Washington Senators
After having a contending team throughout the 20s, albeit one that couldn't quite win a pennant race, the Senators took a step backwards the past couple years and then in 1932 the bottom dropped out. With putrid hitting matching up with execrable pitching, the club just could not get anywhere near .500 and then, after trading away the last bits of that semi-dynasty, they dropped all the way into the American League cellar with a 4-21 record between August 6 and September 2.
The Senators at least have the cold comfort that they won't need to dismantle the team this off-season. Truth be told, there's not a lot left to dismantle anyway. The team didn't blame manager Dave Pringle for the fall and are bringing him back in '33. His brief managerial career includes a MotY award in 1930 when he led the Athletics to a pennant. He'll need to work much greater magic this year to bring the Senators back.
Code:
Record overall 62-92, .403 PCT 8th, 34.0 GB
Home 37-40, .481 PCT
Road 25-52, .325 PCT
X-inning games 9-9, .500 PCT
One-run games 22-19, .537 PCT
Versus LHP 18-18, .500 PCT
Versus RHP 44-74, .373 PCT
April 4-5, .444 PCT
May 11-18, .379 PCT
June 12-16, .429 PCT
July 12-15, .444 PCT
August 8-20, .286 PCT
September 13-12, .520 PCT
October 2-6, .250 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .269 - 8th in AL
On-Base Percentage .331 - 7th in AL
Slugging Percentage .392 - 8th in AL
On-Base + Slugging .723 - 8th in AL
Runs Scored 747 - 8th in AL
Hits 1483 - 8th in AL
Extra-Base Hits 444 - 7th in AL
Home Runs 83 - 5th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 515 - 4th in AL
Strikeouts 503 - 6th in AL
Stolen Bases 20 - 8th in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 5.24 - 7th in AL
Starters' ERA 5.66 - 8th in AL
Bullpen ERA 3.96 - 3rd in AL
Runs allowed 934 - 8th in AL
Hits allowed 1692 - 7th in AL
Opponents AVG .302 - 7th in AL
BABIP .318 - 7th in AL
Home Runs allowed 78 - 2nd in AL
Bases-On-Balls 590 - 7th in AL
Strikeouts 437 - 6th in AL
Pitching
It's saying something when your best-winning pitcher is your relief ace. Kelvin Inman was the only man to get double digit victories for the Senators. It was a fine rookie season for Inman, who might have the fastest ball in the league but needs to work on his control. Still, he was more than good enough to muscle out former closer Jim Conway, a sinker-slider pitcher who posted a career low in grounder to flyball ratio and, not surprisingly, a career high ERA. The Senators wish one of those guys had the stamina to start but that wish will likely not be answered.
Frank Geissler is the closest thing to a top starter the Senators have. While it is true that he has not reached his full potential, he grades out as a middle-rotation guy at best. His fastball is less than overpowering and he relies on changing speeds to induce ground-outs. In his first year in the bigs, though, he found himself often unable to control his off-speed stuff and stuck trying to work the corners with his fastball.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Frank Geissler 25 9 16 0.360 28 28 0 208.2 284 150 11 126 58 6.47 -21.2
Barry Fawcett 32 7 12 0.368 22 22 0 160 208 105 16 62 49 5.91 -7.8
Pancho Moreno 28 7 12 0.368 23 23 0 149 196 96 5 63 33 5.80 -4.3
Dave Young 29 6 9 0.400 24 24 0 140.2 167 69 3 61 41 4.41 18.2
Tim Watson 25 5 10 0.333 16 16 0 121.2 166 84 9 41 35 6.21 -9.0
Merlin Keyes 38 2 10 0.167 18 12 0 104.1 146 67 11 30 26 5.78 -4.1
Todd Davis 23 4 5 0.444 20 11 2 97.1 115 65 8 55 41 6.01 -5.0
Kelvin Inman 23 10 6 0.625 48 0 6 89.1 82 32 1 52 48 3.22 23.3
Bob Billington 35 4 1 0.800 40 0 2 80.2 87 30 3 32 32 3.35 20.0
Jim Conway 31 0 4 0.000 43 0 10 67 72 37 5 22 35 4.97 4.4
Ed Robinson 27 2 3 0.400 24 8 1 49 57 17 1 10 16 3.12 12.7
Tom Young 20 3 0 1.000 4 4 0 34 32 14 1 16 10 3.71 7.0
Sung-yong Yi 29 2 1 0.667 4 4 0 29 31 9 0 5 5 2.79 6.6
Rich Seely 39 0 0 0.000 17 0 0 19.2 21 8 2 6 4 3.66 4.2
Stewart Schmidt 28 0 2 0.000 2 2 0 7.2 16 11 2 5 2 12.91 -6.6
Donovan LeMoine 22 1 0 1.000 4 0 1 6 6 1 0 2 1 1.50 2.7
Daniel MacNeil 21 0 1 0.000 3 0 0 5.1 6 3 0 2 1 5.06 0.3
Team Totals 27.9 62 92 0.403 340 154 22 1369.1 1692 798 78 590 437 5.24 41.3
Catcher/First Base
Al Thiele was one of the assets the Senators shipped out last year when they finally raised the white flag. In the long term, the team is very high on the prospect they got back from the Phillies for him - 3B Bill Whitehouse, who if nothing else has a great name for a team that plays in the nation's capital. In the short term, Bob Wardlow is a Band-Aid at best. They also brought Habte Kehinde in that trade in the hopes that he'd find the stroke that garnered him 26 homers and 100 RBIs in 1929 but the man may as well be a different player now.
After hitting .311 with 61 doubles across two levels in 1931, the Senators thought that Ron King would have the kind of gap power that a team playing in Griffith Stadium finds more useful than homeruns. It just didn't happen. King seemed to completely forget how to hit from one year to the next and had relinquished his job to journeyman Pat Alexander by season's end. King will likely get more chances, given where he's playing, but the smart money is with the notion that he will never be a star.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Bob Wardlow 27 80 69 276 30 78 15 4 4 38 0 1 14 22 0.283 0.315 0.409 0.724 -0.5
C #Al Thiele 32 65 65 246 42 74 15 1 2 33 0 2 38 19 0.301 0.392 0.394 0.786 9.8
C Habte Kehinde 34 21 20 69 7 13 2 0 1 6 0 0 6 6 0.188 0.253 0.261 0.514 -6.5
1B Pat Alexander 28 95 71 306 45 89 21 4 4 40 1 0 21 33 0.291 0.343 0.425 0.768 -3.1
1B #Ron King 24 100 67 301 35 76 21 5 2 36 3 2 10 28 0.252 0.278 0.375 0.653 -21.7
1B *Tom Smith 21 17 14 63 8 15 3 2 0 5 0 0 1 5 0.238 0.262 0.349 0.611 -5.7
Infield
Even if Chris Gregg never has another season like 1930, when he set AL records with 32 homers and 149 RBIs, he will long be a favorite of Washington baseball fans. Gregg is a fantastic shortstop, without a doubt the rangiest man in all of baseball, and last year's Gold Glove was the second of his career. He may be a little overmatched batting cleanup for this team but even there he managed to clear 100 RBIs despite the general lack of offense.
Steve Hunter is probably the best hitter for the Senators and, along with Gregg, the source of some reason to be optimistic about this team's future. He was brought in from the Giants this offseason for 1B Gary Shaw; while Shaw was quite effective as the short half of the platoon for the Gothamites, that has to represent the single mistake that team made this past year.
Al Woodhouse rounds out a talented young infield. He slipped a bit off of his lofty 1931 (.321 average) but, given the increase in playing time, he still managed to set career highs in almost every category. He's the oldest player of this group and perhaps the least talented but that still leaves a lot of room.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B Al Woodhouse 26 138 136 577 83 160 42 5 4 53 0 3 60 65 0.277 0.345 0.388 0.733 16.0
2B Bill Whitehouse 22 33 28 111 18 29 4 0 2 15 2 2 7 7 0.261 0.303 0.351 0.654 -4.6
2B Bill Towery 29 8 6 28 2 7 2 1 2 9 0 0 0 4 0.250 0.250 0.607 0.857 0.7
3B Steve Hunter 25 150 149 580 84 178 32 11 4 79 3 4 87 40 0.307 0.398 0.421 0.819 27.5
SS Chris Gregg 24 135 133 538 84 148 38 11 19 103 6 6 49 55 0.275 0.334 0.493 0.826 15.5
SS Burl Frye 31 39 17 97 11 26 5 0 2 9 1 0 7 7 0.268 0.317 0.381 0.699 1.9
Outfield
Rick Whitehead's approach to the game might be better suited for a smaller park like the Baker Bowl than spacious Griffith Stadium. He has an extreme uppercut swing which generates little more than long fly outs at home, but he did hit 31 points higher on the road. He's a good, solid left fielder though and the Senators should try not to sell low on him.
It's going ot be tough to fill Mason Taylor's shoes. By the end of last year, Tod Nickell tried to do so but his lack of speed makes him a poor candidate for the spacious confines of Griffith. If Bob Tobias ever learned to hit he'd be a great fit; even with his lack of bat speed, he's far and away the best outfielder on the club and that alone may secure him a starting job. Dorsey Powell is a solid, if not spectacular starter in right field who, like Chris Gregg, has a history of spectacular-ness (in 1930 he hit .367 with 114 RBIs and 122 runs scored). Unlike Gregg, he's very unlikely to ever find that pop in his bat again.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF #Rick Whitehead 23 117 111 429 66 109 18 4 21 64 1 0 44 41 0.254 0.322 0.462 0.784 -3.1
LF *Craig Werts 24 39 38 156 17 48 6 0 1 13 0 0 12 12 0.308 0.353 0.365 0.718 -2.4
LF *John Carter 31 48 21 104 11 30 3 0 0 15 1 0 5 6 0.288 0.327 0.317 0.645 -2.8
LF Ron Sydnor 22 8 7 27 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 3 0.074 0.167 0.111 0.278 -6.6
CF *Mason Taylor 29 85 83 358 53 108 9 3 4 35 0 0 55 29 0.302 0.394 0.377 0.771 9.8
CF #Bob Tobias 30 59 29 145 19 38 6 6 2 27 0 2 12 9 0.262 0.318 0.428 0.746 -2.2
CF Tod Nickell 23 32 26 112 17 34 6 1 1 11 0 0 7 8 0.304 0.342 0.402 0.743 0.8
RF *Dorsey Powell 29 108 108 428 66 133 19 7 7 67 2 3 55 24 0.311 0.388 0.437 0.825 20.4
RF *Rich Covell 28 44 34 136 12 26 9 2 0 12 0 0 7 16 0.191 0.240 0.287 0.526 -12.6
Code:
- *Bill Sadowski 28 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250 -0.7
- Woody Herndon 32 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.3
Team Totals 27.4 1766 1386 5521 747 1483 292 69 83 709 20 26 515 503 0.269 0.331 0.392 0.723 29.9