AL
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East- Boston
How do you pick against them? The pitching is always good, the hitting is always good, everything is always good. Can Ellsbury duplicate the success from last year’s postseason? Will Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester be able to hold down rotation spots for a majority of the season? Those aren’t bad questions to have because those are damn good players.
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Central- Detroit
The Tigers looked unstoppable at points last year, a year after they went to the World Series. Now a couple seasons removed, they’ve only upgraded on talent. While Dontrelle Willis was a solid pickup for the rotation (even though he struggled in spring training), getting Miguel Cabrera might be the best pickup of the off-season. I don’t see how anyone in the central can stick with the Tigers. Only the Tigers can beat the Tigers.
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West- Los Angeles
Losing Escobar for the season could be rough but this is virtually the same offense adding Torii Hunter. Hunter statistically has had the best two years of his career in ’06 and ’07 so he looks to continue down that road for now. As long as Weaver and Lackey hold down their spots, I think the Angels should be fine in the west.
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Wild Card- N.Y. Yankees
I was hoping A-Rod would land elsewhere this offseason just to make things interesting but he stayed. The Yankees are interesting pick here but I feel good with it because Joba Chamberlain will enter the rotation sooner than later and that’s a guy who could be a difference maker for the Yanks.
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ALCS- Detroit over Boston, in six games, Verlander dominates and the Tigers offense is just too tough.
 AL ROY- Francisco Liriano… oh wait he already played and dominated in ’06. It still seems like a dream to me! See my response to the NL ROY, I just can’t pick someone right now! Does Carlos Gomez apply?
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MVP- Miguel Cabrera – finally gets onto a team where his performance actually matters. It’ll be a monster one considering the great bats already around him.
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Cy Young- Justin Verlander, got a feeling this guy is going to dominate even more than he has in the past.
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East- New York
Are the Mets allowed to lose? Imagine the reaction from the fans and media if they don’t win? Holy crap, this is where I admit that it wasn’t worth the Twins giving Johan Santana the biggest contract to a pitcher ever. The expectations are mountain high now.
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Central- Cubs
This is kind of a “I can’t pick the Brewers.” Soriano is one of my favorite players to follow and with Kerry Wood looking finally healthy as the closer, this could be a good year for the Cubs.
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West- Arizona
The addition of Dan Haren makes this a scary team to face in the postseason. They’re a fun team to win that plays a lot of small ball, kind of reminds me of the Twins. Eric Byrnes is a gutsy player as well and supports my A) fun to watch and B) like the Twins. He seems like the ideal player on a hit and run team.
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Wild Card- Atlanta
Glavine is back, Smoltz is still around, what if Maddux ended up back in Atlanta? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
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NLCS- Mets over Diamondbacks. Again, the pressure of not winning is very high for the Mets but as long as they have most of their players healthy, they SHOULD win the NL.
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World Series:Â Tigers over Mets. Some of this could depend on who gets the home field advantage via the All-Star game. I think the Tigers win in seven for this one. Verlander over Santana in game seven.
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NL ROY-Kosuke Fukudome
The Cubs will make the playoffs and Fukudome has the media behind him on this one. It’s hard to pick rookie of the year anyways because most of the time some guy joins the team in May or June and provides a boost that is unreal.
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MVP- Alfonso Soriano
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   Cy Young- Johan Santana – technically he probably could have won the Cy Young the last four years probably. The NL only gets easier with facing pitchers and weaker offensive players.
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My Team: Minnesota Twins
Obviously going to be an interesting year with no Hunter in CF and no Santana every five days. Delmon Young should be able to cover Hunter’s hitting numbers eventually, maybe not this year but eventually. Young is someday going to be one of the top hitters in the league. Carlos Gomez could steal 50 bases so I’m glad we’re throwing him right into the fire. Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have become the three focal points for the offense and hopefully all three are able to do some damage as they will bat 2, 3 and 4 in the lineup. The bullpen has been one of the best in baseball for a handful of years and locking up Joe Nathan was a great move. Nathan and Mariano Rivera have the most saves among any two relievers in baseball over the past three years. Starting pitching will be the biggest question mark but the Twins are lucky because starting pitching is what the Twins organization is know for. With the return of Francisco Liriano (he’ll start the season in the minors for a couple more starts but finished spring training with games of 5 k’s and 7 k’s) Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Boof Bonser and veteran Livan Hernandez: that’s not a bad rotation, but it’s also just not necessarily proven. Baker and Slowey have been highly rated prospects for a longtime, Bonser lost some weight in response to questions about his durability and Hernandez replaces Carlos Silva a.k.a. “I will give up a lot of runs but eat a lot of innings.” (I’m sure he eats pleny of other things…things loaded in Trans Fat too –Paul M. Banks) Don’t be surprised if Hernandez gets traded at some point this season and Nick Blackburn becomes a mainstay in the rotation. All in all, I think the Twins manage a third place finish this year behind the Tigers and Indians again. The offense will improve from last year but the pitching will be inconsistent. The best news of all? Two more years in the Metrodome! The beautiful new stadium is making plenty of progress in downtown Minneapolis. Can’t wait for 2010!
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–Andy WeiseÂ
 
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AL
East- Boston
Beckett and Schilling need to get healthy or the Yankees can easily take the East, even though I don’t think New York’s starting rotation is anything to get too excited about.
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Central- Detroit
They’ve bought the right to win this division.
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West- Los Angeles
Love the Toriiiiiiiiiiii Hunter signing. They just need their starting pitching to get results and they should coast out West.
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Wild Card- New York
You know they will buy someone down the stretch to get into the post-season.
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ALCS- Detroit over Boston
NL
East- New York
Johan and Pedro… nuff said
Central- Cubs
I guess I’m on a starting pitching binge because I think the Cubs need to get another starter or the Brewers will be right on their heels. This race will likely go down to the wire again.
West- Dodgers
The power of Joe Torre…
Wild Card- Milwaukee
Getting it done the right way, developing players through the minors…
NLCS- Cubs over Crew
Total homer pick. Deal with it.
World Series: Detroit over Cubs
101 years…
NL ROY-Kosuke Fukudome
Fukodome Fever!!!
MVP- Ryan Braun
Cy Young- Dan Haren
Just because Johan is the obvious pick
AL ROY- Daric Barton
(He’s the A’s first baseman for those who don’t know.)
MVP- Vladimir Guerrero
(btw, ESPN’s Pedro Gomez picked Nick Swisher as his AL MVP choice… Really? I like bold, but c’mon)
Cy Young- Justin Verlander
Next steroid Bust: Andruw Jones. The new testing policies would explain why he all of a sudden sucks
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