Blue Jays Ink Former Cy Young



Toronto -- The Blue Jays reached an agreement with 34-year old left-handed starting pitcher Albert Gonzalez on Saturday. The deal guarentees the pitcher $70 million for the next four years, and included a $5 million signing bonus this season.

Gonzalez spent his first four seasons with the Cleveland Dobys before being shipped to Nashville during Season Five. He is 84-46 with a 3.46 ERA lifetime, has 62 complete games and 951 career strikeouts. Gonzalez won the American League Cy Young in Seasons One and Four and has been an All-Star three times. He will most likely follow reigning NL Cy Young Clay Stoops in the Jays' rotation.

Season Five Awards Recap

For those of you who are new to 23Mattingly23, or for the others who just didn't care to look, a recap of the regular season award winners from last year.

American League MVP -- Albert O’Neill, RF, Durham Bombers
Screw the electric car, screw natural gas, the only power needed in Durham is the bat of five-time all-star outfielder Albert O’Neill. En route to claiming his first-ever MVP award O’Neill was the catalyst behind the Bombers’ vaunted offense and the American League’s second best regular season record. A slugger in every sense of the word, O’Neill pounded 75 homeruns in season five and narrowly missed breaking his single season record of 79. He finished with a career high 212 RBIs and 159 runs scored while hitting .340 in 160 games. Signed through season 10, O’Neill should continue to be the bane of 23Mattingly23 pitchers for quite some time.

National League MVP – Johan Chouinard, 1B, Dover Destroyers
At 23 years old most players are looking for the chance to break into a major league lineup. Johan Chouinard, however, has loftier expectations after becoming the National League’s second back-to-back MVP winner. Chouinard raked to a .351 batting average and stole a career-high 54 bases while leading Dover to 118 regular season wins and its first-ever trip to the World Series. Despite a dip in power, the first baseman still ripped 31 homers and 33 doubles while slugging .671 in 131 games. He also scored 137 runs and drove in 123 men, and worked 95 base on balls, his third straight season with at least 90 walks.

American League Cy Young – Ray Peterson, RHP, Nashville Karma
As a 33-year old Peterson turned in one of the finest pitching seasons on record in 23Mattingly23, compiling 22 wins while losing only one time in 34 starts. His ERA of 2.19 ranks him second all-time for a single season, trailing only the immortal Benji Guerrero’s 1.87 ERA in season 4. Behind the strength of his sinker-slider combination Peterson posted a career high 164 strikeouts against 71 walks a season ago, and held opposing hitters to a .204 batting average. The righty also won his only post-season appearance for the 118-win Karma, throwing six innings of one-run ball in a win versus Texas in the Divisional Championship round.

National League Cy Young – Clay Stoops, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
In his second full season in the bigs the Jays’ Clay Stoops learned to stand tall, racking up 22 wins and a paltry 3.21 ERA in 33 starts. Although he does not boast a power arm, Stoops still managed to post a 3 to 1 K/BB ratio in 244 innings pitched while holding opposing hitters to a .246 avg. At just 27, the Jays’ ace makes next to nothing, and should be the face of the franchise as Toronto pushes Dover for the NL North crown in years to come.

American League Rookie of the Year – Carl Abercrombie, RHP, Vancouver Steelhead, (tie) Gus Dong, 1B, Texas Half-Shell Possums
What’s better than having one Rookie of the Year? How about two. The sportswriters of 23Mattingly23 handed out a split decision following the season, voting pitcher Carl “I buy pre-ripped jeans for $100” Abercrombie and first baseman Gus “home of the long” Dong co-winners.

Abercrombie emerged from Vancouver’s bullpen with a 1.87 ERA and locked down 41 of 43 save tries in his first campaign; impressive, considering the club won just 72 games a season ago. The righty also limited opposing hitters to a .166 average and walked just 11 men, while striking out 48 in 57.2 innings pitched.

Dong, who admitted to growing tired of the jokes referencing male genitalia by the All-Star break, certainly never tired of dropping bombs (57 of them, to be exact) for the Half-Shell Possums. After terrorizing minor league pitching for four seasons, diminutive slugger hit .275 and drove in 154 runs in 144 regular season games and led the upstart Texas club to its first-ever ALCS appearance. At 5’9” and 222 pounds Dong is certainly built like a Possum, so it’s fitting that he’ll be leading the Texas attack for the foreseeable future.

National League Rookie of the Year – Alberto Moreno, RHP, Tacoma Rolling Rocks
Lying in wait while Edge Granger’s career ran its course, Moreno finally seized the opportunity to anchor the Rocks’ bullpen in season Five and made the most of his time. In 73 games he racked up 43 saves in 57 chances (.754%) and also totaled six wins while striking out 83 batters in 95.2 innings. Despite giving up 17 big-flies, he maintained a 3.57 ERA and limited opposing batters to a .235 average.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

“Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f**k the prom queen.” With that in mind, I have compiled a list of 23Mattingly23’s all-time winners and losers through the world’s first five seasons.

The Winners

1. Tacoma Rolling Rocks (516-294, .637)

Unluckycharm and his band of merry men have averaged more than 100 wins per season, have been division champs all five seasons, and captured two World Championships (S1, S3). The Rocks have always been buoyed by one of the world’s top pitching staffs, anchored by RHP Benji Guerrero, who has nearly one-fifth of the team’s wins (97).

2. Sioux Falls Six Guns (513-297, .633)

Also averaging 100+ wins for the first five years, The Six Guns outpaced two of the league’s best records to claim the franchise’s first World Series title in Season Five. Sioux Falls had previously held the world’s all-time single season wins record (113, S3) until Dover and Nashville (Now Charlotte) both recorded 118 victories in Season 5.

3. Durham Bombers (503-307, .621)

Durham claimed a franchise-best 115 wins last season, but again failed to advance to the World Series. 23Mattingly23’s most storied offense has continually produced 100 wins a year behind the able bats of sluggers Pedro Posada (.348, 295 HR, 768 RBI), Albert O’Neill (.316, 334 HR, 882 RBI), and George Gipson (.304, 180 HR, 535 RBI).

4. Dover Destroyers (485-325, .599)

The Destroyers claimed the franchise’s third consecutive NL North title with a record-tying 118 victories in season five, but came up short in the team’s first World Series appearance. Dover, however, will continue to press for a championship with a solid core of young players including perennial all-star and reigning NL MVP Johan Chouinard, who enters Season Six with a career .353 batting average at the tender age of 23.

5. Atlanta Anglers (457-353, .564)

After spending three mediocre seasons in San Juan under the guidance of LIGHTSOUT16, a change in ownership and a move north to Atlanta has produced 107 and 96 wins, respectively, in two seasons for jokerfuel and his Anglers. The franchise has made one World Series appearance, a seven-game loss to Nashville in Season Four, and has never finished worse than second in the National League East.


The Losers

1. Pittsburgh Polar Penguins (268-542, .331)

Five Seasons, five owners, and only once has the franchise tasted life outside of the deep, dark, cellar of the National League East. Futility has been the largest asset of the now-Pittsburgh club, which lost 144 games a year ago, its third 100+ loss season. The road will be long and winding for pengoman as he tries to right this ship, and thanks to a disaster in Minnesota the franchise won’t even get the benefit of the top pick in the Season Six amateur draft.

2. Honolulu Thong Inspectors (276-534, .341)

Usually horrible, the panty patrol may not be far from making 100-loss seasons a thing of the past. After surpassing the franchise’s previous best of 56 wins with a 72 victory campaign last season, new owner hombre48 has a plethora of high draft picks to lead the islanders toward respectability in seasons to come.

3. San Francisco Seals (293-517, .362)

A playoff team in Seattle during the world’s first season, the franchise spent two unsuccessful years in Los Angeles and endured a 50 win season in Boise before being rescued by 7300heisman taken to shelter in San Francisco. Winning 73 games a year ago, the Seals have a wealth of young talent to build around and an owner who seems to know what he’s doing. All signs point to trouble for AL West opponents.

4. New York Crime Spree (306-504, .378)

Five straight last-place finishes and a 116 loss cherry on top meant that not one denizen of the land o’ lakes went to the airport to see the franchise off during the offseason. With a fresh start in New Jack City and new skipper rls1 at the helm, the beleaguered club hopes can only hope that for once, they get a view from anywhere other than the bottom.

5. Cheyenne New York (324-486, .400)

Possibly confused about where, exactly, they are, the Colorado/Cheyenne New York are rarely horrendous, but never very good. With four seasons of 90-plus losses in Colorado, bentschnride packed up his pitching staff and moved to Cheyenne after Season five. If nothing else, the move should at least limit the number of trips Cheyenne’s skipper will have to make to mound to remove a bedraggled pitcher.