Loved Veeck. Hated those unis!
Gamble had bigger hair than Billy Preston, but the guy could flat out hit. Zisk was one of my favorite players of the era. Couldn't catch a cold but rattled shots around major league parks with regularity. Man, Joge Orta was that team's 2B. He was a bat first/ glove third type of guy, too. He led the league in 2B errors 4 times! Not many guys remember Downing, but he was a terrific offensive catcher at times. Ralph Garr played OF like he was on roller skates......on ice.....on drugs. He could hit, though. That team was lots of fun to watch.
But Veeck blew it when he didn't have Disco Demolition night with that team and THOSE unis. What a combo that would have been.
Great thread.
Minus Prince, this team can still ramp up the offensive game. Reynolds is a relatively cheap bonker ($7M & $11M). We talked about him last off-season. I wanted him then. He's in the Kingman, Balboni, Gorman Thomas, Lance Parrish template. Those guys were pretty good. Looks like we can get him and not give up much. If we're out of the Prince game, make it so. 35 homers a year looks pretty nice in the lineup.
Didn't Earl used to talk about "Dr. Longball" and that there wasn't much that a three-run homer didn't cure?
We have three MLB guys right now that fit that bat first template. Play Wells in CF, or Seager at SS or Liddi at 3B. Live with the defensive liability (I think they can all play that position) and count the runs they generate.
I could live with any of those guys playing those positions. Heck, I've advocated for Wells and Seager to just get the positions for quite a while. But I could certainly live with Liddi (VERY similar to Reynolds) at 3B and Wells in CF. How many teams are going to bunt us to death, for goodness sake?
I'm assuming that Carp is a 140 starts guy in LF or DH or 1B or a combo.
I've been revisiting the Seth Smith idea, too, over the last couple of days. But he probably isn't something you do if Reynolds is coming. But Smith is a heck of a bat vs. RHP. Might be expensive, but Z might finesse that, too.
Hadn't thought about it, but I wonder of signing the Japanese SS means that Ryan is tradeable. Seager as the bat-first SS and the new guy to flash the leather?
Veeck was bold. He foresaw that Eddie Gaedel would have a a heck of an OBP, despite not having a glove worth a hoot.
Let's hope some of that boldness comes this way, even if Prince doesn't.
If we do get Prince, though. Let's make sure Z doesn't dip into Veeck's bag of tricks and resurrect the unis. That might be too wild.
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