Giants extend Matt Cain for 5 year, 112.5 mill

Joey stays with Reds

Nice.

It looks like Eric Wedge has already made his decision. For the first time since the Clinton Administration, someone not named Ichiro will be leading off for the Mariners on Opening Day.

Yanks win #28.

Ichiro gets 250 hits.

Pujols hits 43hr/Prince hits 40.

Mariano retires as the last player to ever wear the #42.

We will see a triple crown winner.

Verlander throws 2 no-nos.

Lots of optimism around the Jays. Revamped pen, an explosive offense that can put of runs with the best of them (or it SHOULD), and a pitching staff full of promise led my Romero. Lots of things gotta go right: Lawrie plays at his MVP-type level, pitching staff evolves, especially Drabek and Morrow, Alvarez continues to impress, and Rasmus and Johnson get back on track. I'm really looking forward to this season!

I think the Marlins will be a .500 team even with what they did (Johnson will get hurt again), Tigers win division easy, Royals finish 3rd, Texas and Angels both make playoffs, Phillies win the division, Nats win a WC spot, mets finish last, Cincy wins the NL Central, DBacks win the West again. 4 teams in the AL east will be over .500, and if that 2nd WC is added, NY and TB make it, Toronto and Boston miss out.

It looks like Eric Wedge has already made his decision. For the first time since the Clinton Administration, someone not named Ichiro will be leading off for the Mariners on Opening Day.

Oleg_Huzwog

-The Marlins and Nationals will finish 3rd and 4th in the NLE (Not sure what order)
-The Nats are a year away from being in contention, though they will put up a fight.
-The Phils window is closing to win a championship.
-The ALE and NLE are the best divisions in baseball.

ALE: 1) NYY 2) Rays 3) Sox 4) Jays 5) O's
ALC: 1) DET 2) CLE 3) CWS 4) MIN 5) KC
ALW: 1) LAA 2) TEX 3) SEA 4) OAK

WC: Rays

NLE: 1) PHI 2) ATL 3) MIA 4) WAS 5) NYM
NLC: 1) Cards 2) CIN 3) PIT 4) MIL 5) CHC 6) HOU
NLW: 1) SFG 2) AZ 3) LAD 4) COL 5) SD

WC: ATL

a guy who hit .188 last year, with an OBP of .241.monkeytoes61

:o Yikes. I'm looking forward to taking in some games this year, hope they are a lot more competitive.

Gonna be nice seeing Jesus play every day. I still don't know if the Yanks made the right call with him. I would have loved seeing him in pin stripes for the next decade. But, I get to watch him play every season in Seattle now. Another reason to go to more games would be to see Pujols in his prime, Verlander and Prince play three this season too. Can't wait.

Justin Morneau hopes his concussion symptons are over

And now a renew my, now, 3 year plea to Mr. Morneau to retire while he is still somewhat healthy. Justin, you got money, are relatively healthy, your family is set for life. Let it go, let it go.

How is Roy Oswalt still unemployed?

I keep waiting for the Royals to have a breakout year. I'd be happy with a winning season at this point. *sigh*Alex3796

It's gonna happen eventually. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them take 2nd in the Central this year.

How is Roy Oswalt still unemployed?

Oleg_Huzwog

How is Roy Oswalt still unemployed?

Oleg_Huzwog

Sounds like Morneau is really considering retiring if it doesn't work this year. Sad news. But no surprise.

Rangers will win it. 3rd times a charm!

Fearless 100% guaranteed feel-free-to-quote-me projection for this year: Alex Rodriguez will collect career RBI number 2,000 during the Yankee's three game series against the Blue Jays, Sep 18-20.

Actually, that's too vague. I gotta get more specific. It'll happen on September 19th, in the 6th inning, on a sacrifice fly, scoring Brett Gardner from 3rd.

Fearless 100% guaranteed feel-free-to-quote-me projection for this year: Alex Rodriguez will collect career RBI number 2,000 during the Yankee's three game series against the Blue Jays, Sep 18-20.

Actually, that's too vague. I gotta get more specific. It'll happen on September 19th, in the 6th inning, on a sacrifice fly, scoring Brett Gardner from 3rd.

Oleg_Huzwog

[QUOTE="Oleg_Huzwog"]

Fearless 100% guaranteed feel-free-to-quote-me projection for this year: Alex Rodriguez will collect career RBI number 2,000 during the Yankee's three game series against the Blue Jays, Sep 18-20.

Actually, that's too vague. I gotta get more specific. It'll happen on September 19th, in the 6th inning, on a sacrifice fly, scoring Brett Gardner from 3rd.

JohnBean42

The Marlins will be an interesting case, they have the talent to compete of course, but in my opinion, they have too many questionable elements.

1) Can Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes stay healthy?

2) How will Hanley Ramirez handle moving to 3rd?

3) Will Carlos Zambrano blow up?

[QUOTE="Master_Live"]Super early -just-for-fun predictions. NYY/Sox/Tigers/Angels Phillies/Marlins/Brewers/D-backsJohnBean42

NYY_Det_LAA_wc_Tex_Tor

Phi_Pitt_LA_wc_Mia_Ari

Super early -just-for-fun predictions. NYY/Sox/Tigers/Angels Phillies/Marlins/Brewers/D-backsMaster_Live

[QUOTE="JohnBean42"][QUOTE="Master_Live"]Super early -just-for-fun predictions. NYY/Sox/Tigers/Angels Phillies/Marlins/Brewers/D-backsNamgis

NYY_Det_LAA_wc_Tex_Tor

Phi_Pitt_LA_wc_Mia_Ari

[QUOTE="Namgis"]

[QUOTE="JohnBean42"] I'll go: NYY/Tigers/Angels WC: Texas/(if there is a second) Rays Phillies/Reds/D-Backs WC: Giants/Nats (again, if there is two...going on a limb here) I reserve the right to change:PJohnBean42

NYY_Det_LAA_wc_Tex_Tor

Phi_Pitt_LA_wc_Mia_Ari

....the NLC is the worst division in baseball. Wildcard won't come from that divisionRing_of_fire

[QUOTE="Ring_of_fire"]....the NLC is the worst division in baseball. Wildcard won't come from that divisionBoston_Boyy

[QUOTE="Boston_Boyy"]

[QUOTE="Ring_of_fire"]....the NLC is the worst division in baseball. Wildcard won't come from that divisionMaster_Live

....the NLC is the worst division in baseball. Wildcard won't come from that divisionRing_of_fire

I don't think it's THAT bad. Reds got better with Latos and still got a great offense, STL is still very good, and get Wainwright back,a huge boost, he's a legit #1 starter. He missed who all last year, and they won a WS without him...they should be better with him. Pujols will be missed, but still got a lot of fire power.

And the Brewers get a boost from Braun not being suspended, still got a great staff who now knows what it takes (especially a guy like Marcum who faltered down the stretch), a good offense. Everyone else is a sub-.500 team...so I guess that makes it bad. But you have 3 teams that have a chance to make the playoffs.

I don't think it will come out of the NLC, but I wouldn't write it off. 2 teams made it last year...

I personally think this year the ALC will be the worst. You got Detroit and then...is anyone else going to be over .500? I don't see it.

[QUOTE="Ring_of_fire"]....the NLC is the worst division in baseball. Wildcard won't come from that divisionJohnBean42

I don't think it's THAT bad. Reds got better with Latos and still got a great offense, STL is still very good, and get Wainwright back,a huge boost, he's a legit #1 starter. He missed who all last year, and they won a WS without him...they should be better with him. Pujols will be missed, but still got a lot of fire power.

And the Brewers get a boost from Braun not being suspended, still got a great staff who now knows what it takes (especially a guy like Marcum who faltered down the stretch), a good offense. Everyone else is a sub-.500 team...so I guess that makes it bad. But you have 3 teams that have a chance to make the playoffs.

I don't think it will come out of the NLC, but I wouldn't write it off. 2 teams made it last year...

I personally think this year the ALC will be the worst. You got Detroit and then...is anyone else going to be over .500? I don't see it.

I probably am shortselling the NLC, but I don't think, as a whole, it is as good as the NLE, or NLW. (Definitely not the NLE). I'll retract my statement that the NLC is the worst, and agree that the ALC is.

the NLW, I feel, is still better overall. Personal opinions I guess.

I think the NLC got 2 teams in not due to the Card's ability (Not dismissing it), but the youth of the Braves bullpen and lack of offense all year was the main reason.

It will be interesting to see if the Braves can bounce back from September. They still have the best bullpen, on paper, in the NLE, but my concern is the offense. They say Heywards swing is back to his 2010 form, than 2011. The Braves, on paper, have a good lineup if they play to their career stats (assuming 2010 is the real Heyward, and Freeman will improve/maintain stats from last year (except for SS, which is a rookie.)), and the rotation is very underrated coming into the season.

Toronto? I'm a huge fan, as you know. I just think way to many things gotta go right for them to make it, and that rarely happens for them it seems, and I think TB and Boston are still better. I think they'll be hanging around in September though. God I hope you're right though.JohnBean42

I think they have a lot of talent and they might hang around to make a run at a wild card. With teams in the AL getting better, I think there will be a little more parody. There may not be one solid favorite anywhere, that's what has to go right for the Jays. If everyone is beating each other up, everyone has a shot. Cecil needs to have a better year, Lawrie should keep up his play, and Rasmus needs to just play the game. They have a great young core that needs to realize they can compete. When that happens, they'll be relevant again.

I don't see the Jays doing much, that would imply they beating 2 out of NYY/Sox/Rays or Tex/LAA all which look better on paper.

I don't see the Jays doing much, that would imply they beating 2 out of NYY/Sox/Rays or Tex/LAA all which look better on paper than them. Master_Live

True, but I don't think anyone will be running away with their divisions this season. That opens things up. Sure they may fizzle down the stretch, but they are young and may outlast the older teams. I think there's a 10% shot at them making it. They need better pitching. They were 6th in runs and 24th in era. They need to clean that up. The thing with teams improving is, a lot of the aces will be used on other 'contenders', so they may see more beatable hurlers.

Has anyone run a mock season with any games? With updated rosters of course. It will be interesting to see how close they come.

I don't see the Jays doing much, that would imply they beating 2 out of NYY/Sox/Rays or Tex/LAA all which look better on paper.

Master_Live

A.J Burnett struck in face with batted ball.

Link

Yikes. Hope there's no damage to his eye.

A.J Burnett struck in face with batted ball.

Link

Yikes. Hope there's no damage to his eye.

Namgis

"Batted" ball is a little misleading. It was a bunted ball... and he was the batter. He bunted the ball into his own face.

Unfortunate. Painful. Hope he's all right... but it sounds like his bunting technique is worse than most Little Leaguers. It should not be possible to bunt a ball into your own face with proper form. Either his face was way out over the plate, or his lower hand was too low (leaving the bat at too sharp of an angle).

"Batted" ball is a little misleading. It was a bunted ball... and he was the batter. He bunted the ball into his own face.

Unfortunate. Painful. Hope he's all right... but it sounds like his bunting technique is worse than most Little Leaguers. It should not be possible to bunt a ball into your own face with proper form. Either his face was way out over the plate, or his lower hand was too low (leaving the bat at too sharp of an angle).

Oleg_Huzwog

True enough. I played with a kid who did something similar. Lost 2 teeth.

The ALE and NLE are the best divisions in baseball.Ring_of_fire

it will also be interesting to see how Miami's new ballpark plays. Ring_of_fire

Sounds like the MLB are very close to adding the extra wild card for this season. It'll be a 1 game sudden death.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7630682/mlb-union-close-finalizing-expanded-playoffs

Sounds like the MLB are very close to adding the extra wild card for this season. It'll be a 1 game sudden death.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7630682/mlb-union-close-finalizing-expanded-playoffs

JohnBean42

I don't like the idea of diluting the playoffs, but I do like the idea of giving greater importance to winning your division.