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LAST YEARS RECORD: 105-57 (Division Winner)
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Sordies Moonbats finished exactly where I predicted. They also grabbed a wildcard and faced off against a formidable Charlotte squad. They gave it all they had and lost a tough 5th game. That my friends, is the end of Sordie and the Helena Moonbats. I for one will miss his wry humor and wit. But he was unhappy and for the good of the league ,it was best he move on. I heard he bought a Feline Ranch near the gate of the mountains. He wrote me a postcard and said. "If you think HBD is hard.Try herding cats!!. Blitzcomin took over this team and moved them to my old stomping ground of Vancouver. I hope my failures in that grand city don't sour his acceptance. Them Canuks are good fans but they demand a winner.The Blitz have one of the best pitching teams in the AL and have a top 5 power team to boot. The Defense is a little lacking but it won't matter much. This team may win the division but will need help from Salem. Probably will win a wildcard with Richmond and Minnesota in the mix. PREDICTION:92-70 (Wildcard)
OUT: Benji Martin , Eduardo Delgado , Hideki Ma , Javy Torcato , Jeff Burnett
IN: Ken Flair , Rob McNamara , Esmerling Sanchez , Len Hawkins , Louis Rekar , Juan Guerrero
PREVIEW: The Blitz were the surprise team from last year. I predicted a 92 win wild-card team but we got a 105 win division champ.They did this with the best pitching team in the AL and the # 4 defensive team. The hitting was ranked 5th in the AL. All in all, nice job Blitz and the Fans of Vancouver are behind your team 100 percent.They went into the playoffs as the # 1 seed and disappointed the fans when they lost in 5 to their division foe Salmonbellies. In the off-season Martin, Delgado, Ma, Torcato and Burnett left for free agency. Blitziscomin signed free agents Flair, McNamara, Sanchez, Hawkins, Rekar and Guerrero to fill out this years roster. Vancouver is for real and everybody is on notice. It's going to be a 2 team race with Salem but you have to go with who won it last year. PREDICTION:100-62(Division Winner)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:100-62 (Wild Card, American League Champion)
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Mdymonds Salmonbellies finished 5 games above my prediction with great defense (81 errors-5th, .987 FPct-4th) and power hitting ( 357 homers-1st, .274 BA-8th). Imagine how good Salem would have been if they had better pitching (4.47 ERA-15th). Still they made the playoffs as the #1 seed and parlayed that into a ALCS visit. Where they met the #2 Bruins and lost in 6 games.The loss of Ramirez will hurt, and Mdymond traded for a Burlington pitcher to improve his staff. He still has 2 roster spots open and may promote Nicholas Lombardi and Livan Torcato or someone else. He has options and that's always a plus.The Salmonbellies will be challenged by Vancouver but are the favorite to win the division.PREDICTION:98-64 (Division Winner)
OUT: Dick Heilman , Bob Hines , Miguel Duran , Tony Amaral , Bill Skinner
IN: None..yet. Still 5 open roster spots.
PREVIEW: I picked Mdymonds Salmonbellies to win the division and they would have but for the Vancouver win explosion. They did win 100 games and got a wild-card berth with 2nd best pitching and defensive units in the American League. Salem also had the # 3 hitting unit and as you can see, they are a solid team. They proved it in the playoffs by beating the sub-500 Revolutionaries, then got revenge on the division winning Blitz. In the American League Championship game he ousted the # 2 seeded Bruins in 5. Mdymond found himself in the World Series up against last years Champ. They had a tough time of it and lost in 5 games, but still it was a great season for the Salem Salmonbellies. In the off-season Heilman, Hines, Duran and Amaral went to free agency and Mdymond released Skinner. As usual Mdymond keeps me guessing. His roster is still 5 men short and makes a prediction pretty much impossible. But I will say that this team winning the American League was no fluke. They are solid in all 3 facets of the game and can hit em out of the park. The safe bet is Mdymond will get them in the playoffs again. PREDICTION: 88 + Roll the Dice (Wild-card)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:65-97
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Swish may have hit my 96 win prediction but a couple of weeks before the All-Star break he sent out this message. " ship be sinkin'. That's all it took. He traded several players for prospects and the ones that stayed, gave it a good go and won 78 games.Right now the Cobras look like a sub .500 team and Swish still has 20 million in surplus cap space. Couple that with a max 20 million prospect budget, makes me lean towards a re-tool season for Arizona. look for Swish to chase some IFA's and build his farm system. Ship be afloat soon!! PREDICTION:81-81
OUT: Scott Cookson , Gill Laffey , Bert Stevenson , Yannick Earley
IN: Anibal Tavarez , Graeme Quinn , Jimmie Sanchez , Eddie Woods , Diego Perez , John Morris , Enos Crespo
PREVIEW: I waffled whether to predict a total re-build year and a re-tool year. I picked the latter and was wrong,wrong and wrong! The Cobras are in a complete re-build, Swish said as much in last years All-Star break post : "Pretty interesting first half for the Cobras as we've continued to make some trades to get younger while also beginning to integrate younger players onto the major league roster in Stockton and Sugawara. The prospects in the minors keep improving so the future still remains bright. Possibly the only negative, outside of the ML W/L record, is that we swung hard at some tough to sign elite SP's in the draft and were unable to sign them. This was part of the reason why Javier Lopez was traded to bolster the SP prospect package in the minors. We'll pick up compensation picks in the S26 draft though."
Looks like the Ship be a in Dry Dock but he did pick up Victor Roque in the IFA Market. In the off-season Cookson, Laffey went to free agency. Swish released Stevenson and traded Earley to Scranton. He signed free agents Tavarez and Quinn and promoted Sanchez, Woods, Perez and Morris. Finally he picked up Crespo in the R-5 draft. Swish added some really nice player thru free agency and promotions. I don't think they are in the running for the division but with some luck they will break the .500 mark. Right now they are the second youngest team in the A L(Avg Age 26.6).Soon they will be spitting venom.PREDICTION:82-80
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LAST YEARS RECORD:64-98
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: No surprise here. Sonneboy and his Bagwell Bashers are in a re-build and won only 64 games.I think if my memory serves me , Causeneau replaced Sonneboy in the middle of last year after Sonneboy ran off with a stripper. He told me: "Mad, she has a ass like a Onion. Makes you wanna Cry!" Regardless, Cheyenne did pick up Yunel Diaz in the IFA market and drafted Cesar Limon and Walter Ziegler in the first round.The signing of Ensberg alone will improve a teams offensive numbers. But this team with a half dozen R-5's has along ways to go to be competitive. With the 3rd pick in the draft and 20 million in the prospect kitty the Bagwell bashers will pick up some talent. Still a re-build year. PREDICTION: 67-95
OUT: Thom Gates , Carlton Sheets , Joakim Manuel , Esmerling Sanchez , Brian Jackson , Roosevelt Rapp , Max Prieto , Nick McConnell
IN: Vladimir Gonzales , Jimmie Nieves , Fred Shaw , Thomas Dingman , Benny Culver
PREVIEW: The Bagwell Bashers are about where we thought they would be. They were more inclined to pick up some good prospects for the future . They found Ismael Espinosa in the IFA market and grabbed Rabbit Paulino and Jason Lesher in the draft. In the off-season Gates and Sheets went to free agency and Manuel, Sanchez, Jackson, Rapp, Prieto and McConnell were released. Needing several players to fill out his roster . Carseneau claimed Gonzales off the wire and signed free agents Nieves, Shaw and Dingman. Finally he added Culver in the R-5 draft. This is the youngest team in Wrigleyville with a average age of 26.1. They also have hardly any M L experience (1.6 avg M L years). There still is a ton of talent on the Farm but are not ready for the Bigs. Right now Cheyenne will grow the youngsters and finish below .500 . PREDICTION:70-92
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