Who was it who first dubbed me "The Johnny Appleseed of the BDBL?" Oh, right. It was me. But what an appropriate title it was -- and remains to this day. Take a look at the vote tallies for MVP or Cy Young in any given year and you will find it sprinkled with former Salem Cowtipper farmhands. Just imagine how history would have been altered if only I had been smart enough to hold on to any one of them.
Compiling this top ten list was not only a challenging exercise (because there were so many names to choose from), but time-consuming, as I had to stop every five minutes or so and bang my head against a wall. Without further ado, here now are the top ten players given away by the Salem Cowtippers franchise in our Sisyphusian effort to win a trophy that remains ever-elusive.
#10 Alfonso Soriano
Acquired: 1999 farm draft, round 2
Trade: (2000) Soriano and Michael Tejera to Minneapolis for Armando Rios and two draft picks
In our very first farm draft, way back in the 20th century, I selected a player who had zero professional experience in the US. Soriano had played in Japan the previous season, but only played nine games. There must have been something in the scouting reports that appealed to me, because I snatched him up in the second round in fear that someone ahead of me would take him.
He had an impressive 15-year BDBL career. He hit just .258/.306/.471 overall, but hit a total of 384 home runs, drove in over 1,200 runs, and created over 1,000 runs. He topped 100 runs created three times, and finished with over 90 RC's two other times. His best season came in 2004 when he hit .297/.342/.592 with 120+ RC, 45 HR, 120 runs scored, and 138 RBI's. Sadly, he didn't earn a single vote for the Hall of Fame.
#9 Wander F'ing Franco
Acquired: 2017 midseason farm "draft", 2nd pick
Trade: (2018) Franco to Niagara for Max Kepler
When we traded Franco, it was literally impossible to find any information about him whatsoever. He was a highly-touted 16-year-old when we drafted him, but a year later, he had yet to pick up a bat against a professional pitcher. He became such an afterthought that when Niagara GM Mike Ranney asked for him, I didn't hesitate to agree to the deal. Immediately -- mere nanoseconds after the deal was announced -- Franco became the greatest prospect the baseball world had ever seen. He went from total obscurity to the top five prospects in the game and an absolute lock to be recognized in the Baseball Hall of Fame as soon as his brilliant career has ended.
That trade still makes my stomach clench to this day. What makes it even worse is that we didn't even need Kepler. If Odubel Herrera hadn't sucked so badly all season, we wouldn't have asked for Kepler at all. As it stood, Herrera sucked, and we thought we needed another bat against right-handed pitching. Even with that bat, we still didn't make the playoffs. And just to rub more salt into that festering wound, we had to pay to get rid of Kepler's $1.5 million penalty (which Cleveland Rocks GM Mike Stein decided not to pay, and kept Kepler on his roster instead.)
Wander F'ing Franco.
#8 Kris Bryant
Acquired: 2012 midseason farm "draft", 1st pick
Trade: (2016) Bryant and Ryan Madson to Chicago for Andrew Benintendi, Miguel Sano, and four others
I almost didn't include Bryant in this list, because unlike the others I did receive some long-term benefits in return for him. In addition to Benintendi, Sano was later flipped for Gary Sanchez. Sanchez was then flipped for Danny Jansen (plus two other useful parts for this season.) So far, however, Bryant has been better than any of the other players included in this deal. In his three-year BDBL career, he owns a .271/.380/.460 batting line and has topped 100 runs created in each of his three seasons. Meanwhile, Benintendi (.256/.326/.386) has been a complete and total flop after having been cursed by the Sam Adams Stadium Jumbotron Curse.
#7 Gerrit Cole
Acquired: 2008 farm draft, round 5
Trade: (2008) Cole and four others to San Antonio for Matt Guerrier
Who the hell is Matt Guerrier?? Evidently, he was a relief pitcher that I must have decided was the final piece of the puzzle that would finally put a BDBL trophy on my bookshelf. Guerrier tossed 46+ innings for Salem that year and posted a nifty 2.31 ERA. He was then let go at the end of that season.
Cole, meanwhile, was tossed around from one team to another like a joint at one of Kamala Harris' college parties. In the winter of 2009, he was traded to Allentown. Before the winter was over, he was traded yet again to Great Lakes. At the Chapter Four deadline, he was sent packing yet again to Kansas. Finally, two years later he reached his final destination of Los Altos.
#6 Aaron Nola
Acquired: 2013 midseason farm "draft", 8th pick
Trade: (2015) Nola and Stephen Piscotty to Big River for Huston Street
Looking back, one of the dumbest things I've ever done as GM is trade away top young talent for relief pitching. At some point, I need to learn to stop doing that. Street was terrific for us. He saved 34 games in 2015, with a 2.64 ERA (1.55 CERA) in 51+ innings. We even got an extra year out of him in 2016, when he contributed a 3.57 ERA in 68+ innings. That's nice, but was it worth trading away not one, but TWO, franchise players?
So far, Nola owns a 3.63 career ERA in the BDBL, along with a 25-11 record. He is one of SIX players that are currently franchised that came through the Salem farm system and are now playing for another team.
#5 Alex Bregman
Acquired: 2013 midseason farm "draft", 2nd pick
Trade: (2015) Bregman and Spencer Adams to Charlotte for John Mayberry, Joaquin Benoit, and Mike Fiers
Boy, that trade didn't age well, did it? John Mayberry? Joaquin Benoit? Mike Fiers? What the hell was I thinking?
Mayberry was a pinch hitter -- and a crappy one at that. He hit .159/.275/.273 in 51 PA's for us that season. Benoit pitched all of 14 innings for us during the regular season, and was too expensive to keep beyond the 2015 season. Fiers was out of usage by the time we acquired him, so we couldn't even use him until the playoffs. He was supposed to be a weapon out of the bullpen, yet he allowed 7 runs (all earned) in just 3+ innings, with more walks (6!) than strikeouts (5). Thanks to him, the Blazers dispatched us in five short games in the OLDS.
Bregman was only a sophomore at Louisiana State when we acquired him. He went on to become the #2 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He created over 100 runs in his first full BDBL season last year and is likely to top all of his numbers this year. He has become the face of the Charlotte franchise and one of dozens to be franchised by Tony Chamra. Bregman will be a Mustang through the 2025 season.
#4 Carlos Correa
Acquired: 2012 farm draft, round 3
Trade: (2012) Correa and five other to Villanova for Yovani Gallardo, Daniel Hudson, Addison Reed, and Marco Estrada
In 2012 I was in a desperate situation. My one and only goal in life at that point was to prevent the New Milford Blazers from winning back-to-back division titles. Toward that end, I struck a deal with the Villanova Mustangs that gave me the pieces to the puzzle that I had been missing. In particular, the acquisition of Gallardo was supposed to launch the Cowtippers over the top. Instead, he went 5-5 the rest of the way, with a mediocre 4.45 ERA. Hudson (6-2, 4.49 ERA) was equally mediocre. Estrada and Reed were fliers for the future that were soon flipped.
Correa, meanwhile, was selected with the first overall pick of the MLB draft shortly before he was traded. He has since blossomed into one of the best young hitters in the game of baseball. He owns a career batting line of .278/.353/.461 in the BDBL, and is yet another franchise player (signed through 2027) to have been developed through the Salem farm system.
#3 Aaron Judge
Acquired: 2013 farm draft, round 8
Trade #1: (2015) Judge and Robert Refsnyder to Ravenswood for Alex Gordon
Trade #2: (2017) Judge to Flagstaff for Junior Guerra
I was feeling so generous and Johnny Appleseedy that I traded Judge not once, but twice! We originally picked up Judge with our eighth and final pick of the 2013 farm draft. He was only a junior at Fresno State at the time, and hadn't posted dazzling numbers, but we believed the scouting reports about his "80" raw power.
We needed Gordon for yet another failed run at a trophy in 2015, so off went Judge to the Ravenswood Infidels. Gordon did well for us (.299/.373/.509 with 108.8 RC) that year, but we had to "pay" the Kansas Law Dogs to take his $5 million penalty off our hands at the end of that season. We went from buyers to sellers that winter, and our greatest asset at the time was our ace, Max Scherzer. We flipped Scherzer to Ravenswood, getting Judge (and Refsnyder and Stephen Matz) in return.
We spent the entire 2016 rebuilding for the 2017 season. That's when Flagstaff GM Greg Newgard came calling. He dangled part-time ace Guerra in front of my face, and I simply couldn't resist taking the bait. Guerra posted a 4.08 ERA in 130+ innings. Meanwhile, Judge became a surprise overnight sensation and is now an annual MVP candidate and the face of the Outlaws franchise for the next seven years.
#2 Max Scherzer
Acquired: 2005 midseason free agent draft, round 5
Trade: (2006) Scherzer and Ray Durham to Corona for Jay Bruce
With my fifth (and last) pick in the mid-year "farm draft" in 2005, I took a gamble on a college sophomore from the University of Missouri. A little more than a year later, in the middle of my first-ever losing season, I traded Durham to the contending Corona franchise in exchange for top prospect Jay Bruce. It was a sensible trade, given that Durham was a star who could help a contending team, and Bruce was the type of prospect a rebuilding team like my own would covet.
...But why on earth did I "throw in" Scherzer? Beats me.
Bruce became a top-ten prospect in 2007, and was the #1 prospect in baseball in 2008. Naturally, by the time he finally reached the big leagues, I had traded him, too! Meanwhile, Scherzer was traded yet again in 2008 before he finally settled in with the Atlanta Fire Ants organization. He pitched five seasons in Atlanta before the Cowtippers reacquired him in 2014 as a free agent at the bargain-basement salary of $14 million. To date, he has won 130 games with a 3.55 ERA. He won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2016 and 2017 -- one in the OL, the other in the EL.
#1 Justin Verlander
Acquired: 2003 farm draft, 8th round
Trade: (2003) Verlander and Scott Shields to Akron for Guillermo Mota and Kris Honel
Verlander was only a sophomore at Old Dominion University when I drafted him in 2003. I took one look at the numbers he was posting and decided he was worth a flier. Less than three months later, I traded him during an apparently hypnotic haze. I honestly can't remember why I traded him. I recall Shields got off to a terrible start (10+ IP, 16 H, 12 ER), and Mota (12 IP, 14 H, 7 ER) wasn't doing so hot for Akron, either. So D.J. and I were trading one problem child for another.
Mota (53 IP, 2.89 ERA) pitched pretty well as a Cowtipper, but Shields (40 IP, 1.80 ERA) pitched even better for Akron. If the trade had ended there, I'd say it made sense for both sides, but Akron definitely got the better end of the deal (especially since Shields was $1.5 million cheaper.)
So, why "throw in" Verlander and Honel? I suppose at the time, Honel was the better bet to have a stellar career. He was ranked #73 on Baseball America's top prospects list, and was coming off a season at Low-A in which he struck out 152 batters in 153+ innings as a 19-year-old, with a peachy 2.82 ERA. Maybe the thinking was that Honel-for-Verlander would make up that $1.5 million difference...in favor of Salem?
The rest, as they say, is history. To date, Verlander has won 165 games in his twelve-year BDBL career (nine of them with Akron), with a 3.65 ERA. He won a Cy Young award in 2012, and will undoubtedly be named to the BDBL Hall of Fame once he retires, wearing an Akron cap. Honel, meanwhile, never threw a pitch in the BDBL.
***
Just for giggles, here is what our team would look like today if only I hadn't been such an idiot and kept the prospects we gave away for nothing:
C: Francisco Cervelli
1B: Matt Olson
2B: Jose Ramirez
3B: Kris Bryant / Alex Bregman
SS: Carlos Correa / Trea Turner
LF: Michael Conforto
CF: Aaron Hicks / Stephen Piscotty
RF: Aaron Judge
P: Max Scherzer
P: Justin Verlander
P: Stephen Strasburg
P: Gerrit Cole
P: Aaron Nola
