1972 Season Previews

[Chief Rum]

Cuz I am home on vacation, and I have the time.

Post your previews here!

[Chief Rum]

COLORADO RANCHEROS

1971 Record: 88-66, 1st (lost to Valdosta in FOOL CLassic)



Considering that owner and GM Chief Rum was essentially in absentia for most of the offseason, and coming off of the organization's third visit to the FOOL Classic in six years, one would think this would be a quiet offseason. Unfortunately for Ranchero fans, the Republic League is not one to sit around, and neither is there only one season to prepare for. With other RL squads getting stronger, and cap decisions upcoming on several star players, including long time ace Pablo Gonzalez, star CL Pedro Castillo, top pen arms Kevin King and Dale Hawkins, steady 1B Santiago Gonzalez and surprising star CF Ivan Garcia, Chief knew he had his work cut out for him at the end of the year if not now.

In a move designed to take the team in a different direction that management hopes will re-invigorate an aging roster and better prepare it down the road, Chief Rum sent Pablo Gonzalez, Castillo, Hawkins and reliever Norbert Lewis, coming off his best season, to the always dangerous Boston Settlers for big bat 2B John Bruce, and three younger players to develop around in C John King, 1B Pedro Lopez and SP Victor Gonzalez.

Chief Rum thinks the lineup is stronger and the staff still be strong enough, but only time will tell. Experts think the Rancheros sacrificed this year for next. The development of the kids in new spots, particularly in the pen, will determine the success this team has.

STARTING PITCHING

Pablo Gonzalez (14-8, 3.30), a former Pitcher of the Year winner, has been one of the best pitchers in FOOL for almost a decade now. Filling his shoes won't be easy, but the Rancheros still have perhaps the top 1-2 tandem in the league with Craig Davis (12-6, 2.76, 221 K) and 1971 Pitcher of the Year Ite Beens (15-9, 3.01). They will be depended upon this year to carry the team at times. Victor Gonzalez (4.19 in 14 relief apps) is a low endurance starter with a lot of talent, and was a lynchpin to the deal with Boston. The developing talent is being counted on to handle the #3 spot in the rotation. Back end rotation starters Tadakuni Minami (12-13, 3.78, 208 K) and Rob Goodwin (11-13, 4.01) return as solid pitchers. Minami in particular has only gotten better every year, although scouts think he might have had his peak season last year.

RELIEF PITCHING

The Rancheros did not wait long to move on after dealing much of their league-leading bullpen in the Boston deal. They immediately came to terms on an extension with star reliever King (10-6, 3 sv, 1.91, 3.56 K/BB ratio) and named him their new closer, replacing the departed Castillo, who nailed down 173 wins in his six years in Colorado. With King's setup spot open, and Hawkins and Lewis also gone, there was a small flood as new arms poured in to fill the spots.

Andrew Snyder (4.41, 1.41 WHIP in 9 apps) has always been a talented pitcher, but has rarely put together that talent, and it will be needed this year. He is expected to grab one of the two setup spots. The 21-year-old Harry Clark (2.31, 0 BB, 16 K in 11.2 IP), who came into the league straight from the draft two years ago, really acclimated to the league last year and now could be the next big relief star in Colorado, if he can make good on last year's performance.

All eyes, though, will be on the key middle relief spots, where the highly touted but unproven kids will debut. Foremost among them is Dan Brewer (3.63 at AA), who was rated the top reliever in the same draft from which the Rancheros picked Clark. Brewer has a world of talent, but is still working out control issues. Brewer impressed with a staff-leading 24 scoreless innings in spring training. Javier Dominguez (2.41 at AAA), another arm from that terrific MR draft class two years ago, seems more ready at his stage of development, but has been hit and miss in spring trainings the past couple of years. The top and key middle relief spot will go to Steve Cash (6-0, 2.29, 0.94 WHIP at AAA), a talented pitcher whom has bided his time in the minors waiting for an opportunity. Cash has a world-class arm, but will need it to shore up potential issues with his ball movement and control.

CATCHING

Few would complain about the contributions of Alfredo Alvarado (.273, 15, 71, .787 ops) at the plate, but his numbers have gradually fallen off, and every year his ratings seem to take an alarming dip before resurfacing for the season. Chief Rum decided that that was enough of an issue, to go along with Alvarado's issues behind the plate, to get a new catcher. Thus, a very good young catcher in King (.297, 4, 32, .864 ops) was acquired from Boston. King was only a backup last season, but will start this year. He can hit well against lefties and righties, and still appears to be getting better. He should be an upgrade from Alvarado. Alvarado returns, this time in a key backup role.

INFIELD

Outside of third base, few of the Ranchero infield spots have seemed to be locked down the past few years. The Boston deal represented another effort to find a permanent solution at these spots.

Bruce (.310, 27, 94, .916 ops) was the best player acquired by Colorado in the Gonzalez trade. He is coming off of his best year by far, but even in down years, Bruce brought a very strong power presence to the lineup. He should add more oompth to the Ranchero lineup, in which he will likely play SS against righties and 3B versus southpaws. The versatile Bruce can play any infield spot and doesn't do poorly against pitchers from either side of the mound. At 30 and well paid, Bruce could very easily fall off and be a financial burden, but it is hoped he will maintain at least for the last two years of his contract. He fits in well with Colorado's plan to go with very lefty-righty linked lineups, where he will fit in significantly in both.

Smooth contact hitter Rich Haas (.269, 5, 57, .731 ops) had issues going to a full starting role, but management still believes he is closer to the hitter who had an .821 OPS as a platoon player in 1970. He will play his natural 2B against righties, and slide over to 1B, where he has an excellent glove, versus lefties.

Lopez (.302, 14, 92, .844 ops) comes over from Boston as a younger player to take over for Santiago Gonzalez in the long run and for this year. Like the other Boston hitters, Lopez hits well against both lefties and righties. He will play 1B against right handers, and then move to the DH spot when the better fielding Haas takes over at first.

Four players will handle the remaining infield spots, and all of them look like strong contributors or have proved themselves so in the past. Star 3B Teruo Miyahara (.276, 28, 109, .794) still hasn't met a pitch he won't swing at (and likely miss, 202 Ks last year), and he is poor enough against lefties to get dropped form the regular lineup now. But his immense power can't be questioned, especially against righthanders, and he plays a strong 3B. Backup 1B John Todd (.284, 10, 45, .785) will hold down the DH spot against righties. Todd is a steady player across the board. Against southpaws, when Bruce moves over to 3B, former top prospect Lloyd Carnell (.245, 11, 53, .686) takes over at short. Carnell is awful against righties, but he can rake against lefties. Former first round pick Earl Finch (.264, 12, 52, .777 ops at AAA), picked in the same draft as the relievers from two years ago, seems ready to handle the lefty platoon role at 2B. He should get better as the season progresses and become a solid presence in the lineup.

It will be interesting to see how the Ranchero experiment works, with seven starters, essentially, for the four infield spots. And that doesn't include Gonzalez, the former 1B who was moved into the OF.

OUTFIELD

Like with the infield, the new platoon system will certainly have its effect in the broad expanse of the Colorado outfield.

CF Garcia (.288, 18, 67, .830 ops, 54 sb) is the only player who will play in both lineups. Although a player with a variety of talents, Garcia is still thought to be outplaying his ratings a bit. Management has not committed to him past this year, and there doesn't appear to be cap room to bring him back in any case. So he will be playing for a contract at 28.

Last year's big splash free agent signing RF Clarence Gilliam (.279, 12, 52, .807, 15 sb) is far too overpaid to platoon, but that is exactly what is continued to be asked of from him. A poor hitter against lefties, he will be a power mainstay in the righthanded lineup, and is one of the best fielding outfielders in the league. Against the left side, the Rancheros will send out Gonzalez (.254, 23, 68, .836), a former star who still has pop in his bat. Gonzalez is a very poor RF, but he was also a poor 1B, so this changes little.

In LF, Jose Rivera (.250, 5, 29, .769 ops, 8 sb), another free agent to be, won a surprise platoon job against lefties, where he still shows off some of the ability that earned him his big contract from Colorado several years ago. The righty half will be taken by one of Colorado's top prospects, Bill Skinner (.295, 21, 62, .856 ops, 28 sb at AAA). Skinner is similar in ability to past Ranchero mashers Joe Mack and Francisco Vega. He can absolutely kill the balls his bat gets to. He is also a plus defender at all three outfield spots, and a well-honed base stealer.

OVERVIEW

It is hard to be sure how this team will work. Will Victor Gonzalez grow into his talent and do a fair job of replacing Pablo Gonzalez? Will the trio of young arms handle the critical middle relief roles handed to them? Will Minami continue to progress or come back to Earth? Will this be the year Garcia crashes? And how will the platoon system work? Can a team with 13 starters for nine positions (including DH) work across the whole year? Can a team actually choose to sit big bats like Miyahara and Gilliam and still win? And will kids like Skinner and Finch step up and prove their worth on the major league level?

Some of these questions will be answered in the positive. But this team will need most, if not all, to come through to win in a very competitive league. And that's just unlikely to happen.

PREDICTION: 77-77, .500 (4th)

[Young Drachma]

Heading into his third year in the Quad Cities, Dark Cloud is hoping that Year 3 can be the magic year for the T-Storms.

Coming off the most successful season in franchise history, where the team finished just 5 games out of first, there were a lot of expectations for the team going into the year and as usual, D.C. didn't slow down making moves to put his team in position to be in the pennant hunt.

Returning from last year's squad include RBI leader Mac Rasmussen, who hit .324 with 21 HR and 87 RBI last year. The T-Storms are hoping to get a 100 RBI season out of Big Mac this year.

'71 Rookie of the Year Luis Mendoza is also back, after a .319 campaign with 15 HR and 76 RBI last year. Along with Marcos Montoya, (.278/12 HR/67 RBI) they comprise one of the best corner infield sets in all of FOOL.

Sporting the DH role this year will be Alejandro Corona who came over from Hartford after hitting .318 last year in 484 ABs. His main problem is, he's a pretty awful defensive player. The T-Storms are hoping he can emerge as a strong offensive option for a team that needs to score more runs for its pitchers if it's going to compete in the rough and tumble Republic League this year.

On the pitching side of the house, the T-Storms boast returnees in Harry Mason, Steven Davis and Pete McKeane who combined for 40 wins last year.

Adding to the mix are Sam Godbout who came over in the Joe Morris trade during the off-season. "We wanted to get younger and we wanted to get cheaper. Sam is gonna be a star in this league. Book that," said D.C. Daly about his new hurler.

The other newcomer is Jose Medina, the longtime veteran who hurled for Rio Grande's FOOL Classic title team and is looking for a chance to rebound before he becomes a free agent at the end of the year. "We're confident in Chunky. He's gonna be part of the solution here."

The team has begun selling shirts bearing the motto "I believe in Chunky," to their fans, who have taken to the veteran ace when he was introduced this year.

On the relief side, the team brought in Gabriel Riggs from Hartford as a spot starter and the team has bolsted its bullpen depth, resigning Millard Wilson (1-3, 38 K in 52 innings) and bringing in veterans Orlando Diaz (8-2, 2 SV 71 K in 63 innings) and John Jackson (2-3, 36 SV, 2.18 ERA in 47 appearances)

"We've got the most experienced bullpen any team has ever had in FOOL. It's just astounding to me," said new manager Mike Wallace, the former St. Louis Terriers star.

With matchups in March/April largely against the bottom of the RL, the T-Storms are hoping to get out of the gate strong. Other than six games with upstart Boston, the team's games for the first month will be the kinds of games the team "hopes to win, if we're going to be who we want to be this year."

D.C. says that he's not putting pressure on his team.

"We haven't completely evaded the losing culture here yet. Beating that takes time. We're a fresh franchise that folks are on the lookout for now, and that's a good step for us. But we have more to do. We'll do our best to respond this year and then evaluate where we need to head from there, afterwards."

Where they'll go, however, remains the one thing in mystery.

[Cringer]

I will try to get one in later. Went to sleep at 6am, woke up at 11, and it was work all night and since waking pretty much. Although it seems all for not as most of the work was flushed down the crapper when the orders for the reports I was working on were pulled away from us this afternoon. $200 bucks gone, I need me some fake sports today if I can get away from all the other reports we still have do.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

'71 Rookie of the Year Luis Mendoza is also back, after a .319 campaign with 15 HR and 76 RBI last year.

Another Mendoza screws another Ranchero player out of this award, BTW. Amazing. Seven years after Valdosta's Mendoza was inexpicably awarded the RL ROY award over a much better Pablo Gonzalez, this Mendoza takes the award over the RL Pitcher of Year award winner in Beens. That makes sense. The logic behind the ROY is obviously busted when it comes to comparing hitters with pitchers.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Another Mendoza screws another Ranchero player out of this award, BTW. Amazing. Seven years after Valdosta's Mendoza was inexpicably awarded the RL ROY award over a much better Pablo Gonzalez, this Mendoza takes the award over the RL Pitcher of Year award winner in Beens. That makes sense. The logic behind the ROY is obviously busted when it comes to comparing hitters with pitchers.

The guy won Pitcher of the Year?! Spread the wealth!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

The guy won Pitcher of the Year?! Spread the wealth!

lol...hey, just saying he sorta earned it.

P.S. For anyone who wants to check it out, I completed my preview of my team for this season.

[Alan T]

Today has been a heck of a day for me with work, I was so busy. I might not write a preview this year for the first time, but virtually my team is going to be almost exactly the same as last year with the exception of 1B.. and I'm swapping some things up in the OF a little bit just to try to improve the overall team performance some.

So you could basically take my preview from last year and apply it to this year!

[muns]

Hartford Harpooners- last seasons record??? Worst in Fool

Season Prediction- Still gonna suck but better than last year

The Pooners are still all about playing the younger guys trying to get them to develop along with throwing in older prospects that never had the chance with other clubs.

Will it work? Doubtful, but the farm system is crazy loaded, and the fans are patiently waiting the arrival of the young guns.

(sorry didnt have time to do a real one)