[Hrycaj]

1928-

One thing I made clear to Mr. Cunningham before I accepted the job was that he would have to allow me to have control of the roster from top to bottom. Once that was agreed to I dove in. Turns out I was taking over a club that was right in the middle of the 1927 draft. This may be the worst time to take over a franchise so I pretty much let our scout handle the draft. Going forward I will be much more diligent in this area.

1928 Spring training Week #1

After a nice 4-1 win over Philadelphia to begin spring training we dropped the next four games before recovering for a 4-3 win against the Gothams of New York. I do not put a lot of stock in spring training win/loss records but I feel the stats can tell a bunch.

3B Charlie Berry is off to a very hot start going 8-16 with a double and a bomb in the first week of spring training. He has also walked twice putting hs OBP. at .556. Real nice start.

Our other hot hitter of note is 28 year old RF Glenn Tweed. So far Tweed is hitting .375 with a .444 OBP in 18 PA’s.

As a whole we have already pounded out 18 extra base hits as an offense in 6 games. 3 extra base hits a game seems like a good number to watch.

Pitching wise Jenkins and Bowman have been somewhat effective in their appearances. Their ERA’s are 1.13 and 2.16 respectively but the FIP’s tell a different story. Other than that we have pretty much been a dumpster fire. (Was that a term in 1928??) Verdo Burt leads the pack in that category. He has been so bad that I am going to have to seriously consider pulling him from the rotation. I won’t make any knee jerk reactions after a single week, but his 7/0 BB/K ratio is not helping his cause.

1928 Spring Training Week #2

This week went 3-3 in games but we really lost out when starting CF Dick Copeland went down with a bad back against Washington on the 19th of March. It looks like he will be out for a few weeks prompting me to put him on the IL. Roy Myers who spent all last season in AAA will get the opportunity to show us what he has. Great thing about spring training is we get to see guys like this get opportunities. So far he is hitting .357 with 2 home runs and 8 batted in. Keep that up and you win a spot. In all, I really can’t complain about our hitting this spring. We have six guys with significant at bats hitting .350 or better.

Pitching is a completely different story. I do not know how we are going to get batters out. Jenkins and Henderson are serviceable but hey are not top of the rotation guys. The focus is really going to be developing the pitching at the lower levels.

Spring Training Week #3

Roy Myers continues to perform for us. He will be playing CF for us as Copeland is still a few weeks away. Speaking of injuries we were hit hard again. SP Ken Murphy who provided 217.1 innings worth of work last season will be down until mid season as he has forearm inflammation. Starting RF Glenn Tweed will also be unavailable for a couple of weeks with a dead arm. On the field it was a 4-3 week for the Minutemen pushing their spring record to 9-10. Along with Meyers, 3B Charlie Berry, C Joe Richards and SS Carl Milam are all having excellent springs at the plate. From a pitching perspective we are still bad but I have 9 players on my 40 man so I will start the season with all of those guys on the big league roster and make adjustments from there. Finding pitching will be a common theme this season. With the minor league season set to kick off in a few days I need to get my roster set.

Catcher: I have a ton of them in my low minors. I’m only keeping two at the top level and will have two in double and triple A. That means it is the end of the road for Dave Franklin. The 34 year old vet can’t even crack the spring lineup and he is just taking up space on the 40 man. He will be released. Franklin has been with the Minutemen his entire career and is a .295 hitter in 565 career games although he has only played in 20 games in the last two seasons combined. One of the catchers that will be on the roster is 31 year old Joe Richards. This will be the 9th season for Richards in a Boston uniform and he is coming off a year where he hit .273 in 84 games. The other backstop is 28 year old Alfred Cass. Cass has some punch in his bat giving the team some depth at the position. Having a pair of catchers that can provide both offensively and defensively give us some options each day.

First Base: Bob Scholer is the incumbent. He has great range and nice glove but he has struggled this spring hitting a meager .182. It is a small sample size to be sure, his eye still looks to be good as he has drawn eight free passes and only fanned 3 times this spring.

Second Base: Paul McLain is not having a great spring but he is proven player offensively. The 26 year old is coming off a .322 season where he walked more times than he struck out. He will be manning second base for sure.

Third Base: Charlie Berry will be taking up residence at the hot corner. Berry has been the teams hottest hitter this spring and was solid offensive player for the Minutemen last season hitting .304 with a .348 OBP.

Shortstop: Carl Milan the 27 year old flashy gloveman from Highland Township Michigan will once again be roaming between second and third for the Minutemen. My brand new scout is not totally in love with Milan but his stats prove otherwise. It will be interesting to see if his assessment hold up this season. However, it really is a moot point since I don't really have any other option there right now anyway.

Center Field: This will be the Roy Myers show until Copeland can return to the lineup. Hopefully once that happens we have a difficult decision to make.

Right Field: With Tweed out we are going with left handed stick Jake Duke in right. Duke has shown some promise at the plate and in the field. We are going to have to take the next man up approach here and hope for the best. It will be nice to have a third left handed bat in the lineup.

Left Field: Homer Krajewski was one of the better hitters in the Boston Lineup last season. He is the one guy on the squad that is a defensive liability. I worry a bit about this one here. Homer has had tough spring and I do not like playing guys that can’t field unless they hit way above average to offset the defense. At 28, he still has a lot of upside.

Bench: The 4th outfield spot will be Junior Marrero’s for the time being. He can really run the ball down from all three outfield spots. He would make a good defensive replacement for Krajewski with a lead late in the game. 1B/3B Tom Tucker will make the squad as he gives me some solid defense at both corner spots in a pinch. IF Frank Todd can provide speed off the bench as well as offer good defensive value at 2B and 3B. 5th outfielder for the time being will be Les Galloway. He will fill the role of backup right fielder. 3B Ed Wise and SS Buddy Lane will provide depth at their natural positions.

As for the pitching we have another week to hammer out those roles so we will play the wait and see game and hope for the best.