National League and World Series

NL East: Mets in a landslide. The Braves are not much improved. The Phillies define mediocrity every year. The Nationals are rebuilding. The Marlins will put up a fight despite a payroll less than Alex Rodriguez yearly salary. Mets win by at least ten games and the Marlins stay in the Wild Card hunt until the very end.

NL Central: I never liked the Cardinals, they are just a boring team. Houston lost Pettite and Clemens look for a rough year with them. Pittsburgh is just blah. The Cubbies have a new manager and a new center fielder they will be up there. Cincinatti stays the same. Milwaukee has some good pitching and could surprise. Six mediocre teams in the NL Central Cardinals, Cubs, or Brewers all could make a case. I guess the defending champs take it.

NL West: Another bad division in baseball. Los Angeles looks the best with the addittion of Schmidt and such. The Giants are taking some of Barry Bonds drugs as they gave seventeen million per for a pitcher. Colorado and Arizona both stay the same. San Diego makes the wild card with a decent showing this year. LA for the win!

Round 1:
Mets Vs. Padres
The stacked Mets sweep the poor little Padres.
Cardinals Vs. Dodgers
Semi-Stacked Dodgers roll through the Cardinals.

Round 2:
Mets Vs. Dodgers
In a close series the Mets will pull away. They deserved it last year and will finally get it this year.

World Series:
Sox vs. Mets
1986 all over again. This will go to seven games as well. Schilling will once again lead the Sox to glory on his last game. A close series with a lot of drama.

The American League

The season is a breif three months away and its time to start thinking about how the season will unfold.

American League East: It will be close and if the Red Sox do end up with a solid closer they should have enough pitching to overcome the Yankees. My predicition: For the first time since 1995 the Sox overtake the Yankees in the AL East. (Keep in mind this has been my same prediction since 1995) Blue Jays finish above .500 in a distant third. Orioles and Devil Rays fight it out for 4th and 5th. Yankees make the wildcard.

AL Central: Twins wont have Liriano for a while due to elbow surgery so they will depend on young Matt Garza to fill in and add to a staff already with the best pitcher in the baseball. There is not much to like here. The White Sox dismantled and I am still bitter about them sweeping the Red Sox back in '05. The Royals, well, are still the Royals. The Indians are a team that could be over .500. Safest pick would be the Twins for the division and the third seed in the playoffs.
Edit: Oops i forgot the Tigers. Clearly better than anyone in the division. Tigers for the win in the division.

AL West: The A's got rid of Zito, the Mariners failed to do much, they both take steps back. The Rangers stay where they are. The Angels added some offense and should end up finding a way back to the playoffs. When it comes down to who wins the AL West, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the win!

Round 1: Sox Vs. Tigers:
Sox end up winning homefield advantage due to their pitching. Face the number 3 seed twins because they cant play the Yankees since they are in the same division. Sox end up winning in 4 games. David Ortiz comes through in the clutch for the 247043057th time.
Yankees vs. Angels:
Angels historically have the Sox's number but I just cant pass up predicting anoth Sox Yanks clash. Yanks squeeze it out in 5.

Round 2: Sox vs. Yankees:
Its going to happen. Everyone knows it..The AL is weak this year and it would be sad to see any other team but these two in the ALCS. Naturally again it will go down to 7 games. Curt Schilling once again in his final year brings the Sox to victory and George Steinbrenner throws a fit. Sox in 7.

World Series Prediction to follow....

The Rise....and Fall of Keith Charles Foulke

Recently Keith Foulke signed a deal with the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately, I was the only one within Red Sox Nation to see him go. In my humble opinion, Keith Foulke was one of the most important players and personalities on the team and without him we would have seen a different team win the 2004 Series. For those who don't know about Keith Foulke he signed a deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2004 season after spending time with the Athletics. He had faced the Athletics in the divisional series and struggled due to back issues but the Red Sox viewed him as one of the top closers in the league nonetheless. They signed him to a 4 year deal although it could have been voided after the third year had certain circumstances arrived. Foulke flat out dominated in 2004 and was a force in the playoffs and led the Red Sox to the title. The honeymoon shortlty ended after a troubling 2005. Knee problems dropped his velocity and he was ineffective. The media and public started to get on him and were angered by his personality which they thought was rude. After blowing a 3 run lead to the Indians in July, Foulke was asked about his string of poor performances. He responded "It does not matter to me what Johnny from Burger King thinks..."He had associated Red Sox Nation with a bunch of middle aged low intelligent food service workers. Later that week it was discovered that he needed surgery on both knees and his season was basically over. He went off away from the team and got away from all the heat he had took. There was optimism for 2006 but that was quickly erased when on the second game of the season, the first opportunity for a save, number 29 did not enter the game. Instead number 58, Jonathon Papelbon slammed the door and became the closer, not necessarily a bad thing. Foulke became almost a forgotten man and due to injuries did not contribute much in his last season with the team. After the offseason began he quickly left to Cleveland where he took much less money than had he kept to his deal with the Sox. Keith Foulke was one of my favorite players ever to wear a Red Sox uniform. His personality and opinions were always enjoyable and he was absolutely lights out in 2004. Maybe he will resurface with the Indians and relive his glory days. If not, I'm sure gonna miss number 29.

A Really Really Good Idea....I Hope

The signing of Daisuke Matsuzaka to a six year 51 million dollar deal although with the posting fee a total of 103 million. Matsuzaka is the a national icon in Japan. He is only 26 and in his prime and the question is how he'll adjust to the American League East. Its a rarity that you can get a young picture in his prime on the open market without depleting your farm system. People think that he can become one of the top pitchers in the league. If so, in an age where a highly overrated Barry Zito is getting 126 million dollars this could be the ultimate bargain. If not he follows the footsteps of Hideki Irabu and Hideo Nomo into mediocrity. For the sake of the Redsox overtaking the evil empire known as the New York Yankees, lets hope this ends up being one of the greatest bargains of our time. Watch out, the gyroball is coming to a stadium near you!

A REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA

Barry Zito just recently recieved a mega-contract of 7 years and 18 million dollars per year! That is an insane total of 126 million dollars. The last time that amount was spent it was on the likes of Kevin Brown and Mike Hampton. How are they doing now? Brown reached a level of mediocrity after his deal and is retired. Meanwhile, Mike Hampton is not even pitching due to Tommy John surgery yet he is still receiving well over 10 million dollars per year. Sure Barry Zito will help the Giants in the competitive NL West. What doesn't help the Giants is that the rest of their team is fossilized led by the immobile Barry Bonds. I give this deal only a couple of years before the Giants deeply regret it. Scott Boras, you have ruined baseball once again...

Joel Piniero?

Recently the Boston Red Sox signed Joel Piniero to a contract with the intention of naming him their closer. This is the same Piniero that has been a failed starter ever since getting hurt several years back. Somehow, I still believe this is an important and significant signing. The closer position in baseball is extremely overrated in the league and is used by agents in order to drive up salaries. In reality, if you can't come in and keep a 3 run lead in the ninth you should get out of the league. Sure, there is a mental aspect of it but most relievers can do an adequate job if given the chance. This is the Red Sox thinking outside the box here. Piniero once showed as much promise as anyone and was decent in a brief relief stint last year. If healthy he could air it out for an inning at a time and rack up some saves for the Red Sox pen. Sure hes not John Papelbon, and unless your willing to sacrifice your whole farm team and future, nobody will be. There is a chance he could become a good closer in this league. If not, then the Sox have stockpiled enough relievers to find someone to get the job done. Either way I have a feeling this signing will work out.

Introduction

This will be a blog about Major League Baseball. This blog will cover all of the league but there will be a heavy emphasis on the American League East because that is the center of the baseball world. The 2007 season is only a few months away and the American League East race will be the tightest ever with both the Red Sox and Yankees retooling in the offseason. There will be plenty of other things to look forward to seeing such as how bad will the Bary Zito signing will look and how long it will take for Barry Bonds to get busted for steroids. Who will dominate this year and will Miguel Cabrera eventually become baseballs next 200 million dollar man?