League Updates Uncategorized

Idylls of the King

I’m not sure what an “idyll” is, unless it’s sitting around accomplishing nothing while ruminating about someone or something one admires.  If that’s what an idyll is, this is one. About the King.

Felix Hernandez got shelled Sunday: 2 ip, 11 runs, 7 earned. Meanwhile the M’s got one hit off Gerritt Cole and lost 21 – 1.

Next Saturday Ben and I will be at the Mariners game with Melissa and my grandson Enzo. This is at Enzo’s insistence.  Felix is scheduled to start that day.  I got us tickets near the field in the left field corner — the King’s Court area.  I hope to wave my yellow King Felix towel and/or a K card and see Felix have at least a reasonably good game.  I would like Enzo to see a great pitcher end his career well.

We didn’t have debutants in the EFL when Felix debuted. Our first shot at him was in the 2006 rookie draft.  In those days we could bid against each other in the first round.  This was the league’s third season, the year before John Johnson and Joel Perez joined, so there were six teams: Ryan, Phil, me, Tim Smith, Mark Wienert and rookie owner Tom Johnson. Things were easier then, without the younger half of the Johnson Gang.

Hernandez and Justin Verlander were in that draft, the most coveted pitchers along with Francisco Liriano.  I knew all three were likely to go in that first round. My main goal was to get one of them.  I decided Hernandez and Verlander were the two best.  I thought Tom and Ryan would want Hernandez so badly they’d drive up the price. So if it came to me and none of the three were off the board yet, I’d put up Hernandez, let them drive the price up sky high, then I’d pass. Then I’d count on someone else to bring up Verlander and outbid them.

I was prepared to go to $9,000,000 for Hernandez, about the highest anyone had paid for a rookie pitcher to that point, and a little higher if it came down to Verlander. But everyone else passed  on Felix at about $7,500,000.  So I ended up with King Felix at what I considered a bargain, and enjoyed 5 of his best years.  Verlander went later for a little more. I think Tom ended up with Liriano.

So far the Wolverines are the only EFL team Felix Hernandez has played for. His EFL career is just those five season: 2006 – 2010. We got 22.3 WAR out of Felix. His last year as a Wolverine he won the American League Cy Young Award.

Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Prince Fielder and Brian McCann  were in that draft.  I don’t remember anyone drafting Cano or Cruz.  I know we didn’t draft Hanley Ramirez, because he immediately blossomed after the draft,  much to our dismay.  Fielder and McCann, I think, went to someone.  Someone snagged Ryan Zimmerman — it wasn’t me.  I got him later in a trade.

As I remember it, when John joined our league in 2007, he couldn’t believe no one had taken Ramirez.

Not all hyped youngsters pan out. Jeff Francoeur was  a sure-fire superstar.  I was almost as thrilled to get Jeremy Hermida as Hernandez, because I could tell from his minor league record that Hermida was the next Lance Berkman, whose career bWAR ended up at 52.7.

How well did we do at getting the best players in that draft?  Here’s how they did in their debut year, and then in their EFL rookie years (2006 – 2010) as measured by Fangraphs WAR, and then their career so far in Baseball Reference WAR.

PLAYER                      2015          2016-2020     Career

Hanley Ramirez          -0.0              28.2               37.9

Brian McCann               0.5              27.4               31.8

Justin Verlander           0.1              24.8               70.2

Felix Hernandez           2.3              24.0               50.6

Ryan Zimmerman        0.7              23.2               37.8

Adam Wainwright      -0.1              17.7                 39.9

Robinson Cano             0.2              17.2                69.4

Prince Fielder                0.1              15.2                23.6

Francisco Liriano         0.5              11.9                 17.9

Nelson Cruz                   0.1               9.5                 37.3

Jeff Francoeur               3.0              3.0                   6.7

Jeremy Hermida          0.8               2.3                   2.7

(OK, so Hermida didn’t reach 52.7. But at least he got the 2.7 part down solid.)

Edgar Martinez just barely squeezed into the Hall of Fame with 68.4 WAR, so Verlander and Cano are the only 2015 debutants likely to join him.  On the other hand, Harold Baines got in via a veteran’s committee with 38.7 bWAR. If that’s the standard, Felix should be a lock, and Ramirez, Zimmerman, and Cruz should all be adding their z’s to the Hall.

Right after Lou Whitaker (75.1 bWAR).

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EFL Standings for 2019
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Portland Rosebuds 94 51 .649 922.7 677.7
Flint Hill Tornadoes 91 53 .630 2.9 899.6 678.9
Old Detroit Wolverines 85 59 .589 8.7 841.5 698.2
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 79 64 .552 14.1 763.4 674.8
Peshastin Pears 78 67 .535 16.5 756.9 707.1
Canberra Kangaroos 74 70 .514 19.5 808.2 789.2
Haviland Dragons 74 70 .514 19.6 801.5 773.9
Kaline Drive 69 75 .480 24.5 679.8 707.6
Cottage Cheese 64 79 .446 29.4 793.9 876.9
Bellingham Cascades 63 80 .438 30.4 659.0 749.1
Brookland Outs 61 82 .423 32.6 698.5 819.2
D.C. Balk 57 87 .395 36.7 632.7 786.4
 —  The Commissioner warmly invites you to write —
 —       comments on your team’s performance.         —
(We would all enjoy hearing from you rather than more of the Commissioner’s meanderings.)
Portland W, 12 – 7.  (52 PA, .386, .481, .750;   6.7 ip, 6 er, 8.10 ERA)
Among the traitor who abused King Felix, Rosebud Yordan Alvarez stands out. He went 4 for 6 with three of the Astros’ record 12 doubles. Myles Straw was also one of the brigands: 3 for 3. Treating the King this way does not endear you to the EFL front office.  Or the universe, either, which already took part of its vengeance out on Jacob Wagonspoke (sp?) who gave up 6 runs in 4.3 ip.
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Flint Hill W, 4 – 2. (39 PA, .206, .308, .500;  4.3 ip, 4 er, 8.31 ERA)
Wade LeBlanc was one of the relievers charged with cleaning up after the King, but he also allowed 3 runs to score in just 3 innings. The Tornados still crept to within 3 games of the Rosebuds.  Will it happen?  Will the big brother come back from a 2 – 0 count to strike out the little brother on a curve at the bottom of the zone? Maybe…
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Old Detroit: L, (-1) – 2. (48 PA, .159, .229, .182; 9 ip, 1 er, 1.00 ERA)
Why did the Wolverines use up their last roster move on the 9th of the month, adding Eric Lauer to the rotation? Because  a) he threw 6 innings with only 1 earned run, lowering his monthly ERA to 3.75, well below the team’s 4.70 ERA for the month, keying the best pitching day the W’s have seen in a long time, and b) the W’s have nothing to lose, and c) our only hope is to have the entire roster play its best for the next 3 weeks, in a sufficiently HUGE volume  of IP and PA to make up for the team’s uninspiring performance these last 9 days. We’ve pulled our goalie.  We have Randy Johnson warming up in the bullpen — well, no, we don’t even have a Randy Johnson, but we’re that desperate!  So far, it isn’t working. Yet.
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Pittsburgh: L, 2 – 8. (33 PA, .200, .273, .233; 0.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)
The second straight day without an earned run allowed did not win the game for the Alleghenys.  It was only over 0.7 innings, and the hitters barely cleared the Mockdoza line.
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Peshastin: W 2, L (-1), 9 – 4. (54 PA. .362, .444, .596 — Happy Edgar Martinez Day!; 16 ip, 4 er, 2.25 ERA).
Here’s the first team we’ve looked at that looked like a championship team Sunday. Outstanding hitting AND pitching!  Seven Pears (Calhoun, Eaton, Maldonado, Robles, Semien, Solak, and Soto)  OPSed 1.000 or better. Jack Flaherty pitched 8 dominant scoreless innings. Super stuff. Suddenly the Alleghenys hear footsteps behind them.
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Canberra: W, 8 – 4. (51 PA, .244, .333, .422; 3 ip, 1 er, 3.00 ERA). 
The Kangaroos’ numbers look to be a clear notch below the Pears’ but the results were nearly the same.  Kyle Tucker joined the mob bringing down the King, hitting 2 doubles and walking in 6 plate appearances. So disrespectful!  Suddenly the Dragons hear footsteps in front of them.
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Haviland: L, 4 – 6. (39 PA, .226, .385, .258; 11.7 ip,  7 er, 5.40 ERA)
8 of the 39 Dragon hitters walked, a walk rate over 20%. That plus Amed Rosario’s 3 for 5 day almost saved Haviland from slipping into 7th place.
Kaline: W, 5 – 3. (34 pA, .219, .235, .531; 2.3 ip, 0 er, 0 ERA).
A homer and two doubles off Avisail Garcia’s bat provided the punch to redeem a .219 batting average.  Two Drive relievers did their jobs, and the Kaline stockpile of innings sustained their low ERA. The Drive are still 4.9 games behind Haviland, but they still have time to make it dicey for the Dragons.
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Cottage: W, 7 – 3. (31 PA, .267, .290, .633; 10.3 ip, 2 er,1.74 ERA)
Three homers (Ramos, C. Seager, Thames) and two doubles (Ramos, Moncada) carried the Cheese offense — all without committing any wrongs to King Felix!  Dylan Cease and Sean Manaea rewarded Cheese faith with a wonderful performance into extra innings.
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Bellingham: W, 6 – 3. (15 PA, .417, .533, .750; 2 ip, 0 er, 0 ERA).
The Cascades are trying a new approach: keep the volume of AB low, but make up for lack of volume with abundance of quality. The key this time was Hanser Alberto’s 3 for 4 day. That and Charlie Culberson’s latest pinch hit homer. I tried to trade for Alberto just before the roster deadline. The Cascades ownership politely told me to forget about it.
Brookland: “W”, 3 – 8. (15 P, .182, .400, .182;  6 ip, 4 er, 6.00 ERA)
The key to the low calorie lineup is to have your 15 plate appearances produce a 1.200 OPS or better. You got a nice OBP, but need some extra bases!  Erik Swanson relieved Felix, let the King’s runners, then added two more earned runs of his own.  Future generations will look at the Outs’ roster and be amazed. “They had Bellinger, Guerrero Jr., and Machao, — and they won how many games?”  Hopefully a good historian will be around to point out they often had only those guys and maybe a couple others in the lineup, and had to play amidst swarms of replacements.
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DC:  L, 0 – 4. (45 PA, .122, .200, .171; 6.7 ip, 3 er, 4.05 ERA)
One could look at these last few teams and conclude a team is better off playing only 5 or 6 hitters, while making sure they’re really good.  This can’t be true… no wait!  Erase that! I encourage you all to emulate the Outs and Cascades! Shoot for five or six great hitters, fill in with no-shows, and spend the season trying to ride them to the championship. No, that’s okay, you go first.
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AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
New York Yankees 94 50 .653
Flint Hill Tornadoes 91 53 .630 3.3
Tampa Bay Rays 86 59 .593 8.5
Old Detroit Wolverines 85 59 .589 9.1
Boston Red Sox 76 67 .531 17.5
Toronto Blue Jays 55 89 .382 39
Baltimore Orioles 46 97 .322 47.5
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Atlanta Braves 89 55 .618
Washington Nationals 79 63 .556 9
Philadelphia Phillies 74 68 .521 14
Canberra Kangaroos 74 70 .514 14.9
New York Mets 72 70 .507 16
D.C. Balk 57 87 .395 32.1
Miami Marlins 51 91 .359 37
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Minnesota Twins 88 55 .615
Cleveland Indians 83 61 .576 5.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 79 64 .552 9
Chicago White Sox 63 80 .441 25
Bellingham Cascades 63 80 .438 25.3
Kansas City Royals 53 91 .368 35.5
Detroit Tigers 42 100 .296 45.5
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
St. Louis Cardinals 81 62 .566
Chicago Cubs 76 66 .535 4.5
Milwaukee Brewers 74 68 .521 6.5
Cincinnati Reds 67 77 .465 14.5
Cottage Cheese 64 79 .446 17.3
Pittsburgh Pirates 62 81 .434 19
Brookland Outs 61 82 .423 20.5
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 94 50 .653
Oakland A’s 84 59 .587 9.5
Haviland Dragons 74 70 .514 20
Texas Rangers 72 73 .497 22.5
Kaline Drive 69 75 .480 24.9
Los Angeles Angels 67 77 .465 27
Seattle Mariners 58 86 .403 36
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Portland Rosebuds 94 51 .649
Los Angeles Dodgers 93 52 .641 1.1
Peshastin Pears 78 67 .535 16.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 75 68 .524 18.1
San Francisco Giants 69 74 .483 24.1
San Diego Padres 66 76 .465 26.6
Colorado Rockies 60 84 .417 33.6