The Around the Horn League (AtHoL)

[luckymann]

AtHoL Champions: Baltimore [3]

League slash line: 258/329/401 (v 264/337/421 in 1960)

League ERA: 4.18 (4.48)

League BABIP: 278 (300)

3BL Champions: Rochester [2]

2BL Champions: Brownsville [1]

1BL Champions: Anniston [1]

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: Steve Camarillo, Louisville
KA: Lorenzo Becerra, Baltimore


SWING FOR THE FENCES AWARD (SILVER SLUGGER)

Lincoln Association
C: Buck Ewing, Dallas
1B: Max Muncy, Dallas
2B: Ketel Marte, Dayton
3B: Rafael Devers, Chicago
SS: Tim Anderson, Chicago
LF: Ken Griffey jr, Houston
CF: Hack Wilson, Dallas
RF: Tommy Henrich, Dayton
DH: Babe Ruth, Oakland


King Association
C: Johnny Bench, Baltimore
1B: Jim Bottomley, New Orleans
2B: Cupid Childs, Philadelphia
3B: Yoan Moncada, Philadelphia
SS: Luke Appling, New York
LF: Joe Kelley, Mobile
CF: Von Hayes, New York
RF: Albert Belle, Mobile
DH: Sammy Sosa, Philadelphia


LET'S PLAY TWO AWARD (GOLD GLOVE)

Lincoln Association
P: Andy Messersmith, Houston
C: Sherm Lollar, Wichita
1B: Jerry Lumpe, Indianapolis
2B: Pop Smith, Dallas
3B: Odell Hale, Tucson
SS: Dave Concepcion, Tucson
LF: Wally Post, Dayton
CF: Curt Welch, Tucson
RF: Jesse Barfield, Dallas


King Association
P: Matt Cain, Denver
C: Bill Freehan, San Jose
1B: Casey Kotchman, Raleigh
2B: Rabbit Maranville, San Jose
3B: Buddy Bell, Montgomery
SS: Starlin Castro, Pensacola
LF: David DeJesus, New York
CF: Gary Pettis, Raleigh
RF: Kenny Lofton, New Orleans

[luckymann]

Not gonna lie here, I'm having some trouble getting the motor humming the way I'd like it. Not wavering in confidence that I'll achieve this eventually, just frustrated that the pieces aren't appearing decisively in my mind's eye in order to assemble the puzzle like they usually do.

I certainly know what pieces we are missing, primarily among which is some strong leadership. I was hoping to tie this in with our wanting / needing an upgrade at Catcher, but there are an unusually low number of Captains at that position in this league at the moment and none of those that are make the grade.

Instead, I make this move:

Dewey was perhaps the biggest disappointment for me in our group last season. I was looking for him to lead this young group as it was coming together, instead I got an insipid 1.2 bWAR campaign from him that basically blotted his copybook with me moving forward. Would have preferred to have held on to Billy but I had my heart set on getting Jose and this was the only way that was going to happen.

Jose is yet to hit his stride and is coming off a poor 1961 as well, but he gave me the impression he's committed to achieving his full potential and taking the club along with him for the ride.

The only two FA offers we've tabled remain unresolved as Draft Day arrives.

Sadly, no freak Lottery luck for us as we retain our original 13th pick. Brooky does quite nicely at Pittsburgh's expense, but other than that it's fairly static. We'll only get 10 new players today, having traded away a couple lower-round picks.

Some unbelievable talent up for grabs in this year's Draft, especially with regard to Pitchers, and I have to remind myself that I'm here not as a spectator but as someone with a crucial job to do.

There are - pun intended - some left-field choices early, and for a briefly sweet moment I envisage the guy we want more than any others in the pool still being in it when our turn arrives. It doesn't pan out that way, but still I'll take Frankie Frisch as a consolation prize any old day.

Here are our picks in their entirety.

We'll figure out where Frankie fits in between now and OD, and Earl will also be in the mix to go straight to the bigs. The rest are varying degrees of time away.

Like I mentioned, some early picks that took me by surprise. Indy mustn't believe their luck getting Petey at 3, while those first two rounds are just jam-packed with future stars.

Still no Vlad jr, who is now slated to come through in '62.

[luckymann]

And so, another offseason has passed, another Opening Day upon us - and, with it, plenty of familiar faces in new settings. Some of the big names to move include:

• Rube Waddell and Chipper Jones to Baltimore
• Mike Schmidt to Boston
• Hank Greenberg and Tris Speaker to Chicago
• Jeff Kent and John Valentin to Cincy
• Eddie Plank and Hoyt Wilhelm to Denver
• Ketel Marte to Houston
• Bob Feller to KC
• Henry Aaron to Louisville
• Johnny Mize to Montgomery
• Sammy Sosa to New Orleans
• CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke, Jack Jones and Don Sutton to NY
• Walter Johnson, Jeff Bagwell, Jake Peavy, Joe Tinker and Whitey Ford to Philly
• Roger Maris and Willie Randolph to Pittsburgh
• Ray Brown and Dave Winfield to Sacramento
• Joey Votto to St. Louis
• Josh Johnson and Bobby Bonds to Wichita
• Mark McGwire and Arky Vaughan to Winstom-Salem

Here's all the action from over the break.

A few tight races expected, especially over in the Lincoln side of the draw. They have once again pegged us for 500-ball, mid-standings mediocrity and I can't find fault with that assessment. They are not fans of our pitching staff.

Pittsburgh's Slim Jones, a southpaw flamethrower from the NeL, heads the prospects list.

Here are the top-rated players:

And, by way of comparison, the top-paid players:

FWIW, none of our players appear on either.

The Oakland Band has been broken up with the Hammer off to Louisville. babe is on the trading block, signifying the Oaks are unwilling or -able to extend him. Watch this space for developments.

[luckymann]

OK, just two FA signings to report:

• OF Sam Crawford 3/255
• UT Biz Mackey 2/120

And this is the only trade of any note despite my best efforts to make more happen.

Bitter is the taste of the realisation that I have traded away two of my top 3 Draft picks from only a year prior. I go OK at this gig, but am really off my game at the moment. This has been far from my finest offseason.

I just went cold on Grady from a defensive perspective and was keen to try and wrap him up an a multi-player deal for a big name, but there were few bites for him. In the end, another reclamation project. I have staked the club's immediate future, and my tenure here as well I guess, on these guys who have had a rough start to their AtHoL careers coming good. Dave Cone survived a baptism of fire at the Twins last year, posting a horror 3-12 / 6.33 / neg pWAR rookie season. He's much better than that, and we sure need him and his new colleagues to be for us this year.

I also make a few "Housekeeping" moves that see Dave Stewart, Lamar Johnson and a few other guys you haven't met headed elsewhere, leaving our OD 1962 squad looking like this:

BATS

I've gone with Frankie at 2B and Jay getting plenty of game time as our primary IF backup and starting v LHB. My biggest concern is that he'll feel slighted by this and cause dissent among the ranks. We need to look at the big picture here and understand that nothing is set in stone just yet.

SHOPPING LIST: All for one and one for all.

BALLS

I look at this group and see greatness for many years. All I ask from them is to try and make a bold and concerted move toward, rather than away from, the bright light of their future selves.

SHOPPING LIST: Don't stop believin'.

GLOVES

Aside from CF, this is a fine looking bunch o'gloves. Even CF isn't a disaster zone and I think our pitchers will appreciate having these guys lined up behind them.

SHOPPING LIST: Many a gonfalon bubble popped.

WINGS

Obviously our late deployment of Vlad and Larry has thinned this out to an unacceptable level, and I'll be working non-stop to try and convert some of our unwanted MiLBers into guys who appear on this list in some future missive.

POCKETS

We're yet to win over the locals, whose apathy towards our existence has led the boss to taketh back what he had previously giveth, leaving us with the same $1.6m budget as the previous year. For now, with young and cheap players dominating our squad, that matters not. But we'll need to increase those stile-turns if we want to continue being able to afford these guys as they become not so young and far less cheap.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

The AtHoL's first no-hitter of the season comes to us down in the 1BL A-ball level, with Hank Gastright of Providence quelling Fitchburg's offence in a 13-0 laugher.

[luckymann]

A crazy, crazy game indeed with Ketel Marte somehow managing to end up on the losing side whilst having a 6-hit night.

[luckymann]

Baltimore's Rube Waddell becomes the AtHoL's first 300-game winner with a victory over Denver.

He has quite a break on his nearest rival in this category, San Jose's Greg Maddux, who is probably the only realistic chance among those in the trailing pack to also reach this milestone, at least down to Tom Seaver who is currently on 195 in his age-33 season. Nice to see Ray Brown and Dizzy Dismukes so prominent on this list.

Later that same week, the great Roberto Clemente becomes the foundation member of the 3000-hit club.

He, too, has a handy break on his rivals, but I expect a few more of them to eventually join him.

[luckymann]

Just reward for Jake Peavy, who is proving himself one of the league's elite pitchers with another strong season underway. He'd previously had a one-hitter in late March.

Poor old Cupid Childs won't be feeling too good, though, with his error the only thing stopping this from being a perfecto.

[luckymann]

Only early days yet, but we've certainly started this season in positive fashion with all aspects of our game showing at least some measure of improvement from last year.

BATS

A huge difference here from a year ago, with our bats being the driving force behind our 38-22 start. Jackson is the main one who has struggled to this point but the past fortnight has seen him finally coming good. Now we're sweating on the diagnosis of a niggle he has picked up and have to hope it's noting too serious. We do have Bell ready to step up if it is. He's been fantastic so far in a backup role but I'm unsure as to whether he'll be satisfied with this arrangement on a longer-term basis.

BALLS

Not such a pretty picture with our staff, however, particularly the rotation. Smoltz and Tudor have been great but Rijo and Cone have struggled and Gubicza has been a disaster, with his 64 ERA+ performance the reason he's now wallowing at Rochester. The BP has had its moments, but on the whole been much better than in the corresponding period a year ago. I'll take that top-8 BP ERA of 3.19 without complaint.

GLOVES

Some weak spots means our overall ZR doesn't look so great just for now, but still I like where we're at and, as long as we don't lose Stonewall for a chunk, I still see us finishing top-5. That said, if the right CF came along I would seriously consider a realignment just to tighten us up another notch.

WINGS

Not a peep here now, although we still hold out plenty of hope for some of the unranked guys in our system. Nevertheless, we need to get the larder stocked.

POCKETS

We have re-upped on every player we want to bar Cone, who has the sulks because of how badly he's been playing and won't discuss his future at this point. Other than him and three arb guys, we're all set here. Next year is when the heat is on, with a bunch of guys entering their arb period. Still finding the locals a tough nut to crack, with attendance actually regressing 15% to this point, YoY. Hopefully we can hold our form and at least get a look-in at the playoffs to drum up some interest.

[luckymann]

Larry Doby has had plenty of highlights so far this season, but none to top this one, with his 9th-inning slam off ex-teammate Henry McHenry eventually proving the difference.

[luckymann]

Here are the five best International Free-Agents entering the league this year.

Signed by: Detroit Wolverines ($61k)




Signed by: Indianapolis Hoosiers ($43k)




Signed by: New Orleans Pelicans ($232k)




Signed by: Detroit Wolverines ($210k)




Signed by: Boston Reds ($40k)

[luckymann]

From the high of win #300 to the low of his first serious injury, it's been a rollercoaster for Rube Waddell these past few weeks and this puts a massive dent in the Terrapins' hopes of repeating.

[luckymann]

Yet another no-hitter, the AtHoL's third of the season, as Ray Lamb adds his name to the Honour Roll with this beauty against Indy.

[luckymann]

Players of note among this year's AtHoL MiLB All-Star squads:


3BL (AAA)

Parks Conference

• P Leon Cadore (Cairo)
• 2B Tim Naehring (Wilmington)
• 3B Terry Pendleton (Newark)
• OF Rajai Davis (San Antonio)
• OF George Sweatt (Reidsville)

Lewis Conference

• P Webster McDonald (Hagerstown)
• P Erv Kantlehner (Lufkin)
• C Damian Miller (Hagerstown)
• 1B Eric Karros (Rochester)
• 2B Don Kessinger (Macon)
• OF Wilmer Fields (Minneapolis)

HR Derby winner

Pete McClanahan (Syracuse)

ASG result

Lewis Conference 12, Parks Conference 5

ASG MVP

Dick Stuart (New Haven)


2BL (AA)

Baldwin Conference

• P Stew Bolen (Sioux City)
• P Mitch Talbot (Beaumont)
• C Jake Fox (Keokuk)
• 2B Marty McManus (Jackson)
• 2B Brandon Phillips (Corpus Christi)
• SS Alex Gonzalez (Aspen)
• SS Davey Johnson (Palestine)
• OF Jake Evans (Keokuk)

Morrison Conference

• P Bo McLaughlin (Troy)
• P Sixto Sanchez (Texarkana)
• P Shin Norman (Nashua)
• 2B Morrie Arnovich (Gainesville)
• 3B Pat Callaghan (Wichita Falls)
• 3B Bobby Estalella (Veracruz)
• OF Lee Maye (Veracruz)

HR Derby winner

Sheldon Lejeune (Duluth)

ASG result

Baldwin Conference 6, Morrison Conference 0

ASG MVP

Rusty Tillman (Fort Worth)


1BL (A)

Bobby Conference

• P Jeff Fischer (Tyler)
• P Pedro Silva (Corsicana)
• P Leroy Sutton (Peoria)
• C Frank Duncan jr (San Bernardino)
• C Phil Nevin (Quincy)
• 3B John Britton (Hannibal)
• SS Willie Wells (Hannibal)
• OF Reuben Jones (Bloomington)

Jack Conference

• P Jeff D'Amico (Pawtucket)
• P Ted Hamilton (Elizabeth)
• OF Henry Cruz (Providence)
• OF Willie Horton (Watsonville)
• OF Gene Moore jr (Walden)

HR Derby winner

Howie Jones (Walden)

ASG result

Bobby Conference 8, Jack Conference 3

ASG MVP

Jeremy Moore (Redondo Beach)

[luckymann]

Observations and Points of Interest

• Houston is looking strong again, positioning themselves nicely with a 10-game win string in late April; both of my former clubs, on the other hand, are struggling with losing records to this point.
• Key extensions: OF Hack Wilson (Dallas, 3/790); 1B Bill White (Mobile, 2/316); OF Yordan Alvarez (Salt Lake City, 3/543); P James Shields (San Jose, 3/474); 3B Kelly Gruber (Denver, 2/276); OF Tim Salmon (Portland, 3/726); OF Von Hayes (New York, 2/294); AJ Burnett (Baltimore, 2/143); 1B Max Muncy (Dallas, 2/422); 2B Jack Glasscock (Louisville, 3/606); P Jeff Samardzija (Philadelphia, 2/332); P Eduardo Rodriguez (St. Louis, 3/570).
• Key injuries: P Larry Dierker (San Francisco) UCL, season; OF Mike Griffin (Boston) knee, 5 weeks; Kiki Cuyler (Montreal) elbow, 5 weeks; 2B Dick McAuliffe (San Francisco, 2/215); P Bill Wise (Montreal) shoulder, 5 months; OF Ray Lankford (St. Louis) ankle, 5 weeks; OF Yoshiaga Suzuki (Detroit) thumb, 3 months; SS Art Fletcher (Hollywood) back, 4 weeks; OF Ed Morgan (Pensacola) knee, 5 weeks; 1B Jim Bottomley (New Orleans) concussion, 8 weeks; OF Ty Cobb (Salt Lake City) ankle, 5 weeks.
• It takes a while, but Ed Wesley finally finds a home, signing a 1-year deal with the Solons, while – after a year at Houston – catcher Jorge Posada returns to Boston on a single-season deal. Jack Clark is another left on the vine to ripen before the Prune Pickers pick him up.
• Literally adding insult to injury, Boston trades Mike Griffin to Mobile while he is recuperating, getting Joe Kelley in return in a blockbuster transaction.

Standings and Leaders






Top 20s - overall





Top 20s - rookies





Monthly Award Winners

April

Lincoln Association
Batter – Lou Gehrig (Hollywood): 352 / 8 HR / 26 RBI
Pitcher – Bill Hands (Fresno): 4-1 / 1.10 / 23 K / 49 IP
Rookie – Hoses Allen (St. Louis): 4-2 / 1.66 / 6 SV / 12 K / 21.2 IP

King Association
Batter – Bryce Harper (Philadelphia): 326 / 12 HR / 30 RBI
Pitcher – Max Fried (Mobile): 5-1 / 1.69 / 38 K / 48 IP
Rookie – Greg Swindell (Winston-Salem): 4-2 / 3.38 / 21 K / 42.2 IP


May

Lincoln Association
Batter – Lou Gehrig (Hollywood): 363 / 9 HR / 33 RBI
Pitcher – Barney Pelty (Oakland): 6-0 / 1.76 / 24 K / 51 IP
Rookie – Pedro Martinez (Indianapolis): 4-1 / 2.66 / 43 K / 44 IP

King Association
Batter – Bryce Harper (Philadelphia): 330 / 12 HR / 30 RBI
Pitcher – Walter Johnson (Philadelphia): 6-0 / 3.08 / 30 K / 52.2 IP
Rookie – Slim Jones (Pittsburgh): 4-1 / 2.56 / 37 K / 38.2 IP


June

Lincoln Association
Batter – Cody Bellinger (Kansas City): 347 / 8 HR / 28 RBI
Pitcher – Hippo Vaughn (Houston): 5-0 / 2.39 / 17 K / 49 IP
Rookie – George Wilson (Salt Lake City): 3-0 / 1.42 / 6 SV / 13 K / 12.2 IP

King Association
Batter – Chipper Jones (Baltimore): 379 / 9 HR / 28 RBI
Pitcher – Eddie Plank (Denver): 5-0 / 2.39 / 25 K / 49 IP
Rookie – Greg Swindell (Winston-Salem): 3-2 / 1.77 / 26 K / 40.2 IP


Prospect Pipeline

[luckymann]

Well, it is Juan Soto who first breaches the 600 HR mark, but the peloton is in hot pursuit and populated with plenty of elite riders.

[luckymann]

A tough old time at Sick's since the last update, with us fresh off an 11-game losing streak that has knocked us out of top spot. 11-15 for June and again in July; 24-36 for the middle 60. All in all, not great.

As you can see from those metrics, our group continues to contain two totally disparate parts, performance-wise.

BATS

Even within this group, there is an unacceptable split that we'll need to remedy moving forward - a lack of production from the second-stringers. Every one of our starters has contributed at least 1.2 bWAR, whereas Crawford leads the backups with 0.7, most of which was earned when he was our starting LF. (We've since changed our structure to get Bell in there every day, with Bonilla moving to RF, O'Neill to LF, Frisch to 3B and Bell coming in as 2B.) Kiner-Falefa has been handy enough, but Anderson and Armas have given us a combined wipe in close enough to 300 AB, while Mackey has been a bust this time around.

BALLS

Man is it tough staying the course with this bunch. Smoltz aside, not one of them looks anywhere near where we want and need them to be. Rijo has been injured most of the time, but Cone and Gubicza in particular are real worries. Not expecting miracles here - we built this staff with a long-haul mindset - just some signs that improvements are being made and will continue to be. We aren't even getting many of those to this point.

GLOVES

As is almost invariably the way it works, we've had to trade some glove for bat as we've evolved the squad. We'll see how Frisch's D develops but for the rest of this season I believe that our best alignment is him at DH, with Bonilla back in at 3B and Vlad at RF, and we'll be giving that a go effective immediately.

WINGS

Still nothing much doing here and, although we don't have one ranked prospect on our books, I still feel we have some guys such as Vazquez, Reddick, Evers, Held (hehe), Koslo and Davis who are a chance of being useful to us down the track.

POCKETS

Aside from Cone and a few we'll send off to arb, all have been locked down for next year. Just a couple days ago, we did our only trade of the sectional, as follows:

Even at the higher price, I think Ismael is a nice pickup for us. He's got one more year of team control and we'll see how he goes in the BP first, but he'll be the #1 candidate to move into the spin if and when needed.

[luckymann]

Max Scherzer is the all-time leader with 3745.

[luckymann]

Two of our lads get the nod: Stonewall Jackson and Vlad the Impaler.

Here are the full squads and details of the break:

Game Score

Lincoln Association 4, King Association 2

MVP

Vladimir Guerrero (Seattle)

HR Derby

Ken Griffey jr (Houston) def Vladimir Guerrero (Seattle) 9-8.


Unsurprisingly, not a whit for us here.

Game Score

Lincoln Association 6, King Association 2

MVP

Tom Young (Worcester, A).


A much more open stretch run than in recent seasons, with really only the LA Cleland - where the Colt .45s have an 11-game lead - looking stone cold.