N.L. East

1.     1.  Phillies(great offense compared to rest of N.L. and Halladay will think pitching in theN.L. is a vacation compared to the A.L. East.)

2.      2. Braves( Jason Heyward is going to be the biggest story in baseball this season. Theyneed Hudson to come back from injury to be a legit contender)

3.      3. Marlins( I love Hanley and a lot of their other young talent, but their lack ofpayroll does not allow them to fill out a deep roster. Look for middle reliefto cost them games)

4.      4. Mets(Too many injury questions on this over priced team)

5.     5.  Nationals ( crappy team, They’ll bring up Strasburg in June and he will gethit hard and throw hissy fits on the mound blaming the defense behind him. You heardit hear first, this dude has a 100 million dollar arm, but is a head case)

N.L. Central

1.  Cardinals (Holliday will help Pujols andCarpenter and Wainwright give them a great 1-2)

2.Reds (young half- rhyming talent Cueto and Votto make the jump to thenext level)

3.Brewers (could contend if  thingsbreak right)

4.Cubs ( This team just does not fit together well; Piniella blows his topa bunch of times and gets fired mid-year

5.Astros (not enough starting pitching

6.Pirates ( The second a player on this team because decent they got toget rid of him)

N.L. West

1. Rockies (good top 3 in therotation and line up)

2. Giants ( Lincecum is Pedroesqueand Cain is coming into his own. They need more bats to help Sandoval toobecome a legit contender) (Wild Card)

3. Dodgers (Front office chaoswith the McCourt’s extremely contentious divorce hurts the team on the field. MattKemp periodically leaves games to chill with girlfriend Rihanna as does Mannywho decides he wants a career change to becomea Dodger Dog salesmen)

4. Diamondbacks ( Some fun youngtalent like Chris Young, but too many holes in team)

5. Padres ( The Adrian Gonzaleswatch continues

A.L. West

1. Seattle ( Pitching, defense,and speed take a weak division)

2. Rangers ( very good offense. IfHarden can stay healthy and pitch to his ability they could take this division.

3. Angels ( They lost some keyplayers in the offseason and too many of their key guys get hurt. Side note, Ifucking hate this team

4. A’s (Billy Beane’s team willnot do anything for Hollywood studios to get more interested in optioningMoneyball into a movie again.

A.L. Centeral

1. Twins ( Very strong offense anda fan base enthused by the Mauer signing and new ballpark will put them on top)

2. White Sox ( The gamble theymade on Peavy last year will determine how far they go.

3. The Tigers (Could win thedivision, the top 3 teams in this division are similar in talent)

4.Indians ( I hate Grady Sizemore after he ruined my Fantasy League teamlast year)

5. Royals (well, at least theyhave Greinke)

A.L. East

1. Yankees ( I fear they will geta ton of wins against teams with average and below average pitching with theirline up

2. Red Sox (wild card) ( Will beright behind New York. We are a very deep roster this year. See more thoughtson that below)

3. Rays ( would win any otherdivision and could win this one. I just don’t think their pitching is a deep asthe Sox or Yankees)

4. Baltimore ( Nick Markakiscontinues to make Greeks proud)

5. Blue Jays ( Some talent, butthey are doing to get killed by the rest of the division)

ALCS: Sox over Yankees ( I likeour pitching better)

NLCS: Cardinals over Philly(bullpen problems fuck Philly over)

World Series: Sox over Cardinals (I am homer, what you thought I was going to pick someone else?)

A.L. MVP: Ichiro Suzuki (He’lllead the league in batting average and have a power surge hitting over 20 homeruns to lead to Mariners to the division)

N.L. MVP Albert Pujols (Has abetter line up around him this year)

A.L. Cy Young: Felix Hernandez(will be in the top 3 in wins, strike outs, and era)

N.L. Cy Young: Roy Halladay (dealingwith weaker N.L.  line ups and pitcherswill allow him to be even more economical with his pitches. Look for 15complete games.)

A.L. Rookie of the Year: WadeDavis (The Rays tall hard throwing righty will get plenty of starts filling infor Kazmir old spot in the rotation; last year he showed an ability to go deepinto games)

N.L Rookie of the Year: JaysonHeyward (believe the hype. This guy will be the biggest star in baseball prettyquickly. He is only 20 but he has that Lebron James quality where his body andoverall look seems older than he is. He has power and speed but much moreimportantly he is also a patient OBP guy at the plate)

Here are some more thoughts on the Sox. I want to give mythoughts on the Sox. This team reminds of a better version of the 05 White Soxteam. All the pundits keep babbling about how the Sox this year are builtaround Pitching and Defense,   but people are underrating our offense.Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youk, Martinez give you everything you could ask for in 1-4with the possible exception that Youk and Martinez do not have uber-power.Beltre and Cameron are odd fits in some ways in Boston because both are freeswingers. That being said, they both have power pulling the ball so I expectthem to hit a lot of doubles and homers off and over the Monster. I can seeCameron hitting over 25hr and Beltre who has his last shot at a big contractand should be a lot healthier than last year when he took a ball off the ballsto hit over 30hr playing 81 games at Fenway. Scutaro will be a pest in the 9hole. JD Drew… well… I have come to accept what JD is. No passion, he will takestrike three down the middle and walk back to the dug out with no emotion onhis face. But he will also now and then hit a key home run or RBI single when youare extremely frustrated with him. In the end, Drew will finish with slightlyabove average numbers and a good OBP. The one guy I have not mentioned is theone who will determine if we have a good or great line up and that is DavidOrtiz. No one expects 04 Papi walking through that door. What we need is thePapi who we saw for a few months in the middle of the year last year who stillhas some power left to show up a lot more often than the Papi that lookedwashed up for parts of the year. On the plus side, the Sox have one of the bestbenches in baseball and can compensate for injuries, players in slumps, or whenpinch hitters are needed. Mike Lowell may not have much mobility in the field,but as a pinch hitter, or fill in now and then at 1b,3b, or DH he is a greatasset to the team and I hope we do not trade him for peanuts. Hermida is atalented dude who has yet to put it all together, but will be a valuable pinchhitter against righties and possible platoon with Cameron at times. Tek mightbe more productive offensively as well playing only once or twice a week. Infact, the only teams that I think have overall offense comparable with the Soxare the Yankees, Rays, and Philly.

            Barring anyinjuries, I think we can expect strong years from Lester, Beckett, and Lackeyat the top of the rotation. Thus, I think they key to the Sox Rotation isBuchholz. He is no longer just a goofy kid with great potential He will be 26soon with a few years of MLB experience under his belt so he is entering put upor shut up mode. We all have seen that he has amazing stuff when on. The only 2questions are if he can consistently harness that great stuff and if his bodycan handle a large work load. He looks bigger and stronger this year which isgood news on the latter front. His control has been good in spring training andhe has been throwing a lot of first pitch strikes. One of the reasons I ambullish on the Sox this year is because I am bullish on Buchholz; I say he winsbetween 13-16 games with a sub 4 era. We’ll have to take a wait and seeapproach on Dice-K until he deals with all the little nagging issues he ishaving, but until then we have the ultimate place holder in Wakefield. As longas he does not mess up his back more, Wakefield will be Wakefield.

            Papelbonhad a slight off year last year that people overacted to, but he still is a toptier closer. The key to the bullpen will be the change up that Bard isdeveloping. After his dominant start last year, people started hitting hisfastball. If he can use the change up to keep batters off balance he will be anice bridge to Papelbon. Okajima has been the personification of solid the last3 years and Ramirez is reliable the vast majority of the time. I am a littleworried about Delcarmen who complained of a tired arm last year and noticeablylost some pop on his fastball.