DC's Moneyball Dynasty

[Young Drachma]

THE MONEYBALL DYNASTY
Now, okay. I didn't read Moneyball. I breezed through it, but I did read May the Best Team Win and I thought that was a better baseball book from a very well known baseball economist.

Anyway, the point of this dynasty is take an expansion franchise, stock the minor league system with non-drafted college players (that is, players that as of the Feb. 15th Baseball America College Edition had not been drafted before), place them in our minor league system and using this combination of players, along with whatever we manage to get out of the expansion draft, to win a title.

I will stay with the team for 10 years and will end the dynasty at that point. The idea of course, is to see how well my farm system can produce players that will be dependable major league starters or bait.

Of course, winning titles would be nice too. The restrictions on me as GM are as follows:

1) Signing no more than 3 Major Free Agents every three years. (definition of a major free agent is a player who has at least 17 wins in the previous season, hit 40+ home runs or makes over $10 million per season. The latter number might be increased due to inflation at some point)

The goal is build through home grown talent. The OOTP draft is never very good and so, I'm not even counting on that all that much. We have a 10-round draft that occurs on June 1st, for the record.

The season will begin in 2005. I have already simulated 2003 and 2004 under this new league. The expansion teams will be in the AL. Okay, time to get started.

[Young Drachma]

WASHINGTON – Major League Baseball today announced that the Montreal Expos have been sold to the Washington Baseball Club organization and the team will be moving to Washington, D.C., to play in brand new Capital One Ballfield. The park will be opened in early May, so the team will spend its first month on the road. “We’re thrilled about finally having a home,” said GM Omar Minaya.

The team hired Eddie Murray as their manager. Murray, who most recently served as the Cleveland Indians hitting coach. “We’re thrilled to have a guy like Eddie Murray to mentor our young players, he’s the consummate professional,” said Minaya.

The team will become the Washington Spirit. “We believe the name represents our spirit that has endured over the past few years, but also representative of our future.”

[Young Drachma]

NEW YORK – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced today that the American League would expand to 14 teams in the 2005 season. “We’re expanded to bring baseball to new markets around the nation. Selig said that MLB was considering six cities that had yet to be named. “We are not willing to divulge that information right now,” said Selig.

Other plans rumored to be considered by Major League Baseball include moving the regular season schedule back two weeks. Selig said that in the coming months, MLB would discuss the six finalist cities for the two AL expansion franchises.

He said MLB was pleased to have finally sold the Expos and that it was excited about forging ahead into the future. “We are looking forward to another exciting baseball season,” said Selig.

[Young Drachma]

Like I mentioned before, because there was a lot of flux in the league since the computer controlled all trades and player moves from 2003-2004, things will look a little different on teams than you might expect.

I did, however, take a bit of creative liberty and execute a few trades that either happened that I wanted to see still or should've happened.

Curt Schlling, Alex Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez to Boston
Manny Ramirez, Mark Buhrele to Texas
Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago White Sox
Josh Phelps to Arizona (from Boston)

The 2004 off-season is underway now, after which, we will see where players landed and go forward en route to 2005!

[Young Drachma]

The SIM 2004 off-season was arguably more exciting than the real one.

Look at where the players ended up after the dust settled:


SP Pedro Martinez, Texas, $113.76 mil/6 years
SP Andy Petitte, Anaheim, $29.956 mil/4 years
LF Gary Sheffield, Chicago (A), $29.877 mil/3 years
C Ivan Rodriguez, Cleveland, $30.354 mil/3 years
RF Vladimir Guerrero, Baltimore, $79.12 mil/4 years
SS Miguel Tejada, Arizona, $76.657 mil/7 years
RF Sammy Sosa, San Francisco, $54.85 mil/4 years
SP Ismael Valdes, Boston, $26 mil/4 years

[Young Drachma]

ESPN.COM has learned that the list of cities under consideration by Major League Baseball include several former frontrunners to receive the Montreal Expos, who relocated to Washington, D.C. this past season.

The finalist cities include Portland, OR, Brookyln, NY, Charlotte, NC and Davenport, IA. The remaining two cities are not yet known.

The early favorites are Portland and Brookyln, though the obstacles to Brooklyn are many. First, the team plays in New York Yankees territory. It was waived to allow a minor league club - The Cyclones - to return to the city as a farm club for the Mets. But, a major league outfit would be a far different story.

Major League Baseball agreed to pay $60 million in reparations to Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos when the Expos moved this season and there is talk of another settlement with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Another option is placing a team in New Jersey or Hartford, Connecticut.

Hartford officials, who were spurned after the New England Patriots originally planned to move there several years ago, before working out a deal to stay in the Greater Boston area, said they would welcome an opportunity to have a big league team again. The last major league sport to play in Hartford were the NHL Whalers, who moved to North Carolina.

Portland is considered all but a shoo-in, say insiders. The city would use PGE Park, currently a Triple-A facility in the interim and everyone in the city, despite the cash-starved nature of the state, are interested in bringing a franchise to the state.

Other areas that have placed inquiries in the past include Norfolk, VA, Monterrey, Mexico, San Juan, Puerto Rico and even an ownership group interested in bringing a team to play at still standing Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

[Young Drachma]

Major League Baseball today announced its intent to award an expansion franchise to Dark Cloud Enterprises and its Chairman/CEO Dark Cloud. The league said they are aware of the five candidate cities that Dark Cloud is interested in pursuing and they will allow him to choose one of those five cities.

In addition, the second AL expansion franchise for next season is rumored to be narrowed down to either Hartford, CT or Newark, NJ.

That means the other franchise will be located in the West. "We're excited about the opportunity to join Major League Baseball," said Dark Cloud, who founded the Major League Development Group two years ago, with the hopes of owning a big league team.

"This is a dream come true. Soon, we will let our candidate cities know which one we have chosen and will move forward on our plans to bring a World Series title to them sometime soon," he said.

[Young Drachma]

On the field, here are the leaders atop the standings and in major stat categories:

AL East: New York (29-26, 1 game ahead of Boston & Tampa Bay)
AL Central: Cleveland (26-28, 1 game ahead of Chicago)
AL West: Anaheim (37-17, 7 games ahead of Oakland, Texas and Seattle)
AL Wild Card: Oakland, Seattle, Texas tied at 30-24)

NL East: Philadelphia (31-25, 1.5 game ahead of Washington & New York)
NL Central: Houston (32-23, 2 games ahead of Pittsburgh)
NL West: Colorado (36-20, 6 games ahead of San Francisco)
NL Wild Card: Pittsburgh (30-25, 1 game ahead of Washington, New York and San Francisco)

BATTING AVG
AL: Alejandro Machado (KC), Bernie Williams (NY), Vernon Wells (TOR) all tied at .358
NL: Larry Walker (COL) .436

HR
AL: Eric Chavez (OAK) 21
NL: Todd Helton (COL) 24

ERA
AL: Mickey Callaway (ANA) 2.11
Glendon Rusch (TB) 2.35

NL: Ryan Vogelsong (PIT) 2.42

[Young Drachma]

HARTFORD - MLB plans a press conference tomorrow to announce the awarding of one of the two AL expansion franchises to Hartford, CT. Ground has already been broken for a previously planned Land O' Lakes Field aimed at a minor league franchise in the Atlantic League, but with the decision to move Major League Baseball to the city, the club has decided to halt plans to play in the city.

The team has yet to be named, but will be owned jointly by ESPN subsidary Out of the Park Entertainment. The team will be the first owned by the network, but officials scoff at the notion that there will be biased or preferential coverage.

"When our parent company owned the Angels, we did not play favorites. So, even though we might get better seats to games at Land O' Lakes Field, I doubt it will represent some great travesty in our coverage, said longtime sportscaster Bob Ley.

The second AL franchise was awarded to DCE CEO Dark Cloud and his ownership group, but it not yet known where the team will play in the 2005 season.

[Young Drachma]

RENO - The DCE Baseball Group announced its decision today to locate its AL expansion franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada The team will be named the Nevada Silverhawks.

"We are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the major leagues to Nevada," said Dark Cloud. The team will play at a renovated Peccole Park on the University of Nevada campus for a year, while they wait for their new ballpark, Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield.

Major League officials reportedly expressed concerned with placing a team in Las Vegas, but the arrangement that allowed the team to adopt a regional name. The Silver Mountain Casino will not be off-limits to players. However, sources with Major League Baseball said that by having a team in Las Vegas, the league could "better monitor player gambling activities," rather than brushing it under a rug or ignoring it like they did in the past.

Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield will be connected to a hotel, amusement park and other entertainment that are aimed to give fans the complete sporting experience. The Ballfield has a retractable roof and seats up to 60,000. The city is rumored to be pursuing franchises in other pro sports with the development of the stadium, including an NFL team.

"We want to showcase all that Las Vegas has to offer," said Mayor Oscar Goodman.

[Young Drachma]

The Nevada Silverhawks minor league teams:

Triple-A: New Jersey Dragons
Double-A: Belleville (IL) Cosmos
Single-A: Sheridan (WY) Cowboys

The dynasty will pretty focus entirely on my teams, the development of players from this point on. I will mention notable things going on in the league, obviously, but that's about it.

[Young Drachma]

Teams can protect up to 30 players throughout their entire system. The expansion clubs will alternate back and forth for 25 rounds. No team may lose more than 2 players.

I will only list notable selections made by the Hartford club and major selections by mine, or those that translate into later trades.

[Young Drachma]

This is the foundation of the dynasty. The Silverhawks will begin its initial player stock relying primarily on college players. None of these players will have been previously drafted, except in cases where no documentation exists for younger players that have been drafted, but chose to go to college (e.g. freshman, transfers, etc.)

Their stats have been adjusted, to ensure that I don’t go creating a bunch of five star studs. The idea is to see how well they develop in our minor league system and if they can make it to the majors to be productive or more.

The higher rated their conference is, the more tauted they will be. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to turn into a star for sure, either.
So, that’s the idea here.

We spent the year with scouts dispatched around the country, checking out players in all levels of college baseball. We were especially interested in getting players that other schools might have missed out on, but that had lots of upside. You can expect our draft to consider mainly of high performers in college (or the Moneyball model), but we will also go after players at the lower levels of college baseball (D3, NAIA) to scour for hidden gems that no one else wants.

Since this is the first season, we will sign 30 players.

Randy Beam, L, 6-3, 205, Florida Atlantic
13-2, 2.39 ERA, 83 K 102 IP

Jeff Niemann, R, 6-9, 260, Rice
17-0, 1.70 ERA, 156K, 137 IP

Jered Weaver, 6-6, 200, 14-4, 1.96, Long Beach State

Steven Register, Auburn, 6-1, 162, 3-3, 16 SV, 61K

Luis Rivera, Florida International, SS

Mark Lowe, Texas-Arlington, RHP

Sebastien Boucher, OF, Bethune-Cookman
.333-1-47 48 SB

Chris Grider, RHP, Eastern Kentucky

Craig Candeto, Navy, OF
.370-6-31 (Athletic player, also plays QB at Navy)

Matt Daley, Bucknell, RHP

Jeff Frazier, OF, Rutgers (top round pick, 2k4)

Jim Fasano, 1B, Richmond
.344, 16, 68

James Avery, Niagra, RHP

Calvin Beamon, OF Southern Nevada JC

Friedel Pinkston, RHP, Chipola (Fla.) JC

Cesar Yepez, Warner Southern (Fla.) NAIA

Mark Roth, Delaware Valley (PA) D3, 1B

[Young Drachma]

Since there is no mechanism in the game to conduct an expansion draft, what I do is, I fill the minor league rosters of the two expansion clubs, then run computer manager. It will move the AAA players to the major league roster. Then, I use those players as players to trade to the team giving up the expansion listed player.

Here are the notable players selected in this year’s draft by the Silverhawks:

CF Johnny Damon (Boston)
3B Drew Henson (New York)
SP Dustin McGowan (Toronto)
RF Gary Sheffield (Chicago A)
RF Tim Salmon (Anaheim)
2B Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia)
SP Carlos Zambrano (Chicago N)


We then traded RF Gary Sheffield and one of our own recently drafted prospects SP Randy Beam to St. Louis for SP Tim Stauffer and 3B Jaime D’Antona.


We traded SP Carlos Zambrano to Hartford for LF Shin-Soo Choo, who they picked up in the draft from Seattle.

[Young Drachma]

SEASON OUTLOOK 2005

The Silverhawks won’t be very good this season. But that’s okay. Only nine players on the entire 25-man roster played in the major leagues last season. Only two pitchers, one starter and our closer played in the majors last year. The team has some talent, but the goal is really to develop our prospects and scout out other talent that can help us sooner and faster.

My goal for the team is 75 wins.

[Young Drachma]

As expected, the Silverhawks are pretty bad. After the first month of the season (May 1st), the team is 7-22, only the Milwaukee Brewers sport a worse record (7-23) in all of baseball.

The problem is simple, we lack pitching. We are dead last in every major pitching category as a team. Offensively, we actually lead the league in offense, helped no doubt by the altitude. But still, with a pretty much no name roster, that's an encouraging sign.

In the short term, I'm going to look for some pitching and perhaps deal players because I have some surplus offensive talent in the farm.

[Young Drachma]

Major League Baseball agreed on two separate television deals today, which will ensure that baseball fans get games on both network television and cable throughout the season, include all playoff games.

The deal is worth $865 million with FOX over five years. Meanwhile, ESPN and ABC signed a separate $375 million deal over the next three years to broadcast playoff games and the World Series.

The combined amount will provide each team with $38.75 million in national television revenue, in addition to whatever local television deals they have.

"We're very excited about going forward with our partners into the future," said Selig.

[Young Drachma]

5/1/2005
LAS VEGAS - In the hopes of getting the team to respectablity, Dark Cloud traded 3B Drew Henson, who was barely hitting over the Mendoza Line to Washington for SP Eric Good. Good, 25, was 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA last season in 11 games, two of those starts for the Spirit last season. He was 1-3 with a 6.07 in AAA so far this season, but had 21 strikeouts and only 3 walks. The hope is, he can at least keep the ball in the park here in Nevada.

Meanwhile, we signed Mo Vaughn to man first base. Hardly a long-term signing, he was picked up for about $375k for the remainder of the season. Vaughn, 38, hit 36 homer last season with 108 RBI for the NY Mets. The hope is, there has to be a little something left in the tank.

No big plans at the moment, because I don't really know what to do with this team. None of our prospects are looking like much yet, but of course, we're only a month into our first season.

[Young Drachma]

Okay, so I defined a major free agent as a player who had a certain amount of stats or who makes over $10 million a year. I signed no one last season who met that criteria. In part, because I was trying to be conservative, but because I failed to understand my own rules.

That said, we can change our strategy. The plan/goal is not to be hamstrung by own rules, but instead to produce talent, while also remaining competitive.

So, yeah. That changes things, a lot.

[Young Drachma]

We had a decent May. After a 7-23 from March/April, the team is now 21-35. Still last, but not nearly as dismal.

Pitching is coming around, too. Eric Good is 2-2 so far, but his ERA is 6.00. I brought up two minor league stopgaps to fill the rotation, SP Jewell McLean, who was 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA in AAA this season. SP William Howse, was unspectactular in the minors, but the players they replaced had an ERA combined over 8.00, so I figured that maybe it was time for a change.

ON THE FARM

The most recent Baseball America reports that Nevada has the #5 rated farm system in baseball. SP R.J. Swindle is the #3 rated prospect in baseball and the first pick in this year's draft OF Harold "Dragon Slayer" Clerk, is rated 23rf, SP Jeff Niemann is 33rd and Simeon Marino rounds out at No. 96.

Even though they're not rated, SP Tim Stauffer should be awesome. He was 5-3 with a 3.84 ERA in AA so far this season and I just moved him up to AAA. CF Shin Soo-Choo, who I picked up in an expansion draft deal from Hartford, is also a player I'm high on. He hit .330 in 215 Double-A at-bats. He's got lots of upside and it'll be interesting to see what we do with him. Do I resign Johnny Damon or do I give this kid a shot to show me what he can do?





I'm happy to see that we're making progress on that front, but I won't rush these players out of the minors.

[Young Drachma]

DEADLINE DEALING AND THE REST
August 1, 2005

We traded:
2B Jimmy Rollins to Anaheim for SP Andy Petitte. He's 8-4 so far this season with a 4.81 ERA.

CF Johnny Damon, minor league SP Michael Harris to Anaheim for SP Nick Touchstone and 1B Casey Kotchman

this is an especially good deal. Touchstone and Kotchman were the two top rated prospects from the Angels. Damon is having a monster year, but I have kids in the minor who can play his position for cheaper and to get two great players, it was worth it. Harris is decent and should be a major leaguer, but Touchstone is farther along.

LF Ben Petrick to Oakland for SP Tim Hudson

Hudson is hurt and will be back in 2 weeks. Petrick is leading the majors in runs and he and Damon were part of the reason that we have the highest batting average and lead baseball in Runs Scored. But when you have the absolute worst pitching staf f in the majors, you need to get help. Hudson is help, no doubt. He's 10-5 with a 4.53 ERA so far this season.

We're 42-69 at this point in the season, but I'm not disappointed. We've got players who can be the cornerstone for something good, we're getting production out of players who should be good later and our farm system is one of the best in baseball.

Just wait a few years and the Silverhawks will be something special. Or at least, I hope so.

Hartford, our expansion brethen have the worst record in baseball at 33-76 and they're close to last in all categories, offensive and pitching. Granted, we've got altitude. But so does Colorado.

[Young Drachma]

That's right. I just checked and the Nevada Silverhawks have the top ranked farm system as of August 1, 2005.

SP Nick Touchstone (2nd)
LF Harold Clerk (13th)
1B Casey Kotchman (19th)
SP R.J. Swindle (20th)
SP Simeon Marino (36th)

Marino was like somewhere in the low 90s, earlier this year. I'm hoping these players continue to mature. Plus, I have a few guys in AA, who were in Triple-A, that I'm excited about it.

[Young Drachma]

2005 SEASON IN REVIEW
In retrospect, my overly ambitious goal of winning 75 games might have been a bit too ambitious. Maybe if I’d kept guys like Damon around, it might have meant a few more wins, but I totally overestimated how good everyone else was and how truly bad our pitching staff was.

We finished 53-102, 38 games out of first place.

Division Series:
Cleveland (3) against New York (A) (1)
Seattle (1) against Boston (3)
Colorado (0) against St. Louis (3)
Florida (3) against Houston (1)
League Championship:
Cleveland (2) against Boston (4)
Florida (1) against St. Louis (4)
World Series:
St. Louis (4) against Boston (2)
WINNER : St. Louis



OFFENSE

We led the league in batting at .301. This is a huge coup, considering the lineup we had. Jose Vidro hit .345 with 20 homers and 96 RBI. He had 46 doubles and would have undoubtedly had more RBI, if we had other players ahead of him getting on base. 1B Mo Vaughn was a pleasant surprise. He hit .328 with 18 homers. RF Brian Banks is a 35-year old journeyman who put up big numbers for us this year. He hit .286 with 27 homers and 110 RBI. He’s signed through 2007, so hopefully he’ll be a nice player for us over the next few seasons.

PITCHING

Oh my, where do I start. I don’t think I anticipated how bad it would be, but when you consider that we had players starting who – for the most part – had never been in the majors for a full-season, I’m not too upset. Our career leader in wins is SP Mike Neu, a starter from the expansion draft, that I picked up from Oakland. Andy Pettite was 4-7 and had an ERA well over 5.00 since come over to us. I didn’t bring Tim Hudson off the DL, but that was more because I was simulating (and forgot). So, at least we’ll have him going into next year and he’ll be well rested.

OFFSEASON NEEDS
Pitching, Pitching and more pitching. That’s the mantra of this off-season, no doubt about it. It might be nice/wise to improve the offensive side of the ball, especially since we jettisoned some of our more productive players in trades. But, we’re not going to do anything too crazy and I don’t anticipate more than one major FA signing. I’ll try to sign more economical free agents. I might also check out the players in the minors to see if some of them are ready to be promoted. After all, I don’t want to keep players who are ready down if they’re able to contribute.

[Young Drachma]

PLAYERS LOST:
CF Terrance Long .342/11/49 219 Abs*
1B Mo Vaughn .328/18/79 349 ABs
RF Tim Salmon .259/21/105 *
• acquired mid-season

[Young Drachma]

FREE AGENTS SIGNED
RF Tim Salmon (1 yr/$3.5 million)
MR Matt Mantei (5 yr/$1.3 million)
SP Jeff Weaver (7 yr/8.475 million)
SP Kaz Sasaki (6 yr/$9 million)
C Charles Johnson (4 yr/$2 million)
1B Dmirti Young (2 yr/$4 million)

[Young Drachma]

HAWKS SIGN LOCAL TV DEAL
LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Silverhawks are pleased today to announce a five year/$70 million deal with FOX Sports Mountain West to broadcast Silverhawks games on its regional network. The team’s games will be broadcast in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Idaho. “We’re delighted to bring the game to our regional fan base,” said Dark Cloud who applaud the move. The deal increases the team’s bottom line, but gives the network over 500 broadcast games over the life of the deal. Because FOX has playoff games, if the Silverhawks make the playoffs, HAWKS games will be broadcast on network television as well as on the Mountain West network.

“We want to encourage more fans to come out to watch the club and this is just one way to increase our standing throughout the region,” the Silverhawks lowered ticket prices, after being on 19th in league attendance last year with just over 2.8 million fans. “We want to lead the league in attendance this year,” said Dark Cloud.

[Young Drachma]

2006 season preview
The Silverhawks are improved, especially in terms of the pitching staff. 22-game winner Jeff Weaver comes over to anchor the staff, while Kaz Sasaki heads into the rotation for the first time in his career. Tim Hudson finally gets to start for the Silverhawks, after spending 2005 on the DL. Mike Neu is the lone holdover from last season’s rotation, the team’s career winner hopes to have a breakout year as the fourth starter, while Andy Petitte is fifth.

On the offensive side, there are lots of questions that only the season will be able to answer. Team MVP 2B Jose Vidro returns for another season, after hitting .345 last season with 20 homers. Charles Johnson takes over behind the plate, after a .272/10 HR season in limited play with Colorado and Kansas City last season. RF Tim Salmon returns for a full season and we’re hoping he can pull together another strong year.

The questions are, can phenoms LF Harold Clerk and CF Shin Soo-Choo hold it down in the majors? Meanwhile, the hot corner will be an adventure with 19-year old 3B Octavio Ruiz is manning the position. Ruiz is a five-tool player who came up last season and struggled, but we’ll try him there, before bringing in a veteran or trying to deal for someone. I tried signing Mike Lowell and Tony Batista, but I refused to overpay for them.

EXPECTATIONS: I think the pitching staff will be vastly improved. That will open up the door for us to improve the offense next year, so I expect us to be more competitive this year, but we’re not aiming for the playoffs until at least another season.

[Young Drachma]

THE HAWKS are improved, no doubt about it.

We're 12-13, 4.5 games out of 1st as of May 1st. We traded SP Tim Hudson to Toronto for SP/MR Willie Glen.

The #2 rated farm system in the majors has a number of prospects we're excited about it. Let's take a look at the players who are in the pipeline.

[Young Drachma]

2006 mid-season update
The theme of this season has been all about the race towards .500. That’s a far cry from last season’s 100-losses. Although this is only Year 2, I’m so eager to see these players that I wish I could go further to find out. Of course, we can’t do that so we can develop our players and all that. The team is current 36-44.

LF Harold Clerk is doing a pretty good job in the majors so far. Things are problematic on the squad, because SP Kaz Sasaki and the starter experiment has been a huge bust. Meanwhile, C Charles Johnson is also out for a few weeks. So, I’ve had to bring up a few players prematurely, but I’m careful to take up too many of our better prospects too soon.

We signed 3B Scott Spiezio to a 1 yr deal worth $375k for the rest of the season. We traded MR Matt Mantei and a minor leaguer to Tampa Bay for SP/MR Lance Carter.

We then traded SP Jeff Weaver (7-6, 4.66 ERA) and Lance Carter (2-2, 32K, 25 appearances) to Boston for SP Ismael Valdes (7-4, 3.48) and Derek Lowe (1-5, 3.99)
I think the allure of the deal for them is that Weaver is probably better suited for Fenway than our park, that Lowe is having a pretty bad year and both are free agents next year, while Weaver is locked in for a few more years. Carter has some upside and might be able to pan out pretty well. I’m acquired veteran starters, to anchor what I hope would be a better rotation throughout this season, but certainly next year. I dunno if it will work, but the deal seems to have a lot of upside for us.
Incidentially, Valdes was AL Pitcher of the Month for June.

[Young Drachma]

TRADE DEADLINE 2006

We managed to make a good deal – or at least, for me it is – at the deadline. We dealt Kaz Sasaki, who I took out of the rotation and turned into a middle reliever (he’s retiring this year) with C Charles Johnson (.241/6/18 187 ABs) and another reliever Amaury Figuredo to Detroit for C Landon Powell (4 ½ stars, just promoted to majors) and highly touted SP Coleman Reidy (3 ½ stars, 3-4, 3.10 ERA split between Single and Double A)

We had to pay Sasaki’s $9 million price tag, so Detroit was only responsible for $400,000 of his salary for the rest of the year, meaning I sent them about $3.8 million for the rest of the year, to cover his salary. But it was worth it to get players I could use.

[Young Drachma]

A LOOK AT THE FUTURE

Baseball America does a “future lineup” when it looks at team rosters during the off-season. Though the season isn’t quite over yet, I wanted to do the same thing for people here. What it does show us, is the Silverhaws have a ton of pitching prospects. Seven of our top prospects are pitchers, which is probably a good thing since we’re in our second running of having the worse ERA in baseball. Of course, our pitchers don’t walk many batters. Maybe they should?

2011 Silverhawks Lineup (with minor league level/stats)

C Landon Powell (AAA, no stats at level)
1B Casey Kotchman (AA, .324, 5 HR, 50 RBI)
2B Jose Vidro (Majors, .356, 14 HR, 61 RBI)
3B Matias Acuna (AA, .309, 9HR, 35 RBI)
SS Josh Schwartz (Majors, .296, 7 HR, 45 RBI)
LF Harold Clerk (Majors, .307, 14 HR, 61 RBI)
CF Justin Maxwell (Majors, no stats at level)
RF Moises Molina (A, .305, 20 RBI)
DH Alex Zamora (A, .350, 11 HR, 69 RBI)

Rotation
SP Nick Touchstone (Majors, 6-3, 5.29 ERA 33 K, 13 BB)
SP Jeff Niemann (A, 6-4, 3.58 ERA, 133 K, 26 BB)
SP James Hines (AAA, 2-3, 4.86 ERA, 31 K, 4 BB)
SP Tim Stauffer (Majors, No stats at level)
SP Simeon Marino (AA, 5-6, 4.04, 164 K, 15 BB)
CL Andrew Pfifer (A, 5-6, 23 SV, 3.46 ERA)

[Young Drachma]

It’s September 1st, do I want to call up players? It’s an interesting question, because I don’t really want to promote kids and have them get hurt. Of course, I dunno. So, we’ll have to see, I guess.

I’m tempted to just bring up a bunch of bush leaguers to see how well they play in the majors. Hmm…tempting.

I brought up a few players like Simeon Marino, James Hines, and Landon Powell. They won’t play much, but hey. We’ll see what happens the rest of the way out.

[Young Drachma]

The 2006 season has ended. We ended the year 69-93, in last in the AL West again and sixth-worst in the majors.

The Chicago Cubs beat the NY Yankees 4 games to 1 in the World Series. More info on this season, review and all that later on.

[Young Drachma]

2006 SEASON IN REVIEW

BATTING
2B Jose Vidro is Team MVP for the second straight season. He was second in the AL with a .354 batting average. 1B Dmitri Young was quite a pick up, banging 16 homers and 115 RBI, with a .314 batting average. If it wasn’t obvious by now, the park factor really helps batting averages of our players. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped out our pitching staff.

LF Harold Clerk won Rookie of the Year, hitting .296, 20 homers and 91 RBI. He struck out 136 times, so that’s going to need work. But he did well, overall in his first major league season. 21 year old 3B Mark Roth, who played 1B for most of last season, moved to third and was successful as a hitter, despite 12 errors. He hit .330, 18 homers and 84 RBI.

The team lead the majors in Runs Scored (915) and batting average for the second straight year at .295.

PITCHING
I moved a number of players out of the rotation throughout the season. As a consequence, rookie Nick Touchstone, SP/MR Willie Glen and Ismael Valdes led the team with 10 wins each. For the second straight year, we had the worst ERA in baseball with 6.20 ERA, but that’s exacerbated by the fact that I didn’t keep a steady rotation during the year.

For next season, the issue really comes down to finding solid pitching and spending the money to acquire top players if they are available. In terms of players who are pending free agents, I’m looking at players like Florida’s SP Josh Beckett, San Francisco’s Kurt Ainsworth and Oakland’s Barry Zito, among others.

Heading into our first three year period, we have never signed a “major” free agent. But you can be assured that we will be taking a foray into free agency this year – similar to what the Phillies did last year, that hopefully we won’t lose hopefully.

The goal is to contend next season, despite two last place finishes. I think I’ll be more likely to use a lot of my offensive players in the minors, while letting my pitching ease their way into the rotation as relievers before bringing them in and letting them throw in the rotation.

It’s also possible/likely that we’ll be dealing some of our prospects if we’re able to acquire top talent from another team, that helps us get closer to the top.

[Young Drachma]

LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Silverhawks have begun negotiations with a number of top free agents for the 2007 season, including Oakland A’s starter Barry Zito. “I’m very interested in seeing what this club has to offer.” The team, heading into its third year as a major league club, is seeking out top talent for what Team President Dark Cloud calls “our breakout year”. He said in the past, the team has had trouble attracting top players, but wants players to know the team has money and is willing to “spend it.”

The team has already made a preliminary offer to Barry Zito and several other unnamed free agents. The team has lucked out, since ownership has opened the pocket books up this off-season.

Because we are in our third year and we have yet to sign a “major” free agent, the three we sign this season, could overlap into our second three year period, meaning that we can sign up to three this year and in theory, three more next season too.

[Young Drachma]

LAS VEGAS - The Nevada Silverhawks signed Shawn Estes formerly of the Anaheim Angels, to a 5 year deal worth $20 million. Estes, was 15-10 last season, with a 3.97 ERA and made his first all-star team.

The Silverhawks, despite opening their wallet have been spurned by a number of major free agents. Despite that, Dark Cloud says the team will continue to seek out players who are interested in playing for them, "We're going to be steadfast in our desire to sign talented players interested in building a legacy here in Nevada," he said.

[Young Drachma]

LAS VEGAS - After being spurned by Las Vegas native Barry Zito, the Nevada Silverhawks aggressively pursued two-time All-Star Kurt Ainsworth of the San Francisco Giants. Ainsworth, 28, is 61-39 over parts of five seasons, with a 2.87 ERA over that time. The deal was $140 million over 7 years. "We believe that he can do the job," said Team President Dark Cloud and that's why we're paying him.

"This is the type of player we want to bring to the best fans in baseball," said Dark Cloud, so said Ainsworth would complement an well-developed rotation, that recently acquired SP Shawn Estes.

"We are working to make this club one of the best in baseball and players like Kurt will help us acheive that goal," said Dark Cloud. He is the first major free agent signed in the club's history.

The team has made an offer for LF/IF Adam Dunn, 3B Jared Sandberg, as well as Japanese phenom Tetsuya Yamaguchi, a starting pitching who at age 23, attending college in the US, but was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball, despite being born in Peru of Japanese parents.

"We're making moves, but we're hardly done yet," said Dark Cloud. The team is shopping pitchers Ismael Valdes and Derek Lowe, but have yet to investigate offers.

"We're open to what's out there," he said.

[Young Drachma]

Tetsuya Yamaguchi, a free agent starting pitcher from Japan, who played college ball at Division III Loras College in Iowa, was signed today by the Nevada Silverhawks, to a long-term deal. The terms were not disclosed.

Yamaguchi, 23, was technically under contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese League, but did not play for them since he was a college student in the US. He disputed signing the contract with the club, saying he was only 16 when he signed the deal. NCAA officials did not hold the contract binding and allowed him to play a non-scholarship college.

Yamaguchi will be assigned to the Silverhawks Double-A team in Belleville, IL. "We're looking forward to seeing his progress, so he will one day be in Silverhawks grey," said Manager Ryne Sandberg.

The team announced today it hired future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to work in Spring Training as a consultant and coach to the team's deep, young, pitchers in the minors and majors. "We want to help these young men develop and no one is better to do that than Roger," said Team President Dark Cloud.

The team also signed MR Mike MacDougal and dealt MR Mike Neu for a reliever and minor leaguer.

[Young Drachma]

LAS VEGAS - The Nevada Silverhawks signed 1B/OF Adam Dunn to a five-year deal worth $15 million per season. The team went from the 18th highest payroll in baseball to one of the highest at just over $95 million.

"We are committed to winning and if this is what it takes to win, so be it," said Dark Cloud, who said the team still has the top rated farm system and is looking to continue the trend of using its players, but only when they are ready. "We don't want to rush these guys. They will be good, no doubt. In time, though," said said.

Dunn should make an immediate impact on a lineup and at Silver Mountain Bank Ballpark. He hit .261 with 33 homers and 110 RBI last season. He joins a team that has bolstered it already potent offense, while improving a pitching staff that has been dead last in the majors each of the last two seasons.

But will it be enough to compete? "I'm not sure they're going to be any good, but I'll go watch," said Joe Stein, a lawyer who owns season tickets. The team lowered ticket prices by half in their second season, which resulted in over 3.8 million fans coming through the gates last year, but Dark Cloud has already said he wants to exceed that this season.

"We're going to be the team people want to watch, mark my words. We're going to be a team to remember," he said.

[Young Drachma]

SILVERHAWKS MAKE DEALS
In an aim to shore up other parts of the team that are lacking, the Nevada Silverhawks made several trades today:


Dealt Ismael Valdes(10-9, 4.56 ERA) to the NY Yankees for OF Ichiro Suzuki (.310, 8 HR, 68 RBI, 21 SB w/SEA in '06)

Suzuki recently signed a 3 year deal with the Yanks worth over $3.5 million.

The trade of Valdes saves the Silverhawks just over $3 million, while allowing them to ease rookie CF Justin Maxwell into the position, rather than having as the starter. "We believe he'll be a contributor, no doubt. But this deal helps our depth tremendously," said Dark Cloud.

Dealt SP Derek Lowe and a minor leaguer to the Boston Red Sox for IF Michael Garciaparra who most recently played in AAA Pawtucket, but will be given the shot to make the team at third base.

Finally, the team sent LF Shin Soo-Choo, 24, a utility player who batted .293 in 423 ABs last season and minor league ace SP Charles Hooper, to the Chicago White Sox for LF Joe Borchard, who hit .260/38/111 last season. The deal saved the Sox close to $3 million. Borchard, 28, is a free agent at the end of the season.

[Young Drachma]

Our entire pitching staff combined to win 71 games, so I figure they have no where to go but up? Wishful thinking, most likely. But Kurt Ainsworth is making far too much to come up short.

In terms of the minor league system, here are our players who we've produced in our system that are in the majors, who made the major league roster:

SP R.J. Swindle (#2 starter)
SP Nick Touchstone (#3 starter, 2nd yr starter)
C Landon Powell (starter)
SS Josh Schwartz (2nd yr starter)
3B Mark Roth (3rd yr starter)
LF/DH Harold Clerk (2nd yr starter)

40% of our starting rotation and almost half of our starting lineup consist of homegrown players, in our third season. Now, we have yet to translate that into wins. But, I think its still saying something we got them here.


I won't make a prediction, so I won't jinx the team. But I expect us to improve on last year.

[Young Drachma]

OAKLAND (AP) - The Oakland Athletics will take their baseball approach to another market starting in 2009. The Athletics agreed today to a deal in principle to move the team to Portland, OR. The team will play in a new downtown stadium that will replace PGE Park, where a minor league team plays now.

The team has not announced a name change as of yet, nor have the baseball owners approved the move. That will take place sometime this off-season. "We're thrilled to be moving to a new fan base, and new opportunity," said Oakland owner Steve Schott.

Despite posting profits over the past two years, Schott said the move was propelled by the availiblity of the stadium, the desire of the Portland market that is primed for Major League Baseball.

"This is the right thing to do for baseball and this market," he said. The Portland area was one of the finalists for the Montreal Expos before they moved to Washington, D.C. in 2004 and later for an AL expansion team, that were awarded to Hartford and Las Vegas.

Rumors of another team move, possibly to the New York metro area have been discussed, but there has been indication of what team would be moving, said ESPN officials. More information was expected later.

[Young Drachma]

MID-SEASON UPDATE - 7/11/2007
The Nevada Silverhawks are having their best season, currently 2 games over .500 good for third in the AL West. 3 ½ games out in the wild card race behind Oakland. “We’re thrilled about the performance of the team, but we’re not done yet. We have a lot more to do,” said Dark Cloud.

The Silverhawks dealt SP Oscar “Porky” Lagarde from the Colorado Rockies for SP/MR Mike MacDougal. Lagarde, 21, was 5-3, 4.82 ERA with 92 strikeouts. MacDougal is 4-5, 4.15 ERA in 11 starts and 23 appearances.

Offensively, the Silverhawks are still in the top tier batting average wise. The team is hitting .283. Led by Adam Dunn (.292/19/63), the offense is showing little sign of slowdown.

The pitching staff isn’t solidified yet. Kurt Ainsworth is holding up his end of the bargain, with a record of 11-5 with a 3.74 ERA so far this season. Second on the team in wins is rookie Timothy Marrow is 7-5 with a 4.86 ERA. After that, there is little to talk about, save always reliable closer Eric Gagne, 5-4, 17 saves, though he has seven blown saves this season, more than only six all of last year.

Rookie R.J. Swindle is back in the rotation, after being sent down earlier this season after going 1-4 with an 11.31 ERA. “He’ll battle back, we’re confident,” said Manager Ryne Sandberg about the young star.

The team released MR Rick Helling to free up roster space. The team dealt SP/MR Shawn Estes and SP/MR Willie Glen to San Diego for two minor leaguers. “We wanted to cut payroll a little and when a player isn’t performing where we think he’s capable, it warrants investigating a deal,” said Dark Cloud.

Dark Cloud is rumored to be looking into a blockbuster deal before the deadline, but refused to release the information. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen right now, we just want to see where things are headed before making any decisions,” he said.

[Young Drachma]

DURHAM, NC - For the second time in three years, the Nevada Silverhawks have the top farm system in the major leagues, according to Baseball America.

"We are delighted to be recognized by BA as one of the best in baseball in developing players. We believe that our model speaks for itself and we pride ourselves on being in the best at all levels," said team president Dark Cloud.

The Silverhawks had 204 points, 84 points ahead of second place Minnesota. The top five prospects in the Silverhawks organization are rated in the Top 40 of all prospects in baseball.

Those players are:
SP Victor Guertin (#5), 23, who has 38 strikeouts in 25 appearances between AA and AAA this season. Imagined as a power pitcher in the mold of a John Smoltz.

OF Moises Molina (#7), 20, 2nd overall pick in 2006 has 21 homers in parts of two minor league seasons between A and AA. Has offensive talent.

C Omar Falcon (#11), 24, acquired in the recent trade of Shawn Estes and Willie Glen to San Diego. Outstanding defensive player in the mold of Ivan Rodriguez.

OF Calvin Beamon (#18), 22, career .332 hitter in 3 1/2 seasons between A and AA. Four-tool player.

1B Casey Kotchman (#36), 24, the first baseman of the future for the Silverhawks. Acquired in 2005 in a four player deal with the Anaheim Angels for CF Johnny Damon. Traded with current SP Nick Touchstone. A power hitter with plate discipline. Should make majors within next 1 1/2 years

[Young Drachma]

A-ROD ON THE MOVE AGAIN?! - ESPN.COM
BOSTON (ESPN.COM) - The Boston Red Sox are talking trade, but this time instead of acquiring the best player in the game, they're talking about dealing a player who was once the best player in the game.

The A-Rod experiment in Boston hasn't been a disappointment - after all, the Sox have been in contention every season he's been there and this season, the Sox lead the AL East. But, everyone is wondering what it would be like if the team with the 2nd highest payroll in baseball (behind Texas) would be able to do if it could free up $10-$14 million per season.

"We're not discussing that," said GM Theo Epstein, who has said the team is not interested in trading the All-Star, who made his first all-star game as a member of the Sox this season.

The numbers don't lie, however, and Magglio Ordonez, who was acquired at the same time as A-Rod, has outperformed him, despite making half his salary. Ordonez has hit above .280 in each of his three - including this one - seasons in Boston. A-Rod's BA is hovering somewhere around .265. Rodriguez has the edge in home runs, but less than 10.

The issue is, who wants him? "The allure of A-Rod has certainly worn off, despite what people expected," said one NL GM who refused to be named. "It's not quite Ken Griffey, because at least he's been in the lineup, but its not the impact we all expected," said an AL scout.

Several teams are reportedly interested in the playmaker, but with the trade deadline looming, few have heard the mumurs. But stayed tuned...

[Young Drachma]

THE INSIDER.COM - SILVERHAWKS PULL TRIGGER ON DEAL FOR MARK PRIOR
THE INSIDER.COM - The Insider.com has learned that the Nevada Silverhawks will announce a trade in which they acquire SP Mark Prior from the Chicago Cubs. The deal will likely include two of the Silverhawks top pitching prospects. One unnamed source says one of those players will be top rated prospect R.J. Swindle, who has struggled mightly in the majors this season, but has a ton of upside potential.

There has been no confirmation from Silverhawks or Cubs officials, but more information is expected sometime tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

[Young Drachma]

PRIOR, WILLIAMSON HEAD TO NEVADA
July 29, 2007
LAS VEGAS - The Nevada Silverhawks have announced today they have acquired two-time NL All-Star hurler Mark Prior from the Chicago Cubs, along with closer Scott Williamson for two top-rated prospects.

"We are giddy with excitement over this deal," said Team President Dark Cloud. Prior, 26, was selected for his second All-Star game this season, in his sixth season and prior to the trade was second in the National League in ERA at 2.57. He lead the NL in ERA and Strikeouts in 2004.

Williamson, 31, is having a career year in saves with 24 so far. He is in his ninth ML season and will assume the closer role from Eric Gagne, the only closer in Silverhawks history, who has struggled this season.

"This deal gives us amazing depth in our relief corps, while adding a 1A caliber starter to our rotation," said Dark Cloud. The team signed Prior to a 5-yr/$55 million contract extension. "We want him to be here for the long haul," he said. The Silverhawks are a distant third in the NL West, but are working towards earning a Wild Card berth this season.

"We might be a bit farther away than we intend, but give it time. We're not too far off," said Manager Ryne Sandberg.

The Silverhawks dealt SP R.J. Swindle and Tetsuya Yamaguchi in the deal. Swindle, 24, was Baseball America's Player of the Year in 2004, while Yamaguchi was one of the most sought after international free agents last season, before being signed by the Silverhawks. Swindle is a free agent at the end of the season, but wants to play for a winner, so might consider staying in Chicago.

"Those guys were outstanding players. But we wanted to go after guys who were established and could make an impact right now," said Dark Cloud.

[Young Drachma]

DIAMOND NOTES - AUGUST 30, 2007
MARLINS BROOKYLN BOUND?
MIAMI - Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, frustrated with inability to get a new stadium deal in South Florida, has officially "had it" with local officials. "We've been going through this for almost 20 years now, since the team was founded," said Loria. The Marlins have tried for new stadiums in both their World Series victory years, but lawsuits, lack of municipal funding and other hurdles like environmental challenges have prevented ground from breaking on a new ballpark for the team.

In comes Brooklyn, NY. The city recently completed a $1 billion facility that included an arena for the NBA Nets, whose move was approved the NBA Board of Governors two years ago, the team has been playing temporarily on Long Island.

The city's faithful have murmured over a baseball stadium in the city and privately, officials in the Commissioners offices are clamoring for a fourth NY area market (after the Hartford Whalers expansion, along with the Mets and Yankees) to help competitive balance in the region.

Loria, is mum on where he wants to move the team. But has put officials on notice that he is seeking out other markets and the ones he wants are "big city and major," said Loria. A National League team in Brooklyn would have no reparations to pay to the Yankees, since the team is in a different league. But the deal is hardly a cinch yet, since there is no stadium deal to speak of.

More on this sometime in the off-season.

NEW BALLPARKS ARE COMING
Speaking of New York, the Mets are finally breaking ground on their own new park, right near Shea Stadium. The park called Citigroup Stadium, will be completed in 2009, will contain 65,000 seats and will house both the Mets and the New York Jets, who will move back to New York. "This will be a first-class, state of the art ballpark," said owner Fred Wilpon.

The Minnesota Twins have a stadium deal in place, to be completed in 2010, if the team is officially sold to an ownership group led by NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. The group includes former Twins player Paul Molitor, who is likely to become Team President and GM. 3M Ballpark would replace the Metrodome.

The sale would end the tenure of Carl Pohlad, who in recent years has refused to spend money on the team. Now that the team is one of the only teams in the majors failing to turn a profit, he has changed his tune. The sale is reportedly worth close to $285 million.

[Young Drachma]

AUGUST 30, 2007 - SILVERHAWKS UPDATE
LAS VEGAS - Despite the third highest payroll in baseball at just over $82 million, the Silverhawks are bittersweet about their success in 2007.

The team is poised to have their first winning season, in their third year of existance. Despite that, the team is currently 13 games out in the AL West, third behind Division leading Texas and Wild Card leader Oakland. The team is 11 games out of the Wild Card race, but there are signs that the rest of the year will not be a total wash.

"It's not over yet," said manager Ryne Sandberg, who dismisses talk that he would be fired if the team failed to make the playoffs. "My relationship with DC and management is solid. We've got things going better and better every year. There is no reason to think we can't finish strong and make 2008 even better," he added.

Kurt Ainsworth and Mark Prior are one of the best 1-2 tandems in the majors. Ainsworth is 14-7 with a 4.20 ERA, while Prior is 16-3 with a 2.57 ERA and many argue one of the top candidates for this year's Cy Young Award. He is 4-0 since coming over to the Silverhawks. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to join this team. This is a great group and we're going to keep getting better," he said.

An injury to Adam Dunn, which has him on the DL for four more weeks, put a damper on the team's success, but the players argue that there is hope. Two home grown players LF Harold Clerk and SS Josh Schwartz made the All-Star team this year, along with Ainsworth and 2B Jose Vidro, who has been to the game every season since signing with the Silverhawks in their first season.

With talent like this and the top farm system in baseball for the third straight year, the team expects that success is just around the corner.

[Young Drachma]

AROUND THE HORN
ZITO OUT FOR THE SEASON
BOSTON - (7/28/07) Boston's ace Barry Zito is out with a torn tricep and will be shelved for the rest of the year. Zito was 10-9 with a 2.92 ERA and was eighth in the league in wins at the time of his injury.

RAMIREZ HITS 500TH HOMER
OAKLAND - (8/5/07) Texas outfield Manny Ramirez hit his 500th homer against the Oakland A's.

JOSH KARP THROWS NO-HITTER, 2ND OF HIS CAREER
WASHINGTON - (8/29/07) Karp threw his second career no-hitter, this one against Arizona Diamondbacks at Capital One Ballpark. Karp, 27, is 10-5 with a 2.94 ERA with 122 strikeouts in 28 starts.

LEAGUE LEADERS
NL BATTING
RF Anthony Webster WAS .358
3B Scott Hairston ARZ .339
OF Todd Hollandsworth MIL .333

AL BATTING
2B Jose Vidro NEV .335
CF Laynce Nix TEX .334
3B Matt Holliday CLE .330

NL HOMERS
OF Lance Berkman HOU 37
OF Willy mo Pena HOU 36
OF J.J. Davis COL 33

AL HOMERS
OF Vladimir Guerrero BAL 39
LF Albert Pujols CHA 37
OF Laynce Nix TEX 34

AL RUNS BATTED IN
Laynce Nix TEX 115
Albert Pujols CHA 110
Vladimir Guerrero BAL 92

NL RUNS BATTED IN
Lance Berkman HOU 117
Willie mo Pena HOU 99
J.J. Davis COL 97

AL STOLEN BASES
CF Nook Logan BOS 55
CF Johnny Damon ANA 53
CF Carl Crawford TOR 38

NL STOLEN BASES
RF Anthony Webster WAS 54
2B Willie Harris MIL 43
CF Dave Krynzel MIL 42

PITCHING

NL WINS
Oscar Villarreal ARZ 13
Tyler Johnson PIT 13
Oscar Perez COL 13
Kevin Correia MIL 13
Frailyn Tejada FLA 13
Kris Benson LA 13

AL WINS
Billy Traber CLE 17
Jason Stumm CLE 16
Mark Prior NEV 16
Pedro Martinez TEX 16

NL ERA
Rafeal Soriano MIL 2.07
Ryan Vogelsong PIT 2.10
Oscar Villarreal ARZ 2.36

AL ERA
Billy Traber CLE 1.99
Mark Prior NEV 2.57
Jason Stumm CLE 2.73

AL STRIKEOUTS
Pedro Martinez TEX 227
Mark Prior NEV 223
Richard Salazar BAL 171

NL STRIKEOUTS
Brad Sullivan HOU 223
Macay McBride ATL 204
Kevin Correria MIL 189

NL SAVES
Paul Dunn COL 32
Alfredo Gonzales LA 30
Ugeth Urbina MIL 27

AL SAVES
Scott Williamson MIL 34
Jeff Zimmerman BAL 32
T.J. Tucker BOS 30