Another long season ahead

[wombat_socho]

Well, I suppose it could be worse from a baseball perspective: I could be living in Kansas City, where the management seems to have completely forgotten the methods that made the Royals so great in the 1980s. Or North Korea. Which is kind of the same thing, from a baseball perspective. Still, I have to face facts, and the facts are that I'm cheering for two teams that have next to no offense, and in the case of the Nationals, damn little good pitching either. At least the Nats have an excuse, since they're still drifting without an owner and have to put up with one of the biggest idiots to ever fill a General Manager's chair as a result. The Twins? Not so much. Terry Ryan has a reputation as a competent GM, although after he turned down Corey Koskie for Tony Batista and left Jason Bartlett in Syracuse for another year, I find my doubts renewed. You can only blame so much on the legendary cheapness of Carl Pohlad, after all.

Anyway, Aaron Gleeman has a nice analysis of the team at the Hardball Times which seems to fit the consensus that we're going to finish third in the AL Central behind the rejuvenated Tribe and the Pale Hose, not necessarily in that order. I'm a little dubious about the consensus; I don't think all the young talent in Cleveland is going to perform as well folks think it well, and I don't think los Tigres are going to completely suck the way they have for the last decade and a half. The Royals, on the other hand...DOA. They could lose a hundred games. Again.

As for the Nats, well, they're in a tough division where the Mets and Phillies will be hitting them from one end of I-95 and the Braves will be doing likewise from the other end; the only soft spot in that division is the stripped-down Marlins, but I don't know if the Nationals have enough offense to dominate them and manage a 4th-place finish, especially after sending down their best center-field candidate, Ryan Church.

So...anyone up for a fantasy baseball draft this weekend? I hear Yahoo! has some leagues open...

Comments

I Feel Your Pain

[zippychik.livejournal.com]

Wombat,

I feel your pain, in addition to beinbg a Mets fan, I root for the Orioles in the American League -- talk about a hapless group. I guess that goes back to my childhood, watcing all those the Syracuse Chiefs vs. the Rochester Red Wings games (Rochester used to be the O's farm team). And of course my unending devotion to Cal Ripken contributed to my affection for this bunch of losers. The beginning of the 2005 season was a wild ride, but I was one of the fans who kept insisting that it would all fall apart by the All-Star break. Self-fufilling prophecy?

Anyway, I look forward to chatting baseball with you as the season progresses. Deathlok's a cool guy, but all he knows is hockey. --Zippy

Re: I Feel Your Pain

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

I remember when the O's used to be what the Yankees and Red Sox are now, the powerhouse of the AL East that always crunched my poor Senators. Yeah, I'm that old. @_@ So...wanna sign up for that fantasy league? Draft's at 10:30 your time. Don't cost nothin'. :)