NL Mid Season Awards

NL MVP:

Juan DeSoto Chicago Jayhawks Age: 25 B/T: R/R Born: La Romana, DO Position(s): C/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

It's not even a close race at this point.


NL CY Young Award:

John Carroll St. Louis Greys Age: 30 B/T: R/R Born: Eclectic, AL Position(s): P (SP1) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

In another race that isn't very close.


Relief Ace:
By the point system used by the Rolaids relief awards it would probably be:

Moe Farley Oklahoma City Twins Age: 25 B/T: R/R Born: Ramsey, IL Position(s): P (ClA) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

But Josh Houston has had a better year so far.

Josh Houston Ottawa Otters Age: 27 B/T: S/R Born: Beaverton, OR Position(s): P (ClA) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

NL Gold Glove Awards:
C: Richard Maxwell
1B: Charles Shibata
2B: Daniel Thompson
SS: Andy Weaver
3B: Raul Rivera
LF: Kareem Duckworth
CF: Pete Skinner
RF: Ricardo Rincon
P: Miguel Abreu

Rookie of the Year:
If he is eligible it is:

Albert Brooks Washington D.C. Bureaucrats Age: 22 B/T: S/R Born: Richlands, VA Position(s): RF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Otherwise it is:

Chris Mason Salem Sidehill Gougers Age: 24 B/T: S/R Born: Independence, KS Position(s): RF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Gleeman World 2: Best MLB Players

While waiting for budgets to be set and projected ratings to appear, I thought it would be interesting to examine the initial crop of MLB players in Gleeman World 2. Nearly all players on MLB rosters are at least 24-25 years old, so their projected ratings shouldn't have a huge impact on their value.

However, one flaw with my little study is that for some reason tons of MLB-quality guys are assigned to Triple-A upon world creation and I've chosen to examine only players on MLB rosters for the sake of simplicity. I've also chosen to rank strictly based on playing ability without including workload capability as a major factor.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here are my quick-and-dirty picks for the top MLB players in Gleeman World 2 ...

Pitchers: Stamina = 70-99

1. Pascual Esposito - Oakland, 26 years old
2. John Sung - Minnesota, 30 years old
3. Jon Cedeno - Iowa City, 31 years old
4. Red Reed - St. Louis, 31 years old
5. Rod Clark - Baltimore, 32 years old
6. Bucky Kelly - Louisville, 30 years old
7. Ben Gose - Mexico City, 26 years old
8. Pat Tipton - Atlanta, 30 years old
9. Earl Buckley - Oakland, 27 years old
10. Andrew Burks - Chicago, 32 years old

Notes: Not only is Oakland the only team with a pair of top-10 guys, both of them are in their mid-20s whereas seven of the other eight guys are in their 30s. My best guy, John Sung, ranks as the No. 2 pitcher in the 70-99 stamina range despite having a 65 rating versus right-handed batters and a 77-rated first pitch, which says an awful lot about how low the level of talent is in GW2 (or says my ranking system is off base, of course).

Pitchers: Stamina = 50-69

1. Lewis Neill - Charlotte, 33 years old
2. Pedro Bournigal - Charlotte, 26 years old
3. Lon Cashman - Charlotte, 29 years old
4. Earl Lofton - Louisville, 33 years old
5. David Flores - Baltimore, 31 years old
6. Yoo-Nah Chen - Minnesota, 31 years old
7. Clarence Hurst - Chicago, 31 years old
8. Fausto Castillo - Oakland, 33 years old
9. Tom Farrell - Milwaukee, 27 years old
10. Ray Hall - Vancouver - 29 years old

Notes: On a per-inning basis, an argument can be made for Charlotte owning the three best pitchers in all of GW2. You'll also notice that Oakland has a third top-10 guy here, while Minnesota, Louisville, and Baltimore have one pitcher on each list.

Pitchers: Stamina = 20-49

1. Pascual Roque - Toledo, 30 years old
2. Octavio Sardinha - Colorado Springs, 28 years old
3. Moises Beltre - Seattle, 32 years old
4. Don Murray - St. Louis, 32 years old
5. Cesar Johnson - Texas, 36 years old
6. George Bailey - Augusta, 33 years old
7. Billy Ferguson - San Antonio, 32 years old
8. Pat Ross - Iowa City, 34 years old
9. Carlos James - San Antonio, 27 years old
10. Albert Galvez - Iowa City, 27 years old

Notes: Along with the overall low level of talent, one thing that stands out to me is how weak the relief pitching is in GW2. GW1 featured quite a few truly dominant relievers right away, but that's far from the case with GW2. In fact, I'd say the GW2 starters are actually better than the relievers even without factoring in their ability to pitch more innings. All of which seems very odd to me.

Pitchers conclusion: Having looked over all the MLB pitchers, it is clear to me that the talent level in Gleeman World 2 is significantly lower than the talent level in Gleeman World 1. If the above rankings were a blend of GW1 and GW2, my guess is that at least 75 percent of the pitchers would be from GW1. A solid No. 2 starter in GW1 is essentially an ace in GW2 and a decent setup man in GW1 is basically a top-flight closer in GW2. And that may actually be understating the talent gap.

Hitters

1. Benji Olivo - San Antonio, 25 years old
2. Matthew Forbes - Milwaukee, 27 years old
3. Quentin Cepicky - Rochester, 32 years old
4. Roger Barclay - Fargo, 27 years old
5. Phil Takahashi - Iowa City, 29 years old
6. Miguel Carrara - San Antonio, 27 years old
7. Chico Rincon - Minnesota, 28 years old
8. Jimmy Forsch - Cheyenne, 30 years old
9. Cliff Carter - Trenton, 30 years old
10. Tony Viriato - Cheyenne, 27 years old
11. Gus Harris - Chicago, 23 years old
12. Edgar Bautista - Toledo, 31 years old
13. Mo Trujillo, Toledo, 31 years old
14. F.P. Wall - Rochester, 31 years old
15. Chan Dong - Trenton, 24 years old
16. Orlando Alvarez - Minnesota, 24 years old
17. Mark Jarvis - Iowa City, 28 years old
18. Albert Ortega - Cheyenne, 25 years old
19. Jin-Chi Chen - Baltimore, 26 years old
20. Orber Johnson - New York, 35 years old

Notes: First of all, the above list is based strictly on hitting ability without any sort of positional or defensive adjustments, so it's heavy on first basemen, corner outfielders, and catchers while light on shortstops, center fielders, and second basemen. Making those sorts of adjustments was a little more work than I'm willing to do in the name of boredom/curiosity, so the rankings are "best hitters" rather than "best players."

Hitters conclusion: As a whole the top hitters are much younger than the top pitchers, and that would likely skew even further with positional adjustments (since good SS/CF/2B are almost all young). My sense is that the talent gap from GW1 to GW2 is still plenty massive for hitters, but perhaps not quite as gigantic as for pitchers. I'd pick Phil Takahashi as GW2's most valuable all-around player because he ranks as a top-five hitter and plays Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop. I'm sure thorku will trade him to benj13blue in about 6-7 seasons.

Updated Gleeman World 2 Alignment

Based on people changing their mind about being in or out for GW2 and some new requests in terms of league/division/city I've altered the original alignment plans a bit. I've essentially based everything on each owner's average wins per season, so the divisions and leagues are pretty much balanced in terms of winning percentages.

If you give each empty slot/new owner credit for 70 wins per season (which is basically our low marks for GW1 owners), then the divisions collectively range from 78-82 wins per season. The AL is at 78.5 and the NL is at 79.5. Also, my division has the second-highest average wins in the NL and the fourth-highest overall.

AL North: goosegoslin, thegeneral13, cademord
AL East: sickchangeup, edwzipper, mrauseo
AL South: thorku, garlogic
AL West: base_ballers, parnold1

NL North: aarongleeman, caolson, sdedalus
NL East: benj13blue, themoff02, mattwithanh
NL South: coolio4433, sl_72, scottie3234
NL West: broadwayevns, frymaster

Obviously no alignment is going to be perfect or make everyone happy, but I've spent a lot of time to make sure that as many specific league/division/city requests have been granted and the overall layout is fair in terms of balancing owners' success in GW1.

If you have a major objection, please let me know via trade chat, e-mail, or instant message. If you have a minor objection that you can live with, please do so.

Career assessments

With the players who were in the majors at the start of Gleeman World having nine seasons under their belts, I thought it would be fun to check the chances of some of the best players reaching some of the biggest milestones.

Here are some results using Bill James' Favorite Toy (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/assessments). All percentages are based on stats accumulated through season 9.

Matt Governale

Governale has a 49.4 percent chance of reaching 3,000 hits; a 19.6 percent chance of getting 3,500 hits and a 3.5 percent chance of reaching 4,000 hits.

He has an 80.6 percent chance of hitting 800 home runs; a 45.6 percent chance of hitting 900 homers and a 25.4 percent chance of hitting 1,000 homers.

He has a 62.7 percent chance of reaching 2,298 RBI and a 42.1 percent chance of driving in 2,500 runs.

He has a 50.5 percent chance of scoring 2,000 runs; a 22.5 percent chance of scoring 2,296 runs and a 10.8 percent chance of scoring 2,500 runs.

Chipper Velandia

Velandia has a 42.1 percent chance of reach 3,000 hits and a 17.3 percent chance of getting to 3,500 hits.

He has an 85.3 percent chance of hitting 800 home runs; a 51.2 percent chance of hitting 900 homers and a 30.9 percent chance of hitting 1,000 homers.

He has an 87.6 percent chance of reaching 2,000 RBI; a 47.8 percent chance of getting to 2,298 RBI and a 31.8 percent chance of driving in 2,500 runs.

Bernard Rhodes

Rhodes has a 31.7 percent chance of reaching 3,000 hits.

Doug Rueter

Rueter has a 53.4 percent chance of reaching 600 doubles; a 24.7 percent chance of reaching 700 doubles and a 9.4 percent chance of reaching 793 doubles.

Marino Reyes

Reyes has a 78.4 percent chance of stealing 1,200 bases; a 42.1 percent chance of stealing 1,500 bases and a 12.6 percent chance of stealing 2,000 bases.

John Carroll

Carroll has a 37.2 percent chance of winning 300 games and a 14.4 percent chance of winning 350 games.

He has a 65.5 percent chance of reaching 3,500 strikeouts; a 36.9 percent chance of reaching 4,000 strikeouts and an 8.2 percent chance of reaching 5,000 strikeouts.

Don Masato

Masato has a 19.4 percent chance of winning 300 games.

He has a 52.8 percent chance of reaching 3,000 strikeouts and a 17.4 percent chance of reaching 3,500 strikeouts.

Gerald Tomlinson

Tomlinson has a 32.4 percent chance of winning 300 games and a 13.6 percent chance of winning 350 games.

Ruben Crespo

Crespo has a 19.4 percent chance of winning 300 games.

Kelvin Sullivan

Sullivan has a 21.7 percent chance of winning 300 games.

Lawrence Edwards

Edwards has a 65.8 percent chance of saving 450 games; a 40.9 percent chance of saving 500 games and a 13.5 percent chance of saving 600 games.

NL South Preview: Season 10

St. Louis Greys (100-62, NL South champion)

The Greys once again had a very quiet offseason. After not changing a single player between the end of Season 8 and the beginning of Season 9, only a few changes were made this offseason. St. Louis lost a couple solid pitchers (Pedro Montero and Brandon Garland), a crappy pitcher (Alan Lewis) and a crappy backup infielder (Pedro Pulido). The Greys added reliever Trent Miller, who should be able to replace Garland's innings.

Replacing Montero will be tougher, as St. Louis doesn't currently have a fifth starter on the roster. It seems likely that the Greys, who only have 24 players in the majors at the moment, will call up David Alvarado to be the fifth starter after the first 20 or so games. He would join John Carroll, Howie Dalesandro, Roy Gold and Willis Smith in one of the best rotations in the league.

The strength of the rotation is what allowed the Greys to lead the NL with only 605 runs allowed last season. They should be excellent in that category yet again, although even the great Carroll likely can't match his amazing Season 9 performance (his ERA was a full run below his previous best).

The offense is solid, with several good players but no stars. The legendary Fritz Rushford is on his last legs and Vladimir Pichardo has regressed since his excellent sophomore season and is now hurt.

The strength of this St. Louis squad compared to previous seasons will be almost entirely at the whims of which players have career seasons and which ones disappoint.

Prediction: 98 wins, NL South champion

Iowa City Comics (79-83)

The Comics lost two starting position players and replaced them both with in-house options. Luis Cruz replaces Ernest Bynum at third base and should hit for more power but get on base less often. Nicholas Helms takes over for Norm Hayes in center field. He should improve the defense but will likely be a downgrade offensively.

The Iowa City offense still revolves totally and completely around Chipper Velandia. He's pretty much the only reason the team's offense was above average last season (after accounting for the home park).

The starting rotation is unchanged from last season, which means two pitchers who posted ERAs above 5.90 in an NL pitcher's park (Eddie Wall and Felipe Olivo) are back for another shot. The rotation doesn't have a true ace, although Sandy Price and Henry Beckwith are decent.

This once again looks like a team with a mediocre offense and a below-average pitching staff.

Prediction: 75 wins

Monterrey Conquistadores (76-86)

The Conquistadores had the busiest offseason in the division and showed they're serious about trying to bring a playoff team to Mexico. The team's offseason was obviously dominated by the acquisition of former Twindyan stars Dennis Nelson, Pete Skinner and Ted Simpson. All three of them provide a clear upgrade at their position, which means the starting lineup should be much stronger even with the downgrade from Larry Womack to Pedro Pulido at third base.

The rotation also got an overhaul, as only Lefty Loaiza and Orber Romero return. Junior MacRae is making the transition from reliever to starter, Max Moehler is up for good after getting his feet wet last season and Carl Gray is trying to jumpstart his career with a move to the NL.

Prediction: 85 wins, just missing playoffs

Oklahoma City Twins (67-95)

The good news for the Twins is they only need to win 58 games to stay in the league. The bad news is they had the run differential of a 61-win team last season, so any decline in the actual talent level of the team could put them right on the bubble.

The most significant loss from last season's team is Glen Palmer, and it's generally a good sign when somebody like Palmer is a team's biggest loss. In the rotation, D'Angelo Pascual will probably decline a bit from his Season 9 performance, but Rico Silva should offset that by improving upon what Brandon Page gave the team.

The offense should be better for three reasons. First, Stu Butler almost has to improve upon his Season 9 effort at least a little bit. Second, Travis O'Connor will get a full season at shortstop and he's better than the dreck that manned the position last season. Third, Ray Lyons will get a full season in center field and he should be better than the departed Peter Jackson.

Prediction: 64 wins

AL East Preview: Season 10

Boston Red Sox (AL) benj13blue View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Season 9: 110-52, AL East Champs, World Series Champs
Notable acquisitions: Timothy Rivers, Bud Jones, Phil Jefferies, Miguel Bennett
Notable departures: Bryan Beckett, Jacob Stewart, Billy Stovall, Tomas Alvarado


The Masato/Beckett trade finally paid off for the Red Sox, as Season 9 culminated in a World Series title for the Boston faithful. GM benj13blue wasted no time this offseason, swapping out some expensive departing free agents for some cheaper alternatives, and trading away an aging star. The dropoff from Beckett to incoming youngster Miguel Bennett is substantial, but Bennett's a solid player in his own right, and should provide the Sox with several years of cheap, effective centerfield play. Losing both Stewart and Stovall hurts, but both were asking for more than the Sox could afford; nabbing Jefferies on the cheap should dull the blow. Aging great Billy Ray Prince doesn't seem to have the stamina to start anymore, and may require a move to the 'pen; to counter this, the Sox curiously signed a player even older than Prince in Timothy Rivers. It remains to be seen how much Rivers has left in the tank; past the triumvirate of Masato/Ellis/Jefferson, the rotation looks shaky at best. Still, the Sox return much of an offense that scored a jaw-dropping 1119 runs last season, and remain heavy favorites to repeat as division champs.

Prediction: 103-59, AL East champs

Philadelphia Phenomenauts (AL) cademord View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Season 9: 88-74, Wildcard, lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the Division Play-In Series
Notable acquisitions: Pablo Garces, Oscar Sugawara
Notable departures: Ozzie Zhang, Carl Gray, Darrell White

The Phenomenauts look to build upon last year's success (their first-ever playoff appearance). The team remains largely unchanged from last season, as most of their moves appear to be more cosmetic than anything else. Swapping Sugawara for White sacrifices some offense for defense at SS, while Garces would eat some of the innings left behind by Zhang. Getting rid of Grey's horrendous Season 6 ERA is a plus. The biggest factor, however, is having the kiddie corps together for a full season; last year's decision to leave many of their brightest stars in AAA for the first 20 games almost backfired, as they didn't clinch a playoff spot until the last game of the season. This year's team should be better equipped to ward off Syracuse and Co. for the 2nd WC in the AL.

Prediction: 91-71, Wildcard

New York Metropolitans (AL) sickchangeup View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Season 9: 72-90, 3rd place
Notable acquisitions: Louis Lyon, Ramon Martin, Jacob Stewart, Billy Stovall, Izzy Richard, Tommy Liverman, Benny Molina, Benito Ramirez
Notable departures: Cody Woods, Victor Lawrence, Taylor Smith, Jordan Holmes, Aaron Ford, Angel Montero, Pasqual Vazquez

The most successful franchise in Gleeman World history chose to tear it all down last season; consequently, Metropolitan fans suffered through the worst season in franchise history. However, GM sickchangeup turned heads this offseason by signing virtually every marquee free agent off the market. The Mets chose to discard innings eaters such as Lawrence, Montero, and Co., management instead acquired four of the best relievers available (Lyon, Stewart, Stovall, Richard), along with ageless wonder Benny Molina and solid vet Tommy Liverman. They also welcomed back two familar faces in Ramon Martin and Benitoo Ramirez. The new-look Mets should be competitive, and far superior to last year's edition. However, nobody's going to mistake this squad for the elite teams they fielded just a few seasons ago. It wouldn't surprise me if this team made the playoffs, especially if they decide to make an extra move or two to bolster the lineup. As they are, I see them falling a bit short.

Prediction: 85-77, 3rd place

Pittsburgh Pug Dogs (AL) calolson View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Season 9: 67-95, 4th place
Notable acquisitions: Paul Kirby, Ted Roskos, Victor Padilla
Notable departures: Philip Blake, Rico Silva, Louis Lyon, Claude Kydd

The Pug Dogs find themselves stuck in a division that's become increasingly more competitive, and have clearly fallen behind the curve. The rotation looks highly problematic; Otis Upshaw and Rex Byrd are fine options in the middle of the rotation, but they're uninspiring (to say the least) as the #1 and #2 starters. The other 3 slots are currently occupied by a 40 year-old declining has-been (Mo Greer), a 29 year-old never-was with 7 years in AAA and just 110 major league innings (Sammy Walker), and a familiar mediocrity (Alberto Melendez and his 5.29 career ERA). There are other options, but none of them are particularly appealing, either. Bringing in Kirby should help the offense, but not enough to make much of a difference. The Pug Dogs probably aren't bad enough to get the boot from the league, but it's entirely possible that they end up toeing that line.

Prediction:63-99, 4th place

NL West preview: Season 10

Anaheim Anteaters (112-50, NL West champion)

Half the rotation from Anaheim's Season 8 championship is gone. World Series MVP Louie Bonilla signed with division rival Boise as a free agent last offseason, and the ageless Benny Molina signed a monster deal with the Mets this offseason. The Anteaters brought in two new starting pitchers this offseason: Phil Sanders and Dennis Cohen. They'll compete with Trevor Peterson and J.D. Hardtke to join Kelvin Sullivan and Sal Roosevelt in the rotation. Ultimately, losing Molina and adding Sanders and Cohen should result in a slight downgrade to the rotation.

The bullpen is more problematic. The Anteaters said goodbye this offseason to Pete Hernandez, Grover Rowand, Phil Jefferies and Andres Quevedo, who combined for a 3.34 ERA in 264.1 innings last season. Anaheim signed outstanding reliever Tim Stark, but he won't be able to make up all those innings by himself.

Fortunately, last season's league-leading offense remains largely intact, led by Edwin Hogan, Richard Maxwell, Jin-Chi Choi, Lou Gil and Haywood Gipson. The only change is that outmaking expert Juan Candelaria is gone, to be replaced at third base by some combination of Taylor Smith and Patrick Hartman.

Season 10 prediction: 104 wins, NL West champion

Boise Mashers (89-73, wild card)

Following a second straight wild card appearance and a trip to the NLCS, the Mashers had a fairly quiet offseason. The only losses were pitchers Dennis Cohen and Jose Duran, shortstop Andre Beimel and outfielder D'Angelo Cedeno; none of them were particularly crucial to Boise's success last season.

The Mashers brought in relievers Calvin Brock and Paul Pearson. Brock was terrible last season, but he has talent and has been better in the past. He and Pearson should be at least as good as Cohen and Duran were, although losing Cohen means Boise has no safety net should something happen to the quality quartet of Louie Bonilla, Jae Chang, Christopher Cook and William Cheng.

Brock and Pearson join a nice bullpen trio of Keith Bryant, Victor Romero and Al Carrasco.

Boise also brought in shortstop Bo Brown, who should be at least as good as Beimel in a part-time role.

Once again, the Mashers should have a good pitching staff with an average offense (although the home park will skew the numbers a bit), but there's a bit more risk of collapse this season because of the thin rotation.

Season 10 prediction: 86 wins, no playoffs

Tacoma Down Pour (76-86)

After a busy Season 9, Tacoma has had an equally busy offseason. Gone are shortstop Benito Ramirez, outfielders Ramon Martin and Donald Nakamura and pitchers Darrin Bradley, Placido Coronado and Royce Wallace. Replacing them are outfielder Bernard Rhodes, infielders Darron Kirkland and Clarence Hampton and pitchers Ozzie Zhang and Patrick Doster.

Rhodes and Kirkland should definitely upgrade Tacoma's offense (which will also benefit from a full season of Wilt Knotts), but the defense may be questionable. The Down Pour are planning to use Kirkland at shortstop and rookie Glenallen Simontacchi in center field. They won't be the worst defenders ever at those positions, but they're both well below average.

Tacoma also welcomes back Tomas Granados, who lost almost all of Season 9 to injury. He, Doster and Zhang join Walt Hill and Robert Fikac in a rotation that should be slightly better than last season's.

The other plus for Tacoma is that top-notch prospects Al Guzman, Cliff Hawkins and Paul Lorin are all in Triple-A and ready to help out if needed (although Hawkins could certainly use a full season at that level).

Season 10 prediction: 88 wins, wild card

Salem Sidehill Gougers (54-108)

The Sidehill Gougers lost a handful of players this offseason, but the only one who's actually good is reliever Galahad Christiansen.

Salem went out and signed a trio of solid pitchers in Gabe Thompson, Santiago Blanco and Fernando Estalella and took a flier on Jose Duran, who was much better in Season 8 than in Season 9. Thompson, Blanco and Estalella, at least, should improve last season's third-worst pitching staff.

The only position player Salem brought in is Rule 5 draft pick Ugueth Marrero, who should be at least as good at shortstop as the departed Oscar Sugawara. Triple-A call-ups Nigel Juden and Paul Koh will platoon at catcher and should improve upon Tony Dixon's numbers. And Chris Mason will be a big help to the offense when he gets called up 20 or so games into the season.

Season 10 prediction: 65 wins