Brassball Free Agent Preview - Restricted Free Agents

While the playoffs are underway, most of the Brassball teams have already turned their attention to 2017 and building a club which will help them play deep into the postseason a year from now. The quickest way to improve a club is through free agency, but some of the biggest names on the market are restricted free agents, meaning their own teams have the option to match any offer and retain the player. Here's a quick look at the restricted free agents and some educated guesses as to whether or not their teams will retain their services.

Pitchers

Clayton Kershaw - Simi Valley
You need an ace? This is your guy. Kershaw is a stud and everyone knows it. Not everyone can afford him, however. He's the Cy Young favorite every year and he came through for the Vikings with a 23-7 record and 2.59 ERA. They'll certainly try to retain Kershaw, but other teams are going to come with blank checks Simi Valley can't match. Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 7 years and $58,000,000

Madison Bumgarner - Santa Barbara
Bumgarner has been one of the best pitchers in Brassball and the anchor of the Outlaw pitching staff for several years. He was 20-7 with a 2.68 ERA on the season and it seems highly unlikely the Outlaws would let him move to another club. Prediction - Resigns for 7 years and $50,000,000.

Yovani Gallardo - California
Gallardo was only 8-5 on the year, but he had a solid 3.41 ERA in 187 innings. Those aren't Bumgarner or Kershaw numbers, but nearly every team would be happy to have Gallardo in their rotation. Unfortunately for California, they may not have the payroll flexibility to keep him. Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 3 years and $7,000,000

Derek Holland - Florence
A couple of years ago Holland looked like a budding ace. Unfortunately, injuries have taken their toll. He was able to make just six starts on the year and pitched 40 innings for the River Bats. Florence has the payroll space to retain him, but do they want to? Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 2 years $800,000

Travis Wood - Sacramento
Wood was a disappointing 2-7. He had a good, but not great, 3.04 ERA. But, he did so in ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR INNINGS AS A RELIEF PITCHER. Think about that. Of course, that means he's likely headed for a surgeon's table. Prediction - resigns for 4 years and $5,500,000.

Batters

Evan Longoria - Tinley
A gold-glove third baseman who plays every day and hits .300 with 20+ homers. Everyone's interested in Longoria, even if they already have a third baseman. There will be a lot of suitors, but Tinley will do everything they can to resign their star. Prediction - resigns for 6 years and $32,000,000.

Jay Bruce - Brooklyn
Bruce couldn't have picked a worse time to have his worst year. He played nearly every day and hit just .172/.261/.368. Only gold glove shortstops can hope to keep playing while "hitting" so poorly. Bruce still has the talent that made him a star, but he may need a new team and hitting coach to help bring it out. Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 5 years and $10,000,000.

Pedro Alvarez - Tinley
Alvares still has power, but that's about all he has. He hit just .233 with a .288 on base percentage on the year. That's tough to accept if you hit 30 home runs, and Alvarez didn't even hit 20. Tinley has some money to spend, but will likely look to upgrade rather than bringing Alvarez back. Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 3 years and $6,500,000.

Brandon Moss - Tinley
Another low-average slugger who didn't slug enough for the Redbirds. Moss hit .211/.282/.409 on the year. He's supposed to crush right-handed pitchers, but his OPS against them was just .699. Prediction - leaves as a free agent for 3 years and $4,500,000.

May 2013 - Stats, Stories and Surprises

Brassball month two is in the books.  With that, some interesting stats and stories may be hidden by multiple months of results.  Thanks to Doug, I took a look at the stats for just the month of May to see which players and teams had the most interesting stretch of 28 games.  

• Fleetwood rookie Mike Trout led all of Brassball in hitting (.426), on base percentage (.522) and slugging (.734) and still couldn't win Strat-O-Matic's MVP voting.  He lost a close race to Metropolis's Andrew McCutchen (.333/.389/.642).  McCutchen did have more RBIs, which probably explains the vote.  He had 27 to Trout's 26.
• The Portland Steelheads were not quite ready for May, as they were one-hit by Simi Valley aces Clayton Kershaw and David Price in the first two games of the month.
• Parkland's Casey McGehee had himself quite a month - going .368/.467/.842 and also coming through in the clutch with two pinch hit home runs.
• Brooklyn won a 19 inning marathon game vs West Hills, but that couldn't match the 1-0 pitchers' duel (or batters' failure) that Simi Valley won in 20 innings at Metropolis.  
• Plaza was a scorching 25-3 in May and two of its losses were by a single run.
• Lancaster's Austin Jackson legged out seven triples in May.
• Outlaw Elvis Andrus got his bunting practice in, laying down 13 sacrifices in 14 attempts.  The only other team with more was Cook County, with 16 successful bunts in May.
• Metropolis pitchers and catchers shut down opposing base runners, allowing just one stolen base on three attempts.
• Butte County infielder Joaquin Arias was a threat off the bench, collecting five hits in eight pinch hit at bats.  
• On the other side of the coin, Plaza and California each had only three pinch hit attempts all month.
• Plaza hitters compiled an amazing .307/.373/.522 line on the month in nearly 1100 plate appearances.  
• With a batting line like that, Plaza should probably give up the bunt - they were successful in just half of their 10 attempts.
• Santa Barbara was by far the most reliable team in the field, making only five errors all month.  The next best was the Outlaws' long-time AL rival Cook County, with twice as many.
• The Outlaw bullpen was another key to their 19-9 month, as they allowed just six of 47 inherited runners to score (12.8%).
• Sacramento's Ross Detwiler had a fantastic month, going 4-1 in six starts with a 0.53 in 33 innings.  
• Detwiler didn't even get a vote SOM's Cy Young vote, however.  Plaza closer Wilton Lopez took home the hardware after recording 13 saves in 14 appearances.  
• Several pitchers had four wild pitchers (including staff anchors Felix Hernandez and Tim Lincecum), but Hophead Jason Marquis uncorked five.  
• On the other hand, no Avenger pitcher threw a wild pitch and the team had only one passed ball.
• SoCal's Ramon Santiago booted the most balls last month, totaling eight errors.
• Not surprisingly, Plaza had the most players on SOM's all-star rosters.Joe Mauer, Alex Rios, Wilton Lopez and CJ Wilson made the first team while Aaron Hill and Jarrod Parker on the second.
• Three batters went 5-5 in a game: Brandon Belt, Craig Gentry and Alejandro De Aza.
• Superior might be in the market for a new baserunning coach after getting thrown out 10 times in just 21 steal attempts.
• Amazingly, Portland was thrown out just once while stealing 24 bases this month.
• Here's a baserunning tip - don't run on Dwayne Wise or Josh Hamilton.  They both gunned down six runners.
• Only once did Metropolis allow more than five runs.  Glen Allen gave up 10 or more runs five times.
• North Georgia's Chris Davis struck out 43 times in just 117 at bats.  If he doesn't turn that around, he might be out of the league by this time next year.
• Latrobe rode their new ace, Justin Verlander, like a horse.  He went 4-2 in seven starts and tossed 60 1/3 innings.  No one else threw even 50 innings.
• Springfield "batters" compiled a .192 average in May, nearly 30 points behind Hessville's .227.

August Team Notes

The Brassball pennant races are heating up and there were lots of great (or at least interesting) performances in August.  Here's one from each team in the league that may have gone unnoticed unless you dug into the numbers a little bit:

Boston -  Brett Wallace is glad he won't face Parkland's Derek Holland again.  Wallace struck out four times in both games Holland tossed against the Tea Party in August.

Brew City - Starter Edison Volquez had a rough August, surrendering a league-leading 13 home runs and 26 walks.

Brooklyn - Ricky Romero and Jon Niese were first and second in complete games, with five and four, respectively.

California - Aramis Ramirez led the league with 11.9 runs created/game.

Cook County -  Jordan Zimmerman pitched 40 2/3 innings and walked just two batters.

Fleetwood - The Walkers were a middling 8-6 on the road, but a sparkling 13-1 at home.

Florence - The River Bats struggled on offense, but young infielder Trevor Plouffe did slug five homers in just 104 at bats.  Some see potential for much more power as he gets more comfortable in the big leagues.
 
Fremont - Trevor Cahill recorded 33 outs against Lancaster on August 3.  Then he did it again on August 31 against Cook County.

Glen Allen - On August 29, the Mets knocked out 29 hits and scored 20 runs against the Boston Tea Party.

Hessville - Jarrod Saltalamacchia did his part to help the Everreadys in August, slugging seven homers in just 64 at bats to go along with his .328 average. 

Lancaster - Daniel Hudson allowed just 15 hits and two walks in his five starts and 30 innings.

Latrobe -  Rick Porcello deserved better than his 0-3 record in August.  He had a solid 3.35 ERA but received just 10 runs of support in his six starts.

Metropolis - New Avenger R.A. Dickey got the red carpet treatment in Metropolis, as his new offense provided him 45 runs of support in his four starts. 

Myrtle Beach - Mike Pelfrey tossed a complete game against Glen Allen on August 5 but gave up 18 hits and ten runs along the way.

North Georgia - First baseman Mark Teixeira led Brassball with 15 homers and his 33 RBIs tied with Avenger Jose Bautista for the lead.

Parkland -  The Green dealt relief ace Kenley Jansen at the deadline, but Brian Wilson has been a letdown with a 5.14 ERA and 10 walks in seven August innings.

Plaza - The Lions split 7-7 on the road, but treated their hometown fans to just one win in August.

Santa Barbara -  The only two pitchers with six wins were both Outlaws - Justin Verlander and Matt Garza.

Schaumburg -  On August 19, both Willie Harris and Mike Aviles swiped four bases against Myrtle Beach.

Simi Valley -  Santa Barbara only lost five games in August, but one was a one-hit masterpiece by Viking ace Clayton Kershaw on August 2.

SoCal -  The Wildfires went 24-4 despite MVP candidate Mike Napoli getting only two at bats and star Mike Stanton hitting just .228.  The team may be in trouble if Napoli can't get healthy for the playoffs and Stanton fails to shake his slump.

Springfield - Not surprisingly, oft-bruised Carlos Quentin led the league with eight hit by pitches.

Superior - Ichiro was a perfect five for five against Brooklyn on August 7.

Tinley - The Redbirds ran out of gas in August and finished the month on 1-13 skid against powerhouses Cook County and California.