Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux and Jeff Parker from Royally Speaking.
Question 1 – Is Drayton Moore the right GM to turn the Royals around?
Jeff: I originally thought so but I’m not so sure now. He has done some nice things with their minor league system but his free agent signings [...]

Kansas City Royals
Management: GM Dayton Moore; Manager Trey Hillman
Key Additions: Brian Anderson, Rick Ankiel, Noel Arguelles, Josh Fields, Chris Getz, Jason Kendall, Scott Podsednik
Key Losses: Josh Anderson, John Buck, Coco Crisp, Lenny DiNardo, Luis A. Hernandez, Tug Hulett, Miguel Olivo, Mark Teahen, Doug Waechter, Jamey Wright, Yasuhiko Yabuta
Projected Starters
C Jason Kendall
1B Billy Butler
2B Chris Getz
3B [...]

1. Jason Castro, C – I thought Castro was a reach when they drafted him; they probably could have gotten him in the second round. He’s proved to be worth the pick though. He’s advanced quickly and could be the starting catcher at some point this year.
2. Jordan Lyles, P – [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux and James from Astros County.
Question 1 – Will the Astros move towards a youth movement?
Matt: No, never. Ed Wade hates young people. They make him feel old.
Obviously, the Astros should be fully-immersed in rebuilding mode right now. They should be seeing [...]

Houston Astros
74-88, 5th Place NL Central
2009 Review
Not much went right for Houston last year. They saw ace Roy Oswalt miss time with an injury. Lance Berkman had a down year. We witness the beginning of Carlos Lee’s decline, which saw his power numbers drop to his lowest number since 2004. Mike [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeau and Ted Hill from Marlins Diehards.
Question 1 – Can the Marlins continue to field a competitive team with such a small payroll?
Matt: I think the Marlins “competitiveness” has been slightly exaggerated. Sure, they have maintained a record in the vicinity of .500 for most [...]

Last Year: 87-75 (-6)
Over/Under: 81 (-115)
Notable Gains

Robert Bono
Luis Bryan
Hunter Jones

Notable Losses

Alfredo Amezaga
Luis Ayala
Jeremy Hermida
Nick Johnson
Matt Lindstrom

Three Things To Love
Light At The End Of The Tunnel: Jeffrey Loria has convinced everyone that once the Marlins christen the new Miami Ballpark in 2012 that the Marlins income issues will cease to exist. So, hang in [...]

1. Jacob Turner, P – This ace in the making dropped to the Tigers because of signability (sound familiar). He’s got an excellent fastball. He’s working on improving the command of his breaking ball. He’s also developing a change-up as his third pitch, which he didn’t need in high school.
2. Austin Jackson, [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold of the Sporting Hippeau and Joe D from Fan Sided Podcast.
Question 1 – Who will lead off since Granderson was traded?
Chad: Brandon Inge since he does everything else for the team.
Tom: I assumed Johnny Damon. Damon should still be a good lead-off hitter even without playing in a [...]

Detroit Tigers
Management: GM Dave Dombrowski; Manager Jim Leyland
Key Additions: Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Jose Valverde, Johnny Damon
Key Losses: Freddy Dolsi, Curtis Granderson, Aubrey Huff, Edwin Jackson, Brandon Lyon, Placido Polanco, Clay Rapada, Fernando Rodney, Dusty Ryan, Dane Sardinha, Marcus Thames, Matt Treanor, Jarrod Washburn
Projected Starters
C Gerald Laird
1B Miguel Cabrera
2B Scott Sizemore
3B [...]

1. Jhoulys Chacin, P – Chacin is a groundball machine, which makes him a perfect fit in Colorado. He’s didn’t look very well in his brief call up last year. I think he’ll see some rotation time this year, but will benefit by starting the season in Triple A.
2. Tyler Matzek, P – [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from the Sporting Hippeau.
Question 1 – Each year it seems that the Rockies make a late season charge to compete; why can’t the Rockies start the season hot?
Jeff: for one thing, it certainly wouldn’t be realistic for them to keep up their recent late season pace all [...]

Has anyone else wondered why there are 30 Major League teams, 6 Divisions, yet not all divisions are made up of conveniently divisible 5 teams??  The AL West has 4 while the NL Central houses 6…..really??  How does this make sense to anyone?  I have an idea for realignment that will balance the divisions and [...]

Colorado Rockies – National League West
2009 Record: 90-72, 2nd Place in National League West, 3 Games Back
2009 Review: The 2009 Colorado Rockies started lower than expectations. First, they did not have Matt Holliday returning as was with Oakland. Starting pitcher Jeff Francis was out for the season after surgery. Then, after [...]

1. Carlos Santana, C – One of the best catching prospect in baseball, and the Dodgers might be kicking themselves for dealing him for Casey Blake. The bat won’t be the question; can he handle the position? Many do think so, but time will tell this year.
2. Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B – There were [...]

Sorry about the delay with this one – I was slightly under the weather along with my 2 little ones…
1. Aroldis Chapman, P – Chapman was the prize of the international market this winter and the Reds were the surprise winner. Scouts see everything from top of the rotation starter to middle reliever. [...]

Our guest bloggers is Tony Lastoria from Indian Prospect Insider.
Question 1 – Will the team be trading Grady Sizemore and, if so, when?
Chad: I don’t see it happening. He’s the most marketable player on the team and even though Sabathia and Lee were great players, they didn’t touch Sizemore in terms of popularity in the [...]

Cleveland Indians
Management: GM Mark Shapiro, Manager Manny Acta
Key Additions: Brian Bixler, Russell Branyan, Brian Horwitz, Mike Redmond, Mitch Talbot
Key Losses: Greg Aquino, Jesus Brito, Jamey Carroll, Vinnie Chulk, Zach Jackson, Masa Kobayashi, Tomo Ohka, Kelly Shoppach, Jose Veras
Projected Starters
C Lou Marson
1B Russell Branyan
2B Luis Valbuena
3B Jhonny Peralta
SS Asdrubal Cabrera
RF Shin-Soo Choo
CF Grady Sizemore
LF Matt LaPorta
DH [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux.
Question 1 – Will Jay Bruce hit for average?
Jeff: I would very surprised to see Bruce hit much higher than .250 — he is TERRIBLE on the road, and I don’t think that lineup offers any protection whatsoever — fact is, he should probably be [...]

Cincinnati Reds
2009: 78-84, 4th NL Central
2009 Review:
While the Reds did win 4 more games than the previous season, many in the organization would still say the season was a failure.
First off, they were still in the bottom half of the divison. Part of this could be cited to injuries, as Joey Votto and Edinson [...]

1. Tyler Flowers, C – He may be a rare specimen – a large bodied catcher that can handle the position. Flowers’ power has developed well in the last year. He won’t hit for average, but his production should be better than most catchers.
2. Dan Hudson, P – Hudson will be a back [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux.
Question 1 – Can Jake Peavy be the same pitcher in US Cellular Field as he was at Petco Park?
Matt: Depends on what you mean by “same pitcher.” Will Peavy be able to post an ERA below 3.00, as he did four times for the [...]

Chicago White Sox
Management: GM – Kenny Williams, Manager – Ozzie Guillen
Key Additions: Alejandro De Aza, Freddy Dolsi, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, J.J. Putz, Mark Teahen, Omar Vizquel, Daniel Cabrera
Key Losses: D.J. Carrasco, Octavio Dotel, Jermaine Dye, Josh D. Fields, Chris Getz, Jimmy Gobble, Scott Podsednik, Dewayne Wise
Projected Starters
C AJ Pierzynski
1B Paul Konerko
2B Gordon Beckham
3B Mark [...]

1. Starlin Castro, SS – Castro is easily the top prospect in the system. He’s got offense and defense. I could see him being up by the end of the season.
2. Josh Vitters, 3B – While some are worried about Vitter’s struggled, but he’s still young and will bounce back. He doesn’t [...]

Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux again.
Question 1 – How important was the Milton Bradley trade?
Jeff: HUGE — I don’t think the clubhouse cancer that is Milton Bradley can be understated –”Addition by subtraction” should just be renamed “Milton Bradley” — However, Carlos Silva, who the Cubs got from Seattle, certainly [...]

Chicago Cubs
2nd Place in the NL Central, 83-78
2009 Review
2009 was nothing but a disappointment for the Cubs. They saw their ace pitch below standards, their top hitter regressed, and their big signing was a bust.
The pitching was ok, but ace Carlos Zambrano was not very good with only 9 wins. The bullpen was [...]

A guy at work and myself got into this little discussion yesterday — pretty interesting stuff.  This list is NOT a compilation of who could simply throw the hardest, so you will not find guys like Joel Zumaya. 
1)  Randy Johnson — I can’t imagine anything more frightening than standing in against the Big Unit, just [...]

Being a baseball and New York Yankees fan, many of the books that I read are about the game of baseball and about the New York Yankees. I have a shelf of Yankees playoffs programs and many, upon many newspapers in my basement that celebrate many of the great Yankees moments of the past [...]

Boston Red Sox
1. Casey Kelly, P – Kelly wanted to try his hand at shortstop, but didn’t fare as well as he hoped. The Sox wanted him to be a pitcher, where he has top of the rotation potential. I could see him up by the end of next year, depending on the [...]

As the second part of our baseball preview, we are working with members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance to offer 4 questions in a roundtable format.
Our guest bloggers is Matt Seybold from The Sporting Hippeaux and Peter from Baseball Reflections.
Question 1 – Will the team re-sign Josh Beckett?
Jeff: I expect Boston to pass on re-upping [...]