S30 AL East Preview

AL East

Last Season Boston won 106 games and the division once again.  That was their third straight division title and fifth in the last 7 seasons.  Durham finished second  winning 92 games.  They settled for a wildcard and finished for the 11th straight season with a winning record.  Rochester finished 3rd place, just a tad under .500.  That was their 3rd straight losing season.   Indianapolis finished at the bottom.  That franchise was in a rut when qtip got there and continues to be.  It was their 9th straight losing season.

Boston Pilgrims (kjmulli  16th season)
Payroll-$105.5m
Draft Pick-#35

Season 30 grades
Offense  C+
Hitting B-
Power C
S & BR- B

Pitching B
Starters A+
Relievers C-

Fielding  C

Durham Doormats (Alogman1 21st season)
Payroll-$122.9m
Draft Pick-#30

Offense C+
Hitting  C-
Power  A
Speed  D-

Pitching  B
Starters  B
Relievers B+

Fielding B+

Rochester Retards (Wylie715 10th season)
Payroll-$88.6m
Draft Pick-#32

Offense D
Hitting  D-
Power  C
Speed  B

Pitching D
Starters D
Relievers C-

Fielding D+

Indianapolis Valhalla Varauders ( Qtip32 6th season)
Payroll-$45.4m
Draft Pick- #8

Offense
Hitting C-
Power C
S&BR  A+

Pitching C
Starters C-
Relievers C+

Fielding B+


Predictions
I think Boston and Durham are going to go right down to the end for the division.  Regardless, both teams should make the playoffs. I'm going to give the nod to Boston, only because he obviously knows how to win the division, and he never comes out very good on my rating system.    Boston also has perhaps the best Starting pitching staff in the AL  I think Indy will break out of their funk and start to win a few games, but will still finish under .500.   Rochester should really struggle this season. It might be a good opportunity for the franchise to start over and think about rebuilding.

1. Boston
2. Durham
3. Indianpolis
4. Rochester

Press Releases
Boston-basically returning the same exact team from last season that pooped it's pants in the playoffs. returning 6 of 7 all-stars from last season -- kennie McCracken takes over cf from fautino guerrero. still looking to push for 1,000 (came up a bit shy last season) and gunning for the WS title once again. would be very disappointed if we didn't at least finish the regular season with a first-round bye in the playoffs.  actually, I'll be disappointed if we get the bye and crap-out in the playoffs like we did last year. We should win it all, damnit! Dusty Lindsey is in the final year of his mega deal. I think I got my money's worth there - 66 wins and an all-star in each of the first four seasons of the deal. hoping to get one more all-star caliber season out of him.

Durham- We hope not to live up to our team name this season. Whether or not that happens, the jury is still out.

Rochester-the major change for the Retards this season is that we've totally revamped our starting rotation and brought in a veteran catcher with good pitch calling. Unfortunately, my offense still does not scare anyone (except for maybe my pitchers!!!)