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Windy City
Prediction 1st
As Texas Hold-em players our favorite pre-flop portion of the game is looking down at our hand and noticing a pair of aces. And when one looks over the Windy City roster one can not help noticing the pair of aces residing there. Dunmore Theodore and Raul Carrillo provide the team with, arguably, the best front end of any rotation in the BLB. It is this pair that leads us to our guess that Windy City will reclaim the Bock division title in 1988 following the disappointing 1987 campaign.
But as in Texas Hold-em, a pair of aces does not ensure a winning hand after all of the cards are out, and so it is in the BLB. Fortunately for the WC fans there are some nice pieces behind that pair. Likely occupying the third and fourth spots in the 1988 rotation will be veteran Jim Flecher 13-10, 3.47 and highly regarded youngster Pat Yates, who came over to WC in the deal that sent Russ McEvoy to Wilmington.
The favorite for the fifth spot in the rotation may be Luis Antonio Ramirez who notched a disappointing 1987 campaign - 8-12, 4.90. Eariler, Ramirez was one of the most highly regarded young starting pitchers in the BLB after posting a 10-5, 2.23 line in 22 starts as a 21 year old in 1986. Many scouts now believe that Ramirez will never reach the promise projected from the early part of his career. Candidates to join the WC rotation if someone falters include youngster Sadao Yoshino who was successful at the AAA level last year after a late-season promotion and journeyman Benoit St Laurant who had his moments with the big club but bombed in 1987.
The bullpen struggled last season posting an IL 9th best ERA of 3.84. Disappointments included Eddie Taylor 4-5, 4.13, who signed a big FA contract after starring in Maine and Manny Alvarez 3-6, 5.10, who lost his closer job mid season after dominating in 1986. If Taylor and Alvarez fail to bounce back, WC may be hoping to obtain stand out performances from a trio of 19 year olds, Colm Engle, Caden Hill and Shawn Mills. Mills, who appears to be the most advanced of the three, struck out an eye-popping 40 BLB hitters in 22.2 innings as a late-season call up in 1987. Some scouts suspect that the control of the three youngsters is not good enough yet to succeed consistently in the BLB though.
One of the most interesting off-season questions will be what WC decides to do with their offense during the free agency period. It appears likely at this time that they will lose both Jared Kirby and Don Alexander to free agency this winter and these were their two best hitters in 1987. Management may be hoping that IL AAA batter of the year Yoshinaka Toiguchi can adaquately replace Kirby at 1B but some scouts have their doubts that the 22 year old is ready as evidenced by his .160/.181/.241 line in 81 late-season BLB ABs. Dan Wouters .278/.297/.487 in 115 BLB ABs will likely get the nod at 1B if Toiguchi falters.
A possible replacement in the OF for the departing (probably) Alexander is Don Johnston who also joined WC in the McEvoy trade. Johnston posted a .832 OPS in AAA last season but his stock has fallen with most scouts since joining the Playboys. We, however, look for WC to look to the FA market to replace Alexander. The club has shown good judgement in recent years in getting value for their FA dollars and we would not pick them to win the division if we felt that was likely to change.
Ironically the fate of a team that has relied on consistency from veteran performers to succeed in the past may rest in the hands of the youngsters mentioned above - Yates, Toiguchi and the three relievers. If several of them step up and perform at a high level, it could be a long year for rest of the teams in the Bock. If none do, it could be wait-till-next-year time in Chicago by the end of June.
Prediction 1st
As Texas Hold-em players our favorite pre-flop portion of the game is looking down at our hand and noticing a pair of aces. And when one looks over the Windy City roster one can not help noticing the pair of aces residing there. Dunmore Theodore and Raul Carrillo provide the team with, arguably, the best front end of any rotation in the BLB. It is this pair that leads us to our guess that Windy City will reclaim the Bock division title in 1988 following the disappointing 1987 campaign.
But as in Texas Hold-em, a pair of aces does not ensure a winning hand after all of the cards are out, and so it is in the BLB. Fortunately for the WC fans there are some nice pieces behind that pair. Likely occupying the third and fourth spots in the 1988 rotation will be veteran Jim Flecher 13-10, 3.47 and highly regarded youngster Pat Yates, who came over to WC in the deal that sent Russ McEvoy to Wilmington.
The favorite for the fifth spot in the rotation may be Luis Antonio Ramirez who notched a disappointing 1987 campaign - 8-12, 4.90. Eariler, Ramirez was one of the most highly regarded young starting pitchers in the BLB after posting a 10-5, 2.23 line in 22 starts as a 21 year old in 1986. Many scouts now believe that Ramirez will never reach the promise projected from the early part of his career. Candidates to join the WC rotation if someone falters include youngster Sadao Yoshino who was successful at the AAA level last year after a late-season promotion and journeyman Benoit St Laurant who had his moments with the big club but bombed in 1987.
The bullpen struggled last season posting an IL 9th best ERA of 3.84. Disappointments included Eddie Taylor 4-5, 4.13, who signed a big FA contract after starring in Maine and Manny Alvarez 3-6, 5.10, who lost his closer job mid season after dominating in 1986. If Taylor and Alvarez fail to bounce back, WC may be hoping to obtain stand out performances from a trio of 19 year olds, Colm Engle, Caden Hill and Shawn Mills. Mills, who appears to be the most advanced of the three, struck out an eye-popping 40 BLB hitters in 22.2 innings as a late-season call up in 1987. Some scouts suspect that the control of the three youngsters is not good enough yet to succeed consistently in the BLB though.
One of the most interesting off-season questions will be what WC decides to do with their offense during the free agency period. It appears likely at this time that they will lose both Jared Kirby and Don Alexander to free agency this winter and these were their two best hitters in 1987. Management may be hoping that IL AAA batter of the year Yoshinaka Toiguchi can adaquately replace Kirby at 1B but some scouts have their doubts that the 22 year old is ready as evidenced by his .160/.181/.241 line in 81 late-season BLB ABs. Dan Wouters .278/.297/.487 in 115 BLB ABs will likely get the nod at 1B if Toiguchi falters.
A possible replacement in the OF for the departing (probably) Alexander is Don Johnston who also joined WC in the McEvoy trade. Johnston posted a .832 OPS in AAA last season but his stock has fallen with most scouts since joining the Playboys. We, however, look for WC to look to the FA market to replace Alexander. The club has shown good judgement in recent years in getting value for their FA dollars and we would not pick them to win the division if we felt that was likely to change.
Ironically the fate of a team that has relied on consistency from veteran performers to succeed in the past may rest in the hands of the youngsters mentioned above - Yates, Toiguchi and the three relievers. If several of them step up and perform at a high level, it could be a long year for rest of the teams in the Bock. If none do, it could be wait-till-next-year time in Chicago by the end of June.
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