June, 2017

Chapter Three Recap

Players of the Chapter

On December 20, 2013, the New Milford Blazers received an early Christmas present from the Ravenswood Infidels. Miguel Gonzalez was a 30-year-old inning-eater who would become a free agent at the end of that (2014) season. He posted a respectable 3.92 ERA in 165+ innings for the Infidels and went 9-9. Angel Pagan was a 32-year-old journeyman who hit .296/.341/.407 in 334 PA's that season. He played one more season under contract, and hit a pedestrian .270/.314/.356.

New Milford traded both players to Ravenswood and received Dexter Fowler, a 28-year-old who posted a .233/.328/.329 batting line in 2014 before departing for free agency. (Note: before the first pitch of Opening Day was thrown, New Milford GM Anthony Peburn flipped Fowler to the Granite State Lightning for Shane Victorino, who hit .277/.334/.453 with 19 home runs in 584 PA's.)

Just to make things even, the Infidels also sent a young prospect to the Blazers in that trade. That prospect's name was Mookie Betts. The rest is history. Betts hit .368/.407/.670 in Chapter Three, and led the OL in hits and runs scored. He finished second to Los Altos' Nolan Arenado in runs created by a fraction. Betts is our OL Chapter Three Hitter of the Chapter.

After three seasons in the big leagues, J.D. Martinez owned a career .251/.300/.387 batting line. Then, at the age of 26, he was traded to Detroit and his entire career turned around. He hit .315/.358/.553 in his first season with the Tigers. The following winter, Bobby Sylvester took a gamble that this fluky season was no fluke and signed him at a salary of $7 million. That gamble has paid great dividends, to say the least. Our EL Hitter of the Chapter hit .345/.418/.770 for the Apostles in Chapter Three, and led the league in slugging, runs scored, and runs created.

In 2016, Tony Chamra accomplished something that I don't think has ever been done before in the BDBL. I would have to dig into the archives to know for sure, but I find it hard to believe that anyone else has ever drafted a player in a BDBL farm draft that went on to win the Rookie of the Year award in that same season. Chamra did just that in 2016 when he drafted Michael Fulmer with the 13th pick of that draft. Our EL Pitcher of the Chapter went 4-0 in Chapter Three, with a 2.10 ERA, and held opponents to a batting line of .186/.297/.275.

Whenever you can get a Pitcher of the Chapter in exchange for nothing, you know you're doing something right as a GM. Last November, the Infidels traded nothing in the form of Harold Ramirez and Tyler Mahle. Both players have since been released. In exchange, they received the OL Pitcher of the Chapter, John Lackey. Lackey posted a 1.77 ERA in Chapter Three, and held opposing batters to a line of .164/.207/.250.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Trading Season Has Arrived

After a somewhat slow start, trading season officially kicked into high gear over the past few weeks. A total of ten trades were made this past chapter. None was bigger than the deal that sent the dearly-departed Jose Fernandez to the St. Louis Apostles. With the VORP rule making it impossible for the Niagara Locks to trade both Fernandez and Johnny Cueto, Fernandez is more than likely to be the most impactful player traded this season.

He heads to a team that already owns the best record in the Eck League -- and it's not even close. St. Louis has won SEVEN more games than any other team in the league this season. If all twelve EL teams were in the same division, the division winner would already be decided by now. The St. Louis pitching staff already owns the best ERA in the Eck League -- and again, it's not even close. The Apostles' ERA sits at 3.56, while the next-best (Cleveland) checks in at 4.00.

Fernandez presumably takes the place of Kevin Gausman (5-4, 4.65 ERA) in the St. Louis rotation. That gives the Apostles a playoffs rotation of Fernandez, Noah Syndergaard (8-2, 2.60 ERA), David Price (7-4, 3.97), and Carlos Rodon (6-4, 4.43.) In other words, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the St. Louis Apostles will reclaim the EL championship title this season.

The Great Lakes Sphinx also made a couple of big moves last chapter, adding both Carlos Carrasco and Jeff Samardzija to their starting rotation. This is a desperately-needed move, as the Sphinx rank tenth out of twelve EL teams in ERA (4.49). Carrasco (4-5, 3.76 ERA for Kansas City this season) and Samardzija (7-9, 4.34 for South Loop) will take over for Martin Perez (3-6, 7.07) and Hisashi Iwakuma (2-7, 6.50), which may be the biggest upgrade the league has ever seen. With those upgrades, the Sphinx should have an easier time holding onto their three-game lead over Kansas in the Higuera Division.

The Charlotte Mustangs are looking for some help to hold onto their (seven-game) lead as well. To that end, they added a big-time bat in D.J. LeMahieu. LeMahieu has posted all-star-caliber numbers (.331/.396/.419) this season. The only question is where he fits into the lineup, as current Charlotte second baseman Brett Lawrie (.281/.344/.430) is having a productive season as well.

Story #2: Eck League Recaptures Bragging Rights

Last year, the Ozzie League finally managed to top the Eck League in interleague play, breaking a seven year EL winning streak. The OL's winning streak didn't last nearly as long.

The four teams currently in the playoffs hunt all dominated the Eck League, going 43-21 (.671) combined. Unfortunately, one team single-handedly ended the Ozzie League's winning streak by going just 2-14 in interleague play. Way to go, Zook!

Story #3: Record-Breaking Territory, Part One

No franchise in the BDBL has ever lost 100 or more games in more than four seasons. That will more than likely change this season, as the Granite State Lightning are on pace for 116 losses. That would give the franchise an unprecedented five 100+ loss seasons. They would also become the first franchise in history to lose 115+ games in more than one season.

Story #4: Record-Breaking Territory, Part Two

Two years ago, the Los Altos Undertakers set a team record that many (including myself) believe would never be broken. If a single pitcher were to post a 2.68 ERA in a season, that pitcher would be considered to be among the greatest in baseball. For an entire TEAM to post such a low ERA seemed impossible. Yet, that's exactly what the BDBL champions did that season.

This year, the New Milford Blazers are within striking distance of that record. At the halfway point of the season, New Milford owns a team ERA of 2.68. As always, this is aided by a BDBL-leading .271 average on balls-in-play. New Milford leads the entire BDBL in fewest hits per nine (7.3), ranks #2 in lowest walk rate (2.4), and #2 in fewest home runs allowed.

Although Jose Quintana (11-5, 2.73 ERA), Matt Moore (8-2, 3.26), and Masahiro Tanaka (9-6, 3.35) are all having outstanding seasons, it is the New Milford bullpen that is dragging the team's ERA through the floor. Closer Craig Kimbrel is having a Cy Young-caliber season out of the bullpen. Despite walking 7.7 batters per nine (you read that right; that's not a typo), he has posted a 0.89 ERA in 30+ innings. Let that sink in for a minute. He has repeatedly put runners on base by walking one after another all season long, and then has escaped from his self-made jams again and again and again.

Somebody named Buddy Boshers, who posted a 4.25 ERA in MLB last year, owns a 0.47 ERA for New Milford in 19+ innings. Recently-acquired Ryan Dull (thanks, Matt!) has allowed ONE hit and ONE walk in his thirteen innings as a Blazer so far. Chris Devenski, a free agent sitting on the scrap heap a year ago at this time, owns a 1.40 ERA in 58 innings -- and a 9-3 record out of the bullpen!

The scary trio of Jerry Blevins, Someone-Named Bowman, and Dustin McGowan (remember him?) each owns an ERA well below 3.00, with 20-40 innings each.

Meanwhile, Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon, who cost their teams $7 million and $5 million, respectively, last winter are sporting ERA's of 3.06 and 4.89. Go figure.

Story #5: Blazers on Pace for 116 Wins

The fact that the Blazers are on pace for yet another 100-win season is no surprise. What is surprising is how they're doing it. As I already mentioned above, the Blazers pitching staff is out of its mind right now, and has been all season. But keep in mind that as good as their pitching staff has been, they've done it almost entirely without Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has made just ten starts this season, and has logged only 64 innings so far. Remove him from the equation and the Blazers still own a team ERA of 2.68.

Offensively, New Milford is hitting only .259/.332/.439. They rank fourth in runs scored, and they're hitting just .255/.330/.428 against right-handed pitching. Mookie Betts is hitting .258/.298/.483 against lefties. After a blazing-hot start, $12.5 million investment Freddie Freeman is hitting just .245/.345/.474 on the season. Curtis Granderson owns a .325 on-base percentage. The catching duo of James McCann (.242/.289/.442) and Jason Castro (.152/.299/.255) has been abysmal. Ian Kinsler's numbers (.278/.336/.406) are way below his MLB numbers.

The pitching staff has carried this team for the first half of the season. Did anyone see that coming?

Story #6: Los Altos on Pace for 118 Wins

For the third year in a row, the Los Altos Undertakers are on pace to win more than 115 games. Los Altos leads the BDBL in runs differential -- and it isn't even a close race. New Milford is the next-best team in that category, and they trail Los Altos by 61 runs. The Undertakers lead the BDBL in runs scored, topping the next-best team (Salem) by 32. They have hit 13 more doubles and 15 more home runs than any other team.

Is there no end in sight to this dynasty?

As I write, two Los Altos pitchers (Chris Sale and Chris Archer) rank among the top three pitchers in baseball in WAR. Corey Seager and Nolan Arenado rank among the top twenty hitters. On the plus side, the team loses Anthony Rizzo to free agency. On the minus side, the Undertakers will have an extra $7.5 million to re-sign him. On the plus side, Jason Heyward and Joc Pederson are having awful years. On the minus side, Justin Turner is hitting .383/.455/.506. I'm not kidding.

With Sale, Gerrit Cole, Dellin Betances, Archer, Aaron Sanchez, Arenado, and Seager all signed through the 2019 season, we may not see the end of this dynasty for another three years. Are we having fun yet?

Story #7: Higuera Race Heating Up

The division-leading Great Lake Sphinx were outscored by eighteen runs in Chapter Three, and yet still managed to hold their lead by going 14-10 on the chapter. The Buckingham Sovereigns equaled that win total and pushed themselves into the playoffs picture. They now sit five games behind, while the Kansas Law Dogs continue to keep pace just three games behind.

As I mentioned above, the Sphinx made a couple of big moves by vastly improving their starting rotation last chapter. Will the 'Dogs and Sovereigns make a similar big move before the final trading deadline?