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| OWNERS' POLL | ||||
| Rank | Team | Owner | Strength | Weakness |
| 1 |
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Robert Matthies | Pitching. Halladay, Colon, The Rocket, Loaiza and Dontrelle make up a nice rotation. | First Base. Matthies will need a breakout season from Nick Johnson. |
| 2 |
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Kevin Smith | Balance. Terrific infield with Posada, Thome and A-Rod, adequate outfield, good pitching. | Second Base. Durham and Roberts? I don't think so. |
| 3 |
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Larry Sellers | Solid Hitting and Some Speed. Anderson and Sexson are guys you can count on. Ichiro and Renteria provide quickness. | Pitching. Not much behind Gagne. Pettitte? Overrated. Moyer? Too old. Padilla? Drunkard. |
| 4 |
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David Pursley | Outfield. Can't go wrong with Vlad and Berkman. That's 70 HR's right there. | Pitching. Pursley got quantity but where's the quality? Hudson and Nomo will have to carry this staff. |
| 5 |
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Jesse Jastremski | Infield Power. Soriano, Chavez, Raffy, Pudge. 'Nuff said | Hitting Depth. 12 guys for 9 spots. Jastremski better look after his guys because health will be key for this team. |
| 6 |
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Patrick Martin | Middle Infield. Kent and Nomah, a bit on the old side but still productive. | Infield Depth. Or lack thereof I should say. Are you kidding me? 6 players for 5 starting spots. |
| 7 |
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Randy Cook | Championship Experience. Cook went Marlin crazy in the draft. Castillo, Lowell, Pierre, Looper and Urbina. | Pitching. Pedro is the only sure thing in this staff and everybody knows he'll miss his share of games. |
| 7 |
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Bob Vargo | Potential. Full of young studs with huge upside. Teixeira, M.Giles, Blalock, Kearns, Burrell, Jerome Williams. | Inexperience. Vargo will live and die by youth. The only guy with a track record of consistent success is Tejada. |
| 7 |
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Dan Spalding | 'Roid Power. Bonds and Sosa will scare the crap out of opposing pitching staffs. | It's a AAA Team. Who will be this team's keepers besides Bonds and Sosa the cheater? |
| 7 |
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Thomas Reilly | Yankee Mistique. Jeter, Sheffield, Mussina, Contreras and Lieber. | Second Base. Pokey Reese, Aaron Miles and Eric Young. Lame. |
| 7 |
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Jorge Punturere | Kannon Arms. Schilling, Wood, Beckett, Santana and Big Unit. Can you say domination? | Outfield Health. It looks like the Disabled List Hall of Fame. Junior, Juan Gone and Larry Walker. |
| 12 |
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Jim Johnson | Balance. Hitting and pitching. Some proven players and some guys with good upside. | Infield Depth. Too many pitchers and not enough backup infielders. |
D.X.Pert's
Predictions
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Champions It's kind of ridiculous to pick a team in Spring Training. We know free agent pickups and trades will make teams look much different come September. However, I'll take a chance. Although I love Long Ballers' and Tree Frogs' balance, and Mad Turtles' pitching staff, I have to go with the Black Sox. The power is there. They'll probably have a slow start but once Harden gets comfortable in the majors and A.J.Burnett comes back from injury JJ will have a very strong squad. |
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MVP The sexy picks would be Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols or Barry Bonds and I'm sure they will all put up huge numbers worthy of this award. However, I like Alfonso Soriano. He plays for the team I think will win the championship and that's a big plus. Besides, he plays at a shallow position and moves to a hitters' ballpark. And don't you think he's got something to prove to The Boss and the media? I predict a .300 average, 50 home runs and 40 stolen bases for the Black Sox second baseman. |
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Cy Young First of all, let's forget about Pedro. A Cy Young winner has to be durable and be more than a six inning pitcher. The A's triplets are very good but where are the strikeouts? Gagne is awesome but he's a closer and unless he repeats his 2003 performance he doesn't deserve to win the award. Wins are overrated, you can win 20 games with an ERA over 4.00 with the right support. My Cy Young winner must start 30 games, have an ERA under 3.00 and more than 1 strikeout per inning. Who's this guy? Beachwood Terriers' Mark Prior. |
