Your Expansion Seattle Mariners!!!

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Angels Sign McBride

12/24/1982 - California Angels fans got to open a present early when they heard that the Angels brass signed left fielder Bake McBride to a 3-year, $1.9M contract. McBride spend the past 2 years in Oakland and hit .295/.336/.441 with 17 HR's and 97 RBI's.

Angels Deal for Lezcano

12/24/1982 - In addition to the McBride signing, the also acquired outfielder Sixto Lezcano from Milwaukee for starting pitcher Rich Gale. Lezcano has spent his entire career with Milwaukee and had a down year in 1982 hitting .221/.314/.310 with only 8 HR's and 42 RBI's. In acquiring Lezcano, the Angels gave up starter Rich Gale who was 16-12 with a 3.68 ERA in 34 starts. Gale had been a workhorse in his 5 years in California averaging 16 wins with a 3.18 ERA. As happy as the Angels faithful were with the McBride signing they're left scratching their heads with the trade of Gale.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Indians Unwrap Starting Pitcher for Christmas

12/25/1982 - In typical Cleveland fashion, Indians fans woke up to find coal in their stockings. Cleveland announced the Christmas Day signing of the 32-year old starting pitcher Ray Burris to a 5-year, $3M contract. Burris spent 1982 in Houston racking up a 6-9 record with a 3.25 ERA in only 18 starts as he was out for 3 months with acute elbow soreness. In his 10-year career, Burris owns a 102-106 record with a 3.92 ERA. This wasn't quite the present that Cleveland fans had hoped for on Christmas day.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Curiously, it's been all the AL teams that are making signings this off-season. There's been some small 1-year deals in the NL but so far all the action is happening in the AL.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Baltimore Signs Top Closer

12/31/1982 - Baltimore continues their prolific off-season by signing Mark Littell the top closer from the AL last season. Littell led the AL with 42 saves while posting a 4-4 record with a 1.79 ERA in 63 appearances with Kansas City. In 61.1 innings, Littell racked up an amazing 81 strikeouts while posting a WHIP of 1.16 and holding opponents to an average of .204. Baltimore signed the 29 year old closer to a 2-year, $1.35M contract.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Red Sox Ink Watson

01/04/1983 - The Boston Red Sox announced the signing of first baseman Bob Watson to a 3-year, $1.98M contract. Watson, 36, has spent his entire 17-year career with Houston since joining the team in 1966. Last season, Watson hit .255/.332/.407 with 21 HR's and 65 RBI's in 157 games. He's been a model of consistency with a lifetime .283 batting average and .352 OB% while averaging over 145 games played per year over the last 12 years.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Braves Sign Lefty

1/13/1983 - The Atlanta Braves announced the signing of lefty starter Tommy John to a 2-year, $1.7M contract. John spent the last 2 years with the White Sox and posted a 20-10 record with a 3.43 ERA last season. The 39 year old lefty continues chugging away and will begin his 20th season in the majors in Atlanta with 246-186 record and a career 2.94 ERA. The Braves just finished above .500 for the first time in 8 years and hope that Tommy John can give them an extra boost toward the top of the NL West.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Tigers Sign Nettles

01/21/1983 - The Detroit Tigers added third basemen Graig Nettles to their lineup when they signed the 38 year old to a 2-year, $1.54M contract. Last season Nettles hit .236/.323/.443 with 19 HR's and 80 RBI's. Nettles also earned his 1000th RBI and 300th HR during the 1982 season.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Philadelphia Signs Dixon

02/13/1983 - The Philadelphia Phillies announced the signing of starting pitcher Tom Dixon to a 5-year, $3.7M contract today. Dixon spent the last 3 seasons with Boston and posted a 12-12 record with a 4.34 ERA last year. In his 6 year career, Dixon has a 35-43 record with a 4.10 ERA.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Detroit Signs Closer

02/17/1983 - The Detroit Tigers closed a deal for veteran closer Bob Apodaca to solidify the bullpen. Apodaca turned has past 3 years with the White Sox into a 3-year, $2.32M contract. During his time on the southside, Apodaca saved 126 games while posting a 9-15 record with a 2.30 ERA. It was a surprising move by Detroit as Gary Lavelle posted fine numbers (6-6, 39 Saves, 3.09 ERA) from the closer position last season.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Brewers Sign Dawson

02/17/1983 - Milwaukee signed center fielder Andre Dawson to a 3-year, $1.33M contract today and hope that he returns to his usual form. Dawson had a disappointing season last year when he hit only .228/.258/.374 with 15 HR's and 51 RBI's in 110 games. The past 2 seasons he's been injury prone missing 6 weeks in 1981 with a torn labrum and another 6 weeks last year with a pulled hamstring. Dawson says he's feeling better and ready to play a full season like in 1980 when he hit .262/.297/.472 with 31 HR's and 93 RBI's.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Smith Chooses Yankees

02/19/1983 - Free agent Reggie Smith finally made his decision and signed a 2-year, $1.73M contract with the New York Yankees. The 37 year old right fielder will switch to the AL after spending the last 7 years with the Dodgers. Smith, a life-time .282 hitter with 379 career HR's, hit .246/.359/.428 with 24 HR's and 89 RBI's last year for Los Angeles.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Whitaker Becomes Million Dollar Man

02/21/1983 - Today the Kansas City Royals made second baseman Lou Whitaker the first million dollar man in the major leagues by signing him to a 3-year, $3.05M contract. Whitaker, a 6-year veteran, had an injury filled year in 1982 making the signing by Kansas City all that more puzzling. After averaging 17 HR's and 75 RBI's for the past 3 years, Whitaker was on the DL 3 separate times last season playing in only 81 games hitting .276/.343/.420 with 9 HR's and 46 RBI's.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Tanana Signs With Yankees

02/23/1983 - The New York Yankees made another free agent splash today when they signed lefty Frank Tanana to a 3-year, $1.95M contract. Tanana takes his talents to the east coast after spending his entire 10-year career with the California Angels. For his career, Tanana has a 169-115 record with a 3.16 ERA posting 150 complete games with 29 shutouts in 321 starts. Last year, Tanana had his typical consistent year with a 17-15 record with a 3.90 ERA.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

We decided stand pat in the off-season and we didn't add any free agents and will rely on our farm system in case of injury. We fared pretty well during Spring Training where we went 16-8 tying for the best record in the majors. More importantly, we didn't suffer any injuries.

On the offensive side, we were led by Greg Walker who hit .394 with 7 HR's and 18 RBI's. We were happy to see that Bill Buckner bounced back from his season ending injury hitting .356 with 2 HR's & 13 RBI's.

The starting staff was led by Burt Hooton who went 4-0 in his 4 starts with a 1.69 ERA. Starter Mike Witt is coming back from injury and he pitched well with a 2.25 ERA in his 4 starts. Don Gullet (1-3, 3.94), Bruce Kison (1-0, 3.38), and Floyd Bannister (1-0, 5.63) round out the starting staff. Closer Tom Gorman earned 8 saves in his 10 appearances with a 1.64 ERA.

I'll now have to pare my roster down from 32 to the 25 that I'm going to take north to Seattle.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

After some deliberations, here's the team that's coming north for the 1983 season.

C: John Stearns
1B: Greg Walker
2B: Paul Molitor
SS: Dave Stapleton
3B: Tom O'Malley/Cal Ripken
LF: Bill Buckner
CF: Ruppert Jones
RF: Tim Wallach
DH: Andre Thonton

Reserves: Mike Heath (C), Dave Collins (LF/RF), Al Woods (LF), Barry Bonnell (2B/3B/LF/CF/RF)

Starting Pitchers: Mike Witt, Don Gullet, Burt Hooton, Floyd Bannister, Bruce Kison

Relievers: Enrique Romo, Sheldon Burnside, Brad Lesley, Buddy Schultz, Rich Gossage, Tom Gorman

Owner Alex Watkins has come through with his pocketbook giving us the 3rd highest budget in the majors but I've tried to keep costs down staffing the team with the 10th highest payroll. We'll see if we meet the owner's expectations that we return to the the playoffs. The pundits agree having predicted that Seattle will win the AL West. For the AL East, the Detroit Tigers are the pick despite the off-season acquisitions of the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile in the NL, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants are the trendy choices.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The Seattle Mariners began their quest for a 3-peat with an opening day hosting of the New York Yankees. After taking a 1-0 lead off of Yankees starter Ron Guidry, New York took a 2-1 lead in the 6th when George Brett hit a 2-run homer off of Mike Witt. Seattle tied the game in the 7th when a Ruppert Jones single scored pinch runner Dave Collins. With no scoring in the 8th or 9th the game went to extra innings where Seattle won when Andre Thornton doubled home Al Woods for the win. Seattle starter Mike Witt pitched a strong 8 innings giving up the 2 runs on only 4 hits while striking out 7 but he only earned a no-decision. Reliever Brad Lesley pitched 2 innings in relief for the opening day win while New York reliever Jeff Reardon earned the loss giving up a run on 3 hits in 1.2 innings.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

We got hit with our first challenge of the 1983 season. After just 1 inning in his first start, our #5 starter Bruce Kison went out with what was diagnosed as rotator cuff inflammation. So, he's going to be out for 3 months which is a big loss despite his status as the 5th starter. We're going to promote rookie Dennis Rasmussen from AAA to take his spot in the rotation.

[Scottiedog]

Not to high jack your thread. Please, show us Brad Lesley's player page.
I'm a huge Reds fan and I loved him...even if he had a short and forgettable career.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Scottiedog, you're not hijacking it. I'm happy to interact with people to see if they're just reading or interested in this alternate history.

I'll try to remember to grab his player page and post it tonight after work.

[Scottiedog]

Ok cool rocket. Lesley was supposed to be a beast. He even picked up the nickname "Animal" in the minors lol.
Oh, he also was in a few movies.
Bradley Jay Lesley - IMDb