Some thoughts as I flip through this weeks Sports Illustrated MLB Preview ’15…
(projections by Rotowire.com)
– Salvador Perez and Greg Holland are on the cover for my regional issue. SI picks the Royals to finish 4th in the AL Central. Says a lot about the state of baseball in Texas.
– SI is choosing Cleveland to win it all. Last time SI did that it was 1997 and the Indians finished last.
– 88 wins was enough for the Giants to win the WS last year. 100 win teams are a thing of the past in this era of competitive balance. In the past decade there were 4 100 win teams. The decade before that there were 17. I think that 90 is our number.
– SI predicts that only 3 AL teams will win more than 90 games. The Tigers sneak in as the 2nd WC winner after finishing 87-75. Doesn’t sound too unreasonable to me. Our window is closing. We gotta get to the end of the season with no holes in the lineup and a bullpen.
– Rick Porcello is slotted as the #2 starter for Boston, and he’s predicted to win 14 games and finish with a 3.68 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. JV has been given the same amount of wins, but a worse ERA and WHIP. Though Porcello has a much better defense behind them, so I’m not ready to say that the computer thinks Porcello is a better pitcher.
– SI has 5 Tigers penciled in for 79+ RBI (Kins, Miggy, VMart, Cespedes, J.D). The scout who spoke about the Tigers says that Miggy’s in his best shape in years. Lots of talk about how bad the bullpen is, with some hope that Rondon can be the savior. Verlander’s K/9 prediction is 8.0. I would be thrilled with that.
– White Sox are picked to finish third in the Division. Everyone really likes Cabrera/LaRoche/Samardzija/Robertson. Man would I have loved to get a guy like Robertson.
– Based on the individual predictions, I don’t really see why the Royals would be any worse this year than last. But SI has them at 78-84.
– Matt Joyce is slotted to bat 4th for the Angels. A modest .753 OPS, but still, 4th.
– The bottom of the AL West is going to be bad. My hometown Rangers and the Astros are going to run a lot of guys out there this year.
– SI doesn’t predict any pitcher in the AL to have more than 15 wins. Price is one of the 15 game winners.