Summer
Newsletter 2016
The
Newsletter that is one year older, one year wiser, and one year slower
VOL. XXV1I No. 2
August 9, 2016
Playoffs: "What Eric Said?" vs. Fuiture Wax
Playoffs: Oceanus vs. Smoking Loons
World Series: "What Eric Said?" vs. Oceanus
New SOMBILLA records, home/away records
Minutes of annual meeting
Summer Study No. 1 - Trade Register Update
Summer Study No. 2 - 2012 Draft Analysis
Summer Study No. 3A - The SOMBILLA Hall of Fame
Summer Study No. 3B - All-time franchise rosters
Summer Study No. 4 - Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3?
SOMBILLA All-star count
Ballparks
Playoffs
“What
Eric Said?” vs. Future Wax (at Hopkinton, March
6, 2015)
Background: Picked 7th in the pre-season poll, “WES?” posts a respectable 6-6 November and follows up with an equally respectable 8-8 in December and is sitting 3 games out, tied for 4th at the break. Jeff catches fire in January, wining key series from Jed and Tom and is only one game out heading into the final month. On 2/2, he sweeps Robin to take over first place! “WES?” then goes 5-7 over the rest of the season, but that’s good enough for a tie for 2nd with Randy at 31-25.
Future Wax, chosen 2nd by the experts, stumbles out of the gate (2-6) as Randy appears pre-occupied with acting. A 9-9 December has the Wax in 6th place. He wins 3 of 4 in a key showdown with ND on 1/26, but FW is still a game out of the playoffs heading into February. Flying down the homestretch, Randy goes 11-5 in the final month (winning series over Harold, Jeff and Robin) to finish at 31-25 in a flat footed tie with “WES?” for 2nd place.
The two teams split their season series 4-4, with each team wining 3 at home. This necessitates a coin flip for home field advantage in the playoffs. Randy, at Robin’s house for the regular season finale, did not want to wait until he and Jeff actually played before determining home field advantage, and wanted to flip right away. We called Jeff, who was in his car, and he agreed to do the flip right then Which we did. Jeff wan the coin toss, calling 'heads'.
Game 1:
Game 1 was a true pitcher’s dual,
with Samardzija (8 IP, 2 hits, 1 run and 11 strikeouts)
and bullpen (Cook, Chapman and Giles – 1 IP, 1 BB and a save) out-dueling the
Future Wax club. FW took a 1-0 lead on a
solo shot by Upton
in the 5th. Things were looking bleak
for the “WES?” until the bottom of the 8th when Holliday was awarded a
pinch-hit walk. After Turner made an
out, three consecutive singles by Freeman, Puig and Jones provided all the
support needed. Final Score: “WES?”
2 FW 1
Game 2:
In Game 2, the Wax came out and
pounded the snot out of WES, early and often to tie the series. The Wax offense combined for 11 runs and 15
hits, led by Stanton
going 4-5 (2 singles,
2 walks and 1 HR and 3 runs scored). In
this laugher, Lester was chased before completing the first inning. Final
Score: FW 11 “WES?” 3
Game 3:
In Game 3, JD Martinez went on an
offensive tear (4-5, 3 runs, 2B, 3 HR and 5 RBIs) for WES. His major damage occurred in the second
inning when he hit a grand slam to bring the “WES?” club up, 5 to1. “WES?” went on to win 6 to 4, the score
closer than it seemed due to an untimely error committed by Puig. Final
Score: “WES?” 6 FW 4
Game 4:
In Game 4, “WES?” got out to an
early lead off of a 2nd inning three run shot by Andrew Jones. The combination of Sarmardzija,
Casilla and Chapman was able to keep the Wax bats at
bay and “WES?” went on to win to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Final
Score: “WES?” 6 FW 4
Game 5 :
In what turned out to be the finale,
the “WES?” offense was led by yet another grand slam home run by JD
Martinez. The rolls and karma just kept
coming WES’s way as they went on to avenge last years
first round exit at the hands of FW. Final Score “WES?” 9 FW 1
“What Eric Said?” wins series 4 games to 1
I have to give the series MVP to JD
Martinez:
11 for 21, .524 average, 3 2B, 4
HR, 10 RBIs, 1.238 SLG
Playoffs:
Oceanus
vs. Smoking Loons (Internet March 7, 2016)
Background:
Neither team was picked for the playoffs in the preseason
poll (Jed -6th, Eric -8th), meaning that three of the four playoff teams were
predicted to finish 6th, 7th and 8th by the so-called experts. Jed practically goes wire to wire, however,
jumping out to an 11-5 start, and is sitting at 17-11 in first by 2 games
during Auld Lang Syne. An 8-8 January has him still
in first, and, after briefly dropping behind “WES?” in early February, he picks
up ace Corey Kluber at the trading deadline and
finishes 8-4 and cruises to his first first-place finish in many years.
Eric starts out well also, at 9-7, and is 14-14 at the
break. A sweep of Harold in January
keeps the hopes twinkling and he’s 23-21 heading into the final month. He later
laments that he had grand delusions about how good his team was (and trading
away a 2nd round pick), but a 6-6 February is good enough to capture 4th place
by one game.
Jed won the season series 5 games to 3.
Executive Summary
Oceanus takes the series 4-2. The Loons fight valiantly after falling
behind 2 games to none, with an epic comeback in game 5. And after
jumping to a 5-0 lead in game 6, it seemed a game 7 was inevitable. But
at that point Oceanus, keying on its manager's pessimism, hammered out 15 runs
in 4 innings to put the game and the series away.
Below are the slightly edited game summaries. Game 5 was an all
time great, with the Smoking Loons prevailing 10-9 after 14 innings after
having trailed 8-1 in the bottom of the 4th. Eric also came back from
being down 5-0 in game 3. Overall, we experienced the full Strat-O
panoply - death rolls, homerun robbing, several runners nailed at home plate,
errors by Gold Glove fielders etc. Luck certainly went in waves although
Eric had pretty much none in games 1 and 2.
Abreu, Beltre, Brantley and Mesoraco
all hit 3 HR for Oceanus. Arenado had 3 HR for
the Loons. There was a lot of hitting, so many players hit well over .300
for the series. Beltre was the star for Oceanus going 13 for 27.
Span went 7 for 18 for the Loons. Kluber got
two victories, with a 3.38 ERA overall, but was touched up a bit in game 4.
Game 1:
Designated hitter Jose Abreu knocked 2 homeruns and
Corey Kluber went 9 solid innings as the Oceanus
ballclub beat the Smoking Loons team by a score of 6 to 2.
Kluber pitched one of his finer games as he simply
was too much for the Smoking Loons batters. He didn't allow much, just 4
hits and no walks in 9 innings. Oceanus had a total of 14 hits for the
game.
Jered Weaver ended up with the loss. He got hit
hard, allowing 10 hits and 4 walks in 6 and 2/3 innings.
Game 2:
Felix Hernandez tossed a complete game as the Smoking Loons ballclub were badly
beaten by the Oceanus club, 12 to 1, as Oceanus jumps to a 2 games to 0 lead in
the series.
Oceanus started with a bang, jumping out to an early lead in their half
of the first scoring a single run. After an out was recorded, Carlos
Gomez hit a bases-empty home run. Oceanus finished with 13 hits in the
victory.
Hernandez, allowing 1 run for the game, picked up the victory. Garrett Richards
ended up with the loss. He was touched for 5 homeruns in his 5 innings of
work.
Game 3:
Catcher Jonathan Lucroy hit a homerun and had 2 RBI as the Smoking Loons club
beat the Oceanus team 6 to 5.
Smoking Loons had the game-winning rally in the 8th inning with 3 runs on 2
hits. After an out was recorded, Adrian Gonzalez initiated the scoring
when he blasted a solo shot. Neil Walker stepped up next and he was hit
by a pitch. Nolan Arenado then bombed a two-run
dinger. Joe Smith came through with a perfect ninth inning to earn the
save.
Jonathan Papelbon went 1 inning allowing no runs for the victory. Pat Neshek was tagged with the loss in relief. He
surrendered 1 run and 1 hit in 2/3 of an inning.
Game 4:
Michael Brantley slammed a homerun and had 4 RBI as the Oceanus club defeated
the Smoking Loons ballclub by the score of 7 to 4, to go up 3 games to 1.
Brantley led the offense for Oceanus. He delivered a one-base hit in the
5th inning, lifted one out of the park for a two run home run in the 7th inning
and lashed a single, scoring two baserunners in the
8th inning. Both teams totaled 10 hits on the night.
Corey Kluber got credit for the victory, pitching 7
innings and allowing 4 runs. Kluber was helped out by
Darren O'Day who recorded the save. Tom
Wilhelmsen absorbed the loss in relief.
Game 5:
Derek Norris jacked one out of the ballyard and had 2
RBI as the Smoking Loons ballclub defeated the Oceanus team in 14 innings 10 to
9.
The teams were tied at 8 runs apiece after nine innings. Finally, Smoking
Loons pulled the game out in the 14th inning. After an out was recorded, Marcell Ozuna cracked a solo
homerun giving Smoking Loons the win as 46,117 happy fans joyfully
celebrated. For the game, Smoking Loons out-hit Oceanus 19 to 13.
Kyle Hendricks went 2 innings allowing no runs for the victory. The loss was
charged to Hiroki Kuroda in relief. He gave up 4 hits and 2 walks in 3
and 1/3 innings.
Game 6:
For some reason, no computer-generated game summary?! The Loons
went up early, taking advantage of hitting against surprise starter David
Price. It was 5-0 after 3. Oceanus was gloom and doom at that
point, raising the white flag and bringing in Hiroki Kuroda as a long
reliever. But Kuroda managed to keep the Loons quiet. And Oceanus
made it 5-2 after 4 and 5-5 after 5. It was at that point that the wheels
fell off for the Smoking Loons. Oceanus put together an 8-run 6th, one of
those innings where nothing could go wrong.
Everyone on the Assholes collected at least one hit, with the exception
of Brantley and Heyward (who only had 1 AB). Arenado
went 3 for 4 for the Loons, with a HR.
Oceanus wins
series 4 games to 2
World Series
Oceanus vs. “What Eric Said?” (Internet, March 20, 2016)
Background: It’s been a long drought for both teams. In
fact, perhaps being prescient, I pointed this out in last year’s Summer
Newsletter in the introduction to “July Madness” when I pitted the World Series
participants of the last 8 years in a tournament:
“All managers are represented, except Jeff and Jed.
Jeff has not made it into the SOMBILLA World Series since he won the
Championship in 2003. In the 12 years since then, he has lost in the
first round of the playoffs 4 times, including last season.
However, Jed blows that away. He has not
appeared in the SOMBILLA World Series since 1990, when he managed the Plymouth
Satellites to the 11th inning of the 7th game against
legendary Yoknapatawpha (44-12). We all remember that one…. Anyway, Jed, both solo and co-owning (Clint
and Matt) has lost in the first round of the playoffs 6 times in the past 25
years, having gone 14 seasons, from ’92-93 to ’05-06, without even making the
playoffs.
World Series notes:
After
a 13-year drought the faithful fans (all one or two of them) of “What Eric
Said?” are celebrating a second World Series win. In post-game interviews
the manager stated “It was a great win for the team, after coming up short in
the first round the year prior, the team pulled it all together to make what
most of the league prognosticators thought was impossible.” The manager
attributes the catalyst that sparked the unlikely run was the inclusion of the
“?” in the team’s name. The series summaries follow:
Game 1 - Oceanus 14 “What Eric Said?” 6
In what loomed as an early game predictor, “WES?” came up short with
some untimely high splits in Oceanus’s hitter-friendly park, missing what seemed
to be very likely home runs. Unfortunately
for the visiting underdogs, the home team took full advantage of their home
field and went on to knock the snot out of starting pitcher ace Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija was
given an early hook so he could restart fresh two games later. Oceanus’s
Jose Bautista rocketed 2 homeruns and had 4 RBIs as Oceanus “Klubered” “What Eric Said?” 14 to
6.
Bautista was a one-man wrecking crew. He clubbed a solo home run
in the 2nd inning, doubled plating a run in the 3rd inning and
lifted one out of the park for a two-run home run in the 6th inning. Both
teams finished the game with 12 hits. The win went to Corey Kluber (1-0) who allowed 5 runs in 6 and 2/3 innings.
Game 2 – “What Eric Said?” 6 Oceanus 1
Matt Holliday hit one over the fence and had 2 RBIs as “What Eric Said?”
defeated Oceanus by the score of 6 to 1 on the road to tie up the series.
“What Eric Said?” scored 3 runs in the decisive 2nd inning when they
came up with 3 base hits. The big moment was
provided by Danny Santana, who silenced the home crowd as he slapped a base-hit
scoring two base runners. “What Eric Said?” finished with 13 hits in
the victory.
The win went to Ryan Cook (1-0), who went 2 innings, allowing no runs,
stealing away home-field advantage. Hiroki Kuroda (0-1) was the losing
pitcher. He surrendered 6 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings.
Game 3 – “What Eric Said?” 5 Oceanus 4
Danny Santana left the yard and had 3 RBIs as “What Eric Said?” beat
Oceanus in a 10-inning thriller by a score of 5 to 4.
“WES?” was down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Santana’s
bomb brought the home crowd to their feet launching the game-tying blow.
In the 10th inning, after an out was recorded, Justin Turner drew a walk.
Freddie Freeman stepped up next and he ripped a base-hit. With both the
infield and outfield in, Yasiel Puig then hit a deep
fly making “What Eric Said?” victorious to the delight of the hometown
crowd. “What Eric Said?” finished with 10 hits in the victory.
Aroldis Chapman (1-0) was the winner, allowing no runs in
1/3 of an inning. The loss was charged to Cody Allen(0-1)
in relief. He pitched 1/3 of an inning allowing 1 hit and 1 walk.
Game 4 – “What Eric Said?” 7 Oceanus 0
Hisashi Iwakuma didn't allow a
hit until the 6th inning as “What Eric Said?” defeated the Oceanus club 7 to 0
to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.
Iwakuma (1-0) put on a good performance. He didn't
give up much, just 1 hit and 1 walk in 6 and 1/3 innings. The
right-handed Iwakuma had his no-hit bid broken up by
Michael Brantley who doubled with two outs in the 6th inning. “What Eric Said?”
had 13 hits for the night while Oceanus had 2.
Corey Kluber (1-1) was the losing
pitcher. He surrendered 11 hits and 1 walk in 6 and 2/3 innings.
Game 5 – Oceanus 8 “What Eric Said?” 4
Masahiro Tanaka retired 12 batters on strikeouts and Michael Brantley
slammed a homerun and had 2 RBI as the Oceanus club beat the “What Eric Said?”
by a score of 8 to 4.
Tanaka (1-0) gave a fine effort for Oceanus. He surrendered 8 hits
and 1 walk in 7 innings and served up 2 'big flies.’ Oceanus finished
with 11 hits in the victory.
A pivotal change in karma came in the top of the 5th with
Brantley up. He launches a shot to right center that appears to he held
up a bit by the wind….. [BALL PARK EFFECT] chance to
rob Brantley of the dinger by Adam Jones, a 1 in CF (1-3 HR, 4-20 out).
I asked Jed if he would like me to have Robin roll the thing, and he said
yes. After some quick rubbing of the dice Robin proceded
to roll a 1! Robin robbed my chance of robbing a home run from her
favorite LF Brantley! (She states that she had no idea exactly what she
was rolling for). That 2-run shot set the tone for the rest of the game. Forcing the “WES?” squad to have to put the World Series away on the road.
Jon Lester (0-1) was hit with the loss. Tanaka was pleased with
his performance. He noted, 'I had good command of all my pitches.
Just as important, my location was right on.
Game
6 –
“What Eric Said?” 8 Oceanus 0
What
started out as having the makings of a great game turned into a laugher in the
top of the 7th inning as the “WES?” bats erupted putting up 5 runs. First
baseman Freddie Freeman hit a homerun and had 3 RBI as “What Eric Said? finished off Oceanus 8 to 0.
Santiago
Casilla (1-0) came on to close the door tight in
relief. He allowed no hits and 1 walk in 3 innings. Overall “What
Eric Said?” out-hit Oceanus 11 to 4. Adam Warren (0-1) ended up with
the loss in relief. He surrendered 1 run and 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning.
Batting-wise
I’d have to give the MVP to Freddie Freeman, who started the series slow but
ended up raking (.440, 2 HR and 9 RBIs).
That said, the unsung hero has to be Danny
Santana. His HR in the bottom of the 9th in game 3, forcing
extra innings and tilting the karma, was huge. The
entire “WES?” bullpen was
stellar, pitching 12.67 IP and yielding 0 runs!
“What Eric Said?” wins series 4 games to 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New SOMBILLA record set this year:
Most All-stars: North Dakota
17 (shattering its 19-year old record of 14 set in 1997)
Fewest errors, team: Future Wax
and Smoking Loons – 9 (old record Bay
City '05-06 13)
Fewest walks, individual walk leader – Dozier, OC 30 (old record E. Martinez, NO '99-00 41)
It gets harder every year to find new records.
Home and Away record this year:
HOME
AWAY
Randy 18-10
.643 Jed 18-10 .643
Jeff 16-12 .571
Eric 16-12 .571
Jed 15-13 .536
Jeff 15-13
.536
Tom 14-14 .500
Arnie 14-14 .500
Robin 14-14 .500 Tom 14-14
.500
Eric 13-15 .464
Randy 13-15 .464
Harold 12-16 .429 Harold 11-17 .393
Arnie 11-17 .393 Robin 10-18 .357
TOTALS 113-111 .504 111-113 .496
I find this a little
embarrassing, considering how many computer runs I do to choose a park for my
team. Of course those runs were all done before I blew up my team.
THOUGHTS
WHILE RUNNING AT THE TRACK
Minutes of Annual Meeting and Draft
April 2, 2016
1. Dues.
Jed still
o”WES?” me $9.00. I
accept PayPal! Send to arniep@verizon.net.
2. Awards Voting
- 5 points for 1st place, 3 for 2nd place, 1 for 3rd place. Since managers cannot vote for their own
players, 7 votes would be a unanimous vote.
MVP 1 2
3 Tot
McCutchen, FW 4 20
Upton, FW 2 2 2 18
Abreau, OC 3 9
Stanton, FW
2 2 8
D. Santana, “WES?” 1
2 7
Trout CN 1 5
Brantley, OC
1 3
Cano, ND
1 1
V. Martinez,
BC 1 1
Cy Young 1 2
3 Tot
Kershaw, FW 4
3 23
Scherzer, FW 3 1 1 19
Samardzija, “WES?”
1
2 1 12
J. Smith, SL
3 1 10
Kluber, ND-OC
1
3
Kuroda, OC 1
3
F. Hernandez, OC 1 1
Lester, “WES?” 1 1
A question was posed at the draft as to whether Kershaw was
the first lefty to ever win the SOMBILLA’s Cy Young
award. The answer is no! He is actually the 3rd. The others:
Fernando Valenzuela, Learned Hands ’86-87 and Dontrelle
Willis, New Orleans ’06-07.
Manager
of the Year 1
2 3 Tot
Jeff 6 1
33
Jed
1 4 2 19
Eric 1 3 3 17
Randy 3 3
3.
Presentation of the Richman Cup by last year's champion, Randy, to this
year’s champion, Jeff. Randy forgot
to bring the Richman Cup with him and as far as I know, still illegally claims
possession of it.
- Agreement on
cutting players and waiver draft.
We spent a few
minutes agreeing to the time for the waiver draft and cutting of players.
- Draft lottery
change proposal from Tom
Tom made a proposal (to Arnie) that
Arnie translated and copied into the pre-draft newsletter. The proposal was essentially that “all
non-playoff teams get 1 thing plus 1 thing for every full game behind the 5th
place team.”
Had the original proposal been written
that succinctly, Arnie would not have misinterpreted it to be:
“The first team out of the playoffs
(5th place) receives one thing, each team under them gets 1 thing plus an
additional thing for each place and games behind the first non-playoff team. For example, if this system were in place for
this season.
Tom finished 5th, he receives one
thing. Arnie came in 6th (2 things for
finishing 6th), 3 games behind Tom (3 more things), for a total of 5
things. Robin finished 7th (3 things), 4
games behind Tom (4 more things) for a total of 7. Harold finished 8th (4 things), 5 games
behind Tom (5 more things) for a total of 9.
Both Tom’s original proposal and my
misinterpretation contained the following additional provisions:
· Each team rolls their things and keeps the lowest
value.
· Then the teams are ordered 1st through 4th,
resolving ties with a single thing off.
· In the second round the order is reversed.
· All subsequent rounds are in the order of the
standings. (1st tie breaker by best head to head record, 2nd
by a separate thing off…)
My comments on this:
(Commissioner
comments: On the plus side, it eliminates the
complications of Draftmaggedon we’ve seen in recent years. It’s easy to follow. On the negative, in today’s world it gives
mediocre teams (5th place) a shot at the top pick in addition to the worst
teams. Tom’s proposal is even more
skewed away from the worst team getting the #1 pick than my
misinterpretation. Also as a practical
matter, we will either need to buy more things or separate out the rolls. For example, we would have needed 16 things
(Tom’s proposal) or 22 things (my misinterpretation) for the rolloff this
year).
Chances for first overall pick:
|
Year
|
Current rule
|
Arnie’s Misinterpreted Tom Proposal
|
Tom’s Actual Proposal
|
|
2015 -
2016
|
8th place: 33.3%
7th place :33.3%
6th place: 33.3%
5th place: 0
|
8th: 40.9%
7th: 31.8%
6th: 23.8%
5th: 4.5%
|
8th: 37.5%
7th: 31.3%
6th: 25.0%
5th: 6.3%
|
|
2014 – 2015
|
8th: 50.0%
7th: 50.0%
6th: 0
5th: 0
|
8th: 46.2%
7th: 30.8%
6th: 19.2%
5th: 3.8%
|
8th: 42.1%
7th: 31.6%
6th: 21.1%
5th: 5.3%
|
|
2013 – 2014
|
8th: 100%
7th: 0
6th: 0
5th: 0
|
8th: 60.0%
7th: 26.7%
6th: 6.7%
5th: 6.7%
|
8th: 55.6%
7th: 22.2%
6th: 11.1%
5th: 11.1%
|
The league did like the change because it is inherently
simpler than Draftmaggedon to understand.
So the discussion then turned to which of the two proposals would be
adopted. People seemed more ‘comforted’
by the misinterpreted version’s results than the original proposal. A 3rd somewhat complicated
‘hybrid’ version of the two was also thrown around, and seemed to have interest
up until we looked at the phone in the middle of the room and asked Jed what he
thought, and he adamantly responded “NO HYBRID.” With not enough votes to support the hybrid
proposal, it was withdrawn and the league
then voted to adopt “Arnie’s misinterpretation” 8-0, effective with the 2017
lottery.
We’ll know ahead of time how many things will be needed; we
may need to ask everyone to bring whatever they have (and/or have the lottery
entrants do their rolls separately).
- New injury
chart (with SOMBILLA modification)
Strat-O has changed the injury chart:
|
Roll
|
Current injury chart
|
New injury chart
|
|
1
|
OK
|
OK
|
|
2
|
OK
|
OK
|
|
3
|
Remainder of game
|
OK
|
|
4
|
Remainder of game
|
OK
|
|
5
|
1
|
Remainder of game
|
|
6
|
1
|
Remainder of game
|
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
|
8
|
1
|
1
|
|
9
|
2
|
1
|
|
10
|
2
|
2
|
|
11
|
2
|
2
|
|
12
|
3
|
3
|
|
13
|
3
|
3
|
|
14
|
4
|
4
|
|
15
|
5
|
5
|
|
16
|
6
|
6
|
|
17
|
7
|
8
|
|
18
|
8
|
10
|
|
19
|
10
|
15
|
|
20
|
15
|
60
|
I proposed that the
league adopt the new chart, but substitute 20 games for 60 games if you roll a
20. If we do that, we would also need to
modify the current injury limitation for those < 300 plate appearances
because it maxes out at 15 games. I proposed the following change to go along
with adopting the new injury chart with a 20 game injury:
Plate
appearances (ab + bb) Maximum games injured
450+ 2
400-449
4
350-399
6
300-349
8
250-299
15 (currently < 300)
Under 250
20
This proposal led to a very long discussion, led by Eric,
regarding why we had three different measurements for plate appearances, and
why not just simplify everything and adopt the same standard. For the record there are three instances
where the SOMBILLA requires plate appearances:
- The
injury chart (above, which uses ab + bb on the front of the card)
- Plate
appearances counted to determine if a player is unlimited (400 plate
appearances): AB+BB+HBP+SF (sac flies)
+ SH (sacrifice bunts)
- Plate
appearances for the 42% total allowed for limited batters (ab + bb on the front of the card)
It was explained that #2 above was different because it
helps managers by providing for potentially more unlimited players than if we
just went with ab + bb. Eric then wanted to know why we didn’t change
# 1 and #3’s definition to equal #2. It
was explained that we want to keep things simple (injury in the middle of a game
for example) by just using the front of the player’s card, rather than having
to stop play and search the Internet to find AB+BB+HBP+SF (sac flies) + SH
(sacrifice bunts). Eric then wanted to
know why we didn’t just change #2’s definition to equal #1 and #3. We explained (again) that #2 above was
different because it helps managers by providing for potentially more unlimited
players than if we just went with ab + bb. Eric then wanted to know why we didn’t’
change # 1 and #3’s definition to equal #2. It was explained (again, somewhat impatiently)
that we want to keep things simple (injury in the middle of a game for example)
by just using the front of the player’s card And we
went in circles for awhile.
Finally, the league
voted to adopt the new injury charts 6-2.
A proposal that the new rules apply only to Future Wax was not voted on.
- Sending
down/calling up/trading for pitchers during the season.
It started with Eric’s e-mail
proposal after he made a trade at the deadline “When a team makes a trade after
the roster freeze and as a result sends a pitcher down to the minors being
replaced by a hitter from the trade, that pitcher’s innings are not assigned to
any player on the active roster.”
This then
triggered Tom to propose doing away with all of the complicated innings rules
around sending down/calling up/trading for pitchers, and simply treating them
the same as hitters. We debated
the original concern, which was that we wanted to discourage burning out a
pitcher and then sending him down.
But why not treat mutant pitchers
the same as mutant batters? Here is
Tom’s official proposal:
“Do away with pitcher pro-ration
of innings when a team is changing the number of pitchers on their active
roster except for September roster expansion or injury call
up.
· For pitchers being used as the September roster expansion
or injury call up they are limited to the greater of
o Series proration or
o Starter point of weakness plus 2 innings or
o (Reliever point of weakness + 2) x 3
innings.
· These pitchers are still limited by their yearly
allocation of innings based on the normal rules -- .42*IP or .5*IP (for starred
starters).
· Basically, in real baseball if you have a player
on the DL, the team can bring up a minor league pitcher for a spot start.
It then makes sense that he would be able to pitch his inning of weakness plus
2 at least. (If he was not in the majors enough to allow that then he was
not available to do that for your team.)
Because allowing for ‘mutant’
pitchers changes drafting philosophy, it was agreed to wait until the 2017-2018
season before implementing this rule. And due to concerns about unintended
consequences for abuses or other issues we can’t foresee, it was also agreed to
revisit this at the 2018 draft (unless something occurs that is so abusive that
one manager requests a hearing during the 2017-2018 season).
- Jed then proposed (again) that each team could decide
whether to use the DH rule in his or her own park
(for both teams of course). This failed to pass 6-2 (Harold
noted that he could be persuaded to switch in favor of the rule).
5. Card
burning. The league burned Aroldis Chapman and Jose Reyes.
6. Draft Notes
.
Retread report.
- The
first redrafted player taken in this draft was John Lackey (12th
overall) in the 2nd round by Harold. He was originally drafted
by Jeff back in 2003!
- Jeff’s
former closer F-Rod was taken by Harold in the 4th round
- Former
Jeff OF Geraldo Parra was picked up by Eric in the 5th round.
- The
5th round also saw another one of Jeff’s cuts taken, the fourth
in a row: Mark Teixeira, picked up by Jed.
- Kendrys Morales, cut by CN after breaking his leg, was
picked up by Future Wax in the 7th.
- Former
Bay City
pitcher Ryan Madson was taken in the 7th
round by Future Wax.
- North Dakota castoff Dan Haren
was taken by Jeff in the 8th round.
- Former
CN reliever L. Gregerson was taken by Jed in the
8th round.
- Bay City’s former
pitcher Edison Volquez was drafted by Jeff in
the 10th.
- Another
former BC pitcher, Erasmo Ramirez, was picked up
by Future Wax in the 11th.
- Two pitchers
who toiled for Harold, Francisco Liriano and
Koji Uehara, were drafted in the 12th round by by Tom and Jed, respectively.
- The
only players redrafted by their own manager were Ryan Raburn
and Matt Thornton by Tom in the 13th and 14th
rounds.
SUMMER STUDY NO. 1 – Trade Register
Update
Back in 2010, I compiled a list of all SOMBILLA trades in
league history. You can see it here:
http://SOMBILLA.x10.mx/studies.htm#attr
I received a request to update this list. So here you go:
|
5/5/08
|
This
trade was not shown on the original list: A51 trades Chipper Jones to New Orleans for a “player to be named later” (Nick Markakis, after the current SOMBILLA season) and New Orleans 3rd round
pick in the upcoming draft.
If New
Orleans makes the playoffs (which it did), the 3rd
round pick becomes a 2nd round pick (became Joey Devine. Who?) and New Orleans in return
gets A51’s 8th round pick (Jerry Blevins).
|
|
11/10/09
|
Shoppach from FU for ND’s James
Shields. If Shields is a #1 starter per Lamanna
for the 2010 season, then ND also gets a 3rd round pick in the 2011
draft. If Shields is a #2 for 2010, its a 5th
round pick in the 2011 draft. Shields was neither.
Jed won this trade convincingly.
|
|
12/20/09
|
With much trepidation, Dem Bums wish to announce
a trade of Jones's, Adam for Chipper (NO). Eric worries that Adam
will become the next Eric Davis (he noticed that Adam is now a 1 in cf), and remembers a similar trade he made some years
ago, trading for an aging yet stellar Larry Walker, only to see his
season go down the tubes despite improving his team significantly on paper.
Harold assures Eric that Chipper will not disrupt the
locker room cohesion. Eric thinks Harold is full of shit.
only time will tell...
(Ed note: Adam Jones is not the next Eric Davis, and Eric
won the World Series that year).
|
|
1/19/10
|
Trade Update: after what seemed a prolonged negotiation in
which little was actually negotiated, Arnie agreed to trade Grant Balfour to
Eric for Ramon Ramirez, straight up, no chaser. It relieves Eric of one sox bullpenner, which was his primary motive. Too many
pitchers on the olde home team had proved too
stressful. Balfour said he was pleased to hear he was leaving a team that had
changed its name mid-year.
(Balfour had a few good seasons after this for Eric, while
Ramirez was cut).
|
|
1/24/10
|
ND sends Josh Hamilton to FW for Nelson Cruz, ND. After FW won the trade early (with Hamilton having an
MVP-type season), Cruz has come on for the last few seasons to help Arnie win
this trade.
|
|
3/21/10
|
Fugakyu and New
Orleans have agreed to the following trade: Ichiro Suzuki for
Orlando Hudson plus New Orleans'
5th round draft choice in this year's draft (became Sean White). Ichiro
has now vowed to play until he's in his late 40's (a la Paul Molitor) and continue to hit for an even higher average
|
|
1/5/11
|
North
Dakota, now 11 years removed from its last championship, and 2 years removed
from its choke as the league's overwhelming favorite, has acquired centerfielder
Carlos Beltran from hapless Bay City in exchange for 3B Chase Headley and a
2nd round draft pick (became Logan Morrison). Despite (true) whispers
that the two GMs were sleeping with each other, the Bay City front office
points out that it was in fact, Fugakyu that
initiated trade talks, "driving up the price" by forcing North
Dakota to sweeten its offer.
Odd man out Dexter Fowler, who was designated for assignment, stormed out of
the locker room and his whereabouts are unknown.
|
|
1/6/11
|
The New Orleans Ellis and the Fugakyu
Pufferfish have agreed (pending the result of
physical examination of the cards) to exchange 3B Ian Stewart plus a
conditional draft choice for 3B Chone Figgins. An anonymous source unauthorized to
discuss the trade indicated that the conditional draft choice would be a 2011
4th round pick or a 2011 3rd round pick if the Ellis wins the Richman Cup
(which he did! The pick became Evan
Meek).
The addition of Figgins means
that all 25 Ellis players have a 1 range rating. Figgins
gives the Ellis a much sought-after leadoff threat and an irrepressible
clubhouse presence.
The Pufferfish meanwhile seem to
be sending a wait 'til next year signal. However, Stewart will get a
chance to play and does add some power to the lineup.
|
|
1/22/11
|
Eric has traded Bob Howry and a
6th round pick to Robin (became Wil Rhymes) for
reliever Kiko Calero. The
original draft pick that Eric and Robin agreed on was a 7th rounder, but that
got upgraded to a 6th rounder when Arnie, upon being notified of the trade's
imminence, and exercising some obscure husbandly prerogative, angrily
counter-offered a reliever of his own plus a better 6th round pick.
Robin, having begun negotiations in good faith, generously allowed Eric to
match Arnie's proposal and agreed to the trade.
Eric feels relieved that he caused only a trifle amount of strife in their
marriage, and lucky that the negotiations didn't escalate unreasonably due to
Arnie's baseless tampering.
|
|
10/12/11
|
Eric's team (still nameless) traded Alexei Ramirez to Fugaku for Rajai Davis and a
6th round pick next year (became Corey Luebke).
|
|
10/30/11
|
Fukakyu traded CJ Wilson and Huff to Bay
City for V. Wells and a 7th round pick from Bay City if CJ Wilson is a "1" in
Lamana's (became Fernando Salas).
|
|
2/9/12
|
Beating
the trade deadline by mere hours (i.e. New Orleans 41st game
tonight), the Raging Alcoholics trade Nick Swisher to New Orleans for a
fourth round pick (became Brandon Belt) in the upcoming draft (which become a
third if New Orleans wins the whole thing and Swisher plays in the World
Series).
Swisher
is scrambling to sober up to get to the series vs. Constantinople
tonight.
|
|
4/3/12
|
CN
announces two trades:
CN trades Kelly Johnson to Fugakyu for Rafael Furcal.
Jed needs to announce a new cut...
CN trades Coco Crisp to The Cheddarmen (or whatever they will be called next
year) for Chipper Jones
|
|
11/7/12
|
From
Harold to Arnie: Ok, so to recap:
1. I play Napoli
Sunday vs Eric and pound him
2. At 6pm Sunday you announce the trade to the league: Napoli for a 2nd round pick, which becomes a first if
you make the playoffs (which ND did; the pick became Matt Harvey)
3. I give you Napoli Tuesday night,
and you pound me.
|
|
1/15/13
|
Cheddarmen traded his 1st round pick (April 2014 Draft --
2013 Cards, became Shelby Miller) for CN's Closer (Papelbon) and starting RFer (Pence).
|
|
3/9/13
|
Jeff and Harold made a trade - New Orleans trading Adam Jones straight up
for Alex Gordon.
|
|
11/21/13
|
CN trades his 1st round pick (April 2015 Draft -- 2014
Cards, became Garrett Richards) to Cheddarmen for his closer (Grant Balfour)
and Melky Cabrera (Starting LFer)
and an 8th round pick (April 2015 Draft -- 2014 Cards, traded to ND).
CN GM when
reached for comment, "We felt that we made a good deal last year and that
we would do it from either side. So when we say the opportunity to put
our money where our rhetoric was we did it."
Cheese GM,
"We are open for business; we will not propose trades but send us real
offers and we will think about it." At which point, an as yet unnamed
reporter asked "What is it with all the "we's"?
Y'all royalty or some such..." That is when the fight broke out as
staffs of both teams streamed into the conference area and beat reporters
lived up to their names delivering...
|
|
January, 2014
|
1/6 New Orleans has sent lefty
relievers Charlie Furbush and Luis Avilan to The Cheddarmen for a 5th round pick in the 2014
draft
1/6 New Orleans has also sent lefty S/R Wade Miley
to Future Wax for a 5th Round Pick (became JP Howell).
1/7 New Orleans
is burning. The fire sale continues as New Orleans send Carroll and
Swisher to "What Eric Said" for a 7th Rd pick in 2014 draft (became
Gaby Sanchez) If WES makes the World Series
the pick becomes the 6th and if WES wins WS (ya
right) the pick becomes a number 5.
1/11 New Orleans trades Scott Atchison to Manatees for a 5th round pick in
the upcoming draft (became Zach Wheeler)
1/12 The Cheddarmen trades Papelbon to North Dakota
for M. Boggs.
1/12 Oceanus trades J.J. Hardy and a 7th round pick (became Coco Crisp) for
Rollins and David Murphy. (Matt Joyce,
called up from the taxi squad to replace Murphy on the 25-man roster, became
the World Series MVP).
1/14 Scutaro, Bay City to Oceanus for Infante
|
|
11/23/14
|
Only minutes before taking the field for game 1 of the
much anticipated Tidy Bowl series between The Pierogies
and Oceanus, Shin-Soo Choo found out he'd been traded to 'What Eric Said.'
'Yeah, I knew my card had been scanned into a PDF and attached to an email,
so I'm not surprised' said the rotund Choo. Terms of the deal were Choo plus
a conditional middle-round draft choice (became Tony Sipp)
for a number 1 pick (became Michael Brantley).
|
|
12/5/14
|
Victorino, OC to ND for a 6th
round pick (became Scott Van Slyke)
|
|
12/13/14
|
Oceanus has traded Joe Mauer to New
Orleans for Travis D'Arnaud
and a player to be named later, rumored to be Ian Desmond.
|
|
1/22/15
|
What Eric Said and Oceanus
have agreed to the following trade:
Heyward,
Lawrie and Thornburg (WES) for Holliday, Kendrick,
Nathan and Medlen (OCE).
The
first and only 7-player trade in league history.
|
|
3/28/15
|
The
Oceanus Assholes have traded Todd Frazier to the What Eric Said _____ for a
conditional 2016 draft choice. It will be a 5th round choice if Frazier
is rated in Lamanna's Baseball Bulletin as a top 75
player, otherwise it will be a 6th round choice (subsequently traded to
Harold).
|
|
4/3/15
|
New Orleans trades Jeff Samardzija
and a conditional 8th round pick in 2016 (became Billy Burns) only if Samardzija isn't ranked as of the top 25 starters in Lamanna in 2016 to “What Eric Said” for a 6th round pick
in the 2015 draft (became Roughned Odor) and a 2nd
round pick in the 2016 draft (became Brad Ziegler).
|
|
11/16/15
|
Oceanus
and the Smoking Loons have agreed to terms on a trade that will send Troy Tulowitzki
to Oceanus in exchange for Xander Bogaerts.
|
|
11/18/15
|
New Orleans and Oceanus have agreed to the
following trade:
Hiroki Kuroda for a 2016 7th
round pick, which becomes a 6th round pick if Oceanus reaches the Finals
(became Andres Blanco) or becomes a 5th round pick if Oceanus wins the
Championship (ha ha ha ha).
Actually, the
ha ha ha ha part was an editorial comment, not part of the actual
agreement.
Terms
were finalized when Oceanus agreed to have a wheelchair ferry the ancient
Kuroda from the mound to the dugout between innings.
|
|
10/15/15
|
NO receives Jeff’s 4th round and 6th round picks (JP Realmuto and Javy Lopez) in
exchange for D. Santana and NO’s 6th round pick (traded to ND)
|
|
12/2/15
|
North Dakota has acquired 2nd baseman Robinson Cano from
New Orleans in exchange for a 2nd and a 7th round pick this year (John Lackey
and Aaron Hicks), and a 6th round pick in 2017. "I have nothing
funny to say. This is serious business," stated the North Dakota
GM when asked to comment. "Fuck you all," he added.
|
|
12/13/15
|
Robin
had an uncharacteristically good day at Jeff's place (where she possibly went
2-10 last year), but what was truly shocking was that she made a trade!
Harold offered Jayson Werth for a 7th-round pick
(became Jarrett Parker), and BC picked up the hirsute RF and immediately
ordered him to shave.
|
|
1/26-27/16
|
1.
North Dakota trades Kluber
to Oceanus for Archer and a 6th round pick (became Travis Shaw) (the worse of
Jed's two potential picks). The pick becomes a 5th in 2017 if Jed ends
up with no 6th rounder.
2. Smoking Loons acquired Papelbon and E. Escobar from North Dakota for a 2nd round pick (became
Roberto Osuna).
3. "What Eric Said" (now "What Eric Said?") acquired
Justin Turner and an 8th round pick (became Dan Haren)
from North Dakota
in exchange for a 3rd rounder (became Andrew Chafin).
4. North Dakota
trades Y. Gomes and Pearce to Future Wax for Tyson Ross.
5. Bay City acquired Andrew Cashner and its previously traded 9th round pick from North Dakota for a 5th
round pick (became Jarrod Eickhoff).
|
|
2/14/16
|
After
the 5th inning, ND and NO made a trade, with ND acquiring C Rene Rivera from
NO for a 10th round pick in 2017 (solely to save Matt Wieters' 2 remaining
plate appearances). Rivera grabbed his catcher's mitt and sprinted from
the NO dugout to home plate to catch for North Dakota. 3 innings and a Grandal 3-run homer for NO later, the two managers
realize that the trade was made during North
Dakota's 49th game, or 5 innings after the
trading deadline. The teams agree to make the trade retroactive to the
beginning of the game (although Wieters one PA in the game still counts).
Final score 13-1 New Orleans.
|
|
3/6/16
|
In
its third, yes, third! trade of the season, Bay City acquires Moustakas from New Orleans for Kenley
Jansen (thus purging its bullpen of all Jansens/Janssens,
as Casey was cut last year), enabling the Moose to rejoin many of his
real-life Royals teammates on the BC roster.
|
|
3/21/16
|
New Orleans makes its third trade in this offseason, trading Stephen Strasburg and its 5th round pick this year (became Matt Duffy) to Oceanus for Jose Bautista and Oceanus’ 7th round pick in the 2017 draft. The 7th round pick is negated if Strasburg is not a top 25 starter in Lamanna for the 2017 season OR Strasburg pitches less than 150 innings in the 2016 MLB season.
|
|
3/29/16
|
Kazmir, ND
to “WES?” for 8th round pick (became Enrique Hernandez).
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMER STUDY NO. 2 - Draft Analysis 2012
(By
Tom, edited by Arnie and Robin)
It is time for the 4-year draft
retrospective analysis of the 2012 (Cards 2011) draft. We’ve played 4 SOMBILLA seasons with these
players, but note that we have partial or no data for the following seasons:
- Eric did not report any stats for 2014 (cards 2013)
- Harold reported for 2015 (48 games), 2012 (44 games),
2011 (52 games), 2010 (24 games)
As a result, some of these
teams’ players may lose out in the counting statistics (Wins, Saves, HRs, RBIs, SBs)
and be more maligned that they deserve.
I often include something about
the current baseball season, but I have seen almost no games this year. The only thing I know is that Bryce Harper is
sucking and that last year was an aberration according to statcast.
Round 1:
|
1. Jeff - Brett Lawrie
|
0.199 / 0.240 / 0.296 / 0.536 (196 PA), 6 HR, 24 RBI, 1 SB
|
Traded, still in the league
|
|
2. Tom - Mike Trout
|
0.287 / 0.382 / 0.500 / 0.882 (720 PA), 45 HR, 115 RBI, 23 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
3. Jed - Doug Fister
|
10-14, 0 SV, 4.506 ERA, 161 K (237.6 IPS)
|
Waived 2016
|
|
4. Randy - Michael Pineda
|
8-6, 0 SV, 4.655 ERA, 72 K (96.6 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
5. Harold - Eric Hosmer
|
0.279 / 0.313 / 0.412 / 0.725 (313 PA), 11 HR, 42 RBI, 6 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
6. Arnie - Craig Kimbrel
|
5-5, 33 SV, 2.825 ERA, 162 K (108.3 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
7. Robin - Kenley Jansen
|
2-4, 17 SV, 2.853 ERA, 102 K (88.3 IPS)
|
Traded, still in the league
|
|
8. Eric - Jesus Montero
|
0.176 / 0.222 / 0.278 / 0.5 (18 PA), 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
|
Waived 2014
|
Best Pick: Mike Trout had a bad showing the year of this
draft which allowed him to drop to the 2nd pick, but from that point
on he has been the most valuable player according to wins over replacement in
Major League Baseball. He has one MVP
trophy from the SOMBILLA. He is still
rated as the #1 CF for this year and the future. Over the years, he has gone from a speedy
leadoff hitter with some pop to a feared power hitter who is too valuable to be
allowed to steal or too bulked up depending on who you believe. One year he cannot hit the high fastball, and
the next he is amongst the leaders versus the high fastball. Anaheim,
like CN, has been berated by the press as wasting the best years of a historic
player by not surrounding him with talent to win.
Worst Picks: This is
a two horse race. Brett
Lawrie, who did not live up to his pick and was
picked before Trout, and Montero, who never played but went last in the round.
Montero just edges out Lawrie because Lawrie had a career in the majors and Montero never could
make it up to stay. Also one manager
(Jed) still holds out hope that Lawrie can be a
player, and Jed knows his waived second basemen…
Other:..I
was in a 26 team league this year and the holder of the top pick came to me for
advice. He was offered Pujols for the #1
pick. He really needed a first baseman
and was tempted. I offered him Konerko
and #10 but could not convince him. I then
said that he should keep the pick and take Trout because if Baseball America
and several other minor league experts were half right about his future he is
the talent of the generation. He had
outfielders and made the Pujols trade.
The trader took Eric Hosmer to replace Pujols
and Trout fell to #5 but not to #10.
Round 2:
|
1. Randy - Dustin Ackley
|
0.301 / 0.380 / 0.353 / 0.733 (150 PA), 1 HR, 21 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
2. Jed - Desmond Jennings
|
0.250 / 0.377 / 0.338 / 0.715 (77 PA), 3 HR, 10 RBI, 2 SB
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
3. Tom - Jordan Walden
|
-, SV, ERA,
K ( IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
4. Jeff - Aroldis Chapman
|
5-5, 10 SV, 2.353 ERA, 94 K (72.6 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
5. Harold - Chris Sale
|
17-8, 0 SV, 3.590 ERA, 239 K (230.6 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
6. Arnie - Michael Morse
|
0.270 / 0.306 / 0.456 / 0.762 (206 PA), 9 HR, 27 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
7. Robin - Jemile Weeks
|
0.250 / 0.297 / 0.349 / 0.646 (175 PA), 4 HR, 24 RBI, 1 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
8. Eric - Michael Young
|
0.280 / 0.310 / 0.384 / 0.694 (242 PA), 4 HR, 19 RBI, 2 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
Best Pick: Chris Sale
is yet another example of #1 pitcher that went after the 1st round
because he was left handed. He has been
a dominant real life pitcher and carried Harold into the playoffs. He has a strange delivery/motion that many
writers speculated would lead to many injuries and a perhaps a shortened
career. He has been able to overcome
these fears to be a feared pitcher, especially by throwback unforms. This year in major league baseball he has
changed his approach to lower his strikeouts per 9, piss off his real-life GM, but
increase his efficiency and contact rates.
What this change will bring is a future chapter.
Worst Pick: Jordon
Walden was picked as the big dominant right handed reliever that would take his
place just beneath Jansen and Kimbrel.
Tommy John surgery and multiple teams later, he just never lived up to
his promise.
Other:. The hitters in this round
never lived up to the hopes of their owners. This was a very disappointing
round for most of the league.
Round 3:
|
1. Jeff - Antonio Bastardo
|
3-0, 0 SV, 1.350 ERA, 19 K (13.3 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
2. Tom - Greg Holland
|
4-7, 22 SV, 3.068 ERA, 82 K (58.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
3. Jed - Howie Kendrick
|
0.238 / 0.281 / 0.312 / 0.593 (509 PA), 5 HR, 45 RBI, 3 SB
|
Traded, still in the league
|
|
4. Randy - Steve Cishek
|
2-3, 6 SV, 4.139 ERA, 40 K (45.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
5. Harold - Dee Gordon
|
0.269 / 0.310 / 0.359 / 0.669 (142 PA), 1 HR, 9 RBI, 13 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
6. Arnie - Paul Goldschmidt
|
0.227 / 0.310 / 0.386 / 0.696 (539 PA), 21 HR, 55 RBI, 7 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
7. Robin - Glen Perkins
|
2-1, 0 SV, 3.541 ERA, 60 K (61 IPS)
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
8. Eric - Jason Motte
|
3-0, 2 SV, 3.298 ERA, 47 K (43.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
Best Pick: Paul
Goldschmidt should be a no brainer except that his SOMBILLA numbers are not all
that impressive. In real life, he is an
MVP threat every season but has not done it for North Dakota yet. He is the best first baseman in this year’s
set and is rated as the #1 1B going forward.
The best performance over the last 4 years in the SOMBILLA has been Greg
Holland, who has been a dominant reliever and if he had not blown out his arm
might have made an argument to supercede Goldie.
Worst Pick: There
were no bad picks in this round. If
forced to pick one, Howie Kendrick did not perform up
to a 3rd round pick’s pedigree.
Dee Gordon despite his drug suspension has developed into a good defensive
infielder with top of the league speed and at least has one year hitting for
average. Watch him; he could be a
surprise performer from this round.
Round 4:
|
1. Randy - Yonder Alonso
|
/ / /
0 ( PA), HR, RBI,
SB
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
2. Jed - Joel Hanrahan
|
2-0, 2 SV, 2.512 ERA, 27 K (28.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
3. Tom - Devin Mesoraco
|
/ / /
0 ( PA), HR, RBI,
SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
4. Jeff - Tyler Clippard
|
0-0, 2 SV, 2.512 ERA, 31 K (28.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Jeff - Brandon Belt
|
0.265 / 0.345 / 0.373 / 0.718 (220 PA), 4 HR, 26 RBI, 3 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
6. Arnie - Allen Craig
|
0.301 / 0.353 / 0.489 / 0.842 (380 PA), 17 HR, 49 RBI, 2 SB
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
7. Robin - Brandon League
|
1-0, 0 SV, 3.429 ERA, 9 K (21 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
8. Eric - Melky Cabrera
|
0.275 / 0.311 / 0.348 / 0.659 (454 PA), 4 HR, 45 RBI, 2 SB
|
Traded, still in the league
|
Best Pick: Allen
Craig edges out Brandon Belt and a handful of middle relievers. Belt might still pull out a late SOMBILLA
career but Allen Craig had 3 seasons of solid performance for Arnie lifting him
above his fellows.
Worst Pick: Yonder
Alonso looked to be part of this year’s group of very talented 1B of Hosmer, Goldie, Belt, Freeman and Rizzo. He never was good enough to play in the
SOMBILLA and Wax gave up on him in 2015.
Devin Mesoraco also never played but it was
due to his penchant for injury not to a lack of talent.
Round 5:
|
1. Jeff - Freddie Freeman
|
0.253 / 0.318 / 0.377 / 0.695 (610 PA), 17 HR, 59 RBI, 0 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
2. Tom - Mike Moustakas
|
0.174 / 0.208 / 0.208 / 0.416 (24 PA), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB
|
Waived 2015 but claimed and still owned
|
|
3. Jed - Emilio Bonifacio
|
0.286 / 0.348 / 0.337 / 0.685 (92 PA), 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 SB
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
4. Randy - Brandon
Beachy
|
4-1, 0 SV, 1.620 ERA, 22 K (33.3 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
5. Harold - Lucas Duda
|
0.320 / 0.386 / 0.446 / 0.832 (83 PA), 2 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
6.Arnie - Derek Holland
|
|
Waived 2015 but redrafted
|
|
7. Robin - John Mayberry
|
0.268 / 0.333 / 0.472 / 0.805 (123 PA), 7 HR, 18 RBI, 3 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
8. Eric - Alfredo Aceves
|
4-0, 0 SV, 1.262 ERA, 21 K (35.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
Best Pick: Jeff takes
his second first baseman and hits on him.
He is a professional hitter and a real world leader.
Worst Pick: Derek
Holland never played and was cut in 2014 by Arnie. Arnie always said “I picked the wrong Holland in this draft.”
(Ed note: Jeff redrafted Derek Holland in 2015 and he
made 14 appearances in the bullpen for Jeff’s champion team. But I did pick the wrong Holland).
Other:..Moustakas
was cut, claimed, then traded. He never made it for CN and still would not
pass later hot corner choices made by the Manatees.
Round 6:
|
1. Randy - Josh Collmenter
|
1-3, 3 SV, 3.222 ERA, 35 K (58.67 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
2. Eric - Cory Luebke
|
0-0, 0 SV, 0.000 ERA, 0 K (0.33 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
3. Tom - Jason Kipnis
|
0.288 / 0.362 / 0.366 / 0.728 (423 PA), 8 HR, 46 RBI, 12 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
4. Jeff - Ricky Romero
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Harold - J.D. Martinez
|
0.377 / 0.400 / 0.655 / 1.055 (55 PA), 4 HR, 13 RBI, 2 SB
|
Cut in 2013, redrafted by Jeff
|
|
6. Arnie - Vance Worley
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
7. Robin - Salvador
Perez
|
0.321 / 0.353 / 0.518 / 0.871 (255 PA), 12 HR, 48 RBI, 0 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
8. Eric - Nate Schierholtz
|
|
Cut After One Year
|
Best Pick: This was
also a two horse race between Kipnis and Perez. Both players are projected in the top 5 of
their respective positions. Salvador
Perez has caught a lot of games for KC and what this will mean for the future
is yet to be seen. Kipnis
has lost speed for power and there is some question as to his defense going
forward. I will give the slight nod to
Salvador Perez. (Ed note: Who I drafted pre-injured).
Worst Pick: Take your
pick amongst the players who never played in the SOMBILLA. J.D. changed his swing,
and his team and his future looks bright, but unfortunately Harold cut him
before the positive part of those changes took place. Jeff drafted him in the
2nd round in 2015.
Round 7:
|
1. Jeff - Randall Delgado
|
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
2. Tom - Henderson
Alvarez
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
3. Jed - Sergio Santos
|
5-2, 5 SV, 5.586 ERA, 39 K (29 IPS)
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
4. Randy - Javy Guerra
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Harold - David Robertson
|
1-4, 0 SV, 5.604 ERA, 74 K (53 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
6. Arnie - Jose Altuve
|
0.500 / 0.545 / 0.909 / 1.454 (11 PA), 0 HR, 5 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut 2014 to be claimed by Jed
|
|
7. Jed - Fernando Salas
|
4-2, 6 SV, 3.908 ERA, 22 K (25.3 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
8. Eric - Joe Smith
|
7-6, 21 SV, 2.504 ERA, 61 K (82.67 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
Best Pick: Altuve
would be the best pick, except that he was cut.
He looks to be an MVP candidate in 2016 MLB and continues to look like
one of the top 2B moving forward. So
having disqualified Altuve, Joe Smith steps up as a closer that has lived up or
over performed his major league statistics, as stat heads would have predicted.
Worst Pick: Choose
the cut player who never played in the SOMBILLA.
Round 8:
|
1. Randy - Bill Bray
|
0-0, 0 SV, 4.610 ERA, 8 K (13.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
2. Jed - Alejandro De Aza
|
0.283 / 0.368 / 0.426 / 0.794 (68 PA), 1 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
3. Tom - Wilin Rosario
|
0.248 / 0.303 / 0.516 / 0.819 (122 PA), 10 HR, 24 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
4. Jeff - Zack Cozart
|
0.216 / 0.237 / 0.289 / 0.526 (38 PA), 1 HR, 5 RBI, 0 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
5. Harold - Cristhian Martinez
|
1-0, 0 SV, 3.750 ERA, 18 K (24 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
6. Arnie - Matt Downs
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
7. Robin - Casey Janssen
|
3-1, 2 SV, 4.386 ERA, 53 K (65.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
8. Eric - Ruben Tejada
|
0.233 / 0.286 / 0.261 / 0.547 (161 PA), 0 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in the waiver
|
Best Pick: Wilin Rosario
was all set to be the best pick as a lefty killer who did just that for CN over
the years until he was cut this last draft.
However, according to the story going around – Zack Cozart
was talking to Barry Larkin who said “Hey, you ever thought about telling
yourself to just crush the inside part of the ball? Not guide it, but wherever
that ball is, just crush the inside part of it?” Well, he went with that
and now not only is he a 1 at SS but seems to have found power.
Worst Pick: Matt Downs is the only player to not have played
in the SOMBILLA.
(Ed note: He may still be the worst pick in this round,
but Downs did play for ND in the ‘12-13 season
.220/.303/.305/.608 (66 PA), 0 HR, 9 RBI)
Round 9-13:
|
1. Jeff - Lonnie Chisenhall
|
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
2. Tom - Ryan Vogelsong
|
0-7, 2 SV, 3.467 ERA, 45 K (85.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
3. Jed - Michael Cuddyer
|
0.271 / 0.322 / 0.427 / 0.749 (286 PA), 12 HR, 47 RBI, 6 SB
|
Cut in 2016
|
|
4. Randy - Phillip Humber
|
3-1, 0 SV, 6.511 ERA, 25 K (47 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Harold - Guillermo Moscoso
|
1-1, 1 SV, 6.490 ERA, 18 K (34.6 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
6. Arnie - Mark Melancon
|
2-2, 1 SV, 3.103 ERA, 21 K (29 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
7.Robin - Brent Lillibridge
|
0.291 / 0.391 / 0.438 / 0.829 (64 PA), 4 HR, 9 RBI, 3 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
8.Eric - Jose Molina
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
1. Randy - Brandon McCarthy
|
7-2, 0 SV, 4.114 ERA, 47 K (70 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
2. Jed - Nick Hundley
|
0.245 / 0.302 / 0.349 / 0.651 (106 PA), 4 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
3. Tom - Vinnie Pestano
|
0-2, 1 SV, 5.192 ERA, 18 K (17.3 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
4. Jeff - Tyler Chatwood
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Harold - Ben Revere
|
0.277 / 0.302 / 0.337 / 0.639 (86 PA), 0 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
6. Arnie - Bud Norris
|
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
7. Robin - Ryan Lavarnway
|
0.500 / 0.500 / 2.000 / 2.5 (2 PA), 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
8. Eric - Ramon Ramirez
|
-, SV, ERA,
K ( IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
1. Jeff - Chris Parmalee
|
0.333 / 0.400 / 0.600 / 1 (30 PA), 1 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
2. Tom - Troy Patton
|
1-0, 3 SV, 2.250 ERA, 20 K (20 IPS)
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
3. Jed - Edward Mujica
|
9-2, 1 SV, 2.211 ERA, 56 K (77.3 IPS)
|
Cut in 2015
|
|
4. Randy - Alez Presley
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Harold - Alex Liddi
|
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
6. Arnie - Nick Punto
|
|
Cut After One Year
|
|
7. Robin - Tom Milone
|
|
Cut in 2014
|
|
8. Eric - Casey Kotchman
|
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
1. Randy - Kyle Seager
|
0.235 / 0.303 / 0.359 / 0.662 (429 PA), 11 HR, 40 RBI, 2 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
2. Jed - Mike Leake
|
2-1, 1 SV, 3.981 ERA, 36 K (52 IPS)
|
Still Owned
|
|
3. Tom - Anthony Rizzo
|
0.279/0.339/0.411 / 0.75 (372 PA), 14 HR, 44 RBI, 2 SB
|
Still Owned
|
|
4. Harold - Kameron Loe
|
0-1, 0 SV, 5.400 ERA, 11 K (10 IPS)
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
5. Arnie - Louis Coleman
|
|
Cut After One Year
|
|
6. Robin - Kyle Drabek
|
|
Cut After One Year
|
|
1. Harold - Eduardo Nunez
|
0.091 / 0.231 / 0.077 / 0.308 (13 PA), 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
|
Cut in 2013
|
|
2. Robin - Josh Reddick
|
0.208 / 0.271 / 0.364 / 0.635 (398 PA), 15 HR, 35 RBI, 1 SB
|
Still Owned
|
Best Pick: Three
position players stand out – Kyle Seager, Anthony Rizzo and Josh Reddick. Seager was
slow to develop but has become a solid if under-rated manner of the hot corner. Rizzo was a strange a pick; I had him rated
as part of the top 4 (Hosmer, Goldie, Belt and
Rizzo). I thought Hosmer
would go in the first round and I wanted Rizzo but always had another priority
and once the others went, I asked myself how late can I
wait. Reddick has been a better major league player
than SOMBILLA player, but he has potential well beyond the last pick of the
draft (Ed note: and he’s cute).
2010 Card Set Results:
|
Team
|
Stats
|
|
Arnie
|
0.284 / 0.325 / 0.469 / 0.794 (292 PA), 14 HR, 37 RBI, 1 SB
|
|
Eric
|
0.239 / 0.268 / 0.324 / 0.592 (448 PA), 5 HR, 37 RBI, 3 SB
|
|
Harold
|
0.289 / 0.325 / 0.435 / 0.76 (379 PA), 13 HR, 48 RBI, 12 SB
|
|
Jed
|
0.276 / 0.321 / 0.389 / 0.71 (262 PA), 6 HR, 31 RBI, 0 SB
|
|
Jeff
|
0.248 / 0.316 / 0.335 / 0.651 (576 PA), 13 HR, 53 RBI, 11 SB
|
|
Robin
|
0.277 / 0.340 / 0.428 / 0.768 (418 PA), 18 HR, 64 RBI, 7 SB
|
|
Tom
|
0.290 / 0.333 / 0.424 / 0.757 (33 PA), 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB
|
|
Wax
|
0.276 / 0.360 / 0.324 / 0.684 (139 PA), 1 HR, 17 RBI, 0 SB
|
|
Team
|
Stats
|
|
Arnie
|
3-3, 3 SV, 3.836 ERA, 76 K (61 IPS)
|
|
Eric
|
5-3, 5 SV, 2.805 ERA, 50 K (77 IPS)
|
|
Harold
|
3-5, 1 SV, 5.078 ERA, 96 K (106.3 IPS)
|
|
Jed
|
7-2, 6 SV, 2.778 ERA, 86 K (81 IPS)
|
|
Jeff
|
16-7, 9 SV, 3.908 ERA, 177 K (225.6 IPS)
|
|
Robin
|
2-1, 2 SV, 2.815 ERA, 49 K (70.3 IPS)
|
|
Tom
|
1-5, 11 SV, 2.753 ERA, 72 K (85 IPS)
|
|
Wax
|
17-12, 5 SV, 4.371 ERA, 193 K (278 IPS)
|
Total Reported SOMBILLA Statistics:
|
Team
|
Stats
|
|
Arnie
|
0.263 / 0.326 / 0.438 / 0.764 (1136 PA), 47 HR, 136 RBI, 9 SB
|
|
Eric
|
0.267 / 0.304 / 0.341 / 0.645 (875 PA), 8 HR, 75 RBI, 4 SB
|
|
Harold
|
0.286 / 0.325 / 0.409 / 0.734 (692 PA), 18 HR, 81 RBI, 25 SB
|
|
Jed
|
0.246 / 0.309 / 0.365 / 0.674 (1094 PA), 29 HR, 125 RBI, 4 SB
|
|
Jeff
|
0.254 / 0.310 / 0.355 / 0.665 (1138 PA), 26 HR, 124 RBI, 17 SB
|
|
Robin
|
0.257 / 0.312 / 0.421 / 0.733 (1017 PA), 43 HR, 136 RBI, 8 SB
|
|
Tom
|
0.280 / 0.359 / 0.443 / 0.802 (1661 PA), 77 HR, 230 RBI, 37 SB
|
|
Wax
|
0.252 / 0.323 / 0.358 / 0.681 (579 PA), 12 HR, 61 RBI, 2 SB
|
|
Team
|
Stats
|
|
Arnie
|
7-7, 34 SV, 2.883 ERA, 183 K (137.3 IPS)
|
|
Eric
|
14-6, 23 SV, 2.439 ERA, 129 K (162.3 IPS)
|
|
Harold
|
20-14, 1 SV, 4.240 ERA, 360 K (352.3 IPS)
|
|
Jed
|
17-7, 13 SV, 2.250 ERA, 200 K (192 IPS)
|
|
Jeff
|
23-19, 14 SV, 4.323 ERA, 285 K (372.6 IPS)
|
|
Robin
|
8-6, 19 SV, 3.508 ERA, 224 K (236 IPS)
|
|
Tom
|
5-16, 28 SV, 3.369 ERA, 165 K (181.6 IPS)
|
|
Wax
|
25-16, 9 SV, 4.216 ERA, 249 K (365 IPS)
|
Best Draft: CN
Manatees edge out the field with Trout,M, Walden,J, Holland,G, Mesoraco,D, Moustakas,M*, Kipnis,J*, Alvarez,H, Rosario,W, Vogelsong,R, Pestano,V, Patton,T* and Rizzo,A*. They got
the best player in the draft, a closer, starting 2B and 1B and pitchers to pull
them through the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Worst Draft: Eric with whatever his team’s name came out
last after winning the World Series with a draft of Montero,J,
Young,M, Motte,J, Cabrera,M+, Aceves,A, Luebke,C*, Schierholtz,N*, Smith,J, Tejada,R, Molina,J, Ramirez,R and Kotchman,C*. He
flipped Melky Cabrera for a draft pick but came out
of this draft with only Joe Smith as a talented reliever long term. All the other players were either short term
or future picks who did not pan out.
SUMMER STUDY NO. 3A – THE SOMBILLA HALL
OF FAME
Hall of Fame? Seriously, Arnie? How the heck are you gonna decide this? And why do you get all that power?
Good questions, and thanks for
asking. The answer is that I am not
going to decide – you all – the SOMBILLA managers -- have already decided. Every year (except for 1981-1984 when there
were no awards), we SOMBILLA managers vote for MVP and Cy
Young looking back over the season just ended.
What better way to determine the best players over a period of time than
to use the collective wisdom of SOMBILLA managers who voted each year?
I visited the hot attic to pull
the annual voting summaries (tabulated in each summer newsletter). Then I added them all up year by year, player
by player. The totals should give us a
pretty good idea of who we, the SOMBILLA managers, felt were the best SOMBILLA
performers over an extended time period – the history of the league.
One slight drawback – in
addition to no awards for three of the earliest seasons of the league, I did
not publish the MVP and Cy Young voting summaries <
1990. At least we know who won the award
for those 6 seasons, so I gave the winners 25 points for each of those, a rough
approximation of the winners’ vote totals.
We still have actual voting totals for the past 26 seasons - not too
shabby.
So, for this first ballot SOMBILLA
Hall of Fame, 9 hitters and 9 pitchers will be inducted – the top 9 in each
category of out annual voting. Why 9 and
not, say 10? You’ll see in a minute. Here
is your initial SOMBILLA Hall of Fame class, along with vote totals:
|
Name
|
Team
|
Vote total
|
|
Bonds
|
FW
|
170
|
|
Piazza
|
FW
|
94
|
|
Pujols
|
ND
|
76
|
|
M. Ramirez
|
NO
|
74
|
|
E.
Davis
|
FW
|
65
|
|
Trout
|
CN
|
57
|
|
Edmonds
|
FW-MF
|
57
|
|
Griffey
|
FW
|
56.5
|
|
McGwire
|
MF
|
56
|
|
Name
|
Team
|
Vote total
|
|
Maddux
|
FW
|
148
|
|
Clemens
|
Eric – ND - Jed
|
136
|
|
Pedro
|
FW
|
103.5
|
|
Verlander
|
Eric
|
96
|
|
Rivera
|
NO
|
57
|
|
R. Johnson
|
ND
|
52
|
|
Smoltz
|
Jed
|
51.5
|
|
Ryan
|
MF
|
48
|
|
Schilling
|
Jeff
|
46
|
The controversial Barry Bonds
won a record four SOMBILLA MVP awards.
His high number of votes is even more impressive when you realize that
as steroid/giant head allegations dogged him at the end of his career, some SOMBILLA
managers began leaving him off their ballots completely. Unlike the real baseball HOF, though, that blackballing is not enough
to keep him out of the SOMBILLA HOF.
So who just missed the
cut? Who is on the cusp? Here are the next six hitters and pitchers –
number 10-15
|
A Rod
|
CN
|
50
|
|
Belle
|
FW
|
48
|
|
Baines
|
Eric
|
41
|
|
A. Gonzalez
|
Eric
|
39
|
|
Howard
|
CN
|
37
|
|
Votto
|
Jed
|
36
|
|
Kershaw
|
FW
|
43
|
|
Drabek
|
BC
|
42.5
|
|
Foulke
|
Eric
|
41.5
|
|
Clemens
|
ND
|
40
|
|
Guthrie
|
FW
|
35
|
|
Wetteland
|
ND
|
34
|
I made the executive decision
to keep A. Rod out of this initial class.
Indeed, after A. Rod won the ’06-07 SOMBILLA MVP, the 2007 SUMMER
newsletter had the following asterisk next to A. Rod’s vote total: * asshole
SUMMER STUDY NO. 3B – ALL-TIME FRANCHISE
ROSTERS
Using the same data set, I thought
it’d be fun for everyone to see all of the great players they’ve had who have
received votes through the years. It’s not
really an all-time franchise list, since there won’t be someone at every
position, more of a list of each franchise’s players who have ever received
votes for SOMBILLA MVP and Cy Young. But All-time franchise rosters sounds better.
