less than a week until opening day, gonna drop some futures in here.
st louis under 92' wins -115
st louis is gonna struggle with pitching, besides morris and kile (who had offseason surgery and maybe out for a few games early) they have no one very solid on their staff. stephenson is coming off elbow surgery, ankiel is hurt and still can't throw 3 strikes in 12 pitches and i cannot see woody williams coming even close to what he did last year when traded to st louis. andy benes has been shelled almost everynight he pitches.
starting rotation for cards from what i can see
1. morris
2. stephenson
3.williams
4.smith
5 kile (questionable) or benes
with this many ? in their pitching staff unanswered i have to play under. also j.d. drew has been hampered all spring by a bad knee and with big mac gone thats a big bat not to have. also i can see pujols coming back to reality and have a so-so year. tino martinez will have to adjust to national league pitching which will take awhile.
so i can see the cards struggling early hopefully just around .500 or worse the first 2 months.
houston over 86' wins -115
this is strickly a power play here, houston should be at the top in avg and runs this year. with alou gone we will finally see if ward can live up to the superstar tab he has had on him for a few years now. as he will get most of the playing time in lf. this kid is a potential 30/100 guy easily.with biggio,berkman,bagwell,hidlago and ward houston has power from top to the middle of their lineup. also their defense up the middle should improve greatly with adam everett replacing lugo at ss. he has won the starting spot for opening day and is an ozzie smith type ss. great range and fielding skills, his bat is a little suspect but he had a great spring batting .317.
of course with enron comes pitching problems but oswalt and miller pitched great at enron last year. hou bullpen is solid and they even upgraded it some in the offseason. dotel will still be a setup man and wagner the closer. hou bullpen last yr was 3.83 era 3rd best in nl and should be slightly better this year. the starting rotation has me a little worried but i like carlos hernandez to possibly solidify a spot in the rotation. right now i can see a rotation of
1.oswalt
2.miller
3.reynolds
4.milicki
5.redding or carlos hernandez
thinking is that milicki will move to the bullpen and hernadez will take his spot. also possible that hou could pull off a trade for orlando hernandez from the yanks. houston staff is not top notch but should be good enough. last year it was only 10th best in the n.l. (starting pitchers e.r.a.). and i cannot see oswalt duplicating the great year he had last year. but anything close would be good enough. miller and reynolds are solid. 4th and 5th starters are where i'm worried but that bullpen can makeup for alot of non quality starts.
look for the stro's to win around 95 games this year and possibly march on the w.s.
also like the florida marlins over 80 wins as that pitching staff is just awesome. but concerned about catcher johnsons thumb injury as he maybe out for awhile and i can't place money on someone else handiling this staff. a veteran catcher means alot to a young staff and johnson had handled them excellent so far. if he is out for only the first week it may warrant a wager but if it is much longer then that it will be a no play. will wait for more info he may be on d.l. to start season.
gl to all!!!
st louis under 92' wins -115
st louis is gonna struggle with pitching, besides morris and kile (who had offseason surgery and maybe out for a few games early) they have no one very solid on their staff. stephenson is coming off elbow surgery, ankiel is hurt and still can't throw 3 strikes in 12 pitches and i cannot see woody williams coming even close to what he did last year when traded to st louis. andy benes has been shelled almost everynight he pitches.
starting rotation for cards from what i can see
1. morris
2. stephenson
3.williams
4.smith
5 kile (questionable) or benes
with this many ? in their pitching staff unanswered i have to play under. also j.d. drew has been hampered all spring by a bad knee and with big mac gone thats a big bat not to have. also i can see pujols coming back to reality and have a so-so year. tino martinez will have to adjust to national league pitching which will take awhile.
so i can see the cards struggling early hopefully just around .500 or worse the first 2 months.
houston over 86' wins -115
this is strickly a power play here, houston should be at the top in avg and runs this year. with alou gone we will finally see if ward can live up to the superstar tab he has had on him for a few years now. as he will get most of the playing time in lf. this kid is a potential 30/100 guy easily.with biggio,berkman,bagwell,hidlago and ward houston has power from top to the middle of their lineup. also their defense up the middle should improve greatly with adam everett replacing lugo at ss. he has won the starting spot for opening day and is an ozzie smith type ss. great range and fielding skills, his bat is a little suspect but he had a great spring batting .317.
of course with enron comes pitching problems but oswalt and miller pitched great at enron last year. hou bullpen is solid and they even upgraded it some in the offseason. dotel will still be a setup man and wagner the closer. hou bullpen last yr was 3.83 era 3rd best in nl and should be slightly better this year. the starting rotation has me a little worried but i like carlos hernandez to possibly solidify a spot in the rotation. right now i can see a rotation of
1.oswalt
2.miller
3.reynolds
4.milicki
5.redding or carlos hernandez
thinking is that milicki will move to the bullpen and hernadez will take his spot. also possible that hou could pull off a trade for orlando hernandez from the yanks. houston staff is not top notch but should be good enough. last year it was only 10th best in the n.l. (starting pitchers e.r.a.). and i cannot see oswalt duplicating the great year he had last year. but anything close would be good enough. miller and reynolds are solid. 4th and 5th starters are where i'm worried but that bullpen can makeup for alot of non quality starts.
look for the stro's to win around 95 games this year and possibly march on the w.s.
also like the florida marlins over 80 wins as that pitching staff is just awesome. but concerned about catcher johnsons thumb injury as he maybe out for awhile and i can't place money on someone else handiling this staff. a veteran catcher means alot to a young staff and johnson had handled them excellent so far. if he is out for only the first week it may warrant a wager but if it is much longer then that it will be a no play. will wait for more info he may be on d.l. to start season.
gl to all!!!
