Gaceta de la LNP @lnpgaceta@allpro.social

Yes, we know we're dismissing a 23-year-old pitcher, but with a career WHIP of 1.57, about a wild pitch a game for most of his career, and an incredible tendency to avoid finishing games, it is rather difficult to believe that Moreno's going to get much better.

The #IngenierosRIN are no longer the most garbage pitching staff in the , but Moreno is certainly a callback to those horrible late 1870s rotations they put together.

Now, Rincón has never been known for their incredible scouting or development efforts, but signing Moreno made sense at the time.

He was 18 with what looked like plenty of potential.

What we can't explain is how he was considered the #30 prospect in his class when his control was rated at 8/100.

I suppose that explains how he managed to shut out the #SamaritanosSLO , a team that should've had his guts for garters, *after* walking four of them.

Some quick information:

Born: February 5th, 1862, in Ponce.
Height: 5'6".
Weight: 145 lbs.

Salary: 140 pesos, which is minimum salary for 1885, and (very) roughly equivalent to $27,000 today.

I don't know why we thought this would take longer to happen, but:

With the second pick in the Friday numbers, @boisdevache selects:

#20 Ramón Moreno, current #3 starter for our beloved #IngenierosRIN !

Boy, do we have stories.

Let's just say there's a very good reason he's unhappy.

Rodo managed two more decent hitting seasons even as his defensive prowess fell off a little, and is actually currently slashing a 109 OPS+ through 30 games, but let's be clear:

The real impressive bit here is that a 40-year-old man who's played major league baseball for 15 years has started 30 games in a row at shortstop and remains one of the best double-play turners in 1885.

We're happy you got to meet him, too.

But what really set Rodo apart was his defense.

You see, the 1870s were a great time to be a hitting shortstop.

There were certainly guys in Betances who could bat as well or better than prime Rodo, but few of them could post defensive stats like these.

Conversely, the ones who could field better than him tended to get far fewer shots at the plate, because their hitting could be best described as . . . unsatisfactory.

Mind you, Rodríguez still posted OPS+ numbers of at least 112 every year between 1873 and 1878; in fact, he posted an OPS+ of *exactly* 112 three times in that time period.

In 1873, he posted a 137 OPS+, buoyed by two 20-game hitting streaks. He's one of the few to have managed that more than once.

His leaderboards fit a leadoff hitter profile: lots of PAs/ABs, decent amount of runs scored . . . except that in 1874, he was third in RsBI in Betances. Odd.

Rodríguez was the #CañerosVGB's second-round pick in La Selección, when he demonstrated pretty good contact hitting combined with incredible discipline, and we've retroactively considered him the #19 prospect for that year.

Unlike many of his fellow shortstops, he was not an especially effective baserunner or stealer: if he got further than first on his legs, it was usually by hitting the ball hard enough that he could outrun opposing fielders.

Some quick information:

Born: March 18th, 1845, in Bayamón.
Height: 5'7".
Weight: 170 lbs.

Salary: 220 pesos, which is 1.57 times the minimum salary for 1885, and (very) roughly equivalent to $42,365 today.

With the first pick in the Friday numbers, @derek selects:

#17 Fernando Rodríguez, starting shortstop for the #CañerosVGB as of 1885.

That's right: this man is 40 and he's starting between second and third for a major league team. For the fifteenth season in a row.

It's Friday, so let's try something silly.

Give us a random number between 1 and 4950, and we'll track down that player and tell you as much as we can about their career.

TOMORROW:
Another two great games for you to enjoy.

1) The #IngenierosRIN continue their road trip with a game against the #ArtesanosLPI , and @Louisa joins us in the booth.

2) We move over to Liga Betances for the #MulosAGB versus the #CorsosYAU , with Mulos superfan and patron Kristen.

Hope to see you there!

first pitch 7:00 PM

https://www.twitch.tv/lnpgaceta

FRIDAY:
This may be the razorest-thin edge we've encountered.

The #MulosAGB have the pitching advantage, and even now half of their lineup is significantly above average.

But it's the #CorsosYAU who've got Reyes and Riojas.

first pitch circa 8:30 PM

https://www.twitch.tv/lnpgaceta

FRIDAY:
We open with your beloved #IngenierosRIN facing possibly the worst #ArtesanosLPI team that's ever taken the field.

Moreno's found it hard to win games—or even finish them—but he's unlikely to give up ten runs in 1.2 IP again.

first pitch 7:00 PM

https://www.twitch.tv/lnpgaceta

If you've followed the 1871 season with the #IngenierosRIN , you know they didn't *quite* make it into the postseason.

But 32 teams did—some with barely better records, we might add—and they deserve your attention.

The first postseason in history begins now.

https://www.lnpgaceta.org/season-reports/1871-serie-preliminar/

Put even more simply, the Ingenieros, given a chance to play better baseball, have actively chosen to be dogshit.

That's why we love them, of course. That's why we watch their games, knowing how awful they'll be.

But that's also why they're the subject of this #DeepDogshitDive.

In other words, Rincón chose to have a third baseman and a right fielder who can't field but can bat okay, rather than have a right fielder who can BOTH field and bat and a third baseman who can field, and either develop into an okay bat or have a rally season.

#DeepDogshitDive

This is what makes the Ingenieros special.

They could've moved Valle to RF and put Franco or Valdez at third base. Granted, neither of them can bat very well, but they're much better fielders, and third base is an increasingly important defensive position.

#DeepDogshitDive

The Ingenieros, in the words of an interlocutor, had "turned the hot corner into the shit corner" by putting Valle at 3B.

Why not stick him in right? Well, Nieves was there, and they had no one to man third base otherw—hold on.

They had TWO of them?

#DeepDogshitDive