Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Minor Deal Mambo



Troy, NY: The Haymakers made their fourth trade of the off-season; picking up two time top 20 prospect Alcides Escobar from the Pilots for a round 3 pick. Escobar has a great glove and above average speed, but time will tell if he can turn his minor league success into positive results in the majors.
"We are excited to have a talented player like Escobar on our roster," said GM Ken Anderson, "we love his glove and expect that he can turn into a top of the order type hitter as well. We feel that he's closer to Ozzie Smith than Royce Clayton and we will be working hard to turn him into that."
The pickup of Escobar comes a couple weeks after the pickup of another young infielder Ruben Tejada, who looks to be coming off the bench after the pickup of Escobar.
"Tejada will be great for us off the bench next season," said the GM, "we jumped the gun a bit, hoping he would be better defensively. Now Tejada will fit nicely into a role he is more designed for. Our lineup is strong enough that it can handle Escobar play everyday and bat ninth next season."
The pickup of James Loney and Escobar will improve an infield defense already anchored by team veteran Brandon Phillips and a surprising Pablo Sandoval. The team will boast a lineup with three players with a "1" range (LF,SS,2B), three players with a "2" range(CF,3B,1B), and one player with a "3" range (RF).
"I'm excited," tweeted the slick fielding secondbaseman Phillips, "nothing gonna get by us next season!" Escobar's twitter following jumped from 12k to 25k just a few hours after the trade.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

My 2 Cents

The NASBL celebrated it's 25 Birthday this season. HBTY HBTY HB 'NASBL' HBTY! Red Robbins would like to say 'THANK YOU' again to everyone on honoring him with the Lifetime Achievement Award that Commissioner Steve Beard sent him before the season. I can honestly say it was a very pleasant surprise. Yes Red was a member in the NASBL from the beginning. For you youngsters the NASBL is about 3 years younger than MTV, and are in much better shape! Like anything the NASBL has had it's ups/downs. I am pleased we are on a up swing with the current set of managers and the leadership of Steve Beard as the Commish! A league needs all of it's managers on the same page (or very close to the same page; some managers are a few pages ahead and some a couple of pages behind :) ) and a commissioner that knows when to crack the whip, when to loosen the reins, when to be a 'baby sister' and when to step in for his judgement/ruling on a matter which has to be for the betterment of the league, not just a team or two. The NASBL web site is one of the BEST around and when it comes to Drafting the 'Automated Start Draft' makes it simple.

In upcoming My 2 cents we will go around the league going over last season, plus a little History back in the Stone Age when the NASBL started!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Movers and Shakers??

Troy, NY: Right off the team's first playoff and championship appearance; the Haymakers have made a few small moves to try to improve the team's chances of repeating as Less Filling Champs. The team's first move was shipping team look alike champ for a round 2 pick.
Next, Troy moved their last remaining player from their inaugural season, by shipping Huston Street to Lehigh Valley for Hiroki Kuroda. Street, the reigning two time Fireman of the Year award winner, had a total of 115 saves for the Haymakers and was shipped to fill one of the many rotation slots for next season. As of right now Kuroda will serve as Troy's thrid starter behind ace Carpenter and young phenom Bumgarner. Kuroda has had a rather pedestrian career in the NASBL, but is coming off a successful season (14-7 with a 3.31ERA) with World Series Champ Iron Pigs, and the Troy front office is hoping that will continue with the Haymakers.
Most recently, the Haymakers moved young firstbaseman Billy Butler for James Loney and Ruben Tejada. Troy faithful will remember Butler was picked up with a round 3 pick from Illinois after the 2008 season for Aubrey Huff. After a couple of successful seasons with the team, Butler never seemed to live up to his full potential and the front office grew weary of his ability to play defense. Loney is a much better defender, but has had problems with consistency in the past and is coming off a dismal season at the plate. In 402 at bats, Loney only hit .229 and while he should fair better at Haymaker Grounds, he still will have to sit against lefties. The third player in the deal, 21 year old Ruben Tejada, will take over time at SS for the struggling Jason Bartlett. Tejada should be successful in limited action next season, but the jury is out on his long term ability. Troy's front office believe's he's best suited as a utility player long term, but time will tell if he can handle a full time role. His fielding should be above average, and there is a rumor going around that he may actually lead-off against lefties next season.
Stay tuned to find out if the Haymakers can prove that last season's success was not just a flash in the pan!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

That and a Bag of Chips



The 2012 season is right around the corner and the Spurs know they have a lot of work on their hands. One final look back at 2011 season. Rookie Jason Heyward was voted Team MVP. The 1st Overall pick in the Draft did everything the Spurs asked him to do and more. Heyward played in 155 games- .286ba, 95r, 302b, 3 3b, 16hr, 93bb, 129so and was 20 for 24 in stolen bases. He batted anywhere from lead-off to 7th in the lineup. "He lived up to all the hype", skipper Red Robbins said. He went on to add, "With the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. and a few years ago of Bonds (Barry not 007), Heyward has been tagged the next Junior or the next Bonds. To come in and be expected to live up to all that was a lot of pressure on the kid. He's only 21 years old. Half the things I own are that old! We are very pleased with his performance this year. We give our Top rating of- All that and a Bag of Chips"!


Winter update- Heyward was spotted at a Winter Carnival and has gained 20lbs since the end of the season. D'OH

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Outlaw All-Time Home Run Leaders

Chicks dig the long ball! Twenty-one years of Outlaw All-Time big-fly leaders, from 1991 to 2011 including the predecessor NASBL Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres:
  1. 564, Manny Ramirez, 1995-2011
  2. 380, Albert "don't call me Joey" Belle, 1992-2001
  3. 171, Jason Bay, 2005-2011
  4. 158, Alfonso "we don't need no steenkin' defense" Soriano, 2004-2008
  5. tie - 157, Mark McGwire, 1999-2002
  6. tie - 157, Aramis Ramirez, 1999-2008
And we would be negligent if we didn't give credit to NASBL's all-time homerun leader at his position,
2, Tim Hudson, 2000-2011

Chows Add Big Bat Lose 1st Round Pick

Illinois Times -- Chows GM Brad Sherlag stopped straddling the fence this week and declared the Chows all in for this season. Today the Chows got either their LF or their everyday 1B in the body of Michale Morse. The price was high, but Morse is expected to be a huge bat next season in the NASBL. In Major League Baseball (NASBL's prime developmental league) last season, Morse put up a great season batting over .300, hitting 31 dingers and posting a .910 OPS.

The price was Illinois fan favorite Josh"The Hammer" Willingham, a fan favorite since Illinois drafted him. The Hammer is third all time for the offensively challenged Chows in both HR and RBIs. Illinois also gave up one of their three 1st Round Draft picks - the last pick in Round #1.

"We see this as a pitching heavy, hitter light draft. It is obvious the Chows offense needed a major upgrade. We started that upgrade when we traded for Hafner and it continues with the deal for Morse. I believe 1-6, we are as good as we have ever been offensively. The Chows are still open to trading for a 1B or OF and a top-flite SP. However, our sense of urgency is reduced since we think we can fill our remaining holes in the draft. We still have two 1sts, a 2nd and a 3rd - so we can still improve the club."

The 1-6 Sherlag was referring to are:

Bourn
Reyes
Beltran
Morse
Ramirez
Hafner

Seven through Nine will be the still to be acquired 1B/OF, their 2B and Suzuki. High placed sources in the Chows organization believe Beckham will field well enough for Illinois to give him one more chance.