2065.23 Giving Thanks

[Krathan]

Things I’m thankful for at this time of year, meaning April of 2065, not necessarily the Thanksgiving holiday that for some reason feels relevant right now.

Francisco Ayala-He has been so, so good to start the year. A 1.039 OPS through the first 4 sims makes me very happy.

Duke Silver-Not only do I get to enjoy writing about him, but he’s also tearing it up at the plate so far, with a .400 batting average on the short side of my catching platoon.

Tommy Anderson-I love this guy. I was a fan when OOTP said he was a 40 potential player and I wrote about how he was determined to prove that he was better than that. I’m still a huge fan now that OOTP says he is a 55/55 player who is off to a great start to the year, with an .825 OPS and 6 early home runs.

Domingo Chávez-I remember when I drafted him as a “shortstop” but now he looks like an actual shortstop. He’s also off to the best offensive start he’s had since his tremendous rookie year.

Tony Villa-He started 0-19 this year but now leads the team with 7 home runs and has an OPS of .942.

The vast majority of the development that Felipe Cummings has experienced. He looks so good right now, well, except for the fact that his stamina just dropped to 3. But that happened once before and it moved back up to 4 the next sim. And the game still says his suggested role is starter, so hopefully that’s a good sign. That’s a good sign, right? Please tell me that’s a good sign. I want this guy to be my ace for the foreseeable future. His development over the last year is part of what made me feel like I could trade away guys like Bob Anderson, Buwono Mainaky, and Larry Jensen. Then again, Jensen was not very good for me last year, so that helped me feel like I could trade him away too. But I had to trade away Kutsi Abas to get Jensen originally. That one still makes me sad. Wait. I’m supposed to be talking about things I’m thankful for, but I started spiraling a bit. Ok. Back to the list.

Mitch Bond-I didn’t know for sure what I would get with Bind, but so far, he’s been even better than I had hoped for. He’s 2-0 with a save, a quality start, and an ERA of 2.08 in 17.2 innings across 4 appearances. Yes, please. I’ll take more of that.

Jacquot Natta-Sure, Bandit isn’t off the the best start ever, and is coming off of a bad year and missing a full year due to injury, but I will never not be grateful for Natta. He was my first ever draft pick and has done so many impressive things for me in his young career. I hope he turns it around this year, but I think I’m going to be a fan of his forever. (Have I mentioned recently that he and I share a birthday? He was made to be my favorite player I think.)

Robert Menzies-I’m glad he finally accepted the fact that he couldn’t play the game anymore and retired so that I could make him one of my coaches. And I’m grateful that he turned out to have great coaching ratings. I’m going to go ahead and say that the outstanding defensive dev lab result for Chavez was because of Menzies. In fact, maybe I’ll end up writing a team news about it. Yeah. I think I will. Before too long anyway.

The fact that April is almost over. I don’t know what it is, but my team seems to struggle every April. I’m pretty certain that I’ve been at, or under .500 at the end of April pretty much every year, including the season I won the Atlantic Division and the two seasons I made it to the Monty Brewster Memorial Series. (Yes, there’s some overlap there, but to start the season under .500 through April and win the Atlantic was a big deal. The postseason is its own funny thing where just getting there gives you a chance, but winning this division has been impossible for anyone outside of Charm City since 2053, so achieving that feat deserved its own space in the article.) The fact that April ends during our next sim gives me some hope for this team going forward. Sure, those hopes could still be misguided, but I really do like the team I’ve put together (well, maybe not my bullpen yet, but I’m working on that) and I think things will get better.

The underlying numbers on a lot of my starting pitchers. The previously mentioned Felipe Cummings might be 0-2, but he also has a FIP of 3.31 and a FIP- of 75. Emílio Carrillo is 0-2, but his ERA of 3.65, FIP of 3.53, and FIP- of 80 are really solid. With John Miller, it’s not even just his underlying numbers. He’s 2-1 with a 2.86 ERA, a solid 3.80 FIP, and a FIP- of 86. Bond was great in his first start and Bandit was better in his last start than in his previous two. I also like what I’m seeing from some of the guys I have starting in AAA. (Only one of my 6 starters in Richmond has a FIP- over 94. Four of them have FIP- of 78 or lower, including the ridiculous 37 by Issam bin Numair through 4 starts.)

The BBA-Yes. I’m thankful for the league as a whole. I’ll throw in the GBC too. This whole group of people and organizations that make up this beautiful corner of the internet is a wonderful place to be. Sure, we may bicker from time to time, but it’s because we care about this thing that has been built, and that we are continuing to build. Even last season, a season where things really didn’t go how I wanted them to, there were things to be grateful for. The first guy on this list wouldn’t be part of my team if last season had been successful for me. This little baseball world, the GM’s that are part of it, and our amazing commissioner, are truly something to be thankful for.

[RonCo]

Nice post.

[BaseClogger]

You’re gonna make me cry. I admire how personal your relationships are with your players.