MLB: Will the Yankees Represent the AL in 2K1?

The 2001 Major League Baseball season is finally upon us. After scouting the talent all winter, I’ve decided to release my predictions for the season. Take them with a grain of salt and feel free to send any comments regarding my predictions or your own.

American League East: It’s over before it starts. Unless of course Frank Castillo, Hideo Nomo and Tomo Okha turn in great years for Boston to back up Pedro. So as I said, it’s over before it starts. They were mighty powerful last year and they added another great starting pitcher.

1. New York Yankees – Can you believe it? Yes folks, the Yankees will take the AL East in 2K1 due in large part to the fact that they added Baltimore’s Mike Mussina. Breakout Player: 2B/SS/3B Alfonso Soriano – with playing time, he’ll show everyone why he’s worthy of the pinstripes. If you play fantasy baseball: Get anyone on their staff!

2. Boston Red Sox – Pedro Martinez is baseball’s King of the Hill, but Nomar Garciaparra’s is going to miss some time, Carl Everett might be the next sports star to bite someone’s ear off, and poor ol’ Manny Ramirez doesn’t want to play anywhere but right field! Breakout Player: RF Trot Nixon – look for 20 home runs, an average creeping around .300 and some decent speed. If you play fantasy baseball: Pay $50 for Martinez, it’s worth it. Try and get Nomar at a discount, especially if you play in a keeper league.

3. Toronto Blue Jays – You won’t see them put up many goose eggs with the likes of Carlos Delgado, Brad Fullmer, Jose Cruz Jr., Shannon Stewart and Tony Batista; however closer Billy Koch could be called on quite a bit to hold leads with a staff headlined by Estaben Loaiza. Breakout Player: CF Shannon Stewart – but Paul, how do you breakout after a .319avg/21hr/69RBI/20sb season? You do it again, but better: .330/26/88/30. If you play fantasy baseball: Koch could get 45-50 saves this year.

4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays – They know they won’t win much this year, but they are at least improving. Acquiring Ben Grieve from Oakland was a great move, as was getting rid of the aging Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez is still a good closer, it was a wise move because Tampa has no real use for his services. As long as they keep moving forward… Breakout Player: DH Steve Cox – he parlayed his 318 at-bats into a .283/11/35/1 season in 2K. Look for .280/25/69/3 to start off the new century. If you play fantasy baseball: Don’t pick players from this team!

5. Baltimore Orioles – Oh boy it’s going to be a long year in Maryland. After the sting of dropping a 22-point lead to Duke in the Final Four wears off, you have to watch this abysmal mess of a team take the field for 162 games. Breakout Player: 2B Jerry Hairston Jr. – will show that he’s ready to be their 2B in the future, which can’t come quick enough. If you play fantasy baseball: On second thought, I hear Paul Wilson had a killer spring.

American League Central: This will be a grueling battle for the top spot, but there isn’t much after that. Cleveland will rely heavily on hitting, but it will work. Minnesota, Detroit and KC are all looking forward to 2K2 and/or 2K3.

1. Cleveland Indians – Bartolo Colon is in the upper-echelon of AL pitchers. I realize that’s not saying a whole lot, but he would be if he were in the NL too. Juan Gonzalez will probably do less whining and more hitting, which result in helping fans forget about Ramirez. Ellis Burks is also a solid addition to the lineup. Breakout Player: 3B Russell Branyan – I’ve seen 50-year-old men more durable than Travis Fryman, so he’ll get the at-bats necessary to make a solid impact. I see .262/27/90/1 for the free-swinging 3rd sacker. If you play fantasy baseball: You can’t go wrong with having Cleveland’s offensive players on your team.

2. Chicago White Sox – David Wells is a solid addition to a young rotation, but they lost Charles Johnson and replaced him with Sandy Alomar, one of the few players that is weaker than Fryman. Fourteen game winner, James Baldwin, starts the season on the DL and Cal Eldred, Jim Parque and Mark Buehrle are suspect at best. Breakout Players: Outfielders Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez already had their breakout years, and I don’t really see anyone coming out of their shell in 2K1. If you play fantasy baseball: Lee, Ordonez, Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko and Ray Durham all contribute very nicely.

3. Minnesota Twins – It’s really a crapshoot between the Tigers, Royals and Twins for third place, but I like the Twins. Brad Radke has already shown he’s capable of winning games, and 25-year-old lefty Eric Milton will improve on his decent 2000 campaign. The top two along with Joe Mays and Mark Redman will surprise people in 2K1, except me. Breakout Player: SP Mark Redman – he got hammered in his last three starts of 2000 giving up 12 runs in 14 innings, but was still able to end the year with 12 wins and decent 4.76 ERA. He’ll get 2-3 more wins and bump the ERA down to the 4.30-4.40 area. If you play fantasy baseball: A lot of the players on this team will be solid contributors, but the main ones are Milton, Radke, Matt Lawton and Jacque Jones.

4. Detroit Tigers – They’ve already lost C Mitch Meluskey for the season. Such is life for the Tigers and their fans (like me). SP Jeff Weaver is coming into his own, but after that, the staff is lagging. SP Brian Moehler is effective at times, as is Dave Mlicki, but these times are few and far between. SP Chris Holt will feel like he’s pitching in the Grand Canyon after pitching at Enron Field last season. OF Roger Cedeno was a solid off-season acquisition, and while contrary to popular belief; letting that whiny baby Juan Gonzalez go was a good move. Good riddance, chump. Breakout Player: OF Juan Encarnacion – A 20/20 season with good average isn’t out of the question for 2K1 but I see more a 20/25: .285/20/79/25. If you play fantasy baseball: OF Roger Cedeno will give you a huge steals lead and contribute nicely to your runs total if your league keeps that stat.

5. Kansas City Royals – I understand the thought behind moving OF Johnny Damon, but why get RP Roberto Hernandez in return? Mike Sweeney, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran will feel the effects of Damon’s departure, but they’ll still produce. Unfortunately, this team doesn’t even have a Weaver-type to prevent losing streaks. Breakout Player: OF Mark Quinn – he cranked 20 home runs last year, but I see that rising to about the 27 to 30 range while his RBI production creeps closer to 100 as he checks in with 96 in 2K1. If you play fantasy baseball: Stay AWAY from their pitchers… except Hernandez.

American League West: This will be the best division in baseball to watch. The only division that will have this fierce of a battle is the NL West. Oakland is obvious favorite, but that’s because they have fewer question marks than Seattle and Texas. Texas took the best player in baseball away from the M’s, but their staff is horrid. Seattle lost the best player in baseball to Texas, but their staff includes Aaron Sele, Freddy Garcia and John Halama. Anaheim lost Mo Vaughn for possibly the whole season, but offense wasn’t their problem… pitching, or lack thereof, is why they’ll lose in 2K1.

1. Oakland Athletics – SS Miguel Tejeda is forcing in way into A.Rod, Nomar, and Jeter conversations with his solid play. They have last year’s MVP in Jason Giambi, rising stars Eric Chavez and Terrence Long, plus the aforementioned Damon. They can pitch too! Tim Hudson leads a youthful staff of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Gil Heredia. Jason Isringhausen and Jim Mecir close the doors in 7th, 8th and 9th innings Breakout Player: SP Barry Zito – will have a year like Hudson had in 2000. In 2001 for Zito, I see 18 wins with a 3.31 ERA. If you play fantasy baseball: Aside from the obvious players, get Heredia. On this team, he’ll get wins by default.

2. Texas Rangers – Everyone talks about how they lack pitching, including me, because it’s true. However, with a lineup this potent, they won’t need that much pitching. Adding Andres Galarraga, A.Rod and Ken Caminiti to a lineup that already had Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmiero and Ruben Mateo will score at will. After Rick Helling and Kenny Rogers, who aren’t that great to begin with, the staff takes a sharp decline with Darren Oliver, Ryan Glynn, and Doug Davis. Breakout Player: OF Ruben Mateo – he’ll see a lot of pitches in this lineup and I foresee a .292/19/88/18 season, if he remains healthy. If you play fantasy baseball: Jump on their offense of course, but avoid Caminiti if you can, he’s very weak.

3. Seattle Mariners – The performance of newcomer right fielder Ichiro Suzuki and center fielder Mike Cameron will determine whether or not fans dwell on the loss of A.Rod. The always-steady Edgar Martinez and 1B John Olerud provide the only other bright spots along with the outfielders. As mentioned, their pitching is solid with Sele, Garcia, Halama, and Jamie Moyer. SP Gil Meche was recently transferred from the 15 to the 60-day disabled list. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki is the reigning Rookie of the Year. Breakout Player: OF Ichiro Suzuki – the obvious choice here, but I think he’ll be able to hit close to .300 while jumpstarting that rather anemic lineup day-in and day-out. If you play fantasy baseball: Stick with the people mentioned only.

4. Anaheim Angels – Sure Vaughn is gone until the later part of the season, if not for the entire season, but that’s doesn’t really kill a team that has Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon and Glenallen Hill. This team will hit the ball; LF Erstad and 3B Glaus are arguably the best in the league at their positions. The Angels’ opponents will also hit the ball. Jarrod Washburn, Ismael Valdes, Pat Rapp, Scott Shoeneweis, and Ramon Ortiz make up the rotation. Super years out of Shoeneweis and Ortiz combined with Valdes doing what he’s been expected to since he was a Dodger could put them in contention, but that’s wishful thinking. Breakout Player: SP Ramon Ortiz – I won’t dwell on his spring stats, but he had a 3.03 ERA in 29.2 IP. He showed glimpses of greatness last year too. Who can forget the 2-1 complete game loss to Pedro Martinez on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball? Plus in the 10 subsequent starts he only pitched under 6.0 innings twice (5.2, 0.2). He will be the bright spot of this rotation with about 13 wins and a 4.12 ERA. If you play fantasy baseball: Don’t bank on Troy Percival as much as you could in the past. He’ll get saves, but not quite the same way we’re used to.

Wildcard Winner: Texas Rangers – Their guys pitch good enough to get the job done as the offense pounds the cover off the ball. However, an early exit is certain without the acquisition of a pitcher before October.

Playoffs: New York Yankees over Texas Rangers Oakland Athletics over Cleveland Indians Oakland Athletics over New York Yankees Oakland Athletics as American League World Series Representative

Tomorrow: National League Predictions.