Reviewing My Predictions for the 2015 Major League Baseball Season

Back on January 22nd, I made two predictions for the 2015 Major League Baseball Season. Here are the results so far...

  1. The Seattle Mariners will win the A.L. West

The Mariners signed Nelson Cruz to be their primary DH & to hit fourth behind stud 2nd baseman Robinson Cano. Seattle also has budding superstars in third baseman Kyle Seager, catcher Mike Zunino & pitcher Taijuan Walker. Oh and did I mention they also have the best pitcher in baseball NOT NAMED Kershaw (Felix Hernandez)?



What actually happened: NOT EVEN CLOSE!! Although the Mariners are not completely out of contention (yet!), their hopes are diminishing by the day, as they are 1/2 a game out ahead of last place Oakland in the A.L. West. as of today (7/24).

2. The San Diego Padres will be the most exciting team in the N.L. West

The San Diego Padres' new GM, A.J. Preller, made headlines with his acquisitions/thefts of Matt Kemp (from the Dodgers), Wil Myers (from the Rays) & Justin Upton (from the Braves). But they also have the starting pitching to contend. Guys like Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross & Odrisamer Despaigne will have to continue to dominate. They may overtake the Dodgers & Giants if they play their cards right. Now only if they would fire Bud Black and hire Jason Varitek...

What actually happened: I'm torn because the Padres, as much as I hate to say it because I've been a fan of them for a long time, have been at or near the bottom of the N.L. West all year, even with their acquisitions/thefts. Myers is currently injured, Justin Upton will likely be traded by the end of this week and Kemp has produced very little offense in the first half of the year. But the Padres did fire Bud Black, so A.J. Preller earns brownie points. They need a shortstop as well, because the one they have right now, Alexi Amarista, is better suited as a utility player/pinch-runner, as he can play every position on the field.


So my predictions have been wrong so far... but there are still 2 months left!

Why I think Mike Zunino is the LVH [Least Valuable Hitter] for the Seattle Mariners

For starters, to be fair, Mike Zunino is a really good defensive catcher. Some sports pundits (like Ken Rosenthal) might even argue he's the best in the game behind the dish. Unfortunately, he often looks hopeless in the batter's box.
The 24-year-old catcher has struck out an astounding 100 times in just 250 at-bats, and his slash line of .160/.223/.292 looks like it came out of the Triple Play Baseball 2001 video game. He sees a highly respectable 4.17 pitches per plate appearance (16th in the Majors), but working the count doesn't mean jack if you're constantly golfing for dollars and not drawing walks.
If you love what Mikey brings defensively and think I'm being too harsh, go watch the next Mariners game.

My 4 MLB Trade Deadline Predictions

My 4 MLB Trade Deadline Predictions

1. On July 31st, the Chicago Cubs will acquire pitchers Andrew Cashner & Joaquin Benoit from the San Diego Padres in exchange for 1B Daniel Vogelbach & infielder Javier Baez. Why? It's because the Cubs need good pitching and the Padres need a young, talented shortstop and a better 1st baseman than Yonder Alonso. The only problem with this trade is that it would mean that the Cubs got all of the key players in the Anthony Rizzo-Andrew Cashner trade from January, 2012.

2. The Seattle Mariners will make a franchise damaging trade with either the Red Sox or the Yankees that will set the Mariners back 25 years. Need I say more?

3. The Padres will trade Justin Upton by the time I finish writing this sentence.

4. The Mets will acquire stud shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Rockies for Curtis Granderson and a pitcher who will not make it up to the majors or will not succeed upon promotion to Colorado because nobody can pitch in Denver