My take: The biggest question for this division is whether or not Season 10 was an aberration for the Sun Devil's or was it the start of a decline after being one of, if not the top team in NCAA the first 9 seasons. Kansas City was barely able to hold off Arizona after squandering a big divisional lead and they had to run their team into the ground fatigue wise to get it done. As you can see below, Boise's goal is to make the playoffs. I think they are still a couple of pieces short. Helena will continue to rebuild.
Prediction: I think Arizona will win the division, but that Kansas City will give them a run and contend for a wild card spot.
1. Arizona
2. Kansas City
3. Boise
4. Helena
Helena
I am hopeful that this will be a bounce back year for the Grizzlies. Season 10 was marred with injuries that kept the team from being competitive for most of the season. Offensively we've added free agents Hamish Reynolds and Lawrence Turner. Reynolds in particular will be a real key to our season as we are going to ask him to play SS, a position he has not played in a few years. Both Reynolds and Turner (who will start in center) are upgrades at thier respective positions offensively. The key is whether they can be at least adequate defensively. Overall I expect a mild improvement in our run production.
The Pitching staff should be improved thanks to a few prospects that will get their chance to play at the major league level. Victor Valdes should make an instant impact in the bullpen while Julio Sanchez and Jose Mendoza will get a shot at a rotation spot as we head into spring training. We also brought in veteran Free agent Pete Young to add some depth to the bullpen.
When I took over this franchise mid-season in season 7, my objectives where to lower the payroll and build from within via the draft and international free agency. We will finally start to see some of the fruits of that labor in season 11. The payroll will remain low over the next couple of seasons, so that we can continue to build our farm system. I am optimistic this team can compete and improve on last seasons 93 loss performance.
Arizona
The sun devils feel they were robbed by the sim engine last season but cannot complain b/c 5 ws trips in a row and 3 wins require a bit of luck and they were paying back the debt. it doesn't mean they have to like it . We lost a post in that technical difficulty lost to type A FA: Jung-Lee Koh and Nap Hollins. The rotation is the same and we're hoping to avoid the rediculous pile of injuries that happened last season. hopefully the leadoff man won't hit 40 points below his career average this year either.
Boise
Well, last year was a major dissappointment as we didn't take the step up I projected. Tis year's free agent efforts all came up short as I couldn't land a solid SP. That said, I still like the Broncos as a contender for a playoff spot. Jack Daley should emerge as a Cy Young candidate and our bullpen is very strong. A couple of trades in the off season gave us depth in some critical spots. Our young players are now at a point where they should produce. We need some luck at the SP position, but if just one or two starters pitch up to potential, we'll be fine.
Kansas City
Not submitted due to real life priorities.
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