Pine Tar News

With another season winding down, I figure it's time to do another league update. Another fun and exciting season is just a couple weeks from being over. A couple things I want to go over are the league rankings, replacement owners and the league Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame
While I know that the world has only been around for a fairly short time, my concern is that their aren't very many owners that even care enough about it to vote. The whole thing is obviously cosmetic and really means nothing in overall value to the league. It is another thing that adds a little bit of fun to the game though. To have one of your players in the hall is about the same as having one of your players win the MVP or any award. In my personal opinion, I see at least three players that I feel like are worthy of making the Hall of Fame.
 OF Bob Wood, played 11 seasons and was a very well rounded player. He was a member of the 40-40 club once, had 5 seasons over 40 homers with a 61 home run season. He hit 385 homers in his career and stole 275 bases. He also had 9 seasons of 100+ rbi's and had 203 in season 6. He also had 8 seasons of 100+ runs scored. He was a 4 time all star and a one time silver slugger left fielder.
SP Rich Meyers, played 11 seasons and was a very good starting pitcher in that time. He finished his career with 170 wins and only 55 losses. He also had a dynamite ERA of 3.08 for his career. He never had a season with double digit losses. He was a two time Cy Young winner and six time all star.
RP Moises Bennet, only played 6 seasons but was dominant in his short time. He saved 244 games and only blew 26 saves in that time. He pitched 311 games and had a 2.94 ERA. The thing that stands out with Bennett is that he won the Fireman of the Year award 3 times, was an all star 5 times, and won a world series ring twice. In the post season he had 17 saves in 20 opportunities. He pitched 22 games, but had a 6.48 ERA in those games.

Next Season
As of right now, I haven't heard from anyone that they are not returning. If you are reading this and don't plan on returning, then let me know now. This is very important, so that I can find a replacement asap. These days, it is tough to find new owners that are willing to take on teams. Most people in the game that already have teams are not looking to add teams and new owners that have never played are really hard to find. Of course, I would love it if everyone was returning. That makes for a much better league and each team actually would have a direction. With new owners, you just don't know what you get and if they will do the right thing with the team. We have a great group of owners and it is very hard to find a world with so many good owners. If everyone stays then we will roll over to a new season just a few days after the World Series. That is why I need to know if anyone is leaving. I'd like to be able to do that after this season.

World Ranking
1.Syracuse Snow Pirates 93-36, 1st place AL North
2.Nashville Nala Bears 86-43, 1st place AL South
3.Atlanta Red Tide 84-45, 1st place AL East
4.Ottawa Otters 79-50, 2nd place AL North
5.Seattle Strikers 75-54, 1st place NL West

also receiving votes, Fargo Wood Chippers, Cincinnati Firestorm, Milwaukee Cream Citys

Close to Mid Season Report

With 65 games in the book, I figured it's about time to do a little report. I'm not going to review each team, but this is more of a league wide news. I want to go over a few things and let everyone know what is going on as to what I'm thinking.

-The first thing I want to go over is the poll's that I put up last week. The polls were mainly about tanking and how everyone feels about it. The first poll was to see what everyone feels that tanking actually is. I have my opinion on what it is, and others have theirs. In the majors tanking happens quite often as teams are trying to rebuild and want to get their young stars playing time in the majors to bring them along. In HBD it doesn't quite work that way. It puts teams in a position to dominate in future seasons if done correctly. The top of the draft is usually a sure bet, and teams can save money for the big International free agents, which isn't how real life works. So my question was, what is tanking. It looks like the ones that cared enough to vote think that it's not putting a competitive team on the field and not keeping guys fresh. I'll agree. That is exactly what it is. The next question was whether rules should be made to prevent as in other worlds. The reason I asked this question was because while I was looking for new owners in the off season, one of the complaints was that we didn't stop tanking in our world and teams were tanking over the past few seasons. Part of the problem in past seasons, wasn't so much tanking as it was bad owners that weren't planning on sticking around once they realized how hard it was to win it all in one season. I'm against tanking myself, but like most that voted I can live with it. My problem is when it is done over multiple seasons. In my opinion if a team isn't turning things around over 3 seasons, then they are going out of their way to put themselves in position to win things for a long time. When trying to find paying customers to take over teams, they don't want to come into situations where they have little chance of winning, and I'm not sure that is healthy for the world over the long haul.

-The second thing I wanted to put out there for everyone to know about is that I'm putting together a league committee. I've already put together some good owners and am thinking about how to go about making it work. I originally only planned on doing a few owners, but the more I look at the owners in this league, it makes it hard to leave some out. We have a great group of owners and not much turnover in the last 10 seasons. So what I'm going to do is have a league committee that is made up of the majority owners that care enough to be on it. If I have not sent you a trade chat and asked you to be a part of it, and this is something you want to be a part of then let me know via trade chat. The duties of this will be to help discuss things for the league to vote on as far as rules(if any are needed), vote on things such as a league hall of fame for the blog, vote on league rankings during the season, and be active in trying to keep this league as good as it is.

-Our league ranks as one of the top listening leagues for Knucklebones radio show that he does. Actually one of the top 4. For those of you that haven't checked it out or the web page dedicated to HBD click the link http://hbdnews.blogspot.com/. It's really good stuff. He works really hard at it and it's pretty cool. I've listened to a few of the shows, but they were for another world that I'm in. He says he'll be doing a review of our world soon. There is a chat room that you can get on while he is doing it and discuss things or you can call in. Tomorrow night Tom James, who does the rankings, is ranking all the private worlds that have done 10 seasons. He hinted that we were a top 100 which is disappointing to me since I would have thought it was at least a top 50.

-Here are my Pine Tar power rankings(done on my own) and AL dominated:
1.
         Syracuse Snow Pirates
         Record: 49-16,1st AL North

2.
         Ottawa Otters
         Record: 45-20, 2nd AL North

3.
         Atlanta Red Tide
         Record: 44-21, 1st AL East

4.
         Milwaukee Cream Citys
         Record: 44-21, 3rd AL North

5.
         Nashville Nala Bears
         Record: 41-24, 1st AL South

NL West Season 14 Previews

SEASON 14 NL WEST PREVIEWSDue to time constraints and the season on going, I'm going to forgo the preview summary.

Seattle Strikers
Season 13 record- (93-69, 1st division)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-14th (.254); OBP-12th (.328);  Home Runs-15th (154);  Runs-11th (761);  Steals-1st (292)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-1st (3.42);   Opp Avg-1st (.233);  Strike Outs-8th (1107);  Saves-6th (49)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-1st (.990);  Plus Plays-1st (103);  Minus Plays-1st (13)

Key Acquisitions- 1B Miguel Pichardo(tr-Chi), RP Hal Davenport(tr-Syr), SP Warren Hargrave(tr-Syr), SP Don Corey(resigned), SP Al Rivers(FA), LF Paxton Sutton(FA), RP Cam Hogan(FA), RP Jayson Crawford(resigned)
Key Losses- P Carl Piatt(tr-Chi), 3B Kory Garland(tr-Syr), SS Buster Starr(tr-Syr), 1B Jorge Cueto(FA), 1B Tony Cummings(FA), RP Matthew Helton(FA), RP Carlton Harding(FA)

Well this is my team. I would hate to give my analysis of the team because it would make everyone think I'm an idiot no matter which way I go with it. I stick with the facts. After 3 straight winning seasons, Seattle went all out this off season and made many changes that they hope to be for the better. The player payroll is the highest it has ever been. They upgraded the rotation with the trade for Hargrave, which allows the team to move the other pitchers to a spot in the rotation that they truly belong. The relief pitching took a major hit losing Helton, Harding and Piatt. The team has tried to upgrade the offense which has been terrible season after season. The team traded away 2 key defensive players in Starr and Garland, that helped the team to a #1 defense. The team brought in offensive players over defense and it remains to be seen if that will help the team from disappointing again this season. While Seattle has won the division in 4 out of the last 5 seasons, only once have they made it out of their opening playoff series. It should be an interesting season to see how all the new faces mesh together.



Colorado Springs Night Watchmen
Season 13 record- (91-71, Wild Card)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-13th (.261); OBP-8th (.333);  Home Runs-5th (234);  Runs-7th (814);  Steals-16th (50)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-10th (4.53);   Opp Avg-11th (.270);  Strike Outs-14th (1047);  Saves-3rd (53)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-7th (.983);  Plus Plays-9th (47);  Minus Plays-8th (47)

Key Acquisitions- SP Ezdra Johnson(FA), C Chuck Daniels(FA), RP Dorian Myers(FA), SP Bill Kydd(promoted)
Key Losses- SP Chet Spencer(FA), 3B Banana Wakeland(FA), SP Ryan Gonzalez(FA), C Matty Padilla(FA), RP Roy Hiatt(FA)

This team may not have won the division title last season, but I believe they were the most successful. They ended a 4 season drought from the post season, they broke the 90 win mark for the first time in 6 seasons, and beat Seattle in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. They didn't have the best pitching, hitting or fielding, but this team found ways to win. They bolstered the pitching staff in the off season and I expect them to be a better pitching team this season. They didn't do anything to upgrade the fielding and hitting though. I don't think they have a very good hitting team, but I think their fielding is pretty good. They lack range in the field but the gloves are solid. I think this team has a good shot at 90 wins again this season, but I'm not sure if they win the division. They should be in it till the end though.



Scottsdale Scorpions
Season 13 record- (87-75)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-3rd (.277); OBP-1st (.349);  Home Runs-2nd (266);  Runs-2nd (878);  Steals-13th (59)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-9th (4.46);   Opp Avg-14th (.276);  Strike Outs-3rd (1169);  Saves-12th (40)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-10th (.981);  Plus Plays-12th (35);  Minus Plays-16th (96)

Key Acquisitions- SP Eli Mercado(FA),  3B Bret Schneider(FA)
Key Losses- SP Steve Brock(FA)

Scottsdale has raised their win total in each of the last 5 seasons, but after a season in which they made the playoffs they missed them last season. That would usually mean that it was a disappointing season, but this team is coming off many losing seasons and improving the win total is a big positive. They finished toward the top of the league offensively last season and kept around most of their players. They should be an offensive force once again. The pitching and fielding ranked in the middle of the league though. Losing Brock was a blow to the rotation, but they signed Mercado to replace him. In those moves the teams pitching will take a little bit of a hit. The defense is still a weakness for this team and really the pitching on the team isn't that bad. I think the defense hurts the pitching. I think it's playoffs or bust for this team. They have a really good team, but the defense worries me. They have the talent and really this organization is in the best shape in quite some time. They could be my pick to take the division, but if not then I think wild card for sure.



Oklahoma City Prairie Dogs
Season 13 record- (67-95)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-15th (.250); OBP-15th (.311);  Home Runs-12th (192);  Runs-15th (654);  Steals-15th (56)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-6th (4.16);   Opp Avg-8th (.266);  Strike Outs-10th (1076);  Saves-13th (39)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-16th (.972);  Plus Plays-11th (43);  Minus Plays-13th (67)

Key Acquisitions- OF/1B Benji Moreno(tr-KC), 2B Junior Spiers(FA), 1B Vic Rijo(promoted), P Perry Keefe(promoted), SS Billy Kashmir(promoted)
Key Losses- RP Lonny Sojo(FA)

This franchise has seen 3 straight losing seasons since winning this division, with last season being the lowest point. This teams position players just weren't very good. They couldn't hit and they couldn't field. The teams pitching wasn't bad though. With better fielding they could have been a top 3 pitching team. The only key loss this team suffered in the off season was a big loss. Sojo is a very good relief pitcher and should be tough to replace. They traded for Moreno, who isn't going to help this team much. The signing of Spiers will upgrade the hitting and fielding a bit. I also like the players this team promoted.
This is a really young team that has nowhere to go but up. They do have some real good hitters, they have a few good pitchers as well. The teams biggest problems will be defensively and the starting rotation. My summary is that this team is better, but not enough to get over the 500 mark.





PREDICTIONS
I'm actually pretty excited about this division. Even though the division has put 2 teams in the playoffs the past couple seasons, it wasn't a very strong division. That is changing. The top 3 teams are going to battle it out this season and even the bottom team is getting better. Since I jinxed Scottsdale last season, I'm going to go ahead and jinx myself this season. Seattle should win the division but not by much, and Scottsdale is my pick for the wild card. Colorado Springs could even win this division but I have to make predictions.
1.)Seattle
2.)Scottsdale
3.)Colorado Springs
4.)Oklahoma City

NL South Season 14 Previews

SEASON 14 NL SOUTH PREVIEWS 


Monterrey Jacks
Season 13 record- (99-63, 1st division)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-6th (.268); OBP-7th (.335);  Home Runs-1st (282);  Runs-1st (881);  Steals-6th (113)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-5th (3.98);   Opp Avg-7th (.260);  Strike Outs-1st (1226);  Saves-4th (51)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-14th (.979);  Plus Plays-12th (35);  Minus Plays-12th (65)

Key Acquisitions- 2B Sam Wigginton(tr-Far), CF Jay Knotts(FA), RP Brant Service(FA), RP Clarence Cain(FA), LF Al Keeler(resigned), 1B Craig Adkinson(promoted)
Key Losses- RP Cam Hogan(FA), RP Robin Schalk(FA), LF Kevin Kyung(FA), LF/1B Paul Wang(FA), 2B Douglas Wilson(released)

Monterrey had a pretty successful regular season in season 13. They won the division for the second straight season and fifth time in team history. They produced the third straight 90 win season and matched the franchise high in wins. They had an above average offense, above average pitching, but were not a very good fielding team. The team had the #1 overall seed in the post season, but unfortunately, lost to Charleston in the divisional round 3 games to 1. So last season overall has to be considered a disappointment. The team made plenty of off season moves to try and make up for that. I really like the acquisition of Wigginton. The signing of Knotts will also help this team out. I don't think they did much to help out the fielding problems they had though. This team is clearly built on hitting over fielding from their position players. I could see that team average ranked even higher next season and this team could very well lead the NL in runs again. This team also has a very good pitching staff. Most likely one of the best in the league. My prediction for Monterrey is that they will top the 100 win mark and will be tough to beat for this division title.


Charleston Riverdogs
Season 13 record- (93-69)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-8th (.266); OBP-3rd (.341);  Home Runs-3rd (243);  Runs-4th (833);  Steals-12th (67)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-2nd (3.78);   Opp Avg-2nd (.246);  Strike Outs-7th (1116);  Saves-7th (48)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-3rd (.986);  Plus Plays-4th (64);  Minus Plays-5th (34)

Key Acquisitions- RF Alton Olson(tr-Far), LF Magglio Coronado(tr-Far), 2B Douglas Wilson(FA), SP Steve Brock(FA), SP Joel Norris(FA), LF/1B Frank Martin(resigned)
Key Losses-2B Pepper Sanders(tr-Far), P Rafael Gutierrez(FA), 3B Juan Otanez(FA), SP Travis Bush(FA)

After 6 seasons in a row of winning this division Charleston has slipped a bit the past couple seasons. After a second straight second place finish, they made up for it with a second straight appearance in the World Series though. Slipping isn't how this franchise should look at it. The only thing that could stop them was a punishing Syracuse team that swept them in the World Series. A second straight championship just wasn't meant to be. Overall, this team had really good pitching and fielding last season. While the team had a decent batting average they were above average where it counted on offense and that was scoring runs. They didn't appear to need to do much in the off season at all, but they did. I question the decision to pick up the option on the, way past his prime, Jonathan Grebeck. The moves they made were mostly for older players and I don't really like that, but this team does have some young talent to go with the veterans. Overall, I think they have a really good fielding team, and their pitching staff is really good as well. They don't really have an innings eater starting for them though and that could wear on this staff as the season goes on. Offensively the team has plenty of power and a few players that can get on base as well. I think this team will still be a very good team that will be tough to beat, but I don't think this will be the year they can get back on top of this division. A return to the World Series isn't likely, but with this ownership anything can happen. I think they are a wild card contender.


Jackson Juggernauts
Season 13 record- (69-93)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-10th (.265); OBP-10th (.331);  Home Runs-7th (229);  Runs-9th (794);  Steals-7th (105)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-7th (4.23);   Opp Avg-3rd (.248);  Strike Outs-5th (1149);  Saves-16th (34)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-12th (.980);  Plus Plays-3rd (65);  Minus Plays-2nd (26)

Key Acquisitions-  LF Cal Durham(Rule V), 2B James Glass(promoted)
Key Losses-  3B Benny Carrasco(released), 1B Ricardo Peron(released)

This team stayed fairly quiet in the off season. After 8 straight losing seasons and 7 owners in that time frame, this team may finally be getting some direction as bobbyj7 is in a second season as owner. They've only had one winning season in the teams history and the team deserves a little direction by now. They have a really young team and some of the young players have good talent. They also have a few players in the minors that will be able to help this team out fairly soon. Last season this team ranked toward the bottom of the league in fielding and I don't think that will change much this season. They were barely in the upper half of the league in pitching and I think that will probably remain about the same if not a little better. They were in the bottom half of the league in hitting and I'm pretty sure they will be again. In this division they don't stand a chance, but a better record than last season is attainable. It will probably be another long season for Jackson, but I do believe there is some light at the end of this tunnel.




Texas Beavers
Season 13 record- (67-95)
Season 13 team hitting(NL)  Batting Average-7th (.267); OBP-9th (.332);  Home Runs-13th (191);  Runs-10th (764);  Steals-11th (88)   Pitching(AL)  ERA-16th (5.51);   Opp Avg-15th (.287);  Strike Outs-11th (1071);  Saves-14th (37)      Fielding(AL)  Fielding %-4th (.985);  Plus Plays-6th (60);  Minus Plays-3rd (28)

Key Acquisitions- CF Julio Tavarez(tr-Chi), RP Scott Easterly(tr-Min), SS Jorge Lopez(tr-Tol), C Tom Gonzales(tr-Van), LF/1B Orval Yeats(tr-Syr), RP Bernard Hoffman(tr-Tol), 2B Luke Ryan(FA), SP Patsy Cummings(FA), CF Chul Zhang(promoted), SP Rico Bravo(promoted)
Key Losses- SP Miguel Morlan(tr-Tol), 1B Matty Coco(tr-Van), C Pascual Ortiz(released)

After 5 straight losing seasons this team decided it was time to make some changes. I'm not sure if there was another team in the league that made more changes this off season than Texas. They went all out to make this team competitive this season. Most of the moves made were through trades and they only signed a couple free agents. Luke Ryan, who was one of the free agents signed, will be a huge upgrade for this team. This is a pretty young team and they now have quite a bit of talent on the roster. The only move I don't like for this team was trading Coco. That was a real good bat to lose and I don't feel comfortable with his replacement as a full time player. Last season this team was a decent hitting bunch, and were pretty good in the field as well. They were terrible when it came to pitching. The moves they made are going to add some speed to this teams lineup and that was something they needed. They have players that can get on base but I don't think they are a great hitting team. The fielding should still be pretty good. I really don't see how this team could be even as close to as bad as last season when it comes to pitching. They are improved in that category, but are still not great when it comes to the pitching staff. My prediction is that this team finishes above 500, but I'm not sure by how much. I don't think they make the wild card, but this season should be a huge step forward for this club.


PREDICTIONS
 Monterrey has to be a favorite for winning it all this season. Charleston still has a pretty good team, but I don't think they are close to Monterrey. Texas should make some noise, but I think they fall short of the post season. Jackson is a team that is moving up, but this division is going to be much tougher than last season. I really like the overall talent in this division and other than Monterrey I think anything could happen.

1.)Monterrey
2.)Charleston
3.)Texas
4.)Jackson