Immediately following the printing of part one of our Power Rankings, Caldor pulled their sponsorship and any association with this endeavor. And my pulled, I mean, they never gave permission. Luckily plenty of brands are looking to be a sponsor of Into the Strat-o-Sphere. So part deux of the Power Rankings us brought to you by Tiparillo, once a favorite of my dad's...
We'll get there, but we need to talk about these Motown Cats!
“No matter where he is playing — be it Cincinnati or New York or Los Angeles — he is sure to hear it. ‘Weaser,’ someone will call to him from the stands. ‘Hey, Weaser.’ And Bill Robinson of the Pirates will know someone from his hometown of Elizabeth, Pa., just outside Pittsburgh, is on hand. Why was he given the name? Robinson doesn’t know. What does Weaser mean? That’s also a mystery. The nickname is downright befuddling, which makes it especially appropriate for Robinson, a .300 hitter with power and a good glove who, confoundingly enough, cannot get a regular job. ‘I am the No. 1 utility man in baseball,’ he says joylessly.”
Mysterious nickname aside, "Weaser" is legit. A very good hitter with multiple position eligibility, or as we like to call it, the Dunford Special. The only spot where you won't see much is offense is at the keystone, but the other spots should more than make up for that. Buy while Mike Tyson looks to be an easy punch out for opposing pitchers, he sparkles defensively.
This team as a whole, has very few holes on defensive side. They can regularly back up their pitchers with 1s and 2s all around the diamond. The one minor, minor thing on defense is that other than "The Chief" Cesar Geronimo, they don't have a lot of big arm strength in the outfield. Like I said, this is pretty minor and they do have Mickey Stanley lurking as a late inning defensive sub out there. Of course, good defense can really help a pitching staff which is good news because the pitching could use a little boost.
While our projection model shows the Tigers being 9th in pitching, that is a bit misleading as 4th-9th in pitching is pretty tight. The interesting thing about this staff is it kind of doesn't have a middling pitcher, per se. What I mean. is you have a solid 1-2 in Steve "Lefty" Carlton and Ed "Righty" Figueroa...and pause for the pure joy of Ed Figueroa
After that, it's a bunch of lower tier pitchers (according to our rankings) vying for the other 40 starts. But here's the thing, Carlton and Figueroa are each good for 20 decent length starts and that's huge, kids! And we didn't even get to Dunford's backend...of the pen. Lerrin "The Show" LaGrow, Pedro "Big Show" Borbon and Kent "Teke" Tekulve
Those three are solid game finishers and can combine for a little over 8 innings a series, so those wild card starters may only need to manage the game for like six innings and then hand it over to some good arms.
Since we're at a point where some of these teams are pretty close together, I could actually see the next few teams finishing anywhere from 4th to 8th place, but nevertheless, I'd be confident in saying this is a playoff team.
6) Hoff Mets- Hoff is known for employing a "fly by the seat of your pants" coaching staff so when it comes to Electric City Paul...
Last year is one to forget for Hoff, though we are mentioning it and maybe making it harder for it to escape his memory. The pitching was very good! It was top of the league in most pitching categories! Not sure why I am yelling?! The thing was, the offense didn't perform all that well and the Mets missed the playoffs. Well this season's offense give some hope to the Flushing Faithful? Ya know, I think it just might.
Well, that is to say, at least hope that it will not be the worst offense in the league. The Mets are in a group of about five offenses that are packed pretty close together in the middle of the rankings. Baker, Bonds and Cedeno make up a very tough hitting outfield and "Pops" was a nice addition of some timely power. The bats aren't super deep, especially in the infield, but really loving first base combo of Richie "The Gravedigger " Hebner for offense and Mike "Jorgy" Jorgenson for defense. Plus "Jorgy" can hit righties pretty well, so actually not just a glove over at first.
Speaking of gloves, the Mets gots 'em! One for almost every player even! Joking aside, this currently rated as the best defense in the league. Remember that Baker, Bonds, Cedeno trio I mentioned earlier? Well they all have arms! Two of 'em! Each! They also each have one arm that can accurately hurl a baseball back to the bases with excellent velocity! Add in "Squatty Body" Munson behind the plate and you ain't gonna be getting many additional bases against this squad!
But enough about Hoff's D, let's talk pitching. Ed Halicki is probably considered the #1 starter, but there is some sneaky depth in this rotation. I mean, there's always room for Lemongello, right? Hoff just might want to be careful when pulling "Lemongello Party" from the game as he doesn't handle bad news well..."When informed he was being sent down to the Syracuse Chiefs, he threw an ashtray at the head of Blue Jays general manager Peter Bavasi, barely missing him." I have a feeling where gonna get some more Lemongello tidbits before the season is done, but let's see what else the Amazins are throwing out there. Pablo Torrealba and Eduardo Rodriguez will turn some heads in flushing this season I think and the Lockwood/Garber combo to finish games?
While currently tied for sixth in the Rankings O' Power the sky is the limit for Hoff!
5) Willie Cubs- The defending champ is probably not exactly where he wants to be in the rankings to start the season, but that being said, Willie Moe teams start slow. In fact in two seasons of Strat they have the best overall record in the second half and they did start both playoff serieses last season by losing the first two games and, in the case of the LCS, first three games. Not ideal, but the point is, never count a Willie Moe team out!
Well, the team building model is somewhat similar to the 98 season...if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? There were a few minor tweaks and one is that the 77 Cubbies will have a bit more pop than the 98 Twins...in theory. Last season's offense didn't produce at a high level across the whole season, finishing at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories. I mean, it is what is, because ya know...championship! Did I mention Willie Moe is the defending champ?
So the Cubs have the 4th most homers on their roster, but overall slugging could once again be towards the bottom of the league, but also they project near the top in OBP, so who knows what's gonna happen in the Windy City this summer? Sounds like some walks, singles and dingers to me.
Well, this offense will go as "Little Joe" and Colbert Dale "Toby" Harrah go. These are the table setters for the squad in hopes, of getting players on for "Stevie Wonder" Henderson, "Lumberin" Lamar Johnson, Bob Ray "Bobby Ray" Murcer and Gary "Sarge" Matthews.
One of the biggest differences between the 98 Twins and the 77 Cubs, other than playing in completely different cities, is defense. The 98 Twins had a stellar defense throughout the season and the 77 Cubbies will be more mediocre it seems. Some bright spots up the middle with "Little Joe", Bucky "Effin" Dent and Juan Beniquez are nice, and there are some good defenders elsewhere, but it will be up to managing when and where the players get in games. What hasn't changed? Pitching.
The 77 Cubs project as a top pitching team and Willie Moe should once again have a deep, but maybe not flashy, pitching staff. Goose Gossage will fill the role of dominant closer
Look at that intensity! Now he'll be joined by "No Can Beat-o" Joe Sambito at the back of that pen. The front three of the rotation may not be flashy or be mentioned in conversations about the Cy Young Award, but "No-no" Nino Espinosa, "Vuk" and Jon "Mad Dog" Matlack should be very consistent and keep the Cubbies in games all season even if the offense falters.
4) Tubes Sox- Tubes was visibly and verbally disappointed in his 98 squad, but things already seem to be looking up for the embittered one! Number four in the PRs?!
The offense will be perfectly fine it seems, so let's now peek under the hood of the defense.
This will be a slightly better defense than that of Tubes Sox past. Overall it is middling for the league, which is not a negative. This team sports good defense at some key positions and when Parker, Otis and Johnstone are in the outfield, I do declare teams shant be stretching for extra bases. Around the infield there are plenty of twos which should help, you guessed it, the pitching staff.
Can we really discuss this pitching staff without starting with J.R. Richard? Answer, No. Look, J.R. is the man and helps lock in one starter a series for Tubes. After that, ya got "Smokin" Joe Niekro, Strat World Champion "El Presidente" himself, Dennis Martinez and Don "The Gull" Gullett! That's a solid front four. Plus Rollie Fingers, "The Duluth Dart Thrower" Steve Foucault and Charles Budd "Buddy" Schultz. Look kids, this pitching staff has the 2nd highest projected K rate and the 2nd lowest HR/9 in the league, so look out! Plus, you know what Tubes is prone to do with the drafting of Rollie Fingers...
That's all we got for today, turn in next time for the finale of the (Insert sponsor here) 1977 Strat-o-Matic Power Rankings!
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