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FROM THE DESK OF THE COMMISH

January 25, 2001

BDBL 2001 Preview: Eck League

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ECK LEAGUE

HIGUERA DIVISION

KANSAS LAW DOGS

Owner: Chris Luhning
2000 Finish: 83-77 (3rd place)
Projected Rotation: Darryl Kile, Rick Ankiel, Livan Hernandez, Carl Pavano, Scott Schoeneweis and Dan Reichert
Bullpen: Trevor Hoffman, Mike Williams, Vicente Padilla, Mark Petkovsek and Braden Looper
Projected Lineup: 1. Chris Stynes/Fernando Tatis, 2. J.D. Drew/Carlos Beltran, 3. Troy Glaus, 4. Jermaine Dye, 5. Luis Gonzalez, 6. David Segui/Tony Clark, 7. Javy Lopez, 8. Carlos Febles/Homer Bush

Strengths: Three true aces in the rotation and a lineup that has the potential to smash some BDBL records.  It's safe to say the Law Dogs have the best rotation in the Eck League.  Because of their home ballpark, it's likely that none will finish with very impressive stats, but they should win a lot of games backed up by this offense and this bullpen.  The Lawdogs could assemble a starting lineup containing eight players with an overall OPS of .870 or better.  I haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure no other team in the BDBL can make that claim.  In addition, the Kansas bullpen is also very, very solid.  Hoffman is a legitimate closer, and the setup men are all very solid pitchers, although they are generally vulnerable to lefty hitters.

Weaknesses: The back end of the rotation isn't as strong as it was when Chuck Finley was still on the roster.  Of course, if not for the trade of Finley, the Kansas bullpen wouldn't be as good as it is today (not to mention the cap issues.)   Having Glaus at shortstop could hurt the team a little, but having Tatis' bat in the lineup could make up for it.

Outlook: The Colorado Rockies haven't quite figured out yet what it takes to win in Coors Field, and neither has the Kansas Law Dogs franchise - yet.  It doesn't really matter what ballpark this Kansas team calls home.  When you assemble a team like this, you will win some games.  Look for Kansas to improve last year's win total by around a dozen.

Prediction: 1st place.  Kansas GM Chris Luhning nearly jeopardizes his team's pennant hopes when he contemplates trading Troy Glaus to the Bowling Green Spoilers for Rey Sanchez - the last remaining Kansas City Royal not owned by the Law Dogs.  Kansas goes toe-to-toe with the Chicago Black Sox in the ELDS.  The two teams set a record for runs scored in a playoff series.   In the end, Kansas emerges with the win in seven games, but loses to the Akron Ryche in the ELCS.

SOUTHERN CAL SLYME

Owner: Bob Sylvester, Sr.
2000 Finish: 86-74 (1st place)
Projected Rotation: John Lieber, Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf, Garrett Stephenson and Kirk Rueter
Bullpen: John Wetteland, Ramiro Mendoza, Joe Slusarski, Wayne Gomes, Kelvim Escobar, Chuck Smith and Valeri delosSantos
Projected Lineup: 1. Shannon Stewart, 2. Matt Lawton, 3. Eric Chavez/Kevin Millar, 4. Fred McGriff, 5. Gabe Kapler, 6. Chad Kreuter/Bobby Estalella, 7. Bret Boone, 8. Deivi Cruz

Strengths: As usual, the Slyme pitching staff is its main strength.  Lieber (251 IP), Pettitte (205), Wolf (206) and Stephenson (200) give this team four quality pitchers with 200 or more innings pitched.  Rueter (184 IP, 3.96 ERA) is a very strong #5 pitcher.  Stewart (.363 OBP) and Lawton (.405) give this team two very good table-setters at the top of the lineup.

Weaknesses: The three, four and five hitters in the Slyme lineup are a bit weaker than most teams.  Chavez/Millar, McGriff and Kapler are all fine hitters, but they suffer in comparison to the hearts of other teams' lineups - even in their own division.  The bullpen is a curious collection of pitchers who either were once good, but have taken a step back, or pitchers that are actually starters by nature.  In fact, the Slyme philosophy this year seems to be stockpiling starters and first basemen.  The Slyme have six players (McGriff, J.T. Snow, Eli Marrero, Millar, David Ortiz and John Jaha) who are rated at first base.  And Escobar (180 IP) and Smith (123 IP) are relegated to middle relief mop-up duty.  In addition, the Slyme have more starters on their 35-man roster: Francisco Cordova, Paxton Crawford, Brian Rose, Jason Schmidt and Stan Spencer.  The Slyme also have two of the top starting pitching prospects in baseball on their farm: Ryan Anderson and Dannys Baez.  With no truly great reliever on the roster, I get the feeling there are some trades on the horizon for the Slyme.

Outlook: The two-time defending division champs have a very nice team this season.  Nice enough to compete for a third division title or at least a spot in the playoffs.  With a key player or two added mid-season, I believe the Slyme will be in the thick of the pennant chase yet again.

Prediction: 2nd place.  Bob Sylvester loses his division for the first time, but regains the balance of power in his own household when the Slyme finish the 2001 season with more wins than the Kentucky Fox.

PHOENIX PREDATORS

Owner: Scot Zook
2000 Finish: 84-76 (2nd place, EL wild card winners)
Projected Rotation: Kevin Appier, Jeff Suppan, Dustin Hermanson, Freddy Garcia, Barry Zito, Rob Bell and Kevin Tapani
Bullpen: Keith Foulke, Scott Sullivan, Antonio Osuna, Troy Percival and Mike Venafro
Projected Lineup: 1. Brady Anderson, 2. Adam Kennedy, 3. Miguel Tejada, 4. Raul Mondesi, 5. Dmitri Young, 6. Tino Martinez, 7. Bill Mueller/Ed Sprague, 8. Sandy Alomar/Doug Mirabelli

Strengths: The best bullpen in the division.  Foulke and Sullivan are two of the best relievers in baseball.  Not coincidentally, they are also two of the most durable, with 88 and 106 innings respectively.  Osuna, Percival and Venafro should be very capable setup men.  The infield defense is very good, with three "Vg's" (Martinez, Kennedy and Tejada.)

Weaknesses: The Predators offense is unusually weak.  Mondesi (.852) is the only full-time hitter in the starting lineup with an overall OPS of over .850.  Kennedy (.703), Martinez (.749), Mueller (.721), Mirabelli (.707), Alomar (.728) and Sprague (.749) are all ranked near the bottom in that category at their positions.  It's going to be a struggle for this team to crack the 700-run mark this season.  The starting pitching is also a little suspect, with Appier (4.52 ERA) serving as the team ace.  Zito (2.72) will definitely be the team's big game pitcher in the future, but for now, his 93 innings aren't going to help a lot.  The rest of the rotation - Suppan (4.94 ERA), Hermanson (4.77), Garcia (3.91), Bell (5.00) and Tapani (5.01) - is nothing to get excited about.

Outlook: The Predators put up a helluva fight last season, far outperforming my pre-season prediction by getting better-than-expected hitting from Tino Martinez, Brian Daubach, Ed Sprague and Rickey Henderson and a surprising 18 wins from Pedro Astacio.  It's possible that they will surprise me again and perform much better than expected.  But I'm sticking with my prediction.

Prediction: 3rd place.  Now that Version 8 allows for the "Super Hot" climate, Phoenix fans begin boycotting all home games in an effort to force management to build a roof over the park.  When one unlucky fan sitting in the "sun field" out in the right field bleachers spontaneously bursts into flames after downing a chili dog, Phoenix management is forced to bow to the fans' wishes.  A move to a cooler climate in 2002 is promised.

ALLENTOWN RIDGEBACKS

Owner: Tom DiStefano
2000 Finish: 71-89 (4th place)
Projected Rotation: Bartolo Colon, Mike Sirotka, Brian Bohanon, Jimmy Anderson and Russ Ortiz
Bullpen: Felix Rodriguez, Joe Nathan, Doug Davis, John Frascatore and Steve Woodard
Projected Lineup: 1. Ron Belliard, 2. Derek Jeter, 3. Sean Casey, 4. Jay Buhner/Matt Stairs, 5. Wil Cordero/Bubba Trammell, 6. Dean Palmer, 7. Mark Kotsay, 8. Tyler Houston/Ramon Castro

Strengths: A true, bona-fide ace pitcher, a true, bona-fide closer, and a solid and deep lineup.  After an extended game of "Hot Potato" this winter, Colon finally settled into the rotation of the fourth team that acquired the rights to him.  There aren't many true "aces" left in baseball, but Colon is definitely one of them.  Rodriguez, acquired in the Eric Chavez/Andy Pettitte deal this winter, is devastating against lefties (.466 OPS against), and is an outstanding reliever overall.  With 90 innings of use available to him, the Ridgebacks will win a lot of close games in late innings.

Weaknesses: Getting the game to Rodriguez could be a problem for the Ridgebacks this season.  Every one of his setup men has an ERA over 5.00: Nathan (5.21), Davis (5.38), Frascatore (5.42) and Woodard (5.85).  With the exception of Jeter, the Ridgebacks offense isn't all that frightening.  Casey can be tamed by left-handed pitching (.684 OPS), and the two next-best hitters on the team, Buhner (364 AB's) and Trammell (245 AB's), are available for only half the season.

Outlook: You have to hand it to Ridgebacks GM Tom DiStefano.  Making the decision to scrap a team for an entire year in order to focus on the future is one of the toughest decisions any GM can make.  It takes a ton of patience and a ton of effort.  But DiStefano decided early on (i.e. as soon as he took over this team), that rebuilding was his plan for the 2001 season, and he has stuck with that plan.  This franchise's farm team was a mess when he took over, but with the acquisitions of Kielty, Rollins, Wells and Stephens, the Allentown farm is now respectable.  With good, young players like Jeter, Casey, Peter Bergeron, Belliard, Colon, Matt Kinney, Pascual Coco, Nathan and Woodard, the Ridgebacks are in good position for the future.  I guess my only question is why they left $3.6 million on the table at Draft Day!

Prediction: 4th place.  Club owner Tom DiStefano announces that the $3.6 million the team didn't use on player salary will be put toward "Free Beer Nights" at Kemper Stadium.  Cleveland owner Mike Stein immediately purchases season tickets.

PERSON DIVISION

SOUTH CAROLINA SEA CATS

Owner: Tony DeCastro
2000 Finish: 62-98 (4th place)
Projected Rotation: Tom Glavine, Roger Clemens, Gil Heredia, Mark Redman and Jesus Sanchez
Bullpen: Donne Wall, Travis Miller, Josias Manzanillo, Rich Garces, Lorenzo Barcelo, Cliff Politte and Kris Wilson
Projected Lineup: 1. Barry Larkin, 2. Mitch Meluskey/Tony Eusebio, 3. Mike Sweeney, 4. Jim Edmonds, 5. Bobby Higginson, 6. Ron Gant/Ray Lankford, 7. Scott Brosius/Andy Tracy, 8. Warren Morris

Strengths: The strategy of the $20 million two-headed ace has worked so well for the Zoots over the past two years that the Sea Cats decided to copy that formula.  While Glavine and Clemens aren't quite Johnson and Brown, you won't find a better pair of starters on any other team in the league.  With 489 innings allocated to those two starters, anything more is a luxury.  Heredia (4.12 ERA over 199 IP) and Redman (4.76 over 151) are solid three and four pitchers.  Sanchez (5.34 over 182) will only be needed for about 80-100 innings, and is fine for a #5 starter.  The starting lineup sports three full-time players with an overall OPS of over .900 (Edmonds, Higginson and Sweeney.)  And the bullpen features five pitchers who each has more than 50 IP and an ERA under 4.00. 

Weaknesses: This team is very vulnerable to left-handed pitching.  The team's biggest hitters - Edmonds (.890 OPS vs. LH), Higginson (.734), Lankford (.569) and Meluskey (.571) - are all far weaker against southpaws.  Fortunately, Gant (.977), Larkin (.969) and Sweeney (1.023) all excel in that regard.

Outlook: I know I've predicted great things for this franchise in the past, only to be humiliated with another bad prediction, but I really feel strongly about this team's success this season.  I love the one-two punch of Glavine and Clemens, I like the depth in the bullpen, and I think this offense can put some big-time runs on the board.  The BDBL has seen two teams (the Chicago Black Sox and Kentucky Fox) go from worst-to-first in only one year.  I think South Carolina will become the third.

Prediction: 1st place.  The Sea Cats lose the ELDS to the Akron Ryche in a hard-fought, low-scoring seven game series.

VILLANOVA MUSTANGS

Owner: Tony Chamra
2000 Finish: 76-84 (4th place in the OL Butler Division)
Projected Rotation: Brian Anderson, Brian Tollberg, Rick Reed, Jamie Moyer and Armando Reynoso
Bullpen: Armando Benitez, John Franco, Rod Beck, Armando Almanza, Matt Anderson, Jason Grimsley and Chris Peters
Projected Lineup: 1. Jeffrey Hammonds, 2. Corey Koskie, 3. Bernie Williams, 4. Mo Vaughn, 5. Jeromy Burnitz, 6. Jay Bell, 7. Mike Redmond/Mark Johnson, 8. Shane Halter/Wilson Delgado

Strengths: The same righty/lefty bullpen combo that took the Mets to the World Series.  Benitez is one of the most dominating relievers in the game, and Franco is a very capable setup man - especially, of course, against lefties.  The Mustangs bullpen also has a lot of depth beyond Benitez and Franco.  The starting lineup from one-to-six is very strong, though it will be interesting to see how leadoff man Hammonds adapts from Coors Field to a Comerica Park-modeled stadium. 

Weaknesses: The starting rotation lacks a true ace, and is below average as a whole.  In the end, the Mustangs starters will put up good numbers because of their ballpark, but they won't likely win a lot of games.  

Outlook: When this franchise first began, it was a severe power-hitting team.  Back then they were known as the "Delafield Ogres", a team that played in the second-best hitter's park in the game and featured a lineup that included one 60-homer hitter (Sammy Sosa), one 50-homer hitter (Greg Vaughn) and several other high-powered players (Jay Bell, Carlos Delgado and Dean Palmer among others.)  It's incredible to see how this franchise has changed so drastically over the course of just two years.  And it will be interesting to see if this new philosophy leads to more wins than the current franchise high of 81.  If 81 wins is the over/under for this team this season, I'm betting over.

Prediction: 2nd place.  With Mo Vaughn out for at least half of the 2002 BDBL season, and Lee Stevens providing capable backup, it's possible Vaughn will be dealt for a front line starter.  The Los Altos Undertakers would seem to be the perfect fit.

KENTUCKY FOX

Owner: Bobby Sylvester, Jr.
2000 Finish: 87-73 (1st place)
Projected Rotation: Tim Hudson, Aaron Sele, Esteban Loaiza, Bryan Rekar and Todd Ritchie
Bullpen: Billy Koch, Bob Wells, Shiggy Hasegawa, Steve Kline, Eddie Guardado, Jose Santiago, Todd Van Poppel, Tim Worrell and Doug Creek
Projected Lineup: 1. Eric Owens, 2. Joe Randa, 3. Ben Grieve, 4. Richie Sexson, 5. Jose Cruz, 6. Alex Ochoa/Travis Lee, 7. Royce Clayton, 8. Raul Casanova/John Flaherty

Strengths: Can you spell "R-E-L-I-E-F?"  If you are wondering why your team's bullpen is a little low on innings, look no further.  Like his dad, Bobby Sylvester is apparently stockpiling pitchers.  While Pop is stockpiling starters, Junior is stockpiling relievers.  For what purpose, I'm not quite sure.  If you figure a team needs only 1,440 innings to have a full pitching staff (160 games times nine innings), the Fox are more than 1,050 innings over that maximum.  Or, to put it another way, the Fox could staff nearly TWO teams with the pitchers they have right now.  Of the NINE relievers I listed above, all nine can pitch more than 60 innings, and all but Creek have ERA's under 4.00.

Weaknesses: While the Fox were busy stockpiling relievers, they seemed to have forgotten about the other half of the game of baseball: offense.  Kentucky has one of the weakest lineups in the BDBL.  No full-time player in the starting lineup has an overall OPS over .850 (Grieve leads the way at .845).   After trading away Bernie Williams, Mike Sweeney and Matt Lawton, I project only 650 runs for this starting lineup.  The only reason I'm predicting a third-place finish for them is because I assume they'll eventually trade some of that pitching for some offense.

Outlook: It's hard to win a division without an offense.  The Fox scored 867 runs last season, but they'll be hard-pressed to finish within 100 runs of that mark in 2001.  Tim Hudson is a great pitcher, and the bullpen the Fox have assembled is comparable to the best in the league.  But a team can't win unless it puts some runs on the board.  And right now, I just don't see that happening with this team.

Prediction: 3rd place.  The Fox become the first team in franchise history to install a revolving door in their outfield fence that leads to the bullpen.  As Opening Day approaches, construction crews work day and night removing seats from the center and left field bleachers to accommodate four extra mounds and two extra benches in the home bullpen.

MASSILLON TIGERSTRIKES

Owner: Mike Ries
2000 Finish: 69-91 (3rd place)
Projected Rotation: Brian Moehler, Reid Cornelius, Shane Reynolds, Jimmy Haynes and Chris Carpenter
Bullpen: Mariano Rivera, Matt Morris, Al Levine, Will Cunnane, Ricky Rincon and Rob Ramsey
Projected Lineup: 1. Todd Walker/Terry Shumpert, 2. Kurt Abbott/Craig Counsell, 3. Jason Giambi, 4. Shawn Green, 5.  Adrian Brown/Torii Hunter, 6. Ben Molina, 7. David Bell/Lenny Harris, 8. Tony Womack

Strengths: Jason Giambi and Mariano Rivera.  One of the game's premier hitters, and one of the game's premier relief pitchers.  Other than that, I'm afraid the strengths are few and far between.

Weaknesses: Let's start with the rotation, where Moehler is the de facto "ace" due to his rotation-low 4.50 ERA and 178 innings.  The numbers only get uglier the deeper you move into the rotation.  Moving on to the offense, there is very little to get excited about here other than Giambi.  Even Green (.839 overall OPS, .723 vs. lefties) had an off-year last year.   The Tigerstrikes have no less than SEVEN utility infielders on their roster, but no matter how you shuffle them, they still don't add up to one good hitter.  Giambi and Green have no table-setters ahead of them and no protection behind them.  (Note: they had a little protection in Dante Bichette, but he was dealt for Womack (.692 OPS) just after the draft.)  Add it all up and it's going to be a very long year for Tigerstrikes fans.

Outlook: If I could make only one prediction this year, and be graded at the end of the year based upon the accuracy of that one prediction, I would predict that the Massillon Tigerstrikes will lose 100 games this year.  When Massillon decides to begin rebuilding (if that effort hasn't already started), they'll have some great trade bait in Rivera and Giambi.  Aside from possibly Morris, the Tigerstrikes don't really have too many future impact players, so GM Mike Ries will have his work cut out for him if he wants to get the Tigerstrikes back into the playoffs.

Prediction: 4th place.  Massillon battles the Gillette Swamp Rats all year for the rights to draft Mike Mussina in the 2002 BDBL Free Agent Draft.  After toying with Massillon for a chapter or two, Gillette blows them away by losing 20 of 26 in Chapter Three.  Massillon is forced to settle for Randy Johnson instead.

HRBEK DIVISION

AKRON RYCHE

Owner: D.J. Sheppard
2000 Finish: 65-95 (3rd place)
Projected Rotation: Pedro Martinez, Jeff Weaver, Sidney Ponson, Mark Mulder, Ramon Ortiz, Jarrod Washburn and Todd Stottlemyre
Bullpen: Latroy Hawkins, Mike James, Dan Miceli, Nelson Cruz, Ray King, Tomo Ohka and Osvaldo Fernandez
Projected Lineup: 1. Quilvio Veras/Denny Hocking, 2. Adrian Beltre, 3. Darrin Erstad, 4. Ryan Klesko, 5. Mike Lieberthal/Ramon Hernandez, 6. John Vander Wal/Mark Quinn, 7. Jay Payton/Terrence Long, 8. Ricky Gutierrez

Strengths: The Akron Ryche have one thing that no other team in the BDBL has: Pedro Martinez.  One of the biggest mysteries of last season was how Martinez could have lost eight games, and won "only" eighteen, with the stats he posted.  His run support (5.1) was right around the league average (5.2), so one has to wonder how a guy whose average pitching line was 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K last season could emerge with an 18-8 record.  To be sure, run support should not be a problem this season.  The Ryche's lineup is very, very solid from one-to-eight.  I project 918 runs from just the dozen players listed in the lineup above.  That's only four runs less than I project for the eleven players I listed in the lineup of the legendary Chicago Black Sox and 41 runs more than what I project for the top dozen hitters on the vaunted Rocks roster.

Weaknesses: Can Latroy Hawkins be a successful closer in the BDBL?  Why not?  If Turk Wendell, Lou Pote, Guillermo Mota and T.J. Mathews can finish in the top-ten in saves, why not Hawkins?  No matter who is closing for this team, this bullpen should do very well as a whole.  The rotation beyond Martinez and Weaver, however, could present a problem.  Akron will have to try to minimize the damage that Ponson, Mulder and Ortiz can do by going to the pen early.

Outlook: It's hard to believe that D.J. Sheppard currently ranks just 29th out of 42 owners on the all-time BDBL owners list with a 147-173 career record.  That will begin to turn around this season.  The Akron Ryche have quietly become a contender in the Hrbek Division, and are just a quality starting pitcher or two away from giving the mighty Black Sox a run for their money.   If they do reach the playoffs, anything is possible with Pedro throwing two or three times in each seven game series.

Prediction: 1st place.  The Ryche shock the baseball establishment by winning the division title from the legendary Black Sox.  They then go on to beat the Sea Cats in the ELDS, the Black Sox in the ELCS and the Zoots in the BDBL World Series.  Pedro Martinez wins the MVP award in each of the three series.  Commissioner Glander is so eager to present the BDBL trophy to someone other than Marazita, he flies out to Akron to present the award to DJ Sheppard in person.

CHICAGO BLACK SOX

Owner: John Gil
2000 Finish: (106-54, Eck League champions)
Projected Rotation: Ryan Dempster, Andy Benes, James Baldwin, Carlos Perez and Jose Silva
Bullpen: Paul Wilson, Greg Swindell, Hipolito Pichardo, Mike Fyhrie, Steve Reed and Ricky Bottalico
Projected Lineup: 1. Andruw Jones, 2. Nomar Garciaparra, 3. Carlos Delgado, 4. Manny Ramirez, 5. Scott Rolen, 6. Todd Hundley/Mike DiFelice, 7. Pat Burrell/Henry Rodriguez, 8. Mickey Morandini/Jose Offerman  

Strengths: You really don't need me to tell you what this team's strength is, do you??  I mean...this lineup is absolutely insane.  I look at a lineup like this and I start to wonder where I went wrong when I developed the rules for this league.  Yet as ridiculously good as this offense is, it was even better last year.  Last year's starting lineup generated about 967 runs.  I estimate that this year's starting lineup will generate around 922.  So by my admittedly oversimplistic calculations, this year's offense comes up a little short by comparison.  Of course, when you're talking about 900-plus runs, does it really matter?  Another strength of last year's BDBL record-breaking team was their surprising bullpen.  This year, Chicago has once again assembled one of the league's strongest bullpens.  GM of the Year John Gil added most of the pen (Wilson, Swindell, Pichardo, Reed and Bottalico) through the draft, using the 24th draft pick in each round.  All things considered, it is amazing what he was able to do with that draft slot. 

Weaknesses: Once you get past ace Dempster, the rest of the rotation is average at best and a little light on innings.  Chicago was the only team in the BDBL that played 160 games last year without a complete game.  Expect that trend to continue.  Last season's starting rotation, with Todd Ritchie serving as team ace, wasn't much better than this one.  Expect Chicago to trade for a good starting pitcher some time during the season.  The question is: what will it cost?

Outlook: If you compare the Black Sox and Ryche, you notice that their offenses - overall - are very similar.  Chicago has much better hitters, but Akron has many more quality hitters and better balance.  Both Chicago and Akron have very good, very deep bullpens.  For what it's worth, Akron is better defensively.  And both teams have average or below-average pitchers in the two-through-five spots in their rotations.  But the big difference is in that number one spot, where Chicago matches Dempster with Pedro Martinez.  There is simply no comparison.  And for that reason alone, I am predicting Akron to win this division.

Prediction: 2nd place.  The Black Sox and Law Dogs take turns beating each other up in the ELDS.  But after six high-scoring games, Darryl Kile shuts down the Chicago offense in Game Seven.

CLEVELAND ROCKS

Owner: Mike Stein
2000 Finish: 84-76 (2nd place and yet another loss in a one-game wild card playoff)
Projected Rotation: Pete Schourek, Mike Morgan, Masato Yoshii, Pat Rapp, Terry Mulholland, Chris Holt and Jason Bere
Bullpen: Gabe White, Kelly Wunsch, David Weathers, Justin Speier, Dan Plesac, Bobby Howry, Mike Holtz and Carlos Almanzar
Projected Lineup: 1. Robbie Alomar, 2. Steve Finley, 3. Frank Thomas, 4. Vladimir Guerrero, 5. Ivan Rodriguez/Bill Haselman, 6. Greg Vaughn, 7. Robin Ventura, 8. Edgar Renteria

Strengths: The Cleveland Rocks have tried to emulate the Chicago Black Sox model of success, and have come about as close as "Greed" came to emulating the success of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."  If nothing else, the Rocks have gotten the hitting part of the Black Sox strategy right.  This is probably the second-best offense in the Eck League, and maybe the entire BDBL as well.   The lineup features three full-time players with an overall OPS over 1.000.  Only Madison and Chicago can make the same claim.  They also got the bullpen part of the strategy right.  All winter long, GM Mike Stein has been collecting relievers like Phil Geisel collects "Backstreet Boys" CD's.  The Rocks literally have more relief pitching than they can ever possibly use.  Which is a good thing, because...

Weaknesses: ...the starting rotation is an absolute horror show.  I had a tough time putting the actual order of the rotation together because they all seem to be the same type of pitcher.  Which is a polite way of saying...they all suck.  But what do you expect when you spend a grand total of $3.2 million on your five-man rotation?  The fact that the Rocks have a pathetic rotation is no secret to the Rocks management.  Mike Stein freely admits that his rotation couldn't possibly suck worse.  The thinking is that the Rocks offense should be able to score enough runs in the first four or five innings to keep the game close.  At which time, the bullpen will take over and the offense will continue to churn out the runs.  It's a strategy that just might work.  But I'll have to see it to believe it.

Outlook: You have to hand it to Mike Stein for having the cajones to go through with this strategy.  It will be interesting, to say the least, to see if this works.  Last season, I had the same doubts about Chicago's strategy of carrying three $10 million players, and they were more than able to convince me.  The great thing about the BDBL is that a team can experiment with these strategies, knowing they're never too far away from competing if the strategy fails.  I look forward to seeing the Rocks offense battle it out with those of Chicago and Akron.  Those three teams will probably produce more offense than the entire Griffin Division - mark my words.

Prediction: 3rd place.  For the third year in a row, the Cleveland Rocks franchise falls just inches short of making the playoffs.  Folks in Cleveland begin to call it the "Clink Curse", named after the franchise's original owner.

ATLANTA FIRE ANTS

Owner: Gene Patterson
2000 Finish: 64-96 (4th place)
Projected Rotation: Mike Hampton, Matt Clement, Steve Trachsel, Dave Mlicki and Bobby Jones
Bullpen: Lou Pote, Jason Isringhausen, Bill Simas, Scott Sauerbeck and Matt Whiteside
Projected Lineup: 1. Fernando Vina, 2. Luis Alicea, 3. Ken Griffey, 4. Todd Zeile, 5. Jeff Cirillo, 6. Ben Petrick/Damian Miller, 7. B.J. Surhoff, 8. Tom Goodwin/Todd Hollandsworth

Strengths: A good, solid lineup from one to eight, a deep bullpen and one undeniable ace.  The Fire Ants are in good shape offensively, with six full-time, productive players and two very good platoons.  The highest ERA among the five pitchers in the Atlanta bullpen is 4.14 (Whiteside), which means Atlanta manager Gene Patterson has a lot of options to go to in late innings.   Hampton is one of the few "aces" in the game, and should be good for at least 15 wins this year.  The defense is also excellent, with two "Ex's" on the left side of the infield and three "Vg's" in the outfield.

Weaknesses: The rotation beyond Hampton is a little shaky.  Clement posted an ERA over 5.00 in an extreme pitcher's ballpark.   Trachsel, Mlicki and Jones all yielded opponent OPS's over .820 and ERA's between 4.80 and 5.58. 

Outlook: With so many strengths and so few weaknesses, what are the Fire Ants doing down here with a predicted last place finish?   For no other reason than that they play in a very tough division.  Atlanta could win 85 games this season and still finish in last place.  My prediction, though, is between 75 and 80 wins for this team.

Prediction: 4th place.  The city of Atlanta catches "Fire Ants Fever" over the summer as fans flock from the cross-town Braves by the thousands.  "We're tired of all the dumb tomahawk-chopping," said one fan.  "We've been doing that stupid thing for ten years now and it's getting really old."  Replies Braves owner Ted Turner: "Funny - that's the same thing I said to Jane just before our divorce!"