Wednesday, April 28, 2010

NL WEST SEASON 16 Preview

NL WEST SEASON 16 Projected Standings

Team

Owner

W-L

Summary

Colorado Springs Organizational Filler

voteforlou

96-66

Underestimated the team last season, I will not be so far off this year

Cheyenne Marmots

djgaffer

88-74

Unless they make a big offseason move they are going to get passed.

Colorado Mile High Club

Fregoe

86-76

Predicted their rise 1 year to soon, this will challenge for the wild card this season

Salem Slammers

liamsar

83-79

Age is starting to show and this is not the team it was 5 seasons ago.

Salem Slammers

58.3M Current Payroll Estimated Opening Day Payroll remaining 23.7M
KEY OFF SEASON LOSSES: 2B Dale Hill 3B Tony Salinas, SP Michael Foster, 1B Thomas Campbell, CF Merv Cooper Offense: Lost the 1-2 punch of Campbell and Salinas, the team will not seem the same without Campbell in the middle of the lineup. With his loss the team will lean heavily on Roosevelt Murphy and look for Chin-Feng Meng and Ted Barkley to build on solid years. Without another top bat, runs are going to be scarce. Defense: Showing some exposure in CF and aging at SS, For the most part they will still be able to get by on their defense, but they need to start patching the holes that are cracking in the Mortar of this team. Ruben Lee could be one of the better catchers in the game if he had the stamina to play more than half time. Rotation: Michael Foster is gone leaving a hole in the rotation, the rest of the rotation over performed last season. Look for them to crash a little this season and struggle to go deep enough to protect the bullpen from exposure. Money is there to pursue an Ace. Bullpen: Felipe Liriano proved me wrong last season and proved he could close 2 years in a row, but I'm still far from in love with him as the closer. Outside of his arm Otis Trammell might be the only other highly qualified arm in the pen. They need to pursue at least one more solid inning eating arm.

Colorado Springs Organizational Filler

KEY OFF SEASON LOSSES: SP Hi Telgheder C Phil Baek LF Enrique Chantres RP Stretch Olshan RP James Hasegawa SP Jim Powell 75.1M Current Payroll Estimated Opening Day Payroll remaining 7.9M Offense: Pedro Cela is the man in Colorado Springs, but he is far from alone Glenn Gibson is one of the better Offensive catchers in the NL right now, Tony Bravo should see an increased role in the offense and don't look past slugger Walt Harris and Sam Brinkley. This team will bring game each day. Watch for Kurt Tanner to compete for Rookie of the year honors. Defense: The unit is solid but not going to save many balls that require acrobatics. They are the classic hit the ball to me and we will field it team. Rotation: The Loss of Telgheder hurts, they don't have enough in cap space to challenge for him to return leaving CSP with a huge hole to fill, there is still plenty of talent in this rotation so I would still expect the Filler's to throw up a tough match up day in and day out. Bullpen: Closer York Bradford showed he could close effectively with his killer pitches, but he will still have my doubts that he can perform at an elite level every day. The Bullpen around him will allow CSP the luxury of resting their pen and not worrying about a weak pitcher taking the mound. The Pen will be strength in S16.

Colorado Mile High Club
47.0M Current Payroll Estimated Opening Day

KEY OFF SEASON LOSSES: RP J.J. Greenwood RP Willie Feliz RP Stevie Walker RP Mitch Matthews Offense: They could be an offensive juggernaut this season. Years in the Gutter have allowed Colorado to build a young and powerful team. Watch out for a hard hitting lineup lead by 2B Lucas Martin. They still need to upgrade their Catcher position and maybe find a better option than the aging Steve Smart at Short. Defense: Should hold up, but they have holes and age at SS and CF might wear on as the season progresses. Rotation: Vincente, O'Malley and Hurst could be the best pitching backbone in the NL, If and when they get there. They aren't too far off and should all improve on last season's effort. The Rest of the rotation should hold their own especially when the offense is capable of throwing up 5+ runs each night.
Bullpen: The whole Pen has turned over from last season. Holdovers Paul Bell and Andres Osuna are going to be asked to do a lot more. It is pretty late in their careers to expect a whole lot out of them, but if they can get the ball in the park they should be okay. Colorado's heel is in the Pen and this will need to be addressed with free Agency if the team hopes to compete.

Cheyenne Marmots
64.8M Current Payroll Estimated Opening Day Payroll remaining 6.2M
KEY OFF SEASON LOSSES: RP Luis Fuentes P Craig Dellaero
Offense: Returning basically the same squad as S15. They showed they could hit almost anyone. Chris Durbin returns to keep running up with Career stolen base title. The Bats showed they can hit and compete day in and day out. Defense: The Marmots make their money in the field, Chris Durbin is defensively there weakest hole at 2B and he's not going to make a lot of errors. Rotation: Pitching is starting to show signs of wear, but they will hold their own better than many current rotations. They will need to start looking for Soto's eventual retirement, but hell ride that horse till it falls over. Bullpen: The Pen performed well over my expectations last season, this season it is going to be a little tougher to do that with reduced stamina in the rotation, they might start feeling the pinch of exhaustion this season.

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