[jksander]

January 3, 1906: Derek Black, 58, has accepted the open position as the scouting director for the Louisville Rivermen, signing a five year deal worth $1,870 per year. Black, who has 13 years of scouting experience in the league, all of them with the Paducah (Ky.) Pride in the independent Tri-State Baseball League, is known to favor tools and has a good reputation at scouting the minor leagues and amateur players in general. His Pride teams won five TSBL Championships and made the championship series in all but three seasons by finishing in the top two of the league, so he clearly knows what he’s doing at least at that level. Does he have what it takes to dominate that well in the Midwest Baseball Association?

January 4, 1906: The Rivermen have a team trainer on board, as Joe Joyner, age 38, signed a contract to earn $400 per year for three years. A complete novice in the league, this will be his first job in the world of baseball. Said to have a balanced overall focus, Joyner is best when it comes to rehabbing leg injuries, and has a reputation for being able to help players avoid leg, arm and back injuries. But he’s a blank slate when it comes to results at this level of professional sports.

January 6, 1906: The Rivermen signed Danny Gremillion, age 60, to be the team’s Assistant GM for the next five seasons, earning $900 per year to do the job. He was the GM for the Paducah Pride from 1901-05, so he’s already very familiar with head scout Derek Black, and he was responsible for building the Pride’s championship team in 1903 (that also made postseason appearances in ’02 and ’04). He tends to like power offense over speed, and is known to slightly favor youth, with emphases on pitching over hitting and defense over offense. He likes to trade, but is not particularly aggressive.

January 8, 1906: Sanders has himself a hitting coach and a bench coach officially today. David “Abie” Hemphill, age 42, signed on for $750 per year over a three year span to be the team’s hitting coach, moving up from the South Bend (Ind.) Sluggers of the TSBL. He has an excellent rep in development, influencing mechanics and in teaching hitting, and is regarded as one of the best in baseball when it comes to handling aging. Unfortunately his Sluggers were among the worst teams in the entire league the whole time he was there, so take that all with a grain of salt. As for their new bench coach, 46-year-old Sam Zalman spent the last four years as the bench coach for the St. Louis Locomotives here in the MBA, and has agreed to a three year, $550 per year deal to move to Louisville. His primary emphasis has been on development, and he’s an aggressive advocate for speed on the basepaths and stealing ability.
 
January 9, 1906: First and third base coaches are now officially on board! At first base, 50-year-old Eric Sweeting will take over on a two year $325 per year contract, moving up from the job of bench coach in Indianapolis in the MBA. He actually agreed to a bit of a pay cut to be fully in charge of teaching infield defense, something he’s quite enamored with. Another speed guru, he should fit in well with Sam Zalman’s philosphy as a bench coach. Meanwhile, Trent Pour, age 56, will take over at third base, focused on improving our on base percentage and general outfield defense as well. He spent the years 1890-1899 as a first-base coach in Bloomington in the MBA, but has been out of the game for a few years while coaching High School ball and raising his teenagers. He’ll earn $450 a year for the next two seasons as he tries to work his way back into the game, so his reputation is basically unproven at this juncture.

January 12, 1906: It is a happy 24th birthday for the young GM of the Louisville Rivermen, as Sanders was finally able to scure his team’s pitching coach! Kyle Sidler, age 53, immediately becomes the strongest coach in the organization, with 16 years of experience as a pitching coach with the AA Cedar Rapids Storm in the MIBA (1888-91, 1904-05), the AAA Jasper Eagles in the IOBA (1893-96) and the AA Ames Jackrabbits in the MIBA (1899-1901). He has an excellent reputation in the league, though this is his first chance at the major league level. An outstanding teacher of both pitching fundamentals and infield defense, he’s good with coaching mechanics and excellent at handling an aging arm. He has signed a five year deal with the Rivermen worth $1,100 per season.

January 17, 1906: 3B Michael Levine, at 35, has signed a contract that was offered a few weeks ago before Sanders took over as GM, but it’s a signing that should benefit the team from a fan-support perspective. Levine has a career average of .287 and has 252 career doubles and 76 triples, numbers in this league that make him one of the best overall hitters in the league. He’s played on five MBA Championship teams while in Chicago and has won seven Silver Slugger awards and the 1900 Gold Glove at shortstop. He’s signed a deal to play with Louisville for three seasons, earning $1,020 per year during that duration.

January 27, 1906: Rivermen owner Phil Gibson has reportedly made cuts to the team’s budget as we get closer to the start of spring training season, lowering the team’s overall budget from $148,000 to $140,000. But at this point the team is operating well under budget anyway, keeping it lean and mean as they rebuild.

January 30, 1906: Sanders has made his first major signing as a GM, bringing in established right-handed starter Tanner Bays, who at 35 still has plenty of control and movement, with front-of-the-rotation abilities even as he ages. He had a 29-16 record and 2.28 ERA with Green Bay back in 1904, but spent the last two seasons struggling in Indianapolis and Huntington, and he’s looking to make a comeback with a team he can stick with. A member of Huntington’s 1898 championship team, he has a career record of 163-140, a career ERA of 2.45, and 33.2 career WAR. In a league where pitchers aim for contact and rarely get batters to swing and miss, he also has more than 250 career K’s (the league all-time record is 1,151). He has signed a three year deal worth $650 per season and will take over as the team’s top starter.

February 25, 1906: Mike Morris, currently the #2 starter for the Rivermen at age 26, successfully completed his offseason strength and endurance program, improving his stamina and bumping his scouting rating up to three stars! Morris signed a minor league deal with Louisville in December 1904, and has pitched five career complete-game shutouts at the MBA level as a rookie last season, going 18-33 with a 3.77 ERA, pitching 453.2 innings in 64 starts, striking out 41 batters and putting together a 1.16 WHIP. His 5.9 pitching WAR in his debut season had him in the running for Rookie of the Year, but he lost out to Huntington Appalachians shorstop Justin Yarbrough, who hit .360 with 24 doubles, two triples and three homers, batting in 40 runs. Morris’ solid offseason has many within the program, and fans in particular, hoping for him to have a stellar sophomre season.

March 1, 1906: Spring training begins today, and everyone in Louisville is excited to see what Sanders is able to do to start the rebuilding program off right. The team will play thirty games over the next five weeks as a warm-up to the real thing, with opening day scheduled for April 5, 1906 as the team will host the Owensboro Rum Runners.