Looking Back at Big Deal

Pujols had a huge impact on my team in the 2000's.

The great thing for me, is that I benefited in my buddy Jeff Tritthart's APBA League (IGAL), a league full of Navy buddies, I acquired Pujols in 2002, during our 2002 IGAL Season (Pujol's 2001 rookie season). The funny thing he was already traded once, he ended up playing with three teams that season, he would first be drafted by the Dublin Fighting Irish - #2 overall behind Ichiro Suzuki (drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals). Then in March 2002, a four-team trade (yes, a four-team trade) that involved the Humble Warriors (then known as the Peaches), Cleveland Tribal-Thunder, Dublin & Philadelphia.

Let me first say, a long time back we had three teams each, and I created the name for the Dublin Fighting Irish, we added owners, and I ditched that team, which really was my 3rd team. At this point, the team was being ran by our friend Neil Barney's brother, who kept the team name (and yes, the logo was basically Notre Dame's logo). Plus not really sure how involved Neil's brother was in the first place, since Neil was basically the GM of that team. This was happening during a time of transition for the league, looking back...

Humble acquired 5 total players, with Magglio Ordonez, being the main acquisition along with 3 relievers in Mike Remlinger, Pedro Borbon Jr., and Scott Williamson -- plus a fringe player in Brian Daubach (1B). Cleveland acquired Andruw Jones & Lance Berkman (Berkman will still be a stud for some time, we would find out Jones had far less gas in the tank), reuniting real-life teammates Andruw & Chipper. Jones & Berkman, were acquired along with outfielder Shannon Stewart who would just sputter out basically with Travis Phelps (RP). Dublin really got hurt on this deal, they gave up Albert Pujols & the 3 relievers (Remlinger, Borbon & Williamson) to Humble & got back in return a 2003 1st Round Draft Pick - #2 Overall (from Philadelphia), OF-Dmitri Young, SP-Frank Castillo & RP-Dave Veres -- the #2 overall pick would end up being Mark Prior for the Dublin Fighting Irish (who needed plenty of pitching), which seemed great at the time for new owner (little brother Christopher Baier) who took over Dublin -- but we would find out that Prior's career would be short-lived.

Dublin's cursed bad luck in drafting Prior.

Philadelphia was the winner in that deal (well for at least 3 months), acquiring Pujols, plus RP-Kazzuhiro Sasaki (who I believe was the #1 or #2 overall pick, the year before) from Humble & OF-Johnny Damon from Cleveland.

The thing is the winner in the deal would be the ultimate loser a few months later, my Atlanta Braves came off their first IGAL World Championship, but I had to bolster up my bullpen in 2002, so while I was visiting my buddy Neil Barney in California, I asked about his relievers Tom Gordon, Paul Quantrill & Jeff Tam. He was looking at my roster and was asking whether I would trade either Richie Sexson & Raul Mondesi, which is funny because I believe Jeff asked about Sexson as well, around the time of the annual rookie draft. I would tell Neil that I would think about it, over dinner or hanging out I mentioned almost off-handily how I really like this Pujols kid in St. Louis (now in his second season), and that I believe he is going to be a constant beast. I was not even thinking of acquiring Albert, but Neil came back with an offer that included my Braves acquiring Pujols, Gordon, Quantrill & Tam in exchange for (both) Sexson & Mondesi, plus Odalis Perez (who by the way was having a great season in 2002 -- ending up 15-10 with a 3.00 ERA & 155 K's in 222.1 innings & the fact that Neil loved his Dodgers) & Chuck Finley (which 2002 would be the end of the line for his career).

This deal went down on June 5th, 2002 -- A year & 4 months after I acquired John Smoltz - no card [NC] (at career crossroads, soon to be reliever) & Alex Rodriguez, along with 3 draft picks. A-Rod joined what was already a stellar lineup that included Todd Helton, Sammy Sosa & Javy Lopez. Quantrill & Gordon was the beginning of what would become a great consistent bullpen with relievers Brad Lidge, Damaso Marte, and a few other consistent guys that just got the job done -- my rotation was not great though (it would become a force later in the decade with Roy Halladay & Tim Lincecum).

For Philly, Richie Sexson, would have 3 more good seasons in the majors -- but his range of .263 to .274 BA doesn't hold well in a smaller league format in APBA where you are often going up against A & B pitchers -- so he never got a legit chance to put up his majors numbers; Raul Mondesi was going through a down 2002 at the time of the deal, and would bounce back a little in 2003 with respectable numbers & okay season in 2004 -- he was never an impact in the deal. We would find out for Odalis Perez that 2002 was as good as it got, as his next lowest ERA season would be 4.32 during his final season in the MLB (2008 for Washington).

It is easy to at times to look back at deals and see the flaws or mistakes by one party, but at the time it may seem to have made sense for both teams. I have had my duds through the years as anyone else, but it's beautiful when you pull off a beauty of a deal.

Players Today, Hall Tomorrow

Pujols & Cabrera at first base.

There of course, were many fun & interesting posts bouncing around Tuesday on the APBA Facebook Group that made discussions & debates very intriguing; Many of those, of course, about the current retired players on the HOF Ballot, and then Eric Berg sparked an interesting post about today's players & who would get in? Well he actually asked out of the four players Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Miguel Cabrera and Yadier Molina, who would get in? Would all get in? -- Quite a few of us weighed in, made excellent points, and added or subtracted players into the discussion as well.

First let's tackle three of the first four --

ALBERT PUJOLS

Albert Pujols will be in, as long as we do not see some unfortunate news that he was jacked up on PED's, there has been no clear connection, and it's unfortunate that this has to always come up when making HOF debates -- but he did play during the steroid era, and was taken under Mark McGwire's wing as a rookie. I like to think Pujols is legit & my gut feeling is he is, he was a pretty strong dude coming up, and he comes from humbling roots.

Until proven guilty -- he's in, let's just forget the cloud now & look at these amazing numbers. His numbers during his first 10 years is often compared to only one other player that has more impressive numbers than Pujols & that is of the great, immortal Lou Gehrig. When your first 10 years is only being bettered than that of Gehrig -- than you certainly left your mark on the game.

Pujols' career from 2001-2010 -- 2003 season highlighted.

Truly amazing, lowest runs number (99), lowest RBI numbers (103), lowest BA (.312), lowest OBP (.394), lowest slugging (.561) & lowest OPS (.955) -- 8 times over 1.000 OPS, which is nuts!

Now we'll take a look at Lou Gehrig's first 10 full seasons, from 1925-1934 -- remember this is about both players' first 10 full seasons.

Lou Gehrig's 1925 - 1934 stretch.

Just like Pujols, Gehrig also had 8 seasons during his first full 10 seasons, but actually had the lowest OPS (.896) in 1925 out of the two. Gehrig failed to reach 100 runs & 100 RBI's in same season, while Pujols only missed century mark in the runs category (by a single run). Gehrig missed .300 BA once, Pujols was above .300 entire stretch. Both surpassed 1.100 OPS for 4 seasons each. The remarkable thing to note on Gehrig's first 10 full seasons, is that he reached single-seasons of 200+ in the OPS+ category 3 times (220, 206 & 203) while Pujols' highest OPS+ during stretch was 192.

Plus Gehrig surpasses .360 in batting average 4 times (3 of them .370+), including back-to-back seasons of .373 (1927) & .374 (1928) -- while putting up monster 1.240 OPS in 1927, which by the way didn't lead the league that season. Gehrig only led OPS during this stretch once (1.172 in 1934), basically due to the presence of Babe Ruth. Pujols never hits over .360 during this stretch, with his high being .359 -- while winning his only batting title (Gehrig's only batting title, 1934).

With many parallels, like being first basemen, there are areas where this is indeed a difference. The RBI numbers are noticeably different with Gehrig blasting over 150 RBI's (four times), Pujols none over 150 (high was 137). Gehrig's seasons over 150 RBI's during this stretch include: 151, 166, 173, 173 & 185! Certainly, Pujols didn't have Babe Ruth or the other talent as well, but you can't take anything away from Gehrig here -- simply amazing!

Now throw in Lou Gehrig's most dominant 10-year stretch, Pujols loses out big time, but Pujols has the best 10-year stretch for a player not named Gehrig, best since Gehrig.

Gehrig's dominant stretch from 1927 - 1936, which doesn't include 1937 (1.116 OPS) & 1938 (.932 OPS).

There is no stretch in the history of the game that matches this dominance of Lou Gehrig (above).

Now quickly back to Pujols -- The great thing for me, is that I benefited in my buddy Jeff Tritthart's APBA League (IGAL), a league full of Navy buddies (Jeff is now a member of my Boys of Summer APBA Baseball League), in which I acquired Pujols in 2002, during our 2002 IGAL Season (Pujol's 2001 rookie season). The funny thing he was already traded once, he ended up playing with three teams that season, he would first be drafted by the Dublin Fighting Irish - #2 overall behind Ichiro Suzuki (drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals). Then in March 2002, a four-team trade (yes, a four-team trade) that involved the Humble Warriors (then known as the Peaches), Cleveland Tribal-Thunder, Dublin & Philadelphia. I would later acquire him a few months later from Philadelphia. I have started a future post called "Looking Back at Big Deal" in which I will go into more detail on that, because the deal would be pivotal for 4 more IGAL World Championships (I was the defending champs at time of trade).

For me, it was truly amazing to have him on my APBA team -- for other league owners, a complete nightmare, so if he got hurt today & didn't play another game, I believe he is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame.

ICHIRO

Ichiro - During Early Japan days.

Ichiro Suzuki is a lock for the Hall-of-Fame as well, the guy has over 4,000 international hits in professional baseball. His 10 straight seasons of 200+ hits & single-season of 262 hits are the most in Major League history, he is only surpassed by Pete Rose & Ty Cobb in the career international hits category. He is currently 156 hits shy of 3,000 in the majors at age 41. Became the second player ever to win both MVP & Rookie-of-the-Year (2001) in the same season (Fred Lynn was the first). Named an American League All-Star his first 10 years of his career.

From 2001-2010, Ichiro collected 2,244 hits (an average 224 hits a season) in 6,779 at-bats, batting a career .331 up to that point; His playing time since has decreased along with talent due to age, and now owns a .317 career batting average. Ichiro owns 10 Gold Gloves, two A.L. Batting Titles (2001 & 2004) along with 487 career steals.

Should be noted that Ichiro did hit 136 hits, just two seasons ago, so it is possible for him to close the gap to 3,000 hits this season & eclipse that next season, if he chooses to hang on -- looking more unlikely, but not impossible. A season of 160 hits this year is highly unlikely, considering what his role will be in 2015.

MIGUEL CABRERA

Miguel Cabrera in my opinion is already the greatest Latin slugger to have played the game (possibly hitter as well). During the discussion on the APBA Facebook Group, Jim Moran lent us a great article by Fan Graphs about current players and their Hall of Fame odds.

• Click here for the entire article on Fan Graphs - "Which Active Players are Going to Cooperstown".

This was an article from last year (exactly a year ago), so don't be surprised to see Derek Jeter's name along with current players among "The Already Earned Their Way" -- which also had Ichiro & Pujols (above). Alex Rodriguez fell under "Would Be a Lock, Except PEDs" section. I agreed basically with the entire article, except for the fact that Miguel Cabrera was not in "The Already Earned Their Way".

I know some are saying, wait a second, it's too soon!

Actually, no it's not. I give you a great comparison, to two players in MLB history that are in the Hall of Fame -- Kirby Puckett & Ralph Kiner. If Miguel's career ended today (I shudder to think as a Tigers fan), he would be a lock!

• Miguel Cabrera: 2,200+ hits, .320 career BA, 390 HR's & .960 career OPS. Including 3 straight A.L. Batting Titles (2011-2013), a Triple Crown (2012) -- first in 45 years. Back-to-Back MVP Awards (2012-2013), including a runner-up in 2010. 9-time All-Star.

• Kirby Puckett: 2,304 hits, .318 career BA, 207 HR's & .837 career OPS. One A.L. Batting Title -- batting .339 in 1989. No MVP Awards, runner-up in 1992. 10-time All-Star.

• Ralph Kiner: 1,451 hits, .279 career BA, 369 HR's & .946 OPS. No Batting Titles (only batted over .300 once), No MVP Awards (closest was 5th in 1950), 6-time All-Star.

Both Cabrera & Puckett stand at 12 seasons, with Kiner's 10 seasons. Cabrera beats both in HR's (beating Puckett by 183 HR's) & OPS (beating Puckett by .123 in OPS). Cabrera was similar in career hits & career batting average with Kirby, while Cabrera's power just eclipses Kiner in both HR's & OPS.

No one can sit there and say He has not been around long enough...

By these comparisons he has, he's been around two more seasons than Kiner (a much-better hitter than Kiner), while his power numbers beat Puckett, hands down. Plus, if Miguel can stay healthy, he will be able to do something that both were not able to do & that is reach 3,000 hits. Puckett does have Kiner & Cabrera beat in one major area, and that's the fact that Kirby owns two World Championship rings (1987 & 1991) -- Miguel has one with the Marlins (2003), Kiner had none.

Still not convinced? Check out the picture below:

Post #400

The Phantastic Phillies of 1993 are rolling, as their bats once again explode.

Recently, The Boys of Summer Blog celebrated 25,000 hits on the site, now here we are with Post #400, which is not much of a post, but a quick update on 1993.

A few highlights from the Alternate 1993 Project

Greg Swindell & The Houston Astros had the undefeated Philadelphia Phillies on the ropes, as the Stros led 7-1 after 7 innings. Swindell left the game only allowing 4 hits & an earned run through seven, with 4 K's & 2 walks. The bullpen though would drop the ball, going through 4 pitchers, while the Phillies took advantage of two errors, one by Jeff Bagwell & Andujar Cedeno -- erupting for 12 runs in the 8th Inning. During the inning Darren Daulton smacked a Grand Slam off of Xavier Hernandez, plus HR's from Dave Hollins & Ricky Jordan. The Astros have to feel sick to their stomachs on this one, as they slip to 1-4, while Philly stays invincible at 5-0.

The Montreal Expos finally won improving to 1-4, but it's all for no gain in the standings with Philly's come from behind game against Houston.

The Atlanta Braves remain undefeated, holding off the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3, as Ron Gant hits his 6th HR of the season. Gant also has 12 RBI, while batting .500 through 5 games.

The New York Mets suffered a huge blow by losing Sid Fernandez for 40 games, he had to come out of the game after 2.2 innings, as starting pitcher Charlie Hough came in from the pen. The Mets later called on Dwight Gooden out of the pen for the 8th Inning, Gooden was coming off a two-hit, one-run, complete game against Houston on opening day -- Former Met Tim Teufel smacks two-run blast off Gooden. The Padres' closer Gene Harris comes in and blows the save opportunity as pinch-hitter Ryan Thompson hits a game-tying solo HR during top of 9th. Andres Galarraga hits a go-ahead RBI single for Mets in the 12th, but it's the Padres' Orestes Destrade that sends the game to victory with a walk-off two-run HR off of Jeff Innis. Padres win 7-6 (12 Innings).

The San Francisco Giants break up Jose Rijo's bid for a no-hitter & 3-0 lead in the 5th, as they pile on 7 runs in the bottom-half of the inning -- The Giants hold off the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3. The Giants move up to 2nd place alone at 4-1, passing the Dodgers at 3-2; The Reds are the only team in Major League Baseball still looking for their first victory (0-5).

BoS Power Rankings - May

Anibal Sanchez: 7-1, 2.01 ERA, 68 K's & .989 WHIP in 62.2 innings for Portland this season.

The power rankings for month #2 (May) through May 28th.

Biggest Jump (Placement): Good things for the Mosher family circle in the month of May: The Fairgrove Tigers (Robert Mosher) and Holland Hitchhikers (Steve Ruder) moved up the most places on the Power Rankings -- each moving up 4 slots. As you may or may not know, Steve became a father last year, giving "Tiger Bob" another grandchild.

Biggest Jump (Points): It's hard to believe that just a month ago, the Portland Microbrewers ranked #4, had only 88.5 points in the ranking system, they have been on fire since, going 22-2 since, and winning 24 of last 26 games. Not to mention the BoS League Record 14 game winning-streak.

Staying Steady: The Traverse City Panthers did drop a spot (falling to 3rd) & lost 4 points, but have stayed relatively steady, while Portland & Fairgrove blown past them. The Buffalo Yankees (11th) didn't move any spots, while losing 7 points.

Biggest Drop (Placement):  The Chicago Nine dropped 4 slots, while losing 13 points in the BoS Power Rankings. 

Biggest Drop (Points):  The King Road Kings dropped 20 points, and slipped two spots -- their division mates San Diego Heroes had one of the biggest drops (-18.5); Both bad news for two teams while Portland starts putting serious distance between both teams. The Heroes are in second, but already trail by 10.5 games.

Team to Watch: The South Shore Fighting Imps are the defending BoS World Champions, they were #1 during the end of April - Power Rankings, and have recently fallen to #4 in the rankings, by dropping 3 slots & 19.5 points. The team only played .500 ball during May (12-12), while still owning a 5 game lead on the Swatara Eliminators. The Imps have played better on the road, going 18-12. 

1993 -- In with a Bang!

Gary Sheffield joins L.A. a little earlier than normal.

Happy New Years, it's 1993 -- Grunge is in, Melrose Place was starting to take off -- No one at this point (for most part) never heard of George Clooney, Bill Clinton is the man taking office, while yours truly (me), was in the middle of his sophomore year of high school. But no, really...  can you believe it has been 20+ years ago now?

So of course, like always, I have quite a few things in the works. I kicked off my Alternate 1993 project (MLB without anymore expansion). The players were picked by worst record in 1992 to sign the likes of Gary Sheffield, Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla & company. Sure Sheffield joined the expansion Marlins via trade, but like the mid-season transactions in 1993, they play for the team year around (just the same as a packet of APBA cards).

Gary Sheffield ended up being signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dante Bichette ended up in Kansas City, Andres Galarraga (a Met) & Vinny Castilla ends up with the California Angels (or I should call them the Platooning Angels, not many regular year-long starters, an influx of youth such as J.T. Snow & Tim Salmon).

There was some other interesting pieces to teams. Bryan Harvey adds even more depth to that Philadelphia Phillies bullpen. Chuck Carr leads off the Giants' lineup, with Darren Lewis possibly being trade-bait, for now he's a dependable backup -- and if Carr falters, Lewis will jump right in. Seattle drafted Robb Nen, who won't come around until next season, but we know that Seattle during this time period didn't have good bullpens, so they drafted the big gun.

Another thing that I am doing with this project of no expansion, there is no inter-league play, and all the teams that were in the original four division format are right back where they belong. So the Milwaukee Brewers will never be going to the National League, while Houston Astros stays in the N.L.

It will also put an interesting twist on rivalries, and division races. Can the Atlanta Braves duplicate their division dominance in the N.L. West, like they did in the N.L. East. The Cleveland Indians start to emerge when the Yankees also start mid-way through the decade; Remember -- with the four division format, also means the old rules, only division winners move on, we go straight to the League Championships. It won't be as easy for the Braves this time, with good Astros teams in the 90's, Giants, Dodgers, etc,

In this replay, I play the home teams' games, and play to the best of my ability to get that team to win. I will tell you already, the Pittsburgh Pirates are painful to watch & to play. Now I'm playing BBW, but to give you an idea, the Pirates have no B's & above for them -- all C & D's in both rotation & pen.

I forgot how good actually that 1993 Montreal Expos team was, everyone always goes straight to 1994, I knew they were up & coming in 1993, but they nearly won that division from Philly actually. So can Montreal catch Philly in this? It will still be tough, plus Philly has got off to a 4-0 start, while Montreal has lost their first four, and have yet to play each other. The Expos added Walt Weiss to their infield depth, and acquired Eddie Murray from the Mets -- due to their purchase of Galarraga, the Mets acquired Wil Cordero & a reliever (I believe) in the deal.

Now players will belong to teams during real-life durations, so Murray will only be with the Expos in 1993, and will sign with Cleveland in 1994. Another example, Jeff Conine played with the Marlins, the first time around from 1993-1997, with there being no Marlins, and Conine getting drafted in this Alternate 1993 League by the Detroit Tigers; Conine will play for the Tigers until 1998, in which he will join Kansas City, now Tigers can trade him, but he will still become a Royal in 1998.

The Dodgers who happened to draft Gary Sheffield in this weird universe had him from 1993-1997, the interesting thing is he joins the 1998 Dodgers. So the Dodgers could say, trade him even, and they would still get him in 1998.

Each season there will be a new free agent draft for the expansion team players, and there will be more when we ignore the existence of the Arizona Diamondbacks & the Tampa Bay Devil.. uh.. Rays. By the way, my grandparents bought me a Tampa Bay Devil Rays shirt during my senior year (1995), I thought I was so cool, having a shirt of a team that didn't have a roster yet.

Ron Gant has exploded batting .526, 5 HR & 11 RBI in 20 plate appearances for the undefeated Atlanta Braves, who by the way also has a 1.25 ERA, while batting .331 & +24 scoring differential. Their real-life NLCS rival Phillies, undefeated as well at 4-0, 2.00 ERA, leading the league with a .346 average & a +19 scoring differential. The Phillies, we know have Bryan Harvey (as mentioned earlier), plus Alex Arias, extra infield help. The Braves have Joe Girardi through the end of 1995, while adding infield depth with Rich Renteria.

The 1993 Chicago White Sox are playing good as expected, they have an amazing rotation led by Jack McDowell (13-YZ), Alex Fernandez (13-YZ), Wilson Alvarez (16-YW), plus rookie Jason Bere (13-XW). They just lost their first game against Cleveland, after a 3-0 start & are currently tied with Minnesota, who has won three straight (but that won't last since Minnesota is one of the weaker 1993 teams). In cards form, they are 3 B starting pitchers & 1 A starting pitcher in Alvarez. Their expansion additions were Richie Lewis (14-XW / B-XW) and a catcher (with awful defense, 6) that will add some pop off the bench in Danny Sheaffer (.278, 4, 32).

I will report more of what's to come in the following weeks, but for now here is the standings...