We are now approaching the time where my favorite words in February come into play, "Pitchers and Catchers will report to Spring Training". With that a burst of excitement is felt throughout the league and on this day there were a couple of trades that happened to shake up a couple of teams. I go to the trade that doesn't involve Detroit first.
The St. Louis Pioneers and Toronto Wolves made a deal. St. Louis will send 1B Fred McCormick (373/474/1.066 20HR 97 RBI's and 140 Runs scored 9.0 WAR) and backup C Clarence Howerton (343/407/836 0-15 1.0 WAR) to the Wolves. Both players are 28 years old. Going to the Pioneers is a good deal of starting pitching.
SP Otis Cook (age 28 T-L) 18-12 3.64
SP Jake Smith (age 28 T-L) 12-13 3.27
SP Buddy Long (age 23 T-L) 13-11 2.63 (AAA) Prospect #26
SP Russ Peeples (age 21 T-L) 7-9 4.01 (A) Prospect #219
CF Les Hendrix (age 23 B-R) 240/301/688 9-76 (AA) Prospect #51
For St. Louis this gives them a slew of LHSP's to add to their rotation with Buddy Long being the top prize. My guess is that Cook, Smith and Long join SP Sam Sheppard and David Abalo in the starting rotation. What this means long term for P's Red Ross and Ed Cornett remains to be seen.
For Toronto this adds a huge bat in McCormick to what was a pretty placid offense. Also adding Howerton as a catcher could be a big boost. He has hit well in a limited role but figures to be the regular starter in Toronto. While it was a lot of pitching to give up, Toronto kept its young ace Joe Hancock, and has top 5 prospect SP George Garrison and Top 40 SP prospect Jim Morrison likely ready for the 1939 season. Add the prospect bat of 3B Okie Holliday (prospect #9) and SS Charlie Artuso (prospect #27) and Toronto might have a very good offensive lineup in 39.
Now some might wonder why I am spending so much time on this deal, and the fact is that SP Buddy Long was someone who I was trying to acquire earlier in the off-season. When the conversation over Long didn't go far, I was also looking at SP Cook as well wanting to bring in some veteran SP and gives us an upgrade. So I am sad to see those arms go to St. Louis for selfish reasons. I think it is a good trade overall for both teams although it was a lot of pitching resources to give up. The move hopefully for St. Louis fans springs life into a team that has been close the last 5 years but hadn't finished the job. They make a deal that might just propel them into a pennant. Losing McCormick is a big loss but St. Louis brass feel that Zip Sullivan can have a big impact at 1B as well.
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(The 2nd deal involves Detroit so I will let Freddie Farhat announce that deal and then give my thoughts on why I did it)
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The Detroit World
Tuesday March 1st 1938
Sports
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat
Dynamo's Make Deal with Keystones to add Pitcher and 3rd Baseman
But was the Cost Worth It?
The Dynamo's made their 8th trade of what has become an incredibly busy off-season in the FABL. T
he Dynamo's traded future star 3B Prospect Hank Koblenz (prospect #31) to the Philadelphia Keystones for LHSP Frank Crawford (29) and 3B Frank Lemieux (24 B-R).
This would be the 3rd high profile minor league prospect the Dynamo's had traded this off-season along with SS Frank Davis (was #42 at July and graduated with 150+ big league at-bats) and C Pete Casstevens (Prospect #5 at the time of the trade now #12). Koblenz struggled mightily in his first season out of high school in 1936 but showed the power that many had been projecting. In the 1937 season after a slow start he really started to hit the ball and moved up from Class B all the way to AA at season's end. Many had projected he would spend 1938 between class AA Akron and AAA Newark and then contend for a starting job in 1939. Now he will be contending for the starting 3B job in Phily in 39.
So what did the Dynamo's get for their prized prospect?
LHSP Frank Crawford who was 9-13 with a 3.76 ERA in 1937 and has a career mark of 70-63 with a 4.31 ERA in 167 big league starts. The 29-year-old has a below 500 record the last 2 seasons but pitched well in 1937. 1936 he struggled for a Phily team that underperformed but that looks more like a aberration than the normal for him. Detroit head scout Frank Davis likes him quite a bit and told me Crawford is "Crawford is a solid, healthy, valuable #2 starter and an ace on some teams". He will slot in to give the Dynamo's a more respectable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup with SP Ron Coles.
The Dynamo's also acquired a young 3B in the deal that is a much different player than the prospect Koblenz who they moved in this trade.
Frank LeMieux is only 24 years-old and bats right handed. He is a high batting average/on-base sort of player instead of the power bat in Koblenz. Dynamo's scout Frank Davis opines that could hit around 350 and will draw his fair share of walks. He is a solid investment.
So the Dynamo's trade a prospect for 2 big league players that should figure in prominently in their plans for the fast approaching 1938 season. Was it the right move? Time will tell.
GM Thoughts - This was a trade that I thought long and hard on the last few days. Part of me was hoping that the Keystones would go in a different direction, but that was not because of the two players we received. I was thinking very long and hard about moving Koblenz after trading so much in prospect capital. I loved Koblenz's power and he will hit a lot of home runs in the FABL, but with the bats we already have in CF Sal Pestilli, 1B Red Johnson, 2B/3B Ed Stewart, OF Leon Drake, and OF platoon Elmer Nodle/Wayne Morgan. We already have a lot of firepower. Would adding a 6th power bat really make the lineup that much better in 39? That was the question I was tossing around.
What we don't have a lot of is top of the order type of guys. Ed Stewart will move to 2B and probably the top of the order and I envision 3B LeMieux as a perfect #2 bat with with a high average and high on-base percentage to be on-base for Pestilli, Drake, Nodle/Morgan and Johnson coming up behind.
With Crawford he is a pitcher I really like. I think he has been a bit unlucky in Phily the last few seasons and he should be a very good starter for at least 5 more seasons. He was the youngest of the bunch that Phily mentioned as possible trade candidates with Ed Baker (32) and Art Myers (31) being more established but older options. With Crawford in the fold right now I see our starting 5 shaping up as follows:
SP Ron Coles
SP Frank Crawford
SP Roger Perry
SP Hank Spencer
SP Charlie Wheeler
Who knows I could even decide to flip Spencer or Perry during the spring as we have a lot of guys in line for that #5 spot that will now likely start the season at AAA Newark (Stumpy Beaman, Bob Walls, Jack Wood, Ben Watkins).
Farhat is right, time will tell if this was a wise move or not. Right now I'm liking it and feel that we are going to surprise a few teams in the FA this season. We will likely be tabbed #7 in the league, but a 500 record and finishing a couple of spots higher isn't out of the question.