[m0ng00se]

1947 preseason notes

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Catcher:
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Starter - Bud Moore will start on most days as he did last year. He's a good all around hitter who will bat 5th in the order for now. Last year he hit .281, 9HR, 77RBI, 75R. He can also fill in at 3B in a pinch.

Backup - Peter Murovic is nearly Moore's equal in every way. He will give Moore the occasional day off as well as come in as a PH.

Def Replacement - Vincent Solinger isn't as good a contact hitter or patient at the plate as the other two, but he has a much stronger arm to throw out runners. Very solid defensively. I wouldn't hesitate to start him or any of my catchers on the active roster.

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1B: backup 1B/CF Dixie Douglas retired
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Starter: Rik "the Greek" Kaladimos had a decent season last year - his first as a starter. He hit .282, 76RBI, 63R and was second on the team with 15HR. He will get the bulk of the starts at 1st and once in a great while will fill in at 3B. He's penciled in to bat 7th in the lineup.

Backup: Wally Cruce was called up to take over the backup spot at 1B. He's an aggressive hitter, but doesn't show much power potential or as much discipline at the plate as I'd like. He isn't very fast, but has uncanny instincts for stealing a base. Neither he or Kaladimos impress me much with their glove work.

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2B: Dimeo was traded away to the Yanks.
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Starter: Matt "the Whale" Perly has been manning the 3B spot for four years now despite only being 24. He is much better defensively at 2B than he was at 3B. He's also better than Dimeo was with his glove. Combine that with a .304 career batting average and an improved power stroke after spring training and I think we have 2B well covered despite the loss of our All-Star Dimeo. Perly is penciled in at the #6 spot in the lineup but may move up to 5th if his power at the plate continues to improve.

Backup: Roxie Liggett is a good contact hitter that just hasn't gotten an opportunity to get a whole lot of at bats due to our depth in the IF. He hit .364 last year, but really only got 11 AB in 17 games. He should see a whole lot more at bats this year due to finally being the primary backup at 2B. He has a solid glove but not as much range as Perly.


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SS:
Starter: David Castineda got the full time nod last year and will have it again this year. He only hit .241, but his bat isn't why I like him so much. He has phenomenal range at SS and a decent arm. I'd like to see him be a little more patient at the plate, but he is still young, so that will come in time. He's scheduled to bat last in the lineup.

Backup: Tom Hoelscher is the opposite of Castineda. He's not very good defensively. He's also not as good at making contact as David, but he can hit for power and shows good plate discipline. He's a better 2B defensively than SS, but right now is our only backup SS so he will be focused on that position.

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3B:
Starter: Luther Ormistion - Yes, we will try it again this year and this time stick to it. Luther is penciled in at the cleanup spot and for good reason. He swings a monster bat. If he can just develop a little consistency at the plate, then he will fit the clean up spot well. Last year he wasn't ready, but this year he is hoping to get into a HR contest with last year's AL HR leader - our LF Ray Kress.

Backup: For now, Matt Perly, Rik Kaladimos, and Bud Moore are the guys available to give Ormiston the occasional day off. But if Luther had to go to the DL, I'd probably start Moore here or call up Darling or Iggy Chenault if it looked like a long stay on the DL for Luther.

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LF:
Starter: Ray Kress is a very good all around hitter who made another power leap, maybe due to Luther's challenge. He will definitely be the most feared Tiger bat. He lead the AL in HRs and committed 0 errors in 148 games in LF last year. He was an AllStar and hit cleanup most of last year. I'm going to have him hit out the three spot this year to get him a couple extra at bats each week. Hopefully, he'll leave Luther some RBI opportunities. Kress' AVG was down to .307 last year but hit for more power. He should be better this year

Backup: Rollin Fish will get the bulk of the OF backup work. He played well defensively at all three positions and will be the primary backup at all three spots again this year. He also hit a respectful .267.

Other: Issac Mitchell was our third pick in last years draft and has already sky rocketed to the active roster. We needed a second backup in the OF and he will get the occasional game in LF and RF. He's an aggressive contact hitter, but shows little power or patience at the plate. He'll mostly be called upon as a PH when we are desperate for a single.

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CF
Starter: Carlton Affee turns 37 this year, but is most definitely one of our best hitters. He's a good all around batter who also plays a solid CF defensively. He hit .312 last year as wasll as 10HR, 83RBI, 84R. So far he shows no sign of slowing and will hit lead off this year now that Dimeo is a Yank.

Backup: Rollin Fish is the only backup guy on the active roster who can handle CF. CF was one of our least represented positions in our organization so we drafted an excellent (defensively) CF in the second round named Pete Short. He could be called up if Affee or Fish were to end up on the DL. Short will never be a star at the plate, but he does have gold glove potential in CF and can play any OF positions with confidence just like Fish.

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RF
Starter: Carl Sandoz has a career AVG of .326 and hasn't even hit his peak yet. This will be his 4th year as a full time starter in RF and will hit behind Affee. He can be streaky at times, but quite often comes through in clutch situations.

Backup: Fish and Mitchell as mentioned above.

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Starting Pitching

1- Bob Guilderson throws hard and has good movement on his pitches. He barely turned in a winning record last year, but didn't enjoy as much run support as the rest of our pitchers until the finally month of the season. Our already good offense should be better this year, so maybe Bob will get into the race for Wins this year. 17-16, 3.39 ERA

2- Vic Gorin just turned 38 but still throws some filthy stuff. He lead our team in wins last year with 20 and assuming his age doesn't catch up with him too quickly this year, should come close to 20 wins again this year. 20-15, 3.56 ERA, 168Ks

3- Hal Andrew doesn't throw as hard as our other starters, but has by far the best control. He's turning into a good all around pitcher. I'd just like to see him keep the ball on the ground a little more than he has in the past. He only started in half the games he pitched last year and '43 was his only year as a full time starter, but hopefully he'll hold onto his spot in the rotation all this year and also go for 20 wins. 13-7, 3.56 ERA

4- Harley Melzer will get the final spot in the rotation. He was in and out of the rotation last year as he seems to have been most of his career. But this year gets a shot at being full time as we don't have as much of controversy in who should start this year as we did last year. He throws real hard, but doesn't have a lot of movement on his pitches. He does a great job of keeping the ball on the ground. Hopefully with an improved middle IF, he'll have more success this year than in the past. 8-6, 4.06 ERA

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Bullpen
Closer - Alex Footwangler was unable to resolve his stamina problems so we couldn't move him back into the rotation. However, he was a solid closer so he will start this year where he finished last year. Hopefully he will stay healthy and lead the league in saves. Out of all our pitchers he is the most consistent. He throws hard and had the best ERA on the team last year at 2.84. 6-3, 11 Sv

Setup - Lloyd Wyman started last year as our closer, but was too inconsistent to hold the spot. He throws hard, keeps the ball on the ground and works hard a holding runners. He seemed to pitch a little better in the setup role than he did as the teams closer, so he will stay here for now. 5.01, 2-7, 13 Sv

MR - Stan Leveck is another starter who struggled with stamina problems. He has an interesting mix of pitches and is a decent all around pitcher. 4.42, 8-6

MR - Rob Blaisdell got his first real action last year pitching in 43 games - by far his most in a year in the bigs. He managed a decent ERA of 3.68. He really doesn't stand out in any particular way. Bottom line though, he got the job done and was fairly consistent all season long. Hopefully he will find a way to do so again this year. 3.68, 5-1, 1 Sv

Spot Starter - Jocko Bradshaw just turned 37 and has average all around skills for a starter. My gut tells me I should cut him and last year's 5.46 ERA doesn't help him much. I'll give him some opportunity to hold his job, but if he struggles, I'll release him and call up waiver wire pickup Mike Downey. 5.46, 1-2

Mopup - Alan Paule seemed the most ready for a call up besides Mike Downey. But, I like Downey more as a starter and Paule more as a bull pen guy. So I want to give Downey some quality starts in AAA until a DL situation forces me to need a starter to be called up. Paule is an average pitcher with decent movement on his pitches. He doesn't have the stamina to make for a real good starter, so I feel justified in calling him up as the last reliever to fill out our pen.

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