Featuring Colin Hecht & Trevor Utley
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Featuring Colin Hecht & Trevor Utley
By Trevor Utley Since yesterday's technological mishap, I've become incredibly paranoid about writing this piece again. In fact, this is being typed in a word document and also being transferred onto a NotePad. The computer NotePad not pen and paper, yet some of you know my affinity for writing every inane detail down. To avoid the near psychological break I underwent yesterday, I am just going to combine all five articles into little blurbs and be done with it. Opening Day's already come and gone so you already know who's down what and where with the four teams left. I've already been proven way off base with some of my other 26 previews. Without further adieu, or catastrophic mental meltdown, the top four of 30 Teams In Under 30 Days as well as our picks for the 2015 MLB awards, pennants, and World Series champions. #4- Los Angeles Dodgers: My beloved boys in blue are the class of the NL West. They'll win the division going away and showed yesterday that they have a pretty damn resilient team even with that pesky Matt Kemp going all ghost of Christmas past on them. I swear to you I had Jimmy Rollins listed as an All-Star before that three run home run gave me a chub in the middle of my weeping. In the end, how far the Dodgers will advance will depend on whether or not old #22 can stop being #2 come postseason. LAST YEAR'S RANKING: #3 (DOWN 1) PREDICTED RECORD: 94-68 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Clayton Kershaw (starting pitcher), Zack Greinke (starting pitcher), Adrian Gonzalez (first baseman), Jimmy Rollins (shortstop), Yasiel Puig (outfielder) #3- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: They may have lost on Opening Day, but it was to King Felix so don't read too much into it. The Angels flipped the switch in the middle of last year and I think it will have a carry-over effect into 2015. Mike Trout will probably finish Top 3 on the AL MVP ballot for the next ten years barring a contraction of Ebola or a fling with a Kardashian. Garrett Richards will be even better than last year when he recovers from surgery. It is World Series or bust this year. Scroll down to see if I busted them or not. LAST YEAR'S RANKING: #9 (UP 6) PREDICTED RECORD: 95-77 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Mike Trout (outfielder), Garrett Richards (starting pitcher), Albert Pujols (first baseman), Huston Street (relief pitcher) #2- Baltimore Orioles: We all slept on the Orioles last year and all ended up looking like fools. If I am going to look like a fool, I'd rather it be because I overrated a team rather than underestimating them. The Orioles have already started their baseball bashing ways and none of yesterday's three homers even came from Chris Davis or Adam Jones. There is a good chance when you drafted your fantasy baseball team, you bypassed every Oriole outside of the aforementioned duo or Manny Machado. The Orioles will be living the real life fantasy though as they cruise to the division title once again. LAST YEAR'S RANKING: #19 (UP 17) PREDICTED RECORD: 95-77 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Adam Jones (outfielder), Travis Snider (outfielder), Zach Britton (relief pitcher) #1- Washington Nationals: By process of elimination you knew this was going to be Washington. Everybody picked Washington. Why should my dumb ass be any different? They have an All-Star team for a starting rotation. They have a dynamic lineup. They also trotted out Dan Uggla as their Opening Day second baseman. The Giants had Dan Uggla on their team last season. The Nationals are winning the World Series. LAST YEAR'S RANKING: #6 (UP 5) PREDICTED RECORD: 98-64 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Max Scherzer & Stephen Strasburg & Jordan ZImmermann & Doug Fister (starting pitchers), Bryce Harper (outfielder), Ian Desmond (shortstop) 2015 BLEEDING YOUR COLORS AWARD WINNERS AND PENNANT SELECTIONSThanks to all that came along for another journey through the 30 Major League teams in under 30 days time. Special thanks to Josh Souza, Colin Hecht (even though he picked an ineligible ROY in Mookie Betts), Matt Sieczkiewicz, Andrew daSilva, and Andrew Sanford (who picked Joe Kelly for all he could) for making picks. Give those fine gentlemen a follow on Twitter. Check back throughout the 2015 Major League Baseball season for more from me, and hopefully others, here on Bleeding Your Colors. PLAY BALL! Image Credits: All team logos (sportslogos.net); Trout, Kelly, Hernandez, Kershaw, Cueto, Puig, Stanton, McCutchen, Kluber, Soler, Bryant, Lindor, Betts, Sanchez, Harper, Scherzer (espn.com); Souza Jr. (statliners.com); Rodon (southsideshowdown.com); Francona (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com); Gibbons (jaysjournal.com); McClendon (seattlepi.com); Maddon (thebiglead.com); Williams (pixshark.com) By Trevor Utley A great deal of hullabaloo was made about everything that the Cubs did this offseason. Jon Lester this. Joe Maddon that. Don't sleep on what the South Siders did this offseason. General manager Rick Hahn has slowly built up his farm system as well as signing cost effective, yet productive, free agents. It is just a shame that the White Sox play in the stacked AL Central. The Royals, Indians, and Tigers will take enough out of them to keep them on the outside looking in come October again. Unlike last year though, the view of the postseason won't be as far away. Jose Abreu's first season in the Majors exceeded expectations as he won Rookie of the Year and finished fourth in the American League MVP voting. A .317 average, MLB best .581 slugging percentage, 36 home runs, and 107 RBI make the 6 year, $68 million contract he signed look damn unfair. He can only get better this year as the talent around him improved. Adam LaRoche's signing will allow Abreu more chances to DH. LaRoche won't probably get much run against left handers but he's a valuable bat to have in the American League. Micah Johnson provides an upgrade at second base over the recently brought back Gordon Beckham. Johnson has displayed both a penchant for hitting for average as well as an ability to steal bases in bunches in the Minors. Shortstop Alexei Ramirez is in a contract year (the team has a 2016 option) so he'll be looking to score a long term deal. The Cuban Missile won his second Silver Slugger in 2014 and stole 20+ bases for a third straight season. Third base is the least flashy with Conor Gillaspie. He's a below average fielder but does enough with the bat to warrant his spot over the previously mentioned Beckham. Emilio Bonifacio is an under the radar signing as he is a super utility guy who could give a much needed day off to any of the four infield spots as well as the outfield. Tyler Flowers will remain as catcher in 2015. He had his highest batting average in 2014, but that was only a measly .241. He'll hit for power, but he doesn't get on base nearly enough for an everyday player. I expect the front office to look for a replacement in the trade market or see if they can get a couple useful months out of former NL Rookie of the Year Geovany Soto. The White Sox are hoping their outfield can stay upright as that is the spot where they lack depth. Melky Cabrera spurned a return to Toronto to sign a 3 year, $42 million pact with the ChiSox. We all know Melky like-a-da-woman, but he has also like-a-da-facing the Tigers and Indians, my (spoiler alert) top two teams in the AL Central. Cabrera combined to hit .358 in 12 games against those two opponents in 2014. Is this the year center fielder Adam Eaton finally breaks through? Chicago is hoping so as they just signed him to a five year, $23.5 million contract extension. After two injury riddled seasons in Arizona, Eaton made good on his chance to play every day in Chicago. He tied for the league lead in triples (10) and hit .300. Alas, injuries befell him again as he missed half of both May and August. Nevertheless, he played exponentially more than right fielder Avisail Garcia. He played in just 9 games in 2014 before a shoulder injury kept him out until the middle of August. It is the second such year in a row for the 23 year old Garcia. Manager Robin Ventura really needs the Venezuelan to keep himself fit as waiver claim JB Shuck is the only cover they currently have in the outfield. The pitching staff will be missing their figurehead on Opening Day but even without him they are quite formidable. That figurehead is of course southpaw Chris Sale. Sale went 12-4 with a 2.17 ERA in 26 starts in 2014 and finished third on the AL Cy Young ballot. He broke his foot at his home in February and will start the season on the disabled list. When he returns in late April, he will most definitely retake his throne as White Sox ace. At #2, offseason acquisition Jeff Samardzija is far superior to last year's second starter, John Danks. A former Cub, Samardzija knows very well the pressures of playing in the Windy City. He showed he could hold his own in the American League with Oakland last year and is playing for potentially his last big long-term contract at age 30. Jose Quintana is one of the more formidable #3 starters in the American League. Run support has always been a hindrance to Quintana's win/loss record (he is 24-24 for his career) but has pitched 200 innings the past two seasons and has never had an ERA above 3.76. John Danks slots in as the #4 pitcher. He was a bit out of his depth the past four years (26 combined wins, 4.71 cumulative ERA), but White Sox management is surely hoping a less pressure packed rotation spot will help him break out of his funk. Hector Noesi is currently just a cheap placeholder until the White Sox call up top prospect Carlos Rodon. The third pick in last year's First Year Player Draft, Rodon is a Sale 2.0. The NC State product is a ferocious left hander with a fastball/slider combo that is going to make left handed hitters weep for years to come. You can expect to see him by the All-Star break in U.S. Cellular Field. The bullpen also underwent quite the overhaul this offseason. David Robertson gives the White Sox stability at closer, something they didn't have last year. They also brought in Zach Duke to be the primary left hander. Duke had bounced around before developing his niche in Milwaukee's pen in 2014. The White Sox obviously don't think he was a one year wonder as they gave him a 3 year, $15 million deal. The trio of last year's closers will act as set up men from the right and middle relief. Zach Putnam, Javy Guerra, and Jake Petricka all got cracks at the ninth inning in 2014 as none really embarrassed themselves in the role. Unfortunately, none of the three really established themselves enough to be re-instituted as the closer this season. I had the White Sox as the 28th ranked team in 2014. They exceeded those expectations and may prove me wrong again this year as the #18 team. I just believe that the American League Central is too tough of a division to make a worst to first type of jump. As the Tigers age and Indians and Royals struggle with small market constraints, I think the White Sox could be the kings of the Central in the near future. LAST YEAR'S RANKING: #28 (UP 10) PREDICTED RECORD: 80-82 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Jose Abreu (first baseman), Chris Sale (starting pitcher), David Robertson (relief pitcher) Trevor Utley is hoping that the White Sox exceed his expectations as he just got autodrafted half of their team in one of his leagues. Image Credit: White Sox logo (sportslogos.net) By Trevor Utley The people of Chicago have the luxury of two teams to choose from in their fair city. I've been to both stadiums and the atmosphere surrounding baseball in the Windy City is rarely paralleled. Unluckily for Chicagoans these days both of their teams are quite the drizzling shits. We stay in the AL Central on our countdown as the South Siders will just be a bit more terrible in 2014. After a 7-21 September put them on the precipice of 100 losses last year (they were 63-99) GM Rick Hahn knew he had to make a splash in free agency to bring the 2005 World Series champions back to the postseason. That splash was Cuban slugger Jose Dariel Abreu who raked a cool .392 with 133 homers and 337 RBI in his past 346 Cuban league games. A great deal will be asked of the 27 year old as he slides into the heart of an order that scored the second least runs in the Majors a season ago; even with Adam Dunn's 34 home runs and 86 runs driven in. No ChiSox player should be happier about a potential 40 home run guy entering the fray than ace Chris Sale. Even with a 3.07 ERA and an AL best four complete games, Sale could only muster a 11-14 record (not including his win in the All-Star Game) on the second lowest run support in the entire MLB at 3.20. Who had the lowest? Cub Travis Wood. We'll get to the Cubbies soon enough though don't worry. As for now, I'll let it sink in for White Sox fans that this season will be another lost one; but if Abreu is as advertised and some of their young guns such as Matt Davidson, Adam Eaton, and Avisail Garcia take a step forward Chicago could be back in the postseason sooner rather than later. PREDICTED RECORD: 68-94 PREDICTED ALL-STAR REPS: Chris Sale, starting pitcher; Jose Dariel Abreu, first baseman Image Credit: White Sox logo (sportslogos.net) |
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