***

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – AL EAST – SEASON ONE

The owners of the Indianapolis Hoosierdaddies and Florida Phoenix aren’t cursing their previous GMs, mainly because neither the Baltimore Terrapins nor the Trenton Titans signed any International players that affect Indy and Florida respectively.

That leaves two of the Morgan originals, the Washington DC War Criminals and the New York Mugger Funk.

1) Best Value

The cheapest Washington signing is arguably one of their best. Pasqual Olivares was signed for $380K and currently sits in DC’s AA rotation. The pitcher’s first three seasons were in Low A, where he went from a starter to a reliever. Olivares compiled an 11-7 record, converted 7 of 8 save opportunities (including a perfect 6-of-6 in his third year), and a 1.34 WHIP ratio while in Low A. Season 4 saw Pasqual promoted to High A, where he joined the rotation and went 6-8 with a 3.97 ERA in 23 starts.

Olivares could possibly end up as a long reliever in the majors if he stays in the rotation, but he might find more success in returning to the bullpen. Either way, Olivares in the majors for that little of a signing bonus would be an impressive feat.

2) Lowest Production Per Dollar

He’s spent the majority of the last two seasons in AAA, sporting a 9-10 record in 57 starts. In 32 starts last year, he had a 4.78 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has impressive velocity (97!), but shaky control (56, projected to 66).

He’s Alex Gutierrez, currently listed as a long reliever for the AAA Mugger Funk. He could end up back in the AAA rotation this season and will probably be promoted to the majors if he shows even moderate success.

Why the promotion, you ask?

His signing bonus was $7.2 million.

Gotta get that investment back somehow.


3) Best Overall

Washington SS Orlando Flores has outstanding range, a great glove, and solid power for a middle infielder. After an impressive two years moving from Low A to AA, Flores started Season 3 in AAA and hit .271, 19 HRs, 94 RBIs, and stole 16 bases before being promoted to the majors.

Season 4 saw Flores start 149 games at shortstop with an impressive .971 fielding percentage. He struggled with his average (.241) but hit 17 HRs, drove in 90 runs, and stole 14 bases. If his batting average improves, Flores could be the biggest steal of the Season 1 International class at only $1.9 million.

Updated FA List - with signings

Starting Pitchers - There are more high end SPs available this year than in the previous seasons.

Joel Coleman – Cy Young winner in season 4, set the single season record for wins and threw 10CG last season and had a 3.62 ERA in a hitter park. He is 34 years old.
Eric Monroe - Arguably the best FA pitcher available, only 31 and no major flaws.
Matt Charles - Among the best pitchers in the league before injury. Still can pitch, but stamina took a hit after his season 3 injury and can't go 9 innings every 4 days anymore. Washington re-signed
Terrence Davis - One of the league's best SP, but age is starting to show. Career leader in Wins. Louisville re-signed
BC Sierra - Tough season 4, but season 3 he was 17-8 2.75. Career leader in WHIP. Older but still can pitch.
Donald Nakajima - Only 32 and has a 56-24 4.21 career numbers.
Hector Romero - Control is a major problem, but best L/R splits in the league. Only pitcher that can overcome that poor control. Can dominate in pitchers park. Career K leader.
Mac Ramirez – Mac won’t be an all-star, but will be a perfect #4 SP. He has the control and pitch ratings to keep you in every game, consistently average. Sacremento re-signed
Vic Green - Will save your bullpen with his stamina, last 2 seasons sub 4.00 ERA
Flip Lawrence - Might have one last season in him, but could be a back of the rotation SP.


Relief Pitchers - Some good players, but RPs can be a hit or miss signing

Dwight Marshall - one of the league's best setup men, dur means he can pitch every other day
Alvin Mills - a Closer that can be very good, has 3 "plus" pitches. Washington re-signed
Chris Santangelo - His season 3 stats were some of the leagues best ever, career leader in Saves.
Andre Star – Sure he’s old at 36, but he has posted sub 4.00 era past three seasons and keeps the ball in the park. He’s got at least one if not two good years left.
Joel Fox - Alternates good and bad years - season 5 should be good.
Daniel Malone - Top 5 career saves leader, but heading towards the end of his career.
Phillip Redmond - Good rating but has played for some bad teams, GB/FB ratio suited for pitchers park

Nolan Cookson – This guy is ancient at 38, but his ratings are still decent and had a 3.28 ERA in 57 innings last season.
Garret Judd - Has SP ratings, but performed horrible as a SP. Put up solid closer stats.


Position Players -

Preston Riggs - Has superior power, speed, and obp. The #1 FA hitter. Washington re-signed
Will Sikorski – A top notch leadoff hitter. #5 on career hits list and a .379 career OBP.
Greg Mathews - Tremendous Power hitting C.
Augie Dunston - Good OF with a high OBP. 2nd in career walks.
Kyle Carroll - #3 on career list for SB, good BE and vR ratings.
Hong-Jin Ramirez - Great L/R splits, career .897 OPS.
Barry Durocher - #2 Career OBP for the league. Perfect for hitting second in a lineup.
Kris Jenkins - Well rounded player, could compliment any lineup.
Steve Thomas - A powerful bat and only 27 years old.
Ryan Toombs - Great fielding SS - 3rd in career SS fielding %.
Louie Palacios - Great hitter, but might be getting too old to play SS.
Eddie McClellan - Exceptional switch hitting lead-off batter, has speed and OBP. 5th in career walks. Toronto re-signed
Lois Henderson – A great glove OF. He hit both lefties and righties, in the mold of a leadoff or #2 hitter.
Napoleon Watters - Strictly power hitting 3B, but good at it.
Buddy Parrish - Good hitting C that has above average PC rating.
Charles Wang - Exceptional speed goes with an above average bat.