It's almost here!!!

[gridlore]

Spring Training starts Thursday! Pitchers and Cathcers report in Scottsdale.

YAYYYY!!!!!!

Here's how the Opening Day line up looks right now, barring injury or a breakout performance..

1. Ray Durham, 2B

2. Omar Vizquel, SS

3. J.T. Snow, 1B

4. Barry Bonds, LF

5. Moises Alou, RF

6. Edgardo Alfonzo, 3B

7. Marquis Grissom, CF

8. Mike Matheny, C

9. Jason Schmidt, P

Comments

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

The Jays should be interesting this year. Bearing in mind that I'm a baseball fan and not a Blue Jays fan, so Chinese Proverb values of interesting may apply. This is the season when Ricciardi's youth drive really kicks in, particularly because Toronto lost 94 games -- the worst since 1980 -- and there's not going to be much resistance to cleaning house:

C - Guillermo Quiroz and Gregg Zaun
1B - Shea Hillebrand or Eric Hinske
2B - Orlando Hudson
SS - Russ Adams
3B - Corey Koskie
LF - Alex Rios
CF - Vernon Wells
RF - Reed Johnson or Gabe Gross
DH - Gross or Shea Hillebrand or ??

Out of ten slots, potentially everyone will be 27 or younger. Thankfully there's some talent in there, though several of them are question marks for power when they shouldn't be (Rios, Gross, Hinske).

Pitching is problematic:

SP - Roy Halladay
SP - Ted Lilly
SP - David Bush
SP - Josh Towers? Miguel Batista?
SP - Scott Schoenweis?? Brandon League?? Seung Song?? Chad Gaudin??

As has been the Jays' problem for several years, they're utterly unresistant to injury in the pitching staff. On the other hand, they've been stockpiling young arms (League, Song, Gaudin, and a few others lower down) that'll probably better by August than they are now.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Pitching is one place where the Giants aren't vulnerable to Geritol jokes. With Noah Lowry (L) and Jerome Williams (R) in the starting rotation, we've realy improved over the last few years. Hopefully, Brett Tomko won't take two months to warm up, and Kirk "Woody" Reuter will have a better year overall.

Of course, we're all watching the dude in left field. If Moises Alou delivers in the BA area, Bonds will see more pitches to hit.. and could pass Hank Aaron this year.

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

As I noted in my long post below, Mike Matheny should help your pitching staff "be all it can be," and a bit more besides. Your Giants have picked up a real gem in Matheny; don't screw it up.

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

If his time with the Redbirds is any guide, you should be quite pleased with the way Mike Matheny (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/scouting?statsId=5205) handles your pitching staff. Yadier Molina (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7345) looks like a good long-term replacement for Matheny (Molina is only 22 years old, compared to Matheny's 34 years), but I suspect that the Cardinals' pitching staff will have occasion to wish the front office could have resigned Matheny.

Overall, my biggest worry about my Redbirds is that they have new players at both 2B and SS. While Eckstein (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6688) and Grudzielanek (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5359) both seem to be quality players, it may take some time for the infield to gell. In the highly-competitive NL Central, time lost early may be too much to overcome later in the season. Fortunately, Pujols and Rolen combine defensive excellence in the corners with impressive offensive firepower.

The Cardinals' outfield should remain a key strength for the team. Edmonds and Walker are among the league's elite both defensively and offensively, while Mabry and Taguchi are both quite capable in left field. Rookie John Galt Gall (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7440) may be the wild Card in the game. Reggie Sanders and Roger Cedeño are likely to be important situation players.

As for the pitching staff, it's far too early to make any real predictions. However, I will crawl out on a limb to the extent that I'm comfortable, though not boldly confident, with the pitching staff currently under contract with the Cardinals. If Rick Ankiel can manage to regain his confidence and pitch in the majors, I'll upgrade my assessment to "pretty confident" (assuming that the Redbirds' pitching staff suffers no major injuries).

Overall, I'll be surprised if the Cardinals finish more than five games away from the second-place team in the NL Central (i.e., they'll either win the division by five games or fewer or, at worst, they'll be no more than five games behind the second-place team). If the Redbirds finish second in their division, I will be right on the money with this prediction. ;-)