American League Forecast- 2008

• Posted by motle on March 3rd, 2008 filed in MLB Banter

The Cardinals United bloggers are currently conducting a project. Today we each will predict the American League standings. The Bloggers are:

• Cardinal Nation Globe
• C70 at the Bat
• Future Redbirds
• Readin’ Redbird
• Redbird Ramblings
• Redbirds Fun
• Rockin’ the Red
• Stan Musial’s Stance
• The Redbird Blog

Read them and compare. Remember, mine is probably the most accurate!

 

 

American League Forecast

By Tom at Cardinalsgm.com

American League East

1. New York Yankees Joe Girardi
2008 Picks: 94 wins
The faces of the team: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada.

Looking at them: Pitching is a big question mark. Can Mariano Rivera continue to close? Is Mussina ready to call it a career?
Overall: This team lacks speed. This team has shaky pitching. The defense is rather thin. But the bats, oh the bats have the potential to mash homer runs all the way through the lineup. The must get out of the gate early to carry them through.

2. Boston Red Sox Terry Francona
2008 Picks: 92

The faces of the team: Josh Beckett, David Ortiz, Jon Pabelbon.

Looking at them: David Ortiz is the key along with a healthy Manny.
Overall: this team is slipping some. Manny MUST be healthy.Lowell had a career year..There are some candidates on this team that could help a bunch to bounce back.

Players like Julio Lugo, Jason Varitek, and J.D. Drew, have some room to bounce back. Taken together, the Red Sox have deep starting pitching (Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K, Wakefield, Buchholz, and Lester), and a capable enough offense. And they should be expected to compete for the title yet again in the East.

3. Toronto Blue Jays John Gibbons
2008 Picks: 85 wins
The faces of the team: Roy Halladay, AJ Burnett, Alex Rios

Looking at them: Overbay has to play consistent. Wells needs to pick it up. They are counting on Scott Rolen to be healthy and productive. BJ Ryan has to remain healthy for the entire.

Overall: The Blue Jays have top pitchers in Halladay and Burnett. It’s just a shame they are in with the Yankees and Red Sox. They have a veteran bat, Frank Thomas, anchoring the line-up and dynamic bats like Wells, Rios, and Hill. Maybe the addition of SS David Eckstein can be the difference.

4. Tampa Bay Rays Joe Maddon
2008 Picks: 76 wins
The faces of the team: Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir.
Looking at them: The goal is pretty simple: just win more than 70 games. It’s not asking much, but it would be the best in Tampa Bay’s 11-year history.
Overall: The Rays went after pitching (Troy Percival and Matt Garza) in the off-season. Not much here to say. Watch Upton and Crawford for some fun but few wins.

5. Baltimore Orioles Dave Trembley
2008 Picks: 64 wins
the faces of the team: Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts

Looking at them: The Orioles are in full rebuilding mode after giving up Erik Bedard for prospects.
Recap: This is a franchise in nearly hopeless shape. Their problems started in 2004 when they went and paid for Tejada. It’s difficult to find any reason for optimism this year. The line-up is devoid of power and both the starting rotation and the bullpen is in desperate search of some direction.

American League West

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Mike Scioscia
2008 Picks: 90 wins
The faces of the team: Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Chone Figgins, John Lackey, Jon Garland, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields.

Looking at them: Is Kelvim Escobar healthy? Can Chone Figgins repeat his great season? And how good will 2B Howie Kendrick be in a full season?

Overall: The Angels are entering their 6th season since winning the World Series in 2002. They made some strategic acquisitions in the off-season in hopes of getting back there. Backing up their ace SP John Lackey, is former White Sox SP Jon Garland. And the Angels added CF super star (offense and defense) Torii Hunter. If Vladimir Guerrero can deliver about 110+ RBI’s.. again then all things considered, the A’s should grab the AL West title and roll the dice in the playoffs.

2. Seattle Mariners John McLaren
2008 Picks: 89 wins
The faces of the team: Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez, JJ Putz, Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre

Looking at them: The Mariners are improved (bringing in SP Erik Bedard and SP Carlos Silva, but there are still questions about the rotation, and the line-up desperately needs more power and consistency– starting with Richie Sexson
Overall: The fall of the A’s gives the Mariners an opening. They have won 69, 78, and 88 games in the last 3 seasons (heading in the right direction) after losing 99 games in 2004. The pieces are here, but everything needs to click for the Mariners to win the AL West– they need that feel-good buzz, and sparks in the offense.

3. Texas Rangers Ron Washington
2008 Picks: 74 wins
The faces of the team: Michael Young, Hank Blalock.

Looking at them: SP Brandon McCarthy has always been considered to have major league skills– time to prove it. Then, Vincente Padilla needs to revert to 2006 form. And, finally, Kevin Millwood needs to go out and earn his contract (though, the truth is he shouldn’t have got that big a contract in the first place).

Overall: The issue here is that ownership seems to have cashed in its chips (1B Mark Teixeira and closer Eric Gagne) in exchange for future talent. Therefore, expectations from the top down are not very high. Maybe a full season from Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd can help anchor this capable offense (2B Kinsler, SSYoung, and RF Milton Bradley).

4. Oakland Athletics Bob Geren
2008 Picks: 67 wins
The faces of the team: Rick Harden, Eric Chavez.

Looking at them: Dan Haren, GONE. Hope the A’s have another up-and-coming SP to fill the void. Doesn’t look like it this year, but as one thing to hope for– finding some new arms for the future is one small goal A’s fans can focus on.

Overall: Anyway you slice it, this season’s going to be rough for the Oakland A’s. But, who cares? Oakland had a great first 7 seasons this. An off year was just a matter of time.

American League Central

1. Detroit Tigers Jim Leyland
2008 Picks: 95 wins
The faces of the team: C Ivan Rodriguez, 3B Miguel Cabrera, OF Curtis Granderson, OF Magglio Ordonez, 2B Placido Polanco, SS Edgar Renteria, SP Justin Verlander.

Looking at the team: A laundry list of new players has arrived to fill the few weak spots that existed last year: SP Dontrelle Willis, 3B Miguel Cabrera, SS Edgar Renteria, and OF Jacque Jones headline the arrivals. But, to improve the wins from last season at least 1 of their SP’s besides Justin Verlander will need to bring their ERA below the league average (Bonderman, Willis, or Robertson).
Recap: 88 games just wasn’t good enough. And ownership took several steps to ensure that doesn’t happen again. The bar has been set– this team should win 100 games. The offense isn’t perfect, and the pitching isn’t perfect, but overall, the team has enough parts that even if some of them aren’t working, enough will be.

2. Cleveland Indians Eric Wedge
2008 Picks: 89 wins
The faces of the team: CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez.Looking at them: One (or 2) of 3 pitchers needs to step up this season in the event Fausto Carmona or CC Sabathia fall back a little this year. This seems to be a reasonable expectation too considering Westbrook’s overall track record and Cliff Lee just needs to return to form he has already proven he can do (like the 2005 season).

Overall: The Indians tread a fine line on the verge of a great team. But the dangerous reality is Cleveland could be a bit of smoke and mirrors. Last year, it was the emergence of Fausto Carmona that saved the season. This year, what will keep them in the hunt?

3. Chicago White Sox Ozzie Guillen
2008 Picks: 83 wins
The faces of the team: Orlando Cabrera, Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, Javier Vazquez.

Looking at them: The writing is supposedly already written on the wall in dark, un-erasable letters: the Royals will pass the White Sox who are now a last place team in 2010.
Recap: What went so badly? The White Sox won the World Series just 3 seasons ago (October 2005). Are they really a first-to-worst in 3 seasons team? The offense has actually been given a significant off-season makeover. With the addition of OF Nick Swisher and SS Orlando Cabrera it seems the White Sox have a bit of upside– especially given that guys like 1B Paul Konerko, DH Jim Thome, C AJ Pierzynski, OF Jermaine Dye, and 3B Joe Crede, all had bad years last season. The White Sox could bounce.

4. Minnesota Twins Ron Gardenhire
2008 Picks: 75 wins
The faces of the team: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano.

Looking at them: Boof Bonser and Scott Baker both right-handers, have the potential to anchor a solid-enough starting rotation. They will be counted on to throw a lot of innings.
Recap: Life after SP Johan Santana begins (in a town that also just gave up Kevin Garnett). The future begins with Francisco Liriano (the Twins version of the T-Wolves Garnett replacement Al Jefferson). Liriano says he’s ready to go. But, unfortunately, Torii Hunter is gone– very big shoes to fill. But the good news is that Minnesota has plenty of talent in reserves– this is no team in rebuilding. C Joe Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau anchor the line-up and RP Joe Nathan is still around to close the games they do end up leading.

5. Kansas City Royals Trey Hillman
2008 Picks: 69 wins

The faces of the team: RP Joakim Soria, OF Jose Guillen.
Looking at them: New OF Jose Guillen needs to be the big bat in the middle of the order to take the pressure off the young guys so they can start delivering on the hype.

Overall: It is appears the Royals finally have a plan. There is lots of young talent in this team. Buck, Gordon, Teahen and Butler are pretty good… for youngsters. It doesn’t appear to enough yet. Wait for the experience in 2010.

 

tomorrow: NL West

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