[mikev]

Quiet Trade Deadline For Crusaders

Eleven days into August, and the Crusaders find themselves with a 75-39 record, best in the MBBA Pacific and good for a 10 game lead over second place Los Angeles. The trade deadline came and went, and while the Crusaders had initial talks to make a pretty signifigant aquisition, communication seemed to fall on deaf ears and no deal was to be had. Still, I'm pretty confident with the team that we've got now, though a couple of key guys will be gone after this season.

The sim got underway with a 3 game sweep of Manhattan, then a disappointing 3 game set against Chicago resulting in 2 losses. A couple wins over Valencia were next, before taking the first of a pair from LA to finish the sim out.

The pitching continues to dominate, ranking 1st or 2nd in most team pitching stats (4th in HR allowed). Honestly, there's not a lot I can say about the staff that hasn't been said already. Arturo Fernandez was awarded the MBBA Pitcher Of The Month for May, going 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 5 starts.

The exciting part is that the offense seems to be on the upswing. Francisco Mendez seems to have fully recovered from his injury, and is now sporting an .831 OPS, 60 stolen bases, and a 42.3 VORP.

Recently aquired CF Joaquin Lopez continues to mash the ball, with an .883 OPS, 9 home runs, 27 RBI, and 10 doubles in 32 games with the Crusaders. His .317 OBP leaves something to be desired, but he's been more than making up for it by hitting the crap out of the ball whenever he actually does make contact.

Does it seem strange that I consider this to be a "down" year for Jakob Forest? He's hitting .323/.408/.489, but his power seems down - 14 homers and 16 doubles. He's also got 65 strikes to only 47 walks, and he's usually a lot closer to a 1:1 ratio. Looking at his splits, he seems to be suffering from a bit of a "sample size vs lefties" issue hurting his overall numbers, with a measly .704 OPS in 104 at bats against southpaws. However, he's ****ing demolishing right handers to the tune of .351/.443/.526 with 11 hrs and 10 doubles in 268 at bats. That's 30/100 production if you project it to a full season, so I guess it's just an illusion because he got injured and missed time. Considering the MBBA OPS leader is only at .920, Forest's .897 looks a lot better to me now.

Dear Carlos Garza, I know that you're going to probably hit 40 homers this year. I'm sorry, though, I'm not paying you 16 million dollars per season. Get over yourself, you barely deserve the 12M you're making now. Hell, I'm thinking of giving your money to Joaqin Lopez. At least he plays defense, too. Asshole.

The Next Crusade

8/11 - @ Los Angeles

8/12 - @ Las Vegas
8/13 - @ Las Vegas
8/14 - @ Las Vegas

8/16 - v. Greenville
8/17 - v. Greenville

8/19 - @ Des Moines
8/20 - @ Des Moines