BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO, BMU, and GBRL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
17 February 2302
News and Notes from Around the CBO and Its Affiliates
Monday, February 17th , 2302
The Goodneighbor Hancocks traded 22-year old RHP Justin Wilkerson to the Salem Witch Hats, getting 23-year old LF Danny Honeycutt, 24-year old minor league LHP Dustin Hebert, and 20-year old minor league 3B Russ McGill in return.
Thursday, February 13th , 2302
The Acadia Acadians traded 26-year old CF Card Fuller and 23-year old C Ken Batter to the Roxbury Rad Sox, getting 29-year old minor league 2B Brett Isaacson and 18-year old minor league LF Jaime Boozer in return.
The Warwick Mirelurks have suspended their second-best player on their team, SP Dobbie Radoncis, for 10 games after he publicly made statements critical of the team and GM Josh Charliehorse.
Wednesday, February 12th, 2302
Concord tech specialist Jake Asam provided a special gift to the Concord Radstags on Wednesday when he revealed the Living Legends Park to honor the Radstags' best players. Currently, the only featured player is LF Dan Erb, a lifetime .355/116/421 hitter.
Tuesday, February 11th, 2302
Atom Cats' missing BMU RP Kyle Kyleson, Jr., is still missing following a super mutant attack. At this point, it is presumed that Kyleson will not be found alive, though search and rescue teams are still pursuing him. We will post any more updates we get.
Monday, February 10th , 2302
FHE Yao Guai: Signed RP Jason Woods.
Sunday, February 9th , 2302
The Quincy Gunners traded 24-year old RHP Ryan Kazarian to the Lexington Synths, getting 19-year old minor league C Booger Knights, 21-year old minor league SS Pirate Birn, and 23-year old minor league RHP Wizard Balinese in return.
Thursday, February 6th, 2302
Jailed University Point LF Mag Barbarian received news from a Brotherhood-run facility that his sentence was being extended for three additional months for "bad behavior." Barbarian is currently in the facility because of illegal smuggling. Now, he will not be available before the start of the 2302 season.
Tuesday, February 4th , 2302
The Slog Ghouls: Released RP Jason Woods. Woods supposedly has not been happy with the The Slog franchise since being converted to a reliever after the Ghouls obtained him from Abernathy in 2298.
Monday, February 3rd , 2302
The Warwick Mirelurks traded 31-year old 1B Straight QuaLiTy and 20-year old minor league LF Matt Bicknase to the Vault 81 Dwellers, getting 23-year old minor league 2B Bobb County, 19-year old minor league LHP Matthew Self, and a 8th round draft pick in return.
Sunday, February 2nd, 2302
Reports out if Vault 81 is that they have given up on prospect 2B Bobb County, a former 2nd-round pick in the 2297 Rookie Draft by Starlight. County was later traded to the Dwellers for SP Front Porch Potter, considered at that time to be a top pitcher in the CBO. No word yet if the Dwellers will trade or cut County.
Saturday, February 1st , 2302
Finch Farm Four Leafs: Signed free agent 3B Barton Barth to a minor league contract.
O Salem Can You See?
With a three-game losing streak to end the 2301 season, the Salem Witch Hats went from pencilled in to the 2301 playoffs to out. It would have been their first trip to the postseason, but they blew it in the end.
Now, in anticipation for the 2302 season, the Hats believe their pitching can match up against any other team, including league rival and defending CBO champs, the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys.
"We've got the best pitching in the league, no doubt," manager Proper Lighthouse said.
BNN currently disagrees, but Salem is up there. According to BNN, the top CBO staffs are the Party Boys, Fort Hagen, and Jamaica Plain. The Witch Hats are 4th.
With the starting rotation of Tony Bertha (11-10, 2.64 in 2301), Ugio Church (10-9, 4.22), Terrence Artman (10-10, 3.09), and Josh Hugs (12-11, 2.63), the Hats will be tough to score runs on in 2302, which makes us think they are the most likely of teams to earn one of the three wildcard spots.
Where they need vast improvement to be a championship contender lies in the offense, which finished 11th overall in the North Charles Association in 2301. They lack two important factors: getting men on base and then knocking them in with big hits. No returning player hit over .300 (2B Dan Ackerman led with a .279 average) and only one returning player hit more than 10 home runs (17 by RF Chris Treestump). LF Danny Honeycutt, announced as a trade to Goodneighbor today, led the team overall offensively with a .301/17/51 line.
In the end, we currently think Salem will improve slightly offensively with fewer players struggling over the course of the season. We're not sure what PAM will think, but if we had to hedge our bets right now, we would have Salem as the 4th seed. Here are our early playoff predictions in the NCA for 2302.
1. Nordhagen Beach
2. Fort Hagen
3. County Crossing
4. Salem
5. Starlight