Friday, July 11, 2014

A L NORTH PREVIEW SEASON 27

New Britain
New Britain Bruins (AL)
dodgersgale
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LAST YEARS RECORD:83-79

LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The Bruins did win the division but the misfits and P-dogs weren't even close. Dodgers guys won 91 games with the #1 defensive team and the #3  pitching team in the American League. Imagine how good they would be if the hitting (10th in the A L) was improved. They took their great pitching and defensive team into the playoffs as the #2 seed. Where after a first round bye, they beat a good Charlotte team in 4 . In the American League Championship, the Bruins were surprised by the 100 win wild-card Salmonbellies. After Dodger blew his wad on Blanco he had about 10 million left to fill the holes. He signed one free agent and filled the rest with R-5's. So Dodger got his guy but can he overcome some of the other talent he lost with R-5 pick-ups? With the other teams in the division not doing very well last year he will eke out a division win. But this team will be a under dog in the post-season.PREDICTION: 89-73(Division Winner)

OUT: Gerardo MartinezJeremy GeorgeJeremy DeHaan , Yorman Velazquez

IN:

PREVIEW: Dodgers team did win the division but it wasn't easy. As predicted they did get challenged from the other teams in the division but finished 4 games ahead of the P-dogs. I also predicted they would be under-dogs in the playoffs and I was dog-gone wrong. The Bruins beat the 90 win Salmonbellies in the first round then surprised the 96 win Tabaky Farmers in the DCS. Dodger found himself in the ALCS and took the eventual Champs to a 7th game. All in all my prediction of a bad playoffs for the Bruins was colder than a 3 dog night! In the off-season Dodger re-signed Johnny Stone and let Martinez, George and DeHaan go to free agency and released Velazquez. This is pretty much the same team as last year and Dodger still has a roster spot open. They should win about 85-90 games and are always dangerous in the post-season.PREDICTION:88-74(Division Winner)



Fargo
Fargo Prairie Dogs (AL)
aaronwayne
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LAST YEARS RECORD:79-83

LAST YEARS PREVIEW: The P-Dogs were another team that relies on the bats (8th in the AL) to overcome the holes in the pitching (12th in the AL) and defense (9th in the AL). And they did improve the defense from the year before ,but in the end they could only muster 73 wins. At The Break Aaron was throwing in the towel and looking to move players. This was my All-Star post: 

The P-Dogs have crawled in their holes and refuse to come out. They are on pace to win about 65-70 games. Right now Fargo is giving up more runs than they are scoring and will be lucky to reach my prediction of 81 wins. 

That may be why Aaron is throwing in the towel on this year . he posted:


I'm open to trading just about everyone on the roster. I've got two, nicely priced power bats, some solid defensive players, no pitching, but there's something out there for everyone

See ya next year P-Dogs . Then they may come out in the sunshine.
That post about says it all about last years season.This is pretty much the same team as last year with a slugger(Lansing) and a good speedy defensive 2nd baseman(Galvez) added. With pitching still the problem in Fargo the P-dogs will stay in their holes.PREDICTION:80-82

OUT: Kevin LeonardAl VincenteIvan HenriquezKirby Blair , Rob DeanAlbie Romo

IN: Pedro JavierDavey GomezAlex GamelPascual VargasRafael Pimentel

PREVIEW: Aarons P-Dogs finished close to where I thought they would. Even so, they just about won the division, but giving up 870 runs and 229 long-balls is hard to overcome.But help is on the way,Aaron picked up some pitching in the draft and they will help in 1-2 years (Curtis NelsonHarvey Romero). In the off-season Aaron let Leonard, Vincente, Henriquez , Blair go to free agency and released Dean and Romo. he signed free agents Javier, Gomez, Gamel,Vargas, Pimentel to fill the holes. Aaron spent 24 million on free agents and they are all solid players.His starting rotation is good and the bullpen will be great against RH hitters.The starting line-up defensively is poor but they are very good offensively. All in All I think the P-dogs will play better, and in this weak division, they could easily win it.PREDICTION:87-75



Hartford
Hartford Insurance (AL)
pbsilver11
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LAST YEARS RECORD:78-84

LAST YEARS PREVIEW:
  Pbsilver was tearing out his hair and gnashing his teeth last year. And my prediction of a 94 win Wild card team was way,way off. I knew by the All-star break last year that the Misfits were Misfiring when I wrote this in my "At The Break" Post: 

We have been discussing the fall of the Misfits on the chat. I have been scratching my head at the Misfits downward slide. One owner pointed out the hole in the 2nd/ Cf/ Rf defense and that could be the cause. But this years Misfits score 1.2 runs less per game and that is hard to overcome. PB made a trade and brought in slugger Javier Lopez ,who may help drive in more runs. Right now Minnesota is on track to win about 70 games and miss the playoffs. So much for my prediction.

Pb's Team did win more than 70 games in the end with 78 wins. The bright spot was that they had a good defense that was ranked 5th in the A L . So after ordering a new rug to hide the bald spots on his scalp, PB moved the team to Hartford. Maybe a change of scenery will help??The new park in Hartford is a hitters park compared to the neutral Humphrey dome in Minnesota. It's a great move and they will score more runs and the pitching is good enough to keep them in games. Look for good times with Hartford battling for the division. They could win it but may have to settle for a wild-card. PREDICTION:88-74

OUT: Rick SurkampOlmedo FrancoJose Pena

IN: Sandy MullinsBenjamin TerrellPaul West

PREVIEW: PB's Team has me pulling on whats left of my hair. I thought they would be in the running for a wild card ,but this was not so. The Insurances are stuck at 78 wins , at least they're consistent, and with a weak division they only finished 5 games back of the Bruins. In the off-season PB re-signed Pasqual Perez and let Surkamp, Franco, Pena go to free agency. He signed free agent Mullens,  picked up Terrell in the R-5 and traded for West. Mullins and Terrell will improve an already stout defensive squad. And West will improve last years team .267 BA. Hartford will make it a 3 team fight for the division.PREDICTION:84-78



Chicago
Chicago Black Hawks (AL)
hacker7
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LAST YEARS RECORD:67-95

LAST YEARS PREVIEW:  Hacker changed the name of his team to the Black Hawks after failing to reach the .500 mark. I predicted they would win 82 games but they only won 77. This team is one of the better hitting teams in the AL ,ranked #2. It's the pitching ( Last in the A L) and the defense (13th in the AL) that held them back last year.It was to big a hill to climb!In the off-season Hacker let Hayes, Reimold and Martin go to free agency and released Granger. he only had a couple roster spots open and filled them with free agents Crawford and Palmer. Chicago is on the right track by bringing in 2 good pitchers but will it be enough? I think they will win 6-8 more games but with a weak division they have a good a shot as anybody for the division crown.PREDICTION:83-79

OUT: Jimmie SosaGene Larish

IN: Cristobal FernandezPaul Tomko

PREVIEW: The Black Hawks went the other way. Instead of winning 6-8 more games than last year, they lost 10 more.In the words of our governor here in the great state of Texas.........Whoops!! Last year wasn't a total loss, Hacker picked up Sam Sheridan in the draft. In the off-season Hacker released Sosa and lost Larish on the waiver wire. He signed free agent Fernandez and picked up Tomko in the R-5 draft.Same guys as last year with a couple new guys in the bullpen. Maybe they will win a couple more games but not enough to get to the .500 mark. PREDICTION:75-87

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