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I'ma do my bum ass Mets 
...wanna see how other teams stack up...really excited for the season...
...wanna see how other teams stack up...really excited for the season...
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Originally posted by Nick Mangold -
Brewers preview:
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2013 Atlanta Braves:
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM...
NOW WE HERE
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM...
NOW MY WHOLE TEAM FUCKIN HERE
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C - Ryan Hanigan is a professional catcher who pitchers rave about. A line drive contact hitter who rarely pulls the ball or strikes out, with virtually zero power, who makes up for it with lots of walks and a good OBA. He's the kind of player who's numbers don't tell you his value to a team. Devin Mesoraco held off Miguel Olivo for the backup job, and his low BABIP last season combined with his good spring suggest that he's ready to hit at the major league level. Olivo asked for his release, so Corky Miller waits in the wings in AAA if disaster strikes. Grade - B-
IF - Joey Votto will challenge for the MVP award and may flirt with a .500 OBA (.474 last season, third consecutive year leading the league). Votto led the league in walks last season despite missing roughly 50 games. Brandon Phillips combines with Votto to form what may be the best defensive 1B/2B duo in the game. Zack Cozart is another top notch glove, who brings some pop (15 HR). His low OBA won't hurt as much at the bottom of the order, after being forced into the leadoff spot last season. Todd Frazier was the ROY front runner until a horrid September. He is a downgrade defensively from the retired Scott Rolen, bringing an average glove to the table. Frazier is a streaky hitter with deceptive power, who is susceptible to long slumps due to a long loopy swing. Grade - B+
OF - The big addition here is Shin Soo Choo, who fills the black hole that was the Reds leadoff spot. He should improve the Reds leadoff on base percentage by roughly .100 points, and he reached base about 100 times more than the Stubbs/Cozart tandem did last season. So the Reds are conservatively looking at 50-60 more base runners on base for Joey Votto. Even if Choo is really bad in CF, he won't cost the Reds nearly as many runs as he will add. Jay Bruce dropped weight and offered to play CF, but the Reds wisely decided to let the one year rental get beat up in the more physically demanding position. Bruce is the only player in MLB history to hit 20 or more HR as a rookie, and then increase his HR each season for the next four years. Hard to believe he's only entering his age 26 season, as it feels like he's been on the team forever. I would be pretty surprised if Ryan Ludwick matched his production from last season, because of his evenly distributed home/road splits. I'd be more comfortable if he was a product of GAB, but this isnt the case. Regression candidate. Chris Heisey is a top notch 4th OF. Probably the best defensive OF on the team, who can fill in adequately for any of the starters if they are injured for an extended period of time. Grade - B
SP - The Reds starting five didn't miss a single start last season. That won't happen again. They are better prepared for injury this time around, as Tony Cingrani & Daniel Corcino are now ready if needed, and veteran Armondo Galarraga waits in AAA as well. Last year, Todd Redmond was the 6th starter, so the Reds were very very fortunate to avoid injury. Johnny Cueto has emerged as a bonafide ace. Mat Latos, who many thought would suffer pitching half of his games in GAB as opposed to Petco, bounced back from a brutal April and posted an identical ERA as he did in 2011. He is a potential future ace, and a Cy Young darkhorse. Homer Bailey stayed healthy and had somewhat of a breakout season, including tossing a no hitter. If he fully reaches his potential, this is a top staff. Mike Leake and veteran Bronson Arroyo are solid back of the rotation arms. Grade - B
RP - The big news here, is Aroldis Chapman will not start. I was pretty disappointed at this, but people like Jonah Keri and others made compelling points and talked me out of my tree. The Reds are deep at SP, and Jonathan Broxton closing games for a contender is a dangerous proposition. So the Reds essentially return the same dominant bullpen that led the majors in ERA last season. Sean Marshall is underrated and consistently one of the better relievers in baseball. Sam LeCure is the jack of all trades, from long man to 9th inning in a pinch. JJ Hoover has developed into possibly the future closer. Grade - A
Bench - The Reds were the only team in baseball history to reach the postseason with two players below 30 OPS+ (Miguel Cairo & Wilson Valdez). Needless to say, both are gone. Jack Hannahan will surely be a massive upgrade. Jason Donald/Emmanuel Burris will occupy the other backup IF spot. Mesoraco is the backup catcher. Heisey & Xavier Paul are the OF depth. Paul had a good year pinch hitting from the left side. Grade - C
Overall - Expect regression from LF, and at least two DL stints from the starting pitchers. CF & leadoff are massive improvements, and the bench will be better because it can't possibly be worse. The Reds are good, and aside from Arroyo basically the entire team is either smack dab in their primes or on the cusp of entering it. The won't win 97 games again unless Ludwick is for real and all of the guys who could stand to improve (Bailey, Leake, Mesoraco, Cozart, Frazier, etc) actually do. That's not going to happen. So without the unreal stretch of 22 wins in 24 games (or something like that) that they reeled off after Votto got injured, this is probably a 92, 93 win team. I think they are a solid favorite in the division, and one of a handful of legitimate World Series contenders.Comment
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Can't wait for more of this.
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This thread hasn't gone as a I thought it would. I feel like i'm wearing a tux at a frat party.Comment
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I really don't get your hate for Latos, but then I remember that you are gob and you think every player sucks, and then I get it.
"With that fly ball rate, he'll suck in GAB!"
(puts up nearly identical numbers across the board, has solid season)
"Middle rotation shitbum" - gob last monthComment
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2011 3.47 ERA. 2012 3.48 ERA
2011 1.184 WHIP. 2012 1.161 WHIP
Went from Petco to GAB, allowed less runners, same amount of runs.
Not sure how it can be concluded that he pitched worse, unless you are digging for one number that went in the other direction.
2011 ERA+ 102, 2012 ERA+ 122Comment
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I'm not saying he pitched worse. He probably pitched better in fact. But the only reason I was ever concerned about his fly ball tendencies to begin with is because it would inevitably yield a lot of longballs.
He gave up 25 last year, 18 at home. His road HR/9 was actually the same as it had been in San Diego, but it nearly doubled to 1.3 at GABP. He was able to offset that in other ways -- interestingly his strike outs were down too, so he was "pitching to contact" more -- and he had a great year, maybe his best considering the radically different park environments he has played in. There is nothing inherently wrong with it and it's not his fault, he didn't build the park, but the fact remains he is homer prone due to his batted ball profile, and being homer prone is going to bite you in the ass sometimes.
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Los Doyers!
Outfield:
Matt Kemp will destroy baseballs. Andre Ethier will destroy baseballs thrown by right handers and look foolish against lefties. Carl Crawford will run fast.
Infield:
I expect a solid season from Gonzalez. I hope for decent hitting from Hanley and league-average defense. The rest of the lineup is so scrappy and gritty that I expect the home whites to have permanent stains from sliding into first or making defensive plays. Second baseman will hit second in the lineup and bunt Carl Crawford from second to third if he gets on base and steals.
Catcher:
Hashtag AJ Ellis, will get on base, then the inning will end when the pitcher or abysmal pinch hitter doesn't drive him in.
Starting Rotation:
Kershaw - will make a run at the Cy Young
Greinke - will have an ERA in high 2.00s or low 3.00s
Ryu - Rookie if the year. Lots of Strikeouts. Is fat and we'll get a Gangnam Style video or gif from him
Billingley - If he doesn't go on DL, then he'll put up a great year. If he keeps being hurt then he'll be garbage.
Beckett - Yo-yos between quality starts and getting absolutely lit-the-fuck-up.
Bench
LOL
Bullpen
Lots of strikeouts. Not a lot of blown leads except from Matt Guerrier and Kevin Gregg. Belisario, League, Janson, Howell all have good years. Paco Rodriguez and Josh Wall make inevitable returns throughout the season, also do well.
Dodgers win NL West.[REDACTED]Comment
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I wish Paco Rodriguez & Luis Mendoza were on the same team.Comment
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Brewers.
C. One of the strongest positions on the team. After years of rotating through bums on their last leg, such as Johnny Estrada, Jason Kendall and Gregg Zaun, the Brewers have finally graduated a pair of catchers from the farm system. Jonathan Lucroy will start on most days and offers one of the best bats at the position in the league. Lucroy had the third highest wOBA in baseball among catchers last season. Lucroy is also great at receiving/pitch framing, however his pitch blocking and throws to second still need work. Martin Maldonado, is a fine backup, although he played a bit over his head with the bat last year. He could also see some time at firstbase in April depending on how things shakeup. Both players received some recognition this spring by playing on their respective countries World Baseball Classic team, despite only being backups.
1B. I don't really like Corey Hart. His bat isn't really good enough to play at first, unfortunately his defense isn't really good enough to play anywhere else. Still on a good year, I think he's a two win player at first. Unfortunately for the second time in three years, Hart showed up to camp fat and out of shape, and once again he hurt his knee as a result. He will miss at least the first month of the season. After Plan B, Mat Gamel followed suit with a knee injury of his own, the Brewers are left with starting Alex Gonzalez everyday at first to begin the season. At 36 years old, Gonzalez has spent his fourteen year ML career exclusively at SS, and for good reason, his bat sucks. Unfortunately it is the Brewer's only option due to an inept GM, and they will be forced to accept a black hole at the position for a month.
2B. Rickie Weeks seemed to finally meet his potential in 2011. The former second overall draft pick hit, .278/.351/.486 in the first half of the season, but the hot streak ended after he hurt his ankle trying to run out an infield single in July. Weeks returned in September, but struggled to get on base at all. The injury was slow to heal, and his struggles continued into 2012. He was flat out terrible to start the year, but his second half numbers were close to the type of production he had gotten used to before the ankle injury. Now fully healthy, the Brewers hope that he has left the injuries and inconsistent performance in the past.
3B. After Prince Fielder left in free agency, Doug Melvin felt a need to replace his bat in the cleanup spot in the lineup. The result was Aramis Ramirez, a player who isn't that good, and kind of old. The Brewers overpaid Ramirez on a three year deal, hoping that the early production will offset the latter years of the deal. Luckily Ramirez's bat played nicely in the hitter friendly Miller Park. Combine that with an unusually decent year with the glove from Ramirez, and the contract doesn't look as bad after one year. Unfortunately Ramirez is now 35 years old, and unlikely to repeat his 2012 performance again. If Ramirez can get off to decent start, look for the Brewers to try to trade him (:crossesfingers
instead of rolling the dice on him in 2014, when he is scheduled to make 16 million.
SS. The prize of the Zack Greinke trade was Jean Segura. A young shortstop with decent pop in his bat, and questionable defense. An impatient Brewer's front office decided to call him up from AA, only a week after acquiring him. Segura was rushed, and struggled initially, although he improved in September. Segura will be the everday starter in 2013, by default, and hopes to parlay a strong Spring training into the regular season.
OF.Over the last few years, Ryan Braun has been the best player in the National League, if not MLB. At 29 years old, he is right in his prime, and that won't change in 2013. He will be an MVP candidate again, however the Brewer's record and voter stigma may hold back the league's most deserving candidate again. Everyday I am thankful for the JJ Hardy trade back in 2009, looking back now it is clear that the Brewers won the deal. Carlos Gomez is criminally underrated on VSN, despite being one of the best CFers in the NL. Still only 27 years old, I expect a 20 HRs, and 30 SBs from Gomez, along with the every present outstanding defense. Norichika Aoki will be the everyday RF in his sophomore season after coming over from Japan. Despite a weak arm, he has the defense and bat to hold down the position, and should improve on his 2012 numbers with more regular playing time.
Bench. One day I bought a $5 Hot N' Ready for lunch. I took the pizza home, and quickly ate six pieces before realizing what a huge mistake I had made. I put the remaining pizza in the fridge and forgot about it. A few days latter I remembered my regrettable purchase and tried to eat the leftovers. The attempt was short lived and I through the remaining food out after taking one bite. My stupidity is a nice analogy for the Brewer's current bench player, Yuniesky Betancourt. After a terrible season in Milwaukee in 2011, the Brewer's had the audacity to bring him back in 2013. Will they be smart enough to dump him shortly after the bad taste returns to their mouth like I was with the pizza? Or will we have to suffer through the entire season with the bumbling idiot on the team? Time will tell. Joining him on the bench is fourth outfielder Logan Schafer, who will also serve as the emergency catcher. If Schafer actually does catch a game, it will be the first time a left hander thrower does so in MLB since 1989. Other names include Khris Davis (primary pinch fielder, can't play the field), Taylor Green, and Jeff Bianchi (the latter two will start the season on the DL).
SP. With Zack Greinke gone, Yovani Gallardo moves into the "ace" role on the Brewers staff. But Gallardo is no ace. After an outstanding 2010 campaign, Gallardo has failed to improve, due mostly to an increasing tendency to give up the long ball. Combine that with his Mexican Gangbanger image, and I'm left hoping the Brewers eventually trade him. Following Gallardo in the rotation is Kyle Lohse, who is shit, Marco Estrada and Mike Fiers, both of whom pitched well above their stuff in 2012, and Wily Peralta, the Brewer's top prospect. Peralta has the potential to be a 2/3 if he can master his command. But he remains inconsistent. Look for Mark Rogers to get another look in the rotation at some point in 2013. The 2004 first round pick fought various injuries to finally make it to the big leagues in 2010, he then missed all of 2011 with carpal tunnel syndrome in his pitching hand. He made it back to the Show last year at the end of the year, and showed impressive command of his usually wild arsenal. He showed up to spring training in 2013 with a dead arm, and will begin the year on the DL.
RP. The Brewers bullpen sucked in 2012. John Axford sucks and should have been traded after 2011. But it would be a miracle if the Brewers ever sold high on a player. Look for new acquisitions, Michael Gonzalez, Tom Gorzelanny, and Burke Badenhop to make the unit somewhat better then worst in the majors in 2013.
I expect the Brewers to attempt to make the playoffs again in 2013, because that's what Doug Melvin likes to do, and once again finish in MLB hell.
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