Brad's bets and wagers (THE ODDS)

Brad has taken over the reigns from odds maker danny wilk - check back for updates throughout the season


Don’t take offense to the write ups, they are just opinion based and meant to just get people talking. The odds are fluid and will change. Good luck to all.

UPDATED: 04/17/2023 PRE SEASON

Emmis -  20:1
Panama – 25:1
Premiere – 15:1
TMTC – 10:1
Fortinet – 13:1
Botica – 18:1
Del Friscos – 22:1
Physiomentum – 12:1
Witt Realty – 18:1
Continental – 15:1
Flagship – 8:1
Wima – 28:1
Posluns – 30:1
Yagel – 27:1


Emmis


​​​​​​​Very strong top 3, have an ace with Boots and a great backup with Glen who was picked in the 11th and could be a starter. Big power with Ricky and Kirk. Julian Spagnolo, showed promise last year with some pop and outfield ability. Scotty had an offseason injury but is a good hitter and looks to take to the outfield again. The middle bottom might not be as strong as some of the big dogs this year. Gord picked last year’s co captain Louie again. They have some bats, but the D looks to be a question mark on this team. Their 13 is still waiting to be replaced so we will see what happens. Their success will be on how their middle and bottom performs. While they have some very big power bats, the 8 ball says this could be a team trying to keep up with the middle of the pack guys but should be in there.

Panama


First year captains and brothers Will and Adam picked a very conservative team. Good friend Laz, who has quietly become a consistent pitcher in the league looks to be picked a little early compared to the other pitchers that ended up going this year. Starr will be a question mark with his health, they need him for the outfield. Marco Ruggi has pop and Jean fell to them in the 9th with a solid bat. Justin Spagnolo was the first overall pick last year but slipped to the 5th this year. He had many injuries last year and could be a diamond in the rough with his pedigree. Will they have the power bats to compete or will the safe picks play well enough to fight for a top spot this year? Kenny brings his smile to this team of just a general good group of guys. However, the odds say they might struggle this year lacking a true power bat.


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Rod has an eye for always picking solid teams, so how did he do this year? Kiki shoots up to the 2nd round and Vic to the third, having played with Rod last year. Will Danny adjust to the mat? Rookie David Sebag is a question mark, and the Kleins need to play well. The hitting and D look there, but Rod will need a few outperforms to fight for a top spot. Rookie David Sebag needs to adjust to our competitive league. Young gun Shaun Fox is slowly improving every year and Sam can hit the ball when he gets a hold of it. Derek O showed promise with the bat last year and if Rod can show him a few tricks, he could help as well. This should be a decent team but probably more middle of the pack or a bit better unless guys do well and Matt Airey starts off hot like he did last year and maintain that. They have the tools, so this could be a sleeper team.


TMTC

Veteran and one of the top pitchers Richard Rockman and Stu have assembled very competitive squads the last several years. It looks to be another quality draft for them again. Having won the lotto for rookie and superstar Steven Lipko, this should give them a top SS, top CF (Adam) and top pitcher right off the bat. Rumor has it that rookie Danny Schwartz was smashing the ball in evals. This is a team with 3 rookies, the Lipko brothers and Danny. They got a big bat in Alter in the 7th. The bottom looks more than capable with super sub Phil Lord and Ronnie/Benji/Piero and Robbie all providing very stable bats. Is this the year TMTC finishes in the top and goes all the way? The odds are showing this could be very likely one of the top teams this year and could go all the way.


Fortinet

Everyone and their aunties knew coming into the draft that Steve was going with Danny Azoulay in the first but how did he do the rest of the draft? This looks like a very good hitting team top to bottom. While the pitchers were falling, Steve made up his mind he was going for Avi P. like he did last year and was instead focused on the bats. Rabbi was a top hitter last year and Jeff Kosow too. They drafted Jeff’s brother Mike who has pop. The middle and bottom are strong and while everyone thought Noah was going to Steve in the 7th, he ended up trading for him and slotting him as an 8. Steve was playing chess here, but Noah was brought back home. Gilles gives them a very well rounded 12. If AVI pitches fulltime and is there most games, this should be a team fighting for a top 5 spot.


BOTICA

At the draft, when BOOTS dropped to their spot, I think a lot of people were expecting them to take him. Instead the Wilzers looked to go for fielders and pick a pitcher later. They have a very fast center with Kovac/Nic there and Howie/Harley/Goldsmith on the sides. They may not have a big HR hitter in the lineup, but they have decent hitting and a good outfield along with a top SS in Lorne. They traded Noah Katz for Matt Ross, to get another pitcher aside from Howard. That strategy of holding out on a pitcher may have backfired there because they realized that and ended up with the trade. The odds say this could be a middle of the pack team. Do their pitchers adjust to the mat? If not, this team could struggle.


Del Friscos

Father and son duo Jeremy and Mitch picked a couple of familiar faces again this year. They shored up their SS by picking JF then going for Flash in the 4th. Coming into the draft, it was all but certain that board member JR would end up here having dreamed about it all winter. Mitch P has an injury that should be clear for the start of the year and coming back to pitch again is Steve Reinblatt. /Yaffy/Cho/Goodman round out the middle bottom. This doesn’t look like an exceptionally fast team aside from Jer but they seem very well rounded with Ralphy/Luigi as their bottom two. This is a tough team to read, it should be a middle of the pack team but the lack of power might not keep up with some of the other teams. Odds maker says they could end up playing catch up if Perly isn’t fully healthy and one or two other guys struggle.


Physiomentum

Gui Hamel and co captain Michael Mercado have drafted another solid team. Prince, coming back from injury over a year ago, should form a very powerful hitting and defensive 1-2 combo. Martel should start the year at SS, possibly Mario also and Mercado should be a good pitcher with the mat. Bobby Leftakis in the 6th provides a little extra charisma to this team, while not the best 6th talent wise, he provides other intangibles possibly not fully appreciated. The bottom looks to be fairly decent, with everyone able to hit. Rudie provides the nice factor missing elsewhere on here. All Star Blitt needs to stay health and stay out of the penalty box to lead this team to glory. That applies to a couple of others on the team, but winning usually cools heads. If Dougie hits like he did last year, and Prince can return to form, this should be one of the teams fighting for the top spot.


Witt Realty

Glenn and Shannon are new to the game. The big offseason question mark was, will they pick Savage or go for a starting SS. The answer was revealed at the draft and they went with reliable Jasen Leclair. Stroll has the tools to be a top CF and they are hoping he brings back his usual hitting. The latin sensation Alberto has big pop and Glen will be the starter. Wiggy makes his return to DESL and should provide also a big bat. They locked up Faludi because he hit .600 last year. Rothpan and Kornai will be in the outfield corners providing their experience. Co Captain Shannon has developed a power bat the last few years and gives big pop for a 7.  Rocko is the best bat in the 12, and they don’t have too many weaknesses. Overall, this is a well rounded team with a couple of holes. Did they make a mistake passing on Todd? Time will tell but the odd machine say this could be a middle of the pack team but they have the tools to be better or fall apart if there are any distractions. This is another sleeper team.


Continental


Murray replaces co captain Todd with stud outfielder and pro cyclist David Friedberg. There were question marks on if they would take Todd if he fell to them but they picked young short stop Bryan Levine instead. I think they were hoping Boxer would then come back to them in the second, but they got David’s ex co captain Greenspan there. Greenspan/Muroff/Small bring speed and David O can play any infield position. Fireballer Golden needs to adapt to the mat, so if he can, their top 4 is as good as anyone’s. Their middle looks to be on par with other teams, maybe a little weaker in the hitting. Bernard comes back for his second year having adjusted well to the league and looks to improve with daily visits to Coup Sur. Odds maker says this is a team that will fight for middle of the pack.


FLAGSHIP


The favorite on paper. Captains Kruger/Sheres, with their generous 1/3 rating and getting lucky picking an early second got Boxer, one of the best defensive outfielders DESL has ever had. Having Jimmy D’s HR power in the lineup should make this one of the highest scoring teams in the league this year. Jkor fell on their lap in the 5th, which makes their 1-5 very strong. A top pitcher going that late in the draft is perplexing but they took advantage of Yagel leaving him go and grabbing him on the wrap around. Rookie Noah Sobol will provide some speed and the rest of the lineup is also very solid with Rakesh and Mark Levine coming back from injury but always a huge bat. Will Dan or Mark play first? Is Kruger going to be a full time shortstop? There really are only a few small question marks with this team. Bryan White is one of the most decorated 13s having won multiple championships.  The odds machine says this is the team to beat going into the season.


WIMA


Lady luck and Todd Savage fell to WIMA as a gift. Dankner and Weiss had a feeling they might get him, and the plan was to load up on outfielders after that which they did. The next 5 picks, Itch/Henry/Perlis/Rodger/Asher provide d and hitting. Mr. Dankner and the mat are like peanut butter and jelly, it’s going to work. The problem is, there are a lot of question marks on this team. The outfield filled with quantity, might be lacking a real second center fielder and they might be missing a couple of bats to keep up with the big boys. Who protects Todd before and after? Weiss can smash it, but they need another. This isn’t an overall fast team either. I think they have the pitching and OK D. Hopefully they surprise everyone, but the odds are the odds. Sass has been training hard and looks to put up big numbers. There are a lot of familiar faces here again and this team could gel at some point. Dankner might have to carry this team, and he could, so we will wait for the season to start to see if the pitching magician can do it all. The odds maker puts this team near the bottom for now.


POSLUNS


Rob and Lawrence return having both joined the board as well. Did they learn from last year and tweak their roster? Let’s have a closer look. Their first pick is not even a question mark this time. Kendall brings a very powerful bat and maybe will play SS? Carpman/Rob/Lawrence/Cusmariu form the same outfield as last year. There are good bats there with all of them hovering around the .600 mark. They took 2 pitchers with Dov and Menashi with one probably for the infield. Will they adjust to the mat? Menashi is a rookie this year but owns Le Sandlot and has played softball/baseball for a while so he could be an outperform. Posluns is a versatile fielder and has been hitting well the last several years along with Monsieur Alain. One of the most underrated players in the league. RJ is reliable but the bottom doesn’t scream fancy and after Kendall they might be missing another power bat. So, with SS a question mark and some power missing here along with question marks on if Dov/Menashi can hit the mat consistently, we’ll have to put this team near the bottom. The plus side is this is a team with very nice guys but the Artic might need to fully defrost for them to win it all this year. The odds can change as the season progresses. 


YAGEL


Ben/Naggy/Roter (2/3/6), this was a recipe to be a great start to a team and just needed drafting to solidify that start. In the 4th round, the buzz was JKOR here was a done deal but they went a different direction taking ZInman. The gamble then was just to go pitching much later in the draft. Dino/Ben/Naggy/Zinman are as a solid top 4 hitting team. Burbella provides some speed and youth, and was picked 2 rounds earlier than last year. Roter gives them a bit of power too and a backup pitcher. Busner/Deskin are big bats. Rookie KP joins the league this year and could surprise some people. Ingber looks to be the starter and dropped pretty far in the draft. There could be some position issues on this team and maybe short an outfielder and possibly a bit weak on the defensive side of things. On paper this could be a team fighting to stay out of the basement but they have some bats that could power them to be in the middle. Let’s see if they can click and we can revise the odds once the season starts.