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MLB Playoff and Award Predictions

AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL MVP: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays (The 2008 AL Rookie of the year should expand big time on his 27 hr, 85 RBI rookie campaign in his first full season in the bigs' and once again lead the Rays' to success in '09)
AL CY YOUNG: Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins (Liriano returned to dominance in the second half of '08 after getting back on track in the minors and will probably sport a sub-3 era and win 18+ games if healthy for 32 starts this season.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles (Wieters will start off in AAA, but will be up a few weeks into the season, like Longoria did in '08. He probably will put up similar numbers to what Longoria did, but probably hit for a better average. Keep an eye on Tampa's David Price for this award as well.)
MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins (The Twins never have quite the same talent as some of the other teams in the league, but Gardy always has them winning. He should get his first M.O.Y. award if he can guide the Twins to the playoffs yet again.)
COMEBACK P.O.Y.: Travis Hafner, Cleveland Indians (Hafner hit just .197 with 5 hr and 24 RBI in '08 and you know that's not happening again. He should be back around .275, 25 hr and 100 RBI while helping Cleveland battle for the AL Central title in '09.)

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL MVP: Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers (ManRam will be in LA for the full 6 month season this time around and should put up huge power numbers while hitting around .330 and leading LA to another playoff birth. Just look at what he did in his 2-month stint there last year.)
NL CY YOUNG: Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies (The only concern I have with this choice is that Hamels has an elbow issue coming into the year, but I think he'll get healthy and end up building off of last years postseason success in which he went 4-0 with a 1.80 era and 30 k's in 35 innings pitched. If he goes down for any stretch of time, my pick goes to Johan Santana.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Cameron Maybin, Florida Marlins (Maybin got a brief stint in the bigs' last season and showed his speed and ability while also looking strong this spring. The prize acquisition from the Miguel Cabrera trade should start paying huge dividends for the fish in '09.)
MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers (Torre should lead the Dodgers to the NL West crown and possibly earn his first MOY award in the NL. Charlie Mannuel would be my 2nd pick as he really should have won it last year.)
COMEBACK P.O.Y.: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals (The former Cardinal ace has only thrown 21 innings combined over the past 2 seasons, but has appeared healthy and effective this spring. Should go back to the top of the rotation for the Cards and become a 15+ game winner again with good health and a terrific offense.)

PLAYOFFS/WORLD SERIES PREDICTION
AMERICAN LEAGUE:
ALDS-
Angels over Red Sox
Rays over Twins

ALCS: Angels over Rays

NATIONAL LEAGUE:
NLDS:
Dodgers over Phillies
Cubs over Mets

NLCS: Cubs over Dodgers

-WORLD SERIES-
Chicago Cubs over Los Angeles Angels (6 games)

Giants Notes: The Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues have officially ended as teams are getting set to play an exhibition game or two before the real games begin. A lot of good came of spring training this year as Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa both proved their ready for their everyday roles once the curtain unveils on the 2009 season. The Giants also saw a bunch of youngsters come to camp and really thrive. Jesus Guzman (.412, 5 HR, 15 RBI) was definitely a bright spot and probably stuck out the most of any youngster this spring. The Giants also got a strong showing from Buster Posey and even a few dominant outings out of 19 year-old Madison Bumgarner this spring. Posey really proved that he's closer to the big leagues than I think any of us thought and could be on the Giants roster by the 2nd half of this year. Bumgarner only threw 5 innings in the Cactus league, but showed his ability, only allowing 1 hit while striking out 6 batters. Now he's not going to be up this season at all, but if he continues to progress like he has in his first season-plus as a pro, he could debut for the Giants by the end of 2010.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I agree with most of the awards, but I think Jordan Zimmermann wins NL Rookie of the Year and Price wins Al Rookie of the year over Wieters. I like the pick of Liriano for AL CY Young though. He's shown what he's capable of when healthy and he's healthy, so look out American League.
4:15 PM
rxmeister said…
I give you credit for some of your predictions, because they're certainly not chalk, but I disagree with most of them. For NL Cy young, Johan Santana is the easy pick, but I don't see how Tim Lincecum doesn't win the award. I mean for a Giant fan to not watch him every five days and realize he's the best pitcher in the game is astounding to me. Matt Holliday was asked about Lincecum the other night and he said if you rank the top 10 pitches in the league, Tim Lincecum has three of them. That's pretty amazing and testimony to just how good he is. I think you're watching a pitcher who if he stays healthy could be among the greatest pitchers of all time, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Giants' fan. As for your team predictions, way too high on the Dodgers. I think the number one thing in baseball is having a great rotation, and this team is starting Kuroda on Opening Day and has Randy Wolf as their number two starter!! Chad Billingsley is a star waiting to happen, but he's the only one in that rotation. Kershaw is still very young, and can probably use another year in the minors, and this number five starter, McDonald, is a mystery. You can't win with a rotation like that, no matter how much offense you have, and their offense is merely good, not great.
9:09 AM
Unknown said…
I will be blogging on the Opening Series 2009 when the Giants play the Padres in San Diego. You can read my blog at www.thesnodgrassmuff.com
11:49 PM
Desiree said…
Check out this cool Tim Lincecum "The Freak" T-shirt!


http://www.zazzle.com/tim_lincecum_the_freak_tshirt-235882186330220087
10:21 AM
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