[Syd Thrift]

Major Transactions
------------------------
October 19: The A's purchased 1B Ron Mangini (.282, 3, 10) from the Padres for $3,000. Mangini will probably be a pinch-hitter for them in 1971 but the A's also need someone who could fill in should their 42 year old starter get hurt like 42 year olds do.

October 19: The Royals traded minor league C Blake Burkheimer (.317/19/54 at A San Jose) to the Giants for minor league RP Dylan Fields (5-1, 1.34, 7 Sv for San Jose). The Royals initially traded Fields away for RP Chad Nies but decided they wanted him back. The Giants, even though Nies' career is now over, decided they needed a fringe prospect at backup catcher over a fringe prospect relief pitcher.

October 20: The Padres sent C John Macomber (.235/3/10 at short-season A Tucson) to the Reds as part of a conditional deal. If the condition is "this guy makes the major leagues", it's a free catcher for the Reds, as that seems unlikely.

October 20: The Brewers purchased P Dave McNicholas (4-10, 7.03) from the Mets for $1,500. McNicholas is a reclamation project to be sure but at 26 years of age he's still reclaimable.

October 20: The Reds purchased minor league RP Scott Harding (1-1, 4.11 in AAA Iowa) for $1,000. The results weren't there last year but Harding has amazing stuff and the Reds think he can be a reliable middle reliever for them for the next decade. For the A's, this helps pay for the Ron Mangenius deal.

October 20: The Twins traded OF Guillermo Maldonado (.301, 4, 27 in AAA Evanston) and minor league RF Edwin Mojica (.200, 1, 7 A ball) to the Cardinals for 2B Pietro Palmarocchi (.275, 5, 28 in AAA Tulsa) and RP Jesus Cosme (0-1, 12.46). The Twins clearly need depth at second and Palmarocchi, a former starter for the Pirates at the second sack, is exactly that. Jesus Cosme walked 14 batters in 4.1 innings in the big leagues last year; suffice it to say there is work to be done there. They parted ways with Maldonado, who had a brief cup of coffee in the majors but who looks like he could probably walk in and start for the Cards, and the 19 year old Mojica.

October 20: The Brewers traded C Jonathan Victoria (.187, 11, 36), RP Miguel Hernandez (1-3, 8.36), and minor league RP George Hacker (0-0, 1.76) to the Cardinals for C Luis Garcia (.274, 5, 33) and minor league SP Angelo Granados (6-3, 2.51 at AAA Tulsa). The Cardinals continue to break apart their roster; Garcia was the team's starter at catcher after John Stuart got hurt. Granados is too old to be a prospect but pitched well enough between AA and AAA that he could be a factor for Milwaukee. The Brew Crew in turn part ways with their starting catcher for their entire existence in Victoria, plus Hernandez, who was pretty good in 1969 (0-2, 3.64) before a very, very bad 1970, and Hacker, who hadn't pitched above A ball before last season but who is still only 24.

October 21: The Braves traded minor league OF Kyle Hooper (.234, 1, 35 in AAA Richmond) to the Angels for minor league SS Dan Hathaway (.222, 4, 37 in AA El Paso). Two largely disappointing prospects traded for each other. Hooper is probably closer to being MLB ready while Hathaway fills a hole for Atlanta.

October 21: The Red Sox traded 2B prospect Barry Wilshire (.327, 3, 60 for AAA Louisville) to the Cardinals for PH/LF Justin Hacker (.247, 0, 10). The Red Sox loooove to collect disgruntled pinch-hitters, I guess. They give up Wilshire, who probably hit over his head in the minors last year but... that was a nice year nevertheless. He immediately gets into the conversation at 2nd for the Cards... or doesn't; the Cards' minor league manager assigned him all the way down to A ball. OK then!

October 23: The Tigers sold minor league OF Juan Chavez (.282, 8, 62 for AAA Toledo) to the Phillies as part of a conditional deal. Chavez had a good year in AAA but doesn't fit into the Tigers' plans and the Phillies are thin in left after Paul Stewart. 'Nuff said.

October 23: The Senators acquired minor league OF Bobby Kaplan (.287, 0, 29) from the Indians for $2,500. Kaplan's a decent center field prospect - #77 on the BNN prospect list last April - who was blocked in Cleveland. The Senators already have an OK center fielder so he'll probably compete for a corner OF job. He lacks the power for either position but could save a lot of runs with his glove.



News
-----------------------
(I'll probably be very light on real news in the offseason, just because I want to get through it fast)

October 21: The off-season officially starts, which means I can finally set up spring training lineups for the playoff teams.

October 21: Also, as this is the first day of the offseason, we've got official retirees:

Atlanta: Backup C Pablo Rey (.165, 0, 6) has apparently decided not to help shore up a kind of a disaster for the Braves at the catcher position for 1971. Can't say I blame him. He didn't get his start in the majors until he was 30 years old and as such he retires with just 689 at-bats. He did hit .250 overall for his career, even with last year's slide.

Baltimore: The Orioles announced the retirement of two players. CF Rich "Shooter" Kemm (.219, 1, 12) is a 2-time All-Star who led the league in runs scored with the Cubs in 1960. As recently as 1969 he was the Seattle Pilots' starting CF for the first half of the season. He finishes his career with 1,195 hits and 160 steals; he's #6 all-time in hits (1,089) with the Chicago NL franchise as well as 6th in runs (671) and 3rd in steals (147). Also, Carlos Villapando (5-6, 5.74) was bad last year but still had a shot at making the team until he decided to leave on his own terms. Villapando finishes his career with a 138-110 record between the Pirates and Orioles organizations.

Boston: SS Jonathan Ward (.138, 3, 11), who started for them beetween 1958 and 1964 but who has been a backup ever since, hung it up after clearly falling apart last season. He played his whole career in Boston and is currently 6th lifetime for them in games played (1,243), 5th in runs (573), and 8th in hits (871).

Chicago (A): Calvin Rowell (0-1, 7.66) only played a little bit last year and when he did play he was pretty bad. This was also the first (and now last) time he showed up in the major leagues since 1964 - he had a 2 1/2 year run with the expansion Mets that ended with a 3-7, 6.37 campaign.

Cleveland: Another guy whose major league career had seemed to come to a close until expansion, 40 year old Jason Brull (.083, 0, 0), who the Indians attempted to use down the pennant stretch as a pinch-hitter, officially declared his career to be at an end. He finished with a .247 average in 1,046 at-bats.

Houston: RP Danny Weickert (3-2, 4.19), who split the year between Oakland and Houston, finishes his career with 42 games played and a 42-44 career record. He led the league in games pitched while a member of the expansion LA Angels in 1961.

Kansas City: As expected, Chad Nies (4-2, 5.59, 11 Sv), who suffered a career-ending torn labrum in August, announced his retirement. He led the league in relief games and saves as recently as 1969 but was very bad last season before everything went pear-shaped. For his career he was 43-31 with 86 saves and a 3.13 ERA. Also retiring this year was RP Glenn Fitzgerald (1-0, 5.19), who'd looked like he might still have had something left with the Royals (0-0, 3.43) after being released from the Cubs in May. Then he suffered a torn labrum in June and the Royals cut him loose last week. A career middle reliever, he was 28-32 with 29 saves in 342 career games.

Milwaukee: Jorge Andres (.247, 4, 15), who got to play in a career-high 139 games for the expansion Expos in 1969 (he went .252/10/42) but was mostly a 4th outfielder and pinch-hitter last season, calls it quits at the age of 36. He was mostly a sub throughout his career, with 650 games played and 1,274 at-bats.

Montreal: Two retirements here... RP Josh Carty (7-4, 4.92, 12 Sv) decided to step down after a tumultuous year as the Expos' closer. He led the league in saves two years running - '63 and '64 - for the Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with 112 of them in 516 career appearances,. all in relief. Also retiring is RP Mike Scott, who's just 29 years od but reportedly just got tired of all the losing.

New York (N): Scott Stuart barely got a cup of coffee the last two seasons but from 1961 to 1968 he was a full-time starter for the expansion Angels. He hit .260 with 1,091 hits and 56 HRs for his career and made the All-Star Game as recently as 1967.

Pittsburgh: As expected, 3B Ryan Colvin (.284, 8, 31) called it quits after a 21 year career, including 10 All-Star nods and the ROY in 1950. He finished his career with 2,418 hits and a .277 average and is a surefire HOFer.

San Francisco: SS Mario Guevara (.233, 6, 25), the Giants' longtime starter (1955-1969) and a 6-time All-Star, retired after a tough 1970 season where he just didn't have the defensive prowess he used to. He retires with 1,925 hits, 5th best in the star-studded Giants' history, but with the most games ever by a Giant. He looks like he'll fall short of HOF standards but he's definitely a member of the Giants Hall of Fame.

St. Louis: TJ Monahan (0-4, 6.15) retired at the age of 34 after being released by St. Louis in June and not getting signed. He finishes with a record of 115-97, all of it in St. Louis, and he has 4 World Series rings to his name. From 1964 to 1967 he went 16-6, 14-10, 17-11, and 16-10, and still only 30 at the time, looked like he had a shot at 200 wins, but then a series of arm injuries robbed him of his stuff. Also out the door is 34-year-old Dusty Green (1-3, 4.75), whose entire major league career took place in 1970 after 12 seasons in the minor leagues.

Awards
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I wound up just manually picking the MVPs, although I did use the 5-point scale as a general guideline. Anyway...

AL Silver Slugger
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Pitcher
Josh Matthews (Cleveland Indians)
.255/.277/.296, 98 AB, 37 wRC+, -0.5 WAR

Catcher
Brad Reed (Minnesota Twins)
.238/.337/.434, 433 AB, 18 HR, 122 wRC+, 2.0 WAR

First Baseman
Angelo Martinez (Minnesota Twins)
.276/.339/.492, 642 AB, 35 HR, 2 SB, 139 wRC+, 4.7 WAR

Second Baseman
Danny Villegas (Detroit Tigers)
.284/.370/.541, 525 AB, 35 HR, 5 SB, 155 wRC+, 4.7 WAR

Third Baseman
Mike Brookes (Minnesota Twins)
.267/.432/.561, 510 AB, 39 HR, 3 SB, 102 R, 112 RBI, 9.2 WAR

Shortstop
Ty Stover (New York Yankees)
.274/.413/.510, 492 AB, 28 HR, 170 wRC+, 6.5 WAR

Left Fielder
Alvin Romero (Washington Senators)
.321/.381/.445, 598 AB, 5 HR, 72 SB, 110 R, 131 wRC+, 6.2 WAR

Center Fielder
Carlos Hernandez (Cleveland Indians)
.296/.336/.425, 669 AB, 13 HR, 4 SB, 116 wRC+, 3.9 WAR

Right Fielder
Frank Meneses (New York Yankees)
.263/.408/.548, 414 AB, 32 HR, 7 SB, 175 wRC+, 6.2 WAR

NL Silver Slugger
-----------------
Pitcher
Joe Hagan (Cincinnati Reds)
.299/.323/.368, 87 AB, 2 HR, 72 wRC+, 0.2 WAR

Catcher
Greg Darrow (Chicago Cubs)
.329/.361/.460, 480 AB, 12 HR, 132 wRC+, 5.0 WAR

First Baseman
Justin Stone (St. Louis Cardinals)
.299/.405/.604, 591 AB, 43 HR, 11 SB, 115 R, 117 RBI, 7.9 WAR

Second Baseman
Victor Serna (Philadelphia Phillies)
.224/.337/.472, 557 AB, 37 HR, 7 SB, 107 RBI, 5.9 WAR

Third Baseman
Bobby Kraljevic (Cincinnati Reds)
.297/.421/.433, 563 AB, 14 HR, 109 R, 152 wRC+, 6.7 WAR

Shortstop
Jeremy Taylor (Chicago Cubs)
.235/.309/.432, 614 AB, 27 HR, 12 SB, 107 wRC+, 3.6 WAR

Left Fielder
Jason Workman (Chicago Cubs)
.312/.342/.594, 581 AB, 44 HR, 135 RBI, 5.6 WAR

Center Fielder
John Lopez (Houston Astros)
.290/.365/.432, 639 AB, 18 HR, 28 SB, 116 R, 127 wRC+, 5.2 WAR

Right Fielder
Jaden Weaver (Houston Astros)
.256/.354/.581, 558 AB, 48 HR, 1 SB, 132 RBI, 6.6 WAR

AL Gold Glove
----------------------
Pitcher
Jason Gilmer (San Diego Padres) (note: he spent half of his year in Detroit) (2)

Catcher
Jonathan Escobar (Oakland Athletics) (2)

First Baseman
Jose Ayala (Detroit Tigers) (2)

Second Baseman
Danny Fager (Baltimore Orioles) (1)

Third Baseman
Marco Perez (Baltimore Orioles) (4)

Shortstop
Oniji Handa (Boston Red Sox) (6)

Left Fielder
Alvin Romero (Washington Senators) (1)

Center Fielder
Norm Hodge (California Angels) (6)

Right Fielder
Jun Kim (Boston Red Sox) (5)

NL Gold Glove
----------------------
Pitcher
D.J. Cheeves (Pittsburgh Pirates) (1)

Catcher
Shaun Dennehy (California Angels) (played for the Braves until September) (1)

First Baseman
Alex Canales (San Diego Padres) (3)

Second Baseman
Pedro Ortiz (Cincinnati Reds) (1)

Third Baseman
Sean Gabel (Chicago Cubs) (3)

Shortstop
John Timonen (Houston Astros) (only started half the year but was the incumbent and also led all NL SSs in ZR) (5)

Left Fielder
Curtis Hope (New York Mets) (2)

Center Fielder
Danny Seligman (San Francisco Giants) (1)

Right Fielder
Henry Riggs (Atlanta Braves) (really a lifetime achievement GG but he did lead all NL RFs in baserunner kills) (1)

AL Rookie of the Year
----------------------
All the votes have been tabulated and the recipient of the prestigious American League Rookie of the Year is Jeff Nation of Kansas City.

This gifted first-year performer won the honors by batting .292 with a .350 OBP. In 146 games this year, the third baseman laced 167 hits in 571 at-bats, hit 21 home runs, drove in 84 runs and scored 72 times.

Francisco Martinez of the Milwaukee Brewers finished second in voting, while Tim Anderlik of the Chicago White Sox finished third.

NL Rookie of the Year
----------------------
Jose Zarate was an outstanding performer this season for Chicago, earning the National League Rookie of the Year.

He went 11-3 on the year in 17 starts, striking out 64 in 128.2 innings while piecing together a 1.96 ERA.

Will Hartmann of the San Francisco Giants finished second in voting, while Vince Bachler of the St. Louis Cardinals finished third.

AL Rolaids Relief Award
-----------------------
Matt Brock of the Boston Red Sox said he never set out to win the American League Rolaids Relief Ward this season, but he'll certainly take it.

"1970 was a pretty good year for me, that much is obvious," he said. "This is icing on the cake."

The 30-year-old out of Pasadena, California fashioned a 3.31 ERA this season over 92.1 innings of work. He made 67 relief appearances and had 30 saves, 82 strikeouts, 31 walks and a record of 7 wins and 6 losses.

Montay Luiso of the Baltimore Orioles finished second in voting, while Jesse Kelly of the New York Yankees finished third.

NL Rolaids Relief Award
-----------------------
The manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates said he always had confidence handing the ball to Paz Lemus out of the bullpen.

The 27-year-old was a dominant performer all year for Pittsburgh and his efforts have been rewarded with the National League Rolaids Relief Ward for 1970.

The bullpen ace had an impressive 2.09 ERA this season, with 26 saves in 79 relief appearances. He fanned 109 batters in 120.1 innings and sported a record of 8 wins and 8 losses.

Ricky Rosas of the Cincinnati Reds finished second in voting, while John Winn of the Chicago Cubs finished third.

(If memory serves, the Rolaids Relief Award had a strict rule for the award; I think it was saves + 2 * wins; however, Lemus was just plain dominant this year, a few fewer saves than everyone else or no.)

AL Cy Young Award
----------------------
The votes have been tabulated for the 1970 American League Cy Young. It has been given to Tracy Mosher of the New York Yankees, who piled up 25 wins this season with an impressive 2.67 ERA.

In 40 starts Mosher had a 25-12 mark with 243 strikeouts in 323.2 innings.

Justin Kindberg of the Boston Red Sox finished second in voting, while Josh Matthews of the Cleveland Indians finished third.

NL Cy Young Award
---------------------
The National League announced today that Marius Gaddi has been chosen the Cy Young winner for 1970. The Philadelphia hurler had everything working for him as he cruised to an outstanding 27-5 record.

Gaddi put up an impressive 2.31 ERA in his award-winning season. He started 37 times, worked 292.1 innings, yielded 233 hits, walked 67, fanned 225 and held opposing hitters to a .216 average.

Steve Waiters of the Cincinnati Reds finished second in voting, while Tony Rivera of the Houston Astros finished third.

(Rivera just edged Santos Arango of the Pirates; the score there was 185 to 182. Paz Lemus was 8th)

NL Most Valuable Player
--------------------------
It's been a year of triumph for veteran Jason Workman of the Chicago Cubs as he hit his way to the 1970 National League Most Valuable Player.

The 33-year-old veteran compiled a .312 average and .342 on-base percentage by putting together 181 hits, 26 doubles, 3 triples, 44 home runs and 29 walks. He also scored 98 times and drove in 135 runs.

Jaden Weaver of the Houston Astros finished second in voting, while Antonio Lopez of the Chicago Cubs finished third.

(this was also close - what edged Workman out was that he hit over .300 whereas Weaver only hit .251 on the season)

AL Most Valuable Player
---------------------------
Minnesota's Mike Brookes put the wraps on a fine campaign today by winning the 1970 American League Most Valuable Player.

The 31-year-old veteran scorched the opposition with a .267 average, picking up 136 hits, 27 doubles, 3 triples, 39 home runs and 112 RBIs, while scoring 102 runs.

Danny Villegas of the Detroit Tigers finished second in voting, while Ty Stover of the New York Yankees finished third.