As the Chicagoland Summer Fantasy World Series is only a week away, I am now looking at my 1930 St. Louis Cardinals and my fantasy player, 1998 Mark McGwire who has been added to the team. In less than a week’s time, I need to find a working lineup (or lineups) that will win me a championship (or at least not embarrass me in the process).
It’s been fun. Here I have one of the best hitting teams of history and I get to add one of best sluggers of modern day. It’s almost overwhelming… a problem that a current MLB manager would love to have.
Let’s get this out of the way, the Cardinals can hit the ball! Needless to say, every starter has a 55-7. Chick Hafey can boast a 55-0 and George Watkins has five full power numbers AND a 51-7. Add McGwire’s 1-1-1-5-5 and we got ourselves an offense!
I do have a few dilemmas and I’ll get to those. But first, here are some of the 1930 St. Louis Cardinals who have already secured a spot in the lineup.
First, there’s the captain of the team as well as the secondbaseman, Hall of Famer Frank Frisch. He comes with both tasty offensive numbers and a good defensive glove. With a 22-0, a 55-7 and a 10-10 combination, “The Fordham Flash” will produce wherever I bat him.
Just last Monday, I mentioned leftfielder Chick Hafey. Yowza! What a card. With a 55-0 (but just one first column one), Chick will be sure to find the gap against those “A pitchers”. Something I hadn’t noticed before… Hafey’s card has two 22s so keep the brawl chart handy!!
On the other side of the garden is George “Watty” Watkins. Now THAT is a card you can sink your teeth into! Not only does Watty come with 1-3-5-6-6 EBH numbers but he also has a nice 51-7. His downside? Well, besides being an OF-1, he has a 13-40 but with those hit numbers I can live with that.
Shortstop Charley Gelbert is a SS-9 but he’s certainly no lightweight with the bat. He comes with a 22-0 and a 55-7. To think that the Cardinals batted Gelbert ninth most of the season. Honestly, thirdbaseman Sparky Adams who weighs in a 55-7 may be the weak link of the St. Louis lineup. With 0-0-0 power numbers and no speed numbers, he has nary a ‘1’ on his card. His upside? He has three 31s including a 46-31. Send the runner!
St. Louis has two viable options for catcher. Gus Mancuso who hit .366, is the most appealing one. Though he is a Catcher-7, he has a 22-0 with a nice juicy 25-7. Jimmie “Ace” Wilson will fill in nicely as a defensive replacement as a C-8. He’s not too bad with the stick either with a 44-7 and two 10s.
But then what?
Then it gets murky as far as my strategy goes. I have so many options. However like I said, this is the kind of problem that MLB managers would love to have.
Let me make clear the Chicagolnd Tournament rules allow for a designated hitter. And don’t forget, I still have to fit 1998 Mark McGwire in this lineup somehow. So what are my options? He are three I’ve come up with.
Option 1 I can simply make 1998 Mark McGwire my designated and be done with it. As a slow 1B-3, McGwire fits the bill perfectly.
Option 2 So what is preventing me from this obvious solution? The answer is simple. His name is George “Showboat” Fisher. Fisher, who is a legitimate starter with 92 games and 254 at-bats in real life, still doesn’t have a spot in the lineup yet. More importantly, Fisher’s card is quite yummy with power numbers 1-3-6-6 and a 25-7. I need to get him into the lineup, don’t I?
One option is to insert Fisher as the rightfielder, move Watkins to center (he did play there in real life in 1930) and drop Taylor Douthit. That gives the Cardinals one of the strongest-hitting outfields in the tourney. With Fisher, Hafey (55-0), and George Watkins (44-6 and 51-7), it won’t matter if you’re pitching an A or not, we’re going to score with McGwire (1-1-1-5-5) batting after them.
The downside to this option? While Taylor Douthit is the probably the weakest hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup (only he and Gelbert have a *gasp* 31-9), he played every day for 1930 Cardinals. Ironically, “Tay” led off in real life. It would be nice if he could get in some games for realism’s sake. Also, Douthit is an OF-3 which isn’t trivial. Watkins and Fisher are both OF-1s while Hafey manages an OF-2 rating. Douthit would bring up the total fielding by two points.
Option 3 I could also put Fisher in the DH role but that would move McGwire to first base displacing Sunny Jim Bottomley. While Bottomley is no McGwire, he’s not bad either with power numbers 0-0-0-0 and a 55-7. I’ll be losing one point of defense with Sunny Jim’s 1B-4 rating. I’ll be up front… I already don’t like this option.
Right now, I’m leaning towards a combination of Options #1 and #2. McGwire will DH and I’m pretty sure both Douthit and Fisher will get their fair share of at-bats.
Don’t expect me to lead Douthit off though. I have my limits.
Coming up: CWS preview: 1930 Cardinals pitching and bench
Thomas,
I love your blog and to pick the 1930 Cards is a great selection…I just think that offense has plenty of options without adding McGwire…so I think you would have been better off adding a pitcher to their not so deep rotation….but then again…if you score 8 runs a game you may win a lot at the tourney. Good luck!
Jeff
I for one am glad I start in a different bracket, but with the added player any team can be a threat.
“While Taylor Douthit is the probably the weakest hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup (only he and Gelbert have a *gasp* 31-9),”
I think Bottomley also has a 31-9
You are correct, sir. Sunny Jim does have a 31-9.