Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Newsletter - September 1, 2014

The Clubhouse Report

Northern Virginia APBA Baseball League

September 2014


Farewell to a New Manager

We are sad to see it not work out with David Neely after only one month.  The league has two teams looking for new managers.

The Standings

Coastal Division
W
L
%
GB
39
25
.609
--
43
29
.597
--
35
25
.583
2
32
28
.533
5
30
34
.469
9
26
34
.433
11

Piedmont Division
W
L
%
GB
46
30
.605
--
16
12
.571
6
25
23
.521
7
30
38
.441
12
26
46
.361
18
20
44
.313
20


CPC 2
at
SEA 2
STP 2
at
ARL 2
CPC 1
at
STO 3
SEA 2
at
OAK 2
SEA 2
at
ARL 2
OAK 1
at
ARL 3
STO 2
at
SPR 2
STP 3
at
DEL 1
ARL 3
at
DEL 1
STP 3
at
CV 1
STO 2
at
DEL 2
CV 2
at
STP 2
SEA 2
at
SPR 2
DEL 1
at
STP 3
CV 2
at
STO 2
CV 4
at
OCC 0

 

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

The records for the teams during August are:
Sterling 13-7, (32-28) The best team in August was Sterling who made trades to compete this month and the results showed.  They are up around the level of Roswell now, just below the big 3.  With Delphi and Columbia Pike throwing in the towel, the Pirates are sure to be a playoff team.  A big “congratulations” goes out to Walt in turning the season around and especially getting in enough series this month to meet the deadline.  The next big deadline is only 30 days away, he will have to play 4 series this month to avoid the penalty.  The penalty would be a 5th round pick if this is their second offense, because their 6th round pick has been traded.

Arlington 10-6, (25-23) I can’t speak to what Arlington is like, but Bart and Bob have played a lot of games and this team is up to 48.  In the post draft rankings that were included in the February newsletter I had this team coming in around 9th.  So this record above .500 is a little bit of over-achieving and a little bit of Occoquan having thrown in the towel before the games started, and the higher ranked Vermont having played only 28 times.

Chino Valley 9-7 , (16-12) Chino is a team with a lot of bite, and a great closer if they get a lead.  One game against Sterling showed their colors.  The Pirates took a 6-2 lead in the third, but Chino did not lose heart and hit a 2 run homer in the 6th to close the gap.  A Sterling insurance run in the 8th, did not hold up as Chino hit a 3 run homer in the 9th to tie the game and put it into extra innings.  The team kept grinding and hit two solo home runs in the 13th to take a lead for the first time since the 1st inning.  Kimbrel pitched the last 3 innings for the win.  It’s a good team.  Chino has played 28 games now and is starting to catch up to having a reasonable amount of games under their belt.

Stonehenge 9-7, (33-15) Stonehenge played 4 times this month and went 9-7.  The splits with Springfield and Chino Valley were about as expected.  The wins vs. Columbia Pike were as expected.  The split vs. Delphi might have been a 3-1 series if the dice rolled evenly.  Dwight has no worries though, he is close to winning the Piedmont division title.  The worst record Stonehenge could finish with is 46-42, so If Washington loses 4 more times in the final 20 games or Stonehenge wins 4 more times, the Senators will be eliminated by virtue of the Druids taking 7 of 8 from them this year.

Seacoast 8-8,(20-44) A .500 month for the worst team in the league, with 4 splits played.  Two of those splits came against very good teams Springfield and Oakton.  What was once a cellar door that was slammed shut has opened up a crack.  Seacoast has not won a single series this year, which is phenomenal.  If they win a series it will make the Hamner race a lot closer.
Springfield 4-4, (39-25) The Cardinals split with Stonehenge and Seacoast.  The Stonehenge series was packed with playoff level excitement.  In the series with Seacoast the results were disappointing, a chance to move into sole possession of first place was squandered.  Still Springfield has been active in acquiring players through trades, and joins Oakton and Stonehenge on paper as the top teams in the league.

Oakton 3-5, (35-25) Splitting with the worst team in the league, and losing 3 of 4 to Arlington was not a good month for the Aviators.  They need to step up their dice to compete for the division title.  Oakton has 28 games left to play and are 2 games behind the pace set by Springfield and Roswell.  It’s still do-able, but it is looking like an exciting race over the next two months.  Oakton will have to play 16 games in September or one per week to avoid losing their 8th round pick.

Columbia Pike 3-5, (26-34) The Cubs have thrown in the towel, selling at the trade deadline.  What we see here with a 3-5 record is about what we would expect the rest of the way out.  Steve is looking at the #3 overall pick for 2015, but Delphi is ready to challenge.  Hopefully umpiring is winding down because Columbia Pike is another team with only the minimum number of games played.

Delphi 5-11, (30-34)  George has thrown in the towel this year.  Delphi was the primary team selling players at the trade deadline.  The Oracles are currently in position to draft 5th overall in the free agent draft next year.

Roswell 0-0, (43-29) Thanks Bob, for helping out with Chino Valley and Arlington.  Roswell is tied for first place in the Coastal.  The Greys have had good management and good results this year, but on paper they are rated a bit below the big 3.

Washington 0-0, (30-38) Bart went into make-up mode for Arlington and Chino Valley, and didn’t play any games for Washington.  Thanks Bart for being willing to take on this additional load.  By the way, according to the by-laws rule XI.A, Chino Valley and Arlington will be treated as if they don’t exist for purposes of determining playoff spots.  The Senators are on track to participate in the playoffs as the 2nd place team in the Piedmont division.  If I understand the rules correctly, for purposes of the draft Chino Valley and Arlington would be positioned in the order of their won-loss record, so Washington would slip down and draft in the 4th position if the winning percentages stay nearly the same throughout the rest of the year.

Occoquan 0-4, (26-46) Since trading Juan Uribe in July, Occoquan has scored only 5 runs.  On paper, I would say Occoquan has reached the point of being the worst team in the league, but Seacoast has a much worse record.  There is so little pop left in this lineup that it felt like a strange feeling when I did some substitute management this month for Chino Valley and the players were getting on base, hitting home runs, and scoring chunks of runs.

Transactions

  • CPC sends Rajai Davis, SPR #8 to SPR for Marcell Ozuna, SPR #9
  • OAK sends Robbie Ross, Kevin Chapman to STP for STP #6
  • WAS sends Craig Gentry to SPR for Cody Ross, OCC #7
  • DEL sends Giovani Soto to STO for STO #7, Anthony Varvaro
  • DEL sends Ivan Nova to STE for STE #7

The selling began prior to the trade deadline and we saw Columbia Pike, Washington, and Delphi basically throwing in the towel, while Oakton sold off two relievers for a profit who would not be making their 25 man playoff roster.  The biggest benificiaries were Sterling and Springfield, who became very good teams with these pickups.

Sterling has picked up a 18*wg lefty, 12*yzg lefty, and 12yg righty for the home stretch to the playoffs.

Springfield has picked up a lot of speed on the base paths as if they didn’t have enough.  Davis is a B-34 lefty killer, and Gentry is D-34 solid bat with 15 safe numbers.

Stonehenge has picked up a catcher with almost the same card as one they have, but with -8/3 splits instead of 0/-2, plus a better throwing arm.  That will be a big help to the Druids vs. righties the rest of the way. 

2015 Kilg Korner 


Hitting

Pitching

Overall

Team     OPS     Rank     Top Player
OAK   0.790     1            Tulowitzki
SEA    0.780     2               Stanton
STE    0.755     3               Martinez
STO    0.744     4           Encarnacon
CPK    0.736     5               Puig
CHV    0.735     6               Freeman
DEL     0.731     7               Bautista
WAS     0.730     8               Pence
ARL      0.728     9               N. Cruz
SPR     0.719     10            Mesoraco
ROS      0.715     11            Gattis
OCC     0.697     12       A. Ramirez
Team     ERA   Rank       Top Player
OAK         3.01        1         Kershaw
STO          3.18        2.5  Wainwright
ROS         3.18        2.5           Cueto
STE           3.35        4               Sale
DEL          3.49        5          Darvish
SEA          3.55        6            Hamels
CPK         3.58        7           Hudson
WAS        3.60        8              Gray
SPR          3.67        9.5           Smyly
ARL          3.67        9.5      Iwakuma
CHV         3.75        11         Teheran
OCC         3.98        12         Porcello
Team     Rank
OAK         1
STO          2
STE           3
SEA          4
CPK         5.5
DEL          5.5
ROS         7
WAS        8
CHV         9
ARL          10
SPR          11
OCC         12

OAK – Hitting and Pitching are both ranked first.  Kershaw is a big reason for the pitching figures being good, and the offense has several solid bats for next year.  Once again, Larry will be a contender.  How many years in a row is this?  Something like 5 or 6, I’ve lost count.

STO – Stonehenge now has 6 starters with 2014 ERAs below 3.00.  Their hitting is great also.  Stonehenge holds only the STO 9th pick, which has a chance of being the last overall pick in the draft.  Can a team compete without any draft?  It will be an interesting question.  Stonehenge will be able to contend with minimal effort, perhaps losing a couple of 2016 draft picks if they choose to do that.

STE – The Pirates are looking good and they have preserved their key draft picks for next year, as is Walt’s style.

SEA – Second and hitting and sixth in pitching = playoff team.  Lot’s of draft picks to go with this = contender.

CPK and DEL – The Cubs break away from being tied with Washington the last time we did this, and now they are tied with Delphi.  These two teams will be having a good draft also.

ROS – Roswell looks to be a playoff team by having a good draft.

WAS– Dropping, hoping for a good September, otherwise it will be a rebuilding year.

CHV and ARL – This will have to be a rebuilding year.

SPR – Chris sees the writing on the wall with this team and decided to go for it in 2014.

OCC – The Ospreys are the opposite of the Druids.  They are no team whatsoever and hoping there is enough talent in the draft to become good, but if not, another rebuilding year.

Keeping it going.

This will be a busy month in the league as the 76 game deadline approaches.  Thanks for keeping it fun for all.


1 comment:

  1. Funny, all it took was trading away Robbie Ray and Kevin Chapman and I jump to #1 in KILG!

    ReplyDelete