| Team History: Started the IBC with the Cubs/SF GM. climbed to the top of theAl in the inaugural season in spite of a tough challenge by Toronto by riding thearm of Pedro and the bats of Dunn and Garciaparra. Looking forward to next season with a carried over Dunn, a healthy Nomar and Pedro and an improved Derek Lowe. A little concerned about Toronto next year, as they will be an improved team, but so will we. Lineup: Was pretty outstanding with Dunn being the youngest player ever to do... well just about everythinghe did. Hit .307 with a .422 OBP 60HR's 141runs, 152 RBI. Only problem si he struck out 183 times in 599 AB's. Although he also walked 113 times. Garciaparra was the realMVP though, hitting .400 most of the way and slipping to 'only' .379 once the playoffs were all but clinched. felipe opez showed some magic with the bat, somehow managing to hit 26 triples, go figure. Next year he may be replaced by the Mighty Mark Teixeira who hit for high average, lots of homers and walked 46 times versus 60 k's in 330AB's in the minors this year. If the sim gives him the go, he's in. Erstad should be improved over this year and Hunter should be about the same. Pena, reese and Kendall can all be expected to perform about the same also. A new leadoff man may need to be found if henderson doesn't return, yeah he hit for shit average (.238) but his OBP was exceptional (.382) and he stole 57 bases and scored 108 runs. Bench: Pretty thin, Freddy Sanchez had a great year in AAA so he could help, he may even get the nod at 3B if teixeira doesn't make it. Chen is a man without a position, he can hit, but you really don't want him in the field, he's least harmful at 1B. Saenz ruptured his hammy, but should be back for next year. he hit .281 in very limited duty (32 PA's). Sadler is uselessat the plate, can't hit for average or power. but damn is he fast, he's a great pinch runner and fills in exceptionally at 4-5 defensive positions. Defense: Pretty good except for Dunn, whose bat would keep him in ANY lineup. Nomar has had some throwing issues but hopefully the deft Carlos pena can help him out there. Erstad and Hunter are two of the best defensive OF'ers in the game, too bad they play the same position. For now, Erstad can be seen patrolling RF with Hunter in CF. Kendall is a whiz behind the plate. Lopez is a major issue at 3B, his timelooks to be shorter and shorter the more i think about it. Reese at 2B, speaks for itself I think. Rotation: It was good in '02, will be better in '03 Lowe wasn't half the pitcher in the sim that he was in the MLB. With his arm strength built up to where he can pitch more innings in the season without wearing down, he could be as sharp as Pedro all Year. Pedro? He's god, next question. Pineiro should be much better next year also as his 4.40 era in the sim was pretty igh over what he did in the MLB. dempste, well he may be a ost cause. he eats innings, i'll give him that much credit. but he lost 17 games in the sim. Ouch. Sparks is another inning eater with an ugly era. Bullpen: Oddly, I didn't notice my bullpen for a long time. That should have told me something right there. A good bullpen is one that you never notice, because there aren't ny problems. they 'bent, but didn't break'. ften giving up sizable amounts of runs, but not blowing the game. 84-0 during the regular season when leading after 7 innings. Pretty sick. Mecir will likely be booted from the closer spot as he underperformed in the MLB, but Spooneybarger is ready to step in and take the reins any time. Minors: Very, very young. Most of these guys are still in A ball and some may still have diaper rash. Pretty heavy on the pitching, here's a bit about the guys i know ofhand. Sean Burnett -Not an overpowering pitcher by any means, he doesn't throw hard and he doesn't strike you out. he just gets you out. Period. He's a smart pitcher with excellent control. and a 13-4 record and 1.80 era this year. Joe Mauer - Someday down the line when a hot catching rospect comes up, theyll say, this kid reminds me of Joe Mauer. Hits for great average, has a lot of power potential and his deense is exceptional. when a catcher is hitting .330 and scouts can't agree whether his defense or his hitting is his greatest asset, you know you have a real gem. Mark Texeira - was addressed in the Lineup section, but this kid is incredible. Just a true pure hitter. Kevin Youkilis - 3b of the future for the MLB Red Sox, another excellent hitter waiting in the wings. Hit .344 with 31 walks and 18k's (No, i didn't get those numbers backwards) at Trenton. or the season he had 93BB's and 63K's in 481 AB's. Boof Bonser - Aside from a great name, Boof also has a great fastball resulting in a .288 era and 139 k's. Bobby Basham - 8-4 with a 1.64 era in 13 starts. grow up fast kid, grow up Very fast. Jason Stokes - hit .341 with 27hr's in 349 Ab's. Let higet 500 AB's and that's 39 hr's. Watch out Carlos Pena. Strengths/Weaknesses: Strengths - Pedro, Lowe, Dunn and Nomar. Put those four on any team and you have a contender (possibly a champion). Weaknesses - This team strikes out. A lot! Duna dn Lopez were both in the top ten and as a team led the league (which considering Kendall, Erstad and Nomar hardly strike out at all, is disturbing). Over/Under: OVER - Rickey hederson, Adam Dunn (IBC God) and Felipe lopez. Nomar too, but not by as much. Under - Lowe and Pineiro. Especially Pineiro who had 13 losses in the Sim. Right/Wrong Right. Traded for Lowe, took a chance on pedro with the #1 overall pick. Getting 'that guy Dunn' instead of beckett originally seemed bad, now it's not so bad. Hunter and erstad were also good pickups. I signed Rodrigo Lopez before anyone else noticed him (i'll get to that again, soon). Wrong Traded Rodrigo lopez at a point where i felt he had outlived his magic. i thought he was a flash in the pan getting by on smoke and mirros. I was dead wrong and I got fleeced when I traded him. he's a legit number twoon any team but ould have been my 3 or 4. Shame on me for trading good pitching!!! Traded josh phelps when it seemed 'ovbvious' that eh wasn't going to do anything. Then August hit and suddenly so did he. Every day I looked at toronto boxscores and he had hit another homer, or gone 3 for 4. I drafted him thinking I had a sleeper and I was right, too bad I dealt him for a song(joe borchard). The Future: Next year looks pretty bright and if one or two of the prospects develops quickly the following year should also. My pitching will be better next year and my offense shouldn't fall off toomuch. Toronto looks to be much better next year, should be an exciting season. Here's hoping one of his aces breaks down if it gets to close ;-) |
| BOSTON RED SOX *NOTE - This analysis is strictly the opinion of the Red Sox GM, and was done as objectively as possible and strictly for the fun of it |
| GM Bren Dillon RECORD 103-50 1st AL East |
| 2003 Line-Up Rickey Henderson DH (?) Jason Kendall C Nomar Garciaparra SS Adam Dunn LF Torii Hunter CF Carlos Pena 1B Darin Erstad RF Felipe Lopez/Mark Texeira 3B Pokey Reese 2B 2003 Rotation Pedro Martinez RHP Derek Lowe RHP Joel Pineiro RHP Ryan Dempster RHP Steve W. Sparks |
| 2003 Bullpen Tim Spooneybarger CL Jim Mecir Ray King Bob File Travis Phelps Shigetoshi Hasegawa 2003 Bench: Olmedo Saenz 1B Javier Valentin C Freddy Sanchez ss/2b Donnie Sadler 2B Chin-Feng Chen LF |
| Minors Bobby Basham RHP (A CIN) Boof Bonser RHP (A SF) Sean Burnett LHP (A PIT) Mike Gosling LHP (A AZ) Todd Linden OF (AA PIT) Joe Mauer C (A MIN) Freddy Sanchez SS (AA BOS) Jason Stokes 1B (A FLA) Mark Teixeira 3B (A TEX) Kevin Youkilis 3B (A BOS) |
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