SEA 45: 87-75, Wild Card, lost to Jacksonville in Round 1
Offseason: Let some notable names - Dummy Simpson, Jecksson Bailey, Gavin Woods, Fautino Castillo - walk in FA while re-signing Carlos Polonia, Rafael Moreno and Wily Osoria. Added 2B's Tuck Howard and Bartolo Espinosa plus SP Willie Matos. Promoted C Curt Blevins
Offense/Defense: It's a lineup that does a little of everything - better'n average power, good thievery skills, decent at getting on base. Although his power is evaporating quickly, Pep Walsh is still dangerous and will hit his 600th homer sometime in the second half. Dennis Boswell is still a power/on-base dual threat at 33. Sean Cameron is coming off his best season by far (.297/32/100), so expect a falloff. Very impressive 748 runs last year but I think it's going to fall off some. The defense will improve with their 2B pickups - 9 - plays there last year.
Pitching: I loved the Willie Matos contract when I thought it was $4.5MM/year...a little less when I saw the next 3 years (through age 39) for $8.2MM. IF he can stay healthy (Health = 46) this could be the signing that decides the division. Matos joins an already very-good rotation of Wily Osoria (10-6, 2.66), Geraldo Manto (17-6, 2.78), Johnny Gardner (10-10, 3.52), and Yasmani Costilla (10-10, 4.39). The bullpen plan is hand it off to William Lui (4 wins, 11 saves, 3.67 in 132 IP) and hide everybody else.
Forecast: Their power hitters are getting up in age, but they're better at 2B and I really like the rotation.
Prediction: 85-77
Prediction: 85-77
SEA 45: 87-75
Offseason: The moves that mattered were Ezequiel Escobar signing with Milwaukee, Omir Stowers staying home, signing Matty Reyes and Andres Morlan, and promoting Dave Nathan (#15 pick in Season 41, he was the best power prospect in that draft and got 16 AB's last year).
Offense/Defense: In this ballpark, Nathan should step right in as their best power hitter and a ROY candidate (guessing something like .260 with 47 HR's). That'll give a nice boost to an already-potent lineup. It's a free-swinging squad that doesn't take many walks and does their damage with the longball. CF Einar Nunez (.296/28/77) is the one guy who gets some free passes; if he isn't the leadoff man I'd sure like to see him there. Pretty nifty on defense with 84/28 +/- plays last year; 3B Omar Elcano, SS Sidney McMasters, and 2B Al Guzman had half the good plays.
Pitching: San Juan was right on the NL-average ERA last year at 4.00. Given the phone-both like nature of their ballpark, I'd call that a pretty good performance (although they've been right at that number for the last 3 seasons). This year's challenge will be replacing the excellent performances of 2 departed artistas - Felipe Garza (moved on to Jacksonville but 5 wins, 2.74 in 108 IP last year) and Escobar (10 wins, 3.78 in 157 IP). Reyes and Morlan aren't going to pick up the slack - their best shot is Jimmy Miller, who had a 15-win, 3.30-ERA season 2 years back. Like many teams, when you get to the bullpen it's stats-padding time - Domingo Florimon had a decent year in relief but looks like a 5.50 ERA any season now.
Forecast: Looks like more runs but more runs allowed to me. Minor drop in wins.
Prediction: 85-77
Prediction: 85-77
SEA 45: 87-75
Offseason: Had a few FA losses but most are headed for retirement. 2 cheap and good FA signings of SS P.T. Franco and RP Zeke Sears.
Offseason: Had a few FA losses but most are headed for retirement. 2 cheap and good FA signings of SS P.T. Franco and RP Zeke Sears.
Offense/Defense: Gotta love the first season of Danry Montero's career - swung at everything, fanned 136 times (nothing by today's ML standards), but still hit .267 with 49 jacks. I don't remember how close he was in the ROY voting to winner Royce Jordan, but it shoulda been close. With help from a finally-healthy Hong-Chih Park (40 bombs) and 8 more players with double-digit homers, the 45s were 3rd in runs and topped the NL in homers in S45. Can't see any reason they'd come off that pace this year. Houston had the fewest errors in the league last year with 72, so the defense is solid.
Pitching: I'm not sure how their pitching setup works but it appears to revolve around the iron arm (43 starts, 261 IP) of Diego Alomar and a horde of short relievers, some of whom (Toby Sosa, Sears, Rodney Roberts) are usually good and some of whom (Murton, Flores, Miles, Wilson) are occasionally good. OK, Alomar starts a lot of games, Reimold and Tartamella get about 30 starts but don't go very deep in them, and the the short guys come on. Looks like they need a couple more reliable starters for occasional work (that could come soon in the form of S42 #4 pick Corban Pierzynski) but if the SR's all lived up to their potential (hasn't happened yet), they could take the division.
Forecast: Good D, power offense, and of course I love a quirky pitching alignment.
Prediction: 85-77
Prediction: 85-77
SEA 44: 61-101
Offseason: It's a whole new team again. Promoted C Mike Fassero and P's Bud Benson and Darren Harris. Notable FA signings included hitter Wille Germen and SP's Dan Gabriel, Pedro Nesbitt and Justin Dunham. Traded for CF William Magee, and in 20 games they'll promote former #1 pick Ryan Norman and 2B prospect Alex Moreno.
Offseason: It's a whole new team again. Promoted C Mike Fassero and P's Bud Benson and Darren Harris. Notable FA signings included hitter Wille Germen and SP's Dan Gabriel, Pedro Nesbitt and Justin Dunham. Traded for CF William Magee, and in 20 games they'll promote former #1 pick Ryan Norman and 2B prospect Alex Moreno.
Offense/Defense: After a disappointing (61 wins) S45 and facing a 70-win mwr, they're flushing defense to try to rack up more runs. They demoted their best defensive catcher (Stan Treadway) in favor of a Fassero/Eugenio Martin platoon, installed Germen as the 1B (ala Scott Hatteberg in Moneyball) and will go with Phil Kim in RF (against RHP) again. With LF Peaches Eierman expecting to improve on an .801-OPS rookie season and Norman moving in at 3B in 20 games, they'll improve a lot on last year's 652 runs. How much will the defensive dropoff hurt?
Pitching: They have 8 guys competing for 5 rotation spots - if 4 can get off to good starts Austin will be pretty happy. At this point the bullpen is purely an afterthought.
Forecast: Season 44's 75 wins now looks like a false flag after last year's collapse. But a good chunk of their young talent is now on the ML roster.
Another 3-way tie? Why not, I can't see a clear winner here. Austin might make it interesting for awhile but is still a season or 2 away.
Prediction: 82-80
Another 3-way tie? Why not, I can't see a clear winner here. Austin might make it interesting for awhile but is still a season or 2 away.
Prediction: 82-80
Division Race:
1. Jackson
2. Houston
3. San Juan
4. Austin
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