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Now to the baseball.
Juan Soto is a Met.
The Yankees can grow beards.
Tommy John surgery is more common than the cold.
The Red Sox are trying again.
The Dodgers are as loaded as humanly possible.
Oh and a lockout in two years seems all but certain.
Let’s dive in with the American League first.
Kinda crazy there isn’t one team with an over/under win total above 90 in the whole AL.
Odds (WS odds and win total) always powered by our good friends over at Draft Kings.
No actually half of them will probably have beards as the franchise joins the 21st century.
That and $765 million.
That saw Max Fried, Devin Williams, Paul Goldschmidt, and Cody Bellinger enter the fold.
Gerrit Cole’s precious UCL in his elbow snapped and required Tommy John surgery.
Their starting rotation that was once either 1 or 2 in baseball, no longer was feared.
Luis Gil returns in the summer refreshed and healthy.
Bellinger rides his red hot Spring into the regular season and fits in seamlessly behind Judge.
Paul Goldschmidt doesn’t even need to be an MVP to make everyone forget about Anthony Rizzo.
Just stay healthy, field your position, and drive the ball a little bit.
The bar is so low at first after last year.
So yeah, all that and they should be in a good spot.
With the injuries at hand he’s now the number three pitcher.
Carlos Rodon was supposed to be the 4 and now he’s got the ball on Opening Day.
Carlos Carrasco is in a 2025 starting rotation.
Luis Gil’s return in the summer is not a guarantee.
There’s no way this rotation can hang on if he misses an even bigger chunk than expected.
There’s possibly a disaster brewing in left field if Jasson Dominguez can’t catch the ball out there.
Just something to monitor.
But yeah, there’s a whole lot that can go wrong here.
Finally they came to their senses and brought that shit in.
The lack of activity the Orioles had this offseason was nothing short of mind boggling.
Not addressing the rotation or pen is so short-sighted I can’t make heads or tails of it.
I’d be furious if I was a fan, but hey they have the splash zone.
Getting Felix Bautista back should stabilize the pen a lot assuming his health holds up.
The strength of this team will definitely be the offense.
Adley Rutschman needs a big bounce back season.
Charlie Morton is 41 years old.
I just don’t get where any of the new money is going.
The whole idea of having guys like Gunnar, Adley, Cowser, etc.
under team control at the same time is you spend on the pitching and go for it.
Even them being +350 to win the East seems too long with the Yankees at +135 and Baltimore +270.
Am I missing something?
Garret Crochet is poised to wrestle Tarik Skubal for the AL Cy Young.
Might have to sprinkle on +450 to hedge my sadness.
Bregman is the flashy offensive addition who essentially completes the lineup and greatly helps the defense.
Contend:The most exciting part of this team is the youth.
Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Marcelo Mayer are knocking on the door.
Campbell made the team out of spring and will be the starting second baseman.
Fail:Alex Bregman hasn’t had an elite offensive season since the juiced ball year of 2019.
Maybe that’s why Boston’s front office wants to see more before handing him a massive extension.
After Houck, the team’s rotation kinda falls off.
Walker Buehler really only started to look like himself in the postseason last year.
Can you count on him for a full season to be right?
Bello will be back at some point, but he’s yet to really establish himself.
Kutter Crawford will be back too.
Will the front office finally be aggressive during a trade deadline?
No guarantees there either.
The starting rotation is what dooms this team if they’re to struggle in 2025.
I can’t wait for the Yankees to lose a road game in their own spring training home.
No funky games at the Trop will be odd, but it’s for the best.
That place is an abomination.
As for the Rays, well they’ll be their typical pesky selves.
Boy do they need Shane back at the top of their rotation.
By far the most exciting part of the upcoming Rays year is getting a full season of Junior Caminero.
Get this man up with as many men on base as they allow and hope for the best.
Just don’t be Wander Franco and that’s a good start.
Contend:2024 was the Rays first year finishing below .500 since 2017.
They’ll need to have starting pitching come together.
A full healthy year of Drew Rasmussen will help that.
Taj Bradley needs to take a jump as well.
McClanahan must shake off this early injury and return to dominant form.
Maybe playing their home games outside will give them some added juice?
Fail:There’s just not enough talent here on both sides of the ball.
Manfred wants the owner to sell and for good reason.
Both Bo Bichette and Vladdy Jr. have one year left on their deals.
Max Scherzer joins the rotation on a one year deal.
Bo Bichette has to bounce back, right?
I mean what the hell was his 2024?
Trade Berrios and Gausman too.
This core just isn’t it.
The offseason for Minnesota involved them adding Ty France on a one year deal as well as Harrison Bader.
The hype and thought of Royce Lewis always outweighs the actual result considering he is NEVER healthy.
Case in point he’s already on the IL with a strained hamstring.
Dude just can’t stay on the field.
One year we need a full 162 from this guy, but that feels next to impossible.
If Correa and Lewis combine to play 250 games the Twins win the division.
Are Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober about to be incredible this year?
Pitching would have to dominate for legit success to come from this roster.
Fail:The rotation is fine, but nothing to write home about.
Lewis already being sidelined isn’t great and Correa is made of actual glass.
I’m just not in love with anything going on here.
Feels like a typical AL Central team that has no real shot at anything special.
I don’t get why they’re the AL Central favorite.
Jonathan India and Carlos Estevez join the squad as the new lead off hitter and closer.
They also tried to acquire Starling Marte, Anthony Santander, Jurickson Profar, and Taylor Ward.
They made the postseason and got a taste of some success.
They didn’t sit on their hands in the offseason and instead aimed to improve.
Contend:Pitching, pitching, pitching.
Of course Bobby Witt Jr. is a maniac, but can they get another big offensive year by Salvy?
India at the top could be fun as well.
Fail:I’d say lineup depth could doom the Royals.
They’re a bit top heavy and a good pitcher could have his way with them.
They brought in former Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres and familiar face Jack Flaherty.
We got a taste of phenom Jackson Jobe last year, but now we get the whole thing.
This man is a demon and a fun ROY bet at a shade under +1000 currently.
Contend:The Tigers stormed into the postseason and shocked the world by taking out the Astros.
That’s a confident group of young fellas who are only going to get better.
As we saw in October, this bullpen is full of guys who are nightmares to face.
The offense definitely lacks firepower, especially if Torkelson’s 2023 season is not repeatable.
Gone are Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez.
In comes Carlos Santana?
Ownership here is extremely cheap and un-inspiring.
That’s this team’s bread and butter and always will be.
Contend:Shane Bieber is throwing well and expected back from his TJ surgery rehab sometime in the summer.
Fail:The lineup after Jose Ramirez isn’t pretty.
You know they aren’t going to add much at the deadline either.
There’s also a chance Emmanuel Clase is broken after his disaster of a postseason last October.
Chicago White Sox (+don’t even bother, 53.5)
This is not a baseball team.
For fuck’s sake look at the pitching staff.
Sean Burke is the Opening Day starter.
No offense to Sean but he’s made three MLB starts in his career.
I wish him the best of luck.
Look at this staff.
This roster is a crime against humanity.
How they’ll draw any fans after last year is beyond me.
The manager said he THINKS they’ll be better than their 2024 version.
The team that lost a record 121 games.
Can’t even confidently say they’ll improve.
There’s a chance they’re somehow worse than that and that is truly unbelievable.
Yes, this is the plot of the show Paradise.
As you know, Alex Bregman is in Boston now.
Star outfielder Kyle Tucker was traded to the Cubs.
Isaac Paredes is at 3rd base with Christian Walker opposite him at 1st.
Or he adjusts like the pro that he is and it’s a total non-story.
Kikuchi, Verlander, and Pressly are also on other teams.
The combination of Altuve-Paredes-Yordan-Walker can do a shit ton of damage at the top.
Fail:There’s definitely a chance the defense here is a fucking shit show.
Trading away your best young star is certainly a move that can backfire quick.
Replacing him is not going to be easy.
Helps to have Cam Smith ready to jump in, but he’s as raw as it gets.
Pitching wise this rotation can go one way or the other.
Definitely some good upside, but it’s not an open and shut case.
Obviously that’s an ownership problem more than a GM, but what the fuck guys?
Tale as old as time.
Contend:Julio Rodriguez wins the MVP and Randy Arozarena thinks COVID is back?
There’s room for someone fun to emerge who wasn’t in the mix at all last year.
Texas seems to be it.
Contend:Jacob deGrom has to stay healthy for the Rangers to be actually scary.
They’re slotting him in the back of the rotation for now to ease him into the year.
He’s looked plenty good in spring and at the moment is healthy.
Just has to stay that way because the rest of the rotation after Eovaldi isn’t the most assuring.
On paper this offense should have no problem scoring 5+ a game.
While Leiter has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues, the control still isn’t there.
Just can’t be walking 4+ guys a night and survive.
For now they play in a minor league stadium and that should be something to witness.
That sparked the signing of Luis Severino and locking up cornerstone pieces in Brent Rocker and Lawrence Butler.
Like an elaborate cheating system in this minor league stadium that no one could figure out.
Fail:I have no faith in this organization with Fisher running the show.
Karma will never reward him with good things.
Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, Jorge Soler, and Kenley Jansen come on down!
Mike Trout is moving over to RF in hopes it puts less of a toll on his body.
It’d be nice to see Trout for 130+ games.
Sadly that number hasn’t been reached since 2019.
Maybe go find that rally monkey.
Alright that’s enough words for the IL.
I’m going to find an ice bath and throw my hands in there to regain the feeling.
Here’s Ana de Armas to take us out of the blog.
