March 22, 2019
Opening day is right around the corner, so it’s time to make
some observations about the upcoming season for Chicago’s boys of summer.
PECOTA, sometimes referred to as the Baseball Prospectus,
predicts the win totals of each team. They pegged the Chicago Cubs to win only
81 games. If I were a betting man, I would take the over. After all, this was a
team that won 95 games las year despite injuries. All-star third baseman Kris Bryant’s
injury caused him to miss 60 games. Closer Brandon Morrow had 22 first -half
saves but missed the whole second half of the season. His replacement Pedro
Strop, was also injured, missing the last 2 weeks of the season. Without the
injuries, the Cubs would have added a few more wins and wouldn’t have been
caught by the Milwaukee Brewers in the last weekend of the season.
If the Cubs avoid injuries, chances are they will make
the post season. Other teams in the division supposedly got better with trades
and free agents. The Cubs didn’t make any major moves but are better off than
last year. The starting pitching staff will have a rejuvenated Cole Hamels to
start the season. Yu Darvish seems to be ready to go. No other team in the
National League has a better 1-5 rotation. Morrow will be out until May. Last
year, Strop filled and did excellent job in the closer role. The Cubs play
great defense, which greatly helps out the pitchers. The outfield is led by
Gold Glove recipient Jason Heyward, who makes difficult plays look easy. The
corner infielders Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are very good and whether at
shortstop or second base Javier Baez is spectacular. Wilson Contreras is
probably the best defensive catcher in baseball
Last year, the Cubs Achilles heel was the offensive
inconsistency. They would score nine runs and the next game score one or no
runs. This seemed to occur more often after Bryant’s injury, Healthy, Bryant
looks ready to return to form. Batting behind him is the steady Rizzo, followed
by MVP runner-up .Baez. Center fielder, Albert Almora is great defensively and
should be more consistent as a lead-off hitter.
NL Centrai East West
CUBS Washington Los Angeles
Milwaukee New
York Colorado
St. Louis
Philadelphia Arizona
Cincinnati
Atlanta San
Diego
Pittsburgh
Miami San Francisco
The buzz surrounding the White Sox is the contract agreement
with top prospect Eloy Jimenez Most
observers thought he would start the season at AAA and the Sox would call him
up at the end of April to add a seventh year of contract control. Instead they signed
him to a six year contract for $43 million, with team options for two more
years. This is one of the best moves they have made in ages. If he is as good as projected this will turn out to be a
bargain. Not since Hall of Famer Frank Thomas have I have been this excited
about a rookie. He will play left field, unseating Nicky Delmonico. Delmonico
came up from AAA as a third baseman, converted to left field. The Sox should
put him back at third base and move Yoan Moncada back to second base to replace
the woeful Yolmer Sanchez.
I thought I was seeing
improvement when last August the Sox had a won -lost record of 17-11. They were
the only team that had a winning record against the Boston Red Sox (4-2). They
followed that up going 8-20 in September, losing their last 5 games to reach
100 losses.,
After winning only 62 games,
the rebuild has to show signs of life. I am not saying they will be competitive,
they just have to better- something of a balance between the last two months of
2018. Fans should hope the three young starting pitchers Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo
Lopez and Lucas Giolito show improvement. With the addition of Dylan Cease and next year
Michael Kopech, this could make up a nice five- man rotation. Here are some other reasons to watch this
year:
-To see if Jimenez is as good as advertised
-Yoan Moncada
showed flashes of skills befitting a number one prospect I am expecting big things from him this year.
- It would be nice to see Jose Abreu stay healthy and return
to the dangerous hitter he was prior to last year
- Daniel Palka , with really good exit velocity, led all
rookies with 27 home runs and should improve.
-Shortstop Tim Anderson improved his fielding toward the
end of last year and hit 20 home runs and stole 20 bases I expect him to increase
each total to 25
-The bullpen, the
source of many woes last year, should be much better with the additions of Alex Colome and Kelvin Herrera
- It should be only a matter of time before manager Ricky
Renteria stops using Nate Jones
- The Sox did not get Manny Machado but got his
brother-in-law Yonder Alonso a 20- home run hitter who can rotate with Abreu
between first base and designated hitter.
Trying to be as positive I can,
I am hoping the Sox can win 76 games, I think by September you’ll have more
clues as to the future of this team. In the category of some things never
change…
Al Central East West
Cleveland Boston Houston
Minnesota New York Oakland
WHITE SOX Tampa Bay Seattle
Kansas City
Toronto Anaheim/Los Angeles
Detroit Baltimore Texas
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