MLB Preview - Part VI

As you may have read previously, I have accepted a new position that keeps me buried within the nether regions of area court houses. This afternoon I managed to sneak out early enough to spare a few minutes and post this just for you. As coincidence may have it, you will find that the sixth installment of the Bastard Sons MLB 2007 Preview and Predictions (according to BSR anyway) fall in the precise order that the standings are in as of press time. The winning percentages will change some as the teams spread out. The Dodgers and Padres will move out in front of everyone else. The Rockies and D’backs may slide into oblivion. The Giants aren’t good and their record will reflect it, but we will all see so much of Barry Bonds you would think they were winning games. I can’t wait until he gets close and we get to watch every nauseating at bat. So with that said, I give you the NL West.

1. Dodgers- I hope that tummysticks takes note here- because this is only the second maybe third team in the league where I have complimented the pitching staff. Brad Penny is money, no pun intended. HE is 3-0 as of today with a 1.37 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Nice. New addition Randy Wolf is a solid southpaw starter, and when combined with Derek Lowe (better than his numbers so far), Hendrickson and Tomko, the Dodger blue staff is among the best all around in both leagues. They don’t even have to pitch to DH’s. nice. Luis Gonzalez is now patrolling left, not the bat they wanted- but not a bad one to have. Nomar should be fine on first if he stays healthy, and Juan Pierre will do a fine job at short- by far the best glove on the team. Takashi Saito is an alright closer. I look for him to get more opportunities than last year to prove himself. This race will come down to LA and SD again, and LA might have the pitching to win it. I like the Dodgers to take the division without settling for the wild card this season.

2. Padres- I don’t care how old Greg Maddux gets- he can pitch for me. In the meantime, Jake Peavy is the real anchor of the staff. I do like David Wells too. He is a big, drunken lefty who pitched well for my Yanks a few years back. Check out his numbers and wish he was on your team. I do. New additions to the bullpen Royce Ring and Heath will help out down the stretch chasing LA. Both are coming off of seasons with the Mets. Pitching in important games is good experience to have, right? Brian and Marcus Giles are holding down the right side of the field well enough, and are both hitting well over .300 so far. Adrian Gonzalez is a good bat on first base, and Khalil Green is no slouch at short. The Fathers would love to have a big name RBI factory, but I think they will be fine with the hand they’ve been dealt this year. I don’t think they will finish on top of the Dodgers, but they will make the rest of the division pretty bad.

3. Giants- Barry Bonds! The Giants have Barry Bonds. Barry is probably gonna break Hank Aaron’s record this year, and I could care less. I liked Barry when he was normal sized and played in Pittsburgh. I am hoping Hanks telegram tells Barry to go have sex with himself. But I digress. You might call Barry Zito the ace of the staff. He is good, but nowhere near what he is paid. Lefty starters are always a hot commodity, but c’mon… ten million dollars this year alone is a little much for a guy who went 16-10 last year with an ERA approaching 4. Armando Benitez has the potential to be a great closer but is little whining crying pussy baby. (I would never say that to his face) He does have five saves in seven appearances this season. Big name bats include Klesko and Rich Aurilia. How many first basemen do we need in the NL again? Dave Roberts is aging fast, and is less of a threat in center. Oh yeah. The Giants have Barry Bonds.

4. Diamondbacks- Hey guys, you know Randy went to New York and starting pitching pretty awful at times. (Although not nearly as bad as Skip thought) We should give him a little over $9 mill this season and see if he can come off that back surgery even better than he used to be. Could someone have actually said that in the Arizona front office? My guess is apparently so. Sorry guys, the Padres knocked him around pretty good. Not a nice beginning. (ERA over 10) Find me someone in the bullpen worth writing about and I will. Most noticeably absent in the pen is a real closer. Orlando Hudson (2B) is swinging a hot bat. Eric Byrnes leads the team in homers with three, only 11 behind A-Rod for the major league lead. The D’backs are worse than they think they are. It should only take another three or four weeks until everyone knows it.

5. Rockies- Todd Helton has a decent average, and will probably keep it up there. Matt Holliday is swinging the biggest bat so far, and should continue the lead the team in most offensive categories. The rotation is crap. The bullpen is crap (for the most part) and Brian Fuentes is a mediocre closer at best. He would have a better chance at proving me wrong if the Rockies had the lead more- I understand that. It will take more than adding Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz to the pitching corp. to turn this persistently sinking ship around. Last season was the best ERA posted by the Rockies as a team ever (4.66). That is not a bad stat. Nonetheless I call bullshit and predict it to inflate to well over five by seasons end. Sorry Rockies fans, at least there is good beer in Colorado. Well, Coors Original is good anyway.