Season 41 AL North Preview

Kansas City Jayhawks
dakar
Season 40: 70-92

Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
The Jayhawks started so slowly that dakar was warning us he could miss the mwr and boot himself out of the league.  But they righted the ship and collected 70 wins in their 3rd rebuilding season.  Added SP Nicky Glaus at #2 in the draft.

Who's In?  Who's Out?
3 very nice additions in C Bo Guerrier via trade and Miguel 
Castillo and Guillermo Valdes via Rule V.   The 2 players given for Guerrier - SP Benji Franco and IF Turner Fletcher - will be useful but I don't think they'll add up to the value of Guerrier. Dave Waters moved on via trade in what looks mostly like a salary dump.

Preview
After fully committing to rebuilding a few seasons back, KC has relentlessly accumulated young talent.  At the ML level C Guerrier, 2B Lenny Mack, 3B Castillo, and SS Chad Wilhelm all look like players who can be LT keepers on a winning team.  And the minors are well-stocked with Ruben Pescado, Happy Cepeda, Edgard Mendoza, Harry Estrada, Yem Higashioka and others.  It won't happen this year, but KC is nearing the point where they'll have no choice but to contend.

Prediction 
The pitching staff will be a limiting factor, but I can see this squad winning 80.

Potential Breakout Player
Watch CF Valdes.  He's obviously not going to be a great hitter, but he might reach base enough to create some havoc as a base-stealer.  And his defense is the real deal. 

Milwaukee Chedda
Zattack
Season 40:  83-79 


 Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Fell from 112 and 103 wins to 83 and missed the playoffs.  Scored 198 fewer runs than Season 39...did a double-take on that one.   And it wasn't from retirement/FA losses (with one small exception).  Their top 9 (by AB's) hitters all declined in OPS from Season 39 to Season 40 (really, 2 exceptions: part-time C Nash Nieuwenhuis was released after Season 39, and 1B Tanyon Joyner only declined in OPS by .001, so essentially an identical season).  Lucky in Season 39 or unlucky in Season 40?  Given that they nearly hit 1000 runs in Season 38, I'm going with the unlucky Season 40 story.


Who's In?  Who's Out?
Nothing big.  Grabbed Rule V'ers Footsie Moore, Yoenis Estrada, and Elmer Brumfield - all 3 will see only minimal action.  Setup man Bucky Champion left in FA and I think that one will be felt.

Preview
With the likes of Joyner, Guerrero, Black, Zoltan, Burke and Walton, this lineup will rebound to 900+ runs scored.  I don't think #1 SP Pat Jodie has quite lived up to expectations so far.  If he does, and posts a CY-worthy season, they could be back to their 90-100 wins of seasons 35-39.  The biggest shortcoming I see here is the rest of the staff behind Jodie (other than short RP Gustavo Mercedes) - it could be OK or bad, but a very small chance of being champ-quality.

Prediction
88 wins

Potential Breakout Player 
SP Jodie.

Philadelphia Erffdogs
wholck
Season 40:  58-104

Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Season 39's trades of Bralin Kohn and Yamil Ibanez kicked off a full-scale rebuild that hit home with only 58 wins last year.  Still, the ML roster got a lot younger and the farm system got stronger (Last year's #5 Destin Shea looks like a promising power-hitting 3B or OF).  Nicholas Wilkins had 40 jacks (.288 OBP), Ervin Payton had 44 (.297 OBP), and Alex Rijo 37 (.304 OBP) as the Erffdoggs went with an all-or-nothing offensive strategy.

Who's In?  Who's Out?
Wilkins and SP Cesar Benavente are gone to Florida in a big trade.  Not a bad time for a rebuilding team to move Wilkins, as his value is based solely on power and that will start its decline next season.  This is Benavente's contract year, so if he's going FA next season this deal looks pretty good for Phil.  The best of the 3 the 'dogs got in return is
Nevin Stinnett, a supplemental #1 last year who looks to become a Wilkins starter-kit.

Preview
Philly's ML roster looks like one that's early in the rebuild phase a flirting with the mwr.  Chun-Lim Xaio is still on the books for $15MM this season, although if he can hit average form (last year's 5.28 ERA was a career-worst) he'll be worth a few more wins.  Knowing they need 62 wins to hit 120 over a 2-year span, the Erffdoggs did a little FA spending; most notably CF Jerrod Rolls and RP Antonio Brea, who may be developing a reputation as a guy who helps rebuilders hit the mwr (career-best 1.98 ERA in 104 IP last year with rebuilding Mexico City - now New Orleans).

Prediction67 wins


Potential Breakout Player 
Their good prospects are in the minors, so I'm not expecting any huge breakouts, but SP/LR Nash Hobbes has the stuff to be better than hos first 2 seasons have shown.

Montreal Shamrocks
jmercer77
Season 40:  102-60, Won Division, lost to Florida in Division Round

Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Led the AL in wins but dropped their Division Round series to Florida in a pretty significant upset.  As expected they showed up prominently in post-season awards, with Heath Dickerson (.314/54/146) winning his second MVP and the 1B Silver Slugger, and  RF Brooks Bell (.312/44/153) also taking the Silver.

Who's In?  Who's Out?
Active off-season for the 'rocks as they try to make deeper playoff runs.  They got veteran slugger Lou Trammel on a 1-year rental and C J.O. Guerrero, SS Donald Moore, and RP's Ehire Quintana and Dan Eibner in free agency.  The big FA loss was CF Paolo Ordonez; it looks like some combination of Phil Crawford and Santiago Olmeda is set to replace him.

Preview
Montreal boasts one of the AL's top offenses (920 runs - 3rd).  They hit for power (234 HR's - 4th), they get on base (.348 OBP- 4th), they put the ball in play (927 K's - fewest in AL), and they take extra bases (185 SB's - 2nd).  Reigning MVP Health Dickerson (.314/54/146) is the undisputed star, but RF Brooks Bell (153), DH Tim Jeter (119), and 3B Boone Howard (120) all drive in more than 100 runs as well.  The #1 and 2 starters, Mark Pettite and Jason Purcell, are plenty good enough to take this team to a championship, especially with Sam Teagarden in the "lockdown middle reliever" role popularized by Stock and Kohn.  I'm pretty sure they added short relievers Quintana and Eibner with an eye to making sure they have every playoff inning pitched by a very capable hurler.

Prediction 
They're a better team this year so I'll say 105 wins.  More importantly, a deeper playoff run.

Potential Breakout Player  
Howard was the breakout star in his rookie campaign last year; I'll go with him again to duplicate last year's production.

Season 41 Al South Preview

Florida Poison Dart Frogs
groth911 
Season 40:  88-74, Wild Card, advanced to ALCS and lost to M0ntgomery


Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Getting to the ALCS is certainly a highlight, especially considering it's the furthest the franchise has ever advanced in the playoffs.  Not really many lowlights, but if you had to pick on something it would be the team defense OUTSIDE of GG SS Yamil Garrido (69 errors from other players).

Big Names Coming In/Going Out SP Cesar Benavente and OF Nicholas Wilkins came over in a big trade with Philly for Sea 40 supplemental pick Nevin Stinnett, Sea 39 supplemental Elijah Snider, and Sea 35's #17 pick Boomer Wright.

Preview
Even though the Frogs scored 830 (6th in AL) runs last year, there's room for improvement.  Despite drawing 589 walks (2nd), they were only 10th in OBP at .327 thanks to a .253 BA.  They were also low in the power department with 153 HR's.  The trade for Wilkins addresses the power shortage (his 40 HR's would've lead Florida last year).  They'll still be kind of a low-contact, high walk attack, but could improve their run total from last year a bit.  The addition of Benavente adds a 3rd reliable starter along with Carey and Montgomery (OK, let's call him reasonably reliable).  With 2 more reliable arms in the pen (Presley and Arrieta) who can throw big innings (probably 300 IP if need be), plus a top-end closer in Chaz Ross, the Frogs have a staff that can dominate a playoff series.  The defense makes a few too many errors outside of SS Garrido, but his 25-30 good plays every year help offset  that.  They'll be trotting out a well-balanced team without no glaring holes.

Prediction
94 wins

Biggest Thing To Improve
Probably their biggest weakness is contact.  Even with a good walk rate, they're short on base runners.  Maybe something that can be addressed i a small way at the deadline.

New Orleans Voodoo
bigmattr
Season 40: 84-78


Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Season 40 was the 2nd year of the previous regime's attempt to contend and rebuild at the same time; unlike the first year they both missed the playoffs AND failed to add promising prospects, prompting management to bolt for a new team in the NL.

Big Names Coming In/Going Out 
Pulled off perhaps the biggest trade of the pre-season, getting 26-yo ace SP Chris Osborne for prospects Alex Kim (former $36MM IFA), Chris Houston (former #3 pick), and Darrell Ryan (former #6 pick).

Preview
The Voodoo have yet to fill out the roster with bargain-bin FA's and waiver claims, but here's what the direction seems to be for now.  They'll rebuild around SP Osborne for as long as it takes, and when they arrive, they'll still have an ace (although I suppose if someone came knocking with a huge offer for Osborne they'd listen).  So far they've done a good job signing cheap veterans for the bullpen.  They'll still have Pablo Valbuena at 3B for a season or 2, and they'll have a pretty good hitter and adequate defender in CF with Touki Epstein.  Outside of that it's going to be ugly, but likely good enough to hit the mwr. 

Prediction
60 wins should be easily doable.

Biggest Thing To Improve
Too many to get into, but that's the nature of rebuilds.  Right now the starting rotation is just Osborne, so they need to find some FA bargains who can keep them in some games.

Montgomery Scotts
silentpadna
Season 40:  93-69, advanced to WS and lost to Tacoma


Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Well, everything was pretty much a high point until Games 5,6,and 7 of the WS.  Won the Division, advanced through the playoffs handily and had Tacoma down 3-1 before "the comeback".  Got a huge boost from ROY 3B Steve Walsh (.334/30/103), and to top it all off, landed the year's best IFA in SP Nori Zhang.
Big Names Coming In/Going Out It's a very young team, so they had about the quietest pre-season of any franchise in Hobbs.  Losing DH Raul Villa could be a big deal, as his 40 HR and 123 RBI lead the team.

Preview
The Scotts scored a few more runs than Florida (865 to 830) last year, but with a completely different style.  The Frogs were a low contact-high walk-low power group, while Montgomery preferred a medium contact-low walk-high power approach.  Their 283 bombs were 2nd in the AL, and 8 players clocked 21 or more.  Any conversation about their offense, of course, has to concern their ROY sensation Steve Walsh and whether he can duplicate (or surpass) last year's stellar .334/30/103.  Probably 50/50...that BA will be hard to top...but look for him on the MVP ballot either way. Once you get past Vic Merced, the Scotts' staff looks like the kind of group that can go up or down a lot from season to season.  That's pretty much been the recent history...down a little last year, up a lot the year before, terrible in Season 38.  It hasn't changed much this year, so league average is probably the worst case.

Prediction
88 wins


Biggest Thing To Improve
Their defense is among the best in the AL...83 errors (tied for 4th-fewest) and 76/18 +/-.  So I'd say the overall pitching situation needs an upgrade if they want to get back to the WS

Richmond High Rollers
bjc30
Season 40: 85-77

Season 40 Highlights/Lowlights
Won 85, but missed the 2nd Wild Card by a mere tie break to the LA Motley Crue.  This is after advancing to the ALCS in Season 39, so a pretty good run of high points.  LF Destin Williamson (.291/50/126) picked up the AL's LF Silver Slugger.


Big Names Coming In/Going Out
Traded C Bo Guerrier to KC for Sea 40 IFA Benji Franco and Turner Fletcher, the #27 pick of Sea 36.

Preview
The team ERA jumped from 3.99 in Sea 39 to 4.57 last year, largely explaining the 5-win drop.  They did have a couple of rookies (former #7 pick Matt Booker and former 2nd-rounder Vidal Martinez) work into the rotation last year and both pitched well, so maybe the pitching fortunes are looking up.  Their 799 runs scored last year was a little above the league average; although they're highly dependent on Williamson and DH Willie German for RBI (126 and 110, and the next highest total for a player still on the roster was 3B Cecil White's 67) they get on base pretty well (.335).  They did
commit 106 errors last year - a little prone to giving away runs.

Prediction
91 wins

Biggest Thing To Improve
Middle infield defense.  SS Redmond and 2B Jorgensen combined for 51 errors last year (to be fair they also had 28 + plays) and its not like they were hitting lights out to compensate.  Jorgensen looks like he could get better, but Redmond at SS will likely be a sieve again.


Division Outlook
Montgomery, Florida and Richmond are only 4 wins apart over the last 2 seasons combined, so if they finished in a dead heat I don't think anyone would be terribly surprised.  I think the Frogs improved a little more, and I like their pitching just a little better.  This cold be our most entertaining division this year.

1.  Florida
2.  Richmond
3.  Montgomery
4.  New Orleans

Season 41 NL North Preview

Chicago Orphans
cretins
Season 40: 77-85

Season 40 Highs and Lows
 The good news is they've improved the win total for 4 straight seasons; the bad news is that at the rate they're going  they're still 4-5 seasons from the playoffs.  More good news: they have some legit stars on the ML roster (Kirk Marks, Hong-Chih Park) or on the way (Jennry Garces). 

Biggest Additions and Subtractions
Promoted OF Hiroyuki Woo and SP Garces; no FA losses of note.

Season 41 Preview 
The lineup punched across 775 runs (4th) last year with a combination of good contact (.269 BA - 3rd) and power (.446 Slugging - 3rd).  And that was with their best hitter, Hong-Chi Park, not having much of a year.  (down to 34 HR's after seasons of 50 and 55).  After playing in 161 games last year (most in 4 seasons), B.C. Alfonzo is already on the DL this year, so there's one spot where they could fall off.  All in all, though, the offense looks solid.  The pitching probably won't get any worse.  The 4.89 ERA was 16th in the NL.   Marks will bounce back from his worst year as a pro; if things break right, Garces and Wladimir Mercado will form a competent front 2 and the lineup will give everybody else great run support.  One chronic problem Chicago has had is defense:  95 errors and 77 bad plays (led the NL by far) last year certainly did the staff no favors.  Looks like they've decided to live with it again and lean on the offense to win games.

Prognosis
With that defense and shallow staff, it's hard to see them breaking into contention.  If everything goes right they could win 85, but I think a prediction of continued small improvement to 80 wins in reasonable.

Intriguing Trade
Nothing would improve their immediate prospects more than a couple of  good defenders at SS and CF.  Call Honolulu and offer Season 40 supplemental #1 Michael Butera and Season 40 3rd-rounder Michael Hackman for 2B/CF Tuck Howard and SS Mel Whitehead.

Tacoma Merchants
shesaid
Season 40: 105-57, WORLD SERIES CHAMPS 

Season 40 Highs and Lows
Well, winning the World Series pretty much makes it a season-long highlight without any low points.  I guess it could be considered a low point when, down 3-1 in the WS, they fell behind 3-0 in Game 5 and still trailed 3-2 after 6.  But they rallied for 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to win Game 5 10-3, and never trailed in Games 6 or 7.

Biggest Additions and Subtractions
Bolstered SS with Don Yamakazi and Don Shibata; otherwise a very quiet off-season.

Season 41 Preview 
First, this is a very good team.  They were 3rd (789) in runs playing in a monster ballpark.  Their defense was pretty flashy with a .989 fielding % and 53 + plays.  But that pitching...their staff lapped the NL field in ERA with a stunning 3.04 (Baltimore was 2nd at 3.63).  Is their pitching that good, or did they have a lucky season?  First look suggests they got pretty lucky - of their top 8 pitchers by ERA, 7 had better ERA's than their career average last year (some were way better...Mark Cromer's 2.11 was 2 runs a game better than his career mark).  But Tacoma's huge ballpark (-4 across the board) had to help these numbers.  Is their any way we can compare these pitcher's results from one season to the next independent of ballpark effects?  Yep, we can look at each pitcher's ERA in away games each season - a rough version of "how'd they pitch in the average ballpark".  Sure enough, the same 7 of those 8 had better ERA's in the "average ballpark" in Season 40 than they did in Season 39.  The ballpark helped, but they also had 7 guys put up much better seasons than you'd expect.

Prognosis
There's a bunch of good players here.  I don't think they'll win 105 again, but they could win 100.  With Cincy starting a rebuild, New York continuing a rebuild, and Chicago stretching to win 85, they could win the division blindfolded.  Call it 100 wins.

Intriguing Trade
With no one really pushing them in the Division and a very balanced team, I can't see any trade that makes sense.

Cincinnati Red Stockings
statman527
Season 40:  85-77, Wild Card, lost in  Round 1 to Pawtuckett

Season 40 Highs and Lows
The low: after 3 straight division titles and a WS win 2 seasons ago, a drop to 2nd and a quick playoff exit.  The high:  Chris Osborne's 14-11, 2.93 ERA in 224 IP, and he's entering  his age 26 and 1st-arb year.

Biggest Additions and Subtractions
It doesn't get any bigger than moving Chris Osborne; Chris Houston,   Alex Kim, and Darrell Ryan will be the core of this team for years to come.

Season 41 Preview 
With Osborne out, the transformation in Cincy has begun.  With all the vets including Trenidad Cruz and Miguel Ramirez on the trade block, we're going to see a dramatically different squad than in recent seasons.  In the meantime, Cruz is still an uber-dangerous hitter, and the coming Kim + Ryan +Dennis Boswell COF rotation is pretty potent and stout defensively.  Houston now becomes the #1 starter, and while he should have 1 more season of pretty good ratings growth, he's far from the powerhouse ace that Osborne was.  This staff should be OK, but is probably 4-5 wins worse without Osborne.

Prognosis
Who knows with the team in such flux.  I'll guess that they'll be able to trade Cruz but not Ramirez...that'll cost a few wins.  But with the influx of youngsters, they won't drop too far.  80 wins for the Red Stockings.

Intriguing Trade
Lots of reasonable speculating to be done here.  With his statue-like range and concrete glove, Cruz belongs in the AL.  He's more likely to go mid-season to some team in a very competitive division; Montgomery, Florida and Richmond have been kicking and gouging for prominence in the AL South since the abrupt decline of the New Orleans franchise 2 seasons ago.  Richmond has a couple of OF/1B types almost ready in AAA, plus a good OF/1B roster in the Majors, so I don't see them going for a 2-season rental (Cruz is signed through Season 42).  Florida isn't going to give Alexander Pickett for Cruz and really has no other ML prospects.  With holes at 1B and DH, plenty of cap space and a strong farm system, Montgomery is the best bet: SP Matt Baker for Cruz?

New York Lincoln Giants
rbedwell
Season 40:  77-85
 
Season 40 Highs and Lows
I guess the only low is that they're in rebuilding mode, but they're gradually rebuilding the franchise into a powerhouse.  Added IFA Bernie Uribe and #4 pick Felix Cave to the farm system and showed well on the awards front with closer Christopher Peterson taking the NL FOY and CF Raimel Arruebarrena winning the Silver Slugger. 

Biggest Additions and Subtractions
Out:  Yasiel Cayones and Lou Crawford.  In: Clinton Waters,   Yao-Lin Chen, and Junior Burawa.  A couple of young monster bats for a pair of top IF prospects and a very good pitching prospect.

Season 41 Preview 
rbedwell could be setting up a classic "prospect rush" strategy- keep trading MLers (even good young ones) for prospects until you have 6 or 8 great prospects ready for ML play, then promote them all at the same time.  The combination of good, young and cheap becomes hard to beat for quite a few seasons.  For now the ML roster seems designed to comfortably beat the mwr, with RF  Ralph Clancy and CF Billy O'Sullivan the only standouts.  Good chance when we take a look at farm systems later in the season, this one's going to be #1.

PrognosisLess the power of Cayones and Crawford, a drop to 70 wins.

Intriguing TradeWhile the Giants' system appears to be heavier on position players than pitchers, so does almost everyone else's.  They might like to make a Felix Cave-for-ML-ready-pitcher deal, but I don't see one out there.

Division Outlook
1.   Tacoma
2.  Cincinnati
3.  Chicago
4.  New York

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

Hobbs Owner Interview: Zattack

Q:  Who is Zattack in real life?

A:  Finance guy work for three companies, father of three and just bought a fixer upper, live in WA state. HBD is a needed distraction from the stress. ;)


Q:  Best moment in HBD?

A:  First WS title came really early, took over a team in a great league, made a couple key signings and several trades. Gratifying to win that one. Team has been dominating but hasn't won since, go figure...


Q:  Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
 
A:  Yes all through high school. Focused on college and then played competitive softball for 15 years. New house has property so my first purchase was a batting cage..."for the kids".


Q:  If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?

A:  Best comp I found is Omar De Leon, middle the order bat, OF glove, great arm.
https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=8663608


Q:  What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?

A:  None, but that's because it takes a back seat to everything else. Plus there is always time before bed and in the bathroom right? :)
 

Q:  The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)

A:  Kirby Puckett, Paul Allen and Tony Stark

Stats Quiz of the Day: 60/60 Seasons (either doubles or home runs plus stolen bases)

Did a little research and found 1 60/60 season...there could have been more but I kind of doubt it.

Anyone know who pulled it off and what season?

Have I missed another one?

Hobbs Owner Interview: rockydawg07

Q:  Who is rockydawg07 in real life?

A:  Rocky Dawg was a 19 year old Beagle English Setter mix. He was a good dog.

Q:  Best moment in HBD?

A:  Besides being in Roy Hobbes....

Winning a World Series in Addicted Users world. My multiple CY Young and HOF pitcher and good friend Tony Blair got his only ring. We still hang out and he goes on vacation with us. My wife gets very jealous.

Q:   Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?

A:  I was a pitcher /CF in HS. Played a few years of semi-pro. Injuries put and end to certain HOF career.

Q:  What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?

A:  We have 11 cats. All I have to say about that question.

Q:  The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)

A:  Ghengis Kahn
Satchel Paige
Rocky Dawg