Thanks for stopping by, AZ. I have a few ideas that I hope will make the league come even more alive.
You have been a loyal Ice Cats fan from the beginning, and you're not the only one. It hasn't been easy, and you've had to be much more patient than any other fans in the league. However, there could be better days ahead.
Baseball America rates the Canandaigua farm system as the best in the league, by a wide margin. No fewer than five young Cats rank among the top 16 prospects in the league: P LHP
Garland "Redeye" Taylor (#1) CF
Robbie Blanchard (#5), RHP
Mike Mann (#7), 3B
George John (#9), and RHP
Jason Gibson (#16). Taylor, Blanchard, and John have already made the big club, and as you know, Taylor and Blanchard had terrific seasons in 1913.
As the 1913 holiday season approaches, this positional strength chart brings even more good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all Cats fans:
Code:
POS STARTER AGE RNK TOP PROSPECT AGE RNK ORG
C Donald Finley 23 3rd Finley 23 2nd 4th
1B Mal Chase 27 4th Mike Jennings 22 3rd 3rd
2B Lee Gary 22 5th "Jazz" Medina 19 3rd 3rd
3B George John 23 1st John 23 1st 1st
SS Doyle Scurlock 29 6th Mauro Carrillo 20 3rd 6th
LF Anthony Madison 24 4th Jimmy Bryant 24 1st 2nd
CF Robbie Blanchard 20 1st Kevin Wade 23 1st 1st
RF Brenton Kelly 26 5th Al De La Garza 22 4th 5th
SP Garland Taylor 21 2nd Taylor 21 2nd 2nd
SP Mike Mann 20 Jason Gibson 20
SP Howard Ross 33 Bailey Thomas 21
SP Will Kirk 33 Rod Mayfield 21
RP Denny Myers 37 T-1 Scott Shelton 21 1st 2nd
CL Paul Crowley 35 6th Gilbert Chaney 23 1st 2nd
The Cats will field a litter of Kittens in 1914, and while they may be young, these Kittens have claws and teeth! Older players like C
Hamilton Phillips and 3B
Ronald Reece, both original Cats, gave way to new men in 1913, and other vets might soon see the same fate. I'm sure some of those journeyman pitchers are looking over their shoulders.
Only at shortstop does the future really look dim, and I think BA is hosing Scurlock. Yeah, he hit .228 in 1913 with a -10.9 VORP, but he's only a year removed from a sweet .301-6-90 line. I'm not convinced Scurlock is really the worst regular shortstop in the league.
Doyle is weak defensively, but the Cats have a young backup,
Rafael Cruz, who can pick it, and Carrillo is even better than he is.
The only reason
Brenton Kelly ranks fifth among the league's right fielders is the fact that
Duane Blackburn, Francisco Rivera, "Riverboat" Ramos, and
Marlon Tucker are all currently playing right field for other teams in the league. That's pretty tough company. I don't know a single FLL manager who wouldn't want Kelly on his team.
A 1918 Canandaigua lineup, then, might look like this (1918 ages in parentheses)
Code:
C Donald Finley (28)
1B Mal Chase (32)
2B "Jazz" Medina (24)
3B George John (28)
SS Mauro Carrillo (25)
LF Anthony Madison (29)
CF Robbie Blanchard (25)
RF Brenton Kelly (31)
SP Garland Taylor (26)
SP Mike Mann (25)
SP Jason Gibson (20)
SP Bailey Thomas (26)
RP Scott Shelton (26)
CL Gilbert Chaney (28)
That looks like a heck of a good team to me. Chase, Madison, and Kelly are already established, talented players, and they'll all still be in their primes in 1918. Blanchard won't hit .370 every year, but he might hit .330. John, Taylor, and Mann are on their way to stardom, and guys like Gibson and Medina might not be far behind them.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Ice Cats climb, in suitably feline fashion, out of the second division in '14, and a winning record might not be a bad bet, either.