SEA 45: 110-52, Won Division, advanced to WS and won
Offseason: The champs had a couple of FA losses but re-signed P Al Benitez and 3B Carlos Volquez, and also signed CF Javy Valenzuela and RP Al Sucre. Not sure who'll win the CF competition between Valenzuela and incumbent Hipolito Francisco, but it's sure nice to have 2 guys like that for CF.
Offense/Defense: The Fog returns the NL's top offense - 855 runs scored last year. It's not a huge power team but they pack the bases and just keep making contact. RF Del Perez (.329/31/94), 1B Francisco Guerrero (.302/19/86), 3B Chip Puffer (.317/17/112), and C Giomar Almadova (.284/27/91) are the big cogs in the attack. Defensively they're among the best in the NL with a .988 Fielding & and 86/26 +/-. SS Avisail Silva (33+ plays and a Gold Glove) is the heart of the defense but Puffer was right there with 18 + plays last year.
Pitching: Kirk Marks was beyond superb last year - 24-4 with a 1.84 ERA - in winning his 3rd Cy Young. The #2-4 starters were all under 3.65 ERA as the staff led the league with a 3.30 ERA. The sneaky-good bullpen features (led by Jeimer Pena - 11 wins, 13 saves, 2.06 ERA in 105 innings) features hurlers with especially good pitches.
Forecast: Everyone's back - the only question is if they can dominate like they did last year. Marks can only go down from last year's performance, and Puffer had his best season, but I can't see them falling much off 110 wins.
Prediction: 108-54
Prediction: 108-54
SEA 45: 87-75
Offseason: The Dogs had their hands full in free agency with numerous tough calls. Ultimately they brought back Fernando Delgado, Darwin Thornburg, and Brad Terry but let Mark Cromer and CF Javy Valenzuela walk. They signed Tanner Stynes to fill Valenzuela's shoes and added a slew of pitchers plus Brooks Bell on the blockbuster max deal.
Offense/Defense: Bell (.307/31/98 in his last non-Colorado season) certainly adds more pop to an already-pretty-good offense. The question is who goes where with Bell, Hooks Gose, Boone Howard and Wayne Langerhans looking for RF, LF and 3B time. Maybe Langerhans moves to 2B, where he'd be a defensive upgrade over Nathan Lindblom (seems well-suited to a 1B, LF, RF utility role with occasional 2B stints). They should beat last year's 707 runs and could be among the NL's top HR teams. The change to Sterns in CF will keep the Dogs at the top of the NL defensive charts.
Pitching: Honolulu doesn't really have an ace, but they have 6 interchangeable SP's who are all pretty good. Sterns (13-11, 3.38) and DeSoto (16-11, 3.44) were the standouts last year; this year it could be Thornburg and Waters * with a small chance that nobody stands out. The bullpen isn't up to the rotation's quality, acting more like a solid mopup group than late-inning stoppers. It will be interesting to see Marcos Presley put the finishing touches on a HOF career at 41.
Forecast: Tough defensively, stingy rotation, improved offense. History suggests a down season, but I think they're too good to back up.
Prediction: 92-70
Prediction: 92-70
SEA 45: 66-96
Offseason: Had some FA losses - Howie Lee, RP Omar Nicasio, SP Eli Izquierdo (who's probably at the end of a fine career), Al Sucre. It's a youth movement though and time to embrace it. A couple of significant FA SP signings in Bobby Timmons and Cesar Alomar. Traded SP Ronald Hoover for a pair of youngsters.
Offense/Defense: The offense isn't a pretty site these days (595 runs S45). LF Trever Fick (.835 OPS last year) is a steady producer, and C Lee Hanson provides occasional pop (.854 OPS S45). Their 3rd-highest OPS by a fulltime player last year was Howie Lee's .722 and Howie's now in Vegas. To make matters worse, all that non-hitting doesn't buy them much defense - they posted a fairly-leaky 107 errors last year although their +/- plays were a respectable 70/27.
Pitching: Their staff kept them above the mwr last year and is likely to again. Billy Walker (4.33) is always good for 225 decent innings, and I think Timmons will be a solid #2. Jerome Mathis certainly has the talent to put together at least a handful of 12-win, 4.00 ERA seasons - if he could pull that off this year it would go a long way to notching up to 70-75 wins.
Forecast: It's just tough to win games scoring 595 runs, so they'll rely on pitching again. It's gonna be another long rebuilding year in Scottsdale.
Prediction: 68-94
Prediction: 68-94
SEA 45: 72-90
Offseason: Lost SP Bobby Timmons to FA but otherwise the defections were pretty harmless. Engineered a couple of nice budget free agent deals with C Michael Sturdevant and SP Pablo Rosado. Promoted SP Elrod Parkers (20 of the 23 players currently on the ML roster are 27 or younger).
Offense/Defense: There's no particular theme other than "youth" to the Trappers' offense - they could use more power but get on base better than you'd expect with a 72-win team. Benny Cordova (.273/23/104) had a solid season and will likely be the bellcow again, but I doubt he (or many of the current position players) will be around when they contend.
Pitching: Salt Lake has used the same plan with its pitching - promote from within and squeeze by the mwr with a cheap squad. Stefen Balentien was the only chunker who could be considered "standout" last year at 10-13, 3.39 ERA, but others (Rosado? Parkers? Who knows?) could and someone will this season.
Forecast: It's a simple (and solid) plan: keep payroll cheap ($14MM for ML players), draft well and grab a top UFA while holding off the mwr. They're put together a good enough roster to do that latter, and done it cheaply enough to do the former.
Prediction: 71-91
Prediction: 71-91
Division Race
1. San Francisco
2. Honolulu
3. Salt Lake
4. Scottsdale
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