December 12, 1938
STARS ADD COLE IN DEAL WITH DETROIT
The new management team in New York continued it's brisk makeover of the New York Stars making a deal with Detroit to bring veteran pitcher Chuck Cole back to the Continental Association. The 28 year old righthander spent the first 5 and a half years of his big league career with the Toronto Wolves, crafting a 68-78 record with the Wolves including a CA leading 21 victories in 1936. The Wolves traded him at the deadline last July to Detroit and he pitched out of the Dynamos pen down the stretch finishing the season with a 15-13 record and a 4.13 era between the two clubs.
The price for the Stars was heavy, perhaps too heavy if many around the league are to be believed, with New York parting with it's top two picks in the January draft including the 6th overall selection. It does seem a steep price for a pitcher with a losing record in his FABL career and considered to have a ceiling of a middle to bottom of the order arm. Cole might slot slightly higher on the Stars, but certainly below Billy Riley (15-8, 3.23) and George Phillips (13-8, 2.94) but quite possibly above Glenn Payne (4-10, 3.08), Chris Clarke (4-9, 4.40) and Les Zoller (4-11, 5.45).
It has certainly been a busy off-season for the Stars who upgraded their offense with the additions of Moxie Pidgeon, Mel Hancock Jr. and Ray Cochran. That came at a price of some very good young pitchers but the Stars are hoping the addition of Cole can boost them into the first division.
JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE - I have to admit I did a doubletake when this deal came across the telegram machine. Shock is the word I would use to describe it as the Detroit Dynamos got a steal with the 6th overall pick and a second rounder for a player they acquired just 6 months ago in exchange for Bob Walls. Cole was a depth arm on Detroit's roster so to add a pair of January draft picks was a big coup. Now the Dynamos need to just make sure they use those picks wisely as the new January draft creates some unknowns for all 16 ballclubs.
I had praised the Stars earlier for the offensive upgrades they made and their lineup will be one to watch this season with Pidgeon and Cochran joining an impressive group led by young phenom Bill Barrett...it impresses me so much I would go as far as compare the Stars upgrades to the Detroit Dynamos turnaround of a year ago. While the addition of Cole will only help in the short-term I feel it was a move made certainly in haste and perhaps in panic by New York as the Stars might have decided to do just a little too much reaching in one off-season. I would have much preferred the Stars use those two draft picks to help restock their collection of young arms after the dealing away of several high end prospects already this winter but it is clear the New York brass felt an urgency to upgrade it's rotation.
I don't argue with that need to upgrade the pitching in New York but one has to wonder if the Stars had just employed some patience and held out until near the end of spring training whether they could have picked up a depth rotation arm or two either off the waiver wire for free or very inexpensively in a deal with another club facing a crunch on pitchers out of options. I don't argue with Cole being a decent addition to New York and I am fairly certain they will be a much improved team this summer, but I have to take exception with the price that was paid to acquire Cole.
The Week That Was
Current events from week ending 12/11/1938
- France and Germany officially sign a treaty banning war between the two nations, as the two historic enemies pledge to meet at the conference table instead of the battlefield for settlement of their disputes.
- Paris and Rome are not getting along near as well, as Mussolini has declared the Italians are preparing to take over Tunisia, France's north African protectorate.
- As anti-French riots sweep across Italy, Mussolini has demanded the Reich back his grab of French Colonies in Tunisia and Corsica
- President Roosevelt confirmed he will ask Congress for additional funds so American intelligence services can check up on the secret police and spies of other nations. FDR added he feels the roots from foreign operatives in the US "go down pretty deep."
- Reports out of London state that Jewish children were among those shot in Germany during the anti-Jewish wave that started there November 10th.
- In a stop in New York City, former British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden called, in a broadcast carried by 300 American radio stations, for the US and Britain to work together "to defend Democracy from worship of the state, to which all men must sacrifice their freedom of faith, speech and worship". While Eden did not mention Germany, Japan or Italy directly it was clear his message was aimed at them.
- Speaking in Peru, American Secretary of State Cordell Hull told the Pan-American Conference that all North and South American nations "must work together to prevent the invasion of this hemisphere by the armed forces of any power or combination of powers."
- There are forecasts of a new crisis in Europe, perhaps as early as the spring, possibly centered on agitation for a new Ukrainian state along the Carpathian Mountains, which Hitler has eyed from the time he came into power in Germany.