Okay, the MLB season starts Sunday night and with the Madness this weekend...there's no way I'm finishing 2 more divisional previews...Shortened versions GO!!
NL Central
1) Chicago Cubs- Best rotation and a solid core of bats with Soriano, Lee, Ramirez and the rest give the edge to CHC for me....X-factor is how the closer position fares (Kerry Wood gets first crack)
2) Milwaukee- Well if they hadn't lost Capuano for the year already and had Gallardo on the DL I might've gone their way...nonetheless Braun and Fielder may combine for 100 HRs and I think they'll get enough from Bill Hall, Weeks, etc. to compete for the division. Gagne and Turnbow anchor a pretty good Pen that is a strength
3) St. Louis- On the basis of shear depth in the rotation (and I think Wainwright will be spectacular), I'll go St. Louis here...Pujols will hit his 35-40 and Ankiel and Duncan should help out enough to be respectable...Need a breakout from Lohse or Looper
4) Houston- The lineup could be quite good (Berkman, Lee, Pence, Tejada, etc.) but Oswalt anchors a rotation that is thin to say the least....Valverde should be solid in the 9th but they might not have too many wins without some SP breakouts
5) Cincy- The middle of this division is so jumbled it wouldn't surprise me if this team won the entire thing...Bats everywhere with Dunn, Griffey, etc. but not much to speak of pitching-wise after Harang and Arroyo...hopefully Cordero's 4 year /46 million deal won't slow him down much
6) Pittsburgh- This spot is reserved for the bucs....This is probably the most competitive team they've fielded in years though with some legit bats and Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell could both be good...Still don't think they finish higher than 5th, but stranger things have happened
NL West:
1) LA Dodgers- This is another ridiculously tight division...I'll go with LAD who is the best on paper but Chad Billingsley better be good or this won't happen...Bullpen is a strength here as well
2) Arizona- Basically it comes down to Brandon Webb and Dan Haren being shut-down guys...I'll say they will be..and they better be to offset the young nature of the lineup....Alot falls on Stephen Drew and Justin Upton...
3) San Diego- There's a theme here....2 more dominant starters (Peavy and Young) over the Rockies who have exactly zero...Gotta get some production from that old-man OF of Edmonds and Giles but the corner IF's are very good and getting better
4) Colorado- Wow this seems low....Just can't get behind the pitching for long stretches...the lineup is still quite good with guys that have managed to stay underrated (except Holliday who everyone knows now); Gonna need a repeat performance from Jeff Francis and some help for him
5) San Fran- Bahhhh, this team smells...The rotation is actually very respectable with Cain, Lincecum, Lowry and Zito...but this lineup makes you cringe...Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn ladies and gentlemen..and the bullpen is a wreck....This was the easy call in the division
No comments:
Post a Comment