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October 1, 2018

 

NEWS

 

This past month has seen a lively debate about the Waiver Draft. After voting to expand our rosters to 35 it has left very little available to waive at the end of the off-season. Solutions have been offered by Jim Kockler, Gordon Rodell, Tim Kiger, Robert Fenili and Joe Reagan that proposed expanding the Free Agent draft back to 8 rounds, cutting rosters to 28, making any undrafted player available in two/three round draft or same idea but only one year contract, limit "nc" players to 3. As I stated I am completely against opening up the Waiver Draft to any unrostered player. The point of having a Free Agent draft to evaluate talent and draft rookies or veterans. The purpose of the Waiver Draft is to draft waived players. Our current Free Agent draft is held almost half a year into the current MLB season. That allows us to evaluate players resulting in wiping out anyone having a decent season in first half along with all the hype regarding rookies. Not much is left for following year except those with a good 2nd half and to re-expose them to a second round of drafting even further dilutes the next Free Agent draft. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that would impact the league in a negative way.

 

What I want us to decide is the following proposal:

1-Expand the Free Agent back to 8 rounds. (adds 36 to the waiver pool)

2-Cut roster size back to 33. (adds 36 to the waiver pool)

3-Eliminate Waiver Draft

Please vote for one of these and if we get 12 voting for one of them it shall be approved. If none get there, we will remain as is.

 

We are heading into our 19th season and it's time for some predictions.

 

YOUR SEASON FORECAST

CURTIS

Bob Prince Division Predictions: 1-Virginia (96-66), 2-Curtis (88-74), 3-Ohio (86-76), 4-Great Lakes (72-90), 5-Liverpool (66-96), 6-Jordan (66-96). Virginia is the team to beat with 2 A starters but Curtis appears to have the best offense but a weak bullpen. Ohio and Curtis will battle it out for 2nd place in the division. Great Lakes, Liverpool and Jordan all appear to be a few years away from contention at this time.

BUFFALO

After making the playoffs last year the Blizzard will be in full rebuild mode, The Blizzard will hit the ball but will find it very hard to get outs

LELAND

"When the Cain is In the Seventh House. And Arenado aligns with Mars. Then Bregman will guide the planets and Starlin will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Leland, the Age of Leland!! LEEELAND!!! Apologies to the 5th Dimension, but their song captures the essence to the Giants' success in the upcoming season. The team's Motto: "Pound the Opposition Into Submission!!" Or as Earl Weaver used to preach "Get on base and hit the three run homer!!" How well the team is able to implement their strategy will directly correlate to the number of wins achieved. That and a reliance on the new normal in baseball; get the lead and let the bull pen and team defense lock it down. The mission of the starting pitchers is NOT to lose the game in the first four or five innings. So can we win? MAYBE! Can we make the playoffs? MAYBE! MAYBE 2018-2019 will be the "Age of Leland, LEEELAND!!

LIVERPOOL

The Warriors start year 1 of what hopes to be a 3 year total rebuild. The youth movement has started with the selection of the “Matts”. Both Olson and Chapman are expected to be key players in the rebuild. While it expects to be a long year this season the future will hopefully look brighter after next years draft.

OHIO

Our 2018-19 outlook: Ohio expects to contend but could finish anywhere from first to last in their divisions. Pitching looks good but probably not enough offense to win the division.

ROCHESTER

Plenty of balls will leave the yard when the Parrots step into the batters box. Behind leadoff hitter Jean Segura lies a Murderer's Row of Harper, Judge, Bellinger, Bruce (all 1-1), Dozier, and Shaw. Since I joined this league after the peak of the steroid era, this team has the most power of any team I have put in a lineup card for. It needs to be, because the pitching staff is as average as it gets-all C starters and B relievers. I am curious to see how it plays out.

WELLAND

The Welland Mustangs will protect the 35 players listed on the League website. Depending on whom might get cut and put on waivers Welland may make a claim (and release a player to free up a spot).

 

COMMISSIONERS FORECAST

claytonbluesox Prince Division: Three team race between Virginia, Ohio, & Curtis. The Blue Sox have a very deep rotation. Kershaw plus Strasburg plus Carrasco. The bullpen is loaded too with Kenley Jansen closing. They have five 300 hitters in Posey, Hosmer, Rendon, Garcia plus Pham. Ohio has a pretty good rotation with deGrom and Bumgarner leading the way. Not much going on in the pen. Bryant, Odor and rookie Happ lead the hitting crew. Curtis has Kyle Hendricks and C.C. but they might be a little light in pitching but boy they can hit with the likes of Charlie Blackmon, Votto, Schoop etc. I just don't see Liverpool, Great Lakes or Jordan doing anything other than seeing who finishes a very distant fourth. The Warriors have the very underrated Justin Turner and some kids but scoring is a going to be a problem. Great Lakes has lots of young talent in Albies, Benintendi and Zimmer. Jordan's Thames will hit his bombs but not much help in that stat..... Blue Sox win the pennant.

 

mikeyorangeball Caray Division: Looking like a two team battle between Bloomington & the Orange. Bloomington with Luis Severino at the top has a deeper rotation and their bullpen is filthy deep. You then you add in a very good hitting attack with guys like Moustakas, Seager & Krush Davis. Syracuse with Kluber and Scherzer can go toe to toe with the Mitts rotation but not even close to being as deep in the pen. On offense Stanton, Cano and Rizzo head up a stellar group that'll score better than the Mitts with far better power. Wayside doesn't have as much depth in the rotation or pen as the two front runners. On offense Lindor & Nellie Cruz lead the way but not quite up to the top two but clearly better than the rest of this group. None of the bottom three have pitching so Rochester's hitting of Bellinger, Shaw, Judge and Harper gets them into fourth. Buffalo has some decent pop with LoMo plus Cozart. Iron City has Trout, Goldschmidt & Donaldson so bombs will be dropping there..... Otto the Orange wins this pennant.

 

whitsoutherncar Hamilton Division: Southern wins here. They have the deepest rotation with Verlander top dog and a fairly deep bullpen to back them up. Their bats will put lots of run on the board too. Freeman, Gallo, JD Martinez and Jose Ramirez is a good group to have. It'll be interesting to see who finishes second. Leland, Oviedo, Welland & Philly have just about equal depth in their rotations although Philly might be a little light in the pen. I think Leland gets the edge on the rest and will score runs with stars like Arenado, Bregman and Bour to grab 2nd place. Oviedo has a pretty deep bullpen to back up Keuchel & Happ but pretty thin elsewhere on the mound. Merrifield, Abreu and Gurriel head up a very, very good group of hitters. In Philly Nola has Nelson to help but not much else on the mound. Welland only has Stroman on the hill but Encarn, Smoak and Springer can mash pretty good. The Quakers have a very good infield offense with Sanchez & Gennett. Reedley has Sale top man in a solid rotation but no bullpen and very light in power. Only Zimmerman stands out in hitting bombs..... Southern runs up another pennant flag here.

 

bluesox Playoff picture: We have Virginia, Syracuse and Southern in top slots so I'll call Bloomington, Ohio & Curtis for the wildcard berths. It's gonna be one of those three pennant winners for the championship and it could be anyone of the three but I will guess that the Virginia offense stops Southern from taking home a fourth straight crown.

 

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