I was all ready to pop off about your pick of the Cards: they are overrated, aging, etc., etc. My pet has been the Brewers, mostly on the strength of a surprise breakout year by Bill Hall last year. But damned if you aren't right about the Brewers' mediocrity: when Suppan is your ace, you're in trouble. That said, I do expect to see either Mench or Jenkins (my guess is Jenkins) get traded for some pitching, so they will become marginally better.
The NL Central is a mess. Houston? Sad. St. Louis? Lucky. Cincinnati? Blah. Chicago? Can you subtraction by addition? The only good thing Marquis brings to the plate is his bat! I like Pittsburgh to improve, and maybe challenge St. Louis, but in the end LaRussa will still come off looking good, simply by virtue of being in a weak division.
I'm not even going to touch this one. You just keep thinking about the AL, Butch, that's what you're good at.
Ha. Thought I might hear from you . . .
Jim Hendry better hope the Cubs finish higher than third as you predict, or else his ass is fired. I still shake my head at the Soriano contract, but it isn't surprising that he's overpaid. When will GMs ever learn?
I don't think the Astros will make second place unless Clemens comes back. Oswalt is great and Jennings is underrated, but the rest of the rotation is sucky and they still run Brad Ausmus out there every day. At least Adam Everett is a legit Gold Glove SS--Ausmus is just terrible all over.
If Ben Sheets stays healthy, the Brewers have a chance. I'd hate to have to put all my eggs in that basket.
Just to be sure, you do mean that the Reds will have to off-set the loss of production from Aurilla, right? He's on the Giants now.
That, or I could be a moron. Take your pick.
Good Grief, it's hard to care about any of these teams -- NL Central or West. A rising tide of mediocrity floating all bad teams' playoff hopes. In the AL, you have to build a 90-plus-win team to have a chance at the postseason. In the NL, all you need is a break-even team and a little luck.
Re: Adam Wainwright... a young pitcher who's been a starter throughout his minor-league career, thrust into the closer's role out of sheer desperation, excels in said role, then gets moved to the rotation. Faintly reminiscent of Papelbon, no? (Except the move makes even more sense for the Cards, who are desperately short of starting pitching.)
And I agree with the moves in both cases: if Wainwright and Papelbon can succeed as starting pitchers, they are much more valuable to their teams in that role -- no matter how good they are at closing.
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