[Ben E Lou]

APRIL 2000

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 9-17
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 9-17
CURRENT STANDING: Last place. 9 ½ games behind division-leading Mets.

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
The bullpen is doing great. Highest bullpen ERA is Honda’s 3.38. SP’s Cobbs (3.82), Feder (4.32) and Shultis (4.28) have done well enough. Medina (8.14) is getting shelled, and rookie Figueroa (5.08) has room to improve.

Emil Romero had a very good month, batting .413 with 14 RBI’s. Ferdy Puente, on the other hand, is stinking it up with a .182 average. I drop Puente down to #7 in the order, and move Dyke (.250, 7 SB) up to #2. Looking at our team stats overall, what stands out is that we’re 29th in MLB in home runs, and 4th in stolen bases. Otherwise, we’re middle-of-the-road in most other numbers.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 4/10/2000 :

Santos Saavedra seems to have lost some of his feel for his stuff...Santos Saavedra has lost some movement on his pitches...

Monday 4/17/2000 :

Joshua Dinger's pitches have more bite now, the movement has improved!Daniel Oxendine seems to have lost some bat speed, resulting in less contact...Alvin Garofalo has lost some power...

Monday 5/1/2000 :

Stephen Dills has lost a step. His speed drops to D ...Stephen Dills has lost some momentum, his range at CF drops to D ...Benny Conde has lost some momentum, his range at 1B drops to D ...Daniel Davila is getting faster, his speed increases to D ...

Dinger is lighting it up at AAA, but no one in the major league bullpen is struggling. I may just make a trade before this post is over. None of the decreases are of any importance.

AAA NOTES
As mentioned above, Joshua Dinger has a 1.29 ERA, a 0.71 WHIP and 22 K’s in 14 IP. His ratings are up to 8/5/6. I think he’s ready. I’ll try to trade closer Mukai and a position starter for a big bat. 2B Alan “The Hammer” Dye is hitting .337, but his ratings are still 4/4/5. I’ll keep watching him.

AA NOTES:
The Terminator Dominguez has struggled a bit early: 1-2, 5.28 ERA. RF Heasley is hitting .377, but with no HR’s. The computer says he’s ready for AAA. I promote him.

A NOTES:
Unheralded 22-year-old 3B William Polly is hitting .310 with a .899OPS. I’ll watch him.

INJURIES:
None this month.

KEY E-MAILS:

Bryan Heasley has made notable progress
learning his new position, Leftfield.
I would rate his skills as "D" right now.

He’s a big prospect already. Nice to have another position he can play if necessary.

PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
I’ve now got a relationship with a girl named Blaney.

TRADES
I trade Closer Mukai and Shortstop Prospect Cazares to St. Louis for SS Eduardo Fuensanta (6/8/5). 33-year-old Fuensanta has “A” range at SS, and has hit 27-33 homers each of the past seven seasons. He’s in the next-to-last year of a contract paying him $8.19M per year. I’ll drop him in the cleanup spot and hope that improves my offense. He should certainly improve the defense. Then, I trade SS Wilson to Cleveland for two (avg/avg/avg) talent young pitching prospects. Their names are Chad Alejo and Bill Hicks. Hopefully one will turn into something good. Here’s the new lineup vs. RHP:

1. CF Dyke (6/2/6)
2. LF Puente (5/5/6)
3. C Barrett (6/6/7)
4. SS Fuensanta (6/8/5)
5. 1B Romero (5/6/4)
6. 3B Schuster (6/6/6)
7. 2B Campbell (6/5/7)
8. RF Mejia (6/3/5)[/b]

MONTHLY AWARDS
Pitchers Of The Month: Cecil Sanders, TX (6-0, 1.52) and Ronald Smith, SD (1-1, 0.90)
Batters Of The Month: RF William Harris, TX (.340, 12, 30, 1.191) and RF Elmer Connors, StL (.364,13,27,1.325)

TEAM NEWS FROM THIS MONTH

Thursday 4/6/2000 :

Emil Romero has 4 hits against New York (N).

Tuesday 4/11/2000 :

Charles Wilson has 4 hits against San Diego.

Wednesday 4/12/2000 :

James Shultis fans 11 batters against San Diego.

Friday 4/28/2000 :

Anthony Schuster has 4 hits against Florida.Anthony Schuster crushes 2 homers against Florida.Anthony Schuster scores 4 runs against Florida.

Saturday 4/29/2000 :

Theodore Barrett has 5 hits against Florida.

Sunday 4/30/2000 :

Jimmy Cobbs fans 13 batters against Florida.