NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH PREVIEW

Charleston Gullah's (Third Place)(69-74 victories this season)

Lineup:
Irv Jensen LF (Jensen is coming from the Rockies and is expected to produce some number for the Gullah’s this season)

Lyle Dunham CF (Could get a chance to play center field this season)
Richard Evans RF (Evans is still one of the best lead-off hitters in the game even though he has lost a step or two)

Andy Diaz 3B (Diaz is just a pure solid hitter but his best talent is the vacuum he has attached to left hand to sucks every ball hit his way)

Santos Alvarez 2B (Alvarez signed as a free-agent for a chance to play and that is what he will get)

Darby Thomas SS (Last season team MVP, Thomas is the only real power threat in this lineup)

Frank Jacobsen 1B (Jacobsen could be seeing the twilight of his career begin this season)

Edwin Randall C (A sold catcher that just finds ways to get on base)

Starters:
Wilt McGee (McGee is the model of constancy as he’s got three straight seasons of 15 wins with his ERA right around 4)

Jason Burns (Burns had a rough year last season finding wins even though he had a 3.50ERA)

Michael Dickey (Dickey was added to this team to bring a little bit more stability to the middle of the rotation this season)

Seth Dillon (Dillon is still young so he might go through some growing pains this season)

Artie Holmes (Holmes is another pitcher added to the team for depth in the starting rotation)

Closer:
Tom Moss (Moss got his first full season as the closer last year and the team will need him to be more reliable this season)

Coaches Corner:
Well we've put together what we think is a good team here, but you never know what the season will bring with injuries or just some bad luck. This team could get a winning record and content for a playoff spot this season. We needed to get younger, and better at pitching along with a few position players if where going to compete this season. Watch out for Jason Burns, all he needed was for the bullpen to hold onto some leads last season and he probably would have around 15 wins again. This team will be based on the baseball fundamentals, good pitching, and contact with speed guys on the bases. It might not be flashy as we may not hit the most dingers, but we'll always battle you all game long. Let’s hope for 84 or more victories this season.

Rankings to start the season:
8th ranked offensive
29th ranked pitching staff

Players Added:
Irv Jensen LF (Acquired via Trade with Colorado Rockies)
Artie Holmes P (Acquired via Trade with the Philadelphia HeadHunters)
Javier Benitez P (Acquired via Trade with the Philadelphia HeadHunters)
Michael Dickey P (Acquired via Trade with the Philadelphia HeadHunters)
Seth Dillon P (Acquired via Trade with the Philadelphia HeadHunters)
Santos Alvarez 2B (.272, 0, 41)(2yrs, 3.0mil)
Stubby Floyd P (Rule-5 Draftee)

Players Lost:
B.C. Tracy 2B (Traded to the Colorado Rockies)
Roberto Gonzalez 2B (Traded to the Philadelphia HeadHunters)
Rico Rosado 3B (Traded to the Philadelphia HeadHunters)


Louisville Grumbling Groundhogs (Fourth Place)(60-65 victories this season)

Lineup:
Leon Roosevelt RF (The Rule-5 draftee could see a lot of time on the field this season)

Dario Chong CF (Chong really struggled last season after a year where it looked like he was really going to take off)

Troy Redman LF (Redman as problems getting for a high average but he can hit the ball over the fence when he does make contact)

Fred McNeil 3B (Expect McNeil to once again hit 20 homeruns and 20 stolen bases this season)

Claude Marshall 2B (If Marshall follows his career path he will probably hit below his average numbers this season)

Victor Navarro SS (Navarro will be giving every chance to start at shortstop this season even if the competition is breathing his neck)

Brian Kim 1B (Kim is the team MVP for this team last season and the only power threat in the lineup)

Matthew Bonham C (Expect Bonham to shine this season)

Starters:
Buzz Jones (Could this be the season that we finally see Buzz Jones become a number one starter that everyone expect him to become)

Greg Turner (Turner pitched 277 innings last season, we will have to wait to see what kind of effect that will have on this season)

William Woo (Now the fans in Louisville can start saying ‘Woooooo’ when William Woo takes the mound)

Sparky Brooks (Could be rookie that no one is talking about this season)

Mark Matsumoto (Matsumoto is good spot starter but I don’t know if he can hold up for the whole season)

Closer:
Wally Smalley (In his second season as the closer Smalley will have a good season this year)

Coaches Corner:
Right now this organization needs to financial and start to build the farm system that has once produce some very good major league talent. Compared to the talent of the other organizations we are lacking a little behind this season. We really didn’t make any off-season moves as we will wait to see where are team is at during the season before we start trading some talent away. Buzz Jones as he might be the only player that could survive the whole season on the team roster and not be traded. Watch as this team will tend to be very flexible and creative. You could see a rash of trades and moves then nothing for the rest of the season but this team really does need to build up the minor leagues. This season is all about waiting and seeing what is happening this season. If we are winning we might try and acquire talent, if where out of playoff contention we might trade salaries. Only time will tell.

Rankings to start the season:
32nd ranked offensive
19th ranked pitching staff

Players Added:
Alex Espinosa SS (Rule-5 Draftee)
Leon Roosevelt LF (Rule-5 Draftee)

Players Lost:
Donte Cashman C (Left via Fee-Agency)
Earl O'Connor P (Left via Fee-Agency)
Damaso Nieves RF (Left via Fee-Agency)
Chico Ordonez P (Left via Fee-Agency)
Kip Stevenson P (Released)
Todd Martin LF (Released)
Darrell Young C (Left via Fee-Agency)
Rickey Mitchell SS (Left via Fee-Agency)



Monterrey Stars (First Place)(110-115 victories this season)

Lineup:
Eric Flynn LF (Flynn didn't hit 70 homeruns again but 47 homeruns is one of the tops in the league)

Rondell Lowe CF (Expect Lowe to improve his numbers once again and really become a feared power hitter this season)

Jackson Cooper RF (Expect another 30 homeruns season from Cooper this season)

Bobby Henry 3B (Henry smashed over 50 homeruns last season but I only expect him to be in the 40’s this season)

Brian Turner 2B (It’s not often you see a leadoff hitter with 100 RBI’s but in the lineup you are expect to bring in the runners when there standing in scoring position)

Clem Barkley SS (Barkley made it 7 hitters with more then 30 homeruns last season)

Mike Bonds 1B (The scary thing about Bonds is that is his only 23 year’s old and getting better)

Mike Sewell C (Sewell may not kill you with the homerun but he can’t relax with him at the plate because he can single you to death)

Starters:
Carmine Taft (How much more life does Taft have in his arm, will all have to wait and see this season if he still got life in it)

Brandon Ellis (Ellis is already the greatest pitcher in Star history and expect him to push 20 victories this season)

Gil Henson (First season with the Stars was a big success for Henson and expect the same thing this year)

Seth Law (Law is the baby of the starting rotation but he’s cool as a cucumber learning from the veterans in the rotation)

Carter Wise (Wise isn’t expected to pitched nine perfect innings every game the team would just like him to have five good innings this season)

Closer:
Jeremy Morris (Even if the team wins over a 100 games again Morris will see his saves chances be low as the team will have big leads heading into the ninth innings on most nights)

Coaches Corner:
We need to win while we can. The core of my team is in their prime as players like Carmine Taft , Gil Henson , Jeremy Morris and Mike Sewell are our only players that will need to be replaced after the next couple of seasons. The organization looks to have all the pieces needed to minimize any drop off in talent when they no longer are able to contribute. The Stars should still have a 4 to 5 year window to contend with just the players already in our system and that certainly means another WS title this season can be done. With that logic we did very little off-season work this season. In the 1st three seasons in the USMLB we tried hard to get as many wins as we could while stock piling prospects. Once we hit season 4, we aggressively began to flip prospects/big-leagues for top notch position players (our pitchers were hot in the playoffs and we stole a WS from a superior team in Anaheim). Season 5 we continued to turn prospects into impact big-leaguers but this time it was for starting pitching and bullpen help. Those moves did turn the Stars into a favorite to take the WS (after very tough series with both New Britain and Atlanta we were able to repeat). If we can land an elite starter, that deal will be made but for now it's all about keeping Monterrey together by giving long front-loaded deals to our players. That not only do chicks dig the long ball but it wins games. The Stars had some very telling statistical oddities last season, number one in home runs hit and number one in fewest home runs allowed. Also number 32 in stolen bases with 0 and number 32 in stolen base attempts with 0. It’s a simple life for the stars, get on base, don't give up outs and hit those 3 run home runs. It's tough to judge how many wins you'll pick-up in a season but we should take 100 games this season.

Rankings to start the season:
1st ranked offensive
1st ranked pitching staff

Players Added:
Freddie Adcock LF (.297, 20, 58)(1yr, 3.6mil)
Blake Newman SS (.238, 12, 36)(2yrs, 3.5mil)
Jeff O'Keefe LF (.290, 21, 103)(1yr, 2.6mil)
Billy Ray Lombardi 1B (.263, 37, 85)(2yrs, 1.95mil)

Players Lost:
Rick Farr P (Left Free-Agency)
Tommy Crede 3B (Left Free-Agency)
Danny Smith P (Left Free-Agency)
Geraldo Molina P (Left Free-Agency)
Tony Roberts LF (Left Free-Agency)
Neifi Moya RF (Left Free-Agency)
Walt Lohse CF (Released)
David Bolivar SS (Released)
Josh Kerr P (Released)
Tyrone Boyle P (Released)


Jackson BlaZers (Second Place)(100-105 victories this season)

Lineup:
Chico Posada LF (Look for Posada to have a good season as the first time starter for the team)
Norman Richard CF (Richard has trouble hitting for average but is solid in the field)

Pep Chang RF (Chang is a slap hitting machine as he just finds ways to get on base)

Donatello Carpenter 2B (Carpenter is a pitchers best friend winning his second gold glove at second base last season)

Sven Griffin 3B (Griffin may not hit for average but he did have his career in average last season with 24)

Ken Lincoln SS (Lincoln was added to the team this season to provide power in the lineup)

Tim Perry 1B (Perry was last seasons only homerun threat but will need to improve his average if he’s going to move up to the second tier of first basemen)

Red Sullivan C (Will probably platoon with Barry Niekro for most of the season)

Starters:
Bey Dillon (Dillon has only one 26 games the last two seasons and at 36 another 12 to 13 victories is still reachable)

Wilt Frank (Frank was the workhorse of the staff last season with 218 innings but he really never seemed to get on track last season with his ERA climbing to 4.53)

Greg Flanagan (You could see a big year out of Flanagan this season and the team will need it to catch up to the Stars)

Dan Meacham (After winning 21 games in season and winning the Cy Young, Meacham just disappeared last season by going 11-11 with his ERA at 4.54)

Chico Manuel (Will compete for the fifth spot this season with Gomez leaving for free-agency)

Closer:
Kane Hines (220 saves later Hines is still going strong at the age of 36)

Coaches Corner:
The goal for the Blazers as always has been to win the World Series nothing less then that. Didn’t really need to make a lot of changes this season as the lineup will almost be the same as last season. We could use a fifth starter but it’s nothing that will concern the team if we can’t find one. Watch for Bey Dillon to once again contend for the Cy Young this season as he has told me he is ready to pitch this season. This team is built around pitching with the hope that the offensive can produce enough for us to contend. It wouldn’t be surprising to see us with 90 to 95 wins this season, right behind the Stars in the standing once again.

Rankings to start the season:
5th ranked offensive
2nd ranked pitching staff

Players Added:
Ken Lincoln SS (Acquired via Trade with Tucson Chupacabras)

Players Lost:
Tomas Gomez P (Left Free-Agency)
Jerry Throneberry P (Left Free-Agency)
Brady Teut 1B (Left Free-Agency)
Tony Armas 1B (Left Free-Agency)
Erick Hernandez SS (Released)
Scot Hill P (Traded to the Tucson Chupacabras)
Virgil Julio C (Traded to the Salem Gangstas)