Off The Reservation

Reds in the central

AL West: Rangers
AL Central: Tigers
AL East: Red Sox
Wild Card: Yankees

NL West: Giants
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Braves
Wild Card: Phillies

Not yet. Let me think on it.

Yes, I do. The pitching staff is healthy and the Phillies offense is old and overrated. Their pitching will keep them in it but if someone gets hurt for them I don't like their chances.

As far as individual awards:

AL CY Young: Jared Weaver
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez
NL MVP: Matt Kemp

Must be a Yankees fan and I beg to differ about the Rays playoff hopes this year they've got just as good of a chance as these past few years.....What's everyone think about the Marlins?

AL:

East - Yankees
Central - Tigers
West - Angels
WC - Rays

NL:
East - Philly
Central - Reds
West - Giants
WC - Braves

I'm a Sox fan and it completely kills me to predict this, but I feel a 88-74 season coming on. Valentine will suffocate this team, our gaping holes in RF and SS will kill us.... and hell, we're still counting on John Lackey and Dice-K.

Barf.

Actually Lackey is missing the season due to offseason surgery.

AL East-NYY
AL Cen-Detroit
AL West- Angels
ALWC-Tampa
AL sleeper-KC

NL East-Philly
NL Central-Cincy
NL West-AZ
NL WC-ATL
NL sleeper-Rockies

AL CY-J Verlander
NL CY-Doc

AL MVP-Miggy
NL MVP-not sure, Tulow I guess

No speculation on RoY right now

Minnesota winning the AL Central?

They were 63-99 last year, dead last in the central and 32 games back of the Tigers and lost Cuddyer and Kubel and only big addition was Willingham.

Even if Mauer and Mornaeu return to previous form, I dont see them competing. 32 games back of the Tigers, dont see them gaining that much ground on a team that added Prince. Tigers biggest threat in division is probably going to be either the Royals or Indians.

LOL. Zero percent chance, eh?

David Price
James Shields
Jeremy Hellickson
Matt Moore
Jeff Niemann

or

Fatass
Nova
Kiroda? Not better than Hellickson
Pineda? Unproven. Highly unlikely he's better than Moore (ROY candidate)
Fatass part Deux, Freddie Garcia? Phil Hughes? Srsly?

Good thing their bullpen is strong. They will need it in 2012.

In addition, the Yankees outfield doesn't scare me. Granderson will regress (season of a lifetime in 2011), and no AL E fan is scared of Andrew Jones, Brett Gardner, Raul Ibanez, or Nick Swisher.

Zero percent. With the Rays' staff? Not likely

I think the Red Sox have a better chance of making the playoffs than the Yankees. Carl Crawford cannot be any worse than he was in 2011, and Youkilis should give you more production.

I have no idea what to expect from Ortiz. He could very easily fall off the face of the earth. He's come pretty damn close already, and he's not getting younger.

Jacoby Ellsbury = bad ass mother. I'd kill to have him on my team.

No faith that Dice Gay will ever produce. He's jut an OK pitcher IMO, and Lackey...damn.

Getting rid of Papelbon was gutsy. I'm not so sure Bailey is a huge upgrade. The Aviles pickup was nice.

Overall Sox in much better position to make the playoffs than the Yankees, IMO

Yea, but the Twins never had a team as stacked as this years Tigers going against them. The '08 Tigers had a nice lineup but the pitching staff doesnt compare to the staff they have now, with MVP, Fister (sub 3 era last year), Scherzer and Porcello with Valverde not blowing a save all last year closing it down. Benoit is a solid set up man as well. Plus Prince-Miggy in the middle of the order is an insane middle of the lineup.

The Tigers were 32 games up on the Twins last year. The Tigers only had Fister post trade deadline and Delmon after that. Add in Prince and Dotel to the pen, it more than makes up for Victor absence (who missed some time last year too).

Kubel and Cuddyer were a big part of that Twins team and both are gone now. The Twins are more likely to finish 4th or 5th in the Central than first if you ask me. As a Tiger fan, I am more worried about the Royals and Indians (although I expect to win the division by double digits)