Newsline

Welcome to the Season 17 of the USMLB.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

USMLB Weekly

Welcome to the first edition of the USMLB Weekly as there have been a lot of things going on with the league for the last week. Trades have been coming out of nowhere, owners fighting with each other, two new owner taking over teams and changing there names, but with all these things going on the league is still moving through the season, which could possible be a great race to the finish.

I would like to welcome jasonguru who took over the Richmond Pettifoggers and quickly changed there names to the Wrecking Crew. I think that his team will improve and it helps that there in a weak division and might have a shot at the division title. I will also like to welcome mab444 who took over the Toledo Holy Men and quickly changed there names to the Tornados and this team will need a lot of TLC this season to get the franchise back on track. Good luck to both of you and I hope you enjoy the season here in the USMLB.

Rumors:
The fight between powercats22 and yanksrule11 got personal as they will begin a series on field on the 29th of April that everyone is going to be watching closely to see if any funny business will be happing on the field.

The poll question for the week came out with 52% believing that Toledo can not avoid a one-hundred loss season this year. Thank you for all who voted. Also the Tornados are rumor to be selling the whole team for anyone that can hold a bat and throw a ball no matter how much talent they have. Also the team will be holding tryout camps to fill there roster for anyone in the Toledo area this week, so if you can catch and hit a baseball this might be your chance to play for a big league franchise, contact mab444 for details of the location and fees to tryout.

Game of the Week:
On 4/20AM the Detroit Demolition faced the Colorado Sky Sox in Colorado with the Demolition winning 10 to 8. The Demolition jump out to a early 6-1 lead in the first two innings as starting pitcher Gil Henson for the Sky Sox had trouble with his control walking three batters in the first inning. Heath Fitzgerald crushed a homerun in the second inning. Tony Armas provided the only run in the first couple innings for the Sky Sox with a homerun in the first inning. Nomar Kirby of the Demolition chased Henson from the mound with a RBI single in the fourth. The Sky Sox countered the run with a run of there own with Gus Wilkins smacking a homerun. Khoury Glass got an RBI single in the fifth to cut the lead to four at 7-3. Rex Ross of the Demolition crushed a homerun in the seventh after couple quite innings to extend the lead back to five at 8-3. Glass struck again finally getting Demolition starter Luis Encarnacion out of the game with a two-run homerun making the game 8-5. Demolition hitter Endy Hemingway got his second RBI of the game in the top of the eighth making the game 9-5. The bottom of the eighth Sky Sox hitter Earl Williams crushed a two-run homerun cutting the game within two 9-7. Clem Barkley of the Demolition got is third RBI of the game with a single in the top of ninth to add an insurance run. In the bottom of the ninth the Sky Sox tried to make a come back but feel short only getting one more run.

Detroit Demolition
Player Pos % AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Rex Ross 3B 100 4 2 1 1 1 2 1 .282
Alberto DeSoto 3B 100 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .267
Chris Murphy 2B 100 6 3 6 0 0 0 0 .350
Heath Fitzgerald CF 100 5 2 2 2 1 0 4 .278
Clem Barkley RF 100 6 2 4 3 0 1 1 .378
Cookie Valdes 1B 100 6 1 4 1 0 0 1 .452
Vinny Menechino SS 100 5 0 1 0 1 0 6 .367
Nomar Kirby LF 100 3 0 2 1 1 0 2 .276
Stu Watson LF 100 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .133
Endy Hemingway C 100 5 0 3 2 0 0 3 .244
Roy Lansing C 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .375
Luis Encarnacion P 100 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .067
Al Wills P 100 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Kordell Schneider P 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
Roger Newfield P 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -

Batting
2B: C.Murphy 2 (6), C.Barkley 2 (8)
HR: R.Ross (6), H.Fitzgerald (2)
RBI: R.Ross (12), H.Fitzgerald 2 (19), C.Barkley 3 (25), C.Valdes (15), N.Kirby (14), E.Hemingway 2 (10)
2-Out RBI: C.Barkley, N.Kirby, E.Hemingway 2
Baserunning
SB: C.Murphy (8)
CS: C.Valdes (4)
Fielding
Errors: A.DeSoto (1)

Player % IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
Luis Encarnacion, W (2-1) 100 6.2 10 5 5 0 3 3 92 4.79
Al Wills 100 0.2 2 2 2 1 0 1 11 14.63
Kordell Schneider 100 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 0.00
Roger Newfield, SV (10) 100 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 0 17 1.64

Colorado Sky Sox
Player Pos % AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Khoury Glass CF 100 5 1 2 3 0 1 0 .373
Tony Armas LF 100 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 .316
Ricardo Ramirez C 100 5 1 4 0 0 0 1 .306
Vicente Domingo 3B 100 5 0 2 1 0 1 1 .350
Gus Wilkins SS 100 5 2 2 1 0 0 3 .330
Earl Williams RF 100 4 1 1 2 0 0 1 .324
Benito Pineda 1B 100 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 .390
Odalis Montanez 2B 100 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .307
Gil Henson P 100 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .150
Rigo Lopez P 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
Socks Floyd P 100 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Bruce Lewis PH 100 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Wayne Bard P 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
Rabbit Alexander P 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

Batting
3B: V.Domingo (2)
HR: K.Glass (2), T.Armas (4), G.Wilkins (9), E.Williams (13)
RBI: K.Glass 3 (20), T.Armas (25), V.Domingo (31), G.Wilkins (31), E.Williams 2 (29)
2-Out RBI: K.Glass 3, V.Domingo, G.Wilkins
HBP: B.Pineda
SH: R.Lopez

Player % IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
Gil Henson, L (3-3) 100 3.2 12 7 7 3 1 1 89 5.48
Rigo Lopez 60 2.2 3 1 1 1 3 1 43 6.08
Socks Floyd 100 1.2 5 1 1 0 0 0 29 9.39
Wayne Bard 100 0.2 3 1 1 0 1 0 20 4.30
Rabbit Alexander 100 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7.07

Player of the Game
Chris Murphy collects 6 hits

A big series of games will be happening this week with the Anaheim Beefpound facing the Texas Talley Wackers in 7 games this week with four in Texas and three at Anaheim. Also the Atlanta Brave Vawts are traveling the Anaheim to face the Beefpound is a big three game series. Later in the week the Colorado Sky Sox will travel the Jackson a have a big three game series with the Blazers. The Texas Talley Wackers will have another tough series when they welcome the Cheyenne Featherwound to Texas later in the week.

Trades:

Ottawa Crawdaddies traded Daryl Lawrence & Gil Ventura to the Anaheim Beefpound for Benito Garces. The Crawdaddies got the advantage on this trade as they got a proven arm in there starting rotation that could win between 10-15 games this year for them but if they let him go in the off-season then the advantage will go the Beefpound. Lawrence was quickly traded away after this trade and Ventura is at least a good three to four years away from the major if the Beefpound don’t rush him; he could be a good 2cd or 3rd starter in the rotation.

Anaheim Beefpound traded Erubiel Sanchez and 1.0 mil to the Tucson Xpress for Juan Amaro. Now there was a lot of talk about this trade about how unfair this trade was and how Anaheim took advantage of Tucson stealing his great young prospect but from examing the trade and the players this was an even trade slightly leaning towards Tucson. Amaro is projected to be around a .300 hitter with 20-25 homeruns a year with stellar D put will probably only about 130-140 games a year, while Sanchez will probably hit around .270 with 30-35 homeruns and good D, if he stays at first base.

Anaheim Beefpound traded Tim Uribe & Bernie Castillo and .3mil to the Cleveland Barons for Carson Shaw. Big advantage in this trade went to Anaheim; if Castillo can get his control under control then it will be moved to a slight advantage Anaheim. Shaw is going to be a great a bullpen guy going to hard for right-handers to hit him. Uribe will spend the rest of his career as a fringe player either bouncing from the major to the minors tell his options run out then probably a bench player at best. Castillo will be good as a long reliever/spot starter once he can get his control down.

Anaheim Beefpound traded A.J. West & Daryl Lawrence to the San Diego Friar Power for Herbert Brandt. Advantage in the trade went to the Beefpound as they were able to dump the 3.1m contract of Lawrence onto the Friar Power and get a good young pitcher. Brandt I believe should be in AAA this season to get more experience but he will be a good pitcher probably an ace sometime during his career. Lawrence was a money dump as he shouldn’t be playing in the majors let alone getting paid 3.1mil to do it. West is about to enter his prime and has great power and will hit a good amount of homeruns but struggles to much against lefties that you might have to platoon him.

Santa Fe Sidewinders traded Jim Taylor to the Fargo Woodchippers for Derek Norton. Slight advantage in the trade went to the Sidewinders as they got a powerful hitting DH in the Norton but gave a possible closer in Taylor. Norton really had no place to move for the Woodchippers as he can’t play any D, but can hit the ball over any fence and will make a great use of Santa Fe’s ballpark. Taylor could possible be a closer or a great bullpen guy in a couple years. Both players are a couple years away from playing in the majors.

Anaheim Beefpound traded Bobby Gray to the Richmond Wrecking Crew for Dante Russell. This was an even trade as the Wrecking Crew got a pitcher that could a middle of the rotation pitcher for the team in a couple years and got rid of a DH hitting catcher in Russell. Gray will is projected as the middle of the rotation starter and probably produce 10-12 wins, ERA around 4.25. Russell is a better DH then a catcher but is a power hitting DH but more of a good contact hitter probably hitting around .325, 10-20 homeruns.

Toledo Tornados traded Todd Borkowski, Stan McIntosh & Tuck Erdos and 5.0mil to the Richmond Wrecking Crew for Rusty Sweeney & Chuck Butler. Huge advantage went to the Wrecking Crew as this was a salary dump by the Tornados and I won’t talk about salary dump trades.

Toledo Tornados traded Jayson Mabry and 5.0mil to the Richmond Wrecking Crew for David Patrick. This was a cash deal with to low players that have no chance of coming out of rookie ball.

Anaheim Beefpound traded Benny Julio & Ariel Diaz to the Houston Kings of Kumbia for Lyle Myatt & Alex Franco. Big advantage of this trade went to the Beefpound has they got a what could be there closer of the future in Myatt (if they don’t rush him to fast) and a good young catcher in Franco (if they don’t rush him to the majors to quick as well) that will probably be a great catcher once he enters his prime. The Kings of Kumbia got a SS in Julio who can’t field and can’t hit right-handers, they also got Diaz who’s got great control and a good fastball but struggles with his other pitches.

Will’s Opinion:
Now this is my first time playing this game and I have to say that this is great. The amount of information and strategy that goes into it is amazing. I spent the first three days once I signed up for this going through as much information as I could find. I know I’ve probably made some mistakes during my early time playing this but I’m in it for the long haul and very realistic knowing that my team probably not going to win anything this year or probably next year as well. I know it will take some time to get the players I want to bring into my team and get rid of the players who may be good but don’t fit into the plans that I have, as I will see this plan through and stay in the league for as long as its up. The blog to me is fun as well, as I know probably most people won’t agree with certain things like the power rankings or the players of the week but I’m doing my best and as the season goes on I’ll probably have a better sense of things as those things go. I know I will not make everyone happy especially with the power rankings but you have to remember its early in the season and the power rankings are going to be jumping up and down but once teams have more games under there belts it will be clear where teams belong. I will be adding more things to it that you guys probably won’t care about but like I said when your up at 1 in the morning there isn’t much to do. If there is anything that you don’t like or you think that I can improve please feel free to tell me and I can see what I can do to fix it. I will be adding the Minor League report on Monday, where I’ll be looking into the what’s going in the minor league and I will also be giving your minor league teams there own city and name expect for your rookie league and Low-A where they will just get a city to play in. I have other things going through my head for the blog, I’m just seeing if I can get it done. Thank you for reading this and have a good day.