Curt Schilling has gone on record with some uncomplimentary comments about Bobby Valentine. Of course, Schilling has never been one to shy away from expressing his opinion on anything.

Once again my unsolicited predictions for the upcoming season.

AL East

Yankees - They can be beat by great pitching, but they can destroy good or tired pitching.
You have to have the pen ready quickly, because they can put up a 4 spot before you know it.

Blue Jays - The second best offense in the division.

Red Sox - I am expecting a good year from Beckett and Lester. The rest of the staff, including the pen, is average at best.

Rays - Will be above .500, but not in the play-offs.

Orioles - The pitching and defense can't get any worse than last year. Will Wieters and Jones take the next step?

AL Central

Tigers - barring injury, this isn't even close.

Twins, White Sox, Royals, Indians - Someone has to finish second. These teams could all finish within 1 or 2 games of each other. Some think it is the Royals year to step forward.

AL West

Angels - Too much talent, only injuries, age, and bullpen prevent them from winning.

Rangers - Darvish is the key to overtaking the Angels.

Mariners - They have to be better than the A's.

A's - Cespedes will hit 30+ home runs and strike out 200+ times.

NL East

Marlins - If Johnson gives them 34 starts.

Phillies - Can they hold it together long enough to get the offense going?

Nationals - 85 wins

Mets - Only if Johan has quality innings left.

Braves - Manager will not last the year

NL Central

Brewers/Cardinals/Reds - Flip a coin, will come down to the last week.

Cubs - Slowly shedding the bad contracts

Pirates - No starting pitching.

Astros - Last year in the NL will be a 100 loss season.

NL West
Rockies - Will surprise

Dodgers - Mattingly learned how to manage last year.

Diamondbacks - Capable of repeating but not likely.

Giants - Still no offense.

Padres - Name the Padre starting 8.

My Uncle likes Bobby V.. He really liked that he would suicide squeeze to tie spring training game. He loves "small ball" and doesn't care about the media but he did say that he didn't like the Sox offense past the 5th spot in the order. Also, he would've traded Beckett. He feels Beckett doesn't work hard enough.

I think Beckett got a bad rap last year Marcus. He had an excellent year and pitched like a solid Number One. I know a lot of people were pissed about the beer and fried chicken thing, but it's tough to complain about his pitching last year. I like the small ball stuff too, and that should be interesting to watch.

I'm not sure why people are so down on the team's line-up. They seem to stack up pretty well with the rest of the league:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury: MVP candidate
2. Dustin Pedroia: Gold glover and MVP candidate
3. Adrian Gonzalez: Gold glover, silver slugger, and MVP candidate
4. Kevin Youklis: Excellent hitter, good fielder (though he has lost range and is often hurt)...Will Middlebrooks, our 3d baseman of the future will get some playing time this year
5. Big Papi: Still hits for average and power
6. Carl Crawford: I'm predicting a come-back year from him
7. Cody Ross: His swing is made for Fenway Park
8. Salty (can't be bothered to figure out how to spell his name): Handles pitchers well, and hits about the same as every other catcher on a contending team.
9. Shortstop is the weakness here. Inglesias will be up by June...he can't hit, but he will save a ton of runs with his glove.

People forget that the Sox were the best team in baseball from May to September. That's not enough to get it done, but it's also not the sign of a team that sucks.

I think they were the highest scoring team in the AL last year. They'll score some runs this year too. If their pitching stays healthy they'll be fine.

All of Bobby V's great Mets teams had Rey Ordonez as shortstop, so he probably will be comfortable with Inglesias in the everyday lineup. Hopefully he's as great defensively as Ordonez was.

I get the impression that Bobby V wanted Inglesias to started the season with the Sox and was overruled by the GM. The Sox are going to score a ton of runs this year, so I think it's worth having him up. Particularly since Youklis has lost so much range at third.

He's almost as bad defensively as ARod now.

Hey, Beckett is really good! But my Uncle hates Salty and thinks they need a catcher and ss. He has no use for Crawford and I asked him about Ross and he didn't think he was going to do anything. I never count out the Red Sox.

Big Pelf and the Mets are beating up Ivan Nova and the B' Sides.

A five year, $112 million extension for Matt Cain.
Cain has good stuff, and has been dominant at times. but he also owns a career W-L of 69-73, and in 6 years in the bigs has never won more than 14 games in a season.
Cole Hammels and Zach Greinke must be licking their chops.
Lincecum, over a 5 year period,pitching for the same team, has a W-L of 69-41, and has won 18,16, and 15 in a season. No way I would have given Cain that kind of money.

Especially when he couldn't get this guy out.



Oh...wait...that was Bob Cain.



Alan

10 years, $225 mil for Joey Votto is pretty crazy too.

wow! Wasnt that A-Rod money a few years ago? Votto isn't that good.

I'll try predictions

AL East
1. Yankees - best team in baseball. All-Star lineup + one of the better rotations in baseball
2, Rays (WC) - deep young starting pitching + Longoria will get them in the playoffs
3. Red Sox - holes in back of rotation and parts of lineup
4. Blue Jays - nice offense
5. Orioles - lousy pitching and defense

AL Central
1. Tigers - will have the best record in baseball......really good starting pitching and hitting. ?'able defense depending on Cabrerra
-----who knows afterwards------.
2. White Sox - if Dunn, Rios, and Peavy rebound...enough for 2nd place
3. Royals - good young team....but inexperienced. Losing Soria hurts
4. Twins - don't like their pitching and injury risk of their big stars.
5. Indians - hey bartender...Jobu needs a refill.

AL West
1. Rangers - still pretty much the same team. Darvish could improve over Wilson
2. Angels (WC) - obviously better w Pujols...but don't like Wilson. Very solid team.
3. Mariners - King Felix keeps them in 3rd.
4. A's - worst team in the AL

NL East
1. Phillies - still one of the best staffs in baseball will keep them winning despite offense / injuries
2. Braves (WC) - winning tradition. Very solid pitching and hitting. Heyward needs to bounce back
3. Marlins (WC) - should be dominant with great hitting....but always a risk with Johnson & Reyes injury risks, Hanley pissed moving to 3rd, and Guillen pissed period
4. Nationals - heading in the right direction with good young rotation and hitting. Should contend next year
5. Mets - worst team in the NL, if not all of baseball. Weak pitching, no depth...good young hitters that hopefully develop if not injured again (Ike). Wright and Santana getting off to good starts means gone at trade deadline. As long as the Coupons own the team, no hope for a long long long time. They'll be run like Oakland once Wright/Santana/Bay contracts are gone.

NL Central
1. Cardinals - still enough pitching and hitting w/o Pujols to win the division. A very good team.
2. Brewers - very good pitching. Braun not missing 50 games + Ramirez + Hart keeps them an OK team
3. Reds - don't love the pitching in that bandbox. Good lineup
4. Cubs - mediocrity
5. Pirates - another losing season...heading in right direction if Alvarez etc. develop.
6. Astros - welcome to the AL West

NL West
1. Giants - same as the Phillies. Great pitching wins the division
2. Diamondbacks - great young team, but could have growing pains
3. Dodgers - good pitching and still a solid lineup.
4. Rockies - great lineup....never like pitching in that city....(Moyer made the team)
5. Padres - last place but could have a bright future down the road if they can afford to hold onto their players...got the better of the Latos trade

World Series
Yankees over Giants

My picks are the same as Charles', except I will have Angels winning divison and Rangers as WC, and I think the Dodgers will win the NL West.

Andrew Bailey is to have surgery on his thumb, and may miss a "significant" part of the season.
Beckett too has a thumb problem. What's going on up there?

Today, Mr. Met presided over the unveiling of the new, blue outfield wall at Citi Field, and the accompanying "Party City Deck":

Btw... Instead of the Mets spending the day at Citifield getting to know their new reconfigured stadium, they instead will play a ridiculous game in Tampa against the Yankees.

Tomorrow is opening day and the team has not even stepped foot inside that stadium yet.

I'd like to go on record saying - 2012 will be a New York subway series with that Yanks over the Mets in 6 games.

Rush baseball cards:







http://cardsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/ ... -1-12.html

"1st Bass." Cute.

Again, W.O.P.?

Let's not make an acronym out of it.