Dodgers: I've covered their strengths and weaknesses in more detail here.
Record: 89-73
Diamondbacks
Strengths: Brad Webb and Dan Haren at the top of the rotation; a lot of young talent on the field - the Justin Upton in particular is a star in the making.
Weaknesses: Starting rotation is underwhelming after Webb and Haren; bullpen looks fairly mediocre.
Record: This looks like a pretty solid team across the board, with the very strong front end of the rotation making up for the questionable back end. If they get breakout performances from some of their young position players or if the 3-5 starters perform better than expected, this could be an awfully good team. Perhaps it's blind hope, but I'm banking on small, not large steps forward from the young hitters overall, and an 87-75 record.
Rockies
Strengths: Tulowitzki could be the next great shortstop, especially defensively. Pitching staff has potential if talented young pitchers like Jimenez and Morales step up. Corpas and Street in the 8th and 9th innings is a nice combo.
Weaknesses: Outfield is questionable, and whole lineup may struggle to hit, especially if Tulo's not what he was his rookie year and Helton continues to decline. Despite some talent, pitching staff has plenty of question marks.
Record: 80-82
Giants
Strengths: Starting pitching - Lincecum, Cain, Johnson is a very nice top 3; Sanchez has potential, and we'll see if Zito can be a serviceable #5 for $17 million.
Weaknesses: Hitting - Benjie Molina batted cleanup frequently last year, which is just pathetic. They've added an over the hill Edgar Renteria and a couple of pretty solid hitting kids on the corner infield spots in Sandoval and Ishikawa, but that still doesn't leave them with much. Sandoval and Renteria look like they'll be brutal defensively on the left side of the infield. Jeremy Affeldt was a nice bullpen pickup, but I still wouldn't be too trustworthy of their bullpen as a whole.
Record: The Giants have a lot of young talent between the majors and minors; I don't think this is the year, though. At earliest, we'll see them start to break through next year, and I think 2011 is more likely. 76-86.
Padres
Strengths: Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez
Weaknesses: Everyone else - ok, maybe not Brian Giles.
Record: Seriously, this team is bad. When you're putting pitchers the Nationals dumped into your rotation, that's a bad sign. And of course, they may end up trading Peavy as well. We'll go with 63-99.
1 comment:
I totally agree.
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