Thursday, July 23, 2009

Jayson Werth is Vince Offer

That's right, Jayson Werth, #28 on your World Champion Phillies is actually Vince of ShamWow and Slap Chop fame.

Not to mention, Jorge Cantu is Matt Dillon from There's Something About Mary, don't believe me? Check it out.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Updated Predictions

So I missed with the A's. They aren't going to win the AL West. And the Marlins aren't going to finish behind the Nationals, but so far I've been on the money with the Dodgers and Giants. I know it seems easy to say now, but I was so close to going with the Giants in the wild card, I loved their pitching coming into the season and I was also a big proponent of Pablo Sandoval prior to his awesome season. Honestly.

Anyways, I'm going with the Rangers in the West. The Twins in the Central. The Red Sox in the East. For the Wild Card, I've got the Yankees and the Rays fighting till literally the last day and (flipping a coin) the Yankees come out with their first postseason appearance in forever (to them).

Then in the National League, I'm going with the Mets in the East. The Cardinals in the Central. The Dodgers, of course, in the West. I'm saying the Phillies come out with the Wild Card. The Giants look great now but Matt Cain is going to come back down to Earth with his incredibly low BABIP and very high strand rate and therefore his ERA and record will take a hit. Lincecum is the best pitcher in all of baseball, right now, and very well might take home his second straight Cy Young, but the Giants are not making the playoffs.

AL MVP: Joe Mauer
AL Cy Young: Zack Greinke (only because Halladay lands in the NL, otherwise I'd stick with him).
AL Rookie of the Year: Ricky Romero

NL MVP: Albert Pujols (I feel like an ass picking the 2 consensus MVPs but I feel they are both the MVPs)
NL Cy Young: Chad Billingsley, you can do it! Timmy will have the better numbers but Chad will come on strong in September and the writers will decide it's time to share the wealth, as well as considering the fact that he was the ace on the best team in baseball.
NL Rookie of the Year: Andrew McCutchen (edited for misspelling).

Trade Deadline

I, just like everybody else, think the Francoeur trade and the Betancourt trades were both stupid moves by the teams that received them. It got me thinking that I should predict where some of the big trade candidates will land.

Matt Holliday, staying in Oakland. Billy Beane is too smart of a GM to sell him now when his value is at an all-time low. He will just hang on to him and collect the draft picks or pay him $15 million in arbitration next year if he accepts. The one way I think Holliday gets traded is if Nick Sabean (who doesn't have the best reputation as a GM) offers a package including one of the following: Bumgarner, Alderson or Posey. My dream trade would be to the Braves with Orlando Cabrera for Yunel Escobar (and because it's a dream trade, throw in Jason Heyward).

Roy Halladay, landing in Philadelphia. I think Ruben Amaro, Jr. will pull some strings and deal off a boatload of prospects for Halladay, and quite frankly, it's worth it. I think he should hang on to Dom Brown and Jason Knapp (he has said they are both untouchable), but I wouldn't be surprised if Ricciardi demands one of them at least. Amaro will give in on either player, but not both. I expect the package to be something like Dominic Brown, Kyle Drabek, Jason Donald and John Mayberry. It is a year and half of Halladay, the package is going to be monumental.

Cliff Lee, almost definitely staying in Cleveland. I don't think anybody will offer a huge package for the lefty. Victor Martinez is also going to stay put.

I think Adam Dunn SHOULD be traded, but won't be. The Nationals want to hold on to him, for what? They are not going to contend at any point during the remainder of his contract, trade him to the Giants or the Angels or some team that needs a power bat. Why in the hell wouldn't you trade him for a good amount of solid prospects for a team that might be able to contend in 3-4 years with Strasburg, Harper, Zimmermann, Zimmerman, Dukes and whoever else they're able to scoop up first overall in 2011 and 2012?

I also hope the Nationals decide to trade Josh Willingham but I'm not sure if they will. Literally if I was the GM of the Washington Nationals, I would trade everybody I could except for a few players like the two Zimmermen(n), Dukes, Martis and a handful of other plays.

I think Matt Capps will end up in Florida, maybe they'll trade Jose Ceda for him.

I don't know where Freddy Sanchez is going to land but I think it could be Tampa Bay, Milwaukee or Cincinnati. I'm gonna go with Milwaukee though. Neither Escobar nor Gamel will be part of the trade.

I think the Texas Rangers are going to make a move though, potentially for Halladay, maybe for Cliff Lee, maybe someone else, but they are going to trade Neftali Feliz or Justin Smoak or one of their other excellent prospects, still miss the playoffs, and then regret the trade forever.

(Quick aside, I cry myself to sleep some nights because Justin Smoak didn't fall just one more spot in the draft to the Oakland Athletics. Seriously, nothing has ever been so disappointing then when he was picked #12 by the Texas Rangers, I was absolutely furious. Not that I don't like Jemile Weeks, I love the guy, but Justin Smoak is on a whole nother level.)