NCAAbbs

i thought it would be fun to start a thread dedicated to talking about the teams who were crappy (under .500 frequently) in recent years, but seem to have a light at the end of the tunnel.

Brewers: i think it's best to start with the Brew Crew. all of you pro- salary cap people should look at this team. they are really building a team, and could definitely win the central in '07. when sheets is healthy, they have a rotation with him, davis, capuano, hendrickson, and ohka. it has what most teams don't, a true ace. capuano won an astonishing 18 games, and davis had a 3.84 ERA. in the field they have the talented prince fielder at first, talented weeks at second, talented hardy at short, and the great fielding koskie at 3rd. in the OF they have the RBI machine carlos lee, brady clark had a breakout year, and geoff jenkins is pretty good. they have a young player named dave krynzel. also, bill hall is a good backup. this team is completely dependent on the growth of the young players. if fielder and weeks reach their potential, this team could be scary.

Devil Rays: if they don't give away every good player they could have one of the best lineups in baseball. picture this (by position not by spot in the order):
C- hall
1B- huff
2B- cantu
SS- upton (hopefully)
3B- Lugo
OF- Crawford
OF- Baldelli
OF- Young (who BTW, is the epitomy of a 5 tool player)
DH- Gomes

that's a pretty sick lineup. plus, kazmir is an excellent young pitcher, fossum pitched great last year too. i just can't believe they got rid of baez, and they gave him up for nothing.

i don't feel like doing any more teams, i'll do them 2morrow.

I agree with the Brewers, definitely. I could see them making a move in the NL Central. The Cubs are downright horrible and the Astros, while still good, may be on the decline. I still think that's the Cardinals division, but the Brewers could cause problems.

In the AL, no one really jumps out. I like what Oakland has done and can see them contending in the AL, but they're not really up and coming considering they contended for the wild card last year.

i guess you could count the tigers. when verlander clicks, they'll have him and bonderman at the top. that'll be pretty damn good. i've seen verlander pitch a couple times, and his fastball just explodes. the tigers have a pretty loaded farm system.

nah, you can't count the A's.

flyingswoosh Wrote:i guess you could count the tigers. when verlander clicks, they'll have him and bonderman at the top. that'll be pretty damn good. i've seen verlander pitch a couple times, and his fastball just explodes. the tigers have a pretty loaded farm system.

nah, you can't count the A's.

The Tigers, that's a good one. Bonderman has been okay the last couple of years, but I expect him to blow up. He might be able to contend for a Cy Young. Add in Rogers, who's old but still very good, and Verlander, one of the best young arms in the American League, and you've got a rotation with some potential. Maroth and Robertson are good back-of-the-rotation guys.

I also think their late inning relief is solid with Jones, Rodney and German.

GDawgs88 Wrote:

flyingswoosh Wrote:i guess you could count the tigers. when verlander clicks, they'll have him and bonderman at the top. that'll be pretty damn good. i've seen verlander pitch a couple times, and his fastball just explodes. the tigers have a pretty loaded farm system.

nah, you can't count the A's.

The Tigers, that's a good one. Bonderman has been okay the last couple of years, but I expect him to blow up. He might be able to contend for a Cy Young. Add in Rogers, who's old but still very good, and Verlander, one of the best young arms in the American League, and you've got a rotation with some potential. Maroth and Robertson are good back-of-the-rotation guys.

I also think their late inning relief is solid with Jones, Rodney and German.

i agree completely with bonderman. peter gammons was practically orgasmic over bonderman last year, and the guy's ERA was way over 4. i was saying that all of last season. BTW, i was really talking about the tigers becoming good after this season. i really don't think they have a shot this season. it's not like they aren't gonna be good, it's just that they have the indians and the white sox ahead of them, and the twins aren't too bad either,

There's no way in hell they'll contend in that division, but I like the team they're putting together, especially the pitching staff.

GDawgs88 Wrote:There's no way in hell they'll contend in that division, but I like the team they're putting together, especially the pitching staff.

for sure. they have that kid edison volquez in the system, he throws like mid-90's.