Odds and Sods

World Series - Red Sox (4) vs. Padres (2)

Yeah, I am a homer.  The Red Sox have filled major offensive holes in right field and at shortstop.  They have three top of the rotation caliber starters.  A solid veteran in Tim Wakefield.  John Lester should also be coming back.  They have Papelbon to close it out in the 9th.  They have the right mixture of veteran and young arms to get the middle relief sorted out.  I think they are team to beat.

The Padres have a solid veteran lineup, one great and two decent young starters, and two savvy veterans.  They also have one of the best closers and one of the best setup men in the game.  In an NL that is once again weaker, I think the Padres make it out.

Cy Young - AL:Johan Santana, NL:Jake Peavy

Johan Santana is, quite simply, the most dominant pitcher in the game right now.  He is the favorite to lead the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts, which usually should equal Cy Young.  He has won it 2 of the last 3 years.  He was the difference last year between a mediocre team and a playoff team.  Call Morneau the MVP all you want, but Santana was the difference maker.

Jake Peavy has the best stuff of any pitcher in the NL.  His problem has been wastefulness and inefficiency.  He has one more year of experience under his belt, and will get a whole year to pick Greg Maddux’s brain, one of the most efficient pitchers ever.  He has a great pitcher’s park to help him.  I think Peavy has a huge comeback year.

MVP - AL: Travis Hafner, NL: Albert Pujols

Travis “Pronk” Hafner (Half-Project, Half- Donkey) is a force to be reckoned with at the batters box.  He doesn’t get a lot of the pub, because he doesn’t play in a big market, but he may be every bit of the designated hitter that Ortiz is.  I have the Indians making the playoffs this year and the big fella will be the one to lead them there.

Pujols got robbed last year.  He is just the best player in the NL.  Why anyone pitches to him, with the zero protection that St. Louis’ lineup gives him, I have absolutely no clue.

NL East

1. Atlanta

2. Philadelphia

3. New York Mets

4. Florida Marlins

5. Washington

Atlanta has the best top of the rotation and a great mix of veterans and young players in the lineup.  Philly gets a lot of hype, but won’t pan out as usual.  The Mets have a World Series Lineup and a last place rotation.  The Marlins won’t be able to recreate last year’s magic.  Washington needs to rebuild.

NL Central

1. Milwaukee

2. St. Louis

3. Houston

4. Chicago

5. Cincinnati

6. Pittsburgh

This is going to be the division of mediocrity.  I think Pittsburgh isn’t good enough to compete, and the other five clubs are within the same calibre.  I give the edge to Milwaukee because I think that they have the most potential upside.

NL West

1. Padres

2. Dodgers (Wild Card)

3. Diamondbacks

4. Giants

5. Rockies

The Padres and Dodgers are a cut above the rest.  They both have solid veteran lineups, very good pitching staffs.  I give a slight edge to San Diego, becase I think that their staff has the greatest potential.  Arizona has the pitching, but I think that their young players will lack the consistency needed.  The Giants would have been a great team, if this was 2000 instead of 2007.  The Rockies suck.

Stephon Marbury made headlines earlier this season.  Bucking a trend for NBA players to endorse sneakers that can cost upwards of $150, Marbury announced that his “Starbury” line of sneakers would sell for a mere $14.98, a price affordable for nearly everyone, and, most importantly, millions of inner city kids.  Unlike Jessica Simpson, he has worn the exact same shoes in the game.  In a climate where kids were beaten up and in a few cases even killed in order to steal their sneakers, this was a great move to give back to the community and Marbury would probably be given a medal and worshipped, had he not had a previous reputation as a selfish Black athlete.

When asked if he would ever sell such a sneaker, LeBron James stated that he had could never endorse such a sneaker “Me being with Nike, we hold our standards high.”  Really LeBron?  Is that why Nike has admitted through its own investigation that “extraordinarily low wages, physical and sexual abuse, restriction of bathroom usage, and other human rights abuses” have taken place?

This isn’t the first stupid thing LeBron has said this season.  In response to former teammate John Amaechi coming out to the closet James stated, “If you’re teammates, you have to be trustworthy, and if you are gay and not admitting that you are, then you are not trusting.”  Whom someone happens to be sleeping with is obviously essential to the playing of basketball, and should be common knowledge to everyone involved.  Give me a break.

I suppose that the  media may be partly to blame for thrusting a microphone in front of his face and asking him stupid questions, but that does not absolve LeBron.  If he has enough spare time to learn Mandarin to increase his marketability in China, he has enough time to get a clue, read a newspaper once in a while, or at least hire a decent publicist to tell him how to answer questions.

Live your sheltered life surrounded by sycophants that have sucked up to you since you were a sophomore in high school.  Build your 35,000 sq. foot house with a 2,000 sq. foot mutli-story closet, while there are millions of starving children throughout the world.  Hawk your sneakers and your lawnmowers.  But when someone asks you about something that has nothing to do with basketball, please spare us all and shut the fuck up!

Yes, friends our arduous odyssey through Spring Training is about to come to a close.

The Giants had a disappointing 2006.  They had expected to be contenders, bolstered by a strong veteran pitching staff.  They were in first place in July 23rd but stretches of 3-16 (late July-early Aug) and 2-13 (last Sept) crippled their playoff chances.  They limped to the end of the season with a 76-85 record, 3rd place in the NL west.

Starting Pitching

The Giants broke into the piggy bank with reckless abandon to improve their pitching staff.  They signed former A’s starter Barry Zito to a 7 year $126 million contract, the richest for a pitcher in baseball history.  Is Zito worth all of that money?  No.  Even though he has never been able to recreate his 2002 Cy Young season, he is still a good pitcher.  He was a consistent performer for the As, winning about 15 games, posting an ERA under 4 and not missing a start.  The hiccups from this move should be minimal, as he doesn’t even have to leave his apartment.  He will benefit from softer NL lineups and no designated hitter.  He should have a great year.

Matt Cain, at just 22 years old, will begin his sophomore campaign after a very good rookie year (13-12 4.15 ERA).  Most scouts and pundits believe that he will eventually emerge as the ace of the Giants’ staff, possibly even this season.

Longtime Cardinal Matt Morris should be the #3 starter.  The veteran is no longer a top of the rotation guy.  He was a bit disappointing last year (10-15 4.98 ERA).  However, he can still be a decent and durable veteran arm.  His inconsistency should worry the Giants, he had a great June and an OK August but had a terrible rest of the season.  He also had an ERA that rose by over a run when leaving the spacious confines at home.

26 year-old Noah Lowry will hold down the #4 spot.  He was never a highly touted prospect, but had shown some promise in his first year and a half with one of the league’s best changeups (19-13 record with an ERA under 4.00).  However, last year he was only  7-10 and his ERA skyrocketed to 4.72.

Veteran Russ Ortiz will try to cement his place in the rotation, but he has a combined 5-19 record with an ERA over 7 since 2005.  With youngster Jonathan Sanchez, who showed a tremendous amount of potential last season, breathing down his neck, his leash should be very short.

They have a very good top two in the rotation.  However, there are question marks about the back.  Even if the plusses outweigh the minuses, it probably will not give them a decisive advantage over the other three contenders.

Bullpen

The bullpen is a bit of an enigma right now for the Giants.  Armando Benitez, whom they hope will stay healthy, should be the closer.  His last fully healthy season was in 2004 where he was dominant for the Marlins, with an ERA of 1.29 and converting 47-51 save opportunities.  However, he has only converted 36 of 48 opportunities in two seasons in San Francisco and has lingering doubts about his makeup, with disappointing meltdowns with both New York clubs.

The rest of the bullpen is a giant mess.  Most of their veteran relievers had serious off years last year, and no one has pitched well enough, as of yet, this Spring to even cement their place on the roster.  The opportunities to improve the situation, with few middle relievers available and at great cost, appear to be slim and none.  The Giants will have to keep their fingers crossed.

Lineup

The Giants will have their age-old problem.  They will live and die by the bat of Barry Bonds.  If his knee is healthy, he is still a bat to be feared as he chases Hank Aaaron’s home run recoord.  If not, this lineup is in trouble.

This theoretically would have been a great lineup, like 8 years ago.  Rich Aurillia and Ray Durham  both experinced vintage years last year hitting at or near .300 and surpassing 20 HR.  Other veterans like Randy Winn, Pedro Feliz, and newly acquired Benji Molina should contribute, but it won’t be enough to protect Bonds and make it a particularly productive lineup.

Scuttlebutt

Barry…Barry

There will be two stories that dominate the Giants’ headlines for the season.  The first is obviously Barry Bonds.  The Balco Bomber will simultaneously be chasing Hank Aaron’s record and, at the same time, face on ongoing witch-hunt from the federal government, because obviously he was the only player using steroids!

The second will be Barry Zito and whether he can live up to the disgusting contract San Francisco gave him, all of it guranteed.  This will be the pressing issue of the franchise for the next decade.  If Zito turns out to be a bust, it may cripple the ability of the Giants to contend well into the 2010s.

Outlook: Ehhh

The Giants potentially have a good rotation, but their bullpen looks like rubbish at the moment and their lineup, though certainly having a lot of experience, will be mediocre at best.  In the Central they might have a shot, but there are three better teams in the West and they shouldn’t be a factor.