Baseball content: Preview your favorite team

[Bored 0]

Just an idea I thought could be interesting is to have the baseball fans of the board write a preview for the favorite team for the upcoming season. It can be a lengthy player-by-player breakdown of your team or it can just be a couple of paragraphs about your team's chances. Should be a fun read to see how oppimistic/dellusional or pessimistic everyone is about their team this season.

 

I'll have a preview of my A's posted hopefully by the weekend.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I've got a preview getting posted soon, featuring a paragraph on all 30 teams. For now, I'll give detail on my boys.....

 

Philadelphia Phillies

 

LINEUP

CF- Marlon Byrd

2B- Placido Polanco

RF- Bobby Abreu

1B- Jim Thome

LF- Pat Burrell

C- Mike Lieberthal

3B- David Bell

SS- Jimmy Rollins

 

Good lineup, with the possible exception of David Bell. I think Burrell will rebound, as his walk rate last season was good. Thome is a monster. Bobby Abreu is criminally underrated.

 

BENCH

Shawn Wooten

Todd Pratt/Michal Hernandez

Chase Utley

Tomas Perez

Ricky Ledee

Doug Glanville

 

A fairly nice bench. I'm not too thrilled about Glanville, considering Jason Michaels is better. Michal Hernandez was a nice waiver pickup to fill in for the injured Todd Pratt. Chase Utley should be in the starting lineup, by all rights.

 

ROTATION

Randy Wolf

Kevin Millwood

Vicente Padilla

Eric Milton

Brett Myers

 

Solid, with help behind them in AAA.

 

BULLPEN

Billy Wagner

Rheal Cormier

Tim Worrell

Roberto Hernandez

Dave Coggin

TBA

 

I like the bullpen except for Hernandez. He'll quickly remind fans of Jose Mesa. The TBA would likely be Geoff Geary or Amaury Telemaco.

 

The team should win the East. The Braves lost their three top players, and the Marlins will get hit hard by the Plexiglass Principle. There's alot of depth here as well.

[treble 0]

I think for the Jays to do anything they're going to need to have everything go right for them and have everything go wrong for the Yankees and Red Sox. Halladay has to win at least 20 games again, the rest of the rotation has to perform to expectations, Delgado and Wells have to do what they did last year, Hinske has to bounce back, and Josh Phelps needs to keep improving. The bullpen worries me a bit and I wish they had signed Urbina before he went to Detroit.

 

I wish they played in the Central, but they still have a shot to contend in the East. Hopefully they at least improve on last year and show that even if they don't win anything this year, there's hope in the next year or 2.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Baltimore Orioles

 

Starting Lineup

 

2B Roberts

3B Mora

SS Tejada

1B Palmeiro

C Lopez

RF Gibbons

DH Cust

LF Bigbie

CF Matos

 

Strong lineup in comparison to previous years. Tejada will have a great year, although Lopez will probably have an off year if compared to last year with Atlanta. Javy could see some DH though. Palmeiro is struggling this spring but I think its just a case of a 39 year old not wanting to expend much energy or risk injury durring the Spring. Gibbons is due for a breakout year - 30 HR 100 RBI .285 avg. Roberts is the better upside at 2B then Hairston. A lot is riding on Mora playing well at 3B this year, although Im liking Jose Bautista's chances of being the everyday 3B next year. Bigbie and Matos round out a decent OF and the DH platoon of Cust/Surhoff/Sequi will hopefully be more Cust than the two later players.

 

Bench

C Gil or Osik

3B Bautista (has to be on active roster or offered back to Pittsburgh)

1B - Segui

OF - Surhoff

IF Garabito / OF McDonald / IF Damian Jackson (he was released recently)

 

The Bench absolutely sucks. Bautista will probably see a lot of time at 3rd if an OF gets hurt since they will probably move Mora to fill in. Segui is still hurting and cant even swing the bat from one side of the plate. Surhoff is a good guy to have on the bench but he really can't be counted on for more than an occasional PH appearance. Either Gil or Osik will be the backup catcher, Gil swings the better bat but isn't that great defensively, while Osik is much better offensively but lacks the bat. When Hairston comes back that last spot open to 3 players will be sent down, although he could be traded in July if Roberts plays well.

 

Rotation

RHP Ponson

LHP Dubose

RHP Ainsworth

LHP Riley

LHP Bedard/RHP Lopez

 

Ponson isn't really a #1 but he'll have to be anyway. Hes the Veteran of this staff that has virtually no experience, even if Lopez makes the 5th spot (none of them have more than 2 years major league experience). 3 Lefthanders is also going to be interesting (if Bedard makes the 5th spot). Ainsworth is the future #2 or even #1, and as much as I like him, the 3rd spot is perfect for him this year. I saw Riley pitch A Ball several years ago, but hes a completely different pitcher now in attitude and just the way he pitches. Dubose probably isn't ready to be a #2 starter but he could be a bit of a surprise. I don't know much about Bedard.

 

Bullpen

Closer - Julio

Dejean

Bedard/Lopez

Groom

Ryan

Bauer

 

Bullpen should be a strong point with the pickup of Dejean, who might get a shot at the Closer role if Julio struggles. Groom might be traded in July. Whoever doesn't get the 5th starter spot will probably be the long relief guy in the bullpen.

 

Injuries

2B Hairston (mid May)

Util McLemore (sometime in May)

OF Cordova (who knows?)

SP Daal (June)

 

 

All in all, the only thing Im expecting is that the team will not finish in 4th place again (or 5 place either..). Im not silly enough to expect that a team relying on Pitching Staff with very little experience will be able to compete for the top of the division, but I do think they can at least finish 3rd with a winning record, which would be an improvement over the least 5 years.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Pittsburgh Pirates:

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Ummm, they have a pretty stadium...

[Vern Gagne 0]

Twins

 

C-Joe Mauer

1B-Doug Mientkiewicz

2B-Luis Rivas

SS-Cristian Guzman

3B-Corey Koskie

LF-Shannon Stewart

CF-Tori Hunter

RF-Jacque Jones

DH-Mathew LeCroy

 

Bench

C-Henry Blanco

Utility-Nick Punto

Utility-Micheal Cuddyer

1B/PH-Jose Offerman

OF-Lew Ford or Micheal Ryan

 

Starters

Brad Radke

Johan Santana

Kyle Lohse

Jose Silva

Brad Thomas

 

Bullpen

Joe Nathan

J.C. Romero

Juan Rincon

Grant Balfour

Sean Douglass

Joe Roa or Seth Gresinger

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Already did this so many times, so heres a quick summary..

 

Rotation:

- Cory Lidle

- Paul Wilson

- Aaron Harang

- Jose Acevedo

- Jimmy Haynes

 

Bullpen:

- CL Danny Graves

- Ryan Wagner

- John Reidling

- Todd Jones

- Jung Bong

- Mike Matthews

 

Lineup:

- D'Angelo Jimenez, 2B

- Ryan Freel, 3B

- Ken Griffey Jr, CF

- Austin Kearns, RF

- Adam Dunn, LF

- Sean Casey, 1B

- Jason LaRue, C

- Barry Larkin, SS

 

Bench:

- Wily Mo Pena, OF

- Corky Miller, C

- Juan Castro, UTL

 

Those are the only 3 locks. Larson is on the DL now, so Freel will most likely be starting at 3rd. I have alot of optimism for this season. Lineup, when all healthy, is one of the best in the league/can be. Pitching wise, Harang and Acevedo have been great. Lidle, healthy, can be good like he was before he got hurt last year, and Wilson will give us solid outings each time. Hopefully Claussen takes Haynes spot in a few weeks. Bullpen is good, and bench has questions .. but we'll see. Should be fun.

[Guest Anglesault]

Well, somehow after today's game my hope hasn't gone to hell, so Go Yankees and stop sucking and stuff.

 

If everything clicks (ie. NOT today) they can be unbeatable.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

SF Giants: They'll finish 3rd or 4th. And if they do make play-offs by some miracle, they'll either be eliminated in the division series or blow a 5 run lead in Game 6 of the World Series.

 

[MrRant 0]

Seatlle Mariners

 

- Bavasi trades everyone of value for scrubs.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Toronto Blue Jays

 

Good enough to make the post-season, but need help to do it. If the Yankess or Red Sox stumble (and the Yanks aren't off to a good start), then they will be right there. Their lineup is great. They were second to Boston in runs scored last year, and their staff is much improved. Halladay, Batista & Lilly should be great assets to the team. The biggest question marks are Hentgen, Towers and the bullpen.

 

They are certainly a level above the D-Rays & Os.

[DerangedHermit 0]

New York Mets

 

Could (and I mean a big COULD) make the playoffs if every domino falls into place. But since they're the Mets, I predict third at best (behind Phillies and Marlins), fourth at worst. The key is for that team to stay healthy and for Glavine and the injured last year (Floyd, Piazza) to rebound. I'm starting to get scared of Kaz Matsui (he's been sucking like Rey Ordonez in ST).