The Workermonkey

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/26/2006 05:27:00 PM

St. Louis Cardinals; pujols pujols pujols. Stay out of his way or he might hit you 400 feet. This guy is mashing right now and should finish the season with a ton of home runs. Rolen needs to get on and stay on the field this year. There is a lot of talent on the roster but there are more holes then last year. They finally let reggie sanders go, a good move but replaced him with perpetual mediocrity in juan encarnacion. Not a bad flyer on sidny ponson, he was a good starter once, and all he has to do is pitch a little better and he’ll be very productive in the NL. Pitching outside the AL east is much easier, even if he does the exact same thing this year, his ERA will be a run lower simply by switching leagues. This team isn’t going to run away with the devision this year but they will still win it. Mulder and carpenter are going to be a solid one-two and there are enough live arms around to keep them in pitching. They need some young blood on this team and from what I’ve read their farm system is devoid of useful players. Jim edmonds might just explode on the field if he hits the wall at the right angle this year. Props to rick ankiel who made this team as a backup outfielder. Anyone remember when he was the next great hitting pitcher? Well now he’s a little pop outfielder after giving up on the mound. The cards also have the good molina at catcher. There are enough super stars here to keep them going into the playoffs, their lack of depth and replacement players is going to hurt them at some point.

Houston Astros; if clemens is coming back, it isn’t with this team. He wants to win, which means this year, and if huston isn’t running away with the division at the ASB then he’ll go anywhere else. Finally, bagwell is done. It’s not that I didn’t like him, he was just way past due. It was painful for me to watch him throw a ball. If this was the american league, he’d still be playing as a DH for at least this year and maybe next. It’s a sad day for huston fans but it’s overdue and the team is better for it. This lets berkman move to first and save his knees so they don’t face the same situation with him in a year or two. Biggio is and will always be the same, but his production is going to drop off real fast some day. Oswalt, Backe and Pettit round out a nice little staff and this team has a few young guys like willy tavares that are the future. The problem with this team is that they have a bunch of guys who would be decent stopgaps for other teams, but huston realies on them to be everyday players. Ausmus proved years ago he can’t hit, mike lamb, adam everett and chris burke could all be replaced with better alternatives. This teaem isn’t bad and they seem like they are willing to make those inseason trades to better the club. They finish second, but its not a close one for the wilidcard, all the teams in this division are going to keep eachother down. This is a tough devision to play in and because it has 6 teams, your line up really needs to be built to compete with the other teams in the division. Expect this spot to be close with the team that finishes third and fourth.

Milwakee Brewers; oh yeah, this team is for real, and they’ve done it right and set themselves up to be good for a long time. this team makes KC, Pitt, tampa and anyother “small market” team that is struggeling look really retarded. They started over and it only took a few years to get to where they wanted to be. Not 5 different useless “3 year plans” like some organizations employ (cough…pittsburg…cough). Let prince fielder play and he’ll be better than his father. They got guys like JJ hardy coming up and a bunch of kids who are going ot be productive. Their bullpen came out of nowhere last year and did fantastic, anyone ever hear of derik turnbrow? Well he was the reason they had a good pen, that and they proved once and for all you don’t need to spend a million on anyone to mop up games. Releivers have up and down years and each year is different from the next. This team has its good young pitchers too. Ben sheets, doug davis, capuano and I don’t know the other guys but they could be good, they’ll win some games and won’t be let down by the bulpen. Ricki weeks, jj hardy and prince fielder will occupy the infield for years and is a solid core to build around, plus they have gabe gross in the OF who could turn into something good in the NL. Corey koskie, carlos lee (who is going to hit like crazy for them again) rick helling, tomo ohka and dan kolb (ugh) aren’t going to be around when this team is great, but they will fill in until all the parts are in place and they start signing some impact players to compete. They’ll win games and be apain in the ass for most people, but they are going to make a lot of rookie mistakes too. They finish 2^nd or gasp! 1^st next year. Almost time for them.

Chicago Cubs; ugh. Until dusty baker leaves town they will never win. He destroys their pitchers and plays terrible players (nefi perez anyone?). This team wasn’t getting any higher in the standing even with derik lee all year. Jaque jones wasn’t the answer to their hitting woes and barrett is a fine cather. They have some good kids playing this year, but only by default because dusty is a retard. I’m sure he’ll screw them up too. Guys like maddux and carlos zambrano make dusty look good, but they are good inspite of him, not because. Zambrano could win the cy young any year and maddux seems to be young again. This is going to be a very long summer for cubs fans. I’ve seen some great articals about how when the white sox win, and the cubs loose, each team makes giant strides in fanbase and money generated. Kind of interesting but if they suck this year, it might do some great harm to the franchise because the white sox aren’t going away yet. I’d go on with more about this team but no one cares at this point.

Cincinnati Reds; a lot of good things here to go with the bad. Tony womack? They gave the yankees two B level prospects for this? As I’m writing this, I know tony womack has already been designated for assignment and his season is over unless the entire infiled dies in a horrible plane crash. Hatteberg shouldn’t be allowed I the batters box or to wast time at first where Dunn should be. Kearns, dunn and brandon philips are going to hit a lot and griffy would too if he plays. Griffy is his own arguemet and needless to say, I just feel bad for him, I wish he could be healthy again. Let ryan freel move all over the place, his worth is like posedniks and chone figgins. This pitching staff is built to pitch in a park that doesn’t give up a ton of home runs, yet The great american bal park is a homer haven. Milton and the rest are going to give up a ton of home runs. Getting arroyo from the sox was a good move, he’ll do well when not pitching at home. This team has been able to hit for awhile now with little to no pitching, they are always in search of a good pitcher. Getting arroyo for pena was what they wanted, although I though they could do better. If they find a pticher midseason, they could jump up the standing. The 2-5 spots in this division are going to be close all year.

Pittsburg Pirates; I’m taking the KC royals path here. If the team/organization doesn’t care about this franchise, why should i. sean casey was a good pick up, but burnitz? Did someone black out and forget what he’s done, not just last year, but his entire career? What a joke. Plus joe randa? What, two years of uselessness weren’t enough? They have some chips, like abunch of young lefty’s and jason bay/jack wilson but its going to take a lot more here then just them, plus they are still alll too young. This team is going to get killed this season because the rest of the division is just plain better.

The Workermonkey

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

NL Central

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/26/2006 05:27:00 PM

Blog Lore

Poll

News

Comics

Sports

Culture

Blogs Of Note

Archives