The Whirled Baseball League – Baseball The Way It Never Was

98.1: Welcome to Week 1 & Opening Day Games

On August 16, 2026

8 April, 2002

Welcome to Year III! Woot woot!

The Whirled Baseball League opened its third season on the first of April, 2002, but the weather proved a mightier force than the ump crying Play Ball! Four of the ten scheduled openers were impacted by the wet — Houston at Homestead, Birmingham at Brooklyn, Chicago at Baltimore and Los Angeles at Cleveland all went to the tarp, and all four were made up as day-night doubleheaders the following afternoon. Of the six games that did get played, three were interrupted by rain anyway.

After the first week, The Detroit Wolverines sit alone at 6-1. Nobody else in the league has more than five wins. But Detroit is doing it with mirrors: they have scored 43 and allowed 39, which should put them at about 4-3. So we’ll see what holds.

Awards

American League Player of the Week: Dick Allen, Chicago American Giants.

The 24-year-old third baseman opened the year 11-for-27 with three home runs, nine runs batted in and nine runs scored, a .407/.467/.963 line across thirty plate appearances.

National League Player of the Week: Roberto Alomar, Ottawa Mounties.

Fifteen hits in thirty-one at-bats, with two home runs earned Alomar the Award. In one of those early season oddities, he didn’t draw a walk or reach base any other way, so both BA and OBP sit at .484.

Opening Day Games

Kansas City 5, Ottawa 4.

Not a single home run was hit in this one, and it was still the best game of the day. It opened messily on both sides: Kansas City scored twice in the first, one of the runs on a passed ball, and Ottawa gave one straight back in the bottom half on a wild pitch. The Mounties drew level in the third, and there it sat.

Then the sky opened. A thirty-eight minute delay in the fifth ended both starters’ afternoons — Roy Halladay had kept Ottawa in it to that point — and Kansas City came out of the break with two runs in the sixth to lead 4-2.

Ottawa’s answer in the eighth was what lifted the game above the level of the mundane: Eddie Guardado came on for the Monarchs and Roberto Alomar greeted him with a line-drive double. Gary Carter followed with a double of his own — an absolute rocket that left the bat at 111 miles per hour — and Carlos Beltrán scored Carter on a single to center. Tie game, and Kansas City called on Lee Smith to stop the bleeding (which he did).

The winning hit travelled about ninety feet in the air. Doug Rader walked to open the ninth and, after Ted Simmons grounded into a force play, Kolten Wong singled Simmons to second. Frankie Frisch came on to pinch-run from there, tagged up to third on an Ozzie Smith fly ball to right, and scored when Cool Papa Bell beat out a weakly hit infield chopper that left the bat roughly 50 mph slower than Carter’s smash.

Craig Kimbrel set Ottawa down in order in the ninth for the save; the win went to Lee Smith for the eighth.

Benny Kauff finished the day with three hits for the Monarchs.

KAN 5 (Smith 1-0; Kimbrel 1 Sv; Guardado 1 BSv) @ OTT 4 (Dempster 0-1)
HRs: none.
Box Score

San Francisco 5, New York Black Yankees 2.

For six innings this was the pitchers’ duel the marquee promised: Lefty Grove struck out twelve over six and a third — tying the Sea Lions’ franchise record for a single game — and Andy Pettitte matched him nearly stride for stride with six shutout innings and eight strikeouts of his own. Through four the scoreboard was blank in both directions.

Lou Gehrig broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth, taking Grove over the wall with one out for the season’s first run at Yankee Stadium. That held until the seventh, when New York summoned Hoyt Wilhelm to protect the one-run lead.

Whoops. Turkey Stearnes led off the seventh and tied the game on the spot with his opening dinger of the season, and although New York handed Wilhelm a fresh lead in the bottom half — Don Mattingly driving in the go-ahead run for 2-1 — he gave that one back too, and then some. San Francisco put up three in the eighth. Reggie Jackson added a solo shot off David Robertson in the ninth for good measure.

So: blown save, loss, and four earned runs across two innings for Wilhelm, and even on opening day the questions start being asked about the Black Yankees’ bullpen. Trevor Hoffman got the win in relief, Joe Nathan handled the 8th, and Rod Beck finished it off — the Sea Lions’ pen had no such queries asked.

SFS 5 (Hoffman 1-0; Beck 1 Sv) @ NYY 2 (Wilhelm 0-1, 1 BSv)
HRs: SFS – Stearnes (1), Jackson (1); NYY – Gehrig (1).
Box Score

New York Gothams 9, Indianapolis 6.

The week’s largest crowd — 54,814 — was treated to seven home runs (1 by a starting pitcher) and four lead changes. Don Buford led off the bottom of the first by putting a Luis Padrón offering into the seats, and Brandon Crawford did the same in the third.

Indianapolis finally solved Christy Mathewson in the fourth: Johnny Bench went deep with two out, and moments later, with a man aboard, Buddy Bell turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. It lasted one inning. HR Johnson answered with a two-run homer in the fifth, and the Gothams tacked on a couple more in the sixth to lead 6-3 with nine outs to go.

Which is where it got strange. Luis Padrón, still in at the DH for the ABC’s, led off the seventh by homering off Masahiro Tanaka, and two batters later Oscar Charleston hit a two-run shot to tie it at six. Tanaka had blown the save and, in the way these things sometimes go, was about to be rewarded for it: New York retook the lead in the bottom half, and Buford’s second home run of the day, a two-run drive in the eighth, put it out of reach.

Mathewson struck out ten but walked five and got no decision. Tanaka got the win. Nobody got much peace, but the fans got a good show to start the season.

IND 6 (Mitchell 0-1) @ NYG 9 (Tanaka 1-0, 1 BSv; Wilson 1 Sv)
HRs: IND – Charleston (1), Bench (1), Bell (1); NYG – Buford (2), HR Johnson (1), Crawford (1).
Box Score

Detroit 7, Miami 5.

Charlie Root was the story at first — five and two thirds innings, no runs, no walks, and eleven strikeouts. Detroit’s lineup took its time with Miami starter José Méndez, opening with doubles from Bobby Wallace and Charlie Gehringer before Oscar Gamble finally got one out of the park in the fifth. Eustaquio Pedroso came on in relief of Méndez and it went no better — Al Kaline took him deep for two in the seventh, Gehringer in the eighth.

Miami got a two-run shot from Alejandro Oms and three hits from Gary Sheffield, but never was able to overtake the Wolverines.

MCG 5 (Méndez 0-1) @ DET 7 (Root 1-0; Henneman 1 Sv)
HRs: MCG – Oms (1); DET – Gamble (1), Kaline (1), Gehringer (1).
Box Score

Portland 7, Memphis 3.

Walter Johnson started, went three and a third (departing after a rain delay in the 4th), and hit a home run. Paul Molitor added a two-run shot of his own and Ken Griffey Jr had three hits and two runs batted in. Memphis answered through David Ortiz, who drove in three with a homer, and Johnny Briggs, who had three hits, but Portland held the lead throughout.

POR 7 (Trout 1-0) @ MEM 3 (Overmire 0-1)
HRs: POR – Molitor (1), Griffey Jr (1), Johnson (1); MEM – Ortiz (1).
Box Score

Philadelphia 9, Wandering House of David 5.

The ageless wonder that is Rico Carty opened the season by going 4-for-4 with a home run and Roger Peckinpaugh (sitting in at SS for Philadelphia for the suspended Jim Fregosi) drove in three, and Philadelphia was never really threatened once Hardie Henderson got through six. The House of David did get 2 homers from young John Beckwith and another from Anthony Rizzo. Jack Taylor gave up eleven hits in the loss.

PHI 9 (Henderson 1-0) @ HOD 5 (Taylor 0-1)
HRs: PHI – Carty (1), Peckinpaugh (1); HOD – Beckwith (2), Rizzo (1).
Box Score

Bits & Bobs

You Always Remember Your First
Houston’s Pete Hill is 0-for-17 with eight strikeouts. He posted a .800 OPS over 594 plate appearances last season, which makes him the furthest any regular has fallen from his own track. Memphis’s Herman Long is 0-for-10 since being signed to solve shortstop for the Red Sox, and Chicago’s Jay Bell and Birmingham’s Ron Fairly are also hitless.

The Root of Things
Nine and a third innings, seventeen strikeouts — the league lead — and not one walk for Detroit’s Charlie Root.

Singles? We Don’t Need No Stinking Singles.
Baltimore’s Gavy Cravath has six hits this season — three doubles and three home runs. Josh Gibson (Homestead), Manny Ramírez (Memphis), Oscar Gamble (Detroit) and Jack Clark (San Francisco) are also yet to hit a single this season.

Swing, miss, duck.
The Sea Lions’ Lefty Grove has sixteen strikeouts in eleven and a third innings — and a 6.35 earned run average and 0-1 record to show for it.

Who Needs the DH?
Five homeruns came from pitchers during the opening week. 2 came from Charles Rogan (Philadelphia), which isn’t terribly surprising, but Walter Johnson (Portland), Luis Padrón (Indianapolis), and Jim Whitney (Miami) all joined in as well.

Year III Season Preview: Kansas City Monarchs

By mknn

On August 14, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

Kansas City has spent 2 years building a pitching staff and 2 years failing to build a lineup. Perhaps 2002 changes that.

The pitching arrived all at once last season: A. Rube Foster opened the year in the bullpen, moved into the rotation, and threw 204 innings with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP, coming 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting. Smokey Joe Wood, 22, went 15-12 behind him and hit well enough to DH on his own start days. Craig Kimbrel inherited the ninth inning and kept it. That, along with the deepest bullpen in the league, makes the staff feel pretty settled.

In front of them sit Albert Pujols and Stan Musial, both 23, both already among the best bats in the league. And then … well … then there wasn’t a lot else. 37% of the Monarchs’ plate appearances went to hitters with a sub-.700 OPS, which is how a team leads the Marvin Miller Division into July and finishes 79-84 and 3rd. The response has been blunt: Robinson Canó, Willie McGee, Lou Brock and Steve Evans all open this season at Triple-A St. Louis, and the org went out and bought 2 bats.

The park is rated the most extreme pitcher’s yard in the league, and the club builds as though that’s true — chase doubles into the gaps, not homers, and let good arms play up.

This is a connoisseurs’ franchise. Its fans will take a 2-1 win and the bases-loaded walk, and they’ll tell you Foster is an ace no matter what his stuff grades say.

▌ 2001 Revisited

A year ago we wanted a .500 finish, and the worst case we could imagine was the worst pitching staff in the league with an offense that couldn’t compensate. Kansas City went 79-84 — genuine progress from 66-88 — and got the exact inverse of the nightmare.

The staff turned into a strength. Last year, we thought that might come from Bob Gibson. Not so much: the lightning-armed Gibson put up a 6.82 ERA across 11 starts. Instead, it came from Foster and Wood, and from Lee Smith‘s 0.75 WHIP across 50 appearances, from Eddie Guardado, from Mike Kume‘s 1.95 in 22 games, and from Kimbrel taking the closer’s job after Jeff Pfeffer collected 16 saves with an ERA above 6.

Pujols took the step the preview asked for and then some: 316/375/645 with 44 homers and 96 extra-base hits, and the organizational MVP. Musial had the odd year — 300/371/519 is not a bad line, and 59 doubles is a marvelous one, but 13 homers from a bat like that is a bit of a concern? Maybe?

And it collapsed anyway, because underneath the top the lineup could not hit. Ozzie Smith won a Gold Glove, stole 64 bases and posted a .660 OPS in 525 plate appearances. Canó was among the worst bats in the league. McGee, Frankie Frisch and Brock were not much better.

The pitching arrived in force. The hitting never did, but the signal for change was clear, and acted on — gone are the days of Lou Brock and Willie McGee in the OF, with the Monarchs settling on Cool Papa Bell for speed and defense. Gone as well is the experiment of Pujols at 3B, with Doug Rader being brought over from Los Angeles.

▌ Key Changes

In: Benny Kauff (NYG); Doug Rader (LAA)
Out: Dale Murphy (NYG); Jeff Pfeffer (LAA); José Rijo (LAA)

Opening Day Rookies: Cool Papa Bell; Eddie Guardado; Mike Kume; Jock Menefee; Merv Rettenmund; Joe Thatcher; Kolten Wong

▌ Best Case for 2002

The bottom of the order stops giving at-bats away. Benny Kauff — 38 homers and 39 doubles for the Gothams last year — and Doug Rader turn 2 of last season’s sinkholes into real at-bats, second base firms up into something merely ordinary, and the 23-year-olds take the step their age promises: Pujols again, Musial’s power back alongside the doubles, Ted Simmons building on 47 doubles and an .830 OPS from behind the plate.

Cool Papa Bell, the organizational Minor League Player of the Year, runs down everything hit into the biggest outfield in baseball. Foster repeats, Wood takes the next step, and the spring’s crowded rotation audition produces 3 arms that hold.

Do that, and the pen shortens every game to 7 innings, and a club that led the division in July just might lead it in September.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

The lineup stays bottom-heavy, only with new names attached. Rader drove in barrels of runs in 2000, but really hasn’t shown a lot since: the statheads are not thrilled with his arrival.

Second base never gets solved. The back of the rotation stays replacement-level and the innings behind Foster and Wood get expensive. And Lee Smith is 35 with no proven arm behind Kimbrel, so one injury turns the league’s deepest bullpen into an ordinary one.

▌ Key Questions

Can the front office make the hard decisions to raise the standard? The first answer was demotion — Canó, McGee, Brock and Evans are all at Triple-A — and the second was Kauff and Rader, which is where it gets interesting: Rader is a power-and-defense third baseman with a .297 OBP. Kauff is the cleaner fit, a left-handed masher of right-handed pitching. Sure, they need to succeed, but perhaps the more important thing here is the front office finally addressing the offense.
Who, exactly, plays second base? Demoting Canó was easy, given his 2001. But … replacing him with a Kolten Wong / Frisch timeshare seems hardly an improvement.
Is the rotation more than 2 names? Foster and Wood are a real front pair. Behind them the org has quantity and no clarity — Adam Wainwright threw 187 innings of 4.05 ball at Triple-A, Gibson still has the best stuff on the staff, and Bob Shawkey was worth −2.2 wins in 101 innings. The measure of the crowd: Frank Castillo made the NL All-Star team last year, put up a 5.21 ERA in 193 innings, and opens this season at Triple-A.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Tier = the player’s 2001 positional grade (S best → F worst; color coded S A B C D F). Bold names carry a substantive WBL track; italic names are pure projection — a hope, not a grade — with no qualifying track to anchor them.

Pos	Players
C	Simmons C · Pérez
1B	Powell C
2B	Frisch F · Wong
SS	O. Smith D
3B	Rader F
LF	Pujols S · Bell
CF	Kauff B
RF	Musial C · Rettenmund
DH	Harris C
SP	Foster S · Wood A · Wainwright · Gibson · Menefee · Shawkey
RP	Kimbrel A (CL) · L. Smith S · Guardado S · DiPino C · Kume B · Thatcher

Wood is a real bat — 287/343/504 in 140 plate appearances, taken mostly on his own start days — and the org has been open about wanting more of that. And Kume is the mirage: an amazing 2001, but nobody is quite sure how he gets anybody out, ever.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	1B Boog Powell	1B Lew Brown
Batting Eye	LF Cool Papa Bell	1B Otto Schomberg
Contact	RF Stan Musial	LF Wade Johnston
Running Speed	2B Kolten Wong	CF Jarrod Dyson; CF Alex Diaz
Base Stealing	LF Cool Papa Bell	CF Jarrod Dyson; 1B Joe Start
IF Defense	SS Ozzie Smith	SS Sam Mongin
OF Defense	LF Cool Papa Bell	RF Tommy McCarthy
Stuff	RP Craig Kimbrel	RP Matt Thornton
Control	SP Smokey Joe Wood	SP Luke Hamlin
Velocity	RP Craig Kimbrel	RP Vinnie Pestano

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (4)	21	SP	Bill Singer
2 (9)	23	SS	Sam Mongin
3 (45)	22	LF	Wade Johnston
4 (50)	23	3B	Bill Bradley
5 (57)	25	RP	Vinnie Pestano
6 (86)	21	1B	Otto Schomberg
7 (88)	22	2B	Keston Hiura

Others: C Johnny Bassler, P Larry French, P Matt Morris, P Hilton Smith.

The 5th-best system in the league, even with Foster (#2) and Bell (#3) now with the big league club. Wade Johnston has plummeted from being ordained the top overall prospect in the league to where he is now, but he was good enough in the Spring to keep the argument alive. Other names from last year: Heliodoro Hidalgo went to the House of David in the deal that brought Lee Smith, Earl Averill to Baltimore, and Carlos Baerga to the Gothams in the Kauff trade.

But the Monarchs just reloaded. Bill Singer is the 4th-ranked prospect in baseball, Sam Mongin has climbed to 9th, and the layer under them is more arms — French the lone left-hander with real upside, Morris and Hilton Smith behind him — plus 19-year-old catcher Johnny Bassler. And note the name at the bottom of the ranked list: Keston Hiura plays second base. So that could be useful.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Joe Start, 38	Johnny Bassler, 19
Height	Adam Wainwright, 6’7″	Otto Briggs, 5’7″
OPS	Albert Pujols, 1.020	Otto Briggs, .585 (A)
HR	Albert Pujols, 44	Otto Briggs, 2 (A)
SB	Ozzie Smith, 64	–
WAR (bat)	Albert Pujols, 6.2	Otto Briggs, −0.4 (A)
W	Smokey Joe Wood, 15	–
SV	Stan Yerkes, 23 (AA)	–
ERA	A. Rube Foster, 3.30	Hilton Smith, 7.29 (A)
WAR (pit)	A. Rube Foster, 3.8	Bob Shawkey, −2.2

Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.

Year III Season Preview: San Francisco Sea Lions

By mknn

On August 13, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

San Francisco won 103 games, the best record in baseball, took the Cum Posey Division, beat Detroit in the Wild Card round, swept Cleveland in the AL Championship, and then … lost the Whirled Series to Brooklyn 4-1. All of it was a surprise — the success, the expectations the success brought, and the loss to the Royal Giants.

Two years ago they were 72-82. The 31-win leap was a combination of arrivals: Turkey Stearnes stepped from the draft into the starting lineup, hitting 357/400/751 with 51 home runs and an 8.0 WAR at 22. Jimmie Foxx, also 22, brought 49 homers, Mickey Cochrane became a 3.8-WAR catcher, and Dick Lundy went from a bench body to 617 plate appearances, 57 steals and a 4.2 WAR. All of that on top of the dependable returns from Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, and Jack Clark.

All of them are back. So are Lefty Grove and Eddie Plank, 28 and 27, who threw 209 and 210 innings — a strikeout ace and a horse who never misses a turn, as well as perhaps the most effective bullpen in the league.

Which leaves San Francisco in an unusual spot for a club that just lost. Nothing is broken. There’s no hole to dig out of, no veteran to move on from, no position that needs solving. They were the best team in baseball and it wasn’t enough. The only available response is to run it back and see.

▌ 2001 Revisited

We said last spring that the pitching might prove too mediocre to depend on and that the club would spend the summer tangled in its own logjams, with everything stays really confused as the worst case. That aged badly.

Grove struck out 230 in 208 innings with a 1.15 WHIP and took the AL Brock Rutherford Award. Plank won 20. Bump Hadley, a rookie, posted the staff’s best ERA at 4.10 over 188 innings and finished 2nd for the Brock Rutherford. Those 3 went a combined 54-19. Against a league that gave up 5.38 runs a game, a rotation fronted by 4.40, 4.42 and 4.10 is not mediocre — it’s the best in the league, and the raw numbers only look ordinary if you forget what year it was.

The logjam question resolved itself by everyone hitting. Jack Clark put up 51 homers and 101 walks. Jackson hit 283/394/574. Foxx hit his 49. Royce Clayton posted a .919 OPS in 146 plate appearances filling in around the infield, and Henderson did his thing — 107 walks, 126 SB.

The one thing we asked — on a team full of logjams, who steps forward? — got an unexpected answer: Stearnes arrived, and carried the franchise forward.

▌ Key Changes

In: Trevor Hoffman (POR)
Out: Royce Clayton (POR)

Opening Day Rookies: Charlie Ferguson; Bill Russell

▌ Best Case for 2002

They finish it, starting a dynasty.

That requires health, Stearnes avoiding the sophomore slump, and 2 positional moves panning out: Frank Grant solves 2B for good, and Foxx, no longer to pretend he can serve as a 3B, hits well enough to warrant the DH spot.

That’s it.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

Not a collapse. This roster is too good and too young to collapse. The crueler shape is 90+ wins and another early flight home.

The 2001 environment was inflated — the league gave up 5.38 a game and homers came at a rate nobody had seen — and if it cools, some of the spectacle goes with it.

Then there’s the part nobody can plan around. San Francisco was the overwhelming favorite last October and lost 4 games in 5. A short series doesn’t care that you won 103. Lose another and the question stops being whether this club is good and starts being whether it’s built for the months that matter.

▌ Key Questions

Can Stearnes avoid the sophomore slump? 357/400/751, 51 homers, 8.0 WAR, AL Rookie of the Year and the AL CF Silver Slugger, at 22, in a park that suppresses left-handed power. There is no precedent here to reason from and no reason to expect a repeat except that nothing in the line looks lucky.
Where does everyone stand up? Foxx’s 3B glove has slipped past usable, which pushes him to 1B and DH, where Jack Clark already lives. Sal Bando takes 3B on a 247/355/503 line that plays fine. That leaves Bobby Bonds — 36 home runs, 47 steals, a real everyday outfielder — with nowhere to start, behind Henderson in LF and Jackson in RF. He is the most valuable spare part in the league and the obvious piece to move if this roster ever discovers it needs something.
Is Rod Beck actually the answer? He led the WBL with 41 saves and ran a 1.00 WHIP, and he also posted a 4.88 ERA, because when he gets hit he gets hit hard. Ken Howell was the better pitcher in front of him at 2.79 over 58 innings, and Joe Nathan and Trevor Hoffman are both here now on reputations their recent work hasn’t matched. For a club whose season will come down to 3 or 4 close games in October, the back of this bullpen may matter even more.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Cochrane B · Downing
1B	J. Clark A · Foxx A
2B	Grant C
SS	Lundy B · Russell
3B	Bando C · Garner
LF	Henderson B
CF	Stearnes S
RF	Jackson A · Bonds C
DH	Foxx A · Bonds C
SP	Grove A · Plank B · Hadley B · W. Clark D · Brewer
RP	Beck S (CL) · Howell B · Nathan D · Hoffman F · Heilman

One firm note on Jackson: he is the WBL’s career leader in times caught stealing, and he ran himself into 27 outs last year against 36 steals. That is 2 straight seasons under the break-even rate, on a club that scores plenty without him trying. Let’s pull the plug on Run, Reggie Run.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	CF Turkey Stearnes	RF Frank Howard
Batting Eye	1B Jack Clark	3B Wayne Gross
Contact	2B Frank Grant	2B Ted Sizemore
Running Speed	LF Rickey Henderson	CF Mookie Wilson; CF Andres Torres
Base Stealing	LF Rickey Henderson; 2B Frank Grant	SP Dick McBride
IF Defense	3B Dick Lundy	2B Jack A Farrell
OF Defense	RF Bobby Bonds	CF Mookie Wilson
Stuff	SP Lefty Grove	RP Drew Steckenrider
Control	SP Bob Friend	RP Don Dennis
Velocity	RP Trevor Hoffman; RP Joe Nathan	RP Jonathan Broxton

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (30)	24	SS	Bill Sweeney
2 (95)	19	SP	John Smoltz

Others: IF Jack A Farrell, IF Jed Lowrie, OF Jay Kirke, P Pete Harnisch.

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Charlie Ferguson (20).

This is the bill for the 103 wins. 2 ranked names, one a 24-year-old shortstop behind Lundy and the other a 19-year-old arm a long way off, on a club whose Minor League Pitcher of the Year (Red Ehret) and Minor League Player of the Year (Josh Reddick) are both fighting for WBL auditions.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Tommy Bridges, 38	John Smoltz, 19
Height	Frank Howard, 6’7″	Walt Williams, 5’6″
OPS	Turkey Stearnes, 1.151	Charlie Ferguson, 0.504 (A)
HR	Jack Clark, 51	Charlie Ferguson, 1 (A)
SB	Rickey Henderson, 126	–
WAR (bat)	Turkey Stearnes, 8.0	Charlie Ferguson, -1.7 (A)
W	Eddie Plank, 20	–
SV	Rod Beck, 41	–
ERA	Rick Waits, 3.36 (AA)	Bob Friend, 7.24
WAR (pit)	Lefty Grove, 4.6	Tommy Bridges, -0.7

Stats across all levels, 2001. 200 PA / 75 IP min (SV: all pitchers). Non-WBL levels tagged.

Year III Season Preview: Portland Sea Dogs

By mknn

On August 12, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

Portland won the Cum Posey Division in 2000 and finished last there the following year, ending 2001 at 71-91, 32 games out. Nobody in the Pacific Northwest thought it could fall apart that fast, that hard.

The collapse was on the offensive side, and it wasn’t one man having a bad year. Gil Hodges led the club with 38 home runs and was worth −1.4 WAR, which takes some doing. Bobby Murcer hit 33 and finished at −0.4. Kiki Cuyler and Cliff Lee also went negative in real playing time. The Sea Dogs finished last in most offensive measures while 4 different men cleared 30 homers, empty totals boosted by the extreme nature of the league last season.

So they sold everything with an age on it. Rogers Hornsby went to the Black Yankees for Jake Peavy and a 1st. Buddy Bell went out for Robin Ventura and some arms. SS Jim Fregosi is gone, as are half the bullpen.

What’s left is young, perhaps recklessly so. Joseíto Muñoz is 20 and in the rotation. Walter Johnson (the clear ace) and Bert Blyleven are 21. Joe Mauer caught 125 games and took the organizational MVP at age 23. Ken Griffey Jr is 21 and already the best bat here.

Nobody in Portland is selling 2002 as a contention year, but getting back on track is the highest priority for the organization.

▌ 2001 Revisited

We opened last spring asking for a deep playoff run once again, with championship contention. They lost 91 games. There’s no reading of that which doesn’t make it the worst call we’ve ever printed.

The best case wanted everyone behind Johnson to step up — Blyleven as a real number 2, Dizzy Trout as a more consistent rotation option, even Elmer Brown converting into a starter out of the pen, and 1st-round pick Walter Ball stepping straight in. Ball delivered: a 4.26 ERA over 141 innings, which against a league that gave up 5.38 is genuinely good, and enough for the organizational Pitcher of the Year. But he missed half the season through injury. The rest were fine (Blyleven, Trout) or bad (Brown, others).

The worst case reads like it was written afterward. Hornsby and Hodges show the effects of age, and the OF regresses towards absolute mediocrity. Hodges hit 208/292/461. Murcer hit 250/311/489. Hornsby played well enough to be traded in July and is a Black Yankee now.

Johnson is the part nobody should skip past. He threw 214 innings with a 4.28 ERA and 182 strikeouts, led the club at 4.6 WAR, and won a Gold Glove on the mound. He is 21, and looks quite likely to dodge the standard concerns about consistency and injury that accompany young arms.

▌ Key Changes

In: Jack Billingham (IND); Royce Clayton (SFS); Robin Ventura (IND)
Out: Buddy Bell (IND); Trevor Hoffman (SFS)

Opening Day Rookies: Chuck Klein; Willard Schmidt

▌ Best Case for 2002

The rotation arrives ahead of schedule. Johnson goes from very good to the best arm in the league. Ball’s 4.26 turns out to be who he is, over a full year this time. Muñoz holds a rotation spot and Peavy — who missed all of 2001 after coming over in the Hornsby trade — throws 150 healthy innings.

And, the bats do their part. Griffey starts taking a walk. Ventura steadies 3B. Abreu turns a 90-plate-appearance cameo into an everyday corner. And, perhaps, even Vladimir Guerrero, 21 and knocking from Vancouver, forces his way in.

Portland doesn’t win anything in 2002, but it could be a year the team can see the path back to where they were in 2000.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

Young pitching does what young pitching does. An elbow goes, Peavy’s lost year becomes a lost career, and Muñoz can’t stay healthy while Johnson drifts towards league average.

The bats stay put, which is the more likely problem, because there’s no internal fix waiting. SS is Hughie Jennings and Clayton and hope. 2B is Paul Molitor, who by common agreement can’t play there. Both corner OF spots are competitions between men who were below average last year.

And the real challenge is there isn’t much left to dump — this is the hand Portland drew, so regression can quite easily slide into apathy if no hope arrives.

▌ Key Questions

How long does this rotation stay together? Johnson, Ball, Blyleven and Muñoz are 21, 26, 21 and 20, and 3 of them have already thrown 140 or more WBL innings. That’s either the best young rotation in baseball or a list of injuries waiting to happen.
Does Griffey learn the strike zone? 292/326/568 with 33 homers at 21, and 23 walks in the whole season. He was worth 0.8 WAR while looking like the best hitter on the roster. This is an organization that has twice now chosen the on-base bat over the louder one — Mauer over Iván Rodríguez, Bell over Adrián Beltré, but Griffey remains on the periphery of that approach.
Who gets the ball in the 9th? Hoffman is in San Francisco. John Wetteland posted a 6.75 after arriving in Portland and a 9.90 before it. Huston Street was a waiver claim. Jack Billingham is the only reliever here who was reliably fine, and nobody has called him the closer.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Mauer C · Ashby
1B	Hrbek B · Hodges F
2B	Molitor C · Frey
SS	Jennings · Clayton
3B	Ventura · Garrett
LF	Murcer D
CF	Griffey Jr B
RF	Abreu · Klein
DH	Hodges F
SP	Johnson C · Ball C · Blyleven D · Muñoz D · Peavy
RP	Billingham C · Street F · Wetteland F · Springer · Schmidt

Mauer is the quiet argument for the whole approach: a catcher who hit 278/360/463 with 31 steals, made the AL All-Star team and took the organizational MVP on a last-place club, at 23. Portland kept him over Rodríguez and has had no reason to revisit it.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	SP Dizzy Trout	RF Hugh Duffy
Batting Eye	3B Wayne Garrett	2B Jack Crooks
Contact	SS Hughie Jennings	LF Riggs Stephenson
Running Speed	SP Walter Johnson	LF David Hulse
Base Stealing	SS Hughie Jennings	LF David Hulse
IF Defense	SS Hughie Jennings	SS Bobby Wine; 3B Lee Tannehill
OF Defense	RF Bobby Abreu	CF Gary Pettis
Stuff	RP John Wetteland	RP Harry Harper
Control	SP Bert Blyleven	RP Jack Wisner
Velocity	RP Huston Street; RP John Wetteland	RP Migel Puente; SP Joaquin Benoit

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (5)	21	RF	Hugh Duffy

Others: IF Jack Fournier, P José Berríos, P Harry Harper, C Frankie Hayes.

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Chuck Klein (83).

One ranked name, and he’s the 5th-best prospect in baseball. Hugh Duffy is 21 and slated as a WBL starter in a corner Portland can’t currently fill, which is convenient. Alongside him at Vancouver is Vladimir Guerrero, also 21, who came over in the Iván Rodríguez deal and is off the ranked list entirely — the kind of omission that either looks foolish in 2 years or explains itself. Fournier was a high draft pick, and should have a career, but he’s only 16 — child labor laws be damned.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Russ Springer, 38	Jack Fournier, 16
Height	Walt Bond, 6’7″	Nemo Leibold, 5’6″
OPS	Ernie Krueger, 1.059 (AAA)	Fred Dunlap, 0.500 (AA)
HR	Gil Hodges, 38	Gary Pettis, 1 (AA)
SB	Hughie Jennings, 45 (AAA)	–
WAR (bat)	Walt Bond, 3.9 (AAA)	Fred Dunlap, -1.8 (AA)
W	Walter Johnson, 13	–
SV	Harry Matuzak, 20 (AAA)	–
ERA	Joe H Coleman, 2.94 (A)	Kris Medlen, 6.60 (AAA)
WAR (pit)	Walter Johnson, 4.6	Kris Medlen, -1.0 (AAA)

Stats across all levels, 2001. 200 PA / 75 IP min (SV: all pitchers). Non-WBL levels tagged.

Year III Season Preview: Philadelphia Stars

By mknn

On August 11, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

Two years ago the Stars lost 98 games and finished dead last, an aging club going nowhere. One year later they won 87 and played in October. So, are the Stars good, or lucky, or both?

It’s not clear. This is a club that bets on the future, handing LF to a talented, but somewhat raw, 21-year-old in Sherry Magee. But it’s also a club that keeps handing PA to Rico Carty, an ageless wonder closer to 40 than not. The fans are done deliberating, and fully believe — they watched a laughingstock turn into a contender behind Aaron Judge‘s 63 home runs and Charles Rogan, a two-way rookie unlike anything the league has ever seen. They’d like more of the same, please. Now, please.

The front office is a little more skeptical, seeing a middle infield that remains unsettled, a center fielder in Willie Davis who may have cratered at 22 (despite a Gold Glove), and a host of bats yet to prove they are more than AAAA quality. So the official line is a build towards 2003.

So much depends on how the first few months of 2002 happen in Philly.

▌ 2001 Revisited

A year ago we said anything approaching .500 would be a significant step forward. Philadelphia won 87, took a Wild Card berth and lost to Houston 4-1. So, significant steps.

The best case had Rogan pairing with Steve Carlton to anchor the rotation, and Bobby Abreu and Judge both taking a step. Judge took several — 278/382/699 with 63 homers and 83 walks; and Rogan was better than anyone had a right to expect, hitting 308/362/620 while making 30 starts, and took home both the NL Rookie of the Year and the organizational MVP. Abreu never really got the chance — 90 plate appearances in Philadelphia, the rest of his year at Triple-A, and then he was traded in August. Carlton is the one who struggled: 12-13 with a 5.05 ERA and 2.26 home runs per 9. But, he did throw the second no-hitter in WBL history, and clearly has talent. The best arm was the surprising Hardie Henderson instead — 18 wins, a 3.78 ERA, 4.7 WAR.

The question we got most wrong was the infield. We asked whether the flashes from Juan Samuel and Roger Peckinpaugh would hold up over a full season, and the answer was a resounding No. Not only did those 2 not make it, César Hernández faded, Jimmy Rollins was miserable at short, and while Chase Utley eventually took over second base and won a Gold Glove there, questions remain about his future.

▌ Key Changes

In: —

Out: Sherm Lollar (FA)

Opening Day Rookies: Richie Ashburn; Odúbel Herrera; Andrew Payne

▌ Best Case for 2002

The pitching was not a fluke. Philadelphia finished 4th in the league in ERA at 4.78. To repeat that, Henderson’s command needs to improve, J.M. Ward, 21, needs to reduce the number of times the ball leaves the yard, Carlton needs to progress, and Ray Collins, the one starter whose command actually beat his ERA, needs to stay healthy for a full year.

And, some questions get answered — whether it’s Magee continuing to impress, Harmon Killebrew and Jung Ho Kang either succeeding or not at the WBL level, or the middle infield pairing of Fregosi and Utley declaring itself good enough for a championship run. Any of that would help. The Stars may or may not win more games, the key is that they know more about their talent at the end of 2002.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

The worst case isn’t a collapse, it’s a shrug.

Nothing clarifies and the existing talent regresses, throwing even more into doubt. This last is a real concern: most of this rotation beat its peripherals, which is not a great sign for the future. But slippage from Judge or Bill Dickey would also hurt, throwing some of what the Stars see as settled into question.

▌ Key Questions

Can Rogan keep doing all of it? 187 innings across 30 starts, 521 plate appearances, including significant time in the OF. Nobody else in the league carries anything like that load, so there is nothing to measure it against — no read on what it costs him in August, or what it leaves of him at 25. And, crucially, if Rogan slips, where does Philadelphia slot him — do they value him at bat more or less than on the mound?
Can they avoid the AAAA trap? First base and designated hitter are being handed to 2 men whose bats have only ever done it in the minors. Kang hit 296/354/692 and then 318/367/709 at Triple-A last year, at 29 — not at all young. Killebrew is the opposite shape: 24, 35 home runs at Triple-A, but with a 229 average. We said last winter that Kang might turn out to be the epitome of a AAAA player, or might not. Still true, still unanswered.
What is the bullpen? Bob Howry saved 25 games with a 3.18 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP, which is a closer’s line, but he is 34 and it came in under 40 innings. The 2 arms behind him are mirror images: Fred Cambria ran a 3.04 while striking out 5.5 per 9, and Brad Kilby ran a 6.20 while striking out 9.2 per 9 and walking 1.2. One of them is getting away with something and the other is being robbed.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Dickey · Scioscia D
1B	Killebrew · Kang
2B	Utley B · Helms D
SS	Fregosi C · Peckinpaugh
3B	Rolen A
LF	Payne · Magee C (IL)
CF	Davis F · Ashburn · Herrera
RF	Judge S
DH	Carty D · Rogan A
SP	Henderson B · Rogan A · Carlton C · Ward C · Collins D
RP	Howry A (CL) · Cambria A · Feliciano B · Melancon D · Madson

With Sherry Magee opening on the injured list, Andrew Payne gets left field on his glove.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	SP Charles Rogan	1B Prince Fielder
Batting Eye	1B Harmon Killebrew	1B Dolph Camilli
Contact	CF Richie Ashburn	SS Mike Bordick
Running Speed	CF Willie Davis	2B Juan Samuel
Base Stealing	SP Charles Rogan	2B Juan Samuel; RF Gus J Williams
IF Defense	3B Scott Rolen	3B Merrill May
OF Defense	CF Willie Davis	CF Hal Jeffcoat; RF Ryan Sweeney
Stuff	RP Ryan Madson	RP Chris Schroder
Control	RP Mark Melancon	SP Robin Roberts
Velocity	RP Bob Howry	RP Matt Barnes

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (71)	21	SP	Mélido Pérez
2 (80)	20	SP	Ben Tincup

Others: P Pete Alexander, OF Harry Hooper, IF Prince Fielder, IF Luis Aparicio, P Scott Garrelts.

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Richie Ashburn (41), Harmon Killebrew (65).

A year ago this list ran 10 deep. It’s down to 2, and mostly for the right reason: the farm graduated onto an 87-win roster. Bill Gatewood, Bill Dickey, Ashburn and Killebrew all made the jump, and Rogan — the 1st overall pick that 98-loss season paid for — is already the best player in the organization. LaTroy Hawkins went to Portland in the Fregosi deal. What’s left is Mélido Pérez and Ben Tincup, both arms, both a way off, and neither particularly exciting.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Rico Carty, 38	Doc Amole, 18
Height	Aaron Judge, 6’7″	Bill Mountjoy, 5’6″
OPS	Aaron Judge, 1.082	Mitch Webster, 0.483 (A)
HR	Aaron Judge, 63	Mike Bordick, 1 (AA)
SB	Sherry Magee, 47	–
WAR (bat)	Aaron Judge, 5.0	Harry Hooper, -1.8
W	Hardie Henderson, 18	–
SV	Mélido Pérez, 28 (A)	–
ERA	Hardie Henderson, 3.78	Pete Vuckovich, 7.37 (AAA)
WAR (pit)	Hardie Henderson, 4.7	Robin Roberts, -0.5

Stats across all levels, 2001. 200 PA / 75 IP min (SV: all pitchers). Non-WBL levels tagged.

Year III Season Preview: Ottawa Mounties

By mknn

On August 10, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

Seven Mounties hit 30 home runs last year. Gary Carter hit 57 from behind the plate, Larry Walker hit 54, Álex Rodríguez hit 46 as a 22-year-old shortstop, and , just for grins, Tim Raines stole 115 bases. And, Ottawa finished 76-86, 4th in the Effa Manley Division, 23 games out.

The pitching is where it all went. The staff gave up 6.35 runs a game — 20th out of 20, in a league that averaged 5.38 — and exactly 2 Mounties who threw 20 innings finished under a 5.00 ERA. That would be Bill Smith and BJ Ryan. Twenty-five different men took the ball.

Here’s the complication: nobody in Ottawa knows how bad that staff actually was. The Mounties spent 2001 in the friendliest hitting environment in history, a bandbox of a park that saw ball after ball land in (and beyond) the bleachers.

The net result: Walker’s .998 OPS were worth 1.3 WAR; Rodríguez’s 46 came attached to a 252 average and 1.2 WAR. The counting stats were enormous; the value mostly wasn’t. And whatever that yard was doing to the hitters, it was doing something inverse to the ERAs too — Ottawa just can’t quantify how much.

Hilltop Park is a different building this year: bigger, deeper in the gaps, with homers harder to come by from both sides. It will cost this lineup a pile of home runs, and they’ve never been happier.

▌ 2001 Revisited

Last spring we set the expectation at to not suck, which was either the most honest line we’ve ever printed or the laziest. Ottawa cleared it: 69-85 became 76-86.

The best case wanted Bob Moose, Bob Brown and Roy Halladay back healthy alongside Old Hoss Radbourn, and the young surrounding talent to sort itself out. Halladay held up his end — 195 innings, 15-9, and a 1.26 WHIP that describes his year far better than his 5.17 ERA. However, Moose is still hurt, and Brown is in the minors. Radbourn threw 202 innings of 5.89 ball while surrendering 2.19 homers per 9, which makes him either a near-ace in a launching pad or an innings eater — either way, there’s value there.

The worst case was that the pitching stayed among the worst in the league and none of the potential in Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr or Rodríguez ever surfaced. That landed at about half strength. The pitching wasn’t among the worst — it was the worst. But Rodríguez hit his 46, and Griffey went to Portland in March for Adrián Beltré and a package, which also handed center field to Carlos Beltrán, who promptly went 42-for-45 in steals to complement a deeply respectable .865 OPS.

Johnson is the one who … um … sucked. He threw 100 innings with an 8.16 ERA. His arm is beyond live, but until he can throw strikes, it won’t really matter. Ottawa is determined to give him one more chance — we’ll see how it goes.

One question did get a clean answer. Who is the bullpen? turned out to be Tom Henke, BJ Ryan and Billy Koch, and it went from the roster’s disaster to a relative strength.

▌ Key Changes

In: Nip Winters (FA)

Out: —

Opening Day Rookies: Billy Jurges; Wee Willie Keeler; Billy Koch; Dupee Shaw; Nip Winters

▌ Best Case for 2002

The new park is kind to the arms. Halladay’s ERA falls to meet his peripherals, Smith’s 3.77 across 124 innings turns out to be exactly what it looked like, and most of Radbourn’s home run problem stays behind in the old yard. Johnny Podgajny holds the back end. Max Scherzer, who has climbed from 50th on the prospect board to 6th, arrives and is what the ranking says.

And the offense survives the move. This is the league’s most efficient running team, and a big park with deep gaps is built for that. Carter does it again. Rodríguez and Beltrán are 23 and 25 and continue to improve. Roberto Alomar, the organizational MVP and Heart & Soul winner, continues to be the best second baseman in baseball.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

The park changes and the ERAs don’t, which is the answer nobody in Ottawa wants, because it would mean the yard was never the problem.

Walker — dinged 4 separate times last season — misses another 60 games. Rick Monday‘s 272/364/604 turns out to have been mostly architecture, and a 30-homer DH with nowhere to play becomes a 16-homer DH with nowhere to play. Rusty Staub and Beltré stay below average at the corners. A lineup that scored all those runs while getting nothing from either of them scores a good deal fewer now that the fences have moved.

The other thing that could get found out is the handedness. Walker, Monday, Wee Willie Keeler, John Olerud and Staub all hit left-handed, and there is no real right-handed bat on the roster to break the pattern up.

▌ Key Questions

Is the staff any good? Halladay’s WHIP and Radbourn’s 8.2 strikeouts per 9 say the top of the rotation is fine. The 25 arms used last year say the depth is not.
Big Unit or Broken Unit? Two years in we have an ERA over 8, a strikeout rate that would look good on an ace, and a spring in which he punched out 16.8 per 9. Other clubs have asked; Ottawa has said no every time. The patience is thinner than it ever has been.
Where do the extra bats play? Monday refused to stop hitting, forcing his way into a job that didn’t exist: Beltrán has CF, Walker and Raines have the corners, and Monday is now claiming DH. Olerud, Staub, Bob Watson and John Mayberry are stacked up behind him.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Carter S · E. Gross
1B	Olerud
2B	Alomar S
SS	Rodríguez B · Jurges
3B	Beltré C
LF	Raines C
CF	Beltrán B
RF	Walker A · Keeler
DH	Monday B · Staub D
SP	Halladay C · Radbourn F · Smith D · Podgajny · Johnson
RP	Henke D (CL) · Ryan C · Koch · Holland · Dempster

Carter hit 57 home runs, posted a 1.062 OPS and led the club in WAR at 22 — the same age as Emil Gross, the prospect backing him up. Shortstop, meanwhile, falls off a cliff the moment Rodríguez wants a day: Billy Jurges is here as a glove and nothing else.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	RF Larry Walker	RF Sam Thompson
Batting Eye	CF Rick Monday	RF Bob Allison
Contact	RF Wee Willie Keeler	RF Sam Thompson
Running Speed	CF Carlos Beltrán; RF Wee Willie Keeler	LF Ron LeFlore
Base Stealing	RF Wee Willie Keeler; SP Dupee Shaw	LF Ron LeFlore; RF Mike Dorgan
IF Defense	1B John Olerud	2B Jimmy Dykes
OF Defense	RF Larry Walker	RF Jason Heyward
Stuff	SP Dupee Shaw	SP Max Scherzer
Control	SP Roy Halladay	RP Aaron Slegers
Velocity	RP Greg Holland	RP Arodys Vizcaíno

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (6)	24	SP	Max Scherzer
2 (29)	21	SP	Jim McCormick
3 (92)	24	3B	Ryon Healy

Others: P Gary Peters, P Mark Eichhorn, IF John Mayberry, IF Joey Cora.

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Dupee Shaw (3), Wee Willie Keeler (8).

A year ago this list ran 9 deep and was mostly arms. Scherzer is the one who went the right way, from 50th to 6th. The rest went sideways: Al Orth, ranked 4th in all of baseball last spring, is at Triple-A Montréal; Dan Haren, then 30th, spent last season at A-ball and finished at −1.0 WAR. Jim McCormick is new to the list and Ryon Healy is the only position player on it.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Johnny Vander Meer, 36	Orlando Mercado, 20
Height	Randy Johnson, 6’10”	Wee Willie Keeler, 5’4″
OPS	Gary Carter, 1.062	Henry Easterday, 0.544 (AA)
HR	Gary Carter, 57	Mike Dorgan, 2
SB	Tim Raines, 115	–
WAR (bat)	Gary Carter, 4.5	Sam Thompson, -1.1
W	Roy Halladay, 15	–
SV	Alex Hardy, 33 (A)	–
ERA	Mark Grant, 3.06 (A)	Rick Honeycutt, 7.73 (AAA)
WAR (pit)	Old Hoss Radbourn, 4.3	Dan Haren, -1.0 (A)

Stats across all levels, 2001. 200 PA / 75 IP min (SV: all pitchers). Non-WBL levels tagged.

Year III Season Preview: New York Black Yankees

By mknn

On August 9, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

State of the Franchise

There is exactly one acceptable outcome in the Bronx, and it hasn’t changed since the day Babe Ruth first pulled on the pinstripes: a Whirled Championship. Year II delivered neither the parade nor the collapse — 90-72, a Bill James Division title, and a quick playoff exit. Progress on paper; but nothing meaningful in the trophy case.

What keeps the win-now posture from being empty bluster is the age of the core. Ruth is 26. Lou Gehrig is 24. Mickey Mantle 22. Of the offensive core, only Mike Schmidt (29) and Rogers Hornsby (34) have crossed the far side of 25 (!). This is the rare club that can demand a title this year and still expect to be great for a decade — which is exactly why the front office has never once flinched at trading the future to reinforce the present. There is no future, the board sneers, there is only now.

Welcome to my supervillain origin story …

2001 Revisited

We spent last spring insisting it was all about the bullpen, and that Ron Guidry would seize the ace role in front of a revived pen fronted by Aroldis Chapman. The universe, as it does, laughed: the bullpen remained the same slow-motion catastrophe it has been for multiple years, and Guidry never made the traditional leap either: he was excellent by every advanced metric and thoroughly ordinary by the ones on the scoreboard (11-7, 4.51, but second in the league with 251 K).

Two things made up for it. Andy Pettitte, acquired for the departed Albert Belle, quietly became the ace we’d wished onto Guidry (18-9, AL All-Star). And Ruth authored maybe the best offensive season in league history (hush you voices in Detroit and Pittsburgh) — 73 homers, 167 RBI, a 1.156 OPS, runner-up for the Mel Trench Award. We had fretted about regression from Munson, Davis, and Mantle; the regression that actually arrived came from the man we’d listed as trade bait, Derek Jeter, who, at 33, slid all the way to the bottom of the SS lists in the AL.

The eternal lesson for the Black Yankees: the stars carry you, the margins betray you, and the bullpen is simply a tax you pay every year.

Key Changes

In: Ed Charles (IND); Ted Lilly (FA); Tony Mullane (FA); Gaylord Perry (NYG); Joe Sewell (CLE); Robby Thompson (NYG)

Out: Aroldis Chapman (CLE); Grant Johnson (NYG); Dave Righetti (NYG); Jeff D Robinson (IND); Red Ruffing (FA)

Opening Day Rookies: Whitey Ford

Best Case for 2002

The back of the rotation finally coheres — Gaylord Perry, the winter import, gives them a genuine third starter, one of Whitey Ford or Tony Brizzolara steps forward, and Guidry’s peripherals at last catch up to his ERA. Gehrig and Mantle keep climbing, Ruth keeps being Ruth, and — dare we dream — the bullpen merely stops actively losing games rather than winning them (a burden that weighs heavy on designated closer Goose Gossage). That team runs away with the division and, for once, keeps winning past September.

Worst Case for 2002

Jeter’s collapse turns out to be contagious. The 33-year-old shortstop and the 34-year-old Hornsby both give out up the middle, Eric Davis misses another 50 games, and the rotation behind Pettitte and Guidry is a mishmash of below-average auditions. The pen does what the pen does. 90 wins becomes 78, and the only now mandate starts ringing increasingly hollow, as the rest of the universe cheers the decline.

Key Questions

Who, exactly, plays shortstop? Jeter isn’t giving them enough to hold the job. Chapman was unloaded for Joe Sewell and Robby Thompson came over in the Perry trade, so look for a 3-man rotation for a while. This is the question most likely to shove New York back into the market the instant the trade window opens at the break.
Is there a back of the rotation? Pettitte and Guidry are locks, and Perry was brought in to solidify behind them. After that it’s an untried rookie in Ford, the only slightly tried Brizzolara, and arms with nothing actually proven (Ted Lilly, Tony Mullane).
Is Mattingly still a WBL first baseman? An .800-ish OPS doesn’t play at 1B, and Gehrig is standing right there. It’s not clear how long these 2 split the DH/1B role, but it’s also not clear who would take over.

Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Munson C · Sanguillén
1B	Mattingly D · Gehrig S
2B	Hornsby B
3B	Schmidt A · Charles
SS	Jeter F · Sewell · Thompson
LF	Ruth S
CF	Davis B · Rivers
RF	Mantle A
DH	Gehrig S
SP	Pettitte B · Guidry C · Perry C · Ford · Brizzolara
RP	Gossage B (CL) · Wilhelm C · Cormier D · Robertson F · Shuey

4 bats as good as any in the league — Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Schmidt — and not much of anything else. And the quiet standout may be the one nobody talks about: Schmidt hit 45 homers with a .914 OPS and plays a real third base, the connoisseur’s Yankee the sharper fans prize precisely because the box-score crowd looks past him.

Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	LF Babe Ruth	LF Jackie Warner
Batting Eye	LF Babe Ruth	1B Nick Etten
Contact	C Manny Sanguillén; 1B Don Mattingly	RF Rich Coggins
Running Speed	CF Eric Davis	CF Cecil Espy
Base Stealing	CF Eric Davis	CF Cecil Espy
IF Defense	3B Mike Schmidt	1B J C Martin
OF Defense	LF Babe Ruth	RF Nick Swisher
Stuff	RP David Robertson	RP Jesse Orosco
Control	SP Gaylord Perry	SP Noah Syndergaard
Velocity	RP David Robertson	RP Dan Plesac

Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (67)	24	SS	Charlie Irwin

Others: OF Rich Coggins, IF John Kruk, P Noah Syndergaard, OF Jackie Warner.

Meh, who cares.

A year ago, this list ran 7 deep, almost all arms. Where did they go? Whitey Ford and Tony Brizzolara graduated into the back of the rotation; Jake Peavy, last spring’s No. 2, was the centerpiece headed to Portland for Rogers Hornsby; Carlos Rodón and Elliott Maddox were shipped out in other deals; and last year’s No. 1, Noah Syndergaard, has slid off the national board entirely (still only 22, throwing at AAA). What’s left is Charlie Irwin, a 24-year-old vaguely mediocre looking shortstop.

New York still owns the worst farm system in the league by a distance.

Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Jesse Orosco, 36	John Ryan Murphy, 18
Height	Noah Syndergaard, 6’6″	Joe Sewell, 5’6″
OPS	Babe Ruth, 1.156	Heinie Groh, .540 (AAA)
HR	Babe Ruth, 73	Heinie Groh, 2 (AAA)
SB	Eric Davis, 64	–
WAR (bat)	Babe Ruth, 7.7	Derek Jeter, −1.5
W	Andy Pettitte, 18	–
SV	Goose Gossage, 20	–
ERA	Art Ditmar, 2.94 (AA)	Herm Wehmeier, 6.54
WAR (pit)	Ron Guidry, 4.8	Cal Eldred, −1.5 (A)

Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.

Year III Season Preview: New York Gothams

By mknn

On August 8, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

The Gothams are the 3rd team in their own city, behind a Brooklyn club that just won it all and the rich/arrogant Yankees up the road. 2001 was a wake-up call — after winning 87 games, they plummeted to 75-87 and last in the Effa Manley Division, 24 games back.

The top of the roster is not the problem. Willie Mays hit 49 home runs at 24 and was worth 4.4 wins. Buster Posey hit 39 from behind the plate and was worth 4.2. Will Clark put up a .952 OPS, Johnny Callison hit 39 more, and all 4 are 24 to 29 years old.

The problem is … well … everything else. Shortstop gave New York 442 plate appearances of 221/268/381. Third base needed 7 different men before Jim Ray Hart claimed it in the 2nd half, and it’s not like he set the world on fire. Left field was a hole until Don Buford was bought at the deadline, and Jimmy Sheckard, a 4-WAR outfielder in 2000, hit .172 in the WBL and finished the year at Triple-A.

And the rotation wasn’t much better — Christy Mathewson keeps giving both ace potential and thoroughly average performances, and the bullpen — the pride of the club in 2000 — was showing its age. So the Gothams tore it all down (which may mean, panicked uncontrollably, or may mean made a smart investment in their future).

Juan Marichal, Robb Nen, Troy Percival and Steve Howe all went out at the deadline; then, in January, the Gothams sent Gaylord Perry — its own 2001 WAR leader — up the road to the Yankees for HR Johnson, Dave Righetti, a 1st-round pick and a 3rd. Johnson is an infielder, and may offer some long-sought-after stability there.

▌ 2001 Revisited

We asked for a deep playoff run, much like last year, and added a note about the Gothams’ habit of trading away all their damn picks. They went 75-87.

The worst case we sketched was that the bullpen falters, and only Matty remains viable as a starter while everyone not named Mays and Posey struggles offensively. That was close, and still too kind. The bullpen didn’t falter so much as get sold for parts. Mays and Posey did carry the offense. And Mathewson was the one who faltered.

Which is where 2001 gets strange. Mathewson went 7-16 with a 5.61 ERA, and he was the best pitcher on the staff: 210 innings, 207 strikeouts, 4.0 WAR at 22, a figure that actually rose from the year he led the league in wins. Don Sutton went 17-8 with a 5.23 and was worth 1.9. Same rotation, same season, 2 records that just add to the lack of internal clarity.

The best case wanted Perry or Marichal to step forward and join Mathewson among the league’s elite. Perry did have a decent year — a 1.13 WHIP across 211 innings, but went packing when the Black Yankees came knocking. Benny Kauff, who the preview wondered how they’d find at-bats for, found them, made the All-NL 2nd Team, and was traded in March.

A lot of churn. But it’s not clear the Gothams are any better.

▌ Key Changes

In: Grant Johnson (NYY); Dale Murphy (KAN); Dave Righetti (NYY)

Out: Dellin Betances (FA); Benny Kauff (KAN); Tony Mullane (FA); Gaylord Perry (NYY); Robby Thompson (NYY)

Opening Day Rookies: Santiago Casilla; Dick Dietz; George Jeffcoat; Doggie Miller; Buck O’Brien; Vito Tamulis; Masahiro Tanaka

▌ Best Case for 2002

The middle fills in. HR Johnson, 26, takes second base and hits the way he did in Houston; Hart holds third; Brandon Crawford finds enough of a bat to go with the glove, or somebody takes the job from him. That alone is worth several wins, because the 4 men at the top are already producing at a playoff standard.

Mathewson’s record catches up to his arm. Righetti, 24 and coming off a 2.5-WAR season in the Bronx, gives the rotation a 2nd real starter, and Pete Donohue — 22, a 3.61 across 120 innings at Triple-A and a NL 21 & Under Team pick — turns his September look into a rotation spot.

And the bullpen rebuilds itself from inside. Brian Wilson is still an elite closer when healthy, George Jeffcoat saved 32 games at Hartford, Santiago Casilla was untouchable there. So perhaps the identity returns.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

Johnson is the latest name on a long list. New York has spent 3 years betting on the undervalued bat — Pinky Higgins, John Kerins, Matt Williams, Pete Runnels, Carl Furillo, Wes Westrum — and the bets keep landing in the same unremarkable middle. If Johnson doesn’t hit, the club will have sold its best pitcher to the richest team in its own city for another meh return.

Mathewson doesn’t take the step, Sutton’s ERA finally catches his record, and the rotation behind them is a 26-year-old with a 5.75 and a set of Triple-A arms. Dale Murphy hit .193 in Kansas City last year and is the insurance in center. Crawford keeps the shortstop job by default. A 75-win team wins 75 games again.

▌ Key Questions

Does HR Johnson hit? He is 26, he plays the position New York has needed for 3 years, and he cost the club a pitcher who had just led it in WAR. Johnson produces and the trade is the cleverest thing the Gothams have done. Get him wrong and it is an all-too-familiar mistake.
Will the real Matty please stand up? He has now led the league in wins and, a year later, in losses, with his WAR going up in between. Read that again. At 22 with 207 strikeouts he has every ingredient of a front-line starter and a 5.61 to explain away. The org has never been sure whether it has an ace or a very good innings-eater. It would be nice to know.
Can the left side of the infield be fixed from inside? Shortstop and third combined for less production than most clubs get from a single player. Johnson will swing across these positions, but someone else needs to contribute here as well.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Posey A · Dietz
1B	Clark B
2B	Johnson · Doyle B
SS	Crawford F
3B	Hart
LF	Buford D · Sheckard
CF	Mays A · Murphy F
RF	Callison C
DH	Doyle B · Dietz
SP	Mathewson D · Sutton C · Hubbell F · Righetti · Donohue · Tanaka
RP	Wilson B (CL) · Norris B · Casilla · Tamulis · Tekulve · Jeffcoat

Dick Dietz was among the better backup bats in the league, which on most rosters is a luxury and on this one is a way to get a real hitter into a lineup that runs out of them by the 6th spot. And Mike Norris, 37 and the club’s Fan Favorite, is almost certainly taking his last lap — which may be cut off early, as age catches up with the 2000 Reliever of the Year in the WBL.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	2B HR Johnson	CF Dwayne Murphy
Batting Eye	C Dick Dietz	CF Dwayne Murphy
Contact	LF Tip O’Neill	CF Fred M Lewis
Running Speed	CF Willie Mays	CF George Van Haltren
Base Stealing	LF Jimmy Sheckard; 2B HR Johnson	SP Al Spalding; CF George Van Haltren
IF Defense	SS Brandon Crawford	2B Whitey Wietelmann
OF Defense	CF Willie Mays	RF Mike Tiernan
Stuff	RP Grant Balfour	RP Henry Rodríguez
Control	SP Pete Donohue	SP Al Spalding
Velocity	RP Grant Balfour	RP Derrick Turnbow

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (27)	18	SP	Amos Rusie
2 (61)	26	CF	Dwayne Murphy
3 (76)	23	SP	William VanLandingham

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Masahiro Tanaka (77).

Others: IF Carlos Baerga, IF Alvin Davis, IF Howard Johnson, OF Tully Hartsel.

3 names on the ranked list, and the Gothams know exactly how it got that way — last year’s preview asked them to stop trading away all their damn picks, and they spent 2001 trading more of them. Amos Rusie is the exception and a real one: 18 years old and 27th in all of baseball.

Underneath, the system is infielders the club is hoping into relevance. Carlos Baerga, 19, came from Kansas City in the Kauff deal; Howard Johnson and Davey Johnson arrived from Homestead for Marichal and Nen. At least the January trade brought back picks instead of spending them.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Mike Norris, 37	Amos Rusie, 18
Height	Ron H Jackson, 6’7″	Tully Hartsel, 5’5″
OPS	Will Clark, .952	Cliff Bolton, .534 (A)
HR	Willie Mays, 49	George Van Haltren, 0 (AA)
SB	Tim Shinnick, 72 (A)	–
WAR (bat)	Willie Mays, 4.4	George Van Haltren, −1.2 (AA)
W	Don Sutton, 17	–
SV	George Jeffcoat, 32 (AAA)	–
ERA	Willie Banks, 3.37 (A)	Tully Sparks, 6.10 (AAA)
WAR (pit)	Pete Donohue, 4.5 (AAA)	Wandy Rodríguez, 0.3 (A)

Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.

Year III Season Preview: Chicago American Giants

By mknn

On August 7, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

{ Whoops, one slipped out of alpha order here … }

State of the Franchise

Chicago reads offensive production better than almost anyone in the league, knows exactly what it lacks, and spends aggressively to fix it. And then it keeps betting on the wrong arm(s), with it not being clear if the issue is bad luck or poor pitching talent evaluation.

The offense is a genuine strength: a deep, patient, on-base machine built around a Big Four — Joe Jackson, Dick Allen, Eddie Collins, Frank Thomas — that is young, exceptional, and beloved. The willingness to open the checkbook is real too.

Underneath that runs a more dangerous habit: it is possible the organization totally misjudges its overall trajectory. The American Giants read a 2000 first-round playoff exit as leaving them one pitching-fix from a title and acted accordingly. Then 2001 ended 73-89, 4th in the Cum Posey Division, 30 games back, with Thomas’s knee blown out in September to cap it.

So who are they? And are the holes in the club — CF, SS, the mound — a whisker or a chasm away from being filled? 2002 is an evaluation year, shadowed by a franchise player who won’t be back until around June, and watched by a fanbase that has learned a hard lesson.

2001 Revisited

A year ago the verdict was confident: championship contention — the offense is just too good not to warrant it, even if moves need to be made in the pitching corps. Turns out, the offense was far more fragile than it seemed. Chicago scored 829 runs in 2000 and 824 in 2001 — flat, which sounds fine until you remember the whole league’s offense exploded last season, so flat meant a fall from 3rd in the league to 18th. The role-player career years (Mike Fiore anyone? How about Duffy Lewis?) that made the 2000 lineup deep rather than top-heavy regressed almost in unison.

Then the part we’d actually flagged went worse than anticipated. The pitching didn’t fail to improve; it collapsed — 156 more runs allowed, the ace Tricky Nichols gone to ineffectiveness and then a July injury, and then an outright release. The worst case we’d sketched, fringe-bat regression and pitching collapse, arrived together and louder than anyone could predict. Thomas’s ACL injury in September was the final indignity on a season already 30 games gone. There is hope, though: through all of it, Joe Jackson simply raked — 355/410/608 with 68 doubles — and, along with a strong season from Allen and a decent (but far from the heights of 2000) year from Collins, as well as Ed Walsh‘s maturation into a rotation anchor, kept a little hope alive for the future. Hard to hold onto as a team loses 89 games, though.

Key Changes

In: Jay Bell (FA); Travis Jackson (HOU)
Out: Ted Lilly (FA); Trea Turner (HOU)

Opening Day Rookies: Víctor Cruz; Travis Jackson; Alex Reyes; Wilbur Wood

Best Case for 2002

Thomas walks back in healthy around June and the Big Four do what they do, anchoring the contact-and-on-base lineup Chicago built on purpose. The shortstop competition produces a real bat, Cristóbal Torriente‘s season looks like his rookie promise instead of his sophomore crater, Chino Smith forces a constant flow of PA with his bat, and — the eternal if for this franchise — the arms Chicago acquired actually translate this time: Ed Walsh looks dependable as an ace, but they need Waite Hoyt and Mark Buehrle to hold the middle, and the rebuilt bullpen to cohere around A.J. Minter.

Worst Case for 2002

The signature failure repeats. The arms don’t translate — again — Torriente’s .485 sophomore line (that’s OPS, not SLG) turns out to be the real one, shortstop is a hole for the third straight year, and with Thomas out until midseason the offense can’t carry a staff that can’t prevent runs. The bridge collapses into another lost season, the 2003 window slides toward someday, and a fanbase that already spent-for-and-got-burned once loses a little more faith.

Key Questions

Can Chicago finally find the right arms? There is great hope that the acquisition of Waite Hoyt helps solidify this, but beyond that it’s largely the same names — Buehrle, Ben Sheets, Herb Pennock. Someone has to step up. The habit is old enough to have a founding scar: in 2000, Chicago dealt the franchise’s brightest light, A. Rube Foster, chasing arms that never delivered — and Foster promptly became exactly what they keep failing to buy, a 200-inning, sub-3.50 ace, these days anchoring a rotation in Kansas City.
Which Torriente is real? The 19-year-old is the franchise’s “fifth star” bet: elite outfield glove, a genuine shot at being a useful two-way player, and a bat that swung from real promise to a miserable dumpster fire of a sophomore season. The org wants him to be the answer, and continually resists the call for him to sort out his stroke in the minors.
Who plays shortstop? Brought over in trade, Travis Jackson seems to have the opening day spot, but FA signing Jay Bell had a stronger spring, and Freddy Parent remains in the wings.

Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	Fisk C · Nilsson · Doyle
1B	Vernon · Thomas A (IL)
2B	Collins B · Chino Smith
SS	Bell · T. Jackson
3B	Allen B · Lindstrom
LF	Joe Jackson A · Mitchell
CF	Torriente F · Stenzel (IL)
RF	Chino Smith · Colavito
DH	Mitchell · Thomas A (IL)
SP	Walsh B · Hoyt D · Buehrle F · Sheets D · Moyer · Streeter F · Pennock
RP	Minter D (CL) · Wood · Reyes · Cruz · W. Smith

It’s a lineup thick with proven bats and gaping holes. A lot rides on whether one of the SS and Chino Smith can fill those. And Thomas hangs over the whole thing in absentia — the captain whose June return reshuffles first base, designated hitter, and the mood of the season.

Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	SS Travis Jackson	2B George Grantham
Batting Eye	1B Frank Thomas	1B Mike Fiore
Contact	LF Joe Jackson	CF Lance Johnson
Running Speed	3B Dick Allen	CF Lance Johnson
Base Stealing	C Jack Doyle	SS Joe Sullivan
IF Defense	SS Travis Jackson	SS Art Fletcher
OF Defense	LF Cristóbal Torriente	RF Magglio Ordóñez; RF Mike A Marshall
Stuff	SP Sam Streeter	RP Jeff Nelson
Control	RP Wilbur Wood	RP Joe Edelen
Velocity	RP Alex Reyes	RP Raisel Iglesias; RP Josh Hader

Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (36)	25	SP	Jacob deGrom
2 (59)	21	3B	Freddie Lindstrom

Graduated to the active roster since the ranked list: Alex Reyes (31), Travis Jackson (64).

A thin list, but there is talent behind. On the mound, deGrom leads a strong contingent with Zack Greinke, Ted Lyons, Harry Buckner, Ricky Bones, and Josh Hader all developing.

A year ago this list ran 7 deep and led with outfielders (Walter Davis, Lenny Dykstra); Dykstra was traded to Birmingham, and only Lindstrom remains (acquired from the Grays last year). The dearth of offensive talent shouldn’t be an issue — shouldn’t.

Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Jamie Moyer, 37	Cristóbal Torriente, 19
Height	Jeff Nelson, 6’8″	Tommy Bond, 5’7″
OPS	Kevin Mitchell, 1.037	Cristóbal Torriente, .485
HR	Bill D Wilson, 47 (AAA)	José Tabata, 0 (AA)
SB	Eddie Collins, 73	–
WAR (bat)	Joe Jackson, 4.8	Duffy Lewis, −1.7
W	Waite Hoyt, 11	–
SV	Josh Zeid, 22 (AA)	–
ERA	Tommy Bond, 3.41 (A)	Ben Sheets, 5.88
WAR (pit)	Waite Hoyt, 3.1	Wayland Dean, −0.3 (A)

Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.

Year III Season Preview: Miami Cuban Giants

By mknn

On August 6, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

▌ State of the Franchise

Two years ago the Cuban Giants were the worst team in the league; last year they were in a playoff race into the final week and finished 80-83, 2nd in the Cum Posey Division, and nobody — inside the building or out — is entirely sure if this is progress or illusion.

Here is what isn’t in dispute. Miami hit an enormous number of home runs in the power-happy 2001 environment. José Canseco hit 68 of them, Jim Thome 59, Gary Sheffield and 20-year-old Julio Rodríguez 42 apiece, and 7 different men hit 28 or more. The lineup is young, deep and distributed — Iván Rodríguez won a Gold Glove behind the plate at 21, Alejandro Oms led the club at .308 at 22, Yasiel Puig slugged .658 in 100 games. So, unlike 2000 (when it was Canseco largely by himself), this is no longer a one-star team.

Still this is not an elite group the deeper you look. Canseco’s 68 homers amassed only 1.7 WAR, and — with one historically notable exception — the defense is not great.

So the season turns on the run prevention, and specifically on the rotation, which is José Méndez and then a lot of uncertainty. Méndez made 37 starts, threw 233 innings, struck out 201 and was worth 7.5 wins in a league whose average ERA was 5.38. Behind him: Jim Whitney, an All-AL Team pick acquired midseason and then pure projection and hope.

▌ 2001 Revisited

The bar a year ago was stunningly low: to no longer be considered one of the absolute worst teams in the league would be a nice start. They cleared it in the first month and spent the rest of the summer embarrassing the forecast.

The best case asked for Canseco to repeat and for someone — Molitor, Sheffield, Oms, “or even Puig” — to join him. What actually happened is that nearly everyone did (other than Molitor, who was moved for Pudge, sort of). Thome put up a 1.034 OPS. Sheffield hit 42. Puig hit 298/388/658. And J. Rodríguez, who came into camp with no realistic shot at the roster, took center field on Opening Day and hit 315/347/661 at 20.

The other half of that best case was a front of the rotation built from Camilo Pascual, Freddie Fitzsimmons and Méndez, with Cole Hamels joining them. Méndez delivered. Pascual made 5 starts and blew out a knee. Fitzsimmons was awful, Hamels only slightly better.

And one question got answered: we asked whether Eustaquio Pedroso and Martín Dihigo could carry the 2-way experiment far enough to justify it. Pedroso hit worse than anyone on the roster and abandoned the bat, but maintained the late-inning flexibility. Dihigo, who at 18 was arguably the worst-hitting regular in the league, climbed to 246/291/429 and stole 39 bases — still not a good hitter, and the most interesting player in the organization anyway largely due to his gold glove potential at a half-dozen positions.

▌ Key Changes

In: CC Sabathia (HOD)
Out: —

Opening Day Rookies: None

▌ Best Case for 2002

The bats hold and the arms arrive. Canseco and Thome do it again, J. Rodríguez proves 2001 wasn’t a fluke, Puig turns 100 good games into 150, and Iván Rodríguez adds the bat to the glove at 22.

Behind Méndez and Whitney, 2 of the question marks answer: Pascual comes back from the knee, Phenomenal Smith turns 5 starts of 1.98 ball into a season, and CC Sabathia — 179 innings for a bad House of David club — finds the form that made him worth acquiring. Hamels is the interesting one: a 6.18 ERA with 168 strikeouts and 2.3 WAR.

Do that and the squinting stops. This is a young roster with a real ace, and the difference between 80 wins and 90 seems attainable.

▌ Worst Case for 2002

The bats come back to earth. Canseco’s .705 slugging settles toward the middle, the outfield defense keeps leaking, and the same offense produces 15 fewer wins because the run environment normalized rather than because anyone got worse.

Meanwhile the rotation stays what it was. Pascual’s knee doesn’t hold, Sabathia pitches like he did last year (5-15, a 5.78, replacement level), Ramón Martínez gives back another 134 innings of 7.17, and the middle innings — already the org’s stated area of concern — go on being handed to whoever didn’t make the rotation.

▌ Key Questions

How much of 2001 was the ballpark? The honest answer is: some, and nobody knows how much. 7 men over 28 home runs is a real lineup or a park effect wearing a costume, and Miami will spend the summer finding out which. The tell to watch isn’t the homer totals — it’s the WAR underneath them, which last year said “good, not great.”
Is there a rotation behind Méndez/Whitney? He is a genuine ace and a workhorse, and Whitney may be similar. But the questions beyond that need to be answered.
Does the flexibility matter? Dihigo has started at 7 positions, Yount is a shortstop with an outfield move already being discussed, Sheffield isn’t really a third baseman at all, and the 2-way experiments seem amusing, but little more than that.

▌ Roster Evaluation

Pos	Players
C	I. Rodríguez C · Hoiles
1B	Thome A · Adcock
2B	Dihigo C · Roberts
SS	Yount B
3B	Sheffield A · Branyan
LF	Oms C · Pafko
CF	J. Rodríguez A
RF	Puig B
DH	Canseco A
SP	Méndez A · Whitney A · Smith · Pascual · Hamels F · Sabathia D
RP	Papelbon C (CL) · Marte · Colomé · Pedroso · Wilson

Dihigo is 19 and the cells can’t hold him: he has started at 7 positions, plays a Gold Glove infield, stole 39 bases, and still hasn’t learned to hit. Jonathan Papelbon has the 9th inning, acquired at the deadline in a burst of playoff belief that cost the org a blue-chip arm in Josh Beckett — and Ricky Nolasco, who saved 26 games last year, opens this one at Triple-A trying to become a starter.

▌ Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	RF José Canseco	1B Steve Balboni
Batting Eye	1B Jim Thome	RF Carlos Morán
Contact	SS Robin Yount	2B Nellie Fox
Running Speed	2B Martín Dihigo	CF Marquis Grissom
Base Stealing	SP Phenomenal Smith	SS Bert Campaneris; RP Dan Collins
IF Defense	2B Martín Dihigo	2B Luis Castillo
OF Defense	RF Yasiel Puig	CF Marquis Grissom
Stuff	RP Dámaso Marte	RP Francis Martes
Control	SP Jim Whitney	RP Craig Lefferts
Velocity	RP Jonathan Papelbon	RP Tyler Clippard

▌ Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (44)	21	SP	Scott Olsen
2 (49)	24	LF	Jason Bay
3 (55)	19	CL	Pedro Martínez
4 (60)	20	SS	Jack Glasscock
5 (91)	22	CF	José Cruz

Others: OF Carlos Morán, P Lefty George, OF Minnie Miñoso, IF Zoilo Versalles.

This system turns over as fast as the roster does: a year ago the list was headed by Josh Beckett and J. Rodríguez with Jon Matlack 3rd, and all 3 are gone — Beckett to Memphis, Rodríguez into the everyday center-field job, Matlack to the House of David for Sabathia.

What replaced them is arm-heavy and young: Scott Olsen, Jason Bay, and a 19-year-old Pedro Martínez making his A ball debut. Lefty George took the organizational Minor League Pitcher of the Year and Carlos Morán is the name the club talks about as Sheffield’s eventual replacement at third.

▌ Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Joe Adcock, 40	Ed Seward, 18
Height	CC Sabathia, 6’7″	Phenomenal Smith, 5’6″
OPS	Carlos Quentin, 1.082 (AA)	Willie Kamm, .567 (AA)
HR	José Canseco, 68	Luis Castillo, 1 (AA)
SB	Carlos Morán, 52 (AAA)	–
WAR (bat)	Bob Loane, 4.6 (AA)	Cookie Rojas, −2.8
W	Don Wilson, 13 (AA)	–
SV	Jonathan Papelbon, 28	–
ERA	Gary Gentry, 3.07 (AA)	Ramón Martínez, 7.17
WAR (pit)	José Méndez, 7.5	CC Sabathia, −0.0

Stats across all levels, 2001 season. 200 PA / 75 IP minimum. Non-WBL levels tagged in parentheses.