Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

Offseason WAR changes show all but four clubs losing ground over the break.

Obviously some huge names on the lam this offseason - let's see where they all landed.

• OF Barry Bonds: Dodgers, $9.18m / 6 years AAV $1.53m
• 2B Roberto Alomar: Crawfords, $7.4m / 5 years AAV $1.48m
• 1B John Mayberry: Royal Giants, $5.93m / 5 years AAV $1.19m
• P Dave Barnhill: Liberty Stars, $5.5m / 5 years AAV $1.1m
• C Bob Watson: Grays, $4.36m / 4 years AAV $1.09m
• P Vida Blue: Crawfords, $4.34m / 4 years AAV $1.085m
• P Connie Rector: Liberty Stars, $3.18m / 3 years AAV $1.06m
• 3B Eric Chavez: Royal Giants, $5.2m / 5 years AAV $1.04m
• P Jesse Houston: Black Barons, $4.55m / 5 years AAV $910k
• P Edwin Jackson: Dodgers, $6.3m / 7 years (extension) AAV $900k
• P Ricky Nolasco: Crawfords, $4.4m / 5 years AAV $880k
• P Webster McDonald: Black Yankees, $3.38m / 4 years AAV $820k
• OF Pepe Mangual: Lincoln Giants, $3.16m / 4 years AAV $790k
• OF Richard Hidalgo: Grays, $3m / 4 years AAV $750k
• P Johnny Markham: Black Yankees, $2.96m / 4 years AAV $740k
• C Sam Lampkin: Black Barons, $2.96m / 4 years AAV $740k
• P Chet Brewer: Dodgers, $2.13m / 3 years AAV $710k
• P Jim Jeffries: Bacharach Giants, $2.79m / 4 years AAV $698k
• OF Tony Scott: Black Barons, $2.07m / 3 years AAV $690k
• OF Brian Jordan: Black Yankees, $4.41m / 7 years AAV $630k
• 2B Jorge Polanco: American Giants, $4.47m / 7 years AAV $639k
• 1B Frank Thomas: ABCs, $1.74m / 3 years AAV $581k
• OF Bobby Abreu: Black Yankees, $0.84m / 7 years AAV $422k

Bullet Rogan and A-Rod have respectively ended up at the Monarchs and Black Yankees on minor-league option deals.

• 3B Sol White traded from Lincoln Giants to Crawfords for P Albert Owens
• 3B Bobby Bonilla traded from Royal Giants to ABCs (retaining 25%) for 2B Lourdes Gurriel jr
• OF Mike Easler traded from Black Barons to Red Sox for OF Dee Brown and P Bennie Wilson
• 1B Cecil Fielder traded from Grays to Elite Giants for P Deacon Meyers (retaining 100%)
• C Bill Pierce traded from American Giants to Black Yankees for P Randall Delgado
• OF Johnny Damon traded from Liberty Stars to East for P Jerome Williams
• 1B Yordan Alvarez traded from Athletics to Bacharach Giants for SS Tony Martinez
• 2B Ozzie Albies traded from American Giants to Monarchs for P Lefty Holmes and 1B Juan Guerra
• 3B Hector Lopez traded from Athletics to West for P Johnny Taylor and 3B Pedro Lopez
• 3B Willson Contreras traded from Red Sox to American Giants for P Frank Castillo and P Mike Harkey

If the boffins are to be believed, there'll be quite the shifting of the power structure this season.

Top-rated players are as follows, with Cristobal Torriente the big mover among position players:

This year's prospects list is stacked, headed by Pythias Russ - who is almost guaranteed to be the focus of an OotS feature sometime soon:

Club finances:

And finally, a look at the injured list as at OD, with Juan Marichal the big name on there - though, thankfully, not for too long:

Always such an exciting time and, once I've got the Janus Report out of the way, we'll be off and running on what promises to be another fascinating Eclipse League journey.

[luckymann]

Atlantic City Bacharach Giants

Brooklyn Royal Giants

Newark Dodgers

New York Black Yankees

Pittsburgh Crawfords

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Birmingham Black Barons

Cuban Stars West

Kansas City Monarchs

Memphis Red Sox

St. Louis Giants

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Baltimore Elite Giants

Hilldale Athletic Club

Homestead Grays

New York Lincoln Giants

Philadelphia Liberty Stars

[luckymann]

Chicago American Giants

Cleveland Buckeyes

Cuban Stars East

Detroit Motown Stars

Indianapolis ABCs

[luckymann]

Nice to have El Clásico early for once, while everything is still on the line, although what I really want is for it to be of vital importance with both teams contending toward the end of the season. Not sure that is ever going to happen.

The West dominate proceedings early with Hector Lopez leading the way, but a nice 3-hit shutout from Rube Curry in the final game gets the East off the sweep.

That stretches the West's overall series lead out to 8-4.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Will this be the year in which, after knocking on the door the past two seasons, Miguel Sano finally makes it to 30 HR? This effort will certainly help his cause no end.

[luckymann]

A massive loss for the BBs with their number one guy effectively done for the year. he might... might... be back if they make the playoffs.

And, in other news, Pops Stargell is released by the Monarchs. Not much left in this version of him, it seems - even though he's only 33. Still some thunder in that POW rating, so perhaps he gets picked up as a PH type later in the year.

[luckymann]

It looks as if ace and all-time Wins leader CC Sabathia will now be a Black Yankee for life after he signs a massive contract that will see him thru his age-36 season in 1984. It's a risky deal, given he posted his highest career ERA last year and has started the 1979 season poorly as well, but I love to see this sort of thing and hope it works out for all concerned.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

Eclipse League

A nice competitive start to 1979 for the EL, with only the Giants and Elite Giants (who have been better of late) particularly slow out of the gates.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: David Ortiz (West) 370 / 9 HR / 25 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Leroy Sutton (Black Barons) 3-1 / 1.65 / 8 SV / 10 K / 16.1 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Porter Charleston (Black Barons) 4-0 / 4.13 / 21 K / 28.1 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Chino Smith (Athletics) 364 / 4 HR / 14 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Dave Brown (ABCs) 4-1 / 1.55 / 29 K / 46.1 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Adam Jones (Grays) 344 / 3 HR / 14 RBI.

Points of Interest

• Interestingly, both Bullet Rogan and A-Rod void their option deals - A-Rod re-ups with Cleveland on a MiLB deal and promptly wins one of the TL monthly hitter awards, while Bullet remains unsigned at the time of writing.
• BGs star 2B Reggie Smith will be out of action until June courtesy of a hamstring strain.

Transit League

Louisville has had a blistering start to the season.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Dwayne Murphy (Blue Birds) 362 / 9 HR / 16 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Phil Ortega (White Sox) 4-0 / 3.07 / 27 K / 29.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Alex Rodriguez (Hornets) 423 / 5 HR / 13 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Cocaina Garcia (Wolves) 4-0 / 3.00 / 34 K / 33 IP.

[luckymann]

Born 1891 in Waco, TX and prominent throughout the post-WW1 period, Edgar Wesley is one of the many Negro League players who just seems like he would have done well in the MLB had he been afforded the chance. While he's not generally regarded in the absolute top echelon of NeLers, he's not far off them either, as his slash of 319/385/526 with (all as per SH) a 141 OPS+ and 92 homers attests.

After beginning his pro career in his home state with a spell at Hot Springs, AR, Eddie Wes (as I call him) made his NeL debut in 1918 for the Chicago American Giants after they lost starting 1B Leroy Grant to a military call-up. The following season saw him move to the Detroit Stars, the club with which he is most closely associated, after Rube Foster purchased it and sent a bunch of AG players there including Jose Mendez, Frank Duncan and Pete Hill, who would be the Manager as well. Edgar would spend the next five seasons at Detroit and, after a season with Oscar Charleston and others at the Harrisburg Giants in 1924, return to Motown to play out the remainder of his career, which ended in 1927 after he was traded to Cleveland for Ed Rile by new skipper Bingo DeMoss.

This, of course, coincides with the creation of the NNL, now regarded as the first of the "major" Negro leagues, and the Stars were competitive throughout without ever winning a Championship. Still, they generally finished in the first division during this period.

There is some suggestion Edgar might have at this point gone to South America and / or the Caribbean to play, but there is no documentation to back this up. He reportedly made his last appearance in 1931 for the Bacharach Giants, by this time an independent club. Again, no stats are available. He died, aged 75, back in his home state in 1966.

Edgar's impact in the EL has been immediate after he was Drafted 8th overall by the Crawfords in 1977. He went straight to the parent club, and won 2 monthly rookie awards en route to a 1.2 bWAR debut season. He has continued to improve, and just a month into the 1979 campaign looks set to become one of the EL's biggest names - with his line currently sitting at 319/361/582 with a 156 OPS+, 6 HR and 15 RBI. As always, we'll track his progress in the years to come.

For a detailed look at Edgar's life and career, head HERE.

[luckymann]

-Who is that four-HR hitting firebrand, Smithers?
-Harry Simpson, sir.
-Simpson, hey? Sign him up then!


The aforementioned firebrand joins Eric Davis and Chito Martinez as the only players with a 4-homer game to this point in the EL. That, in a relatively moderate HR environment over barely a decade seems like a high number, but I like it.

FYI, his haul from this single game is one more than he has thru 80-odd games in 1959 of my Bucs save, albeit in a part-time role. If he played like this he wouldn't be part-time!

[luckymann]

Valentín Dreke has himself a fine old day in this 9-4 win over the BGs.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

The MoStars are still struggling to unleash anything near their full potential, currently sitting at a disappointing 18-18. This development will not help their cause one jot.

[luckymann]

Eclipse League

No real moves just yet with the two sides of the draw each other's mirror image at the top end - one club a half-game ahead and another, 3 1/2.

Monthly Award Winners

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Roberto Alomar (Crawfords) 330 / 5 HR / 19 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Agustin Acosta (Crawfords) 6-0 / 1.53 / 23 K / 53 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Earl Gurley (Crawfords) 2-0 / 1.69 / 17 K / 21.1 IP and 330 / 6 HR / 19 RBI.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Aaron Judge (Liberty Stars) 404 / 6 HR / 22 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Dave Brown (ABCs) 5-0 / 2.70 / 19 K / 43.1 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Cecil Fielder (Elite Giants) 322 / 7 HR / 18 RBI.

Points of Interest

• Bullet Rogan signs a minor-league deal with the BYs.
• Key Injuries: P Leroy Matlock (West) elbow, 5 months.
• Key Trades: OF Chone Figgins from Dodgers to Royal Giants for C Keibert Ruiz; 2B Aledmys Diaz claimed on the WW from Giants by West.

Transit League

Things tighten up considerably in the CAC National as the White Sox follow their 19-3 April with a 9-19 May, meaning all four groups are very much in play. Jacksonville rookie Nyjer Morgan achieves the rare feat of B2B 5-hit games.

Monthly Award Winners

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Cory Aldridge (Black Crackers) 384 / 14 HR / 28 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Amos Watson (Stars) 3-1 / 1.49 / 18 K / 36.1 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Charlie Vinson (Hornets) 414 / 5 HR / 24 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: John McFarland (Black Sox) 4-0 / 1.72 / 8 SV / 4 K / 15.2 IP.

[luckymann]

Even for the porous history of the Negro Leagues, Earl Gurley is an outlier on the enigmatic spectrum. Not one of my sources mentions him, other than Seamheads / BBRef (and, very briefly, Wikipedia) - not even Jim Riley, who threw out the widest net. As frustrating as this is, it has also opened up a portal for the EL in which a guy who slashed 288/350/428 with a 110 OPS+ - relatively unimpressive numbers in the 1920s NeL context in which they were achieved - and pitched occasionally, usually with poor results has been transformed into an out-and-out superstar with both bat and ball.

Because EC had no MLE for him, Earl came into this save unmessed with by yours truly. Part of my import process is to go through the incoming non-MLE players just to make sure none enter the game outrageously juiced. I remember seeing Earl, doing some background checks, discovering little. I looked at his ratings, thought them a little high but not outrageously so, liked the idea of another decent enough 2WP entering the league, and let him be.

TCR seems to have done the rest.

By the time of the Draft last year, he had blossomed into a beast, and was picked 14th overall by the Crawfords. What an astute pick that is turning out to be.

At the time of writing, Earl's 18 homers are second only to Don Baylor's 20 (putting both on pace for a new EL record), and his 55 ribbies lead both leagues. He has also - despite a middling STAM rating - chimed in on the mound with a 3-2 / 2.84 mark, giving his club 4 QS in the 6 games he has appeared in. Combined, that's good for 3.1 WAR, which projects to nearly 10 for a full season - nearly twice his career mark as per his in-game Real Stats. His presence is obviously a big factor in the Crawfs leading the FCA at this point in time.

With this being a dev-only save, that paucity of stats will have a far more abstract effect on his performance than were recalc being applied. Which could well mean Earl becomes a real force in the league for years to come. As always, we'll follow along and report on his progress in this regard.

[luckymann]