Just rolled over into a new season after another year stocked with parity. Generally this has been a pretty quick-rolling world, but have multiple teams open this season. Luckily this means you have a variety of options, ranging from clear contenders to rebuilds in need of some TLC. If you have interest in any of the teams, feel free to post here, contact me or world commish douglasdao.
NL North
Minnesota Iotas Franchise - This team was locked into the playoffs before a late season swoon allowed a lucky beneficiary to sneak ahead of them the last week of the season. Still won 86 games, and with players like
Geraldo James,
Alberto Borbon,
Livan Rosario, and
Ray Waltman, this is a defense aficionado's dream and a strong bet to be in contention again next season. Have BOTH the #17 AND #19 pick in the upcoming amateur draft.
NL East
New York Mets Franchise - On the other end of the spectrum, this franchise had a 5 year period where they averaged over 90 wins/season, but has fallen on hard times in the last 2 as that run comes to an end without ever quite making it to the promised land. There are some useful pieces to sell off to contenders (career 2.89 ERA and 2x CY winner
Frank Iwazaki, power-hitting LF
David Valentine, or overlooked 1B prospect
Vince Matthews), but this is more likely to be a pure rebuild, starting with the #10 pick in this year's draft.
Philadelphia Flyers Franchise - Honestly not sure how this team didn't fare better, they lost 99 games despite bringing back most of the same cast that won 93 the season before led by Cookie Corpas, one of the few SS with the skills to be both a defensive and offensive asset (and a guy I've tried to pry away on more than one occasion). His letdown of a season is your gain with the #6 pick in this year's draft.
Florida Mutineers Franchise - Another rebuild,
Peter Miller is clearly the top player at the ML level, hitting and fielding very well, but stamina limits him somewhat. The future is looking up though with former #1 overall pick
Nigel Goetzmann and the #3 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
NL West
Boise Blues Franchise - This franchise is stocked with young talent.
Davey Vizcaino,
Stefen Prieto, and
Omar Bautista are all in their 20's and none have gone through arbitration yet. If that's not enough, we'll soon see top prospects like
Jacob Franklin,
Derrick Eiland, plus a few others in the lower levels. Add in veteran talent like
Teddy Sheets and this franchise is set up to contend now and in the future. They have the #15 pick.
AL North
Scranton Associates Franchise - This team averaged 93+ wins before a single down season with a new owner. In a world where you can never have enough pitching, Scranton has a legitimate ace in
Ramon Nakamura and a quality 2nd guy in
Edgmer Perez. Both still have quality years left, but along with top position player
Ricky Maholm and closer
Jimmie Lee, could either be used to contend immediately or as trade pieces to build around young star
Terry Quinn. They'll also have the #14 pick in the upcoming draft.
AL East
Cincinatti Red Legs Franchise - This is another team with a legitimate ace in
Chad Swann. Paired with the ridiculous power of
Hi Parrish, a young star averaging 50+ HR per season in his 5 ML seasons, they've been a regular contender. This is another team you could either build around stars or try to trade them to jump-start an immediate rebuild - I know I'd definitely want both of those guys on my team. They'll be picking #18 in the draft.
AL South
Huntington Knights Franchise - Here's a franchise that was poorly run 5 seasons back, and has used that opportunity to rebuild and restock with some elite talent led by young stars (and already an MVP winner)
Antonio Silva and
Artie Freeman. If you're looking for a playoff team, this is a great choice as they've won their division the past 2 seasons and are poised to do so again, having barely lost last season to an epic comeback from last year's top team. Their continued success means they won't be picking until #23.
AL West
Salem Grizzlies Franchise - This one should be a pure rebuild. While the ML team does have
Art Dalrymple and
Hod Siebert as useful pieces, the previous owner wasn't able to develop high draft picks like
Josh Luebbers (#1 overall) and
Deacon Swihart (#4 overall) into the stars they should have been. This is your chance to do better, starting with the #2 overall pick in this year's draft.
Las Vegas Golden Nuggets Franchise - This franchise had been going through a rebuild, but the owner gave up on it just before reaping the benefits - his loss, your gain. This is one of those teams where the minor leagues could outplay the ML squad, with guys like Dayan Johnson, Max Barkett, and Alex Belliard (among others) all on their way up. Add in the #11 draft pick and this team could be very dangerous very soon.
5/31/2016 3:19 PM (edited)