Calgary Remparts
Division Last Season: 1st
Wins Last Season: 101
Batting
Big on experience and big on talent, this is a batting team that any pitcher would love to have supporting them. One player who looked fitter than he has for a while is 14 year veteran Shane Walters, he really seems to have pushed his 39 year old body hard during the off season and it's paying dividends now. Gone from the 2021 roster is short stop Mike Keena who's career had been gradually winding down. When called upon he contributed well but Calgary are well served in the short stop area with Gene Hout and Chris Baker.
Pitching
The off season was a major blow to Calgary as news of one retirement after another filtered through. Calgary still has one of the better rotations in the Farmers League but with the loss of Jeseni Bartholomay, Bear Hall, Jonah Lauw and Bumpus Wensloff, with a combined total of 674.2 innings, 54 wins and 11 saves in 2021 along with a combined 5 career All Star appearances, they will do it tough this year. A surprise choice to step into the breach is David Lykens. He's definitely a high calibre pitcher and getting more time on the mound is a desirable goal. The surprise is that in 572 games he's only ever started 3.
Overall
They're a group of experienced campaigners who've tasted success in 2016 so and can do it again. To do it though they'll have the batter the opposition pitchers and even then they'll most likely have to do it through the wild card. They're a force in the Farmers League but are no longer the dominant force in the Central division.
Transactions
Kenna, Mike, Short Stop - retired
Bartholomay, Jeseni, Starter - retired
Hall, Bear, Starter - retired
Lauw, Jonah, Setup - retired
Wensloff, Bumpus, Setup - retired
Ale, Catfish, Long Reliever - called up from AAA
Bradshaw, Marv, Starter - called up from DL
Munger, Bill, Starter - called up from AAA
Prediction
Division Place: 2nd
Wins: 96
Fort Mac Roughnecks
Division Last Season: 2nd
Wins Last Season: 99
Batting
Here is the best batting team in the Farmers League. What can I say, there's no discernible weaknesses in the batting, their fielding and speed is on a par with other teams, they have depth and cover. But being nice doesn't sell so if I was forced to pick out a weakness I could timidly say right field, and that really isn't fair on Garrick Johnson, no actually it is. Fort Mac will welcome back Angus Yant though after he suffered a major back injury leading into the playoffs last season, was this the reason for their 2021 failure? That and a very good Remparts team that is.
Pitching
Fort Mac also has the best pitching staff, the talent available is the envy of every manager except the most biased. Paul Manis is scary, he has fantastic command of all his pitches, while Hamish Beard continues to refine the subtleties of his trade. Look for Jose Cortez to have a better season this season.
Overall
These guys should run away with the Division title, the League title, and probably the Beer too. But then again we would have said the same thing last year too ... and they didn't. So what is the achilles heel of the Roughnecks? I can only presume that that would be a question posed by concerned Fishermen League managers as the Farmers League managers seem to have figured that out already.
Transactions
Yant, Angus, Left Field - called up from DL
Johnson, Garrick, Right Field - called up from AAA
Misfeldt, Darrold, Bullpen - sent to AAA
Prediction
Division Place: 1st
Wins: 120
Lethbridge Typhoon
Division Last Season: 3rd
Wins Last Season: 98
Batting
Gone in two players are 36 years of experience as inspirational catcher Jodd Janks and 1st baseman Stirling Ritter call it a day. These guys were huge for the Typhoon, between them they made 5437 appearance, scored 2969 runs, hit 1104 home runs, batted in 3130 runs, and had career averages of .292 and .287 respectively. As a mark of respect for these two players I think I’ll just say … enough said.
Pitching
Staying with the loss of big numbers in a few players theme, make that a single player as Lethbridge also have to adjust to life without their staff ace Johnson Tollefsrud. Tollefsrud retires after 20 years in which he racked up 306 wins at an average of 3.17, won the Cy Young award in 2010, and was a 5 time All Star. And the icing on the cake, he lowered the mark for season ERA to 1.39 in his final season. Saying enough said two times in a row feels like cheating and to that end we’ll mention that Cliff Politte gets the open spot in the rotation and that we expect Fergie Freeman to rebound from his disastrous 2021.
Overall
The batting power of Lethbridge has taken a turn for the worse but their pitching staff is still one of the elite. Lethbridge will continue to compete with Calgary for 2nd in the Central division and, if as eluded to regarding Fort Mac having an achilles heel is true, have a chance to win the title again.
Transactions
Janks, Jodd, Catcher - retired
Ritter, Sterling, 1st Base - retired
Liniak, Giberto, 2nd Base - sent to AAA
Penick, Gustav, Centre Field - sent to AAA
Bivens, Clark, 1st Base - called up from AAA
Fernicola, Dave, 2nd Base - called up from LOW
Newman, Andy, 3rd Base - called up from AAA
Funaro, Jarrod, Setup - sent to AAA
Tollefsrud, Johnson, Starter - retired
Carew, Carney, Setup - called up from AAA
Kolsch, Kaktus, Middle Reliever - called up from AAA
Prediction
Division Place: 3rd
Wins: 94
St Paul Pride
Division Last Season: 4th
Wins Last Season: 60
Batting
St Paul are a competitive batting unit with a good deal of experience despite being relatively young. Reece Keast is turning into a fine player while Trent Crowe earned his call up after his spring training performances. Pablo Astacio also returns to depart some of his considerable experience onto the younger players but is beginning to look his age around the park.
Pitching
This is a pitching staff built around the dependable Johnny Carrington. Lose him for any period of time and their could be some big scores posted against the Pride. Ed Gladman steps out of the rotation and into retirement, he is replaced by a very raw Darrell Walsh. If Walsh could control his pitches more he could turn into reasonable player. Another player making some progress during his spring outings was Greg Witherall, he’s still lacking power in his pitching however and could struggle to regain control once the batters get on top of him.
Overall
St Paul has relatively young squad and plenty of talent coming through. This is probably more so evident in the batting department but they’re not short on some quality arms either. All in all though their pitching will run hot and cold and so will struggle to put together a big string of wins. St Paul would need to make their changes early in order to be contenders at the business end of the season.
Transactions
Bowman, Dan, Catcher - sent to AAA
Porrini, Kareem, Short Stop - sent to AAA
Chumley, James, Centre Field - sent to AAA
Davis, Butch, Right Field - sent to AAA
Hawkenberry, Dave, Catcher - called up from AAA
Boylston, Menachem, 1st Base - called up from AAA
Rutt, Tawera, Short Stop - called up from AAA
Crowe, Trent, Right Field - called up from AAA
Donovan, Fred, Bullpen - sent to AAA
Gladman, Ed, Starter - retired
Walsh, Darrell, Starter - called up from AAA
Winc, Mark, Middle Reliever - called up from AAA
Prediction
Division Place: 4th
Wins: 65
Cold Lake Mud Cats
Division Last Season: Last
Wins Last Season: 53
Batting
Cold Lake’s attack continues its painful slide to mediocrity in 2022 due mainly to their stagnation and the other teams lifting their game. Tory Sturm goes out and JL Clark comes in as his replacement in right field, there’s not much between these two really. Also back into the majors is short stop Donnie Betten as cover for Kiel Afile.
Pitching
It’s very much a similar story in the pitching department. While they’re sliding down the ladder, they can at least say they’re improving. Rookie 25 year starter Nigel Lutui gets his shot in the big time after some solid pre season outings. It’s a similar story for Jamal Ebsworth who looks better for his year of experience last season. The extra burden on veteran Ellie Avery’s arm was evident in the pre season so we can perhaps see his numbers slide again this season.
Overall
The once powerful club is clearly in rebuild mode and as such it’s on their farm system we should concentrate on. We don’t see any overnight miracles happening there either sadly and while Cold Lake is starting to build a decent enough crew of young players, it’s going to be some time before they’re serious contenders again.
Transactions
Sturm, Tory, Right Field - sent to AAA
Betten, Donnie, Short Stop - called up from AAA
Clark, JL, Right Field - called up from AAA
Blaylock, Joe, Starter - retired
Hafey, Oscal, Middle Reliever - sent to AAA
Lutui, Nigel, Starter - called up from AAA
Prediction
Division Place: Last
Wins: 53 (yes 53 again)
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