AL NORTH SNAPSHOT

AL NORTH



MONTREAL MOUNTIES-winmyron holds a slim division lead, albeit with a sub .500 25-26 record. Trade acquisition SS Francis Bennett has been sold defensively but has hit just .208. Picked up 3 FA pitchers-Slim Shouse, Donatello Poole, and Fred Collins, but none have gotten the job done to date. FA C Antonio Miller has hardly played. DH Delino Marin(1.113 OPS) is leading the AL with a .398 BA. C Albert Guerrero(.320 BA), 3B Pablo Chavez(.320, 11 HR), 1B F.P. Koskie(.309, 14 HR) and last year's MVP 2B Abraham Fonda(315, 13 HR, 9 SB) lead one of the league's more potent offenses. Pitching is another story. The Mounties currently have a 5.87 team ERA, 3rd worst in the AL. Closer Heath Donovan(11-13 Svs, 1.98 ERA) has been fine. SP Esteban Lee, a 20 game winner last year, is 2-6, 7.20 ERA. Omar Navarro is 6-2. Along with Dennis Boggs, winmyron's top 3 SPs are performing well below last season's levels. If the pitching can improve, the Mounties are a good bet to repeat as division champs.



MADISON MEEK MADNESS- sccrplyr16 is currently in the middle of the fight, just one game back at 24-27. FA signee LF Vic Rijo(.356, 7 HR) is off tho the best start of his career. MMM has a good offense, but it can't overcome their 5.73 team ERA. In addition to Rijo, 3B Ryan Darling(.333), and RF Dom Coscarart(.307, 19 HR) lead the offense. SPs Jin-Chi Shin and Julio Cedeno have 5 wins each. Closer duties are being shared by 3 pitchers, none of whom have been spectacular. If they can turn the pitching around, they may stay in the race all year.

TORONTO TOROS- This division has been turned on it's head. For many years you could flip the current standings and that was how they ended the year. I'm sure new commish goldenboy69 yearns for those halcyon days. The season started out OK, but then a long losing streak dropped the Toros to their current 21-31 record, but still only 5 games off the lead. But a 5.52 ERA coupled with a league worst .252 team BA does not bode well, and gb may have already decided to go into rebuilding mode. Signed a couple of FA RPs in Jack Lawton(2.42 ERA) & Miguel Acevedo(2.96 ERA, .198 OAvg) who have done well but at 36 & 38 years old, are not the answer for the future. Trade acquisitions 2B Tomas Franco(.208), CF Freddy Franco(.263, 7 HR), and 3B Howie Dickson(.228) are young enough to fit into a rebuilding plan, but none are superstars. It's not all bad, though. SS Eddie Post(.294) is OK defensively. RF Trevor Thebeau(.285, 16 HR) & Rookie DH Tim Logan(.284, 7 HR) provide some hope. No SP currently has a winning record. Alexander Lawrence(3.67) has a good ERA. Young Delino Morales(23) could have a good future, but Branch Hill, Olmedo Molina, and Mac Morris appear no better than average. Closer Eugene Carlson(12 Svs), a former #1 draft pick, is only 24 and had 39 saves last season. LR Miguel Acevedo(2.92 ERA) has been a plus. With only 6 players over 30 on the ML roster, the rebuilding process is underway.

MINNESOTA TWINKIES- How the mighty have fallen. brentnet has been the sole owner of this storied franchise that has finished 1st or 2nd in this division 11 times in 14 season, with 2 WS championships to his credit. Last season things fell apart and the Twinkies finished last for the first time in their history with a 67-95 record. Things aren't much better this year with a 19-33 record, but that still leaves them only 7 games back. Lone FA signee RP Roy Peters is 5-5 in saves, but a 6.08 ERA and .312 OAvg is not what brent is paying for. Rule 5 pickup RP Dernell Spivey(11.02 ERA, .367 OAvg) hasn't panned out so far. One thing the Twinkies have always been known for is their power, and they are still 2nd in the league in HRs(93). But that WIS power adjustment update may have really taken it's toll on this team. Even with all the HRs, they are next to last in RS. Young 1B Billy Corey(3.14, 15 HR) is a keeper. DH Gerry Allen(.284, 12 HR) has won 5 Silver Slugger awards and is still only 28. 24 year old 3B Scott Coles(16 HRs) has prodigious power. C Omar Mercedes has been a solid 20+ HR guy in his career. The pitching staff has been bad, sporting a team ERA of 5.83, and that's hard for any offense to overcome. One bright spot has been SP Mel Pearson(7-1, 3.41 ERA) and he's only 25. But with more than half the ML roster over 29, there's some work to be done to return this franchise to greatness.