Almost that time of the year… ah, yes, Opening Day!
With the opening day bonanza just hours from blastoff, everyone is offering up their predictions for the 2011 season. This is the time to be bold, people. Don't be afraid to have lofty expectations for your favorite teams or players, because after all, this could be the last day that you can claim that your team is undefeated.
The KFFL staff has been busy offering up some of our predictions in the weeks leading up to opening day. Check some of them out.
A very popular projection for the upcoming season has been regarding the Philadelphia Phillies. How can the Phils miss out on the postseason this year with their dream rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt? Despite their monster stable of starters, many are predicting them to fall short of the World Series and even the playoffs altogether.
Halladay and Co. will fall short
The serious injuries to Chase Utley (knee) and Brad Lidge (shoulder) - two key contributors to the squad - cast doubt on their season outlook. Utley's great unknown of a timetable to return is very concerning; you have to think there is a possibility that he won't make it back all season. The slow-healing Lidge might not make his season debut until the second half - he even admitted the best-case scenario would be a return sometime in July. Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson don't exactly inspire confidence in the back end of the 'pen.
Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco and Raul Ibanez are all battling Father Time. Jayson Werth is gone; it seems hard to believe that some combination of Ben Francisco, John Mayberry Jr. and Domonic Brown can replace his production in the lineup. That leaves it up to arguably the best rotation in baseball to carry the team for the majority of the season. That's a tall order and a lot of pressure to put on pitchers, and I don't care who they are.
The NL East isn't exactly the AL East, but the Phillies' stranglehold on the division is weakening. The New York Mets are still a disaster, but the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals should battle the Phils hard.
A couple of other nuggets to bide your time until the games kick off tomorrow:
- Another Roktober? I really like the Colorado Rockies this year. If they play up to their potential, they should run away with the NL West. Ubaldo Jimenez, Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez make up the nucleus of a solid squad. Jhoulys Chacin should make strides as a starter, and Huston Street is flying under the radar this year.
- Closing time - I hope you didn't overpay for Drew Storen in your fantasy baseball drafts. His price came down quite a bit after the news that Jim Riggleman would use a closer-by-committee. Remember, the former Stanford standout is still young and will take his lumps. Sean Burnett, who was stellar this spring (didn't give up a single run in 9 1/3 innings), is gaining steam in the closer discussion. If Storen's spring struggles leak into the regular season, Burnett, or Tyler Clippard/Todd Coffey, could take over. I like Burnett a lot; his stuff plays great in the ninth. More importantly, he is still available in many leagues.
- Latos-intolerant - I'm a San Diego Padres fan and I still avoided Mat Latos everywhere this year. That was before he landed on the DL to start the season with bursitis in his shoulder. He was terribly inconsistent with his location in spring training and looked like he was regressing to his immature self as a pitcher. After a career-high 184 2/3 innings last year, I'm not surprised he's already having arm issues.
- Hook 'em Horns - Move over Buster Posey, the Gigantes have another impressive prospect making the leap to the bigs after a quick run through the minors. His name is Brandon Belt, and he was just named to the 25-man squad today. The 23-year-old former Texas Longhorn destroyed minor league pitching last year: he hit .352 with 23 jacks, 112 RBIs and a .620 slugging percentage in 136 games in three minors' stops. Oh, and he will be starting at first base, at least until Cody Ross (calf) returns. Why not speculate on this young stud if you are in need of some power depth at CI? If you're an NL-only manager and he's not already on your team, you are probably already out of luck.
