Preview/Prediction

Once upon a time, in a Dodger era far, far away, lived one of the best closers in all of baseball history.  It was 84 consecutive saves until the "Game Over" Gagne beast was proved to be human.  

Welcome to my predictions for the 2010 AL Silver Slugger Awards. The Silver Slugger Award is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position in both the AL and the NL. The winners are comprised of voters who base their votes on the best in stat categories such as batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, homers, and runs batted in.

Begin Slideshow

The Toronto Blue Jays made some big changes within the organization this offseason. They traded away their best player in franchise history in Roy Halladay but got back terrific prospects like third baseman Brett Wallace and pitcher Brendan Morrow who will help the organization a lot in the future.

Well folks, it's that time of year again. Regardless of what that groundhog said, spring has sprung. MLB teams have reported to their Spring Training venues in Florida and Arizona and rosters are beginning to take shape and it is time to start making predictions.

Fort Myers, Fla. is abuzz with Red Sox fans both young and old. With so many new faces in addition to most of the core from last year, it is going to be a fun spring. Here are some things to think about as the Sox break camp this year:

This will begin my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and depth/bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

For most of us the Yankees season never really ends, instead they kind of just stop playing baseball and start the rumble of the offseason. For some though, they’re is football, basketball, and hockey that keeps you busy during the cold winter months. This article is for those people who missed most of what went down this offseason (although I’m sure there will be some who were paying attention that wouldn’t mind the review).

If you're anything like me, you were kicking yourself last year for drafting Grady Sizemore in the first round of your fantasy draft.

The three-time All-Star was coming off of a 30-30 season in which he drove in 90 runs and scored over 100 times.

The sky was the limit—or so we thought.

Enter 2009. 

Sizemore suffered through injuries throughout the summer, eventually being shut down in September.

This will begin my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

The AL Central needed 103 games before it was determined the past two years.  In 2008, the White Sox won the one game playoff with a stellar outing from John Danks. Last year, the Twins beat the Tigers to win the AL Central and pull off an amazing run to win the AL Central.

I'm not sure if we will a see a three-peat of one-game playoffs but I am sure that we will see another amazing race that will come down to the wire in 2010. The AL Central is a very exciting division and it shouldn't disappoint this year. 

Projected Rankings

While some of the more devout Red Sox fans may already know everything about the non-roster invitees to 2010 spring training, such knowledge often eludes and frustrates those serious fans who don't understand the farm system's nuances.

Here then is a series of articles designed to introduce you to some of these players whose names and stats will be cluttering up March box scores.

Everyone knows the big guys, the big leaguers. Here are the little guys, the minor leaguers.