I hear you man. It sucks having no baseball or football to watch. Can't wait to see how the Sox do this season.

 

Totally agree with this. I think partially, getting Torre was a PR move to help boost coverage for them, cause lets face it, Grady Little didnt captivate the media. I think the Dodgers need that one superstar to go with winning to get the coverage. Maybe it will be Russell Martin one day. Who knows. I think generally though, east coasters dont like the Dodgers anyways, regardless of if they win or not. People in New York are still bitter about the move and its been 50 years.

 

That makes the two of us bro. The damned front office has been pissing me off with their decisions for the team.

Oh well, at least I still have the White Sox and the Reds to cheer for  

 

What's the injury update on Pujols? I heard he was playing through something, but when I look at the box scores, it's hard to tell because he's good no matter what condition he's in.

Gotta echo the Cardinal worries. Weak outfield + no Eckstein = troubling times ahead.

 

I'm more worried about our starting pitching. Granted, the outfield is green, but they can all hit! Also, Ankiel has a cannon for a throwing arm.

As for Pujols, He's always had leg problems, they're so big I guess. He said during the winter that if he gets fully hurt again, like he did last year that he would not play through it again, as it hurt so much (I also think its because he doesn't expect them to be doing too good late in the season), and would opt for surgery instead. I'd miss him, but I have to say that it'd be nice to see him able to get back to 100%, I think you'd see the Pujols you saw 2 years ago, going along with record-setting pace with his homeruns and leading the BA title.

EDIT: Its his elbow. I wasn't really sure which was bothering him, he has a history of both. "The injury has bothered Pujols since 2003 and it flared up last season." from ESPN.com

 

Getting Johan Santana is very nice, but I am not about to declare them the team to beat after what happened last year. I just want the team to not be plagued with injury bug (almost impossible I know) and not underachieve. Willie should learn from last year and motivate the team to win, otherwise I hope he's gone by year's end. If Maine can continue to show improvement, Ollie inspired to play his career best in his walk year, Pelfry proves that last year's a fluke, Pedro 100% healthy, and Santana adjust well to NL hitting then there's a strong chance they'll not only win the division, but also make the WS and even winning it.

At least your team won the title not too long ago. I'll take a few years' mediocrity if I can see my team finally winning the title that's eluded them for over 20 years.

 

Ok, I think it's about time that I started rooting for an alternate team besides the Pirates, since there is no way the Pirates are ever going to win a thing ever again.

My choices are between the Cardinals, Rockies, Tigers, and Rangers. The Rangers are probably winning right now because of Nolan Ryan. However, I don't particularly care for any of their players, while the Cards have Pujols, the Rockies have Holliday, and the Tigers have...um, Cabrera I guess. I kinda like him. Any suggestions?

 

I don't know what to tell you, except that you'd see the Cards more than anyone else, as they're in the same division, and then the Rockies next. Cards are the second winningest team in baseball, and besides Pujols they also have Ankiel and Duncan and Molina. Oh, and Wainwright. But that's just the Cards fan in me talkin'  

 

Santana will likely win 25 games this year. Check how many runs per game the Mets score compared to the Twins. Johan will thrive and he has excellent playoff numbers as well. Mets are the team to beat in the NL East, probably the NL period.

 

The Tigers have a REALLY nice lineup this year, and I kinda like the Rox myself. Both teams have a good chance.

 

If Tigers' pitching can be halfway decent they shouldn't have any problem winning their division. Indians may prove to be challenging but we are talking about arguably the best lineup in AL, if not all of MLB.

 

The Cardinals have always been a team that I respected a lot, they've always seemed to me to be a very classy organization that always has pretty cool players, doesn't overpay for free agents, retains some of their own guys. Plus they're one the more classic teams, but I don't hate them the way I hate the Cubs, Yankees, and Red Sox. Oh yeah, and I really like Ankiel's story, because I always felt bad for what happened to him, considering that it originally happened to current Pirates colorman Steve Blass way back when.

I've liked the Rockies since they came into the league, for whatever reason. Just something about Colorado I guess, I usually like their teams in other sports too. I've liked them even more since they curtailed the stupidly high scoring in their stadium, for the most part.

The Tigers I've only really started liking recently. My friend moved up their a few years ago, and then they hired Leyland, who, while he kinda screwed over the Pirates, I don't really care about that anymore. They've been fun to watch too, even before getting Cabrera, so they should be even more fun now.

For the most part, I have the MLB teams in four tiers of likiness, according to various frivolous and otherwise factors. There's the like tier, consisting of teams I'll root for, but not really pay attention to, but then root for them and kinda follow them in the playoffs, which consists of Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland, Texas, Florida, St. Louis, Arizona and Colorado. Then the hate and hope they lose every game tier, consisting of Boston, New York, Other New York, the Cubs, and the Dodgers. And then the rest are pretty neutral.

Then there's the Pirates, where since it's futile to root for them i just kind of follow along and hope for maybe some decent individual successes. SO this is basically me trying to figure out what team I want to try to start actively following and rooting for.

Sometimes I write long posts at night.

 

  if you hate the Cubs, you're already most of the way there to being a Cards fan.

 

Haha, agreed. Everyone on ESPN is picking the Cubs to win the division this year. Like you said before - if we can get some starting pitching (and get Carpenter and Mulder healthy), plus pick up a few people through trades, I still think we have a good chance.

I know they've only had a few games, but how's Glaus doing so far this Spring?

 

he's doing pretty good this week.

 

I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the White Sox chances this year. They're being greatly overshadowed by the attention both the Indians and especially the Tigers are getting this year.

Then again, everyone was calling for the White Sox to repeat in '06 when they added Thome to the World Series champs. So, I'm not ready to anoint the Tigers AL Central champs yet. Let's see how they start off the season.

As long as the ChiSox don't start off awful like they did last year, they should be able to at least compete in the AL. We've already for 4 or 5 more wins without Santana in the division anymore.  

 

I'm just glad I have cable again so I can follow the Braves this season. Good to see Glavine back!

 

Don't worry, Phillies will compete for the division crown like they did last year. Afterall didn't Rollins predicts a 100 win season?  

But since the FO is too cheap to pay Cole Hamels 200k more I can see him leaving when he's a FA for big fat check. Maybe he'll be the next #2 pitcher in NY.  

 

And Javy! All the talk in the East is about the Mets or Phillies. With Hampton healthy, they have one of the best starting rotations in baseball again. That combined with Texiera, Chipper, Kotsay, Francouer, McCann, etc - they have a pretty potent lineup.

It won't be easy, but if everyone can stay healthy, I think Atlanta wins the East this year.