AL North
The defending champ Rochester big tunas held off Syracuse (moved to Burlington) and Toronto for the division title. They are well balanced and should be back in the hunt this year with the 1 2 punch of Sakamoto and Blair in the rotation. Burlington is also a strong balanced roster anchored by the Dong and Costilla combo, and could topple the big tunas this year. Toronto won 85 games and was just 4 games out, so hope springs eternal above the border. Wascar Picasso won 19 last year and leads the staff. Boise disappointed last year and hopes to rebound to a better result this year. Felix Park finished logging 200 plus innings and a 3.44 ERA. He was the Zack Greinke of the AL. Boise has the International Team with 4 guys signed via that route on the ML roster. Predicted finish: 1 Rochester 2 Burlington 3 Toronto 4 Boise
AL East
New York was the only team above .500 and we don’t expect that to change too much this year. Guillen, Borbon, Calles and Tucker are young and impressive. Boston isn’t without some strength with a good rotation and starting lineup. Omar Velazquez needs to do more to help the good hitters in Boston. Pittsburgh has the distinction of having 9 draft picks on its ML roster which is the highest in the league. The youngsters need to help out and with 4 of the top 5 roster spots being under 26 things will be better! Hartford is in rebuild mode but they are young so they will get better. They lack superstars but they have good depth. Predicted Finish 1 New York 2 Boston 3 Pittsburgh 4 Hartford
AL South
Houston won the division going away and most think it will do the same again. Philip Bonds continues to be the man and a few young call ups should keep them going strong. Tampa Bay is a really good team with a high priced squad. They will hit and hit and score. If the pitching can keep them in it they will be hard to beat. It is expected that Memphis will be in the mix as well this year. Glen Stull sees help in the form of Pablo Johnson and that has Memphis ready to go. Houston will drop down to the low 90 win total as the division competition is higher. Louisville moved to Atlanta and hopes the scenery changes things! Sammy Johnson needs to play better and the youngsters need to develop. Predicted Finish 1 Tampa Bay 2 Houston 3 Memphis 4 Atlanta
AL West
Las Vegas is the WS champ and they are well set to be good again. What a staff with Jenkins, Burke and now Taylor. If Taylor holds up, Las Vegas will be well into triple digit wins again. Tucson was the WC and they won 98 games so winning this division will not be easy, but the staff is deep and experienced. It is possible the WS champ may not win this division. This is the best division top to bottom as all teams were above .500 last year. We expect that to come down to earth just a bit this year. Seattle is the pick to be most improved and McDougal is coming off his second Cy Young. He leads a sparkling staff. St Louis plans to crash the party. A fan favorite Che-Bang Wang will dazzle with his moves with the ladies and they want to hang but the sledding is tough in this division. It is hard to see how this one turns out! Predicted Finish 1 Tucson 2 Seattle 3 Las Vegas 4 St Louis
Wild cards are Seattle and Las Vegas
National League
NL North
Chicago won the division and is one of the best combined pitching and hitting balanced teams in the league. With a solid everyday lineup from top to bottom they are hoping Paxton Doster plays to his potential this year and leads them back to the playoffs. Fargo appears to believe it can mash its way to the playoffs with a number of solid hitters. Melvin Katou has been called up to set the table and if he gets on base that makes for another duck on the pond. The pitching is somewhat pedestrian so the hitters will need to be steady for Fargo. Cincy moved from Vancouver and many players are excited about the college basketball powers they will watch this winter. Cincy hopes the change means Sherm Romero and Ajax Clarke will be even hotter than normal in the new digs. Young pitcher Bernie Acevedo leads the staff. Milwaukee has a good core of young players and has 6 draft picks on the opening day roster. Fernandez and Robbins need to hit, blade Roberts stayed on as hitting coach to assist, The Brew Crew knows the staff needs to continue to improve. Predicted Finish: 1 Chicago 2 Cincy 3 Milwaukee 4 Fargo
NL East
Trenton boasts 4 time All Start Patsy Linden (Season 4 Cy Young) and Leon Holden the former MVP and Home Run Derby champ. They won 114 last year and ended the year with disappointment as they fully expected to be in the WS. They are back and loaded. The bad news for them is the team in the division improved. Scranton won the WC slot and also won the first round of the playoffs. Lou DeShields is back and looks strong. Dweezil Richards is up with the big club and has much promise as a hitter. Scranton expects to challenge for the top this year. Philadelphia won 85 games last year and still ended in 3rd in the division. They have good top line pitching and if Canseco and newly acquired Miguel Lopez can do their part this team will be in the mix also. If Alex Boyd plays better this team should be pleased by year end. Baltimore is in a really tough division and they are getting better but this year will still be a rebuilding year for them. They do have a hitter by the name of PUJOLS that will be a strong candidate for an All-Star nod in his first full year in the bigs. Predicted Finish: 1 Trenton 2 Philadelphia 3 Scranton 4 Baltimore
NL South
Jacksonville has won 3 straight division titles. Anchored by Josh Linden and Glen Atkins they feel confident that another division win is theirs to be had. Younger players like Kelly, Larson and Cortazar need to contribute to make this team more than a division winner. They are relatively solid in starting pitching with Crawford and Ponson. Things look good in Jax. Florida came within 3 games of knocking off Jax and hopes to be back in the hunt this year. Waters is an outstanding pitcher and he heads the staff. Rafael Guitierez was a bust in Boise but he has skills and could solidfy the pen for the Hurricanes. Pitching will carry this team as far as they can. New Orleans has new ownership and he comes with credentials. The team is stocked with young players and will continue to improve. A .500 season is the goal for this year! Belliard and Cornelius are to be reckoned with and Pena is solid as well. If they develop the youngsters they will soon be division contenders. Texas is also under new ownership. Clem Bates is the most intriguing player on the roster. At 20 he is in his 2nd year in the ML. He was a Rule 5 pickup last year and he lost 24 games. The improvement is going to be fun to watch. There are some highly paid players on this team but it is likely that they will need to come off the books before these guys get above .500. Predicted Finish: 1 Florida 2 Jacksonville 3 New Orleans 4 Texas
NL West
LA won the division and played for the whole enchilada last year. The big three of Douglas, Batista, Bush had sub 3.00 ERA’s and all are back to keep things strong for the Bombers. Ever steady Nick Banks leads the hitting for these guys and his trophy case is likely to need more room alongside the gold gloves, silver sluggers and all star team awards. Arizona was a WC team last year. Ricky Iorg is a beast and he has help in the everyday lineup. Ferrell, Wilkinson and Robinson are all very good hitters. The pitching is good but not great and AZ hopes the hitters make up for that. Portland is relocated from San Fran. This is a pretty good team from top to bottom. The pitching is above average and the hitters are steady. The best players are mature so continued steady play from them while getting some young help are keys for improvement. Tacoma won 72 games and plans to do better this year. Roy Kohlmeier was very disappointing to fans and he needs to do better or he will hear the boo birds. Cy Loux is the mainstay in the lineup and with help on the way from Sutton they expect good things. If Jacob Liverman can keep his head up he will see better days this year. Tacoma’s reminds of the Boise team in the AL. They used to be really good, but seem to have fallen down for now. Predicted Finish: 1 Los Angeles 2 Portland 3 Arizona 4 Tacoma
Philadelphia and Portland are the WC picks
No comments:
Post a Comment