S30 NL East Preview

Wichita and owner jibe ended an 18-year playoff drought by winning the NL East title.  The Mojados made a surprising run to the NLCS, where they lost to the eventual World Series champions.  The remainder of the division had disappointing seasons.  Philadelphia finished in 2nd place with only 75 wins.  Owner phillies26 has a high payroll, which could keep the Moneymakers in contention this season.  Jacksonville has now missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, which has never happened in owner greygoose123's 29 seasons at the helm.  One figures that the Juice won't be down for long.  Cincinnati went from first to worst, and is hoping that owner jbburner can get the Firestorm back on track.

Cincinnati Firestorm (jbburner - 30th season)
Payroll: 88.7M
Draft Pick: #1

Season 29 Record: 61-101 (4th place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
609 (15th in NL)	4.34 (13th in NL)	.985 (6th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Firestorm

OFFENSE: C PITCHING: C FIELDING: A- Hitting: B- Starters: C Infield: A Power: C- Relievers: C Outfield: B+ Speed: D Catching: B

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: LF Rafael Unamuno (.284 BA, 33 HR, 99 RBI), 1B Pedro Martinez (.264 BA, 28 HR, 74 RBI), 2B Elroy Epstein (.274 BA, 45 RBI, 13 SB).  Offense is low on power and speed.

-Strong defensive team.  Walt Phillips (26 plus plays) is one of the best defensive shortstops in the league.  He won a gold glove last season, along with 2B Elroy Epstein.

-Have a bunch of average starters in my opinion.  S28 rookie-of-the-year Boone Holmes (11-14, 3.70 ERA) is the closest to an ace.  Rule 5 top-pick Miguel Siqueiros will be making his debut this season.  Bullpen looks like they under-performed last year and have the potential to improve.

Jacksonville Juice (greygoose123 - 30th season)
Payroll: 66.8M
Draft Pick: #3

Season 29 Record: 68-94 (3rd place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
640 (13th in NL)	4.46 (15th in NL)	.981 (13th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Juice

OFFENSE: C+ PITCHING: C+ FIELDING: B Hitting: B Starters: C- Infield: B- Power: C- Relievers: B Outfield: C- Speed: D Catching: A

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: late-season acquisition 1B Bo Long (.383 OBP, 29 HR, 94 RBI), free-agent signing C Shouhei Uehara (.281 BA, 44 RBI), 2B Marcell Escobar (.276 BA, 44 RBI, 23 SB).  Hitting should be improved, but still lack power and speed.

-Two solid catchers in Andy Ludwick and Uehara.  Lack a good glove at SS and range at LF/RF.

-24-year-old Ray Henry (10-12, 3.96 ERA) is probably the top starter.  Signed all-star Howard Tartabull (15-6, 2.88 ERA), who is coming off a career year.  Lack depth in the rotation.  Have a few quality set-up men in Victor Waner and Carlton Redmond.  Will benefit if free-agent signee Carlos Flores returns to his Season 27 form (50 saves).

Philadelphia Moneymakers (phillies26 - 30th season)
Payroll: 103.4M
Draft Pick: #12

Season 29 Record: 75-87 (2nd place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
727 (5th in NL)	4.45 (14th in NL)	.986 (2nd in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Moneymakers

OFFENSE: B- PITCHING: C- FIELDING: B- Hitting: B+ Starters: D Infield: B+ Power: D Relievers: C Outfield: C Speed: B+ Catching: C

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: 1B Jo-Jo Frandsen (.354 OBP, 24 HR, 70 RBI, 33 SB), 2B King Ashburn (.274 BA, 23 HR, 57 RBI, 44 SB), C Gaylord Morgan (.309 BA, 63 RBI).  Offense would be rated better if Rickey Masterson was not in AAA.

-Alex Lyons (145 starts, 8 errors, 17 plus plays) had an outstanding season at SS.  Only flaw of infield is having a left-handed 2B.

-The starting staff needed an off-season improvement, which it did not get.  Kiko Hanrahan (8-6, 3.90 ERA) and Walt Gomes (10-13, 4.25 ERA) are the only starters that will be able to "hold their own".  RP Yannick Truby (#5 pick in S25 draft) has had a rough start to his MLB career...he sure has great splits.

Wichita DwArf'y Mojados (jibe - 7th season)
Payroll: 12.3M
Draft Pick: #25

Season 29 Record: 86-76 (1st place - lost in NLCS)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
694 (9th in NL)	3.51 (3rd in NL)	.983 (11th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the DwArf'y Mojados

OFFENSE: B- PITCHING: B- FIELDING: C+ Hitting: C+ Starters: A- Infield: B Power: C- Relievers: D Outfield: C- Speed: B+ Catching: C-

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: 2B Gorkys Gonzales (.261 BA, 30 HR, 101 RBI), SS Bartolo Ortiz (.275 BA, 23 HR, 92 RBI, 31 SB), RF Pete O'Keefe (.272 BA, 48 RBI, 59 SB).  Offense will receive a jolt when owner jibe calls up Eli Duran (see press release below).

-A lot of infielders are on the roster.  It will be interesting to see how the defensive lineup is set.

-Strong starting rotation consists of 21-game winner and Cy-Young finalist Eddie Plant, along with three additional pitchers who had an ERA under 3.00.  I don't see much in the bullpen besides a few long-relievers and second-year set-up man Rafael Tatis (14 saves, 3.86 ERA).

Prediction:

The four members of the NL East are pretty similar in talent, and I can see them all hovering around the .500 mark.  I'm going to give the edge to Wichita because the Mojados have an outstanding starting rotation, will be calling up some big-time prospects after 25 games, and they are the defending division champs.  Jacksonville had an active off-season and can only improve upon their 68-wins.  The Juice might be a great starting pitcher away from winning the division.  I predict that Cincinnati will finish in third place.  The Firestorm are one of the best fielding teams in the league and I expect their pitching to be slightly better than last season.  Philadelphia has good hitting and a decent infield, but I believe that their starting rotation will drop them to the cellar.  

1.  Wichita

2.  Jacksonville

3.  Cincinnati

4.  Philadelphia

Owner's Press Release:

Jibe (Wichita): The long drought of no PO's finally ended with Wichita winning the division last season. In the early going of this season I expect to be a struggle here. We are going to be a bit shorthanded in players as we are going to be making some major call-ups after 25 games. We need to play this strategy to avoid having almost the entire team hit arb's and FA at once. At that point we will call-up AAA MVP Alex Cerda and prospect sensation Eli Duran along with slugger Humberto Ortiz and former #1 pick Jeimer Parra . Junior Martin and R.J. Vazquez will then fill out the roster. The only off season moves was promoting some minor league P's who had bid their time in place of a few stiffs in the Pen. That mentioned Pen will likely once again be this teams major weakness. We also do not have a true CF to play or in the entire organization. At least a number of other Pine Tar clubs share the same fate based on the Coaches chat. Starting pitching will be our strength and we believe it can go toe to toe with anyone in this world. It is led by last seasons Cy Young runner-up Eddie Plant followed by Rondell Collins, Javier Beltran, Alejandro Andujar and finally Dewayne Malone. These guys are young and good. As for my line-up it will be led by Bartolo Ortiz and Gorkys Gonzalez with support coming from singles hitting extordinare Pete O'Keefe. Alving Torrealba should also be a key contributor. But we are waiting to bring those kids up. Due to what I expect to be a tough start to the season I am sceptical about our repeating this season. Season 31 is when I expect us to be really good. I would be surprised if we match last seasons division title or win total. I'm guessing somewhere between 80 and 85 W's. Our top goal for the season is to make life miserable for those dastardly ARF ARF ARF ARF's out of Louisville. Anything else is icing on the cake.

Jbburner (Cincinnati): Not much has changed in Cincinnati. We are hoping to improve from last years horrendous season but have not made any moves that might change that. The pitching should be ok and I think Rule 5 pickup Miguel Siqueiros should help the rotation.  Pretty much the same position players so all in all, I think it will be good if we can get 70 wins this season.

Greygoose123 (Jacksonville): I'm pretty much looking at a 500 season. I signed quite a few pitchers because my pitching was so poor. And I'm hoping most will stick for the next few seasons. Because I have a bunch of really good hitting prospects coming up.  I'm expecting next season or the season after I will be playoff team hopefully competing for a title. This season I am expecting big contributions from some young players: Marcell Escobar, Tomas Lopez, Ray Henry.

Phillies26 (Philadelphia): Not expecting anything big. Team is in the rebuilding stage. Have to start to build the team completely over.

S30 NL West Preview

A few notes about the previews...
-I tried a new format using grades.  I looked predominantly at attributes, and then in some cases previous season stats.  I had a general rubric for each area, but there are many variables that contribute to player (and team's) performance...hence, the pluses and minuses.
-The overall category grade is not an average of the sub-categories.  For example, in fielding, I valued infield as the most important.
-The grades are my opinion, based on my whooping 9 seasons of HBD experience.  FYI...pitching is the most difficult area for me to judge...sometimes a pitcher will have poor attributes in my opinion, but then I look at their stats and they are impressive.
-Thanks to everybody who sent me info about their team.  I hope that you enjoy the previews.  Doing these definitely helps me learn about how to build a better team.

S30 NL West Preview

The NL West went from qualifying three teams for the playoffs in Season 28 to having three teams finish below .500 in Season 29.  Commish ghutton9 led Seattle to their second straight NL West title by winning 102 games.  The Strikers earned the #1 seed, but were upset in the DCS for the second consecutive year.  Colorado Springs, the Season 27 World Series champs, finished second in the division.  It was only the second time in 8 years that owner toe64 missed making the playoffs.  Oklahoma City and owner brentcnb finished in third place, after ending a 17-year playoff drought in Season 28.  Owner csudak and Albuquerque ended the season in 4th place for the second straight year.  The Komodo Dragons had two rookie-of-the-year finalists and are hoping that this season is more successful.

Albuquerque Komodo Dragons (csudak - 11th season)
Payroll: 73.1M
Draft Pick: #11

Season 29 Record: 75-87 (4th place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
824 (2nd in NL)	4.68 (16th in NL)	.979 (15th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Komodo Dragons

OFFENSE: A- PITCHING: C- FIELDING: B- Hitting: B+ Starters: C- Infield: B Power: A Relievers: C Outfield: D Speed: B Catching: B-

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: 1B Bert Heiserman (.362 OBP, 33 HR, 84 RBI), Rookie-of-the-Year Neal Hartzell (.286 BA, 37 HR, 121 RBI), CF Vicente Palmiero (31 HR, 102 RBI). Almost every player in the line-up is a threat to hit the long-ball.

-Catchers have great arms but poor pitch-call ratings.  Outfield lacks range.

-Made an effort to improve worst-ranked pitching staff by signing SP Magglio Figureoa and RP Ricardo Johnson in free-agency.  Ignacio Torres and Rey Prior might have decent seasons as starters.  All-star Tommy Callaway (40 saves) returns as the closer.

Colorado Springs Night Watchmen (toe64 - 30th season)
Payroll: 93.2M
Draft Pick: #18

Season 29 Record: 78-84 (2nd place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
694 (8th in NL)	4.16 (13th in NL)	.981 (14th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Night Watchmen

OFFENSE: C PITCHING: C+ FIELDING: C- Hitting: C+ Starters: C Infield: C Power: C- Relievers: B- Outfield: C- Speed: F Catching: F

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: Season 27 MVP Keith Williamson (.249 BA, 49 HR, 130 RBI), RF Pedro Reyes (.373 OBP, 30 HR, 74 RBI). Several players were below their offensive career averages during Season 29 and could rebound this year.

-Currently have no catchers on the roster.  Look to be missing a true shortstop as Victor Ramsey committed 36 errors last season.

-All-star Louie Dorsey and workhorse Mo Lee lead an average group of starting pitchers.  Alberto Blasco should be strong out of the bullpen.

Oklahoma City Prairie Dogs (brentcnb - 18th season)
Payroll: 87.5M
Draft Pick: #15

Season 29 Record: 76-86 (3rd place)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
691 (10th in NL)	3.98 (7th in NL)	.984 (7th in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Prairie Dogs

OFFENSE: C+ PITCHING: B- FIELDING: B- Hitting: C+ Starters: C Infield: B- Power: C Relievers: B Outfield: B- Speed: B Catching: B

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: Season 29 MVP-finalists Jin-Chi Yamamoto (.358 OBP, 46 HR, 132 RBI, 33 SB) and Carlos Zorrilla (.386 OBP, 30 HR, 120 RBI, 25 SB).

-Phil Gonzalez won a gold glove in LF.  Signed two decent catchers in free-agency.  SS and CF are low on range.

-Have a bunch of groundball pitchers that gave up a low amount of homeruns last season.  Starters don't have impressive attributes.  Willie Barrios is a good young southpaw and Oswaldo Guillen has had two consecutive strong seasons. 

Seattle Strikers (ghutton9 - 24th season)
Payroll: 96M
Draft Pick: #44

Season 29 Record: 102-60 (1st place - lost in DCS)

S29 Runs Scored	S29 Team ERA	S29 Fielding Percentage
709 (7th in NL)	2.87 (1st in NL)	.986 (3rd in NL)

Season 30: Grading the Strikers

OFFENSE: B PITCHING: A FIELDING: B Hitting: B+ Starters: A Infield: B Power: C- Relievers: A Outfield: B Speed: B+ Catching: B-

Notes:

-Offensive Threats: MVP-finalist Raymond Petrov (.360 OBP, 89 RBI), LF Eric Miller (.370 OBP, 30 HR), CF Sean King (.271 BA, 63 RBI, 35 SB).

-Free-Agent signings of 3B Benito Sanchez and C Salvador Gallardo should help the offense and defense.

-Ozzie Inouoe will be playing his first full season at SS.  1B Melky Arredondo and LF Eric Miller had a combined 37 minus plays last season.  Great fielding depth from backups.

-All-star SP's John McNamara, Tim Daubach, and Clyde Meusel combined for a 51-18 record last season.  RP Geraldo Molina was a quality free-agent signing who adds to the strong bullpen consisting of Brendan Taylor and Juan Sierra (52 saves).

Prediction:

Seattle is the clear favorite to win the NL West for the third consecutive season, as they have outstanding pitching along with solid offense and fielding.  The Strikers should be able to win 100 games once again and make a deep playoff run.  I expect Albuquerque and Oklahoma City to battle for second place, with the winner possibly grabbing a wild-card berth.  Oklahoma City has better balance between the three phases of the game, but I believe that Albuquerque will overpower them with their strong offense.  After making a few offseason moves, the Komodo Dragon pitching staff should be respectable enough to secure the second-place finish.  Colorado Springs are still missing a few key pieces to their ballclub.  I predict a fourth place finish for the Night Watchmen, but wouldn't be surprised if hall-of-fame owner toe64 puts those pieces together successfully.

1.  Seattle

2.  Albuquerque

3.  Oklahoma City

4.  Colorado Springs

Owner's Press Release:

Csudak (Albuquerque): My thoughts on the upcoming season: -Big year for the Dragons, couple of key offensive building blocks are starting to age (Heiserman, Holmes, Sanders). With a couple of young guys coming into their own (Hartzell and Pizzaro) if the pitching is there, could make some noise. My gut says maybe a WC spot, but it will depend on the pitching as usual. - Made a big push for Randall in free agency, but came up about a million short. Got a couple of quality arms in Chacin and Johnson and traded for Figueroa. Had the money to spend this year, and only on the hook for about 7 mil for those 3 next year, so hoping they can get us to the playoffs. - I'm really exited to see Hartzell develop. Has the chance to be a great offensive player. Curious to see if Mendez and Cousins can hit at the ML level. If so, they combined with Hartzell and Pizzaro could keep that offense afloat for the next 5-6 years. - All comes down to Prior and Paul becoming top of the rotation pitchers. If they do, this team can compete, although it doesn't help being in a division with 3 top level coaches.

Ghutton9 (Seattle): I think if my team will ever be in position to make a run at a championship then it will be this season. The pitching staff is the best I've ever had and the lineup is pretty stacked too. I Actually have too many starting caliber position players and 3 starters that are ace material.

Toe64 (Colorado Springs): After last year's disappointing season I don't expect much. Got a late start managing this season due to some other commitments so I have not been able to make any needed changes.

Brentcnb (Oklahoma City): In the division OKC is in the team can be a little better and still not finish any higher than it did the season before. The Prairie Dogs should have enough speed to be a threat on the bases, but you can't steal 1st base, and the team is middle of road offensively. The pitching should be about average. If the team can improve defensively OKC might have a chance finishing 2nd. Otherwise a bottom of the pack finish might be in the offing.

Season 29 Award Winners

American League Most Valuable Player: Roger Byrne (Indianapolis – qtip32)

Byrne won the AL MVP in only his second big-league season.  He led the AL with an impressive 1.070 OPS, finished second in homeruns at 44, fifth in batting with an average of .318, and tenth in RBIs with 116.  He also added speed to the lineup as he successfully swiped 40 bases in only 44 attempts. 

American League Cy Young: Yoshinori Zhou (Vancouver – skplayer07)

At only 23-years-old, Zhou took home the AL Cy Young award by finishing with an impressive 21-8 record.  Zhou was a workhorse, pitching 224 innings.  He led the AL in wins and strikeouts (199), finished seventh in OAV at .237, and eighth with a 1.24 WHIP.  Zhou helped 6th-seed Vancouver advance to the World Series by going 6-2 with 3 complete games and a 2.39 ERA in the playoffs.

American League Rookie of the Year: John Martin (Milwaukee – horvie78)

23-year-old Martin used a combination of hitting and speed to earn the AL ROY honors.  He batted .312 with a .387 on-base percentage, while adding 15 homeruns, 71 RBIs, and 40 stolen bases.  Martin also took home the AL Silver Slugger award at LF and helped Milwaukee win their first division title in franchise history.

American League Fireman of the Year: Esteban Mesa (Rochester – wylie715)

Mesa won his second career Fireman of the Year award, as he led the AL in saves with 44.  He finished the season with a 3.25 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and opponents batted .251 against him. 

National League Most Valuable Player: Benito Rodriguez (Toronto – sgmedia)

Rodriguez won his first career MVP by leading the NL in batting average (.337) and OPS (1.101).  Rodriguez finished third in runs scored by crossing the plate 117 times and ninth in homeruns with 40.  He added 87 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, and had 9 plus plays at 1B.

National League Cy Young: Tim Daubach (Seattle – ghutton9)

Daubach was a run-away winner for his second career Cy Young award.  He has now captured the Cy Young in both the American and National League.  Daubach impressively led the NL in wins (21), ERA (1.98), WHIP (0.87), and OAV (.177).  He not only led the NL, but set the all-time Pine Tar single season records for WHIP and OAV.

National League Rookie of the Year: Neal Hartzell (Albuquerque – csudak)

24-year-old Hartzell, 4th overall pick in the Season 26 draft, won the NL ROY after an impressive offensive season.  He finished fifth overall in the NL with 121 RBIs, and first among NL rookies in runs scored (106), homeruns (37), and slugging percentage (.527). 

National League Fireman of the Year: Juan Sierra (Seattle – ghutton9)

Sierra won his fourth consecutive Fireman of the Year award, and fifth overall.  He led the league with 52 saves, which were only two shy of his own Pine Tar single season record, and helped Seattle earn the National League’s #1 seed.  Sierra now has 367 career saves at only 29-years-old.

Silver Slugger Award:

-1B Armando Mota (Dov) and 2B Benny Navarro (Vanc) both won their 9th Silver Slugger award.  3B Raymond Petrov (Sea) won his 7th, and C Bengie Trajano won his 5th.

-Wichita had 3 first-time Silver Slugger winners: P Rondell Collins, C Alving Torrealba, CF Bartolo Ortiz.

-Additional first-time Silver Slugger winners: Rafael Vincente (Vanc), Buddy Berry (NY), John Martin (Milw), Mendy Lee (Dur), Roger Byrne (Ind), Benito Rodriguez (Tor), F.P. Gentry (Scra), Rickie Halama (Iowa).

Gold Glove Award:

-CF Brent Summers (Dov) won his 7th Gold Glove award.  P Rock Randall (Stl) and SS Miguel Garces (Bos) each won their 5th award.  LF Saul Trevino took home his 4th award.

-First-time Gold Glove winners from the AL: Charles Zhang (NY), Kris Everidge (Ind), Ed Darnell (NO), Yamid Lee (Fla), Marvin Rose (Nash).

-Of the nine NL Gold Glove winners, 7 won the award for the first time.  Louisville’s Clay Vernon (P) and Ben Tate (CF) each won their second Gold Glove.

Pine Tar Championship Series Season 29

Pine Tar Championship Series Season 29

Four teams remain, let's take a look at them:

Salem Volcanoes(Jkenned) 106-56.   1st Place
Last Season's Pine Tar Champion
JKenned has already won 4 WS titles in all worlds.

Vancouver Canucks(skplayer07) 91-71 2nd Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
In Season 26 Vancouver made their only Pine Tar World Series Appearance.  They lost 4 games to 1, to a then Helena team.
Skplayer07 has already won 1 WS title in another world.

Wichita DwArf'y Mojados(Jibe) 86-76 1st Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
This franchise has never made a Pine Tar World Series appearance.
This is the first NL Championship Series that this franchise has ever participated in.
Jibe has won 7 WS titles in other worlds.

Scranton Red Barons(Reggie988) 91-71 1st Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
This franchise has made 2 Pine Tar World Series Appearances.  They were last season's NL champion.  They also went to the Pine Tar World Series back in Season 17 under a different owner.
Reggie988 has never won a WS title.