Sing it Juanyea

And I'll take, with me the memories, to my sunshine after the rain, it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

This was my class song when I graduated from Liverpool (N.Y.) High School in 1995. Today, we'll use it to bid adieu to the imaginary men that retired from the Wailing Onion today. They include:

John Alexander: Played three seasons in Seattle at shortstop. A career .277 hitter.

Cory Redding: Journeyman starter on the downside of a career as a workhorse. 20-25 ML record with a 5.27 ERA.

The rest were career minor leaguers. These were the only ML players of note that I saw.

Single-Season Records Smashed

Here's a quick check of the record book and which marks fell in Season Three:

Timo Phillips/SJ: .382 BA (tie - S.2 Pat Saunders/KC). Incidentally, Timo also has the top three single-season OPS marks.

Andy Porter/MIL: 33-game hit streak

Bubba Sisler/CHA: 2.02 ERA

Sonny Anderson/BUF: 86 appearances (tie - S.1 Juan Navarre/LV)

Barry Hubbard/PHI: 50 saves (tie - S.1 Duke Monroe/PHI)

Coming Soon...

Okay, so I never got the draft preview up. I suck.

My job(s) have gotten out of control and this blog has fallen off my radar screen. So, I introduce a new set of hand to Onionball. Ralph Bedwell, known to the chat forum as rbedwell and the owner of Portland, will join the fray as a poster to the Onionball forum.

If you are interested in posting to the forum, sign up for a blogger.com account and e-mail me at jpquark at earthlink dot net.

OnIoNDEX

Still looking for a proper title for the power rating. Anyhow, no surprises here. You'll see the top five is made up of four of the same clubs. Cincinnati's index is down more than .05. I could tell you why, but I already closed the Excel spreadsheet. Whoops.

Four teams have made double-digit climbs and four others have sunk like my 401k, posting double-digit losses.

1 Cincinnati Motorboaters 0.673445783 (/)
2 Atlanta Mad Dogs 0.642110092 (+9)
3 Washington D.C. Senators 0.626355932 (-1)
4 Boston Minutemen 0.626112676 (/)
5 Nashville Saints 0.625375 (/)
6 Philadelphia Flash 0.610526316 (/)
7 Buffalo Hot Wings 0.6096875 (/)
8 Arizona Amberwoods 0.594653333 (+16)
9 Kansas City Royals 0.564064516 (-5)
10 Seattle Steelheads 0.563287356 (-4)

11 Anaheim Asylum 0.5617 (+8)
12 Austin City Limit 0.547520833 (+11)
13 Colorado Springs Cricket Club 0.532054054 (-5)
14 Charlotte Webs 0.518391304 (+14)
15 Little Rock Voodoo Cats 0.5173 (-6)
16 Minnesota North Stars 0.5172 (+5)
17 Detroit Great Lake St 0.502272727 (/)
18 New York Chechakos 0.50225 (/)
19 Memphis In The Meantime 0.501385714 (+12)

20 Cleveland Wahoos 0.485826087 (-5)
21 San Juan Epsteins 0.47025 (-1)
22 Santa Fe Booze Hounds 0.46922449 (+5)
23 Pittsburgh Diamond Kings 0.438688525 (+2)
24 Burlington Pitch Factory 0.423226415 (-2)
25 Columbus Come from Behinders 0.418 (+4)
26 San Francisco Slingers 0.37689011 (-14)
27 Milwaukee Malt Liquors 0.376820513 (-17)
28 Chicago Cubbies, of course 0.376327869 (-15)
29 Portland Beavers 0.36045122 (-3)

30 Los Angeles Stars 0.345205882 (/)
31 Monterrey Surf Riders 0.32895 (+1)
32 Augusta Black Bears 0.312930818 (-16)

What's Happening Abroad?

The scouts have been out. Here's a wrap of what's been happening in international signings:

Player Signing Franchise Pos Bonus Contract Type
Damian Park New York Chechakos P $10.2M MILB w/STI
Polin Unamuno Little Rock Voodoo Cats P $110K MILB
Luis Gonzales Cleveland Wahoos P $125K MILB
Erubiel Blanco Charlotte Webs LF $14.3M MILB
Tony Machado Memphis In The Meantime 3B $2.0M MLB
Carlos Mendez Cleveland Wahoos P $250K MILB
Benito Valentin Anaheim Asylum P $3.0M MILB
Alex Duran Monterrey Surf Riders 1B $3.0M MILB
Victor Lopez Los Angeles Stars C $3.4M MLB
Geronimo Perez Pittsburgh Diamond Kings P $3.5M MILB
Ricardo Mercedes Memphis In The Meantime SS $3.6M MILB
Miguel Montero Little Rock Voodoo Cats RF $5.8M MLB
Gorkys Blanco Memphis In The Meantime RF $60K MILB
Louie Nunez San Francisco Slingers 1B $63K MILB
Don Bang Memphis In The Meantime P $800K MILB

Welcome to the Deadball Era

Pictured at right is Gavvy Gravath, the biggest slugger of the the Deadball Era.

Remember when we first started this little league. A guy named Nerio Turner was hitting home runs at a pace that should have netted him 120+ for the season. Milwaukee had multiple 50 and 60 home run hitters. Teams with 1,000+ runs were a dime a dozen. Hell, even Memphis was putting runs up on the board.

Welcome to season three, where the bats have been as lively as old Gavvy himself.

Here's what I mean:

Pat Saunders: BA -115 BA, OPS -289.
Tanner Howard: -120 BA, -370 OPS, HR:AB ratio from 1:8.8 ABs to 1:14 ABs.
Edwin Underwood: -89 BA, -326 OPS.
Timo Phillips: -78 BA, -325 OPS.

In the meantime (that sounds like a GREAT team nickname), the top 12 pitching leaders by ERA post averages of 2.00 or less. Of those 12, only four have WHIPs that are above 1.00. This includes Ugueth Neruda in KC, Augusta's Maximo Lemon and Charlotte's Kyle Merritt. Suddenly, two-time Cy Young winner Lon Costello (6-0, 2.31 ERA) is just a good pitcher.

Onion Wars

With 22 of 162 games booked, it's high time to post our first power ranking of the season.

Again, the formula is pretty simple and rewards scoring and good pitching [Winning percentage + (team OPS-opposition team OPS) divided by runs scored margin.]

POWER RANKING #1
1 Cincinnati Motorboaters 0.729441
2 Washington D.C. Senators 0.721900
3 Kansas City Royals 0.690833
4 Boston Minutemen 0.638700
5 Nashville Saints 0.635286
6 Philadelphia Flash 0.630550
7 Buffalo Hot Wings 0.598857
8 Colorado Springs Cricket Club 0.552200
9 Little Rock Voodoo Cats 0.547444
10 Milwaukee Malt Liquors 0.547053

11 Atlanta Mad Dogs 0.546978
12 San Francisco Slingers 0.546231
13 Chicago Cubbies, of course 0.544083
14 Seattle Steelheads 0.543941
15 Cleveland Wahoos 0.506824
16 Augusta Black Bears 0.501600
17 Detroit Great Lake St 0.501455
18 New York Chechakos 0.499625
19 Anaheim Asylum 0.496276
20 San Juan Epsteins 0.458313

21 Minnesota North Stars 0.457563
22 Burlington Pitch Factory 0.455250
23 Austin City Limit 0.454750
24 Arizona Amberwoods 0.453297
25 Pittsburgh Diamond Kings 0.409553
26 Portland Beavers 0.367000
27 Santa Fe Booze Hounds 0.353100
28 Charlotte Webs 0.361444
29 Columbus Come from Behinders 0.347000

30 Los Angeles Stars 0.329500
31 Memphis In The Meantime 0.316667
32 Monterrey Surf Riders 0.229083

Season Preview: Santa Fe Booze Hounds

From the desert, paulbliss offers a preview of his team with a nickname after my own heart (or liver):

The season 3 version is eerily similar to the season 2 team. The team is coming off what the team considered a successful season. After narrowly missing the playoffs in season 1, the team secured a wild-card berth and defeated the Philadelphia Flash in a dramatic 5 game series. The team then suffered a 4 game loss to the bulldozer of a team that is the Cincinnati Motorboaters.

As always, pitching wins in the postseason and after posting an NL-leading 1029 runs in the season 2, the offense was stopped by the Motorboaters pitching staff. Owner Paulbiss6 set out in the offseason to improve a porous rotation that has a 4.74 ERA, which was worst among NL playoff teams. After striking out in the bidding war for Benny Pujols, cheaper options were sought. The new faces include 9-year vet Randy Flanagan, who came aboard in free agency, youngster Roscoe Street, who was acquired in a trade with Atlanta and reliever Del Holtz, a FA acquisition from Minnesota.

Owner Paulbiss6 feels the team has enough to push into the playoffs again, but it needs help from the pitching staff if it is to make any headway deep into the playoffs. The window of opportunity is closing fast and the future is now.

Season Preview: Portland Beavers

Friend of the blog rbedwell checks in from the woods of Oregon with this preview of his Portland Beavers (in the interests of full discloure, I'm footing the bill on three of the pitchers he mentions in the second sentence. Ralph...you are welcome):

The Beavers are a team of castoffs. Portland’s vaunted prospects are not yet ready for prime time, so the Rose City has become the home of the unwanted masses of players who still think they have what it takes to make it in The Show. Many of them are still highly paid – but not by Portland. The Beavers roster features names and salaries like Erubiel Rosado ($6.5 mil), Frank Patterson ($5.0), Charles McCurry ($5.4), Todd Lincoln ($4.0), Kurt Hitchcock ($3.4), Trey Daniels ($4.2), and Derek Mullaney ($4.1), all of whom are being paid by teams other than the Beavers. “We have the best team that other people’s money can buy,” quipped Portland G.M. Ralph Bedwell. “We got all those guys off the waiver wire after they were released. But they still have some tread left on the tires.” In addition, the Beavers are carrying ten current or former Rule 5 draftees. “Our payroll may be only $24 million,” said Bedwell, “But we’re no joke this season. We’ll be competitive and will go all out to win every game. Realistically, .500 will make for a very successful season here on the banks of the Columbia River. And I think we’ll make it.”

Season Preview: New York Chechakos

muldoon sends in this clipping from the local media. Apparently, Penthouse is the hometown paper of the New York Chechakos...

***

New York Chechakos had a three year plan where they planned to bring up the young arms of Wiki Andujajar, Will "dirt" Rhodes ,Kyle Crawford,and Curt Hill from AA. But it seems owner Hank Steenburgeon has ordered GM Madmuldoon to leave the youngins in AAA for a little seasoning before bringing them up to the ML.

When this Reporter caught up to the ML coach MO Mercedes at Patsy's House of Pleasure in the Bronx .Mo waved me over to sit at his table and promptly ordered a round of Bull Blasters to go with the long Island ice tea he was nursing. "let me tell you about this season," mo said. "I can't wait to start playing this year because we have the rookie of the year Sammy "GOING" Gonzales. Who aught to whack 60+ homers this year." Then Mo paused to stuff a wad of bills in the G-string of a brown skinned cutie. Then took a shot and bellowed "we brought up a young pitcher Quinn McMasters who will help but " he sighed "I sure could use some of that Pitching talent in the minors."

The next afternoon I caught up to Madmuldoon and asked what happend to the 3 year plan. Muldoon replied, "We want to be careful not to bring up guys before they're ready. But hey ,we have a good chance to win our division this year so don't count us out."

Will the offense carry the team ? if not the future looks bright.The farm system is loaded with talent and it seems New York Chechakos are a patient club.

Franchise Ranking: Budgeting

Who has the biggest salary ceiling? Detroit!

Franchise Player
Detroit Great Lake St 110
Seattle Steelheads 106
Kansas City Royals 102
Philadelphia Flash 97
Minnesota North Stars 94
Milwaukee Malt Liquors 92
Cincinnati Motorboaters 92
Atlanta Mad Dogs 91
Colorado Springs Cricket Club 90
Chicago Cubbies, of course 89
Cleveland Wahoos 87
Monterrey Surf Riders 86
Columbus Come from Behinders 85
Nashville Saints 83
Memphis In The Meantime 82
Santa Fe Booze Hounds 82
Washington D.C. Senators 81
Little Rock Voodoo Cats 80
San Juan Epsteins 80
Austin City Limit 79
Anaheim Asylum 77
New York Chechakos 72
Buffalo Hot Wings 71
Pittsburgh Diamond Kings 70
Los Angeles Stars 70
Augusta Black Bears 69
Arizona Amberwoods 66
Boston Minutemen 65
Burlington Pitch Factory 60
Charlotte Webs 49
Portland Beavers 41
San Francisco Slingers 28

Franchise Ranking: How old we are

Hey...I lead the league in something! Too bad it is average age of my ML team.

Memphis 31.5
Arizona 30.6
Nashville 29.9
Kansas City 29.9
Philadelphia 29.4
Chicago 29
Santa Fe 28.9
Portland 28.8
Seattle 28.8
New York 28.6
Little Rock 28.4
Cleveland 28.3
Colorado Springs 28.3
Austin 28.2
Milwaukee 27.9
Atlanta 27.9
Anaheim 27.7
Detroit 27.6
Minnesota 27.5
Cincinnati 27.4
Columbus 27.2
Boston 27.2
Pittsburgh 27.1
Charlotte 27.1
San Juan 26.8
Monterrey 26.8
Burlington 26.8
Buffalo 26.7
Washington D.C. 26.6
Los Angeles 26.2
Augusta 26
San Francisco 24.7

Franchise Ranking: How big we are?

Here's a look at the largest franchises by number of players

Nashville 201
Arizona 183
New York 175
Anaheim 169
Chicago 168
Portland 163
Austin 162
Columbus 161
San Juan 160
Kansas City 160
Boston 159
Little Rock 159
Buffalo 157
Seattle 157
Cleveland 156
San Francisco 156
Monterrey 153
Philadelphia 153
Milwaukee 151
Minnesota 150
Pittsburgh 149
Cincinnati 149
Santa Fe 148
Augusta 145
Burlington 145
Atlanta 144
Washington D.C. 143
Detroit 142
Memphis 141
Charlotte 141
Los Angeles 135
Colorado Springs 128

Franchise Ranking: International Signings

Colorado Springs has signed NO international prospects. Impressive:

Nashville 23
Chicago 18
Cleveland 16
New York 15
Detroit 11
Washington D.C. 11
Augusta 10
Portland 10
Memphis 9
Los Angeles 9
Milwaukee 7
San Francisco 7
Burlington 6
Boston 6
Columbus 5
San Juan 5
Kansas City 4
Atlanta 4
Austin 4
Buffalo 4
Charlotte 4
Santa Fe 3
Monterrey 3
Pittsburgh 3
Seattle 2
Philadelphia 2
Anaheim 2
Cincinnati 2
Minnesota 2
Arizona 2
Little Rock 2
Colorado Springs 0

Franchise Ranking: What we're spending

A look at the big spending franchises this season (calculated by taking the franchise's average salary and multiplying it by its roster size...may not be exact):

Seattle $106,917,000
Detroit $105,506,000
Kansas City $97,120,000
Atlanta $89,136,000
Philadelphia $85,986,000
Milwaukee $85,466,000
Cincinnati $85,228,000
Minnesota $82,800,000
Nashville $81,204,000
Santa Fe $80,808,000
Anaheim $80,444,000
Colorado Springs $73,472,000
Cleveland $73,164,000
Washington D.C. $70,642,000
Arizona $70,638,000
Chicago $69,552,000
New York $66,675,000
Austin $66,420,000
Columbus $66,010,000
Monterrey $63,342,000
San Juan $62,560,000
Buffalo $61,073,000
Augusta $60,755,000
Memphis $59,784,000
Little Rock $55,491,000
Portland $54,442,000
Boston $48,972,000
Pittsburgh $45,892,000
Burlington $45,095,000
Charlotte $42,864,000
Los Angeles $36,045,000
San Francisco $16,536,000

Franchise Ranking: Most expensive ML Rosters

A look at the big spending franchises this season (calculated by taking the ML team's average salary and multiplying it by its roster size...may not be exact). Check the range between Seattle and San Fran:

Seattle $98,800,000
Kansas City $90,000,000
Detroit $86,400,000
Atlanta $80,000,000
Philadelphia $80,000,000
Nashville $75,400,000
Milwaukee $72,800,000
Anaheim $70,000,000
Cincinnati $70,000,000
Colorado Springs $69,600,000
Santa Fe $67,500,000
Minnesota $65,000,000
Arizona $64,800,000
Chicago $60,000,000
Cleveland $60,000,000
Washington D.C. $59,800,000
Augusta $57,500,000
Monterrey $57,500,000
Austin $55,000,000
New York $55,000,000
Memphis $52,000,000
Columbus $47,500,000
Little Rock $47,500,000
Portland $47,500,000
Buffalo $43,200,000
San Juan $42,500,000
Burlington $40,000,000
Pittsburgh $37,500,000
Boston $35,000,000
Charlotte $30,800,000
Los Angeles $30,000,000
San Francisco $8,950,000

Free Agency Recap

First, teams with the most FA signings:

Memphis: 10 (there was a non-roster invite or two in there)
Chicago: 7
Little Rock: 7
Phila: 6
Santa Fe: 6
Seattle: 6

Here's a quick recap of the big free agency signings from the off-season:

Benny Pujols (KC) to Detroit: 5 yrs./$100m
Mitch Meyers (BUR) to Washington: $10m bonus + 3 yrs/$34.6m
Hughie Pride (LV) to Colorado Springs: 2 yrs/$24m
Tomas Johnson (NY) to Milwaukee: 4 yrs/$23.6m
Vic Brock (CHA) to Atlanta: 5 yrs/$41m
Luke Sanford (BUR) to Atlanta: 3 yrs/$21m
Norm James (CLE) to Seattle: 5 yrs/$28.0m
Socks Reid (SEA) resigned: 3 yrs/$15.6m
Jumbo Tejera (RIC) to Little Rock: $17.5m

NL Preview THUNDER

My department chair said that you can make any mundane activity exciting by adding the word thunder to the beginning or end. I hate to give him credit for it, but he's right. Now, the AL preview.

HMM: Washington reeled in Mitch Meyers for three years and $34.6m during the off-season, making one of the biggest bargains of the draft a luxury item (Meyers went off demanding in the range of $5m per). As someone who has spent big money on a non-superstar arm in the past, I scratched my head over this one. With this much money on the table, one has to hope that Meyers earns his payday. But, I also think back to J.J. Lambert in S.2. Statistically speaking, Meyers is 26-25 for his career with a 4.55 ERA, 292 Ks, 1.38 WHIP and 398 IP. Is this piece enough to push them over the hump and into first place?

ON THE RIVERFRONT: Lon Costello, Brad Bird, Al Posada and Felipe Balboa are back to front the ever dangerous Cincinnati rotation. One big change for S.3 was the jettisoning of Doug Linton to the junior circuit and the acquision of 80+ rated Ken Giovanola from Portland. Paired with the lineup that constantly scores enough runs to win, it's hard not to expect repeat performance in S.3.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: C-Springs' Rico Johnson was a good pitcher in S.1. In S.2, he evolved into a great one. He added seven wins, subtracted six losses and peeled a quarter of a run off his ERA. He and Pat Stein make a formidable duo upfront. At 32 years old, can Rico carry the Cricket Club to another 94-win campaign?

PREDICTABLE PREDICTIONS:

DIVISION CHAMPS: Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Colorado Springs
WILD CARD: Washington and Santa Fe
LCS CHAMPS: Cincinnati

AL Preview THUNDER

My department chair said that you can make any mundane activity exciting by adding the word thunder to the beginning or end. I hate to give him credit for it, but he's right. Now, the AL preview.

SHIFT OF POWER: braddavis, Midre Navarre and Benny Pujols have left the friendly confines of Kaufmann Stadium and Kansas City. ronzabill is in and with him a new focus on the future. Ugueth Neruda and McKay Hernandez are the 1-2 combo in the rotation and the offensive machine still churns with Henry Cust, Pat Saunders, et al. But, could this mean the end of KC's reign over the Wailing Onion? They are still the Vegas favorite at 5-1, but Cinci is very close at 7-2.

ALGONQUIN FOR 'THE GOOD LAND': (Only makes sense if you've seen the movie Wayne's World) Milwaukee went from AL North darling to third place in S.2. The loss of Len Heisermann certainly hurt, but something else was missing. tsteve might have fixed that problem with three important big trades. First, he picked up Doug Linton and his 80+ rating towards the end of last season, giving him an important innings eater. An off-season trade with Memphis added front-line starter Santos Bautista and lefty Vic Molina for a trio of prospects. Finally, he added low-cost closer Dante Kroon (33/38 in saves). Look for Andy Porter to be the offensive story of S. 3 in the Onion. Benny Pujols' Detroit landing notwithstanding, Milwaukee looks like it's poised to make a run.

THE BRAWL: Look for another beat-'em-up season in the East. Boston comes off an 83-win season, but the 20-game margin from top to bottom was one of the tightest divisions in the Onion. And, with each team spending money to get better, this division winner will likely be like last year's -- only a shade over .500.

IN THE DIRTY SOUTH: Richmond's wood shop bridge collapse, combined with timely Nashville wins, put the Saints in an unreachable division-leading position. Look for Nashville to rein over the South again as Memphis begins a slow rebuild and Monterrey regains its bearings.

PREDICTIVE PREDICTIONS:

Division winners: Milwaukee, Boston, Nashville and KC.
Wild Card: Seattle, Cleveland
LCS Champ: I'm at a toss-up between Milwaukee and KC. Check back with me later.

Trade Thunder

We've come to expect our commissioner to make smart, calculated trades in order to build a successful club in the long term.

And today, he brought the thunder.

SAN FRANCISCO GETS:

Garland Nathan Santa Fe Booze Hounds Age: 20 B/T: R/R Born: Freer, TX Position(s): SS View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Uh. Holy shit?

Garland Nathan (and I don't really care about revealing numbers here) is projected at 90+. He's currently rated higher than my shortstop. In 208 minor games, he's hitting .338/.427/.554 with a .981 OPS. He has hit 33 homers, 85 doubles and driven in 178. And, he has a .977 fielding percentage. S-T-U-D.


SANTA FE GETS:

Who cares? Actually, they get:

Preston Mays San Francisco Slingers Age: 24 B/T: R/R Born: Grant, MI Position(s): P (SP3) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

At AAA last season, this 80+ righthanded starter was 19-6 with a 2.99 and 1.12 WHIP. He bypassed AA, jumping from HiA to AAA. He notched 200Ks in 204.2 IP. He's a two-time MILB pitcher of the year and was the AAA Rookie of the Year last season. He projects 80+.

Peter Kim San Francisco Slingers Age: 21 B/T: R/R Born: Durand, IL Position(s): 2B/LF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Already on his third team, this hot potato went started in Pittsburgh in season one before moving West. He is a career .303 hitter.

Bob Harper San Francisco Slingers Age: 22 B/T: R/R Born: Las Vegas, NM Position(s): P (P) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

A career AA guy who started in Chicago's organization, Harper has 241 Ks in 275.1 IP. He has a career 4.45 ERA.