You know what time it is! It's the return of fake baseball!!!!!!!!!!!
All 16 FABL teams have reported to their spring homes, as a crisp wind of optimism and excitement engulfs the team's training camp. This is the best time of the year. Where everyone is level and all 16 teams can believe that this is truly their year. As always, we hope and think that this one is ours, but with little movement in the Continental Association, we'll once again enter the season with the best roster. On paper.
That means there's very little left to decide. I know what our rotation will look like. The lineup is pretty much set one through seven, and the eighth is about as secure as it gets. Unless we have an injury or a fringe starter (please be Leo Mitchell) has an insane spring, all the movement will be on the edges. The most interesting man in camp might be 42-year-old Doc Love, who was at one time one of the best hitters in our lineup. That was, at least until a 25-year-old future team leader stole the starting left field job and held that spot until, well... Now.
Love won't make the team, but when I saw him sitting around in free agency, I had to tender him a minor league contract. One way or another, the 1937 All-Star will make his 4,043rd FABL plate appearance. He may not have been the greatest player to play the game, but he was a key contributor for four seasons. A 6th Round Pick from the 1927 draft, he debuted at 24 with the Dynamos in 1931. The outfielder spent his first three seasons on their bench, despite above average OPS+ numbers. More importantly he had a 151 WRC+ in 1932 followed by a near identical 150, this time with nine more trips to the plate.
In need of another bat after our embarrassing series with the Minuteman, I paid a premium to acquire the slugger with just two career home runs.
Jose Serna and our 3rd Round Pick went to Detroit, and his career finally took off. After just 259 PAs split across three seasons, Love stepped into the box 662 times, and hit an outstanding .325/.381/.511 (142 OPS+). He slugged 21 homers with 22 doubles and 13 triples while walking (57) twice as often as he struck out (24). He drove in 98 runs and scored an impressive 109 times, and was worth 4.4 WAR in 149 games. The next three seasons followed the same pattern, and while he never quite replicated that stellar production, he ended his Cougar career with an excellent .313/.359/.478 (126 OPS+) batting line in nearly 3,000 plate appearances. I'll cover him more either when he appears in a game or ends up retiring, but he had a truly interesting career that will span twenty four seasons.
Doc will be one of 57 players in camp, but I'm sure he'll be in line for plenty of the autographs. Below are the players and their positions, and as always, players denoted with an asterisk are locks for the final 24-man roster.
RHP Bill Ballantine
RHP Harry Beardsley
LHP Ron Berry
RHP Roscoe Brown
LHP Duke Bybee*
RHP Harry Carter
RHP Joe Foote
RHP Jack Hale
LHP Bob Hobbs
RHP Donnie Jones*
LHP Johnnie Jones*
RHP Zane Kelley
RHP Charlie Kelsey
LHP Jim Kenny
RHP Harry MacRae
RHP Ken Matson
RHP George Oddo*
RHP Pete Papenfus*
RHP Harry Parker
RHP Bill Ross
LHP Frank Sartori
RHP Chet Williams
C Mike Bordes
C Eddie Howard*
C Harry Mead*
C Bob Mundy
1B Red Bond*
1B Ray Ford
1B Lou Thomas
2B Clark Car*
2B Johnny Carlisle
2B Al Clement
2B Eddie Curtis
2B Billy Hunter*
2B Bob Schmelz
3B Otto Christian
3B Jim Jenkins
3B Walt Pack*
SS Joe Dackett
SS George Dawson
SS Elmer Grace
SS Bill Graham
SS Skipper Schneider*
SS George Sutterfield
LF Luke Berry
LF Ducky Cole
LF Chubby Hall
LF Don Jeppsen
LF Leo Mitchell*
LF Hal Sharp*
CF Don Lee
CF Sal Pestilli*
CF Johnny Peters
RF Bob Allen
RF Jimmy Hairston
RF Doc Love
RF Carlos Montes*
Theoretically, this could be the end (or at least a pause) for a lot of multi-year roster members, as we have a lot of interesting options fighting for spots on the bench or in the pen. I'm not sure which one is more exciting, but there are some exciting players to watch. I'm interested in what Zane Kelley and Johnny Peters will do, as while I don't expect either making the final roster, a strong spring could change my mind. With a full 40, I wouldn't be opposed to DFA'ing a few guys, which could leave an opening for either of these CWL standouts. I'm leaning towards starting the season with Hal Sharp in left and Carlos Montes in right, but if Johnny Peters keeps hitting dingers, why not give him a shot in a starting role. He just turned 25, he's a former 3rd Pick, and has spent time as a top-25 prospect. The talents always been there and he's hit well in the upper levels too. He deserves a shot, but it's hard to give him time with all the good vets we have in camp. If they struggle, he'll come up as long as he's himself, but it's hard to cut bait on guys who have been with you for a long time.
We'll get a week of games tomorrow, but with the weekend following it will feel like a tease. With a full seven games, Peter the Heater will start twice, with all five rotation members following the opener with the Stars. The previously mentioned Zane Kelley will start game six against the Cannons, and depending on how it goes he may get a few more. I definitely want to see Eddie Howard make a start, and that'll likely come next week, but if Kelley looks good he'll get the start following. He has a chance for the rotation and the pen, as with a decent amount of double headers this year I might opt to use a sixth starter at times. But at just 23, he might still be best suited starting every day in the minors, and a full slate of three options will work against him with all the out-of-options arms I don't want to say good bye to yet. I hope we can stay healthy, but luckily with our depth we should be able to weather a few injuries from our non-star players.
Oh yeah, and the WRC+ adjustments did their thing again. Leo Mitchell was now an above average (101) hitter last year. Yay? I guess we could use another above average hitter!