Aaron McNally is a probable future Hall of Famer, has won three MGL Pitcher of the Year awards and has two Pitching Triple Crowns in his career. After starring for the Brooklyn Aces for 8 seasons McNally signed a big 7-year deal with the Detroit Falcons as a free agent at the end of the 1979 season. At the time the Falcons looked like a team that was coming out of a decade plus long run of futility and picking up a true ace like McNally seemed like a great step towards becoming a competitive team for multiple seasons.
It didn't really work out so well though. While McNally continued to be a good pitcher the Falcons as a team took a significant step backwards after an 88-win 1979 campaign, losing 89 in 1980 and then getting much worse- losing 102 games- in 1981. Playing for a poor team McNally was still a respectable pitcher but others passed him by for the distinction of best in the game. And then the Falcons showed signs of bouncing back early this season and McNally was a big piece of their early success, going 8-1 with a 2.35 ERA into early June. He lost his first two games in June, and in the second game it may have become clear why as he was forced to leave early with acute elbow soreness. He should be back before the end of the season but with Detroit having gone 1-9 in their past 10 games and falling to 2 games below .500, it may too late to help them contend by the time he is healthy again.
Speaking of contending teams, the El Paso Dawgs signed veteran right handed starter Danny Napier as a free agent earlier this season to bolster their deep but aging rotation as they battle to overtake the San Antonio Keys as the best in the SJL West. While Napier does not have the track record of McNally he did have one the best seasons of his career last year in helping the Washington Night Train to a somewhat surprising 2nd place finish in the SJL East. And while he had only started 7 games for the Dawgs thus far in 1982 (having not signed until late April), he did have a 1.63 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in those starts. But having suffered a partially torn UCL just under a week ago, he won't be returning this season at all and at age 36 and some history of injury proneness it is hard to know whether anyone will take a chance on him for next season, when he again will be on the free agency market.