[Loeffle]

April 2008 - Milwaukee Brewers
Manager and GM Fritsche

Spring training ended on a positive note as Ryan "Calamity" Braun could at least get some at bats after his injury. We finished spring training with a 13-11 record, even if Ned Yost mishandled the bullpen in virtually every game. When we were 6-8 he was very close to get the sack.

Toronto, Pittsburgh, the Cubs and the Mets had the best record going 15-9, while San Diego finished dead last with a 6-18 record.

Surprisingly the Buffalo Blizzards (11-13) did better than the Vancouver Marmots (7-17) during spring training.

After spring training we had to decide on some moves which we didn't expect in Early March. Some players did so bad, while others really showed they have potential for the mayors.

Our projected opening day squad:

SP Ben Sheets (0-1, 12.00 ERA)
SP Yovani Gallardo (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
SP Manny Parra (2-1, 3.45 ERA)
SP David Bush (1-0, 5.40 ERA)
SP Chris Capuano (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
SS Freddy Garcia (2-0, 4.50 ERA)
MR Alan Embree (0-0-1, 4.63 ERA)
MR Juan Cruz (0-1-0, 4.82 ERA)
MU Elmer "Victoria" Dessens (2-0-1, 1.76 ERA)
SR/CL Soichi Fujita (1-2-7, 5.73 ERA)
SR Jose Capellan (2-1-0, 6.28 ERA)
CL Francisco Cordero (0-0-0, 8.44 ERA)

Kind of shocking that 37 year old Dessens was once again our best pitcher. Gallardo seems to be back on track after his injury, while Sheets, Capellan and Cordero simply looked awful.

MR Matt Wise (2-1-0, 2.89 ERA)
MR Justin Orenduff (0-2-0, 4.05 ERA)
MR Carlos Villanueva (1-0-0, 0.00 ERA)
CL Derrick Turnbow (0-0-0, 6.00 ERA)

were sent down to AAA Nashville.


C Henry Blanco (.233, 2 HR, 6 RBI)
C Johnny Estrada (.255, 3 HR, 8 RBI)
1B Prince "Naughty Chow" Fielder (.364, 5 HR, 21 RBI)
2B Rickie Weeks (.305, 4 HR, 6 RBI)
2B Luis Rivas (.184, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
3B Mat Gamel (.257, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
3B Bill Hall (.241, 0 HR, 3 RBI)
SS Cesar Izturis (.326, 0 HR, 7 RBI)
LF Ryan "Calamity" Braun (.333, 0 HR, 1 RBI)
CF Shane "Flyin Hawaiian" Victorino (.209, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
CF Tony Gwynn Jr. (.279, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
RF Lorenzo Cain (.326, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
RF Gabe Gross (.327, 3 HR, 9 RBI)

Some of the young World Series stars had to make the trip back to Nashville. The situation as SS is not satisfactory as Rivas wasn't able to challenge Izturis, who is not expected to play every game.

The unlucky ones are:

C Mike Rivera (.188, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
C Lou Marson (.263, 0 HR, 2 RBI
1B Brad Nelson (.355, 0 HR, 3 RBI)
2B Hernan Iribarren (.216, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
SS Alcides Escobar (.235, 1 HR, 2 RBI)
LF Charles Thomas (.333, 2 HR, 7 RBI)
CF Charlie Fermaint (.333, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
RF Franklin Gutierrez (.206, 2 HR, 7 RBI)


After the last spring season game and the roster moves were made, owner Mark Attanasio told me that we are expected to make the playoffs. A natural goal after we won it all last season, but several players seemed to lose a lot during the winter.

Our payroll (approx. $ 63.000.000) is only one third of the Yankees one.

Our first regular season series will bring us to Los Angeles, where we face the Dodgers. The Marmots of Vancouver host the Royals, while the Buffalo Blizzards travel to Philladelphia.

www.bzol.de - remember how badly their predictions sucked in the playoffs - picks the following teams as division winners:

New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
Seattle Mariners
New York Mets
Chicago Cubs
Arizona Diamondbacks