Baseball 2010 Predictions

Final standings:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
Baltimore Orioles

CENTRAL
Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals

WEST
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland A’s

ALDS: MIN over TB
ALDS: SEA over BOS
ALCS: MIN over SEA

CY YOUNG: Francisco Liriano
MVP: Joe Mauer
ROY: Brian Matusz


NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST
Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
New York Mets
Washington Nationals

CENTRAL
St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
Houston Astros

WEST
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres

MVP: Albert Pujols
CY YOUNG: Roy Halladay
ROY: Stephen Strasburg

NLDS: STL over ATL
NLDS: PHI over COL
NLCS: STL over PHI

WORLD SERIES: MIN over STL
WORLD SERIES MVP: Joe Mauer

And some Twins predictions:

HR: Morneau 34
BA: Mauer .347
RBI: Morneau 137
SB: Span 31

Worst BA: Punto .229

Wins: Liriano 21
SO: Liriano 274
ERA: Liriano 2.39
Saves: Neshek 21

Mauer and Hardy win gold gloves
Mauer, Morneau, and Liriano make the All-Star team
Valencia is the starting 3B after the all-star break
Delmon Young finally breaks out, hitting over 20 HR
Slowey and Baker receive some Cy Young votes
Mauer, Morneau, Kubel and Cuddyer hit over 30 HR
Francisco Liriano returns close to 2006 form, wins the Cy Young, and leads the league in strikeouts
Hardy bounces back, hitting over 20 HR
Crain is the closer after April, and Pat Neshek takes over in June
Prospects Wilson Ramos and Ben Revere get some playing time in September
The Twins actually have a doubleheader at home
Twins break the franchise record for attendance
Anthony Slama finally makes his debut in the Twins bullpen
The lineup leads the AL in runs scored
The Twins don't trade for a closer
Glen Perkins is traded for a B-level prospect infielder
Pitcher Kyle Gibson makes it up to AAA, positioning himself to take over Pavano's spot in the rotation in 2011
Jim Thome, pinch-hitting for Nick Punto, hits 2 walk-off home runs

Twins acquire SS Orlando Cabrera in exchange for SS Tyler Ladendorf

Oakland GM Billy Beane must have read my last post on Tyler Ladendorf because he was the guy he got in return for Orlando Cabrera. Am I happy with the trade? Yes. But that doesn't mean the Twins gave up nothing to get Cabrera Lets dig a little deeper into the trade. Here are the positives:

-The move shows to Mauer and Morneau that the team is trying to win. Morneau has been saying that Mauer won't resign in 2010 with the Twins if they don't acquire other quality players.

-Mauer and Morneau wanted Cabrera on the team. Cabrera told reporters that last week that every time Mauer and Morneau were on the bases they told Cabrera that they were trying to get him on the team, that they wanted him on the Twins.

-The Twins have has a dreadful middle infield this year, worst in the majors. Cabrera is average, but just average is a huge upgrade from what we had before.

-A new guy will provide a mental boost, a la Shannon Stewart in 2003.

If you read my previous post, you find out that Tyler Ladendorf is a guy with some high upside. He is the best SS prospect we had. But he is no guarantee either and is 3-4 years away. And he's been struggling at the new level he's been called up to. The trade could come back to haunt us, but I wouldn't be too worried about it. I'm just glad we didn't trade away our two top prospects Danny Valencia and Aaron Hicks.

Now here is where this trade could go from being good to great. The Twins were reluctant to part with Ladendorf. In a now related story, the Twins have been one of the leading candidates to sign top Dominican prospect Miguel Angel Sano who also plays shortstop. If the Twins signed Sano to make up for the loss of Ladendorf then I would be extremely happy. Sano has an extremely high ceiling, much higher than Ladendorf's.

Even if that doesn't happen, if this move goes a long ways towards being able to keep Mauer here forever, then it was a grand slam of a trade, regardless of what other consequences come of the trade.

Meet Danny Rams and Tyler Ladendorf

Today we will talk about two of the hottest hitters in the Twins system. They are Tyler Ladendorf and Danny Rams. I haven't put up a Twins top prospect list for a while, but I'd like to put one up sometime soon, although I will probably wait until the end of the minor league season. That doesn't mean I've got somewhat of an idea of who the top ten are. I don't know where I'd put 2009 first round pick Kyle Gibson (when he signs), but he'd have to go in the top 5.

Anyways Ladendorf and Rams will likely be cracking the top 10 list. Before the season started they weren't very high, maybe at best #30. But they have been on fire.

Tyler Ladendorf was the Twins second round pick in last years draft. He plays shortstop, perhaps the weakest area in the Twins organization. Last season he didn't hit much after getting drafted. But this year he has a .439 on-base percentage, a .557 slugging percentage, and a .351 batting average. In 97 at-bats he's hit 8 doubles, 4 homers, 3 steals and 20 RBI. He's walked 14 times compared to 15 strikeouts.

Granted, those aren't a lot of at-bats to judge a guy off of, but if he plays like this for the rest of the season, he will certainly be considered one of the Twins best prospects. Ladendorf is starting to look like he could be the Twins starting shortstop in two or three years.

Danny Rams was the Twins second round pick in 2007. He plays catcher and first base. He is similar to Ladendorf, in that he didn't do much prior to this season to warrant getting excited about. But this season in 106 at-bats, he has 10 homers, 29 RBI, 13 doubles, to go along with a batting average of .327, on-base percentage of .408, while slugging .736!

Again, these are not a lot of at-bats, but if he continues this level of play then you have to consider Rams up there with Chris Parmalee as the Twins top power prospect. He plays the same position as Mauer and Morneau, but I guess he could be the DH or learn another position. With his power bat, they'll find a place for him. Rams looks like he could become a true slugger for the Twins.

The underrated Jason Kubel

Everyone knows the Twins three best players are the M & M boys (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau), and their all-star closer Joe Nathan. As for the Twins fourth best player, well that is where opinions vary. Some might try to make an argument for Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Scott Baker, or Nick Blackburn. However, I think Jason Kubel is starting to put an end to this debate.

He's the Twins most underrated player, and perhaps the most underrated player in the AL. Jason Kubel is 5th in the AL in OPS. In fact the Twins have 3 of the top 5 OPS leaders. I never thought I'd see that happen. Anyways, Kubel also ranks 8th in batting average and 5th in slugging. He's pretty much on pace to hit 30 homers and 100 RBI.

So why isn't Jason Kubel in the same tier as Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau? I see two things that he lacks. First is that he isn't that great of a fielder. But I can't blame that on him. He had a terrible knee injury a few years ago that robbed him of much of his athleticism, and that is why he is the DH. Second is that he can't hit lefties still. This is something he can improve on more so than his fielding. He is batting only .216 with an OBP of .284 and a SLG of .311. Certainly not gonna cut it. Still, anyways you cut it, Jason Kubel is clearly the Twins third best everyday player. Maybe instead of the M&M boys it should be the triple j's or something.