Hot Stove Review: Brewers

Last season the Brewcrew won 89 games and came within a bullpen meltdown of advancing past the wildcard game instead of the ultimate World Series winners, the Nationals.  In response, the Brewers front office chose to modestly reduce payroll while spreading free agent money over a large number of smaller contracts.  Here is a summary of the moves:

Free Agents Lost:  Yasmani Grandal(C), Mike Moustakis(3B), Drew Pomeranz(LHP), Gio Gonzalez(LHP), Jordan Lyles(RHP), Matt Albers(RHP), Travis Shaw(IF-non-tendered), Jimmy Nelson(RHP- non-tendered), Hernan Perez(IF-non-tendered), Junior Guerra(RHP- non-tendered).

Free Agents Signed:  Avisail Garcia(OF- 2 yr/$20 M), Josh Lindblom(RHP- 3 yr/$9.125 M), Justin Smoak(1B), Brett Anderson(LHP), Eric Sogard(IF), Brock Holt(IF/OF), Jedd Gyorko(IF), Alex Claudio(LHP), David Phelps(RHP), Ryon Healy(IF).

Trades:  Acquired Chad Spanberger(1B) from the Blue Jays for Chase Anderson(RHP), Acquired Omar Narvaez(C) from the Mariners for Adam Hill(RHP) and Competitive Balance Round Draft Pick(B), Acquired Luis Urias(IF) and Eric Lauer(LHP) from the Padres for Trent Grisham(OF) and Zach Davies(RHP), Acquired Mark Mathias(IF) from the Indians for Andrew Melendez(C).

Contract Extensions:  Christian Yelich(OF)- 7 yrs/$188.5 M in addition to pre-existing 2 yrs/$26.5 M), Freddy Peralta(RHP)- 5 yrs/$15.5 M.

Minor League FA Signings:  Logan Morrison(1B/OF), Shelby Miller(RHP), Keon Broxton(OF), Justin Grimm(RHP), Mike Morin(RHP), Jace Peterson(IF), Andres Blanco(IF), Tuffy Gosewich(C).

Summary:  There's a lot to unpack here.  Brewers make a big, longterm commitment to Christian Yelich, so it's hardly a teardown.  The rest, much like the Giants, is a collection of potential undervalued players, breakout candidates and midseason trade pieces. Also like the Giants, this approach will look a whole lot better if rosters increase to 29 or 30 players for a compressed regular season.  As for specific moves I liked here, I would say I am surprised Brock Holt cost as little as he did.  Luis Urias could be their SS of the future.  Ryan Healy has huge power and could have a breakout season if he can stay healthy and field a position.  This team could really use an ace starter which they did not acquire.

Grade C+.

Blast From The Past: Jim Hearn 1951

This is a story that needs to be shared.  In all my years as an obsessed Giants fan, I had never really heard of Jim Hearn before I started researching the 1951 season.  I guess you could call Hearn the Giants #3 starter after Larry Jansen and Sal Maglie and ahead of swingman Dave Koslo.  He was one of several Giants who had career or near-career years in 1951.

Jim Hearn was big for that time at 6'3", 205 lbs.  His first sport was basketball.  He played center on his high school team and played basketball at Georgia Tech.  He played semi-pro baseball in the summers which is where he was discovered by a scout for the Cardinals and signed a pro baseball contract.  He did not start pitching until after he turned pro and had trouble adjusting to the nuances of pitching.  He threw hard but after a promising rookie season in 1947, he struggled with command and pitch-tipping issues.  "Big Jim" was a gentle giant and the Cardinals owner and manager accused him of a lack of dedication and of preferring golf to baseball.  He was released early in the 1950 season and the Giants paid the $10,000 waiver claim.

Giants Manager Leo Durocher immediately confronted Hearn about his dedication to baseball saying if his heart wasn't completely in it, he might as well say so and not waste more time.  Hearn apparently satisfied Leo.  The Giants pitching coaches lowered his arm slot to give his fastball more sink.  This adjustment paid immediate dividends and he broke out, finishing the season with a record of 11-4 and a 2.49 ERA. That success produced an uproar in St Louis about how Manager Eddie Dyer could have misjudged him so badly and ultimately led to Dyer being fired.  For his part, the New York press dubbed him the "Miracle Man."  He was not as dominant in 1951 but the potent Giants offense was enough to propel him to a 17-9 W-L record with an ERA of 3.62.  He also won Game 1 of the playoff against the Dodgers and Game 3 of the World Series against the Yankees.

Jim Hearn pitched 5 more seasons for the Giants but with uneven success due to a series of nagging injuries.  Durocher became frustrated and resurrected his suspicions that Big Jim was thinking more about golf than baseball.  Hearn finished his career pitching mostly in relief in three seasons with the Phillies.  After retirement from baseball, he opened a Golf Center in his hometown of Atlanta which became his lifelong post-baseball career.

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I found most of the biographical information for this post on the SABR website. It also apparently appears in a book entitled The Team That Time Won't Forget:  The 1951 New York Giants, published by SABR.  Check it out!

Hot Stove Review: Cardinals

We move on from the NL West to the NL Central in our Hot Stove Reviews.  The Cardinals have a cohort of aging players but are coming off a 91 win season, so chose to mainly stand pat in the Hot Stove League.  Here are the moves:

Free Agents Lost:  Marcell Ozuna(OF), Michael Wacha(RHP), Tony Cingrani(LHP), Williams Perez(RHP).

Free Agents Signed:  Adam Wainwright(re-signed), Matt Wieters(re-signed), Kwang Kim(LHP), Brad Miller(IF).

Trades:  Acquired Austin Dean(OF) from Marlins for Diowill Burgos(OF), Acquired Matthew Liberatore(LHP), Edgardo Rodriguez(C) and Future Considerations from the Rays for Jose Martinez(1B) and Randy Arozarena(OF) and Future Considerations.

Avoided Arbitration:  John Gant(RHP).

DFA/Release:  Dominic Leone(RHP).

Minor League Free Agent:  Oscar Hernandez(C).

Summary:  As mentioned, the Cardinals have a lot of age on this team and a shaky OF situation, particularly with the loss of Ozuna.  The addition of Kim bolsters the rotation and could be very good.  A scouting report from spring training games is on Rotographs.  Seems Kim has pretty good command of multiple pitches which help his low 90's FB play up.  Cards also seem to be counting on highly ranked prospect, Dylan Carlson, being ready to step up in OF. They seem to be confident enough in their depth to trade away Martinez and Arozarena for highly rated pitching prospect, Liberatore which was a nice move for the future.  Cardinals have a long history of mid-level prospects stepping up.  Can they keep doing that as the core of Yadier Molina, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter and Waino(plus Dexter Fowler) move into the twilight of their careers?

Grade:  Grade C+.

Blast From The Past: Wes Westrum 1951

Perhaps the most overlooked hero of the Giants legendary 1951 season was a defense-first catcher with a penchant for suffering broken fingers named Wes Westrum.  Westrum's career got off to a slow start serving as a backup catcher for his first three seasons before a breakout campaign in 1950 in which he batted just .243 but with an OBP of .385 and 23 HR's.  Like his Giants team, he got off to a slow start in 1951 due to another broken finger, but once he got healthy he recorded the highest OPS and fWAR of his career.

One of the best kept secrets in baseball lore is that Billy Beane did not invent Moneyball.  It you look at the walk rates and OBP's of the hitters in the 1951 Giants lineup, you will find numbers that put any of Billy Beane's teams to shame.  It's really hard to put into words the beauty of Wes Westrum's 1951 batting line, so here it is for you to stare in wonder at for yourself:

.219/.400/.418, 12 2B, 20 HR, 21.9 BB%, 19.6 K%, fWAR= 4.1, 474 PA.

Like several of his teammates, Wes Westrum's playing career tapered off after that pennant winning season.  He played a lesser role on the 1954 championship team and retired to coaching before the Giants moved west after the 1957 season.  He later went on to manage the Mets and Giants.  The first time I heard of Wes Westrum was as manager of the Mets in the very first MLB game I listened to an the radio.  Of course, I had no idea of his connection to the Giants.  He had a reputation as patient manager who was willing to let young players with high ceilings make their mistakes for the future good of the teams he managed for.

Hot Stove Review: Rockies

The Rockies are coming off a disheartening 91 loss season with a pitching meltdown the main culprit for the howmanyeth time.  Naturally, you might expect Rockies management to get busy in the offseason and try to shore up the pitching.  Well......not so fast!  Instead of, you know, signing free agents and making trades around the Hot Stove, GM Jeff Bridich chose to let his biggest and highest paid star, Nolan Arenado, who by the way does not seem like the troublemaking type, seethe in disgust over Bridich's lack of action to improve the team and wonder about trade rumors involving him!  Nice!  Here's a list of the moves Bridich made this offseason(it's not a long list):

Free Agents Lost:  Yonder Alonso(1B), Rico Garcia(RHP), Tyler Anderson(LHP), DJ Johnson(RHP), Chad Bettis(RHP), Drew Butera(C), Sam Howard(RHP), Pat Valaika(IF), Harrison Musgrave(LHP), Roberto Ramos(1B/OF).

MLB Free Agents Signed:  Jose Mujica(RHP).

Trades:  None.

Extensions:  Trevor Story(SS)- 2 yrs/$27.5 M.  Scott Oberg(RHP)- 3 years/$13 M.

Minor League Free Agents:  Eric Stamets(SS), Daniel Bard(RHP), Ubaldo Jimenez(RHP), Tim Collins(LHP), Elias Diaz(C), Kelby Tomlinson(IF), Chris Owings(IF), Mike Gerber(OF), Tim Melville(RHP), Zac Rosscup(RHP).

Summary:  Hard to imagine a more disheartening and infuriating Hot Stove outcome from a fan's perspective.  Nolan Arenado was obviously none too pleased himself and he's already guaranteed his $ millions.  The fact ownership did not step in and try to mediate between Arenado and Bridich says a lot and points to a much deeper problem than just the guy sitting in the GM chair.

Grade:  F!

RIP Jim Wynn

1967 is the year I started following the Giants and Major League Baseball in earnest.  I was 10 years old and spent my summer vacation listening to Giants games on a portable radio set up on our back porch while throwing balls at a pitchback.  We lived up in the mountains on the east side of the Napa Valley.  It used to get pretty hot in the early afternoons but then a nice westerly breeze would come up and cool everything down.  That's about as idyllic as it gets.  Talk about summertime and the livin's easy!  Evening games were harder to catch because evenings were family time and reception on the old radio tended to fade in and out.

I don't have a specific recollection of listening to a game between the Giants and Astros in Houston on June 15. I probably didn't because it was an evening game.  I do have vague memories of the Giants getting beaten up pretty badly in Houston by an Astros team that seemed to lose to everyone else in the NL.  I recall not understanding why the Astros were so bad because they had a couple of really good young hitters in Jim Wynn and Rusty Staub as well as an aging Eddie Mathews.  They also had a young lefthanded pitcher with a baffling screwball named Mike Cuellar.  This was the fourth game of a midweek set with the Giants losing 2 of of the first 3.  Juan Marichal was a late scratch and Bob Bolin took the mound for the Giants facing Cuellar.  Game details come from an account of the game written up on the SABR website.

The Giants managed an early 1-0 lead until Wynn led off the fourth inning with a drive to left that reached the second deck in the Astrodome, a truly prodigious blast.  In the sixth inning with the score tied 2-2, Wynn sent another Bob Bolin pitch into the bleachers.  Wynn came up again in the 8'th inning, this time facing lefty Bill Henry.  He lined a pitch over the left field wall to become the first player to hit three home runs in the Astrodome.  The Astros went on the win the game 6-2 and Jim Wynn ultimately hit 37 home runs that season to finish second to Hank Aaron for most in the NL.

Jim Wynn stood just 5'9" and weighed maybe 160 lbs but was wiry strong and a true 5-tool athlete.  Some sportswriter coined the nickname "Toy Cannon", a name he hated at first because he thought it called attention to his short stature, but later came to embrace.  He was a patient hitter at the plate who drew a lot of walks but when he did swing, he aired it out and tended to either hit it a long way or strike out.  His three true outcomes style would probably be more appreciated in today's game.  He also played most of his home games in the Astrodome which severely suppressed home runs.  Despite all that, he fashioned a fine career line of .250/.366/.436 with 291 career HR's and 225 SB's. My memories of him tormenting Giants pitchers are accurate as he hit more HR's off Giants pitchers in his career(37) than against any other team.   He was traded to the Dodgers for Claude Osteen before the 1974 season and led the Bad Guys to an NL Pennant, but a World Series loss to the A's.  His career tailed off after that and his MLB career was over by 1977.

Jim Wynn died yesterday at the age of 78.  RIP.

Blast From the Past: Sal Maglie 1951

I've always thought of Sal Maglie as a Dodgers because he was the losing pitcher in Don Larsen's World Series Perfect Game.  The bulk of Maglie's career was with the Giants with 1951 being his best season by a fairly wide margin.  Maglie got a late start on his career.  His first MLB season was at age 28 for the Giants, but then he took a 5 year detour through the Mexican League before Commissioner Happy Chandler lifted the ban on Mexican League jumpers which allowed Maglie to resume his Giants and MLB career in 1950 at age 33.

Maglie had a distinctive and intimidating pitching style.  Like Ryan Vogelsong, who we all know and love, he was a gentleman who became a different person on the mound.  Talk about a game face!  Maglie did not shave on game days and wore a frightful scowl on his face.  He did not try to throw strikes on the inside corner, preferring to come in high and off the plate so the pitch seemed to graze the hitter's chin.  All his other pitches were on the outer half of the plate.  That's how he got the nickname "Sal the Barber" because he seemed to shave hitter's chins with his fastball.

Sal Maglie was a vital cog in the Giants pennant winning drive in 1951 putting together a 23-6 W-L record with a 2.93 ERA.  Again, it is interesting to look up stat lines of star pitchers from the past and see shockingly low K rates.  I wonder if any pitcher could be successful in today's game with that approach?

Like his teammate, Larry Jansen, Maglie developed back problems which sapped his effectiveness in future seasons.  He did go 14-6 with a 3.26 ERA for the World Series Winning Giants in 1954.  He pitched part of a season for the Dodgers in 1956 culminating in his losing the perfecto to Don Larsen when he pitched very respectably himself allowing 2 runs in 5 hits in 7 IP.

After his playing career ended he had two stints as pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox.  While several pitchers, including Bill Monbouquette, Earl Wilson, Dick Radatz and Jim Lonborg credit Maglie with boosting their careers, he lost his job twice due to new managers, Johnny Pesky and Dick Williams, wanting to pick their own pitching coaches.

A few years ago, my family and I visited my brother-in-law who was living in Niagara Falls, NY.  I recall driving past a metal sign marking Sal Maglie's home in Niagara Falls.