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.

Expansion, Contraction and the Noobs

Season three brings us three new faces in three new places.

madtown joins the AL South and takes the Richmond franchise West to Little Rock, where they will be known as the Voodoo Cats. mad has a career winning percentage of 43.4 with zero playoff appearance in his two other worlds.

ronazbill inherits the gold standard in Kansas City. A HBD vet, ronza is 1241-1027 with 10 playoff apeparances and one world series title in 14 seasons. In the Ford world with the Cincinnati Red Legs, ronza has a world title and a NL pennant and five division titles.

jdeleonardis is relatively new to the HBD scene, but has been successful. In two seasons, he is playing .525 ball, with a pair of 80+ win seasons in the Rookies and Joey Belle worlds. He takes the Colorado River Otters franchise West to the O.C., where it will be known as the Anaheim Asylum. So, muldoon will feel at home on road trips (I suppose).

Welcome the noobs.

A quick look ahead

My fat ass is back from Las Vegas and I finally kicked that hangover (two days...holy shit). With the world full and turning, we'll do the following over the next couple of days:

• Introduce the new owners.
• Preview the top free agents on the market.
• Ignore the top coaches.

I'd also like to hear from you guys. Is there a regular blog feature you'd like to see or does anyone want to contribute something? I would be happy to take your pieces for a season preview.

I leave for the Outer Banks on Friday, but my beach house has WiFi, so I will be on periodically. Yeah, I'm the asshole who goes on vacation and dicks around online. What can I say?

WS Game Seven :::: Kansas City — Cincinnati

A title is on the line. The matchup is even. And, while many of us are asleep, a champion will be decided.

Kansas City and Cincinnati head to game seven, thanks to a 7-6 win by the Monarchs in the sixth game. Heading into the tiebreaker, it's a dead heat, with the Motorboaters only outscoring K.C. by a run — 39-38. Both teams are 2-1 in their home parks, which could benefit game seven host Kansas City in this 2-3-2 series. The Monarchs won games two and six, but dropped the series opener at home.

PITCHING
Cincinnati has sent the following rotation to the hill thus far: Costello-Bird-Costello-Balboa-Posada-Bird. Conventional wisdom says that you shuffle the order so Costello goes in game seven. He's 2-0 during the World Series, giving up four runs in 17 innings.

Kansas City has sent out Pujols-Navarre-Escobar-Neruda-Pujols. By that pattern, you'd expect game two winner Midre Navarre. Navarre was the winner of the 12-7 game two, but gave up seven runs and five hits while striking out eight.

In a Costello-Navarre matchup, you have to go with Costello.

BATTING
In a DH game, Cincinnati ha used the following lineup

O'Connor/2b (.333)
Ward/rf (.303)
Toombs/1b (.207)
Johnson/lf (..321)
Martin/c (.333)
Cust/3b (.359)
Sandberg/dh (.280)
Mercado/ss (..283)
Waters/cf (.255)

Martin provides the pop in the lineup with five playoff dingers and 12 runs batten in.

For KC:

Cust/2b (.350)
Mendoza/1b (.351)
Osbourne/ss (.355)
Jacobs/rf (.373)
Saunders/lf (.386)
Pierre/3b (.304)
Leonard/c (.245)
Krause/dh (.222)
Sanders/cf (.278)

Jacobs has jacked six and driven in 19. Cust has brought around 18 runners.

THE EDGE

I have always liked the Kansas City franchise. And, against any other team, I would take them. But, if Costello goes tonight, the trophy heads to the Queen City.

Of course, you're talking to a guy who in Vegas last week lost $150 playing roulette and more than I'm willing to admit in the sports book.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Power Ranking Final

This is the end of season power ranking. Pretty dead on and you can really see divisional strengths here.

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

1.	Kansas City Monarchs	0.7104	—
2.	Cincinnati Motorboaters	0.6984	—
3.	Atlanta Mad Dogs	0.6483	—
4.	Nashville Saints	0.6114	+3
5.	Santa Fe Booze Hounds	0.6055	—
6.	Cleveland Wahoos	0.5935	—
7.	Colorado Springs Cricket Club	0.5803	-4
8.	Detroit Great Lake St	0.5801	—
9.	Philadelphia Flash	0.5745	-5
10.	Arizona Amberwoods	0.5686	—
11.	Seattle Steelheads	0.5624	+2
12.	Washington D.C. Senators	0.5437	-3
13.	Milwaukee Malt Liquors	0.5312	-1
14.	Buffalo Hot Wings	0.5251	+1
15.	Boston Minutemen	0.5105	+5
16.	Columbus Come from Behinders	0.4997	+3
17.	Austin City Limit	0.4994	+5
18.	Charlotte Webs	0.4950	-1
19.	Richmond Renegades	0.4890	-5
20.	San Juan Epsteins	0.4759	+1
21.	Minnesota North Stars	0.4745	-5
22.	Memphis In The Meantime	0.4693	-4
23.	Burlington Pitch Factory	0.4517	—
24.	New York Chechakos	0.4516	—
25.	Augusta Black Bears	0.4443	—
26.	Los Angeles Stars	0.4144	+1
27.	Pittsburgh Diamond Kings	0.3892	+1
28.	Chicago Cubbies, of course	0.3836	-2
29.	Portland Beavers	0.3774	—
30.	Monterrey Sand Dawgs	0.3215	—
31.	Colorado River Otters	0.3023	—
32.	San Francisco Slingers	0.2284	—

Playoff Previewtacular: Cincinnati cs. Santa Fe

The last of the LCS previews.

Batting: The contrast is evident. Santa Fe broke the 1,000-run plateau in S.2, led by Aurelio Valentin (.347-46-158) and three batters with 1.000+ OPS. Cinci? They have great hitters, in Pablo Johnson (.309-36-149) and Al Ward (.302-22-72) but they scored less runs and have an OPS that runs 50 points lower than the competition. EDGE: Santa Fe

Pitching: The contrast is evident. No slight on Vern Dunwoody, paulbliss612 or the Santa Fe hurlers, but they couldn't hold a candle to Cincinnati. Four pitchers at 17+ wins and a team ERA more than one runs less than the Fe do it for me. EDGE: Cincinnati

Prediction: Pitching wins championships. Cincinnati in five.

Playoff Previewtacular: Arizona vs. Nashville

Another in a line of incoherent playoff previews:

Batting: Nashville sticks out because they got close to scoring 1,000 runs (997). They have four 30+ home run hitters and six regulars bat over .300. Arizona's offense is no slouch by any means -- 935 runs scored, 270 home runs and a team .282 batting average. They have six hitters batting .290+ and three 40+ home run hitters. If baseball is a game of streaks, the hot bat is going to own this series. EDGE: Push.

Pitching: It's odd. Nashville got better once they dumped J.J. Lambert. Anyhow, these teams are about even across the board with a couple of exceptions. Nashville strikes out more batters (led by Floyd Brock's 212 Ks) and Arizona's propensity to give up hits (more than 70 more than Nashville, which gives them a .270 OAV). EDGE: Nashville by a hair.

Prediction: I wouldn't bet my subprime mortgage on it, but Nashville in 6.

Playoff Previewtacular: Colorado Springs vs. Atlanta

Another in my in-depth, insane playoff previews.

Batting: It's tough to ignore the offense that scores 100 more runs. But, then again, Atlanta did take almost 200 more at-bats than C-Springs. The Mad Dogs lean on Roger Winston, who hit .291-42-127 and Oswaldo Furcal's 1.009 OPS. The Cricket Club looks to a pair of 100-RBI guys in James Gao and David Belliard. You know, with the same number of at-bats, these teams would probably be even (or damn close). EDGE: PUSH. But, Gao is a stud.

Pitching: The pitching is pretty close too. C-Springs gave up less hits and runs and walked less batters, but Atlanta tallied more strikeouts and won more games. The Cricket Club sends Rico Johnson to start game one. At 23-5, 2.78 and 182 Ks, Johnson is one of the best in the game. Pat Stein is a competent number two and Gregory Rando is a solid closer. Atlanta has four starters with double digit wins and half as many with double-digit losses. 18-game winner Eric Cummings (3.92 ERA and 187Ks), Magglio Rodriguez (212 Ks) and closer Jose Bonilla (44 saves) highlight the roster. EDGE: Colorado Springs, but not by much.

Prediction: Seven games for sure. I think Colorado Springs has the edge, if Rico Johnson pitches twice.