Midseason Pick-ups

We made one last deal before the final trading deadline, adding Aaron Bummer to our pitching staff at the cost of Thomas White and Luis Gonzalez. In our championship year of 2019, we had one absolutely dominant shut-down closer against lefties (Oliver Perez) and one dominant shut-down closer against right-handers (Ryan Brasier.) We are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle a second time using that same formula. Bummer kills lefties, and Luis A. Garcia stifles righties.

Of course, we already have a pitcher who dominates left-handed hitters in Ranger Suarez. In fact, he's better against lefties than anyone else in the game. The problem is that we only have one reliable starting pitcher in this postseason: Shohei Ohtani. On paper, we should have at least two, but Lance Lynn has pitched like dog shit for most of this year.

That leaves Jon Gray, Framber Valdez, and Luis H. Garcia to fill two more spots in our playoffs rotation. The word "blech" doesn't quite do enough justice there. If we use Suarez as a starter, then he is automatically limited to just eight innings in the entire series. If we use him as a reliever, his usage is unlimited. As much as we'd love to use him as a reliever, I don't think we have a choice.

Shohei becomes our Game One starter -- and possibly Game Four and Game Seven as well. Lynn becomes our Game Two and Game Five starter by default. If Suarez starts Game Three, then we only have Game Six to worry about. There are no great options for us, but as of now, this is what I am thinking will happen.

MIDSEASON DRAFT

There were four guys I would have been excited to get in this midseason draft. In order:

1. Jackson Chourio

2. Ezequiel Tovar

3. Jackson Holliday

4. Ethan Salas

After those four, all of the other 90 or so names on my list were a toss-up. The one guy we absolutely needed for the playoffs was Andy Ibanez. He is the perfect fit for our ballclub. He plays four different positions and clobbers lefties to the tune of .344/.371/.527. When Shohei is on the mound, Andy will slot into that extra hitting spot much better than Andrew Benintendi or any other option we have.

Two chapters ago, I nearly reached out to Jeff Paulson to ask for Ibanez in trade. Then I noticed that his usage was almost depleted. I had a hunch Jeff would release him because of that, and sure enough, he did! That made Ibanez a free pickup! Thanks, Jeff!

With the dead-last 24th pick in the draft, I did not expect to get any of those four names above. Yet, when our first pick came up, Salas was still on the board! The funny part is: we didn't pick him. By the time that first pick came around, I decided there was another, better, option: Chase Dollander, who is arguably the best pitcher in college baseball. And to my utter shock and gratitude to the league, Salas was still available in round two!

Dollander instantly becomes our best pitching prospect. The last two people to hold that title -- Asa Lacy and Spencer Howard -- did not exactly work out as we hoped. We're hoping Dollander breaks that streak.

I passed on Salas in the first round solely because we already have two roster spots filled by high-risk/high-reward Latin American lottery tickets (Felnin Celesten and Ricardo Cabrera), and our track record with those guys is mostly abysmal. That said, when we have won that lottery (Rafael Devers and Wander Franco), we hit big! Celesten is considered to have the highest ceiling in the 2023 international class. Salas is considered to be the safest pick in that class, with a long history of excelling against older competition. We'll cross our fingers with both and hope we catch lightning in a bottle a third time.

With our fourth pick, we selected J.P. Sears, who has been dominating Triple-A for two years. In each of those years, he has walked fewer than 2 batters per nine, and has struck out more than 10. The Yankees gave him two spot starts this season, and he didn't allow a run in either game. They then sent him packing to Oakland as part of the Frankie Montas/Lou Trivino deal. He is expected to join their rotation immediately, so we could get two months of starting pitching usage out of him before this MLB season is over.

Our next two picks were Wyatt Langford and Enrique Bradfield. Both are projected to be taken in the first ten picks of the 2023 MLB draft, but that is where their similiarities end. Langford is a classic slugger. He smashed 26 home runs this past season, and hit .356/.447/.719 overall. He also owned a decent 36/44 BB/K ratio. A product of the University of Florida, I may even see him a few times in person next year, which will be nice.

Bradfield is a burner. He's an easy "80" for speed on the 20-80 scouting scale. If you've ever seen video of him, you'd agree that even a non-scout could notice that he is something special on the basepaths and in the field. He has no power worth mentioning, but gets on base at a high clip (.415 this past year, and .451 as a freshman.) He evokes comparisons to Kenny Lofton, which would be nice to have on the Cowtippers.

Our final pick was merely a seat-warmer: Stephen Vogt. We'll need him to avoid usage penalties down the stretch -- which will be our greatest challenge over that time.

Chapter Four in Review

We finished with a respectable-enough 15-9 record in Chapter Four, but there were several things about this past chapter that have left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll get to that in a minute. First, let's talk about all the good things that happened.

We outscored our opponents by 72 runs last chapter, which is exceptional, but also entirely due to the fact that we averaged -- get this -- nearly EIGHT RUNS per game last chapter! We scored 191 runs in 24 games, which averages to 7.96. We scored double-digit runs in nine of our twenty-four games, and won by scores like 11-3, 11-2, 13-7, 13-2, 11-3, 16-5, and 14-4.

Every hitter on our roster contributed something useful last chapter. Our worst hitter last chapter, Ramon Laureano, posted a useful .368 OBP, and came through with several clutch hits. Shohei Ohtani smashed 13 home runs. Mark Canha hit .306/.410/.582. Rafael Devers posted an .866 OPS. Andrew Benintendi posted a .420 on-base percentage. On and on it goes.

But the one player whose Chapter Four performance simply blows me away is Trea Turner. After doing virtually nothing in the first half, and causing me to wonder if I should trade for a second baseman who can actually play baseball, Turner turned his season around in a huge way this past chapter, hitting .393/.416/.636, with 11 doubles, 5 homers, a team-leading 28 RBI's, and a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.

If we're going to win another championship trophy, we are going to need Trea Turner to be Trea F'ing Turner. Period.

As you may imagine, if we scored SO many runs in Chapter Four, but outscored our opponents by "only" 72, something very disturbing must have happened to our pitching staff. You would be correct. The truly disturbing part about Chapter Four, for me, was not the performance of our starting pitchers (who I've grown to assume will fail), but with our formerly vaunted and world-famous bullpen. That bullpen was supposed to carry us to the trophy. Instead, I'm rapidly losing confidence in each and every member of that bullpen.

Ryan Tepera continues to allow home runs at an inexplicable rate. He allowed two more in Chapter Four, giving him nine for the year. Folks, Ryan Tepera only allowed four homers in over ten more innings in MLB -- in a home ballpark much tougher for pitchers. Nothing about it makes sense.

Two games, in particular, stand out in Chapter Four as causing my faith in our bullpen to shake beyond repair. Both took place at the very end of the chapter. In a game against the lowly South Loop Furies, we were winning by a score of 3-1 heading into the seventh inning. After two quick outs, I handed the ball to Tepera to get the third -- against the bottom of the South Loop lineup, no less. He proceeded to allow two RBI singles and an RBI double to the next three batters in a row.

In our final game of the chapter, we led by a seemingly comfortable margin of 7-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh against the Blacksburg Beamers. I handed the ball to Ranger Suarez and Joe Kelly -- our best two relievers all season, and our most consistent. Suarez allowed THREE walks and a single before I could yank him out of there. Then Kelly proceeded to do this:

Run-scoring error.
Two-run single.
RBI single
RBI fielder's choice.
Yet another error.
Sac fly.

SEVEN runs scored in that inning, and we lost the game.

Folks, bullshit like this cannot happen on a championship ballclub. I don't care how many runs we score. If our bullpen pitches like this, we will not win that trophy.

2023 Halfway Checkpoint

We are roughly 80 games into the 2022 MLB season, which means we've roughly reached the halfway point. Tony Chamra recently posted his 2023 team's halftime report, so I figured I'd be a copycat.

Catchers:

C: Adley Rutschman: 142 PA, .215/.282/.392, 476/734 splits
C: Zack Collins: 74 PA, .209/.284/.448, 400/788
C: P.J. Higgins: 72 PA, .302/.380/.524, 725/988
C: Austin Nola: 213 PA, .237/.305/.306, 602/618
C: Garrett Stubbs: 57 PA, .280/.357/.560, 1462/761

The good news is that the Rutschman Era has finally arrived! The bad news is that he's off to a very rough start. We picked up a couple of short-usage superstars off the free agent scrap heap last chapter, but they don't get much playing time. Neither does Collins, surprisingly enough. That leaves Nola, who has defied all of the preseason forecasts calling him a "sleeper candidate" at the catching position. He's been asleep, all right. Barely lucid, in fact.

Infield:

1B: Brandon Belt: 170 PA, .211/.335/.352, 626/703
3B: Rafael Devers: 347 PA, .327/.383/.579, 895/986
3B: Jason Vosler: 64 PA, .268/.344/.518, 900/857
SS: Trea Turner: 349 PA, .311/.359/.491, 826/859
SS: Brandon Crawford: 243 PA, .224/.313/.350, 703/650

Devers may have a career year if he can keep this pace. Turner is great, as always. Of course, the question with both of them is: will they actually perform in the BDBL as they have in MLB? For the past two years, that answer has been a resounding NO. Belt and Crawford are looking like two very expensive and rapidly-aging bench players at this point. Stupid boring Giants.

Outfield:

OF: Andrew Benintendi: 326 PA, .314/.380/.400, 655/837
OF: Mark Canha: 259 PA, .267/.359/.373, 658/775
OF: Ramon Laureano: 206 PA, .246/.330/.393, 916/646
OF: Lane Thomas: 250 PA, .225/.284/.388, 676/669

Benny seems to finally look like the "breakout" player people have predicted he would be for about 15 years now. Just in time for free agency. What a coincidence! Canha's 26-homer season a few years ago has been confirmed as a definite anomaly. Laureano will evidently never have that one big superstar season I thought he would have when I signed him three years ago. And Thomas -- yet another one everyone projected as a "fantasy sleeper" in 2022, has done absolutely nothing to justify that title.

DH: (Side note: BOOOO!)

DH: Shohei Ohtani: 334 PA, .262/.344/.503, 689/933

If we are being forced by Rob Manfred to have a stupid boring-ass DH, at least we're stuck with Ohtani.

Starting rotation:

SP: Shohei Ohtani: 74 IP, 58 H, 8 HR, 17 BB, 101 K, 2.68 ERA, 614/578 splits
SP: Luis H. Garcia: 76-60-13-21-80, 3.54, 711/619
SP: Framber Valdez: 101-76-6-38-93, 2.67, 532/591
SP: Jon Gray: 77-64-8-26-83, 3.96, 653/641
SP: Ranger Suarez: 79-82-9-33-64, 4.33, 623/797
SP: Lance Lynn: 22-23-3-5-22, 4.50, 853/599

Welp, whatever magic fairy dust Ranger Suarez ingested in 2021 has worn off. He looks like a very expensive #5 starter at this point. It seems that all of our expensive auction buys last winter were one-use-only disposables. Lynn is another expensive turd, but he hasn't even earned his keep this season; never mind next. Valdez and Ohtani will be a very nice left/right combo if they can keep it up in the second half.

Bullpen:

RP: David Bednar: 37-25-3-12-50, 2.43, 558/582
RP: Dominic Leone: 29-31-4-9-32, 2.45, 1236/517
RP: Trevor Megill: 13-9-1-5-15, 2.08, 623/468
RP: Kyle Nelson: 25-20-0-7-20, 1.78, 556/621
RP: Gregory Soto: 29-19-1-14-30, 2.48, 699/554
RP: Gabe Speier: 19-16-2-5-14, 2.33, 676/597
RP: Ryan Tepera: 32-23-4-11-26, 4.18, 714/525

This is fine, as far as it goes. The sample sizes are all so small, anything can happen from this point forward, so it isn't worth celebrating or fretting. I would love to own one of the top, say, 50 best relief pitchers in this incredible 2022 MLB season dominated by stellar relief pitchers, but alas, they were all snatched up by other teams long ago.

Overall:

Offensively, it could be better, and it could be worse. If -- big IF -- Turner and Devers hit the way they're supposed to hit, then we could have a decent offense with those two, plus Ohtani, in the heart of the lineup. Benintendi gives us a quality fourth bat, which means we have a decent half-lineup if this trend continues.

On the pitching side, I'm excited about Ohtani and Valdez so far, but little else. Our bullpen arms haven't developed as I had hoped. Lynn's injury, plus Suarez's mediocrity, put a huge dent in our wallet that will be tough to buff out.

As it stands, we're looking at paying $31.8 million -- roughly half our total team salary -- on players that will do little and/or nothing next year. That is a very tough mountain to climb. Hopefully, this team really picks up the pace in the second half or we're looking at a surefire rebuilding year.

Singing the No-Trade-Bait Blues

It is a very odd place to be when your team is winning 70% of its games and you don't own a single player on your roster (aside from the players you are currently using to win 70% of your games) who has any trade value whatsoever in the eyes of your peers.

Like, none. Zero. Zilch.

We are only using 26 of our 35 players on the active roster, which means we have nine who are being stored on our roster for the sole purpose of future usefulness. They aren't useful at all this season, but many of them are having decent-enough 2022 MLB seasons to warrant a spot on our roster. Of those nine, all nine have been deemed completely useless by the other teams in our league.

We also have a whopping 15 farm players. Of those, we'd like to hold on to just four of them. That leaves eleven others. But again, all eleven -- eleven-for-eleven! -- have been deemed completely useless wastes of roster space by our colleagues in the BDBL.

In total, then, we have no fewer than TWENTY players on our 50-man roster -- 40-percent! -- who we should release tomorrow, because they are apparently without any value whatsoever. The best team in the BDBL, at the moment, has a roster where two-thirds of its members are completely worthless.

Amazing.

Earlier this year, we offered two recent first-round picks -- Asa Lacy (#4 overall in 2020) and Sal Frelick (#15 in 2021) -- to South Loop's wonderfully-friendly and personable GM, Bart Chinn, in exchange for Bryan Reynolds. Chinn was so insulted by this offer, you'd think I took a shit on his carpet. He was still fuming over that offer weeks later, in fact, and publicly scolded me for making such an insulting offer.

This past chapter, we offered a number of players who were selected in the first round of the past two MLB drafts, as well as a number of young players with MLB experience and decent (so far) MLB '22 numbers, to two different teams. All we're looking for are niche role players: a right-handed hitter who can hit lefties, and a relief pitcher who can fill in some middle innings. Typically, these two types of role players are the least-expensive types of players to acquire.

Not this year.

The market for part-time right-handed platoon hitters and shitty middle relievers has never been hotter than it is right now. In order to fetch those players, I was asked by my most recent trade partner to consider dealing Brandon Crawford.

Folks...setting aside Shohei Ohtani's crazy Ruthian-like ability to both pitch and hit, Brandon Crawford would currently be not only our team MVP, but the Ozzie League MVP. He leads the league in batting average and slugging, and ranks #3 in the OL with a .397 OBP. Are you seriously fucking telling me that I'd need to trade the MVP of the Ozzie League to acquire...

...checking my notes...

...a platoon hitter and a middle reliever??

Fucking seriously??

Somewhat unrelated sidenote: Brandon Crawford is having an abysmal 2022 MLB season -- which is something I feared when I signed him to an extension. He was a late-career flash-in-the-pan, as I expected he would be. Why on earth would any team that is not competing this season want Brandon Crawford? Seriously.

I've scoured every roster in the BDBL. The remaining options for filling those very small and specific roles are slim and none -- especially given our WAR trade cap limit. In fact, in that last deal I offered, adding the two players I requested would have put me at 10.9 WAR for the season. You can't get any more perfect than that! It was so perfect, it seemed like fate!

But no.

So, instead, I've decided it's best to simply stick with the team we have. We've won 70% of our games with the roster we have, so why mess with it? Why sacrifice any part of our future -- even if no one else in the league sees any value in any of those twenty players?

What a thoroughly-ridiculous trading season it has been.

Chapter Three Review

The first half of the 2022 season is now officially in the books for the Salem Cowtippers. We finished Chapter Three with our weakest chapter yet -- a record of 14-10. We won three series -- all against Eck League teams: Cleveland, Charlotte, and Chicago. We did not sweep a single series this chapter, and we finally lost our first series of the season, to Akron.

That Akron series is notable for Game Three, which will go down in history for all the wrong reasons. Framber Valdez allowed ten earned runs before recording his third out. We then brought position player Abraham Almonte into the game, and he coughed up three more runs before that final out was mercifully recorded. That 13-run first inning likely stands as a league record. We ended up losing that game by an embarrassing score of 16-2.

That game perfectly highlights an issue that I can't help but notice about this 2022 team. We consistently beat up on bad teams and struggle against the good ones. We are 27-5 against the Darien Blue Wave, North Carolina Iron Spider Pigs, Flagstaff Peaks, South Loop Furies, and Lake Norman Monsters. We are 14-14 against the Las Vegas Flamingos, Ravenswood Infidels, Akron Ryche, Bear Country Jamboree, and Blacksburg Beamers. In fact, we don't own a winning record against any of those five teams.

The lone exception is that we own a 4-0 record against the Los Altos Undertakers, who are a good team (although they probably won't make the playoffs.) There is an exception to every rule, I suppose. The lack of success we've had against good teams tells me we will struggle in the postseason regardless of how dominant we seem to be overall.

Overall, we look like a champion on paper. We own a .700 winning percentage, which puts us on pace for a 112-win season. We have outscored our opponents by 176 runs, which puts us on pace for a runs differential of 352. In the 23-year history of the BDBL, seven teams have reached those two figures:

2002 Allentown Ridgebacks: 113 wins, +433 

2010 Los Altos Undertakers: 113 wins, +378

2013 New Milford Blazers: 113 wins, +356

2015 Los Altos Undertakers: 116 wins, +404

2016 Los Altos Undertakers: 128 wins, +437

2017 New Milford Blazers: 120 wins, +413

2017 Los Altos Undertakers: 117 wins, +373

Of those seven teams, only four (the '02 Ridgebacks and the last three Undertakers teams) won the championship. If we expand the criteria a tiny bit, we can find four other teams that dominated almost equally:

2002 Salem Cowtippers: 112 wins, +344 

2012 New Milford Blazers: 111 wins, +324

2016 Kansas Law Dogs: 115 wins, +343

2018 Flagstaff Outlaws: 115 wins, +299

None of those four teams won the championship. In other words, merely winning a lot of games and outscoring your opponents by a shit-ton of runs during the regular season is no guarantee of ultimate success.

***

Our pitching, which was our greatest asset for the first two chapters, completely fell apart in Chapter Three. We posted a 4.06 ERA for the chapter, although if you remove that one game against Akron, it falls to 3.55. Unfortunately, we can't remove that Akron game, either from the record book or from our memory.

It seems as though every one of our pitchers was beaten up at some point this chapter. The normally-reliable righty-killer Luis A. Garcia was lit up by both Chicago and Akron. Luis H.Garcia was crushed by both Cleveland and Myrtle Beach, allowing 11 earned runs in only 9 innings. Jon Gray tossed a no-hitter against Cleveland, but was then toasted by Myrtle Beach for six earned runs in only three innings.

Steven Matz was brutalized by Cleveland for eight runs (six earned) in five innings, and was also lit up by Bear Country (6 ER in 6.1 IP.) Shohei Ohtani was brilliant against Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, but was absolutely pounded by Chicago (5 ER in 6 IP) and Bear Country (5 ER in 4.2 IP.) Then, of course, there was Valdez.

Overall, Chapter Three aside, we have to be very happy with the performance of our bullpen. Ranger Suarez (8-0, 1.72 ERA), David Bednar (2-0, 2.09), and Joe Kelly (3-0, 2.10) all deserve some consideration for the all-star team. Shohei Ohtani (8-0, 3.41) deserves consideration to start that game. Aside from Ohtani, the rest of the starting rotation is rather mediocre -- which is sort of what we expected. The only exception there is that we expected Lance Lynn to compete for a Cy Young award. Instead, he's gone a modest 9-4 with a 3.53 ERA.

***

On the offensive side, it is difficult to complain. We currently lead the league (by a lot) with 461 runs scored, which puts us on pace for 900+ for the season. Our .819 team OPS currently tops the entire BDBL. We rank among the top three in the BDBL in on-base percentage, home runs, triples, and walks. (Of course, all of that can change as teams continue to play this chapter.)

Brandon Crawford (.333/.397/.609, 17 HR, 53 R, 52 RBI) deserves some MVP votes if he can keep up this pace in the second half. Brandon Belt (.264/.363/.582, 19 HR) has been worth every penny we paid for him last winter, and I believe the best is still yet to come. Ohtani (.224/.360/.515, 23 HR, 54 RBI) has been a productive beast on both sides of the ball, deceptive batting average notwithstanding.

Rafael Devers (.243/.311/.514, 22 HR, 60 RBI) can't seem to get on base, but his power allows us to forgive him for it. We got a lot of flak for going "Type H" on Mark Canha, but man, has that guy produced! He's hitting .280/.403/.471 overall, and ranks #2 on our team in runs created (54.3), behind Crawford and ahead of Ohtani!

All of the above players deserve some consideration for the all-star team. If not for their low usage numbers, both of our catchers -- Austin Nola (.340/.414/.456) and Zack Collins (.261/.408/.478) -- would deserve consideration as well.

Of course, the one guy who has disappointed beyond belief is Trea Turner. He should be posting MVP numbers for us, just as he did in MLB last year, when he posted the top WAR in baseball. Instead, he's hitting a paltry .253/.311/.401. He can't get on base, he can't steal bases (just 9-for-14 in that category), and he isn't racking up the extra base hits we expected he would. His performance this season has been an absolute head-shaking mystery.

***

As mediocre as our Chapter Three performance was, we managed to end on a high note. When Jon Gray allowed seven straight batters to reach base in the third inning of our final game against Myrtle Beach, it appeared as though we were on the verge of another Valdez-like collapse that would have resulted in another embarrassing double-digit loss and the second series defeat of the chapter.

With the bases loaded and one out, Gray struck out the dangerous Dylan Carlson. He then whiffed the not-so-dangerous opposing pithcer, Zach Thompson, to wriggle out of the inning. "Only" three runs scored that inning. It could have been far worse.

Faced with a 6-1 deficit, I have watched this Cowtippers team roll over and die far too many times over the years. For a while, it appeared that this team would die, too, as they struggled to make contact against Thompson. But then Trea Turner -- of all people! -- made it a one-run game with his two-run single in the fifth inning.

Crawford then tied the game in the sixth, and pinch hitter Chad Pinder put us ahead in the seventh. Our offense came through in the clutch -- but so did our bullpen, who held the Hitmen scoreless after Gray left the game in the third inning.

Games like that one give me hope that maybe -- just maybe -- we'll be okay in the postseason. When our team performs the way they're supposed to, great things tend to happen.

Chapter Two Review

Thirty-five percent of the way into the 2022 season, the Salem Cowtippers own a winning percentage of .750 and an 18-game lead in the McGowan Division. We own a runs differential of +146, which is far above the next-highest total (although, granted, most of the teams have played fewer than a dozen games in Chapter Two as I type.) We have scored 329 runs, which equates to 5.9 runs per game -- second only to Great Lakes. Our pitching staff owns an ERA of 2.94, which is tops in the entire BDBL.

In other words, I have very little to complain about right now. But I'll do it anyway.

Complaint #1: Trea Turner

It is time to face a harsh reality: the Trea Turner who plays for us is not the same Trea Turner who plays baseball for a living in real life. The real-life version was the best player in baseball last year, according to WAR. That version of Turner hit for power (28 HR), stole lots of bases (32), hardly ever got caught (86% success rate), got on base (.375), and performed well against right-handed pitching (.305/.353/.475). The version of Turner who plays for us does none of those things.

Our version of Turner, his evil twin, is a rather mediocre-hitting (.258/.323/.397) second baseman who strikes out a shit-ton (45 in 229 AB), gets on base less than one-third of the time he steps to the plate (.323), doesn't hit for much power (6 HR), grounds into a shitload of double plays (9, second in the OL), can't ever get a decent jump, gets thrown out or picked off when he does (60% success rate), and can't hit righties to save his life (.239/.289/.351).

It's time to stop pretending that eventually our evil twin's performance will improve, and start treating him like the player he actually is. That means moving him down the lineup and perhaps replacing him if a replacement can be found. The problem is that his right-handed bat breaks up all of the lefties in our lineup, and there is no one else, outside of possibly Mark Canha, who can fill that role.

Complaint #2: Ryan Tepera

We have never had a traditional "closer" in the history of the Salem franchise. BDBL Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera recorded our all-time high for saves in a season, way back in 2014, with 37. Huston Street (34 in 2015) is the only other reliever in franchise history to record 30+ saves. In general, we often use our best reliever in non-save situations when the game is nevertheless on the line. That "best reliever" this year is supposed to be Ryan Tepera.

Tepera has now thrown roughly half as many innings in the BDBL as he did in MLB, and has already surrendered more home runs (6) than he did all year in MLB (4). He has already blown more saves (5) than he did in MLB (4). This past chapter, he cost us two games that should have been easy saves. He blew a 5-0 lead against the Flagstaff Peaks and a 5-3 lead against the Blacksburg Beamers.

Like Turner, maybe it's time to adjust our expectations to this new "reality" and move Tepera down the pecking order in our bullpen. The only other option is to keep stubbornly inserting him into tight games at our own peril.

That's All

That's it, really. Just two major complaints. Frankly, this represents an all-time franchise record for fewest complaints at this point in the season. Certainly compared to last season, this one has been a complete and utter joy.

There are still some tweaks I'd like to make before trading season ends. If that doesn't happen, and I have to head into the postseason with this roster, I'd be okay with that. It wouldn't be the end of the world. We have some usage issues, for sure, but it's nothing that the free agent scrap heap can't solve.

Notable Notables

Let's end this on a positive note by recognizing some outstanding performances to date:

• Shohei Ohtani. My god. The man has been everything we hoped he would be this year. He's a perfect 6-0 on the mound, with a 2.86 ERA. He currently shares the league lead in home runs (17) with teammate Rafael Devers. He owns the third-highest OPS (.938) on the team. He's just an all-around beast.
• Brandon Crawford. If not for Ohtani, you could argue that Crawford is the MVP of this team, and possibly the Ozzie League. He's hitting .333/.403/.571 in the leadoff spot while playing spotless defense.
• Our catching platoon. I was a bit worried heading into this season that we would have a dead spot in our lineup regardless of who we played behind the plate. I targeted Zack Collins and Austin Nola in the draft as a possibly decent platoon. I had no idea they would be this good. Collins (.272/.413/.509) and Nola (.344/.425/.469) have been outstanding at the bottom of our lineup all season. It's a shame they'll both run out of usage soon.
• Brandon Belt. We expected Belt to be a major asset in the middle of our lineup, and he has not disappointed. He's hitting .276/.370/.644 overall, with 16 homers and 42.7 runs created. He strikes out a shit-ton (50 in 174 AB), but gets the job done when he makes contact.
• Steven Matz. Where on earth did this guy come from? A 1.84 ERA in 44 innings? A perfect 5-0 record? Who is this guy? I targeted Matz in the auction because I thought he'd be a relatively-inexpensive innings-eater this year, and would thrive in St. Louis in MLB. I never expected him to be this much of an asset in the '22 BDBL season.
• Our bullpen other than Tepera. Luis A. Garcia, Joe Kelly, Ranger Suarez, Jake McGee, David Bednar, and Dominic Leone are a combined 15-3, with a 2.25 ERA in 147+ innings. It doesn't get much better than that.

Chapter One Review

Normally, I would use this space to divide our chapter into good, bad, and ugly. Given that we won 23 games, it seems a little whiny to even mention any bad or ugly aspects of this team at the moment. It's all good. Out of our seven series last chapter, we swept three of them and won three others. Only the Bear Country Jamboree managed to play us to a split.

We outscored our opponents by nearly 100 runs (+92). We went 14-2 at home, and 10-2 against the teams in our division. We hit .269/.355/.491 as a team. We posted a 2.49 team ERA, and held our opponents to a miniscule .557 OPS. The next-lowest OPS allowed, as of press time, is over 100 points higher (.681.)

Brandon Crawford (.381/.430/.619) deserves some consideration for OL Hitter of the Chapter. Andrew Benintendi (.316/.379/.506) had a very surprising chapter. Our two catchers, Austin Nola (.300/.382/.400) and Zack Collins (.220/.361/.407), were also surprisingly effective. Lorenzo Cain (.271/.364/.458) was yet another surprise.

Rafael Devers (.270/.312/.609) led the team with 11 home runs and 27 RBI's. Our two big offensive free agent signings, Brandon Belt (.264/.360/.621) and Mark Canha (.300/.434/.463), were also significant contributors.

Even Trea Turner (.265/.331/.469) and Shohei Ohtani (.232/.362/.547), whose numbers paled in comparison to their MLB performances, still proved to be valuable members of our lineup.

On the pitching side, our bullpen was as good as advertised. Dominic Leone (1.69 ERA), Jake McGee (1.69), Luis A. Garcia (1.93), Ryan Tepera (2.04), Joe Kelly (2.16), and Gregory Soto (2.70) were particularly effective.

Our swing man, and highest-paid player, Ranger Suarez, proved to be worth every penny. He went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 25+ innings, with two starts and 15 appearances out of the bullpen.

Our starting rotation was as effective as we thought it would be -- only in reverse. We expected Lance Lynn (4-2, 4.83 ERA in 31+ IP) and Framber Valdez (1-0, 4.43 in 20+) to be our best starters. We expected Jon Gray (3-1, 1.88 in 24), Luis H. Garcia (1-0, 2.79 in 19+), and Steven Matz (0-0, 2.45 in 18+) to be back-end guys. They all flipped roles.

Then, there was Ohtani, who not only delivered a strong performance at the plate, but went 4-0 with a 0.95 ERA on the mound. Could he be the first-ever person to win the Hitter AND Pitcher of the Chapter awards?

Of course, we have to be careful not to get too excited about this start to the season. We went 20-8 in Chapter One a year ago, and we all know how that ended. Still, it's better to start hot than cold.

I do see some usage issues creeping up on us already, as we really overtaxed some of our best players last chapter. I was hoping to fill a couple of those holes through trade, but at the moment, it's a seller's market and the sellers are asking unreasonable prices -- or just being rude AF assholes for no particular reason. So, we'll wait it out. As it stands, we have only one player on our farm and reserve rosters that anyone wants, and Adley Rutschman will not be going anywhere.