I have three major problems with this thread. The first is Oakland finishing behind the Rangers. The Rangers have nothing. No rotation, no bullpen... not even much offense anymore!
The second is the Braves in front of the Mets. I can see someone predicting a Phillies NL East win, even if I don't agree (speaking of teams with nothing after their 1-2 guys... the Phillies if anyone, are that team). I don't see the Mets losing out to a Braves team with nothing going for them.
The third, which totally shot any credibility he had, was saying Pat Burrell is a potential MVP candidate. The guy is like a worse Adam Dunn! He had 2 good months, maybe 3, last year, and all of a sudden he's an MVP? He's without question the most hated man in Philadelphia sports, and lets be honest... he just isn't very good! Anyone saying something that incredibly positive about Burrell automatically loses all credibility. Not that he isn't good, or doesn't have upside... but you would never catch anyone, Burrell least of all, saying he has MVP potential.
Response to Ozymandias: Most of your points are valid except for one in particular: one concerning the Rangers. Consider the fact that neither the Rangers, nor the Athletics have a particularly stable rotation. But, the Rangers do have some offense. If you heard news out of spring training, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler are both tearing the cover off the ball (batting close to .500) Of course, this won't last for a full season, but experts said even before spring training that these two players are expected to have breakout seasons. Heck, I even drafted Kinsler in my fantasy league, and laughed at those who drafted other second basemen outside Chase Utley, Brandon Phillips, Dan Uggla, Robinson Cano and Brian Roberts. (I got Kinsler in Round 12) If you go to the website below:
You can also see that others like Michael Young and Kevin Mench are producing, although I wouldn't read too much into Hank Blalock's numbers. Alkso consider the fact that the Rangers' slugging percentage last season was 6th in the AL (out of 14 teams), and I will argue that the trade of Mark Teixeira won't affect those numbers dramatically enough to take the Rangers off the offensive map. See the stats here:
Response to Ozymandias: Most of your points are valid except for one in particular: one concerning the Rangers. Consider the fact that neither the Rangers, nor the Athletics have a particularly stable rotation. But, the Rangers do have some offense. If you heard news out of spring training, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler are both tearing the cover off the ball (batting close to .500) Of course, this won't last for a full season, but experts said even before spring training that these two players are expected to have breakout seasons. Heck, I even drafted Kinsler in my fantasy league, and laughed at those who drafted other second basemen outside Chase Utley, Brandon Phillips, Dan Uggla, Robinson Cano and Brian Roberts. (I got Kinsler in Round 12) If you go to the website <a href="http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/stats/sortable_player_stats.jsp?statType=1&statType=Overview&teamPosCode=all&timeFrame=1&c_id=tex&sitSplit=&venueID=§ion1=null&Submit=Submit&subScope=pos&baseballScope=WS2&timeSubFrame=23&&sortByStat=AVG"> here, you can also see that others like Michael Young and Kevin Mench are producing, although I wouldn't read too much into Hank Blalock's numbers. Alkso consider the fact that the Rangers' slugging percentage last season was 6th in the AL (out of 14 teams), and I will argue that the trade of Mark Teixeira won't affect those numbers dramatically enough to take the Rangers off the offensive map. See the stats <a href="http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/stats/historical/team_stats.jsp?statType=1&HS=true&Submit=Submit&c_id=tex&groupByTeam=true&baseballScope=AL&timeSubFrame=2007&sortByStat=SLG"> here
