Friday, June 22, 2012

Season 22 Post Season Awards

With the start of the World Series comes the final tally for the year end awards. Some of the voting was very close while other races were no contest. Without further ado I present the Season 22 Award winners.

Manager of the Year

We stared this one new with this season to highlight accomplishments by the owners in guiding their franchise through the gauntlet. The vote in the AL required a reluctant vote from one owner to break the tie while the NL winner seems to have been a no brainer pick. In the NL the near unanimous winner was Jackson Five I Mean Nine owner RoyalOkie while in the AL dsuhornets and the Dover Buzzkill took top honors. Congratulations to both out inagural winners of this award.

MVP

Both leagues had clear cut winners for this award. With 46 home runs and a .321 average Hector Aquino took the AL honors while Dicky Takada rode a 49 home run, 140 RBI season to the NL award.

Cy Young

Vance Randall led an AL field that included 2 other Flasher hurlers but in the end was the overwhelming choice of the league owners as the only 20 game winner in season 22. In the NL the race was a little closer with a starter and a closer fighting it out for the award. In the end 18 wins and an OAV of .211 carried Jose Tejada the winner's circle.

Rookie of the Year

Power hitters won out over pitchers in two close votes for first year star honors. In the AL a 22 year old slugger from Pittsburgh, Julio Astacio blasted 31 home runs to take the AL award. Not to be outdone Walt Knoblauch from across the state in Philadelphia slammed 50 round trippers en route to the NL award. Great showing for the Commonwealth!

Fireman

Both of the top closer also finished second in teh Cy Young voting in their respective league. AL winner Jay Saturria saved 47 games to win his first award while NL champ Harry Sardinha was perfect in his first 42 save opportunities on the way to a season total of 46.

Batting Champs

ERA Champs

Stolen Base Leaders

Congratulations to all the winners.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Bad Mojo

This league has some of the most dedicated and long term owners of any of the leagues I have been involved with. One of those owners joined the league in season 2 and since that time has been nothing but spectacular. With 2041 and 21 consecutive division championships, POKEYSAN has done just what the name of the game intends, he has built a dynasty. But one thing has escpaped the clutches of this outstanding owner, a league championship and World Series visit. Depsite all the success during the regular season his teams have had the worst kind of playoff luck. In honor of POKEYSAN's accomplishments as an owner FizWorld will institute the Bad Mojo Award (or BM for short) with POKEYSAN being the honorary first recipient. This award will be presented each season to the owner who has the team that performs great during the season and then flushes it all away in the first round of the playoffs. In our league of jinxes hopefully this one will act the opposite for the proze winners.
Congratulations POKEYSAN on being the winner of the initial BM Award!
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

International Free Agents Seasons 4-6

So the first three seasons saw us testing the waters and developing the learning curve in regards to the International players. What did we learn and how was that applied in the next three seasons? Were better decisions made or did we just become a little looser with the strings of the pocketbooks (or maybe wallets would be better)?

Season 4

Big bonuses became the norm with 9 players getting something bigger than $8M. Those players: Odalis Tatis (Iowa City Mancs) $14M, Wille Rivera (Scottsdale Four Seasons) $12.4M, Mariano Espinoza (Nashville Quitars) $9.9M, Jesus Julio (Rochester Redwings) $9.6M, David Matos (SF Balco Boys) $9.0M, Cristobal Moreno (Philadelphia Independence) $8.5M, Pascual Tapies (Seattle Depressions) $8.1M, Matty Oliva (Monterrey Sultanes) $8.1M, and Olmeldo Duran (Honolulu Momboosa) $8.0M. Five pitchers and three shortstops comprised the bulk of the players, but who went on to become a star?

Odalis Tatis (SS) spent his early career with the Iowa City (et al) franchise before leaving as a free agent to join the Las Vegas Sell Outs. In his 17 year career he was a defensive standout up the middle playing SS and CF.

Hits: 2245   Runs: 973   HR: 163   RBI: 781   BA: .294   Fldg: .969 (SS)/ .994 (CF)

Willie Rivera spent his career moving from city to city and filling many roles on each pitching staff. Never considered a dominant pitcher, Willie was content to be a role player. But at $5800 per inning in signing bonuses was he really worth it?

Wins: 110   Save: 15   K: 1449   WHIP: 1.37   ERA: 4.21

Mariano Espinoza spent his time with just two franchises showing that his play had the kind of staying power we seldom see in "real" baseball. Solid defense and a reliable bat were his trademark throughout his 18 year career that was highlighted by four Silver Slugger awards and three WS Rings, but no HoF nomination as yet.

Hits: 2861   Runs: 1873   HR: 303   RBI: 1204   SB: 689   BA: .303   Fldg: .965 (SS)

The remaining six players I will leave to the reader to look into and decide their fate as Boom or Bust.


Season 5

The season the flood gates opened and six players received bonuses greater than $10M! What the hell were we thinking, or did we finally figure this thing out? The top five player bonuses went to Carlos Mercado 1B (Nashville Quitars) $18.1M, Victor Carrasco SS (Rochester Redwings) $16.5M, Carlos Pinzon 2B (SF Balco Boys) $16.2M, Deivi Manual 1B (Fargo Forgetaboutit) $15M, Gary Smyth SS (Minnesota North Stars) $12.5M. Huge numbers for some but what did these players bring to their franchises?

Carlos Mercado has been one of the dominant power hitters in this league with 867 home runs in a career that is still in progress. Assured a first ballot entrance into the HoF this is one player that definitely gets the BOOM status.

Hits: 3248   Runs: 1918   HR: 867   RBI: 2288   BA: .328   Fldg: .997 (1b)

Victor Carrasco spent 11 seasons in Rochester before testing the free agent waters. Three Gold Gloves, 2 Silver Sluggers and 1 WS Ring highlight a career that has not yet ended for this utility infielder.

Hits: 2777   Runs: 1526   HR: 369   RBI: 1525   BA: .299   Fldg: .969 (SS)

Carlos Pinzon signed with the Balco Boys as an 18 year old phenom and is still proving his worth today in Toronto. A five time AS at second base, Pinzon also adds three Silver Slugger awards and a WS Ring to his resume.

Hits: 2789   Runs: 1498   HR: 207   RBI: 1128   BA: .329   Fldg: .980 (2b)

Manuel and Smyth are also still active with the jury still out on whether they were well worth the money they signed for in season 5.

Season 6

Maybe we got scared or maybe the overall IFA talent pool became shallow, but whatever the reason we saw the money being spent drop off in season 6. Only two players received bonuses greater than $10M (the new basement) and both were pitchers.

Davis Arias signed with the Nashville Quitars for a cool $10.5M bonus. After two minor league seasons he became a reliable back of the order pitcher before moving to the bullpen late in his career. Still taking the mound with the Beet Farmers, Arias has proven to be an asset to the teams he has played for, but was he worth that bonus?

Wins: 162   K: 1749   Win %: .620   WHIP: 1.34   ERA: 4.27

Augie Huang was 18 when he signed a lucrative contract that included a $10.1M bonus with Minnesota. After nine seasons and two WS Rings he left via free agency but never seemed to produce the same results he did in the Land of 1000 Lakes. Still taking the mound south of the border in Mexico City, Huang has not lived up to the hype when he signed but continues to be counted on to take the mound every fifth day.

Wins: 123   K: 1699   WHIP: 1.49   ERA: 5.09  

Coming next: Seasons 7-9


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Monday, June 4, 2012

International Free Agents - Boom or Bust

Different owners have different philosophies on the International Free Agent market. Some attack full bore looking for the next Sammy Sosa, Yu Darvish or Ichiro. Others seek to fill out their minor league rosters with players that can be had for less than a 12th round draft pick. But are these players worth what ends up being offered for a signing bonus? In the early years of this world we were a cautious bunch, but cation was soon thrown to the wind as the bidding for the internationals became as competitive as the pre-season free agent  market. So let's look at those players who have commanded the big signing bonuses and what their career brought after the signing. I am limiting the discussion to the just top three each season, although each of the three may not get any recognition if the signing bonus was under $8M.

Season 1
We were all rookies back then and really didn't know what to expect. $6.8M was the top bonus offered by the then Chicago White Sox for Javy Arroyo. Javy went on to log the following numbers:

Hits: 2060   Runs: 1204   HR: 454   RBI: 1377   BA: .287   Fldg: .971 (3b)

Boom or bust? Javy has been on the HoF ballot but has yet to get the votes to enter the Hall leading this reported to think that his career was just short of the BOOM it could have been.

Season 2
A little more ambition but still not ready to go crazy with our money the top signing bonus was offered by the Louisville Diamond Kings to SS Mac Nakamura. MacNak spent the next 16 seasons with the same franchise and moving to center field where he put up some solid numbers:

Hits: 2617   Runs: 1272   HR: 218   RBI: 978    BA: .271   Fldg: .982 (CF)

Boom or bust? MacNak has not even been nominated for the HoF but does that keep him from being a star player for his franchise?

Nobody else from S2 was over the $8M basement number.

Season 3
Looks like this was the season we lost faith in the amateur draft and started looking towards the international stars, or maybe we just changed how we budgeted a little so that more IFA were noticed. Whatever the reason we had four signings over the 8M limit; Jose Park received a $15M bonus from the Seattle Depressions and became the first IFA pitcher signed, Jesus Cordero got a $13.4M bonus from the Rochester franchise, Nashville signed Aramis Cabrera offering a $10M bonus, and Seattle weighed in again signing a second pitcher in Rafael Oliva with a $9.6M bonus. Were any of these players worth the investment in the first season of big spending?

Jose Park- Spent 10 seasons with Seattle before testing free agency and seeing a mild revitalization of his career.

Wins: 197   K: 2537   WHIP: 1.30   ERA: 3.94

Jesus Cordero- Also spent his first 10 seasons with the franchise that signed him before going the free agent route and in his career earned 3 Gold Gloves (3b) and 3 Silver Slugger Awards (3b) and stole 498 bases

Hits: 2282   Runs: 1336   HR: 268   RBI: 1249   BA: .283   Fldg: .978 (3b)

Aramis Cabrera- Signed at age 18, this guys is still playing today and winning games for the Milwaukee Cheesers. Even though his career has not yet ended, his numbers have been impressive including 3 World Series rings.

Wins: 217   K: 2735   WHIP: 1.32   ERA: 3.98

Rafael Oliva- Seattle's second IFA signing is also still an active player with the Buffalo Wild Wings. Spending most of his career in the bullpen, Rafael didn't amass great numbers but was his contribution significant for the teams he suited up for? Might want to ask the bullpen coach in Buffalo what he thinks.

Wins: 86   Saves: 28   WHIP: 1.52   ERA: 4.71

Next we'll look at Seasons 4 through 6 as more and more players started to see big bonuses while GM's found themselves reaching for the medicine cabinet (or their own big bonus).
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Friday, June 1, 2012

200 Win Club

Starting pitching to some is the heart and soul of a wining team. Here are those pitchers who have managed to accumulate 200 or more wins during their career
300 252 (active) 251 247 233 (active) 230 228 Wins (HOF) 228 (active) 219 (active) 218 214 (active) 213 213 (active) 207 (active) 205 204 (active) 203 197 (active)
Just Short
197 194 193 192
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