Preview/Prediction

For the Giants, their 2009 season was a fantastic surprise, with huge performances from their pitching staff and surprising ones on the offensive side. It brought San Francisco into competitive September baseball for the first time since 2003, and heralded a new era of pitching dominance when Tim Lincecum won his second Cy Young Award in two years.

Looking now to the ever-approaching 2010 regular season, the SWOT outlook is good, and most look to the Giants to be in the running for the National League West title.

After years of taking a backseat to the Angels, it is time for the Mariners to step up and take back control of the AL West.

The team had potential last year, but not exactly enough to get ahead of the Angels or the Rangers.

Trust me, this season will be different.

When Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry set out to trade suspended outfield pariah Milton Bradley this off-season, he must have known he had relatively little chance of obtaining much in return. Bradley was ready to depart his seventh team in ten big-league seasons, and all but one of the divorces had been messy affairs.

Considering his predicament, then, Hendry could have done worse than he did. Chicago acquired pitcher Carlos Silva, a contractual pariah with the Seattle Mariners, and saved money in doing so.

Entering the 2010 season one can rest assured that there will be a dark horse team that pushes for a wild card spot till seemingly the last day. In the past few seasons it's been the Florida Marlins and of course the Tampa Bay Rays with their miracle run in 2008, so who is it this year?

I love players who have confidence. Give me the guy who thinks he is the best over the guy who is just happy to have a job in the major leagues.

Take Ricky Henderson, for example. A lot of people didn’t like him because they felt he was arrogant. I just thought he was extremely confident in his abilities.

I mean, who doesn’t want a guy who refers to himself in the third person on their team?

Imagine a Pirates rotation with the 2007 ("star") versions of pitchers Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, together with Paul Maholm and Zach Duke at their later (2008-2009) selves.

Imagine that the fifth starter is actually better than fifth starter-caliber.

That's what the Pirates may finally have in 2010.

Old Pirate standbys Maholm and Duke are (slightly) better than league average pitchers (by half a game or so). They don't look that way because they've had less than league average run support.

While fans of the Milwaukee Brewers are looking forward to the 2010 season, the majority of them are more worried about what could potentially happen after the 2011 season: Prince Fielder's departure.

In four full seasons with the Brewers, Fielder has cemented his place as one of the best power hitters in baseball. In that time, he has hit 158 home runs and knocked in 443 runs.

Fielder became the youngest player in baseball history to hit 50 home runs in a season at age 23 in 2007.

The AL Central looks to be a great race this year. They have the reigning division champions in the Minnesota Twins returning with what might be a better team than last year. They have the Chicago White Sox who look to boast one of the MLB's best starting rotation this year. They have the Detriot Tigers who lost the division last year in an epic game 163. Then they have the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians who are, for lack of a better word, miserable.
In this slideshow, I will reveal who I think will win the division.

Much has been made about the lack of potential upgrades to the New York Mets rotation this offseason and, by and large, the reason for concern is legitimate.

Every slot in the rotation has a question mark next to its given name. Even Johan Santana, to a lesser extent, could be cause for concern after suffering season ending surgery last season.

Originally published at TwinsTarget.com .

Historically, the NL West has been an extremely competitive division. Although there was a 25-game difference between the first- and late-place teams in the NL West this past season, each team in the division has had some degree of success in the past.