[toxicavenger74]

November 1996
Hub Capps--TBN

Memphis Legends---Champions

Pitching
Going into the off-season GM Harrison knew that he had to get Jorge De La Rosa who was not re-signed by the St. Louis Aviators. As the Thanksgiving Holiday approached Harrison flew to De La Rosa's home in Arlington, VA and came away with a signed contract. He inked De La Rosa to a 3 yr. 8.4 mil contract in total. He brought back Robert Moore who was not dominant and barely crafty but somehow found a way to win. He also signed Bud Guyer at 1.5 mill/yr for 2 years to take over the closer role from Jacob Rowe. Guyer had never been a closer prior to this season but was a quality reliever for the Detroit Silverbacks in 1995. Additionally, Miguel Ramirez, a rare grandfathered in foreign player, was brought up from AAA Bristol and provided some energy.

As the season progressed Quinn Craighead (17-9; 3.84 ERA) may have been the ace of the staff but it was Jorge De La Rosa (20-7; 3.82 ERA)who made the difference between 1995 and 1996. De La Rosa became the Legends 1st 20 game winner and was a contender for the Golden Arm Award. Bud Guyer (1 Sv; 6.18 ERA) was a dissapointment as closer and he was pulled from the role by the last week of April and replace with unknown prospect Joe Thomas. Thomas filled the void and went on to get 30 saves. In mid-July with continual criticism from the media and fans over the Jose Delgado incident, Delgado was dealt to the expansion Tacoma Burners along with much bewildered Dewey Parker and Will Martin for the 2006 #1 draft pick LHP Keith Raines, RHP Allan Dodson and two minor leaguers. The trade was suppose to help stabilize the rotation with the addition of Dodson who replaced Dewey Parker. Dodson, like Parker, would struggle with the Legends going 3-5 with a 6.12 ERA.

In the playoffs, Dodson was almost left off the roster and was only used in 3 games with only 1 start. However, that start came in game 5 of the Championship series vs. heavily favored Chicago Comets and the cold-hearted pitching of Luis Miguel Coldivar. In that game he dominated Comet hitters and finished off a remarkable David v. Goliath story.

Going into the off-season, Harrison needs to only shore up the #4 and 5 spots in the rotation and stabilize the bullpen roles. Joe Thomas has caught lightening in a bottle with his new found closer role so don't expect Jacob Rowe to be back for the 1997 season. Also, Bud Guyer was heavily booed and almost a clubhouse distraction for his overwhelmingly poor pitching performances. Does Harrison take a 1.5 million loss and cut Guyer or try to stick with him in the last year of his contract?

Hitting

Harrison did not make any major additions to the position players for the 1996 season. The lineup for the Legends is Legendary. The only disappointment was 3B Kyle Roy who struggled with his .264 avg and lost power only hitting 12 Hr. However, he maintained a .401 OBP and brought home another Platinum Glove for his stellar defense.

Going into 1997, Harrison needs to only maintain what he has. His team is getting older, Clarence Stone (36), Fraser Brewer (32), Beau Dawson (34), Bartolo Depetris (33) may only be able to put up one more monster year collectively.

Starters

Year	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF
1995 85-77	Walker	Depetris	Stone	Roy	Brewer	Martin	McCoy	Dawson
1996 102-60	Walker	Depetris	Stone	Roy	Brewer	Dorsey	McCoy	Dawson

Pitching rotation and bullpen leaders

1996 102-60	Craighead	De La Rosa	Jenkins	Parker	Moore	Thomas	Guyer	Jones	Rowe
	17-9, 3.84	20-7, 3.82	13-7, 4.20	5-4, 5.16	8-4, 5.72	30 SV, 5.04	60 G, 6.18	57 G, 3.60	55 G, 6.41

Hitting Stats

Team Batting Stats
Pos	Player	Age	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	VORP
SS	Fraser Brewer	31	152	152	613	108	174	39	1	11	75	1	1	109	124	0.284	0.398	0.405	0.803	33.9
SS	José Canseco	27	9	4	20	3	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.6	-0.4
SS	*Ángel Cardenas	25	17	9	51	7	8	1	1	0	7	2	1	3	11	0.157	0.204	0.216	0.419	-6
LF	Dave Dansby	27	8	2	5	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	0	0.2	0.455	0.2	0.655	-0.8
RF	*Beau Dawson	34	153	151	586	116	178	28	3	27	147	0	1	97	111	0.304	0.413	0.5	0.913	42.4
C	José Delgado	24	63	29	151	26	43	8	2	2	25	9	4	26	25	0.285	0.389	0.404	0.793	9.5
1B	#Bartolo Depetris	33	145	145	548	127	191	26	4	36	170	0	0	113	94	0.349	0.463	0.608	1.07	92.7
LF	*Kip Dorsey	23	150	137	592	96	162	26	2	4	64	3	5	44	109	0.274	0.345	0.345	0.69	-12
2B	Edward Hardin	29	69	14	106	17	29	5	2	2	20	0	0	10	22	0.274	0.333	0.415	0.748	0.2
C	Tim Martin	24	18	10	48	2	11	3	0	0	5	0	0	4	13	0.229	0.288	0.292	0.58	-1.8
LF	Will Martin	31	79	45	211	40	57	12	2	5	37	3	5	37	23	0.27	0.377	0.417	0.794	4.1
CF	*Harold McCoy	25	134	128	462	140	134	28	6	18	98	68	19	153	72	0.29	0.475	0.494	0.969	65
1B	*Mike Parker	25	83	21	143	13	30	9	1	2	22	0	0	10	32	0.21	0.27	0.329	0.599	-10.5
3B	Kyle Roy	23	147	147	542	91	143	20	1	12	87	8	6	123	88	0.264	0.401	0.371	0.771	25
CF	*Andrés Ruíz	26	31	13	64	10	17	0	1	2	11	3	5	3	14	0.266	0.294	0.391	0.685	-3.7
2B	#Clarence Stone	36	155	154	558	155	159	31	5	24	95	0	0	200	40	0.285	0.471	0.487	0.959	74.5
3B	Wilson Téllez	18	7	1	11	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0.182	0.182	0.182	0.364	-1.4
3B	*Brandon Tomlinson	26	16	8	34	1	4	1	1	0	4	1	0	4	6	0.118	0.211	0.206	0.416	-3.4
C	Jim Walker	25	140	126	483	80	149	17	1	20	96	1	0	99	49	0.308	0.427	0.472	0.899	51.2
	Team Totals	27	2120	1458	5641	1069	1568	272	34	167	1015	99	48	##	932	0.278	0.397	0.427	0.824	363

Pitching Stats

Team Pitching Stats
Player	Age	W	L	Pct	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	VORP
Quinn Craighead	27	17	9	0.654	33	33	0	229	242	98	23	63	173	3.84	39.1
Kurt Davis	28	0	0	0	3	0	0	3.1	4	2	1	1	1	5.4	0
Jorge De La Rosa	26	20	7	0.741	34	33	0	238	228	101	19	54	150	3.82	41.3
Allan Dodson	27	3	5	0.375	12	12	0	67.2	75	46	7	46	54	6.12	-6.4
Wade Gaines	25	0	1	0	11	1	0	20.1	26	16	2	13	13	7.08	-4.2
Bud Guyer	36	6	2	0.75	60	0	1	71.1	89	49	7	26	46	6.18	-7.3
Al Jenkins	25	13	7	0.65	31	31	0	199	234	93	12	58	107	4.2	25.7
David Jones	32	4	0	1	57	0	2	55	60	22	6	30	39	3.6	10.9
Bob King	29	0	0	0	10	1	1	17	20	13	5	10	12	6.88	-2.9
Corbin Lee	22	0	0	0	5	0	0	6	7	2	0	4	1	3	1.6
Mark Madison	31	7	6	0.538	45	11	1	123	127	63	6	73	77	4.6	10.2
Ray Middleton	24	5	2	0.714	27	0	0	31.1	31	13	1	21	21	3.73	5.7
Robert Moore	35	8	4	0.667	35	13	1	107	119	68	4	82	67	5.72	-5.2
Dewey Parker	27	5	4	0.556	19	17	0	96	108	55	5	66	59	5.16	1.6
Miguel Ramírez	21	4	2	0.667	19	9	0	62.1	62	32	5	48	29	4.62	5
Jacob Rowe	36	3	3	0.5	55	1	3	53.1	66	38	3	42	38	6.41	-6.9
Andrés Ruíz	26	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justin Sharp	23	4	4	0.5	28	0	1	27.2	41	17	2	15	15	5.53	-0.7
Brian Smith	18	0	0	0	8	0	2	4.2	7	7	1	5	6	13.5	-4.5
John Thomas	23	3	4	0.429	51	0	30	44.2	44	25	3	32	45	5.04	1.4
Team Totals	27.1	102	60	0.63	##	162	42	1458	1590	760	112	689	953	4.69	104