MLB predictions
 

NL East: Phillies (The Mets are a total mess)
NL Central: Cardinals (Reds give them a serious scare)
NL West: Giants (Pitching takes this weak divsion)
NL Wildcard: Braves (Fitting send off for Bobby Cox)

AL East: Yankees (Failure to score runs will cost Red Sox)
AL Central: White Sox (Plenty of talent, should rebound)
AL West: Rangers (Should be a good race with the Angels)
AL Wildcard: Tigers (Lots of power arm pitching)

Underachievers: Red Sox, Twins, Mets, Dodgers
Overachievers: Reds, Braves, Giants, Indians

Yes my Mets are beyond a mess. 4th in that division is likely. 6 months of shitty baseball watching ahead for me.

How's the farm? Any good Met prospects to look forward to? Late season call ups can help a fan get through the dog days of summer if/when your team is out of the race.

Ike Davis pounds the crap out of the ball. Should be nice when the Mets call him up in June to replace Murphy/Jacobs tandem.

A healthy Fernando Martinez would be nice

Jenny Mejia - may be someone to see on the mound.

Anyone else has a few years down the road.

Should get us to the cusp of 70 wins.

the bronx is closer to NJ

Do you think the Mets will break .500 for the season?

79-83 would be my guess for the Mets.

I think Vegas had the over/under at 82.5

AL EAST- Yankees (tepidly over rays and sox)
AL Central- Minnesota
AL West- Angels
AL wildcard- Rays
AL MVP- Longoria
AL CY Young- John Lester

NL East- Phillies (braves coming)
NL Central- Reds (Nice youngs bats to go with bevy of young pitchers)
NL West- Dodgers
NL Wildcard- Rockies
NL MVP- Joey Votto
NL CY Young- Roy Halladay

You are correct, they are dead wrong. I think 75 wins tops.

My place has it at 81. Unfortunately I think the Mets are gonna stink this year. The Wilpons are cursed.

AL East - Red Sox
AL Central - White Sox
AL West - Seattle
Wildcard - Yankees
MVP - Arod
Cy Young - Felix Hernandez

NL East - Phils
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Dodgers
Wildcard - Braves
MVP - Pujols
Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw


AL PLAYOFFS
Red Sox over White Sox
Yankees over Seattle
Red Sox over Yankees

NL PLAYOFFS
Phils over Cardinals
Braves over Dodgers
Phils over Braves

WS
Phils over Red Sox

The Mets farm system is devoid of talent though they do have a couple of interesting guys who are really young/long ways away.

If Mejia plays in the majors this year for that crappy team they should shoot Minaya. The kid has been rushed through the system and has never even thrown more than 95 innings in a minor league year let alone MLB.

The Reds dont have enough starting pitching and will need career years from the entire outfield and Rolen to stay healthy to be close. That is highly unlikely.

They have those three kids though. Aroldis could be a star. Leake and Wood are both highly touted.

Jay Bruce could put it together. Votto is good. Phillips is good.

This staff is fairly young and deep. Even Dusty might not screw it up.

any thoughts?

The staff is hardly deep. Remember Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo are the 1 and 2 pitchers here not Carpenter and Wainwright.

Leake and Wood are undersized guys who are 1 1/2 -2 years away from being ready to be major league regulars. Cueto is another undersized guy who may never be anything but an average number 4 or 5 starter. And in that ballpark, average is simply not good enough. Homer Bailey is the one guy they have who may have a breakout year but just as easily could go back to major suckdom as well. He finished the season very well last year after starting to throw a splitter. Volquez wont be back till late summer and cant be expected to produce much. The Cuban guy already has had a setback and really isnt a guy ready to step into a 32 start season anyway. Not to mention Dusty Baker is a pitchers nightmare.

Votto is very good, Phillips is a good 2nd baseman, Rolen is an improvement if he can stay semi healthy. But Bruce has to hit lefties better and start taking walks. The problem for guys like Bruce that arent taking enough walks is that pitchers simply dont throw them enough strikes and when they are struggling like he was last year he has too many 0-4's and wind up hitting .223. Gomes, Dickerson and Stubbs are all more 4th OF types than starters and though Stuubs is a very good CF, Gomes is a brutal fielder. They get very little from behind the plate and thier bullpen overachived last year.

They have some nice pieces but they have a lot of holes as well.

He is probably one of the top 10 starters in the NL but most likely would regress than improve off of last year. Underrated though.

Devoid is strong. Not solid.

LOL .."WANDY"....Love it when deaf people name kids.

Either way it isnt good. Outside of Martinez, Ike Davis, Wilmer Flores, Mejia and Jeurys Familia and maybe Josh Thole there is nothing. And most of those guys are either a long ways way (Flores and Familia) or B level prospects (with Mejia being the exception)

When's the last time a Dodger got a Cy Young? Pretty lazy ass pitching coach (to be producing a Cy Young Winner.) He has shown an inability to instill pitch count discipline. They need someone who's more interested in improving pitch command. I mean, each time that Broxton Pig starts steering those pitches, this guy should be out there in his face. He just sits there until it's too late. Then, fatboy throws one that is straight, not hard enough, and in the wrong place. Season over. Same goes for your boy Kershaw. He's had 2 years to get this guy's command worked on, and the guy goes out n' has zero command against the Phils. THEY NEED A NEW PITCHING COACH. This is a teaching/discipline problem. Not a talent problem. This piece of sht junk pitcher shouldn't be relied on to teach anything.

Kersahw was simply tired after throwing more innings than he had ever thrown in a season. And while you are correct in that he needs to work on his command and keep the pitch count lower, if he can improve in that area he can be the most dominating pitcher in baseball, period. As for Broxton show me a guy like him that didnt have command issues now and then. The list of closers better than him is short. Like one guy short.

What would Scuds do?

Im hoping my Pirates avoid the cellar. No matter what happens they will always have my support. If I go to a game when they are in Houston I will still proudly wear my Pirates shirt and hat.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitchin...qualified/true

That's so far off. In what way is he near the top of the list? Unrealized potential? Talent?

yeah? Who is better?

Mariano, Pap, evidently Hoffman is still better. Street is better. Nathan(was,) Soria, and Valverde are better. They aren't more talented, but they are (mentally) daylight ahead of her.

i will give you Mo and even papplebn but thats it. Hoffman? Compare how they are used and tell me again how Broxton isnt better? Valverde? Get real. Soria? C'mon. Broxton faced 300 batters last year. 44 got hits. 4 hit HR's. 114 struck out. Soria faced 222 batter last year. 44 of them got hits. 5 hit HR's. 69 struckout. If you cant see that one is so clearly better i cant help you. The most effective method of getting outs as a closer is strikeouts. There is no runners advancing, no potential errors, no lucky hits. While it is true as well with a started it is to a lesser degree because they have to ration pitches over 5-8 innings. Closers just have to usually get 3 or 4 guys out. There is no one in the game better at getting strikeouts than Broxton. he allows less hits and gets more K's than any other closer. he appeared in more games and more innings than any other closer and yet his metrics were still tops. And he was 25. You may not like him but he is not only one of the absolute top closers in baseball but he is getting better.

Can't strike out Phillies when it counts the most. When it counts the most he's a choke. I know that much. A Nationwide audience has seem him blow the pivotal 4th game in the LCS the last 2 years. What a witch, this guy. I think you like him so much because you know the Dodgers aren't gunna get a ring with that choke closing. It's a security blanket. No matter what, he'll make sure they can't get a ring. Believe me, Dodger fans would love to see his loser ass traded. There is no mystery for these Dodger Players now. They know, if they make the post, they can't get anywhere with this guy closing. So, it's not like they think they have a shot at the big prize. We've seen this movie. He may have good strike out numbers, but they are mainly gathered on his good days. When he really needs it, he's a nothing. I Watch this guy all the time. He's a mental nothing. He's not getting better mentally. He's not a battler like Pap, and Mariano etc. If guys get on, it's game on.

LOL

Yankee fans never forgave Mariano for blowing game 7 of the 2001 series. A's fans were hoping to dump Eckersley after giving up the Kirk Gibson HR.

Broxton is one of the top closers in baseball. He has been the closer for 1 year. He is 25. Yeah that sounds like a guy I would trade.

What you should complain about is Torre using him too much. He used him too much last year. The guy is a bullpen killer. Only superhumans like Mariano can survive.

How many times we gunna forgive the slob? Ain't one time (double delight.).....Torre? Well, if ya boy would chew some more innings up.......

Torre used him 26 times on back to back days and 19 times on 1 day rest. That is 45 games on very short rest. Mo Rivera? 20 and 14. Papplebon? 11 and 21.

The only two 21 year old pitchers in baseball history to give up less hits per 9 than kershaw are Vida Blue and Nolan Ryan.

Roger Clemens as a 21 year old
9-4 in 21 starts
era 4.32
133 innings / 146 hits
29 bb's/126 K's
13 HR's
whip 1.313

Clayton Kershaw as a 21 last season
8-8 in 30 starts
era 2.79
171 innings / 119 hits
97 bb's / 185 k's
7 hr's
whip 1.228

In 30 starts the Dodgers scored 3 or less runs 14 times.

Another loyal Pirates fan. I think that makes two of us on this forum. I always wear my hat whenever they play the Phillies.

Maybe this year they'll show some improvement. I like Russell, but I think they'll probably fire him sometime during the season. After all, the front office which is responsible for this mess won't shoulder any blame.

Very true about the front office. They could care less if they are at best fielding a AAA team. More and more reason why baseball needs a salary cap put in place. Seems like the front office always put the blame on the manager no matter what kind of team they putting on the field.

Eric Gagne was a Cy Young winner for the Dodgers.

cubs /sox w/s:rolleyes:

I suppose it's not too early for a drink:D

He's half right