Kearney's Baseball Predictions

Josh and Offord had already posted their predictions on Ngewo's World. Instead of taking up an enormous amount of space on one of his comment pages, I figured I'd share them with you guys on the pancake, and then you can go on and demean and berate my chosen opinions. I have a question first. How do you guys know who all the rookie's are to predict who will win the ROY, is there a list of who to watch somewhere because I cannot find one. So, I am going to leave that prediction off the list and just go with MVP and Cy Young winners.

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

I really believe that if healthy, the Red Sox are the best team in baseball. They are looking for bounce back years from 2 perennial all-stars and MVP candidates, and I can guarantee Pedroia and Youk will deliver. The Yankees have a tone of money invested into too much age. The Yankees collective birth certificates will catch up to them in the second half of the season and to be honest with you, their pitching is nothing to be desired. Their biggest addition was an aging late inning relief pitcher of whom their GM didn't even want! Plus all that contract disputing with Jeter I bet hurts them more than anyone realizes. The Rays will beat out the yankees by at least 5 games because they have what the Yankees do not have. A very talented young pitching staff that can still get it done despite trading away Garza and losing half of their champion-caliber team last year. They still have plenty of fire power to score some runs and I think Manny has 1 good season left so he can cash in on one last one-year contract next year before he calls it quits. The Blue Jays and Orioles are insignificant unless there is some division shuffling in the near future.

Insane Prediction: The Yankees will have a losing record within their own division and will have to battle with Tornto for the 3rd spot. Baltimore will be vastly improved this year, but it still is not enough as they break .500
Reasonable Prediction: A-Rod will have an MVP-type season, only to be beaten out by a team that actually makes the playoffs. I'm predecting A-rod goes 40+ HRs 110+RBI .310+AVE

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

The White Sox were my pick last year and they really let me down. This year things are looking up for that other Chicago team. And as exciting it may have been for the city to sign a big slugger to flick into the middle of their line up, the true excitement will come from a healthy Peavy. I really like the pitching of the White Sox and I think that is what will make the difference for them. The Tigers have a lot of options and can give all of their veterans plenty of rest when needed so I think they will stay fresher throughout the course of the season, but I still don't think it will be enough for them or anyone else in the division to make the playoffs this year. The Twins have too many question marks. Too many players returning from injuries or battling current injuries and they lost too much in their bullpen while trying to depend on the patch work, bionic-man Joe Nathan to throw in the late innings of ball games even if he doesn't have to close as often with Capps there. I also believe that their pitching over performed last year and their only saving grace will be Liriano who will be traded by the deadline. The Royals and Indians are the Pirates of the american league; it's just disappointing that they are both in one division.

Insane Prediction: The white sox will have the ROY and Cy Young; Adam Dunn becomes the bargain of the year when he hits a career high in 45+HRS and career low in strike outs 90-; The twins realizing they are out of the race for the playoffs trade Liriano to the Yankees for a certain catching prospect to make sure Mauer can actually play with those knees throughout the life of his contract.(maybe this should be in reasonable predictions?)

Reasonable Prediction: The Twins never get a good footing on the season because Morneau cannot get a handle on his concussion and Mauer has bad knees making him DH more and taking at bats away from Thome and Kubel; Neither the Indians or Royals lose 100 games

AL West
1.Anaheim Angels
2.Texas Rangers
3.Oakland Athletics
4.Seattle Mariners

I think I would put the Angels as the 2nd best team in the AL. They have terrific defense up the middle, especially with 3 center fielders in the outfield. They can get a nice rest when needed because Abreu could play a few games out there still to keep everyone fresh. Morales will come back and hit and their pitching on paper looks outstanding. Every single one of their pitchers have had some form of success in the big leagues, if they can tap into any of that this season they are going to be a team to reckon with. The only reason I have the Rangers ahead of the Athletics is because the Rangers are just going to out hit people...Again...this year. If you put the Rangers offense and the Athletics pitching together, you have the best team in baseball. Unfortunately for the Athletics their best acquisition (no not matsui) has been david Dejesus. I just feel bad for this guy. He goes from a small market no winning team to a...small market no winning team. I see him as the Charlie Brown of baseball right now. I think the Rangers are depending too much on Webb coming back to even a shadow of himself and I think it is going to bite them in the ass. The Rangers outfield gets nicked up too much throughout the season, borbon hasn't proven he can handle the mental strain of a full season and there will still be too much turmoil between Michael Young and the front office. The mariners...well, they have a Cy Young Pitcher!

Insane Prediction: Brandon Webb wins come back player of the year as he wins another Cy Young and signs on to a Cliff Lee deal with the Yankees at the end of the season; despite Webb's heroic efforts through the season the Rangers still give up a record amount of runs throughout the season and just miss the playoffs.

Reasonable Prediction: The Angels skate into the playoffs winning the division by more than 5 games, have 4 players rack up 100+RBI and 20+SBs and 3 pitchers with 200+ K's.(maybe this should be in Insane predictions)

AL MVP: Kevin Youkilis
AL Cy Young: Jared Weaver
AL Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays
ALDS: Red Sox defeat White Sox, Angels defeat Rays
ALCS: Angels defeat Red Sox

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

Everyone knows about the Phillies big pitching staff. They will have more strike outs this year than Cliff Lee has travelled miles between teams over the last 3 years; by the time this group dispands they will have more cy youngs than charlie sheen has porn stars living with him. The staff is good! I get it! They will win their respected division and then do nothing in the playoffs because everybody in their line up hits left handed and every team in the playoffs has a pitcher or 2 who can throw a shut out and strike out lefties. I do not understand why everyone is counting out the mets. Last year everybody on that team was either injured for some part of the season or had career lows in production. If anything changes for the better at any position for the Mets they will plow through the playoff when they make it this year. I think their pitching will be fine for 2 reason. 1. Capuano is going to make this club and he is going to pitch like the Capuano who struck out close to 200 guys and won 18 games for the Brewers a couple years ago in the pitchers friendly park and 2. They are only going to get better come mid-season because they will be getting Santana back. DO NOT COUNT OUT THE METS! The last 3 teams I think could be interchangeable. The only thing that seperates the braves from the other 3 is their proven veteran pitching and offensive potential with Heyward, Uggla, Jones and McLouth. But, the Braves NEED Nate and Chipper to produce to do anything this year. The Marlins have a MVP candidate in Ramirez and Cy Young caliber pitcher in Johnson. But the rest of their team I think is lacking. I am also curious to see how well Infante plays as a full time 2nd basemen. The nationals signed Jason Werth! The nationals will contend in 2013, not this year.

Insane Prediction: Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran are 20-20 and 30-30 guys respectively and Pagan and Reyes each steal 40+ bases leading the Mets to the Wild Card and the World Series.

Reasonable Prediction: The Phillies prove that last years drop in production was an aberration and when healthy they will put you into federal pound you in the ass prison as soon as they get some runs and their 4 aces are on the mound. Chase Utley wins a gold glove and the MVP.

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

I Like the Cubs this year for the NL Central. Their defense is something that they will be found wanting, but I think they overcome that and play just well enough to win this division. I like how they sured up their bullpen with Wood and their rotation with Garza who I believe is going to really help Big Z. In fact I think this may be the only club who knows what their starting rotation actually looks like, with some slight possibilities out there if need be. The do not really have any glaring holes in their line up and they evened it out with the signing of Carlos Pena. With Wainwright going down and Now Carpenter aging and having a nagging hamstring already, I think the Brewers pass them for the second best rotation in the Division. The biggest question for their rotation is can the guys they brought in pitch in the National League. I say yes, if they had any kind of success in the AL. This is Prince's last year with the team so he is going to playing with a chip on his shoulder this year and is going to be banging out some HRs. I think the only thing saving the Cardinals this year will be Pujols and some other offensive help from Holliday and it will end with him getting a 25+ million dollar a year contract with the team by the end of the year, otherwise I think the Cardinals are nothing special. The Reds are going to be this years Mets. A few of the guys are going to have a year worse than last year (Votto and Arroyo) and Their pitching will under perform as much as they over performed last year. I Also think the fact that they really are not sure what they want to do with Chapman is going to hurt them. Alright, the Pirates in 4th is really my wishful thinking. I like what we bring to the table offensively, but I am really nervous about the pitching. However, Hurdle likes what he see so far, so that should be a good sign, right? As far as the Astros go...I just feel bad for Hunter Pence.

Retarded Prediction: The Pirates lead the NL in runs scored and team batting average. They also have 2 gold glove winners in McCutchen and Overbay and lead the NL is Stolen Bases, helping the team to not only a winning record but a game out of the Wild Card.

Insane Prediction: Pujols wins another MVP by FINALLY belting 50+ HRs and gets his 30 MIL a year with some team next year even if it isn't the Cardinals.

Reasonable Prediction: The NL Central becomes the most competitive division in baseball and the Pirates have more than just 1 player representing them in the All-Star Game.

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

Besides the store bought staff of the Phillies, this is the best in baseball, and its home grown. Call me an environmentalist, but I prefer home grown. I also believe their offense is going to be better this year too. Everyone is coming around healthy (DeRosa and possibly Sanchez) and in better shape (panda). I also have to say its not bad when your #5 pitcher is making 15 million a year. The rockies are going to light up score boards this year, but beyond Jimenez they don't have a ton of pitching help. I think it could end up being a toss up between the Padres and Dodgers. The only reason I have the dodgers 3rd is because they have the better offense with decent pitching. The padres have no offense and their strongest part of their team, their bullpen, is always suspect. Relief pitching is the toughest to predict year in and year out. Though I do believe that Latos is a future Cy Young award winner, maybe even this year. The Diamondbacks get the curse of Zach Duke, enough said.

Insane Prediction: Carlos Gonzalez goes for the 40-40 and wins MVP with his buddy Troy coming in at a close 2nd with his 35 HRs, 120 RBI and .320 AVE.

Reasonable Prediction: The NL West will have the best pitching in the NL and will be known as the Losing Their Virginity Division: Fast and boring(with the exception of Rockie home games).

NL MVP: Chase Utley
NL Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano
NL Wild Card: New York Mets
NLDS: Cubs defeat Phillies, Mets defeat Giants
NLCS: Cubs defeat Mets
World Series: Angels defeat Cubs
Pirates Record: 84-78

Yes, Plenty of my predictions are reather outlandish...just go with it. You're all going to be pissing your pants when you see I'm right!