JAKE KESTLE - THE VANCOUVER YEARS
Intro and 2001 season
by Caitlen Sullivan
Jake Kestle returned to his hometown, Austin, Texas, in November 2000 as a free agent after the Baltimore Monarchs did not re-sign the lefty who it felt had turned in two disappointing years in a row; his overall production in 7 years as the Monarch's only southpaw starter was a 66-78, 4.303 ERA. The 160-pound Kestle was known for his average stamina, which resulted in innings/start sometimes in the high 5's (
) and ofttimes a low amount of decisions. His strengths included his five-pitch selection, high groundball pct, great movement and control. Above all that, perhaps dogged determination, characteristic of the hardy early Texas settlers, determined to create a civilization in what was northern Mexico, and whose cries of liberty...whoops, wrong story.Austin, Texas, 23 Dec 2000
But Jake was standing on his front porch at 11am on a 68 degree day on the third day of winter, yelling out "Wilson! Wilson!" No one inside the house budged. His thoughts turned from the movie he had seen the night before to the globe he had bought his daughter for a school assignment. He turned it slowly, looking at the wide-open blue spaces to see just where Tom Hanks's character might have crash landed. "Wilson!" he cried. He spun the globe to Baltimore, Maryland, then to Austin, then he slowly turned it, clockwise, his blue eyes fixed on the equator. The phone call came when he noticed that Austin was farther south than Cairo, Egypt. "Jake!" a voice called from inside. "Wilson!" Jake said, setting the globe down.
The Vancouver Mounties needed a starter. Specifically a Number 3 guy. Despite winning its second straight Landis Championship, it had done so, ultimately, without Ben 'Martini' Walsh, whose late season injury, Vancouver GM Joe Geoghegan was informing Kestle over the phone, had turned into a career-ender. "Our team's in disarray," Geoghegan said, in his manner of overstating things.
"Pack ya bags. Ya coming to Vancouver in a couple months," Geoghegan said. And Kestle faxed back the signed agreement for $26m over 4 years and then cried: "Wilson!"
Geoghegan was in his sixth year as Mounties' GM. He had been hired to excavate the club after a 58-104 record the first year of the league's restart. And although Vancouver lost 100 games the next season, the GM had begun to cash in on his team's Round 1 draft picks of Walsh (1995), Sargent (1995), Jason Egan (1997), Christian Nichols (1998)...
Even hockey fans were trading for Silent Bob cards, and anyway they weren't all that convinced the Canucks 17-10 start that December would hold up: the previous Spring the team had failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for a record 4th year in a row.
As for the Austinite, he packed his Samsonite, bought a new winter jacket, and headed for Raincouver. "Damn," he said, "Canada? That's north of Egypt."
2001 - The newbie settles into success
Kestle has been hired to replace Ben 'Martini' Walsh. In 2000, Walsh, 27, Shane Wookey, 29, Sargent, 23, and sophomore William Govea, 23, combined for a 67-33 record, while Egan, 25, notched 40 saves for the second time. The position players included Juan Castaneda, Brock 'Bomber' Lee, Arturo Gutiérrez, Douglas 'Chow' Newhouse, Nick Mannerden, Matt Brunson, Ewan Olsen, and David 'Magician' Blaine.
The 2001 campaign to pacify the Pacific did not go as planned. The 29-year-old Kestle could not up his game a notch and got off to a mediocre start.
Arriving on a team that had won two straight crowns must have been unsettling to Kestle. By July 1, it was Geoghegan who was unsettled as his two-peat Mounties were hovering at .500:
A month later, August 1, the defending champs were 52-57, and all three of Vancouver's JLP rivals had taken turns in first place. After that the Mounties rallied for 31 victories in 44 games and were four games up with nine to play:scottsdale_joe wrote:...General Manager Joe Geoghegan said “We’re definitely hurting from the loss of Jimmie Joe Janero and Ben Walsh to career ending injuries. And the inexplicable collapse of the bullpen has made winning a much tougher task that over the last two years.”
“...We’ll see how Christian Nichols and Jake Kestle fare over the second half before deciding on a rotation strategy for next season. Jason Egan will anchor the pen for years to come, but we may have to make some moves there for 2002.”
scottsdale_joe wrote:The starting rotation has been a work in progress all year. No worries about the top two spots with Shane Wookey and Robbie Sargent pitching magnificently. At number three Jake Kestle was inconsistent at best over the first half but has been steady since. Four and five have been revolving door situations. Rookie Christian Nichols, John Flaskamper (a bulwark last year), and Bill Govea (15-11 last season) couldn’t get it done.
Kestle had started 9-10 but eventually he and Mayes both won their last 5 decisions, helping Vancouver to a third-straight JLP title, as it finished 3 over Valencia and 4 over California (Hawai'i slid to 16 back). Alas, Vancouver could not three-peat (the Mounties lost to Madison in the Doubleday; Kestle's former team Baltimore also lost in the first round).scottsdale_joe wrote:Losing Walsh to a CEI hurt the most. He was the team's top strikeout pitcher and a potential 20 game winner. With him at #3 behind Wookey & Sargent, I doubt there was a better top three in the league. Jake Kestle became #3 and is finally settling in, it seems. The emergence of Tom Mayes in the rotation has been little short of startling (and totally unexpected). Trying him was a long shot that has paid off nicely.
Geoghegan's passed out year-end grades:
Upon inspection, 2001 was Kestle's best year by far. He topped 2000 innings for only the second time in his eight-year career (221.3). For the first time, he allowed less hits than innings (220 hits). Ironically, he walked a higher number (70) than usual, but still finished with a career-best WHIP, 1.31. His 3.94 ERA was the second lowest in his career and only 4 points off the team ERA. It was 46 points below the league ERA.scottsdale_joe wrote:Jake Kestle – Jake was signed as a free agent for big bucks to replace the injured Ben Walsh. Formerly with Baltimore, he pitched more innings this year than he has in any year previously. Inconsistent over the first half, he settled in nicely and was a solid contributor in the Mounties’ second half turnaround. He finished up at 14-10. grade = B
I'm not sure what Geoghegan saw in Kestle (66-78 career W-L) when he signed him as a free agent. Nor do I have any idea of the free agent situation in that off-season. But, in hindsight, to go out and grab Kestle was a great move, especially with the gaping vacancy left by Walsh and the inability of Nichols, Govea, and Flaskamper) to get it done. Flaskamper? Um, did the league have GM-named ammys back then?
But as much as Jake rallied in 2001, and if partial credit is due him for the Mounties winning the JLP for the third year in a row...even so, perhaps as much "credit" should go his way in 2002 for the team's failure to even reach the playoffs...
Stay tuned.
And remember to yell...
