Saves

Saves
1 Mitchell Ray 454
2 Vinny Post 414
3 Bryan McDowell 352
4 Dwight Hall 302
5 Pascual Solano 293
6 Johnnie Moeller 275
7 Zeus Singleton 258
8 Jacque Yoon 253
9 Santiago Mangual 248
10 Augie Holbert 241
11 Jorge Padilla 236
12 Bruce Shelley 232
13 Doug Cambridge 227
14 Johnny Stern 227
15 Cooper Benes 221
16 Albert Villafuerte 221
17 Andres Coronado 207
18 Louie Martinez 206
19 Dom Tabaka 203
20 Miguel Owen 190

Wins

Wins
1 Yamil Pulido 264
2 Britt Swindell 233
3 Mel Wagner 226
4 Omar Elcano 226
5 Don Benson 222
6 Dwight Johnson 221
7 Orlando Ozuna 216
8 Donald Satou 202
9 Paulie Sanders 195
10 Santiago Manto 191
11 Russell Spence 190
12 Cam Anderson 180
13 Kent Heredia 178
14 Carl Baker 172
15 Louie Moraga 169
16 Spike Stairs 168
17 Mike Leius 167
18 Chad Sanders 166
19 Marty Howell 166
20 Jake Owens 164

GM of the Season

NL:
chase39 - Pittsburgh Pirates:
NL North Champs
12 win improvement

firesogn34 - Cleveland Indians
NL East Champs
7 win improvement

sdhizzle - Florida Marlins
NL South Champs
10 win improvement

jsholmes - Salem Super Sequoias
NL West Champs
16 win improvement

davisbrian - Vancouver Canadians
5 win improvement

wholck - Philadelphia Phillies
Wild Card

AL:
northerngaul - Toronto Blue Jays
AL North Champs

pfontaine - Boston Red Sox
AL East Champs
4 win improvement

soxfan121 - Durham Bulls
AL South Champs
1 win improvement

SLOBS - Las Vegas 51s
AL West Champs(projected)

mitchrapp - Kansas City Royals
13 win improvement
Wild Card

dakar - Seattle Mariners
6 win improvement
Possible Wild Card

MLB Teams

Teams that would have to move to have all MLB teams represented:

NL:
Atlanta - has to move to Baltimore
Salem - has to move to San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado, San Diego
Vancouver - has to move to San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado, San Diego

AL:
Seattle - has to move to Montreal
Syracuse - has to move to NY Yankees, or Chicago White Sox
Dover - has to move to NY Yankees, or Chicago White Sox
Austin - has to move to Atlanta
Helena - has to move to San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado, San Diego
Las Vegas - has to move to San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado, San Diego

Season 16 Draft

The draft was not the highlight of the season for most. I am going to take it slow because several first rounders have yet to sign and I limited time. With my limited scouting some of what I have to say may be off a bit from what others really know. It was more of a pitchers draft than position and just about everything I saw left me scratching my head. Many of the first round picks were not on my board either, go figure.

1. Reagan Mathews - P - Milwaukee Brewers: Living up to the Number 1 pick could be rough on a kid but I think this one will definitely weather the storm. He has everything I like in a pitcher and very well could be a number 1 or 2 starter in the future. Grade: A

2. Hick Marshall - P - Arizona Diamondbacks: Another fine pitcher in my books. He is a lefty, and it shows he could have a somewhat weak vsR, but I think it is better than I am seeing. Everything else looks ship-shape however and worthy of the second pick. Grade: A

3. Harpo Cust - SS - Washington D.C. Senators: UNK

4. Dan Radke - LF - New York Mets: At first I thought he could be better than a LF then reality set in. Overall impression is he a good pick but to me not in the top 10 let alone the top 5. He has lots of growth potential and how he develops will be everything. Grade: B-

5. Nigel Li - 2B - Tampa Bay Rays: UNK

6. Michael Barry - P - Detroit Tigers: Splits look a little weak but me thinks they are better than I am seeing and could develop into a very nice starting pitcher. Grade: A

7. Carl Mattingly - 2B - St. Louis Cardinals: 2B could be a stretch quality wise but his speed and bat will garner him ML status one day if he stays healthy. Grade: B+

8. Frank Cortes - P - Chicago Cubs: Quality pitcher but one I warned about in the pitch department. Not that he can't be good pitcher but not so sure that he could be that good in Chicago. Grade: B-

9. Harold Adcock - P - Oakland Athletics: Early Pronounced Highlight: The Master's Academy will have some groupies thrilled I bet, might even put DJ's sister in her place! Roflmao Maybe not the greatest SP but should easily make a number 3 spot in the rotation. Grade A-

10. Carmen Moorhouse - 2B - Dover Dung Beetles: Could be a good 2B in time and a good bat but don't expect home run awards. Grade: A

11. Edwin Webster - P - Seattle Mariners: This is a pitcher whose overall doesn't jive with the ratings so this would have to be my scouting. I see him in the pen for starters because of a stamina issue and the pitches are a tad worrisome. However, putting my 10/15/20 rule to the test I see a very capable SP. So I am deferring his grade to the rule. Grade: B+

12. Arthur Donatello - CF - Houston Astros: Too bad he is a lefty as he would make a great defensive 2B. Might be a little error prone but a plus-play CF with a strong arm. The bat will produce a lot of homers in Houston, scouting says his eye is weak but I don't think so. Grade: A

13. Edgardo Mateo - P - Anaheim Angels: I believe he should easily be at least a number 2 in the rotation some day, too many flaws if he doesn't develop well in splits and pitches. Should be able to throw some CG's. Grade: B+

14. Damion Kaline - P - Vancouver Canadians: I had him ranked number 2 on my board and the player I was hoping to get. Should easily be a quality medium reliever or closer in the pen. Grade A

15. Dale Griffin - SS - Kansas City Royals: If you wanted a good SS this is the guy. The jury is still out on defensive quality however as I seem him being a bit weak in the end and that can throw a monkey wrench in everything. Has a good eye but woeful contact with a little pop. Grade C+

16. Willie Kendrick - LF - Salem Super Sequoias: UNK Wanting $8M, must have a big bat one way or the other!

17. Fausto Ramirez - SS - Los Angeles Dodgers: Looks like Dodgers went with the best player available. Hoping to find a solid defensive SS but looks to me came up on the short end of the stick. Has plenty of speed and a bat that will work in LA I think but defensively may be better suited at 2B/CF, which is not a bad thing. Grade: B+

18. Quinn Quinn - CF - Las Vegas 51s: Just like the name, very odd that you get twins and his twin sisters name is Quimm Quinn, DJ's sister can now move aside maybe. All joking aside, has speed and can play CF very very well. Hitting is another matter but should thrive in Vegas.
Grade: B-

19. Clinton Guerrero - P - Philadelphia Phillies: For a lefty starter I think he has what it takes to be very successful. The only problem is whether or not his health will hold out. Grade: B

20. Tony Santos - SS - Cleveland Indians: Playing SS is probably out of the question for the Indians, while 2B or 3B is more likely. Has very good speed and hitting wise, well lets say the jury is still out. Grade B-

21. Miller Shiell - 2B - Atlanta Falcons: 2B is a very far reach and the quality isn't there, my interpretation would be LF at best, maybe RF. Very good bat though so he will be in themajors at some point. Grade B+

22. Ted O'Neil - P - Minnesota Twins: Finding a bonafide starter this late in 1st round is slim. His projections are a bit overstated in my opinion and unreachable. Could be a decent fifth starter or work out of the pen though in long relief. Grade B

23. Bip Cosby - CF - Boston Red Sox: How he slipped all the way to 23 is a mystery to me but Boston fans are very happy. He wasn't on my board so we know how he didn't find himself being drafted at 20. Boston says he is a 2B but I wouldn't give on the the CF aspect as of yet. Good hitter with some power and should bang some off the Green Monster. Grade: A

24. Paul Mercedes - RP - Austin Fightin' Armadillos: Tough one for me to actually say, surely his potential is better than I am seeing in pitches. Grade A or maybe B depends on development

25. Renyel Gongora - P - Toronto Blue Jays: I see his projections as over-rated and under-rated at the same time. Health could be a big issue. Fifth starter is a maybe, pen is more likely. Grade B-

26. Larry Wilson - RP - Helena Hot Pockets: A closer in the minors but a setup in the majors, the reason is low control but everything else is ship-shape. Grade: B

27. Albert Morales - SS - Texas Rangers: The potential is there to be a GG SS, making it though is another story, me thinks he will. Hitting is another matter but won't be a big setback. Grade: B

28. Mariano Pimentel - C - Syracuse Sycamores: Has great defensive abilities with good a PC to go with it and can be an everyday starter. Pretty decent with the bat. This is one of the guys I was hoping to available in the second round. Grade: B

29. Daniel Ray Rehfield - 2B - Cincinnati Reds: If his glove is better than what I am seeing then it is possible he could be a 2B. However he was on my board so I know he has no chance, LF is a maybe. Hitting isn't very keen either in my estimation. Grade D - RED HERRING of the draft.

30. Macbeth Gibbs - P - Durham Bulls: The question is whether this kid has a future past the DL. Has a lot to learn and it just may never happen. Grade: D

31. Vin Cook - RP - Pittsburgh Pirates: While not closer material, he does possess the ability to be a setup man I do believe. Grade: C+

32. Juan Flores - RP - Durham Bulls: The Bulls may have been looking for short help in the pen judging from the two picks. This kid in my mind has a chance but I think falls short as a closer which leaves a setup job in mind. Grade: B-

I am still wondering whether there is a problem with the draft generator or did I just find a real oddity? For the most unusual player that I ran into in this draft, Tony Castilla. He was so unusual that I just had to draft him. How many catchers can you find that can't catch but can play 1B or LF?

Lineup

Since Knuck had it on his show I will try to explain how I use and change my lineup. It is really hard to explain in all reality.

But first, pitching dilema in Cleveland. Mickey Frazier went down early in the season with a bad knee. We were depending on him to be one of the anchors in the pen this year. Juan Moraga was picked up from the FA pool to fill the hole. Juan hasn't pitched bad, teams don't hit him well, but has a tendency to walk or give up the long ball too often if he can't strike them out. Randy Lamb went down with an injury and it was decided to give Brad Hamelin a shot. Yeah, he has good control and pitches but the splits are anemic to say the least. Had to really check the schedule to make sure of the stadiums as he will make at least two starts. Not sure how Hamelin is going to work out, but I figure for a couple games he can't be any worse than anyone else.

To further exasperate problems, Ross Bland and Jose Crespo are not really having stellar years either which is a little baffling to me.

Back to the lineup, Bart Ross usually bats in the lead off spot. I found this out a bit late last year as his batting average skyrocketed when I put him there and has been doing exceptional this year. His hitting has to be good as the starting pitchers don't like his 58 PC very much. Case in point, Karim Pulido can't get past the 5th inning without Jose Blanco catching. This means Ross finds himself on the bench more often but with his semi low durability and being lead off doesn't hurt that much. But means I have to find another lead off hitter and change the lineup drastically. Matt Pierce finds himself in the lead off spot when Bart isn't. I consider Matt to be a 3 thru 6 hitter but does real well in the lead off spot with his speed.

Normally I have Zachery Jerzembeck in the two slot and Filipe Mendoza in the 3 spot. But with Pierce in the lead off spot this doesn't work well. So I end up putting Jesus Rivera in the two slot and move the other two down 1. With Giovanni Jackson sliding into the 5 slot. Jackson doesn't do well in the lead off spot against right handed pitching but goes to lead off versus lefties if Ross isn't in the lineup.

Trace Wallace and Eswalin James are in the 6th and 7th slots respectively as they don't hit well anywhere else. That puts Blanco in the 8th spot when is he the starting catcher otherwise Jesus Rivera is in the 8th slot. The rest of the bench don't care where they bat as long as they get to play.

I really have to be careful with the lineup because of all the switch and left handed hitters I have. It seems the sim doesn't like them back to back very well, more of an observation than anything. This seems to affect Jackson more than anybody else and is a tough one to find a good slot for. So I have to make sure I get them broke up the best I can.

As for substitutions, I try to get Blanco in the game as soon as possible after the 6th inning so the pen can have a good PC defensive catcher. Every little bit helps in the pitching department. I try to get Mendoza out of the lineup somewhere after the 7th inning also as his defense is not up to snuff yet and still has a relatively low durability and Steven Byrd solves that problem. Pascal Zapata comes into play quite a bit as he is actually a better 3B defensively but not by much.

When I rest a player, I don't change the existing lineup, I just insert the player for the game under most circumstances.

Sorry that I stopped using the player blog links, but a vicious storm came thru and took the power away again. Since the internet and cable are down till they get a tech out to the satellite tower to reset the breakers, nothing I can do and won't have the time later to doctor it up.

Yeah Knuck, I would really like to have two set lineups but certain things make me constantly adjust it.

After Draft Comments

Remember way back when there wasn't enough pitchers in the draft? To go along with that there wasn't enough pitchers anywhere to go around for the Rookie League? To fix this issue they made every ones draft board a 60-40 split favoring pitchers. I changed my mind set then that I would need to target fielders to get enough position players and save the late round pitchers for the following season. Normally there is enough career minor league pitchers that I can grab cheap ones in the IFA market so I don't have to worry about drafting pitchers. This year there wasn't any and I had to use all my Rookie League players from last year to fill my minors as there just wasn't anything I liked in the FA market or Tryout Camp. Since this came to pass I knew it would come back to bite me in the ass.

Since I used the Formula Builder and took the best player available, I had to really dump a lot of pitchers off the board, at least a 100 or more. If I remember, I only had 40 pitchers total ranked in the first 200 and if your lucky, only 10 to 12 after the first 100. Maybe I should have dumped some more as I drafted 20 pitchers out of 25 and the 25th pick was ranked 177 on my board. Actually all those pitchers aren't all that bad, but now, what an I going to do about fielders? Not all that bad, I had already got my hands on two and I did get 5 in the draft so I just need to come up with two or more. The draft really did have some ugly position players anyway so I am not all that bothered.

The top 10 players on my board by Overall.

1. Carmen Moorhouse - 2B - Dover: Good hitter, iffy 2B, had him ranked third.
2. Edgardo Mateo - P - Anaheim: $0 in HS scouting and still had him ranked first.
3. Tony Santos - SS - Cleveland: Has some upside, SS highly iffy though ranked fourth.
4. Randall Daily - 2B - Houston: Out do to Bio.
5. Damion Kaline - P - Vancouver: good middle reliever even though lefty, ranked second.
6. Dennis Thomas - 2B - Kansas City: Makeup dropped him to fifth on my board.
7. Quinn Quinn - CF - Las Vegas: Good defensively, ranked sixth.
8. Jose Hernandez - DH - Minnesota: Out because he was a DH.
9. Daniel Ray Rehfield - 2B - Cincinnati: Over rated to me, dropped to 30th.
10. Cyrus Abercrombie - P - Washington: Weak vsR dropped to 14th.

What can you say, I got the best player available who was ranked fourth on my board with the 20th pick, not bad I suppose. Who was left in my board that I would have been happier with in my top 10?

Harvey Hatcher, Mariano Pimentel or Ed Hughes: All three were catchers and had them ranked 7, 8 and 9. Hatcher was a very good hitter but poor defensively, overall good enough to be a 6 inning starter. The other two could be backups or starters at the position and both should be decent hitters.

Others:

Josh Moran - Was the best fielder left on my board and ranked tenth on my board, tells you of my further woes in the position player department but got him with the 85th pick.

Louis Thurman - was ranked 21 and had the control and pitches I like.

Tony Castilla - I thought he was a joke when I first saw him and listed as a catcher. I wonder how many GM's saw him and moved him out or way down the board? As a catcher I would have done the same thing but I got confused when I figured out he just might be able to play RF instead so I moved him all the way to the 25th spot.

Not sure how I will do my next draft. I don't exactly like the formula builder as I like to use the target approach to make sure I get enough fielders. It actually took more time using it than my original way, about 90 minutes compared to 30. It did put them in a good order though and I am not unhappy about the players I did draft. All players drafted were in the top 200 on my board which is odd as the target approach seems to manufacture ugly position players I think.