The virtual 1969-76 Phillies, Cardinals, and Mets (Part 3: 1970-71)
In our first two seasons of this counterfactual, our franchises have departed slightly from the paths taken by their real-life counterparts, but not significantly. Amos Otis staying with the Mets, and the duo of Bobby Tolan and Wayne Granger remaining within the St. Louis fold, have been the biggest alterations so far.
Phillies: Actual Cardinals: Actual Mets: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 63 99 5 645 745 87 75 4 595 540 100 62 1 632 541
1970 73 88 5 594 730 76 86 4 744 747 83 79 3 695 630
Phillies: Virtual Cardinals: Virtual Mets: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 64 98 5 611 691 98 64 2 659 528 101 61 1 638 550
1970 77 84 5 596 691 80 82 4 742 703 84 78 3 687 619
We have a feeling the plot will now be entering a more dynamic phase.
The 1970-71 offseason: Actual deals we will make
Nov. 30, 1970: The St. Louis Cardinals traded infielder Jerry DaVanon to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Moe Drabowsky.
The 35-year-old Drabowsky doesn’t throw as hard as he once did, but he’s still performing effectively. We ‘re confident he can make a better contribution in our bullpen than DaVanon will in our infield.
The 1970-71 offseason: Actual deals we will not make
Oct. 5, 1970: The St. Louis Cardinals traded first baseman-third baseman Richie Allen to the Los Angeles Dodgers for second baseman Ted Sizemore and catcher Bob Stinson.
What, are they kidding? No way.
Oct. 21, 1970: The St. Louis Cardinals traded first baseman Jim Campbell to the Boston Red Sox for infielder Dick Schofield.
We’ve always liked Ducky, but he’s coming up on 36 years old, so we’ll pass.
Dec. 1, 1970: The New York Mets traded pitcher Ron Herbel to the Atlanta Braves for third baseman Bob Aspromonte.
Our Mets have Herbel (a low-cost September pickup), but have no interest in the veteran Aspromonte. We’ll just sell Herbel to the Braves instead.
Dec. 16, 1970: The Philadelphia Phillies traded pitcher Grant Jackson, outfielder-infielder Jim Hutto, and outfielder Sam Parrilla to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Roger Freed.
While we’re surely frustrated by the southpaw Jackson’s 1970 struggles, we still think he has more to offer us than a slow-footed right-handed-batting minor league corner outfield slugger in his mid-20s, who offers no capability not already being provided to us at the major league level by Joe Lis.
Jan. 14, 1971: The Philadelphia Phillies purchased pitcher Darrell Brandon from the Chicago White Sox.
We don’t have an interest in this journeyman.
Jan. 29, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Nelson Briles and outfielder-first baseman Vic Davalillo to the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Matty Alou and pitcher George Brunet.
As we’ve observed:
This was questionable wisdom on the part of Cardinals GM Bing Devine, from two perspectives. First, he was dealing Briles when his market value was at a low; Briles had been a fine pitcher for several years but was coming off a dreadful, injury-wracked 1970 season. And Devine was expending Briles along with the useful role player Davalillo for the underwhelming package of Alou, who’d enjoyed a nice run as the Pirates’ center fielder but was now in his early 30s, and Brunet, who looked to be over the hill.
Our Cardinals won’t go there.
Feb. 2, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Fred Reahm to the Milwaukee Brewers for first baseman-outfielder Bob Burda.
Burda’s a serviceable spare part, but we don’t have a need for him.
March 31, 1971: The New York Mets traded outfielder Ron Swoboda and infielder Rich Hacker to the Montreal Expos for outfielder Don Hahn.
It was our Phillies, not our Mets, who already traded Swoboda to the Expos in exchange for Hahn, a year ago.
The 1970-71 offseason: Deals we will invoke
Oct. 5, 1970: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Pete Mikkelsen and outfielder Byron Browne to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Jim Lefebvre.
We aren’t giving the Dodgers Richie Allen, but our Cards can still do some business with them. Los Angeles has a crowd at second base, so instead of Ted Sizemore, we’ll take Lefebvre off their hands. He was a fleeting star in the mid-‘60s, since reduced to a utility role by nagging injuries.
In exchange we’ll let the Dodgers have Mikkelsen, whom they actually acquired two years earlier, and Browne, who’s by no means an Allen (who is?), but is a right-handed corner outfielder with power.
Oct. 20, 1970: In a three-club deal, the Philadelphia Phillies traded pitcher Jerry Johnson to the Pittsburgh Pirates and pitcher Jim Ellis to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates sent outfielder-catcher Carl Taylor to the Brewers, and the Brewers sent catcher Jerry McNertney and pitchers George Lauzerique and Jesse Huggins to the Phillies.
The actual trade on this date was the Cardinals sending Taylor and Ellis to Milwaukee for McNertney, Lauzerique, and Huggins. We’ll substitute the Phillies and Pirates for St. Louis. What our Phils get out of it is depth at catcher, which was a problem in 1970.
Nov. 3, 1970: The Philadelphia Phillies traded outfielder Curt Flood to the Washington Senators for outfielder Gene Martin and cash.
This is a slightly simplified version of the actual deal in which the Phillies surrendered the rights to the crusading Flood.
Jan. 29, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Chuck Taylor to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Fred Cambria and cash.
Our Cards won’t give up Briles to the Pirates, so instead Pittsburgh will offer this more modest price for the more modestly-talented Taylor.
March, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals sold infielder Jim Driscoll to the Washington Senators.
March, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher George Culver to the Houston Astros for infielder-outfielder Leon McFadden and cash.
Trimming up the roster at the close of spring training.
The 1971 season: Actual deals we will make
June 15, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Mike Torrez to the Montreal Expos for pitcher Bob Reynolds.
Like the actual Cardinals, the implosion of the 24-year-old Torrez is just too much for us to tolerate. We’ll take our chances with the hard-throwing prospect Reynolds instead.
The 1971 season: Actual deals we will not make
April 22, 1971: The Philadelphia Phillies traded outfielder Johnny Briggs to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Pete Koegel and pitcher Ray Peters.
It’s never been clear what the heck this was about. At the age of 27, Briggs hadn’t developed into the star the Phillies once thought he would, but he’d been a highly useful platoon player. General Manager John Quinn essentially dumping him off in this manner made no sense. Our version of the Phils will do no such thing.
June 11, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Leron Lee and pitcher Fred Norman to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Al Santorini.
The only way this one adds up for St. Louis is if one believes the 23-year-old right-hander Santorini is a top prospect, a diamond in the rough. But there’s nothing in his track record to suggest that: he’s been rushed to the majors by the expansion Padres, and spent two-plus seasons performing somewhere between so-so and lousy.
There’s no reason to see Santorini as a better prospect than the 23-year-old left-handed-batting Lee. And tossing the curveballing journeyman southpaw Norman in on top makes it even less sensible. Our Cards will stick with Lee and Norman.
June 12, 1971: The Philadelphia Phillies traded infielder Tony Taylor to the Detroit Tigers for pitchers Carl Cavanaugh and Mike Fremuth.
Our Phillies no longer have Taylor. Our Mets do, and aren’t motivated to cash in the veteran for token payment.
July 29, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Jose Cardenal, pitcher Bob Reynolds, and infielder Dick Schofield to the Milwaukee Brewers for infielder Ted Kubiak and pitcher Charlie Loseth.
Our Cardinals are Cardenal-less, so we won’t need to contemplate executing this head-scratcher.
1971 season results
Phillies
We take it as a sign of progress in our rebuilding effort that over this off-season we’ve seen the need for little adjustment to the roster. By and large we think that improvement from our young talent is enough to take us up the next step.
So, we’ve just tinkered a bit: the veteran McNertney is on board as the backup catcher, rookie Willie Montañez—the Curt Flood replacement player—will get a chance to work his way into the outfield rotation, and rookies Archie Reynolds and Ken Reynolds (no relation) will compete for the spot vacated by Jerry Johnson in the bullpen.
1971 Philadelphia Phillies Won 86 Lost 76 Finished 4th
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B-3B D. Johnson 32 145 498 65 133 26 0 30 89 62 123 .267 .349 .500 .849 139
2B D. Doyle* 27 95 342 36 79 12 1 3 24 19 31 .231 .280 .298 .578 64
SS L. Bowa# 25 155 585 50 145 16 5 0 33 32 55 .248 .289 .292 .581 66
3B-2B D. Money 24 121 439 42 98 22 8 7 43 31 80 .223 .274 .358 .631 78
RF-LF J. Lis 24 81 241 31 55 11 0 11 32 34 74 .228 .326 .411 .737 108
CF-RF W. Montanez* 23 146 544 78 142 24 5 28 83 64 95 .261 .334 .478 .812 128
LF J. Briggs* 27 135 397 68 103 12 2 20 52 73 82 .259 .370 .451 .821 132
C T. McCarver* 29 134 474 56 132 20 5 8 48 43 26 .278 .335 .392 .728 106
OF-1B J. Hague* 27 107 253 28 55 5 1 11 32 38 48 .217 .320 .375 .695 97
OF R. Gaspar# 25 87 186 20 41 3 1 0 11 28 20 .220 .321 .247 .568 64
3B-2B K. Collins* 24 89 198 18 44 9 3 4 21 8 51 .222 .248 .359 .606 70
2B-SS T. Harmon 27 79 166 19 33 3 2 0 9 14 35 .199 .270 .241 .511 46
LF L. Hisle 24 77 169 20 41 10 1 4 19 14 54 .243 .297 .385 .682 92
CF D. Hahn 22 86 134 13 31 3 1 1 9 15 25 .231 .309 .291 .600 71
C J. McNertney 34 56 128 13 36 4 1 5 21 13 15 .281 .333 .445 .779 119
3B J. Vukovich 23 37 109 6 18 3 0 0 7 6 17 .165 .205 .193 .398 14
RF A. Garrett* 28 27 44 5 8 1 0 3 6 8 13 .182 .308 .409 .717 102
Others 189 24 52 13 1 5 20 25 60 .275 .362 .434 .796 125
Pitchers 383 37 65 6 1 8 29 27 138 .170 .214 .251 .465 32
Total 5479 629 1311 203 38 148 588 554 1042 .239 .308 .371 .679 92
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
R. Wise 25 38 37 17 20 13 0 272 261 110 87 20 70 155 2.88 123
B. Lersch 26 43 24 2 7 10 0 191 170 79 73 24 45 101 3.44 103
B. Johnson 28 40 24 6 7 10 0 175 171 73 68 20 55 104 3.50 102
C. Short* 33 43 23 4 9 11 3 175 174 82 72 20 65 94 3.70 96
S. Renko 26 27 25 5 11 8 0 166 147 69 63 11 79 83 3.42 104
R. Sadecki* 30 34 20 5 10 6 0 163 143 57 55 10 45 119 3.04 117
D. Giusti 31 58 0 0 4 7 20 86 81 31 29 5 31 54 3.03 117
D. Frisella 25 53 0 0 11 4 12 91 78 27 21 6 31 92 2.08 171
G. Jackson* 28 36 3 0 3 2 0 64 62 27 24 6 18 43 3.38 105
K. Reynolds* 24 23 3 0 2 2 0 41 38 20 18 2 20 23 3.95 90
A. Reynolds 25 10 1 0 1 2 0 18 23 11 11 1 11 10 5.50 65
Others 2 0 1 1 0 29 20 12 7 2 17 21 2.17 163
Total 162 39 86 76 35 1471 1368 598 528 127 487 899 3.23 110
* Throws left
We have one setback: Don Money regresses at the plate following what had appeared to be a breakthrough season in 1970. But beyond that, just about everything turns out well.
Montañez surprises with a power-hitting bat, and muscles his way into the first-string center field job. The veteran Deron Johnson delivers as a serious home run producer, as does Briggs (rewarding our decision to hang onto him). Our lineup still has holes, but on balance our league-average offense is a distinct improvement.
Led by 25-year-old Rick Wise stepping forward into the 20-game-winner ranks, our pitching staff is top-to-bottom rock solid, among the very best in the league.
Our 86-76 record is the best by a Phillies ball club since 1966. While we aren’t quite a contender, it’s clear that our rebuilding effort is emerging as a success.
Cardinals
We haven’t made a lot of changes, believing that things can’t possibly go as haywire for us this time around as they did in 1970. We think a full season of a healthy Richie Allen at first base, a comfortable Joe Torre at third, and a maturing Ted Simmons behind the plate will yield positive dividends.
Veteran second baseman Julian Javier really tailed off with the bat in 1970, so we’ve imported Lefebvre to help him out. Drabowsky replaces Mikkelsen in the bullpen, and rookies Reggie Cleveland and Jerry Reuss will compete for starting assignments in place of Chuck Taylor and George Culver.
But again we receive an unpleasant surprise, as star center fielder Bobby Tolan ruptures his Achilles tendon while playing basketball in the winter, and will be lost for the season. We had hoped to give toolsy 23-year-old rookie Jose Cruz a season in triple-A, but instead he’ll get the chance to win the big league center field job in Tolan’s absence.
1971 St. Louis Cardinals Won 102 Lost 60 Finished 1st
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B R. Allen 29 155 549 90 172 26 3 23 120 89 112 .313 .406 .497 .903 151
2B J. Lefebvre# 29 113 349 43 90 14 3 11 55 33 49 .258 .320 .410 .729 102
SS S. Huntz# 25 126 380 44 94 15 2 4 37 50 44 .247 .330 .329 .658 85
3B J. Torre 30 161 634 116 230 34 8 24 123 63 70 .363 .420 .555 .975 170
RF L. Lee* 23 117 355 40 98 29 4 6 44 28 71 .276 .328 .431 .759 110
CF J. Cruz* 23 150 546 88 150 24 4 20 64 84 74 .275 .369 .443 .813 126
LF L. Brock* 32 157 640 126 200 37 7 7 61 76 107 .313 .385 .425 .810 126
C T. Simmons# 21 133 510 64 155 32 4 7 80 36 50 .304 .345 .424 .768 114
OF-1B V. Davalillo* 34 99 295 48 85 14 6 1 33 10 30 .288 .317 .386 .704 96
2B J. Javier 34 90 259 32 67 6 4 3 28 9 33 .259 .283 .347 .630 75
SS D. Maxvill 32 95 178 15 38 5 1 0 12 20 25 .213 .291 .253 .543 53
OF L. Melendez 21 88 173 25 39 3 1 0 11 24 29 .225 .315 .254 .569 61
C M. Ryan 29 49 153 12 27 6 1 3 11 11 35 .176 .232 .288 .519 44
UT B. Pfeil 27 50 88 8 25 3 0 2 10 8 13 .284 .340 .386 .727 103
1B J. Campbell* 28 48 55 6 12 2 0 1 5 4 10 .218 .267 .309 .576 60
Others 35 4 9 1 0 0 3 1 6 .257 .263 .286 .549 53
Pitchers 415 26 75 13 1 5 34 23 139 .181 .210 .252 .462 29
Total 5614 787 1566 264 49 117 731 569 897 .279 .342 .406 .748 108
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
S. Carlton* 26 37 36 18 21 8 0 273 275 120 108 23 98 172 3.56 102
B. Gibson 35 31 31 20 17 12 0 246 215 96 83 14 76 185 3.04 119
R. Cleveland 23 29 29 8 11 9 0 185 196 87 81 16 44 125 3.94 92
J. Reuss* 22 31 30 6 13 11 0 176 188 102 91 12 91 111 4.65 78
N. Briles 27 37 14 4 8 4 1 136 136 56 49 12 34 78 3.24 112
F. Norman* 28 18 13 4 5 5 0 94 89 42 39 6 44 61 3.73 97
M. Torrez 24 9 6 0 1 2 0 36 41 27 24 2 30 8 6.00 60
W. Granger 27 56 0 0 8 3 9 80 80 33 31 6 22 44 3.49 104
M. Drabowsky 35 51 0 0 6 1 8 60 45 23 23 2 33 49 3.45 105
J. Hoerner* 34 49 0 0 6 3 9 73 58 20 16 6 20 60 1.97 184
B. Reynolds 24 25 2 0 2 1 0 52 44 18 17 5 29 35 2.94 123
T. Hilgendorf* 29 12 1 0 1 1 1 27 30 16 13 5 9 18 4.33 84
Others 1 0 3 0 0 30 27 7 6 2 6 25 1.80 201
Total 163 60 102 60 28 1468 1424 647 581 111 536 971 3.56 102
* Throws left
“Splendid” would be an appropriate term.
Torre leads the way with a glittering MVP performance. Allen hits up a storm as well. Simmons blossoms at the age of 21.
Cruz rises to the occasion with a tremendous rookie year. Thirty-two-year-old Lou Brock turns in one of his best seasons. Bob Gibson, at 35, finally begins to show a hint of age, but remains excellent.
Steve Carlton isn’t at his sharpest, but is durable and dependable. Briles bounces back to contribute as a solid swingman.
Our 102 victories are the most by a Redbird ball club since 1944, and we outplay a very good Pittsburgh team to claim our first division title.
Mets
Like our Phillies and Cardinals, our Mets have opted for a quiet offseason. Last year’s roster is essentially back. A change we do anticipate, however, is seeing at least a couple of our younger players—such as 24-year-old outfielder Ken Singleton, 22-year-old first baseman-outfielder Mike Jorgensen, or 24-year-old pitchers Gary Gentry and Nolan Ryan—emerging in more prominent roles.
1971 New York Mets Won 89 Lost 73 Finished 3rd
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B-OF M. Jorgensen* 22 125 346 54 89 10 2 16 44 43 65 .257 .344 .436 .781 122
2B K. Boswell* 25 116 392 49 107 20 1 5 43 36 31 .273 .333 .367 .700 100
SS B. Harrelson# 27 142 547 58 138 16 6 0 35 53 59 .252 .312 .303 .616 77
3B-CF A. Otis 24 147 555 82 164 26 5 14 81 38 75 .295 .337 .436 .773 120
RF-LF K. Singleton# 24 132 359 49 90 7 0 14 55 69 76 .251 .369 .387 .756 117
CF-RF T. Agee 28 113 425 61 121 19 0 14 53 50 84 .285 .359 .428 .787 125
LF-1B C. Jones 28 136 505 66 161 24 6 14 73 53 87 .319 .380 .473 .854 143
C J. Grote 28 125 403 37 109 25 0 2 37 40 47 .270 .336 .347 .683 96
2-3-1 T. Taylor 35 91 288 36 74 12 3 4 24 20 20 .257 .304 .361 .665 90
RF J. Callison* 32 93 232 22 46 9 1 6 30 27 42 .198 .283 .323 .606 73
IF T. Martinez 23 80 237 28 63 8 3 2 18 7 39 .266 .289 .350 .639 82
1B G. Goossen 25 74 166 20 42 7 3 5 22 22 35 .253 .335 .422 .757 116
C D. Dyer 25 59 169 13 39 7 1 2 20 14 45 .231 .292 .320 .611 75
3B W. Garrett* 23 47 135 13 29 1 0 1 8 19 21 .215 .312 .244 .557 61
1B A. Shamsky* 29 68 135 13 25 6 2 5 20 21 18 .185 .299 .370 .670 91
IF T. Foli 20 49 96 11 21 4 1 0 9 6 17 .219 .260 .281 .541 55
OF L. Stanton 25 19 46 5 11 2 0 1 6 3 11 .239 .280 .348 .628 79
1B-LF J. Milner* 21 22 43 4 9 2 0 1 4 2 7 .209 .244 .326 .570 62
Others 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .5001.000 187
Pitchers 401 22 57 6 1 2 15 16 169 .142 .162 .177 .339 -3
Total 5482 643 1396 211 35 108 597 539 948 .255 .318 .365 .683 95
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
T. Seaver 26 36 35 21 21 9 0 286 210 61 56 18 61 289 1.76 194
G. Gentry 24 32 31 8 13 10 0 203 167 84 73 16 82 155 3.24 105
J. Koosman* 28 26 24 4 7 10 0 166 160 66 56 12 51 96 3.04 112
W. Fryman* 31 36 21 4 12 7 1 166 149 69 62 8 49 113 3.36 101
N. Ryan 24 30 26 3 10 13 0 152 125 78 67 8 116 137 3.97 86
J. McAndrew 27 29 15 0 3 7 0 116 105 67 59 14 42 60 4.58 74
D. Rose 24 7 5 1 2 3 0 37 39 18 16 3 17 24 3.89 88
T. Abernathy 38 63 0 0 4 4 13 81 66 30 24 3 47 56 2.67 128
T. McGraw* 26 51 1 0 11 4 8 111 73 22 21 4 41 109 1.70 200
B. Wilson 28 38 0 0 4 2 2 59 37 20 19 4 21 41 2.90 118
R. Taylor 33 34 0 0 2 1 2 52 52 20 20 5 8 25 3.46 99
F. Beene 28 5 0 0 0 0 0 6 10 8 8 4 5 112.00 28
Others 4 0 0 3 0 30 24 18 16 1 15 22 4.80 71
Total 162 41 89 73 26 1465 1217 561 497 100 555 1128 3.05 112
* Throws left
By and large, things go as expected. There are a few down years (Art Shamsky, Johnny Callison, Jim McAndrew) mixed in with the ups, but little that’s especially surprising. Tom Seaver is yet more brilliant than ever before, leading a tremendous pitching staff. The offense, though, is pretty good but nothing special.
The result is a ball club strong enough to closely contend in many divisions, but not in this one. In the wake of our glorious 1969, finding our way back to the winner’s circle is proving a challenge.
Next time
We’ll investigate those rumors that a couple of prominent hard-throwing young starting pitchers—one of them a lefty with a great slider, and the other a right-hander still battling his control—might be on the trading block.
Phillies: Actual Cardinals: Actual Mets: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 63 99 5 645 745 87 75 4 595 540 100 62 1 632 541
1970 73 88 5 594 730 76 86 4 744 747 83 79 3 695 630
1971 67 95 6 558 688 90 72 2 739 699 83 79 3 588 550
Phillies: Virtual Cardinals: Virtual Mets: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 64 98 5 611 691 98 64 2 659 528 101 61 1 638 550
1970 77 84 5 596 691 80 82 4 742 703 84 78 3 687 619
1971 86 76 4 629 598 102 60 1 787 647 89 73 3 643 561
“Next time
We’ll investigate those rumors that a couple of prominent hard-throwing young starting pitchers—one of them a lefty with a great slider, and the other a right-hander still battling his control—might be on the trading block.”
Hmmmm, maybe Ryan gets traded after all. But then last week there was a similar teaser regarding a key talent named Allen that didn’t come to pass. In the real 71-72 offseason, Dick Allen was traded for Tommy John. Perhaps the Mets have an alternate offer in mind?
Steve:
That 1971 Phillies team opened Veterans Stadium and they flat-out stank. Nice job by you (in lieu of GM John Quinn) to get them to 86 !!! wins.
Regarding a “full season of a healthy Dick Allen” at 1B, he actually ran into a palm tree shagging fly balls, no kidding, and played through a nagging shoulder injury with the Dodgers. As of 5/31/71, he was at .242/.350/.386 with 5 HR’s in 45 games. Kind of beyond ironic and bizarre that he went to spring training early to play for his beloveed Dodgers and ran into a palm tree…
The Phillies’ 77 virtual wins in 1970 (instead of 73), vaults them over Atlanta in the National League overall standings. Though still with fewer wins than the Cardinals, Philadelphia will now draft 8th instead of 6th in each round of the June 1971 Amateur Draft.
As the 2nd round commences, this will now give two teams, the Washington Senators and Atlanta Braves, a crack at drafting Mike Schmidt ahead of the Phillies.
Drafting 7th in the 2nd round is Washington, managed by Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams. They already have one powerful homerun hitter, Frank Howard, in their lineup. Although they do have a promising young 3rd baseman in Aurelio Rodriguez, Schmidt at the time was a shortstop at Ohio University (although the Phillies projected him at the hot corner). Not hard for the Senators to see that Schmidt would certainly be an improvement over weak-hitting shortstop Ed Brinkman. All 24 teams passed over George Brett and Schmidt in the first round. The Royals, picking 5th in the 2nd round, draft Brett. The Senators will be the next in the Junior Circuit to pick.
But, before them, drafting 6th, are the National League’s Atlanta Braves.
In 1971, the Braves eventually gave the third base job to 24-year old rookie Darrell Evans, this after releasing veteran Clete Boyer who had gotten into a feud with Braves management. But the MLB draft was on June 8th. And up until then, Evans was hitting a very unimpressing .222 with only one extra base hit and four RBI’s in 36 at bats. Sure, Evans had excelled at AAA in Richmond. But remember. This was the pre-Bill James era where minor league stats were viewed with extreme skepticism.
Not only that, but at shortstop, the Braves looked to be in even worse shape, with 25-year old rookie Marty Perez taking over that year for Sonny Jackson. Jackson had been moved to the outfield to fill in for the injured Rico Carty.
But at least Evans had promising minor league stats. Perez was not only was a weak hitter but a poor fielder as well.
So, let’s see. If you’re the Atlanta Braves, do you keep the faith with two unproven rookies on the left side of the infield, draft pitcher Jamie Easterly and be happy to finish in last place in the division the last four years in the decade? Or set the foundation for perhaps challenging the Dodgers, Giants and Reds in the West?
Of course this is all mute. Because since Steve has taken over in place of general manager John Quinn, the Phillies select Schmidt as the 8th overall pick during the first round of the draft instead of passing on him to the disappointment of scout Tony Lucadello.
Lucadello had urged the Phillies select Schmidt in round one because he was sure the California Angels were going to take him when the Phils passed. (The Angels ended up selecting pitcher Frank Tanana and the Phillies didn’t press their luck any further, grabbing Schmidt in round two.)
But I think we can safely assume that Steve isn’t going to gamble like Quinn did.
1972 June Amateur Draft.
The downside for the Phillies is that their 86 ‘virtual’ wins in 1971 means they pick no higher than 13th – and possibly as low as 17th – in the 1972 June Amateur Draft.
Yes, the Giants and Dodgers finished with real-life wins of 90 and 89, respectively. But with the Phillies, Cardinals and Mets winning a combined 37 more games than they actually did, the nine other teams in the National League have 37 combined losses to make up. Even with an unbalanced schedule and the two worst teams (Expos & Padres) losing a lot more often to the improved Phillies, Cardinals and Mets than the others, there was still a good deal of parity in the league that year and the Giants and Dodgers are going to lose several more games than they did.
But, for sake of argument, let’s say the top two teams in the West barely manage to stay ahead of Philadelphia’s 86 wins with 88 and 87 wins, respectively.
Therefore, instead of drafting 3rd overall and selecting a mainstay of their rotation for the 1970s, Larry Christenson, Philadelphia will draft 13th. No way does Christenson go that long without being picked, with Cincinnati, Minnesota and Atlanta all drafting right-handed pitchers before the 13th pick after Christenson was selected.
My guess would be that Christenson gets picked by Cincinnati, a revised 5th overall. They are going to be deprived of Fred Norman (yes, a lefty, but still a starter), who stays in St. Louis via a voided trade with San Diego. The high school year he was picked, Christenson had struck out 143 and walked just 12 batters in 72 IP with an ERA of 0.28.
And that’s not all the bad news for the Phillies in the 1972 draft. They might see their 2nd round pick, lefty Tom Underwood, get picked ahead of their revised slot as well. So instead of drafting Christenson and Underwood, the Phillies get stuck with Larry Payne and George Lusic.
Philip:
Tony Lucadello commited suicide at a ballfield in Ohio when the Phillies told him the 1989 (?) draft was to be his last. Apparently, he had given the prior 50 years to the game he loved and couldn’t figure out what life would be without it.
Could it be that Bing Devine’s reputation as a trader was blown out of proportion by the success of the Lou Brock trade? A lot of the trades he made in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s didn’t seem to work out too well. I don’t include the Carlton/Wise deal, as it seemed that was more of Gussie Busch’s anger with Carlton than anything else.
I could be completely wrong about this, but just thinkin’ out loud…
“Could it be that Bing Devine’s reputation as a trader was blown out of proportion by the success of the Lou Brock trade? A lot of the trades he made in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s didn’t seem to work out too well.”
Yes, I’ve speculated on that question in this article:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-virtual-1971-1980-st.-louis-cardinals-part-1/
It wasn’t just the Brock trade that worked out so well; the WS-winning Cardinals team of 1964 was largely built through a long sequence of very shrewd trades made by Devine, including the acquisitions of Curt Flood, Bill White, Ernie Broglio (who netted Brock), Julian Javier, and Dick Groat. But then in Devine’s second tenure as St. Louis GM, he traded frequently but rarely well.
How much the bad trades in the ‘70s were forced upon Devine by a reactionary and meddling Busch is a fair question. But whatever the explanation, the Bing Devine of 1957-64 and the Bing Devine of 1967-78 are like two unrelated GMs.
“Yes, the Giants and Dodgers finished with real-life wins of 90 and 89, respectively. But with the Phillies, Cardinals and Mets winning a combined 37 more games than they actually did, the nine other teams in the National League have 37 combined losses to make up. “
Also, the Dodgers would be without Dick Allen at 3b. Ron Cey tore up AAA that year and his MLE might be pretty good assuming he was the alternate 3b, but he probably wouldn’t match Dick Allen.
Good point, John, about Dick Allen.
Allen actually started the 1971 season in left and then was eventually moved to third once Alston tired of Steve Garvey’s errant throws (Garvey wasn’t exactly hitting great, either).
Cey would have probably stayed in Spokane; it was his first year at AAA. The Dodgers had depth to make up for the loss of Allen.
But now in thinking about it, the whole Dick Allen scenario really causes major implications to a number of teams.
Dodgers Second baseman Jim Lefebvre was done by 1972. But if Sizemore remains a Dodger at takes over for Lefebvre at second, what do the Dodgers do eventually to with Davey Lopes? Make him their everyday center fielder, his initial position in the minors in 1970 at Spokane?
If Lopes becomes a mainstay in CF (with Sizemore at 2nd), do the Dodgers still trade Claude Osteen to the Astros for Jimmy Wynn? And Wynn was later traded to Atlanta as part of a deal to get Dusty Baker.
And the Dodgers won’t have Allen to trade to the White Sox for Tommy John, the lefty who made Osteen expendable.
Also, Lopes got injured in spring training in 1976. The Dodgers panicked and traded Willie Crawford to the Cardinals. For who? Ted Sizemore. Then, before the trading deadline in 1976, the Dodgers acquired Reggie Smith, who the Cardinals felt expendable after acquiring Crawford.
Also, the reason why the Dodgers were willing to give up Crawford to get Sizemore was because they had traded their AAA 2nd baseman, Bob Randall, to Minnesota after the 1975 season. Randall filled in nicely at 2B, as the Twins wanted to move Rod Carew to 1B.
So maybe the Twins never get Randall because the Dodgers deem him insurance for Sizemore.
Since Steve is taking this fascinating scenario through 1976, it is going to be interested to see how this all works out.
Though the Lou Brock trade to St. Louis pre-dates the beginning of this scenario, can’t help but wonder if it was the Cubs who wanted Ernie Broglio or if another right-hander could have been shipped north instead: Bob Gibson.
When you look at their stats up until the trade, it’s not inconceivable at all that if the Cardinals had wanted Brock so badly, they could have very easily have included Gibson in the trade instead of Broglio if the Cubs asked.
“When you look at their stats up until the trade, it’s not inconceivable at all that if the Cardinals had wanted Brock so badly, they could have very easily have included Gibson in the trade instead of Broglio if the Cubs asked.”
When you look at their stats through the end of 1963, I might agree. But as of June 15, 1964, Gibson was 5-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 97 innings, and Broglio was 3-5 with a 3.50 ERA in 69 innings. Gibson had rather clearly grabbed the role of staff ace for himself by that point. The Cardinals were scuffling below .500, and Broglio’s mediocre 1964 performance was considered one of their issues.