S30 AL West Previews

AL West

Last season, Salem won the division for the second straight season.  It was also the second straight season they won 100 games.  Vancouver took second winning 91 games and going to the World Series for the second time in franchise history.  They were upset by Scranton in a thrilling 7 game World Series.  Fresno finished in third last season at an even .500 mark.  It was the first time they didn't post a winning record in 4 seasons.  St. Louis finished at the bottom   It was also the first time in 4 seasons they didn't post a winning record.

Salem Volcanoes (Jkenned 8th season)
Payroll-$64.1m
Draft Pick-#19

Season 30 grades
Offense A
Hitting A-
Power A
S&BR  A-

Pitching A
Starters  A
Relievers A+

Fielding A+


Vancouver Canucks (skplayer07 13th season)
Payroll-$106.3m
Draft Pick-#14

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

Pitching A
Starters A+
Relievers  A

Fielding A-

Fresno Grizzlies (dlmose 2nd season)
Payroll-$90.3m
Draft Pick-#20

Season 30 grades
Offense C
Hitting B-
Power D
Speed C

Pitching C-
Starters B
Relievers D-

Fielding C


St. Louis Arch Angels (Flucie 16th season)
Payroll-$83.2m
Draft Pick-#17

Season 30 grades
Offense C+
Hitting C
Power B-
Speed  C-

Pitching C
Starters D+
Relievers B-

Fielding B+

Predictions

Vancouver and Salem are going to have a Super Heavyweight battle for this division.  Both teams will probably win 100 games and both make the playoffs.   It is very close, but I'm going to give the nod to Salem, only because Jkenned has a better proven track record.  St. Louis and Fresno should have a good battle for the bottom of the division.    It's another difficult one to call.  Fresno really concerns me with their lack of power and depth in the bullpen.  And at the same time St. Louis has  one of the weakest Starting Pitching staffs in the league.

1. Salem
2. Vancouver
3. St. Louis
4. Fresno

Press Releases
Salem- Season 30 should be a good one for Salem, but we are probably an ace away from being a legit world series contender. Threw all the room I had at Rock Randall in FA but came up a couple million short and settled on adding an impact player in Wolf Dodd to fill in the back of the lineup and my huge hole in CF. Will hope someone is selling an impact arm at some point this year but even without the rotation help I am still expecting a 100 win season and another divisional round loss for us here in Salem this season. Anything beyond that would be a welcome surprise.

Vancouver-After a disappointing loss in the World Series the Canucks are excited the get the season started with the recent addition of Rock Randall to the staff headed by last seasons Cy Young Award Winner Yoshinori Zhou. The Canucks finally opened up their wallets and signed a max contract signaling that they believe they can get back to the series. ther new faces in Vancouver will be Sammy Salinas, Don Nakajima, Vance Pettyjohn, and Jim Swarzak. These players have a lot expected of them for their rookie season.

 The Canucks posted a team 271 HR, 895 RBI, and .810 OPS. Here in Vancouver we don't expect much of a drop off as the lineup will look almost exactly the same.

Fresno- We should be an improved bunch but not sure by how much, but making up the 10 games we were out last season should be within reach. Looking for Wilt Sizemore to break out and make a run for the CY. However coma, 2 new additions to the staff are solid questions marks so we might be drinking the wine or stomping the friggin' grapes.