Early 2009 projections?

[Halladay_is_God]

i don't know DD, Jays lost marcum for the year and McGowan still injured too, I think until June

as of now the opening day rotation might look like this
Halladay
Litsch
any number of pitchers that can range from Purcey, Downs, Janssen (coming off injury), Maroth, Clement and who knows

[love_that_reefer]

Litsch is better than anyone the O's have right now.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

If Mike Maroth is in your rotation, all hope is lost

[DirtyKash]

In my preseason picks last year, I had the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series and people laughed. So get ready to bump this thread come September.


AL East:

1) Boston Red Sox - love the bullpen
2) New York Yankees - love the starting pitching
3) Tampa Bay Rays - love the lineup
4) Baltimore Orioles - their catcher is Gregg Zaun
5) Toronto Blue Jays - Jesse Litsch is their #2 starter

AL Central:

1) Minnesota Twins - love their outfield
2) Cleveland Indians - love Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo
3) Chicago White Sox - love their broadcasters, you can put it on the boarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd YES!
4) Detroit Tigers - hate their pitching
5) KC Royals - popular sleeper, but they are two years away

AL West:

1) Anaheim Angels - easy division
2) Oakland A's - love their veteran offseason acquisitions
3) Texas Rangers - lack of pitching
4) Seattle Mariners - Ken Griffey Jr. hits 25 bombs

NL East:

1) Philadelphia Philles - could come down to the wire again!
2) NY Mets - right field at the new Shea is quirky
3) Atlanta Braves - kind of overrated rotation, honestly
4) Florida Marlins - their pitching is underrated
5) The Team That Shall Not Be Named - **** off

NL Central:

1) Cincinnati Reds - team of destiny
2) Chicago Cubs - sick rotation and sick lineup
3) St. Louis Cards - Carpenter turns back the clock and wins 16 games
4) Milwaukee Brewers - they're going to miss CC
5) Houston Astros - they have Russ Ortiz and Mike Hampton in their rotation
6) Pittsburgh Pirates - 10 years away from being relevant

NL West:

1) Arizona Diamondbacks - Webb and Haren can carry them to the division title
2) Los Angeles Dodgers - Jonathan Broxton saves 45 games
3) San Francisco Giants - three Cy Young winners in their rotation
4) Colorado Rockies - Todd Helton hits 30 HR
5) San Diego Padres - this year is going to be terrible

ALCS: Boston defeats New York
NLCS: Arizona defeats Philadelphia
World Series: Boston defeats Arizona

AL MVP: Mark Teixeira
NL MVP: Ryan Howard
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia
NL Cy Young: Ryan Dempster
AL ROY: David Price
NL ROY: Cameron Maybin

[Witlon]

AL East
1) Red Sox
2) Yankees*
3) Rays
4) Jays
5) Orioles

-A step back for the Rays, even if they're better overall than last year. I could see the Jays ahead of Tampa, as well.

AL Central
1) Cleveland
2) Minnesota
3) Chicago
4) Detroit
5) Kansas City

- I'm not buying in to all the Kansas City love. I could see Alex Gordon being better, and Covelli(nee Coco) Crisp was a nice addition, but I just see everyone else better. As for Cleveland winning the division...call it gut feeling.

AL West
1) Los Angeles of Anaheim
2) Texas
3) Oakland
4) Seattle

- Texas doesn't have enough pitching. Oakland's pitching is too young. Seattle is still a few years away. LAA should be able to survive the first couple of weeks without Lackey in this division.

NL East
1) New York Mets
2) Philadelphia*
3) Florida
4) Atlanta
5) Washington

- Figure the top 2 as 1a and 1b, but the Mets talent is so sexy I can't look away. Florida always seems to be there, no matter what they have in the organization. Atlanta's down, but not for very long. And Washington...well, they have a nice outfield...?

NL Central
1) Chicago
2) Milwaukee
3) St. Louis
4) Houston
5) Pittsburgh
6) Cincinnati

- Any of the top four has a chance. I really didn't want to pick the Cubs, but they have the most balance. If Gallardo can pitch up to his talent level(and not get injured), the Brewers may leapfrog in my projections. St. Louis and Houston just don't have the offense(other than Berkman-Lee, Pujols-Ludwick) to be up there. The "athletic" Reds don't do anything for me.

NL West
1) Dodgers
2) Diamondbacks
3) Giants
4) Padres
5) Rockies

- Figure it to be a 2 team race here. The Giants just don't have enough pop to compete with the top 2. I'll take the veteran bats and young pitching of LA over the young bats and veteran pitching of Arizona. 3-5 are pretty interchangable, although I still like SF the best of the 3.

Playoffs
Red Sox over Indians in 4
Yankees over Angels in 5
Phillies over Cubs in 3
Dodgers over Mets in 5

Yankees over Red Sox in 7
Dodgers over Phillies in 6

Yankees over Dodgers in 6

Awards
AL MVP: Mark Teixiera(NYY)
-Runners Up: Grady Sizemore(CLE), Kevin Youkilis(BOS), Josh Hamilton(TEX)

AL Cy Young: Francisco Liriano(MIN)
- Runners Up: C.C. Sabathia(NYY), Jon Lester(BOS), Felix Hernandez(SEA)

AL Rookie of the Year: Travis Snider(TOR)
- Runners Up: Chris Getz(CHW), Nick Adenhart(LAA), Matt Weiters(BAL)

NL MVP: Manny Ramirez(LAD)
- Runners Up: Chase Utley(PHI), David Wright(NYM), Hanley Ramirez(FLA)

NL Cy Young: Dan Haren(ARI)
- Runners Up: Carlos Zambrano(CHC), Johan Santana(NYM), Tim Lincecum(SF)

NL Rookie of the Year: Colby Rasmus(STL)
- Runners Up: Cameron Maybin(FLA), Jordan Schafer(ATL), Jordan Zimmermann(WAS)

[cjkalt]

AL East:
1. Boston
2. NYY (WC)
3. Tampa
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore

AL Central:
1. Minnesota
2. Cleveland
3. Kansas City
4. Chicago
5. Detroit

AL West:
1. Oakland
2. Texas
3. LAA
4. Seattle

NL East:
1. NYM
2. Atlanta (WC- 1 game playoff over Philly)
3. Philly
4. Florida
5. Washington

NL Central:
1. Chicago
2. St. Louis
3. Cincy
4. Houston
5. Milwaukee
6. Pittsburgh

NL West:
1. Arizona
2. San Fran
3. LAD
4. San Diego
5. Colorado

AL MVP: Matt Holliday
NL MVP: Hanley
AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
NL Cy Young: Derek Lowe
AL ROY: Matt Wieters
NL ROY: Jordan Schafer

Playoffs

Red Sox beat Oakland in 3
Twins beat Yankees in 5
Mets beat Arizona in 4
Cubs beat Braves in 5

Red Sox beat Twins in 6
Cubs over Mets in 6

Red Sox over Cubs in 5

[DirtyKash]

No way Hanley gets the MVP if his team ends up in 4th in their division.

[realmofotalk]

AL East:
1. Boston
2. NY Yankees*
3. Tampa Bay
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore

AL Central:
1. Minnesota
2. Cleveland
3. Chi Sox
4. Detroit
5. Kansas City

AL West:
1. Oakland
2. Anaheim
3. Texas
4. Seattle

NL East:
1. NY Mets
2. Philadelphia
3. Atlanta
4. Florida
5. Washington

NL Central:
1. St. Louis
2. Cubs
3. Houston
4. Milwaukee
5. Cincinnati
6. Pittsburgh

NL West:
1. Arizona
2. San Francisco*
3. Los Angeles
4. San Diego
5. Colorado

AL MVP: Mark Teixeira
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
AL ROY: David Price
NL ROY: Pablo Sandoval
AL Manager of the Year: Bob Geren
NL Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy

Playoffs
Yankees over A's - Jason Giambi playing for the wrong side as always
Red Sox over Twins
Giants over Mets
Dbags over Cards

Red Sox over Yankees
Giants over Dbags

Red Sox over Giants. Bochy + Giants + World Series = fail

[DirtyKash]

Sandoval isn't eligible for ROY.

[Kingdom_of_Zito]

Elvis Andrus has an OBP lower than Willy Taveras.

Gary Sheffield has a bout of drama that involves Carlos Delgado.

Brandon Morrow will wish he stayed as a SP.

Detroit Tigers file for bankruptcy.

Yankees will use 4 different 3B until ARod returns.

[realmofotalk]

Sandoval isn't eligible for ROY.

Then give me a name of those other ****ers to jinx.

Otherwise, I'll go with Dexter Fowler.

[Witlon]

Ishikawa is a rookie, unless his service time is up.

[realmofotalk]

Eh, he's not worth it. I can't believe reefer is high on him. Then again, he still thinks Dallas McPherson is a major league starting third baseman.

[Providence A's]

CJ picking the Sox to win it all...shocker just like Gammons picking the Sox to win it all

[cjkalt]

CJ picking the Sox to win it all...shocker just like Gammons picking the Sox to win it all

Its like you picking Jimmie Johnson most weeks, you pick the best team/player to win.

The Red Sox bullpen is ridiculous, highest era guy in the pen is a 3.4 and most of the guys are under 3. And they have the financial mobility to get a slugger from a team that can't afford him if need be.