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| OOTP 21 - Fictional Simulations Discuss fictional simulations and their results in this forum. |
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12-15-2020, 11:58 AM
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#1 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Post-War Baseball: A Boring League In Its 5th Season
I mean, obviously it's not boring to *me*, but YMMV. I like to run historical league formations with fictional players because I prefer the fog of war (locally I even hide current/potential ratings and with the new version of the game I've configured the screens so I don't even see modern stats like WAR in order to make me think like a late 40s era manager/GM). I put my finger on the scale in the following ways:
- Even though teams are fictional, I use historical transactions to make trades and player sales. Basically, I attempt to approximate what I think both teams were trying to accomplish in the trade and go forward with that. Sometimes I've got to change standards - in this league, the Cubs are a contending team whereas in the real-life late 40s they're not very good - but by and large I think these transactions give the league a particular feel and even helps establish the hierarchy of teams (for instance, this offseason the St. Louis Browns IRL conducted a fire sale of their best remaining players after a horrific season in attendance; they're most likely going to be the worst team in the AL now). - I also occasionally - like, maybe once or twice a year - manually create future superstars. So when Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays join the league, expect both to be represented. I like doing this because, well, I like following those players' careers (although as you'll see I might have overpowered a couple of guys) and their teams tend to be competitive. - I have Charlton's Baseball Chronology open to give me a good idea of the context of the league and every now and then insert what happened IRL into this universe. This is where I learned why exactly the Browns made all the trades that they did, for instance (the transactions themselves are listed in bbref, of course, but without context I might have attempted to make them into "mutual help" moves instead of "fire sale" ones). Anyway, we're in the year 1950 and here's a brief summary of our history: 1946: The very first World Series in post-war recorded history is a subway series between the two Boston teams. The Braves (92-62) emerge as the victors of the Nationals behind the pitching of SP Joe Brewer (22-10, 2.84 - and my universe's version of Warren Spahn), Nick Ranallo (19-12, 3.33), and Ricardo Reyes (18-11, 3.59). The Red Sox, meanwhile, blow out the AL (100-54) thanks in large part to LF Ted Thurston (.341, 23, 111 - and yes, this is Ted Williams) and SP Phil Baker (27-9, 2.90). The Braves won the World Series in six games in, so far, the only postseason series won by the National League. 1947: This season saw a rematch of the Subway Series, although this time around the tables were turned and the Red Sox won. RESIM The Braves (90-64) were still awesome, this time leaning on twin 20-game winners Brewer (24-10, 1.95) and Nick Ranallo (20-12, 2.89), and receiving timely hitting from 3B Dusty Mattison (.296, 14, 114). The Red Sox (94-60) took a tick back from their "century season" but were held up by a monstrous season by Thurston (.373, 49, 145). The Sox, as noted, won in 5 games. 1948: It was a changing of the guard year, as the Braves slipped to a sub-500 record and the New York Yankees emerged in the American. The NL pennant winning Cardinals (92-61) were all offense with just enough pitching to push them over the top. Hitting-wise they were led by RF Stan Watson (.389, 18, 86 in 94 games - this is "Stan Musial"), 1B Ken Hoffman (.318, 26, 142), and LF Mike Koetting (.342, 27, 131). Their best pitcher was 22-year-old Jason Lanier (15-3, 2.22), who didn't really have the stamina to start but who was thrust into that role for most of the year. The Yankees (105-49) were complete monsters; RF Joe Della (.341, 33, 114) was the best player in a fantastic lineup but there were plenty more guys. As you'd expect, the Yankees won the Series easily. 1949: The NL had an exciting race go down past the final day to a one-game playoff. With 2 games to go there were 2 teams - the Cubs and Cardinals - tied for the lead with 2 more - the Phillies and Braves - just a game back. The Braves lost that day to push themselves out, but the Phillies beat the Cardinals to push themselves into a 3-way tie. Then, on the final game of the season the Cubs did their job against the last-place Reds while the Cards overcame the Phillies to force that playoff. Said playoff was won by the Cubs. I won't sum up the players because the upcoming team reports will do that. The AL was another laugher, with the Yankees (109-44) flirting with a 110 win season. Will anyone stop them? Not in the postseason; while the Cubs shocked the world and won Game 1, the Yankees won the next 4 to sweep it all away. Now, on to the individual team reports!
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12-15-2020, 12:36 PM
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#2 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Boston Braves
Team History
1946: 92-62, 1st (won World Series) 1947: 90-65, 1st (lost World Series) 1948: 76-78, 5th, 16 1/2 GB 1949: 85-69, 4th, 1 1/2 GB Key Additions: 1B Steven Lutes (trade - NYG), CF Curt Holdaway (trade - NYG), LF Jacob McKnight (trade - NYG) Key Losses: 1B Manuel Mares (trade - NYG), SP Kazufumi Duke (sale - CHC), LF Sam Brooks (trade - NYG), SS Ramon Campos (trade - BRK), George Stephens (sale - PIT) The Braves took a major gamble in a blockbuster trade with the New York Giants and along the way also sold off the 1949 Rookie of the Year in Kazufumi Duke. They insist that they're retooling, not rebuilding, but it seems like a repeat of their pennant race in 1950 would be an upset. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Nick Ranallo SP 16 14 0 3.86 36 36 275.1 291 128 118 24 97 78 1.41 .272 .273 3.8 Joe Brewer SP 18 9 0 2.23 32 32 262.0 203 80 65 11 70 180 1.04 .208 .243 9.6 Jeff Long SP 16 12 0 4.09 32 32 222.0 201 112 101 24 112 117 1.41 .243 .256 2.1 Kazufumi Duke SP 8 5 0 2.98 25 24 175.1 166 70 58 9 50 74 1.23 .247 .265 4.5 Ricardo Reyes SP 4 7 0 5.40 33 13 125.0 130 88 75 6 103 36 1.86 .276 .284 -0.1 Bob Hustead SP 4 7 0 5.17 16 13 78.1 85 51 45 7 43 14 1.63 .274 .269 0.2 Jamie Deegan SP 0 3 0 6.32 5 1 15.2 18 12 11 2 10 11 1.79 .286 .320 0.0 Miguel Garcia CL 5 7 12 4.54 51 0 79.1 84 49 40 3 54 33 1.74 .278 .302 0.5 Keith Turner RP 4 2 2 4.95 39 0 83.2 95 47 46 11 34 38 1.54 .292 .300 -0.2 Tony Love RP 8 2 1 2.43 42 0 66.2 51 20 18 4 32 30 1.24 .209 .222 0.7 Dave Meyer RP 1 1 0 6.23 4 3 26.0 31 18 18 4 5 14 1.38 .304 .318 0.4 Mike Kaski RP 1 0 0 0.00 1 0 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 1 1.50 .250 .286 0.1 Dusty Rodriguez RP 0 0 0 5.40 1 0 1.2 1 1 1 1 3 0 2.40 .167 .000 -0.2 Ricardo Reyes struggled mightily last season and might not be in the rotation going into the season. If he's relegated to the bullpen, he'll compete for a spot with Miguel Garcia, who also had big-time control issues. Well... it's 1950; everyone has control issues... Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Danny Kozak C 91 267 28 48 11 2 5 25 78 51 44 0 0 .180 .313 .292 .605 0.2 Harry Rawson C 65 196 25 44 10 1 6 25 74 45 44 0 0 .224 .370 .378 .748 1.3 Oscar Ortiz C 26 68 3 9 1 0 1 8 13 7 8 0 0 .132 .205 .191 .396 -0.5 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Manuel Mares 1B 145 556 100 202 41 7 24 116 329 77 10 8 9 .363 .441 .592 1.033 6.3 Nick Donahoe 1B 37 54 2 7 0 0 0 1 7 6 9 0 0 .130 .242 .130 .372 -0.4 Jonathan Cartagena 2B 79 338 50 99 17 3 5 49 137 21 46 4 8 .293 .331 .405 .737 1.5 Marvin Krueger 2B 51 202 33 54 12 2 5 16 85 33 11 0 0 .267 .376 .421 .796 1.4 Charlie Malone 2B 14 35 4 6 0 0 1 1 9 4 5 1 0 .171 .256 .257 .514 -0.0 Jake Kay 3B 72 232 22 51 12 0 0 19 63 31 21 0 0 .220 .311 .272 .582 -0.3 Justin Knepler 3B 34 113 28 37 7 3 13 31 89 24 23 1 0 .327 .445 .788 1.233 2.0 David Sanders 3B 39 109 14 24 5 0 0 8 29 16 13 0 0 .220 .317 .266 .584 -0.0 Danilo Palangan 3B 29 85 10 22 4 0 3 9 35 9 11 0 0 .259 .333 .412 .745 0.6 Austin Manley SS 107 373 34 105 14 0 2 39 125 20 47 1 6 .282 .317 .335 .652 0.4 Ramon Campos SS 70 231 22 51 21 2 1 27 79 19 29 2 0 .221 .285 .342 .627 0.4 Fidele Mendoza SS 11 45 2 8 0 0 0 4 8 0 3 0 1 .178 .196 .178 .373 -0.4 The Braves swapped longtime second-sacker Marvin Krueger with the Pirates for a guy in Jonathan Cartagena who had fallen out of favor there. Over the course of the season, he earned the starting role in Boston and is now considered a team leader. Go figure. The Braves elected to cut ties with 3B Dusty Mattison after a truly awful 1948 (.202, 7, 67) and mostly paid for it with a whole lot of iffiness last season. Going into 1950 they've penciled in the former Phillies prospect Ken Battist, who, if nothing else, has a great baseball name. Ramon Campos missed half the year and the Braves going forward seem to be happy with his replacement in Austin Manley. Campos was an All-Star in 1946 but has hit .209 and .221 the past two seasons, and at 31 years of age he's no longer even an elite-level shortstop. Anyway, enough about a guy who's no longer on the team. Manley, at 27, figures to be a full-time starter for the first time in his career. He's not a great fielder but hit for a good average for a middle infielder last year. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Sam Brooks LF 110 435 76 143 33 8 13 70 231 59 11 2 5 .329 .410 .531 .941 5.5 George Stephens CF 96 225 40 67 14 2 4 25 97 32 11 7 3 .298 .381 .431 .812 1.4 Jamie Mason CF 67 194 21 45 4 2 1 10 56 17 18 5 4 .232 .297 .289 .586 0.3 Bill Rivera RF 152 624 69 198 35 3 13 102 278 23 12 0 0 .317 .341 .446 .786 1.4 Tom DeGirolamo RF 116 337 56 82 10 4 0 24 100 59 26 5 12 .243 .357 .297 .654 0.5 Nate Gerhart RF 39 121 11 22 6 0 4 18 40 18 16 0 0 .182 .286 .331 .616 -0.3 That trade also brought in their new starting center fielder, Curt Holdaway. Holdaway has won the Gold Glove the past 3 years and figures to be a big defensive upgrade over George Stephens, who is gone to the Pirates. Right field is manned by "Big Bill" Rivera, who also doesn't really have the power you'd expect for a corner outfielder, but the Braves could send *everyone* away, and Rivera has the kind of bat control that makes scouts salivate.
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12-15-2020, 01:07 PM
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#3 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Team History
1946: 100-53, 1st (lost World Series) 1947: 94-60, 1st (won World Series 1948: 96-57, 2nd, 8 1/2 GB 1949: 90-64, 2nd, 19 GB Key Additions: None Key Losses: Chad Cannon (trade - STB (eventually)) The Bosox basically stood pat, hoping that an injury-ravaged rotation will stay healthy this year, and that the Yankees can't possibly continue their torrid pace for the 3rd year in a row. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Cesar Quintero SP 18 9 0 3.59 33 33 266.0 244 115 106 14 112 147 1.34 .244 .272 6.5 Phil Baker SP 14 5 0 3.69 31 29 197.2 193 85 81 15 69 74 1.33 .259 .268 4.0 Jake Roberts SP 14 6 0 3.96 31 31 223.0 227 123 98 24 106 101 1.49 .264 .273 2.8 Josh Carpenter SP 8 7 0 4.44 21 21 156.0 171 85 77 15 59 29 1.47 .277 .269 1.8 Charlie Bonavita SP 0 1 0 24.30 1 1 3.1 6 9 9 2 4 1 3.00 .375 .308 -0.2 Chris McCabe CL 4 1 7 1.34 26 0 33.2 22 8 5 0 11 16 0.98 .188 .214 1.2 Phil Saylor RP 2 0 0 2.28 11 1 23.2 13 6 6 1 14 13 1.14 .163 .174 0.3 Eddie Casper RP 5 6 2 4.50 38 0 76.0 78 41 38 3 50 14 1.68 .268 .270 -0.1 Danny Vergano RP 6 7 1 4.54 33 12 113.0 134 67 57 15 38 50 1.52 .293 .299 1.0 Vince Johnson RP 6 8 3 5.20 28 14 133.1 152 86 77 16 61 53 1.60 .286 .290 1.0 Chris Schuster RP 3 3 0 5.93 12 5 41.0 43 27 27 4 20 15 1.54 .270 .273 0.3 Tommie Kimbell SP 0 3 2 6.12 15 0 25.0 29 17 17 4 7 14 1.44 .305 .321 0.1 Bobby Reynaga RP 2 1 0 6.75 4 3 24.0 32 18 18 7 3 9 1.46 .317 .291 -0.1 CL Chris McCabe also missed a large chunk of the season but was pretty effective when he did play. Just a note that in the late 40s and early 50s, an even walk to strikeout ratio actually makes you an above average pitcher. The Red Sox' bullpen ERA was the second worst in the AL last year, though, and they just plain need better performance if they want to catch the Yankees this year. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR John Prive C 129 478 55 113 19 1 3 67 143 56 38 1 0 .236 .316 .299 .615 0.4 Natalino Mourela C 44 141 10 30 6 1 5 24 53 17 18 0 0 .213 .296 .376 .671 0.2 Mel Torres C 6 16 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 0 0 .188 .316 .188 .503 0.0 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Adam Johnson 1B 82 256 53 76 13 1 8 61 115 89 21 0 0 .297 .469 .449 .918 2.9 Jordan Blakey 2B 135 584 115 199 37 6 11 82 281 71 15 2 1 .341 .416 .481 .897 6.4 Josh Woolman 2B 76 131 23 26 8 0 3 24 43 22 20 0 0 .198 .316 .328 .644 -0.1 Mark Boutilier 3B 134 493 100 155 29 2 13 86 227 99 34 0 0 .314 .424 .460 .885 4.9 Chad Cannon 3B 50 179 40 53 4 5 8 42 91 24 9 7 0 .296 .376 .508 .884 1.4 Jaden Thomas 3B 59 98 16 25 5 0 0 7 30 21 9 0 0 .255 .387 .306 .693 0.5 Matt Kaufman 3B 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 Jon Vallejo SS 146 552 86 168 39 5 6 87 235 78 51 4 1 .304 .388 .426 .813 5.8 Alex Garcia SS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 Matt Hoag SS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 Jordan Blakey was quietly one of the best players in Beantown last year. He's also managed to make the All-Star team all 4 times in spite of virtually never being on anyone's mind when he's not at bat. Mark Boutilier was acquired from the Browns last year when it became obvious that Adam Johnson could no longer handle third base duties on a regular basis. The 1948 All-Star couldn't quite match last season but he was still very, very fine. Rounding out the infield is yet another man with history playing in the July Classic. Vallejo is a two-time All Star. Looking at this infield, I'd say that they've had as much injury good luck here as they've had bad luck in the pitching rotation. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Ted Thurston LF 150 514 150 195 26 5 45 150 366 183 57 8 9 .379 .541 .712 1.253 12.4 Zion Martin LF 29 60 16 28 8 0 1 18 39 14 9 0 0 .467 .566 .650 1.216 1.3 Danny Gonzalez LF 6 13 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 .308 .357 .308 .665 -0.1 Lou Della CF 95 359 44 115 24 6 5 69 166 44 16 3 0 .320 .398 .462 .860 2.1 Dusty Juncker CF 65 219 25 60 11 2 2 35 81 24 30 0 0 .274 .346 .370 .716 0.8 Ivan Martinez CF 67 186 30 34 9 1 8 31 69 35 42 1 0 .183 .316 .371 .687 0.0 Angel Martinez CF 18 47 11 14 3 0 0 8 17 8 6 0 0 .298 .393 .362 .755 0.3 Jeff Nelson RF 148 681 134 205 30 14 18 90 317 66 49 10 5 .301 .364 .465 .830 3.4 Lou Della got hurt last year and, in spite of the hardware (he won Gold Gloves in '46 and '47), might not be fast enough to play in centerfield anymore. The Red Sox are crossing their fingers and hoping. If he does have to move to a corner, Dusty Juncker looks like a decent, if not spectacular, replacement. There is an alternate universe, I'm told, in which Jeff Nelson is a middle reliever for the Mariners and Yankees in the 1990s instead of a good, solid right field option for the Red Sox. I say that is preposterous. A major league team in Seattle?
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12-16-2020, 11:12 AM
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#4 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Brooklyn Dodgers
Team History
1946: 82-72, 3rd, 10 GB 1947: 81-73, 3rd, 8 1/2 GB 1948: 66-86, 6th, 25 1/2 GB 1949: 83-71, 5th, 3 1/2 GB Key Additions: SS Ramon Campos (trade - BSN) Key Losses: OF Miguel Vargos (sale - CIN) The Dodgers are sort of the perennial bridesmaids of the National League, IRONIC considering that back during the annals of unrecorded history they were known from time to time as the Bridegrooms. Following a nasty tumble in '48, they were right back in good-but-not-good-enough territory last year. Neither the pitching nor the hitting was spectacular as a whole, though the latter did have its bright spots Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Burl Holmes SP 17 16 0 4.08 35 35 284.1 288 142 129 35 78 119 1.29 .258 .261 4.6 Tristan Lane SP 12 11 0 4.43 32 32 239.2 264 126 118 12 102 81 1.53 .278 .293 5.1 Brent Nickerson SP 15 12 0 4.51 29 29 225.1 261 127 113 25 66 81 1.45 .289 .295 3.6 Chris Gillen SP 13 8 0 3.45 27 27 195.2 177 84 75 18 65 78 1.24 .240 .247 3.4 George Gornick SP 5 8 0 6.96 21 12 97.0 124 83 75 15 44 25 1.73 .315 .304 -0.0 Kevin McCaslin SP 5 4 3 4.76 25 7 73.2 67 44 39 8 39 32 1.44 .245 .251 0.4 C.J. Blong CL 4 2 3 3.45 28 3 60.0 52 25 23 11 16 31 1.13 .234 .228 -0.0 Ethan LaDell RP 5 4 0 4.53 24 7 109.1 93 66 55 15 67 72 1.46 .230 .243 0.4 Omari Young RP 6 3 11 5.00 42 0 54.0 59 32 30 5 36 25 1.76 .281 .295 0.1 Mike Riewe RP 0 1 0 5.40 12 0 15.0 20 9 9 1 7 5 1.80 .333 .339 0.1 Hugo Pelaez RP 0 1 0 7.07 5 1 14.0 19 13 11 5 8 5 1.93 .322 .286 -0.5 Ben Pollock RP 1 1 0 9.35 2 1 8.2 14 9 9 0 4 3 2.08 .368 .400 0.2 Micah Staines RP 0 0 0 7.20 4 0 5.0 10 5 4 1 1 2 2.20 .400 .409 -0.0 Terry Pennington RP 0 0 1 4.50 3 0 4.0 4 2 2 0 4 2 2.00 .267 .308 0.0 The team's new stopper is CJ Blong, who emerged as the ace of the bullpen when the incumbent Omari Young struggled. Blong also has the stamina to slot into the rotation so everything is up for grabs. Catcher Code:
Name G AB ▴ R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Andrew Loving C 123 401 42 106 12 2 2 38 128 63 37 0 0 .264 .365 .319 .684 1.7 Matt Krewer C 50 141 15 41 4 1 1 18 50 10 13 0 0 .291 .336 .355 .690 0.0 Infield Code:
Name G AB ▴ R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Kevin Reeves 1B 119 373 56 90 18 1 15 66 155 73 47 0 1 .241 .363 .416 .779 2.0 Guadalupe Andrade 1B 60 151 20 36 4 0 4 18 52 25 20 0 0 .238 .344 .344 .689 -0.1 Brian Dirks 1B 11 43 2 12 2 1 0 9 16 3 4 0 0 .279 .319 .372 .691 0.0 Jackie Weber 2B 119 450 89 156 26 8 18 69 252 33 42 29 13 .347 .393 .560 .953 6.5 Joe Davis 3B 153 639 114 221 35 12 7 97 301 50 13 8 9 .346 .389 .471 .860 5.4 Dusty Mattison 3B 89 259 32 57 9 3 4 29 84 31 33 4 2 .220 .301 .324 .626 -0.3 Cameron Abbott 3B 33 79 13 28 5 3 0 8 39 8 4 0 1 .354 .414 .494 .907 0.7 Ken Davidson SS 113 407 61 104 15 8 14 59 177 48 51 9 10 .256 .330 .435 .765 2.1 Second base is manned by the inestimable Jackie Weber (who, as an aside, is a guy I modeled after Jackie Robinson. Which, as a side note, I wasn't about to delete all the Black players in this league or create a Negro League for them to play in, but I still wanted Robinson in here. And also, he does kind of meet the criteria I have for manual additions, so there's that). Weber has been bothered by injury the last couple years after playing in all 154 games his rookie season of 1947 but when he's out there he's legitimately one of the best and smartest players in the league. One superstar who didn't miss any time for Brooklyn last season was 3rd baseman Joe Davis. Davis finished in the top 10 in several categories, most notably average (4th) and runs scores (5th). He somehow missed the All-Star game in '47 and '48 but that was rectified last year, and he topped the season off with his first ever Silver Slugger award. I should devote at least a little bit of time to Dusty Mattison. Mattison was a throw-in in the Kevin Reeves deal but just 2 years ago the 27 year old was a key member of the pennant-winning Braves side. What happened? He's still as solid with the glove as ever - in fact, when Jackie Weber was out, he stepped in admirably - but in the past two seasons he's hit .202 and .220, and now he's fighting for a major league job. It's really starting to look like Ken Davidson's awesome 1947 campaign that saw him hit .301 and drive in 80 men was just a fluke. Even so, he's got good pop for a shortstop and isn't really what's keeping this team back from winning a pennant at the moment. Nevertheless, Brooklyn brought in Ramon Campos to test him in the spring as well as fill in in the infield when the inevitable injury arises. Outfield Code:
Name G AB ▴ R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Sean McClure LF 119 434 80 135 15 12 10 71 204 72 7 24 8 .311 .406 .470 .876 2.5 Miguel Vargos LF 101 369 70 101 12 7 18 54 181 44 36 8 2 .274 .353 .491 .843 2.2 Andres Avila LF 15 25 2 9 1 1 0 4 12 4 0 0 0 .360 .448 .480 .928 0.3 Brad McGonigle CF 112 427 48 110 16 3 2 35 138 37 22 1 8 .258 .318 .323 .642 -0.1 Dave Reising CF 13 15 2 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 .133 .188 .133 .321 -0.1 Shawn Whitaker RF 141 561 80 187 51 4 20 110 306 45 102 12 6 .333 .384 .545 .930 5.2 Jacob Arnold RF 45 104 13 32 5 0 1 17 40 13 17 0 0 .308 .383 .385 .768 0.5 Bill Acker RF 4 4 1 3 0 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 .750 .800 .750 1.550 0.2 Brad McGonigle's numbers dipped last year - the third year player's average of .258 was a career low - and it makes this year a real "make it or break it" one for the 31 year old. Should he falter, the best the Dodgers could come up with as an alternate is 28 year old career AAA man Jamie Mason. I don't want to call Shawn Whitaker disappointing per se (side note: Duke Snider) - he did, after all, hit 51 doubles - but when he came into the league last year everyone thought he'd be another Luke Spurr, and that just hasn't happened (more on Spurr when I cover the Pirates). That being said, not everyone has a man in right who can do .300-20-100, and Whitaker is still only 24 and so has plenty of time to cash in on all that potential.
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12-16-2020, 11:55 AM
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#5 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Chicago Cubs
Team History
1946: 80-74, 5th, 12 GB 1947: 76-78, 5th, 13 1/2 GB 1948: 88-66, 2nd, 4 1/2 GB 1949: 87-68, 1st (lost World Series) Key Additions: SP Francisco Bravo (sale - CIN), SP Kazufumi Duke (trade - BSN) Key Losses: IF Ken Battist (trade - BSN) Last year was a real Cinderella season for the Cubs, who managed to put just enough together to tie for the National League lead on the last game of the season and then beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the ensuing one-game playoff. That is, however, where the fun times end, as the Yankees absolutely smooshed them in the postsason. Coming into 1950 we feel that the Cubbies have patched up the most glaring weakness on their roster, their lack of quality starting pitching. They don't have the offensive attack of the Cardinals but then, the Cardinals seem content to try to win every game 7-6 again this season and that's not how you build a perennial contender. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Glenn Carl SP 24 12 0 3.97 43 43 329.0 331 165 145 25 127 153 1.39 .264 .282 6.0 Sesto Cajani SP 15 18 0 4.44 40 40 302.0 348 163 149 33 84 142 1.43 .292 .308 5.2 Mike Chambers SP 15 5 0 3.15 25 25 197.1 194 77 69 10 62 70 1.30 .260 .275 4.5 Tony Gonzales SP 10 11 0 4.76 31 24 179.2 192 111 95 15 71 66 1.46 .278 .287 2.7 Dave Hoffmann SP 3 5 0 5.40 30 13 121.2 149 84 73 9 70 32 1.80 .310 .312 0.6 Steve Keane SP 0 1 0 6.39 4 0 12.2 11 9 9 1 6 8 1.34 .244 .256 0.1 Tyler Bell CL 3 1 7 3.10 40 0 61.0 53 21 21 1 21 24 1.21 .236 .260 1.4 Jon McKenna RP 12 6 5 5.20 47 0 71.0 80 45 41 9 26 36 1.49 .294 .303 0.4 Nate Maske RP 2 4 0 6.23 12 8 56.1 63 41 39 3 43 29 1.88 .292 .321 0.5 Jimmy Wetherby RP 2 2 3 5.59 27 0 38.2 43 24 24 4 24 14 1.73 .285 .291 -0.2 Mike Clarke RP 1 2 0 5.73 4 2 22.0 28 14 14 2 9 9 1.68 .322 .338 0.2 Nathan Parker RP 0 1 0 2.65 11 0 17.0 13 5 5 0 11 11 1.41 .210 .255 0.2 After him... well, they did have Mike Chambers, who was excellent right up to the point that he went down with an injury at the end of August. That left Sesto Cajani as the #2 man, and the only thing Cajani is that good at is surrendering home runs. This year, he'll be fighting for a rotation spot, as the team made moves to acquire last year's Rookie of the Year Kazufumi Duke from the Braves and 16 game winner Francisco Bravo from the Reds. Also in the mix is Tony Gonzalez, who came over from the Phillies the season before and who, in his single postseason outing, surrendered 9 runs in 3 1/3 innings. Whoever doesn't make the initial rotation should have plenty of opportunity to show their stuff in the bullpen, as outside of Tyler Bell it's pretty bleak. Even Bell, a 33 year old fastball/slider guy, is not really what you'd call a staff ace, although he did save 9 games back in 1946. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Francisco Mena C 108 389 53 123 24 3 5 51 168 34 11 0 1 .316 .371 .432 .803 3.0 Preston Worley C 53 153 15 31 8 2 3 17 52 26 38 0 1 .203 .315 .340 .655 0.3 Matt Kirklin C 12 40 3 4 0 0 0 2 4 4 9 0 0 .100 .178 .100 .278 -0.5 Paul Rupinski C 10 35 2 8 2 0 0 3 10 5 4 0 0 .229 .341 .286 .627 0.1 He did miss some time last year with chronic back soreness and the results were not particularly good. It's probably best that we leave it at that. Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Edgar Esquivel 1B 134 450 79 127 22 0 29 92 236 72 55 0 0 .282 .390 .524 .915 3.2 Alex Diaz 1B 26 63 11 19 2 1 2 9 29 11 10 2 2 .302 .405 .460 .866 0.3 Javier Gonzalez 2B 150 535 84 160 25 11 5 75 222 54 52 21 12 .299 .367 .415 .782 3.5 Felix Soto 2B 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 Felipe Ortega 3B 151 550 88 158 24 1 21 105 247 111 83 0 1 .287 .404 .449 .854 5.9 Ken Battist 3B 63 101 15 27 6 3 0 11 39 13 7 2 4 .267 .356 .386 .742 0.4 Robby Granillo 3B 31 37 7 12 4 0 0 7 16 12 1 0 0 .324 .500 .432 .932 0.7 Danny Eze SS 148 525 73 145 22 10 13 91 226 50 84 15 13 .276 .336 .430 .767 3.3 Mike Fitts SS 10 11 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 0 0 .091 .167 .091 .258 -0.2 Nick Estrada SS 6 8 0 3 3 0 0 3 6 0 0 0 0 .375 .375 .750 1.125 0.1 Javier Gonzalez had a nice first full season as a starter, setting personal highs in every category. He's very fast and last season appeared to have cut down on some of the baserunning errors that plagued him in seasons past. Felipe Ortega is the cornerstone of the offense and the face of the franchise. He's also a known "RA", if you know what we mean. Last season he garnered his 4th straight Gold Glove. How the man only gets hit twice a year is beyond us, for all the carrying on he does on the field and off. Fielding ace Danny Eze finally had a good enough season offensively that the Gold Glove voters decided he should get some hardware for the first time in his career. Yes, that's confusing to us, too, although Eze definitely deserved it. He still strikes out too much to hit higher in the lineup but he's got some nice pop for a middle infielder. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Eric Fuller LF 104 446 64 140 24 5 5 52 189 35 21 8 2 .314 .363 .424 .787 2.1 Andres Avila LF 73 134 18 41 5 1 2 19 54 17 3 0 0 .306 .377 .403 .780 0.2 Donald Uppinghouse LF 64 84 12 24 2 0 2 12 32 16 9 2 0 .286 .406 .381 .787 0.5 Dan Butler LF 10 27 2 5 1 0 1 4 9 3 5 0 0 .185 .267 .333 .600 -0.1 Miguel Vargos LF 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 .333 .500 .333 .833 0.0 Fernando Fundora CF 152 633 122 180 38 7 20 85 292 89 79 23 13 .284 .370 .461 .832 4.6 Rodolfo Moreno CF 5 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 .000 .250 .000 .250 -0.2 Jeff Sholey RF 149 565 96 179 29 3 17 85 265 95 61 2 4 .317 .417 .469 .886 4.3 Art Ryther RF 50 197 41 63 17 3 0 29 86 31 8 8 4 .320 .411 .437 .848 1.6 Bobby Brooks RF 25 21 4 4 1 0 0 2 5 1 1 0 0 .190 .227 .238 .465 -0.1 Danny Gallegos RF 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.1 Chicago is Fernando Fundora's 4th team in 5 seasons and he's been called unmotivated by previous managers. Last year however, he managed to keep his head in the game all season - perhaps the thrill of a pennant race helped - and set career highs in, well, everything. Fundora at this point is a bit of a paradox, as he was a great leadoff man but might actually hit for too much power to waste batting 1st. Jeff Sholey's RBI totals dipped from 97 to 85 last season but don't let that fool you. The 25 year old was every bit as good last year as he's ever been, and the Cubs expect him to be their 3-hole hitter for the next decade. I wanted to add here that the team's 4th outfielder and pinch-hitting specialist is Andres Avila, the Dodgers' former first baseman who was acquired in June for Miguel Vargos. The Dodgers thought he was too old to be a regular part of the club but the Cubs found much use for him last year and figure to do more of the same this year.
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12-16-2020, 12:49 PM
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#6 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Chicago White Sox
Team History
1946: 78-76, 4th, 22 1/2 GB 1947: 89-65, 3rd, 5 GB 1948: 66-88, 5th, 39 GB 1949: 77-77, 5th, 32 GB Key Additions: RF Ken-chi Lopan (trade - PHA), C Ron Locke (sale - PIT) Key Losses: SP Tom Sibley (trade - PHA), C Nick Yost (trade - PHA), SP Rick Rekstad (retired) It's a little hard to understand what, exactly, the White Sox are up to. They acquired Athletics star Ken-Chi Lopan to upgrade a team that still looks to us like only the best second-division club in the American League. I guess when you're in the same league as the Yankees all moves look futile, but even so, I'd have expected them to go harder on the rebuild. Incidentally, 1949 was the first season the White Sox wore the horizontal Old English script "SOX" on their home uniforms. That's a terrible explanation so I'll link the image below. You'll see what I mean if you click on the link below: White Sox' unis, 1946-1955 Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Pat Eckert SP 10 13 0 4.29 36 25 203.2 201 109 97 22 126 72 1.61 .262 .264 0.3 Gregg Sumner SP 4 8 0 4.76 16 16 113.1 116 65 60 9 55 46 1.51 .267 .280 1.6 Pedro Ornelas SP 6 8 0 5.67 17 14 108.0 117 75 68 6 95 22 1.96 .280 .282 -0.2 Andres Hinojosa SP 7 6 0 5.67 15 15 98.1 114 67 62 7 58 47 1.75 .292 .314 1.2 Mike Paulk SP 4 7 0 4.29 14 14 92.1 98 56 44 11 40 21 1.49 .271 .257 0.5 Tom Sibley SP 3 4 0 5.32 13 13 89.2 112 56 53 7 35 39 1.64 .310 .329 1.5 Gerardo Hernandez SP 4 1 1 2.88 24 10 84.1 74 29 27 2 42 23 1.38 .240 .254 1.2 Sylvester Warren SP 5 2 0 2.76 8 8 58.2 54 18 18 1 29 26 1.41 .244 .270 1.4 Kevin Silvas SP 2 3 0 3.57 11 11 58.0 58 28 23 3 21 12 1.36 .257 .258 1.1 Mark Frosch SP 2 2 0 6.07 7 7 46.0 58 38 31 8 24 15 1.78 .304 .296 -0.2 Rick Rowe SP 0 0 0 3.98 3 3 20.1 16 9 9 2 15 9 1.52 .229 .237 0.0 Matthew Long SP 1 1 0 3.10 3 3 20.1 22 9 7 2 10 8 1.57 .286 .294 0.2 David Ard CL 11 5 17 2.11 67 0 102.1 89 27 24 6 31 44 1.17 .233 .248 2.0 Joe Brooks RP 8 4 3 3.74 52 0 86.2 76 43 36 3 37 34 1.30 .234 .253 1.2 Glen Schmidt RP 2 0 2 5.26 19 0 39.1 44 25 23 3 20 27 1.63 .280 .315 0.4 Gene Jenkins RP 1 3 4 2.86 18 0 28.1 19 10 9 1 17 13 1.27 .194 .214 0.4 Landon Boston RP 2 1 0 5.40 8 2 25.0 29 16 15 0 12 11 1.64 .282 .312 0.6 Ward Meyers RP 1 1 0 5.84 2 2 12.1 17 8 8 2 10 3 2.19 .327 .319 -0.2 Lucas Goetz RP 0 0 0 3.68 4 0 7.1 10 3 3 0 6 2 2.18 .357 .370 0.0 Dusty Rodriguez RP 0 0 0 8.53 5 0 6.1 9 7 6 0 6 5 2.37 .321 .391 0.0 Really, the staff ace is David Ard, who threw more than 100 innings in relief last season. He looked like the toll of innings wore on him as the season went on, however, and his K/9 dipped by an entire strikeout compared to 1948 (3.9 to 5.1). I mentioned Rick Rekstad as a "key loss" even though he had a whopping 8 career starts in the majors because he suffered a career-ending torn UCL at the end of August of last year. He'd been an absolute beast in the minors, having pitched a no-hitter with the Muskegon Clippers in 1948, and just as he was looking like the answer to the Sox' pitching issues, boom, there went his leg... Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Christiansen Holby C 128 410 55 106 18 3 10 62 160 81 36 0 0 .259 .379 .390 .769 3.3 Nick Yost C 58 158 11 37 10 1 0 25 49 23 17 0 0 .234 .335 .310 .645 0.5 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Eric Stevenson 1B 97 275 30 83 6 2 5 32 108 20 27 1 6 .302 .346 .393 .738 0.7 Sergio Venegas 1B 53 208 38 58 8 1 15 50 113 34 32 0 0 .279 .382 .543 .925 1.7 Matt Pruitt 1B 41 160 26 43 8 6 3 31 72 10 20 1 1 .269 .306 .450 .756 0.3 Ron McPherson 2B 100 276 34 66 10 0 5 35 91 50 27 0 3 .239 .356 .330 .685 0.5 Artie Wilson 2B 86 266 48 96 14 3 3 28 125 21 5 1 3 .361 .410 .470 .879 2.4 Austin Seiler 2B 45 120 19 33 4 2 2 14 47 24 8 0 1 .275 .397 .392 .789 0.6 Dusty German 2B 17 61 6 13 3 1 1 12 21 11 7 0 0 .213 .333 .344 .678 0.3 Rich Gagnon 2B 10 16 0 3 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 .188 .188 .188 .375 -0.1 John Yoder 3B 112 435 66 125 22 2 11 76 184 60 38 0 0 .287 .370 .423 .793 3.7 John Higgins 3B 41 123 14 23 4 0 0 9 27 19 13 0 0 .187 .297 .220 .516 -0.2 Yong-Chan Jang SS 132 485 59 124 17 9 4 60 171 62 60 1 0 .256 .338 .353 .691 1.8 Bill Lambe SS 8 13 1 3 0 1 0 2 5 3 0 0 0 .231 .375 .385 .760 0.1 Second base was also a mess, although this one has a potentially happier ending for one of the players involved. Ron McPherson was the incumbent in '48 but he didn't hit at all so the White Sox made a move with the Oakland Oaks of the PCL for one Artie Wilson, who electrified the league with a .361 average over the second half of the season. Wilson (who by the way is someone I manually created, although for the life of me I'm not sure who now) was once the property of the Yankees but that team was, I guess, just plain too good to notice a talent like him. John Yoder has been a key part of whatever Chicago has been trying to do ever since they traded David Scudero for him in June of 1947. Scudero has gone on to earn a World Series ring but Yoder is arguably the one with the brighter future. He did miss a month and a half with a bizarre wrist injury last season, which is something to keep an eye on. Yong-Chan Jang is the first and so far only ballplayer from Korea (it lists his country of origin as South Korea but of course there was just Korea in the 40s). He took to the game as a child after watching a barnstorming tour in the 1920s. As a starter, he's probably a bit outmatched but he's also not exactly the biggest worry on the team. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Joe Ritchie LF 144 551 90 143 20 19 6 68 219 94 74 8 14 .260 .365 .397 .763 4.0 Jordan Olvera LF 36 113 15 22 2 0 2 11 30 10 14 3 0 .195 .266 .265 .532 -0.7 Dwayne Davis LF 25 81 9 19 6 0 1 10 28 3 11 5 0 .235 .271 .346 .616 -0.3 Dan Butler LF 25 44 7 8 2 0 1 10 13 6 6 0 0 .182 .269 .295 .565 -0.1 Patrick Swenson CF 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0.0 Carlos Rojas CF 113 466 94 140 22 15 11 58 225 73 49 11 13 .300 .394 .483 .877 4.5 Kyle Adams CF 52 170 20 40 7 1 2 15 55 21 25 4 0 .235 .319 .324 .643 0.3 Dustin Mosher RF 137 537 69 161 25 7 9 69 227 29 78 21 19 .300 .331 .423 .754 3.6 Between Ritchie and Carlos Rojas, the White Sox might have the rangiest outfield duo in the major leagues, which in turn makes the pitching situation look even more dire, which... okay, I'll stop talking about the pitching. Rojas did miss out on Gold Glove hardware this year - the first time in 4 seasons he hasn't won one - but that's probably due to the month and a half he missed more than anything else. He did, strangely, collect his first Silver Slugger. In right, Dustin Mosher actually did win a Gold Glove but with Ken-chi Lopan now in town, he's probably going to be riding the pine this year, barring a trade. Mosher is perhaps the fastest player in baseball but he's known to make some rather boneheaded mistakes on the basepaths that negate a lot of that speed. Incidentally, the acquisition of Lopan lends this lineup a rather Asian air, as he is the first Chinese native to play in the major leagues himself (actually, at that it's rather complicated... he hails from Dalian, which, according to Wikipedia was a Japanese territory until 1945 and wasn't formally recognized as a Chinese holding until 1955. As of 1950 the city was held by the Soviet Union... so what country does he hail from?).
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12-17-2020, 11:34 AM
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#7 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Cincinnati Reds
Team History
1946: 67-87, 7th, 25 GB 1947: 76-78, 4th, 13 1/2 GB 1948: 66-88, 7th, 26 1/2 GB 1949: 55-99, 8th, 31 1/2 GB Key Additions: SS Justin Mims (trade - STN), OF Miguel Vargos (sale - BRK) Key Losses: SP Francisco Brave (sale - CHC), SS Mitchell Carter (trade - STN), 1B Ian Williams (retired) Hey, someone has to be the bottom-feeder in a league. Last year was the worst season in Reds history, not to mention the entire National League. Yep, no NL team as of yet has broken 100 losses. The Reds seem poised to meet that challenge in 1950, however, as they've got very little going for them now or in the future. They do, at least, have a full minor league system, which is more than what can be said about some of the teams in this universe. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Francisco Bravo SP 16 11 0 3.95 31 31 241.1 275 129 106 9 112 93 1.60 .290 .312 5.1 Tomas Juarez SP 7 16 0 5.57 31 31 216.1 272 148 134 19 101 71 1.72 .312 .321 2.6 Rafael Salinas SP 10 10 0 3.44 21 21 167.1 161 69 64 14 52 60 1.27 .256 .263 3.1 Hunter Klee SP 5 10 0 4.66 19 19 137.0 153 78 71 5 80 31 1.70 .291 .296 1.6 Keith Bowman SP 3 11 2 4.59 31 11 121.2 148 68 62 16 50 48 1.63 .305 .311 0.6 Fred Brown SP 0 10 0 7.09 11 11 59.2 86 68 47 6 46 18 2.21 .328 .331 -0.1 Bob Hustead SP 1 4 0 5.84 6 6 37.0 43 25 24 4 16 7 1.59 .285 .279 0.2 Steve Varian SP 0 2 0 6.14 11 0 29.1 30 20 20 5 16 14 1.57 .261 .258 -0.2 Bill Coats SP 0 2 0 13.50 3 0 3.1 9 5 5 1 3 1 3.60 .500 .500 -0.2 Lee Jacobs CL 3 3 2 5.37 45 0 65.1 84 39 39 8 34 30 1.81 .323 .339 -0.2 Walt Ritter RP 5 5 1 6.24 33 12 119.2 132 85 83 10 69 36 1.68 .281 .283 0.4 Domenic Wakely RP 0 5 0 7.24 23 6 59.2 83 50 48 11 22 23 1.76 .336 .333 -0.3 Simon Maulin RP 3 6 9 6.26 38 0 50.1 70 40 35 15 15 27 1.69 .327 .314 -1.1 Josh Bostian RP 1 1 0 7.90 20 2 41.0 61 39 36 8 25 20 2.10 .353 .361 -0.6 Micah Staines RP 1 3 0 6.18 4 4 27.2 39 21 19 5 13 11 1.88 .325 .324 -0.0 Harrison Wise RP 0 0 0 0.00 2 0 3.0 3 0 0 0 1 1 1.33 .250 .273 0.1 There's honestly very little on the farm either; the Reds are at the point right now of scouring the waiver wire for people who can vy for a spot in the rotation or bullpen during spring training. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Armando Varela C 128 410 44 98 19 1 7 56 140 64 44 0 0 .239 .340 .341 .682 0.9 Howie LeBlanc C 51 144 16 34 9 1 4 21 57 18 24 0 0 .236 .325 .396 .721 0.6 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Ted Stanislawski 1B 141 564 74 132 27 9 14 72 219 45 83 0 0 .234 .287 .388 .676 -0.2 Ian Williams 1B 74 230 47 69 10 1 3 28 90 48 15 1 0 .300 .423 .391 .814 1.4 Eric Brown 1B 11 10 1 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 .200 .182 .200 .382 -0.1 Justin Rambow 2B 148 570 81 172 37 11 12 65 267 52 49 14 12 .302 .359 .468 .828 1.6 Bryce Tibbits 2B 42 107 15 25 2 2 2 10 37 16 4 2 0 .234 .331 .346 .676 -0.3 Curt Armstrong 3B 138 497 47 121 26 1 1 54 152 30 78 5 3 .243 .286 .306 .592 -0.1 Scott Hunt 3B 44 92 12 16 2 0 4 12 30 5 13 0 0 .174 .216 .326 .543 -0.2 Mitchell Carter SS 129 432 51 118 27 5 7 69 176 73 60 2 1 .273 .378 .407 .786 0.6 Manny Torres SS 28 39 5 10 0 0 1 5 13 2 3 0 0 .256 .293 .333 .626 -0.2 Justin Rambow is, at 25 years of age, a 3-season vet for the Reds and he's league average, which on a team like Cincy he's playing full time and possibly getting All-Star mentions. I mean, he hasn't gone to the Summer Classic yet, but he *could* and that's the point. Curt Amstrong, on the other hand, is just a filler player until the Reds acquire someone who can move forward at the hot corner. He's not *terrible*, which is why he gets to keep his job, he just has no power, strikes out too much to ever be a hitting threat, and is merely average with the glove. Just a year ago, Mitchell Carter was considered a top prospect in the Reds' organization. He wasn't, like, terrible or anything - in fact, glove-wise, he might win a Gold Glove or two some day - but the Reds grew tired of him and so traded him off to the Cardinals for some veteran leadership in SS Justin Mims. Mims set a career-high last year with 307 at-bats and figures to play even more often for the Reds in 1950. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Eric Fuller LF 52 224 22 74 8 4 1 19 93 24 9 4 0 .330 .394 .415 .809 1.1 Kirk Mayfield LF 20 67 9 19 3 0 0 6 22 13 1 0 0 .284 .400 .328 .728 0.4 Donald Uppinghouse LF 38 56 8 18 3 1 1 10 26 8 5 0 2 .321 .400 .464 .864 0.1 Frank Etzel LF 8 6 2 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 .333 .429 .333 .762 0.0 Larry Della CF 137 534 70 121 20 8 20 65 217 68 70 10 15 .227 .314 .406 .720 1.6 Cory Stowell CF 90 271 41 78 10 5 2 27 104 19 38 7 7 .288 .337 .384 .721 0.6 Jeff Previs CF 56 150 25 48 8 0 6 26 74 15 8 1 1 .320 .383 .493 .877 1.2 Travis Richard CF 4 11 1 4 0 0 0 0 4 2 2 0 0 .364 .462 .364 .825 0.1 Art Ryther RF 93 359 51 104 13 3 6 40 141 45 14 16 10 .290 .369 .393 .762 1.6 Rich Engler RF 47 161 19 38 3 2 3 19 54 24 27 4 4 .236 .328 .335 .663 0.0 Larry Della is a big enigma. The middle Della brother (note: I just changed his name; any resemblance to the actual Vince Dimaggio is purely coincidental) has managed to stay the Reds' starter in center for the last three seasons in spite of a penchant for striking out because he's fast, he hits for some good power, and, frankly, he is a very solid fielder (though apparently not Gold Glove worthy). He's also 31 years of age this season so the clock is ticking. Art Ryther was... fine last year but the 1949 All-Star may now be on the outside looking in when it comes to regular play. Rumors abound that the Reds want to kick the tires on Jeff Previs, their 1st round pick in the 1946 draft who tore up the league to the tune of a .320 average and 6 HRs in 150 August and September at-bats. Rumors also abound that Previs is already unhappy playing in a losing environment so we shall see how long that lasts.
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12-17-2020, 12:10 PM
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#8 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Team History
1946: 72-81, 6th, 28 GB 1947: 86-68, 4th, 8 GB 1948: 85-69, 4th, 20 GB 1949: 87-67, 3rd, 22 GB Key Additions: None Key Losses: SP Satchel Day (released), SP William Long (retired - broadcasting) The Indians, along with the Tigers, viewed the National League pennant race with something of a skeptical eye, knowing that if they were members of the senior circuit they've have been right in the mix and maybe in the lead. As it stands, they've got arguably the best pitcher in the AL and an underrated offensive attack. Should the Yankees fall, it's Cleveland and not Boston whom I'd predict to take their place. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Patrick Stahl SP 15 11 0 3.46 34 34 257.2 240 117 99 9 126 93 1.42 .245 .260 4.6 Gavin Musumeci SP 11 9 1 3.95 32 23 189.1 174 96 83 17 91 88 1.40 .243 .255 1.8 Benito Cortez SP 11 8 1 4.27 30 22 181.1 167 95 86 8 103 80 1.49 .247 .267 2.6 Robert Berryman SP 12 5 0 1.99 18 18 145.0 118 40 32 2 55 97 1.19 .223 .269 5.2 Satchel Day SP 6 3 0 3.47 17 17 124.2 140 59 48 6 36 21 1.41 .287 .288 2.4 Tim Mays SP 8 5 1 3.34 25 14 124.0 99 53 46 7 66 47 1.33 .220 .232 1.4 Kyle Savchenko SP 2 0 0 2.84 3 2 19.0 17 6 6 2 7 11 1.26 .236 .254 0.3 Matt Onuoha SP 0 0 0 0.00 1 0 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.00 .333 .333 -0.0 Jay Emmert CL 7 10 13 4.50 62 0 90.0 76 45 45 7 61 80 1.52 .228 .279 1.1 Raul Gomez RP 5 7 2 3.78 31 11 104.2 104 53 44 9 32 16 1.30 .256 .248 0.8 Garrett Marinelli RP 5 2 0 5.18 22 0 41.2 42 24 24 6 28 26 1.68 .261 .279 -0.4 Tim McCune RP 1 2 0 6.53 8 4 30.1 41 24 22 4 14 7 1.81 .331 .325 -0.1 Tony Estrada RP 1 2 0 7.36 6 2 14.2 20 12 12 4 3 2 1.57 .317 .276 -0.3 Daniel Lorenzo RP 1 1 0 3.46 9 0 13.0 16 6 5 0 6 7 1.69 .308 .340 0.3 Behind Berryman the team did face some struggles in the rotation. Patrick Stahl is the likely #2 man but that walk-to-strikeouts ratio gives one pause. Benito Cortez and Gavin Musumeci both seem like mid-rotation guys at best and were exposed when they were asked to do more last year. Speaking of players being exposed, Jay Emmert is one hell of a hard thrower but last year he had stretches where he was as likely to hit the backstop as the catcher's mitt. Emmert had his first legal drink (on his 21st birthday, I mean) in June of last year, so he's got plenty of time to get better, but 10 losses in relief are not generally what you want out of your stopper. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nate Girard C 130 417 57 99 20 3 14 75 167 68 56 0 0 .237 .342 .400 .743 2.7 Justin Simmons C 38 86 14 21 6 0 2 7 33 15 13 0 0 .244 .359 .384 .743 0.2 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Bill Velazquez 1B 116 451 84 149 31 4 16 74 236 79 8 0 0 .330 .428 .523 .951 4.1 Edgar Esquivel 1B 15 56 8 12 2 0 1 4 17 14 4 0 0 .214 .366 .304 .670 -0.1 Ethan Taylor 2B 104 420 73 135 22 9 8 46 199 35 28 1 3 .321 .373 .474 .847 2.7 Jerry Lewis 2B 95 344 59 90 11 0 5 33 116 41 34 6 2 .262 .341 .337 .678 1.9 Ryan Hurd 2B 17 64 6 11 3 0 1 8 17 4 8 0 0 .172 .217 .266 .483 -0.4 Jason Mannion 3B 152 569 78 175 29 2 14 96 250 94 45 0 0 .308 .403 .439 .843 6.2 Harry Reyes 3B 24 39 5 8 0 0 0 4 8 10 3 1 0 .205 .367 .205 .572 0.1 Troy McGuigan SS 150 620 90 159 32 5 17 81 252 60 38 7 1 .256 .318 .406 .724 3.3 Ron Monte SS 22 44 7 13 0 0 0 4 13 8 5 0 0 .295 .404 .295 .699 0.4 Jason Palmer SS 3 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 .250 .400 .250 .650 -0.0 Ethan Taylor played most of the games at first base while Velazquez was out, although his bat is much more suited for second base. He missed some time of his own and all of that meant that the team gave 344 at-bats to PCL veteran Jerry Lewis. Lewis, who is reportedly trying his hand at stand-up comedy during the offseason, is probably not a guy the Indians would prefer to hand that many appearances to again. Jason Mannion is an absolute whiz defensively and it's no question why he's won all 4 of the Gold Glove awards the American League has so far had to offer at third. There are players out there with softer hands, surely, but nobody has the gun that Mannion does. Last year he broke the .300 mark for the 2nd time in 4 years and would have gone over 100 RBIs as well if he didn't walk so much. Cleveland acquired Troy McGuigan from the Senators last offseason in a big trade that also sent Tim Mays to the Forest City. He rewarded them with a full season of solid if unspectacular play. A 1948 All-Star with Washington, he did not manage to repeat last year but that was kind of to be expected. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Larry Sloan LF 148 585 103 155 32 8 40 121 323 53 149 6 3 .265 .327 .552 .879 4.6 Mike Bendik LF 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .000 .250 .000 .250 -0.0 Jesse Hall CF 71 261 26 71 11 1 4 24 96 23 25 0 2 .272 .329 .368 .696 -0.1 Josh Davis CF 61 165 11 30 5 2 1 14 42 23 17 1 0 .182 .281 .255 .536 -1.2 Jake McDowell CF 33 80 8 18 5 1 1 11 28 11 12 3 0 .225 .315 .350 .665 0.3 Jose Guerrero CF 9 37 4 15 5 0 0 4 20 5 1 0 0 .405 .476 .541 1.017 0.4 Jimmy Heron RF 124 405 73 133 12 4 21 72 216 98 13 1 8 .328 .458 .533 .991 5.5 Manny Leos RF 67 157 23 45 8 1 2 17 61 20 15 1 3 .287 .367 .389 .756 0.4 Chris Vader RF 61 139 15 36 6 0 5 23 57 10 21 0 0 .259 .305 .410 .715 0.0 Jesse Hall is pretty much the definition of "meh". He's really not even that much better of a fielder than Sloan but until the Indians can find someone better out there, he looks like he's it. Jimmy Heron (Luke Easter) was discovered from an independent league last season and upon arrival in Cleveland immediately started raking. He even won the Rookie of the Year award, although it does seem weird that a 32 year old would take home that kind of hardware. That heart of the order of Velazquez-Sloan-Heron could stack up with anyone's, including the Yankees.
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12-18-2020, 12:10 AM
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#9 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Team History
1946: 51-103, 8th, 49 1/2 GB 1947: 83-71, 5th, 11 GB 1948: 90-63, 3rd, 14 1/2 GB 1949: 81-73, 4th, 28 GB Key Additions: Corey Blatt (waivers - WAS), OF Wilfredo Venegas (trade - NYY), C Nate Cucci (sale - STB Key Losses: none The Tigers were the other team that feels somewhat hard done by the overwhelming success of the Yankees the past two seasons, although as noted above there was a de facto embargo on trades with New York that only the Tigers broke over the offseason. That being said, over the winter the Tigers did quite a lot to strengthen their team. If nothing else, Boston has to consider their position as first mate to the Yankees captaincy a bit shaky. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Jared Suggs SP 21 11 0 3.12 38 37 288.2 252 116 100 28 101 158 1.22 .232 .248 5.5 Khalil Smith SP 18 12 0 3.96 34 34 265.2 257 132 117 23 115 111 1.40 .253 .262 3.8 Johann Watters SP 8 3 0 3.05 12 12 85.2 74 33 29 8 37 39 1.30 .239 .251 1.3 Ivan Lima SP 4 4 1 3.90 42 6 85.1 87 40 37 8 34 37 1.42 .267 .276 0.8 Isaiah Kaylor SP 2 6 0 6.23 8 8 52.0 69 41 36 2 35 20 2.00 .330 .351 0.7 Jesse Swartley SP 2 4 0 5.44 7 7 49.2 63 32 30 7 24 17 1.75 .315 .315 0.1 Adam Turchi SP 3 3 0 3.51 7 7 48.2 50 23 19 5 20 11 1.44 .269 .262 0.4 Leo Cervera SP 2 2 0 2.72 6 6 43.0 37 15 13 1 12 8 1.14 .233 .237 1.1 Brian Ryan SP 0 3 0 7.75 18 0 36.0 42 35 31 9 21 16 1.75 .290 .273 -0.9 Scott Haws CL 9 5 16 2.47 59 0 91.0 75 28 25 3 47 50 1.34 .227 .257 1.7 Jon Lewis RP 6 6 1 5.36 31 13 136.0 133 101 81 30 67 59 1.47 .251 .231 -1.5 Ruben Jimenez RP 3 8 0 4.57 22 21 124.0 143 86 63 13 67 46 1.69 .288 .293 1.0 Bobby Gagnon RP 2 3 1 4.09 35 0 55.0 42 31 25 2 33 41 1.36 .207 .247 1.0 Brad Luciano RP 0 2 0 4.34 3 3 18.2 19 13 9 2 9 6 1.50 .260 .262 0.1 Mike Harper RP 0 1 0 6.48 7 0 8.1 8 6 6 1 5 7 1.56 .242 .280 0.1 Alex Vasquez RP 1 0 0 0.00 5 0 7.1 3 0 0 0 3 2 0.82 .125 .136 0.1 And then the additions... well, one is a guy who was already there, but Adam Turchi missed the second half of 1948 and almost all of last season to a seemingly unrelated stretch of injuries. He threw just enough last year to indicate that he still has the stuff that led the league in shutouts in 1946 and won 17 games the next year. Corey Blatt, the former 20 game winner, was snatched up by the Tigers when the Washington Senators strangely placed him on waivers in mid-February. Blatt's ability to miss bats has been suspect over the past two seasons but we think that a change of scenery coupled with a change in responsibility will do wonders for him. Scott Haws had the best seasons of his career and that's saying quite a bit, given that he won the Rolaids Relief Award in 1947 by leading the AL in saves with a whopping 26. As a stopper, his iffy control is more containable, and he held hitters to a .227 average, so walks was all they were really getting off of him. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Ramiro Oliveros C 96 296 31 62 12 0 3 36 83 42 36 0 0 .209 .313 .280 .593 0.3 David Bryant C 59 181 20 44 14 0 2 29 64 25 20 0 0 .243 .332 .354 .685 0.7 Mike Brown C 19 62 5 11 3 0 0 6 14 5 10 0 0 .177 .239 .226 .465 -0.3 But now the team has Nate Cucci, delivered to the Tigers in a stunning sale from the cash-strapped (and reportedly, near-moribund) St. Louis Browns. All Cucci, a former Yankees prospect who was blocked by Yogi Meissner, did was hit over .300 for the season and represent the Browns in the All-Star game last year. At 26 years old, he's probably done all the development he's going to do, but it's enough. Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Roger Bernard 1B 127 438 100 141 17 2 28 88 246 126 35 0 0 .322 .472 .562 1.034 6.9 Pedro Nater 1B 68 112 19 26 6 1 4 20 46 13 14 0 0 .232 .313 .411 .723 -0.0 Luis Huerta 1B 28 49 12 9 1 2 5 14 29 12 9 1 0 .184 .344 .592 .936 0.4 Dusty German 2B 134 468 79 127 29 2 1 58 163 96 41 0 0 .271 .393 .348 .741 3.0 Jim Koressel 2B 103 221 27 48 7 0 0 13 55 37 20 3 2 .217 .336 .249 .585 -0.1 Zach Ebeling 3B 152 578 93 165 29 8 19 99 267 86 47 3 7 .285 .376 .462 .838 3.8 Derek Graves 3B 38 46 8 10 1 0 1 5 14 6 8 0 0 .217 .333 .304 .638 -0.1 Jason Embody SS 138 552 74 137 20 10 2 59 183 61 53 14 14 .248 .324 .332 .655 1.8 Jason Kater SS 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .500 .000 .500 0.0 Dusty German's name may remind some veterans of the Africa campaign of World War II, but the actual player - a native of Germantown, WI, by the way but we swear, he's loyal to the US cause - was a fine addition by Detroit last season. He was acquired from the White Sox in early may and immediately pushed incumbent Jim Koressel out of a job. Koressel is still with the team but may not be for much longer. When Bernard went down last year it was Zach Ebeling who was asked to take up the slack and the veteran really came through, just missing the century mark in RBIs. There's really not much more that can be said about this easygoing cog in the Tigers machine. Jason "Cotton" Embody is your classic scrappy middle infielder. If David Eckstein existed in this world, and he does not, he would be the David Eckstein. Well, other than that he's 5'11", which is a good foot taller than the real-life Eckstein... Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Marco Lapaz LF 143 600 83 155 27 10 1 56 205 39 32 8 8 .258 .305 .342 .646 -1.1 Brett Mussett LF 35 91 13 18 2 1 3 13 31 12 7 0 0 .198 .295 .341 .636 -0.1 Jordan Olvera LF 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .333 .000 .333 -0.0 Kevin Howren CF 111 378 47 87 15 5 12 56 148 29 44 8 9 .230 .284 .392 .675 -0.4 Dominic Cribbs CF 75 251 30 60 14 2 1 24 81 12 29 4 2 .239 .274 .323 .596 0.3 Josh Humphries CF 17 71 11 19 3 1 0 4 24 8 5 2 0 .268 .338 .338 .676 0.0 Toby Stewart CF 7 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 .000 .167 .000 .167 -0.1 David Diaz RF 91 320 54 93 12 4 18 67 167 67 42 0 0 .291 .411 .522 .933 3.4 Sam Brundage RF 47 153 19 39 9 1 2 19 56 26 14 2 0 .255 .361 .366 .727 0.3 Kevin Howren has somehow held the CF job in Detroit for all 4 years of its existence but he's just not all that good. His .230 average was actually a career high for him, and he's not considered a plus defender. That's why fans all across Detroit breathed a sigh of relief when the front office traded backup RF Sam Brundage to the Yankees for Wilfredo Venegas. In a half-season of play last year, he proved he could do things that Howren can only dream of: hit singles and triples (he actually finished in the top 10 in the league in that category), draw walks, and chase down fly balls. David Diaz missed a big chunk of the season last year and that's why he was unable to follow up his 24 homerun, 122 RBI performance in 1948. He's still every bit the player the Tigers expected he'd be when they traded Jeff Nelson to the Red Sox for him back in 1947.
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12-18-2020, 12:21 PM
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#10 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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New York Giants
Team History
1946: 81-73, 4th, 11 GB 1947: 65-89, 8th, 24 1/2 GB 1948: 80-74, 4th, 12 1/2 GB 1949: 65-89, 7th, 21 1/2 GB Key Additions: Manuel Mares (trade - BSN), Sam Brooks (trade - BSN) Key Losses: Steven Lutes (trade - BSN), Curt Holdaway (trade - BSN), Jacob McKnight (trade - BSN) According to the laws of the see-saw, this is the year the Giants win more than they lose and look promising; 1951 will be where they fritter all that promise away. They have some obvious strong points; it's just, they're kind of an extreme stars-and-scrubs team and when the stars miss time with injury, that's not good. To help remedy that, they traded away oft-injured superstar Steven Lutes to the Braves in a multiplayer deal that somehow netted them both Manuel Mares and Sam Brooks. That should do wonders to an offense that ranked 6th in the league last year in spite of playing in the Polo Grounds. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Enrique Avila SP 14 12 0 3.50 32 32 254.2 253 117 99 28 72 93 1.28 .257 .259 3.9 Felix Ceballos SP 11 9 0 2.79 23 23 193.1 143 71 60 10 65 96 1.08 .204 .221 4.8 Jazz Gillespie SP 9 9 0 4.49 23 22 162.1 172 86 81 14 57 73 1.41 .271 .286 3.0 Marc Garrett SP 5 10 1 4.27 29 12 126.1 140 73 60 10 45 47 1.46 .289 .302 1.9 Matt Dretzka SP 6 8 0 4.51 30 18 143.2 140 78 72 11 70 73 1.46 .262 .280 2.4 Casey Patterson SP 1 7 0 5.57 14 14 93.2 109 61 58 13 41 29 1.60 .293 .288 0.3 John Bullard SP 2 2 0 3.53 9 4 51.0 46 20 20 7 24 19 1.37 .242 .238 0.1 Chris Lucas CL 4 8 14 3.94 59 0 77.2 70 37 34 6 35 53 1.35 .244 .276 1.6 Joshua Wintermute RP 4 11 0 4.43 34 8 81.1 97 43 40 7 31 33 1.57 .298 .314 1.0 Travis Bennington RP 4 2 0 6.49 14 7 61.0 68 44 44 9 35 30 1.69 .282 .286 -0.0 Bill Belcher RP 3 1 0 5.08 8 8 56.2 68 39 32 6 28 23 1.69 .297 .308 0.5 Josh Voccio RP 1 5 0 6.44 10 6 50.1 76 41 36 9 27 16 2.05 .350 .345 -0.3 Thomas McAdams RP 0 3 1 7.83 18 0 23.0 28 20 20 5 13 12 1.78 .301 .303 -0.4 Nick Doyle RP 0 1 1 2.14 13 0 21.0 14 5 5 2 14 7 1.33 .187 .179 -0.2 James Leech RP 0 0 0 0.00 2 0 3.0 2 0 0 0 1 1 1.00 .200 .222 0.1 Mike Reynolds RP 0 1 1 7.71 2 0 2.1 3 2 2 2 0 2 1.29 .273 .143 -0.3 Connor Spears RP 1 0 0 0.00 1 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 .000 .000 0.0 After those two it's kind of the mixed bag you'd expect from a 7th place team. One guy I'd like to point out here is Jazz Gillespie, who seems like a reasonable mid-rotation starter (he came into the league with the first name of Jazz and I just changed the last name to match an actual 40s era jazz legend in Dizzy Gillespie, which itself would be a great baseball name). Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Erick Sheffer C 130 425 55 110 14 2 13 50 167 56 39 0 1 .259 .349 .393 .742 2.6 Ryan Browne C 28 95 5 18 1 0 1 6 22 5 3 0 0 .189 .230 .232 .462 -0.5 Harry Rawson C 17 43 5 14 1 1 2 9 23 8 9 0 0 .326 .431 .535 .966 0.7 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Steven Lutes 1B 67 235 49 72 11 0 19 55 140 53 28 0 0 .306 .437 .596 1.033 3.3 Doug Junker 1B 32 107 18 21 3 1 10 21 56 25 29 0 0 .196 .348 .523 .872 0.8 Ian Williams 1B 34 77 10 14 2 1 2 8 24 17 5 1 0 .182 .337 .312 .649 -0.2 Dylan Ball 1B 9 30 3 5 1 0 1 3 9 0 2 0 1 .167 .167 .300 .467 -0.3 Galsino Fernández 2B 94 306 43 70 4 3 8 36 104 40 29 1 1 .229 .318 .340 .658 0.8 Vince Baldwin 2B 54 179 34 51 7 0 3 15 67 27 13 0 0 .285 .377 .374 .751 0.9 Mike Brazier 2B 28 71 3 13 3 0 1 5 19 10 9 0 0 .183 .286 .268 .553 -0.1 Andy Conejo 3B 108 413 53 111 22 2 17 74 188 37 53 1 2 .269 .328 .455 .783 1.6 Carl Verge 3B 71 171 12 42 6 0 2 19 54 7 5 0 0 .246 .276 .316 .592 -0.4 Corey Jones SS 109 355 37 85 12 1 8 43 123 16 55 1 1 .239 .270 .346 .617 0.4 Franklin Melo SS 100 333 29 72 9 1 1 25 86 43 41 0 0 .216 .304 .258 .562 -0.8 Second base is one of the many holes in the lineup. Galsino Fernandez had an *okay* rookie campaign but the Curacaoan is already 27 and if it wasn't for the friendly confines of the Polo Grounds he would hit for zero power. He'll be challenged in spring training by Brady Hunt, a 5th round pick in 1947 who had a promising season for AAA Minneapolis last year. Andy Conejo also had a big power surge last year, breaking double digits for the first time in his career at the age of 31. Fielding-wise, he's kind of a weird one: he's got the range of a postage stamp and his hands aren't the greatest in the world, but he bails himself out with an absolute cannon for an arm. Shortstop is another position the Giants will want a bit more from in 1950. Corey Jones followed up a .291 rookie campaign with a season where he fell in love with the short fences and whiffed way too much for a middle infielder. Franklin Melo filled in for him and played a lot of 2nd base as well; the former starter for the Reds and Phillies hit a career low .219. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Jacob McKnight LF 151 613 75 191 35 8 18 96 296 45 19 0 1 .312 .361 .483 .844 3.3 Mike Klaes LF 27 54 9 10 3 0 3 5 22 6 5 0 0 .185 .267 .407 .674 0.0 Curt Holdaway CF 124 502 66 123 14 14 12 46 201 31 57 16 9 .245 .291 .400 .691 2.0 Caleb Gagnon CF 36 130 23 34 5 3 3 8 54 12 12 4 2 .262 .324 .415 .739 0.8 Leon Zurowski CF 38 122 18 31 4 3 2 11 47 11 12 3 2 .254 .319 .385 .704 -0.1 Frank Mathews CF 10 22 1 5 0 0 0 0 5 4 3 1 1 .227 .346 .227 .573 -0.2 David Cardenas RF 115 433 80 134 13 2 21 52 214 66 19 1 0 .309 .401 .494 .895 2.8 Rich Engler RF 64 188 15 39 5 1 6 31 64 30 32 5 6 .207 .314 .340 .654 -0.7 Bobby Brooks RF 23 26 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 .038 .074 .038 .113 -0.5 Curt Holdaway also went away in the Brooks/Mares trade and that's a potentially big concern. For now, the Giants are penciling in 23 year old Leon "Killer" Zurowski, who shot up through the minor leagues after being drafted in the first round in 1948. He looked solid enough in 38 games and 30 starts last year but if he falters, the 'Jints are probably scouring the waiver wire. David Cardenas isn't on the list of key losses because he was sold to the damned Yankees in August. The man was 35 years old and didn't figure into the Giants' plans but we think they probably could have gotten more for him than cash. Anyway, his loss left an unfilled hole in right field. Rich Engler was pretty much trash in New York last year and should only be used if the team is truly desperate. The Giants will reportedly take a swing on 1948 9th round pick Marcy Mercado but we're not seeing it.
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12-19-2020, 12:38 PM
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#11 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Team History
1946: 82-72, 3rd, 18 1/2 GB 1947: 91-63, 2nd, 3 GB 1948: 105-49, 1st (won World Series) 1949: 109-45, 1st (won World Series) Key Additions: none Key Losses: CF Wilfredo Venegas (trade - DET) There is the rest of the American League and there is the Yankees. Over the offseason both the AL and the NL for the most part shut the New Yorkers out of trades (which parallels real life and is one of the reasons why I go by the actual transactional logs) but it hardly matters, as this team has blown through the junior circuit in each of the last two years and there's no reason to think they won't continue to do the same in 1950. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Don Hargis SP 26 8 0 2.60 39 39 318.0 277 106 92 18 92 153 1.16 .234 .254 8.4 Nate Crowder SP 24 9 0 2.83 38 38 308.2 267 110 97 10 95 144 1.17 .232 .256 9.3 Gilbert Lightcap SP 23 9 0 3.88 38 38 290.0 292 141 125 24 113 113 1.40 .260 .268 4.4 Tom Packard RP 15 8 0 3.60 40 27 222.2 208 94 89 9 87 83 1.32 .246 .263 4.4 Jorge Arias SP 6 5 1 2.90 27 12 105.2 94 39 34 12 30 73 1.17 .237 .262 1.9 Gerardo Hernandez SP 3 0 0 0.00 5 0 10.1 7 0 0 0 2 4 0.87 .189 .212 0.4 Steve Bryant CL 5 3 24 2.03 59 0 79.2 65 32 18 0 26 53 1.14 .215 .256 3.1 Christian Ernst RP 4 3 1 5.25 24 0 36.0 32 22 21 2 30 19 1.72 .246 .263 -0.0 Miles Thomas RP 1 0 0 0.00 7 0 9.2 7 0 0 0 5 9 1.24 .200 .269 0.3 Seth Moore RP 2 0 0 4.91 5 0 7.1 7 4 4 1 6 1 1.77 .259 .240 -0.3 Jason Burkhardt RP 0 0 0 3.38 4 0 5.1 5 2 2 0 4 2 1.69 .250 .278 0.0 Theodore Dougherty RP 0 0 0 2.45 1 0 3.2 3 1 1 0 4 1 1.91 .231 .231 -0.0 But enough about Arias! No talk of this club can be complete without discussion of the amazing Don "Slayer" Hargis, who led the league in wins, winning percentage, games started, shutouts, ERA, and innings pitched en route to his first Cy Young award. We'd say this is the first of many but Rapid Robert Berryman is in the same league, so... Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Joe Meissner C 126 442 91 147 19 4 46 128 312 58 12 0 0 .333 .407 .706 1.113 8.3 Edward Morgenstern C 41 118 12 30 6 0 3 16 45 9 5 0 0 .254 .313 .381 .694 0.3 Brian Fason C 19 65 9 9 3 1 0 4 14 8 15 0 0 .138 .230 .215 .445 -0.2 Javier Rodriguez C 4 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 .143 .143 .143 .286 -0.1 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Chris Williams 1B 153 534 141 185 33 4 36 103 334 156 16 3 1 .346 .491 .625 1.117 9.3 Ben Curcio 1B 12 28 4 5 0 0 0 4 5 3 2 0 0 .179 .258 .179 .437 -0.2 Tony Rueda 2B 91 305 28 77 11 0 4 41 100 49 27 0 0 .252 .354 .328 .682 0.8 Mike McVicar 2B 40 104 13 23 4 0 0 13 27 23 15 0 0 .221 .354 .260 .613 0.3 Rich Duran 3B 153 692 106 215 35 26 3 66 311 31 12 26 12 .311 .343 .449 .793 4.7 Tony Yruegas 3B 18 22 3 5 1 0 0 3 6 1 2 0 0 .227 .261 .273 .534 0.0 Matt Trissel SS 136 502 83 150 16 1 13 67 207 40 68 6 6 .299 .349 .412 .761 2.8 Juan Hernandez SS 88 252 35 55 10 1 5 38 82 41 29 0 0 .218 .323 .325 .649 0.5 Mike Boyer SS 19 16 6 5 0 0 1 1 8 6 1 0 0 .313 .500 .500 1.000 0.3 Second base was just about the only hole on the ballclub. Tony Rueda was fine for a 40 year old player but his numbers took a pretty big dip last year and the end is near if not already upon us. Mike McVicar was his caddy for the year but doesn't look like he's going to be the answer. And so the Yankees, not being able to upgrade this position through the majors, conducted a transaction with the Oakland Oaks to bring in young Nick Kendall, who at 22 is already building up a reputation as one of the game's great "RA"s (note: this is the move and the inspiration for Billy Martin; I didn't do much to this guy's talent ratings but I did goose his mental ratings a little and bumped up his HBP rate). Rich Duran has just missed 700 at-bats in each of the last two seasons. He's got excellent bat control - last year he struck out just 12 times - and has the speed to have picked up an amazing 76 triples over the past three seasons. And this is the 4th best player in the lineup... Sometimes even when the Yankees have a hole they don't really have one. They went into the season starting rookie Matt Trissel at short and of course what else did he do other than finish 3rd in the league in Rookie of the Year voting? Trissel is very range-y and has some beastly power for a shortstop. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Travis Bartos LF 123 533 70 165 30 5 10 77 235 15 24 1 2 .310 .333 .441 .774 2.1 Wilfredo Venegas CF 90 278 45 72 8 9 7 30 119 46 32 5 9 .259 .366 .428 .794 1.3 William Weaver CF 73 267 30 71 2 3 6 37 97 34 39 9 7 .266 .355 .363 .718 2.1 Travis Johnston CF 29 67 6 12 1 2 0 8 17 11 6 3 2 .179 .291 .254 .545 -0.4 Joe Della RF 109 430 76 147 19 1 32 109 264 37 32 0 0 .342 .395 .614 1.009 5.2 Steve Wegner RF 79 168 32 49 1 4 9 21 85 28 15 4 1 .292 .387 .506 .893 1.5 David Cardenas RF 27 93 17 28 4 0 4 15 44 14 3 1 0 .301 .393 .473 .866 0.7 Brent Foran RF 21 34 9 10 0 1 1 5 15 6 4 4 2 .294 .400 .441 .841 0.5 In trading away Wilfredo Venegas, the Yankees sought to eliminate a logjam in centerfield, and are keeping their fingers crossed that 25-year-old William Weaver's injury woes last year were a fluke. The season before he played in all but 3 games and was everything the team wanted from a center fielder. If he gets hurt again... well, I'm not going to say that the cupboard is bare because I'd be lying, but the Yankees will surely have to promote from within. The big old clock of time is finally beginning to tick down on Joe Della (Joe Dimaggio). Last year he missed 45 games due to injury, including all of September - he was slated to be ready to come back in playing shape by Game Six of the World Series but the Series was done in five so he missed out of that as well. In typical Yankees fashion, they plugged the hole created by Della's absence by purchasing another New York veteran, the Giants' David Cardenas. Now Cardenas doesn't exactly have a job, but given how often the rest of the Yankees' outfield was hurt last year, he'll surely get his at-bats.
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12-19-2020, 01:10 PM
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#12 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Philadelphia Athletics
Team History 1946: 87-67, 2nd, 13 1/2 GB 1947: 56-98, 7th, 38 GB 1948: 57-97, 7th, 48 GB 1949: 68-86, 6th, 41 GB Key Additions:SP Tom Sibley (trade - CHW), David Scudero (trade - STB), OF Aaron Hoose (trade - STB), C Nick Yost (trade - CHW) Key Losses: RF Keng-chi Lopan (trade - CHW), "3B" Chad Cannon (trade - STB) Could the A's be showing some signs of life? Maybe, but don't get your hopes up. Their 68 wins represents a high-water mark since 1946, and they prospered from the financial woes of the St. Louis Browns more than any other team, but they also for whatever reason traded away Keng-chi Lopan, who in years past has been the lone bright star of the lineup. If nothing else, 1950 brings in a new look. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Doug Loy SP 19 11 0 3.19 31 31 248.0 209 100 88 14 77 91 1.15 .226 .237 5.7 Juan De Leon SP 10 12 0 3.98 43 24 203.1 198 118 90 21 135 101 1.64 .251 .263 0.7 Daniel Gaglio SP 10 13 0 4.65 28 28 193.2 206 108 100 26 79 94 1.47 .274 .283 1.8 John Niedzwiecki SP 9 9 0 3.87 35 23 186.0 182 88 80 13 74 75 1.38 .253 .267 2.8 Kyle Cordes SP 4 7 0 5.23 26 13 108.1 128 69 63 14 53 40 1.67 .292 .295 0.2 Steve Booth SP 1 6 0 6.21 19 10 71.0 89 53 49 9 45 29 1.89 .312 .315 -0.1 Jim Caskey SP 0 3 0 5.40 6 6 26.2 26 16 16 2 19 5 1.69 .260 .255 0.0 Pat Mendez SP 0 2 0 7.79 3 3 17.1 22 15 15 0 18 2 2.31 .314 .314 -0.0 Frank Paredes SP 0 3 0 8.78 4 2 13.1 17 13 13 4 9 9 1.95 .321 .317 -0.3 Tim Decker SP 1 0 0 4.09 2 2 11.0 7 5 5 0 3 2 0.91 .189 .200 0.3 Alex Vasquez SP 0 1 0 2.25 1 1 8.0 8 3 2 0 2 1 1.25 .258 .267 0.2 Oscar Fife CL 8 7 8 3.31 47 0 68.0 68 30 25 10 35 34 1.51 .266 .271 -0.3 Dan Benson RP 2 4 1 3.61 28 4 67.1 69 34 27 3 40 29 1.62 .274 .295 0.7 Brian Burke RP 0 1 2 3.59 30 0 57.2 58 29 23 3 27 31 1.47 .267 .296 0.7 Keagan Way RP 1 5 0 6.70 16 7 47.0 72 46 35 5 29 15 2.15 .360 .368 -0.1 Ken Yazzie RP 3 2 2 0.89 26 0 30.1 17 3 3 1 14 14 1.02 .159 .174 0.4 Reece Schropp RP 0 0 1 17.18 4 0 3.2 4 7 7 0 8 1 3.27 .267 .267 -0.2 Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nick Shaw C 104 336 19 63 8 0 2 32 77 33 63 0 0 .188 .259 .229 .489 -1.1 Marvin Bell C 85 243 29 55 4 1 4 30 73 22 32 0 0 .226 .291 .300 .591 0.5 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Severino Carvalhal 1B 145 513 81 165 32 3 11 83 236 63 44 0 0 .322 .397 .460 .857 3.4 Jim Juneau 1B 85 147 20 41 5 3 4 25 64 20 15 1 1 .279 .365 .435 .801 0.8 Steve Wingenroth 2B 130 457 45 109 18 8 1 48 146 40 45 3 3 .239 .295 .319 .615 -0.4 Vince Baldwin 2B 15 52 10 11 3 0 0 10 14 13 2 0 0 .212 .369 .269 .638 0.1 Corey Kaminski 2B 25 51 4 10 3 0 1 4 16 7 13 0 0 .196 .283 .314 .597 -0.2 Colin Hartman 2B 21 31 3 4 0 0 0 3 4 3 2 0 0 .129 .200 .129 .329 -0.5 Kareem Simpson 3B 141 540 55 152 27 2 1 55 186 31 16 0 0 .281 .317 .344 .661 0.8 Pablo Venzor SS 147 553 90 149 17 12 10 64 220 77 54 7 4 .269 .357 .398 .755 3.5 Cody Bishop SS 43 84 5 15 2 0 0 10 17 3 11 0 0 .179 .207 .202 .409 -0.7 Blake Schumacher SS 15 51 8 14 2 0 0 4 16 2 6 0 0 .275 .291 .314 .605 0.1 The A's handed rookie Steve Wingenroth the job out of spring training but fell out of love with him as the season progressed, at one point singing the ancient Vincent Baldwin off the street. Baldwin, formerly of the Giants, didn't do a whole lot in 15 games at the end of the season and is probably not part of the picture going forward. The current gameplan seems to be to train 32 year old David Scudero, acquired from the Browns amidst their fire sale, at that position. If that works out, Scudero if nothing else would be one of the best keystone hitters in the AL. Kareem Simpson is your classic 24 year old who, in 6 years, has a great chance to be 30. We'd say he's in there until his replacement is ready to go, but who is his replacement? Pablo Venzor is a good, solid, unspectacular shortstop. The worst that can be said about him is that he doesn't bunt quite well enough to want to use in the 2 hole. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nelson Aranda LF 151 513 99 152 26 1 22 95 246 121 67 1 0 .296 .433 .480 .913 6.0 Omar Williams LF 7 10 1 5 0 2 0 2 9 1 1 0 0 .500 .545 .900 1.445 0.2 Paul Silliman CF 108 363 56 99 12 5 0 25 121 58 36 11 8 .273 .373 .333 .706 1.3 Manny Venegas CF 70 213 27 50 12 3 3 23 77 10 34 3 4 .235 .268 .362 .629 -0.9 Matt Holbrook CF 25 99 20 32 4 3 1 11 45 23 12 2 1 .323 .451 .455 .905 1.4 Ozzie Garcia CF 7 12 4 7 0 1 0 3 9 0 1 0 0 .583 .583 .750 1.333 0.3 Keng-chi Lopan RF 93 308 62 103 19 4 8 70 154 85 24 0 1 .334 .474 .500 .974 4.2 Bill Acker RF 25 84 14 25 4 2 4 17 45 7 17 3 5 .298 .348 .536 .884 0.4 Nick Bishop RF 17 35 3 3 1 0 0 3 4 4 5 0 0 .086 .175 .114 .289 -0.6 Danny Fultz RF 4 7 0 2 0 1 0 1 4 0 1 1 0 .286 .286 .571 .857 0.1 By all accounts the A's seem to be satisfied to go into 1950 starting journeyman Paul Silliman in center field. Silliman has bounced around all three AL perennial losers - the A's, Browns, and Senators - in the 4 years since the league re-established after the War - but has never looked quite so good as he did last year. Will he be able to back it up? Probably not, but A's fans have hope. It kind of looks like the A's fell a little too much in love with one good month from Bill Acker when they decided to trade off Ken-chi Lopan. Acker is already 28, not really a plus defender, and worst of all is a known Canadian. If he can't keep it up, they do have 24 year old Aaron Hoose, who the Browns threw in in the David Scudero trade. Hoose hit .293 in 58 September at-bats and might have a bit more of a future than Acker.
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12-20-2020, 01:16 PM
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#13 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Philadelphia Phillies
Team History
1946: 59-95, 8th, 33 GB 1947: 69-85, 7th, 20 1/2 GB 1948: 64-90, 8th, 28 1/2 GB 1949: 85-69, 3rd, 1 1/2 GB Key Additions: None Key Losses: None What a wonderful Cinderella-type season it was for the Phightin' Phillies! The perennial cellar dwellers put on a real show last year, climbing up from a 17-23 record on June 1 to catapult their way right to the brink of the playoffs. It took St. Louis coming back against them in Game 154 to finally knock them out. We expect a fall to earth this year but hopefully not all the way back to last place; this team was just a lot of fun to watch. Pitching Code:
NName W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Dan Bray SP 12 12 0 3.91 30 30 223.0 223 110 97 17 97 90 1.43 .263 .274 3.3 Bill DiMuzio SP 13 15 0 5.22 30 30 220.2 276 140 128 34 74 80 1.59 .310 .310 1.0 Pat Taylor SP 12 6 1 2.73 35 21 184.1 177 71 56 15 56 61 1.26 .254 .259 2.8 Alex Torres SP 15 2 0 3.99 26 26 164.2 161 87 73 14 72 67 1.41 .257 .267 2.1 Mike Spitler SP 9 8 1 4.17 23 15 138.0 160 81 64 12 52 44 1.54 .295 .303 1.6 Elias Hicks SP 1 2 0 5.31 6 6 42.1 42 26 25 6 30 20 1.70 .268 .271 -0.1 Jimmy Bailey SP 1 1 0 4.37 5 5 35.0 32 19 17 0 23 25 1.57 .241 .294 1.0 Chris Mann CL 5 3 18 2.69 57 0 80.1 64 26 24 5 30 38 1.17 .222 .237 1.4 Karl Barnwell RP 5 10 1 4.79 31 15 124.0 134 83 66 12 63 46 1.59 .277 .283 0.4 Steve Danish RP 4 4 2 3.40 30 5 79.1 77 35 30 4 32 18 1.37 .254 .258 0.7 Max Aguiar RP 4 2 5 2.30 44 0 62.2 37 26 16 3 33 28 1.12 .168 .179 0.5 Ron Watts RP 4 4 3 4.40 26 0 30.2 34 17 15 1 13 13 1.53 .266 .287 0.6 Danny Moree RP 0 0 0 2.08 1 1 4.1 4 1 1 1 3 1 1.62 .250 .214 -0.1 Anyway, I guess Dan Bray was the closest thing the staff had to an ace; in his rookie campaign he proved to be a classic mid-rotation guy, nothing glamorous but nothing too painful. Bill DiMuzio was purchased for big money last offseason to be that guy but his issues with the longball (his 34 HRs allowed were 2nd in the NL) really kept him from being that guy. Really, it was the bullpen, anchored by Chris Mann, that pulled out so many games for them last year. Mann was also a fairly big-time purchase last offseason, coming over from the Giants, who had too many closers for a second-division ballclub. Last hear he set a personal high with 18 saves. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Omar Corona C 77 258 22 65 14 2 2 25 89 35 34 0 0 .252 .342 .345 .687 0.6 Mark Louden C 61 221 23 64 13 0 3 42 86 14 23 0 0 .290 .331 .389 .720 1.3 Billy McCall C 35 95 13 18 4 0 1 12 25 11 12 0 0 .189 .266 .263 .529 -0.3 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Gene Cutting 1B 129 496 87 161 39 1 18 89 256 55 51 1 0 .325 .391 .516 .907 3.5 Juan Navegero 2B 118 385 47 86 12 0 2 30 104 62 53 1 1 .223 .333 .270 .603 0.8 Alex Garza 2B 8 33 5 11 2 1 0 6 15 5 2 0 0 .333 .421 .455 .876 0.4 Alex Munoz 3B 151 555 88 137 31 1 21 107 233 93 76 0 0 .247 .355 .420 .774 3.7 Jake Welch SS 107 387 71 117 24 5 12 63 187 55 42 2 1 .302 .393 .483 .876 3.5 Alexis Reyes SS 57 196 27 60 14 2 2 24 84 15 33 0 0 .306 .357 .429 .785 0.6 Paul Greene SS 34 111 11 28 10 0 0 10 38 14 12 2 1 .252 .336 .342 .678 0.6 Tony Clark SS 23 71 7 10 1 1 1 8 16 9 5 0 0 .141 .237 .225 .463 -0.6 Franklin Melo SS 11 37 3 9 1 0 0 6 10 4 5 0 0 .243 .317 .270 .587 -0.1 With Alex Garza missing almost all of the season thanks to a badly injured finger he suffered at the end of April (kids these days with these rinky-dink injuries!), the Phillies were forced to give Juan Navegero the keystone job for much of the year. The former Toronto Maple Leaf played a lot like a AAA player thrust into the major leagues and Philadelphia is happy to welcome Garza back this year. There are a *lot* of good third basemen in this league. The Cardinals - one of the few teams, it seems - without a great answer at the position - sold him off to the Phillies at the end of spring training of 1948. His first year with the team is better left unmentioned but last year he set career highs in doubles and HRs and surpassed the century mark in RBI for the first time in his career as well. He's your quintessential cleanup hitter. The Phillies for some reason have never quite been satisfied with Jake Welch as their long-term solution at shortstop. Still only 25, the Phillies' starter in '46 and '47 accepted the demotion to the minor leagues in '48 and came back as good as ever last year. Truth be told he's not a particularly good fielder for a shortstop and Alexis Reyes, the 10th overall pick in the 1946 draft, had a very nice last couple of months in the bigs, so we expect his job to remain precarious. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Rory Upton LF 111 401 78 121 22 5 15 68 198 79 45 1 1 .302 .417 .494 .911 3.9 Juan Chavez CF 63 272 44 72 13 7 0 25 99 19 26 11 7 .265 .312 .364 .676 0.5 Jeremy West CF 66 219 25 44 9 0 5 30 68 29 42 0 0 .201 .295 .311 .605 -0.1 Steve Booth CF 64 212 26 38 10 5 3 21 67 22 38 0 3 .179 .275 .316 .591 -0.6 Gene Cao CF 6 15 3 4 1 1 0 2 7 2 2 0 0 .267 .389 .467 .856 0.2 Dan Perry CF 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 0.1 Ryan Bochenek RF 148 562 90 176 41 11 12 85 275 56 26 4 3 .313 .378 .489 .867 4.4 Vince Kitchen RF 90 265 37 79 10 4 5 30 112 17 30 1 1 .298 .340 .423 .763 0.7 Jorge Bentura RF 93 156 26 48 7 1 1 21 60 38 24 0 0 .308 .445 .385 .830 1.0 Gianmaria Casagrande RF 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 The Phillies expected to use Juan Chavez in center last year but he fouled everything up by getting hurt right at the beginning of the season. So for much of the year they went with Jeremy West, who had hit just .217 the previous season for the club and showed that he is straight-up not a hitter last year. Somehow, he's still wearing Phillies red as of this publishing. The Phillies are, needless to say, extraordinarily happy with the play of first-year player Ryan Bochenek. He wasn't technically a rookie last year thanks to 132 August and September at-bats in 1948 but the 7th overall pick in 1947 was an absolute beast for them last season. He finished 2nd in the NL in doubles and 9th in extra-base hits. The sky's the limit for the 24 year old California native.
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12-20-2020, 01:55 PM
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#14 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Pittsburgh Pirates
Team History
1946: 73-81, 6th, 19 GB 1947: 71-83, 6th, 18 1/2 GB 1948: 82-71, 3rd, 10 GB 1949: 71-83, 15 1/2 GB Key Additions: OF George Stephens (sale - BSN) Key Losses: C Ron Locke (sale - CHW) The Pirates, in spite of the final record, were fighting for first place into early August but were just 7-18 from September 1 onward. Those are the breaks when you rely on one player as much as the Pirates do, and that one player misses almost an entire month. We have to say that we like their new duds - yellow and black is a nice, unseen color scheme for a major league baseball club. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Willie Casas SP 9 16 0 4.33 35 35 224.1 250 131 108 19 117 82 1.64 .285 .294 2.5 Ryan Harlan SP 14 10 0 3.61 30 30 212.0 194 97 85 11 81 95 1.30 .242 .261 4.8 Tony Morales SP 9 12 0 5.14 29 29 182.0 197 115 104 12 102 100 1.64 .279 .310 3.0 Mark Jaffe SP 6 6 0 5.07 14 14 97.2 121 62 55 6 37 30 1.62 .309 .321 1.7 T.J. Simons SP 3 3 0 5.33 8 8 52.1 60 38 31 7 24 27 1.61 .286 .298 0.4 Jim Carrubba CL 5 7 9 5.14 56 0 70.0 92 45 40 12 34 24 1.80 .327 .324 -1.1 Aaron Mazza RP 9 6 5 4.01 51 9 139.0 147 67 62 11 74 56 1.59 .274 .289 0.9 Robby Page SP 2 11 0 4.82 29 14 117.2 128 71 63 10 72 38 1.70 .287 .295 0.4 Mark Engelbach RP 6 2 2 3.34 43 0 67.1 61 32 25 6 30 37 1.35 .248 .268 0.6 Bill Belcher RP 2 6 0 6.04 16 6 67.0 77 50 45 10 34 30 1.66 .292 .296 -0.0 Sincere Matthews RP 5 3 0 6.16 11 9 57.0 68 42 39 3 28 25 1.68 .296 .317 1.0 Mike Clarke RP 0 0 2 4.76 11 0 34.0 31 18 18 4 20 16 1.50 .242 .248 -0.2 Thomas McAdams RP 1 1 2 1.85 12 0 24.1 18 7 5 0 7 12 1.03 .209 .243 0.6 Domenic Wakely RP 0 0 0 11.49 5 0 15.2 28 21 20 6 8 9 2.30 .389 .386 -0.6 Ben Gallas RP 0 0 0 27.00 1 0 1.2 7 5 5 1 0 0 4.20 .636 .600 -0.1 Ricky Coté CL 0 0 0 0.00 1 0 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.00 .500 .500 0.0 The bullpen was a complete mess. Both Jim Carubba and Aaron Mazza pitched in more than 50 games but both also wound up with ERAs north of 4 and K/W ratios below 1. Mazza may find himself in the rotation in 1950 on the basis of having finished 6 of the 9 games he started last year. Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Billy Hernandez C 129 455 81 136 28 4 17 89 223 57 26 1 0 .299 .378 .490 .868 4.6 Ron Locke C 96 213 38 65 7 1 5 25 89 35 17 0 0 .305 .406 .418 .824 1.9 David Glenn C 2 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0.0 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Jose Aceves 1B 138 521 76 152 26 2 24 91 254 67 59 1 2 .292 .372 .488 .860 3.7 Jose Velazquez 1B 28 72 6 20 2 1 1 18 27 3 0 0 0 .278 .307 .375 .682 -0.0 Guadalupe Andrade 1B 13 33 4 7 1 0 1 6 11 2 4 0 0 .212 .257 .333 .590 -0.0 Dylan Ball 1B 9 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.2 Marvin Krueger 2B 65 223 42 61 10 3 10 38 107 42 7 1 0 .274 .390 .480 .870 1.5 Austin Seiler 2B 26 71 11 16 5 1 0 5 23 8 8 0 0 .225 .300 .324 .624 -0.3 Jonathan Cartagena 2B 17 16 2 4 1 0 0 1 5 1 0 0 0 .250 .294 .313 .607 -0.2 Bobby Munoz 3B 95 349 64 109 19 4 15 70 181 64 18 2 0 .312 .417 .519 .935 3.6 Oscar Valles SS 152 590 74 186 26 3 4 56 230 50 17 2 3 .315 .371 .390 .761 3.1 Rick Packer SS 89 297 38 73 11 1 3 34 95 19 36 2 0 .246 .289 .320 .609 -0.7 Jerry Gonzalez SS 75 204 30 42 6 1 5 17 65 26 36 0 0 .206 .299 .319 .617 0.1 Marvin Krueger has made the All-Star Game in each of the 4 seasons since the league restarted but the Pirates are reportedly unhappy with his fielding and so they brought in prospect Danny Perkins from Brooklyn to compete with him for a job. Krueger came back to the Pirates after 2 years away in Boston in exchange for Jonathan Cartagena. He did wallop a combined 15 homers between the two ballclubs but also committed 18 errors. He never was the rangiest second baseman on the planet and at 34 it's looking like he's just not quick enough to play there regularly anymore. At third there's yet another good, solid third baseman. It's pretty much, if you don't have a guy capable of .300-20-100 for you at the hot corner in 1950, you need to upgrade. Munoz missed almost 60 games last year but he'd have surely reached those totals had he played. Oscar Valles won Gold Gloves in 1946 and 1948 but last year his defense was iffy enough that he started the year out playing at second base. The trade for Marvin Krueger nixed all that and he was a somewhat below average shortstop the rest of the way. That being said, he had a real career year at the plate and based on that alone he'll get another chance to show his stuff. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Adam Shuffler LF 136 483 56 141 21 0 4 49 174 45 27 1 0 .292 .351 .360 .711 -0.9 Kineji Tidwell LF 30 67 10 27 7 0 1 13 37 17 5 0 0 .403 .518 .552 1.070 1.0 Tyler Pratt LF 12 10 2 5 1 0 1 3 9 1 1 0 0 .500 .545 .900 1.445 0.2 Isaiah Williams LF 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0 Robin Zick CF 146 651 112 221 35 19 12 87 330 29 43 28 20 .339 .370 .507 .877 5.4 Dave Reising CF 40 61 10 15 1 1 1 8 21 8 4 0 1 .246 .333 .344 .678 -0.1 Larry O'Shaughnessy CF 9 12 2 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 0 0 .250 .357 .250 .607 -0.0 Luke Spurr RF 137 545 125 182 27 6 53 141 380 68 70 5 3 .334 .406 .697 1.104 8.3 Evan Reilly RF 37 113 14 28 6 2 1 16 41 6 7 1 0 .248 .286 .363 .649 0.1 Robin Zick celebrated his first full season as a starter with a league-leading 19 triples, 112 runs, and a .339 average. It's no surprise that he made the All-Star Game last year as well; that should be the first of many such appearances for the 25 year old. Right field, of course, is manned by Luke "The Butcher" Spurr (Ralph Kiner, although he plays more like Babe Ruth). Spurr, the holder of the all-time HR record with 61 hit in 1947, looked like he might break it last year before going down with an upper back injury in mid-September. That, ironically, also broke the back of the Pirates offense. He's lowkey a big-time student of the game, and it shows: he managed to cut his strikeouts way, way down from 177 in 1947 to 70 last year and is now, on top of everything else, a .330 hitter.
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12-21-2020, 01:57 PM
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#15 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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St. Louis Browns
[QUOTE=Syd Thrift;4726867]Team History
1946: 76-78, 5th, 24 1/2 GB 1947: 64-90, 6th, 30 GB 1948: 65-89, 6th, 40 GB 1949: 60-94, 7th, 49 GB Key Additions: SP Isaiah Kaylor (waivers - DET), "3B" Chad Cannon (trade - PHA) Key Losses: C Nate Cuccie (trade - DET), OF Aaron Hoose (trade - PHA), 3B David Scudero (trade - PHA), SP John Weir (waivers - BOA) How bad can the Browns get? They have a long, long way to fall to reach the Senators but we think they've got a chance to reach it. After not drawing flies into their stands in 1949 the Brownies felt the need to sell off some of their best players. Now their top guy is RF Suthiwait Thaisong, a known Canadian who has played roughly one healthy season combined over the past two. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Colt Barrera SP 9 11 0 4.83 32 32 197.1 196 132 106 25 119 130 1.60 .258 .279 1.6 Curtis Robinson SP 5 13 0 6.46 32 24 175.2 197 132 126 18 132 67 1.87 .293 .301 0.1 Titus Delp sP 8 13 0 5.43 30 26 172.1 184 115 104 14 136 46 1.86 .278 .280 0.1 Pat Hedrick SP 7 4 3 3.95 30 17 136.2 158 65 60 14 28 65 1.36 .287 .303 2.8 Jason Arnold SP 2 11 0 4.29 18 18 119.2 139 73 57 11 50 43 1.58 .290 .297 1.5 Elias Segal SP 0 4 0 8.38 6 6 29.0 49 32 27 7 14 12 2.17 .363 .359 -0.2 Sean Perkins SP 0 4 0 9.69 6 6 26.0 41 31 28 2 19 8 2.31 .373 .375 0.1 Jake Stevens CL 5 9 7 4.54 54 0 81.1 84 41 41 6 47 30 1.61 .277 .286 0.2 Maurice Reed RP 5 6 0 6.81 39 6 116.1 141 92 88 13 92 40 2.00 .304 .309 -1.1 John Weir RP 7 6 3 5.21 46 7 103.2 122 64 60 15 54 31 1.70 .298 .288 -0.7 Mike Wiler RP 3 3 2 3.86 22 9 72.1 81 35 31 7 28 22 1.51 .289 .291 0.6 Dan Crumpley RP 6 5 0 6.22 39 3 59.1 77 56 41 2 61 15 2.33 .312 .322 -0.5 John Thompson RP 3 5 7 5.89 31 0 44.1 49 37 29 4 27 19 1.71 .280 .294 0.2 Mansour Reyshahri CL 0 0 0 4.66 8 0 19.1 20 10 10 0 13 6 1.71 .290 .313 0.1 Dylan Kline RP 0 0 0 9.82 7 0 14.2 27 21 16 2 13 3 2.73 .397 .391 -0.4 Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nate Cucci C 108 312 50 96 25 3 7 55 148 65 54 0 0 .308 .427 .474 .901 3.5 Devin Ring C 61 179 11 29 5 0 3 11 43 16 38 0 0 .162 .227 .240 .467 -0.7 Bobby Sayen C 18 52 1 9 2 0 0 4 11 2 6 0 0 .173 .204 .212 .415 -0.3 Bruce Tierney C 2 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 .000 .250 .000 .250 -0.1 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Mario Rodriquez 1B 119 363 52 96 10 5 5 40 131 57 31 5 6 .264 .363 .361 .724 -0.2 Tim Alter 1B 83 268 33 97 17 1 4 41 128 49 22 0 0 .362 .457 .478 .934 2.4 Manuel Gonzalez 2B 136 515 64 148 19 5 1 56 180 25 14 2 2 .287 .320 .350 .669 1.2 Antonio Saldivar 2B 45 85 5 13 3 2 1 12 23 6 10 2 0 .153 .204 .271 .475 -0.5 David Scudero 3B 152 600 81 180 37 5 6 76 245 72 50 1 1 .300 .373 .408 .781 3.6 Mark Boutilier 3B 15 56 9 14 2 0 2 13 22 8 6 0 0 .250 .338 .393 .731 0.0 Nick Campa SS 154 597 65 145 26 5 14 85 223 69 93 7 11 .243 .317 .374 .691 1.5 David Pfab SS 9 28 2 5 1 0 0 1 6 3 3 0 0 .179 .258 .214 .472 -0.1 Harold Tompkins SS 16 19 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 1 3 0 0 .105 .150 .105 .255 -0.2 Manuel Gonzalez is a scrappy keystoner who won his first Gold Glove last year almost by default. I would not be surprised if it's his last Gold Glove as well, although he doesn't have a great deal of competition in St. Louis for a starting job, at least. Marco Scudero is of course also gone and in his place the Browns are actually keen on starting Chad Cannon. Cannon in truth is a very good hitter but, in spite of a great third baseman name, he hasn't been able to hold onto a starting job because the man has no range to speak of whatsoever and that "Cannon" is by name only. This is a man so bad at third base that the offensively minded Cardinals decided they couldnt' deal with him after a very good hitting 1947 (.320, 19, 93). Of course the Browns will see if the offense outweighs the defense because what else are they going to do? Nick Campa played in all 154 games last year and started 152 of them. If you look up the term "90 loss team" in the dictionary, the definition is "a team that plays a player the caliber of Nick Campa in 154 games". He did manage to raise his average 40 points from the season before, which is to say he was merely below average at the position instead of terrible, but the only thing keeping his job safe is the fact that this is the Browns we're talking about. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Danny Gonzalez LF 133 468 85 112 20 5 25 83 217 70 62 5 4 .239 .335 .464 .798 3.0 Aaron Hoose LF 17 58 10 17 2 1 3 6 30 7 9 0 0 .293 .369 .517 .886 0.5 Gerardo Ramirez CF 93 315 38 65 10 0 2 24 81 34 27 0 0 .206 .288 .257 .545 -0.7 Chris Ballinger CF 83 309 50 61 12 3 5 16 94 47 52 9 10 .197 .303 .304 .608 0.3 Suthiwat Thaisong CF 52 183 37 67 12 5 11 46 122 4 9 1 2 .366 .376 .667 1.042 3.0 Sam Laquidara CF 25 29 3 6 2 0 0 1 8 5 5 1 0 .207 .324 .276 .599 0.1 Colin Miller RF 124 387 48 100 12 6 8 51 148 43 43 1 2 .258 .332 .382 .714 0.3 Word is that Suthiwat Thaisong will be handed the reins in center field. The 1947 1st round pick has basically played in the corner outfield so far in his career but, well, the team lost 94 games with good-field no-hit guys there so why not try something different? That's the plan, anyway. It's worth noting that Chris Ballinger, in spite of starting less than half the season, won the Gold Glove in center. I don't understand the voters (note: usually I do those awards manually precisely for reasons such as that but I forgot). Thaisong starting in center will allow Colin Miller to play full time in right. I mean, it'll allow him to do so until they can find something better. He's not terrible but he does zero of the things you need a position player to do to ever have a hope of winning more games than you lose.
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12-22-2020, 11:54 AM
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#16 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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St. Louis Cardinals
Team History
1946: 82-72, 2nd, 10 GB 1947: 89-66, 2nd, 1 GB 1948: 92-61, 1st (lost World Series) 1949: 86-69, 2nd, 1 GB Key Additions: SS Mitchell Carter (trade - CIN) Key Losses: SS Justin Mims (trade - CIN) One of the most time-honored questions in baseball is, "just how important is hitting, anyway?". Related to that: how far can you get by concentrating only on your starting nine? It turns out, pretty far. The Cardinals gave up 801 runs last season and yet were still just a one-game playoff away from the World Series. Over the offseason they typically have done absolutely nothing to assuage that, aside from trading their veteran shortstop for a younger model. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Tony Ojeda SP 11 9 0 5.16 38 37 237.0 260 149 136 25 103 71 1.53 .284 .285 2.1 Jason Covin SP 12 4 0 3.43 24 24 176.0 165 75 67 9 80 68 1.39 .248 .264 3.3 Jesse Ragland SP 6 8 0 5.65 22 22 130.2 172 97 82 21 58 56 1.76 .316 .321 0.5 Dan Sumner SP 8 6 0 3.62 24 22 129.1 120 56 52 7 57 68 1.37 .246 .272 2.9 Rafael Salinas SP 4 5 0 4.62 14 14 103.1 123 60 53 12 25 38 1.43 .295 .299 1.8 Ryan Chisholm SP 5 5 0 4.81 14 9 63.2 74 38 34 7 42 19 1.82 .296 .296 -0.1 Stanford Koinzan SP 2 4 0 4.89 9 9 49.2 63 36 27 4 16 11 1.59 .315 .316 0.7 Kevin Shireman SP 4 3 0 5.73 9 9 48.2 50 37 31 3 26 16 1.56 .265 .272 0.7 Jason Lanier CL 13 13 22 3.72 76 1 145.0 126 70 60 3 118 87 1.68 .246 .286 1.7 Nicolae Olaroiu RP 6 2 7 4.73 58 0 118.0 126 67 62 18 56 54 1.54 .276 .278 -0.7 Justin Jolly RP 8 2 2 6.09 38 3 88.2 110 61 60 14 52 17 1.83 .308 .294 -1.1 Dustin Wollenberg RP 5 4 3 3.13 53 0 72.0 65 26 25 6 41 46 1.47 .241 .269 0.5 Arlo Balliet RP 0 1 0 6.52 2 2 9.2 11 8 7 1 12 7 2.38 .306 .345 -0.0 Neil Breen RP 0 0 0 3.86 2 0 2.1 4 2 1 0 2 0 2.57 .400 .400 0.0 Dennis Ferguson RP 0 1 0 27.00 1 0 0.1 2 1 1 0 2 1 12.00 .667 1.000 -0.0 Tony Perez RP 0 1 0 0.00 1 0 0.0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0.00 .000 .000 0.0 More than anything else the Cardinals leaned on Jason Lanier heavily. Really, too heavily. 76 games covering 145 innings pitched is a lot to throw in relief, and as a result he saw his BB/9 rate balloon to 7.8. His one start of the season came in the playoff and it was a disaster: 3.2 IP, 10 hits, 5 runs allowed. Only one walk though! Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Jared Jedziniak C 117 416 49 97 14 2 1 43 118 37 24 1 0 .233 .298 .284 .581 0.3 John Henderson C 60 173 17 37 9 0 5 22 61 16 18 0 0 .214 .280 .353 .632 0.4 Reed Roberson C 7 17 1 5 1 0 0 2 6 1 1 0 0 .294 .316 .353 .669 0.0 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Ken Hoffman 1B 101 393 66 129 21 2 25 90 229 42 34 0 0 .328 .395 .583 .978 3.6 David Nieto 2B 155 647 85 197 37 2 2 78 244 45 18 0 1 .304 .350 .377 .727 1.9 J.J. Vasquez 2B 65 131 22 34 5 1 0 14 41 25 13 0 0 .260 .376 .313 .689 0.5 Jason McGannon 3B 131 438 61 139 28 4 6 54 193 48 25 1 0 .317 .383 .441 .824 2.8 Mike Dews 3B 83 200 31 53 11 5 7 42 95 29 28 0 0 .265 .364 .475 .839 1.5 Antonio Martinez 3B 16 14 5 3 1 0 0 2 4 2 0 0 0 .214 .294 .286 .580 -0.0 Steve Holmes SS 82 319 58 101 14 3 7 53 142 26 9 18 5 .317 .367 .445 .812 2.9 Justin Mims SS 90 307 52 81 12 2 10 52 127 52 38 1 1 .264 .369 .414 .783 2.0 David Nieto started every single game for the Cardinals last year. Other than the lack of power he's a player pretty much in the Cards' mold: a good hitter, lots of doubles, strong bat control, and a below average fielder. Jason McGannon enjoyed a solid season as the starting 3rd baseman, although with all of the great players at that position right now he's probably below average. His backup Mike Dews has been a not-quite-starter in each of his 4 years in the league, spent with the Reds and Cards. He actually made the All-Star team in 1948 with Cincinnati but then missed the rest of the summer. Steve Holmes is a rare Cardinals player with a fielding pedigree but he's also missed at least 40 games in each of his three seasons starting. As a result the Cardinals have needed a caddy for him and over the winter they decided that that guy would be Mitchell Carter, the Reds' first round pick in 1947 who came into his own last year. Can this man be kept out of the lineup? Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Mike Koetting LF 155 628 141 215 38 8 41 142 392 92 41 16 12 .342 .430 .624 1.054 8.7 R.J. Klement LF 45 106 13 29 5 0 0 13 34 6 12 6 0 .274 .313 .321 .633 0.1 Mike Guerrero CF 153 627 137 188 35 16 22 84 321 113 65 21 19 .300 .410 .512 .922 5.9 David Yost CF 40 75 12 16 6 1 2 5 30 5 4 0 0 .213 .272 .400 .672 0.0 Rodolfo Vazquez CF 13 16 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .063 .063 .063 .125 -0.3 Stan Watson RF 137 573 104 224 34 16 24 132 362 54 17 12 17 .391 .442 .632 1.074 7.9 Nate Gerhart RF 30 47 8 11 2 1 1 6 18 10 6 0 0 .234 .368 .383 .751 0.1 Mike Guerrero is maybe a bit out of position in center field but when you hit like Mike Guerrero you play where you want. In 1948 he somehow stole 40 bases but that total was cut in half last year; that's one of the few things he struggled with on the offensive side of things. He also won an MVP back in 1946 and is still only 31 years old. Stan Watson (Stan Musial) completes the trifecta: all three Cardinals outfielders have won the MVP trophy in this league. The past two seasons have been marred by injury issues. I mean, last year he was mostly healthy except that the 18 games he missed all came at the tail end of the season. St. Louis really could have used him down the stretch. Anyway he still has a career average of over .400 (.404).
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12-22-2020, 12:17 PM
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#17 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Team History
1946: 69-85, 7th, 31 1/2 GB 1947: 53-101, 8th, 41 GB 1948: 51-103, 8th, 54 GB 1949: 44-110, 8th, 65 GB Key Additions: None Key Losses: 2B Andy Jordan (sale - Seattle (PCL)), SP Corey Blatt (waivers - DET), SP Paul Frisco (retired) There's "first in war, first in peace, last in the American League" and then there's this. The Washington Senators seem to exist as a "tomato can" if you're a boxing fan or a "jobber" if pro wrestling is your thing. The professional losers hit new lows in 1949. There was almost as much room between them and St. Louis - and it's not like the Browns were any good last year - and the Yankees and Red Sox. To say that the Senators are due for a dead cat bounce is insulting to dead cats everywhere. Pitching Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR Corey Blatt SP 8 17 0 5.28 30 30 202.2 248 138 119 12 121 74 1.82 .305 .318 2.2 Keith Lockington SP 4 18 0 5.68 33 22 160.0 214 130 101 15 76 59 1.81 .321 .331 1.4 Nick Shifflett SP 4 9 0 4.89 19 17 116.0 145 83 63 5 63 32 1.79 .313 .324 1.5 Phil Saylor RP 3 6 0 5.13 10 10 72.0 77 49 41 2 44 26 1.68 .272 .293 1.0 Eric Butkus SP 2 5 0 4.62 9 8 60.1 70 36 31 4 28 25 1.62 .294 .311 0.8 Tom Sibley SP 2 4 0 4.42 9 9 59.0 64 34 29 5 26 25 1.53 .272 .286 0.9 Chris Langmade RP 2 2 0 7.34 8 6 38.0 45 35 31 2 40 22 2.24 .288 .321 -0.0 Aron Casanova SP 1 4 0 4.09 6 6 33.0 36 17 15 4 24 5 1.82 .281 .269 -0.3 Tommie Kimbell SP 2 1 0 3.28 4 4 24.2 23 9 9 0 12 11 1.42 .245 .277 0.6 Elijah Burris RP 0 3 0 12.66 5 5 21.1 41 30 30 3 13 0 2.53 .414 .384 -0.2 Marty Weik SP 1 2 0 5.00 4 4 18.0 22 17 10 3 8 2 1.67 .286 .264 -0.1 Mike Pulcini CL 6 6 13 3.40 65 3 106.0 92 51 40 2 70 59 1.53 .239 .269 1.5 Ryan Hogue RP 1 9 0 5.00 32 10 113.1 139 72 63 1 64 36 1.79 .310 .329 1.7 Gene Young RP 0 8 4 4.40 49 0 88.0 78 54 43 9 79 47 1.78 .237 .249 -1.2 Nick Brown RP 2 6 0 5.75 23 9 87.2 100 60 56 8 52 26 1.73 .300 .304 0.1 Scott Weiss RP 3 3 2 1.49 54 0 78.1 63 15 13 3 28 41 1.16 .220 .246 1.4 Justin Taylor SP 1 2 0 6.80 11 5 41.0 55 34 31 9 15 13 1.71 .327 .311 -0.4 Pedro Ornelas SP 0 1 0 8.18 10 0 22.0 26 21 20 1 24 9 2.27 .321 .342 -0.3 Andrew Sheline SP 0 2 0 7.27 6 0 8.2 12 7 7 0 8 5 2.31 .343 .387 0.1 Chris Duke RP 0 0 0 15.00 1 0 3.0 7 5 5 0 1 3 2.67 .438 .538 0.1 Catcher Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nick Zehner C 120 371 36 93 14 3 4 48 125 59 46 0 0 .251 .354 .337 .691 1.4 Angelo Martinez C 71 202 24 58 10 1 3 26 79 20 16 0 0 .287 .352 .391 .744 0.9 Tyler Zinser C 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.1 Infield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Nathan McCullough 1B 153 657 59 202 43 7 1 69 262 24 40 1 1 .307 .332 .399 .731 1.3 Khalil Durden 1B 25 22 4 7 0 0 0 4 7 4 2 1 0 .318 .423 .318 .741 0.2 Eddie Gonzalez 2B 124 448 46 111 22 1 9 54 162 39 31 0 0 .248 .308 .362 .669 -3.0 Darren Rocha 2B 71 278 41 58 11 2 2 23 79 38 25 3 2 .209 .305 .284 .589 0.6 Andy Jordan 2B 77 264 18 57 11 0 1 21 71 19 15 0 0 .216 .268 .269 .537 -0.3 Nick D'Ambrosia 3B 138 418 56 106 22 3 5 45 149 111 35 0 0 .254 .408 .356 .765 2.5 Tim Seeker 3B 60 154 11 29 5 0 0 8 34 19 23 0 1 .188 .280 .221 .501 -0.5 Oscar Ortega SS 49 134 10 30 3 2 0 20 37 8 14 0 0 .224 .273 .276 .549 -0.7 Aaron Lowe SS 24 71 6 15 2 1 0 7 19 9 16 0 0 .211 .300 .268 .568 -0.2 Eddie Gonzalez is listed as the second baseman because that's where the Senators are looking to play him this year. Last year he was the third baseman for most of the season and was absolutely awful. The 14 errors and .939 fielding average don't tell the true tale of just how bad he was. We sincerely doubt he'll be any better at second but what do the Senators have to lose, other than a lot of games? Nick D'Ambrosia is also listed outside of his regular position in 1949; he was a shortstop, although not as singularly awful as Gonzalez. The Senators are in a bizarre position where not only is half their infield switching positions, but is also old: Gonzalez is 38, D'Ambrosia 33. Things may somehow, unbelievably, get worse before they get better. At least the Senators seem committed to the youth movement at shortstop, where Aaron Lowe is considered the early front-runner for the job. Lowe was Washington's 3rd round pick in 1948 and brings speed, fielding, and bat control to the position. He probably isn't a long-term solution but that could be said about anyone in the lineup, save (perhaps) McCullough. Outfield Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR Randy Farr LF 134 499 43 132 20 2 10 64 186 30 72 1 0 .265 .310 .373 .682 -0.0 Zion Martin LF 96 299 54 80 11 1 11 38 126 73 36 1 1 .268 .410 .421 .832 1.6 Brian Hart LF 12 48 1 8 0 0 1 2 11 0 7 0 0 .167 .167 .229 .396 -0.4 Tony Shamsiddeen CF 133 515 68 131 26 14 0 35 185 57 62 15 13 .254 .331 .359 .690 0.4 Jonathan Stull CF 28 117 12 29 9 1 1 12 43 6 24 3 3 .248 .282 .368 .650 -0.5 Steve Mohatt CF 5 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .000 .143 .000 .143 -0.1 Jason Daniel CF 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 .667 1.333 0.1 Victor Mendoza RF 55 131 12 37 5 2 1 20 49 12 19 2 3 .282 .338 .374 .712 0.3 Tony Shamsideen is a 23 year old prospect-ish type guy who celebrated his first full season in the majors last year. He's not that good but he's also not 35 so that is one big thing he has going for him.
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12-22-2020, 12:19 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Before I tick forward I wanted to point out this tidbit from Charlton's Baseball Chronology for February 16, 1950:
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12-24-2020, 12:32 PM
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#19 | |
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Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Spring Training Notes - April 18
Just a brief rundown of how every team's training camp went, although first off, how about some predictions?
NL ------------- St. Louis 90-64 Boston 86-68 Chicago 84-70 Brooklyn 82-72 Pittsburgh 79-75 New York 72-82 Philadelphia 68-86 Cincinnati 57-97 Note that the Cards' prediction is with 2/3rds of their starting outfield injured. More on that in a bit! Also they predict Luke Spurr to hit 82 homeruns, which I really, really hope will not happen. 70 I can go with. AL ------- New York 109-45 Boston 96-58 Cleveland 95-59 Detroit 67-86 Chicago 67-87 Philadelphia 66-88 St. Louis 63-91 Washington 54-100 Looking like another ho-hum type race, although if the Yankees get a bit unlucky that could easily turn into a 3-team race. The haves and the have-nots, though... And onto the blurbs! Boston Braves: 27 year old rookie Fernando Barajas was named the stopper coming out of spring training. Otherwise, no news is mostly good news for the Braves, as they have no major injuries. Boston Red Sox: 1B Adam Johnson missed most of spring training and probably won't be back until the end of the month. The other major injury they saw was to SP Phil Saylor, who will miss the entire season with a torn elbow ligament. Brooklyn Dodgers: 2/5ths of the starting rotation is out, with Burl Holmes not expected back until after the All-Star break and George Gornick out until May. CF Brad McGonigle will also miss all of April with bone spurs in his elbow. The latter injury means that, in a surprise move, Danny Nishimoto, who has 39 major league at-bats in his career, will start in center on Opening Day. Chicago Cubs: The big news here was the loss of 1949 ROY Kazufumi Duke. The Cubs' rotation is a bit less solid than it looked in February. Chicago White Sox: They open the season with 4 pitchers, most notably stopper David Ard, on the IR. 3B John Yoder was hit in the head during a game and will reportedly miss the rest of April as a precaution. The team had a couple of position battles in spring training: Ron McPherson was tabbed to start at 3rd over the 38 year old Sergio Venegas - Venegas hit well enough but even as a fill-in for Yoder they decided to go with youth (well, McPherson is 27 but still). At shortstop, incumbent Yong-Chan Jang outplayed Eric Mann. Cincinnati Reds: CF Lou Della is out for another couple weeks, so Corey Stowell will start the season in his place. In right, 25 year old Jeff Previs just straight-up outplayed 34 year old Art Ryther and made the question of who'd be the Opening Day starter easy. Cleveland Indians: A couple of back-of-the-staff pitchers are on the IR, nothing major. I think the big story here was that preseason prediction: this is the year the Tribe could make their big push. Detroit Tigers: 21 game winner Jared Suggs is out until late June with the torn UCL he suffered in September of last season. Ivan Lima, who appeared in 42 games last year, is also out long-term. If I had to guess, it's the horrible 3-5 spots in the rotation that are responsible for that bad prediction. New York Giants: The Giants are going to miss 3B Any Conejo until the All-Star break at least and C Erick Sheffer might miss the entire season. Galsino Fernandez "won" the 2nd base job, mainly because they need his rival Brady Hunt to back up the infield. Rich Engler was given every opportunity to win the RF job but lost it to Manny Mercado, who has all of 21 at-bats above A ball, by hitting .100. New York Yankees: Nick Kendall had a nice spring training and will open the season as they starting second baseman. This left Mike McVickar out of a job; the club released him prior to Opening Day. Philadelphia Phillies: Nobody super-important is hurt right now; the Phillies' predicted tumble mostly seems to be related to them playing way over their heads last year. Philadelphia Athletics: Oft-injured CF Manny Venegas will miss half the season with a broken kneecap. 10-game winner Daniel Gaglio will be out even longer, and SP Tim Decker plans to return in early May. The remaining starting rotation looked really, really bad in spring training. Pittsburgh Pirates: The big loss here is CF Robin Zick, who figures to miss about half the season with a torn labrum. On the other hand, this is Luke Spurr's age 27 season, so expect madness. 2B Danny Perkins wasn't ready, so Marvin Krueger will continue to start at second for the time being. The loss of Zick means that the Pirates don't have to make a decision on George Stephens vs. Kineji Tidwell just yet: both will start on Opening Day. St. Louis Cardinals: It's looking kind of dire for the Cards early on. LF Mike Koetting and CF Mike Guerrero are both out. Koetting has a lingering hamstring injury that could resolve itself in a week or a month, whereas Guerrero is having problems recovering from a concussion and could be out a lot longer. They're also missing SP Tony Ojeda for a few more days and a couple of middle relievers are out for longer. 23 year old Travis King, a former top-rated prospect who has had some of the bloom come off, will start out the year in center. St. Louis Browns: Predictably, Suthiwat Thaisong is out again; he should return by mid-May. RP Curtis Robinson is out for longer. Neither Devin Ring nor Bruce Tierney seemed to want the catching job; Ring wins by default to open the season. The same can be said for the CF battle between Chris Ballinger and Gerardo Ramirez. The former takes that battle on account of being under 30. Washington Senators: The Sens signed independent leaguer 3B Kyle Keener over the offseason and expected him to bolster the middle of the lineup. He got hurt in spring training so his big-league debut is still a couple weeks away. Their rotation, such that it is, has been wrecked by injuries to Marty Weik and Tommie Kimbell, although the latter should be ready for a rehab assignment in a few days. Eddie Gonzalez is also out with a concussion, athough he wasn't looking like he was going to work out at second base anyway so his Senators (and big league) career may be over.
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12-24-2020, 12:34 PM
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#20 | ||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,625
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Another random April 1 note:
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