Another Saturday night drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by George Dickell, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.

Elijah: George did you get my email?

George: Elijah, you know I don't read emails or check for voicemail; I'm an old guy if you haven't noticed.             What was the email about?

Elijah: I wanted you to rank the top prospects in the league for the coming 62 seasons.

George: Oh that. Doris read that email and told me to do it.

Jim: Your wife reads your emails?

George: Oh hell no, I'd be in divorce court if she did. Doris is just a very good friend I have when I'm scouting out of town.

Jack: George, don't you live in Bucksnort Tennessee? There is nobody in your home town to scout. You're always on the road when you're scouting.

George: That is why I need a really good friend like Doris.

Jim: How many of these really good friends do you have on the road?

George: I'll take the fifth on that , you guys can just imagine what you want.

Elijah: Can we get back to the prospects; have you got a list?

George: I've got all kinds of lists about prospects. I decided that to make the list a player had to have played below double-A ball last year. My list is:

                    Best Player: Elian Ozuna of the Syracuse franchise

                    Best Pitcher: Roger Kazmir of Cincinnati

             Other top players- Henderson Moriarty, Viosergy Carpenter, Paxton Owen, and Dan Leach.

             Other pitchers are: Sandy Shelby, Timothy Gray, Willie Fernandez, and Alejandro Martinez.

Jim: What strikes me as interesting is that Viosergy Carpenter was included in a trade already this season.

Jack: Burton traded  Viosergy Carpenter, Samuel Cooper and Ricardo Montanez for Erasmo Lima, and Dariel Adams.

George: Samuel Cooper was on the long list of top prospects. I think that was a big deal and Burton seems like he's in a win now mode.

Jack: I'm not sure you guys know this but my contacts tell me that Paxton Owen might make the jump from high-A to the majors this season.

George: One last thing Elijah, on the really long list I had Willie Scavuzzo. Willie was blocked in the El Paso  system by Fred Logan and had a really disappointing season last year and retired. I think if he had stuck it out he would have surprised people.

Elijah: Thanks for the information. Let's have another round of drinks and call it a night.

Season 61 Awards Voting

 After a season away, the annual look at end of season awards have returned 😊 As I have done in past years, I will start by using Wins Above Replacement to compare the candidates, and added in some bonus points for those who led Stickball in various categories to come up with a metric that I call the "Importance Score". Here's how the ballots shake out this season:

AL MVP

• Carlos Romero (RF-Jackson), 9.10 WAR...0.17 for 3Bs, 0.66 for OPS = 9.93 Importance Score
• Lance Vogelbach, 5.10 WAR...0.66 for RBI = 5.76 Importance Score
• Groucho Wolf, 4.57 WAR...0.33 for H = 4.90 Importance Score
• Alejandro Lugo, 2.69 WAR...0.17 for AB = 2.86 Importance Score
• Geovany Toregas, 4.71 WAR...no bonus points = 4.71 Importance Score

NL MVP

• Francisco Chavez, 8.37 WAR...0.66 for HR, 0.33 for SLG = 9.36 Importance Score
• Max Campos, 8.20 WAR...0.50 for R = 8.70 Importance Score
• Joe Lange, 8.57 WAR...0.17 for 2B, 1.00 for AVG = 9.74 Importance Score
• Isaac Holland, 7.72 WAR...no bonus points = 7.72 Importance Score
• Emil Vazquez, 6.36 WAR....no bonus points = 6.36 Importance Score

AL Cy Young

• Wladimir Campos, 6.14 WAR...no bonus points = 6.14 Importance Score
• Magglio Garza, 1.95 WAR...no bonus points = 1.95 Importance Score
• Brad Jensen, 3.24 WAR....no bonus points = 3.24 Importance Score
• Addison Mieses, 1.33 WAR...no bonus points = 1.33 Importance Score
• Jerome McClain, 3.60 WAR....no bonus points = 3.60 Importance Score

NL Cy Young

• Julio Pujols, 5.52 WAR...0.33 for W = 5.85 Importance Score
• AJ Moreno, 7.29 WAR...0.33 for K, 0.33 for OAVG, 0.33 for OppOBP, 0.33 for OppSLG, 0.33 for WHIP, 0.66 for ERA = 9.60 Importance Score
• Jimmie Urbina, 6.55 WAR...0.09 for t-CG, 0.17 for t-SHO, 0.33 for IP = 7.14 Importance Score
• Felipe Lee, 5.19 WAR....no bonus points = 5.19 Importance Score
• Giancarlo Colome, 1.20 WAR...no bonus points = 1.20 Importance Score

AL Rookie of the Year

• Danys Uribe, 3.37 WAR...no bonus points = 3.37 Importance Score 
• Cesar Chantres, 1.75 WAR...no bonus points = 1.75 Importance Score
• Juan Romero, 3.77 WAR...no bonus points = 3.77 Importance Score
• Ernest Stone, 0.53 WAR...no bonus points = 0.53 Importance Score
• Luis Tejada, 1.35 WAR...no bonus points = 1.35 Importance Score

NL Rookie of the Year

• Ernest McPherson, 3.93 WAR...no bonus points = 3.93 Importance Score
• Ismael Figueroa, 1.24 WAR...no bonus points = 1.24 Importance Score
• Woody DeLucia, 3.51 WAR...no bonus points = 3.51 Importance Score
• Esteban Lopez, 2.22 WAR...-0.09 "bonus" points for t-CS = 2.14 Importance Score
• Edgar Bastardo, 2.60 WAR...no bonus points = 2.60 Importance Score

Meet Your Hall of Famer: Miguel Margot

 

Bio:   Miguel Margot was born in Guanabacoa, CU (Pop. 581,753 is a province of Havana, CU to the southeast).  He was a late bloomer and did not have any notable achievements in his youth career.  His career took off at a Cuban baseball academy after high school before he was an international free agent at the age of 21.

International Signing: Signed for 13.8 million in Season 42 (4^th highest that year) by Seattle (Seventy_77)

Career Earnings: $105,701,000

Career: Miguel Margot was an international free agent signed by Seattle (Seventy_77) in Season 42. He played 13 seasons for the Seattle/Toronto franchise, making his Major League debut in Season 43.  He also played one season in Ottawa before finishing with 4 seasons in Colorado Springs.  During his career, he was a 10-time All-Star, won 7 Fireman of the Year Awards (45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53), was Rookie of the Year in Season 45, and won a World Series Ring with Toronto in Season 45.  His best year of Season 50 when he won one of his Fireman of the Year awards. In that year he was 53 of 55 in Saves, in 58.1 Innings.  His other stats that season were .165 OAV, .199 OSLG, .81 WHIP, 0.93 ERA and struck out 63 in his 58.1 innings.  Over his career he had 575 SV, 20 W, 966 IN, 871 K, .219 OAV, 1.11 WHIP, and 2.55 ERA. He holds the World Record for Saves in a season with 59 in Toronto, in Season 45 and Career Team Record for Toronto at 523.

Speech Highlight- “I loved pitching at the end of games.  The game sat in my hands and wanted to be the guy that had the ball.  I looked forward to every opportunity.  Especially after high school I figured my dreams of playing in the MLB were dashed, but I kept working and turned in a fine career.  To be enshrined with the names of all the other Hall of Famers is a tremendous honor.”