NVABL - Clubhouse Report December 2014

2014 Season is complete!

by:  Robert Whitney

Thanks to everyone for completing another great season, especially to Bart for marking the cards and playing a lot of games for Arlington and Chino Valley, Bob for helping out with Stats and playing those extra games, Chad for diligently keeping the website up to date despite having the most interesting life of any of us, and George for keeping us on an even keel.

2014 Final Statistical Leaders

Team ERA

Stonehenge 3.07

Arlington 3.37

Springfield 3.48

Sterling 3.79

ERA (75 innings minimum)

Colon 2.13

Sanchez 2.89

Kuroda 2.94

Fernandez 3.24

Wins

Kershaw 13

Shields 10

Miller 10

Lohse 9

Saves

Uehara 21

Nathan 20 (combined OCC and ROS)

Scheppers 20

Robertson 19

Strikeouts

Darvish 124

Wainwright 118

Hernandez 117

Strasburg 109

Team Batting Average

Chino Valley .259

Stonehenge .251

Roswell .250

Oakton .248

Individual Batting Average (200 PA minimum)

Gennett .368

Freeman .330

Rasmus .317

Mauer .307

Individual OPS (200 PA minimum)

Wright .987

Cabrera .966

Ramirez .923

Freeman .923

Home Runs

Cabrera 30 (wow)

Davis 19

Wright 17

LaRoche 17

Doubles

Pence 35

Mauer 28

McCutchen 27

2 with 26

Stolen Bases

Andrus 24

Kipnis 20

Ellsbury 19

Rios 18

Robinson 16

Ode to a Championship Season – A Stonehenge Timeline

For the final Newsletter of 2014, I present this timeline and analysis of how Dwight won his second plaque this year.  It was his fourth trip to the finals in 19 years in the league.  That’s a pretty good average for 12 teams.  Congratulations Dwight!

2013

5/30 Dwight decides he will not contend in 2013 and trades Josh Hamilton to Occoquan for OCC 2, STE 2, and OCC 3.  The Occoquan Franchise is set back by this trade in 2014.  They win a division title in 2013.

8/30 Dwight sends Matt Holliday to SPR for SPR 3.  Dwight now has 7 picks in the first 3 rounds of the 2014 draft, and 15 total.

9/23 The MLB season is still going on and the first behind the scenes trade talks on Hanley Ramirez begin between Dwight and Trader Roberto.  Robert declares that Hanley might be for sale next year and Dwight declares that if he is for sale, Stonehenge is interested.

11/7 The NVABL playoffs are in full swing and Roberto begins making overtures behind the scenes to other owners who might be interested in trading for Hanley Ramirez.  Roberto has pre-ranked the Occoquan team at #8, and out of the playoffs.

11/23 Roberto tells the entire league that Hanley Ramirez is available, to see who is interested.  Mike James and Dwight declare their interest, with Dwight saying “If he’s an SS-8, I’d likely do my first round pick.”

12/8 Information from the disk trickles out through the APBA chat rooms.  Dwight’s initial starting pitching lineup features:

Buchholz 18X
Moore 16XW
Wainwright 13XZ
Lester 11YZ

Kuroda 11YZ

Lynn 8x
Cahill 8W

This starting lineup alone proves that Stonehenge is a viable contender.  But the Oakton Aviator lineup is similar and Stonehenge must improve if they want to compete with the fly boys.

12/8 Hanley Ramirez is declared an SS-8 in the APBA chat rooms, with 1-1-4-6-6-7-11 numbers.  He is officially put on the market to the entire league.  Dwight gets the first bid in and sets the bar high with #1 and #4 picks.

12/8 the disk shows that Kojii Uehara will be a 24XYZG, and trade talks begin with Mike, Steve, and Dwight.

12/9 Springfield declares their intention to enter the Hanley sweepstakes.  Delphi has also expressed interest.  Mike James offers FMV #1 and a reliever, which is similar to Dwight’s offer.

12/10 Springfield pencils in an offer SEA #1 plus something.  SEA #1 was the 12^th overall pick.

12/10 Jason Werth is put on the trading block by Seacoast.  Apparently Chad did not want to have the 4 best outfield cards in the league, he only wanted 3.

12/15 Chad accepts OCC #2 and #3 from Stonehenge for Jason Werth.  I felt like Dwight over-paid, but he is going all in and you can’t argue with success.  Plaques cost a lot most of the time.

12/15 Delphi pulls out the Hanley Ramirez bidding without making a bid.  I had flat out offered Delphi Hanley for the #1 overall pick straight up, but George wisely decided to go for a younger player rather than try to contend in 2014.

12/16 Dwight wins the Hanley bidding with a price of STO 1, 4, and 5 picks.

2014 Draft

Round 2 Stonehenge drafts Tanner Roark a 16yzh right handed starter with limited availability using the #15 overall pick.  Roark will be a key starter in the playoffs and was a bargain 2^nd round pick, being a strong young pitcher in the Nationals organization.  With the #17 overall pick, Stonehenge drafts Scooter Gennett, a key cog in the machine as the starting 2B vs. righties.  With this pick, Dwight declares his intention to use the platoon system heavily in 2014.  Gennett has -22/4 splits with 14 safe numbers, and he went on to win the batting title with a .368 average.

Round 3 Stonehenge drafts two righty relievers, Carpenter 20*XY and Otero 19*ZH.  In the steroid ERA these guys might have gone late 1^st round, early 2^nd round.

Round 5 Stonehenge drafts Mike Carp, a DH type with -7/0 splits, 1-5-6-6 power, and 14 safe numbers.  Carp would be in the starting lineup vs. righties in the playoffs.

Round 6 Stonehenge drafts outfielder Christian Yelich with splits of -16/7, and Sergio Santos a 16*KZH righty who has fallen to the 6^th round because he only had 20 innings of availability.

Round 7 Stonehenge drafts Jordy Mercer, a 2B with 17/-7 splits to go with Gennett.  Dwight becomes the all-time “King of the Platooners” with this pick.

Round 8 Stonehenge drafts J.P. Howell, an 18*X lefty with 40 innings of availability.  It’s almost unbelievable that he fell this far.  You can destroy team’s lineups in games if you have a few lefties like this on your roster with plenty of innings, it allows free substitution of relievers to your heart’s content.

Round 9 Stonehenge drafts John Lackey, a 10YZL right handed starter who ends up being included in a trade later in exchange for Jordan Zimmerman.  Having guys like this you can throw in for coverage enables the upgrades.

Supplemental Rounds Stonehenge did not sit idle.  They picked up Mazzaro 13*ZG righty, Choate 15*YH lefty, Varvaro 14*G righty, Floriman SS9 defensive sub to fill remaining holes.  With the 5^th pick Dwight proves he has the gift of prophesy, taking Wade Davis, a 4Y washed up starter, who becomes one of Kansas City’s “Big Three”, pitching 72 innings of relief with a 1.00 ERA.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/wade-davis--a-fishing-pond-and-the-story-of-a-guy-who-wanted-to-be-great-at-something-040248816.html

2014 Season

1/30 Oakton is ranked the #1 team in the league following the draft.  Larry solidifies this position by sending OAK 1, 2, and 4 to Seacoast for Siegrist 29*xywg and Jimenez 14xw.  Chad was able to transform a 3^rd and a 5^th into a 1st, 2nd, and 4^th.  Dwight comments on Larry’s big trade and writes a note to Roberto saying “Kind of makes you wish you’d put Uehara on the block, doesn’t it.”  He is right.  It does.  Larry had intended on setting the bar high for future trades to make sure any other contenders would pay dearly to try and catch up, but he didn’t anticipate a top 6 team packing it in this early to cash in on similar profits.  The greed in me makes me decide to sell also.  It is only January and not a game has been played.

2/9 Stonehenge plays their first series and sweeps Washington.  Both teams came out with guns blazing using excellent starting rotations, and Washington was ranked number 7 post draft, so this is a good victory for Stonehenge.

2/12 Stonehenge spends big and acquires Jordan Zimmerman and Kojii Uehara from Occoquan for STO 1, 2, 3, 4, and John Lackey.

2/28 Stonehenge goes on the road and defeats Columbia Pike 3-1.  The trade paid off immediately as Game 3 featured a Jordan Zimmermann win and Uehara save, and Game 4 had a Wainwright win and Uehara save.

3/9 A 7-1 Stonehenge team faces an 8-4 Roswell team.  The trades lead Stonehenge to a sweep.  Zimmermann wins his game with a Uehara save.  Hanley Ramirez plays 3 games and has 5 extra base hits and 12 RBI.  The Druids have started the season 11-1.  The rest of the year they will go a much more tame 41 and 35.

3/11 Hanley rests four games while Delphi and Stonehenge split.

3/20 Stonehenge splits with lowly Seacoast.

4/12 Stonehenge takes 3 games vs. Occoquan.

4/28 Stonehenge takes 3 games vs. Sterling.  In game 4 Jason Werth hits a walkoff 3 run homer to win 6-3.

5/19 Stonehenge takes 3 games vs. Arlington.

5/26 Stonehenge takes 3 more against Occoquan.  Uehara has a win and a save.  Werth has a home run.  With four series in a row going 3-1 in favor of Stonehenge, the Druids have started the season 27-9.  They will go 25-27 the rest of the way.  They don’t need much else as Washington and Occoquan are both 10 games below .500.  Dwight has already wrapped up the division title for all practical purposes.

In the month of June, and cracks appear in the Druid armor, with 3-1 losses to fellow playoff teams Springfield and Oakton, while sweeping Seacoast.

7/13 Dwight suffers a devastating 0-4 loss to Roswell.

7/19 Stonehenge defeats Washington 3-1.  After this series Bart makes a decision that he will start to sell some players, salvage what he can, and be ready for next year.  Stonehenge will be the first recipient of talent from a strong Washington team that had very bad luck in 2014.

7/21 An interesting note from Dwight to the league: 

“From the Desk of Karl Lagerfeld

The Stonehenge Druids and myself personally wish to extend our condolences to the Washington Senators on the loss of their traveling secretary, Mr. Antoine Shiflett, who was fatally mauled by a mountain lion Saturday during the Senators' visit to San Mateo.  During the series, Mr. Shiflett, who had been eating a Super Burrito from Taqueria La Cumbre, failed the notice the posted mountain lion alert notices and panicked upon spotting the big cat, throwing his burrito at the apex predator, which subsequently enraged the beast and resulted in the demise of Mr. Shiflett. As everyone knows, and as was clearly stated on the alert notice, the big cats detest Mexican food, preferring either sushi or a lightly spiced barbecue.

Unfortunately, the cash-strapped Senators were unable to cover the costs of Mr. Shiflett's cremation,  leaving them with no choice but to cut ties with outfielder Daniel Nava and reliever Luke Hochever. This allowed the team to sell their return bus fares and thus cover the cremation fees.

As you know, in addition to my humility and modest attire, I am a charitable man. And as the two players were otherwise stuck in San Mateo, I agreed to take them off the books of the Senators for future considerations, which included our 5th, 6th, and 8th draft picks.”

Nava will crack the playoff starting lineup vs. righties, and Hochevar is a 19*xyz righty reliever.  We can all learn from Dwight on this trade, sometimes the best deals come in the middle of the year if you are patient and wait for them.

7/30 Stonehenge takes their improved team and defeats a strong Arlington team 3-1.

In the month of August Stonehenge takes 3 from Columbia Pike, Splits with Springfield, Delphi, and a strong Chino Valley team.  The totals are 9-7 in August and 46-30 overall.

8/25 As the final deal before the trade deadline, Dwight sends STO #7 and Varvaro to Delphi for Geovany Soto.  Soto further shores up the Stonehenge playoff lineup vs. righties by becoming the starting Catcher with a splits upgrade over Carlos Santana. Dwight is left with only 1 pick in the 2015 draft.  It’s his 9^th rounder, the last pick in the draft prior to the supplemental rounds.  This is probably the closest anyone has ever come to “All in” for the NVABL.

9/1 Stonehenge splits with Chino Valley and mathematically clinches the Piedmont division.  It is the only series they play in September.

10/2 Springfield finishes the season with a 3-1 series against Delphi, beating Roswell by one game in the Coastal division race.  It is up to Stonehenge vs. Oakton and Sterling to see if they will pass Springfield.

10/9 Oakton defeats Stonehenge 3-1.  Oakton needed to sweep to win the division title over Springfield.  Instead the Aviators finish 1 game behind the Cardinals.

10/14 Stonehenge beats Sterling 3-1 and earns the top seed throughout the playoffs.  This would prove to be crucial as their semi-final opponent ended up being Washington, a team that finished below .500.  Sterling finishes 2 games below Springfield, who will get a first round bye as the #2 seed.

Playoffs

Stonehenge brings a good starting rotation into the playoffs:

Buchholz 18X

Roark 16YZ

Wainwright 13XZ

Zimmermann 13YZ

11/3 Washington and Oakton split their first 2 playoff games.

11/4 Washington wins the next 3 games to advance.  This is a huge event in the Druids hunt for their plaque.  Oakton was a more formidable opponent.  Roswell has beaten Sterling to face Springfield.

11/4 Never one to sweat the pressure, Dwight takes a weeklong vacation in Hawaii with no email contact.  When he comes home he finds out to his surprise the entire league has been worried about him being missing before the semi-final series could be scheduled.

11/16 Stonehenge defeats Washington 4 games to 1 and advances to the finals.  Uehara had 2 saves.  Second round pick Roark had a win in game 3, with help from a Ramirez home run.  Mid-season pickup Hochever had a win in game 4. 

11/20 Roswell advances vs. Springfield to face Dwight in the finals.

12/6 Les Druids earn the plaque with a 4-1 series win over Roswell.  Wins by Buchholz, Roark, and 2 by Hochevar.  Uehara has 3 saves.  The playoff MVP is Clay Buchholz, the Ace of the Stonehenge staff.  In 4 games he had 3 wins, with only 2 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings while striking out 21 batters.

Summary

As Dwight mentioned in his write-up, this championship was a result of careful trading starting back in 2013.  But beyond that, a strong draft and further trades during the season were beneficial.  The players he picked up allowed him to clinch the #1 seed for the playoffs.  Once there, he was rewarded by being able to face a sub .500 team in the first round.  Many of the core Stonehenge players such as Buchholz, Goldschmidt, Encarnacion, and Votto took care of business to earn the plaque.  Once the playoffs got going, out of all the trades, it appeared that Hochevar and Uehara ended up helping Dwight the most by finishing out games and winning series.  Another key pickup was Roark in the 2^nd round of the draft.  Well done for a well-managed season, Dwight!

Our next newsletter will come out in January after the cards have come out.  It will be a pre-draft preview of 2015.  Thanks everyone for your participation in the league for 2014.  We have a good group of guys here.