London Badgers 2011 outlook - This will hurt

After starting out 51-30, the London Badgers appeared destined to win the Vander Wal division and not have to face Washington in the first round of playoffs. The Badgers then limped the last 3 months 37-44 to finish the season to barely capture the final wild card spot and face the Boozehounds.

Offseason - After being humiliated in the playoffs by the powerful Boozehounds, Owner and General Manager Paul Mudry took a look at his team and realised it is going to be a messy few years for London. The Badgers have few players to build their team around. The only real cornerstones of the franchise are starting pitchers Josh Johnson and 2010 first round pick David Price. Aside from those two players, help was and still is needed everywhere. The Badgers needed to get younger, they needed many impact bats, they needed a lights out closer and, yes they even needed to reload their starting pitching. In short, the Badgers needed (and still need) to overhaul their roster and rebuild. The project is far from over, but progress is being made. Gone are Mike Pelfrey as well as players on the wrong side of 30, Juan Pierre and Johan Santana. The Badgers were able to acquire outfielder Chris Young and two first round picks, one for 2012 and the other one who turned into Drew Storen. The rebuild will take some time, but the Badgers are willing to be patient.

Draft - The Badgers were missing their 2nd round pick (used to acquire Adam LaRoche before their collapse) and their 4th (packaged with Pierre to acquire Young) but still managed to net young pitchers Madison Bumgarner, Drew Storen and James McDonald as well as young hitters Michael Brantley, Ryan Kalish and Juan Francisco, and hopeful bounceback players Brad Penny, Mark DeRosa and Connor Jackson. The draft did not go entirely the way the Badgers wanted, although with as many needs as they had, it was tough to completely miss, right?

Hitting - The hitting is an absolute nightmare as the "stars" on offense for London are 1B Adam LaRoche, CF Chris Young and 3B/OF Michael Cuddyer. Those are not the players that are the centrepieces of championship teams, or even average teams. It goes without saying that the Badger offense will struggle mightily this year.

C - Yadier Molina - The best defensive catcher in baseball. Took a step backward offensively last year, but the Badgers believe he can rebound.

1B - Adam LaRoche - Will probably serve as the Badgers #4 hitter (ugh!). Not a bad 1st baseman, but there are better 1st basemen out there.

2B - Freddy Sanchez/Skip Schumaker - Sanchez still has a range of '2' at 2nd base with very few errors. After all these years Sanchez is still a solid contact hitter who hit .292 last seasons and mashed lefty pitching. Skip Schumaker despite a down year will platoon vs righties.

SS - Jason Bartlett - At least he can play some D and has a bit of speed. Luis Valbuena and Geoff Blum (how did he find his way back onto my team?!?!) may also spend some time here.

3B - Michael Cuddyer/Pedro Feliz/Luis Valbuena - Laughable. Let's move on.

The oufield has some speed (Brantley, Crowe, Young), some contact hitters (Sweeney, Schumaker), a bit of power (Young, Kubel) and hopefully some players who bounceback (Schumaker, Kubel and Cuddyer). The problem with this outfield though is that with the exception of Young, none of these players really deserve to be starting.

Manager C. Montgomery Burns will need to find all the creativity in his 100+ year old brain to find a way to score some runs with that offense.

Pitching - The Badgers were built on pitching and that is the only way they can expect to win this year, although after the departures of Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and Mark Buehrle, even the Badger pitching staff will not be as strong as it has been in past years.

Starters - David Price, Josh Johnson and Dan Haren form a solid 1-2-3 pitching rotation. It will be a mix and match for the #4 and #5 spots in the rotation which will be occupied by 2011 first round pick Madison Bumgarner, James McDonald, Brad Penny, John Lannan, Nick Blackburn and Scott Feldman...this will not end well.

Bullpen - The bullpen is a strength for the Badgers, although they are lacking a truly dominant closer, the hope is Drew Storen will soon become that dominant closer. Kyle McClellan and Kerry Wood are both coming off 20 save efforts for the Badgers last year and McClellan will figure prominently in the bullpen yet again. Looking to play more prominent roles in the Badger 'pen include Jesse Crain, strikeout specialist Joel Hanrahan, hard throwing righties Jason Motte and Brandon League, and closer of the future Drew Storen.

This will be a year where the Badgers will take a step or two backward while just about every other team in the Lenny Harris League will take a step (or two...or three) forward, not to mention superpowers Reno, Washington and Brighton. While it may get painful and embarassing at times, Paul Mudry is never the less looking forward to the season and playing with the fine people of the TBA once again.

Paul (Badgers)