Every publication tries their hand at predicting the future at the beginning of each MLB season. Its a fun game to play. We don’t pretend to be clairvoyent, so we are open to argument and debate about who is mostly likely to do what this season. We disagree on some key predictions, and agree on others. What follows is a humble list of crystal ball readings about this season.
Who will make the playoffs from the American League?
EJ: Yankees, Twins, Athletics, Rays.
Moshe: Yankees, Twins, Angels, Red Sox
Anthony: Yankees, Indians, Athletics, Red Sox
Chris: Yankees, Twins, Angels, Red Sox
Steve: Yankees, Indians, Angels, Red Sox
Tom: Yankees, Rays, Angels, Twins
Who will make the playoffs from the National League?
EJ: Marlins, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Mets
Moshe: Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Phillies
Anthony: Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Mets
Chris: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets
Steve: Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Marlins
Tom: Mets, Cubs, Marlins, D-backs
Who will win the World Series?
EJ: Yankees over Diamondbacks
Moshe: Cubs over Yankees
Anthony: Cubs over Yankees
Chris: Yankees over Phillies
Steve: Yankees over Cubs
Tom: Yankees over Cubs
Who will win the Cy Young Awards?
EJ: Roy Halladay, Johan Santana
Moshe: Felix Hernandez, Johan Santana
Anthony: Roy Halladay, Johan Santana
Chris: James Shields, Dan Haren
Steve: Fausto Carmona, Johan Santana
Tom: A.J. Burnett, Yovani Gallardo
Who will win the Most Valuable Player awards?
EJ: Mark Teixeira, Albert Pujols
Moshe: Justin Morneau, David Wright
Anthony: Grady Sizemore, Albert Pujols
Chris: Mark Teixeira, Chase Utley
Steve: Grady Sizemore, Hanley Ramirez
Tom: Josh Hamilton, Hanley Ramirez
Who will win the Rookie of the Year Awards?
EJ: Travis Snider and Jordan Shafer
Moshe: Matt Wieters and Colby Rasmus
Anthony: David Price and Jordan Schafer
Chris: David Price and Dextor Fowler
Steve: David Price and Jordan Shafer
Tom: Matt Wieters and Cameron Maybin
Who will win the Come Back Player of the Year awards?
EJ: Bartolo Colon and Todd Helton
Moshe: Francisco Liriano and Chris Carpenter
Anthony: Jorge Posada and Chris Carpenter
Chris: Francisco Liriano and Chris Carpenter
Steve: Justin Verlander and Jeff Francoeur
Tom: Justin Verlander and Todd Helton
Who will prove to be the best off season free agent signing?
EJ: Pat Burrell
Moshe: Pat Burrell
Anthony: Pat Burrell
Chris: Bobby Abreu and Takashi Saito
Steve: Andy Pettitte
Tom: AJ Burnett
Who will prove to be the worst off season free agent signing?
EJ: Ryan Dempster
Moshe: Jason Varitek
Anthony: Edgar Renteria
Chris: Jason Varitek
Steve: Raul Ibanez
Tom: Jason Varitek
How many games will the Yankees win?
EJ: 100
Moshe: 96
Anthony: 96
Chris: 98
Steve: 98
Tom: 95
How many games do Burnett and Joba each start?
EJ: Burnett starts 29, Joba starts 25
Moshe: Burnett starts 28, Joba starts 22
Anthony: Burnett starts 27, Joba starts 24
Chris: Burnett starts 30, Joba starts 23
Steve: Burnett starts 24, Joba starts 22
Burnett starts 35, Joba starts 22
Which Yankee spends the most time on the disabled list?
EJ: Alex Rodriguez
Moshe: Hideki Matsui
Anthony: Hideki Matsui
Chris: Alex Rodriguez
Steve: A.J. Burnett
Tom: Johnny Damon
Which Yankee rookies will make their MLB debuts?
EJ: Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena, Austin Jackson, Steve Jackson, Anthony Claggett, Alan Horne, Michael Dunn, Wilkins De La Rosa, Chris Garcia
Moshe: Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena, Steven Jackson, Eduardo Nunez, Austin Jackson, Alan Horne
Anthony: Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena, Christian Garcia, Austin Jackson
Chris: Mark Melancon, Ramro Pena
Steve: Mark Melacnon, Anthony Claggett, Ramiro Pena, Austin Jackson, Dellin Betances, Jeremy Bleich<
Tom: Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena, Austin Jackson, Alan Horne, Andrew Brackman, Steven Jackson, Zach McCallister/blockquote>
Your thoughts? Fire away.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
10 Responses to Yankees Universe 2009 MLB Predictions
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
We’ll have Tom’s up in a second. We wanted to get the big post up before the first game started.
dellin betances mlb debut this year ?!!@!@!! that would mean he would live up to all those expectations. so i hope you are right steve !
heh, that too. if the big guy were to be able to make it to the majors…damn. I doubt it, but quite a gutty choice.
September call up. If he sees and game action, it’s limited to a relief appearance or two. I’m not predicting him to make any starts for the Yanks. But I think the strong second half where he got his walk rate down is for real, and can see him ending the year in AAA. Which would mean he could be called up in September, just for a taste of the bigs.
But that would also mean Dellin (at what, 20-21) pitching in A, AA, and AAA this year, all in 5 months.
It is kind of hard for me to envision that. I do hope his walk rate is down for real though…that’d be fantastic.
Ok…so you all have the Yankees winning the division and making it to the World Series. I figure the Yankees could beat the Cubs.
It is important to note that EJ was the only one to see all of these predictions before they were posted, so its not like we had a party line or something.
Looks like all the
New York Yankees predictions were right on the money!
Oh, and here are my explanations, because I dont believe in predicting divisions without them.
I think the Yankees and Red Sox are a notch better than Tampa, with more depth to deal with injury as well as greater resources to take on a huge contract at the deadline. I picked the Yankees to win the division over Boston bc, well, thats what I am hoping for, and they are so close that it is really splitting hairs.. I think Minny is the best all around team in the Central, solid at all facets, whereas Cleveland has Pavano going. I nearly picked A’s, but dont see it with their pitching. In the NL, I think the Dodgers will miss Lowe more than they know, and the Diamondbacks have the dominant front 2 and a young offense. I think the Mets and Phillies are the class of the NL with the Cubs, and see the Mets having inched past the Phils in the offseason. Finally, the Cubs are the easiest pick in baseball- only injuries can stop them.
In regard to the playoffs, the 4 best teams are the Cubs, Mets, Yankees, and Boston, so those are my LCS teams, and from that point it is a crapshoot.
For AL East: The Yankees have the best offense and pitching in the division. Their staff is somehow becoming underrated by mainstream analysts. Its an easy choice, I think, for the division. Offense has a little more variability than pitching in their case, but I think we’ve seen encouraging things all around this spring to lead us to believe that the Yankees will return to 5+ runs per game.
For the AL Wild Card: I picked the Rays over the Red Sox. Their defense is much better, and I think that the Red Sox are going to have some trouble at DH, 3rd base, shortstop, and catcher this season. Ortiz is breaking down. Lowrie is overrated. Lowell is hurt. Varitek was terrible last season. Their pitching staff is a bit overrated – Lester’s regression will be balanced out by Beckett’s improved luck, but Dice-K isn’t going to be successful walking 6 per 9. The Wakefield/Penny/Smoltz group probably will have its ups and downs. I’ll take the more certain Rays, who are going to benefit tremendously from the addition of Burrell and the maturation of Upton.
For the AL Central: Any of the 4 teams could make it. The White Sox always seem to exceed expectations. I think that the Twins have the most solid all around team, but I recognize that their offense hit a ridiculously lucky clip with runners on.
For the AL West: The Angels are due for some lumps. Santana is out, they lost Teixeira, Vlad is hurting, and their defense is starting to look pretty shoddy. Joe Saunders overplayed himself last year, and Garland provided replacement-level innings. Its hard to count them out, but the prospect guy in my trusts Oakland’s roster. Holliday and Giambi are huge additions, and their young pitching is unmatched.
For the NL West: The Diamondbacks should continue to improve with age. Justin Upton has breakout potential. The Webb/Haren duo is superb. The Dodgers are really close behind though.
For the NL Central: Everyone here picked the Cubs. They’re easily the NL’s best team, and improved in the off season.
For the NL East: I was waffling between the Mets, Braves, Marlins, and Phillies here. I think that the Marlins have a very strong up and coming team, and are either going to break out big this year or next year. It all depends on the performance of the young guys. Their pitching staff could be really, really good.