After a disappointing loss in the WS to erff's Reds in S12, the offensively gifted Bulls return to the title hunt with some new arms and a couple long-awaited arrivals.
C- Pedro Martin (vLH) and future HOF'er Billy Ulrich (vRH) will split the catching duties. Defensive wizard Ricardo Gongorra lurks in AAA for the stretch run & playoffs.
1b- Richard Yamada was shopped quite heavily by Bulls management in the off-season, but he returns to play mostly 1b with a bit of LF. Future HoF'er Posiedon Warden will back up Yamada at 1b and provide some PH during interleague play.
2b- Reigning MVP Albert Johnson returns to 2b for another season of superlative offensive production.
3b- Two-time Gold Glover Oswaldo Santos brings the leather & lumber back for another season of .315/.360/.500 production.
SS- Esteban Galarraga supplants S12 GG winner Albert Gonzalez at short. Gonzalez will back up the infield and get some at-bats against LHP. Bulls management is very excited to see how Galaragga develops as a major league SS - his fielding looks above-average and his offense should be just fine at the friendly confines of Bull Parky.
LF- The underrated Teddy Bibby will get most of the time in left, being backed by fellow DUR-challenged super-subs Warden & Ramon Ishida.
CF- Jeff Brooks remains the gold standard of the league in CF, despite his pending FA and decline in DUR. He'll be backed by Ishida and Gonzalez in the late innings of blowouts.
RF- Prized youngster Harold Bonds played most of the 2nd half in Durham last season after playing a key role in the S11 playoffs. Hopes are that he can replace the contributions of the departed Juan Castro.
Starting Rotation:
SP1 - Hub Strange is not the best pitcher on the Bulls staff, but his value lies in his tremendous DUR/STA. He will be skipped around the rotation in an effort to limit everyone else's innings and we'll hope for similar production to the last two seasons.
SP2- Cam Anderson had a great season in S12 and will be counted on to deliver similar results in S13.
SP3- Victor Guzman might have trouble finding the strike zone from time to time, but with the depth of options behind him, Bulls management is hoping to limit his awful outings and coax a league-average line out of him.
SP4/5/6 - Jake Owens, Bobby Ray Fox and Chad Sanders round out the rotation. Owens & Fox will get most of their starts against teams Bulls management feel are advantageous for them. Sanders will be given a chance to show last season in DOV was a fluke but might end up in the bullpen because he's best suited for it among these three options.
LRA- Tony Gong comes to DUR from LA with the hope that he can handle the job of "keep the offense in it" between the 3rd and 6th innings.
LRB- Louis Bunch comes over from TRE and will be given lots of low-leverage innings in blowouts.
SuA- Raymond Marte & Cy Bruske will handle the 6-8th innings. It'll be interesting to see who Sparky uses more, as they will have identical settings.
SuB- Jaime Philips was a key contributor to the S11 Bulls but blew out his TJ ligament for the 2nd time in early S12. He recovered not a single point (despite recent updates by Site Staff) and will be entrusted with the late 4 run leads and back-up closer duties.
ClA- Moises DeJesus just gets the job done at the end of games and will be nailing down things in the 9th again this season.
Bulls management knows Monterrey got better this off-season and despite a historic offensive season in S12, barely held off the Corn Dogs. Austin is much improved and Tampa remains a threat with Ken Shumpert on the hill. There's no way that Durham wins more than we did in S12 - it's just about impossible. So, we hope for 95 wins and another chance at the post-season.
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