More picks

AL Central - This is probably the most difficult division to pick.  Mostly because my knowledge of this division is admittedly scarce.  But also because each team has the potential to win the division while at the same time, they have the potential to finish dead last in the division.  The big time tossup comes at 3-5.

1. Minnesota Twins – They’re strong every year.  Joe Mauer’s return will be most welcome come May.

2. Kansas City Royals – A surprise team this year.  Coco Crisp is fitting in nicely and they have 3 of the best starters in the American League.

3. Chicago White Sox – I have no idea what to say here.  Carlos Quentin is good?  I’m sorry I’ve got nothin’.  The White Sox are easily the team I know the least about.  No idea why that is.  I’m sure that makes you wonder why I picked them third.  Good question.  Anyway, I guess I could mention that I watched a bit of the Sox-Tigers game the other day.  I noticed that they had Brent Lillibridge at 2B and Brian Anderson in CF.  To me, that leaves a lot to be desired.  A.J. Pierzynski is still their catcher and is still a giant ******.  It will be interesting to see what Bartolo Colon can do this year.  John Danks is fun to watch.  Hmm.. what else… 

4. Cleveland Indians – This team is an enigma.  I do like that they picked up Mark Derosa, but I think the Carl Pavano signing was in poor judgment and they gave Kerry Wood too much money to pitch 1-2 innings.  Hey!  Tony Graffanino is still playing baseball!  Good for him… good for him.

5. Detroit Tigers – This team has some major restructuring to do in the very near future.  Letting go of guys like Gary Sheffield had to be done but I’m sure it was like ripping off a band-aid.  Unfortunately, the Tigers have a few Gary Sheffields on their team.  I will say that I’m looking forward to seeing Rick Porcello in the bigs this season.  Hopefully they didn’t rush him to the majors to the detriment of his entire career, but what option did they have?  

AL West - Another tough division to call.  It’s hard to be objective with the difficulties the Angels have faced in recent weeks. 

1. Oakland Athletics – Can their talented young pitching succeed and hold up all season long?  This team, like its other AL West counterparts must get off to a quick start and bully up on the Angels early.  Look out for Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson to be future impact starters, if not right away.  It will be interesting to see what shape this club is in around the trade deadline and find out what the A’s intentions are with Matt Holliday.  

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – They are facing a tough, tough road out of the gate with the loss of Nick Adenhart.  But I honestly had them picked 2nd before this tragedy.  I think they’ll be OK and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them in first come October.  I’m not so sure about repeating 100 wins though.  The sooner they can get Kelvim Escobar and Ervin Santana back the better.  Please note that this team is living on borrowed time and is banking on the Free Agent market for their future.  Adenhart was their #1 prospect by far.  Luckily for them, they have no want for money.

3. Texas Rangers – This club is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.  They have a lot of powerful bats in their lineup and in their farm system, as well as good young arms.  The Mark Teixeira deal allowed them to load up on top talent from the Braves organization.  A deal that, for what it won them, the Braves should have never made.  How they develop their young talent remains to be seen.  How they can give up on a guy with stuff like Edinson Volquez (who, in my opinion, was lacking one thing: a changeup.  How can you not teach a guy a changeup???) is beyond me.  

4. Seattle Mariners – It’s great the The Kid is back in town.  It’s great they have Ichiro.  It really is great they have Felix Hernandez (can you believe this guy’s only 23??).  Outside of that, I’m not sure what they have.  This team is in major rebuilding mode.  Do look for Wladimir Balentien, a future stud.  Unfortunately for him, Griffey’s going to get a lot of starts and at-bats over him.  But The Kid is back!!!!

1. Philadelphia Phillies – I like the Raul Ibanez signing, even though in retrospect, they probably paid him too much.  But who cares.  They had the money and they got the guy they wanted.  If they’re down 7 games to the Mets this season, I don’t look for a dramatic comeback.  But I don’t think it’s the Mets they need to worry about. (Side note: Shane Victorino is one of my favorite players in the game today).

2. Florida Marlins – This team is for real.  They have the best young talent no one has ever heard of (Average age: 26.2).  The saying goes that this team is like locust (or some kind of bug) – they swarm every 6 years.  It looks to
me like the joke is giving way to the truth.  When this team unloads, they never fail to reload big.  If they can play some defense and their bullpen can weather the storm of an entire season in the toughest division in baseball, this team is legit.  They’re either my NL East #1 or my Wild Card favorite.  I can’t say enough good things about Hanley Ramirez or Jeremy Hermida.  Jorge Cantu (Why the Reds let this guy go for nothing, I’ll never know.) is a favorite of mine, too.  Look out for stars-in-the-making Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez, and Chris Volstad to keep this team in contention.  Emilio Bonifacio has proven to be a very exciting leadoff man.  

3. New York Mets - It is true that the Mets improved over the off season with Putz and K-Rod.  But when you’re bottom 4 starters are John Maine, Ollie Perez, Mike Pelfrey, and Livan Hernandez it might not matter if you have the best setup man and closer in the game.  Johan can’t pitch every day.  They have an outstanding, albeit aging, lineup of superstars (add Gary Sheffield to the mix).  People love Jose Reyes, but if he were playing in Kansas City, he would be very forgettable.  Guys who are legit and fun to watch are Ryan Church, David Wright, and (possibly overrated, but still an amazing talent) Carlos Beltran.  Look out for Daniel Murphy to have a big year, too.  If he plays up to his potential, Jerry Manuel is going to have a tough time finding a spot on the field for Sheff. 

4. Atlanta Braves - The Braves could be a Cinderella story by season’s end.  They have some seasoned veterans and some promising young guys (Schafer, Jurrjens).  This club will definitely raise some brows during the course of the year.  Hopefully, they can manage Chipper Jones’ playing time well enough to keep him healthy the entire year.  The Derek Lowe signing was huge and I think they dodged a major bullet when Ken Griffey, Jr. opted for Seattle.  We’ll see how Kawakami performs as well as Javier Vazquez and up-and-comer Jo Jo Reyes.  This team is surprisingly young as well with an average age of 27.8.  Pushing them into their upper 20′s are the ages of most guys on the bench and some of their older starting pitchers.  

5. Washington Nationals - #5 with a bullet.  This team is bad.  They need a closer like nobody’s business, just to name one.  They do have some encouraging talent in their farm system and hopefully they’ll sign highly touted prospect Stephen Strasburg.  It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.  I don’t care what people say about Adam Dunn, he is a valuable asset to any club.  A lot of times, we like to pick on things players don’t do well and forget about what they do well – and in Dunn’s case, very well.  He’s going to walk a ton and you can put him down for 40 HR this season.  From a Reds fan perspective, I have to note that the first step in the right direction for this club was firing Jim Bowden.  The scandal that took him down was as painful as it was embarrassing for the Nats, but it was probably the only way this joker was going to get run out of town.  It’s usually a good thing when you can get a noose from around your neck.  

NL Central - my our favorite division.

1. Chicago Cubs - You would have to be an idiot not to pick this club to win the Central.  On paper, they’re clearly a cut above the rest.  Granted, on paper the Yankees are too, so we’ll have to wait and see.  But the Yanks aren’t playing in the NL Central and we’re not talking about them anyway.  Zambrano’s a beast, the rest of the rotation looks strong. I’d love to have Carlos Marmol on my Reds.  Ramirez is nasty at 3B. Soriano, though streaky, is red hot when he’s on.  What remains to be seen is how the bullpen will perform, how Fukudome will (or won’t) rebound after a terrible second half last year, and how bad of a decline is Derrek Lee in?  Also I must mention, I was skeptical when I heard the Cubs had signed Milton Bradley to be an everyday player.  The guy couldn’t stay healthy in the AL where he saw minimal time in the field and was used largely as a DH.  So far so good though.  Another note  worthy of mentioning is the state of the Cubs farm.  According to Baseball America, it’s not good.  I hear a lot of rumors of the Cubs trading for Jake Peavy which begs the question, who do they have to trade for him?  Without trading away a key major league piece or a few draft picks, I have no idea.  However, if you’ve been waiting over 100 years for a World Series title and you feel your one piece away, I’m sure you’re just about ready to give up whatever it takes, and I can understand that.  Sortof.  

Maybe Jacob would like to chime in at a later date on his favorite ball club.  He could provide some better in-depth analysis than I ever could.  

2. St. Louis Cardinals - The Cards are always competitive even when you think they have no chance at all.  They are the most underrated team in Major League Baseball, in my opinion.  If Chris Carpenter stays healthy enough to be a factor, this team will compete for the division.  I’m constantly amazed at how Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan can take another teams trash and turn them into a 14 game Cy Young contender.  Or they’ll take a busted pitching prospect and convert him into an All Star CF.  It’s amazing what they can do.  If I were a washed up veteran on my last Major League hurrah, I’d love to get picked up by this club.  They’d find another five award winning years in me.  The moral of the story is, never count out the Cards.

3. Cincinnati Reds - This is where things get iffy.  The reason I put my Redlegs in 3rd and not 4th is because I believe in our starting rotation and I don’t believe in that of the remainder of the division.  The Reds are going to struggle mightily to score runs, which only a few years ago, one would have thought to be insane.  I think they have an outside outside outside chance of contending this year, but a lot of guys are going to have to have career years.  Bruce, Encarnacion, Votto, Taveras, etc. – they’re going to have to over-achieve.  I like our chances in the not-so-distant future.  There’s a lot of good young players down on the farm for Reds fans everywhere to get excited about.  As for Edwin Encarnacion, I think this means he’d better sh-t or get off the pot because there are multiple stud 3B prospects waiting for their numbers to be called.  It will be interesting to see what strides the aforementioned players will take as well as guys like Volquez and Cueto.  It should be noted also that the success of this club largely depends on the performance of ace Aaron Harang.  He had a pitiful year in ’08 but I fully expect him to rebound.  It wouldn’t hurt if he could get some run support out of his teammates.

4. Milw
aukee Brewers - Many experts have this team either winning or finishing a close second in the Central.  I think they’re seeing a mirage of last season which showed this team riding the coattails of CC Sabathia into the Playoffs.  Ben Sheets was also a big factor in their squeaking by the Mets for the Wild Card.  Neither of these guys are with the club today and neither one’s shoes have been filled with viable replacements.  Yovanni Gillardo and Manny Para are certainly the future of the club, but right now, they’re no CC or Sheets.  Those two were definitely made better by other in that they both fit the 3 and 4 starting slots well.  I think that placing the weight of this clubs success or failure on either of these guys is unfair but, unfortunately, the Brewers didn’t have much of a choice.  Furthermore, if you can knock Jeff Suppan or his friends out early or midway through a ball game, you stand a darn good chance of pulling out a win.  In a similar case as the Mets, it doesn’t matter if you have Trevor Hoffman at the end of your bullpen if you can’t take a lead to the 9th inning.  They have a fantastic lineup.  Opposite of the Reds, if this rotation can over-achieve, they can win a few ball games.

5. Houston Astros - This team is in trouble.  Their lineup is aging rapidly while their ownership has shown little interest in replenishing the talent on the farm.  (Needless to say, when I learned the Reds had traded Jeff Keppinger for a PTBNL, I didn’t get too excited to find out who it was).  They have made cheap draft signings and have had similar returns on their investments.  What little talent they did have was traded away for the elderly Miguel Tejada.  Outside of Roy Oswalt, I have no idea what this club plans to do in order to win now or have sustained success in the future.  I wouldn’t be too surprised to see this club passed by the Pirates when this season is all said and done.  

6. Pittsburgh Pirates - Unlike the Astros, I truly believe Pirates fans have a reason to be hopeful about the future.  Maholm is a stud (and is proving it thus far this season), Nate McClouth could be a perennial All Star, Nyjer Morgan is a bona fide leadoff man.  He gets on base frequently and has the speed to steal some bags.  He looks like he’s on speed when he’s at the plate though… all jittery and whatnot.  Anyway, look for Andrew McCutcheon to make an impact shortly and if Pedro Alvarez doesn’t pan out at 3B, then F this team, they’re going nowhere.

NL West 

1. Los Angeles Dodgers – It’s been said over and over again, but having Manny back makes all the difference.  The Orlando Hudson signing was brilliant, as well, and should not go unnoticed.  Matt Kemp and Russell Martin are quality guys, too.  The only “ifs” about this club is pitching.  Not sure how that’s going to hold up, but they have the good fortune of playing in a pretty weak division.  

2. San Francisco Giants - The Giants are going to be an interesting team to watch this year.  We’ll see how the Cy-Young-ace-who-looks-like-he’s-14 Tim Lincecum will do as well as the veteran-who-looks-like-he’s-old-as-dirt Randy Johnson.  I hope to see Randy Johnson pitch before he calls it quits.  It doesn’t matter how old he is, he’s still fun to watch.  This team is full of over-paid, aging veterans and I’m not sure what to make of that.  It’s interesting to think, though, if they wouldn’t have made the Barry Zito blunder, they might have had enough cash to throw their hats into the Manny Ramirez circus this off season.  Anyway, look out for Pablo Sandoval to make a splash this year and for pitcher Madison Bumgarner and catcher Buster Posey to be impact players in the future.

3. Arizona Diamondbacks - This seems like a down year for the D-Backs.  They need Brandon Webb and Dan Haren to be their old selves in order to contend.  I’ll be quite honest, outside of those two guys, I don’t know much about this club.  Sorry.

4. Colorado Rockies - I’m not sure I know what to say about this team aside from the fact that they have the ugliest jerseys in baseball today.  (Particularly alternates 2 and 3).  I will say that I’m a big fan of Chris Ianetta.  I think this guy’s a future star.  

5. San Diego Padres - When you see a club send out guys like Walter Silva and Brian Giles as starters, you have to know something’s wrong.  Peavy will probably end up with another NL club this season, but not necessarily.  They don’t have to trade the guy since I’m pretty sure he’s under contract for the next 3 years.  However, it’s apparent the club is going into complete rebuilding mode with the new ownership coming in and they’re wanting to officially start from scratch.  Removing Peavy’s salary from the books would likely be a top priority.  I heard someone mention the other day concerning Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays that they can replenish nearly their entire ball club just by trading him to another team.  I think the same is true for the Padres and Jake Peavy, but probably to a lesser degree.  Heath Bell has been fun to watch (and listen to on Baseball Tonight) this season.  

Well there you have it, folks.  I’ve wasted all of two hours dribbling out this nonsense that no one is going to read.  I apologize for the length of this entry.  This post is as long as I am bored.  That should give you an idea of what my day’s been like.  Enjoy!