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Season
Ready To Commence
AP
New York- The chalk has been laid, the bases
set, and the seats cleaned. After a long
off-season, it's finally time to start the 2001
Baseball Season. So many changes have occured
since Atlanta recorded the final out of the 2000
World Series last October. Even before the
Champaign could be cleaned up, there was talk of
Big Mac leaving and realignment. Both would soon
happen; the world series MVP was soon heading
west to Texas and Montreal and the Cubbies were
headed to the American League marking the first
teams to change leagues since the Milwaukee
Brewers came over to the NL
The NL switched to a 3 division format and
Cleveland, Texas, Toronto and many other will now
enjoy brand new division rivals in the American
League. The Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins
left the MLB due to bankruptcy which was the
cause for most of the realignment turmoil.
Cal Ripken, Jr. Spoke to reporters... "I
can't believe that my team.. my old team (Ripken
was traded to the Rockies mid-season in 2000) is
gone. I broke my record there, my dad played for
them, my brother tried to play for them, they are
gone. I can't believe it."
2000 Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett later
also spoke on the loss of the
Twins..."Ehhh...good riddens to them, I was
the best thing to happen to that team. We played
in a crap stadium, we never had any fans, and it
was COLD as hell. Look what happened to them
after I left. I say baseball is better off
without them."
"With all the off-season moves and changes,
its just good to get the season going," was
the response from many players. What an
interesting season it will be. Good luck to all
the teams in the 2001 SSSBL Baseball Season. |
Kirby
Puckett, recently inducted into the baseball Hall
of Fame, was glad to see the Twins exiled from
the league.
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Big
Changes In Arlington...
AP Texas- Yesterday
during a press conference, Rangers' manager Nolan
Ryan announced that some changes were going to be
made in the lineup. Jason Romano, the speedster
2B, with 69 57 87 POTS, will be promoted to ACT
from AAA, but will play SS, where he has an 84
POT, to make room for the other youngster, Frank
Catanalotto at 2B. "Jason was just
dominating in AAA, and it wasn't really doing
anything for him," stated Ryan. Hitting in
the 2 spot will be perhaps the most prized
possession in SSSBL, 23-year old RF Ruben Mateo
(77 88 70 POTS). In the third spot, as always,
will be the best defensive catcher in the league,
Pudge Rodriguez (82 at C and 99 AS), who isn't
too bad of a hitter either (84 79 59 actual
ratings). But the newest acquisition to this
team, Bic Mac McGwire, will bat cleanup in
replacement of Rafael Palmeiro, who retired after
last season. "When Raffy retired, this team
was in the dumps for about a week...till we got
Mark...he is going to help this team
tremendously," said Rodriguez. Gabe Kapler,
another up -and-coming star will bat 5th followed
by always-solid DH Bill Hasellman. Another rookie
coming right to ACT will be 3B Michael Barrett,
who was selected in the first round of the
Anti-Expansion Draft. This guy has great POTS(69
85 41). Folliwing Barrett will be LF Eric Valent,
another rookie. Capping off the lineup will be
Frankie Catanalotto, who is progressing every
year.
"This lineup contains 3 pure rookies, 3 2nd
year players, and 5 players under 25. I mean,
some of these players grew up watching McGwire
slam balls over the fence in Oakland...now they
have the oppurtunity to play with one of the
greatest players in baseball history" stated
Nolan, who is up there on the list of legends
himself. We'll just hafta see how this year plays
out... |
Can
Romano use his speed to be an effective leadoff
hitter?
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