Sunday, April 1, 2012

AL EAST - Season #21 Preview


Baltimore Renegades



The Baltimore Renegades had a busy off-season.  They made two major trades in an effort to get younger and less expensive.  The Renegades are still trying to get to the World Series for the first time in the history of the franchise. They came up a little short last season as they lost to Detroit in the second round of the playoffs, but the team is still geared to win now as many of their key players are young or are already in their prime.  


The Renegades have lots of fire power offensively.  With the likes of C-Walt Harnisch, 1B- Pascual Sanchez, 2B- Ricky Atchley, 3B- Russell Collins, LF-Pablo Durazo, CF- Stuart Locke, RF-Craig Cook, and DH- Jim Morris...this team is sure to score lots of runs. 


The Starting pitching is decent, with Milt Gagne, Vasco Batista, Walt Koch, Brian Jacobs, and Alex Santiago.  It will be much stronger rotation once Vic Ordonez returns from the DL.  Ordonez has been rehabbing his shoulder since last April, when he was knocked out after only pitching 6 games for the Renegades.  His return will really give the rotation a boost and push an existing starter to the bullpen making it stronger as well. 


The bullpen has been rebuilt and is anchored by third year closer Bengie Plata.  Damian Murphy, Darrin Roth, and Scott Diaz are the set-up guys and give the team great veteran leadership. 


Top Rookie- SS-Craig Jackson (AA) 

Key Players Lost- LHP- Kevin Lawrence (trade), LHP-Victor Palmeiro (trade), RHP-Mateo Leon (trade), RHP-Alex Mangual (trade). 3B-Cory Thomas (trade), and LF-Ian Trammel (trade) .

Key Players Acquired- RHP-Brian Jacobs (trade), RHP-Alex Santiago (FA), RHP-Lon Thompson (FA), RHP- Shane Woods (FA), OF-Alex Calvo (FA) SS-Craig Jackson (trade), OF-Stuart Locke (trade), and OF-Jay Miles (FA).

Key Off-Season Transaction- Trading for SS-Craig Jackson.  I was surprised that Las Vegas finally traded him to us after all the past attempts to get him.  We feel he is a true All-Star and hopefully a HALL OF FAMER in the making .






Chicago Gusting Squal


Top players added: Don Okajima SS, Trenidad Osoria SP. 


Top Players lost: Phillip Pride RP (AAA) , Albert Mondesi SP (AAA). 


Top Prospects: Prospects? What are those? Haven't seen many of them in Chi town



Outlook: The Gusting Squall hopes to continue to contend this season by mashing the cover off the ball with a solid lineup of aging veterans. Management has worked diligently to shore up pitching staff, focusing on groundball pitchers with the hope of keeping the ball in the ballpark while on defense. Management is keenly aware this season could be the last go-around for some of the key veterans, so their sights are set on slugging their way to the pennant!









Columbus Cheese N' Rice

Columbus didn't really loose anybody big. We didn't really add anybody big. We lost David Vincente and Ivan Martin. The goal is to progress with my young team and keep building.  We need to determine who can cut it at ML level - aiming to make big splash next year





New York Surf Riders

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AL NORTH - Season #21 Preview



 Buffalo Ice Dogs 


"The Ice Dogs have been frustrating the city of Buffalo for years now, so in an attempt to win back fans they have pushed their rebuilding up a notch by being more active in Free Agency. The hope is by having signed P Matty Diaz, power hitter Humberto Ramirez and 1B/RF Miguel Espinosa along with prospects P Walt Osborne and CF Jose Cueto that this season will be an improvement and serve as a springboard toward the playoffs down the road".








Detroit Wolverines


Detroit had a great season last year making it all the way to the ALCS. We expect our young players to get better and compete again for a playoff spot and possible Division Title. Detroit will burn the base paths with all the speed they have in the lineup.
A look at each position:

Catcher-Robbie Belisle is starting his 5th season and looks to have a breakout year. Reid Barker is the backup and comes in for defensive purposes at the end of games.

First Base-Michael Lee is looking to improve upon his 6 straight season of 30 plus HR’s and 100 plus RBI’s to start his career and has yet to miss a game in his career.

Second Base- The 2B spot is anchored by reigning ROY Roland Street, he is not only looking to improve his rookie campaign but is looking to make the All-Star team and wants Silver Slugger, look for Roland to have a big Sophomore Season. Roland is backed up by Fausto Martin. Fausto will split time as an infielder giving guys rest and DH.

Shortstop- SS will be split by 4X Gold Glover Hong Jin Takahashi and Hal Parrot, this is a position of defensive strength for the Wolverines.

Third Base- 3B has Anthony Thomas again back for a second season with the team, he was injured last year and missed out on 30 HR’s, we expect him to get back to that plateau and compete for an All-Star spot. He is backed up by Tony Melo, entering his 9th Season with Detroit. Tony splits time as a backup Infielder and Outfielder and has great speed.

Outfield- The Outfield features lead off man Sammy Costilla in Left, Rookie Al Alvarez in Center who is finally getting a chance to see what he can do with the big club. RF has long time player Chul Pan( who is 3rd in league history for SB’s) splitting time with Rookie Sensation Charlie Little. Charlie has made the big club at the age of 21 and is expected to supplant Chul from a starting spot during the season.

Starting Pitching- The starters have 3 youngsters and 2 veterans and are led by Tom Cota, Carson House( the big FA acquisition for the team after winning 15 games for Rochester last season), J.D. Randall( who won 17 games in his second full big league season), Angel Estrella( who won 11 games as a rookie), and Veteran Josh Curtis as the 5th Starter.

Relievers- The long relievers can start if there are any injuries and are led by veteran Paul Summers and Chick Sweeney. The other relivers are led by Rob Rekar and super closer Harry Cooper who already has 111 Saves in just 4 Seasons.

Minors- There aren’t expected to be any new players making a name for themselves coming up through the minors this season as last year saw a couple. There are a couple of pitchers that are on the cusp and look to possibly n the major next season in Alan Shave and Horracio Sierra. Kirk Brown also has an outside shot. 2B Ken Montgomery also could see the Majors next season depending on his development.



Philadelphia Dusters


Philadelphia Dusters will try to repeat as AL champs with most of the team returning. Newcomers Willie Estrada, Carter Sexton and Al Sosa will try to put them over the top. The offense led by Stephen Rivera and a veteran pitching staff will attempt for a fifth straight AL North crown and a chance to get back into the World Series.




Boise Cartel

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AL SOUTH - Season #21 Preview



Santa Fe Railroads


The outlook for the railroads looks pretty good.  With a good young nucleus of Justin Kubenka, Phillip Oliver, and Andres Navarre, plus with the upcoming return of Cameron Price from the DL  the offense looks to be in good shape.

the pitching staff should be a bit more stable.  Pasquel Prieto was brought in to manage the SS hole, while FA signing Emmett McDonald and rule 5 pick Tony Alomar add some depth to the bullpen, which may get a boost soon from top prospect Coco Reagan. The railroads are looking forward to competing and hopefully adding a pennant this season!



Charlston Shannon Faulkners
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Little Rock Rockabillies

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Tampa Bay Sunburnt Tourists 


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AL WEST - Season #21 Preview

Anaheim Aardarks


Players added:
Carlos Mendoza, 1B/DH, FA .312-25-84 with SF in PY.
Javier Hernandez, 1B/DH, Trade
Alejandro Paningua, C, FA, backup/defensive guy
-Players re-signed
Parker Stovall, 1B/LF/DH
JT Scott, SP - re-signed late in spring due to injury to Duke May.

Players Lost
Don Wager, CF, Trade
Carlton Mills, 1B, FA
Jorge Rosario, SP, FA

Top Prospects
- Gio Gonzalez, C, AA, Int'l FA last year - .318, 39 2b, 25 hr, 124 rbi at high A PY. Threw out 29% of SB attempts.
- Izzy Fox, RF, AA .281, 59 2B, 23HR 133rbi, 23 sb split between low and high A ball last year.
- Trevor King, SP, High A. 18 wins 1.28 whip 228 SO/241 IP first 2 years.
- Oswaldo Cueto, Low A. 2-0 with 7 saves in rookie ball. 25 SO/25 IP. #1 pick PY.

Plans
Will rely on Francisco Melian, 2B, Michael Wieland, SS, and Jimmy Jaramillo, DH to be the offensive anchors. Will be looking for better OBP from the top of the order. With Wagner gone, Chris May and Ruben Samuel will get every chance to win the CF job. Future HOF Parker Stovall and his 700 career HR is back for his 18th ML season with the club in what will be a part time role now that he is 35.

With the lack of starting pitching in Free Agency the club will be looking to young starters Ubaldo Chavez, 23, and Douglas Bailey, 22, to lead the staff. Chavez already has 46 ML starts under his belt (19-16 record). Bailey got a taste of the majors at the end of last season going 2-1 in 4 starts with an impressive 0.63 WHIP and 1.61 ERA. Veterans Duke May, David White, and JT Scott will round out the rotation with Drew Ducey also in competition (note: Duke May is now out due to Elbow Surgery for an injury suffered in Spring Training).

The bullpen will once again be anchored by Bryant Christensen and his 286 career saves. Getting to him could be an issue as the rest of the bullpen will look to improve from prior year with mainly the same cast of characters. Stone Johnstone will be the primary setup option (3.99 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) as well as a young Juan Duran, who appeared in 66 games last year in his rookie campaign (3.56 ERA).





Las Vegas Gamblers


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Salem Slayers

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Salt Lake Movers  Shakers

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Saturday, March 31, 2012

NL EAST - Season #21 Preview

Richmond Spiders


It’s been two years in a row that the Richmond Spiders have been the last place team in the league, and this year the rebuilding stops and the winning (hopefully) starts.  The season started with a purge of most of the untalented players on last years MLB roster.

We have promoted 4 players that I hope to build the core of the team around in the coming future. Red James (RF) is a first round draft pick from season 15, and he’s legit at the plate. He will be a welcome addition to a line-up that was putrid last year.

From a pitching perspective, Torey Olivares, Herb Leary, and Phillip Seay were all promoted this year. Olivares was signed as an IFA in season 19, Leary was a first round pick in season 17, and Seay was acquired in season 18 from Baltimore for Russell Collins.

The other key moves in the offseason were extending set-up man Miranda’s contract, and landing a couple key pieces in FA. Geraldo Pimentel (C) and Marcus Lamb (SS) are some aging vets, but will hopefully bring some offensive punch to the Spiders line-up this year. We also signed some pitching help as well, Xavier Maxwell and Hanley Perez should be able to add some stability to a very poor rotation from a year ago.

Overall the Spiders franchise has had only 1 season in 20 years over .500, I hope to make it two this year. The future looks bright in Richmond!



Rochester Rodents Of Unusual Size

Rochester is still looking to avoid the early season holes we keep digging every year.
The starting offense returns intact, but our bench has undergone a bit of an overhaul. Welcome to new comers Oswaldo Guapo to handle LF & 1b duties and John Worthington to cover SS late in games. Both come with much better offense than we have had in the past w/ former SS’s Garland & Parker who were defense only. Still looking for these guys to hit like they should, especially since there arb numbers are about to really increase next year or two…then it will be decision time on this group.

The pitching staff has traded our #1 starter Willie Estrada (lost as type A – don’t get me started on the compensation situation!) for serious ace & megabuck contract havin’ Harry Palacios. We have also brought up a couple noobs to fortify the pen in former #6 pick season 18 Frank Mauer and Orlando Marmol. Pitching staff has a lot of control overall & very nice splits – should be a strength.
A lot of our top prospects are gone in the Palacios deal….but we have Howie Boyle developing for the pen, last year’s #1 pick and a few compensation picks to refortify the system.










New York Knights

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Washington D.C. Whalers

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NL NORTH - Season #21 Preview


Cleveland Rockers



The biggest news of the offseason came when we traded long time 2B Thomas Blanco, former rule 5 pick CF Trevor Gray and former 14th overall pick SP Bert Brock to the Tourists for RP Raul Martin. We are really excited about Martin.  We believe he is one of the top 3 bullpen arms in the world and at 29 years of age has plenty of good baseball left in him. 

 The Rockers choose not to spend big this year on free agents because of all the young players that need playing time.  We lost probably our biggest star, 3B Ober McClellan to free agency but felt we could justify letting him go with Kendry Benitez ready to take over.  We also lost a couple of solid bullpen arms but felt we had the talent to replace them in the minors at a fraction of the cost. 

Our top prospect is probably LF Jolbert Campos, he will hit for power and average when he arrives to the big leagues. Look for 2B Yorvit Roque, 3B Kendry Benitez, C Victor Osuna, SP Heinie Starr, RP Josh Truman and possibly RP Hal Alexander to make their ML debuts at some point this season.




Montreal Thunder Birds






Pawtucket Sox


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Toronto Gang Colours


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Friday, March 30, 2012

NL SOUTH - Season #21 Preview


Florida Ocean Blue

After staying in the wildcard hunt right up through the final day of last season but failing to make the cut, the major objective this off-season was to bolster an offense that finished near the bottom of the league in run production.

Despite the efforts of MVP Scot Simontachi, the Blue fared poorly due to little or no production from 2 outfield spots and SS. Vet slugger Ralph Wallace was signed to play some 1B to get another bat into the line-up, and CF Trevor Grey was brought in via trade to get on base at the top of the order, while skillfully manning the key defensive position. We're also hoping from bounce-back seasons from Charlie Hull and Carlos Sosa, whom we hope gets inspired by playing out his walk-year.

The bullpen remains a strength, led by lights-out closer Andrew Ratliff, but the rotation is shaky behind the 1-2 punch of Harry Mathews and Rex Andrews. Hopefully, the revamped offense will help overcome the weak back-end of the rotation.

On the farm, speed-demon Patrick Boyle is ready for the call should Sosa again struggle, or should we suffer a major injury. Starter Gene Bolden is still acouple years away, and we are excited about the first two picks in last year's draft; 2B Buck Hutchinson, who is already capable of fielding the position, but needs to develop his bat, and starter Jack Browning.



Mexico City Hombres Azul

Hardly lost anyone, Charlie Jefferies tested free agency, but it looks as if no-one wanted him as I got him back for his asking price! Lost Lonny Alomar who was the vL half of my RF platoon.

The only new Hombre is Ronnie Romero who was acquired in a trade with Rochester, Ronnie will start in right field against lefties, and do some pinch-running. The acquisition of Romero compliments the Hombres Azul’s playing style: contact and speed, we now have 4 hitter with 90+ speed, but only one with 80+ power.

The cupboard is bare, almost. Ignacio Rondon will probably be starting catcher in Season 22, glovesmith Flip Riske will make a good back-up infielder, and Horacio Mujica may make a big league 2B if his glove improves.

Hoping for a repeat, it’s pretty much the same team so there should be a decent chance, but standing still is often not good enough, and I’m bound to see some regression from last years Cy Young winner Danys Ayala and silver slugger CF Alan Graham who both had career years.  I’m hoping that these will be balanced out by improvements from SS Alving Sanchez, and a full season from SP Rashun Gonzalez.




Kansas City Brownie's Wallbangers

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Nashville Neurotic Nematodes

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Thursday, March 29, 2012

NL WEST - Season #21 Preview

Honolulu Rainbow Warriors


After an exciting but ultimately failed NLCS appearance last season, the Honolulu Rainbow Warriors are making an all-out push to bring the World Series trophy to Waikiki Beach.*

Expensive, talented, and past your prime? Come on down! The Warriors loaded up on mid-30's graybeards, bringing in strong starters Chief Blair and Brandon Linden, and former MVP Billy Reynolds, for one last shot at glory. The controversial six-man rotation will return, and the Warriors hope that their core of Matty Lee, Herb Reed, Deivi Alomar, and clubhouse cancer Rafael Blasco can combine with a power bullpen to get past the Mexico City juggernaut.

Minor leagues? Don't worry about it. Not much to be had there beyond future No. 3 starter Derrek Jones. But only Baseball America will care about that once all of Hawaii is rejoicing at the all-night post-World Series Luau in Diamondhead Crater.

*Hawaiian native Barack Obama has promised to throw out the first pitch if the Warriors make the Series.



Scottsdale Maize 'N Blue


Key Additions - All Prospects -Benji Aguilera, Andres Macias, Adam Riggs, DJ Webster, Kurt Giambi

Key Losses - Harry Palacios, Delino Silva, Felipe Martinez

Top Prospects - Outside of the new additions, my team is being built through OF - Wiki Rivas and Jose Velez, SP- Raul Batista, James Lamb and Lou Hendrickson as well as RP Wandy Urbina and Christopher Villareal.

Outlook - Yes we moved again..We dropped massive payroll and talent by trading Palacios and Silva, but this team was still a few years away with them so they were moved for quality prospects. .Future looks extremely bright. Ace SP Niko Kirby still has several years in this franchise though the enormous offers I've been receiving for him could see him in a new uniform in Season 22.




St. Louis Wish I Had Pujols' 


Top player added this year is Hootie Stockton who was a free agency signing. Also brought up Ted Van Hekken, who is probably my best prospect and Neifi Cabrera to pair along side Sparky Lee at the top of the line-up.

For the second straight year I lost my best reliever to free agency as Aurelio Montanez left the team. My top prospects include Vin Ellsbury on triple-A and a couple of pitchers, Itou and Okajima, at the lower levels. Would like to compete this year, but realize I am probably one more pitcher and another power bat to go with Patel away from really being a factor in the division race.




Vancouver Big Blue Bulldogs

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

AL EAST - Season #20 Preview

 
Baltimore Renegades


The Baltimore Renegades are trying to get to the World Series for the first time in the history of the franchise. They came up a little short last season as they lost to the Salem Slayers (the eventual World Series champions) in the ALCS.  The team is geared to win now as many of the players are in their prime. 


The Renegades have lots of fire power offensively.  With the likes of C-Walt Harnisch, 1B- Pascual Sanchez, 2B- Ricky Atchley, 3B- Cory Thomas, SS- Russell Collins, LF- Ian Trammell, CF- Rafael Blasco, RF-Craig Cook, and DH- Jim Morris...this team is sure to score lots of runs. Young players like 1B- Jim Brooks and CF/2B- Pablo Durazo have to bide ther time in AAA (or on the ML bench) to get the chance to crack the starting line-up.


The Starting pitching is good (not great), with Milt Gagne, Vic Ordonez, Victor Palmeiro and rookie phenom Kevin Lawrence.  The last spot in the rotation will go to the winner of the Spring Training battle between Walt Koch and newly acquired free agent Mateo Leon.  The loser of this battle should whind up being the long-man out of the bullpen.


The bullpen is the team's biggest weakness.  It's led by second year closer Bengie Plata and Damian Murphy.  The Renegades also added RH set-up man Alex Mangual via free agency this offseason, but tried unsuccessfully to acquire a more experienced closer to help transition Plata into the role full-time.  The closer role is definately Plata's job to lose entering Spring Training, but don't be suprised if the team tries to acquire a more seasoned veteran by trade or uses a bullpen-by-committee approach as needed.


Top Rookies- CF/2B- Pablo Durazo (AAA) and 1B- Jim Brooks (AAA)

Key Players Lost- RHP- Joaquin Benitez (waivers), RHP- Orlando James (FA), RHP- Moe Fasano (FA), LHP- Alex Whang (FA), C- Catfish Harper (waivers), 1B- Vasco Bonilla (FA), 2B/LF- Luis Megias (Released), and LF-Jesse Stein (FA).

Key Players Aquired- RHP- Mateo Leon (FA), RHP- Alex Mangual (FA), C- Tomas Prieto (Rule 5 Draft), 3B-Nerio Baker (FA), and 1B/LF- Elston Malloy (FA).

Key Off-Season Transaction- Signing free agent RHP Alex Mangual as it should help settle this seasons biggest need.  Mangual may also see some save opportunities this seaon as the closer .





Cincinnati Rang


I think my team will contend for a playoff spot.  My best prospects are Ricky Liverman, Jimmy Cintron, Albert Mondesi, Phillip Pride.

Players added...Dante Ledesma, Jose Morales, Wilton Tucker. Players lost...Pedro Tatis, Junior Brea.

My best move was getting Dante Ledesma because he gave me a solid five starter.






New York Surf Riders

The big additions to the New York Surf Riders pitching staff in the offseason were bringing in additional bullpen depth with veteran set up relievers John Schmidt and Alex Thornton and picking up Felix Justice as a long reliever and spot starter in the Rule 5 draft. The rotation got a lot younger with the addition of rookie Derrick Cunningham, to complement Jackson Magadan and Wayne Allen, but still has veteran anchors Whitey West and Shooter Ledesma. Longtime SP, Albert Delgado has been demoted to the bullpen as a long reliever, but provides insurance against injuries. We lost LH set-up man Phillip Hammond, who was a big free agent pick up several seasons ago, but underperformed for us and lost the closer role to all-star Matt Antonelli. We got two Type A picks for him (49 and 100). A key to the Surf Riders season is that the young starting staff continue to develop, and get our team pitching our of the bottom third of the league. A bonus would be the development of Justice into a bona fide 4 or 5 starter.

On the line-up side, the addition of Derrick Landrum via trade, increases the team’s emphasis on versatile hitters who have both pop and on base skills as well as speed and versatility in the field. He joins Thomas Andujar, Yannick Williams Jr, Alex Calvo and newcomer Steve Adams, all in that mold. The middle of the lineup remains strong with sluggers Roger Mills, Giomar Cabrero and Jeremy Weston all coming back. Walters provides tremendous power off the bench, and would start for many teams. Free agent catcher Ernest Jameson was added as a back-up. With these additions, we are hoping that the team can move from the top half to the top third of the league in hitting. The team lost perennial all-star Anthony Thomas to free agency. We got two Type A picks for him (19 and 52). Overall the team has 6 top 100 picks, including 2 top 20, so it should continue to be able to strengthen from within the organization.




Columbus Cheese N' Rice

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Friday, December 23, 2011

AL WEST - Season #20 Preview

Anaheim Aardarks


Anaheim has struggled to break through - floating between 70-81 wins for the past 7 seasons. Francisco Melian has taken over leadership on offense and was rewarded with a new 4-year deal in the offseason. We added a few pieces on offense in the offseason, but pitching continues to be the achillies heel. If we get good work from our starters we could contend for a wild-card spot. If not, it could be complete overhaul and rebuild mode by the All-Star break as the team has quite a few veterans. My best guess is around 78-84 wins. Bryant Christiansen  continues to be as stud closer with 253 career saves and an 87.5 save percentage saving 43 games last year.

Top Prospects: Top pitching prospect Ubaldo Chavez will start his first full season in the majors. He went 6-3 in 14 starts at the end of last year. Elmer Reagan, 21, SS, AAA. Silver Slugger SS at AA last year when he hit .312/.386/.509 with 32 2B, 20HR, and 113 RBI. Izzy Fox, 19 RF, Low A. Last year's 13th overall pick was rookie league MVP, Silver Slugger RF, and an All-Star hitting .396/.487/.775 with 42 2B, 19HR and 102 RBI and scoring 91 runs. Juan Duran, 21, P, AAA - saved 28/32 games at AA last year. Likely heir apparent at closer. Sal Stratton, 22, P, AAA - combined 10-1 with sub 1.00 WHIP at AA/AAA last year. Esmailyn Petit, 22, P, AA - saved 24/28 at High A in PY. 1.13 career WHIP in minors.


Key Acquisitions: Lewis Glover, 29, LF - career 800+ OPS in 911 games. signed to 3-year deal. Matty Servet, 31, C - career .823 OPS, hit .344 in limited action with Columbus in PY. Signed to 2-year deal.

Key losses - none really. Released under-achieving former first round pick Edgar Guerrero rather than go to arbitration again. He had hit just .243 in over 2,000 career at-bats.

Key Transaction - missing out on some top pitching FA's that would have helped, thus had to go the offensvie route adding Servet and Glover as we will likely have to out-score people.





Salem Slayers

The team is identical to last year. No moves were made.. just keeping the roster intact for another run at the WS.





Las Vegas Gamblers

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Salt Lake Movers  Shakers

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

AL SOUTH - Season #20 Preview

Austin Stinky Peas

Key Offense for the Peas 1B Kenny Tobin is our best offensive weapon. He has been granted a solid supporting cast, but most are flawed.  3B Marino Santana is a shell. The old man needs to much rest to be the impact he could be at this stage in his career and as a result will miss many key games or play too tired to make a he impact. His contract situation makes him almost untradeable.

Free Agent Grabs round out the outfield with Donaldo Romano, Gus Hollandsworth (S) and Giomar Almonte (R). None will win awards but are solid short term guys who can contribute right now and are very cheap. I love Rule 5 Archie Buss. He could be the future at SS, not the greatest hitter but is capable could be a solid contributor. If he gets .240 with 20 SB the team will be happy. His defense will keep him employed here for a long time even if it’s as a defensive sub.

Pitching Looking to lean on old arms Kevin Shelley and Milt Curtis to give me a strong season. Both are coming off solid campaigns and should keep Austin in games. Hoping that rookie Peter Yang can continue last season’s late success, but more realistically hoping he can keep his ERA around 4.5 The bullpen is short-staffed but has a solid closer in Shea Stankiewicz (L). Last season this was a team that finished 24 games under .500. He hopes to get this team closer to .500 maybe slightly over.

No free Agent grabs this season nor will prospect promotions be rushed to get this team to its former glory. The Peas will be on the trade block cutting old contracts and looking toward the future for the next 2 seasons.




Tampa Bay Sunburnt Tourists

I would hope to have an above .500 winning percentage, but will have to win a lot of high scoring games to get there...as we have very weak pitching this year.

Top players are Dario Kwon, slugging 3b with speed, Vince Caruso CF and Bunny Justice 2b coming off 48 hr season. No key losses or additions as payroll is bloated due to poor signings by prior owner.

Top prospects...Marvin Winston SS AA Brad Clayton LF AA Timothy Hansen Left Handed Starter High A.





Little Rock Rockabillies

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Mongomery Mud Slingers
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