A misunderstanding between Mack and I leads to later sim than realized. It’s up now. Enjoy.

I’ve had it with AAA infield prospect Maximo Rodriguez. He’s 23 years old, and my scout gives him 1.5*/2.5*. He’s also in his third year of AAA and is really frustrating. He’s a solid defender at third, can play short a little, and I’ve been teaching him second this season. He’s killing my AAA squad this year, hitting below .200 and playing bad defense (albeit while learning second base).

I want him gone. I’ll deal him for a sixth round pick to whoever contacts me first. The sixth round is full of 1*/1* guys, so I’m basically willing to take a flyer on anyone else, because he just drives me nuts. (Plus, I want to promote someone from AA.) I think he should be good and he’s not. At least, not yet.

He’s angry. I’m angry. I want him gone. So, he’s available to anyone with more patience than me.

Well, not technically, but it’s June! That’s summer for most of the Western Hemisphere, or at least everywhere outside Seattle where summer doesn’t hit until July 5 most years. When summer ends in the real world, it starts in the OEL. Hurray for perpetual summer. Also, new scouting reports in the game. Wooo!

The league leaders appear unchanged, as Pittsburgh still leads Maryland by 3.5 games in the Platonic League. Jersey City is now in third, 3.5 games behind Maryland and a half-game ahead of Brooklyn.

In the Socratic League, Seattle is still five games ahead of Miami. Marietta is still a half-game behind Miami, although its lead over fourth place New York has stretched from a narrow single-game margin to a massive 1.5 game chasm.

Monthly and weekly awards were handed out. Weekly winners were Stockholm’s Horace Lawson and Tupper Street’s Ted “Yuni” Corns. Monthly winners for top hitter, pitcher, and rookie in the Platonic League were Pittsburgh’s Alberto “Nutso” Jimenez, Maryland reliever Jeffrey “Tornado” Snyder, and Brooklyn’s Benjamin Beshears. In the Socratic League, the big honors went to Miami’s Ben “Sugar” Towell, Marietta’s Willie Gowans, and Seattle’s Wayne Jones. No major transactions.

In injury news, it was a bad sim. New York lost reliever Ariel Santos for 12 months to a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. Miami outfielder Calle Bengtsson will miss six weeks with a quad strain. Seattle catcher James Dominy fractured a rib somehow running the bases and is out five weeks. Pittsburgh outfielder Amberto Ramos is out four weeks with a fractured foot sustained when he was hit by a pitch. Maryland shortstop Felix Seda will miss 5-6 weeks with a fractured finger. Tupper Street third baseman Robert Judy is out one week with back soreness. Plus some day-to-day stuff. Ugh.

In college baseball, the Georgetown Hoyas have claimed the national title, defeating Florida four games to one. In high school baseball, the Ridgemont Wolves are champs with a four games to two victory over Glen Rock.

In game action, lots of teams won, lots of teams lost, and several players were good. Unfortunately, you’ll have to find that data yourself, as I’ve got to head to my daughter’s soccer practice (sign #12 that summer is ending in the real world).

League file is posted. I’ll try to get the web pages updated tonight too.

In coming action, this Friday’s sim will take us up to June 15. That means that the draft will be next Monday. So, get your draft lists ready in the game. (At least, those of you who are better positioned than my Pisces and pick before #37 should get lists together. I may just hit snooze on the alarm clock.) After that, short-season A and Rookie league ball will start during next Friday’s sim (the June 25 sim).

Another sim closer to the draft and eventually expansion, boys. Keep prepping for what’s to come!

In the Platonic League Pittsburgh maintains their 3.5 game lead over second place Maryland. Brooklyn is now 5 games out of the wildcard and needs to make up some ground fast.

In the Socratic League Seattle remains on top but is now being chased by Miami five games behind. Marietta, once in second, is now 1/2 game out of the wild card. New York is one game behind Marietta.

On the injury front we see that Pittsburgh lost Gary Croce for 1-2 weeks with a strained quad and, more devastatingly, Brooklyn lost right fielder David White to a strained hamstring for 6-7 weeks. Tough break.

In game action:

…Seattle broke a 7-all tie in regulation with 5 runs in the top of the 10th to beat Cairo…
…Pittsburgh defeats Brooklyn in a game which changed leads four times in the last two innings…
…on May 29th every interleague game was decided by 1 run…

Everyone go get your upgrade to the new and final edition of OOTP 11. Next sim is Monday by Mack!

Thanks to hot streaks, the division leaders have started to separate a bit. In the Platonic League, the Pittsburgh Pisces have run off nine straight wins and have opened a 3.5 game lead over the Maryland Poedamnedmonium. Maryland has been hot as well, winning eight of their last ten. Brooklyn is in third, nine games behind Pittsburgh and 5.5 behind Maryland. Jersey City is a half-game behind Brooklyn. Gainesville has won four straight and is two back of the Skeeters while Stockholm has a three-game hold on the cellar.

In the Socratic League, the Seattle Pilots have won 13 of their past 14 and now have a 3.5-game lead of their own. The young Marietta Mammoths are in the wild card spot, 1.5 games ahead of Miami and New York. Tupper Street and Cairo are both reeling. No major transactions.

In league news, New York’s Erwin Herrero ran his hit streak to 35 games, only to see it snapped by Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh’s Joseph Yagi and Seattle’s Wayne “Snapper” Jones took home Player of the Week honors.

In injury news, Jersey City outfielder Gonzalo Fernandez fractured a finger when hit by a pitch and will miss 6-7 weeks. New York closer Paul “Rockin” Rollison is out for two weeks due to a hamstring strain.

In game action, on May 21, Stockholm used two home runs by Horace Lawson and 8.2 innings of two-hit shutout baseball by David Liriano to beat Marietta 11-0.

On May 22, Gainesville got two bombs from Kenrokurou Yoshii in a 9-6 win over Cairo. Ted Corns led Tupper Street to a win with two home runs of his own while Patrick Layfield went 5-5.

On May 23, Seattle scored five in the eighth to come back and beat Jersey City 8-4.

On May 24, Stockholm took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth only to see Pittsburgh score seven runs and hold on for a 7-5 win.

On May 25, Gainesville and Brooklyn busted out for 14 runs each, in 14-4 wins over Tupper Street and 14-7 wins over Marietta, respectively. Miami’s Richard Vuong went 4-4 with a two-run home run, but the Masters fell 3-2 to New York and ace Abe Nix.

The playoffs have begun in the college and high school ranks. The Georgetown Hoyas have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their opening round series with the two-time defending champs from the University of Washington. In the other series, the Florida Gators and Adams College Tri-Lambs are tied at one game each. The college home run champ was Iowa’s freshman sensation Wen “Big Thunder” Won, who clubbed 23 home runs in 46 games. Harvard senior Vincent Crabtree hit .443. Washington senior Max “Roach” Barnes led college baseball with a 33.6 pitching VORP and tied for the lead with a 2.42 ERA.

In high school, the Ridgemont Wolves lead 2-0 over the Glen Rock Panthers. The home run leader in the high school ranks was another freshman, North Springs first baseman William Garant, with 19 bombs. Ridgemont first baseman (and fellow freshman) Ernest Townsley hit .513 for the year. Although, with 100 ratings for infield range and infield error, one wonders why the heck he’s playing first base. Danville sophomore Hitoshi Sekine led all pitchers with seven wins in his ten starts.

Good luck to the amateur playoff teams. League file is posted. Nate has Friday’s sim.

Seattle sends AAA MR Ruiz to Jersey City for AAA CL Mariscal.

Offering OFs. Martin, Dehner, Frisina, Fernandez, Pullum definitely up for sale. Tilgham & Yorba untouchable. Ciprian if the deal is right.

Also available SS Hernandez, Gahagan, Walla, Morrow, Parson.

Just to covering a dangling thread: the last of the expansion owners has accepted our offer and should be introduced to the rest of the league shortly. Next steps will be forthcoming from Mack and I shortly.

In the Platonic league Maryland continues to chase the frontrunning Pisces and is now only 1 lonely game behind the leader. Jersey City, however, is now 6.5 games behind Pittsburgh and was as recently as two sims ago tied for the wildcard. Bad luck in Jersey!

In the Socratic League Seattle lengthened their lead for .5 games to 2 games and now New York is in second. Marietta is one half game behind NY and Miami is one half game behind Marietta. With four teams bunched up within three games of each other and more than four months to go there’s no telling how this will end!

In the news for this sim New York’s Edwin Herrero now has a 33 game hitting stread. Just 23 more to tie DiMaggio, Edwin!

In awards for this week we have Cairo’s Raul Zambrano, with his 12 hits in 25 at bats and 2 home runs in the SL. In the PL Brooklyn’s Benjamin Beshears took the award home with his .458 average and 8 runs batted in!

A small amount of injury news this sim as Gainesville’s Richard Balsamo aggravated his existing injury and will be hurt for an extra week. More seriously Stockholm has lost left fielder Ronald Veit for 2-3 months with a strained forearm. Tough luck!

In game action:

…Seattle’s Wayne Jones got his 10th home run of the year in a 9-7 win over Cairo…
…New York put up 5 in the bottom of the ninth to beat Marietta 7-5…
…Miami put up 14 against Stockholm the same day that Pitt put up 13 against Brooklyn…
…Stockholm got some payback the next day beating Miami 10-9 in 13 innings…
…Pittsburgh had an 11 run INNING against Brooklyn…

The next sim is Wednesday by Mack! Keep looking at those draftable players!

As we reach mid-May, and sit just six sims from the amateur draft, the Pittsburgh Pisces hold a two-game lead over the blossoming Maryland Poedamnedmonium. Jersey City is another 1.5 games back, with Brooklyn lurking a half-game behind the Skeeters. Gainesville has climbed into a tie for fifth with Stockholm.

In the Socratic League, the Seattle Pilots are now in first place, riding a six-game winning streak. The Marietta Mammoths are second, a half-game back while New York and Miami are tied for third, one full game behind Seattle. New York’s five-game losing streak wiped out their comfortable four-game lead in a hurry. Cairo and Tupper Street are tied for fifth, or for the first pick in the 2010 amateur draft, depending on how you look at it.

In transactional news, Jersey City inked free agent and long-time star third baseman Constantino Martinez to a one-year, $3.4 million deal.

In league news, Brooklyn’s Tory Chavez saw his hitting streak stopped at 37 games when the Marietta Mammoths forced him into a 0-4 day. However, New York’s Erwin Herrero is still going strong with a hitting streak that has now reached 30 games. There’s another guy I’m glad I traded after deciding he couldn’t make it in the majors.

On the injury front, Gainesville lost reliever Richard Balsamo for 1-2 weeks with a sprained elbow and Seattle’s Charles Fordyce will be out two weeks with a sprained finger. Poor baby.

The pitchers largely seemed to take this sim off as every single day this sim featured at least one game where a team scored 10 or more runs. But two games deserve mention.

In what seemed to be the offensive outburst of the sim, if not the season, Pittsburgh crushed Stockholm 22-2 on May 13. Both outfielder Joseph Yagi and infielder Randy Carman collected five hits for the Pisces. Yagi’s hits included two home runs while Carman clubbed a home run and three doubles. And yet, rookie outfielder Quan “Shifty” Xi had the best day of all with three hits (including two home runs), two walks, three runs scored, and 7 RBI.

But then, apparently a little green-eyed about the positive press, Miami went out and thumped New York 24-10 on May 15. Michael Southwood and Agustin Moreno each got five hits in that game, both racking up four singles and a double.

League file is posted and I’ll get web pages up over the weekend. Next sim is Monday, by Nate. Keep in mind that we’re about two weeks in the real world away from the amateur draft.

Hello and welcome to the world, new owners of our anticipated expansion franchises! We’re still waiting on one of the franchises to have an owner but the others are lined up. Feel free to add to the chatter, gentlemen!

Not a lot of change in the standings this sim as Pittsburgh remains on top of the Platonic League 1.5 games above both Maryland and the recovering Jersey City! Brooklyn is one half game further off the pace at 19-16.

In the Socratic League New York is 2.5 above the charging Marietta team with Miami and Seattle losing ground this time ending up at 3 and 4 games back, respectively.

In news and events we have Miami’s Ben Towell took player of the week in the SL and Albert Guzman of Pittsburgh took the award in the PL. Well done, boys! Well done!

In other news of note Brooklyn’s Tory Chavez’s hit streak is at 34 and New York’s Erwin Herrero’s hitting streak stands at 25. We’ve had several streaks this year and the media is ablaze with the story! How long can he keep it up?

In sad news the injury report was simply alive this sim:

New York’s Townsend will miss 2 weeks with a sprained knee.
Brooklyn’s MR Miguel Valenzuela with miss 10-11 months with a torn tendon.
Seattle’s Jorge Hernandez will miss one week after developing hamstring tendonitis.
Pitt’s 1B Amador Zaragoza is out for four weeks with a strained muscle.
Brooklyn loses another one: 2B Miyatarou Takenao is out for two weeks with a shoulder strain.
Miami’s CF John Fine is out 3 weeks with an oblique strain.

Lastly, Miami’s Vuong shouted at an umpire and was suspended for three games. Field reporter Crash Davis said he used a word you shouldn’t use to an umpire!

In game action:

…Pittsburth put up 7 runs in the 8th inning to defeat Jersey City 12-5…
…New York went into the 9th down by two and put up three to win 8-7. The winning run was scored on a single by Guglielmo..
…Tupper Street surprised Miami with three in the bottom of the 8th to go ahead and win 5-4…
…Tupper Street beat Maryland in 13, 3-2, with a home run by Allan Balogh…

Next sim is Friday by Mack! Don’t be late and try to welcome the newcomers!