2062.01 - Letter from Bhujabalin Padmesh (Team Trainer) to Dev Lab Director Ert Plabes (dated 10/31/61)

[R.Umali]

Hej!

Hope your have been keeping well. Things got quite busy over here and I never followed up on those September tickets. Apologies there and you can be sure I'll have OD tickets for you and your team. It was a crazy few months. There were lots of rumblings over here that Rock would be fired! And then who knows if they'd keep me on. Alfredo Aragon - have you ever met him? Our assistant GM - has been getting involved a lot more than usual. He actually went on a road trip with us, which is more than I can say for our GM this past year.

Here's the quick low down on the guys we're sending out to the Lab.

1. Tony Cochran (21 RF)

Yes, we are sending Tony back for a third season. We loved the work you did with him in 2059. Tony seems to be on the cusp. He's back up to #11 on the BNN prospects ranking. He had his best year with the Green Sox at Short-A. He's unlocking that power (15 HR in 317 PAs) but we don't want him to sacrifice that batting average. I know it did not work two years ago, but let's try to improve his Quality of Contact again. Frankly, he's the last big guy from the old regime and apparently there were "promises made". Still, I would not be surprised if this is a play to improve his trade value.

2. Dave Matthes (21 LF)

The upper-ups have quite a bit more riding on this guy. Mathes was the 8th overall pick in 2061. He has a good chance to make the ODR regardless of what Aragon does in free agency. I've attached the reports from the dev labs that he did when he was with 3M. In sum: they were all about his base running. We're going to focus on the gap power. And try to keep him away from Cochran.

3. Zamir Kazmi (19 CF)

Our South Asian scout seems to really like this guy. He's from Umerkot in the Sindh province of Pakistan. I've not met him in person and I had to do some Viz and numbers scouting. He'll be coming straight from Monclova. Apparently, he's really bright and super fast. 23-for-24 in stolen bases. But he hit .194. Put him on the Quality of Contact regimen. And keep him away from Cochran as well. We quite like Kazmi's seriousness and work ethic.

4. Angel de la Cruz (23 2B)

Angel is old regime, too, but he's entirely of a different stock than Tony. He was drafted back in 2055 and steadily moved up the BNN prospect rankings until he just outright claimed a starting role. He went .276 / .343 / .447 in his first full year, hitting 24 HR with an 11.6 SO%. We're playing the margins with him and putting him in the Baserunning Fundamentals program. He posted a -5.6 Ultimate Base Running in 2061.

5. Adam Hines (28 SP)

I should show you Adam's letter to me listing out the reasons why he should return to Dev Lab. Reason #3 was "to continue teaching Ert the meaning of the Blues." Adam listed something like 10 to 15 reasons and maybe half was related to baseball. At this point, what Hines wants, Hines gets - and so I'm glad he wanted to go to Dev Lab. Your work with his changeup last year was nothing short of amazing. He improved in all metrics. His K/9 went from 7.0 to 8.4 and his K/BB went from 2.6 to 3.3. He posted his highest WAR in the majors. He'll probably want to work on his Secondary Pitch Improvement again, but he has the okay to do whatever he wants.

6. Bobby Sherman (30 SP)

You'll remember Fang from last year. Talk about old regime. Sherman was drafted in the first round in 2052. 17th pick. Try again with him as promises were definitely made. See if you can Add a Pitch to his Arsenal. But go gently. Though he stayed healthy all year, he went 1-11. And he just lost out in arbitration. I don't know where his mind is at. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out of Chicago.

7. Al Schumann (19 LF)

Al impressed in AA Peoria. Check out his highlights on the Viz. He's a classic line drive pull hitter. I would love to unlock more of his power but Aragon wants him to work on his defense.

8. Kullervo Almila (24 SP)

I don't know who signed this guy as I have no records of us scouting in Finland but here he is. Everything about this guy screams minor league lifer but he pitched 175 quality innings out of the blue last year in single A Huntsville. The knock on him is his horrendous control but the upper ups believe there's something here. If you can improve his control even just a tiny bit, call it a success.

9. Tolya Shiller (22 SP)

Did you know that we traded Dhrtatman Seshadri? I don't know if you caught that bit of news. Aragon's move, apparently. I can't imagine Umali giving him up and keeping somebody like Bobby Sherman. But then again, Umali's been so way behind the scenes it's like he's not even there. Dhrtatman's over at San Fernando now and has one more games with them over 28.2 innings than with us in over 88. I know you did great work with that guy.

Anyway, you'll remember Toyla from 2059 when we tried to increase his velocity. He's just not that kind of a pitcher. So, we want you to work on his secondary pitches. He's toned down now, from what I heard, but the chip on his shoulder is still there.

10. Artemis Theodopoulos (20 SP)

If there ever was a pet project Artemis is it. Our European scout, Bernie Fignon, "discovered" him in 2058 and he marinated in the International Complex before catching eyes in San Pedro de Marcoris Green Sox. I frankly need to squint really hard to see it but the pressure was on for me to send him to Dev Lab. It was intimated that Artemis is the new Dhrtatman, which does not make sense at all.

//

My office will be in contact with you regarding logistics.

Finally, a heads up: Aragon wants to make a visit sometime in late December / early January. I'll give you fair warning.

Bhujabalin

[BaseClogger]

Mathes is ready to rock. I want to say angel de la Cruz bumped his defensive ratings?

[R.Umali]

Mathes is ready to rock. I want to say angel de la Cruz bumped his defensive ratings?

I didn't keep track of that but I hope so. When 2B António Martínez came on board via trade I made the decision to move de la Cruz to SS b/c better range (9 to 8) and better arm (5 to 4). Both arms suggest that these guys are better 2B - and de la Cruz's ZR at 2B (6.1 to -5.6 at SS) bears this out.