I mentioned Tuesday that I was particularly interested in the Rays, AÕs, Brewers, Yankees, and Nationals heading into the season. So to expand on that a bit:
Rays: This one shouldn’t need a lot of explanation. Chone Smith has them winning 89 games, PECOTA predicts 83 wins, and Dave Pinto (via Marcel the Monkey) has them ranked fifth among all projected offenses. Frankly, I’m buying it. This is a pretty good team. They’ll need some serious breaks to actually compete with the Yankees and the Red Sox, but, incredibly enough, I don’t think it’s impossible.
The sleeper unit on this team is the starting rotation. I really like Andy Sonnanstine, he of the 130.7 IP, 97/26 K/BB, 5.85 ERA line in 2007. He’ll be slotted in behind Scott Kazmir, Jamie Shields, and Matt Garza, forming a very solid group (if they can find someone other than Edwin Jackson for the fifth spot, that’s a huge plus).
There’s also a lot more attention to detail on this year’s roster. The bottom end, which has been pretty disastrous over the years, may actually be pretty good in 2008. Cliff Floyd is around, as well as Eric Hinske and John Rodriguez (a personal favorite). And guys like Willy Aybar and Justin Ruggiano aren’t nearly as objectionable as Josh Wilson and Damon Hollins.
Team defense should be the biggest issue, but that’s nothing new. Having B.J. Upton off of second base should help, but it will take a miracle for this team to be above average defensively.
A’s: They will almost always be on my list of interesting teams, but this year they really deserve it… I guess. Granted, their rotation will be pretty boring. And so will their outfield, if Emil Brown and Chris Denorfia end up in left and center.
But there’s still enough here to make me curious. Daric Barton will start from day one, as will Kurt Suzuki. Travis Buck is moderately exciting, and Jack Cust is pure fun. And things will get very interesting if we get to see the kids acquired this winter, namely Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham.
And how about Jack Hannahan as a sleeper, in case Eric Chavez continues to do his best Grant Hill impression.
Brewers: Like the Rays, the Brewers’ biggest problem in 2007 was team defense. Bill Hall didn’t work in center, Ryan Braun may as well have been Frank Thomas at third, and Rickie Weeks continued to be Rickie Weeks at second. They fixed two of those problems at once by signing Mike Cameron to play center, moving Hall back to third and Braun to left. Whether that creates a whole new set of problems is anybody’s guess.
Aside from all that, Weeks and J.J. Hardy have always interested me offensively, perhaps because I’ve been eternally bullish on both. And I can’t help rooting for Jason Kendall, who was about as fun to watch as any player I can remember when he was at his best.
Yankees: I’m bearish on the Yankees. Read my note from Tuesday for a full explanation.
Nationals: As dreadful as half of this team is, the other half is extremely fun. That side includes Nick Johnson, Wily Mo Pena, Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, and Elijah Dukes. We know the caveats that come with Johnson and Dukes, and Zimmerman is somewhat of a known quantity at this point. As I mentioned Tuesday, Wily Mo is a personal favorite, but it’s hard to be quite as high on him as I was two years ago.
The wild card is Milledge. If he can stick in center, he could be an all-star caliber player very quickly. If he has to shift to a corner, his value takes a tremendous hit.
Feedback? Write a comment, or e-mail the author at shawn(AT)squawkingbaseball.com
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