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.

September Stats Roundup

The regular season is over and the playoffs are underway, but it's not too late to dig through the September stats to see what gems we can pull out.

If momentum means anything, Santa Barbara (20-2) and Metropolis (19-3) look like they're headed to a World Series matchup.  Cook County will be a hurdle for the Outlaws, as they also finished September 19-3.  On the other end of the spectrum, playoff teams Fleetwood, California and Superior all muddled through September at 11-11.




Why was Lancaster's Chris Valaika intentionally walked two times?  Probably because he hit .750 as a pinch hitter in September.

Fleetwood's Miguel Cabrera was easily the best hitter this month, going .420/.505/.765 and leading the league in hitting by 52 points over Springfield's Hunter Pence.  He also collected nine RBIs on September 18th vs. Schaumburg.

Santa Barbara's playoff rotation ended the regular season on fire - Jeremy Hellickson: 3-0, 0.73; Jered Weaver: 5-0, 1.23; Justin Verlander: 5-0, 1.33.

Hessville's Carl Pavano had a tough month, as he lead the league in hits allowed, steals allowed and was seventh in walks allowed.

Why were Santa Barbara, Metropolis and Cook County so great this month?  Home runs.  They hit a bunch and allowed very few.  Home runs hit and allowed: Santa Barbara 29-8, Metropolis 31-7, Cook County 31-6.


North Georgia Yellow Jacket Livan Hernandez deserves a restful off-season after giving up 23 hits and 21 runs in a complete game loss to Metropolis on September 22.



Simi Valley ace Clayton Kershaw deserved a win on September 15, but got a no decision, despite throwing 10 innings and allowing just one hit while striking out 13.




Elvis Andrus continued his bunting clinic, laying down nine sacrifices this month.

Tinley's Nick Punto should ask for a new glove this Christmas - he booted nine balls in September.  Amazingly, a first baseman was right behind him with eight errors - North Georgia's Adam LaRoche.

Schaumburg center fielder Skip Schumacher led all outfielders with four outfield assists.


David Robertson locked down the ninth inning for Latrobe.  He pitched 9 innings and gave up just a single hit and three walks on the way to ten strikeouts and seven saves.

Parkland had a disappointing year, but stars Dustin Pedroia and Joey Votto had very good and nearly identical Septembers: Votto - 86 AB, 26 H, 4 2B, 4 HR, 14 RBI.  Pedroia - 85 AB, 26 H, 5 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI.

SoCal's Jonathan Sanchez struck out 36 guys in 25 2/3 IP, but also surrendered 10 walks and four homers on his way to a 5.26 ERA.

NL Hitter of the Month: Fleetwood's Miguel Cabrera - .420/.505/.765, 81 AB, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 14 BB.



AL Hitter of the Month: Cook County's David Ortiz - .364/.417/.773, 88 AB, 9 HR, 22 RBI, 8 BB.



NL Pitcher of the Month: Metropolis's C.C. Sabathia - 5-0, 2.62 ERA, 33 1/3 IP, 26 H, 41 K, 10 BB.

AL Pitcher of the Month: Santa Barbara's Justin Verlander - 5-0, 1.33 ERA, 40 2/3 IP, 23 H, 45 K, 9 BB.

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.

Building a Better Bullpen - Part II

Having already added Kenley Jansen and David Herndon to my bullpen, I decided it was time to go all-in and targeted the best relief pitcher in baseball – Craig Kimbrel.  His Schaumburg team has recently relocated to Butte County and the new owner indicated a willingness to make deals.  I started discussions and they quickly grew to include ace starter R.A. Dickey in addition to Kimbrel.

Initially, I didn’t think I was too interested in Dickey.  My rotation was strong enough and Dickey was unlikely to even make my playoff rotation, but he was quite intriguing due to his sterling 2012 MLB season for the Mets.  Of course, the question is whether Dickey will be able to maintain his current MLB pace or if he will tail off and become merely useful as opposed to dominating. 

Our talks quickly focused on my two best minor league prospects – Miguel Sano and Anthony Rendon, my 2013 first-round pick and a replacement reliever (Chris Resop).  That’s a lot of future value to surrender in one deal and I wavered for a couple of days.  The real wild card was Dickey, as I just wasn’t sure how to value him.  If he maintained his first-half production, the deal would be good.  However, given the unpredictable nature of Dickey’s knuckleball, it is possible that he would have an ERA closer to 6.00 than to 3.00 for the remainder of his contract.

The new Butte County owner and I went back-and-forth; with neither seemingly ready to pull the trigger.  He kept insisting that I include a third top youngster, first baseman Matt Adams.  I was reluctant and decided that including Adams was simply too much future value when factoring in Dickey’s unpredictable future.  Butte County refused to budge on Adams and we put the entire deal on hold for another day or so. 

During that time, I started chatting with the California GM about a number of role players who could help me in the playoffs.  California was quite busy at the trade deadline – acting both as buyer and seller in different deals.  We had some good discussions, but didn’t find a deal that could help me.  That was fine, as the players I was looking for were mostly spare parts, such as a platoon 1B that would replace the recently departed Jed Lowrie.

It turned out, however, that California was also looking for a good starter for their playoff run.  Although I didn’t expect much to come of it, I tossed out Dan Haren’s name.  Haren has a very good card for the current Brassball season and I was counting on him for the playoffs and the next couple of years.  However, once I really looked at it, I realized I probably could deal Haren, as he was only slightly better than Kyle Lohse and neither would be likely to make more than a single start in a playoff series. 

California was interested in Haren and we quickly settled on players that would be involved in a deal.  I would send Haren in exchange for a 2013 #3 pick, prospect Eddie Rosario and Jerry Sands, who could help me against left-handed pitchers in the playoffs. 

Once California and I agreed on the deal parameters, I returned to Butte County to see where our Kimbrel/Dickey trade stood.  We agreed in principle to a deal as outlined above and including Matt Adams (from me) and a 2013 #2 pick (to me).  Before I pulled the trigger on both trades, I had to put them together into one transaction so I could weigh the pros and cons. 

Here’s how it looked (with contract savings included):

Metropolis Receives:

Craig Kimbrel

R.A. Dickey

Jerry Sands

Eddie Rosario

2013 #2

2013 #3

$10,000,000

Metropolis Sends:

Dan Haren

Miguel Sano

Anthony Rendon

Matt Adams

Chris Resop

2013 #1

Although dealing Sano and Rendon really hurts, putting the trades together made it easier to justify.  Adding Rosario helps restock my prospect stable and the $10,000,000 that I save in moving from Haren to Dickey will give me an even bigger bank account to use in free agency.  Both are signed to deals expiring after the 2014 Brassball season and Dickey has outpitched Haren by a wide margin in 2012, so like that swap going forward.   The draft picks likely work out in my favor, too, particularly because I’m hoping my own pick will be near the end of the first round.

Of course, this all started because I wanted to add Craig Kimbrel to my bullpen, and he remains the key to these two deals.  He is under team control for a very low salary for five seasons in addition to this one, so I hope to match him with new Avenger Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman to make my bullpen a real strength for the next five seasons.

I had assumed I was done after the two trades above, having added David Herndon, Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel to my bullpen and R.A. Dickey to my rotation, but I decided to see if I could another lefty to my pen.  In looking at the rosters, I focused on Boston’s Jeremy Affeldt.  He is extremely tough on left-handed hitters and Boston was willing to move him for some salary relief ($800,000 for each of the next two seasons).  I sent him David Carpenter and we quickly agreed on the deal.

Finally, I also dealt Fernando Rodriguez to Myrtle Beach, as I no longer needed his innings.  I only got $100,000 for him, but it helps.

In the end, this is how all my deals shake out.  I’ve added the general contract details, to help get a full picture of the trades.

Metropolis Acquires:

Craig Kimbrel (Under control through 2016 MLB season)

Kenley Jansen (2016)

R.A. Dickey (2013 @ $666,666/year)

Jeremy Affeldt (2013 @ $800,000/year)

Jerry Sands (2016)

David Herndon (Likely cut after this season)

Eddie Rosario (first six MLB seasons)

2013 #2 Pick

2013 #3 Pick

$100,000

Metropolis Trades:

Dan Haren (2013 @$4,022,000/year)

Jed Lowrie (2014)

Matt Adams (2017)

Chris Resop (2016)

Miguel Sano (first six MLB seasons)

Anthony Rendon (first six MLB seasons)

David Carpenter (2017)

Fernando Rodriguez (2016)

2013 #1 Pick

Player Stat Lines - July

Now that the season is about two-thirds complete, it is sometimes difficult to see how players are performing month-to-month.  Here are some of the most interesting stats from July - one for each team.

Boston – Jake Peavy was 4-2 in six starts with three complete games and one shutout.  In games started by anyone else, the Tea Party was an abysmal 2-20.

Brew City – Angel Pagan led the team with a .307 average and was a perfect 7-0 in his stole base attempts.   

Brooklyn – Rickey Romero started six games and threw five complete games.  He called it a day after only eight innings in his other start.  He also went 4-2 on the month with a 3.23 ERA.

California – Josh Hamilton slugged eight homers and drove in 24 runs.  Opposing pitchers only walked him eight times, though that will increase if he keeps up his July production.

Cook County – Matt Kemp had 40 strikeouts in only 112 at bats with just three homers and 13 RBIs.  There were many culprits for the Maulers’ 12-16 month, but Kemp was #1.

Fleetwood – Darren Oliver somehow lost two games despite allowing only one earned run all month.  Oliver pitched 21 innings in 13 games and allowed just 16 baserunners.  He gave up two runs total, each one costing him a loss despite his 0.43 ERA.

Florence – Xavier Paul may have hit only .239 and reached base just 36 times all month, but he still managed to steal 10 bases in 11 attempts. 

Fremont – Centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury might have been the Brassball Player of the Month, with a .348 average and 9 home runs.  He also easily lead the league with 30 runs and 20 stolen bases.

Glen Allen – Andre Ethier had a great month, hitting .343 in 102 at bats, but somehow knocked in only nine runs.  With his three homers and Ethier drove in a teammate only six times.

Hessville – Brian Fuentes put together a 0.60 ERA in his 11 games and 15 innings, but earned only two saves.  Instead, the saves went to Joe Smith, who earned six in his 11 games with a 2.61 ERA.

Lancaster – Clay Mortensen should get paid overtime, throwing 33 innings in 19 relief appearances.  He tossed four more innings than any of the Shermans’ starters, including those that started six times in July.

Latrobe – Max Scherzer may not have pitched great, with a 4.03 ERA, but he didn’t deserve a 1-5 record in those six starts.

Metropolis – Dan Haren went 4-1 in his six starts with a 1.73 ERA; and then he got traded to California and replaced by RA Dickey, who went 3-2 with a 5.53 ERA for Schaumburg.

Myrtle Beach – Andy Sonnanstine did record one of the Mermen’s four wins in July, but he also surrendered 10 home runs in just 18 2/3 innings.

North Georgia – Reed Johnson only batted 54 times, but managed to get himself plunked by a pitch in four of those plate appearances. 

Parkland – Joey Votto didn’t do much to help the Green stay in the playoff hunt, hitting .260 with only two homers and eight RBIs in July.

Plaza – New acquisition Brett Lawrie more than proved his value, hitting .384 and slugging eight homers.  His 22 RBIs were 13 more than the nearest Lion.

Santa Barbara – Kyle Farnsworth, Javier Lopez and Drew Storen combined to go 4-0 with a 0.22 ERA in 28 games and more than 40 IP. 

Schaumburg – The new ownership wasn’t impressed enough with JJ Hardy’s nine homers and 20 RBIs, so they sent him packing to California.

Simi Valley – Yovanni Gallardo was a perfect 4-0 with a 1.70 ERA in his four starts, allowing just under a baserunner per inning.

SoCal – Outfielder Mike Stanton was a beast in July, hitting .344 and leading all of Brassball with 10 homers and 31 RBI. 

Springfield – Miguel Estrada was brilliant in his five starts and two relief appearances, with a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings.  Somehow, he only collected one decision, going 1-0 on the month.

Superior – Ace Felix Hernandez averaged more than eight innings in his six starts and had a 3.14 ERA, but still went winless in three decisions.

Tinley – Alfonso Soriano led the team with five homers and 16 RBIs, but finished last with a .183 batting average in 104 at bats.

Statistics Don’t Lie (Team Edition)

The 2012 Brassball season just passed the halfway point, so it's time to take a look at some of the more interesting numbers the teams are putting up.  Some mean a lot, some mean a little, but all are interesting.

.310 – batting average allowed by Boston.  No offense is within 15 points, with Cook County’s leading .293.  

0 – sacrifice bunts by Metropolis, although they did attempt one.  Santa Barbara has an amazing 91 sacrifice bunts, which is 50 more than the closest team and 72 more than the league average of 19.

1 – caught stealing by Fleetwood, in 31 attempts.  Fremont has a league-leading 43 caught stealing.

3.33 – K/BB ratio for California pitchers.  They lead the league in strikeouts and are third in walks allowed.

17 – passed balls by Hessville.  Only two other teams are in double digits.

26 – errors by Latrobe.  The next closest are Parkland and Santa Barbara, with 35.

27 – complete games by Fremont pitchers, almost one-third of all their games.

37 – difference in Glen Allen’s home runs at home vs. home runs on the road.  Simi Valley has hit 23 more homers on the road than at home.  Hessville is almost even, with 44 homers at home and 45 on the road.

50.5 – percent of inherited runners North Georgia has allowed to score.  Simi Valley has allowed only 18.4% to score.

51 – unearned runs allowed by Brew City, which means their 5.22 team ERA might be artificially good.

58.5 – percent of Simi Valley base runners (H+HBP+BB) that eventually score.  That is the lowest in Brassball, but Simi Valley still leads the league in runs scored.  Boson scores 72.9% of its baserunners.

102 – double plays ground into by Springfield.  That’s almost 30 more than the average team.

133 – home runs allowed by Myrtle Beach.  Only one team has hit that many – Glen Allen with 139.