{"id":21,"date":"2011-02-17T19:32:47","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T19:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/?p=21"},"modified":"2020-10-31T15:37:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T22:37:52","slug":"frobel-division-pre-draft-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"Frobel Division Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Frobel Division<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Its this writer\u2019s opinion that the Frobel Division will be the most exciting Division in Belted Deep Baseball.\u00a0 Three teams will be vying for the top spot, all featuring great pitching and good hitting.\u00a0 Picking a top team in this division is tough but the way this writer sees it, its stacked up as this.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sao Paulo<\/li>\n
  2. Yorkshire<\/li>\n
  3. Nassau<\/li>\n
  4. New Westminster<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The truth of the matter is, it is difficult to deny the defending champs the respect they deserve.\u00a0 The difference between Sao Paulo and the rest of the division is slim, but the combination of their defense and bullpen are enough to give them the top nod heading into draft day.<\/p>\n

    Sao Paulo<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    (Typical Sao Paulo fans celebrating their third BDB title)<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Pujols and Longoria lead this offense with Morneau, Swisher, Martinez and Drew backing them up.\u00a0 Any team with Pujols in the number three spot is going to be top notch.\u00a0 Their starting staff is four heavy featuring Weaver, Lee, Verlander and Braden \u2026 Garza is a solid #5 guy.\u00a0 The pen just might be the best the leagues has ever seen with Marmol, Kup, Wagner, Thornton and Burnett.\u00a0 This saves Rae leaving the other teams to fight over the pieces of relievers while they are able to concentrate on strengthening their weak spot.<\/p>\n

    Weaknesses:\u00a0 The Outfield is the only blight on this team, which they may be able to patch up with some platoon scenarios.\u00a0 Smith and Beltran leave big holes in the lineup.\u00a0 Hill remains a horrible option at second base.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 This team will take a team of strong hitting and strong pitching to overcome.\u00a0 If Rae is able to draft or trade his way into another strong bat, the rest of the division is going to be hard pressed to play catch up.<\/p>\n

    Yorkshire<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    I am sure that most readers had to rub their eyes when they read that the Yorkshire Moor Hens were featured as contenders for their first time in eleven (patient) years.\u00a0 The Moor Hens feature the best offense in the division as well as arguably the best starting staff in the league.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Jiminez, Johnson, Latos, Pettitte and Matusz form the baseball version of the fab five.\u00a0 What is even scarier is that four of these guys are all under the age of 26.\u00a0 Also sitting back waiting for tone of these guys to falter is Hunter and Volquez.\u00a0 Things are looking good in Yorkshire.\u00a0 Their offense is led by AL MVP Hamilton who is supported by Gonzalez, McCann, Rasmus, Prado and Youkilis.\u00a0 The only that is going to slow these guys down is injuries.<\/p>\n

    Weaknesses:\u00a0 This team\u2019s biggest weakness is defense.\u00a0 Overall the team defense is not very good.\u00a0 With the bat the only hole in this lineup is rookie SS Andrus.\u00a0 The bullpen is largely here with only two or three arms to add.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 This team has the potential to walk away with the pennant.\u00a0 Look for owner Mosher to bring in another bat in the draft and add some arms in the pen to make this team a sure lock in 2010.<\/p>\n

    Nassau<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    This team might be ranked higher, but the bets are on that the ownership is going to grow tired in the hot Bahama sun and will have a few mental lapses with all of the Blue Jay talent available in the draft. \u00a0Watch for some exciting draft decisions by this management team.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Halladay, Hudson and Cain form a formidable trio.\u00a0 Three game series featuring Sao Paulo, Yorkshire and Nassau are going to be low scoring events.\u00a0 Marcum and Kuroda will bring up the rear in this rotation.\u00a0 The offense features three All Stars in Crawford, Fielder and Beltre and a solid supporting cast featuring Ortiz, Suzuki and Rios.\u00a0 Michael Young may provide some trade bait for the Sharks as they are probably one main bat away from catching Sao Paulo.<\/p>\n

    Weaknesses:\u00a0 Not too many weaknesses in this lineup.\u00a0 Posada will need a strong compliment as he is not the defensive player that he used to be (if he ever was) \u2026 The pen could also use an arm or two to keep up with Sao Paulo.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 This is a strong team, and would be the favorite in every other division, however with the defending champs remaining strong and the Yorkshire youth movement finally coming around, the Sharks could find themselves out of the playoffs despite having one of the best teams in memory.<\/p>\n

    New Westminster<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The Plaidsox are clearly a team in transition.\u00a0 Four bats and one arm do not make for a contender.\u00a0 This team will definitely be an afterthought the first time through their own division.\u00a0 Look for a Youth movement to begin as Ryan Sambrook may take a page or two out of his brother\u2019s book to contend within the next couple of years. (If the elder Sambrook ever competes)<\/p>\n

    Strengths: \u00a0Mauer, Wright and Upton make for a good young trio, the challenge will be surrounding them with established enough talent to use them in their prime.\u00a0 The veteran Vernon Wells provides a strong bat and great trade bait for this team.\u00a0 Look for this tem to not look the same in the future.\u00a0 In the rotation there really isn\u2019t much to talk about except for Santana who is a #3 or #4 starter disguised as a #1.<\/p>\n

    Weaknesses:\u00a0 This team is a complete rebuilding project as there is not one part of this team that doesn\u2019t need work.\u00a0 On offense the team will need a second baseman, a first baseman and an outfielder who are better than average.\u00a0 The starting staff is a mess and could use another three starters.\u00a0 The pen is not as strong as they used to be as Papelbon seems to have lost his magic touch.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a long summer for this team.\u00a0 Not enough youth to make things exciting and not enough talent to make the team interesting to watch on a daily basis.\u00a0 Look for some changes and some shrewd drafting of high ceiling players in order to make this team a contender in the near future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 The Frobel Division Its this writer\u2019s opinion that the Frobel Division will be the most exciting Division in Belted Deep Baseball.\u00a0 Three teams will be vying for the top… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[18,19,3,16,17],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-preview","tag-nassau","tag-new-westminster","tag-review","tag-sao-paulo","tag-yorkshire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}