Saturday, April 08, 2006

NL Player Preview

Here is the NL half of this article. Check it out and let us know your thoughts. By the way, we tried to guess as good as we could as to who the rookies would be. We may have predicted some incorectly. Enjoy!


NL East

Top 10 Players

1. RF Babe Ruth- FLA
2. CF Mel Ott- PHI
3. SP Orel Hershiser- FLA
4. SP Adam Eaton- PHI
5. LF Frank Robinson- PHI
6. 3B Will Judy Johnson- ATL
7. 1B Luke Easter- MON
8. 2B Rex Hudler- PHI
9. 1B Kent Hrbek- FLA
10. SP Zachary Grienke- PHI

Honorable Mention: 1B Justin Mourneau- ATL, 2B Charlie Gehringer- NYN, LF John Liska- MON, RF Danny Litwhiler- ATL, RF Milton Bradley- PHI, RF Randy Birch- FLA

Top 5 Newcomers

1. LF Raul Gonzales- PHI
2. SP Johnny Sain- PHI
3. RP Paul Shuey- NYN
4. CF Mule Haas- FLA
5. LF Dave Collins- FLA

Top 5 Rookies

1. 3B David Wright- FLA
2. SP Jack McDowell- NYN
3. SP Mike Mussina- NYN
4. SP Steve Barber- ATL
5. RP Jeff Brantley- MON

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. SP Mark Prior- NYN
2. 1B Fred McGriff- PHI
3. SP John Smiley- NYN
4. SS Cal Ripken- ATL
5. SP Shawn Chacon- MON

NL Central

Top 10 Players

1. SP Jim Perry- CIN
2. SP Charlie Hough- CIN
3. 1B Ted Kluszewski- CIN
4. SP J.R. Richard- HOU
5. CF Turkey Stearnes- CHN
6. RF Bobby Abreu- PGH
7. RF Darryl Strawberry- CIN
8. CF Andre Dawson- HOU
9. SS Woodie Held- PGH
10. SP Ken Brubaker- PGH

Honorable Mention: SP Dave Dravecky- STL, RP Rafael Soriano- HOU, C Brandon Inge- CIN, 3B Miguel Cabrera- CIN, LF Cliff Floyd- STL, RF Enos Slaughter- CHN

Top 5 Newcomers

1. RF Enos Slaughter- CHN
2. LF Wady Almonte- PGH
3. RF Paul O’Neill- CHN
4. 1B Leon Durham- HOU
5. SP Casey Fossum- CHN

Top 5 Rookies

1. SP Jack Morris- PGH
2. 2B Robbie Alomar- STL
3. SP Bill Goldsmith- STL
4. 3B Wes Helms- CHN
5. 2B Rennie Stennett- PGH

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. CF Turkey Stearnes- CHN
2. SP Preacher Roe- CHN
3. 2B B.J. Upton- CIN
4. SP Larry Jansen- PGH
5. SP Jaime Navarro- STL

NL West

Top 10 Players

1. RF Dave Parker- LA
2. SP Addie Joss- SF
3. CF Roy Hobbs- LA
4. SP Dontrelle Willis- COL
5. 1B David Oritz- SF
6. LF Al Simmons- LA
7. LF Rickey Henderson- SF
8. SP Carlos Garcia- LA
9. RP Roy Face- LA
10. CF Johnny Damon- SD

Honorable Mention: C Crash Davis- LA, 1B Kevin Young- LA, 3B Gary Gaetti- LA

Top 5 Newcomers

1. SP Addie Joss- SF
2. SP Ken Brett- SF
3. SP Tim Redding- COL
4. C Jason Phillips- SF
5. SP Rick Bauer- LA

Top 5 Rookies

1. RP Mike Jackson- LA
2. RP Dennis Cook- LA
3. RP Tom Gordon- SD
4. 2B Luis Rivas- LA
5. SS Rey Ordonez- SD

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. SP Tim Belcher- SD
2. SP David Wells- SF
3. SP Denny Neagle- COL
4. 3B Larry Carey- COL
5. C Jason Phillips- SF

Friday, April 07, 2006

AL Players Preview

We wanted to do a division by division preview of the best players. Below is a breakdown of the best players, best rookies, and best newcomers to each division. today is the AL, tomorrow will be the NL. Enjoy, and tell us how we messed up :)
(Thanks to Steve PGH for doing the bulk of this)


AL East

Top 10 Players

1. 1B Lou Gehrig- BAL
2. SP Whitey Ford- DET
3. SP Nolan Ryan- DET
4. 3B Orlando Cepeda- NYA
5. RF Reggie Jackson- NYA
6. CF Lew Ford- NYA
7. SP Josh Beckett- BOS
8. LF Roosevelt Brown- TOR
9. CF Fred Lynn- DET
10. P Dwight Gooden- NYA

Honorable Mention: Endy Chavez- TOR, Kevin Mitchell- TOR, Bill Dickey- DET, Corey Koskie- DET, Rocky Notel- DET, Willie Montanez- NYA, Allan Trammel- NYA

Top 5 Newcomers

1. SP Josh Beckett- BOS
2. RF Ruben Sierra- BOS
3. 1B Earl Torgeson- BOS
4. SS Erick Almonte- TOR
5. SP Cliff Lee- NYA

Top 5 Rookies

1. SP Kevin Ritz- BAL
2. SP Jimmy Key- BOS
3. SP Ramon Martinez- BAL
4. SP Francisco Barrios- NYA
5. 3B Greg Jeffries- TOR

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. RF Jeromy Burnitz- BOS
2. RF Sid Gordon- BOS
3. RF Richard Hidalgo- BAL
4. 3B Edgardo Alfonzo- NYA
5. 1B James McManus- BOS

AL Central

Top 10 Players

1. SP David Cone- MIN
2. 1B Jimmie Foxx- MIN
3. SP Roger Clemens- KC
4. 1B Ricky Davis- MIN
5. SP Kelvim Escobar- MIL
6. CF Duke Snider- MIN
7. LF Bobby Bonds- KC
8. SP Warren Spahn- MIN
9. 1B Rafael Palmeiro- CLE
10. C Joey Mauer- KC

Honorable Mention: SP Bobby Witt- CLE, SP Tom Glavine- MIN, 1B Tony Perez- KC, 2B Alfonzo Soriano- KC, SS Rafael Furcal- MIL, SS Robin Yount- CLE, LF Adam Dunn- KC, LF Harold Baines- CHA

Top 3 Newcomers

1. CF Duke Snider- MIN
2. LF Vada Pinson- MIN
3. C Joe DePastino- MIN

Top 5 Rookies

1. RF Hack Wilson- CLE
2. SP Jim Kane- CHA
3. 2B Bip Roberts- CLE
4. RF Randy Winn- MIL
5. RP Dario Veres- CHA

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. SP Danny McDevitt- MIN
2. 3B Ken Caminitti- CHA
3. SP Tom Glavine- MIN
4. LF David Delucci- CLE
5. LF Ron Gant- CHA

AL West

Top 10 Players

1. LF Henry Aaron- TEX
2. SP Jake Peavy- TEX
3. C Roy Campanella- SEA
4. CF Tris Speaker- TEX
5. 1B Harmon Killabrew- OAK
6. SP Oliver Perez- TEX
7. SP Doug Rau- TEX
8. RF Lance Berkman- TEX
9. SP Jose Contreras- OAK
10. 3B Hank Blalock- SEA

Honorable Mention: 1B Gil Hodges- TEX, 1B Will Clark- SEA, 2B Craig Biggio- TEX, 3B Albert Pujols- TEX, LF Stan Musial- OAK, RF Larry Walker- OAK

Top 5 Newcomers

1. 3B Albert Pujols- TEX
2. LF Michael Coleman- SEA
3. SP Mike Norris- SEA
4. RP Chad Zerbie- SEA
5. C Jake Taylor- SEA

Top 5 Rookies

1. 1B Derek Lee- TEX
2. 2B Brian Roberts- OAK
3. SP Chief Bender- ANA
4. RP Todd Worrell- TEX
5. 1B Tino Martinez- ANA

Top 5 Breakout Contenders

1. SP Roy Halladay- ANA
2. SP Darryl Kyle- OAK
3. CF Willy Taveras- ANA
4. SP Grant Balfour- SEA
5. SS Ronny Cedeno- ANA