2006 NL West Preview
Wed, Mar 22, 2006
by Geoff Young
I am still coming down off my WBC high and working feverishly on the Padres preview for Baseball Think Factory so I don’t have anything original for you here today. However, Rich Lederer and Bryan Smith (aka the Baseball Analysts) were kind enough to have me participate in a round table discussion of the upcoming season NL West style. We had a lot of fun putting this together, and I’m grateful to be included in such company (Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts was the other guest panelist). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed participating in it.
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March 22, 2006 at 8:39 am
The dodgers, you picked the dodgers to finish first! Ouch;). I guess as a serious sports jounalist, you gots to call em as you see um. But I know you fingers were crossed behind you back.
Interesting how the West is so old (save Az). Can this be linked to poor farm clubs and bad draft picks (a la football). Fat contracts to declining players doesn’t help. Be interesting to chart team age and performance. AZ is too young, the West is too old. Whats the correct formula? (See White Socks)
Do the Rocks need to leave Denver to win? Wow. Is this the consenous among BB insiders? Very interesting.
Once again, great work, Goff.
March 22, 2006 at 9:08 am
Thanks, PM. Yeah, it hurt to say that. I should note that I think it will be pretty tight among the top three teams and a few breaks could swing things back our way. It’s a long season, and a lot can happen.
March 22, 2006 at 9:45 am
Good discussion on the West, and, Geoff, I think your comments are dead-on. If anything, I’d say you’re just a touch optimistic about the Padres. But as you point out, we aren’t without hope. The team’s greatest weakness, starting pitching, is the most unpredictable element in projecting a team’s performance. So while I’d take the under on the Padres winning 80, we can hope for a few players to surprise us - and in a division this weak, it wouldn’t take more than a few pleasant surprises for the Padres to repeat.
March 22, 2006 at 9:48 am
Dodgers, Geoff? Really? Wow. I couldn’t disagree more. The Giants are more imposing to me. They have an actual 5 man rotation (the only team in the division that can boast that). Lowe, Penny, ****, Crappy, Crappiest don’t really intimidate me. Prospects don’t intimidate me either. They still have to prove it at the major league level. Could’ve sworn this was a Pads blog. We’re gonna win this thing this year! Come on, Geoff, get on board!!!!!
SF
SD
LA
COL
ARI
or not….
March 22, 2006 at 3:32 pm
So about that top 100 list we talked about:
http://tinyurl.com/zq8a6
March 22, 2006 at 4:24 pm
The Colorado question would make for a pretty good discussion in it’s own right. I think it’s certainly possible for a team to win in that park but they need talent and some innovation. For example, the ball doesn’t break as much there so they should look for pitchers that rely on other means. Change-up specilaists, submariners, maybe knuckleballers even.
I have to agree with Geoff, the Dodgers look pretty good to me. I think the Dbacks could surprise too, they always seem to play better than everyone thinks they will. The Padres seem to have more “ifs” than any team in the division, and that’s saying something.
There’s 99 Padres ahead of Aki?
March 22, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Yeah. There are.
March 22, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Right on, Richard! Well done!
Ya, for a guy only on the Padres for 2 years, I could seem him left off the Top 100 easily … and it will be interesting to see how long he lasts on the Top 100 … for example, I’ll bet Tim Stauffer ain’t on it right now … but if he throws 2 no-hitters in July, he’d surely bump up into it, bump’ing Aki off it
So, we could start a contest right now … who’s going to bump Aki out of the Top 100?
My nominee’s are … Freddy Guzman … Cesar Carillo … Mike Piazza … Josh Barfield (ya, here’s who it will be) … Ben Johnson … Tagg Bozied … Mike Cameron … Dave Freisleben (:-)) …
March 22, 2006 at 5:03 pm
GY - where’d you hear that Lollar might be our #5 guy … that’s great news
… he was one of my favorites … I love pitchers who can hit the long ball … he’ll be (or should be) way above Aki on the Top 100 
March 22, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Aki just barely beat out Fernando Valenzuela, Derek Bell and Reggie Sanders
March 22, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Cesar and Barfield should both definitely make the Top 100 in a couple years. Piazza, I’ll be amazed if he does.
March 23, 2006 at 7:54 am
Does Marvell Wynne make the list? Or Luis Salazar? Or Tony’s brother Chris (for the double off Park in ‘96 that essentially won the division)?
Give me a moment while I relive that moment in ‘96 . . . . OK that was great. Was Tewksbury awesome that day, or what?
March 23, 2006 at 8:49 am
Crasnick’s column today has some stuff on Barfield and Brazelton:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=2378268