Baseball The Way It Never Was

Tag: Bob Gillespie

TWIWBL 62.3: Cum Posey Division

#Chicago American Giants

Eddie Collins had 4 hits (including his first homerun of the year) and Mike Fiore had a Mike Fiore day with 3 walks and a homerun leading the American Giants to a 6-3 win over Baltimore. Despite a decent outing, Mark Buehrle was thwarted in his attempt to win his 6th game of the year, with the victory going to Hoyt Wilhelm in relief while AJ Minter picked up his 5th save.

#Los Angeles Angels

The Angels hit five homeruns to back another strong effort from Doc Gooden, who lowered his ERA under 2.00 in an 8-0 blanking of Miami. Doug Rader, Carlos Delgado, Eddie Joost, Kal Daniels, and Mike Trout all went deep for Los Angeles, while Gooden combined with Francisco Rodríguez on the 4 hit shutout.

#Miami Cuban Giants

Miami used back-to-back-to-back homeruns from Ryan Braun (his second of the game), José Canseco, and Jim Thome to surge ahead, then held on to escape with a 6-5 win over Los Angeles. Freddie Fitzsimmons was effective for the first time all year, improving to 2-3 and Sandy Consuegra continued to be borderline unhittable, picking up his 3rd save and lowering his ERA to 0.69.

Well this was a surprise. Kenshin Kawakami was recalled to make a start due to a lack of options. The 32 year old delivered 7 shutout innings, giving up only 3 hits and striking out 6, combining with 3 relievers on a 5 hit shutout as the Cuban Giants defeated the Angels 4-0.

Braden Looper was forced from a game with a sore shoulder, and would hit the DL. 25 year old Bob Gillespie–dominant at Orlando so far–was recalled to take his place.

#San Francisco Sea Lions

With Tommy Bridges headed to the DL, the Sea Lions recalled newly signed reliever Huston Street.

Reggie Jackson went deep twice, but it wasn’t enough as the Sea Lions fell to Memphis, 8-6. Jackson did it again, hitting 2 homeruns and driving in 4 in a 9-8 win over the Red Sox. Jimmie Foxx also hit 2 out as the Sea Lions went yard 7 times (Jack Clark, Bobby Bonds, and Mickey Cochrane also went deep) and held on despite giving up 5 runs in the last 2 innings.

Rickey Henderson stole 6 bases, overtaking teammate Dick Lundy for the league lead, but the Sea Lions fell to Portland, 5-3.

Year II Season Preview: Miami Cuban Giants

Expectations

To no longer be considered one of the absolute worst teams in the league would be a nice start.

Best Case

Camilo Pascual, Freddie Fitzsimmons, and José Méndez form a strong front of the rotation and Cole Hamels joins them, fulfilling the promise he showed early in the season with the Black Yankees. Offensively, José Canseco repeats, but is joined by … someone–Paul Molitor or Gary Sheffield or Alejandro Oms or even Yasiel Puig–as a formidable offensive force, with Cookie Rojas recovering the form he showed with the Gothams, and and and … you get the idea. Everyone improves in every way.

Worst Case

Ouch. Everyone with high expectations becomes Martín Dihigo from last year, a continual disappointment showing just enough promise to keep from being jettisoned. One issue here is that a significant amount of the talent on the roster is very, very young and therefore several years away from really showing their true potential (for example, Dihigo is 18, Oms 20)

Key Questions

  • How does the rest of the staff fill out?
  • Can the continued development of Eustaquio Pedroso and Dihigo as two way players bear enough fruit to warrant continuing the experiment?

Trade Bait

I mean … maybe? The problem is that a team building for the future whose best assets are its young talent will often find it difficult to locate a good trading partner.

Yeah … so … that happened. It’s hard to boil the trade down: the Cuban Giants gave up Molitor, top draft pick Vladimir Guerrero, and some stuff, getting back Iván Rodríguez and a few useful possibilities (Al Oliver, Jon Matlack, Adolis García). So, this year, it’s Molitor for Pudge. But losing Guerrero is a potential big deal.

Roster Evaluation

POSEliteStrongSolidMehWeakUnknown
CRodríguezBurgess
1BThomeMiñoso
2BDihigo
Rojas
3BSheffield
SSYount
LF/
RF
CansecoPuigBraunOliver
Rodríguez
CFOms
SPPascualSmithHamels
Martínez
Méndez
Fitzsimmons
EndConsuegraNolasco
Terry
RPLooper
Pedroso
Latman
New Addition | Injured

Doesn’t look like a playoff contender to me. Pudge really does help, though, and .500 might–might–be within reach.

Talent Ratings

WBLMinors
Raw PowerIF Jim Thome1B Willie McCovey
Batting EyeIF Jim ThomeU Carlos Morán
ContactU Cookie Rojas2B Nellie Fox
Running SpeedOF Alejandro OmsIF Charlie Briggs
OF Bert Campaneris
IF Luis Castillo
OF Marquis Grissom
OF Eddie Milner
Base StealingOF Alejandro OmsIF Jiggs Donahue
OF Marquis Grissom
IF DefenseU Martín Dihigo3B Willie Kamm
OF DefenseOF Yasiel PuigOF Tony González
StuffP Adonis TerryP Gary Gentry
ControlP Freddie FitzsimmonsP Dale Murray
VelocitySP Cole HamelsP Brad Brach

Best In The Minors

RankAgePOSName
1 (22)20PJosh Beckett
2 (103)20CFJulio Rodríguez
3 (111)18PJon Matlack
4 (142)24PFreddie Fitzsimmons
5 (159)23CSmoky Burgess
6 (184)23UBert Campaneris
Others: None

On the one hand, the cupboard is pretty bare; on the other hand, the Cuban Giants are among the youngest teams in the league, so many of their “prospects” are already in Miami, joined this year by Rodríguez, Burgess, and Fitzsimmons.

MostLeast
AgeC Clyde Sukeforth, 37P Ed Seward, 17
Height1B Richie Sexson, 6’8″P Phenomenal Smith, 5’6″
U Carlos Morán, 5’6″
OPSOF Carlos Quentin, 1.381 (—)1B Julio Becquer, .504 (AA)
HROF Carlos Quentin, 81 (—)OF José Tartabull, 0 (AAA/AA)
OF Carlos Morán, 0 (WBL)
IF Luis Castillo, 0 (AA)
SBOF José Canseco, 29 (WBL)
OF Marquis Grissom, 29 (—)
Many with 0
WAROF Carlos Quentin, 6.7 (—)IF Russell Branyan, -2.2 (—)
WCamilo Pascual, 12 (WBL)
Ed Brandt, 12 (—-)
Denny Lemaster, 12 (—-)
Marcus Stroman, 12 (—-)
Johnny Murphy, 3 (AAA/AA)
SVBob Gillespie, 19 (—)
Jim Roland, 19 (—)
ERAJohn Boozer, 2.26 (—)Mike Morgan, 6.67 (AAA/AA)
WARMarcus Stroman, 5.1 (—)Nick Strincevich, -0.6 (AAA/AA)
Stats are across all levels. 200 PA / 75 IP min. Non WBL leagues indicated by —.

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