If the Republicans are already having debates, it must be 2016! Or, at least, almost 2016, right? Then we’ve got no time to lose! We need to check in on how things are shaping up for the 2016 Rookie Draft.
| EFL | ||||||
| Team | Wins | Losses | Pct. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 75 | 39 | .661 | — | 575.2 | 407.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 71 | 40 | .641 | 2.7 | 552.5 | 411.9 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 66 | 46 | .586 | 8.7 | 534.1 | 448.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 62 | 51 | .550 | 12.7 | 485.7 | 438.2 |
| Cottage Cheese | 61 | 51 | .543 | 13.5 | 478.7 | 434.5 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 59 | 52 | .531 | 14.9 | 524.8 | 492.7 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 50 | 63 | .446 | 24.5 | 575.3 | 646.3 |
| Kaline Drive | 49 | 65 | .427 | 26.7 | 440.8 | 518.0 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 41 | 72 | .367 | 33.4 | 442.8 | 588.5 |
Portland: “L”, 6 – 1. .314, .351, .429; 6 ip, 0 er. The Rosebuds have a 3 1/2 game lead over the Phillies for the first pick in the 2016 Rookie Draft. Yesterday Yordano Ventura pitched 6 shutout innings, a nasty setback for the Rosebuds’ efforts to nail down that pick, but they still have time to recover.
Kaline: “W”, 3 – 6. .219, .278, .406; 1.7 ip, 0 er. A lot of people feel sorry for Mike Zunino, who seems like a nice guy but who has gone 0 for 25 for August. But look at it this way: he’s leading the Drive for a good Kaline draft pick right now. At the moment the Drive are sitting on the 5th overall pick, right where they were a year ago. If the Drive win through to a higher pick, the credit may need to go to Mike Zunino.
Canberra: L, 2 – 5. .231, .310, .385; 6 ip, 2 er. Is it a good day if you go 1 for 6 with a homer, like Stephen Drew did? It’s an .833 OPS, but only a .167 OBP. Kind of a mixed bag in the competition for high draft picks. At the moment the ‘Roos would get the 7th overall pick, but only need the Red Sox to win 0.5 games to snag the 6th spot — and have the A’s and Braves breathing down their necks, threatening to push them back to #8.
Flint Hill: W, 7 – 0. .343, .395, .543; 8 ip, 0 er. What is going on here? How can you indulge in 8 shutout innings, and all that excellent offense? Are you still living as if it’s only 2015? Your draft pick has already sunk all the way to #18. The Giants, Astros, and Mets are all lined up to take your position away from you. Can’t Chris Davis (2 for 3 with a homer and a walk) go back to sleep?
Cottage: W, 6 – 5. .270, .341, .486; 15.3 ip, 6 er. The Dodgers sent Yasiel Puig through revocable waivers and someone tried to claim him. Who would do such a thing? Puig has been incredibly valuable in Cottage’s quest for good draft position. A quest, I might add, at which they’ve been doing rather poorly: 21st at the moment, right after the Tornados, with a pack of MLB teams on their heels. Puig’s rare good game yesterday (2 for 4 with a triple and a homer) moved the Cheese even further back in the draft.
Peshastin: L, 3 – 4. .231, .273, .288; 2.3 ip, 0 er. Yasmany Tomas went 2 for 2 with a double yesterday but the rest of the team covered for him to limit the damage to the Pears’ Draft Pick Push. I can’t overstress the urgency of the situation: the Pears are currently virtually tied with the Yankees for the 24th pick.
Pittsburgh: W, 6 – 3. .318, .392, .432; 2.7 ip, 0 er. The Alleghenys are currently on the bubble for the 26th overall pick. Mike Trout, always a stand-up kind of guy, stood up with an 0 for 4 yesterday to try to ease the Alleghenys forward in the draft a little. Young Stephen Piscotty (3 for 4 with a double) hasn’t gotten the “2016 is now!” memo.
Old Detroit: W, 8 – 2. .340, .393, .509; 21.7 ip, 6 er. The Wolverines are getting a little careless about their draft position since the odds are it will be the Kangaroos’ draft position next year. Tsk, tsk, to take one’s fiduciary duties to another so cavalierly. Do you know who the worst offender is amongs the Wolverine hitters? Well, it’s Anthony Rizzo — no surprise there, with his 1.196 August OPS. Second worst? Gregory Polanco, 1.026 OPS in August. Third? Surprisingly, Justin Upton (.967 OPS). Rounding out the top four? Jackie Bradley, Jr. ! .914 August OPS after his big day yesterday (2 for 4 with a triple and a highlight-reel catch). Current draft position: 28 or 29.
Haviland: L, 1 – 2. .154, .313, .205; 18 ip, 5 er. Yeah, go ahead, Dragons, try to repair the damage you’ve done. You’ve laid waste to the EFL — and to your own draft position — and now you get to discover that you can’t bring burnt, half-devoured things back to life no matter how sorry you are. Right now you have the 30th pick in the draft all to yourself, with no one seriously challenging you. Trevor Rosenthal could allow an earned run once in a while — something he hasn’t done yet this month. Someone could remind Kyle Schwarber that raw debutant catchers shouldn’t have OPSes of 1.144 for the month.