1. Milwaukee Brewers- Time for the "Crew" to celebrate like it's 1982 (their last playoff appearance). A very good offense led by Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan lead a good rotation, and Eric Gagne will rebound from a horrendous 2months as Red Sox' set-up guy to be the solid (if not dominating) closer again.
2. Chicago Cubs- At least we're not talking about Prior and Wood this year- wait- what- new closer Wood is having back spasms? Ohh boy..On the plus side, their offense is even better this year with Fukodome, along with the maturation of Geovanny Soto and Ryan Theriot. Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly are good top-of-the-rotation, then it gets sketchy. And the bullpen, well, did I mention Kerry Wood? 100 years of futility will go at least one more.
3. St Louis Cardinals- The Cards should be thankful they are in the worst division in the NL, and even that won't help them. Albert Pujols is still the best player in the game, but there may be injuries that hold him back. Good young outfield led by former feel-good story Rick Ankiel. An underappreciated closer in Jason Isringhausen. But that rotation would have looked good about 5 years ago, when some guys still had youth, potential, or both- Mark Mulder, Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero. Maybe Tony LaRussa should have taken the Yankees' job.
4. Cincinnati Reds- Are people really picking this team to win the division? An okay lineup, a bland rotation, and closer Fransisco Cordero. Dusty Baker is good, but he doesn't walk on water.
5. Houston Astros- Maybe the 'Stros can play the White Sox in the "Remember Us, We Were Good in '05?" Series. Kaz Matsui and Michael Bourn were good pickups for the future, but Lance Berkman will be hitting most of his blasts with the bases empty. Good luck, Roy Oswalt.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates- I don't think the Pirates even pretend to try anymore. Just pathetic.
2 comments:
Let's go Pirates!
I do not like to think about this division and the coming season for some reason.
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