HAWAII GM DAVE MACKENZIE RELEASES 'STATE OF THE PINEAPPLES' STATEMENT

Pineapples' GM Recognizes The Franchise's Historic Past While Also Looking Ahead To The Present & Future In Report To Hawaii Baseball Faithful

The SIMBL has never seen such a prolific duo's production in the same lineup as Hawaii's long-time "Bash Brothers" Roger Marcum (above left) and Deryk Ryles (above right).  The two played together for 18.5 seasons and hit 1239 home runs and drove in 2986 runs in the same lineup together.  The two have a combined 25 All-Star team selections between them and advanced to four SIMBL Coveted Cup Championship Series together winning the SIMBL championship in 2029. Marcum, the SIMBL's all-time career home run king, is closing in on achieving more SIMBL history as he is only two homers away from becoming the first and only player in the SIMBL's 42-season history with 700 career dingers.  Sitting behind Marcum in second-place with 655 career roundtrippers is his long-time teammate Ryles. Pineapples GM Dave MacKenzie recently released a "State Of The Team" statement to Hawaii's season-ticket holders and faithful recognizing the franchise's successful past and also looking ahead to a winning future which can be read below.

By David Mackenzie
Hawaii Pineapples GM
SIMBL Contributor

When I purchased the Hawaii Pineapples franchise and joined the SIMBL during the 2039 season I employed a team of leaders to rebuild this team. We took over a team that had previously won the SIMBL championship in 2029 and who also went to two other SIMBL Coveted Cup Championship Series in 2030 and 2032 for three trips in four seasons but hadn’t been back to the playoffs previously in six years. Our goal was to retool and become a SIMBL power house in the league.

We haven’t quite gotten to that point yet, but I do believe we are heading in the right direction. We have achieved a winning record in four of the seven seasons since taking over the long-time SL West franchise so far and reached the playoffs on two occasions in the 2043 and 2045 seasons. We managed to make it to the the sixth SIMBL Coveted Cup Championship Series in franchise history in 2043 but fell short in our bid as Calgary beat us in six games to accomplish their three-peat.  We regressed since that SIMBL CS appearance as we felt like the wind in our sails was directed to the off-field issues that plagued our team.  Last year was the first year that we won the division under my ownership and it was a proud moment however that did not translate to winning in the playoffs as we made it to the 2045 SLCS, our second in the past three seasons, but lost to Knoxville as the Lumberkings advanced to their first SIMBL CS in their franchise's 45-year history.  The Pineapples were founded as the former Los Angeles Meat Puppets where they played from 2005 through the 2021 season after they moved to Honolulu as the Pineapples where they are enjoying their 25th season.  The 'Puppets made it to the SIMBL CS in 2009, 2012 and 2016 seasons only to lose each time to their nemesis San Diego GM Paul Ware and his Warewolves in the championship series.  Those three legendary championship series are well-remembered in SIMBL lore due to their classic duels and rivalries between the undisputed two best and most dominating pitchers of their era, San Diego's SIMBL Hall Of Famer Bobby Grimes and Los Angeles' fellow SIMBL Hall Of Famer James Sousa.  After relocating from Los Angeles, the Pineapples also won the SL and made it to the SIMBL CS in the 2029, 2030, 2032 and 2043 seasons winning it all in 2029 behind former long-time GM and current Ann Arbor GM Troy Vogel in a seven-game series with Oregon.

Our team has been led over the years by two players who will be first-ballot SIMBL Hall Of Famers, long-time first baseman Roger Marcum and long-time third baseman Deryk Ryles. They formed a great 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup that had opposing pitchers shaking in their shoes. The duo was the most prolific slugging duo in SIMBL history during their 18.5 seasons together in the same lineup as they hit a SIMBL-record 1239 home runs together as a duo. The 39 year-old Marcum holds the SIMBL career home run records and he keeps on plugging away on his march towards 700 home runs, a feat that may never be reached again as the next closest active player is his "Bash Brother" Ryles who sits at 655 home runs and is same age as Marcum. The next active player is three-time SL MVP Jake Boles who sits at 585 career homers and is also 39 years-old the same as Marcum and Ryles.  Ironically, Marcum (698), Ryles (655) and Boles (585), who are currently sit first, second and seventh respectively on the SIMBL all-time career home runs list with an amazing 1938 career blasts combined, all were in the same Pineapples lineup together for the 2042, 2043 and 2044 seasons as we signed the three-time SL MVP and ten-time All-Star Boles to join the two Hawaii stalwarts before the 2042 season in off-season free agency with a four-year $72,000,000 contract.

After fifteen and a half years, Ryles left Hawaii during the 2040 season in a trade with Montreal and their fellow wheeling and dealing GM James Lemon after he got into it with the coaching staff over his playing time, however he did return to the Pineapples in 2042 and signed a three-year $47,000,000 deal after having a conversation with myself about taking a lesser role in being the teams designated hitter rather then the starting third baseman, a role that he excelled at hitting 40 and 41 home runs in 2042 and 2043 respectively until a drop in production down to 17 in the final year of his contract in 2044.  Ryles was not offered a contract for the next year and he moved onto Toronto GM Eric Savard's Rush who nabbed him in 2045 free agency.  In all Ryles, who was drafted #1 overall by the Pineapples in the 2025 SIMBL Draft, spent 18.5 years with Hawaii and undoubtedly will be enshrined into the SIMBL Hall Of Fame as a Hawaii Pineapple.

Ryles has hit 40 home runs seven times in his illustrious career with a high of 46 in the 2030 season as a 23 year-old kid.  He has hit 30 home runs in fourteen seasons  His 15 All-Star team selections are the second-most in SIMBL history next to the recently retired legendary closer Chris Ross' SIMBL-record 17 times. Ironically, despite all of those All-Star seasons, Ryles has never won a MVP award during his legendary 21-year career.

Marcum has hit 50 home runs four seasons which are the second-most in SIMBL history behind Deryk Ryles' First File Era Hall Of Fame father Daryl Ryles' five seasons.  The 2037 SL MVP and 10-time All-Star has hit 40 home runs ten times and had a SIMBL-record nine consecutive  40+ home run seasons between 2031 and 2039.

Marcum has passed on the torch of team stardom onto the next generation combo of "Bash Brothers" in 2037 first rounder 28 year-old Hector Colon and 2040 first round pick 28 year-old Michael Wigginton.  "Colo" and "Wiggs" as they are known around the clubhouse have combined for a total of 167 and 143 home runs so far during their time playing together.  They are both signed through 2049 so we expect these numbers to only climb.  During the eight years that I have owned and ran this team we have always enjoyed the power and home runs as we tend to prefer the long ball over the small ball approach.  During my ownership Marcum has hit 247 and counting, Ryles 149, Colon 167 and Wigginton 143. And how can I forget 2039 first round pick 25 year-old shortstop Kenny Lee Swank who has 87 home runs in his brief 3.5 seasons in the SIMBL.

After several seasons of solid draft picks that formed the current core of our team, we are currently restocking our farm system to improve on our current 21st-ranked system in the future. We are eager to though add high-hitting prospect shortstop Jason Russell to our minors system who we recently drafted as the 14th overall pick in the recent 2046 SIMBL Draft.  The 19 year-old shortstop had the highest hitting contact potential in the draft class and had very solid scouting reports and despite looking for and needing young starting pitching prospects are happy that he dropped to us to select.

With that being said, no one on the current squad is putting up the numbers that the original Bash Brothers did. This year we have been struggling as we sit second in our division currently five games back (34-31) behind realigned SL West addition Las Vegas and are falling short in the wildcard race as well currently behind Asheville by five games.  We have started to heat up as of late and hope that we can continue this as we have gotten Marcum back from the disabled list after three weeks with a sprained ankle.  Where we continue to struggle is with the pitching. We haven’t been able to consistently draft pitching and even when we try to spend in free agency, we seem to miss the mark. We are hoping that we can turn this ship around and make it back to the playoffs and hopefully the Cup in the next three years.

While it's still very early in the 2046 season and we are between the first quarter and first half, we expect the team to play to its strengths and talents which we have assembled to over-compensate for our current weaknesses as we have a front office that is aggressive and has shown that we are willing to trade and will do so aggressively as well.  While trying to shake the rust off and defend our division title, we are getting prepared for Marcum, the SIMBL's all-time home run king, to become the first and only player in the SIMBL's long history to hit 700 career taters as the 16-year veteran who has played his entire career in Pineapples Green & Yelllow needs only two more home runs to make more league history.