Power Pros Forum

AROUND THE LEAGUE: TRADES ARE BREWING, TEAMS ARE WINNING, AND PLAYERS ARE UNHAPPY?
April Ninth, 2009

It's hard to imagine David Ortiz saying anything bad about Boston management. He recently broke his silence though, so you don't have to imagine anything. The thirty-three-year-old designated hitter has played an important part on the Red Sox since joining the team in 2003, but he thinks the team is heading in a direction he doesn't want it to go. "We had a great bunch of guys, we were all friends." Ortiz told ESPN. "Then [John] Killebrew comes in and messes that all up for some players we hardly know. I don't think it's fair to people like [Jason] Bay and [Jed] Lowrie. They were both fantastic players who never said anything bad about the team, but then they got booted. Bay was predicted to hit thirty home runs this year. Abreu? Ten. Ten home runs!! We traded away a thirty home run guy for a ten home run guy. That's not right." Ortiz must not know what the term "cutting salary" means. The thirty-three-year-old designated hitter is doing well this year, but some must wonder why Ortiz is speaking out against his "favorite" team.

The answer is simple: he wants to be traded. He wants to be with his long-time, close friend Manny Ramirez. Ramirez, on the other hand, recently failed a drug test with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, has decided to not take any action against the Los Angeles slugger but warned him if he fails another test, he will be suspended.

In other news around the majors, the Brewers and Indians made a relatively "big" move, but it's not of the magnitude the Putz-Iwamura deal was. Both sides appear content with the trade finalized today that will send 28-year-old catcher Kelly Shoppach, 22-year-old minor league starting pitcher Bryce Stowell and $1,000,000 in cash to the Milwaukee Brewers, while the Cleveland Indians will receive 30-year-old reliever Jorge Julio. "We feel this is a move that filled a few gaps in our roster," said the Indians general manager. For his part, the Brewers GM said the trade was made "in the best interest of our organization's future." BNN analysts reported that on paper the trade seemed to be a plus for both ball clubs. The players involved are expected to join their new teams for the next scheduled game.

The Red Sox have a game scheduled for tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays. It's the final game of a three game series. Tim Wakefield will be on the mound for Boston and Matt Garza will take the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays. No winner has been projected for the game, but I'd be betting on the Rays if I were you. The winner of this game will take first place in the AL East.



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@DrMario: You're right. I was going to be aiming for MLB-ready prospects, but you're right... those Japanese guys will be great in a stretch run.

SCOTT LEWIS FOOLED TEXAS
April Tenth, 2009

He didn't put a spell on them. It wasn't black magic, it was just old-fashioned good pitching. That's how Scott Lewis of the Cleveland Indians blanked the Texas Rangers 9-0.

After tossing a complete-game 4-hit shutout, he was all smiles, saying, "I threw a lot of my pitches for strikes in this game. I mixed it up and tried keeping these guys off balance."

His own skipper said, "He's at his best when he gets ahead of the hitters." Lewis walked 4 and struck out 9 in the victory.

The Rangers manager commented on their lack of success against him, saying, "He was throwing his breaking ball for strikes and we never capitalized on any of his mistakes."


Team doctors for Oakland reported to the press that Kurt Suzuki had come down with gastroenteritis. They said the Athletics catcher might need about 3 weeks to recover.

As for the Red Sox-Rays game, nothing interesting happened to say the least. Papelbon picked up a save as the Red Sox won 4-2.

Well, you won't get to many Major league ready prospects for Okajima and Saito. You should be able to get atleast one.


But they are both great pitchers. Wait until closer to the deadline and see how the season pans out for them. Then decide if you want to keep them for the stretch run or not.

By trading both of them away, you lose great bullpen.

That's true. You should see the way Delcarmen is pitching. If I lost Okajima or Saito, I'd lose my sanity. -.-

ARIZONA-CHICAGO BLOCKBUSTER DEAL
April Thirteen, 2009

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced a major trade involving several big-time players. The press was told today that the Diamondbacks had consummated a deal with the White Sox with Arizona giving up 25-year-old catcher Miguel Montero in exchange for 32-year-old reliever Matt Thornton, 20-year-old minor league third baseman Jon Gilmore and $900,000 in cash.

This season-to-date Montero has 1 home run and a .158 batting average.

Thornton has pitched in 280 games in his career, posting 5 saves, 269 strikeouts and a record of 15 victories and 16 losses. His lifetime ERA stands at 3.96.

Thorton, Montero and Gilmore aren't the only players changing teams, either. The Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves announced a three-player deal which sends twenty-seven-year-old shortstop Omar Infante to Baltimore. In return, Atlanta receives thirty-year-old right fielder Luke Scott. A mediocre prospect was also sent to Atlanta. His name is Ryan Adams. He's twenty-one. The trade doesn't come as a shocker to anyone, especially after super prospect Matt Wieters expressed concerns over whether or not Cesar Izturis was "worthy" enough to be playing with someone like himself. Baltimore management favored the prospect and waived and designated for assignment Cesar.

Speaking of Cesar, he's batting .444 so far this year with two RBIs and two doubles. The twenty-nine year old has sparked some interest on waivers, teams like the Red Sox have put in a claim. If Cesar is to drop to Boston, it's unknown how he will affect the team's lineup and defense. General Manager John Killebrew had no comment.

Dan Uggla of the Florida Marlins was named the National League player of the week after he hit .471 while driving three balls out of the park. He also got twelve RBIs on the week. Jack Cust of the Oakland Athletics is taking home the honor for the AL. He hit .464 with two home runs and eight RBIs.

Jermaine Dye hit number three hundred on the tenth, and in the National League, Garry Sheffield hit number five hundred.

As for the Red Sox, the team is doing very well. They took two games from Tampa Bay and Anaheim, improving themselves to four and two on the season. They're tied for first place in the AL East with the Baltimore Orioles. The rest of the league looks like this:



The only real shocker is the New York Yankees. They were expected to be one of the better teams this week, but sadly, they're not. Mark Texeira, New York's best acquisition during the off-season, is a notoriously slow starter, but he's looking to get hot this week and stay hot.

The Red Sox will take on the Oakland Athletics in a three game series starting tonight and work their ways over to Baltimore to face the Orioles.

RHP Josh Beckett (0-1, 3.86 ERA) @ LHP Dana Eveland (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
RHP Tim Wakefield (1-0, 2.70 ERA) @ LHP Dallas Braden (1-0, 5.40 ERA)
LHP Jon Lester (1-0, 2.25 ERA) @ LHP Josh Outman (0-1, 6.00 ERA)

If all goes well, Boston will have Cesar Izturis at short and a Chone Figgins/Mike Lowell platoon at third base, which would be the best case scenario.

Terrible series. <_<

Update coming in the morning. My pitching sucks. My offense can't string together runs unless I light a fire under them. =(

I did get Cesar though, so I don't have to watch (read about) Figgins terrible defense anymore. FIVE ERRORS IN TWO GAMES.

Matt Wieters wouldn't question whether Cesar was "worthy" to play with him... Wieters is just a prospect and not the team leader yet... Cesar is proven and great defender...

I think you should trade Lowell and Varitek for a better catcher or something.

RED SOX, PIRATES STRIKE A DEAL
April Sixteenth, 2009

After prolonged negotiations Boston agreed to ship 27-year-old catcher Mike Napoli and $350,000 in cash to Pittsburgh for 28-year-old catcher Ryan Doumit. The deal is awaiting confirmation from the league office but neither team expects any hang-ups. "It took longer than expected," said one GM, "but we knew that the deal was going to happen."

So far this year, Napoli is batting .097 with 1 home run and 4 RBIs.

This year Doumit is batting .300 with 2 home runs. He has scored 4 runs and driven in 7.

The Boston Red Sox also acquired Cesar Izturis from Baltimore on waivers.

Boston dropped two games to Oakland. They "improved" to five and four on the season, which is good enough for first place in the AL East. Fun fact: Boston scored twenty-three runs in the three game series compared to Oakland's twenty. One has to wonder where Boston's bullpen was. The first game was a 1-0, three-hit shutout, the second game was a 12-15 loss, despite being an eventful game, and the final one, game three, was a Boston blowout. They scored 12 runs in nine innings, compared to Oakland's four.

Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies was hospitalized with a high fever. He, like Alfonso Soriano, contracted the H3N1 virus, or more commonly known as Swine Flu. Experts are fearing an epidemic... the good news is that Jason Giambi, slugged his four-hundredth home run against Boston.

The Red Sox are set to take on their division rivals, the Baltimore Orioles, in a four-game series at Fenway. The winner of this series is inevitably going to be in first place. They're both two games ahead of the rest of the AL East.

MATSUZAKA, GUTHRIE SET TO DUKE IT OUT
April Seventeenth, 2009

In an interesting divisional match up, the Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles are set to face each other in what's expected to be a heart breaker. The Red Sox acquired some players from the Orioles earlier in the week, too. Most notably (since he's the only player) shortstop Cesar Izturis, who's a great defender. "I'm looking forward to making Baltimore feel bad about waiving me." Cesar told the press before the game in an interview. He most certainly has the tools to do it, too.

The two teams haven't met yet this season, but there is a lot of tension in the air. The Red Sox and the Orioles have a 5-4 record so far... they're both tied for first in the AL East. In an interview, Boston's manager Terry Francona expressed his desire to take an early lead for the season and maintain it all the way into October. Baltimore has the same goal.

Who's going to win? It's hard to say, but Baltimore is favored for this game and the series. Let's just take a look at how the two teams compare though:



And the lineups:



Baltimore doesn't look so good compared to Boston on paper, but they do have the better lineup out of the two, which is why they're expected to win tonight.

Wow. Adrian Gonzalez has Swine Flu, too. =_=

Do they really have the H1N1 Virus in OOTP10? If so, then how? Beacause didn't this game come out before the outbreak of the H1N1?

I use a custom injury file, which came out after the outbreak. The original injury file which comes with the game does have the flu, though.

How many minor league teams are there? Like is there is AAA, AA, and A, or just AAA, and AA?

What is OOTP10?

Great work though on the season.