Conference: Liberty
Division: North
2009 Record: 103-59, 1st Place
Typical Lineup:
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B Skip Schumaker/Nick Punto
SS Erick Aybar/Nick Punto
3B Chipper Jones/Mark DeRosa
LF Lastings Milledge/Skip Schumaker
CF Marlon Byrd
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Jason Kendall/Ryan Hanigan
DH Hideki Matsui/Kyle Blanks
Youk, Chipper, Byrd, Aybar, and Matsui are a solid base, but there are some real sinkholes in there with Kendall, Milledge, Punto and Francoeur. It'll be difficult to keep all of those guys out of the lineup because of usage issues, which will severely detract from run production.
Starting Rotation:
Jered Weaver
Jeff Niemann
Doug Davis
Ricky Romero
Jose Contreras/Chad Gaudin
Rick VandenHurk/Dustin Nippert
Weaver is a borderline ace, and Niemann will be one soon, but the rest of the rotation is below average and will struggle mightily. The less Contreras pitches, the better, and there are some slightly better options.
Bullpen:
Kris Medlen
Brandon Morrow
Chad Gaudin
Dustin Nippert
Really thin and terrible. No lead is safe with this pen.
Closer:
Ramon Troncoso
Probably the league's worst.
Minors:
Ike Davis
Kyle Drabek
Jeremy Hellickson
Ryan Kalish
Angel Salome
Davis should be a viable option at 1B when Chipper retires and Youk moves to 3B. Drabek is on the fast track to the top of the Blue Jays rotation. and Hellickson will get his shot with the Rays this year. Kalish is a high-OBP guy that fits in well with the Red Sox prototype. Salome dropped behind Jonathan Lucroy in the Brewers catching depth chart, but still has some promise. The two excellent pitching prospects are especially sorely needed.
The Highlanders find themselves in a very deep hole after last year's superb showing. I'm projecting them to take the biggest fall, and to actually reverse their win and loss totals from last year. That may be overly harsh, but there are some really good teams in their conference, and their overall OPS and WHIP do not portend much success this year.
Predicted Record: 59-103
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