[ayaghmour2]

After going up 2-0 in the World Series and heading home to Chicago, I thought we would have title two in three seasons. With Dick Lyons and Max Wilder set to take on Art Myers and Bill Ross, I thought I had this in the bag. In hindsight, I should've gone Wilcox game four, but I thought I'd save him in case we lost one of the first two at home so he could clinch it at home.

Well, as we all know, that's not quite what happen...

We lost all three at home, won game six to stay alive, but came up short game seven. I was so convinced we were going to win, I was ready for a relaxing offseason. But, after falling apart I was so crushed that I was ready to just call it a day, run it back, and hope for a mulligan.

But then I remembered something...

I can't forget about Cleveland! They were just as good as us in the second half, and now they get a full season of both T.R. Goins and Dan Fowler, and at the time, the #1 rated catcher and center fielder. Those aren't the only superstars, as the lineup also has the still elite Max Morris and one of the best bats in the outfield Moxie Pidgeon. Add in a strong defensive infield with all-world defender George Dawson anchoring short, the Foresters have a ton of really good big leaguers. And besides Morris and Goins, most of the starters are in the 24-27 range. This holds up in the rotation as well, as all five projected Opening Day starters are 24, 25, or 26. This includes three former Cougar prospects, headlined by the one who got a way Dean Astle.

I've told the Cleveland GM how I feel about Astle, and I truly thought he wasn't going to turn into the pitcher he is now. The 24-year-old lefty was our 9th Round Pick back in 1927, and I was excited to get him. He had a ton of upside, but he was really raw and I was unsure if he'd develop a third pitch. After a tough 1928 (this was the season before Class C started), he was still named the #50 prospect in baseball and he started to produce professionally. I previously thought I sold high (turns out I was way wrong) when I moved him and two others to the Gothams for John Kincaid. Getting Kincaid worked well for us, so I'm not upset about the trade, but Astle has slowly developed into one of the most exciting young arms in baseball.

The Foresters grabbed him before the 1931 season, about a year and three months after the Gothams acquired him. Him, Ben Turner, and John Turner were sent out to bring in Joe Perret. Since, Astle has peaked as the #12 prospect in baseball and he put together a really strong 1933 campaign. In 12 starts, he was 7-3 with a 2.57 ERA (139 ERA+), 1.13 WHIP, 18 walks, and 27 strikeouts. My scout is a huge fan of the big lefty, who sits in the low 90s with a really tough cutter. He's got a really nice slider and changeup and he does a good job at getting hitters to role over his pitches. He also says "Astle is a polished four-pitch starter who has front of the rotation abilities" which as about as glowing a compliment a scout will give a developing hurler.

While Astle does look like a future ace, the rest of the rotation still needs to show more. Roger Perry looks like a future #2 or borderline ace, while the collection of Ben Turner, Heine Bretz, and Carl Bragg look like respectable middle-of-the-rotation arms with the talent to surpass that. Bretz seemed bound to be a #2, but major elbow injuries in both 1931 and 1933 have so far got in his way.

It's obvious that the Foresters are better then they work last year, and now the Saints will get Hank Barnett and Woody Armstrong back plus they'll get George Thomas back and a full season of Milt Fritz. With the young talent the Kings boast and the pieces left in their farm, they could also try to make a play at the crown. Of course, the Stars seemed poised to bounce back and the Sailors are always in the thick of things. It was rumored Baltimore was going to sell, but other then them and Toronto, there are a lot of teams that could look to jump us.

And after coming so close, I wasn't going to sit back and let teams get better then us. After adding Doc Love from the Dynamos and Lou Kelly from the Cannons, I've put a lot of chips in and have shifted away from defense a little and more to power. I haven't finalized my opening day lineup, but as of now, only three starters from last season will start in the same position they started last year on Opening Day (four if you count Tommy Wilcox).

So how our things going to shake up? Well, I think this is my "normal" lineup, but I'm probably going to be moving a lot of guys in and out and shuffling guys into multiple spots. There are a few things I know for sure:

1. Mike Taylor will more or less play every game behind the plate (as he did last season)
2. There will be a player at each position

Here's a rough plan for each player:

Mike Taylor: Catcher (occasional day at first)
Claude Ramsey: Catcher (when Taylor is tired or at first)
Lou Kelly: First Base (will see time in left and right)
Bill Ashbaugh: Second Base/First Base
John Kincaid: Third Base (potentially shortstop)
Slim Bloom: Second Base/Shortstop (rotational player, maybe some time at third)
Arnold Bower: Shortstop (rotational player)
Russ Combs: Shortstop/Second Base (going to be a lot more shortstop then I want...)
Bobby Sprague: Left Field (occasional day in center)
Cy Bryant: Center Field (will function as the 4th outfielder)
Tom Taylor: Center Field/Right Field
Doc Love: Right Field/Left Field (occasional day at first)

Of course, this still leaves room for the bench. I usually carry 9 or 10 pitchers, so that leaves only one or two bench spots. I'm leaning towards giving Bert Harrison a roster spot, so there might actually be no other position player to make the team.

Regardless, I'm going to try something a little different this season. I am going to really try to make my lineups completely situational. I think if we want to win a championship, we are going to have to hit homeruns as our power completely deserted us. I'd blame it on the Keystones' stadium, but that would only explain Mike and not Tom Taylor (Mike is a lefty, Tom switch hitter). I think we should have 4 guys (Both Taylors, Kelly, and Love) surpass 20 this season and potentially two more to reach 10 (Ashbaugh should be able to, plus maybe Sprague or Combs?). I think I'm done moves (well, major ones) for the rest of the season, and I'm ready to watch things unfold.

I am also a little worried about the clubhouse, with both Kelly and Bryant being outspoken, but I think Kelly's morale changing from as low as it could possibly be to "Very Good" post-trade is a good sign. There are a few unhappy people (like Bryant), but most of those guys won't make the team. The crazy thing about Kelly is he's also a leader, so he's really going to be a personality to handle (he has a good relationship with manager Dick Poza so that might have saved Pozza's job...). I do have some leadership figures in the clubhouse (Ashbaugh and Wilcox), but this may be an area I look to fix. I really want to hold on to Cy, but if he gets too angry about his new role, I may have to find a new home for the elite defender.

All eyes will be on Tom Taylor this year. Since coming over from the Sailors, I wouldn't say he's been disappointing, but he definitely came down to earth and it looks more and more likely that those first two seasons were just a flash in the pan. He's still an elite defender with a ton of power and speed, but for the first time in his career he's going to spend most of the season in center field. A right fielder most of his time in the league (he has spent some time in center), Taylor consistently puts up otherworldly defensive numbers out in right and you'd have to imagine he'd at least be passable out in center. I toyed with the idea of making him a center fielder right when I traded for him, and I think if it wasn't for Bryant he'd maybe only play center for us. Luckily, if the center field experiment does not go as planned, Sprague can shift from left to center and Love from right to left, allowing Taylor to reclaim his preferred right field. Taylor in center does make our offense way stronger (especially against righties) and allows us to use Bryant as a defensive replacement (likely shifting Taylor to right, Love to bench) late in close games.

A few notes to finish: As you may have noticed, I'm going to try something different this season with my formatting. I'm hoping to write more and format less, hopefully giving better flow to everything. For game recaps, I'm going to cover more what happened in the games then how the players did individually. Not quite sure exactly how this portion is going to work, as game recaps can sometimes feel tedious, but I will be working on that. The bigger change is going to be for the non-game reviews. Instead of using consistent categories (like Transactions, Prospect Report, Weekly Summary), I'll cover topics each week (like if someone wins Player of the Week, they'll get a blurb) and hopefully work in a different version of the minor league report. There will be no amateur report this year as there are no feeders.