And we're back...
1) Detroit Tigers- No homer-ism here....The talent infusion they brought in the offseason is enough to warrant mention as the likely best lineup in the entire Bigs....Miggy Cabrera (see above) and Edgar Renteria will form a top-flight left side of the diamond added to Magglio, Pudge, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Guillen, and the boys elsewhere to likely score 1000 runs....Oh yea...Gary Sheffield's still alive too...weird....They took a bit of a flyer on Dontrelle Willis (he was pretty bad in the NL last year) but honestly I would've taken the trade with Florida without him even it...that's how good Miguel Cabrera is/will be.....X-Factors are ALL pitching related....I'll go with Kenny Rogers' age, Dontrelle's adjustment, and the setup role in the bullpen.....Kenny Rogers will be pitching at the tender age of 43 (wow) and expected to bring stability and consistency to the rotation without getting hurt....I'm skeptical.....Dontrelle's adjustment to the American League could be a rough one, but if he discovers the same stuff that made him dominant early in his career....eh...maybe?.....The setup role is huge for Detroit this year with Joel Zumaya being hurt (again)....this is a former strength of the ballclub with Fernando Rodney and Zumaya at their best but with injury concerns to both....could become a weakness in a hurry....I see Mid-90s in the win column and a division title.....
2) Cleveland Indians- Another lineup I really like resides in Cleveland.....Still very young with guys like Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, and Ryan Garko....the best should be in front of them....I expect a repeat performance from CC Sabathia as one of the game's best Starters, but a slight dip from Fausto Carmona's ridiculous rate last year (he was exposed in the playoffs whether he had a tired arm or not)....The bottom 3/5 of the rotation is solid but unspectacular with Paul Byrd, Jake Westbrook, and Cliff Lee (if healthy) with a couple young arms waiting in the wings for injury problems....I think this rotation is the best in the division but the lineup doesn't quite compare to Detroit's and the bullpen is suspect at best behind ole' reliable Joe Borowski.....X-factors here are the entire bullpen outside of Betancourt, the corner OF's, and Cliff Lee.....The bullpen is a bunch of guys you've never heard of setting up Joe Borowski, a journeyman who stumbled into 46 saves with smoke and mirrors last year....let's just say they better be good.....The corner OF positions (currently manned by David Dellucci and Franklin Gutierrez) must provide some additional pop to help out the middle of the lineup......Cliff Lee was spectacular at times during his younger days, but has been injury-plagued of late....a healthy year with 12-15 wins from Lee could propel Cleveland to challenge Detroit.....I'm seeing upper 80s-Low 90s in wins and competing for the Wild Card....
3) Chicago White Sox- The White Sox are intriguing for more reasons than I can count....After winning the World Series, they really bottomed out last year and there was talk of Ozzie losing his job...He's back...but he won't be for long if they aren't competitive....The glaring concern I see here is the lack of a leadoff guy as well as the 4/5 starter spots in the rotation....The lineup is reasonably good with Dye, Thome, Konerko, Crede, and newly acquired Nick Swisher but there are some holes to be filled.....Former World-beating young stud pitcher Gavin Floyd occupies the fifth starter spot and I'm sure will inspire a few people to jump on the bandwagon....won't be me...never saw anything from him in Philly to inspire any confidence....The bullpen is a strength with Bobby Jenks at the backend with Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink.....X-factors include Jose Contreras and whoever hits leadoff.....Contreras needs to return to World Series-level form he had in years past to help out Buehrle(who pitches UnGodly innings) and right the pitching staff.....The leadoff spot is a glaring weakness and reports say Ozzie does not want to move Orlando Cabrera there so it looks like the job is going to Nick Swisher who has never hit there....good luck.....I'm seeing around a .500 record for CWS, but improved from last year....
4) Minnesota Twins- The Twins are faced with the reality of life without Johan this year for the first time in quite a while....I don't think they'll be as bad as some people do but this is not a competitive team in terms of playoff talk....Alot will depend on the health/productivity of Francisco Liriano who was looking like the best young pitcher in the majors before blowing out his elbow.....He has to anchor a rotation that is pretty suspect after him with Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser, and the rest of the bunch...Delmon Young and Adam Everett should help the lineup that is still led by former MVP Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer and don't overlook Michael Cuddyer who is uber-consistent in Right....The bullpen could be a strength behind Joe Nathan at the backend with Juan Rincon and Pat Neshek setting up....X-Factors for the Twins are Liriano, Delmon Young, and Scott Baker.....Liriano is self-explanatory (see above) while Delmon Young is a 5-tool guy and still a top prospect in the league capable of 30-30 seasons, etc....He has to breakout ASAP to justify his acquisition and help out the M&M boys....Scott Baker is penciled in as the #1 starter and has to live up to his promise and the nod as their prospective ace until Liriano is 100%.....This is a 70-80 win team but still slightly above the basement....
5) Kansas City Royals- The bottom-feeding Royals have a new slogan..."New Blue Tradition" this season....That rings about as true as "Playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks" to me....which means none....In theory, this lineup looks to be better than usual with budding star Alex Gordon alongside David DeJesus and Jose Guillen....After that is pretty much a crapshoot with Tony Pena, Jr., the aging Mark Grudzielanek, and the rest....The rotation could almost be respectable this year with Gil Meche as the ace assisted by Zach Greinke, Brian Bannister(wildly underrated) and Kyle Davies (bleh)...That said there are too many holes in this team to count and the cellar is definitely where they are headed...X-factors are the emergence of Gordon as a 30-35 HR guy, consistency from the back-end of the rotation and the bullpen outside of Joakim Soria....Gordon has all the tools and emerged slightly last year after a rough start to his rookie campaign but he is clearly the best prospect on this team.....The back-end of the rotation could be very good, but will likely be pretty bad....Davies and Jorge De La Rosa have loads of talent but have never put it together...no reason to say they will now....The bullpen is very young with some journeymen mixed in...Soria is very good and underrated (partly because he has minimal save opportunities) but the rest of the unit is quite shaky.....This is a potential 100-loss team but I'll say something in the neighborhood of 95 to be safe.....
1) Detroit Tigers- No homer-ism here....The talent infusion they brought in the offseason is enough to warrant mention as the likely best lineup in the entire Bigs....Miggy Cabrera (see above) and Edgar Renteria will form a top-flight left side of the diamond added to Magglio, Pudge, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Guillen, and the boys elsewhere to likely score 1000 runs....Oh yea...Gary Sheffield's still alive too...weird....They took a bit of a flyer on Dontrelle Willis (he was pretty bad in the NL last year) but honestly I would've taken the trade with Florida without him even it...that's how good Miguel Cabrera is/will be.....X-Factors are ALL pitching related....I'll go with Kenny Rogers' age, Dontrelle's adjustment, and the setup role in the bullpen.....Kenny Rogers will be pitching at the tender age of 43 (wow) and expected to bring stability and consistency to the rotation without getting hurt....I'm skeptical.....Dontrelle's adjustment to the American League could be a rough one, but if he discovers the same stuff that made him dominant early in his career....eh...maybe?.....The setup role is huge for Detroit this year with Joel Zumaya being hurt (again)....this is a former strength of the ballclub with Fernando Rodney and Zumaya at their best but with injury concerns to both....could become a weakness in a hurry....I see Mid-90s in the win column and a division title.....2) Cleveland Indians- Another lineup I really like resides in Cleveland.....Still very young with guys like Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, and Ryan Garko....the best should be in front of them....I expect a repeat performance from CC Sabathia as one of the game's best Starters, but a slight dip from Fausto Carmona's ridiculous rate last year (he was exposed in the playoffs whether he had a tired arm or not)....The bottom 3/5 of the rotation is solid but unspectacular with Paul Byrd, Jake Westbrook, and Cliff Lee (if healthy) with a couple young arms waiting in the wings for injury problems....I think this rotation is the best in the division but the lineup doesn't quite compare to Detroit's and the bullpen is suspect at best behind ole' reliable Joe Borowski.....X-factors here are the entire bullpen outside of Betancourt, the corner OF's, and Cliff Lee.....The bullpen is a bunch of guys you've never heard of setting up Joe Borowski, a journeyman who stumbled into 46 saves with smoke and mirrors last year....let's just say they better be good.....The corner OF positions (currently manned by David Dellucci and Franklin Gutierrez) must provide some additional pop to help out the middle of the lineup......Cliff Lee was spectacular at times during his younger days, but has been injury-plagued of late....a healthy year with 12-15 wins from Lee could propel Cleveland to challenge Detroit.....I'm seeing upper 80s-Low 90s in wins and competing for the Wild Card....
3) Chicago White Sox- The White Sox are intriguing for more reasons than I can count....After winning the World Series, they really bottomed out last year and there was talk of Ozzie losing his job...He's back...but he won't be for long if they aren't competitive....The glaring concern I see here is the lack of a leadoff guy as well as the 4/5 starter spots in the rotation....The lineup is reasonably good with Dye, Thome, Konerko, Crede, and newly acquired Nick Swisher but there are some holes to be filled.....Former World-beating young stud pitcher Gavin Floyd occupies the fifth starter spot and I'm sure will inspire a few people to jump on the bandwagon....won't be me...never saw anything from him in Philly to inspire any confidence....The bullpen is a strength with Bobby Jenks at the backend with Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink.....X-factors include Jose Contreras and whoever hits leadoff.....Contreras needs to return to World Series-level form he had in years past to help out Buehrle(who pitches UnGodly innings) and right the pitching staff.....The leadoff spot is a glaring weakness and reports say Ozzie does not want to move Orlando Cabrera there so it looks like the job is going to Nick Swisher who has never hit there....good luck.....I'm seeing around a .500 record for CWS, but improved from last year....
4) Minnesota Twins- The Twins are faced with the reality of life without Johan this year for the first time in quite a while....I don't think they'll be as bad as some people do but this is not a competitive team in terms of playoff talk....Alot will depend on the health/productivity of Francisco Liriano who was looking like the best young pitcher in the majors before blowing out his elbow.....He has to anchor a rotation that is pretty suspect after him with Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser, and the rest of the bunch...Delmon Young and Adam Everett should help the lineup that is still led by former MVP Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer and don't overlook Michael Cuddyer who is uber-consistent in Right....The bullpen could be a strength behind Joe Nathan at the backend with Juan Rincon and Pat Neshek setting up....X-Factors for the Twins are Liriano, Delmon Young, and Scott Baker.....Liriano is self-explanatory (see above) while Delmon Young is a 5-tool guy and still a top prospect in the league capable of 30-30 seasons, etc....He has to breakout ASAP to justify his acquisition and help out the M&M boys....Scott Baker is penciled in as the #1 starter and has to live up to his promise and the nod as their prospective ace until Liriano is 100%.....This is a 70-80 win team but still slightly above the basement....
5) Kansas City Royals- The bottom-feeding Royals have a new slogan..."New Blue Tradition" this season....That rings about as true as "Playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks" to me....which means none....In theory, this lineup looks to be better than usual with budding star Alex Gordon alongside David DeJesus and Jose Guillen....After that is pretty much a crapshoot with Tony Pena, Jr., the aging Mark Grudzielanek, and the rest....The rotation could almost be respectable this year with Gil Meche as the ace assisted by Zach Greinke, Brian Bannister(wildly underrated) and Kyle Davies (bleh)...That said there are too many holes in this team to count and the cellar is definitely where they are headed...X-factors are the emergence of Gordon as a 30-35 HR guy, consistency from the back-end of the rotation and the bullpen outside of Joakim Soria....Gordon has all the tools and emerged slightly last year after a rough start to his rookie campaign but he is clearly the best prospect on this team.....The back-end of the rotation could be very good, but will likely be pretty bad....Davies and Jorge De La Rosa have loads of talent but have never put it together...no reason to say they will now....The bullpen is very young with some journeymen mixed in...Soria is very good and underrated (partly because he has minimal save opportunities) but the rest of the unit is quite shaky.....This is a potential 100-loss team but I'll say something in the neighborhood of 95 to be safe.....
No comments:
Post a Comment