Texas Division Preview

In the last of the series, I will take a quick look at the Texas division which includes our last new owner, Ben Femmel, owner and operator of the Hackensack Bulls. The 2010 Texas Division was argueably the toughest and most balanced in the league and this year it looks as though it will be a strong division again. With all four owners living in San Antonio I'm sure there will be several tops secret meetings over beers throughout the season....providing Berg can get the occasional kitchen pass.

Offense...

1. Hackensack-Werth, Heyward, Pedroia, Mauer. Strong from top to bottom with several options at UTL. Only real weekness may be at 3B.
2. Michigan-Adrian Gonzalez, Victorino, Rios lead the 2011 Miracles. Balance from top to bottom. No huge weakness.
3. San Antonio-ARod, Tulowitzki, Delmon Young lead a veteran group. Lots of age here. Losing time to the DL could cripple this group.
4. South Texas-Fielder, Jeter, Upton head up what looks to be a rebuilding year in South Texas. Berg usually makes the moves necessary to be competitive.

Pitching...

1. San Antonio-Halladay, Johnson, Papelbon. Nice group slightly edges out the #2 staff in this group. Getting Santana back later on will be a nice boost.
2. Michigan-Jimenez, Hudson, Rivera. Well above average RP's lead a very solid group of starters for the Miracles.
3. Hackensack-Lester, Wainwright, Latos. Can Latos recreate 2010? Femmel certainly believes he can. Time will tell. If Sale closes it will improve this group, but again relying on a rookie can be dicey.
4. South Texas-The starters, Billingsley, Wandy, Baker, Floyd are very workmanlike in their approach. Solid if unspectacular. Bergs relievers on the otherhand.....well as has been mentioned before the draft in 2012 will be exceptional.

Bench...

1. Michigan-With so many draft picks early it isn't a surprise that Renner has some solid backups all around. Mixing and matching might be tough but compared with previous years it will be a nice problem to have.
2. San Antonio-Sankey still has a couple of guys to pick up but what he has on his bench is nice, including some solid SP.
3. Hackensack-The late pick of Podsednik might turn out to be a real steal, if he signs somewhere. Solid all around.
4. South Texas-Another pattern here? Berg does boast one of the worst contracts ever given in eMLB, so he does have that going for him. Other than that there are some decent players.

Preseason Division All-Star Team. Extras in a position occurred if they were too close to seperate. Five OF will be listed along with five SP and five RP.

C-Joe Mauer
1B-Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder
2B-Dustin Pedroia
3B-Alex Rodriguez
SS-Troy Tulowitzki
OF-Shane Victorino, Alex Rios, Jayson Werth, Jason Heyward, Delmon Young
SP-Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Latos, Jon Lester, Adam Wainwright, Roy Halladay, Josh Johnson, Chad Billingsley
RP-Mariano Rivera, Jose Valverde, Bobby Jenks, Heath Bell, Jonathon Papelbon.

Preseason All-Stars by team

Hackensack-8
San Antonio-7
Michigan-6
South Texas-2

Predicted order of finish...

1. Michigan-The best balance of any team in the division will lead them to the division title.
2. San Antonio-We will see how far the vets can take this team.
3. Hackensack-Good mix of youngsters and vets. Youngsters will really need to step up for this team to climb higher in the standing.
4. South Texas-With Berg seemingly looking to 2012 that will give him more time to focus on upgrading the league website. Oh yea, there is the other two additions that may steal some of his time.


Tomorrow I will put out my annual list of the complete order of finish 1-16 and my predictions for the Playoff Teams and the Lottery Teams.