Guest Blog: Steve of the Oakland Osprey is back with part two of his preview of the Expansion League Pacific division preview. Thank you Steve. Great stuff.- Craig Stonecutters
Expansion League Pacific Review:
Seattle Lightning
The Seattle Lightning are one of only three 2kL Franchises to have a winning record in each of it's three years in existence making a Wild Card appearance after their 90-72 2001 campaign sandwiching that with an 83-79 debut and last year's 82-80. It was a short Playoff run as the last series of that Regular Season the dice gods started blundgenly injuring Lightning players left and right leaving Seattle short handed against the Minnesota Millers. Eternal Ace Kerry Wood had the Minnesota on the ropes all by himself before a two out Paul LoDuca grand slam put the Millers ahead 5-3 for good in the bottom of the 7th.
Aaron Rowand, Shane Spencer, Adam Kennedy and Billy Wagner all fell in that final Regular Season series.
What might have been, what might… have… been…
But there is hope for all of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest!!!
GM Brad Buckert snagged not one but two long time solutions in the first round of the 2003 Draft.
Firstly he picked LH Started Cliff Lee, now Lee may need to be stashed for a year or two but wow, Lee will own this League from 2005 till around 2011 maybe 2012.
Second Seattle traded two 2nd Rounders to snag Lyle Overbay late in the first Round. Overbay will supplant John Olerud soon if not sooner as Seattle desperately needs starting pitching to go with Kerry Wood, Mark Buerhle and newly drafted Jason Johnson(at 4.12). Olerud looks to be on the move for a starting pitcher.
Later in the Draft Brad playing the part of the NFL's Bill Belichek traded down 12 spots in the 5th and picked up and extra 4th rounder in 2004.
Seattle has a potent offence. They do have a ton of crushers including catcher Javy Lopez who also has a 'stupid' WAR rating of 6.4!!! Lopez has probably one of thee best Hitter Cards I've seen so far… check out the doubles and HR's on that card... and he's a catcher for pete's sake!!!
They also have Chipper Jones in Left Field, Ichiro who takes a tiny step back vs. RH'ers but on his card it's still above average and his defense? Try +/90/-3 in right field. Ken Griffey returns to Center Field but with a F Durability rating. Brad is an excellent manager and he knows how to milk every possible inning out of Griffey before he goes down so don't be surprised if you are winning 7-1 in the 6th and Brad pinch hits for him with the bases empty or the vice versa. Coco Crisp was traded to Brad during this year's draft for pick 3.12 and is a decent platoon in center field with Griffey.
Joe Crede will platoon at 3b with Michael Cuddyer but I think Brad will see how he comes out of the gate to see if he can make them into one player if Seattle contends with San Diego. Julio Lugo has an above average glove but needs help vs. LH pitching and Adam Kennedy helps stake Seattle's D up the middle with his B/90 in tandem with Lugo's B/60. Dave Berg can help out with one of those platoons for a bit as he has 79 ABs to burn vs. LH'ers but another middle infielder will be needed unless Bard just goes with those B's up the middle to go with Junior's B+/80/0 out in center.
Seattle doesn't look that good this year but wow, you look down the coming years and they will be a force to be reckoned with. Chipper, Junior, Ichiro, Lopez, Overbay, Rowand, Wood, Buerhle, Cliff Lee and Billy Wagner…??? Very nice core, very nice.
Seattle always has Offense, always, always, always but they need to pull together some trades for more pitching. Buckert did what he could in the Draft but it looks like a bunch of 12-8 losses. I just don't see Duckworth helping this year and Aaron Sele has a nice 'reverse' card but too many safeties.
Seattle could be tough though depending on who they get in trades to help out the Starters there will be exciting games though and Brad and whoever plays him will definitely get their moneys worth!
2003 Prediction:
72-90
Coming up next:
EL Pacifico Review: San Francisco Quakers
Building the Perfect Beast: The 2002 New York Rippers
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