[JerryShoe]

1969 Royals

The Plan
As told before, I’m forsaking 1969 (and 1970, and 1971…) and looking to move Barber, Davis, Drabowsky, McDaniel, Pascual, Perranoski and Wilhelm to contenders for youth and decide if Conigliaro and Palmer are keepers, prospect bait or lost causes. In the meantime, I’ll see how the younger group like Evans, Hernandez, Kelly, Nelson and Oliver will play out while I build the rest of the team around Foy and Pagliaroni.

What Happened to the Plan
As the early part of the season rolled on, I had no luck with the players I was showcasing. Tony C. was hitting under.200, Barber and Palmer were injured (at least it wasn’t Palmer’s his arm), there were no good offers for Davis and NONE for the relievers. Things picked up at the halfway point when I was able to move Lindy McD to the BoSox for Mike Garman, Bill Lee and Tony Muser and Conigliaro to the Cubs for Joe Niekro and Rich Nye. Not the cadre of young studs I was hoping for, but the best I could do. THEN I was able to pull of a blockbuster, even though it meant giving up some youth along with an intended cornerstone (and the only player doing well): Davis, Drago, Foy and Oliver for DICK ALLEN!!! (yes, even then he wanted to be called Dick, as his friends called him). This trade is not as indefensible as it looks at first blush. Allen and Phillies management were having mutual problems for a while so he was
almost traded during 1968 for Jimmy Wynn (perceived problem children for each other), during the 1968-69 offseason to the Indians for 5 players of which only 1, then-rookie Ray Fosse, would still be around at the end of this project with 2 others never playing past 1970. He then did get dealt in the ‘69-’70 offseason to St. Louis in an 8-player deal, which if you eliminate 2 relievers or roughly equal impact and outfielder who had
no impact at all, came down as originally constructed as: Allen and Rojas (whose credentials are already noted) for Curt Flood (possibly the best centerfield glove at the time but at 32 was now a .285 hitter with no power, walks or steals) and Tim McCarver (one of the era’s better catchers but who couldn’t throw well and was regressing into a
below-average hitter). The Philly OOTP GM had his team in the race (lightyears away from John Quinn/Bob Skinner’s team of almost 100 losses) and since I use historical injuries and suspensions, Allen would be spending a third of the rest of the season serving one so would be no help. His replacements were a new leadoff hitter (Foy, who would end with a .389 OP and 59 steals, good for 4th in MLB), a new closer (Drago, 9 saves for them), a role player for 1B and CF (Oliver, who hit .341 with 7 homers in the City of Brotherly Love) and their primary pinch-hitter (Davis). They didn’t win the division but did finish third with almost 30 more wins than actual.

The Results
As expected, much worse than Tallis and Joe Gordon did with the actual expansionists, last at 56-106 instead of fourth, 69-93 and 2 games out of third and playoff pool money. Here is the not-so-Royal Kansas Citys:

3B Foy .272/.398, 22 SBs with KC
CF Kelly .359 OB, 43 SB (4th), went to RF after July 1
RF Conigliaro 6 HRs with KC
1B Oliver 10 HRs with KC with some CF
C Martinez .254 after returning from school studies in June
LF Snyder .243 with some CF
2B Morales .210, best of the rest
SS Hernandez 15 SBs

LF Davis, 1B Harrison, LF-1B-RF Kosco (.263/6 at 1B and OF during second half) and of course 3B-1B-LF Allen (.300/16/44 with KC) saw action also, especially after the July 1 trades.

S1 Palmer 12-12, 3.75 (when not injured)
S2 Nelson 3.67
S3 Rooker 9-7. 3.30
S4 Barber 3.82 (when not injured)
S5 Niekro 4.84 with KC

RP Perranoski 12 saves
RP Burgmeier 3.14
Drago and Hedlund did some starting, and all the “star” relievers had ERAs over 4.00.

As I said in the 1965-76 Yankee project, history and OOTPstory will deviate as “time” goes on, but I’ll give the results until they get too far away from each other. OOTP pretty much followed history, but for a few differences. The Orioles led thoughout the year, although it was a tight race until midseaon. By year’s end they also won by a huge margin over the Tigers, with the Red Sox playing respecfully, the Yankees a bit
better than reality, the Indians just as poorly but the OOTP Senators missed their actual only winning season. In the West the Twins won as the did..but over the Pilots??? The rest of the division finished in the same order, with the obvious exception of my cellar-dwelling Royals. There were differences in the NL, where the Pirates won the East a
year ahead of real-life over the Cardinals, who actually had a good team in ’69 but just didn’t show it. As outlined before the Phillies were the NL’s surpise team and in the hunt before ending a rewarding third. The Cubs and Mets, the only teams competing for first for real, finished in the lower half, ahead of the Expos. The Giants edged the Dodgers by a scant game in the West after finishing second 4 straight times historically.
Also historically, it was the same tight race when, in real life, Jim Bouton wrote in "Ball Four" of the possibility of a 5-team playoff. The actual winning Braves finished 5th and only the Padres were out of it. The Twins won the Series over the Jints in 7. Willie McCovey won the NL MVP as in real life, but on the AL side Tommy Harper replaced Harmon Killebrew (7th). Bob Gibson won the NY Cy Young (actual winner Tom Seaver didn't receive a vote), but Dave McNally supplanted his teammate Mike Cuellar (3rd) for the AL Cy; Cuellar co-won it with Denny McLain (also none). The Rookies of the Year came out of nowhere, being Ike Brown (Piniella got zilch) and Wayne Garrett (Ted Sizemore, 5th).

Next: The 1970 Royals