Greater Chicago Strat League
Newsletter
August 5, 2019
KEY DATES:
1. 8/11/2019 (Sunday) – 25-man rosters and pitching rotations (Starter Schedule) due.
2.
8/21/2019
(Wednesday) – Final
player settings and manager tendencies, along with default lineup number
specifications for each game due.
TRADE SUMMARY (since
7/3) - 16 TEAMS MAKE DEALS!:
To
HUC: Ryan Zimmerman and HMA-14
To
HMA: Hector Santiago* and HUC-10
To CUB: Nick
Vincent, Tommy Hunter and BUR-12
To BUR:
CUB-5
To NYY:
Edgar Santana and AAR-13
To AAR:
NYY-12
To TAM:
Brandon Lowe*
To CAL:
Jesus Aguilar
To TAM:
DYE-4
To DYE: Framber Valdez*, Jose Leclerc and TAM-14
To WRK: Noe
Ramirez, Andrew Suarez*, Carter Kieboom (Taxi) and
HOH-4
To HOH: Sean
Manaea*, Joe Jimenez and WRK-8
To VRN:
Seung-hwan Oh and Cole Hamels*
To COL:
Brandon Woodruff and Tyler Mahle
To BUR: Joey
Wendle* and Wilson Ramos
To CHI: Luke
Maile and Ryan McMahon* (Taxi)
To BUR:
HOH-13
To HOH: Paul
Blackburn and BUR-15
To HUC:
TAM-10
To TAM: Kyle
Seager* and HUC-15
To CRC:
Isiah Kiner-Falefa
To DUB:
Wellington Castillo
To COL:
TAM-7
To TAM:
Brian Johnson* and COL-10
To HOH:
Freddy Peralta and DUB-12
To DUB: Paul
Blackburn and HOH-7
To HOH:
Diego Castillo and Jonathan Holder
To CUB:
Pedro Baez
What this means for HUC (2 trades,
78-36, 19 game Div lead):
Total Additions: Ryan
Zimmerman, TAM-10 and HMA-14
Total Subtractions:
Hector Santiago*, Kyle Seager*, HUC-10 and HUC-15
As their lefty killers run out of ABs, a
new 1B option joins the fold, hopefully part of their playoff roster. No carryover players here unless Seager gets
hot the rest of the way.
What this means for HOH (4 trades,
71-43, 4 game lead for 2nd bye):
Total Additions: Sean
Manaea*, Joe Jimenez, Freddy Peralta, Diego Castillo,
Jonathan Holder, WRK-8, DUB-12 and BUR-15
Total Subtractions:
Noe Ramirez, Andrew Suarez*, Pedro Baez, Carter Kieboom
(Taxi), HOH-4, HOH-7 and HOH-13
A team that has embraced the concept of a
strong bullpen making a weak rotation irrelevant, Manaea
steps in as the #1 starter for this playoff bound team and Holder, Castillo and
Jimenez add more high quality arms to the pen.
Not clear if Peralta will start or relief - but a valuable addition at
either role. They will miss Kieboom and a 4th, but the rest is noise. HOH is looking
for another title this year - and this will help make them a favorite.
What this means for CAL (1 trade,
67-47, tied for Div lead):
Total Additions: Jesus
Aguilar
Total Subtractions:
Brandon Lowe*
Desperate to add a left handed bat to
their bench, they will have to settle for some serious pop from the right
side. Likely backing up Freeman at 1B
and seeing some time at DH, Aguilar immediately becomes the best HR hitting
option in the lineup. The cost was steep
in a young very good 2B, but this also keeps Aguilar away from his division
rival.
What this means for BUR (3 trades,
67-47, tied for Div lead):
Total Additions: Joey
Wendle* and Wilson Ramos, CUB-5, HOH-13
Total Subtractions:
Nick Vincent, Tommy Hunter, Paul Blackburn, Luke Maile,
Ryan McMahon* (Taxi), BUR-12 and BUR-15
Preparing for a deep playoff run, BUR
adds a defensive and speed upgrade at 2B and a bat and arm upgrade behind the
plate. Expect both of these players to
be critical down the stretch and in the playoffs. Also trading away some excess pitching for
draft picks, all he really gave up here was a good but not great upside 24 year
old 1B in McMahon.
What this means for VRN (1 trade,
59-55, 1 game lead for 2nd WC):
Total Additions: Seung-hwan Oh and Cole Hamels*
Total Subtractions:
Brandon Woodruff and Tyler Mahle
Not clear if they are battling for the
playoffs are focusing on the #1 pick, neither Oh or Hamels are expected to be
on the playoff roster should they hold on to the WC. They will provide some depth down the stretch
as VRN hopes to hold off a slew of teams right behind them. Both Woodruff an Mahle
look to be mid/back rotation keepers for next year, so we will see if this deal
pays off. Hamles
looks like he will settle into a back of the rotation role for VRN next year as
well.
What this means for DYE (1 trade,
58-56, 1 game back in WC):
Total Additions: Framber Valdez*, Jose Leclerc and TAM-14
Total Subtractions:
DYE-4
They added an elite closer and a good
lefty that can start or relieve, but will it be enough to keep up with
VRN? The #1 pick may be a good
consolation prize and Leclerc will end up working his way onto the carryover
list at least as a middle reliever.
What this means for DUB (2 trades,
58-56, 1 game back in WC):
Total Additions: Wellington
Castillo, Paul Blackburn and HOH-7
Total Subtractions:
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Freddy Peralta and DUB-12
After an incredible July finds him just 1
game out of the playoffs, they decide not to buy into the excitement. They make a couple of very minor deals - more
to help others than do anything for themselves.
What this means for NYY (1 trade,
57-57, 2 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Edgar
Santana and AAR-13
Total Subtractions:
NYY-12
One of the few teams with a rotation
outperforming their bullpen, they really needed to add some quality arms to
make a run. Santana is one solid arm,
but not sure he will be enough to hold off teams chasing NYY - much less allow
them to move into the Wild Card. On the bright side, they gave up nothing.
What this means for CUB (2 trades,
56-58, 3 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Nick
Vincent, Tommy Hunter, Pedro Baez and BUR-12
Total Subtractions:
Diego Castillo, Jonathan Holder and CUB-5
The bullpen is arguably the strength of
this team with a 3.30 ERA, but yet they are 2-9 in extra inning games and 13-26
in 1-run games. Adding 2 more good arms
to their pen may have been enough to make a playoff run, but then they sent
away arguably their top 2 relievers.
They did get a solid setup guy for next year on Baez, but will it cost
them in the race for the #1 pick?
What this means for AAR (1 trade,
55-59, 4 games back in WC):
Total Additions: NYY-12
Total Subtractions:
Edgar Santana and AAR-13
The fan base is not happy as they trade
away role players to their competition instead of adding some talent to make a
late run. It is probably unrealistic
that they would jump all the teams they would need to in order to get the WC,
but I am not sure this is enough to lose an arm in the race for an early first
round pick.
What this means for CHI (1 trade,
52-62, 7 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Luke
Maile and Ryan McMahon* (Taxi)
Total Subtractions:
Joey Wendle* and Wilson Ramos
They were in it until a rough month
dropped them out of the division race in July and now find themselves looking
to next year. McMahon is a fair
prospect, but as a COL 1B with only an .800 OPS, he still needs to find his
power stroke. Giving up both these
players for this return feels like CHI may have waited a bit too long to make
this move, costing him some value in return.
Still, neither has much value for next year and CHI gets what value he can..
What this means for CRC (1 trade,
52-62, 8 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Isiah
Kiner-Falefa
Total Subtractions:
Wellington Castillo
Just about usage - no impact for next
year.
What this means for COL (2 trades,
51-63, 8 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Brandon
Woodruff, Tyler Mahle and TAM-7
Total Subtractions:
Seung-hwan Oh, Cole Hamels*, Brian Johnson* and
COL-10
None of these guys were going to help him
this year, so COL is looking to next year.
Both Woodruff and Mahle will have limited
innings, but will be an improvement over the lefty Hamels in the COL rotation
next year.
What this means for TAM (4 trades,
51-63, 8 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Brandon
Lowe*, Kyle Seager*, Brian Johnson*, DYE-4 COL-10 and HUC-15
Total Subtractions:
Jesus Aguilar, Framber Valdez*, Jose Leclerc, TAM-7,
TAM-10 and TAM-14
Trying to move some expiring contracts
for some pieces to rebuild around, they successfully added a 25 year old impact
2B (especially vs R) and another early pick.
Seager could surprise and end up being a good defensive 3B option, but
probably just some tabs to make it through the replay. Johnson is just for usage.
What this means for WRK (1 trade,
49-65, 10 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Noe
Ramirez, Andrew Suarez*, Carter Kieboom (Taxi) and
HOH-4
Total Subtractions:
Sean Manaea*, Joe Jimenez and WRK-8
After a good start, a recent slide has
them focused on next year - and an injured Manaea was
not going to be carried over and Jimenez has some work to do to be a carry over consideration.
Suarez is return innings and move to the pen makes Ramirez less
valuable, but he could be a solid S/R option for next year. Kieboom is the
prize here, killing the ball at AAA and already had a cup of coffee with the Nats playing SS at only 21.
What this means for HMA (1 trade,
48-66, 11 games back in WC):
Total Additions: Hector
Santiago* and HUC-10
Total Subtractions:
Ryan Zimmerman and HMA-14
In need of some bullpen innings, they get
a late round pick swap and some starter/reliever innings in exchange for 2
months of a lefty killer. No carryover
players here.
PLAYOFF RACES:
CAPITOL:
A 20 win
July for HUC and a 7 win July for VRN seems to have put an early end to
this race as HUC now holds a 19 game lead and is 7 up for the #1 seed. Despite the rough month, VRN still holds the
2nd WC spot, although 2 teams are 1 game back and a boatload more follow. Although VRN is fully staffed and added some
more depth via trade, they have 14 games remaining against division leaders and
6 more against teams .500+. SYI, COL and WRK probably
have too many teams to pass to make a legitimate run.
Projection: HUC holds on for the Division and a first round bye and VRN
hopes for a chance to play a game 163 for the Wild Card.
MIDWEST:
A 14 win
July for GGG extended his lead to 7
games over DYE (12-12 July). They go head-to-head for 8 games this month,
so that will be huge if DYE wants a chance to catch GGG - they probably need to
win 6 of them. Meanwhile, DYE also sits
just one game back of VRN for the 2nd WC - and they will meet for a 3 game
series in September. CHI had an awful 6-18 July to not just
fall out of the Division race, but the playoff race overall as they sold at the
deadline. TAM and SRD look to next
year.
Projection: GGG holds on for the Division and DYE made just enough moves
to catch VRN and play a game 163 for the Wild Card.
SOUTH CENTRAL:
It may have
already been over after June, but a 17 win July for HOH gives them a 14 game lead and a 4 game lead in the race for a
first round bye - now with some more pitching for the stretch run. Meanwhile, an 11-13 record in July kept NYY from moving into the 2nd WC and
keeps them 2 back of VRN and also 1 back of DYE and DUB. Not sure they did enough at the deadline to
change that. Even AAR (4 back) and OAK (5
back) are in the race if they would have added, but AAR sold a little and OAK
slept through the trade deadline. HMA is trying to avoid 100 losses.
Projection: HOH holds on for the Division and a first round bye and the
other teams compete for first round positioning.
COASTAL:
A 15 win
July for CAL catches them up to
division leader BUR, who managed
only 13-11 - but they will claim a division title and the top wild card between
them. They go head-to-head for 8 games
the final month - with CAL having pretty easy schedule outside that
battle. A 16 win month for DUB shocked many and vaulted them to
just 1 game back of the 2nd WC. CUB is still in it at just 3 back and
added some nice bullpen help, but they have a lot of teams to jump and face an
impossible schedule. CRC is trying to figure out how they
can get talent around Trout!
Projection: CAL finishes strong with the addition of Aguilar to claim
the division Division and despite some nice deadline
additions, BUR settles for the top Wild Card.
DUB returns to sub-500 baseball and hopes to hold on to a top 2 pick.
#1 PICK WATCH:
Based on my
above commentary, the top pick will end up going to either VRN (59) or DYE (58)
- with the other as the WC. CUB (56)
does enough to get the #2 pick and NYY (57), DUB (58), AAR (55), OAK (54), SYI
(54) and CHI (52) round out the top 8.
SRD has pretty much locked up the first pick in rounds 2 and beyond.
The only 1st
Round picks to get traded are CAL and BUR - and they are both pretty much
locked into the playoffs, so they will be in the last 6 of the round.
VOTE RESULTS:
FINES & FINANCES:
Bank
Balance: $2052.57
Payments:
$104 to HOH ($44 reimburse for Strat game, no charge for engraving, $60 credit)
Outstanding
Credits: SYI $20 - plus everyone will get a $40 credit at the end of this
season.
League
Balance: $2032.57