AL East

New Britain has a definite formula for success. Starters that are replaceable, but do their job. A super bullpen (as seen by the best 3 pitchers section), and a team that hits well enough to get ahead so that the bullpen can get the win. This year William Baek and JJ Spoljaric were dropped from the team. Delanor Estes was an excellent pick up if he can rebound from last season (and at age 36 that's questionable), while John Jang can be a decent utility fielder. Dewey Halter has held off father time, and Vin Romero had a great season. This team is solid, and definitely one to keep an eye on.

Dover continues to spend big money in hopes of overtaking the Rock Cats. Chad has missed his chance the last two years and this year will be just as tough. The pitching staff is solid enough to compete, and the addition of Luis Martin ($9.5 mil), and Mike Coco ($5 mil) will certainly bolster the bullpen. The Senators stole former Rock Cat slugger William Baek to fill to the DH spot and he is a huge addition to an already potent offense. A "did you know" question...did you know the Senators didn't have a single player with a negative WAR? Ya...crazy.  Chong is the reigning MVP (check out the stats...wow), while Hermanson, Frias, and Cabeza provided an excellent "supporting" cast. This might be the year that we have two teams from the same division win over 100 games.

The PawSox season was dashed upon the rocks when the injury bug struck the pitching staff spring training. Sam Tucker was lost for the year, and Brian Yammamoto went down for 3 weeks. Anytime you lose two starters things get a little dicey. Especially when the team wasn't great to begin with. The only good news is that payroll was already low, and there was no chance to compete with New Britain and Dover anyway. The PawSox made good signings and built a team that would have competed without breaking the bank. Which leads me to the question will Brad D'Amico and Eugene Robertson be made available?

Durham gave up 971 runs last season and so the first order of business was to fix that problem. They spent a LOT of money on aging, but very good, veteran pitchers in Everett and Benes. Valenzuela also gets his chance in the bigs at age 21. This should easily help the team become more respectable, but how much? There will be no drop off in offensive production so any help that they get from their pitchers will make them a better team. This team probably won't be a playoff team, but will make it interesting.

NL East Preview

Charleston won the AL East by default last season. It's a rare feat to win the division with a losing record. The team was offensively challenged, and the pitching was middle of the road. #1 starter Mike Young was allowed to walk, as was Garry Scelfo and Adrian Bowen whose options were declined to save money. That left two starter spots to fill. RJ Baez, and Louis Pena are those replacements. Both are downgrades. The bullpen is decent, but can the starters hold their own? No changes were made to the offense that only scored 654 runs. Unless everyone else sucks in the division the Dogs are up the River without a paddle.

Louisville should have won the division except they were 13-23 in 1-run games. Ouch. The starting rotation added injury prone DT Gehrig as the number five and considering other pitchers also have health concerns things could conceivably go south in a hurry. The offense is solid, although there were guys last years getting more plate appearances than they deserved (looking at you Osvaldo Guillen with 647 PA, and Andy Young with 561 PA). Overall, I think the Bats are a solid ball club that should win the division. But if the pitching staff gets hit with injury bug (hopefully the $20 in health helps), and if the bullpen blows it AGAIN...forget it.

The Tides traded out their 4 and 5 starters for new guys in the same roles, but it shouldn't help much. The biggest change that will help is rookie sensation Pepper Dillard in the bullpen as the main setup man. Combined with Carlos Quixote and Fausto Melo, Norfolk has a formidable group if they can get a lead. And that's the big question. Can the Tides score runs? Barney Enders isn't the answer. Rookie centerfielder Bobby Lackey COULD be, but he isn't durable enough to contribute more than 65-70 runs. Bottenfield has never lived up to expectations and Estrada should be more productive than he has been. This is a team that just doesn't seem destined to improve much beyond what they did last year.

The Augusta franchise fled for Charlotte after new owner gregor199 took over. They are now the Hornets. One question I have is if gregor has time for this team. With fifteen other franchises how can anyone keep up with every single team? He is a braver man than I, especially being new to HBD. The apparent strategy is to throw money around. Butch Terry, a decent but not superior setup guy, got $13.6 million to sign. Notice he isn't in the top pitchers section? The Vegas defense made him look better than he is. Alexei Santos joins the Hornets for $5.4 mil...and brings his stellar .314 obp with him. Vic Ashburn comes over to play third for $5.2 million...he played in AAA for Syracuse. Lastly Mike McCormick was brought up to play SS, and while he will provide some pop he isn't a shortstop in the sense that he can't play the position defensively. If you thought the Hornets were bad last year just wait. Things are going from bad to worse for this franchise. I'm not sure how they plan to hold onto guys like Goodwin in the future when making horrible signings. Hope gregor has a game plan going forward and that his time management skills are stellar.

AL North Preview

Looking at the AL North I noticed an oddity rarely seen in any HBD world. We have four teams with one of the largest geographical areas ever. Stretching from upstate New York (Syracuse) to the midwest (Wichita, Kansas and Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota) and across the Rocky Mountains down to Salt Lake City, Utah. Geez...these teams might go broke playing inter-division games. Now to the preview (with a major surprise prediction).

The Bees are absolutely loaded again this season. They have a fine collection of young talent that hits and plays defense. One burning question is…why did this team only score 785 with this kind of talent??? Another question is how much help Greg Menechino will provide. The "Timeless One" has been around forever, and it appears that age has caught up with him. He produced over 100 runs last year, but will be hard pressed to get to 80 this year. Will the young guys step up in Salt Lake City? The late addition of Orlando Canseco didn't help them win in the playoffs...can he lead them to World Series Title for mjpals?

The Trenton franchise was purchased by new ownership, and moved cross country to become the Wichita Wingnuts. A good move, because I've heard Trenton is not exactly baseball heaven. The new owner is freddyquimby, a brand new addition to HBD. The previous owner made an interesting move with division rival SLC. Orlando Canseco, their best player, was traded for a decent minor league shortstop/3b, a solid pitcher, and RF Al Bolivar. They saved money in the long run and got a lot of production from Bolivar and the pitcher, Buddy Minor. Minor became the best pitcher on the club and almost helped them get to the playoffs. Can the new ownership get this club back to the playoffs after a 3 year hiatus? This year, it doesn't look likely. The pitching staff really isn't very good outside of Minor, and losing Jumbo Delgado's 46 saves leaves the bullpen in terrible shape.

The first thing that became immediately apparent when looking at the Redhawks was the lack of offensive production. So, I was curious to know why. Three things stood out: 1) no one walks 2) everyone is slow 3) lack of base-running skills. That's a poor recipe for success because no one likes clogged base paths. Fargo was last in the league in doubles, and the bottom half in every statistical category in the AL. Not good. When a guy like Monte Wright (.309 obp) leads your team in plate appearances (584) it's going to be tough to be taken seriously. Hector Jose and other minor league players are on the way. Until then this team will have to keep relying on pitching and defense to keep them competitive.

Syracuse is one of the most stacked offensive teams in the MiLB. They scored 842 runs, which seems like a low number considering the talent. Sjpratt has built an admirable run scoring team. To begin fixing the pitching staff, Barney Enders (79 RC) was traded to Norfolk for Arodys Gonzalez. Then they traded minor league talent to El Paso for ace Will Waters (six time all star). If Paul King can live up to expectations as a closer, and not have 11 blown saves, this team will be a championship contender. As matter of fact, I'm going on record. The Chiefs will go from last to first in this division. With a very good shot at the World Series. Surprised?

NL North Preview

Since Brian took over the Yankees, the Yankees have experienced unprecedented success. Although Scranton has only won one World Series title in his tenure, the team has been transformed into a juggernaut. Don't expect anything different going forward. Glanville and Montanez are in decline, but the pitching staff is still rock solid.The boys in pinstripes are serious contenders in the MiLB this year and for many years to come.

Toledo should probably have taken a playoff spot, but faded in the final month. The Mud Hens are an ultra talented team that might be one or two years away from being a legit championship contender. From here on out, you can expect them to be a playoff front runner at the least. The loss of Lance Wilson was cancelled out by the signing of Mike Young. The offense remains mostly unchanged with the young guys getting marginally better and the vets not falling off too much. It looks like the defense off the bench will be super at helping to hold leads for the bullpen guys like Schourek. But, will they be able to get a big AB late in games?

 The Monsters are in rebuilding mode, but remain competitive. There isn't a lot of talent on this team (as you can see from their top 8 players), but Burlington features a solid (not extraordinary) defense, and capable pitchers. Pak knows what he is doing so don't bet against them at any point. No matter what the predictions are for the Monsters, they always find a way to exceed expectations.

 It's not often that the reigning MVP leaves his successful team for a last place team, but that is exactly what Angel Molina did in the off-season. At 28, he has some very good years left. When Molina's playing days are done he will have lasting fame…and now a huge fortune. Matched up with Kenny Sullivan and Carlos Romano, the Bisons won't be in the cellar again this year. The pitching staff had about equal losses and gains, even stealing from division rival Toledo (welcome to Buffalo, Jhonny Martin!). Buffalo is substantially improved and poised to make a playoff run. Be weary, National League.