 |
| ||||||
LAST YEARS RECORD:99-63(WORLD SERIES CHAMPS)
LAST YEARS 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. 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)
OUT: Juan Guerrero , Len Hawkins , Al Toca , Louis Rekar
IN: Rick Surkamp , Rodrigo Mota
PREVIEW: Blitziscomin did what I failed to do. Win a World Series in Vancouver. I knew the Blitz had a good enough team to win about 100 games but I didn't see a Championship. Congrats to Blitziscomin and his team , Great season! In the off-season Blitz re-signed Victor Paulino and let Guerrero, Hawkins, Toca and Rekar go to free agency. He signed free agent Surkamp and picked up Mota in the R-5. Vancouver lost a couple bullpen guys and Hawkins will be missed , but Surkamp looks like a good replacement. Toca's bat is also gonna leave a hole but Alex Santana is ready to fill in as the everyday SS. The Blitz are a comin folks and they are the favorites to win the division.And don't count them out in the playoffs... PREDICTION:100-62(Division Winner)
 |
| ||||||
LAST YEARS RECORD:90-72
LAST YEARS 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.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)
OUT: Alex Gamel , Al James , Yorvit Campos , Ahmad Forster , Luis Vizcaino
IN: Mack Hines
PREVIEW: The Salmonbellies are a good team in a tough division. They did get the final wild-card berth with a 90 win season. They played the 83 win Bruins in the first round but came out on the short end in 4 games. In the off-season Mdymond let Gamel and James go to free agency. He released Campos then Forster and Vizcaino was claimed off the wire. Mdymond promoted Hines to fill 1 of the remaining 4 open roster spots. Salem has lowest cap and one of the lowest overall payrolls. Mdymond gets more bang for his buck and his team should make it back to the playoffs. PREDICTION:92-70(Wild Card)
 |
| ||||||
LAST YEARS RECORD:84-78
LAST YEARS 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.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
OUT: Bernie Richard , Graeme Quinn , Phillip Pryce
IN: Sidney Martin , Bryan Lombardi
PREVIEW: At the All-Star break it looked like Swish's Cobras were on their way to the playoffs with a 53-38 record. But they faded down the stretch and ended up with 84 wins, 6 games behind for the final Wild-card spot. In the off-season Swish let Richard, Quinn and Pryce go to free agency. He signed free agent Martin and traded for Lombardi.Arizona still has a young team averaging 26.8 years per player. That also keeps salaries low at 1.9 per player. Swish has 40 million in cap space and has upped his international and HS scouting budget. This makes me lean towards a year where the Cobras ride out the season and pick up some more prospects. They will be back on top in a year or two.PREDICTION:82-80
 |
| ||||||
LAST YEARS RECORD:61-101
LAST YEARS 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.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
OUT: Thomas Dingman , Robinson King , Vladimir Gonzales , Bobby Collins , Pedro Javier , Beamer Tekotte
IN: Gene Larish , Geovany Johnson , Matty Tabaka , Eduardo Delgado , Wily Mo Miller , Terry Jordan , Yonder Acosta , Yorvit Diaz , Benj Beimel , Quentin Hermansen
PREVIEW: No surprise last year for the Bagwell Bashers. They are re-building and will get the 4th pick in this years draft, just like last year. Jim Hartley was the player Carseneau added with the pick .He also added Fausto Castillo , Yamaico Kim and Damaso Vidal in the International Market.In the off-season Carseneau released Dingman, King, Gonzales, Collins and Javier. He lost Tekotte off the waiver wire to Madison.He put a claim in for Larish, Johnson and Tabaka and added them to this years roster.He signed free agents Delgado, Miller, Jordan, Acosta and Diaz. Finally he picked up Beimel and Hermansen in the R-5 draft.With Ned Coleman and Cesar Limon as the future core of this franchise. Carseneau went out and spent 39 million on free agents to build around them. He still has some talent in the farm system, some ready, some not. I think this team is on it's upward swing to respectability.But they are still a year or 2 from the post-season.PREDICTION:72-90
No comments:
Post a Comment