Singin' the Blues? The 1973 UABL Memphis Blues

[ootpFox07]

Welcome to a DesertFox07 Dynasty Report, The 1973 UABL Memphis Blues.

I have chosen to manage one of the first two expansion teams in my fictional solo league called the United Associated of Baseball Leagues (UABL). The league has a rich history starting in 1910 as the Federated Baseball League (FBL) and went through a tumultuous change in 1963 to form the current UABL. My dynasty report will follow a new GM’s task of bringing one of the league’s first two expansion franchises to reality and my efforts to forge it into a winner. I hope.

A few notes about limitations I’ve placed on myself:

• In the expansion draft, I gave the other expansion club first pick
• I'm allowing myself only one top rated player (75+ overall rating) and one top rated rookie (75+ potential rating) for the season.
• I decreased the default financial figures given to my club during the expansion process and will force a balanced budget (no projected loss). My budget is around $6MM compared to $8+MM for San Fran.
• My stadium will be about 1/2 the size of San Frans and about 10k below the league average
• No player extensions offers longer than year will be made during the inaugural season.
• am limiting myself two one trade per two month period so I will be able to make just three during the season as the league trade deadline is August 30.

Hope you enjoy the reports and look forward to people’s feedback.

[ootpFox07]

UABL League Overview

The UABL was founded in 1910 as the Federated Baseball League (FBL) and was renamed in 1965 after a rift between the FBLs two charter leagues caused one to leave the FBL in 1963. After two years on its own, the surviving Players League entered competitive play with a new startup league to form the modern UABL in 1965. The league is divided into two sub leagues, the Associated League and the now renamed Regional League.

Starting in 1947, the UABL began accepting players from the organized Negro Leagues, which formed in 1928. This continued even when the Negro Leagues disbanded permanently in 1957. Four Negro League players continue to remain active in the game as of January 1973.

A AAA minor league affiliate level formed in 1922 and continues its association with the league today.

[ootpFox07]

Associated League (AL)

Founded in 1965, the Associated League replaced the former founding FBL American League, which left the FBL before the start of the 1963 season. The Associated League consists of 4 FBL charter (pre-UABL) clubs: Cleveland, St. Louis, New Jersey and Washington. It also consists of four new teams formed in 1965: Anaheim, Detroit, Chicago and Richmond.

1972 AL Final Standings:

Team	W	L	WPct	GB	R	RA
Anaheim Cosmos	96	66	.593	-	644	536
Detroit Bobcats	91	71	.562	5.0	666	606
Cleveland Spiders	88	74	.543	8.0	609	576
New Jersey Sluggers	81	81	.500	15.0	602	618
Richmond Pilots	79	83	.488	17.0	574	596
St. Louis Broncos	75	87	.463	21.0	643	628
Washington Admirals	74	88	.457	22.0	597	679
Chicago (A) Nighthawks	64	98	.395	32.0	587	683

1972 AL Award Winners:

Cy Warren Pitching Award: Tony Kaler (Anaheim)
MVP: Javier Loen (Anaheim)
Rookie of the Year: Ted Dry (Cleveland)
Levi McGrady (Outstanding hitter) Award: Walt Lee (St. Louis)

[ootpFox07]

Regional League (RL)
The Regional League, previously known as the Players League, is a FBL founding league formed in 1910.

As the Players League, it caused a major rift with the FBL American League in 1963 when it accepted two AL teams (Cleveland and Newark) into its charter. The angered American League split from the FBL taking its remaining four teams with it. The Players League continued play for the next two seasons, replacing the inter league championships with the Wilmont Cup Classic, a best of seven series between the first and second place finishers.

In 1965, the Associated League was formed and the Player League revised it's charter to become the Regional League. It currently consists of four FBL charter clubs: New York, Chicago, Columbus, and Arlington. It also consists of four new clubs: Houston, San Diego, Sacramento and Durham. Cleveland and Newark returned to the AL in 1965 and the inter league championship returned.

1972 RL Final Standings:

Team	W	L	WPct	GB	R	RA
Sacramento Chiefs	96	66	.593	-	768	611
New York Metros	88	74	.543	8.0	650	649
Chicago (R) XLs	87	75	.537	9.0	723	720
San Diego Vipers	83	79	.512	13.0	680	643
Columbus Blue Sox	79	83	.488	17.0	617	690
Houston Generals	76	86	.469	20.0	625	669
Arlington Red Birds	70	92	.432	26.0	701	722
Durham Warriors	69	93	.426	27.0	592	652

1972 RL Award Winners:

Cy Warren Pitching Award: Jerry Everett (Sacramento)
MVP: Oswaldo Ocampo (Sacramento)
Rookie of the Year: Luis Aguirra (Sacramento)
Levi McGrady (Outstanding hitter) Award: Cecil Orman (Arlington)

[ootpFox07]

UABL Announces first league expansion in 1974
Feb 12, 1971

The UABL baseball league today announced that it plans to expand its Regional League by two teams for the 1974 season. The leading candidates for expansion cities include:

San Francisco
Cincinnati
Los Angeles
Atlanta
Boston
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Kansas City
Memphis

The UABL is expected to release its decision before the start of the 1972 season.

[ootpFox07]

UABL Announces Expansion Cities
Dec 28, 1971

After months of bidding and decision making, the UABL officially announced the names of the two expansion cities for the 1974 season. San Francisco, California and Memphis, Tennessee are the winners in the bid to host the two new UABL franchises.

The acting UABL President expressed his pleasure with the league selections. "We’re very happy to expand the presence of UABL baseball to these great cities and are very excited to welcome them into the UABL family of major league ball clubs."

Complete information and an introduction to the teams is expected to happen within the coming months.

[ootpFox07]

Sporting News Report: UABL Expansion ball club announcements
May 12, 1972

Official team names, logos and jerseys were announced today for the UABL’s 1974 expansion ball clubs.

San Francisco’s ballclub will be called the San Francisco Giants. The team has announced that it will play their games at the spacious Golden Gate Park stadium that is currently rated to hold approximately 48,000 fans.

The Memphis ballclub will be called the Memphis Blues and will play in William B. Mason Stadium, a minor league ballpark which seats approximately 11, 287. Memphis has announced their plans to invest over ten million dollars to expand the capacity of the stadium in upwards of 34,000 by opening day 1974.

Team logos and Jersey have also been released today:

[ootpFox07]

UABL President caves to pressure. RL Expansion date moved up one year
July 19, 1972

In a surprise move, the UABL today announced it is moving its Regional League expansion up by one year to the spring of 1973. The league has recently begun planning an expansion of the Associated League, currently slated for 1978. Based on pressure by several league owners to allow five years between the expansions, the UABL President has agreed to move up the RL expansion date one year from 1974 to 1973.

"We believe that this move will allow our new Regional League ball club’s more time to establish their presence and grow their teams before the introduction of the new AL teams in 1978." The President said.

Both RL expansion clubs have asserted their readiness to begin play in 1973. Sources note that the Memphis Blues will have to scale back their renovations to William B. Mason Stadium considerably to meet the new opening day deadline. The 11,254 seat facility, purchased by the team this past spring, is currently being upgraded to seat approximately 34,000. Sources say the team will now only be able to upgrade to around 22,000 to meet the revised expansion schedule.

[ootpFox07]

Memphis announces hiring of GM Karl Thomason
September 12, 1972

The 1973 Expansion Memphis Blues today announced the hiring of the team’s General manager Karl Thomason. Thomason has served as manager of business operations and general manager of several independent minor league ball clubs, but this is his first major league opportunity.

"We've taken our time in finding what we hope is an excellent, far-seeing general manager. I don't think you'll have to worry about him suffering from myopia. He presented a clear, concise, and realistic assessment of our club in every interview we held, and just seemed to grasp what we're looking for," noted an official close to negotiations.

"I’m very excited for this opportunity," Thomason said, "To bring a club that evokes memories of cherished ball club of the past is a rare gift and we are going to make the most of our chance. The Blues team name is one that is respected and cherish in this league, and we hope to carry on that tradition. We have some big plans in place and are ready to create a successful ballclub."

[ifspuds]

This is an enjoyable read. Looking forward to seeing more!

[elmwood44]

Great stuff!!!!

I'm guessing "Blues" was a team name from the the old FBL or Players League.

Looking forward to reading about you making this incarnation of the Blues succesful.

[ootpFox07]

Hey Guys thanks for your comments. Glad your enjoying so far.

The Blues is indeed the second team to use that name. The previous Blues ballclub was located in Brooklyn, NY and was an American league team that played from 1910-1963. They were a very successful club and sported 3 hall of fame players. Why did they go? Well, it's part of the UABL storyline that they had to give way to the next generation of teams.

I also wanted to stop my reports for a second and make a note on the dynasty here.

From here forward, this is the second incarnation of the 1973 season I'm simming. In the first round, I thought to leave a handful of good to above-average players unprotected from the draft to give both expansion clubs a decent chance at .500. While the resulting Memphis team was pretty cool to report on and manage, this approach produced completely unrealitic results for the RL as a whole. By June 1st, one team has a .800 winning percentage (Columbus), both expansion clubs were more than 10 games over .500 and two RL teams (San Diego and New York) had winning percentages below .200! I went two more weeks into June and everything only got worse so I shut it down. I went all the way back to the end of 1972 (I backup my league at the end of every season) and am redoing the expansion, this time letting teams protect the players I'd expect them to. I'll also be posting the HTML league reports shortly so you can take a look at the league and it's history.

[ootpFox07]

GM Log: 1973 Expansion Draft
Feb 2, 1973

The Expansion Draft was held today and I am feeling very good about our picks. Being that teams could protect up to 16 players, our field of choice was not the best, but held some good player opportunities if you looked correctly. Here were our top five picks. Rating are by our teams head scout.

SP Juan Permane
Age 28
Ratings: 20/57/66, 83 End
He could allow fewer hits and strike more batters out, but he has logged double digits win all four years he's been in the majors and his ERA and WHIP numbers make him a desirable starting pickup for us.

SP Grady Franchescetti
Age 32
Ratings: 41/68/51, 76 End
A late bloomer reaching the majors at 28, Franchescetti was a member of the 1972 world championship Cosmos and the 1971 Cy Warren award winner. He has won 15 or more games in all four of his major league seasons.

3B Fred Sledge
Age 21
Potential Ratings: 45/61/46/58/33
Sledge has put up huge numbers the last two years in AAA. We believe he can be our starting 3B inside of two years.

SP John Wright
Age 29
Ratings: 44/47/56, End 71
Wright has all the makings of a #3 or 4 starter on a major league staff, but why he’s been stuck in the minors for eight long years with the numbers he's put up is perplexing.

SP Pete Woodham
Age 24
Ratings: 20/80/47, End 68
Has improved in all three major league seasons and looks like a potential #3 starter.

We went heavy on pitching and grabbed some good prospects from the draft pool. I hope the veterans we drafted are enough to help boost the younger core we choose to give us at least 70 wins this inaugural season. The next big task is filling out the rest of our squad with unsigned players in the free agent pool. More good options are still available there to fill in our remaining gaps.

[ootpFox07]

Meet the Blues Part 1 – Pitching

1. Grady Franchescetti

1972:17-10, 2.78, 252.2 IP, 144 k, 1.06 WHIP, 37.3 VORP

The 1971 AL Cy Warren award winner, Franchescetti was a consistently good pitcher in a great Anaheim pitching rotation. How the Cosmos could have left this 33 year-old Canadian unprotected in the draft is beyond me, but we drafted him just the same. My scouts agree he has great movement and good control and should do well fronting our pitching staff. Based on his numbers in his four short years in the majors, I have to agree we’re in good hands with Grady at the top of our rotation.

2. Juan Permane

1972:14-15, 3.88, 280.1 IP, 106 k, 15.9 WHIP, 15.9 VORP

While Permane doesn’t have the same raw stuff as Franchescetti, we could do a lot worse for our #2 pitcher. He has great control and is stingy on the walks, though we need to keep an eye on how many hits he allows and his fluctuating WHIP and OAVG numbers. His numbers in these areas were ace like in AAA, but he has yet to match them in the majors. Being just 26, though, we believe he has time to continue to develop.

3. Leon Randall

1972: 13-12, 3.91, 239.1 IP, 82 k, 1.21 WHIP, 12.7 VORP

Randall will likely never win a Cy Warren award or front a pitching staff, but is the type of pitcher every staff needs, a guy who can consistently win 12-14 games every year and post consistently good ERA and WHIP numbers. Randall barely ever strikes anyone out and has played with an above average defense of late, which has helped his ERA and OAVG numbers. We’ll see this spring how he holds up with our younger defense being him.

4. John Wright

1972 (AAA): 18-7, 1.85, 223.1 IP, 277 k, 0.83 WHIP, 63.5 VORP

Looking at this 29 year-old career minor leaguers numbers in just 1972 alone makes me ask why Wright has never pitched in a major league game. My top two scouts disagree considerably on Wright’s ability in light of his eight years in the minor leagues, but after that long, I’m inclined to worry with them why it is that he hasn’t made it up yet. We’re going to be cautious with him, but Wright will certainly get his chance here in Memphis and is my pick to be our breakthrough pitcher of the year.

5. Tom Kaler

1972: 18-5, 2.21, 204.0 IP, 63 k, 1.05 WHIP, 44.6 VORP

Our second head scratching draft choice, Kaler was Grady Franchescetti’s teammate in Anaheim and had an awe-inspiring season in 1972. He too pitched for the World Champion Cosmos and walked away with the 1972 Cy Warren award. So why was he available in the draft? One reason could be that a heavy workload early in Kaler’s career seems to have begun to catch up with him. He has logged 215 or more innings just once since 1968. He doesn’t strike a lot of guys out so he puts pressure on a defense to protect him. We noticed that after years of steadily increasing WHIP numbers, he had a dramatic reversal of sorts last season, posting a career best 1.05. This leads my scouts to worry Kaler benefited greatly from Anaheim’s strong bullpen and defense and that a return to the declining trend is likely to occur once again this season so they are all preaching caution with my expectations for him.

Honorable mention: Based on spring training results, 24 year-old Pete Wooham or 23 year-old Bud Mathewson could be in the running for the #4 or 5 spots. I’ll follow up more on spring position battles when spring training completes.

[ootpFox07]

Meet the Blue Part 2 -- Starting Lineup

Vern Prevost, RF

1972: .248 Avg, 20 HR, 59 RBI, 15 BB, 131 K, 31 SB, .274 OBP, .665 OPS, 7.8 VORP

Prevost's upside is that he makes good contact and will likely pile up a bunch of hits for us at the top of the order. He’s speedy on the base paths and can swipe a good number of bags. he even displayed some surprising power last year hitting 20 home runs as well. His downside(s) are that he's a free swinger who rarely walks and strikes out a lot. His power might provide some surprise homers for us now and again but were counting on his contact and speed to drive the top of our lineup.

Dick Mauck, 3B

1972: .308 Avg, 205 H, 39 RBi, 14 BB, 90 K, 28 SB, .323 OBP, 681 OPS, 21.8 VORP

While Dick gives us little in the way of power at third base, he also is another good contact hitter with solid 30 SB potential. He too needs to cut down on the free swinging and walk more, but he reaches base and scores runs at a more often clip than Prevost right now and looks like a solid #2 hitter for our lineup.

Connie Long, LF

1972: .278 Avg, 9 HR, 43 RBI, 67 BB, 62 K, .358 OBP, .731 OPS, 22.8 VORP

What Long lacks in power he makes up with his patience at the plate. He's walked more than he's struck out in his last four seasons in Durham and been a solid source of runs. At 34, I know we have to worry about an almost certain performance drop, but I'm confident Connie will gives us good production in the three hole this year.

Clay Munn, 1B

1972: .232 Avg, 17 HR, 71 RBI, 77 BB, 72 K, .325 OBP, .692 OPS, 5.1 VORP

Munn has some power, but it comes at the cost of his batting average. Still, he has a good eye and has shown patience at the plate, which is key based on the lack of that in the top of our lineup. We expect Munn to platoon at 1B against right-handers with 40 year-old veteran Bob Leathers seeing more at bats against lefties.

Gary Brundidge, SS

1972: .232 Avg, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 28 SB, .266 OBP, .651 OPS, 1.0 VORP

Brundidge has served mainly a backup role for Detroit through his career, but this decent fielding shortstops greatest asset is his speed. He's shown improvement in his career in his patience and my scouts all think he has room to grow with the proper guidance.

Dick Sallee, 2B

1972: .268 Avg, 7 HR, 56 RBI, 18 SB, .337 OBP, .726 OPS, 17.8 VORP

Sallee doesn't wow any of my scouts in any particular area. Like most of our guys, he has decent speed, and is developing his ability to avoid strikeouts and reach base consistently. With the right players in front of him, my scouts feel he could be a potential 20 HR, 75 RBI hitter, but I’m cautious about that based on his historical performance. Sallee improves our weak fielding infield with a strong glove at second base.

Don Anderson, CF

1972: .254 Avg, 158 H, 13 HR, 87 RBI, 40 BB, 130 K, 35 SB, .301 OBP, .688 OPS, 17.5 VORP

A bit of a journeyman outfielder, Anderson seemed to regain his stroke last year in Arlington, topping double digits for homers for the first time since 1967 and coming close to his career bests in hits and stolen bases. Anderson’s main downside, aside from being 33 years-old is that he strikes out a ton. Hopefully we can work with him to improve that at least a little.

Carlos Rosales, C

1972 (AAA): .281 Avg, 15 HR, 68 RBI, 35 BB, 130 K, .357, OBP, .763 OPS 34.3 VORP

Rosales is an unproven 22 year-old catcher candidate for this season. His numbers in AAA last year were encouraging, though like all our guys, strikeouts are a major concern and area to be focused on. Rosales will provide us with good defense being the plate and the word from my scouts is that has a good instinct for calling games. Rosales is the brightest of four candidates 26 and younger vying for the position this spring, but he’ll have to have one heck of a spring to win the job over the more experienced Ramon Rajany.

[ootpFox07]

Regular Season Begins!

Opening day is in just days away, so before the madness of the regular season begins, I wanted to reflect on our spring.

We went 9-15 in the exhibition season, one loss better than San Diego and one worse than San Francisco. Overall, my optimism for a good season has become a reserved feeling of hope that one or more individuals in our lineup might step up and surprise me. The truth is, we are at the beginning of a long road and you don’t just jump in doing 50 MPH, you have to start in first gear and work your way up. We’re at the starting line and we have much work to do.

That said, we had some positions to work on during the spring and here are the results.

Spring position battles

One position up for grabs in my mind was the #5 spot in our rotation. Veterans Tony Kaler, Ed Stynes and Earl McKenney and youngsters Pete Woodham and Bud Mathewson were the candidates for the spot.

Both Stynes and McKenny made predominantly relief appearances and single starts in spring training. Stynes pitching well in the relief role and did well in his lone start. To give him time to pitch with how crowded our staff is, he will begin the year in AAA. Not ideal for a veteran with his experience, but better than wasting away in the bullpen. McKenny posted a 7.00+ ERA but has seniority, so the 39 year old will move to the bullpen to open the season. Hopefully he can impart some veteran wisdom on our younger pitchers during his time there.

Of our younger pitchers, Mathewson showed good poise in his lone start, but I agree with my manager he should get more work in AAA and be brought up. Matthewson has improved each of his last three years in the minors so I’m expecting a continued development curve this year and him making a case for a mid season call up. Woodham was our leading candidate to knock Kaler into the bullpen but proved extremely hittable allowing 33 hits in 22 innings. His defense helped keep his earned runs down to just 13, but we feel Woodham needs some serious fine-tuning in AAA before becoming a candidate for our major league rotation again.

Kaler had the obvious leg up based on his 1972 Cy Warren award and experience pitching for Anaheim. He made 2 starts and three relief appearances and posted a 0.00 ERA. His 1.50 WHIP is a little concerning, but for right now by process of elimination, Kaler remains in our rotation. Based on the awful job Leon Randall did this spring (1-3, 9.30 ERA), we are even making Kaler our #3 pitcher and demoting Randall to #5, subject to further demotion if his spring slide continues. At that point, Earl McKinney would be the front-runner to take his place unless Stynes or Matthewson make some noise in AAA.

The other major position battle of note was catcher. 22 year-old prospect Carlos Rosales was our leading candidate, but an awful spring (9-48, .188, 2 BB, 11 K) told us he needs more time in AAA before starting in the majors. Therefore 26 year-old veteran Ramon Rajnay has won the starting catcher job with 26 year-old John Postma taking on backup catcher duties. Rajnay is a season vet and I have modest expectations for him while Postma gives us a solid late inning defensive option. My hope is that Rosales makes a dramatic leap forward and a compelling argument to promote him mid-season.

General notes

Vern Prevost and Dick Mauck proved why we chose them for the top of our lineup. Prevost hit .338 with a .408 OBP and 10 steals. He kept his strikeouts to single digits and actually hit two homers. Similar results occurred for Mauck who hit .313 with a .368 OBP and 12 steals. If these two keep it up, we should have good productivity at the top of the order.

My starting rotation has me a little unnerved based on spring training results. No projected starter, save for Tom Kaler, had an ERA under 5.30 or WHIP better than 1.63. At this rate, our pitching is going to be allowing a lot more runs than I think our free swinging, walk-less lineup is going to be able to make up for. But I’m hopeful that the spring was just the spring and these guys can turn it around when the regular season begins.

We’ve chosen to keep 40 year-old veteran Bob Leathers on the active roster as we break camp. Leathers is one of only three active players whose career began in the Negro Leagues and I’m proud to be able to say he is a member of our staff. Bob brings over 20 years of professional baseball experience to the club and I know he will prove to be an excellent mentor to our younger players. He had been expected to platoon at 1B with Clay Munn, but a strong spring by Frank McCown has pushed Bob back to a pinch hitting, defensive replacement role. My hope is that he is happy with that role because we don’t have much flexibility to give him much more in the way of at-bats otherwise. I'm not happy that our most expensive player (1.5MM/yr for 2 years) will be sitting on the bench, but this is the way it has to be now based on his age.

Best and worst of the spring

Hot off the line

Vern Prevost
.338 Avg, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 6 BB, 9 K, 10 SB, .403 OBP, .864 OPS

Dick Mauck
.313 Avg, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K, 12 SB, .343 OBP, .746 OPS

MR Joe Teston
0-1, 3.03, 38.2 IP, 33 H, 13 ER, 27 K

Colder than ice

Leon Randall
1-3, 9.30, 4 GS, 20.1 IP, 27 H, 21 ER, 10 K

Billy Freedman
.200 Avg, 10 H, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 15 K, .259 OBP, .579 OPS

Ramon Rajnay
.188 Avg, 32 AB, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 K, .257 OBP, .538 OPS

[ootpFox07]

GM Log: Opening Day 1973!

Well, we finally made it. Today was opening day of our inaugural season. There was a buzz of excitement in the air and I’m very excited for our first year has now gotten under way.

Our opening day opponents today were the Columbus Blue Sox at their home field of Roger Jackson Stadium. Just fewer than 34,000 attended and watched us battle veterans like Felix Bailiero, Ted Speakes and Filipe Treblehorn.

The pitching match-up for the game was our top right hander Grady Franchescetti and Columbus ace Dick Miller. Miller, an eight year veteran closer with Cleveland until he signed as a free agent with Columbus this year, made his first official major league start today.

My bench coach tells me Columbus apparently reviewed the sad state of their starting pitching out of spring training and decided to convert the career reliever into a starter. From what my head scout told me, he’s a very dangerous pitcher, so the big question for our boys was how deep he could pitch into the game. Quite deep, apparently. Miller went seven shutout innings and struck out ten of our guys. He threw just 106 pitches, allowed five hits and walked just one batter.

Our ace also went seven innings, but was tagged for five runs on nine hits. He struck out four, walked five, and allowed a home run while throwing 127 pitches. Not exactly a lights out performance from a pitcher just two years removed from a Cy Warren award. Reliever Joe Teston was much more efficient needing just four pitches to retire all three batters in the bottom of the eighth.

Our offense, as expected, swung freely and racked up eleven strikeouts and just two walks. After eight shutout innings, though, they broke through in the top of the ninth. Shortstop Gary Burndbridge singled and came home on a two run homer by left fielder Bill Freedman. After two fly outs, pinch hitter Wayne Brohamer hit a solo home run to bring us within two of the Blue Sox. Columbus went to their closer and Joe Teston, a pretty decent hitter for a pitcher, grounded out to end the game. We ended up with the loss in a 5-3 contest.

While Franchescetti’s performance continues to make me nervous about our pitching’s ability to keep runs off the board, I’m glad to see our offense continue to fight up to the very end.

The dates for our opening series and the following 3 series:

4/2 @ CBS
4/3 @ CBS

4/4 vs ARL
4/5 vs ARL
4/6 vs ARL

4/7 @ SD
4/8 @ SD
4/9 @ SD

4/10 @ HOU
4/11 @ HOU
4/12 @ HOU

[ifspuds]

Top of the ninth was pretty exciting if nothing else. Looking forward to seeing the season unfold.

[ootpFox07]

GM Log: Bi-Weekly Summary - April
April 15, 1973

Is it the middle of April already? Time flies. And so fifteen days and thirteen games into the regular season, we sit second to last in the RL with a 5-8 (.358) record, one better at least than our fellow expansion team, the Giants, who are 4-9.

We went 2-1 against Columbus to start the season, the 1-2 against both Arlington and San Diego before being swept 0-3 in Houston. We started our weekend series against Durham on a positive note yesterday with Tony Kaler giving us a solid outing. Our closer, Dick Black, almost blew the game but recovered to preserve our fifth win.

Thus far, my worst fears about our pitching staff have not come to fruition. Grady Franchescetti stepped up and threw a shutout in his second start and after two tough losses, John Wright came close to throwing one himself April 9th against the RL leading San Diego Vipers. Not too shabby. Tony Kaler has been solid thus far and actually showing strong endurance, having pitched eight or more innings in all three of his starts. Juan Permane, unfortunately, has been inconsistent and Leon Randall appears to be carrying his slow spring start into April so I’m not completely worry free just yet.

Connie Long has had a strong April start thus far and despite batting just .143, Ramon Rajany leads the team with 7 RBI. Vern Prevost has struck out a few times too many, but is showing his ability to make contactl and swipe bases consistently.

Offensively, we are below average in most major areas except home runs (3rd in RL) and SB (2nd in RL). Our worst category (as expected) is strikeouts where we are bringing up the rear. Pitching wise is a similar story except in BABIP where we rank 3rd. We also ranked last in pitching strikeouts and home runs allowed.

Prospects Report

I’m excited with the progress our top two prospects have made in just the first 10 days of AAA play.

In 2 starts, SP Bud Matthewson as gone 2-0, compiling a trim 1.20 ERA and racking up 17 Ks in 15 IP. He’s walked just 2 and currently sports a minuscule 0.75 WHIP. His progress over the last 3 years tells me this may very well be his final dance in AAA and his time in the majors could be fast approaching.

Third base prospect Fred Sledge has had similar success thus far. Sledge has been lighting up AAA pitching to the tune of a .372 Avg, .744 SLG and 1.193 OPS. He’s slugged all 3 of his HRs in a single game and has driven in 19 runs in just 43 Abs. He’s still striking out regularly, picking up 15 Ks and only 5 BBs, but this 21 year old is definitely making a case to be noticed thus far.

UABL League News

43 year-old Detroit shortstop Norm Henson crossed the 3500 hit plateau this past week. To me this is just another achievement in the distinguished career of one of the games all time great players. The 1952 Rookie of the Year was already a certain lock for the hall of fame thanks to his 16 all-star appearances and four MVP’s, and this is just should just be further justification of his worthiness. Hensen was also a four time World Champion with the Chicago XLs between 1955 and 1960 and despite his age, is still showing little sign of slowing down.

April’s Top Performers to date:

Tony Kaler, SP
2-1, 2.16, 3 GS, 25.0 IP, 6 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 1.20 WHIP

Connie Long, RF
.364 Avg, 12 H, 7 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K, .436 OBP, 1.012 OPS

Injury Report

No injuries to report at this time.

Our schedule through the end of April looks like:

4/15 vs DUR
4/16 vs DUR

4/17 @ SAC
4/18 @ SAC
4/19 @ SAC

4/20 vs NY
4/21 vs NY
4/22 vs NY

4/23 vs CHR
4/24 vs CHR
4/25 vs CHR

4/27 @ SF
4/28 @ SF
4/29 @ SF

[ootpFox07]

GM Log: Monthly Wrap-up – April
May 1, 1973

We finish April on a very positive note thanks to Tony Kaler’s two hit shutout against Columbus yesterday, bringing us to 12-16 for the month, tied with New York and one game better than Chicago and San Fran.

Our position in league statistical rankings has us averaging seventh in most offensive categories except for batting average, stolen bases and hits where we rank second. Pitching wise, were walking the third fewest batters, but otherwise, were average to below average otherwise. JSPN ranks us 13th of 18 teams in their Power rankings today.

Our pitching staff is doing a competent, if less than spectacular, job for us. Our ace Grady Franchescetti ranks fifth in strikeouts with 45 and Juan Permane ranks amongst the top 10 in innings pitched. Offensively, Vern Prevost leads our team with double digit steals and players like Jack Fett and Wayne Brohamer have been surprisingly good in backup roles. Out top three hitters (Prevost, Mauch and Long) are all hitting above .300 and Ramon Rajany has been a surprising source of RBIs at the bottom of the lineup.

I knew it had to happen sooner or later, but several players have begun griping about their playing time. I don’t mind it if they complain to my manager or bench coach or even send me personal messages, but it really ticks me off when they start leaking their displeasure to the press in the form of trade demands., Thus far Joe Teston, Bob Leathers and Jack Fett have all approached me about their limited duty on our staff, but I’ve read that Teston and Fett have gone public with their desire for a trade out of Memphis. While I’d love to accommodate Fett and his .345+ average, Teston has been flat out awful thus far and in my mind, is not warranting a chance in the rotation just yet. I have my ear to the ground in terms of opportunities to move one or more of these guys before they become a big problem, but only if the deal truly makes sense for our club.

Prospects Report

Bud Matthewson continues on his roll over AAA hitters. In six starts thus far he is 5-0 with a microscopic 1.02 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. He has struck out 51 batters in 44.1 innings and walked just 10. He’s allowed just 5 paltry earned runs in April and is on pace for 20+ wins. I’m personally blown away by Matthewson’s performance thus far, but as amazing as he has been, my scouts continue to remind me these are AAA numbers and not major league hitting he’s facing. They continue to preach patience and stress he still needs more time in El Paso. If this keeps up though and Leon Randall and Joe Teston continue to founder on our major league staff, Matthewson might find himself on his way topside before seasons end. 33 year-old veteran Ed Stynes is also making a case to move up based on his 1.43 ERA and his incredible 52 to 1 K/BB ratio.

Around the League

One has to be amazed with the way San Diego’s pitching has turned their season around from spring training. Orlando Jimenez and Tony Frontura are a combined 10-1 with a 2.51 ERA. San Diego is the top pitching and hitting team in the RL right now and making an early case for their inclusion in the playoffs.

April's Flower Power

Vern Prevost, RF
.349 Avg, 30 H, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 10 SB, .391 OBP, .833 OPS

Connie Long. LF
.313 Avg, 25 H, 13 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 7 BB< 6 K, .366 OBP, .799 OPS

John Wright. SP
2-3, 3.11, 5 GS, 37.2 IP, 13 ER, 9 BB, 32 K, 1.25 WHIP

April Washouts

Leon Randall, SP
1-3, 6.75, 25.1 IP, 31 HA, 19 ER, 7 BB, 9 K, 1.50 WHIP

Billy Freedman, LF
.204, 10 H, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 7 BB, 10 K, .298 OBP, .564 OPS

Joe Teston, MR
0-0, 10.45, 10.1 IP, 17 H, 12 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 2.13 WHIP

The next series in May:

5/1 vs CBS
5/2 vs CBS

5/3 @ ARL
5/4 @ ARL
5/5 @ ARL

5/6 vs SD
5/7 vs SD
5/8 vs SD

5/10 vs HOU
5/11 vs HOU
5/12 vs HOU

5/13 @ DUR
5/14 @ DUR
5/15 @ DUR