2007 Cleveland Cavaliers

[Kingdom]

Grady Sizemore is changing his name to LeBron James.
Jhonny Peralta is my Derek Anderson, circa rookie year.
And C.C. Sabathia is Shawn Kemp, back when Shawn Kemp was last decent.


Projected starters:
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Todd Walker 2B, against righties and um.. Alex Cora or Hector Luna, 2B against lefties
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Jhonny Peralta SS
6. Aubrey Huff 1B
7. Andy Marte 3B
8. Brad Snyder RF
9. Franklin Guterriez LF

I might play Javy Lopez at DH, throw Hafner at 1B and Huff in the outfield for a bit. Jason Dubois and Richard Hidalgo will smash your lefties off the bench.

A lot of youth to gel, potentially five hitters under 25 with another two under 30. Should rake up some doubles and homeruns, but there's limited plate discipline till people develope a bit. 2B is going to be an adventure, expect Garko and possibly even Michaels or Dubois to log time there. Yaaay!

Rotation
1. C.C. Sabathia
2. Cliff Lee
3. Jeremy Sowers
4. Adam Eaton
5. ?

Right now, I have yet to decide to keep Paul Byrd. If he goes, I'm tempted to throw Chris Fussell or Fausto Carmona into the fire. Adam Miller and Jake Dittler still need a little more polishing. Jason Davis is the wildcard. I like Adam Eaton at the backend of the rotation a lot more than Jake Westbrook. Should be rather rocky.

Bullpen
1. Andrew Brown
2. Rafael Betancourt
3. Fernando Cabrera
4. Fausto Carmona
5. Santiago Casilla
6. Jason Davis
7. Cliff Politte

Going with a mostly young, fire balling pen. Brown becomes de-facto closer after losing bid on Kerry Wood (Oh yeah, I lobbed 30 plus million at KW to be my closer for five years). 2-5 certainly could replace Brown without hesitation. Politte stands in until another young arm is ready enough.


2007:
Signing Aubrey Huff will be about the only major stab at division contention. I'm going to let the young guns play as much as possible and build from there. Until a few pieces arrive, 2007 will be taking a back seat and watching Chicago and Minnesota compete and Dave masturbating to the farm system that fell into his lap. 3rd or 4th place finish

[Dam8610]

In 2 years, this division is going to be TOUGH.

[Kingdom]

Or it'll just be Detroit's after Dave sits on his 2007 Baseball Prospectus magazine.

For once, I have to root for the white sox. Poison their water, steal their fruit loops, do whatever it takes, Dam, do it. I'll even loan you 25 million so you can drop it on some pitcher or hitter next season. ;]

[Dam8610]

Well, I have the starting staff to compete for QUITE some time, especially if Garland, Vazquez, and Liotta come through for me (if that happens, Buerhle becomes my #5 starter, and that is not a typo), not to mention the bullpen from hell (if a 5 inning game is possible, I have it). I just hope my offense can score enough runs. If Anderson develops well, I'll be in good shape.

[Kingdom]

Does Ray Liotta come complete with a Joe Pesci or Sly Stallone doll?

[Dam8610]

Does Ray Liotta come complete with a Joe Pesci or Sly Stallone doll?

Both actually. In fact, that's what makes him so effective as a pitcher. He uses the dolls to distract the hitters, then throws the ball right by them.

[Kingdom]

Updated:
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Jose Vidro 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Jhonny Peralta SS
6. Aubrey Huff 1B
7. Andy Marte 3B
8. Brad Snyder LF
9. Richard Hidalgo RF

Bench:
C Javy Lopez
2B Alex Cora
2B Todd Walker
OF Jason Michaels
OF Jason Dubois


Rotation:
1. Lee
2. Sabathia
3. Eaton
4. Sowers
5. Adam Miller

[realmofotalk]

The Joe Pesci doll comes with accessories such two Frank Vincent victim character dolls: a Billy Batts (Goodfellas) stabbed to death doll and a Salvy Batts (Raging Bull) beaten unconscious doll.