Evan Brunell’s 2010 MLB Predictions: Does Boston win it?

As the advent of spring training games are upon us, I thought I’d kick off everyone’s favorite little exercise by providing my own personal predictions as to how I think the season will shake out. Now, before I do so, a word of caution: predictions can change daily based on events. Heck, my predictions change multiple times a week. But I’ve gotta make predictions at some point, right? Point being, I might disagree with my own predictions a week from now. Most of the time, these kind of predictions are an exercise in fallacy, but it’s not going to stop me from trying.

I don’t know why I made things harder on myself, but I set out to present an exact record. This means I had to go into a spreadsheet and make sure all the wins and losses totaled the correct amount of games while also balancing out to a .500 record. Took me a while, but dadgum it, I did it. One thing I did not control for was the unbalanced schedule (in a total record sense), but I already strained my tenuous math skills, so I wasn’t about to complicate it further.

Click “read more” or the headline to find my predictions.

Assessing Boston’s shortstop options

With the departure of Alex Gonzalez to Toronto, it’s time to move on and explore what options are available to Boston to man the shortstop position in 2010 — and possibly beyond. I’ve gone through some potential free-agent and trade options and then tied it all in a neat little bow for consideration.

Internal options include Jed Lowrie and Jose Iglesias.

The free agent market has a bevy of options, but they all have their drawbacks. From Marco Scutaro to Adam Everett to Miguel Tejada to Craig Counsell — yes, Craig Counsell — we have you covered here.

Want to think trade? Stephen Drew, Cristian Guzman and Hanley Ramirez are considered.

Yeah, Hanley Ramirez. The New York Daily News has a note that the Marlins are talking to the Red Sox about a Hanley Ramirez trade.

New Poll Question: Left Field Left-overs

If Boston waves Bay good-bye and Matt Holliday is out of reach, which of these established left-fielders would you like to see play the line at Fenway in 2010?

* Garret Anderson
* Marlon Byrd
* Fernando Tatis
* Randy Winn

Assessing Boston’s other left field candidates

Jason Bay. Matt Holliday. Jason Bay. Matt Holliday. Matt Holliday. Jason Bay. Jason Bay. Matt Holliday. Matt Holliday. Jason Bay.

Okay, let’s take a break from the two obvious left-fielder candidates and focus on other free agents that could be manning left field for the Red Sox in 2010.

I’m thinking that Theo’s going to give this club another run with a fill-in left-fielder because as comprised, the team is still very good. As comprised, the team can still hit 95 wins — if things go right.

To compete in a transition year, however, we’re going to need a left-fielder that can produce.

Nine Up, Nine Down: Welcoming the Yankees

In advance of the Yankees coming to town tomorrow for a three-game set in what will be the unofficial start of baseball season around here, I figure we should get caught up with what’s going on in Yankeeland.

After the jump we bring you up to speed on CC Sabathia’s struggles, the injury report plus a breakdown of the pitcher’s the Sox will face this weekend.

American League West Preview…And the rest of the remaining divisions too.

The Angels do not get on base much, and they haven’t hit for all that much power of late. I am a stat-guy. So I believe that an offense needs to do these things to score enough runs. There is only so much that can happen as a result of “hit and runs” and taking the extra base. Now, taking the extra base is great, and often overlooked–as is baserunning in general. But a team must get on base enough, in order to score enough.

The Abreu acquisition was great. For that amount of money, the team put aside their philosophy of having only players who can play defense, and sacrificed “it” for a little offense. There is no risk in signing Abreu, and he should still hit for average, get on base, and flash enough power to make him a quality all-around player.

Know Thine Enemy 2009: New York Yankees

The other half of the best rivalry in sports, The New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers “only” ended up with 89 victories last season. And the key players they inked this past off-season, have them looking incredibly strong on paper for this upcoming 2009 season.

The philosophy about building a strong farm was basically put on hold for a year. But Brian Cashman made some nice maneuvers, and the result–whether it was intentional or not–allowed the Yankees to lose their first three picks this year. And that is better than losing a first-round pick in three consecutive seasons, of course.

Could Jon Lester regress?

One of the better stories of the 2008 season was the maturation of Jon Lester into a pitcher very much to be reckoned with.

There are three pressing questions when attempting to evaluate Lester’s chances for 2009: control, workload and xFIP.

Fire Brand takes a look at each component and attempts to answer the question.

Lord, I was born a gamblin man…

*Editor’s note* I’ve spent the last 5 days in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (yes, I have a real job that requires some of my time) so be prepared for obligatory gambling references.

As I walked past the sports book at The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas this week, I figured a passing glance on the favorites for the upcoming 2009 baseball season was very much in order.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I strode over to the big board that housed just about every possible sports bet you could ask for, I thought through the teams that I would most likely expect to see playing “Tiger Woods” to the field that would be chasing them this season.

A glimpse of the other DS games…

Thoughts about the other three LDSes, in which your humble correspondent, Tessie’s Dad, offers his preferences and the (often tenuous) rationale behind them:
NLDS-A, Phillies vs. Brewers. Nothing against the Phillies, [...]