Seems Everyone is Rebuilding - but Chicks are not

With three of the four last place teams of 2003 making the playoffs in 2004, and two of those teams appearing in the World Series, the in thing to do may be to finish in last place in 2005 so you can make the playoffs in 2006. The Chicks are not buying that theory.

They made a couple trades to fill positions, trading younger players to get older players. Joel Piniero and Jamey Carrol went to the Phantoms for Vinny Castilla, who will take over for third base from Dmitri Young, and then Anotonio Perez, Hector Gimenez, Johnny Gomez and Seth McClung were traded to two separate teams for Pokey Reese and Barry Larkin. The Chicks also got a couple mid level draft choices in those trades to try to restock the farm. The Chicks also lost Rafael Soriano and Carl Everett in the winter draft and picked up two more draft choices, giving them 14 this spring.

So the left side of the infield appears to be set with Vinny Castilla at third and Barry Larkin and Jose Vizcaino in a semi platoon at short. Alfonso Soriano and Jim Thome already manned the right side. The catching will be handled by A.J. Pierzynsk, with either Benito Santiago or Adam Melhuse battling for the job against left handed pitching. In the outfiled, J. D. Drew will patrol right field, while Aaron Rowand will take center. Raul Ibanez and Geoff Jenkins will battle for left. Gabe Kapler, So Taguchi and Juan Encarnacion will hit from the right side. So that leaves the offense with at least 4 players with a slugging percentage over .500 (Thome, Drew, Rowand and Castilla) and solid hitters at other positions.

The starting rotation will be led by Jason Schmidt, who won the Cy Young last year. With the trade of Joel Pinero, Jaret Wright is expected to take his place. From the left side you have Mark Mulder and then for the fourth starter Woody Williams. That gives the team 4 pretty solid starts each day. The fifth starter will be a battle between 8th round spring pick Robert Madritsch, Brandon Backe, a 7th round spring pick, Sun Woo Kim, Tony Armas and Derek Lowe. Matt Riley may even get an opportunity before the year is out. So the Chicks are not hurting in the starting rotation.

The bull pen is a bit like vanilla. Nothing really stands out. Luis Ayala will probably do most of the closing, but he will be battled by new come Ricky Bottalico. Chris Hammon will get the lefties out and Cal Eldred will do long relief. Danny Graves, Jessie Crain and Dave Burba may also see time, as well as those mentioned above who don't make it as third starters. It is an old group, and not an impressive group, but it should get the job done.

With everyone in their division rebuilding this year except the Jays, the Division should be theirs. But the Chicks will not take anything for granted. The season is long and almost anything can happen. Look at 2003's two last place teams, both appearing in the 2004 World Series.

robert abels

Pgh Barons Announce Rebuilding

Pittsburgh - The Pittsburgh Barons have announced that they will start a rebuilding effort. The Barons are a veteran heavy team who have come up short the last couple of seasons. The 2004 season was to be the year, but a man name Wes Helms had other plans.

Barons management says the team needs too many pieces this year and not enough excess to get the pitching staff in shape. In fact, Barons Ace, Curt Schilling, could be had in a major trade. The Barons gave up a ton of talent to acquire him a few years back and are looking for just as much to part with him. At a minimum - an early 1st rd pick + 2 young pitchers + 1 young player, + , + anything to fill in starts.

Other players on the block include: 1B Tino Martinez, OF Craig Biggio, 2B Mark Grudzilaniak, etc....

More news later.

UBL Blog

Great Idea Tim!!

Adirondack Rebuilding Programme Aimed at UBL '06 season.

Lake George, NY (AP) -- The Cubs, despite winning the 2000 and 2002 UBL
championships and falling a Charles Johnson HR short of winning the 2001 WS
as well hadn't managed to make it past the Hornets in the 1st rnd of the
post-season in the last 2 years. The Cubs obviosly decided to re-build this
season...

Shipped out in their first trade of the season were recently acquired Roger
Clemens, 3Bman Mark Loretta, and long-time #4 starter Al Leiter. Received
in return from the Bombers were CF Ken Griffey Jr., a young fireballer named
Josh Beckett, a few prospects and the Bombers' #1 S pick. This trade was
rapidly followed by the shipping off of long-time SS Barry Larkin and
populat UTIL Mark McLemore for more prospects and picks. Finally, staff-ace
Greg Maddux, who was 117-26 in a five year run from 1999-2003 before having
a poor season last year, was shipped off for a pitching prospect and a draft
pick. Doug Mirabelli, recently shifted to the back-up role by the
acquisition of Ivan Rodriguez was also shipped away for a prospect and a
pick. UTIL man Pedro Feliz and 5th starter John Patterson were acquired in
return for some spring picks to round out the trades.

Cubs' GM Tim Raines said of the trades, "I think we got good value for 2006
and beyond in these trades and we could still contend for a wild-card slot
if our young pitching holds up. Barry Bonds will still be here and no
matter who else is on the team that makes you a contender right away. I
think there may still be a few trades left out there as we have some players
who other teams might have more use for than we do right now, its just a
question of them offering something exceeding our use value for these
players." Raines didn't provide a list but a group of reporters speculated
that it includes:

Matt Miller
Rheal Cormier
Miguel Olivo
Adam Everett
Ross Gload
Alan Embree
Ricky Ledee
Edgar Martinez
Ray Lankford
Jose Offerman
and possibly even Mark Bellhorn

Houston Blue Jays Rebuilding Near Complete

The Houston Blue Jays are putting the finishing touches on a rebuilding package that should make them contenders for the 2005 UBL AC playoffs.

 

“If the Saints can win the World Series, anybody in the A.C. can,” Blue Jay manager Willie McCovey said.  “They had an impressive run of luck, but a talent base that was only 4^th-best in our conference.  They just got hot at the right moment.”

 

McCovey plans to give Livan Hernandez the ball on opening day and is counting heavily on his bullpen – led by Joe Nathan and Federico Cordero – to preserve lots of victories in the late innings.

 

In addition, McCovey is hoping the addition of catcher Jason Kendall will shore up the team’s battery skills and field general position, plus his bat certainly won’t hurt the impressive Jays offensive lineup for next season.