Steve Bedrosian has been getting absolutely torched, prompting the Black Barons to recall Harley Young from his rehab assignment and waive Bedrosian with the hope of sending him to AAA.
Young picked up a save in his first outing as 2 homeruns from Adrián González helped the Black Barons to a 9-6 victory in 10 innings over the House of David. Bob Nieman had 3 hits, with the win going to Juan Ríncón who moved to 2-0 on the year.
While defensive versatility has its place it has to hit more than 136/255/205. Jess Barbour heads to AAA with Gene Tenace being recalled, making the Black Barons one of the few teams to carry three catchers, as JP Arencibia‘s hot start is too promising to send down quite yet.
Albert Belle went deep twice as the Black Barons hit 6 homeruns (Jim Pagliaroni, Curtis Granderson, Nieman, and Arencibia also hit longballs) and beat the House of David, 7-4.
González did it again, homering twice in a 5-4 victory over the House of David. Warren Spahn was excellent in release, and Bruce Chen picked up his 3rd save of the season.
#Houston Colt 45’s
Some roster shakeup is pending, as George Brett started a rehab assignment in the minors, making his way back from an injury picked up in Spring Training. Kent Tekulve was waived, with Andrew Chafin being recalled from a rehab assignment.
Jimmy Wynn went deep twice, but the real story was Toad Ramsey, who improved to 5-1 and saw his ERA dip below 1.00 with a 3 hit shutout of Ottawa. Wynn drove in 3 and Ramsey fanned 12 in the dominant 10-0 shellacking.
Brett was recalled with César Cedeño heading to the minors as expected. Cedeño showed some promise, but ultimately was overmatched by big league pitching.
Jeff Bagwell exploded fully out of his slump with a spectacular performance, going 5 for 5 with 3 homeruns to lead the Colt 45’s to a 12 to 6 victory over Ottawa. Bagwell added a double for 15 total bases, scored 4 times, and drove in 7, all of which overshadowed Brett’s debut in which he went 2 for 2 with a homerun of his own.
#Indianapolis ABC’s
Adam Dunn went deep twice, leading Indianapolis to a 5-3 win over Houston. Dunn, Johnny Bench, Joey Votto, and Luis Padrón each had 2 hits for the ABC’s who got an excellent 7 innings from Sad Sam Jones, who picked up his first win of the year with Rob Dibble closing the door for his 5th save.
Padrón is putting something special together so far this year. He hit his 2nd homerun and improved his average to a smooth .400 while improving his record on the mound to 5-0 with nearly 8 innings of strong work in a 6-3 victory over Houston. Padrón drove in 3 and Dunn also went deep for Indianapolis with Dibble picking up his 6th save of the year.
#Kansas City Monarchs
Robinson Canó went deep twice, but it wasn’t enough as the Monarchs fell to the Gothams, 7-5.
Willie Mays (RIP IRL) of the New York Gothams was the NL Player of the Week after hitting .417 with 3 home runs. Over in the AL, the AL Player of the Week Award went to Miami‘s Ryan Braun, who hit .471 with 5 dingers.
As the calendar flipped from April to May, we also have the first player of the month awards.
Award
Player
AL Player of the Month
Ty Cobb (DET)
.411; 5 HR; 23 RBI; 21 R
AL Pitcher of the Month
Mark Buehrle (CAG)
5-0, 1.24
AL Rookie of the Month
Turkey Stearnes (SFS)
.352; 6 HR; 18 8RBI
NL Player of the Month
Larry Walker (OTT)
.395; .454 OBP; 9 HR; 23 RBI; 22 R
NL Pitcher of the Month
Toad Ramsey (HOU)
5-1, 0.96
NL Rookie of the Month
Adam Dunn (IND)
.253; 5 HR; 13 RBI
#Team Performance
Look, it’s way too early for any of this to matter. But, currently, only 3 games separate the best team in the Effa Manley Division (the Brooklyn Royal Giants at 14-11) and the worst (the Philadelphia Stars mirroring them at 11-14). The Homestead Grays are 1/2 game behind Brooklyn, and the New York Gothams and Ottawa Mounties sit at .500.
Brooklyn, Homestead, and the San Francisco Sea Lions have all gone 7-3 over their last 10 games, while the House of David are in the roughest patch of any team in the league, at 2-8 over their last 10.
#Player Performance
Batters
Some things that jump out: the House of David’s Ryne Sandberg is having an incredible start, the first player in the league to 11 homeruns. Led by Sandberg, 5 players have SLG over .700 but “only” 2 have BA over .400.
Ty Cobb (DET). 389/451/756. 18 2B, 1.8 WAR. Carlos Correa (HOU). 420/474/659. Eric Davis (NYY). 306/373/612. 27 R. Lou Gehrig (NYY). 247/358/634. 10 HR. Josh Gibson (HOM). 379/426/793. Curtis Granderson (BBB). 256/330/654. 10 HR. Tony Gwynn (HOU). 416/442/629. Joe Jackson (CAG). 396/426/635. 38 H, 15 2B. Dick Lundy (SFS). 394/467/681. 4 3B, 15 SB, 2.3 WAR. Mickey Mantle (NYY). 274/361/621. 10 HR. Boog Powell (KCM). 268/344/622. 26 RBI. Tim Raines (OTT). 293/381/576. 5 3B. Babe Ruth (NYY). 308/430/659. 28 RBI, 24 R, 21 BB. Ryne Sandberg (HOD). 365/409/824. 11 HR. Bobby Wallace (BAL). 50/405/364. 22 BB.
Pitchers
Starters
Mark Buehrle (CAG). 5-0, 1.24. Johnny Cueto (IND). 4-1, 2.38. 0.88 WHIP. Bill Doak (MEM). 3-1, 2.76. 1.5 WAR. Lefty Grove (SFS). 2-3, 5.03. 39.1 IP. Frank Knauss (BRK). 5-1, 2.62. Christy Mathewson (NYG). 1-4, 4.15. 43.1 IP, 39 K. Toad Ramsey (HOU). 4-1, 1.19. 0.74 WHIP, 45 K, 1.7 WAR.
Relivers
Rod Beck (SFS). 1-2, 6.75. 7 Sv. Eric Gagne (BRK). 0-0, 1.74. 10 Sv. Craig Kimbrel (KCM). 1-0, 0.00. 1 Sv, 5 H. Troy Percival (NYG). 0-0, 5.40. 5 H. Jeff Pfeffer (KCM). 0-0, 4.32. 7 Sv.
#Featured Series
We’ll check in on a team that looks much improved over last season, the Homestead Grays. The Grays are hitting better than expected, but more importantly, are finally hitting enough to overcome their usual rough performances on the mound. They are visiting Indianapolis for a 4-game set, and are hoping to keep a recent slide by the ABC’s going.
Scheduled Starters
Homestead’s hurler listed first.
Billy Pierce (2-1, 6.55) @ Johnny Cueto (4-1, 2.38) Carlos Zambrano (0-4, 9.15) @ Luis Padrón (3-0, 2.38) Ray Brown (1-2, 6.28) @ Doc White (1-3, 4.93) Francisco Liriano (1-2, 4.36) @ Rube Foster (1-1, 3.86)
Cueto has performed fantastically so far this year, and Padrón, while no Joe Rogan, has been a decent 2-way threat all season.
Game One
With the announcement that the Grays have moved Zambrano out of the rotation, their starters for the series are all a bit up in the air. They’ll lead it off with Doug Drabek, who is taking Zambrano’s spot and will be making his first start of the year.
Drabek was fantastic, allowing 2 hits and 1 run in 7 innings, but Rick Ownbey couldn’t hold the lead, giving up Barry Larkin‘s first homer of the year, a 2 run shot to tie the game in the 8th. Luckily for the Grays, Willie Stargell‘s 2nd homerun of the game gave them the lead in the 10th, and Josh Lindblom was able to hold on for the 4-3 win in extra innings.
HOM 4 (Lindblom 3-0; Ownbey 3 B Sv) @ IND 3 (Murphy 0-1) HRs: HOM – Stargell 2 (10); Epstein (3); IND – Larkin (1). Box Score
Game Two
The Grays turned to Billy Pierce in game 2, putting their rotation back on its expected schedule. His mound opponent, Luis Padrón, tossed a masterful 8 innings in a 14-3 walkover, allowing 5 hits and 1 run while fanning 8. Padrón improved to 4-0 and Tommy Helms had 3 hits and 4 RBI and Helms and Jake Stenzel each scored 3 runs in the rout.
Helms, Stenzel, George Foster, Adam Dunn (fresh off being named Rookie of the Month for April), and Johnny Bench each went yard for Indianapolis as they evened the series at 1 game each.
HOM 3 (Pierce 2-2) @ IND 14 (Padrón 4-0) HRs: HOM – Clemente (3); IND – Helms (3), Foster (2), Stenzel (3), Dunn (6), Bench (7). Box Score
Game Three
Chris Sabo went deep twice, driving in 3, and the Grays held on to take the series lead with a 5-4 win. Ray Brown pitched very well, but the trio of Corey Kluber, Michael Jackson, and Josh Lindblom were all a bit shaky in relief. Still, they got the job done. Tommy Helms and Bob Bescher had 2 hits for the ABC’s and Joey Votto went deep in the losing effort.
Kluber–fresh off an injury–had to leave the game with an elbow issue, and headed to the DL afterwards. Cliff Lee was recalled.
HOM 5 (Brown 2-2; Lindblom 4 Sv; Jackson 2 H) @ IND 4 (White 1-4) HRs: HOM – Sabo 2 (5), Lajoie (2); IND – Votto (3). Box Score
Game Four
Homestead’s bullpen did the job, with Dave Giusti, Rick Ownbey, and Josh Lindblom combining for 3+ innings of 1 hit relief of an effective Francisco Liriano. Mike Epstein went deep for the Grays and Andy Van Slyke showed signs of breaking out of an early season slump with 3 hits. All the ABC’s could muster on the day was a 2 run shot from Adam Dunn to tie the game early.
Homestead takes the series, 3-1, continuing their surprising start to the season.
HOM 4 (Liriano 2-2; Lindblom 5 Sv; Giusti 3 H; Ownbey 2 H) @ IND 2 (Foster 1-2) HRs: HOM – Epstein (4); IND – Dunn (7). Box Score
Eddie Mathews smashed a ball 544 feet for his 5th homerun of the year, but it wasn’t enough as the Black Barons fell to the Gothams, 3-2. Matthews continued to mash, sending a ball 551 feet the next day, again in a losing effort. Bob Nieman and Jim Pagliaroni went deep twice each, but disastrous outings from both John Malarkey and Warren Spahn were too much to overcome as the Black Barons fell to the Gothams, 12-8.
Curtis Granderson and Albert Belle each had 3 hits and each went deep twice and Hank Aaron added a longball of his own as the Black Barons beat the Gothams 11-6. Jim Whitney continued his brilliant start to the season with 2 perfect innings, picking up his first victory of the year.
Gene Tenace, off to a great start at the plate, will miss about 2 weeks, with JP Arencibia being recalled from AAA to backup Pagliaroni. With Arencibia able to play 1B, the Black Barons demoted the mightily struggling Jake Beckley and brought up Frank Viola from AA to make a start. Viola was absolutely torched, giving up 4 homeruns in 2 innings, and heading back to AA after the game with Bill Phyle taking his roster spot.
Granderson went deep twice in a 6-2 victory over Ottawa, the second shot giving the Black Barons the lead in the top of the 12th. Perhaps as importantly, Sam Streeter, Lefty Gomez, Juan Rincón, Larry Benton, and Bruce Chen all put in strong shifts on the mound, holding the Mounties to only 5 hits.
Birmingham hit 5 homeruns in an inning, including four in a row, and still needed some late inning heroics to pull out a 12-10 win over Ottawa. Recently recalled Arencibia was the star of the show, going 4 for 4 with 2 homeruns in his first WBL game. Arencibia’s first followed consecutive homers from Mathews, Andy Pafko, and Adrián González. Pafko had 3 hits and Belle also went deep for the Black Barons.
#Houston Colt 45’s
Tony Gwynn and HR Johnson had 4 hits each and combined for 7 RBIs as Houston put a beating on Philadelphia, 13-4. Bret Saberhagen was a little shaky, but evened his record at 1-1 in a game where the Colt 45’s pounded out 19 hits and saw Johnson and Carlos Correa each go deep. Gwynn ended the day batting .536 on the year.
Andrés Galarraga hit his first 2 homeruns of the year, but it wasn’t enough as a poor showing by Billy Wagner led to a 6-5 loss to Philadelphia.
Russ Adams was a bit of an afterthought coming out of spring training, but he’s making a case for more playing time. Adams had 4 hits in a 12-6 victory over the House of David. Johnson and Galarraga each drove in 3 in the win, with Roger Clemens improving to 3-0 with a decent outing.
#Indianapolis ABC’s
Both Lefty James and Dick Tidrow were forced out of the game via injury in an 8-4 win over Kansas City. James was immediately placed on the DL, anticipated to miss about 2 weeks while Tidrow’s injury was less clear. Rob Murphy was recalled to take James’ spot in the pen.
Ed Charles broke out of a slump in a big way with 4 hits and his first homerun of the season, but the real star of the game was Luis Padrón, who drove in 4 and got the win with 6 solid innings on the mound. Johnny Bench drove in 3 and Padrón, Bench, Denis Menke, and Oscar Charleston all joined Charles in going yard in the 13-5 win over the Monarchs.
After the game, the ABC’s put Tidrow, who is expected to be out for just over a month, on the DL. Gorham Leverett was recalled from AAA to take Tidrow’s place.
#Kansas City Monarchs
Albert Pujols hit 2 solo shots, but it couldn’t overcome a poor start from Bob Gibson–who couldn’t make it out of the first inning–in a 13-5 loss to Indianapolis.
Smokey Joe Wood is the best pitcher in the WBL right now. He improved to 3-0 with a 2 hit shutout of the ABC’s. Dale Murphy went deep twice for the Monarchs in the game.
Nobody comes close to matching House of David 2B Ryne Sandberg, whose slash line is a ridiculous 455/458/1.273, and he leads the league in homeruns (6) and RBIs (15). Ottawa‘s Larry Walker (11) and Birmingham‘s Albert Belle (10) are the other batters in double digits in RBI.
Houston’s Tony Gwynn is the sole player with a BA over .500, at .552. That’s only good enough to put Gwynn 3rd in the OBP rankings, behind Portland’s Harry Hooper (.577) and Indianapolis‘ Joey Votto (.571).
#Featured Series
Each week we’ll take a look at single series, preferring 4-game sets and teams we haven’t taken a close look at before.
This week, we’ll be focusing on Indianapolis’ visit to Brooklyn. The Royal Giants are 4-1, and the ABC’s started the season 5-0 before losing their last 2 contests.
For Brooklyn, Duke Snider, John Briggs, and Roy White have all started the season with OPS’ over 1.000 while offseason acquisition Pedro Guerrero is scuffling with a slash line of 143/250/214.
Bob Bescher and Joey Votto have been mashing the ball for the ABC’s while Ed Charles is still trying to get some traction going, slashing 190/308/238 over the opening half-dozen games.
Projected Starting Pitchers:
Johnny Cueto (1-0, 0.00) @ Frank Knauss (1-0, 3.38) Luis Padrón (1-0, 0.00) @ Orel Hershiser Sad Sam Jones (0-0, 6.75) @ Smokey Joe Williams (1-0, 1.50) Rube Foster (1-0, 3.00) @ Sandy Koufax (0-1, 2.45)
Game One
Both Johnny Cueto and Frank Knauss had good starts, but while Cueto blinked first (Maury Wills walked, stole a base, and scored on a John Briggs double), Knauss was hit harder, giving up a 2 run shot to Oscar Charleston in the 6th before an Ed Charles double chased him in the 7th. Burleigh Grimes relieved Knauss and gave up RBI doubles to Denis Menke and Joe Morgan.
Lefty James and Rob Dibble followed Cueto with just over 2 innings of hitless relief to seal the deal for Indianapolis. Johnny Bench had 3 hits for the ABC’s.
Pedro Guerrero launched a 3 run shot in the bottom of the 1st, but the Royal Giants couldn’t hold it with RBIs from Oscar Charleston and Jake Stenzel tying the game at 4 in the top of the 5th. After a brief rain delay in the bottom of the 8th, Mike Piazza and Ray Dandridge singled runs home, allowing Brooklyn to bring in their closer, Eric Gagne, with a 6-4 lead. Gagne set the side down in order, and Brooklyn evened up the series, 1-1.
We had a pitchers’ duel in game 3 of the series as Luis Padrón and Smokey Joe Williams were each excellent, but a bit unlucky: despite giving up only 1 earned run in over 6 innings, Williams took the loss and Padrón did not get the win, despite 5 scoreless. Joe Morgan went deep for the ABC’s.
IND 2 (Nolan 1-0; Dibble 3 Sv; James 3 H; Billingham 2 H) @ BRK 1 (Williams 1-1) HRs: IND – Morgan (2). Box Score
Game Four
It sure looked like the ABC’s would take the series: after scoring 6 in the 6th, they had surged to a 8-3 lead heading to the bottom of the 7th. But Art Griggs hit a key 2-run double in that frame, and the Royal Giants were able to rough up Indianapolis’ closer, Rob Dibble, in the bottom of the ninth, scoring runs on a sacrifice fly from Jackie Robinson, an RBI single from Pedro Guerrero, and a game-winning sac fly from Duke Snider.
Robinson hit his first homerun of the year and drove in 4 on the day, and Guerrero, Mike Piazza, and Beals Becker each had 2 hits. Both Brooklyn starter Sandy Koufax and the ABC’s Doc White pitched better than their scorelines represent, but the key was Dibble’s implosion (2 walks and 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning) and Brooklyn’s Darren Dreifort chipping in with 2 scoreless innings for the win.
Of concern for the ABC’s, 2B Joe Morgan had to be lifted for a pinch runner with an apparent elbow injury, but so far no further information is available as to his status.
IND 8 (Dibble 0-1, 1 BSv; Carroll 1 H) @ BRK 9 (Dreifort 1-0; Valenzuela 1 BSv) HRs: IND – Dunn (1); BRK – Robinson (1). Box Score
Playing .500 ball would be a nice step; doing so while nurturing some talent for the future would begin to raise hopes in Indianapolis.
Best Case
Some starting pitching comes out of nowhere to support the continued development of Doc White and Willie Mitchell, Johnny Bench and Oscar Charleston anchor the offense, and some of the MI talent finally emerges fully onto the scene. The 6 man rotation turns out to be a thing of beauty, allowing the ABC’s to maximize their talent on the mound.
Worst Case
Only Bench remains as a real offensive force and the pitching stays totally muddled, with the 6 man rotation confusing fans, pundits, and players alike.
Key Questions
Who starts, and does the team retain its experimentation with a 6-man rotation?
How do the uncertainties at SS/3B resolve?
Trade Bait
Not enough talent to really be active.
Davey Concepción was sent to the Gothams in exchange for Sad Sam Jones, adding another arm to the pile and clearing one person from the MI crowd.
Roster Evaluation
POS
Elite
Strong
Solid
Meh
Weak
Unknown
C
Bench
Ritter
1B
Votto
2B
Morgan
3B
Charles
SS
Menke
Larkin
LF/ RF
Bescher Charleston
Dunn Foster Padrón
CF
Stenzel
Henderson
SP
Cueto
White Mitchell Faber
Foster Jones
Padrón
End
Dibble
Carroll
James
RP
Tidrow
Bellingham Blackwell Nolan
New Addition | Injured
That is a lot of new arms on the staff, and a lot of unknowns. But performance last year was so bad, you would think anything would be an improvement.
Some interesting things here, though: the continued use of the 6 man rotation, the emergence of Luis Padrón as a 2-way threat, the promise of some of the young talent, especially Oscar Charleston.
Talent Ratings
WBL
Minors
Raw Power
C Johnny Bench
OF Wally Post
Batting Eye
IF Joe Morgan 1B Joey Votto
IF Edwin Encarnación
Contact
IF Joe Morgan
CF Edd Roush
Running Speed
OF Bob Bescher
IF Pokey Reese
Base Stealing
OF Bob Bescher
1B Doc Hoblitzell
IF Defense
IF Barry Larkin
3B Robin Ventura
OF Defense
OF Oscar Charleston
OF Curt Walker
Stuff
P The Only Nolan
P George Pipgras
Control
SP Johnny Cueto
SP Eppa Rixey
Velocity
RP Ewell Blackwell
RP Tyler Clippard
Best In The Minors
Rank
Age
POS
Name
1 (24)
19
P
Edward Nolan
2 (28)
19
P
Jim Maloney
3 (42)
22
3B
Oliver Marcell
4 (59)
24
3B
Robin Ventura
5 (101)
22
OF
George Foster
6 (105)
20
2B
Dario Lodigiani
7 (123)
19
P
Tom Glavine
8 (144)
23
1B
Sean Casey
9 (153)
25
P
Bob Ewing
10 (182)
25
P
Chris Hammond
Others: None.
Nolan and Foster start the year with the WBL club. There’s decent help on the mound working through the system, but little else, especially if Ventura ends up being a bust.
Most
Least
Age
OF Harold Baines, 39
3B Bob Aspromonte, 18
Height
P Ewell Blackwell, 6’6″ OF Adam Dunn, 6’6″
SS Donie Bush, 5’6″
OPS
C Johnny Bench, .951 (WBL)
SS Walt Weiss, .441 (—)
HR
OF Adam Dunn, 35 (WBL/AAA/AA)
SS Walt Weiss, 0 (—)
SB
OF Bob Bescher, 37 (WBL)
Many with 0
WAR
C Johnny Bench, 6.0 (WBL)
SS Walt Weiss, -3.9 (—)
W
Eppa Rixey, 16 (WBL/AAA)
Joe Moeller, 3 (—) Teddy Higuera, 3 (—)
SV
Rob Dibble, 30 (WBL)
ERA
Jack Powell, 2.83 (—)
Joe Moeller, 7.11 (—)
WAR
Virgil Trucks, 7.0 (WBL/AAA)
Brad Radke, -1.1 (—)
Stats are across all levels. 200 PA / 75 IP min. Non WBL leagues indicated by —.
73 - 81, .474 pct.
3rd in Effa Manley Division, 13 games behind.
Overall
Just a very average performance. There are some good pieces here, and the organization as a whole is quite young, but until the pitching is sorted, nothing else is going to really matter.
What Went Right
Most of all, Johnny Bench. Bench is a superstar C, giving Indianapolis an edge in a difficult position to fill.
Beyond that there were a few surprises–neither Jake Stenzel or Dennis Menke were on many preseason lists to be strong offensive players, and Joey Votto was excellent in limited action after being recalled from the minors–and there was some promise for the future, most of all in Joe Morgan and Oscar Charleston, who were fine this year, but were also quite young (Charleston began the season as a teenager).
Dave Henderson, Bob Bescher, and Danny Hoffman were all perfectly acceptable in the OF.
Robin Ventura finally showed some promise after arriving via trade.
Willie Mitchell and Doc White, both of whom started the season in the bullpen, were the ABC’s best pitchers by the end of the season. Johnny Cueto was fine as a starter as well.
Rob Dibble was a first rate closer for Indianapolis.
ALL STARS
C Johnny Bench
What Went Wrong
1B was a right mess until Votto showed up; 3B Ed Charles faded badly after promising starts. Barry Larkin and Davey Concepción–one of whom is supposed to be the SS of the future–were awful.
But most of what went wrong was on the mound. The trio of Red Faber, Rube Foster, and Dolf Luque were thoroughly mediocre as starters, and Rob Murphy and Lefty James the same out of the pen.
Transactions
March
IF Miller Huggins & OF Willie Montañez to Baltimore for P Rube Foster
Foster wasn’t great, but he was a WBL player all season, so this seems fine.
June
C Ernie Lombardi to Detroit for IF Donie Bush, IF Jorge Orta, P Brandon League, OF Gene Martin & 2nd Round Pick {Matt Chapman}
It looks like more than it is, but with Lombardi blocked by Bench in Indianapolis, moving him is fine.
July
P David Price and IF Jorge Orta to Chicago for 3B Robin Ventura, P Tyler Clippard, 4th Round Pick & 5th Round Pick {Pete O'Brien}
It all hinges on whether the Ventura who showed up for Indianapolis in September is a mirage or not.
Looking Forward
SP
Such a random assortment of good-but-not-great here. Luis Padrón, Eppa Rixey, and Dolf Luque should be the long term front of rotation guys, but that doesn’t exactly strike terror in the hearts of the opposing team. An area of need.
RP
Solid, with Rob Dibble at closer and some mix of Clay Carroll, Rob Murphy, Octavio Dotel, and Norm Charlton behind him.
C
For as long as he’s healthy, it’s all about Johnny Bench.
1B
Joey Votto did well, but he’s 31 and unlikely to improve making this an area of need long term.
2B
Joe Morgan should be here for quite some time.
3B
Unknown. If Robin Ventura shows up, it’s his; if not, this is a bit of a black hole.
SS
Right now, it’s Dennis Menke; longer term, this should be either Barry Larkin or Davey Concepción, with the other being expendable. My bet would be on Larkin, despite his struggles this year.
LF
Some mixture of Bob Bescher and Adam Dunn are keeping this spot warm for George Foster.
CF
This should be Oscar Charleston‘s home for a long time.
RF
Unknown, although many in the organization see Pete Rose stepping up here.
The Rookie Draft
Rounds 1-4
There are a few pitchers who look to be only a year or two from helping their WBL franchise, with Tom Glavine probably the best of them. That made the ABC’s pick in the first round pretty easy. In the 2nd round, franchise arm Jim Maloney was still available, who projects as a rotation starter, maybe.
Looking for some insurance in case Ventura doesn’t pan out, the ABC’s picked up 20 year old 3B Matt Chapman at the end of the 2nd round.
In the 3rd round, they took Maloney, version 2: another franchise arm with an outside shot at being useful, Bob Ewing; and in the 4th, slick fielding MI Leo Cardenas.
Rounds 5-8
These rounds should focus on position players: in the 5th round, 3B Oliver Marcelle and OF Pete O’Brien; in the 6th, OF Chris Dickerson and C Admiral Schlei; OF Adam Duvall in the 7th, and IF Pokey Reese in the 8th.
Rounds 9-12
P Jack Billingham; Pete Schourek; C Patsy Gharrity; and P The Only Nolan.
