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Well since I didn’t hit post yesterday (and forgot to export for my league) we are a day behind but we will catch up over the weekend. But there will be a double post today
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2056 GLBL Predictions
The final official GLBL predictions have come out and as I thought the South of the Border divisional race is going to be extremely close. Baseball North America has given the nod to……
Duluth.
2nd place in a tight race will go to Toledo by 3 games over Chicago. The fact that nobody is figured to win 85 games in the US division but 3 teams within 4 games is going to make for a very exciting race.
Here is a closer look at the US division teams.
Duluth Sea Gulls 1st place predicted record 84-60, last season 83-61 2nd place
Next to its two top contenders, the Sea Gulls are more of the fiscally responsive team that makes a lot of smart choices in a fiscally responsible way (at least more than the Architects). Duluth brought up a lot of young players last season and held off Toledo for the US Wildcard. They then went into the off-season with a game plan. Upgrade at 2B and pick up some good quality players. The upgrade at 2B was former Architect Walker Dunse who opted out of his player option at $9.5 million each over the next 2 seasons, to sign with Duluth for 2 years and $18 million. They also signed under the radar LHSP Donald Hubbard (27) to a 3 year deal for a total of $5.9 million.
Duluth then got real busy in March and signed 3B Mark Matchim to a 1-year $6.5 million deal and former Architect C Sean White to a 1 year $6.75 million dollar contract. Mid-March they signed veteran RHSP Billy Hill who escaped Milwaukee for 2 years and $19.8 million total. If the youngsters play up and 1B/OF/DH Jorge Rangel continues to show why he was worth 4 years and $100 million as an international FA last year, Duluth could win it all.
Toledo Neptunes predicted record 83-61 2nd place, last season 80-64 3rd place
Toledo has totally retooled their offense from the start of last season. The deadline deal that sent 1B Dusty Murphy, LF Dwayne Adams, SS Casey Cowley and 2B Carlos Figueroa to Toronto in return for 2B Xing-fu Sen and 4 prospects re-shape the club's financial commitments significantly. That allowed Toledo to sign free agents 1B Eric Molina, 3B Seung-jun Park, RP Ricardo Valentin and LHSP Cliff Simpson (35). They then shrewdly sent Simpson off in a trade to Toronto along with a backup C and land LHSP Harvey Moore who is younger (32) and an upgrade over Simpson. Adding Moore to what was the league's best starting rotation last season with 3-time US Pitcher of the Year Nick Keddy, along with Christopher Bouchard, Warren Townsend and Walt Connel, gives Toledo even more pitching firepower. The bullpen outside of Valentin might be their achilles heel.
Toledo also beat out (barely) the Architects for SS Carlos Montano who signed a 6 year $15.36 (total) deal in February. The revamped offense will be the key and if they score runs like they did last year, along with their starting pitching, Toledo will once again outscore its opponents by 196 runs. It was their record in 1-run games and the bullpen that cost them the playoffs.
Chicago Architects predicted record 80-64 3rd place, last season 87-57 1st place
The Architects added LF Robert “Rodeo” LeRoy to a mega-deal of 6 years and $157 million to add more pop to the lineup. With the soon to be returning DH Jose Aranda and cornerstones in 1B Reagan Osborn and 3B Travis Arnaud, the Architects offense should be humming. Add in RF Jim Ashley, C Juan Duran and 2B John Lambert who the club is very bullish on, and Chicago might lead the league in offense.
Pitching (and good health) will be the key to Chicago. They need to see a standout season from SP Jose “Pongo” Cedeno to justify his mega extension signed last season and the continued success of Joe Johnson (22-7 the last 2 seasons). SP Yale Hulburt could be a huge lift once he is scheduled to return in late May. If free agent acquisition LHSP Julio Castro (38) can give them a solid lefty and Val Imbert continues to produce as a #4 arm, it could be enough.
If the Architects stay healthy and stay close early, it could be another playoff run for them.
The rest of the South of the Border division pretty much sat out the hot stove league.
Detroit Thunderbirds predicted record 70-74 4th, last season, last season 64-80 4th
A 6 game improvement for a club that did nothing in the off-season seems to be a stretch. Prior to free agency they did sign grumpy RF Stan Gillis to a 6-year $127.5 contract extension. They have some solid SP in RHSP Bill Clary, RHSP Joo-seok Kim, and will need a rebound season from LHSP Dwayne Miller.
If I was in Vegas I would go under this win total.
Traverse City Bears predicted record 63-81 5th, last season 63-81 5th
The Bears are a tough team to figure out. Some would say they are frugal and others would say they are just flat out cheap. Renegade fans call them the “Bad News Bears”.
They signed 2 off-season free agents, as they inked a deal with C Rafael Balderas who is a solid defensive catcher. They also re-signed ageless wonder RHRP Kevin McAskill to a 1 year $1.5 million contract for 2056. In total they spent $2.5 million in the off-season. Poor CF Cal Braud and RF Earle Foote. These star players deserve more help, but it looks to be another long and cold summer for the Bears.
Milwaukee Eagles predicted record 46-98 6th last season 43-101 6th
The Eagles season last year gave them the #1 pick in the draft. It looks like they want to make that 2 years in a row. They spent more money than the other bottom 3 teams in the US combine, but it was on one player. C Cecil Phillips went back to Milwaukee after winning a championship with Thunder Bay and signed a 5 year $92.4 million deal.
There really isn’t much more to say about the Eagles, and it's hard to say there will be a 3 game improvement over last season. Lucky to win 40 this year maybe.
The North of the Border Division looks like a 4 team dogfight. Two time defending champions Thunder Bay are predicted 3rd in a tight race with Hamilton (1st) and Owen Sound (2nd). The 3 teams are predicted to finish within 2 games of each other. I expect Thunder Bay to “buy” a pitcher through the trade market as right now they have 2 very good SP’s but after that it's a bit of who goes next. A very good bullpen and with their philosophy of keeping the starters to 18-21 batters faced, they could put up enough offense to overcome whoever fills that 3rd and 4th roles.
Hamilton edged out Toronto and Owen Sound last year and the predictions have Toronto in 4th. I think they have that wrong and I look for Toronto to win the North this year with Thunder Bay hanging on to 2nd place just ahead of Hamilton and Owen Sound. If Toronto makes the playoffs watch out. They have arguably the game’s best pitcher (no offense Nick Keddy) in Motoyuki Inoue who has won 2 straight Canadian pitcher of the year awards and has led the league in strikeouts the last 4 seasons with over 900 K’s. Toronto will be an incredibly tough out in the playoffs
My Prediction for Chicago
As for my Chicago prediction I am very bullish on this team this year. Last year OSA said first with 82 wins in the South and I said 85 wins. The Architects won 87 games. This year I think the top of the division improved and the bottom 3 will fall farther back. OSA says 80 wins, and I think again we are good for 5 more, but it will be tough. I think we will pull out our 2nd straight division crown and 3rd playoff appearance in a row.
We have 3 top 10 position players and 3 top 20 pitchers. I really think that this could be our year......it better be as the season profit projection without a playoff run is a small couple of million dollar profit. I did a bad job of manage that extra $10 million when I sign C Joe Hunt and IF Kent Noseworthy. That ate up just over $7 million of our $11 million plus budget surplus. So getting into the playoffs once again is huge financially and should be the goal of every professional team anyway.