Homestead Pythons

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• Managed by Christian Espinosa.
• Expansion Team; 2005

Team Facts:

General Manager: Christian Espinosa Stadium: Dolphins Stadium

City: Homestead, Florida

Within miles of: Key Largo, Marathon Key and Key West, Miami.

Manager: Tony Pena, interim Manager (Fired Jim Eisenreich)

Bench Coach:Darren Daulton

Pitching Coach:Juan Marichal

Batting Coach:John Kruk

1st Base Coach:Tany Perez

3rd Base Coach:Chris Sabo

Infield Coach:Perry Hill

History

2006:

• Bambino Conference, 4th place 74-81

2007:

• Bambino Conference, 5th place 33-41

Description:

2006

• The Pythons started of with a bang the 2006 season getting a victor against counterpart expansion team San Benito Strangegloves. Nolan Ryan made his lp2 debut and k'd 12 hitters in that game. The Pythons had a subpar but sucessfull season for an expansion team in 06. They finished 4th but with a lot of confidence towards the future.

2007

• In 2007 the Pythons made huge splurges during the offseason. In were stars like Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Bill Hall, Edgar Renteria, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Jorge Posada out were Rod Barajas, Jose Reyes, Matt Cain, Michael Young etc. The Pythons have had a dissapointing season so far but never the less but have not given up yet. They have a great bullpen composed by two closers, Trevor Hoffman and Brian Fuentes. What has failed is the starting pitching, all the starters are currently underachieving as has Alex Rodriguez and Matt Holliday. There has been rumors that the Pythons will be looking to move into their new stadium that is currently under construction by 2008 or 2009 at latest.

• The Pythons traded Bonds for super prospect Scott Kazmir, Rickie Weeks and Johnny Damon. Although they claim not to be throwing in the towel some people assume they did by making that move. The Pythons brass later showed us they are still interested in contending after trading for Paul Konerko, Miguel Tejada and Freddy Garcia.

Current:

• The Pythons have started a firesale, shortly after they fired 2nd year Manager Jim Eisenreich and named Tony Pena interim manager, here's a recap of the trades they've made so far:
• Traded Victor Diaz to San Benito Strangegloves for Scott Baker

• Traded Brian Fuentes, Jason Jennings, Jon Rauch and Chad Qualls to Finger Lakes Flashes in return for Chad Gaudin, Andrew Miller and 7th round pick in 2008 draft.

• Traded Miguel Tejada and Chad Gaudin to the Tottenham Blue Jays in return for Matt Capps, Carlos Villanueva and Corey Hart.

• Traded Matt Holliday to the San Benito Strangegloves in return for Brendan Harris and a 1st round pick in 2008.

• Traded Jorge Posada, Dan Wheeler to the South Side Soldiers in return for Josh Bard, Matt Garza and Adam Lind.

• Traded Alex Rodriguez to Finger Lakes Flashes in return for David Wright, Tom Gorzelanny and Franklin Gutierrez and a 9th round pick.

• Traded Trevor Hoffman to Eighty Four Lumberjacks in return for Ian Snells.

• Traded Franklin Gutierrez and Gustavo Chacin to Sun City Devils in return for Andre Ethier and a 6th round pick in the 2008 draft.

• Traded Raul Ibanez and Josh Bard to Ybor City Rollers in return for a 6th round pick in the 2008 draft.

The Pythons have given up on this year and have lost 8 in a row after trading most of their veteran players. Espinosa is known for having short patience but the group of talent he's acquired for next year is quite impressive. The Pythons are set to come in with the youngest pitching staff next year and probably the most successfull 1-5. The average age for their staff is 26 years old. The Pythons are set to move into their new stadiums by 2007. A move which can be either good or bad for this team. It seems like the pitching staff from this year which was built to win never settled in at Dolphins Stadium, primarily a football stadium. Never the less the Pythons are top 10 in attendance with 35,000+. It seems like this smalll town outside of Miami is passionate about baseball. The Pythons have a few veterans remaining and have decide to built their team with a mix of youth and veterans like Paul Konerko , Bengie Molina, Edgar Renteria and Todd Helton to name a few. 2008 seems to be an exciting season for the Pythons now the 2008 was a total failure!