St. Louis Browns
The Browns picked a bad, bad time to fall off. They weren't as bad as they looked in April and May but then weren't nearly as good as they looked in July either. By July, however, fans had already decided that the team they'd be supporting would be the Cardinals, and as such the lowly Browns played second fiddle in their own stadium much of the year.
1933 isn't expected to be much of anything for this team. Indeed, if they are still in the AL as of the end of the season it will be considered a moral victory. They're expected to jettison anything and everything of value, not the least of which is MVP shortstop Lester Archie.
Code:
Record overall 70-84, .455 PCT 6th, 26.0 GB
Home 37-40, .481 PCT
Road 33-44, .429 PCT
X-innings 12-9, .571 PCT
One-run games 22-17, .564 PCT
Versus LHP 26-23, .531 PCT
Versus RHP 44-61, .419 PCT
April 0-9, .000 PCT
May 13-14, .481 PCT
June 12-15, .444 PCT
July 18-9, .667 PCT
August 12-16, .429 PCT
September 9-15, .375 PCT
October 6-6, .500 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .290 - 4th in AL
On-Base Percentage .345 - 4th in AL
Slugging Percentage .396 - 7th in AL
On-Base + Slugging .742 - 6th in AL
Runs Scored 787 - 7th in AL
Hits 1634 - 4th in AL
Extra-Base Hits 410 - 8th in AL
Home Runs 67 - 8th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 465 - 6th in AL
Strikeouts 555 - 8th in AL
Stolen Bases 24 - tied for 6th in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 4.71 - 5th in AL
Starters' ERA 5.06 - 5th in AL
Bullpen ERA 3.67 - 2nd in AL
Runs allowed 889 - 5th in AL
Hits allowed 1686 - 6th in AL
Opponents AVG .294 - 5th in AL
BABIP .305 - 5th in AL
Home Runs allowed 90 - 4th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 476 - 5th in AL
Strikeouts 407 - 8th in AL
Pitching
The pitching staff was fairly old last year but figures to get younger if for no other reasons than that the older players will command too much money. Topping the list is longtime Brown and fan favorite Tim Maloy, who has a career 164-147 record and has been a Brown ever since 1924. He survives and even thrives despite a sub-90 mph fastball due to guile, guts, and control. That being said, his ERA has gone up every year since 1928 and a change of scenery may be in order. Roy Cossey is another guy who's been with the Browns for a while but the 26 year old was shut down at the end of the year with shoulder problems. It may be that 3 straight years of 38 starts did something to the youngster's arm. We certainly hope not.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Tim Maloy 30 12 16 0.429 35 33 0 260 320 133 18 73 64 4.60 28.8
Roy Cossey 26 14 12 0.538 30 30 0 221.1 248 124 24 90 91 5.04 12.9
Pat Alton 30 7 9 0.438 18 18 0 137.1 161 68 7 26 38 4.46 17.3
Mike Fisher 37 7 9 0.438 19 19 0 133.2 171 61 5 32 34 4.11 20.3
Ryan Jeter 26 6 9 0.400 18 18 0 116 145 46 5 26 27 3.57 26.2
Charlie Haynes 26 9 3 0.750 53 0 12 100.1 97 35 2 32 31 3.14 27.4
Dave Fortenberry 29 4 3 0.571 46 2 3 96 97 33 2 39 49 3.09 26.8
Lowell Laymon 34 3 3 0.500 22 7 0 63 105 52 3 36 18 7.43 -12.9
Harry Milburn 36 2 1 0.667 20 0 4 45.1 35 6 1 6 18 1.19 21.1
John Hall 21 2 3 0.400 13 4 0 39.2 49 25 3 25 10 5.67 -0.7
John Anderson 21 0 2 0.000 12 4 1 38.1 55 33 3 28 7 7.75 -9.2
Russell Charles 28 1 2 0.333 24 0 0 34.2 46 26 6 16 7 6.75 -4.5
Glen Addicott 25 0 4 0.000 9 9 0 29 51 28 4 7 2 8.69 -10.0
Aubrey Fryman 26 3 3 0.500 8 3 1 29 43 24 1 19 3 7.45 -6.6
Matt Corwin 33 0 2 0.000 4 4 0 24.2 39 17 4 12 3 6.20 -1.8
Miguel Márquez 28 0 3 0.000 6 3 0 15.2 24 14 2 9 5 8.04 -4.3
Team Totals 28.5 70 84 0.455 337 154 21 1384 1686 725 90 476 407 4.71 130.8
Catcher/First Base
How Eduardo Gonzales managed to get 2 triples last year is anybody's guess. The Puerto Rican is carrying an extra 30 pounds at least on his 6' frame and may just be the slowest man in all of baseball. He's also merely adequate at stopping opposing running games. On many other teams he'd be a backup but he's the best thing the Browns have.
Bob O'Daniel was given the starting job after a good minor league year in '31 but his rookie campaign was less than scintillating. He did manage to cross the .300 barrier thanks to a .367 mark against left-handed pitching but one expects a first baseman to grant a bit more in the way of power. He'll likely get another year to prove himself; this is, after all, the Browns we are talking about.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Eduardo González 28 138 132 488 54 151 21 2 7 71 0 0 49 56 0.309 0.376 0.404 0.780 13.8
C Mike Thompson 32 29 22 75 9 16 4 1 0 6 1 0 10 13 0.213 0.314 0.293 0.607 -1.4
C Hollis Hammond 28 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.3
1B Bob O'Daniel 22 100 93 406 51 122 21 2 3 59 0 0 6 48 0.300 0.312 0.384 0.696 -16.8
1B Oscar Colwill 34 93 79 322 44 82 15 3 8 56 0 0 49 38 0.255 0.352 0.394 0.746 -9.9
Infield
Let us get this off our chest: whomever gets Lester Archie will be picking themselves up a very, very good player. There were lots and lots of hitting-related records smashed last year but Archie took away perhaps the most prestigious one of them all: the hits record with 249, smashing the old record of 242 set by Jay Calvin in 1922. He also got on base quite a lot and had nice pop while playing the toughest position in the infield. His MVP award was richly deserved and there's a good shot it'll be the first of many.
David Sherrill couldn't repeat his promising 1931 campaign (.346, 14 HR, 76 RBI) because he got hit by the injury bug. Dillon Newkirk did a fine job in his stead and both could be holding starting infield jobs heading into camp. Brian Coleman wasn't so steady but there's always a chance that '32 was an off year.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B David Sherrill 27 60 60 270 35 83 6 2 2 34 0 0 12 31 0.307 0.334 0.367 0.701 6.2
2B Dillon Newkirk 26 72 44 203 37 64 14 1 5 32 0 0 20 20 0.315 0.381 0.468 0.849 14.8
2B *Matt Brown 30 51 35 155 13 41 6 1 0 20 1 1 9 10 0.265 0.305 0.316 0.621 -6.2
2B Bill Pell 22 35 35 135 13 31 8 1 1 19 2 0 6 19 0.230 0.266 0.326 0.592 -2.9
3B Brian Coleman 26 103 102 408 64 112 22 5 1 40 1 3 44 35 0.275 0.354 0.360 0.715 -2.3
3B Bob Stewart 23 9 8 33 4 8 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 0.242 0.235 0.303 0.538 -2.6
SS #Lester Archie 25 154 153 646 108 249 44 6 17 114 0 1 81 31 0.385 0.456 0.551 1.007 86.3
Outfield
Carl Austin is a classic example of a player who could be useful in a utility role who was nonetheless stretched into a starting role by a bad team. He's a good but not great hitter whose gap power isn't quite enough to make him useful. Additionally, he realy doesn't have the range for center field; his range factor was 2nd worst among qualifying CFs in all of major league baseball. Only Mason Taylor of the Nationals and Giants was worse and Taylor was switched to left field when he was traded to the Gothams.
The Browns did find, well, half of a decent platoon combination in left field. They hope that career pinch-hitter Don Long can make an adequate partner for Victor Ward next year. Over in right, the team expects great things from Martin Hagans, aquired in the trade for John Montague. They didn't get much last year, but at the very least Hagans is cheaper.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF Victor Ward 30 76 76 337 57 109 20 6 4 40 6 3 33 30 0.323 0.384 0.454 0.838 14.2
LF Ross Sutton 29 72 43 213 44 65 13 7 3 26 2 3 19 11 0.305 0.360 0.474 0.834 2.2
LF *Salvador Rodríguez 27 47 34 163 29 46 8 3 0 12 7 4 11 18 0.282 0.331 0.368 0.700 -3.5
LF *Charlie Cargill 25 17 16 67 12 17 3 0 1 6 0 0 7 7 0.254 0.333 0.343 0.677 -2.8
LF *Earl Luster 31 9 1 12 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0.167 0.154 0.167 0.321 -2.3
CF Carl Austin 25 152 151 629 81 192 41 5 4 76 0 1 38 64 0.305 0.344 0.405 0.750 -5.6
RF Martin Hagans 24 81 81 314 33 74 13 2 5 57 4 2 26 20 0.236 0.294 0.338 0.631 -14.5
RF *Don Long 34 78 32 169 25 53 9 2 2 24 0 0 17 17 0.314 0.372 0.426 0.798 5.8
RF *John Montague 22 36 35 137 19 39 7 0 3 14 0 0 16 15 0.285 0.348 0.401 0.750 3.6
RF *Dennis Morse 23 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -1.2
Code:
- Floyd Foltz 26 4 0 4 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.250 0.500 0.750 0.1
- Steve Mangum 30 3 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667 0.0
Team Totals 27.6 1760 1386 5630 787 1634 290 53 67 739 24 19 465 555 0.290 0.345 0.396 0.742 81.8