National League West Preseason Analysts

I'm starting the preseason blog with the National League West to honor that division for having the winner of the World Series. Also in full disclosure mode the Albuquerque franchise is run by my son. I will try to use the same standards that I use for all franchises when blogging, but you have a right to know that both Honolulu and Albuquerque have a hook with the blogger.

Vancouver franchise     owner: picc18              39 seasons in this league                               2,712 wins

     picc has moved the Oklahoma City franchise to Vancouver. Last season OKCity had over a minus 100 run differential. The situation isn't really that bad as the team promoted several rookies to the majors and a couple of established guys had down seasons. Both the veterans and the now second year players should have better seasons in 47.
 The pitching staff is headed by Rashun Pearson who had a 2.34 ERA in 161 innings last year. Javier Flores had 37 save opportunities last year and converted on 36. WOW!
 The bats will be better with Bronson Cassevah and Cy Eaton entering their second year. Marc Cone stole 37 bases while having a down year, and is expected to bounce back. Socks Gross is another player who is expected to pick up more hits after a tough season 46.
 The really good news in Vancouver is a huge amount of payroll flexibility. Less than 45 million is committed to returning players. Last year's payroll was budgeted at 106 million. A young core group with lots of dollars to bring in free agents!

Las Vegas franchise    owner: pimpbotlove      20 seasons in this league                               1,976 wins

 Well it had to happen; after winning the division for 19 consecutive years the Galaxy finally saw their star dim. Vegas also had over a minus 100 run differential. However the rebuild is already happening. The Vegas double-A team won 107, high-A won 93, low-A won 72, and the rookie league team won 42.
 Veteran Kike Guzman will anchor the rotation showing the ropes to future ace Terrance Durrington. The field players will be led by future gold glover Enrique Guerrero and left fielder Dude Haren.
 The good news for pimpbotlove and bad news for the rest of us, only 19.7 million is committed in salaries for this season.

Albuquerque franchise  owner: danxmcgraw   17 seasons in the league                                1,178 wins

The Dukes had a negative 32 run differential in season 46; an improvement of 109 runs from season 45.
 The improvements were from a lot pf players; pitchers: Ralph Collier, Alvin Hall, Marwin Arroyo and Braulio Vega. Two hitters that had good years were Tito Maxwell and Jairo Sanchez. With a bounce back year from Stolmy Castro things should look bright in Albuquerque.
 Albuquerque has 57.9 million committed in salaries for the season.

Seattle franchise           owner: jc44*                5 seasons in the league                                   362 wins

 A most improbable season 46 for this franchise. After going 82-80 in the regular season with a run differential of positive 66; the franchise went 14-7 in the playoffs, winning the World Series.
 Seattle had an incredibly young roster. The offense was led by Alex Martinez and Luigi Cruz who both scored 90 runs and drove in 85.Tripp Davis, Giovany Diaz and Jamie Wang each chipped in 20 or more home runs. All five of these player are 27 or younger. The top six starting pitchers and the three relievers with the most saves from season 46 will be back for this season .
 With all those players being young and cheap, Seattle has only 36.2 million committed in salaries for this season.