1999 CDBL PREVIEW "Your Mileage May Vary!" ******************************************************************************* Aaron Division - 1st - California Kamados (Last Season - 118-44, 1st place) After posting 118 wins in '98, the '99 Kamados are looking just as good. Derek Jeter is in prime form, and Sean Casey, Brian Daubach and Scott Rolen add to the offense. Omar Daal and Jamie Moyer lead a rotation that is light on starter innings, but the extremely deep and talented bullpen helps give the Kamados one of the best pitching staffs in the majors. 2nd - Manhatten Beach Mashers (Last Season - 86-76, 3rd place) Mark McGwire swings a big bat yet again, and is joined by fellow Mashers Jeromy Burnitz, Robin Ventura and Mike Sweeney. Doug Glanville and Homer Bush provide walks and steals. Juan Guzman can soak up innings in the ace position, and Billy Wagner and Armando Benitez give Manhatten Beach two elite closer candidates. 3rd - Point Lomas Friars (Last Season - 89-73, 2nd place) Greg Vaughn, Jason Giambi, Luis Gonzalez and Jay Bell give the Friars one of the biggest deep threat lineups in the majors. Darryl Hamilton and Dave Nilsson will add to the run production. Shane Reynolds is a quality starter, although some of the other starters are merely average. Lots of good if not great relievers in the bullpen. Expect lots of high scoring games this year for the Friars. 4th - Elk Grove Trout (Last Season - 60-102, 6th place) John Jaha is the center of the offense this year, supported by an up and coming Magglio Ordonez. After that the hitting gets a little thin. Young Freddy Garcia heads up the rotation, which gets a little thin afterwards. No firemen of the year candidates in the bullpen but lots of solid relievers. 5th - Arkham Investigators (Last Season - 76-86, 5th place) Ken Griffey Jr once again leads the offense, with backed up by Reggie Sanders, Lee Stevens, and Mark Loretta should be able to score a few runs. They'll need to, as the pitching staff is going to be really iffy this year. 6th - Portland Commanders (Last Season - 77-85, 4th place) Rafael Palmeiro is an elite talent, and Tim Salmon is good when he's not injured, but a lack of depth in hitting and in pitching will make 1999 a rebuilding year. ******************************************************************************* Paige Division - 1st - Madison Muckrakers (Last Season - 102-60, 1st place) Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez and Andruw Jones gives the Muckrakers a young and talented core. Mark Grace, Marvin Benard and Royce Clayton will also help Madison score plenty of runs. Mike Sirotka and John Halama should be able to keep the score low enough for the offense to win games. Greg Swindell and Kevin McGlinchy lead a solid if unspectacular bullpen. 2nd - DBL Fishbiscuits (Last Season - 85-77, 3rd place) Known as "the team with those 7-8 really good players", the Fishbiscuits have enough talent to win the division this year. Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome and Larry Walker are as elite as ever, and Quilvio Veras, Cal Ripken Jr and Michael Barrett help fill in the gaps. Pete Harnisch and Orlando Hernandez are decent starters. After Mike Remlinger, the bullpen gets really shaky, but that can always be rectified by mid-season trades. 3rd - Tualatin Thunder (Last Season - 81-81, 4th place) A team with Mike Piazza, Shawn Green and Jeff Bagwell is going to score some runs. Barry Larkin, Brian Jordan and Carlos Lee will help as well. Their better starters, Ryan Rupe and Ken Hill, will be part timers this year, and some of the pitchers at the end of the rotation are going to lose more than they win. But if they can get to the 8th/9th innings with a lead, Ugueth Urbina and Mariano Rivera will shut the other side down. 4th - Springfield Isotopes (Last Season - 78-84, 6th place) Lots of talent in the lineup, with Barry Bonds (when healthy), Tony Clark, Jose Canseco, Bernie Williams and Miguel Tejada all able to generate some runs. Curt Schilling is an ace pitcher, but the rotation gets thin after that. Tim Crabtree and Doug Jones leads an "OK" bullpen. 5th - Chicago Black Sox (Last Season - 79-83, 5th place) Vladimir Guerrero, Eric Karros, Mike Lieberthal and Ben Grieve will pack some punch. Ray Durham, Edgar Renteria and Mike Cameron will generate some speed. Todd Ritchie will be given the ace role, but there will be plenty of juggling with the rest of the starting rotation. Roberto Hernandez is a solid closer. 6th - Seattle Decaf (Last Season - 87-75, 2nd place) Raul Mondesi can provide some batting thump, and John Olerud is an above average first basemen, but the rest of the lineup is a little light on hitting. Kevin Millwood would contend for a Cy on another team, but he'll be largely wasted thanks to a truly mediocre pitching staff. ******************************************************************************* Gehrig Division - 1st - Encinitas Surfers (Last Season - 92-70, 1st place) With Matt Stairs, Steve Finley, Ellis Burks and BJ Surhoff the Surfers are going to score some runs. Tony Fernandez is a more than capable table-setter. With Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown at the top of the order, the Surfers easily have one of the best rotations in the game (and that effect gets even more amplified in the playoffs). Billy Koch and Scott Sauerbeck lead the bullpen, who will not be stressed to perform quite so much as they would with other teams. 2nd - Hong Kong Cavaliers (Last Season - 81-81, 3rd place) Roberto Alomar, Dante Bichette and Carlos Beltran lead a balanced offense. Roger Cedeno is an expert table-setting, getting on base and swiping a few. Ed Taubensee and Rich Aurilla add to the mix. Pedro Martinez is quite simply the best pitcher in baseball, and because of that the rest of the rotation just has to be merely adequate. The bullpen is a little thin, but that's nothing a few mid-season trades can't fix. 3rd - Albuquerque Maul (Last Season - 86-76, 2nd place) Albert Belle and Dean Palmer lead a high power offense, which also features Kevin Young. Craig Biggio and Rickey Henderson should score plenty of runs at the top of the order. The Maul have a bonafide ace in John Smoltz, and Jose Rosado is a decent #2 starter, but the pitching starts to get thin after that. John Johnstone and Steve Karsay are solid closer candidates, and the rest of the relievers are OK. 4th - Topeka Stingers (Last Season - 47-115, 6th place) With Fred McGriff, Troy O'Leary, Todd, Zeile, Jeff Kent, and Jermaine Dye, the Stingers are going to score some runs. Mike Hampton should put in an ace season, and Russ Ortiz and Jason Schmidt are solid starters. Jeff Shaw and Bob Howry lead a deep and capable bullpen. 5th - Anchorage Gold Diggers (Last Season - 76-86, 4th place) The Gold Diggers don't have the homer-happy bombers that most other teams do, but with Joe Randa, Kenny Lofton, Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O'Neill, they should do OK. Starting pitching will be more of a problem, as after ace Brad Radke it gets a little shaky. If they can get a lead into the 9th, though, closer Trevor Hoffman will have no problems closing it out. 6th - Concord Minutemen (Last Season - 62-100, 5th place) Jose Canseco may be gone, but with Chipper Jones, Tino Martinez, Bret Boone and Tony Gwynn the Minutemen will still be able to score a few runs. Ismael Valdes is a solid starter, but the rest of the pitching staff is suspect, as is the bullpen after Robb Nen. ******************************************************************************* Tiant Division - 1st - Avila Dragons (Last Season - 104-58, 1st place) Avila has a high powered offense led by Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Brady Anderson and Mo Vaughn. Ken Caminiti, Mike Redmond and a bevy of other part timers will also make for some high scoring games. Alex Fernandez, Andy Ashby and Omar Olivares leads a solid and capable rotation, and Keith Foulke and a horde of part time relievers will make a solid bullpen. 2nd - Boston Bulldogs (Last Season - 82-80, 4th place) Boston, like most other teams, has a high scoring offense, with Edgar Martinez, Bobby Abreu, Henry Rodriguez, Edgardo Alfonzo and Matt Williams all fans of the long ball. Randy Johnson is a legit Cy candidate, and Kris Benson and Kenny Rogers are good middle of the rotation starters. Jeff Zimmerman and Doug Brocail are strong closer candidates. 3rd - Dedham Destroyers (Last Season - 91-71, 3rd place) The Destroyers will be destroying some pitchers this season. Todd Helton, Brian Giles, Fernando Tatis, Rondell White, David Justice and Jason Varitek are all potential all-stars. Jose Lima, Dustin Hermanson and Dave Burba are decent game-managers, and Scott Williamson, Donne Wall and Jason Grismley gives Dedham options in the bullpen. 4th - Alphaville Cautions (Last Season - 95-67, 2nd place) With Luis Castillo and Shannon Stewart the Cautions have two of the better top of the order hitters. Rusty Greer should have a good season in the outfield, and JT Snow and Phil Nevin will help knock in some runs. Kent Bottenfield leads a solid and consistent starting rotation. Danny Graves and Paul Abbott lead a deep and talented reliever corps. 5th - Austin Longhorns (was Toronto Royals) (Last Season - 80-82, 5th place) Along with the rest of the league, Austin will score some runs with the likes of Juan Gonzalez, Jeff Cirillo, Ryan Klesko, Al Martin and Paul Konerko. David Cone is an ace, and Sterling Hitchcock and Tom Glavine fill out the rotation. Mike Timlin and Travis Miller head up a capable bullpen. 6th - San Diego Rude Dawgs (Last Season - 30-132, 6th place) Nomar Garciaparra, Carl Everett and Frank Thomas will help with the offense, but the hitters start dropping off in quality after that. Rookie Tim Hudson is their best pitcher by far, as the rest will struggle to keep the baseballs inside the park.