Who are your surprise teams in 2010?
by Halowood on Mar 3, 2010 12:44 PM PST
Email
PrintEvery year there are a few surprises in each league, what do you expect this year?
AL WEST: Surprise team: Oakland A's. No they won't win the division, but they have the most under rated rotation and bullpen in baseball. They also have a few bats that will help generate more runs, most specifically Jake Fox, Chris Carter and Kevin Kouzmanoff. 85 wins.
Under-achievers: Seattle Mariners. On the surface, everything looks smooth but they have deeper issues. A powerless team just lost their main power threat in Russell Branyon. A small-ball oriented team just added another small ball player for 9 million. They lost a high upside arm in Brandon Morrow and added Cliff Lee as a one year rental. They were outscored by over 50 runs last season, so where are the runs going to come from? If there aren't any, where are the wins going to come from? 84 wins.
AL CENTRAL: Surprise team: Chicago White Sox. They have one of the deepest rotations in baseball, and added offense with the under rated Juan Pierre and Alex Rios and the occasionally useful Andruw Jones. That should boost them into a contender. 92 wins.
Under-acheivers: Detroit Tigers. Adding Jonny Damon and losing Polanco is basically a wash. I'm just not convinced Scott Sizemore, Adam Everett, Brandon Inge and Gerald Laird can power them to many wins. 78 wins.
AL EAST: Surprise team: Baltimore Orioles. No they aren't playoff bound but this team is better than most think. They already have a great OF, and have added Miguel Tejada and Matt Wieters into the mix. They added Kevin Milwood to a solid rotation and Cla Meredith to a solid bullpen. 82 wins.
Under-achievers: New York Yankees. Yes they are still playoff bound. But under the surface, there some issues that can't be fixed without lots of money, which they luckily have. Brett Gardner, and Nick Swisher are starting for them. That's like Reggie Willits and Rob Quinlan starting for us. Jeter's getting up there in age, can his body still handle SS for 162 games? They lost Hideki Matsui and no, Nick Johnson isn't that good. Pettite, Joba and Hughes aren't inspiring options for their rotation. 93 wins.
NL WEST: Surprise team: San Francisco Giants. They own 88 games last year without an offense or consistentcy from Jon Sanchez. Now Sanchez has turned a corner, they have the best 1-2 punch in that league with Lincecum and Cain, and they added DeRosa, Huff and Freddy Sanchez, and Buster Posey has almost arrived. 92 wins.
Under-achievers: Los Angeles Dodgers. They have issues with the FO and are strapped for cash. Manny's already Manny and the season hasn't even started yet. Kuroda is 35 can he throw 200 innings? Does anyone expect Padilla to actually be good for the first time in his life? Loney is like having Kotch at 1B, it's not great. Belliard at 2B? Blake at 3B? 87 wins.
NL CENTRAL: Surprise team: Milwaukee Brewers. They look good everywhere but catcher. They have a solid rotation and bullpen. Carlos Gomez can really do some things on offense and Escobar's only going to get better at SS. 86 wins
Under-achievers: Chicago Cubs. I'm sorry but Soriano and his contract are getting worse, Byrd's no upgrade, Fokudome won't win any games, Ramirez and Lee are headed downhill. Good rotation with a suspect bullpen. 82 wins.
NL EAST: Surprise team: New York Mets. Their offense includes Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay and the improved Jeff Franceour. They added GMJ for depth and are getting Johan Santana back. 87 wins.
Under-achievers: Atlanta Braves. Vastly over-rated OF, Chipper Jones won't play 150 games at 3B, Troy Glaus won't play 150 games at 1B and be productive. They do look very good in the rotation and bullpen though, which wil keep them in the race. 83 wins.
Teams that will make the playoffs: AL- Angels, White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees. NL- Phillies, Cardinals, Giants, Mets/Dodgers.
This Fan-Post is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.
25 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Are they going to win every game 1-0?
Even their fans admit their offense is awful. This is a caption below a picture posted yesterday on McCoveyChronicles- San Francisco Giants wait their turn to hit in batting cages at Scottsdale Stadium on Sunday, as rain sent most of the workouts indoors. The Giants lost to the cages, 1-0.
by SalmonStream on Mar 3, 2010 4:10 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
ditto...
But I wasn’t going for team that would make the World Series or even playoff, just teams that may do better or worse than expected. Both West divisions are going to be tons of fun this year.
Diamondbacks
Upton, Reynolds, Young and Drew are a year older and wiser added veterans Adam LaRoche and Kelly Johnson. They should pound some pitching staffs if healthy. If Webb and newly aquired Ian Kennedy prove healthy along with Haren and Edwin Jackson another new addition the staff my be pretty solid. The big question mark here is middle relief.
I like the Giants chances but they are flat out OLD and slow if they lose one pitcher they are in trouble.
I will wait till the end of spring training to make any predictions on any team. PS – Colorado has some great power and tremendous youth as well.
^ This ^
If Webb can give innings the D-Backs could do a worst-to-first thing. None of their division rivals got a ton stronger. Dodgers got worse. Giants are better but still have holes.
Since Arte often attends their games, I wish he’d work a deal to steal local boy Haren in a mid-season deal. Just dreamin’…
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Colorado is inconsistent
You never know if they’ll win 70 games or 90 games. I LOVE AZ’s talent, but they let me down every year,, no matter how gifted they are. Kennedy’s not going to shut anyone down, Webb’s a question mark, Jackson’s over rated, they lost Scherzer……
I'm gonna pick the Reds as the surprise team
Maybe not win the division but come close, the have a young team packed with talent.
I just don't see it...
Very weak OF, weak at catcher, weak at 3B, ok at best rotation, suspect bullpen, not too many prospects and a bad manager. I think the Reds will finish dead-last.
You realize the Astros and Pirates are in that division right?
If not for injuries last year, the Reds would have finished higher. The Reds also have a very good bullpen, brightest spot on the Reds last year save Votto. Rolen is not a weak 3B, he gets on base pretty well. I expect Jay Bruce to have a bounce back year in RF and Drew Stubbs is a good prospect for CF, and in left field Gomes has very good power and can crush lefties especially.
I think the Reds will do well
Not playoff well, but well enough to restore hope to their fanbase and be a threat in a season or two.
Volquez and Bailey are legit young starters, Harang and Arroyo are okay for established veterans and can be really good at times. If they bring up Chapman at mid-season and he continues to improve, they could do some damage. Bruce, Votto, Rolen and Gomes is a good base to build an offense around too.
"You gotta have nuts." - Torii Hunter / Part-Time Nemesis of the HH Reply Function
by Commander_Nate on Mar 3, 2010 4:02 PM PST up reply actions
Votto got those numbers
with a lot of emotional and/or balance problems last year as well. They’ve also got a lot of nice defensive players minus SS and Gomes when he is in the field.
O Cab is there too now
I forgot about him.
"You gotta have nuts." - Torii Hunter / Part-Time Nemesis of the HH Reply Function
by Commander_Nate on Mar 4, 2010 8:44 AM PST up reply actions
Brewers, out of your list
The Giants were contenders last year so them doing it again with the same pitching, some new hitters, and Posey in the waiting wouldn’t be much of a surprise.
The Diamond Backs also have a chance I’d say.
"You gotta have nuts." - Torii Hunter / Part-Time Nemesis of the HH Reply Function
twins
not too much of a surprise here, but quietly improved their AL Central championship club with veterans Thome, Orlando Hudson, and J.J. Hardy. Not to mention they have Mauer and Morneau. If they can improve the rotation sometime this season (trade deadline) they should be a pretty strong team. Kubel and Cuddyer are also capable of perfroming well
2009 was good. Now on to 2010 - Let's go Halos!
Royals and Reds
If i say this every year it might happen this year. Great Offseason signings, i think?
FATHER OF A WONDERFUL SON VLADIMIR
Sorry not name after Guerrero...but would be cool
Worst record in baseball this year
I’m going to go with KC in the AL at 63 wins and Washington in the NL at 65 wins. Pittsburgh and Cincy will end around 70 as will Cleveland.
KC is on the way up
I don’t expect huge things, but if Gordon grows up a bit, add him to Billy Butler’s huge upside, the reigning Cy Young winner, arguably the best closer in baseball, and steady contributions from Olivo, DeJesus, Hochevar, and Meche, and you can easily top Cleveland in that division…70-75 wins.
by Caseys Kiss of Death on Mar 3, 2010 9:45 PM PST up reply actions
I'm biased, but the Mets will shut everyone up
they were the best team in the regular season NL in 2006. They’ve kept the core of that lineup intact (minus Delgado, plus Bay…a wash), have a better front-end starter, and if they get serviceable performances out of 2/3rds of Maine/Perez/Pelfrey (or hey, maybe Niese turns a corner), they have what it takes to take a wild card position.
06- best NL record
07- historic meltdown, but still a better record than TWO out of the four teams that made the playoffs in the NL who everyone thinks are “better teams” because of it
08- half a bad season, followed by the best NL record after Randolph was shit-canned
09- arguably the worst injury luck faced in modern baseball history
10- ???
It wouldn’t take nearly as many positive breaks this year as they had negative ones last year for this team to make the playoffs.
They’re
by Caseys Kiss of Death on Mar 3, 2010 9:42 PM PST reply actions
2009 was a joke for the Mets
LOL Arguably the worst injury season? The Angels lost more personnel and more importantly lost the life of a great young man, their top pitching prospect. Don’t pretend like losing 4 good players for one year is worse than the Angels loss of life in the grand picture. I can promise you, the Angels would trade losing their 4 best players for one year in exchange for Nick’s life.
If your team had any depth then maybe you wouldn’t have crumbled so easily. The fact is the Mets have a very weak minor league system and without a large total salary, wouldn’t be able to compete.
Personally, I have the Mets picked to represent the NL in the World Series in 2010, it’s a long shot but the Mets have too much talent not to be noticed. But that still doesn’t hide the fact that the Mets are poorly run organization and over paid for a brand new stadium just to try and keep up with the Yankees.
Best of luck to the Mets, I hope their recent draft picks re-infuse the minor league system to what it once was, I hope they beat the Phillies and I hope they slap the Yankees in the face when they play them in interleague play.
Really?
I’m an Angels fan first, and the Angels did not have the injury luck last year the Mets did. The Mets led the Majors with more than 1,460 DL games for the season…that’s more than 9 sets of 162 games. And these weren’t nobodies. Eight former all-stars on the D.L.
Starters/regulars:
J.J. Putz – didn’t play past May after being off and on in April.
CF Carlos Beltran – no play past May
SS Jose Reyes – no play past May
1B Carlos Delgado – no play past May
3B David Wright – missed three weeks
RF Gary Sheffield – missed a month
SP Johan Santana – missed the last month and a half
SP Oliver Perez – missed most of the season
SP John Maine – almost three months
C Brian Schneider – missed a month
Oh, but you want to blame this all on depth?
Well let’s see…Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Alex Cora, Ramon Martinez, Angel Pagan, Tim Redding, Ryan Church…yeah, basically their entire bench and reserve corps were hit with some injury or another, too. There were days when literally 7 out of 9 people in the starting lineup (possibly 8, I don’t know if it ever reached that point) were not on the opening day roster.
Don’t give me the Nick Adenhart story like it’s some kind of argument trump card. I was here like every other fan when it happened, and I know damn well the pain it caused. Plain as day, my argument has nothing to do with the emotional impact of loss…it has to do with the quantitative measure of games missed by key players, a category the Mets “bested” everyone in baseball with last year. By strict numbers, the Mets injury luck last year was, by all accounts, the worst in baseball. We succeeded despite our injuries to the Angels, but they were NOT as widespread and long-term as those of the Mets, so depth was not the problem all in itself…especially since the depth the Mets DID have was all injured as well.
by Caseys Kiss of Death on Mar 3, 2010 10:34 PM PST up reply actions
I'll take the Angels as the surprise team of the west...
I know it sounds stupid, but I just think it sounds stupid that some people would pick them to win only 78-84 wins…
Otherwise I think you did a good job picking the surprises… I can see Seattle finishing last and under .500
Now stuck in Colorado Springs
by stuck in Romania on Mar 3, 2010 10:56 PM PST reply actions
The Doyers!
Ok, I’m only mentioning them because I jumped over to MLBTR and saw that the Doyers picked up GA!
WTF! Well, hey. Although I thought he said he would retired if he did have a starting gig? Either way, I love GA so I wish him the best.
I just assumed he was too lazy to fly back out to the West Coast...
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- The Cardinals Hall of Fame can now be found at Bill Clinton’s library in Arkansas (Huh?)
- Will Bryce Harper start the season with the Nationals?
- Mitch Mustain puts football behind him, signs reported rookie deal with White Sox
- Robinson Cano and Denzel Washington face off in Jay Leno’s Yankees trivia contest
- Shane Victorino lands role on ‘Hawaii Five-0′
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
