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Feel free to rank the teams or highlight a few you know about or think will surpise. I'll start by listing how I think the standings will shape out with a brief explanation of each team. This was kind of off the fly first impressions stuff I didn't do serious anyalsis. Ok they're done now.
* Wildcard
AL East
1. Red Sox - Daisuke has a solid season, but Schilling will be the ace. Though he should really stay out of politics. Offense will score it's fair share of runs. Bullpen may be a concern, but enough solid vets that one will emerge. Possibly Mike Timlin.
2. Yankees* - Talk about a team with no chemistry. Bernie was a solid player, but where is the call for him to retire like for Clemens and Farve. They are rebuilding the farm system. Giambi only notable White on offense. Yanks may have to depend on Carl Pavano because what will Kei Igawa do? A team built on Offense and decent bullpen. The whole team chokes if they make the playoffs not just A - ROD.
3. Blue Jays - Poised and ready to pass either of the big two. Big Hurt has a down year. Full Years from both Roy Halladay and AJ Burnett along with a solid bottom half of the rotation with their offense could do it.
4. Devil Rays - Young exiting team that looks like they finally know what they are doing in year 10. Have speed and athleticism but can some one help Scott Kazmir. Seth McLung has a nice year as a closer. Baldelli continues to improve.
5. Orioles - Wasted their money on the last part a team needs to build a team. Those reliver deals will haunt them. With such a thin pitching pool would have given pitchers another year to develop. Markakis and Roberts should be fun to watch.
AL Central(tough divison)
1 Twins - Arguably the most complete team in the American League. Arguably have the best starter and closer in the game in Santana and Nathan. The pressure is no longer on Torri Hunter to lead the offense as Joe Mauer and AL MVP Justin Morneau are now the center point. Not the flashiest roster but a winning one.
2 Indians - Like the Braves expect a major rebound year due to fixing biggest flaw the Bullpen. Joe Borowski can't be worse than Fausto Carmona and Hafner is a monster.
3 White Sox - John Amaechi offers to give Ozzie Guillen "one on one sensitvity training" Guillen and the rest of the White Sox tell him to shove it. Ken Williams shockingly enough appears to be an above average GM against the Caste system. Offense will score often with Thome and Konerko leading the way. Young Pitching will surprise but an inconsisent bullpen will bring them to third.
4 Tigers - Very Talented pitching core, but lineup will be injury plagued and get old fast. If even one or two starters have an off year Tigers become a .500 team.
5 Royals- Well the Gary Matthews contract was worse than Gil Meche. Expect Baseball America's # 1 prospect Alex Gordon and speedy Billy Butler in the Royals lineup fulltime by Memorial Day. Zach Greinke has growing pains but shows signs of brillance for short spurts. Decent Lineup if Mike Sweeney is healthy.
AL West
1. A's - Heterosexual Billy Beane's team still look to be favorites in the west despite losing overrated Barry Zito and Frank Thomas. Harden, Haren, and Blanton will do enough damage to hold up the A's rotation. A's have several exciting players in Bobby Crosby, Dan Johnson, Milton Bradley could be a solid contributor if took a valium. Bob Geren is a puppet for Moneyball. If you want to win in the playoffs you need to know how to play small ball Billy.
2. Rangers - A looser club house will ease pressure off the Rangers big guns and for a Black Guy Ron Washington wasn't the worst hire. Tabbed Hank Blalock as his special project and has been working with him his mid January mini camps. He hid a good job with the A's defense and Eric Chavez credits him with his gold glove.(I know this sounds Caste but if he had to be Black at least it wasn't Dusty Baker) No indicator as to how he will handle the Rangers young pitching. This will be key to whether they have a broken heart in September or if their dancing.
3. Angels - Looks like Fred Wilpon and Arte Moreno are battling it our for most anti american, anti white owner in Sports. Sadly Moreno is the whiter of the two. Worst contract of the offseason goes to these guys. Can't extend fan favorite Darin Erstad for one year but outside of one above average year Gary Matthews Jr. gets a five year contract. The guy is a black legacy kid, if he was white he would have been out of the major leagues 3 - 4 years ago. The offense is a year older and more crippled. Guerrero's back and Anderson's power numbers better go back up to expected performance or the Pitching staff will wind getting over worked. Jered Weaver, and John Lackey will head the staff over the much hyped Bartolo Colon.
4. Mariners - This team is just plain boring. The inept management of Bill Bavasi keeps trying to fill the teams holes as if they were a playoff contender. King Felix was the King of busts last year. Horacio Ramirez, and Miguel Bautista? Couldn't you get similar numbers from a prospect. Jeff Weaver will be traded before the trading deadline. Bavasi and Hargrove are by Memorial Day if the team starts out floundering.
NL East
1. Mets - The United Nations Team owned by a Zionist, GMed by a man who goes to Ghana to develop Baseball talent but not American Legion, and where english is a third language project to be first why? Their offense will score a ton of runs with David Wright as the token white man and speed from Reyes, additional power from Beltran and Delgado. Their starting pitching is dicer than Philadelphia's but a lot of their young starters surprised people. Who expected John Maine to have a big year or Oliver Perez pitch big in Game 7. Their bullpen though will save them with Wagner and Heilman leading the way. However I would be surprised to see New York miss the playoff either.
2. Phillies - This team has plenty of heart with Aaron Rowand, Chase Utley, and Shane Victorino. This team easily could have quit at the deadline last year but played to the end. For Ryan Howard to improve he will need to reduce his strikeout numbers and get better on defense. They made the best pitching transactions they could in weak pool of pitchers but Freddy Garcia has tailed off in the past couple years and Adam Eaton hasn't lived up to the promise he was projected to be in San Diego. This team has a bunch of solid starters but no clear ace, although Brett Myers could emerge. They must avoid a slow start to get in the playoffs.
3. Braves - I wouldn't for one second be shocked if Atlanta would up the 2007 East champions with the vast improvement done to their bullpen and they now have a full year from the underrated Bob Wickman. Scott Thorman projects to be a solid contributor, and they have an elite level catcher in Brian McCann. Can't forget the Jones's either. Expect a big rebound year from Tim Hudson, the only question I have is can they get off to good start?
4. Marlins - Not sure what to expect from the Marlins, they fire Manager of the Year Joe Giardi and hire a presumably White Cuban in Freddi Gonzalez. He worked under one of the best in Bobby Cox but will the same chemistry be there? The D - Train will not be Florida's best starter this year expect Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, or even Anibal Sanchez to take the limelight. The bullpen is a mystery and could hinder this teams chances of going to the next level this year. The offense will be fine with Willingham, Hermida, and Cabrera leading the way in power and hustle from Uggla and rookie of the year Ramirez.
5. Nationals - There will be a high turnover rate of pitchers going through Washington with John Patterson, and Closer Chad Cordero the only certain members of the staff heading into camp. There is talent there as youngsters Mike O' Connor and veterans Jerome Williams, Brandon Claussen, and Tim Redding have had success in the bigs before. The offense will keep this team from losing 100 games with Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns leading the way. They still project to be the worst team in baseball IMO.
NL Central
1. Astros - This team was one game away from getting in the playoffs last year and as then defending NL would have been able to dominate and win it all. This is a hungry team. Most of their players are developed from within which is a good formula for sustained success. Chris Burke provides toughness, Craig Biggio is a leader, Berkman and the rare Free Agent signing Lee will smash the ball. Oswalt is an elite starter in his own right. A lot of people wrote off the Cardinals last year saying they didn't have enough big players and they slumped, but they hung in there. Houston has what it takes to win this year.
2. Cardinals* - Why they're in 2nd? Too many questions in the rotation they have Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder(on the shelf till Jun/Jul) at the top and experiments 2 -5. Wainwright awesome as a closer now will get his chance to prove himself as a starter, the Looper move to the rotation is a bit odd guess they want to justify the 3 yr/ 15 Mil contract. The offense will be solid with Edmonds, Rolen, Pujols and scrappy World Series MVP David Eckstein leading the way.
3. Cubs - And the worst contract of the offseason goes to... Jason Marquis 3 Yr/ 21 Mil. A sub mediocre starter most of his career benefiting from St. Louis defense after walking people. 7 Million for a 6.02 era. Let's put it this way only the "common bond" that Larry Rothchild and him share gets him that kind of money. In order to succeed they will need big years from Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano, the rest of rotation not to embarrass itself. The bullpen will need to be sorted out as whether Dempster stays or goes as closer and what to expect out of Kerry Wood. The offense should score its share of runs, but if the injury bugs bites one or two key players they will dwarf the 1992 New York Mets in terms of worst investment in a team.
4. Brewers - A lot of people have the Brew Crew as a dark horse to make the playoffs. Any breakout to first half of the divison will hinge on their pitching. Will Francisco Cordero be effective like he was for the Brewers or return to his chair throwing ways like in Texas. If not Derrick Turnbow could return to the closers role. I like their first 4 starters Chris Capuano and Dave Bush will continue to get better, A healthy Ben Sheets is an elite level pitcher when healthy. Jeff Suppan is the quiet veteran presence this team needed. Many of their offensive players also have room to grow like J.J Hardy, Rickie Weeks, and Prince Fielder. Overall a solid offense but no one that scares you to death. Any advancement will depend on growth of the young core, injuries or stagnant play and they go nowhere.
5. Pirates - GM David Littefield and Wal - Mart are made for each other. They both love foreign cheap labor, in spite of their best product being in front of them. Adam LaRoche is a very underrated pickup with his nice swing. Jason Bay is developing into a franchise player. Freddy Sanchez should be seen as a nice complementary player and not a franchise cornerstone. The Pitching is still a year or two away. Zach Duke progressed nicely and Ian Snell outside of 4 putrid starts had a nice year look for Snell to show that in his numbers this year. Bullpen is an adventure but Matt Capps had a solid rookie campaign and should be given more responsibility. Step 1 get a GM that won't take it's American product for granted.
6. Reds - Not a terrible team but they did the least to improve themselves in the offseason. They smartly extended Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang but will need at least one more starter to step up. The bullpen is stocked with retreads and no real closer types appear to be emerging. David Weathers appears to be the frontrunner for the closers spot. Offense appears to have limited growth as we've seen what Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey are. Ryan Freel is a young exciting player, but what in the hell is Jeff Keppinger doing so low on a depth chart. Hit well at every level, got shafted for Jose Castillo in Pittsburgh and Anderson Hernandez in New York. Yet bums like Christian Guzman still get to start.
NL West
1. Dodgers - Winning comes down to pitching and the Dodgers projected all White rotation of Lowe, Schmidt,Penny, Wolf, and hot prospect Chad Billingsley will win them a lot of their games. Too bad Ned Colletti doesn't get the concept with the rest of the bunch. Giving up on Eric Gagne may haunt them if Saito slumps early and Brazoban can't rebound from injury. Russel Martin and Andre Ethier are exciting younger players that will improve, with veterans like Kent, Gonzalez, and Garciaparra they'll have enough protection. Question the Juan Pierre signing, Repko has some speed and is cheaper.
2. Padres - Liked what the Padres did this offseason getting a hitting machine in Kevin Kouzmanoff for speedy but overrated Josh Barfield. Only major concern is lack of power that scares people. Giles tailed off quite a bit last year, Adrian Gonzalez was hot and cold last year but finished strong. Bullpen will continue to be a tower of strength with Trevor Hoffman and heir apparent Scott Linebrink. Maddux and Wells back near their hometown have a high chance of being reinvigorated. Peavy should rebound a sub par season.
3. D - Backs - Randy is finally back in the desert and his arm is one of three veteran arms the D - Backs hope to use to sneak in the playoffs along with Cy Young Winner Brandon Webb. Livan was inconsisent last year and Doug Davis can get hit hard at times. The D - Backs are not throwing money into a pit despite starting to come out from under deffered contracts now. They are letting their youngsters shine on offense Stephen Drew and Chad Tracy will impresse this year. For the bullpen to succeed they will need to see the real Jose Valverde or put Brandon Medders in the role.
4. Rockies - Gotta love this team as a dark horse to sneak into the playoffs. Coming off the best pitching staff in years and several young starters that can impress like Jeff Francis and highly touted jew Jason Hirsh. Don't think Rodrigo Lopez or Byung Hyun Kim will be in the rotation long with the young talent coming around. Bullpen has a bunch of no names, LaTroy Hawkins signing was their worst move of the season. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins continue to assert themselves on offense with support from Todd Helton. Jack of all trades Jamey Carroll will get plenty of bats but not stay at one position, Kaz Matsui will settle into being a respectable player outside the bright lights of New York. Chris Iannetta will be starting behind the plate in the 2nd half of the year.
5. Giants - They have several young white starters(Matt Cain with promise, but the senior citizens brigade for their lineup with their youngest projected starter going to be 32 in April Pedro Feliz. Terrible offseason overall, most of their moves were done to fill holes instead doing the rebuilding that needed to be done. Zito would have been better off going to a team on the verge of winning. On the Bright side Bruce Bochy is the first White Manager since Roger Craig was fired in 1992, call EEO/ Civil Rights on this. A slow start and GM Brian Saeban will get his pink slip.
AL Champs - Minnesota
NL Champs - Houston
World Series Champs - Minnesota(Like I said before not a flashy roster or most popular pick but who thought the Cards would win last year)
Edited by: Baseball Fan
* Wildcard
AL East
1. Red Sox - Daisuke has a solid season, but Schilling will be the ace. Though he should really stay out of politics. Offense will score it's fair share of runs. Bullpen may be a concern, but enough solid vets that one will emerge. Possibly Mike Timlin.
2. Yankees* - Talk about a team with no chemistry. Bernie was a solid player, but where is the call for him to retire like for Clemens and Farve. They are rebuilding the farm system. Giambi only notable White on offense. Yanks may have to depend on Carl Pavano because what will Kei Igawa do? A team built on Offense and decent bullpen. The whole team chokes if they make the playoffs not just A - ROD.
3. Blue Jays - Poised and ready to pass either of the big two. Big Hurt has a down year. Full Years from both Roy Halladay and AJ Burnett along with a solid bottom half of the rotation with their offense could do it.
4. Devil Rays - Young exiting team that looks like they finally know what they are doing in year 10. Have speed and athleticism but can some one help Scott Kazmir. Seth McLung has a nice year as a closer. Baldelli continues to improve.
5. Orioles - Wasted their money on the last part a team needs to build a team. Those reliver deals will haunt them. With such a thin pitching pool would have given pitchers another year to develop. Markakis and Roberts should be fun to watch.
AL Central(tough divison)
1 Twins - Arguably the most complete team in the American League. Arguably have the best starter and closer in the game in Santana and Nathan. The pressure is no longer on Torri Hunter to lead the offense as Joe Mauer and AL MVP Justin Morneau are now the center point. Not the flashiest roster but a winning one.
2 Indians - Like the Braves expect a major rebound year due to fixing biggest flaw the Bullpen. Joe Borowski can't be worse than Fausto Carmona and Hafner is a monster.
3 White Sox - John Amaechi offers to give Ozzie Guillen "one on one sensitvity training" Guillen and the rest of the White Sox tell him to shove it. Ken Williams shockingly enough appears to be an above average GM against the Caste system. Offense will score often with Thome and Konerko leading the way. Young Pitching will surprise but an inconsisent bullpen will bring them to third.
4 Tigers - Very Talented pitching core, but lineup will be injury plagued and get old fast. If even one or two starters have an off year Tigers become a .500 team.
5 Royals- Well the Gary Matthews contract was worse than Gil Meche. Expect Baseball America's # 1 prospect Alex Gordon and speedy Billy Butler in the Royals lineup fulltime by Memorial Day. Zach Greinke has growing pains but shows signs of brillance for short spurts. Decent Lineup if Mike Sweeney is healthy.
AL West
1. A's - Heterosexual Billy Beane's team still look to be favorites in the west despite losing overrated Barry Zito and Frank Thomas. Harden, Haren, and Blanton will do enough damage to hold up the A's rotation. A's have several exciting players in Bobby Crosby, Dan Johnson, Milton Bradley could be a solid contributor if took a valium. Bob Geren is a puppet for Moneyball. If you want to win in the playoffs you need to know how to play small ball Billy.
2. Rangers - A looser club house will ease pressure off the Rangers big guns and for a Black Guy Ron Washington wasn't the worst hire. Tabbed Hank Blalock as his special project and has been working with him his mid January mini camps. He hid a good job with the A's defense and Eric Chavez credits him with his gold glove.(I know this sounds Caste but if he had to be Black at least it wasn't Dusty Baker) No indicator as to how he will handle the Rangers young pitching. This will be key to whether they have a broken heart in September or if their dancing.
3. Angels - Looks like Fred Wilpon and Arte Moreno are battling it our for most anti american, anti white owner in Sports. Sadly Moreno is the whiter of the two. Worst contract of the offseason goes to these guys. Can't extend fan favorite Darin Erstad for one year but outside of one above average year Gary Matthews Jr. gets a five year contract. The guy is a black legacy kid, if he was white he would have been out of the major leagues 3 - 4 years ago. The offense is a year older and more crippled. Guerrero's back and Anderson's power numbers better go back up to expected performance or the Pitching staff will wind getting over worked. Jered Weaver, and John Lackey will head the staff over the much hyped Bartolo Colon.
4. Mariners - This team is just plain boring. The inept management of Bill Bavasi keeps trying to fill the teams holes as if they were a playoff contender. King Felix was the King of busts last year. Horacio Ramirez, and Miguel Bautista? Couldn't you get similar numbers from a prospect. Jeff Weaver will be traded before the trading deadline. Bavasi and Hargrove are by Memorial Day if the team starts out floundering.
NL East
1. Mets - The United Nations Team owned by a Zionist, GMed by a man who goes to Ghana to develop Baseball talent but not American Legion, and where english is a third language project to be first why? Their offense will score a ton of runs with David Wright as the token white man and speed from Reyes, additional power from Beltran and Delgado. Their starting pitching is dicer than Philadelphia's but a lot of their young starters surprised people. Who expected John Maine to have a big year or Oliver Perez pitch big in Game 7. Their bullpen though will save them with Wagner and Heilman leading the way. However I would be surprised to see New York miss the playoff either.
2. Phillies - This team has plenty of heart with Aaron Rowand, Chase Utley, and Shane Victorino. This team easily could have quit at the deadline last year but played to the end. For Ryan Howard to improve he will need to reduce his strikeout numbers and get better on defense. They made the best pitching transactions they could in weak pool of pitchers but Freddy Garcia has tailed off in the past couple years and Adam Eaton hasn't lived up to the promise he was projected to be in San Diego. This team has a bunch of solid starters but no clear ace, although Brett Myers could emerge. They must avoid a slow start to get in the playoffs.
3. Braves - I wouldn't for one second be shocked if Atlanta would up the 2007 East champions with the vast improvement done to their bullpen and they now have a full year from the underrated Bob Wickman. Scott Thorman projects to be a solid contributor, and they have an elite level catcher in Brian McCann. Can't forget the Jones's either. Expect a big rebound year from Tim Hudson, the only question I have is can they get off to good start?
4. Marlins - Not sure what to expect from the Marlins, they fire Manager of the Year Joe Giardi and hire a presumably White Cuban in Freddi Gonzalez. He worked under one of the best in Bobby Cox but will the same chemistry be there? The D - Train will not be Florida's best starter this year expect Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, or even Anibal Sanchez to take the limelight. The bullpen is a mystery and could hinder this teams chances of going to the next level this year. The offense will be fine with Willingham, Hermida, and Cabrera leading the way in power and hustle from Uggla and rookie of the year Ramirez.
5. Nationals - There will be a high turnover rate of pitchers going through Washington with John Patterson, and Closer Chad Cordero the only certain members of the staff heading into camp. There is talent there as youngsters Mike O' Connor and veterans Jerome Williams, Brandon Claussen, and Tim Redding have had success in the bigs before. The offense will keep this team from losing 100 games with Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns leading the way. They still project to be the worst team in baseball IMO.
NL Central
1. Astros - This team was one game away from getting in the playoffs last year and as then defending NL would have been able to dominate and win it all. This is a hungry team. Most of their players are developed from within which is a good formula for sustained success. Chris Burke provides toughness, Craig Biggio is a leader, Berkman and the rare Free Agent signing Lee will smash the ball. Oswalt is an elite starter in his own right. A lot of people wrote off the Cardinals last year saying they didn't have enough big players and they slumped, but they hung in there. Houston has what it takes to win this year.
2. Cardinals* - Why they're in 2nd? Too many questions in the rotation they have Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder(on the shelf till Jun/Jul) at the top and experiments 2 -5. Wainwright awesome as a closer now will get his chance to prove himself as a starter, the Looper move to the rotation is a bit odd guess they want to justify the 3 yr/ 15 Mil contract. The offense will be solid with Edmonds, Rolen, Pujols and scrappy World Series MVP David Eckstein leading the way.
3. Cubs - And the worst contract of the offseason goes to... Jason Marquis 3 Yr/ 21 Mil. A sub mediocre starter most of his career benefiting from St. Louis defense after walking people. 7 Million for a 6.02 era. Let's put it this way only the "common bond" that Larry Rothchild and him share gets him that kind of money. In order to succeed they will need big years from Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano, the rest of rotation not to embarrass itself. The bullpen will need to be sorted out as whether Dempster stays or goes as closer and what to expect out of Kerry Wood. The offense should score its share of runs, but if the injury bugs bites one or two key players they will dwarf the 1992 New York Mets in terms of worst investment in a team.
4. Brewers - A lot of people have the Brew Crew as a dark horse to make the playoffs. Any breakout to first half of the divison will hinge on their pitching. Will Francisco Cordero be effective like he was for the Brewers or return to his chair throwing ways like in Texas. If not Derrick Turnbow could return to the closers role. I like their first 4 starters Chris Capuano and Dave Bush will continue to get better, A healthy Ben Sheets is an elite level pitcher when healthy. Jeff Suppan is the quiet veteran presence this team needed. Many of their offensive players also have room to grow like J.J Hardy, Rickie Weeks, and Prince Fielder. Overall a solid offense but no one that scares you to death. Any advancement will depend on growth of the young core, injuries or stagnant play and they go nowhere.
5. Pirates - GM David Littefield and Wal - Mart are made for each other. They both love foreign cheap labor, in spite of their best product being in front of them. Adam LaRoche is a very underrated pickup with his nice swing. Jason Bay is developing into a franchise player. Freddy Sanchez should be seen as a nice complementary player and not a franchise cornerstone. The Pitching is still a year or two away. Zach Duke progressed nicely and Ian Snell outside of 4 putrid starts had a nice year look for Snell to show that in his numbers this year. Bullpen is an adventure but Matt Capps had a solid rookie campaign and should be given more responsibility. Step 1 get a GM that won't take it's American product for granted.
6. Reds - Not a terrible team but they did the least to improve themselves in the offseason. They smartly extended Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang but will need at least one more starter to step up. The bullpen is stocked with retreads and no real closer types appear to be emerging. David Weathers appears to be the frontrunner for the closers spot. Offense appears to have limited growth as we've seen what Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey are. Ryan Freel is a young exciting player, but what in the hell is Jeff Keppinger doing so low on a depth chart. Hit well at every level, got shafted for Jose Castillo in Pittsburgh and Anderson Hernandez in New York. Yet bums like Christian Guzman still get to start.
NL West
1. Dodgers - Winning comes down to pitching and the Dodgers projected all White rotation of Lowe, Schmidt,Penny, Wolf, and hot prospect Chad Billingsley will win them a lot of their games. Too bad Ned Colletti doesn't get the concept with the rest of the bunch. Giving up on Eric Gagne may haunt them if Saito slumps early and Brazoban can't rebound from injury. Russel Martin and Andre Ethier are exciting younger players that will improve, with veterans like Kent, Gonzalez, and Garciaparra they'll have enough protection. Question the Juan Pierre signing, Repko has some speed and is cheaper.
2. Padres - Liked what the Padres did this offseason getting a hitting machine in Kevin Kouzmanoff for speedy but overrated Josh Barfield. Only major concern is lack of power that scares people. Giles tailed off quite a bit last year, Adrian Gonzalez was hot and cold last year but finished strong. Bullpen will continue to be a tower of strength with Trevor Hoffman and heir apparent Scott Linebrink. Maddux and Wells back near their hometown have a high chance of being reinvigorated. Peavy should rebound a sub par season.
3. D - Backs - Randy is finally back in the desert and his arm is one of three veteran arms the D - Backs hope to use to sneak in the playoffs along with Cy Young Winner Brandon Webb. Livan was inconsisent last year and Doug Davis can get hit hard at times. The D - Backs are not throwing money into a pit despite starting to come out from under deffered contracts now. They are letting their youngsters shine on offense Stephen Drew and Chad Tracy will impresse this year. For the bullpen to succeed they will need to see the real Jose Valverde or put Brandon Medders in the role.
4. Rockies - Gotta love this team as a dark horse to sneak into the playoffs. Coming off the best pitching staff in years and several young starters that can impress like Jeff Francis and highly touted jew Jason Hirsh. Don't think Rodrigo Lopez or Byung Hyun Kim will be in the rotation long with the young talent coming around. Bullpen has a bunch of no names, LaTroy Hawkins signing was their worst move of the season. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins continue to assert themselves on offense with support from Todd Helton. Jack of all trades Jamey Carroll will get plenty of bats but not stay at one position, Kaz Matsui will settle into being a respectable player outside the bright lights of New York. Chris Iannetta will be starting behind the plate in the 2nd half of the year.
5. Giants - They have several young white starters(Matt Cain with promise, but the senior citizens brigade for their lineup with their youngest projected starter going to be 32 in April Pedro Feliz. Terrible offseason overall, most of their moves were done to fill holes instead doing the rebuilding that needed to be done. Zito would have been better off going to a team on the verge of winning. On the Bright side Bruce Bochy is the first White Manager since Roger Craig was fired in 1992, call EEO/ Civil Rights on this. A slow start and GM Brian Saeban will get his pink slip.
AL Champs - Minnesota
NL Champs - Houston
World Series Champs - Minnesota(Like I said before not a flashy roster or most popular pick but who thought the Cards would win last year)
Edited by: Baseball Fan
