With a strong Season 5 campaign, the Cottonmouths returned to their familiar spot atop the AL South Standings after seeing their record gradually decrease over the first four seasons. And given the infamously trade recluse ownership in Florida (it's been over 3 full seasons since Florida swung a trade of any significance), they did it the hard way - by staying within the organization.With the exception of veteran LF Peter Li, who was signed at a bargain rate, all major contributions came from within. The story starts with the Season 5 AL Cy Young Ismael Molina, who pitched his way to a stunning 18-3 record, putting up a stingy .597 OPS against, 1.11 WHIP and 2.65 ERA over 197.1 innings in only his second full year in the bigs. Joining Ismael in his second season, and at the All-Star game, was 2nd year man, 24 year old SP Cy Kelly (15-8, 3.37, 237.2 IP) and 25 year old 2nd year C Ernest Crawford (.829 OPS, 4.14 CERA). And it doesn't end there: Sparky Rando (AA) is a can't-miss prospect who should be seeing the awful confines of Pro Player stadium in the next year or two. Florida is a going to be a powerhouse for several seasons, with only veteran All-Star RP Philip Byrd at risk of declining next year.
Season 6 Prediction: 98 wins, Division Champions
Nashville (Season 5: 73-89)
Season 5 was a bit of a rebound year for the Twang, as they improved from their franchise-worst 66 wins in Season 4, while managing to reduce their player payroll for a 5th straight season. Unfortunately, that's about the extent of the positives for the big club in Season 5, which went All-Star-less for the first time in their history, as former All-Stars like RP Jay Piazza, CF Del Garcia and 2B RJ Granados all got off to slow starts. Their record was also about 5 games better than expected, and their offense put up the 3rd fewest runs in the AL.Not all is lost though. With the 4th overall pick in Season 5, Birdie Cornelius became the latest in a string of young pitchers to announce their happiness at being Twang's - he is a can't-miss stud well on his way to tearing up the bigs. Others young guns like Chilli Coles and Francis Green combine with the current young ML staff to form a very deep nucleus of starting pitching. The team also ended the year on a positive note, sweeping the final set of Player of the Week awards, with the honors going to 3B Esteban Manzanillo and SP Chad Neal. With that in mind, the next 2 years should be good ones in Nashville, although management will likely need to trade some veterans to help surround that young nucleus of pitching talent.
Season 6 Prediction: 78 wins
Richmond (Season 5: 60-102)
A 21-game drop in the W column from Season 4 to 5 represented pretty much a worst-case scenario for Roustabout fans. Falling from division champions to 33 games out of 1st in a single season is a hard blow to accept for any fan base. Perhaps by design, there was very little activity in Richmond this past offseason - only 1 ML player signed (a backup catcher) and no real trades of any consequence. Richmond did a fantastic job in the Rule V, stealing Trenidad Silva with the 19th pick (!) And with a middle round draft pick, Richmond did fairly well, selecting Slugging 1B Benito Alvarez.Looking at the Richmond Depth Chart we see that most of it's high potential talent is already in the bigs suggesting that the team won't make any big moves upward in the standings for the next few years. The team will improve some though, with the aforementioned Silva and Humerto Rivera (who should be back for the start of Season 6) under the age of 23 and well below their projected ceilings still. Add that with some decent younger talent in the low minors, and management's good showings in the drafts, and it's reasonable to expect that this will represent the low point for the Richmond franchise for years to come.
Season 5 Prediction: 68 wins
San Antonio (Season 5: 54-108)
With 54 wins, the Sting were once again the worst team in the AL, and were tied for the worst record in the majors. With the first overall pick for a third consecutive year in Season 6, it's hard to avoid questioning the direction the team has taken since it's high water mark of 83 wins in Season 1. Their first overall picks in both the Rule 4 and 5 drafts left much to be desired, given other players available later on in both drafts. Perhaps predictably, the team was entirely shut-out of post-season awards, without a single candidate in any section at the ML level.Season 6 doesn't hold much more promise for the Sting faithful either. While there are a few youngsters at the ML level, many of the recent draft picks are still several seasons away. They should once again be competing for last place overall.
Season 6 Prediction: 50 wins, worst record in the majors
4 comments:
I feel like I need to defend myself a little bit. The team I was dealt in season 1 was a veteran team and I made the choice to spend money and go for it. As a newbie, I made some bad trades and it didn't work out the way I had hoped. So, now I'm about 2 years deep into a rebuilding mode and I think it's going pretty well. Sting fans are patient and understand that their patience will pay off in a few seasons.
With Louis Quantrill and Kevin Riggs in San Antonio for the full season this year, as well as a lineup that should be as productive, if not better, the Sting will outperform their season 5 results.
Oh - and I would like to add that I do not, unfortunately, have first pick in the Season 6 draft. That goes to Washington, who, because of the run-diferential tiebreaker, will pick first.
the amateur draft order on the site says you pick first...
Well, that's a nice surprise. Last year it said I had 2nd and I asked the developers why and they said the tiebreaker was run differential. Perhaps something changed. I'm not complaining...this way is more realistic.
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