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Midseason Report Card

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

Let’s take a quick look at how my preseason predictions look halfway through the season. I’ll be patting myself on the back for some, but other mistakes deserve me taking some accountability.

My Prediction – NL West
1. San Diego Padres
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Francisco Giants
5. Colorado Rockies

Current Standings
1. San Diego Padres
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. Colorado Rockies
5. San Francisco Giants

Comments: Looks pretty good. The Giants are even worse than I imagined, but the resigning of Brian Sabean may be good news for my hopeful fourth place finish, since he has no foresight and is doubtful to be much of a seller.

My Prediction – NL East
1. New York Mets
2. Atlanta Braves (Wild Card Winner)
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

Current Standings
1. New York Mets
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

Comments: “Man I’m tired of being right!” In all seriousness, I’m still worried about Philly, and the Dodgers currently sit ahead of the Braves in the wild card standings. John Smoltz and Chipper Jones need to stay relatively healthy for my forecast to come to fruition, but big second halves from Andruw Jones and Brian McCann are strong possibilities.

My Prediction – NL Central
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Houston Astros
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

Current Standings
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Chicago Cubs
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Houston Astros
6. Cincinnati Reds

Comments: Not so good. The Brewers are legit, and the breakout shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise, but I can at least partially blame my Cardinals’ erroneous prognostication on the Chris Carpenter injury. Despite many holes with the team, I still wouldn’t rule out some sort of run during the second half in St. Louis.

My Prediction – AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Oakland A’s
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Texas Rangers

Current Standings
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Oakland A’s
4. Texas Rangers

Comments: Most put the Rangers ahead of the Mariners and some even had the team in front of Oakland, so I’m glad I was onto Seattle’s improvement, although I expected Felix Hernandez to be a much bigger part of it. The Angels are awesome, and the A’s are a second half team year in and year out.

My Prediction – AL East
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox (Wild Card Winner)
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Current Standings
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Comments: Getting the top two teams wrong wasn’t so bad, but having the discrepancy between the two be so great sure makes it so. I’ll admit it, my steadfast stance on the Yankees still making the wild card is becoming tenuous because it’s going to be awfully tough to pass the Indians.

My Prediction – AL Central
1. Cleveland Indians
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Kansas City Royals

Current Standings
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City Royals

Comments: This one really irritates me, as I debated long and hard on whom to place second, either the Tigers or White Sox. In the end, I was dead wrong, as there is a decent chance that Chicago even finishes in last behind Kansas City this season, as they will be sellers at the deadline while K.C. continues to only improve as their young talent does. The Tigers currently look like the best team in baseball, weak bullpen be damned. The best lineup in the league combined with a rotation featuring Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Kenny Rogers and emerging Andrew Miller is unfair. Detroit and Boston are the two likeliest teams to win the World Series this season.

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11 responses to “Midseason Report Card”

  1. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Pretty solid on the predictions. I’m really worried about the A’s 2nd half this year, as most of their pitchers have a lot of regressing to the mean to do, and I don’t think their health is going to improve that much (other than Street). I just don’t see it happening, and I think the whole Milton Bradley designation is really going to hurt them…and frankly, it still kind of ticks me off. I think them giving away arguably their best hitter and OF’er was a major mistake. If he’s healthy he plays, if not he sits…their only chance to sniff the wild card was with a healthy Bradley (and probably Harden), so why forfeit that chance so early? I just don’t get it, and I think for the first time I can remember, the A’s will be sellers.

    The Sabean signing is interesting too…have to give him credit for keeping the Giants in quasi-contention for so long, but have to knock him for his complete lack of foresight; though having Cain/Lincecum/Sanchez/Lowry is going to be nice for a while.

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – I agree, I’m not too bullish on Oaktown’s second half this year – for once. I’m all for malcontents, but clearly there’s more to the Bradley story – he had to have done something. But I’m with you, why just give away such a talent? Blanton and Haren are due to regress like you said, and the back end of the rotation is in flux. Harden is done. What are your thoughts on the Piazza issue? He clearly cannot catch, but Cust leads the team in homers and has like a .960 OPS. He can’t play D either. I think they should shop Piazza around, personally. But then again, this is coming from a Cust owner in my fantasy leagues.

    I hate the Sabean re-signing. Don’t reward mediocrity. And he’s a terrible fit for a rebuilding team. I might just have to write an article on how bad this decision is.

  3. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    By the way, did you end up doing that Hughes/Upton for Crawford deal? I guess the main thing would be whom would you be keeping Hughes (R. Hill types) over as far as your other hitters are concerned?

  4. randy Avatar
    randy

    been trying to deal artest, not gettig enough for him, so my next option is to thik about trading gilbert arennas , because in my keeperleague i won last year and to meet our cap rules i have to trade down some———-so is there a pg to trade arensas for that has big upside and get somebody with him—————-thanks randy

  5. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    They have to trade Piazza; Cust shows more power at a fraction of the cost. Even if he’s not 100% Piazza’s equal, the fact that he’s so much cheaper and under control for several years, it makes a ton more sense to keep him and try to get a prospect or two to help re-stock their depleted farm system. I didn’t do the Crawford deal, and the other guy actually balked after offering it, saying that he thought Upton would put up Crawford-type numbers next year. I like Upton, but like most, expect that BA to come crashing down soon. I think I’m going to start shopping around Pence, as we have BB’s as an offensive cat, and he’s not walking at all and has a crazy BABIP. The Harden thing just makes me sad, as an A’s fan, fantasy player, and baseball fan. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun watching a pitcher when he was on than with him. Reading quotes from opposing batters after some of his games was just awesome; Richie Sexson talking about “ghost pitches” and stuff. I just hope he figures it out sometime.

    The weird thing about the Bradley saga, is all stories point to there being no more to the story. They didn’t think he’d be happy not being a full-time starter, and for some reason, felt there was a strong need to get the other mediocre OF’ers plenty of playing time. I don’t even want to think about it anymore…if it wasn’t for Buck looking half-way decent, Guadin looking like he could be a respectable 4th starter, and Cust becoming the master of the 3 true outcomes (I thought Swisher was going to do that, but he forgot how to hit HR’s!), I’d be really depressed about the A’s these days.

    I’m sure your focus was on blog-writing while you were in Sin City, but in case you partook in any of the night life, were you lucky enough to go to Tao? Went there a couple weeks ago, and it was pretty damn impressive.

  6. randy Avatar
    randy

    me again, or i could do the same with chris bosh, but really would like to hang on to him————so open for some ideas————–thanks

  7. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Randy – Not sure of a point guard worth Arenas, except maybe Nash. What about Chris Paul or Deron Williams? They should be cheaper, and they are even younger too. You wouldn’t be losing TOO much valuewise there. Other than that, you should be making sure you get at least two guys in return.

    I’m not sure about your team needs, but I can understand you wanting to keep Bosh, especially if he’s C-eligible in your league. Hope that helps, let me know of any specific offers you get/or are thinking of throwing out.

  8. randy Avatar
    randy

    well i did trade artest for harrington, i hated it also but now iam under my cap and i have c. bosh, a. harrington, josh smith, gerald wallace,gilbert renas, gerald green, a. bynum, tim thomas, rashad mccants, kwame brown, but i want to move harrington for a pf type player any ideas, one player iam wondering what you think of is tryus thomas, what ya think————-thanks

  9. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    I like Ty Thomas – I almost put him on that breakout list I came up with – but the problem is the logjam at that PF position in Chicago. Still, 1.1 BPG in just 13 minutes per game is pretty crazy. In the four games he started last year, he averaged 3.5 blocks, so the potential is def. there. Some recent knee tendinitis is of some concern, and I’m not too confident he’ll get much more than 20 mpg next season, but pretty much opportunity is the only thing holding him back right now. I like his upside more than Harrington’s, it’s just that it may take 1-2 more years for him to begin to tap into it. His offensive game is still quite raw.

    While you may have lost some value in the Artest/Harrington deal, it makes sense b/c of the cap thing, and I’d much rather give up Artest than Bosh or Arenas.

  10. Jakob Avatar
    Jakob

    This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title Midseason Report Card. Thanks for informative article

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