[jksander]

DECEMBER 24, 1956 . . . Last week we signed right-handed reliever Bob Miller as our first round draft pick, and he has agreed to a minor league contract with a bonus worth $11,000. Right now he is a two star player with 3.5 star potential, excellent movement and control, with a lot of upside and not a lot of experience. He has future closer written all over him, which fits our goals as eventually we hope long term for Koufax to develop into a starter. Miller will spend this year with AA Des Moines while he gets his feet wet, but has potential to move up to AAA if he does well. We signed right fielder Stan Johnson, a solid 2.5 star prospect, in the second round and he officially signed for $5,000. His gap power and baserunning skills drew our attention, and our scouts say he could develop into another solid contact hitter overall, with reasonable eye though his outfield arm is going to need time to develop to major league levels. At this point he’ll spend his first season with the AA Burlington Bees where we’ll see if his solid work ethic pays dividends. The rest of our draft was inconsequential.

The St. Louis Cardinals drafted 21-year-old pitching phenom Bob Gibson #1 in the first round, but they’ve yet to officially sign him. If ownership fails to pull off a deal with Gibson, it will go down as the biggest bonehead move in major league history, because that kid’s got “Cards Ace of the Future” written all over him. No compensation pick in the world will make up for losing out on him if they fail.

JANUARY 3, 1957 . . . It took them $24,000 as a bonus, but the Cardinals signed Bob Gibson. Not sure if he’ll be ready to start for them this year, but if he does, they should definitely win some games.

JANUARY 16, 1957 . . . In a down year in the ballotting for entry into the Hall of Fame, no one player garnered enough votes to make it through, though Arky Vaughan did get 74.3 percent in his third year on the ballot -- close, but no cigar, Arky! Starters Bill Lee and Schoolboy Rowe dropped off the ballot in their fourth and third years respectively, while right fielder Wally Moses only got 0.3% of the vote, falling off in his first year of eligibility.
 
MARCH 11, 1957 . . . Spring training is upon us! In addition to the 37 players on our current 40-man roster, we’ve decided to invite some others who are in our minor league system to participate, to gauge how they have developed and wheteher any may be ready to be considered for callups this season. Those who aren’t on the 40-man roster include 2B Earl Dreisenbach, age 23, who is coming up from AAA Portland, as well as recent draftees Bob Miller and Stan Johnson. Meanwhile, with our bullpen looking stronger than ever, my pitching coaches will be evaulating Sandy Koufax as our potential fourth starter, behind Cohen, Rogovin and Pascual. His stamina has improved dramatically during the offseason training he’s undergone, and his fastball and curveball have developed significantly, to go along with his above-average forkball and changeup.

We do not play any games on opening day this year, which is scheduled for April 15. Instead, we’ll open the 1957 season with a home game against the Milwaukee Braves here at Wrigley, followed by four road games against St. Louis, two road games against Milwaukee and two road games against Cincinnati, before getting a three-game weekend stretch against St. Louis at Wrigley from April 26-28. We won’t get our first taste of the upgraded Brooklyn roster until April 30th, when we’ll travel to play the Dodgers for two in a row and then Philly on the road for three. It’s a tough-looking schedule for our two-time world champs, not getting to start a legitimate home stretch until the middle of May.

We’ve had some player development updates come in from our scouts after offseason workouts, and it is becoming clear that Bob Porterfield’s arm has fallen off considerably this offseason. At this point he’s likely a two-star player at best, and we’ve gone ahead and designated him for assignment so we can place him in our minor league system. If he isn’t picked up off waivers, he’ll either go back to the minors or we’ll have to release him, as he no longer has the stuff to compete at the major league level. 27-year-old Bob Purkey, however, has seen solid improvement in both control and stamina, and his above average fastball / sinker / slider combo should get him through a lot of relief innings this season. Al Kaline has also developed well over the offseason months, continuing to see significant development in his defensive abilities which were already among the best at his position.