MLB Predictions

It is time for my MLB Predictions. I will do the NL today and the AL tomorrow. Friday I will look at the playoffs and World Series as well as award winners. Without further ado, the National League. I wont try and predict records because I haven't actually gone through and projected the stats out. Just gut feel on what I think will happen.

NL East
1. NY Mets - The Mets addressed their biggest weakness over the off-season by adding Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz. The Mets missed out on the Wild Card by 1 game last year while blowing a major league leading 29 saves. The new late inning relievers should help solve that problem.

2. Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies have some minor injury concerns with Cole Hamels and Chase Utley. They also have some issues in the back of their rotation. Brad Lidge won't have a perfect season again, but the World Series Champions will be knocking of the playoff door again.

3. Atlanta Braves - While the Braves have added some much needed innings to their starting rotation (see Derek Lowe, Javier Vasquez, Kenshin Kawakami) they will still need Jeff Franceour to return to his pre-2008 form if they have any chance of finishing ahead of the Phils or Mets.

4. Florida Marlins - The Marlins decided to part ways with key 2008 contributors Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs, Mark Hendrickson, Joe Nelson and Kevin Gregg. While they have some young talent that should blossom this year (Cameron Maybin and Chris Volstad) there is still huge talent gap from the top teams in the division.

5. Washington Nationals - While adding Adam Dunn and getting Nick Johnson back should help the offense, has anyone noticed their projected starting rotation has only 288 career starts: John Lannan (37), Scott Olsen (101), Daniel Cabrera (146), Shairon Martis (4), and Jordan Zimmermann (0). They have also combined for a 91-116 (.439) record in the big leagues. That rotation doesn't leave one to project more than 70 wins.

NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs - The Cubs were the best team in the NL last year during the regular season and they plan on using the same formula this year. Losing Mark DeRosa's versatility could hurt the offense a little, but the Cubbie's should offset that with a full season from Rich Harden. The Cubs look like the class of the Central again.

2. St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals managed to piece together a staff last season and still managed 86 wins. Getting 30 starts from Adam Wainright and Chris Carpenter should really help them challenge the Cubs. Untested Jason Motte appears to be the closer and the bullpen could be a concern again this year. The offense should be solid once again with the game's best hitter (Albert Pujols) anchoring the lineup.

3. Milwaukee Brewers - The Brewers are excited to get Yovani Gallardo back, but losing CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets will be too much to overcome. The signing of Trevor Hoffman should help the bullpen settle into roles, but it will be hard to get the lead to them consistently with a starting rotation of Gallardo, Dave Bush, Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan, and Braden Looper. The offense once again should be very good with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder providing one of the best 1-2 punches in the NL.

4. Cincinnati Reds - The Big Four Prospects (Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Edison Volquez, Johnny Cueto) from last year all came through with flying colors. Now if they can get former uber-prospect Homer Bailey back on track, the Reds might be a force to contend with in the next couple of years. Unbelievably, it could be the pitching that leads this team back to contention. The rotation is in the best shape in years with Volquez, Cueto, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, and Micah Owings. They will need to find a way to replace the run production of Adam Dunn to contend, but they should challenge the Brewers for third place.

5. Houston Astros - The Astros do have some star power with Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Lee, Miguel Tejada, and Ivan Rodriguez but that won't necessarily lead to wins in 2009. The position are getting a little long in the tooth with 5 out of the 8 over 30 years old. They should still be able to score runs, but the pitching is going to be a major concern with Oswalt the only starter they can count on.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates - The Pirates haven't had in winning record in 16 years and 2009 should make 17. Nate McClouth gave Pirates fan something to be excited about last year and it will be interesting to see if he can repeat it. The offense won't win many games for them and the pitching falls into the same category. While Paul Malhom had a decent year in 2008, it doesn't inspire much confidence in the team when the opening day starter is 30-35 with a 4.35 ERA for his career.

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers - The return of Manny Ramirez should be enough to keep the Dodgers on top of the division. After the trade, the Dodgers went 30-23 with Manny in the lineup. The young guns (Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Andre Either, and James Loney)are starting to fulfill their promise, but the pitching is what is going to make this team sink or swim this year. The Dodgers are hoping Randy Wolf and a couple of talented youngsters (Clayton Kershaw, James McDonald, Jonathan Broxton) can offset the loses of Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux, Brad Penny, and Takashi Saito.

2. Arizona Diamondbacks - Pitching is still The Snakes calling card as they boast one of the best rotations in the NL with Brandon Web, Dan Haren, Max Scherzer, John Garland, and Doug Davis. They are hoping that Chad Qualls can step in and become an adequate closer. The offense is what can keep them from passing the Dodgers in the standings. The talent is there (Chris Young, Justin Upton, Stephen Drew, Connor Jackson, Mark Reynolds) but consistency is the key. The return of Eric Byrnes should help.

3. San Francisco Giants - Another NL West team long on pitching and short on hitting. Tim Lincecum continued his domination by winning the Cy Young Award in his first full season. Adding Randy Johnson should help shore up the back of the rotation. The problem is the offense even with Pablo Sandoval (.345 in 41 games) inserted into the lineup full-time. The Giants only managed to hit 94 HR's last year and didn't have one player with 100 RBI's or 100 Runs Scored.

4. Colorado Rockies - The trade of Matt Holiday continued a trend of the Rockies tailoring the team towards pitching. Gone are the days of the Blake Street Bombers now that the humidor has taken over the atmospheric conditions at Coors Field. The emergence of Ubaldo Jimenez was a pleasant surprise last year but this team is still thin on starting pitching. Franklin Morales returning to form would be a huge bonus with Jason Hirsh and Jeff Francis hurting. Getting Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton healthy might be the only thing that keeps them ahead of the Padres.

5. San Diego Padres - The Padres were the worst offensive team in the NL league last year. They finished last in runs scored (637), OBP (.317), and SB's (36). So it would figure they would go out and sign some players to fix the offense. Wrong. Prospect Chase Headley should help, but unless everyone on the team has career years expect another long season in SD. A trade of Jake Peavy would only makes things worse this year.

I love the NCAA Tournament, but...

I don't know anyone who doesn't love the NCAA Tournament. It brings just about anyone with a pulse to fill out a bracket and root for teams they haven't seen play a minute of basketball all year. I watched more college basketball last weekend and was appalled at the level of play. It was sloppy and uninspiring for the most part. It seems that the teams that have more seniors in their rotations are going to fare just as well as the teams with talented youngsters. I just keep thinking about how much better this tournament could be if the NCAA were to adopt a system that ties a player to a university for 3 years like baseball and football. I went back and took the players out of the last 2 drafts that would still be in college under this rule. Just imagine the excitement for the games coming up if you had the following players still in college:

Ohio State with Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daquan Cook
Texas with Kevin Durant and DJ Augustin
UCLA with Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook
Memphis with Derrick Rose
Arizona with Jared Bayless
USC with OJ Mayo
Washington with Spencer Hawes
UNC with Brandan Wright
LSU with Anthony Randolph

That doesn't even include the teams that would have made the tournament with the players that are in the NBA.

Georgia Tech with Thaddeus Young and Jarvis Crittenton
Stanford with the Lopez Twins
Indiana with Eric Gordon
Kansas State with Michael Beasley

Try filling out an All-American ballot with those names. Also, think about the matchups that we could potentially have in the Final Four. It makes me dream of watch we could be watching versus what we are left with. I would encourage the NBA and NCAA to adopt a system that keeps these players in college longer and allows the fans of both leagues to enjoy the talents of these players.

What is in the water in Dallas?

With news breaking last night that the Dallas Cowboys have finally rid themselves of Terrell Owens, Jerry Jones finally looks like a guy in control of his franchise. He was rapidly approaching Al Davis territory for owners that meddle too much and try to control personnel decisions. In this instance, being quiet would have been the worst thing Jones could have done. I applaud him for stepping up to the plate and ridding the team of the cancer that is T.O. This guy tears apart every team and organization he has ever been apart of. Anyone who watched Hard Knocks last summer on HBO could tell that chemistry was the last thing on anyone's mind in Cowboys camp. It is interesting that only two weeks ago Jones had this to say about his team chemistry issues:

"They're all a figment of the result, you didn't hear those kinds of things when we were winning."

Good thing for the Cowboys that someone or something changed his tune rather quickly. The Cowboys have now let Terrell Owens, Pacman Jones, and Tank Johnson leave this offseason. Maybe these moves will be of the addition by subtraction quantity. Now it is time for Roy Williams to start earning the money the Cowboys gave him.