[ayaghmour2]

I had an active couple of days right after the spring ended, working to put together a pair of trades. The first one was processed on the one-day sim, so we'll have active of what I hope is our long-term #1. A pitcher I've been enamored with since the quick-play era, we acquired highly acclaimed hurler Don Griffin from the Boston Minutemen, parting with veteran starter Andy Logue, and our would be Opening Day right fielder Bobby Martinez. Parting with Martinez was not easy, nor was losing Andy Logue's captaincy, but for Doc Griffin?

Sign me up!

Taken with the 7th pick of the 1955 draft, the imposing 6'4'' righty debuted after 12 relief appearances, even finishing off the year with 32 relief outings for Boston. They weren't great, but it might have gotten the jitters out, as the next year a 19-year-old Griffin took the stopper spot in the Minutemen pen, making a Fed high 69 appearances with a Fed high 19 saves. A near even 5-7, the poised youngster worked to a 2.74 ERA (149 ERA+), 1.31 WHIP, and 54 strikeouts in 98.2 innings pitched. As you'd expect, he'd start next season in the same role, but what you probably didn't gather is that Doc is a natural starter. Even though his 105 professional appearances were out of the pen, he started 55 of his 55 games in a nice four year career. Now 20, he bounced between the late innings and the rotation, starting 19 of 54 appearances. He was almost equally effective, 12-6 with 7 saves, a 2.73 ERA (150 ERA+), 1.28 WHIP, and 95 strikeouts.

What came next was one of the best three year stretches out there, as "Doc" took care of business year in and year out. In each of those three years, he led the Fed in FIP, FIP-, WHIP, K/BB, and WAR, while also leading in wins (1960), ERA (1958, 1960), starts (1959, 1960), and strikeouts (1960). In that three year span, he threw 719 innings, due to ninth among all FABL pitchers. He led in ERA (2.65), FIP (2.44), WAR (28.66), wins (57), quality starts (77), WHIP (1.03), and BB% (4.14). Don't forget the stats like FIP- and K/BB he led in each year, and there's a reason he was a 4-Time All-Star and Allen winner.

But then the AI did something insane. They sent him to the pen.

I mean, sure he doesn't have much stamina, but it's not like he ever did, and his 28.7 WAR in those three years would rank 22nd among all active pitchers, with Griffin of course one of the 21 ahead. Why you'd stop using said player every fifth game is beyond me, and I realized that I could never let that happen again.

Last season when humans returned, he did start 22 of his 40 games, and while I wanted to try to trade for him the second we went live, I decided to take a step back and see what happened. Inspired by how good Jack Gibson was in his first week back, I decided to go for it, and set up the framework to acquire arguably my favorite player in the file. Before it became Logue and Martinez, there were dozens of potential combinations, as I was willing to move one of my SPs who weren't Champ, Ellis, and Stone, and depending on the SP used, any prospect that wasn't Grimm or Dode.

Not a single pitcher has what Dixie Marsh would call "5" movement potential, and just five pitchers have "5" control. Plenty of dudes have "5" stuff, even Cougar farmhand Art Ozburn, but only one has "4" movement and control. I'm sure you can deduce that the pitcher meeting those elite criteria is French Mack, so when I say Doc Griffin is one of just four FABL pitchers ranked 4/4/4, you know just how good that could be.

The ratings stuff is all gravy, so once Dixie gets back with his better then average report in a week, those numbers could change, but what won't chance is his Boston career numbers. In 1,312 innings, he'll finish with 99 wins, as it seems like I've subconsciously poached pitchers who were about to win their 100th career game. Impressively, he has more saves (64) then losses (64), though you'd expect that with a 2.84 ERA (151 ERA+), 2.71 FIP (63 FIP-), and 1.14 WHIP. With 934 strikeouts and 290 walks, he's got an excellent 3.2 K/BB, 17.3 K%, and 5.4 BB%. Even for an extremely talented pitcher, it's going to be tough to match those numbers this year, or even ever, but despite what the game and a lot of AI managers and GMs think, he's one of the best SPs in the game.

He last pitched on the 5th, finishing his spring 3-0, so he won't be ready for our opener hosting the Wranglers. Instead, he'll follow Ellis and Champ, ironically pitching in the same spot Logue did. Of course, we didn't make this trade for a new #3, as from this point on I'm going to do almost anything to make sure that he can pitch every fifth day until the All-Star break. When he ends up starting that game, it'll throw off the calculus, but we'll figure a new day for him to start the every fifth day schedule. The reason I want him pitching so much is because he's just absolutely dominant, and most importantly he almost never allows a home run. He's allowed just 71, and I'm sure this season is the first time he'll have a chance to allow more then the 14 he allowed in 1958.

An elite sinker is the key to him keeping the ball in the park, as it's one of the best pitches out there. At 95-97, it's tough to time out, and it creates an insane amount of movement. Working off of it, his curve and change are both wipeout pitches, and he can turn to an average fastball and forkball if he isn't feeling his usual stuff. The obvious weakness is the stamina, I don't think he can go much more then 100, but we have the perfect weapons in the pen to make up for it. I can see plenty of Doc, to Archie, to Pug games, our high stamina stopper/setup duo can more then pick of the slack if Doc is out after 5 or 6. On top of that, both Earle Turner and Bob Allen are multi-inning guys, and even if we start the season with a four man pen I'm not worried in the slightest

Doc was initially going to lead a six man rotation, but a real life day after that trade, I was able to avoid deciding between Henry Henderson, Ken Stone, or both.

Or at least, I choice not to option either, as Henderson was sent to Brooklyn for unintentionally the exact same package they received for current Cougar catcher Dutch Miller.

So yeah, when anyone (they won't) asks who won the Pioneer/King trade on October 20th, 1961 (the Kings) you can say the Chicago Cougars!

That's because even though we weren't involved, less then two years later all the players were in our system, as we traded our talented young lefty for Cal Randall and Whitey Gates.

With Randall, I filled our third base hole and our recently created captain hole, as the soon-to-be 27-year-old will join us after the week ends. The former 11th pick of the 1953 draft, "Bucky" is ready to start his fifth FABL season, and it will be with his third team in as many seasons. The Wichita native may hope he found his forever home now, and he's coming off back-to-back seasons with a slightly above average OPS+ and WRC+. Known more for the glove, he does have a solid .278/.334/.402 (98 OPS+) career line, so he's not anywhere near an automatic out. What he is automatic with is fielding, as he's got a 5 for error rating with a plus-plus arm, double play turn, and range. If we didn't have a Tom Halliday, he'd be the shortstop, as despite middling numbers this year he's outstanding there.

Paired with Halliday, we should now have the best defensive left side of the infield, and if the bat isn't coming around, he could even platoon with George McKee. As a righty, Randall will be on the short side, but I could start by just giving him rest against tougher righties. Of course, should someone get hurt, Randall is the guy to move around, as he could replace Gibson at second or Halliday at short. This would allow McKee or Mooney Vetter to go to the hot corner, leaving us someone protected from injury. Plus he's got way to go before he's 30, and there could be a little more to unlock from his bat.

Last, there's Whitey Gaines, who will bridge the near 300 prospect gap between Jim Place (65th) and Ed Wells in our system. Currently 171st, he's likely our 11th best prospect after the trade, and is an interesting five pitch righty from Florida. Taken in the 5th Round of the 1959 draft, he missed nearly all of last season with a torn flexor tendon, but it hasn't seemed to impact his stuff or stamina. Now healthy and 21, the 6'4' southpaw projects to fill a back-end spot, but I think there's more value to be extracted. The fastball/curveball mix is already good, and his mid 90s heater looks faster then it is. He keeps the ball in the park too, and at least prior to the injury he had nice command. That's something I'll be monitoring early on, as it was always a relative weakness of his. He'll live and die by his stuff, which could be a weapon if harnessed. A bit of a gamble, it does hedge our bets, as Henderson is definitely more valuable then Randall. But by getting a nice young arm to replace him and a reasonably proven option to fill one of our weak spots, it could help be a win even if Henderson does what many of the pitchers we've sent to the Kings does.