The Around the Horn League (AtHoL)

[luckymann]

The Whales and Knicks set up a Brotherhood Series rematch with fairly comfortable EAS wins.

[luckymann]

It takes them an extra game - a 14-inning classic, no less - but the Knickerbockers maintain their dominance over the Whales to claim back-to-back AtHoL Championships, and third overall.

Game 1




Game 2




Game 3




Game 4




Game 5




Game 6




NEW YORK WINS SERIES 4-2

SERIES MVP: Gabby Hartnett (New York)

[luckymann]

OK, so I have been offered and - with the wife's permission (I think she'll be glad to have me out of the house for some of the time, actually) - accepted the role as GM / Manager for the newly-incoming San Francisco Seals organisation.

Gonna take me a little while to settle in and assess things, will report back once I'm done.

In the meantime, here's how the four levels now look after what should be the final realignment.

AtHoL - MLB




Third Base League (3BL) - AAA




Second Base League (2BL) - AA




First Base League (1BL) - A

[luckymann]

The erstwhile Wilmington Quicksteps squad I have inherited is far from a trainwreck. It's the sort of group you'd expect from years of underperformance, with some excellent prospects courtesy of repeated high Draft picks.

But that continued underperformance has happened for a reason: among the pearls resides a drove of swine.

Have a look at these metrics from the season just completed:

Yuck.

So, without overburdening you with details from the off, my initial methodology is to break the group down into four basic subsets: CORE, KEEP, CHEAP, CUT. Pretty self-explanatory, really.

With regard to the current squad, here's were the various pieces fall:

CORE

Pitchers

• RHP Andy Messersmith, 26
• RHP Tully Sparks, 24
• LHP Garret Crochet, 24

Infielders

• 1B Edgar Wesley, 25
• 2B Tony Cuccinello, 23
• 2B Chuck Knoblauch, 23
• SS Luke Appling, 26

Outfielders

• OF Kip Selbach, 24
• OF Davey Lopes, 30
• OF Cristobal Torriente, 19

KEEP

Pitchers

• RHP Jim Hardin, 28

Catchers

• Jim Sundberg, 26

Infielders

• 3B Cozy Dolan, 22
• SS Jose Vizcaino, 26

Outfielders

• OF Claudell Washington, 21
• OF Michael Bourn, 26
• OF Tom Paciorek, 25

CHEAP

Pitchers

• RHP Doug Bird, 26
• RHP John Brackenridge, 30
• RHP Jack Gorman, 26
• LHP Kris Johnson, 36
• RHP Carlos Reyes, 26

Catchers

• Tom Wilson, 33

Infielders

• 1B John Young, 24
• 2B Stu Martin, 26
• 3B Denny Gonzalez, 28
• SS Roger Metzger, 26

Outfielders

• OF Whitey Herzog, 29

CUT

• LHP Harvey Haddix
• RHP Rich Robertson
• RHP Joe Coleman
• LHP Daniel Coulombe
• LHP Jeff Francis
• LHP Lefty Gervais
• LHP Mickey Harris
• RHP George Hemming
• LHP Don Rudolph
• RHP Joe Wieland
• C Josh Paul
• 1B Lucas Duda
• 1B Ken Macha
• 1B Logan Morrison
• 2B Tony Womack
• 3B Tom O’Brien
• OF Rube Bressler
• OF Eduardo Perez
• OF Rasty Wright
• OF Emil Frisk
• OF Tommy Griffith
• OF Earl Rapp
• OF Chris Snelling

We will once again, by dint of our 66-100 record, be at the pointy end of the Draft. It's clear pitching is high on the agenda, especially given one of my Owner's directives is to reduce our SP ERA from its most recent ranking of 15th, but outside of that the squad is in decent enough shape to allow us to look at the available players and take them on their merits rather than to fill an overwhelming void.

By the time Awards season is upon us, we've locked down all those we intend to keep.

[luckymann]

Sorry, genius boy deleted and then wiped all of the relevant messages, so we'll have to give this one a miss for a year.

[luckymann]

ELYSIAN MEDAL (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)

ARCADIAN MEDAL (PITCHER OF THE YEAR)

THREE UP THREE DOWN AWARD (RELIEVER OF THE YEAR)




RISING STAR AWARD (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR)




CHADWICK PLATE (MANAGER OF THE YEAR)

LA: Bucky Harris, Chicago
KA: Joe Cronin, New York


SWING FOR THE FENCES AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER)

Lincoln Association
C: Jason Kendall, Fresno (Richmond)
1B: Mo Vaughn, Houston
2B: Jimmy Rollins, St. Louis
3B: Jackie Robinson, Cincinnati
SS: Ernie Banks, Montreal
LF: Juan Soto, Cincinnati
CF: Carlos Beltran, St. Louis
RF: Sammy Sosa, Detroit
DH: Hal Trosky sr, Tucson (Newark)


King Association
C: Mickey Tettleton, Montgomery
1B: Chipper Jones, Montgomery
2B: Henry Moore, New York
3B: Mike Schmidt, Winston-Salem
SS: Ketel Marte, San Jose
LF: Brian Giles, Philadelphia
CF: Bernie Williams, New York
RF: Frank Robinson, Pittsburgh
DH: Dick Allen, Portland


LET'S PLAY TWO AWARD (GOLD GLOVE)

Lincoln Association
P: Steve Busby, Hollywood (Decatur)
C: Sherm Lollar, Cincinnati
1B: Frank Chance, Dallas
2B: Greg Gagne, Fresno (Richmond)
3B: Willie Kamm, Tucson (Newark)
SS: Mickey Doolan, Fresno (Richmond)
LF: Ken Griffey jr, Houston
CF: Ken Berry, Salt Lake City (Norfolk)
RF: Hunter Pence, Tucson (Newark)


King Association
P: Don Drysdale, Winston-Salem
C: Brad Ausmus, Raleigh
1B: Brandon Belt, Pensacola
2B: Mark Ellis, Pensacola
3B: Willie Greene, New Orleans
SS: Germany Smith, Montgomery
LF: Cy Williams, Pensacola
CF: Dom DiMaggio, Portland
RF: Roberto Clemente, Baltimore

[luckymann]

Chicago aren't letting any of their core group go anywhere, with three big signings within 24 hours of one another.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Well, it is a case of good news, bad news in the lead-up to this year's Draft.

First, the good - we improve a couple spots from 4 to 2 in the Lottery.

Then, the not so good. It's been a while since I've been in action and... well, I'm a bit rusty. So I get caught out signing a compensation FA and lose our Round 2 pick.

Live and learn.

It won't always be this way with the Seals projecting to be a slightly above mid-market team, but coming from the low Wilmington base means we currently have the smallest budget in the league - $970k, or roughly a quarter of the Terriers, whose $3.96m is the highest. On the day the FAs declare, we have $390k to spend. T'aint much to go around.

Still, between then and the Draft, we pitch a few deals. We also make the following move with the Rally Caps.

Yes, I know I had Davey listed as CORE only a few weeks ago, but we need pitching and have a surfeit at the positions he plays, so this was a bit of a no-brainer - netting us two good young arms with plenty of TC time left.

We also sign the following players:

• P Jim O'Toole 2+1/375k (plus the aforementioned pick)

As handy as Jim should prove, have I my wits about me there's no way I sign him.

• P Lance Broadway MiLB

Straight into the CHEAP classification.

• 3B Darrell Evans 1/22k

It's Howdy-Doody time! A real nice pickup for us. Local(ish) lad, too. He won't be this cheap for long, so not sure we'll have him more than a season or two.


Our 1st pick in the Draft is like the best shopping excursion EVER. We know we want a left-handed power-hitting OF. We know Ted Williams, Larry Walker and Bryce Harper are in the Draft and that the order I have listed them in is our order of preference. We're fairly sure but don't obviously know 100% that the Bees are going to take Teddy Ballgame.

Then, catching us completely by surprise, they instead opt for pitcher Harry Howell.

Welcome to the 415, Kid!

Our remaining picks, while somewhat less exciting, still net us some good types:

And finally, here are Rounds 1 and 2 in full:

[luckymann]

A relatively subdued offseason compared to its predecessors. Some highlights:

• Detroit basically goes back to scratch, losing 20 players and gaining 16 for the big WAR move of the break
• Chicago makes a big push to try and finally get over the hump, signing Buster Posey and Mule Suttles among others for a net 10 WAR gain
• Carlos Beltran signs with Montgomery for 3/562
• Indy trades pitcher Alex Wood to Louisville for some minor leaguers including Placido Polanco
• Bernie Williams signs with New Orleans for 3/582
• New York signs Don Drysdale (3/486), Minnie Miñoso (3/456) and new FA Pete Broberg (3/302)
• Pittsburgh loses OF Tris Speaker but gains P Ray Brown on a 3/470 deal
• St. Louis offsets the loss of Beltran and Brown with the addition of Speaker (3/598), Brian Giles (2/324) and Mordecai Brown (2/280). They also extend Mel Ott for 3 years at a cost of 570k.

Here's the net WAR moves and a summary of the toings and froings.

Well it looks like we'll be watching those HR totals closely again after the Dots Deities select 1999 - prime PED time - for this season's LTMs.

It also looks like we've got another exciting set of races to look forward to.

Heavy Johnston has finally made it to the bigs after what seems an eternity, and does so still as the league's top prospect. Here is the Prospect Pipeline on OD:

And the top-rated players:

Let's get ready to rumble!

[luckymann]

OK, plenty to catch you up on.

In the wake of the Draft, we make our two other "big" FA splashes: 1B/3B Jeff Bagwell (2/154) and P Diego Segui (2/104)

Let's break down the squad we've put together for the inaugural SF Seals campaign.

BATS

Has the makings of being an absolute beast of a lineup, but not sure we'll ever get to see it at its absolute peak with this group all still as one. For now, we just need to score plenty of runs. Not huge HR power as yet, more gap. Which means we'll have to rely on plenty of contact and our plus speed to keep the attendants busy.

SHOPPING LIST: An upgrade at SS; some depth at CF.

BALLS

Not really sure what to think of this staff. I know it is miles from where I'd like it to be and that we really don't have the prospects to redress this issue anytime soon. If we can keep our ERA+ around league average, I'll be happy.

SHOPPING LIST: General improvement and depth; LH relief.

GLOVES

In Sundberg, we have one of the league's premier defensive backstops, but there's nowhere near enough green (or blue) here for my liking, especially with our pitching profile. Selbach should end up a fair CF without ever threatening to win a GG. Almost a lock we'll record a neg ZR, and one of my primary goals over the next couple seasons is to change that.

SHOPPING LIST: See BATS.

WINGS

We'll get a much clearer idea of our longer-term projections later this year when the guys about to be deployed as rookies drop off this list.

As you can see, the dearth of pitching prospects I mentioned means our top-ranked barely cracks the Top 100.

With Knoblauch the preferred option at 2B, I think we'll be looking to trade away Cuccinello, who only plays 1B/2B/3B - all spots we're fairly deep at. I'll be keeping an eye on Schofield (and Toporcer, who isn't on this list) to see if they might be the L/T solution at SS because I really want to focus all our transactional efforts on pitching for the next wee while.

POCKETS

I'll go into this in more detail a few weeks into the season when we also take a look at our farm. For now, suffice to say we have the lowest Budget ($970k) and the 28th-ranked Payroll ($748k). As of right now, we have just over $80k for FA - IE not much - which I'll be saving for a rainy day.

The BNN prediction for us of 75-91 seems about right, but my goal is 500 or better. I also want us to play the sort of game that brings people to the ballpark. The boss has set us the goal of pushing attendance from last season's 8200 up to 11000. That's a big ask for a new franchise. My more realistic target is 10k.

[luckymann]

Rookie Pilots 3B Andre Rodgers kicks off his AtHoL career in emphatic style.

[luckymann]

OK, so here's a more detailed look at our finances and farm system.

Here are our projected salary commitments as they currently stand:

As I mentioned earlier, this is projected to become a slightly above mid-market sized franchise. But that will be a slow process and, even then, we'll never be flush with cash like the big boys. in the meantime, we are going to have to cherish every penny and cut almost every corner if we want to keep as many of these guys as possible at San Fran. As is usually the case for this kind of club, compromise will be part of our everyday existence and the Waiver Wire will become a very close acquaintance.


With regard to prospects, we'll be forced to manipulate to a certain degree, which I hate. But it is a necessary evil, especially for now.

Santiago, Schofield, Toporcer - all currently at AAA - should be the first arrivals. Cabrera maybe late next year. Castleman the first of the pitchers.

1st overall pick Tully Sparks should come good eventually, but his clock has already started so there's likely a tough call to be made with him at some stage. There are some OK types such as Bump Hadley, Rosy Ryan and (maybe) Bob Miller. All the other guys are what I call AWAPs - A Wing and a Prayer types. You hope they come on but you would never bank on them doing so.

Our system is rated 2nd overall. Here are our three farm teams:

[luckymann]

Not quite a rainy day, but I thought a veteran presence was needed and he comes fairly cheap - 2/58 - not to mention his being a fan magnet.

Thomas Howard goes to AAA to make room.

[luckymann]

The Rally Caps and Ducks put on some kind of show in Dayton.

[luckymann]

A busy day around the AtHoL.

Things for us at San Francisco have not, to put it mildly, started well. We aren't hitting - 65 runs in 18 games and at or near the bottom of most offensive metrics - and, while our starters have done OK (3.85 ERA, 3rd), our BP has blown a few late leads and been generally unreliable. All of which leaves us at a nasty 5-13 and yet to win any of our 6 series to date. Only the 3-15 Mounties have a worse record.

We manage just 6 runs in our most recent homestand against my former colleagues and Lefty one-hits us in the final game.

Otto Velez belts 3 HR for Pensacola but they still drop the game against Philly by 6 to 4.

And Brooklyn's Dave Orr has 5 hits as the Tip-Tops get past San Jose 8-6.

[luckymann]

Another ripper of a game with rookie Cody Bellinger throwing his weight around.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

That change of leadership seems to have done the trick at Sacramento, with them back to almost 500 ball now and putting together huge performances such as this demolition job on Montgomery. They've certainly got the talent there - Gehrig, Ron Cey, Sal Bando, Bill White, Mike Scott and Sam Chapman among others. Now it's a matter of putting the wins together.

[luckymann]

Well, at least I hope it is... Could just as likely be an earful of lemon juice.

I mentioned earlier about our logjam at 2B making Tony Cuccinello expendable and, with his form at AAA (slashing 412/455/579) only serving to improve his stock, I recently started more actively looking around for trade opportunities to strike while the iron is, proverbially, hot.

While perusing the MiLB scores, I notice a name that looked out of place down at A-Ball and think to myself I should at least see if his presence there means he is on the skids at his current club. A trade enquiry throws Cooch back at us, but I also need to offload some salary to make the math work. Long story short, ourselves and Detroit engage in the following transaction:

If it even remotely comes off, this could well be the perfect trade in which we have managed to upgrade at a position, find a highly talented albeit unwanted player a home and improve our cash position by about $70k (big bucks for us right now) all in one fell swoop.

If.

Why is "The Left Arm of God" wiling away his time at San Bernardino? Isn't this the guy who has struck out close to 600 at the top flight these past two seasons? Well, yes and no. You see, it seems his control has utterly deserted him, is why. 8+ BB9 and an ERA over 10 at AAA will get you kicked down the chain until there's no chain left, as it has with Sandy here.

So we're not going to rush him back. We'll place him at AAA Wilmington, promote Slick Castleman and see how that all pans out for the moment.

Our Scouting Director remains unconvinced about the success of this reclamation project.