WHERE ARE THEY NOW

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

McCabe Magazine’s Where Are You Now?

Season 19 Hall of Famer Denny Johnson

Philadelphia, PA (McC.com) - Where are you now? Season 19 Hall of Fame inductee, and six time All-Star, Denny Johnson 664 Home Runs, 1824 RBIs, and a 312 lifetime batting average. Born in Lexington, Illinois where he was a two-sport all-state star, lettering in basketball and baseball, signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as a 19-year-old pitcher/outfielder at a tryout camp in Peoria, Denny quickly moved through the Phillies organization being promoted to the major league club in season one. The amazing thing about Mr. Johnson is he spent his entire 18 year pro career with one organization, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Denny Johnson 56, now working in the Phillies organization as a roaming instructor, resides in Greenville, Delaware which is only 34 miles south of Philadelphia where he won the World Series in season 2 and where he was crowned a 2 time MVP. He lives in Greenville with his wife of 37 years Elizabeth and son, 38-year-old DJ Junior who's a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is currently working in the Phillies organization as Chief Operations Officer in charge of baseball operations. He is second in command in the Phillies organization next only to owner sbank65. DJ like his dad was a two-sport all-state letterman in basketball and baseball. The younger Johnson a 6 foot point guard from Penn had tryouts with the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers, eventually landing a 10 day contract with the Knicks where he played in 28 games averaging 2.1 points, 1.4 assists and 0.6 rebounds.  He eventually gave up his dream of playing in the NBA and return to school to pursue his law degree.

Elizabeth and Denny met while he was playing in the Florida State League with the Clearwater Threshers a class A affiliate of the Phillies. According to Denny the wedding was a “shotgun wedding” however Elizabeth remembers it quite differently. Denny says Elizabeth was 8 weeks pregnant with DJ Junior when Elizabeth's father showed up in the clubhouse with a shotgun demanding that Denny make things right with his only daughter. A hastily rushed wedding quickly followed a 3-2 victory over the Daytona Tortugas, a game in which Denny says he went 4-4 with 3 homers. However, a quick check of the stats shows that on that day he actually went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. The wedding was performed at home plate in front of a crowd of 2,360 Threshers fans. Elizabeth claims Denny’s story is not true, she says Denny actually proposed to her two weeks prior to the wedding in the back of his pickup truck under a full moon and star filled night in parking lot D at Spectrum Field home of the Threshers. She also added she was not 8 weeks pregnant, only 5 1/2 weeks pregnant.

When we arrived in Greenville we found Denny and Elizabeth sitting in front of the television wearing Denny’s old number 25 throwback jersey watching his favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies and his favorite player, season 32 Rookie of the Year first-baseman Shawon Mathews. They both watch intensely as Matthews goes 1-5, 1 run scored and the Phillies beat the Cleveland Indians 5-2.  “That kid,” Denny shouts “is going to win MVP this year.” Matthews is batting .343 with 8 home runs in 15 games this season and he gives lots of credit for his success to Denny for working with him in spring training and during his occasional visits to the ballpark. When Matthews won the award he thanked Johnson publicly during his acceptance speech for working with him throughout the year and for helping him believe in himself. Shawon said he wanted to quit baseball two years ago and it was Denny who talked him out of it. Matthews “I became upset and frustrated when I spent three seasons at the AAA level and felt the Phillies was never gonna call me up to the bigs. I was ready to quit but thanks to Denny he believed in me and encouraging me stick it out.” Denny says “ I didn't understand why the call didn't come sooner, somebody was asleep at the switch in the front office, the kid averaged 40+ homers and 120+ RBIs in the three seasons at the AAA level and the call wasn't coming, I didn't understand it myself, however I knew it would come.” He went on to say “I enjoy working with the young ball players, I spend a lot of time during spring training working with these kids, going down to the big park just helping out with their swings, and the approach to hitting. I just enjoy putting on the uniform again and hanging out with the team, chatting with some old friends in the front office, it's been great, the Phillies have been really good to me and my family.” These days In addition to working as an instructor for the Phillies Denny says he  enjoys going to see high school football, basketball and baseball games, helping coach some of the Little League teams in the area, and  visiting old friends and family back in Lexington. He also has quite a baseball card collection with his favorite being his own rookie card from season one.

McCabe Magazine spent three days with the Hall of Famer and his family in Greenville and we truly enjoyed our stay. If you're ever in Greenville, Delaware and looking for Denny Johnson, you’ll find him and Elizabeth in their living room, wearing baseball jerseys and watching his favorite team making a run at a division title and another World Series championship.

We hope you enjoyed our featured article “Where Are They Now” and would like to invite you to write a story or two to be posted in McCabe Magazine, thanks for reading!    

McCABE MAGAZINES SEASON 33 PREVIEW ISSUE

ROBERT E. McCABE MAGAZINE'S PREVIEW AND POSTSEASON AWARDS

Seattle Mariners Win Season 33 World Series over the Washington Nationals 

Naples, Florida (MCM) – Welcome to season 33 and welcome to all the new owners, kingkai53 Baltimore Orioles, mrmich1 Detroit Tigers, and Ricky862 of the Arizona Diamondbacks to the greatest league in cyberspace. Before we unveil our major league predictions and postseason awards, we wanted to let you know what the biggest sportsbook in the world, the folks at Westgate Super SportsBook in Las Vegas think of the upcoming season with their posted odds to win season 33 World Series.

Who the Wise Guys Like?

We spoke with the super odds maker and operations manager at Westgate, Mr. P. Edward Rose on why they think the Seattle Mariners is the favorite to win season 33 league championship. Rose says “the Mariners are the Golden State Warriors of baseball. We think they have overcome the San Diego Padres in terms of overall pitching from rotation to bullpen. The daily lineup has 4-5 solid All-stars.” Leading the way on the Westgate board to win this year’s Cy Young award is last year’s winner, the Mariners Mike Harper 22-8. “That staff of Harper, William Whang 16-6, Miguel Mesa 16-2, Raul Escalona 15-6, Eddie Averill 12-4 and Jose Gabriel career 2.50 ERA will be unstoppable.” Before we could ask the next question Rose began to point out the stats of the 4 season 32 All-star position players. “Jose Valdes (1B) 34 HR 135 RBI 301 BA, Harry Thayer (2B) 28 HR 140 RBI 313 BA,  Otto Magnusson (3B) 29 HR 125 RBI, and Tim Nixon (RF) 22 HR 129 RBI 310 BA that’s just un F****ing believable. Most teams would be lucky to have one of those types of players, the Mariners have 4. They won 122 games last year which broke the Padres season 20 record of 116 by 6 victories.” We have to agree with the top three teams on the Westgate board; however McCabe Magazine’s playoffs teams differ just slightly.

McCabe Magazine would like to thank Mr. Rose and the folks at Westgate for the all access giving to our staff during our visit to the casino, and for bending a few Nevada Gaming Association rules for allowing me to use my prepaid Visa to place a $25 bet on the Mariners, thanks again.

	Westgate Super Sportbook
	Odds to Win World Series
Rank	Franchise			Odds
1	Seattle Mariners			1-1
2	Washington Nationals			2-1
3	San Diego Padres			3-1
4	St. Louis Cardinals			4-1
5	Houston Astros			5-1
6	Cleveland Indians			6-1
7	Richmond Virginians			10-1
8	New York Yankees			12-1
9	New York Mets			15-1
10	Cincinnati Reds			16-1
11	Arizona Diamondbacks			49-1
12	Florida Marlins			50-1
13	Pittsburgh Pirates			65-1
14	Kansas City Royals			75-1
15	Philadelphia Phillies			100-1
16	Milwaukee Brewers			102-1
17	Boston Red Sox			250-1
18	Rochester Broncos			500-1
19	Chicago White Sox			1000-1
20	Oakland Athletics			2500-1

McCabe Magazine Season 33 Postseason Awards 

McCabe Magazine Most Valuable Player 

Bartolo Hernandez Washington D.C. Nationals Age: 28 B/T: L/R Born: Bani, DO Position(s): SS/IF/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Projections 46 HR, 135 RBI, 312 BA, 1015 OPS

McCabe Magazine CY Young Award 

Moose Martin New York Mets Age: 36 B/T: R/R Born: Scottsdale, AZ Position(s): P (T1A) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Projections 23-5, 1.14 WHIP, 2.92 ERA  

McCabe Magazine Rookie of the Year

Mike Atkins Seattle Mariners Age: 26 B/T: S/R Born: Point Pleasant Beach, NJ Position(s): SS/IF/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Projections 24 HR, 105 RBI, 290 BA, 985 OPS

McCabe Magazine Fireman of the Year

Kid Priddy Houston Astros Age: 37 B/T: R/R Born: Wise, VA Position(s): P (ClA) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Projections 52 GAMES 49 SAVES, 1.09 WHIP, 2.34 ERA

The McCabe Magazine Playoff Picture

In the American League the Washington Nationals will beat the Houston Astros for the American League pennant, and in the National League the Seattle Mariners will win their third consecutive National League pennant by beating the San Diego Padres. The division winners in the American League will be the Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Nationals, ousHouston Astros, and the San Francisco Giants. In the National League the titleholders will be the Cleveland Indians, the New York Mets, Richmond Virginians, and the Mariners. The wildcard winners will be the New York Yankees, St Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and the Padres. 

 We look forward to another exciting season, enjoy, and good luck to all.

McCabe Magazine Season 33 Predictions 

ML AL North						ML NL North
Team	Owner	W	L			Team	Owner	W	L
Milwaukee Brewers	brentcnb	91	71			Cleveland Indians	bbwinksdaddy	96	66
Toronto Blue Jays	dimestoregin	75	87			Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	93	69
Chicago White Sox	kgrffth	72	90			Chicago Cubs	mikemiele	68	94
Minnesota Twins	optistrat	66	96			Detroit Tigers	mrmich1	67	95
ML AL East						ML NL East
Team	Owner	W	L			Team	Owner	W	L
Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	101	61			New York Mets	basebalguru	90	72
New York Yankees	tomcecil	93	69			Pittsburgh Pirates	sportbanker	87	75
Boston Red Sox	pat007ohmss	83	79			Philadelphia Phillies	sbank65	85	77
Baltimore Orioles	kingkai53	72	90			Rochester Broncos	ajaxx88	79	83
ML AL South						ML NL South
Team	Owner	W	L			Team	Owner	W	L
Houston Astros	bballer2117	99	63			Richmond Virginians	spintens	95	67
St. Louis Cardinals	slurie2001	97	65			Florida Marlins	lido9613	89	73
Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	86	76			Atlanta Braves	franknterry	67	95
Texas Rangers	goldenbaer88	73	89			Tampa Bay Rays	rsskfs23	64	98
ML AL West						ML NL West
Team	Owner	W	L			Team	Owner	W	L
San Francisco Giants	wylie715	88	74			Seattle Mariners	mark3313	108	54
Oakland Athletics	ojinga	75	87			San Diego Padres	jgarron	99	63
Los Angeles Dodgers	Arte	70	92			Arizona Diamondbacks	Ricky862	88	74
Anaheim Angels	captain10a	68	94			Colorado Rockies	axtell	71	91

McCabe Magazine's Season 32 Owner of the Year

Robert E. McCabe Magazine’s Season 32 Owner of the Year

Cincinnati, OH (McC.com) Listed below you will find the Robert E. McCabe Magazine Owner/Organization of the Year Award Winner and our Owner Power Rankings. This year we at McCabe Magazine will award organizations bonus points for winning the World Series and Pennant at each level. In addition, the owner will receive points for total wins at every level, winning the Division title, and for making the playoffs as a Wildcard. The Owner with the most points will receive the McCabe Magazine Owner of the Year Award. We here at McCabe Magazine feel that a good owner should maintain a solid farm system and a winning major league club. His big league club should be in position to win the division and one or more of the lower level squads should be in position to capture a minor league World Series title. The Owner of the Year should field competitive teams at every level. 

Season 32 Robert E. McCabe League Owner of the Year Award is mark3313 of the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have a total of 593 organizational wins, 435 playoff bonus points, for an organization total of 1028 points.

The Seattle owner, mark3313 has set a new organizational total record of 1028 points. The total of 1028 obliterated the previous record of 835 total points set by Saffron of the Washington National. 

Franchise	Owner	Level	W	L	Playoff	Pen	WS
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	ML	122	40	100	75	100
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	AAA	97	47	50
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	AA	97	47	40
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	High A	114	30	30
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	Low A	115	29	20	10
Seattle Mariners	mark3313	Rookie	48	28	10
								Total Points
Seattle Mariners	mark3314		593	221	250	85	100	1028

	OWNER of the YEAR RANKING
	TOP 10
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Total
1	Seattle Mariners	mark3315	1028
2	Richmond Virginians	spintens	820
3	Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	780
4	Detroit Tigers	patrickkm	721
5	Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	716
6	Houston Astros	bballer2119	707
7	Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	680
8	New York Yankees	tomcecil	655
9	Milwaukee Brewers	brentcnb	619
10	Oakland Athletics	ojinga	618
	THE NEXT 10
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Total
11	St. Louis Cardinals	slurie2003	583
12	Anaheim Angels	captain10a	579
13	Colorado Rockies	axtell	553
14	Philadelphia Phillies	sbank67	528
15	Cleveland Indians	bbwinksdaddy	521
16	New York Mets	basebalguru	517
17	Chicago Cubs	mikemiele	512
18	Toronto Blue Jays	dimestoregin	487
19	San Francisco Giants	wylie717	474
20	Chicago White Sox	kgrffth	471
	AND THE REST
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Total
21	Pittsburgh Pirates	sportbanker	436
22	Arizona Diamondbacks	yoker72	423
23	Los Angeles Dodgers	Arte	356
24	Florida Marlins	lido9615	323
25	Tampa Bay Rays	rsskfs25	314
26	Baltimore Orioles	GuerillaZen3	302
27	Texas Rangers	goldenbaer90	293
28	San Diego Padres	jgarron	287
29	Boston Red Sox	pat007ohmss	218
30	Minnesota Twins	optistrat	211
31	Atlanta Braves	franknterry	207
32	Rochester Broncos	ajaxx90	185

	Season 32 Team Wins
	Top 10
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Level	W	L
1	Seattle Mariners	mark3313	ML	122	40
2	Seattle Mariners	mark3313	Low A	115	29
3	Seattle Mariners	mark3313	High A	114	30
4	Detroit Tigers	patrickkm	High A	113	31
5	Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	High A	112	32
6	Detroit Tigers	patrickkm	Low A	109	35
6	Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	High A	109	35
8	Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	ML	108	54
8	Houston Astros	bballer2117	ML	108	54
10	Detroit Tigers	patrickkm	AA	107	37
	Top 11 - 20
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Level	W	L
11	Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	AA	105	39
12	Chicago White Sox	kgrffth	AAA	103	41
13	Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	ML	102	60
13	Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	AA	102	42
15	Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	High A	101	43
16	Chicago Cubs	mikemiele	AAA	100	44
16	Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	AA	100	44
18	Anaheim Angels	captain10a	Low A	99	45
18	New York Yankees	tomcecil	High A	99	45
20	Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	Low A	98	46
	Top 21 -30
Rank	Franchise	Owner	Level	W	L
21	Richmond Virginians	spintens	AAA	98	46
21	Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	Low A	98	46
23	Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	ML	97	65
23	Seattle Mariners	mark3313	AAA	97	47
23	Seattle Mariners	mark3313	AA	97	47
26	Cincinnati Reds	cpintens	Low A	96	48
26	New York Yankees	tomcecil	Low A	96	48
26	Oakland Athletics	ojinga	AAA	96	48
26	Philadelphia Phillies	sbank65	AA	96	48
30	Chicago Cubs	mikemiele	AA	95	49
30	Colorado Rockies	axtell	High A	95	49
30	Milwaukee Brewers	brentcnb	AA	95	49

A LOOK BACK at SEASON 32 FA SIGNINGS

McCABE MAGAZINE SEASON 32 FREE AGENT SIGNINGS 
By one our many freelance reports slurie2001, owner/operator of the St Louis Cardinals.

Hi Sam "no spell check" Willie. I really liked your free agent analysis earlier this season. I have always had a fascination with Type A free agents and whether they pay off the year they are signed compared to the opportunity cost of the lost draft picks. Of course, it has to be looked at a much longer term view to truly assess but it is always interesting to get a sense of it the year of the signing. With that in mind, here is some rough analysis for your consideration. 

There were 13 type A signings across 9 teams. Of the 9 teams, 2 will finish with a record greater than .500 and up to 3 will make the playoffs (SF is two games out from the division with 4 to go as this is written). 

3 teams go multiplied type A free agents with the perspective that if one is going to sacrifice their first pick, it is not as costly to do so with their 2nd pick, etc. To be fair, one of the teams that got multiple type As (San Diego) did have one of their own Type A free agents taken. Of the 9 overalll teams that took a Type A, 3 had one of their type A free agents taken. 

So how did the free agents do in order of team's record as of the time of this writing:
1. Kansas City (95-63) with a massive improvement over the prior year. Their Type A (Horacio Corpas) had a relatively flat year compared to his career (down on Average, up on OPS) but overall, likely not a big contributor to KC's major uplift. 

2. San Diego (85-73) with a small improvement over the prior year. They got 3 Type As and all of them have had much better seasons than their career average. Interestingly, San Diego also traded one of them (Wolf Carpenter) to the Mets mid-season. One could argue that San Diego made some very savvy signings that helped them to stay playoff bound. 

3. San Francisco (77-81) - Their Type A #p6340659Kordell Watson (P)#p has had a very strong year compared to his ML averages and it can be considered a key factor in SF's improvement from the prior year. 

4. Detroit (76-82) - Their Type A #p6089031Archie French (P)#p improved on WHIP over his career but had a worse ERA and W/L record than his averages. Overall, not a big factor in Detroit's small decrease in wins from the prior year. 

5. Florida (72-86) - Two Type As that both played close to their expectations given their ML averages. Interestingly, one spent half the season in the minors. 

6. Anaheim (71-87) - Experienced a small improvement over last year but not likely due to their Type A signing #p5427142Kazuya Gong (CF)#p as he has had a down year compared to his averages. 

7. Rochester (71-87) - Had a small step back in their record despite their Type A #p6339967Fred Gonzales (LF)#p having one of the best seasons of his career. 

8. Boston (66-92) - While #p5474914Enerio Medrano (SS)#p performed exactly at his career averages, #p6088650Bengie Romero (C)#p played far worse than his norm and this contributed to Boston's challenging season. 

9. Tampa Bay (58-100) - Actually improved materially from last season and #p6088241Storm Weaver (RF)#p played a huge role in that improvement and also outperformed his career averages slightly. Clearly, a longer term play as TB expects similar improvement in the coming seasons. 

So overall, for the team with the biggest improvement, their Type A did not play a big role. Type As did play a key role for the next top teams (SD and SF) and then an interesting mix of results for the other teams watching the playoffs from the sidelines. While true value of the Type As can only be seen over multiple years and needs to accounts for scouting strategies for each team, always find the tradeoffs interesting.