SLB All-Pro team 2019

Catcher
Tony Montana, Kyoto — .273/.315/.563 47 HR, 94 RBI
When did Kyoto turn into Osaka II? Three Bushido bruisers bashed more than 40 home runs, including Montana who spanked 47 out of the park. There is a dearth of decent-hitting catchers in the SLB, but Montana was the best of the bunch in 2019.

First Base
Hee Seop Choi, Paris — .335/.389/.684 58 HR, 152 RBI, 217 hits
Choi has long been one of the most feared, if not most underrated, players in the SLB and he put together a career year in 2019.

Second base
James Ewing, Atlanta — .316/.362/.580 35 HR, 113 RBI, 135 R, 51 SB
It was a strong year at the top for second basemen, and in the end Ewing’s combination of power and speed held of Stu Watwood of Paris and Cap Jackson of Chiang-Mai.

Shortstop
Kiko Brezovan, Halifax — .326/.360/.592 33 HR, 106 RBI, 113 R, 40 SB
The league’s best team had the league’s best shortstop in 2019. Brezovan broke out in a big way, and became the Sailor’s go-to-guy on offense.

Third base
Miguel Cabrera, Savannah — .303/.358/.578 43 HR, 112 RBI, 89 R
After a down year in 2018, Cabrera bounced back but also got stiff competition from Osaka rookie Ben Parker. In the end, Cabrera’s overall effort outweighed Parker’s “Osaka-effect” as the league’s best third baseman.

Left field
Matt Musser, San Juan — .340/.369/.626 31 HR, 23 3B, 110 RBI, 118 R, 232 H, 78 SB
San Juan may not have had the season we’ve all come to expect from them, but Musser didn’t disappoint. He had 232 hits — 110 of which went for extra bases. And when he found himself on first base, he just stole second anyway. He can do it all.

Center field
Darren Lemming, Atlanta — .352/.404/.710 48 HR, 19 3B, 150 RBI, 140 R, 40 SB
This was the most hotly-contested race, as it came down to Lemming and Philadelphia’s Jay Bruce. In the end, their production was basically equal, only Bruce had an extra 51 at bats, giving him essentially 11 extra games to reach his totals. As for Lemming, it’s just more of the same. Tons of hits, tons of power, tons of stolen bases and gold-glove defense. What more can you say?

Right field
Tex Austin, Cleveland — .333/.369/.657 51 HR, 138 RBI, 215 H
Austin flat out mashed the ball in 2019, ripping off 51 home runs and finishing third in the league in slugging percentage.

Starting Pitcher
Justin Verlander, Halifax — 20-4, 1.95 ERA, 201 Ks, 23 BBs
All Verlander did in 2019 was lead the SLB in wins and ERA and help Halifax to the league’s best record. What more could you ask for?
Homer Bailey, Atlanta — 20-3, 2.46 ERA, 229 Ks, 31 BBs
Once again, Bailey was his usual self. He piled up Ks and wins like a packrat and helped mitigate just how bad the rest of his rotation-mates were in 2019.
C.C. Sabathia, Osaka — 18-9, 3.30 ERA, 222 Ks, 37 BBs
It a shock to see Osaka dole out the cash for a pitcher in the offseason, but it paid off. Sure, other pitchers might have had slightly better ERAs, but none of them did it in Osaka. Sabathia’s season was a minor miracle.

Relief pitcher
Cliff Gatsby, Baltimore — 3-1, 2.61 ERA, 35 Ks, .174 opp avg.
Baltimore won a franchise-record 88 games in 2019, and Gatsby’s lockdown pitching at the end of games was a huge reason why.

News & Notes - September 20, 2019

Just a week and a half left, so let's see where we stand:

- Halifax has the division and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs locked up.
- Atlanta and Baltimore both clinched playoff spots this series, but the division has not yet been decided. Atlanta's magic # is 6, and they play Baltimore in 6 of the final 9 games.
- Nothing clinched in the World League yet. London's recent hot streak has put them 2.5 up on Scotland with 9 to play. Scotland and London do not play again this year.
- In the Far East, Taipei is 6.5 up on Osaka, but some tepid September play has delayed the Tai Fong clinching their second straight division title. Scotland leads the Wild Card by three games over Osaka.

- Congratulations to Paris' Hee-Seop Choi, who is the first player in SLB history to hit 500 career home runs. Hank Blalock looked like the man to do it, but he's had a power outage recently, while the red hot Choi zoomed by to grab the honor. Choi leads the league in HR this season as well (52).
- Choi is also the first hitter to reach 1500 RBI.
- Halifax's Johan Santana joined the 200 win club this week. Only Prior (240), Sabathia (224) and Williams (208) have more career victories.
- Cap Jackson has broken his own Stolen Base record with 111 swipes on the year to date. Gregory Burns is on pace to break his record for strikeouts.

- Who is going to win the RHOY award? It's anyone's guess, as the league has seen it's best rookie class in history. Some candidates to consider:

• Morton Henrikksen (ATL) - .311, 42 HR, 119 RBI
• Matthew Hamman (CLE) - .311, 33 HR, 80 RBI
• Stan Ford (KYO) - .275, 34 HR, 77 RBI
  
• Ben Parker (OSKA) - .299, 39 HR, 109 RBI
• Truck Chakales (OSKA) - .309, 37 HR, 83 RBI
• Shuhei Iwata (TAI) - .303, 26 HR, 89 RBI

- The rookie pitchers aren't as plentiful, but Baltimore's Scott Davis (10-7, 3.87) and San Juan's Anthony Rodriguez (9-9, 4.26) look like the front runners.

- In an exciting battle for 3rd place, KYO and CHNG play 6 more times down the stretch. Who can avoid the cap hit? The league is eagerly anticipating this thrilling race.

News and Notes

September 2, 2019

- The deadline has passed and we're into September callups.
- The Kyoto Bushido, currently in last place in the Far East, are taking a cue from OSA - a horrible record despite having three 40-HR hitters in their lineup (A Mule, M Hamilton and T Montana).
- HAL clinched a post-season berth with just three 30-HR hitters (S Archibald, K Brezovan and A Mertes).
- IRE, headed for their 3rd straight last-place finish in the Euro, are currently working on a major roster shakeup as they start September. After adding OF D Dennis on waivers last week, Invader GM Tony Blake is dealing with SLB head office to process unconditional releases on 10 players. "We're going young", said Blake. "What else do we have to lose? Even our self-respect vanished just after spring training."
- If BAL can hold off PHI for 25 more games (a 4.5 game lead in the WC), it will be the Panthers first post-season appearance since ..... (searching the archives) .... their inaugural season in 2004. They were then known as Atlantic City under GM R Shelley. 2004 was also their last season with a winning record.
- For the mathmatically challenged, that's 14 seasons between winning records for the Panthers.
- This year's Smoke and Mirrors award goes to: SCO. The Rebels are tied for 1st in the Euro despite being outscored by 44 runs, 627-671.
- The 20 Million Dollar Player (D Lemming of ATL)is handling the pressure of the big contract just fine. A 1.133 OPS with 43 HR and 29 SB and an error-free CF.
- CLE has a 5.94 team ERA with SP M Miller leading(?) the rotation at 5.18. Rookie RP J Green is the only Dawgs pitcher under 5 at 4.91.

2020 Free Agent List

An incomplete list of Free Agents for the 2020 off season:

Starting Pitchers

Jeremy Affeldt
Homer Bailey +++
Jim Bauers
Josh Beckett
William Bray
Andrew Brown
Larry Brush
Brett Caldwell
Hank Daniels
Jason Davis
Sean Doolittle
Zach Greinke
Angel Guzman
Felix Hernandez
Luke Hochevar
Scott Kazmir
Byung Hyun Kim
Hong Chi Kuo
Rich Mangan
Mark McCormick
Mike Miller
Jake Peavy
Oliver Perez
Paul Phillips
Mark Prior ++++
Jon Rauch
Eric Ridener
Tim Spooneybarger
Justin Verlander
Carlos Zambrano


Relief Pitchers

Andy Abraham
Dick Briscoe
Chad Cordero
Cliff Gatsby
Craig Hansen
Brock Landers
Pedro Liriano
JJ Putz
Huston Street
Michiyo Towaki
Kyle Winters


Catchers

Jeffrey Clement
Earl Hickey
Bill Hitchcock
Kenji Johjima
Brian McCann
Brandon Snyder


First Basemen

Daniel Callahan
Ryan Howard
Boog Johnson
Dick Hare
Brad Miller
Justin Morneau
Ken Ryu


Second Basemen

Hubie Bluege
Marcus Giles
Tomas Hernandez
Paul Matthew


Third Basemen

Joshua Bell
Hank Blalock
Youliesky Gourriel
Edwin Jacobo
Bradley McCann
Jared Sandberg
Ryan Zimmerman


Shortstops

Jose Castillo
Dustin Kelly
Floyd Larkin
Whammy May
Kippy Sunderstrom
Garner Wetzel


Left Fielders

Eric Dalton
Alex Hilldenbrand
Todd Linden
Allen Martinez
Lastings Milledge
Antonio Mule
Laynce Nix
Jim Russell
Buck Swope


Center Fielders

Buzz Bliss
Peter Bourjos
Milton Bradley
Charles Carter
Bob Corcoran
Hunter Dravinger
Joseph Dyches
Darin Ford
Todric Johnson
Andruw Jones
Chris Kolkhorst


Right Fielders

Joe Belinda
Elmer Davie
Will Hunting
Craig Johnson
Brandon Leahy
Delmon Young