SEASON 10 AL EAST PREVIEW

AL EAST

TEAM Boston Badasses PAYROLL 54.9M
LAST YEARS RECORD: 88-74
KEY ML TRANSACTIONS:

ADDED				SUBTRACTED
NAME	POS	AGE		NAME	POS	AGE
				Bo Adams	P	32
				Glenallen Bell	P	31
				Raul Tavarez	P	35
				Damian Lemon	LF	33
				Stuart Baines	P	31
				Tony Bryant	P	34
				Derek Starr	RF	29
				Tony Howard	C	31

SUMMARY: The Offense centers around 2 all star caliber players, Steven Jenners at Short, and Julian Bonilla at 3^rd.. Both should maintain this team's Offense. Defensively the unit is also solid with defense being a priority over a dominant offense. The Pitching is a different story, Beyond Neale the staff is quite pedestrian at this point, with Young Guns that aren't quite ready to take over a game. The relief corp. is solid but will get overworked during the season without a horse in the starting rotation.

HOLES TO ADDRESS: only 18 roster spots are used currently. Most of the resulting holes are in the pitching staff. The Badasses need at least 4 more pitchers. Good luck finding quality to fill those holes. Farmer Drese is also sitting pretty at AAA, This might be his year to break into the majors and make some impact off the bench or even as a starter.

VEGAS ODDS: 35-1

TEAM Durham Bulls PAYROLL 71.9M

LAST YEARS RECORD: 54-108

KEY ML TRANSACTIONS:

ADDED				SUBTRACTED
NAME	POS	AGE		NAME	POS	AGE
Tito Hume	1B	30		Junior Hara	P	33
Vladimir Almonte	P	26		Diego Marin	LF	27
Kelly Roosevelt	P	25		Brandon Mercedes	CF	28
				Warren Carpenter	LF	29
				Victor Hernandez	C	24
				Top of Form Kirk Johnson Bottom of Form	LF	30

SUMMARY: Offensively this team will strikeout a lot, but when they get a hold of the ball. The Ball will sail. I just don't know how many balls they will get a hold of. The Starting pitching is very hittable, but is capable of making pitches , expect a lot of walks. Closer Jose Chavez is losing his grip on being elite.

Holes TO ADDRESS: CF is going to be an issue a defensively weak player needs to at least pull is weight on offense, CJ Ross will not do that. Almost all the positions could be upgraded on this team. Chavez should be traded for youth to upgrade a deflated farm system.

VEGAS ODDS: 95-1

TEAM Hartford Ascension PAYROLL: 40.1M

LAST YEARS RECORD: 50-112
KEY ML TRANSACTIONS:

ADDED				SUBTRACTED
NAME	POS	AGE		NAME	POS	AGE
Kris Aspromonte	P	25		Jae Cho	1B	33
Rene Richardson	P	25		Sal Wood	P	35
Kid Tannehill	SS	23		Ismael Franco	P	35
Ivan Gonzalez	LF	25		Jumbo Guerrero	LF	36
				Oscar Crawford	C	35
				Tito Owens	3B	33
				Phillip Howington	SS	28
				Fred Lundquist	P	30
				Graeme Shaw	P	32

SUMMARY: Offensively this team is a dumpster of mediocre players, fading all-stars, and 4A Stars. Without a true shortstop the team's defense will suffer and they really can't afford to hand games away on errors. The team will need to keep an eye on AAA SS Dennis Lockwood he could be the spark this team needs to climb out of the cellar The Pitching staff is in place, and is not the worst in the division. Fryman, Brantley, and Daniels are above average and Becker has good stuff.

HOLES TO ADDRESS: This team badly needs a decent starting Catcher to handle this pitching staff. They also could use a starting SS. Biddle should move back to CF to provide some D. Bart Hitchcock would be a gold glover at 3B and still provide plenty of offense. The Team has one of the worst bullpens in the league.

VEGAS ODDS: 90-1

Washington D.C. old school warriors PAYROLL 65.4M

LAST YEARS RECORD: 77-85
KEY ML TRANSACTIONS:

ADDED				SUBTRACTED
NAME	POS	AGE		NAME	POS	AGE
Darryl Sexton	P	35		Luke Miller	C	30
Dude Reed	3B	32		Kenneth Gutierrez	CF	29
Alex Padilla	P	37		Stan Baker	1B	35
Joe Mullen	P	26		Harold Valdes	2B	37
				Matthew Kirkland	P	33
				Frank Figueroa	P	30
				Dean O'Brien	3B	30
				Tony Gil	2B	27
				John Paul	RF	29

SUMMARY: Went big in Free Agency landing all-star 3B Dude Reed and all-star closer Darryl Sexton. Offensively this team has a few weapons to surround Reed with including all-stars Craig Cooper and Victor Mondesi. The starting pitching is young and improving each year, pitching should perform well enough to compete for the division, the bullpen will be up and down but is solid with Sexton and Rivera

HOLES TO ADDRESS: Weak all around starting catcher, and a weak right side of the infield will cause this team some offensive whoa, but they have liabilities to address.

VEGAS ODDS: 28-1