Predictions 2012

Dusting off the crystal ball - here's what I see in 2012:

The Disasters: Cardinals, Brewers, Red Sox, Mets and Marlins

Rationale: Cards and Mets cannot be a better team with their roster losses. Miami will take a year of adjustment to get used to their roster gains. Brewers loss of Fielder and Braun's taint too much for a market not used to the spotlight. And the Red Sox are an organization that A) will be trying to forget end of season collapse and B) responded incorrectly by getting rid of Francona. Bobby V is no leader, my over under for him is 80 games.


The Disappointment: Angels

Rationale: They will learn what the Yanks did in the 80s.


The Contenders: Pirates, Nationals, the entire NL West, Rays, Orioles

Rationale: There's a part of me that says the Pirates are snake bitten, but given that two of the teams in their division is in decline, maybe if AJ can come back from injury there's enough of a door open to post a winning record. Buck Showalter gets the O's to .500 and 3rd place in the AL East

The Division Winners: Giants, Reds, Phillies, Rangers, Tigers, Yankees

The Wild Cards: D-Backs Rays

Cy Young: Mo Rivera, Ian Kennedy

MVP: Mig Cabrera, Matt Kemp

Yankee Specific: CC wins 20, Pettitte wins 12, Mo Saves 50, Nova Kuroda disappoint, A-Rod hits 35, Cano finishes 2nd in MVP, Jeter hits .320, Tex hits 40, Yanks win 110 and 28.


Game on!!

Mid

Week 1 Review

Record for week ending 4/12: 3-3

Week 1 Grade: B-
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Random Player Evals:

Cody Ransom - batting .050 after 20 ABs. Girardi says he's the third baseman. I say, give him one more game then maybe consider giving Pena a shot.

Jose Veras - mgmt continues to give this guy ample opportunity to shine and earn his way to be the the reliable set up man for Mo. However, Veras continues to give them ample evidence that he just doesn't have the goods.

Brian Bruney - looks good, worried he might get over worked.

Hideki Matsui - Knees not fully recovered, and doesn't appear to be ready for the regular season as just a DH. Perhaps they should consider resting him.

Joba - "quality" start against the Royals. Top shelf for two innings, then becomes fairly mediocre from that point on. I still believe he's better use coming out of the pen.

Tex - wondering if the wrist thing is a one off situation, or if fragility will be the mark of the season.

Cano - better ABs, still perfunctory on the defensive side of things.

Nick Swisher - taking advantage of every opportunity.

Burnett & Pettitte - look solid.

Girardi - missed several opportunities during the week for "small ball" type calls, instead he sat idle while Damon and Gardner flied out, and Cabrera bounced in double plays. Still has to figure out an equation to get to Mo. I think it could be Bruney followed by Marte for a full inning. Hopefully Joe will figure it out this week.

Stadium opener this Thursday. Set the DVR's coverage starts at noon on YES.

Schedule for the week: Mon-Wed a three game set At TB, followed by a four gamer at the stadium vs. the tribe.


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Number of the week: 81.00 - Carl Pavano's ERA.
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Day 1 - Game 1

Opening day has arrived (even though we have the threat of it being ppd due to rain) - and so it begins with the same question I've been asking every April since the decade started - is this the year of 27?

There are a lot of positives heading into this season - about the only thing I am uncomfortable with would be the bullpen. I wish Sanchez would have been ready to go, and at this point, I'm still a believer that Joba belongs in the pen - but why bring that argument up again. Time will tell - regardless, outside of Karstens, Joba will likely turn out to be the best No. 5 starter in the league (C'mon you didn't think I was going to pass up an opening day post without mentioning my man did you!!)

I think the Yanks will win 100 plus games this season - and yes, I think (again) it is the year of 27.

While much focus on the AL East has been on the Rays, Sox, and Yanks - the team that has a chance to surprise are the Jays in my opinion. Not because of any player they have on their roster - but because of who their manager is - Simply put, Cito knows how to win.


Misc. Things I want to see in '09: Griffey go out with a bang, Pujols win the triple crown, Torre beating the Mets in the NLCS, Cincy to win the NL Central, KC to make the Wild Card, Karstens to win 20, Jeter to hit .340, Rivera to save 50, Tex to hit .300 and 35, Wang to win 24, Sabathia and AJ to win 19 each, and the Yanks to start the stadium off with a WS Championship.

Murphy's Law: Pavano wins the CY Young.


Anyway - baseball is back, and not a moment too soon.

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Hughes Heads For SWB

I don't think it is too surprising that Hughes was reassigned to SWB. He had a good spring - we'll see him again when the inevitable arm is needed due to injury.

For me, the most disappointing Spring thus far has been Humberto Sanchez. He didn't throw much due to soreness (not an injury), and now finds himself starting the year in Trenton. When you can't play because of "soreness" - you are saying you can't play because you weren't in shape.

Igawa has thrown 12 scoreless innings. I can't help it, I just cringe at the thought of him running onto the field from the bullpen at a key moment in a game.


The WBC has been pretty good ball - U.S.A in the Semi's against formidable Japan - the story had to compete for time on Sportscenter with Klitschko knocking out some game named Mo in Germany - is baseball still America's game?

WBC - The Good and Bad

The WBC is imperfect but is a net positive, and certainly more entertaining than pre-season baseball.

The Bad - the DR's loss to the Netherlands is only going to fuel the increasingly accurate stereotype that players from that island have a lot of talent - but low on desire and work ethic.

The Good - enthusiastic crowds. The crowd for the Cananada v. USA game at the Sky Dome was probably the biggest it had seen in several years for a game - and would dare say they were playoff lively. The Asian games have a lot of enthusiasm in them as well. Bernie Williams had a walk in PR's win on Saturday.

The USA lineup is hard not to watch. David Wright, Chipper Jones, Jeter, Youkilis, Rollins, Pedroia to name a few. It is a good team - and hope they beat the living hell out of the field.

The DVR is set, and plan on watching a bit more of these games.
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Bombers Bits:

A-Rod to have surgery and will be out for at least two months. Probably won't be ready to join the club until late May or June. This could be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps this can be an opening for Cano to become a Yankee. With A-Rod out, it may mean a higher profile spot in the lineup for him, and if he can pick up some of the slack as a result of A-Rod being out, he can show us that he is ready to be a dependable MLBer and championship quality player.

I happened to catch both games Wang has thrown in so far. He appears to be the Wang that we knew before his season ending injury. . . at least that's what the 3 innings I saw would suggest.

Aceves appears to throwing just as good as he was last year. If Joba doesn't get his control down, perhaps he could be inserted as the #5 and Joba back to the pen - any odds takers on that?

Jose Was Right (again)

Remember back to the circus that was the Mitchell Report?

While everyone else was focused on Clemens, Fox Business did a little noticed interview with Jose Conseco at the Bulls & Bears bar in Manhattan. When asked about the report Jose said that no report on steroids in baseball is complete without Alex Rodriguez in it.

Yesterday, SI releasing a report that A-Rod tested positive in 2003. What a surprise.

Any thoughts?

Set to Pre-Heat

Who's worth a shot?

Yanks:
Giambi, Pavano, Mussina, Pettitte, Abreu,

Pitchers:
CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Francisco Rodriguez, Kerry Wood,

Kyle Farnsworth, Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, John Smoltz,

Mark Prior, Jason Isinghausen, Bartolo Colon


Everyone Else:
Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Ken Griffey Jr., Sean Casey, Rich Aurilla,

Milton Bradley, Adam Dunn, Rafael Furcal, Faul Ibanez, Frank Thomas, Kevin Millar,

Pat Burrell, Garet Anderson


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