WCT Baseball Preview of the Week

Baseball season is approaching fast, and we here at WCT can’t wait. In order to prepare for the upcoming season (and so that in October we can brag about how right we were in the spring) we will preview each division, and predict the order of finish of the teams.

Today: the spectacularly mediocre National League West

Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers are the one-eyed man in the land of the blind that is, the National League West Division. Jason Schmidt, if he can stay healthy, will be the #1 starter and add some depth to the rotation when Brad Penny has his inevitable arm injury. The lineup enjoyed the addition of Luis Gonzalez, and the subtraction of J.D. Drew. Gonzalez has to feel rejuvenated now that he is out of Arizona. We see the Dodgers winning the division and losing in the first round again.

San Francisco Giants – The most underrated off-season signing was the Giants acquisition of catcher Bengie Molina. Molina, even though he looks he swallowed his brother Yadier, is solid both offensively and behind the plate. The most overrated off season signing was the Giants overpaying Barry Zito. Zito will benefit from a move to the NL, but he has been pretty average since winning the Cy Young in 2002. Look for the Giants to compete for the wild-card. (By the way, that was an entire team preview of the Giants without even one mention of their cross-dressing left-fielder. Take that ESPN!)

San Diego Padres – The Padres acquired Greg Maddux this past off-season, but we are not sure how much he has left. This team has one of the deepest pitching staffs in the NL, but they will struggle to score runs. They simply have no discernable run-producers in their everyday lineup, even by National League standards. Did you know that Brian Giles, the Padres #3 hitter most of last year, drove in 83 runs in 158 games last year? 83? He had a slugging percentage of .397 for crying out loud!

Arizona Diamondbacks – This team could actually be decent this year. The top of the starting rotation, with new/old D-Back Randy Johnson joining Brandon Webb, and Livan Hernandez, should be pretty solid. Johnson will likely have a better year after returning to the weak NL, and we expect Webb to have another pretty good year. The problem that will keep this team from competing will be their inability to score runs. Eric Byrnes annoys us. Why does everyone love that douche?

Colorado Rockies – This team flat-out stinks. Their roster is comprised almost exclusively of players who were complete failures on their previous teams (Kaz Matsui, LaTroy Hawkins, Javy Lopez to name a few). And many teams take failed starters and make them into closers, but seriously, who takes a failed closer, in this case Byung-Hyun Kim, and makes him a starter? The most interesting thing to involve this team this winter was the trade rumors involving Todd Helton. The Rockies openly shopped Helton to the Red Sox, but couldn’t get a deal done. Then after the rumors passed, Helton said he was “glad to be back.” What? This team tried to ship you out of town, loses 90 games each year, and has pretty much served as baseball purgatory since the franchise’s inception, and you’re glad to be back? Whatever man. Have a great year Rockies fans!