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April 5, 2009

Predictions: ESPN

ESPN's 2009 preview and staff picks:
                 ALE      WC       WS
Jorge Arangure   Red Sox  Yankees  Cubs over Red Sox
Matthew Berry    Rays     Twins    Rays over Cardinals
Jim Caple        Red Sox  Rays     Twins over Mets
Jerry Crasnick   Red Sox  Rays     Rays over Cubs
Peter Gammons    Red Sox  Yankees  Red Sox over Mets
Pedro Gomez      Rays     Twins    Rays over Phillies
Jason Grey       Red Sox  Yankees  Red Sox over Dodgers
Orel Hershiser   Rays     Red Sox  Rays over Mets
Eric Karabell    Rays     Red Sox  Red Sox over Cardinals
Tim Kurkjian     Yankees  Red Sox  Yankees over Cubs
Keith Law        Red Sox  Yankees  Red Sox over Cubs
Amy Nelson       Red Sox  Rays     Red Sox over Dodgers
Rob Neyer        Yankees  Red Sox  Cubs over Yankees
Buster Olney     Rays     Red Sox  Rays over Phillies
Peter Pascarelli Rays     Yankees  Cardinals over Rays
Nate Ravitz      Rays     Red Sox  Mets over Rays
Brendan Roberts  Yankees  Red Sox  Red Sox over Mets
Enrique Rojas    Yankees  Rays     Cubs over Yankees
Chris Singleton  Yankees  Rays     Yankees over Mets
Jayson Stark     Red Sox  Yankees  Red Sox over Phillies
Gene
 Wojciechowski   Red Sox  Rays     Cubs over Red Sox
AL East Picks: Red Sox (9), Rays (7), Yankees (5)

Of the 21 "experts", 5 predict the Red Sox will miss the playoffs (though they could still finish in 2nd place). But 9 of the 21 expect the Red Sox to play in the World Series, with 7 saying they should win.

Other Red Sox/Rays/Yankees Stuff:

MVP
Teixeria (6): Arangure, Grey, Law, Neyer, Roberts, Rojas
Upton (2): Berry, Caple
Longoria (2): Crasnick, Karabell
Crawford (2): Hershiser, Pascarelli
Bay (1): Ravitz
Youkilis (1): Stark

Cy Young
Sabathia (6): Grey, Hershiser, Neyer, Olney, Stark, Wojciechowski
Lester (4): Karabell, Nelson, Pascarelli, Singleton

Breakout Player
Lowrie: Neyer

Underrated Player
Crawford: Olney, Rojas

RoY
Price: Rojas

***

ESPN.com asked 15 of ESPN's leading baseball experts to rank every major league team from 1-30, and the Red Sox came out on top, narrowly beating out their two AL East rivals -- the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. In fact, the defending AL champion Rays finished with more first-place votes than the Red Sox (6-5), but fell short of the Red Sox in the overall point total.
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19 comments:

  1. Pepe LepewApril 5, 2009 at 10:30 AM

    Peter Gammons picked the Sox? Go figure! :)
    I didn't see "expert" Joe Morgan in there. He'd probably make some ridiculous pick like the Rangers over the Marlins just to be contrarian.

    ReplyDelete
  2. allanApril 5, 2009 at 10:37 AM

    BAY FOR MVP!!!

    These people are from the magazine, website, fantasy side of things. Maybe only doing chats is not enough to qualify. Does Joe "write" anything?

    Also, I finally cancelled my ESPN Insider subscription, so if anyone sees anything worthy in a column, let me know!

    Now I'm wondering if I should let my BP subscription expire. I can't say I use the site all that much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PatrickApril 5, 2009 at 11:01 AM

    Only one of those 'experts' thinks a non-AL East team is representing the AL in the WS.

    No Josh Beckett for CY Young? Is Lester such a trendy pick? He's not even the best pitcher on his team!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stephanie FrisinaApril 5, 2009 at 12:06 PM

    I HOPE baseball in 23 hours! But weather forecast is not looking so good. :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. timApril 5, 2009 at 12:06 PM

    ^ That was me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownApril 5, 2009 at 12:10 PM

    BP picked the Sox to win 102 games today. Whoa.

    But yeah, the quality of BP seems to have declined over the last year or so. Christina's articles are still can't miss, though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. allanApril 5, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    Turns out my BP subscription *has* expired.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pepe LepewApril 5, 2009 at 12:36 PM

    BP picked the Sox to win 102 games today. Whoa.

    102 games? ... playing 57 games against Tampa, the Yankees and the Blue Jays? That's whack.
    Maybe if they traded places with the Angels in the AL West.

    ReplyDelete
  9. allanApril 5, 2009 at 12:39 PM

    Tampa, the Yankees and the Blue Jays

    One of these things is not like the others.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Pepe LepewApril 5, 2009 at 12:48 PM

    One of these things is not like the others.

    Hookay ... the Blue Jays still got Halladay, and it always seems to me he gives the Red Sox fits. 5 or 6 times a year. Maybe that's my imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  11. timApril 5, 2009 at 12:51 PM

    Yeah, I know what your saying pepe - Jays do seem to give the Sox a bit of trouble. This isn't based on any sort of facts though.

    Currently watching the Pedro near-no hitter (part of the prize) on NESN...I really want to win this!

    ReplyDelete
  12. timApril 5, 2009 at 12:56 PM

    And there goes the no-no.

    ReplyDelete
  13. allanApril 5, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    The Gerald Williams game? I gotta burn and watch that one myself.

    ReplyDelete
  14. allanApril 5, 2009 at 1:58 PM

    Cubs / Red Sox -- 1918 rematch, btw -- is a popular pick.

    From the links I've posted:

    Cubs over Red Sox (12)
    Amalie Benjamin, Globe
    Dan Shaugnessy, Globe
    Jack Curry, Times
    Jesse Spector, Daily News
    Robert MacLeod, Globe & Mail
    Tim Brown, Yahoo
    Jon Heyman, SI
    Scott Miller, CBS Sportsline
    Eric Mack, CBS Sportsline
    Adriane Rosen, CBS Sportsline
    Jorge Arangure, Jr., ESPN
    Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN

    Red Sox over Cubs (6)
    Chad Finn, Globe
    Bob Ryan, Globe
    Jeff Blair, Globe & Mail
    Ben Reiter, SI
    Danny Knobler, CBS Sportsline
    Keith Law, ESPN

    ReplyDelete
  15. allanApril 5, 2009 at 2:08 PM

    Hookay ... the Blue Jays still got Halladay, and it always seems to me he gives the Red Sox fits. 5 or 6 times a year. Maybe that's my imagination.

    I know, the blind optimism of the Toronto media towards the Jays irritates (and amuses) me.

    Halladay vs Sox

    2008: 5 starts, 2.56
    2007: 5 starts, 5.94
    2006: 4 starts, 5.40
    2005: 3 starts, 3.68
    2004: 4 starts, 4.15
    2003: 6 starts, 4.76
    2002: 4 starts, 3.16
    ...
    (Of course, one bad outing can skew the ERA in such a small sample.)

    Career:
    37 games, 34 starts, 12-12, 4.46
    Sox hit him at a .271/.314/.411 -- and stole 21 out of 22 bases!

    Bring it on, Doc!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pepe LepewApril 5, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    Bring it on, Doc!

    I'm thinking of 2008, then, maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  17. allanApril 5, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    Nah, he could have stuck it to us in every season, but had one so-so game that brought his ERA over 4.

    ***

    I see you need to have your text view on a bit less than normal to not have my columns wrap. Maybe I could make the text smaller.

    ReplyDelete
  18. allanApril 5, 2009 at 2:33 PM

    I think I fixed it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. andyApril 5, 2009 at 4:31 PM

    And all these predictions prove that the off season means nothing. It is all talk.

    ReplyDelete