Swallows and Cardinals

As the faithful little birds wing their way back to the mission in San Juan Capistrano every year so do major league baseball teams to their respective spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona. On a side note the swallows have not been back to Capistrano since 2009 but instead have been nesting just north in the Chino Hills of SoCal, but I digress. This is the one time of the year where teams such as the Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and my Pittsburgh Pirates can feel optimistic about and look forward to. With this spirit in mind I have decided to do a run down of every team in Major League Baseball going division by division everyday and doing a plus one for my picks for the World Series, MVP, Cy Young, Rookies of the Year and Manager of the Year. The Division that I will start with will be the one that I am the most familiar with and the one that my loveable loser Pirates are in, the National League Central.

National League Central.

 

Predicted order to finish

St. Louis Cardinals

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cincinnati Reds

Chicago Cubs

Houston Astros

Cardinals- The Redbirds are still expected to win the division, not because they have improved over the rest of the teams in the NL Central but because no one has made a serious off season move to over take them. In fact the Cards might have even taken a step back themselves. Yes they are the defending World Series Champions winning one of the most exciting series in recent memory. It will be interesting to see how St. Louis does with Tony La Russa retiring and Albert Pujols leaving through free agency to the Angeles.

They also lost Ryan Theriot in free agency however they did pick up Carlos Beltran from the Giants who is expected to start in right field; this move will then allow Lance Berkman to move back to first base. The rest of the infield is also pretty good with Skip Schumaker at 2B Rafael Furcal at SS, David Freese at 3B Yadier Molina behind the plate, Matt Holliday and John Jay with Beltran in the outfield. Adam Wainwright is back to lead the rotation after missing the entire 2011 season because of Tommy John surgery, joining him are Chris Carpenter, Kyle Lohse, Jaime Garcia and Jake Westbrooke. Barring any major season ending injury do not expect too much fresh blood to come up from the minors. Only their top rated prospect 21year old righty Shelby Miller their 1^st rd pick in 09 is expected to make the jump and that might not happen until the end of the season when the rosters are expanded.

Brewers- The BrewCrew might be slow getting out of the gates this year, there was a lot of commotion in Milwaukee’s offices in the off-season with Prince Fielder moving to the Detroit Tigers and last year’s MVP Ryan Braun being suspended for the first 50 games of the season. The as much as the offense maybe punchless at the start, the pitching staff should coming out hot with Zach Greinke being back this season. Greinke and Yovani Gallardo make a killer tag team at the front of the rotation with Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson holding down the make three slots. Not all of the power will be lost during Braun’s suspension, the Brewers picked up Aramis Ramirez from the Cubs to play thirds base. In the middle of the infield they will have a pretty good 2B-SS combo in Rickie Weeks and Alex Gonzalez respectively and Mat Gamel rounding out the infield. Expect to see Nyger “Tony Plush” Morgan, one of the most charismatic players in MLB to move to left field for the 50 games and Carlos Gomez to play CF and Corey right in his usually spot in right. Expect one of the top young catchers in the NL Jonathan Lucroy to be calling the games behind the plate. If the season doesn’t go as smoothly as planed then expect to see right handed pitcher Wily Peralta, 3B Taylor Green and outfielder Logan Schafer to be called up by mid May.

Pirates- On July 26^th the Pirates were in 1^st place in the division with a record of 53-47, That night they lost in 19 innings to the Braves in Atlanta on a blown call at the plate, the league admitted that the wrong call was made. The Buccos then preceded to got 2-13 in their next 15 games. Some say that play ended the season for the Pirates. In 2012 everyone is hoping to see that 53-47 team appear on the field and bring the organization its first season above .500 since 1992. The team brought in some solid veterans without having to give up their young players. The team is lead by its young outfield that has shown that they do have potential in Andrew McCutchen in CF where he is flanked by Alex “Elvis” Pressley and Jose Tabata on either side. In the middle of the infield they brought in veteran Clint Barmes to play SS and have local kid Neil Walker at second base who expects to build on his break out season last year. Corner of the infield looks to be stillup in the air, expect to see Casey McGehee to platoon at first with Garret Jones and also to get some at bats at 3B playing behind Pedro Alvarez. At catcher the Pirates picked up Rod Barajas but back up Michael McKenry is sold defensively and is one of the best catchers in calling a game. For the first time in years the Pirates actually have an abundance of starting pitchers with four out of the five starters from last year being back on top of bringing in veteran Eric Bedard and trading for A.J. Burnett. Don’t be surprised if the Pirates move either Starling Marte or Gorkys Hernandez their two young outfield prospects at the trading deadline.

Reds- The Reds finished one game ahead of the Pirates last season and have a number of big time players in RF Jay Bruce, 1B Joey Votto, SP Homer Bailey and veteran third baseman Scott Rolan. Aside from Bruce the rest of the outfield looks very pedestrian, with Drew Stubbs in center and Chris Heisey in left. In the middle of the infield the Reds expect to have young buck Zack Cozart back from Tommy John surgery and starting at short stop with the veteran Brandon Phillips at second. Just like their outfield behind the plate the Reds also look very average with Ryan Hanigan. The pitching staff is lead by Johnny Cueto, and expect an improved season from Bronson Arroyo, with Mat Latos being a welcome addition from San Diego. What the Reds do have to look forward to is besides Cozart catcher Devin Mosarco, 3B Todd Frazier and lefty Donnie Josheph are expected to come up to the majors.

Cubs- Sorry Cubs fans but all I can say is that there is always next season. 2013 we should see signs of Theo Epstein’s impact on the organization. There are very few bright spots on the Cubs roster, catcher Geovany Soto, shortstop Sterling Castro, LF Alfanso Soriano and pitcher Matt Garza. CF Marlon Byrd and SP Ryan Dempster are not what they used to be. David DeJesus is expected to round out the outfield in right, with Bryan LaHair, Darwin Barney, and Ian Stewart playing 1B, 2B and 3B respectively. Paul Maholm should be a nice addition to the back end of the rotation. With Anthony Rizzo already on the bench at first the only other prospect expected to make any noise is Brett Jackson.

Bob Ueker

Astros- It seems like the Astros would almost be better off doing what the Indians did in major league baseball, getting rid of everyone and see what they can do with a catcher from the Mexican league, a pitcher from jail and a power hitter who practices voodoo, just add Bob Uekerand I think you would get more entrainment then the 2012 Astros will. Yes the ‘Stros have Carlos Lee, Jed Lowrie and Brett Myers. They also have an adequate closer in Brandon Lyon but you need to be winning in the 8^th and 9^th innings for your closer to actually do his job. Besides Lee and Lowrie the infield will have Jose Altuve at 2B and Jimmy Paredes at SS. The outfield is projected to be Fernando Martinez, Jordan Schafer and Brian Bogusevic from left to right. Jason Castro will be calling the games for a very so-so pitching staff. Aside from Myers they have J.A. Happ and Wandy Rodriguez. Astros fans should not be expecting the next Bagwell or Biggio to be coming up anytime soon, actually they shouldn’t expect anyone worth mentioning coming up from the minors. Brett Oberholtzer a big left handed pitcher should be a called up once the pitching staff really starts to struggle.