THANKS HORSEFACE

This is a sad moment for Montreal fans, the RCL Silver Slugger winner, Tom "Horseface" Becker is gone.  The fans had these moments in the past, when Montreal trade Gary Carter and many others.  The big difference is that the Management didn't have a real chance in signing him.  We thanks the "Horseface" for the 2 titles, but his agent is still not welcome in Montreal.

We trade Becker to Washington, before the beginning of the Free Agent period, because he still had some values and we were done negociating with Becker agent.   In return we get the Closer of the Capitalist José Guevara, a 5 stars left-handed reliever, that the bandits needed in their bullpen (no lefted arm in the bullpen last year).

With the signature of Becker contract in Washington, 8 years at 22 Millions dollars per year, the Bandits also get 50th prospect 1B George Soucy, a future big bat in the big league.  He should replace Eric Ware at the end of his contract.

Guevara and Soucy has a greater value than the 2 picks we will have obtain as a compensation for losing Becker to free agency.  For the team, it was good.  Even thought now, our division will be a lot tougher, Rudyard in Minnesota and Becker in Washington.   We were 13-2 against Washington last season, it won't be the same next year.  But GM Patterson was the only one who really show interest in Becker, therefore we had no real choice.

RUDYARD TRADE TO MINNESOTA

It appears that Bob Rudyard didn't have time to settle to Montreal, after acquiring him from Las Vegas, Today Montreal GM, trade him to Minnesota in return they get 6th prospect CF Joe Guthrie and AAA SP Jaime Hernandez.  GM said he was sad to let Rudyard go because he was amazing in Montreal 8-0 in the season and 3-0 in the playoff.  But for the better and the future of the franchise, this is a move we have to do.  I might regret this one next year, especially because we sent him in a division rival in Minnesota.  But Minnesota had what we want and depth at the CF positon.

At 35 years old, Rudyard still had a great value, SP are so rare in this league.  With his salary and his stamina, we thought that we could let him go.   We think in the long run, Joe Guthrie will solidify our team.  We him Dan Allen and Chris Fields our outfield should be performant.  Guthrie has "All Star" potential.  Jaime Hernandez might also be helpful as a number 4 or 5 starters.  At the same time, team official have announced that they have submit an offer to Scott McGuiken acquire from FA in June, he finish 10-3 in Montreal.  So our pitching staff should be something around this

#1 Raul Perez
#2 Austin Brown
#3 Scott McGuiken
#4 Ray Clay
#5 Lou Smith

Spot - Jaime Hernandez and Ed Gillespie

With Lou Latulippe at #1 SP prospect of the Club.
 

French-Speaking LATULIPPE in Montreal

Since his eligibility to the draft, we identify the young lefty LOU "THE FRENCHIE" LATULIPPE as a acquisition priority.  We know we overpaid to acquire him.  Arteago, Cuevas and Mills will all be ABL player in the near future.  However, we felt that it was important to get this french-speaking young star.  Our fan will be pleased by his personality and his ability to exchange some words "dans la langue de Molière".  Moreover, we also think, he will be a dominant hurler.
  
By the way, his brother, CHASE "THE HABS" LATULIPPE will be entering the draft this year.  Born in Montreal, the young canadian had the choice to play hockey or baseball at a high level.  Following the increase popularity of the ABL in Montreal, and the NHL lock-out, he choose to follow his brother.  The young right-handed pitcher throw already at a young age a knuckleball, he have a good potential to develop as a future star in the ABL.   Let's see who will draft him.

BACK TO BACK TITLES

The owner, the GM and the coach were delighted last year with the first ABL title, but the message was clear, it was so much fun, that when we sat down together with a bottle of champagn, we all said that we want to repeat.
We went back to the board and start working on building "the winning team" and today we can yell out load that we succeed.  Wow what a great feeling.

What a season, 105 wins, best record in the ABL, and a wonderful run in the playoff, beating Carolina, Seattle and Eureka.

The owner congratulates the GM, "I know he asked me to open my wallet" but when I see the results now it was well worth.  The acquisition of waivers of Eric Ware, the signing of free agent McGuicken (10-3 this season, and very good in the postseason), the trade for Guerrero, Clay, and more importantly Rudyard (8-0 with Montreal, and 3-0 in postseason) and Reece (.317 in postseason).

The owner also have strong words for the manager Dave Harris.  He didn't have an easy task.  The pressure was on him all year.  When you defend your title, every teams want to beat you.  But he managed his team perfectly, bringing back the last win of the season.

Finally, the owner was extremely thankful to all the Bandits.  They played great, with heart and devotion all season. What a team.  When asked about "Horseface" Becker.  He said, you know this is his right to test the free agent market.  The only regret we have, it that we didn't have the possibility to negociate with him.  We save some money aside to sign him, but we didn't have any chance to talk.  This guy will be the highest paid players in ABL next season, no doubt.  I want to thank him for the 2 great seasons, he had in Montreal.  I wish him to win the Silver Slugger and the MVP because he deserves it.  He was great during the season (.417, 45HR) and in Post season (.383, 7HR).   With 2 rings he should be rewarded.

Now what, you have win it all twice, what is next.  The owner said we like to win in Montreal, we have important decision to take with few players.  The lost of Becker will hurt us.  But will we see what we can do to replace him.  We will see, we will try to enjoy this one, it really feels good to have the bragging rights....

PERSON NON GRATA

One man is not welcome in Montreal, and the Bandits organization, not the baseball one, but real motorcycle criminal organization is waiting for this guy with a sleeping bag and a brick.  Who is this man?  Well it is Tom Becker agent?  Although, Tom Becker is one of the greatest hitter in Baseball, although he's a happy man, although he won a Championship in Montreal in 2012, although the team is on the road for another playoff trip.  The Bandits organization doesn't have a chance to negociate with his all-star player.  When asked by a journalism about Becker status for next year, the GM said that "it is tough to do anything about this, because it's been almost 2 years we try to negociate with Becker Agent, but the guy won't even just pick up the phone, so we can talk.   It is very frustrating.  We made him ONE offer, the day after we draft him in the inaugural draft, in March 2012, since then, he keep saying that he will no longer negociate with us.  As an organization that want to defend his title, we have decided to keep him.  We will try to sign him if he want to talk with us.  The fans want us to keep this all star player in town, we have room for him on our team salary structure, but he need to show interest to us."  Without Hockey in town, Baseball and Becker is one of the biggest subject in sport news....









 

BOB AND BOB WITH THE BANDITS

The Bandits were active at the trade deadline.  Even though they had a good lead at the top of their division, the Bandits GM really want to add a quality arm in the rotation.  Therefore they decided to trade their extremely popular, Centerfield Gordon "Spring" Thornton, who had a hard time to perform to his expected level in the last two years.  Along with Thornton, Ray Brady a valuable MR and their top prospect Alfredo Villalobos take their glove to Las Vegas, the finalist of the last world series.

In return, two Bob's arrive in town.  The most important one is Bob Rudyard, rank #9 SP in the league.  A left-handed starter who have an amazing era of 1.89 in Las Vegas, a hitter friendly park.  To replace Thornton, Bob Reece also arrive in Montreal.  He will share the load with Greg Forrest at the Centerfield position.  Finally 22 years old Chris Mills will close game in AAA.

This gives Montreal a very good rotation with Raul Perez, Austin Brown, Bob Rudyard, Ray Clay and Scott McGuicken, and three good starters for the playoff.

For sure, Montreal got older and lost a top prospect, but we have some depth at the catcher position.  We really want to defend our title.  Now we need to control playing time of all the players to arrive in the playoff as healthy as possible.

Go Bandits....

THE CHAMPS WANT TO REPEAT

You would think that after winning it all in the first ABL season, that the GM would relax and be an observer during the offseason.  This was far from being true.  Encourage by his owner, who want to create a legacy, the Montreal GM was very active during this off-season.

First, the GM took the expensive Eric Ware off waiver from San Francisco.  The 33 years old switch hitter will be the perfect DH in Montreal.  He hit 30HR and 111RBI in a pitcher-friendly park, last year.  Imagine now what he can do in Montreal. 

Second, they will get back their all-star Center field, Gordon Thornthon, who spend most of last season on the disable list.  Even thought, Forrest and Moyer were great in replacing Thornthon last season, we are happy to have him back.  Our speedy Center-field, is a respected leader and perfect lead-off man.

Finally, today the GM have decided to trade three prospects and a veteran: Martin Merritt (SP) AAA, Jeffrey Hall 3B (AAA), Robert Price (SP) AA and Jeff Johnson (3B) ML, in order to get Emilio Guerrero, 37 years old 3B, who have a very familiar name in Montreal.  Guerrero 35 HR last season and his good glove at 3B will be a great addition to our ball club.  This move will make Millard Shafer a luxury utility man, who will come to rest Guerrero, Collins or Izyurov when needed.

With Guerrero, the Bandits also acquire 26 years old Ray Clay (SP).  Last year Clay was 10-8 in KC.  Clay comes in Montreal with the #3 SP spot ready for him, just behind Raul Perez and Austin Brown.  Montreal also got 5 Millions Dollars to help pay for Guerrero salary.

We gave 3 good prospects of our organisation, but we do have few more arms in our minor league.  Plus we have drafted two 3B in the last draft so Hall become available.

Competitive time is now in Montreal.  We enjoy our first ABL title, and we want to send a message to our player and our fan that we want to repeat.
 

BANDITS CHAMPIONS

Friday 26th 2012 is an historical day in Montreal and will now be an holiday in Québec.  After the Expos got killed by Rick Monday in 1981, after the MLB screw Montreal Expos with a stupid strike in 1994.  The new franchise, the Montreal Bandits in the newly best baseball league in North America won the first championship of the Adult Baseball League, bringing home the first Baseball Championship in Montreal.

Fans were crazy in and around the Labatt Bleue Park.  Tom Becker and Raul Perez are now more popular then any Hockey players in Montreal, even though, the Montreal Canadiens start their season, the only discussion subject in Town is BASEBALL.

To do so, the Bandits got in the playoff with the wild card spot with a record of 95-67, then they beat the Seattle Sasquatch in 6 games in the first round.  In the RCL Championship, the Bandits got the best of the Dallas Texans in 6 games. 

Finally, they won the World Series against their best enemy the Las Vegas Jokers and the richest owner Rene Angelil, a quebecer, husband and manager of Celine Dion, who decided to invest in Vegas, instead of Montreal.  Beating the Jokers in 4 games, was a nice revenge, mentioned the owner Rodger Brulotte, all smiles.  

Brulotte thanks all the Montreal fans for their support, especially at home where the team played just outstanding.  He also gave huge credit to the coaching staff, and Dave Harris the 44 years old Manager, who got some criticism at the beginning.  Reporters were saying that he didn't have enough skills and experience to bring the Championship home.   But Harris was instrumental in managing his team.

Brulotte thanks all the players for their effort, these guys after the lost of Gordon Thornton in May got together and decided to go and play as hard as they can.  They were just amazing in September and October.  Every players participated in the success of the Bandits.  We are the ABL Champions. 

Christian Latulippe
ABL World Series Champs 2012

BANDITS STEAL A PLAYOFF SPOT

It was not an easy task, but the Bandits made it to the Post-Season. With the injuries to Thornton, Borlase, Forrest, Malise, May and June were thought months for Montreal playing just over .500. But coach Harris said that Becker, Shields, Carr, Izyurov and Perez were instrumental in keeping the team honest and performing. Then, the guys worked hard in rehab and comeback strong in September with a record of 16-7. With 4 games back and 4 games left to the season, the chance of catching up the Berserkers are very limited.

But as Brulotte mentioned, our objective was to make it to the post-season and we did it. It is great for our organization and our fans. We have amazing baseball fans in Montreal, we were sold out 99% of the time, and the players enjoy playing here with an amazing record of 52-25 at home.

Some players just have incredible season in Montreal and should be nominated for some hardware. here is the top 3 players that worth mentioning.

What about the homerun king Tom "the horse face" Becker. He's hitting for .370, 56 homeruns (leader), and an unbelievable 187 RBI (leader). It should be one of the top candidate for league MVP.

Raul Perez has been instrumental this season. Pitching half of his games in a hitter friendly park in Montreal. He has a record of 20-4, with an era of 2.98 and 263 K. He should be highly consider for the Cy Young.

Tom Shields flirts with the .400 average all season. Now at .387 with 245 hits in only 141 games, for a catcher these are great numbers. Maybe the best surprise in baseball this year.

But now let's talk playoff, right now, unless a major surprise in the last 4 games, Montreal will start the Post-Season against Seattle and Steve Frend. We can expect a lot of point between these two teams with hitter friendly park, Seattle and Montreal are leading the league in batting average with .311 for Seattle and .309 for Montreal. Bandits won 4 out of 7 against Seattle. But like people said this is a new season.

Home field advantage

Almost 60 games into the season, the Bandits are showing two faces. At home, they are one of the best team in the ABL, with a record of 20-9, the team is playing some sharp and inspired baseball. However, away, the bandits are one of the worst team in the league with a poor 11-18 record. The owner is thinking about bringing some fans in their next away-game.

Hospital is full in Montreal

After a 6-0 start, the Bandits struggle and have a hard time to play for 500. Now in 3rd place with e record of 16-15, the team got hit by few injuries, the bullpen is without Lowry and Malise, and two starters Borlase (RF) and Johnson (3B) are out, so we made our first call to our AAA team. Expectations are high in Montreal, let's play some good baseball

Smell the grass...

In Montreal, sun is shinning, the winter was not too cold and spring come early. We smell the grass and Montreal Canadiens getting ready to golf and the Montreal Bandits to step on the field for their first season in the ABL. Fan are excited and ready to cheer for baseball. Playball...

Draft - Superstars drafted in Montreal

The Montreal Bandits have decided to share their treasure, by signing some superstars for their 1st season in the Adult Baseball League.

Gordon Thornton - CF
Raul Perez - SP
Tom Becker - LF
Jordan Borlase - RF

These stars are coming to town, hopefully to bring some championships home.