PITCHING - By '58 the Indian franchise was in transition. Remnants of their "Big 4" (Lemon/Garcia) were barely hanging on and completely non-productive. Young gun Herb Score (2-3, 3.95) never recovered from a catastrophic injury, so the staff that won 111 games only 4 years early was complete gone. Cal McLish (16-8, 2.99) was now the ace as youngsters Mudcat Grant (10-11, 3.84) and Gary "Ding Dong" Bell (12-10, 3.31) fight to mature. Wilhelm and Rabbit ears, Don Mosi will anchor the pen, but neither had a career type season.
HITTING - The hitting, as well, was in transition. This was a good thing, considering how sluggish their offense was in the early part of the decade. In fact they finished 3rd in the AL in '58. Minnie Minoso (.302-24-80) will steal some bases and hit some long balls. Larry Doby will only stick around to platoon or play part time. Bobby Avila and Billy Hunter will suck up ground balls, but neither will hit much especially Hunter who falls 5 points below the Mendoza line. Rocky Colavito will have a break out season (.303-41-113) and no one will dare run on his gun in right.
BENCH - Preston Ward (.338-4-21) is the only bench player near or above .300. A young Roger Maris (.225-9-27) had some good pop in 182 AB's, but his OBP is below .300. Vic Wertz had 48 AB's and 3 HR's, but he will be used sparingly.
1971 New York Yankees
PITCHING - This might be one of the top, if not the top staff in the AL. Mel Stottlemyre (16-12, 2.87) was in his prime and known in NY as the "poor man's Tom Seaver". Fritz Peterson, his lefty counterpart (15-13, 3.05) was outstanding as well. The true strength is the #'s 3-5 starters (Bahnsen, Kline & Kekich), who all won in double digits. Everyone but Kekich (170) threw over 200 innings. The real challenge will be the pen as close Lindy McDaniel is downright awful (5-10, 5.04). Jack Aker (4-4, 2.59) might be able to pick up the slack, but this team will rely on its' starters going the distance.
HITTING - More like the Bronx Bunters, then the Bronx Bombers. Who ever heard of a Yankee team finishing 9th in the league in homers ? Bobby Murcer will chase down fly balls in between the monuments, but his true value is at the plate taking full advantage of the short porch (297 ft) in right. Murcer (.331-25-94) will need some protection in the lineup and hopefully Roy White (.292-19-84) will provide it. A young Thurman Munson (.251-10-42) needs to mature at the plate to make this offense go.
BENCH - Rob Blomberg (.341-7-27) will flat out kill righy pitching when he plays and pinch hits. When Munson sits there is a huge drop off with Jake Gibbs (.218-5-21) in the lineup. Ron Swoboda hit .261 in part time work, but with very little pop.
1957 Detroit Tigers
PITCHING - Jim Bunning (20-8, 2.69) had a Cy Young caliber season. Paul Foytack (14-11, 3.14) is the only other starter over .500. Duke Maas (10-14, 3.28) must have been a hard luck pitcher to be under .500 with that era, but Frank Larry (11-16, 3.98) must have been throwing balloons to the AL hitters. Harry Byrd (4-3, 3.36, 5sv) will be the man out of the pen. Lou Sleater (3-3, 3.76, 2sv) will be his lefty counterpart. Anyone else will be kerosene.
HITTING - Not one starter, including young phenom Al Kaline (.295-23-90) hit over .300. Charlie Maxwell (.276-24-82) will provide power support as well. Harvey Kuenn (.277-9-44) will struggle at short with the glove, but provide more than enough stick for the position. Third base will be the real issue as both Reno Bertoia (.275-4-28) and Jim Finigan (.270-0-17) will split time. Combined, neither will provide enough pop to be a corner infielder on a daily basis.
BENCH - Switch Hitting Dave Philley (.283-2-16) will be the first off the bench. Finigan will do well in a pinch when Bertoia is starting. Johnn Groth (.291-0-16) will get the timely hit as well and play some outfield late in games.
1952 Boston Red Sox
PITCHING - This once competent staff had begun to fade fast. 2o game winners like Mel Parnell (12-12, 3.62) and Ellis Kinder (5-6, 2.58) could not be counted on anymore to shoulder the burden. Youngsters like Mickey McDermott (10-9, 3.72) were working their way out of town fast with their inconsistencies. Parnell was the only starter to toss over 200 innings, which meant the bullpen had to really come up big. Al Benton (4-3, 2.39, 6sv) only threw 37 innings, so he will probably be used more like a traditional close of today. Kinder and Ike Delock (4-9, 4.26, 5sv) will have to bridge the gap to get to Benton.
HITTING - The United States Marine Corps, unlike the American League, found a way to stop Ted Williams at the plate. They called him up for active duty to serve in Korea and that limited him to 10AB's all year. The offense was never the same without the "Splendid Splinter". Dick Gernert (.243-19-67) led the team in homers. Sammy White, in an era of catch and throw catchers, had a great season behind the plate (.281-10-49) and his counterpart Del Wilber (.267-3-23) isn't a huge dropoff. Dom DiMaggio treats the fans to one more quality year as an unheralded starter (.294-6-33). With all the complaining the Sawx did finish 3rd in the AL in hitting that season.
BENCH - With Williams gone, some of the bench players got more playing time. Vern Stephens (.254-7-44) mysteriously lost his power stroke and found himself a platoon player. Clyde Vollmer (.264-11-50) in limited action, will provide some good pop off the bench and in a platoon situation. Walt Dropo (.265-6-27) will also frighten opposing pitchers off the bench, which seems to be this team's strenght.
2005 Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHING - If only Roy "Doc" Halladay (12-4, 2.41) stayed healthy for more than half the season this team would have contended for 2nd place. Instead the staff had to rely on household names like Josh Towers (13-12, 3.71) and Gustavo Chachi (13-9, 3.72). The usually reliable Ted Lilly (10-11, 5.56) was the beneficiary of a lot of run support or his record could have been worse. Miguel Batista (5-8, 4.10, 31sv) will close things out and make things look interesting. Setup man Jason Frasor (3-5, 3.25) will do the job of bridging the starters to Batista.
HITTING - Vernon Wells (.269-28-97) is the centerpiece of the offense. Shea Hillenbrand (.291-18-82) will back him up and play some solid infield. Orlando Hudson will play some fine 2nd and hit 10 homers. A young Alex Rios (.262-10-59) will hopefully mature into a 5 tool player.
BENCH - This team seemed to use the DH spot to keep their bench players active. Reed Johnson (.269-8-58) is a key example of that. John McDonald (.290-0-12) will be a true bench warrior.
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