Houston - 76 wins last year, after five 100+ win seasons in the previous six years. WTF? Huge payroll, and still quite a bit of star power at the top end. Shep, Bobby Slaughter and Virgil lead the pitching staff, while Malik and Johnny and Roy give me a boner. The defense is enough to get by, but they really hurt the offense when it comes to the SS/2B spots. My very early prediction: another sub 80 win season and we will see the payroll get slashed as guys get shipped away.
Richmond - 73 wins last season, and I'm still trying to figure out how Houston and Richmond can be in the same division. But I digress. This team has never made it beyond the first round of the playoffs. Fact. Will bringing in Davey Torres help get them over that hump? Maybe? Possibly? Unlikely. Jim, Leo, and Bucky will do what they can for the pitching staff, and Davey will help Phil get the offense sorted out, and the defense isn't too terrible......am I talking myself into these guys making a run? I just might be! Go Informers!!! Prediction: 85 wins
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Santa Fe - 56 wins last year, under new ownership this year, panda do something! Or don't. A fairly high budget, but no really big names. Holy shit, Mac Collins is still alive!! The pitching is fairly average, while the hitting is borderline atrocious. But hey, we've got some defense! Go team! My suggestion: lots of "fan days" at the ballpark this summer, to try and get attendance above 1000. 60 wins, maybe.
Kansas City - 64 wins last year, yet still not last place in the division. The first pitch of the season hasn't been thrown yet, and KC already has spent nearly as much in prospect money as they have in player salary, $27.1M vs $18M. There are five guys on the ML roster with overalls of 70 or more, but the top guy maxes out at 74. Oh my. I think if you took the top 25 prospects in the minors, and played them against the ML squad, the game would probably be tied at 0-0 at the end of the 9th, and would proceed for another 20 innings before someone would score on a wild pitch. It's gonna be a long one. Prediction: 60 wins, maybe. Deja vu.
You get two pictures because I like you:
AL West - Now we're talking! A division full of .500+ teams and two 100+ win squads, let's get excited!!!
Colorado Springs - 118 wins last year, under new management as kemo also died last season. Oh, he's still alive too? Oops. World Series champ, and then quits the game? I mean I guess if there was a time to bail, it would be when you're on top of the world. Kinda hard to time that though. You'd have to get rid of every team except for the one that you think might win the WS, and then cross your fingers that you actually win it that season. Did anyone talk to him? Did he actually plan this? I'm not even angry, I'm impressed. Anyway, you'd have to fuck up pretty bad to not win the WS again with this team. It's just stacked with talent from top to bottom. Maybe the rotation could use a little bit of a boost, but the bullpen is more than enough to back them up. The offense is impressive, the defense is the best in the world, you'd be crazy to not pick them to win it all again. And you'd have to be a moron to fuck it up. Prediction: 120 wins and another WS.
Vancouver -I had a big write-up all put together, but blogger fucked it up because they don't like the "less than" sign in text. It reads it as code and the rest of your texts gets fucked. I'm not happy. Now I'm trying to remember what I said. Did you know Humberto Alarcon is still alive and kicking? I miss that guy. The rotation concerns me because there aren't many innings eaters in that mix. Six SPs to give everyone an extra day off is a good idea, but might strain the bullpen. I bet there will be a tandem thrown in at some point. Prediction: less than 100 wins. I think that's what I predicted before. Fuck you blogger.
Scottsdale - 82 wins last season, following a 72 win season, which followed a very long streak of dominance when griffey won between 94 and 107 games for seven seasons. They still have some studs, with Daryl and Jimmy and Sal leading the veterans, while young guns like Kris Price are coming up and filling ML roles. The pitching and hitting are quite solid, while the defense is a bit average (who is going to play 2B?). The price is right, the question is whether or not these guys can play above their pay grade for another season. Prediction: 75 wins
Honolulu - 81 wins last year, more money being spent this year, and while the roster is quite deep, there are no superstars. Do you need a superstar to win? Well, kinda. The pitching, hitting, and defense are all very average. Very. I'm trying to get excited. Come on, come on, come on, get excited! Nope, no luck. Wait, I know what will get me excited:
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