The Times (issue 2003-1) - The Bishops 2003 preview

[Fat Nige]

After last season’s inaugural EBA season where they finished four games below .500 (79-83) in third place in the Eastern Alliance the London Bishops have high hopes in 2003.

They have signed a slew of free agents and added almost $4m to the payroll as they attempt to overhaul Paris and Belfast in the East. Eight new players arrived through free agency in the off-season including five pitchers as the Bishops revamped their pitching staff.

Here’s a look at their new 2003 roster

Rotation

1. Daniel Russel 26-yr-old Dan is expected to be the ace again after going 20-8, 2.81 in 2002. He played in the inaugural All-Star game and led the EBA in Wins and ERA.
2. Ricky Jamaica 31-yr-old Ricky arrived on a four-year $3m contract after going 6-4, 5.10 in Louisville during 2002. In an 11-year MBBA career Ricky has a 117-90, 3.99 record mainly with Valencia and Louisville.
3. Camillo Ulleri 29-yr-old Camillo opened his EBA career last year with a 10-7, 4.02 record
4. Louis Furst 30-yr-old Louis was signed in the off-season to a three-year $2.25m contract. He spent four years in Omaha’s farm system before signing for Seattle where he debuted in the MBBA in 1999. In 32 games he went 2-2 with 2 saves and a 4.19 ERA. He returned to the minors then before being released in 2001.
5. Leroy Warner 29-yr-old Leroy retains his place in the rotation after a disappointing debut season in the EBA where he went 4-9, 5.27 in 18 starts.

Bullpen

29-yr-old Tracy Curet (1-6, 3 sv, 6.63 in 2002), 26-yr-old Maik Eggen (0-0, 4.26), 33-yr-old Emilio Marquez (9-7, 1 sv, 4.63), 30-yr-old Andrew Dabney (3-1, 2 sv, 2.47) and 34-yr-old Sal Mejorado (4-1, 1 sv, 3.00) all return to the pen for 2003 which is boosted by three free agent signings, 34-yr-old Domingo Jean who arrived from Baltimore (career MBBA: 8-12, 4.88) on a two-year $1.5m contract, 29-yr-old Jorge Reynoso signed a three-year $1.3m contract after 143 appearances in A-ball for New Orleans (49-17, 3.11) who drafted him in 1995 and 25-yr-old Richard Cleveland who signed a three-year $4.8m contract to be the Bishops closer. Richard was drafted by Vancouver in 1995 but spent most of career in A-ball (41-36, 3.36) before posting a 2-13, 11 sv, 6.03 record in Triple-A in 2002. The EBA has listed him as the #3 prospect.

LINE-UP

C: 28-yr-old Marko Schulden & 26-yr-old Jean-Marc Martineau return to share the catching duties

1B: 27-yr-old Nicolas Delalande will handle first base. He arrived in an end of season trade from Belfast where he hit .314 with 31 homer and 114 RBI’s. His back-up will be 25-yr-old Turlough Kitson who hit .234 (5 hr, 32 rbi) in 73 games for the Bishops in 2002

2B: Big free agent signing (three-year $6.4m) 35-yr-old Raul Bryant will start at Second. After seven years in Atlantic City his MBBA career finished in 2000 at Calgary and Raul will be looking to resurrect his professional career.

SS: 35-yr-old Pat Listach will start as Bishops Shortstop but will cast envious glances at Second. Pat started his MBBA career in 1992 with Omaha where he spent five years before adding Buffalo, Greenville, Las Vegas and Phoenix to his resume with two more stints at Omaha thrown in. A veteran of over 1,000 MBBA games and just shy of 3,000 AB’s he is looking forward to his new career chapter.

3B: 32-yr-old George Goutones will patrol the hot corner in 2003. After a 10-year career in the MBBA with Washington, the last two in a failed experiment in left field he will return to the infield for his EBA debut.

Utility IF: 28-yr-old Jorge Tovar and 29-yr-old Cronan Peil will continue the utility roles in which they debuted the EBA last year.

LF: 29-yr-old Romain Bertrand will once more be in leftfield where he hit 37 homers & 122 RBI’s in 2002 with an All-Star appearance.

CF: 25-yr-old Montrell Luciano will be in centre. He hit for a .265 av last year with 11 homers and 55 RBI’s

RF: 31-yr-old Simon Caesar will this year spend more time in rightfield where his defence is better. Last year he rapped out 200 hits at a .350 clip in his first EBA season.

OF: 24-yr-old Teegan Grainge and 27-yr-old Lynagh Blethyn will fill-in in the outfield. Teegan is the EBA’s #19 prospect and hit .303 in Triple-A last year while Lynagh split last year between Double-A and Triple-A hitting .252 & .328 respectively.


25-yr-old OF Adam Searson and 33-yr-old reliever Bernard Lefebvre will start the season on the D/L and are expected to be be activated to the major league roster

[Al-Hoot]

After last season’s inaugural EBA season where they finished four games below .500 (79-83) in third place in the Eastern Alliance the London Bishops have high hopes in 2003.

They have signed a slew of free agents and added almost $4m to the payroll as they attempt to overhaul Paris and Belfast in the East. Eight new players arrived through free agency in the off-season including five pitchers as the Bishops revamped their pitching staff.

Wow, an amazing use of 'overhaul' in a way I have never used it before. I assume this is more a British usage. In American English we almost always use it to mean something like "remake" or "totally repair." So we would expect you to overhaul London, not Paris and Belfast! Nice team capsule, by the way.


overhaul
tr.v. o·ver·hauled, o·ver·haul·ing, o·ver·hauls
1.
a. To examine or go over carefully for needed repairs.
b. To dismantle in order to make repairs.
c. Nautical To slacken (a line) or to release and separate the blocks of (a tackle).
2. To make extensive renovations or revisions on; renovate: proposals to overhaul the health care system.
3. To catch up with; overtake.

[mrbornac]

Great to see a detailed write up - I may have a new favorite team in the EBA 8)

[Fat Nige]

After last season’s inaugural EBA season where they finished four games below .500 (79-83) in third place in the Eastern Alliance the London Bishops have high hopes in 2003.

They have signed a slew of free agents and added almost $4m to the payroll as they attempt to overhaul Paris and Belfast in the East. Eight new players arrived through free agency in the off-season including five pitchers as the Bishops revamped their pitching staff.

Wow, an amazing use of 'overhaul' in a way I have never used it before. I assume this is more a British usage. In American English we almost always use it to mean something like "remake" or "totally repair." So we would expect you to overhaul London, not Paris and Belfast! Nice team capsule, by the way.


overhaul
tr.v. o·ver·hauled, o·ver·haul·ing, o·ver·hauls
1.
a. To examine or go over carefully for needed repairs.
b. To dismantle in order to make repairs.
c. Nautical To slacken (a line) or to release and separate the blocks of (a tackle).
2. To make extensive renovations or revisions on; renovate: proposals to overhaul the health care system.
3. To catch up with; overtake.

Yes, the British usage is normally the "to catch up or overtake" version. As we don't really go in for the franchise type of organisation or think that the play-offs are the be all of the season (if we have any they're normally a means to promotion or relegation rather than bragging rights) our terminology is more based on the league table so to catch up or overtake is more relevant. We do use it in your context occasionally but prefer 'to rebuild' a team or 'tinker with'; it's not often we have a complete overhaul of a team - perhaps because without a draft system we have few ways of 'overhauling' a team in a short spell of time. Our changes normally involve one or two players a season. Even when Manchester City came into untold wealth a couple of years ago they have only bought 5-6 players a year into the club which has 30ish senior players (another reason is the difficulty of getting rid of the old unwanted players, who are on big long-term contracts, without losing a lot of money on them)

[Al-Hoot]

Hi Nigel
Yeah, I have never heard overhaul to mean "to catch up or overtake." In the USA probably the most common context is overhauling a car engine: breaking it down completely and rebuilding it. I just suggested it for overhauling (rebuilding) a team, because that is the context I was reading it in here. I thought, wait, is Nigel running Belfast and Paris also, so that he can overhaul=repair those teams!


Anyway, in my review of your team, I pegged Domingo Jean as a starter for you. But I guess that is something like Matt was referring to the difference in perspective between a team's own GM previewing a team and an outsider.

[Fat Nige]

I signed Domingo in my time as Baltimore GM too and intended to use him there as a starter but he ended up in bullpen. I've tried him in various roles in ST but he doesn't really excell in any. I almost put him as starter this time round but am giving Warner his head at the begining, hoping that Domingo's experience would help the 'pen but a six-game suspension has put the brakes on that idea for a while.
His specs look good but he just can't translate that into stats. Hopefully the EBA will be kinder than the MBBA in that respect.