Predictions (so far)

Here are MY predictions for 2010:

1. Yankees repeat as World Champs, defeating the Phillies in a 7 game series. If Manny goes back on steroids then the Dodgers have a chance. I recently read a Giants blog where the nicest word any of the fans used to describe SF’s hitting was “mediocre,” so I don’t think the pitching enough will help them win it.

2. 6 teams will win Division titles and two will win wild card berths.

3. Melky Cabrera hits .290 with 20 homeruns and leads the Braves to an 89 win season, propelling Cox to his 2500 win target.

4. Omar Moron-o will STILL not get fired.

5. CC Sabathia out-pitches the world and wins the Cy Young.

6. A-Rod wins another MVP award.

7. Mark McGwire continues to be a lying A**wipe and continues to get excused for it by fans who want to see A-Rod in the Hall of Fame someday.

8. Javy Vazquez struggles mightily in the AL East.

9. Mets continue to define sucking until they are under new management.

10. Wang joins the Red Sox and wins ten games down the stretch. Then Hideki Irabu sprouts wings and learns to fly.

11. Johnny Damon signs with a team that lets him grow his hair long again.

12. George Steinbrenner awakes briefly to insist that Brian Cashman go sign keegan paterson, a player he saw hit a 902 foot homerun in his old copy of the PC game MVP 2005.

1. A highly paid free agent will disappoint
2. A big star will suffer a season ending injury
3. A rookie will come “out of nowhere” and make a big splash
4. Someone will test positive for PEDs
5. A well- known player will confess to past use of PEDs
6. The Cubs World Series- avoidance strategy will continue to succeed
7. A young player will have a breakout season and stat- heads will come out of the woodwork claiming that they called it in advance.
8. A depleted pitching staff will inquire as to whether Tony Fossas is still available.
9. The Red Sox will work out Jose (he’s not banned here yet) Offerman
10. In late April the Orioles, Royals, and Pirates wil all be in or near first place
11 In late May, the Orioles, Royals, and Pirates will all be nowhere near first place
12 A Yankee outfielder will be going poorly leading to calls to sign Johnny Damon
13 A “Yankees Suck” chant will arise in Fenway Park despite the fact that the Yankees are playing at least 1,000 miles away
14 Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver will be forced to fight to the death, and the survivor will be allowed to do color commentary for an independent league team in New Jersey

I’m positive about all of my picks, except the last one, which I am guardedly optimistic about.

15. The Red Sox win the opener, signs announcing their “magic number” (161) immediately go up.

but i think it is way to early for these predictions. at LEAST wait until some spring training is in.

My picks are ironclad, and come with a money- back guarantee.

Here are some additional predictions:

1 for 4 with a walk, 1 run scored, 0 rbi.
Wieters, Jones, and Markakis.
Bud Selig will have something to say about it.

Months of careful research, crunching the numbers, and Mad Libs have gone into these picks.

Yanks will make an Abreu(1year/$5MM) deal with JD just prior to Spring Training. Damon realizes he has no better options & wants another ring.

Yanks win the AL East (100+ wins)
Red Sox win the Wild Card (95+ wins)

Those two are easy and I would bet my house on them. (Don’t worry I don’t own a house, silly).

The other two AL divisions are a bit trickier, in the West, I’ve noticed everyone and their mother has been riding the Seattle Mariner’s D (and I don’t mean their defense) because of the great offseason they had. And it was great. The thing is, WHO do they have after Lee and King Felix in that rotation? Seriously their offense was not improved enough (if anything it has been downgraded since last season as they lost both of their corners in Beltre and Branyan) and Figgins doesn’t impress me one bit. They added a cancer in the clubhouse in Bradley and Ichiro is a year older.
I can actually see this Mariners team coming in 3rd place behind the…
Texas Rangers.
The Texas Rangers have a sexy offense, and hey if Rich Harden can stay healthy and their young starters can improve upon their last seasons stats, they would have a respectable pitching staff. They upgraded their bullpen, they have a legitimate closer, and Neftali Feliz could do some great things this year. This is a team that scored a disgusting amount of runs last year and they just added Vlad to their DH spot. Vlad might not be the same hitter he once was, but the guy can still rake, especially if he’s protected by that nasty lineup, which becomes even more nasty if Josh Hamilton is healthy. If he’s not healthy and Harden winds up back on his other team (the DL), I still have to go with the…
Anaheim Angels in 1st place.

So they lost Lackey…but you might be forgetting that this is a team that barely even had Lackey last season. People are also forgetting that they didn’t have a full season of Scott Kazmir either. Their pitching is far too strong, and their offense is IMO better than it was last year with the addition of Matsui.
Anaheim Angels win the division and also win 93+ games.

This brings me to the AL Central, which imo is the toughest division to predict.
The Twins are a pesky team who always seem to pull it out at the last second. They have an above average pitching staff and an above average offense (and if they decide to add Jim Thome they might just be my favorites in this division).
If the White Sox ever want to make it back to the promised land they’re going too need to get rid of Ozzie Guillen. IMO, he is the dumbest manager in baseball and has consistently ruined some pretty good teams by doing dumb things. I could list the dumb things but I really don’t want to be here til all hours of the night posting on pinstripe alley. All you have to do is read some of the things that comes out of his mouth and you will know what I’m talking about. If they have a full season of a healthy Jake Peavy, that division should watch out, but again until Guillen is gone, and the offense is upgraded I just don’t see it.
The Tigers are another team that could honestly challenge in that division if everyone stays healthy and has good seasons. I never know what to do with the Tigers because their pitching and offense is so streaky. Losing Granderson should hurt them but to me it’s like that Lotto guy says, “hey you never know”.
As for the rest of the division….
The Royals are The Royals, and the Indians are years away from contention again.

My final AL predictions:
Yanks
Red Sox
Twins
Angels

which looks eerily similar to last years playoff teams.

Stay tuned for my NL predictions, which should be much spicier and shocking.

this Yankees team is going to win at least 110 games this season IF EVERYONE stays healthy.

Here are my reasons:
The Yanks won 103 games last season and they did it…
- without a full season from Alex Rodriguez
- with at least 15 TERRIBLE starts from an injured Wang and Mitre
- with a bullpen that was extremely shaky until Phil Hughes was called up and took the 8th inning role.

This year:
- We have upgraded our defense.
- We should have a full season of A-Rod
- We have an excellent starter in Vazquez taking the starts that Wang and Mitre bombed out on last year.
- We have a very similar offense on paper even without Johnny Damon (who may or may not sign) and if he does we have an even better offense on paper.
- Our bullpen should be better with a full healthy year of Marte, Robertson, and Hughes.
- Joba doesn’t have a stupid innings limit.

110 + wins
bank it.