Lucky enough to pull the 2nd pick in the draft, we took 1B Derrek Lee, who is hitting .302/.370/.654, with 12 HR, 33 RBI, 19 2B, and 27 Runs. Fourth round pick Derek Jeter leads the league with 37 runs, 5th round pick Jim Edmonds is hitting .279/.377/.600 with 27 RBI, while 6th round pick David Wright was red-hot early on and has settled in at .252/.319/.558 with a tied-for-league-best 35 RBI and 2nd-best 28 EBH.
In total, the offense is scoring the most runs in the league. That won't last, as we are creating the 3rd-most, or thereabouts, but it's a great sign. The pitching has ended up in the middle, 5th best, with a ERA 0.03 over the league ERA. We are allowing unearned runs at a very low rate, so our runs allowed per 9 is a little better than the league average.
If the numbers stay true for the next 122, we should continue winning. Hopefully the numbers stay true...
For my own reference for the end of the season, here are the team relief ERA and HR/9 after 40 (Steve played 10 more games before I generated these):
The 9 teams with the highest Earned Run Average, Relieving Rank Name ERA-r IP-r 1 Zanzibar Rafikis of Zuleta 4.08 145.2 2 Belize City Boil Up 3.95 200.1 3 Manhattan Old Fashioneds 3.52 94.2 4 China Cat Sunflowers 3.30 161.0 5 Mason Corner Avenging Angels 3.26 157.1 6 Kilamanjaro Thirty Helens 2.96 136.2 7 Vail Valkyries 2.75 111.1 8 Potawatomi Resurrection 2.69 157.0 9 Festus Miracle 2.32 151.0 The 9 teams with the highest Home Runs Per 9 Innings, Relieving Rank Name HR/9-r IP-r 1 Belize City Boil Up 1.93 200.1 2 China Cat Sunflowers 1.40 161.0 3 Kilamanjaro Thirty Helens 1.38 136.2 4 Manhattan Old Fashioneds 1.33 94.2 5 Mason Corner Avenging Angels 1.26 157.1 6 Zanzibar Rafikis of Zuleta 1.11 145.2 7 Potawatomi Resurrection 1.03 157.0 8 Vail Valkyries .81 111.1 9 Festus Miracle .66 151.0 7 Relievers Tm Lg W L ERA SV BS HLD G GF IP H R ER HR SO BB SO/BB ISRINGHAUSEN, J. GREG SL06 4 1 2.01 4 2 1 16 7 31.1 20 7 7 4 34 8 4.3 GORDON, T. GREG SL06 2 1 2.60 1 0 2 17 7 27.2 14 8 8 2 17 12 1.4 FUENTES, B. GREG SL06 4 0 2.70 3 0 1 18 4 23.1 10 7 7 4 31 10 3.1 POLITTE, C. GREG SL06 3 3 3.26 3 3 2 17 4 30.1 21 12 11 5 25 8 3.1 THOMPSON, B. GREG SL06 0 2 3.44 0 0 1 11 3 18.1 17 9 7 2 9 4 2.3 WICKMAN, B. 0 0 4.70 0 0 2 10 5 15.1 12 9 8 4 10 11 .9 TAVAREZ, J. 0 0 6.75 0 1 1 14 5 14.2 20 11 11 4 8 3 2.7 China Cat Sunflowers 13 7 3.30 11 6 10 103 35 161.0 114 63 59 25 134 56 2.4 7 Relievers Tm Lg R/9 ERA BF/9 BR/9 H/9 BB/9 SO/9 HR/9 ERPT OBA SOP SOPP IR IRS IRSP ISRINGHAUSEN, J. GREG SL06 2.01 2.01 35.0 8.9 5.7 2.3 9.8 1.15 6.6 .183 7 57.1 10 4 40.0 GORDON, T. GREG SL06 2.60 2.60 35.1 8.5 4.6 3.9 5.5 .65 4.0 .149 3 33.3 14 4 28.6 FUENTES, B. GREG SL06 2.70 2.70 33.6 7.7 3.9 3.9 12.0 1.54 3.1 .130 4 75.0 21 6 28.6 POLITTE, C. GREG SL06 3.56 3.26 33.2 8.9 6.2 2.4 7.4 1.48 2.2 .208 8 37.5 19 5 26.3 THOMPSON, B. GREG SL06 4.42 3.44 37.3 10.3 8.3 2.0 4.4 .98 .9 .239 1 .0 6 3 50.0 WICKMAN, B. 5.28 4.70 41.1 14.1 7.0 6.5 5.9 2.35 -1.4 .207 2 .0 1 0 .0 TAVAREZ, J. 6.75 6.75 40.5 14.7 12.3 1.8 4.9 2.45 -4.6 .328 2 .0 1 0 .0 China Cat Sunflowers 3.52 3.30 35.8 9.8 6.4 3.1 7.5 1.40 10.8 .200 27 40.7 72 22 30.6Combined, all three moves were made to help the pitching and defense. I don't see how they can't help, as Wickman and Tavarez were black holes. There may be a small price to pay on offense, giving up Floyd for Kearns, but if anything it should be negligible.
122 games says there is a lot of ball to be played. See you at 162.