MLB 2006 Preview

[Jaded]

See how many teams I can get this done for, in the hope that it'll help us all pick the wnners... Chicago Cubs Last year's record: 79-83, finished 4th in division. Major outs: Nomar, Corey Patterson, Sergio Mitre, Jon Leicester. Major ins: Juan Pierre, Jacque Jones, Scott Eyre, Bobby Howry. Pitchers Starters - Carlos Zambrano, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Greg Maddux, Glendon Rusch, Jerome Williams. Closer - Ryan Dempster. Setup men - Scott Eyre, Bobby Howry, Will Ohman, Michael Wuertz. Thoughts - I love the Cubs, and am feeling optimistic that the 3rd of the 3 big baseball curses will be broken, following the Bambino in 2004 and the Black Sox in 2005. If I'm honest, though, this is gut feeling overriding common sense. Zambrano and Prior are great pitchers, and the bullpen's looking promising with the additions of Eyre and Howry (I really like Dempster, in particular.) Problem is, after those top 2 starters, we get to Kerry Wood - awesome but injured, and who's to say how well he will have recovered from the surgery in the off-season? Then Greg Maddux - awesome but getting on, at 40 now, and failed to win 15 games last year for the first time in 17 seasons. Looking at the position players, we lose Corey Patterson, who I always had a soft spot for, and Nomar. The two big incomers are two outfielders, Pierre and Jones, with rookies Ronny Cedeno and Matt Murton expected to feature heavily at left field and short stop. The pair have less than 200 Major League at bats between them, and need to mature quickly. Pierre will be the leadoff hitter, and should do a good job - although it worries me that both he and Jones are coming off career low years for average. Aramis Ramirez, out since August 26th with a strained left quad muscle, is on fire in spring training, and Derrek Lee led the majors in batting average last year. (.335) Spring Training so far - Okay, not going to take spring training as a major indicator of the season to come, but worth taking a quick look at what's been happening. As mentioned last paragraph, Ramirez is extremely hot, with a .590 average and .974 slugging from 39 at bats - including 4 homers. Youngster Murton is also impressing (.447 ave, .523 OBP, .658 slugging from 38 AB's.) Looking at the pitchers is, to be honest, scary - Rusch has an ERA of 7.31 from 5 games, going 2-2, and Wellmeyer's getting caned whenever he comes out of the pen - 7.36 ERA from 11 innnings. Yes, early stats, but way too high. Maddux and Zambrano, on the other hand, have ERA's of 3.21 and 3.86, with Carlos striking out 14 and walking just 2 in his 3 starts. Youngster John Koronka lost us the no-hitter against the A's yesterday, giving up a single with 2 outs in the tenth, but has done well in the 10.1 innings he's pitched over 9 games. Final verdict - Heart says that broken curses come in 3's, and see you at the World Series! Head, unfortunately, says Cubs will once again Come Undone By September.

[StevieFlack]

Re: MLB 2006 Preview Look forward to your write ups Jaded. Nice one mate. BEWARE about the Cubs rotation though- Prior will no doubt start the season on the DL ( he's really not getting over an injury) and we are not sure about Woods pitching capabilities after injury.