{"id":7,"date":"2011-02-16T07:15:40","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T07:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/?p=7"},"modified":"2011-02-17T01:24:34","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T01:24:34","slug":"2010-bdb-pre-draft-team-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/?p=7","title":{"rendered":"2010 BDB Pre-Draft Team Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Robinson Division<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span>Predicted Order of Finish<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Beaconsfield<\/li>\n
  2. Montreal<\/li>\n
  3. Ottawa<\/li>\n
  4. Bristol<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Going into the draft there is not a lot of difference between these four teams.\u00a0 Beaconsfield gets the nod because they feature the Division\u2019s best bullpen and best defense.\u00a0\u00a0 This season will be a turnaround in their strategy, as pitching was once the scarce resource, we now find teams searching for offense to make the biggest difference in the standings.<\/p>\n

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

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

    Last year the Pathfinders found themselves in the League Championship finals for the second time in a row.\u00a0 Owner Don Brodeur attributes this to a defined change in strategy which is to jettison draft picks and future security for established players to plug in holes which are clearly known about in the present.\u00a0 Again Brodeur has been active on the trade scene shoring up areas that he knows will not be remedied by the draft.\u00a0 This season he has already traded for Paul Konerko and Ryan Braun who instantly become his #1 and #2 offensive threats with Ryan Howard experiencing a down year.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter.\u00a0 With these three horses in the stables, one only needs a meager offense.\u00a0 The bullpen is also the strongest of the division which should make a difference later in the year, unlike last year where every team\u2019s bullpen exploded.<\/p>\n

    Weakness:\u00a0 The #4 and #5 starters are nothing to be fearful of and the outfield by and large is one of the worst in the league when it comes to offense by strong defensively.\u00a0 Look for a lot of close games this year.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 Could use another starter for the tail end of the rotation.\u00a0 Right now they are hovering around replacement value.\u00a0 Not sure they will find the offense to make a difference in the outfield.\u00a0 Not a lot of early draft picks to pick up prospects to move for later talent.\u00a0 Although ranked on top, they are certainly capable of being pushed off the top rung.<\/p>\n

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

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

    Montreal is at a cross roads.\u00a0 They have been stock piling young talent for a long time and this appears to be a down enough year for other teams that they could really shine right now.\u00a0 Montreal boasts three strong arms in the rotation and have a steady enough offense that they could easily jump to the top of the list.\u00a0 They also possess enough young talent that they could easily bring in another difference maker through trades.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Wainright, Sabathia and Hamels are three top choices at the front of the rotation.\u00a0 Hanson and Gallardo are also above average so there is no worry to panic in that spot.\u00a0 In fact they could stand to lighten their rotation by a single arm and still be able to compete.\u00a0 Votto and Zimmerman at the corners is something to celebrate about.\u00a0 They players are both young and talented and are the cornerstone to this offense.\u00a0 Markakis, Hunter and Kemp make for a competent outfield as well.<\/p>\n

    Weakness:\u00a0 The middle infield isn\u2019t much to speak about.\u00a0 Polanco and whoever they decide to start at SS are not going to win them many games with their bats.\u00a0 The team might be better served finding the two best glove men in the league and having them do their damage with the glove instead of the bat.\u00a0 The bullpen needs some help as well.\u00a0 Bard remains a talent, but beyond that, nothing above average here to be found.<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 Can easily compete and their greatest weakness can easily be overcome in the draft and in through trades.\u00a0 Montreal already has young talent that other teams on the drift would certainly like to get their hands on.\u00a0 A definite contender for their first time!<\/p>\n

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

    \"\"<\/p>\n


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

    The Ottawa Nationals have an interesting personality as a team.\u00a0 They seem to not make any splash deals via trades or draft yet \u2026 but still manage to hang around the top of the standings.\u00a0 However it\u2019s not because they are experiencing an exceptional year, it\u2019s just that they seem to shine when all else are failing to shine.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 \u00a0Talent isn\u2019t the issue here, it\u2019s the depth.\u00a0 Offensively the team\u2019s strength is found in the outfield.\u00a0 Choo is the All Star on this team and he is followed by the speedy youngster McCutchen.\u00a0 Hart and Scott are strong enough bats to be of no concern to owner Barras.\u00a0 The rotation is strong at the top as well with Price and Sanchez and surprise CJ Wilson.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s tough not to say that Teixeira is a strength, but this year is a down year for him, but should bounce back in the next season.<\/p>\n

    Weakness:\u00a0 Beyond Wilson in the pen, there is nothing.\u00a0 This should be remedied in the draft.\u00a0 The left side of the infield is pretty sad as well.\u00a0 Reynolds is no answer at the hot corner, and there should be some talent to help there.\u00a0 At short however, there might not be any help for Pennington.\u00a0 The bottom two slots of the rotation need help \u2026 and there might be an arm or two in the draft which could make a significant improvement here.\u00a0 Certainly have the ability to do the Ottawa \u2026 which is the other teams underperform Ottawa will contend, so there is a chance and that is enough to drive this Barras owned team!<\/p>\n

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

    \"\"<\/p>\n


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

    The key to the future of this division is Bristol.\u00a0 Bristol is sitting on a lot of young talent and could make a North Bay type of run in the Robinson Division.\u00a0 With four first round picks in the upcoming draft there is no reason to believe that Bristol will continue to have the other teams looking in their rearview mirror this season and the next.<\/p>\n

    Strengths:\u00a0 Besides plenty of youth, the offense is lacking true superstars beyond the emergence of Bautista and Weeks finally living up to his potential.\u00a0 The outfield is fine, but not spectacular.\u00a0 Jay Bruce is turning into an upcoming All Star.\u00a0 The rotation is solid from one through five.\u00a0 There is no need for them to grab an arm to make a difference unless it\u2019s a Cy Young candidate.\u00a0 Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson and Chacin are all young and promise to get better.\u00a0 Oswalt makes for a fine old man until his arm finally breaks off his 5\u20199\u201d body.<\/p>\n

    Weakness:\u00a0 Youth.\u00a0 Too much youth, but they all seem to be growing together.\u00a0 If they continue to grow in the right direction then this will quickly turn into a strength.\u00a0 Third base could use some improvement as Stewart hasn\u2019t come around as expected.\u00a0 Mind you, Bristol could bring in a firstbaseman and have Bautista move to the hot corner, plenty of areas to move players around.\u00a0 Martin is fine defensively but he is no longer the offensive force that he once was, but could bounce back.\u00a0 There is nothing to this bullpen that strikes fear into an opposing hitter<\/p>\n

    Overall:\u00a0 This is a team that could contend this season but with the amount of quality youth they possess they quickly can turn things around.\u00a0 If they draft well, Bristol\u2019s eyes simply won\u2019t be on BDB 2011\u2026 but on BDB 2011 to 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Robinson Division Predicted Order of Finish Beaconsfield Montreal Ottawa Bristol Going into the draft there is not a lot of difference between these four teams.\u00a0 Beaconsfield gets the nod… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[12,11,9,13,14,3,10],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-preview","tag-beaconsfield","tag-bristol","tag-draft","tag-montreal","tag-ottawa","tag-review","tag-robinson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","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=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belteddeep.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}