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LAST YEARS RECORD:98-64 (Division Winner)
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Hoopcoach's Utes won 91 games and had to settle for a wildcard berth. They were probably better than my Zoid's and the stats prove it. This team had the better hitting (.269 BA-13th ) and pitching (3.89 ERA-5th, 1.30 WHIP-4th) than my team. The defense was the only thing lagging, but still good (92 errors-12th, .985 FPct-9th). In the playoffs, Salt Lake lost in 4 to Cincinnati. I guess we in the NL west need to up our game.The loss of Rhodes and the injured Cannon shouldn't hurt this team at all. Hoop will see if the R-5 pick-up Farrell can help out, probably from the bench. This is still the same team with future hall of famers that have improved from last year. I see many playoff appearances in their future. And with some playoff experience, Who Knows? Maybe a couple of Rings are in the future for the Youthful Utes. This team should win the division and make it past the first round of the playoffs. PREDICTION:98-64 (Div Winner)
OUT: Louie Rodriguez , Ralph Williams , Christopher McBride
IN: Flip Clark , Hector Limon
HOOP'S PREVIEW: Salt Lake City has our highest payroll in my tenure as owner as many our my talented young guns finally hit arbitration and/or got long term deals. A lot of money was invested in Boyd, Foxx, Koh, Burke and Owen. We didn't have any money left over to bring in any outside FA's so we're hoping our talented youth are a year wiser and a year more talented. We're banking on Boyd anchoring the rotation as the ace and looks to be put together another Cy Young caliber year. Villa is a strong #2, after that there is talent but it's been inconsistent. We bit the bullet and gave Foxx a big deal, hoping he can finally pitch like the guy we've all been waiting for. Koh, Martinez, Baez, and Castro will make up the rest of the rotation in some form. All are capable of being really good, but also all have the ability to stink it up for a whole season. Bobby Ray Vance is waiting in the wings in AAA and may get a shot in the rotation early in the season if the others don't step up. The former overal #2 pick had a very good spring, and it could be his time to play with the big boys.
The lineup will be more of the same faces. Burke, Black and Jordan make up the 3-4-5 spots. Burke has the ability to be an MVP but he has yet to put together a full season. Black and Jordan are very consistent all star players. The 3 are surrounded by solid bats in Schunick, Reimold, Sakamoto, Alonso and Owen. Sandy Millwood is waiting in AAA to take over at shortshop for years to come after putting up huge numbers in the minors last year. SLC is expecting HUGE things from him when he gets to the majors.
Young guys who are getting their first full time ML action are Hector Limon, Gerardo Sosa and Flip Clark. Limon takes over as the starting SS. He has a golden glove and if his bat can produce half of what his glove will, he may make Millwood play in the minors a little longer. Sosa has a very good bat from the catcher position and will see some time to keep Sakamoto fresh. Clark will be relied on out of the bullpen as one of the top setup guys. If there's a weak spot on this team it's the bullpen. Good long guys, but the setup men need to be consistent to get to our closer.
PREVIEW: Last year I called a division win for the Utes with my head, but my heart wish's it wasn't so. Hoop has a young team coming into their prime and they did their Pappa proud. Pappa Hoop's team won the division with great pitching (3rd in the NL) and good defense (7th in the NL), coupled with timely hitting (8th in the NL) . They went into the playoffs as the #4 seed and lost to the up and coming Moose. With both the Utes and Moose coming of age...Pappa Hoop may get another crack at them soon. In the off-season Rodriguez went to free agency and Hoop released Williams and McBride after they were caught playing tiddly-winks in the team hot-tub after hours. With only two open spots on this year M L roster, Hoop promoted Clark and Limon. This is the same good team as last year and the 2 newbies didn't weaken them at all. It's going to be hard for any of us to beat him for the division. I think this team will go farther in the post-season this year.PREDICTION:100-62(Division Winner)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:92-70 (Wild Card)
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: My Zoids started out slow and it was apparent early that my team needed some hitting. I traded for Ollie Greenwood and Larry Walkerbefore the break. Then traded for Jack Shave before the deadline. These moves were the reason my guys tied the Utes with 91 wins and won the tiebreaker for the division pennant. Last year my team had great defense (79 errors-4th, .987 FPct-4th) and pitching (4.02 ERA-7th, 1.35 WHIP-10th) . My hitting finished below average after a terrible start (.266 BA-17th ,716 runs-28th). The only thing good about my hitting was the 255 doubles, which was 6th in the league.We went into the playoffs as the #4 seed but was trounced by Wylie's City Limits in 4 .This is the same good pitching and defensive team as last year. It's also the same hitting team that for some reason could only score 716 runs. Several of my pickups last year came after my offense started out near the bottom. Hopefully a full season together will fix the scoring problem. It will be a battle with the Utes for the division and it's a toss-up who will be atop at the end of the year. I think we are capable of at least getting a wild-card spot.PREDICTION: 93-69(Wild Card)
OUT: Reese McGee
IN: Yamaico Lee
PREVIEW: I was happy where my team finished even though I wanted to win the division. I rested my Big fellas down the stretch when I clinched a wild-card spot and my odds of catching the Utes were low. My guys won 92 games and a wild-card spot with great hitting (3rd in the NL) and good pitching (5th in the NL)and defense (4th in the NL). We were the #6 seed in the playoffs but that didn't matter to my guys. We beat the #3 seeded Red Light Districts in 4 ,then got by the #2 seeded Muskellunges in 4. But in the National League Championships we met the #1 seeded Black Bears and it proved to big a hill to climb. My Schizoids lost in 6 games and I went on a 6 day drinking binge. In the off-season I re-signed Santo Prieto and Chad Krause and I released Reese when he wanted too much money in Arbitration. I replaced him with a R-5 pick-up that may or may not be with the team by the All-Star break. Same exact team as last year hopefully We will make the Series this year. PREDICTION:93-69(Wild-Card)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:83-79
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The Bandits finished below my Prediction of 88 wins. Ressda's may want to institute some fielding drills, because they went from only 85 errors (9th) in season 23 to 112 errors (27th) last year. This probably caused the pitching staffs ERA to jump to 4.45 (14th) and the WHIP to 1.44 (23rd). Colorado Springs hitting did improve with .265 BA (19th) and 755 runs (21st), but it still has a ways to go.Ressda re-vamped his pitching staff with 3 new starters and 2 bullpen guys. The Bandits still have one of the weaker defensive teams in the NL and it will hamper the pitching stats. But the hitting is pretty good and will bring this team to about the .500 mark. Ressda's guys also are the second youngest team in Wrigleyville and they will improve in time.PREDICTION:80-82
OUT: Nolan O'Leary , Alexi Rios , Corky Walter , Giomar Molina , Hipolito Maduro
IN: Matty Cruz , Patsy Hartman , Claudio Schmidt , J.B. Battle
PREVIEW: Ressda's Bandits are another young team (avg age 27.8) and they finally broke the .500 mark. They won 83 games with the #4 hitting team in the NL. The fielding (11th in the NL) and pitching (14th in the NL) let them down but like I said, they are young! In the off-season Mrs O'Leary and her Cow, Rios, Walter, Molina and Maduro went to free agency. Ressda signed free agents Cruz, Hartman, Molina and Battle. At the time of this writing the Bandits still had a roster spot open. Ressda's signed a couple good pitchers and a couple good hitters. If he starts Hartman in CF my guys will be aiming to hit it there. So far in S/T he has played in RF.... he doesn't have the range for RF but it might not kill the defense. If Patsy stays outa CF and the free agent pitchers pitch like they should. Colorado Springs will give me a run for the wild-card. PREDICTION:87-75
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LAST YEARS RECORD:59-103
LAST YEARS PREVIEW: Egads!!! only 45 wins. They played like Poo. Not much to say about last year on the diamond .The real story here is the prospects they picked up. Mark grabbed Marcell Matos and Kosuke Wang in the IFA market. He selected Keith Jenkins and Robert Boyle in the draft.San Francisco is building a dynasty and will be tough to beat in 3-4 years.This is just a changing of the guard to appease the Minimum win Rules. Mark will continue to grow his youngsters and pick up a few more.PREDICTION:65-97
OUT: Pat Stargell , Jackson Reed , Marv Trombley , Cesar Morales , George Cordova , Harry Ontiveros , Wandy Corpas , Art Desmond
IN: Napoleon Wall , Luther Rapp , Javier Flores , Tony Amaral , Rex Maxwell , Bert Nathan , Deivi Hernandez
PREVIEW: It's a sad day in Wrigleyville . Mark3313 our long time commish and one of the best people in HBD, retired. Word has it he got a position in San Juan testing the effects of Rum on scantily clad women. I'd leave Wrigleyville for that!! Now that a legend is gone ,BBwinksdaddy is the new owner and moved the team to Seattle. I've been told he plans on freeing Willy so look out ladies!! Come to Daddy ,,,Wink...Wink! In the off-season Stargell, Reed, Trombley, Morales, Cordova and Ontiveras left to free agency. Bbwinks released Corpas and Desmond. With many open roster spots, BBwinks signed free agents Wall, Rapp, Flores, Anaral, Maxwell and Nathan and promoted Hernandez. Hernandez will be a monster closer and will probably win a few FOY's in the future . With last years promotion of Reid Merritt and Brad Slocumb the Mariners are on there way to respectability. They should get near .500 this year but Bbwinks still has many blue-chip prospects in the pipeline. When they get the call-up in 1-2 years. Lookout. PREDICTION:75-87
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