tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62625152608289032612023-11-15T10:19:26.277-08:00The Joey Belle Timesdavidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.comBlogger316125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-77413085281405484442012-08-09T16:46:00.000-07:002012-08-09T16:46:28.500-07:00The Blog Is BackAfter a few seasons on hiatus, the Joey Belle Times is back in business. I'm going to try to keep the blog updated frequently with news and notes on our league and I welcome any suggestions for content that you may have.<br />
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We are at the mid-point of the free agent signing period and there are some interesting developments just a couple of days away.<br />
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Where will Jesus Gomez end up after his max contract with Syracuse? How high will the bidding go on top pitching free agents Wanatabe, Frascatore and Cerda? <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16091772450448063699noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-20891750794999425392011-08-29T17:44:00.000-07:002011-08-29T18:01:39.288-07:00Week 5 Power Rankings<strong>1. San Diego Surf Babies(71-42)--</strong>The Surf Babies have taken over the overall best record in Belle as well as the top spot in the power rankings!
<br />Previously Ranked:6th(+5)
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<br /><strong>2. New York Necromancers(70-43)--</strong>New York has had a hard time scoring runs consistently recently. If they can't get that figured out then they will have a hard time being a true contender for the World Series.
<br />Previously Ranked: 1st(-1)
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<br /><strong>3. Jacksonville Jinxed(67-46)--</strong>The Jinxed have been playing excellent ball as of late and have climbed 6 spots in the power rankings as a result!
<br />Previously Ranked: 9th(+6)
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<br /><strong>4. Cleveland Katanas(67-46)--</strong>Cleveland has been playing excellent baseball as well. That coupled with some poor baseball recently by the Revenge has jumped Cleveland back into a tie atop the AL East. This could be an excellent race to watch.
<br />Previously Ranked: 8th(+4)
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<br /><strong>5. San Juan Senators(65-48)--</strong>The Senators have stayed pretty steady for the most part of this season. They continue to go as far as their excellent pitching staff will take them.
<br />Previously Ranked: 7th(+2)
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<br /><strong>6. Washington D.C. Revenge(67-46)--</strong>The Revenge have fallen on some tough times here recently, but there's no reason to think they won't rebound and make a very nice race for the AL East title.
<br />Previously Ranked: 2nd(-4)
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<br /><strong>7. Oakland Surenos(67-46)--</strong>Oakland has a very good offense leading them atop the NL West. They will have to try and fend off the upstart Scottsdale team who has a very good offense of their own!
<br />Previously Ranked: 3rd(-3)
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<br /><strong>8. Salem Goonies(66-47)--</strong>The Goonies are led by an incredible offense who has to be taken seriously as they march towards the playoffs.
<br />Previously Ranked: 5th(-3)
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<br /><strong>9. Chicago Free Swingers(65-48)--</strong>Chicago has falled on some tough times trying to get their offense going a little more. Hopefully the friendly confines of Wrigley will help when their team is up to bat.
<br />Previously Ranked: 4th(-5)
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<br /><strong>10. Little Rock Pebbles(63-50)--</strong>The Pebbles continue to play very good, steady baseball as they stay atop their division and in the power rankings.
<br />Previously Ranked: 10th(E)davidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-35547075166685074002011-08-17T10:47:00.000-07:002011-08-17T11:27:44.630-07:00Power Rankings for Week 41. New York Necromancers(59-27)--The Necromancers are led by a dominant pitching staff that has been stellar in the first half of Season 21. They continue to have one of the top defenses in the world as well.
<br />Previously Ranked: 2nd(+1)
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<br />2. Washington D.C. Revenge(56-30)--The defending champs keep getting better and better as this season goes on. They have a top 5 offense as well as pitching staff. They will be strong favorites to get back to the World Series at this point.
<br />Previously Ranked: 5th(+3)
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<br />3. Oakland Surenos(53-33)--Oakland has been playing some great baseball. They have been one of the hottest teams in Belle led by an awesome offense.
<br />Previously Ranked: 10th(+7)
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<br />4. Chicago Free Swingers(51-35)--The Free Swingers continue to hang around in the highly competitive NL North. They have a great fielding team to help support a very good pitching staff.
<br />Previously Ranked: 6th(+2)
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<br />5. Salem Goonies(53-33)--The Goonies continue to crush the ball. They easily have the best offense in Belle this season.
<br />Previously Ranked:9th(+4)
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<br />6. San Diego Surf Babies(51-35)--The Surf Babies are lead by a great pitching staff as they continue to battle for the AL West division.
<br />Previously Ranked: 4th(-2)
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<br />7. San Juan Senators(49-37)--San Juan hit a little bit of a rough patch, but they should get it back together and make a nice run towards the playoffs and division title.
<br />Previously Ranked: 1st(-6)
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<br />8. Cleveland Katanas(49-37)--The Katanas have jumped into the Power Rankings for the first time this season. They have been playing solid all-around baseball. They have a top 10 pitching staff with an offense that is quickly playing better and better.
<br />Previously Ranked: NR
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<br />9. Jacksonville Jinxed(50-36)--The Jinxed continue to play as well as their pitching and fielding will allow them too. If they can get a better offense going this team will be one to worry about.
<br />Previously Ranked: 7th(-2)
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<br />10. Little Rock Pebbles(46-40)--Little Rock is also making their Season 21 debut on the Power Rankings. This team is lead by an awesome offense that has a very capable pitching staff behind it.
<br />Previously Ranked: NR
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<br />Dropping out: Columbus Criminals, Syracuse Saltine Warriors
<br />davidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-19563873330339425172011-08-02T08:47:00.000-07:002011-08-02T09:15:29.484-07:00Power Rankings for Week 2!1. San Juan Senators(28-17)--The Senators have been playing some great baseball to vault themselves up into the top spot in the Power Rankings. Led by a top 3 offense the Senators have jumped out to a 6 game lead in their division.<br />Previously Ranked: 8th(+7)<br /><br />2. New York Necromancers(29-16)--The Necromancers rode a 12 game winning streak at the beginning of week 2 here in Joey Belle, but they have come back down to earth since then playing .500 ball. They are playing in possibly the best division in Joey Belle so they will need to get their bats swinging more consistently if they hope to finally win this division.<br />Previously Ranked: 1st(-1)<br /><br />3. Columbus Criminals(28-17)--Columbus is sitting awfully pretty with a 9 game lead in their division already. Obviously the class of the division so far, if they can keep up with their pitching they will run away with the division.<br />Previously Ranked: 2nd(-1)<br /><br />4. San Diego Surf Babies(28-17)--The Surf Babies have vaulted themselves past mighty Salem here in the early going. They have a very good pitching staff so far and they will have to continue that if San Diego hopes to topple Salem from the top spot by season's end.<br />Previously Ranked: NR<br /><br />5. Washington D.C. Revenge(28-17)--Wasthington continues to stay atop their division this season so far. They have a slim 3 game lead over Scranton. They have a top 5 offense and top 10 pitching staff so far in their bid to try and repeat as World Series Champions!<br />Previously Ranked: 6th(+1)<br /><br />6. Chicago Free Swingers(27-18)--Chicago, along with San Juan, have been the hottest team in Joey Belle here in week 2 of the season. That has vaunted them into 2nd place breathing down the necks of New York in the NL North.<br />Previously Ranked: NR<br /><br />7. Jacksonville Jinxed(27-18)--The Jinxed are lead by a good pitching staff and an even better defense here in the early going. If they can find a way to score more runs consistently this is a team that will run away with their division if everything stays as it is now.<br />Previously Ranked: NR<br /><br />8. Syracuse Saltine Warriors(26-19)--Syracuse is the 3rd team from the NL North in the Power Rankings. They are only 3 games back in this very competitive division. Their offense should start putting numbers a little more consistently which should put everyone in the NL on notice.<br />Previously Ranked: NR<br /><br />9. Salem Goonies(26-19)--The Goonies continue to slug the ball better than anyone else in the majors. If this team can get their pitching straightened out some then the rest of the world may not even have a chance.<br />Previously Ranked: 5th(-4)<br /><br />10. Oakland Surenos(26-19)--The Surenos are locked in a tie atop the NL West right now. They have been playing very good baseball and should be in contention all season long fighting for their division as well as the wild card race.<br />Previously Ranked: 9th(-1)<br /><br />Dropping out: Pawtucket Slater Paws, Ottawa Ice, Scottsdale Valley Vipers, and Scranton Stranglersdavidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-69059925594159548552011-07-27T19:33:00.000-07:002011-07-27T19:35:07.760-07:00Hall of Fame votesThought it might be cool to see how the final HOF votes ended up. Here is the list:<br />Joe Rivera 23<br />Juan Romero 16<br />Luis Piedra 11<br />Phil Kimura 10<br />Steven Vaughn 10<br />Rico Nunez 10<br />Alex Ramirez 7<br />Charles Bottalico 4<br />Pat Yamamoto 4<br />Lee Brooks 3<br />Jon Prokopec 3<br />Willie Magadan 3<br />Dwight Long 2<br />Hong-Jin Kobayashi 2<br />Lawrence Simpson 2<br />Valerio Santana 1<br />Martin Clifton 1<br />Charles Yamamoto 1<br />Darrell Womack 1<br />Ben Cortes 1<br />Al Kingman 1<br />Kelly Lewis 1<br />Jim Patterson 1<br />Harry Rodrigo 1davidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-74183171086425902962011-07-24T17:52:00.000-07:002011-07-24T18:38:44.497-07:00First Power Rankings for Season 20Are you ready for the unveiling of the Power Rankings in the Joey Belle Times? Just to give a little background into how The Joey Belle Times firgures them up. We take the overall record into consideration as well as the expected winning percentage. We also figure in the rank in 3 categories: runs scored, ERA, and fielding percentage. After the initial Power Rankings the number of wins since the last Power Rankings will also be figured in for each team. Without further ado:<br /><br />1. <strong>New York Necromancers</strong>(13-7)--The Necromancers started a little slow, but have won 7 out of their last 8 and are getting some very good overall pitching. New York will probably only go as far as their offense carries them though. <br /><br />2. <strong>Columbus Criminals</strong>(13-7)--Columbus has started out playing well in every faucet of the game. This team has already jumped out to a 3 game lead in their division.<br /><br />3. <strong>Pawtucket Slater Paws</strong>(12-8)--Pawtucket has a suspect offense in the early going, but they haven't needed to do too much as the pitching staff has been phenomenal. <br /><br />4. <strong>Ottawa Ice</strong>(12-8)--The Ice have been hitting the ball and scoring runs in bunches. The pitching staff has been solid, but if they can bring it up a notch it will be hard for New York to hold them off.<br /><br />5. <strong>Salem Goonies</strong>(15-5)--Going by strictly record this is a shock. The Goonies have absolutely crushed the ball. They have outscored everyone else in the league with 2nd place 14 runs behind them. Conversely, they have some pitching and fielding problems in the early going. <br /><br />6. <strong>Washington D.C. Revenge</strong>(12-8)--The reigning World Series Champions' are playing solid baseball. They are in the top 10 in ever faucet of the game. <br /><br />7. <strong>Scottsdale Valley Vipers</strong>(13-7)--The Valley Vipers have picked up right where they left off in first place in the NL West. They are powered behind a very good lineup and just enough pitching to get the job done.<br /><br />8. <strong>San Juan Senators</strong>(11-9)--The Senators have a decent pitching staff that is made a little better by a very good offense. <br /><br />9. <strong>Oakland Surenos</strong>(11-9)--Oakland's record doesn't correctly reflect how this team is playing. They have a solid offense behind a very good pitching staff. If this team continues to play well they will definitely improve in the wins column.<br /><br />10. <strong>Scranton Stranglers</strong>(12-8)--The Stranglers have one of the worst pitching staffs in the majors in the early going. However they also have one of the best offenses in Joey Belle. They like to play in some high scoring games.davidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-77167339776727521052011-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:002011-07-22T19:47:35.584-07:0020 questions with coach341. What should we call you?<br />Wool or Coach34- I go by Coach34 on a couple of message boards<br /><br />2. Any hobbies or favorite pastimes besides HBD?<br />not really these days with having 2 young kids<br /><br />3. How did you fall into HBD?<br />somebody posted about it on a message board I frequent and I checked it out- been hooked ever since<br /><br />4. How many teams do you run? How many hours per week do you pour into your teams?<br />6 right now, but cutting down to 5 or 4....and I spend 6-7 hours a week<br /><br />5. Married? Children?<br />yes and yes. Have 2 with ex-wife, and 2 more with new wife- ages 14, 9, 2, and 4 days<br /><br />6. City/State you live in? Hometown where you grew up?<br />Shreveport, La...born and raised in Jackson, Miss<br /><br />7. Occupation? Do you check in on your teams often during the workday?<br />On my 3rd career- was a HS football/baseball coach, then surgical sales, now a stay at home dad for the next year<br /><br />8. Who is your favorite baseball player of all time? <br />Nolan Ryan<br /><br />9. What makes you laugh?<br />people tripping and falling in public, Sam Kinison, Dice Clay, Chris Rock<br /><br />10. Top 3 all time movies?<br />Goodfellas<br />Pulp Fiction<br />Caddyshack<br /><br />11. What popular song past/present do you most identify with?<br />Wherever I May Roam- Metallica (I've moved 11 times in the last 7 years)<br /><br />12. Real baseball team you grew up loving? Still in love with them?<br />Cubs because of Harry Carey- not as much because the front office is so damn stupid<br /><br />13. Tell me 2 things you wish you knew about particular Joey Belle owners?<br />ages of other owners I guess<br /><br />14. You're fairly outspoken as a Joey Belle owner. Why?<br />I'm a loudmouth in real life<br /><br />15. What is your GM philosophy?<br />I'm a Steinbrenner- all about winning now- worry about down the road later<br /><br />16. Any special meaning for your WIS nickname? Your Joey Belle team name?<br />it's the name I've been called for 20 years- and I wore 34 in college because of Nolan Ryan- Free Swinger pretty much described me as a hitter<br /><br />17. Who is/was your favorite Joey Belle owner? Why?<br />Me<br /><br />18. Which MLB Commissioner do you admire or identify with most? Why?<br />Kennesaw Mountain Landis- had to come in and clean up cheating and the throwing of games- tough job and had to make some unpopular decisions<br /><br />19. General pet peeves about the HBD game?<br />DITR is a waste of time- feel there should be some sort of penalty for losing 100 or more games 2 seasons in a row<br /><br />20. If I was Joey Belle Commish for a day I would...<br />keep status quodavidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-85622210837436178632011-07-20T20:09:00.000-07:002011-07-20T20:13:32.774-07:0020 questions with davidbutler91. What should we call you?<br />David, db9<br /><br />2. Any hobbies or favorite pastimes besides HBD?<br />I love all sports, baseball is probably my favorite sport followed closely by football. I also love playing poker, and spending time with my kids. <br /><br />3. How did you fall into HBD?<br />I was online trying to find some baseball sim games and found whatifsports.com and fell in love with HBD.<br /><br />4. How many teams do you run? How many hours per week do you pour into your teams?<br />I currently run 5 teams. i probably spend about an hour to an hour a half on each team per week.<br /><br />5. Married? Children?<br />I am married with 2 wonderful children. I have an 8 year old son and a 3 year old daughter who thinks that she's the boss.<br /><br />6. City/State you live in? Hometown where you grew up?<br />I live in Lafayette, IN which is the home of Purdue University. I grew up just outside of Lafayette, IN<br /><br />7. Occupation? Do you check in on your teams often during the workday?<br />I work as a restaurant shift leader and yes i do if we are not too busy.<br /><br />8. Who is your favorite baseball player of all time? <br />Ryne Sandberg<br /><br />9. What makes you laugh?<br />my children<br /><br />10. Top 3 all time movies?<br />Billy Madison<br />8 Men Out<br />The Hangover<br /><br />11. What popular song past/present do you most identify with?<br />I really don't know if I identify with any songs.<br /><br />12. Real baseball team you grew up loving? Still in love with them?<br />Chicago Cubs-I will always love the Cubs no matter how stupid it may be:)<br /><br />13. Tell me 2 things you wish you knew about particular Joey Belle owners?<br />I enjoy playing against the other people in Joey Belle. I hope to get to know all of you a little better and that you all like the 20 questions idea, so we can all get to know each other a little better.<br /><br />14. You're fairly outspoken as a Joey Belle owner. Why?<br />I am outspoken in real life as well. I have gotten more outspoken here partly because I feel that I should as the commish as well. I normally have an opinion about something, but i think that the great thing about life is that not everyone agrees and that we can all hopefully come to compromises on most things. I think it's important that people feel free to express opinions in a respectful manner.<br /><br /><br />15. What is your GM philosophy?<br />pitching and up the middle defense surrounded by very good, quality hitting<br /><br />16. Any special meaning for your WIS nickname? Your Joey Belle team name?<br />not at all. i'm not very creative with my nicknames<br /><br />17. Who is/was your favorite Joey Belle owner? Why?<br />i'm not sure i have a favorite. i like everyone here.<br /><br />18. Which MLB Commissioner do you admire or identify with most? Why?<br />i don't know if i admire him and i certainly don't identify with him but i think that bud selig has done a better job than most people think. he has made a few mistakes, but i think overall the game is in a very good place now.<br /><br />19. General pet peeves about the HBD game?<br />i wish that they would tweak the ditr's more. there still isn't much improvement in most of those players and i've still never had a ditr who became a major league player<br /><br />20. If I was Joey Belle Commish for a day I would...<br />do whatever blanch13 was doing. he was a great commishdavidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-47523273266381381622011-07-15T13:44:00.000-07:002011-07-15T13:48:52.314-07:00Welcome to Season 20 in Joey Belle!Welcome to Season 20 everyone! We have 5 new owners this season! They are slin2678, kbrick, djbradford, dillontt, and bcinsk23. I hope that they all enjoy this great world that we have here! Good luck to everyone this season!davidbulter9http://www.blogger.com/profile/10003869019068814696noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-65535069637855178302011-04-22T08:44:00.000-07:002011-04-22T10:12:21.893-07:0020 Questions With bdrose<span style="font-style: italic;">1. What should we call you?</span><br /><br />BDR is what I put on video games, when I used to be good enough to get on the high score screen, that is.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">2. Any hobbies or favorite pastimes besides HBD?</span><br /><br />Fantasy Baseball (sense a theme here?)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">3. How did you fall into HBD?</span><br /><br />Was also a fan of Strat-O, so heard about a baseball sim called WhatIfSports.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">4. How many teams do you run? How many hours per week do you pour into your teams?</span><br /><br />2 teams only. check them after every cycle, at least.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">5. Married? Children?</span><br /><br />Yes, I'm Al Bundy.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">6. City/State you live in? Hometown where you grew up?</span><br /><br />Westchester, NY. Originally from Montreal, the Great White North.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">7. Occupation? Do you check in on your teams often during the workday?</span><br /><br />Magazine publisher. Hell yeah I check from work.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">8. Tell me 5 things nobody in Belle knows about you.</span><br /><br />Went to college with Barack Obama for one year.<br />Carry in my wallet a picture of a salmon I caught, but not my wife.<br />I own a fantasy baseball magazine.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">9. What makes you laugh?</span><br /><br />Pina Coladas, getting caught in the rain, the taste of champagne. Wait a minute, what was the question again?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">10. Top 3 all time movies?</span><br /><br />Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, The Empire Strikes Back.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">11. What popular song past/present do you most identify with?</span><br /><br />Geez, that's too much like a Miss America question. Let's just say R.E.M. is my fave band.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">12. Real baseball team you grew up loving? Still in love with them?</span><br /><br />Sadly, the now defunct Montreal Expos. Went to hundreds of games growing up, that 1994 strike KILLED us. Tim "Rock" Raines deserves to be in the HOF.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">13. Tell me 3 things you wish you knew about particular Belle owners?</span><br /><br />What the hell is Crump's secret to success? That's all.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">14. You're fairly outspoken as a Belle owner. Why?</span><br /><br />Silence is overrated.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">15. What is your GM philosophy?</span><br /><br />It's more fun trying to win with a smaller budget. Not more likely though, as my record shows.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">16. Any special meaning for your WIS nickname? Your Belle team name?</span><br /><br />Nope, just flowed, evoking the series.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">17. Who is/was your favorite Belle owner? Why?</span><br /><br />Our fearless commish, for running a very solid league, with a great blog.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">18. Which MLB Commissioner do you admire or identify with most? Why?</span><br /><br />Bart Giamatti. Short reign, but had integrity.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">19. General pet peeves about the HBD game?</span><br /><br />Coach hiring, especially the dearth of Fielding instructors.<br /><br />20. <span style="font-style: italic;">If I was Belle Commish for a day I would</span>...<br />abdicate the throne.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-474299928243524402011-04-20T21:23:00.000-07:002011-04-21T08:38:40.091-07:0020 Questions With toddcommish<span style="font-style: italic;">1. What should we call you?</span><br /><br />Todd is fine. Commish is fine. MikeT refers to me as "TardCommish".<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">2. Any hobbies or favorite pastimes besides HBD?</span><br /><br />Not really. Before some of the anti-gambling legislation, I was a fairly regular online poker player with occasional dabbling in poker blogging. Now I mostly sit on my couch and yell at my sports teams.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">3. How did you fall into HBD?</span><br /><br />I'm old school, which means that the Bill Simmons article from years back started me on the dark path of SLB. I dabbled in the Basketball and Hockey sims before being one of the lucky few in the Ruth World (2nd world launched, and now the first world simmed). And as someone once said "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny"<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">4. How many teams do you run? How many hours per week do you pour intoyour teams?</span><br /><br />3 HBD teams. Charter member of all three (Ruth, Moonlight Graham, Joey Belle). And I'll have at least 20 seasons in all three. I spend about an hour a day going over my HBD teams, longer if it's pre-season.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">5. Married? Children?</span><br /><br />Married for over 20 years to a beautiful SoCal blonde. Two kids; the boy is a senior in high school, entering San Jose State (my alma mater) as a Computer Science major in the fall. Daughter is 15 going on 16, and if any of you dirtbags even look at her, I will have your eyes removed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">6. City/State you live in? Hometown where you grew up?</span><br /><br />Pleasanton, CA... between San Jose and Oakland. I grew up in Sunnyvale, CA<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">7. Occupation? Do you check in on your teams often during the workday?</span><br /><br />HR Training Manager, and of course I would never dream of using company resources to check my WIS teams. I'm shocked that you would even ask.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">8. Tell me 5 things nobody in Belle knows about you.</span><br /><br />I lost on Jeopardy in 1988 (some might know this because I've bragged about it in the past)<br />I bowled a perfect game... for real. None of that Wii crap.<br />I'd leave my wife for Paula Creamer<br />The worst day of my life was when my dog died, worse than when my dad died.<br />I did a LOT of psilocybin mushrooms in my 20's<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">9. What makes you laugh?</span><br /><br />The misfortunes of others. We all laugh at it, I just admit it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">10. Top 3 all time movies?</span><br /><br />Shawshank Redemption, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Good Will Hunting<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">11. What popular song past/present do you most identify with?</span><br /><br />Identify with? That's a toughie. If you want to amend the question to "movie", I'd say "Good Will Hunting". I don't identify with songs.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">12. Real baseball team you grew up loving? Still in love with them?</span><br /><br />San Francisco Giants. The WORLD FUCKING CHAMPIONS! You bet your ass I still love them!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">13. Tell me 3 things you wish you knew about particular Belle owners?</span><br /><br />Is rlahann really liberal, or does he just do it to irritate others?<br />Why would you want to be a commissioner with all these difficult owners?<br />Why would anyone spend $20 for a season just to tank and try and get the #1 pick and waiver priority in the following year?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">14. You're very quiet as a Belle owner. Why don't you speak up more often?</span><br /><br />I'd speak up if it was something that I legitimately cared about. This league has been remarkably free of anger and hostility, and I'd like to thank you for that. Besides, my team isn't good enough to chirp about, and isn't bad enough to bitch about. Plus, I don't know enough about most of these guys to really rip into them (like we do in MG)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">15. What is your GM philosophy?</span><br /><br />I prefer to build through the draft and free agency. I put a LOT of time and effort into the draft. Trades tend to be too much of the "I'll give you Juan Uribe and Julian Tavares for Albert Pujols" types of ridiculousness. The whole trading psyche is based on "I'm gonna take advantage of you"... and tends to frustrate me.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">16. Any special meaning for your WIS nickname? Your Belle team name?</span><br /><br />Predictably, I set up the ToddCommish name years prior to WIS through Yahoo, and yes, I was the commissioner for a fantasy football league. It was the first thing that came to mind.<br /><br />I originally had the San Jose Bad News Bees when the world started, but got sick of the extreme ballpark. When given a chance to move, I chose a western conference team with a neutral ballpark, and unimaginatively went alliterative with the team name.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">17. Who is your favorite Belle owner? Why?</span><br /><br />Screw all you guys. I hate all of you. Until you let me win.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">18. Which MLB Commissioner do you admire or identify with most? Why?</span><br /><br />You've done a great job with this league. RobTracy originally started this league with an "alleged" five-season commitment. That fell apart roughly a week into the first season, and the league was rudderless for a long time. Now, it seems to be rolling along and has steadily climbed the list of "best leagues."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">19. General pet peeves about the HBD game?</span><br /><br />No peeves about the game. More peeves against the owners that don't seem to get the game and seem to want to either blow up the team/league, or bitch about the game until admin changes it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">20. If I was Belle Commish for a day I would</span>...<br />not do a damn thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-22721772833586573822011-04-18T19:29:00.000-07:002011-04-20T11:19:08.910-07:0020 Questions With blanch13<span style="font-style: italic;">1. What should we call you?</span><br /><br />Dan<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">2. Any hobbies or favorite pastimes besides HBD</span>?<br /><br />Yeah, hiking and camping for a long time. More recently, dabbling with martial arts and social dancing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">3. How did you fall into HBD?</span><br /><br />I did just literally fall into it a couple of years back. I had played <span style="font-style: italic;">Purebaseball</span> a few years back and enjoyed that a lot, but the whole thing didn't run very well. Played a lot of Strat-O-Matic as a kid, so I have a long history with the baseball sim thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">4. How many teams do you run? How many hours per week do you pour into your teams?</span><br /><br />I have 4 teams now, and spend virtually no time on them. Pretty much all my HBD time is spent on commissioner duties and blogging here - probably 3-4 hours a week.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">5. Married? Children?</span><br /><br />Divorced with one daughter who's graduating from college next month.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">6. City/State you live in? Hometown where you grew up?</span><br /><br />Happily reside currently in Austin, TX. I do actually come from the same hometown as Joey Belle - Shreveport, LA.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">7. Occupation? Do you check in on your teams often during the workday?</span><br /><br />I'm a self-employed sales and small business coach - I do a lot of 5-minute check-ins.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">8. Tell me 5 things nobody in Belle knows about you.</span><br /><br />I don't think anybody in Belle knows anything about me, but here goes:<br /><br />1. I'm kind of a crazy, only-child, Type-A personality.<br />2. I once had to negotiate with gangsters when I lived in Singapore.<br />3. I'm 56 years old.<br />4. Was an all-state SS in high school ball in La.<br />5. I do all my work by phone.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">9. What makes you laugh?</span><br /><br />George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Lenny Bruce. That should confirm my age.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />10. Top 3 all time movies?</span><br /><br />Hard to pick a top one, so in no order:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Shawshank Redemption</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Rashoman</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Pulp Fiction</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />11. What popular song past/present do you most identify with?</span><br /><br />I don't think I identify with popular songs, but when I think of my favorites they're frequently something by <span style="font-style: italic;">Led Zeppelin</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">AC/DC</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">12. Real baseball team you grew up loving? Still in love with them?</span><br /><br />I lived and died with the Yankees for a long time, starting in the Mick's last good year ('64) and going through about '78-'80 (when I got to see a number of the Reggie/<br />Randolph/Guidry/Chambliss/Nettles Yankee-era games). Now I think the Yanks are the evil empire...it just seems unthinkable to me that you can have 1 (or a few) teams with such a huge resource advantage over the the other teams.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">13. Tell me 3 things you wish you knew about particular Belle owners?</span><br /><br />Hmmm...favorite food, favorite baseball player of all time, and best HBD "secret trick".<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />14. You're very loud as a Belle owner. Why do you speak up so often?</span><br /><br />Just a function of being commish...I'm pretty low-key in my other worlds.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />15. What is your GM philosophy?</span><br /><br />Still figuring that out. I do find that once I have a team in contention I tend to get bored with it...I think I like the building process more than anything else.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">16. Any special meaning for your WIS nickname? Your Belle team name?</span><br /><br />Nah, I usually get my team names from one of those internet team name-generator sites.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">17. Who is/was your favorite Belle owner? Why?</span><br /><br />I'll have to pass on that one.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />18. Which MLB Commissioner do you admire or identify with most? Why?</span><br /><br />I honestly don't know enough about any of them or the issues they've dealt with to comment intelligently. On the larger admin side of baseball, I'd have to say I admire Branch Rickey the most. He had to have a lot of vision and balls to bring in Jackie Robinson when he did, and contributed many other innovations.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">19. General pet peeves about the HBD game?</span><br /><br />The only real gripe I have is that prospects are pretty much sure things, and that fact in itself creates the urge to tank. I really think it would be a huge improvement if they could address that somehow. Seems like it would be pretty easy to "fuzzy up" the draft and IFA's. Another interesting approach might be to offer an "HBD Premium" version, with fuzzier scouting and maybe a "revenue model" component (where your available $$ goes up or down with W-L record and perhaps some other factors).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">20. If I was Belle Commish for a day I would _______________ .</span><br /><br />I guess I'd do what I'm doing...trying to get in a good bit of blogging.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-38786671740484763982011-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:002011-04-15T06:58:35.521-07:00Pittsburgh Lands Snyder<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span> have swung a mega-prospect trade, featuring the 2 players rated the top prospects at their positions in recent <span style="font-style: italic;">JBT</span> articles.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Alleghenies</span> get reliever <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3287840"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Chris Snyder</span></a>, Season 15's #18 pick overall. Not sure what his projections looked like back in Season 15, but he has developed better than just about any prospect I've ever seen (for example, his vR improved 30 points over his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pro seasons). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Snyder</span> appears to be an excellent fit for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span>, who has outstanding young talent just about everywhere on the roster except the bullpen. He's expected to jump into the closer role immediately.<br /><br />Austin gets a pretty nice haul in return - C <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3861462"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Orlando Aguilera</span></a>, RP <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3238125"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ruben Villanueva</span></a>, and OF <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3452694"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Miguel Zorilla</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Aguilera</span> was one of last year's top IFA's and was recently named Belle's top catching prospect by both </span>the <span style="font-style: italic;">JBT</span> and the accompanying owners' poll. He looks like he'll be a .300/35 homer guy when he hits the majors in Season 21 0r 22. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Villanueva</span> looks to be a serviceable reliever; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Zorilla</span> will have a spot as a platooner against righties.<br /><br />Interesting deal for both teams. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> has a couple of relatively young catchers on the ML rosters now, so they used a big chip to go get what they needed. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span> is looking a couple of years down the road, so they moved a ready-now pitcher for what is probably more value in the future.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-80782597528554240432011-04-13T18:26:00.000-07:002011-04-13T18:28:28.865-07:00Best Prospects: Relief Pitchers<span style="font-style: italic;">To get this list, I eyeballed the Season 15-18 IFA's and drafts, pulled out what looked like the top 13, estimated their future ratings and plugged those into a spreadsheet I use to rank pitchers in amateur drafts.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">What I learned from this look was that relief pitchers are about the only place you can regularly find draft or IFA bargains - the average position of the draftees was #15 (ranging from #2 to #32) and the average bonus for the IFA's was just $5.4MM (numbers for the 13 I evaluated)</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">The 13 are also all really close - I'd love to have any - so the poll on who the top ones are should be interesting.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#1</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3287840"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Chris Snyder</span></a> (Sea 15 #18 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span> - currently AA): best combination of vL and vR you're likely to see anywhere...put together with very good control, velocity, groundball and P1, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span> has themselves a great closer for the next dozen seasons. His second pitch is only pretty good - the only flaw.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#2</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3287861"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Zoltan Steinbach</span></a> (Sea 15 #23 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Little Rock</span> - currently AAA): just really good across the board - his worst rating is a vR of 75 (I'm not counting velocity as a rating that matters a lot, although it does affect strikeouts). Very good groundballer with excellent pitches...what a find for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pebbles</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#3</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3913087"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wally Darwin</span></a> (Sea 18 #2 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Toledo</span> - currently Low A): The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Mud Hens</span> expended an awfully high draft choice on this guy but it might be justified (same with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Browning</span>, and both because they'll throw a ton of innings along with putting up quality numbers). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Darwin</span> projects to be a very high-control, command-type pitcher who's really tough on righty batters. One really good pitch and a good second pitch - the only very minor thing separating him from the top two is that he'll only be good - not great - against lefties.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#4 </span>- <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3287862"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Blaine Knight</span></a> (Sea 15 #9 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span> - currently ML): excellent control, very good splits, keeps it down. Pitches: Excellent P1, OK P2, his third pitch is going to hurt him some.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#5</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3452730"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Joseph Kida</span></a> (Sea 16 IFA, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span> - currently AAA): Power lefty with great control, will absolutely destroy lefties. Righties will have trouble, too, but will at least have a chance. P1 great, P2 pretty good. Will give up some longballs.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#6</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3913102"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Roy Waters</span></a> (Sea 18 #23 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Richmond</span> - currently Low A): like #3 <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Darwin</span>, this pick depends on development. I think Waters will improve well - he has good makeup and his vR in particular is already very high. At maturity, his ratings won't be as high across the board as the top - 5; his vR will likely make the 90's, but others will be in the 70's.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#7</span> - <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3705877"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Derrick McFeeley</span></a> (Sea 17 #32 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Oakland</span> - currently Low A): great find at the end of the first round for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surenos</span>. Another soft-tosser who will have generally good ratings across the board...just lower than those of the top 5.<br /><br />The best of the rest (no particular order):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3705855"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alexander Browning</span></a> (Sea 17 #2 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Toledo</span> - currently ML): that vR only gained 3 points in his second pro year, and looks like it will only reach low 60's. I think he'll still be good, but clearly righties are going to beat him up on occasion.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3705854"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Yuniesky Jiminez</span></a> (Sea 17 #10 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scottsdale</span> - currently AAA): pretty good overall; again, the vR is the real suspect. I think his will develop better than <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Browning's</span> but his is starting pretty low.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3664105"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pete Prince</span></a> (Sea 17 IFA, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ottawa</span> - currently High A): outstanding bargain for a $2.6MM bonus. Won't have great splits but his pitches are already really good...and he has 2 more years of solid development to go.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3705843"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Albert Dominguez</span></a> (Sea 17 #16, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver</span>, currently AA): This is probably the guy who has a chance to jump into the top group. He's the extreme flyball pitcher of the bunch - I think he'll have some outstanding seasons but will always be plagued by homers.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3519316"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Albert McMichael</span></a> (Sea 16 #13 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> - currently AAA): will be very solid...all his ratings are pretty decent for a ML pitcher now, and he has another solid year of improvement in front of him. Also will be susceptible to the longball.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3861465"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Yovanni Velazquez</span></a> (Sea 18 IFA, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pawtuckett</span> - currently AAA): I had to throw in one crapshoot and this guy is it. I really have no idea what his projections are, but his groundball rating and first 2 pitches are already really good. If his splits develop at all, this guy could end up being a really nice closer. What do you want from a closer? Either a strikeout or nothing out of the infield. It's conceivable that this guy reaches 100 on both Vel and GB.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-81517517079461580352011-04-13T09:46:00.000-07:002011-04-13T10:29:42.638-07:00What's the Difference Between 0 Scouting and 18 Scouting?The signing of IFA <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=4097027"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Albert Crespo</span></a> by <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> gives us a good opportunity to see how much difference there is between "High" and "Low" scouting budgets.<br /><br />First, a correction. In the last post, I said there wasn't a place to see int'l scouting projections on an IFA <span style="font-style: italic;">after</span> he signs. Incorrect.<br /><br />When an IFA first shows up on your scouting radar, your int'l scouting dept tells you about it in your main message inbox (the one on the left, just above division standings). Turns out that if you don't delete that message, and you look at the player card within that message, the player card there retains the int'l scouting projections even after he signs.<br /><br />Let's look at <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Crespo</span> through the eyes of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span> scouts. We have very high (18) int'l scouting, and our advance scouting is as low as it gets (0). That's a pretty big difference.<br /><br />To our int'l scouting department, here's what <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Crespo</span> looks like (projections):<br />Range - 73<br />Glove - 85<br />Arm Str - 76<br />Arm Acc - 89<br />Contact - 67<br />Power - 63<br />vL - 65<br />vR - 51<br />Eye - 41<br /><br />To our advance scouting department (the 10 year-old nephew in Tampa), here's what <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Crespo</span> looks like:<br />Range - 59<br />Glove - 100<br />Arm Str - 81<br />Arm Acc - 100<br />Contact - 73<br />Power - 61<br />vL - 58<br />vR - 40<br />Eye - 34<br /><br />If we say that the int'l projections are "accurate", how much do you miss by with scouting of 0? And does 0 always miss high or low?<br /><br />Here's the % that 0 scouting was off from 18 scouting (negative #'s mean the advanced - $0 - estimated lower than the int'l - $18)<br /><br />Range: -19.2%<br />Glove: +17.6%<br />Arm Str: +6.6%<br />Arm Acc: +12.4%<br />Contact: +9.0%<br />Power: -3.2%<br />vL: -10.8%<br />vR: -21.6%<br />Eye: -17.1%Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-51652736978201842142011-04-12T11:08:00.000-07:002011-04-12T12:12:44.669-07:00Which Scouts Are Showing Me This Player Card?<span style="font-style: italic;">Since we have a couple of relatively new HBD'ers, I thought I'd put up an explanation of one of the more confusing aspects of the game - the whole projected ratings from 4 different scouting departments thing. I've run into even veteran owners in other worlds who had some misconceptions around this, so maybe a review is in order here.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">First things first</span>: current ratings are<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span>the player's<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>actual abilities right now. They are exact and everybody sees the same thing regardless of what they spend on scouting<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>This is important and frequently misunderstood - if I spend $20MM across the board in scouting and see a pitcher's control as 82, and you spend $0 across the board on scouting, you will see that pitcher's control as 82. You and I will see each current rating of every player as exactly the same number.<span style="font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scouting has absolutely nothing to do with current ratings</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Projected ratings</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, on the other hand, are <span style="font-weight: bold;">always estimates</span></span> (from some scouting department or another) of what the player's ratings will be. They are never exact, because they can't be - a player's development is heavily affected by future events (namely, how good his coaching is, how much his team spends on training, and injuries or lack thereof. It's also affected by the player's makeup rating). Projected ratings are determined by the level spent on various scouting departments - higher spending yields more accurate estimates but they're still estimates.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Advance Scouting</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">: When you're looking at a player card of a player <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">on a roster </span>(yours or another team's, majors or minors), the projected ratings you're seeing come from the advance scouting department.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">High School and College Scouting</span>: when the amateur draft players show up every year, and you're looking at them on the GM's Office >> Player Development >> Amateur Draft Prospects screen, the projected ratings you see there (and on the player card) come form the high school and college scouting departments. Until the player signs, the HS and Col projected ratings are also what show on the GM's Office >> Player Development >> Amateur Draft Results and the World Office >> Reports >> Draft History screens. <span style="font-style: italic;">Once the player signs</span>,<span style="font-style: italic;"> all the above (except one) change. </span>When the player signs, wherever you look at him (except on the Amateur Draft Prospects screen), you're seeing the projected ratings from Advance Scouting.<br /><br />The Amateur Draft Prospects screen is unique in that it retains the HS and Col projected ratings even after the players sign. It's the only place (that I know of) that you can get an idea of what different levels of scouting spending tell you. Example: you spent $20MM on Advance Scouting and $12MM on College. Your #1 draft pick is a college 2B that your scouts said had a projected CON of 97; once he signs your Adv says he projected CON is 88. You know your Adv is going to be fairly accurate in this case...by comparing the ratings on this screen against what Adv scouting yields, you can get a feel over time of how much "difference" different levels of spending make.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Note</span>: the Amateur Draft Prospects screen goes away after the season, so (unless you copy them to a spreadsheet) you only have access to these ratings for the current season.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">International</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scouting</span>: works the same way as the HS and Col scouting <span style="font-style: italic;">except</span> that there's nothing (that I know of ) that retains the Int'l scouting ratings after the player signs. There obviously is an Int'l Prospects Page (analagous to the Amateur Draft Prospects page), but once the player signs he doesn't show up on that page anymore.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Hope this was at least a little helpful. Comments welcome.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-83273327507861033322011-04-10T21:31:00.000-07:002011-04-11T12:54:43.617-07:00Best Prospects: Catchers<span style="font-style: italic;">For purposes of these rankings, I'm saying "prospects" are players who are listed as having 0 years of ML experience as of this season. So, we'll have some guys on ML rosters showing up.</span><br /><br />Our top catching prospects are largely switch-hitters (4 of the 6) and either late first-rounders (4, picked 17, 18, 18 and 29) or Season 18 IFA's. They're mostly hitters with decent-to-good receiving skills, but we've got one defensive prodigy in the group. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Rochester</span> is the proud parent club for 2 of our future star C's.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#1:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3861462"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Orlando Aguilera</span></a> (Sea 18 IFA, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> - currently AAA): The lefty-batting Dominican is quite advanced for a 19 year-old - he could probably play in the majors now but will certainly benefit from more seasoning. Doesn't have a great arm but in time will be an above-average pitch caller. Let's face it, he'll make most of his future millions with the bat. He projects to a .300 hitter with 30-35 and occasionally 40-HR power. Multiple All-Star Games and Silver Sluggers, possibly an MVP or 2 (although C's don't seem to get nominated).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#2:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3912719"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fernando Belliard</span></a> (Sea 18 # 17 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span> - currently AAA): College product has superb contact and on-base skills - maybe a .400+ OBP guy - but only 15-HR power. Projects to a B arm and B pitch-calling. A plus: he'll be an absolute ironman, IF he can avoid injury (health is the biggest ratings concern). Could make several All-Star teams.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#3:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3912712"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Daniel Twitchell</span></a> (Sea 18 #18 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Rochester</span> - currently Low A): Almost identical to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Belliard</span> - switch-hitting college C with good contacts skills and good against both LHP and RHP. Not quite up to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Belliard's</span> defensive skills or durability, but a better health prognosis. Also a multiple All-Star candidate.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">#4:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3518912"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Michael Hammond</span></a> (Sea 16 #29 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Oakland</span> - currently ML): What's with all the switch-hitting C's? <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hammond</span> slipped in the Season 16 draft due to the 36 Health rating, and the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surenos</span> gladly scooped him up at #29. This guy will hit - .300/30HR's is a distinct possibility. Average arm and slightly above-average pitching calling, the big question is whether he can stay in the lineup - he's had a couple of injuries already but they haven't hurt his development too badly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#5:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3705490"> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Enrique Sojo</span></a> (Sea 17 #18 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Rochester</span> - currently AA): Another switch-hitting C for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Riot</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sojo</span> has a howitzer attached to his shoulder, but will occasionally shoot one into the outfield (<span style="font-style: italic;">way</span> into the OF). Already a decent pitch-caller and could get to B+ level. Could develop into a .260-.280 hitter with 20-25 HR power and decent walk totals, although he might see some severe slumps against RHP.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">#6:</span> <a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3861539"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Kazuhiro Suzuki</span></a> (Sea 18 IFA, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> - currently Low A): Won't win any awards for offense, but projects to one of the best defensive catchers in Belle history. Already a very good pitch caller, it's just a matter of <span style="font-style: italic;">how good</span> he'll be. Bazooka for an arm and extremely accurate. Will get some walks and hit for some power, but most years will average .200-.240. Makeup may hurt development a bit.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3912719"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3912712"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3518912"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-44309370588030324382011-04-10T20:02:00.000-07:002011-04-10T20:56:48.811-07:00The Rest Of The Opening Day RecapsLet's start part 2 of the openers in the NL.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">New York</span> opened against <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Syracuse</span> with a 4-1 home win. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Warriors</span> got a run in the first off <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Necromancer</span> starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">George Titan</span>, but only 3 hits the rest of the game off <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Titan</span> and 3 relievers. SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Matty Cortez</span> drove in 2, while RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Steve Bryant</span> and 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ellie Roenicke</span> had solo shots.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pawtuckett</span> welcomed <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Toledo</span> to McCoy Stadium with an 11-3 pasting. CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ricardo Delgado</span> and 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Diaz</span> both cranked a pair of homers for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Slater Paws</span>, while <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Matty Coco</span> connected for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Toledo</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pawtuckett</span> starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Mike Franco</span> was a little shaky, allowing 8 hits and 3 runs, but got the win, while Tom Salazar picked up a 3-inning save.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Juan</span> visited <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">Louisville</span> and came away with a 6-4 win. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Senators</span> used a big 4-run 5th (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brendan Keeler</span> 2-run homer)to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Louisville rallied to 6-4, but <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Juan</span> CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Graham Black</span> gunned down <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Edgar Romero</span> trying to stretch a base hit to a double to end the game. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ramiro Fuentes</span> tossed 8 innings for the win.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scottsdale</span> prevailed in a 10-7 slugfest at home against <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Oakland</span>. 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sammy Gonzlaez</span> had 3 hits and 4RBI for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vipers</span>; SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rod Goldberg</span> had a pair of hits and 2 RBI for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surenos</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scottsdale</span> starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kennie Frascatore</span> wasn't very effective (7 hits, 5 earned runs in 5 IP) but got the win.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span> opened at <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Rochester</span> and banged out 15 hits en route to an 8-1 thrashing. The oldtimers shined - C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Harry Encarnacion</span> cracked a pair of homers and drove in 6, while DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Robert Franco</span> pinged out 5 singles. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dan Cirillo</span> got the win (#171 on the career) with 7 strong innings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">D.C.</span> hosted <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cleveland</span> in a battle of AL East heavyweights. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Revenge</span> posted 4 in the 2nd and made it hold up, holding off the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Katanas</span> for a 4-3 win. LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dave Pressley</span> knocked in 3 for D.C.; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luke Joyner</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jacque Fitzgerald</span> hit solo's for Cleveland. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rob Workman</span> allowed 2 runs over 8 innings to pick up the win.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Little Rock's</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Yamid Reynoso</span> and 2 relievers rolled into <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">El Paso</span> and shut out the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Sun Kings</span> 4-0. CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alex Woodson</span> paced the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pebbles'</span> attack with a 2-run homer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Diego's</span> new-look offense exploded for 10 hits on <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Omaha</span> and swamped the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Middle Americans</span> 9-2. Brand-new <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surf Baby</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Manzanillo </span>blasted a pair of homers and drove in 5...2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Pineiro</span> and LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alberto Pinzon</span> contributed 2 hits and 2 runs scored apiece. Solo homers by DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Macbeth Crawford</span> and 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Robb Stein</span> accounted for all the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Omaha</span> scoring. Starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jimmie Feliz</span> scattered 4 hits and a walk over 6 innings to earn the victory.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-11057471921644275382011-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:002011-04-10T17:43:40.058-07:00AL West Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Salem</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> won 101 to handily take the West for the 4th straight time. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ottawa</span> by 2 games. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Portland</span> gained 5 wins (80) for second, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Diego </span>had a nice pickup of 16 wins (78) for third. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Boise</span> (now <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Omaha</span>) also improved, getting 5 more wins for 72. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Goonies</span> didn't have an easy playoff run - they lost 2 games each to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Richmond</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> - but got hot at the right time, sweeping <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Chicago</span> in the WS for their first Belle Championship. On the awards front, the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Goonies'</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Escuela</span> won his second consecutive MVP.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />SALEM </span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">didn't rest on any laurels during the off-season - the roster has changed quite a bit due to free agency, trade and promotion. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Goonies</span> scored 941 runs last year and led the world in HR's (298) - the offense should be equally as proficient this season. It looks like LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Christopher Booker</span> will lead off and DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jose Vargas</span> will hit #2 - you know you've got a lot of sluggers when a guy with 600 career homers is a table-setter. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Marquis Seo</span> (against RHP...platoon partner <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Terry Schafer</span> will do the honors against lefties), 2-time defending MVP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Escuela</span> (gunning for his 3rd straight 140+ RBI season), rookie CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Placido Chavez</span> (Season 14's #7 overall) and RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ray Krause</span> occupy the RBI slots. There's not a soft spot anywhere - rookie SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Charles Richardson</span> (Sea 14 supplemental) was a .300 hitter for his minor-league career. Former Cy Young winners <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ruben James</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Vic Benitez</span> anchor a rotation that gets a boost from the promotion of Sea 15 #1 overall <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tim Branson</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. 18-game winner <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rudy Merritt</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ernest Terrell</span> round out a very deep rotation. What has happened to closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jacob Franklin</span>? He's posted 3 straight 5+ ERA seasons...a poor start may prompt the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Goonies</span> to turn to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Geoff Sosa</span> for closing chores.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">PORTLAND</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">: Considering their extreme pitchers' ballpark, the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Bar & Grillers</span> offense is doubly impressive (814 runs last year - 5th). Sharp-eyed 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Victor Miller </span>and old pro <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Roy Drew</span> lead off...2nd-year SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hong-Gu Kim</span>, 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brant Cooney</span>, LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ray Henley</span>, and 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Frank Suzuki</span> follow and will be the prime power sources.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br />They'll definitely do some running - 8 players had 10+ stolen bases last year. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Portland</span> depends on a huge ballpark to keep their rather low-caliber pitching staff from getting shellacked. Among the starters, #1 <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Augie Fujiwara</span> seems to have the best stuff for the big park, while setup man <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Mule Hampton</span> may be the best of the relievers. Of the AAA talent, C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Willie Picasso</span> (Sea 15 IFA) appears most capable of helping this year...likely as a DH.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />SAN DIEGO </span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">trailed the field in runs last year. Some of that was due to the ballpark, and with the signings of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Manzanillo</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Quilvio Suarez</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, the lineup's looking pretty good. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Suarez</span> and LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alberto Pinzon</span> are both solid #3-type hitters; 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Stan Burnett</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Manzanillo</span>, and RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Corey Anderson</span> supply ample power; even the SS and CF positions - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Archie Blake</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eduardo Sierra</span> - offer a little offense. The 4th-ranked pitching staff gets a boost from FA signees <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tomas Cruz</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">,</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Eduardo Valentin </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Glen Moore. Jimmie Feliz </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is the #1 starter...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Cruz</span> probably becomes #2 with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fernando Nieto</span> at #3. Closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">R.J. Quevedo</span> is a good bet to improve...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Glen Moore</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eduardo Valentin</span> should be solid as setups.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br />OMAHA </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">was one of our more active off-season traders, moving longtime franchise centerpiece <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">P.T. Navarro</span> and bringing in OF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Benj Cooper</span>, 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Thomas Lambert</span>, RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Andres Sierra</span> and 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jolbert Cruz</span>. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Middle Americans</span> were an average-ish offense last year; they'll hope for some power from <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Lambert</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Cruz</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">,</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and DH</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Macbeth Crawford</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">;</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">some nice<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> on-base numbers from CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Andrew Corino</span> and SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fred Ruffin</span> at the top of the order; and more steady production from 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Robb Stein</span> (.280/24/80) to improve that. The pitching needs more improvement - they need a big season from <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gail Henry</span>, the #7 overall pick in Season 16. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Omaha</span> may have rushed him a little, but he's their best bet from the farm system. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wayne Evans</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> is the other starter who looks capable of breaking out...he's also the rare player whose current overall rating is higher than his projected, without any of his individual current ratings being higher than projected (???). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jorge Feliz</span> (Season 10 2nd-rounder) gets a shot at the show after 9 minor-league seasons...he joins what has to be termed a mediocre bullpen.</span> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">PREVIEW<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Salem </span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is clearly the class of the division and should handily repeat. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Diego</span> might make things interesting for 2nd, and a wild-card berth is not beyond belief. I'll pick the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surf Babies</span> for 2nd and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Portland</span> for 3rd, with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Omaha</span> improving some but still taking 4th.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Escuela</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SAL</span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Hong-Gu Kim</span>(<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">POR</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"></span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ruben James</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SAL</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tomas Cruz</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SD</span>)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Placido Chavez</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SAL</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"></span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Tim Branson</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SAL</span>)</span></span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gail Henry</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">OMA</span>)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-10416081412029917022011-04-10T09:35:00.000-07:002011-04-10T10:24:12.542-07:00Opening Day In Belle!Regular season is underway, with half the teams playing their openers in the PM cycle. Let's take a quick look at the opening games, starting in the AL.<br /><br />In <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cincinnati</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Columbus</span> spoiled the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Waste Managers'</span> home opener with a 6-2 win. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Criminals'</span> 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fernando Espada</span> collected 4 hits, including a double and a homer, and starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eduardo Pena</span> fanned 6 and allowed just a run in 6 innings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> upended <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> as <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rich Grace</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hal Maurer</span> shut down the vaunted <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Alleghenies</span> offense. CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Juan Lopez</span> homered for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Stranglers</span> in the 5-1 win.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Charlie Cosby</span> and 5 relievers shut out <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span>, 3-0, as <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Richmond</span> opened its South title defense with a home win. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ernest Farr</span> slammed his first AL homer to pace the offense.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Augie Fujiwara</span> twirled a complete game shutout for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Portland</span>; they knocked off the defending World Champ <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Salem Goonies</span> at home, 3-0. SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hong-Gu Kim</span> drove in all the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Bar & Grillers'</span> runs with a homer and a single.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Chicago</span> nosed <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ottawa</span>, 5-4, in the Ice home opener. Wth the score tied at 4 in hte top of the 9th, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Swingers'</span> SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Julio Prieto</span> singled, stole second, and scored on Theodore Beckett's single. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ottawa</span> threatened in their half, getting a pair of hits, but <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Roger Lawson</span> steadied and got the save.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span> blew open a 2-2 tie with 7 in the 9th for a 9-2 road win at <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burlington</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">George Kipling</span> drilled a bases-loaded triple to key the big inning for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jinxed</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Russ Guthrie</span> got the win with 2 scoreless innings in relief.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Redondo</span> thanked <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Mexico City</span> for his new contract with 6 strong innings - the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Red Hot</span> edged <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">New Orleans</span> at home, 3-2. LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Damaso Castillo</span> delivered the game-winner - a 3-run homer in the 4th.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver</span> opened at home in a promising way: back-to-back-to-back solo homers in the 1st inning (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Cairo</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Derek Walker</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sammy Reyes</span>). But <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vegas</span> starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Cortes</span> and 2 relievers shut down the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Victory</span> on 4 hits the rest of the way, and the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">69ers</span> got a big 5-run 5th for a 5-3 road win. C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gabe Borland</span> homered and drove in 3 for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Las Vegas</span>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-32671279096406593782011-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:002011-04-09T15:45:52.748-07:00NL East Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> got a little better for the 4th straight year, winning 86 and taking its 3rd straight division title. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pawtuckett </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">improved by</span> 8 wins (to 79) and edged <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burlington</span> (up 5 wins to 76) for second. Toledo struggled, dropping 16 wins to 45. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jinxed </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">surprised</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> Ottawa</span> with a sweep in the first playoff round, but lost to New Orleans in the DCS.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />JACKSONVILLE</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">: the</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">defending champs didn't do a whole lot in the off-season, signing SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Domingo Guillen</span> and trading for RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hack Bush</span> (although they may not be done with their roster yet). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bush</span> joins a competent offense that does a little of everything but is superlative at none. 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">George Kipling</span> picked up his 2nd Silver Slugger last year and is the best overall hitter on the squad. LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">John Li</span> (29 HR, 28 SB) and 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Matthew Ryan</span> (28 HR, 23 SB) both bring power and speed to the attack. C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jason Griffin</span> is quietly building a near-.300 lifetime batting average. Although not much of an offensive contributor, SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Julio Jose</span> has won 4 straight Gold Gloves. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gary Ramsay</span> is slowing down a little at 36 but still commands "ace" status. After him the rotation is a grab-bag of #4 types - the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jinxed</span> will hope for 1 or 2 to get hot. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eric Langston</span> looks like a starter, but has excelled in a middle relief/super setup role. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Russ Guthrie</span> was superb as a setup man last year...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Emmanuel Matos</span> was shaky in his closer trial. There are some potential reinforcements at AAA: RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Nick Mottola</span> (Sea 15 supplemental) is ready if Bush falters and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Joseph Kidda</span> (Sea 16 IFA) looks like he could be a boost to the 'pen.</span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">PAWTUCKETT </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">welcomes #1 starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Mike Franco</span> back from a season lost to elbow surgery. Is <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Franco</span> worth 7 wins (# of games they finished behind <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span> last year) to the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Slater Paws</span>? Like the Jinxed, the rest of their rotation is sketchy, although <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Vinny Suzuki</span> has been pretty consistent (4.10 career ERA) over his 3 seasons. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jesus Diaz</span> really came into his own as a closer last season (35-of-38 saves, 2.22 ERA). If he can repeat that the race could tighten up considerably, although he could really use some better setup help. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Derek Foster's</span> power is slipping, but he loves McCoy Stadium and his HR totals should still be impressive for a year or 2. Lefty-throwing <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ricardo Delgado </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">would be better off defensively in CF, rather than 2B, but is verging on superstar status either way. CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Diaz</span> is also a </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span>40-HR threat, and rookie DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eliezar Rivas</span> (Sea 15 IFA) should be able to more than replace the production lost with the departure of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Joe Rivera</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rivera</span> apparently ends his career #1 on the all-time HR list (710) and #2 in RBI's (1907). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pawtuckett</span> has some nice prospects in AAA - IF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Amp Faulk</span> (Sea 17 #4), SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jerry Strong</span> (Sea 17 #8), and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Yovani Velazquez</span> (Sea 18 IFA) - but they're all likely to stay in the minors all season.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />BURLINGTON</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">:</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Lake Monsters'</span> no-name pitching staff has always been pretty good in cavernous Mustain Stadium - this year should be the same. They usually end up working in 6 starters - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">R.A. Everett</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sammy Canseco</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jim Mitchell</span> may be the best bets for breakout seasons. Closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carl Hume</span> and setup men <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tommy Fabregas</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlton Locko</span> are quietly effective. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">wouldn't expect </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burlington</span> to be a big run producer in that ballpark, but they need to find a way to manufacture more runs. RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Theodore Beckett</span> defected to<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> Chicago</span>; replacing him with Rule V draftee <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rich Foster</span> is a big step back. The LF platoon of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Harris</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bell</span> should be pretty good in the on-base department. 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wilt McDowell </span>and C <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Daryl McDonald </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">are about the only threats to drive the ball...there are a few too many holes in this lineup for any offensive improvement.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br />TOLEDO </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">has some interesting new faces, both from free agency and promotion. SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jesus Javier</span> and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Victor Sosa</span> will bring some veteran talent to the pitching staff. Season 15 #2 overall, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Matty Coco</span> makes his much-awaited full-season debut - he's the pre-season favorite for ROY. Season 14 2nd-rounder <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Phil Feller</span> and Season 17 #2 overall <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alexander Browning</span> will also break camp with the big club. It might be a season early for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Browning</span>, but the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Mud Hens </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">hired him a good pitching coach and are settling back to watch him grow up on the job. Closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tomas Martin</span> rounds out a pretty nice bullpen. This isn't a great team yet, but they'll give <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Hens</span> fans some exciting moments this year...keep an eye on their record in 1-run games.</span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">PREVIEW<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This looks like a dead heat between <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span> and <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">Pawtuckett </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">to me. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Franco's</span> return narrows the gap for the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Slater Paws</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, but I don't think it's quite enough to get them over the top...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jinxed</span> take their 4th straight by a narrow margin. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burlington</span> gets 3rd again; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Toledo</span> makes a big jump and might give the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Lake Monsters</span> a scare.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ricardo Delgado</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">PAW</span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Matty Coco</span>(<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">TOL</span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gary Ramsay</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">JAX</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Mike Franco</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">PAW</span>)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Matty Coco</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">TOL</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eliezar Rivas</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">PAW</span>)</span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-18539239531133329272011-04-08T14:19:00.000-07:002011-04-08T14:29:00.072-07:00AL North Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> won 85 (up 7 wins) for its first division crown in 10 seasons. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cincinnati</span> </span>(down 18 wins),<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> Columbus</span> (down 28 wins) and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Rochester</span> (down 10 wins) all had their seasons fall apart and won 62. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Gangstaz</span> upset <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cleveland</span> in the first round before falling to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> in the DCS. The North picked up one of the post-season player awards, with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit's </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Miguel Rivera</span> </span>winning the ROY.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">DETROIT </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">continues to recycle over-the-hill vets while their prospects mature. They lost last year's entire opening-day rotation to free agency or trade, and only 2 of them have contracts elsewhere. On a historical note, it looks like the end of the line for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Teddy Nelson</span>, a long-time fav in <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Burlington</span> who ends up with 113 wins and a 3.97 ERA; and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Denny Perisho</span>, who banged 442 career homers and picked up 3 Series rings with the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Austin</span> organization (as the old <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jackson Holes</span>). The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Gangstaz</span> will try to catch lightning in a bottle again with oldtimers SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dan Cirillo </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(36), 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">William Kwon</span> (37), C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Harry Encarnacion</span> (37), and SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jacob Martin</span> (37). They join a core group of youngsters who have some promise: LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bonk Liniak</span> (Season 17 ROY), 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Miguel Rivera</span> (Season 18 ROY), SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Burke Jordon</span> (Season 16's #9 pick), and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Blaine Knight</span> (Season 15's #9). Prospects <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tomas Park</span> (Season 17 #1 overall), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fernando Belliard</span> (Season 18 #17) and SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Yadier Eusebio</span> (Season 18 IFA) will spend the entire season in AAA but could see the Show next season.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />CINCINNATI </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">saw most of their lineup dip below career norms last year - runs were down by 50 from Season 17. But it's a solid crew that's mostly well under 30. 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Martin Munro</span> has 35-40 homer potential, DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Norberto Pujols</span> (.258/32/90 as a rookie) has 50+ homer potential, and COF's <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Solano</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Munoz</span> can both put up .300+ with 20-30 homers. SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Midre Dunn</span> had a breakout .282/23/80 (with 43 SB's) season as a sophomore, and is on the verge of superstar status. The staff went from middle-of-the-pack in Season 17 to last in Season 18 (Team ERA of 5.45) - big improvement needed. FA agent <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Amos Christians</span> is only marginally likely to help (4.78 career ERA)...same with rookie <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Howie McMasters</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Javier</span> may be the most likely starter to give the Waster Managers a breakout season...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Matty Maduro</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Edgar Perez</span> both could on the relief side, but are anything but sure things.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">COLUMBUS </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">might be the most inexplicable story of Season 18. After a long winning tradition they went through rebuilding seasons from years 13-15, then improved to 80 and 90 wins in Season 16 and 17. A return to form and a couple of power prospects should get them back on track. The new-look lineup starts with 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Craig White</span> (Sea 15's #4 pick), a switch-hitting big-time power prospect, and LF <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Ben Flynn</span> (Sea 14's #33 pick by Oakland), another power hitter who came over from <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Syracuse</span> in last year's <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Theodore Maxwwell</span> trade. 3-time Silver Slugger <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fernando Espada</span> is probably heading back to 2B, where he should be an All-Star and SS for another 6-7 years. CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fred Watson</span> joins <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Espada</span> as a top-of-the-order speed threat, and DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pascual Pena</span> is almost a sure bet to improve on last year's .257/27/107. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Criminals</span> scored 933 runs in Season 17 and 763 last year; you can bet the farm they'll be over 850 this year. Out of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Al Escobar</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Daryl McCorley</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eduardo Pena</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Khiry Robinson</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">William Innoue</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hector Romo</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Columbus</span> should be able to find 2 or 3 decent starters. In the bullpen, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rolando Gomez</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Julian Lopez </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">are just adequate.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br />ROCHESTER </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">seems</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">content to</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">keep their payroll low this year</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and score an IFA or 2. Their ML roster is currently incomplete to say the least, with no OF's. Among the hitters that are there, rookie C/DH's <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Einar Gonzalez</span> (Sea 14 2nd-rounder), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Earle Nash</span> (Sea 12 2nd-rounder), and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ivan Sobkowiak </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(Sea 13 2nd-rounder) are the best. Among the pitchers, SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Edgard Hernandez</span> (Sea 13 2nd-rounder) and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Jacquez</span> (Sea 14 #24) look like the best bets to be ML contributors. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Riot</span> is expected to fill out their ML roster from their ample supply of AAA 2B shortly.</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br />PREVIEW<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Well, I'd get accused of sandbagging if I counted myself out, so I'll refrain. I do think the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Gangstaz</span> are likely to take a step back this year...you can get lucky on scrap-heap FA's only so often, and there's no 3rd straight ROY coming. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cincy</span> and <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">Columbus</span> would both be better even if they didn't have any promising rookies coming up, and they do. So it looks to me like a 3-team race...I honestly expect <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Columbus</span> to win it. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Detroit</span> noses out <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cincy</span> for 2nd, with Rochester exiting the race early.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Midre Dunn</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">CIN</span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Fernando Espada</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">CLB</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"></span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">none</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Craig White</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">CLB</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ben Flynn</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">CLB</span>)</span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-46631801516990273622011-04-08T11:18:00.000-07:002011-04-08T14:24:15.072-07:00NL South Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">New Orleans</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> won a franchise-high 107 and cruised to its 3rd straight South title. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Juan</span> won 88 for second. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Mexico City</span> dropped off 8 wins (67), while <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Louisville</span> improved by 5 wins to 56. had its second straight sub-.500 year (74 wins). The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Senators</span> knocked out <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver</span> and lost to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Chicago </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">in the DCS</span>; <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">the</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> Privateers </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">topped</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Jacksonville</span> in the DCS before bowing out to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Chicago</span> in the NLCS.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">NEW ORLEANS </span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">lost a chunk of pitching in free agency (#1 starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jesus Javier</span>, swingman <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tomas Cruz</span> and setup man <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tuck Barkley</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">). Don't think they'll manage a 3.25 team ERA again, but they should still be good. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Magglio Nunez</span>, <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Fred West </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Omar Chavez </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">anchor the rotation. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wesley Telford</span> is one of the NL's best closers (88 saves the last 2 seasons) - he's setup capably by <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Theodore Curtis</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kelly Nelson</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. If</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> William Kim </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">would pitch the way his rating suggest he could, the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Privateers'</span> staff might be special again. Former MVP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sid Selby</span> (CF) ignites the offense; another former MVP, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Richie Scheffer</span> (.276/34/110), RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kevin Grabowski</span> (.280/46/118), 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Clarence Richard</span> (.313/35/99) and 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Nap Myatt</span> (.287/30/121) supply the power. The unheralded catching duo of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Quilvio Nunez</span> (a former 2nd-rounder) and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Juan Vazquez</span> (a former IFA who commanded a whopping $1.6MM bonus) combined for a remarkable .324/22/81 with <span style="font-style: italic;">117 </span>walks last year.</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br /><br /></span> </span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SAN JUAN </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">didn't do a lot in free agency (although adding C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brendan Keeler</span> for less than $2MM a year was a coups) because they didn't have to; they have one of the best young nuceli in the NL. It starts with the front 3 of the rotation: Season 17 Cy Young and ROY winner <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rex Gragg</span> (24), Season 14's top IFA <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ramiro Fuentes</span> (25), and Season 9's #6 overall <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Vince Cross</span>. It continues with setup man extraordinaire <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pascual Moya</span>, 23, who notched 7 wins and 10 saves in 132 innings. It extends to the offense with 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Phillip Cooke</span>, who has 3 All-Star appearances, 2 Silver Sluggers <span style="font-style: italic;">and 2 </span>Gold Gloves in 3 seasons; LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kenneth Scoroposki</span> (.270/27/99) and finishes up with rookie 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pablo Ortiz</span>, a Season 14 supplemental pick. Mix in oldtimers <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tim Murray</span> (2B, age 38), SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Nick Rando</span> (33, 2.80 ERA last year), SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Midre Jose</span> (30) and the 3-headed catcher committee of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Keeler</span> (versus RHP), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ryan Adcock</span> (versus LHP), and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Marlon Linden</span> (defense), and the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Senators</span> may have themselves a 95-win team this year.</span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">MEXICO CITY </span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is struggling with the out-year effects of big free agent contracts. They went all-out in Season 15, signing <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gary Goodwin</span> to a max deal and CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wally Reid</span> to a near-$10MM a year deal (it worked, they won the division), then added SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Frank Huff</span> in Season 17 on a $50MM+ deal. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Goodwin's</span> still good at 32, although his power and durability (not high to stat with) are on the decline. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Reid</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Huff</span>, though, have declined badly...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Reid</span> hasn't been a CF for a couple of seasons, and will barely hit 90 games this year. The team elected to re-sign FA starters <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pedro Encarnacion</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Redondo</span> (favorable contracts both), but the net result is they're maxed out on payroll, have no C's or SS's on the big-league roster, and have the 38-Dur <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dicky Hudson</span> at 1B and the 46-Dur <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Reid</span> in CF. SO the Red Hots are incomplete at the moment...I think they'll end up trading <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Encarnacion</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Redondo</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Goodwin</span> to get some cap space and prospects, but that remains to be seen.<br /></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">LOUISVILLE </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">will be leaning on some rookies to get things headed in the right direction. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Timo Owings</span> (Season 14 Supplemental pick) showed some nice power (26 homers) in his Season 18 LF audition. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">John Sauveur</span> (Rule 5) could be the best bet at SS. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Jair Barrios</span> (Sea 14 IFA) and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brad Johnstone</span> (Sea 17 #24) join the rotation but are probably just placeholders until they hit arb. Most of the ML roster is young and of marginal talent, so the payroll is headed down for awhile. The real focus for a couple of years is going to be on prospects like <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Damian Schmidt</span> (#1 overall last year) and whoever they take at #2 this year.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">PREVIEW<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">New Orleans </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">has had their way with the division the last few years, but this could be the season <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Juan</span> catches up. Season 17's rookie sensation (ROY <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> Cy Young) <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rex Gragg</span> has recovered well from last season's injury and is poised for a big comeback year; his supporting cast is generally young and on the way up. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Privateers'</span> key players, on the other hand, are starting to see a few nicks in the ratings due to age - given their free agent losses, I think they'll slip a few games. I see a close race, with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">San Juan</span> pulling it out. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">New Orleans</span> be a close 2nd and will contend for a wild card. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Mexico City</span> is impossible to predict at this point; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Louisville</span> should improve a little but the focus is on building the minors.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Phillip Cooke</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SJU</span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Sid Selby</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">NO</span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young: <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rex Gragg</span> (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">SJU</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">), </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Ramiro Fuentes</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SJU</span>)<br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pablo Ortiz</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SJU</span>) </span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-8079960734044989692011-04-07T11:19:00.000-07:002011-04-07T12:36:56.200-07:00AL East Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> won a Belle-best 109 to end <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cleveland's </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">run of </span> 12 straight East titles. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Katanas</span> "slumped" to 102 wins (their worst since Season 7) but claimed a wild card. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Washington D.C.</span> fell off 13 wins (87) but still took a wild card for the 5th straight year. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> appeared to be finally getting somewhere with its rebuilding, and improved 11 wins to 72. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">Cleveland</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">D.C.</span> both went out in the first playoff round. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Katanas'</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Edgardo Valdes</span> won the AL Cy Young<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- the 3rd (different) <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cleveland</span> hurler to do so in the lat 4 seasons (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Lorenzo Rodriguez</span> in Season 17 and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Aaron Torres</span> in Season 15) - and the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Alleghneys'</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kaz Lim</span> took the FOY.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">PITTSBURGH</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">:</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Alleghenies'</span> only significant off-season moves were to re-sign <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rafael Brogna</span> and say "sayonara" to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kaz Lim</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Maximo Cota</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">...with their farm system spewing out talent every year, no FA moves were needed. With <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jung Wanatabe</span> (Season 12's #1 overall), <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">D'Angelo Cerda</span> (Season 11's #1 overall), and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Douglas Burnett</span> (Season 14's #5 overall) at the 1,2,3 SP spots, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Pittsburgh</span> has Belle's best starting rotation (and probably a guaranteed playoff ticket for the next 8 years or so). They have a young bullpen that hasn't proven itself at this point - if there's a weak spot on the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Alleghenies</span>, this is it. On offense, career SB leader <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Neifi Foster</span> leads it off; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brogna</span> (107 RBI last year), 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gene Cuddyer</span> (100+ RBI each of his first 4 seasons), RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Joaquin Alvarez</span> (45 HR's last year) and 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bucky Daal </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(105 RBI last year) form a stout run-production nucleus. There's a wealth of talent chomping the bit at AAA: last year's IFA prize, 19 year-old C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Orlando Aguilera</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, could contribute but probably spends this year in AAA; SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Neftali Rodriguez</span> (Sea 16 IFA) is ready but blocked by ML SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Pedro Mendoza</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">; Season 15 IFA <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ruben Villanueva</span> could probably help the bullpen and will likely get the chance.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><br />CLEVELAND </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">manged to hold off time a little longer by re-signing LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jacque Fitzgerald</span>, SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Billy Brocail</span>, SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Lorenzo Rodriguez</span> and RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Chris Lofton</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fitzgerald</span> (.290, 34 HR's), along with 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luke Joyner</span>, (.324), 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bill Priest</span>(.383 OBP), RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Otis Langston</span> (33 HR's, 103 RBI), the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Johnson</span>/<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wheat</span> C platoon (41 HR's combined), and DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Scott Becker</span> (35 HR's, 113 RBI), lead a still-dangerous offense. The staff is starting to get a little age, but still sports 3 CY winners (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rodriguez</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Edgardo Valdes</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Aaron Torres</span>, although <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Torres</span> has moved to the bullpen). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brocail</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Gabriel </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">are</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">excellent as starters 3 and 4; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Lofton</span> is solid in the bullpen but may not have enough help.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />WASHINGTON, D.C. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">brings back Season 18's roster intact.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Miguel Mesa</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">was having a monster season last year when herniated disc surgery interrupted it; he makes his return and triggers the offense. RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Mark Gang</span> has been terrific (and consistent...OPS's of .882 and .874) in his first 2 seasons. They'll hit in front of perennial All-Star, 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Eric Brantley</span>. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Revenge</span> count on DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Matt Flores</span> and C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brutus McKinley</span> to protect Brantley in the lineup. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">D.C.</span> put up 937 runs last year (3rd) and should be around that total this year. The rotation is high-quality and very deep: <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Omar Carraso</span> at #1 (14-6, 3.06), former Cy Young and ROY winner <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rob</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Workman</span> at #2, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Esteban Velaquez</span> (12-10, 3.27) at #3, talented but yet-to-reach-his-potential <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Al Aybar</span> at #4, and steady <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fausto Ontiveros</span> at #5. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Larry Sutton</span> is solid as a setup guy, but <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Allen Reynolds</span> struggled in his first year as closer (5.03 ERA).<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br />SCRANTON</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is looking to the future, although they posted a nice 11-win improvement last year. They may have gotten the best player in last year's draft in CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brent Hartzell</span> at #3; he murdered rookie pitching last year and plays in Low A this season. They have a bunch of prospects at AAA - most will spend the year there, although SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alex Lee</span> (SEA 15 IFA) and LR <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wellington Pizzaro</span> (SEA 15's #22) are close to ready and could get the call this year. The ML offense benefits from the addition of free agents C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Odalis Gutierrez</span> and CF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Albert Harmon</span>, who finally gets a chance to be a full-time player at age 30. 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sandy Weston</span> is their most accomplished table-setter (.365 OBP); LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ricardo Pulido</span> (.303/22/77) and DH <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ralph Bryant</span> (.263/21/86) are the primary power threats. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Stranglers'</span> young staff wasn't very good last year (5.24 ERA). I'd expect some improvement, although it's not a super-talented group. RP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Shep LaRue </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">did have a nice rookie season, and probably is the best bet to put up good numbers long-term. Veteran <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hector Martin </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">might be the best pitcher on the staff - he could be a decent trade chip at the deadline.</span></span></span><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">PREVIEW<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">Pittsburgh</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">has </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">the best starting rotation in Belle, led the AL in runs scored last year, and a farm system that keeps pumping out talent. It's a tough combination - I think they'll win the division by more than last year's 7 games. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Cleveland</span> may slip a little, but they're still dangerous; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">D.C.</span> had an off year last year - with their rotation they could easily win 100 (like they did 2 years ago). 2nd is a tossup here - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Katannas</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Revenge</span> could both win 95-100 and might both get wild cards. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scranton</span> may not improve much or any at the ML level, but their cadre of young talent gets a year closer.</span> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gene Cuddyer</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">PIT</span>), <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Eric Brantley</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">WAS</span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young: <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jung Wanatabe</span> (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">PIT</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">), </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Omar Carrasco</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">WAS</span>)<br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Alex Lee</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SWB</span>) and LR <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wellington Pizzaro </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SWB</span>)</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6262515260828903261.post-87349574858581192672011-04-05T18:18:00.000-07:002011-04-05T19:10:44.697-07:00NL West Season 19 Preview<span style="font-weight: bold;">Season 18 Recap:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">improved by 6 wins</span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> (to 93) and captured its first-ever West title. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Oakland</span> fell off by 10 wins (84) and missed the playoffs for the first time since Season 11. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Las Vegas</span> dropped 14 wins (83) and missed the playoffs for just the 2nd time since Season 4, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Helena</span> (now Scottsdale) picked up 1 win to 64.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">VANCOUVER </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">begins its NL West defense minus SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dan Cirillo</span> and IF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brad Hart</span>, plus SP <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dale Barker</span> and IF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Sammy Reyes</span>. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same crew that won 93 a year ago. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carlos Cairo's</span> big year (44 HR's) ignited the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Victory</span> last year - they'll need that again plus another good season from slugging C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Derek Walker</span>. 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Troy Harris'</span> best power days are behind him...same story for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Reyes</span> but between them 2B should still be a plus on offense. 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gerardo Rodriguez</span> may be the best leadoff/on-base threat, although his .439 OBP (in 236 AB's last year) may be a little much to hope for again. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver's</span> best pitcher - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Craig Hague</span> - occupies kind of a swingman role, seeing long relief, the occasional start, and some short relief duties. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Cesar Mendez</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Carl Benson</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Midre Estrada</span> were their most effective starters lat year (all under 3.25 ERA's in part-time starter roles), although <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Barker</span> probably gets 32 starts. It's a very deep bullpen headed by closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Adam Lieb</span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">er</span> (36 of 39 save ops last year) - 7th-inning leads aren't a sure thing for any team, but they're in good hands with the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Victory</span>.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;">OAKLAND </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">mounted a fairly active off-season campaign to regain the top spot in the West after a 2-year absence. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Emil Morales</span> joins the infield - he may get 500 AB's in a super-utility - role (think "Cesar Tovar" for those of you old enough to remember the guy who played all 9 positions for the Twins in a 1968 game). <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Rod Goldberg</span> moves in at SS, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">John Tomko</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Louie Paniagua</span> join the rotation, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Benito Rivera</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Odalis Torcato</span> plug into the bullpen. The <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Surenos</span> maintain a dangerous attack (819 runs last year- 4th); C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">J.T. Burns</span>, LF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Erubiel Maduro</span> and RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Wilfredo Feliz</span> are still 3 of the most dangerous hitters in the NL. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Feliz</span> and 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Valerio Bonilla</span> are 2 of the best top-of-the-order guys anywhere...both could get 95 walks. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Haywood Maxwell</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Humberto Roque</span> complete the rotation, which leans toward groundballers with good pitches, rather than high-split guys. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">P.T. Lincoln</span> handles the closing responsibilities...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brad Matusz</span> will get his 100+ innings, but the other 6 relievers will all see a lot of action, too.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">LAS VEGAS </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">had some big FA losses but stayed quiet in the off-season. 1B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Miguel Rios</span>, C <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Bill Wengert</span> and RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hughie Bruskie</span> are all plus bats; SS <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Lance Belitz</span> and 3B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Domingo Batista </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">are better than average at their positions. If the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">69'ers </span>could get a good leadoff hitter in CF (currently no CF's on the roster), they'd have a pretty good-looking lineup. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Luis Cortes</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Adrian Jensen</span> are a solid front 2 in the rotation...3, 4, and 5 should be OK but nothing special. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Juan Gomez</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Al Borges</span> might be the best closer/setup combo in Belle. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vegas</span> looks a little incomplete still - they may add another significant player or 2, or they may decide to </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">retool for a season.<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;"><br />SCOTTSDALE </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">may have outdueled <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Chicago</span> for the "Most Active Off-Season Team" award. When the smoke cleared, what came out was a much better offense than the one that only put up 583 runs last year, and maybe a little better staff than the one that was middle of the pack last year. There's really no hole anywhere in the lineup - 2B <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">David Lee</span> is the only one there purely for his defense, and he's at least adequate at the plate. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jim Olson</span> is the best-hitting SS of his era. RF <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">John Tamura</span> may be the key to the offense this season: if he can stay in the lineup and play 140 games (a big "if")....400 OBP and 30 HR. Pitching starts with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kennie Frascatore</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. The 4th pick of the Season 11 draft had a fantastic rookie season (16-8, 2.62) - he's been good in the 3 seasons since, but not at that level. With a much-improved attack, his win totals will go up, but if he can get back to his rookie form this team is going places. #2 starter <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">David Elcano</span> has been very solid his first two seasons, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Fox</span> probably improves the #3 spot. Closer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Brett Holmes</span> has good setup help in <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tuck Barkley</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dingo Hawkins</span>, but the rest of the bullpen is suspect.</span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br />PREVIEW<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This might be our best shot at a 4-team race, although right now it looks like <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vegas</span> is likely to fall out of it. I think <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Scottsdale </span>will have the best offense of the group, plus the only real ace in the division (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Frascatore</span>). I think the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vipers</span> will win it in a close race. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Vancouver</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Oakland</span> will be motivated to battle all year...can't see #2 in this division getting a wild card.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the MVP: <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Jim Olson</span> (</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SCO</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">), </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Erubiel Maduro</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">OAK</span>)<br /></span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the Cy Young:</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Kennie Frascatore</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">SCO</span>)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will contend for the ROY:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Tyler Wilson</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">LV</span>)<br /><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0