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Wish List: Bizton Markies
Can Bizton survive in the EHCC with offense alone?
By Conor Intabedd / The Weekly Reno Rag
Due to the fact that my editors have put extra pressure on me to write more articles in this series I have decided to do away with the interview process and just examine each team myself in order to figure out what each team might need to compete for the 2006 EHCC crown. We move now from Tijuana, Mexico to Bizton, the fictional town which a flying unicorn pulled sleigh is needed to get you to.
The Markies, finishing 7th in their first full season in the EHCC, barely missed out on the playoffs last year and are expected, right off the bat, to make a big impact in 2006, especially against most of the bubble teams like Golden, Winston-Salem, and Tijuana. Their offense is potent especially with the late additions of Alfonso Soriano and Cliff Lee (two silver slugger award winners in 2005). The team hurt their pitching staff by trading away Bonderman and Blanton in the Soriano/Lee trade however.
Their GM is young, youngest in the EHCC actually. Don't expect the Markies to make any huge moves this off-season on their own. They only way this team makes trades is if they're presented with an option. It's not their style to go out and find the players they want, they usually wait for other GM's to present a proposal to them to look over and then go from there.
If other team were interested in someone from the Markies, they might want to put a SP or RP on the line since Wickman is scheduled to die any day now, even after a phenomenal year in 2005. Their offense is pretty well off at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would like to upgrade their catcher position until they feel Doumit can carry the entire load by himself. Their outfield may also use a slight upgrade.
As the Markies have shown in the past, nobody on their staff is untouchable, especially young, unproven talent. They traded away their number 1 over all minor league draft pick for Barry Zito, Francisco Rodriguez and Adam Eaton for older, proven players like Sexson, Wickman, and Percival. So if a team is looking to trade some proven players they may want to look to the city of Bizton.
Bizton's unofficial Wish-List: Bartolo Colon, Bobby Abreu, Derrick Turnbow, Jason Varitek, and Livan Hernandez
Watch for the Markies to make a strong push for the bottom tier of the playoff squad. They should finish 5th in the regular season.
Conor Intabedd writes an opinion column for The Weekly Reno Rag. He says he is not afraid of clowns, but has never been to the circus in his life.
