DL Season Preview - The Ale

[umd]

Domestic League

Ale Division:

Summary: The Ale has been no stranger to personnel change, as new GMs have assumed duties in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Not without the usual offseason controversy, Cleveland has emerged as a mover and shaker trading two cornerstones of the franchise in Gil Brummett (to DVS) and Kokoro Fujii (to BAL) to the IL and beginning a reboot many fellow GMs see as heavy handed.

In Pittsburgh, the opposite is true. The front office has been quiet, choosing to move forward with the plan of 2 administrations ago that focused on keeping their homegrown stars while continuing to use a deep, and talented farm system to supplement their line-up and pitching staff.


The Favorite: Maine. The Guides led the league in wins last season with 108, but came up short in the playoffs. Z has been content to shuffle several MRs and utility IFs in and out of the organization this offseason, while retaining every major contributor from the best regular season team in the league last year.

***Update: Guides add OF Al Hamilton. If Hamilton can stay healthy, this should significantly narrow the gap between the Guides and the Dinos. A huge acquisition considering his price of $9.5m for just one year. No risk, all reward.

Team on the Rise: Pawtucket. Funclown takes a lot of flack for his cycle of success and failure. The Patriots are well known for bottoming out heavily after 4-5 year runs at the playoffs. The catcalls of tanking are justified as the Patriots field below replacement level teams in order to stockpile high draft picks in consecutive drafts. For how quickly Funclown led teams nosedive, their rise is often as dramatic. The Patriots wheeled and dealed their way out of embarrassment, adding depth to their pitching staff in Tony Wences, Felipe Vega, Alex Martinez and Edgar Fajardo. Improvement from youngsters Tony Infante, Israel Morales, Travis Zuk, and Tod Robideau should have PAW moving up the standings in the DL, as reinforcements from the best farm system in the BLB come of age.

Player to Watch: Steve Suarez - The veteran Maine OF enters the final year of his contract playing the best baseball of his career. He anchors a line-up where he produced career highs in AVG, OBP, SLG, RBIs and RS. Expect no drop-off for Suarez as he plays for a $100m payday.

Power Rankings:
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[funclown]

Good write UMD, but the flack you speak of comes from you.

I do feel though our adjustments or new team direction has us poised for a next early decade run. Time will tell.

[umd]

Good write UMD, but the flack you speak of comes from you.

I do feel though our adjustments or new team direction has us poised for a next early decade run. Time will tell.

I'm not the only who says you tank. I'm just the loudest.

[funclown]

I'm not the only who says you tank. I'm just the loudest.

I'm just following the "Epstien" format. Least I'm keeping to the real world.

[Spear]

Good write UMD, but the flack you speak of comes from you.



I do feel though our adjustments or new team direction has us poised for a next early decade run. Time will tell.

Yeah it's going to be interesting to see how everything pans out for you. Including how you used all my draft picks. Yet it still seems to be taking you longer than the Cubs...


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[funclown]

Yeah it's going to be interesting to see how everything pans out for you. Including how you used all my draft picks. Yet it still seems to be taking you longer than the Cubs...


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Cubs are going on 100 years? We've only been lousy for 3 seasons.

Lol, oh I have no idea how long this is going to take. This game is very sobering sometimes. Already got my first bomb and who knows who else flames out. With that we feel was better about our farm system, a nice mixture of almost ready players, possible high school Ace and the #2 pick coming up and finally multiple picks that span over a few seasons.

Some owner told me I'd get bored, but it's been sort of fun. This game never bores me.

[Spear]

Cubs are going on 100 years? We've only been lousy for 3 seasons.

Lol, oh I have no idea how long this is going to take. This game is very sobering sometimes. Already got my first bomb and who knows who else flames out. With that we feel was better about our farm system, a nice mixture of almost ready players, possible high school Ace and the #2 pick coming up and finally multiple picks that span over a few seasons.

Some owner told me I'd get bored, but it's been sort of fun. This game never bores me.

Well I meant that the Cubs have players progressing through the system quickly.

I guess it would be fun to watch the kids grow but I would be too impatient for it. Not to say I would never do a complete rebuild, it just seems like too many teams in our league try it.

I know we should be doing that but I'd rather spend the available money my owner gives to me.


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[BDub]

Good read. Im glad we got the attention on the "Division Summary" portion of the write-up.