Most Steals Of Home: Tie (Everyone With 0)

Lot's of people do standings and MVP/Cy Young predictions. Braves Journal takes it a little bit further.

"Carlos Delgado: .210/.299/.340, 84 games"
- I'll take the over, but not by that much. Maybe .262/.339/.402, 102 games

"First manager fired: Ned Yost"
- Yost has some good qualities and some bad qualities. If the Brewers start out poorly because of the way Yost manages the bullpen, then I could see this coming out right.

"Dusty Baker throws Homer Bailey under the bus: April 17
Dusty throws Joey Votto under the bus: May 22
Jay Bruce: June 11"
- Later on Homer as I think his first couple starts will be OK. (In fact, I think his whole year should be OK).
Later in Votto, as I don't think he'll get enough chances to start to be "thrown under the bus" that early.
Later on Bruce, for the same reason as Votto. If the Reds want to delay his service clock (and thus have control of him for an extra year), then starting Jay in the minors is fine. This team thinks it's a contender however, and that means putting your best players on the field from day one. (Bruce > Corey Patterson on that day, and Bruce >> Patterson by day 100).

"Dodgers’ most usual starting outfield, left to right: Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones, Delwyn Young
Number of times media points out that Joe Torre doesn’t know what he’s doing: 0
Number of times media will say that the Yankees would be winning with Torre: too many to count"
- Not a chance, if they think they'll win the division. Ethier, Jones, Kemp is a very good outfield.
Not zero - maybe 2 or 3 total for the year (all by the same guy, probably).
I think the Yankees will be winning anyway, so this may be moot.

"Best year nobody will notice because the team sucks: Roy Oswalt"
- Oswalt's K/9 has been trending downward, and his BB/9 isn't improving. I think he'll have a good year (and may be an All-Star) and people will notice, but there should be a better player for this category - I just can't think of who off the top of my head. (It's hard for me to judge, because if someone is having that good a year then I'll probably notice.)

"New record: JJ Putz, 59 saves"
- Not unless the M's win 100 games (which they won't - 99.3% sure). Nick Markakis has a 178 game hitting streak? There are always new records set (times getting hit by a pitch on a Thursday with no one on base) but 59 saves is pretty excessive.

"Should have been a new record: Dusty benches Adam Dunn with two weeks to go, with Dunn trying to break the 200 strikeout plateau. Oh, and with 47 homers."
- As I said in the post on Baker - this wouldn't surprise me. Maybe 41 home runs and not 47, but still.

"Worst team: Giants, 59-103"
- Thanks for no saying the O's. If Lincecum and/or Cain go down, it's going to be a long year in San Fran. I'll look at what could be a historically bad offense soon.

"Best team: Red Sox, 100-62"
- I don't think the Sox are even the best team in their own division, but 100 wins isn't a huge number. It's unlikely (they led the majors with 96 in 2007), but possible. I'd be more likely to say Yanks, 96-68. (Man, I hate that I think the Yankees are going to be so good. It's not fun be objective. O's win 107 en route to a World Series crown!)

"Surprise team: Nats, above .500 until late July"
- Well, I would sure be surprised. I think this team doesn't clear .500 in any month. If the O's win 75, would that count? Or if the M's win 75? Or Tampa Bay winning 85? None of those would surprise me, but they might count.

"Worst race: Cubs win NL Central by 12 games… with 87 wins"
- The Brew Crew should be there with them all year. Weeks - Braun - Fielder - Hart is a scary top of the order.

"Best race: Braves, Phillies, Mets divided by three games"
- Yeah, OK. I think the NL West will be better, since it'll be four teams (sorry Giants) where only one may make it (opposed to the East, where second place may mean a Wild Card birth).

"Most tediously overcovered race: AL East"
- Stupid Yankees/Red Sox bias.

"Rangers finally turn catcher over to Saltalamacchia: Sept. 17"
- He should be up earlier, and I could see him being the primary catcher before then. If Laird is traded, it'll be before the deadline (end of July) so he would take over then.

"Worst token All-Star: Brian Wilson, Giants
Over/under on ESPN Beach Boy jokes about Wilson: 62 1/2, not counting repeats"
- Not if Melvin Mora represents the Orioles.
Wilson does play in California.