A Blogger's Return

(Note: For reaction to the game last night, please see A.F.O.M.G.'s piece below.)


Finally, the Sip, has come back to Y2K.

A couple of months out of the show can make some bloggers soft. Women, booze, the road. But not this blogger. While my mind, body and soul may have been halfway around the world my heart was always with this little website of ours.

And just in time. Quite the coincidence that my return coincided with the start of baseball season. Coincidence.

So I couldn't hook you up with previews or predictions or whatever else. Unfortunately I was doing everything in my power to chase down the great bankrobbing-surfer Bodhi-satva through Australia. My apologies for that.

So today I give you the abbreviated quick version. Enjoy.


The New Mets

I'm not as high on these guys as the rest of us seem to be. The lineup is average. Three great hitters and a lot of junk. The rotation could be great. It's also one or two injuries away from being average.

We have seen the good.

- Johan Santana was awesome opening the season. The stat line wasn't what impressed me. It was the way the Marlins two big league hitters looked against him. How many bad swings did Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla take against the Amazins' new ace?

And it will only get better. He was topping off at about 90-91 mph when in midseason form his fastball will top off at 93. His changeup, the game's best pitch, already looks great and when he can get his slider over a strike he is almost unhittable.

- D Wright looks great. Apparently he went nuts in the gym this offseason. No reason why he can't hit .340, especially now that he has Beltran protecting him in the lineup.

-Everyone seems to have a hard on for John Maine. There is good reason for this. The guy is good and should get better with experience and confidence. But his impressive spring training means nothing. March is a month of fastballs. Pitchers build their arms by throwing the straight ball. John Maine throws 80% fastballs, so of course he is going to look better than the rest.

Do I think he can win 16-18 games? Sure. But calm down folks. Let's see it first.

The Bad

- The Mets' lineup 5-8 is bad. The key to the season in my opinion is Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou. If we can get 40-45 home runs out of them combined then the lineup will hold up. But otherwise, there is just too much pressure on the top. All of a sudden teams will be walking Carlos Beltran to get to Delgado.

- Willie. He's the Carlos Beltran of managers, minus the talent. He's just so boring. He has no schtick. Maybe being in Japan for two weeks has me sweet for Bobby V, but I just want something more out of a manager.

Overall Projections

The National League is really catching up with the AL.

The NL West may be the best division in baseball. The Dodgers, with the additions of Andruw Jones, and the continued growth of Chad Billingsley as well as their plethora of young talent (Kemp, Loney, Ethier) are going to be really good.



The Rockies are fresh off the World Series. The Diamondbacks, fresh off a 90-win season, added Danny Haren, return Randy Johnson in a week and return a lineup that featured 6 starters in their first full year last season.



Then there is the Padres who throw Jake Peavy and Chris Young at you twice every five days. And even the Giants, with Zito, Lincecum and Matt Cain can easily sweep a series.

In short, west coast trips are going to be brutal.

The NL Central remains the weakest division in baseball. The Cubs and the Brewers should duke it out for supremacy. The health of Ben Sheets and Yovanii Gallardo will determine the division.

Finally, the NL East.

Everyone is talking about the Braves. They are the new sexy pick and for good reason. If they can get 500 innings from Glavine, Smoltz and Hudson, and if their lineup produces the way it should, they are going to be good. And the Phils are what they are. A great lineup, shitty pitching, holler back.

The Mets can be the best team in the National League. They could also be the 6th best. Going into Tuesday's game, the Mets had what looked like the top rotation in the league. Santana, Pedro, Perez, Maine is nasty.

But Pedro is hurt. For how long, we don't know.

The lineup has the potential to be bad. So many questions hoover around this season.

Is Carlos Delgado done?

Will Moises Alou play 100 games?

Is Angel Pagan the next John Maine? A top prospect who never got his shot only to reinvent himself at Shea.

Can somebody step up behind Aaron Heilman and Pedro Feliciano in the setup role?

Which Carlos Beltran will we see?

Johan Santana could win 20. He could also win 15 like he did last year. I'm just not ready to pencil the Mets into October. The National League has gotten so good over the last 12 months. We need to hope that the NL West just beats each other up so much that two playoff teams come out of the East.

The biggest thing the Mets have going for them is the near 40 games against the Nats and Marlins. That's a lot of games against ZERO good starting pitching. The Mets need to win 25 of these to make the playoffs. These are gimmies.

Sip's Predictions

NL East - Mets
NL Central - Cubs
NL West - D'Backs
NL Wildcard - Dodgers

AL East - Red Sox
AL Central - Indians
AL West - Angels
AL Wild Card - Detroit

Mets vs. D'Backs
Cleveland vs. Detroit

And for the 5th consecutive year I'll go with a Mets-Tribe World Series with the Amazins coming out on top.

Call this the blogosphere's version of Chris Berman's 49ers-Bills Super Bowl. I think so.

NL MVP - David Wright
NL CY Young - Jake Peavy
NL ROY - Kosuke Fukodome
NL MOY - Lou Pinella

AL MVP - Grady Sizemore
AL Cy Young - Erik Bedard
AL ROY - Clay Bucholtz
AL MOY - Eric Wedge

The Yankees


Ahh the Yankees.

I am too much at peace right now to irrationally hate. But if there is going to be a season for the Yankees to sink this could be the one. The rotation can really slip. Chien Ming Wang is really the only sure thing at this point.

Pettite is already hurt. Mussina is done. Phil Hughes is 21. And Ian Kennedy is a finesse guy who will need a few years before he reaches his 12-win/5th starter potential.

So I gotta pick them not to make the playoffs, even though, like always, they inevitably will.

Enjoy guys.

Catch me and AFOMG at Opening Day. We'll be signing autographs in the blogger appreciation tent out in left center field.

Vaya,
Sip