Discussion Forum

Forum >> Discussions >> 2055 Black Cats + Inferno Baseball   Bookmark This Forum Thread

Post ID Date & Time Game Date Function
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
SI gain for pitchers is primarily based on batters faced. So, if a pitcher is one of those "throw all day" guys you can rocket their SI up by giving them lots of innings.

Nope. He gained a lot of SI, but his curveball failed to develop very well so he is going to do long relief. He will join Wiggins there. Both guys are a nice hedge against injuries though.

If Corral falls off a cliff in his Age-35 season, Harvey will be the first man up. I now have an abundance of SP (albeit many below average SP 4.50-4.75 ERA guys).

In any case, I hope Corral can keep the seat warm for

https://brokenbat.org/player/295655

I feel better about my SP for next season than I ever have.

Alyksandur
Joined: 07/19/2017
Posts: 228

Boca Raton Gryphons
II.2

Broken Bat Baseball
 I don’t even care how the last game of the season goes, for me or for Prattville. If I win and he loses, the Gryphons promote on run differential; anything else and the Black Cats are in IV.8 next season. This has been a pennant race for the ages, the sort of thing baseball fans dream of. Harrowing for Prattville, certainly, since they’ve watched a fairly substantial lead dwindle to a mere game; thrilling for Boca Raton, who have fought long odds to not just contend but have a genuine chance at winning it all on the last day of the season.

 My dude. I just want to say this has been an awesome season. We won’t see each other next season, but if we don’t play each other again in ’57, I’ll eat my hat. I hope to get to VI.8 first, naturally, but I see no shame in losing that opportunity to you.

 Good luck.

 Play ball.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
A hearty congratulations to Prattville!!! Well Done well done!!!
Alyksandur
Joined: 07/19/2017
Posts: 228

Boca Raton Gryphons
II.2

Broken Bat Baseball
 Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. You earned it. Give ’em hell up there in IV.8, and I’ll do my damnedest to see you in ’57. ^.^
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
We finished on a 3 game winning streak, pummeling our old friends Round Rock. We started 2-8 against them but won 9 of 10 to win the season series against them 11-9. In their first season in V.9 they finished 79-81, the same as us in OUR first season. 5 of the last 6 were one-run games.

We finish 86-74. Amazing since we were 51-61 and went 35-13 over our last 48 games.

I have never really looked at Coronado as a starter, because he has low control but he gives me pause: 3 GS, 14 1/3 IP, 12 Hits, 2 ER, 0 HR.

Wiggins has pitched 47 2/3 IP since Sep 25. About 1 whole training period. So if he doesnt gain any SI on #10, hes maxed. What I didnt expect was for him to be so lights out: 4-2, all QS, dropped his ERA from 4.73 to 3.80. 1 single homer surrendered. A big deal when your CoS is 9 and Move 8.

Yamasaki wasnt brilliant today, but he has pitched at least ok in 6 straight starts. Mission accomplished. I pitched the guys that needed the work, and was 15-9 in those games. Most of the wins and a few of the losses even, were well-pitched.

Looking good for next season.
NotGood88
Joined: 08/28/2020
Posts: 510

Prattville Black Cats
II.2

Broken Bat Baseball
Yeah, what a crazy year. I might try to recap it tomorrow but I'm shocked that I managed to do that. Can't wait to let Prattville see LL 4 for the first time since 2039 but for now, let's just try to win our first playoff series since 2020 :)
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Infernos season in review:

We picked up Derrick as our hitting coach this season necause of his offensive ratings and PD. Didnt really use the PD much as the League level, since many of our players are fully developed or close to it. We improved a full 10 points from hitting .271 in 2054 to a league-leading .281 this year. We hit the same number of homers in both years, but 2054 was anchored by Nakajima's 41. He hit only 16 in 2055, so much more of a team effort. While Zavala led the team with a mere 19, 7 players had at least 13.

I shifted Burgess from Manager to Pitching Coach. Despite the struggle of some guys (Moreno), below average SP (The Mayor) and poor ones (Yamasaki), the team as a whole lowered ERA from 4.83 in 2054 to 4.22 (5th in the League). Johansen put in a much better overall year (3.75-3.13) mainly by reducing hits, pitching 4 more innings (112-108). The "Inspurnos" group of young pitchers did very well towards the end of the season, and Burgess will be counted on to help them find their form. We were 7th in the league in GB with 1.15. With Harper's struggles, most of the time I didnt have a closer, so we were 34/46 on save opportunities with 4 players having at least 5.

Feels nice that Holland and Round Rock stayed in League, so we will have some more battles with old VI.18 rivals.

Things that havent changed: We lead the league in SB these last 3 seasons. We were a tad less successful this season (72%) as Shockley and Thomas were aging. It was a team effort as Hodson led with 41.

Pitchers (Mainstays):

Olivera (15-12) 3.19 ERA. He has won at least 15 games 4 years straight. He improved on his H/IP and HR/K/BB stayed pretty steady.

Stalwart LHS Valera was released in the early going, replaced by Benavidez whose Dev finished around the beginning of regular season play.

Benavidez (42 IP, 2.79 ERA, 4 HR,5.36K/9, 2.79BB/9). I expect a regression in the walks, since his control is just 12. But he has been excellent thus far at other things.

Lagos (62 2/3 IP, 3.59 ERA, 6 HR, 5.66K/9, 5.23BB/9)
He, along with Olivera are among the "knownest" guys I have. Though its disappointing that his control never developed and he stunted for whatever reason, with his 18 Vel/Mov he has been relatively the same no matter what league. Since being fully developed and manning LR2 these last 4 seasons, his homer numbers have been pretty decent, and he lives off limiting hits, because he walks a ton of batters.

Johansen (112 IP, 3.13 ERA, 10HR, 6.99K/9, 3.13BB/9)
Quite a bounceback year. His homers are slightly up, but his H/IP were exceptional, harkening back to his outstanding 2053.

Roque (73 IP, 3.70 ERA, 9 HR, 6.66K/9, 1.78BB/9). Though he was a bit up and down at times (he will give up homers), he dramatically over-developed against expectations. He has the best control on the team, and is also fine on H/IP. He lowered his ERA from 4.71 on Aug 6 to 3.70.

Moreno (185 IP, 4.62 ERA, 22 HR, 4.48K/9, 3.79BB/9). He has always been average at best, and frequently below average, on homers, this year his walk rate rose dramatically from 2.60 last season. I think both numbers are above and below what I can expect from 14 control.

Alderman (193 IP, 4.57 ERA, 20 HR, 2.80K/9, 2.28BB/9). The Mayor's effectiveness has always been based on whether he walks people. He floated as high as SP2 (when everyone but Olivera was struggling) to a more normal SP4. He's a bit better this year on hits and consistency than last year. His GB rate was the best of his career.

Pitchers ("The Inspurnos"):

Núñez - Spring: (1 GS, 9 IP, 2.00 ERA, 0 HR, 7K, 6 BB) Cup: (4 GS, 23 1/3 IP, 8.49 ERA, 1 HR, 4K, 11BB). League: (8G, 6GS, 47 1/3 IP, 2.66 ERA, 1 HR, 19 K, 13 BB)

While he struggled mightily in Cup, but those starts were 150 pitch affairs, and any struggles with control can lead to a shellacking. and may have been fairly lucky on RNG in League, he has always show great performance in the minors, his SI rose 12 this year and his homer numbers are great. He will get a shot at starting, but will have value whatever role he takes.

Yamasaki - Spring: (7 GS, 56 IP, 5.30 ERA, 7 HR, 41K, 22 BB) Cup: (5 GS, 39 1/3 IP, 6.86 ERA, 2 HR, 20K, 17BB). League: (29G, 21GS, 136 1/3 IP, 5.68 ERA, 17 HR, 70 K, 53 BB). So after juicing his SI, the later part of the season was to see if he could actually pitch, which was not at all resolved by his performance the first part of the season. But 6 Good/OK starts in a row to conclude the season, and lowering his ERA from 7.02 to 5.68 give some hope he can stick going forward.

Wiggins - (16G, 11GS, 92 1/3 IP, 3.80 ERA, 8 HR, 65 K, 22 BB). Since he started the year at 100 SI, he was not used in Spring and sparingly in Cup. Part of the reason I let Briseno go is there are not that many left-handed relief positions available. I gave him 4 starts early in the year but he didnt do well. Later when I changed my rotation he started 6 games and all were good/excellent. He did gain some SI this year, so 17 Vel/Con to go with career .847HR/9 (with single-digit CoS/Mov) make it a bit of a decision what to do with him. I have tons of left-handed SP, but at the very least he can be a top LR2.

Coronado - Spring: (4 GS, 31 IP, 4.35 ERA, 3 HR, 25K, 9 BB). League: (6G, 3GS, 19 1/3 IP, 4.66 ERA, 0 HR, 12 K, 6 BB). He has been recommended to League most of the year, so I thought I would make him a Sept callup since he had an outstanding year in AAA. He had just one RNG-From-Hell outing (1 2/3 IP, 11 hits, 8 ER). Otherwise 17 2/3 IP, 2 ER and 3 of them starts. Like Nunez, he has always been excellent on homers. Only problem he has is walks.

Pitchers (Declining/Fringe):

35-to-be Corral (15G, 12 GS, 84 2/3 IP, 3.72 ERA, 9 HR, 45K, 23 BB). Signing him may have turned around our season. If he can be good for another year, that would be awesome.

Harvey (16G, 7 GS, 56 2/3 IP, 4.45 ERA, 5 HR, 31K, 19 BB). Though he is also a known quantity, with his fairly moderate pitching skills he has not shown he can lock-down his old role of SP1, and while he is a consistent below-average SP I may have an abundance of those guys going forward. How long he is retained depends a lot on how the rotation goes next season.

Harper (32G, 29 2/3 IP, 6.07 ERA, 2 HR, 28K, 13 BB). His development painted him into some corners. His Stamina of 4 makes him suitable only to close, since RHS/SET roles are the more highly skilled Johansen/Roques to lose. 16-13-15 V/CoS/Mov is fine on the face of it, but his control of 15 doesnt do him any favors. That said he was much better last year, so he remains replaceable but not a guy I am ready to dump.

Minor League Outlook:

With at least partial promotions for Coronado/Nunez, what remains in AAA is Bustamante, Olivares, Kennedy.

Bustamante - Spring: (4 GS, 27 1/3 IP, 10.21 ERA, 3 HR, 23K, 13 BB). AAA: (80G, 19GS, 234 1/3 IP, 3.61 ERA, 23 HR, 177 K, 87 BB). To some degree I always compare him to Coronado. His walks are a little better (but nothing special) and his homer rate is relatively high. He was recommended recently but is likely to spend all of 2056 in AAA.

Olivares - AAA: (34G, 3GS, 76 2/3 IP, 3.99 ERA, 10 HR, 65 K, 25 BB). Drafted by Normal this year, picked up right before deadline. A lottery ticket/depth signing.

Kennedy - AA: (47G, 23GS, 200 IP, 4.23 ERA, 13 HR, 169 K, 77 BB). AAA: (10G, 3GS, 29 IP, 4.03 ERA, 2 HR, 24 K, 9 BB). The prize of the 2055 Draft, he has gained 12 SI so far. The homers/K/GB numbers have been particularly strong thus far. This guy seems likely to anchor my staff for many years to come.

Hitters: (30+)

Nakajima (33-to-be) did not have the best year (.278/16/88) nor did he have a fantastic season in the field (.971) but I cant complain about .355 OBP/.842 OPS. He has lost speed each of the last 2 seasons. I fully expect him to be Primary 2B next season.

Shockley (35-to-be). Still on roster trying to get to the 450 SB milestone (1 short). He made it into 33G/110 AB and was .291/1/13, 8/12 SB. Part of the reason I kept him is so he can retire and go directly to the HOF. Though he still has some value, I dont have infinite roster spots lol.

Hodson (33-to-be). Though he has not lost a shred of SI, he had an off year (.270/3/53) 41/59 SB. For many years a star player, he needs to hit for average to succeed, especially playing a Hit-first position like 1B. I need more than .354 OBP/.736 OPS.

Grooms (35-to-be). (.328/1/13). Signed to be upgrade Range/Arm at SS (and allow the release of T. Rodriguez), he hit much better than expected. If he can do something next season, this may allow him to platoon with Zavala or another season of development for Gomez. We will see.

Arriaga (30-to-be). (.304/15/86). He had the best season in his career (more than 450 AB). He has spent most of it being a Primary but not full-time player because of struggles against LHP. Early this season he showed he could hit them (.282), so was soon an everyday player (142G). He turned in .397 OBS and .901 OPS. However, his power was a bit low this year.

Robledo (30-to-be): 11G/36 AB/.361. Strictly a depth 3B picked up in late July.

Farewell:

Thomas (31-to-be). (.259/5/36) 20/28 SB. I will always appreciate what the 2053 2-claimer brought to the team. With modest hitting attributes he helped us win VI.18 in 2053 (.294/8/82). (39/56 SB). In a more reserve role he hit (.301/4/33). (25/35 SB). Left-handed hitting "Even Stevens" managed to hit .272 against both RHP and LHP for his career. He's a guy that should have value to someone, but his relatively low OBP, losing 1 speed at his age 30 season, the signing of Paez and some primary OF prospects coming up make him expendable. I wish him good luck in the rest of his career.

Hitters (Primary):

Páez (.332/13/62). Lucky 38 claim pickup had by far the best season of his career as the Primary CF. 2 Errors/11 OA. He had less than .200 for his career batting against same-sided pitching, so I never used him that way (120G) .379 OBP/.893 OPS

McCann (.317/14/73) (38/50 SB). Massively over-achieved offensively with his skills. His arm was downgraded to 18 this year so his 31.4% CS was unremarkable in 118G at C. .363 OBP/.906 OPS.

Waters (.290/13/76). He was a bit down in most aspects from 2054. He hit .267 against RHP. He needs better hitting and more power to stay in primary lineups. .348 OBP/.812 OPS

Goodson - Spring: (30 GS, .378/7/17), Cup: (20G .341/2/12). League: (138G, .301/17/80). He is now the longest tenured guy that wasnt in my system when I started. An all batting skills guy, he hit .339 against same-sided pitching. .349 OBP/.792 OPS. He is still developing and hopefully he improves a bit on driving the ball. He was to go back down to AAA after training update #4, but was playing too well. He may be my 3rd straight ROY.

Zavala - (.244/19/72). St. Smash led the team in homers (in only 410 AB). His range ticked up to 15 this year as he, like Roque, developed way beyond expectations. With his rocket arm and devloping fielding, he turned in a FP of .977 and single-digit errors. When he arrived, he was hitting so poorly (but good FB/Power) I was thinking his spot in the lineup would be C, but his increasing range gives him other options.

Hitters (Secondary):

Glover (.278/8/39). While his development is encouraging (7 SI mostly in 2 chunks), he hasnt quite put it together yet. He batted only .257 against LHP, and as a Right-Handed LF type, he needs to bat. On the positive side, his PD rose to 17 and he has an OBP 100 points higher than BA. With decent power, he had an OPS of .807

Collins (.253/3/18). Another DH with no other real use, his spot is a bit tenuous. He doesnt bring the power Goodson does (though he fields slightly better) and his Hitting attribute gain has slowed down. At 17/17/13 he has nice offensive abilities if he continues to gain SI. He was called up because he had 5 blank training periods.

Porter (.253/1/14). Also tenuous, he was called up for the same reason as Collins. He has the ability to be a superior-fielding 3B, something I dont have at all (the 3B room is variable in their fielding ineptitude). Hes a S but hit only .238 against RHP. So he is basically useless but could possibly be something with strong SI growth.

The Farewell:

Quintero (.252/4/34). I got before waivers closed in 2050, he rose from POT 11 under my watch and ended up with decent 98 SI. His 6 League seasons are all with us. Before this year he was always a decent hitter, with better results against RHP. But with modest hitting skills similar to Thomas, no speed/power to use and marginal at fielding 3B I decided that though he in only 26 I need to keep my eyes open to improve the position and for now, give Porter his AB. I hope he returns to his ASG run in 2054 for another team. His contribution to our 2053 VI. 18 League winner is appreciated.

Hitters (Comers):

Marés - Spring: (30 GS, .328/4/19) AAA: (.314/27/70). After 4 seasons in AAA, he will get automatic callup next season. He has always had tremendous power potential and I will platoon him with Porter for now. Hopefully he can eventually translate his performance into playing full time

Shanks - Spring: (30 GS, .243/2/11) (15/17 SB), Cup: (20G .158) (5/7 SB). AAA: (.329/7/38) (29/33 SB) League: (26G, .228/4/8). (14/16 SB). Aside from ridiculous base running skills, he hasnt shown much at all in League play. That being said, he has gained 10 SI this season, and it is hoped his strong minor league hitting starts to show in League.

Alford - Spring: (30 GS, .266/0/15) AAA: (.276/9/49) . The switch-hitting 1 claimer was (before the arrival of Paez) thought to be in the mix to take over CF upon the retirement of Shockley.

Gómez - Spring: (30 GS, .282/6/16) AAA: (.279/12/60). The ridiculously rapidly-rising Gomez (with his Above Average POT) has always been an interesting ability to hit for power despite average GB hitting and little in the way of attribute.

Gentile - AAA: (.296/9/59). The other exciting pick from this years draft, he has a great Catchers build. Threw out 53.7% of runners this season.

Cota - AAA: (.263/14/46 (KBT). Deadline pickup. Positionally limited but a fairly nice hitting prospect. Signable because his minors performance leaves something to be desired.

Galindo - AAA: (.225/1/12). While it was not a big sample, after doing fine in AA this year he struggled in AAA.

Knudsen - AAA: (.289/5/20). The one-time 14 POT Knudsen is one of those fairly pointless signings to have a better fielding right-handed 1B, who is still a good hitter/power hitter. 6 SI gain this year, so coming along.

Buck - AAA: (.262/2/10). Very fringy guy who the AI thinks belongs in League with 66 SI. Plus is he gained 5 SI this year without doing more than playing in 8 cup games. I signed him because despite 66 SI, he is double digits in Hitting, PD, Power already.

Looking forward to next season and I hope to compete for the League Title.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Training #0 predictives: 7 players who will be Age-22, no 18 year olds.

Luis "Cebolla" Coronado (13 - no change)
Jose Luis Olivares (11 - rise to 12)
Ronald Gentile (12 - no change)
Andres Galindo (13 - no change)
Alejandro "Never Say" Nevarez (13 - drop to 12)
Laurence Bock (11 - no change)
Matt Nelson (12 - rise to 13)
Manuel Cañizles (11 - rise to 12)

Bock (the first #8 pick I didnt immediately release) - because of significant gains in his Hitting attribute without a comment, Nevarez (2054 #1) - 41 HR surrendered in 192 2/3 IP in AA this season, have a lot riding on this update.

As always, I tend to collect VG POT guys and avoid above-average POT guys. I dont think that has as much effect on Maintains and Rises as I originally thought. But the importance of those adjustments is a lot clearer to me. There will always be outliers, but excluding random sharpenings that happen later:

Harper 12-11 (Final SI 90)
Benavidez 13-12 (Final SI 93)
Moreno 15-14 (Final SI 112)
Wallace 12-11 (Final SI 91)
Pinto 15-14 (Final SI 110)
Arriaga 15-14 (Final SI 112)

Knudsen (14-12), Buck (12-11), Shanks (15-14) Omi (13-12) Final SI TBD

Makes these things more significant:

I was sure Waters would rise to 13 at his Age-22 season (after gaining 12 SI in the minors and being VG POT)...he did not. He did rise to 13 but finished at only 106 SI, short of Great Hitting. Sometimes there are guys like O'Neill (12-11 - grew back into 12, Final SI 100). Obviously more likely if someone is 11-12.

The success for the #0 risers seems much more significant.

Roque 11-12 (Final SI 102)
McCann 13-14 (Current SI 116)
Bonner 11-12 (Final SI 98)
Paez 13-14 (Final SI 117)

Coronado (12-13), Goodson (11-12), Nadeau (14-15), Bustamante (12-13) Macias (10-11), Cota (11-12) may provide further data when fully developed. And perhaps players such as Nunez who were drafted younger than 19 and had 1 decrease and 1 increase at Training #0.


Updated Friday, July 22 2022 @ 1:38:31 pm PDT
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Olivera: no ASG, no All-League, 25 votes for Cy Young. He did lead the league in IP, but was 8th in ERA (15-12) 3.19. McCann earned All-League at C (again no ASG appearance) and 8 votes for MVP.

Goodson earns our 3rd straight ROY, as expected. Apparently errors really, really matter in CF. OJ Armstrong of Egg Harbor had 1, with 15 OA. Paez has 2, with 11 OA. I am reminded how Shockley only won it twice. Paez, fielding of 20 and never won.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Training #0 - can always get an early look by looking at draft pages or the players...results:

Coronado 13 (remains)
Jose Luis Olivares 11 (rises to 12)
Gentile 12 (remains)
Galindo 13 (drops to 12)
Nevarez 13 (remains)
Bock 11 (remains)
Nelson 12 (rises to 13)
Cañizles 11 (rises to 13)

So I was 6-2. Wrong that Nevarez would drop and that Galindo would remain. The former dodged an immediate bullet (though he is far from safe) and Galindo is looking more like an average RF prospect and is also not safe. Its what happens when you get drafted by the "Butte Buccaneers"

Nelson, Olivares were the traditional end of free agency signings and both helped themselves.

Updated Friday, July 22 2022 @ 1:50:23 pm PDT


Previous Page | Show All |