2009 MLB Predictions NL

2009 MLB Predictions

Well folks, spring training is here. Another interesting off season that saw, Manny still being Manny, the record book saviour, A-Rod was discovered to be juicer, and The Kid Ken Griffey, Jr. go home to Seattle.
On the A-Rod steroid story, here’s my take: Suddenly, the BBWAA think all the players of the so-called “Steroid Era,” have questionable, if not tainted careers. If that is the case, then they ignorantly solved the issue. If they all are questionable, then the playing field was level, and nobody had the edge. Steroid-Shmeroid!!! It’s not like Walt Weiss became a slugger. It made Home Run hitters hit Home Runs further. Period.

On a lighter note, each of the next six blog posts will be my predictions (roughly) of each division and the starting line-ups and pitchers from the aforementioned division.

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves – 2009 finish: 3rd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B Kelly Johnson .282 15 69 12 Derek Lowe 3.42 14-10 159
SS Yaniel Escobar .291 12 67 15 Tim Hudson 3.97 12-9 146
3B Chipper Jones .322 25 94 2 Tom Glavine 4.18 9-9 98
C Brian McCann .298 24 94 1 Jair Jurrjens 4.02 9-11 131
LF Garrett Anderson .281 16 83 4 Javier Vazquez 3.77 12-12 163
1B Casey Kotchman .292 15 82 6
RF Jeff Francoeur .261 24 96 11 Closer ERA W-L SV
CF Gregor Blanco .271 5 41 28 Mike Gonzalez 3.23 2-5 30

Florida Marlins – 2009 finish 5th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
CF Cameron Maybin .277 11 53 33 Josh Johnson 4.12 9-10 136
RF Jeremy Hermida .279 20 74 8 Ricky Nolasco 3.36 12-11 151
SS Hanley Ramirez .313 32 90 36 Anibal Sanchez 4.42 7-13 102
1B Jorge Cantu .274 26 101 4 Chris Volstad 4.03 8-16 125
2B Dan Uggla .257 31 91 7 Andrew Miller 4.49 6-10 109
LF Cody Ross .280 22 76 10
3B Dallas McPherson .263 29 89 1 Closer ERA W-L SV
C John Baker .289 8 47 3 Matt Lindstrom 3.10 2-4 29

New York Mets – 2009 finish 2nd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
SS Jose Reyes .295 15 66 55 Johan Santana 2.74 16-9 237
2B Luis Castillo .272 1 37 9 John Maine 3.97 13-10 147
3B David Wright .309 32 114 27 Oliver Perez 4.01 14-11 159
CF Carlos Beltran .280 28 106 21 Mike Pelfrey 3.71 12-8 137
1B Carlos Delgado .265 30 105 1 Tim Redding 4.19 9-10 128
RF Ryan Church .273 18 65 6
LF Daniel Murphy .281 11 50 11 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Brian Schneider .249 7 42 1 F. Rodriguez 2.31 1-6 40

Philadelphia Phillies – 2009 finish 1st

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
SS Jimmy Rollins .292 20 74 44 Cole Hamels 2.97 18-7 228
CF Shane Victorino .289 15 62 35 Brett Myers 3.54 15-9 194
2B Chase Utley .316 31 113 8 Jamie Moyer 4.24 13-10 136
1B Ryan Howard .277 49 137 1 Joe Blanton 4.09 14-11 145
LF Raul Ibanez .288 26 106 6 Kyle Kendrick 4.41 11-8 101
RF Jayson Werth .274 27 89 22
3B Pedro Feliz .257 17 69 1 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Carlos Ruiz .253 7 47 7 Brad Lidge 2.02 2-2 39

Washington Nationals – 2009 finish 4th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
SS Christian Guzman .281 8 49 19 Daniel Cabrera 4.01 10-10 174
CF Lastings Milledge .279 20 81 29 Scott Olsen 3.98 11-14 151
3B Ryan Zimmerman .274 26 94 5 Matt Chico 4.18 9-8 131
1B Adam Dunn .253 40 104 2 Shawn Hill 3.74 10-11 143
RF Elijah Dukes .264 27 85 12 John Lannan 4.42 8-12 102
LF Josh Willingham .277 21 71 3
2B Ronnie Belliard .293 10 52 2 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Jesus Flores .249 13 57 0 Joel Hanrahan 3.39 1-5 26

Of course there may be some injuries along the way, but I’ve researched a lot to come to these conclusions. We’ll see in October if I’m anywhere close. Enjoy…


NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs – 2009 finish: 1st

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
LF Alfonso Soriano .286 36 86 27 Carlos Zambrano 3.42 14-10 159
SS Ryan Theriot .292 4 51 17 Rich Harden 3.97 12-9 146
1B Derrek Lee .306 25 92 8 Ted Lilly 4.18 9-9 98
3B Aramis Ramirez .294 31 114 3 Ryan Dempster 4.02 9-11 131
RF Milton Bradley .315 19 67 1 Angel Guzman 3.77 12-12 163
C Geovany Soto .281 26 88 3
CF Kosuke Fukudome .279 13 61 16 Closer ERA W-L SV
2B Mike Fontenot .289 5 38 8 Kevin Gregg 3.23 2-5 30

Cincinnati Reds – 2009 finish 5th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
CF Willy Taveras .263 2 36 65 Aaron Harang 3.08 13-12 203
SS Alex Gonzalez .258 14 56 6 Edison Volquez 3.41 13-10 218
2B Brandon Phillips .280 25 80 31 Bronson Arroyo 4.01 10-12 169
1B Joey Votto .283 29 90 4 Micah Owings 4.31 8-13 132
RF Jay Bruce .277 31 100 15 Homer Bailey 4.69 3-9 68
3B Edwin Encarnacion .261 25 78 6
LF Chris Dickerson .278 11 63 9 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Ramon Hernandez .273 16 66 0 F. Cordero 2.97 1-4 35

Houston Astros – 2009 finish 4th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B Kaz Matsui .292 5 39 22 Roy Oswalt 3.18 16-10 183
CF Michael Bourn .269 8 48 56 Mike Hampton 4.07 8-7 103
1B Lance Berkman .304 32 113 7 Brandon Backe 3.61 12-11 158
LF Carlos Lee .300 33 117 3 Wandy Rodriguez 3.95 10-11 152
RF Hunter Pence .281 28 96 18 Brian Moehler 4.22 8-10 112
SS Miguel Tejada .290 20 81 5
3B Geoff Blum .260 12 56 7 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Ivan Rodriguez .272 10 55 2 Jose Valverde 2.41 3-3 42

Milwaukee Brewers – 2009 finish 3rd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B Rickie Weeks .268 18 57 25 Jeff Suppan 4.14 12-12 132
SS J.J. Hardy .278 25 76 12 Braden Looper 3.71 13-11 161
LF Ryan Braun .294 39 112 17 Manny Parra 3.97 9-10 129
1B Prince Fielder .283 38 116 0 Chris Capuano 3.88 6-5 69
CF Mike Cameron .258 22 73 15 Dave Bush 3.91 10-12 136
RF Corey Hart .288 24 94 26
3B Bill Hall .263 17 61 10 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Jason Kendall .259 0 46 1 Trevor Hoffman 2.61 2-4 33

Pittsburgh Pirates – 2009 finish 6th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
CF Nate McLouth .291 25 85 31 Ian Snell 4.09 10-9 171
2B Freddy Sanchez .296 9 64 9 Zach Duke 3.92 9-15 156
1B Adam LaRoche .279 29 93 1 Paul Maholm 4.17 9-10 163
C Ryan Doumit .303 18 75 4 Jeff Karstens 4.63 7-14 101
RF Eric Hinske .267 19 62 3 Tyler Yates 4.16 8-12 113
LF Brandon Moss .284 18 71 22
3B Andy LaRoche .275 14 60 13 Closer ERA W-L SV
SS Jack Wilson .281 7 51 15 Matt Capps 2.97 2-6 27

St. Louis Cardinals – 2009 finish 2nd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B Skip Schumaker .282 10 56 22 Adam Wainwright 3.61 14-9 126
CF Rick Ankiel .263 31 86 1 Kyle Lohse 3.78 11-8 159
1B Albert Pujols .336 40 124 2 Cris Carpenter 3.42 12-6 109
RF Ryan Ludwick .276 32 105 5 Joel Pineiro 4.02 12-10 145
3B Troy Glaus .265 23 70 0 Todd Wellemeyer 4.23 7-7 92
SS Khalil Greene .261 22 73 9
LF Chris Duncan .258 18 56 0 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Yadier Molina .286 8 55 4 Chris Perez 3.12 3-8 25

Of course there may be some injuries along the way, but I’ve researched a lot to come to these conclusions. We’ll see in October if I’m anywahere close. Enjoy…

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks – 2009 finish: 2nd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B Felipe Lopez .284 13 64 25 Brandon Webb 3.17 16-9 186
SS Stephen Drew .293 25 87 23 Dan Haren 3.04 14-9 197
CF Chris Young .266 26 75 22 Jon Garland 3.86 13-10 153
LF Conor Jackson .292 18 83 3 Doug Davis 4.36 10-11 132
RF Justin Upton .289 28 88 12 Max Scherzer 4.22 8-8 98
1B Chad Tracy .272 16 71 1
3B Mark Reynolds .251 25 85 2 Closer ERA W-L SV
C Chris Snyder .271 16 69 1 John Rauch 3.29 4-6 25

Colorado Rockies – 2009 finish 5th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
CF Ryan Spilborghs .293 16 61 21 Jeff Francis 3.72 13-12 179
LF Seth Smith .278 15 59 6 Aaron Cook 4.11 12-10 172
1B Todd Helton .311 13 73 0 Jason Marquis 4.87 9-13 133
3B Garrett Atkins .304 25 103 2 Greg Smith 4.39 8-14 142
RF Brad Hawpe .290 27 101 6 Ubaldo Jimenez 3.81 9-10 163
SS Troy Tulowitzki .282 21 81 11
C Chris Iannetta .280 17 63 3 Closer ERA W-L SV
2B Clint Barmes .282 14 59 16 Huston Street 2.74 2-4 33

Los Angeles Dodgers – 2009 finish 1st

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
SS Rafael Furcal .293 14 58 24 Chad Billingsley 3.22 17-9 226
2B Orlando Hudson .282 10 61 18 Randy Wolf 3.86 13-10 161
RF Andre Ethier .287 23 86 8 Claudio Vargas 4.01 11-10 137
LF Manny Ramirez .309 33 118 2 Jason Schmidt 3.55 9-5 101
CF Matt Kemp .286 26 102 20 Clayton Kershaw 3.92 9-6 123
1B James Loney .304 19 89 5
C Russell Martin .287 15 76 9 Closer ERA W-L SV
3B Casey Blake .267 18 70 3 Jonathan Broxton 2.45 4-4 32

San Diego Padres – 2009 finish 3rd

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
2B David Eckstein .285 2 39 16 Jake Peavey 2.98 14-10 236
CF Jody Gerut .283 18 70 19 Chris Young 3.26 12-10 201
RF Brian Giles .301 12 71 2 Cha Seung Baek 4.46 7-15 115
1B Adrian Gonzalez .279 32 112 1 Mark Prior 3.56 5-9 71
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff .269 24 81 3 Kevin Correia 4.26 6-12 83
LF Chase Headley .277 25 83 7
C Nick Hundley .264 12 54 0 Closer ERA W-L SV
SS Luis Rodriguez .253 5 44 13 Trevor Hoffman 2.61 2-4 33

San Francisco Giants – 2009 finish 4th

Pos Player Avg. HR RBI SB Starter ERA W-L SO
RF Randy Winn .291 10 64 11 Tim Lincecum 2.77 15-8 253
SS Edgar Renteria .296 11 71 13 Matt Cain 3.62 11-10 171
LF Fred Lewis .277 16 75 28 Barry Zito 4.34 10-11 156
C Benji Molina .279 15 80 0 Randy Johnson 3.49 10-8 173
1B Travis Ishikawa .282 23 89 5 Noah Lowrie 4.46 7-13 126
CF Aaron Rowand .289 17 79 12
3B Pablo Sandoval .284 15 68 0 Closer ERA W-L SV
2B Kevin Frandsen .271 7 43 8 Brian Wilson 2.94 3-5 37


Of course there may be some injuries along the way, but I’ve researched a lot to come to these conclusions. We’ll see in October if I’m anywahere close. Enjoy…