Preview/Prediction

The 2009 edition of the Colorado Rockies finished the season in second place in the NL West with a record of 92-70…that was good enough to earn a postseason berth as the NL wild card team.

The 2010 edition of the Rox should be pretty good, but it won’t quite measure up to the performance level of last year’s squad.

The club will have difficulty replacing Jason Marquis, who went 15-13, with a 4.04 ERA, while pitching 216 innings. Marquis fled via free agency to the greener pastures of…drum roll, please…the Washington Nationals.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West by three games last year after posting a 95-67 record; unfortunately for Los Angelians, the 2010 season doesn’t hold nearly as much promise.

The ballclub is in trouble… that’s “trouble” that starts with “T” that rhymes with “D” that stands for “d-i-v-o-r-c-e-”!

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished a disappointing 2009 season with a record of 70-92 and in last place in the NL West—this after having posted winning records in each of the two prior seasons.

They should be considerably improved in 2010, if only because they have added veteran leadership and should get bounce back years from a couple of key performers.

The Padres said goodbye to all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman last winter and then spent much of last spring trying to trade ace right-hander Jake Peavy, finally dealing their ace to the Chicago White Sox for a bevy of prospects.

2008 was truly a magical season for the Tampa Bay Rays. After taking the entire baseball world by surprise by beating out the Yankees and Red Sox for the AL East Title, the Rays knocked Boston out of the playoffs to advance to their first ever World Series. The Rays followed up the best season in franchise history, with the second best season in team history in 2009. Normally 84 wins would have signaled a party in Tampa Bay, however in 2009 it was a major disappointment.

On April 3rd, every team in Major League Baseball has the same chance of taking home a division title and ultimately a World Series Championship.

While one can assume that a team like the Washington Nationals won't have a snowball's chance of winning their division, there is always a team like the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays that seemingly come out of nowhere and take the world by surprise.

The Rays are not nearly as under the radar as they have been in years previous; but after missing the playoffs last year, maybe people have been writing the Rays off as possible one year wonders.

The American League Central will likely be the worst division in baseball this year. According to my calculations (which basically involve ranking every player and the managers), the AL Central will combine for 375 wins, equaling an average of 75 wins per team.

Yikes.

Let's see why this division projects poorly...

5. Cleveland Indians

Projected record: 62-100, 28th in infield, 12th in outfield, 29th in starting pitching, 20th in bullpen.

You've heard it plenty of times already this spring. The 2010 season is the most important season that the Tampa Bay Rays have faced in the entirety of their short history.

While that may sound like daunting news, it is slightly relieving to observe the fact that this will likely be the most talented team to ever take the green carpet at Tropicana Field.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the pitching staff that the Rays have assembled for 2010.

There is some concern over Adam Lind and his ability to replicate his 2009 success.  It’s justified, considering he had seen time in the major leagues from 2006 on, compiling 22 HR in 676 AB.  He also had not shown the potential to hit for an excellent average (.238 in ‘07, .282 in ‘08).  The idea of him being a middle-of-the-order impact bat was almost laughable.

That all changed when he posted the following line in his first full major league season:

The 2010 Colorado Rockies face a challenge that no other Rockies team before them has faced. They are blazing trails that some baseball fans in the Rocky Mountain region once felt were impossible to blaze.