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LAST YEARS RECORD:94-68 (Division Winner) (AL Champion)
LAST YEARS 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)
OUT: J.P. Mendez , Ron Clayton , Art Desmond
IN:
PREVIEW: I predicted a 92 win wildcard for Mdymond's Salmonbellies and they ended up a 94 win division winner and AL Champion. Go figure! Great season for Mdymond and the Salem Salmonbellie fans. They had the number 2 ranked offense in the A L with a batting average of .281 with 808 runs scored. They also had the best defense in the AL with a FPct of .990. In the post-season they Flopped out their big bellies and bucked the Cobras in the first round then the Tabaky Farmers in the DCS. They swept the P-Dogs in the ALCS but fell flat against Madison in the World Series. In the off-season Mdymond let Mendez, Clayton and Desmond go to free agency. At the time of writing, Salem still has 3 roster spots open and Mdymond has options in AAA that can be promoted. The 22 players now on the roster are stout and can Buck with the best Bellies in Wrigleyville. Bartolo Colon would be proud. Regardless of who Mdymond puts on the M L roster, his team will win this division and has a great chance of making it back to the Series. PREDICTION:93-69 (Division Winner)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:93-68 (Wildcard)
LAST YEARS 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)
OUT: Miguel Duran , Rick Surkamp , Tony LeCroy , Spud Kraemer , Rob McNamara , Matthew Marshall
IN: Mac Patrick , Kendry Bocachica , Bernard Wilson , J.T. Stevenson , Marcus Glynn , Lonny Lopez , Maikel Lopez
PREVIEW: Blitzaisacomin's Blitz took a step back last year with only 93 wins. While they didn't win the division, they did grab a wildcard. Vancouver had decent hitting (.274 BA), pitching (4.40 ERA) and defense (.985 FPct). If you had to look at why they took a step back, it would be the pitching staffs fault. They fell from the #1 ranked AL pitching staff in S-25 and S-26 to the 6th ranked in S-27. In the playoffs this team beat the Pirates in the first round then got chewed up by the P-Dogs in the DCS. In the off-season Blitz re-signed Jumbo MacFarlane , let Duran, Surkamp, LeCroy, Kraemer , McNamara go to free agency and released Marshall. He signed free agents Patrick, Bocachica , Wilson and promoted Stevenson, Glynn and Lopez. Blitz lost some more pitching in free agency but he brought in Patrick and promoted L Lopez and Stevenson to soften the loss. This division is so tough and the step back in talent will doom vancouver to 4th in the division with a winning record. PREDICTION:82-80
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LAST YEARS RECORD:87-75
LAST YEARS 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
OUT: Del Martin , Gavin Everidge , Albert Bernadina
IN: Carlos Sierra , Albert Cabeza , Donaldo Balboa
PREVIEW: I wrote in last years preview that the Cobras will ride out the season , pick up some prospects, and get back to their winning ways in 1-2 seasons. But Swish was ready to win last year and Arizona won 87 games. They had good hitting (.276 BA) and pitching (4.46 ERA) and defense (.985 FPct). He did pick up some prospects like Gary Carpenter , Al Watson , Benny Rivera and Alex Rodriguez, so at least I got that part right. In the off-season Swish let Martin , Everidge go to free agency and released Bernadina. Then he signed free agents Sierra and Cabeza and traded for Balboa. Even though he lost a good pitcher in Evenridge , Swish brought in three very good pitchers thru free agency and a trade. The max contract to Sierra may hamper cap flexibility but he is a stud #1 starting pitcher. Look for the Cobras to give the Slamon bellies all they can handle in the regular season and this team gets back to the playoffs as a wildcard. PREDICTION: 92-70(Wildcard)
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LAST YEARS RECORD:69-93
LAST YEARS 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
OUT: Juan Lopez , Cal Baez , Quentin Hermansen , Ed Carlson
IN: Paxton Wells , Torey Acosta , Charlie Lockwood , Floyd McAnaney , Larry Walker , Mandy Perez , Carmen O'Connor , Hipolito Maduro , Grover Robinson
PREVIEW: Carseneau's Bagwell Bashers are in a re-build so a 69 win season was expected. And even though he went out and spent a little money in free agency. This team was riding out the year while Carseneau wheeled and dealed. He added a young slugger in the draft ,Tripp Rasmus , he could be in the bigs in 2-3 years. In the off-season Carseneau released Lopez , Baez ,traded away Hermansen and waived Carlson. He went out and spent money on free agents Wells, Acosta, Lockwood, McAnaney and Walker. Then he picked up Perez and O'Conner in the R-5 and traded for Maduro and Robinson. With the free agent pick-ups and the players brought in thru trades, Cheyenne is making a move to respectability. Carseneau greatly improved this team and made this one of the toughest divisions in Wrigleyville. Do they have enough juice to topple Salem , Vancouver or Arizona? Maybe? They will be in the hunt for a wildcard but will fall short because of the tough division. PREDICTION: 86-76
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