Triunfel suspended by Rampage

Rampage correspondent John Hickey reports that 18-year-old shortstop Carlos Triunfel has been suspended indefinitely by the Rampage for what Red Deer farm director Greg Hunter confirmed was a violation of team rules. Triunfel has been sent back to the Rampage's extended spring training base to serve his suspension, and he hasn’t appeared in a game since May 10.

Triunfel was drafted in the first round by the Oak Ridges Posse in 2007 and then acquired by the Rampage as part of a deal that included Fausto Carmona and Placido Polanco. Triunfel advanced to high Class A High Desert in 2007, at age 17, where he batted .288/.333/.356 in 208 at-bats. Re-assigned there to begin this season, the righthanded batter was off to a .263/.300/.342 start, showing the same terrific contact ability, but little of the power projected of him.

Triunfel has not homered in 485 pro at-bats—and has slugged an aggregate .361—but he hits the ball hard the other way and gets good backspin on the ball, suggesting to many evaluators that the power will develop in time.

Injured Prospect Update

Crawfords correspondent Marc Topkin reports that Pittsburgh lefthander David Price is set to make his pro debut Thursday with high Class A Vero Beach. The 22-year-old Price, out since spring training with an elbow strain, recently completed a rehab stint at extended spring training.

Recently drafted, Monarchs center fielder Desmond Jennings, on the other hand, remains sidelined with injury, this time a sore left shoulder. The 21-year-old began the season on the disabled list with a back injury and has not yet had a chance to build on his breakout 2007 season. Jennings batted .315/.401/.465 with nine home runs and 45 stolen bases for low Class A Columbus last year.

And Prickly Pears correspondent Andy Baggarly has an update on injured righthander Henry Sosa: He’s working three-inning stints in extended spring in preparation for a full-season assignment, which appears imminent. Sosa, 22, had arthroscopic knee surgery in October, after completing a breakthrough season in which he went 11-5, 2.58 with 139 strikeouts in 126 innings.

First round completed in the minor's draft

Late last week the MDBL completed it's first and sandwich rounds and there were not too many surprises. With the first selection in the draft the Minneapolis Millers selected Geovany Soto. Entering the draft Soto was clearly the top prospect available and no one was surpised when Soto went first overall.



Soto is expected to move right into the Millers starting lineup next year as a catcher with Victor Martinez most likely moving to designated hitter.

Rounding out the top five in the draft was Aaron Crow to the Milwaukee Braves, Kyle Skipworth to the Oak Ridges Poss, Stephen Strasburg to the Yakima Bulls and Gordon Beckham to the Melbourne Beach Manatees.

The first surprise selection in the draft was most likely Ivan DeJesus by the Cambridge Porkers who stated "I think I am reaching here" just before making the selection.

A probable first in MDBL history was the selection of three Japanese players in the first round. Masahide Kobayashi was selected 11th overall by the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, Koji Uehara was selected four picks later and the Pittsburgh Crawfords closed out the sandwich round by selecting closer Kyuji Fujikawa.

The Oak Ridges Posse and Pittsburgh Crawfords each made the most selections, 4, in the round. The Posse used their four picks on Skipworth, Nick Blackburn, Juan Duran and Neftali Feliz. The Crawfords added Trevor Cahill, Chris Perez, Matt Joyce, and Fujikawa.

Two franchises join the blogging community

In the last week, two franchises have joined in on the blogging. The Indiana Bulls blog can be found at www.indianabulls.blogspot.com, while the South Indiana Mud Hens blog is located at simudhens.blogspot.com.

Rebounding veteran selected by Twins first overall

As is the case every year, the Fargo-Moorhead Twins went on an acquiring spree prior to the draft to fill holes in next years lineup. This year was no different as the Twins traded top prospect Wade Davis to the Millers for the first overall selection. With that pick the Twins draft veteran first baseman, Dmitri Young. Young is having a great year and will become the Twins first baseman for at least one season.

The Braves followed the Twins by selecting Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo. Accardo brings the Braves another young player in their rebuild process and provides them with a strong bullpen as he will team up with Heath Bell.

The Posse, who acquired the Rampage's first round pick, drafted the Colorado Rockies closer Manny Corpas. Corpas will not get many opportunities to accumulate saves in the MDBL with current Posse closer Joe Nathan. He will become the teams eighth inning closer and with his age he should be around for many years.

The following are the results from the IWD Draft,

1st Round
Fargo-Moorhead Twins (from Millers) - Dmitri Young
Milwaukee Braves - Jeremy Accardo
Oak Ridges Posse (from Rampage) - Manny Corpas
Fargo-Moorhead Twins (from Clowns) - George Sherrill
Melbourne Beach Manatees - Marlon Byrd
Connecticut Charter Oaks - JC Romero
Beechurst Blues - Tomas Perez
Portland Sea Dogs - Jason Bergmann
Eureka Tigers - Cody Ross
Cambridge Porkers - Saul Rivera
Purgatory Creek Superbas - Rudy Lugo
Fairfield Pioneers (from Vigilantes) - Dave Borkowski
Boston Spiders - Rick Helling
Chatham Ironman - Brian Tallet
Winchester Cannons - David Newhan
Lancaster Black Pelicans - David Weathers
Minneapolis Millers (from Blue Ox) - Angel Pagan
Batavia Muckdogs - Damaso Marte
Somerset Sun Devils - Matt Herges
Fairfield Pioneers - Freddie Bynum
Chicago Monarchs - Lenny DiNardo
Red Deer Rampage (from Twins) - Jason Grilli
NAFTA Prickly Pear Dealers - Tim Salmon
Oak Ridges Posse - Brian Sweeney

2nd Round
Minneapolis Millers - Damian Jackson
Milwaukee Braves - Tony Clark
Red Deer Rampage - Jeff Karstens
Indianapolis Clowns - Todd Hollandsworth
Melbourne Beach Manatees - Jimmy Gobble
Connecticut Charter Oaks - Luis Matos
Beechurst Blues - Jeromy Burnitz
Portland Sea Dogs - Abraham O. Nunez
Eureka Tigers - Brian Wilson
Cambridge Porkers - Shawn Chacon
Purgatory Creek Superbas - Mike Stanton
Mission Viejo Vigilantes - Joe Randa
Boston Spiders - Todd Pratt
Chatham Ironman - Ron Mahay
Winchester Cannons - Carl Everett
Lancaster Black Pelicans - Mike Timlin
Bangor Blue Ox - Chris Woodward
Milwaukee Braves (from Muckdogs) - PASS
Somerset Sun Devils - Kyle Snyder
Fairfield Pioneers - PASS
Chicago Monarchs - Sean Green
Fargo-Moorhead Twins - PASS
NAFTA Prickly Pear Dealers - Mike Myers
Red Deer Rampage (from Posse) - PASS

Rating the 2007 offenses

After running 10 2007 MDBL simulations I was able to predict the offenses for each team in the MDBL. Leading the league with an .874 team OPS is the Oak Ridges Posse. The Posse have had the top offense in the MDBL the past two seasons, and a lineup of Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Aramis Ramirez, Bobby Abreu and Derek Jeter should make them #1 again. Following the Posse in second place is the Lancaster Black Pelicans who had a team OPS of .853 and were led by the likes of David Ortiz, Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and Joe Mauer. Rounding out the top three were the Bangor Blue Ox who are led by a great young infield of Justin Morneau, Robinson Cano, Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Zimmerman.

The following are the results for the whole league
1. Oak Ridges Posse - 0.874
2. Lancaster Black Pelicans - 0.853
3. Bangor Blue Ox - 0.852
4. NAFTA Prickly Pear Dealers - 0.846
5. Fargo-Moorhead Twins - 0.840
6. Connecticut Charter Oaks - 0.837
7. Chicago Monarchs - 0.829
8. Fairfield Pioneers - 0.820
9. Somerset Sun Devils - 0.819
10. Winchester Cannons - 0.794
11. Chatham Ironmen - 0.790
12. Boston Spiders - 0.787
13. Purgatory Creek Superbas - 0.787
14. Beechurst Blues - 0.785
15. Indianapolis Clowns - 0.780
16. Batavia Muckdogs - 0.776
17. Eureka Tigers - 0.769
18. Minneapolis Millers - 0.759
19. Mission Viejo Vigilantes - 0.752
20. Portland Sea Dogs - 0.752
21. Cambridge Porkers - 0.750
22. Melbourne Beach Manatees - 0.745
23. Milwaukee Braves - 0.738
24. Red Deer Rampage - 0.686

MDBL Preview and Predictions

Each year I run 10 simulations of our league and average the results out to predict how things will finish in the MDBL. This year should be an interesting season as some of the usual contenders (Indianapolis and Winchester) have started to rebuild, allowing for some new comers to the playoffs (Somerset). The unfortunate part of the simulation this year is that the results were pretty much the same each year with the same four teams winning their division almost every year, and by a wide margin. The following are my predictions...

DamnYankee Division
Oak Ridges Posse (114-48) - The Posse consistently had the top rated offense led by a bunch of veterans and surprising consistently had one of the top two pitching staffs.
Lancaster Black Pelicans (97-65) - This team underachieves every year compared to my predictions due to inactive ownership and HAL managing games.
Beechurst Blues (83-79) - Similar the Black Pelicans, they should make the playoffs but probably will not due to inactivity.
Batavia Muckdogs (82-80) - If Joe can smell the playoffs then he will do something to get in there. Young core will be solid for years.
Cambridge Porkers (70-92) - Arroyo, Konerko and Young need some more support to get this team to .500
Boston Spiders (70-92) - Solid offense is unable to produce wins because of a horrible pitching staff.

FrigidClimate Division
Somerset Sun Devils (89-73) - New owner extremely active in offseason and earns his first division title.
Portland Sea Dogs (83-79) - Surprisingly Portland had a very good ERA, but the bats did not produce.
Purgatory Creek Superbas (81-81) - The young foundation is there, including a new owner not afraid to make a move to get better now.
Minneapolis Millers (70-92) - And the climb begins. Millers are getting ready to challenge for the division.
Indianapolis Clowns (68-94) - After years of dominating this division, the Clowns dumped a ton of guys and start the rebuild.
Mission Viejo Vigilantes (66-96) - New ownership needed to support some of the young talent (Hall, Baldelli, Rios)

BiCoastal Division
Fargo-Moorheard Twins (110-52) - The defending champs should make the finals for the third year in a row with a great pitching staff and good lineup.
NAFTA Prickly Pear Dealers (98-64) - The Pears have been able to make the playoffs before...now they have the team to start going after championships.
Winchester Cannons (76-86) - The best of a really bad remaining division. Funding issues caused the loss of ARod.
Connecticut Charter Oaks (72-90) - Oaks finish in fourth again, but with alot less wins and a much weaker team. Team has to improve the pitching staff badly.
Milwaukee Braves (63-99) - The Braves need some stars to get them up to the next level...maybe the minors can produce them.
Melbourne Beach Manatees (57-105) - Ownership is promoting big things, but it looks like a mirage.

TexasPlus Division
Bangor Blue Ox (102-60) - Blue Ox transformation is complete. They are now led by a very strong, young, infield.
Chicago Monarchs (92-70) - Corner position bats and Chris Carpenter lead the Monarchs to the playoffs.
Chatham Ironmen (91-71) - 90 wins and they miss the playoffs. If they only spent some of the $10 million in cash they have on free agents.
Fairfield Pioneers (82-80) - The hitting is still there, but the pitching drop off means no playoffs this year.
Eureka Tigers (81-81) - Injuries set the Tigers back this year. Age may force them to start a rebuild.
Red Deer Rampage (47-115) - Talking about rebuilds. Rampage are collecting youngsters, playing "unlimited" players and will lose a ton of games.