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MARCH 13, 1956 . . . As spring training begins, we made a small trade with the Brooklyn Dodgers, sending them 28-year-old catcher Bub Durreto in exchange for 35-year-old right handed starter Larry Jansen. Durreto was unhappy potentially spending another year in the minors, and we felt the value Jansen offers as a veteran in the bullpen is worth moving a disgruntled player for.
MARCH 30, 1956 . . . Bob Purkey was injured in a spring training game, suffering a strained shoulder, and will need to miss at least the next month of action.
APRIL 16, 1956 . . . One day away from the first real game of the new season and we got bad news about Bud Watkins. He is suffering from severe shoulder inflamation and is now expected to be out for the season. Already a borderline player, Watkins’ career may not have much gas left in the tank, but for now we’ve added him to our 60-Day IL and will see how he recovers. Spring training has progressed well for us, and based on his strong performances in these early exercises, we’ve bumped Koufax up to our #3 starter, just a hair ahead of Pascual who will remain our #4 starter. Our owner fully expects us to be back in the World Series in the fall, and expectations are high everywhere in the organization.
Robert Diehl, meanwhile, has been the biggest mystery of our offseason ... after having such a strong first half of the season, he did notably struggle to find his form in the back half, including in his one World Series appearance. This spring he has been suffering from what I can only call the Yips, and though he expects to play in the majors, he’s struggling to even find the plate and we’ve sent him back down to the minors to try and work things out with our team pitching gurus. As it stands right now if he can’t figure something out quickly he is unlikely to find his way back to Wrigley.
As such, we’ll be using a four-man rotation to start the season, with Cohen and Rogovin as our aces, Koufax and Pascual going third and fourth. Hersh Freeman will be our closer, while Harry Dorish and Mike McCormick handle middle relief. Larry Jansen and Bob Porterfield will be available for longer relief efforts, and as potential doubleheader starters if necessary. Epitacio Torres has suffered some wear and tear on his shoulder and will be starting the year out in AAA Los Angeles. At 34, he’s glad to still be able to play this game, though he hopes to again get the chance to be called up to the majors. The rapid degredation of Diehl’s skills may have us actively searching for an MLB-level starter replacement by midseason, however, because while our staff is incredibly talented, we don’t have a great deal of minor league starters who are able to make the move upward if we do wind up with injury issues.
Our opening day lineup is expected to be as follows:
1. Al Kaline (RF)
2. Alonso Perry (1B)
3. Jackie Robinson (2B)
4. Willie Mays (CF)
5. Ernie Banks (SS)
6. Roger Maris (LF)
7. Al Rosen (3B)
8. Del Crandall (C)
Starter: Hy Cohen
We play Milwaukee on the road on the 17th and 19th with a day off in between. We then open the season at Wrigley on the 20th against the Redlegs, the first of a four-game series over the weekend. We then play Milwaukee for one game on the 24th, St. Louis on the road on the 25th, and then a four-game weekend series at Cincinnati from the 27th through the 29th.
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