Real Holographic Simulated Sporting Dissent is Back!

In the early stretch of March I decided to take a break from the blog in hopes of finishing out my previews closer to the end of camp. Unfortunately, I've had some health problems the last few weeks that preventing me from doing so. Instead, I'll give you my abbreviated thoughts on the remaining divisions.

AL West - Anyone but Texas

The West is shaping up to be just as highly contested as it was last year, with three teams vying for the division in the last month of the season. Those same three teams are back. Oakland looks very different, dropping their veteran hurlers, a veteran slugger, and a one of the best players in baseball in Josh Donaldson. Still, there's so much young talent on that squad it's hard not to pick them to win the division. Which is exactly what I'm doing. The Angels did nothing particularly fascinating this offseason, but they didn't need to. They've got a dynamic offense built around the best player in the game and a very good rotation that features a player in Garrett Richards, that while coming off injury, should be a mainstay in the Cy Young conversation for years to come. I've got the A's finishing just behind the Angels, with Seattle a wildcard in this scenario. The addition of Nelson Cruz is risky, but it could pay off big time if he has another 40 homer campaign. King Felix heads a rotation that could be significantly better if Taijuan Walker is anywhere near his spring numbers (which are off the charts). Both Texas teams don't factor in. I would have given the Rangers half a chance after trading for Yovani Gallardo and getting a healthy Prince Fielder back...but the loss of Yu Darvish for the year is a death blow to a team that realistically shouldn't expect to win if everything went right. As for the Astros, if everything goes right they'll be drafting first again next year.

NL Central - Division Title In the Cards

When I originally ran through rosters on paper trying to pick out what the best team in baseball was, I was between the St. Louis Carindals and the Washington Nationals. At the time I picked the Nationals because I had no idea how healthy to expect the Cardinals going into the season. Now that spring training is over, the Cardinals have so many good players that they can't keep players that could be stars (while the Nationals have three key players starting the year on the DL). It wouldn't be a stretch to say the Cardinals are the early favorite to come out of the National League. It's less of a stretch to say they're going to run away with this division by August. If anyone's going to give them problems, it'll be the Pirates, who have the pitching to contend. Cincinnatti and Milwaukee haven't done enough to improve their fortunes, but both are talented clubs that could compete. Many in the media have picked the Cubs as the surprise team in baseball this year. I just don't see it, other than a reference in a sequel to one of the greatest movies of all time. Outside of John Lester, only Travis Wood has pitched 180 innings in an MLB season. And based how he pitched last year, the Cubs should be hoping he doesn't get the chance to either. Nobody picks teams with that little track record for a reason - they never win. And it's hard not to see anything but a last place team here, especially in this division. The offense should see improvement, and Jorge Soler is my choice for NL ROTY. But there's a lot not to like about the Cubbies this year. Top prospect Kris Bryant isn't starting with the team (and shouldn't based on his defense). The unfortunate Bryant comes with unrealistic expectations for as long a swing as he has. With his batting eye and power, he's going to have a tremendous career. But the fans in Wrigley are going to let him have it when he's hitting .240 every year (though with 30 homers and a high obp) after expecting Miguel Cabrera, which he's never going to be.

NL East - Nat-ural Choice

How does a team with the best starting five in all of baseball go out and sign a starter better than the rest of their rotation? And then keep all six starters! The Nationals are going to be tough to beat, with both high end talent AND high end depth. And that's just in the rotation. Their lineup is very good, a balance of power, hitting, and speed. They could see tremendous improvement should Bryce Harper finally have a healthy season (so far, it looks good). In this era of division heavy schedules, this team might challenge the regular season record for victories. The closest competitor is a Braves team that is seeing a slight rebuild after shipping out their two best players on offense. Still, they've got a great rotation that got better with the acquisition of Shelby Miller. They'll be in the wild card hunt. The Marlins made some very nice moves to keep themselves competitive as always, picking up second tier players like Dee Gordon, Martin Prado, and Mike Morse to go around their good young core of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcel Ozuna. Picking up Matt Latos and Dan Haren to shore up the rotation were also nice moves, but ultimately the Marlins have too little high end pitching to truly compete this year. This will change when Jose Fernandez comes back in August, but it will probably be too late. The Phillies and the Mets are simply not talented enough to even suggest competiting. The Mets keep losing young starters to elbow injuries, which doesn't bode well for their rebuild. At least Matt Harvey is coming back.

NL West - Giant Killers

It's incredibly difficult to make predictions against the Giants. Every year I fight it. They're built around pitching and defense. There's nothing flashy here. They aren't going to beat you to death, just beat you. It's really hard to pick them when there's so much more talented teams. Yet every other year it seems they beat the odds and pickup another World Series. Not this year. After having what may be the best offseason in league history, I'm picking the compltetely revamped Padres to come out of the west. The Padres addressed their longtime offensive woes by picking up high ceiling stars in Matt Kemp and Justin Upton. They improved an already good rotation by picking up James Shields. Pitching in that ballpark, he's a Cy Young candidate. Well, almost, if not for Los Angeles Dodger Clayton Kershaw, whose team is the largest threat to the Padres plan. Los Angeles is under new direction, but rest assurred there's plenty of money for midseason acquistitions to push this club as far as it can go. With the young Joc Pederson and the extremely underrated pickup of Brandon McCarthy (who was just sick in the second half last year pitching in Yankee Stadium), it's going to be very difficult for the Giants and their formula to keep up with these teams. So they probably will. Arizona has done some interesting things this offseason, like spend a ton of money on Cuban Yasmani Tomas. But both he and the Diamondbacks are at least a year away. The Rockies could be interesting if Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez have healthy, productive seasons. But I feel like by writing that sentence I put one of them on the DL.