NL East Preview: Season 6

Chicago Jayhawks-Season 5 114-48 (1st Place, Division Champion)

After yet another year of record wins followed by playoff disappointment, the window, while not shut, does not appear to be widening either for the Chicago Jayhawks. Given the roster composition of the other teams and precluding a blockbuster deal of some variety, Chicago has to be considered the favorite for another division title until proven otherwise. Offensively, Chicago is coming off a year where it led the NL in OPS at .839 with an impressive OBP of .365 and a great SLG of .475. Bryan Beckett resumed his march towards digital Cooperstown last year posting a .399 OBP and a 1.045 OPS overall with his normal stellar defense. The greater concern is the deteriorating defense with many of the other position players have fallen below the HBD averages. Not surprisingly for a team that won 114 games, Chicago also led the NL in pitching with an ERA of 3.46 and WHIP of 1.19. Don Masato returned to his perch as the best pitcher in baseball with an ERA of 2.91 and a WHIP of 1.12 in 256.1 innings of work. No pitcher with more than 40 innings posted an ERA of over 5.00. The age of the staff means that some regression is to be expected but the overall performance should be in the general range of 1.33 and 3.60 which would still make it the best staff in the NL by a wide margin based on this year’s performance. Unless Thorku wishes to move super prospect Stu Butler up to the bigs from AA or he pulls off a blockbuster signing or trade, a mild regression should be expected.

Prediction: 110 Wins and another division title

New York Yankees- Season 5 96-66 (2nd Place, Wild Card)

Goose yet again combined above average offensive production and well above average pitching to post a win total that would have led, or tied for the lead, in five divisions in Gleeman world. Unfortunately, he is still in a division with Thorku so he had to settle with 5^th place yet again. Offensively, New York placed a solid 6^th in the NL with an OPS of .764. The offense was bolstered by the acquisition of Bernard Rhodes who posted nearly an 1.100 OPS on his time with the Yanks. However, he was the lone position player with regular playing time that posted an OPS above .900. The offense should receive some bolstering by the arrival of Kelvim Lyons at catcher but any remaining improvement in season 6 will have to come from either a trade or a free agent signing. New York’s strength was its pitching with a 2^nd place WHIP and with an ERA of 4.13 which put it in 4^th place in the NL. Led by the true Cy Young winner in the NL, Haywood Towers, the rest of the Yankee’s staff was very solid though two pitchers managed to post 200 innings of 5.50 era which drug down the staff’s final totals. The imminent release of Jay Cosby, with no obvious replacement, should hurt the staff’s overall performance but won’t knock it out of the top 5 staffs in the NL.

Prediction: 93-69

Tampa Bay Devil Rays- Season 6 90-72 (3rd place, Wild Card)

Tampa Bay is coming off the most successful year of its franchise seeing it reach the playoffs for the first time. The playoffs were almost certainly a direct result of his acquisition of the top hitter on the market, Charlie Stevens, who posted an OPS of over 1.050 and reached base at almost a 45% clip. The rest of the offense was also very solid with the notable achievements of super rookie Clay Gibbons who posted an OPS of over 1.000 in his short time at the bigs. Every player with more than 200 ABs had an OPS of over .698. The pitching was another story entirely however. The ERA was a slightly below average 4.75 but the WHIP was only the 14^th best in the NL at 1.49. Miguel Abreu led the team with a 4.04 ERA on a 1.36 WHIP. On the opposite end of the spectrum, three pitchers combined for over 200 innings of ERA around 6.5. This trio absolutely must be replaced if Fry wants to ensure his return means another trip to the playoffs as there will be many teams contending for that final playoff spot. Tampa Bay does appear to have two solid prospects that can be brought up in the form of Mark Lyons and Oswaldo Dotel. Tampa Bay should continue to maintain their current level of performance for the next year though the large number of long-term contracts does not provide Tampa Bay with much flexibility to make an acquisition.

Prediction: 93-69

Washington D.C. Bureaucrats- Season 5 54-108 (4th Place, No Wild Card...Not Even Close)

Season 5 was not the best of the days for the fabled Bureaucrat franchise, in fact it was the worst of days. The Bureaucrats started off strong by holding a seemingly insurmountable lead during the first week of the season only to see a fall that Rudy Giuliani would be ashamed of. The offense was almost uniformly terrible with a league worst OPS of .672. The only highlight during the season was the continued strong performance of Matty Montanez with an OBP of almost .400 and an OPS of .871. The rest of the offense does not deserve mention. The pitching was only marginally better with a 2^nd to last ERA and WHIP of 5.52 and 1.55. Herman Young was the best pitcher once again with an ERA of 4.68 and a WHIP of 1.47. Almost without exception, he was in many ways the only near average pitcher. Next season should prove to be mildly more promising with the addition of slugging OF Murray Matthews and the eventual promotion of super pitching stud Garret Kline. Regardless, this team is clearly destined for a distinct fourth place finish next year. Season 7 on the other hand…

Prediction: 65-97