MLB 2010 Season Thread
Well, Opening day is like 10 days a way so I figured I'd get this started with my predictions as I used to do every year. Feel free to bitch about my obvious NYY bias or east coast bias in general below. Oh, and add yr. own predictions as well, of course.
MLB 2010 Predictions
AL EAST
1) New York Yankees
Yes, they're my favorite team, but they're also the best team in baseball, and they only got better this offseason. Curtis Granderson is a top flight center fielder and Javier Vazquez is coming off a Cy Young caliber season. People forget how excellent he was in the first half of his first go-around with the Yankees. Their offense simply cannot be touched by any other team in baseball. They have a top 5 pitching staff as well and defensively they have improved. Jeter has improved, A-Rod will be better fully recovered, Cano contineus to improve, Teixeira is a beast and the OF defense improves dramatically with Granderson and Winn/Gardner. Cheeburger Cheeburger Sabathia.
Offense: 10
Starting Pitching: 9.5
Bullpen: 9.5
Defense: 8
Overall: 9.25
2) Boston Red Sox*
The pitching depth is fucking scary as hell. They have 3 legitimate aces, followed by Matsuzaka and Bucholz who are both excellent as well. The bullpen is equally as scary. Really tough team to beat. They aren't the offensive powerhouse they once were but they can still hit. I wonder what version of David Ortiz shows up and they definitely downgraded from Bay with Mike Cameron though he greatly improves the OF defense allowing Ellsbury to slide over to left. Marco Scutaro was a nice pickup. Solid defense around the diamond with the exception of Victor Martinez. Second best team in MLB, nearly as good as the Yankees.
Offense: 8
Starting Pitching: 10
Bullpen: 9.5
Defense: 9
Overall: 9.125
3) Tampa Bay Rays
They would win pretty much any other division in baseball. An all around good team, young and exciting to watch. Kelly Shoppach will hopefully be an improvement over Dioner Navarro's disapointing season. Rafeal Soriano gives them the closer they always wanted and the rotation is deep, though lacking a true ace. They could use an OF bat. Johnny Damon would have made sense for them.
Offense: 8
Starting Pitching: 8
Bullpen: 8
Defense: 9
Overall: 8.25
4) Baltimore Orioles
Finally, out of the basement, but more thanks to the ineptness of Jp Riccardi than anything else. Alright, maybe not... but Riccardi definitely helped. They have 3 young allstars in Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters. I feel as if Garrett Atkins will bounce back and Ty Wiggington is an improvement over Mevlin Mora at this point. The rotation is shaky but full of potential. Millwood and Guthrie are solid but unspectacular. Matsuz and Tillman are both highly touted and could turn in strong years. There's a lot of good young talent on this team but they won't win more than 75 games or so next year.
Offense: 6
Starting Pitching: 6
Bullpen: 7
Defense: 7.5
Overall: 6.625
5) Toronto Blue Jays
It's gonna be a lonnnnnnnnnng couple of years for this franchise. The offense is punchless outside of Adam Lind and Aaron Hill. Vernon Wells makes this team so much worse in so many ways it's astonishing. The starting pitching is unproven but could surprise. Shawn Marcum was solid until he got hurt, Ricky Romero had a nice year last year, Branden Morrow was a nice pickup and Rzypenweionwefianwski was pretty good last year also. The bullpen isn't too shabby either.
Offense: 5
Starting Pitching: 6.5
Bullpen: 7
Defense: 6
Overall: 6.125
AL CENTRAL
1) Chicago White Sox
I was actually pretty surprised at how solid of a team this is. They've quietly made some great acquisitions who will pay off immediately in Jake Peavy and Juan Pierre and three others who could really help out if they pan out in JJ Putz, Andruw Jones and Alex Rios. Very underrated pitching staff frontlined by Peavy and Buehrle, followed very admirably by Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Freddy Garcia. The pen is solid as well especially if Putz is decent.
Offense: 7.5
Starting Pitching: 8.5
Bullpen: 8.5
Defense: 7
Overall: 7.875
2) Minnesota Twins
This is a very solid team. Nothing really "jumps out" at you outside of Joe Mauer but they're arguable the best team in the central, one of the weaker divisions in baseball. I like the additions of O-Dawg and JJ Hardy up the middle. Delmon Young needs to step it up or he's out of a job in left after putting up one of the worst seasons in MLB last year. The starting rotation is full of number 3 type pitchers backed by a solid pen. Jim Thome adds nice pop, this team needed a bat.
Offense: 8
Starting Pitching: 6.75
Bullpen: 8
Defense: 8.5
Overall: 7.8125
3) Detroit Tigers
This team needs to suck it up and just completely rebuild. Their starting pitching is young enough still to try and build a young core around. These guys could be sellers at the deadline with Valverde, Bonderman (if he rebounds), and especially Magglio Ordonez all candidates to go. The team is largely unproven from a position player standpoint. As a Yankee fan I can say Austin Jackson was an overrated prospect. Raburn turned in a nice year but he's old from the "breakout" standpoint. Adam Everrett is a nice defensive shortstop and nothing else. Other than that you have a rookie at second base, a declining Ordonez and Guillen and a meh bullpen. Very good young starting pitching. Verlander, Porcello and Scherzer are all scary good and Armando Gallaraga should figure things out. Bonderman is the real question mark.
Offense: 7
Starting Pitching: 8.5
Bullpen: 6.5
Defense: 7
Overall: 7.25
4) Kansas City Royals
I don't think this team is that bad. Oh wait. They are trying Kyle Farnsworth as a starter and they have the worst position player in all of baseball at short. THEY DO have one of the best pitchers and closers in all of baseball. Billy Butler and David Dejesus are nice players but not spectacular. Alex Gordan needs to figure shit out this year. Jason Kendall basically sucks now. The rotation is just not good after Greinke. Meche isn't a bad pitcher but once you get beyond him it is ugly. The pen isn't bad with Soria and Cruz but again, after that it's ugly. This team is really ugly defensively. Rick Ankiel was a decent pickup, I guess.
Offense: 4
Starting Pitching: 6 (pretty much all Greinke)
Bullpen: 5.5 (pretty much all Soria)
Defense: 4
Overall: 4.875
5) Cleveland Indians
These guys could finish ahead of the Royals but they're just too unproven to rank ahead of them. At least I have a pretty good idea what most guys on KC will do next year. This team is young, very young so they're going to stumble a lot. The pitching is pretty awful. Jake Westbrook frontlines a rotation featuring Fausto Carmona who sucks, and unproven arms like Justin Masterson, David Huff and Aaron Laffey, all of whom do have solid upside but are unproven. The bullpen is also unproven and Kerry Wood is the closer.
Offense: 4
Starting Pitching: 4
Bullpen: 4
Defense: 6
Overall: 4.5
AL WEST
1) Seattle Mariners
This will be one of the divisions to watch as all of these teams are pretty competitive and it's kind of anyone's game though I feel Seattle is a cut above the rest. This team is tailor made for the ballpark, pitching, defense and speed. They remind me a lot of the Angels in the earlier part of the decade minus the huge power bat (Vlad). They have two of the best pitchers in baseball heading up the rotation, but after that it gets kind of shaky, though the absolutely ridiculous defense behind them should help out a lot. Aardsma should prove solid in the closer role. They lack a big bat though Griffey and Milton Bradley can jack a few if they're right. It's not their game though.
Offense: 7
Starting Pitching: 8
Bullpen: 7
Defense: 10
Overall: 8
2) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
They're not too scary anymore without Lackey, Figgins or Vlad. I'd say they upgraded with Matsui but they'll definitely miss their ace and sparkplug and they will not make the playoffs despite being a decent team. Solid team offensively and with the glove but the pitching scares me a bit. They lack a legit ace now and have a bunch of guys who have failed to live up to their potential, and one guy who pitched way over his head last year thanks to Dave Duncan. The bullpen is shaky as hell too; Fuentes is a mid-tier closer, Scot Shields won't be ready for opening day and Fernando Rodney is very meh in my book.
Offense: 8
Starting Pitching: 7
Bullpen: 6
Defense: 8
Overall: 7.25
3) Oakland A's
I don't get the Coco Crisp signing. I originally had them in 4th but I like these guys better than Texas. The pitching is young and solid and the bullpen is really good. They can't hit for shit. Next year, watch out.
Offense: 5
Starting pitching: 7.5
Bullpen: 8.5
Defense: 7
Overall: 7
4) Texas Rangers
They basically need Josh Hamilton to show up again. The starting pitching is better than it's ever been but it's not saying much. We'll see what Rich Harden gives them. Scott Feldman is nice as is Tommy Hunter. I don't know what they'll do with Feliz. The pen kind of sucks. This is a pretty mediocre team all around. Ron Washington is a cokehead.
Offense: 6.5
Starting Pitching: 6.75
Bullpen: 6.5
Defense: 6
Overall : 6.4375
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