I look for Arizona to shake things up a little bit this year in the NL West. After a disappointing 2009, winning only 70 games, the Diamondbacks traded for Ian Kennedy to help out their better than average starting three of Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson. Also, the addition of Adam Laroche at first base gives the snakes a regular contributor to go along with go to guys Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton and Miguel Montero. While these changes should bolster the Diamondbacks up the standings ahead of cellar-dwelling San Diego, fourth place San Francisco and the slightly older not any better Colorado Rockies, the Dodgers still look to finish atop the standings. While the Dodgers didn’t seem to get any better this off-season, I can’t see them dropping off too much from their 95 wins of last season. Sure, I think it will be a struggle to get to 90 this year, but I think it will be just enough to hold off the Diamondbacks who may just win the wild card. While the Dodgers did send Juan Pierre to the White Sox, they still may have the best outfield in the majors with Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Although the Dodgers and Manny have announced that this will be his finally season in LA, Joe Torre and the boys in blue should be looking at another post season.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Ramirez Returning to Boston?
It will be a cold day in hell before Manny Ramirez steps through the gates at Fenway but one-time Red Sox Hanley Ramirez is on the radar. Most fans won’t remember or even know that Hanley had 2 at bats for the Sox back in 2005 before being traded to the Marlins in the deal that brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston. Hanley would be a huge boost to a lineup that hasn’t seen any productions from the SS since the departure of Nomar Garciaparra in 2004. Sure Edgar Renteria did his part and Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie held the position down for a while but with the departure of Julio Lugo, the Sox are looking to fill the void. Ramirez hit .342 with 24 HRs, 106 RBI and 101 runs scored. Numbers like this would have Red Sox faithful saying “Manny who?”