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Old 10-19-2019, 02:19 AM   #1
DD Martin
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1977 Seattle Mariners Expansion

1977 Seattle Mariners Expansion

The first season in the history is about to take place in about 6 weeks. Seattle was awarded the MLB team in response to a lawsuit involving the American League’s handling of the 69 Seattle Pilots situation. The Mariners are owned by Nick Stone (yes OOTP doesn’t recognize Danny Kaye) who is a 54 year old businessman with Seattle ties. Stone lead the ownership group that was put together as State Attorney General Slade Gorton fought the legal battle. Now the ownership, the city and the whole PNW region are ready the start of the Mariner’s season.

A new GM was announced after the surprise passing of the GM that lead the club through the expansion draft process. DD Martin (30) has been announced as the new GM just a week before spring training in Tempe is set to begin. Martin was working with the player development group with the Mariners so he is familiar with the players the organization has.
The Mariners have 73 players in their organization but besides the parent club, they only have short season Bellingham (Northwest League short season A league). Next season the Mariners will operate a AA team, the Lynn Sailors.

With our budget set at $3.0 million (25th in the league, only expansion brother Toronto is lower at $2.6 million) we don’t have a lot of room for acquisitions. We will likely set what we have, look for players in the minor leagues that we can stash cheaply and look forward to the draft. Nothing about this team says that we will be competitive, except our owner. Mr. Stone wants us to reach the playoffs this year and to reach the World Series in 3 years. Lofty goals for an expansion team, some (myself included) would say dreamer goals. Speaking of Mr. Stone he tends to be hands-off, generous (we will be expecting a huge budget increase in the future) and has a tolerant patience level. I hope he is all of those things because if he isn’t, then this could be a really short ride.

Mr. Stone’s owner goals
1.) Reach the Playoffs (ie: do the impossible as we have several high caliber teams in the AL West and all teams in the West have more talent than we do.)

2.) Upgrade the CF position (We have Rupert Jones, honestly out of all our position players he would not be the one I am most concerned about). Goal date 1979

3.) Reach the World Series by 1979 (Ha, if I do that one we will be negotiating the biggest GM contract in the history to date in baseball).

I tried to reason with Mr. Stone and he listened to me talk about our lack of a farm system, no real star players, no budget room and with a small market team and a fan base that hasn’t forgotten the disaster of the Pilots and how Seattle had to sue to get a team. Our fan loyalty is below average and interest in the team is rated poor (game rating 33). He just smiled and said “Do your best and surprise me.” Then he handed me a list of the players we had and stated “Here are a list of players we are inviting to camp”. Fortunately, nobody on the list was dead, well other than the former GM. There are a few names that I wish I could cross off anyway. With that the meeting was over and he was head off to some business meeting. Toronto is about the same market size, although has to deal with the Canadian dollar exchange rate, but the fan loyalty is much higher (above average) and interest is rated higher as well (43). They don’t have the baggage we do.

It could be worse I could be stuck with our city sentiment and have Toronto’s owner (Barry Stower 57) who is an unmerciful, meddling, penny-pincher. I better call Toronto GM Jason Thompson and wish him good luck (he's going to need it). If Jason gets canned, I might offer him the Asst GM job out of kindness.

ooc: Decided to write up my 1977 Seattle Mariners starting after the expansion draft. The story will begin with the reported kayfabe death of a GM that was in charge of the team up until a week before spring training 1977. This will be a different sort of dynasty than my Dugout Wizards Minnesota Twins that will likely play out faster because it is a solo game and not part of an online league.
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Old 10-19-2019, 02:27 AM   #2
DD Martin
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Seattle Mariners Training Camp List
Pitchers - Glenn Abbott, John Montague, Tommy Moore, Dave Pagan, Dick Pole, Diego Segui, Frank MacComack Steve Burke, Bob Galasso, Rich Honeycutt, Rick Jones, Mike Kekich, Bill Laxton, Byron McLaughlin, David Smith, Gary Wheelock, Stan Thomas, Ron Musselman and Enrique Romo.

Position Players
Catchers – Larry Cox, Larry Patterson and Bob Stinson

Infielders – 1B’s Joe Lis, Dan T Meyer. 2B’s Jose Baez, Julio Cruz, and Larry Milbourne. 3B’s Bill Stein, Steve Braun, Juan Bernhardt. SS’s Craig Reynolds and Jimmy Sexton.

Outfielders – Dave Collins, Tommy Smith, Ruppert Jones, Dave Henderson, Carlos Lopez and Leroy Stanton, Punchy Delgado

It's not exactly a who's who or MLB baseball talent, but there are a few quality players that we can start to build around. "Yes I definitely see 95 wins out of this group Mr. Stone" as I mutter under my breath.

As we head to spring training there are several players on the waiver wire.

C Elrod Hendricks (NYY) – a veteran catcher who is on a minor league make good contract for $106,200 if he makes the team. More than I had hoped but he brings an air about him…no a leadership air. He is not the player he once was but he could be a serious guiding light in this clubhouse.

C John Tamargo (STL) – Is a 25 year old catcher with a solid work ethic and looks to be well-respect. He is on a minor league deal so only would get the minimum if he makes the team.

3B Hugh Yancy (Cin) – 26 year old 3B has a decent profile as a hitter and is on a modest contract of $32,088. He also has a tremendous work ethic. (I’m sensing a trend here on these waiver pickups, leadership, work ethic)

CF Larry Harlow (Bal) – 25 year old OF with, yep you guess it a solid work ethic. He takes instruction well and has some speed. I don’t know if he will make the team, but he is on a minor league deal so why not take a shot?

Lou Brock’s name caught my eye, even at 37 but there was no way we could afford that $240,000 a year salary. Looks like Baltimore might grab him. Milwaukee beat the O’s to the punch though so they will get the aging Hall of Famer.

Spring Training -
Our first spring game is today against Detroit, I hope we look better than the Bad News Bears. We lost, but it wasn’t embarrassing. We did get shutout but only lost 1-0. We managed 7 hits and outhit the Tigers. One of our hits was even a double.

In our 4th spring training game we notched our first win over Milwaukee 9-2. Scoring only 5 runs in the first 3 games, I was happy to see the offensive onslaught today. Toronto is also1-3 so they are doing no better.

One week into spring training and we stand at a 2-5 record. In looking at some of the spring stats there is some good news in reviewing the numbers. We’ve only hit 1 home run so far in the first 7 games. Doubt anyone would guess who that is………….2B/SS Larry Milbourne. Boy has he been crowing about hitting the first HR in Mariner’s history.

I know everyone has been waiting for this for awhile now but we are up to the first titanic struggle between the Blue Jays and the Mariners. Both teams come into this spring contest with 3-6 records so the team that wins it will have the early bragging rights. Toronto wins the game in a real pitchers duel 11-10 as both teams banged out 14 hits. If its any consolation we hit a home run and received 7 walks while the Jays couldn’t hit a ball out of the park and only received 5 walks. Oh well poor GM Jason Thompson needed something to hang his hat on as it appears his seat is already getting a little warm with the owner.

Spring injury news
After the Pirates game the other day, Dave Parker did not rush to a golf course like so many big-league stars. No he decided to help a friend and played moving man to help them move into a new house. Unfortunately for Parker and the Pirates, the All-Star RF injured his back lifting a sofa sleeper to the 3rd floor. He is expected to be out for about a week. It is said the Pirates are not pleased and told Dave to next time hire his friend some professional movers.

In a little more serious news, Royals minor league OF German Barrranca will be out 7-8 months because of a ruptured MCL. The injury occurred while Barranca decided to play police officer and chased away a would-be mugger from a 79-year-old female victim. Unfortunately, when his knee exploded, the culprit got away.

The Phillies also lose closer Tug McGraw for the season when he tore an elbow ligament. Something called a UCL or such. Too bad too because McGraw is one of the true characters of the game and a damn fine pitcher to boot.

First trade of the Spring and no it didn’t involve the Mariners. The 2 Texas clubs got together as the Rangers 33-year-old P Nelson Briles to the Astros for 30-year-old left fielder Willie Crawford. Both players make over $200,000 so the financial impact was minimal.
The trade did make us decide to see who is on the trading block.

SP Jim Barr (SF) makes $230,000….pass
RP Clay Carroll (Stl) makes $137,500 and has an 11 ERA this spring. I think I pass there too
RP Dick Drago (Cal) Now here is a guy who was a “real” Mariner so I’ll take a look. He makes $150k and is a FA at the end of the season. Maybe we will sign him then for say, $70k. He is having a fine spring though with a win and a save and a ZERO ERA.
1B Cecil Cooper 1B (L) (MIL) Now here is a guy I really like (growing up) so we might talk to the Brewers about him.

Trade – It took a few days but we were able to hammer out a trade with the Brewers for Cecil Cooper.

Seattle Trades Stinson for Milwaukee’s Cooper
A trade between the Mariner’s and Brewer’s was made official this morning. The Mariner’s have sent C Bob Stinson (31), 3B Bill Stein (30) and minor league 2B Alfred Weston (21) to the Brewers for 1B Cecil Cooper (27) and 2B/3B Jim Gantner (24) and $50,000 cash to balance out the deal.

Mariner fans take notice of the deal as interest inches up (34).
Once Coop got to Tempe to meet with the team I got started with his agent and we hammered out a contract extension. Cecil told me “One of the toughest things to do is to sign on with a club that you are not very familiar with. But I got a really good feeling about what you want to do with this team and while it might be lean for a few years, I believe in the staff here. The organization was straight forward with me when you made the offer to trade for me and then were very professional in the conduct and offer with my agent. I am happy to be signing with the Seattle Mariners and look to a great working relationship.

The deal with Cooper is a 4-year contract running from 1978 to 1981.
1978 $215,000 1979 $220,000 1980 $225,000 1981* $250,000
*1981 is a player option

Even though we are losing on the field down here in Arizona, I feel like we just signed a cornerstone.

Funny how things work out. We lost 7 straight games from when we played Toronto a week ago, but then we played the Brewers who we had just made a trade with days earlier and finally won a game 9-1. Cooper didn’t hit a HR but did go 2-3 with 2RBI’s and 2 runs scored.

Battle of the Titans #2 Mariners 6-16 vs Blue Jays 7-15 in Tempe
Revenge was on the mind of the Mariner’s for this one. When Seattle Time’s report Larry Street told M’s manager Darrell Johnson what I had said, the manager about fell over laughing. The M’s send Stan Thomas 1-2 7.94 up against Blue Jay stalwart Steve Hargan 1-2 10.03. Look at those ERA, we should easily win this win I stated.

Stan Thomas is the man and, in my mind, just guaranteed his spot on this staff as we win 7-2. Thomas by the way lowered his spring ERA to 6.46 with the 1 run effort today.

One week left in spring and I’m wondering to myself why are these things so long. I just want to get to the season and we have an off-day today. Manager Darrell Johnson scheduled an early morning workout and LF Dave Collins was loafing and not running hard. I wasn’t pleased with the lack of hustle and after the workout talked to Darrell. Collins is a speed threat to be sure and was hitting 375 2-6 on the spring. But that attitude, and he was scheduled to make perhaps $65,000 in arbitration next year. I decided to see what I could get for him and ship his lazy butt out of town.

I also decided to shop 3B Steve Braun. There was nothing wrong about Braun per se, I just thought he was overpaid for what he does. He is also a free agent who I doubt would get us any compensation, maybe type B but if I could find something better I would do it. It would save us a lot of money because I wouldn’t take on a big contract back unless it was something pretty special and who is going to offer that for Steve Braun?
Since there were no games I had all day to talk trade and so by the end of the day I had a couple of decent looking offers for both guys.

Seattle Mariners Trade #2
Mariners and Red Sox worked late into the evening but have agreed to a trade in principle. Seattle sends 3B Steve Braun (28) to Boston for RHSP Don Aase (22). In this deal the Mariner’s acquire another pitching piece to their puzzle and save $189,000 in budget space.

Seattle Mariners Trade #3
In a press release a statement confirmed that Seattle had traded away LF speedster Dave Collins (24) to Toronto for Blue Jay C Ernie Whitt (24). Whitt looks for an opportunity to start the season in Seattle on the MLB roster.

GM thoughts – Nothing earth shattering here other than perhaps a nice defensive catcher with a left-handed bat and a young RHP swing pitcher who can either start or end games. The players we gave up just didn’t do anything for me, and with his motivation Collins just needed to move on. He wasn’t a fit with that I was trying to build.

The end of Spring Training – Thankfully that is over. 30 games that mean little in the heat like Arizona is just a lot to deal with. What am I saying, I had an air conditioned office and a pool in the rented house I was staying it. I wish it wouldn’t end, because it means I have to go to a cold spring home in Seattle.

We managed to get to 10 wins and yes that meant we lost 20 games just like the Blue Jays did. Hopefully our owners will be ok that we are not likely to be meeting in the ALCS to win the right to go to the World Series this year. I think Mr. Stone will be ok, but that guy in Toronto….sheesh.

There was another trade during the last week of spring. The Angels sent Joe Rudi to the Cubs along with $38,800 and in return got a couple of right-handed relievers in Dennis Lamp (24) and Jim Todd (29).

Now we gotta figure out who is going to come back to Seattle with me to be on this team besides Cecil Cooper, Don Aase, Ernie Whitt, Jim Gantner, Julio Cruz, Enrique Romo and Rupert Jones….stay tuned.

Next up - The Opening Day Roster
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Old 10-19-2019, 10:45 PM   #3
DD Martin
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1977 Mariners Opening Day Roster

The roster shuffling begins and we make 2 small minor trades to move out players that won’t make the team but deserve a better fate than waiting to play in short season Bellingham.

Seattle-Pittsburgh Trade Cox for O Jones
BNN Is reporting a rumored trade between the Seattle Mariners and the Pittsburgh Pirates has been finalized. The deal which will be announced shortly will reportedly send 29-year-old C Larry Cox to the Pirates and coming back to the Mariners will be 24-year-old RHP Odell Jones. Seattle will retain a portion said to be 60% of Cox contract.

Seattle Mariners Ship Patterson to Chicago Cubs
Its also being reported by the Seattle Times that the Mariners have traded 21-year-old minor league C Larry Patterson to the Chicago Cubs for 23-year-old RHP Donnie Moore. While we believe the deal will be completed, neither club has confirmed it as of yet.

Waiver Claims-pending
We have put in a waiver claim on Cardinals OF Joel Youngblood. It will take a few days and because the Cards are in the NL, any team in the NL has a higher priority than we do.

We also after a lot of review and discussion in the office decided to put a claim in on Giant RP Doug Bair who looks like he is a favorable reliever based on what our current roster might have.

Meet the Opening Day 25 Man Roster for the Seattle Mariners

Pitchers
Starting Rotation


SP #1 Glenn Abbott 26 R $30,560 (acquired in the expansion draft from the A’s 12th pick) Last season was 2-4 5.49 ERA in 19 appearances (10 GS). Abbott is a control pitcher who throws 3 pitches.

SP #2 John Montague 29 R $33,616 (purchased from the Philadelphia Phillies November 6 1975) Was 14-6 2.64 at AAA Oklahoma City. He mixes 3 average pitches with average stuff.

SP#3 Don Aase 22 R $30,560 (Trade with Boston 3/27/77) 5-2 3.33 with AAA Rhode Island. Excellent stamina and young with average to decent stuff and 3 pitches.

SP#4 Dick Pole 26 R $30,560 (Expansion Draft #7 overall Boston) 6-5 4.33 ERA in 31G (15GS) Has the stuff and movement of a #4-5 SP with a fastball, curve and fringy change.

SP#5 Dave Pagan 27 $ $30,560 (Expansion Draft #29 overall Baltimore) 1-4-1 5.98 20G (5GS) Primarily a reliever in his career so being a steady starter will be a new experience. Throws 4 average(ish) pitches but doesn’t really have a primary pitch to go too.

Overall thoughts – It speaks volumes that we traded for young Don Aase and he is already the #3 SP on the staff. There are some decent youngsters in Bellingham lead by Rick Honeycutt who could be called up sooner rather than later. Byron McLaughlin, Gary Wheelock, Frank McCormack and Stan Thomas are also possibilities. Definitely an area that needs to be improved if the team wants to get competitive.

Bullpen
CL Enrique Romo 29 R $30,560 (FA signing from the Mexican League) Looks like the best pitcher on the staff with solid stuff (65), and good movement and control (both 55). He throws a slider and a cutter with the slider being a plus+. If the M’s are ever in the lead Romo will be a good bet to close out the win.

SU Odell Jones 24 R $30,560 (Trade with Pittsburgh 4/6/77) Has electric stuff but lacks movement (35) and is only average control. Has the stamina to start and might be a better starter (65) than reliever but to start the season he will be the primary setup guy.

MR Mike Kekich 32 L $30,560 (Signed out of the Mexican League after not playing in the 76 season). The only reason that Kekich is on the staff is he is the only lefty that we felt had a chance. (Side note Kekich is (in)famous for a wife swap while with the Yankees prior to the 1973 season with fellow pitcher Fritz Peterson. The swap proved ill-fated as Kekich soon broke up with Peterson’s wife Marilyn while Peterson ended up marrying Kekich’s wife Susanne.

MR Diego Seigu 39 R $30,560 (purchased from the Padres October 22, 1976) The elder statesman on the team at 39. The only player to play for both the 1969 Seattle Pilots and the 77 Mariners. He’s on the downside of his career and for historical purposes I might have him start opening night, just like he did for the real 77 M’s

MR Bob Galasso 25 R $30,560 (Expansion draft #42 overall Baltimore) Late addition to the final 10 man pitching staff. Galasso has decent stuff and the stamina to start but doesn’t possess the control or starter quality pitches. He will start in essentially the long reliever role.

Overall thoughts – Romo looks great, Odell Jones might have a bright future and that is about it. A nice nostalgia tip on the signing of Diego Segui but again looking for spare parts might be a big deal for this team to compete long term.

Position Players
Catchers

C Ernie Whitt 24 L (Trade with Toronto 3/27/77) 76 AAA stats 266 7-42. Exceptional defensive catcher and has some pop in his bat. Probably won’t hit for a high average but with his defense anything over 240 is a bonus. Unquestioned building block for the M’s

C Elrod Hendricks 36 R (Waiver claim NYY 3/3/77) Last season NYY 226 3-5 in limited backup role. Leadership, leadership, leadership. The team captain is here for that reason. Fellow waiver claim pickup John Tamargo had the better spring, is a decade younger and will be on this team in 78 most likely.

Thoughts – Lots of change here as we decide to go with the veteran Elrod Hendricks and the newly acquired Ernie Whitt. Hendricks brings another veteran voice and leadership tools that the team didn’t have before his waiver transaction. Likely a straight platoon here with these two with Whitt being the long-term piece hopefully.

Infielders
1B Cecil Cooper 27 L $210,000 (Trade with Milwaukee 3/12/77) Last season with Boston 282 15-78 Solid middle of the order bat that was sorely needed for this team. If the Mariners get enough guys on base he could be a 100 RBI guy.

1B/DH Joe Lis 30 R $240,000 (Expansion Draft #46 Cleveland) Last season with AAA hit 306 30-103 Looked to be the starter at 1B until the Cooper trade but will likely get the bulk of the AB’s at DH. Has a big contract that might be hard to keep for 3 years.

2B Julio Cruz 22 S $30,560 (Expansion Draft #52 California) Hit 327 0-9 in AA. Big jump up to the big leagues for the talent young speedster. Should be an exceptional defender at 2B and could play an above average SS as well. Looks to be another building block but might be rough this season.

SS Craig Reynolds 24 L $32,088 (Trade with Pittsburgh 12/7/76 AAA stats 290 2-47 (76). Quality young SS with solid defense and some possible upside as a hitter. Should form a solid DP combo with Cruz.

MI Larry Milborne 26 S $33,616 (Trade with Astros) 76 stats Houston 248 0-7 Solid utility infielder playing 2B, SS, and 3B. Somewhat outspoken which might be cause for clubhouse concern.

MI Jimmy Sexton 25 $ $30,560 (Trade with Pittsburgh with Reynolds) 76 AA/AAA stats 302 7-42 Similar to Milbourne with slightly better bat but slightly less on the defensive side. Plays 2B, SS, 3B

3B Jose Baez R 23 $30,560 (Purchased from LA Dodgers 10/22/76) AAA stats 309 4-49 Darrell Johnson has tabbed him to start at 3B but will share job with Hugh Yancy. Can also play 2B and surprising decent catcher. Has some gap power but not home run power. Not a typical power hitting 3B that you might look for.

3B Hugh Yancy R 26 $32,088 (Waiver claim 3/3/77 Cincinnati) 76 AAA 288 6-65 Utility type 3B that will get some starts as he has a decent eye and can avoid K’s. Average power and gap power. Can also play LF, 2B and in a pinch SS

3B Juan Bernhardt R 23 $30,560 (Expansion Draft #20 overall NY Yankees) AAA 76 303 8-57 Had the best spring with the bat of the 3B candidates but his defense is so-so. His eye isn’t great but he does avoid K’s, but will hit pitcher pitches. Might be better served in the minors once the team starts to play in June.

Thoughts – Middle of the infield is young but has exciting prospects in Cruz and Reynolds. Cecil Cooper should be a long-term middle of the order hitter and DH Joe Lis is a tremendous source of power. 3B looks to be the weakest spot after trading Steve Braun in the spring.

Outfielders
LF Dan T Meyer 24 L $30,560 (Expansion Draft #9 overall Detroit) MLB 252 2-16 Meyer has some pop in his bat (55) and is a fair eye and does well to avoid K’s. Can also play 1B .

CF Rupert Jones 22 L $32,088 (Expansion Draft #1 overall Kansas City) AAA 76 262 19-73 High expectations for the young CF draft out of the Royals organization. Excellent defensive CF with power. Could be a future all-star

RF LeRoy Stanton 30 R $30,560 (Expansion draft #40 overall California) Stanton is one of the leaders on the team and a power source as well. He is going to start in RF but he is better in LF defensively.

OF Carlos Lopez 28 R $30,560 (Expansion Draft #27 California) 76 AAA 350 9-88 Another former Angel as the M’s raided their AL West rivals in the expansion draft. Whether the high average translates to steady play in the MLB we will need to wait to see. RF by trade, but can play some CF so we will assume that he can play a little LF if asked.

Thoughts – Not a bad group with a future star player in Rupert Jones along with decent bats with Stanton, Meyer and Lopez.

Overall thoughts – If the offense can score enough runs the Mariners can win some games. The pitching staff will likely hold back any hopes of a 70-win season. Upgrades need to be found both in the rotation and the bullpen. Season prediction? 66-96 7th in AL West.

Next Minor League Systems, top prospects and predictions
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Old 10-20-2019, 12:16 AM   #4
DD Martin
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Season Predictions 1977 Season

AL West 77 Season Predictions
Right now the AL West looks to be a tight close race. BNN likes the Angels and Royals to go down to the wire. If they are right we will be in store for game #163 to decide how the West was won (92-70 predicted finishes). In 3rd they see the White Sox get to 86 wins, followed by the Twins 82-80, Rangers 81-81 and A’s 71-91. Of course, the M’s are predicated last with a 66-96 record.

AL East 77 Season Predictions
In the AL East they have it as a crazy battle between the Yankees 98-64, Indians 97-65 and Orioles 93-69. All 3 records would win the West based on the BNN experts. Boston is predicated 4th at 85-77, followed by Scumbag Bud Selig’s Brewers at 72-90. Tigers get the nod to finish 6th in the East but with a worse record than the Mariners at 65-97. The Expansion Blue Jays are predicated to go 56-106 (Sorry GM Thompson).

AL MVP Award – George Brett 3B Kansas City Royals 348/400/944 16-110 25SB

AL Cy Young Award – Ron Guidry New York Yankees 22-8 2.73 227K’s


Over in the National League….
NL East 77 Season Predictions


NL East looks to have the Philadelphia Phillies comfortably winning with 103-59 record. St. Louis is 8 back at 95.67, while the Pittsburgh Pirates are 3rd at 84-78. The others in order are the New York Mets 75-87, Montreal Expos 74-88 and finally the cursed Chicago Cubs at 67-95.

NL West 77 Season Preditions

NL West has the 2-time defending World Series Champion Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds winning with a record of 95-67. The Los Angeles Dodgers hang close in 2nd at 90-72, with the Astros close behind at 88-74 for 3rd. Then the San Diego Padres 75-87 and San Francisco Giants 74-88 are 4th and 5th. And according to BNN the worst team in baseball will be the Atlanta Braves 55-107.

NL MVP Award – Mike Schmidt 3B Philadelphia 286/395/975 46-130 19SB

NL Cy Young Award – JR Richard Houston Astros 17-8 2.69 ERA 231 K’s


BNN Playoff predictions
AL West Playoff - Angels over White Sox
AL Championship Series New York Yankees over California Angels
NL Championship Series Philadelphia Phillies over Cincinnati Reds

World Champions - Philadelphia Phillies over the New York Yankees 4-2

MLB Prospect Rankings and Team Rankings
Position player prospects dominate the Top 10 with the top 9
Top 10
1.) Rickey Henderson LF Oakland A’s
2.) Dale Murphy C/1B Atlanta Braves
3.) Wade Boggs 3B Boston Red Sox
4.) Paul Molitor 2B Milwaukee Brewers
5.) Pedro Guerrero RF Los Angeles Dodgers
6.) Alan Trammell SS Detroit Tigers
7.) Tim Raines CF Montreal Expos
8.) Eddie Murray 1B Baltimore Orioles
9.) Lance Parrish C Detroit Tigers
10.) Mario Soto P Cincinnati Reds

Top Mariner Prospects
70.) Julio Cruz 2B
94.) Ernie Whitt C
98.) Dave Henderson RF
107.) Rick Honeycutt P
164.) John Tamargo C
166.) Don Aase SP
169.) Byron McLaughlin SP

Just outside the top 200 but worth watching
2B/3B Jim Gantner
3B Jose Baez
SS Jimmy Sexton
RP Donnie Moore

Problem for the Mariners is that 5 of these guys are already on the MLB roster. Hopefully they work hard developing guys, but with only 1 minor league team that doesn’t begin play until Mid-June that might be tough.

Top Minor Systems
1.) Detroit Tigers 178 points
2.) Los Angeles Dodgers 135
3.) Montreal Expos 122
4.) Cincinnati Reds 119
5.) Texas Rangers 117
18.) Toronto Blue Jays 31
25.) Seattle Mariners 11
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Old 10-20-2019, 02:53 AM   #5
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Looks like you got a good deal on Cecil Cooper, he should be your star. Will be tough sledding until you can somehow get some pitching though.

What are your settings? Re-calc or development? Sounds like you have a draft. Coaching or morale on/off?

What about player roles and bullpen/bench size? I think I'd like Romo as an 8th inning stopper in the 1970s era at least.

Good luck!

Last edited by Argonaut; 10-20-2019 at 02:56 AM.
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Old 10-20-2019, 01:27 PM   #6
DD Martin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Argonaut View Post
Looks like you got a good deal on Cecil Cooper, he should be your star. Will be tough sledding until you can somehow get some pitching though.

What are your settings? Re-calc or development? Sounds like you have a draft. Coaching or morale on/off?

What about player roles and bullpen/bench size? I think I'd like Romo as an 8th inning stopper in the 1970s era at least.

Good luck!
Last question first, Romo is setup as a stopper, it’s just me falling into the new era lingo.

Most settings I left to default but I duped change to development instead of recalc as I’m looking to see what happens in an alternate reality. Especially since the a Mariners 43 year real history is so depressing. And the first 18 years, I didn’t think I could go through that.

Yes we have a draft and not the historical draft.as I wasn’t looking forward to getting a Tito Nanni, Al Chambers, Darnell Coles in the first 4 years. Now Mark Langston, Mike Moore and Phil Bradley would have been interesting to get in 81. Maybe I should have gone that rout...hmm. They did have some decent picks coming up in the 80’s

The one thing I’m going to look at closely is the attendance setting and fan interest. But if a spoiler is that I believe we only got 13,000 on opening night and for the first month average about 6500 fans a game. That would barely put us over 500,000 which is not realistic and would make the financial model even more difficult than it was in real life. Before I go on I will review attendance figures and see how close it was to that season league wide. I mean even the Seattle Pilots drew more than 500,000 fans playing in dilapidated old Sick’s Stadium.

The real M’s were around 1.3 million that first year before falling below 1 million the next several years
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Old 10-20-2019, 08:17 PM   #7
DD Martin
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1977 Mariners April

It was opening night in Seattle for the brand new Seattle Mariners. An incredibly disappointing crowd of 12.643 showed up to see SeattleÂ’s 2nd chance at Major League Baseball. In a nod to nostalgia, the Mariners decided to have 39-year-old veteran Diego Segui start the game. Of course, Segui is the only member of the team to have played for the ill-fated 1969 Seattle Pilots. The Pilots were a disaster of a team that was forced to start several seasons before they had originally been scheduled because of the political corruption of Major League Baseball. A Missouri Senator basically blackmailed MLB to award a franchise to Kansas City because of the AÂ’s moving to Oakland. Bowing to his pressure regarding the anti-trust exemption that baseball enjoyed, MLB awarded the Royals franchise to start in 1969. Needing to have an equal number of teams, the Seattle franchise that was originally scheduled to start in 1971 was thrusted ahead to start in 1969. This was the start of the issues that plagued the 69 Pilots who entered bankruptcy after the 1969 season. Just days before the 1970 was to begin, used car salesman Bud Selig stole the team out of bankruptcy court and moved the team to Milwaukee just 6 days before the start of the season. The Pilots became the Brewers and as noted earlier this forced Seattle, King County and Washington State to sue MLB and finally as a settlement the Mariner Franchise was award.

Anyway, back to the opening night game, Segui started but unfortunately, he only lasted 2 1/3 innings before being injured. Segui gave up the first home run in the Kingdome to Bobby Bonds in the 1st. Bonds would end up with 2 homers in that game and had 4 for the 5-game series on his way to player of the week honors. Later in the game the M’s only lefty pitcher went down in the top of the 9th with an injury as the M’s fell 7-4 to the Angels. Segui’s “injury” was not serious (dead arm) and would be out for 4 days. Kekich wasn’t as fortunate and would be out of the season. The M’s ended up winning 2 of the 5 games against the Angels to get off to a decent start.

At one point they were even 5-3 after sweeping the AÂ’s. While that was a good start for the expansion team, it was not as good as the Blue JayÂ’s who raced out to win their first 7 games of the season and nine out of their first 10. Shocking, surprising were the adjectives being thrown around describing the Blue Jays.

The Mariners waiver claim of Doug Bair from Oakland was fortunate based on the early season injuries. Since Segui was going to be back, Barr was added an Gary Wheelock who had been called up was sent back down. OF Joel Youngblood (St Louis) was also a waiver claim pick up and the MarinerÂ’s optioned SS Jimmy Sexton down. Deciding they need to add a left, the Mariners called up LHRP Rick Jones to replace Kekich in the pen. The Mariners because of their shaky bullpen had opted to go with 11 pitchers going forward.

Seattle had DFA OF Tommy Smith and he was surprisingly picked up via waivers by the Red Sox.

In a move that wasnÂ’t expected, the Milwaukee Brewers were looking to unload salary as the carpet-bagger Selig had strapped the team with a budget that simply would not compete. Sal Bando who is a free agent at the end of the season was offered to Seattle. Now because I as GM was looking to spark the fanbase and Bando who was nationally popular was very popular in Seattle. The initial request for Rupert Jones was rejected, but we did strike a bargain to acquire Bando to play 3B.

Seattle Trades Lis for MilwaukeeÂ’s Bando (read the Seattle P-I)

SignedÂ…sealedÂ…and delivered.
Seattle has worked out terms of a deal to send 30-year-old Joe Lis to Milwaukee for 33-year-old 3B Sal Bando. Both teams expect to introduce their new players at press conferences tomorrow. Milwaukee has agreed to retain a portion of BandoÂ’s salary, 25% of his $330,000 deal. Lis meanwhile will make $240,000 for the next 3 seasons.

Seattle GM DD Martin was all smiles after the trade. Stating how Bando brought an offensive presence to the MarinerÂ’s to compliment that of 1B Cecil Cooper. When as about Bando being a free agent at seasonÂ’s end, Martin said they would look to discuss an extension with Bando and he hoped there would be mutual interest in doing that. The P-!Â’s Jim Street noted that the signing would give the new franchise struggling to generate interest a name player to get behind and noted that if the sides didnÂ’t come to an extension agreement that Seattle would be hoping to get draft pick compensation for the veteran if he were to sign elsewhere in free agency. Street also noted the essential trading of the Joe Lis contract as a reason that Martin was all smiles. It had been rumored that GM Martin was not enamored with the contract that his predecessor had acquired.
Even with Bando the MarinerÂ’s early season winning ways didnÂ’t continue and neither did TorontoÂ’s. The Mariners ended their first month of existence with a 10-14 record. Good for 5th in the AL West. The Blue Jays had finished 11-11 after that hot start and were in 4th in the AL East.

A list of first for the Seattle franchise

1st out in the season, Diego Segui induced a lazy fly ball to left on the first pitch by Jerry Remy.
1st pitching strikeout also by Segui with the next batter he face Bobby Jones on a swinging 2-2 pitch
1st Home Run in the Kingdome, Bobby Bonds 1st inning also against Segui
1st hit in Mariner history, 2 outs in the 1st by Cecil Cooper against Nolan Ryan on a 1-1 pitch.
1st extra base hit in Mariners history, Craig Reynolds triple in the 2nd against Ryan.
1st run in MarinerÂ’s history scored by Cecil Cooper after reaching on an error and scored on LeRoy StantonÂ’s RBI double.
1st Home Run in MarinerÂ’s history, was hit by DH Joe Lis in game 2 against the Angels SP Frank Tanana.
1st Win by a pitcher, John Montague against the Angels in game 3 of the season. Montague went 8.2 and gave up 9 nits, 3 walks, with 4 kÂ’s and only 1 run given up. The MÂ’s won 7-1
1st Save in Mariners history, in Game 4 win against the Angels 3-1. ST Enrique Romo pitched the 9th giving up an unearned run in backing up Don AaseÂ’s 8 innings of 4 hit no run baseball.


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Old 10-20-2019, 08:24 PM   #8
DD Martin
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Mariners May 1977

The month of May saw the first trip to the monsters of the AL East with 3 games in New York, Boston and Baltimore. The fact that the M's won the first 2 games against the Yankees, then swept the Red Sox before winning one of the last 3 against Baltimore gave them a 5-4 road trip. The happiness was short lived though as the team would go on to a 6 game losing streak that saw the team drop to 15-24. The M's ended month winning 8 of their last 12.

The continuous attempts to find pitching via waivers or the trading block went for naught. The team had several offers but they would be short term benefit and providing nothing for the long term.

As you can see below our starters ERA is surprisingly decent, but the bullpen is the worst in the AL. We have given up the most walks and HR's which is never a good recipe for winning.

Interesting to note that the team is 16-12 on the road but only 7-16 at home in front of sparse crowds. Attendance has increased some and on the season now we are averaging 8,302 (no adjustments were made by me in this regard, but both the M's and Blue Jays improved in May to fan interest to 62). So maybe we won't be stuck in the 500,000's range, but we will need another continued boost to get over 700,000.

Mr. Stone has been surprisingly quiet which for now is good. While he might be disappointed I am pleasantly pleased with our 23-28 record. If we can somehow keep that pace we would reach 73 wins which would be much better than I thought.

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Old 10-20-2019, 11:02 PM   #9
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It's Draft Time

The Mariners have the #2 overall pick in the 1977 baseball draft. I moved the draft into June because I dislike a December draft. So the Blue Jay's were 1st and took the home area pick I wanted to take in 2B/SS Ryne Sandberg out of Spokane, Washington.

Unfortunately there is a real lack of quality pitching at least rated on the OSA board. So who should the Expansion Mariners take with their first pick?

Kirk Gibson RF age 20 B-L He would be considered hard to sign and has a demand of $320,000

Cal Ripken Jr. SS age 17 B-R He is considered extremely hard to sign and has a $340,000 demand

Bob Horner 3B age 19 B-R He is considered extremely hard to sign but has only a demand for the slot

Mel Hall CF Age 17 B-L Another that is extremely hard to sign but his demand is only $160,000

If I want to reach down a bit and get what we need I could sign SP Dave Steib age 19 T-R who would be extremely hard to sign but his demand is only $230,000.

Chili Davis CF/C Age 17 B-S would be extremely hard to sign and his demand is $320,000



I have decided to not consider due to signability or cost concerns the following. SS Julio Franco who would be extremely hard to sign and has a demand of $400,000 and SS Tony Phillips who is considered impossible to sign. CF Tom Brunansky is also considered impossible to sign.

Who will (and should) be somewhat budget conscious Mariners select?
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Old 10-21-2019, 01:57 AM   #10
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Though it would be weird seeing him with the Mariners, I think you have to take the best player on the board and that's Cal Ripken.
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Old 10-21-2019, 04:56 PM   #11
DD Martin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Argonaut View Post
Though it would be weird seeing him with the Mariners, I think you have to take the best player on the board and that's Cal Ripken.
Ripken is probably the obvious choice although I really wanted Sandberg for that home state appeal thing.

I’m thinking hard about Bob Horner too because the way he dame on the scene he would be the opening day starting 3B most likely as I’m likely not going to re-sign Bando and pick up the draft picks as he looks like he is headed to a type A status. Which would be the best case scenario I was hoping for when I made that deal. Joe Lis for hopefully 2 top picks in the first 40.

I just wish there was more upper end pitching in this draft. I’ll hope to see who is available when round 2 comes around. Maybe I’ll get lucky and a Steve Bedrosian, Dave Dravecky will fall to the bottom of the top 30.
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Old 10-24-2019, 01:18 AM   #12
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Inside the Mariner's "draft war room"

The discussion was lively at the beginning of the day as the Mariners brass had hoped that home state high schooler Ryne Sandberg from Spokane would be there. The #2 position on their board wasn't as clear. They had the following players also on their top tier board.


Cal Ripken Jr. Age-17 SS R Con 40/60 Pow 35/60 Eye 35/50 Def 45 1.5*/4
Scout notes -He can be an above average contact hitter with potential to be a 310 hitter. He has above average power potential, that could generate 30+ homers a season in the future. He should have good strike zone recognition and profiles to be an above average player.

Kirk Gibson Age-20 OF L Con 40/55 Pow 50/65 Eye 45/55 Def 50 2*/3.5*
Scout - He has plus-plus speed with advanced instincts on the basepaths. He has the power potential of a prototypical home run slugger. He has a good swing. He likely won't set record, but could hit for a 330 batting average. Gibson has the potential to unleash his obvious talent both on the field and at the plate.

Bob Horner Age-19 3B R Con 55/55 Pow 70/70 Eye 35/50 Def 35 3*/3*
Scout - He has the power potential to develop into a human highlight film. He should eventually be an above average contact hitter in the big leagues. He has the potential for average strike zone recognition. He would be a reliable hitter in our organizations grand scheme.

Those were our top 4 on our board. Before the draft started our brain trust was split. Our head scout loved Gibson and felt he should be the top choice after Sandberg. My Asst GM was on the Ripken bandwagon and our manager was drooling over the potential of putting Bob Horner in the lineup at 3rd base next season at the age of 20. I asked them all to state their cases to me. I was looking at all things including age, position, and signability.

I was really torn between all 3 but in the long run because of where we were as an organization, the age of the players involved and the position played......I decided that should Sandberg get taken that Cal Ripken Jr. would be our choice.

MLB Draft Top 10 picks
1.) Toronto Blue Jays select 2B Ryne Sandberg
2.) Seattle Mariners select SS Cal Ripken Jr.
3,) Montreal Expos select OF Kirk Gibson
4.) Chicago White Sox select CF Chili Davis
5.) Milwaukee Brewers select 2B Gary Redus
6.) Atlanta Braves select CF Lloyd Moseby
7.) St. Louis Cardinals select SS Julio Franco
8.) San Diego Padres select 3B Bob Horner
9.) San Francisco Giants select 1B Mike Marshall
10.) Detroit Tigers select SP Dave Stieb

We did have a lively debate with our 2nd and 3rd round picks. When we approached the 2nd round 2 SP's that had our eye were both on the board. We ended up taking Steve Bedrosian, but also on the board was LHSP Dave Dravecky. Dravecky was eventually taken by the Giants at #9 in the 2nd round.

When we came up again we had 1B Steve Balboni who was a 1 dimensional power hitting first baseman, and strong defensive catcher Orlando Mercado. I have to admit the power was very intriguing and tempting, but I decided to go with my scout on the defensive front and that you can get a power bat in free agency a lot easier than a solid catcher. Balboni went to the Braves with the 6th pick in round 3.

The rest of the Mariner Picks
Rd 2 - SP Steve Bedrosian
Rd 3 - C Orlando Mercado
Rd 4 - SP Steve Brown
Rd 5 - SP Steve Fireovid
Rd 6 - 2B Tom Lawless
Rd 7 - 3B Marty Castillo
Rd 8 - SS DOuglas Morganti
Rd 9 - 1B Thomas Anderson
Rd 10- SP Brian Denman

Now we have to sign our guys and get them to Bellingham.
#1 pick Ripken signed a deal for bonus $340,000 which was $99,000 above the slot.
#2 pick Steve Bedrosian signed for bonus $101,400
#3 pick Orlando Mercado signed for bonus $61,800
#4 pick Steve Brown signed for bonus $31,400
#5 pick Steve Fireovid signed for bonus $21,000
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