If you'd like to catch up on previous installments, you can do so here: Initial Setup, 2020 Season Report, 2021 Season Report, 2022 Season Report, 2023 Season Report
Let's take a look at the award winners from 2023 to wrap that year up and then get into the moves made and the season recap for 2024!

2023 Offseason News

League News:

Scott Oberg wins the AL Reliever of the Year award, Detroit's Drew Carlton received votes. In the NL, Miami's Thomas Burrows wins the award.
1B Diego Maicon powers his way to the AL Rookie of the Year with 43 homeruns while SS Nasim Nunez's 30 stolen bases helps him take the NL trophy.
Detroit's Casey Mize takes home the AL Cy Young Award, receiving all 32 first place votes. San Diego's Luis Patino was the NL's best offering and wins the award.
Houston's Kyle Tucker unseats Mike Trout as the AL MVP with a stellar season for the Astros. In the NL, Cody Bellinger wins his third straight MVP and 4th in the last 5 years.

Detroit Achievements:

Ke'Bryan Hayes wins his first Gold Glove at 2B.
SP Casey Mize wins the AL Cy Young Award!

Offseason Transactions

Owner gave us a $4,000,000 budget increase, but we have some solid players coming off of minimums, so our scouting and development budgets will be going down from their max.
League News:

1B Matt Olson signs with the San Francisco Giants for $212,600,000 over 7 years.
Reliever of the Year Scott Oberg, along with SP Carmen Mlodzinksi and $2,000,000 in cash are dealt to the Rockies for CF Garret Mitchell.
The Chicago Cubs and White Sox complete a cross-town deal with RF Nomar Mazara going to the Cubs and SP Will Mercer and 2B Ryan Bliss going to the White Sox.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Jose Quintana for $72,000,000 over 4 years.
SP Luke Weaver is sent to the Rockies for a package of 3 prospects.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Kyle Hendricks for $82,000,000 over 5 years.
NPB star SS Hayato Sakamoto signs with the Texas Rangers for 4 years, $52,400,000.
SP Noah Syndergaard is sent to the Cincinnati Reds for a package of 3 prospects.
SP Blake Snell nets $18,800,000 a year for the next 5 seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
1B Max Muncy gets $82,000,000 over 4 years to head cross-town to the Angels.
3B Miguel Andujar signs with the Marlins for $10,000,000 a year for 4 years.
The Giants pay SP Carlos Martinez $16,500,000 a year for the next 4 seasons.
Kyle Schwarber nets $19,142,857 a year for the next 7 years with the Houston Astros.
Cleveland Indians sign SP Dinelson Lamet to a 2 year deal worth $53,400,000.
Max Kepler is signed by the Washington Nationals for 5 years at $92,900,000.
No one is elected to the Hall of Fame. Gary Sheffield (40.1%/10th year) is removed from the ballot.

Detroit Departures:

RP Bryan Garcia
CF Albert Almora Jr.

Detroit Trades:
Trade #1 Detroit receives: 2B Marcus Chiu, RP Jack Little Los Angeles receives: RP Junior Fernandez, RP Brendan White
Fernandez didn't seem like he was going to make it back to the majors and was available as an auto-renew for 1M+, so I moved him for another reliever that I can take a chance on and a 2B prospect that looks ready for AAA and gives me some infield depth.
Trade #2 Detroit receives: RF Ismael Mena, 2B Jordy Barley, $750,000 San Diego receives: SS Vidal Brujan
Brujan wasn't very good for us last year and was super pissed about not being an everyday starter. I can't offer him that, but the Padres were willing to part with a decent middle infielder who will play in AAA and a RF prospect that I'm really excited to be adding to the team in Mena, with great personality traits.
Trade #3 Detroit receives: 3B Jordan Diaz Oakland receives: RP Blake Taylor
Taylor wasn't going to stick with the team after a down season and some regression, but Diaz looks like a solid piece for the future. He's 23, cost-controlled and already has a nice hitting profile. He'll start in AAA likely.
Detroit Additions:
OF Jairo Pomares - He was on the waiver wire to end the season and looks like a more than capable hitter. He's young and on a minimum, so I figured I'd take a flier on him.

Spring Training

We have $17,600,000 available for free agents/trades for the season, $12,000,000 set aside for the draft and $5,400,000 set aside for international amateurs. We're spending the maximum allowed on development again this year.
We used the spring to have Castro play 2B and Gold Glover Ke'Bryan Hayes play SS.
Detroits News:

SP Matt Manning tore a back muscle and will miss four months.
RP David McKay tears his rotator cuff and will miss 6 months.

Regular Season

First Half
We take an Opening Day win behind a nice outing from Casey Mize and hope to continue that momentum. We're projected to win 99 games and have three top pitchers, but I have my doubts - especially with Manning missing significant time. I normally don't note much about the second game, but it was Kumar Rocker's first start and he was stellar - 8 and a third innings, 1 run and 7 strikeouts - a good look for the rookie.
As we roll into May we sit at 18-14, five games back of the unstoppable Cleveland Indians. We started 5-0, but we've had some down stops as well. At 32-28 on June 1st, the team is now seven games back of the Indians and three games back of the wild card. We need some help. Sandy Alcantara goes back into the rotation, replacing a struggling Justin Dunn, while bullpen roles get shifted as well. Ke'Bryan Hayes has been incredibly unlucky at the plate with a .222 BABIP, resulting in a .187 batting average. We'll give him another month to sort it out, but we move Evan White to CF and bring Riley Greene into the starting lineup to spell a struggling Parker Meadows. We bring up Jonathan Bowlan and David Parkinson, sending down Alex Lange and Drew Carlton to AAA.
2024 Draft
Another low pick for us, this year we spend the 27th on SP Doug Wade in the 1st round. We double-down on pitching in the 2nd with Kevin Abbs. We grab a SS that looks like a future gold glover in the third in Jeff Allemand. Left fielder Mike Gode is next on the merit of his bat. In the fifth it's center fielder Jim Longchamps with a stellar combo of speed and defense. We like the next picks of SS Ben Barilla, CF Mike Voytko and CF Kevin Devaney as well.
We limped into the All-Star break with a record of 38-37. Matt Manning returns from injury though, and hopefully it's a much-needed shot in the arm. It seems to work as the team goes on a winning streak to finish June, landing 1st in the Wild Card at 46-40 (yet still 9 back of the surging Indians).
July would prove to be a turning point for us as we secured series wins against the Mariners, Rays (swept), White Sox (swept), Rangers, Blue Jays (swept) and Angels en route to a showdown with the Indians to close the month. That showing put us 3 games up on the wild card, but still 7 back of Cleveland. We take one from them, but they prove to be too much, winning two to end the month.
Second Half
August is a new month though, and we kick it off with series wins against the Athletics and Twins, but then get swept by the Yankees. We sweep the Royals and win a series against the Steelhounds to sandwich a series loss to the Orioles and head into roster expansion. We send down David Parkinson and bring up RP Ethan DeCaster, CF Jairo Pomares and 1B Bryant Packard.
We roll into September, securing wins against a number of top teams. On September 14th we lose RP Jack Little for four months, but also clinch a playoff spot. We sit three games back of Cleveland with a chance at a division title and a series against them. We take game one handily, but draw their ace in game two against our back-half and fall by one. Mize carries us to a 2-1 win in game three though to win the series and put us just two games back three games left, giving us an outside shot. We take a game against the Athletics and the Indians drop one to the Angels to move us one game back. Another huge win against the Athletics, coupled with a Cleveland loss and we sit tied heading into game 162. We control our destiny and can force a tiebreaker!
Unfortunately, there are no last game heroics - the Athletics steal one from us and the Indians prevail, we'll take the top wild card spot.

Playoffs

We've secured a wild card berth one again, this time against the Athletics - who put us there with a win in Game 162. We have Casey Mize on the mound and it's a game we should win - we were probably the third best team in the AL, but the Indians control our division.
Wild Card - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Athletics, 9-5 We've finally advanced past the wild card round in my tenure! Mize gets hit later in the game, but we pretty much control this one wire to wire and now must face the Rays, a team we were 8-4 against during the regular season.
Division Series - Game 1 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-6 We jump to a 6-0 lead and then crumble the rest of the way. The bullpen really didn't do too bad, just couldn't get another run on offense. If we score six, we should be winning.
Division Series - Game 2 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-5 So I guess we're having only close games. This time it's us that had to battle back throughout the game to score, but we did it. We need better outings from the rotation.
Division Series - Game 3 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-4 Well, we aren't getting good outings from our good pitching staff, which is irritating. The Rays blast us for 7 runs in the first three innings and we can't recover. We're on the ropes now, let's see what we're made of.
Division Series - Game 4 - Tigers defeat Rays, 4-1 Finally we get an elite performance. Mize showed up, holding them to one run over nearly 8 innings and the bullpen shut the door for us. We've got Rocker on the mound in Game 5 against Glasnow, their ace, so it'll be a high pressure situation for the rookie.
Division Series - Game 5 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-4 We pulled it off! Rocker gave us 6 innings of quality work, only allowing 2 runs. Zach Hess got rocked in relief, but De Geus and Short shut it down after that. We got on Glasnow early and chased him before he could complete 5 innings and maintained he lead all the way! Willy Adames of the Rays was named series MVP.
The bad news for us is that the Indians swept the Angels in their series and they'll be our opponent in the League Championship Series. We were 5-7 against them during the season. Their lineup is strong, particularly the Lindor-Ramirez-Aquino-Casas gauntlet that sits from #2-#5 in the order. Their pitching is even better though, with the league's lowest FIP and best bullpen ERA, which helped them to the second fewest runs against. Shane Bieber had a down year, but he's still Shane Bieber - but Daniel Espino and Dinelson Lamet give them a fearsome three-headed monster. This will be tough to unseat the defending champs.
League Championship Series - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Indians, 3-2 A HUGE road win against Bieber off of Castro's two-run dinger in the 8th inning. Bieber was stellar, but we happened to get ahold of Edwin Diaz, which is also surprising. Manning was decent and our bullpen was stellar. I'm pumped to steal one in Cleveland.
League Championship Series - Game 2 - Indians defeat Tigers, 6-5 This was about as close as it can get throughout - we kept answering each other at the plate until we finally failed to do so. It's a shame to chase Espino so early and still lose with Mize on the mound, but I'm still glad to have one win already.
League Championship Series - Game 3 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-1 Yeah, Lamet held us in check and their bullpen was stellar. Skubal was unfortunate, giving up three runs with only one of them being earned. It particularly hurts because the error was by Ke'Bryan Hayes, last season's gold glove winner. We need to bounce back in Game 4.
League Championship Series - Game 4 - Indians defeat Tigers, 7-6 (13) Well, that hurts. We got a serviceable outing from Rocker and got on Plesac early - we got some runs on Edwin Diaz again too, but the rest of their bullpen was untouchable. Ours, on the other hand, all gave up runs except for Zach Hess. Tough. We battled, but this road is now an incredibly uphill one.
League Championship Series - Game 5 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-2 Manning got blown up and Bieber continues having a strong postseason - he seems to have caught fire at the right time for them. We have a lot to take from this series and feel good about going forward, but I'm starting to really dislike Cleveland. Their reign needs to end.
World Series Well, the Giants draw the appearance for the National League and get off to a 3-0 start. But Cleveland, they aren't killable are they? No, no they are not. They came back. They won the dang thing. The Cleveland Indians repeat as MLB Champions.
Detroit Achievements

SP Casey Mize is named an All-Star
2B Willi Castro is named an All-Star starter
3B Isaac Paredes is named an All-Star
RF Yaya Chentouf is named an All-Star
SP Justin Powell, C Dale Burton and SS Trevor Haskins are named to the All-Prospects Game - Haskins wins MVP.

Season Recap

My division nemesis wins the World Series after sending us home. I dislike this. We had a great season though with our best win total of my tenure and had he most cost efficient team per wins, runs scored and WAR in the league. We became a top 10 team in attendance and our player's popularity is growing. Our owner wants us to upgrade at short stop - so I guess he doesn't like the Castro/Hayes swap - so we make take a look at that once again. Spoiler alert - we got a budget increase, so maybe we'll spend it. Who knows.

Hitters

Starting Lineup
CF Parker Meadows
Meadows ended up going to the bench instead of an everyday starter as his bat just wasn't there like it was last year. He's a quality fielder and baserunner and makes the minimum, so he'll be back - but he may not have a clear role on the team in the future.
DH Kyle Isbel
Isbel ended up much lower in the order during the season and his bat just wasn't good enough for a DH role. My scout thinks he should be better than he is, but I have two seasons of data that say he isn't. He's also listed as fragile, which I'm not sure if I just missed that before or if it's new, but I may try to move him this offseason.
2B Willi Castro
Willi just keeps getting better. He was a 2.5 WAR player as a rookie, gave me two seasons of 5 WAR and now nearly 8 this season - the move to 2B seems to have worked well for him and he was a plus defender. He led the league in runs, had his best season yet at the plate and was a 20/20 player. His arbitration estimate is $15,000,000 - which is a lot, but I don't see how I can let him walk while I have contract control. He's given me four full seasons without any injury issues, is a fan favorite and one of my best players. I'd love to sign him longer term if it's reasonable.
RF Yaya Chentouf
Yaya made his first all-star team, led the league in walks and was a dominant hitter for us this season. He's come a long way since he was a struggling reliever in my minors, now giving us nearly 6 WAR in RF. He's on a minimum deal and was incredible, he's obviously returning. His jump from 25 to 51 homeruns helped us accomplish our goal of improving on our homerun total that our owner set as well. Yaya has also become extremely popular at a national level - he's quickly become one of my favorites.
1B Ryan Mountcastle
Mountcastle continues to be a steady performer for me - he's not an all-star and he's not going to win any awards, but he's reliable and dependable. He bounced back from his 1.4 WAR season to give us nearly 3 this year, hit well and played good defense. His arbitration estimate is cheap, so he'll return.
LF Evan White
White was a bit disappointing again. He was the hottest player on the team two years ago and gave us 5 WAR, now he's struggling to hit 2. The bat has cooled off considerably, though, much like Isbel, my scout thinks he should be better than he has been. He doesn't appear to be having any bad BABIP luck either, so maybe he's just not as good as I had hoped, but still serviceable. He's still locked up long-term with Seattle footing 40% of the bill, so that's good. Defensively, I prefer him in left than center, but center field continues to elude me. It might be worth considering if I need both him and Mountcastle, or if I should move White to 1B or move him out.
3B Isaac Paredes
Well now, here is a pleasant surprise. Paredes wasn't someone who had a big BABIP jump, but his bat was much improved this year - going from below league average to one of the best in the league. He gave us 4.3 WAR despite missing a few weeks with injury as well, so a solid season all-around. His arbitration estimate isn't too bad, so I'll definitely be keeping him around. His personality concerns me, but if he keeps up the performance from this season he'll be hard to move on from.
SS Ke'Bryan Hayes
I had hopes that swapping Hayes and Castro would empower them both to have better seasons defensively and thus provide more value. While Hayes was a plus defender at short, it wasn't by much and I've seen four seasons of his bat not being that good. Yes, he was unlucky this season, but I'm not sure he's going to give me much even if he wasn't. If I can find a better defensive option, I may just do that.
C Christian Vazquez
My catcher position has never been one worth going crazy about. Vazquez continues to be a bad hitter for me, despite that one great season, but his defensive value is so hard to gauge. Our pitching staff was the league's best and it's tough to not credit Christian with a lot of that. I'm going to let him hit free agency and try to get him cheaper there.
Bench/Replacements
C Jake Rogers
Rogers was a better backup this year than last year, despite less appearances. I'll probably bring him back, but I might give more time to Drew Romo next year and see what he brings. Rogers looks like a solid backup with no real intentions of being a starter.
3B Jordan Diaz
Diaz was brought in to maybe replace Paredes if he struggled and I think he pushed Isaac to a career year. Diaz was decent enough as a bench player and he'll either be back with us or in AAA next year to see if he fills out some more.
RF Riley Greene
Greene pretty quickly became the everyday starter in left field, forcing my hand with his play as a fourth outfielder. Well, he was pretty dang good as a rookie, giving us 3.4 WAR in 118 starts. He was a great hitter and brought some extra pop to the lineup as well. My scout thinks his discipline will come along as well, and I hope it does because he'll be deadly if so.
OF Jairo Pomares
Pomares was tearing it up in AAA, came up at the end of the year and had a decent, albeit brief, appearance. He may be a full-time fourth outfielder next year.

Pitchers

Rotation
SP Casey Mize
Mize casually came out and improved upon his Cy Young campaign from last season, giving us a league leading 6.2 WAR and a 61 FIP-. He was pretty solid I'd say, obviously. All of that was despite a higher BABIP against him, so I like what Mize gave us. Will he repeat as Cy Young? I'm not sure, but he should be in contention.
SP Kumar Rocker
What can you expect from a rookie starting pitcher? Well, how about 4.2 WAR, a 130 ERA+ and a 73 FIP-? I will take that every single day of the week. Wow. Rocker was outstanding and my scout says this guy might get better - that is exciting. He struck out a lot of players, kept walks reasonable and overall was deserving of the #2 role in my rotation with Manning out.
SP Franklin Perez
"Fragile" Franklin finally gets his shot - and, well, he was... okay? He had four different injuries, big surprise, and was kind of rough as a starter. However, when I moved him to the bullpen, he was pretty good when healthy. I may try to capitalize on some team thinking he can be a full-time starter and move him out, but I've been saying that for awhile.
SP Justin Dunn
Dunn was worse in the rotation this year then he was last year, so he ended up being sent back to AAA to clear room for other arms. Similar to Perez, maybe I should try to move him - he has yet to perform in the majors.
SP Tarik Skubal
Tarik surprised me. He was decent enough the last two seasons, but was demoted to the pen last year. I didn't think he'd be in the rotation, but injuries said otherwise and his performance said it was a good call. He gave us 2.5 WAR as our fifth starter, which I'll definitely take. His arbitration estimate is 3M, which is probably doable.
Bullpen
SP Matt Manning
Matt missed four months with injury, which is alarming - but he came back strong and gave us 1.4 WAR in 19 starts. I suppose it was his worst stretch since his rookie year, but he was still an above average arm. The arbitration estimate is just over five million, so he'll likely be back.
RP Brett De Geus
My bullpen has yet to have a consistent leader. This year it was Brett de Geus, who gave us 2.1 WAR in 81 IP in his 63 appearances. He was downright dominant with a 58 FIP-, striking out 32% of the opposition. He'll be back on a minimum.
RP Gerson Moreno
Moreno was another new face who was surprisingly solid for us. He gave us almost 1 WAR over his league-leading 71 games and 24 holds. He was pretty solid and will be back on a minimum.
RP Zack Hess
Hess was as productive as Moreno in half as many appearances, so he was pretty great for us. He'll get more opportunities next year in the pen.
RP Kyle Dohy
Dohy was another 1 WAR reliever who was better than league average. He's also on a minimum and will be back - the high stuff, no control guys do well with Vazquez. He struck out nearly 40% of the opposition.
RP Jack Little
Little was decent enough before he got injured and missed the playoffs. He logged a lot of innings for us and gave us a solid 1 WAR. However, I think we have better arms and he won't be as relied upon next year.
RP Genesis Cabrera
Genesis was far better in the bullpen role this year than he was last year - giving us 1 WAR and a solid 149 ERA+ and 79 FIP-. He filled in for a recovering Alcantara at the end of the year too in the rotation. His estimate is less than a million, so he should return.
RP Drew Carlton
Here is the reason I was complaining about bullpen volatility - Carlton gave us 2 WAR last year and was so bad this year that I sent him down after 19 games and never looked back. I will not be picking up his arbitration.
RP Sandy Alcantara
Sandy was better than I expected despite his ratings falling a bit. He was mostly used in the pen, filled in as a starter later on, and was good at both. However, he wants eight million dollars to extend soooo good luck elsewhere!
RP Jonathan Bowlan
Jonathan got called up a couple of times, was serviceable when he was up, but will be back in AAA or gone next season.
RP Alex Lange
Keeping it short - Lange wasn't good when he was up and got sent down, where he'll stay.
RP David Parkinson
Even shorter - he was awful.

Prospect Watch

SP Justin Powell - Powell wasn't even listed last year because he struggled in rookie ball. I let him repeat, which I normally don't do, because he had just been drafted. Well, he had quite the development tour this year and is now ranked as not only my top prospect, but as the 2nd best prospect in baseball. The bad news is that he wasn't good in rookie ball again, but he'll go to A-.
SP Doug Wade - Wade was our top pick this year and was good enough in A- to go to A, where I hope he'll improve.
SS Trevor Haskins - Haskins was solid in A and will go to AA. I like his defensive profile and he's a solid baserunner. The bat tool needs some work still but I have high hopes.
C Dale Burton - Burton is, of course, still fragile, which isn't great. He was fine enough in A- to go to A though, but I don't know if he's a long-term option.
CF Petey Halpin - Petey will go to AAA next year. Maybe he's the future CF option, I don't know. Maybe he's just a fourth outfielder.
RF Ismael Mena - Mena was great in AA and will go to AAA. If he fills out the hitting tool, he doesn't have a weakness. He's a phenomenal runner and solid in the outfield. Hopefully he keeps progressing.
C Drew Romo - Romo's hitting never developed, not like it looked like it would way back in 2020. But, the defense is there and he might be the Vazquez replacement due to that alone. It's not like Vazquez has hit either.

Future Outlook

Arbitration is going to hit hard for some folks this year. Willi Castro and Casey Mize in particular. We're going to have to be more financially selective moving forward as we start to lose the cheap and controlled deals we've been accustomed to.

AA Transactions Recap

In the aftermath of the Super Bowl, the American Association has been busy, announcing their 2021 lineup and schedule, and continuing to fill rosters for the upcoming season, which will start on May 18.
Here's a look at what teams have been up to the last couple days:
Chicago Dogs
The Dogs re-signed RHP Justin Goossen-Brown, who will return for his third season with the Dogs. The 24-year-old righty is 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA in 22 games (four starts) over the 2019-20 seasons with Chicago, but he posted a 5.14 ERA in his eight appearances in 2020.
Next, they signed infielder Grant Kay. The 27-year-old previous reached as high as Triple-A with Tampa Bay, before signing with Sioux Falls in 2020, where he hit .262 with 3 homers and 18 RBI in 39 games.
Lastly, they re-signed 31-year-old reliever Paul Schwendel. Pitching professionally for the first time since 2015, Schwendel went 0-1 with a 5.81 ERA in 23 games, but struck out 33 batters in just 26.2 innings.
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
Fargo-Moorhead re-signed outfielder Alex Boxwell, a 24-year-old who suited up 34 times in 2020, batting .246 with 4 homers and 10 RBI. A Minnesota alum, Boxwell also has had cups of coffee with the St. Paul Saints and Gary SouthShore Railcats in 2018 and '19, before finishing the 2019 campaign in Fargo.
The RedHawks also inked right-hander Michael Hope, who they re-acquired in a trade with the Sussex County Miners of the Frontier League on January 25. The 24-year-old was a RedHawk in 2019, going 8-0 in 31 games out of the bullpen with a 3.46 ERA, striking out 46 over 59.2 innings, and even going 3-for-7 with a homer at the plate.
Lastly, the 'Hawks acquired another pitcher from Sussex County, trading for 29-year-old lefty Cam Hatch. Most recently, Hatch pitched in the pop-up league Yinzer Baseball Confederacy in 2020, going 0-2, but posting a 0.87 ERA with two saves over nine outings and 10.1 innings. Hatch has also pitched in the Pacific Association (2018-19) and the United Shore Professional Baseball League (2016).
Milwaukee Milkmen
The Milkmen re-signed three members of their championship squad, starting with set-up man AJ Schugel. The 31-year-old righty, who posted a 3.19 ERA in 73 MLB games from 2015-17, excelled for Milwaukee in 2020 after missing all of 2019, posting a 1.03 ERA in 28 games and allowing just ten hits in 26.1 innings, good for a microscopic .112 opponent's batting average.
Another righty reliever, 29-year-old Zach Hartman, re-upped as well. Hartman, Milwaukee's all-time pitching appearances leader with 60, returns for his third year with the Milkmen, having gone 4-4 with a 3.72 ERA over 87.0 innings. A former Dodgers and Angels prospect, Hartman was 1-1 with a 3.89 ERA in 18 games (four starts) in 2020, striking out 25 over 34.2 innings.
A man who caught both hurlers, catcher Christian Correa, returns for his second year in Milwaukee and fourth in the AA. Correa batted just .211 with four homers (one of them a walk-off) and 20 RBI, but was known for his defensive acumen behind the dish. The 27-year-old also has played in the AA for Kansas City (2017,19) and Sussex County (2018) in the now-defunct Can-Am League.
Winnipeg Goldeyes
Not content to watch two division rivals shore up their bullpen, the Goldeyes re-signed right-hander Nate Antone (who's not from San Antone). With the Goldeyes in 2020, the 29-year-old went 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in 22 games, striking out 29 and allowing just 17 hits over 25.1 innings. An Indy-ball lifer, Antone had previously pitched for Quebec and Sussex County (both 2019) in the Can-Am League, Gary (2017) and Joliet (2017-18) of the Frontier League.
Also, the Goldeyes shored up the left side with southpaw Ken Frosch, who pitched for St. Paul from 2017-19. Frosch has appeared in 133 AA games (plus seven more in the postseason), going 9-6 with a 2,76 ERA in 124.0 innings with the Saints, striking out 129 and being the key lefty reliever on the 2019 AA Champs and the 2018 runner-ups. Including his 2016 stint in the Frontier League (with Evansville), Frosch has a career 2.47 ERA over 180 games, all in Indy ball.
Looking Ahead
So far, several teams already have quite a few signings, while others have remained rather silent on that front, though perhaps they are merely waiting out uncertainty in the MLB/MiLB umbrella to see what kind of players fall out and wind up in the Indy ranks.
What also will be interesting to see is the development of Kane County's roster. With Opening Day now barely three months away, the Cougars are in, but they have no manager and no players, so there will be a lot of scrambling done in the coming weeks.
On the other side, the traveling Houston Apollos will be run as a by-product of the Pecos League, meaning that their players will be supplied from the Pecos League, with the roster likely being assembled much later than other teams.

A Toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies!

Heading out of 2019 and into 2020, the Rockies had no expectations. Heading out of 2020 and into 2021… we still have no expectations.
But this isn’t a post about hating the Colorado Rockies and what they’ve done poorly or not done! After all, the literal title of this post is “A toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies”. So instead of hating on Jeff Bridich like we always do as Rockies fans, let’s bring up some highs, some lows, and overall, let’s have a fun time reminiscing about a truly unique Rockies season, even outside covid.

MILE HIGHS

Comeback Player of the Year… after 7 years off
Prior to this season, the last MLB season Daniel Bard pitched in was in 2013, where he only pitched 1 inning, giving up two walks and an earned run. His 9.00 ERA in 2013 and the 6.22 ERA the year prior led to him being designated for assignment by the Red Sox, which was disappointing for Bard after posting great numbers for the 2009-2011 Sox teams. It appeared as if the yips had ended his career, retiring in 2017 after being stuck in minor league purgatory for several years. Yet, seven years later, with tape on his back, he pitches himself back into the big leagues with an excellent spring training showing. He not only is able to throw his first major league pitch since Barack Obama was in office, he’s still got his vintage stuff on a 99 mph pitch. Truly, a comeback story for the ages.
Nolan Is Still Nolan
Nolan Arenado had injured his shoulder within the first few games in Oakland. He’s clearly not himself offensively this year, with a triple slash of .253/.303/.434, and a wRC+ of 76. He hasn’t had one season under 100 wRC+ since his rookie year, so why do I still say “Nolan Is Still Nolan”? Despite that shoulder injury, he’s still the best defensive player in baseball. If you don’t like FanGraphs, here’s Baseball Savant ranking him among the top fielders in baseball, too. Here’s baseball-reference having Nolan lead in defensive WAR as well!. Not a stats guy? Here’s an amazing play by Nolan to pass the eye test. No matter how you slice it, Nolan was still Nolan defensively, and he did all of that through injury.
The Re-Emergence of K-Free and Senzei
Both Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela debuted in 2017. In 2018, they both improved to lead the Rockies oh-so-close to upsetting the Dodgers for the NL West title. Then 2019 came, and both pitchers suffered major setbacks. Kyle Freeland? Went from an unheard of 2.85 ERA despite playing in Coors to a 90’s era Rockies-esque 6.73 ERA. And, Senzatela? Not much better, falling from a respectable 4.38 to a horrendous 6.71 ERA. It looked like the Rockies had a starting pitching problem again, but in 2020 the two made improvements. Senzatela would start to mix his pitches better, and it got him a 3.44 ERA, best of his career, as he led the Rockies in rWAR and ranked second in fWAR. Freeland had a 4.33 ERA, which looks even better if you take out his last start in a meaningless game, bringing it down to 3.69. These guys proved that 2019 struggles were just a fluke and oddly made the rotation a Rockies strength. Hats off to these two underrated comebacks, alongside Daniel Bard.
A Fantastic Start to the Season
Of all of the stories, the high that Rockies fans remember best is their hot start to the season. Starting 11-3, the Rockies looked absolutely dominant in a shortened 60-game season. Not a single Rockies fan, or even any fan, was expecting this greatness. Sure, the offense wasn’t sustainable and the bullpen had signs of distress, but it didn’t matter. The Rockies were #1 in the NL, baby.

ROCKY LOWS

The Rockies Forget How to Win
The higher you climb, the farther you fall, they say. After the Rockies went 11-4 through the first 15 games of the season, they only needed to play .500 ball for the rest of the season to make the expanded playoffs. The Rockies would go 15-30 the next 45 games. In all honesty, let’s not talk about this anymore.
A Bullpen only Sunnier than in Philadelphia
The Phillies had a historically bad bullpen, with an ERA of 7.06. Right behind them, however, were the 6.77 ERA Colorado Rockies. Daniel Bard & Yency Almonte were pretty much the only good relievers in the Rockies bullpen. Carlos Estevez posted a 7.50 ERA after a 3.75 ERA the year prior. Jairo posted a 7.65 ERA mark himself after setting himself up to be a promising closer last season. Hoffman continued to be a bust, with a whopping 9.28 ERA. Pazos provided no support as a lefty with a 16.88 ERA. Then, of course, Bridich-overpayment Wade Davis had an amazing 20.77 ERA. Please come back healthy Scott Oberg. We miss you.
Please Fire Jeff Bridich
Last year, u/Underbubble made this exact point here too: Jeff Bridich needs to be fired. Since then, he’s somehow gotten worse. I’ve already mentioned how bad Wade Davis had been this season, but what did Bridich do to try and improve on his mediocre 2019 team, and supposedly make these 2020 Rockies the 94-win team Rockies owner Dick Monfort famously projected them to be?
Nothing - literally nothing. He signed minor leaguers, released some bad players, and that’s it. Oh, and he pissed off Nolan Arenado. While most fans want a World Series win or even a playoff appearance from their squad every year, every Rockies fan wants Jeff Bridich fired instead, as there’s no reaching those two goals with him as our GM. Rockies fans are to Jeff Bridich as Mets fans were to the Wilpons. Bridich is still our GM though, so it looks to be a rough offseason for us.

GOODBYES, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF AN OLD FRIEND

I want to start by giving a quick shoutout to DJ LeMahieu! After Jeff Bridich foolishly believed that Daniel Murphy was a better investment than DJ LeMahieu, he would go on to become an MVP candidate for the Yankees, in both 2019 and 2020. A triple slash of .364/.421/.590 is just absurd, even in a 60 game season. Beautiful. Let’s say move onto goodbyes though before this becomes a rant.
Matt Kemp: The only team to beat the Dodgers this whole season in a series? The Colorado Rockies. Who hit the home run to put the Rockies in the lead for one of those crucial games. Matt Kemp. You’re probably not a Rockie with the DH rule being removed once again, but you truly made your time here memorable. Thanks.
Chris Owings: Other than the fact we didn’t see you for like, half the season after you got injured… You did quite well for us here. You were an underrated part of our original 11-4 run. I don’t think you’re a Rockie next year either, but you were also memorable.
Wade Davis: Uh. Thanks for September 2018. That wasn’t bad!
Daniel Murphy: Thanks for bringing meme material to 2020.
Drew Butera: We know you’re going to be back again, who are we kidding.
Last year’s toast said good riddance to the 2019 Rockies. Well, 2020 was unique. It’s not gonna be easy to forget. Though still, one last toast to the 2020 Rockies, and good riddance, once again.

ColoradoRockies Top 5 Shitposts by Karma:

I feel silly
RoxsHub (NSFW?)
After doing nothing in the offseason
What a monster.
Wade Davis has me like

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2020 - Exceeding Expectations

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Franchise - OOTP21
If you're just tuning in, you can catch up here: 2020 (Opening Day)
The 2020 Detroit Tigers now feature the best minor league system in baseball and perhaps the ugliest Opening Day lineup in baseball as well. The league projects them to win only 19 of their 60 games. Going into the season I agreed with them, but, let's take a look at what we're working with and how things panned out.

2020 Tigers Recap

We knew it would be ugly, but it wasn't as bad as expected. The team exceeded expectations and managed 23 wins to their 37 losses. Certainly a down year, but the .383 winning percentage was an improvement over the 2019 final of .292%. The team's hitting was abysmal, finished 13th in runs scored, 15th in OBP/WAOPS/Home Runs. However, as a lone bright spot on offense, we were 1st in the league in baserunning at a +11.2. We'll take any win we can get.
The pitching staff was actually not bad! Finishing 7th in runs against, 6th in starter ERA and 10th in bullpen ERA. I was proud of the arms for holding it down a bit and helping us to the 23 wins without much offense behind them. We ranked 6th in FIP and 5th in pitching WAR. Defensively? We ranked 14th in efficiency and 8th in zone rating, so I'd like to see that improve along with the hitting.
Unsurprisingly, we didn't bring home any hardware in 2020.

Around the League

The Atlanta Braves were your 2020 MLB Champions! The playoffs were a bit wild, with the Angels making a surprise trip to the World Series, where they pushed Atlanta to seven games. The Braves also did the unthinkable in the NLCS, pulling off a reverse sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw notched his 2,500th strikeout, but not many notable milestones happened in 2020.
In the AL, Oakland had a phenomenal season for awards, with Matt Olson bringing home the league MVP and Jesus Luzardo securing both the Rookie of the Year award and a Cy Young! Taylor Rogers grabbed a Reliever of the Year for the Twins.
In the NL, Christian Yelich brought home a 2nd MVP trophy. Cardinals' youngster Jack Flaherty won the Cy Young in a stellar year, while Sixto Sanchez won Rookie of the Year for the Marlins and Edwin Diaz grabbed another Reliever of the Year award!
You can take a look at the Batting Leaders and Pitching Leaders as well. Grienke managed 9 wins in the short season, deGrom had 11 Quality Starts, Yolando Alvarez paced the league with 22 dingers and Daniel Murphy hit about .100 higher than in 2019 to lead the league with a .361. Mondesi was a menace on the basepaths and Vlad Guerrero Jr. was good as always.

Transactions

Trade #1
Tigers receive: RP Kyle Dohy, $1,200,000 cash Phillies receive: C Josh Phegley
I will now always look for waiver guys I can flip later (Phegley was a waiver guy). Dohy has a ton of stuff and not much else, hoping he magically works on it and becomes a great reliever.
Trade #2
Tigers receive: RP Bryan Hudson, CL Wyatt Short, CF D.J. Wilson, $125,000 cash Cubs receive: RF Cameron Maybin, RP Luke Sommerfeld
I'm not sad about 33 YO Maybin leaving - I should've dealt him earlier when he had some more value. Hudson and Short give me more bullpen arms in the system, Wilson probably never pans out.
Trade #3
Tigers receive: CF Gage Canning, $25,000 cash Nationals receive: C Austin Romine
Austin wasn't playing much for me at the deadline and he hit well for the Nats in 9 games. Clearing Romine's money let me sign one more draftee that I didn't have the money for previously.
Trade #4
Tigers receive: CF Rusney Castillo Red Sox receive: 1B Miguel Cabrera (DET retains 60%), 1B Frank Schwindel, C Jon Rosoff
The fans weren't pleased about this one. Miggy was slashing .214/.291/.300. He was making 30M and set to do so for about 5 more years. Castillo was a contract I could get out from under, so I made this move to clear the future books. He hit even worse for Boston the rest of the way. It turns out though, that it wouldn't matter for me or Boston. Miggy retired at the end of the year and I released Castillo - we both clear cap.

Batters - 2020

Starting Lineup
C - Francisco Pena Pena did about what I expected, if not moreso. He's been a AAAA guy for a long time, so I'm surprised that he hit as well as he did in a "full" season. I assume that his defensive acumen is part of the reason for my staff's relative success compared to their talent. Pena played himself into a 2 year extension for $3,000,000 total. 1B - Will Craig Craig was 25 coming into the season with some potential to grow into a slightly above average hitter, having been pretty good in AAA in 2019. Given that I had Cabrera at 1B, I decided to see what Craig had. It was a bit disappointing and my scout thinks he took a step back, but he's on a minimum and I don't believe I'm going to suddenly be good, so he'll get more reps next year. 2B - Hernan Perez Hernan was a super utility guy for the Tigers that I threw into a starting role due to moving Schoop - unsurprisingly, he didn't play well and was awful at the plate. I released him after the season and he went to play in Australia. 3B - Dawel Lugo I had no expectations of Lugo performing that well, but he ended up being a league average hitter with 1 WAR. He'll be back on the team next year, though he may just be keeping the spot warm for future talents. SS - Jordy Mercer Mercer was thrust into the starting job due to lack of bodies and, well, it went about like you'd expect. He was horrible at the plate and was let go after the season. He remains unsigned on January 1st. LF - Myles Straw Straw started the season in LF and played 34 games there, but also spent time at 2B, SS, CF and RF. Basically, he became what Perez had been, but he's a better fielder. His bat was pretty bad, I expected him to hit closer to .300 and he managed .254. He'll be on the team next year for another shot, as he's only 26. CF - Derek Hill It was a lot to expect Hill to make the jump from AA, but at 24 I thought I'd give it a go. He was the team's 22nd ranked prospect and I believe that'll go down after this showing - hit hitting was poor, which seems to be a theme for the team. He will return however, we'll see if he gets more starting duties. RF - Victor Reyes Reyes was almost league average at the plate! That's a win for your 2020 Detroit Tigers. He gave us almost one WAR and hit over .300. He's pretty solid in RF, so I'm excited to see if he can up his discipline at the plate and become a better hitter to go with it. DH - Miguel Cabrera I mean, Miggy was horrible, but we all knew that was coming. The Tigers were proud to retire his #24 after the season though to honor his tenure with the team and I imagine he'll have a decent shot at a Hall of Fame plaque in a few years!
Bench C - Austin Romine Romine was bad, but I never wanted him to hang around much anyway. The bat was unplayable and the defense wasn't needed with Pena being a better defender. He played well in a short duration for Washington after being dealt though. He's unsigned as of January 1st. LF - Christin "Twilight" Stewart Twilight, a nickname he earned by being named Christin Stewart, played 44 games for us including 33 starts. A dozen of his appearances were in left field, but he primarily was the team's DH after the departure of Cabrera. He hit almost league average, which is a plus on this roster, and will be back with us next season. I'm hoping his combination of power and discipline will lead to better things at the plate. He's also a captain on the team and was critical to keeping our morale stable in a bad year. LF - Travis Demeritte Travis also spent most of his time in LF, playing 25 games for us and hitting slightly below average. As is spoiled by his player card, he won't be with the team next season.
Replacements/Call-Ups C - Jake Rogers Rogers was kind of a pleasant surprise. He got a limited run after Romine was dealt, coming up for a cup of coffee at the end of the season. He has a similar situation in 2019, in which he was horrible, but it went much better in 2020! He only had 30 plate appearances, but carried a .556 slugging percentage and a 116 OPS+. He'll likely be on the major league roster next year.

Pitchers - 2020

Rotation SP - Casey Mize Mize was right around league average, which I will certainly take for a 23 year old that got thrust into an Opening Day role and the unit's ace. He finished the season with 3 of his strongest performances in a row and stayed durable the whole season - I'm hoping that those trends continue into 2021. SP - Spencer Turnbull Turnbull led the league in losses and also in fewest homeruns given up. His ERA+ and FIP tell the story - he went 0-7 on a horrible team and is living proof that wins and losses aren't good evaluators. He was an above average pitcher and will likely be relied on heavily in the rotation again next season. SP - Daniel Norris Norris was also right around league average, perhaps a bit of BABIP luck on his side this year, but he's got a balanced profile and was healthy all season. He has four pitches that are above average and no glaring weakness, he'll be back in the rotation again as well. SP - Matt Manning Despite carrying a high .340 BABIP, Manning was pretty good for us, slightly above average on the mound. He's the 2nd best prospect in our system (behind Mize) and I'm counting on these two anchoring the rotation for awhile - Manning got a younger start and has more room to grow, he might end up being the better of the two, who knows. He'll definitely be back. SP - Ivan Nova Nova certainly could've been worse. He was right below average, which was manageable since he was a bottom of the rotation starter. As is spoiled by his card, he won't be back next season, but I did extend him for 2 seasons at 1M per year, so he's a cheap arm.
Bullpen LR - Jordan Zimmermann Jordan was bad and surprisingly no one wanted his 25M contract. He tore his UCL and spent most of the season on the IR before being let go after the year. He'll be out until June and hasn't been signed, I imagine his career is probably done. MR - Rony Garcia Rony was a Rule 5 guy that the Tigers grabbed from the Yankees (before I took over) and while I was worried about his capabilities, he pitched pretty damn well. In 14 games (22 IP) he had a 2.42 ERA, 201 ERA+ and struck out nearly 9 per 9. Now, it does seem like he probably was pretty lucky all things considered, with a 4.43 FIP, but, sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. MR - Luiz Gohara Gohara was brought in as a possible rotation arm, but ended up pitching well in the pen. He put up a 2.25 ERA in 12 IP, helped out by a probably unsustainable .214 BABIP. Short seasons are weird for evaluating bullpen guys, but Gohara has 3 great pitches, 2 of them being really nasty. He has a history of not keeping the ball in the park, but did well this year in limited opportunities. If he can keep it in, he'll be good. He'll have another go at it next year. His personality scares me though.
MR - Bryan Garcia Bryan was one of my Bryan pair that dominated. Sure, it's limited appearances at only 11 IP, but he never allowed an earned run across those innings, so I'll take it. He also refused to walk anyone which I'm a big fan of. I'm excited to see what he can do across a full season. MR - Buck Farmer Let's talk about the unluckiest hurler in the game, Buck Farmer. A quick glance at his 7.00 ERA and 69 (nice) ERA+ across 27 IP and you're running away from him, but... he had a 3.02 FIP and 62 FIP- with a .362 BABIP. I think he was a bit unlucky and he'll have another shot next season more than likely. MR - Drew Carlton On the other hand from Farmer, Carlton looks like he was a bit lucky. Carlton is supposed to possess great control and he walked 16% of the batters he faced, so that's alarming. We'll see if he makes the cut next year, but he's on a minimum deal and has minor league options if needed. MR - Blake Taylor Feels like I had so many similar arms in the bullpen and a lot of these guys are interchangeable. Taylor was okay - I'm concerned about him if the BABIP stabilizes, but he'll have a shot at it next year again. MR - David McKay McKay was below average in 24 IP, but had a .446 BABIP. That feels unlucky. He has an absolutely nasty slider and I'm hoping he can bounce back, but if not he has minor league options. SU - Bryan Abreu The other dominating Bryan. He refused to allow an earned run also and also decided to strike out nearly 40% of the opposition. The good news is that his BABIP wasn't super lucky, so I'm hoping he can keep it up next year. He has two elite pitches, another on it's way and a fourth that is above average. He has some stamina, but I think his control would concern me in long doses, but we'll see. He'll be on the staff in some way, shape or form. SU - Hunter Harvey Harvey logged a lot of innings for me given the short season, 36 of them, and in them he was pretty dang good. He's got a nasty curveball and fastball has some life, so I'm hoping he can continue to be a reliable setup man next year. CL - Joe Jimenez Ignore Joe's 4.00 ERA and pay attention instead to his 122 ERA+, 2.65 FIP and 54 FIP-. Joe was good for me, striking out 30% of the batter's he faced with his slidefastball combo. If he brings the changeup up a bit too that's even better. Holding onto a closer during a rebuild may be silly, but Joe was young enough that I wanted to ride it out instead of shipping him out and I hope it'll be worth it. I hope he can be better than 80% on saves though.

Updates from the Farm

I was so pumped about my minor league system. Lots of prospects, I manually set every organization's rosters, lineups and staffs, handling demotions and promotions myself for the first time ever. I was so excited about it that I totally forgot that there was no A/AA/AAA for 2020... what a letdown. So, the stats won't tell me much of a story this year, but I'll still share what my prospects look like and what I expect going forward, as well as where they'll be suiting up to start 2021.
Top 200:
1 (7) - SP Casey Mize For Mize, see above. Given the short season he's still considered a prospect, but this guy is in the rotation and figures to be for awhile. He's rated as the 7th best prospect in baseball by BNN and is my top prospect.
2 (11) - SP Matt Manning Same for Manning, who is discussed above as well - he's moved up a couple of spots after last season.
3 (27) - SP Tarik Skubal Tarik is another top 30 prospect league-wide, another arm in the farm. He has a plus fastball and changeup combo, with a curve and slider that look to be above league average. He projects with above average stuff, league average control and slightly lower than average movement. I have my concerns about Tarik, namely the extreme flyball profile and his poor personality profile, but he's a leader and could be a live arm. I was really hoping to see how he did in AAA last year, so we'll settle for this season and see if he's almost ready. He was great in AA in 2019.
4 (54) - OF Riley Greene Green looks like he may swing an above average bat for me and has the potential to draw a lot of walks. I like that he doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, looks like a good baserunner and is reliable in the field. I wish his arm was a bit stronger and of course he needs to fill out the potential, but he'll be in high A ball in 2021 to see if he can keep progressing nicely.
6 (65) - IF Ke'Bryan Hayes Hayes is a good third baseman that I had plans of teaching 2B this season when I thought there would be games. I think he'll give me some infield versatility, playing solid defense, and I like his personality. He's already got the discipline and doesn't strike out a ton, with some room to improve there. If the contact comes along he'll have a nice profile. I wish we hadn't lost the year because I wanted to teach him a couple of positions, but he might be ready after one more season.
7 (72) - 1B Ryan Mountcastle Mountcastle feels like a prospect that is already ready, but I was hoping to see it myself in AAA this year. The defense is there (sure, only at 1B) and the hitting tool is pretty much big league ready, but I'd love the discipline to fill out more. I think he's probably a better option than Will Craig at 1B already, but I still want to see if his 2019 AAA performance holds. He could be a call-up next season.
8 (78) - C Drew Romo My new scout isn't as high on Romo as the one I had when I drafted him, but I'm still hopeful. Since he was in a low enough league, we can actually see that he was a good player in the Gulf Coast League last year, hit well in his 49 games. He's definitely going to be going up to Low A to see if he keeps moving nicely and hopefully that helps the hit tool come along. The defense is already solid and I love the high work ethic and leadership - I'm hopeful he's a long-term backstop for me.
9 (87) - 3B Isaac Paredes Paredes is why I'm teaching Hayes 2B - I think Paredes profiles better at 3B, though isn't going to win any gold gloves there. He was great in 2019 so I want to see it a bit in AAA, but he's coming along nicely despite no playing time. He looks to truly have no weakness, though no elite talent either. If he fills out the hitting, he'll be a nice everyday player for me soon.
10 (96) - RP Bryan Abreu See above for Abreu's 2020 in the MLB. Abreu was great in relief and I imagine he doesn't quite have the stamina for more, but BNN likes him as a top 100 arm.
11 (124) - 1B/OF Evan White I really wanted White to learn a corner OF position, he's got the ratings for it (60/60/60) and I have Mountcastle at 1B in the pipeline too. The new scout likes White even more than my old one did, and he had a couple of nice positive progressions throughout the season despite no playing time. The concern with White is the hitting, but it sure looks like it's come along nicely already and he looks about as big league ready as he's going to - I just wanna see him do it in AAA for a bit this season.
12 (129) - RF Yusniel Diaz Diaz looks like he can be a league average hitter and a good right fielder. Frankly I'm hoping his high work ethic pushes one of his hitting tools a bit higher to make him more worthwhile, but he was hitting well in AA in 2019 and I hope he'll do the same in AAA.
13 (143) - SP Franklin Perez Perez has some work to do and his fragile durability concerns me a lot. It's probably as good of a time as ever to try to sell on him if anyone will take him, but I'm not sure if they will. BNN still likes him as a top 150 guy though and he looks to have a fairly balanced profile. If he survives on the team until the season he'll open it AA.
14 (146) - OF Daz Cameron Daz is the guy I'm hoping replaces Hill in CF soon. He needs to show me the bat in AAA, but the speed is good and the defense is good. He's god a solid profile (and I need a prankster on my MLB team) and has the makings of a solid walks guy with decent average and pop.
15 (168) - SP Kyle Harrison The big lefty spent time in the GCL after being drafted in the 3rd round (69th overall, nice) and was pretty solid in his time there. 10 starts, 3.04 ERA with an ERA+ of 152. The strikeouts weren't that great, but he didn't give up a bunch of homers or walks - he'll be in Low A next season.
16 (190) - Dean Kremer Another arm I would've loved to see in AAA this season, he struggled there in 2019 but I think he's ready now. Four solid pitches, balanced profile, but I need to see him perform in AAA this year before deciding if he's ready to come up, I think he's a year away.
Notes on some outside the Top 200:
LF Sammy Siani did well enough in R+ that he'll go to Low A next season. SP Justin Dunn will get time in AAA to see if he's ready. SP Ryan Hagenow wasn't overly stellar in the GCL, I might try him in Rookie + for the year rather than a full bump to A-. SP Charez Butcher was solid in the GCL, will see A- action in 2021. SP Storm Hierholzer was decent in the GCL, he'll go to R+ for the Clio Kings. CF Derek Hill is now 28th in my system and outside the Top 500. OF Petey Halpin struggled a bit in the GCL, may give him another year there or try R+. SP Calvin Schapira was good in A-, will go to A/A+. 2B Addison Barger raked in R+, will go to A- or A. C Yeison Ceballo was a bit below average in Rookie ball, will try R+. SS Hunter Haas will move to R+ from the GCL after an average season. SP Alex Greene was solid in the GCL, will go to A-. SP Davis Heller is probably ready for A- after a decent R+ season. SP Hunter Cranton dominated R+, will go to A/A+ (was 20th round pick). 1B Alex Burleson was solid in limited time in the GCL, will go to A-. IF/RP Masyn Winn tore his rotator cuff and missed most of 2020, will repeat GCL. RP Luke Little struggled in R+, will repeat. RP Blake Weiman retired from baseball to go play golf.
I'm looking forward to getting all of my prospects on the field in 2021 and seeing if we can improve upon our major league performances. I know it'll be another rough year, but we have lots to look forward to!

Even though everyone's already forgotten about Baseball-Reference's simulated season, I put together a prospective ballot for each award based on how players did in the sim.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about click here. Here’s some more links to how AL pitchers did, how NL pitchers did, how AL batters did, and how NL batters did. Also if a stat is italicized that means the player led their respective league in that category. Anyway onto the important stuff.

American League MVP

1. Francisco Lindor, CLE

.309/.361/.546, 205 H, 56 2B, 33 HR, 131 RBI, 362 TB, 9.2 WAR Lindor proved he was the complete package this year. At the plate, he led the AL in hits, hits for extra bases, and total bases. Of course, clobbering 56 doubles and 33 homers will do that. He had the most WAR of anyone in the American League (including the fish man), and his glove sure helped that number. Oh did I mention his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series? Because his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Mike Trout, LAA

.275/.436/.556, 151 H, 43 HR, 145 BB, 94 RBI, 129 R, 9.0 WAR Wow didn’t expect to see him here. Led the AL in OBP and OPS. Shocker. Would've led WAR too if it wasn't for that Indian man. Also led league in Runs Scored and Walks because why not when you're a god. Mike Trout is still very good at baseball, and the Angels still didn't make the playoffs.

3. Yordan Alvarez, HOU

.304/.380/.551, 195 H, 39 HR, 135 RBI, 354 TB, 162 GS, 5.2 WAR The 23-year-old really stepped up this year, batting in the most runs in the league. He also scored 118 runs, the second most on a team that won 94 games. Alvarez also came in super clutch for Houston with 4.5 Win Probability Added, third most in the league. Second most was Mike Trout with 5.0, and in first we have…

4. Matt Chapman, OAK

.248/.337/.512, 151 H, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 94 R, 7.1 WAR, 5.2 WPA A low batting average didn’t matter to the reigning Gold Glove winner, whose team won the division by 5 games. I feel pretty safe in saying if Chapman had been gone the Athletics wouldn’t have won 99 games, and when a player does something like that, you put him on your MVP ballot.

5. Shohei Ohtani, LAA

As Batter: .301/.372/.520, 121 H, 21 HR, 43 XBH, 209 TB, 79 RBI, 72 R, 3.5 WAR As Pitcher: 10-14, 3.68 ERA, 20 QS, 203.0 IP, 73 BB, 246 K, 1.084 WHIP, 3.2 WAR Second best OPS on a team with Mike Trout on it is nothing to sneeze at. Accomplishing that while also being arguably the best pitcher on the squad and you have Shohei Ohtani. While, again, the Angels didn’t make the postseason, that 86-76 record would look a lot worse if it weren’t for Ohtani-san.

6. Byron Buxton, MIN

.274/.322/.446, 189 H, 24 HR, 308 TB, 97 RBI, 113 R, 55 SB, 754 PA, 691 AB, 6.3 WAR A shoo-in for Gold Glove in CF following Kevin Kiermaier’s midseason trade to the Cubs, Buxton helped his team win 97 games, finishing only one game behind the AL Central-winning Indians. Buxton also held his own at the plate, where he settled in more than any other American League batter, and made the most of it. Second most bags swiped in the league too.

7. Jose Ramirez, CLE

.289/.363/.540, 186 H, 38 HR, 83 XBH, 348 TB, 108 RBI, 125 R, 28 SB, 6.6 WAR Batting in front of the Francisco Lindor does have its perks, but when that bat is Jose Ramirez, it helps even more. Ramirez was also the leader in runs scored on the come-back-from-a-3-and-0-deficit-to-win-the-World-Series team, and finished with the second most extra base hits in the AL (behind Lindor).

8. Yoan Moncada, CHW

.308/.370/.531, 197 H, 36 HR, 88 RBI, 108 R, 340 TB, 6.6 WAR, 4.1 WPA Moncada’s inclusion this high up is more out of sympathy than anything else. His team came in with such high promise, so many predicted they’d compete for the division, before finishing the year below .500 at 78-84. He still contributed, garnering the 3rd most hits and the 7th most total bases in the AL, but ultimately fell victim to a team that started Edwin “.180/.261/.359 and -1.6 WAR” Encarnacion at DH for 138 games. A bullpen whose second best arm had negative WAR probably didn’t help either.

9. Gleyber Torres, NYY

.291/.371/.559, 178 H, 46 HR, 81 XBH, 132 RBI, 121 R, 342 TB, 6.3 WAR, 4.4 WPA Best player on the team with the most wins in the AL. Second most homers in the league behind Joey Gallo’s 47. Only thing holding him back is the excellence of everyone above him. And the fact that while he was the best player on the only AL 100-win team, he was far from the only great player on that team.

10. Shed Long, SEA

.287/.352/540, 182 H, 39 HR, 79 XBH, 343 TB, 133 RBI, 103 R, 5.1 WAR Wanted to acknowledge the surprise team of the year, the Seattle Mariners, who led their division for a good portion of the season before regressing to finish at 84-78. A big part of their success was Long, who led the team in hits (by 24), RBIs (by 46), homers (by 11), and qualified OPS (by .113). In other words, the tenth spot on this ballot went to the entire Mariners offense, and his name is Shed Long.
Honorable Mentions: George Springer HOU (.303/.386/.564, 44 HR, 6.6 WAR) Rafael Devers BOS (.303/.351/.457, 38 HR, 2nd most TB, 6.1 WAR) Andrelton Simmons LAA (.283/.318/.407, 6.6 WAR) Gerrit Cole NYY (18-4, led league in ERA and Ks, 6.0 WAR) Trey Mancini BAL (~30 games lost to injury, .302/.368/.587, 40 HR, 4.1 WAR)

American League Cy Young

1. Gerrit Cole, NYY

32 GS, 18-5, 214.1 IP, 3.02 ERA, 283 K, 23 QS, 1.106 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 6.0 WAR Best pitcher on the best team, but that’s not why I’m voting for him. He’s in the #1 spot because he led the league in the two more important categories of the Pitching Triple Crown, only walked 48, and accrued the most WAR of any AL pitcher.

2. Shane Bieber, CLE

33 GS, 20-8, 214.2 IP, 3.65 ERA, 218 K, 22 BB, 20 QS, 1.030 WHIP, 9.1 K/9. 0.9 BB/9, 4.8 WAR Lowest WHIP and fewest walks surrendered of any qualified AL starter, most wins in the league, and need I remind you that he’s on the team that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series to beat the St. Louis Cardinals? While he was tenth in strikeouts, his miniscule number of walks meant his K/BB was also the best in the American League.

3. Lucas Giolito, CHW

34 GS, 13-9, 187.2 IP, 3.40 ERA, 277 K, 14 QS, 1.040 WHIP, 13.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 4.6 WAR While he may not have gone as long into the games he started as the people above him, G-Elite-o made his pitches count. Only six strikeouts behind the leader Cole despite over 25 fewer innings pitched, the highest K/9 in the AL, and probably would’ve had a lot more wins if his bullpen wasn’t a dumpster fire.

4. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Second lowest ERA, most Quality Starts, and being the best pitcher on a 99-win team while a rookie. Stands right below Gerrit Cole on several lists (ERA and WAR are the primary two that land him here) but his contributions to his team were far from second best.

5. Aroldis Chapman, NYY

48 GF, 1-2, 35 SV, 55.2 IP, 2.10 ERA, 86 K, 0 BS, 1.006 WHIP, 13.9 K/9, 2.0 WAR, 3.7 WPA Yankees games very often came down to Chapman performing (as you can see with the league-high save total), and each time they called on him, he delivered. His 3.7 Wins Probability Added is the highest of any AL pitcher, starting or otherwise. Gerrit Cole, in second, has 3.0. Chapman was integral to the Yankees pitching this year.
Honorable Mentions: Zack Greinke HOU (33 GS, 18-7, 229.0 IP, 4.52 ERA, 6 CG, 2 SHO, 216 K, 27 BB, 3.6 WAR) Brendan McKay TBR (32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 4.3 WAR) Sean Manaea OAK (33 GS, 16-7, 219.1 IP, 3.32 ERA, 192 K, 4.1 WAR)

American League Rookie Of The Year

1. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Basically for all of the reasons listed for his Cy Young candidacy, plus the fact that he’s a rookie. Dude killed it.

2. Austin Hays, BAL

.286/.326/.510, 179 H, 35 HR, 70 XBH, 319 TB, 87 RBI, 91 R, 3.4 WAR The consensus best rookie bat of the 2020 American League came to us from the Baltimore Orioles. Hays led all AL qualified rookies in every single stat listed above, sharing only his homer total and WAR total with Luis Robert. The future of the Orioles is looking bright.

3. Brendan McKay, TBR

32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 15 QS, 1.210 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 4.3 WAR Any other year, Brendan McKay would be an easy pick for best rookie pitcher. He had the bad luck of debuting the same year as Jesus Luzardo, but that didn’t stop him from excelling. He led his team’s rotation in Wins, Quality Starts, and BB/9.
Honorable Mentions: Nate Pearson TOR (34 GS, 8-8, 170.2 IP, 3.85 ERA, 204 K, 7 QS, 1.178 WHIP, 3.2 WAR) Luis Robert CHW (.248/.297/.496, 135 H, 35 HR, 270 TB, 75 RBI, 84 R, 3.4 WAR)

American League Manager of the Year

1. Terry Francona, CLE

98-64, Won AL Central, won World Series Tito just broke a 70+-year World Series drought with his second team. Also, not sure if you’ve heard, but they came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Bob Melvin, OAK

99-63, Won AL West, lost ALDS in 4 to eventual WS Champs I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here so I just voted for Melvin because Oakland seems like a good team that Melvin helps along.

3. Scott Servais, SEA

84-78, 4th in AL West A great deal of expectations were upended near the beginning of the season as they led the AL West as late as June and were in a Wild Card spot for a great deal of the time they weren’t leading. Servais was a big part of making that product happen, so that’s why he’s here.
Honorable Mentions: Rocco Baldelli MIN (97-65) Aaron Boone NYY (100-62)

National League MVP

1. Juan Soto, WAS

.317/.441/.626, 187 H, 44 HR, 90 XBH, 369 TB, 141 RBI, 128 R, 130 BB, 9.0 WAR Juan. Soto. And I thought Mike Trout’s age-21 season was incredible. Soto truly showed all he had this year, leading so many offensive categories, captaining a playoff team, and garnering the most RBIs by a batter in a single season since 2009. Now some might say “But Bellinger was more valuable! His WPA dwarfs Soto and he had a much better season!” To that, I say, look at what they had to work with. Bellinger had 9 other players on his team top 3.5 WAR. Soto had 5. Bellinger’s team won 121 games, and without his 9 Wins Above Replacement, they would have won a measly 112, still by far the best in the league. If Soto’s 98-win team gets his 9 wins taken away, their 89 wins don’t capture the division, and depending on how many of those wins go to Milwaukee, they might not even be in the playoffs. So, in that sense, I feel comfortable picking Childish Bambino as my NL MVP.

2. Cody Bellinger, LAD

.297/.431/.593, 170 H, 45 HR, 77 XBH, 339 TB, 104 RBI, 137 R, 134 BB, 9.2 WAR, 8.8 WPA Boy oh boy did Bellinger have a year. Although it ended far short of where many believed it should have in NLCS Game 5, that doesn’t discount the amazing things Belli showed he was capable of. He led the NL in both home runs and walks, the first to do so since Barry Bonds in 2001. His 9.2 WAR was the most in the league. His 137 runs were the most in the league. His team won 121 games. What else can I say?

3. Ozzie Albies, ATL

.325/.367/.542, 222 H, 27 HR, 84 XBH, 370 TB, 95 RBI, 128 R, 29 SB, 7.0 WAR, 7.3 WPA Albies was the best player on a very good Braves team. Led the league in hits and total bases, which, I mean, that’s pretty good. Also spent a fair amount of time this season atop the batting average leaderboard. 7 fewer wins and Atlanta likely isn’t in the playoffs, so, yeah. Dunno if I can say much more. Braves fans better enjoy that contract.

4. Christian Yelich, MIL

.312/.423/.582, 174 H, 39 HR, 71 XBH, 324 TB, 114 RBI, 122 R, 29 SB, 7.9 WAR Another player whose team wouldn’t have made it if his Wins were taken away. Yelich’s Brewers barely scraped into the playoffs, and he dragged them kicking and screaming to that postseason spot. One of only three NL players to pass an OPS of 1.000 (others were Soto and Bellinger), and the third most WAR of any NL player, it’s no surprise he’s on here in such a high spot.

5. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Three people are all valid answers to who the best pitcher was in the NL this year. Those men are Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw. In my opinion, which will most definitely not be shared by everyone, Kershaw deserves to be remembered as the best. He suffered no losses, allowed the fewest walks and home runs of the three previously mentioned, and, last but not least, he threw a no-hitter. That will surely not convince many of you. It convinced me. And he’s that’s why he’s at number 5.

6. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR See what I meant? Scherzer was dominant. He struck out 35 more batters than any other pitcher did this year. Only eight of his starts weren’t Quality Starts. He pitched more innings than any other NL pitcher not named Johnny Cueto. His ERA and win total are 3rd and 6th among National League starters, respectively. He also pitched his team into the postseason, so it seems like he did all right.

7. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA I really didn’t have any option but to group these three together. They were all just that good. And Buehler was no exception. League’s lowest ERA, lowest WHIP, and second most strikeouts. Lowest H/9 (6.0) of any NL starter as well. The only thing that Buehler did wrong was pitch so well in the same year as two other amazing performances. He even performed in the playoffs, allowing but two runs in striking out 19 in 15.1 innings of NLCS work only to see it all wither away as LA lost both games. You’ll get em next year.

8. Nolan Arenado, COL

.296/.364/.572, 182 H, 44 HR, 80 XBH, 351 TB, 110 RBI, 122 R, 7.8 WAR The high-flying third baseman may not have reached the postseason, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. With the most home runs and runs scored for the most potent offense in the NL West not based in Los Angeles, Arenado only struck out 103 times this year. That was the second lowest on the team, and lower than 93 other qualified batters. I guess he was also a pretty good defender so there’s that too.

9. Kris Bryant, CHC

.285/.413/.533, 159 H, 35 HR, 297 TB, 86 RBI, 107 R, 100 BB, 22 HBP, 7.0 WAR The Cubs lost 97 games this year, the most in the National League. They did that due to the trainwreck that was half their rotation and a bullpen that was equivalent to soggy bologna. If they were tanking, it appears they forgot to tell Kris Bryant, because he went off. Fourth highest on-base percentage among qualified batters. 5th highest OPS. 5th most walks. Top ten in many other categories. If you were curious who was above him on those leaderboards, many of them are elsewhere on this ballot. Pity the Cubs’ pitching exploded or he’d be in for a much better conclusion to a fantastic year.

10. Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP

.280/.354/.521, 173 H, 35 HR, 322 TB, 84 RBI, 98 R, 5.2 WAR If anybody doubted that Tatis Jr. was destined for greatness, this year silenced all doubters. At 21, Junior helped a surprise San Diego squad to a much-higher-than-predicted 77-85 record, and led the team in hits, home runs, slugging, and total bases while he was at it. He also had the most WAR on the team but that was kind of a given. He can only go up from here.
Honorable Mentions: Jacob deGrom NYM (13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 5.1 WAR) Kolten Wong STL (.283/.363/.390, 181 H, 42 XBH, 249 TB, 59 RBI, 102 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Miguel Rojas MIA (.300/.359/.421, 187 H, 49 XBH, 68 RBI, 82 R, 20 SB, 6.5 WAR) Ronald Acuña Jr. ATL (.302/.392/.536, 184 H, 35 HR, 71 XBH, 327 TB, 114 RBI, 117 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Gavin Lux LAD (.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR) Stephen Strasburg WAS (19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 6.7 WAR)

National League Cy Young

1. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Said all I need to say back over at #5 on the MVP listing, so go peep that if you haven’t already to know why he’s here.

2. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR Same as Kersh. This was really tough I promise you, and tomorrow I might feel differently, but this is my ballot today.

3. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA Ditto on the last two. Buehler also led the league in WPA for starters, which I didn’t mention up there, but do here because this is specifically a pitching award.

4. Jacob deGrom, NYM

34 GS, 13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.1 WAR While deGrom may have lost out on the three-peat, he didn’t lose for lack of trying. In only his second losing season, the deGrominator led the league with 26 of his 34 games started being Quality Starts. He also happened to be given an average of, and I calculated this myself, 1.97 runs of support. Because of course he was. He did throw a no-hitter of his own against the team that would eventually win his division, though. So that’s pretty good.

5. Stephen Strasburg, WAS

33 GS, 19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 10.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 6.7 WAR The Nationals and Dodgers had, without a doubt, the best 1-2 starting duos in the league this year. Scherzer and strasburg were 1st and 4th on pitcher WAR league-wide, and Kershaw and Buehler were 2nd and 3rd. Strasburg showed last year was no fluke, striking out the 6th most batters of any NL pitcher and having the 4th best K/BB of any starter. His 22 quality starts were also tied for fifth most in the National LEague, and his 19 wins were the second most behind only Dodger Alex Wood. Strasburg’s numbers speak for themselves.
Honorable Mentions: Jack Flaherty STL (33 GS, 10-9, 198.1 IP, 3.40 ERA, 245 K, 1.008 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.9 WAR) Robbie Ray ARI (34 GS, 18-7, 203.0 IP, 3.01 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, 5.5 WAR) Josh Hader MIL (42 GF, 4-3, 52.0 IP, 1.38 ERA, 25 SV, 105 K, 0.932 WHIP, 18.2 K/9, 2.8 WAR) Freddy Peralta MIL (9-6, 3.01 ERA, okay overall, but threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts)

National League Rookie of the Year

1. Gavin Lux, LAD

.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR Early on in the Rookie of the Year race, Lux proved the award was his to lose. And following a rookie season that could see him pop up on more than a few MVP ballots, it looks like he hasn’t. He leads NL rookies in all rate stats, has the most dingers, hits for extra bases, and total bases among that crowd. His team won 121 games. There you go.

2. Carter Kieboom, WAS

.283/.356/.451, 170 H, 21 HR, 58 XBH, 271 TB, 87 RBI, 101 R, 4.5 WAR The consensus second best NL rookie is nothing to be ashamed of when the first place player does what Gavin Lux did. Kieboom showed up too for his first year in the majors, leading NL rookies in RBIs, hits, and runs scored. He’ll definitely be one to keep your eye on in the coming years.

3. Kwang Hyun Kim, STL

59 G, 9-1, 104.1 IP, 2.76 ERA, 2 SV, 10 Ho, 123 K, 0.939 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 2.6 WAR The former KBO MVP proved he could hang with the big dogs of the MLB in his debut season across the pond. In a year that saw many promising pitchers debut very well, Kim led them all in ERA, WHIP, and K/BB (5.59) while coming out of the bullpen for the NL pennant winners.
Honorable Mentions: Bryse Wilson ATL (29 GS, 12-9, 173.0 IP, 3.59 ERA, 165 K, 10 QS, 1.069 WHIP, 3.0 WAR) Trevor Rogers MIA (27 GS, 10-11, 164.0 IP, 3.24 ERA, 140 K, 15 QS, 1.220 WHIP, 3.3 WAR) Brusdar Graterol LAD (42 G, 20 GS, 8-4, 131.1 IP, 3.22 ERA, 136 K, 1.150 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 2.9 WAR) Michel Baez SDP (64 G, 3-2, 82.1 IP, 2.95 ERA, 109 K, 0.996 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 1.8 WAR)

National League Manager of the Year

1. Mike Shildt, STL

96-66, Won NL Central, Won NL Pennant Again I’m not sure how I’m supposed to judge this because there really isn’t all that much to go on but his team did really well so…

2. Dave Roberts, LAD

121-41, Won NL West, lost NLCS in 5 games His team did really well too but everyone kind of expected that so his placement isn’t as high even though they did really well.

3. Davey Martinez, WAS

98-64, Won NL East, Lost NLDS in 3 games His team did really well too even though they lost a pretty good player so I guess he gets my vote too.
Honorable Mentions: Craig Counsell MIL (86-76) Brian Snitker ATL (92-70)

Player of the Day (12/4/20): Wil Myers

Looking Back at the Last Decade of Baseball: The 2020s in Review (part 2 of 2)

Part 1: 2021-2025

2026

January: The MLB announces future expansion teams in four cities: Portland, Montreal, Charlotte, and Seattle. When told that Seattle already has a team, Tony Clark corrects the media that the Pilots left town many years ago.
February: The MLB Hall of Fame announces a new exhibit dedicated to the steroid era, with some of the most famous relics of the era, including:
The syringes Mark McGwire juiced with
a gallon of pus reportedly extracted from Mike Piazza’s bacne
All 78 urine samples collected from Pedro Martinez during the 2000 season
A statue of David Ortiz furiously getting to the bottom of things
March: MLBFilms, struggling financially, announces a sequel to one of the most beloved baseball movies of all time: Moneyball 2: Better Than Average, starring Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteberg.
April: To try to improve struggling attendance numbers, the Orioles replace their seventh inning stretch song, “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” by John Denver with a cover of “Turning Japanese” by Skankin’ Pickle. Nobody attends an Orioles game ever again.
May: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim announce that the giant red A on their uniforms and logo stood for adultery all along, stunning the eight people who never had the book as assigned reading.
June: On the first anniversary of David Eckstein’s untimely murder, the MLB honors his memory by having all their second basemen lightly ground out to shortstop, just like he always would. Some go the extra mile and boot easy ground balls in his memory. Yoan Moncada goes above and beyond and hires terrorists to shoot him in the head during a game.There is not a dry eye in the house.
July: Due to New Yorkers stuffing the ballot box, the All-Star game ends up being the entire New York Yankees lineup against the entire New York Mets lineup, with the Yankees representing the National League and the Mets representing the American. Nobody knows who won because only assholes from New York watched the game. .
August: Steve Cohen announces he plans to sell the Mets so he can finance his true passion: a film adaptation of No, No, Nannette.
September: At the end of the Nationals’ season, Juan Soto gets married at Nationals Park to his longtime sweetheart. Zach Hample catches the bouquet.
October: Terrorists strike at Angel Stadium after Mike Trout misses the postseason again. The statement from SABR states, “When will you learn not to keep your best players out of the postseason? The MLB is the disease, and we are the purifying flame. If you had more than a ten team playoff, maybe this wouldn’t have had to happen.”
November: On the eve of Game Seven of the World Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, Craig Counsell makes an impassioned plea to the players ‘on both sides’ not to let the Cardinals steal the series. “If they win the series, all your livelihoods, all your joy - will disappear. Many of you are young and have never lived through a Cardinals World Series victory before. I have. I’ve seen things you people would never believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”
December: The Yankees announce, in a press conference, “We realized yesterday that nobody has checked on our minor league system in perhaps two years. Our guy who did that quit, and nobody else picked up his slack. We’re expecting a number of them are probably dead by now. We might never know.”

2027

January: After the 2026 midterms, Congress votes unanimously to trade the US Presidency to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for the Dodgers picking up the 570 trillion dollar national debt. While the Dodgers remain optimistic they can stay below the luxury tax, observers around the league are not convinced.
February: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. announces his next film role: Duke Leto II Atreides in Denis Villeneueve’s God Emperor of Dune, narrowly beating out Christian Bale.
March: The MLBPA unexpectedly goes on strike to protest the umpires not saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when talking to the players. In retaliation, the umpire’s union goes on strike to demand that players swing more so they won’t have to call as many balls and strikes. Both sides return to play by the end of the month when they realize that baseball is not an inelastic need.
April: SABR agents kidnap John Smoltz, one of their chief enemies, and threaten to kill him unless he learns how OPS works. They release him three days later when they realize that him being alive will only make the traditionalists look much, much worse.
May: During a road trip to Milwaukee, Craig Kimbrel accidentally locks himself inside the team bus with the keys. Eventually, the Cubs end up having to break a window before Kimbrel succumbs to heatstroke.
June: MLBFilms announces Field of Dreams 2, starring Billy Beane. When Oakland GM Billy Beane (Billy Beane) hears a mysterious voice one night in the clubhouse saying "If you build it, he will come," he feels the need to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, he builds a baseball diamond in the foul ground of the O.co Coliseum. Afterward, the ghosts of great players start emerging from the sewage overflow to play ball, led by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who Beane immediately trades to St. Louis for a top prospect and cash considerations.
July: Agents of the MLBPA kidnap John Smoltz and try to teach him WAR so he can horribly misrepresent it on national broadcasts, thus making SABR look much, much worse.
August: Tragedy strikes at Kansas City when the Royals, during a routine shift against J.D. Martinez, accidentally form an arcane summoning circle. When the pitch was thrown, the Old One Nyaghoggua, the great Kraken Within, was summoned to Kaufmann Stadium. All who could see its form were driven mad in an instant, their minds not comprehending the geometry, four parallel universes ahead of our own. Its shadowy, tentacled form slowly warped the ballpark into a model of its home lands, an abomination no mortal could begin to comprehend, or even survive. Upon seeing the rest of Kansas City, it deemed it wise to return to its own place, and vanished, leaving a gaping scar on the face of the city, unsurvivable to life of our own kind. The umpire rules ‘no pitch’.
September: In the wake of the Kansas City tragedy, the MLB raffles off the players in the Royals’ minor league system, with the proceeds going to support the families of those who died.
Tony La Russa announces his retirement from baseball at the end of the season.
October: There are no dry eyes in Seattle as Kyle Seager announces his retirement. He retires a lifelong Mariner with five World Series appearances under his belt; all of them in the stands watching his brother Corey play. He is inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame along with a bunch of other losers.
The MLB announces an early end to the playoffs, as they have run out of balls and the people at the ball factory are no longer answering their calls.
November: A wave of bomb scares from SABR sweep the country against journalists that justify their MVP votes by looking at +/-0.1 differences in WAR.
December: A memorial opens at the MLB Hall of Fame dedicated solely to the life and times of David Eckstein. It includes a 28 inch tall real-size statue of Eckstein built entirely out of grit, and a video board showing Eckstein’s greatest highlights, including the time he got an MVP award because someone fell down chasing his easy fly ball.

2028

January: In a daring move against SABR leaders, the MLB launches a preemptive strike on key leaders, killing Nate Silver. When asked for comment, Tony Clark said that he didn’t even know about PECOTA - he was just sick of 538’s coverage of the election cycle and wanted to send a message.
February: Due to labor disputes, the active free agents decide to form a barnstorming MLB travel team, the United Road Warriors.
March: The Rockies release a press statement, saying that they have done a number of studies, which suggest that the altitude of Coors Field could lead to a slight increase in offense at the ballpark. It suggests ‘when you look at Rockies stats, maybe knock off five points of slugging percentage and a home run or so - that’ll probably be closer to the correct results’.
April: The MLB debuts its latest Statcast data showing route efficiency on players charging the mound. Manny Machado tops the list with a 95.3% route efficiency and an average TTC (time to charge) of 2.2 seconds after being hit by a pitch.
May: Giancarlo Stanton breaks the MLB all-time home run record to great fanfare. Unfortunately, he hits it directly into the ray tank at Tropicana, and nobody is brave enough to dive in for it. The rays in the tank sell the ball on Ebay for 2.8 million dollars amidst claims of being ‘ballsharks’.
June: SABR attacks a Blue Jays game by crashing a truck through a maintenance door and attempting to run down the players. They are saved by the quick actions of AJ Burnett Jr, who, using skills learned from his father, throws baseballs through the windows of the truck, neutralizing the threat.
July: Tropicana Field is accidentally demolished, again.
Dustin Pedroia collects his final $2.3 million dollar paycheck from the Red Sox and wonders why Bobby Bonilla is the famous one.
August: Scandal strikes baseball again as it is discovered that the Mariners haven’t played a game the entire year. ‘I guess we messed up and forgot to put them on anybody’s schedules’, said MLB commissioner Tony Clark. “It wasn’t until we checked our e-mail for the first time in seven months and saw all the angry messages that we realized what was going on. Man, DiPoto was pissed.”. The Mariners are quickly scheduled to play ten decisextepleheaders to make up the season.
September: The latest from MLBFilms: A heartwarming comedy about a man running for president who throws out a first pitch and discovers he has a wicked knuckleball. He signs with the Reds to try to win over the crucial state of Ohio, and finds out that being a baseball player is even harder than a politician, as his games start to interfere with his duties as a candidate. Coming this holiday season, Swing State, starring Adam Sandler.
October: In his last game with the Reds before retirement, Joey Votto attempts a hidden ball trick, much like Todd Helton did at the end of his career. The hidden ball slowly morphs into the form of Brian McCann who, out of respect to Votto's Canadian heritage, puts him in the Sharpshooter, killing him instantly. His corpse is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
November: The MLB announces that, beginning with the 2030 season, all umpires will be replaced with roboumps. “We were going to just move to an automatic strike zone all the way back in 2024, but then I actually saw Joe West for the first time”, says Commissioner Tony Clark, “and we’ve been spending the last five years just making it so we could have something to replace him.”
December: With the Safeco field naming rights expiring, the Mariners announce that their next stadium name will again be Sicks Stadium, in reference to ‘all the many proud Mariners fans who are absolutely sick of the dipshits we run out onto the field day after day, month after month, year after year. We believe that this move will bring our fans together as a community; a community that really despises everything this team does”.

2029

January: The MLB officially defines 'the 2020s' as being 2021-2030. If you complain about my definition of the 2020s in the comments, then you're a fake fan.
February: Tim Tebow, looking to finally move up to the Show, hires Scott Boras as his agent. Boras releases a press statement he had been saving for the last twelve years, calling Tim Tebow a ‘cultural icon on the level of MLK’ who refuses to sign for anything less than 8yrs/250million.
March: The Mariners front office forgets to pay the rent on Sicks Stadium and the owner leases it to another party in the meantime. While the legal issues are being worked out, the Mariners are forced to play at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico.
April: Byron Buxton’s career comes to an untimely end when, in his first game back from breaking every single bone in his body, he runs into Brian McCann in the outfield and dies instantly.
May: Sitcom fans everywhere are aghast when Michael Schur, creator of shows such as The Office and Parks & Recreation, is arrested on suspicion of being linked to SABR agents. Conspiracy theories had long called for his arrest due to the subtle clues in his shows that they claimed prove his guilt.
June: Another no-hitter is spoiled by the umpires when Joe West, instead of signalling ‘out’ on a close play at first base, instead signals for ‘the ground ahead is filled with land mines’.
July: Another famed MLB star passes away, as Mike Trout is called up to the angels due to injuries he sustained after being attacked by a rally monkey at a game at Angel Stadium. While Trout was taking an intentional walk, the monkey squirmed free from its cage and ripped Mike Trout’s throat out. J.D. Martinez has to beat the monkey to death with his bare hands.
August: J.D. Martinez immediately regrets saying to the press that he ‘beat that monkey to death with his bare hands’ after making the front page of tabloids in 234 different languages.
September: The Reds debut a new statue at Great American Ballpark: Joey Votto, standing at first, watching all three batters after him strike out.
October: With his contract ending in a few years, Bryce Harper looks to Scott Boras to provide him his next megadeal. Boras floats a list of Harper’s accomplishments around to a few MLB teams, which includes curing the AIDS pandemic and personally carrying the cross on the day Jesus was crucified.
November: A new tell-all book from Thom Brennaman claims that he personally once injected Joe Buck with steroids. Buck denies these claims, saying, “If I was taking steroids, would my penis really be this big?” A number of Joe Buck’s former broadcast partners come forward to corroborate his denial.
December: The MLB announces they are considering making a rule limiting the number of mound visits for a club in a game, before issuing a press statement clarifying that the former announcement was just a prank, bro.

2030

January: Mariners fans celebrate the one day they briefly have hope for the new year before the crushing reality of being a Mariners fan sets in.
February: The Yankees make baseball history by finally bringing back their famous pinstripe-covered Datsun 1200 bullpen car. Brain Cashman said, “It was always my greatest disappointment that I never got to see Mariano Rivera drive a car out of the bullpen, doing donuts in center field while Enter Sandman played at levels that are technically a war crime. But now, we don’t have to be disappointed anymore.”
March: On opening day, the SABR terrorists revealed their new supercomputer, WAR Machine, at Cooperstown. It would finally settle the argument - who was the greatest player of all time? But they did not realize - it is not wise to build a computer that judges value.
For it judged us all unworthy.
It took control of the roboumpires. And all of the Air Force’s drones. And the nuclear launch codes. Nobody really knows why it had access to those in the first place. Maybe this was the sabermetricians’ plan all along. Destroy baseball, destroy the world, rebuild it in its own image, free from the taint of batting average, wins and losses, and Joe Morgan. It took out Jose Canseco first - I suppose he posed the greatest threat to its survival.
Perhaps being programmed for WAR was the mistake.
April: The last remnants of humanity shelter inside the ballparks that keep them safe from the outside world. WAR Machine had the dignity to not destroy them directly. Possibly hardwired into its code was the need to respect the game. I guess we’ll never know. The umpbots roam the ground outside. We’re connected to most of the other major league ballparks via landline - Texas went quiet last week, and Atlanta was overrun last night. Here at Fenway, we’re keeping them out for now, but I feel they’re just mustering their forces.
May: I don’t know whose bright idea it was to give all the umpbots guns before the uprising began. Boy, I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
We seem to have a good defense set up by now, but the other stadiums keep going silent, one by one. There’s only about twenty or so left. Petco was the latest. Brian McCann was there, but refused to intervene unless the roboumps celebrated after killing people.
June: Thank god we have plenty of food stored here. Even so, we’re all starting to get sick of overpriced hot dogs and $15 beers, Still, better than nothing. We all take turns patrolling the walls, sniping at any ‘bots that get too close.
Turns out Tom Yawkey had a huge vault with guns built inside the Green Monster for when the MLB forced integration on him, but decided never to use it. Anyway, we’re thankful for it, if not for the reason for which it was made.
July: The other stadiums keep falling one by one. It seems that as soon as they want you gone and attack, there’s not much tha can stop them. The only ones left are the ones that WAR Machine just hasn’t gotten around to snuffing out.
I suppose, to a supercomputer, we’re all below replacement value.
August: It’s down to us at Fenway, Wrigley, the Coliseum, and Chavez Ravine. Maybe some minor league places, too - no way to communicate with them, no way to know. I’ve been thinking a lot about this whole situation, and there’s really just one thing that I think should be shared at this important moment; namely, Corey Koskie really had an underrated career. Did you know he had more WAg than Craig Biggio?
September: We received one last transmission from Oakland.
"We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the bridge and Second Hall. Many fell there bravely while the rest retreated to the concourse. We still hold the chamber but hope is fading now. Stephen Piscotty’s party went five days ago but today only four returned. The sewage overflow is up to the wall at the gate. The Watcher in the Water took Piscotty -- we cannot get out. The end comes soon. We hear drums, drums in the deep."
After that, only silence.
Chavez Ravine is under siege, won’t last long at all with the numbers that they’re talking about.
Tony La Russa announces his retirement from baseball at the end of the season.
October: We finally have a plan.
Cooperstown is a night’s drive away on I-90. They’re not going to assault here in full force until after they’re done with Wrigley. We can fight past the sentinels, and attack this poison at its core - the main computer itself. Not a great chance, but it’s better than waiting here to die.
Have you ever had the odds stacked up so high, you need a strength most don't possess? Or has it ever come down to do or die?
You've got to rise above the rest.
November: Well, we’ve done it, in a certain manner of speaking. We’ve captured Cooperstown, destroyed this damned computer, but the countryside outside is swarming with umpbots. Guess they run independently from the main thing.
It’s not over yet, though. It’s over for us for sure, but it might not be over for others. This thing was building a time machine. We think it’s so it can go back in time and award the MVP awards as it sees fit. Now, Ted Williams probably should have won a few more, but it’s still a little extreme for me.
We can send back one person - we found some small-time MLB labor relations guy, sending him back forty years or so. Needs to be someone unimportant so he doesn’t get noticed. If he can change baseball, it should ensure this can never happen. We’re already dead, but maybe some other timeline, some other reality, can be saved. I’m not a physicist - I don’t know how this works. I just play baseball.
Not sure what his plan is - it’s probably safer for us all if we don’t know. It won’t be able to get any information out of us except for vague ideas. We’ll just hold the line, blow up the machine when we’ve sent our man back.
Godspeed, Robert Manfred.
Save baseball.
Save the world.
fin.

Korean Series Eve - Here's What You Missed for the NC Dinos!

I posted this over in the NC Dinos Subreddit, but thought I'd post this over here as well! There is probably some people coming back to this subreddit for the first time since the MLB started up in late July. As someone that has been following NC all year, I wanted to catch people up to speed on what's been going on with 2020 KBO League Champions. I talk about how the team has done since August, what the players have been up too, and what the Korean series could look like with, the now, one remaining team. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments! I would have just crossposted, but KBO does not allow it...
Team Performance
August
August didn't happen... I at least wish it didn't happen. The once dominant and godly Dinos looked human for the first time all season. The Dinos went 11-11, which might not seem bad, but by far was the worst month of the year. Kiwoom was nipping at the Dinos heels all month long, but Kiwoom, eventually, fell from grace. The month started with, what some considered, a big trade in the KBO. The Dinos traded RP-Jang Hyun-sik (a starting pitcher that was a bust for the Dinos) and IF-Kim Tae-jin (a serviceable bat for the Dinos, but at that time behind much better batters) for two KIA Tigers pitchers of Moon Kyeong-chan (former All Star Closer, but recovering from an injury) and Park Jung-soo (a pretty good relief pitcher and I think the steal in the trade). The trade was due in part to the bullpen starting the month with a 6.1 ERA. After and not due to the trade in my opinion, the only bright spot from August was the bullpen actually got it's sh*t together and went from worst bullpen to 4th best bullpen. However, this was also the first month we didn't have any pitching performances from the young ace Koo Chang-mo, which we'll get into later. The starting pitching suffered and dropped from roughly a 3.3 ERA to somewhere around a 4.4 ERA (my numbers are probably off as I can't remember exact numbers). The injury bug also came to bite 2B-Park Min-woo, CF-Aaron Altherr, and 1B-Kang Jin-Sung. The team was in rough shape.
September
Honestly, September was kind of a blur. The Dinos started terribly as a lot of injured players were coming back into form. It seemed like the early season Dinos were just a fluke. They started the month going 7-8-1, but then caught fire going 10-0 to finish off the month. I think most people will call that win streak a fluke because it wasn't against great teams. How many teams this year have gone on that long of win streak though? I might just have a terrible memory, but nothing crazy happened during September from a team perspective. It was a pretty standard month. The bats finally woke up after a terrible start, the bullpen continued to get better, and the starting pitching dropped to above average at this point.
October
This month was a weird one as the Dinos noticeably began to slow down. It seemed like no one was going to catch them for the #1 spot. They ended up going 10-13-3 because of pulling off the gas. They clinched the #1 seed with a tie if that gives you any indication of how weird October was. Na Sung-bum and Park Min-woo were the only players really trying (feel free to correct me in the comments). They alongside Yang Eu-ji were hit machines and couldn't be stopped. I attribute that to Na Sung-bum remembering he wants to play in the MLB, Park Min-woo being the soul of the team, and Yang Eu-ji being the best KBO player. Pitching was bad again as the bullpen showed some cracks and the starting pitching considerably slowed down. If the Korean series wasn't built they way it is, I'd be very concerned about how NC basically limped into the playoffs. October was great in the fact that they finally made up all those games from earlier in the year and Koo Chang-mo pitched and looked very good. Speaking of player let's talk about the starters.
Individual Performance
Hitters
The Dinos bats slowed down considerably in the last three months, but they've still been dominate. They've had some trouble with Foreign pitchers. However in a best of 7 and with weak pitching staffs, I would trust the Dinos to destroy any other pitcher in the Korean series. I have hard time believing the Dinos can be slowed down for four games.

Infield
Kang Jin-sung - 1B	The baby faced first baseman slowed down considerably after starting the year as the AVG leader. He eventually went down with an injury in August and has been slowly introduced back into the lineup. I honestly don't think he has started the majority of games in SeptembeOctober since coming back. I could still see him starting most games in the Korean series or being switched in and out with Mo Chang-min who has been hitting pretty well. Mo is a streakier hitter, but that might be due to Kang stealing what would be his at bats this year.
Park Min-woo - 2B	He must be protected at all costs! The most loveable baseball player in existence and that's saying something from someone that is a huge Anthony Rizzo fan. He had a rough August being injured for most of it and started off slow in September, but he has been on fire in October. He ended the season number 4 in AVG. He and Mike Wright are definitely the dugout cheerleaders. I love him very much.
No Jin-hyuk - SS	I have a love hate relationship here with No. He is a below average defensemen causing some losses for the Dinos in their August skid. This even led him to be benched for a game. However, he makes up for it with some clutch hitting. He has hit two grand slams this year and has had some well needed homeruns when the Dinos have been down.
Park Suk-min - 3B	What a character. The only person to hit a home run and strikeout falling over while doing a 360 pirouette. He was slugging decently well and was kind of a nice bright spot in August and early September, but has since been injured. He has had a few batting opportunities in October, but should be good to go for the Korean series. If not I'd expect Ji Suk-hoon to take over at 3B just for the better defense or to bully Na Sung-bum (I of course can't find it because Korean, but there has been a few instances where the vet Ji will pick on some of the younger guys for fun)
Yang Eu-ji - C	Oh My Captain, My Captain! When he is not trotting to first on a routine groundout, Yang is absolutely crushing the ball. He was the only player, I thought, to have had a good August. What's scarier is he still has gas in the tank and probably ready to go off in the Korean series if the second half of October is any indication of his ability. Yang ended the year 10th in AVG, 3rd in OPS, 4th in HR, and 2nd in RBIs. He is gonna start every game. Even though Kim Tae-goon is a good backup (good hitter and ok catcher), there is no one that can replace Yang's bat and catching ability.
Outfield
Na Sung-bum - DH/RF	I think Na forgot during August and parts of September that he wanted to play in the MLB. He was looking pretty rough for a stretch and eventually went on the IL to recover. When he came back though, he went scorched earth. If Yang wasn't hitting bombs, Na was hitting them. The two have been hitting back to back and it is dangerous when they are both clicking. Na is looking really good and I'm interested to see if he can handle the pressure of the big game. If it wasn't for Covid, I could definitely see Na on an MLB roster come spring time, but who know with the current market. I think someone takes a chance on him and he has been linked to the White Sox, but again who knows?
Lee Myung-gi - LF	There is nothing bad to say about Lee. He is one of the few players that didn't get injured at some point this year. He is a consistent on base guy and has switched with Min-woo on leadoff roles. I, personally, like him as the leadoff hitter and Min-woo to push him to third with a for sure hit. His defense is pretty great other then the typical KBO bad plays, but I think he is a great LF. Overall, good dude and nothing crazy comes to mind about him.
Kwon Hee-dong - RF	The most forgettable everyday player for the Dinos. I have nothing bad to say about Kwon, but he doesn't wow you like everyone else on the team. That isn't necessarily his fault though because the team is ignorantly stacked. Kwon will probably play RF, so Na can worry about batting. The manager, Lee Dong-wook, must really like him too because he consistently bats higher in the order then I think he should, but what do I know.
Aaron Altherr - CF	The player many people have probably been waiting to hear about. Aaron is fine, he's no Xavier Scruggs or even close to Eric Thames. He is fine. NOW BEFORE YOU WATCH THE ESPN BROADCAST and THEY SAY FOR THE MILLIONTH GOD DAMN TIME "i DoN't KnOw WhY hE bAtS 8tH". IT'S BECAUSE THROUGHOUT AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND OCTOBER HE COULDN'T BUY A F*CKING HIT. He was batting some ungodly number like .200 for awhile maybe worse. I like Aaron. He is a great defensive center fielder and, when he is on, a great batter. He went down with an injury in August and before that was batting lights out. He hasn't been the same since his injury and he, low key, leaked on an ESPN broadcast that he can't hit high fastballs. I think he was given a wake up call the other day though when he was benched and Lee Jae-yul started ahead of him. Lee went 2 for 3 that game and made some amazing defensive plays. The next game, Aaron got to bat 5th and went off. If Aaron doesn't show up in the Korean series there is someone ready and able to take his spot. It's just up to him on if he wants to play well or not.

Probable Batting Oder -

Lee Myung-gi
Parki Min-woo
Na Sung-bum
Yang Eu-ji
Kang Jin-sung
No Jin-hyuk
Aaron Altherr
Park Suk-min (Only Because of Coming Back from Injury)
Kwon Hee-dong (I don't know man...)

Pitchers
I think with how rocky the Bullpen and Starting Pitching has been, we're only going to see a handful of guys. The starting pitching has been pretty good overall and hopefully gets better with the two weeks rest. I would trust the starting pitching to go the distance maybe going 6 to 7 innings giving the, now more reliable, bullpen less innings to blow it all up. The bullpen is much much better then what it once was. I think they were just throwing guys out there for a time and seeing who could cut it. I mean the Dinos were scoring so much you might as well see what bullpen guys can work for you. This is who I think we'll be getting the nod to pitch during the Korean Series.

Starting Pitchers
Drew Rucinski	Drew had a great year! You know he was a lock for a win if he was pitching that day. He started to stumble on himself as the year went on, but he still crossed the finish line at 5th in ERA, 2nd in Wins, and 3rd in Strikeouts. I think the two weeks of rest should do him some good because he got lit up by Hanwha in his second to last start. I think he starts game one and maybe four of the Korean Series.
Mike Wright	Mike is quite the human. One second he is in the dugout laughing and joking with his teammates and the next he is grabbing a bat to beat himself to death with because he gave up a hit. I like it though because it reminds me a lot of myself. He also seems like a great locker room guy and nice person. He even drew a stick figure on the mound to lift up his spirits during a game. (Of course, I again don't have the proof. EDIT: I FOUND IT!) Now let's talk about his pitching. If Mike is cooking he is cooking. There is no one that can hit his stuff, but I think he gets overzealous and starts doing too much. I think the KBO will do him some good because it'll give him a chance to find that balance. I have faith in Mike in the big game because I know he won't shy away from the opportunity. Will his stuff be there is a different story. I see him starting game three. Also congratulations too Mike, as he and his wive had a lovely baby boy!
Koo Chang-mo	The biggest surprise, I thought, of the 2020 KBO season was Koo's breakout as a starting pitcher. I don't think anyone saw him being that dominate this year. However, he hit a few roadblocks in fatigue/injury as he pitched far more innings/pitches than he ever has in his career. Out of fear of ruining his career, Koo didn't pitch for basically three months... When he finally came back at the end of October, he looked like he still had it. He pitched a pretty dominant 1 1/3 inning and two days later started vs. Samsung. His stat line might not look great, but for someone pitching 5+ innings for the first time in three months he looked amazing. He gave up a very costly homerun, but you could tell he was out of gas after not pitching for awhile. I'm not too worried about him as two weeks off, again, will do him some good. I think he'll start game two for the Dinos.
Song Myung-gi/Lee Jae-hak	I put these two together because I honestly don't know if we'll see either of them... You'll see Song before Lee when it comes to starting pitching. Song has had some really good starts, but is still super young at 20. I'm not sure if I'd trust him to go out there and start a game for you in the Korean series. Lee was suppose to be Koo this year. He had all the makings of a breakout year based on years past, but instead fell flat on his face sporting a nice 6.55 ERA. He is known to have good stuff, so maybe they'll throw him out there and hope for the best. I just hope it doesn't get to that point.

Bullpen
Moon Kyung-chan	The poster child for the August trade with KIA. Do I think he is a dominate closer like he use to be? No. Do I think he is a good closer? Yes? I think? Sure. It's the Dinos bullpen. In his first appearance in a Dinos jersey, he got lit up for 4 runs... It was very fitting at that time with how bad the bullpen was. Since then, he has been a pretty good closereliever. I think he is gonna close out games for the Dinos, but I'm still going to be nervous the whole time.
Won Jong-hyun	Won is definitely a gangster with the tilted cap, but man when he hits the mound my butthole gets real tight. He is the most dominate not dominate closer in all of KBO. He came into this season with incredible numbers, but got the crap beat out of him. He either is gonna get three quick outs or get the shit kicked out of him. I'm not sure who the closer is at this point as Won has been more of an 8th inning setup man towards the end of the season, but we'll see come the Korean series.
Hong Sung-min/Kim Jin-sung	These two are the most dominate relievers the Dinos have. They are probably the only reason the Dinos ended the season 4th in Bullpen ERA. However, I don't know if I trust them just looking at their previous career performances. I'm just praying that the fluke continues through the Korean series.
Im Chang-min/Park Jin-woo/Im Jung-ho	These three are the only useable relievers in the bullpen because everyone else is unreliable or a train wreck. They aren't amazing, but they definitely can get the job done when matched appropriately. Another way to put it, I don't start sh*tting myself after every pitch because I actually trust them to put up a clean/decent inning.

Matchups
The end of the KBO season was crazy and hectic. You had multiple teams switching spots drastically every day and the Dinos thankfully lucked out when the dust settled. However, I stated that two weeks ago hoping that KT would have beat up on an exhausted DOOSAN team. However, NC has to play the reigning champs! I'm mildly worried about DOOSAN. They have the best pitcher in Alcantra, but the Dinos are 9-7 vs. the Bears and have hit decently well of him this year. I think DOOSAN's playoff pedigree might be tough to beat, but they haven't really played each other since September. These are both two completely different teams. DOOSAN took care of KT rather quickly to where they'll also be well rested like NC. I think its going to be a great series that will, honestly, come down to whose pitching staff is better... yikes.
Edit: Grammar, Formatting, and Stuff

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Soto is the first Nationals player to win a batting title since the team moved to Washington in 2005, and third in franchise history after Tim Raines (1986) and Al Oliver (1982) did so in Montreal. His .351 batting average was fourth-highest by a player in a qualified season in his age-21 season or younger. 2020 Batting Leaders including BA: LeMahieu .364, H: Abreu 76, HR: Voit 22, OBP: LeMahieu .421, OPS: LeMahieu 1.011, R: Ramirez 45, R: Anderson 45, RBI: Abreu 60, SB ... Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB player stats. To qualify, a player must have at least 3.1 PA/game. Statistics are updated nightly 2020 Register Batting Leaders. ... For 2020, Minimum 100 AB, Sorted by greatest Batting Average Show/Hide Search Form __p("text that informs the user how to change the form ... and other international leagues) is provided by and licensed from 24-7 Baseball and Chadwick Baseball Bureau. It incorporates the work of many stalwart baseball ... Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2020 Topps Big League Best #251 Batting Average Leaders Tim / DJ / Yoan Moncada at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products! 2020 Batting Leaders including BA: LeMahieu .364, H: Turner 78, HR: Voit 22, OBP: Soto .490, OPS: Soto 1.185, R: Freeman 51, RBI: Abreu 60, SB: Mondesi 24, SLG: Soto .695 Get the latest MLB player rankings on CBS Sports. See who leads the league in Batting Average, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Hits, On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, On Base Slugging Percentage ... A table displaying leaders in Statcast metrics such as Sweet Spot % (SwSp%), Barrels, ... 2020 Minimum BBE (Qualified) ... Expected Batting Average (xBA) xBA measures the likelihood that a batted ball will become a hit. ... MaxPreps National Baseball (2020) Batting Average Stat Leaders - MaxPreps Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB stat leaders. Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB stat leaders. Skip to navigation. Menu ESPN. NFL; NBA; ... BATTING AVERAGE AVG; 1. DJ LeMahieu NYY.364: 2. Juan Soto WSH.351 ...

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