Tag: Brett Butler

Year III Season Preview: Brooklyn Royal Giants

On July 27, 2026

In 2002 Season Previews, Team News

State of the Franchise

Brooklyn won the whole thing, in a year where nobody saw them coming. But they’re Brooklyn — nobody ever does. The Royal Giants were a surprise division winner and a bigger surprise in October, running through the bracket and then handling the heavily favored San Francisco Sea Lions in the Whirled Series. From a .500 team in 2000 to a 99-63 champion.

And then … they spent the winter trading 2 of the key pieces of the championship run.

Brooklyn is New York’s third team, forever looked down on by the Yankees and the Gothams, and its edge seems to be first, to feel no sentiment, and, second, to care for the clubhouse. A ring didn’t change that. Within months of the parade the champions dealt Don Drysdale and John Briggs, the former for pouting when he was passed over to start the opening game of the Whirled Series and the latter because the Royal Giants believe they could get more value in return.

Brooklyn is convinced their offense will survive the passing of the home-run-friendly era, with Ron Cey at third, Jackie Robinson and Roy White as the heart and soul of the club, Mike Piazza behind the plate, and Smokey Joe Williams and Orel Hershiser at the front of the rotation.

The job now isn’t to defend a title. It’s to turn a surprise into a dynasty.

2001 Revisited

Our preview a year ago called this roster very middle of the road, penciled in a modest playoff hunt, and hung the whole thing on 2 names: Drysdale, the supposed lone dependable starter, and Briggs, the outfielder we swore would keep setting the world on fire.

Not wrong. Also not the story.

Cey slugged 47 homers with a 291/381/656 line and took the club MVP. Piazza finally arrived, mashing 48. Dan Brouthers settled first base with a .950 OPS. And the arms the org supposedly couldn’t trust carried it: Hershiser went 19-5, a converted Fernando Valenzuela 14-5, and Eric Gagné slammed the door 39 times. Williams was the best of them and had the least to show for it — a 7-WAR performance stuck with a 12-13 record.

Then the champions got to work dismantling the edges of their own title team. Drysdale — who threw a public fit about ceding the top of the rotation spot to Hershiser — went to Memphis with Red Ruffing (signed as a FA the previous week) in a package essentially for Mookie Betts, giving Brooklyn the marquee OF they had always lacked. Briggs, exactly the doubted-kid-makes-good story this fanbase adores, followed him to Memphis a few weeks later, bringing back a first-round pick and a pair of prospects.

Key Changes

In: Mookie Betts (MEM); Billy Bryan (MEM); Joe Smith (FA)
Out: John Briggs (MEM); Don Drysdale (MEM)

Opening Day Rookies: None

Best Case for 2002

The core doesn’t regress and the luck evens out. Cey, Piazza, Robinson, and Brouthers are all in their primes. Williams gets the record his WAR deserves, Hershiser is Hershiser, and Gagné closes. Behind the top 2, one of the other arms holds up well enough to carry them into October again. And, if someone does go down, the best farm system in baseball — it isn’t close — starts feeding the big club: for example, Ed Delahanty or Al Simmons arriving to turn the outfield into an embarrassment of riches. All of that, and Brooklyn goes back-to-back, and the surprise becomes a dynasty.

Worst Case for 2002

The pitching falls short. Behind Williams and Hershiser, Valenzuela regresses, Dick Redding fails to develop, and the rest turn out to be merely average at best. The bullpen — excellent in 2001 — collapses, leaving no reliable bridge to Gagné. Pedro Guerrero keeps flailing, and the lineup that looked fearsome in a juiced year looks ordinary in a normal one. All of that, and the champion drifts back toward the .500 club it was in 2000, relegated to be a curious footnote of WBL history.

Oh yeah, and Drysdale wins the Brock Rutherford Award in the AL.

Key Questions

Can the rotation hold? Yeah, Brooklyn had excess pitching. But trading Drysdale is a massive bet on … well, who exactly? Valenzuela? Redding? Ralph Branca? Nap Rucker? You can’t say you would prefer any of them over Drysdale without giggling. The answer may be young lefty Sandy Koufax, but he’s likely a bullpen arm this season as he works on building up the endurance to handle a starter’s load.
Can a champion still be the underdog? What happens when Brooklyn wins, again? It sort of breaks reality, yes?
How much of Duke Snider is real? Center field is now his with Briggs’ departure. Snider led the club with 51 homers — and was worth 0.2 WAR doing it, a .259 average and a .295 on-base underneath the power. Brooklyn traded the productive outfielder in Briggs and kept the other one in center, betting his ceiling was higher. It’s not clear.
Where does the Whirled Series MVP play? Lost in Piazza’s October is the man who won the round that mattered most: Ray Dandridge, a 22-year-old infielder who caught fire in the Series and has no position to call his own. Cey owns third, Robinson owns second, and Vern Stephens sparkled since being brought in at SS. Dandridge takes his reps everywhere, but at some point will force some hard questions.

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	Piazza A · Bryan
1B	Brouthers B
2B	Robinson A
SS	Stephens D
3B	Cey S
LF	White C
CF	Snider C
RF	Betts C
DH	Becker C · Guerrero F
SP	Williams A · Hershiser B · Valenzuela A · Redding · Leonard · Dreifort
RP	Gagné S (CL) · Forster A · Koufax C · Knauss D · Hildenberger B (IL)

A core of genuine stars — Cey, Piazza, Robinson, Williams, Valenzuela — deep enough to win a title and young enough to win several.

The bullpen is where the grid hides something. Gagné is an S-tier closer and Terry Forster an A-tier setup man, but the bridge to them leans hard left, and Trevor Hildenberger — the one right-handed answer with a real track — opens the year on the IL. Until he’s back, it’s all lefties all the time for Brooklyn.

Talent Ratings

	WBL	Minors
Raw Power	C Mike Piazza	1B Justin Smoak; 1B Jim Gentile
Batting Eye	3B Ron Cey	1B Justin Smoak
Contact	1B Dan Brouthers	RF Matty Alou
Running Speed	RF Mookie Betts	SS Sonny Jackson
Base Stealing	RF Beals Becker; 1B Dan Brouthers	2B Davey Lopes; RF Chicken Wolf
IF Defense	2B Jackie Robinson	SS Tim Foli
OF Defense	RF Mookie Betts	RF Chicken Wolf
Stuff	RP Eric Gagné	SP Jim Bunning; SP Allen Russell
Control	SP Smokey Joe Williams	SP Jordan Zimmermann
Velocity	RP Eric Gagné	RP Steve Chitren

Best In The Minors

Rank	Age	Pos	Name
1 (1)	21	2B	Ed Delahanty
2 (13)	25	RF	Chicken Wolf
3 (17)	23	SP	Walker Buehler
4 (24)	22	SP	Jim Kaat
5 (25)	21	CF	Al Simmons
6 (34)	22	SP	Eustace Newton
7 (47)	23	RF	Don Mueller
8 (56)	25	SP	Dustin McGowan
9 (79)	26	RF	George Selkirk

Others: OF Brett Butler, OF Jay Johnstone, P Victor González, P Odalis Pérez.

The best farm system in baseball, and it isn’t close — 9 ranked names headed by Ed Delahanty, the No. 1 prospect in the sport, a 21-year-old second baseman with the small problem that Robinson already owns the position. He is taking reps in left field.

A year ago this list graduated Smokey Joe Williams and Valenzuela straight into a championship rotation, and produced Briggs at #5. What remains is an arms-and-outfielders wave — Al Simmons, Jim Kaat, Walker Buehler — pressing up from below.

Superlatives

	Most	Least
Age	Burleigh Grimes, 36	Odalis Pérez, 20
Height	Luke Farrell, 6’6″	Candy Jim Taylor, 5’5″
OPS	Jim Gentile, 1.053 (AAA)	Rollie Hemsley, 0.550 (A)
HR	Duke Snider, 51	Rollie Hemsley, 1 (A)
SB	Jackie Robinson, 53	–
WAR (bat)	Ron Cey, 5.0	Pedro Guerrero, -1.1
W	Orel Hershiser, 19	–
SV	Eric Gagné, 39	–
ERA	Art H Johnson, 3.20 (AA)	Jordan Zimmermann, 5.80 (AAA)
WAR (pit)	Smokey Joe Williams, 7.1	Dazzy Vance, -0.1 (A)

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

TWIWBL 95.3: The Rookie Draft

By mknn

On June 12, 2026

In TWIWBL

One of my favorite things each year. The WBL Rookie Draft is always a bit “juiced,” with both some high end talent and some historical “decent” players, but there is plenty of dross here as well in the later rounds.

We’ll cover the first 3 rounds pick-by-pick here, then rounds 4-10 team by team.

A reminder: each team can make 2 picks outside of players historically associated with their seed franchises; the rest (until the tail end of the draft) must come from players that spent a significant period of their career with them.

OOTP does its usual fun on whether these picks actually sign, so news on that will hit future TWIWBL’s.

We are moving towards the 2002 season, for reference. Debut is, of course, an estimate.

#Round 1

Note that Round 1 contained 2 compensation picks for picks from last year’s draft that refused to sign.

Pick	Team	Player & Age	Pos	Debut	Note
1.1	MCG	Pedro Martínez (19)	P	2004	Currently a reliever, his live arm warrants a move to the rotation at some point.
1.2	MEM	Jim Rice (18)	OF	2005	Joins a system stocked with young OF, so some trades loom at some point. But, saves an exception pick, which has some value.
1.3	CAG	Zack Greinke (20)	P	2004	Perhaps solves a need for arms; refused to sign last year.
1.4	LAA	Rod Carew (19)	2B	2005	Incredibly weak IF system gets a significant boost. At some point, 1B gets crowded, but that’s a problem many years down the road.
1.5	SFS	John Smoltz (19)	P	2005	The rich get richer.
1.6	NYG	Amos Rusie (18)	P	2002	The best pitcher who looks WBL ready right now. Also a franchise pick.
1.7	OTT	Jim McCormick (21)	P	2003	A gamble, but OTT is desperate for SP.
1.8	HOM	David Cone (19)	P	2004	Another franchise that needs rotation help.
1.9	BAL	Jose Altuve (17)	2B	2006	One for the future, but potentially solves the position.
1.10	HOD	Juan Soto (18)	OF	2004	Honestly surprised he fell this far, Soto will cause some issues on the roster, but they’ll be well worth solving.
1.11	KCM	Chris Carpenter (19)	P	2005	More pitching needed, as always.
1.12	MCG	Jack Glasscock (20)	SS	2004	An interesting pick. First potential flop of the draft, but his arrival should coincide well with MCG’s needs as Robin Yount moves out of the middle infield.
1.13	NYY	Giancarlo Stanton (18)	OF	2005	Not likely to stay with NYY due to a draft-day deal with NYG for Gaylord Perry. That’s dependent on Stanton signing, though.
1.14	HOD	Bingo DeMoss (21)	2B	2004	A worthy successor to Ryne Sandberg.
1.15	IND	Dave Winfield (21)	OF	2003	A bit of a steal for the ABC’s.
1.16	HOD	George Zettlein (27)	P	2002	Having used their exceptions, the HOD’s choices were quite limited. Here, they opted for some immediate help, hopefully.
1.17	HOU	Ed Morris (20)	P	2003	Houston will soon have an embarrassment of rotation riches–which should serve them quite well.
1.18	PHI	Darryl Strawberry (18)	OF	2003	Another pick that will lead to a crowded roster, but Strawberry’s peak is too attractive to ignore.
1.19	CLE	Todd Helton (22)	1B	2003	A long-term solution to an aging position for the Spiders.
1.20	POR	Jack Fournier (16)	1B	2006	A big bat, but a long ways away.
1.21	BRK	Brett Butler (22)	OF	2004	A safe pick, and perhaps overvalued here.
1.22	SFS	Dick McBride (24)	P	2003	More help on the mound for the Sea Lions.

#Round 2

Pick	Team	Player & Age	Pos	Debut	Note
2.1	OTT	Robbie Ray (20)	P	2004	The peak is attractive.
2.2	BBB	Yoenis Céspedes (27)	OF	2002	Some immediate help for a somewhat crowded OF.
2.3	CAG	José Quintana (20)	P	2005	More long term rotation help.
2.4	LAA	Charlie Leibrandt (21)	2B	2005	More pitching depth. Spot a pattern?
2.5	HOD	Pat Luby (20)	P	2004	With their exceptions used up, the pool thins out quickly.
2.6	LAA	Garry Templeton (19)	SS	2005	Templeton didn’t sign with HOU last year, he find himself in an organization more desperate for MI help this year.
2.7	OTT	Billy Jurges (21)	SS	2003	Maybe a hedge against Álex Rodríguez’ eventual shift to 3B?
2.8	CAG	Josh Hader (19)	P	2005	Eventual closer possibility for a team that should need it.
2.9	KCM	Bill Sherdel (20)	P	2005	A surprise pick. We’ll see.
2.10	BBB	Ron Gant (18)	SS	2007	BBB traded up to get Gant who, while a few years away, does project as a decent corner OF.
2.11	KCM	Allen Sothoron (20)	P	2005	More pitching, constrained by franchise history.
2.12	POR	Josh Johnson (18)	P	2006	Development needed, but decent upside.
2.13	IND	Johnny Allen (24)	P	2002	A potential steal, as Allen could help this season.
2.14	BAL	Jouett Meekin (22)	P	2003	Another intriguing selection–immediate help, if not a lot of extended value.
2.15	HOU	Paul Splittorf (22)	P	2004	Decent mid-rotation talent.
2.16	POR	Bob Groom (23)	P	2003	More medium talent with potential near-term impact.
2.17	CLE	Tommy Corcoran (17)	SS	2006	A pick for the future, but not a bad bet.
2.18	HOU	Tommy Harper (20)	OF	2005	HOU has an affection for these multi-position, roster extended options.
2.19	BRK	Zane Smith (21)	P	2005	Brooklyn believes deeply in stockpiling arms and letting them develop, Smith fits that profile.
2.20	SFS	Jimmie Lyons (20)	OF	2003	No room for him in SFS, but his talent is undeniable.

We’re quickly moving to less immediately impactful names, so we’ll do the rest of the draft as team summaries.

Team	Rounds 1-2	Rounds 3-12	Grade	Grade/ Notes
BAL	Jose Altuve (2B), Jouett Meekin (P)	Billy Lush (OF), Terry Crowley (1B), Herm Starrette (P), Levin Jones (OF), Eddy Rodríguez (P), Gosuke Katoh (1B), Earl Cook (P), Jerry Hinsley (P), Candy Sierra (P)	C	Altuve is great, but very young. Not a lot from the rest, although Crowley has some pop in his bat.
BBB	Yoenis Céspedes (OF)	Steve Cishek (P), Ricardo Hernández (3B), Ed Hanyzewski (P), Grant Dayton (P), Lefty Wallace (P), Harry Hulihan (P), Zach Vincej (SS), Jake Smith (P), Dale Roberts (P), Kid Baldwin (C), Brandon Larson (3B)	C	Hernández has some potential, but this is not a great draft, even if Céspedes comes good somewhat immediately.
BRK	Brett Butler (OF), Zane Smith (P)	Jerry Garvin (P), Lew McCarty (C), Mickey Hughes (P), Davis Daniel (P), Joe Evers (1B), Marvell Wynne (OF), Ed Albosta (P), Shaun Anderson (P)	B	A good job. Butler will have a WBL career, and both Smith and Garvin have live arms. Wynne may be a steal as well.
CAG	Zack Greinke (P), José Quintana (P), Josh Hader (P)	Bob Priddy (P), Dominic Fletcher (OF), Mike Caruso (SS), Harry Clark (3B), Ross Gload (OF), Mem Lovett (1B), Rómulo Sánchez (P), Al Kellett (P), Hugh Canavan (P), Vaughn Eshelman (P)	A-	The first 3 picks are all excellent additions to a system starved for pitching. Not a lot else, although Caruso and Gload may have some potential.
CLE	Todd Helton (1B), Tommy Corcoran (SS)	Julián Tavárez (P), Emil Levsen (P), Abraham Almonte (2B), Chauncey Fisher (P), Jerry Fahr (P), Cotton Knaupp (SS), Dalton Jones (2B), Juan Castillo (2B), Rabbit Benton (2B)	B+	Helton solves a long-term issue, the rest seems fine, with Tavárez being a decent pickup.
DET		Riley Greene (OF), Kid Madden (P), Jakie May (P), Howie Krist (P), Nate Cornejo (P), Bill Barrett (C), Jess Pike (P), Ambrose McGann (2B), Bud Smith (P), Otto Jacobs (C), Jeter Downs (2B)	C	No picks in the first 2 rounds hurts a lot, but Greene could be a steal for the Wolverines.
HOD	Juan Soto (OF), Bingo DeMoss (2B), George Zettlein (P), Pat Luby (P), Ron Gant (SS)	Terry Larkin (P), Vern Olsen (P), Billy Holland (SS/P), Elmer Yoter (3B), Steven Hill (C), Harry East (3B), Lev Shreve (P), Phonney Martin (OF)	A	Could be transformational. Soto is a generational talent, DeMoss a clear succession plan for Ryne Sandberg, and even Holland has some intriguing potential as a 2-way player.
HOM	David Cone (P)	Cliff Chambers (P), Bob Walk (P), Jimmy Ripple (OF), Red Witt (P), Jeff Wallace (P), Harry Jordan (P), Bill Hallman (OF), Larry Ciaffone (OF), Jaycob Brugman (OF), Jeff Doyle (2B)	B	Cone is a great pick, but there’s not a lot else here.
HOU	Ed Morris (P), Paul Splittorff (P), Tommy Harper (2B)	Lou Piniella (OF), Ken Suarez (C), Jim Wohlford (SS), José Cisnero (P), Mike Hedlund (P), Clint Hurdle (C), Danny Bautista (OF), Rance Pless (1B), Bob Friedrichs (P), Ricky Gutiérrez (SS), Mauro Zárate (P), Rod Gilbreath (3B), Gene Moriarity (OF)	B+	Could be higher, depending on how Morris develops. Lots of potentially useful marginal pieces in later rounds–Piniella, Hurdle, Gutiérrez.
IND	Dave Winfield (OF), Johnny Allen (P)	Gary Redus (OF), Tex McDonald (SS), Dusty Miller (OF), Billy McCool (P), Chub Sullivan (1B), Tom Wiedenbauer (OF), Jackson Tetreault (P), Logan Allen (P), Mike Champion (2B)	A	Winfield being available was shocking. Allen and Redus being added makes the draft a surprising success.
KCM	Chris Carpenter (P), Bill Sherdel (P), Allen Sothoron (P)	Casey Kotchman (1B), Tex Pruiett (P), Fred Holdsworth (P), Gerónimo Peña (2B), Otto Schomberg (1B), Wish Egan (P), Pete Naton (C), Tom Donohue (C), Harley Dillinger (P)	C	Weird. Lots of franchise picks, but not a ton of actual value behind Carpenter.
LAA	Rod Carew (2B), Charlie Leibrandt (P), Garry Templeton (SS)	Steve Henderson (OF), Jack DiLauro (P), Mike Trost (C), Dennis Ribant (P), Lou Pote (P), Zach Lutz (3B), Dave Pierson (C), Doc Land (OF), Rubén Quevedo (P), Francisco Peña (c)	B+	Sure. Carew fills an obvious need, as does Templeton.
MEM	Jim Rice (OF)	Sam Jethroe (OF), Joe Hornung (OF), John Healy (P), Hal Rhyne (SS), Joe Ellick (3B), Joe Cicero (OF), Jerry Mallett (OF), Iván Cruz (1B), Sam Childs (1B), Tony Balsamo (P), Harry Smith (2B)	B–	Another young OF? Really, Memphis? And after that, adding Jethroe to Rice? There better be some trades a-coming.
MCG	Pedro Martínez (P), Jack Glasscock (SS)	Jesús Lazardo (P), Bobby Vaughn (2B), Erasmo Ramírez (P), Jing Johnson (P), Billy Redmon (SS), Scott Olsen (P), Steven Ames (P), Mario Ramírez (SS), Francis Martes (P), George Milstead (P)	A	Any draft that gets you Martínez is an A. But … Glasscock may be an overreach.
NYG	Amos Rusie (P)	Red Murray (OF), Dave Veres (P), Harry McCormick (P), Alvin Davis (1B), Kiko Calero (P), Frank West (P), Luis Castillo (P), Héctor Sánchez (C), Andy Rincon (P), Ed Wilkinson (OF), William Coon (OF), Kevin Collins (3B)	C	Love me some Rusie, and he’ll help right away … but the rest … Veres and Calero fit with the Gothams’ bullpen obsession.
NYY	Giancarlo Stanton (OF)	John Kruk (1B), Rich Coggins (OF), John Shaffer (P), Frank Gilhooley (OF), John Ryan Murphy (C), Dutch Rudolph (OF), Marcus Wilson (OF), Darrell Johnson (C), Roy Witherup (P), Mike Shea (P)	D	Stanton is headed out of town, making this a much weaker draft, even if Kruk looks like a solid bat. Still, the Black Yankees never have cared about the draft, so perhaps that’s unfair: if Perry brings them a championship, they’ll see this as a great draft, no matter what Stanton does.
OTT	Jim McCormick (P), Robbie Ray (P), Billy Jurges (SS)	Al Woods (OF), Jesse Carlson (P), Wilton Guerrero (2B), Ed Atkinson (OF), Dane Myers (OF), Bill Collver (OF), Orlando Mercado (C), Emanuel Snyder (OF)	C	Maybe? They need arms, so maybe?
PHI	Darryl Strawberry (OF)	Harry Eisenstat (P), Andy Hansen (P), Ben Tincup (P), Jack Scheible(P), Pat Bohen (P), Doc Amole (P), Ben Froehlich (C), John Peters (OF), Fred Buckingham (P), Andy Sommerville (P), Joe Schultz (C), Travis Swaggerty (OF)	C-	The Strawberry pick makes total sense. The rest … not so much.
POR	Jack Fournier (1B), Josh Johnson (P), Bob Groom (P)	Steve Brye (OF), Rich Reese (1B), David Hulse (OF), Joe Gedeon (OF), Kyle Garlick (OF), Carlos Pascual (P), Moe Berg (SS), Bill Sarni (C), Terry Humphrey (C), Jesús Montero (C), Babe Ellison (1B)	C	Talk about looking to the future … Fournier has a future, but he’s 16. And the run on catchers at the end is just downright odd.
SFS	John Smoltz (P), Dick McBride (P), Jimmie Lyons (OF)	Joe Dunand (2B), Kevin Kobel (P), Nate Mondou (2B), Hank Hulvey (P), Bert Kuczynski (P), Jerar Encarnación (OF), Greg Aquino (P), Dorn Taylor (P), Art Smith (P)	A	I mean … how did they do this? Smoltz is a rotation arm, Lyons has immense talent.