Saturday, April 4, 2009

Welcome Back

We are back from resting season. At least I am. Jim still may be on the streets of New York looking for his mp3 player.

So what have we missed? Someone, most likely Adam Eaton, slipped some Krytonite into Cole Hamels' Campbell's Soup. This probably had something to do with Eaton being released (that and the fact that he is a terrible pitcher). Geoff Jenkins also got the boot so the Phillies could flirt with Gary Sheffield. Chan Ho Park will be in the Phillies starting rotation which would be exciting news if it was 2000. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet Spring in Clearwater.

Here are some quick predictions by yours truly:

Ryan Howard will finally get off to a hot start. He'll have 30 home runs by the All Star Break.

Chase Utley will struggle early because he came back too soon from his crazy hip surgery. I don't think I'm going out on too far of a limb with this one.

Brad Lidge will blow a save. In fact, he may blow two.

Pedro Feliz will cause me to consider throwing my laptop into the middle of the street.

Shane Victorino will post a .700 OPS, which will cause the Phillies to make a move for another outfielder.

The Phillies will end up winning 88 games, which will be good enough for the Wild Card. Unfortunately, the Mets will win the Division.

NL Predictions:
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Diamondbacks
WC: Phillies
NL Winner: Diamondbacks
MVP other than Pujols: Prince Fielder
Cy Young: Johan Santana

AL Predictions:
East: Red Sox
Central: White Sox
West: Angels
WC: Rays
AL Winner: Red Sox
MVP: Grady Sizemore
Cy Young: Jon Lester

Unfortunately for most of us, the Red Sox will win the World Series.

Raul Ibanez might not be the player that Pat Burrell was, but he is definitely a much better actor.