1985 BOLD Predictions Thread

[Riverman]

Bock predictions and Analysis

1) Windy City

This team has by far the deepest rotation in the IL. If either Carrillo or Ramirez can take a significant step towards elite status that many scouts believe they will eventually obtain this team may well be the favorite to represent the IL against Maine. Theodore is excellent at the top of the rotation and McEvoy, MacOwl and Fletcher are all solid starters. The bullpen, anchored by closer Vernon Simmons also has an adequate supporting cast, making them one of the best in the business. If 23 year-old third baseman, Cliff Burgett emerges as an offense force in support of Kriby, Tilbrook and Dardon, this could be a great team. Not a lot of offensive depth though, especially in the outfield, so the team may need to be willing to pull the trigger on a major deal if an imprtant offensive contributer goes down, if they want to contend for all of the marbles.

2) Carolina

The top four in the rotation - Parongao, Esser, Ponte and Winchel -are as good as any in the IL with the exception of amybe Windy City and Washington. The bullpen which includes elite closer Casimiro Cabezas figures to be above average as well. The offense is built around first baseman Vincent Nino and sports an adequate supporting cast. If slick-fielding SS Jimmy Joy can build on his fine rookie campaign, this team could push Windy city for the division title, though a wild card berth appears more likely.

3) Los Alamos

The devastating loss of Tardiff for the season probably spoiled this team's chances of contending for a playoff spot. The rotation will now be anchored by Carl Pateshall and features several other reliable starters. The bullpen is probably significantly below average after last year's deadline deal that sent long-time Los Alamos closer Wayne van Slyke to Maine. It does not appear that van Slyke has been adequately replaced. The offense is adequate at best but not good enough to compensate for the loss of Tardiff and inadequate bullpen.

4) Davenport

This team could do OK, but it is probably against the odds. If the Brawlers get off to a poor start look for them to be in full rebuild mode by the middle of June. The rotation could be decent if everyone pitches as well as they did last season but that is a big if. The bullpen contains some quality depth but has always lacked the shut-down closer that most successful teams have. For this team to contend the offense probably needs to be significantly better than average and some scouts believe both Jose Llombart and Jorge Tarcena have lost a little bat speed recently. If they do happen to get off to a hot start, the team still has some decent minor-league trading chits and may use them in one last gasp attempt to bring home a BLB title.

[Andrew]

Bold prediction:

Maine won't win the championship.

[Riverman]

Porter Predictions and Analysis

1) Philedelphia

Everybody's pick to win this division (except Elprez) but I am not quite as sold on them as others are. Though I still consider them the clear favorite here, I think they would be underdogs in either of the other divisions due to the retirement of Coto and Lacour. While Aurillo is probalby the best pitcher in the IL and Seivewright and Watson are adequate 2 and 3 guys, the back of the rotation could be a serious problem, especially if one of the top three misses some starts. In the bullpen there is a similar story in that behind Alvarez and Broomfield there are some serious question marks lurking. Will soon-so-be 43-year-old Gaspar Rodriquez still be reliable? Was Ben Irvin continue to pitch as he did in 1984 or will he revert to his previous form? Can Joe Mendoza bounce back after posting a 6.07 ERA in 1984? Against the potential negatives, the return of Woodbury and Truex should make the offense very good though probably not great.

2) Baltimore

With all of that money, it is a shame that this team could not manage to keep both Latham and Dallyn. If they had, they may have had a clear shot at upsetting the defending IL champs. As is, the loss of Dallyn means they have no more rotation depth than Philly and since most scouts seem to believe that Franklin has lost a little zip on his fastball, he's no match for Aurillo at the top of the rotation. I am not sure what the plans are after Franklin, Lillie and Nathan but I'd look for some high scoring games in Baltimore when one of those three does not pitch. The bullpen appears to have a bit more depth than Philly's and, perhaps, that will see them through. To succeed in the playoff chase, this team will probably need to perform at a high level offensively. Some of the key players - Starr Tandy, Latham - are in their mid to late 30s and some decline might be expected. So big years will probably be required from highly regard rookie 1B Pat Wasington and outfielder Larry Headington who was acquired from Virginia in the Dallyn trade.

3) California

This is a team that seems to be headed in the right direction but it is probably pretty safe to say that they are not there yet. The rotation features Vizcarra, Toapanta and Escarcaga, all decent, and there are several possibilities for the last two rotation spots. The bullpen could also be fairly effective depending upon the development of youngsters Roman Magueu and Bing-de She. The most significant problem for this team figures to be a below average offense. There best hitter last year was RF Abran Lanbin and youngster Robby Shannon may be ready to chip in with a significant contribution this season but the view from here is that California will not score enough runs to reach .500 this season.

4) Batavia

It is usually a long way from expansion to respectibility in the BLB and it appears that Batavia has some work to do. The rotation has some usefull pieces but no real ace and if I had that team, I'd probably be looking to trade one or more of my veteran starters - Nokes and Mejla, for instance - for some young talent if they pitch well out of the gate since they don't figure to be contributing by the time this team is ready to contend. There is a similar story in the bullpen as the team has some guys who can get some outs but no great talent that I can see. The best of the lot may be closer Roger Simonds who produced a respectible 32 saves for Batavia in 1984. The offense figure to be significantly below average with, perhaps, free-agent acquisitions Steve Bing and Roy Sizer the most potent threats.

[Ryan]

Nice write-ups Riverman. You should put them on the front page for some casholla. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Riverman]

Nice write-ups Riverman. You should put them on the front page for some casholla. Looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks, but no next installment. It was IL only as I do not know the DL very well.

[Ryan]

Thanks, but no next installment. It was IL only as I do not know the DL very well.

Oh, thats cool. Good work nonetheless.






Hater.

[Delandis]

2) Baltimore

With all of that money, it is a shame that this team could not manage to keep both Latham and Dallyn. If they had, they may have had a clear shot at upsetting the defending IL champs. As is, the loss of Dallyn means they have no more rotation depth than Philly and since most scouts seem to believe that Franklin has lost a little zip on his fastball, he's no match for Aurillo at the top of the rotation. I am not sure what the plans are after Franklin, Lillie and Nathan but I'd look for some high scoring games in Baltimore when one of those three does not pitch. The bullpen appears to have a bit more depth than Philly's and, perhaps, that will see them through. To succeed in the playoff chase, this team will probably need to perform at a high level offensively. Some of the key players - Starr Tandy, Latham - are in their mid to late 30s and some decline might be expected. So big years will probably be required from highly regard rookie 1B Pat Wasington and outfielder Larry Headington who was acquired from Virginia in the Dallyn trade.

Good writeup. Although, the Bulldogs see a lot of bulletin board material.

[liquidcrash]

2) Carolina

The top four in the rotation - Parongao, Esser, Ponte and Winchel -are as good as any in the IL with the exception of amybe Windy City and Washington. The bullpen which includes elite closer Casimiro Cabezas figures to be above average as well. The offense is built around first baseman Vincent Nino and sports an adequate supporting cast. If slick-fielding SS Jimmy Joy can build on his fine rookie campaign, this team could push Windy city for the division title, though a wild card berth appears more likely.

Nice analysis, though I'm not sure we're a second place team. The Bock should be a tight race again and I'm tired of missing out on the playoffs. Our rotation is still solid, though it isn't as good as what we had a few seasons ago. I'm worried about the bullpen, though with Cabezas, Rogers and Frahill we have some pretty good options out there. After that there's a big dropoff that we might be looking to fix. We're going to need big seasons out of Nino, Joy and Opio to carry our offense, since I'm not sure what else we really have in the lineup. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I wish this team was more like the team I had in 81.

[Riverman]

Nice analysis, though I'm not sure we're a second place team. The Bock should be a tight race again and I'm tired of missing out on the playoffs. Our rotation is still solid, though it isn't as good as what we had a few seasons ago. I'm worried about the bullpen, though with Cabezas, Rogers and Frahill we have some pretty good options out there. After that there's a big dropoff that we might be looking to fix. We're going to need big seasons out of Nino, Joy and Opio to carry our offense, since I'm not sure what else we really have in the lineup. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I wish this team was more like the team I had in 81.

Yeah our division is really tough to call. If Spot hadn't lost Tardiff, it wouldn't have surprised me if any of the four teams in the division won it. I'll bet it'll be awhile before any division does what we did last year with all four teams finishing above .500.

I imagine everyone in the BLB except Maine and maybe Pittsburgh wishes they had a team like you had in 81.

[Riverman]

Good writeup. Although, the Bulldogs see a lot of bulletin board material.

Player's that need bulletin-board material to get motivated are losers anyway so I'm not worried about that. I always love it when some team that is about to play for the league championship starts babbling about how the other team dissed them and that was going to somehow make them play better. Can't or won't play their best for their fans, organization and team mates or just for themselves, but now that somebody on the other team said something mean, now they are going to really play.

Just to be on the safe side though, I want to make sure everyone on your team realizes that no one in the Brawler organization was responsible for that article. I just copied from an out-of-town newspaper since I thought there might be some interest here. I am pretty sure it originated from Chicago or somewhere like that.

[Pat]

Season is over...time to eat crow people!

Virginia Only Picks

- Wilton Harcourt, Joshua Poling, Danny Nelson and Jerry Tracy will combine for over 100 HRs

- Virginia will boast three 10-game winners

- Virginia will have a winning record against both '84 expansion teams (not the case last season)

- Virginia will win 70+ games

1. Fell 11 HRs short.

2. 2/3 right

3. 1/2 right

4. Nailed it.

[Clay]

Season is over...time to eat crow people!




1. Fell 11 HRs short.

2. 2/3 right

3. 1/2 right

4. Nailed it.

1. I believe I was 8 HRs short... I'm pretty sure I had 92 combined.

2. Yeah... this one sucked... Dallyn not winning 10 games was a shock!

3. I'm taking 3/4 credit since I was 9-9 against Morgantown

4. This one meant the most to me

[Guest]

Some new ones...

The Millers will make the playoffs and don't suck, contrary to everyone else's opinion

Gremades will have his first 30 HR/100 RBI season

O'Connelan and Abe will both win 20 games

1. Nailed it

2. Not so much, stupid pussy

3. O'Connelan won 18, Abe won 12

[Ryan]

As far as predictions go, I'll say the Clowns will win 85+ games. Baby steps.

89 wins. Check.

I'll throw a few out there....

1st Time Playoff Team(s): Indy

1st Time All-Star (DL): Anier Tafur (IF) - Indy

This thread wouldn't be complete without some Indy love from Clay. Check. Check.

[Clay]

Shit... I hate when I'm right and don't realize it!!