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LAST YEARS RECORD:103-59 (WORLD SERIES CHAMP)
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: I had good reasons for ranking Ehulls Coat Factories as favorite to win the Series. And really, it was a easy peasy call. Burlington still had most of the bunch back that won the Series in S-21. They went into the post season with the #2 ranked pitching staff in Wrigleyville (3.41 ERA-2nd) and the 7th ranked defensive club (79 errors, .987 FPct-7th). The only concern was the anemic Offense (.256 BA-28th) .They only hit .250 in the playoffs with a S-22 playoff worst 105 strikeouts. But what propelled them to the Championship was the long ball. Ehulls "hit it far or miss guys" smacked 73 homers ,second to only the Salmonbellies. Looks like great pitching and homeruns are the recipe to World Series Championships.Burlington swapped players Karnuth and Torres with me. Time will tell who got the best of the exchange. But picking up a player with Championship DNA in Guthrie may help the Coat Factories 3-peat. This team is still intact with a few good replacements. Ehulls Dreadnought Coat Factories are still the Favotite to win this years Series. PREDICTION:105-57
OUT: Marc Lawrence , Juan Guerrero , Jackie Guthrie , Fonzie Bittle
IN: Esmailyn Silva , Louis Rekar , Don Lim , Torey Acosta
PREVIEW: The Burlington Coat Factories have done what no other team in Wrigleyville has done. Ehulls bunch went Back to Back to Back. Congrats to Ehull, he has built a dynasty and should be proud of this accomplishment. Last year they had the best pitching (3.11 ERA, 1.17 WHIP-1st) and defense (59 errors,.990 FPct-1st) in the league. Burlington only needed a average offensive team (.264 BA-16th) to win 103 games and win the Series. In the off-season Ehull re-signed Esmailyn Silva and let Lawrence, Guerrero, Guthrie and Bittle go to free agency. He signed free agents Silva , Rekar, Lim and Acosta. When you win a World Series let alone 3 in a row. Your players want to get paid and there are many teams who are willing to pay them. So Ehull had to let several key players go to free agency and pick up some replacements that wouldn't break the bank. When you lose as much talent as Burlington did, it's hard to overcome. The Coat Factories will be competative...but.... I think they will fall short of 4 in a row. PREDICTION: 95-67
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LAST YEARS RECORD:94-68
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The Moose weren't the most improved as predicted but they did improve 13 games from S-21. They won 75 games with good pitching (4.42 ERA-12th) . But like last year the hitting (.251 BA-31st) and defense (142 errors, .977 FPct-31st) was nearly the worst in Wrigleyville. The addition of 1st round draft pick Charles Yamamoto and IFA Pedro Olmedo will help Rugby fix these deficiencies in the future.The Moose are still a young team with 28.6 avg age and only 3.7 avg ML years. With some very nice prospects in AAA this team should be competative soon .Is this that year? let me see what my Magic 8-ball says. "Concentrate and ask again"........ well that didn't help me. PREDICTION:84-78
OUT: Ivan Henriquez , Wayne Snyder , Eric Howell , Mo Hubbard
IN:
PREVIEW: It was a breakout year for the Moose with 94 wins. They beat my Magic 8-Ball prediction of 84 wins and won a wildcard spot.In the post-season Syracuse got swept by the Utes,but the Moose are Loose again and thats trouble for us .Last year Rugbys Alces's had good pitching (4.00 ERA,1.33 WHIP-7th), but the hitting (.261 BA-25th) was poor and defense (99 errors, .984 FPct-20th) was average. In the off-season Rugby let Henriquez go to free agency and released Howell, Hubbard and Snyder. We are 11 games into the season and the Moose still have 5 roster spots open. I looked at the AAA players and there are many tasty prospects waiting for the call-up. I think Rugby will bring them up soon and the Moose will give the Coat Factories a run fer their money. They have a great chance of winning the division.PREDICTION:95-67
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LAST YEARS RECORD:93-69
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Jeff's Red Light Districts took a slight step back last year, but it was still good enough for the #6 seed in the playoffs. Cincinnati shocked the up and coming Madison Muskellunges in the first round. But then they really didn't have enough to beat the defending champs in the DCS. Last season the Jeffs guys had great pitching (4.13 ERA-5th), good hitting (.274 BA-11th) and defense( 91 errors, .985 FPct-11th). The trades brought in Earley, Weston, Baez and Soriano. Cincinatti let or traded some talent but the trades brought in some really nice players. Can the Red Light Districts return to glory? You have to trust Jeff's track record and couple that with the tough division in projecting this team. It's a tough call but this team will be in the wild-card hunt.PREDICTION:89-73
OUT: Tomas Herrera , Phillip Maloney , Rafael Pimentel , Jae Kojima , Miguel Baez , Javier Manzanillo
IN: Bert McKnight , Joaquin Pena , Hooks Giovanola , Clinton Goodwin , Slick Allen
Jeff2106's PREVIEW: This season will come down to 1 thing, staying healthy. Last season starts out going pretty good then an injury to Yannick Earley changes the whole offense.Yannick was off to an MVP type season and his 34 injury caught up to him. The Reds hung right with Burlington for most of the season the the offense started to plummet,the pitching was so so and that started a big slide. Before the trade deadline we traded Howard Allen for Mike Karnuth to try and get the offense going again.As the post season got closer and the wild card was getting crazier we were just able to sneak in on the last day. But the damage was done as Cy Young winner Gene Weston got hurt 4 days before the playoffs.The Reds won the 1 st round against Madison and then got swept by Burlington. The Reds had almost the entire offense coming back so we traded under performing Miguel Baez for Hooks Giovanola to clear some payroll.Needing a catcher to platoon against LH pitching we traded for Clinton Goodwin . We added Slick Allen through trade to help the bullpen.Needing a SP I went after Bert McKnight whoi thought was the best bang for the buck, he was no where near the price the other FA went for and is a good addition to a rotation that was 3rd in the league in ERA last season.Resigned 2 bullpen arms Grant LaRocca and Dion O'Donnell then added to finish out the pitching.Getting back to staying healthy, I think if that happens we can compete with Burlington for the east with Alex, Gene and Bert who all could win 20 games 90+ wins should be no problem and if everything goes perfect we could win 100.
PREVIEW: The Red Light Districts did grab the final wildcard berth with 93 wins. They went into the first round as a underdog and swept the Muskellunges. For that they got to face their division foe, Burlington. The Coat Factories swept Jeff's Miscreants in the DCS and went on to win the series. No shame in that Jeff. Last year Cincinatti had the 3rd best pitching club (3.31 ERA, 1.21 WHIP-3rd). The defense (91 errors,.985 FPct-15th) and hitting (.265 BA-14th) is pretty close to average. In the off-season Jeff let re-signed Grant LaRocca and Dion O'Donnell and let Herrera, Maloney, Pimentel and Kojima go to free agency. He traded away Baez and Manzanillo. Jeff signed free agents McKnight and Pena and traded for Giovanola, Goodwin and Allen. It's all about pitching in Cincinatti and Jeff brought in some good free agents and traded for another good pitcher. He also landed a young Hooks Giovanola who may get off the pine if the Red Light Districts have a injury. Jeff always puts together a good team and this year is no different. The RLD's should at least get a wild-card and may win the division with the decline of Burlington.PREDICTION:95-67
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LAST YEARS RECORD:55-107
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Ralphs Crabs won 74 games....and thats respectable for a re-build. The Temporary Santurce Crabbers had below average hitting (.270 BA-22nd) pitching (5.09 ERA-26th) and defense (11 errors, .982 FPct-21st) . San Juan did add 1st round pick Kyle Stevens to the farm system and picked up B.C. Gonzales amongst many others in the IFA. I'm watching Ralph closely and learning how to build a winner.This is a Re-build and Ralph is just plugging in temporary players to get him through the season. He has lots and lots of money to spend on his High School draft picks and tasty IFA's. PREDICTION:70-92
OUT: Pascual Marichal , Ben Borland , Jose Bonilla , Mo Andrelczyk , Nicholas Bevil , Esteban Campos , Alfredo Baker , Tyrone Handworth , Duane Belinda , David Bocachica , Wandy Corpas , Miguel Martinez
IN: Carlos Tatis , Saul Valbuena , Miguel Piedra , Sting Jackson , Junichi Masato , Luis Gil , Bernie MacDougal , Bum Moran
PREVIEW: I predicted 70 wins for the Santurce Crabbers because of last years suprise 74 win season. That proved to be a optimistic prediction for the re-build of Ralphs team. They only won 55 games and I will not waste our time on last years stats, but I will point out some of the great young prospects he picked up for the future. San Juan picked up Logan Allensworth and Gaby Ramirez in the draft. Don Itou and Carlos Urena were added from the International Free Agent Market. The Future looks bright on Fantasy Island. In the off-season Ralph re-signed Jack Stewart and let Marichal, Borland, Bonilla, Andrelczyk and Bevil go to free agency. He released Campos, Baker, Handworth, Belinda, Bocachica, Corpas and Martinez. Ralph claimed Tatis, Valbuena, Piedra, Jackson and Masato off the wire. He signed free agents Gil and MacDougal and promoted Moran. No secret here folks. The Crabbers are in a re-build and this years M L squad is made up of old free agents and young waiver wire pick-ups. Maybe some will prove good enough as trade chips. But regardless, San Juan will be picking up IFA's a good draft prospects for the future.PREDICTION 60-100
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