[ayaghmour2]

Aside from bringing in Buddy, we shipped to recent Cougars out of town. Jim Morrison was the first to go, headed to the Gothams for Steve Groves and Bert Preble. In a sense, Morrison spent a season in Chicago, as he was acquired last July and will leave this July. The 36-year-old didn't do anything wrong, we needed him to not give up two homers a start in our pennant race and he succeeded, and he was just as reliable this season. The numbers don't jump out at you, but despite a 8-13 record in 25 starts, he was pretty solid. His 3.93 ERA (103 ERA+) and 3.71 FIP (91 FIP-) were above average, and he had a decent 1.43 WHIP with 74 walks and 68 strikeouts. He got a lot of weak contact and went deep into games, which is exactly what the Gothams need. Ed Bowman (11-2, 2.62, 75) is the best pitcher in the league, but aside from Buddy Long (12-3, 3.36, 31) he hasn't had enough support. Guys have been average or awful, and Morrison is a guy who keeps you into games. Unlike our offense, the Gothams score runs, leading the Fed with 419.

With how bad our bullpen has been, I was looking for a reliever anyways, and since the Gothams didn't want to move any of their top prospects for an old guy, I targeted their stopper Steve Groves. One of the most reliable relievers in the game, Groves has led the Fed in saves two years in a row, and he has 86 with a 32-31 record in 375 innings out of the pen. His 3.53 ERA (111 ERA+) and 3.61 FIP (91 FIP-) are dependable, and he was just selected to his third consecutive All-Star Game. The 33-year-old has worked to a 2.92 ERA (146 ERA+) and 1.40 WHIP in 49.1 innings. He has 17 walks and 17 strikeouts, and unlike David Molina, hasn't blown a six run lead. To be fair, he has blown five saves, so it's not that he's automatic, but his mess-ups have been fewer and far between. He's not replacing Molina in the late innings, just joining them, as I'm hoping these two can both hold leads. Maybe Wilder will bail Molina out if he knows he has Groves too, but even if he doesn't it won't hurt to have a groundballer who can hit 97.

Though the real prize of the trade is the 72nd ranked prospect Bert Preble. Taken in the 3rd Round of the 1949 draft, Preble is still 22 and is absolutely mashing in AAA. Sure it's just 25 games, but the center fielder is hitting .415/.465/.594 (201 OPS+) with excellent defense (3.6, 1.079) and equal walks (11) and strikeouts. A prospect I've always been interested in, he was on my list for 1949 and I debated between him and Fred Crawford for the 45th pick. It was pretty much instantly the wrong choice, as he quickly ranked 32nd on the prospect list and is already looking like a potential option for a FABL outfield. He has some strikeout issues, but he'll hit around .300 with good discipline. He hits line drives, has great speed, and handles center well, and even with Reece, Norman, and Smith, he has a way to playing time if he keeps hitting. Those guys may debut quicker, but you can never have too much young talent. They can't all pan out, or at least not usually, and a youth movement in Chicago was well overdo.

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Our second trade ends what ended up being the extremely short John Moss era as a Cougar. He'll stay in Chicago ironically, the Chiefs are his new employer, but I am ready to start fresh. He was hitting, a respectable .254/.363/.405 (103 OPS+) line, and a 14.3 BB% contributed to his 114 WRC+. Moss hit 8 homers, drove in 33 RBIs, and added 13 doubles and 3 triples, and will end his Cougar career with approximately 220 games. Part of me already regrets moving him, I really like him and paid a ton to get him, but Smith, Reece, and Norman are all ready and Moss was just going to stay in their way. Unless he got hurt, none of that trio would play much if any center field at Cougars Park this year, but now I can see all three of them now, with all three again in camp to compete for the starting spot. It's about time we start capitalizing on our young outfield talent, and the Wood-Sonntag-Doyal outfield got me way too excited for Reece-Smith-Norman.

It's going to happen!

With Moss we got three prospects back, including another center fielder in Curt Neville. At 154th, he's surprisingly their 3rd ranked prospect, and even before accounting for the guys in trades we got better then him, he would rank 17th. With two other's we picked up above him that may be 19th tomorrow, but he's a further off prospect who has plenty of time to move up. Taken in the 3rd Round last season, he was on my radar as well, and the 19-year-old has since played 137 games in San Jose. They've gone alright, as the young lefty hit a respectable .294/.362/.352 (89 OPS+) line with 12 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, 3 steals, and 75 RBIs. Even better is the defense, as his 7.9 zone rating and 1.059 efficiency in center this season is way better then I expected. In fact, he's hit much better this year too, with an average .312/.368/.397 (102 OPS+) triple slash. Even though he has just 2 homers in 69 games, I think there's power to be unlocked, with Dixie and OSA expecting average or a little bit above pop from him. It's not quite Henry Norman 2.0, but I have high hopes for him developing into a useful big leaguer.

But the must have in the deal was Bobby Crooks, a young righty I stumbled on in the offseason. I debated trading for the 1949 2nd Rounder in the offseason for Elmer Grace, but he was just not good in the Chiefs pen. The control wasn't there, which really countered out the nice stuff. Lucky for me, the Chiefs decided to move him to the rotation, and even though the walks were still high, I saw a lot of things I liked. The curve is looking good, as even when it's flat it's not being punished. The groundballer has been able to work around a lofty 15.3 BB%, and his 3.36 ERA (115 ERA+) is due to the stuff. Not a hard thrower by any means, it's the movement that gets batters in trouble. Even the fastball isn't straight, so if you're not focusing on the pitch you're likely to whiff or roll over it. But my favorite trait may be his poise, as he's cool and composed, but able to kick it up a notch when he has to. He gives off clutch vibes, and you need his mentality to still succeed with runners on base. He's certainly a project pitch, but the dev lab allows us to focus on improving guys like this, and if he can keep the walks under control he's going to be pitching big games for the rest of his career.

The final piece was a young catcher, as I added 20-year-old Johnny Hook to give us some extra depth behind the plate. 21 in August, he hasn't gotten above C ball, but I have the perfect spot for him in San Jose. Sam Bird has really struggled, hitting just .211/.271/.286 (51 OPS+), and him and Hook can share the duties there. Even better, he can play some outfield, so if the catching defense isn't good we could move him to one of the corners. I think he could pick up first too, so if he hits he could be a super useful backup catcher. He's strong and should hit his share of homers, and even if he may strikeout too much he'll work walks as well. He's a guy I had my eye on in the 1948 draft that I'm happy to acquire now. Even if the return for Moss wasn't as good as what we gave up, there's a lot to like about the three young players we added here, and even though none of our young outfield trio is coming up tomorrow, I will continue to make roster changes until the deadline to open spots up for the next generation of Cougars. We do have the 2nd ranked farm after all! Let's see what these guys can do!

Craziest thing is, none of these three trades were the biggest. That would be the monster Ralph Johnson traded that send a billion players between Detroit and Brooklyn. Johnson, Dan Smith, and Bob Arman all gone. A whole lot of other stuff coming in. I think I started something!