A new season starts along with the renewal of spring, and the State of the PVBL turns over a new leaf as it unveils it's new format...
From the Public Relations Office
On Tuesday night I had a little spark of innovation and I decided to go for the gusto and revamp the 'State of the PVBL'. No longer filled with crap and mumbo jumbo. This is going to be fun lovin' excitement. I urge you to read on because I haven't got to the exciting part. The 'State of the PVBL's will now be divided into three sections. Pete (a.k.a. Pete the Ax) is one of the top baseball analysists in the U.S. and is debuting with his first "Pete's PVBL Press" this issue. The third section is omitted in this issue, and normally focuses on a particular team. Look for that next time.
Now, on to other important briefings:
My Press Releases consultant and manager, Ms. Sylvie Lachaine, has been working overtime trying to sort and enter into her database all the press releases received. (She expects them to be accessible on the web page for sure by Thursday morning.) According to her conversative estimate, she expects the total of press releases by year end to exceed 500. That takes into account that the rate will diminish come May. Last year's, 290 press releases were catalogues and Lachaine is projecting nearly a 200% increase.
Chris McMurtry has been assigned the new minor league commissioner. McMurtry has had some experience in a management position in baseball, but he abandoned the post to deal full time with his team, the Tampa Bay Mets. As far as it concerns me, I will still deal with the press releases of the PVBL minor league (assuming owners are interested in publishing them, which I wouldn't bet on).
Pete's PVBL Press
The season's still young. Most teams have only played 14 or 15 games, good enough for three cycles through the rotation. But we are nearing the end of April and the baseball critics are wetting their pants in excitement of the turn of events, especially in the DL...
CHICAGO IS THE HOERST: How do you pronounce Hoerst? Is it 'Herst', 'Horst', or is 'Hoorst'? After starting the season with a 2-12 record, fans may agree on the latter. The offense just hasn't come through for Chicago. In their first 7 games, they managed to score just 13 runs. While Kevin Elster continues to overachieve, Juan Gonzalez and Shawn Green, the core of the powerhitting, have had a rough start. Brooklyn, another '97 playoff contender, is faring little better with only 3 wins in 13 games.
AVERY JOINS WINNING STAFF: Phoenix may have made a franchise deal, acquiring a great pitcher, Steve Avery, for two young players that may never amount to much, Angel Kaat and Amaury Telemaco. While Laurel Lynx defends the trade ("a
player with 90+ contact potential and 90+ power potential was too much to pass up"), the team can also lose big time on the deal, which would not look good for GM Sean Dawson. While the Lynx are largely a prospect team, they are showing a lot of poise standing at 8-7 for the season. Meanwhile, Phoenix now boasts one of the deepest rotations in the league with Shane Reynolds, Wilson Alvarez, Pedro Astacio, Steve Avery and Chan Ho Park.
THE EARLY DARK HORSE: All Dan Shapiro can talk about, the Punxatawney Groundhogs' GM, is Houston this, Houston that. While he's so worried about the force the Houston Hellraisers put together, he might as well suck on this awhile: the Springfield Atoms have quickly taken over first place in the Riker Division, a half a game over Punxatawney. Does this remind you of another recent event? Primarily, the U.S. and Canada hockey teams in the Olympics, who built teams to defeat one another and then Czech Rep. soundly but surely bulldozed through everyone? The Atoms are a sure bet for a dark horse playoff contender, with all the hype centered around Houston and Punxatawney. The Springfield Atoms are not awe inspiring in any one area, but they have a particularily solid, young pitching staff, led by Ken Hill and Joey Hamilton. Randy Myers, despite being the best reliever the league has to offer, is still underrated.
TUCSON GETS THE HEAT: Scott Watterson, made wise moves during the offseason and has been a model GM last season letting the younger players get the playing time. All of a sudden, Scott has lost his patience and his cool: he benched Todd Hollandsworth Garrett Anderson after only 7 games due to their poor performance. Watterson's reactions are uncalled for. He cannot expect to deal with his young team in a brazen manner, and hopefully we will see some more of the "wise, old Scott" we were all used to.
SPOKANE AND THE BASH BROS: While Mark McGwire and Brady Anderson do more than their share of the scoring, the Pirates continue to have troubles with pitching despite offseason trades for David Cone and Juan Guzman. Obviously, changing the name from "Paladins" to "Pirates" was not the solution. So what's the solution? Here's my slice of the pie: trade Mark McGwire. While he is probably one of the most valuable offensive players, the pitchers believe that he can do everything, and thus they don't pitch expecting to deal with a 0-1 or 1-2 game.
SANTIAGO OUT FOR SEASON: Benito Santiago, the main catcher for the Binghampton Mets, suffered a serious injury to his elbow after a head-on collision at the plate. It was unfortunate because Santiago was out of position at the time receiving the throw, and was hit in an awkward position. Meanwhile, Chili Davis took a beating to his ribs after colliding with O'Neill. Another separate incident involved Craig Biggio, who supposedly strained his back hauling bricks for his new shed. Both will be on the DL up to a month. Owner of the Mets, Jason Garnar, always looks at the bright side of things: "These injuries definitely hurt, but if our starters can keep us in games we have a good chance to win. It's gonna give the kids a little experience in the big leagues."
THE CANADA CUP: After the Calgary franchise folded and moved south, the title for the best Canadian team will have to be settled by the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Montreal Royals, both in the same division. So far, Edmonton holds a 2.5 game lead over the Royals. But don't hold your breath for a World Series coming to Canada any time soon.
DID I NOT MENTION DEADWOOD? Deadwood, with it's all-star lineup, has to contend with 3rd place in the McCoy division, behind the Hartford Whalers and the Edmonton Oil Kings. So far, they have a 7-8 record. The moves made by Deadwood during the offseason were the talk of the town, but it's no laughing matter now. They didn't expect to be underdogs like last season, and already they will have to play catch up. If they don't start winning soon, you may see the real estate agents busy in Deadwood.
QUOTE TO END ALL: "So we [the Montreal Royals] have one of the best bullpens in the league? I'll throw a truism at you, folks: there's no relief unless you've got a lead, and the Royals may have trouble coming up with leads to protect year, especially when they have to face the offensive forces of Hartford and Deadwood." --columnist, Jack Frodd
