set the channel description: To discuss all things Kentucky Lions! Welcome to Lion Country!
Catching up on some team MVPs, 2041 KY MVP was Zoraide Pequeno with 7.1 WAR
Big trade coming down the pipe, long-time Indiana Viper SS Jimmy Williams will be joining the Lions next sim.
(The team-specific news channel. Not trading for Jimmy Williams. Although I’d do that too if the price were right ;) )
Lions Part Ways with Peterson | 13-year AFBL veteran Curt Peterson will not break camp with the Lions for the first time since his rookie season in 2030. The 36 year-old made just one start last season, but pitched well in 39 innings. A major hit to his stuff rating left him as the odd man out in Lexington this year.
His career WAR was 44.7 with the lions. He pitched 2,626 innings and amassed 1,700 strikeouts. His career ERA was 3.24. A very impressive stat line indeed.
The Lions are parting ways with 1B Arnold Visscher. The 35 year old played in parts of 11 seasons in Kentucky. He peaked in 2043 and 2044 with back to back 3+ WAR seasons, including a 38 HR campaign.
@mstreeter06 Colorado P Alex Pacheco won't miss him being on the squad, Visscher took him deep 7 times in his career.
This season, 3B Roger Peck passed Pat Mathis on the Kentucky WAR leaderboard to advance to second place, behind only Jake Ladner, legendary Lions 1B. Peck has 57.2 career WAR with Kentucky.
This 2048 Lions team set the team record for most runs scored in a season with 892, a full 40 more than the 2047 team in second place.
We also set a new HR record with 274 - the 2041 team is in second place with 253.
Rookie Ademar Bouvery set the team record for SLG - .671. He obliterated Roger Peck's 2046 record.
As well as the HR record with 46 - topping Jake Ladner's 2018 mark of 44!
The Lions have formally announced the release of franchise favorite Jose Rodriguez - the infielder played 18 years in the AFBL, all with Kentucky. The team will keep Rodriguez on as a team ambassador, his legendary work ethic allowed him to have a long and successful career.
The 37 year old was a 2 time all-star and won 1 Federation Cup during his time in Kentucky.
He amassed 31.4 WAR in his career, with his best year coming at age 26 with a 5.6 WAR season.
His 2,302 games played are the second most ever by a Lions player. He ranks 4th in franchise history in runs scored, 2nd in hits and doubles, 1st in triples, 3rd in stolen bases, and 9th in WAR.
In his prime he was known as a base hit machine with top flight speed and a strong glove.
Jose Sanchez has called it quits after parts of 15 seasons in the AFBL. This season, he threw 85 innings with a 4.98 ERA out of the Kentucky bullpen.
Sanchez appeared in 534 games and threw 900 innings in his career, he struck out 726 batters and was worth 4.9 WAR.
The Puerto Rican righty was an All-Star in 2038. Some of his best performances came near the end of his career, he had a 3.71 FIP in his 2046 season while throwing 122 innings in relief.
11/18/2051
Lions Part Ways With Veteran Pequeno
The Kentucky Lions have announced the release of 35 year old veteran Zoraide Pequeno. Pequeno is a 5-time all-star selection and racked up 5 silver slugger awards. He won two rings with Kentucky over his 15 year stint with the team. He was an outfielder in his early career, but transitioned to first base as he aged.
Throughout his career, he smashed 351 home runs, drove in 975 runs, and held a slash line of .263 / .346 / .465.
looks like he was never the same after some kind of catastrophic injury in late 44/early 45
His time was coming for a few years for sure, wish that injury didn’t happen, but it’s part of the game!
Kentucky making a change on the bench for this sim - added journeyman 1B Scot McFarland to the roster, demoted struggling utility IF Doug George.
2B Hector Davila also returns from injury, sending SS Victor Leon back to AAA.
After the injury to SP Cris Colon, Kentucky will bring up soon to be 23 year old SP Ichiro Koyama. Koyama, a right hander, brings the heat with a 97-99 MPH fastball with a cutter / splitter mix and adds a decent knuckle-curve and screwball. He’s spent much of the year in the AAA Louisville bullpen, striking out over 10 batters per 9. His biggest strength is his ability to get batters to swing and miss and the Lions are excited to add his great personality to the clubhouse.
Koyama has had a nice talent increase over the past few seasons, maybe he’ll make something of himself yet!
Recent trade acquisition SP Jorge Ramirez has had 2 strong starts for Kentucky, allowing just 4 runs in 12.2 innings.
41 year old SS Jimmy Williams is off to a strong start, batting .348 with a 127 OPS+. He’s played 1 game at 3rd base, with most of his ABs coming as the designated hitter against LHP.
In fact, he’s 0-7 against RHP, bringing his average to .500 against lefties!
Cris Colon back from major elbow surgery to get a few starts in before the season rolls over.
Lions DH Ademar Bouvery off to a hot start this season. After a 2 year lull in production, Bouvery rebounded with a nearly 4 win season playing just 124 games at DH in 2055.
So far this year, he leads Kentucky with 6 bombs in 15 games. Ademar passed up 300 HR near the end of last season. He’s a ripe 30 years old with a few dingers left in his bat!
Lou Best is out to prove last year was no fluke. The tall left hander was tasked with moving to the back end of the bullpen, and he made it look easy in 2055.
In the stopper role, Best finished with 33 saves, 138 IP, and a 1.24 ERA. He allowed just 19 earned runs all season long.
Now in April of 2056, the 35 year old has started the season with 17 innings pitched and just 1 run allowed. He’s added 17 strikeouts against 0 free passes.
Kentucky is parting ways with a pair of veteran pitchers. Sean Garnett finished last season with a solid performance. He made 13 starts and took over the stopper role when Lou Best went down. In 5 seasons with the Lions, he amassed 9.3 WAR in over 600 innings. He had a 4.53 ERA and 562 strikeouts.
He never won a title with KY, but he was well worth the draft picks he was traded for!
Cris Colon spent the entirety of his AFBL career with Kentucky, winning 2 federation cups in 2043 and 2050. In 488 starts, Colon went 209-144 with a 3.82 ERA. His stats also include 2109 Ks and 48.8 career WAR. He has a shot at the Hall of Fame, but no guarantees!
He’s a 2 time 20 game winner and led the league in IP 5 different times.
The Lions are grateful for his contribution to the franchise!
set the channel topic: 2059 Regular Season - Kentucky hopes to return to the Federation Cup series after falling to New Mexico.
has renamed the channel from "kylioncommunications" to "the-lions-den"
Excellent Sim for Kentucky. A sweep of Maryland and we took two of three from New York!
Kentucky is releasing long time infielder Hector Davila today. The 35 year old played second base primarily throughout his 13 year career with the club.
Davila was part of the 2050 Federation Cup championship team and was a 2 time all-star.
His peak came in his age 27 season when he amassed 8.1 WAR, batting .329/.369/.494 with 82 stolen bases, 107 runs scored, 17 HR, and 84 RBI.
While he had his ups and downs throughout his career, his stellar defense was a constant. In over 1200 games at second in his career, he committed just 70 errors.
Series 10 (5/6-8) @ New Jersey
Game 1 - 7-5 Win
Kentucky started off the series strong with a 7-4 victory over the Athletics, Ichiro Koyama allowed 4 runs in 6 innings, and the bullpen pitched 3 scoreless after the offense took the lead in the top of the 7th. van Straaten, Ruedos, and McGhee each tallied 2 RBI.
Game 2 - 4-2 Loss
The offense slowed down in game 2, only scratching across 2 runs in the 7th inning off of NJ starter Glen Duncan. Ivan Morales pitched an 8 inning complete game in the loss.
Game 3 - 7-6 Loss (10 Innings)
The rubber match was a tight one, lasting 10 innings before NJ 1B Marc Cooper hit a walk off blast that cleared the left field wall by 10 feet off of Kentucky closer Joe Merickel.
🔵 Lions News Alert 🦁
RHP Ichiro Koyama is making a move to the bullpen after a rocky start in the rotation. Koyama’s last start ended in disaster, allowing 6 runs before being pulled with 2 outs in the 4th inning.
The 29 year old Koyama is a talented pitcher, no doubt, but his performance has not been consistent as a starter.
The Lions will count on him to be a multi-inning shutdown reliever while moving LHP Kyle Mendelsson into the rotation gives Kentucky one left-handed starter.
🦁 Since joining the bullpen, Ichiro Koyama has pitched 10.1 innings, and has thrived in his new role. His only blemish, and by blemish I mean hit, was a solo home run. Just 2 batters have reached base against him.
Early indications are the subsequent move of Kyle Mendelson to the rotation could work out as well. The 27 year old lefty pitched 8 scoreless innings in his first career AFBL start.
The Kentucky Lions announced today the release of longtime LHP Lou Best. Best pitched 36 innings last season before tearing his rotator cuff, ending his season.
The 39 year-old pitched 17 years in the AFBL, all with Kentucky. His first 11 seasons were in the starting rotation, and later in his career, he switched to a bullpen role as a multi-inning stopper.
He was a 2 time AFBL champion and finished with 180 wins, a 3.73 ERA, and 1,817 strikeouts. All but three of his 74 career saves all came after age 33, which places him 8th on the all time Lions list.
“El Torro” had a fitting nickname, at times butting heads with those around him, but despite his disagreements, Best finished a tremendous and productive career with 40 WAR.
Lions Announce New Jersey Retirements
The Lions are retiring two jersey numbers of Kentucky legends. First-ballot HOF 3B Pat Mathis’ #13 will be retired, as well as OF Ron Dixon’s #3.
The Lions are excited to welcome back former CF Jim Benson into the fold. Benson played in Kentucky from 2053 until the middle of 2057 when he was traded to Idaho.
The 32 year old from Arlington, TX was the CF starter for just one season for the Steelheads, but found it tough to crack the lineup otherwise, appearing in just 20 games over the next 3 seasons.
Benson returns to Lexington having spent the season in AAA Idaho Falls. The Lions are excited about his elite CF defense which will sure up a weakness as management navigates an aging roster.
Last season’s trade deadline acquisition 2B Brodie Shanahan making a strong case for rookie of the year! He’s at 5.6 WAR so far with just a few weeks to go! Gotta tighten up that baserunning though, he has 6 SB in 18 attempts 😞
Lions closer Koyama still on his record setting saves pace! Projected for 58 saves on his current trajectory (record is 55!)
Lions are releasing 17 year veteran DH Ademar Bouvery. He has over 2000 career hits, 551 home runs, and 42 career WAR.
Check out the August Recap for Kentucky: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/e17a5954-4a45-4429-b1c4-36e9622b0638/audio
Doing a deep dive on some player origins this evening. Turns out 2 of my players, Chris Bermudez and Joe Merickel were college teammates. I drafted them both in 2055 out of Oklahoma City College, in the 1st and 8th round.
Here is a list of Kentucky Lions players who decided to retire:
RP Derek Davidson
Davidson’s career record shows a 52-31 record with 13 saves and an ERA of 2.72. He has fanned 587 batters in 578.1 innings and held opposing hitters to a .224 average.
SP Kyle Mendelson
Since coming into the league, Mendelson has a 49-52 mark and a 3.46 ERA. The 37-year-old hurler also has struck out 645 batters in 931.2 innings and permitted 896 hits.
SP Iván Morales
Morales has gone 198-163 with an ERA of 3.69 in his career, piling up 3108 strikeouts in 3343.1 innings pitched.
CL Ichiro Koyama
Since his debut, Koyama has converted 233 saves. In 714 games, he has registered a 120-148 won-lost record with 2007 strikeouts in 1906 innings and compiled a 4.08 ERA.