Jake Kestle 1b - the Baltimore Years, fini

[Al-Hoot]

Part 2 of a multi-part series.


PART 01B - Baltimore Years 2 (1997-2000)

In 1997 Baltimore finished 96-66, tied with Greenville for the JLA lead. After winning the one-game tie-breaker, Baltimore later drank down the Moonshiners 4 games to 3 in the Cartwright and returned to the LMS for the first time in ten years. The pitching staff, including Jake Kestle, 25, his day-younger Aquarian star mate Cordero, Larry Lasalle, 27, and Rick Cushing, 23, combined for a 57 wins. Those four players started 34, 33, 33, and 33 games, respectively. A 19-year-old rookie, Ramon Baca, pitched 10 ML innings; teammates in 1997-98 with Baltimore, Baca and Kestle would reunite in Hawai'i a decade later, in 2007–when Greenville and Baltimore again tied after 162 games.

Going by Innings Pitched, Kestle was the #4 man in the rotation in 97. He won a game more than the previous year and finished 13-8, 3.76. Kestle threw 22 of 33 starts for Quality Starts. The obvious .667 QS% placed 8th in the JL. He threw a career-high 196.3 innings and started 4 games in the post-season, to which we now turn.

"The Hunt for Red October"
The only forum mention for Kestle in 1997 comes in a Doubleday Playoff Series review by the Madison GM:

It's been a long six years since the Wolves managed to produce a winning season and have made the playoffs...the Wolves make ready to invade Baltimore and face the JL best Monarchs in a seven game series. Based on record, this looks like a mismatch, but considering how the teams finished in the last two months - Madison at 31-23 and Baltimore at 25-31 (including a dreadful 9-18 in September) - things are not as bad as they seem...

That said, it's pitching that really separates the two teams. Baltimore's top four of Lasalle, Cordero, Kestle, and Cushing are clearly superior to Madison's Foodie, Walton, recent waiver claim Cisneros, and the recently signed John Davis. On second thought, on paper, this is still a mismatch. The Wolves have to be hoping that the Monarchs will continue their bad stretch of September into the playoffs.

Cushing defeated his former team as Baltimore swept Madison.

Kestle started four games in the postseason, going 2-1, 4.57. It was the first playoff experience for Kestle. He would appear again in 1999 and 2000 for the M's. (Yes I did just call them that.) And in 2001 for the other M's, the Mounties. But it was not until 2003 that he again pitched effectively in the postseason.

The Monarchs started a run in which they finished first in 17 out of 19 seasons.

1998 - Kestle 2nd on team in wins
Manny Manuel became the third Baltimore GM in three years. He lasted one season.

In a season preview of the JLA (Links not in original ), third-year Mounties GM Joe Geoghegan began

The defending champion Monarchs won the division by a single game last year. The starting rotation is very strong. Javy Cordero, Rick Cushing, Jake Kestle, and Larry Lasalle won 57 games between them last year while losing only 36. Finding a reliable fifth starter should be their only problem. Alex Kapranos saved 44 games but he blew 10 saves and lost seven games as well. His ERA of 5.10 was not awe inspiring. The heir to his closer position is 20-year-old Enrique Reyna, but is he ready?

and ended

Baltimore and Greenville will challenge for the title once again with Baltimore prevailing once again. Louisville doesn’t look strong enough to stay as close as last year. Washington will have to settle for last once again.

Greenville won the JLA by 6 over Baltimore. Baltimore's GM was replaced.

Jake Kestle won a game more than the previous year and finished 14-12. As the bona fide #3 starter, his ERA jumped 60 points to 4.35. This was 0.13 higher than the team but .05 lower than the league. For the second year in a row he ranked 7th in Groundball% and among the Top 6 in...Sacrifice Hits. Ahhh, them good old pre-dh years. Speaking of which, Robert Jowers played his first full season for Baltimore in 98. Kestle and Jowers played for the Monarchs in 1995-2000, and with Hawai'i in 2006-2011.

1999 - Another new GM ushers in a "New Age of Baltimore"
Yes, I know, this is almost becoming a history of the M's. Except no one is gonna call them that except me, and I already don't like it—but it's shorter to type. Anyway, the Baltimore Years end after 2000 for Kestle.

Versatile GM Nigel Laverick took over after Baltimore's failure to repeat in 1998; he became the fourth GM in as many years. Inheriting a young, talented team, he ushered in what he called a "New Age of Baltimore."

So here we are Bobby just days away from the start of the 1999 Spring Training, you’ve been here almost three months already – how do you feel it’s gone so far?
It’s certainly been busy but I’m relatively happy with the business the organisation has managed to do during my time. Since we last spoke...I’m also very pleased to have locked up two of our main pitchers, Lasalle and Kestle, for another year; we might have saved money by going the arbitration route but we wanted to show them how much the organisation valued them by getting their future sorted right away.

Spring Training is about to start, have you a team in mind or is it all up for grabs?
I don’t intend to make any changes to the rotation so it’s likely to be Lasalle, Kestle, Cordero, Cushing and [Xavier] Escriba... [Enrique] Reyna and [Carl] Gabbard will compete for the closer role.

Lasalle, Kestle, Cordero, Cushing is becoming a familiar list. Note also the second straight pre-season (1998, 1999) mention of Reyna, who would not truly break into the majors until 2001.

Laverick gave a more-detailed run-down of the 1999 rotation. Of Kestle, he remarks:

Welcome to the 1999 preview of the Baltimore Monarchs (pitchers edition). The team is coming off the back of a 83-79 season in which they came second to the Greenville Moonshiners but failed to claim a wildcard berth.

1999 Rotation

Jake Kestle – sixth year in the Monarchs rotation, he has compiled a 46-45 record in 143 starts with a 4.26 ERA. Last season pitched a career high 202.2 innings and was rewarded with a career best 14 wins
Spring Training: 5 GS 0-0, 2.35 ERA

After an 18-9 April, Laverick reports:

Can we keep this up in May?
Butch Henry should be looking over his shoulder at what the boy’s are doing down at [Triple-A] Washington. They’re chomping at the bit for a call-up and Kestle ought to make sure that his shiny new $6m contract doesn’t drag him there, a 6.08 ERA is not what the Monarchs expect from their No.3 guy, we’ve got a new free agent signee, Carlos Reyes, down there who’d love a shot back in the MBBA

Kestle righted his ERA for the rest of the season (4.24 all told), but he fell off to 11 wins, lowest of the Big Four starters. Lasalle won 19, Cushing 17, and Cordero 12.

Kestle compiled 193.3 innings, also lowest of the Big Four (5.86 Innings/Start in 33 starts). His 4.24 ERA was highest of the Four, 29 points higher than the staff as a whole, but again just better than the JL mark (4.16).

This was the third season in a row for Kestle to grab 33 starts. But Laverick would call Kestle's 1999 output "disappointing." Perhaps that's because league records show that Kestle saw only $4.4m of "shiny new $6m contract."

2000 - Kestle says good-bye to the rotation and to Baltimore
Sophomore Greenville GM Jeff Kloes, no doubt wanting a closer look at his JLA rival, previewed the 2000 Monarchs staff:

Starting Pitching
Larry Lasalle had an incredible season, winning 18 games and becoming the recipient of the Steve Nebraska Golden Arm Award. He looks to improve on his 1999 performance by winning 20 games for the first time in his career.

Javy Cordero is also coming off a career year, at least by ERA standards. With a 1999 ERA of just over 3, Cordero is a solid #2 or #3 starter on any team.

Rick Cushy, probably one of the best underrated pitchers in the league, a solid 8 year veteran had an incredible breakout year winning 17 games, a career high.

The newcomer Cory Haim, had an off year in limited play in 1999 with the Greenville Moonshiners. He ended up finishing strong after filling in a starting spot at the end of the year for a playoff run that fell short for the Shiners last year. He looks to solidify his starting role this year with the Monarchs.

Rounding out the starting rotation you have the only southpaw on the entire pitching staff in Jack Kestle. Nothing spectacular, but a solid number 5 or spot starter. He had a ERA in the mid 4's last season and finished with 11 wins.

The bullpen is solid, the big question mark is whether or not Simon Degree will be able to continue his success after his breakout 28 save season

What, no mention of Reyna? Thank you, Jeff.

Meanwhile, Laverick gave his rundown of the starters after Spring Training:

...Cory Haim was the Monarchs major free agent signing, arriving from rivals Greenville on a six-year $38.9m contract and he was guaranteed a rotation spot behind ace Larry Lasalle and Rick Cushing (17-6 in 1999). So fighting for the last two rotation spots were Jake Kestle (11-13, 4.24 ERA in 1999), Javy Cordero (12-9, 3.06) and Xavier Escriba, who had been in the rotation for the first time in 1999 ending up 9-10 with a 5.43 ERA. Also sniffing at a spot were two young guns out of Triple A Washington, Sean Jones who had a single game cup of coffee in 1999 and Richard Wang who pitched 10 innings in relief in the MBBA in 1998.

The results after Spring Training? In a post I find fun to read:

The pitching battle turned out a surprise winner in the end, Wang at 1-1, 2.25 ERA in two starts was close, Jones 0-2 and 5.06 was a bit off the pace while Cordero’s one start resulted in a no-decision and a 9.00 ERA. Kestle was 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in two starts while Escriba, considered so much of an outsider that he had eight relief appearances going 1-0, begged so much to try out that he ended with two starts going 2-0 and finishing with a 2.01 spring training ERA. Finally management announced that Cordero’s strong 1999 showing had won him the No.4 slot over Kestle and that Escriba’s enthusiasm and 25 K’s to 5 walks ratio in 22 IP had shaded out Kestle and his disappointing 1999 for the last slot. Jake Kestle after four years in the Monarch's rotation would have to simmer and share the spot relief job with John Leaks while awaiting the first slip-up from the chosen five.

I thought Kestle had already been in the rotation for six years. At any rate, wow, Kestle failed to make the starting rotation. But that wouldn't last the season, thanks to a slip-up, that is, an elbow fracture to Cushing in June.

Kestle got 11 relief appearances before tallying 19 starts (third-highest on the team after Lasalle and Haim). His ERA "ballooned" to 4.71, only 5 points lower than his rookie year. Kestle finished 9-10 with a career-high 1.50 WHIP. Despite this, as the Number 3 or 4 man, Kestle got a start in the postseason.

Cordero went 6-8, and nearly matched Jake's ERA with a 4.74 mark. The team finished 98-64. Lasalle won 23 for his second-straight Golden Arm Award (he won again in 2002: is he in the HOF?).

Despite the Monarchs highest win total since 1986, the season was "a disappointment."

Baltimore finished first for the third time in four years. In both 1999 and 2000 the MBBA Champion Vancouver Mounties defeated the Monarchs in the Doubleday Series.

As for those series, in 99 Kestle had a 3+ inning relief appearance and in 2000, he got a start against the Mounties: going 5.6 innings and allowing 4 runs; he didn't lose the game.

After this Laverick left town.

And so did Kestle—to Vancouver!


Summary: Kestle had win totals of 1, 6, 12, 13, 14, 11, and 9 in seven seasons with the Monarchs. As a rookie, he pitched 121 innings, in 2000 he pitched 122.3 after starting the year in the bullpen. In between, as the team's #3, 4, or 5 starter, he averaged 184 innings pitched. He was 2-1 in the 1997 postseason, when Baltimore made the Landis for the first time in ten years. And although the Monarchs turned its franchise around in the Kestle Years, it remained without an LMS Trophy.

In 2001, Nick Verhoeven took over as general manager and guided the team to first place in the JLA each year except 2007 (when Baltimore scored 1009 runs). That year, Baltimore and Greenville again tied for first, as they had in 97; but this time the Shiners won the one-game tie-breaker. By then, Kestle was on Hawai'i for his third year. But this series turns next to The Vancouver Years (2001-2004).


END OF PART 01 - The Baltimore Years.

[trmmilwwi]

Very,very, VERY well done Al!! Loving the history.. and why isn't Lasalle in the hall? He clearly has to be better than Mays Hayes!

[nverhoev]

Agreed. Great read. It's still amazing to me that the M's (I like that and I'm going to start using it) were in such good shape despite the amount of GM turnover before I took over. I really wish Kestle had been extended instead of being allowed to leave to Vancouver. Baltimore has always been a little short on pitching.

Also agree with Tim that Lasalle needs to be in the hall.... but that's another argument for another day.