Season five was a disappointment for the Toronto franchise that had, up until then, owned the division. They slipped back to second place but still had a strong enough season to make the playoffs. With the club under performing tmf was in no mood to take a wait and see approach. Feeling like this was more regression the a off year for the club he started dealing. First they dealt slugger Kid Holtz and his 4.5 mil salary. Soon after Trent Jackson's 5.4 mil followed. Then the waiting game that netted them Benjamin Liniak for a modest 4.5 mil one year deal with the hopes of proving he still can produce at an All Star level. With some hungry younger guys making the bigs out of camp it is obvious that the idea is to make a transition to younger guys. Toronto still gets a lot of power out of their line up lead by former MVP Ed Tanner. The pitching is still top notch, and this team could easily steal the division. While a slow start out the box has Toronto at 1-6 the feeling is they will make a run at some point. The only question is will it be to late? Predictions: Second place; Wild card playoff birth.
New York has been able to make a steady climb from the worst record in all of Cooperstown in season one to the best record in all of Cooperstown in season six. The team made some bold off-season moves which may come back to haunt them in the long run. After losing two of their starting pitchers (Kim and Ortiz combined for 34 wins) they took their savings and traded for Little Rocks two biggest stars, Rick Florie (30) and up and coming SS Jordan Stoops. The deal cost them super DH Copper Ruffin, who promises to be one of the best hitters for seasons to come. The win now approach continued with signing of SP Walter Simmons. Simmons is an under rated .500 pitcher with Milwaukee. New York will have a hard time improving on their 1032 win campaign but should approach the century mark again this season. A strong top of the rotation should win a ton of games with the powerful line up that New York has. The third and fourth starters are a question which might force NY to hurry SP prospect Benito Bonilla a season early Predictions; First place. This is a young and cheap team. They should be able to stay together for many seasons.
Cleveland has been mired in sub .500 seasons since the inception of Cooperstown but feel they have a decent shot of over coming that obstacle this year. Last season dmurphy was able to bringing talent across the board, acquiring DH Johnny Beiser, RF Wilfredo Rosado and set up man Eric Roberts, Adding to that this off-season he brought in aging closer Davey Montanez (37) for a three year 27 mil contract. A risky move but this does show dmurphy willingness to roll the dice in an effort to win games. Stud in the making Alex Hernandez comes back looking to improve on his career best season to anchor the staff. This kid has future Cy Young written all over him.
While the team is still a little light in the hitting department, they do have some strong arms. The pen is one of the more solid aspects of a team that is young and still growing.
Predictions; Third place, no playoffs. Until this team can show the 5-1 start is not just a good couple of games or that Toronto has fallen they will remain a third place team
After a second straight last place finish Augusta picked up and left for north of the border. Say hello to the Ottawa Octopus. Ottawa did some house cleaning by letting go of a couple older players such as strong man Ramon Masato (signed by New Orleans) who hit 57 four baggers last year. They did however bring in a group of 30 somethings that tells us they are no going into a rebuilding mode. They were all one or two year deals, which tells me their is a youth movement on the horizon. Still with these moves it was a mild surprise to see the winter meetings come and go with out and trades being made. The choice to grow the team from with in is often a good one albeit a slower process. Even with the loss of Masato the team looks to have pop up and down the line up. The team should hit some and surprise a few people but the pitching is a little behind the bats. The biggest down fall will be a lack of defense. The North is developing into a tough division and Ottawa will need to show something to get out of the basement.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Career Marks
With five seasons in the bag and a brief look at team records I would like to turn your attention towards some personal records. Players have been struting their stuff through out Cooperstown but some stand out more then others. First off the bats.
Batting avg.....Bill Hall .374
Hits..................Roosevelt Richardson 1006
Home Runs.....Ed Tanner 283
OBP.................Anthony Rehfield .469
Slug %..............Bill Hall .744
OPS .................Bill Hall 1.204
RBI...................Terry Perez 798
Runs.................Livian Cordero 655
Stolen bases.....Willian Davis 244
Walks................Anthony Rehfield 600
Meanwhile the pitcher stats are dominated by only a handful of guys. Most of them are older but it looks as if their career numbers will stand on their own for a long time
Games...............Ben Wickman 427
Quality Starts...CJ Heiserman 157
Wins...................CJ Heiserman 109
Losses................Emil Sosa 75
Complete game. David Ramirez 51
Innings...............David Rameriz 1524.3
# of pitches........David Ramirez 21,811
Shutouts.............CJ Heiserman 15
Saves..................Fred Chase 189
ERA....................Angel Chavez .206
BA Allowed........Angel Chavez 2.17
Strikeouts..........CJ Heiserman 1,225
K's per 9.............Angel Chavez 8.18
Walks..................Sammy Perez 516
K's per BB...........Jimmy Durham 4.28
Batting avg.....Bill Hall .374
Hits..................Roosevelt Richardson 1006
Home Runs.....Ed Tanner 283
OBP.................Anthony Rehfield .469
Slug %..............Bill Hall .744
OPS .................Bill Hall 1.204
RBI...................Terry Perez 798
Runs.................Livian Cordero 655
Stolen bases.....Willian Davis 244
Walks................Anthony Rehfield 600
Meanwhile the pitcher stats are dominated by only a handful of guys. Most of them are older but it looks as if their career numbers will stand on their own for a long time
Games...............Ben Wickman 427
Quality Starts...CJ Heiserman 157
Wins...................CJ Heiserman 109
Losses................Emil Sosa 75
Complete game. David Ramirez 51
Innings...............David Rameriz 1524.3
# of pitches........David Ramirez 21,811
Shutouts.............CJ Heiserman 15
Saves..................Fred Chase 189
ERA....................Angel Chavez .206
BA Allowed........Angel Chavez 2.17
Strikeouts..........CJ Heiserman 1,225
K's per 9.............Angel Chavez 8.18
Walks..................Sammy Perez 516
K's per BB...........Jimmy Durham 4.28
Monday, April 14, 2008
Franchise snapshots
Hey
I was looking to add something to the blog since it seemed neglected for such a long time. I was hoping the start of the new season would stir some people to contribute. I will periodically put something up but the hope is to get some help. I decided to start by taking a snap shot of all the franchises and comparing them to each other. Before people start complaining they have not been around the whole five seasons I would like to point out this is a franchise snap shot and not a look at the individuals. Maybe after this upcoming season when I update this I will add each owners personal winning percentage. Below is a list of all the teams in Copperstown and where they rank through five completed season based on winning percentage. I decided to stick with the basics and listed only wins and loses followed by winning percentage. Feel fee to let me know of any mistakes I made or if you have any suggestions.
I was looking to add something to the blog since it seemed neglected for such a long time. I was hoping the start of the new season would stir some people to contribute. I will periodically put something up but the hope is to get some help. I decided to start by taking a snap shot of all the franchises and comparing them to each other. Before people start complaining they have not been around the whole five seasons I would like to point out this is a franchise snap shot and not a look at the individuals. Maybe after this upcoming season when I update this I will add each owners personal winning percentage. Below is a list of all the teams in Copperstown and where they rank through five completed season based on winning percentage. I decided to stick with the basics and listed only wins and loses followed by winning percentage. Feel fee to let me know of any mistakes I made or if you have any suggestions.
1. Boston 493-317 .609
2. Durham 484-326 .598
3. San Diego 483-327 .596
4. Toronto 477-333 .588
5. Lil Rock 466-344 .575
6. Pittsburgh 456-354 .563
7. NY (NL) 455-355 .562
8 Louisville 453-357 .559
9. Trenton 449-362 .554
10. Detroit 448-389 .553
11. Charleston 432-378 .533
12. Portland 421-389 .520
13. Kansas City 419-391 .517
14. Norfolk 418-392 .516
15. Las Vegas 415-395 .512
16. San Jose 408-402 .504
17. Pawtucket 399-411 .493
18. New Orleans 397-413 .490
19. Scottsdale 392-418 .484
20. NY (AL) 390-420 .481
21. Monterrey 387-423 .478
22. Sioux Falls 382-428 .472
23. Vancouver 381-429 .470
24. Nashville 377-433 .465
25. Mexico City 377-433 .465
26. Milwaukee 375-435 .463
27. Columbus 354-456 .437
28. Ottawa 342-468 .422
29. Clevland 322-488 .396
30. St Louis 321-489 .396
31. Seattle 303-507 .374
32. Toledo 282-528 .348
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)