## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Baltimore Orioles 29 18 .617 - 161 134
Detroit Tigers 28 19 .596 1 190 141
Milwaukee Brewers 24 21 .533 4 161 166
Boston Red Sox 23 21 .523 4½ 159 125
Cleveland Indians 23 22 .511 5 179 157
New York Yankees 12 36 .250 17½ 115 170
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
California Angels 30 20 .600 - 186 151
Minnesota Twins 27 18 .600 ½ 176 160
Oakland Athletics 26 21 .553 2½ 182 197
Texas Rangers 22 28 .440 8 141 165
Chicago White Sox 21 27 .438 8 136 179
Kansas City Royals 17 31 .354 12 155 196
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Pittsburgh Pirates 32 17 .653 - 159 111
Chicago Cubs 29 19 .604 2½ 194 184
St. Louis Cardinals 29 22 .569 4 223 177
Philadelphia Phillies 25 25 .500 7½ 200 205
New York Mets 21 29 .420 11½ 174 206
Montreal Expos 17 31 .354 14½ 148 193
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 32 19 .627 - 173 166
Los Angeles Dodgers 28 24 .538 4½ 180 187
Atlanta Braves 26 23 .531 5 188 178
San Diego Padres 23 28 .451 9 192 194
San Francisco Giants 23 34 .404 12 183 191
Cincinnati Reds 18 32 .360 13½ 189 211
Given that this is the new/real Year of the Pitcher, it seems only apt that the best team in baseball is also the one with the best defense. The Pirates dropped one in extras today to the Giants, 6-5, tagging stopper Paz Lemus (2-1, 0.29, 10 Sv) with both his first loss and his first run allowed all year, but that just goes to show how incredible that pitching staff has been. Starters DJ Cheeves (9-1, 1.64) and Santos Arango (8-5, 1.69) are looking like they might break Jeff Borden's ERA record - which wasn't even set in '68! - and, well, Lemus is virtually unstoppable from the 8th inning on if the Bucs' starters don't close it out themselves. It more than makes up for their 2nd-worst in the NL offense (because the NL is scoring 0.2 runs per game more than the AL, their 18th overall).
Otherwise, the Astros are also kind of separating themselves from the pack, though that's probably more because of the inability for thye Braves to get consistent and the Dodgers being... well, the Dodgers. Still think they're a rebuilder! Both AL races are super close so far, which is to be expected when neither of the front-runners are hitting on all strides just yet. The Red Sox just got through a big swoon that saw them lose 9 in a row; they're 3-1 since then. And of course, everyone's records so far in the junior circuit are beefed up by the execrable Yankees, who are on pace to break a couple of futility records.
HOLD ME CLOSE OH Tony Danza (.345, 0, 11) leapfrogged his way back into the AL batting lead this week off of a .304 week... so yeah, mostly Daniel Gilmet (.340, 3, 16, and .250 this week) and Alvin Romero (.335, 1, 15, .167 this week) slumped. Good news for Danza, at least! Also good news for him is that his teammate David Corona (.312, 7, 10) is back in the lineup after being out since May 31st with back tightness. Danza is cool but Corona is their best hitter and he'll surely protect Danza in the lineup batting 2nd. Otherwise in the AL hitting leaderboards, Ernesto Garcia (.286, 17, 46) has taken a commanding lead in both the HR and RBI races over Alice Cooper (.255, 13, 38) and RJ Dominguez (.260, 10, 34)... and speaking of the last guy, if the Royals ever find some pitching, look out! Romero at least has the co-lead in steals (with 15) to comfort him in his off week; White Sox sprinter/bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzennegger (.212, 0, 6) is tied with him and would probably steal 100 bases if he could get on base more.
Cincinnati's Alonzo Huanosta (.319, 0, 19) looks like he's back to his old self in his new environs; the former Indians 3-hole hitter is getting the job done for a frustrating Reds team and is leading the NL in average, beating out 2 guys who are barely at .300: the Mets' Barry Cooper (.302, 1, 15), who's "only" hitting .286 with his new club after getting traded from the Giants earlier this year, and the Astros' Big George Foreman (.301, 3, 17). The NL homerun race is much, much closer than the AL's, with the Reds' (and formerly Astros') RF Jaden Weaver (.269, 13, 40) getting his 1970 homerun stroke back; he's also leading the league in RBIs. 3 guys are tied with 12 dingers apiece: the Braves' Dante Chairez (.232, 12, 26), Paul McCartney (.246, 12, 33) of the Padres, and Jeremy Taylor (.247, 12, 33). McCartney and Taylor are also tied for 2nd in the league in rib-eyes. Meanwhile, the Reds' Pedro Ortiz (.284, 1, 11) had just one stolen base attempt this week (he was caught stealing) but he still holds a commanding lead in steals with 18. Injured Braves' OF Chris Ward (.280, 2, 7) and the Cubs' Sean Gabel (.277, 1, 15) are the only 2 other NLers with double-digit steals so far.
The Red Sox may be underachieving this year but Michael Pesco (9-2, 2.30) sure isn't so far. He had a rough outing this week in his only start (7 IP, 5 ER) but his team knocked the opposing White Sox around and allowed him to become one of three 9 game winners in all of baseball. 4 other guys in the AL have 7 wins; TOO MANY TO LIST, although the Yankees' Gene Lueders (2-9, 4.10) is the major leagues' only 9 game loser, so there's that. The A's Lee "Batty" Barnard (6-2, 1.66) is still just barely on pace to break Jeff Borden's single-season ERA record of 1.69 and is closely followed by overachieving Orioles youngster Santos Rodriguez (5-3, 1.72), who's coming off of a kind of average 1971 with the Dodgers (8-11, 3.65) and up and coming Indians right-hander Jose Martinez (6-3, 1.73), who himself was kind of meh last year with a 5-5 record and a 3.54 ERA in 25 games and 16 starts. He's also struck out a guy per inning but his 73 Ks is only 5th; the Tigers' Edgar Molina (7-4, 2.53) had 13 Ks in an otherwise disappointing week (1-1, 5.65) and now has 90, which is 3 more than 1971 Cy Young Award winner Justin Kindberg (5-6, 2.94). And you might think of him as a glorified lefty specialist but the A's Willis Chavez (2-1, 3.00) leads the AL with 12 saves, 2 more than the Twins' Travis Livingston (1-2, 0.81).
Both of the other 9 game winners, of course, are in the NL, those being the Pirates' DJ Cheeves (9-1. 1.64) and the Astros' Tony Rivera (9-3, 2.29). Rivera's been accused of being a paper tiger in the past but he is pitching like a true staff ace this year, that's for sure. Meanwhile, the Dodgers' Fernando Apolonio (8-3, 1.05) may be tied at 8 victories with a lot of other NLers but he's having a Bob Gibson (he's a fictional player in my Inside of an Actual Ballpark league) style season... well, sort of; he doesn't have Gibby's pure power but he's been forcing a lot of outs. Those super low ERAs are soooo hard to sustain though. I mentioned Cheeves and Arango in my summary of the NL above; they're 2 and 3, with the Mets' John Ratzenberger (4-4, 1.87) rounding out the list of 4 NL pitchers with sub-2 ERAs. The Cardinals' Roger Quintana (6-4, 2.33) would love some run support to go with his strikeouts but the man is leading all of the majors now with 94 of them, a full 17 strikeouts more t han the Mets' own Wild Thing Ernesto Carillo (2-7, 4.00). And I'd be remiss without mentioning the two 10-save men in the NL right now: the Dodgers' Alec Cosby (2-0, 0.36), who has 11, and Paz Lemus, who has not even begun to really do the rubber-armed, pitch-every-game thing he's known for.
## Major Transactions
June 5: The Expos claimed P Matt Roche (0-0, 5.40) off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. Roche was a starter and a real workhorse through 1969 but has struggled to stay healthy the last 2 years and, as of late, middle relief wasn't taking to him so well. Montreal will surely try to drop him back into a starter's role.
June 7: The Astros sent P Herman Rodriguez (1-1, 6.00) to the Yankees as part of a conditional deal. Rodriguez has been bad for a season plus with the Astros but the Yankees need all the help they can get. Maybe Rodriguez will meet those conditions (which, I have no idea what they are; it doesn't look like the RL Astros ever got anything back in this deal); probably not.
June 7: The A's sent P Steve Tidwell (3-4, 4.67) to the Cardinals as part of a conditional deal. As with Rodriguez, Tidwell has just not been good with the A's - he was recently demoted from the rotation - and in this case the otherwise contending Cardinals have got some real issues in the back of their rotation right now. This one (again, no idea what the actual "conditions" are; maybe I'll send a free minor leaguer back) seems a little more likely to vest.
June 9: The Yankees claimed OF Dan Field (.175, 0, 3) off of waivers from the A's. Field is one of many younger players the Yankees have shipped off to try to win now over the past couple seasons and they were all there to snap him up when the A's tried to send him down to the minors after a bad start that followed a mediocre 1971 (.251/8/41 in 81 games and 351 at-bats with Oakland). Field, 27, is still a guy who made the All-Star Game for the Yankees back in 1970, when he went .295/17/87; New York will hope and pray he has some of that magic left in his bat.
June 9: The Expos purchased minor league P Neil Yost (1-1, 1.35 at AA Birmingham) from the A's for $5,000. This was a roster filler move for the Expos more than anything else, as the 26 year old Yost hasn't pitched in the major leagues since 1970 and doesn't look like much of a prospect. Hopes and prayers for some good TCR I guess.
## News
June 5: The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also called the Stockholm Conference, convened in Sweden for the largest international meeting ever held on ecological issues. The 12 day conference led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme. June 5th is now observed annually by the UN as National Environment Day. Too bad this didn't, like, do much!
June 5: G Gordon Liddy spoke with James McCord Jr. about problems with getting anything useful from wiretaps planted more than a week before on the phone of DNC Chairman Larry O'Brien. Liddy recounted later that if the problem was not fixed, McCord's team would get no further money from CREEP (the aptly initialed Committee to Re-Elect the President) "because the job should have been done correctly the first time". The burglars would have to break back into the Watergate Hotel complex.
June 5: A whole big wave of guys were promoted from their respective international complexes today.
June 5: Giants CF Danny Seligman (.243, 2, 7), who finally got to put together a relatively injury... light campaign last year and make his first All-Star Game because of his health, has been playing sparingly since late May due to back stiffness. And now the injury's progressed to "unknown". UGH. I'm going to drop him onto the DL so I'm not tempted to use him. That also means that light-hitting Chae-Hwi Park (.152, 3, 8), who's been hitting quite a bit lighter than normal, will get to show if he can do anything in the majors for the next 3ish weeks.
June 5: The AL PotW was, for the second straight week, a pitcher, Minnesota's Mike Larsen (6-2, 1.83). Larsen's a pitch to contact guy but delivered 16 innings, giving up just 1 run on 11 hits over 2 starts, both wins. He walked 3 and struck out 3. He's only gotten 24 Ks in 78.2 IP so far (2.7/9) but is still making it happen for the Twins thanks to pinpoint control (2.1 BB/9), only 2 HRs allowed all year, and, so far, a weird ability to miss bats (a .237 OBA). Larsen won the Player of the Week back in April of 1968.
June 5: In the National League, John Belushi (.283, 5, 20) has gone from almost out of a job to Player of the Week in a pretty short span. This past week Belushi hit .500 (12-24) with 2 Hrs and 7 RBIs along with only 2 strikeouts. That last bit might be the biggest key, as Belushi is pro-rated to whiff close to 100 times per 550 at-bats this season (he's got 20 in 120 at-bats). Can he sustain the low K rate? If so, maybe he's legitimately a .280+ hitter.
June 5: The draft is today AHISTORICALLY BECAUSE IT SHOULD BE ON THE 6TH. Anyway, the first round...
1. Yanni, 17yo P/OF, Milwaukee
2. Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea, 18yo CF, Montreal
3. John Candy, 21yo RF, Chicago (AL)
4. Tom Petty, 21yo RF, Cleveland
5. Manny Trillo, 21yo CF, Cincinnati
6. Robert "The Chief" Parish, 18yo SP, San Francisco
7. William H Macy, 22yo SS, Kansas City
8. "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, 18yo CF, Chicago (NL)
9. "Dr." Phil McGraw, 21yo CF, San Diego
10. Billy Joel, 23yo 2B, Baltimore
11. Alan Moore, 18yo RF, Los Angeles
12. Rush Limbaugh, 21yo SP, New York (A)
13. Anatoly Karpov, 21yo CF, California
14. Bobby McFerrin, 22yo CF, Minnesota
15. Huey Lewis, 21yo SS, Pittsburgh
16. Ron "Opie" Howard, 18yo 3B, New York (N)
17. Douglas Adams, 20yo RF, Texas
18. Billy Ocean, 22yo LF, Philadelphia
19. Tony Blair, 19yo SS, St. Louis
20. Steve Prefontaine, 21yo SS, Oakland
21. Steve Van Zandt, 21yo C, Houston
22. Christopher Cross, 21yo CF, Detroit
23. Nouri al-Maliki, 21yo 1B, Atlanta
24. Kevin Nealon, 18yo CF, Boston
June 5: The A's, running way short on pitching, turned the ball over to new debutant Ronnie van Zant to face the Cleveland Indians today and... let's just say he did not exactly throw a no-hitter. The Southern Rock vocalist was chased in the 4th inning after allowing 9 earned runs and that got the A's to 20 losses (22-20). The Indians, by the way, have won 5 straight and have clawed their way back to a .500 record (20-20). A low-round pick (13th in 1969) made good, van Zant actually played American Legion ball in real life and at one point thought he might become a pro ballplayer. Well, in this universe... results are mixed.
June 6: The Orioles hope that 21 year old Bill Murray (.282, 16, 40 at AAA Rochester) can keep up what he was doing in the minor leagues because the named starter at 2nd, Alex Perez (.214, 0, 4) will miss the season with a torn ACL. In a sense this is probably worse news for Perez than it is for the O's, as Perez was really just a placeholder between the departed Danny Fager (.239, 1, 7 with the Dodgers) and Murray.
June 6: In the midst of an 8 run 9th inning the Angels ran into a minor disaster as C Sean Dennehy (.176, 0, 7), pinch-hitting for today's starter Eddie Dimmock (.250, 0, 8), pulled up lame on a double and had to be taken out of the game. As a result the Angels were forced to use 3B Reilly Peternek (.182, 0, 1), who last played the position in high school, for the bottom of the inning. He did allow a wild pitch but otherwise was good enough to allow his team to escape with a 10-5 victory. It also doesn't look like Dennehy's hamstring injury is not serious, although he'll probably sit out the next few games as a precaution.
June 6: It's still early enough to right the ship, of course, but the Boston Red Sox (20-20, 3rd AL East) are in an absolute freefall right now. Today's 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox (20-23) was their 9th straight and carries them all the way down to .500. To make matters worse, they're being sunk by bad play from regulars / star players, most notably 1B Mike Miller (.242, 6, 19), a career .293 hitter, and SS Oniji Handa (.195, 2, 9), who I guess in fairness did start to fall off last year a bit, although he's also still a career .280 hitter. The Bosox still have the fewest runs allowed in the AL and are 4th in the majors in ERA but man, the hitting...
June 7: The US Department of Labor issued the first regulations in America to limit exposure to asbestos. At the time there were 200,000 workers in the asbestos industry. It's a little crazy how we went from "miracle rock" to "murder rock" in a relatively short amount of time because by the 90s there really was no "asbestos industry" to speak of.
June 7: The 1950s nostalgia musical Grease begane the first of 3,388 performances on Broadway, running until April 13, 1980.
June 7: A measurable amount of rain (more than 0.01 inches) fell on Phoenix, Arizona for the first time since the start of the year after a drought in the city that had lasted for 160 days, a record for any major US city. I lived in Phoenix for a year and a half and this is accurate.
June 7: EM Forster, the British novelist who wrote "A Passage to India" among other novels, died today at the age of 91.
June 7: Cardinals OF Elijah Johnson (.238, 1, 4), who was expected to return soon, saw his shoulder tendinitis flare up and now is gone until the end of the month at the earliest. Johnson, 38, is an 11 time Gold Glover who slipped into a key 4th outfielder role for the pennant-winning Cardinals.
June 7: Speaking of injury-prone NL centerfielders... the Dodgers' Butch Magana (.205, 0, 1), who hasn't set foot on a baseball diamond since Septemper 1 of last year, suffered a setback in his recovery from a broken kneecap and now will be out until September if he returns this season at all. Magana was set to be the Dodgers' starting CF going into last season but got hurt and could never seem to quite catch a break. He won't turn 26 until August so there's still time for him to have a career but he'll need to, you know, get and stay healthy first.
June 8: A South Vietnamese village outside of Trang Bang was accidentally bombed by napalm by the South Vietnamese Army shortly after 11:30AM. 21 year old Vietnamese-American photographer Nick Ut took a photograph of a 9 year old girl Phan Thi Kimp Phuc, which later won a Pulitzer Prize and became synonymous with the horrors of war in Vietnam. Phuc survived the war, defected to Canada along with her husband in 1992, and was granted Canadian citizenship in 1997.
June 8: Texas looked like they were going to be on the receiving end of a no-hitter tonight against John Carpenter (2-6. 2.89) and the lowly Yankees. They didn't get their first hit against the horrific director-to-be until the 7th and only got 2 on the night total. That's also all the hits they needed as they took down the punchless Bronx... Goners 1-0. IF Tyler Knight (.225, 1, 7) came on to pinch-hit for George W. Bush (.171, 2, 9) in the 7th with 2 outs and a runner - RF Guillermo Thompson (.133, 0, 0 with TEX) in scoring position. At first it looked like Carpenter had gotten out of the inning but then Yankees RF Phil Hartman (.242, 2, 5) muffed an easy foul ball to give Knight another chance. Knight lined the following pitch up the middle for the base hit and what turned out to be the winning run. The Yankees (10-35) are on pace to hold the worst record in MLB history. The current record for futility belongs to the expansion Montreal Expos, who went 48-114 in 1969.
June 9: At 10:45PM, the Canyon Lake Dam at Rapid City, South Dakota gave way under the pressure of a downpour, sending millions of gallons of water through the city, claiming 238 lives with 3.057 injured and 700 homes destroyed in the process. Total damages for the tragedy, known as the Black Hills Flood, amounted to $165M.
June 9: Red Sox LF Bruce Springsteen (.271, 5, 17), signed to a ten record deal with CBS Records today.
June 9: Dodger PH/OF Jamal Rhone (.171, 0, 0), who hasn't exactly been hitting like a guy who was going to keep a job anyway, announced that he's accepting a contract to announce games with the Dodgers Television Network after the season and as such will be retiring. Rhone never made the All-Star Game but contribruted to two Dodgers World Series victories in 1959 and 1968 and has been a fan favorite in LA for years.
June 9: Looks like Boston is back, baby! After dropping to .500 with 9 straight losses, the Red Sox have now won 2 in a row with tonight's 8-1 romp over the Angels. Marco Sanchez (4-5, 1.91) went all the way, giving up 6 hits and striking out 8 and this time getting a whole bunch of run support. 1B Mike Miller (.247, 8, 23), who's been in a downturn all year long, was an especial star, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs, 2 RBIs, and a homerun. "We know we're all pretty good," Miller said after the game. "We just need to hit more."
June 9: Cardinals C John Stuart (.288, 6, 22), hitting only .238 for the month but with 3 HRs in 21 at-bats, had to be taken out of the game early after getting hit in the head by a pitch. Fortunately it doesn't look like he's badly hurt, but the St. Louis front office will nevertheless take it easy with the 4-time All-Star and will bring up 24 year old Australian actor/backstop Jonathan Hyde (.297, 4, 16). The Cardinals sit at 29-20, tied for 2nd in the NL West, and really hope this Hyde kid fights pitching the way he's rumored to fight mummies (or did he awaken the mummy? Look, it's been like 20 years since that movie came out).
June 10: Barbara Jordan, President Pro Tempore of the Texas State Senate, was sworn in as Acting Governor of Texas for one day as Governor Preston Smith and Lieutentant Governor Ben Barnes were absent. In doing so, Jordan became the first African-American woman in history to serve as a state Governor.
June 10: Sometimes when you want to get something done, you've got to do it yourself. That's the case with Yankees, um, top pitcher Tracy Mosher (3-8, 3.68) today. Not only did he throw a 4-hit shutout against the Kansas City Royals, Mosher went 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs, including a 4th inning triple. The three-base hit was Mosher's 2nd of his career and first since 1965. "I wanted to stay at second base," said Mosher after the game, "but Roger [Forbes, the Yankees' 3rd base coach] kept waving me on." Even with the win, the Yankees are sitting at 11-36 on the season and are on pace to set records for overall futility with a .234 winning percentage as well as the fewest runs per game (Houston in 1968 scored 427 runs for 2.6 per game; so far the Yanks have scored 2.4).
June 10: The Giants' Josh Matthews (6-4, 2.41) took a while to get into NL shape but he was in his best form tonight. He scattered 6 hits in a complete game shutout over the Cubs and needed to be exactly that good as his teammates only got a single run out of the Cubs' ace Bill Lucas (4-5, 3.36). Lucas himself had an awful year last year (8-15, 5.17) and had gotten off to a rough start but has allowed just 1 run in 17 innings in his last 2 outings. "Pitching's like fishing," said the Kansas City native. "You just go whatever gets bites and... what was I saying again?"
June 10: Man, if this is the real Year of the Pitcher, call this the Day of the Pitcher. The Padres' Steven Tyler (8-3, 2.66) finished a 3-hit shutout of his own against the Cardinals and led his (struggling) team to an 8-0 romp. 1B/3B Dale Earnhardt (.236, 4, 11) went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and a homerun to help win this one for San Diego. "If I had my choice, I wouldn't wear these dumb batting helmets," said Earnhardt following the game. "They're too restrictive."
June 11: "Deep Throat", the most famousest porno of all time, made its debut at the World Theatre in Manhattan. Made for $25,000, the film returned more than $600M worldwide.
June 11: Hey, 24 replaced the "copy to Facebook" link that nobody used with "copy to clipboard"! Anyway, here are the AL and NL All-Star votes so far...
Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 11th , 1972) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 25th , 1972. The top vote getter at this point is R.J. Domínguez with 247,546 votes.
CATCHER
1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 156,604
2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 137,464
3. Khalil Tabb, New York Yankees: 119,972
FIRST BASE
1. Ernesto Garcia, Cleveland Indians: 247,471
2. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 191,515
3. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 188,970
SECOND BASE
1. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 171,840
2. Daniel Gilmet, Minnesota Twins: 155,846
3. Israel Gaytan, Oakland Athletics: 142,752
THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 218,129
2. Marco Perez, Baltimore Orioles: 188,483
3. Mike Brookes, Minnesota Twins: 187,544
SHORTSTOP
1. Justin Ramey, Minnesota Twins: 160,728
2. Richard Simmons, California Angels: 140,506
3. Michael Luna, Texas Rangers: 120,103
LEFT FIELD
1. R.J. Domínguez, Kansas City Royals: 247,546
2. Lou Morgenstern, California Angels: 140,385
3. Jeff Franks, Minnesota Twins: 121,644
CENTER FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 238,420
2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 215,882
3. Carlos Hernandez, California Angels: 108,053
RIGHT FIELD
1. Chris Tyree, California Angels: 178,043
2. Tom Brown, Boston Red Sox: 177,511
3. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 157,638
STARTING PITCHER
1. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 113,912
2. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 111,386
3. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 105,966
4. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 105,525
5. Jose Martinez, Cleveland Indians: 100,120
RELIEVER
1. Sandy Hinojosa, Boston Red Sox: 148,602
2. Montay Luiso, Baltimore Orioles: 136,694
3. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 134,842
4. Jake Duckett, Cleveland Indians: 116,168
5. Phil Bowman, Baltimore Orioles: 116,117
To date Domínguez has a .266 career batting average and has totaled 49 home runs.
Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 11th , 1972) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 25th , 1972. The top vote getter at this point is Justin Stone with 230,272 votes.
CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 207,238
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 183,712
3. Armando Flores, Atlanta Braves: 145,634
FIRST BASE
1. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 230,272
2. Antonio Lopez, Chicago Cubs: 219,073
3. Joshua Waltenbery, New York Mets: 209,218
SECOND BASE
1. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 230,232
2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 196,477
3. Pedro Ortiz, Cincinnati Reds: 163,859
THIRD BASE
1. Mike Galeana, St. Louis Cardinals: 152,495
2. Vicente Luna, Atlanta Braves: 143,500
3. Nate Rowe, Philadelphia Phillies: 129,617
SHORTSTOP
1. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 181,205
2. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 179,059
3. Akiho Fujimoto, San Francisco Giants: 150,640
LEFT FIELD
1. Rafael Disla, St. Louis Cardinals: 176,633
2. Alonzo Huanosta, Cincinnati Reds: 162,528
3. Justin Lawson, Pittsburgh Pirates: 157,839
CENTER FIELD
1. Alex Vallejo, Chicago Cubs: 217,496
2. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 183,754
3. Bryant Tarala, Philadelphia Phillies: 165,522
RIGHT FIELD
1. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 218,940
2. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 183,335
3. Casey Satterfield, St. Louis Cardinals: 163,186
STARTING PITCHER
1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 84,445
2. George House, Atlanta Braves: 76,089
3. Santos Arango, Pittsburgh Pirates: 72,978
4. Steve Waiters, Cincinnati Reds: 70,537
5. Ben Feldhusen, San Diego Padres: 63,907
RELIEVER
1. John Winn, Atlanta Braves: 108,590
2. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 89,102
3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 83,716
4. Charlie Bechtel, San Francisco Giants: 71,658
5. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 65,875
Over his 1647-game career Stone has compiled a .323 batting average and collected 2052 hits, 440 home runs and 1307 RBIs.
June 11: I talked about the divebombing Red Sox a few days ago and there's always a flip side in this league! That team in the AL is, I guess, the Cleveland Indians (23-22, 5th AL East). The Tribe did lose 2 of 3 vs Oakland at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in a mid-week series, but they just beat the top-of-the-West Twins 8-3 to wrap up a 3-game sweep where they scored 23 runs. 1B Ernesto Garcia (.286, 17, 46), who's now one hot week from being on pace to break the all-time HR record, blasted a grand salami in the wrap-up game today and Robbie "Hagrid" Coltrane (5-4, 2.58) just barely missed getting his 4th complete game in 10 tries as he fell apart in the 9th - setup man Elias Sanchez (0-0, 6.11) did come in with the bases loaded and 2 men out and mostly got out of that inning free. "I am what I am and I'm not ashamed," said Coltrane following this one. The Indians are 8-2 so far in June.
June 11: Hot Brewers prospect / possible wizard 2B James Hong (.053, 0, 1) hit a whole bunch of HRs in the first third of the season in the minors but his rookie debut has not been sparkling so far. He finally got the first hit of his career tonight after starting it 0-18, a single off of White Sox long reliever Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell (4-3, 4.07), aka The Mountain of Stone Mountain. He was immediately erased on a 1B Sergio Sicre (.353, 0, 0) fielder's choice. Welcome to the big leagues, James! The Brewers won the game 7-0 on the backs of a 3-hitter by hard-throwing righty Omar Jiminez (2-0, 0.60), who also made his major league debut this week.
Incidentally, Milwaukee held Chicago scoreless in the 2nd game of this double-header too, winning 2-0 on a Chris Olivares (4-5, 2.90) 4-hitter, so the White Sox at least tied an unbreakable record for single-day futility (I have no way to look that up of course since the game doesn't track stuff like this but, you know, it's impossible to score fewer runs than 0).
## Teams in Review
June 6: The
Oakland Athletics (22-20, 3rd AL West, 6 GB) overachieved a lot last year and the chickens are coming home to roost a bit. They're not terrible by any means but in spite of winning 90 games last year they were actually outscored. This season continues that trend - they've been outscored 176-158 (which, the pitching has been baaaad) but are still somehow slightly over .500.
Rotation: I pre-emptively - mostly because everyone was tired - switched out to a 5 man rotation, promoting Ronnie Van Zant (0-1, 22.09), who got blown up yesterday to give the team L #20. He'll surely see more time in the future but he was an emergency pull in the first place so I'm going to send him down in favor of King Decker (8-2, 2.54 in AAA Iowa), who's been up before and who has done really well so far this year (well... the peripherals are somewhat meh but it's hard to argue with that ERA). Otherwise, Vince Akright (4-6, 4.02) has struggled as the top man in the rotation and his 3rd team in 3 years but I think he'll settle down. I'm a little less sanguine about Roberto Ortiz (3-2, 3.40), whose control issues have gotten really bad this yer (47 walks in 79.1 IP). At the end of the day it's hard to argue with his awesome stuff though.
Bullpen: The 'pen has been really bad for some reason. Willis Chavez (2-1, 3.38, 10 Sv) has been... fine as a co-closer, although a 3.38 ERA in this era isn't really all that great. His right-handed partner, the former union head in Chicago Ben Lamar (1-0, 4.70, 1 Sv) has had a rougher go of it but at least with him I'm primed to keep using him there as he's only 24 and had that closer-level stuff - 8.3 K/9 - last year in the Windy City. On the other hand, I am thiiiis close to cutting Rick Shelton (1-1, 5.32), who I have a little bit of an affinity for since he's a former Seattle Pilot but that really should mean nothing to the A's. Steve Tidwell (3-4, 4.67) straight up got demoted to the bullpen after a bad start that's also seeing him failing to miss bats (3.6 K/9 so far). Things are suuuch a mess here but I don't quite want to make changes just yet...
Infield: C "Texas" Josh Lewis (.259, 4, 19) (there's another Josh Lewis in the league) has struggled horribly against lefties so far - he's hitting just .133 against them (4-30) although the relative lack of strikeouts (only 5) tells me that this might just be a run of bad luck. He's also the team's 3-hole hitter and you need something north of .259 (he is hitting .292 against RHP). Even though both the starter and the backup are switch-hitters, I'm going to start plugging in Ramiro Gonzalez (.304, 0, 1) in there against LHPs pretty regularly. Catchers do need a lot of time off anyway, this frees up Texas Josh to pinch-hit, and hey, even Larry Walker sat against tough lefties.
3B Chase Jones (.215, 4, 15) is having a rough start and maybe a Jim Presley type turnaround to a really nice 1971 (I remember Presley due to him being a Mariner but in the 80s he had a couple of nice 30+ HR seasons and then fell off a cliff). He's not having a "I have to replace him right now" level of bad year but this is a "if he keeps hitting like this he is not the future of the club" performance so far. He's hitting .353 so far in June though! (6-17)
The early returns on SS Donald Fagen (.270, 0, 2) are that Matt Evenson (.274, 2, 12) might not have a job when he comes back in the 2nd half. Fagen is 2 years younger and a much better fielder and so if he can hit even reasonably well I think the job is his. By the way... 6th round pick in 1970 so he might have gotten a little bit of the good old TCR.
Outfield: LF Adam Groves (.212, 3, 10) seems like he's finally getting out of the big hole he dug for himself at the beginning of the year. Ideally he's a guy who gives you good power and also gets on base a lot but his average has been so low that the walk rate has only translated into a slightly better than average .318 OBP. Dan Field (.175, 0, 3) was kinda sorta supposed to be his caddy this year but he's not been hitting much at all so I'm going to send him down. He's also out of options and could be snapped up given that he's only a couple years removed from being a decent player for the Yankees. In any case, English rockstar done good Steve Winwood (.260, 4, 14 at AAA Iowa) is playing well and is a lefty so he's a better fit for this team anyway.
CF Jah Lloyd (.253, 2, 8) has played well enough that I think he's worth platooning with the incumbent David "Aperture Science" Mesa (.250, 0, 1). I think this team as a whole needs to be treated like a work in progress more than a contending team that should mostly stand pat. Mesa is, it should be noted, a far, far better fielder than Lloyd.
RF Richard Berman (.248, 2, 14) is another guy having a mediocre but not bad enough to replace year. Not much to say, really, except please start hitting, Mr. Berman! I'll start spelling him against RHPs with Jah Lloyd; both of them are right-handers but since Lloyd is already playing every game in CF against LHPs this just turns him into a half-time player to some degree, and as a meh defensive CF he makes a very, very good defensive RF.
June 6: I'm a little surprised it's taken this long for the
Milwaukee Brewers (18-20, 5th AL East, 6 1/2 GB) to get a review. Part of it's because they've played a little less than everyone else, but they're also surprisingly close to .500 so far. They've played the Yankees 5 times and you'd think that'd be why but nope, they're actually only 2-3 against the Bronx Goners (get it???). With an offense that's 20th in the majors in runs scored and a pitching staff that's 19th in ERA, 2 games below .500 is probably overachieving but hey, we'll see.
Rotation: Omar Jiminez (4-3, 2.54 at AAA Evanston) has been tearing it up in Indiana and desereves a look in the major leagues. The wins and losses do not tell the whole story there; he's struck out 92 batters in 85 IP and scouts love his change and his split-fingered fastball. To make room for him I'm demoting Jonas Youngblood (3-2, 3.63) into relief and DFAing John Labbe (1-1, 6.23). I'd be very, very surprised if anyone picks up the 31 year old who's just kicked around as a minor league free agent the past several years. This move also means that the Brew Crew have just one over-30 guy in their rotation, former Cub Victor Marin (2-5, 3.83), and right now he's also the worst performer so that may not last either. I will say in Marin's defense that he's much improved over last year (5-10, 4.19) and while he does not exactly have world-beating stuff, he's been very stingy at allowing walks so far (10 in 54 IPs, 1.7/9).
Bullpen: I'm dropping Landon Whittier (0-0, 11.74) into long relief on account of his being awful. He's still only 27 and has been good with Cleveland in the past so I don't want to cut bait just yet. He's just been veeeery wild - 9 walks in 7.2 IP - and hasn't been getting guys to strike out since he came over from the Tribe in June of last year.
Infield: I think the Adam Brown (.247, 2, 14) and Chris Flores (.207, 0, 4) semi-platoon (Flores plays every other game against LHPs) is just plain working, somehow so even though neither guy seems like the real answer I'm not going to touch it.
I do have to do something about Kozue Nakamura (.165, 2, 11), Milwaukee's All-Star representative last year who's literally hitting about half as many hits per at-bat as last year. What's going on here? Maybe some time in the minor leagues will help stort things out. Somehow he has no minor league options used - he was just kind of languishing in the Angels' minor league system until the Brewers picked him up in the Rule V draft. That also allows me to call up the failed Royals semi-prospect Sergio Sicre (.280, 5, 23 at AAA Evanston). Maybe "failed" is too harsh but I tried to get him to play in left and 2 years on, he's just not very good at it. He's a decent 1B though and he's a lefty with some power so hopefully he'll fit right in. Against lefties, the new 1B guy is Barney Leriche (.286, 0, 5), a guy who could never quite come through on his prodigious batting practice power in California.
I'm beginning to see why the Red Sox moved on from Dwayne Fraser (.261, 3, 15) at 2nd base last year even though he's still only 27. He's been very meh as a hitter, although .261 could just be a slump off of his .314 mark in 1970 over 573 at-bats. He's also a pretty bad fielder though with minus range and an arm that pretty much plants him at 2nd or left field. I'm going to start mixing in Wing-fung Yi (.273, 0, 4) a bit harder. Maybe I've been overlooking the former Yankees prospect all this time, I don't know. Yi's got a good eye and definitely fields the position better. The true long-term guy, "19" year old James Hong (.263, 12, 30) is... oh jeez, I didn't see the dingers. He's ready, isn't he. Looks like the Dwayne Fraser era is over already.
I'd really like to play Francisco Martinez (.196, 0, 3) more at 3rd but man... when he hits. 300 like he did in 1970, great. When he hits .252 like last year, it's a really empty .252 and he's one of the worst offensive 3rd basemen in baseball. When he hits .196... well, come on now. Mauro Magoni (.207, 4, 11) is 8 years older than the 25 year old Martinez, doesn't have that history as a .300 hitter, and clearly isn't going to be a part of the next/first good Brewers team, but of the two of them he's the one who's actually getting results so far. At that I guess he did hit .293 for the Red Sox back in 1968, a campaign that earned him his only All-Star trip, so there is that.
Given that neither Andrew Yeater (.194, 1, 3) nor Guido Temudo (.295, 1, 5) are considered great prospects, I don't think I have any issue just handing the job to the guy who's hitting. It doesn't hurt that Temudo is also the far better defensive player. Yeater can continue to play a bit against righties. Eric Biron (.311, 2, 8 at AAA Evanston) is also there but also doesn't field super well. Last year these 3 all got like 180ish at-bats; we can do better.
Outfield: Leriche getting PT at first base really moves things out for 1971 Rule V pick Jacquot Mazzucato (.306, 4, 12) to play more. If nothing else the Brewers have done really, really well in the Rule V draft.
I don't super like Ross Poynor (.276, 4, 14) as a center fielder but a. he's definitely hitting well enough to start for this team and b. he's only displacing Fernando Ceballos (.143, 0, 0), who won himself a Gold Glove last year but hits like a shortstop and not even an average shortstop at that. Dude had 15 extra base hits in 520 at-bats last year. That is soooo bad. The difference in handedness does make me want to use Ceballos every now and then against lefties to ensure that when Poynor does sit, it's not against RHPs.
June 6: If you go by FUN differential the
St. Louis Cardinals (25-20, 3rd NL East, 3 GB) should be in first place. By the numbers they've got the top offense in all of baseball and a very good pitching staff and defense as well (okay, maybe not defense; they're 8th in the NL in defensive efficiency, dead last in zone rating, and have committed the 3rd most errors). And it's early enough that 2 wins turned into losses is basically the difference. STILL. It's time to look at this team!
Rotation: I'm going to probably work back to a 5 man rotation once Raul Mendoza (2-5, 3.56), currently nursing a sore elbow, is healthy again. Even though this team is doing well statistically, that is a kind of a thin rotation. Roger Quintana (6-3, 1.91) has been excellent but his excellence has kind of come out of the blue and it's hard to trust him. Even with Mendoza back, there are two rough spots at the back of the rotation, currently filled by Edward James Olmos (2-1, 1.26), who was Cincinnati's closer for much of last year, and Future Villains Band drummer Joey Kramer (0-1, 4.50), who looks like he'll be a good starter but has all of 6 major league innings so far. Mario Garcia (2-1, 1.12) is still a couple weeks away from recovery from... gout (seriously, Mario? Are you a 400 pound 18th century monarch? How do you have the gout?) so this is where they'll have to be for a little while.
Bullpen: I guess the good news here is that in spite of the adversity - 3 guys projected to be on the pitching staff are currently on the DL - everyone seems to be doing pretty well. Closer Billy Munoz (0-4, 4.12, 6 Sv) is I guess the exception but he's fiiiine and I'm not going to demote him based on a bad 2 months. The next highest ERA in the 'pen belongs to lefty specialist Franklin Medrano (0-0, 3.68) and he's struck out 14 guys in 14.2 IP so I don't think he's actually been bad.
Infield: 1B TJ Tortorella (.242, 3, 12) is basically only filling a pinch-hitting role with Lorenzo Martinez (.228, 8, 20) back and healthy and that's not going to change any time soon. I'd say send him down to get more PT but the guy is already 28 and I think he is what he is. Probably better for trade fodder than anything else but even at that I think he'd be a guy who'd have some use on a bad team who in turn would not have a lot to give up in return.
Of course Tom Depew (.204, 4, 14) gets into his first prolonged slump in 4 years with the team after I've traded away his backup. Ugh. 2nd base is still his job to keep; as Jeronimo Argumedo (.080, 0, 3) answers nothing. That said, Barry Wilshire (.349, 0, 3 at AAA Tulsa) is tearing it up in the high minors, albeit in not a lot of at-bats, so I'll keep an eye on that (on the flip side, Argumedo hit .307/4/9 in 75 at-bats at the same level prior to his call-up this year so I should probably make sure I'm not throwing out the good for the OK).
3B Mike Galeana (.200, 10, 27) has also struggled to collect base hits but at least he's got that power. The .200 average does make it easier to focus on his downsides though: weirdly his K rate isn't high and he's not even that slow so I guess he's just a Justin Smoak style pop-up machine out there. His fielding is not great; he's not going to, like, post a sub-.900 fielding average or anything but he's not going to win a Gold Glove either. Anyway, what am I going on about? He's not going to lose this job.
I traded for Gil Wilson (.077, 0, 1) to provide a better hitting if worse fielding option for Brian Wilcox (.200, 2, 10). That hasn't worked out at all so far although to be fair Wilson still only has 26 at-bats with the Cards. I'll continue to work him in against RHP a good amount and also have him on the bench for when I inevitably want to pinch-hit for the notoriously light-hitting Wilson. Wilcox incidentally leads the team in steals, which is more of a sign of how slow these guys are than anything else.
Outfield: I've JUST ABOUT HAD IT with RF Casey Satterfield (.254, 8, 23), who opened the season like gangbusters, hit .196 last month, and so far in June is back to hitting .333. He needs to get that average up overall in order to be a real contributor because he doesn't have the power profile of a Lorenzo Martinez and if I'm being honest he's a defensive minus, especially in right (and he's not moving to left because Rafael Disla (.280. 5. 21), the 3-time All-Star and 2-time batting champion, is settled in there). I think Gilles Villeneuve (.111, 0, 0) may eventually supplant him, although definitely not yet and double-definitely not on a contender.
June 7: Don't look now but the
Boston Red Sox (20-20, 3rd AL East, 5 1/2 GB) have absolutely fallen off a cliff as of late. Their losing streak is now at 9 games and their run scoring has dipped to 8th in the league now (granted that they haven't played as many games as some teams). Pitching's been great. Hitting? Not so much.
Rotation: The rotation has been pushing really, really hard; it's almost a 3 1/2 man rotation the way it's working. I'm going to scale that back a bit over the next bunch of games. Guys are doing well for the most part outside of, ironically since I'm making the decision, the #4 man Brian Osborne (2-3, 4.09) but maybe with regular rest that can go even harder.
Bullpen: Like last year, the rotation means that even with 4 men, they really don't need 5 guys in the 'pen. Pat Holmgren (0-1, 1.54) has just 5 games played so far so I'll send him down to get more work. Otherwise, the bullpen is kind of not super great outside of Sandy Hinojosa (1-0, 0.82, 4 Sv), who's really taken to the closer role after a whole career as a starter, but they're not like 6.00 ERA bad, just "in the 3s in 1972" bad.
Infield: C Jeremy Dolak (.227, 0, 8) has mostly recovered from a bad start... in terms of pure average. He's got 2 extra base hits all season long, both doubles, and he's not walking much either. I'm going to start mixing in Sid Bartoszek (.300, 1, 3) a bit harder.
I want to do something about 2B Brian Long (.221, 1, 13), but what? I guess former A's starter and All-Star Chris Moore (.259, 2, 4), although at age 32 I don't think he's really starting material for a contending team. Long should be a lot better than this. Both Long and Moore are righties so unfortunately that leaves just spelling Long with Moore equally and seeing if that helps.
I'm really not seeing how Kristian Schneider (.238, 4, 21) made the All-Star Game last year; he was decidedly average. This year he's a step worse. I think I need to recall Edwin Madriles (.245, 4, 12) from the minors to use with Schneider in case he's legitimately going down. That also means cutting 34 year old LF Frank Meneses (.179, 1, 2) loose. Meneses has barely played this year and just doesn't figure into the team's plans.
I'm juuuust starting to spell Oniji Handa (.195, 2, 9) at short with Tony Escobedo (.125, 0, 1) about once a week. I don't know what's wrong with Handa; bad TCR I guess. He may have become a classic good-field, no-hit shortstop, which is still super valuable but might not make him the automatic Hall of Famer he looked like 2 years ago. On the other hand he's still only 28.
Outfield: CF Jon "The Astronaut" Glynn (.227, 2, 2) is back in a week but Brian Johnson (.325, 0, 2) has done more than just do a passable job as a replacement. Look out, Jon! Johnson's even a lefty (where Glynn bats right) so I can semi-platooninate them...
June 11: The
California Angels (29-20, T-1st, AL West) have been having themselves a nice season to date but they did run into the surging Red Sox this weekend and, earlier in the month, were one of Cleveland's latest victims, so they've reached 20 losses and therefore a deeper look. They've got the best scoring attack in the AL (7th overall), which, you know, is pretty nice, and their pitching is shaping up as well - 4th in both the American League and all of baseball. I guess if they have any issues it's a lack of power (25 Hrs, tied for 9th in the AL and 20th in the majors), but... they play in the Big A. Is that really a downside? Truth be told, this is a young and contending team that looks like they could just be the foil for the aging Twins.
Rotation: They've gotten it done so far with a strict 5 man rotation and I don't really see a lot of good reason to move away from that, at least not yet. Their ace Andy Ring (5-3, 1.76) seems like exactly a guy who thrives on regular rest - he went 18-10, 2.73 last year but only started 32 games, and it seems like his rough spots in the past have come when the Dodgers, his former team, tried to use him too much - he started 35 games in '69, went only 12-13, 3.81, and then an awful start to his 1970 campaign (3-8, 5.48) is what led him to the Dodgers. David "Macho" Camacho (7-1, 2.28) seems like if anything he's exceeding expectations and while it's theoretically nice to take away those starts from your worst starter to give them to your best, it seems like doing so might kill the proverbial goose.
Bullpen: The large rotation also means the Angels get to carry a 4 man bullpen, which has worked out really well for them - so far, 3 out of the 4 guys have sub-2 ERAs with only Joe Scott (0-0, 3.38), who has 1 earned run in 2.2 IP, as the outlier. Anyway, no need to change things here either.
Infield: It's probably time to just accept that we're trying to win now and that means that former Dodgers starting C Eddie Dimmock (.250, 1, 11) should do a full-on platoon with the incumbent Shaun Dennehy (.179, 1, 8). Dennehy should be better than this but that's not the point! He'll still play a lot but I want to pencil in Dimmock, a left-handed batter, for the lion's share of starts vs. RHPs.
1B Willie Vargas (.282, 1, 16) just kind of is who he is. Normally a .280s hitter with no power is not who you want at first base but in 1972 terms it's OK.
I've been kind of disappointed with Mauricio Mendez (.248, 4, 14) this year. For the past 2 years he's had to earn his way into the starting job and this season, having been handed the gig on a platter out of spring training, he's gotten off to the worst start of his career - a .150 (5-40) April. That said, he hit .254 last month and is at .280 so far in June so I guess things have turned around on their own.
3B Travis Corley (.200, 1, 17) is also disappointing and is kind of right there on the edge of being so bad I have to replace him. It's not just that he's lost 68 points of average so far, it's that he has absolutely no power whatsoever - a .234 SLG which means a 34 isolated power number, which is Wayne Tolleson levels of low. I've already got Wayne McSparren (.000, 0, 0) on schedule to fill in for him more and more, but man, I'd prefer some legit options - or, you know, for Corley to start hitting.
Outfield: Mostly what I want to do is find a place for CF Jaco Pastorius (.282, 1, 7), aka the GREATEST BASS PLAYER OF ALL TIME. I would make music puns but nobody would get them (Jaco played with a jazz fusion band called The Weather Report with Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul in the 70s and played on a song called "Birdland" which you will for sure know if you hear it). The thing is, Lou Morgenstern (.257, 4, 22) has provided the good power the Angels were hoping for when they traded for him in left field, CF Carlos Hernandez (.271, 2, 18) has looked exactly like what the Indians gave up when they chose Ernesto Garcia over him, and RF Chris Tyree (.322, 2, 24) looks like the team's #3 hitter for the next 5 years. Where to put the man? Theoretically he could play 1st or 2nd as well but I think you want to keep him in the outfield where his amazing range can be best be put to use.