[ayaghmour2]

As you all know that I just absolutely cannot help myself, I made a very big trade and maybe even the biggest trade I've ever made. It's been so long I'm not really sure.

But it is a doozy!

As I'm prone to, I added yet-another third basemen in his 30s like I did with Joe Masters, John Lawson, Walt Pack, and Hal Wood, and tried to with Lloyd Coulter in a trade that happened but didn't really happen.

Though you could put all of those guys together in their primes and it wouldn't even come close to as talented as prime Tom Lorang. They're not measurable. He's just on another level both offensively and defensively. Even at 20 he was in a class of his own, and I have know concerns that the 33 till August superstar will continue to be that until the sad day in baseball history that he eventually retires.

The only guy older then 30 in the top-10 and behind just the two Atlanta (former Pittsburgh Miners) 26-year-old superstars Al Hubbard (.341, 12, 73, 28) and Howard Smith (.312, 20, 106) OSA doesn't think their is anyone better. I'm bias, I think he's better then Smith, but Hubbard is basically what if Tom Lorang played second instead of third and was born almost exactly seven years later. I mean literally. Hubbard is August 4th and Lorang is August 5th. I'm thinking it has to do with leap years or the universe thought they were slick having a superstar tear up the Fed in his own unique way.

Lorang will now get to dominate an Association he's never really faced, as Washington rewarded his elite play with a grand total of one postseason appearance in 15 years. I'm hoping to quickly rectify it, as even though we aren't really a good team, we have great pitching and a brand new shiny toy that most franchises only dream about. Yes, the age is up there, but the 12-Time All-Star, 10-Time Diamond Defense Winner, and most importantly, 4-Time Whitney Winner, is still a superstar. Worth 7.8 WAR in 158 games, our new third basemen hit .282/.403/.469 (147 OPS+) with a Fed high 115 walks. Adding 17 doubles, 6 triples, 25 homers, 104 RBIs, 91 runs, and 18 steals. Most hitters dream of production like that, but for the former 2nd pick and 3rd prospect that doesn't even get a mention in his career summary.

On five separate occasions Lorang has had an OPS+ of 200 or higher, including four WRC+ and a fifth at a Fed-best 192. Depending on your favorite stat, he had many "best" seasons, with 42 homers and 143 walks in 1970, a 202 WRC+ in 1962, the 214 OPS+ in 1969, or any of the other world-class performances he put together. My favorite was his 1963, his first of the four Whitneys. 22 that August, Lorang led the Fed in all three triple slash categories, hitting an almost laughable .378/.461/.650 (201 OPS+) with 35 doubles, 17 triples, 35 homers, and 128 RBIs. Those 17 triples were a Fed best too, as were the 147 runs, 201 WRC+, .471 wOBA, and 12.4 WAR. Ironically he hit a little better the year before, batting .386/.475/.688, with the OBP, slugging, and resulting OPS franchise bests, but this year was his most complete. A mainstay on the leaderboards, he's been the best in runs four times, doubles once, triples a second time, homers once, RBIs twice, average three times, OBP eight times, slugging four times, OPS five times, WRC+ three times, wOBA four times, and WAR three times.

In Eagles team history his OBP (.418), slugging (.552), OPS (.970), WAR (125.4), runs (1,602), hits (2,609), doubles (418), homers (448), RBIs (1,475), and walks (1,488) are team records. I almost feel bad taking him away, but the Cougars need a star and they want to rebuild, and I think he deserves a title and will do everything I can to build around him. An all-time great, he's 13th in WAR and the active leader, and unless Harry Swain (1,681) takes it first I think Ed Bloom's walk record (1,789) is nearing it's end, as Lorang could easily draw 2,000. A month away from 1,500, he's walked in 15.1% of his career plate appearances and drew a Fed best 115 last season. He's walked 85 or more times in each of the last thirteen seasons and should easily pass that number this year. Our lineup is not (yet) as strong as I'd like it to be, so expect plenty of free passes.

I won't waste too much time on the prospects I moved as I had little connection to them, and figured this was the best time to tap into the second ranked farm in the game. All three guys ranked inside the top-200, led by top-30 prospects Ralph Russell (28th) and Hank Oliver (30th). Both still teens, they're far from the big leagues, and I need this Cougar team to win now. They have star upside I may regret, but they'll head to the Fed where we really won't have to worry about them. I think Joe Williams is going to be the same type of player as Russell, hopefully better, and pitching prospects can just be so tough. Sure, Oliver was the 13th pick last year and looks like an ace, but I really like the arms we brought in from the draft. I'm lucky we have plenty of depth to absorb this, and now I really wish a deal that I had agreed to earlier in the offseason went through.

This offense would have been really great!

Back to the drawing board?

Oh I am so glad we are back!