PVBL: Montreal Royals
Division Preview--McCoy
April 28, 2000
NEW ORLEANS VAMPIRES
Owner--Jeremy Chrabascz

The reVAMPED Hartford team. I believe this team is better than last year
mostly because the players have learned from last season's mistakes. But I
don't expect any wonders from this team.

Lineup:
Jason Kendall still has a lot to prove, but he has the stuff to be a
veritable leadoff man. Socks Byrne and Mo Vaughn could produce at #2 and
#3. The weight of the offense will rest on rightfielder Bernard Gilkey. Can
he be their cleanup hitter? We'll see. Bill Mueller, Adam Riggs and Orlando
Cabrera are certainly up-and-coming infielders, but don't inspire any fear
among the pitchers. Bip Roberts... well, interesting. And Kurt Abbott is a
fine centerfielder (personally, I would put Cabrera at #9 so he can act as
the second leadoff guy).

Carbo's rating: [B-]. Solid, but no superstars.

Rotation:
If Ken Hill rebounds from last year and Roger Clemens doesn't get tired,
then Hartford will have one of the stronger rotations in the league.
Certainly, there is no 5th pitcher on this team.

Roger Clemens: In his declining years, but he's still an ace, no question
about it. The only different is he's not as consistent as he used to be.
Ken Hill: Due for a solid year. He has been pretty shaky in the past.
Sterling Hitchcock: A very decent control pitcher. A Greg Maddux wannabe.
Kevin Millwood: New Orleans has a lot of fastball pitchers, and he's one of
them. He has good control and arm strength... a no-frills, hard-working
pitcher.
Tom Gordon: Two strong pitches, but that's about it.

Carbo's rating: [A-]. I would have given it an A, but I learn from Weiner's
mistakes. :)


Bullpen:
The Hartford pen is madeup almost entirely of used parts. There's more to a
bullpen than a closer, but nevertheless it is a good thing Jeremy acquired
Nigel Fernandez after trading Troy Perceival last season. I have to give
Jeremy a point for being creative; it will be interesting to see whether
this bullpen succeeds or not.

Carbo's rating: Nevertheless, creativeness doesn't help the pitchers. [C].
I don't think that's being too pessimistic. The pitchers will get more
autograph requests than outs.

Bench:
A few young guys, but they probably won't do much off the bench. Jason
Varitek is meant for the bench. [C].

GM/Player Ops:
Let's see... traded Bobby Witt for Bernard Gilkey. Gilkey won't be a
solution to this mediocre offense, but it's better than starting Abreu.
It's hard to say whether he got the better part of the deal, but made the
Vampires better. Of course, he wouldn't have been able to trade Witt if he
hadn't picked up Sterling Hitchcock from Motor City in the Free Agent Plan.

Carbo's rating: He tried to get Kaat, and didn't succeed. I'll give him a
[B+] for the benefit of the doubt, but I don't see much improvement do to
these trades.

***Carbo's Overall Rating: They'll make some waves this season, but nothing
to ride on (if you get my drift). [B].


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EDMONTON SLED DOGS

After chasing the Deadwood Outlaws in 1998, are they back again for another
dog chase? (It's too bad PVBL owners are so uncreative. Do we have to have
ANOTHER dogs team?)

Lineup:
With a lineup like this, it won't be long before it breaks through. The
reason it did poorly last year was because everyone was hitting home runs,
but there's NO leadoff. Same situation this year, the only difference is
that everyone is hitting MORE home runs. Any offense looks good with A-Rod,
but he has a lot of help--there is power from the first to eigth positions.

Carbo's rating: [A-]. Leadoff may be their downfall. It MAY be.

Rotation:
Tim Belcher and Chuck Finley are not your prototypical aces, but might just
be the experience needed to lead this team to the playoffs. The last three,
Jose Rosado, Pete Schourek and Frascatore will have to sort out their own
problems. All three pitchers have the potential for winning records. One
thing: Do NOT have three lefties in a row in the rotation!

Chuck Finley: I would probably start Belcher in the #1 slot instead of
Finley. With an excellent fastball-sinker combo he is sure to baffle
batters. Then again, his mediocre control is his downfall, because a good
sinker requires good command.
Pete Schourek: This pitcher should not be a 20-game loser. He is a #2
pitcher, but he has to regain his confidence. Maybe this will be his year.
Jose Rosado: This young pitcher has 99 control and an impeccable change-up,
but that's not too much use when you have low arm strength and only a
slightly better than average fastball.
Tim Belcher: Doesn't get as much attention as he deserves. Again, not an
ace, but he has 3 solid pitches: the slider, the sinker and the fastball.
John Frascatore: Similar makeup to Jose Rosado, only worse.

Carbo's rating: [B].

Bullpen:
One of the most solid bullpens in the league. Mark Wholers may finally have
a chance to shine. Then there's Jeff Shaw, Rich Garces and Fransisco
Cordova to back him up. With a bullpen like this, he has more weapons than
he knows what to do with. I'd like to see how many leads this team
reliquishes this season.

Carbo's rating: [A+].

Bench:
GM Brian Sculac may have to concentrate on this category, because none of
these backups such as Pete Rose Jr. and Lenny Harris inspire too much
confidence. [B-]

GM/Player Ops:
Acquiring Greg Vaughn may have been a brilliant move, but Mr. Sculac loses
points for not addressing his team's lack of leadoff. Vaughn may provide
the leadership this team needs, though. The trade for Alex Rodriguez was
another brilliant move. Nomar Garciaparra will turn into another star, but
Rodriguez has no equal. Any GM can build a playoff team around A-Rod. His
only mistake might have been trading away Tim Salmon, who is an offensive
prodigy.

Carbo's rating: [A].

***Carbo's Overall rating: It's hard to vote against this team. It will
certainly make a run for the playoffs, but it's got a fine margin of
success. I predict the team will slowly start to fall apart at around July.
[A-]


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DEADWOOD OUTLAWS

Injuries has been the achilles heel of this team. With the competition of
Edmonton and Montreal, it anything but smooth sailing for the Outlaws. Was
last year THE last year?!

Lineup:
This offense suddenly seems a whole lot weaker without Roberto Alomar and
Eric Davis. I hate to say it, but Alomar was almost everything for this
team. It didn't show up on the leaderboard, but he was one of the best #2
batters in the league. For sure, Tim Salmon will have a fine season, and
will make up for the loss of Alomar in part. And Travis Fryman might have
another career year. Brad Fullmer? The second-year jinx might hurt him.
Overall, deep but not as deep as last year.

Carbo's rating: [A-]. It's fallen from A+ to A-.

Rotation:
Greg Maddux and David Wells are there. Jeff Fassero could have another
year, but I think he won't be as effective. So then there's Jose Rijo [eck]
and Rick Reed, who's been pretty ineffective.

Greg Maddux: Don't doubt this guy. Everyone doubted him last year after
coming off a season-long injury, but he was unbeatable by September. He is
still a Cy Young candidate in my opinion.
David Wells: Solid. But unlike Greg Maddux, he is not as good as he should be.
Jeff Fassero: This guy mystifies me. I don't know how he lead the Outlaws
to a World Series Championship.
Jose Rijo & Rick Reed: Phil had better hope for some wins from these two
guys or else the team is in trouble. If you're looking to make the
playoffs, here's some advice: don't put Rijo or Reed in your rotation.

Carbo's rating: [C+]. He has the experience of Maddux, Wells and Fassero,
but the ineptitude Rijo and Reed.

Bullpen:
I don't know how Phil did it. Winning the World Series, that is. His
bullpen, well, sucks. But sometimes praying works. Try it. Or maybe the
computer likes names like Clontz and Embree. Randy Myers is still very
effective, in my opinion.

Carbo's rating: I have to give it a [C+] because the bullpen does have
character.

Bench:
Surprisingly, a team that once had a backlog of talen has no one to count
on from bench. Hal Black and Chris Gomez? I don't think so. [C]

GM/Player Ops:
Acquiring Charles Johnson was one of the smartest moves of the offseason.
Johnson will improve the defense tremendously. His bat won't help much, but
that doesn't matter too much. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the other
trades were.

Carbo's rating: He gets a [B] because I think he could've done a better
team holding this team together. He tried real hard, but I guess he just
didn't make the right decisions.

***Carbo's Overall Rating: This is still the makup of a winning team, minus
a few players. But those players have battle scars. Strength is wearing a
little thin. I'll give them a [B+].


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MONTREAL ROYALS

This team, of course, will WIN IT ALL. :) Now, for my non-biased report...

Lineup:
Wowee. Rusty Greer, Brady Anderson and Frank Thomas all in a row. Murderers
row. Fortunately for oppositing pitchers, after that, it's a coffee break.
Otis Nixon still has some use to him, and can still hit triples. After
that, it will be interesting to see what Gary Gaetti, Juan Samuel, Bobby
Bonilla, Art Maupin and firstbaseman Spider Monahan can do. Can they hit
home runs? Not usually.

Carbo's rating: [B+]. I know 2B Mike Lansing will defy all critics, AGAIN.
Believe me.

Rotation:
Anything can happen with this rotation. Cormier--another 18-win season?
Jack McDowell brings experience. Mike Grace should have another solid
season, despite injury. Arthur Rhodes is one of the hot prospects, but will
probably return to the bullpen. Then there's the knuckleballer, Richard
Galen. The problem is, there is no real ace on this team.

Jack McDowell: Underrated in Spokane because it is a hitter's park, a solid
pitcher.
Mike Grace: Has never been dominant, but besides his injury in August last
season he has been Montreal's most reliable pitcher.
Rheal Cormier: Can he surprise the baseball community again this year?
Kirk Rueter: Has proved that he's ineffective in the bullpen, so for sure
he will remain in the rotation. The only thing going for him is his
control, and that he manages to win those close games.
Richard Galen: With all the great hitting in the league, it will be
interesting to see whether Galen can fool PVBL batters with his knuckleball.

Carbo's rating: Because this is about predictions, I will give it a [B].
But it's really a wild guess.

Bullpen:
An awesome middle relief duo, Armando Reynoso and Arthur Rhodes. Jose Mesa
is not a great closer, unfortunately. But it's the only thing they've got.
Long relief is up in the air.

Carbo's rating: [B+]. Reynoso, Rhodes and Simas are all very solid, but
they don't have a solid closer.

Bench:
Tim Raines is no longer effective. Danny Tartabull may no longer have the
strength to hit home runs. But there are still a lot of quality veterans
that can hit from the bench. [A-]

GM/Player Ops:
Trading Rondell White for Brady Anderson and Jack McDowell will cement the
Royals' position as a playoff contender. The most crucial decisions will be
made in the coming months, because there are a lot of pitchers that can
pitch in the rotation or the bullpen, and there are a lot of mediocre
position players in the infield.

Carbo's rating: [B].

***Carbo's Overall Rating: [B+] They have all the weapons, but not much
ammunition.


--written by Peter Carbonetto