The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League

[BirdWatcher]

Prologue:

When young baseball enthusiast and stat fanatic Murray Allen first hatched the idea, idly proposed during an evening of scotch-fueled baseball talk with his older mentor and friend Dr. Jeremiah Jefferson, that the then loosely associated professional baseball leagues in America should be consolidated and streamlined into two major leagues under one unifying umbrella, little did they know how much they were about to change the baseball landscape. Although the exact date of the drunken conversation would be lost to history it is believed to have happened sometime in 1959 or 1960, a few years after the two men started an organization they archly, and mostly jokingly, named Baseball Advanced Research Initiative, which would become more well known by the acronym BARI.

At that time Allen was in his early 20’s and had been publishing a few underground baseball-themed magazines which at first attracted very limited readership. One was entitled The Infield Grass and had a more literary approach while the other, High and Inside, over time became a more scholarly journal (albeit a low budget one) and it was this magazine that eventually helped turn the BARI from a whim of an idea between two friends to a growing force in the baseball universe. It was also in High and Inside where the term BARImetric was first coined for the emerging analytical advances that were being created and disseminated by the BARI members who published their findings and research in the magazine. In 1977 the magazine was refashioned, in a much expanded and more professional package, as The BARImetric Review. The group also started publishing an annual book entitled BARImetric Forecaster in 1980.

Dr. Jefferson first came to hear about Murray Allen and his small (but eventually highly influential) publications through his eldest child, Jamila, who was a precocious thirteen-year-old baseball fan when she first stumbled upon an issue of The Infield Grass and fell in love with the stories she found there. At the time Dr. Jefferson was a young mathematics professor specializing in the field of statistics who had been teaching at the University of California, Berkely for about nine years. A few years before his daughter introduced him to the work of young Mr. Allen, Dr. Jefferson had started teaching a class, which would before long become one of the most popular mathematics classes on campus, which he called Advanced Statistics of American Baseball.

A story for another time, so as to move this narrative along a bit, is how the west coast university professor in his mid-30’s came to meet the Kalamazoo, Michigan based 20-something writer (and future part-time professor himself, of English Literature and creative writing) and how they soon became fast friends. But friends they did become and even more than that they formed an alliance and partnership and changed the face of baseball in the United States (and eventually beyond) and continue to do so to this day. Another story for a later time is how they came to publish their first book together in 1959, entitled Towards a Better Hall for All, which was a call for a more rational and evidence-based approach to honoring baseball’s greats, and which hinted at the need for consolidating the then regionally based and only loosely affiliated professional leagues into one, greater league with one, greater Hall of Fame.

As for those regional professional leagues, there were five at the time that the W.P. Kinsella League first became a glint in the eyes of Allen and Jefferson: The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (IBC), The Great Lakes League (GLL), and The Colonial League (TCL), all of which were formed in 1901, as well as The Southern Baseball Union (SBU), formed in 1933, and eventually The Pacific Coast League (PCL), which had formed in 1948. Each of these leagues consisted of eight teams apiece, other than The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, which had ten teams. The leagues operated almost entirely independently but did agree to some basic rules of structure and schedule to create a better basis for comparison and had an agreement to stage a post-season playoff which culminated in a championship series between the two league champions who were left standing at the end. But Allen and Jefferson, as well as a growing group of BARI members and some influential members of the baseball establishment (most notably long-time Iowa Baseball Confederacy manager and later WPK manager Harry Rabelais, as well as one of the country’s finest players, starting pitching superstar King Bedlecom) envisioned a baseball environment where there were only two leagues and where these two leagues would operate as one major league entity at the top of the baseball food chain, but with extensive farm systems of minor league teams so that there was still top-notch baseball for fans to watch across the country (and, eventually, beyond). Therefore, the level of play, with far fewer teams in the top professional organization of baseball clubs, would be of a higher quality, without sacrificing the broader appeal and accessibility that the regional professional leagues had offered.

And, somewhat fancifully, Murray Allen argued that this new professional organization should be named after that great baseball fabulist, W.P. Kinsella. (And here, dear readers, I ask you to set aside any preconceptions you might have about chronological, historical, or even logical accuracy coming from the reality of the baseball universe that you and I mostly inhabit, as everything you are reading here, all of the realities and details contained herein, exist in an alternate baseball universe, which we are privileged to get glimpses of, but which is not truly ours to exist within.)
And thus, skipping forward but with the promise of more origin details to be shared in the future, the W.P. Kinsella League officially came into being as a going entity in 1965, with twenty teams divided equally between the two sub-leagues, named again in homage to the great W.P. Kinsella: The Shoeless Joe League and the Moonlight Graham League. (Which will often be referred to henceforth as the SJL and the MGL.)
And here endeth the prologue. At least for now.

[Editor's note: this is a continuation of various threads that have lived, over the course of several iterations of the game, in the Fictional Simulations subfolders- see links in signature below- which I have now decided should live here in the Dynasty Reports subfolder, if only because that way I won't have to keep starting fresh and adding more links below. This and the next several posts will largely be to offer some backstory and catch up to the present time in the WPK (which is to say January of 1987). For some who are reading this you might have been following along, at least occasionally, to the earlier threads and I will try not to bore you too much with information you already possess. But as I imagine that some might be coming to the WPK for the first time, I will try to provide those folks with at least a bit of history and context for what is to come going forward.]

[BirdWatcher]

Pre-expansion:

When the W.P. Kinsella League first started play it consisted of two sub-leagues, the Shoeless Joe League (SJL) and the Moonlight Graham League (MGL) with ten teams in each league. After a 162-game per team regular season, in which teams in each sub-league only played opponents also in that sub-league, the two teams with the best records in their respective sub-leagues met in a 7-game series, at that time rather over-grandly called The World Series (but since renamed the Kinsella Classic Series) for the right to be called the WPK champions. For the first five seasons of WPK history the ultimate winner of that championship series was from the SJL: twice it was the Jacksonville Wolf Pack, twice the Columbus Whalers, and once the Washington Night Train. The MGL finally broke through in 1970 when the Denver Brewers defeated the Columbus Whalers for their first championship trophy. These two teams would prove to be the dominant teams of the 1970's, with Columbus building a tremendous pitching staff and becoming known as a pitching factory and Denver being more known, during this era at least, for their offensive firepower.
Prior to the 1971 season the WPK league office announced that free agency rules were being changed, with the minimum service time being increased to 7 seasons, a change which would prove to de-emphasize the focus on building a team through free agency and encourage teams to build through home-grown talent and wise trading.

Expansion, the first wave:

For the 1975 season, the WPK expanded to 12 teams in the SJL, with the Chicago Fire and the Houston Cavaliers added. While Houston would lose 103 games in their first year, the Fire, with their mostly veteran castoffs from other teams, did manage a more respectable 72-90 record. But as to be expected it would be many years before either of these two expansion clubs became competitive. Meanwhile, in the MGL the primary competition was between the Denver Brewers and the big-market, big-money Los Angeles Spinners, who had the ability, more than any other team in the MGL (and equaled in the SJL probably only by the Washington Night Train), to spend money indiscriminately in order to compete. But while L.A. won the MGL in 1975, Denver then would claim the pennant 4 straight seasons, twice ended the post-season with a championship, the second of which in 1979 gave them four championships total. (A number they are still stuck on.)

Expansion, the second wave, and divisional play:

For the 1980 season, expansion came to the MGL, and with it a restructuring of both the SJL and the MGL with each league being broken into two divisions (East and West) of six teams each. This introduced another round of the post-season, the League Championship Series, prior to the final championship series between the SJL and MGL, the Kinsella Classic Series (KCS). Like the KCS, the LCS would be a best of 7 series. The two new teams in the MGL were the St. Louis Redbirds and the Montreal Royals, marking the first time the WPK had expanded beyond the borders of the United States of America. Montreal, against all odds, would reach the KCS in their inaugural season, though admittedly their record of 82-80 to win the MGL East says more about how weak that division was than how good the expansion Royals were. Then again, they did defeat the 110-win Denver Brewers 4 games to 2 in the LCS, before finally succumbing to the San Antonio Keys in the KCS, winning just 1 game. San Antonio, who had previously been one of the weaker teams in the SJL, had risen to first place for the first time in the previous season and would turn into the dominant force in the SJL for the next half a decade. (Their young shortstop and team captain Bud Lindsay is on the very short list of players one might call the best player in WPK history up to this time.) While the Columbus Whalers had built their dynasty through pitching dominance, the San Antonio Keys were known mostly for their offensive firepower, with a lineup that was potent, most of the time, top to bottom. Since expansion in the MGL, the league has seen six different teams represent the MGL in the KCS, including, most recently, the Detroit Falcons, who up until this past season (1986) were perhaps the least successful non-expansion club in the WPK. And speaking of expansion clubs, in the past two seasons the Chicago Fire have emerged as perhaps the best team in the SJL, winning their first WPK championship in 1985 (over the San Francisco Velocity) and then improbably losing to the upstart Detroit Falcons in the most recently completed KCS.

Up to this point of WPK history the five most successful teams, as measured by overall winning percentage, in WPK history are as follows:
1) Denver Brewers, (MGL West), .598
2) Los Angeles Spinners, (MGL West), .547
3) Washington Night Train, (SJL East), .540
4) Columbus Whalers, (SJL East), .538
5) Jacksonville Wolf Pack, (SJL East), .536

The five least successful (same measure):
1) Montreal Royals, (MGL East), .386
2) St. Louis Redbirds, (MGL West), .441
3) Houston Cavaliers, (SJL West), .444
4) Charlotte Sting, (MGL East), .454
5) Detroit Falcons, (MGL East), .459

The distribution of WPK championships is as follows:

Columbus Whalers (SJL East) - 4
Denver Brewers (MGL West) - 4
Jacksonville Wolf Pack (SJL East) - 3
San Antonio Keys (SJL West) - 3
Washington Night Train (SJL East) -2
Charlotte Sting (MGL East) -1
Portland Wild Things (MGL West) -1
Chicago Fire (SJL West) -1
El Paso Dawgs (SJL West) -1
Brooklyn Aces (MGL East) -1
Detroit Falcons (MGL East) -1

[BirdWatcher]

The Denver Brewers, one of the original members of the Moonlight Graham League in the W.P. Kinsella League (formerly there was an Iowa Baseball Confederacy team based in Denver and nicknamed the Mountaineers), have been overseen (at times more or less ineptly) since their inception by Barry Allen (AKA, me), who serves in the unusual dual role of General Manager and field manager.



(For the record, this facegen is based upon a photo of me, though IRL I have a much longer curly white beard/goatee, which didn't seem to be an option in the game.)

The Brewers, as previously established, have been one of the most (the most?) successful teams in the WPK, with the 1970's being particularly good for them.

A look at the basic historical data:





The team, as you can see, also has been blessed with a loyal and enthusiastic fan base and most every season finishes at or near the top of the league in attendance.
Their is currently one player in the WPK Hall of Fame (in Dubuque, Iowa, but that is again a story for another time) representing the franchise: pitching great Cheol-han Lee, whose number has been retired by the team, along with that of outfield great Ryan Rodgers and another great starting pitcher who just retired at the end of this most recent season, Sadahige Kawasaki. (Spoiler alert- the number of players in the Hall wearing the Brewers purple and gold has now been doubled and this will be reported on soon.)



As you can see, although the Brewers started the 1980's with 3 straight 100-win seasons (giving them 9 straight seasons with that distinction), they have been a bit more uneven of late, although their 3rd place finish in the MGL West this past season was in spite of a solid 95-win total. The team is currently in a youth movement mini-rebuild and there are some impressive prospects on the way, particularly last year's #1 draft pick, Jonathan Murphy, who is all bat, but what a bat it is! (I should have mentioned in the previous post that the WPK rules required that pitcher's also hit up until this past season, when a designated hitter rule was instituted in both the SJL and MGL.)



The Brewers play their home games at lovely Centennial Stadium, which favors hitters to a moderate to great extent. On the other hand, the Brewers have been more successful developing pitching prospects than hitting prospects over the last decade or so and they do have an extremely highly regarded pitching coach in Blake Martin, who has held this position for the entire history of the club so far. (He is 64 years old and signed through one more season and it is unclear how many more years he'll be around.)


Anyone who has been following the Brewers over time knows that the information above barely skims the surface, but it will suffice for now as more context will be given over time and it would be great to get moving again in the present.

Which is to say, as mentioned previously, in the offseason prior to the 1987 season.

[BirdWatcher]

In what is a record Hall of Fame class thus far in WPK history, 4 players were elected on their first ballot, including former Denver Brewer great Ryan Rodgers. But we will talk more about each of these newly named Hall of Famers in the following several posts.




Brad Tesh, who was one of the early great power-speed combo players in the league and remains one of only three players with at least 300 career home runs and at least 300 career stolen bases (the other two are the recently retired Justin Vargas, a sure 1st ballot HOF'er, and current player Chris Tobin, who at age 40 and having joined the 3,000 hit club late in the 1985 season is also a sure HOF'er), once again fell short. Tesh has 5 more years, potentially, on the ballot to get to the 75% threshold, but his high mark so far is 59.1% in 1986, when nobody was elected to the Hall. (For the record, I personally voted for Tesh in addition to the 4 who were elected.)

Great former closer Pat Brooks, who won 2 Reliever of the Year awards and had his uniform number retired by the Phoenix Speed Devils way back in 1975, once again fell well short in his 7th year on the ballot, and is unlikely to join the great (GOAT) Jamel McNeil as the only other HOF relief pitcher.

And a quartet of excellent former starting pitchers, all of whom won at least one Pitcher of the Year (now Harris/Lee Award) award (other than Jesse Hartong, who holds the career record for wins with 230) also look like they will be denied induction after spending years on the ballot: Jaime Schardein, Jason Wilson, Jose Santos (all of whom starred at one time for the L.A. Spinners) and the aforementioned Hartong.

Among the players who were not on the ballot for the first time but did not earn enough votes to remain on the ballot into the future, the most significant are 1968 MGL MVP and 7-time All-Star left fielder Danny Sanchez and 7-time All-Star center fielder Antonio Sosa, both of whom played the most significant portions of their careers for the San Francisco Velocity. (Sanchez MVP award, however, came while he was a member of the Portland Wild Things.)

First timer who will not pass go include another former MVP, Ricky Salinas (whose SJL MVP season of 1974 was an outlier in an otherwise decent but unspectacular career), and former Denver Brewer slugger Antonio Puente, who was not named on a single ballot.

[BirdWatcher]

There was little question as to whether Travis Johnson would be elected to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. The real question was just how close to 100% of the vote he would get. And in a crowded field he got pretty close, being named on 96% of the ballots to lead the voting.





Johnson was one of the great hitters among the first wave of WPK players and was also respected for his great work ethic. He wasn't what you would call a 5-tool player as his defense was never very good and he finished with a career ZR of -116.3 at his primary position, left field. Even after moving to first base late in his career, defense was not a strength, as he had a ZR of -6.6 over the course of 346 games played at that position.

But as a hitter, he had few peers, ending his long career with a slash line of .319/.393/.466 and over 200 home runs along with nearly 400 stolen bases. His career batting average ranks 4th among non-active players in WPK history his OBP ranks 5th. He is in the top 10 of career lists in categories like runs scored, hits, walks, doubles, and runs batted in.




Although he played for six different teams over his career his best years were with the Jacksonville Wolf Pack, where he earned his lone WPK championship ring, and the Los Angeles Spinners, which is the team he will represent in the Hall, appropriate also given that he is an L.A. native. Perhaps most impressive is that Johnson was already 26 years old when the WPK was formed and would have had a good chance to reach milestones like 3,000 hits had he been born a bit later.

[BirdWatcher]

The comparisons between Jesus Casiano, who was elected to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 1984, and Jesus Hernandez came naturally and not just because of the shared first name. They each set the gold standard for the position of third baseman in their respective leagues during their playing days.
Casiano, who played his entire career with the Jacksonville Wolf Pack in the SJL, was forced to move to first base later in his career, but had won 4 Gold Gloves as a third baseman prior to the move and then won 2 as a first baseman, while also being one of the most feared power hitters of his generation.





Hernandez, who enters the Hall of Fame as one of two players representing L.A. in this HOF class, stayed mostly at third base his entire career, which saw him playing still at age 40, won all 7 of his Gold Gloves for his work at the hot corner. His best overall season came in 1974, at the age of 25, when he led the league in WAR with 11.5, and won his lone MVP award. But he remained a consistently valuable player for most of his career and even had a 7.2 WAR season at age 37 in 1978, leading the league in HR's for the second time in his career. Although he didn't play an active leadership role during his playing days and some questioned his baseball IQ, few worked harder than Hernandez. And of course fewer even still will ever be first ballot WPK Hall of Famers, which Jesus Hernandez now has the honor of being. He also holds the distinction of being the greatest Panamian to have played in the WPK.

[BirdWatcher]

Josh Jenkins wasn't just a great all-around player (albeit without a lot of home run power) but he was a great person too and one of the great team leaders, a true Captain, of his generation. And while his mix of skills might not have brought him as much attention while playing as some of his flashier brethren, it did earn him 6 All-Star team selections, 3 Gold Gloves for his play at second base, 3 Silver Slugger awards, and fittingly 3 championship rings (all while playing with Jacksonville, the team he enters the Hall representing). And now it has made him a first ballot Hall of Famer.





Jenkins finished his career with the 4th highest hit total (the top 3 all being the only members of the 3,000 hit club so far), and the 2nd most stolen bases (right behind likely next year first ballot HOF'er Felix Lopez, who had 656 SB to Jenkins' 654). He is the all-time leader in runs scored with 1,556 (Chris Tobin may pass him this coming season). His 404 career doubles ranks as 14th best and he is also 13th best in total bases with 3,653 in spite of only hitting 81 career homers and never having walked a ton.




Of all of the current Hall of Fame members Jenkins is probably the most likely to have a post-playing career as a coach or manager, given his great leadership skills. But for now let's let him bask in the glory of a well deserved honor.

It should be noted that with Jenkins going into the Hall representing the Jacksonville Wolf Pack organization, that now makes three players wearing the Wolf Pack cap on their plague. Jenkins joins GOAT reliever Jamel McNeil and the great corner infielder Jesus Casiano.
Of the other 7 Hall of Famers, 2 went in as Denver Brewers (Cheol-han Lee and Ryan Rodgers- see next post), 2 as L.A. Spinners (this year- Johnson and Hernandez), 1 Columbus Whaler (Jake Harris), 1 Portland Wild Thing (Andy "Lemonhead" Wilson), and 1 Boston Berserker (HR King Nate Bennett).

[BirdWatcher]

Ryan "Boxy" Rodgers only hit 16 home runs during his 17-year WPK career, but other than that he was pretty much the complete package as a player and always a huge fan favorite. Rodgers was already in his prime, at age 26, when the WPK formed and he led the SJL in 2 of the first 3 seasons in WAR as a member of the Washington Night Train, winning the SJL MVP award for his incredible 12 WAR 1967 season, which also provided him with his 1st of 3 championship rings. He won Gold Gloves in centerfield his first 3 seasons and later won one as a right fielder in 1978- at age 39 while playing for Brooklyn.




But the bulk of his career was as a member of the Denver Brewers, who signed him as a free agent in the offseason prior to the 1968 season, and he was part of 2 championships with the team that he will be representing in the Hall in Dubuque. He led the league in batting average three seasons, and his career BA of .321 is the 3rd highest among players not still active. But what Rodgers was probably best known for was his world class eye at the plate and ability to get on base via the walk. Not only did he lead the league in this category in four seasons but his career total of 1,540 is more than 100 better than his nearest competitor. His career WAR of 94.2 is 4th best all-time among WPK position players.




Funny (sort of) story about Rodgers: through his age 33 season Rodgers had never had an injury that cost him playing time and was considered immune to injury (Iron Man). And then, early in the 1972 season, being the man of the people that he is, Rodgers was out mingling with fans in a Denver-area watering hole and decided to get involved in an arm wrestling match. And, of course, fractured his hand and was out for two months. Although he did play to age 42 injuries did become a not insignificant part of his profile thereafter.

[BirdWatcher]

When in the summer of 1978 the Denver Brewers traded away 1975 MGL Rookie of the Year Rodrigo "RodRod" Rodriguez to the Portland Wild Things it was mostly a move to jettison an error prone third baseman who seemed to have lost his hitting skills entirely after having led the league in batting average in his ROY season and to clear space for Jake DiCesare to take over that position in Denver. Denver got a starting pitcher with some modest big league potential (Jesus Rodriguez- had a long minor league career, never made the WPK) and a youngish and a 25-year old outfielder who had been a 5th round draft pick in 1974 and looked like a pretty decent 4th outfielder prospect but not much more. His name was Antonio Acuna.
And all he did in his first taste of big league play was hit .361/.405/.644, putting up 3.5 WAR in just 220 plate appearances. And Brewers management thought, hmm, this guy might be a bit better than we realized.
And that ended up to be an understatement. In his first full season as a Brewer he hit .368/.420/.581, stealing 30 bases, hitting 23 homers, driving in 110 runs, putting up 7.7 WAR, and winning the MGL MVP award. He played all 3 outfield positions but was particularly good in right where his strong arm came into play (he had 10 outfield assists and a 2.8 ZR.)
Surely he couldn't keep this up.
Wrong.
Although his slash line dropped to .328/.363/.556 in 1980 and his WAR was only 7.1 (only?), he once again was named the MVP at the end of the season.
1981? Yup, more of the same. Slash line: .334/.366/.514. WAR: 8.4. MVP? You got it. First 3-time MVP in Denver Brewers history and the only player in MGL history yet to win 3 in a row (the great Bud Lindsay of San Antonio won 4 in a row in the SJL between 1976-1979). And he won his first Gold Glove award for his play in right field.
He wasn't quite as spectacular in 1982 but he still hit 23 homers and stole 24 bases (his 5th straight year of being at least a 20-20 guy) and he once again won a Gold Glove while having a 4.4 WAR season.
In 1983, as a 30 year old, he bounced back for a 6 WAR season, and won his 3rd straight Gold Glove award, leading the league in RBI for the 3rd time in his career.

And then something happened. But what was it? We may never know. Acuna, who had signed a 10-year deal with the Brewers prior to the 1982 season, which looked pretty good for a year there, at least, was relatively durable and seldom injured. Granted, early in the 1984 season he did suffer a knee injury, a severe sprain which kept him out of action for 3 weeks. But that was only the 4th injury of his career and by far the most significant one. Coincidence or not, Acuna finished the 1984 season with just 1.7 WAR and after having an 11.5 ZR season in right the year before, his ZR dropped to -0.6.
And it wasn't an anomaly. In fact, it seems like it might have been the last gasp of a career.
In 1985 his WAR dropped to 0.6. Last year, granted playing sparingly and being replaced in right field by the Brewers most recent trade find/surprise Jerry Lillie (also from Portland, interestingly), his WAR was -0.6.

Below is what Antonio Acuna looks like now, per our scouting staff. (OSA isn't any kinder to him.)

All of which is to say, the Denver Brewers are about to release Acuna and will have to eat 5 years of a rather generous salary by 1987 standards.

How often do you see a 3-time MVP end up not having a Hall of Fame career? Does it ever happen? Because I'm pretty sure it will in the case of Antonio Acuna. Strange saga indeed.

[BirdWatcher]

It's hard for me to believe that Justice Harper is already 30 years old. I still think of him as a promising young prospect. After being selected in the supplemental first round of the 1978 draft (24th overall) by the Portland Wild Things, the solidly built and durable right-hander was ranked in the top 100 prospects list for several years while coming up through the farm system (peaking at #50) before joining the big league club late in the 1981 season. He has had a bit of mixed track record thus far with Portland in spite of playing his home games in a good pitcher's park. And on the heels of a 9-17, 4.77 ERA, 1.54 WHIP season in 1986, a season in which the Wild Things finished in last place in the MGL West, 30 games out of first and with the second worst record in the MGL, Portland has traded Harper to the Boston Berserkers straight up for a 24-year old catcher, Juan Pena, who is a plus defender and has a great eye at the plate but otherwise doesn't have much of an offensive upside. Portland's big league catchers are all over 30, but also all excellent defensively. Acquiring Pena seems to be a hedge against aging and injury and he could at the very least be a competent backup on the big league club soon.



So why am I spotlighting this trade, which isn't particularly compelling on its own merits? Mostly it is just that I have always believed in Justice Harper (and maybe part of it is just that I really like the name) and thought he would have a better big league career than he has. And I'm intrigued by the possibilities that a new environment might offer. On the one hand, Boston's Harbor Street Yards is a friendlier hitting environment than Portland's Riverfront Stadium so that could pose a problem for Harper. But it isn't an extreme hitters park and it inflates home run power more than average, so Harper's good movement could help. And Boston, one of the surprise contenders for much of the season in the SJL East, is clearly a better team than Portland with a least a slightly above average defense. Their pitching staff was pretty strong this past season so Harper won't feel the pressure of needing to be the top guy; he should slot well into the middle to back end of the rotation.
The deal seems to make a lot of sense for the Berserkers who not only have one of the better catching combinations in the game (29-year old Trevor Weaver and 26-year old Brandon Scudder) but one of their top prospects is 23-year old Ryan Alexander, who will likely only be slightly above average behind the dish (and can also play first base- and pitch!) but whose hit tool looks really strong, particularly considering his primary position.

For me though, what I look forward to most is seeing whether the change of scenery can lead to a reversal of fortunes in the career of Justice Harper.

[BirdWatcher]

Joel Travino has never been known for his velocity and yet, with his wicked changeup (best in the game?) and elite curveball, he has been the best in the WPK at getting swings and misses and has the most career K's in WPK history at 2,669 (nearly 300 better than his nearest competitor) and his career K/9 of 8.40 is the best of any starting pitcher and trails only Hall of Fame reliever (GOAT!) Jamel McNeil (10.66) and near Hall of Fame closer Pat Brooks (8.89). Most of his career has been spent as a member of the Brooklyn Aces rotation, where he has accumulated double digit wins in 9 of the past 10 seasons (high water mark of 17 wins in 1983). But he's going to be 38 this coming season and he's never been a complete package as a pitcher, with low movement and poor control. So one has to question the wisdom of a young and up-and-coming team like the Houston Cavaliers trading for him. Then again, while Houston's rotation is talented they also have serious injury concerns and their best starter, 22-year old Rafael Gonzales, will be returning from suffering a ruptured bicep tendon this spring.
Another factor, and surely one that probably appeals to Travino, is that Houston's Bell Park suppresses home runs better than all but two other ballparks in the WPK (Chicago's Sears Stadium and San Francisco's Bank of the West Ballpark).

Brooklyn, meanwhile, is a team with something of a track record of maximizing the potential of pitchers with some obvious flaws, including guys like Travino, Jose Hernandes, and perhaps most relevantly, Nick Schroeder. In young Mr. Crnkovich they get someone similar to Schroeder, a guy whose only downside as a starting pitcher is a lack of stamina. Brooklyn acquired Schroeder in 1983 and used him exclusively as a starting pitcher in spite of the fact that at age 31 he had mostly been used in relief during his career due to his low stamina. And with their strong bullpen and careful usage, they got real value out of the lefty as he had the best season of his career in '83 and followed that with a strong '84 as well. If they can work the same magic with the talented Crnkovich they might have pulled off a steal here. And at the very least the young right-handed groundball specialist should be a valuable member of the bullpen going forward.

[BirdWatcher]

Rand Pinti, the veteran long-time Denver Brewers left-handed reliever, signed yesterday to pitch for the Denver's long-time rival, the Los Angeles Spinners. Pinti is the kind of player fans love: hard working, loyal, smart, and not greedy. But he's also 31 years old, a 1-pitch pitcher (I mean, in addition to his plus plus sinker he does have a changeup, but it's a really lousy changeup), and he had a poor 1986 on a team with a strong and deep bullpen. It just didn't make sense for the Brewers to keep him on anymore. Now they just have to hope that he doesn't continue his usual pattern of interspersing great seasons with weak ones. (Looks like Pinti is celebrating the signing by trying out a new facial hair style.)



The Brewers had picked up a lefty on waivers earlier in the offseason (not yet reported on here) in 29-year old Scott Evans (see below), who has some lack of control issues (on the mound, that is) but otherwise has a strong profile and should at least provide a bit of a bridge as the second lefty in the 'pen until top relief prospect Sharaf Sanchez is big league ready. (Which could be as soon as late this coming season or 1988.)



Speaking of division rivals signing free agent relievers, the Phoenix Speed Devils got one of the better ones on the market in 30-year old Matt Harris, who was the 1984 Reliever of the Year as a member of the Houston Cavaliers. He does go from one of the better pitchers parks in the league to a real hitters haven but he also joins a team that took the MGL West pennant last year with a 98-win season. The Phoenix bullpen, even before the addition of Harris, looks like one of the best in the game and this just makes it all that much deeper and more dangerous.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers have claimed, and been awarded the rights to, 23-year old middle infielder Chris Gonzalez. The move was made primarily because with the loss of second baseman Justin Banks in free agency, the second base job will be up for grabs with several players in the running, most especially 25-year old Nick Mull, who has been our highest rated infield prospect for a few years, as well as 25-year old Mike Garcia, and possibly even 23-year old Matt Enders, who is more likely to end up in a multi-position utility role. Mull is an excellent defender and very speedy but looks to have just an average hit tool while Garcia is mostly bat first with some pop and has already gotten some playing time in the past at D.H. Enders profiles best as a third baseman but with some more experience should also be a plus second baseman (and an above average shortstop, and heck, even a pretty decent corner outfielder). But his batting profile is even a bit less promising than Mull's though his makeup also makes him valuable (sparkplug, and was considered a captain previously in AAA).

With some 40-man roster space and given that he still has 2 option years left it didn't seem like it could hurt to add Gonzalez to this mix given that it isn't clear that any of them is a clear cut frontrunner to win the position long-term.

[BirdWatcher]

As it turns out, perhaps the Houston Cavalier's acquisition of veteran lefty Joel Travino made more sense than it seemed at the time, as they have just received word that their ultra-talented young starter Rafael Gonzales is going to need longer to recover from his ruptured bicep tendon and the timeline now has him returning to action not before early May, and of course he will then need a bit of a lengthy rehab assignment as well.



This has been a trend for the Houston franchise. They have drafted or otherwise acquired some premium prospect pitching talent in the past decade but many of the best- Jacob Whittemore, Jack Hettinger, Eric Huch, Gonzalez- have proven to be very injury prone. Whittemore is still with the team and has had a 20-win and an 18-win season but he misses big chunks of the season pretty much every other year. Hettinger is long gone and now pitches in the independent Iowa Baseball Confederacy (not to be confused with the earlier WPK antecedent league which it was named after). And Huch is now pitching in the Milwaukee bullpen.

They can only hope that Gonzales, who looks to have the talent to emerge as a true ace and even a Harris/Lee Award (Pitcher of the Year) candidate eventually has a career trajectory more like Whittemore's (or better) than like the others.

[BirdWatcher]

I'll let the official news report fill you in:
Attachment 886827


(For those of you new to the WPK, I have a process by which I identify and create players who are relatives (brothers, cousins, sons, sons-in-law, grandsons) of current WPK players who will themselves enter the WPK baseball playing universe at some point in the future (sometimes the following season, in the case of brothers and cousins, sometimes a long long time from now in the case of grandsons). But I don't create juniors so this guy is a game created son. His father, Dave Cheek Sr., was a member of the inaugural draft class in the WPK and pitched for 5 seasons, even leading the league in saves one year (1967) while pitching for Portland. His career numbers were quite good (29-15, 65 saves, 1.80 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2.39 FIP) but he was already in his prime when the league formed and fell off a cliff, performance-wise, at age 33 and after hanging around in the minors for 4 more seasons he quietly retired.
His son has a chance to be a pretty good starting pitcher although his stamina is on the lower side of acceptable for that role.)

[BirdWatcher]

Okay, I'm not sure this one makes much sense. And I don't mean my bad pun above.



The reigning WPK champs, the Detroit Falcons, yesterday traded two beefy young batters to the Pittsburgh Roadrunners for one 27-year old reliever named Ham. Mark Ham, to be exact.
Now Ham isn't a bad reliever and he's durable but the Falcons not only have a good bullpen but they have mostly young arms in it.
And sure neither of the big young batters that the Falcons unloaded can play defense or run particularly well. But boy does it look like they might mash, particularly 21-year old Bobby McQueen, who profiles as a future star at first base/DH. McQueen was a 1st round draft pick (18th overall) of Phoenix in 1985 and then was part of a trade with Detroit which sent slick fielding second baseman Jim Cleveland, who won a Gold Glove for his play this past season, to the Speed Devils. Although McQueen hasn't hit any top prospects lists yet, he did tear up the Rookie league in 1985, followed by torching pitching in the Arizona Fall League, and he followed that up by hitting 29 doubles and 17 homers between three levels this past season. He looks like a guy who could become a force in the middle of the Pittsburgh lineup. It seems like that might be a good thing for the Falcons to have kept, given that are getting pretty old on the position player side of things.

[BirdWatcher]

With Spring Training in full swing and now three days into the exhibition game schedule, the first major casualty is San Francisco Velocity star left fielder Cameron Olsen, who suffered a fractured finger making a play in the outfield. The 6-time All-Star is expected to be out for 2 months, meaning he will miss approximately the first month of the regular season.



Olsen is one of the better all-around players in the game and has put up at least 4 WAR in each of his last 3 seasons and in his prime consistently put up 6 or better. On the other hand, he's an ornery cuss and a real drag on clubhouse cohesion and morale.


(Edit: And it just dawned on me, as I was going over the list of disruptive players in the WPK, that I misidentified Cameron Olsen's team as being the San Francisco Velocity- which was the team he played for many years- and forgot that he had moved south a bit to join the L.A. Spinners last season. Whoops! Sorry about any confusion.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Chicago Fire rotation took a big hit today when left-handed starting pitcher Steven Kretzer was diagnosed with a torn labrum and won't be pitching again this season.



The injury could leave the Fire with a potential weakness as they try to get to their third straight Kinsella Classic Series at the end of this season. On the other hand, it could open an opportunity for one or more young pitchers, like Dave Cheek Jr., 23-year old Luis Arriaga, or 22-year old lefty Mike Egan, who appeared in 16 games in relief with the Fire last year and has the potential to become a front-line starter in time.

[BirdWatcher]

The Houston Cavaliers are a team on the rise, largely due to their recent ability to spot premium hitting talent and to develop it into big league stardom.



This year's addition to that growing talent appears to be 22-year old left fielder Isaiah Williams, who was Houston's 2nd round draft pick in 1985. The kid is not only getting raves from folks around the WPK for his great hitting skills but also for his advanced baseball IQ and inherent leadership skills.

The two most intriguing questions about Williams are:
1) Will the Cavaliers use him as both a relief pitcher, where he profiles as a possible dominant closer, and a position player, where he should be a superstar, or will they decide that it is necessary for him to focus on just one position, and,
2) Where will he play defensively? He certainly has the chops to play left field but the Cavaliers already have a perennial MVP-candidate at the position in Alex Raymos (see below), who is a better defender than Williams. And while they could move Raymos to right field, then what do they do with 1986 Rookie of the Year Atsushi Matsuda (see below, also). Well, okay, I think I just answered my own question. Matsuda looks destined for DH or first base as a primary position, so it would make sense to move Raymos to right and play Williams in left. We'll see if that is what happens.

One thing is certain, when you also add in second baseman Wilfredo Garcia in the mix (among others) this Houston lineup could be one of the most feared in the SJL for years to come. If they can solve their pitching issues (mostly about staying healthy) they have a good chance to challenge their 1975 expansion mates, the Chicago Fire, for supremacy in the SJL West and perhaps in the WPK overall for the foreseeable future.

[BirdWatcher]

With the caveat that Spring Training numbers are essentially meaningless and that most of the observations are based more upon our scouting staffs' perceptions than anything these players did on the field in exhibition games, here are some observations going into the 1987 season.

1) Willie Ramirez, it would seem, is on the verge of becoming at least as dominant a late-inning, high-leverage reliever as Dan Folk. Now with a bit more development for top relief pitching prospect Sharaf Sanchez, who starts the season in AAA, the Brewers could have an impressive late inning trio of quality arms, two right-handers (Folk and Ramirez) and a lefty (Sanchez). And that isn't even factoring in some good looking development for 23-year old Cody Brown and 24-year old Cesar Perez. The bullpen should remain a relative strength for the club for many years potentially.

2) Pitching prospect Mike Warner, ranked the 29th best prospect in the WPK, should be nearly big league ready. He'll likely be the first one called up in case of injury and it is almost 100% a surety that he will pitch for the Brewers at some point this season. The real question remains with Warner, does his barely 3-pitch mix sustain him as a starter, no matter how talented he is, or is he another high-leverage bullpen arm in the end.

3) The center fielder of the future for the Brewers- John Bittner- is actually no center fielder at all. Up until recently it was believed that he had the defensive skills to be at least a somewhat above average defensive center fielder for a few years but our scouting staff now sees him as barely adequate at that position. His great power hitting skills, advanced eye, and speed still make him a decent prospect, but he will be spending his time in left field this year at AAA and is probably the Brewers left fielder of the future now.

4) Speaking of left fielders, and this one is largely based upon those meaningless ST stats, but also at least a few strong tools, Jon Alvarez, the Brewers 10th round draft pick in 1983, is making a case for at least a 5th outfielder role on the team. Not only has Alvarez torn up the minors with his contact-first bat but he also was one of the most impressive hitters for the team in Spring Training games this year. He has obvious weaknesses as a player (no power, poor eye, mediocre defense) but also some real strengths. His contact skills and ability to avoid striking out are near elite as is his speed and savvy on the bases. He's also a hard worker. It's still a longshot that he has any kind of big league career, but the kid has at least earned a chance to be added to the Brewers roster sometime this season. He will begin the year at AAA though to get a bit more upper minors seasoning.