MLB 2010

[SBoydW]

Baseball approaches.  Less than a month until spring Training, and a little over a month until the regular season.  Since there are no other sports that interest me currently in season I am anxiously looking forward to Baseball.  My AL Team, the Red Sox are going to be Brilliant... and I can only hope my NL Cubbies can figure something out.

 

Hopeful pre-season World Series prediction - Cubs, Red Sox

 

Actual pre-season World Series prediction - not going to make one yet.

[CUBAREY]

It's going to be a repeat. Yankees/P{hillies.

[whitetrash]

The Braves will win it all..

[SBoydW]

The more I look at it.... the Phillies are going to be ridonkulous...  And the Red Sox beat the Yankees!!!

[Samuraiflip05]

Hmmm, I am gonna have to make a push for the Cardinals. 

 

Not only are they my team, but they have the tools to do it again this year.

 

Look at the starting rotation.  How many teams sport a 1-2 punch like Carpenter and Wainright?  If Lohse holds true to form, and Penny blossoms under Dave Duncan's tutelage....that's a hell of a staff. 

 

The bullpen is young this year.  Outside of Dennys Reyes and Trevor Miller(Two above average lefty specialists) and Ryan Franklin (Who despite a late season fade still had 38 saves last year) the bullpen is a little wet behind the ears.  But, it is a pretty good mix of talent. 

 

The bench is another area where they developed from within.  Larue has proven himself wholly capable of filling in for Molina, and while Felipe Lopez is considered bench, I bet you'll see plenty of him through the season. 

 

The starting positions....oh man, what else can you say. 

Defensively, the only hole would probably be 3rd base.  Freese is a little awkward there yet.  The outfiled platoon is well defended, and Brendan Ryan could have won a gold glove last year.  Skip has excelled since being shifted to 2nd last year, and Albert is....well Albert.  Then you look behind the plate....Molina not only throws out more than 50% of runners, he has picked of more runners on first than anyone except Pudge, and this is only his sixth season. 

Offensively......can you find much better than Pujols, Holiday, Ludwick at your core?  Skip leads off at better than 300 batting average, and Yadi is developing into a big time clutch hitter. 

 

So throwing all bias aside, I can't see anyone else taking the Central Div this year.  And I am looking deep into the post-season.  ;)

[SBoydW]

My Sox have a nasty line up with Becket Lester and Lackey, thrown in the eternal Wakefield and that new guy..... Bucholz I'd give them the best line up in baseball.

 

At one point they actually had like three closer on their staff last year with Saito(or was it Okajima?), Wagner and Paps.... but now it's just Paps... and some other dudes..

 

Then their line up us solid with Beltre, Martinez and Youlikis, and throw in Lowell and Big Papi(if he can get it going one more time), I'm saying the sox win it all this year against the Cards...

[WWWwombat]

Yeah the Red Sox have one of the best rotations out there if not the best.  They also improved the defense a ton by getting Beltre and Cameron.  They definitely have a chance.  That being said, the Yankees made some ridiculous moves in the offseason.  They already won over 100 games last year and they got Vazquez and Granderson for pretty much nothing.  Being a Sox fan it pains me to say this, but the Yankees are the most likely to win it all.  In the NL I like the Phillies and the Dodgers.  The Cardinals aren't exactly scrubs either though.  I would probably favor the Dodgers because I think both Billingsley will return to form if not get even better and Kershaw is poised for a breakout.  Also the Dodgers' outfield is just plain terrifying.  Add a good rotation to that excellent bullpen and formidable lineup and you're looking at a pretty scary team.

 

If I had to make a prediction right now, I would say Yankees over Dodgers in the World Series.  *vomits*

[Samuraiflip05]

Lol....is that an official part of your predection.  :D ;)

 

The first couple weeks are under the belt, and I would say I am a little surprised at more than a few of the teams leading the way. 

 

In the ALE, I am surprised to see the Rays and Bluejays keeping pace.  Big Papi's slow start seems to have hurt the Sox.  ALC has Minnesota leading, which isn't too surprising, but the Indians are playing 500 ball right now.  In the ALW, I would not have banked on Oakland leading the way out of the gate. 

 

NLE, no real surprise to see Philly on top, but there are 4 teams in that division at 500 or better, including the 8-5 Marlins.  In the NLC, like I said.....I'm not expecting a terrible threat to the Cards chances, but Pitsburgh is only 1 game back at this point.  They seem to be getting some decent pitching this year.  The NLW is topped by San Francisco(Still a little bitter about that whole Cy Young thing.....If Wainright had gotten that 20th win, i think he'd a gotten it), and the rest of that division is neck and neck. 

[SBoydW]

Well the Jays will be up there till division play gets going, then they'll fall back.  They lead the AL East for the first month.... almost two months last year then went back to form when they started playing the likes of Boston, New York and Tampa Bay.

 

Boston will regain their form as well.  They struggled in the first part of last season as well, but their pitching is to good for them to stay down to long, and their bats are going to come to life at some point.  I still think they need to put Lowell as their predominant DH and make Papi the guy that come in to relieve Lowell.

[Samuraiflip05]

We'll have to wait and see how things progress. 

 

 

Oh and this is my 15,000th post.  :D

[WWWwombat]

Papi is done.  You know the lineup is looking weak when you start Mike Lowell in the cleanup spot for even one game.  I love Lowell and he's certainly doing better than Papi, but we need a big bat like we used to have with Manny and the Ortiz of old.  We need to trade for Adrian Gonzalez.  Hopefully the Padres do horribly and have to ship him before the deadline.

[Kivam]

Boston is in serious trouble - their lineup is weak (aside from Ellsbury, Pedroia and Youkilis, their hitters are mediocre at best) and their pitching isn't strong enough to carry them, not in this division.  If they want to compete this year, they'd better make a move - soon.

[SBoydW]

At least they looked good last night.

[Samuraiflip05]

Who the hell is Jaime Garcia.  ;)

 

Talk about a rotation.  The weak spot in the Cards rot thus far is Lohse, and he has been pretty good the last couple of games.  Penny finally got tagged for more than 2-3 runs, but He's still pitching great. 

 

I am a little concerned by the offense though.  They have fallen a little flat the last couple of games.  Everyone has slumps, but a trend they seem to have a lot, is that they will get into these funks were they can't score runs.  SHAKE IT OFF GUYS!!

 

 

[SBoydW]

Boston has won 3 in a row... we're never losing again!!!!!

[TheBeerPatriot]

Boston has won 3 in a row... we're never losing again!!!!!

Being a Boston guy too, I only wish that were true.  They look godawful in this Yankee series thus far.  It's bad enough that they don't have enough pop in their bats, or that their pitching staff is taking occasional lumps.  The defense has been quite bad so far, and that's what their offseason moves were geared for leading into this season! Beltre has 7 errors already (including one today that lead to 2 runs)? C'mon!

 

Here's hoping they turn this sh*t around now!

[Samuraiflip05]

Well, I have nothing to do tomorrow as the Cards have a day off.  They need it though.  17 games straight puts a little fatigue in the ranks. 

 

Hopefully scoring 11 runs against the Pirates is the offensive jumpstart they have needed.  :-\

[WWWwombat]

So the Red Sox offense has actually been good so far (5th in the MLB in runs) while the pitching and defense have been problems Oo (25th in ERA, aforementioned error problems)  Still, I don't think this pattern will continue.  I don't agree with Kivam on the rotation.  I think it's better than New York's.  Vazquez has been a real disappointment for the Yankees, but the consensus is that that is due to mechanical issues (that caused him to lose 2 mph on his fastball and a of command).  His last start was very good though, so he may be turning things around.  Sabathia is a stud, but I'm really not a fan of the rest of their rotation.  Burnett has been better since he came to the Yankees but I'm still not convinced he's legit and he's always been injury prone.  Petitte is a good pitcher, but he's getting up there now.  Hughes has been terrific thus far, but he has an insanely low BABIP to thank for that.  Once his luck evens out, his ERA will climb.  I don't see Cano keeping his torrid pace up but he is still one of the best 2nd basemen in the majors.  Also, the bottom of the Yankees' lineup should regress to the mean soon.  Still, I think the Yankees are in a much better condition than the Sox.  A-Rod has been pretty meh so far so when he gets going that will give them a boost.  I like both Ellsbury and Granderson although they both need to improve their on-base skills.  When they come back their teams should get even better.  The Rays of course are not to be forgotten.  I like their rotation a lot right now.  Garza, Shields and Niemann are legit and Price and Davis are great prospects who are doing very well right now.  I also like their bullpen, their outfield and their corner infielders.  I like their middle infield only if Zobrist is playing at second and Pat Burrell is just not very good at DH.  Dioner Navarro is crap offensively, but I don't think it's very important to have a good offensive catcher.  You gotta give the Rays credit for putting together such a good team with so much less money than the Sox or the Yankees.

[Samuraiflip05]

I don' tget it.....I just don't get it. 

 

The Astro's have a pitcher named Bud Norris.  Norris has a ERA of 9.0 against any team not named the Cardinals.  Against the redbirds....hea has given up 1 earned and 1 unearned run in 4 starts.  25+ innings with 25+ strikouts. 

 

For whatever reason(hitters expanding zones, not reading the ball, etc) this guy turns into Cy Young whenever he pitches against St Louis, then stinks it up against the rest of the league.  ???

[TheBeerPatriot]

So the Red Sox offense has actually been good so far (5th in the MLB in runs) while the pitching and defense have been problems Oo (25th in ERA, aforementioned error problems)  Still, I don't think this pattern will continue.  I don't agree with Kivam on the rotation.  I think it's better than New York's.  Vazquez has been a real disappointment for the Yankees, but the consensus is that that is due to mechanical issues (that caused him to lose 2 mph on his fastball and a of command).  His last start was very good though, so he may be turning things around.  Sabathia is a stud, but I'm really not a fan of the rest of their rotation.  Burnett has been better since he came to the Yankees but I'm still not convinced he's legit and he's always been injury prone.  Petitte is a good pitcher, but he's getting up there now.  Hughes has been terrific thus far, but he has an insanely low BABIP to thank for that.  Once his luck evens out, his ERA will climb.  I don't see Cano keeping his torrid pace up but he is still one of the best 2nd basemen in the majors.  Also, the bottom of the Yankees' lineup should regress to the mean soon.  Still, I think the Yankees are in a much better condition than the Sox.  A-Rod has been pretty meh so far so when he gets going that will give them a boost.  I like both Ellsbury and Granderson although they both need to improve their on-base skills.  When they come back their teams should get even better.  The Rays of course are not to be forgotten.  I like their rotation a lot right now.  Garza, Shields and Niemann are legit and Price and Davis are great prospects who are doing very well right now.  I also like their bullpen, their outfield and their corner infielders.  I like their middle infield only if Zobrist is playing at second and Pat Burrell is just not very good at DH.  Dioner Navarro is crap offensively, but I don't think it's very important to have a good offensive catcher.  You gotta give the Rays credit for putting together such a good team with so much less money than the Sox or the Yankees.

I'm worried about the Sox.  Yes, they can still put up runs (yesterday's 5-1 loss to the Tigers not withstanding).  But their pitching has been uneven at best.  Saturday's loss was really disheartening, especially blowing a 6-1 lead.  Lackey has been uneven for sure, pitching a gem last week in Toronto, then not able to find the plate yesterday in Detroit.  I think Lester will be ok in the long haul, but Beckett has not pitched well so far and I'm worried about him.

 

WWWwombat, I pretty much agree with you on the Yanks' rotation.  Burnett has been a surprise for the Yanks, but he does have a propensity to break down.  Petitte just seems to defy age, that bastard ;) Hughes has been fantastic so far.

 

As far as the Rays, they've done a remarkable job putting together their roster.  This year is their shot, since Carl Crawford is a free agent after this season.

 

Unless the starting pitching gets straightened out fast for the Sox, this is not their year.  Doesn't matter if Ortiz goes on a tear, or if Ellsbury and Cameron come back and start stealing bases like crazy-the Sox absolutely need their starters to come through!

 

 

[WWWwombat]

Command of his curveball is key for Beckett and right now he doesn't have it.

[TheBeerPatriot]

One other thing I forgot to add about the Red Sox-they're in the middle of arguably their toughest road trip of the season.  Take a look:

 

5/10-12: Toronto.  Even though the Jays aren't predicted to contend this year, at this moment they're ahead of the Sox in the standings.  Taking 2 out of 3 is a good start though.

 

5/14-16: Detroit.  They won the opener, but blowing that lead on Saturday night was ridiculous.  They got blown out yesterday, to lose the series.

 

5/17-18: NY Yankees. Tonight's game features Dice K vs. Hughes.  Hughes has been tough this year, and I don't like our chances in this game.  Tomorrow's game pits Beckett vs. Sabathia.  Beckett absolutely has to come up big in this game.

 

5/19-20: Minnesota. Sox dropped 2 out of 3 to christen Target Field, and the Twins have been playing well so far.  I'm hoping for a split.

 

5/21-23: Philadelphia. The Phils are cranking through the NL so far, but runs can be put up on them with the Sox lineup.  Hopefully we can steal one game and then win another behind strong pitching to take 2 of 3.

 

5/24-26: Tampa Bay.  Last stop of the trip before the Sox mercifully return home against KC.  Suffice to say that the Rays swept the 4-game set in April, and it wasn't even close.  Hoping to not get swept this time?

 

I'm hoping for a .500 road trip at this point.  Anything above it would be sweet.

[SBoydW]

Well they're getting rocked right now... Dice K's line... 2/3 innings 5 hits 1 walk 5 earned runs 31 pitches so far not even an inning...

[TheBeerPatriot]

Well they're getting rocked right now... Dice K's line... 2/3 innings 5 hits 1 walk 5 earned runs 31 pitches so far not even an inning...

Gawwwd, Dice K has G0T to get it together!

[SBoydW]

He's settled down now but the damage is done and Hughes is dealin' right now..