Season 41 NL East Preview

Jacksonville Fake ID's
topoftheworl
Season 40: 67-95 

Season 40 Highs and Lows
In the 9th year of its turnaround, Jax could do no better than 67 wins, a glaring low point.  On the plus side, they added more to the developing super-team with IFA's Diego Alomar and Felipe Uribe.  And the ML roster showed its defensive chops with GG awards for 1B Tanner Mlicki, SS Wayne Diaz, and LF Alex Kennedy.

Biggest Addition, Biggest Subtraction
Added the big bats of Omar DeLeon and Lou Crawford at the cost of Diego Alomar, Yao-Lin Chen, and Junior Burawa.

Season 41 Preview
With Crawford and DeLeon joining Kennedy and Mlicki plus  FA signees Jecksson Bailey, Gabby Beckett, Dwight Herzog, and Greg Ward, the Fake  ID's are set to score a bunch of runs with some sort of 3-platoon 1B/COF rotation.  The biggest problem they have on offense looks like 7 OF/1B's for maybe 4 spots; clearly, some of these hitters are going to be trade bait for improved pitching. As it stands now, JAX looks like an NL East contender, but I'll bet there are some deals for pitching coming that improve the outlook even more.
Prognosis
88 wins as currently constructed, but stay tuned for more moves.

Intriguing Trade?
The only openly available aces are Vic Merced and Bralin Kohn; OKC would want a prospect, but Montgomery could use a RF - might they consider Merced for Dario Chong and Shane Jenkins?



Columbus Buckeyes
rdierkers
Season 40:  90-72, Wild Card, lost in Division Round to Tacoma
 
Season 40 Highs and Lows
90 regular season victories and a playoff series win...losing to eventual WS Champ Tacoma is hardly a disappointing defeat.  Got great production from 3B Addison Oropesa (.307/.404/.549), RF Nick Green (.427 OBP), and 1B Yamil Ibanez (.325/.390/.476) en route to 761 runs scored.  And the pitching staff checked in 3rd in the NL in ERA at 3.72 - ace J.P Rapp was the workhorse at 16-13, 3.40 ERA in 251 IP.

Biggest Addition, Biggest Subtraction
Addition is probably rookie Malachi Carver, while the biggest loss is...I guess OF Gabby Beckett.  Big boost to the staff with Carver, a real steal at #16 in Season 37.

Season 41 Preview
The Buckeyes are only a season beyond a WS win, and as capable of winning this year as anyone.  Reason #1 is  J.P. Rapp, who not only has ace-caliber stuff, but can also give 250+ innings.  Reason #2 is the deep staff behind Rapp, especially 2-5 in the rotation (some order  of Counsel, Tepera, Viciedo, Borbon).  Not sure where rookie Carver fits in...probably some kind of long or mid-relief spot for 120 innings.  The offense slipped 40 runs last year but was still pretty good; there's some risk of decline with Green hitting age 34 and Oropesa hitting 32.

Prognosis
92 wins and they'll battle Pawtuckett (and maybe J'Ville) for East playoff and bragging rights.

Intriguing Trade?
Wouldn't surprise me if they go hunting for a bat at some point.  The farm system isn't brimming with prospects, but they could probably swing some kind of deal.  How about pitching prospects Yamil DeSoto and Takuya Yosida to Baltimore for Ivan Cedeno?
 




Pawtuckett Paladins
mlhutch
Season 40: 92-70, won Division, lost NLCS to Tacoma

Season 40 Highs and Lows
Is reigning NL MVP Bud Robbins now the best player in Hobbs?  As his .319/50/124 Season 40 line attests, he's certainly one of the best hitters.  He hasn't won a 3B Gold Glove yet, but his defensive ratings suggest he's destined to.  The Paladins won the Division for the 5th straight year but have yet to reach the WS.

Biggest Addition, Biggest Subtraction
Biggest loss - and there were few - was losing Trace Clark to FA.  No significant additions unless you count them signing their own FA Willie Matos.

Season 41 Preview
It's a longball attack that led the NL with 274 bombs last season.  Robbins (50), 1B Gonzalez (52, and I believe our career leader among active players with 603), 2B Hayes (42), and RF Atkins (45) are all still capable of 40+.  A return to Season 39's pitching form (3.49 ERA, vs, 4.05 last year) would go a long way toward securing the division.  Matos was limited to 19 starts due to 2 DL stints last year, so the key to Pawtuckett's season may be his fragile health.

Prognosis
I'm going with 92 wins again, but the Division goes to Columbus on a tie-break

Intriguing Trade?
As recent big FA players, the Paladins' minors are pretty dry, but they have been shopping Gonzalez and asking around for top-line pitching help.  To Florida for Ernest Carey?

Baltimore Crabs
jake72
Season 40:  81-81

Season 40 Highs and Lows
After 5 rebuilding seasons the Crabs made a huge leap, improving by 17 wins to 81 in jake72's first season.  Curiously, the offense remained the worst in the league (620 runs).  But the pitching improved from a 4.86 ERA in Season 39 (13th) to 3.63 (2nd) last year.  Mark Wallace was the foremost among many standouts, posting a 12-7 W-L with a 2.54 ERA in 223 IP.

Biggest Addition, Biggest Subtraction
Lost Jacob Sheldon (36 HR) and Ross Greene (43 HR) to FA; Raul Villa will make up for some of that production, assuming they plan to make him the primary C.

Season 41 Preview
I'd love to see a 4-team race here, but BAL is going to have to pull a few rabbits out of hats to make that happen.  They've lost some run production from last year's 620-run team, they don't yet have a 1B or 3B on  the ML roster, and they lost a very good prospect (Andy Cobb) in the Rule V draft.  But jake72 worked miracles last year...maybe he can do it again.

Prognosis:
73 wins (and I hope I'm very wrong)

Intriguing Trade?
Seems like when teams get the idea to rebuild, their aging vets end up going very cheap.  BAL needs a 1B and a 3B...why not go to Cincy and dangle last year's #3, 2B Larry Cumpton, for Trenidad Cruz and Miguel Ramirez?

Division Outlook
1.  Columbus
2. Pawtuckett
3. Jacksonville
4. Baltimore