TRADE NEWS: Youk for Nathan

The Ambulance Chasers finally landed their 3B man after months of speculation. 28 year old Kevin Youkilis will don the yellow and blue for the 2008 season. "Im excited to be here" said Youkilis. "The Chasers have a tradition of winning, and while Ill miss my time as an RI Colt, but Im glad to be joining another team that perennially competes for championships." Youk was expected to arrive in Cranston on Wednesday morning for a physical and press conference.

Longtime Chasers closer Nathan was sad to go. "You have to understand this is a business" Nathan explained. "It will be strange wearing a darker shade of blue on my cap, but the mound is the same difference from home plate in every fantasy ballpark." Throngs of Chasers fans showed up at the ballpark to say goodbye to the man is the career leader in saves for the proud franchise. Nathan won two titles with the team and was seen clearing out his locker with the two obnoxiously huge championship rings on his hand. Ambulance Chasers GM Al Skorupa released a statement "as difficult as it was to trade one of the best closers in the game like Joe Nathan, we felt we had to make this trade. With the salary cap relief and the offense that Youk brings we feel we're both a better team today and in a much better position to approach free agency as we go forward building a championship caliber team for the 2008 season."

The Ambulance Chasers will also receive $3 million dollars in 2008 salary in the trade.

Hot Stove: Crisp for Wells?

• Sources indicate that the RI Colts are in negotiations with the Smelly Spics to acquire OF Vernon Wells. The rumored asking price is OF Coco Crisp and cash considerations. One imagines this trade wouldn't go over well with the Smelly Spic fan base. Pundits question the interest in Crisp, who has a decent chance to be traded, but as of now isnt assured of a starting job. Wells is due 13.5M a year through 2014, while Crisp is signed through 08 at 9M.
• StS has made strong efforts recently to bulk up his middle infield as well as insure against a Brian Roberts trade to the Cubs. One known target is Asdrubal Cabrera, who could provide a long term solution for StS. Cabrera was not previously made available in trade talks and the price would likely be high.
• The Ambulance Chasers have been busy trying to solve their own infield vacancy at the hot corner. Its is believed the champs are targeting players such as Kevin Youkilis, Hank Blalock, Adrian Beltre and Melvin Mora. It is unknown what the current state of talks are and sources have characterized the pursuit so far as "due dilligence" and "kicking the tires." Recently it has been rumored that All Star closer Joe Nathan might be available for the right package for a third base solution.
  
• The #3 overall draft pick/Wieters for Wade Davis rumors wont die.
• Sweeney has made overtures that indicate he might be willing to trade Todd Jones, a necessary move predicted by many due to his financial constraints. In lieu of that, one wonders if one of his star position players might become available at some point.
  

CFBL Team Preview: Smelly Spics

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 111-92-17
Standings: 6th place (3rd seed)


Brad's team had a pretty decent year overall, but again fell short in the playoffs. Hey, at least he made the playoffs in CFBL play.


PROJECTED LINEUP:
C Varitek
1B Morneau
2B BJ Upton
3B Eric Chavez
SS Bobby Crosby
OF Johnny Damon
OF Vlad Guerrero
OF Vernon Wells
DH Big Hurt Frank Thomas

SP Verlander
SP King Felix
SP AJ Burnett
SP Joe Blanton
SP Gil Meche
SP D-Train

RP Huston Street
RP

BN Josh Hamilton

This is another team that would require stradding or going over the salary cap to keep together. I have him at ~131.



NEEDS:
-Cap flexibility...?
-Could stand to get some more stolen bases
-Relief pitching. Who knows what to make of Street and/or the A's this year.
-Bobby Crosby sucks
-Eric Chavez kind of sucks
-Not a lot of needs on this team. He already has a set lineup that should lead or challenge in every offensive category as well as pitching that ranks among the best in the league and good depth on both sides


STRENGTHS:
-Powerful and diverse offense
-Strong pitching staff with top notch quality Aces and depth
-Great young cornerstone position players and pitchers


WEAKNESSES
-No money to spend
-Lots of money tied up in the OF in some older players. Theyre good players, buts its a lot to pay for. Also, he's blocking younger cheaper options that could approximate their production for fractions of the cost. (READ: Josh Hamilton)
-Old players at some critical positions and old players who are expected to play big roles (Tek, Vlad, Big Hurt)
-Lots of injury prone players could de-rail the season/force him to overpay for quick fixes (Upton, Chavez, Crosby, Damon, Big Hurt Burnett, Street, Hamilton)
-What the hell happened to the farm system? Thats going to hurt if he has to go out and get a shortstop or 3B because he has no money to spend and no margin for error.


PREDICTION:
This is a very good team with a lot of everything. Definitely in the playoffs and most likely a bye. I like the Spics as my favorite to win it all.


FARM SYSTEM:
What was once a pretty good farm system has been ravaged by trades and bad luck. He only has one transition player in Jerry Owens of the White Sox... and that's not a position he needs help with nor a particularly inspired option. He has some nice stars in Daric Barton and Jake McGee. The McGee acquisition was a great one and has to go down as perhaps the worst trade in CFBL history. Triunfel is a extremely high ceiling prospect but is many years away from the majors. Then some mid range pitching prospects that are interesting with Hellickson and Swarzak. Not much depth here and the high end guys arent as good as most other teams. Still, he has two first round picks and with a strong draft this system could jump into the top 1/3rd pretty quickly.


OFFENSE: A
PITCHING: A-
FARM SYSTEM: C+
OVERALL: A-


PREDICTED FINISH: 1st

CFBL Team Preview: Sweeney

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 107-98-15
Standings: 5th place (5th seed)

Pat's team performed decently in his inaugural season. The team didnt have any major weaknesses and had a strong offense. The pitching held him back slightly but he easily could have made the run. This team is most similar to Joe and Mezak in that it has a lot of balance. I would imagine Pat will make the playoffs in 2008.


PROJECTED LINEUP:
C Mauer
1B
2B Figgins
3B Casey Blake
SS Peralta
OF Abreu
OF Ichiro
OF Swisher
DH

SP Dice K
SP Escobar
SP Washburn
SP The Gambler
SP Wakefield
SP Garza

RP Todd Jones
RP

DL BJ Ryan


OVERAGE FROM 2007: 6.07 MILLION

This team would cost over $140 Million to assemble... so thats not going to happen. He claims he's keeping Todd Jones, who would be the most sensible salary to cut, at 13.5. Your guess is as good as mine, folks.


NEEDS:
-1B
-DH. These are typically the easiest positions to fill, but you cant upgrade him that much because he might have to plug these holes with minimum salary players
-Back of the rotation guys. He's deeper than most but that could dissapear in a minute with two 40 year olds on his staff


STENGTHS:
-Good amount of offense
-Lots of offensive players who contribute in more than one category
-Very patient team
-Has two very good starting pitchers in Dice K and Escobar
-Lots of stolen bases
-Not a lot of needs. Plus, what he does need is in areas that are easy to find
-Joe Mauer and Nick Swisher are both awesome and young
-Has enough pitching and enough hitting to compete every week


WEAKNESSES:
-Broke as a joke. Cant even keep that roster above together and stay under the cap
-His best players are pretty much all overpaid by a few million. Constrains his budget, but not enough to do something drastic about it
-Offense and pitching are both good... but not great. With his salary constraints its hard to envision a way for him to get a lot better


PREDICTION:
The bad news is that Pat will have to hold off Mike and John to make the playoffs. The good news is that he has the inside track. He's not much different than the teams above him so it wouldnt be a shock to see him finish anywhere from 4th to 7th.

It will be interesting to see what he does before the auction. Ideally he would figure out a trade that saved him salary and filled two positions of need. An example would be Ichiro or Abreu for a 1B and an OFer that cost ~8 million. With the right move he could save money and find an OFer who will approximate the production he's losing while getting a 1B better than he would be able to afford at auction. Also, he simply can't keep Todd Jones. Doesn't make sense in the slightest.


FARM SYSTEM:
Pat has an average to below average system. He has some top tier guys who will help now/soon, but doesnt have a lot of depth. The jewel of the system is Garza, but his star has lost some shine over the last year. In fantasy he's still a great cheap option who should start right away in Tampa. After that I like Gio Gonzalez. Chris Mason, Dellin Betances and Glen Perkins are all mid-tier pitching prospects who could take a step forward in 08. After that its hard to find any depth or quality prospects. Salas is a good relief prospect. Then I suppose I would go Larish... but when a 25 year old AA 1B is your 6th or 7th best prospect we're not talking about a particularly deep system here.


OFFENSE: B
PITCHING: B-
FARM SYSTEM: B
OVERALL:B


PREDICTED FINISH: 6th

CFBL Team Preview: Donkey Punchers

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 119-88-13
Standings: 2nd place - lost Cranston Fantasy Series (2nd Seed)

Joe put together a very impressive fantasy year despite never having made the playoffs before. He was the runner up in baseball and won football. The CFBL Punchers look like they will be strong again in 2008. Good core pieces, nice young complementary players and a well rounded roster makes for a dangerous team. He has a lot of flexibility too, as he has only 3 players under contract for next year and lots of decisions at reasonable prices. This is a playoff team but he might find himself hard pressed to get a bye. Some improvements are necessary for a deep playoff run.


PROJECTED LINEUP:
C: Pudge Rodriguez
1B: Alex Gordon
2B: Howie Kendrick
3B: Adrian Beltre
SS: Derek Jeter
OF: Magglio Ordonez
OF: Melky Cabrera
OF:
DH:

SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Chien Ming Wang
SP: Jake Westbrook
SP: Paul Byrd
SP: Kevin Slowey
SP: Brian Bannister
SP: John Danks


RP: Bobby Jenks
RP:

BN: Gerald Laird
BN: Wilson Betemit


This team would have a payroll of ~$98 million



NEEDS:
-OFers, and lots of them. Lost Torii Hunter, but OFers are easy to find
-Could use a couple bats, but more complementary pieces than studs. The core of the lineup is set
-Initially I thought he could use a strikeout pitcher, but that staff isnt bad at all. In fact, its one of the better staffs in the league. I guess everybody could use one more Ace level power strikeout starting pitcher. There are teams that need it far worse than this one, though


STRENGTHS:
-Flexibility. He can take this team in a lot of different directions and play the market for value. If youre going to be weak in places, this team is weak in the easiest places to fill
-Pitching staff is underrated good. I didnt expect it but as I crunch the numbers the Punchers keep coming up just a little behind the Big Three pitching staffs(Chasers, Spics and Colts). There is a gap and this isnt an elite staff, but it is very good
-Jenks is a stud closer
-Good offensive pieces that should provide an above average offense. Studs like Mags and Derek Jeter are great cornerstones. Howie Kendrick and Alex Gordon are great young players who are going to produce. He has the hardest places to fill all sewn up with very good players
-Cheap and deep back end of the rotation. Bannister, Slowey and Danks are three guys who are slotted to start in their respective rotations. Total cost: ~1 million for the three. Dallas Braden and possibly Santiago Casilla will likely also be making starts at some point in the season. If any of them crap out he can send them down. Nice to have this much pitching help from your minors. This was what every team was hoping to do


WEAKNESSES:
-Where are the Ks? The Donkey Puncher pitching staff performs like a much better staff in every area except strikeouts. Its kind of weird really. Joe has cornered the market on groundball control pitchers like Wang, Halladay and Westbrook. Dont get me wrong, he's far from the worst in Ks - those guys dont have bad K numbers at all - but there isnt an elite strikeout power pitcher on this staff. Its the only thing keeping this team from elite pitching status
-Why have Beltre at 3B when you have the best prospect in the game blocked there? I criticized this at the time and I still dont get it. Beltre is a very good player, too, and is actually cheap at $9.5 million... still, that money might have gotten him that aforementioned strikeout pitcher
-Just the slightest bit light on OBP, but well within the normal range. Im using some projections that were pretty pessimistic on Magglio and DJ's OBPs, too, so its probably not an issue.


PREDICTION:
Playoffs. It wont be hard to fill in this team with the money he has left, but he still needs to do it. While this team is solid all around it doesnt impress you anywhere. No particular weaknesses, but no great strengths. Young players will have to step up for this team to really improve.

This team in a word: "Balanced." Very similar to what Mezak has done. He's making the playoffs barring lots of injuries, but could easily end up anywhere from 3rd to 6th seed. Its very neat and easy to group Pat, Joe and the Mezak Attack together. Three very balanced teams that dont wow you anywhere but also dont have any major weaknesses.


FARM SYSTEM:
Top heavy in the sense that all his best players are MLB ready. Nothing going on in the low minors here. What he has is pretty damn good though. Gordon, Botts, Danks, Slowey, Bannister and Braden should all provide cheap help this year. Balentien is a great prospect. The Orioles pitchers are kind of interesting. No depth here, though. Definitely made a mistake in focusing on too many MLB ready/help now types instead of grabbing some young, high ceiling prospects. Then again, those might be the difference between the Donkey Punchers and Mezak as opposed to Sweeney and Rossi. Joe and Chris have a lot of guys who will come up and help where Pat may have to make trades to fill holes. Can Joe resist the temptation to grab more "help me now" types? HUGE Draft coming up this year. Joe is at strong risk of having a completely barren farm system by this time next year if he doesnt have a strong draft.

I want to grade this system lower but its produced so many good MLB players so far I just cant. If he didnt have Alex Gordon Id definitely drop hima good bit, but Gordon looks like he's going to be one hell of a player. Which wouldnt be a shock for the number 2 overall pick. If you look at his line this year it doesnt impress... until you see he was only 23 and skipped AAA completely. He should have some decent power, steal a good amount of bases and have a plus OBP this yearl

OFFENSE: B
PITCHING: B
FARM SYSTEM: B+
OVERALL: B


PREDICTED FINISH: 4th

CFBL Team Preview: Johnny Gay Rainbows

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 110-92-18
Standings: 3rd Place (4th Seed)

JGR quietly had a very good fantasy year despite his CFFL collapse. He finished fourth in CFFL play and third in CFBL. JGR resembles the Chicago Cubs more every season that passes as he cant seem to break through and win a ring. Will this be the year? Not without a lot of work... but the core is solid and there is room for growth.


PROJECTED LINEUP:
C
1B Cuddyer
2B Cano
3B Blalock
SS Betancourt
OF Carl Crawford
OF Alex Rios
OF Nick Markakis
DH Pronk

SP Kazmir
SP Schilling
SP Daniel Cabrera
SP
SP
SP

RP Papelbon
RP

This team would cost ~$95 million to assemble.



NEEDS:
-Pitching! Very similar to StS(Stump the Skorupe) in that he has a great, high K rate Ace at the front... and then nothing. John needs depth and quality and its hard to imagine him finding enough at auction
-Catcher... that one wont be easy to find
-More pitching


STRENGTHS:
-Offense is solid and well rounded. He should be above average to good in every offensive category
-Youth. Everyone wants it. John's got it. With the added advantage that many of his players are arb guys he got at auction so he can go year to year with them
-Papelbon is the best closer in the game and actually contributes in Ks and rate stats significantly despite not throwing that many innings. Yes, he's THAT good
-Great core pieces in Crawford, Pronk, Rios, Markakis and Cano. That's a lot of great young position players on one team
-Scott Kazmir is a fantasy Ace that belongs in the discussion with the best in the game. He's a beast


WEAKNESSES:
-Betancourt is a terrible shortstop. Period. End of Story. Yet another way John and Mike's teams are similar
-All those young arb guys he can go year to year with that I listed as a strength? Well, he paid out the ass for it. Rios costs 15. MarCockis is 11 a year
-He has a 30 million dollar OF that plays like a 20 million dollar OF
-He has a 28 million dollar rotation that plays like a 20 million dollar rotation. How the hell is he going to build this pitching staff?
-Why the hell is he playing Cuddyer and Blalock 11.5 million each? These are the kind of bad contracts that werent necessary and may be what stops him from getting the pitchers he needs


PREDICTION:
Strong team here. Will be a playoff contender but needs to catch some breaks. Has one of the worst pitching staffs in the league and will have to pay a steep price to fill in the gaps. Its doable though. He has a lot of payroll tied up in the offense, and just like Mike he should probably trade excess offense for pitching and put out a more balanced team. Whoever breaks first and pays the price for pitching will probably be the one that sneaks in the playoffs. Mike and John really have the same exact fucking team here. Same strengths and weaknesses. Same needs and same solutions are available.


FARM SYSTEM:
Middle of the road system. Perhaps slightly below average. Good top end guys, but some injuries and some question marks knock them down a notch. Lots of third tier pitching prospects that could jump up and help. His top five prospects are all pitchers, and in fact three of them are Rays pitchers. Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann and Andy Sonnanstine could one day theoretically give JGR 4/5ths of the Tampa rotation... but then again there are way more excellent pitching prospects than there are rotation slots down in St. Pete. Average depth and a couple promising young players round out the system. I like Butler and Broadway a little. It sure looks like he wasted a lot of draft picks... Chase "back-to-back-to-back-to-back" Wright? David Murphy? Lucas Harrell? Its not a particularly impressive system.


OFFENSE: B+
PITCHING: C
FARM SYSTEM: B
OVERALL: B-


PREDICTED FINISH: 7th/8th (TIE)

CFBL Team Preview: Mezak Attack

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 99-107-14
Standings: 4th place(6th seed in playoffs)

How does a team lose Arod and get better? The Ewing Theory, for one. But really, Mezak's team just got much more balanced. He added the pitching he needed and made a run. There's a lesson here for us all.

Chris has also fell ass backwards into a better roster, as he was the beneficiary of lots of offseason MLB trades that helped him. Lose Tejada? Get Renteria for a minor league pitcher. Glaus gets traded for Scott Rolen. Pretty lucky offseason so far.

PROJECTED LINEUP:
C Hernandez
1B Konerko
2B Polanco
3B Scott Rolen
SS Renteria
OF Gary Matthews, Jr.
OF Luke Scott
OF Ibanez
DH Garrett Anderson

SP Buerhle
SP Pettitte
SP Garland
SP Batista
SP McCarthy
SP

RP Putz
RP Albers

BN Jason Michaels


This team would cost ~$110 Million



NEEDS:
-A true Ace, strikeout pitcher to put his staff into the elite category
-Upgrade OFers, if possible. Theyre not bad, but there's no stud out there
-Could use some stolen bases, but no place to find them really
-Some back end cheapy starters to fill out rotation


STRENGTHS:
-Deep, strong pitching staff
-Powerful, well rounded offense, all signed to reasonable contracts
-Great closer in Putz, signed cheap
-Team essentially complete and he's only spent $110 million


WEAKNESSES:
-Three solid SPs, but no stud and Ks might be hard to come by. Above average rotation, but not a whole lot of upside or ways to improve
-OF isnt impressive, but theyre all solid and affordable. No way to improve it
-What will Sarge and Ramon Hernandez show you this year?
-Not a lot of money to spend


PREDICTION:
This is a playoff team, most likely. If you look at his roster youre not wowed, but there arent holes and he has all the pieces to make a nice run. This team is better than the 07 version that made a run to the semifinals.

What will determine his fortunes is how he spends his money at the auction. He will also be a in position to improve his team by trades if he's smart. He has a lot of pieces that teams could use.

FARM SYSTEM:
Further, his farm system is stocked with studs like Billy Butler, Joba Chamberlain, Michael Bowden, Evan Longoria and Troy Patton. Lots of high end guys who could help soon. He's a little short on young high end guys and depth, but when the top end looks like that youre still getting an "A."


OFFENSE: B+
PITCHING: B
FARM SYSTEM: A-
OVERALL: B


PREDICTED FINISH: 5th

CFBL Team Preview: Stump the Skorupe

OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 92-111-17
Standings: 8th place, 19 games out of the playoffs

Mike's team was in contention until the end. It has a solid core. Lots of good young players to build around here. This is a team that is on the way up. Whether it will contend in 08 is another question.

PROJECTED LINEUP:
C Salty
1B VMart
2B Brian Roberts
3B Arod
SS Tony Pena
OF Grady Sizemore
OF JD Drew
OF Baldelli
DH Huff

SP CC Sabathia
SP Phil Hughes
SP Vicente Padilla
SP Kyle Davies
SP
SP

RP
RP

BN Dan Johnson
DL Danys Baez

The roster above would cost ~$97 million.



NEEDS:
-Relief pitching
-Upgrade Rotation (more like "Get a rotation")
-Upgrade SS
-Find a 2B if BRob goes


STRENGTHS:
-Has an Ace in CC
-Has a future front of the rotation starter in Phil Hughes
-Good cornerstone players in Sizemore, VMart, Arod
-Lots of players signed to affordable contracts (ie. Sizemore @3.91 through 2011)

WEAKNESSES:
-Not nearly enough pitching
-Why carry two premium catchers and play one at 1B? VMart is only an average producer at 1B. Better to trade one of them and fill out the pitching staff
-Arod costs a lot, for a long time
-Whats the deal with Baldelli? Huff?
-Better off leaving the position empty rather than playing Tony Pena at SS
-Does Brian Roberts stay or go? If he goes, who plays 2B?


PREDICTION:
Mike has a great core. He has really all the pieces that are hard to find... an Ace, a young ace in the making, TWO great catchers, and the best player in fantasy(Arod). For reference, he has the 2007 AL MVP and Cy Young winner. Its going to be difficult to fill out his roster though. He needs to load up on starting pitchers. If he still has money he would be wise to improve the situation at SS.

If he gets some arms and hits on a couple pitchers he will likely be a playoff team. Its going to take some work, but the holes on this team can be filled. He has a strong farm system to draw from if he's in contention. In fact, if arms like Hurley and Adenhart come up he could end up with a dynamite staff.

Essentially, I look at this team and think he has two options to get better and compete this year. One way is to buy up cheapy starting pitchers and long relievers who could start in the auction - BUT without overspending on too many guys(READ: No Carmona). Try to put together enough depth in your rotation to pick up wins or Ks half of the time and let your offense carry you. The other option is to trade some of the offense for pitching. There's no reason to carry two all star catchers when your pitching staff is hurting this bad, but he apparently has no interest in trading Salty or VMart. The downside to the second option is that youre most likely trading a premium asset for mediocre players. Trading quality for quantity is typically not a good idea. In this case Id consider it if I could get a pitcher I really liked.

UPDATE: If Brian Roberts gets trade to the Cubs for Sean Gallagher, Sean Marshall, and Ronny Cedeno I like his team even better. That would force Mike into the trade some offense for pitching move that he is stubbornly refusing to make. If the Orioles do eventually get Rich Hill for Roberts, as theyre reportedly holding out for, then Mike suddenly has an above average pitching staff. 2B is typically hard to fill and the situation would be exacerbated by his SS situation. Going into the auction with Tony Pena as your only middle infielder is positively painful. On the other hand, Every team except Steve has a second baseman locked up and there are more than two useful 2B available. This team really needs to give up some hitting to get some pitching.


FARM SYSTEM:
Mike has a lot of guys who can help now on the farm. He also has depth and upside. Its a very good system. Phil Hughes, Saltalamacchia, Alexi Casilla are all going to help this year. The next wave will be Eric Hurley, Matt Harrison and Nick Adenhart. After that he has tons of high ceiling low minors guys(most of them from the Teixeira trade) with Elvis Andrus, Neftali Perez, Hank Conger and Kasey Kiker. Lots to like here.


OFFENSE: B+
PITCHING: C
FARM SYSTEM: A
OVERALL: B-

PREDICTED FINISH: 7th/8th (TIE)

CFBL Team Preview: Greco

(team was known as Konichiwa Bitches during the 07 season)


OVERVIEW:
2007 Record: 89-122-9
Standings: 9th place, 26 games out of the playoffs

Dave's team finished in second to last place in 2007, but there is certainly hope for a quick turnaround. This team was picked by many to have the best pitching staff but a number of injuries and underachievers sabotaged his season.


PROJECTED LINEUP:
C Pierzynski
1B Overbay
2B Kinsler
3B M Cabrera
SS Lugo
OF Sheffield
OF Catalanotto
OF
DH Mora

SP J Santana
SP Contreras
SP Harden
SP E Santana
SP N Robertson
SP Igawa

RP
RP

DL Zumaya

The roster above would sit at ~$88 million.


NEEDS:
-Outfielders, especially power hitters
-Upgrade DH?
-Relief pitching
-Upgrade Rotation


STRENGTHS:
-Has an Ace in Johan
-Good cornerstone player in Miggy Cabrera
-Has decent back of the rotation depth
-Solid, reasonably priced offensive pieces


WEAKNESSES:
-Offense could be a problem if Sheff regresses or gets hurt
-Lugo is an albatross contract (15.5 through 2011)
-Lots of average-ish offensive players locked in at key positions
-Uncertainty surrounding Santana - if he goes to the Mets for young OF prospects Dave is fucked in 08


PREDICTION:
I think with a few good moves and a couple lucky breaks Dave will be in playoff contention until the end. He could certainly be the 5 or 6 seed if things break right. A lot hinges on what happens with Santana of course.

It shouldnt be too hard to fill his OF spots, but he has to judicious with his money in order to address all his needs. He clearly needs one or more front of the rotation pitchers, #2 or 3 starter types, but those are going to be very expensive. The question is does he go the value route and bargain shop? Or does he overpay to get one or two premium targets and hope to fill out his roster on the cheap?


FARM SYSTEM:
Dave has an extremely top heavy system with Clay Buchholz and Adam Jones headlining. He then has some other interesting pitchers like Tillman, Marek, Liz and Morrow. That's about it though. There's not a lot of depth and there's not a lot of high end players after Buchholz and Jones - though admittedly those two are as high ceiling as they come. Huge draft coming up for Dave. He needs to fill in everywhere, getting quality, depth and upside. This is not one of the better farms sytems despite the two stars at the top.


OFFENSE: C+
PITCHING: C+
FARM SYSTEM: C+
OVERALL: C+

PREDICTED FINISH: 9th

Congratulations Donkey Punchers

2007 CFFL Champions

Can he repeat?

The consensus is "No, he can't."



The other big development is that JGR may have just missed his best chance at a title. Mike Casali put together an impressive season.

Regular blogging to resume as baseball season approaches.