One thing though is that you are waaaaaaaaayyyyy off on the Oakland A's. I'm not just saying that because I'm an A's fan. You can't honestly believe that Anaheim has a better team in the West or that the Red Sox, Twins and Blue Jays are better teams. On paper that is just a bad call.
Yeah Oakland lost Barry Zito and Frank Thomas, but Zito is replaced just by having Rich Harden and Esteban Loaiza both healthy for a full season. Mike Piazza will put up at least 85% of the numbers that Frank Thomas did if not equal it. Don't discount the switch from catcher to DH and from Petco to the Oakland Coliseum. Last year he hit 22 homers in 126 games. I bet he gets 30 in 145 games with Oakland. Secondly, the rest of those numbers get replaced if Milton Bradley and Bobby Crosby are healthy for a full season. Also, Shannon Stewart is apparently looking like the old Shannon Stewart.
No way Oakland dips from being the second best team in the AL last to being the eighth. Not going to happen. "No, cause it ain't sh*t. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't sh*t ... Next time I might shake my d*ck." --Randy Moss
Having Harden healthy is huge; he's an ace if he's healthy but over the past two years combined he's only thrown about 160 innings.
Piazza could show to be a great replacement for Thomas (especially getting out of Petco Park), but there always seems to be an adjustment period for career-NL hitters moving to the AL.
I'm not sold on Bobby Crosby, Milton Bradley, Esteban Loaiza, or Huston Street. Bradley has never hit more than 20 hr, or had more than 70 RBI, and has only played 160 games over the last two seasons combined. Similar with Crosby.
However, you also have to take into consideration that year after year I pick the A's to miss the playoffs and they never seem to. Maybe I'm just biased against Oakland and I look for statistics to support what I say. Unless they come out of the gate like gangbusters, it'll probably be June or July before I put them in the top ten, and I'm sure you'll bust my chops the whole way. [ Parent ]
If I had to put money on it either way, I would say the Twins will play more golf in October than baseball. [ Parent ]
I think a lot of people are putting a lot of stock in Gary Matthews Jr.'s year last season not being a byproduct of using HGH and Shea Hillenbrand all of the sudden becoming a great guy. They are going miss Juan Rivera more than they realize. He was the only guy you had to respect in their lineup outside of Vladimir Guerrero.
The A's lineup top to bottom will be better than the Angels and it is mainly due to guys just being healthy. Chavez played hurt the entire season. Milton Bradley and Bobby Crosby both missed half the season. Yeah we lost Thomas, but I think Mike Piazza puts up at least 85% of those numbers. Toss in the fact that Shannon Stewart is apparently looking like the old Shannon Stewart and Nick Swisher is only getting better and the lineup is going to be deep.
When you look at the staffs, the bullpens are a wash. I think our middle relief is superior but I would rather have K-Rod at closer. In terms of the starters, I think if Harden is healthy he is better than anyone Anaheim has. If I had to rank the ten starters both teams trot out, I'd go:
Harden Haren Lackey Santana Colon Weaver Loaiza Escobar Blanton Kennedy "No, cause it ain't sh*t. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't sh*t ... Next time I might shake my d*ck." --Randy Moss [ Parent ]
Look for former Twin killer Ponson to chew up inning and Ramon Ramierez to win ten. I definately like our staff better this year than last heading into the season.
2006
Radke Santana Silva Lohse Baker
2007
Santana Ramierez Ponson Silva Garza
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