[Syd Thrift]

## Standings / Recap / Comments

Just churnin' through the offseason! I haven't set up winter leagues, as BBRef data on them are pretty scarce, but I may bite the bullet on this in the next preseason, assuming I remember to do so.

## Major Transactions
The first BIG ENCHILADA following my write-ups is the Rule V Draft. There was basically no movement from the beginning of November until then so that's where we are...

1. Milwaukee: 23 year old LF Jacquot Mazzucato (.259, 25, 72 at AAA Denver) out of WAS.
2. Montreal: 27 year old C Norman Engelman (.258, 6, 49 at AAA Toledo) out of DET.
3. Chicago (A): 22 year old P Jeremy Huizenga (11-11, 2.63 at AAA Amarillo) out of SF.
4. Cleveland: skip
5. Cincinnati: 24 year old P Dan Tripp (12-10, 2.99 with 271 Ks in 223 IP at AA Jacksonville) out of CLE.
6. San Francisco: 26 year old 1B Ian Swerdlove (.286, 15, 61 at AAA Charlotte) out of PIT.
7. Kansas City: 23 year old P Jon Gutierrez (12-7, 3.11 at A Clinton) out of DET.
8. Chicago (N): 24 year old P Jose Torres (16-3, 1.70 at AAA Charlotte) out of PIT.
9. San Diego: 27 year old 3B Jeremy Currie (.249, 1, 29 at AAA Richmond) out of ATL.
10. Baltimore: 24 year old RP Dave Bly (4-2, 1.79, 10 Sv at AA/AAA) out of BOS.
11. Los Angeles: 24 year old SS Tommy Martin (.228, 2, 42 and a +27.0 ZR at AAA Richmond) out of ATL.
12. New York (A): skip
13. California: 22 year old 3B Ricky Vigueras (.253, 11, 44 at AA Dallas/Fort Worth) out of BAL.
14. Minnesota: skip
15. Pittsburgh: 23 year old P Alberto Alvarez (5-4, 3.82, and 86 Ks in 68.1 IP for AA Asheville) out of CHW.
16. New York (N): 27 year old OF Josh Phillips (.257, 5, 47 at AAA Syracuse) out of NYY.
17. "Washington": 25 year old SS Jesus Rodriguez (.255, 11, 51 at AAA Reading) out of PHI.

There were also a couple of big moves though...

November 30: The Cubs traded P Steve Tidwell (14-11, 4.19) to the A's for CF Alex Vallejo (.301, 5, 23). Chicago's giving up a pretty penny for the oft-injured Vallejo but if he can stay healthy he turns a minus position into a positive one. For the A's, they consider that, as talented as Vallejo is, they still stuck in with David Mesa out there for half the year - Mesa's still just 23 and now they have a top veteran pitcher for their troubles.

November 30: The Reds traded RF Justin Jensen (no statline in 1971), 1B Nick Miller (.269, 6, 33), and RF Bobby Beaulieu (.266, 8, 44) to the Astros for RF Jaden Weaver (.303, 37, 104), P Josh Mullett (15-14, 4.45), 1B Justin Richens (.272, 9, 48), OF/PH Javy Perez (.280, 5, 8) and OF prospect Joe Dean (.270, 0, 9 at AA OKC). This is the big one (the real life version was the Joe Morgan deal). Jaden Weaver is one of the great power hitters in the National League but his swing was never tailored well for Houston and now he'll try to ply his trade in more cozy confines. The Astros managed to unload a couple of big salaries in this deal, too, in Richens and Mullett, and get back Jensen, who hit 42 HRs in 1970 before missing all of last year, Nick Miller, who the scouts think can be a premier first baseman (I don't know about that but hey, what do I know, I'm just the player), and a guy in Beaulieu who might just be their new center fielder.

November 30: The Indians traded P Josh Matthews (13-17, 3.57) to the Giants for P Robert Rivera (14-15, 2.92) and LF Bobby Turner (.253, 4, 22). Cleveland ships off their own troubled right-hander and picks up a guy who'd be a Cy Young candidate with better support. The original deal included Frank Duffy, who eventually became Cleveland's starting SS, as a throw in; I went with Turner here because scouts think highly of him and they also really, really do not like their incumbent LF Alonzo Huanosta.

November 30: The Angels traded CL Travis Livingston (7-4, 2.18, 14 Sv) to the Twins for OF Lou Morgenstern (.247, 19, 69). The Twins kill two birds with one stone here, clearing up a crowded outfield (after the trade for Ernie Griffin) and acquiring a guy to shore up their beleaguered bullpen in the young Livingston. Morgenstern is not young but also not suuuper old at 32 and himself shores up a rough-looking position for California (and also in the offing becomes their top power hitter).

December 2: The Tigers traded minor league P Jason Olson (3-0, 2.45) to the Dodgers for OF Danny Hohman (.283, 2, 11). This was originally a PTBNL trade but OOTP don't do that. Olson is a low-minors guy who has missed a lot of time via injury already. He did look good in 6 starts but this is mainly about LA dropping a guy who didn't fit into their plans in Danny Hohman, who's played in just 26 games in the last 2 years because of a variety of injuries. If Hohman can stay healthy he gives Detroit the fastest outfield in all of baseball.

December 2: The Expos traded OF/PH Gabe Martinez (.282, 1, 16) to the Mets for C Ricardo Romero (.129, 1, 5), minor league 2B Luis Alvarez (.273, 1, 34 at AAA Tidewater), minor league P Matt Shaver (7-16, 4.70 at AAA Tidewater), and minor league OF Alekaneko Binda (.263, 2, 6 at A Visalia). Your classic "let's exploit the expansion team and give them a bunch of minor league depth" move. Granted that the Mets don't exactly have a huge amount of minor league depth to spare... in any case, Martinez will probably play quite a lot in that hole-filled Mets outfield.

December 2: The Reds traded RP Ricky Rosas (7-13, 4.93, 9 Sv) to the Twins for RP Pete Lynn (6-9, 3.32, 19 Sv). Two stoppers who had bad years for their teams get moved here. Rosas certainly had the worse year but then again, Pete Lynn is 3 years younger. Call it even and by even I mean this is a steal for Cincy.

December 2: The Astros traded P Don Henley (3-3, 4.44), P Steven Tyler (2-3, 3.35), and minor league P Mark Courtway (11-5, 2.83 at AAA OKC) to the Padres for P Jason Gilmer (14-16, 3.69). You can't say that the Astros aren't trying to do something this offseason, that's for sure. They paid dearly to pick up Gilmer but the former Tigers star is ready and Henley and Tyler are not. San Diego is now the musical team of music; Tyler is already discussing plans to create a "future villains band"...

December 6: The Indians purchased minor league OF Mike Starratt (.319, 5, 27) from the Expos for $1,500. Starratt is a 35 year old minor leaguer and is pretty much nothing but organizational depth. But hey, free money!

December 6: The Reds traded P Manny Rivera (2-2, 3.66) to the Indians for LF Alonzo Huanosta (.261, 13, 57). Rivera put together a decent enough 1971 for the Reds although he's an extreme pitch to contact guy. Cincy is taking a big, big chance in return in the form of Huanosta, whose average fell more than 80 points from .347 in 1970. The Reds can add him to their collection of underachieving corner outfielders.

December 7: The Tigers traded P Benito Diaz (9-5, 4.12, 5 Sv at AAA Toledo) to the Cardinals for P Todd Thiesen (3-3, 5.59, 6 Sv). The Cards are essentially dumping Thiesen, whom the Tigers are taking a small gamble on: is he actually still good?

December 9: The Orioles traded 3B Mauro Magoni (.212, 2, 12) to the Brewers for P Dave Zapata (0-1, 5.52). Magoni was an All-Star in 1968; maybe he can fit the bill for Milwaukee at third. Probably not. They're not exactly giving up much in Zapata.

December 10: The Angels traded SS Chris Adams (.222, 15, 68) to the Mets for minor league C Juan Carmona (.198, 3, 13 at AA Memphis), RP Mark Seitz (0-0, 4.11), SP David "Macho" Camacho (12-10, 3.82), and LF Brad Wagner (.211, 5, 13). In real life this was the Jim Fregosi for Nolan Ryan deal. Camacho is not at all the player that Ryan was IRL of course but then, Brad Wagner is a top-rated prospect, bad September or no. Chris Adams is a very good shortstop, albeit one who fell in love with the longball a bit too much last year. As for replacing him in Cal, the Angels didn't have a real guy there... except that Richard Simmons is such a great fielder that he can easily take over shortstop and who's in this team's minor league system but MOTHER EFFING SNAKE PLIZKEN HIMSELF, KURT RUSSELL.

December 10 (because I missed a bunch of deals from a week before UGH): The Indians traded RF Tommy Pron (.273, 9, 48), P Chris Regan (5-4, 4.82), CL Eric Godard (1-8, 4.53, 16 Sv), and C Jonathan House (.217, 3, 26) to the "Senators" for P Rocky Richard (10-10, 2.29 at AAA Denver), P Jaden Terrell (4-1, 2.66 at AAA Denver), CL Jake Duckett (4-6, 3.31), and LF Bobby Kaplan (.303, 2, 55). It's a trade that makes both teams worse! Cleveland seems like they're going whole-hog into rebuilding now; at least, their outfield will be entirely turned over. They bring back Bobby Kaplan, who is now not super well set up for Texas' new environs... although he's not exactly set up well for Cleveland Municipal Stadium either. Otherwise this was as much about Cleveland dumping the troubled Regan and House as anything else.

December 10: The White Sox traded SS Justin Henderson (.233, 0, 24) and P Aidan Williams (13-14, 3.16) to the Dodgers for 3B Brian Maccioli (.283, 16, 61). The Dodgers open up a giant hole at third base with this move but acquire what they think will be a top-line starter in return. Justin Henderson could get trained up over there but he doesn't hit like a corner infielder at all.

December 10: The Braves traded C Andres Gamez (.318, 5, 32) to the "Senators" for C Armando Flores (.290, 7, 65). Okay, so Washington, who really looked like they could compete for the AL West just by standing pat, now appears to be tearing it down. Gamez is 6 years younger than Flores but Flores is an All-Star. I don't know, man...

December 10: The Yankees traded P Josh Foster (10-9, 3.98 at AAA Syracuse) and P Josh Powers (no record in 1971) to the "Senators" for OF Joel Schaben (.305, 6, 65). The dismantling continues. Sorry, future Rangers fans. Hope you like crap! Schaben will be on his 4th team in 4 years; he played center for the Sens last year but probably isn't cut out for that spot at age 34. No matter, the Yankees already have a guy for that spot but a gaping hole in left.

December 10: The Astros traded minor league 2B Mike Fairbanks (.201, 12, 53) and minor league SS Vince Price (.248, 1, 22) to the Royals for P Allen Bailey (9-10, 3.29 at AAA Omaha) and RP Vincent Bump (3-2, 4.08). KC had a decent year but they're still a relatively new expansion team and so could use the minor league depth, especially when it comes so cheaply. Price has a small amount of hype surrounding him; Fairbanks is probably a career minor leaguer.

December 10: The White Sox traded 1B Pete Jennings (.283, 16, 77) to the Yankees for SP Obke Olthof (12-13, 3.85). The Sox added a guy in the Flying Dutchman whom they hope will become their new ace. Olthof struggled last year but won 20 games in 1970 so it's not crazy talk. For the Yankees, they seem to enjoy going through a first baseman a year; why should 1972 be any different? Jennings looks like a much better fit for the position than Alan Rickman.

December 10: The Orioles traded 2B Danny Fager (.293, 12, 60) and RP Chris Valenzuela (2-4, 3.86, 4 Sv) to the Dodgers for P Rob Reiner (1-2, 3.29), P Santos Rodriguez (8-11, 3.65), minor league C Jacob Marshall (.287, 2, 34), and minor league OF Steve Figueroa (.204, 6, 14 at A Bakersfield). Let the rebuilding begin! The Orioles will be sad to have to drop Fager, a star in the prime of his career, but he was also by far their biggest asset and they did get a good haul coming back. Most notably, Rob "Meathead" Reiner, LA's #1 prospect. Santos Rodriguez is no slouch himself. LA turns a minus position into an immediate plus. Is that going to be enough to propel them into contention in the NL West? We'll see!

December 11: The Twins traded minor league 1B Rich Rios (.258, 2, 31 at A White Rapids) to the Padres for minor league C Josh Barclay (.180, 3, 26) and minor league SS Ryan Casper (.180, 1, 7). None of these three players are going anywhere for anyone; in fact, Casper is the only one of the three who's seen time in the major leagues and that's probably how it'll stay.

December 13: The White Sox traded minor league OF Juan Ortiz (.277, 5, 47 at AAA Tucson) (probably not his real name) to the Phillies for minor league C Zack Delisle (.216, 3, 19). Ortiz is a highly sought after bat but the White Sox brass took one look at him and decided he was eventually going to be very expensive. Also, they need a catcher of the future in case Mike Perez goes to crap again. I can justify anything!

December 14: The Reds traded minor league 1B Jake Fusco (.248, 1, 11) to the Cardinals for minor league P Willie Garcia (2-12, 7.32 combined between AAA Evansville and AAA Tulsa). Garcia's a hard thrower with terrible control who's more or less on his last legs. The Reds gave up a 25 year old pure hitter who's not super likely to see the major leagues except maybe as a September call-up.

December 14: The White Sox traded P Hector Fernandez (11-7, 2.72 at AAA Eugene) to the Reds for OF John Penn (.297, 1, 4). The Reds just seem intent on collecting bad - well, questionable - pitchers. Fernandez had a 7.02 ERA in the major leagues last year but struck out 14 men in 16.2 innings. Even at age 28, it's worth taking a flyer on. They moved on from Penn, who really looks like a guy who deserves a bigger chance than the cups of coffee he's received so far. Will he get them in Chicago? Who knows.

December 16: The Padres purchased CF Josh Coldiron (.211, 0, 7) from the Royals for $2,500. The Royals, who are a pretty young team now, increasingly had no need for the 25 year old backup CF. The Padres will let him fight it out with the other subpar hitters at the position in spring training. He'll project to be the best defender on the team at least.

January 19: The Orioles traded P Alfredo Contreras (1-1, 9.42) to the Yankees for minor league P Gregg Snell (1-0, 5.01 at AA Manchester). Mostly a salary dump, the thinking from the Yankees is that Contreras, as bad as he was last year, is a lefty and therefore might be effective in the Bronx.

January 20: The Cubs traded CF Ryan Johnston (.253, 12, 39) to the Yankees for RP Jesse Kelly (8-7, 4.90, 12 Sv). Both teams get pieces they love: the Yankees add an outfielder and the Cubs land a relief pitcher coming off of an awful season.

January 26: The Angels traded OF Barney Leriche (.225, 10, 32) to the Brewers for OF Andrew Powell (.245, 3, 29). Both of these outfielders struggled badly for their respective teams and both get new starts with new teams who aren't as invested in their future.

February 1: The Orioles traded P Pat Pierson (5-4, 3.02 at AAA Indianapolis) to the Tigers for 2B Alex Perez (.285, 1, 26 in AAA Toledo). Pierson is... fine, not young but maybe he'll become a thing, and for the Tigers, Perez was locked behind a couple of second basemen. He'll have every chance to fill the shoes vacated by Danny Fager for the O's in another month.

February 3: The Yankees purchased 2B Jimmy Luper (.200, 0, 4) from the Giants for $1,250. Luper will maybe get to compete for the 2B job, sort of.

## News
I'm still kinda interested in the news here, even if I'm not going to go way in depth with it until the season starts...

November 8: Led Zeppelin releases Led Zeppelin IV, aka the Runes album.

November 15: Intel releases the 4004 processor. Yeah, we're still a ways away from the 8086.

November 18: Oman gains independence from the United Kingdom.

November 21: Hall of Fame voting begins today. There are a bunch of guys who even I'm not particularly aware of. Nevertheless, here's my ballot:

3B Noah "Mungo" Buchanan (3rd year on the ballot, 69.1% last year). Buchanan finished his career with 2,311 hits and a .292 average with 1,121 RBIs. He went to 12 All-Star Games, won an MVP in 1950, and has a HOF Monitor score of 88. On top of that, he entered the league in 1946 as a 24 year old so might have lost up to 3 or 400 hits to the save date. Maybe this guy isn't like an inner circle HOFer but he's for suuuuuuuure a person who belongs in there.

SP Lazaro "Spanky" Hernandez (3rd year, 59.9%). Hernandez finished his career 226-194, which I know is a lot of decisions for this league (which, I do not like the fact that OOTP just switches out to 4 man rotations, period, in the 60s - there needs to be some kind of gradual change). He's got a career ERA+ of only 107 (3.47 career) but that looks like he got pulled down by a kind of bad second half of his career. He "only" went to the AS Game 5 times so I think he's kind of a borderline case but I want more guys in there.

SS Allen "Seeker" Ortiz (7th year, 21.1%). Another guy who's career was cut short by the start date, Ortiz entered the league in 1946 as a 27 year old starter, went to 7 All-Star Games, and collected 1,827 hits for a .298 average. And yeah, as a shortstop - only 1 GG as one but I'm seeing more than 8,000 innings in that role (he also played around 4 seasons' worth of 1st base). For sure, this guy was the premiere NL SS of the late 40s and early 50s.

CF Henning Rasmussen (3rd year, 13.9%). I ran into this guy's name while writing up the Yankees. He was a nice starter for them for many years and was I guess the AL CF of the 50s. Some day I should go back and do a Bill James Historical Abstract look at the decades of the past. Anyway, another guy who falls short on the HOF Monitor but come on, the man played a major defensive position (not as a GG quality guy, granted).

RF Chris Seidel (2nd year, 27.1%). A good RF for the Pirates throughout the 60s, Seidel had 8 trips to the AS Game, won an MVP in 1952 (.327/38/121 that year, and led the league in doubles (36), HRs, RBIs, and SLG (.623)). He looks like a guy who aged pretty quickly and so doesn't have gaudy counting stats (only 1,830 hits and 329 HRs) but my philosophy is, I kind of mentally tick down the Ken Keltner List and usually, "was this guy the best player at his position for an extended period of time" tends to cut it for me; I think it's clear that Seidel is in the mix as the top RF of the 50s.

I did leave off David "Nugget" Melton on account of he finished with a career record of 84-42. He was reeeeeeeeally good but had an extremely short career.

November 24: During a severe weather storm over Washington state, a man who called himself DB Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Orient plane that he'd previously hijacked with $200,000 in ransom money. He fell to his death. Sorry guys, that's what happened.

November 28: The Calgary Stampeders win the Grey Cup by beating the Toronto Argonauts, 14-11.

December 2: The Soviet Mars 3 lander reaches the surface of Mars, transmits for a few seconds, and goes silent.

December 3: The Indo-Pakistani War of 1972 begins as Pakistani forces launches pre-emptive attacks on nine Indian airbases.

December 4: The Montreaux Casino burns down during a Frank Zappa concert (later memorialized in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water").

December 10: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally is held, featuring a performance by John Lennon, at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

December 11: The Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) surrenders to joint forces of India and Bengali nationalist separatist, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War.

December 19: The controversial Kubrick movie "A Clockwork Orange" is released in New York City.

December 20: Two groups of French doctors involved in humanitarian aid merge to form Medecins Sans Frontieres (aka Doctors Without Borders).

December 25: The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 after 82 minutes, 40 seconds, the longest game in NFL history. Garo Yepremian kicked - not passed! - the winning field goal.

January 1: Kurt Waldheim becomes the new Secretary-General of the UN.

January 2: The first scientific hand-held calculator, the HP-35, is introduced, priced at $395 (almost $3,000 in today's money).

January 5: The HOF voting results are in, with one new inductee: 3B Noah Buchanan (see my write-up above), who just barely slipped in with 75.1% of the vote. It looks like a line drive in the box score, Noah! RF Matt Clayton, who I didn't vote for but who is very clearly worthy (10x ASG, an MVP, 11 GGs, 2,663 career hits), just missed with 71.1% of the vote. I'll be sure to remember him next year.

January 9: The original Queen Elizabeth ocean liner catches fire and sinks in Hong Kong's Victoria harbor.

January 12: Tigers owner John Fetzer announces that the Tigers have signed a lease to built a $126M domed stadium along the river in downtown Detroit. The complex will seat 52,000 for baseball and 60,000 for football. In the end, the city of Detroit will (probably wisely) shoot this future cookie-cutter park down with lawsuits, a failed bond issue, and finally the construction of the Silverdome in nearby Pontiac to provide the Lions with a place to play.

January 13: The prime minister of Ghana is overthrown in a military coup.

January 13: Former umpire and now housewife Bernice Gera wins her lawsuit against Major League Baseball, began March 15, 1971, and is slated to call games in the New York-Penn league in June.

January 19: The libertarian enclave Minerva, squatting on a platform in the South Pacific and sponsored by the Phoenix Foundation, declares independence. Soon, Tonga will annex the area and dismantle the platform.

## Teams in Review

ABSOLUTELY NOT