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LAST YEARS RECORD:92-70
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The Sometimes played up to their talent and won the division.It took Hatton eight long seasons ,but finally he's a division champ. Charlotte won 86 games with the 4th best hitting team (.283 team BA) and good defense (85 errors, .980 FPct). The pitching needs some work though, 4.86 team ERA ranked 21st in Wrigleyville.Hatton dished out big signing bonuses for Olsen and Rapp. Hope they play like it. Even if they don't this team is favored to win the division and could make it back to the Series. PREDICTION:90-72
OUT: Santiago Rodriguez , Kirk Tomko , Grant LaRocca , Felipe Ramirez
IN: Ernie Cannon , Horacio Benitez , Louis Little , Steve Garcia
PREVIEW: The Sometimes played like Everytimes. They won the A L South with 92 wins, which was a 6 game improvment from season 21. This was good enough for the #3 seed in the playoffs and they gave a tough Cobra team all they could handle, but lost a tough game 5. Hattons boys were solid last year with good hitting (.278 BA-7th) , pitching (4.36 ERA-9th) and defense (85 errors, .986 FPct-8th). Top ten in all 3 catagories makes Charlotte a serious threat in Wrigleyville. In the off-season Hatton re-signed Ross Griffin and let Rodriguez , Tomko and LaRocca go to free agency and released Ramirez outright. With only a few spots open, Hatton signed free agents Cannon and Benitez, promoted Little and traded for Garcia. Charlotte is a fairly young team with an average age of 28.4 years. This makes them a tad unpredictable and Hatton has everybody signed to long term contracts with the highest average (2.3 avg contract years) in Wrigleyville. Looks like Charlotte is here to stay for the long haul and are the favorites to win this division. PREDICTION:95-67
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LAST YEARS RECORD:78-84
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Uh.....well.......My prediction of 85 wins was.......terrible. Musta been smokin that Wacky Tabacky. Charleston only won 58 games and will get the 2nd pick in this years draft. Nwsheehy's boys had good defense (84 errors, .986 FPct-12th) ,average hitting (.265 team BA-19th) and terrible pitching (5.91 team ERA-31st). Olivers a stud pitcher and Matos will help get the pitching staff get out of the cellar. But this team still needs some help with their smoking problem. Put down the Pipe!!! PREDICTION: 75-87
OUT: Horacio Mesa , Shep Hunt , Miguel Martis , Mike Tewksbury , Andre Scanlan , Mac Patrick , Justin Wallace
IN: Josh Parker , Willie Martinez , Louie Elcano , Alex Serra , Woody Kipling , Juan Vazquez
PREVIEW: The Tabaky Farmers were one of the most improved teams last year. Nwsheehy won 20 more games than season 21 to finish with a respectable 78 win season. Charleston did this with improved hitting (.273 BA-13th) and pitching (4.78 ERA-22nd). The only slide was the defense play (100 errors, .984 FPct-16th), they took a slight step back from the year before. Nwsheehy did draft well with the addition of Taylor Allen and Doyle Barnes to the farm system. In the off-season Nwsheehy re-signed Mo Coleman , Benny Benitez and let Mesa, Hunt, Martis, Tewksbury, Scanlan and Patrick go to free agency. He released Wallace outright. And now had some holes to fill, Nwsheehy signed free agents Parker, Martinez, Elcano and picked up Serra, Kipling and Vazquez in the R-5. The Tabaky Farmers lost several of their bullpen guys and infielders. He replaced them with inexpensive Free agents and R-5 players. This gives Charlotte plenty of cap room for later moves if the pick-ups don't pan out. Right now this team looks like a .500 team at best....PREDICTION:80-82
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LAST YEARS RECORD:73-89
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The Posse rode hard but in the end they came up short. The 76 wins was Little Rocks best showing since season 14.....Giddy-up! Last year Illicits team had very good hitting (.280 team ERA-7th), poor pitching (5.12 team ERA-27th) and defense (125 errors, .979 FPct-28th).Illicit went out and added some very nice pitchers thru free agency and promotions. This should help the pitching numbers but he still needs some defensive help. PREDICTION:81-81
OUT: Alfredo Acosta , Julio Colon , George Cordova , Miguel Baez , Albert Perez , Ted Brush
IN: Kendry Pena , Malcolm Ashley , Angel Baerga , Quinton Womack , Yorvit Diaz , Alex Outman , Claudio Schmidt , Enrique Alfonseca
PREVIEW: Last year the Posse had another sub .500 season and long time owner Illicit, threw his arms up and cried, "Uncle". He sold the team to Dmann2158 for a collection of Box Car Willy 8 track tapes and toy train set. Heck, Dmann even threw in a conductors hat and whistle to sweeten the pot. We will miss illicit but he will be busy in his garage happily playing Railroad Tycoon. Dmann will have his work cut out for him after last season. Little Rock had the worst defense (150 errors, .976 FPct-32nd). The pitching (4.83 ERA-24th) and hitting (.267 BA-24th) wasn't much better...how did this team win 73 games?? Illicit did add Marc Dean in the draft so Dmann has something to work with. In the off-season Dmann let Acosta, Colon, Cordova go to free agency and traded away Baez, Perez and Brush. With a couple holes to fill, Dmann claimed Pena off the wire and promoted Ashley, Baerga and Womack. He picked up Diaz in the R-5 and brought in Outman, Schmidt and Alfonseca with the earlier trades. This team needed alot of help and it looks like Dmann has them on the right track. It may take a few more years before they will contend. But they will improve over last years record.PREDICTION:79-83
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LAST YEARS RECORD:58-104
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Santa Fe wins the draft pick derby with 109 losses. It was expected Tchagnons guys would mail it in, seeing how its another re-build season.The blues did pick up Shawn Barfield in last years draft .So it wasn't a completely unproductive season.Holy crap!! talk about blowing a team up! Tchagnon left no doubt that this is a re-build. Gonna be alot of crying Blues Fans.PREDICTION:60-102
OUT: Placido Sanchez , Junior Maeda , Jim Caufield , Rico Mateo , Emmanuel Caseres , Felix Ramirez , James Lee , Andres Ferrer , Odalis Suarez , Tuck Damon
IN: Randy Palmer , Gus Grossman , Don Nelson , Kris Karros , Enrique Pimentel , Eswalin Canseco , Rex Maxwell
PREVIEW: Santa Fe finished right where we thought they would...at the bottom. Tchagnon will get the first pick in the draft and add to his stout farm system. I'm not gonna waste time on hitting, pitching and defensive rankings because it was a throw-away season. The Blues did add #1 overall pick Pete George in the draft and Julio Juarez in the IFA market. In the off-season Tchagnon let Sanchez, Maeda, Caufield, Mateo, Caseres and Ramirez go to free agency and released Lee, Ferrer, Suarez, Damon outright. Now with many roster spots open ,Tchagnon claimed Palmer off the wire and signed free agents Grossman, Nelson, Karros, Pimentel, Canseco and Maxwell. Holy Crap...deja vu!! Tchagnon pulled out his checkbook and spent 42 million on free agents. He picked up most of the bluechip pitchers in free agency and a catcher. Can Money buy you a championship?? maybe ...when I first looked at this team I thought yea he really bought himself a good pitching staff....but....The offense was lacking. Then I looked at the AAA squad and saw some talent almost ready to be called up. The Blues should be the most improved and will be above .500. They could give Charlotte a run for the division, But its a 2 team race. PREDICTION:84-78
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