The W.P. Kinsella League random update thread

[BirdWatcher]

Let's review what happened with the Denver Brewers in 1984.

Starting with a glance at some of the basic stats, lineup, and pitching staff:








This is view of the lineup, in particular, is a bit misleading. For instance, Chris Romines was a late-season call-up who hit the cover off the ball to the tune of a .425/.446/..625 slash line over just 83 plate appearances for 1.2 WAR. He does have an excellent contact hit tool but he also isn't really that great and had an unsustainable .425 BABIP. He wasn't the primary third baseman for the Brewers in 1984, by a longshot.

But there are a few trends here that are good to note. Anyone who has followed the Brewers in the past should know that this tends to be a team built on defense, speed, and pitching. The pitching was still there in 1984, but the team got old (my fault) and the speed game vanished while the defense was shoddy. On the other hand, the Brewers often struggle with bullpen weakness. Not so in 1984 when we had arguably the best 'pen in the game. And even though closer Tim Shore, the WPK career record holder in saves with 413, is showing signs of age related decline finally as he will turn 39 before next season, the Brewers future looks very bright in terms of relief pitching.

Let's go through position by position:


Starting pitching:

Given that this rotation included three former Harris/Lee award winners and some of the top pitching prospects in the game the past few years the rotation wasn't quite as good as might be expected. Then again, poor defense will do that to you.

Jim Atwell: The 31-year old veteran workhorse was pretty much exactly what you expect of him. His 16-7, 3.61 ERA, 1.26 WHIP are in line with his recent seasons and as often is the case his peripheral numbers are better than the baseball card numbers suggest. His FIP was 4th best in the MGL at 2.91, his WAR was second (6.9), his K/BB was 3rd (4.0), his K/9 was 4th (6.9), his rWAR was 7th (5.2). He is durable, an innings eater, and the rock of the staff.

Eric Maisch: When the recently turned 25 year old Maisch is healthy he has the potential to be the best pitcher in the game and he has games where that is exactly what he looks like. But after missing most of the 1983 season with a bad elbow he also missed some time early this season with elbow strain and got off to a slow start. By the end of the season he looked dominant again and was inked to 6-year extension (with a few team options towards the end of it) and now the front office crosses their fingers and hopes for health going forward.

Sadahige Kawasaki: The one-time Brewers ace and 2-time Harris/Lee award winner missed all of 1983 after suffering a torn UCL in the '82 postseason. He is now 36 years old with average stuff and poor control (that's a severe departure from his earlier self) but still very fine movement. He was 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.52 WHIP and likely his results would have been even worse if his 54% groundout rate hadn't led to a great number of rally-killing dp's. He is under contract for 2 more seasons but the team has a buy-out option on the 1986 season and will likely use it.

Mike Costa: The former top prospect was 9-8, 4.43, 1.47 WHIP over 24 starts this season and is likely to be trade bait this offseason. He pairs and elite curveball with an elite changeup and has an excellent fastball to go along with those two offerings to give him great stuff but when combined with his mediocre movement and below average control, it just all doesn't seem to work. Time to move on while he still has trade value.

Austin Bond: The lone lefty in the rotation was coming off a fine 1983 season and is a team sparkplug and favorite of management and he was signed to a 4-year extension earlier this year. And his 9-9, 4.09, 1.28 WHIP with the 4th best in the MGL K/BB rate of 3.5 season was solid for a back of the rotation arm. But there are signs from the scouting staff that he is already slipping at age 28 with only one plus pitch (slider) of his six offerings and below average stuff. How long he can go on over-achieving his talents is an open question.

Jose Corpeno: Corpeno has largely been ignored amidst the bevy of higher ranked pitching prospects in the Brewers system. But the durable 26-year old with three plus pitches and good stuff and a knack for getting batters hit groundballs probably deserves more respect that he's been given. His numbers this year were respectable if not spectacular: 6-4, 4.23, 1.49 WHIP, and with a high BABIP of .337, a FIP of 3.55 and FIP- of 88, he is likely to get better results if given an opportunity in 1985. He probably will be given that opportunity.

Bryant Cox: Was traded mid-season. He was pitching fine. He went 10-6 with a 3.77 ERA and 1.21 WHIP while with the club. But he's 30 years old and reaching the end of his arbitration years and was holding out for a long and expensive contract that the team had no intentions of giving him.

We won't go into the details right now but the system still has plenty of good starting pitching prospects who profile as having at least solid mid-rotation potential if not better in a few cases. Bernie Lopez, a 22-year old international scouting discovery out of the Dominican Republic, might be the most interesting. He finished the season at AAA having pretty much dominated in the minor leagues (he was 20-7, 3.83, 10.6 K/9 at single A Bainbridge in 1983, followed by a 19-3, 2.88, 10.9 K/9 season at AA Nashville in 1984 before his call-up to AAA, where he did experience some struggles). His movement is average at best but he has electric stuff with 3 elite pitches and a curveball that has growth potential towards excellence (along with an average forkball unlikely to get better). He has been making progress with his control which now is considered average but if he achieves his perceived potential, which would give him even better control than stuff, he could be a top of the rotation arm. Then there is top pitching prospect Stephen Brooks, who is big league ready if not for his poor control.


The Bullpen:

Tim Shore: A probable future Hall of Famer, most likely reliever to be next to join the great Jamel McNeil in the Hall representing this position. He's old, he's in decline, and that still makes him better than the majority of relievers in the game. He got 22 saves in 29 opportunities this year with a 2.50 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. He is under contract for 2 more seasons but the team can buy-out his 1986 season. His stuff is average at this stage of his career but he has great movement, good control, is an extreme groundballer, and knows what he's doing out there. His save opportunities are starting to be eaten up by younger pitchers but he remains a valuable member of the 'pen.

Dan Folk: The most likely future closer. Folk, 23-years old, is the definition of a strikeout pitcher. His elite fastball/changeup combination led to a K/9 of 12.4 and while his average movement will lead to some solo homers, his control is good enough to play up his stuff. He also has high intelligence and a strong work ethic. Watch this kid.

Willie Ramirez: Then again, if for some reason it doesn't work out for Folk, maybe Ramirez is the future closer. The 1983 3rd round pick also has elite stuff, in this case with a 95-97 mph fastball paired with a great slider (and a poor changeup he can toss in at times to confuse). He is smart, he is a leader, he has high stamina, he's durable. Another great future seems to be unfolding. He started the season in AAA but in his 20 appearances at the big league level he went 2-0 with 1 save, a 2.73 ERA and an impressive 0.99 WHIP.

Rand Pinti: The fan favorite veteran lefty is basically a 1-pitch pitcher (excellent sinker) and he is not the most consistent, particularly year to year. But 1984 was an excellent one for him. He went 5-2 with 2 saves and an ERA of 1.46 with a 1.01 WHIP over the course of 55 1/3rd innings in 50 appearances. His splits aren't bad (actually, now that I'm looking at the numbers, he oddly fared even better against right-handed hitters this season than left-handers) so when combined with his high stamina he is much more than just a LOOGY.

Diego Lopez: A Rule 5 pick in 1982, Lopez was the other lefty in the 'pen this season. He is basically a solid middle relief arm who thus far shows signs of over-achieving his perceived abilities. In 1984 he was 2-1 with 5 saves and a 2.21 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over the course of 36 2/3rds innings in 42 appearances.

Paul Johnson: Also a Rule 5 pick, but in 1979, the 26 year old Johnson is a durable, reliable, smart, likeable, extreme groundball inducing middle reliever/set up man. He went 3-6 with 3 saves, a 3.40 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 1984, a step back from his excellent 1983 season, but if he's the weak link in your 'pen you have a great 'pen.

Ben Flynn: At this point the team Captain is more of a position player and hitter than a reliever, but we should probably mention him here because in his 32 1/3rd innings this season he was inexplicably better than ever at age 34. He went 1-1 with no saves but a 2.23 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. And sure, his BABIP against was much lower than usual (.267) but then again the past few seasons he has been unlucky in that area. It was time for his luck to change. But his real value is with his bat and we will talk about that in the next post.

The Brewers have never been very good at drafting and developing relief pitchers. But with the emergence of Folk and Ramirez and with at least a few more relievers quickly moving up the system (B.J. Adams, Mike Warner, Cesar Perez) it seems like that long drought may be over and this has become one of the team's strengths.

[BirdWatcher]

Moving on to the position players, starting with catchers and infielders in this post.


Catchers:

Both of the Denver catchers over-achieved with the bats in 1983 so some reversion to the mean was expected. But in the first half of the season this took the form of an extreme swing towards complete incompetence at the plate. Fortunately things got better in the second half and both are solid defenders.

Willie Ortega: The 28-year old Ortega has become another fan favorite and the pitching staff is pretty fond of him as well. He is a wonderful defender with a strong arm. As previously detailed, his hitting improved in the second half but the truth is that his bat is never going to be carrying card.

Jesse Cooper: In theory, Cooper should be the better hitting catcher of the tandem, but that didn't play out in 1984 as he hit .233/.288/.338. He is also a fine defensive backstop though his arm is merely average. But at this point, in combination with Ortega, this position is set for the Brewers.

First base:

Brett Taranto: The 1982 MVP who hit .402 that season had a bit of bounce-back season in 1984 after putting up just 2.4 WAR in his 1983 season. Taranto hit .316/.361/.487 in 1984 for 3.1 WAR over the course of 466 plate appearances at age 33.

Ben Flynn: Part of why Brett Taranto had fewer plate appearances then he has had in any season since becoming a regular is that Ben Flynn's power bat needed more playing time and first base is the only place he can play (other than pitching in the bullpen). Flynn responded, hitting .331/.355/.545 in 375 plate appearances, good for 3.2 WAR.


Second base:

Victor Martinez: Martinez, who got his first taste of the WPK late in 1983 at the advanced age of 25, earned the starting job at second this season and was named the All-Star starter at the position (he was injured and unable to play) and was one of the bright spots for the club in 1984. He went .295/.374/.436 and played excellent defense (probably our best candidate for a Gold Glove this year) giving him a 4.0 WAR season (476 PA). Realistically he is probably keeping the position warm for top position player prospect Nick Mull, who might not have the offensive upside of Martinez but is an even better fielder and an absolute burner on the base paths (Martinez is slow).

Bobby Erbakan: The veteran long-time Brewer emerged in the past few seasons as a disruptive clubhouse force and he is considered wrecked in terms of injury proneness. And yet, he continued to hit this season, in his limited opportunities. Bobby went .287/.350/.456 over the course of 217 plate appearances (and was even better until a late season slump). He is 37 years old and the team had a buy-out option on 1985, which would have been the last year of his current contract. They took it. Bobby's Brewers career is ended.

Third base:

I'm not even sure who to talk about here as this was a position of flux in 1984. The season started with the fragile Craig Hoover but he was traded away to Charlotte before the trading deadline. (Minor league starting pitcher Alex Canty was part of the haul in return and he ended up being the Pitcher of the Year in AAA and has a chance to be a back end of the rotation arm for the Brewers.) For awhile the Brewers let Dave Harbin, who was part of the package from Phoenix when we sent them Bryant Cox, play third. He is an excellent defender. And hit .188/.269/.377, which was actually better then he did in his short stint in Phoenix. He was sent to AAA.
So let's talk about....

Russell Fleming: Fleming, as has been discussed often here before, can hit a bit. His .290/.325/.377 slash line over the course of 249 plate appearances in 1984 was the worst of his Brewers career thus far but still not bad. (Certainly much better than some of the other options.) He is decent fielder but is error prone. At nearly 28 years old it is becoming hard to see what the future holds for Fleming. He is somewhere between a valuable bench player and an average starter. He's probably positioned to at least start 1985 as the starting third baseman but eventually someone is going to replace him (possibly even better hitting and fielding top third base prospect Jeremy Beeson, the Brewers 1st round draft pick this year.)

Chris Romines: I guess we should talk about Romines too, who put up 1.2 WAR in very limited action late in the season. Romines does have a great contact hit tool with elite avoid K skills. But he's probably best suited to play first base. And there is a logjam there. Hard to know what the future holds for the 24 year old switch-hitter.

Shortstop:
Yet another position of flux in 1984. Dustin Moore, who had started and starred for the team for two seasons at second base, while also getting significant playing time at short, was named the starter going into the season. And then that didn't work out at all. He stopped hitting and he was committing errors left and right. He was traded in late June to Boston and the Brewers got a pair of pretty good middle infielders in the mix who we will talk about soon. Well, one of the them we will talk about now....

Roberto Costocurta: You may have noticed Costocurta's name in the previous post along with a very anemic looking batting line. In fact, Costocurta improved considerably with the bat as the season progressed and his slash line as a Brewer was .265/.316/.369. Not very good but just good enough given his defensive skills and speed (11 SB, 1 CS). Given the lack of better options, the 26-year old former 3rd round draft pick is the starter at short for the time being. He also proved to be the leader our owner was directing us to acquire.

Utility infielders:

Marty Crumbley: Crumbley was the other middle infielder we got from Boston in the Moore deal. He is a 23-year old former 1st round draft pick and it is starting to look like he might emerge as a very good player with a strong hit tool and above average defense at both second base and shortstop. In 82 plate appearances with the big league club in 1984 he hit .387/.439/.547. He can't run at all, he doesn't walk much, and his power is average at best, but he has great contact skills and gap power and good makeup (high intelligence, adaptability, loyalty). He is likely the middle infield backup to start the 1985 season. After that, well, who knows.

Sam Beverly: I'm not sure whether to talk about Beverly here or in the next post with the outfielders, but ultimately first base is probably his landing spot, though with what team is still the question. He is an acceptable corner outfielder and could even play a passable third base possibly. But mostly he's a hitter, with plus power and decent contact skills and a good eye. Our scouts love him for some reason (rated a 4 star player at age 25) but his overall skills don't look that great. He's slow, he's not much of a fielder, and he doesn't profile as being special in any way as a hitter. Then again, in his 71 plate appearances with Denver last season he hit .323/.380/.477 so maybe he is better than he looks. He is considered very smart. But where will I play him? He might be good trade bait. (OSA thinks he's a 4-star player also.)

There are a few other we could talk about here, like 26-year old good contact/plus defense/hard worker Flip Van Dijk, or the aforementioned Dave Harbin. But I wouldn't really know what else to say about them. At this point they look like filler/injury replacements/utility guys.

[BirdWatcher]

Let's conclude with a look at the crowded outfield scene in Denver.


Left field:

Val Guzman: Val, the Brewers 1972 supplemental 1st round pick, is one of my favorites, as I've said many times here before. And that is still true, even though at age 31 (he turned 31 on September 11th of this past season) his days as a starting player are probably ending. After getting off to a good start in 1984 Val had a miserable August and September while Ben Hartman was on a tear and increasingly getting the playing time in left. Val ended up hitting .261/.351/.384, putting together a 2.0 WAR season. He still has his good on base skills, very fine speed, and at least average defense. And he was the only player on the team (with the exception, eventually, of Roberto Costocurta) who didn't make management cringe every time he tried to steal a base. In fact, the most impressive stat of Val's season was that he stole 21 bases, while not being caught stealing even once! On a team with few left-handed bats he will likely still have a role on the club in 1985, but less as a starting outfielder than as a 4th outfielder.

Ben Hartman: While Hartman will likely be the starting left fielder going forward. He was acquired in 1983 from Detroit when reliever Jeff Mariani was sent to the Falcons (Mariani was the closer for Detroit this year and recorded 31 saves but with a 5.14 ERA and 1.66 WHIP, so Denver's front office is feeling pretty vindicated about giving up on him). Hartman is a very fine defensive left fielder and also has the skills to play a capable center field. He is a contact-first hitter but has a bit of pop (9 homers in 430 PA) and has great speed and should be a very good base stealer, but in 1984 he stole just 7 bases while being caught trying 5 times. He hit .353/.386/.458 with a .356 BABIP which suggests there will be some regression in 1985, but as a top of the order hitter he should be quite good.

Center field:

Myles Ford: Ford came to Denver in a trade with Los Angeles in June 1982 that involved 7 minor leaguers changing clubs. It appears that he was the gem of the deal. In 1983, over the course of 300 plate appearances, he had a slash line of .319/.359/.522 for 2.3 WAR and he then followed up on that this season with a .299/.360/.482, 4.5 WAR season in 532 PA. He is a quiet guy who just goes about his business and he has no skills that really stand out as exceptional (other than his raw foot speed, which is excellent) but he does everything well- he is simply above average across the board. He is 27 years old and like Hartman (who turns 27 this offseason) he is likely fully developed and what you see is what you get. Still, at this point it seems like what you get is a solid starting center fielder. He also led the team in home runs this season with 17.

Right field:

Antonio Acuna: Acuna won three straight MGL MVP awards (1979-1981) and also three straight Gold Glove awards in right field (1981-1983) and has been the best player on the team for the past five plus seasons (prior to 1984, that is). After a slight downturn in 1982 (4.0 WAR season, so still good) he rebounded in 1983 to finish 3rd in the MGL MVP voting and had a 5.7 WAR season. And in 1984 he got off to a strong start (he was hitting .340/.351/.568 on June 11th) and it seemed like another MVP candidate season was in the offing. And then things started to fall apart as his contact skills eroded and his power hitting was nonexistent (he hit 13 of his 15 homers prior to August 1st). In spite of indications that his defensive skills should still be strong, his defensive numbers even cratered this season (he had an 11.5 ZR in 1983, and dropped to -0.6 ZR in 1984). His 1.4 WAR was easily the lowest of his career thus far, and that includes his 202 plate appearance rookie season (he had 413 PA this season). One bit of possible good news- his BABIP was a career low .251, so some rebound in 1985 could be expected. But he will be 32 next season and is signed through 1991 and this contract is looking like it might be a problem for the team going forward.

Joe McPhillips: The 35-year old former starting center fielder is fragile but remains a hard worker and a quality player. He hit .285/.356/.428 over 418 plate appearances and put up 1.9 WAR. He remains fast but like most of the team he had a horrible stolen base to caught stealing ratio (9 SB/ 13 CS). He started the season mostly playing center field still but it is clear that he doesn't have the range out there anymore (-2.6 ZR) and as the season wore on mostly was in right field, where he remains very good (2.2 ZR in 49 games). His days as an everyday starter are over but he could provide quality as a 4th or 5th outfielder. The team could have bought out the final season of his contract at the end of the season but unlike Bobby Erbakan the feeling is that he helps the team more than he harms it and his salary for 1985 is much more reasonable so Joe will be around for at least one more season. (The owner wants me to extend him, but I don't see that happening, unless for some reason it makes sense to ink him to a modest 1-year deal.)

I've already discussed Sam Beverly and Russell Fleming above but it should be noted that both of them are decent right fielders (and Fleming, with his very strong throwing arm, is better than decent) though their opportunities to play in right are limited at this time.

[BirdWatcher]

So here it is November 15th, 1984 and having put Mike Costa on the trading block but not having received any offers yet the Brewers management decided to take a more pro-active approach and reached out to teams (shop a player) to see what might be on offer in return.

And apparently the rest of the WPK is bit higher on young Mr. Costa then we are at this point. Granted, he was among the top 5 best prospects in the game for several years before hitting the bigs and he does have some elite skills and stuff. He has also not reached his arbitration years yet so he's cheap and under team control for a good chunk of time ahead.

But here is a sampling of what we have been offered in return (and this is with the trade setting being quite far towards the most difficult end of the spectrum):

Matt Van der Heyden- future Hall of Famer and 2-time league MVP. He is 30 and fragile and expensive (not that we can't afford him- we have plenty of unspent money).

John Mussaw- reigning SJL MVP and 2-time winner of the award. A great clubhouse presence. A gold glove fielder at second base and a great shortstop too (just hasn't had a chance to play there much because he has a teammate named Bud Lindsay). Fragile and 30- but a likely future HOF'er too.

Mike Shervey- speaking of San Antonio Key's MVP's- they also have offered us this 29-year old power-hitting third baseman who was the SJL MVP in 1983. Not a great personality and fragile, but he put up 6 WAR in 1984.

Steven Wells- yup, another San Antonio star- the reigning SJL Harris/Lee award winner. He is 28 but fragile but also a fan favorite. We won't be trading for him, but yikes. I get San Antonio being willing to trade us one of their hitting superstars and they have so many and need pitching. But they also are willing to trade their staff ace who won 23 games last season for Costa? That's crazy.

Ryan Campbell- let's just stick with San Antonio (and I'm just going to mention left fielder Danny Belmontes here and then let that drop- but another very good player). Right now this is probably the guy we trade for. Campbell is durable and 29, has a high work ethic, can play both third base and second base with near Gold Glove level defense and isn't even a bad shortstop if needed. He has an elite eye, very good avoid K, great home run power, and above average contact skills. He's slow, so that's a downside. But he would be our third baseman so the alternatives also aren't all that speedy. He put up 7.9 WAR in 1984.

Having said that Campbell is the guy we are leaning towards, let's quickly talk about other players being offered.

Chris Brynteson, from Jacksonville- first baseman who led the SJL in homers last season with 35.

Kyle Adams, from Boston- first baseman who has hit 34 or more homers each of the last 3 seasons and is a Gold Glove fielder. He's durable and combines elite contact skills with elite power. A true superstar in his prime.

Mitchell Tharp, from Columbus- a durable 25-year old starting pitcher who looks like he has the potential to win a Harris/Lee award or two in the future.

Kyle Decker, from Baltimore- a 29-year old second baseman who put up 6.2 WAR last season, is a fan favorite, an excellent defender, and very fast.

John Hemmah, from Detroit- 30-year old speedster outfielder who has led the league in stolen bases 6 of the past 7 seasons. He has been very inconsistent but some of that might be the travails of playing for the mostly wretched Falcons. He is smart, a hard worker, and has great contact hitting skills.

Chris Caldwell, from Brooklyn- 29-year old outfielder who put up 6.3 WAR last season. Great speed, great defense in left field, good bat, high work ethic.

Nick Johnson, from Pittsburgh- 29-year old first baseman who has led the league in batting average 3 of the past 5 seasons and has a career BA of .353 and a career OBP of .423. 1980 SJL Rookie of the Year. Two time Gold Glove winner. Fan favorite. Iron Man. Oh, and he holds the single season hits record with 266 in 1980 and has average 62 stolen bases per 162 games.

Danny Mejia, from Phoenix- the reigning MGL Reliever of the Year. He's 24 years old, he's a team captain, he's a dominant multi-inning reliever.

Willie Romero, from Portland- the greatest defensive shortstop currently in the game but also probably the greatest defensive player period. He can hit a bit too and hit 19 homer last season, putting up 7.6 WAR.

Fernando Iturralde, from Portland- the MGL Rookie of the Year in 1984. He is a slow corner outfielder with mediocre defensive skills but he can flat out rake at the plate with an elite eye and avoid K, tremendous contact skills, and decent power. He's 27 years old.

Justin Banks, from Oklahoma City- one of my personal favorite players in the WPK. Banks is a fine all-around, hard working, 28-year old second baseman with great speed, good defense, and a fine contact bat.

Chris Heisler, from Houston- young (26) but fragile, Heisler is a Gold Glove center fielder with an excellent bat (playing home games in a pitcher's park has suppressed his stats a bit) and great speed. He put up 6.1 WAR in 1984.

Okay, I'll stop there, but I haven't even mentioned stars like Steve Whitehead and Chase Moeller or the three star, but jerky, outfielders from San Francisco, all of whom are on offer.

I'm probably posting this just to kill some time and give myself a moment to be sure of my decision here. It's rare that there are just too many good players being offered and I could pick about a dozen players or more from what is being offered and not go wrong likely.

But I think it's going to be Ryan Campbell and we will have a new starting third baseman and middle of the order hitter.

[BirdWatcher]

Talk about your mixed messages:





It's official- Ryan Campbell is a Brewer.

[BirdWatcher]

With Ryan Campbell taking over as the starting third baseman it was felt that Russell Fleming deserved a chance to start elsewhere so he was traded to Oklahoma City for the 28-year old Justin Banks.



Banks provides the Brewers with another excellent infield defender who also can hit pretty well and has great speed on the base paths. It does present a new challenge as Victor Martinez had certainly earned the starting second base job and won't be happy to be a backup infielder. Banks is also not very happy with the trade but hopefully over time we will win him over. The other trick is that Banks is another right-handed bat and Martinez is a valuable left-handed bat and the Brewers are unbalanced with some of their only left-handed bats remaining being veteran outfielders Val Guzman and Joe McPhillips, who are unlikely to be starters next season. This might cement Chris Romines role on the club as a backup given that he is a switch hitter who bats better from the left side.

[BirdWatcher]

The votes were cast and the results have been revealed and the newest member (the sixth member) of the WPK Hall of Fame honorees in Dubuque, Iowa is Nate Bennett.




Bennett is best known as the Homerun King, with his career 452 homers easily outdistancing the second batter on the list by a considerable amount- Ju-ao Ju, who himself will be on the HOF ballot after the 1988 season and hit 393 career home runs.
But there is a bit more to Bennett than just the longball. He did after all put up a career slash line of .301/.385/.520, led the league in batting average once (1965, .312), runs scored once (1977, 138), and in OPS four seasons. His career RBI of 1,466 are second only to fellow Hall of Famer Jesus Casiano (1,506). He is sixth in OPS but second among retired players with only fellow Hall of Famer Andy Wilson ahead of him. He was a 10-time All-Star and won the Silver Slugger award 11 times, 7 as a right fielder and the last four as a first baseman.
Which does lead to an important point about Bennett: he wasn't a fielder! His career ZR at right field was -145.4 and at first base it was -99.8.
But he was a feared hitter, a dominant and consistent force at the plate.



A little bit of trivia that we found out about just a few days before the announcement of his election as a HOF'er is that he hold the career WPK record for times intentionally walked with 129.
That's the kind of fear he put into opponents.




Closer Pat Brooks, one of the most well-known relievers of the first generation of WPK players saw his vote totals spike upwards again in this, his fifth time on the ballot. Brad Tesh, one of the best power/speed combo players of his generation, saw a bit of a rise from his 2nd ballot vote totals this year. Then there are a rash of starting pitchers will very similar credentials, all of whom were very good but none of whom are likely to end up with plaques in Dubuque.
Former Brewer (among several other teams) reliever Jose de los Santos finally finds himself falling off the ballot on his 6th try. Among the first timers who didn't generate the 5% of the votes to stay on the ballot were former (original) Brewer shortstop Chad Brown. Probably most surprising though was Mike Silveira finishing dead last in the voting this year. While Silveira certainly isn't a Hall of Famer, he was at times considered one of the best players in the game and at or near the top of the pile at the shortstop position. He was a 4-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winner, and 3-time Silver Slugger winner. It seems like he got unduly disrespected with these results.

It will be interesting to see what happens with players like Tesh and Brooks next year as the first timers on the ballot look like the weakest group in several years and after that there are some extremely strong classes coming up. Next year might be the one window of opportunity for one or more of the borderline candidates to get in before they run out time and drop off the ballot entirely.

[BirdWatcher]

It is Opening Day 1985 in the W.P. Kinsella League and time for the unveiling of the official predictions for the upcoming season.


First let's take a look at the Shoeless Joe League:






The thing that jumps out instantly is that the prognosticators see the powerful San Antonio Keys, winners of 3 of the past 5 WPK Championships, falling to .500 and tied for 3rd place. They are aging and some of their key players have serious injury risks (Bud Lindsay, John Mussaw, Steven Wells, etc.) so that might have something to do with the predicted decline. On the other hand the experts believe that the 1975 expansion club, the Chicago Fire, will finally rise up to win their first divisional pennant. Their expansion mates, the Houston Cavaliers, are also expected to continue their climb towards contention.
In the SJL East, Washington, the SJL team with the biggest market and budget, are expected to finish in first place for a fourth straight season. The Boston Berserkers, who were in contention up until near the end of the season in 1984, are expected to take a big step backwards and drop to last place in 1985. But as has been the case for several seasons now the SJL East is expected to be much tighter overall than the SJL West.

Among the players expected to be the top hitters, the biggest surprise is Washington first baseman Donovan Hickson who went .250/.379/.554 in 116 plate appearances in his first big league season last year. While Hickson isn't expected to be a great contact hitter he does have prodigious power, excellent on-base skills, and good speed for a slugging corner infielder. He is thought likely to lead the league in home runs this season. Watch 23-year old Houston second baseman Wilfredo Garcia too. The 4th overall pick in the 1983 draft, Garcia is an average defender but looks like he is heading towards being one of the best hitters in the game. In 388 PA's last year he hit .323/.418/.514, coming in 2nd in the SJL Rookie of the Year voting to Milwaukee's power-hitting first baseman Aaron Sizemore but Garcia is more likely to end up being among the best players of his generation.

Mike Costa, who joined the WPK champs San Antonio in the offseason in a trade with Denver, is expected to be among the top pitchers in the SJL, but with his control issues continuing to hold him back from his full potential. Bob Styles of Seattle, at age 27 and having been in the league for 4 seasons, much of it in the bullpen, is expected to break out as one of the biggest surprises in 1985. And durable 35-year old left-hander Parker Rayfield is expected to continue quietly being one of the most consistently valuable starting pitchers in the game.


Now the Moonlight Graham League:




The prognosticators expect Portland to rebound in 1985 and win the MGL West with Denver once again finishing in second, although with even fewer wins than in '84. The reigning MGL West champs, San Francisco, are expected to drop into a 3rd place tie with Phoenix, while L.A. and St. Louis continue to bring up the rear.
Over in the MGL East, experts see Oklahoma City once again being the best team in the MGL and for Detroit to rebound a bit to 2nd place, while Brooklyn slips and Montreal continues to be one of the worst teams in the league.

As for individual batters, although the experts see the Denver Brewers as continuing a bit of a slide, they are high on the two players they acquired in trade in the offseason: Ryan Campbell and Justin Banks. Former Brewer farmhand Victor Oseguera, who had a breakout season with Phoenix in 1984 is expected to continue his strong offensive production, as is injury-prone former Brewer Eric Hammock with Charlotte.
Eric Maisch is expected to lead the Brewers pitching staff, which seems like a safe bet if he remains healthy. In addition to a few of the usual names on this list (Jon Harrington, Mike Piles, David Martin) there are some surprising new names too. Kyle Gilbert of Portland, who turns 23 in May, was in the Wild Things bullpen this past year but it looks like he will enter the rotation this year and be one of the players pushing Portland back up to the top of the standings in the MGL West. Similar is Jason Scott of Charlotte who did start 18 games last season and went 10-10 with a 3.16 ERA and doesn't turn 23 until this coming July. And J.R. Schuman of Los Angeles is expected to continue to struggle with his control at age 27 but also has some of the nastiest stuff in the league along with excellent movement.

[BirdWatcher]

The top prospects in the WPK as we enter the 1985 season are the following:



Jacksonville's 21-year old right-handed power pitcher Casey Van Fossen has been quickly moving up the prospects list rankings in the past year, starting the 1984 season as the #33 prospect but moving up to #9 last July, then up to #2 at the end of the season. He is poised to enter the Wolf Pack rotation soon and it appears will start the season in the big league bullpen. Very impressive for a 10th round draft pick from 1983.

On the other hand, Phoenix center field prospect Dan Johnson was the #1 overall pick of the 1981 draft and has been either #1 or #2 on the top prospects list mid-season 1981. It looks like this might be the year that the 22-year old speedy defensive specialist makes it the WPK. His makeup is great, his tools unquestionable, but his contact skills at the plate could hold him back from true superstardom. He does have a fine eye at the plate and still developing power that could become elite. His floor is likely Gold Glove caliber starting outfielder and his ceiling could still be that of future Hall of Famer. But don't expect any batting titles.

Milwaukee's Edwin Gomez, who was discovered in Mexico back in 1979 as a promising youngster, has been a top 10 prospect since Opening Day 1984. At age 22 he still needs some development on his curveball, his 3rd pitch, before earning a rotation slot, but with great stamina and the potential for plus stuff along with plus control, he looks like a solid mid-rotation starter in the future and his floor is probably that of a valuable bullpen arm.

Extreme groundballer Jonas Irvin could help bring back the formerly sterling reputation of the Columbus Whalers starting rotation, along with current Whaler Mitchell Tharp who looks like he is coming into his own. The 20-year old Irvin is still probably a year or two away from the bigs though.

After the aforementioned Dan Johnson, the top rated Phoenix farm system also includes starting pitcher Eric Tungate in the top 5. Tungate will need to develop his command/movement a bit more though if he is going to have success pitching his home games in hitter and homer haven Phoenix Municipal Stadium. He also profiles as potentially a 2-pitch pitcher but with plus stuff and potentially elite control he could at least prove to be a excellent reliever.

Josh Calliste out of Detroit College, the 2nd overall pick in the 1984 draft, is a bright spot in the otherwise mostly dismal Montreal Royals picture. Calliste has the reputation of being one of the hardest workers in the game, has 3 plus pitches with some room for growth still, should have tremendous stuff to go with plus control and decent movement and is a ground ball specialist. Of the pitchers we've discussed so far, some feel that Calliste may eventually be the best of the lot.

Alex Afanador is an interesting story, as the Cuban third baseman was signed by the Iowa Baseball Confederacy (independent league) Albuquerque Airmen in the offseason only to then have them sell his contract to the Baltimore Lords, in a move that was an absolute steal for the Lords. Afandor is a 22-year with great power potential and an even better eye at the plate but he is slow and has average contact skills at best. Still, he should be a fine defensive third baseman and looks to have a big league career in his future, and soon. (He starts the season at AAA.)

Eric Ross is the son of former big league relief pitcher Adam Ross, who had an undistinguished 6-year career in the WPK before retiring in 1976. Early indications are that the 18-year old Eric, who was the top pick in last year's draft, will completely outshine his father as a ballplayer. Ross should be a solid defensive second baseman with an advanced approach at the plate and even possibly a bit of over-the-fence pop. He isn't speedy, but he runs well enough to take advantage of his potentially elite eye at the plate and his above average contact skills.

Nicaraguan scouting discovery Cruz Alvarez still needs a great deal of development in his game at age 19, but the raw tools are there (elite speed, very good defense) and should he develop both his power and contact hitting skills as expected, he could be a future force in the WPK. He won't likely draw a lot of walks but with his great speed he should be able to leg out many infield hits and then he's off to the races. He is still several years away from big league readiness but the ceiling is great for this kid.

Rounding out the top ten is durable right-handed starting pitcher Mike Helf in the Boston system. Helf has 4 plus pitches and good stamina but will need to improve his movement/command a bit in order to reach his potential in the big leagues.



Let's take a look at the organizational rankings entering this season:




After many years of dismal failure and disappointment in Phoenix, this team does appear to be on the rise. (Yes, somewhat hidden pun mostly intended.) They are particularly pitching rich in terms of prospects, though admittedly most of these youngsters have some question marks (fragile, bad makeup, etc.).

Milwaukee also is a team due for a change in fortunes. Watch for their left field prospect Joe Weiner, who just made the top 100, to make it based upon his tremendous skills at the plate in spite of poor defense and almost no foot speed. He has the height for a move to first base but his best opportunity will come should the WPK implement the designated hitter rule at some point in the next few years.

Jacksonville's top 4 pitching prospects may actually be underrated though there is some movement deficit issue with at least a few of them. Still, with a few young pitchers already in their rotation looking for real (David Parker, Manny Bell) and top prospect Casey Van Fossen in the bullpen, this aspect of the future for the Wolf Pack looks quite promising.

Baltimore's system looks pretty solid but outfielder Chris Buchannan is another premium hitter hoping for a DH rule soon.

The Denver system may be overrated here a bit due to Mike Warner being projected as a starting pitcher when he likely will only have 2 pitches that are more than just for show. He is an extreme groundballer with great control and a high work ethic to go with excellent stamina, but the reality is that his future is likely in the bullpen or as a swingman. On the other hand, Stephen Brooks and Bernie Lopez are both nearly WPK ready and profile as mid-rotation potential and possibly #1 ceilings. And 23-year old second baseman Nick Mull should be big league ready soon and has Gold Glove potential with elite speed and plus eye to go along with a league average hit tool overall.

Looking towards the bottom of the organizational rankings, we see that San Antonio and El Paso, who up until recently have been the powerhouses in the SJL West (well, San Antonio still is until they prove otherwise) have paid the price of extremely weak farm systems for their success. Lean years could be ahead for both of these teams. (Though I will say that I think El Paso prospect Adam Morgan might be under-rated. He looks like a good ballplayer to me.)
And the 1980 expansion St. Louis Redbirds really should have more to show by now for several years of high draft picks.

[BirdWatcher]

(I was going to wait until the end of April to provide the next WPK update, but this kid's performance was too good not to share.)



Chris Romines has been absolutely on fire in the early going of the 1985 season and it is getting him more playing time, mostly at first base but also giving the occasional breather to third baseman Ryan Campbell.

Last week Romines exploits at the plate earned him MGL Player of the Week honors. The Brewers have gotten off to a slow start in the 1985 season but just wrapped up a 4-game sweep of the lowly Montreal Royals at home with Romines going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI in the 14-3 series opener, 1 for 3 with a run scored and a walk in the game 2 6-5 victory, then after a day off for game 3 (which the Brewers won 2-1 behind some great pitching from Jose Corpeno), Romines led the way in the final game of the series, which the Brewers won 6-5 on a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th, going 4 for 4 with 3 RBI and a walk, hitting his first triple of the season.
In 47 plate appearances he is hitting .511/.532/.711. Yes, it is a very small sample size and his BABIP sits at an incredibly unsustainable .500. Still, the scouting staff does see him as having the best contact skills on the team and he has displayed some unexpected pop.
His big league slash line in 130 plate appearances thus far: .456/.477/.656 with 2.0 WAR. Not a shabby start to a career and with the aging Brett Taranto hitting .192/.250/.325 the 25-year old former 7th round draft pick Romines is certainly threatening Taranto's status as the starting first baseman. Romines also provides great defense at first and is a switch-hitter who is good from the right side but great from the left and the Brewers roster is right-handed hitter heavy.

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

I knew that sooner or later that the day would come. The end of Bobby Erbakan's tenure with the Denver Brewers. It is sad to see the way his personality declined the last few years, but it didn't seem to get in the way of his on field play. The strong leadership of the team kept him in check in other ways I am sure. Any ideas of why his personality changed? Was there an event(s) that happened to facilitate it? I am sure that this happens more than we know but we just do not see it because oftentimes it happens to players we do not concentrate on. I have some ideas about all this. With Bobby being a favorite of mine and on your team we looked and talked about him alot all throughout his career so we saw the changes (you more than I).

Moving on, what has happened to him since you let him go? Has he signed with anyone? Is he starting? Has he remained healthy at all or is he still maligned by injuries? I would love to have some updates on him if you don't mind (if there are any).

Thanks man, have a Great Day!

Palaaemon

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

I knew that sooner or later that the day would come. The end of Bobby Erbakan's tenure with the Denver Brewers. It is sad to see the way his personality declined the last few years, but it didn't seem to get in the way of his on field play. The strong leadership of the team kept him in check in other ways I am sure. Any ideas of why his personality changed? Was there an event(s) that happened to facilitate it? I am sure that this happens more than we know but we just do not see it because oftentimes it happens to players we do not concentrate on. I have some ideas about all this. With Bobby being a favorite of mine and on your team we looked and talked about him alot all throughout his career so we saw the changes (you more than I).

Moving on, what has happened to him since you let him go? Has he signed with anyone? Is he starting? Has he remained healthy at all or is he still maligned by injuries? I would love to have some updates on him if you don't mind (if there are any).

Thanks man, have a Great Day!

Palaaemon

Hey Palaaemon- I definitely thought of you when I decided to let Bobby move on.
Had his personality traits not tanked in the past few seasons there would have still been a good chance of him finishing his career in a Brewers uniform. Although he is also considered wrecked in terms of injury proneness, he was still a useful player. As you can see from below, his OPS+ last season was a respectable 117. His defense isn't what it used to be but he is an average or slightly above average defender. (And surely if he moved back to first base with a little playing time he might still be very good there.) And though he is no longer fast, he is a smarter base stealer and base runner than many current Brewers.
Also, as you indicated, given the overall mix of personalities and good leadership on the team it's not like he was seriously dragging down team morale.
It's hard to pinpoint how his personality changed over time but I do remember how he was often angry during his minor league years and once he joined the big league club it wasn't like he was ever considered a real plus in the clubhouse. He was mostly just Bobby. Nothing really stood out. As he got older there started to be some questions about his work ethic, some hints about him being lazy and unmotivated. And then eventually that morphed into just being flat out disruptive.

It was still hard for me to make the decision to pull the plug. But ultimately I thought that a few seasons of having wording about him like "no tears would be shed if he were gone" along with his extreme fragility and the fact that had we not bought out that final year of his contract he still would have been one of the higher paid players on the team while taking playing time away from younger players meant that the most realistic and reasonable course of action was to send him packing.

At present he is still sitting at home waiting for a team to give him a contract as a free agent. (It is April 24th right now.) He certainly has the talent to fit on some teams as a backup player but my guess is that his personality is scaring teams away. It also is rumored that he is looking for a major league contract paying him approximately $252,000 (in 1985 terms not a super cheap contract). Eventually if he decides to settle for a minor league deal I imagine he might find a place to play.

I should probably also say that another factor was that I had (have) allowed the Brewers to get a little old and I am currently saddled with some contracts that are starting to look like problems for us (Brett Taranto, making more than a million a year and under contract through 1988 and on pace for negative WAR this year and Antonio Acuna, who at age 32 is turning into a poor player almost as quickly and unexpectedly as he previously turned into a 3-time league MVP starting at age 26). If Bobby's had been the only bad veteran contract on the books I would have been much more likely to keep him. But it is time for some changes in Denver.
On the plus side, Joe McPhillips is off to a fine start (on pace for 5.9 WAR, though I'm sure that is temporary- small sample size) at age 36 and getting most of the playing time in right field now with Acuna's rapid decline in productivity.

Happy New Year my friend.

[BirdWatcher]

Here are the WPK standings at the end of the first month of the 1985 season:




The prognosticators felt that this was the year that the Chicago Fire rose to the top of the SJL West standings and thus far they haven't disappointed. Although their bullpen has been a weak spot, they rank 1st in runs against in the league on the strength of a mostly young and very talented starting rotation, with a nice contribution at the back end from veteran Tony Rangel. And this is with probably their best starter, lefty Steven Kretzer, off to a rough start at 1-3 with a 9.47 ERA. He will surely improve on those numbers soon. They are also second in runs scored, which might be more impressive given that their home park is very pitcher friendly, and with players like 24-year old shortstop Pat Thompson, 27-year old left fielder Alex Martinez, and 23-year old center fielder Grady Parvin (Thompson and Martinez are off to a great start, Parvin much less so) they have a chance to be a good team for years into the future.

The mighty San Antonio Keys remain a potent offensive team but are currently without the services of veteran captain (and GOAT) shortstop Bud Lindsay, who is not expected back for another month (he has been out since April 12th) with an oblique strain. (At 34, the future HOF'er is wrecked.) Two-time league MVP John Mussaw is off to a slow start but the 3-4-5 lineup guys (John Freeman, Mike Shervey, Danny Belmontes) all remain dangerous hitters (though 2 of the 3 are also fragile). And 24-year old catcher Sal Montella is emerging as the best catcher of the next generation and already rivals veterans Jason Ott and Andrew Litteral for the title of best current catcher in the game.

Like their 1975 expansion counterparts in Chicago, the Houston Cavaliers are a team on the rise and got off to a strong start but they faded a bit at the end of the month to drop into 3rd place. Their 24-year old left fielder Alex Raymos is in the discussion as best hitter in the game and is a likely future league MVP and hitting right in front of him in the lineup is 23-year old second baseman Wilfredo Garcia who is a high on-base, great contact, decent power guy and possibly already the best hitter at his position in the WPK. Their starting rotation has not been great and some of their most talented pitchers (i.e. Jacob Whittemore) are injury prone, but the bullpen has been fantastic with 28-year old closer Matt Harris certainly in the conversation as best closer in the game.

El Paso's pitching is okay (watch for 22-year old team captain Sam Butler to emerge as one of the more dependable starters in the game, even if not really an ace) but their lineup is getting old and isn't great. Co-captain Jose Gutierrez remains a wonderful player at age 33 and they do have a strong young shortstop in 24-year old Bill Goodwin, but he's slow and mostly a slap hitter and the majority of his value comes from his terrific defense.

Seattle's been a bad team for some time and they remain a bad team. Team captain John Pepin is a strong defender behind the plate and not a bad hitter and 23-year old center fielder Rodrigo de la Torre is a likely Gold Glove candidate who is still developing as a hitter (ceiling is probably just above average at the plate). Also, 24-year old starting pitcher John Stone has a chance to be quite good (and is durable). But that's pretty much it and it doesn't appear that reinforcements are coming soon.

What to say about the Milwaukee Cadets? In fairness to them, they have been decimated early by some key injuries (left fielder J.D. Hill went down in March but should be returning in the next week or so, starting pitcher Curtis Robey has been on the IL since last July but should start a rehab assignment in a few days, and closer David Bozza was shelved a few days ago due to forearm tendinitis and isn't expected back for about a month). They are last in the SJL in runs scored and runs against. They do have a few young bullpen arms who show promise. And they just brought up a top prospect in right fielder Kusuma Kartosuwyiro (in spite of the exotic name, he is a kid out of Bristol, Connecticut who played his college ball at Boston College) and while looks like an average right fielder (though with a cannon for an arm) he should add considerable punch to a mostly punch-less lineup.

Over in the SJL East the Washington Night Train remain the class of the division. Their pitching staff is good but it is their offense which mostly drives them. 28-year old center fielder Rick Downey is off to a great start, hitting .365 with 9 homers. Their talented duo of Korean-born players- left fielder Myon-ki Choi and second baseman Ki-moon Kim- remain great players (and Kim is a fan favorite). And 24-year old left-handed starting pitcher Rich Freeman is off to a 6-0 start with an ERA of 2.09. And he is joined by 1983 Harris/Lee award winner Dusty Swarthout, 27-year old fan favorite control-specialist Eric Bisbey, and ageless lefty (35) Parker Rayfield, off to a 3-1, 2.09 start, in a deep and talented rotation. This is a good team.

After that there is a lot of parity in the division. The Philadelphia Mud Hens led the league in ZR and are tied for 2nd in fewest errors and that has helped to elevate their pitching to pretty much the middle of the pack in spite of not really being all that talented. Fan favorite 29-year old center fielder Mike Florack is good as always (.306/.384/.571) but mostly this is not a great team.

Jacksonville has the best prospect in the game in pitcher Casey Van Fossen, who is currently in the bullpen but likely destined to be the ace of the rotation before long. Actually, he will have some competition from 22-year David Parker who is already atop the rotation and is one of the most promising power pitchers in the league. So those are a couple of nice things we can say about the Wolf Pack. (Okay- one more- 5th starter Manny Bell is only 23 and also looks like he should be very good.) Their third baseman, 27-year old Chris Brynteson is one of the best power hitters in the game (9 homers, tied with Rick Downey for league lead), but other than that he isn't really that great. They have some other good pitchers in the pipeline but that lineup is old and/or fragile and/or not very good.

Boston is 3rd in the SJL in runs against and their bullpen has been quite good in particular. But offensively the only area where they stand out as quite good is in baserunning. This season has seen the emergence of 27-year old third baseman Izzy Morales as a middle of the lineup force, though he is more contact than power oriented. And 28-year old first baseman Kyle Adams is off to a slow start but is clearly one of the best pure hitters in the game. Beyond that there isn't much to get excited about here.

Pittsburgh's pitching and defense are holding back a potent offense. Though that lineup, in spite of the presence of future HOF'er Matt van der Heyden, 3-time batting champ Nick Johnson, and good-hitting, great-fielding left fielder Brendan Beaver, has underachieved. And to be fair, the bottom of the order isn't impressive at all and clean-up hitter Toby Noguchi is pretty much an all-or-nothing power hitter. They have some pretty good pitchers on the way but at the moment the Road Runners look like a team headed in the wrong direction.

And oh how the once mighty Columbus Whalers have sunk. Their pitching, at one time the defining characteristic of this franchise, is at least better than their dismal offense. 38-year old third baseman Chris Tobin reached the 300 homer milestone this year, so that was nice. Mitchell Tharp, 26-year old right-handed starting pitcher, looks like he should be a good one, but given how bad this team is he is off to a 2-3, 5.95 ERA. Their system is ranked 6th and they have some really good looking players on the way. But they are going to need a complete transfusion of talent before they are a contender again in the future.




Turning to the MGL West, the San Francisco Velocity are off to a great start in 1985. Pitching leads the way, though admittedly their home park is the best pitcher's park in the MGL. 25-year old fan favorite Jim McGowan (3-0, 1.95) joins 2-time Harris/Lee award winner Jon Harrington and 1983 MGL ROY Brad Stephens to give the Velocity a great 1-3 in the rotation and they have been joined by veteran former Oklahoma City star pitcher Joe Shetler, whose poor movement and extreme flyball tendencies are somewhat mitigated by his new home ballpark environment. (Shetler is a great makeup guy on a team that desperately needs guys with better attitudes and personalities like him.) Their bullpen features almost exclusively veterans whose best days may be behind them but who have all been very good and remain solid (Jeff Chaffee- a 2-time Reliever of the Year-, Ben Bakeman- Iron Man and 1983 Reliever of the Year-, Joe Hall- another 2-time Reliever of the Year-, Shouta Hori- who won the MGL Reliever of the Year award way back in 1975 as a member of the Los Angeles Spinners and who won 20 games in 1976 exclusively as a reliever). Their 23-year old team captain and second baseman Seth Garone is an excellent contact hitter and solid fielder and helps to balance out the horrible personalities of their three outfield stars.

The Los Angeles Spinners got off a good start but have slumped lately and aren't expected to contend this year. They are first in runs scored in the league and youngster David Tockstein, the MGL Player of the Month, has played a large role in that. Although Tockstein and 25-year old star left fielder Chris Corley are likely for real, there is little to suggest that the rest of the lineup is good enough to sustain this stat. Their bullpen is weak, their defense merely average, and the starting rotation has some significant holes and question marks.



The Denver Brewers got off to a very bad start to the season, granted playing on the road against strong opponents (Portland and Oklahoma City to start the season) but they started showing signs of life late in the month. I'll probably save any other Brewers notes for the next post.

Similarly, the Phoenix Speed Devils started slow but have been getting better lately (they had a 7-game winning streak until dropping 3 of their last 4). Oddly, for a team that plays in the most extreme hitters park in the league, their starting rotation is 4th in ERA in the MGL while they are just 8th as a team in runs scored. Their lineup is admittedly somewhat contact deprived. They do have the best ZR in the league and they have some very talented bullpen arms. It's not the sort of thing we are used to saying about the Speed Devils, but if they could just get a bit more hitting they could contend.

Portland is another team with better pitching and defense than offense. Then again, even though they are 9th in runs scored they are first in batting WAR and home runs and 2nd in wOBA so they might have just had some bad luck in terms of sequencing. They are a good defensive team as would be expected of a club with the best fielding shortstop (Willie Romero) and center fielder (Quincy Schultz) in the game. Young (22) starting pitcher Kyle Gilbert looks to be emerging as the staff ace (3-2, 2.22) but the bullpen looks like it may have over-performed thus far. This isn't a bad team nor is it a very good one.

The St. Louis Redbirds, on the other hand, are a bad team. They are 10th in runs scored and tied for 10th in runs against. Their best players are either old (Luis Gonzales, 38) or fragile (and a little old- Steve Whitehead, 31). Left-handed starting pitcher Dan Clark has tremendous stuff but is basically a 2-pitch pitcher with low stamina. 22-year old Greg Grieve is a decent all-around pitcher- a solid number 3 guy- but likely never more than that. And another 22-year old, Greg Kratochvil, has potential to be quite a bit more but needs to harness his control and is fragile. The bullpen is mostly old and mediocre. And they have the 22nd (out of 24) ranked farm system. Better days are likely far off in the gateway city.

In the MGL East, the Baltimore Lords have recently surged past Oklahoma City into 1st place. Uncharacteristically, the Lords offense is merely average thus far while the pitching has been strong- they are 2nd in runs against and 2nd in starters ERA. The rotation doesn't really have a standout but it is deep and mostly durable. Actually that largely describes the bullpen also, though watch for 21-year old Brian Jackson who is destined to enter the rotation before too long and just needs to develop his movement a bit more to be a fine starter with great stamina. Cuban rookie third baseman Alex Afanador has been the biggest threat in the lineup while shortstop John Haygood had a great April hitting at the bottom of the lineup (.363/.389/.659- numbers he almost certainly won't be able to come close to maintaining given his established skills and history- though his .346 BABIP isn't that out of line). A pair of their more reliable hitters- second baseman Kyle Decker and center fielder Noel McMillan are off to slow starts and so likely the offense will improve as the season progresses.

Oklahoma City jumped off to a 14-5 start before slumping a bit late in the month. Their starting rotation is a real strength but it has taken some hits as Mike Piles is now out for 6 weeks with shoulder inflammation and talented 23-year old Andy Boudreaux is out for 8 weeks with a strained shoulder. Veteran David Martin is off to a great start (4-1, 1.93) and 24-year old lefty Matt Greene has now entered the rotation full-time, though although he certainly has the stamina for a starting role his third pitch is a rather average fastball. Jaylen Watkins, the 27-year old corner infielder and team captain, is off to a slow start at the plate but has plus plus contact skills and decent power and should heat up. But while this is a strong team, their lineup does have some holes and their top prospects are all pitchers. They should contend, but winning the division isn't a given.

The Charlotte Sting have a good and deep pitching staff but no offense to support them. Young (24) left fielder Cameron Walters is off to a good start (.397/.446/.534) and while he doesn't project to have great power he is strong contact hitter who will rarely strike out. But other than that their best hitter is Eric Hammock, who is 31 and fragile. And there isn't a lot on the way either from a rather weak farm system. Their pitching may keep them from dropping to the bottom of the standings but I don't see them contending soon either.

The Brooklyn Aces are suffering from poor defense and an under-achieving (but talented) starting rotation- and these are not likely coincidental realities. They added the ultra-popular former Columbus Whaler starting pitcher Bill Thompson to the rotation in the off-season and he has been good (2-2, 3.32) but he is the only member of the rotation under 30 and that might also be a factor. They also added premier closer Vinny Arreola in the offseason through a trade and he has a 5.11 ERA while their holdover closer Michael Tucker, a 2-time Reliever of the Year and only 25-years old, has put up a 6.48 ERA. (With Tucker, especially, this is largely the product of an insane BABIP against, so surely these numbers should stabilize eventually.) Chris Caldwell, their 30-year old center fielder, leads the way offensively (.351/.376/.541) but in spite of being 3rd in runs scored they are 10th in batting WAR and 9th in OBP and the lineup has largely underperformed. (Then again, parts of it are getting old and other parts are looking like they might not really be that great, so maybe the 3rd in runs scored is an over-performance.)

The Detroit Falcons defense is the worst in the MGL. Almost sure future Hall of Famer Aaron McNally is off to a 3-3 start (not too bad) with a 6.50 ERA and 1.64 WHIP (are you kidding me?) and given that the BABIP against him is just .296 there is possibly reason to panic at age 34. (And okay, yeah, it's only 36 innings pitched, but his FIP is 5.62 with a FIP- of 142. And given how his career has been trending, this truly might be the beginning of the end. What's more: K/9 of 4.2 with a BB/9 of 3.8 and a HR/9 of 1.8.) On the other hand, 22-year old Andrew Carr should have a bright future though given that he is largely a 2-pitch pitcher it is unclear whether it will be in the rotation or in the 'pen. (Changeup is almost average but with little growth expected.) Phil Martin, the 28-year old second baseman, is hitting .354/.379/.515 and he did hit .355 just 2 seasons ago (though in only 101 games) so that is a bright spot. And 31-year old catcher Zach D'Amico remains a solid player and is on pace for 36 home runs (he has hit 18 three times in his career and never more than that and no, I don't think he will hit 36 this season.) Once again, Detroit's not very good. Moving on.

Finally, the 1980 expansion Montreal Royals. Honestly, a 10-17 start for the Royals counts as good news. They don't suck as much as expected so far. I mean, they are 11th in runs scored and 12th in runs against (out of 12 teams in the MGL). And their -38 run differential is better than only one team- the 6-21 Milwaukee Cadets. So, yeah, they are really awful but maybe slightly lucky so far. They are 3rd in home runs in the MGL, with veteran first baseman Chase Moeller leading the way with 10, the most of any WPK player at this point. And young pitching prospect Josh Calliste hasn't allowed an earned run yet in his 7 innings pitched out of the 'pen (though his 1.57 WHIP isn't great). This is a bad team, but the farm system is decent and they have some young talent on the way. It probably will be some time before this is a respectable team but there is some small amount of light at the end of the tunnel.

[BirdWatcher]

As you could see in the previous post, the Denver Brewers finished the month of April just barely over .500 and sitting in 3rd place in the MGL West, 6 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Velocity.

Here are some basic stats for the team thus far:






The team continues to hit pretty well and score runs though the power hitting hasn't heated up yet. But for a team that has put pitching front and center for some time now and has had some of the top pitching prospects in the game come through their system, things are really not going well in that department yet this season.
Jim Atwell has done his job just fine (and has recently graduated from Durable to Iron Man), going 2-2 with a 3.28 ERA and a 3.22 FIP. He is 3rd in the MGL in strikeouts with 34.
And 5th starter Austin Bond continues his history of seeming to pitch above his perceived abilities (actually, his scouting ratings are heading towards alarmingly poor levels which is a concern). He has gone 4-0 with a 3.48 ERA and a 3.20 FIP and his BABIP against is actually somewhat high, so somehow he keeps working his lefty magic.
But Eric Maisch, ostensibly the most talented pitcher in the rotation, is 2-3 with a 5.95 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. His FIP is a 4.42, so slight comfort and his BABIP is .369, so likely he'll start getting some better luck eventually. It should be noted that he leads the league in strikeouts with 41 and he's only walked 7 batters but he also has given up 10 homers already.
And Sadahige Kawasaki, at age 36 and coming off a mediocre season after missing 1983 with a torn UCL, just isn't very good anymore. It is one thing that his stuff is now average at best- one might expect that from an older pitcher who wasn't really a stuff-first guy anyway- but now his previously magnificent control has completely disappeared. He retains his great movement but that alone isn't enough. He is 0-3 with a 5.43 ERA and even worse a 1.95 WHIP. His FIP of 4.50 isn't disastrous but at best he is now a mediocre starting pitcher, not the potential Hall of Famer he used to be.
Also, Jose Corpeno, given a chance to prove himself in the rotation with Mike Costa having been traded away, had moments where he looked very good, but also too many moments when he fell apart completely. He was 2-2 but with a 6.06 ERA and 4.72 FIP and was allowing too many home runs also and has been sent back down to AAA to get his head straight.
With Corpeno sent down the current top pitching prospect, Stephen Brooks, comes up and is slated to start the first game of today's doubleheader. Brooks mostly looks ready to be very good but will need to prove that his lack of control isn't a debilitating condition.

The bullpen has had it's issues also, after being the best in the business last season, but it also has some bright spots.

Dan Folk is in the process of emerging as one of the dominant bullpen arms in the game. He is taking over the closer role and thus far has 4 saves in 4 tries without allowing a run, having a 9.8 K/9 and no walks issued in 7.1 innings pitched. His FIP is 0.61 and his WHIP is 0.68. It's an incredibly small sample size so please understand that I am making these points somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But the reality is that all indications are that he is for real and at 24 and durable with high intelligence and a strong work ethic and great stamina, this kid who was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1982 draft should be the anchor of our bullpen for years to come.

The guy he is taking over for, Tim Shore, is a likely Hall of Famer. But he is also 39 and showing his age. He has 2 saves in 3 chances this year but also a 9.64 ERA and 1.71 WHIP. Again, super small sample size and Shore is better than this but his days of being a dominant closer are surely over.

Another guy struggling this year thus far is fan favorite veteran lefty Rand Pinti. Pinti is 1-0 but his ERA is 8.44 and his WHIP is 2.06. Now, here's the good news: his FIP is 2.41 and his BABIP against is .450. So even though it is true that his stuff is diminishing a bit he remains a groundball specialist with good control and very good movement and should rebound as the season progresses.

The other left-hander in the bullpen, Diego Lopez, continues to be a solid middle relief option as in his 8 appearances thus far he has 1 save and an ERA of 2.70.

The fiercely loyal and smart Paul Johnson has fared well, having given up just 4 hits and no runs over the course of his 9.2 innings with an 0.62 WHIP. Yes, he's been BABIP lucky (.138), but Johnson continues to profile as a fine middle reliever/setup man.

Willie Ramirez has put up similar numbers to Johnson, though he does have a 2.00 ERA over 9 innings pitched and he's one of the team leaders. At age 23, he looks like the most promising young arm in the 'pen outside of Folk.

The pitching staff hasn't been helped by the Brewers poor defense and propensity to commit errors. This one is hard to fathom as several changes were made to the club this season that should have improved us in this area. Ryan Campbell is a strong defender (in theory, anyway) at third base and Justin Banks is an upgrade at second. With Roberto Costocurta and the recently acquired Jorge Reda (more about that later) getting all the time at short, the team is strong defensively there. Myles Ford now being the full-time starting center fielder gives us an upgrade at that key position and allows veteran Joe McPhillips to move over to right where he still profiles as being excellent. Ben Hartman, due to offensive struggles, hasn't nudged Val Guzman out of leftfield as much as was expected, but it's not like Val is a terrible defender anyway (even if he isn't a good as the younger Hartman).
So we are going to hope that as things settle down and the season progresses these defensive numbers will improve.

Offensively we have already talked about young Chris Romines hitting exploits, for which he earned MGL Rookie of the Month honors.



Justin Banks has gotten off to a good start with his new team too, hitting .344/.373/.583 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, and a team-leading 24 RBI, which is 2nd best in the MGL. His -1.9 ZR is concerning but he should be a better fielder than that. He also has stolen 4 bases while being caught once.

The other big off-season acquisition, star third baseman Ryan Campbell has decent numbers- .312/.393/.376 but given that he should be the biggest home run producer among the starters he has yet to hit one in a Brewers uniform and has just 4 doubles and a triple. And he has a -1.3 ZR and has committed 7 errors. Again, given his perceived skills, he should be much better than that. (So this is where I confess that I just looked up his career defensive numbers- which I failed to do before- and his total career ZR at third in over 2,500 innings played there is -7.7. So maybe that really isn't the position he should be playing no matter what the scouts think.)

Myles Ford is having another good season, going .306/.358/.418 though in addition to his 3 homers he only has 2 doubles and no triples. And after being a pretty fair defensive center fielder in 1984 (1.6 ZR in 119 games) he is currently at -1.9 ZR this season. So, okay, maybe not such a good season thus far, although he is on pace for respectable 3.2 WAR.

Veteran outfielder Joe McPhillips is doing fine, hitting .284/.369/.622 with a team leading 4 home runs to go along with 5 doubles and 4 triples. He has a -1.3 ZR in right field where he profiles as a likely Gold Glover. So something is seriously going on with the defensive numbers for the Brewers this year that will hopefully sort itself out in time.

Ben Flynn, in limited playing time, continues to rake to the tune of .405/.439/.703. He'd play more if we didn't have at least 3 viable first baseman and one of them (Romines) playing even better than Flynn. (Romines leads the team in WAR among batters at 1.3 in just 73 plate appearances.) Flynn's numbers out of the bullpen, after being very good there in 1984, are less positive: 0-1, 6.48 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 7.11 FIP.

Val Guzman continues to be a guy who can get on base and has good speed but his ZR is -1.6 and he's on pace for less than 1 WAR in about 450 PA's. He has hit .273/.368/.439 with 5 doubles and 2 homers while stealing 4 bases but being caught 3 times as well (after a 21 SB/O CS 1984).

Antonio Acuna's numbers don't look bad (.310/.353/.483) but this is largely a result of being used sparingly and almost exclusively against left-handed pitchers. The 3-time Gold Glove winning right fielder has a -0.9 ZR thus far and there are signs of diminishing range with age. (Although, again, these ZR ratings for the Brewers don't line up very well with scouting ratings this year. Not sure if the scouts are totally wrong or the numbers are wonky and will correct over time.)

Our two catchers are once again off to weak offensive starts but remain valuable defensive backstops.
Jesse Cooper has hit .238/.333/.310 for a 66 OPS+ and Willie Ortega is hitting .241/.276/.352 for a 59 OPS+. They both are on pace for a WAR only slightly better than zero but one has to imagine that given their recent history and reputed talent that will improve before seasons end.

Then there is the case of potential HOF'er and 2-time MVP Brett Taranto. Granted, he's been losing playing time to Chris Romines and he only has 29 plate appearances thus far. Still, hitting .185/.241/.370 isn't a good way to make a case for more playing time over a much younger player who is hitting nearly .500. Taranto at least is in the plus in ZR at 0.5 (then again, Romines is at 0.8).

Finally, Ben Hartman, who looked like he would get the lion's share of playing time in left field entering the season, has scuffled early, hitting .224/.286/.310 in 63 plate appearances. On the other hand, he does have a ZR of 1.0 in left field and will continue to be given chances to get things right at the plate.

Recently the team traded away the starting second baseman (and All-Star) from last season, Victor Martinez, to Portland for the defensively gifted Jorge Rede, who is excellent at both middle infield positions. Martinez deserved a starting job somewhere and using him as the primary backup to Roberto Costocurta was not a good way to improve team defense. The 29-year old Rede has hit just .272/.329/.359 at the big league level (and that includes an outlier season in 1983 when he hit .321/.376/.405 in 260 PA's) but he has great makeup and his defensive abilities are thought to be tremendous (though, again, his career numbers haven't fully supported that.)

I'll wrap up this longer than I expected it to be report (always the way with me) with a note about a former Brewer who is well known in these parts: Harry Lyerly, having pitched mostly in the minors for the past several years, trying to get back to the big leagues full-time and recapture some of his earlier glory (he had 6 plus really fine seasons with the Brewers in spite of his poor movement profile, with the peak being in 1970 when he went 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA and league leading 239 strikeouts to win the Harris/Lee Award- at that time still simply called the Pitcher of the Year award.)



At age 37, the Flowood, Mississippi native has announced that he is hanging up the spikes at the end of this season. Of course, knowing Harry he's hoping for one last shot at the big leagues. (Which begs the question, do the Brewers find a way to bring him back to Denver for a last encore in September?)

[BirdWatcher]

(Sorry for the long lag between posts- not that those of you who have read this thread in the past aren't getting used to that. I've been spending quite a bit more time lately finally getting to know FHM better and so did neglect the WPK for awhile. For anyone who is interested, you can check out reports of my FHM project here: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=334174.
It is a save with current real-life NHL teams (sans Seattle as this was started in FHM7) but with completely fictional players and I am GM'ing the Colorado Avalanche, naturally.)

Let's take a look at the WPK standings at the end of May, 1985:



The Chicago Fire and the Houston Cavaliers were expansion mates in 1975, and now, a little over a decade later, they are emerging as the dominant teams in the SJL West. The recently mighty San Antonio Keys are looking beatable as they age and deal with some of their biggest stars being quite injury-prone. As has been true for some time, the Seattle Alligators and Milwaukee Cadets remain weak teams in need of a rebuild.

The Washington Night Train are the behemoth of the SJL in terms of market size, budget, etc. and in the early days of the WPK (1965-1971) they were one of the powerhouses, winning 2 championships in that time. After falling on hard times, with the low point being 1977-1979 when they finished 9th twice and 8th once in a 12-team league, the Night Train have emerged again as one of the best teams in the league. They are running away with the SJL East early on with their main competitors, the Pittsburgh Roadrunners, Jacksonville Wolf Pack, Philadelphia Mud Hens, and Columbus Whalers all sitting somewhere around the .500 mark, and the Boston Berserkers trying to fight their way back to that level.

In the MGL West, the San Francisco Velocity have once again emerged as the best team, finishing the month of May strong and holding a 3 1/2 game lead over your Denver Brewers. The Los Angeles Spinners have shown some signs of being on the rise again after several years of gradual dropping down the standings and the Phoenix Speed Devils are trying to keep their heads above water on the strength of a talented young pitching staff (with the difficult task of playing their home games in the best hitting park in the WPK). The St. Louis Redbirds are just feeling good about at least being a bit better than the not-to-long-ago great Portland Wild Things.

The MGL East looks to be pretty much up for grabs still, with the majority of the teams below .500. Oklahoma City is off to a decent start with Baltimore surprisingly hanging close while teams like Brooklyn and Detroit continue to disappoint. And there isn't much to say about the dreadful Montreal Royals, although they did get a 1-hit gem from 24-year old Rafael Garcia as they beat Denver 1-0 on the final day of the month.


Looking at a handful of the statistical leaders in the WPK, starting with batters:




It is a time of transition in the WPK, with young players like Chicago's Pat Thompson, Los Angeles' first baseman David Tockstein, Houston's exciting 23-year old second baseman Wilfredo Garcia, and San Francisco second baseman Seth Garone, emerging as offensive (and in some cases, defensive) forces. Denver's Chris Romines, now firmly entrenched as the starting first baseman for the team, also continues to impress at the plate. Washington is led offensively by veteran center fielder Rick Downey, who is on pace for 46 homers and 8.8 WAR.


A look at the top pitchers in the league thus far:




San Francisco's Jon Harrington continues to top the list of best pitchers in the WPK. Oklahoma City is pitching-rich with 24-year old left-hander Matt Greene emerging as one of the top pitchers in the league, joining teammate David Martin and the currently injured (since mid-April) Mike Piles to give the Diamond Kings maybe the strongest top three rotation mates in the game. Rich Freeman, the 24-year left-handed staff ace of Washington is also off to a fantastic start and appears to be on the way to a breakout season.

[BirdWatcher]

Now let's check in on our Denver Brewers as we enter June of the 1985 WPK season.

A few overview looks:






It was a busy month for the Brewers in a season of change as they parted ways with a couple of veteran former stars and possible future Hall of Famers. First, on May 10th, the Brewers traded away long-time first baseman, and 2-time MGL MVP award winner, Brett Taranto to the Portland Wild Things for 26-year old starting pitcher Nick Hernandez. Hernandez is currently down at AAA Chester and while he is a usable big-league pitcher (at the back-end of a rotation) this was more about clearing the way for younger players to take over in Denver, particularly in this case first baseman Chris Romines.

That same day the Brewers did something even more controversial when they announced the unconditional release of former ace starting pitcher Sadahige Kawasaki. Kawasaki was off to a poor start to the season after a mediocre 1984- having missed all of 1983 with a torn UCL- and at age 37 his formerly excellent control had utterly vanished. The day before he was released he started against the Brooklyn Aces (in Brooklyn) and in a game that the Brewers lost 20-9 Kawasaki allowed 18 runs (17 earned) on 18 hits over 5 innings pitched. There was quite a bit of talk in the local press after that game that Denver manager Barry Allen had mercilessly, and unfairly, left the veteran former-great out there long after he should have been pulled, essentially subjecting Kawasaki to unnecessary and undeserved humiliation. But regardless, it was the end of the Brewers career for the hard-working 2-time Harris/Lee award winner.

The release of Kawasaki certainly gave top pitching prospect Stephen Brooks the opportunity to take on a more steady role in the rotation and the young hard-throwing righty took full advantage, earning not just the Rookie of the Month honors but also the Pitcher of the Month honors in the MGL. Brooks, the Brewers 1st round pick (#22 overall) in the 1979 draft, moved slowly up the minor league system and at times it seemed as though Brewers management didn't believe in his potential fully, but he has now emerged as the most likely rotation ace in the near future (with apologies to the inconsistent and often injured Eric Maisch).



Having had a particularly deep and talented starting pitcher prospect pool for several years, the Brewers find themselves in the unusual and unexpected position of their rotation being one of the biggest weaknesses of the team this season. However, with Brooks leading the way, there are signs of things heading in the right direction at this point of the campaign.
Veteran Jim Atwell, at age 31, appears to be transitioning into more workhorse than ace, but with his iron man durability and great stamina, along with triple digit velocity, an ability to induce groundballs, and still strong overall skills, Atwell remains an extremely valuable commodity, even if the chances of him adding another Harris/Lee trophy (he won it in 1980) to his case are diminishing.
26-year old control artist Eric Fehrenbacher, the Brewers 1st round pick in 1980, got rocked in his most recent start but mostly looks like a legit mid-rotation arm.
And Austin Bond, the lone lefty in the rotation, continues his career-long trend of over-achieving his perceived abilities, getting off to a wonderful 6-0 start this season though he has cooled off since mid-May. The 28-year old sparkplug has gone 69-39 with a 3.48 ERA thus far in his 5+ season career, including a rookie campaign in 1980 that saw him go 19-6 with a 3.22 ERA. He has a 6-pitch repertoire, but at this point only one of those pitches, his slightly above average slider, profiles as anything close to an out pitch and his stuff is below-par. So the feeling is that he might fall off a cliff performance-wise at any point. But for now he remains a solid back of the rotation arm and a great clubhouse presence.

The real enigma of the rotation is 25-year old Eric Maisch. Maisch won the Harris/Lee award in 1982, his second full big league season, with a 21-4 record and a 2.44 ERA. He then missed most of 1983 when he went on the IL in late April with an arthritic elbow. He had a decent, but at times injury interrupted, season in 1984, when he went 13-6 with a 3.05 ERA over the course of 23 starts. But he is off to a slow start in 1985. When he is in command of his stuff, Maisch can look like one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. But he has also shown himself to be prone to the long ball and inconsistency. He should be the ace of the staff and one of the best pitchers in the game but he will need to reestablish his reputation a bit with some more consistent quality pitching and good health.

On the other hand, the bullpen is a relative strength of the team and with a handful of very promising young hurlers on the way it should remain so for several years. Unfortunately, the most talented young arm in the 'pen- Dan Folk- is currently on the IL with a sprained ankle (at least it wasn't a pitching arm injury!) and is not expected back for another month or so.
Fellow youngster Willie Ramirez is picking up where he left off last season and has been tremendous, though admittedly his BABIP against (.200) is unsustainable.
Paul Johnson, a Rule 5 draft pick for the Brewers in 1979, is fully entrenched at age 27 as a reliable and talented middle reliever/set-up man. And Diego Lopez, another guy picked up in the Rule 5 draft (1982) continues to outperform expectations and is the primary left-hander in the 'pen.
The other lefty reliever, Rand Pinti, at age 29 continues his trend of alternating good years and bad. After having a tremendous 1984 he has been a weak link in the 'pen this season.


On the offensive side, veteran left fielder Val Guzman, who always appears to be on the verge of career collapse, just continues to defy those predictions. It was felt that he would be losing much of his playing time to the younger Ben Hartman this season, but with Hartman off to a slow start and Val once again tremendous in the early going, he has earned the bulk of the playing time. Guzman (.317/.406/.627) has never been a great power hitter but he does have streaky power and he has been on one of those power surges of late, including having a 3-homer day on the 28th of May against L.A. With a homer on the 1st of June he now has 5 homers in his last 5 games.


Another veteran outfielder, Joe McPhillips (.281/.358/.507) also had a good start to the season but is now sidelined for more than a month with a wrist injury.

Injuries have been a big part of the story for the Brewers early on as starting catcher Willie Ortega is sidelined with a fractured ankle which he suffered on May 1st and which is expected to keep him out of action for at least two more months. In his absence, 25-year old Joe Sandwell (.349/.388/.460) got his first chance at big league action and he has risen to the occasion thus far. Although Sandwell's arm is thought to be a weakness in his game he has thrown out 50% of the runners who have challenged him up to this point.
Starting pitcher Jose Corpeno has been out with a shoulder injury since mid-May and at this point it is not clear when he will be able to throw again.


EDIT: And re-reading this I realize that I completely forgot to mention 39-year old reliever Tim Shore. Shore is likely headed to the Hall of Fame, and is at the top of the WPK career saves leader board, with 419, well over a 100 more than his nearest competitor. He is starting to show his age and is certainly no longer the anchor of the bullpen but he remains a quality arm and has a 1.03 WHIP to go with a slightly inflated 3.86 ERA and 6 saves in 7 opportunities.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers are not faring well in June of 1985, having lost 11 out of 18 games this month, but this can't be blamed on 31-year old veteran left fielder Val Guzman who continues to have a tremendous bounce-back year.



Guzman (.342/.436/.652) is on pace for a 28-homer, 26-stolen base year and 6.9 WAR.

Fellow veteran corner outfielder Antonio Acuna, getting more playing time in the absence of the injured Joe McPhillips, is also having a good month. Acuna (.300/.335/.533) is on pace for a 20-homer season in just over 100 games played and 1.8 WAR. Nothing like his 3 straight MGL MVP peak but much better than was expected of him this season.



And speaking of over-achievers, Austin Bond continues to be the king of Brewers over-achievers and is now 8-3 with a 2.89 ERA.



In other WPK news, the Philadelphia Mud Hens got very bad news earlier this month when they learned that their talented 27-year old left-handed starting pitcher Ron Carmouche, who went 18-12 with a 3.44 ERA in 1983 and 11-12 with a 3.55 ERA last season before being sidelined on September 1st with a torn rotator cuff, had a major setback in his recovery and will be out not only the entire 1985 season but likely most of the 1986 season as well.

[pauwoo]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

The Brewers are not faring well in June of 1985, having lost 11 out of 18 games this month, but this can't be blamed on 31-year old veteran left fielder Val Guzman who continues to have a tremendous bounce-back year.

Guzman (.342/.436/.652) is on pace for a 28-homer, 26-stolen base year and 6.9 WAR.

And, potentially, a career year? Hopefully some of your youngsters will fall in line and right the ship with the quickness.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by pauwoo

And, potentially, a career year? Hopefully some of your youngsters will fall in line and right the ship with the quickness.

True that. Although Val does have some history of great first halves of seasons with some regression in the second half and that wouldn't surprise me especially at his age.

He did put up 7.2 WAR in 1979 when he finished 3rd in the MGL MVP voting but he is on pace to have a similar season this year, and with even more power.



The real weakness, and surprisingly so, with this team right now is the starting rotation. Our offense is now 1st in the league in runs scored and in several other categories. Granted, our defense isn't very good so that partially explains the starting pitching woes, but the bullpen has the 2nd best ERA in the league so porous defense alone doesn't seem to explain it.

And the San Francisco Velocity have the best record in baseball while the Los Angeles Spinners are resurgent, leaving us sitting 10 games back in 3rd place in the MGL West right now. So even though there is plenty more season left (it is June 23rd as I type this) we can't afford to fall much further behind and need to start gaining ground again.

[BirdWatcher]

Skipping ahead to the All-Star break, here are the current WPK standings and some basic leaderboards:



SJL pitching leaders:


MGL pitching leaders:



As you can see, the Chicago Fire continue their domination of the SJL West as they look to win their first pennant and head to the playoffs for the first time in their 11-year history as a franchise. The San Antonio Keys, who have been the powerhouse in the WPK for much of the past decade, are trying to stay within reach of the Fire, and are aided by having produced yet another premium hitter and position player in 24-year old catcher Sal Montella. Now if only they could develop some pitching and tighten up their defense. The Fire's fellow 1975 expansion club, Houston, has dropped a bit in the standings but continue to be a solid and upcoming club with 23-year old second baseman Wilfredo Garcia emerging as one of the offensive forces in the league, and 24-year old left fielder Alex Raymos one of the most feared hitters in the game, and oft-injured 27-year old center fielder Chris Heisler in the midst of a career year. The El Paso Dawgs have mostly gotten old and are in apparent decline, though 33-year old left fielder and team captain Jose Gutierrez continues to quietly build his Hall of Fame case. Seattle continues to be, well, Seattle, though keep an eye on their 23-year old center fielder Rodrigo de la Torre who looks like he might become one of the best in the game at his position. And the less said about the Milwaukee Cadets the better. (Except, okay, we should probably give a shout-out to their 21-year old right fielder Kusuma Kartosuwiryo- out of Bristol, Connecticut and Boston College. He could turn into an elite power hitter and has a cannon for an arm in right.)

Over in the SJL East, the Washington Night Train, with their balanced and deep roster, once again are easily winning the division, in spite of the absence of veteran starting pitcher Parker Rayfield, lost for the season with a torn UCL on June 5th. 24-yerar old left-hander Rich Freeman has emerged in his absence as the staff ace and possibly the best pitcher in the SJL thus far this season. Cross-state rivals Pittsburgh and Philly are both fighting to stay in contention (Pittsburgh's slugging first baseman Toby Noguchi enters the All-Star break with 28 homers, on pace for 52, and Philadelphia continues to be lead by their underrated veteran center fielder Mike Florack, who has a .289/.361/.465 slash line and is on pace for 5.6 WAR, just around his 162-game career average of 6 WAR). Columbus is just trying to get their head's above water with the biggest story being 38-year old third baseman Chris Tobin's pursuit of the 3,000 hit club (he needs 85 to get their and might just make it at the end of this season if he keeps up his current pace and stays healthy). Five years ago Tobin was considered a borderline Hall candidate but a late career surge (corresponding with a position switch from shortstop to third base) has now made him a lock for likely first ballot induction. Jacksonville is also just trying to get back to .500 but they do have a hopeful sign for the future with 22-year old right handed starting pitcher David Parker emerging as a potential future Harris/Lee award winner. And pity poor Kyle Adams (.322/.382/.547) as this possible future Hall of Famer finds himself on a mostly pretty dismal Boston Berserkers club.

The San Francisco Velocity are the cream of the crop in the MGL West, and go into the All-Star break with the best record in the WPK. They are led by probably the best current pitcher in the game in Jon Harrington and are also witnessing the rise of a new superstar and team Captain in second baseman Seth Garone. The Los Angeles Spinners have cooled off of late but hold onto second place and have scored the most runs in the MGL, led by rookie right fielder Antonio Lopez (.295/.373/.517, 16 HR's) in the leadoff slot followed by 26-year old Gold Glove third baseman Gene Lee (.265/.352/.455, also 16 HR's). Their big weakness is pitching. The Denver Brewers have also been playing poorly and dropped into 4th place briefly, though they enter the All-Star break coming off a win to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Velocity in San Francisco and currently occupy 3rd place, a distant 3rd place. More about the Brewers in the next post. The Phoenix Speed Devils are battling for position with the Brewers and they have an uncharacteristically strong pitching staff (for a team that plays in by far the best hitting park in the game), led 24-year old righty Jonathan Riechman. They also have 22-year old center fielder Dan Johnson, who has been at or near the top of the prospects lists in the WPK for several years. Johnson is off to a good start but is also battling with some elbow soreness. St. Louis is staying closer to .500 than might have been expected, and perhaps mostly thanks to good pitching from 22-year old Greg Kratochvil and 22-year old Greg Grieve. And Portland isn't very good, but they have seen last year's Rookie of the Year Fernando Iturralde (.302/.424/.478) continue to rake and play an acceptable left field.

As has been the case for many years, the MGL East is competitive and also lacks any true powerhouse team. Baltimore and Oklahoma City currently share 1st place. Veteran starting pitcher Sako Zakian, the 1981 MGL Harris/Lee award winner, is 11-6 with a 2.46 ERA to lead the Baltimore pitching staff while rookie Cuban right fielder Alex Afanador (.284/.403/.572) provides the power in the middle of the lineup. For Oklahoma City it is their talented young starting rotation that is key, with 24-year olds Mike Piles and Matt Greene at the top of the rotation, followed by 23-year old Andy Boudreaux, and 29-year old veteran David Martin. Their #5 starter is 23-year old Matt Rios, who also looks like he might emerge as one of the better pitchers in the league. Although they don't have that one dominant Ace, top to bottom a case could surely be made that this is the best rotation in the WPK. They have also received a tremendous season from 24-year old third baseman (and former Gold Glove shortstop) Antonio Briones (.327/.400/.475, gold glove defense, and some of the best speed and baserunning in the game). If I had to guess, my money is on the Diamond Kings to end up winning the MGL East. The ever disappointing Detroit Falcons are hovering around .500, and there isn't much to report in terms of individual performances, although keep an eye on 22-year old starting pitcher Andrew Carr (5-3, 2.97), who is the 5th guy in the rotation but is headed the All-Star game along with rotation mate Ryan Rystrom (veteran catcher Zach D'Amico- 6-time All-Star- is the only other Falcon on the AS roster). The MGL East gets pretty awful after that, with Charlotte the current best of the worst, led by former Brewer Eric Hammock (.335/.409/.554). Brooklyn sees the continued good play of veteran center fielder Chris Caldwell (.318/.349/.476), the leading vote-getter in the MGL and now a 5-time All-Star, and their bullpen features 3 former Reliever of the Year award winners in Michael Tucker, who has won twice, most recently in 1983, Vinny Arreola, who won it in 1982, and veteran Joey Johnson, the 1979 MGL Reliever of the Year when he was still with Portland. The Montreal Royals, an expansion club who joined the WPK in 1980, appear to be a long way from contending. Their 23-year old rookie right fielder Doug Davis (.286/.382/.498) was named to the All-Star squad, as was veteran 30-year old closer Tim Reinecke (18 saves, 2.45 ERA), a former Denver Brewer.