As the calendar flips over to the year 1987, teams continue to stockpile relief pitchers through free agency.
Jeff Ault, the 34-year old 1979 SJL Reliever of the Year, joins the Washington Night Train for his second stint with the team after having released from that team after a disastrous 1985 season and pitching for San Francisco in 1986, well enough to make him an attractive free agent this offseason. Ault will give up homers but is otherwise quite good, with an elite curveball and plus plus sinker and multi-inning stamina. He is also a good guy to have in the clubhouse, with strong leadership skills and team loyalty. And clearly he didn't harbor bad feelings against his former team, or at least not enough to turn down the 2-year deal tendered him.
And Brooklyn continues to add to their bullpen, which begs the question of what they will end up doing with what looks like an excess of arms. This time they went a bit younger, signed free agent 26-year old righty Ryan Eldridge. Eldridge pitched for the Detroit Falcons his first five big league seasons followed by one season with Portland, in which he had a 1.99 ERA and 1.08 WHIP over the course of just over 45 innings pitched this past season. He is a power pitcher with an elite fastball and average-ish slider with excellent stuff and movement and above average control. On the other hand, he's a net negative in the clubhouse (Disruptive) and given the depth in the Aces bullpen to begin with one has to question the wisdom of this acquisition.
With that the calendar has switched over to January 1st of 1987. And that is my cue to finally transition the WPK to OOTP 23. And to close out this thread. In the next few days, and possibly as early as later today, I will start a new thread, moving all of my WPK reporting to the Dynasty Reports subfolder.
As always, much thanks to those of you who follow along, especially longtime and active WPK fan Palaaemon, but also to the many of you who have engaged in the past here and those of you who I can only assume quietly follow along. Hope to see you on the flip side as the saga of the Denver Brewers and the W.P. Kinsella League continues into the future.