A New Tradition in Long Haul?

In Long Haul, there have been many close games along with fun competition throughout the whole league. I would like to introduce two new trophies to the Long Haul R Us League!

The Under Dog's Food Bowl:

Around this time every season, everyone of Long Haul will vote for which two teams they think deserves to be in this competition. The two teams will have to be doing pretty terrible in order to be able to compete for this trophy. This trophy will be able to be won in the last series of the two teams!

The Divisional Douchebags Cup:

This Cup will also be played in the last series of the season. However, this trophy is only allowed to be won by two competitive teams. Since season 9, these two teams have battled over and over again to come in first and they are both currently tied for first place. The Divisional Douchebags Cup will be played for by Baltimore Beatdown and Wichita WINNERS! They will play for the cup on July 6 in Wichita.

New Little Rock Owner Off to Quick Start

The new owner and GM of the Little Rock Anti-Clintons, tomjames, is off to a fast start since his arrival to Long Haul R us. Tomjames has a career record of 1391-1363 (.505) and out of his 17 season career, has made the playoffs 8 times.
Tomjames has made a handful of moves so far this season to try to get Little Rock back on track. He also traded 26 year old 2B Jason Carson for ex-Birdos Moises Lee. He has also promoted, demoted, signed, and deactivated a lot of players within a 2 day span.
So far this season, Little Rock looks as they could definitely turn things around!

Possible Records?

Although it it still early in Long Haul, there are a few players that are standing out in certain stat categories.

LF Darin DePaula of the Durham CroBulls is burning up the base path this season. So far this season, DePaula is 25 for 25 in SBs. In his first full season he stole 83 bases and got caught stealing only 6 times! The single season record is 106 stolen bases, set by Phillip Hunter in season 4. Darin DePaula is on pace to steal 104 bases this season! Don't be surprised if he beats this

record as he is only hitting .266 so far this season. If he can raise his batting average close to .280, he can easily steal more than 110 bases!

Another player this season that is on pace to break a record is 22 year old closer Marty Dyer of the Cleveland Elite Senators II. The young closer is 15 for 15 with saves in only 14.2 innings! The single season record is 58 set by Clarence Kolb in season 10. Marty is on pace to get around only 42 saves if he pitches as many innings as he did his last two seasons in the bigs. Marty would have to pitch around 60 innings in order to come close to breaking Kolb's record.

The last player that is close to breaking a record this season is Fonzie Lewis of the Cincinnati Flying Pigs. The number two SP of the Flying Pigs is 8 and 0 this season. In his last two full seasons in the bigs he has won a combined 29 wins and has lost 21. In 61.1 innings, Lewis has struck out 49, while walking only 23. He also has an amazing OAV of .196! So far this season, Lewis is on pace to win 32 games! The record for most wins in a single season is 24, set by George Ramsey and Darryl Morgan. So far, Lewis is 1/3 on his way to breaking the record with only 24% of the season done!

Long Haul R Us Power Rankings by tomjames (USMLB) 5/20

The 5/20 kR (knucklebones Radio) will include power rankings done by tomjames of USMLB. These Long Haul R Us Power Rankings should take up most of the show, so if you listen stay tuned for that. 8pm Pacific 11pm eastern 7 days a week. Watch the live show and join the chat with other HBD'ers. Just click "chat now" on the show page.

Cincinnati Signs Stud 2B

The Cincinnati Post reports that the Cincinnati Flying Pigs and Wladimir Telemaco have come to agreement on a deal. Wladimir signed a one year minor league contract, with a 14.6 million dollar signing bonus.

Unlike most International Free Agents, Telemaco is ready for the big leagues right now, and has a great chance to win Rookie of the Year. Although his fielding and durability is not very good yet, his hitting make him an easy Rookie of the Year candidate. In 24 at bats in AAA, Telemaco hit four home runs and batter .417. Since he has been called up to the bigs, he is two for ten.

When Cincinnati GM, mwhelan, was asked for his reason for signing the 21 year old 2B, he said, "I was in desperate need of another bat." Most GMs in the league tend to look for a replacement guy off the waiver wire or trade. Mwhelan, however, looked for a new face of the Flying Pigs organization. "Well we see how it works out."

Spring Training Not For Everyone!

Spring Training is a great way to develop prospects and to find out who deserves those few spots left on certain team's rosters. But sometimes during this great time in baseball, things can get messed for the whole season for certain teams.

With only a couple of games left in season 12's Spring Training, teams start to gear up and get ready for Opening Day! However, for the Philadelphia Pirates and the Cleveland Elite Senators II, things went terribly wrong.

During the PM game on May 6, Philadelphia Pirates backup SS Allan Carson and 3B Casey Green both were injured. The good news? Backup SS Allan Carson was only injured four games. The bad news? Newly signed stud 3B Casey Green was injured a little bit longer- 108 days to be exact. When Pirates GM, rcktchamp, was asked how he would find a replacement he said, "Fortunately I did not need him in the beginning of the season, and was only going to use him as a trading chip." Rcktchamp also told the Philadelphia Cheese Steak Newspaper that he is "going to most likely sign a few possible players to play CF and promote speed demon Trey Gibbons to the majors soon."

Even though the Pirates lucked out with their backup players being injured, the Senators weren't as lucky. Two of the Senators best prospects went down within the last few days. Stud SS Ivan Rivera was injured on a routine ground ball. He is expected to return around the 1st of June (out 74 days). Now as if that wasn't bad enough, possible future Cy Young winner Moose Hackman was injured while pitching against the Wichita WINNERS. Last year Moose went 15 and 7 with a 3.32 ERA. He will be out for 108 days and is expected to return the 12th of June.

Look for both of these two teams to possibly make some moves within the first few games of the season to get themselves back on track!

Possible Rookie of the Year?

Durham CroBulls and cro3147 have a possible ROY in season 12. Twenty one year old right handed starting pitcher, Vladimir Rincon, looks like a possible candidate for Rookie of the Year- and possibly Cy Young.
So far in season 12, Rincon has pitched great in Spring Training. He has pitched 14 innings, allowing only 8 hits and one earned run! His ERA stands at 0.64 and an OAV of .163.
In season 9, ex owner, Sandleaguer, signed 18 year old Rincon to a three year big league contract, along with a cheap signing bonus of 9 million.

POSITIVES:
(1.) Young and still possibly one of the best starters in the league.
(2.) Great splits: 76 VS. lefties and 84 VS. Righties.
(3.) Good pitches and ground ball to fly ball ratio.
(4.) Still has plenty of room for growth and improvement at age 21 and a makeup of 87.

NEGATIVES:
(1.) Although he should be fine to pitch every five days, he will not be able to go deep into games this season with a stamina of 70.
(2.) Low control, but nothing to worry about yet.
(3.) Very low velocity at 31. Shouldn't see that many strike outs from him.

So far in Rincon's Minor League career, he has been pretty dominate, going 29 and 11. His OAV is .197 and his WHIP is 1.03. Over 380 innings, he has struck out 386 batters, walked only 109, and has had an ERA of 2.20. His major concerns are his control, stamina, and velocity.
CONTROL: He walks a batter every 3.5 innings in the minors.
STAMINA: He has started every game in the minors so far, averaging only 5.4 innings a game.
VELOCITY: He strikes out a batter almost every inning (.98 per inning).

Although this is just a simulated game, and feelings do not come in to play in Hardball Dynasty, something that may help us to see how he might handle the stress of the big leagues is his post season career.
In season 9, Rincon pitched great, giving up no runs and only 2 hits over six innings, and also being rewarded the win. In season 10, Rincon pitched in three games, while going 16 innings (5.3 innings per game). This time he gave up 18 hits and 3 runs, winning one and losing one in the Low A playoffs. In season 11, Rincon pitched two games in AA, only averaging 5 innings per game. Unlike his other seasons, he got rocked. He gave up 14 hits and 8 earned runs, while losing one with an ERA of 7.20 in season 11 post season!

SEASON 12 PREDICTIONS:
W-L: 10-8 ERA: 3.79 Innings: 150 SO: 142 BB: 33
With the second worse defense last year behind him and a below average team hitting, don't expect a CY Young this season, but ROY is definitely a possibility as long as the pressure of the Bigs isn't to much for him to handle. Watch out for this guy to win a bucket load of awards in the near future.

Durham CroBulls

NEEDS:
(1.) #1 and #2 ML SP

DUMPS:
(1.) Everyone could be had for the right price
(2.) ML 3B Bill Santangelo

The CroBulls Radio Station reports that in order to compete this season, Durham has to acquire a couple of starting pitchers in order to win. "The Durham CroBulls are like everybody else- they need a #1 & #2 starting pitcher to compete very well," says Durham CroBulls rookie GM, cro3147.
21 year old stud staring pitcher, Vladimir Rincon, looks to lead the CroBulls this season to the playoffs for the first time since season 3! However, after Rincon, the pitching looks pretty dull and will most likely become fatigued unless they pick up a innings eater. Durham's highest stamina pitcher is Sherry Scoroposki with 78.

POSSIBLE MOVES:
(1.) Has to acquire gold glove type player(s). Although his 2 possible ML 2B look good at speed and hitting, they both should be 3B. Also his ML SS, Adrian Nelson, should not be playing SS. Cro3147 should look to acquire a better 2B off the waiver wire or free agency.
(2.) Promote stud SS Brian Chang after the 20 day time period so he skips a year of arbitration. Though he has more time to grow, his fielding and hitting ratings should be good enough to make him an everyday ML SS.
(3.) Needs to have a great draft this season. Has to pick great pitchers in order to compete soon, and may have to take gambles on pitchers that may not sign.
(4.) Take his time with Roland Gosling. Will be a stud pitcher, but has to develop him correctly.