THIS WEEK IN FABL
MONTREAL ADDS HARVEY RODGERS FROM BROOKLYN FOR TWO PICKS
In a bit of a surprise the Brooklyn Kings dealt arguably their number 2 starter to Montreal in exchange for a pair of draft picks. For the Saints Harvey Rodgers likely fits in as their 3rd starter behind Charlies Steadman (15-14, 3.78) and Al Allen Jr. (4-0, 2.87). Rodgers also provides insurance in case Double Al the second shows any lingering effects from the back injury that ended his season in late April last year.
The Kings stated the move was to clear some roster space and get some sort of a return in doing so. It is true that Brooklyn, and several other teams will face a real roster crunch at the end of the season with potential Rule V exposed players and the Kings will also have an issue prior to opening day due to several pitchers being out of minor league options. However, many speculate the move was to help clear the way to fast track #1 overall pick Tommy Wilcox to the majors, perhaps as early as May 1st. Brooklyn sources deny that is the case and even though they were very impressed with Wilcox's showing in spring games for Class A Omaha so far, the organization still plans to have Wilcox spend the entire season in the minors. Plans do have a way of changing though.
OPTIONS
It is nice to have options but when you don't it can be a really bad thing, especially if you are trying to hold on to players who may not have room with the big league squad. A number of teams will be faced with tough decisions next month as the 23-man rosters are set for opening day. Most teams have one or two good young ballplayers who are out of minor league options, but perhaps not quite good enough to make the active roster. With no options, those players will have to clear waivers in order to go down to the minors, which means teams run the risk of losing them.
Here are the players that have to go through waivers if they do not make major league roster for opening day:
BALTIMORE: P John Barrie, P Bob Miller, P Leo Reynolds, C Mike Lewis, SS Johnny Farmer, OF Jose Paredes
BOSTON: 3B Joe Cash, 3B Jim Eley, OF Junior Marrero
BROOKLYN: P Joe Blansit, P Art Carlson, P Art Harvey, P Jack Gunderson, OF Al Stanton
CHI CHIEFS: P Claude Alexander, 3B Rip Anthony, OF Marcos Gamboa
CHI COUGARS: P Andy Chastain, P Charley O'Hare, OF Hi Lawson
CLEVELAND: P Ben Thompson, P Dick Dover, OF Bob Smith, OF Bill Grunwald
DETROIT: P Reeve Kirby, C Ad Doria, 1B Jay Hogan
MONTREAL: P Clyde Lincoln, P Joe McCoy, P Cat Spanos, C Lew Stiles
NY STARS: 2B Danny Bottorf
NY GOTHAMS: 2B Les Henning, 2B Chris Odle, SS Cal Blackshear, OF Del Dunn
PHI KEYSTONES: P John Tucker, P Gil Kern, OF Pete Peters, OF Al Thornton
PHI SAILORS: P John Mahoney, P Buck Blood
PITTSBURGH: 1B Joe Watson, 2B Jack Shelton,SS Les Krentz
ST.LOUIS: 1B Ben Mayberry, 1B Duane Smith, SS Rufus Sanders, OF Howard Crocker
TORONTO: C Harry Kros, C Rick Riddle, 1B Spencer Leonard, 2B Paul Taylor, 3B Dick Vantrease, 3B George Garnes, 3B Bernie Losee
WASHINGTON: P Archie Dickey, C Bill Robinson, 1B Alex Henderson, 1B Billy Lorquet, 3B Johnny Bastian,OF Remy Saunders, OF Harry Jones, OF Bob Parker
In addition to the above-listed players, most GM's will also have to contend with players on each team who have the right to refuse a minor league assignment. That means check the waiver wire closely between now and opening day as there might be some decent talent teams will try and slip through.
ON THE FIELD
The big boys got playing this week as FABL exhibition games are underway. The Toronto Wolves were the hottest team in the first week, going 5-1 while Baltimore brought up the rear at 1-5. Of course the results mean very little as it is all about the individual performances right now as teams look to make roster decisions for the 23-man.
Here is a quick hit or two from each of the 16 camps:
BALTIMORE CANNONS: Not a good week in Cannons camp. The big club started 1-5 in spring play while in the Class C Minor League complex highly touted Baltimore draft pick Ken Curry is getting off to a slow start in minor league games. The 8th overall draft pick out of high school and ranked the #3 prospect in the game by BNN went just 2-for-24 in 7 Class C games last week. In 24 spring games the 19 year old outfielder is batting just .203.
BOSTON MINUTEMEN: Rookie second baseman Chuck Carr had a nice spring debut, going 4-for-9 with 3 extra base hits. Ranked the #7 prospect by BNN, the 23 year old former 3rd overall pick is looking to make the jump to Boston after hitting .283 a year ago in AAA. On the negative side, 28 year old shortstop Carl Milam (.291,0,50 a year ago) will miss a week or two with back stiffness.
BROOKLYN KINGS: 35 year old Bob Schmid, a waiver pick-up in the running for a rotation spot had a nice debut, allowing 1 run over 4 strong innings in a win over Baltimore. However, most of the attention is focused on Omaha, where the Class A Western League is playing spring games, and #1 overall pick Tommy Wilcox is showing what he can do. The 21 year old is 3-1 with a 2.25 era and 23 strikeouts in 20 innings of work. Wilcox might be overshadowed right now by 20 year old free agent invitee Jim Ferro, who has fanned 59 batters in 35 innings of work and 23 year old catcher Bill Cairns, who leads the Western League with 6 homers
CHICAGO CHIEFS: Jim Hampton is continuing right where he left off for the 3-3 Chiefs. The reigning Federal Association batting champ hit .444 (7-for-16) to start the spring. 1928 7th round draft pick, 1B Leon Gill out of nearby Whitney College, is off to a good start in the minor league camp. The 22 year old is hitting .359 with 5 homers and 19 rbi's for Class C Waterloo.
CHICAGO COUGARS: 11th round draft pick Jim Dyer is turning heads in minor league camp at LaCrosse. The 21 year old former Liberty College righthander has pitched in 11 spring games, allowing just 1 earned run in 22 innings and has saved 6 contests. At the big league camp, the Cougars pitching got hit pretty hard last week with only Cotton Taylor (5-13 last year) and Dick Lyons (9-18) getting away only marginally scathed.
CLEVELAND FORESTERS: Prize rookie outfielder Moxie Pidgeon had a good start to spring training. The 22 year old outfielder, rated the #5 prospect in the game, went 6-for-14 with a double and a homer in 6 games last week. Pidgeon made his major league debut for the Foresters late last year and hit .286 in 12 games. Newcomer George Simpson, just acquired from Pittsburgh, was 4-for-11 to start his career as a Forester.
DETROIT DYNAMOS: Al Wheeler hit a pair of homers and drove in 7 runs while hitting .375 this week. The first overall pick in 1925 has taken longer to develop then fellow first rounders from that deep draft class that included Bud Jameson, Bill Ashbaugh. Doug Lightboyd and Jack Cleeves but the 21 year old outfielder had a great rookie season with Detroit (.306,18,101). He was overshadowed by fellow Dynaomos rookie Frank Vance (.388,24,114) but Wheeler is almost 6 years younger and I believe destined for great things.
MONTREAL SAINTS: Montreal manager Joe Ward was quoted in local papers as saying he was pleased with the way the club is "getting at it," but added it was still very early. The Saints went 4-2 last week and had to be pleased Al Allen showed no ill effects from the back injury that ruined his rookie year. Allen allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 4 innings work starting a 7-3 victory over the New York Stars.
NEW YORK STARS: The Stars brass has to be impressed with the spring 3rd round pick Red Bledsoe is enjoying. The 21 year old former Northern Mississippi Maverick is 4-1 with a 1.25 era in 9 spring starts at the minor league camp. Bledsoe has fanned 38 while walking 8 in 26 innings of work. At the big league camp, veteran Del Plummer, a mid-season pickup, had an impressive spring debut, pitching 4 scoreless innings of 2 hit ball and fanning 5 in a 5-3 win over Baltimore.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS: The Gothams are counting the days until young first baseman Bud Jameson is cleared to return to action. The 25 year old injured his knee last summer after hitting .350 in the first half of the season. Jameson, the third overall pick in the 1925 draft, is said to still be close to a month away from returning.
PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES: It's early so no cause for alarm but 25 year old shortstop Rankin Kellogg is off to a slow start. Kellogg (.387,42,164) went just 2-for-11 in the first week of spring training. Rule V pickup Earl Farrar also had a rough start, lasting less than 3 innings before being pulled after surrendering 7 earned runs on 5 hits and 7 walks in a game the Keystones actually came back and won 9-8 over Detroit.
PHILADELPHIA SAILORS: Maybe Johnny Davis is human after all and not a machine. In his spring debut the Allan Award winner and World Championship Series hero gave up 4 runs in 4 innings to the Cleveland Foresters, but he still got the victory as the Sailors won 6-4
PITTSBURGH MINERS: Mixed results for the Miners top two prospects in main camp: pitcher Spencer Gause and outfielder Frank Lightbody. Gause, a 25 year old righthander who went 1-3 with a 5.35 era in a brief stint in the Steel City a year ago, allowed 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 4 in 4 innings of work against the Chicago Chiefs. 23 year old Lightbody, the 4th pick of the 1927 draft, showed well in a brief stint in Pittsburgh last year and picked up right where he left off, going 5-for-12 with 3 extra base hits in his first 5 spring games. 22 year old shortstop Pete Asher, just acquired from Cleveland in the George Simpson deal, had 4 hits in his first 9 at bats as a Miner.
ST LOUIS PIONEERS: Tom Perrodin is a college pitcher I thought should have gone much higher than the 21st round when the former Lubbock State Hawk was selected by the Pioneers. He has struggled with giving up homers in the early going at minor league camp with Moline, allowing 5 in 21 innings of work, bu Perrodin has also shown a propensity for the strikeout, fanning 27 hitters in 21 innings.
TORONTO WOLVES: The injury bug hit the Wolves camp with starting centerfielder Freddie Malley (.245,1,47) and backup middle infielder Jim Adams, who spent most of last year in AAA, both going down. Meanwhile, 22 year old second year 3B Don Summers had a big week, going 7-for-12 in 5 games.
WASHINGTON EAGLES: 21 year old outfielder Wally Flowers, the 10th overall pick in the December draft, went 2-for-2 in his pro debut, hitting a pair of singles in an 11-2 win over Detroit.
QUICK HITS
Is this the end of the line for Mike Vonderheide's FABL career? Yesterday, Montreal released the 35 year old who has a career record of 120-132 over 13 seasons, primarily with the Saints but he also pitched for Boston and Brooklyn.
Did you know the tallest player in FABL history is Steve Montgomery, a 6'7" reliever who was 10-17 for the Cougars from 1915-1918. Montgomery may lose that distinction this year as there are 2 prospects in major league camps this season that stand 6'8" tall. They are both pitchers: Jack Thompson of Pittsburgh and Bill Evans of the Gothams. Both lefthanders, the 27 year old Thompson was 11-6, 3.80 at AAA St Paul a year ago while Evans, 26, went 17-10, 2.44 at AA Jersey City. A third pitcher, 27 year old righthander Guy Johnston, is also measured at 6'8". He was 10-7 for independent Hollywood of the Great Western League a year ago and is expected to return to the Heroes rotation again this season.
The highest paid player in the league this seaosn will be T.R. Goins at $12,000. Goins inked a 3 year deal with Washington 2 seasons ago while most of the players exist on one year contracts. Keystones Rankin Kellogg and Max Morris of St Louis are tied for second highest contract at $10,937. Chiefs 3B Joe Masters, who hit 56 homers and a record 195 rbi's last year, needs to get a new agent. His salary for 1929 will be just $8,010, which puts him 6th overall, on his own team, (Note to GMs - all contracts automatically renew so no need to panic. I just thought it was interesting Masters was no where to be found on the list of top 25 highest paid players in the league.)