TEAM EVALUATIONS: BOMBERS

Team: Bombers

Conference: Liberty

Division: North

2009 Record: 59-103, 4th Place

Typical Lineup:

1B Prince Fielder

2B Brandon Phillips

SS Edgar Renteria/Brendan Ryan

3B Joe Crede/Jack Hannahan

LF Ben Francisco/Willie Harris/Angel Pagan

CF Nyjer Morgan/Angel Pagan

RF Michael Cuddyer

DH Russell Branyan/Ben Francisco

C Jason Varitek/Carlos Ruiz

The lineup isn't that bad for a team that won only 59 games last year.  Cuddyer and Morgan were big additions in the 2010 draft.  Fielder and Phillips make a formidable right side of the infield on offense, anyway, with Phillips also being a plus defender.  Ruiz and Varitek are a strong defensive catching tandem.  The left side of the infield is a mess on offense, but they should save some runs defensively.  Left field looks like a black hole, but Pagan will help there a bit.  Branyan bounced back for a nice year in 2009 and will add some pop at DH.

Starting Rotation:

Kevin Correia

Joe Saunders

Jeremy Guthrie

Andrew Sonnanstine/Matt Palmer

Mark Hendrickson/Robinson Tejeda/Chris Narveson/Carlos Villanueva

Truly awful, especially considering that Correia, a slightly better than league average guy, was a 2010 draft pick.  This rotation will prevent the Bombers from improving much over last year's team, despite the better offense and solid all-around defense.

Bullpen:

Scott Downs

Kevin Gregg

Chris Sampson

Chris Smth

Downs isn't bad, but the rest are punching bags and will not help matters.

Closer:

Ryan Franklin

Franklin is great.  Too bad he won't have much to do this season.

Minors:

Jim Edmonds

Matt Moore

Jacob Odorizzi

The decision to hang on to the 40-year-old Edmonds was questionable, but Moore and Odorizzi look like future stars, albeit a few years away.  This team could use some good young pitching.  The Bombers were probably better served by drafting for the future rather than grabbing Cuddyer, Morgan, and Correia, but we'll see how things play out.

If the Bombers had any decent pitching, aside from their excellent closer, I would expect a big jump in wins, but the pitching is terrible and will hold this club back.

Predicted Record: 64-98