BIG MIG

Thank goodness for Miguel Cabrera and Adrian Gonzalez.  They're about all that separates this team from replacement level right now.  Each homered and went 2-for-4 last night.  Juan Uribe doubled to keep his hotness up.

Three starters went last night, Mark Buehrle, Kevin Millwood, and Ben Sheets.  It was a case of bad, worse and worst, as this kind of thing usually is.  Sheets wasn't that bad, six inning pitched with two earned runs, four hits and three walks.  Millwood managed to last eight innings, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks.  Buehrle got rocked, getting chased in the fifth after allowing six earned runs on nine hits and a walk.  Each one took the loss.  Luke Gregerson contributed a pristine inning of relief, including inducing a double play to erase the runner he inherited.

Mike Trout had two more hits and is hitting .375/.455/.464 in Cedar Rapids.  Justin Smoak is doing even better in Oklahoma City, with a .326/.500/.587 slash line.  A .500 OBP!  That's impressive.

I have good news on how the 2010 Strat version of the Gunslingers fared at home in April.  I'll include that when I do the month-end rundown after all the stats are in.

MASSET HYSTERIA

Nick Masset is already about halfway to his 2009 total of runs allowed, and it's only April 21st!  He gave up a three-run shot to Matt Kemp plus another run while only recording one out.  Well, it makes it easier to figure out who to cut next year.  Why can't I draft a bullpen that stays healthy and pitches well at least two years in a row?  Jose Mijares is on the DL with blurred vision and an elbow problem, neither of which look promising.  That leaves Luke Gregerson as the only 2010 bullpen draftee that might be around in 2011.

Darren Oliver, the one reliever who I can't seem to drive to an early retirement, didn't have a much better day, yielding three hits, a walk, and a run in one inning.  On offense, only Miguel Cabrera and the heretofore punchless Hunter Pence had multi-hit games, and nobody homered.  Jonathan Sanchez got the start for the Giants last night, gave up only one hit in seven innings, and got the loss.  Yeah, he's a Gunslinger all right.

The minors were very quiet.  Martin Perez and Alex White go tomorrow night based on Frisco's and Kinston's previous rotations.

TEAM EVALUATIONS: MADMEN

Team: Madmen

Conference: Patriot

Division: West

2009 Record: 58-104, 4th Place

Typical Lineup:

1B Todd Helton

2B Placido Polanco

SS Brendan Harris/Adam Everett

3B Kevin Kouzmanoff

LF Chris Coghlan

CF Mike Cameron/Carlos Gomez

RF Nate Schierholz

C Ivan Rodriguez/David Ross

DH Alex Rios/Gabe Gross 

Not a lot there.  The Madmen acquired Todd Helton in a trade just before the draft, and they drafted NL Rookie-of-the-Year Chris Coghlan.  Otherwise, they would really have nothing.  DH is especially poor.  The defense is very good, especially when Adam Everett plays SS.

Starting Rotation:

Wandy Rodriguez

Randy Wolf

Joel Pineiro

Brad Penny

Luke Hochevar

Tim Stauffer/Edinson Volquez/Brad Thompson

The top three can really get 'em out, but Penny and especially Hochevar are below average.  These guys will stay in a lot of games through five innings at least.

Juan Gutierrez

Zach Miner

David Weathers

Dan Wheeler

Brad Ziegler

Plenty to choose from.  Wheeler had a great year, but the rest are a motley bunch.

Closer:

C.J. Wilson

Not the best, but certainly adequate for the few leads he will have to protect.

Minors:

Brad Lincoln

It's lonely on the farm.

The Madmen are in a down cycle and will get regularly pummeled by division mates the Mammoths and the Chuggers.  They should actually hold their own against the rest of the league with that top three in the rotation, but the lack of offense and a sub-par bullpen will ultimately doom the club to a bad year.

Predicted Record:  60-102

OOOOH REE BAY

Juan Uribe looks like he is keeping up the form he showed in the second half last season, hitting his second homer of the season to raise his OPS to .951.  Bobby Abreu is off to his usual cold start, with another oh-fer last night.

Luke Gregerson and Ramon S. Ramirez each went beyond the customary one inning of work.  Gregerson retired all five hitters he faced, striking out two, while Ramirez allowed two hits in two innings.

Chris Withrow allowed a three-run home run to Ryan Royster of Montgomery, and struck out four while walking two in six innings.  Nothing special for a guy compared to Clayton Kershaw.  Aaron Crow did Withrow one worse by giving up two dingers in six and two-thirds innings.  One was to Koby Clemens for the second time this year.  You can suck up to Koby's dad all you want, Aaron, but it won't help.  Justin Smoak now has 14 BB and 5 SO after 12 games, yet somehow Ike Davis gets the call before he does.  It's an unjust world.

TEAM EVALUATIONS: CHUGGERS

Team: Chuggers

Conference: Patriot

Division: West

2009 Record: 104-58, 2nd Place

Typical Lineup:

1B Adam Dunn

2B Chase Utley

SS Hanley Ramirez

3B Ryan Zimmerman

LF B.J. Upton/Justin Upton

CF Dexter Fowler/B.J. Upton

RF Nick Markakis

C Victor Martinez/Henry Blanco/Alex Avila

DH Justin Upton/Randy Ruiz

Awesome, simply awesome.  Dunn is a liability at 1B, but who really cares?  Just a massively great lineup both offensively and defensively.  This is a lineup that the Upton family can really get behind.

Starting Rotation:

Felix Hernandez

Cole Hamels

Roy Oswalt

Zach Duke

Joba Chamberlain

Hernandez is one of the top pitchers of his generation, but Hamels and Oswalt did not live up to their usual greatness last year.  The Chuggers obtained the innings-munching Duke in trade during the draft, and Chamberlain appears to be back in the bullpen for the Yanks after a tough 2009 campaign.  This is a real weakness area against the Mammoths, and probably why the Chuggers will squash the rest of the league and come up short in the playoffs.

Bullpen:

Mike Adams

Phil Hughes

Hong-Chi Kuo

Arthur Rhodes

Joakim Soria

Another big strength for the Chuggers.  Adams will be untouchable for 37 innings.  Soria is also a great closer, but they won't need him much in that role.

Closer:

Mariano Rivera

Because they have this guy.

Minors:

Bobby Borchering

Jason Castro

Simon Castro

Starlin Castro

Alex Colome

Bryce Harper

Slade Heathcoat

Brett Lawrie

Josh Reddick

Wilin Rosario

Stephen Strasburg

Julio Teheran

And the beat goes on.  The Chuggers often use their perennial wealth of talent to trade up to get the 1st or 2nd overall draft pick.   They did that last year with Strasburg and again this year to get Harper.  They've also cornered the Castro market, and they have some other interesting pieces in there.  The Chuggers should remain at the top tier of the standings for at least another five years with this crop of youngsters.

The Chuggers should have no problem posting a huge win total on the backs of the patsies of the league, like me, but they will struggle to beat the Mammoths, who have a far superior starting pitching staff and nearly as good a lineup.  The league will come down to these two giants, and it will take some luck for the Chuggers to prevail.

Predicted Record:  100-62

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT STUNK

Man, did the Gunslingers hitters ever have a rotten week, while the pitchers were merely not bad.  The Team OPS dropped from .917 to .783 (.656 for the week), and the OPSA fell from .818 to .736 (.648 for the week).  The spread is a little too close for my liking.

Only Miguel Cabrera and Adrian Gonzalez are what you might consider "hot".  David Wright is on a 120 walk pace, but he's not making a lot of contact.  The bullpen is in free-fall, with all three 2010 draftees plus Ramon S. Ramirez getting lit up every time out.  The starters are surprisingly OK, except for Jamie Moyer, who is on the fast train to being DFA'd right into retirement.  Kevin Millwood has had a surprisingly good start to the season, and Ben Sheets is not embarrassing himself too badly.  Brian Matusz has endured some bad managerial decisions, or his numbers would be even better.  As a team, we're giving up too many hits, but the SO, BB, and HR ratios are pretty good.

Aaron Hill should be back on Friday.  Other than that, we've been healthy (knock on Dave Tremblay's skull).

Here are the totals after 2 weeks.

BATTERS (Change Display Statistics)

Name	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	CS	SB	TB	BB
Bobby Abreu	.231	.259	.404	.663	52	5	12	7	2	1	1	21	2
Miguel Cabrera	.370	.473	.630	1.103	46	8	17	14	3	2	0	29	9
Kosuke Fukudome	.306	.341	.444	.786	36	4	11	6	1	0	1	16	3
Adrian Gonzalez	.341	.500	.585	1.085	41	9	14	5	2	0	0	24	12
Aaron Hill	.125	.222	.250	.472	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
Russell Martin	.290	.452	.452	.904	31	6	9	2	1	0	0	14	9
Hunter Pence	.156	.156	.222	.378	45	4	7	2	1	1	1	10	0
Carlos Quentin	.200	.327	.400	.727	45	9	9	11	2	0	0	18	6
Alexei Ramirez	.233	.233	.349	.581	43	4	10	4	1	0	0	15	0
Chris Snyder	.217	.333	.391	.725	23	2	5	6	1	0	0	9	4
Andres Torres	.071	.235	.071	.307	14	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	3
Juan Uribe	.326	.380	.465	.845	43	8	14	10	1	1	1	20	5
David Wright	.244	.466	.512	.978	41	6	10	6	3	1	4	21	17
TOTAL	.256	.356	.427	.783	468	65	120	73	18	7	8	200	71

PITCHERS (Change Display Statistics)

Name	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	SO	ERA	WHIP	BS	Hold	R	ER	PA	AB	H	HR	TB	BB	UBB	IBB	HBP	SF	SH	DP	H9	SO9	HR9
Mark Buehrle	.224	.289	.316	.605	3	3	21.0	2	1	0	7	3.00	1.14	0	0	10	7	84	76	17	1	24	7	7	0	0	0	1	4	7.29	3.00	0.43
Luke Gregerson	.222	.300	.278	.578	5	0	4.3	0	0	0	5	6.23	1.38	0	1	4	3	20	18	4	0	5	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	8.31	10.38	0.00
Kenshin Kawakami	.295	.333	.409	.742	2	2	11.0	0	2	0	3	4.91	1.45	0	0	7	6	48	44	13	0	18	3	3	0	0	1	0	1	10.64	2.45	0.00
Nick Masset	.321	.412	.429	.840	7	0	6.7	2	1	0	11	9.45	2.10	0	0	7	7	34	28	9	1	12	5	4	1	0	1	0	0	12.15	14.85	1.35
Brian Matusz	.235	.312	.250	.562	3	3	18.7	2	0	0	23	4.34	1.23	0	0	9	9	77	68	16	0	17	7	7	0	1	1	0	1	7.71	11.09	0.00
Jose Mijares	.462	.533	.923	1.456	5	0	3.0	0	0	0	2	6.00	2.67	0	2	2	2	16	13	6	2	12	2	2	0	0	0	1	1	18.00	6.00	6.00
Kevin Millwood	.295	.300	.500	.800	3	3	18.7	0	2	0	20	2.89	1.29	0	0	10	6	80	78	23	4	39	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	11.09	9.64	1.93
Jamie Moyer	.294	.321	.490	.811	2	2	12.0	1	1	0	7	7.50	1.42	0	0	10	10	53	51	15	3	25	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	11.25	5.25	2.25
Darren Oliver	.200	.238	.400	.638	6	0	6.0	0	0	0	7	1.50	0.67	0	1	1	1	21	20	4	1	8	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6.00	10.50	1.50
Ramon Ramirez	.318	.375	.545	.920	5	0	5.0	0	0	0	2	9.00	1.80	0	0	5	5	24	22	7	1	12	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	12.60	3.60	1.80
Francisco Rodriguez	.222	.364	.278	.641	5	0	5.0	1	0	0	6	1.80	1.40	1	0	1	1	22	18	4	0	5	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	7.20	10.80	0.00
Jonathan Sanchez	.222	.300	.267	.567	2	2	12.3	1	0	0	17	2.19	1.22	0	0	3	3	51	45	10	0	12	5	5	0	0	0	1	1	7.30	12.41	0.00
Ben Sheets	.297	.387	.500	.887	3	3	17.0	1	0	0	8	2.65	1.71	0	0	6	5	75	64	19	1	32	10	10	0	0	1	0	2	10.06	4.24	0.53
TOTAL	.270	.331	.406	.736	51	18	140.7	10	7	0	118	4.16	1.39	1	4	75	65	605	545	147	14	221	49	47	2	3	5	3	11	9.41	7.55	0.90