The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

[luckymann]

Our team page can be accessed HERE.

This is how we'll line up on OD:

Catchers

• C Frank Snyder (R)
• Bob O’Farrell (R) v LHP and when Snyder needs a rest

Infielders

• 1B Heinie Mueller (L) / Rube Bressler (R) platoon
• 2B Pie Traynor (R)
• 3B Oliver Marcell (R)
• SS Dobie Moore (R)

• Newt Allen (R)
• Pete Kilduff (R)
• Wally Gerber (R)

While Bressler had a super season last year, I just feel we need to get more out of Mueller. So Heinie will take the majority of ABs here, with Rube also coming in late as a defensive sub at 1B. I have instructed our AAA Manager to play Lundy exclusively at 2B. If he can turn his hitting around and have one more defensive feather in his cap it will enhance his appeal no end.

We are weak defensively up the middle, so Kilduff and Allen will get plenty of game time late.

Outfielders

• LF Ken Williams (L)
• CF Oscar Charleston (L)
• RF Ty Cobb (L)

• Carson Bigbee (L)
• Smoky Joe Wood (R)
• Les Mann (R)

Set in stone, or as much as one can be. Mueller will relieve out here as well.

Rotation

1. LHP Sam Streeter
2. LHP Jose Leblanc
3. RHP Webster McDonald
4. LHP Wilbur Cooper

Lord help us should injury strike, as our backups are far from ready. Wood will almost certainly be the first deployed, then Juanelo Mirabal or Cliff Bell from AAA. If you see Willie Foster up in the bigs this year, it means we are in big strife.

Bullpen

• RHP Garland Braxton
• RHP Ralph Comstock
• LHP Ed Warner
• RHP Reggie Richter
• RHP Smoky Joe Wood

Same goes here. There’s a trade in our future should any of these lads go down.

[luckymann]

... in his age-36 season.

[luckymann]

Just the most manic start to a season I have seen, with Leblanc and then McDonald injured, followed by a 17-inning loss that pretty much wipes out the rest of our staff, fatigue-wise. And with no rest day until mid-May. Leblanc only misses one spin but McDonald is lost for 6 weeks to elbow inflammation. Wood moves into the rotation and Juanelo Mirabal makes his big-league debut, taking the L on a Kilduff error after Richter blows a 3-run lead against the Cubs and we go on to lose this one in 19!

5-9 to this point but it feels way worse than that. This could well be one of those long seasons we all dread. Lord knows we are overdue one.






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[luckymann]

Pretty interesting times in the Bronx to say the least, with Lou Gehrig's arrival on the back of the team's slow but steady progress up the AL standings over the past few seasons and a brand new stadium in which to flaunt their skills. Obviously IRL this was the period in which the Yanks established themselves as the league's dominant franchise, and while the makeup of the team in this save is somewhat different, the core pieces of the puzzle seem to be coming together. So I thought it might be fun to track their progress along the way and see where the historical and simulated paths cross, parallel and differ.

This is their basic group as it stands at present:



As I mentioned in the season preview, Babe is being used in a two-way capacity, playing in RF and pitching behind Shawkey in the rotation. I can see why they are doing this, as his pitching ratings have had a rebound and it isn't as if they have the best staff going around. All the same, he hasn't been overly impressive on the mound so far, going 2-0 with an ERA of 6.00.



It will be interesting to see what they do when off-season signing Bill Steen returns from the IL. I suspect it will be Rile that gets bumped from the spin. Herb Pennock, Earl Hamilton and Rube Benton are all also capable of starting games.

When not pitching, they have the big guy playing in RF. He is hitting more for power than average so far, slashing 552/639/793 with 2 HR, 8 RBI and 0.9 WAR.

Now for the Iron Horse.



Lou seems to be being used in RF whenever Babe is on the hill and, as one would expect, has had no problems at this grade so far, hitting a team-high 485 with 1 homer, 7 ribbies and 0.7 WAR. He does have a 1B rating but for now Earl Sheely has the everyday role there. Lou is yet to play an out at the position, but with Sheely barely hitting his weight that might soon change.

Bob Meusel is playing in LF, with the solid but no superstar Jack Smith in CF. He's pretty much their only option in the middle and is a bit of a liability there defensively, so Eddie Eayrs usually finishes off close games as a sub. Catcher Pat Collins is also with the club, having been drafted 11th overall in 1918/19, but not as a Legacy.

Who knows how the wind will blow as far as whether or not guys like Combs, Koenig and Lazzeri will earn Legacy status and join the team or, if not, perhaps serendipity will play its part in bringing the Bombers Brothers Band back together. "Jumpin' Joe" Dugan is currently at the White Sox.

For now the Yankees are at 7-5, 2 GB the Browns and ranked in the upper half team-wise for most major stat categories.

EDIT This was Ruth's first start of the new month.

[luckymann]

Not bad going... FOR THE PITCHER!!!



He also allowed just one run over 8 with 8 K for the win...

[luckymann]

Not rattling fences as much these days but still giving pitchers fits.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

A whole lotta heart shown by the group this month but not a lot of happiness as we scrap and scrape together a 14-16 record in May despite our form still proving most elusive to find. Our Wilkes-Barre AAA club is following suit and there’s the very real possibility that we suffer the ignominy of going “first-to-worst” at both levels.




As you can see from that summary, we are at the wrong end in most stat cats and it has just been a broad-based drop across the group. One whose fall has been precipitous is Jose Leblanc, who currently sits at 1-8 with an ERA nearing 6. I've been patient but that is nearing its endpoint and as soon as 56 Varieties returns - if that ever happens, I'll have a decision to make as to who goes where.

We claim pitcher Howard Ehmke on waivers from the Phillies and send him to AAA.

The interesting thing is that, despite our struggles, we are far from out of this. No team has stood up to fill the void we have left at the top. The Cards started in scorching form but this month is nothing short of a disaster for them as they go 14-17 including an 11-game losing streak and again one has to wonder what exactly is going on at that club. Poor management? Issues with player cohesion? They are only 3 behind the NL-leading Robins, but still. The Yanks seem afflicted in the same way and Ruth has been unsighted for most of the year, homer-wise. They sit 18-22 and 8 games back from the redoubtable Browns.




Awards, news, leaders.






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[luckymann]

Mr Williams' HR output in this game matches Babe Ruth's for the entire season to date...

[luckymann]

Most Seasons Between Wins

[luckymann]

Zone Rating (1923 season to date)

[luckymann]

You certainly couldn't call what is happening a resurgence, as we are still playing very inconsistently and remain well off the pace, but the lads really bear down and we close out the month with a 16-11 record that gets us back just one game under 500.





It's not that we aren't having moments / extended periods of individual excellence, as Cobb and Streeter winning the monthly awards shows, but more that we lack cohesion in the group and too often follow good performances with bad.

Most of this problem stems from the bottom third of our lineup, from whom we are getting little productivity. Charleston (251 / 2 HR / 18 RBI) and Moore (234 / 1 / 22) have been downright poor, while Marcell's pop is greatly offset by his continuing diminishment of contact (221 / 9 / 32). And we simply aren't getting enough men on base, with our 327 OBP 6th in the division.




The pitching has held things together for us, no doubt. Juanelo Mirabal has retained his spot in the spin after McDonald's return from injury, with the struggling Leblance into the pen. 56 has looked good since coming back, while Cooper has been better than average, if somewhat inconsistent. But it is Streeter who has excelled to this point, giving us 12-4 / 3.28 / 3.4 WAR. If he can get his WHIP down from its current 1.32 then he'll be even better than at present.



The Cards (me and my big mouth) go 20-7 for June to hit the lead in the NL, while the Sens seem to be relishing new skipper Pete Dowling's way of doing things and are making a fist of it in the AL, just 1 GB the Browns.



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[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Full disclosure time.

To keep things fresh for myself and those of you reading along, I was on the cusp of taking a break from the Pirates, heading over to the AL to see if I could bring the A’s (my IRL team of choice) back to their glory days of the early seasons. Let the AI do its bidding with the Bucs and then go back like some returning hero a decade or so down the track.

That's interesting. I was considering possibly doing the A's from the mid 60s after I finish the Moneyball Pirates.

The A's caught my attention in the late 60s when there was an article on them in Sports Illustrated as an up and coming team. Then after 71 when the Pirates weren't making it to the World Series the colorful A's and colorful owner made them an interesting team.

[luckymann]

Like Mt. Rushmore does the Black Hills, Zaza Harvey's 36-game hitting streak from the league's first year of existence has looked imperious and impervious these past two-plus decades.

Nobody has really come close to it since Honus Wagner went 34 straight a couple years later. Bobby Veach went 30 in 1920, that's about it.

This season has seen two simultaneous attacks on Harvey's seemingly unassailable record. Rogers Hornsby got to 30 before a hitless game last week. And now, Goose Goslin has managed to tie it, only to go hitless in game 37 to at least leave Zaza with a share of it.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

That's interesting. I was considering possibly doing the A's from the mid 60s after I finish the Moneyball Pirates.

The A's caught my attention in the late 60s when there was an article on them in Sports Illustrated as an up and coming team. Then after 71 when the Pirates weren't making it to the World Series the colorful A's and colorful owner made them an interesting team.

Well I'd certainly subscribe to that one!

I'll be with the Bucs for the foreseeable future given how this season is panning out. We're a mess.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Well I'd certainly subscribe to that one!

I'll be with the Bucs for the foreseeable future given how this season is panning out. We're a mess.

Do you think if you switched to the A's you'd come back with the Pirates in an irretrievable mess?

Still unsure about doing the A's but it's time for a break from the Pirates. I started off playing them from the late 60s and kept pushing the start date back. I've done 51 on several times. I've never played another team except once did the Astros from inception until I won the World Series.

Anyway, for the A's with colorful players and a colorful owner I need a colorful GM.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Do you think if you switched to the A's you'd come back with the Pirates in an irretrievable mess?

Still unsure about doing the A's but it's time for a break from the Pirates. I started off playing them from the late 60s and kept pushing the start date back. I've done 51 on several times. I've never played another team except once did the Astros from inception until I won the World Series.

Anyway, for the A's with colorful players and a colorful owner I need a colorful GM.

Yep. AI GMs / Managers are useless. A blight on the game.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Anyway, for the A's with colorful players and a colorful owner I need a colorful GM.

Someone with a killer twirly moustache... Dick Dastardly!

[Brad K]

I have the finalists from when Kathryn Janeway got the Pirates job. They have to have good business sense and be colorful. But only Gondorff is colorful enough.

Joyce Davenport, Frank Furillo, Henry Gondorff