Preparing for the WS battle with DFW(part II)

Can the New Potatoes revenge last year's embarrassing sweep at the hands of DFW?

EdCouch GM is preparing for this epic repeat battle with DFW, meanwhile his staff is deep in offseason preparation for the upcoming season. EdCouch is making his 1st rd pick available again this year(though rumor has it they may hold on to it for one player they covet).

Ed Couch is also willing to deal David Wright for a late pick and slugger Bautista(we realize some fans just don't like this guy!). Also could trade Ervin Santana and his 30 quality starts as well as a young J.Schoop and J.Iglesias. Please contact us if you have any interest in any of these guys or any other trade ideas(we do love this time of the year!)

OUTLAW CAREER PITCHING LEADERS

WINS

1. 208 (NASBL Record), Tim Hudson, 2000-2016
2. 138, Jake Peavy, 2004-2016
3. 113, Andy Ashby, 1994-2003

STRIKEOUTS

1. 2104, Tim Hudson, 2000-2016
2. 2036, Jake Peavy, 2004-2016
3.  1153, Andy Ashby, 1994-2003

WINNING PERCENTAGE(100 decisions)

1. .580 (58-42), Mark Clark, 1994-2001
2. .572 (83-62), Mark Langston, 1991-1995
3. .562 (113-88), Andy Ashby, 1994-2003

ERA (1000 IP)

1.  3.99, Mark Langston, 1991-1995
2.  4.03, Tim Hudson, 2000-2016
3.  4.22, Jake Peavy, 2004-2016

SAVES 

1. 128, Keith Foulke, 1999-2005
2. 125, Craig Kimbrel, 2012-2015
3. 117, Trevor Hoffman, 1994-1999

HOMERUNS HIT BY A PITCHER

1. 2 (NASBL Record), Tim Hudson, 2000-2016 

2016 NASBL Awards

The 2016 NASBL awards winners are:

MVP:

Nelson Cruz, OJW

Bryce Harper, DFW

Cy Young:

Marco Estrada, ECN

Dallas Keuchel, DFW

Rookie of the Year:

Noah Syndergaard, LVI

Kris Bryant, TRY

Fireman of the Year:

Wade Davis, ECN

Brad Ziegler, VFS

Diamond Notes:

-Bryce Harper is the 6th DFW Spur to win the LF MVP.  The first 4 were Barry Bonds.

-Dallas Keuchel of Dallas - Fort Worth is the first award winner in NASBL history to share a first name with his team.  "Dallas" outraced several other statistically more likely names such as "Troy" and "Ed," and disappointed those who were rooting for a longshot comeback from Steve "Lake."

-Kris Bryant (ROY / TRY) and Wade Davis (FOY / ECN) both swept all the available 1st place votes.

-The margin of victory for Brad Ziegler (FOY / VFS) and Marco Estrada (CY / ECN) was less than a single first-place vote.

-Ziegler (FOY / VFS) appears to be the first Fireman of the Year with more saves (41) than strikeouts (31.)  Reports that Dan Quisenberry just can't seem to shut up about this remain unconfirmed at this time.

NASBL Base Non-Playoff Draft Order

After overusage calculations, the NASBL base draft order (for all rounds except rounds 3 and 4) will be:


1. Illinois Chow Chows
2.  Seattle Pilots
3.  Shawnee Crows
4.  Pocono Chin Music
5.  Canyon Country Cannons
6.  Slatington Bulldogs
7.  Georgia Roadkill
8.  Outlaw Josey Wales
9.  Lake Champlain Cannibals
10.  Grundy County Grizzlies

OUTLAW CAREEER BATTING LEADERS

HITS

1. 2474, Manny Ramirez, 1995-2011
2. 1879 Omar Vizquel, 1996-2011
3. 1631, Albert Belle, 1994-2001

BATTING AVERAGE
(3000 AB)

1. .360, Tony Gwynn, 1994-2000
2. .301, Kenny Lofton, 1993-2001
3. .299, Manny Ramirez, 1995-2011

HOME RUNS

1. 564, Manny Ramirez, 1995-2011
2. 380, Albert Belle, 1994-2001
3. 202, Adrian Gonzalez, 2007-2016

RUNS BATTED IN

1. 1604, Manny Ramirez, 1995-2011
2. 1156, Albert Belle, 1994-2001
3.   769, Adrian Gonzalez, 2007-2016

STOLEN BASES

1. 613, Kenny Lofton, 1994-2001
2. 395, Omar Vizquel, 1996-2011
3. 199, Elvis Andrus, 2010-2016

OUTLAW'S TEHERAN SHARES TASTES GREAT WINS CROWN

In his first season with the Outlaw Josey Wales, Julio Teheran wildly exceeded expectations and shared the Tastes Great wins crown with Springfield's Jake Odorizzi with 18 games won.

Julio Teheran left Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta, Cory Kluber, Chris Sale, teammate Carlos Carrasco, Johnny Cueto, and Gerrit Cole all eating his dust in the wins department.

Just how did a pitcher with a 4.04 MLB ERA, a 4.84 NASBL ERA, and a card resembling the firebombing of Dresden win more games than any other Tastes Great pitcher not named Jake Odorizzi while playing for a sub-.500 team in the bottom half of the league in runs scored?

1)  There's something to be said for taking the mound as often as possible.  With 33 starts, Teheran took the mound slightly more than once every five games.

2)  Earn a decision in a freakishly high 88% of his starts.  Julio earned 29 decisions in 33 starts. Pitching a respectable, but not outstanding, 5 2/3 innings per start certainly contributed to the high decision rate, but it doesn't explain it all.  Chalk up some dumb luck here.

3)  Get run support.  NASBL teams scored an average of 4.46 runs per game.  The Wales averaged only 4.44 runs per game, but when Teheran took the mound Outlaw scored a blistering 5.12 runs per game.  Chalk some of this up to dumb luck, but credit some of it up to Outlaw management making sure key batters played during Teheran's home starts after noticing his unexpected block I success.

4)  Have a wildly unbalanced card.  With a 40% on-base, 56% slugging and 5.7% homerun rate, the left side of Teheran's card does resemble the firebombing of Dresden.  But the right side is actually respectable with 20% on-base, 22% slugging, and 2.0% homerun.  While a highly unbalanced starting pitcher card is normally considered a disadvantage, Outlaw management noticed this right away and avoided starting Teheran against teams with strong left-handed lineups as much as possible.

5)  Luck.  More luck.  Dumb luck.  Smart luck.  All kinds of luck.

Haymakers Excited to Return to the Playoffs

Troy, NY:  The city is a buzz with playoff fever.  The crowds are cheering loudly, fans running the streets waiving their banners and even the mayor has declared a city holiday.  Yes it's true, the hometown Haymakers are back in the playoffs.

   The team was able to sneak out a last minute two game win on the wildcard over rival Grundy County.  The Grizzlies had a great season, lead by a strong pitching staff and superior defense. Their 96 win season would have been enough to make it in the menial Tastes Great division, where a number of teams had down years.
   As for the Haymakers, this is their first time back in the playoffs since their division winning season back in 2013 where they finished with an identical 98-64 record.  This will Troy's fourth playoff appearance since their inaugural season in 2007 as they go after their first NASBL championship. 
  The Haymakers began the year with the second pick of the draft, and eyeing a rebuild for the 2017 season, drafting a number of young bats and arms such as Aaron Sanchez, Rasial Iglesias, Yasmany Tomas, Jung Ho Kang and young superstar Kris Bryant.  These young players fit well into what already was a group of young sluggers and anchored by ace Madison Bumgarner.  There was promise, but the team was still lacking, especially in the pitching staff.  But after the end of the second block, GM Ken Anderson saw an opportunity and was able to trade for Sonny Gray as a compliment to ace Bumgaerner and stock the bullpen with good complements to lefty Andrew Miller by adding Mark Melancon and Carson Smith.
    Pitcher Gray was great down the stretch, going 9-2 in twelve starts while boasting 1.74 ERA.  The only possible negative is will be bounce ace and 20 game winner Madison Bumgarner in game one of the playoffs against Vermont.  New bullpen arms allowed the weaker back of the rotation to pitch shorter, which was evident by Smith and Melancon pitching a combined 68 innings down the stretch.  The five "nasty boys" of the pen will provide a lot of insurance for the games not pitched by Gray and Bumgarner.

 Possible rookie of the year Kris Bryant motorized the offense for Troy, belting 31 homers and driving in 104 runs while playing solid defense at thirdbase and rightfield.  But the leader and spark-plug of the offsense was centerfielder A.J. Pollock, who played gold glove defense in center hit .316 on the season with 59 extra base hits and stole 33 bases.

Even with all that talent, the Haymakers face a number of tough challenges for the NASBL crown.  They face the Fighting Souix in the first round of the playoffs, who won 100 games thanks to a balanced offense and a strong bullpen.  Their rotation is solid as well, fronted by ace Matt Harvey, the great Jon Lackey and longtime Pilots ace Felix Hernandez. It is going to prove to be a great matchup.

 Should Troy be lucky enough to make it past Vermont, they will still need to face the defending champion Spurs and their powerhouse offense led by Bryce Harper, who will no doubt be the league MVP. Harper won the Less Filling triple crown, hitting .334 with 51 home runs and driving in 128.  Not to be outdone, the Spurs also have ace lefty Dallas Keuchel, who will most likely win the Less Filling Cy Young, going 23-6 with a 2.82 ERA.

What's worse, Troy would still need to play the championship series against the Tastes Great winner if they get lucky enough to go to the finals.  It's going to be a long, fun road to the fans in the upcoming weeks.