Kansas City Blues: Prologue and Year 1 (2002) [Archive]

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 10:49 PM

Introduction and Additional Info from Last Time

All of this stuff has been drug over from the other board. A few edits are about all that happened. I'm still not sure anyone actually reads this but perhaps it will get new life on this board. Also, while the first year seems all doom and gloom, I assure you- it gets better. We're about to start 2003 on Thursday and the boys in blue will put up a good showing this year. I'm going to try and fix up the formatting as much as possible so bear with it.

And now onto the Old Stuff...

Feel Free to skip ahead to the rules and setup if you don't want to read the fine print and author's notes. They're kindof boring anyways :)

< !--- Begin Disclaimers ---!>

This is my first dynasty report, so if you can find it in your hearts to forgive and also critique any mistakes, it would be greatly appreciated.

I don't have a creative backstory like the Bill Gates Challenge or Poop on the Pinstripes. However, I hope what this lacks in backstory, it makes up for in innovative structure, realism, and (hopefully) some board participation.

Unlike any other dynasty I have seen on here, this is not competition versus the machine: it is against 27 separate and distinct people, some better GMs than others, much like real life. Unfortunately that means I cannot guarantee an outcome, happy, sad, dramatic, or otherwise. I'm just hoping for some of that "life is stranger than fiction" (or funnier, or more dramatic- pick your comparative adjective) to come along and help with good writing. Much like regular baseball, it certainly has it's share of good (small market) versus evil (dam- darn yankees) and I'm certain good stories will follow. Happy reading.

< !---- End Disclaimers ----!>

Rules
Simulator: Front Page Sports Baseball Pro 98
Start Year: 2002
Team: Kansas City Royals
Number of Teams: 28
Webpage: Object not found! (http://www.columbia.edu/%7Enrf2001/)

Roster Differences

The first thing that will jump out is that there are only 28 teams. We had a dispersal draft a few days ago where we got rid of the Expos and Devil Rays (our condolences to Expos fans and the three Devil Rays fans in the world). I did quite well for my team, I think, and a writeup is forthcoming but I'm going to try and do the writeups in chronological order so it will have to wait.

The players were all run through a converter in the game (and minor league players are being tabulated as we speak using Major League Equivalency) and given statistics so some are off (i.e. Glavine really got the shaft because of how they were determined).

Economic Differences

Another thing that deviates from MLB is that there is a salary cap so teams like the Royals, Twins, and Brewers that compete with the Yankees, Dodgers, and Braves. During the season, it is $120M but during the offseason

Contracts that exist now contain no odd clauses (so Mike Sweeney's clause that he can void his contract if the Royals are not .500 in 2003 or 2004 does not exist) and are averaged for the duration of the contract so no backloading of salaries.

Arbitration is handled differently and it would take too long to explain it. The League Constitution outlines it here: Object not found! (http://www.columbia.edu/%7Enrf2001/Constitution.html) . Also, there is some info about the draft (pretty much the same) and transaction information (such as differences between waivers, outright release, options, rule v draft, etc.) which would also be too long to explain here.

Conclusion

So, it's not quite MLB but it's pretty close and with 27 different people, it should be interesting. I have to write up the events leading up to and the dispersal draft. Also, I have made two trades and the beginning of the season isn't too far off so, hopefully, I'll have some time to write up the rest of this in the next week so I can get advice from anyone willing to pass it along.

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: February 5th, 2002

Media Mogul Buys Royals
by Jay McShann

After a failed attempt to buy Cartoon Network, as part of his company's "I'm tired of shows I like getting canceled" restructuring plan, midwest media mogul G****** has instead put the money towards purchasing the Kansas City Royals from Wal Mart magnate David Glass in an attempt to keep them from being contracted. "The Royals will make a fine addition to Tempus Fugit, Inc," he said, "Their precarious position made them a perfect candidate for our company."

While G****** is an unabashed Texan, one of his calling cards being "born and raised Texan", his current residence in Kansas made this a natural fit. It cost his company $100 million and change, however, he loves the fans of Kansas City: "The fans here are great. Nearly 2 million people witnessed a really bad team last year. It begs the question: how many will come out if we field a contender."

While he is optimistic about the city and his new team, G****** realizes there is much work ahead. "I have no delusions that we will win the World Series this year. However, we are in a weak division and we might be able to contend this year but I am particularly interested in building for the future. I think if we can field a .500 ballclub this year and our youngsters, especially pitching, keep developing, we could field a team that challenges for the pennant two or three years, tops. The new CBA has really helped us be able to compete with the Yankees of the world."

The team has a bona fide franchise player locked up long term in Mike Sweeney whose contract was completed just prior to the new collective bargaining agreement taking effect. "We were lucky to get Mike taken care of before the deadline. Our fans now have someone they can expect to see in the All-Star game every July for the next five years. Perhaps he could be the next George Brett for this city." Both the city and the team hope he can help lead the Royals back to the prominence they enjoyed in the 1980s with a team centered around Brett, the pinnacle of their accomplishments being a bitter World Series win over in-state rivals St. Louis in 1985.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:09 PM

Other's Quotes

from wade moore
I'm VERY excited to see this... I think after the conclusion of the current season, i will do this with my madden on-line franchise -- especially if it sparks interest with folks here!

from sterlingice
wade: thanks very much for the kind words. it's hard for some of us to get started and enthusiasm like that makes it much easier. if you're doing a madden franchise, i'd be more than up for it- i know someone else on this board who would want the bears but if it's for the upcoming season- i'd be all about my hometown texans (or my local chiefs here)- expansion or not. maybe i'm just a sucker for hopeless causes. either way, you have a player here. that's how i got started playing games like this were online fantasy baseball and football keeper leagues on sandbox and madden franchise mode.

from wade moore
Oh, what i mean is i'm already in an on-line league that is playing through it's 4th season now.. and i'd start updating at the beginning of the 5th, just because startign at the end of a season doing a dynasty report would be confusing..

from sterlingice
wade: my bad, i read that wrong. that said, it should be interesting just due to the fact that it's real life and intersting stories seem to follow

from Dataking
I'm especially interested in following along with this because, as Sterling Ice mentioned, he is competing against 27 other real-live human beings. There are no AI tendencies to play with and work to your advantage or, if there are, 27 other people will be trying to figure those out as well.

This should be a good one. Although I lived in the KC area for nearly 4 years, I never thought I would catch myself saying...GO ROYALS!

If you think your players need a little toughening up, let me know. I'll have Mason Storm drive over from Lawrence and run a few Kill Drills during batting practice.

from sterlingice
Maybe we could have some sort of KU/Royals affiliate program or something. But we need a lot more than toughening up. You have someone who can teach our people to pitch?

from Dataking
Bo Cooley's been throwing strikes so far this season. Maybe he can help you out?

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:11 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: April 5th, 2002

Devil Rays and Expos No More, Royals Get Hall
by Coleman Hawkins

The debate raging in the air over the league's decision to contract two teams came to an abrupt end yesterday as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Montreal Expos organizations were scattered to the four winds in the dispersal draft. With the controversy still swirling, Double Play Baseball went ahead and contracted the two teams even with much public sentiment against them. League Commissioner Nathaniel R. Freiberg (not to be confused with Yankees owner Nate Freeberg :p) said of the move "We felt that along with implementing a salary cap, this was a necessary step to creating a level playing field in the league. If a team cannot even generate enough revenue to maintain a level at or near the salary cap then we have done nothing at all for competitive balance."

Last week thirty thousand Quebecers turned out to protest the removal of their team. A similar rally in Tampa Bay involved two kids and a dog yelling and throwing things at cars, however it is unclear whether they were protesting for the Devil Rays or just bored.

Almost lost in the shuffle was the actual draft itself. AP sources reported: "As expected, the Pirates chose outfielder Vladimir Guerrero withthe first overall selection. The Orioles followed with pitcher Javier Vazquez, and then the Reds took Tony Armas, Jr. Rounding out the top 10 was (KC-C Toby Hall) (COL-2B Jose Vidro) (MIL-SP Nick Bierbrodt) (FLA-SS Brandon Phillips) (DET-2B Brent Abernathy) (SD-SP Joe Kennedy) (TEX-3B Fernando Tatis). The draft lasted for 16 rounds and more than 3 hours... Osvaldo Fernandez had the distincton of being the last player selected by Phillies GM Chaim Bloom."

Other notables included Devil Rays closer Esteban Yan going to the Dodgers at #15, a perfect fit. Since free agents, as well as Devil Rays and Expos players, were included in the draft, Andres Galarraga had the distinction of being the first free agent chosen at #16 by the Red Sox. The Astros got SP Ryan Rupe at #22 and the Mariners got Tomo Ohka at #26. The second round started with David Cone going to Pittsburgh. The Reds got some interesting players from Wilson Alvarez to Gregg Olson and even re-acquired Deon Sanders in round 13. Texas got 4 interesting picks beyond Tatis with Jose Canseco and three veteran starters in Juan Guzman, Fransisco Cordova, and Gil Heredia. Boston picked up former NL MVP third baseman Ken Caminiti and the Giants picked up Greg Vaughn, perhaps Tampa Bay's premier player, in round two. Derek Bell took Operation Shutdown to Minnesota. As mentioned above, long after all interest had been extinguished, the Phillies, Pirates, and Reds took a drafting war long into the night before finally ending at round 13. Only 4 other owners drafted more than 5 players. Cleveland and Arizona owners were not present, and thus did not receive any players.

Of local interest, the Royals were one of those teams that drafted more than five players. After seeing Toby Hall drop to them in Round 1, the Royals eagerly snatched him up. "It was a choice between Hall, Vidro, and Bierbrodt, but we felt Toby was much more of a sure thing and he gives us a solid foundation along with Mike [Sweeney] on which to build our team in the long term. He was the sure thing and he is a top 5 catcher in the AL immediately." The Royals drafted 7 player, the oldest of which was Hall at 26. "Our farm system needs some restocking and this was a perfect opportunity and we really got some good young pitching in this draft. All are good young starters we hope will be able to contribute on the big league club in a couple of years." The Royals drafted four pitchers 24 or younger including Neal Frendling, Eric Good, Zach Day, and Devlin James. Frendling is the most solid and is expected to be a #2 or #3 guy in the rotation. The other interesting pitcher is 21 year old lefthander Eric Good who is a bit of a light thrower but very polished and has good control. Some have already compared him to Tom Glavine but G******, even with that cat-that-ate-the-canary look, warns us "that kind of speculation is a bit premature. I don't know about a future Tom Glavine, but I bet he can be a damn fine Eric Good and we may like that even more". He went on the mention that minutes after he had drafted Good, he had received a phone call from another team inquiring to the possibility of trading him but he offered no further comments. Also, the Royals drafted a young left side of their infield in the 3rd round with Jared Sandberg and 6th round in Jason Smith.

Now that the Dispersal Draft is over, the roster freezes are off but no deals were done at the time of publication. Almost certainly, there will be trades announced in the coming days. In particular, the acquisition of third baseman Fernando Tatis to Texas opens the door for a trade of phenoms Hank Blalock or Mark Teixeira. While this may mark the end of two franchises, G****** thinks it put the Royals back on the road to respectability: "We got a lot of good, young talent today that may not help us out next year, but we will see many of these faces in Kaufman Stadium in the next couple of years."

The previous quotes from other owners were ficitious, however, many of the ones in here will not be and all of the ones made be myself, as Royals owner, obviously are real. :D

Dispersal Draft Central Webpage: Object not found! (http://www.columbia.edu/%7Enrf2001/Dispersal.html)

Another Note
Also, I realized I haven't put up stats and/or an explaination of my team stats. They can be found here: Object not found! (http://www.columbia.edu/%7Enrf2001/all_rost.htm) if you scroll down to the Royals (you can also check out other teams). I will do a more in depth writeup of the team tonight, hopefully, replete with current stats. Also, once we get all of our prospects posted and I settle on the 50 people who I will keep, I'll go into a more elaborate evaluation of the entire team and farm system before opening day.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:14 PM

Roster and Stats


Batting Ratings and Modifiers Personal Data Fielding
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
C Hall, Toby 68 60 45 56 56 48 48 49 53 26 1 R Act 60 50
C Mayne, Brent 62 32 39 56 52 52 48 49 53 33 11 L Act 50 50
1B McCarty, David 52 67 43 56 56 48 48 49 53 32 7 R Act 50 50
1B Sweeney, Mike 71 66 53 56 56 48 48 49 53 28 6 R Act 50 50
2B Alicea, Luis 54 35 62 56 51 49 48 49 53 36 12 S Act 50 50
2B Febles, Carlos 45 36 70 56 56 48 48 49 53 25 3 R Act 50 50
SS Perez, Neifi 58 45 65 56 51 49 48 49 53 28 5 S Act 50 50
3B Randa, Joe 61 48 53 56 56 48 48 49 53 32 6 R Act 50 50
LF Brown, Dee 44 43 51 56 52 52 48 49 53 24 1 L Act 50 50
LF Knoblauch, Chuck 55 45 73 56 56 48 48 49 53 33 11 R Act 50 50
CF Tucker, Michael 48 71 78 56 52 52 48 49 53 30 7 L Act 50 50
CF Beltran, Carlos 58 61 79 56 51 49 48 49 53 24 3 S Act 50 50
RF Ibanez, Raul 50 67 55 56 52 52 48 49 53 29 3 L Act 50 50
RF Quinn, Mark 57 69 59 56 56 48 48 49 53 27 2 R Act 50 50

SS Smith, Jason 32 49 77 56 52 52 48 49 53 24 0 L AAA 50 50
3B Sandberg, Jared 38 65 39 56 56 48 48 49 53 24 1 R AAA 70 50

Pitching Ratings and Modifiers Pitch Ratings Personal
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Bailey, Cory 96 44 42 50 56 52 49 52 47 96 0 32 30 0 0 0 31 6
R Byrd, Paul 57 73 63 50 56 52 49 52 47 57 37 73 52 0 0 0 31 6
R Durbin, Chad 56 76 66 50 56 52 49 52 47 56 55 40 0 70 0 0 24 2
R Grimsley, Jason 68 40 50 50 56 52 49 52 47 68 0 0 30 46 0 0 34 11
R Hernandez, Roberto 71 28 57 50 56 52 49 52 47 71 0 50 0 30 0 0 37 10
R Reichert, Dan 65 79 31 50 56 52 49 52 47 65 40 0 30 60 0 0 25 2
R Rekar, Bryan 61 74 68 50 56 52 49 52 47 61 42 0 56 69 0 0 29 7
L Rosado, Jose 57 63 66 50 56 46 49 52 47 57 0 0 53 44 68 0 27 5
R Stein, Blake 84 83 31 50 56 52 49 52 47 84 30 60 40 0 0 0 28 4
R Suppan, Jeff 60 81 60 50 56 52 49 52 47 60 53 39 0 67 0 0 27 5
R Suzuki, Mac 77 75 34 50 56 52 49 52 47 77 0 30 60 0 0 43 26 3
R Wilson, Kris 61 61 69 50 56 52 49 52 47 61 55 40 0 73 0 0 25 1

R Day, Zach 47 74 51 50 56 52 49 52 47 47 32 0 53 65 0 0 23 0
R Frendling, Neal 56 68 53 50 56 52 49 52 47 56 53 65 34 0 0 0 22 0
L Good, Eric 43 59 73 50 56 46 49 52 47 43 55 45 72 0 0 0 21 0
R James, Delvin 48 54 66 50 56 52 49 52 47 48 0 55 68 42 0 0 24 0


Here's the team I have to work with. Considering 50 is average, I don't have much to work with. Also, the only veteran signed past 2003 is Mike (Franchise) Sweeney. I got rid of the hitting data for the pitchers and a couple of other columns. Also, the only people who fielding is figured for is the dispersal draft players.

I'm going to cut and paste some explainations of the stats:

A quick way to evaluate players:
1. Pitchers - The most important attributes, in order, are AS (arm strength) ? FB (fastball) ? CO (control). Secondary pitches are also very important, as is EN (endurance) for starters. Arm strength has to be the most important factor, because it is how fast the pitcher throws. Timing is big in FPS, and hitters have a harder time adjusting to faster pitches. After AS, the FB is important too, but a pitcher with a good FB will pitch more poorly without a full complement of pitches. A starting pitcher CAN get away with bad CO if their EN is high enough to compensate. Also, the sinker (SI) and slider (SL) are pretty important for those pitchers that throw them, and are usually better than the other pitches (CU change-up, CB curveball, KN knuckleball). Starting pitchers should have at least 60 EN. The higher the EN, the more innings he can pitch before he gets tired.

2. Hitters - The most important attributes, in order, are PH (power)- CH (contact) ? SP (speed). For a good player, PH and CH should be at least 60, but it also depends on what position the player is at (Cs and SSs are generally poor hitters). SP can help compensate for poor CH and PH, or make a good hitter an All-Star. Don't forget to look at fielding ratings. FA (fielding ability) is important for IFs, AS (arm strength) is more important for OFs and Cs.

3. In general, remember that 50 is average for any rating. Also remember to look at the statistical league leaders to see what kind of ratings you want.

Players' ratings increase or decrease at the begining of a new year during Spring Training. Players will usually start to decrease in ratings after the age of 28, although if their ability is high enough, they will not decrease, and may even increase. Players will also increase after Spring Training is completed. The amount the ratings will increase is dependent upon a few things. The most important are age and difference between actual and potential ratings. EXAMPLE: If a player's actual CH is 30 and his potential CH is 90, he will increase more than another player with an actual rating of 30, but a potential rating of 60. However, potential ratings are not disclosed, thus the beauty of not knowing whether your first round pick will be a future Hall of Famer or a huge bust.

Obviously a young player will increase more than an older one. Another important factor is how many things a player has to increase in. If a player is close to being maxxed out (actual rating equal to potential rating) in a few areas (CH, PH, SP) he will increase in the other ones much faster than if he wasn't maxxed out.

EXAMPLE: A player's actual CH and PH is equal to 60. His potential CH and PH also equal 60, so his SP and AS will increase much faster than normal. The same goes for pitchers. If a pitcher has 4 pitches, he will improve more slowly than a pitcher with 2. Remember that the computer adds a random factor to changes in player ratings during the new year and Spring Training.

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:16 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: April 1st, 2002
Note: technically anything before the season is April 1st since that is the day the season begins

Red Sox and Royals Trading Places
by Buck Clayton

In an effort to get younger and build for the future, the Royals traded starting SS Nefi Perez, closer Roberto Hernandez, and minor league outfielder Donzell McDonald for 2B Tony Offerman, SP Darren Oliver, 3B phenom Tony Blanco, SP prospect Paxton Crawford, and minor league 2B Angel Santos.

The deal leaves the Royals without a SS, however, the lure of Blanco and Crawford was too much. "I think Tony and Paxton made this deal irresistible" said owner G******. "Paxton may be able to contribute as soon as this year and Blanco will be ready in 2 or 3 years. Right now, we'll just let him get in some swings in Wichita. Angel is more of a project but we have patience."

When asked about how he hoped to replace Perez and Hernandez, G****** had no comment but was said to have muttered the word "flotsam" under his breath as well as some other indistinguishable comments. When asked about the Red Sox players he got in return: "Darren Oliver is a quality starter and Jose Offerman will play second base for us this year. We may only have these guys for a year but we will get the most out of them. They were a salary dump for Boston but their loss is our gain."

It is unlikely the Royals are done trading in their attempt to get younger and trade away some of their older player. Most are only under contract for this year and they have shown that building for the future is much more important than winning this year.

Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
SS Perez, Neifi 58 45 65 56 51 49 48 49 53 28 5 S Act 50 50
OF Donzell McDonald NO STATS YET

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Hernandez, Roberto 71 28 57 50 56 52 49 52 47 71 0 50 0 30 0 0 37 10

Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
2B Offerman, Jose 55 43 59 56 51 49 48 49 53 33 10 S Act 50 50
2B Santos, Angel 43 48 61 56 51 49 48 49 53 22 0 S AAA 50 50
3B Blanco, Tony 35 63 45 56 56 48 48 49 53 20 0 R LOW 50 50

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
L Oliver, Darren 62 75 56 50 56 46 49 52 47 62 68 34 0 53 0 0 31 8
R Crawford, Paxton 68 64 55 50 56 52 49 52 47 68 34 0 66 54 0 0 24 0

Analysis: Frankly, this is a pretty unbalanced trade in my favor. It's typical of that "win no with no regard for later". Blanco is only 20 and those number will be pretty high in 5 to 7 years and will almost certainly be starting in KC at 3B in 4 or 5 years. Crawford is 24 so he still has time to improve. He'll never be a #1 or #2, but he will be a great, young, cheap back of the rotation starter. He's a crap shoot, along with a lot of my other pitching prospects- time to see who pans out in the next couple of years. Santos is definately a project but he could have decent stats for a middle infielder- nothing Arod-esque, but a solid guy. Also, Oliver and Offerman were just salary dumps for him, people I'll have this year and then will be free agent and never touch again- it gives Boston more cap room for this year. Frankly, I just don't like Neft- certainly a dumb reason and he will be a good defensive SS but he just doesn't hit that well, but he's a free agent at the end of the year. The same is true for Hernandez- slightly above average, gone at the end of the year. I'll be looking for a cheap closer for the future. I love this trade.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:19 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: April 1st, 2002

Muser Out, McRae Back in Blue
by Jay McShann

School is nearly finished and my computer is up and running (mostly) so it's time to get back to my Royals franchise. Today the Royals hired Tony Pena so I think it's time to look at my current manager.

Two weeks after taking over the team, Owner and General Manager G****** fired current manager Tony Muser. Muser, 54, compiled a 312-413 record in four full seasons and part of another. In his place, the new management has brought in Hal McRae to return to the team he managed 5 years ago before being fired, some think prematurely.

Muser's comments show he and the team left on amicable terms: "I understand where he was coming from. The new ownership group wants to put their people in place and I respect that. I have nothing but good words about my time with the Royals. I'm glad they were good enough to come to me instead of letting it leak out into the news."
[actual quotes from this past month] "We didn't win," Muser said. "That's the bottom line. I don't blame anybody but myself. But I'll move on. I've always been a big believer that things happen for the best. I'd like to continue. We'll see how I'm evaluated by the rest of the industry after the smoke clears. We'll see who's interested, who's not."
A sense of mutual respect could be sense from the other side of the bargaining table: "We wish Tony the best in whatever course of action he wishes to pursue and hope he gets another chance in baseball, if that's what he wants. However it was time to move on. We wanted to put our stamp on the organization and Hal McRae helps bridge the past and the present here in Kansas City."

Hal McRae has a huge job ahead of him. Regardless of whoever got the job, they would be facing an uphill battle with this team of limited talent and even less in their minor league system. "I look forward to the challenge of working with this team and I'm thankful to the KC Royals for giving me this opportunity."

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:25 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: April 1st, 2002

Pre-Season News Wrapup
Not content with the makeup of the team for this year, GM G****** continues to reshape this team for the future. Knowing they will likely not be competing for a playoff spot, four players who would be free agents or released at the end of the year were traded away in two separate trades to the Braves and Phillies, two teams with 2002 playoff aspirations.

The Royals sent backup 1B David McCarty, backup CF Michael Tucker and his two year driftwood contract, and RP Cory Bailey for salary dump 1B Travis Lee and RP prospect Derek Andersen. GM G******: "We think we got a possible future closer in Andersen to compliment Orber [Moreno] in our young bullpen. None of those players would have been Royals in 2003 and we wanted to get some future cogs for our team in exchange for our veterans."

In a second trade, backup RF Raul Ibanez was traded to Atlanta for SS prospect Kelly Johnson. "We had no room for Raul or Michael in our crowded OF since we need to get Mark Quinn some playing time and give rookie Brandon Berger a look along with possible All-Star Carlos Beltran," said manager Hal McRae.

Also, a lot of shuffling of the roster, moving players up and down to make room. The following players were waived or outright released: C A.J. Hinch, 2B Luis Alicea, 2B Jose Offerman, 2B Donnie Sadler, LF Chuck Knoblauch, SP Mac Suzuki, and RP Jason Grimsley from Kansas City; LF Dee Brown, RP Tony Cogan, RP Brad Voyles from AAA-Omaha; C Danny Ardoin, C Hector Ortiz, SS Josue Espada, and RP Scott Mullen from AA-Wichita. Also lost 2B Carlos Febles on waivers to Detroit. Not many big names there, but quite a few veterans, cleaning house for the youngsters. Jason Grimsley is of note, as he will cost me $1M in cap space for next year, however, I'd rather have some of my prospects and not having him on my team is almost worth that $1M alone.

A suprise addition to the team was SP Cory Lidle, who likely will be our #1 starter this year. He was released by the Oakland A's in a cost-cutting move. He only costs $3.75M per year and would be a #2 or #3 on most other teams, but we have absolutely no ace and he is the closest thing out there. Another addition which could help us is the signing of free agent LF Bruce Aven- he could play a nice role on our bench this year after the trades of our more overpriced backups. Also, no sooner was Jose Offerman and his huge salary released than he resigned with us at the league minimum to fill a need since Febles was claimed off waivers. Also, the Royals signed some minor leaguers RF Ryan Church to AAA-Omaha and SP Michael Wuertz to AA-Wichita.

[B]Phillies Trade[/B]
[code] [FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono][SIZE=-1]
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
CF Tucker, Michael 48 71 78 56 52 52 48 49 53 31 7 L Act 60 50
1B McCarty, David 52 67 43 56 56 52 48 49 53 32 7 R Act 60 50
1B Lee, Travis 45 62 52 56 52 48 48 49 53 27 4 L Act 50 50

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *Andersen, Derek 62 36 80 50 56 46 49 52 47 62 38 0 0 60 0 0 24 0
R Bailey, Cory 96 44 42 50 56 46 49 52 47 96 0 32 30 0 0 0 31 6
[/SIZE][/FONT] [/code]
[B]Braves Trade[/B]
[code] [FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono][SIZE=-1]
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
SS *Johnson, Kelly 38 59 58 56 52 48 48 49 53 20 0 L LOW 40 50
RF Ibanez, Raul 50 67 55 56 52 48 48 49 53 30 3 L Act 50 50
[/SIZE][/FONT] [/code]
[B]Releases/Waivers[/B]
[code] [FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono][SIZE=-1]
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
C Hinch, A.J. 15 98 43 56 56 48 48 49 53 28 4 R 45 50
2B Alicea, Luis 54 35 62 56 51 49 48 49 53 37 12 S 50 50 3B-50
2B Sadler, Donnie 22 32 69 56 56 52 48 49 53 27 4 R 55 50
LF Brown, Dee 44 43 51 56 52 48 48 49 53 24 1 L 55 50
LF Knoblauch, Chuck 55 45 73 56 56 52 48 49 53 34 11 R 40 50
C *Ardoin, Danny 37 39 50 56 56 52 48 49 53 28 0 R 50 50
C Ortiz, Hector 63 19 45 56 56 52 48 49 53 33 1 R 60 50
SS *Espada, Josue 44 37 71 56 56 52 48 49 53 27 0 R 45 50
2B Febles, Carlos 45 36 70 56 56 52 48 49 53 26 3 R 60 50

2B Offerman, Jose 55 43 59 56 51 49 48 49 53 33 10 S 40 50
LF Aven, Bruce 56 61 48 56 56 52 48 49 53 30 3 R 50 50

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Suzuki, Mac 77 75 34 50 56 46 49 52 47 77 0 30 60 0 0 43 27 3
R Grimsley, Jason 68 40 50 50 56 46 49 52 47 68 0 0 30 46 0 0 35 11
R *Voyles, Brad 85 46 0 50 56 46 49 52 47 85 0 0 37 0 0 0 25 0
L *Mullen, Scott 51 9 29 50 56 52 49 52 47 51 0 0 30 38 0 0 27 0
L *Cogan, Tony 59 20 50 50 56 52 49 52 47 59 30 0 0 49 0 0 25 0

R Lidle, Cory 67 69 73 50 56 46 49 52 47 67 47 67 0 58 0 0 30 5

NOTE: Alternate positions did not appear on the above players except Alicea.
[/SIZE][/FONT] [/code]
In other news around the league, many big names changed hands as teams were trying to manage their salary cap situation, either improving their situation or taking on big talent with big contracts for somewhat cheap, to say nothing for all the prospects moving around.

The Rangers sent SS Alex Rodriguez and 3B Hank Blalock to the A's for SS Miguel Tejada and SP Mark Mulder. Then the A's turned around and traded Blalock and LF David Justice to the Dodgers for Kevin Brown. Not content to sit around, the A's then traded SP Tim Hudson to the Rockies for 2B Jose Vidro (the #5 Dispersal Draft pick) to give them an IF with uber-phenom 1B Carlos Pena, Vidro, Arod, and 3B Eric Chavez.

The other busy teams were the Rockies, Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers. The Rockies were in the business of trading their stellar hitting for pitching; the Red Sox were in the process of building an all-closer bullpen; the Yankees were paring payroll to get under the cap; and the Dodgers were just shaking up their team in general.

The Rockies and Reds hooked up in a 12-player deal in which the Rockies unloaded the contracts of Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, and Larry Walker and the talents of CF Juan Pierre and newly-acquired Tim Hudson for uber-phenmon RF Adam Dunn, quality 3Bs Aaron Boone and RF Juan Encarnacion, and a slew of bullpen and back of the rotation help: 4 pitchers including Elmer Dessens and Chris Reitsma. The Rockies then dealt slugging catcher Ben Petrick and prospects to the Brewers for prospct C Raul Casanova and yet another uber-phenom in possible future #1 SP Jose Mieses. They then hooked up with the Yankees, giving up a pair of prospects in slugging 2B Jose Ortiz and C J.D. Closser in exchange for C Jorge Posada and SP Andy Pettitte. Wrapping up their big pre-season overhaul, Colorado gets SP Chuck Finley and SP phenom C.C. Sabathia, for some prospects.

After getting Roberto Hernandez from the Royals, the Red Sox proceeded to get RP Mariano Rivera from the Yankees in a salary dump trade and then RP Robb Nenn and LF Greg Vaughn from the Giants from CF Johnny Damon and a couple of SPs. Aside from the aformentioned deals, the Yankees dealt away some other salaries like RP Mike Stanton's. Also, the Yankees dealt their middle infield combo in huge salaried SS Derek Jeter and 2B uber-pheonom Alfonso Soriano to the White Sox for 2B Ray Durham and RF Magglio Ordonez. The Dodgers traded Blalock yet again, this time to the Astros along with C Paul LoDuca, LF prospect Chin-Feng Chen, RF Brian Jordan, and SP Odalis Perez for 3B prospect Morgan Ensberg, CF Richard Hidalgo, and 2 utility players. After that, they sent 3B Adrain Beltre and 2 prospects to the Brewers for young SP Ruben Quevedo who they turned around and traded along with SP Darren Dreifort to the Cardinals for SP's Matt Morris, Rick Ankiel, and Kevin Foster. Lastly, they sent 1B Eric Karros to the Braves for 3B Vinny Castilla and a pitcher.

Another major trade of note sent SS Pokey Reese, 3B Aramis Ramirez, and closer Mike Williams from the Pirates to the Mets for 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, SS Orlando Cabrera, and SP Shawn Estes. The Phillies sent 3B Scott Rolen and two pitchers to Minnesota for 1B David Ortiz, SP Rick Reed, and 3B prospect Michael Cuddyer. Many other trades were made but most involved lesser prospects and utility players.

The powers in this league are now starting to align. Barring injury, the Braves, Astros, and Dodgers are looking very good while Colorado is a bit of a wild card in the NL. In the AL, the Yankees still field a good team, even after the salary paring; Minnesota looks pretty good in the central but no one team looks particularly good, while Oakland looks very strong out west, as does Seattle; the Red Sox bullpen strategy looks interesting on paper but who knows how well it will work in practice. If I had to make a guess, we will likely be 5th in the central behind the Twins and White Sox, who will likely be head and shoulders above the Brewers, Indians, and lastly, us. It will probably be a long season, but I'm building for 2004.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:26 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: May 1st, 2002
Month In Review: April

Headline of the Month: Royals Ice Cold Out of the Gate
One of the worst months in KC Royals history is finally over. While, it was known that this would be a rebuilding year, no one, not new manager Hal McRae, not GM/Owner G******, and certainly not the team could have envisioned the 12 game losing streak which the team endured to start the season. While they played the Yankees close in New York, losing by a total of 5 runs in a 3 game series to start the season, they went on to drop 6 to Detroit and New York on the opening homestand and then get swept by Boston on the road. In those 9 losses, only 3 of them were by less than 6 runs. The pitching staff gave up 10 runs or more in 4 of those games and the offense scored 2 runs in the last 5 games of the losing streak. The Royals failed in every facet of the game. But that wasn't even the worst news: in the first week of the season, CF Carlos Beltran, who was expected to lead the offense along with Mike Sweeney and 1st round dispersal draft pick C Toby Hall, was lost for nearly 6 months to injury. He might be back for meaningless September. Speaking of the aforementioned Toby Hall, he was lost for the first two months of the season, leaving Sweeney with next to no protection in the lineup. Things can't get any worse.

Royals on the field
It wasn't until the 9th inning on April 16th when things started to perk up. Trailing, 3-0 in the 9th, the Royals score 6 on White Sox closer Keith Foulke, who was sadled with 5 runs and then pulled for Damasco Marte. Then, the next day, trailing 8-4, they score 4 in the top of the 9th to tie off the White Sox other closer Bob Howry and then one score in the 10th to go home with their first series sweep of the season. The rest of the month, the Royals go 5-7 against Oakland, Cleveland, and Chicago, ending the month a disappointing 7-19 for the month but showing some signs of life. Another couple of weeks like the last couple and we might claw our way out of the basement of the league. Maybe disbanding the Devil Rays was a bad idea for us.

Royals off the field
Following the Dispersal Draft night trade with the Red Sox and the preseason trades, the Royals didn't make another trade in April. However, they were not without roster moves. Towards the end of the losing streak, a lot of shuffling between Kansas City and Omaha took place in an attempt to get something going. Hall and Beltran were sent to the DL, which counts as 40-man roster slots instead of MLB slots so essentially they count towards the AAA roster instead of KC. The following players were waived: RF Ryan Church, SP Mike MacDougal, SP Michael Wuertz, oft-injured SP Jose Rosado, and recently traded for (salary dump by Philly) 1B Travis Lee. This allowed us to sign the following free agents SP Joey Hamilton, C John Flaherty, 1B Ed Sprague, and CF Mike Frank. Also, the waiver wire was kind to us again, landing us CF Danny Bautista from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's a decent hitting, speedy, amazing fielding outfielder who will definately be a better fill-in for Beltran than Mike Frank. Also, he's under contract until 2004 which allows the Royals next year to play both which should help the pitching.

Roster Moves

Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS
RF *Church, Ryan 35 64 48 56 52 48 48 49 53 23 0 L Act 45 50 LF-45
CF *Frank, Mike 45 57 60 56 52 48 48 49 53 28 0 L Act 50 50 LF-50
1B Lee, Travis 45 62 52 56 52 48 48 49 53 27 4 L Act 50 50 LF-50
C Flaherty, John 50 48 41 56 56 52 48 49 53 34 3 R Act 55 50
1B Sprague, Ed 51 71 43 56 56 52 48 49 53 35 11 R Act 35 50 3B-35

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *MacDougal, Mike 55 67 27 50 56 46 49 52 47 55 0 36 60 30 0 0 25 0
R Wuertz, Michael 58 72 53 50 56 46 49 52 47 58 0 0 67 37 48 0 23 0
L Rosado, Jose 57 63 66 50 56 52 49 52 47 57 0 0 53 44 68 0 27 5
R Hamilton, Joey 62 66 63 50 56 46 49 52 47 62 0 40 68 54 0 0 32 8

Around the league
Atlanta begin an awful trend by losing Chipper Jones for the season. Before the year will end, practically every starter on their team will be injured, keeping them from contending at all. The Cubs, Astros, and Rockies all started out hot, the latter, winning 9 in a row to end the month. The NL Central will definately be a hotly contested race all year long. After the preseason ended, owners were content to sit on their teams to see how they did. No major trades were made until the last week of April when the White Sox sent 2B Alfonso Soriano, SP Todd Ritchie, and RP Keith Foulke to Colorado for 2B Terry Shumpert and prospect LF Jack Cust, SP John Thomson, and RP Colin Young. Then the Mets sent All-Star 2B Roberto Alomar, SP Steve Trachsel, and 2 others to the Cubs for CF Darren Lewis, SP Matt Clement, 3B prospect Dave Kelton, and SP prospect Carlos Zambrano. Also, Texas was about to begin a major overhaul with the seemingly innocuous releases of underperforming SP Chan Ho Park's $13M per year long term contract and LF Rusty Greer's $7M per year contract. I mention this as the Royals are about to make major changes and the Rangers overhaul is part of what facilitates it.

Royals Game of the month
And with that foreshadowing, onto the Royals Game of the Month for April. I could have used one of the Yankees games which were seemingly a microcosm of the season: a team just not good enough to compete with the big boys. But instead, I'll go with the April 16th game: the come-from-behind win was just what we needed to start our winning this season. As we had only scored 2 runs in the previous 53 innings and only 1 hit in the first 8 innings of the game, who could have forseen this 6 run explosion. Royals win! Royals win!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 - 6 6 0
Chicago (A) 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 14 3

KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO CHICAGO (A) AB R H RBI BB SO

SS Berroa, A. 4 0 0 1 0 1 SS Jeter, D. 5 1 1 1 0 0
3B Randa, J. 4 1 0 0 1 1 2B Soriano, A. 5 0 2 2 0 1
DH Sprague, E. 4 1 1 0 0 0 DH Thomas, F. 4 0 1 0 1 0
1B Sweeney, M. 4 1 1 0 0 0 1B Konerko, P. 5 0 2 0 0 0
LF Berger, B. 3 1 1 2 1 0 LF Lee, C. 5 0 1 0 0 1
RF Quinn, M. 4 1 1 1 0 1 3B Valentin, J. 4 0 0 0 0 0
C Mayne, B. 4 1 1 1 0 0 RF Liefer, J. 3 1 3 0 1 0
2B Offerman, J. 3 0 1 1 1 0 CF Lofton, K. 4 1 4 0 0 0
CF *Frank, M. 3 0 0 0 0 0 C Paul, J. 4 0 0 0 0 2
RF Bautista, D. 0 0 0 0 0 0 C Johnson, M. 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 33 6 6 6 3 3 TOTALS 39 3 14 3 2 4

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Sprague, E. 2B: Soriano, A. 2
SF: Berroa, A. Jeter, D.
HBP: *Frank, M. Lofton, K.
IBB: Berger, B. GDP: Konerko, P.
GDP: *Frank, M. Jeter, D.
Quinn, M.
BASERUNNING:
BASERUNNING: Team LOB: 10
SB: Randa, J.
Team LOB: 5 FIELDING:
E: Soriano, A.
FIELDING: Jeter, D. 2
DP: 2 DP: 2

KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO CHICAGO (A) IP H R ER BB SO
*Affeldt, J. 2.0 5 3 3 2 1 Pavano, C. 8.0 1 0 0 2 2
Asencio, M. 6.1 8 0 0 0 3 Foulke, K. .1 3 5 4 1 1
Byrd, P. .2 1 0 0 0 0 Marte, D. .2 2 1 1 0 0

TOTALS 9.0 14 3 3 2 4 TOTALS 9.0 6 6 5 3 3

PITCHING: PITCHING:
W: Asencio, M. 1-1 L: Foulke, K. 0-1
SV: Byrd, P. 1 HBP: Marte, D.
Pitches - Strikes: IBB: Pavano, C.
*Affeldt, J. 49-31 Pitches - Strikes:
Asencio, M. 103-69 Pavano, C. 114-77
Byrd, P. 7-6 Foulke, K. 26-14
Marte, D. 12-9

Played at: Comiskey Park in Chicago, IL
Time: 3:18 Temp: 35 Wind: 5 mph, in from left

Monthly Wrapup
As bad as a month could get: Beltran and Hall hurt and an 0-12 start. I'm not sure how we could possibly avoid a 100 loss season now. However, we are building for 2 years from now and I suppose the silver lining is that the worse we do this year, the better our draft pick next year. I knew this team was a mess but I had no idea how bad it was but the rebuilding continues. May can only get better. Unless, of course, Mike Sweeney suffers a career ending injury...

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:26 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: June 1st, 2002
Month In Review: May

Headline of the Month: Royals Reconfigured as Park Comes to Kaufman Field
Rather than focus on the negatives of the previous month, May was time for spring cleaning in KC. An underperforming Chan Ho Park was released by the Rangers, who were already thinking towards the future. We claimed him off the waiver wire and an ace was ours at the cost of $13M per season, locked up until 2006. Possibly a bit steep but aces don't grow on trees and we were glad to have found ours. Also, we hooked up with the White Sox and Tigers in a 3 way trade which moved 13 players and a 1st round draft pick. Lastly, at the end of the month, we traded away possible future ace Jimmy Gobble to Texas for Mark Mulder as part of their reconstruction. However, Mulder was barely off the plane to KC, when the Reds contacted us and he was sent packing in a trade for Tony Armas Jr. Suddenly, we have two quality ace-caliber SPs and the future is looking brighter.

Royals on the field
We were a pedestrian 12-16 on the field, but we were much more competitive. Park's first start in our rotation resulted in 8 shutout innings for him and a 6-0 win over the Orioles (this would have been our game of the month but I don't have the file for it). Not much going on the field.

Royals off the field
Aside from the aforementioned moves, more shuffling was occurred to accomidate the traded players and also some shuffling with an eye towards next year. Players such as Jeremy Affeldt and Derek Andersen, who we figure will be key in upcoming seasons, were sent to AAA for more seasoning and so that they did not accrue the all-important 50 IPs or 130 ABs which makes them an MLB rookie (i.e. the would lose their minor league contract status and would also go onto the arbitration pay scale). If you were at all attached to John Flaherty, Mike Frank, Darren Oliver, Travis Lee, Robin Jennings, Paul Byrd, or Kelly Stinnett, please forward your fan mail elsewhere as they no longer work here. Mike Mordecai was signed as a utility IF.

Inside the Trades
First, the three way trade. Instead of the Angel squared infield we had planned, we picked up some other key pieces like starting 3B Joe Crede, trade fodder C Mitch Meluskey, a couple of nice SP prospects, and a 1st round pick which could help us out. We also sent 3B prospect Jared Sandberg, a dispersal draft pick, and SP prospect Paxton Crawford, dispersal draft night trade pickup, on their way because they were now spare. Utility IF Shane Halter will also help us out a bit as our starting SS. His versatility will be invaluable. Frankly, we didn't make the biggest waves in this trade, tho, as slugging 3B Dean Palmer went to the Sox and SS Derek Jeter and his humongous contract changed hands again, this time, heading to Detroit. Losing SS Angel Berroa hurts, in particular, as he is possibly going to be one of the best players in the league soon. This trade is a wash until I see who that 1st round draft pick turns into.

The second trade is essentially another 3-way trade so I'll look at it that way. I traded SP prospect Jimmy Gobble and my 2002 and 2003 2nd round draft picks for SP Tony Armas Jr, SP prospect Domingo Valdez, Cincy's 2003 pick and C Kelly Stinnett (a salary dump by Cincy who I cut as soon as I got him, which counts toward my salary cap this year and next). Armas is clearly the gem here. Armas is what Gobble aspires to be: an ace under contract for a long time. Valdez isn't too bad either but he's a work in progress.

Roster Moves
I'm going to cease reporting about stats on all the released players as this is still part of setting my team up. John Flaherty, Mike Frank, Darren Oliver, Travis Lee, Robin Jennings, Paul Byrd, and Kelly Stinnett were the players released. Oliver, Lee, and Stinnett were from recent trades, salary dumps all around. Flaherty was taking Hall's place until he came off the DL early in the month a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Finally, some good luck.


Note: These are mostly using February 2003 stats.

Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS Qual
2B Mordecai, Mike 51 51 48 56 51 49 48 49 53 35 7 S 50 48 3B-50

Gobble-Mulder-Armas trade
KC traded away Gobble, gained Valdez and Armas Jr.
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *Valdez, Domingo 75 66 21 53 56 46 49 52 47 72 0 0 0 45 75 0 22 1 O
R Armas, Jr., Tony 96 77 51 53 56 46 49 52 47 94 63 0 47 0 0 35 24 3 O
L *Gobble, Jimmy 60 68 73 54 56 52 49 52 47 60 43 54 73 0 0 0 21 1 O
L Mulder, Mark 71 81 85 53 56 52 49 52 47 70 62 0 77 40 0 0 25 3 O

Three-Way Royals/White Sox/Tigers trade
KC traded away Berroa, Santos, Sandberg, and Crawford. Gained Meluskey, Halter, Lima, Pettyjohn, Crede, and Langone.
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B Slot FA AS Qual
SS Berroa, Angel 54 53 76 56 56 52 48 49 53 23 1 R Act 52 50
2B Santos, Angel 45 52 62 56 51 49 48 49 53 23 1 S AAA 54 50 SS-48
3B Sandberg, Jared 39 67 40 56 56 52 48 49 53 24 2 R Act 70 51
C Meluskey, Mitch 63 63 37 56 51 49 48 49 53 29 3 S Act 45 50
SS Halter, Shane 55 57 58 56 56 52 48 49 53 33 6 R Act 45 49
2B-55, LF-50, CF-49, 3B-55
3B Crede, Joe 51 66 47 56 56 52 48 49 53 24 1 R Act 63 51 1B-2

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Crawford, Paxton 68 65 58 52 56 46 49 52 47 68 34 0 66 54 0 0 25 1
R Lima, Jose 59 72 71 50 56 46 49 52 47 60 72 0 53 44 0 0 30 8
L Pettyjohn, Adam 60 77 73 53 56 52 49 52 47 60 71 0 58 39 0 0 25 2
R *Langone, Steve 57 67 84 53 56 46 49 52 47 56 85 51 42 0 0 0 25 1



Around the league
The White Sox were busy, along with the 3 team trade, they exchanged some prospects with the Yankees and got back Magglio Ordonez, who they had traded to New York in the preseason. SP Brad Penny went from the Marlins to the Brewers and C Pudge Rodriguez went to Atlanta along with 3B Fernando Tatis for SP Tom Glavine and SS prospect Wilson Betemit. Lastly, the Rockies continued their trading ways, sending SP Andy Pettite, two OFs, and the #5 pick in the upcoming draft to Boston for a couple of SPs, Manny Ramirez, and his $18.75M contract until 2008. Mike Cameron hit home runs in 5 consecutive games, a highlight of what would be a career year for him, and Dodoger rookie SP Kaz Ishii was in the midst of winning 14 games in a row. Keeping pace with the hot Rockies, the Astros won 9 in a row towards the end of the month as it appears they and the Rockies will run away with the Central and likely, the Wild Card in the NL. During May, the Dbacks lost 16 of 19, Giants 12 of 13, and Padres 8 of 9 leaving the Dodgers, who won 8 of 9, to take full control of the NL West. No one wanted to step up in the NL East where the Pirates month was indicative of the division. They had win streaks of 8 and 5 and losing streaks of 5 and 4. The Yankees won 17 of 20 to take full control of the AL East. The Angels went 21-7 in the month, putting some heat on the A's in the AL West who won 14 of 15 in a streak which extended into the start of June after a mostly mediocre May. The White Sox won 7 in a row in the middle of the month to climb back into the AL Central race after losing 8 in a row in April but they couldn't catch the Brewers who won 10 of 12 to start the month. Mariner Ruben Sierra won AL Player of the month with a .366-12-19 while Pirate Brian Giles won NL Player of the Month, hitting .400-8-29. In Pitching, Clemens went 4-1 with a 1.35 and 49Ks for the Yankees while former-Athletic, Tim Hudson went 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA for the Reds as one of their few bright spots.

Royals Game of the month
As I said before, Chan Ho Park's shutout would have been here but I lost the file so instead, I'll use our exciting game on Monday May 13th. Both starters got knocked out early and we led most of the way, but it was always close. But the reason this made the game of the month is because Toby Hall was the man, hitting 3 homers in the game. Best of all, Royals win!


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 1 0 1 1 5 3 0 0 2 - 13 23 1
Seattle 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 - 8 10 1

KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO SEATTLE AB R H RBI BB SO
CF Bautista, D. 5 2 3 2 0 0 RF Suzuki, I. 4 1 1 0 1 2
3B Randa, J. 6 1 1 0 0 0 3B Cirillo, J. 4 3 2 2 1 0
C Hall, T. 5 3 4 5 0 1 DH Martinez, E. 2 1 1 0 3 1
1B Sweeney, M. 6 1 1 0 0 2 LF Sierra, R. 3 1 2 1 2 0
RF Quinn, M. 6 3 4 0 0 0 2B Boone, B. 5 1 1 1 0 1
LF Berger, B. 6 2 3 2 0 1 1B Olerud, J. 3 1 1 1 2 1
DH Sprague, E. 5 1 3 1 1 0 CF Cameron, M. 4 0 0 0 1 1
SS Berroa, A. 5 0 2 2 0 0 C Wilson, D. 5 0 2 1 0 1
2B Offerman, J. 4 0 2 1 1 0 SS McLemore, M. 4 0 0 0 0 1

TOTALS 48 13 23 13 2 4 TOTALS 34 8 10 6 10 8

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Offerman, J. 2B: Wilson, D.
HR: Hall, T. 3 HR: Cirillo, J.
Berger, B. GDP: Wilson, D.
Bautista, D.
SF: Bautista, D. BASERUNNING:
HBP: Hall, T. CS: Suzuki, I.
GDP: Sweeney, M. PO: Martinez, E.
Randa, J. Sierra, R.
Team LOB: 9
BASERUNNING:
SB: Sprague, E. FIELDING:
Bautista, D. E: McLemore, M.
Team LOB: 12 DP: 2

FIELDING:
E: Offerman, J.
DP: 1

KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO SEATTLE IP H R ER BB SO
Wilson, K. 2.0 4 2 2 0 2 Meche, G. 4.0 9 3 3 0 0
Asencio, M. 1.0 0 0 0 2 0 Halama, J. 1.0 8 7 6 0 0
Park, C. 3.1 4 5 3 7 3 Franklin, R. 3.0 2 1 1 2 3
Byrd, P. 1.2 2 1 1 1 1 Rhodes, A. 1.0 4 2 2 0 1
Stein, B. 1.0 0 0 0 0 2

TOTALS 9.0 10 8 6 10 8 TOTALS 9.0 23 13 12 2 4

PITCHING: PITCHING:
W: Asencio, M. 3-1 L: Meche, G. 0-4
HLD: Byrd, P. 1 HBP: Halama, J.
Park, C. 1 Pitches - Strikes:
Pitches - Strikes: Meche, G. 72-49
Wilson, K. 42-28 Halama, J. 52-31
Asencio, M. 20-7 Franklin, R. 61-36
Park, C. 116-59 Rhodes, A. 32-20
Byrd, P. 24-16
Stein, B. 14-8

Played at: The Kingdome in Seattle, WA
Time: 4:16 Indoors.


Monthly Wrapup
The biggest news was definately off the field for us this month. We're building for the future and Chan Ho Park and Tony Armas Jr are two big blocks. They won't help us win much more this year but no matter, we are not building for this year. The three way trade was fun but also completely revamped our team. Clearly I'm looking towards 2003, but more importantly, 2004-2006. Our play on the field was much better than last month and now Hall is back from injury so last month's debacle is starting to fade away.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:32 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: July 1st, 2002
Month In Review: June

Headline of the Month: Dessens No Hits Brewers
Certainly one of the highlights of the year came on a sunny Wednesday in Milwaukee. Two weeks previous, in a seemingly innocuous trade, the Royals, scrapping to improve their pitching staff further, would send recent free agent signee and utility infielder Mike Mordecai to Colorado and free Elmer Dessens from the thin air prison that is Coors Field. Colorado GM Dana Dillingham was later quoted as saying "Elmer Fudd pitches better then Dessens... He was a miserable SOB [and] had to go..." but it was Elmer who had the last laugh as he was given the key to Kansas City when he returned from the road trip and July 26th was declared Elmer Dessens Day. On that day in that stadium, he was masterful, giving up no hits to the home town Brewers. Pretty amazing for a guy who Colorado wanted out of their town just so he wouldn't pitch. For the record, it was the second of three no-hitters for 2002. Javy Vasquez threw one for Baltimore, also against Milwaukee on May 10th. On July 31st, Barry Zito would throw one for the A's against White Sox.

Royals on the field
The no-hitter aside, the Royals took a step back this month. The Boys in Blue won 3 in a row to start the month, but then proceeded to drop 9 in a row to Baltimore, Anaheim, Seattle, and Texas. This was almost worse than the losing streak to start the season as only Anaheim has a winning record among those teams. The overall record for the month was a disappointing 10-17 which helped us maintain our stranglehold on the worst record in the league.

Draft Day
Coming into the draft, we had two first rounders (ours at #4 and the White Sox at #18), no second rounders this year or next due to the Armas trade but Cincy's 3rd rounder (#3) as well as our own(#4). It should be noted that I missed the first few picks of the draft but had sent a list to a friend of mine so he could pick for me. We, like all of the first five, picked an SP, Righty Bobby Brownlie. He's got pretty good AS and CO for a 21yo but the main attraction is that his pitches are already pretty good and will just get better with age. There were only two hitters really worth considering (3B Jeff Baker and 1B Prince Fielder) and we already have players holding down those spots for the future.

I was waffling before the draft and thankfully this friend of mine who picked for me made the right choice, because at 18, I got another of the picks I was considering at 4: Lefty Zach Greinke. He's only 18 but was already well on his way to becoming an ace. Not only that but he has a bit of a "hometown" feel as he was actually drafted by the real Royals this past June. He will be a future ace on this team but before 4-5 years of seasoning in the minors. He's not nearly as ready as Brownlie but has a slightly higher ceiling. With this pick, the three-way trade and draft day suddenly became a success and anything else would be gravy.

With the 3rd pick of the third round, we took a flier on an 18yo 1B would could become a fine hitter but would take some time. Not much else on the board we were very interested in so when the Dodgers came calling, I was more than willing to make a minor trade: I traded him that pick for his 3rd later on in the round and a 3rd next year. Hopefully the draft pool will be stronger next year and that pick will be worth something. With his pick this year, I snagged lefty Darrell May, who is with the Royals and real life, and hopefully he will be worth something. In the 4th round, I picked up righty RP Matt McCarthy and in the 5th, took a flier on SS prospect Khalil Greene: All in all a good night. Brownlie and Greinke are certainly ace-caliber prospects while the others will help fill out our minor leagues.

Just a quick stats primer:
AS, EN for pitchers and SP, AS for hitters are more or less set. If a player is under 21ish, there is still room for some significant movement but after that, speed, arm strength, and endurance are pretty much set so those stats will look higher to start. Young pitchers can have good CO(ntrol) but it's pretty irregular and if they do, they most likely don't have good AS (finesse pitcher vs control pitcher). Hitting prospects have really low ratings for CH and PH because they typically are at 20-30% of their potential before age 19-21. Those numbers will take off a lot more as they age. Contact improves until about 24 and power improves up through about 28. Things like fielding (FA) and players pitches (FB CU SI SL CB SC KN) improve even as a player ages as these are things that can be worked on an entire career.

The draft pool can be found here: http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/amateur02.htm
The draft results can be found here: http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/AD2002d.html


Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
1B *Lysiak, Brian 22 28 39 44 53 48 51 49 52 18 0 L 41 60
SS *Greene, Khalil 29 20 42 43 52 54 47 47 47 19 0 S 26 60

T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *Brownlie, Bobby 81 65 38 40 49 51 48 48 55 70 58 0 62 0 0 0 21 0
L *Greinke, Zack 77 61 28 25 49 54 47 48 52 69 49 62 0 0 0 0 18 0
L *May, Darrell 65 65 42 48 57 60 53 53 50 49 47 57 0 37 0 0 21 0
R *McCarthy, Matt 73 57 35 37 48 46 48 49 49 58 61 0 0 43 0 0 22 0


Royals off the field
Nothing quite so drastic as the previous couple of months. RP Paul Quantrill was signed to bolster the bullpen corps who routinely blew leads. The following players were released, mostly in conjunction with the draft: SS Alejando Machado, SS Jason Smith, SP Ryan Baerlocher, SP Ryan Bukvich, SP Neal Frendling, SP Junior Guerrero, and SP Dan Reichert. Aside from the two aforementioned trades (Mordecai for Dessens) and the draft day trade (with LA), there was only one other trade we made this month. Recently acquired SP prospect Domingo Valdez (from the Gobble trade) and C Mitch Meluskey (from the 3-way trade) were sent to the Dodgers in exchange for 2B prospect and recent 2nd round draftee Bryant Nelson, CF prospect Shane Victorino, and LA's 1st round draft pick for next year. Nelson gives us a nice, young 2B prospect to replace Angel Santos, who relocated to the White Sox clubhouse in last month's trade. While I'm always in favor of collecting good hitting CF prospects- they're versatile in that they can play all three OF spots and they are typically good fielding, which helps out our pitchers. Again, this trade won't be a smashing success until we see what that draft pick turns into but LA's pick should be around where we got Greinke earlier in the month so it should yield something good if I'm smart.

Roster Moves

Waiver Wire
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Quantrill, Paul 66 28 76 50 56 46 49 52 47 66 0 0 0 34 60 0 34 11

Dessens Trade
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
2B Mordecai, Mike 51 51 48 56 51 49 48 49 53 35 7 S 50 48 3B-50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Dessens, Elmer 64 71 73 50 56 46 49 52 47 64 42 0 70 59 0 0 31 4

Los Angeles Trade
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
2B *Nelson, Bryant 35 25 66 48 44 46 50 48 49 20 0 R 45 75
CF *Victorino, Shane 45 37 78 56 56 52 48 49 53 22 0 R 65 52 LF-65, 2B-40
C Meluskey, Mitch 63 63 37 56 51 49 48 49 53 29 3 S 45 50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *Valdez, Domingo 75 66 21 53 56 46 49 52 47 72 0 0 0 45 75 0 22 1


Around the league
Off the field, June was an exceptionally busy month around the league as teams were deciding whether they were in it or not for this year. The Yankees dealt David Wells to the Diamondbacks for a 1st round pick and also dealt 2B Jose Ortiz and SP prospect Ted Lilly to the Orioles for SP Javier Vazquez. After looking at his balance sheet, the Rockies decided to get rid of Manny Ramirez and his salary after acquiring a few weeks ago and sent him to Minnesota for rent-a-3B Scott Rolen and some spare parts. The Rockies continued their trading ways, trading 3B Aaron Boone to the Marlins for LF Cliff Floyd, trading SS Juan Uribe to San Diego for SP phenom Jake Peavy, and then turned around and traded Peavy and an RP prospect to the Mets for SP Bruce Chen and SP draft pick Scott Kazmir. Boston and St Louis swapped bullpens with Jason Isringhausen, Mike Timlin, Jeremy Lambert, Roberto Hernandez, and Robb Nen all finding new homes. The White Sox and Orioles had an 8-player prospect swap with the primaries being SP Jon Rauch going to Baltimore and SP John Stevens going to Chicago. The Mariners and Mets traded 8 players, including C Mike Piazza, RP Armando Benitez, SP James Baldwin, LF prospect Chris Snelling, and SP Prospect Rafael Soriano, and 5 draft picks right before the draft. Finally, the White Sox and Tigers swapped 8 players, mostly prospects but also SPs Mark Buehrle and Jeff Weaver, and the Astros and Mets swapped 8 players and 2 picks including 3B Aramis Ramirez and 3B Hank Blalock. ...And those were only the big trades. Next month is the trade deadline so this section of the monthly wrapup should finally slow down after that.

As for on the field, in the AL West, the A's won 9 of 10 to start the month and 7 of 9 to end it as they took full control of the AL home field race. The Angels tried to keep pace in the AL west, winning 7 at one point, while the Mariners played mediocre ball and the Rangers played even worse to essentially drop out of the race. The Brewers continued to lead a mediocre AL Central, winning 7 in a row and 6 of 7 during parts of June. The White Sox faded some, Twins stepped up a little (won 9 of 11), and the Indians (8 straight losses) and the Royals continued to battle for the cellar. The Yankees lost 4 and 5 in a row but also reeled of wins in 10 of 11 games to remain ahead in the AL East. The Red Sox were slightly above .500 on the month and the Orioles and Blue Jays were slightly below while the Tigers has losing streaks of 13 of 14 and 7 of 8 to challenge the Royals for the low mark of the league.

The Dodgers lost 7 in a row to begin the month but then won 16 of 21 the rest of the way, essentially closing out the NL West race 3 months early as the Padres, Giants, and Diamondbacks have all put together 3 mediocre or worse months. In the NL Central, the Rockies, Cubs, and Astros have pulled away from the Cardinals, sitting near .500, and the Reds who are long out of it. Atlanta's injuries looked to take a toll as they started out losing 8 of 10. However, after an offday on June 13th, they went on to win 13 of 16 to close out the month and show that they are still the Braves. The other two teams in the NL East race, the Pirates and Phillies, played above .500 to remain in it. As for the NL East least, the Mets lost 20 while the Marlins lost 23 on the month.

In June 2002, Dodger rookie Kaz Ishii went 4-0 with 36 IPs and 0 ERs! He only gave up 11 hits the entire month. In the AL, Barry Zito won his second pitcher of the month for the A's, going 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA. Like, Zito, Rafael Palmeiro followed up his April award with June Hitter of the month, hitting .402-9-26. In the NL, Ken Griffey Jr displayed some of his former form, hitting .376-6-25. No Royals were in the top 5, not even Elmer Dessens.

Royals Game of the month
Was there any doubt? A more indepth look at Dessens's no hitter shows he allowed 4 walks and struck out 3. By contrast, the every Royals batter got a hit as they banged out 15 but only managed two runs. Still, when your man throws a no-hitter, you don't need much.



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 15 0
Milwaukee 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1

KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO MILWAUKEE AB R H RBI BB SO
2B Offerman, J. 5 0 1 0 1 0 RF Sanders, R. 4 0 0 0 0 0
CF Bautista, D. 6 0 1 0 0 2 DH Alcantara, I. 4 0 0 0 0 1
3B Randa, J. 5 0 1 0 0 1 C Petrick, B. 4 0 0 0 0 0
DH Sprague, E. 3 1 2 0 1 1 1B Sexson, R. 3 0 0 0 0 0
1B Sweeney, M. 5 0 3 0 0 1 LF Stairs, M. 2 0 0 0 1 1
LF Quinn, M. 4 0 2 0 1 1 2B Young, E. 1 0 0 0 2 0
C Hall, T. 4 1 2 0 1 0 CF Hammonds, J. 2 0 0 0 1 0
RF Aven, B. 5 0 1 0 0 2 3B Beltre, A. 3 0 0 0 0 1
SS Halter, S. 4 0 2 2 1 0 SS Loretta, M. 3 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 41 2 15 2 5 8 TOTALS 26 0 0 0 4 3

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Offerman, J. GDP: Loretta, M.
HBP: Sprague, E.
GDP: Randa, J. BASERUNNING:
Halter, S. Team LOB: 3

BASERUNNING: FIELDING:
Team LOB: 18 E: Sexson, R.
DP: 2
FIELDING:
DP: 1

KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO MILWAUKEE IP H R ER BB SO
Dessens, E. 9.0 0 0 0 4 3 Bierbrodt, N. 5.0 8 1 1 4 5
Gold, J. 2.0 3 1 1 1 1
Fox, C. 2.0 4 0 0 0 2

TOTALS 9.0 0 0 0 4 3 TOTALS 9.0 15 2 2 5 8

PITCHING: PITCHING:
W: Dessens, E. 1-0 L: Bierbrodt, N. 7-4
Pitches - Strikes: HBP: Bierbrodt, N.
Dessens, E. 132-83 Pitches - Strikes:
Bierbrodt, N. 115-67
Gold, J. 38-28
Fox, C. 31-22

Played at: County Stadium in Milwaukee, WI
Time: 3:17 Temp: 77 Wind: 8 mph, out to left


Monthly Wrapup
The no-hitter was nothing you could predict, the draft continued the rebuilding process, but we had a bad month on the field again. All-in-all a good month. We are well on our way to becoming a 100 loss team but we are also on our way to putting together a good team for the future. Sure, it's the same tune I keep humming, but 2004 is the year and I have the patience to wait until then. Stay tuned for the All-Star game next month!

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:34 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: August 1st, 2002
Month In Review: July

Headline of the Month: NL Squad wins All Star Game
Brandon Berger was selected as the Royals lone representative to the All-Star game. He was hitting over .300 with 10 home runs at the break and was proud to represent our team. However he did not see action in the game. Speaking of the game, it was a thrilling 5-4 victory for the NL as Matt Williams doubled home Ken Griffey Jr in the top of the 9th off of Mariano Rivera. Vladamir Guerrero won MVP. For more, here is the official writeup:
CLEVELAND, July 9 -- Closer Mariano Rivera is about as automatic as it gets. Automatic except when pitching in Jacobs Field... http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/2002ASRecap.html
Box Score: http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/2002ASBox.html
Player Selections: http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/2002ASTeams.html

Royals on the field
We went a dismal 9-18 this month including a 9 game losing streak from July 15th to July 24th. Chan Ho Park went 3-3, trying to adjust to his new role as staff ace. He would be stellar one game and miserable the next. The only other mildly bright spot is that Joey Hamilton went 2-0 and relief and was also part of the game of the month below (tho, not his best effort). One hundred, here we come!

Royals off the field
After getting hurt partway through the month, Bautista joined the Beltran, the man he replaced in CF, on the DL which necessitated the signing of Robin Jennings. Fortunately just a couple of weeks earlier, we had sent hard luck SP Brian Rekar to Philly (he had an ERA under 4 but had numerous no decisions and a losing record) for CF prospect Jason Michaels, who took over when Bautista went down. It was the last trade we would make for the year as he was the only piece teams in the race were still interested in.

Roster Moves

Waiver Wire
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
RF Jennings, Robin 50 58 49 56 52 48 48 49 53 30 2 L 50 50 CF-40, LF-50

Philly Trade
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
CF Michaels, Jason 48 70 60 56 56 52 48 49 53 26 1 R 55 50 LF-55
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Rekar, Bryan 61 73 69 50 56 46 49 52 47 61 42 0 56 69 0 0 30 8


Around the league
Oakland only lost 4 games all month (winning 23), on pace to win as many games as the poor Boys in Blue would lose. The Angels faded from the race, having losing streaks of 4, 4, and 3 during the month. However, they were still in the race for Wild Card and it appears the A's will run away with this race (and, possibly, the best record in the league). Texas also has losing streaks of 5 and 7 while the Mariners only won 9 games all month. The Brewers only lost 9 games all month and pulled away as the White Sox lost 10 of 11 to end the month. The Indians had an enigmatic month winning 11 of 12 after losing 10 of 11 while the Twins both won and lost 13 games in July. The Yankees busted out of the All Star break, winning 15 of 18 to end the month. Contrarily, the Blue Jays limped into the All Star game, losing 7 in a row. The Red Sox made some changes (below) to make up for the fact that they were 2 games under .500 for the month. The Tigers and Orioles continued their mediocre seasons.

By the end of July Eric Karros, Mark Grudzielanek, Greg Maddux, Tom Goodwin, Dave Martinez, Andruw Jones (twice), Javy Lopez (and two backups) and Chipper Jones had all spent time if not most of the season on the DL for the Braves. All of this added up to a 9 win month for the Braves, effectively ending any shot they had of competing. The Pirates reeled off a 5 game win streak followed by 2 losses and then 12 wins in a row to take the lead in the division race as the Phillies were below .500 for the month. The Marlins were merely mediocre and the Mets continued their futility winning only 7. At the other end of the spectrum, the Dodgers continued their dominance of the NL West, going 20-7 for the month. The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Giants were varying flavors of average to below for the month. In the Central, the Reds lost 11 straight and the Cards put together win streaks of 4, 3, 3, and 6 during the month. However, this was the division where the big boys in the NL play and either the Rockies, Cubs, or Astros will be left out come playoff time. Of the three, the Rockies pulled slightly ahead of the Astros who were slightly ahead of the Cubs but there are still 2 months to go...

Leading up to deadline week, only one major trade was made. Texas sent two time hitter of the month Rafael Palmeiro and SP Hideki Irabu to Philly for SP Randy Wolf. The last week heated up for Cincy as they positioned themselves for next year. They hooked up with Texas, sending RF Larry Walker to Texas for SP prospect Jimmy Gobble and slugging SS Miguel Tejada. Also, the Rockies, with an eye to the playoffs, sent 2B Alfonso Soriano, LF Mario Encarnacion, and a 1st round pick to the Reds for 2B Todd Walker and SP Tim Hudson. The Mariners sent recently acquired C Mike Piazza to the Yankees for 4 players. Similarly, the Diamondback sent Randy Johnson to the Dodgers for 4 players. Lastly, the Red Sox, wanting to keep up with the Yankees and challenge for a playoff spot sent two players and a draft pick for Pudge Rodriguez, SP Kevin Millwood, and a draft pick on the Braves who had suffered too many injuries to delude themself into thinking they could compete.

Royals Game of the month
Chan Ho Park and 3 relievers combined to strike out 17 Blue Jays on July 31st. Park through 7.1 innings while only giving up 3 hits and striking out 12. On the offensive side of the ball, Joe Crede went 3 for 3 with 2 homers, a single, and a walk. He scored twice and drove in 4. Hopefully Park is starting to get more acclimated with his new surroundings so he can lead us next year.



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 - 6 9 0
Toronto 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 7 0

KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO TORONTO AB R H RBI BB SO
2B Offerman, J. 4 1 1 0 1 1 LF Stewart, S. 5 0 1 1 0 2
SS Halter, S. 4 0 1 1 1 1 SS Lopez, F. 4 0 2 1 1 2
DH Randa, J. 4 0 0 0 1 1 1B Delgado, C. 4 0 0 0 1 2
1B Sweeney, M. 4 0 2 0 1 0 RF Mondesi, R. 3 1 1 1 1 2
C Hall, T. 4 1 0 0 1 1 C Phelps, J. 4 0 0 0 0 4
CF Michaels, J. 4 1 1 0 1 1 3B Hinske, E. 3 1 0 0 1 2
RF Aven, B. 5 1 1 0 0 1 CF Wells, V. 4 1 1 0 0 0
3B Crede, J. 3 2 3 4 1 0 DH Seguignol, F. 2 0 0 0 2 2
LF Jennings, R. 4 0 0 0 0 2 2B Bush, H. 4 0 2 0 0 1

TOTALS 36 6 9 5 7 8 TOTALS 33 3 7 3 6 17

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Offerman, J. HR: Mondesi, R.
Michaels, J.
Aven, B. BASERUNNING:
HR: Crede, J. 2 SB: Lopez, F.
CS: Lopez, F.
BASERUNNING: Team LOB: 9
SB: Sweeney, M.
Team LOB: 10

KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO TORONTO IP H R ER BB SO
Park, C. 7.1 3 1 1 2 12 Carpenter, C. 4.0 3 3 3 6 3
Pettyjohn, A. .1 1 0 0 2 1 Sirotka, M. 5.0 6 3 3 1 5
Stein, B. .1 0 0 0 0 1
Hamilton, J. 1.0 3 2 2 2 3

TOTALS 9.0 7 3 3 6 17 TOTALS 9.0 9 6 6 7 8

PITCHING: PITCHING:
W: Park, C. 9-7 L: Carpenter, C. 5-12
HLD: Stein, B. 5 Pitches - Strikes:
Pitches - Strikes: Carpenter, C. 92-47
Park, C. 114-69 Sirotka, M. 89-59
Pettyjohn, A. 22-9
Stein, B. 4-3
Hamilton, J. 36-24

Played at: SkyDome in Toronto, Canada
Time: 3:30 Indoors.


Monthly Wrapup
July was a somewhat uneventful month on the field and off. One minor trade, an injury, and a pretty crappy month on the field. Oh well. At least we are strengthening our grip on that #1 draft pick for next year. Onto August.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:39 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: September 1st, 2002
Month In Review: August

Headline of the Month: Royals Win 7 in a Row to end Month
It's a slow month when your second biggest headline has to do with either 11 saves in the month or people getting off the DL but the Boys in Blue were kind enough to string together 7 in a row to end the month on a winning note. After losing two of three to the Red Sox and one in Yankee Stadium, another bleak road trip was staring us in the face. However, that Saturday, Jose Lima bested one of the Yankees many aces in Javy Vasquez by throwing seven strong innings, only giving up 6 hits and 1 run. Then, on Sunday, we beat the Yankees again, evening our road trip at 3-3. We then headed home, swept 3 from Detroit, beat Baltimore twice, and ended the month. During the streak we won pretty much every way possible from great outings by our starters to having great stints by our bullpen to just plain outslugging the other team early and late. Finally, something for the hometown fans to cheer for.

Royals on the field
Minus the last week of the month, we continued our typical pattern for this year of win one then lose two. Or at least it seemed that way. We didn't get a consecutive win at all this month until the streak and limped into it, going 6-15 for the month. The seven game win streak, however, brought us to within 2 games of .500 for the month and that was not too shabby, all things considered. Blake Stein was actually our best pitcher for the month, going 3-1 with 2 saves. Our patchwork lineup, however, was ice cold until the end of the month. We will definately need to address that in the offseason. For the curious, we are currently 51-85 on the year. To avoid 100 losses, we will have to go 12-14 in our last 26 games.

Royals off the field
Since the trading deadline was July 31st, we were done with trades until the postseason. Ed Sprague and Brandon Berger sent some time on the DL so we signed 300-year-old Julio Franco to the squad. Joey Hamilton also spent some time on the DL but with our plethora of mediocre pitching, he was easily replaced. Devlin James was released. Two bits of good news during the last week of August, however. After missing all month, slugger and All Star Brandon Berger came back. Even more importantly, after missing nearly the entire season after getting injured the first week, Carlos Beltran was ready to come off the DL.

Roster Moves

Waiver Wire
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Hamilton, Joey 61 66 63 50 56 46 49 52 47 62 0 40 68 54 0 0 32 9
R *James, Delvin 49 55 71 53 56 46 49 52 47 48 0 55 68 42 0 0 25 1

Around the league
Not much this month, off the field, however if you have been keeping track to this thread, the Braves added C Jason Varitek and LF Gary Sheffield to the long list of players who spent this season on the DL for them. Some teams with an eye towards the playoffs would start losing players as well. Colorado lost triple crown threat 1B Todd Helton in the middle of August and it appeared he may not be back in time for the playoffs, should they make it. A trio of possibly playoff bound catchers were lost as the Astros' Paul LoDuca, Brewers' Ben Petrick, and Pirates' Jason Kendall all went down. Also, two managers of struggling teams were fired in August, teams not willing to wait until the offseason. First the Indians canned Bob Boone and named Ron Gardenhire manager and the next week the Rangers fired former Braves skipper Bobby Cox and replaced him with former A's skipper Art Howe. On the day of the second firing, KC Royals GM G****** said "There is no way Hal (McRae) will be fired in the next two years as he is expected to help nuture the team's youth and help bring in players who he thinks can help us win." I think the simple translation to that is that he won't be fired because the GM just brought him back and there isn't nearly enough talent on this team yet.

Oakland all but clinched the AL West, going 22-5 for the month. Anaheim had a less than stellar month and dropped back into a playoff race for the wild card spot with Boston who was on fire this month, winning 19 of 23 after a 1-5 start. It is unlikely they will catch the Yankees who start out the month winning 7 of 8 and pulling well ahead of Boston and coasting towards the finish. In those two divisions, the Mariners, Rangers, Tigers, and Orioles were all withing a handful of games of .500 while the Blue Jays had an atrocious month, starting out 4-4, losing 12 in a row, winning one game at Anaheim, and them promptly losing 6 more in a row before ending the month with a win against the White Sox. Any minute chance they had of the wild card washed away with 18 losses in 19 games. The Brewers had win streaks of 8 and 6 this month, finally pulling away in this weak division, leaving the White Sox, Twins, and Indians to battle for 2-4 with the Royals comfortably in

the basement, even with the win streak.

The NL Central race continues to be tight as the Rockies win 20, Astros 18, and Cubs 16. The Cards and Reds were both slightly below .500 for August. No one in the West really has a good month so the Dodgers maintain their wide lead. In the East, the Phillies had a great month, only losing 8 but the Pirates were close to as good and so the Phils only gained 3 games all month. The Marlins ended the month losing 9 in a row, the Mets had losing streaks of 6, 5, and 4, and the injury saga for the Braves left them below .500 for August.

Royals Game of the month
An exciting comeback for the fans at home. We were down 8-1 in the 3rd and won 15-12. Definately not Elmer's best outing but fortunately no one on their team could stop our offense. All 9 Royals batters got a hit and at least 2 of runs and RBIs combined. Suprisingly, we didn't get a single home run in our 23 hit, 15 run barrage. Paul Quantrill did a great job but Chris George got the win for us. Orber only threw two pitches and got two outs to end the game.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 2 6 0 0 0 2 2 0 - 12 18 1
Kansas City 0 1 3 3 0 3 5 0 - 15 23 0

DETROIT AB R H RBI BB SO KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO
2B Santos, A. 4 1 2 1 0 1 RF Quinn, M. 4 2 1 0 2 0
SS Jeter, D. 5 0 1 1 0 1 LF Aven, B. 5 2 1 0 1 1
RF Young, D. 5 0 2 0 0 2 C Hall, T. 6 2 5 0 0 0
LF Higginson, B. 3 2 1 0 2 0 1B Sweeney, M. 5 3 3 2 1 1
DH Greer, R. 5 3 3 2 0 0 DH Sprague, E. 5 2 1 1 1 0
CF Magee, W. 5 2 2 1 0 3 CF Michaels, J. 6 2 4 3 0 1
1B Johnson, N. 5 2 2 2 0 1 3B Crede, J. 5 2 5 2 0 0
3B Sandberg, J. 5 1 2 1 0 2 SS Halter, S. 2 0 1 3 1 0
C Inge, B. 5 1 3 4 0 0 2B Offerman, J. 5 0 2 3 0 1
2B Garcia, K. 2 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 44 12 18 12 2 10 TOTALS 43 15 23 14 6 4

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Inge, B. 2B: Hall, T.
Santos, A. 2 Sweeney, M.
Jeter, D. Offerman, J.
Magee, W. Crede, J.
Young, D. Michaels, J.
HR: Inge, B. SF: Halter, S.
Johnson, N. HBP: Halter, S.
Greer, R. GDP: Sprague, E.
GDP: Greer, R. Halter, S.
Quinn, M.
BASERUNNING:
Team LOB: 7 BASERUNNING:
CS: Crede, J.
FIELDING: Team LOB: 12
E: Jeter, D.
DP: 3 FIELDING:
DP: 1

DETROIT IP H R ER BB SO KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO
Jennings, J. 4.2 14 7 7 2 2 Dessens, E. 3.0 11 8 8 1 5
Cornejo, N. 1.1 3 3 3 1 1 Quantrill, P. 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
Ankiel, R. .1 1 3 3 2 1 George, C. 3.0 5 4 4 1 3
Patterson, D. 1.2 5 2 2 1 0 Durbin, C. .1 1 0 0 0 0
*Moreno, O. .2 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 8.0 23 15 15 6 4 TOTALS 9.0 18 12 12 2 10

PITCHING: PITCHING:
L: Ankiel, R. 2-3 W: George, C. 1-0
HBP: Jennings, J. HLD: Durbin, C. 1
Pitches - Strikes: SV: *Moreno, O. 9
Jennings, J. 109-64 Pitches - Strikes:
Cornejo, N. 34-24 Dessens, E. 83-55
Ankiel, R. 17-8 Quantrill, P. 23-18
Patterson, D. 42-25 George, C. 49-36
Durbin, C. 13-7
*Moreno, O. 2-2

Played at: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO
Time: 3:44 Temp: 88 Wind: 7 mph, in from right

Monthly Wrapup
We definately ended the month on a good note and we eagerly look towards next year. Typically teams can expand to a 40 man roster for September but we had a two pronged reason, however, to stay with 25. First we wanted a good gauge for next year: Everyone was pretty healthy now and Park and Armas have had a chance to set in. Also, we didn't want to give some rookies major league contracts they didn't earn since it would mean we get to keep them one less year. While most teams use next month to check out youth, most of our decent prospects are either a couple of years away or on the Royals roster so, instead, we hope to see how good our team for next year could be.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:40 PM

Posting Schedule
Frankly, I have no idea if anyone is even reading this but here's what's on tap:

1) If you didn't already know, I'm writing these in retrospect as I didn't really have time last semester to write them during the season. The last month-in-review, September, will be up Sunday or Monday.

2) There are a few season wrap-up posts which I need to get to before free agency and trades. The first will be the Royals year-in-review where I grade our club, post year end stats, and do an overview of the team. Other posts deal with the playoffs, year end awards, final stats, and a draft special with the draft lottery and rule v draft results.

3) After that, it's onto free agency and trades and, believe me, it's been a productive offseason for the Royals. Also, today (well, Saturday), we conducted the minor league free agent draft and that is the last bit of news to take care of before spring training.

4) Last, but not least, a 2003 season preview. An anonymous writer on the league website picked us 3rd in the division for next year but that "[the Royals have] an extremely strong farm system to challenge both of them [Brewers and White Sox] next year and beyond".

Season 2 has not started yet but promises to be exciting for the Boys in Blue. Our season won't be starting for at least two weeks so hopefully I'll have anyone who might be reading caught up before the season starts.

Speaking of which, what format changes would readers like to see for next season? More frequent updates? Or do the monthlies work? More info from around the league? More team stats? Anything? I'm open to suggestions. I probably will add in more "breaking" news, in the way of a trade or major injury, and then resummarize it in the monthly report but other than that I'm not sure what I will do for changes next year and any ideas are greatly appreciated.

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:41 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: October 1st, 2002
Month In Review: September

Headline of the Month: Royals Poor Month Leads to Triple Digit Losses
The Boys in Blue ended the year losing 12 of 14 games and 5 in a row, obliterating any hope of avoiding a 100 loss season. Pitching failure was the primary problem for the team: in 9 games this month, the staff gave up 9 runs or more and it was a total collapse with bad starting pitching and an even worse bullpen. The offense wasn't much better, scoring 3 or less runs in 11 of the contests. The Royals ended the year at 58-104.

Royals on the field
We only won 7 games all month to go with 19 losses. One really bright spot is that Ed Sprague was voted 5th in the AL Hitter of the Month voting. He hit .290 with 5 homers and 21 RBIs. Speaking of which, I keep forgetting to update this in the "Around the League" section with Pitchers and Hitters of the Month so I will pass the information along in a later post with the yearly awards. Chad Durbin got nearly half of the wins for the month, going 3-2. Beltran's future is bright: even after missing most of the season, he had an 18-game hitting streak in September and, amazingly, reached base in all 30 games he played in this season. Joe Crede also has a 15 game road hitting streak that will continue into next year. Unfortunately, on September 21st, Toby Hall had his 79 game errorless streak snapped. Also, Joe Crede had a 21 game hitting streak which stretched from August 21st thru September 13th. Lastly, in the September 21st game against Texas, the team turned 4 double plays.

Royals off the field
Still not much since no trades are allowed. Towards the end of the month, we claimed 2B Ron Belliard off waivers from Minnesota and released Jose Offerman. Also, when we needed a backup SS, we signed Lou Merloni and waived goodbye to Julio Franco. All-in-all, a slow month off the field.

Roster Moves

Waiver Wire
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Hamilton, Joey 61 66 63 50 56 46 49 52 47 62 0 40 68 54 0 0 32 9
R *James, Delvin 49 55 71 53 56 46 49 52 47 48 0 55 68 42 0 0 25 1


Around the league
Rather than write up completely new recaps for around the league, I figured for the final month, I would pass along the weekly writeups by our league commish. Four weeks left and wild card races got very exciting coming down to an unexpected end to the season. Some minor edits were made to get rid of owner names, etc. See the next post for complete results.

Royals Game of the month
It was a rougher than normal month for us so it was tough to find a game of the month. Tony Armas Jr. threw 5 strong innings and 100 pitches before giving way to the bullpen. Durbin threw 3 good innings for the win and Orber threw a perfect 9th for the save. Toby Hall's two-run single in the bottom of the 7th drove in Brandon Berger and Ed Sprague and gave the Royals the lead for good. It was a well played game with good hitting, good fielding, and clutch hitting.



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 6 0

TORONTO AB R H RBI BB SO KANSAS CITY AB R H RBI BB SO
LF Stewart, S. 5 1 1 0 0 1 CF Beltran, C. 4 0 1 0 0 0
SS Lopez, F. 5 0 1 0 0 1 RF Quinn, M. 3 0 1 0 1 0
1B Delgado, C. 2 0 1 0 3 1 SS Merloni, L. 4 0 0 0 0 1
RF Mondesi, R. 4 0 2 1 0 0 1B Sweeney, M. 2 0 0 0 0 2
C Phelps, J. 3 0 0 0 1 2 LF Berger, B. 3 1 1 0 0 0
3B Hinske, E. 3 0 0 0 1 1 DH Sprague, E. 2 1 0 0 1 0
CF Wells, V. 4 0 0 0 0 1 3B Randa, J. 3 0 1 0 0 0
2B Hudson, O. 2 0 1 0 2 0 C Hall, T. 3 0 2 2 0 0
DH Seguignol, F. 4 0 1 0 0 1 2B Offerman, J. 3 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 32 1 7 1 7 8 TOTALS 27 2 6 2 2 3

BATTING: BATTING:
2B: Stewart, S. HBP: Sweeney, M.
GDP: Phelps, J. GDP: Sprague, E.
Merloni, L. 2
BASERUNNING:
SB: Hudson, O. BASERUNNING:
Stewart, S. SB: Berger, B.
Mondesi, R. 2 Team LOB: 4
CS: Lopez, F.
Team LOB: 11 FIELDING:
DP: 1
FIELDING:
DP: 3

TORONTO IP H R ER BB SO KANSAS CITY IP H R ER BB SO
Carpenter, C. 7.0 5 2 2 2 3 Armas, Jr., T. 5.0 5 1 1 5 7
Plesac, D. 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 Durbin, C. 3.0 2 0 0 2 0
*Moreno, O. 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 8.0 6 2 2 2 3 TOTALS 9.0 7 1 1 7 8

PITCHING: PITCHING:
L: Carpenter, C. 8-17 W: Durbin, C. 8-10
HBP: Carpenter, C. SV: *Moreno, O. 13
Pitches - Strikes: Pitches - Strikes:
Carpenter, C. 112-68 Armas, Jr., T. 100-49
Plesac, D. 11-7 Durbin, C. 53-30
*Moreno, O. 10-6

Played at: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO
Time: 2:54 Temp: 73 Wind: 9 mph, out to right
Rain delay of 25 minutes in the 4th inning.


Monthly Wrapup
One of the few goals for the season was to avoid 100 losses and we failed there. Really not much I can say about this month except that we were pretty miserable. Stay tuned for the season wrapup and a really busy offseason. I assure you, as bleak as this year was- there is much hope on the horizon. It was a busy offseason =)

SI

sterlingice

02-04-2003, 11:42 PM

September Around the league
Rather than write up completely new recaps for around the league, I figured for the final month, I would pass along the weekly writeups by our league commish. Four weeks left and wild card races got very exciting coming down to an unexpected end to the season. Some minor edits were made to get rid of owner names, etc.

September Week 1 Preview
Well after June, it looked like 4 teams in each league would all be locks for the playoffs. Well, not so anymore!

In both the American and National Leagues, the Anaheim Angels and the Houston Astros have recently been struggling to hold onto their once seemingly invincible wild card leads.

The Angels' 2nd half collapse coupled with the Boston Red Sox's hot play of late has brought the Red Sox to just 2.5 games behind the Angels for the AL Wild Card spot with just under a month left to play. Boston's in-season acquisitions of catcher Ivan Rodriguez, outfielder Todd Hollandsworth, and pitcher Kevin Millwood have paid huge dividends. Meanwhile, the Angels' effective offense has been crippled by 3 pitchers who all have pitched horribly in extended time. (SSchoeneweis 7.28 in 155.2 IP/ DWall 7.45 in 79.2 IP/ALevine 10.28 in 72.2 IP) The Red Sox start out their upcoming schedule with a huge 3-game set at the Big A in Anaheim, where a sweep of the Angels would give the Red Sox the wild card lead. The scheduled pitching matchups for the series is:

9/3 Casey Fossum 5-8 3.86 v Aaron Sele 12-10 4.74
9/4 Rick Helling 4-17 9.86 v Jarrod Washburn 10-7 3.50
9/5 Kevin Millwood 12-5 4.01 v Scott Schoeneweis 8-12 7.28

Meanwhile, in the NL, the Cubs have kept within 6 or so games of the Astros practically all season and have begun to make their move in the season's final weeks. Buoyed by an exceptional rotation (including the emergence of rookie Ben Christensen) the Cubs now find themselves just 2.5 games behind Houston. The Astros have not only played poorly as of late, they'll now have to try to fend off the Cubs without the services of 2nd baseman Craig Biggio (ruptured disc in the back) and reliever Mark Guthrie (stress-fracture of the radius), both of whom will miss the regular season. Keith Ginter is the current favorite to start at 2nd for Houston, although minor-leaguer David Matanga could be turned to if the Astros become desperate. The team is struggling right now to find the answers to turn this team around, and the return of pitcher Ryan Rupe should only help matters. Both teams will take on Western clubs this week in an attempt to reach the promised land.

September Week 1 Summary
A's and Dodgers Clinch!
Congratulations to... the Oakland A's and... Los Angeles Dodgers who clinched their respective divisions this season!

Tight Wild Card Races Continue
Boston finds itself just 1 game behind the Angels for the AL Wild Card, after taking 2 out of 3 from the Halos and 3 out of 4 from the Rangers. Both teams have 78 victories, but Anaheim is 2 down in the loss column. Minnesota is also 6 games back.
In the NL, the Cubs tied it up with the Stros at one point, but finished the week 2.5 games out. 6 games against the Mets and Marlins this week may give the Cubs an opportunity to cut the gap even more.

September Week 2 Summary
Yankees, Brewers Clinch!
Congratulations to Tom Gorman of the Milwaukee Brewers, who switched leagues and turned his franchise from a cellar-dwellar into a division champion. The Brewers emerged as the 2002 AL Central Champions this week, joining the New York Yankees who won the AL East this week, and the Oakland A's, who clinched last week.

Wild Card Battles Heating Up
The only remaining playoff spot in the AL is that of the Wild Card, and the Red Sox cut the Angels' lead to just half a game. [The Angels stand] at 81-68, .5 in front of [the] 81-69 Red Sox. Boston takes on the Indians and Yankees on the road this week while the Angels face a tough assignment on the road vs. the A's and then head back home for 3 vs. the Mariners.

In the NL, the Astros increased their lead over the Cubs in the Wild Card race to 3 games. The two face off in a crucial 3-game set for [the Cubs] at the Astrodome this week. Meanwhile, the Rockies are very close to locking up the NL Central, as are the Pirates in the East.

Big Injuries Plauge Playoff Teams
Two World Series hopefuls suffered big losses this week. The Yankees lost their 2nd basemen Ray Durham to a broken kneecap. Durham, the Yanks' #2 batter and All-Star reserve, finishes the year with a .289 average, 21 home runs, 57 RBI, and 58 steals along with 105 runs scored and 50 doubles. Yankees manager Joe Torre indicated that the untested Mark Lewis and utility man Lou Collier will share the position. Trade acquisition Luis Castillo will remain on the bench as a pinch-runner.

Perhaps even more damaging was the loss of 1B/C Craig A. Wilson in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. Wilson's fractured ulna will keep him out of the playoffs and Kevin Young will have to take over at 1st base. Wilson hit. 346 with 28 homers and 111 RBI as a key cog in the middle of Pittsburgh's order. A potential NL Division Series matchup of Colorado and Pittsburgh could feature 2 clubs who are playing without their 1st string 1st basmen (Todd Helton and Wilson).

Triple Crown Threats!
Two Triple Crown Threats as we play out the final 2 weeks of the year.

In the AL, Seattle's DH/LF Ruben Sierra is 1st in average (.352), 1st in homers (41), and 2nd in RBI (102). He's 1 behind in RBI to teamate Mike Cameron.

In the NL, Pittsburgh's Brian Giles is 1st in homers (36) and RBI (124), but is 3rd in average (.360) and needs to gain 7 points to catch up with Colorado's Todd Helton, who is at .367 despite being out for the year with an injury.

September Week 3 Summary
Pirates and Rockies Clinch Divisions
Congratulations to John Church of Pittsburgh and Dana Dillingham of Colorado who clinched the NL East and NL Central respecitvely. Great work guys!

Wild Cards Still In Question
The Red Sox had an awful week, going just 1-5. They got swept by the Indians and lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees. Luckily for their playoff chances, the Angels did not fare much better. Anaheim uncharacteristically took 2 out of 3 from Oakland, but was swept by the Mariners at home! The Angels now have a 1.5 game lead heading into the final week. They host the ChiSox for 4 and go to Arlington to play the Rangers for 3. Meanwhile, the Red Sox conclude the year at home to face the Orioles and Tigers. They have Pedro Martinez lined to take the hill for a potential deciding game on the season's last day against Detroit. Texas and Minnesota are longshots but still in it; both teams are 4 games out.

In the NL, the Cubs managed to take 2 of 3 from the Stros (both extra-inning wins) as welll as 2 of 3 from the Braves. But the Astros did them one better by sweeping the Marlins, to maintain their 3.5 game lead in the Wild Card race. It will take something of a miracle for the Cubs to get the playoff berth now. They'll be on the road for 4 in Philly and 3 in Denver just as the Astros face the same 2 clubs.

Big Playoff Injuries
The Pirates lost another huge part of their offense when Brian Giles broke his cheekbone. He'll miss at least the Division Series. The Pirates will find themselves down 2-100 RBI man when they take on the Colorado Rockies in a likely Division Series matchup. Craig Wilson was injured last week, and the Bucs are down to just Vladimir Guerrero among their impressive offensive troika.

The Yankees also lost another key starter when 3B/DH Chris Truby came down with an inflamed ACL. Robin Ventura will step in to claim his old job at 3rd base for the playoffs.

Milwaukee also lost its catcher, Ben Petrick for 2-4 weeks and will have to go with Tyler Houston behind the plate. Reserve Matt Stairs also went down but the BrewCrew did get 1B Richi Sexson healthy.

Triple Crown Report
Ruben Sierra didn't have one of the best weeks relatively speaking. He lost the batting average lead to the Rangers' Larry Walker, who now leads .349 to .346. Ruben is comfortably ahead in home runs, but trails teammate Mike Cameron in RBI by 3, 108-105.

In the NL, Brian Giles' season will end with him batting .358 (2nd) with 37 homers (1st) and 125 RBI (1st). Since both he and Todd Helton (.367) are done for the year, Giles will fall short of the Triple Crown.

September Week 4 Summary
How the Wild Cards Were Won
In the American League, Boston entered the week 1.5 games behind the Angels, but the Red Sox managed to tie it up by Sunday, thanks to taking 2 out of 3 from the Orioles and then winning their first two from the Tigers. Faced with an injured Casey Fossum to go on Friday, Manager Gene Lamont made gutsy calls by going to Andy Pettitte and Pedro Martinez on short rest to win Friday's and Saturday's games, but was forced to go back to Fossum on Sunday when nobody else could pitch.

Boston was down 6-1 in the 9th inning, but rallied to score 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win 7-6! This forced the Angels to win their season finale against the Texas Rangers. Starter Aaron Sele gave up 7 runs early, but just as the Angels looked like they would lose the Wild Card on the season's last day, Anaheim put up one of its trademark 10-run spots in the 6th inning, all off loser Colby Lewis. Despite giving up 2 more runs in the 8th, the Angels held off the Rangers to win 10-9 and take home the AL Wild Card by virtue of their 23-16 divisional record (vs. that of 23-25 for Boston).

In the National League, things were just as exciting. The Cubs were down 3.5 games entering the week and it looked like they'd need a miracle to get into the playoffs. Well, a miracle is exactly what they got. The Cubs took 3 out of 4 from the Phillies, and also managed to split the first two against the Rockies. Meanwhile, the Astros continued their losing ways, getting swept by the Rockies, and losing the first 2 of 3 to the Phillies.

So entering Sunday, the Cubs were 1 back with 1 left to play for both clubs. Needing to win, Chicago sent Kerry Wood to the hill with their season on the line. Wood didn't pitch that well, and the Cubs were down 8-4 in the 9th but rallied for four runs off Colorado closer Chris Nichting to send the game into extra innings! 3 in the 12th gave the Cubs the lead, which they nearly squandered when Antonio Alfonseca coughed up 2 more in the bottom frame. But the Cubs escaped with an 11-10 victory.

The Astros now controlled their own destiny, needing just a win to get the Wild Card. Wade Miller gave up 2 runs in 6IP, but Houston found itself trailing 5-1 in the 9th inning. But just like in every other meaningful game, the Astros rallied to tie it with 4 runs, sending the game into extras. Alas, they did not come out victorious as Ryan Rupe let a run come across in the 10th to give the Phils the victory and the Cubs the Wild Card! (28-22 intradivisional record vs. 25-25)

SI

sterlingice

02-07-2003, 07:20 PM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: October 1st, 2002
2002 Season In Review

If you haven't been keeping up, here's your chance to catch up. It's the season in a nutshell along with a little bit of news.

Draft Lottery
The league conducts a draft lottery to try and prevent teams from dumping the season to get a better draft pick. In the end, we avoided the basement and tied for the 2nd worst record in the league. This gave us the 2nd most "ping pong balls" in the drawing and lady luck was on our side as my number came up and we got the number 1 pick for next year. Perhaps things are starting to look up. Two through five went to the Blue Jays, Reds, Orioles, and Braves. The worst and third worst records did not win any picks and, thus, the Marlins and Giants will be picking six and seven.

Headlines of the Year

Royals Overhaul Team
Gone are the Angel-squared middle infield of the future (Santos and Berroa), top pitching prospect Jimmy Gobble, and essentially the entire pitching staff. But we have picked up Chan Ho Park, Tony Armas Jr, Joe Crede, and a slew of prospects. It's likely we will have a very good nucleus to compete with in 2004.

Royals Log Triple Digit Losses
Not so stellar was our performance this year. We lost over 100 and that was about the only thing I was trying to avoid this year. Not all bad news, however, as this was a blessing in disguise. The goal for next year is .500 and then the playoffs in 2004.

Dessens Throws No-Hitter
The onfield highlight of the year was easy to find. Just a couple of weeks after acquiring him from the Rockies, Elmer Dessens no hit the Brewers. As soon as the Boys in Blue returned from their homestand, Kansas City held Elmer Dessens day. Unfortunately he was not able to build off of it and reverted back to the pitching form he displayed in Coors. This is probably the only reason why he is still on the team.

Royals Stat Leaders


TEAM STATS

BATTING
Pos Name Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO RC OBP Slg SB CS GDP LHP RHP E Pct
1B Sweeney, Mike .255 156 612 75 156 37 0 8 48 70 74 71 .334 .355 8 2 34 .301 .242 46 .971
RF Quinn, Mark .279 142 570 67 159 34 0 10 54 56 91 76 .346 .391 9 1 27 .292 .275 0 1.000
SS Halter, Shane .270 146 534 71 144 27 0 16 74 47 87 71 .330 .410 6 1 16 .273 .268 20 .974
2B Offerman, Jose .280 150 532 67 149 30 0 7 53 55 81 69 .349 .376 5 3 23 .241 .294 25 .966
1B Sprague, Ed .294 128 487 63 143 29 0 12 66 58 83 76 .370 .427 7 3 25 .275 .299 9 .943
C Hall, Toby .299 118 462 56 138 21 0 13 69 47 81 71 .360 .429 7 4 14 .375 .274 2 .998
LF *Berger, Brandon .298 115 446 70 133 37 1 13 66 48 79 77 .370 .473 27 2 16 .381 .273 0 1.000
3B Randa, Joe .243 108 436 39 106 23 0 3 45 33 69 40 .306 .317 3 6 20 .241 .244 6 .978
SS Merloni, Lou .224 101 362 36 81 17 0 2 29 29 61 29 .278 .287 7 3 27 .177 .241 5 .972
CF Bautista, Danny .285 77 302 44 86 15 0 6 27 36 49 42 .363 .394 19 4 14 .220 .298 0 1.000
LF Aven, Bruce .253 71 273 25 69 15 0 5 29 16 55 29 .297 .363 2 0 14 .362 .216 0 1.000
3B *Crede, Joe .285 65 239 25 68 12 0 7 38 18 45 33 .333 .423 2 2 12 .309 .277 3 .976
CF *Michaels, Jason .278 57 212 24 59 15 0 3 20 12 54 26 .319 .392 4 0 11 .224 .294 1 .994
CF Beltran, Carlos .382 31 123 11 47 9 0 1 8 14 14 26 .462 .480 14 5 3 .302 .425 0 1.000
C Mayne, Brent .298 35 121 14 36 6 0 1 12 9 15 15 .343 .372 0 1 5 .194 .333 1 .995
RF Jennings, Robin .229 19 70 10 16 3 0 1 3 7 20 6 .304 .314 1 1 2 .267 .218 0 1.000
P Armas, Jr., Tony .167 45 18 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 8 0 .167 .222 0 0 1 .000 .231 2 .931
P Park, Chan Ho .000 35 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .333 .000 0 0 1 .000 .000 0 1.000
P Dessens, Elmer .000 43 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .000 0 0 0 .000 .000 1 .964

Royals .262 162 5506 646 1440 271 0 164 586 548 1031 723 .334 .400 115 52 246 .259 .262 108 .982
Opponents .282 162 5637 826 1589 311 1 206 757 597 1027 883 .354 .447 188 74 188 .300 .279 81 .987

PITCHING
T Name W L Pct ERA IP H HR BB SO OAvg OSlg G GS QS CG IR IRS Sv Hld LHB RHB
R Park, Chan Ho 11 12 .478 3.96 184.1 160 14 66 174 .231 .348 34 29 16 3 0 0 0 1 .237 .225
R Lima, Jose 4 14 .222 5.47 153.0 217 25 50 82 .343 .541 32 24 7 1 5 3 1 1 .340 .346
R Lidle, Cory 5 14 .263 5.65 149.2 194 21 48 87 .318 .505 31 29 8 1 0 0 0 0 .340 .302
R Armas, Jr., Tony 3 6 .333 4.52 145.1 153 11 72 121 .271 .388 44 26 8 0 7 4 0 2 .259 .280
R Durbin, Chad 9 10 .474 5.94 138.0 169 24 60 74 .306 .496 52 11 9 0 19 3 5 1 .291 .319
R Dessens, Elmer 3 8 .273 5.29 126.0 163 17 38 65 .315 .465 43 20 9 1 5 1 2 0 .335 .301
R Stein, Blake 7 7 .500 6.05 108.2 121 15 77 65 .289 .464 61 0 0 0 30 7 4 11 .299 .281
R *Asencio, Miguel 5 3 .625 7.64 86.0 119 13 75 48 .331 .524 36 0 0 0 24 13 1 2 .388 .284
R Quantrill, Paul 2 4 .333 5.96 80.0 113 11 35 51 .338 .530 49 0 0 0 21 9 3 3 .344 .333
L Pettyjohn, Adam 3 1 .750 6.24 70.2 92 15 46 56 .312 .519 27 1 0 0 11 0 2 2 .325 .307
R Hamilton, Joey 2 2 .500 5.40 66.2 86 8 30 47 .320 .461 24 5 1 0 5 1 1 4 .331 .311
R *Langone, Steve 2 3 .400 5.12 38.2 40 7 17 14 .274 .486 10 7 1 0 4 2 1 0 .219 .317
L *Affeldt, Jeremy 0 7 .000 8.90 31.1 53 9 16 23 .368 .611 10 7 1 0 2 0 0 0 .359 .371
L George, Chris 1 2 .333 9.60 30.0 45 6 19 10 .366 .610 14 0 0 0 7 2 1 1 .353 .371
R *Moreno, Orber 2 1 .667 3.62 27.1 26 6 16 21 .245 .453 33 0 0 0 28 11 13 4 .231 .259
R Wilson, Kris 1 3 .250 7.90 27.1 40 9 10 11 .351 .649 7 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 .353 .349
R *Andersen, Derek 2 3 .400 16.20 6.2 17 2 4 6 .472 .639 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 .333 .571

Royals 58 104 .358 4.80 1426.2 1589 206 597 1027 .282 .447 162 162 76 1 111 34 24 29 .279 .284
Opponents 104 58 .642 3.74 1450.0 1440 164 548 1031 .262 .400 162 162 93 1 137 30 51 63 .284 .251

Team Avg AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO RC OBP SLG SB CS GDP LHP RHP E Pct.
Kansas City Royals .277 5676 685 1571 334 3 104 620 545 948 756 .343 .392 118 38 256 .288 .273 136 .979

Team W L Pct ERA IP H HR BB SO OAvg Slg QS CG ShO IR IRS Sv Hld LHB RHB
Kansas City Royals 58 104 .358 5.75 1437.1 1821 212 642 916 .311 .484 60 5 4 166 58 32 29 .316 .307



Our only representatives in the league top tens were two pitchers but at least we didn't get shut out.
Saves, 9th, 13 saves, Orber Moreno
Strikeouts, 7th, 174Ks, Chan Ho Park

More fun statistical notes:
(I can't help but notice most of the records that involve our team were against us not for us)
While Carlos Beltran only played in 30 games this year, he reached base safely in all 30. Hopefully he can continue this streak next year.
Toby Hall had three homers on May 13, 2002 versus Seattle.
Chan Ho Park had 12Ks in a game on July 31, 2002 versus Toronto, and had a 6 game winning streak at one point.
He also threw three complete games, good for second in the league, 6th for opponents batting average of .231, and was fourth in the league with a K/9 of 8.50
Brandon Berger was second in the league in stolen base percentage with 27 out of 29 which equates to .931
Danny Bautista qualified for ninth with 19 of 23 for a .826
From the file of things best left unsaid, Miguel *Asencio walked 9 on May 20, 2002 versus Anaheim much like real life where he threw 16 straight balls to start his mlb career.
Mike Sweeney was tied for 3rd in the league with 34 times grounded into a double play. His awful average was 4th worst in the league among qualified players. We can find no reason for that but it will have to improve. However, he was 9th in the league with 1K every 8.26ABs.
Ed Sprague got 5th in hitter of the month for September
Joe Crede and Carlos Beltran had hitting streaks of 21 and 18, respectively, during the season
Toby Hall and Joe Randa had errorless streaks of 79 and 38 games.
Brandon Berger was in the top 15 of most rookie hitting categories including tied for 5th with 37 doubles and 5th in steals with 27.
Orber's 13 saves were good for 2nd on the rookie list, but, unfortunately, his 7 blown saves tops the list

Closing
As bad as this season was at points, I just had to keep reminding myself that this was all for 2004 and that if I could just hold out patience until then, everything would be all right. We took our lumps but we should be able to turn that around in a couple of years with some more good trades and a good free agent class. Good draft picks this year and next shouldn't hurt either and who knows what trades or free agents might fall into my lap. Next up is the season wrapup including playoffs, awards, and other news.

SI

Qwikshot

02-08-2003, 11:10 AM

More, more and what, no arrogant pitcher who speaks in the 3rd person, for shame!!!

sterlingice

02-08-2003, 06:01 PM

I'm gradually catching up. The 2003 season just started Thursday. I hope to have the season ending stuff up this week (playoffs, awards, etc) but I have a test, paper, and project but by the end of next week I hope to have the offseason and the beginning of season 2. Maybe even the April month in review but I'm not sure we'll have simmed that by then.

Qwikshot, if I had you in the pen this past year, I would have won 10 more games whether you had spoken in the first, second, or third person. Thankfully I remedied my bullpen problem, at least somewhat, and more problems than that. I've been working on the season year in review but we have a sim tonight and I'm not sure I'll be done by that time. If not, it will be tomorrow.

SI

Posting Schedule (tenative)
Season Wrapup: League
Playoffs
MVPs, Awards
Streaks
Events

Offseason: Pt 1
Retirements
Rule V

Offseason: Pt 2
Trades

Offseason: Pt 3
FA Rounds 1-2

Offseason: Pt 4
FA Rounds 3-7
Free Agent Draft

Offseason: Pt 5
Royals offseason wrapup
Royals season preview
Growth and Spring Training Improvements

Offseason: Pt 6
League Preview

then, onto 2003

sterlingice

02-17-2003, 04:17 AM

2002 DP PLAYOFFS

Preview
Needless to say, the Royals were not in the playoffs this year (or else this writeup would probably be a bit longer). If I had to handicap the race, I would say the Rockies are the prohibitive favorite in the NL with the Dodgers being a second favorite if I had to choose one. For the AL, it's the A's and Yankees. The first round finds the Wild Card Angels going to Oakland and Milwaukee visiting Yankee Stadium for 3 of 5. In the NL, the Wild Card Cubs must brave Coors Field while the Pirates will face the Dodgers.

Divisional Series

1. AL West Champ Oakland Athletics vs 4. AL Wild Card Anaheim Angels
After AL Cy Young award canidate Barry Zito got roughed up in game 2, the A's were tied 1-1 with two games in Anaheim on tap. Kevin Brown threw 7 strong innings and the A's offense erupted in the final 3 frames to win 7-1 in the first game. However, Zito got hammered in game 2 and the A's season was in doubt. In the crucial game 3, Jermaine Dye took Aaron Sele deep in the bottom of the 1st and Eric Hiljus and the bullpen combo of Chad Harville and Chad Bradville scattered just 5 hits over 9 innings as the A's won 1-0. In game 4, Oakland jumped out to a 6-1 4th inning lead and never looked back, winning 7-4 and clinching the spot opposite the Yankees in the ALCS.

2. AL East Champ New York Yankees vs 3. AL Central Champ Milwaukee Brewers
The Yankees pitching decimated the Brewers who only managed to score 4 runs over 3 games. The Yankees big three of Clemens, Mussina, and Vazquez had a microscopic ERA of 1.64 in 22IP and the bullpen was even better, throwing 5 scoreless innings. The three game sweep moves the Yankees into the round of 4.

1. NL Central Champ Colorado Rockies vs 4. NL Wild Card Chicago Cubs
The series that looked the most lopsided on paper went the full 5 games. Games 1 and 2 were pitching duels in which the Cubs Jason Bere beat the Rockies Tim Hudson followed by the Rockies CC Sabathia shutting out the Cubs and saddling Ben Christensen with the loss. In game 3, Jon Lieber threw 6 solid innings while the Cubs offense jumped all over rockies starter John Wasdin, winning by a score of 9-4. Game 4 saw an extra inning Rockies win as the Cubs scored in the 8th and 9th to send it to extra innings but the Rockies scored in the 10th to even the series at 2 games apiece, heading back to Coors for game 5. In game 5, the Cubs roughed up Rockies starter CC Sabathia and then Bruce Chen for 7 runs but the Rockies offense was not to be counted out. In the 8th they scored 1 but left the bases loaded and in the 9th, they scored two before Victor Zambrano closed the door and continued this improbable run by the Cubs.

2. NL West Champ Los Angeles Dodgers vs 3. NL East Champ Pittsburgh Pirates
In game 1, NL Cy Young and ROY canidate Kaz Ishii threw 7 innings of shutout ball and outdueled the Pirates Kris Benson, leading the Dodgers to the 2-0 win. In game 2, the Pirates crushed Dodgers starter Matt Morris for 8 runs in the first two innings before chasing him from the game en route to a 9-5 win. Similarly, in game 3, Randy Johnson got roughed up for 6 in the 4th and 5th before being pulled and Vlad Guerrero went 4 for 5 including a double and homer, leading to the 9-2 Pirates win. In game 4, Shawn Estes, Josh Fogg, and Kip Wells combined on a 7-hit shutout and Vlad went 3-5 to complete the upset of the Dodgers and the most improbable combination in the NLCS.

League Championship Series

1. AL West Champ Oakland Athletics vs 2. AL East Champ New York Yankees
This was essentially the clash of the titans that was expected at season's beginning. Both of these teams boast five quality SPs with all 10 having ERAs under 4. The Yankees are led by their big three of Clemens, Mussina, and Vazquez while the A's counter with Kevin Brown, Barry Zito and a suprising combination of Geraldo Guzman and Erik Hiljus, both of whom won double digit games and had ERAs under 3 with 200 IPs. The As have a balanced hitting attack with seven players with 15 or more homers and 4 of those hitting over .300. The Yankees also have 7 guys with 15 or more home runs but they have a bit more power and hit for slightly less average.

In game 1, the Yankees put together a furious rally of 7 runs in the 8th, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 9-5 triumph. A good effort by Kevin Brown was wasted as Norm Charlton took the brunt of the Yankee assault. Barry Zito and Javy Vazquez locked up in a pitchers duel until the bullpens took over and Bobby Estalella hit a walkoff 9th inning homer for the A's, squaring the series as they headed to New York. In Game 3, Mike Mussina and Erik Hiljus were the starting pitching duelists but Oakland scored in the 8th and then 2 in the 10th to win 4-2 in 10 innings. Roger Clemens threw 8 strong innings and outdueled Geraldo Guzman to win game 4 2-1. In the last game in New York, solo homers by Jose Vidro and Carlos Pena were the difference as Kevin Brown beat Javy Vasquez 2-0. Barry Zito kept the Yankees in check for 1 run in 7 innings as the A's built a 4-1 lead but the Yankees rallied for 1 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to send the game into extra frames. However, the A's were too much as Eric Chavez hit a walkoff 11th inning homer to send the Yankees home and the A's to the World Series in 6 games.

3. NL East Champ Pittsburgh Pirates vs 4. NL Wild Card Chicago Cubs
Contrary to the ALCS, the NLCS featured two unlikely players. The NL East was decidely the worst division in baseball this year and the Cubs were the unlikely wild card team not only because they were the Cubs but because they beat out a Houston team with superior talent. The Pirates dominating offense is led by their corner OF MVP-canidate combo of Vladimir Guerrero (.359-32-104) and Brian Giles (.358-37-125) and their infield starters who averaged over .300 and hit 79 homers on the year. Their pitching, however, is a patchwork of veterans (John Burkett and David Cone both went 15-10) and injury prone (Kris Benson went 13-5; Shawn Estes, 12-9). However, they boasted All Star reliever and MLB saves leader Josias Manzanillo in the 9th inning of games. The Cubs are led by the pitching quartet of Wood, Lieber, Trachsel, and Bere. All won over 10 games and all had ERAs under 4. On offense, 2B Roberto Alomar, LF Moises Alou, RF Sammy Sosa, 1B Fred McGriff, and C Todd Hundley all hit over .285 with 18 or more homers.

In an epic game 1, the Pirates jump out to a 5-1 lead but the Cubs score in the 4th, 5th, 7th, and then in the 9th off of Manzanillo to send the game to extra frames. In the 12th, the Pirates tack on a run in the top of the inning but the Cubs score 2 in the bottom of the 12th to win 7-6. Brian Giles and Todd Hundley were both injured in the game and will be out at least for the duration of the series. In game 2, the Cubs Jon Lieber threw 7 strong innings and a Corey Patterson sac fly hung the loss on hard luck loser David Cone. In game 3, the Cubs scored 2 in the 8th to tie the game at 4 before Manzanillo came in and shut them down and the Pirates scored in the bottom of the 9th for an exciting win. The Pirates crushed NLDS hero Jason Bere and the Cubs bullpen and won 10-7 despite not getting the best pitching from Kip Wells who only went 4. The Cubs returned the favor, hitting 3 homers and clubbing John Burkett and Steve Kline 9-4 in the pivotal game 5. Jon Lieber made sure the Cubs wouldn't blow the series lead again, throwing 8 shutout innings, scattering 5 hits and striking out 8. The Cubs are heading to the World Series for the first time since 1945.

World Series

1. AL West Champ Oakland Athletics vs 4. NL Wild Card Chicago Cubs
It's quite simply a battle of David vs Goliath. The A's were expected to be here from the first day of the season while the Cubs suprised everyone just by getting into the playoffs. From the League World Series Preview: "The A's will go into the World Series without their offensive and defensive core as All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez tore his quadriceps in Game 3 of the ALCS and will miss the next 3-4 months. Carlos Pena, Jose Vidro, and Jermaine Dye are also all banged up for the A's, who now face their first serious injury crisis." Aside from Hundley being hurt, the Cubs are healthy which is the only advantage they have in this series. Here are the official league writeups for the games:

Game 1
With ace Kevin Brown on the hill, Oakland was confident going into Game 1. According to plan, the A's held a 4-0 lead heading into the 8th inning thanks to a 3-run homer by Olmedo Saenz off Kerry Wood in the 1st. The Cubs came back however against Brown, Jim Mecir, and Tim Crabtree in the 8th as Sammy Sosa hit a 3-run bomb to cut the A lead to 4-3. After the A's picked up a run off Kyle Farnsworth in the bottom frame, Chicago came back to tie the game at 5 in the 9th thanks in part to a Saenz error at 1st base. The game entered extra innings tied at 2, and Steve Trachsel and Chad Bradford got through the 10th without incident. In the 11th, the Cubs made their bid to win, as Corey Patterson's sac fly scored Ivanon Coffie from 3rd base. The A's, down 6-5 in the 11th now, got Menechino aboard on a single. After Chris Singleton struck out, Mark Ellis stood at the plate as the go-ahead run. Manager Jack McKeon brought in Jeremy Giambi (a last-minute roster addition) to hit for Ellis and Giambi responded with a walk-off 2-run jack to give the A's an amazing 7-6 11-inning victory in Game 1.

Game 2
Barry Zito tossed 8 shutout innings and Jermaine Dye hit a 2-run homer to lead the A's past the Cubs in a 3-0 shutout in Game 2. Eric Chavez also had a RBI single for the A's and Chad Bradford pitched the 9th for the save. Jon Lieber struckout 9 through 8 innings but gave up 3 runs. Sammy Sosa collected the Cubs' only 2 hits. The A's now head to Wrigley Field with a 2-0 game lead.

Game 3
Oakland hit 6 home runs off Cub pitching, including 2 from Eric Chavez, en route to a laugher in Gmae 3 of the World Series, a 14-0 shutout. It was the 2nd straight shutout thrown by A pitching as reliever Justin Duchscherer got the win in relief of an injured Erik Hiljus. The Cubs' Jason Bere and Steve Trachsel were the victimes of 13 A' hits and 14 runs. Chavez had 4 RBI and Frank Menechino 6 to pace the A attack. Moises Alou had 2 hits for the Cubs who now face elimination in Game 4 of the series with rookie Ben Christensen headed to the mound.

Game 4
Sammy Sosa hit 2 home runs to single-handedly beat the A's and stave off elimination in Game 4, a 7-5 Cub victory. Ben Christensen gave up 10 hits and 5 runs for the Cubs, but was able to last 7 innings to save the Cub pen. Eric Chave and Jermaine Dye hit homers for the A's, who lost their starting pitcher in the 1st due for the 2nd straight game, this time due to ineffectiveness from Geraldo Guzman. Justin Duchscherer went the rest of the way for the A's. Corey Patterson also collected 3 hits for the Cubs who'll once again have their back to the wall in Game 5 of the series.

Game 5
Oakland scored 1 run in the 4th, 4 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, and 1 in the 8th and survived an Ivanon Coffie home run in the 9th en route to a relatively easy 7-2 victory and the 2002 Double Play Baseball World Series Championship. Kevin Brown pitched 6 solid innings, Jose Vidro hit a solo homer, and Olmedo Saenz and Bobby Estalella both picked up 2 RBIs for the A's. Sammy Sosa went 4-4 for the Cubs, but it was not enough as the Cubs lost the series 4 games to 1. Kevin Brown was named Series MVP, as he allowed only 1 earned run in 13.1 World Series innings in his Game 1 and 5 starts. Despite the absence of shortstop Alex Rodriguez and a sidelining injury to Carlos Pena, the A's won the series in fairly convincing fashion, shutting out the Cubs twice and busting out for 36 runs in the 5 games while only allowing Chicago to score 13.

And after months of playing, the Oakland A's win the World Series. Next up, 2002 season awards.
Playoff Central (http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/Playoffs02.html)
Divisional Series Box Scores (http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/DSall_box02.htm)
Championship Series Box Scores (http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/LCSall_box02.htm)
World Series Box Scores (http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/WSall_box02.htm)

SI

sterlingice

02-17-2003, 04:46 AM

DOUBLE PLAY 2002-2003 OFFSEASON BOOKKEEPING SPECTACULAR
Lots of odds and ends in here. Awards didn't make it into this post and will be in the next one. Rule V draft will also have a future post. Hopefully I can get both of those done tomorrow night so I can get onto Free Agency and the season preview. As of Tuesday night, April 2003 will just be a memory so I need to get close to caught up.

Retirements
Below are the players who retired following the 2002 season. Players of note include Rickey Henderson, Ellis Burks, and David Cone. See the list to see if your favorite geezer retired. Yes, Jesse Orosco did, unlike in real baseball.

Anaheim - RP Dennis Cook
Arizona - 3B Matt Williams, 3B Chris Donnels, SP Todd Stottlemyre
Atlanta - RF Dave Martinez
Baltimore - SS Mike Bordick
ChicagoA - LF Rickey Henderson, RP Joe B. Strong
ChicagoN - C Joe Girardi
Cleveland - LF Ellis Burks
Colorado - 2B Jay Bell
Florida - LF Tim Raines, Sr.
Los Angeles - 2B Randy Velarde, RP Jesse Orosco, RP Terry Mulholland
Pittsburgh - SP David Cone, SP John Burkett
San Diego - C Tom Lampkin
San Francisco - C Benito Santiago, RF Shawon Dunston
Seattle - SP Jamie Moyer
St. Louis - LF Devon White
Toronto - RP Dan Plesac
Free Agency - RP Mike Fetters, LF Darryl Hamilton, RP Mike Magnante, CF Trenidad Hubbard, , RP Mike Moragn, RP Rich Rodriguez, 1B Julio Franco, 2B Luis Alicea

Arbitration
From League-Wide Message
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, team salary pages are now updated with current salary/experience/option info and free agents have been removed. Additionally, salaries for arbitration-eligible players have been issued. If you refer to your team's salary page, anyone with a number 0 thru 5 under the Experience Column is an arbitration-eligible player who was awarded a salary by me, the arbiter. These salaries were based off the scales that are listed in the Constitution. They reflect playing time in 2002.
If you feel that it is not worth it to continue to pay one of your arbitration-eligible players at their new salary, you may "non-tender" him. Basically, this means that you don't offer him a contract for 2003, he enters the Free Agent auction, and you have no further salary obligations to pay him in 2003 or any other year. Please note that:
a) You do not get a 15% discount on non-tendered players as you would with your other free agents. However you may still bid on your non-tendered players as any other team would.
b) You can not non-tender a player with the notation of "- -" under the Experience column. These veterans have guaranteed contracts, and if you were to release them, you'd be responsbible for still paying their salaries accordingly.

Comments
Arbitration works differently in this world than in real life. During their first five years, player salaries are capped and they are paid according to playing time in previous seasons. Anyways, this snippet from the league constitution should explain things better.

From League Constitution
“Arbitration”
You will notice that many players have a notation such as “3” in the experience column. This signifies how many years the player has been active beginning with his first full season and is used in determining when such players are eligible for free agency. A player becomes a free agent following his sixth year in the majors. Players with no such notation ("--") have already been free agents in the past and become free agents again when their contract expires. A player begins to accrue a year of experience when he has 50 innings pitched or has 130 at-bats in a season for the first time on the major-league level, said to be his rookie season. (Even if a rookie player plays a full season 2002 but plays in the minors in 2003, he still will have 2 years of experience entering 2004).
In real baseball, a player with 3, 4, or 5 years of experience is eligible for arbitration where he can attempt to raise his salary above the minimum of 200,000. Since we can’t very well simulate this part of the game, two pay scales (Scale A and Scale B) will be used to determine salaries for players not signed to long-term deals. Scale A is for starting players and major contributors. Scale B is for role players and AAA players. (The commissioner will assign players to either Scale A or Scale B in the offseason based upon what the player’s role and performance was the previous season. Players can appear on Scale A one year and Scale B the next and vice versa depending upon how they were used during the course of that season). If you feel during an offseason that a player will make too much money for your liking, you can “non-tender” him, meaning that he enters the free agent auction and you will not responsible for paying him the next year. Of course, you can always bid for that player during the auction itself.


Scale A
Experience Salary
#0 200,000
#1 500,000
#2 1,000,000
#3 2,000,000
#4 3,000,000
#5 5,000,000
#6 Free Agent Auction

Scale B
Experience Salary
#0 200,000
#1 300,000
#2 400,000
#3 600,000
#4 800,000
#5 1,000,000
#6 Free Agent Auction


Rule Changes
From League-Wide Message
There will be several new rule changes coming into effect over the course of the offseason as I see fit. Here are a couple I've already come up with.
a) For any team who is over the 85 million cap heading into the Free Agent Auction (no teams as of now) as many arbitration eligible players as is necessary will be non-tendered to get them under the 85mil cap starting with the highest paid.
b) Many of you have been asking about "sign and trades." Realize that this doesn't exist as any sort of official procedure. Any free agent whom you sign in the auction will not be eligible to be traded until June 1st. This is instituted solely to prevent a team from re-signing a player with their 15% discount and then immediately dealing him to a team who also wanted the player in the 1st place. The team then would get him at the lower salary. The whole point of the 15% discount was an attempt to reflect some real baseball players who are more likely to sign with their incumbent team than leave town for more money (although we've already seen guys like Thome/Glavine/et al do that arleady).
More rule changes will be forthcoming if/when applicable.

Ratings Changes
Two ratings changes take place throughout the course of the offseason. The first is at the beginning and those changes are age based. The second happen in spring training and are much more significant.

Trade Committee
We have a trade committee for dealing with unfair trades. It basically serves as a council to keep newbies from being ripped off, etc. For the second year in a row, the Royals will be the team representing the AL Central in that capacity. I tend to be a bit conservative on the trade front: I'll veto more trades than most because I want to keep the league somewhat balanced. Essentially, if many ripoff trades are allowed through, this will essentially become a league of haves and have nots, which will cause a ton of decrease in interest. Just ask those of us who live in or around KC (or Detroit or Milwaukee, etc).

Trades
The trading ban from the end of the season was lifted and now it's time for teams to position themself for next year. The Royals made quite a splash in this department. Stay tuned- the offseason trade review will be showing up in the next couple of messages!

SI

sterlingice

02-19-2003, 02:21 AM

SEASON AWARDS
Basically, it's the big awards banquet. ROY, Cy Young, and MVPs are handed out for each league. Pitchers cannot be MVPs- MVP is for hitters, Cy Young for pitchers, in this league. Also, the prestigous award of GM of the Year is awarded to the best GM who made the most of his team and since it's the opening year, the owner who took his team and made something from not much. Points are awarded on a simple 5-3-1 system for ROY and Cy Young while the MVP takes 5 votes. Only 17 of the 28 owners voted, but oh well. I don't recall who I specifically voted for, but I put in who I would pick if I were voting now.

AL Rookie of the Year
MIL DH Izzy Alcantara
-639AB .822OPS 19HR 86RBI 2/2 SB/CS 103R .302BA
-53 Multi-Hit Games, Tied for 13th in Hits, Tied for 11th in Singles
OAK 1B Carlos Pena
-492AB .805OPS 21HR 75RBI 8/5 SB/CS 70R .283BA
OAK RP Chad Bradford
-51.1 IP 2-4 2.63ERA 46SO 1.29WHIP 22Svs
OAK SP Justin Duchscherer
-202.0IP 19-8 3.78ERA 140SO 1.19WHIP 33/19 GS/QS
-Tied for 3rd in Wins
BAL SP Jon Rauch
-168IP 11-5 2.78ERA 113SO 1.30WHIP 26/18 GS/QS
Just left off: BOS SP Casey Fossum, KC LF Brandon Berger, KC RP Orber Moreno
Notes: A pair of SPs, an RP, and a pair of hitters. Special mention as Berger just misses getting on there as our best hitter and Orber isn't quite in the class that Bradford is in but his 14 saves did land him in the top 10. Three A's land in the top 5 so their productive farm system continues even into this game.
My Pick: Even with the high ERA, it's hard to argue with Duchscherer's 19 wins.
Voting: Duchscherer won it pretty handily as the best hitter beat the best pitcher.

OAK Justin Duchscherer 59
MIL Izzy Alcantara 43
BAL Jon Rauch 22
OAK Chad Bradford 17
OAK Carlos Pena 12


NL Rookie of the Year
PHI 3B Michael Cuddyer
-577AB .824OPS 22HR 90RBI 5/1 SB/CS 68R .300BA
-4th in Strikeouts
LA 3B Morgan Ensberg
-562AB .842OPS 24HR 103RBI 6/1 SB/CS 88R .290BA
-10th in RBI
HOU RF Jason Lane
-623AB .807OPS 19HR 84RBI 7/12 SB/CS 80R .302BA
-Tied for 6th in singles
CIN C Corky Miller
-526AB .825OPS 21HR 81RBI 3/0 SB/CS 118R .289BA
LA SP Kaz Ishii
-202.2 IP 17-7 2.58ERA 214SO 1.14WHIP 31/23 GS/QS
-12 Player of the Games, Tied for 6th in Wins, 6th in Strikeouts
Just leftoff: PHI CF Marlon Byrd, STL OF McKay Christensen, COL SP Jose Mieses
Notes: A lot of good young hitters and one pitcher that is that much better pitching than they are hitting. Ishii is a Cy Young award canidate and an ROY canidate.
My Pick: Ishii in a cakewalk. One of the 3B's should and will take 2nd.
Voting: It was a little closer than I expected and the LA boys went 1-2. I was kindof suprised at how close it was. LA has a nice young pair of players to go with a pretty good veteran core.

LA Kaz Ishii 60
LA Morgan Ensberg 49
CIN Corky Miller 19
PHI Michael Cuddyer 16
HOU Jason Lane 9


AL Cy Young Award
OAK Kevin Brown
-195.0IP 22-4 1.80ERA 160SO 1.00WHIP 29/22 GS/QS
-12 Player of the Games
NYY Roger Clemens
-170.0IP 15-4 1.74ERA 160SO 0.95WHIP 25/21 GS/QS
-15 Player of the Games
CLE Bartolo Colon
-219.0IP 17-7 2.50ERA 218SO 1.14WHIP 33/24 GS/QS
-2 10+ strikeout games, 16 Player of the Games
MIL Glendon Rusch
-210.0IP 15-6 2.18ERA 175SO 1.05WHIP 32/26 GS/QS
BAL-NYY Javy Vazquez
-237.1IP 18-8 2.12ERA 237SO 1.00WHIP 31/24 GS/QS
-No-Hitter, 16 Player of the Games, 6 10+ strikeout games
OAK Barry Zito
-216.0IP 20-3 2.45ERA 188SO 1.09WHIP 31/23 GS/QS
-2 10+ strikeout games, 3 hit or less shutout
Just left off: OAK Justin Duchscherer, BOS Pedro Martinez, COL-CWS John Thomson, MIN Eric Milton
Notes: Two Oakland pitchers and a third just left off leaves little doubt as to why they won the World Series in convincing fashion. Brown and Clemens had sub 2 ERAs while Vaquez was quite the workhorse, topping 230 IP and 237K in those IPs. All had over 20 quality starts.
My Pick: Clemens injury really limits him in a field this loaded. I go with Brown for his ERA, WHIP, and W-L: by a hair over Vazquez who was stock pitching aabout 1/3rd of his games for Baltimore, which hurt his win-loss.
Voting: Opposite the NL ROY voting, this one was a lot more of a landslide than I expected. I guess Clemens stole some votes away from Javy and the fact that he spent too much time in Baltimore hurt him.

OAK Kevin Brown 70
NYY Javy Vazquez 29
NYY Roger Clemens 26
OAK Barry Zito 15
MIL Glendon Rusch 12
CLE Bartolo Colon 1


NL Cy Young Award
TEX-PHI Hideki Irabu
-201.0IP 17-6 2.28ERA 174SO 1.09WHIP 32/23 GS/QS
-13 Player of the Games
LA Kaz Ishii
-202.2IP 17-7 2.57ERA 214SO 1.14WHIP 31/23 GS/QS
-12 Player of the Games, Tied for 6th in Wins, 6th in Strikeouts
ARZ-LA Randy Johnson
-203.1IP 12-5 2.21ERA 213SO 1.03WHIP 30/25 GS/QS
-5 10+ strikeout games
PHI Robert Person
-202.1IP 19-3 2.40ERA 193SO 1.19WHIP 33/25 GS/QS
-3 10+ strikeout games, 14 Player of the Games
COL C.C. Sabathia
-183.0IP 17-6 2.74ERA 200SO 1.10WHIP 32/20 GS/QS
-4 10+ strikeout games
ARZ Curt Schilling
-218.1IP 13-7 2.35ERA 239SO 0.90WHIP 31/26 GS/QS
-6 10+ strikeout games, 11 Player of the Games
Just left off: HOU Roy Oswalt, SF Jason Schmidt, HOU Tim Redding
Notes: The best NL pitcher come in duos: Irabu-Person, Ishii-Johnson, Oswalt-Redding, Sabathia-Mieses (not quite good enough here). Needless to say, three of those teams made the playoffs. The Dbacks dealt Johnson but haven't dealt Schilling, at least not yet. Both put up really impressive numbers.
My Pick: Schilling may have pitched for a bad team, but he lead the league in Ks, WHIP, and quality starts and was 2nd in IP. This is one occasion where I would throw the record out.
Voting: I'm really not sure what possessed voters to go for Johnson other than his ERA and reputation but we got a tie! I suppose it's only fitting for a group where there is no clear cut favorite.

ARZ Curt Schilling 51
ARZ Randy Johnson 51
PHI Robert Person 23
LA Kaz Ishii 12
PHI Hideki Irabu 10
COL C.C. Sabathia 6


AL Most Valuable Player
SEA CF Mike Cameron
-623AB .947OPS 36HR 110RBI 38SB 10CS 109R .329BA
-5th in Hits, 4th in Home Runs, 3rd in RBI, 2 Five-Hit Games, 52 Multi-Hit Games,
-Last in AL West
TEX CF Carl Everett
-595AB .925OPS 26HR 91RBI 24SB 7CS 109R .319BA
-Four Multi-HR Games, 52 Multi-Hit Games
-3rd in AL West
ANA 3B Troy Glaus
-491AB .938OPS 27HR 78RBI 3SB 3CS 83R .332BA
-AL Wild Card
SEA-NYY C Mike Piazza
-554AB .935OPS 33HR 97RBI 3SB 6CS 86R .316BA
-Four Multi-HR Games
-AL East Champions/ALCS
OAK LF Armando Rios
-510AB .930OPS 26HR 83RBI 25SB 18CS 96R .316BA
-Three Multi-HR Games
-AL West/AL/World Series Champions
MIL 1B Richie Sexson
-570AB .886OPS 26HR 104RBI 9SB 2CS 86R .316BA
-AL Central Champions
COL-CWS 2B Terry Shumpert
-579AB .922OPS 19HR 75RBI 60SB 28CS 100R .328BA
-2nd in Doubles, 4th in Steals, 54 Multi-Hit Games
-4th in AL Central
SEA DH-LF Ruben Sierra
-616AB 1.034OPS 43HR 109RBI 2SB 6CS 131R .347BA
-2nd in Hits, 1st in HR (AL HR Champ), 4th in RBI, 1st in Runs, 2nd in Walks, 5th in Average (AL Batting Champ), 4th in OBP, 53 Multi-Hit Games
-Last in AL West
SEA RF Ichiro Suzuki
-667AB .859OPS 19HR 73RBI 92SB 34CS 124R .301BA
-5th in Doubles, 3rd in Runs, 1st in Steals, 56 Multi-Hit Games
-Last AL West
CIN-TEX RF Larry Walker
-608AB .997OPS 29HR 104RBI 13SB 3CS 109R .345B
-3rd in Hits, 5th in Walks, 56 Multi-Hit Games
-3rd AL West
Just left off: NYY DH-3B Chris Truby, NYY 1B Jason Giambi, BAL LF Jay Gibbons, SEA 2B Bret Boone, OAK 3B Eric Chavez
Notes: Ironically enough, 6 of the 9 MVP canidates were on teams that didn't make the playoffs. Seattle's year was just baffling as they looked good pitching on paper but their offense exploded. Ruben Sierra had a resurrection and an amazing year, narrowly missing the triple crown by 1 RBI to teammate Mike Cameron. If you think about it, the Mariners even had 4 MVP canidates on their team until they traded Piazza to New York. The only real suprises here were Armando Rios and Terry Shumpert.
My Pick: While Piazza had a great year on a good team (well, half of the year), I can't deny the guy who almost won the triple crown. My vote goes to Ruben
Voting: It looks like many voters took the same stance I did: like Dawson in '87, Sierra's awesome year was too much to ignore.

SEA Ruben Sierra 151
NYY Mike Piazza 74
SEA Mike Cameron 56
TEX Larry Walker 40
CWS Terry Shumpert 30
ANA Troy Glaus 28
OAK Armando Rios 28
MIL Richie Sexson 26
SEA Ichiro Suzuki 8


NL Most Valuable Player
NYM-CHC 2B Roberto Alomar
-670AB .829OPS 20HR 71RBI 77SB 30CS 114R .299BA
-2nd in Steals
-NL Wild Card / NL Champions
CHC LF Moises Alou
-598AB .930OPS 23HR 108RBI 6SB 1CS 107R .333BA
-NL Wild Card / NL Champions
PIT LF Brian S. Giles
-581AB 1.075OPS 37HR 125RBI 16SB 5CS 117R .358BA
-4th in Hits, 3rd in Home Runs, 1st in RBI, 3rd in Average, 5th in OBP, Four Multi-HR Games, 64 Multi-Hit Games
-NL East Champs/ NLCS
LA RF Shawn Green
-496AB .989OPS 27HR 76RBI 32SB 6CS 95R .333BA
-NL West Champs
PIT RF Vladimir Guerrero
-629AB 1.021OPS 32HR 104RBI 54SB 20CS 121R .359BA
-1st in Hits, 4th in Runs, 4th in Walks, 2nd in Average, 3rd in OBP, Two Five-Hit Games, 63 Multi-Hit Games
-NL East Champs/ NLCS
COL 1B Todd Helton
-422AB 1.132OPS 32HR 108RBI 11SB 5CS 92R .367BA
-1st in Average (NL Batting Champ), 1st in OBP
-NL Central Champs
LA CF Richard Hidalgo
-579AB .998OPS 38HR 98RBI 13SB 3CS 127R .332BA
-2nd in Home Runs (NL HR Champ), 2nd in Runs, Five Multi-HR Games
-NL West Champs
TEX-PHI 1B Rafael Palmeiro
-501AB 1.019OPS 31HR 99RBI 5SB 1CS 92R .351BA
-4th in Average, Two Five-Hit Games, Five Multi-HR Games
-2nd NL East
CWS-COL-CIN 2B Alfonso Soriano
-692AB .828OPS 24HR 76RBI 57SB 21CS 118R .295BA
-5th in Runs, Four Multi-HR Games, 53 Multi-Hit Games
-Last NL Central
PIT 1B Craig A. Wilson
-543AB .979OPS 28HR 111RBI 6SB 5CS 93R .346BA
-2nd in RBI, Five Multi-HR Games, 51 Multi-Hit Games
-NL East Champs/ NLCS
Just left off: SF LF Barry Bonds, NYM-HOU 3B Aramis Ramirez, CHC RF Sammy Sosa
Notes: As you didn't see any of their pitchers in the Cy Young Race, the Pirates were led by three big bats in the middle of the lineup with the biggest going to Brian Giles. He, too made a triple crown run, but ended up second in BA behind Todd Helton and in HR behind Hidalgo and his name could be found all over the NL leaderboards. Then again, Helton, Vlad, Hidalgo and Wilson also hit over .330 with 30 home runs. Alomar and Soriano hit well and ran well as both had over 50 steals.
My Pick: Giles had a monster year on a team that made the NLCS. He gets the nod over a really strong field. I would have like to have seen Helton not miss nearly 2 months with injuries.
Voting: Helton had a killer year but Giles was just slightly better. There were quite a few canidates who were really deserving of this award.

PIT Brian Giles 114
COL Todd Helton 102
PIT Vladimir Guerrero 94
LA Richard Hidalgo 35
LA Shawn Green 30
CHC Roberto Alomar 24
PHI Rafael Palmeiro 21
CHC Moises Alou 11
PIT Craig Wilson 6
CIN Alfonso Soriano 5


GM of the Year
I have included the writeups from the voting email

Colorado's Dana Dillingham
A move to the NL Central and new ownership propelled the Rockies to the first divisional championship in team history. Under Dillingham's tutelage, the Rockies won 109 games, tops in the National League. Early on Dillingham solved some of the Rockies financial problems, finding a home for underachieving multi-millionaires Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle as well as shedding the salary of superstar Larry Walker. Along the way, Dillingham also picked up RF Adam Dunn, one of the team's offensive cornerstones, SP Jose Mieses, a rotation staple and one of the NL's top rookie starters and a force behind the plate in Jorge Posada as well as Cliff Floyd in the outfield. The trade of Benny Agbayani and Justin Speier to the Indians netted 2 excellent starters in CC Sabathia and Chuck Finley. After trading hot prospect Juan Uribe to the Padres, Dillingham found the team's shortstop replacement in Brian Rios, a AA player in the Tiger system who hit .298. Both starters at 2B in the All-Star game were on Dillingham's roster at some point (Terry Shumpert and Alfonso Soriano). A potential blunder in picking up the contract of Manny Ramirez was averted when the GM turned him into Scott Rolen. The team also re-acquired Tim Hudson from the Reds for their playoff run, but the big injury to their offensive superstart Todd Helton, really hampered them. The Rockies put up a good fight but fell to the Cubs in an exciting 5-game Divison Series.
Dillingham was not only active on the trade market but constantly shifted players in and out of the lineup to maximize player ability. Ruben Rivera was signed midseason and hit 22 home runs in center field and Brian Rios was a huge find out of the Tiger system. Brad Cresse, Scott Kazmir, and Joe Saunders were also big prospect acquisitions that strengthen Colorado's farm system. The entire season, the whole of the National League feared the Rockies, a team that was transformed from a mediocrity into an NL juggernaut in a matter of a few weeks.

Milwaukee's Tom Gorman
The BrewCrew were another rags-to-riches team that switched divisions, also thanks to new ownership. Tom Gorman picked up a solid 3B which the team was lacking in Adrian Beltre, got one of the top catchers in the AL, Ben Petrick, and added to his rotation Brad Penny from the Marlins. A key deal that turned around Milwaukee's season were the acquisitions of Reggie Sanders, Frank Castillo, and Jay Witasick from the Giants who all proved to be invaluable from June onward. All of this while still keeping the team's payroll down in order to keep the team competitive over the next few seasons.
Just as important if not more so, was the pickup of Ron Mahay off free agency. Incredibly, Mahay won 12 games before losing his first, and finished the year 15-2 with an ERA under 3. He also revitalized the team's farm system after picking up top collegiate hitters Jeff Baker and James Loney in the draft.
Although the team lost to the Yankees in the Division Series, no one could doubt the last to first campaign that Gorman had engineered. If the team can re-sign Izzy Alcantara, the Brewers will no doubt enter 2003 as the hunted in the AL Central.

Los Angeles' Phil Wallace
Phil Wallace took the Dodgers from perpetual pseudo-competitiveness up to the next level. Engineering a host of trades that pared payroll, brought in a young talented core, there was not a length that Wallace did not go to as his Dodgers ran away with the NL West with ease. Under Wallace, the Dodgers unloaded payroll dregs Darren Dreifort and Eric Karros, as well as Kevin Brown and brought in some key young cornerstones to his franchise including Matt Morris, Richard Hidalgo, and Morgan Ensberg. Wallace also picked up bench depth to help address what had been a moribund offense as David Justice and the versatile Craig Paquette came into town. Wallace went for it all, gutting what was an already farm system and bringing in guys like Randy Johnson who led the rotation down the stretch.
Dispersal draft pick Esteban Yan led the NL in saves and draft pick Henry Rodriguez performed solidly in left before abruptly retiring mid-season. Draft pick Quilvio Veras also started at 2nd, as few teams got as much production out of the Dispersal Draft than the Dodgers. Throughout it all, Wallace was also on top of everything, tweaking his lineup and pitching staff often to account for injuries and ineffectiveness. He also gave out a ton of minor-league deals to talented free agents ensure that the Dodgers were one of the deepest teams in all of Double Play Baseball.
While the team was surprisingly upset by the Pirates in the Division Series, the Dodgers are poised to repeat as NL West Champions for at least the next several years, thanks to the position Wallace put them in.

Oakland's Matt Lubman
The confident and knowledgable GM made some controversial moves at first, but it was Lubman having the last laugh, winning the World Series with relative ease in his first year at the helm and winning 110 games, more than any other team.
Blessed with a great core of young and inexpensive talent, Lubman eschewed name recognition for talent, dealing starters Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder away to form the game's most formidable double-play combination in Jose Vidro and Alex Rodriguez. The team acquired Kevin Brown to head up the rotation and Brown responded with a remarkable performance. Armando Rios was picked up from Pittsburgh for just Adam Piatt and was the team's offensive leader. Geraldo Guzman, was selected in the Dispersal Draft and was one of the league's top starters, while the league's top bullpen was impressively assembled among minor-leaguers, trade acquisitions, dispersal draft picks, and minor league free agents.
As the season went along, the A's only got better, coming back from a 3-game deficit at the All-Star break to blow open the 2nd half of the year by finishing 23 games up on the Angels and the most wins of anyone. Despite the huge contracts that the A's took on in Brown and A-Rod, the A's won the World Series, quieting all critics, and bringing home the championship back to Oakland for the first time since 1989.

Pittsburgh's John Church
In another improbable story, the Pirates arose out of the pack in the NL East to take home the division title. John Church's instrumental deals at the start of the season paved the way for a team that took advantage from a health epidemic in Atlanta, a fire sale in New York and staved off multiple threats from the powerful Phillies.
Church first made his splash in the Dispersal Draft as Vladimir Guerrero teamed up with Brian Giles to become two of the NL's best hitters. David Cone joined trade acquisition John Burkett to give the Pirates two nice starters to slot in behind Kris Benson. A trade with the Mets netted the left side of the infield in Orlando Cabrera (the NL's top SS) and Edgardo Alfonzo who split his time between 3rd and 2nd base and gave the Pirates an impressive offensive lineup to join Giles, Guerrero, Kendall, Cabrera, and Craig Wilson who broke out with a huge year at 1st base. Kevin Haverbusch was rescued from Nashville to become a steady presence at 2nd base Josias Manzanillo was handed the closer's job and ran away with it, becoming one of the top relievers in the league and making an All-Star appearance. The league's premier offense coupled with the front 3 of Benson-Cone-Burkett and the Pirates instantly restored credibility and became one of the NL elite.
The Pirates even managed to overcome injuries to Giles, Wilson, and Alfonzo to upset the Dodgers in the Division Series. The injury to Benson however hampered them in the NLCS where they lost to the Cubs in 6 games. The retirements of Cone and Burkett and free agency of Alfonzo raise some questions for this team in 2003, but Church will undoubtedly continue to come up with some solid and effective solutions.

Notes: Needless to say, after my 100 loss season, no one was beating down my door for a nomination. They all faced different problems: LA had payroll trouble, Pittsburh and Milwaukee lacked some talent, Colorado lacked hitting, and Oakland needed some major tweaks.
My Pick: Dana turned Colorado from Helton, Walker, bloated Hampton/Neagle contracts, and a bunch of hitting prospects into a dominating dynasty set for years.
Voting: It's hard to vote against any of these but Colorado stood out so he got the gold.

COL Dana Dillingham 55
MIL Tom Gorman 37
OAK Matt Lubman 30
LA Phil Wallace 19
PIT John Church 12


Wrapup
That's it for awards. The Rule V Draft is next along with some other notices and then the start of free agency. Also, the monthly awards because I keep forgetting them.

SI

sterlingice

02-20-2003, 12:08 AM

RULE V DRAFT

For those of you unfamiliar with the draft, it's essentially a competetitive balance draft, but not really. Basically you pick former AA players who aren't good enough to move up to the 40-man roster after two years and have to keep them on MLB. Here's the writeup from our league email.

Rule V Draft
This is not as major as it sounds. Refer to your AA roster on your team's salary page. All players who have the year "2002" listed under the Rule V Eligible column are eligible to be selected in what is known as the "Rule V Draft."
All eligible players go into a draft pool where teams may select to draft players off other clubs' AA roster onto their Major League Roster, where they must keep the drafted player active for the entire 2003 season. Failure to do so, and the player will be offered back to the original team's AA club.
You can prevent your AA players from being eligible by "protecting" them. To protect said player(s), you must promote them to AAA, where they will get a 200K salary for the 2003 season. They will then not be eligible for the draft.
However, it is not so clear cut because you may not want to devote the money and a valuable 40-man roster spot to a minor-leaguer especially with the Free Agent Auction looming. You can take the calculated risk that another team will not find it worthwhile to draft your player and keep him active the whole year. If so, leave him in AA for another season. Not only will you not have to pay him, but AA players also improve faster in Spring Training relative to AAA/MLB players.

Round 1
2) KC - SP Jimmy Gobble (CIN)
3) SF - C Justin Huber (MIN)
4) DET - SP Ryan Snare (CIN)
5) NYM - SP Ty Howington (CIN)
6) TOR - SP Josh Hall (CIN)
8) SEA - SP Corwin Malone (CWS)
10) BAL - C Kade Johnson (MIL)
11) ATL - RF Mike Ryan (MIN)
12) CWS - SS Jose Morban (TEX)
14) CLE - SP Josh Daws (MIN)
15) STL - SP Nick Regilio (TEX)
22) LA - 2B Tim Hummel (MIN)
23) MIL - SP Mark Phillips (SD)
26) NYY - 2B Ruben Salazar (MIN)
27) CHC - 3B Corey Smith (CLE)

Round 2
2) KC - LF Nate Grindell (CLE)
3) SF - SP Aaron Harang (OAK)
5) NYM - 3B Lance Niekro (SF)
6) TOR - SP Mike Nannini (HOU)
22) LA - SS Deivi Mendez (BAL)
23) MIL - LF Rich Thompson (TOR)
26) NYY - LF Will Smith (FLA)
27) CHC - RF Keith Reed (BAL)

Round 3
3) SF - C Chairon Isenia (CWS)
5) NYM - SP Shane Bazzell (NYY)
6) TOR - SP Greg Montalbano (BOS)
22) LA - SS Freddie Bynum (LA)

Round 4
3) SF - SP Beau Hale (BAL)
22) LA - 2B Josh McKinley (PIT)

Rount 5
3) SF - SP Chris Bootcheck (ANA)

Round 6
3) SF - SP Dustin Moseley (CIN)

Royals Rule V Summary
Of all the people in the world, I snagged Jimmy Gobble in the first round. If you will remember, he was the pitcher I traded who I eventually turned into Tony Armas Jr. He was accidentally left uprotected by Cincy who, after I traded him to Texas and after he had traded Tony Armas Jr to me for what I traded Gobble for, traded for him from Texas. He was our best prospect pitcher prior to the draft. So, in the end, we ended up giving up 2 2nd round picks for Tony Armas Jr and got Jimmy Gobble back.

In the second round, I got LF Nate Grindell from Cleveland. He's a utility guy who can play 1st, 3rd and corner outfield spots and isn't too bad of a hitter. Hopefully neither get rookie status and I can send them back to AAA next year with no MLB experience and let them mature there for 3 years.

Rule V Draft


T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
L *Gobble, Jimmy 60 68 71 50 56 52 49 52 47 60 43 54 73 0 0 0 21 0

Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
LF *Grindell, Nate 45 54 56 56 56 52 48 49 53 25 0 R 50 50 3B-35, 1B-50


Rule V Draft Webpage:
http://www.columbia.edu/~nrf2001/RuleV02.html

Players of the Month
I keep forgetting to mention this so I'll shoehorn it in here before the offseason really takes off. For 2003, since I'll be caught up, I'll make a post for this each month. However, for this year, I'm just going to post the winners. Lots of multiple time winners, as you can see.

NL Pitchers of the Month
October 2002 Robert Person Philadelphia
August 2002 Curt Schilling Arizona
July 2002 Kaz Ishii Los Angeles
June 2002 Kaz Ishii Los Angeles
May 2002 Tim Hudson Cincinnati
April 2002 Curt Schilling Arizona

AL Pitchers of the Month
October 2002 Javy Vazquez New York (A)
August 2002 Kevin Brown Oakland
July 2002 Pedro Martinez Boston
June 2002 Barry Zito Oakland
May 2002 Roger Clemens New York (A)
April 2002 Barry Zito Oakland

NL Hitters of the Month
October 2002 Richard Hidalgo Los Angeles
August 2002 Vladimir Guerrero Pittsburgh
July 2002 Brian Giles Pittsburgh
June 2002 Ken Griffey, Jr. Cincinnati
May 2002 Brian Giles Pittsburgh
April 2002 Todd Helton Colorado

AL Hitters of the Month
October 2002 Larry Walker Texas
August 2002 Ruben Sierra Seattle
July 2002 Ruben Sierra Seattle
June 2002 Rafael Palmeiro Texas
May 2002 Ruben Sierra Seattle
April 2002 Rafael Palmeiro Texas

SI

sterlingice

02-20-2003, 09:51 PM

Early Offseason Trades
I'm not 100% sure if all of these happened before Free Agency but I know I'm pretty close.
To start out the offseason, teams had two things in mind. The higher salaried teams wanted to toss aside expensive talent to get under the cap to the point where they could sign some key free agents. The teams with more cap space were either willing to take on salaries since they were rebuilding or trying to get talent as cheap as possible if they were trying to compete in the next year or so.

Royals Offseason Plans
The Royals fit into the latter category: we had some cap space and wanted to get some talent on the cheap. For the forseeable future, we had Hall, Sweeney, Crede, Quinn, Michaels, and Berger locking down C, 1B, 3B, LF, CF, and RF. I was looking to deal Beltran for some pitching since he only had two years left on his contract and he should be able to net us some pretty good stuff. For the pitching staff, Park and Armas occupied 1-2 and Orber was in the setup spot for next year.

In free agency, the first goal was simple- I wanted to lock down Jeff Kent at 2B, if I could. I needed one good, strong middle infielder and I might be able to get him on the cheap since he had a bad year last year. Mike Sweeney needs some lineup protection so he can produce in 2003. Secondly, I'm looking for a top line SP to give me a big 3 to go along with Park and Armas. Like Kent, I have been keying on one guy all year and that is Jon Lieber. While the Clemenses, Colons, and Madduxes of the world will get taken for a lot, Lieber should be a relative bargain. Another solid pitcher would be nice and if I can't get Lieber, I'll probably go after Shane Reynolds. Lastly, I need bullpen help. My pen blew tons of games last year and I want a bonafide closer and a bonafide quality setup man. Fortunately about 20-30 guys of near closer quality are on the free agent market this year so all is just peachy in that department. To begin free agency, we are hanging around $50M. This allows us to spend about $8M on Kent, $10M on Lieber, $7M on a closer and leave a little wiggle room.

Free Agency
Our free agency has a pretty interesting and fun format. Basically, there are 2 rounds to submit bids. In the first 48 hours, you submit an initial bid. The top half of the teams bidding (or all, if it's less than 5) get to advance to round 2 and the rest are out of the bidding. This way the field is narrowed to the only the serious bidders. Starting at the max bid in round 1, the team that submits the highest bid in round 2 gets the player at his contract. I'm sure they could just go back and forth bidding but it would be time consuming and could go on forever.

A couple of clarifications:
The Auction is split into 7 rounds with 2 phases each (except noted below). Phase 1 has the superstar level player while 2-3 have stars and minor stars followed by role players and scrubs towards round 7.
Bids are calculated as follows: years * salary. 5 years @ $10M = a $50M bid.
Bids must be made in increments of $100K up to $1M and $250K after that.
The max years for a contract is 5.
No escalating contracts. Contracts must pay equally each year.
Former teams get a home town bonus of 15%. So if the home team bids $10M and another bids $11M then the initial team gets him because his contract is essentially an $11.5M contract ($10M + 15%).
If two or more teams are tied at the end of round 2, then there is an exclusive round 3 for the teams tied. If no one wins, there is an exclusive round 4 for the teams. If no one bids then the player goes back to a general auction.
If no one bids on a player in round 2 then the team that bid the highest in round 1 gets him.
If no one bids on a player in round 1 then he goes back into the general pool for the next phase.

Post Season Trades
The Dodgers start the offseason off with a bang and do a lot of trading in circles (you'll see what I mean). First they trade Cy Young Award runner-up SP Randy Johnson and C Mitch Meluskey to the Cubs for prospect 1B Hee Seop Choi and LF Moises Alou. They make a minor trade where they acquire a 2nd round draft pick and then trade it away and then they trade SP Matt Morris for SS Rich Aurilia and others. Then they turn around and trade Alou for a 1st round draft pick and Aurilia for some prspects. The Mets continue their rebuilding by trading up to the point where they have four 1st round picks and they also trade for LF Greg Vaughn. Then, they turn around and trade one of their first rounders in a trade the Braves for 3B Fernando Tatis and SP Jason Marquis.

The Yankees trade back for Mike Piazza which set a dangerous prescendent and the Trade Committee put everyone on notice that tradebacks and player to be named trades are forbid by the Constitution. The Yanks then unload Bernie Williams and his contract to Detroit and also traded the Braves for SS Prospect Nick Green who they turned around and traded for C Robert Fick. The World Champ A's and White Sox hooked up with 1B Frank Thomas heading to Oakland and SP Kevin Brown heading to Chicago. Both teams only participated in minor trades beyond that, prior to free agency. The Cubs dealt away C Todd Hundley to the Indians, SP Ben Christensen to the Pirates, and SP Kerry Wood and 2B prospect Bobby Hill to the Reds for CF Ken Griffey Jr and a little RP help.

The Giants trade away Barry Bonds to the Padres for 3B uber prospect Sean Burroughs and further strenthen their left-side infield by trading for former Royal prospect SS Angel Berroa and SP Joe Mays from the Twins. Along with Morris from the Dodgers, the Giants picked up LF Rusty Greer and RF prospect Jack Cust for a pair of pitching prospects that went to Detroit. Aside from the ones already mentioned above, the Tigers and Red Sox made quite a few minor trades as did many other teams. Lastly, the Braves shipped Fernando Tatis and Jason Marquis to the Mets in exchange for one of his many acquired 1st round picks.

The Royals made some moves as well, as you will see from the next post which covers the Royals trades and the first three rounds of free agency.

SI

sterlingice

02-22-2003, 02:10 AM

I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, but today or tomorrow, I will put the finishing touches on the great story of our offseason so don't miss it.

SI

sterlingice

02-22-2003, 05:06 AM

Kansas City Blues, Dateline: December 23rd, 2002
"Aces in Spades and Other Such Luck"

The Kansas City Royals management has given the Royals faithful an early Christmas present they have not had in a long time: hope for the next season. Over the course of the the past two months, the Royals have completely overhauled their woeful pitching staff via two trades and free agency and have immediately turned themselves into contenders for next year in the lackluster AL Central. "We saw an opportunity before us to win this division one year ahead of schedule and we had to take it. Our plan of competing in 2004 got bumped up and we feel we now have a good window to win with this group of guys from 2003-2006, " GM G****** said proudly, in a radio interview after getting off the phone with the agent of Mike Stanton, one of the Royals key bullpen pickups.

Going into this offseason, the only spots spoken for next year were the top two starters of Chan Ho Park and Tony Armas Jr. The rest were to be filled by young, inexperienced pitchers who, quite frankly, needed quite a bit more seasoning, or career mediocre pitchers like Elmer Dessens and Cory Lidle. However, starting October 31st, that all changed.

The Trade Which Got the Ball Rolling
On the night of October 29th, not long after the World Series, GM G****** was talking shop in a web meeting with Rockies GM Dana Dillingham, a personal friend as well as fellow GM. He had expressed some interest in acquiring a quality CF for the better part of the year but Beltran's early season injury had cut those talks short. The Rockies were also looking for a veteran 3B since he was not sure they could afford to resign Scott Rolen. In short, the Rockies wanted nothing less than the World Series ring which had eluded them this year and the negotiations began.

Colorado had an overabundance of pitchers (go figure) with the emergence of young aces CC Sabathia and Jose Mieses. He also had a young fireballer named Shawn Chacon who needed a rotation spot, along with solid, cheap veterans Chuck Smith and John Wasdin. Lefty Bruce Chen was the odd man out and he became the key component on the Rockies side of the trade. Like Beltran, Chen is only 25 with 2 years left on his contract. However, we needed an arm much more than we needed a stick. Eventually, we agreed upon a deal which sent Beltran, Randa, and C prospect Mike Tonis to Colorado for SP Bruce Chen and SP prospect Joe Saunders.

Chen went 12-2 with a 3.57 ERA in 181 IP with 176 Ks in 2002, splitting time between the Rockies and the Mets, who had been traded from in a draft night swap. Saunders is a 2002 draftee with a strong arm but lacking in control and his pitches need work. Still, he's only 20 and with a few years in the minors, could be a part of the next wave with Zack Greinke and Bobby Brownlie. Heading the other way, Beltran and Randa need no introduction but the phenom CF was to be a free agent in 2004 and it is unlikely we would resign him with Scott Boras as his agent while the steady longtime Royals 3B was in the final year of his contract and, while we hated to see the fan favorite go, he would just be a bench player behind Joe Crede so we mutually parted ways. Tonis is a good power hitting catching prospect, however, we have dispersion draft pick Toby Hall manning that spot until at least 2006. We had our third pitcher, and a quality lefty, to boot.

Show You Are Willing to Overpay and the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door
One of the things that was atop the shopping list was a closer for next year. It was clear that Orber needed another year or so before he was ready to step into that role so he would be relegated to setup man for this year. Like many teams, St Louis was looking to pare some salary so they could make a play for a couple of free agents so the GM made a list available to all other GMs of players he was looking to trade. A little history is in order here. Last season, the Dodgers released closer Estaban Yan, who was due $5M for 2003 and then a free agent. The Royals made a claim, but, as waivers go from worst to first in the waiving team's league before the other, the Cardinals picked up a relatively cheap closer and the Royals got with nothing. Fast forward to November, and the Cards were shopping around their soon-to-be former closer Robb Nen. They didn't want to pay his $8M salary and the Royals didn't want to risk the open market for a top tier closer. After some quick negotiations, mediocre prospect Jeff Austin was gone and the two teams swapped third round picks. Both GMs were grinning ear-to-ear, thinking they had suckered the other, G****** for having gotten a closer for the price of picking up his contract and the Cards GM for getting rid of the contract.

Free Agency Reaps Fruitful Pitching Crops
A narrative by the Royals GM G******, recalling the events of the past few weeks
"[Owner] G*******- not to be confused with the GM of the same name] called me at home about midnight of the day after the Nen deal and said 'You know, I think we might have something here for next year. We may not have to wait until 04 after all.' I knew at that point, it was on. We were going to try and make a run at the playoffs in 2003 and take everyone by suprise. The 2003 season for us could take on one of those surreal qualities typically reserved for cheesy movies and this was not an opportunity to pass up."

"I knew we desperately need three things: the first was a quality SP along the Jon Lieber lines or I could try to get Shane Reynolds as a fallback. The second guy squarely in our target range was Jeff Kent. He didn't hit that well last year but his attributes were great, he should come cheap, and he would be perfect at 2B until Nelson down in AA is ready with our next wave of youth. Lastly, we need another good setup guy to go along with Robb and Orber. Our strategy was to bid low in the first round, so as to not drive the price up but high enough to get into the second round and the suprise people with our high bid. It came increasingly obvious in talking to people that no one expected anyone except the top couple of bidders to be serious challenges in round two."

"After the first round of Phase I, we were still in the bidding for Lieber, Kent, Reynolds and some minor players such as SS Kurt Abbott and some closers who probably would go too high for our taste. After the dust had settled on round 2, two players were new Royals but it wasn't the two we expected. Lieber and Reynolds were going to be filling out our rotation next year. This gave us Park, Armas, Chen, Lieber, and Reynolds for a rotation which went from one of the worst in baseball to possibly the best."

"But that wasn't all. We had tied Baltimore for Jeff Kent but his signing would put us over the cap so we had 48 hours to move a contract. No one wanted anything to do with most of our players as they would rather take the chance at bidding. In the end we were stuck with not bidding. However, neither did Baltimore so it went to a crucial round 4. We had another 2 days to negotiate, but, like before, no one really wanted to take on a large contract so Baltimore got Kent. We really had no interest in anyone in Group II so we kept our focus on freeing up money for Kent but in the end nothing came of it. Still, we really couldn't complain at all about how things went except that we could have gotten Jon and Shane a little cheaper."

"Group 3 contained 8 relievers we wanted to target. We need a closer for the years after Nen is gone and this was the last round that had closer caliber guys. Even with Joe's [Randa] contract gone, we were at just over $80M and had less than $5M under the cap. After round 1, we were still in it for all 8 guys. Now the rules state that if we go over the cap, bids, starting with the lowest one are removed until you fit under the cap so we could only sign one guy and we wanted to put them on a sliding scale in order of preference. In the end, most of our contracts for player were too low (Embree, Mesa, McDill, Gordon)- i.e. they went for a higher value than they were worth to us. However, one man fit perfectly into our scheme and that was Mike Stanton."

"All that was left now was to pick up some bench guys and take some fliers on some low budget guys. Also in group 3, we picked up backup 3B and bench guy Russ Davis along with control specialist Trey Hodges. Trey is an interesting case in that he has impeccable control but throws about as fast as I do so we wanted to see how he could do in the majors. Also, we snagged backup 1B and DH Lee Stevens along with utility wife-beater Wil Cordero. Davis, Stevens, and Cordero should add some veteran leadership to the bench and fill in as quality subs should anyone go down"

[B][SIZE=1]Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, All in Blue[/SIZE][/B]
The free agent draft is where everyone gets a chance to fill up their roster with minor league contracts from guys who didn't garner any bids in the free agent pool. The Royals really needed a backup catcher coming into this. Since it's a minor league contract, he will just be a rental guy for the year but no Royals fan wants Mike Sweeney as their backup catcher. In the first round, we snag young but somewhat light hitting catcher Edwards Guzman who can catch but also play 2B and 3B so he would be a perfect fit should injuries befall the team. In the second round, looking to bolster the bench, the Royals snagged 38yo Jose Canseco. He really can't field any more (could he ever?) but he can still hit pretty well and would be down on the farm if we needed a good bench hitter. The last two picks were hard throwing but spatially challenged David Lee and limp armed pinpoint control artist Steve Woodard. All 4 of them were sent to AA Wichita for the time being.

[B]By The Numbers[/B]
Here is a complete list of the Royals players recently involved in transactions. For the terminally curious, the following transactions also took place:
Filed for Free Agency: 1B Ed Sprague, SS Lou Merloni, LF Bruce Aven, RF Robin Jennings, SP Joey Hamilton, SP Jose Lima, and RP Paul Quantrill.
Non-Tendered SP Chad Durbin and SP Blake Stein.
Promoted SS Kelly Johnson and 3B Tony Blanco from AA-Wichita to AAA-Omaha (so they would not be expose to Rule V draft)

[code] [FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono][SIZE=-1]
ROCKIES TRADE
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
3B Randa, Joe 61 48 53 56 56 52 48 49 53 32 6 R Act 60 50
CF Beltran, Carlos 58 61 79 56 51 49 48 49 53 25 3 S Act 75 50 LF-75
C *Tonis, Mike 39 56 46 56 56 52 48 49 53 23 0 R AAA 55 50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
L Chen, Bruce 91 70 54 50 56 46 49 52 47 91 51 0 37 65 0 0 25 3
L *Saunders, Joe 79 69 24 49 44 53 46 53 54 48 50 36 0 43 0 0 20 0

CARDINALS TRADE
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *Austin, Jeff 69 49 45 50 56 46 49 52 47 69 0 0 43 30 0 0 25 0
R Nen, Robb 99 24 67 50 56 46 49 52 47 99 47 30 0 0 0 0 32 9

FREE AGENCY
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
1B Stevens, Lee 51 79 45 56 52 52 48 49 53 34 9 L 55 50
LF Cordero, Wil 54 61 50 56 56 52 48 49 53 30 10 R 50 50 1B-50, 2B-30, SS-30
3B Davis, Russ 46 75 47 56 56 52 48 49 53 33 6 R 35 50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Lieber, Jon 81 85 82 50 56 46 49 52 47 81 81 47 0 53 0 0 32 8
R Reynolds, Shane 76 79 81 50 56 46 49 52 47 76 78 0 45 57 0 0 34 9
L Stanton, Mike 99 30 60 50 56 52 49 52 47 99 43 30 0 0 0 0 35 11
R *Hodges, Trey 45 75 99 53 56 46 49 52 47 45 56 0 86 45 0 0 24 0

FREE AGENT DRAFT
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
RF Canseco, Jose 48 85 46 56 56 52 48 49 53 38 16 R 20 50 LF-20
C Guzman, Edwards 44 54 35 56 52 48 48 49 53 26 1 L 45 50 3B-50, 2B-50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Woodard, Steve 66 60 76 50 56 46 49 52 47 66 0 0 41 73 0 61 27 4
R Lee, David 94 41 26 50 56 46 49 52 47 94 0 52 0 0 0 0 29 3
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[B]Free Agents Around the League[/B]
Lots of player would be needing the small "mail forwarding" postcards from the Post Office. SS Royce Clayton was the first player signed as the Reds inked him to a $2M per deal and no one else bid so he was theirs at the end of round 1 of group 1. Group 1 had many big name players, some of which stayed with their previous teams. Roberto Alomar, Cubs; Scott Rolen, Rockies; Bartolo Colon, Indians; Greg Maddux, Braves; Chris Nichting, Rockies; and Derek Lowe, Red Sox all were paid more than $20M to stay with their previous team. Colon was one of the hottest commodities and he went for $67.5M back to the Indians because of the hometown discount despite offers of $76M and $75M from the Phillies and Mariners. Colon's contract was the 2nd highest, topped only by Jose Cruz Jr's $76.25M ($15.25M x 5 yrs) contract with the Rangers. Unfortunately, for the Royals, they could have had Lieber and Reynolds for about $5M less per year combined. However, being the first round of the first year of free agency, management figured they needed to bid high to make sure they got one of the guys. The following players found new homes all for $10M or more per year: Pudge, Marlins; Thome, Dodgers; Floyd, Brewers; and Clemens, White Sox while the following relievers also took up new residence: John Bale, Tigers; Norm Charlton, Red Sox; and Ugueth Urbina, Dodgers.

Round 2 saw some crazy inflation and a lot of players moving around for more than $20M: Bobby Estellela, Orioles; Ray Durham, White Sox; Scott Spezio, Giants; Izzy Alcantara, Orioles; Reggie Sanders, Yankees; Luis Gonzalez, Mariners, Ray Lankford, Giants; Todd Hollandsworth, Angels; Shannon Stewart, Reds; Mark Guthrie, Blue Jays; and Woody Williams, Braves. Staying put for the same exorbitant fees were C Kevin L Brown, Cardinals; Terry Shumpert, White Sox; Edgardo Alfonzo, Pirates; Hideki Irabu, Phillies; and Ruben Sierra, Mariners. Al Leiter went to round 3 with both Atlanta and Philly looking for his services. After Group 3, neither had bid and he went back into the general pool.

Round 3 had a few less players of note but still some key guys. Mike Lieberthal stayed with the Phils, McGriff with the Cubs and Geraldo Guzman with the A's. The highest contract in this phase went to Robert Person, who's Cy Young canidate season earned him a 5yr-$10M per contract from the Astros. The Phillies and Rockies each picked up a pair of relievers while the Blue Jays picked up the outfield trio of Darin Erstad, Alex Ochoa, and Juan Encarnacion for about $75M and Mo Vaughn for another $26M. In what would later be referred to as Wallace's Boner, the Dodgers signed CF Ruben Rivera for $40M for 5 years, $25M higher than the second highest bid. However, most baffling of all was the Marlins as the fish overbid on 11 lesser players, and of course, got them all.

Later rounds were filled more with scrubs but did contain some interesting battles. Cincy picked up 2 more relievers who had gone from group 3 to phase in Allen McDill and Alan Embree. Kevin Millwood went to the Padres over the Pirates in another runoff. The Cubs completely overhauled their rotation with Russ Ortiz, John Wasdin, Wilson Alvarez, and Kevin Foster. Chuck Finley went to the Yankees, Javy Lopez to the Padres, former Royal Raul Ibanez to the Reds, Andy Pettite to the Pirates, Andy Ashby to the Indians, and Antonio Osuna to the Mets.

After free agency, a couple of minor trades took place as teams were trying to finalize their rosters. Pithers Ryan Rupe and Ryan Dempster switched roster spots on Florida and LA not long after LA had acquired him from Houston. The Reds got back one of their other Rule V blunders as they got SP prospect Ty Howington back from the Mets. Lastly, Fernando Tatis went to Toronto and then went with Kelvim Escobar to Milwaukee for prospects. The major trade that took place sent last year's NL MVP Brian Giles to the White Sox for SP Jeff Weaver and CF prospect Joe Borchard.

[B]The Final Pieces of the Puzzle?[/B]
Towards the end of the free agent period, good players were few and far between. Looking at the Royals team for 2003, they now had a high quality player everywhere but 2B, after missing out on Kent it would be manned by young Ron Belliad, claimed off waivers last year from Minnesota, and SS which fell to super utility guy Shane Halter. Both were pretty big holes in the lineup and would be batting 8-9. One last trade had to be made and it would be a big one.

The Reds were looking to get back Jimmy Gobble after having accidentally exposing him in the Rule V draft. On the Reds, two players greatly interested me: 2B Alfonso Soriano, locked up long term and with the potential to be the best 2B in the league, and SS Miguel Tejada, 2003 free agent but great slugging SS in the short term. Even better, if I could leverage the discount to sign him long term. So after much haggling and reluctance, a huge deal was struck wihch moved 6 players and 3 draft picks. The Reds sent Soriano, Tejada, and the #3 pick of the 1st round of the 2003 draft, giving Kansas City both the 1 and 3 in this year's draft. In exchange, the Royals had to give up Gobble, sent Brent Mayne as a salary dump, their other 1st round pick (LA's #18), a 3rd round pick (via Atlanta) and two players I hated to see go: Tony Armas Jr and, last year's first round draft pick (#5), Bobby Brownlie. Armas still had 3 years left on his contract and Brownlie had a very promising career ahead of him but it was no longer to be in a Royals uniform. G******: "The only reason I could agree to that deal was because we got the #3 in return. I'm not saying we can pull another player of Bobby's caliber but we should be able to get something close. Then, on paper, it doesn't look nearly as bad with Gobble, Armas, and the 1st rounder for Soriano and Tejada. I hate doing trades which sacrifice the future for the present but this one was too good to pass up."

Unexpectedly, a trade eliminated the need for a spring training battle for the #5 starter role between Dessens and Lidle. The Dodgers were looking to unload John Parrish, as he was out of options and so we sent last year's draft pick SP prospect Matt McCarthy for our new #5. This relegated Dessens and Lidle to long relief and the bullpen, where they were better suited. Lastly, to ease some roster crunch, Ron Belliard, who had become expendable with the acquisition of Soriano, was dealt to Colorado for an early 3rd rounder via Cincy.

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REDS TRADE
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
C Mayne, Brent 62 32 39 56 52 48 48 49 53 34 11 L 55 50
2B Soriano, Alfonso 52 60 74 56 56 52 48 49 53 24 1 R 50 50
SS Tejada, Miguel 53 77 59 56 56 52 48 49 53 26 4 R 50 50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R Armas, Jr., Tony 94 77 46 50 56 46 49 52 47 94 63 0 47 0 0 35 24 2
R *Brownlie, Bobby 81 65 38 40 49 51 48 48 55 70 58 0 62 0 0 0 21 0
L *Gobble, Jimmy 60 68 71 50 56 52 49 52 47 60 43 54 73 0 0 0 21 0

DODGERS/ROCKIES TRADES
Pos Name CH PH SP GF PL vL Hm Sc CL Age Exp B FA AS
2B Belliard, Ron 50 63 64 56 56 52 48 49 53 28 4 R 50 50
T Name AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp
R *McCarthy, Matt 73 57 35 37 48 46 48 49 49 58 61 0 0 43 0 0 23 0
L *Parrish, John 81 65 43 50 56 52 49 52 47 81 33 48 0 61 0 0 24 0
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[B]Wrapup[/B]
It was a really exciting offseason and we now have a chance to compete this coming year! With the final big trade, the die was cast: we will be trying to make the playoffs this year. Coming up next are the Royal's season preview and the league preview. The regular season will follow.

This thread continues here: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5740 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5740)

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