The last pre-season BLOG and it will only be up for less than two days. I'll probably use this a reference point from time to time, but I just wanted to do a quick review of the preseason voting as I eagerly anticipate the first pitch on May 1st!
And just for fun, I'm going to put myself on the line for a change and pick my top 6 seeds in no particular order. Why top six? There's a few reasons for that.
- By picking six teams, in no particular order, I'll offend only be offending 108 people that are on teams that aren't picked. If I were to pick, say, the top two teams; I'd be offending 154 people. This is just simply a bit of preservation.
- By picking six teams there's 72 guys that MIGHT buy me a beer one night.
- If our play offs end up being the same as last year the top 3 teams will have 4 home games and the next 3 best teams will have three of their 4 games be home games. After that, you half or less as the home team. We can debate whether or not there is any value in being the home team, but there is no other advantage for not finishing 15th. So there it is.
- There's more to banter about.
Now, the moment that no one has been waiting for! Here are my top 6.
Brew Jays - I'm off the board on this one. I like the returning core of Bo (c), Rod (c) and the Foerster brothers. In a "fantasy baseball league" sense, I think there are some good steals in this draft. Look at it this way, take any draft ranking - #5's for instance. Someone is the best of those. Which means a lot of people would say that player is as good as at least half the #4's on any given day. I think the Brew Jays got several of those guys. We know Tito can pitch and there are some solid smart baseball brains on this team. A top six finish with the usual array of Brew Jay fence crashing seems like a solid bet to me.
Dog Catchers - And this one is 'nearly' off the board. The top end with Curran and Glecoff couldn't be a better 1 and 2 combination of good ball players + nice guys. I really like the Savvy consistent hitting and quiet leadership of Jimmy Mac and Cal Russell, Larry Turner (c) Bob Pearce and Don Swabuk are very good ball players who offer the perfect amount of "smart ass" that every team needs. Randy's (c) pitching is great and his bat is getting better and better. And you guys might not think much of this, but; Randy, Larry, Jimmy Mac, Pearce and Glecoff missed one game between them all of last year. There is something to be said for consistency.
Hot Tub Woody's - Another border line pick, but my money is on the voting being a little off on this one. Brooks / Larkin / Cragg / Stike might be the best infield I've seen so far in this league. There are lots outfield options. I think Brad Moye will emerge as a lock down center fielder this year with a top 25 average. DeLand had great for the Woody's last year, I don't see that changing. Plus he can give you a corner outfield or 1st base defense. They have bats to score, but could have elite defense overall. Dancey (c) and Hopkins (c) have no serious issues positionally to contend with. People play better when they know where they'll be. There could be 14 teams looking up the HTW's when its all said and done. .
Red Dogs - I'm with the masses on this one. Power, power and more power. Young, Kolson, Mike Candy (c) and McCarron can all launch bombs. Very steady and reliable infielders with Cox, Rouleau and Hjelholt surround Brad at short. Bob Candy (c) can play anywhere and likely will. Richards is likely in the outfield where he continues to play well and his bat steadily improved last year. Mr. McCarron will settle down Mr. Quadrini's feet in no time and have hitting like a champ. I think the only thing that will keep this team from having a "2011 Dusty Cleats" year getting the right rhythm with people in and out of the line up due to work. I still see 18 wins as a worse case scenario.
The Dusty Cleats Dynasty - I'm picking another favourite. Joseph seems back to his healthy self. He looked good at the draft and didn't miss a single game last year. Add that to Barton and Doyle who are perennial top 25 hitters and you have some great offense. And that doesn't even count Mr. Boston. He had a sub par 1st half last year but lit it up when the weather got warm and especially down the stretch. Defense looks solid in the outfield with Joseph, Radar, Rene Simard and Timmy Sullivan as regulars with others who can parachute in and out. Doyle at short will likely be throwing to the all-star of Wayne Caldwell at first. The Doyle Barton combo in the middle of the diamond is one the majority of teams would be jealous of. There's a lot to like here plus Dane (c) and Pully (c) have lived through a 3 win season and a 22 win season. They don't rattle.
The Dodge City Rounders. They garnered the most votes. There has to be a reason. So why is everyone so enamored with the The DCR? To be honest....they do have a couple of holes. For example they don't have a league proven short stop. But by all accounts, they have a rookie to play that spot. Looking at the roster, I'm not sure who's at 2nd either. Beyond that, there's lots write home about. Starting on the mound, they have the steady and consistent pitching of Wayne Bickford. Balls hit to the outfield will be swallowed up by the combination of Scott Peters, Adrian Barry, Mark Bickford, Al Fry (c), Ed McDowell (c) and returnee Luc Schryer. Mason and Beechey should elevate this team. How far and how fast will depend on how they adapt to a very different game. But this is a roster full of guys who know how the game is properly played in this league.
One More Thing
In doing my preseason research I found out that 15% of the league, didn't miss a game all of last season. That doesn't make them spectacular ball players, but it does make them pretty reliable and I think we should note that. Here is the Home Room Teacher list of perfect attendance:
Anicete Goncalves
Frank Laird
Harley Sherman
Steve DeLand
Jim MacDonald
Bob Pearce
Terry Doucet
Al Fry
Tim Schrank
Randy Hipkin
Larry Turner
Rob McCarron
Doug Dwyer
Rob Farah
Rob Hayward
Jerry Muirhead
Paul Gyori
Chris Larkin
Mike Olliffe
James Taylor
Roger Burton
Clayton Campbell
Dan Chiasson
Bob Candy
Hugh Armstrong
Cliff Joseph
Adrian Barry
Two days till Opening day!
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