Before I recap the playoffs in the other leagues, you've waited patiently to find out WHO the Worcester Browns are.
Well, let me introduce them first, by showing you the season stats for 2006:
Code:
PITCHING STATS
POS # Name B T G GS W L SV IP HA HR R ER BB K ERA AVG CG SHO
SP 41 Cris Massarelli R R 27 27 15 7 0 210.1 188 12 76 71 50 167 3.04 .241 6 0
SP 9 William Payton S R 27 27 11 8 0 178.0 178 13 81 72 37 117 3.64 .256 1 0
SP 33 Lawrence Pearce R R 25 25 11 10 0 188.1 160 22 72 65 41 152 3.11 .229 7 2
MR 16 Nick Baty L R 43 12 9 6 4 137.1 154 19 81 77 43 87 5.05 .281 1 0
MR 34 Paul Neal R R 50 0 9 5 6 66.2 79 5 32 31 29 38 4.19 .299 0 0
SP 8 Floyd Wilkerson R L 40 15 8 6 2 140.0 128 14 65 57 27 92 3.66 .242 1 0
SP 5 George Talley R R 28 28 5 4 0 116.2 100 4 42 38 26 108 2.93 .227 0 0
CL 22 Warren Tucker R R 55 0 5 5 28 63.1 57 4 21 20 21 31 2.84 .243 0 0
MR 46 Germán Álvarez L L 46 0 4 1 0 54.2 57 4 36 33 39 61 5.43 .269 0 0
MR 23 Johnathan Mack R R 25 0 3 0 2 42.1 45 3 24 21 22 25 4.46 .268 0 0
SS 35 Robbie Anderson L R 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 .000 0 0
SP 28 Jeremiah Barnett L L 15 0 0 0 1 21.1 28 8 23 23 17 10 9.70 .326 0 0
Code:
BATTING STATS
POS # Name B T G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS SB CS
SS 35 Robbie Anderson L R 148 570 151 18 9 23 79 90 51 90 .265 .330 .449 .779 12 1
2B 54 Robin Donovan R R 133 551 164 23 1 26 91 100 65 63 .298 .373 .485 .858 8 3
CF 42 Vern Morgan R L 132 521 135 26 2 41 120 93 70 112 .259 .347 .553 .900 2 0
3B 26 Iván Cruz R R 130 478 123 24 1 22 91 68 63 65 .257 .346 .450 .795 0 1
LF 36 Ken Jones R R 129 505 112 32 6 17 63 66 58 90 .222 .304 .410 .714 1 0
RF 56 Tommy Terry L L 127 504 145 33 7 12 59 91 74 71 .288 .378 .452 .831 10 3
C 32 Bradley Norton R R 115 403 105 25 3 2 41 51 26 48 .261 .311 .352 .663 0 0
RF 39 Trevor Tanner R R 112 345 88 17 5 15 49 53 32 39 .255 .323 .464 .787 9 5
1B 31 Emílio Herrera L L 110 303 90 14 1 10 41 44 43 60 .297 .399 .449 .848 0 0
2B 55 Norberto Gallegos R R 70 59 17 3 0 1 5 13 3 12 .288 .333 .390 .723 0 0
2B 47 Gus Lancaster R R 64 238 54 6 2 8 31 29 24 61 .227 .294 .370 .664 1 2
2B 18 Francisco Delgado R R 49 125 22 3 2 1 7 9 9 25 .176 .230 .256 .486 0 0
C 29 Roy Primm R R 41 89 19 3 1 2 12 10 5 12 .213 .263 .337 .600 0 0
CF 37 Billy Bryan R R 12 31 10 3 0 0 3 4 2 7 .323 .364 .419 .783 2 1
Ok, so now you're wondering, "Who the hell
are these people?
Vern Morgan is a 28-year old centerfielder. He's in his second year, after spending last year hitting .242 with 27 HR and 81 RBI for Salt Lake of the National League. I signed him to a six-year deal during the off-season. The key to playing in this league and making the ascent to the majors, I decided at the beginning of the year, was that we needed to find a way to get your core guys in place early and have dudes who can produce all the way until you get to the majors or who can market themselves with their talents so you can move them for more players. In other words, 5 for 1 deals are great if you can move a guy to a major league contender or even a bad team, so you can get some prized prospects that will grow and develop along with you.
But in the AL right now? I'm focused mostly on trying to get the hell out of here, not developing players for the long haul at this point, because frankly..I can't really afford to have them hanging out down here for an entire season.
Ok, back to the rest of the team.
3B Ivan Cruz was a guy I acquired from the Chicago Comets in a deal that included three prospects that I shipped off to them for five guys, all of whom could have been or were key for us in certain spots. The players I shipped off are Grade-A prospects that could likely be starring for them by the time we (hope) to be in the majors. But you gotta do, what you gotta do. Cruz is 30 years old and hit 22 HR ad 91 RBI for us in his first year outside of MLB. I can't resign him, either. He'll want more money than I can pay him this off-season and so, I'll have to let him go.
And this friends, is another one of those challenges about playing in a lower league where there salary cap considerations.
2B Robin Donovan is a 32-year old infielder who spent his first year outside of the majors last year, with New Orleans, hitting .296 in 71 games for the Zephyrs of the NL.
Prior to that, he spent 11 1/2 years with the Kansas City Royals and actually, was a guy that I often considered dealing for at deadlines to get an extra bat, but we never pulled the trigger for him. Anyway, I inked him to a long-term deal and he hit .296 with 26 HRs and 91 RBI for us this year.
The hitters are guys who could be servicable at the next level in some situations, whereas our pitching staff is decidedly bush league. But very effective for us.
Our ace this year was 26-year old
Cris Massarelli, who despite the name is from Venezuela. Anyway, he went 15-7 this year and was effective notching 18 quality starts.
You can read the stats and get an idea of who we have, but the bottom line is..no matter how we do in the ALCS -- and make no mistake, we want the title -- we'll have to go out and find ways to bolster the pitching staff and replace the guys who we'll not be able to afford next year, if we want to replicate the success of this season.
Free agents this off-season will include the following key players:
Quote:
Robbie Anderson
Ivan Cruz
Tommy Terry
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Gus Lancaster spent a good third of the season hurt and so, he'll be able to step in for a full year and that'll help ease the loss of losing Anderson who might not have played much anyway, but it'll be intriguing to see how it goes for us.
But enough of that talk.
Let's get to the ALCS
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The Santa Maria Winemakers were the best pitching team in baseball this year and boast two 13-game winners in
Robby Hill and
Carlos Macias. Macias is 40-years old, but doesn't seem to want to quit. He went 13-11 this year with 70 Ks in 226 innings. On the flip side, Hill is a 24-year old hurler who went 13-6 with a 3.99 ERA and 135Ks this year.
The team's power is derived for a 24-year old rookie from Fort Drum, NY named
Mack Knight. He hit 26 HRs and 93 RBI this year on .272 hitting.
We should match up well with them in this best-of-seven championship series, but it's the playoffs and anything can happen...