Another Saturday night drinking with scouts at the Barleymoe

             Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Johnny Walker, George Dickell, and Jack Daniels

Elijah: I thought we would try to find a guy like the immortal Mario Mendoza. The guy that every major league player was suppose to hit better  than him. I found the guy in our league. But before we do, I want to send a message to the owner.

Johnny : Your crazy Elijah, Mario Mendoza was a guy who rarely hit above .200. The Mendoza line is .200.

Elijah: Johnny you read too many simple statistics. The Mendoza line is actually the batting  average of a defensive specialist. If a defensive specialist is hitting better than you , why are you in the major leagues?

George: But  you don't want to do that?

Elijah: No, I need to talk to thebigdogs. I think they have the guy but maybe they don't want my opinion affecting the player's value.

Jack: So what in the hell are we going to talk about?

Elijah: What players in triple -A, are most likely to affect the major league playoffs?

Elijah: Well, you guys are the best of the best scouts. I thought you could talk about the over achievers in triple -A.

George: You think we are going to tell you who we think are 3-A, 4A and major league players.

Elijah: No, I think you will tell me who you think will help a team make the playoffs.

Johnny: Why would we do that?

Elijah: Inwardly, you all think you're the best scout ever and want to prove it. The fact that none of you are ever asked to scout an international bothers all of you , especially Johnny.

 George:  You said we were the best scouts.

Elijah: Well, we've been drinking for a while.

Jack: The best four relievers are: Kendry Calderon (BOS), Clayton Hudson (LOU), George Kerr (STL) and Shayne Hughes (NY1).

Johnny: I know you're impressed with Hughes' season--21 innings no earned runs allowed ; but my guess is that he will replace Sierra in the Empires bullpen very soon.

George: Any of those guys would look good on the Vegas roster.

Jack: And Boston is loaded with young high potential relievers. I'd watch this at the trade deadline.

George: I'd like to move on, and talk about position players. I really like Erick Standridge (AAA) of Vegas. The major league roster has two young catchers so this guy is just bait. Whoever pimpbotlove wants this guy is the collateral to swing the deal.

Johnny: Any team looking for a shortstop can take a look at Magglio Flores (ALB). He might be hitting as well as he will ever hit this year but the glove will always be there.

Jack: It's always about the home run hitter. If a team is looking for power they better talk to San Francisco about Polin Doubront (SF).

George: You're to late Jack. Polin Doubront (SF) has already been promoted to the major leagues.

Elijah: So am I suppose to believe that there are no power hitters to help a major league in the playoff races.

Johnny: There are some 4A players. Guys you might trusts as a pinch hitter but nobody with power to play everyday.

George: You can probably say the same thing about starting pitchers. Shayne Ashby (BUR) is the one impressing me at 3-A but milton7 would never trade him.

Elijah: Well boys that pretty much ends our discussion they want to close the bar early tonight. See you next week.

                            Another Saturday night, drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

                         Tonight Elijah Craig is joined Johnny Walker, Jim Beam and Henry McKenna

Elijah: I hope you remember that Seventy_77 asked us to talk about recent rookies of the year and what are their chances of making the Hall of Fame. That is why Henry is here. HE is my expert on the Hall of Fame.

Henry: Elijah, being selected Rookie of the Year really has nothing to do with the Hall of fame. Only 14 of the 54 guys in the Hall won the ROY award. 

Jim: Well Henry there have been some really bad Roy in the past. My favorite dud is Todd Kirby. He was selected in season 9. Only played in 571 games and batted .250 for his career. He crushed 50 homers his first season for milton7's Bulls. After that not so much. milton7 arbitrated him once and then he was gone.

Johnny: My favorite bad ROY was Garret Rivera. He loved my scotch whiskey. If he hadn't like it so much he might have pitched more than nine years. pimpbotlove  had him on the Tarpons in season18 and he did well. That was the only season he had an era under 4.30. Garret's problem was he thought being in the majors was all about the W's. nobody told him that the W's were wins , not whiskey and women. He won only 59 games and I heard his second wife would have been fine with it if he only had 59 girl friends. He was with some good owners pimpbotlove, mcbain and  milton7.

Elijah: So we wasted a lot of time talking about the sorry ones. Henry, can you give me an idea about what Hall of Famers have in common.

Henry: The average Hall of Famer is selected as an All star about 7.75 times in their career if they are a hitter and 8.25 if they are a pitcher. Only 4 of the 23 pitchers in the Hall never won a Cy Young award with the average being 2.5. Only 2 hitters failed to win sliver slugger with the average being 6.

Johnny: Jeimer Ortega won the award back in season 39. He leads all active Roy with 9 silver slugger awards and 8 All star  selections with 4 MVP awards.

Jim: And he's not slowing down. This season he is hitting .350 with 18 homers.

Elijah: How about pitchers.? Are any of them likely Hall of Famers?

Jim: I think it's obvious Carlos Chantres will make the Hall. He is only 32 and has 192 wins and an era of 2.10. There are 2 other experienced pitchers that I think might make the hall. Miguel Quiroz and Renato Viriato. Miquel is 34 and on the Mud Dogs, which always helps in the wins column. He's 23 wins away from 200 w's with a 2.92 era. He has 2 Cy Young trophies to go with his 3 all star appearances. Renato is only 32 and, although I have concerns about his longevity, he has 5 all star appearances and a 2.77 era.

Elijah: How about guys under 30? Who has a shot at the Hall.

Johnny: If George were here he would tell you Elijah that everyone under the age of thirty has a chance.Obviously Rey Jung who has 3 MVP, 6 sliver sluggers, and 5 all star appearances is all but in the Hall. Jose Johnson,  has the most MVP in the Hall of Fame with 7 and Jung is 29. So he could conceivably tie or break Johnson's record.

Jim: The young pitcher I'm looking at is Miguel Margot. He's also 29 has 5 all star appearances, 4 fireman of the year awards, and 325 saves.

Johnny: One last batter to watch is Phil Searle. He's 28 and has 3 silver slugger awards, 2 all star games, a .309 batting average and a 1.022 ops.

Elijah: Thanks fellas I think we should call it a night.

               Another Saturday night drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

    Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Jim Beam, George Dickel, and Johnny Walker

Elijah: Boys tonight we were supposed to talk about the upcoming draft. I checked the numbers and everybody still has over 6 million to spend.

George: So even though there have a few high priced internationals everybody is set to go.

Jim: Seems to me that the best internationals usually show up the week before the draft. Tempting all the owners to spend big and leaving them in a bind on the draft.

Johnny: Well the league certainly seems to have no clear disposition about how to acquire young players.

Elijah: Where are you going with this Johnny?

Johnny: The league average for College scouting is 11 million, 10 million for high school scouting, and 9 million for international scouting.

George: I think if an owner is putting most of his scouting in the draft it might be best to wait on the internationals .

Jim: Wait, wait for what. Unless you have the first pick you don't know who you're waiting for.  At least if you outspend everyone you get who you want.

Johnny: Fellows there are more drafted guys in the Hall of Fame than internationals.

George: I always thought if an owner put 9 million in international scouting he would only see about 9 players who should make the majors.

Jim: Some years are better than others , some are worse; but everybody sees a star or two. They just have to pounce when the star is available.

Elijah: Fella's I expected a little better discussion tonight.

George: You pick a limited topic and then want to blame us for a limited discussion.

Elijah: Well Seventy_77, asked if we could spend a little time discussing rookie of the year. Do they have a better chance at the hall of fame, etc. Please me better prepared next week.

Johnny: Okay we can do that.

Elijah:  Let's have one more drink and call it a night.

                    Another Saturday Night Drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

            Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker

Elijah: Well fellas what do you want to talk about?

Johnny: That is not how it works Elijah. You always tell us what the topic is.

Elijah: Well, I'm running out of ideas. So who has a topic for this week.

Jim: We might have already covered this but we could take another look at the season 45 draft.

Jack: Why that one Jim.

Jim: Well somethings nag me about that draft. Of the 10 highest drafted pitchers 6 have been on the disabled list.

Johnny: Seems high to me.

Jim: It is unusually high. Looking at the drafts before it, that many guys having DL time is high.

Jack: If you looked little closer the fielders have been on the DL almost as much.

Johnny: So can I guess Jim, you think that draft had a bunch of thoroughbreds.

Jim: I do. I think this may be the best draft class ever. If they stay healthy.

Jack: I hate to sound like George but EVER, really.

Jim: It was an unusual draft. 5 catchers drafted in the first round,  9 shortstops, 8 centerfielders.

Johnny: Well those numbers about right except for the the catchers. That is about 2 years worth of catchers.

Jack: And a lot of those guys rotate to corner infield and outfield and DH.

Jim: Still having a former shortstop at another position only makes the franchise better.

Johnny: Royce Howell has already moved to DH but he's hit 91 homers already in his major league career.

Elijah: What is the early look at this season draft?

Jim: Pittsburgh has 4 choices in the first round (1,16,33 and37). Colorado also has 4 (6,20,46,53).

Johnny: Florida has them both beat with 6 picks (14,30,34,39,47,52).

Elijah: The draft is September 6th. So all you guys be ready next Saturday to talk the draft. Okay?

Jack: Until next Saturday .

                                 First week of the season Dickles Pickles Top Five

1.) Seattle: record 9-2    Other than Missing Tripp Davis ,who he traded, it looks like the same team from last year.

2.) Fargo: record 8-3  Changes to the pitching staff here. Bridger Presley left for San Juan and replaced by Eugene Lo Duca from Pittsburgh.

3.) San Francisco: record 8-3   New owner has some guys in new roles and it seems like it's working.

4.) Charleston: record 7-4   The big change was trading second baseman Geraldo Bennett to Colorado and replacing him with former first round choice Hunter Varitek

5.) Augusta: record 7-4  The first thing you notice in Augusta is the rebuilt bullpen with a combination of youngsters from the farm and older more mature veterans

Things to watch this week:

                                           Stolmy Castro (COL) and his 12 game hitting streak

                                           Warren Frazier (OTT) has 9 home runs , already

                                           Welington Leon (SJU) has stolen 12 bases

                                            Pitcher Eli Saenz (LOU) has won 4 of the 7 games he has appeared in

                                            Pitcher Andy Hamilton (OTT) has 21 strikeouts in 20.33 innings

Best series this week:    Fargo at Augusta 8-20, 8-21

                                       Seattle at Charleston 8-20, 8-21

                                       San Juan at Las Vegas 8-21, 8-22

                                       Las Vegas at Toronto  8-23

From: thebigdogs

To: The Advisory Committee

Sent: 8/16/2020 2:12:00 PM

Subject: Hall of Fame 

Guys,

See if this works to communicate.  [Use the comments section below to reply].

Here are a few of my thoughts:

Not sure what you guys thoughts are for guidelines for this committee but I think we should recommend 3 guys at the most.  The last thing I want to do is take up everyone’s votes.  I think guys can be nominated for 5 years, so those we need to look at are: 

1. Seanez (soonest off ballet based off of retirement 52)
2. Tomilson (52)
3. Guerrero (52)
4. Feng (53)
5. Diaz (53)
6. Reyes (54)

Others:

1. Narveson (????might be off this year)
2. Harvey (????)
3. Patel (????)
4. Abreu (51)
5. Dresden (53)
6. Lowe (53)
7. Tanner (54)

Guys can be nominated 5 times and I can’t tell how many times they have been nominated.  Anyone know how to tell that?

                               Another Saturday night drinking with the scouts

        Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by George Dickel, Jack Daniels and Jose Cuervo

Elijah: Well fellas, we have another season. Once again we have failed to make preseason predictions.

Jose: I blame Stickman. We used to have a week or two between seasons and could figure things out.

Elijah: It is what it is. We could discuss the new owners or we could just talk about division stability.

Jack: If we discuss new owners, George is just going to upset them.

Elijah: Let's do it anyway. They have to get use to George anyway.

Jose: dudemac, maybe new to our league but has a lot of experience. 72 seasons total spread through 13 leagues. Looking at what he's done, he stays 8 or 9 seasons once he joins.

Jack: He will be a big improvement over the guys who come in for 1 season or 2; decimate a franchise and leave.

George: Every league has to have the young owner and we have one this year in san2snow. He also plays in the Vlad Guerrero league.

Jose: I think the previous owner of that franchise just left too early. Last season almost every hitter had a poorer season than the previous two seasons. That doesn't happen often and those guys should bounce back this season.

Jack: And we have the return of iam4real. 

Jose: Good to see him back. I wonder if he has changed much. First time he was in the league he was mainly a draft guy. He didn't sign any internationals that season.

Elijah: Fellas, we have three newbies, let's hope the older owners behave and don't abuse them with trades.

George: I think before we go someone should comment tmfran giving out 4 $10 bonuses. He must be going for it this season.

Jack: The nice thing about bonuses is you always have the guy for the next season at a much lower salary.

Elijah: Well that is it for tonight boys. Who needs an Uber?