Baseball Prospectus & ESPN baseball expert and injury guru Will Carroll kindly took a look at our league and gave his pre-season predictions.
Of the MikeJade South East Division Will says
Kinzie: Very solid pitching (despite Schilling and Lowe on Opening day). Needs to use some of it to upgrade the offense. Deep, but giving away a couple positions. With a couple tweaks and trades, this team can be a contender.
Hunter: How far can Pujols carry this team (and could there be a better name for a Porn baseball player?) There’s actually a lot beyond Albert — Manny, Young, some young sluggers. Top to bottom, this is an all-start team. The pitching isn’t deep and risky with Harden and Willis, and punts saves, but I’ll take it out of a draft.
Canyon: Speed kills, but can it win? Speeds the big tool here, so they HAVE to win steals and Avg to contend offensively. This is an all or nothing offense. Pitching’s solid, but risky. Ryan and Wagner should have them at the top of steals.
Hillary: Balanced, but not outstanding in any one category. This team will win its fair share of games by having a consistent week when a team that’s “better” has a bad week. Same with the pitching – slow and steady. This team’s the tortoise to Hunter and Kinzie’s hare.
Ginger: Can Howard do it again? That’s really where this team lives and dies. The rest are solid if unspectacular, a notch down offensively from the rest of the league despite Beltran. They can deal some pitching to upgrade.
Picks: Hunter, Kinzie, Hillary, Canyon, Ginger
Of the PeterNicole North West Division, will says
Snow: Weak on the corners, very little depth, but has some serious upside. Matching Ichiro and Bonds in the OF is bold. Five closers and one decent starter? They should win saves, but they’re punting way too many categories. This ZIMA isn’t going to hold.
Teagan: Very solid, bit shaky in the OF, but deep. Good balance, nice gamble on Clemens. This team has the look of a winner.
Kobe: Good balance. This guy’s been reading up on prospects, but he’s relying on too many of them. Solid pitching if they stay healthy. There’s some upside here and one heck of a keeper team.
Devinn: Umm, no. There’s just not enough offense here. Everything’s middling to overrated. Now, he does have Johan but that seems to be the only good pick he made.
Sunny: Interesting lineup. A bit older than I’d expect in this type of league. Solid enough lineup if everyone stays healthy. The pitching is great, so I can see his draft strategy. He’s going to own most of the categories there. I’m not sure he has enough offense, but on any given week, he’ll have enough to win.
In this division, I think Sunny and Teagan are head and shoulders above the others. I’d take Teagan on balance, but H2H strategy might play out for Sunny.
Prediction: Teagan, Sunny, Kobe, Devinn, Snow.
