Are the San Francisco Giants NL favorites?

[Journeyman]

Giants adding much needed pop in Moises Alou, suring up the infield defense with Omar Vizquel and Mike Matheny at catcher.....and adding the mercurial Armando Benitez as the teams new closer, the Giants look primed and ready to win 100 ballgames out West....

The one thing that could slow them down is age, particularly the outfield defense with Alou, Grissom and Barry Bonds roaming the outfield its probably the teams biggest weakness...even with an aging outfield I still think the Giants are the NL team to beat...

Can the Giants get back to the World Series?

 

[BoZZi]

World Series----NO

they'll prolly win the division...no real competition in my opinion

 

[Horseshoe]

I agree J-man, as they are definitely one of the top 4, and an arguement can be made for them as the fav, yet would have St.Louis, NYM, Atl, LA, Fla, Chi, and Philly in the mix(in order)..

AL has to be huge fav over NL for WS..as I'd make NYY, Bost, Balt, and Ana all chalk over the NLers.

Detroit and Milwaukee are gonna surprise.

 

[Journeyman]

The National league may be the league with the lesser dominant team but there sure is alot of teams that could surprise people and alot of teams appear improved....

 

[red007]

yes, i got them at 10/1 to win NL.
as a long time fan, i hope this is the year they finally can win it.

 

[RobFunk]

this is going to be another great year for parity filled baseball. you can flame the WC all you want purists, but it sure does build some excitement.

san fran in 03 wasnt a bad team and of course 02 was very good with that WS appearance. i should hope the giants contend for the division or a WC spot, I have come to expect that of them. I dont know what that crap was they put on the field last year, looked like the barry schmidty show to me.

 

[Ego74]

Giants adding much needed pop in Moises Alou, suring up the infield defense with Omar Vizquel and Mike Matheny at catcher.....and adding the mercurial Armando Benitez as the teams new closer, the Giants look primed and ready to win 100 ballgames out West....

The one thing that could slow them down is age, particularly the outfield defense with Alou, Grissom and Barry Bonds roaming the outfield its probably the teams biggest weakness...even with an aging outfield I still think the Giants are the NL team to beat...

Can the Giants get back to the World Series?

i grabbed them at 18/1 after they got Benitez. Should win the West, If they can get to the WS, you can always hedge.

 

[Mr.Green]

Journeyman,

I would put my money on the young, talented, and improving Padres.

They have the best pitching staff in the division. Peavy may be a cy young cadidate.

Very good lineup with Loretta, Giles, Burroughs, Klesko, Nevin.

 

[Degenerate]

I agree about Milwaukee being a surprise team. As for the NL West I see a 3 team race between SF/LA/SD. Arizona is of course improved but a 20 game improvement doesn't even get you .500, so to far away and of course Rockies will be terrible again.

 

[Journeyman]

Who can make heads or tails over what the Dodgers did, so many changes...lik Mr Green already stated SD will be aother team to reckon with...The NL has many improved teams, NYM, FLA, ATL, SF, SD, STL (maybe but will still be very good), really looking forward to baseball!

 

[Mr.Green]

Journeyman, If I parlayed the 3 NL Division Winners, they would be...

Marlins
Cards
Pardres

The Marlins and Cards would probably be the favorites to win their respective divisions.

I love the Padres young staff.

 

[Journeyman]

You can never count out Atlanta though...

I will still take the Giants out West...

ATLANTA
ST LOUIS
SAN FRAN

WC- SAN DIEGO

 

[TheGeneral+]

Will LA not be back?

 

[Mr.Green]

Journeyman,

Aside from superstud Schmidt, the Giants starting rotation is lacking. Bonds is coming off an injury and the team is VERY old. They are the Giants so they will be fighting, but I think its San Diegos turn.

 

[D2bets]

2003 Redux
Giants
Braves
Cubs
Marlins WC

 

[Journeyman]

D2 i will ask you, WHO is gonna finish the Cubbies games, do you really think the Cubs are better without Alou and Slammy?

The bullpen appears to be their biggest question mark again...Borrowski, Hawkins, Dusty :shocked:

 

[Mr.Green]

Journeyman,

The Cubs should finish second and believe it or not they may even be in contention for the division. They lost Sammy and Alou, but we have to believe that Nomar will have a HUGE year in his walk year. Also, if Prior can stay healthy, then their staff can dominate teams. Prior, Wood, Zambrano, Maddux. They stil have very good bats with Aramis, Lee, Nomar, Patterson, Burnitz, Walker. They may surprise but it all depends on their big 3 arms.

This is not a bad lineup. They were too one dimensional last yr. Hairston and Patterson privde speed up top.

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=bg2><TD>1.</TD><TD>Corey Patterson</TD><TD align=middle>CF</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>2.</TD><TD>Jerry Hairston</TD><TD align=middle>LF</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>3.</TD><TD>Nomar Garciaparra</TD><TD align=middle>SS</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>4.</TD><TD>Aramis Ramirez</TD><TD align=middle>3B</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>5.</TD><TD>Jeromy Burnitz</TD><TD align=middle>RF</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>6.</TD><TD>Derrek Lee</TD><TD align=middle>1B</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>7.</TD><TD>Todd Walker</TD><TD align=middle>2B</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>8.</TD><TD>Michael Barrett</TD><TD align=middle>C</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Journeyman]

they deserately needed a guy who could handle the bat and steal a base...it seemed as if the Cubs were going into extra innings so often last yr because they couldnt manufacture any runners...

Jeromy Burnitz, you never know what you're going to get with him..Ramirez had a monster year its now on his shoulders... Nomar, who knows?

Of course the starters all capable of winning 15 or more, but the bullpen leaves huge question marks, the Cubs will be lucky to win 90..

and then there is Dusty:sad3:

 

[Mr.Green]

Journey,

Believe me I remember the Cubs debacles as much as you do....brutal :finger:

 

[Noreaga+]

Cubs line up is average at best.

Bullpen is bad at best