Year Of The Mammoth

Year Of The Mammoth

            The Michigan skies are lighting up tonight with celebrations after the Michigan Mammoth defeated the Maine Loggers by a score of 8 to 5 in win the 2018 Friendship League World Series, four games to one.  By the looks of the box scores, it may appear that the Mammoth easily dispatched the Loggers, but the games were close, keeping Michigan’s GM, Fred Schmidt, eating ice the entire series.   It was Michigan’s first World Series crown since 1995.   Michigan had entered the playoffs the last 3 seasons as the number 1 seed, but was beat in the divisional series by the eventual champion in the last 2 seasons.  You could see some signs of relief by the team leaders that they were able to complete their season in a victorious fashion.   This series will be remembered as the first Fanless World Series.   Due to concern over the Coronavirus, none of the games were able to have fans in attendance.  This didn’t seem to slow down Michigan in their quest to be champions.

           In Game 1, Michigan’s Michael Fulmer faced off against Maine’s James Shields.   This game was not the matchup believed at the outset of the Series as Michigan coasted to victory.  Fulmer (1-0) tossed 7 shutout innings en route to a 9-0 win.  Shields (0-1) was not on target and it seemed that every other batter in the Michigan lineup was walked. Manny Machado hit a 3-run bomb in the 4th inning to give the Mammoth a 7-0 lead and put the game out of reach for the Loggers. The Mammoth added 2 more in the 8th.  
 
            Game 2 saw the Loggers notch their only victory of the Series in a matchup of lefties.   Carlos Rodon (1-0) went 6 2/3 innings for the win shutting down the Mammoth and only allowing 2 hits.   Mike Minor (0-1) took the loss while allowing 2 runs over 5 1/3 innings.     The Loggers struck first on an RBI single by Castellanos in the first, scoring Alberto Mondesi.    They added runs in the 6th and 7th innings and Diego Castillo went 4 outs for the save.

            The World Series travelled to Maine for Game 3 and Daniel Mengden started for the Mammoth, taking on the Loggers’ Sonny Gray.    Michigan erupted for 3 runs in the top of the first after hits by Merrifield and Wendle.   A sacrifice fly from Haniger brought Merrifield home and a long HR by Machado brought home the other 2 runs.   Nick Castellanos double home JD Martinez in the bottom of the 4th inning and Juan Segura single home Aaron Hicks and Russell Martin in the 5th.    Segura added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 7th to give Maine a 4-3 lead.   After a single in the top of the 8th by Mitch Garver, for his 4th hit of the game, off of Yusmeiro Petit (0-1), the Mammoth sent Jake Marisnick to pinch run.   Marisnick promptly stole second and after consecutive RBI doubles by Francisco Lindor, Kevin Kiermaier, and Whit Merrifield the Mammoth now led by a score of 7-4.   Dylan Covey (1-0) went 1 1/3 for the victory and 2018 Friendship League saves leader Blake Treinen went 5 outs to earn his first save of the Series.

            Maine started James Shields (0-2) in Game 4 opposite Nathan Eovaldi (1-0).   In this game, Michigan scored early and often, giving the Mammoth a 3-1 Series lead with a 23 hit effort in an 18-4 victory.   After Michigan took a 1-0 lead in the first off of a Dee Gordon single, JD Martinez was injured in the bottom half of the inning for the Loggers.  He was pulled after being hit by an inside pitch from Eovaldi.   The Mammoths took over the game in the second inning.    After loading the bases, Mitch Haniger gave Michigan the big lead they wanted when he launched a grand slam and Manny Machado followed up with a solo shot to setup a seven-run inning.    The Mammoth added three more in the 3rd from RBI’s by Garver, Lindor, and Kiermaier.  Michigan tallied 2 more in the 5th and 4 more in the 7th.   The Loggers broke the shutout in the 7^th with a Jed Lowrie HR.   The Loggers hit 2 more HR’s in the 8th by Steve Pearce and Avasail Garcia to bring their run total to 4.  With their pitching staff exhausted, the Loggers turned to Christian Vasquez in the top of the 9th inning and Michigan concluded the scoring with their 18th run.   
   
             In Game 5, Michigan returned to Michael Fulmer to start the game against Maine’s Tyler Glasnow (0-1).  Michigan led off the scoring with a Whit Merrifield single.  Merrifield stole second and was brought home on a Joey Wendle double.    Maine countered with a run in the bottom of the 2nd to tie the game at 1 after an Aaron Hicks double plated Luke Voit.    Manny Machado launched a 3-run home run in the top of the 3rd to give Michigan a 4-1 lead.   Michigan added another run in the 4^th with a Francisco Lindor solo shot.   Maine added 2 runs in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 5-3, but Michigan promptly added 3 more in the top of the 5th to give the Mammoth an 8-3 lead after hits by Merrifield, Wendle, and Garver.    Maine closed the gap to 8-5 after a home run by Aaron Hicks, but strong pitching by Ryan Tepera brought the Mammoth to the brink of victory.   The Loggers made things interesting a hit by Segura and a walk by Lowrie brought up JD Martinez with a shot to tie the game, but regular season Cy Young and Rolaids Relief award winner Blake Treinen (1-0) got him on strikes and was able to get Nick Castellanos to ground out into a series ending double play.   

           Another team effort was put forth in The World Series for Michigan, but the voting was not as difficult as the Division Series, as Manny Machado went 11 for 20, hitting.550, along with 4 HR’s, 10 Runs, and 11 RBI’s in the 5 games.    Manny will not be missed by this Maine team and he will likely be in the nightmares of Loggers’ GM, Steve Willnus’, for many years ahead.   Willnus can only ponder how the Loggers’ season would have changed if he hadn’t made the fateful trade with the Thunder to open the season.   It is believed that the Maine GM and 2018 Friendship League Manager of the Year would have drafted Garrit Cole and he would have drastically bolstered the Loggers rotation.  Bingo ball 31 will likely be remembered far beyond Willnus’ tenure in Maine.   The World Series victory was a fitting sendoff for Michigan GM/manager Fred Schmidt, who had announced prior to the season that he was stepping down in order to have some additional family time.  He had missed substantial time during the season, but was able to come back and coach the team to victory in the World Series.   Schmidt guided the Mammoths to a 360-288 record with a .556 winning percentage.   The clubhouse was an emotional scene after the game as the team opted to celebrate rather than ponder their future.

M. Betts

J. Soler

A. Simmons

E. Encarnacion

M.Olson

R. Laureano

Y. Diaz

I. Kiner-Falefa

J. Candelario

L. Severino

M. Givens

M. Barnes

F. Montas

M. Gonzales

L. Lynn

M. Stroman

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Yu D.--D. Keuchel

-------cut with card----

J. Bauers

D. Deshields

H. Hembree

J. Jay

Michigan Mammoth Protected List

KEEPERS
Kevin Kiermaier

Francisco Lindor
Roberto Perez
Whit Merrifield
Mitch Garver
Justin Upton
Mitch Haniger
Joey Wendle
Dee Gordon
Willans Astudillo
Jake Cave
Mike Minor
Jalen Beeks
Miguel Castro
Nathan Eovaldi
Dylan Covey

CUTS  

Blake Treinen
Jake Marisnick
Thomas Pannone

Daniel Mengden
Manny Machado (NC)

MIke Moustakas (NC)

Seung Hwan Oh (NC)

Vidal Nuno (NC)

Ryan Tepera (NC)

Chris Archer (NC)

Cole Hamels (NC)

YU DARVISH

Michael Fulmer 

Mount Pleasant Protection List

             

Mount Pleasant cutting David Price marks the end for the franchise's longest currently tenured player. Price was drafted third overall in 2010 and had quite a few accolades in the league: 2012 Cy Young winner, ERA of 1.85 in 2012 and the most starts in the league that year, most innings pitched in 2014, second in ERA 2015. Overall he was top ten in ERA four times, top five in Ks four times (top 10 six times), #1 in innings pitched twice and top 10 four times. 

Within Mount Pleasant's franchise dating back to 2008, he's #1 among pitchers in total games, #1 in Ks, #1 innings pitched (at 995 with second place at just 606), #1 in both Wins and Losses, #2 in career ERA, #3 win percentage. Safe to say he's the best pitcher in the franchise's modern history. 

Keeping:

Carlos Correa - SS

Clint Frazier - OF (previous Yu Darvish)

Nico Goodrum - UTL

Nomar Mazar - RF

Rougned Odor - 2B

Stephen Piscotty - RF

Albert Pujols - 1B

Eddie Rosario - LF

Yolmer Sanchez - 2B

Mike Trout - CF

Zack "Don't call me Zach" Britton - RP

Lucas Giolito - SP

Brad Keller - SP

Rick Porcello - SP

Blake Snell - SP

Joakim Soria - RP

Yu Darvish - Michael Perez - C

Cuts:

Taylor Cole - RP

Sandy Leon - C

Kevin McCarthy - SP

Oliver Perez - RP

David Price - SP

Framber Valdez - SP/RP

Hector Velazquez - SP/RP

No Cards:

Evan Gattis - C

Joe Mauer - 1B

James Pazos - RP

Andrew Romine - INF

Tony Sipp - R

Fremont Protection List

The 2019 Las Vegas Fremont protection list is brought to you by Jose Jose Salsa.

 Made with the freshest ingredients from his mother’s recipe, this is truly loved by Jose Ramirez and his family.

<<<UPDATED FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION>>>

Keep:
Trey Mancini
Marcus Semien
Jose Ramirez
Kyle Seager
Robbie Grossman
Leury Garcia
Jackie Bradley Jr.
Mark Canha
Shohei Ohtani
Masahiro Tanaka
Trevor Bauer
Andrew Heaney
Mike Leake
Taylor Rogers
Ryan Pressly
Joe Jimenez

Jose Jose Salsa is available in both Mild and Medium.

Drop:

Luke Maile
Max Stassi
Welington Castillo
Daniel Robertson
Robinson Cano (N/C)
Tony Kemp
Taylor Ward
Trevor Cahill
Chris Devenski
Sergio Romo
John Axford (N/C)

Darvish:
Drop: Adalberto Mejia
Add: Nick Vincent

The Fremont organization bids a fond farewell to Robinson Cano. Acquired via trade before the 2016 season, Cano’s three-year Fremont career was highlighted by an MVP worthy 2018 performance; slashing .392/.405/.634 in 203 plate appearances, Cano willed the Fremonts to their first playoff appearance. Overall, Cano retires as the ‘Monts all time leader in batting average (.305), slugging (.522), and fourth in HRs (38) and RBI (144).

 

"any supermarket" meaning, some independent stores in the Cleveland area and at joseramirezsalsa.com

Keepers

Jake Odorizzi

Ryan Yarbrough

Aroldis Chapman

Andrew Cashner

Jordan Zimmermann

Brad Peacock

Wade LeBlanc

James McCann

Ji-Man Choi

Jose Abreu

Omar Narvaez

Shin-Soo Choo

Jurickson Profar

Aledmys Diaz

Rowdy Tellez

Ryan O'Hearn

Cut (has 2019 AL Stats)

Drew VerHagen

Blake Parker

Cody Allen

Edwin Jackson

Didi Gregorius

Nick Martini

Yu

Josh Donaldson

Retired

Felix Hernandez

Thunder Protection List

Picks of Thor, God of Thunder

Sale SP
Chirinos SP/RP
Bundy SP
Green SP/RP
Ramirez SP?RP
Manaea SP
Alvarado RP
Polanco SS
Kepler RF
Gardner CF
Judge RF
Cruz DH
Gonzalez RF
Smoak 1B
Beckham SS
Zunino C

Andujar - Yu Darvish

Left for the Peasants
Wood SP/RP
Loaisiga SP/RP
Scott RP
McKinney RF
Smith C
Mullins CF
Estrada NC
Romero NC
Betances NC
Beltre NC
Richards NC
McGee NC former Yu Darvish

Lake Erie Commodores protection list.

Hitters:
J. Altuve, L. Gurriel, T. Hernandez,                R. Grichuk, G. Heredia, M. Cabrera,
M. Maldonado, R. Nunez, J. Lucroy
Pitchers:
J. Verlander, G. Cole, C. Bassitt,
J. Junis, D. Norris. S. Greene,
S. Gaviglio

Waved:
D. Palka, L. Martin, E. Nunez, R. Healy
D. Hess, C. McHugh, J. Chavez, R. Buchter
J. Holder, B Hardy

The Commodores would now like to welcome W. Adames to the team. Willie was aquired from Pittsburgh just moments after the above list was published.

Good luck to Maine and Michigan. Wouldn't it be ironic if Maine ended up winning the championship after the draft day debacle that started their year.

Kansas City Butchers player moves for 2019 season

Prime Cuts (Protected Players)
Carlos Carrasco
Chaz Roe
Corey Kluber
Eduardo Rodriguez
JA Happ
Robinson Chironos
Alex Bregman
Austin Hays (last year's Yu Darvish)
Adam Engel
George Springer
Giancarlo Stanton
Johnathan Villar
Khris Davis
Xander Bogaerts
Yoan Moncada
Yuli Gurriel

Chopped

Alex Wilson

Craig Kimbrel
Jamie Barria

Kevin Gausman

Richard Bleier

Ryan Brasier

Sean Gilmartin
Steven Wright

Wilson Ramos
Christin Stewart

Bradley Zimmer

Mark Trumbo

New Yu Darvish Player

Lance McCullers Jr. 

First Trade in 2020

Pittsburgh Phantoms and Lake Erie Commodores agree trade before the cards are delivered!!!!

Pittsburgh will send SS Willy Adames 
 Lake Erie  for 3rd round pick 

Mammoth Raise Stakes and Win Big Against Fremonts

The Michigan Mammoth are on their way to their first World Series in seven years, after downing the Las Vegas Fremonts in six games.  Michigan led the Friendship League regular season in wins with 48 and continued their winning ways in their opening playoff series.    

The Fremonts started off Game 1 with a single by Jose Ramirez and a double by Marcus Semien and a run knocked in by Robinson Cano.    The Mammoth stormed back with 4 in the bottom of the first and never looked back.    The Fremonts added 1 in the 4th and the Mammoth countered 2 in the 6th to take a 6-1 lead.   Michael Fulmer (1-0) went 6 strong innings for the victory, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, along with 3 K’s and 1 earned run.   Alex Heaney (0-1) takes the loss giving up 6 runs on 9 hits over 5 2/3 innings.  The Fremonts added 1 in the 7th and mounted a comeback in the top of the 9th with another run and runners on the corners when Blake Treinen closed the door.   This was standard for the Fremonts as they left 12 on base during the game.

In Game 2, the Fremonts again started off strong with a pair of doubles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.   Alas, it was the last run that Mammoth starter Mike Minor would give up.    After a single by Mitch Haniger and a double by Dee Gordon, Mitch Garver drove home the tying run in the bottom of the 4th against Masahiro Tanaka    Minor continued through 8, giving up 1 run over 5 hits and 3 walks, along with 6 Ks.  Tanaka gave way to Nick Vincent (0-1) to start the 8th inning.  Vincent downed the Mammoth in order.  Ryan Tepera (1-0) came out in the top of the 9th and retired the 6, 7, and 8 batters in the Fremonts lineup.   Vincent was able to get Manny Machado and Dee Gordon out on grounders before Justin Upton launched one out into the left field seats with 2 outs to give the Mammoth the walkoff victory.  This monster shot is one that will be remembered in Mammoth history for a long time.  After it left Upton's bat, the ball started veering foul, but came back fair as it neared the foul pole.   The crowd looked in anticipation at Home Plate Umpire Enrico Palazzo.  As he gave the home run sign to signal the end of the ballgame, the crowd erupted.  

Game 3 was a pitcher’s duel with Daniel Mengden (1-0) going seven strong innings scattering seven hits along with a walk to go with 4 strikeouts for the Mammoth.   Las Vegas started Trevor Bauer who went 6 1/3, giving up no runs until the seventh.    In the top of the 7th, Dee Gordon singled and stole second base.  Justin Upton was HBP and with runners on first and second, the Mammoth pitch-hit Willians Astudillo for Mitch Garver. Astudillo hit a double to bring Gordon home and leave runners at second and third.   After getting Francisco Lindor out, Keven Kiermaier singled to bring home Upton and Merrifield singed to bring home Astudillo to give the Mammoth a 3-0 lead.   Ryan Tepera had a quiet 8th inning.  Blake Treinen was called on for the 9th inning.   After getting Robinson Cano to ground out, the Fremonts began their attack with a pinch-hit single by Tony Kemp and Rex Grosssman added a double to move Kemp to third.   Kemp was brought home by a Trey Mancini sacrifice fly and Jackie Bradley Jr. brought home Grossman with a single.   Max Stassi grounded out to end the ball game and Treinen earned his second save of the series.

In Game 4, Trevor Cahill (1-0) took the mound for the Fremonts against Nathan Eovaldi (0-1) for the Mammoth.   Cahill promptly was tagged for a run after a single by Merrifield, who was caught stealing, and then doubles by Joey Wendle and Machado.   Las Vegas tagged Eovaldi for 3 runs in the bottom half of the third with a home run by Robinson Cano.   The Mammoth added a run in the 7th on an RBI by Mitch Garver.    The Mammoth may have scored more if not for the strong and accurate arm of Luke Maile.  After Maile threw out Merrifield in the first, he nailed Kiermaier in the 8th and Marisnick in the 9th.   Ryan Pressley closed out the game and first victory in the series for the Fremonts.

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1 starters, Fulmer and Heaney.   Las Vegas got on the board first with RBI’s Robertson and Grossman in the bottom half of the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.    Michigan stormed back with 1 in the top half of the fourth and added 2 in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, knocking Heaney out of the game. Fulmer (1-1) exited the game in the bottom of the fifth with runners on first and third.   Miguel Castro came in and promptly gave up a 3-run shot to Robinson Cano.  The Fremonts added another run to take a 6-3 lead.  The Mammoth were unable to do anything productive the remainder of the game.  Joe Jimenez (1-0) tossed 1 2/3 innings of 1 hit ball to earn the win.   John Axford came on in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save and put the Fremonts down 3-2 in the series.  This game will also be remembered for the delay prior to the game as the public address announcer requested that the crowd assist in looking for Officer Nordberg.   The suspense ended when it was discovered he was already in Detroit and the game began shortly after. 

The series returned to Rocco Park for Game 6.  Michigan had Mike Minor (1-0) on the mound and Las Vegas started Masahiro Tanaka (0-1).  The Mammoth started the scoring with 1 run in the bottom of 2nd off of a single by Dee Gordon and a triple by Mitch Garver to bring him in.   Tanaka ran intobig  trouble in the 3rd inning, giving up 5 runs before the Fremonts were able to record an out, and capped by Manny Machado’s 3 run HR to give the Mammoth a 6-0 lead all but ensuring Tanaka’s departure.   The Fremonts ran into trouble again in the fifth giving up another 5 runs, this time all runs were scored with 2 outs off of hits by Garver, Lindor, and finally a triple by Kiermaier to bring home the final 2 and extend the Mammoth lead to 11-0.  Robinson Cano got the Fremonts on the board with their only run in the 6th with a solo shot.  The Mammoth tallied eleven hits in the game, led by Garver’s 3 hits.   Garver and Machado each had 3 RBI as well.  The Mammoth had a paltry turnout with only a paid crowd of 20,443 showing up for a cold October night game.   By the time the fifth inning was over, you could hear the fans cheering in the streets of Detroit, just waiting to bring the World Series title home to Michigan. 

It was a true team effort in this series for Michigan and the voting proved difficult to determine the MVP.   Mike Minor had a strong series giving up just 2 runs over 13 2/3 innings along with his series clinching victory.  Dee Gordon hit .348 with 5 runs, and Manny Machado and Justin Upton both hit game winning HR’s against the Fremonts.   In the end, backstop Mitch Garver ended up earning MVP honors after leading Michigan’s offensive attack hitting .375 along with 7 RBI’s in the 6 games.