The 1951 Portland Rosebuds
Before we dive in to another likely painful season, let's get our hopes up a bit with a look at our farm system, which is now ranked 7th among the 20 teams in the league.
#7 SP John Parrish (Age: 22 | 80 POT)
A bump in velocity this spring leads us to be really excited about Parrish despite a rough few outings in September last year. He's got an elite fastball with a great changeup and sinker to go along with an above-average curveball. Hitting 97 MPH, the RHP went at 1.7 last season and is ready to make an immediate impact
#21 CF John Madore (Age: 20 | 70 POT)
Was once ranked at #11, but Madore still looks like a solid hitter who will play a corner spot really well, but likely will move off CF. The contact and power is still there.
#27 3B Jose Luis (Age: 17 | 70 POT)
We've been loosely alternating out international free agent strategy, going for quantity to fill up our international complex and then following with a year of heavy spending on a couple quality players. In this case, earlier this year we made Luis our single signing. He has 8 stealing with 7 speed and baserunning, along with 8 contact. He's going to end up in a corner somewhere, and he'll have to keep the elite contact/speed profile to make it work as the power likely tops out at 10-15 HR.
#60 SS John Faiella (Age: 20 | 65 POT)
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So I end up back at those infielders, and end up taking SS John Faiella. He at least has a shot at staying at SS and would at least be a good defender at 3B. The speed is what really puts it over the top for me...
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Faiella went at 1.6 in the 1949 draft. The power has really cratered, but he's still good defensively and the contact is elite.
#84 3B Dave Magby (Age: 18 | 65 POT)
Magby was drafted this year in the third round. He's got a great eye, good power, and can play all over the field.
#101 CF Mike Gruver (Age:21 | 60 POT)
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CF Mike Gruver, a prep bat from Florida, is our next pick. He's got a solid hit tool with power and 7-grade speed and 7-grade range in center.
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We took Gruver in the 2nd round back in the 1947 draft, and he's finally up at the higher levels of the minors. He can still play CF and stick there, and the contact, power, and speed profile have all stayed with him. We could potentially see him debut late this year.
Onward...
April: 8-19
May: 13-16
SP Joey Parrish was NOT ready for the show, apparently, making ten starts with a 9.78 ERA and walking 16.2% of hitters. We ended up sending him down to AAA, and overall we had a much better second month.
In the draft, Vancouver has the first pick and takes 1B Matt Martin at 1.1, a great power bat from Arkansas State. I have no arguments here as he's probably the best bat in the draft, but there are three high-school bats right there as well that would provide some defensive value.
SP Jack Hall is the player I have my eyes on. He's a prep RHP out of Texas who our scout thinks the world of. But when our pick comes up, I can't help but take CF Jon Oviedo, an 18-year-old high-school bat out of Florida. With good range, decent speed, and an elite contact ability with power to go with it, he looks like a potential superstar, and is also a little bit less expensive than Hall.
We go with SP Manny Flores with our next pick. He's a sidearmer who has some definite reliever risk but is clearly the best pitcher left on the board.
And with our final pick that I'll share with you, we go with SS John Vonk, a 18-year-old LHB from NYC. The contact is great, but he doesn't have a ton of power upside. He'll be able to play everywhere on the infield.
June: 10-18
July: 10-15
The trade deadline comes and we're 41-67, and we do have the one trade available to us. SP Seth White, who has what has become an absolute albatross of a contract, is virtually untraceable. Even covering 75% of his contract yields zero interest. C John Hollet, who accepted our qualifying offer and is due to leave in FA, is injured once again, so we aren't able to move him either. We'll hang tight and carry that trade over into next year.
In August, we go 13-16, and when we get to September, we call up our #7 prospect who is ranked #87 overall, CF Mike Gruver. He has absolutely raked in AAA so far, with a 130 wRC+ in 363 PA and 11 HR.
And while we struggle to a 7-18 record in September and a 61-101 record overall, the bright spot is Gruver's performance, as he slashed .329/.356/.512 in 87 PA in September.
In the Columbia League, the Montreal Canadiens win the pennant, their first since 1921. In the Federal League, it's the New York Knights, who finished 66-96 in 1950 but have surged to a 101-61 record this year. New York wins in seven.
Some notables:
SP Joey Parrish (3-12, 6.33 ERA, 0.4 WAR)
Not what we had in mind for our top prospect. He did finish very strong, with a 2.42 ERA in September. Overall, his SIERA was 3.97 for the year, so there's definitely some bad luck happening.
CL Eric Morgan (25 SV, 1.23 ERA, 36.1 K%)
After a strong first season, Morgan really put things together this year.
LF Steve Gonzalez (.285/.382/.408, 122 wRC+, 4 WAR)
This trade we made to get Gonzalez continues to pay off. He is the model of consistency, with 706 PA this year, a 13.5% BB rate and just a 12.6% K rate.
1B Steve Cox (.300/.351/.411, 111 wRC+, 3.1 WAR)
The 37-year-old had a better than expected season last year, and did ever better this year. He'll be out of contract, and as a captain I'll be curious to know what his demands will be for his age-38 season.