| Team Profile/History - Co-commissioner and co-founder, Nils has (obviously) been in the league from the beginning. His is a team built around defense and pitching and it works. Lineup - A pretty good lineup for a team built around defense and pitching. Rolen, Walker and Jones are a pretty good 3-4-5 and Eckstein has grown into a very good leadoff hitter. Bench - Not a lot of pop, though Young has some power. Mostly strong defensive players. Defense - Theres no Kryptonite for this defense. All the outfielders have above average arms and Ausmus is simply the best defensive catcher in baseball (just can't hit). Rotation - If not for the Oakland Dynamic Duo, Buehrle would be easily the best young lefty in baseball. Penny and Sturtze are both promising young pitchers on terrible teams. In fact, Sturtze may be the best bad pitcher in baseball. Bullpen - Some good arms, some iffy arms. Gordon is a risk as a closer, but I like the guy. Ligtenberg and Howry are solid as are Tam and Wunsch. Minors - Not a lot of really young prospects, though a lot of guys who can be useful now in the event of an injury or to suplement a trade. Sirotka and Milton will be very useful if/when they get healthy. Griffin is a pretty good OF prospect and Bukvich isn't bad either. Overall Grade - A- I can't bring myself to give him an A, not sure if it's te lack of a Legit Ace (Buehrle doesn't count just yet) or of a hard stopper in the bullpen. Or maybe I just don't want to sound biased. Over/Under Over - Rosado. Had to bring it up, sorry Nils. Under - No one sticks out. Prescription - Needs a DH if he's going to move to the AL next year... |
| Lineup David Eckstein Fernando Vina Scott Rolen Larry Walker Andruw Jones Derrek Lee Brad Ausmus Luis Matos Rotation Mark Buehrle Brad Penny Mike Matthews Jason Marquis Tanyon Sturtze |
| Minors Dee Brown Javier Cardona Giovanni Carrara John Ford Griffin Omar Infante Eric Milton Mike Sirotka Ben Weber DeWayne Wise Ryan Bukvich |
| CHICAGO CUBS *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 Nils RECORD 75-46 2d place on 8/16/02 (WC) |
| Bench Einar Diaz Tony Graffanino Aaron Rowand Jose Guillen Kevin Young Bullpen Flash Gordon CL Scott Sullivan Bob Howry Kerry Ligtenberg Jeff Tam Kelly Wunsch Doug Nickle |
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