2024: The Year in Review

Whenever a season ends and the Mulligans haven't won the trophy, it feels like it was all a giant waste of time. I immediately second-guess every trade I made to get as far as we did. Was it really necessary to trade anyone with future value when there was no reward in the end? What a wasted effort it was to fret over the auction and draft when none of it mattered in the end. We won 104 games and I didn't even get a lousy T-shirt.

The more philosophical and pragmatic view would be that no season is about the end result, but about the journey. Did we learn anything along the way? Did we have any semblance of fun or experience a bit of satisfaction and pride at any point during this long season?

Meh.

We have now played 26 seasons and I have won precisely one trophy. Barely. Which is why it's so aggravating to lose when this team is so talented. I don't mind losing when I have a mediocre team and no expectations of winning the ultimate prize. But when I put together a squad that is good enough to win 104 games, lead the entire BDBL in runs scored, and outscore our opponents by more than 200 runs, it really sucks to waste such an opportunity.

The fact that we even made it so far was hardly a given. I began the offseason by debating whether to rebuild or go for it in 2024. At the end of the 2023 MLB season, we had about half a quality lineup against both lefties and righties, but with a few glaring holes. Our starting rotation needed serious help, but our bullpen was decent enough.

At the end of my assessment last October, I was leaning toward rebuilding, as I determined that the price to compete was higher than I was willing to pay. My first order of business was placing free-agent-to-be Framber Valdez on the Selling block. I was surprised to see that an ace starting pitcher with a very cheap price tag had very little value on the trade market. Once I learned that lesson, I decided to pivot to competing in 2024.

I began the winter with only about $5 million to spend on free agents, so I my first task was to dump salary. I dumped a chunk of it by trading Ranger Suarez ($10 million), which cost me two of my favorite prospects. I did, however, manage to land throw-in Kutter Crawford in that deal. I reluctantly cut a few million more in salary by trading my two best relievers in exchange for "super prospect" Ricky Tiedemann. Tiedemann ended up throwing about three and a half pitches in 2024 before he needed to shut it down for the year.

After my third winter trade, I had managed to cut $10.2 million in salary. I planned to sit tight at that point, but I had a far bigger worry than spending money. Thanks to the season-long injuries to Shohei Ohtani and Luis Garcia, plus the free agency of Jon Gray, we had basically no pitching for the 2025 BDBL season. I needed to do something to fix that.

With that in mind, I went to work adding a couple of young arms that I felt were on the verge of a breakthrough: MacKenzie Gore and Casey Mize. Unfortunately, they cost Valdez, but that also saved me some money. Also unfortunately, both of them ended up sucking monkey nuts in MLB '24.

By the end of the winter, I had turned our payroll around. I began the winter with $5 million to spend on 15 players, and ended it with a whopping $26 million in spending money -- plus three quality young arms for the future.

I targeted three specific players in the auction, and ended up signing all three: Bryan Reynolds, Wilmer Flores, and Jon Gray. Best of all, I landed both Flores and Gray at $5 million, which prevented me from being forced to sign them for two more years beyond this one. I also managed to pick up closer Matt Strahm for another $5 million, which was a pleasant surprise.

By the time Opening Day began, I was feeling very confident about our chances to win the division -- if not the entire enchilada. But then I took a look at our competition and that confidence flew out the window. I expected the Darien Blue Wave to be our main competition. I had completely underestimated the Flagstaff Peaks until I saw what they ended up looking like on paper. And when the first chapter began and the Peaks flew out to a commanding lead, I saw the writing on the wall.

Before the first chapter had even come to an end, I decided to do a little Nic Weiss-like "arbitrage" by trading free-agent-to-be Trea Turner. Our offense was so overpowering, we really didn't need him, as odd as it sounds. In return for Turner, I got a player that I felt would be an asset to this team for at least the next four years -- at a dirt-cheap salary. Unfortunately, that player, Jung-hu Lee, decided to run into a wall shortly after that trade, and ended up missing the rest of the MLB season.

Last March, I was fortunate enough to meet up with Tony Chamra, Ian Hartner, and Joe Demski at a spring training game. During that game, Ian mentioned that he was in the market for a starting pitcher. I saw that as an opportunity to add another quality young arm for the future. I traded Jon Gray for Max Meyer, and was ecstatic to add the third-overall pick of the 2020 MLB draft to our 2025 rotation, which already included MacKenzie Gore, Casey Mize, Kutter Crawford, and Ricky Tiedemann. At that point, I figured I had set up our starting rotaton for the next four years!

Of course, the rest is history. All five of those pitchers ended up becoming useless turds. Meyer was sent packing to the bush leagues after three quality MLB starts, didn't return until the second half of the season, and then sucked monkey nuts the rest of the season. Crawford allowed more home runs than the guy who lobs them in at the Home Run Derby. Gore and Mize went from up-and-coming young aces to wastes of roster space. And Tiedemann did what he has done best throughout his career: get injured and stay injured.

A funny thing happened after that first chapter. We actually started winning. A lot. At the all-star break, we shared first place with the Flagstaff Peaks. At the end of the following chapter, we shared first place with the Darien Blue Wave. In an effort to make an effort, I made a few small trades to shore up the starting lineup and bullpen, adding lefty-mashers Garrett Cooper, Ruben Mateo, and Stone Garrett, and middle-innings arms Craig Kimbrel, Tommy Kahnle, and Brooks Raley. I didn't sacrifice much to get any of them -- with one exception. In an ill-fated, knee-jerk, trade with Matt Clemm at BDBL Weekend, I gave him Spencer Arrighetti for Kimbrel. I really wish I could have that one back.

With eight games remaining, we were dead-tied with the Peaks for the last-remaining spot in the playoffs. Flagstaff split their series with the Blue Wave. We then took three of four from Darien to take a one-game lead in the wildcard race. We needed a split in our final series against Flagstaff, and we achieved that in the first two games.

Our final series of the season, the OL Division Series against Akron, was a major let-down in every conceivable way. Our offense, which led the entire BDBL in nearly every major category all season, suddenly stopped hitting. We hit just .213/.285/.398 for the series. Bryan Reynolds (.277/.320/.273), Rafael Devers (.130/.167/.261), Wilmer Flores (.100/.269/.150), and Lane Thomas (.050/.048/.050) were completely useless the entire series. And our "lefty-killers" -- Cooper, Mateo, Nick Senzel, and Riley Adams -- went a combined 0-for-9.

Our entire pitching staff -- starters and relievers -- collapsed as well. Our four starters posted a 6.68 ERA in 33+ innings, and our bullpen combined for a 3.74 ERA in 21+ innings. Our starting pitchers allowed 20 walks in 33+ innings. Our relievers allowed 14 in 21+.

So that's it. All of that work led up to a pointless, total team, collapse in the end. The random dice rolls win yet again. It sort of makes me wonder why I bother at all.

Division Series Diary

November 7:

Welp, we tried, but it's over. As expected, Cole was back to his old self in Game Four, and we never really had a chance against him. One two-out rally by Akron after another killed us. And as usual, our offense gave up in the late innings against what should be a sub-par bullpen.

Game Five was your typical ridiculous, aggravating, DMB game -- the type of game that makes you want to never play the game again. Up by a score of 6-1 -- finally, some breathing room! -- Shohei Ohtani once again fell apart for no reason whatsoever. Yet another two-out rally produced FOUR runs for Akron, making it a one-run game. They inevitably tied it.

It took an Adley Rutschman walk-off to eke out a win. Acuna and Riley went 0-for-10 and Akron STILL managed to score six runs.

Game Six was yet another frustrating mess. We were forced into extra innings, and I was forced to use my Game Seven starter (Crawford) just to try to get through the game and force a Game Seven. DJ used two left-handed relievers against us, and I absolutely STACKED my lineup with lefty-killers. Didn't matter. We couldn't score a fucking run. Ohtani finally came through with a solo shot in the 12th.

We needed Crawford to give us just ONE MORE INNING. But he couldn't do it. Game over. Series over. Season over.

Akron's offense throughout this entire series was just fucking relentless. They never gave us one opportunity to breathe. Steven Kwan is such an annoying prick. Dude had a .340 OBP in MLB, but we could. Not. Keep. Him. Off. The. Fucking. Bases. Austin Riley was a goddamn machine. Pitching around him was pointless. We somehow managed to keep Acuna somewhat at bay, and yet he's the one who drove the final nail into our coffin in the end.

What a frustrating end to a frustrating season.

November 5:

We unexpectedly roughed-up Gerrit Cole in Game One, and won that game easily. Normally, you'd think that would be great news, but as it turns out, that could mean the end of our postseason. The reason why: our offense proceeded to roll over and die over the next two games. And now Cole, who threw only 78 pitches in that Game One, is now fresh and ready to go for Game Four.

Beating Cole once was a stroke of luck we don't experience often. Doing it twice would be less likely than being struck by lightning twice. Akron is all but guaranteed to win the next game, which means we would need to sweep the rest of this series in order to win.

I don't see that happening. This team has shown no heart all season long, and the playoffs are merely an extension of the regular season malaise we witnessed for 160 games. It seems difficult to imagine that a 104-win team can't hit when it counts, and yet we've seen it far too often to dismiss it out of hand.

Watching this team muddle through the postseason, I get the same sickening feeling in my stomach that I had watching the Yankees in this 2024 postseason. Same exact vibes. No heart whatsoever.

November 1:

Scouting the Akron Ryche, it is easy to find their weaknesses, but the problem is that their two greatest strengths are so incredibly strong it almost doesn't matter. Ronald Acuna is an absolute BEAST. My game plan is to avoid him as much as possible. That means pitching around him almost always and intentionally walking him in crucial situations. I will likely even pitch around him when he leads off each game of this series. I'd rather get beaten by ANY of the other eight hitters in the lineup.

The other beast is Gerrit Cole. The dude doesn't allow any hits or home runs or walks. He strikes out a ton. He's dominant against both sides of the plate. There is no weakness to exploit there. We can't even really play small ball against him because: a) no one on our roster can bunt, and b) Akron catching has been SO dominant cutting down base stealers this season, I don't dare run on them. This means sitting back and hoping to string together a few hits by sheer luck.

Akron's rotation will be a surprise, regardless of what DJ Shepard decides. He could use Cole three times in the series, limiting his pitch count to 80 or so pitches per outing. He could use Brandon Woodruff for five innings. He carried Wade Miley on the roster for a reason. Perhaps that means he'll go with a standard four-man rotation with Miley pitching in Game Four? I really have no idea what DJ will do, but I'm prepared as best I can, regardless.

The Akron roster is super tiltled toward right-handers, both the hitters and pitchers. This plays to our advantage as far as bullpen matchups go. I think we match up well with this team, but in this game, that usually means nothing.

October 31:

I didn't expect to be here, but here I am. As long as I'm here, I may as well try to win this thing.

The first order of business is choosing the 26-man Division Series roster. Unfortunately, Aaron Hicks is not eligible. Fortunately, Akron will likely use mostly right-handed starters against us.

There isn't much to decide on my end. We'll go with a straightforward starting rotation of Ohtani, Eovaldi, Crawford, and Lorenzen. On paper, Ohtani is our fourth-best starter, but I know he's better than that, and he's pitched well against Akron this year. Akron hits righties better than lefties, but that's irrelevant, since there is no chance in hell that any of our lefty starters will earn a roster spot.

Our starting lineup is set in stone:

1. Adley Rutschman, C
2. Brandon Belt, 1B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Shohei Ohtani, DH
5. Jason Heyward, RF
6. Wilmer Flores, 2B
7. Rafael Devers, 3B
8. Lane Thomas, LF
9. Paul DeJong, SS

That's twelve. The bullpen is a pretty easy call:

Moreta
Stephenson
Hamilton
Strahm
Chavez
Kahnle

The bench:

Riley Adams
Andrew Benintendi
Garrett Cooper
Stone Garrett
Jorge Mateo
Davis Schneider
Nick Senzel

That's 25.

Hicks would make a fantastic 26th player, but alas...

It boils down to the 11th member of the pitching staff. Would I rather use Craig Kimbrel or Brooks Raley? Kimbrel strikes out a ton of batters and gives up a ton of homers. Raley is a lefty who is lethal against righties. Austin Riley and Patrick Wisdom have had trouble against lefties. Riley and Wisdom also strike out a lot. This is a tough call. I'll have to go with Kimbrel.

Looking Ahead to 2025

I almost titled this post "Looking Forward to 2025," but there is very little to look forward to! With the 2024 MLB season now in the books, we can look ahead to 2025. My god. What a mess this team is. I knew it was bad, but I didn't realize the scale of it until I just sat down and took a good look at it. Even with Shohei Ohtani's historic season, the 2025 Florida Mulligans are a hot mess.

Adley Rutschman, Lane Thomas, Rafael Devers, Paul DeJong, and Wyatt Langford are all platoon players now. Rutschman (.219/.290/.342), Langford (.255/.316/.386), and Thomas (.214/.279/.367) are completely useless against right-handers. Devers (.240/.304/.382) and DeJong (.198/.260/.360) are useless pieces of crap against lefties.

This means that we have four holes in our lineup to fill against lefties and four against righties. We have no first baseman, and no second baseman (thanks to Davis Scheider's epic collapse this season), with roughly $28.8 million to spend this winter.

I was so happy with our starting rotation in April that I wrote about it here, patting myself on the back for rebuilding our entire rotation from nothing. I acquired four young pitchers with track records of success, plus one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, plus one young pitcher (JP Sears) who carried over from last year's roster. With SIX good, quality, young pitchers with fantastic resumes, I figured at least one or two of them would become aces in our 2025 rotation. Instead, all six failed miserably.

Our rotation now consists of:

1. Kutter Crawford: 184 IP, 155 H, 34 HR, 51 BB, 175 K, 675/732
2. MacKenzie Gore: 166 IP, 171 H, 15 HR, 65 BB, 181 K, 834/704
3. JP Sears: 181 IP, 172 H, 28 HR, 49 BB, 137 K, 648/777
4. Casey Mize: 102 IP, 121 H, 11 HR, 29 BB, 78 K, 749/796

That's it. They all suck. They all give up WAAAAAY too many home runs. They all have problematic splits. None of them should be in any rotation. And yet, that's all we have.

Our bullpen is similarly filled with problems:

Chad Green: 53 IP, 759/556
Calvin Faucher: 54 IP, 747/633
Ian Hamilton: 38 IP, 765/669
Matt Strahm: 63 IP, 607/446
Yuki Matsui: 63 IP, 673/659
Justin Slaten: 55 IP, 549/600

We're screwed.

Chapter Six Diary

October 27:

This is it. This is our entire season, compressed into one final regular-season series. Given our very long history against both Greg Newgard and this Flagstaff Peaks franchise, it seems appropriate that the fate of the 2024 season rests on the outcome of this series. We need two wins to clinch a playoffs spot. We need four wins to clinch the division. Greg needs to win this series in order to clinch that final playoffs spot. Something's gotta give.

Game 1: Shohei Ohtani vs. Zach Eflin

During this game, I described it to Greg as "two heavyweight champions standing in the middle of the ring trading roundhouses." Greg insisted that his team was only throwing jabs, but those jabs stung, man!

Home runs by Bryan Reynolds (solo) in the first and Lane Thomas (2-run) in the second gave Florida three runs in the first two innings. Flagstaff countered with four runs in those two innings via three singles, a double, and two sac flies. It proves it doesn't matter how you score runs, so long as you score them!

Florida tied the score in the fifth inning with an RBI double by Reynolds. They then blew the game wide-open in the sixth by scoring four runs -- two on a bases-loaded walk by a guy (Chris Stratton) who didn't walk that many batters in MLB '23.

That was about all there is to say about that one.

Final score: Florida 8, Flagstaff 4

Game 2: Nathan Eovaldi vs. Johan Oviedo

A matchup between two pitchers with the most vowels in their names in all of baseball. Back-to-back doubles by the first two batters in Florida's lineup set the stage before fannies ever hit the seats in the first. But Flagstaff responded in a big way in the bottom half of the first with a two-run homer by Mookie Betts followed by an RBI double by Mark Canha.

Flagstaff's 3-1 lead didn't last long. With only one out in the second inning, Peaks starter Oviedo left the game with an injury. Bowden Francis has been, arguably, Flagstaff's best pitcher this season. But he wasn't great in this game. He faced just six batters and allowed four of them to reach base, resulting in three runs. That gave Florida a 4-3 lead.

A sac fly in the fourth inning gave the Mulligans a little cushion. Then it turned into a bullpen game. Stephen Wilson, Jake Diekman, Aroldis Chapman, Hunter Harvey, and David Bednar were all spectaular for Flagstaff, pitching seven shutout innings. Florida's bullpen (Ian Hamilton and Robert Stephenson) were equally good.

Final score: Florida 5, Flagstaff 3

This win locked up Florida's spot in the playoffs, via the OL wildcard. Now, the only question was whether they could win two more to secure the division title and the #1 seed in the Ozzie League.

Game 3: Michael Lorenzen vs. Clarke Schmidt

A single, double, and RBI single by Shohei Ohtani gave Florida the lead in the top of the first. Although Lorenzen was spectacular in his last few starts, the magic seemed to evaporate in the second inning. Flagstaff's first three batters reached base, resulting in two runs, giving the Peaks a 2-1 lead.

A solo home run by Rafael Devers tied the score in the fourth inning. Devers then un-tied the score in the sixth inning with yet another solo homer.

Robert Stephenson has been money against both righties and lefties all season. But he allowed a solo homer by Corbin Carroll in the seventh inning to tie the score at 3-3. The following inning, Matt Strahm recorded the second out of the inning on a strikeout, before allowing a bloop RBI single by Mauricio Dubon, putting Flagstaff in the lead.

Jay Jackson then took the ball in the top of the ninth to lock it down. And he did just that, retiring three of Florida's best hitters -- Adley Rutschman, Brandon Belt, and Bryan Reynolds -- in order.

Final score: Flagstaff 4, Florida 3

Congratulations to the Darien Blue Wave for winning the McGowan Division title.

Game 4: Kutter Crawford vs. DeSclafani

A game of utter irrelevance. The only thing on the line was Flagstaff's head-to-head bragging rights against Florida this season. And they got their wish with a decisive 6-1 win.

Final score: Flagstaff 6, Florida 1

Florida finishes the season with 104 wins and the OL wildcard. Flagstaff (103 wins) becomes the first team in BDBL history to win 100+ games and not make the postseason. The Mulligans will now face the Akron Ryche in the OL Division Series, with Akron getting the home field advantage. The Darien Blue wave will host the Los Altos Undertakers.

October 23:

It has been almost a month since our last series. I reminds me of the way that MLB is trying to ice down the hot bats of the Yankees heading into the World Series. FIVE games off? Seriously, Manfred??

Game 1: Sonny Gray vs. Shohei Ohtani

The game was scoreless until the third, when Brandon Belt connected with a two-out RBI double. Darien took the lead in the fifth on a pair of singles and an RBI double by Edman made it a 2-1 game.

The score remained 2-1 until the 7th inning, when Jason Heyward connected for a two-run RBI single. Three batters later, Adley Rutschman delivered a two-run double, making it a 4-2 game.

In the ninth, the Blue Wave tried to make it a game by scoring a run to make it 4-3. They then managed to load the bases with two outs. But Robert Stephensen shut it down.

Final score: Florida 4, Darien 3

Game 2: Justin Steele vs. Nathan Eovaldi

Jose Altuve's solo homer in the top of the first drew first blood for the Blue Wave, but Florida answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

I won't bore you with the details. Florida scored 13 runs in this game. Darien scored four.

Final score: Florida 13, Darien 4

Game 3: Andrew Abbott vs. Michael Lorenzen

Lorenzen owned the Blue Wave in his last start. Not so much in this one: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2HR.

Darien stuck first with an RBI single by Trout in the first, but the Mulligans took a commanding 4-1 lead after three innings. Lorenzen then coughed up that lead, allowing three in the top of the fourth to tie it up.

Jose Altuve's homer in the fifth inning put Darien in the lead, 5-4, but the Mullligans then put up a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 7-5 game.

Darien fought back, scoring two in the eighth to make it a 7-7 game. They then took the lead in the top of the ninth, making it an 8-7 game with an RBI double by Jose Altuve.

Bottom-9. Backs against the wall. Down by one.

With one out, Paul DeJong doubled home the tying run off of Felix Bautista. The next batter, Adley Rutschman, delivered a walk-off two-run homer.

Final score: Florida 10, Darien 8

Game 4: Lucas Gilbert vs. Kutter Crawford

The Mulligans took a 5-0 lead after two innings, and seemed to be in complete control. But the Blue Wave fought back with one run in the third and three more in the fifth, to make it a 5-4 game.

After seven innings, the Mulligans owned a lead of 9-7. Then, in the top of the ninth, Darien loaded the bases. With one out, Robert Stephensen was asked to close it out for Florida. Instead, he allowed a two-run single to tie the game and force it into extra innings.

The game remained tied until the 11th inning, when, with two outs, Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer. And that was the end of that.

Final score: Darein 11, Florida 9

So...basically...we have one series left against the Flagstaff Peaks. That is their last series as well. If we win two of those games, we win the OL wildcard. If we win one game, then we'll be the first team in BDBL history to win 100+ games without making the postseason.

September 29:

We managed to stay in the race by taking three of four from the Undertakers -- all by the skin of our teeth. If not for some incredibly bad luck and horrendous clutch hitting on the Los Altos side, we could have easily been swept.

In Game One, Shohei Ohtani was limited to four innings, so we had to jump out to an early lead to have a fighting chance. Fortunately, we did just that, jumping all over Max Scherzer for three runs in the first three innings, and then a fourth in the sixth inning.

After Ohtani left, I was forced to somehow scrap together the bare bones of what's left of our bullpen, just to get through the game. Clinging to a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Ian Hamilton allowed the first two batters to reach base on singles. I then handed the ball to Dauri Moreta, who walked the bases full. A sac fly made it a one-run game. Then, with the tying run standing 90 feet away, Moreta whiffed Cedanne Rafaela for a HUGE out. Parker Meadows then flew out to end the game.

After that nail-biter, our offense then ran into a buzzsaw in Game Two, in the form of Bailey Ober, of all people. Los Altos scored a first inning run, and that 1-0 score stood for six innings, as our offense couldn't get anything going against Ober. Finally, once Ober left the game in the seventh, we managed to get on the board thanks to Jason Heyward's two-run double.

In the bottom of the eighth, Jesse Chavez loaded the bases with one out. Ian Hamilton then came into the game and whiffed the only two batters he faced. We eventually won by a score of 3-1.

Our Game Three and Game Four starters were MacKenzie Gore and JP Sears, so we absolutely had to win those first two games to stay in the race. Gore was his usual awful self in Game Three, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks in less than four innings before I couldn't take it anymore and yanked him out of there.

I was very concerned about facing Dustin May, given his dominant numbers, but surprisingly we managed to touch him up for four runs in four innings (eight hits, four walks.) For the third game in a row, our beleaguered bullpen managed to hold that lead. We won by a score of 5-3.

JP Sears gives up a lot of home runs. I mean A LOT. Game Four was no different. He managed to serve up two homers in only five innings, allowing four runs in the process. I used my best lineup in this game, knowing that we would need to score a lot of runs to make up for Sears' awfulness. It didn't work. We scored just two runs on six hits. Final score: 7-2.

This series win puts us one game behind Flagstaff. Up next is South Carolina. Then, we face the big boys. I have managed usage as best I can. Hopefully it's enough.

September 25:

Thankfully, we swept the West Chester Blooms last night. Anything less than a sweep would have been catastrophic. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter, because the Flagstaff Peaks somehow swept the Akron Ryche yesterday morning. The Ryche are on pace to win 99 games this year and yet the Peaks trounced them like a steamroller.

It's beginning to feel very much like the Peaks are the Team of Destiny in 2024. I had this same exact feeling about the Ryche in 2022 and that feeling proved to be prescient. We are now 8-4 on this chapter, and yet it's only the second-best record in the division. Flagstaff has won eleven out of twelve. Absolutely insane.

It's beyond disheartening to know that we will finish this season with one of our best records in franchise history...and we'll finish in third place. Current division leaders Akron, Los Altos, South Philly, and Chicago would be last-place teams in the McGowan Division. What a waste of a tremendous season.

September 24:

When it comes to the BDBL, I tend to focus on the negative. Even when I win three of four in a series, I obsess over that one loss. Such is the case with my series against Bear Country last night. Three of the four games were won rather easily: 11-3, 10-3, and 10-5. But that one goddamn game, Game Three, is the one that irritates me.

Two-out rallies piss me off, and that game featured one of those in the second inning. Walk, single, single. Like being poked on the forehead over and over again. Piddly little shit. Irritating.

We were losing 4-0 to Freddy Peralta, a guy who has been very hittable all season long. We clawed our way back into the game with one run in the sixth, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth. Down by just one run in the ninth, the bottom three hitters in our lineup couldn't get on base. Not one of them. 4-3 loss.

We've now lost three one-run games this chapter, and we've only played eight games. That stings. We're now two games behind Flagstaff, and seven behind Darien. We have played .643 baseball this year and it isn't good enough. What a fucking waste.

September 17:

It always sucks to lose three out of four. It sucks even worse to lose three out of four at home. And it sucks ten times as much to lose three out of four to a team that is incredible beatable. That is exactly how our final chapter began last night.

Shohei Ohtani is supposed to be our ace. Instead, he has been the most inconsistent pitcher on our staff all season long. You never know which version of Ohtani you'll get when he takes the hill. He has now made 22 starts for us this season. He has allowed two or fewer runs in thirteen of those starts, and he has allowed six or more runs in five starts. Last night was one of the latter.

It's bad enough that he allowed nine runs (eight earned) in six innings, but what really irritates me is that six of those runs were scored in the same inning -- all with two outs. And it happened against the bottom half of a lineup that is below league average in each of the three triple-slashes.

That lineup features Xavier Edwards in the leadoff spot. Edwards owns a sub-.300 OBP for the season (.333 vs. RH). This is their leadoff hitter. Their table-setter. Seriously. Shea Langeliers is the cleanup hitter. He is hitting .222/.291/.433 this season. Seriously. I'm not making this up. Drew Waters (.248/.292/.431) offers "protection" for Langeliers in the #5 spot. And it only gets worse from there.

Shohei Ohtani, one of the best pitchers in the game, coughed up SIX runs -- all with two outs -- against Erika Baddoo, someone named Triolo, Josh Lowe, Edwards, Jorge Soler, Francisco Lindor, and Langeliers.

Five straight batters reached base, all with two outs: walk, single, single, walk, double, single.

Fucking ridiculous. And that was just Game One.

In Game Two, we faced Dane Dunning. Dane Dunning, with the lifetime 4.39 ERA. Mister Mediocrity. Our lineup is filled with top-50 hitters: Ohtani, Rafael Devers, Bryan Reynolds, Adley Rutschman, Brandon Belt, Wilmer Flores, etc. We managed all of SIX hits against Dane Fucking Dunning. One run. Lost by a score of 2-1 to Dane Fucking Dunning.

Game Three required a miracle come-from-behind walk-off win because Kutter Crawford couldn't hold the mighty Furies offense to fewer than six runs. In a preview of what's to come in 2025, he allowed THREE home runs to this wretched offense. One of them was hit by Mike Moustakas, if you can believe it. I thought that guy died about a decade ago.

Then, just to rub some more salt into the wound, we lost yet another one-run game in Game Four. Alex Cobb -- Alex Fucking Cobb -- blanked our offense for seven innings. Not a single run. Just three hits. Against Alex Fucking Cobb.

We finally scored two in the eighth and two more in the ninth, but it wasn't enough because the mighty Furies once against brought out their big lumber, stroking two homers off of JP Sears.

Not only did we lose three of four, but I used my "A" lineups in all four games, wasting the usage of the players we'll need to beat the better teams in this league. Meanwhile, Bart didn't even play his best hitter (Wander F'ing Franco) in three of those games. He didn't need to. Tom Murphy (.571/.625/1.143), Erika Baddoo (.333/.333/1.000), Someone Named Triolo (.500/.750/.500), and Drew Waters (.231/.375/.769) picked up the slack.

What a stupid fucking game.

Chapter Five Recap

We started Chapter Five by losing a series to Darien, allowing them to sneak to the top of the division for the first time this year. We even managed to lose two games to left-handed starters after having added three lefty-mashing bats to our lineup at the end of Chapter Four.

We split against Flagstaff, losing both games in extra innings. We also split a series against last-place Ravenswood's robot manager. Thankfully, we managed to take three of four from Lake Norman, Cleveland, and Charlotte, and swept the West Chester Blooms. That put us at 18-10 for the chapter.

For now, we own sole possession of first place. Flagstaff's chapter is over, after they went 20-8 for the chapter. Darien still has sixteen games left to play. If they go just 9-7 in those 16 games, they will catch us. Given that four of those games are against West Chester, that seems like a lock.

We continued to knock the cover off the ball in Chapter Five, batting .295/.364/.513 as a team and averaging an even six runs per game. But I made a major, major, error by over-using Aaron Hicks. As a result, if we should make it to the Division Series, it will be without Hicks and his .337/.417/.483 bat against lefties.

Our Chapter Five pitching was a mixed bag. Michael Lorenzen, of all people, will probably be the OL Pitcher of the Chapter. He went a perfect 5-0 in five starts, with a 0.50 ERA. He pitched a complete-game gem (3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K) against Darien, and dominated Flagstaff (8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) as well. On the other end of the spectrum, JP Sears posted an ugly 7.36 ERA in three games (14+ IP.) And our newest "closer," Craig Kimbrel, was lit up like a Christmas tree: 9 IP, 7 H, 11 R, 8 BB, 16 K, 3 HR.)

Our usage is going to be extremely tight down the stretch -- especially in the bullpen -- so I'd like to get the Flagstaff and Darien series done first in Chapter Six. Of course, people usually like to save those big series for last, so we'll see how that goes.

Chapter Four Recap

Four chapters are now in the book forever, and your Florida Mulligans are still in first place! Who could have predicted such a crazy, nutty season? Certainly not me. After last year, I had become so jaded, I believed it didn't matter how many quality players you put on the field. This game has a mind of its own and your fate is already sealed regardless of what you do.

Last year, nearly every player on our roster under-performed. We choked in clutch situations. We rolled over dead when our backs were against the wall. In the end, despite preseason predictions of postseason success, we didn't even make the playoffs cut.

This season has been the polar-opposite. Most of our players are performing at least as well as their MLB numbers suggest they should. We have not only performed well in the clutch, but we may have set a franchise record for come-from-behind wins (or at least it seems that way.) And we're coming through in big situations against tough teams.

Our Chapter Four schedule was so brutal, I assumed we'd be trailing far behind by now. Of our six opponents this past chapter, five of them have winning records. Three of the six are currently in first place in their divisions. Yet, we finished this chapter with an impressive 15-9 record. With the Darien Blue Wave going a ridiculous 18-6, that means we head into the final two chapters tied for first place in the McGowan Division.

Four of our fifteen wins happened when we were trailing after seven innings. We also won one game in which we were tied after seven, and two extra-inning games. We won fifteen games despite losing Shohei Ohtani in the early innings of Game One in two different series!

We hit .267/.338/.489 as a team. Ohtani (.302/.418/.491), Adley Rutschman (.304/.372/.510), Rafael Devers (.313/.360/.566), Jason Heyward (.377/.411/.755), and Aaron Hicks (.274/.383/.450) all knocked the cover off the ball.

On the pitching side, we posted a respectable 4.13 team ERA, with fewer hits allowed than innings pitched. Michael Lorenzen (2-0, 1.25 in 21+ IP) was shockingly good. Ohtani (2-0, 1.86 in 19+) turned his abysmal pitching season around somewhat. Newcomer Nate Eovaldi (1-0, 2.92 in 24+) fit right in.

Our schedule doesn't get any easier. Next chapter, we'll face three -- count 'em, three -- teams sporting winning percentages of .630 or better. Two of those teams are in our division! We get to face the Flagstaff Peaks on friendly turf for four games, but then we have to travel to the armpit of the BDBL, Darien, for four. Those eight games could very well decide how this season ends for all three teams.

Our usage situation is very alarming at the moment, so to help remedy that, I made a couple of trades. First, I sent Seth Hernandez and Fernando Cruz to West Chester for Stone Garrett and Jorge Mateo. Garrett can fill in for Heyward against righties, and gives us another strong bat in the outfield against lefties (likely taking Bryan Reynolds' spot.) Mateo gives us another decent bat against lefties, and helps solve our usage problem at shortstop.

I made another trade with Kansas, sending Jorge Alcala their way in exchange for Garrett Cooper. He will help ease the usage burden on Wilmer Flores, who is currently at 77% of his MLB PA's. Wilmer hasn't done much against lefties this season (.190/.250/.444, vs. .303/.359/.527 in MLB), so maybe this will be an upgrade.

We still have some holes that would be nice to fill, but nothing pressing. We still have 2.9 to play with under the WAR cap, which is enough to haul in another good bat, or maybe another decent bullpen arm. Next weekend in Arlington will present plenty of opportunities for trade talk. We'll see what happens. If it's nothing, I'm comfortable riding it out with the team we have.

Chapter Three Recap

Surprise, surprise! Thanks to our 17-7 record in Chapter Three, we are now tied with the Flagstaff Peaks atop the McGowan Division at the all-star break. We share the best record (53-27, .663) in the BDBL. If the Lake Norman Monsters win all eight of their remaining games this chapter, then they will own the best record in the BDBL. Otherwise, it's all ours.

It's been a wild season. We began this season with a 16-12 record in Chapter One, which was five games behind the leader (Flagstaff) at that time. Since then, we own the best record (37-15, .712) in the BDBL. We traded Trea Turner and Jon Gray and somehow became better.

This past chapter, we faced such a tough schedule that I assumed we would be in third-place at this point. Instead, we took three out of four from the first-place Chicago Black Sox, three of four from the first-place Highland Freedom, three of four from the heavily-favored Darien Blue Wave, and split with the Peaks after losing the first two games of that series.

We head into the all-star break with several players who should be in the starting lineup of that game. Shohei Ohtani (.348/.429/.741, 28 HR, 98.2 RC) is well on his way to winning his second OL MVP award. Adley Rutschman (.319/.399/.495), Bryan Reynolds (.264/.334/.502), Brandon Belt (.264/.369/.563), Wilmer Flores (.275/.355/.480), and Jason Heyward (.324/.383/.571) all deserve consideration.

On the mound, Kutter Crawford (8-2, 3.03 ERA in 77+ IP) deserves a spot on the all-star roster, as does Dauri Moreta (6-0, 1.89 in 38). Our pitching has not been great, but it's been good enough to allow our offense to carry them. As I type, we own the best OPS (.850) in the BDBL, with the highest OBP (.353) and Slugging % (.497), and the most home runs (139).

Our pitching is merely good-enough. We rank 9th in the BDBL in ERA (4.37), 9th in CERA (4.19), and 9th in RCERA (4.27).

I have no idea how we got here, and I certainly don't know where we're going, but it sure has been a fun ride so far.

Chapter Two Recap

Way, way, back in BDBL history, there was an owner named Nic Weiss. Nic was a young college kid at the time, and I believe he was studying economics. He liked to apply the theories and principles he was learning at that time toward his experience as GM in the BDBL. In particular, he enjoyed using a term called "arbitrage."

The Wikipedia definition of arbitrage is: "the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets – striking a combination of matching deals to capitalise on the difference, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which the unit is traded."

I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I think I may have committed some arbitrage this past chapter.

The Florida Mulligans followed up an incredibly irritating first chapter (16-12) with an absolutely mind-blowing 20-8 record in Chapter Two. We outscored our opponents by 52 runs, which is second only to the Darien Blue Wave. The Wave went 19-9 in Chapter Two with a +60 runs differential.

Just as we did in Chapter One, we hit the crap out of the ball in Chapter Two. We hit .274/.355/.492 as a team, and ranked among the top three in pretty much every offensive category. Shohei Ohtani (.352/.452/.790, 12 HR) hit out of his mind this chapter. If he doesn't win the OL HotC award, it will be a shock. Adley Rutschman (.333/.429/.441), Jason Heyward (.320/.424/.500), Lane Thomas (.298/.333/.521), and Rafael Devers (.275/.368/.500) also raked this chapter.

Our pitching was substantially better in Chapter Two than it was in the first chapter. We posted a respectable 3.73 ERA as a team, allowed only 219 hits in 253+ innings, and yielded just 21 homers. Night and day compared to Chapter One. Our bullpen was phenomenal. Robert Stephenson, Dauri Moreta, Jesse Chavez, and Isaiah Campbell threw 38 innings combined without allowing a single earned run. Add Matt Strahm and Ian Hamilton to that mix, and we're talking 63 innings and three total runs allowed.

Ohtani (2-0, 2.52 ERA) bounced back on the mound in a big way this chapter after a brutal Chapter One. Kutter Crawford (3-0, 2.31) continues to astound as well.

Now...about that arbitrage thing.

I was berated by Jeff Paulson throughout this chapter because I decided to trade Trea Turner and Jon Gray. The GOAT believes that I should not have given up on a team that could be in contention. As it stands, the Mulligans are in second place in our division, one game ahead of the Blue Wave in the wildcard and one game behind the Flagstaff Peaks. So, he does have a point.

However...realistically, I can see the writing on the wall. We don't have the pitching to compete in this division. Flagstaff and Darien are both likely to finish with 100+ wins. We won't come close to that with this pitching staff. I saw two opportunities to put this franchise in a great position for the next 4-6 years and took it. I'd do it again if given a second chance.

When we began this past offseason, we had ZERO pitching for 2025 and beyond, other than J.P. Sears. We were set to lose Gray to free agency. Ohtani won't pitch at all in 2024. Our 2025 pitching staff was in deep, deep trouble. Today, it is looking like it could be one of the best pitching staffs I've ever assembled.

• Kutter Crawford: acquired this past winter in trade, is off to a blazing-hot start: 27 IP, 16 H, 0 HR, 11 BB, 30 K, 0.66 ERA.
• Casey Mize: also acquired last winter, is back from over a year off and seems healthy and productive: 21+ IP, 20 H, 1 HR, 6 BB, 16 K, 2.95 ERA.
• MacKenzie Gore: yet another winter pick-up, is off to a strong start: 20 IP, 21 H, 1 HR, 6 BB, 27 K, 3.60 ERA.
• Max Meyer: added in exchange for Gray: 17 IP, 11 H, 2 HR, 3 BB, 14 K, 2.12 ERA.
• JP Sears: our lone holdover from last year: 26+ IP, 18 H, 2 HR, 10 BB, 16 K, 3.38 ERA.

That's five quality starters. Then we have several more arms in the minors that should be MLB-ready within the next year or two. Spencer Arrighetti made his MLB debut earlier this year. He had a rough debut, but looked good in his second outing, and has posted a 2.16 ERA in two AAA starts. Chase Dollander (15-7-2-5-27) has looked very good in his first three professional starts. If Ricky Tiedemann can ever stay healthy for more than a day, he would be a tremendous asset. And in the very low minors, Henry Lalane is being touted as a pitcher to watch over the next few years.

(And yes, I'm well aware that I just jinxed each and every one of the pitchers mentioned above.)

I'm not sure that any of this qualifies as arbitrage, but I'm very happy with how our roster is shaping up. We have so much depth in some key areas that if I wanted to make a move to improve our '24 chances, I could do that. And I just might!

Chapter One Recap

It didn't take long to figure out how this season will play out. By our second or third series, it became crystal clear. We will hit the crap out of the ball, but we'll need to score double digit runs in order to win, because our pitching is worse than horrendous. I knew this coming into the season, but I was hoping maybe I would be wrong. No such luck.

We wrapped up the first chapter with a respectable 16-12 record, matching the heavily-favored Darien Blue Wave. Both we and the Blue Wave are five games behind the red-hot Flagstaff Peaks, who won 21 games this chapter. We posted a runs differential of +28 despite allowing a league-high (for now) 149 runs.

We hit .295/.357/.530 as a team, which is just insane. We also hit an insane number of homers: 52. And we scored 177 runs, which is second only to Flagstaff. That's 6.3 runs per game, which is unsustainable, obviously.

That is a shame, because we would need to sustain that pace in order to win any games, given the horrific state of our pitching staff. We posted a 4.95 ERA in Chapter One, allowed more hits (263) than innings (250+), and a whopping 50 home runs (1.8 per game.)

Our "ace," Shohei Ohtani, went 1-3 with a 7.99 ERA. Michael Lorenzen (6.67 ERA), Joe Kelly (8.59), Bryan Shaw (12.86), and Robert Stephenon (5.93) have all allowed at least half as many home runs -- ALREADY! AFTER ONE CHAPTER! -- as they allowed ALL of last MLB season.

The one bright spot on our pitching staff is Kutter Crawford, who went 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA and has a chance to win the OL Pitcher of the Chapter award. Unfortunately, we had to use him out of the bullpen once due to an injury to a starting pitcher, which jacked up his usage. We have major usage issues across the board in our bullpen -- already! The number of teams that needlessly horde relievers in the BDBL has made it all but impossible to field a team.

We may also own the OL Hitter of the Chapter. Last year, Ohtani couldn't hit for shit. This year, he's making up for it. He hit .368/.424/.772 on the chapter, with 10 homers, 10 doubles, 3 triples, and 29 RBIs. Aaron Hicks (.345/.367/.586), Wilmer Flores (.333/.407/.556), Adley Rutschman (.327/.380/.566), Jason Heyward (.324/.351/.608), Brandon Belt (.302/.402/.523), and Bryan Reynolds (.271/.331/.508) all hit the snot out of the ball.

I don't know what to do with this team. We're obviously not good enough to compete, but we're obviously too good to throw in the towel at this point. I was tempted to trade Trea Turner this past chapter, and nearly did so, but ultimately decided to wait another chapter. I have plenty of trade bait if and when the time comes to bail. We're probably one ace starting pitcher away from being a playoff-caliber team, but that would mean trading a top prospect. Which I refuse to do. So here we are.

Draft Diary: The Free Agent Draft

January 14:

I have two dead spots in my lineup against right-handers, both in the outfield. My goal with my first draft pick was to fill one of those spots. The problem is that only one player, Mike Yastrzemski, fit the description. The other problem is that Tony DeCastro grabbed Yaz with one of his $5 million picks.

By the time I was able to make my first pick, I had a choice between Michael Conforto and Davis Schneider. Conforto would have been a good fit, but Schneider offers upside potential in addition to filling a hole this year. Ultimately, I went with Schneider. He isn't a full-time player by any stretch, but he can spot-start in left field when I need an extra bat.

Schneider was one of the hottest hitters in baseball in the second half of last year. He pretty much came out of nowhere, lit up the Triple-A level, and continued tearing the cover off the ball in his MLB debut. He's 27 years old, so his performance probably wasn't real, but there's always a chance. He's a second baseman by trade, which would fit perfectly for us in 2025.

In order to fill that second hole, I had to make a deal with the Devil. Well, the closest thing to the BDBL's version of the Devil. I offered to trade my next pick -- the third pick of the 16th round -- for an outfielder who can hit righties...and Jeff Paulson answered the call. He offered Jason Heyworth in exchange, and Heyworth just happens to be a perfect fit. Dammit.

The good news is that our roster is pretty much set at this point. Now it's just an exercise in filling out the reserves with fliers and lottery tickets.

January 16:

The $500K rounds completely obliterated my short list, to the point where I've had to create a new one...and then delete those names one-by-one. Evidently, we're all drafting from my list this year.

I assumed that with his inflated ERA and HR numbers, I could grab Josh Sborz with my first $100K pick, but DJ evidently read my notes on him and took him at $500K. So, instead of taking my final hitter for my active roster with my one and only $500K pick, I had to blow it on the last remaining semi-acceptable reliever: Bryan Shaw. With that, I now officially have enough innings to get through this season. Every year it's a nail-biter.

I need one more hitter for my active roster, but all the decent ones were snatched up in the past few rounds. The only semi-decent hitter remaining, Sam Haggerty, plays multiple positions, which is a good thing. The bad thing is that he doesn't play shortstop. Trea Turner is currently the only person on our roster who is rated at short. I'm thinking I may need to use that final pick on a glove-only shortstop like we did last year. That turned out so well, didn't it?

The smarter play, I think is to use that first $100K pick on a flier for the future, which I can possible turn into trade bait. The problem is that all of the decent flyers are also long-gone. This league is a real pain in my ass.

January 18:

It's over. As always, it's a relief when it's over. My last seven picks, all $100K, were mostly guys I am hoping can become useful bullpen arms a year from now: Kyle Hurt, Isaiah Campbell, Chad Green, Hagen Danner, Michael Grove, and Kody Funderbunk. At least one of those guys should stick. I got lucky last year and drafted two (Dauri Moreta and Alex Faedo) who stuck. Two out of eight seems to be the standard expectation for these $100K guys.

The seventh $100K pick was the last guy on our 35-man roster: Sam Haggerty. He will be an asset off the bench and can play multiple positions. In the end, I decided to leave the backup shortstop position empty. If Turner gets hurt, I'll just play someone out of position.

Draft Diary: The Auction

December 19:

I have come to the horrifying conclusion that there is only one free agent in this auction that fits the specific criteria I need to complete my lineup. Specifically, I need a right-handed or switch-hitter, with full-time usage, who hits both righties and lefties, and is rated in center field. Only five free agents fit three of those four categories, and only one -- Bryan Reynolds -- fits them all.

This conclusion is horrifying because it means that I now HAVE to sign Bryan Reynolds at ANY price or risk repeating last year's nightmare, where the bottom half of my lineup was a cesspool of uselessness. As it stands, I have $8 million allocated for Reynolds, but I'm not sure that it will be enough. He is ranked #74 in WAR. Last year, Ian Happ was ranked 49th in WAR and earned only $6 million in the auction. So it is possible.

Another horrifying conclusion I've reached is that I desperately need both Jon Gray and Wilmer Flores to NOT go Type H. I own the tie-breaker for both at $5 million. If some idiot decides to give either one of them a $5.5M deal, my entire auction strategy goes out the window. Gray is 31 years old and has never thrown more than 172 innings in a season. Giving him a guaranteed three-year contract would be insane. Flores is 32 years old, has exceeded 500 PA's just twice in eleven seasons, and has never had a WAR higher than 2.5.

You'd have to be a complete and total moron to go Type H on either one of those guys, but the auction seems to turn people into morons.

Flores fills not one, but TWO, gaping holes in our lineup. He would become Nick Senzel's platoon partner at second base and Brandon Belt's platoon partner at first. Signing Flores and Reynolds would give us a full lineup. Signing Gray would give us just enough starting innings to fill a season. We NEED all three or 2024 will be a bust.

I have a budget of $26.2 million to fill 14 spots. As it stands, this is my strategy:

• Reynolds: $8M
• Gray: $5M
• Flores: $5M
• Reliever: $5M
• The rest: $3.2M

I own the third pick in every round of the draft. Hector Neris, Hoby Milner, and Jordan Hicks are all in the draft, which means I'll get one of those three to fill the gaping hole in our bullpen.

This plan should work, but the insanity of the auction ensures that it won't.

January 2:

The placement of players in lots really screwed us over this year. The one guy we need more than anyone else, Jon Gray, is in the very last lot of this auction. There is no backup plan because no such plan is possible. There are two pitchers in this auction/draft that have similar numbers to Gray. One of them is Alex Cobb, who happens to be in the very first lot. The problem is that Cobb would perform horribly in our ballpark and has zero future value. The other is Jameson Taillon, who is in the draft and may not fall to us with pick #3. (Also, picking Taillon in the third round would mean we can't draft a quality reliever in that round.)

The pressing question, then, is do I place a $5 million bid on Cobb just to ensure that we have enough "quality" innings to get through this season? Or do I risk everything and hope that Gray falls to us with the tie-breaker at $5 million in the final lot?

The worst-case scenario is that we get neither one, and Taillon is chosen before our pick in Round Three. We would then need to draft TWO starting pitchers to fill that void, and the options are pretty gross. Our entire auction and draft relies on just ONE person believing that Jon Gray deserves a Type H contract. I can't help but think there is at least one person in this league foolish and/or desperate enough to believe such a thing.

Another player in that first lot is Reynolds, who is one of the three "must-have" players in this auction/draft. I intend to bid $8 million on him. I do not believe he is an $8 million player this year, but I believe he has the potential to be just that. His numbers will play up, big-time, in our ballpark. He played most of last season injured. I do not believe we've seen his peak yet. Currently, Jeff Paulson owns the top bid at $5 million. D.J. Shepard is the only person with a higher tie-breaker. The fact that no one has (yet) gone Type-H on him is somewhat encouraging, although we all know these auctions are decided in the very last seconds.

This may be the most stressful auction I've ever endured.

January 3:

I fucking HATE snipers. I freely admit that I have sniped before and I will snipe again. Because I am FORCED to do so by this stupid fucking system we have, which everyone seems to like but me. Instead of just bidding the appropriate maximum amount you have budgeted and letting the system do what it is designed to do, we are FORCED to wait until the very last seconds of each and every auction to make a last-second bid to prevent some douchebag from out-bidding us. It's a stupid fucking way to hold an auction, and yet we're stuck with it forever.

Bryan Reynolds would be a $6M player, max, in any other year. Case in point: Mark Canha. In 2022, I was forced to snipe a $6M Type-H bid for him after he had posted a .746 OPS in MLB '21. Reynolds posted a .790 OPS last year and has had roughly the same career, at roughly the same age, as Canha. Yet, Reynolds is currently at $7 million in the bidding with 11 hours remaining in this auction.

Ugh.

January 4:

Thankfully, that $7M bid stood up, and no one sniped at the last second to drive his salary up even higher. There are three players that we absolutely NEED in this auction, and we now have one of them. Two to go.

The good news is that Alex Cobb went for $5 million last night. Cobb's numbers are nearly identical to Jon Gray's. Chris Bassitt, whose numbers are arguably better than Gray's, is currently sitting at $5 million. It seems unlikely that anyone will go Type H on him, but we'll find out tonight if that happens. If not, it seems like a good bet that we'll get Gray at $5M.

The question is whether or not I should bump up my bid to $6M now that I've "saved" $1M on Reynolds. Do I want to go Type H on Jon Gray? I've been a Jon Gray fan for years. I franchised the guy because I believed in his stuff. But he's NEVER healthy enough to justify his salary.

Then again, Nathan Eovaldi was in a very similar career position a few years ago. By the time he was the same age as Gray, 31, he was coming off of five straight seasons where he pitched 130 or fewer innings in each season. It seemed like he would never be healthy enough to ever log 150-plus. Then, all of a sudden, at age 31, he turned in a 182-inning season and led the league in FIP. I can see that happening with Gray.

If Gray's auction were held today, I would submit a $6M bid just in case. Because if I don't win that bid on Gray, the Mulligans are absolutely screwed in 2024.

January 6:

We're now in the middle of the boring part of this auction. The three players that I want/need are four and six days away from their auction's expiration, which means I have nothing to do until then but place bids on players I know I won't get for the prices I'm bidding. I have already been out-bid for Brandon Woodruff, and his auction doesn't end until tomorrow.

So, I wait.

One encouraging note is that people seem to be hesitant to go Type H on starting pitchers. Alex Cobb, whose numbers are very similiar to Jon Gray's, went for $5 million. Chris Bassitt, whose numbers are better, went for just $5.5M. Michael Wacha and Dane Dunning are currently sitting at $5M. Call me crazy, but I think I can safely win the bid on Gray at $5 million. I don't see any reason why not.

January 8:

I placed a few bids on players in tomorrow night's lot just for grins. I don't expect to win the bid on any of them. Freddy Peralta ($5M bid) should easily get a Type H deal, and should get Aaron Nola ($7M) money at the very least. He's arguably the surest thing in this auction as far as pitching goes.

I placed a $3M bid on Pete Fairbanks, but he's almost a 100% lock to go to Lake Norman with the ultimate $5M tiebreaker. I also placed a $5M bid on Jorge Soler. His former team, Virginia, doesn't have much money left to spend after signing J.P. Crawford for $8.5 million, but there are so many teams ahead of me in the tie-breaker that it hardly matters. Soler will easily get at least $5 million, but doubtful he'll go Type-H. His numbers in our ballpark would be outstanding, though, so it's fun to dream on it.

January 9:

As expected, I'm not going to win the bid on Soler. What is not expected is that someone actually went Type-H on him. Soler has been a platoon hitter for his entire career. Paying $5.5/$5.5/$6.5 for a platoon player over the next three years is insane. Especially for a team that doesn't look like a contender any time soon.

I placed a $5M bid on Taijuan Walker, and don't expect to win that one, either. He has roughly the same exact numbers as Jon Gray, but pitched about 20 more innings. With full-time starters being so scarce in this auction, I expect someone will go Type-H. (Or one of the ten teams ahead of me in the tie-breaker will do so.)

I have a $5M bid on Matt Strahm that I also don't expect to win. I'm planning to spend $5M in round three on a reliever, and Strahm is better than any reliever in the draft, so why not place that bid?

I upped my bid on Wilmer Flores to $6M just in case. He's a "must-have" player in this auction. He fills not one, but TWO, holes in our lineup. I don't like being locked into a two-year deal with him after this year, but he finished last season very strong and seems to have turned a corner, career-wise. He always had potential, but never seemed to get the opportunity. San Fran seems to have a habit of turning mediocre hitters into stars. Maybe they turned his career around.

I highly doubt anyone would go $6M on Flores, never mind any higher than that. So I feel safe with that bid. If some idiot actually goes higher than that, then I'll let them have him and work on my Plans B and C to fill those two holes.

January 10:

I have written here before that I did not expect to get Taijuan Walker for $5 million, and in fact I did not. I am not disappointed, but I'm extremely annoyed. I refreshed his auction with 15 seconds left on his bid and I still owned the top bid. I began to dream about how nice it would be to have 20 extra innings of usage than I planned to have.

Then Chris Luhning swooped in with a last-seconds snipe.

It annoys me because it wasn't necessary. Luhning owns a higher tie-breaker. He could have upped the bid at any point in the day, but chose to snipe just for the sake of sniping. Maybe he gets off on the adrenaline rush or something. Whatever the reason may be, it is annoying as fuck.

Whatever. Moving on.

I currently own the top bids for two players in tonight's lot. I fully expect some douchebag to snipe at the last second on both. Some asshole will undoubtedly force me to go Type-H on Wilmer Flores, and some other asshole will steal Matt Strahm from me. It's practically guaranteed.

January 11:

Two down, one to go. Last night we added Wilmer Flores to the lineup. This gives us a very powerful lineup against lefties and righties. The best part is that we somehow managed to sign him to a $5 million salary, so we're not locked in to any future commitment. Ironically enough, I have sniping to thank for it. Go figure.

In addition to Flores, I also somehow won the bid for Matt Strahm last night. I did not expect that. The plan was to use my third-round pick on a reliever, but Strahm is better than any reliever in the draft, so that is now unnecessary.

Of the three players I targeted as "must-have's" coming into this auction, I've signed two. The last one remaining is Jon Gray, who is in the final lot of this auction. I placed a $6 million bid on him this morning, just to be sure I get him. Alex Cobb, Chris Bassitt, Charlie Morton, Michael Wacha, Dane Dunning, Chris Sale, Kyle Gibson, and Taijuan Walker all went for $6 million or less. If I don't get Gray for $6 million, something sinister is afoot.

January 13:

It's over. And I have to say, it couldn't have gone better. I targeted three guys (Jon Gray, Wilmer Flores, and Bryan Reynolds) I had to have, and I got all three. I was willing to go Type H on all three, but got two of them at $5 million. No future commitments necessary. I'm happy with paying $7 million for Reynolds, as I believe we haven't yet seen his peak.

I budgeted $5 million for a reliever, which I planned to use with my first pick in the third round. Instead, I ended up with Matt Strahm, who is far better than any reliever in the draft.

I'm now left with $4.2 million for ten players. I can work with that.

The Dynasty That Wasn't

The blockbuster deal between the Flagstaff Peaks and Myrtle Beach Hitmen, announced earlier this week, has conjured up painful memories of trades past. The key to that entire deal was Corbin Carroll, who was originally drafted by me in the fourth round of the 2019 winter farm draft. That summer, I traded Carroll to the Hitmen for Travis Shaw.

Shaw was an absolute beast that year. He hit .279/.416/.588 for us over the second half of the season. Unfortunately, his bat fell asleep throughout the entire playoffs. We somehow managed to win our one and only World Series title despite that. That winter, I had to pay a young Hunter Renfroe to get Shaw's $5 million salary off my books.

You could make the argument that if any trade leads to a BDBL championship then it was worth it. However, I can't help but wonder how many championships I sacrificed to make that one trade. There is never any way of knowing if a high school kid like Carroll will ever pan out. For every Carroll, there are 1,000 Jake Skoles (a high school kid drafted in the same spot as Carroll in 2010). Still, it eats away at me wondering what our team would look like today if I had simply held on to all the young talent we had.

Well, it would look something like this:

1. C Adley Rutschman
2. CF Corbin Carroll
3. RF Aaron Judge
4. 1B Matt Olson
5. LF Yordan Alvarez
6. DH Shohei Ohtani
7. 3B Rafael Devers
8. 2B Alex Bregman or Carlos Correa (playing out of position)
9. SS Trea Turner

How many trophies would a team like that have won? That is easily a 1,000+ run lineup, year after year.

And then there is the pitching staff:

Shohei Ohtani
Gerritt Cole
Aaron Nola
Yusei Kikuchi
Max Scherzer

Oh well.

Draft Diary: Farm Draft

December 22:

As was true last year, I am not jazzed about ANY of the players available for this year's farm draft. Expanded farm rosters has, predictably, dried up all of the talent. Teams are filling their farms with players who won't see any level of American professional baseball for years to come. Of the top 30 players ranked in the upcoming 2024 MLB draft, only two or three are available. Among the 2025 draft pool, nearly every top prospect is already taken. Of the international prospects, all of the top names are long gone. The farm draft is always like buying a lottery ticket, but the past two years have been an exercise in futility.

Last year, I had to make twelve picks in the farm draft. This year, thankfully, I only need to make four. Last year, with the 22nd pick in the draft, I somehow managed to find seven useful players: Fernando Cruz, Brayden Taylor, Aiden Miller, Luis Morales, Ryan Noda, Michael Sirota, and Travis Sykora. If I can replicate that 58% success rate this year, I'll be happy.

This year's draft pool is heavier on the pitching side. With the 14th pick in the draft, I doubt that my top hitting prospects will still be available. As it stands, these are my top-ranked players. Of course, this ranking will undoubtedly change several times before my pick comes up.

1. Seaver King, SS, Wake Forest
2. Paulino Santana, OF, Dominican Republic
3. Henry Lalane, P, NYY
4. Josh Hartle, P, Wake Forest
5. Victor Scott, OF, St. Louis
6. Dillon Head, OF, San Diego
7. Shota Imanaga, P, Japan
8. Andrew Walters, P, Cleveland
9. Yariel Rodriguez, P, Cuba/Japan
10. Slade Caldwell, OF, Arkansas HS
11. Devin Taylor, OF, Indiana U.
12. Seth Hernandez, P, California HS
13. Nolan Schubart, OF, Oklahoma U.
14. Jakob Marsee, OF, San Diego

King and Hartle are the last two remaining MLB '24 draft prospects available who are ranked among the top-20. I highly doubt either will be available at #14. Mike Ranney owns the pick directly ahead of mine at #13. I would bet my house that he takes Santana. Lalane pitches for the Yankees. Tony Badger owns the #2 pick in this draft. There is no way Lalane gets past Badger. Greg Newgard owns the #1 pick in this draft, and he has already told me he is taking Scott.

That leaves a group of very unexciting prospects that could potentially drop to us, beginning with Dillon Head. Head is extremely young and raw, but had a terrific pro debut out of high school last summer and was a first-round draft pick. Imanaga would be a great pickup, but given the publicity surrounding his MLB signing, it's doubtful he will fall that far.

Walters is a relief pitcher. I would hate to use my #1 pick on a reliever, but he's a great one. With both Cleveland and Akron picking behind us, he would probably fall to #14. The Cuban refugee, Rodriguez, pitched in Japan, mostly as a reliever, and sat out the entire 2023 season to escape from his contract. He's young, and has great upside potential, but there is no way of knowing how he would perform in the US.

The rest are high school and college fliers with the exception of Marsee, who had a breakout season last year, culminating in a terrific AFL performance. If all thirteen players I have ranked ahead of him are chosen, I would not be sad to be stuck with Marsee.

December 28:

Day one of the draft and our #1 is already off the board. No surprise there. Greg Newgard did tell me he would be picking a different guy at #1 (which he acquired in trade from Highland), but he decided to go in a different direction, gambling that his guy will still be there at #3. Since his guy isn't Henry Lalane, and since Tony Badger has the next pick, it's a pretty safe gamble.

Since my first diary entry I've discovered that Shota Imanaga is already taken. So that whittles my top-14 list to twelve. I have also decided to move Marsee up the ranking. The more I read about him, the more I like him. I would probably rather have Marsee than Head, so Marsee now becomes my fifth choice.

I suspect the draft will now stall until January 2nd, so I have plenty more time to waffle.

January 1:

The first round of the draft went pretty much as I suspected with one exception. Tony Badger NOT picking Henry Lalane was such a shock, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm living in a dream world. The fact that he took a 15-year-old instead doubles the shock value. I never would have bet on that happening.

Even more shocking was that Lalane fell to us at #14. I did not see that coming, especially with Johnny Bo picking just ahead of us. I'm very happy to have Lalane, although adding yet another left-handed pitcher to our roster is not something I wanted to do.

The problem (if you can call it that) is that too many prospects remain on the board that I would like to draft. There are 15 more picks until our next one, so I assume many of them will drop off the board by then. As it stands, I can't decide who my next pick should be. Josh Hartle is the next best pitcher on the board, but he, too, is left-handed. Victor Scott is shockingly still around, but I assume he'll be snatched up by Greg Newgard in Round Two. (He told me Scott was his #1 before the draft began.)

Jakob Marsee is still hanging around, and would be a great addition to our roster. Devin Taylor is probably the next-best college player available. Shunpeita Yamashita would be fun to add, although waiting until the 2030 BDBL season for him to arrive would be painful. Christ, I'll be 60 years old by then. Crazy.

January 2:

Round Two completely decimated my list more so than Round One. Yamashita, Hartle, Scott, and Marsee all vanished before the round came to my pick at #14. The only prospects left over were 2025 draft prospects, a relief pitcher, and Spencer Arrighetti. The draft prospects have the highest upside, but carry the highest risk. The reliever is a crapshoot. Arrighetti has a chance to pitch a good number of MLB innings this year, which would make him an addition to our 2025 rotation. Ultimately, that's what I chose to do.

Two more picks remaining for us, and there isn't a hell of a lot left to pick from.

January 4:

If you had told me before this draft that I would use all four picks on pitchers, I would have called you a lying, dog-faced pony soldier. Yet, here we are. My third pick went to Seth Hernandez, who is considered to be the best pitching prospect in the 2025 MLB draft class. Drafting high school pitchers is always something I try to avoid, but his scouting reports are convincing.

For my last pick, I was waffling between another 2025 prospect, Devin Taylor, and reliever Andrew Walters. John Gill made that decision for me by picking Taylor four picks ahead of me. Walters was the best closer in college baseball for the past two years. His college numbers -- especially his strikeout numbers -- are insane. Cleveland snatched him up in the second round, but he has yet to throw a professional pitch. I'm hoping he zips up the ladder as quickly as Orion Kerkering did last year.

And that's it. We're done. Until July. Then we get to do this all over again.

2024 Florida Farm Report

The Mulligans farm club hasn't ranked among the top ten in our annual BDBL Farm Report since 2021. The last time we ranked #1 was WAAAAY back in 2003. I believe this is the year we finally re-take that number one spot. The annual prospect rankings haven't been published yet, but as of mid-2023 we owned two top-ten prospects in Baseball America's ranking: Ethan Salas at #6 and Wyatt Langford at #8. Three others (Brooks Lee at #24, Ricky Tiedemann at #33, and Chase Dollander at #40) rank among the top-40.

The last time we owned two top-10 prospects was 2010, when Stephen Strasburg (#1) and Pedro Alvarez (#6) were our top two prospects. One of those two may be heading to the BDBL Hall of Fame. Say, what ever happened to Pedro Alvarez?

Florida's Top Ten Prospects

1. Wyatt Langford, of
Born: November 15, 2001 (age 22.) B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-1. Wt: 225. Acquired: mid-season draft (pick #4), 2022.

Background: Langford was drafted fourth overall in last year's MLB draft following two monster years with the Florida Gators. His bat is his calling card. He has hit for both average and power at every level he has played over the past several years. He has excellent plate discipline and hits the ball hard to all fields.

Stats: As a sophomore, Langford hit a whopping .356/.447/.719 with 26 homers. As if those numbers weren't gaudy enough, he then improved in his junior year, hitting .373/.498/.784 with 21 homers and more walks (56) than strikeouts (44). He raked his way through Single-A (.333/.453/.644), and continued raking through Double-A (.405/.519/.762) before enjoying a brief five-game appearance in Triple-A. In total, Langford hit a total of 31 homers in a little more than 500 PAs last year.

The Future: Wyatt Langford is ready for the big leagues. Everyone knows this. But because of MLB's asinine rules he will probably rot away in the bush leagues for most of 2024 just as Adley Rutschman did for so many years. Langford is the type of player we need on our roster immediately. I have zero patience for the unique way that young athletes are treated in baseball as opposed to football and basketball and nearly every other sport on the planet. End rant.

2. Ethan Salas, c
Born: June 1, 2006 (age 17). B-T: B-R. Ht: 6-1. Wt: 175. Acquired: midseason draft (pick #2), 2022.

Background: After signing for a whopping $5.6 million in January of 2023, no one thought Ethan Salas would finish that year playing Double-A ball at the tender age of 17, yet that is exactly what happened. He began the year playing full-season Low-A ball at the age of 16, which is incredible in itself. He was promoted to High-A in early August. Then, on August 20th, he was promoted to Double-A, roughly two months after his 17th birthday.

Stats: Despite facing much older and more experienced competition, Salas tore up the Low-A level, posting an .837 OPS in 220 PAs with 9 homers and 22 extra base hits. He struggled in his brief nine-game High-A appearance, hitting just .200/.243/.229, but was nevertheless promoted. He continued to struggle (.179/.303/.214 in 9 games) at Double-A before he was shut down for the season with a knee problem.

The Future: It seems crazy to think that we'll see Salas on our 2025 roster, but the way the Padres are pushing him, that may actually happen. As opposed to Langford, who is Major League ready right now, I believe Salas could use at least a year or two of seasoning before he hits the big time. Unfortunately, no one from the San Diego front office has asked for my opinion.

3. Brooks Lee, ss

Born: February 14, 2001 (22.) B-T: B-R. Ht: 6-1. Wt: 190. Acquired: winter farm draft, 2021 (2nd round).

Background: Lee was the 8th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft following a stellar career with Cal Poly University, where he was coached by his father, Larry. The switch-hitting Lee has well above-average plate discipline, excellent contact skills, and is excellent defensively. He also has above-average "makeup" and "instincts," and has been tagged with that golden label of "gamer."

Stats: Lee posted an .848 OPS in his professional debut at two different levels in 2022. He followed that up with a strong performance (.275/.347/.461 with 16 homers) at the Double- and Triple-A levels last year. He also racked up 39 doubles and 3 triples at those two levels.

The Future: Ideally, the Twins will name Lee as their Opening Day shortstop during spring training next month. He will then become our everyday starting shortstop in 2025, smoothly taking the place of Trea Turner, who will be a free agent after this season. Perfect timing! Unfortunately, things don't tend to work out that way for us. My hunch is that the Twins will let Lee rot away in the minors for a couple of months before finally calling him up.

4. Ricky Tiedemann, p
Born: August 18, 2002 (age 21). B-T: L-L. Ht: 6-4. Wt: 220. Acquired: trade, winter 2023.

Background: Tiedemann had a breakout year during his first full season of pro ball in 2022. With help from the Toronto Blue Jays coaching staff, he added a few miles per hour to his fastall and developed his secondary pitches into major weapons. He suffered an injury-shortened 2023 season due to a biceps issue, but finished strong, including an impressive stint in the Arizona Fall League in which he was named Pitcher of the Year.

Stats: Pitching at three different levels in 2022, Tiedemann posted an impressive 29/117 BB/K ratio in 78+ innings. In 2023, he increased both his walk (4.7) and strikeout (16.8) rates at four different minor league levels. He then posted a 2.50 ERA and a 8/23 BB/K ratio in 18 AFL innings.

The Future: There is a non-zero chance that Tiedemann will stick with the big club after spring training this year. We could really use some pitching in 2025, so I sincerely hope that happens.

5. Mike Sirota, of
Born: June 16, 2003 (age 20). B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-3. Wt: 187. Acquired: winter farm draft (10th round), 2022.

Background: A rising junior at Northeastern, Sirota is currently ranked as the 11th-best prospect in the 2024 MLB draft according to MLB.com. He has hit at every level he has played, including two stints in the summer Cape League. He possesses excellent bat speed and raw power. He is also an excellent center fielder defensively, with Gold Glove potential.

Stats: Sirota hit .326/.411/.511 as a freshman, with only four homers in 164 PAs. He added power as a sophomore last year, hitting .346/.472/.678 with 18 homers. He also walked (44) nearly as often as he struck out (49).

The Future: Sirota is projected to be selected in the early part of the 2024 MLB draft. Baseball America has him ranked at #5 in the class. Like Langford, he could and should move quickly up the ladder once he signs. A future outfield that includes both Langford and Sirota sounds very, very, appealing. 

6. Felnin Celesten, ss
Born: September 15, 2005 (age 17). B-T: B-R. Ht: 6-1. Wt: 175. Acquired: mid-season farm draft (2nd round), 2020.

Background: Considered to be among the top international prospects on the market last January, Celesten signed for $4.7 million with the Seattle Mariners. He gave an impressive performance in the spring, but then suffered a hamstring strain in June and missed the entire Dominican Summer League. He is a slick shortstop projected to hit for power and average from both sides of the plate. He is also a plus runner.

Stats: He has yet to play a single professional game, so no stats available.

The Future: I made the mistake of trading Wander F'ing Franco because I grew impatient waiting for him to play pro ball and figured he was expendable. I won't be making that mistake again. Whether he goes bust or boom I'm sticking with him. Celesten should finally play full-time baseball in 2024. I can't wait to see what he does.

7. Aidan Miller, 3b
Born: June 9, 2004 (age 19). B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-2. Wt: 210. Acquired: trade, winter 2023.

Background: The 27th overall pick in the 2023 draft is currently ranked by MLB.com as the 90th-best prospect in baseball. He was expected to be selected much higher, but a broken hamate forced him to miss most of his senior year of high school. He has plus raw power and good hands at third base.

Stats: Miller managed to play just 20 games (80 PAs) in the pros, but impressed in those 20 games. He hit .303/.425/.379 at two different levels, finishing the year at the Low-A Florida State League.

The Future: I have made the comp of Miller to Austin Riley in the past, and I'm sticking with it. They're both right-handed third basemen drafted in the late first round out of high school. They both hit for power and average. They both got off to hot starts in their professional careers. Riley tore up the Rookie level and found himself in the big leagues by age 22. I expect a similar career path for Miller.

8. Brock Wilken, 3b
Born: June 17, 2022 (age 21). B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-4. Wt: 225. Acquired: winter draft (1st round), 2022.

Background: Wilken was the 18th overall pick of last summer's MLB draft. He set the Wake Forest record for home runs (31) and walks (69) in his junior year last year. He mashed a whopping 71 homers in his three-year career with Wake Forest. He also crushed the ball in two stints in the Cape Cod League.

Stats: Wilken managed to increase his walk rate and decrease his strikeout rate in his last year of college ball. He carried that newfound plate discipline over to pro ball, posting a 33/47 BB/K rate in 165 PAs at three different levels. Overall, he hit .285/.414/.473 in 203 PAs with only 5 home runs, but 17 extra base hits.

The Future: Wilken finished out the year at Double-A, where he hit two of his five homers, but also struggled a bit with strikeouts (nine in only six games.) I expect he will return to Double-A level to start this year. He could easily be promoted to Triple-A and could possibly get a cup of coffee in September. While he isn't currently ranked among the top-100 by any publication, I expect him to be a top-40 by this time next year.

9. Chase Dollander, p
Born: October 26, 2001 (age 22). B-T: R-R. Ht: 6-2. Wt: 200. Acquired: mid-season farm draft (pick #1), 2022.

Background: A year ago at this time, Dollander was considered to be the best pitcher in college baseball, a possible #1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, and a "generational" pitcher along the lines of Stephen Strasburg. I'm not quite sure what happened, but he didn't pitch like a #1 overall, and someone named Paul Skenes came along to take his titles away. Dollander was still chosen in the first round, ninth overall (with a bonus of $5.72 million!), but the Rockies chose to let him rest all summer and fall rather than push him into professional ball.

Stats: The hype surrounding Dollander coming into 2023 was based on the monster season he had as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee. That year, in 79 innings, he allowed just 50 hits (5.7 per nine), 13 walks (1.5/9), and whiffed 108 batters (12.3/9). Last year, as a junior, he allowed 83 hits (8.4) and 30 walks (3.0) in 89 innings, with 120 (12.1) strikeouts. He also served up a whopping 14 home runs (1.4 per nine).

The Future: Is Chase Dollander the guy we saw in 2022 or the one we saw in 2023? As a big fan of mulligans, I'm willing to give him a mulligan on 2023 and cross my fingers that he will return to the dominant version we saw in 2022. If that guy shows up this year, we could have a future ace in a short amount of time.

10. Henry Lalane, p
Born: May 18, 2004 (age 19). B-T: L-L. Ht: 6-7. Wt: 211. Acquired: 2024 winter farm draft, round 1.

Background: The ginormous lefty Lalane was signed in 2021 as an international free agent. Both of his parents were professional athletes who passed their athleticism down to their son. Lalane was named the fourth-best prospect in the Florida Complex League by Baseball America, and was the league's best pitching prospect. He possesses three plus pitches in his arsenal, including a high-90s fastball.

Stats: Lalane posted a sparkling 4/34 BB/K ratio in 21+ innings at the FCL. Those numbers were a great leap forward from the numbers he posted in two Dominican Summer League seasons.

The Future: Lalane has about as much upside as any pitcher in the game. He made a great leap forward last year and I expect him to keep improving in 2024. I was very happy that he dropped to us at #14 in this year's farm draft. I even earned the coveted "damn you" from the Sylvester family for that pick. Nothing beats that.