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The Indy Draft comes and we see another player go
We got down to business for the Indy draft and I was surprised (a bit) that neither team made a choice. The player I was interested in I was necessarily thinking the NY Gotham’s would select because of his age (29) and their rebuilding. I was a little worried about the Baltimore Cannons as they desperately needed bats last year but they must be satisfied with their trade that brought in a few bats. So when it was our turn former Montreal Saints CF Bob Worley was our choice. Now before everyone jumps up and states the obvious, you have rookie of the year CF Sal Pestilli who hit a league leading 33 home runs last year….just wait.. I was eyeing Worley to play a 4th OF role, a left handed bench bat with pop who could spell anyone. He wasn’t brought in to replace Pestilli or even Leon Drake but more about competing with Elmer Nodle in LF and being insurance.
I was happy to get him and could of gone on without doing anything else. But the trader and builder in me was curious if there was really anyone else who might have wanted him. So I dangled him out there and didn’t set any expectations just to see. There were a couple of calls and then one very serious call from the Chicago Chiefs GM. The Chiefs had just been hit with news that there young CF Bennie Griffith 25 had suffered another setback in his return from injury and would not likely be ready for Opening Day. So they wanted the insurance of Worley being there and being given the chance to open the season as their CF. We discussed a few players and he threw out several SP in their minor league system. One was a 21-year old who was slightly farther along, and the other was SP Paul Grell who was just 18. Both were in the top 200 prospects although Grell just snuck in a #199.
So why did I end up agreeing to a 7th round pick next June and P Paul Grell. I liked Grell’s makeup and at the end of last season he added a pitch to his arsenal and also added some speed to his fastball. He jumped up from the upper 200’s in the prospect rankings up around 80 spots. It’s his potential and upward movement that has caught my attention. So we agreed to make Bob Worley join another Dynamo club this off-season. He joins Hank Barnett who also was traded to the Chiefs as players we acquired this off-season to never get fitted for a uniform.
I will say this, last year I handed Brooklyn the World Series by trading them C Jim Kyle (the legend continues to grow) and they broke their “curse”. Now we have traded both Barnett and Worley to the Chiefs, so if they get back to the top it might be said we assisted them as well.
Another minor trade
We did make another maneuver to deal with our glut of middle infielders, especially 2B. With the acquisition of 3B/2B Ed Stewart, SS Gil London, SS Erv Smith and minor league draft 2B Dale Robbins, we had too many of the same players.
The Chicago Cougars had asked about SS Tip Harrison for the last several off-seasons so I decide to try and make a deal for someone I strongly wanted at one time. So we shipped Harrison and 2B Homer Ray off to the Cougars and picked up CF Bert Wilson and a minor league OF Sherman Ring. The Cougs probably got the better end of that deal as they picked up Ray who was a ranked prospect, but one who I had kind of last faith in. This deal like won’t effect much in the big leagues for either team, at least to start the season. Wilson who has 2 options will likely start in AAA Newark but will be given the opportunity to beat out the out of options (and unmotivated) Pete Thomas this spring. We will likely never hear of Ring again.
Next - A long off-season slowly crawls towards Spring
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