Season Prediction Extravaganza!!!

Well, here we are, just a few days into the season, and it’s time for me to put out the final results and predictions for the 2011 season.

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American League

East

Boston Red Sox 99-63

New York Yankees 92-70

Tampa Bay Rays 84-78

Toronto Blue Jays 79-83

Baltimore Orioles 75-87

 

Central

Chicago White Sox 90-72

Minnesota Twins 87-75

Detroit Tigers 86-76

Kansas City Royals 70-92

Cleveland Indians 65-97

 

West

Texas Rangers 92-70

Oakland A’s 85-77

Los Angeles Angels 81-81

Seattle Mariners 65-97

 

National League

East

Philadelphia Phillies 98-64

Atlanta Braves 85-77

Florida Marlins 82-80

Washington Nationals 73-89

New York Mets 70-92

 

Central

St. Louis Cardinals 92-70

Milwaukee Brewers 88-74

Cincinnati Reds 83-79

Chicago Cubs 77-85

Houston Astros 69-93

Pittsburgh Pirates 67-95

 

West

San Francisco Giants 91-71

Los Angeles Dodgers 85-77

Colorado Rockies 83-79

San Diego Padres 72-90

Arizona Diamondbacks 66-96

 

Managers of the Year: Terry Francona (AL), Tony LaRussa (NL)

 

Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia (AL), Roy Halladay (NL)

 

MVP: Kevin Youkilis (AL), Albert Pujols (NL)

 

Playoffs

Division Series

Red Sox over White Sox, 3-1

Yankees over Rangers, 3-2

Phillies over Brewers, 3-1

Cardinals over Giants, 3-2

 

Championship Series

Yankees over Red Sox, 4-3

Cardinals over Phillies, 4-2

 

World Series

Cardinals over Yankees, 4-2 (told you I was a Cardinal fan)

Fandom aside: Phillies over Red Sox, 4-3 (we’ll call this the “backup” pick)

 

There you have it, folks!  Predictions sure to go wrong for the 2011 baseball season!

 

ORSP: Arizona Diamondbacks

We’re closing out our Offseason Review/Season Previews with a whimper this morning, with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the 3rd worst team in the majors last season (thanks to Seattle and Pittsburgh).

Biggest Additions: J.J. Putz, Zach Duke, Armando Galarraga, David Hernandez, Melvin Mora, Geoff Blum, Juan Miranda, Kam Mickolio, Xavier Nady.

Biggest Subtractions: Brandon Webb, Adam LaRoche, Mark Reynolds, Rodrigo Lopez, Blaine Boyer, Augie Ojeda

Offseason Review: In Kevin Towers first offseason as GM of the Diamondbacks, he had his work cut out for him.  In 2010, the Diamondbacks bullpen was the worst… in National League history.  They had a combined 5.74 ERA and lost 30 games in which they were either tied or had the lead after six innings.  That’s bad.  Real bad.  And Towers addressed it.  He also added a couple of arms to the rotations – arms that should be better than they’ve shown so far at the big league level.  Of course, he also traded away their biggest slugger, and perennial strikeout record-holder, Mark Reynolds.  It’s going to be difficult to fill his shoes… as far as hitting the ball out of the part is concerned… well, and finding somebody that can strikeout as consistently as he can as well.

Final Record: 66-96, 5th in the NL West

ORSP: Los Angeles Dodgers

Today’s ORSP has us returning to the City of Angels to take a look at the Dodgers.

Biggest Additions: Jon Garland, Juan Uribe, Matt Guerrier, Marcus Thames, Gabe Kapler, Tony Gwynn Jr., Blake Hawksworth, Ron Mahay

Biggest Subtractions: Russell Martin, Scott Podsednik, Reed Johnson, Brad Ausmus, George Sherrill, Jeff Weaver, Ryan Theriot

Offseason Review: Outside of the Padres, perhaps no team had as much turnover this offseason as the Dodgers.  There’s a lot of new faces, including first year manager Don Mattingly, who, from what I heard a few years back, is kind of a jerk.  The ownership situation didn’t have as much of an impact as people thought it would, which allowed the Dodgers to bring back Lilly, Kuroda and Padilla, and add Garland to the mix in the rotation.  All in all, they have a decent rotation, which is going to be important in the National League this season.

Season Preview: It’s hard to say what the Dodgers will look like this year.  I think they’ll be better than last year, but it’s going to be a difficult first season for Mattingly at the helm.  Their pitching will keep them in some games, but their offense may not, especially against the Giants, and some of the other quality pitchers in the division.  All in all, they are going to look better, but still fall short of the playoffs.

Final Record: 85-77, 2nd in the NL West.

ORSP: Colorado Rockies

And today, we get the team that people had high hopes for, but ended up falling short at the end of the season: the Colorado Rockies.

Biggest Additions: Ty Wigginton, Matt Lindstrom, Jose Lopez, Felipe Paulino

Biggest Subtractions: Jeff Francis, Miguel Olivo, Clint Barmes, Melvin Mora, Joe Beimel, Octavio Dotel

Offseason Review: Perhaps the best thing the Rockies did this offseason isn’t going to show up in the additions/subtractions part of their review; it was signing Tulo and CarGo to long term deals.  Last season, both proved to be solid, young players that will be able to contribute for a long period of time.

Season Preview: This team isn’t going to be all that different from the team that finished 3rd in the West last season.  They have some great young talent – both on the field and on the mound, but they have yet to prove themselves over the long-haul of a 162 game season.  I think they’ll be a good team, and I think they’ll look a lot like they did last year.

Final Record: 83-79, 3rd in the NL West

ORSP: San Diego Padres

Perhaps no team had as much significant turnover this offseason than the San Diego Padres.  Considering they won 90 games and missed the playoffs last year, “significant turnover” is not what you’d like to see.

Biggest Additions: Orlando Hudson, Jason Bartlett, Cameron Maybin, Aaron Harang, Brad Hawpe, Jorge Cantu, Chad Qualls, Dustin Moseley

Biggest Subtractions: Adrian Gonzalez, Jon Garland, David Eckstein, Yorvit Torrealba, Ryan Webb, Edward Mujica, Miguel Tejada, Matt Stairs, Chris Young

Offseason Review: It’s hard to be positive about an offseason that saw your team lose it’s best player.  That’s how Padres fans have to be feeling after seeing Adrian Gonzalez being traded to Boston.  Some of the additions are nice players, but they seem like bit players, not stars.  At lot is going to have to go right for these additions to pan out.  Will it?

Season Preview: Well, to answer that last question, “No.”  I think that the Padres we see this year are going to be the Padres that everybody expected to see last year.  Sorry, folks, but a Cantu/Hawpe combo isn’t going to make you forget about Gonzalez.  I just don’t see a whole lot to be excited about in southern California this season, but… at least the weather’s going to be nice.

Final Record: 72-90, 4th in the NL Central

ORSP: San Francisco Giants

We’re headed  back to the Superior National League today with the reigning World Series champions starting our look this week at the NL West.

Biggest Additions: Miguel Tejada, Jeff Suppan, Elmer Dessens

Biggest Subtractions: Juan Uribe, Edgar Renteria, Jose Guillen, Chris Ray

Offseason Review: The Giants had a really, really quiet offseason.  As you can see, they didn’t have any major signings.  I think the days of Tejada being a major signing are long gone.  Quite frankly, I had forgotten the Elmer Dessens even pitched in the majors any more, and the Suppan signing… well, that’s probably going to be a step down from just about anybody.  Nice guy.  Horrible pitcher for the last couple of years.  Throw in the fact that two of their World Series helpers (Uribe & Renteria) signed elsewhere, and the Giants may have taken a small step backwards this offseason.

Season Preview: Now, all the above being said, the Giants are still a good team.  They are basically the same team that won 92 games last year and ripped right through the playoffs.  Their young pitching came to life during the playoffs, and will be a major benefit during the season.  Look for more of the same out of San Francisco this season as well.  Quality pitching has a tendency to win, and win frequently.

Final Record: 91-71, 1st in the NL West

ORSP: Seattle Mariners

And for the bottom of the AL West barrel, we turn to the Pacific Northwest and the Seattle Mariners.

Biggest Additions: Miguel Olivo, Jack Cust, Nate Robertson, Brendan Ryan, Adam Kennedy

Biggest Subtractions: Paul Bunyan Russell Branyan, Jose Lopez, Ryan Rowland-Smith

Offseason Review: For a team that was supposed to be so good in 2010 with pitching and defense, they couldn’t hit the ocean with some java from Starbucks.  2010 was almost a total disaster for the M’s.  Rumors of Griffey falling asleep in the clubhouse during games, his sudden retirement, dead last in the Majors in runs scored, firing Wakamatsu on Japanese heritage night, trading Cliff Lee…. it was bad, real bad.  The lone bright spot for the M’s was Felix Hernandez, who managed to win the Cy Young, despite a disgusting 13-12 record and because of a brilliant 2.27 ERA (was the rest of the pitching in the AL really that bad that we had to turn to sabremetrics to determine a Cy Young winner?).  The problem the M’s had last year, again, was scoring runs, and it was a problem that wasn’t addressed in the offseason… unless they were trying to solve it with Jack Cust.  If that’s the case, then the GM needs to be fired.

Season Preview: The best part about the Mariners this year is the fact that King Felix is going to get the ball every fifth day.  Seriously, that’s about all they have to look forward to this season… well, I take that back.  Brendan Ryan can be a pretty exciting player in the field, let’s just hope they use the DH to bat for him instead of the pitcher.  It’s not going to be pretty, M’s fan.  Sorry.  (Yes, I did mean to have “fan” as singular.)

Final Record: 65-97, 4th in the AL West