Luck based Predictions

As I watch the American cinematic classic "Labyrinth" (driven by an excellent performance by David Bowie in tights) waiting for my 3 am train to Chicago for Opening Day, I thought it would be a great chance to kill time and give my massive catchup post on all types of predictions for the year.

Expect to see all types of grammar problems throughout my blogging experience, especially if you ever read any written by me after 2 am that are titled with such clever jealous titles as "Fuck the Cardinals" or the more philosophical "What if I am always waiting for next year?"

And no, I haven't adjusted my picks based off of the 1-1 A's, 1-1 Mariners, 1-0 Cardinals, and 0-1 Marlins.

With that said, Boom Goes the Dynamite and here are my prognostications for this year.

2012 Cubs Season Preview Part IV - Bench

DeWitt, Reed, Baker, Mather, Clevenger. Names that may inspire a night at the bottom of the bottle if they're in your team's starting lineup. But if they're available off your bench? Not that terrible, especially when considering the reinforcements (Rizzo, Jackson, Castillo, Sappelt) that will likely push them off the roster by the end of the summer.

Below are summaries on what each of the current bench players brings to the roster and who is pushing for their job in the upper reaches of the system.

Your AL Contributor and White Sox Preview (So You Know Who You're Cheering Against)

Who's ready for some baseball? As teams pack up and leave spring training ready for the season, fans across the country are full of excitement, anticipation, and optimism as each team gears up for the first of it's 162 games. Unlike the rest of the contributors on GTW, however, I have allegiances to the SouthSiders and hope to provide a little bit of occasional AL/SouthSide related insight. 

The Patriot's 2012 Predictions

Longtime Cub fan, Chicago sports clothing collector and overall great American Tim Borem (creative username) has long been a realist on the state of the Chicago's north side ballclub. Following the jump, he provides his outlook on the final win totals for each major league team and picks a World Series champion owned by a man who's language he thinks he can speak.

The Pimp Hand Prophecies: 2012 MLB Predictions

The Franchise has never been one to doubt his teams. Lately, with the Blackhawks and Packers taking titles and the Bulls poised to make a run at their own, he hasn't had to see the glass half-empty. As we move towards baseball season, he sees improvements aplenty at Clark and Addison this summer. After the jump, the man now known as Castro's Pimp Hand lays the smack down with his 2012 MLB predictions including overall standings, playoff winners, end-of-season awards, over/unders and boldly optimistic Cubs thoughts.

Cubs Season Preview Part III - The Starting Lineup

The starting lineup - responsible for two-thirds of the game. Yes, the pitching staff leads off each play, but when they don't have a defense behind them (2011 Cubs dead last in majors for fielding %) or an offense generating run support (Cubs 19th in majors in runs scored), a season can only go so far.

The reconstructed Cubs lineup will be tasked with improvements in three key areas in 2012:

• Defense - Again, the 2011 Cubs finished last in the majors in fielding percentage, leading MLB in errors and finishing last in the NL with the lowest defensive efficiency (outs as a percent of balls in play). Improvements have been made at third base (Ian Stewart vs. a declining Aramis Ramirez), right field (DeJesus career average dWAR ~1 win/season vs. Fukudome ~0.4 wins and net zero for Colvin), and backup catcher (how did Koyie Hill stay on this team for the last three years?). However, massive improvements in the middle infield (Castro) will need to be made in order for the team defense to make any noticeable improvement. 
• On-base percentage - The Cubs finished low-middle of the pack in the majors last year in overall OBP (.314 vs. league average of .322). However, they were second to last in the majors in walks (only the lowly Astros trailed). Free swingers like Colvin, Pena, and Soriano don't help with that, but this is a stat especially valued now by the new regime and the "value" lineup the Cubs have put in place will need to capitalize on every chance they get to make it on base.
• Baserunning - The Cubs were third to last in the majors in steals, something they haven't consistently seen since the failed Juan Pierre experiment of 2006 (58 steals but led league with 20 caught stealing). While the major league team is not big at this point on speed guys, the minors have some semblance of baserunning in Brett Jackson, Matt Szczur, and The Little Campana That Could. Manufacturing runs with smart baserunning will be needed and now that basecloggers A-Ram and Pena are gone, Sveum will be called on to move runners along the basepaths in many-a-game.

Here's a player-by-player breakdown of the Cubs lineup, running through the batting order as proposed by the final full-squad Spring Training game played last week:

Cubs Season Preview Part II - Bullpen

Our Cubs preview moves on to the back end of the staff today, working through the delicate bullpen crew. I'll sift through those who will start out the season on the big league club and also touch on those who may make their way to the third base line at some point this season. To start the season, Sveum has the following to work with:

Closer - Carlos Marmol
Set-up - Kerry Wood
LOOGY - James Russell
Middle Relief - Rafael Dolis, 2 of Castillo, Corpas, and Camp
Long Relief - Rodrigo Lopez

2012 Season Preview Part II

We continue the 2012 Preview with awards predictions across the total league.

NL MVP - Buster Posey - If the Giants win the NL West, Posey's health will be the reason why. He has the chance at a .300/20/100 season from behind the plate, which voters will give the leg up on most other positions if he can play 135+ games. He has a helluva staff to call, but Posey's role in the middle of the Giants order is just as important as his defensive abilities. 2. Hanley Ramirez 3. Ryan Braun

AL MVP - Adrian Gonzalez - I'm working under the assumption that Pujols will slow his March roll, Fielder will take a while to adjust to the American League, and Jacoby Ellsbury will not steal votes. However, I think Gonzo rediscovers the magic he started off last season with and blows away AL pitching now that he's seen the majority of them. 2. Albert Pujols 3. Miguel Cabrera

Cubs Season Preview Part I - Rotation

With under 96 hours until the first pitch of the 2012 Cubs season, let me take a couple uneducated stabs at where I think this season starts, ends up, and leads to in the ever-brighter future.

Vegas and national media over/unders have the Cubs pegged at 74ish wins, which is a much brighter perspective than I expected to start the year. I have the Cubs at 73, which I think is entirely within the Cubs' boundaries as they are currently constructed. With a couple additions, the Cubs could stretch it to 82 or 83 wins, but I'm not sure Theo's willing to give up much for a far-fetched run at a somewhat open division race. If the current rotation experiments crap out and Rodrigo Lopez takes a spot by June, well, then a 67 win season is not out of the question.

Let's take a quick look at the four pieces of the roster - rotation, bullpen, starting eight, bench. I'll give some brief thoughts on where each player is at this point of his career and what he should be contributing to this Cubs team, but also take deeper dives into key contributors throughout the week as we prepare for the opener.

2012 Season Preview - Part I

As you're all baseball fans and I want to start a total baseball chain as opposed to having to watch (A) the Cubs record (B) Matt Garza trade watch or (C) developments of Javier Baez and Dan Vogelbach in Boise & Peoria all season, I'm going to throw out a rather comprehensive list of predictions and start some discussion.

Today: Team predictions