Power Pros Forum

Monthly Report - June
by Richard Griffin, Toronto Star
Wednesday, July 1, 2016

With the All-Star Game, and subsequently the second half, looming ahead, let's check out how things have been going around the league as of the end of June:

Standings

AL East
1. Rays (47-31)
2. Blue Jays (45-34, 2.5 GB)
2. Red Sox (40-39, 7.5 GB)
4. Yankees (36-42, 11 GB)
5. Orioles (35-42, 11.5 GB)

AL Central
1. Tigers (38-38)
2. Royals (38-40, 1 GB)
2. Indians (37-39, 1 GB)
4. Twins (36-41, 2.5 GB)
5. White Sox (27-49, 11 GB)

AL West
1. Rangers (43-35)
2. A's (39-39, 4 GB)
3. Astros (39-40, 4.5 GB)
4. Mariners (38-40, 5 GB)
5. Angels (36-42, 7 GB)

NL East
1. Mets (45-33)
2. Nationals (44-34, 1 GB)
3. Braves (41-36, 3.5 GB)
3. Phillies (41-36, 3.5 GB)
5. Marlins (40-37, 4.5 GB)

NL Central
1. Pirates (47-30)
2. Reds (42-36, 5.5 GB)
3. Cardinals (38-40, 9.5 GB)
4. Cubs (33-43, 13.5 GB)
5. Brewers (28-50, 19.5 GB)

NL West
1. Diamondbacks (43-33)
2. Dodgers (42-35, 1.5 GB)
3. Giants (37-42, 7.5 GB)
4. Rockies (36-42, 8 GB)
5. Padres (32-45, 11.5 GB)

It is still very early, but the two Pennsylvania teams have to be quite proud of themselves. The Pirates appear to be setting themselves ahead of the pack thanks to what has easily been the best pitching staff in the Majors so far, and the Phillies have been nice surprises after a couple of dismal seasons. The addition of immensely talented outfielder David Aybar in the amateur draft also adds to a very impressive month for the Phightin's.

The Blue Jays still remain in second place behind the Rays, but have gained a tiny bit of ground thanks to a 4-game win streak to finish off the month. Let's take a look at how the team has been doing so far:

Pitchers
Dean Stradley (90.2 IP, 4-4, 4.86 ERA, 97 K, 7 QS)
Danny Hopkins (101.2 IP, 6-4, 4.78 ERA, 114 K, 9 QS)
Tyler Chatwood (90.2 IP, 5-5, 4.57 ERA, 87 K, 6 QS)
Moses Adler (94.2 IP, 5-5, 3.61 ERA, 56 K, 8 QS)
Marcus Stroman (84 IP, 3-5, 4.71 ERA, 113 K, 6 QS)
Kyle Drabek (24 IP, 4-3, 6.00 ERA, 19 K) (demoted 6/30)
Austin Langer (29 IP, 1-0, 1.55 ERA, 25 K, 2 SV)
Hunter Strickland (45.1 IP, 5-3, 2.78 ERA, 53 K)
Yoshimitsu Tsuchii (41.1 IP, 3-2, 2.40 ERA, 23 K)
Leo Vizcaino (25.1 IP, 1-1, 0.71 ERA, 25 K, 3 SV)
John Stilson (30 IP, 6-1, 2.70 ERA, 36 K)
Lamont Cates (23 IP, 0-0, 2.35 ERA, 25 K, 23 SV)

Catchers
Matt McBride (.306 (64/209) /.395/.464, 6 HR, 30 RBI)
A.J. Jimenez (.262 (27/103) /.313/.301, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 8 SB)

Infielders
Pete Grossman (.242 (37/153) /.305/.359, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 6 SB)
Kent Murphy (.273 (60/220) /.311/.477, 9 HR, 32 RBI, 8 SB)
Ryan Goins (.232 (22/95) /.318/.337, 2 HR, 7 RBI)
Brett Lawrie (.257 (76/296) /.333/.405, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 10 SB)
Michael Scott (.684 (13/19) /.684/.737, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SB)
Troy Tulowitzki (.314 (76/272) /.394/.587, 16 HR, 51 RBI, 6 SB)

Outfielders
Hayden Goldson (.253 (74/292) /.301/.459, 12 HR, 41 RBI, 8 SB)
Damon Allred (.249 (53/213) /.297/.549, 19 HR, 45 RBI, 5 SB)
Anthony Gose (.258 (66/256) /.318/.395, 4 HR, 32 RBI, 25 SB)
Mackenzie Matthews (.291 (37/127) /.375/.441, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 10 SB)
Jose Bautista (.254 (65/256) /.334/.402, 8 HR, 38 RBI, 3 SB)

The rotation continues to regress, and when you take a look at the starters' stats, it is a miracle that the Jays have managed to do so well. The offense has hit well above-average, but their biggest power hitter, Jose Bautista, seems to be feeling the effects of aging, both at the plate and in the field. Hopefully both parties can return to their 2015 form.

For All-Star voting, catcher Matt McBride and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki each lead in votes at their respective positions. Other than those two, no other Jays position player is in contention to win a starting spot. As for pitching, closer Lamont Cates appears to be a shoo-in to make a second consecutive appearance at the Midsummer Classic. Leo Vizcaino also has an outside shot at making the team after his incredible performance since being promoted from Buffalo.

Speaking of Buffalo, let's check out the notable minor leaguers:

AAA [Buffalo Bisons (5th, 36-44, 11 GB)]
C John Scott (.257 (38/148) /.299/.439, 7 HR, 21 RBI. 3 SB)
3B Lonnie Bradshaw (.231 (59/255) /.282/.369, 9 HR, 36 RBI, 3 SB)
RF Todd Rosado (.285 (65/228) /.372/.364, 3 HR, 24 RBI)
SP Darby Clancy (87 IP, 4-5, 4.03 ERA, 64 K)
SP Drew Hutchison (89.2 IP, 3-7, 4.01 ERA, 112 K) (promoted 6/30)
SP/RP Jake Jones (7 IP, 0-0, 5.14 ERA, 6 K) (injured 5/24)
RP James Bennett (39 IP, 2-3, 3.46 ERA, 44 K, 3 SV)
RP Joel Rockwell (21.2 IP, 0-2, 6.23 ERA, 26 K) (injured 5/20)

AA [New Hampshire Fisher Cats (2nd, 46-32)]
3B Mitch Nay (.337 (91/270) /.434/.478, 8 HR, 41 RBI, 7 SB)
CF Aatu Selin (.293 (36/123) /.364/.382, 0 HR, 18 RBI, 6 SB)
RF Anatole Hazewood (.250 (44/176) /.348/.341, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 7 SB)
SP/RP Robert Tomlinson (40 IP, 2-2, 4.50 ERA, 20 K)
SP Joseph Gregerson (76 IP, 6-3, 3.91 ERA, 57 K)
RP Francisco Munoz (17 IP, 0-1, 1.59 ERA, 24 K)

The Jays have also announced the promotion of right-hander Chad Gomez to Double-A New Hampshire. Gomez, acquired May 17, was the main piece the Jays received from the White Sox in exchange for infielders Ramiro Pena and Ryan Doumit.

Name: Michael Bolton
Age: 21
Jersey Number: 98
Primary/Secondary Position: C
Nationality: American
Batting/Throwing Hand: R/R
Height: 5'8
Weight: 170
Appearance (body): average
Appearance (face): long hair squirrely face
Equipment: idc
Glove Color: doesnt matter
Bat Color: all black with the white ring
Stance: giancarlo stanton lol
strengths: homerun hitter and super strong arm
weaknessss: inaccurate arm and bad blocking

background: dreams of making tps reports crushed when father forced him into baseball, turns out hes not half bad. hates being compared to the singer with a similar name

Tulowitzki, Chatwood Terrific Against Former Club
by Gregor Chisholm, MLB.com
Thursday, July 9, 2016


TORONTO - Troy Tulowitzki admires his 2-run homer in the 4th, the first of his two on the day.

The Jays get win number 50 of 2016 quite comfortably, defeating the Rockies 4-1.

Slightly less than a year ago, the Blue Jays and Rockies agreed to one of the biggest trades of the decade. One year later, the Jays have come out looking like thieves. The main piece of the deal, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, has managed to stay perfectly healthy since joining Toronto. After a slightly underwhelming 2015 year, Tulo has emerged yet again and is looking even better than his old self. The shortstop from Long Beach State showed the Rockies exactly what they were missing today, as he clubbed two home runs against Rockies lefty Brett Anderson. The first one, a 2-run shot in the 4th, broke the scoreless tie and ended up being the decisive hit of the game, thanks to a strong pitching performance which we'll get to later. Tulowitzki now has 21 homers on the year after today, putting him second behind Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera and tying him with teammate Damon Allred, who also homered today.

"I enjoyed Colorado a lot, I really did," Tulowitzki stated in a postgame interview, "but I felt like I needed a fresh start somewhere else. All the injuries and rumors swirling around, it really gets to you. I tried to get past them, but I never really could. So that's why I asked for a trade around this time last year. Despite that, there's definitely no hard feelings between my former teammates and me. I'll never forget my time there. The 2007 season was honestly the best time I've ever had playing baseball, and I hope I can be a part of a playoff run like that here in Toronto."

The biggest surprise of last year's deal, catcher Matt McBride, went 1-3 today. McBride has chilled off a bit after a torrid start to 2016, but he has still provided great value for the Jays. McBride looked to be the quintessential AAAA player while in the Rockies organization, serving small bits in the Majors here and there, but he finally got an opportunity with Toronto and has made great use of it. He has a good chance of heading to San Diego later this month to take part in the All-Star Game, along with Tulowitzki.

Tyler Chatwood, the second-biggest piece that headed to Toronto, pitched a terrific ballgame today. The young righty went 8.1 innings, allowing only 1 run and striking out 5 Rockies hitters. Chatwood has been somewhat inconsistent during his time in Toronto, but he has been quite durable and you could do a lot worse from the #4 spot in the rotation. This game seemed to fall in line with how he has performed overall in a Jays uniform, as he threw a ton of strikes and only walked 1 batter, but he also gave up 9 hits. The only difference is that Chatwood gave up only 1 run today instead of the 2-4 that he usually does.

Lamont Cates continues his super season by striking out the final two batters of the game, earning save #26. Cates should also be heading down to San Diego to participate in the All-Star Game.

Many former Jays also took part in today's game for Colorado, though they had a rougher go of it overall.

One of the two main players the Jays sent away, shortstop Jose Reyes, went 1-4 today. Reyes is currently hitting .269 with 9 HR, 34 RBI, and 14 steals. Though Reyes had a better 2015 than Tulowitzki, going .294 wth 17 HRs, 70 RBI, and 40 SB, his performance has dropped significantly since then. The other big player that was sent to the Rockies, 1B Edwin Encarnacion, went 0-4 on the day. Encarnacion, unlike Reyes, had a disappointing (by his standards) 2015 season, but has picked up his performance this year. Encarnacion went .257, with 32 HR and 84 RBI in 2015 compared to .267, with 18 HR and 46 RBI in 2016.

Stephen Brooks, the sidearmer from New Zealand, pitched a scoreless inning today. Brooks had a promising 2014 season where he posted a 3.00 ERA and a 10.76 K/9, but he fell off a cliff in 2015, eventually being demoted to AAA midseason before being dealt to the Rockies. Brooks stayed in AAA until just recently, as a string of strong performances for the Rockies' AAA squad earned him a promotion to the big club. However, he has not done too well since then, as he currently has given up 3 earned runs in only 4.1 innings. Lastly, a player who was not involved in last year's trade, but rather the Jays' Great Roster Purge of 2014, outfielder Colby Rasmus drove in the Rockies' only run with a solo shot off Chatwood in the top of the 9th. Rasmus had a great 2014 season but has tailed off since then, though he is having a decent year so far.

After dropping game 1 of this series, the Jays battled back to win the final two games over the Rockies. The Jays now head into Texas to take on the Rangers in the first series of their road trip of the AL West before the All-Star Game.

Whooo, you forget how sexy this log looks. And it's a good read too>

Thank you! I actually made the process of making these updates a lot easier too.

you might not see it for much longer though

Wait what does that mean?

lmao whoops

Anyways, the reason I put that part there is because I had preordered MLB 15 (which I have now), so I wouldn't be updating this log as much since it's on an older version of the game. MLB 15, GTA, and FIFA have taken up pretty much all of my video game time.

I might do something like this for 15. It may not be the same concept but if I actually go through with one, I'll at least keep the same format since it seemed to be so well-received.

I was guessing that was it... Sad to see this one go though.

Was this in 14? Because if so, you can continue your franchise in 15

nah, 13

Sheit

nvm