THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
SPECIAL TRADE DEADLINE EDITION
It comes as little surprise that the Chicago Chiefs pulled the trigger on a deadline day trade to add a premier center fielder and relief help but what set tongues wagging in FABL was who the Chiefs partnered up with to make the move. Chicago more than addressed their wishes for a lead-off hitter/ defensive whiz to play center field by acquiring one of the best in 25 year old Brooklyn Kings star Bill May. The fact that the deal was for May, instead of Pablo Reyes of Montreal, the Stars Chink Stickels or even Bobby Barrell of the Keystones was the shocker, and the fact that this deal materialized seemingly out of the blue because of a conversation with a team trainer makes it a story well worth telling.
Before we get to how the teams came around to making this trade let's look closer at the particulars. The Chicago Chiefs add, in May, one of the best lead-off men in the game and player with plus speed and incredible defensive instincts. May was hitting .311 with 2 homers and 51 rbi's for the Kings. He led the CA in stolen bases last season with 30 and already has 21 this year. The one knock, if there is any on May's game, is he also led the CA in strikeouts last season and is one off of the CA lead in that category again this time around. That is something the Chiefs can easily overlook just as the Kings did from May, who is a .301 career hitter and has already played 599 FABL games, won a World Championship Series and made an all-star game appearance.
The thought of May at the top of the Chiefs batting order has to scare the rest of the Federal Association, especially the Detroit Dynamos who are trying to hold off Chicago at the top of the table. With May in the lead-off slot the probable Chiefs starting lineup looks something like this:
Code:
AVG HR RBI
1- CF Bill May .311 2 51
2- SS Pete Layton .382 12 50
3- C Tom Bird .355 12 63
4- RF Cliff Moss .280 12 47
5- 2B Hank Barnett .324 18 75
6- 1B Ron Rattigan .311 4 47
7- 3B Bob Martin .275 3 34
8- LF Jim Hampton .284 5 37
The Chiefs other objective was to shore up a bullpen that presently has the worst ERA in the Fed. They added 30 year old Gene Jones along with May but there are certainly a lot of questions as to whether he might be the answer. Jones has been in the Kings system ever since he was selected in the 5th round of the 1929 draft but he could never quite crack the big league lineup. He looked very good in his 8 FABL appearances, all coming out of the Brooklyn pen in 1933. He has been a leader in Rochester the past three seasons and helped the Rooks to a pair of Union League titles. This year Jones is 5-4 with a 3.10 era and will be finally given a chance to show what he can do at the top level as it is very likely the Chiefs will give him a shot to try and help stabilize their shaky bullpen. Whether he makes a difference remains to be seen. The biggest boost the Chiefs pitching staff could ever receive would be an internal change - and that would be for this year's version of Al Miller (7-10,4.32) to replace himself with the Al Miller we saw the first two years of his career, the one who went 40-21 with an era just over 3.00.
The fact that Chicago added both May and Jones with only sacrificing an underperforming Bob Worley (.188,4,29) from their active roster makes this move all that much better for the Chiefs chances this season. That does not mean the cost wasn't heavy, it certainly was as Chicago parts with it's top 3 prospects (2 of whom rank in the top 37 by OSA) and anther young pitcher with some promise. In the long run Chicago may come to really regret this deal but if it gets them back to the World Championship Series come October it will be well worth it no matter the price.
BROOKLYN SIDE OF THE DEAL
The trade did come out of left field, well center field I guess to be more precise, for the Brooklyn Kings. "The opportunity came up quickly," explained Brooklyn Assistant General Manager Jim Golden "and there was some fierce debate among the executive group but in the end it was unanimous that this offer was just too good to pass up."
In return for May and minor league pitcher Gene Jones the Kings add three players they feel could be ready to step into starting roles with the club as early as next April. Those there are:
CHUCK ADAMS: A 21 year old first baseman selected by Chicago in the second round of the 1935 draft out of Memphis High School. Adams has had a decent rise through the Chiefs system and was settling in nicely at the AA level (playing for the Chiefs Dixie League affiliate in his hometown) and will likely start at AA in the Brooklyn organization. He has not shown a lot of it yet but Kings scouting director John Spears raves about Adams' power and feels he could develop into an all-star caliber hitter. Adams is ranked the 11th best prospect in the game and immediately becomes the Kings top prospect. Interestingly enough, he was a player the Kings had targeted in the 1935 draft but went 4 picks ahead of Brooklyn's selection. Brooklyn ended up taking another young power hitting first baseman in Tim Hopkins, who's future is now up in the air with the organization.
SERGIO VERGARA:A 22 year old Mexican born pitcher who was a late round pick out of El Paso High School in 1935. He is presently #37 on the OSA rankings and just recently made his AA debut after starting the season in Class A. The righthander projects to be at the very least a middle of the rotation option.
JIM ALARIE : Drafted in the seventh round in 1934, Alarie grew up in Western Canada but came to New England to play his high school ball. Now 22, he has looked very good at AA Memphis (.324,2,42) and is the most ready of the three main prospects the Kings added. Alarie likely would be in Chicago next week had the Chiefs been unsuccessful in their bid to land a center fielder. He might just come up to Brooklyn shortly as well but the more likely scenario is he spends the rest of the season at AAA Rochester and looks to make the jump in April. Alarie is listed as the 142nd best prospect according to OSA. If things work out ideally for the Kings he will be a poor man's Bill May in center field with great defensive instincts and plus speed.
GEORGE SCRUGGS:Almost a throw-in the Kings liked the 20 year old in his draft year of 1936 when he went to the Chiefs in the 8th round. In his second pro season, the righthander was recently moved up from Class C to B but, while he has pretty good stuff, his two pitch repertoire likely limits him to the bullpen if he progresses through the system. At #298 on OSA's list Scruggs immediately becomes the Kings #3 pitching prospect behind Vergara and 19 year old Ed Funkhouser.
Brooklyn also picks up big league centerfielder
Bob Worley in the deal as Worley was deemed expendable by the Chiefs with the addition of May. The 29 year old has great power at least at the minor league level where he hit 57 homers a year ago but he has struggled mightily to make contact in the big leagues, batting just .234 with 43 homers in 576 major league games including .188,4,29 this season.
The Kings will give Worley a chance to earn the starting center field job as they love his defense but he will be on a short leash with Alf Pestilli (.305,11,47) a possibility to shift over from left or 1937 lottery draft signee Joe Herman (.273,1,42 at AAA) also under consideration with the newly acquired Alarie as an outside possibility.
It is hard not to like what this deal does for the Kings future as in one swoop it reinvigorates their farm system and should keep them competitive against young and rapidly improving clubs like the Chicago Cougars and Toronto well into the next decade. However, on the flip side you can not help but think the dealing of May might just have cost the club a shot at back to back World Championships.
"I get that," conceded Brooklyn AGM Jim Golden, "and that was a topic of debate. We will miss May's defense but if Worley or Herman can hit just enough to contribute we think we will be fine. Remember the Wonder Wheel (Al Wheeler .251,13,54) has not got going yet and if he does our offense will be just fine even without May at the top of the order."
HOW IT ALL CAME TO BE
Perhaps the most interesting part of this deal is just how it materialized. This Week in Figment Baseball had correctly hypothesised that the Chiefs were after either Pablo Reyes or Chink Stickels to solve their need in center. It turns out they also had discussions with the Keystones about Bobby Barrell as well but the deal that was expected to occur would have sent Adams, Vergara and Allarie along with perhaps another prospect and veteran Chicago pitcher Charlie Bingham to the New York Stars in exchange for Stickels - a 27 year old who is putting up very good numbers (.344,2,39) in New York this season but was not overly impressive in his previous stints with the Stars, which total 42 games and has proven so far to just be an average defender. OSA raves about Stickels but he does not, at least as of yet, have a very detailed resume.
So it seemed a no brainer with 18 year old phenom Bill Barrett sitting in A ball (although nursing a minor nagging injury) and expected to very soon be the Stars center fielder for the next decade or longer, for New York to jump at this deal. The same pieces the Kings coveted would have looked very good at Dyckman Stadium in the near future. With no other quality option in the pipeline to replace 39 year old Dave Trowbridge, Chuck Adams looked like a perfect fit in this deal. Adding a young arm like Vergara would give the Stars four pitchers ranked in the top 100 by OSA - although it should be noted that Johnnie Jones is very unhappy with the organization and may want out. Not only that but you also get Allarie, who if nothing else is a decent trade chip going forward or perhaps someday replaces Art McMahon in left field. Then to top it off you add a veteran arm in Bingham, who would easily crack the train wreck of a rotation that is the Stars starting five.
Add those pieces, perhaps bring Allaire and Adams up this season, get Barrett in the starting lineup and who knows- a few solid starts from Bingham the Stars might catch Baltimore and Montreal to avoid finishing last for the first time since they did so back in 1919. But the deal didn't happen as the Stars decision turned out to make a perfect match of the Chiefs and Kings - two teams that hooked up in the World Championship Series two years ago and each with an eye on a return trip.
RUBE CARTER BROKERED THE DEAL WITH THE KINGS TRAINER
The only reason Brooklyn and Chicago discussed a trade is because Rube Carter, the Chiefs scouting director who used to hold a similar position with the Kings, called one of his close friends in Brooklyn - club trainer Tom Seale - to vent his frustrations at his club being rebuffed by the Stars in what Carter thought was a fantastic deal for both teams. When Seale hung up the phone he mentioned his conversation to Brooklyn skipper Powell Slocum. Slocum is a big fan of Bill May's but saw it as a opportunity to improve his ballclub long-term and he passed the info on to the Kings General Manager. The deal then came together very quickly for both sides and as you can clearly now see it truly was 'written in (or at least co-authored by) the Stars.
WILL IT BE ENOUGH
The acquisition of May certainly strengthens the Chiefs already potent offense but will it be enough to derail the Cinderella like run the Detroit Dynamos have been on. With the deadline very close it is looking more and more like Detroit will not make a move to answer the Chiefs, and perhaps there is no need as George Theobald has his team playing better than anyone could ever have expected. A Detroit source confirmed the club was very close to adding ex-Cougars pitcher Dave Rankin just before he was shipped to Cleveland but the Dynamos pulled out at the last minute due to concerns of Rankin's consistency. Rankin won both of his starts and looked pretty good for the Foresters, but the Dynamos went 5-1 and restored their lead atop the Fed to 4.5 games during the same time span. Will they regret not pulling the trigger on Rankin, especially with so few quality arms available at the deadline? The next two months will tell. Buckle up, the Fed promises another wild finish again this year.
And what of Brooklyn. The Kings look to be sitting pretty comfortably with a 9 game lead in the Continental Association but it is hard not to argue the team just got worse - at least in the short term - at the deadline. Will the move haunt Brooklyn down the stretch, or assuming they and the Chiefs both successfully reach the Series and have a rematch of the 1936 Fall Classic, will May come back to bite his old teammates in the chilly autumn winds of mid-October?