Baseball Franchise Rankings

Here are my 2013 AL West Standings Predictions:

1. Los Angeles: 90-72

2. Texas: 89-73

3. Oakland: 84-78

4. Seattle: 75-87

5. Houston: 64-98

Notes:

- Angels players gain what it feels like to have Josh Hamilton in the lineup.

- Rangers players feel the void of not having Josh in the lineup.

- The A’s play like B’s as their magic slips back a little bit, but Yoenis is an MVP candidate.

- Mariners offense still feels lackluster even with fences moved in.

- Houston has Jose Altuve on its roster, so that’s good.

Wed: March 20.

Now that spring is officially here, it’s a fitting time for division standings predictions.

AL East Standings Predictions

Theme: A close race among all 5 teams into early September.

Standings and W-L:
1. Toronto: 91-71
2. Tampa Bay: 87-75
3. New York: 83-79
4. Boston: 78-84
5. Baltimore: 76-86

Notes:
Toronto: Will fluctuate around .500 then finish strong after the trade deadline as their talent unites.

Tampa Bay: Will be in first place for a while in the summer months and fall to about 5 games back in September. (Could be a wild card team, prediction to come)

New York: Will have a rough start due to their injuries.  Second half will be better but not quite enough.  Will miss the playoffs.

Boston: Will be consistently about 5-10 games back from June to the end of the season.

Baltimore: Last years magic will run out. They will be in first place early but will drop off significantly in the 2nd half.

Here is my voting for the AL and NL MVP voting for 2012:

American League:

1. Cabrera

2. Trout

3. Rodney

4. Verlander

5. Cano

6. Beltre

7. Price

8. Fielder

9. Jim Johnson

10. Cespedes

National League:

1. McCutchen

2. Braun

3. Posey

4. Dickey

5. Kimbrel

6. Chapman

7. A Ramirez

8. M Holliday

9. A Craig

10. Gio Gonzalez

Here are my votes for the AL & NL reliever of the year award for 2012.

American League:

1. Fernando Rodney, Tampa Bay Rays: 0.60 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 48 Saves. Enough said, may be the AL Cy Young too.

2. Jim Johnson, Baltimore Orioles: 2.49 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 51 Saves. Normally 51 saves would get a person #1, but not in a year with a 0.60 ERA.

3. Rafael Soriano, New York Yankees: 2.26 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 42 Saves. Solid job stepping in for Mariano, nothing too incredible in terms of stats, but better than anyone else other than #1 and #2, and no strong middle relievers for this award this year.

National League:

1. Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves: 62.2 IP, 1.01 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 42 Saves, 116 K.  9 less innings, 4 more saves, 6 less K than Chapman, better ERA, better WHIP.

2. Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds: 71.2 IP, 1.51 EA, 0.81 WHIP, 38 Saves, 122 K.  End of the season struggles didn’t help him.

3. Jonathan Papelbon, Philadelphia Phillies: 70 IP, 2.44 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 38 Saves, 92 K.  Solid year for Pap in his 1st year in the NL. Beats out Jason Motte hear because Motte had 7 blown saves.

Oct 14, 2012:

Below is my voting for the 2012 American League and National League Manager of the Year Awards.

Please note that for me its mostly on the criteria of what the team did in comparison to their expectations. I feel that the managers have a lot to do with motivating their players to exceed greater than they are expected as individuals and as a team.

American League:

1. Bob Melvin, Oakland A’s: Most people picked them to finish last in that division, with that payroll, and they finished 1st.
2. Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles: Not as unpredictable as Oakland, but still very surprising and most people picked them to finish in 3rd, 4th or 5th in the AL East.
3. Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox: 1st year manager who had his team in contention until the end the year.

National League:

1. Davey Johnson, Washington Nationals: The team was expected to perform well, but maybe not this well.  They had 98 wins, the most in MLB, and they led the division for a long time during the year with no real previous wining experience.  Johnson also handled the Strasburg situation well and did not let it get in the way of his team winning.
2. Don Mattingly, LA Dodgers: They were in contention almost all year still with ownership change, Kemp and Kershaw injured and struggling, and all those trades.
3. Mike Matheny, St. Louis Cardinals: No Pujols, no carpenter, 1st year manager, Berkman injury, and they still got into the playoffs.