As a proud partner in the United Cardinals Bloggers and I am writing these predictions as a collaborative effort on the American League today. Here they are, rip them to shreds!


AMERICAN LEAGUE PREDICTIONS

AL WEST

1. Los Angeles Angels: 92-70

The Angels were the winners of the AL West last year and will repeat this year in 2009.  The Angels aren’t going to win 100 games again, like they did last year, but they will break the 90-win mark.

I think the Angels wins will go down for various reasons, one, being that they lost their All-Star closer, Francisco Rodriguez, and their other star Mark Teixeira, both to New York.

The Mets and Yankees really beat the Angels up, before the season started.  Another reason is that the league has toughened up, the A’s acquired Matt Holliday and the Rangers are looking to turn their franchise around.

So, all in all, the Angels will still be the champs of the AL West, but their going to have to actually give it 200 percent to win the division, if they just loaf around, they’ll be in for a rude awakening.

2. Oakland Athletics: 84-78

The Oakland A’s acquired All-Star outfielder, Matt Holliday this off-season, but that won’t bring them a division crown.

This team is going to have to trade Holliday at the deadline, if not earlier and they just have to rebuild.

This team is just too much of a mess and I just can’t see them being successful with the team they have.

3. Texas Rangers: 82-80

The Rangers have, arguably the best offense in the majors, but their pitching is horrendous.  I’m predicting that the Rangers finish with a record slightly over .500.

They are a young team with many young pitchers, and they can bloom into a great team in the years to come.

But, if the Rangers pitchers all have decent years the Rangers won’t have to wait, they will have a big chance to make the playoffs and contend in their division.

So, the Rangers season lies in the management’s hands very heavily.  If the management makes the right moves, the Rangers are on their way to playing in late October.

4. Seattle Mariners- 71- 91

What a pathetic team. I am not even going to write about them.

AL CENTRAL

1st Place – Cleveland Indians 91-71Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee and the talented Fausto Carmona will keep Cleveland competitive in the Central. Adding former Cub Kerry Wood to the pen as the team’s closer fill’s a big void as well. If only this starting rotation still had C.C. Sabathia. The good thing about playing in the Central is that quick rebounds are possible. Detroit and Chicago are outspending the Indians, but talent-wise, Cleveland has enough to win the division, as long as they stay healthy. Grady Sizemore is one of the game’s elite lead off men and he leads the charge on this team. A now healthy Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez figure to boost the lineup.

2nd Place – Minnesota Twins 89-73
It would only be fitting that Minnesota takes home a Central division crown in its last season in the Metrodome, but they won’t. The Twins have been the class of the Central this decade, winning four division titles since 2002. They were one game away from making it five as they lost 1-0 to the Chicago White Sox in a play-in game last year. There’s nothing flashy about the Twins, they just find ways to win with solid pitching and timely hitting. This is a young, talented team with pitchers like Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker and position players like Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

3rd Place – Chicago White Sox 85-77
The bar has been raised for the White Sox this season following a division title and that likely means the Sox will come in below it. This team has performed the best when the least has been expected. In 2005, the Sox exploded to win 99 games, going on to win the World Series a year after the team won just 83. The next year they sunk to third in the division. The Sox were back on top again with an 89-win season after winning only 72 games in 2007. Not resigning Joe Crede and Orlando Cabrera along with trading pitcher Javier Vazquez figures to haunt the Sox this season. The Sox still have Carlos Quentin, Jermain Dye, and Jim Thome to smack the long ball, but I’m not sure trying to win with a younger, more athletic lineup was the call this season.

4th Place – Kansas City Royals 77-85

The Royals made it out of the AL Central basement with a 75-win season in 2008, their first season of 70 or more wins in recent memory. This team has made steady improvement over the past couple years, improving seven wins from 2006 to 2007 and six more wins from 2007 to 2008. What’s most impressive is how the Royals finished off last season, going 18-8 in September. While this young team still likely has a couple years before we can talk about it in the same breath with AL Central crown, getting out of the cellar should give Kansas City a big psychological boost. Kansas City has a chance to play .500 baseball for the second time in 15 years and that’s what it will shoot for.

5th Place – Detroit Tigers 76-86
A Tigers team designed to make a World Series run in 2008 was a huge disaster and I expect the disaster to continue. Detroit peaked with 95 wins in 2006, followed that up with an 88-win 2007, and then dropped clear back down to 74 wins to find the cellar. The downturn can be put largely on the pitching staff. After winning the pennant in 2006, the pitching staff has begun to slide. Ace Justin Verlander’s ERA jumped from 3.63 to 4.84 and Dontrelle Willis appears to be an expensive liability. Here’s the bad news; the pen appears to be in even worse shape.

AL EAST

1st Place – Boston Red Sox 97-65

The 2007 World Series champs finished just two games out of first place last season and I have them climbing back to the top in 2009. The Devil Rays took the league by storm a season ago, but it will be a different story now that they are wearing the target. Without Manny Ramirez hanging around to disrupt team chemistry, Boston’s one and only focus can be winning baseball games and that is something they will do a lot of this season. The thing that separates the Sox from the rest of the pack is its starting rotation. Josh Beckett should be completely healthy this season which means he should look a lot more like the 20-game winner we saw in 2007. Jon Lester finished last season 15-4 with a 2.82 ERA in his finals 27 starts and Daisuke Matsuzaka is now 33-15 in two seasons with the Sox. In comes Brad Penny and John Smoltz to provide Boston with two more solid options. Offensively, I can’t wait to see what Jason Bay can do in an entire season in a lineup where he is protected and Dustin Pedroia is unreal. What’s next for the 2007 ROY and 2008 MVP?

2nd Place – New York Yankees 94- 68

New York cleaned up in the offseason, landing C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. In terms of talent the Yankees are unmatched, but chemistry has been a major issue this team the past couple seasons and that figures to continue to be a problem with more new guys stepping in. Still, missing the playoffs for the first time in 15 years gives the Yanks plenty of incentive heading in to the 2009 season. The Yanks, I’m sure, are sick of hearing about Alex Rodriguez for all the wrong reasons, but it is nothing knew and I don’t expect it to be a major distraction.

3rd Place – Tampa Bay Rays 90-72
What a ride it was for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, going from 66 wins and a last place finish in 2007 to 97 wins, an AL East title and an AL Pennant. I’m still not ready to jump on this bandwagon as life is going to be much tougher for the Rays now that they are wearing a target. The Rays lack the experience of the Red Sox, and you can expect the revenge factor to play a major role this season as Tampa Bay beat the Sox in seven games in the ALCS. The Rays also lack the budget of the Yankees which has the best players money can buy. You also have to worry about a little complacency after such a run from a young team. Tampa Bay will be back, but likely not this season.

4th Place – Toronto Blue Jays 80-82
The Jays finished one win shy of their 2006 total when they finished 2nd in the AL East, but it was only good for 4th last season. With the emergence of the Rays, the Jays are the odd man out. Losing A.J. Burnett to rival New York and with Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum going under the knife, the Jays’ strength has been crushed. My boy Roy Halladay still remains and gives us a reason to watch.

5th Place – Baltimore Orioles 74- 88
Life as an Oriole fan has been awful. A perennial 4th place finish slipped to dead last in 2008 and that’s where I have the O’s winding up again. Baltimore is committed to its rebuilding project and is hoping to eventually accomplish what the Rays did a season ago. It’s been 11 straight losing seasons now for the Orange Birds and that will give way to 12 in 2009. Baltimore’s rotation is paper thin and it’s too soon to bring up its prospects. Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis, and Adam Jones will still give the Baltimore faithful something to cheer about on occasion.

Now that’s my take on the American League, what about yours?



By: on Mar 30th, 2009
Tagged as: GM Suggestions