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Personnel History The Longfellows (or their successors) won at last 89 games three times between 2001 and 2004 but couldn't break through to the playoffs. A bold win-now trade for Clemens fixed that, and rode the Longfellows to the crown. Under the Troy Martin regime, the draft picks were fairly inconsistent, with too many good picks wasted on the Fullmers, Ficks, and Brian Jordans of the world. On the other hand, the current pitching staff now features pitchers taken 267th, 352nd, and 519th in their respective drafts. Denny Bartels took over in 2003 and drafted and traded well, but disappeared after the season. There was an interim regime which tried to slash and burn guys like Johnny Damon and Mark Loretta, but that didn't last long, and the reins were taken over by Jay Patrick. Despite the shiny crown, 2005 looked more like a peak than a plateau, especially on the mound side, with Clemens, Colon, and Patterson dropping off. Retooling with Tim Hudson and Nate Robinson will help, but the key is to get the timing right to coincide with the offense.
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2006 None of the position players had better years than in 2005. While Wright, Martinez, and Jones at least replicated their stats form the prior year, Vladdy dropped from 1.062 O+S to .899, while Matsui was injured and Giles and Crosby might as well have been. Replacements like Luke Scott and Mark DeRosa were strong enough, even so Cambridge finished in the middle of the pack offensively. The pitching was a little better, 3rd in the conference, even with turnover of 60% of the rotation, and despite the absence of Roger Clemens. It was clear the Longfellows weren't going to defend the Division as early as June, when Washington was routinely running off double figure winnings streaks. The playoffs seemed fairly assured, as Cambridge maintained a 5 game lead most of late summer. That shrank to 3 on September 1, and 1 with two to play, but the Blacks couldn't take advantage. A four game sweep of Mystic in round 1 brought up Cambridge, who was swept themselves in round 2 by Washington. 2005 Everything fell into line. Mark Prior and the 2nd pick in the draft brought in Roger Clemens (24-1) and Victor Martinez (.340/.404/.538), and Andruw Jones (51 HRs) came over from New Jersey. With a basis of five solid starters and the league's leading offense, the Longfellows rolled to 114 wins, though they didn't quite break away from the second place Dresden Blacks until late August. In the playoffs, Cambridge dispatched Mystic in 6 games and came up against the Blacks. The Blacks won the first three, but then the Cambridge pitching kicked in and the Longfellows became the first team in IIBL history to win a series after being down 3-0. The finals were easier, as the Longfellows took care of Seoul in six games. 2004 The team started by misfiring through the disastrous interim regime of Joe Hamrahi. Two trades were consummated; Damon for Cory Patterson and Larry Bigbie, and Bagwell and Marte for Tomko and Halladay. Neither of them were good ones. (Bigbie, Tomko, and Halladay were all via the draft.) Luckily for the franchise, a horrible trade of Loretta and Finley for Hidalgo, Castillo, Kotchman, and 2 low round picks was voided because of a rules technicality. Management, in its short incarnation did add David Wright (obvious pick at #4) and Brian Schneider (at #35, though somewhat a waste, given Varitek's presence). Jay Patrick came in and worked long into the night to emerge with a team of Giles-Crosby-Wright in the infield and Matsui-Hunter-Guerrero in the outfield. For the 2005 season, Roger Clemens and Jason Varitek were picked up. FOr 2004, Cambridge started poorly and didn't cross the .500 mark until the middle of June. From then on, they played well, largely led by the outfield, and wound up 16 games over .500 to gain them the 2nd pick in the draft. 2003 The team found new management and a new drive for the playoffs. The continuing core was fairly solid, and the draft eschewed prospects and filled holes with solid veterans like Moises Alou and Mark Loretta. Tucson led the race for the final wild card spot through mid-September, but found a tough schedule in Antioch, Nashua, and Rosehaven. They won only 4 of 11 and were passed by Pocono, again failing to secure their first playoff birth in their history. It was really a simple team with the top 8 players getting 88% of the at bats. The pitching was a little more disorganized, as only Bartolo Colon and Wade Miller showed any consistency, 2002 The offense was 3rd in the league, but the pitching was 13th. That just about sums it up, as the Solicitors were unable to repeat their 90 win season, which this time would have been good enough for a playoff spot. While Wade Miller dropped off from 15-8 to 7-10 (in 7 fewer starts), Bartolo Colon was up a notch. The real problem was the bullpen, where nobody had an ERA under 4, and closer Alan Embree was over 5. The Solicitors were 10 games under .500 by the All-Star break. They managed a 9-2 run in the second half, including a sweep at Dresden, that got them to 1 game under .500. After getting swept at Nashua in late September, the .500 mark was too elusive. |
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