TEAM EVALUATIONS: SAWYERS

Team: Sawyers

Conference: Liberty

Division: Northeast

2009 Record: 89-73, 2nd Place

Typical Lineup:

1B Justin Morneau

2B Brian Roberts

SS Troy Tulowitzki

3B Andy LaRoche

LF Jason Bay

CF Jacoby Ellsbury

RF Ben Zobrist

C Geovany Soto/Kelly Shoppach/Gregg Zaun

DH Ryan Howard/Denard Span/Ryan Church

Truly awesome.  All-Stars everywhere, with Morneau, Tulowitzki, Howard, Bay, and the versatile Zobrist.  The defense is equally outstanding, with hardly a weak link anywhere.  About the only criticism is 3B, where LaRoche is a bit of an out machine, although he does provides good defense.  Also, Soto had an off year, and his backups aren't that great either.

Starting Rotation:

Javier Vazquez

Dan Haren

Jon Lester

Gavin Floyd

Jorge De La Rosa

The top three are about as good as any top three in our league, and Floyd and De La Rosa are no worse than average.  The Sawyers will have a lot of games wrapped up after seven innings with this offense and this staff.

Bullpen:

Rafael Betancourt

Carlos Marmol

Peter Moylan

Eric O'Flaherty

Huston Street

Marmol and Moylan are only maybe a little better than average, but O'Flaherty, Betancourt, and either Street or Papelbon for the 8th inning should be sufficient to get the Sawyers to the closer.

Closer:

Jonathan Papelbon

One of the game's best.  Street could just as easily do the honors, which should help with some playoff matchups.

Minors:

Jake Arrieta

Lonnie Chisenhall

Hank Conger

Casey Kelly

Dustin McGowan

Mike Stanton

The Sawyers have methodically built a powerhouse team since joining the league, improving every year, and this crop of minor leaguers shows no slowdown to that process.  Stanton will be a fixture in the outfield for years, and Arrieta, Kelly, and McGowan should contribute solid innings in the near future.  Conger is close to being ready to bolster the catching position, and Chisenhall will hope to supplant LaRoche at 3B soon.

This club is poised to take it up one more notch and capture the Liberty Northeast crown from a declining Coruscant team.  I don't see any superior teams in their way from the rest of the conference, so look for them to meet the survivor of the Mammoths/Chuggers series in the USSP World Series.  They should compete well there, but fall a bit short.

Predicted Record: 99-63