MLB 2009 SEASON PREVIEW

Well another exciting season of MLB action kicks off tonight. This season should be a good one as several teams seem to think that they have what it takes to go all the way to the end of October. So without further ado let's get onto my preview section.

Lets start with the National League and the NL East. We have the defending champions Phillies, NY Mets, Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals. Many people see this as a two horse race between the Phillies and Mets but I see a third team this year crashing the party, the young upstart Florida Marlins. The Marlins were hanging around until mid-September last year and now with the cloud of will they get a new stadium lifted, I see this organization as one that will now try and go the extra distance and make some more noise in the division and add a decent Atlanta Braves team and this could be one of the top divisions in the entire league. The Mets and Phillies both have a lot of talent but they both have some serious question about their teams that will be very interesting to see how it plays out during the season. How hurt is Cole Hamels? Who besides Santana will step up for the Mets pitching staff? Can the Mets finally shake off the huge choke monkey on there backs? I see this division going down to the final days of the season but this is the year the Mets finally knock off there arch-rivals Phillies and take the N.L. East. The Phils will finish second, Marlins third followed by the Braves and Nationals.

Let's look at the N.L. Central now. A decent division with the Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Astros and Pirates. Much like the NL East this also looks to be on paper a two horse race between long time rivals Cubs and Cardinals. The Cards are looking to bounce back from a disappointing season and have gotten Chris Carpenter back after losing a couple of seasons to injury but will it be enough to knock off the Cubs? I really don't see the Astros, Brewers and Pirates really putting up much of a fight here. I like the Cubs to win the division again, pulling away from the Cards in early September.

The N.L. West. Should prove to be a fun year in the N.L. West with Manny and the Dodgers, the young guns in Arizona, the Giants and the lowly Padres. Can the youngsters in the desert finally live up to the hype and compete for an entire 162 game season? Can the Giants offense produce a few runs and help out there really good pitching staff? Will Manny just shut up and play? All big questions whose answers will help decide the division. I have to go with the Dodgers in this one, the pitching is strong and they've made some good pick ups over the winter that will help them get back to the playoffs again this year.

Now let's look at the American League.

The A.L. East. This has been called the toughest division in baseball because of the Red Sox, Yankees and AL Champion Rays all play here and I don't see this year being any different. The Yankees went all out this off-season bringing in C.C., Burnett and Mark Texieria to the new digs in the Bronx. The Red Sox went the opposite route by hunting the baseball bargain bins and bringing in John Smoltz. Can the Rays build on there improbable World Series run from last year? That is the biggest question because this year they won't be able to sneak up on every one like they did in 2008. I think the Rays are going to find out the hard way what it means to go from being the hunter to being the hunted. I really like the Yankees in this division, the pitching is deep and if they stay healthy dealing with a rotation of C.C., Wang, Burnett, Joba and Pettite might be a bit much for the rest of the division to handle. I think the Yankees missing out on the playoffs last year has made them refocus on getting back. I say this division ends up with the Yankees on top, followed by the Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays and Orioles.

The AL Central. This division is wide open in my opinion. The White Sox, Indians, Royals, Tigers and Twins. Can the Indians stay healthy and play like they're suppose to? If the answer to that question is yes, then they win this division going away. If they fall flat on there faces like they did last year that opens the door to the White Sox, the Twins and who I think will be the surprising team of the 2009 season the K.C. Royals. I like the Royals to make some noise in this division but ultimately fall short in September. I like the Indians to have a bounce back year and take the Central followed by the Royals, Twins, White Sox and lowly Tigers.

The AL West. This division has been runned by the Angels the last few seasons but with all the injuries to there starting pitching and with a new unproven closer in the 'pen it might not be the cake walk everyone is expecting. The Oakland A's made some moves this winter to bring in some veteran bats to help out in Matt Holliday, Giambi and Nomar but they also have questions with there starting pitching. If the starting pitching can hold up the A's have a chance to really make some noise. The other team to look at is the Texas Rangers. Seems like it'll be the same old story with the Rangers, all hitting and no pitching but if they can even just a little bit of solid pitching they might be able to slug there way to the top of this division. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the A's find a way to pull it out. This is my upset pick in my predictions. I say it finishes A's, Rangers, Angels, Mariners.

The Playoffs. So in the N.L. I have the Mets, Cubs and Dodgers winning the division. For the wild card I'm going with the Diamondbacks. The NL Playoffs I like the Mets knocking off the D'Backs, the Dodgers beating the Cubs. Mets over Cubs in the NLCS.

AL Playoffs. I like the Yankees, Indians, A's and the Red Sox with the wild card. Yankees over A's in the playoffs and Indians over Red Sox. Yankees over Indians in the ALCS.

Yes, a rematch of the 2000 Subway Series. Two New York teams playing in two brand new stadiums. I'm taking the Yankees over the Mets in the 2009 World Series.

Now, lets play ball!

2009 Mets and Yankees preview

So here we go again, spring is here and it is time to get ready for another exciting season of Mets and Yankees baseball. New faces, and new expectations, but as always its win win win!

What to expect? well for starters this seasons has 2 new ballparks as a new and shiny Yankees stadium will be unveil, and then there is Citifield the new home of the Mets.

The New Ballparks will bring an extra kind of excitement to the new season and I have to say it is going to be a lot of fun going out to the new ballparks and comparing the 2. So far from what I have seen on tv and herd, Yankee Stadium looks to be a complete replica of the old Yankee stadium, only modern and extremely luxerious. Now I'm sure Citifeild is going to be a pretty neat place to go to, especially when you had Shea to compare it with, but lets be clear here, no one is going to out do the New York Yankees. So far CitiField looks great on tv with it's wide deminsions and it's new features which give it caracther, but once I get a chance to get to the new ballparks I will give you my prognosis.

So we have new ballparks but what about the new players, well today the Yankees will be showcasing part of their $420 million offseason aquisitions as CC Sabathia gets the 2009 opener, and Mark Texiera will be at 1B giving the Yankee their best 1B since Tino Martinez came to New York in 1996.

On paper the Yankees have the best rotation in the majors who also signed #2 starter AJ Burnett, who If healty, gives the Yankees another #1 in the rotation.
Sabathia and Burnett will be followed by Chien Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlian, and Andy Pettie. As you can see the offseason was a big one for the Yankees who went out and got the best players the market had to offer. Now the time has come to put it to the field as gifts to the fans as they welcome in the new stadium.

The Mets who are coming off back to back collapses also needed to give the fans some new gifts for the new park as well, their 2 biggest offseason aquisitions are a pair of closers led by Francisco Rodriguez and hard throwing JJ Putz who will be his setup man. As far as big acquistions goes this was it for the Mets, Putz and K-ROD are the main attraction as the Mets were not able to spend big like the Yankees getting K-ROD for $37 million and Putz who was acquired via trade. The bad economy and Mr. Bernie Madoff kept the Mets from spending the way they probally wanted too, and it is the reason why Manny Ramirez is not a Met. The Wilpons want you to beleive that the reason was simply because they did not want a guy like Manny coming in and destructing the team, but why get a guy like Gary Sheffield then? This was all about Madoff and the economy cause everyone knows how much Omar loves Manny. But the Mets and Omar Minaya said otherwise that it was just not in there intrest to get Manny, which is now bullshit with the signing of Sheffield. Still the Mets were able to go out and do want they needed to do which was to change the face of the bullpen.
This year the pen will have new faces like Bobby Parnell, Sean Green and Darren O'Day replace the Heilman's, the Schoewenwiess's and Duaner Sanchez's of the past season.

On the offense, the Yankees will have to do without the services of Alex Rodriguez for the 1st month of the season as Joe Girardi who is back for his 2nd season as skipper, will have some tough decisions to make in trying to put it together. Already Girardi has installed his new starting center fielder in Brett Gardner, and has plugged in Cody Ramson as A-ROD's replacement for the time being.
Again on paper the Yankees look good offensively, the lineup will be stacked with Derek Jeter leading off, Damon will hit 2nd, followed by A-ROD, Texiera, Posada, Cano, Nady and Matsui, as scoring runs will not be a problem for the Yankees.
An area of concern for the Yankees will be on defense, up the middle you have the aging Posada behind the plate, Derek Jeter at short and Brett Gardner is the CF, clearly this is an area were the Yankees may have some problems. The Yankees will have strong pitching and great hitting, but the defense is where they will hurt.
As always this is a team built to win, the pressure will be on Girardi to get the Yankees back into the playoffs.

As for the Mets Lineup, it will look pretty much the same as core players will remain intact with David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran as the main contributors on offense. The Mets are also high on Daniel Murphy who Jerry Manuel has tapped as the everyday leftfielder and the #2 hitter in the lineup. Murphy will bring the Mets some patience at the plate and will be a joy for the fans with his hustle. I predict a full season of Daniel Murphy in left should produce numbers of around 300, 10 HR, and some 60 RBI's.

One of the newest Mets who I could had done without is Gary Sheffield. He might give the Mets some righty punch, But where will he play? I understand they got him on the cheaps but in the NL he has to play defense and on defense Sheffield is a iron glove. The Mets are looking to see if he can provide that right side production, but if Sheff cant be productive and can't play some outfield, then the Mets can simply release him.
Back as the skipper in charge will be Jerry Manuel, who will get a full year to lead the Mets to the promise land. It wont be easy for Manuel, but a full season at the helm should give Jerry and the Mets a better chance at detroning the Phillies. I like Jerry and I think he is the perfect guy for this team. If the Mets can stay healthy and avoid major injuries I dont see why the Mets, in the new Citifeild, should not win the division.
Manuel hopes that a rotation led by Johan Santana will be strong again this year as it was 2008. Santana will be followed by Mike Pelphey as the #2 man, then it will be the eractic Oliver Perez who will now have to show and prove his worth, then there is John Maine who is coming off an injury year as the #4, while the #5 man will be Livian Hernandez who should eat up some innings, and who is looking for a bounce back season with the Mets. I like the way the Mets are constructed, offensively they have speed and some power guys, and on defense they were #2 in all of baseball last season and with Reyes at short and Beltran in CF the trend should continue in 2009. The Mets have a lineup that should score some runs, the pitching should be solid with the revampt bullpen, defensively they are solid up the middle, and with CitiField as their new home the Mets look ready to move on to playing some better ball as a new generation of Mets baseball is here.

My predictions is that both the Yankees and the Mets will make the playoff's.
The Yankees and the Red Sox's will come out as the 2 best teams in the AL east, as the Ray's will miss out. The Mets and Phillies will battle teams like the Braves and Marlins, but the Mets and Phil's will come out as the division and wildcard winners. Look for the Phillie's and Met's to continue their much hated rivalry in 2009 which should only spice things up even more, this is the rivalry to watch this year.

NL East Mets
NL Central Cubs
NL West Dodgers
wildcard Phillies

AL East Red Sox
AL Central Twins
AL West Indians
wildcard Yankees

I like the Dodgers and the Mets as the 2 best teams to advance in the NL.
And in the AL, I like the Yankees and the RedSox.
I dont like to predict a WS winner but one of these 4 teams will win all,
so LET'S GO METS!!!!

Yankee MVP - CC Sabathia
Mets MVP - Carlos Beltran