2011 TBL Annual the TBL Baseball Annual
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The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League The Franchise 2011 Edition Walter H. Hunt All 24 Teams Analyzed Robert Jordan Using the T.Q. System Mark H. Bloom The TBL Baseball Annual A publication of the Transcontinental Baseball League 2011 Edition by Walter H. Hunt Robert Jordan Mark H. Bloom with contributions from all of TBL’s managers and extra help from: Joe Auletta Jim Dietz Mark Freedman Paul Harrington Darrell Skogen Copyright © 2011 Walter H. Hunt. This book was produced using a Macintosh with Adobe InDesign CS2 and Adobe Photoshop 7.0. I can be reached by mail at 3306 Maplebrook Road, Bellingham, MA 02019 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The 2011 TBL Annual the TBL baseball annual Welcome to the 2011 TBL Baseball Annual. This is the sixteenth year of the Annual in the book format, and we welcome the talents of Mark “Boomer” Bloom to our staff. This year’s book has the features you’re accustomed to reading, and this year each team writ- eup includes a player we’ve designated as The Franchise. Some are current players, while others are from the team’s past . sometimes when the team was in a different place. We imagine that this will lead to some interesting discussions. We also feature entertaining articles by Joe Auletta and Mark Freedman, comments from the Commissioner, and a dedicatory poem on Bob Feller from the talented Jim Dietz. We also bring back Grantland Rice to memorialize the late, great Harmon Killebrew. As always, it’s probably as much fun to write as it is to read. Have a great season. Walter H. Hunt, Editor Robert Jordan Mark Bloom May, 2011 The T.Q. System Shamelessly stolen from the Mazeroski annual, the T.Q. System assigns points to each area of the team’s expected performance and totals the result. The maximum score under the T.Q. System is 50, divided as follows: Pitching: 20 points Offense: 15 points Defense: 10 points Bench: 5 points The T.Q. System does not take age or prospect value into account, only present capability. It does, however, consider usage (available games, at bats and innings). 4 The 2011 TBL Annual table of contents FRONT MATTER Future Drafts 6 TQ Summary 7 Features: The Rebuilding Clock, SNTs, The Vegas Line 8 Hall of Fame 2011 10 The Franchise 12 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE International Conference Hall of Fame Eligibles 14 Clemente Division The Prodigal Franchise 16 Las Vegas 18 Whitman 22 Columbus 26 Blue Hill 30 Mays Division A Little Bit More Competition 34 Rye 36 Grand Cayman 40 Gotham City 44 Greater Ohio 48 Ruth Division Build Up, Build Down 52 Dallas 54 Houston 58 Brobdingnag 62 New Westminster 66 INTERMISSION Road to the World Series 70 2010 World Series Report 73 NATIONAL CONFERENCE National Conference Hall of Fame Eligibles 74 Aaron Division Take It Up A Notch 76 Portland 78 Northboro 82 Kansas 86 Maracaibo 90 Mantle Division One Juggernaut: Three Guys 94 Melrose 96 Munich 100 Zion 104 Hudson 108 Williams Division Always in Flux 112 Richmond 114 Wakefield 118 Midwest 122 Knoxville 126 FINAL WORDS Breakthrough 130 Future 131 The Bounce Mark Freedman 132 A Christmas Carol Joe Auletta 134 Commissioner’s Report Darrell Skogen 137 In Memoriam Harmon Killebrew 137 In Memoriam Bob Feller Jim Dietz 137 The 2011 TBL Annual future drafts In many cases, what’s on the field isn’t the whole story. Some of our teams have quite a bit to say in future drafts, and any evaluation should properly take that into account. The graphical displays below show how much each team has in the tank. The middle mark on the thermometer represents a full draft (picks #1-#3) in 2012; above the middle base line is excess, while below means something’s missing. joe auletta: the legend have nots BROBDINGNAG. Ridiculous. The left- It goes without saying that most of the missing hand thermometer is the six #1 picks. The picks belong to Brobdingnag. right-hand thermometer is the six #2s and single #3. RYE, DALLAS. Brobdingnag owns Rye’s #2. New Westminster owns Dallas’ #2. haves NEW WESTMINSTER. Their own draft, which RICHMOND. Three #3s. Brobdingnag owns should be high up, along with an extra #1 and their #1 and #2. #2 from better teams. HUDSON. Their own draft, an extra #1 and WAKEFIELD. Melrose owns their #3. #2, both from contenders, but no #3. MUNICH. Melrose’s #1, their own and BLUE HILL Brobdingnag’s #2, and their own #3. Brobdingnag owns their very fine #1. balanced MELROSE, PORTLAND, HOUSTON. Portland has just a #1; Houston and Melrose have only two #3s. COLUMBUS, WHITMAN, GREATER OHIO, GOTHAM CITY, KNOXVILLE, MIDWEST. Their own drafts, likely higher up. GRAND CAYMAN. Just a #2. Surprisingly, Boomer’s picks do not belong to Brobdingnag. KANSAS, MARACAIBO, ZION. Their own drafts. LAS VEGAS, HOUSTON. Just a #3 each. Brobdingnag and Hudson each own a #1 and a #2, one from each team. These indicators also appear at the bottom of each team article, for your convenience. The 2011 TBL Annual t.q. summary TEAM (DIVISION) OFFENSE DEFENSE PITCHING BENCH TOTAL The Cream of the Crop Portland (Aaron) 13.5 5.5 18.0 3.0 40.0 Melrose (Mantle) 12.0 6.0 18.0 2.5 38.5 Dallas (Ruth) 9.5 7.5 13.5 4.0 34.5 Northboro (Aaron) 8.0 8.0 13.0 2.5 31.5 Rye (Mays) 7.5 6.0 14.0 2.5 30.0 The Solid Performers Houston (Ruth) 7.5 6.0 13.0 2.0 28.5 Grand Cayman (Mays) 8.0 4.0 13.5 2.5 28.0 Las Vegas (Mays) 7.0 5.0 13.0 3.0 28.0 Richmond (Williams) 8.5 5.5 11.5 2.0 27.5 Kansas (Aaron) 5.5 6.0 12.5 2.5 26.5 The Transitional Teams Munich (Mantle) 8.5 5.5 7.5 2.5 24.0 Zion (Mantle) 6.5 6.0 8.5 2.5 23.5 Maracaibo (Aaron) 7.0 5.5 8.5 2.5 23.5 Whitman (Clemente) 6.0 6.5 8.5 2.0 23.0 Wakefield (Williams) 6.0 7.0 7.5 2.5 23.0 The Rebuilders Midwest (Williams) 6.0 5.0 6.0 2.0 19.0 Gotham City (Mays) 6.5 3.5 6.5 2.5 18.5 Hudson (Mantle) 5.0 6.0 5.0 2.5 18.5 Columbus (Clemente) 5.0 4.0 7.5 2.0 18.5 Blue Hill (Clemente) 4.5 4.0 8.0 1.5 18.0 Greater Ohio (Clemente) 5.0 4.0 7.0 1.5 17.5 Knoxville (Williams) 4.5 4.0 6.0 2.0 17.0 Brobdingnag (Ruth) 5.5 4.0 5.5 1.5 16.5 New Westminster (Ruth) 4.5 3.0 4.5 1.5 13.5 Conference Totals Division Totals National 311.5 (26.0 average) Aaron (NC) 121.5 Ruth (IC) 93.0 International 274.5 (22.9 average) Mantle (NC) 104.5 Clemente (IC) 87.5 Mays (IC) 94.0 Williams (NC) 85.5 The 2011 TBL Annual features We have several team evaluation metrics that Teams Turning The Corner go beyond what we see in the team envelopes. On a previous page we showed the contents of 04:00 These teams have either each team’s 2012 draft; on the next two pages, unbuilt only modestly, or are on the we show other ways in which we can measure road to recovery. There are usually how our teams are doing. flaws keeping them from contention. This Year: Gotham City, Whitman, Columbus, Greater Ohio, Midwest, The Rebuilding Clock Maracaibo, Zion. We again present the rebuilding clock for 05:00 A contender in a weak divi- your edification. As previously noted, there sion, a .500 club in a strong one. are fewer teams willing to hit the wall at high This team will often be coming off a speed – we have learned from Joe and others strong draft and may make the mis- to hedge our bets; so there isn’t anyone at the take of trying to contend too soon. This Year: Munich, Wakefield. bottom of the clock cycle. Still, we have a wide range of clock settings this year. 06:00 An above .500 club, likely one that has just made a trade to Teams In Serious Rebuild Mode strengthen its hand but not spent in a major way to get to the playoffs. This Year: NONE. 12:00 The team has hit the wall and is a hideous train wreck. The Munich Teams In Their Prime and East Anglia collapses, the self- created Brob team two decades ago. 07:00 A good contender with young This Year: NONE. players. It hasn’t made a complete 01:00 The first steps back from the commitment to drafting cardboard and abyss. Usually the team has had one getting veterans to fill holes – but has draft and has some more coming in the ability to do it. This Year: Kansas. future. The post-Rusty Cobb Caro- 08:00 A contender in its prime with a lina Spirits, the New Westminster mix of youth and veteran players. A team 38-win club. This Year: NONE. that’s made a commitment to win now. 02:00 A team that has taken the This Year: Houston, Rye, Grand Cay- plunge toward a major rebuild. Usu- man, Portland, Melrose.