The 1953 Portland Rosebuds
SP Joey Parrish returns a bit ahead of schedule, in time to get some work in during spring ball and we expect he'll be ready for Opening Day.
The new Prospect Rankings are out, and we're now up to #3, with 10 players in the Top 100, led by the #10 overall prospect 3B Cortez de Santiago. He was a international signing back in 1950, and signed for just $320K. Our scout loves him now, and he'll start the year on our short-season squad.
Opening Day is here, and SP Joey Parrish takes the ball after a lost year in 1952; he makes it count. We have him on a pitch count to start the year, but he went 6.1 innings, giving up three hits, one walk, and striking out seven.
April: 11-13
May: 6-22
Ugh. We literally cannot string two decent months together. The SP Mu'adh Nelson project isn't working out so far, as he's got a 6.32 ERA through 10 starts. CL Corey Morris lost his closer role as he's walking 22% of batters faced. We're shuttling some of the poor performers on both sides of the ball to AAA, or just DFA in some cases. We'll see what sticks.
SP Joey Parrish, however, is
dealing; 2.17 ERA, 33.2% K rate, 2.07 SIERA, 1.47 FIP.
Draft day comes in early June, and as I mentioned, we dropped from #1 to #4 in the lottery. SP Nick Warfel and SP Emilio Gallegos are the two prep arms I've got my eye on; both have elite stuff but Warfel could be on another level. There are some makeup concerns on him though, so there's some hesitation.
CF Mario Alvarez is the top bat in my mind, but fellow high-schooler SS Arvin Duval is the other guy I've got my eye on. Alvarez is a contact (7) and power (7) left-hander, while Duval is also lefty but more power (7) and eye (7) with likely a lower ability to hit for average. Duval is who I want, but let's see what the early picks bring.
San Francisco is up at 1.1, and they take someone else entirely, OF Dusty Watson, a prep bat out of Boston with tons of power (7). The defense looks good too, but there's going to be some swing and miss in his game.
SP Brook Wendland goes 1.2 to Cleveland, and he's nasty; a college arm with great movement (7). The stuff is a tick lower than the guys I mentioned (6), but I have no doubt Wendland could be really, really good.
And at 1.3, Detroit goes with CF Mario Alvarez.
So for me, the choice comes down to Duval, who I just said I wanted five minutes ago, or going for the upside arm in Warfel. I truly am a sucker for elite stuff like his. The low work ethic really does scare me off though. With that said, the lower contact (5) of Duval scares me off too. I could easily see him hitting .230 with 30 HR, but if it drops at all he could be really tough to keep in the lineup.
Fuck it. I like the stuff too much, and Warfel has gotten this far without giving a shit, so who's to say he can't keep it going. We pick him at 1.4. Duval lasts all the way to 1.12, which is interesting. Gallegos, the other pitcher I liked, makes it all the way to 1.16.
With our 2nd pick, we take another high-school arm, SP Amir Lewis, a RHP out of Washington, DC. Elite control (7) is his calling card, but he can still get a ton of swing and miss/weak contact with great stuff (6) and movement (6). He is another low work ethic guy, and both pitchers have asked for a ton of money to sign, so we'll need to stay conservative after this.
With our 3rd pick, we go with SS Shane Borja, a prep bat from Illinois. His profile (6/4/4) looks like a strong contact bat, and he doesn't strike out much at all, but he can also run and play defense well, so he's a nice solid "floor" pick after being risky early on.
June: 15-13 (!)
July: 12-13
Okay, okay. That's more like it. We explore some deadline offerings but stay put; the only thing close was a reliever who was signed through next year, but I'd rather keep the trade to carry it over and keep my options open.
And now we're sweating, as SP Joey Parrish goes down with an injury after facing just four batters in a start in August. Luckily, it's just a sprained ankle, and he'll be back in four weeks.
August: 16-13 (!)
Outside of a dreadful May, we actually haven't been that bad! Let's keep the momentum rolling into September. Two key call-ups take place:
SS John Faiella, the #52 prospect, is an all-contact guy who can field and run really well. We took him with the 6th overall pick in 1949.
CF Mike DeWeese was our third-round pick in 1947. He's 24 now, and is probably destined to be more of a role-player, but he plays decent defense and looks like he could be an average-ish hitter.
DeWeese struggles early, so with ten games left we send him back down and call up the #39 prospect, CF John Madore. He's been up and down a bit, certainly down from when we drafted him at 1.4 in 1948:
Quote:
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CF John Madore likely becomes a solid corner OF, but the bat is great, with grades of 7 in contact and power along with a 6 eye. He also has speed to go with it. CF Fernando Borrero is another option, who trades some power for eye, but will certainly stay in CF...This is a very, very hard decision, but I think OF John Madore has the highest potential to become a superstar with the power/speed combination he provides. We make him our pick at #4.
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He's now a 6/6/5 and definitely more of a corner OF. We'll see how he does in this short span.
We finish September with a 16-12 record. Things are looking up! It's a 76-86 record to finish the season, but imagine what that could be without the absolutely terrible 6-22 May? Overall, based on the stats rankings, our offense still has a ton of work to do but the pitching was middle of the pack pretty much across the board. We scored 3.8 R/Game, and allowed 4.6 R/G. There's work to do on both ends, but our pitching was relatively scraped together this year, and the offensive prospects are on their way.
After three seasons away from the World Series, the Philadelphia Patriots are back after a 102-win season. In the Columbia League, it's the Brooklyn Originals, a 98-win club who last won a pennant in 1940 (where they also won the World Series). Brooklyn takes the series in five games, and we head into the offseason.
On Day 1, we decline the $21M team option on SP Mike Meyers, who actually was very good for us. We can't afford him, and I don't want to forget to decline the option so I did it quickly.
Notables:
SP Mike Meyers (14-9, 3.05 ERA, 2.7 WAR)
I think this trade worked out really well for us, even though it just got us through this year. At $21M, we can't afford to pick up the option even though I'd love to.
SP Joey Parrish (10-7, 2.16 ERA, 6.6 WAR)
*sweats* Parrish was just amazingly good this year. 27 starts, 154 IP, a 30.2% K rate, and only FOUR homers allowed? I think he's going to have Super-2 status and we're gonna have to start paying this guy soon. I dabbled with an extension demand and it was ludicrous. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
CF Mike Gruver (.291/.332/.478, 20 HR, 119 wRC+, 3.3 WAR)
He heard me talking shit about his rookie year and he shut me up. He's looking like a stud. Some questions about the defense in CF, if I had to nitpick.
SS John Faiella (.313/.370/.485, 138 wRC+)
A September callup, Faiella only had 109 PA, but he was awesome. He may never hit a home run in our park, but he's already showing his great discipline, contact skills, speed, and defense.
Maybe this is the beginning of a good team?