Looking Ahead - The MFD 2011

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Buckeyes
2. Inmates
3. Mavs
4. Nads


BUCKEYES

Pitching: Carpenter and Lilly are an excellent 1-2. Dice-K and Pelfrey are a big drop off after that. The bullpen consists of Gurrier, Oliver, and Wheeler.

Lineup: The core of the offense is Barton (1b), Werth (rf), and Prado (2b/3b). After that... yikes! Alex Rios... Jorge Posada... Yunel Escobar... Hidecki Matsui... It's not great. But there are three reasons why it doesn't matter: The park makes most games end up 1-0 anyway, the Buckeyes are artful drafters, and there's a league rule that says the Buckeyes must win the MFD.

Draft: The Buckeye draft genius will have to come through again, but it doesn't help that they only have 2 picks in the first 50 (14, 30).

Needs: C, 2b/3b, cf, starting pitching, bullpen.

Best case scenario: No one makes better use of the draft than the Buckeyes. Even when the prospects for the upcoming season look dour (which is every year lately), the Buckeyes win 90-100 games and get a first round bye. Same thing this year.

Worst case scenario: Umm... worst case? Winning the MFD and not getting a first round bye? With this staff, this lineup, and no early picks... how are they picked to win the division? Keep reading.


INMATES

Pitching: J.Santana, Billingsley, Floyd, and B.Anderson are the options for the rotation. Won't be good enough to match the Buckeyes. The bullpen is a little better with C.Perez, Joba, Fuentes, Francisco, and Perry.

Lineup: There's some good stuff here. CarGo (LF), Beltre (3b), K.Johnson (2b), and Ryan Howard will occupy the middle of the order, and they'll produce. In a rush to corner the market on Ryan Howard backups, the Inmates traded for both Derek Lee and Carlos Pena. With Dunn gone, one of them may end up at DH. Pennington at SS and Adam Jones in cf are not much more than warm bodies. Jones even lost his cf-1 and dropped to cf-3. The good news is we all get to hear FUCK-U-DOME over and over this year. The FFTs should be fined for trading that guy to the Inmates.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (4, 20, 36).

Needs: C, starting pitching, RF, DH.

Best case scenario: 81-81, but they will outscore and outhomer their opponents.

Worst case scenario: 90-95 losses and a top 5 pick in 2012.


MAVS

Pitching: Pretty decent rotation: Cain, Gallardo, Hughes, and C.Buchholz. The pen, however, is pretty much just Street.

Lineup: The outfield is DeJesus (LF), C.Young (CF), and Heyward/J.Upton (RF). That's a good, young, group. The DH is Billy Butler, who is probably the best hitter on the team. The infield is suspect, though. Kendrick, Hardy, Headley, and Uribe make up this group. None had especially good years in 2010. And as far as I can tell, there is no one to catch.

Draft: Four picks in the first 50 including #1 overall (1, 17, 33, 49).

Needs: C, 1b, bullpen.

Best case scenario: 80-90 losses.

Worst case scenario: 90-100 losses.


NADS

Pitching: Arroyo, Dempster, CJ Wilson, R.Wells, Pettitte are the rotation hopefuls. Saito, B.Lyon, Marshall, and R.Ramirez will make up the bullpen.

Lineup: The top hitters are Adrian Gonzalez, Uggla, JD Drew, and Willingham. Aybar is the ss, Montero/Pierzynski are behind the plate, McGeehee/Mora/J.Lopez will battle for the 3b position. Defensively, other than 1b and rf, there isn't much.

Draft: Three picks in the top 50 (8, 24, 40).

Needs: Pretty much everything. CF, LF (so Willingham can DH), 2b (so that Uggla can DH), starting pitching, bullpen.

Best case scenario: 90-100 losses.

Worst case scenario: 90-100 losses.