[ayaghmour2]

Let's start the offseason off with a bang! The Chiefs just came back from a 3-1 deficit, but I did the best to steal the spotlight with a blockbuster to start the season. I paid a pretty penny to make it done, but after about seven years of trying, Freddie Jones is now a Cougar. Heading to St. Louis will be a massive five prospect package, with Danny Hern, Ivan Cameron, Henry Cox, Preacher Pietsch, and Tommy Wilson will depart to acquire the 4-Time All Star and 1935 Whitney Award Winner. 1938 was definitely a down season, but the 28-year-old played a career high 154 games with over 706 trips to the plate. He did hit just .284/.385/.375 (98 OPS+) with 20 doubles, 7 triples, 7 homers, and 75 RBIs, but it's a massive improvement over our second basemen combo of Johnny McDowell and Ollie Page. The keystone is easily our weakest spot, and I expect Jones to rebound closer to his career norms. In 4,443 career plate appearances he has hit .348/.449/.440 (131 OPS+) with 147 doubles, 40 triples, 38 homers, and 509 RBIs. To add on to that, Jones is a decent defender who is also a captain in the clubhouse dead set on winning. He'll really bring the lineup together well, and I expect his performance to improve as well. With Jones in the lineup, all eight of our starters had an OPS+ of 94 or better and I think next season we should have everyone (or maybe but Taylor) in the lineup over 100 last year. Our pitching is really young, but the lineup is filled with talent and should score more then enough runs for us next year.

Of course, the price to pay was high, but with no obvious sellers materializing yet, I had to jump on a chance to acquire likely the best player on the market. Too many players escaped my reach last season, and it showed in the standings. The big piece leaving is our top pitching prospect Danny Hern, who currently ranks 55th in the league. The former 14th Round pick has broken out and projects to be a solid mid rotation starter. With Papenfus, Parker, Sullivan, Brown, Bryan, and Knight all options to pair with Dick Lyons and Milk Fritz, there wasn't an easy spot for Hern. I'm a big fan of his stuff and I think he's going to really blossom in the Pioneers farm system, but we do have multiple pitchers I think could rise up and replace them. I also had to give up former first rounder Preacher Pietsch, another young arm I like a lot. He's two years older at 23, and the 6'6' righty also has a future in the rotation. He reached AA this year, where he finished 6-5 with a 3.64 ERA (108 ERA+), 1.43 WHIP, 36 walks, and 39 strikeouts. He ranks 12th and 129th respectively, and was the former 5th ranked pitcher in our system.

The main position prospect leaving was Tommy Wilson, who I was likely going to add to the 40 in the offseason. The 23-year-old Wilson was taken in the 2nd Round in 1933, and reached Milwaukee this season. He hit .273/.358/.397 (94 OPS+) with 25 doubles, 9 homers, 11 steals, and 62 RBIs in three shy of 500 PAs. Marv thinks he'll be a regular starter at either second or short, but with Hunter at Short, Jones added to the mix, and Ollie Page still in hand with Ducky Jordan, the infield seems pretty set. Another middle infielder involved was Cameron, who ranked 20th in our system and just outside of the top 200 overall. A very talented glovemen, the 1934 3rd Rounder spent his time in Mobile this season where he hit .301/.344/.377 (93 OPS+) with 19 doubles, 3 triples, 2 homers, and 57 RBIs. He had an outstanding +17.9 zone rating and 1.110 efficiency at short, and could possibly be the best defensive shortstop if he makes the big leagues. The last piece I would have preferred not to trade, but I wanted to get a deal done and didn't want to risk not including him. Henry Cox hit 33 homers and drove in 99 with a .278/.340/.545 (125 OPS+) batting line in AAA. Our outfield situation is full, so he would have been stuck in Milwaukee again next season, but perhaps will get a chance to play full time.

I'm hoping this is the only big move of the offseason, but we have a draft coming up shortly that us GMs will have to prepare for. It's two human rounds and one regional round, and the first of it's kind. At 79-75, we will be picking 8th in each round, although I have acquired a few picks as well.