The Village Idiot (3.31.2045)

[Alan T]

Can anyone stop the Hooligans?

The addition of rookie Jason Holmes to the Hammersmith pitching rotation last season seemed to be the final piece of assembling an unbeatable juggernaut. Holmes, Sanchez and Betancourt gives the Hooligans three aces that could be the #1 pitcher on any team.

While the pitching is intimidating, the strength of this team actually lies in their hitting. They have one legitimate super-star in Roberto Chavez, but they have a solid lineup 1 through 7. With only two holes in the batting order, it forces opposing pitchers to pitch carefully to the entire lineup.

So the recipe to beating Hammersmith is simply have hitters that are capable of hitting all star pitchers, while having pitchers that are capable of putting down the best offense in all of baseball. So the solution? force Hammersmith to play themselves! VI will state its thoughts on who we think can beat them this season, if anyone later in our preview.

Spring Training Free agent signing splashes:

A ton of money was shelled out in spring training this season to free agents that had not yet found a new home during the offseason. Traditionally the impact free agents have signed by the end of December, but this year was an oddity that saw many March deals that could impact the pennant races this season.

Hartford signed SP Julio Flores to a 9.9 million dollar deal and 9 million on the catcher Christophe Laroque. Newark spent 9 million on former Baltimore first baseman Gavin Taylor and Colorado spent 8 million on former Ranchero great Naofumi Ueda. The Heroes spent 12 million combined on a pair of free agent starting pitchers to try to plug the hole that is their starting pitching. Which of these however will impact this season's races however?

Out of all of these deals, VI singles out Hartford at having perhaps made the right moves to make it to the playoffs this season. Adding Flores to go with another free agent Alastair Coggins has given the Harpooners perhaps the best pitching staff in the entire Republic League. Laroque helps add a decent bat to the lineup, and it will be enough to give them the edge in what should be an incredibly difficult competition for the final playoff spot in the RL behind Hammersmith.


Keep an eye on...

Boston has a pair of Rookies that could see playing time this season and compete for the Benny Myers award this season. Outfielder Javier Ramos is not going to win any batting titles, but he has enough pop in his bat that could help him wind up on future Home Run leader boards. The jewel rookie in the Settlers lineup this season however will be Akinori Kobayashi, a 23 year old second baseman that his team mates simply call him 'Poison'. Kobayashi is young and still has plenty of room to grow, but he looks like a potential 5-tool player that could be a future hall of famer.

Over in the Republic League, the development factory that is Chico seems to do is put out stud young hitters, and this year is no different as OF Felix Cantu should be in the opening day roster. Last season in AAA, Cantu lit up opposing pitchers for a .356 batting average with 40 Home Runs and 153 RBI in only 130 games. He might not be able to hit major league pitchers quite so well at the start, but he should have no problem putting the ball into the stands regularly in his rookie season.


And the winners will be....

It is hard to pick against Hammersmith to make the playoffs from the Republic League. As we mentioned earlier, we like the Harpooners to join them in the playoffs. Unfortunately for Hartford fans, having the best pitching staff in baseball is not as important in the playoffs as having three stud pitchers and we don't see them getting past Hammersmith.

Over in the Continental League, there are six teams that have a shot at the playoffs, but in the end we think it will be another year of Tokyo vs Baltimore in the playoffs. This time the Cyclones make it past the Charm whom have made the Classic the past three seasons.

The FOOL Classic of Hammersmith vs Tokyo would be fantastic as the Cyclones might be the only team that can knock off the defending champs.The rotation of Aitken, Hobbs, Davila and Keir vs Sanchez, Betancourt and Holmes means there shouldn't be a single game without an all star quality pitcher. This would also be the best offense in the RL vs the best offense in the CL, and while the Cyclones don't have any potential Tanaka winners in their lineup, they have almost a mirror image of Hammersmith's lineup.

We'll say Tokyo wins it all this season and ends the evil empire's run of championships.

[hyde4us11]

I was pleased to get the guys I did. I just need them to show they were worth the money. I haven't been very good lately so my expectation is to only get better as a whole. Anything else is just a bonus.

[TimGuru]

The VI doesn't have any love for Estaban Rosa?

[Tasan]

No peep about the Rancheros? Oh well, time to dazzle!

[Montreal_GM]

Looking forward to the new season, hell, I'm looking forward to the next 5 seasons. Should be some good playoff times ahead for the foreseeable future. Hopefully my boys can manage to pull out a Championship or two along the way.

Good luck tonight.

[Chief Rum]

Exported and headed to work. Good luck everyone!