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JANUARY 19, 1955 . . . Catcher Bill Dickey was the only player inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, receiving 97.2% of the vote in his second year of eligibility. An 11-time All Star, Dickey accumlated 56.5 WAR over his career, averaging .313/.380/.486 through 17 full seasons in the majors, hitting 343 doubles, 72 triples, 202 homers and batting in more than 1,200 runs.
JANUARY 26, 1955 . . . Interesting! We’re not the only team out making crazy moves for rookie players. The Yankees sent 32-year-old veteran left fielder Gene Woodling to the Milwaukee Braves, in exchange for an iffy minor league reliever (Paul Menking) and for this year’s #8 pick in the first round, starting pitcher Stan Williams! That’s a huge move for the Yankees, who clearly weren’t happy finishing second in the AL last year. I’m not sure Milwaukee didn’t just get fleeced, but time will tell. Williams certainly has a long way to develop to meet his potential, but that potential is VERY high.
In news on the Cubs front, our owner, very pleased with the moves I’ve made, decided to bump our budget up by $1.2 million! Our player payroll has dropped to $1,286,255, and we have over $600,000 available for extensions. We are also considering getting in on the free agent bidding for 21-year-old starter Camilo Pascual, who put up 6.2 WAR and threw 230+ innings last year for AAA Havana! He’d be another strong arm for our arsenal, and as much as I love our power bats, pitching is setting up to be my bread and butter as a manager. We’ll keep you all up to date!
FEBRUARY 17, 1955 . . . We went big on our offer to Camilo “Camile” Pascual, offering a seven-year deal worth $375,000, starting with $25,000 this year and building through the 1961 season when he’ll be making $90,000 for the season. He has no other guarantees in the deal for bonuses, or requirements of a starting role, etc. But he’ll be moving into our starting rotation as our fifth starter, and I know our fans are as excited as I am about his prospects.
FEBRUARY 21, 1955 . . . With our pitching rotation starting to shape up, with him on the outside looking in, we found an opportunity to upgrade at the catcher position with one of the few truly solid defenders in the game, trading “Bullet Bob” Turley to the Milwaukee Braves, in exchange for 24-year-old catcher phenom Del Crandall, who also has the benefit of being a power bat. We’ve in turn chosen to part ways with 37-year-old Clyde McCullough, choosing to release him rather than submit to waivers, since no teams had expressed any interest in him at all on the trade market.
I think we’ve made the moves we needed to make, and should have a really strong team going forward. Bring on Spring Training! We’re ready for some spring baseball in warm weather before we all head back to Wrigley for some cold April action.
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