2000 Preview: Calgary Marauders

[recte44]

[youtube]V37ZfdhNA8s[/youtube]

"Know Your Enemy"- Calgary Marauders
1999 Season: Finished 90-72, 1 game behind Las Vegas in the Frick League Pacific Division.
1999 Playoffs: Swept by Buffalo Bison in the Doubleday Series, 4 games to 0.
1999 Leading Hitter: 2B Chris Coll (Won FL Sawyer Silk Award)
1999 Leading Pitcher: Jeffrey Bradford (Finished 4th in FL Steve Nebraska Award voting)
GM: Josh Johnson (Finished 7th in MBBA GM of the Year Voting)

Key Losses: Hitting Coach Rob Tate, Manager Juan Perez, Bench Coach George Davis, 3B Joshua Yeomans, RF Michael "The Carp" Malkowski, SS Peter Montserrat

Key Additions: Manager Bob Trevail, Bench Coach Matt Taillefer, Hitting Coach Eric Jacobs, CF Adam Aarpen (Rule 5 Draftee), RF Kelly Leak (FA).

Coaching Staff Overview: Calgary took some huge gambles this offseason. New manager Trevail has NO managing experience at any level, and doesn't appear too heralded in MBBA circles. Taillefer, the new Bench Coach, does have three seasons of managing experience at the rookie ball level, with a career winning percentage of .309. Yikes. This does not come anywhere near the level of coaching talent on their rival Las Vegas' staff.

Catcher: Gustavo Maldonado is one of the top catchers in the MBBA. He's not much for power, but hits for a high average and plays good defense.

First Base: Joe Sullivan has been a cheap source of power for Calgary the last two seasons.

Second Base: Coll is in the discussion for "best player in the MBBA". Having recently signed a long term, 10 year contract extension, Coll is the Face of the Marauders and should be for a long time.

Third Base: Ashton Fontenot batted .330 in his first full season as a starter last year and looks solid here. Struggles a tad versus lefties, defense is acceptable.

Shortstop: Xu Ren Yue won the Zimmer Award at shortstop for his outstanding fielding. At the plate, he batted a career high .291 and gave some pop with 28 doubles and 15 homers. You could do much worse than Yue.

Left Field:
To be continued....

[KCCardinalFan]

You can't make offers to coaches unless you have open positions, so I took a gamble to bid on some of the top available and lost out on a couple. Hopefully it doesn't bite me in the ass.

[mad0die]

Jesus Coll turned out nice, he's not a SS though.