Overview
The Brussels Painters looked a bit like the month of March for a chunk of 1920: after coming with a lion-esque 18-4 record, they cooled right down to a lamby 7 games under .500 for the next 3 months. Then they thwarted our little parallel by sporting a combined record of 34-21 over August and September, a record which is reminiscent of an animal slightly further along the lion side of the spectrum than the lamb one. A wild boar, perhaps?
We were asked to speak about our philosophy. We could read between the lines of this request and would like to say that yes, we do have one. Our philosophy is one of unrestrained free trade with anyone who would care to engage us. We plan on using the bits and pieces that our nation generates for us, keeping the ones that fit, and finding good homes for the ones that don't. We aren't nearly as caught up in nationalism as so many of these other countries are. In 1920 we had the best pitching and defense in the European League, but in the future if the trade winds tell us that offense is what there is to be gotten, we will not take offense at taking offense.
Retirements
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None
Code:
91-71, .562 PCT, 4th, 8.0 GB
Home 47-34, .580 PCT
Road 44-37, .543 PCT
X-inning games 8-11, .421 PCT
One-run games 28-25, .528 PCT
Versus LHP 15-9, .625 PCT
Versus RHP 76-62, .551 PCT
April 18-4, .818 PCT
May 13-15, .464 PCT
June 14-14, .500 PCT
July 12-17, .414 PCT
August 18-10, .643 PCT
September 16-11, .593 PCT
Batting Average .280 - 3rd in EURO
On-Base Percentage .328 - 5th in EURO
Slugging Percentage .377 - 3rd in EURO
On-Base + Slugging .706 - 4th in EURO
Runs Scored 765 - 5th in EURO
Hits 1643 - 2nd in EURO
Extra-Base Hits 406 - 3rd in EURO
Home Runs 44 - 5th in EURO
Bases-On-Balls 403 - 8th in EURO
Strikeouts 462 - 5th in EURO
Stolen Bases 56 - 10th in EURO
Earned Run Average 3.22 - 1st in EURO
Runs allowed 657 - 1st in EURO
Hits allowed 1472 - 1st in EURO
Opponents AVG .262 - 2nd in EURO
Home Runs allowed 30 - 3rd in EURO
Bases-On-Balls 426 - 5th in EURO
Strikeouts 573 - 3rd in EURO
Pitching
Only five men started games all last year for the Painters. 3 of them were under 30. It is a great place to start and continue to grow on. Onne van den Akker set the major league record for victories in his first season playing baseball. Olaf Mathijssen and Bas Boone were also credits to both youth and Belgians. Daniel Stuut was added via a trade with the Dutch, and while we couldn't quite shake "Depressed Daniel"'s gloomy behavior, he was able to win 20 games between Brussels and Amsterdam. The rotation looks pretty secure barring a trade. Then again, the Brussels Painters do not bar trades.
Projected Rotation
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Onne van den Akker
Olaf Mathijssen
Daniel Stuut
Bas Boone
Nicolas Maurin (CL)
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
Onne van den Akker 30 28 9 0.757 41 41 0 321.2 294 118 6 65 149 3.30
Olaf Mathijssen 24 17 15 0.531 40 40 0 317 295 89 4 112 106 2.53
Bas Boone 26 16 14 0.533 34 34 0 252 285 98 4 53 93 3.50
Daniel Stuut 35 16 9 0.64 30 30 0 231 239 79 9 51 92 3.08
Nando Schooten 24 7 9 0.438 19 17 1 122 144 56 2 54 40 4.13
Nicolas Maurin 27 4 8 0.333 60 0 9 121 115 34 0 37 61 2.53
Ferdinand Wisse 24 0 3 0 26 0 4 41.1 48 21 3 18 13 4.57
José Dupont 20 2 4 0.333 24 0 0 35.2 35 14 1 26 13 3.53
Ira Groenendijk 18 1 0 1 6 0 0 11.2 11 9 1 10 2 6.94
Jeroen Zijm 23 0 0 0 3 0 0 6.2 6 4 0 0 4 5.40
Team Totals 25.1 91 71 0.562 283 162 14 1460 1472 522 30 426 573 3.22
* - throws left-handed, blank - throws right-handed
Batting
Here in the Low Countries, we do not look upon weaknesses as "weaknesses" but rather "trading opportunities." We have a great trading opportunity at first base, for example. Marc Dias is not completely horrendous but he's merely adequate. The team could be incrementally improved by replacing him. Likewise, left and right field both have pretty okay people who took most of the at-bats last year, but pretty okay is not going to bring World Series championships to Belgium. On the other hand, Lucas Holdjik is a great player and will not be moved unless we get a really, really good offer for him.
Projected Lineup
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C - Feltse Heijmans, Lucas Dupuis**
1B - Marc Dias*, Gary Lemaitre*, William Besson***
2B - Gerd Michelsen, Gerrie Kalkema***
3B - Kiril van Alpen
SS - Gregory Michaux
LF - Edgar Simons*, Benoit Chabot*, Marie Duval*, David Chaumont**
CF - Lucas Holdjik
RF - Maxim Hinkamp*, Michel Prevort*, David Chaumont**
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C Feltse Heijmans 23 134 125 459 59 131 38 7 5 68 2 0 52 5 0.285 0.363 0.431
C Lucas Dupuis 21 55 37 156 22 38 6 1 2 18 0 0 10 19 0.244 0.287 0.333
1B Marc Dias 33 110 110 430 56 120 12 5 5 59 5 3 34 37 0.279 0.337 0.365
1B *Gary Lemaître 29 29 28 116 19 43 4 6 2 20 0 0 8 1 0.371 0.408 0.560
1B William Besson 31 32 23 78 10 17 2 0 1 9 0 0 8 7 0.218 0.291 0.282
2B Gerd Michielsen 35 157 150 643 78 201 40 3 2 66 0 0 48 35 0.313 0.363 0.393
2B Gerrie Kalkema 22 81 36 146 21 27 3 0 0 10 2 2 11 13 0.185 0.264 0.205
2B Pascal Lienard 28 23 6 43 6 13 5 0 0 7 0 0 3 9 0.302 0.348 0.419
2B Édouard Delmas 17 7 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
2B Petro Tijl 18 6 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
3B Kiril van Alpen 27 145 145 605 75 175 22 3 7 71 3 2 40 12 0.289 0.334 0.370
SS Grégory Michaux 31 158 142 562 59 161 12 4 1 59 6 2 49 15 0.286 0.343 0.327
SS Rick Kleijwegt 31 7 7 27 7 9 2 1 1 8 0 1 4 0 0.333 0.419 0.593
LF *Edgar Simons 32 140 130 548 87 152 28 22 7 63 15 13 36 44 0.277 0.327 0.447
LF Benoît Chabot 34 26 18 69 7 21 7 0 0 6 0 0 2 7 0.304 0.324 0.406
CF Lucas Koldijk 36 157 157 648 82 210 54 13 4 83 2 0 47 63 0.324 0.371 0.466
RF *Maxim Hinkamp 36 106 79 317 43 87 14 5 4 35 7 7 23 43 0.274 0.327 0.388
RF *Marie Duval 26 78 46 214 22 64 5 0 2 30 0 0 13 24 0.299 0.338 0.350
RF *Michel Prévot 26 88 35 178 10 48 13 2 0 26 0 0 3 21 0.270 0.286 0.365
RF David Chaumont 25 71 21 108 24 30 3 3 0 12 6 4 4 18 0.278 0.301 0.361
RF *Riemer Poldermans 17 34 0 4 17 2 0 0 0 0 6 3 0 0 0.500 0.500 0.500
Team Totals 26.7 1927 1458 5875 765 1643 283 79 44 698 56 37 403 462 0.280 0.328 0.377
* - bats left-handed, # - switch hits, blank - bats right-handed
Legend
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no stars - Starter for sure
* - On the bubble
** - Longshot to be on Opening Day roster
*** - On the trading block! No, really! Cheap, too!