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The Garbage Plates are old. Plain and simple. Only 5 players on their 25 man roster are under the age of 30; the team is clearly built to win now, not later. Appropriately, Rochester GM benj13blue signed star veteran Tom Beckett to a monstrous 5 year deal worth a whopping $91 million. Along with F.P. Wall and Quentin Cepicky, among others, the Garbage Plates should be well equipped to give the rotation plenty of run support. Not that they'd need all that much; headed by emerging ace Benji Juarez and recently acquired vets Bob Trammell and J.P. Alonso, Rochester should have no problem getting deep into games with the lead. Then it'll be up to mustachioed menace Fred Ohman and setup ace Chief Lewis to clinch the victory. You could argue that the team's a bit thin on the margins, especially concerning the pitching (there are no obvious in-house candidates should one of the starters get hurt, and the 'pen is very top-heavy). Still, the star talent on this team is as good as any in the league.
Prediction: 101-61, NL East Champs
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The Bunks probably won't win the division, but they might be good enough to sneak into the playoffs regardless. They aggressively traded away some of their starting pitching (plus a prospect) in order to acquire up-the-middle players Bob Gilmore, Fred Washington, and Joe Benson. Combined with other notable position players Pete Matthews and Oswaldo Javier, the Bunks should be able to hold their own on the offensive end, although the defense might be a bit shaky at shortstop, as no one on the roster can be considered an average defender there. The rotation is headed by ace David Flores, who has Cy Young-worthy talent. A concern is the general lack of stamina from the starters, though, as only Glen Herzog can be classified as a workhorse, and the bullpen looks shaky at best. Still, despite their shortcomings, expect Baltimore to be in the race until the very end.
Prediction: 84-78, 3rd place
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On a per-inning basis, the Knights may have one of the best rotations in baseball. With a quartet of pitchers like Lewis Neill, Lon Cashman, Pedro Bournigal, and Frank Battle, it's hard to see the Knights giving up very many runs in the first 5 or 6 innings of any ballgame. The problem is, other than Battle, none of the other three can be expected to pitch past that point. And, to put it charitably, the bullpen is a mess. Ebenezer Randa should hold his own, but arsonists Jacque Cox and Dean Moeller are strangely still on the ML roster. And then there's the lineup, which has its own set of problems. Omar Gutierrez can hit, and Darrin Sanders isn't bad despite his hacktastic approach. Outside of those two, you're left with a squad that may struggle to outhit a good AAA team. Charlotte GM pic27 had a very quiet offseason, with nary a free agent signing, trade, waiver wire pickup, or Rule 5 selection. All moves were done in-house; whether such an approach will pay off remains to be seen.
Prediction: 72-90, 4th place
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The Apple Hurlers are a young squad (2nd youngest in the NL), but the kids certainly have talent. The lineup looks like it might be short on OBP, but they're hardly short on pure sluggers. Guys like Francis O'Brien, Gus Harris, Aaron Poole, Ossie Heredia, and Henry Donahue rank among the more powerful sluggers in the league; all are capable of slugging well above .500 in any given season. The pitching staff is led by starters Jonathan Walker and Kevin Miles, both very talented hurlers. Clarence Hurst could either be an excellent closer or a quality 5 inning starter. The rotation after that looks dangerously thin; Woody Roberts and Harry Trevino are hardly sure things in the back of the rotation, and neither Bert Witt nor Francis Shea belong on an ML roster. The bullpen is playable, though not really a strength. It'll be interesting to see if Chicago can improve on the margins; GM themoff02 has had an uncharacteristically quiet offseason.
Prediction: 86-76, 2nd place
