The Eastern Conference contains 12 teams, in three divisions. Each division is named after a baseball great: Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and Hank Aaron. I tried choosing teams based on cities that do not currently have major league franchises, and grouped them geographically as best as possible.
Note that when listing teams, the lineups are in position order, not the order that they will bat in-game.
Leave notes in the comments about who you project to win each division!
Ted Williams Division
The four teams in the Ted Williams Division are Buffalo, Columbus, Ottawa, and Providence.
1. Buffalo:
Buffalo's rotation is led by C6 Eric Milton, but otherwise has no one special to write home about. However, there is no real weakness in the rotation, with the worst pitcher being a C4 with 15 outs. Their bullpen is strong at the top, with C6 Mike Timlin being set-up by IP2 Rick White. The rest of the pen is a bit lackluster.
Their lineup is a strength, with two OB10s in Shumpert and Fernandez and three OB8 power hitters in Sosa, Vaughn, and Jenkins. Quinn adds a decent bat (OB9, 18+ HR). No one is going to be running on Castillo's C+10, and the starting IF +8 and OF +3 are solid. Fletcher adds a solid bat off the bench on Castillo's off-days, but the upgrade in catcher hitting on those days is balanced with a drop to C+5.
2. Columbus
Columbus has weak pitching. Their ace, Todd Ritchie, is only a C5 with 15 outs, and he is followed by three C3s with 16 outs, and the 2000 Denny Neagle, a C6 who allows a homer and a pair of doubles on his own chart. The bullpen isn't impressive.
However, their lineup is very strong. Three OB10s, including Mark McGwire and Manny Ramirez, as well as four OB9s. Even their low OB players are solid, as Steve Finley is an OB7 who rolls for extra bases on a 12 (with 16 being a homer), an Valentin is an OB8 with some pop and speed A. Their defense is C+6, IF+8, and OF+4. Columbus is going to be a team that will play a lot of high scoring games, and it will be interesting to see where they wind up.
3. Ottawa
Ottawa has a decently strong rotation, led by C6 Greg Maddux and followed by two C3s with 17 outs and two C4s with 16 outs. However, their bullpen isn't great.
While there are no OB7s or lower in the lineup, the only two OB10s are Kendall and Olerud. Rodriguez and Trammell both add some power (OB9, 18+ HR). The team packs some speed, with 5 speed As in the starting lineup and another on the bench. Kendall's C+9 means teams aren't going to run much, the IF+7 is okay, and OF+5 is one of the best fielding outfield's in the league. If the starters can last deep into games, the lineup should produce enough runs to win more than they lose.
4. Providence
Providence had the first pick in the draft, and selected 2001 Pedro Martinez to anchor their rotation. Pedro is in a tier of his own among 2000-2001 starters, so instantly brings an advantage to 20% of their games. Brian Anderson and David Wells are solid #2 and #3 starters, but Nunez and Hentgen are both below average at the bottom of the rotation. Like the rest of the division, the top of the pen is decent, and the bottom is weak.
Providence's has four strong hitters in their lineup in Burks, Sheffield, Palmeiro, and Thome, but nothing to talk about after that. C+7, IF+6, OF+4.
Overall, Providence is a team that is very top-heavy, both pitching- and hitting-wise, so it will be interesting to see how they end up. If they make the playoffs, they should be poised for a deep run, as dropping the 5th starter will benefit them more than most.
Let me know in the comments who you think will win the Williams Division!
Stan Musial Division
The four teams in the Stan Musial Division are Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, and Nashville.
1. Indianapolis
2. Louisville
Their lineup is weak, with no OB10s and two OB7s. However, one of the OB7s has 15+ homer power (Palmer). Reggie Sanders, Derrek Lee, and "Hall of Famer" Harold Baines add some power, but the offense still lags behind many of their other teams. Matheny has a great arm (C+10), but the infield (IF+5) and outfield (OF+3) are both weak and will allow plenty of extra bases.
3. Memphis
Memphis's rotation is mediocre, but I can finally say that a team has a strong bullpen. Tom Gordon leads the way with his C6 and 16 outs, followed by two C6s in Adams and Beck. The rest of the bullpen isn't great, but three solid relievers is more than most teams have.
The lineup has two power bats in Buhner and Hidalgo, along with three OB10s, so they should score runs. Diaz is a C+7, but the infield is +11 and the OF is one of the strongest in the league, at OF+6.
4. Nashville
Nashville's ace is Bobby Jones, a solid C5 with 16 outs, but the rest of the rotation isn't great. The bullpen is similar, with a decent closer but not much else.
Their lineup has two OB10s, and a few OB9 power bats (Griffey, Pudge, Green). The Griffey card has always been mediocre for me, but we'll see how he does over 162 - he should be one of the elite hitters. Good fielding all around (C+9, IF+10, OF+5), and decent speed as well, but the pitching may be too weak for Nashville to win their division.
Let me know in the comments who you have winning the Musial division!
Hank Aaron Division
The last Eastern division consists of Birmingham, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Orlando.
1. Birmingham
Birmingham has a poor rotation. After Sirotka, the next four pitchers are all guys who would be #4 or #5 starters on most teams. The bullpen is okay, and gets a likely-needed innings boost with IP2 Al Levine.
Birmingham's lineup boasts one of the two OB11s in the league with Giambi, and two other OB10s and no OB7s. Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Gonzalez add power, and with Ordonez and Caminiti as well, the team's top 7 hitters are all guys who should produce. Fielding is okay, at C+7, IF+6, OF+4.
The question with Birmingham is will their superior hitting outweigh their weak pitching?
2. Charlotte
Charlotte has a good rotation, led by Barry Zito 2001. I got Zito in my first 01 PR pack ever almost two decades ago, traded or lost him at some point, and finally got him back after several weeks of searching eBay last month. After Zito are two C5s with 15 outs and one C4 with 16 outs, which is very deep for this league. As with pretty much every team so far, the bullpen has a few decent arms at the top but is weak toward the bottom.
The only OB10 in the lineup is one of my favorite players of all time, Robbie Alomar. Cal Ripken, Javy Lopez, and Greg Vaughn all add power at low OBs, but this lineup will not be inspiring much fear in opposing pitchers. Fielding is C+6, IF+10, OF+5.
3. Jacksonville
The top of Jacksonville's rotation is good on paper, but 2000 Kevin Brown is one of my least lucky cards, so we'll see how he does in a 162 game simulation. In two decades of starts for me, he seems to always give up the advantage late in the game at the least opportune moments.
Troy Percival is a solid reliever on paper, but a C3 closer can be a bit worrisome when a lost advantage can mean the game. His metrics came out better than Wetteland's when I ran them vs. the average batter, but the bullpen order may switch midseason if Percival is unable to lock it down enough.
The lineup has 2000 Larry Walker, one of my favorite cards with his OB10, only 2 outs, and 4 homers. McGriff adds another good OB10 bat, and three more hitters have at least three homers on their charts. When your weakest hitter is an OB8 with speed A, you know you have a solid lineup. Their fielding is weak (C+7, IF+6, OF+3).
On paper Jacksonville should be a good team, but after years of disappointment, I have zero trust in Brown.
4. Orlando
The final Eastern Conference team has 2000 John Smoltz as their ace. I mentioned in the intro blog that only two players had a common as their card in the league over a foil, and Smoltz is one of them (Scott Elarton the other). I love the 2000 Smoltz card and his C6, and couldn't bring myself to use the C3 foil instead. Colon, Tavarez, and Mendoza make a decent 2-4, and Meche is above average for a #5.
The bullpen is about average, but the lineup isn't great, with two OB10s but two OB7s. No real power outside of Vander Wal's OB10 with 18+ homer, but Nomar is a threat to win the batting title in any Showdown league. Orlando has about average fielding (C+7, IF+8, C+4).
I don't see Orlando going very far with their lineup, but they could surprise me.
Let me know in the comments who you think will win the Aaron division. In addition to the three division winners, I'd be interested to hear who you think will be the two Eastern wild card teams.
Great preview!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take Providence, Louisville, and Charlotte as division winners!
Those were the same three teams I was going to pick, Providence stood out to me in their division because of Pedro and the lethal hitters in that lineup. Louisville because of their rotation, while Schilling and Millwood are great, I think Stein as their third will be huge for them as well. While Jacksonville pitching will stifle a lot of lineups IDK if Charlotte can be stopped, so if I had to not pick Charlotte I would pick Jacksonville
Delete