Somebody's gonna get rich

Two of the greatest (perhaps the two greatest) pitchers were traded this weekend. Roger Chillingworth heads back to New York from Texas, Jojo Lewis from Texas to Louisville, and Texas comes away with 4 players, 2 from each team, including Josh Block, who could be their new cleanup hitter.

Nicholas Dark returns to Louisville, the team where he started 17 seasons ago. Dark, 2 homers away from 500, will make 3.5 million for 2006.

Free agent season is upon us, and surprisingly, Joey Renseller is attracting the most early interest. My sources tell me that Renseller, who has a career high of 50 RBI, will not even listen to offers less than 8 million, and it may take close to 11 million dollars per year to sign him.

Renseller is often compared to Elvis Dixon for his defense, strike zone judgement, and developing power. He's not as good as Dixon, who signed a 6 year, 72 million dollar contract last offseason, but Renseller is only 24. His numbers compare well to Dixon at the same age.

In addition to Portland, Cleveland, Mars, Springfield, Miami, and Denver have expressed interest in the 3rd baseman. The New York Cobra have yet to get involved, but have the money to do so if they choose. Portland has final say in where Renseller goes as a restricted free agent, but the dollar amount is beyond their control.

Other free agents sure to get big contracts are outfielders Keith Lee, Bobby Rayburn, and DJ Werden, 3rd baseman Anakin Solo, and 1st baseman Bubba Lewis.

World Series Games 3 and 4

Game 3. Portland sends 2 time Cy Young award winner Roger Lewis to try and get back into the series. Charlotte strikes first, with Parker Brouthers leading off the game with a single, stealing second, and later coming around to score on a Vernell Hightower sac fly.

Alex Murray, a pitcher with average stuff and good control, holds Portland scoreless into the 8th inning. With the Hawks leading 3-0, Heathcliff George takes over after a leadoff double in the 8th. A 2-out dropped flyball by Vernell Hightower allows Portland to score their lone run. Charlotte bashes through the Portland bullpen for 5 runs in the 9th, including a 3 run Jacen Solo homer, and wins 8-1.

Game 4. Portland is no longer hoping to win the series, just to save some face and avoid a sweep. Eddie Carey and rookie Larry Patterson take the mound.

This time Portland strikes first with a 3 run 1st inning capped by a 2 run homer by George Kird. Fast forward to the 8th. Charlotte has scored twice, the game is 3-2 Portland, 2 out, bases loaded. Portland's ace Jet Storm is on the mound, Tommy Miller at the plate. Miller hits what looks like a single to right. Brant Bowen and Eric Stratten score what look to be the tying and go ahead runs, but Carlos Phillips, in a hurry to go first to third, misses 2nd base. An appeal results in a forceout at second, and neither run counts.

Portland adds 2 insurance runs in the 8th. With 2 out and 2 runners on in the 9th, Portland relieves ace Jet Storm. Having faced 6 batters after facing 5 the day before, Skullgrin may have thought Storm was losing it. Or else he was looking forward to a game 5, and hoping to have his ace available. Or perhaps he fell victim to Charlotte's Mark Roberts, employing a jedi mind trick. In any case, Portland brings in Chris Grimes to finish the 5-2 game.

Brant Bowen singles. 5-3. Stratten singles. 5-4. Vernell Hightower launches the next pitch for a 3 run homer. 7-5 Charlotte.

In the bottom 9th, Charlotte's ace Heathcliff George is not available, so Gavin James heads to the mound. James is so highly thought of that the Hawks have not even used him up to this point. He stikes out Nunez, gets Herrera to ground to third, and PH Lorenzo Rodriguez lines a ball to left, right into the waiting glove of Carlos Phillips.

The Hawks celebrate their first World Series win in their third try, and Vernell Hightower (6-13, 3 hr, 7 rbi) is named series MVP.

World Series

At the start of the 2005 World Series, Portland was a heavy favorite of Charlotte forseveral reasons. Here are a few:

1) Portland is the better team. They won 96 games to Charlotte's 92, and had a +129 run differential, as opposed to +91.
2) Front line pitching. Though Keith Langford is very good, the Hawks simply do not have pitchers who are as dominant as Roger Lewis and Lee Harvey Oswalt.
3) (small sample size warning:) History. Portland has been in a few World Series, and has won 5, most recently, last year with virtually the very same roster. Charlotte has been in two previous world series, they lost both.

That's not the way it worked out though, at least for the first 2 games. Game one was a 5-4 extra inning affair. Charlotte took the early lead on a Carlos Phillips homer, then Portland took a 3-1 lead during a 3 run 5th. Charlotte's defense, normally one of the best in the league, committed 4 errors during the game, one by the catcher and one by each outfielder. The errors were not too costly, however, as 2 occurred in scoreless innings, and the other 2 allowed runners to advance after a run scored, but those runners were stranded anyway.

After cuttin the lead to 3-2, Vernell Hightower greeted lefty specialist Adrian Glanville with a 2 run homer in the 8th, giving the Hawks a 4-3 lead. Heathcliff George got the first 2 out in the 9th, but couldn't finish it, as he allowed 3 singles in a row to George Kird, Sonic Russell, and Jimmy McGuinness. Jack Banks took over and tamed the Portland offense through the 10th. In the bottom 10th, Jacen Solo hustled his way to a one out double off Jet Storm, bringing up Brant Bowen, who had struck out his 1st 4 times up. Bowen went from goat to hero with a walkoff single.

Game 2 was a pitcher's duel, with Oswalt allowing only 2 runs in an 8 inning complete game. Solid baserunning by Brant Bowen and Vernell Hightower brought in the runs, though those 2 are not known as speedsters. Bobby Martinez pitched 6 innings, allowing only a Jimmy McGuinness solo homer. Javier Cavazos took over in the 7th, and George finished up with a 2 inning save. It was a nail-biter all the way, as Sonic Russell made the final out with George Kird on deck. Nobody would have been surprised to have seen Russell (batting champ at age 37) single followed by a George (MVP) Kird homer, but this time, it just didn't happen.

As the series moves to Portland, Roger Lewis will try to get his team back in the series.

Alvin Lewis named assistant GM

When Alvin Lewis was hired as Miami's bench coach last season, it was widely assumed that he was being groomed to replace GM/Manager RJ Duke as the field manager. It turns out he might replace RJ Duke as GM instead. Alvin was named assistant GM and Director of minor league operations. For now, Duke retains both of his titles, although he has not committed to returning as manager, he could still decide to hire someone else for the role.

According to Duke, Alvin has 100% authority in selecting players for the 2006 draft. After taking high school shortstop Brandon Cohen in the first round, Alvin used his back to back second round picks on pitchers. Jason Sanchez, 19, throws 98 MPH but has no idea where the ball is going. Alvin was in attendance for his final high school game, where Sanchez threw a 19 strikeout no hitter, only to lose 6-4 as he issued 14 walks and launced 9 wild pitches.

Jason Curry, 21, was taken next. The lefthander was 10-2 with a 2.43 ERA this past year in the low minors. He has good control and knows how to pitch, but may have trouble at higher levels due to his lack of velocity. Curry throws at 85-87 MPH.

Money adjustments

The league has refigured team revenue for 2005. In order to increase competitive balance, the formula for calculating revenue will have a floor of 70 wins. In other words, if you only win 54 games, your revenue formula is no different than if you won 70.

The purpose is to keep teams from falling so far behind in the payroll game that they can never compete. 8 teams were affected. For Texas, Springfield, NY Knights, Bay Area, and Philadelphia the change is minimal.

For Orlando, Las Vegas, and Hawaii its a nice bonus.

Orlando increases by 10.83 million (to 35.35), Hawaii by 6.7 (42.98 total), and Las Vegas by 10.35 (to 51.62).

Hall of Fame

In about 2 months APBA hall of fame voters will get their chance to determine the class of 2006. Its not a deep class, and only one player is likely to get strong support. That would be my nephew, Lewis (the kid) Solo Jr.

The kid is about to turn 40 this offseason, reminding us all of how fleeting life can be. At the end of the 1989 season, the Kid was selected #1 overall by the Miami Stars. He went on to hit .350 with 38 homeruns and 141 RBI that year, and all would be career highs. 1990 was the offense year, however, and those numbers did not put him among the best oufielders in the league, he was merely another good player.

The next season was shortened to 54 games by a player strike. Solo Jr. hit only 5 homers as the "rabbit" was taken out of the ball, but he hit .332 as he learned to drive the ball to all fields, using the difficult to master "strum" technique taught by Hall of Famer Shockwave. He followed that up with a .325-22-101 season, narrowly missing the league MVP award as he was betrayed by his hometown sportswriters, who voted for Hawaii's Rod Jackson.

In 1992-2 the kid, fast but not having true centerfield speed, switched to left field to accomodate Eric Nixon, a true leadoff man and basestealer. Plagued by injuries, the Kid only hit 19 homeruns and 65 RBI but the team won the first of back to back world series. In 1993, the Kid came back healthy, hitting .307-30-111, joining the 30-30 club with 31 steals, and finally winning his first MVP award. He won another 2 years later, and the year in between may have been even better than his MVP years (36 homers, 123 RBI, 40 steals, his only gold glove).

Solo never had another season where he would contend for an MVP award, but remained a solid left fielder from 1995 to 2002. He played 130-140 games per year to conserve his strength, and while his speed was no better than average, he was a smart enough baserunner to swipe 55 bases in 68 attempts from 1997 to 2003.

His skills left him in 2003, as he hit only .229 with 13 homeruns. He retired at the age of 37 with a .300 average, 2546 hits, 394 homeruns, 1513 RBI, and 499 doubles.

Stolen Bases

Charlotte's Adrian Jordan (85%) is the alltime stolen base percentage leader for all players with at least 50 steals since 1997 (the first year caught stealing records were kept). Jordan was 46 for 55 this year while being used mostly as a pinch runner. He only had 95 at bats all year.

Charlotte also has the alltime leader for players with at least 100 steals in Jason Solo (83.3%). Solo has 340 career steals.

New York's Michael Johnson rates as the most valuable base stealer since 1997, with 585 steals against 150 caught stealing. By linear weights that is worth 45.2 runs. Kenny Anderson is the most prolific basestealer with 951 in that period (1177 for his career), but Kenny has been thrown out 378 times since 1997, so his run value is only 14.4 runs.

The 2005 Superior League champion Charlotte Hawks like to run, and will continue to in the future, as they have made speedy Kenny Anderson Jr. the 27th pick of the first round. He will eventually play center field and follow the blazing trail set by his father.

Free Agent Rumors

With Pedro Lewis traded to New York and signed for 10 years, its a pretty weak market for starting pitchers. Eddie Carey and Willis Brusstar are nobody's ideas of aces, but both will likely command 25-35 million in multiyear deals.

Tom Groovine is the top pitcher left even at age 37. Groovine has a career record of 204-103, has thrown over 200 innings every year since 1996, and hasn't had an ERA over 3.70 since 1996. He's seeking a 3 year deal for 10-12 million per season. Eddie Bird is lobbying hard to bring Groovine to New York, because he is a winner. Owner/GM Brad Boomer is not as enthusiastic, and probably doesn't want to give more than a 2 year deal.

Groovine wants to pitch for Eddie again, so he'll likely give the team every chance to sign him even if other teams are quick to offer 3 years. Right now everything depends on Brad's decision.

RJ Duke has made no secret of his desire to bring more power to Miami, and adding a jawa like Bubba Lewis would be an added bonus. Bubba is still a productive and patient hitter, last year he had 26 homers, 94 RBI, and drew 103 walks. On the down side, his slugging percentage was a mere .445, his lowest in a decade and a far cry from the monster who hit .342 with a .655 slugging in 1999. Bubba is 34 years old in 2006, and his best days are in the past.

Anakin Solo is likely to leave Toronto. He's 31 years old and his slugging percentage was his lowest in 5 years, but he had a surprisingly good year defensively, stalling talks of a move to first base, and he hits the market as the #1 3rd baseman. There is no shortage of team who can use a 3rd baseman, with Denver and Louisville possibly the early frontrunners.

Lyman L Solo 

2006 APBA draft

As we head into round 2, I'll recap the highlights of the first round.

Hawaii spend 29 million on the #1 overall pick. We knew Quark wanted a lot of money for Jared DeMario, but I don't think even he saw this coming. The deal does buy out 2 free agent years for DeMario, but the commissioner is still a bit disturbed about this one. DeMario is a polished pitcher with very good control, but most scouts feel that several other pitchers have better stuff and higher upside.

Miami caused some head scratching with shortstop Brandon Cohen at #14. Not many other teams had him this high on their list, but the Stars think he can be a special player, a power hitting shortstop. Joe Dirte at #17 could go straight from high school to closing games in New York. He's very experienced for a high schooler at 22 years old and with 8 seasons of varsity, and scouts compare his mullet to Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley.

The Big Cheese didn't have any draft picks last year after the Don Law trade, but he's trying to make up for it this year with back to back picks at #22 and 23. Its a longtime Rabbit tradition to take pitching at the end of the first round, and the Cheese did so again, taking a high schooler and a collegian. Bartolo Fatone could be his future ace, though the big pitcher has to watch his weight.

The top 2 teams of 2005, Louisville and Portland, were able to grab top first round quality arms at the end of the draft. Bill Drummond has a 95 MPH fastball but needs to improve his control. Homer Nelson was considered a potential top ten pick but fell to the Sluggers due to durability concerns.

Boston's Doug Freeman should go straight to the majors next spring. He has the makeup to close but will set up for John LaRusso, one of the best closers in the game.