Projected 2008 Standings
Does all this player analysis for fantasy baseball lead to better projections of real life team performances? I do not know, but I am willing to put my guesses to paper and allow that judgment to be made.
I have included a comment next to each team to explain why I believe each team will finish where. Most are really based on non-fantasy considerations. I think.
Let the games begin!
| AL EAST | NOTE |
|---|---|
| Boston Red Sox | Better defense wins out |
| New York Yankees | Poor defense leads to a second-place finish |
| Toronto Blue Jays | All Pitching/Good defense can't go any further |
| Tampa Bay Rays | They'll be better. Elliot Johnson making the team negates the Longoria fumbling |
| Baltimore Orioles | Worse than the Giants? |
| AL CENTRAL | NOTE |
| Cleveland Indians | Thank God for the Tigers bullpen |
| Detroit Tigers | Blake Street Bombers 2008 Edition |
| Kansas City Royals | Hillman will synergize with the Gordon and Butler breakouts |
| Minnesota Twins | A good hitting core with a deeper staff has them in 4th. |
| Chicago White Sox | A scary back-end rotation with it's best power hitter leading off. |
| AL WEST | NOTE |
| Seattle Mariners | If a couple arms step-up in the bullpen, this won't be close |
| Los Angeles Angels | Not enough starters and the offense is still weak on power |
| Texas Rangers | An exciting club in 2008. Would kill for the White Sox rotation. |
| Oakland A's | Fire sales and Play-off contention in the same year? I'll bet against that |
| NL EAST | NOTE |
| New York Mets | #s 1-4 in the starting rotation too good |
| Philadelphia Phillies | Not enough starting pitching |
| Atlanta Braves | Despite the black hole in CF, the offense is very good. |
| Washington Nationals | No pitching even if Lastings Milledge makes the Mets rue dumping him |
| Florida Marlins | Thank God for the Giants and Orioles |
| NL CENTRAL | NOTE |
| Chicago Cubs | Too much bullpen strength |
| Milwaukee Brewers | Not enough bullpen strength |
| Cincinnati Reds | Have you seen the three teams below them? |
| Houston Astros | Too much offense to finish behind the Cards and Pirates |
| St Louis Cardinals | Still better than the Pirates |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | Thank God for the Giants, Orioles and Marlins |
| NL WEST | NOTE |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | Offense improvement over last season will make this less of a race then others think |
| Colorado Rockies | Too much offense and defense |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | The rotation is not great and Juan Pierre will play |
| San Diego Padres | Not enough offense |
| San Francisco Giants | Thank God for Cain and Lincecum |
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Braves
They both loved the Braves lineup, said the Phillies need more pitching.
As far as the D-backs, Lyon is not Valverde and if the offense sputters as it did last year, they will not win as much in the tight NL West. Will their bullpen be as good as it was last year?
Colorado was a .500 team till mid September last year.
LA has a healthy Furcal in his walk year, and an improved outfield of Ethier, Jones and Kemp all season, assuming Torre makes the right decision. Yes, Pierre will get his ABs, but not as a starter. He batted 7th and 8th the last two games. The LA rotation top to bottom is better than the Rockies and D-Backs, and could get much better should Kershaw get his call-up.
I agree with the Cubs selection, but think the Brewers will give them a nice run if their bullpen comes together.
Questions-NL West edition
Rockies-are they the team that won 21 of 22? Can Tulo repeat his offensive performance from last year?
Dodgers-who plays LF? Can Kuroda pitch in the majors or will he be the next Kaz Ishii? Do they get any production from 3b?
Padres-can Hoffmann anchor the bullpen for another year? Where does the offense come from?
Giants-can they not lose 100 games?
Maybe Torre isn't so bad afterall.....
Ethier is Dodgers left fielder
Joe Torre broke the news to Juan Pierre this morning. ``He just said `OK,' but I know he is disappointed, and that's fine,'' Torre said. ``You don't want a guy sitting on your bench who just accepts being on the bench.'' Torre said JP will be a regular bench player, pinch hitting, etc. ``Before it's all said and done, we're going to get contributions from a lot of people,'' Torre said.
"Torre said JP will be a regular bench player...". I love the sound of that....nice decision by Torre.
Torre also mentioned there may be a trade soon....maybe Pierre will be traded to a team that needs a leadoff hitter? Doesn't Lou need a leadoff hitter and CFer?
here's how I see it
EAST-
Mets
Phils
Braves
Marlins
Nats
Central-
Cubs
Brewers
Reds
Cardinals
Pittsburgh
Astros
West-
D-backs
Padres
Rockies
Dodgers
Giants
Lots of "ifs" and "buts" above. If the Reds have a few of their prospects come through they could contend deep into the year. The bottom three in the Central could all be interchanged.
The West is the most interesting as there are three quality clubs. The D-backs finished with 90 wins in 2007 but were outscored 732-712. That would give them a Pythagorean of only 79 wins which, of course, would be a sub .500 record.
Can a healthy Randy Johnson and the addition of Dan Haren make up the difference? Maybe so but you also have to factor in the growth of Chris, Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds. Any of those guys could also have set-backs in 2008. And the Big Unit could be on the operating table at any second. So the West will not be handed to them. If they falter the Pads will be right there to take the prize. And I guess the same could be said of the Rockies.
on paper
Ethier vs. Byrnes-Byrnes
Jones vs. Young-Jones
Kemp vs Upton-Kemp...right now
Dewitt vs Reynolds-Reynolds
Furcal vs Drew-Furcal...a healthy Furcal
Kent vs Hudson-Hudson
Loney vs Jackson-Even
Martin vs Snyder-Martin
Rotation
Webb vs Penny-Webb
Haren vs Lowe-Haren
Billz vs RJ-Billz, RJ too injury prone
Kuroda vs Davis-eh....even?
Loaiza vs Owings-even
Bullpen
Saito vs Lyon-Saito
Broxton vs Pena/Qualls-Broxton
on paper, to me, LA has a better lineup and bullpen. Arizona the better 1-2, but after that, give a slight edge to LA.
Does anyone see it differently? Am I looking through my blue-colored glasses?
Some disagreement
can't disagree too much
What about Laroche vs Reynolds? I say Reynolds initially, but think Laroche can get on base more with a better avg.
by Ray Guilfoyle on Mar 31, 2008 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions
one thing
I think a couple other areas that need to be considered are 1. players who are injured now that may contribute later and 2. minor league call-ups available.
I guess both teams have a few guys out. But if Nomar can stay healthy (big if) then that surely helps the Dodgers' chances. Plus the Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw available (not sure if LV or AA) who they can call up if need be. I am not sure who all the D-backs have immediately available on the farm pitching wise except for Max Scherzer.

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