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1947 Off-Season
The 47 season was a huge success for the Kings. They had finished a shocking 3rd with 82 wins, but things hadn’t gotten off to a great start early in the season. Their were rumors that GM DD Martin wasn’t sold on Manager Tom Barrell. Some even speculated that when the saw Martin with his former manager in Cleveland Jim Wilson, that there was something a foot. Wilson’s son was in the Kings minor league system and the GM and retired manager were just having lunch, or so the story goes. We might not ever find out of Martin was actually trying to coax the senior Wilson out of retirement. But starting in June the King’s began to play much better baseball and they carried that on throughout the rest of the surprising season. If Martin had questions about his manager, they were quickly extinguished with the 82 win season.
So with the off-season gearing up, the King’s began to do their draft home work. But before the draft Martin was still looking to acquire pitching. While Slaney and Long had performed great (many felt Long should have won the Allen and given the Kings a sweep of the post season awards), Martin knew that with them both turning 33 and 34 next season that they might not be with the club when he felt they were going to be true contenders.
In a move that shocked many, Martin made a trade with the Cincinnati Cannons. Martin traded the following prospects #67 OF Ted Haggarty (18), #136 prospect SS/2B Herb Keller (20), #52 prospect SP Barney Robinson 18 (who they just drafted in the 11th round in the 47 draft), and #92 prospect SS Nick Remillard (21). In return the Kings receive SP Bob Arman (26) who had gone 17-11 3.49 ERA with the 2nd place Cincinnati Cannons. Not only had the Kings traded from their surplus minor league prospect pool, but they “weakened” (in many FABL GM eyes) a direction competitor. Some said this move made the 48 Kings the “front runner” for the CA crown. Martin felt that type of talk was overblown, but he was pleased to gain what he felt was a much younger version of Buddy Long.
What happened next though sent shock waves once again throughout the FABL, but this time in the opposite direction. The Kings traded SP Buddy Long who won 20 games last season to the New York Gothams. A Gothams club that was making a veteran push to claim the FA title. In return the Kings picked up a 2nd round pick in the 48 draft and 3 minor league SP’s in John Roberts, Hal Friedlander and Jerry Keys. Cries of what on earth are the King’s doing, they just went from the frontrunners to middle of the pack again. The reasoning was simple in the mind of the King’s GM. He wanted to get younger in the pitching department. While the Kings won 82 games in 1947, the GM felt the team was a year and maybe even 2 ahead of true contendership in the CA. Roberts was a top 100 prospect who many feel is not as good as Long, but Martin was looking at building a club that could be a contender for a decade with his young core. So, while controversial it was a move that Martin has stood by in face of a lot of scrutiny.
The Kings draft lottery odds were strong in their favor and they were hoping to secure a top 6 pick. Unfortunately for Kings fans that was not in the cards. The Kings were saddled with horrendous luck and only slotted #12 overall in the first round. They had 2 round picks as well but many felt this draft class was nowhere near as deep and talented as the prior year’s draft class.
The King’s went after a SP in the first round, a player that was #7 on their draft board overall. The Kings selected SP Jimmy Isgro. Here is a brief scouting report on the 18-year-old high schooler.
“The 6’3 185 pound Isgro is a long, lean athletic SP who was born in Austin, MN. He projects to have a 4-pitch repertoire which includes a cutter, sinker, fastball, and splitter. When he’s on, he’s unhittable, but he’s susceptible to the long ball and wandering command. Isgro should end up near the top of any major league rotation.”
With the first 10 rounds of a less than spectacular draft done in January, it was time to head to spring training.
Next - Spring Training
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