Season Predictions Warmup
I think we've all gotten a chance to get a feel for how most of the players are doing in spring training. While its a tad early to make informed season predictions based on the early part of spring training, lets get some of our informed predictions out in the open. I'm sure Jay or Ryan will have a 'Season Predictions' thread up before the start of the season.
p.s: Here are last year's predictions, just for reference.
Here are some of my 'warm up' predictions....
(1) Gutierrez will uncork atleast 25 bombs this season.
(2) 'The Adam Miller Show' gets back on track in the minors, resulting in a July callup and a move to the 'pen.
(3) Asdrubal develops more power than people expect of him (0.450 SLG or higher in the second half).
(4) Lee rebounds (4.40 ERA), giving the Indians a solid season.
* - Long term, I see Asdrubal as a 15-20HR SS with excellent on-base skills.
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
* Garko puts together a fine season with 25HR and 100RBIs
* Martinez shows improved power boosting his HR total past 25
* Barfield has a rough year with a sub .300 OBP
* Trot Nixon goes on the DL (I need to get one right too)
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Tribe wins 92 and just gets by the Tigers.
THIS IS THE YEAR! WORLD SERIES WIN OVER THE METS IN 6!
Whew - I'm exhausted from the warm-up. What'll I do for the real predictions thread.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
tearing santana a new one a couple times like the the good old days.
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Sad that you started off with this boner, because the rest of it was totally plausible. You picked possibly the least likely position/level combo that we'd acquire.
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by BostonWahoo on Mar 19, 2008 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
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And I disagree with your point. Despite the depth at Double-A of possible 3B solutions, we do not have a 3B solution for 2009, and possibly not 2010 either, if we let Marte go. None of those guys are likely to rocket through to the majors, as Mills and Whitney are defensively fringy at that position, and we don't know how quickly Hodges and Goedert will develop. These guys are just starting Double-A, not just finishing.
Even if Marte somehow works out this season, we don't have much depth behind him for 2009. We are going to continue overpaying a declining veteran to fill that hole for 2009-2010, and the only way we might get out of it is to commit to Marte.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
If the Indians really won't give Marte a shot, an interesting move would be a straight swap with Pittsburgh for Jose Bautista. He'll be in his walk year by the time they're contending, and he's okay but definitely not anything special. The Pirates of course can well afford to give Marte 1000 plate appearances to see if he can figure it out.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by ken from alexandria on Mar 19, 2008 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
With ideas like that floating though his excuse for a head, I doubt the concept of depth at 3B in AA could even be understood. Christ, he may not even know that the Indians have a AA team (even though he probably lives in Akron).
Jay's insights were wasted in that mess of a sight.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
That is supposed to read "...to give him an hGH waiver which he'll..."
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Also...I'll be joining the Boston community come August. Any suggestions?
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
You can email me at mattcole3 on gmail and we can talk. I have lots of sports bars that I frequent, though there isn't reall much of an out-of-town baseball scene here. Football is much, much different. Thank god.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by jakesinger777 on Mar 18, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
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by jakesinger777 on Mar 18, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
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A couple of years ago I saw the series where Fausto imploded. The balls, however, rained like mortars on Landsdown St. and the Mass Pike. The getaway game, I had bleacher seats that I upgraded for like $30 to get into the lower grandstands. It was from here that I saw Papi own Fausto.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
As a last resort, if you show up to the park with $45-50, you're pretty likely to get a seat. (not for the Yankees, of course).
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by JulioBernazard on Mar 18, 2008 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions
I apologize
Chuck, sir, I meant you no malfeasance. If you're ever in Boston, the replacement hip and 4:30 Prime Rib special are on me. :)
Re: I apologize
BTW, my in-laws have a summer place in Harwich, so I'm up there at least once a year.
Re: I apologize
Re: I apologize
Just don't get him started about the time he worked picking coffee beans in Guatemala or his time in that barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois.
Re: I apologize
Re: I apologize
If you two keep it up I'm gonna ground you both for a week and take your iPods away.
Re: I apologize
You can't live in Maui for any length of time and not know somebody with the family name Kobayashi. But you can probably escape all the Bradys.
Re: I apologize
How can we be sure you're not Keyser Soze?
by Harry Doyle on Mar 19, 2008 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by CaptainEasy on Mar 18, 2008 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Marte is actually good
- It snows in April, but there are no cancellations
- LGT starts an online fight with a different blog than Lookout Landing
- Grady Sizemore finishes top 3 in MVP voting(would like to predict MVP, but don't trust MVP voters)
- Really liked Adam's prediction on Byrd
- Fausto doesn;t have quite the same numbers as last year, but it still awesome
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Laffey joins the rotation at some point, furthering our groundball goodness.
- Grady has an MVP type year, and I start drinking 40's of PBR after every jack to celebrate his surprising run towards 40 home runs.
- Gutz is not as good as we think. (Then again, I recall a thread over the off-season with our respective predictions for him and they were less than wonderful).
- Hafner returns to pre 07-form.
- Barfield doesn't up his walk rate, nears bust territory.
- Marte does up his walk rate, and is the answer at 3B.
- Some young kids (Stevens, Miller?) emerge and become a force in the pen by July.
by Gradyforpresident on Mar 18, 2008 3:19 PM EDT reply actions
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
From the last predictions thread.
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Agreed on Gutierrez
- Wedge doesn't play Marte consistently enough for anyone to get a read on him.
- Dellucci hits around .250, but they play him anyway.
- Fultz is gone by mid-season.
- Midges attempt to eat JoBo, but are unsuccessful. He remains the Indians closer.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Garko will have the highest batting average
Carmona will have the most wins
Betancourt will spend a considerable amount of time on the DL
Casey Blake gets 400 AB's
Jamey Carroll will not be on this team come September
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Marte rots on the bench.
MLB rules that Casey Blake's beard is sentient enough to warrant its own roster spot, forcing the Tribe to trade Dellucci to the Mets for a bag of balls and a case of Mountain Dew. Later in the season, Casey's beard skips town with Travis Hafner's camouflage pants and is never seen again.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Hey, that's the whole point of camouflage pants, right?
by ken from alexandria on Mar 18, 2008 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
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by ken from alexandria on Mar 18, 2008 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions
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- Grady will have a MVP season (e.g. .330 BA, 35 HRs, 140 R), but he will not get the MVP as he will not have enough RBIs, and he plays for a Cleveland team.
- Marte will be traded for his true value (peanuts) before June.
1. Grady will hit under .265. No, this is not due to his spring, but to the fact that the players I hope he most resembles (Bonds, Snider) both had an off year their third year (Bonds hit .248!), before coming back with monster 4th seasons.
2. C.C. will finish 1 or 2 in the Cy Young voting. He is due for a monster year.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Garko will be traded.
Borkowski gets hurt, and Jensen Lewis assumes closing duties.
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PS - I'm not here yet. This is somebody else.
by fleerdon on Mar 19, 2008 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions
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Re: Season Predictions Warmup
In the long term - Michael Aubrey (maybe J. Brown)
Teams in need of 1B...
Short Term:
- Angels
- Texas
- Baltimore
- KC
- SF
- Braves (Tex leaves)
- Mets (Delgado falls apart/leaves)
- Yankees (assuming they don't sign Tex)
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- CC wins 18 games. Carmona spends time on the DL.
- Byrd will not be on the team by Sep.
- Westbrook will be outstanding. Approaching his 2004 season stats.
- Lee will win 12 games.
- Miller will need surgery.
- Laffey and Sowers fill in OK for Carmona and Byrd.
- JoBo blows up. Masa gets hammered. Fultz doesn't last the full year.
- Both Raffys, Mastny and Lewis save the BP from total disaster. Slocum and Stevens pitch for the ML team.
- Martinez puts up similar numbers to 2007.
- Garko explodes at the plate.
- Cabrera has a rough stretch but does very well the 2nd half.
- Peralta regresses in the field but puts up better numbers hitting.
- Marte takes over 3B and has some clutch HR.
- Dellucci sucks for months and finally in July Wedge sets him down.
- Francisco becomes the fulltime LF in July.
- Gutz improves his numbers vs RHP.
- Carroll hits .190.
- Grady blows past Granderson to become the best offensive CF in the AL. Huge season.
- Choo is traded. It should have been Dellucci.
- Crowe, Brown, Weglarz have huge seasons in the minors. Barton does well for StL.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Lee is traded for a decent but not great A ball pitcher, probably to Texas or Baltimore, within the first two months of the season.
- Laffey takes the ball every fifth day and will sport a 4.3 ERA by the end of the year.
- Sowers turns into a strong #3 pitcher (at Buffalo).
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
I think Dellucci + Michaels will settle in around .350/.440. Francisco will put up similar numbers in Buffalo, and the situation will generate 10,000 comments here.
Miller goes into the pen by June and stays there for the whole year.
Sowers is done. Smith + Lofgren win more games (let's say...11) for the big club in 2008 than Sowers + Lee.
Weglarz is a top 15 prospect in the game by the end of the year.
Marte and Kelly both barely top an OBP of .300, and we have no hitters recording over 80 ABs at less than .300.
Marte is at .310/.460, gets 350 ABs, and is in line for the full time job next year.
And absolutely put me down for 200 HRs.
Barfield is traded for a low minors pitcher.
Kelvin Diaz rips up the low minors, with a 20% chance that he's 25.
The organization develops a glut of good hitting, poor fielding 2b-SS-3b.
The Tribe spends roughly 50% above its draft slot for its first round pick.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Sowers doesn't pitch in the majors at all. Laffey does, with success.
Gutierrez becomes a fan favorite with a 20/20/20 season. The last 20 is his assist total.
Fernando Cabrera returns to the organization, and pitches in September.
We trade for a closer in July.
Casey Blake is injured nearly all year.
The Francisco / Dellucci platoon is very effective. Michaels is traded to an NL club for two players we've never heard of.
We win over 100 games.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Peralta hits .280 with 23 HR, and an 825 OPS.
CC finishes at 17-9, 3.41.
Asdrubal and Franklin disappoint slightly, but are not disastrous - 730 and 780 OPS respectively.
Mujica plagarizes Jensen Lewis' 2007, saving us from the chain reaction in the bullpen started by Borowski's meltdown and a month-long injury absence from Betancourt.
by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Mar 18, 2008 6:28 PM EDT reply actions
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Michaels and Dellucci are solid, although Dellucci's d will leave something to be desired.
Hafner doesn't make a full rebound, but is much better than last year.
Raffy Perez struggles.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
The new uniforms are a hit, but the Prog doesn't catch on until next season. Broadcast slipups are comically regular.
I'll be more specific with Marte: .252/.327/.450/.777, but with 25 errors
Let's take this up a notch,
Garko: .240/.340/.520, has a puzzling 3 true outcomes season. Some people regret that the old Garko has gone. Others, counting me, are rather pleased.
Asdrubal is Baergaesque: .310/.360/.400
Hafner is excelent early (10 HRs in April), and then fades. He changes his approach to increase power, and his walk rate takes dive. .275 / .335 / .515
Victor remains Victor. Fausto is nearly as good this year as he was last, and his strikeouts increase to 7 / 9. Sabathia, on the other hand, suffers a down year.
Lineup is comparable to Detroit, and our pitching proves to be vastly superior. Detroit really has a crappy year, but still finishes 2nd in a lackluster division. Nothing goes right for the Twins. The Royals are surprisingly OK, while the White Sox are the worst team in baseball. We beat the crap out of our division and win over 100 games.
I totally agree with APV. Byrd goes kaput early on.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Cliff Lee is not on the roster come May.
- Hafner has a season in between 2006 and 2007. (closer to 2006 by maybe a 65/35 margin)
- Marte continues to suck
- Barfield improves some. (NOT to his Padre #s)
- Laffey replaces Lee
- Fultz gone before the all-star break
- Sizemore puts up career-high numbers
- Gutierrez... ummm... is good. (specific, I know.)
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Grady has a 30/30 year, with a definite chance for 35/35 with a 925 OPS.
- Vic inches down a little, .290, 20 HR, 850 OPS
- Gutz hits .285 with a 20/20 year.
- Hafner makes it back, but not quite to his 2006 levels .... 950 OPS
- Marte hits .250 with 10 bombs, 20 errors, takes over at 3B full-time by June.
- Carmona regresses a tad, 3.35 ERA but actually gets 20 Wins.
- CC also regresses a little, 3.50, 17 Wins
- JoBo's arm gives out, Masa takes over in July with Adam Miller becoming our Joba this August
- Scott Lewis is this year's Laffey
- Joe Ness is the breakout reliever in the minors this year.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Jake Westbrook wins 18+ games with an ERA sub-3.50.
- Fausto is not as good as last year, but is a better than league-average pitcher.
- Gutz continues his Alex Rios track, going 290/360/520
- The bullpen becomes a major worry spot when Betancourt and Perez regress, Lewis ends up back in Buffalo, and Masa becomes the primary 7th inning guy over Perez. This forces Shapiro to make a deadline trade for Huston Street.
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- No deadline trade for us, even though we're heavily featured in the rumors.
- Fausto regresses fairly seriously and then wins at least 2 playoff starts.
- Betencourt and Perez regress to simply above-average, Masa is mixed in as a regular set-up guy, and Lewis ends up closing.
- Cliff Lee is our 5th starter all year and goes 8-9.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
by Gradyforpresident on Mar 18, 2008 9:52 PM EDT reply actions
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
Fausto regresses due to struggles pitching to both sides of the plate.
Grady makes a huge leap forward in power and average.
Hafner hits like the Haf of old, over 1.000 OPS
Vic remains Vic: .300/370/500
Gutz goes 20/20, but OBPs around .320
Borowski is relegated to middle relief, Betancourt takes over.
Lewis remains in middle relief.
Perez is dominant.
The Carthaginian plays just well enough to hold off Barfield.
Marte hits for enough power to play almost every day, sending Blake to the outfield, where he pushes Michaels to being traded for a PTBNL/released.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Franklin produces at a slightly greater rate than last year. His OBP shows enough of a rise to be encouraging but not enough to cause sunlight to break through clouds and loud trumpets to play.
- Carmona regresses a little bit but remains one of the top 10 starters in the AL.
- Barfield hits well enough and Asdrubal hits poorly enough to ignite a massive second base debate on LGT.
- Marte struggles in April but finally achieves mediocrity by Memorial Day.
- Perez and Lewis both regress with Lewis earning a trip back to Buffalo. Masa becomes a key cog in a still stellar bullpen.
- Garko is involved in hundreds of rumours but ends up finishing the season in Cleveland.
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IF the Indians are dumb enough to trade Michaels, he turns out to be a steal for whomever gets him.
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Grady wins the MVP.
Gutz shows us power and defense, becoming the mid year talk of the league.
Ben Francisco becomes a sought after trade target.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Tigers bullpen is disaster. (Note: This has already happened.)
- Verlander is an ace. Bonderman (inconsistency), Robertson (mediocrity), and Willis (who knows?) post ERAs of 4.50++ (generously).
- The only Tigers who regress significantly offensively are: Ordonez, Polanco, Granderson, Renteria.
- Sheffield, Pudge, Ordonez, and The Gambler combine for a full season (minimum) on the DL.
- Jim Leyland shows no indication, on or off the field, that he has ever found any joy whatsoever in the game of baseball. (Note: This has already happened.)
- Four-way battle for second.
- Indians, you say? Doesn't matter. Like the 90s. Playin' for the seed.
Re: Season Predictions Warmup
- Sizemore hits 30 bombs, with a BA of at least .290 and an OBP of .400+.
- Gutierrez has an OBP of about .325. But he hits around .270, with 25 HRs, 30+ doubles and 8-10 triples.
- An injury makes room for Choo, who plays well. Delucci, no longer needed, is traded.
- Marte is traded, after hitting .240 in 150-200 plate appearances, and still committing too many errors/mental mistakes at third.
- Martinez hits 20-24 homers. His batting average is about 10 points higher than last year's.
- Garko hits 20 homers.
- Hafner improves, but not to his '06 level-say, .288 with 32 homers.
- Asdrubal Cabrera has a two-homer game in the first month. For the year, he hits 12-15, with an above-average BA and OBP. He stays at the 2-hole in the lineup.
- Carmona defies the doubters/worriers, staying healthy and dominant. The Tribe still has the top 1-2 punch in the majors.
- Lee and Byrd are OK, with solid numbers for back-end starters. Byrd is traded in June, and Buffalo's hottest starter is promoted.
- Borowski still works his high-wire act. This time he manages to keep his ERA under 5.00.
- Kobayashi is a success. The bullpen is deep and dominant, although Betancourt's ERA rises by about a run.
- Trevor Crowe, Ben Francisco, Michael Aubrey, and Jordan Brown have big seasons in Buffalo. Apparently, Aubrey was allergic to Akron. That explains his injuries. :)
- Akinori Iwamura is acquired for a package that includes Josh Barfield, who was solid in Buffalo, but didn't quite have the discipline the Indians wanted to see.

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