How the Republic was built...

Los Angeles, CA - The So Cal Republic are have won the RCL Bobby Cox division for a third straight season after not making the playoffs for the first three with win totals of (34, 75 and 74). It's been discussed previously about the first year of the Republic selling off their massively overpaid innagurual draft talent prospects which caused them to be so bad but allowed them to play the kids.

Yes, the team got the first pick (Nottinghamshire had the #2 overall pick and had 52 wins). The Republic cleared years of Bauer, McGee and Luce and cleared over 100M in payroll over four years and set the franchise on the path they wanted to take in the ABL. The team developed tons of players who otherwise would have had no chance to develop given their so-so ratings.

But the Republic targeted players who did one thing great, even if the rest of their ability was so-so. The team grabbed the jet fast defenders, and batters who liked to get 'gappy' with it with a great eye. Going from first to second and scoring on singles from second, or on tons of hit-and-runs from first when the ball was hit into the gap.

A few weeks ago we broke down in an email thread the crazy success the team has had during the draft before the season ABL ever played a meaningful game. And the trend has continued, and been the back-bone for the Republic during the first six years of the league.

2012
1st - SP Cohen Brouillette, ABL, legit ace and last year's cy young winner. 5/5
2nd - Charlie Sutton, ABL/AAA, should be in ABL but the OF is packed. Will be a corner starter next year. 3/3
6th - C Dominque LePage, ABL, listed as #1 catcher in OSA (119G 21DBL 3TRPL 19HR 67RBI 72BB 39K 275/382/464 in his first full season starting) 4/4

2013
1st - SP Lincoln Brouillette, ABL, budding ace going forward - a year long injury set him back some but didn't take a hit in ratings and looks great going forward. 3.5/5
2nd - MR Dan Bowman, ABL, dominate bullpen arm for the Republic.. reached for another elite pen arm when otherwise could have went with a top shelf bat. Bowman was 2.5/5 and is now maxed.

This coupled with the recentee draftees (SP's Nakashima, SP Beard, SP Sato, SP Cannon, 3B Carder, 2B Ramsey, 1B Hunt, coupled with IFA' Menace Lopez and Odyssesus North) and the future looks good. So Cal has tons of youth already and this is only going to help going forward.

The team found North sitting in free agency, along with ABL/AAA catcher (and So Cal's only 19 contact, vs Nottinghamshires' 23 man 19+ contact roster) and also Ron Hutchins, who left via FA to Boston (where he signed a 3yr 56.M deal, which was too rich for our blood) was a huge deal as well. Hutchins stepped in from day one, starter, and put up gaudy numbers in three seasons where he hit 60hrs, 252 rbis - while walking 199x and striking out 305. He also put up a split of .297/.384/.499 

So, as braggish as this sounds - the Republic have either done a great job at scouting/drafting or they've gotten very lucky since 2013. Again, it is of my opinion that having been allowed to play my kids early in the bigs and let them develop that they developed further than I think they otherwise may have.

The budget has also been great for us. We have a 60-70M payroll with a 136M budget. That means a full 22.5M is being poured into scouting and 25M into player development. It is also our opinion that this has helped the Republic max out all their draftees and allow them to compete versus the other great teams in the ABL. We have no coaches in the minors, as of ever - and don't believe in them... so we are saving a ton of money this way as well.

Obviously, it hasn't effected the development of my players - so I'm not sure. Just a quick plug, the team has won championships through-out the minors as well installing a winning atmosphere from the bottom up. (AAA=3 titles, and could have been 4 in a row if we didn't lose last year -- AA=2 titles, A=0 titles but a real shot again to actually win the entire thing this year).

Having a such a strong divisional rival in Seattle to aspire to catch and be as good as has really helped our develop our drive for greatness as well... never wanting to finish runner-up to them. So we thank Martin and Seattle for that.

All in all, this was another great season and while I'm not as much stat-minded as some of you, the Republic enjoyed the season and ready for OCTOBER! BRING ON WHOEVER!