[Syd Thrift]

Major Transactions
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January 12: The White Sox traded P Tim Natalie (2-2, 5.72) to the Phillies for 3B Pedro Arellano (.181, 3, 14). Natalie had recently been DFA'd after a poor 1970 season and was reportedly upset about it, so the 22 year old will get a second chance in the City of Brotherly Love. Coming back to Chicago is Arellano, who doesn't hit much anymore but provides the team with an adequate defensive third baseman should Jeff Nation prove to be as bad in Comiskey Park as he was in Royals' Stadium last year.

January 26: The Expos purchase minor league P Carlos Acosta (7-15, 5.02 for AAA Wichita) from the Indians for $1,000. Acosta has iffy control at best but did strike out 225 batters in 184 innings in the minors last year, so he's worth a look.

January 28: The Angels traded RF Jon Berry (.228, 3, 17) to the Brewers for SP Jeremiah Vardaman (13-11, 3.75). The real-life version of this trade involved Gene Brabender, who was one of my more favorite characters from Ball Four but who also in 1970 was all worlds of awful. Vardaman isn't awful per se but he's older and dangle-able for a guy in Berry who could help shore up the corner OF for Milwaukee.

January 29: The Pirates traded CF Elijah Johnson (.288, 2, 23) and P Ernie Alvarez (3-3, 3.72) to the Cardinals for P Octavio Vargas (11-13, 4.24) and OF Ray Herring (.219, 6, 33). With Justin Hearl ready to take the reins in center, the Pirates don't have a lot of use for Johnson anymore and would rather avoid having an aging vet sulk on the bench. They bring back Herring, who is in a do-or-die position after a singularly awful 1970, and veteran pitching in the form of Vargas. The Cardinals also get a former 15 game winner in Alvarez who could still get to that level if he can stay healthy this season.

February 2: The Brewers traded CF Dylan Dockery (.199, 5, 23) to the Cardinals for minor league SP Brian Osborne (13-7, 3.31 at AAA Tulsa). The Cards add to their growing list of former starting center fielders and give up a 27 year old who had a decent season in the high minors.

February 2: The Royals traded RF prospect Jared Ferrell (.271, 10, 35 at AAA Omaha) to the Brewers for CI Mike Ramos (.267, 2, 25). Farrell was looking like he was going to compete in left in spring training but with the Rule 5 acquisition of Joshua Birley the Royals wanted to simplify the equation there. And they receive Ramos, who looked decent enough after being rescued from Cincinnati and can still play a fair bit of third base should Ryan Newton fail to develop.

February 4: The Brewers purchased OF Ryan Ashbaker (.257, 6, 17) from the Cardinals for $750. Ashbaker wasn't even close to being in the Cardinals' plans and he's mostly just organizational depth for Milwaukee as well.

February 9: The White Sox traded P Raul Mendoza (14-14, 3.78) to the Senators for CF Ian Everett (.271, 7, 46). Chicagp now doesn't have to use Josh Barone out there if he's not ready yet, although Raul Mendoza's a lot to give up. Their rationale is, 17 game winner in 1969 or no, they're blazing new trails and Mendoza is part of the old guard that didn't get there.

February 19: The Red Sox traded P Juan Correra (1-3, 7.39) to the Royals for 3B Cris Ramos (.250, 0, 8). Correra wasn't going anywhere in a packed Sox staff and the Royals can try to turn him into a major league quality player on the cheap, as Ramos is really nothing but depth in case Kristian Schneider gets hurt.

News
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January 1: The Offseason Summary By Team page is a little misleading, as it only sorts by 1970 WAR, which is not necessarily predictable, but so far the top 3 winners and losers of the offseason:

1. Atlanta Braves (added CL John Winn, RP Steve Hollopeter, LF Kenny Augsburger, lost LF Ruberto Yebra). Getting Winn back was the key here, although Hollopeter's a nice piece as well. Losing Yebra is practically nothing, as he was playing his way off the team anyway.

2. Cincinnati Reds (added CF Mark Tooley, lost nothing of value): Yeah, Tooley should be an upgrade for them, but not 3.7 WAR of an upgrade; more like 2 WAR. Still, that's a good move to shore up a team that had few holes last season.

3. Boston Red Sox (added LF Tom Brown, PH Sam Marks, lost CF Ryan Johnston, SP Franklin Davila, and OF Brandon Kane). Adding Tom Brown for prospects was the single biggest upgrade of the offseason (while the Dodgers and Cardinals traded bigger pieces, that trade is closer to being a wash). Boston was close last year and this might have pushed them over the top.

22. Chicago White Sox (added 1B Pete Jennings, SP Aidan Williams, SP Franklin Davila, C Mike Perez, and OF Brandon Kane, lost LF Tom Brown, 1B Willie Vargas, 3B Jordan Wooten, CF Ryan Clements, and SP Luis Sanchez): It's rebuild o'clock on the South Side, as Brown, Vargas, and Wooten were their top 3 hitters last season. That said, Wooten is 39 and Vargas, though only 26, is an awful fielder who will probably become a DH the second that rule happens, so long-term they didn't necessarily give up a lot. Well, other than Tom Brown, who is a bona fide star.

23. San Diego Padres (added SP Alfredo Lopez, lost SS Akiho Fujimoto, SP Tim Reece, and CL Chris Valenzuela): Yeah, it was a lot to give up to only get prospects in return and/or "tank" (which, given the development settings I have, the draft seems to behave a lot more like the NFL draft than the crapshoot that the real-life MLB draft is), but on the other hand it's not like the Padres were doing anything with those guys.

24. Chicago Cubs (added CF Ryan Johnston, CF Ryan Clements, lost CL John Winn, CF Mark Tooley, and PH Sam Marks): This isn't really as bad as it looks; Winn was a guy they picked up for free anyway (and they added a prospect in that deal), plus Tooley was in the process of losing his job to Chance Cooper. Johnston/Clements are mainly backups and injury insurance.

January 6th: Nobody made the Hall this year. Noah "Mungo" Buchanan got 69.1% of the vote so hopefully he'll get in next year. Ruben Vazquez, who I also voted for, got 61.8%.

January 8th: Yankees C Jason Mooneyham (.213, 1, 10) abruptly but I wouldn't say unexpectedly announced his retirement today. He was the Yankees' starting catcher from 1958 to 1969, an 11-time All-Star, and an all-around pretty damn good player. The only "knock", and this is barely a knock, is that he started his career pretty late so doesn't have gaudy counting stats. Still, he's clearly the top AL catcher of the 1960s which will make him an easy bet for the Hall when he becomes eligible. In the meantime, I just noticed this was part of a storyline; Mooneyham's retiring to go into the Yankees' broadcast booth. Seems fitting.

January 23rd: Dodgers RP prospect Chris Fails (4-0, 1.46 in AA Albuquerque), will miss the next 8 weeks with the injury "Fell Through Barn Roof". Fails is from Idaho. You can't make this stuff up, guys.

February 6: It's preseason once again, so time to update all of the... stuff. I'll filter this out as it appears in-game but the White Sox are the only team to have big-time uniform changes this year, going from blue to red. Oh, right, the Angels also changed their logo from the old style interlocked "CA" to the state of California with the halo on top. They got rid of the goofy uniform choice that had a halo on the top of their hats and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Also, two teams move into new stadia (one of whom technically IRL did midway through last year): both Pennsylvania teams, the Phillies (from Connie Mack Stadium to Veteran Stadium) and the Pirates (from Forbes Field to Three Rivers). The era of the cookie-cutter stadium is upon us.

Minor league team movements are a bit more impactful than IRL because I leave the rosters intact, so I'll just run these down quickly:

American Association (AAA)
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The Evansville Triplets, formerly a Twins farm team, are now property of the Milwaukee Brewers.

International League (AAA)
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Buffalo moves to Winnipeg and becomes the... Whips? Really? Still a Montreal Expos affiliate; at least that part makes sense.

The Columbus Jets move to Charleston and are renamed the Charlies. They're still property of the Pirates.

Pacific Coast League (AAA)
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The Portland Beavers are now a Minnesota affiliate instead of a Milwaukee one. GOOD, Brewers. Cut your damn ties to the PNW.

Salt Lake City and Hawaii switch affiliations; now they're run by California and San Diego, respectively. As part of the affiliation change, SLC, who's been nicknamed the Bees forever, are now the Angels.

Dixie Association (AA)
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The Texas League and Southern Association merged into this "new" 14 team league; Mobile and El Paso are no longer active and their rosters were released.

Asheville is now a White Sox organization (formerly Cincinnati's). Jacksonville (formerly Montreal) is now an Indians' affiliate. Savannah (formerly Indians) now belongs to the Braves. Shreveport (formerly Braves) is now an Angels' affiliate.

Eastern League (AA)
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This league broke into 2 divisions and expanded to 8 teams. I should have re-used Mobile and El Paso. Oops! Note that even with the expansion (and concomitant ensmallening of the Dixie Association), there are 22 AA teams for 24 major league clubs.

Somehow there were two Manchester Yankees, which, bonus to Manchester for 1970 I guess. For 1971, one of those teams is the Pawtucket Red Sox. One guess as to who they're now affiliated with.

The two new entrants are both known Canadians: the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (a Cincinnati affiliate) and the Quebec Carnivales (the Expos, as you might have guessed, although Trois-Rivieres is right outside of Montreal itself).

California League (A)
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No changes

Carolina League (A)
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No changes (including the fact that the Raleigh-Durham Triangles are independent)

Florida State League (A)
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The DeLand Sun Caps moved(? I don't know where DeLand is) to Key West. They're still independent but are in the Eastern Division now, with the Daytona Beach Dodgers moving into the West.

Midwest League (A)
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The Midwest League took the cue of the majors and split from one big 10 team league to 2 5-team divisions. I'd post periodic standings but that seems like a lot of work. I think the 2.3 faithful readers should be fine with the minor league summaries including in the MLB team bios.

The Clinton Pilots, who the Brewers inherited last year, shed their Milwaukee overlords and are now a Detroit affiliate. The Danville (Iowa) Warriors, previously unaffiliated, now belong to the Brew Crew.

Western Carolinas League (A)
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Seems like an awfully small part of the country to have its own league but what do I know? Maybe eventually this becomes the Sally League?

Gastonia moves to Monroe but are still the Pirates.

New York / Penn League (Short A)
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Williamsport, an Astros' affiliate last year, is now part of the Red Sox organization. In turn, the Red Sox' old affiliate in this division, the Jamestown Falcons, are now part of the Expos' organization.

Northern League (Short A)
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The NL was 6 teams strong last year but go down to just 4 teams this year (I checked the one other short-season A league and they do not have any expansion/transfer teams, so the players are just going to get cut). Duluth-Superior and Huron cease to exist.

The Sioux Falls Packers change affiliations from the Giants to the Reds.

Northwestern League (Short A)
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The Lewiston Broncos, who were with the Cards last year, are going it alone for 1971. Eventually the Battered Bastards of Baseball get into this league and when that time comes we shall see the dark and possibly malign future in which Snake Plissken becomes a major league quality player.

Rookie Leagues
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Right now I just have one rookie league team for everyone. This isn't true to life and it also puts them all in one big rookie league but IME OOTP needs a rookie league at the bottom of the structure to make everything work right.