[Questdog]

Here's the Skinny on the Skunk Bears

Last year the Wolverines had horrible hitting, poor pitching and great defense. Only Washington scored fewer runs than they did and they were last in home runs and walks and second to last in batting average. The pitchers gave up the second most home runs and walks and the third most hits. The fielders made the fewest errors in the league and were second best in defensive efficiency.

With all the money I had to spend, I figured if I could just sign an ace pitcher or two and upgrade the offense even a little bit, I could find myself with a championship caliber ball club. Problem was, though, that there was only one ace pitcher available and he was 39 years old and wanted a great big pile of money (Bill McClean). I was not so keen on shooting my whole wad on one 39-year-old pitcher, so I let him sign with some one else (Rochester for $23,120).

So that left me with spending all my money to get better hitters, but there we had another problem. One of my unbreakable rules is that in order to play for me, you have to be able to run at least a little. You do not have to be fast, but you have to be able to at least out-run my pet 3-legged box turtle. Another of my rules is that you have to be at least a decent defender. If you cannot catch the ball and throw it, I have no use for you, no matter how far you can hit it.

Most of the really good hitters available failed to obey one or both of these rules. Guys like LF John Rodgers and 1B Harold Bradley of the defunct St. Louis club and 1B Pat Ross of Philadelphia. I was tempted to sign SS Bill Loschiavo of St. Louis, but he led the league in errors last year, though he's still a pretty good defender. He also swings at everything in reach.

So, in the end, I hardly spent any of the money I could have and Detroit has, by far, the lowest payroll in baseball.

But I still think I did a good job of collecting ballplayers and with the way Bill McLeod threw the ball in the practice games, I think we might have a shot at being in the race this season.

Pitchers
William McLeod (25-5.6)
His name is pronounced like "McCloud" as in a loud crowd. He's no Lee Sprague or Tom Lee, but when he entered the pros out of college, he was the most sought after hurler of his class. And there is no question that he has the stuff to be a great hurler. His bugaboo has been not being able to throw strikes. Last year, he was pretty horrible, winning only 10 games and losing 23 with a 3.88 ERA. He walked the most batters per 9 innings of any pitcher with at least 200 innings (3.4). But this Spring, he was near unhittable, holding batters to a .185 average while walking 2.3 per 9 innings. He'll be the Opening Day starter and if he can pitch like that all year, we will be in the hunt.

Editor's Note: I get the pronunciation of his name from an old joke:

"Isn't Mick Jagger Scottish?"

"No."

"How do you know he isn't?"

"Because he sang, 'Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!' and not 'Hey! McLeod! Get off of my ewe!' "

Hank Anderson (31-7.7)
I am so glad that I released him from his Omaha contract last year, else I'd be hard-pressed to have a good pitching staff now in Detroit. I knew he was a good pitcher when I let him go. I thought he deserved to be pitching in the majors and since I had no spot for him in Omaha, I let him go so he could find someplace to pitch. And he took full advantage of the opportunity, landing here in Detroit and winning the Rookie of the Year award as a 30-year-old. He went 23-11 with a 2.68 ERA for a team that could hardly score any runs. He is not an overpowering pitcher, but he takes full advantage of the good defense behind him by throwing strikes and letting the batters get themselves out. He is the opposite of McLeod in nearly every way. He is left-handed and led the league in fewest walks per 9 innings (1.2). He's also a pretty good hitter for a pitcher and McLeod can't hit a lick.

Tommy Shearin (27-5.7)
I signed Shearin from the folded Philly team. He is basically a right-handed version of Hank Anderson. Super control. The ones that did not make the team and will be pitching in Syracuse include Ed Bush (24-5.3), a McLeod clone in that he has a world of talent, but has not harnessed it yet and Zenas McKeough (23-4.5), my 2nd round draft pick, who I was hoping would make the team, but looked absolutely horrible in the Spring games and did not seem to care much about that either. He's a soft tosser who needs to be on top of his game to succeed and with the attitude he showed, I don't know if he has it in him to do it. I was hoping Rufus Lee (34-3.9) would be able to return from the injury he suffered last year and give us another good pitcher, or even be the ace of the staff. He was 3-1 with 2 shutouts and an 0.96 ERA last year before an injury ended his season. But in the Spring games, he walked 12 batters in 25 innings and only struck out 4. I wanted to send him to Syracuse to try to work himself back into shape, but he refused to go and I had to cut him. That left me scrambling for a 4th pitcher for Syracuse and I ended up signing Jake Little (32-5.9), who up until now has been an infielder. But he was pressed into pitching a game in Rochester (A) last year and went 6.1 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 walks and striking out 2. So, I signed him as a pitcher and we'll see if he can do the job or not.

Catcher
Evan Eckberg (29-3.5)
The only All-Star the Wolverines had last year, he can hit for average and play sold defense, even if he is not much fun to be around. Dave Caplan (29-5.5) will be the second catcher. He's a decent catcher behind the plate and hit well in the little playing time he got in A ball last year, but he did not hit much in the big league trial Washington gave him in 1883.

First Base
George House (26-4.3)
Tore the cover off the ball last year in A Ball, hitting .352 with a lot of doubles, but only .176 in 170 at bats when he was brought up to Detroit. Started out hot in the Spring games, but cooled off at the end, finishing the schedule with mediocre stats. But he played great defense and we'll see how the hitting goes. Zenas Woodard (25-4.6), the 3rd round draft choice, hit about the same as House, but did not play the position as well. He'll get to play in Syracuse.

Second Base
Jocko Cole (23-6.1)
This is where a big chunk of my bankroll was spent. He is going to technically play for a minimum salary, but I had to give him a big signing bonus ($13,100) to get him to play here. He asked for $13,000, but when I offered him $7,500, he said "Better make it an extra hundred." So, I did. This kid has been a hot prospect since he was first spotted playing sandlot ball in Norcross, Georgia in 1880. In 1883, he was named the best hitting second baseman in the Connecticut State League, leading the league in Total Bases and Runs Scored, and the Philadelphia Quakers made him the 3rd pick of the B Draft. Last year, at Allentown in the Eastern League (A), he finished 3rd in the MVP voting and was named the best fielding second baseman in the circuit. He got into 8 games at the end of the year in the GNA and scored 7 runs and had 5 RBIs and 4 extra-base hits and stole 3 bases. This Spring, he did not set the world on fire, but he hit fairly well and played outstanding defense.

Shortstop
Al Shaffer (24-5.6)
My original plan was to sign a slick-fielding, no-hitting veteran to play short. I signed Sam Swanger (32-4.8) and he lived up to his billing, playing unbelievable defense this Spring (.958 fielding average and not many hits getting by him) and mostly making outs at the plate. But Shaffer played himself into the starting job with his bat, hitting over .300. His defense is solid, but certainly no where near as good as Swanger's. In 1883, he was named the best fielding second baseman in the Massachusetts State Association and was the 10th overall pick in the B Draft by Detroit. He did not hit a whole lot in A Ball last year, but did show an ability to draw a walk or two. But once he got called up to Detroit, he was horrific, batting .135 with no extra-base hits in 96 at bats. If his Spring showing turns out to be an illusion, we will go back to Swanger as the starter, who will be staying sharp in Syracuse.

Third Base
Sam Boullion (25-4.8)
My first pick in the B Draft this past winter and the MVP of the Massachusetts State Association last year. He got hurt in the 2nd game of the Spring schedule and missed the rest of the games, so I don't have much to go on, but he says he's healed up and at 25 years of age, I don't want to send him to A Ball for seasoning. He looked like a player for the little bit I saw him though. He's probably best at second base, but Cole does not have the arm to play on the left side of the infield and Boullion does. He is an exceptional defender in all areas, except that his range is only average and his arm is strong, but not impressively so. He could end up playing anywhere as long as he hits. He seems to be a very patient hitter and does not swing at bad pitches, which is a rare talent in baseball these days. Jack Warren (32-7.2) and Chris Van Rooyen (27-3.0) will be the backup infielders for now. Warren has been a starter, mostly at second, since the Detroit franchise began in 1880. He won a Gold Glove the one year he played at first and was named a Silver Slugger at second base in 1883. He can play anywhere in the infield, but at 32, his range is slipping, though he can still steal bases with the best of them (53 last year). Van Rooyen was a starter last year at short and third, but did not hit much at all.

Left Field
Ben Smith (25-6.7)
Here is where another big chunk of change went. He'll be, technically, the 2nd highest paid player on the team (3rd if you count Cole's signing bonus) making $11,280. He was the Silver Slugger winner in the GNA at center field the past two seasons for Philadelphia, but he is not much of a center fielder, so he will play left for us. He had the highest slugging average in the GNA last year of any player who did not call Lake Front Park home (.439). He did not hit at all this Spring, however.

Center Field
Fred Bianco (26-6.9)
Another good chunk of the bankroll went to sign a center fielder, but he was not Fred Bianco. I gave Harley Becker (31-6.8) a contract for $5,850 mostly because I liked his name and he hit .290 in 62 at bats for Minneapolis last year. But he did not hit his weight (180 lbs) in the Spring games and will start out as a backup. Bianco was not the second choice, either. That was Dusty Godwin (25-6.7), but he separated his shoulder and will miss the first 2 weeks of the season. But I am still excited to have Bianco there, if you can believe it. He does not have quite the range of Godwin, but he is about the most sure handed outfielder you could ever meet. Previous Detroit managers have been trying to make him a shortstop, but he is horrible there. In 17 games started at short last year for the Wolverines, he made 21 errors. In 1883, he was a rookie sensation batting over .300 in 132 at bats, but last year he dropped off to .217 in 125 at bats. I am hoping that was mostly because of his distress at playing the infield. He is very fast and can steal bases with the best of them.

Right Field
Joe Kraus (28-7.9)
And this is the best of them. The best hitter and nicest guy on the team, he, along with C Evan Eckberg and P Hank Anderson, was one of the bright spots for the Wolverines last year, even though he had his lowest batting average of his 4 year career (.269). He won his second straight Gold Glove in center field and led the league in steals for the second straight season, setting a major league record last year with 66 thefts. I think he his better suited for right field, since his range is only average for center. I also think he would be our best cleanup hitter and so I will try him out there, even though he has batted leadoff most of his career. Of course, he is probably our best leadoff man, too, but they won't let me bat him in both spots. He's also the highest paid player on the team and will pull in $16,260 from the coffers of Bill Perkins (63-4.3) this season. The other backup outfielder will be veteran Jackie Porter (30-6.3). He will be entering his 7th big league season and he has shown a pattern of hitting around .300 one year and .250 or worse the next. Last year it was .230; the year before it was .319. So he is in line for an up year and may push Kraus back to center. He has below average range and cannot run much (though he did beat my 3-legged turtle in a race) but has a cannon for an arm.

Only 2 starters from last year have kept their jobs and we should score more runs this year. The defense in the Spring games was phenomenal. But the whole season comes down to Bill McLeod. If he can pitch like he did this Spring, we may be the Liberty League champs come October. If he pitches like last year, though, we will probably end up 4th again.

See you at Opening Day!

Bartholomew Levy
April 29, 1885