First Half Review and Award

Around the half way point in the season now. The bad news is 6 of 8 division races seem to be decided. The good news is that AL North race and AL South race are very tight. The NL wildcard race could be a bloodbath. Seven teams (Toronto, Cincy, KC, Wichita, Boston, Houston, and Arizona) are within 3 games of each other for the two wild card berths. Trade deadline deals could have a big impact on this race. In the NL DC and LA are in control of the wildcard race now, and at this point the only threats to their playoff hops are Sacramento, Salem, and the loser of the Memphis/Santa Fe division race.

First Half AL MVP

Derrick Flynn (SFE) gets the slight edge of Tony Tarasco (NY) and Harry Roque (SCO) because of his great play in the field.

First Half NL MVP

Carlos Johnson (HAR) is the pretty clear winner so far for MVP over Doug Connelly (ARI) and Tim Smith (HOU)

First Half AL Cy Young

This was a tight race, but Ramon Ramirez (MEM) gets the nod over Jerome Turner (SCO). I would also expect to see Vin Burks (NY) and Earl Wilkerson (SCO) there at the end.

First Half NL Cy Young

Banjo Melhouse (ATL) has been dominating and looks to be the clear winner, but Vitas Sobkowiak (CIN) leads the entire league in IP, SO, and WHIP, and is 4^th in ERA, I call this a tie so far. Al Gutierrez (StL) Joel Coleman (StL) and Richard Kim (TOR) also expect to be in consideration for the award at the end of the season.

RP Awards and Rookie Awards

I don’t do these, RPs are too unpredictable and there is no easy way to find Rookies.

Out of Nowhere Award – Player

Dan Turner (LAA) - 3^rd in RBI, top 10 in HRs. At 29 years old and in his second season in the majors he is adding some punch to the LAA Lineup. Honorable mention is SP Richard Kim (TOR)

Out of Nowhere Award – Team

Los Angeles Penetrators – A first year coach taking over a team that had finished last 4 years in a row and leading the wild card race. Nobody expected this.

Draft review

Most of the teams I was able to write about, but some teams players haven't signed yet and I didn't see the same players they scouted.

Anaheim – Drafted 2 pitchers and 3 DH/1B/C types in the first 5 rounds. Apollo Xavier, whose name sounds like his job should include wearing a mask and yellow tights, has a super hero like bat. Thurman looks like a steal in the second round and should project to be solid #3 SP. DH/C Kiko and Conway both have great ML bats, but questionable defense.

Arizona – A few of his guys might be signing risks, but a speedy OF Sam Sisk and a power hitting Rollie Nixon 3B highlight this draft class.

Atlanta – Another fine job with position they picked in the draft. Gonzalez looks like a good LRA type pitcher, they got a speedy 2B. Corey Christenson looks like a sure thing big leaguer, a very nice player with pick #82.

Austin – Picked up 3 pitchers, a SS and 2B. 1^st and 2^nd round picks Schneider and Cruz both look like major league material, but both could also be signing risks so we’ll see if they both make it on the roster.

Boston – Focused on pitching for the draft. 4 of the first 5 rounds were spent on pitchers. Wish I knew more, but only scouted his 5^th round pick.

Chicago – Another team I didn’t see many of the players he scouted/drafted. Position players were drafted with the first three picks, it does look like he has some signing risks in the group, particularly pick #42 Allie Whiten a decent player but demanding $8M.

Cincinnati – Grabbed a long armed SP that has 3 great pitches. C/DH Whitehead has a good bat, and RP Prince looks to make the bigs as a SuA.

Cleveland – Got one of the best SPs in the draft in Pichardo. Boehringer and Mitchell could be back of the rotation type SPs, which is pretty good for 2^nd and 4^th round picks. Hollins looks like a catcher that is both a quality backstop and has a good bat.

Dover – Picked up a premiere impact player with pick ten Cf Valdvia. Doyle Nathan looks like a solid prospect and JT Webster could be a back of rotation SP.

Florida – Focused on pitching in the with their first 4 picks of the draft. Looks to be building a solid core group with SPs Hale, Haney, and Sele.

Hartford – Some good value picks in round 2 and 3 with some solid position players.

Honolulu – Calvo looks like a sure thing future All-Star 2B, Great splits, and BE to go with good power and nice glove. Position players were the staple of Honolulu’s draft and a number should make the big leagues.

Houston – Brian Jung looks like a very nice RP, and they certainly had a strategy with the draft. All pitching all the time. 24 of 26 draft picks were pitchers.

Indianapolis – Looks like it Potvin signs he could be an All-Star. Speed, power, and a superior batting eye make him a wonderful pickup, particularly at #15. Their next 6 picks were also position players and it looks to be a good crop.

KC – Theo Buckley with pick 27 might be the steal of the draft. He’s a great defensive SS with some pop in his bat.

Las Vegas – David Larson in my opinion was the premiere SP in the draft. The next 5 picks were also pitchers and it should be a decent group of prospects. Even the 5^th round OF has good ratings and should make the majors.

LA – Carlos Ibarra should be an anchor to this rotation for years to come. They grabbed some nice defensive CF/2B, but a couple of their guys look to have signage issues.

Memphis – 5 of first 6 picks were pitchers. Incomplete.

Milwaukee – Holliday is a sure thing ML talent. Great range and glove to go with an impressive bat, comparisons could be made to Atlanta’s Andrew Jones. Olivares looks to be a solid setup man, Guzman a good DH, and OF Forrest has tremendous power. Hopefully the praises of Holliday will lead the Gurus to want to trade him to the Mad Jesters ala OF Johnson of season 5.

Minnesota – Pitching Pitching Pitching, their first seven picks all were pitchers. Harang and Bo Moore seem the most promising.

Monterrey – Kojima was one of the premiere SS that was available. Followed up with 2B Ronald Jones this is going to be a potent MIF duo in the near future. 3^rd round pick Bob McElroy seems to be on of those invaluable setup men with a rubber arm and good L/R splits. CF Monte Jenkins looks interesting, only projected rated 11 vL, but projects to 90s in both vR and BE means he could be a great platoon guy.

NY – Griffin and Winchester are solid ML talents, which is what you can expect when picking in the 29 range. As good as Winchester is, he is no Mark Ross. SP Kenny Williams actually could be a decent SP, he has a very nice #1 pitch.

Oklahoma City – The eighth pick was one of the most fascinating players in the draft. Usually IMHO a position player with 500+ ABs or a SP with 200IPs is worth a pick this high, but even an exceptional closer usually only gets 40-50 IP. I’m not sure if a player like Clayton has a real life comparison. His 49 STA and upper 70s DUR mean he could be a super RP that gets 70 games and 130 IPs, his L/R splits are great and he has two fabulous pitches. I’ll be interested in how his career turns out.

Sacramento – Russell Cook in my opinion was the best pure hitter in the draft. His major flaw is his defense, he’s a DH/1B but he can mash. He compares to Scottsdale’s DH Eric Thomas. His next couple of picks look good, but might have some signing issues.

Salem – After years of really focusing on pitching in the draft Salem went the position route, and did well. CF Fernandez looks like a great glove with speed and nice bat and will certainly make the majors. Their next three picks Canon, Ford, and Knowles don’t look to be all-stars, but certainly should have solid major league careers.

Santa Fe – Grabbed an OF in the first round, and then focused on pitching. I wasn’t able to scout most of his players. Rumor is 1/3 of their prospect budget is going to their 25^th round pick a 48 OVR rated 1B.

Scottsdale – Picked up a couple decent OF. The first 7 picks all have a chance to make the big leagues, but mostly only as role or bench players no impact players.

St. Louis – When you have four first round picks you hope you can give a major boost to your team, and they did very well. Carson Sellers was a great pickup at pick 19, then a great slugging 1B Al Stewart, a setup/closer in Sammy Borbon, and another power hitter in 3B Tony Lee. Flood, Lemon, and Tarasco picked in rounds 2-3 also look to be great hitters. There is some obvious overlap in positions, but they probably got 7-8 major league players in this draft.

Texas – 3B Moreno is a true impact player for this team, then picked a couple of decent SPs later in round one and four. Blauser looks to be a decent prospect, but SS Doug Moore might not sign.

Toronto – SS Wathan is a power hitting SS, but could be a signing issue. After that they got a couple of decent IF prospects.

Washington – First pick was in the 3^rd round because of FA signings, and picked up a solid all round 3B in Alston. Then a decent RP in Cosby. Not bad for so few picks, but honestly they probably got better players in the FA they picked up than the prospects they lost.

Wichita – SP Griffin is a signability risk, but taking a gamble at pick 14 on a potential #2 SP is worth it. The second round C might not have a end up staying at catcher, but he certainly has an impressive bat. SS Howie Randolf is light on the bat, but has a good glove and its always crucial to have those type guys.

Top Drafts 10

St. Louis - Best Draft by far, but also had the most picks

Cleveland

Las Vegas

Dover

Anaheim

Indianapolis

OKC

Salem

KC

Sacramento

Top 100 Players

Here's a list of the top100 players in the league. By team ATL has 7, Chicago 6, NY 7, SCO 8. Just listed Name, Team, Age, and the number.

Tim Smith	HOU	32	101.19
Doug Connelly	ARI	31	101.10
Jerome Turner	SCO	31	101.05
Vitas Sobkowiak	CIN	29	100.55
Rich Rothschild	MIN	35	100.13
Jerome Patrick	NY1	25	99.87
J.C. Russell	SAL	32	99.44
Rusty Jones	SCO	31	99.09
Steve Taylor	HOU	23	98.96
Banjo Melhuse	ATL	25	98.52
Ramon Ramirez	MEM	29	98.40
Derrick Flynn	SFE	27	98.39
Glenn Kubenka	MEM	26	97.52
Rafael Cedeno	SAC	25	96.81
Rafael Alicea	IND	23	96.62
Carlos Johnson	HAR	25	96.17
Jose Lee	SAL	34	96.14
Mike Andrews	SAC	30	96.08
Bob Appier	CH2	35	95.80
Robin Sullivan	WIC	33	95.36
Mark Ross	WAS	29	94.63
Robert Black	HAR	31	94.22
Al Gutierrez	STL	29	94.11
Bonk Linton	BOS	26	93.54
Pablo Johnson	MNT	29	93.43
Eric Monroe	MEM	32	93.43
Vladimir Goya	CLE	26	93.07
Joel Coleman	STL	35	92.85
Tony Chang	ARI	29	92.66
Darrel Perez	SCO	28	92.45
Homer Monroe	MEM	27	92.28
Sam Rivera	WIC	30	92.12
Rich Sanford	MEM	31	92.02
Dick Yeats	ARI	34	91.87
Lorenzo Fernandez	TEX	30	91.66
Mark Lee	HON	31	91.65
Alan O'Malley	MIN	25	91.40
Raul Gonzalez	LA	25	91.20
Vin Burks	NY1	24	91.18
Clay Lincoln	NY1	28	91.02
George Spence	CH2	31	91.00
Pascual Melendez	WAS	24	90.91
Brian Perez	HAR	24	90.87
George Bell	WIC	33	90.84
Benito Vazquez	MNT	28	90.64
B.C. Sierra	STL	36	89.78
Alex Green	SCO	26	89.60
Al Pena	KC	32	89.46
Wes Davies	SAC	25	89.41
Ken Jefferies	NY1	26	89.41
Walt Keeler	MIN	28	89.31
Vic Saenz	ATL	34	89.31
Dan West	TOR	33	89.29
Mendy Aoki	LAA	36	89.24
Lawrence Trammell	BOS	24	89.22
Willie Liriano	HOU	31	88.97
Enrique Ruiz	KC	27	88.82
Kiki Lopez	NY1	26	88.81
Tony Rivera	ATL	27	88.72
Paul Ogawa	MNT	22	88.68
Earl Wilkerson	SCO	32	88.54
Hugh Moore	MNT	33	88.54
Hector Romero	CH2	33	88.34
Chili Olsen	HOU	23	88.32
Emil Renteria	SAC	31	88.20
Del Castro	SAC	25	87.97
Donald Nakajima	STL	33	87.58
Benji Marichal	ATL	23	87.54
Ted Rivera	CH2	33	87.46
Bey Buckley	ATL	25	87.15
Brian Scott	LAA	31	86.92
Stan Jackson	CH2	28	86.91
Mendy Messmer	STL	31	86.86
Virgil Quinn	SCO	25	86.82
Glen Michaels	WAS	29	86.76
Ricardo Santana	ARI	26	86.71
Tim Durbin	SCO	24	86.16
Julius Brush	NY1	31	86.03
Felipe Rodriguez	SCO	22	85.86
Eric Franklin	LAA	37	85.75
Shawn Wilhelm	AUS	32	85.42
Andres Terrero	HAR	32	85.03
Gerald Thomas	LA	36	85.00
Ted Stoops	CLE	30	84.86
Stevie Morgan	ATL	26	84.72
John Blank	BOS	26	84.72
Alex Cordero	NY1	24	84.52
Carlos Javier	TOR	32	84.25
Arlie Dillon	CLE	27	84.11
Miller Andrews	FLA	28	83.89
Javier Sosa	ATL	30	83.77
Carl Cochrane	MIN	25	83.50
Toby Perkins	SAC	27	83.44
Rocky Duvall	CH2	22	83.27
Jon Zentmeyer	LAA	28	83.18
Tim Lincoln	AUS	29	83.13
Ben Musial	TEX	31	83.08
Gill Kwon	CIN	29	83.02
Albert Guzman	LAA	32	83.01

Season 6 Predictions

The predictions are in and the blog doesn't do well listing columns and rows excel style very well so I just mentioned how many times a team was listed to win or on the wildcard.

AL North
Minnesota x3
Chicago x2

AL East
NY x3
DC x2

AL South
Texas x2
Santa Fe
OK City
Mem

AL West
Scottsdale x4
Salem

Wildcard
Chicago
Salem
Indy
Sacramento x3
Santa Fe
DC
NY
Scottsdale

NL North
St. Louis x3
Cincy
Cleveland

NL East
Hartford x3
Boston
KC

NL South
Atlanta x4
Houston

NL West
Anaheim x5

NL Wildcard
St. Louis
Houston x4
Cincy
Monterey
Boston
Hartford
KC

Free Agency Review

Reviewed the top 20 teams in terms of signing impacts at the time of setting the teams for rule 5 Draft. Also this list is focussed on helping the team this season.


Anaheim - Showed he's not afraid to get players that are a little older. Signed 6 guys older than 36 with a total of 8 All star games between them so they have had success. 2 setup/closer types a SP and a backup catcher that can smack the ball around in the 1/3 games he can play in. Ramiro Suarez, Jason Stair, Mendy Aoki and Eric Franklin will turn this staff around, and picking up Albert Guzman for a song was gravy. Gets my vote for best free agency due to quantity and quality.

Austin - Signed a very nice back of the rotation SP William Woo. 200 IP 4.50 and only .67 HR per start can be expected.

Boston - Signed one of the few top of the line defensive SS, not a great bat but enough of one that he can play in the majors. Add another decent bat and the Hot or Cold SP Vin Lee. He in third in career shutouts, but can also get lit up.

Chicago - resigned their own back in OF Santayana and RP Diaz, and hoping they play like season four and not season five.

Cincinnati - Got a career .376 OBP outfielder and a solid RP.

Dover - Got SP Clay Reese and Dustin Sutton at a bargain basement prices, not much risk for a SP with good history. Then picked up a nice defensive CF Shane Wilson.

Honolulu - Picked up two top notch defensive catcher and a very solid defender at SS.

Indianapolis - Grabbed a decent look SP, who is untested in the majors. Also got a nice RP in Aaron Hall.

KC - Harry Chavez hit 52 HRs last year and should add some punch, plus Norman Freeman and Brent Diaz should make this a potent lineup. Zephyr Cora is also a very good option at RP.

LV - Grabbed a solid defensive SS.

LA - Got one of the best defensive SS available in Bailey Crawford. Marchall Decker is a quality LH bat and Darrell Castillo looked like a decent pitcher once he left Coors field.

Milwaukee - Signed two defensive SS, Lawton was a minor league FA but actually looks like he can catch the ball.

Monterrey - Plugged up holes in the bullpen with two solid vets.

NY - Surprisingly quiet since their biggest rival made a splash in FA, really just held on to Brinkley

Sacramento - Toby Weston will fill the LRA role nicely for this team. If Garcia keeps the walks down he might help the back of the rotation.

Salem - Salem found an inning eating SP, and quality LH RP.

Scottsdale - Terry Cummings fills a long relief/emergency SP role for the team, and late additions of Marc Wayne and Matt Charles help to makeup for the loss of 340 IPs from Vitas Sobkowiak and Ramiro Saurez

St. Louis - One of the better FA classes in the league. Picked up some power in Matthew Bravo, and grabbed a couple of bench guys and RP Mack Ramirez.

Washington DC - A close second in FA sweepstakes. Started with stealing NYs starting 3B in Mark Ross and then grabbed 3 of the best young RPs available in Gookie Sellers, Steve Childers, and Miguel Molina.

Wichita - He was able to comeback and sign his own solid group of departing FA in Al Chambers, Robin Sullivan, and Brian Maeda, then picked up an Inning eating SP in George Bell who came on strong at the end of last season.

Big Draft Winners - cashed in on getting draft picks for losing FAs.

St. Louis
Indianapolis
NY

Top Free Agent Team
Anaheim - If you are talking about helping their team this season they blew the other teams away in free agency from the beginning to the end. If their is any downside it is the almost exclusively older guys.

Blue Ribbon Tier - No particular order

DC - Obvious plan in FA and all the guys are younger players.

Wichita - Spent a lot of money and some of the guys have either little or spotty history of success. The Julio Lopez signing seemed high for a guy that is 31, plays 1B, and spent the last two seasons in AAA and couldn't hit .260 or 20HRs. That said three or four of his other signings look good.

St. Louis - If a couple of his signing rebound from poor seasons he could have the classic low risk high return type players. Also this team really needed a power hitter and Bravo could be perfect for them.

Milwaukee - Maybe some teams signed better players, but the quality defensive SS was a need area for this team and it was filled.

KC - Did a great job getting some offense from a pool of players that was a little shallow this season.

Honoralbe Mention

LA
Boston
Austin

More on Fielding

Looked at the numbers of earned vs unearned runs from season 5.

In Morgan World the average team 89% of the scored runs were earned runs. I used the method of each team's average instead of all combined runs vs. unearned runs because that would lend more weight to teams that gave up more total runs. This way everyone has 1/32 of a say in the league total.

In MLB this season 91% of the runs scored were earned runs.

Morgan world teams varied from a high of 92% to a low of 84%, there were a number around the 91-92% mark.

MLB teams varied from a high of 95% to a low of 87%. Only one team had 94%.

Fielding and Injuries from season 5

Below are images of the spreadsheets that were posted by Brian (hurricane384) about injuries and fielding in season 5.

Season 5 team offensive rankings

Below is the team ranking for offense in season 5.

Season 5 pitch rankings

Testing out posting MS excel. This is season 5 team pitch rankings. You'll hat ve to click the pitch to get it large enough to view

Fielding percentages

Ok. First off I just did a quick analysis comparing our top 5 SS's in chances with the ML 2006 leaders in chances. I still can't figure out how to post the spreadsheet, so if you want it, let me know and I can send it to you.

On average the top 5 SS's in Morgan world had 22% more chances than their Major League counterparts (887 to 728). Their average range factor was 5.87 versus the Major League average of 4.75. The average fielding percentage in Morgan was .960 whereas the average fielding percentage in MLB was .972. This difference (I feel) can be attributed to the fact that Zach Kirby (MEM) had a .939 fielding percentage which significantly hurt the overall average.

HBD
Orlando Flores (WAS) - 1,375.1INN, 938TC, 5.90RF, .961FLDG, 37E, 89RA, 88GL, 92AS, 84AA - MLB PROJ E: 28
Zach Kirby (MEM) - 1,336.1INN, 929TC, 5.87RF, .939FLDG, 57E, 72RA, 76GL, 79AS, 69AA - MLB PROJ E: 44
Darrel Perez (SCO) - 1,283.2INN, 865TC, 5.88RF, .969FLDG, 27E, 80RA, 90GL, 93AS, 82AA - MLB PROJ E: 23
Victor Williams (CIN) - 1,266.0INN, 874TC, 6.04RF, .973FLDG, 24E, 91RA, 84GL, 94AS, 91AA - MLB PROJ E: 20
Goeff Leonard (NY1) - 1,258.0INN, 829TC, 5.68RF, .958FLDG, 35E, 78RA, 84GL, 84AS, 82AA - MLB PROJ E: 31

MLB
R Furcal - 1,371.0INN, 788TC, 5.00RF, .966FLDG, 27E/HBD E: 30
M Young - 1,356.1INN, 747TC, 4.86RF, .981FLDG, 14E/HBD E: 17
J Peralta - 1,275.1INN, 710TC, 4.90RF, .977FLDG, 16E/HBD E: 20
Y Betancourt - 1,374.1INN, 701TC, 4.46RF, .971FLDG, 20E/HBD E: 26
H Ramirez - 1,323.1INN, 695TC, 4.55RF, .963FLDG, 26E/HBD E 33

Take away from this what you will, but my conclusion is that the rate that our SS's are reaching balls seems to be too high in comparison to the best that the MLB can offer. Reaching more balls will lead to more errors as will playing someone who is not a SS at SS (Kirby and Leonard IMO). I'm thinking it's more of a matter of there being a lack of adequate players for SS as well as an inordinate number of chances for the SS position.

DL Trips

First...a disclaimer. I realize that everybody handles injuries differently. This is merely meant as a comparative tool based on days on various DLs. It encompasses the entire organization (RL to ML). Also, since DL trips are based only on the 7-day, 15-day, and 60-day trips and does not actually list out the days a player is injured, that is how I calculated the total days lost. Enjoy.

Average days lost per team - 171
Average Training per team - 12
Average Medical per team - 12
Total days lost - 5,461
2 Teams had a total of 360 DL days. These teams spent 12/12 & 10/10 (T/M). Memphis & Salt Lake City, respectively.
2 Teams had a total of 0 DL days. These teams 16/13 & 14/14. Boston & St. Louis respectively.
Cincinnati spent the most (18/18) and had 104 DL days.
Sacramento spent the least (8/8) and had 155 DL days.

I don't know how to post an excel spreadsheet, so feel free to contact me, hurricane384, for the raw data.

First look at Season 6 FA list

This is a quick list I ran though. It does not take into account any options that teams or players hold for next season that could dramatically change this list.

Position Players

Mark Ross NY In his prime, has a .310 lifetime and got his 5th consecutive 100RBI season. The most well rounded player on the list. He's got power, and great OBP, defense and speed. He can play any position outside of SS/C and really could be a team's emergency SS. He won't ever be MVP of the league, but he will help any team and really has no weakness.

Rich Forbes SCO Starting to show his age but he can still hit and get on base. His L/R splits are among the highest for any 3B in the league.

Heath DeRosa HAR Still young and he has solid ratings across the board, good splits, BE and decent Def.

Brian Maeda LOU - Starting to get a little long in the tooth. While his power and RBI numbers have dropped he is still a has kept up his .308 career average and .390 career OBP.

Norman Freeman HAR - Another player that has lost his power numbers from early in his career, but still can get on base, has an amazing .440 career OBP and had a .457 this season. He obviously played in one of the best hitters park but you can’t ignore those numbers.

Greg Brinkley NY – A speedy 3b/OF that can get on base. He probably won’t be a 30/30 player that he was in season two, but can his speed and power make him a threat.

Bailey Crawford/Bob Widger/Manny Hernandez/Chris Sinclair – A similar group of adequate hitting great fielding players that are great to have. Could start for many teams, or at least be that utility player who gets 300+ ABs because he won’t lose a game for in the field.

Relief Pitchers

Daniel Malone CSP- Showing his age. After his fireman of the year award in season 1 he was merely average, but came back to life in season 5 and still has great ratings.

Joey Diaz CHI Has good ratings, but his stamina probably puts him in the bullpen next season. He could serve as a nice LRA for a number of team looking for bullpen help.

Andre Starr - no longer a closer, but his fourth season of a sub 4.00 ERA is worth a being some team setup man.

Marc Wayne - A journeyman RP that will find a spot in a contenders bullpen.

Ramiro Suarez SCO - Another older pitcher, but he appeared in 79 games and had a 1.24 WHIP and 4.24 ERA. He has the kind of rubber arm that every team needs.

Steve Childers STL – Very similar setup guy to Suarez except he’s much younger, and his L/R splits are not good as Suarez.

Mendy Aoki – After a stellar career as a SP he was moved to the bullpen because of stamina issues. This was his worst season yet, after never having an ERA above 3.76 he had a 6.00 this season. His ratings are still good and I don’t expect another season like that, but his STA/DUR numbers kind of put him in no mans land for a role.

Starting Pitching

Robin Sullivan LOU – Will be 33 years old and is a solid middle of the rotation SP. He’s pitched 210+ innings every season and has a career 70-53 1.38 WHIP 4.43 ERA. Not a very sexy FA pickup, but if it keeps you from throwing a awful pitcher on the mound every 5th day he is worth the money. Health could be an issue for the owner that wants to do a long term deal.

William Woo Ari – Nothing spectacular about this guy, but he’ll keep you in the game and won’t give up many HRs. Just don’t look for him to be the Ace of your staff.

Kevin Franklin ATL – Might be able to help a team hold down the fort until good minor leaguers are ready, but its starting too look like his incredible season 3 was a fluke.

Rodrigo Johnson RIC – Ratings wise this guy looks like a AAA guy at best, but for some reason he performs adequately. Of all the FA SPs available he might have the best OAV, ERA, and WHIP totals of anyone.

Clay Reese – Might have the best chance of catching lighting of any of the group of SPs on the FA market. Season 4 he was on pace to win the Cy Young Award until an injury sidelined him. He seems like he has usually under performed his ratings though.

Dustin Sutton SLC - Sutton had a tough season 5, it could be the signal the end is close for him but he has had a solid career and one or two more decent seasons would not be out of the question. In seasons 2-4 he won 51 games and he still has good L/R splits and control ratings. Has been a career leader in shutouts and complete games.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SIGNINGS – NL WEST – SEASON ONE

Here’s the last of the Season One series. Will I tackle Season Two? Who knows…

1) Best Value

Tony James currently sits on the Arizona AA roster. He’s a solid .300+ hitter that lacks a regular position. He seems to make too many errors to be a regular CF or 2B and may find a home in RF. Signing for $875K, James could peak on the major league roster as a great pinch hitter with his strong rating against lefties.

2) Lowest Production Per Dollar

The Las Vegas Gamblers signed nine International free agents for a total of $4.29 million.

One of the players (P Placido Domingo) was traded to Scottsdale’s High A team. Three players retired, three were released, and one was waived (P Vasco Lee, who was claimed by Cincinnati and pitches for their High A team).

Only ONE player is still the property of Las Vegas. Shortstop Junior Wang currently sits on the Vegas AA roster, but his spot on the bench appears tenuous after about 100 at-bats this season with a .243 between High A and AA.

I’m sure Vegas wishes they could redo this bunch of signings.

3) Best Overall

Arizona signed pitcher Erubiel Castillo for $2.4 million based on his projections as a strong short reliever. Castillo was put to the test immediately after his signing, struggling in about 10 Rookie innings before pitching 80 solid innings in Low/High A with a WHIP just above 1.35. Castillo followed with two solid years in High A (38-48 in save opportunities) before dominating AA ball in Season 4 (2.06 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, .188 batting average allowed, 33-36 in save opportunities).

Erubiel struggled in AAA this season (5.77 ERA, 1.55 WHIP), but did convert 25 of 31 save opportunities. It appears Erubiel will need one more season in AAA before getting his promotion to the bigs.

Budgeting for the playoffs

As we near the end of this season and begin to prepare for the next, I thought it might be nice to take a quick look at budgeting. The following is the average spending of playoff teams from each season, including this season's division leaders. (I think you have to click on it to make it readable). The most obvious, and probably predictable, trend has been the that towards spending less on player payroll, and more on prospects.

It should also be noted that in instances of budget transfers, I used the new amounts, so for seasons 3, 4, and 5 the total spending isn't quite $185.

NL Playoff Picture

The last two World Series representatives have proved their success was no fluke as they battle for the being the #1 seed in the NL. Atlanta this season doesn't have a dominating rotation, but they are all solid. They also boast the best rated bullpen in the league. Their offense is the most well rounded in the league, they rank among the top teams in HRs, OBP, and SB. You can't focus on keeping the ball in the park or keeping their speedsters from stealing to beat them. If they have a weakness it is that they don't have that one batter or one pitcher that strikes fear in the other team.

Hartford is polar opposite to Atlanta, they don't steal and just pummel teams with their lineup. It really revolves around three imposing hitters that can hit any pitcher. Even though they play in one of the best hitter parks, they have two pitchers vying for a Cy Young award. A weakness has to be their closer, he's 0-12 and has only converted 70% of his saves. And how can Carlos Johnson only be 24 years old?

Apologies to Richmond, but Houston is about the only team that is in striking distance of getting one of the coveted top two seeds. They have the best .OPS in the NL, and if season ended today they would have 5 silver sluggers. They sure don't seem to be regretting making the trade for Tim Smith this year, he's having another all-star season and can single handedly win games. He's not a one man show though; they have 6 guys that will get 100+ RBI this season.

Richmond has quietly been one of the most consistent teams in the league. For the fourth time in five seasons they will get 90+ wins. Pitching is what separates this team from the pack along with being one of the best defensive rated teams, but don't ignore their offense. Its really a three man show with this lineup, but they each bring something different. Al Pena is one of the best all round players in the game, Enrique Ruiz is starting to live up to his potential, and Jim Stewart is raw power.

Barring something spectacular Austin is probably the only team that has an outside chance of catching the current Wild card leaders. Their pitching outside of Ralph Taylor needs to step it up a notch and finding a consistent run producer to go with Gus Andrews would help. Speaking of Andrews he must be the most unheralded superstar in the league. Take his four best seasons and he's averaged 60Hrs and 155 RBIs, and his only award in his career.

Colorado Springs is trying to break the stranglehold Arizona has had on the NL West every season. They play with a solid lineup from top to bottom, but no all-stars. Brent Oswalt has to win the award for playing out of his mind, a borderline ML talent with 2 season of +7 ERA this year in 26 starts he has a 3.67 ERA.

Arizona like always is going to pin its hopes on Doug Connelly and Dick Yeats, an impressive 1-2 punch but they might be starting to show their age. Their pitchers are statistically an average group, and in another HBD relief pitcher oddity their closer has a 6.00 ERA, yet has converted 93% of his save opportunities.

NL North - Due to some recent long losing streaks Toronto and Cincinnati have really just about fallen out of the race. Cleveland has some very good RPs and a couple of nice sluggers that hit behind perennial all-star CF Goya. St. Louis might only have one above average offensive player on their team, they don't really have power or speed, but that is still an impressive trio of SPs followed by a just as impressive group of RPs. For all the ridicule this division has taken for its winner potentially having a losing record it would be unwise for a team that meets either of these teams in the playoffs to take them lightly.