The Roy Hobbs League

AL South

This was a division with three good teams last year, and this year looks like more of the same.  I see them finishing in the same order, but with a little more distance between Tampa Bay and Nashville, and Florida a little farther out.

After a long run as one of the best teams in Hobbs under kemosabe, the franchise that now resides in Nashville took a nosedive under the next two owners, but has rebounded nicely under rbjb.  They have been a very consistent winner, and this may be the best team yet.  This team has power, and a lot of it.  Led by 1B Omar Gutierrez and RF Yunel Guerrero, who combined for 111 long balls last year, they also feature CF Joseph Xaio, DH Edwin Balester, 3B Tomas Hernandez and LF Rafael Renteria.  As if that is not enough, C Brook Roberts looks to have won the job full time, and looks capable of hitting another 30.  SS is a platoon of Desi Gonzalez and Slim Donatello.  Second seems to be a battle between Santo Garces, yet another power threat and Bernie Osuna, who wields the better glove.  Jack Dodd heads the rotation, and is a tough customer if he can stay healthy; not a sure bet after the last 2 seasons.  Chiasson, Rodriguez and McGee, all holdovers from last season are also top notch pitchers, Timothy Rossy was signed this year as a FA to give them one of the best rotations in the AL.  If any of them go down, Footsie Anderson is waiting for an opportunity in AAA.  The pen iss headed by closer Enrique Bolivar suppoted by the ageless Malcolm Roberts, Yamil Ozuna and F. P.Guerrero.  The pen may be the only Achilles Heel of this team.  Consider them a favorite to make a run at the Series.

Tampa Bay will be poised to give them a run for their money.  Another very successful long-term franchise, crickett just doesn't have quite the horses to keep up with rbjb's team.  They start off with a rebuilt rotation after jettisoning a lot of last year's old geezers.  Padden and Wingo are good pitchers, as is holdover old fart Ed Thomas.  Eaton and Ma look like weak links though.  Blake Maxwell and Greg Willis are the best of an overall mediocre pen.  Although I don't typically like lefty closers, Maxwell looks like he would be worth a try with his good stuff but lack of durability/stamina.  The starting lineup is intact from last year, and is the strength of the team; especially the all-star OF of Piedra, Lesher and Duncan.  Piedra may not have optimal range in CF, but his bat easily makes up for any shortcomings.  Lesher is one of the better leadoff men in the game, although his recent drop off in average may be a concern.  He still gets his walks and runs like the wind.  Duncan is a great all around hitter that you can pencil in to go 30-30 every year, with a good average and very few strikeouts.  The IF is very good with a star in Ontiveros who is just starting to lose a step, solid D at SS, and reasonably good offense at the corners.  Add in one of the better hitting catchers in Abreu and a solid DH in McDowell, and this is one good offensive team.  But is it as good as Nashville?

Florida is a team that looks like it should more or less duplicate last year's success: at, or just above, the .500 mark.  Like the first two teams, they have some very nice offensive weapons headed up by Wilt Swisher in LF.  Think TB's Alan Duncan with a tad less speed.  Mendez and Butler are solid in CF and RF, but Butler could use an upgrade to get more pop.  There is no shortage of pop at the IF corners though in Cervelli and Johnson.  Johnson was signed away from Milwaukee and hit 74 homers over the last 2 seasons.  Bengie Delgado won't hit much, but still has a premium glove at SS, and rookie Carlos Rijo should be solid at 2B.  Campos and Encarnacion combine to provide nice production at catcher.  Stevie Gruber headlines the rotation.  Iorg and Gonzalez are good enough at the 2 &3 spots, but Perry and Ryu may be overmatched at the bottom of the rotation.  Former first rounder Elroy Tatum in AAA may be brought up soon to replace Ryu, but will not be a tremendous improvement.  Following the theme of the division, the bullpen is underwhelming.  Closer Orlando Sanchez has done a nice job the last two years, but you have to wonder if AL hitters aren't close to solving him.

And then there is Louisville.  Ballgame is one of he nicest guys in Hobbs, and certainly is capable of putting together a winning team, as he made the playoffs 7 times in 8 seasons not long ago, but this team has been painful.  The star of the team is 3B Joe DiPoto, a great piece to build around.  Second baseman Frank Vanguri has long been a star for this team, but appears to be declining quickly.  Manuel Batista is the SS.  Defensively he is toolsy but prone to commit too many errors.  His bat would play well in High A.  Rodrigo Familia at 1B is a good defender with loads of power that mask his other offensive weaknesses.  One of those players that is worth more then what you typically have to pay for.  The OF is a mixed bag.  Liverman in CF is nice defender with a suspect bat, Parrish in LF is a speedster and decent hitter and RF Anderson would make good 4th outfielder.  Cortes calls a nice game behind the plate, but has a fairly weak bat and even weaker arm.  Sam Schmidt at DH can send the ball a long way when he accidentally makes contact.  The pitching is a little better.  Tony Prieto would be an all-star with even average control, but it is way below average.  The other four starters, Kielty, Stone James and Paramore are all decent to good, with Paramore being the weakest of the group.  Young Patrick Quinlan has been annointed as the closer, but looks like he could use some time as a setup man. The rest of the pen range from fair (Willie Vargas) to AA quality (Jayson Bonham) to resthome quality (Sven West).  Sorry ballgame, but after averaging 100 losses over the last 4 years, this is hard to defend.