Category Archives: Major League Baseball

The final Division in our baseball preview. The East has the potential to be the best division in the National League and probably in all of baseball. It’s stacked with talent all the way across the board. With the exception of the Mets, there is a ton of young talent. The Phillies have a great veteran team looking to make one more run at the world championship. This should be an exciting race to watch.

Atlanta Braves

Manager: Fredi Gonzalez

Starting Rotation: Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy, Randall Delgado

Starting Eight: Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla, Chipper Jones, Tyler Pastornicky, Martin Prado, Michael Bourn, Jason Heyward

The Braves season ended in heartbreaking fashion last season. The inability of McCann, Uggla, Bourn, and Heyward to inject any life into an anemic offense caused them to lose a cushion that seemed unlosable. It made the efforts of a very deep pitching staff futile.

The Braves management decided to tighten their belts and didn’t go after any new bats or pitching. Instead, the Braves have decided to turn to their farm system to fill in the rotation and hole at shortstop. There are high hopes for Pastornicky, Minor, Beachy, and Delgado. This is a young team that will rely on Heyward coming back to his rookie form, Prado hitting like he used to, and Uggla getting off to a better start than last season.

Two problems hampered the Braves run down the stretch last year. They lacked power – something Uggla, Heyward, and Freeman will have to produce, something they should be able to produce now that they are all healthy again. The second problem was the health of their pitching staff. They had to use a lot of young guys to fill in and their bullpen wore down.

This Braves team should be better than it was in 2011 and should compete for a Wild Card spot….especially now that there are two of those. The only concern is the health and durability of the pitching staff.

Prediction: 92-70, 3^rd NL East

Miami Marlins

Manager: Ozzie Guillen

Starting Rotation: Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez, Carlos Zambrano

Starting Eight: John Buck, Gaby Sanchez, Omar Infante, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Logan Morrison, Emilio Bonifacio, Mike Stanton

The Marlins moved to Miami, spent a bunch of money, brought in a lot of talent, and they have some high hopes. This pitching staff is going to be good. Johnson, Buerhle, and Sanchez eat up a lot of innings. The bullpen is much improved, and they added a dynamic hitter in Reyes.

The concerns I have seem to be the same ones that anyone else has. Zambrano is a head case. Reyes has hamstrings that strain easier than anything I’ve ever seen, and there isn’t a ton of power in this lineup. Stanton is young and coming into his own.  If anyone can control all of these egos, it’s Ozzie Guillen. The Phillies have owned the East for the last five years, but they’re getting older and they’ll be without Ryan Howard. If Guillen can get these players to mesh and everyone stays relatively healthy, this could be the best team in the East. I think it’s going to take at least one more season though, and they’ll win about the same amount of games as the Braves.

Prediction: 94-68, 2^nd NL East

New York Mets

Manager: Terry Collins

Starting Rotation: Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Jonathan Niese, R.A. Dickey, Dillon Gee

Starting Eight: Josh Thole, Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Ruben Tejada, Jason Bay, Andres Torres, Lucas Duda

The Mets are in a state of transition. There isn’t a ton of talent on this roster and the pitching staff doesn’t impress much beyond Santana. There is a ton of talent in the East and the Mets don’t have enough to compete.

Their farm system is broken. Ownership sucks. They can’t compete with the New York Yankees for popularity or spending power. It’s going to be a long road back for the Mets and it isn’t going to be pretty in 2012.

Prediction: 75-87, 5^th NL East

Philadelphia Phillies

Manager: Charlie Manuel

Starting Rotation: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Vance Worley

Starting Eight: Carlos Ruiz, Jim Thome/Ty Wigginton, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins, John Mayberry Jr., Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence

Depending on which depth chart you trust, either Thome or Wigginton will be playing a lot of first base until Ryan Howard is back from his injury. Chase Utley and Rollins aren’t the same player they used to be. Polanco is probably the fourth best third basemen in the division. The outfield is probably the only steady part of the offense. Pence is young and can provide a decent amount of power. Mayberry has been a Phillies’ project for years and has been coming into his own.

The best part of the Phillies offense is the ability to run the bases better than anyone else. They can steal a lot of bags and they’ll beat you with small ball better than any other team.

The rotation and bullpen are the best in baseball. The Phillies don’t need to score a ton of runs in order to stay competitive. If they can stay in the race for the East until a healthy Howard returns, they’ll probably be able to win close to 100 games. I think that’s exactly what they’ll do. However, the amazing run will be coming to a close after this season if they can’t bring in some young talent – much like the Yankees were able to do this offseason.

Prediction: 99-63, 1^st NL East

Washington Nationals

Manager: Davey Johnson

Starting Rotation: Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Edwin Jackson, Jordan Zimmerman, John Lannan

Starting Eight: Wilson Ramos, Adam LaRoche, Danny Espinosa, Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond, Michael Morse, Roger Bernadina, Jayson Werth

The Nationals are heading the in the right direction. The pitching staff got much better with the addition of Gonzalez and Jackson. Strasburg is back to 100 percent. Zimmerman pitched very well last year. This has the potential to be the best rotation in the National League in the next couple of years.

The lineup is full of good hitters. LaRoche has found his own since bouncing around at the beginning of his career. Desmond, Morse, Espinosa, and Ramos are all good, young hitters. Werth is the key veteran who should provide good production. If they can add Bryce Harper sometime around midseason, this team could be the surprise team in the National League. I still think they might be one or two years away.

Prediction: 81-81, 4^th NL East.

That wraps up our divisional preview. Coming up this week, we’ll take a look at the new playoff format for the Major’s. See ya then.

Next up in our Division-by-Division preview, we have the NL Central…buckle up, this is gonna get bumpy.

Chicago Cubs

Manager: Dale Sveum

Starting Rotation: Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, Travis Wood, Paul Maholm, Randy Wells

Starting Eight: Geovany Soto, Bryan LaHair, Darwin Barney, Ian Stewart, Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd, David DeJesus

The Cubs are certainly in a rebuilding stage. They have a lot of young talent and hope for the future. If I had to pick a surprise team for 2012, I would pick the Cubs. They have a significant amount of young talent, a good mix of veterans, and good pitching.

Their bats are what concern me. People think Castro is the next great shortstop, and I would tend to agree. I do see some problems, though. There isn’t enough power at first base. LaHair will probably just be keeping first base warm until Anthony Rizzo is called up from the minors. The outfield is bad. Soriano and Byrd are well past their primes. DeJesus is good defensively, but he lacks pop.

The starting rotation is pretty good. Dempster, and Garza are solid starters. Wood, Maholm, and Wells all show potential, but they aren’t going to wow anyone with their numbers. Which is why this team could surprise you this season. They’ll just need to hit more homeruns than they’re supposed to and pitch a little better than they should. I expect them to finish somewhere near the record they had last year.

Prediction: 73-89, 4^th NL Central

Cincinnati Reds

Manager: Dusty Baker

Starting Rotation: Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, Mike Leake

Starting Eight: Ryan Hanigan, Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen, Zack Cozart, Chris Heisey, Drew Stubbs, Jay Bruce

One of my favorite things to talk about in baseball is the “blue-chip guys.” They’re the most important part of any team. This Reds team is full of them. Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder fled the division. The Reds held on to Votto, added a potential ace in free agency, and get to face the (likely) weakened Cardinals and Brewers. The whole team is full of blue-chip guys.

We know how good Votto is. We know that he’s one of the best first basemen in the game. There was a rumor that the Reds were going to shop him this offseason because it looked like they were a few good arms away from contending for a title. That’s crazy. Votto is the best player on this team and they were able to add that arm without trading Votto. Now, if Bruce can be the hitter they need him to be – specifically, the running mate for Votto, this team could be really good. And I think they will be.

Prediction: 95-67, 1^st NL Central

Houston Astros

Manager: Brad Mills

Starting Rotation: Wandy Rodriguez, Bud Norris, J.A. Happ, Jordan Lyles, Kyle Weiland

Starting Eight: Jason Castro, Carlos Lee, Jose Altuve, Jimmy Paredes, Jed Lowrie, J.D. Martinez, Jordan Schafer, Brian Bogusevic

It’s not pretty in Houston. The most excitement in Houston comes from the new hires in the front office. It’s going to take years to fix the Astros farm system. The level of talent they’re putting on the field is probably the worst in baseball.

Usually when a bunch of new players hit the field during a rebuilding process one assumes they are the future of the franchise. That’s not the case here. Not even close. Most of these guys got their first chance at everyday action and they’ll be competing for their jobs right now. They won’t be here for long, though. The Astros next wave of prospects will, hopefully, soon be taking over and building their own legacy in Houston. This year? They’ll probably have the worst record in baseball.

Prediction: 57-105, 6^th NL Central

Milwaukee Brewers

Manager: Ron Roenicke

Starting Rotation: Zach Greinke, Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf, Chris Narveson

Starting Eight: Jonathan Lucroy, Mat Gamel, Rickie Weeks, Aramis Ramirez, Alex Gonzalez, Ryan Braun, Nyjer Morgan, Corey Hart

The Brewers won their first game of the season when Braun won his case against baseball and a 50-game suspension. I don’t know how this Brewers team shakes out. They return a ton of offense, even without Fielder. They have one of the best pitching staffs in the game.

If everything goes right for them, it could be a near 100-win season. If Weeks can stay healthy, if Gamel can hit out of the gate, if Ramirez still has pop left…that’s a lot of ifs, isn’t it?

If everything goes wrong, they could be looking at a mediocre .500 season. Weeks and Ramirez are injury-prone. Gamel has never been an everyday player. The bullpen has potential for controversy. The starting rotation, behind Gallardo and Greinke, could fold and not perform on three out of five days.

I think they’ll finish somewhere in the middle of that pack. Probably in between the very capable Red and not as capable Cardinals.

Prediction: 88-74, 3^rd AL Central

Pittsburgh Pirates

Manager: Clint Hurdle

Starting Rotation: A.J. Burnett, Erik Bedard, Jeff Karstens, James McDonald, Kevin Correia

Starting Eight: Rod Barajas, Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Clint Barmes, Alex Presley, Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata

If you’re a Pirates fan, you probably don’t want to listen to me talk about rebuilding anymore. The Pirates have an incredible amount of pitching talent in their farm system. They have a lot of 20-something blue-chippers in their offense that will help provide a pop when those prospects hit the majors.

Until then? They have guys like Burnett and Bedard leading their rotation. They have a decent offense and will probably win about the same amount of games as last season. Until they can get those prospects up, it won’t be pretty on the mound. Don’t worry, though, you’ll be seeing good baseball in Pittsburgh again soon.

Prediction: 72-90, 5^th NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals

Manager: Mike Matheny

Starting Rotation: Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse, Jake Westbrook

Starting Eight: Yadier Molina, Lance Berkman, Skip Schumaker, David Freese, Rafael Furcal, Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Carlos Beltran

I’m not sure what to expect from the Cardinals. Berkman is moving back to first base. They have a lot of good offense. Freese is young and he’s got a good bat. Holliday and Beltran are great veteran outfielders who will provide a steady stream of production all season. Allen Craig probably won’t be in the Opening Day lineup, and he provides a great substitute all over the field to give the aging veterans some rest. If Carpenter and Wainwright can pitch at the levels that we’re used to seeing from them, this is a great rotation. They have serious depth behind them with Lohse, Garcia, and Westbrook. I’m predicting that they’ll finish behind the Reds, but I wouldn’t call that a confident guess.

The only thing that makes me nervous is the new manager and the loss of Pujols, who provided some protection for the batters around him. Now they’ll have to perform when pitchers can pitch around them more without fearing Pujols coming to the plate. If they can still do that, then this team could win 100 games.

Prediction: 90-72, 2^nd NL Central

It’s time to work our way back across the country in the National League. Just like the American League: Starting Eight will be listed in 2-9 order. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s Catcher (2), First Base (3), Second Base (4), Third Base (5), Shortstop (6), Left Field (7), Center Field (8), Right Field (9).

Here we go!

Arizona Diamondbacks

Manager: Kirk Gibson

Starting Rotation: Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Trevor Cahill, Joe Saunders, Josh Collmenter

Starting Eight: Miguel Montero, Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Hill, Ryan Roberts, Stephen Drew, Jason Kubel, Chris Young, Justin Upton

I think we can all agree that no one thought the Diamondbacks were going to win 94 games in 2011, just a year after only winning 65 games.  This starting rotation was good last year. It looks like Ian Kennedy’s breakout season was legit; he had good strikeout and walk numbers. Hudson was good too. They picked up Cahill this offseason and he’s a promising guy. The other guys in the rotation aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible back of the rotation guys.

The D-Backs batting order is what I’m worried about. They only had a .250 batting average last year and a dismal .322 on-base percentage. They did finish fourth in runs scored last year, but they did it mainly through their 172 home runs. They need Upton to have another good season, following the best season he’s ever had in 2011. If the other guys can keep their power output high, this should be a pretty good team.

Prediction: 90-72, 1^st AL West

Colorado Rockies

Manager: Jim Tracy

Starting Rotation: Jhoulys Chacin, Jeremy Guthrie, Guillermo Moscoso, Tyler Chatwood, Alex White

Starting Eight: Ramon Hernandez, Todd Helton, Marco Scutaro, Casey Blake, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Michael Cuddyer

The Rockies had the worst starting rotation in the National League last year. They only pitched 973 innings, had a 4.73 ERA, and 71 quality starts. Chacin has high hopes at becoming an ace in this rotation, but there isn’t too much hope behind him. New pitcher Guthrie is no ace, but he is a reliable inning-eater.

The Rockies know how to score runs, and they’ll have to in order to make up for that bad pitching. They have three reliable guys in the starting lineup, Tulowitzki, Gonzalez, and Helton. Helton is on the back end of his career, and they’ll need him to keep up production if they want to remain successful. I don’t think this team will have what it takes to compete this year, but they’re on the right track if they can get their pitching in order.

Prediction: 70-90, 4^th NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers

Manager: Don Mattingly

Starting Rotation: Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano

Starting Eight: A.J. Ellis, James Loney, Mark Ellis, Juan Uribe, Dee Gordon, Juan Rivera, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier

They lost Kuroda during the offseason, but their rotation should still be very effective. Kershaw was one of the best pitchers in the majors last year and the guys behind him should be efficient. Lilly isn’t a spectacular pitcher, but he can be counted on to be efficient and consistent. Billingsley is filling the two-hole in the rotation, but he isn’t as good as he should be. He has good pitches, but his walk numbers are always too high.

The Dodgers offense was pretty mediocre in 2011, and I don’t expect that to change very much this year. Kemp and Ethier are solid bats. Outside of those guys, this lineup is worrisome from top to bottom. They’ve got a few guys who met their peaks already and a few youngsters who will probably struggle throughout the year. They might finish over .500, but it won’t be by much.

Prediction: 82-80, 3^rd NL West

San Diego Padres

Manager: Bud Black

Starting Rotation: Tim Stauffer, Clayton Richard, Dustin Moseley, Corey Luebke, Edinson Volquez

Starting Eight: Nick Hundley, Jesus Guzman, Orlando Hudson, Chase Headley, Jason Bartlett, Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin, Will Venable

The rotation was better than their record indicated last year, but they lost Aaron Harang and Mat Latos. Stauffer will be counted on as the ace, and has the potential to be pretty good. I’m not sure if he’s ace good, though. Luckily, the Padres have a pretty good bullpen to help a rotation that might not be all that great.

If Carlos Quentin can stay healthy, the Padres should get some of the power back that they lost when Adrian Gonzalez left. That’s assuming that he can stay healthy, which is usually can’t do. There’s some good potential with Maybin, Hundley, and Headley. But it’s just that – potential. This is probably going to be a rough year for these guys in San Diego.

Prediction: 67-95, 5^th NL West

San Francisco Giants

Manager: Bruce Bochy

Starting Rotation: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelsong, Barry Zito

Starting Eight: Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Crawford, Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan, Nate Schierholtz

The Giants should have one of the best rotations in the league this year. Their first three guys are great. However, the hitting wasn’t good and those guys only won a combined 38 games last year. They have to be better this season to keep pace in the West. The back end of the rotation is a little scary. Vogelsong had a good season, but he had an atrocious walk rate and didn’t strike many guys out. He’s going to have to better this season if he wants to contribute. Barry Zito is…well, he’s Zito. We’ll have to see what he can do.

The bats should be better than they were last year. Mainly because they can’t be any worse. They get Posey back from a broken leg, Sanchez is healthy again in the two-spot, and Cabrera’s bat will be a very welcome addition in left field. This should be a good team, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to keep up with the Diamondbacks.

Prediction: 86-76, 2^nd NL West

Ryan Braun won his appeal over a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s substance abuse policy. That means he’s innocent, right? That means he’s ready to strap his cleats back on and save the Brewers from a sure letdown after Prince Fielder bolted for Detroit, right?

On paper, long-time arbitrator Shyam Das agreed that Braun’s test was done under peculiar circumstances. That’s what Braun has been telling us all along. It was his claim to innocence and he won. According to ESPN, Braun did not appeal on the basis of the results of the test. He appealed on the method the test used, specifically that the test collector took the sample home because the Fed Ex store was closed. The collector stored the samples at his home, which Braun claimed contaminated his specimen.

This isn’t your average steroid story. Usually these men claim that they were taking a drug for some other medical reason and didn’t realize it was having an effect on their body. It would be easy if Braun said he took the wrong medicine and it wasn’t meant to enhance his performance.

You and I could digest the “wrongful handling” ruling if Baseball agreed with the findings. If you’ve been reading the story, though, you know that is far from the case. Not only does baseball not agree, they “vehemently disagree.” A strong choice of words. It looks like the commissioner doesn’t think Braun was playing fair.

We all know what happens next. Braun will always have an asterisk. It doesn’t matter if he was clean or not because he’s associated now. When we watch his games and he hits a deep home run, we’ll wonder if he is still cheating. In ten or fifteen years, we’ll ask ourselves if Braun should be in the Hall of Fame. Because after all, he didn’t contest his positive test, just how it was handled.

Steroids in baseball were supposed to go away. We were supposed to get the game we loved so much in a “back to normal” state. Now, we’re just more confused. At least we can all agree on that.

Just a short ten months ago, Manny Ramirez retired from baseball. He was willing to hang up his cleats instead of serving a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s Substance Policy. He had again tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Reports recently claimed that Manny had worked out a deal to return to baseball with the Oakland Athletics and he would serve his 50-game suspension.

As Al Pacino said in Scent of a Woman, “If I was half the man I was five years ago, I’d take a flame thrower to this place, but I’m too damn old.” Manny is too damn old. He won’t be setting any fires in Oakland, which begs the question – How will we remember the man who many said was the best slugger of his generation?

Manny was a phenom at the plate. He was lazy in the field. He was a terrifying nightmare in the clubhouse and the front office. Still, his bat always kept him on the field because it was hard to find someone better.

He was almost traded about four dozen times while he was in Boston. That was until he was the MVP of Boston’s first World Series Championship in what seemed like an eternity. He was on top of the world. Then, they won it again in 2007. Manny and Big Papi were the most feared combination in baseball.

He finally worked his way out of Boston and reinvigorated a fan base in L.A. He was Mannywood. Then it all started to unravel. Manny was hit with a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy in 2009. His name was leaked from the list of 104 major league players who tested positive for steroids in 2004. Then, in 2011, he decided to retire instead of serving another 50-game suspension.

Manny will never see the Hall of Fame. His name is too tainted. So, how will we remember the slugger?

It won’t be for his 555 home runs. It won’t be for his 1831 runs batted in. It won’t be for his part in ending the painful World Series drought in Boston. It won’t be for the things that it should be for.

We’ll remember his cowardly move to retire from baseball because he was a cheater. Steroids were the culture in baseball. Some will say he was doing the same thing that everyone else was doing. I’ll say that he was cultivating a culture of cheating and tainting the beautiful game of baseball.

I want to remember his 555 home runs, his 1831 runs batted in, and his amazing 2004 World Series performance. And I will. I’ll remember them with a permanent asterisk.

LA Angels

Manager: Mike Scioscia

Starting Rotation: Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson, Ervin Santana, Jerome Williams

Starting Eight: Chris Iannetta, Albert Pujols, Howard Kendrick, Alberto Callaspo, Erick Aybar, Vernon Wells, Peter Bourjos, Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu

They added Albert Pujols to the mix this offseason. That’s a contract they’ll regret in about six years when they’re paying him too much (see: Jeter, Derek). Right now, though, they’ve propelled themselves back to elite status. Not only is that starting eight pretty good, but they have Mike Trout – the highest regarded 20 year old this side of Bryce Harper – as their “two-guy” at all the outfield spots. This team has the perfect mix of veteran leadership and great young talent.

You also may have heard about the addition of C.J. Wilson to an already stacked rotation. They have three guys at the front of the rotation who can be or have been aces on other teams. Yeah – they’re gonna be pretty good.

Prediction: 95-67, 1^st AL West

Oakland Athletics

Manager: Bob Melvin

Starting Rotation: Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy, Bartolo Colon, Jarrod Parker, Brad Peacock

Starting Eight: Kurt Suzuki, Brandon Allen, Jemile Weeks, Scott Sizemore, Cliff Pennington, Seth Smith, Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes, Jonny Gomes

The A’s finished 22 games behind Texas last season. They finished near the bottom of the pile in almost every offensive category. They were lucky enough to snag Cuban-defector Cespedes on a four-year deal. Many belive that he’s major league ready right now. He’ll probably be a good bat, but there’s only so much one bat can do. The A’s also signed Manny Ramirez today – too bad he has to serve his 50-game suspension (that’s a whole other column).

The pitching staff isn’t very much to shake a stick at either. They were 10^th in the league in ERA last year, but we all know that’s a flawed state. They were 17^th in WHIP (1.31) and didn’t sport a bad batting average against (.250). Still, it’s a young squad and there’s not a lot of confidence. This is no Money Ball. It’s going to be just another season somewhere near .500 for the A’s. They just don’t stack up against the rest of the AL West.

Prediction: 74-88, 3^rd AL West

Seattle Mariners

Manager: Eric Wedge

Starting Rotation: Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Hisashi Iwakuma, Blake Beaven, Hector Noesi

Starting Eight: Miguel Olivo, Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager, Brendan Ryan, Trayvon Robinson, Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, Jesus Montero

Some would say that the Mariners are moving in the right direction. They’re trying this “youth” stuff a little bit. They traded for a bat, Montero, helping out the worst offense in baseball last season. (No, really. They ranked last in every major offensive category last year.)

Too bad for them, they had to trade on of their top pitchers in order to get Montero. Hernandez is still young, but there’s only so much he can do with such an anemic offense behind him. The Mariners are in for another long season. No one behind King Felix is very good. Ichiro is way over the hill. Their bullpen is near the bottom of the barrel. It’s going to be another long season in Seattle…but they are moving in the right direction.

Prediction: 65-97, 4^th AL West

Texas Rangers

Manager: Ron Washington

Starting Rotation: Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis, Neftali Feliz, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison

Starting Eight: Mike Napoli, Mitch Moreland, Ian Kinsler, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Josh Hamilton, Craig Gentry, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli

Oy. Where to start with the Rangers? The bats in this lineup had the best batting average last year, scored the third most runs, and were second in slugging. It’s still a very talented lineup. I think they may have overachieved with the pine last year, though. Napoli played above what I believe to be his ceiling. Moreland is more of a liability at first, which is why there were rumors about Prince Fielder.

The pitching has to be scary if you’re a Rangers fan, too. Anyone who tells you they’re excited about Darvish’s first season is either lying to you or kidding themselves. He’ll have to make a huge adjustment from the Japanese league to a loaded AL West. It won’t be easy. Those same people are lying if they tell you that they think Feliz can throw 98 mile an hour heaters for seven innings every five days. After two straight World Series runs, I think the Rangers might run into a rough spot this year.

There will be a lot of pull and push between the bats providing enough run support for what should be a not-as-good-as-last-year pitching staff and everyone finding their feet. The Rangers might be sitting this years playoffs out because I think they’ll finish somewhere around 90 wins, which will put them just out of the Wildcard.

Prediction: 90-72, 2^nd AL West

A little later this week, look out for the NL Previews and a couple NBA pieces that I’ve been sitting on!

We continue our MLB Division-by-Division preview by moving over to the AL Central. The Tigers made the most noise this season, and it looks like they’ll be at the top of the Central, and possibly the entire American League. But, you can read it for yourself.

Chicago White Sox

Manager: Robin Ventura

Starting Rotation: John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, Philip Humber, Chris Sale

Starting Eight: AJ Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Gordon Beckham, Brent Morel, Alexei Ramirez, Alejandro De Aza, Alex Rios, Dayan Viciedo, Adam Dunn

After a disappointing 2011 campaign, the White Sox look to be in rebuilding mode. According to many sources, this is the year that Pierzynski loses the starting gig to Tyler Flowers behind the plate. That could mean that Adam Dunn will lose the DH spot to Pierzynski – which would be a significant improvement.  There isn’t a lot of pop up and down this lineup and they don’t exactly play inspiring defense. Now they get the pleasure of playing against the Fielder and Miggy show in Detroit.

The starting rotation is bad, too. They lost Mark Buehrle to the Miami Marlins. There’s no clear ace in the rotation. Peavy could get the nod if he can turn back the clock, but that doesn’t look likely. Fortunately, the White Sox are in that rebuilding mode and if things get ugly, they have two young guys in the minors who could get some experience.

Prediction: 72-90, 4^th in AL Central

Cleveland Indians

Manager: Manny Acta

Starting Rotation: Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Masterson, Derek Lowe, Josh Tomlin, Kevin Slowey

Starting Eight: Carlos Santana, Casey Kotchman, Jason Kipnis, Lonnie Chisenhall, Asdrubal Cabrera, Micahel Brantley, Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Travis Hafner

The Indians surprised everyone last year when they got out to a fast start and looked to be contenders for a playoff spot. Then they did what everyone thought they were going to do – lost. Then, late in the season, they added Jimenez to make a run. Then they added Derek Lowe this offseason, creating a great groundball pitching staff.

The questions on this team won’t come from the starting rotation – at least not to start the season. The biggest question marks are going to be in the field behind them. Is the infield good enough to play behind groundball pitchers? Can the outfield play up to the hype that accompanied them years ago? Is Sizemore really going to be good? Can Choo hit closer to his .291 career average than he did last season? Who is going to add the pop in the middle of the lineup? If the Indians want to make a run at things, they’ll have to make a trade for a bat during the season. Until then, I don’t think they’ll be a playoff team.

Prediction: 85-77, 2^nd in AL Central

Detroit Tigers

Manager: Jim Leyland

Starting Rotation: Justin Verlander, Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello,             Jacob Turner

Starting Eight: Alex Avila, Prince Fielder, Ryan Raburn, Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Andy Dirks, Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch, Delmon Young

The Tigers made the best move of the offseason when they snagged Fielder away from everyone when no one was looking. There seem to be a lot of questions about whether Prince and Cabrera can coexist. That seems like a stupid question to me. You can never have too many big bats in the lineup. The defense might be a little sketchy, but the offense should carry this team, and we all know defense isn’t as important as it used to be.

Verlander is coming his MVP season. Cabrera could have been the MVP last season. Fielder could have been the MVP in the NL last season. Do the math. This is going to be a good team.

If the pitchers behind Verlander can pitch at a semi-good level throughout the season, this team could win a ton of games. They are solid at the plate from top to bottom. They have power, decent speed, and what should amount to the best offense in baseball. And we didn’t even talk about how good their bullpen will probably be.

Prediction: 105-57, 1^st in AL Central

Kansas City Royals

Manager: Ned Yost

Starting Rotation: Jonathan Sanchez, Bruce Chen, Luke Hochever, Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino

Starting Eight: Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Jeff Francoeur, Billy Butler,

Eric Hosmer is only 22 years old and he looks like he’s going to be a good, possibly power-hitting, first basemen. Francoeur never lived up to the hype, but he’s a good right fielder. This is a young team and they have a lot of the right pieces to be successful. They only won 71 games last year, and that number should continue to climb.

Duffy is a young pitcher and has a lot of upside. The rest of the pitching staff is in their late 20’s (Chen is 30-something) and they aren’t going to blow you away. Which is where the problem is. The pitching will need to get better or the Royals will have to make a move if they want to compete this year. I think the more likely situation is to stay the course and continue rebuilding.

Prediction: 75-87, 3^rd in AL Central

Minnesota Twins

Manager: Rod Gardenhire

Starting Rotation: Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Jason Marquis

Starting Eight: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Alexi Casilla, Danny Valencia, Jamey Carroll, Ben Revere, Denard Span, Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit

The Twins were a hair away from losing 100 games last season.  They were near the bottom in almost every offensive and pitching category last season. They didn’t make many moves this offseason and it’s unlikely that they’ll be much better this year. Mauer still has question marks surrounding his legs and the rest of the team isn’t going to wow you. I don’t see a lot of good things happening in Minnesota this year. You probably won’t either.

Prediction: 63-99 (again), 5^th place in AL Central

Next up, AL West

As promised, here is the first Divisional Preview for the upcoming baseball season. I can smell the hot dogs. Taste the beer. See the freshly groomed dirt. It’s almost time!

Starting Eight will be listed in 2-9 order. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s Catcher (2), First Base (3), Second Base (4), Third Base (5), Shortstop (6), Left Field (7), Center Field (8), Right Field (9). The last player listed is the team’s Designated Hitter.

Baltimore Orioles

Manager: Buck Showalter

Starting Rotation: Zach Britton, Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Wei-Yin-Chen, Tsuyoshi Wada

Starting Eight: Matt Wieters, Chris Davis, Brian Roberts, Mark Reynolds, JJ Hardy, Nolan Reimold, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Wilson Betimet.

Unfortunately for the Orioles and their fans, this probably isn’t going to be a very good team. Wieters is a good catcher and no one will argue that Jones and Markakis are decent starters.

The Orioles were 69-93 last season. Their starting pitching isn’t very good and their ace is no ace. In baseball today, you need good pitching and a potent middle of the order. They were 14^th in runs scored and 19^th in on-base percentage last season. This season doesn’t look to be much better.

Prediction: 70-92, 5^th place AL East

Boston Red Sox

Manager: Bobby Valentine

Starting Rotation: Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Alfredo Aceves

Starting Eight: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Nick Punto/Mike Aviles, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Cody Ross, David Ortiz

The Red Sox did a few things this offseason worth mentioning. They added Cody Ross to play right field – a huge upgrade over the position last year. They also didn’t resign Jon Papelbon or upgrade their starting rotation.

I have a few concerns. Is Saltalamacchia good enough to carry the load for the whole season? Can Aceves, who has only started nine games and is 29 years old, be an effective fifth starter? Can Ortiz play as well as he did last season? Will Crawford bounce back after a horrible season?

This team should have made the playoffs last year. They have one of the best hitters in the game playing first base. Ellsbury might be the third best center fielder in baseball right now. I like Pedroia, Ross, and the Punto/Aviles combination at shortstop. What I don’t like is the question marks at the end of the rotation. I think it will be good enough to get the wild card, but they’ll need to make a move during the season for pitching and pray that Crawford can bounce back.

Prediction: 93-69, 2^nd AL East, Wildcard

New York Yankees 

Manager: Joe Girardi

Starting Rotation: CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda, A.J. Burnett (until he’s traded. Then it’s between Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia)

Starting Eight: Russell Martin, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Andruw Jones.

The Yankees big knock this offseason was their lack of pitching behind Sabathia. They changed that in about ten minutes. They signed free agent Kuroda to a one-year deal, traded for Pineda, and committed to developing Nova. When Burnett is finally traded (likely to Pittsburgh), Phil Hughes will probably jump into the fifth spot. You know, unless Cliff Lee does.

Looking around the diamond, the Yankees look to be good at almost every position. If Jeter struggles, we’ll probably see a lot more of Eduardo Nunez. If A-Rod gets hurt or wants to play more DH (not unlikely), we’ll see a lot of Nunez. They’ve got a stacked middle of the order, good pitching, a good replacement for the old guys working his way in to the lineup, and good role players. Their bullpen might need some work.

That’s a lot of good and not so much bad.

Prediction: 98-64, 1^st AL East

Tampa Bay Rays

Manager: Joe Madden

Starting Rotation: David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, Matt Moore

Starting Eight: Jose Molina, Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac, Desmond Jennings, BJ Upton, Matt Joyce, Luke Scott

I never know what to make of the Rays. They have a loaded rotation, with Matt Moore (regarded as highly in baseball as Stephen Strasburg). They upgraded first base by adding Pena. The thing that worries me is the loss of some of the big veteran presence on the diamond. I think Longoria is at the stage of his career to make up for that, though. The Rays surprised everyone, or at least me, last year by taking over the Red Sox for the Wild Card. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same thing out of them this season.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see them get off to a slow start with some of their new pieces and have to do some catching up again. Catching up like that twice in a row? Unlikely.

Prediction: 90-72, 3^rd AL East – missing the playoffs, but still having the 4^th best record in the American League is a possibility. Dear God, I wish baseball would rethink the playoffs.

Toronto Blue Jays

Manager: John Farrell

Starting Rotation: Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Brett Cecil, Henderson Alvarez, Kyle Drabek

Starting Eight: JP Arencibia, Adam Lind, Kelly Johnson, Brett Lawrie, Yunel Escobar, Eric Thames, Colby Rasmus, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion

A few things worry me about the Jays. They finished 6^th in baseball last year with 743 runs; somehow, they managed to do that while batting .249, for 20^th in the league.

Their starting pitching doesn’t look bad on paper, but they play a lot of games against damn good AL East teams. Last season, this pitching staff (that hasn’t seen many changes) was 24^th in ERA (4.32), 21^st in quality starts (81…ugh), 22^nd in WHIP (1.35) and 17^th in batting average against (.256).

Anytime you’re allowing a higher batting percentage than you’re hitting, you probably aren’t winning a ton of games. They need to make some changes in the pitching game and add another bat or two to clear some room for Bautista. He’s the only feared bat in the lineup, and teams will just pitch around him.  A finish somewhere around .500 is probably about right for this team.

Prediction: 81-81, 4^th in AL East

There you have it folks! Next up is the AL Central!

We’re heading for a season where we could see the most 100-loss teams in a single season…ever. In 2002 we saw the Brewers, Tigers, Devil Rays, and Royals all manage the incredible feat. If you go back to the beginning of the decade, you could make the argument that baseball has been very, very good to most of us. Since the Arizona Diamondbacks upset the New York Yankees in 2001, there have been 25 of baseball’s 30 teams in the postseason. In those 11 years, we have seen nine different World Series champions.  See – I told you that you could make the competitive balance argument for baseball.

There’s plenty of talent in baseball right now, just not enough for 30 teams. Dan Szymborski ran a simulation for ESPN’s Insiders on the 2012 baseball season. There are five teams with at least a 20% chance of losing 100 games – Astros (53%), Orioles (25%), Mariners (24%), Athletics (20%), and Mets (20%). I let you argue that competitive balance is good in baseball. Now I want you to argue it using all the statistics.

Baseball is top heavy. Will there be five 100-loss teams this season? I sure hope not. But take a look around the league. How many teams do you think have enough talent to make it to the World Series or even the playoffs?

AL East

In the East, I think we can agree that the Tampa Bay Rays got lucky last season in their amazing overtaking of the Boston Red Sox. With the amount of talent of the Red Sox roster, I don’t see something like that happening again. This should be a (close to) 100-win team. The Yankees had some obvious question marks in their rotation, and those have been fixed. That leaves the Rays out in the cold come playoff time. I think we can all agree that Toronto and Baltimore are pretty awful.

AL Central

The Detroit Tigers won the Central by 15 games last year. This year, they’ve added one of the best hitters in the game in Prince Fielder. They got to move one of the other best hitters in the game, Miguel Cabrera, to third base to make room. The young pitching behind reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander should improve this season. The Cleveland Indians probably won’t be able to compete this season. The Chicago White Sox are definitely a team in transition and won’t be a factor in the race. The Kansas City Royal and the Minnesota Twins are both a mess and could be close to 100-game losers again.

AL West

The L.A. Angels reloaded their roster, acquiring C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols. Texas lost Wilson and didn’t make any big splashes in free agency, unless you count Yu Darvish. I think we can all agree that he’ll probably need a year to acclimate before he’ll make a significant contribution. The Oakland A’s and the Seattle Mariners are probably five years away from being able to compete.

That’s just the AL, folks. There are probably five teams who have a legitimate shot at the four playoff spots. The Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, and maybe the Rays or Rangers.

NL East

The Philadelphia Phillies are getting a little older. Thankfully, they have a lot of pitching and a decent farm system ready to fill in some of those spots. They’ll be the favorite heading into the season. The Miami Marlins retooled and should contend for a wild-card spot if they can make all the pieces fit and keep all the egos in check. The Braves have some good pitching, but it’ll be interesting to see if they can keep healthy enough and if the young arms can make an impact. They are still seriously missing bats throughout the lineup.  The Washington Nationals and New York Mets are still a little shy on talent to contend.

NL Central

Milwaukee took the Central by six games last year. They lost Prince Fielder and maybe Ryan Braun for 50 games, depending on his arbitration – making them a team in some serious transition. The Cardinals were a great story, but they lost Albert Pujols. He can probably be replaced, and they’ll have Adam Wainwright back. The rest of the division is probably going to be a disaster again this year.

NL West

If you had to pick a team to come out on top in the West, you’d probably like the Arizona Diamondbacks to do it again. I doubt you’d be too confident about that pick. The Giants have good pitching, but few bats. Same can be said for the Diamondbacks. The L.A. Dodgers have some nice pieces, but not nearly enough to compete. Not to mention they have some serious issues with ownership to sort out. The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres…well, they’re not very good.

That leaves us with four teams competing for four playoff spots in the NL…probably. I’d be confident in saying that the Phillies and Marlins have a chance to be pretty good in the East. The Cardinals should run away with it in a pretty weak Central. Arizona probably has the best chance to come out of the West.

You still feel confident about that competitive balance in Major League Baseball? I didn’t think so, and neither do I.

Competitive balance isn’t the only problem. We’re going to fix them all. Pop some corn.

Get Rid of Six Teams

I’m about to really piss off six fan bases, but it has to be done. There are too many teams in baseball. I don’t know if there’s a good way to phase out six franchises. I think you could have a draft for each player on the 25-man roster. Each team could bid on the right to a player, then the player finishes their contract out with that team. The other players belonging to the organization become free agents. The six teams really aren’t that hard to pick either: Houston, Kansas City, Seattle, San Diego, Oakland, and Toronto. Houston isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Kansas City is terrible and will be for the foreseeable future. California has enough teams to sustain a fan base if we get ride of San Diego. Oakland is…well, Oakland. Do we really need baseball in Canada? And wouldn’t it be fun to watch teams bid on Jose Bautista and the right to see if he’s really 31?

Realign the Majors Into Two Twelve-Team Leagues

There would be no need for divisions. We’ll talk about the playoffs in a second, so hold your horses. The two leagues would remain the American and National Leagues, obviously.

The American League would have: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, L.A. Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, and Arizona Diamondbacks. The obvious additions were the D-Backs and Brewers because we dropped more teams from the AL.

The National League would have: Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, N.Y. Mets, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, L.A. Dodgers, and Colorado Rockies.

Playoffs…You Wanna Talk About Playoffs?

Take the top four records from the National and American League and play the playoffs just like you do now. If this had done last season, the same teams would have made the playoffs in both leagues. See, I’m not changing everything.

That’s as far as I’ll take the radical change. It’s not that much, I promise. It would make your product better. What are you losing by taking away your teams few series against the Astros or Mariners? Not much, right? It makes baseball more competitive for starters and I don’t have to watch guys like Miguel Olivo play catcher anymore. I don’t have to listen to owners bitch about “losing” money anymore. I think we all win.  Someone call Bud.

I knew the Yankees wouldn’t stay quiet for the whole offseason. I also didn’t think they’d fix their starting rotation in less than ten minutes.

The Yankees traded Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda and before you knew it, Hiroki Kuroda was getting sized for his pinstripes. The only thing people criticized about the Yankees last season was the lack of someone to pitch behind CC Sabathia. You could argue, now, that the Yankees have too many starting pitchers.

Their first four starting pitchers will be CC, Pineda, Kuroda, and Ivan Nova. Behind those guys, they’ll have to choose between Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia, and father time…uh. A.J. Burnett.

Expect the Yankees to trade away at least one of those guys before the season starts. The best bet is that they’ll try to dump Burnett’s horrible contract for a young bat to replace Montero, a guy who many thought would be the new face of the Yankees for a decade to come.

Give Brian Cashman credit. It was reported that the Yankees would try to be under the luxury-tax threshold by the 2014 season. Pineda will make less than one million dollars this season and will not be arbitration-eligible until the 2014 season. Kuroda is a great buy at $10 million this season and he won’t block the advancement of highly touted Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances.

It’s never been a secret that the Yankees wanted to deal for Felix Hernandez. Pineda is no King Felix, but let’s take a look at why he could be in the years to come. In last season, his first, he started 28 games, pitching 171 innings. He had an ERA of 3.74 and WHIP of only 1.099. My favorite statistic from that line is that he whiffed 173 batters in those 171 innings. Pineda throws a nasty fastball that averaged nearly 95 miles per hour last season.

It’s true that he faded after the break and had a 5.12 ERA in his last ten starts.

The most amazing part of this trade was the Yankees being able to trade for the type of pitcher that teams aren’t willing to trade anymore – young, talented, and a lot of upside.

The Yankees are awake. Watch out, baseball.