MLB Preview

NL Central
1. Pittsburgh Pirates (Last years record: 72-90)
2. St. Louis Cardinals (Last years record 90-72)
3. Cincinatti Reds (Last years record 79-83)
4. Milwaukee Brewers (Last years record 96-66)
5. Houston Astros (Last years record 56-106)
6. Chicago Cubs (Last years record 71-91)
Notes: Yes in my first division preview, I'm clearly giving you a curveball as I make the bold prediction of the Pittsburgh Pirates not only making the playoffs but winning the division. Remember that one point halfway through the season when the Pirates were on top of this division and the media was making a big frenzy about it and then it all fell apart. Well with the NL Central losing major sluggers with Albert Pujols (From STL to LAA) and Prince Fielder (From MIL to DET) and the leadership of Andrew McCutchen and the addition of starting Pitcher Erik Bedard to the Pirates this may be their best chance of any to shock the world. Of course St. Louis could still win the NL Central with the starting pitching they have with Carpenter, Lohse and Wainright however with Carpenter out it could be some difficulty. Milwaukee has some starting pitching with Gallardo, Greinke and hitters Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez, Corey Hart, Carlos Gomez and Rickie Weeks that could possibly withstand the loss of Fielder. St. Louis has some hitters in Matt Holiday, David Freese, Lance Berkman and possibly Carlos Beltran if healthy to withstand their loss of Pujols. Houston doesn't have too much besides Carlos Lee and maybe Jed Lowrie, Cubs could surprise a little bit with young talent in SS Starlin Castro, along with that veteran leadership in Alfonso Soriano, new addition David DeJesus and some pitching in their SPs Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza, but it just doesn't seem like the time that all of a sudden the Cubs will good again so I still have them in the basement of the NL Central.

NL East
1. Philadelphia Phillies (Last years record 102-60)
2. Atlanta Braves (Last years record 89-73)
3. Miami Marlins (Last years record 72-90)
4. Washington Nationals (Last years record 80-81)
5. New York Mets (Last years record 77-85)
Notes: More insight tomorrow.

NL West
1. San Francisco Giants (Last years record 86-76)
2. Arizona Diamondbacks (Last years record 94-68)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (Last years record 82-79)
4. San Diego Padres (Last years record 71-91)
5. Colorado Rockies (Last years record 73-89)

AL East
1. New York Yankees (Last years record 97-65)
2.Tampa Bay Rays (Last years record 91-71)
3. Toronto Blue Jays (Last years record 81-81)
4. Boston Red Sox (Last years record 90-72)
5. Baltimore Orioles (Last years record 69-93)

AL Central
1. Detroit Tigers (Last years record 95-67)
2. Cleveland Indians (Last years record 80-82)
3. Chicago White Sox (Last years record 79-83)
4. Kansas City Royals (Last years record 71-91)
5. Minnesota Twins (Last years record 63-99)

AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels (Last years record 86-76)
2. Texas Rangers (Last years record 96-66)
3. Oakland Athletics (Last years record 74-88)
4. Seattle Mariners (Last years record 67-95)

Perhaps the Miami hype could be a good thing?

Somebody tell me what is it with the Miami teams lately (excluding the Dolphins) first it was the Miami Heat resigning Dwyane Wade, adding Chris Bosh and of course the one with the infamous " the decision" the LeBron James. Now with the Miami Marlins (former known as the Florida Marlins) after getting Mark Buehrle and of course the Jose Reyes in free agency, not to mention Ozzie Guillen (wasn't that like the first time a manager got traded to a team?) as their new manager, just like the Heat some have jumped on the Miami bandwagon. For example, Skip Bayless of First Take (one who I consider to be an interesting and very entertaining journalist) has gone on to say not only will the Marlins win the NL East now but they'll go on to not only make the World Series but win the World Series. Not to mention ESPN's first televised MLB game of the season is the Cardinals vs these Marlins, so I wonder why does it seem like the national media is all on Miamis jock now? Then again could this hype put teams like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (who signed Pujols this offseason) and our very own Detroit Tigers (who signed Prince Fielder this offseason after losing V-Mart and coming off an ALCS appearance) under the radar.
Therefore putting less pressure on those teams perhaps making it easier for them to succeed. If that's the case ESPN can stay on Miami's jock if it's going to take our own Detroit Tigers back to the World Series. Sounds like a good deal to me, what do you think?

Fairley too? Really?

I can't believe a day after LeShoure the Lions former 2nd round draft pick gets busted for possession of marijuana, same thing happens to the Lions former 1st round pick Fairley whom is expected to form quite a tandem with Suh. One thing I don't get...if you're going to smoke marijuana....why would you do it while driving? That's pretty damn similar to drunk driving, if you slip up you're going to get caught, it's common sense. However like I said before they (professional athletes) shouldn't even do that they're professionals they need to start acting like it. For example Mike Valenti of 97.1 made a couple of good points on the air today, one, don't do drugs, two, wear a condom and three, walk away from fights.
Players like Fairley, LeShoure, Antonio Cromartie and Braylon Edwards could all learn something from these 3 rules, again it's not that hard you're a professional start acting like it.

Lets hope Mikel LeShoure is not the next Charles Rogers

The Detroit Lions really haven't had a good running back since maybe Kevin Jones but he couldn't even be consistent since he did suffer from an injury each year. After the Monday Night Football game vs the Bears last season it looked like for sure the Lions had finally had found a running back in Jahvid Best as he had 12 carries for 163 yards including the long explosive 88 yard touchdown run on a draw that even had Bears LB Brian Urlacher shaking his head. But then sure enough sooner or later he was kept out due to concussions just like he was kept out his rookie season due to turf toe. Last year the Lions drafted RB Mikel LeShoure out of the 2nd round (57th overall pick) with the hope of having that mix of thunder (LeShoure) and lightning (Best) at the RB spot like how recent Super Bowl champions the NY Giants had Bradshaw for speed and Jacobs for power. When Mikel LeShoure tore his achilles in training camp it sure looked like it would be a blow to their running game and when Best went out as well later during the season, it sure was.
Now just recently, LeShoure got caught for possession of marijuana, news that brought back more bad memories. With the recent trouble with the police and the injury suffered in practice it unfortunately brought back memories of a former Detroit Lion that has had very recent trouble with the police and suffered an injury in practice his rookie season before, Charles Rogers. Not to mention as we all recently know now Rogers has not only been one of the biggest busts ever in the NFL he has been one of the biggest busts ever in life. Why? He never took his job seriously. So the best thing here for Mikel is to learn from Rogers mistakes as in don't make anymore, he has to realize that he is in the NFL now, he has to realize he is not going through his college years anymore, so he needs to ditch the weed and realize that he is a professional now, so it's time for him to start taking his job seriously because I'm sure he doesn't want to end up in the slump that Rogers is in now. So if everybody could please take a second, I'd like everybody to fold their hands together get down on their knees, close their eyes and pray for LeShoure to get himself right. Amen.

Austin Jackson, is the 3rd season the charm?

It doesn't seem too long ago when the infamous blockbuster deal between the Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees had happened. As to who won or lost the trade is still yet to be determined as in this 3 team deal the Detroit Tigers received CF Austin Jackson, left handed relief pitcher Phil Coke from the Yankees, relief pitcher Daniel Schlereth and SP Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks. The Yankees received CF Curtis Granderson (also known as Grandy) from the Detroit Tigers and the Diamondbacks got SP Edwin Jackson from the Tigers and SP Ian Kennedy from the Yankees. Last season for the Yankees Curtis Granderson (selected starting CF for the All Star team) finished with a .262 batting average but also hit a whopping 41 homers good for 2nd in MLB only behind Bautista's 43, a career high in RBIs with 119 that season and finished 4th in MVP voting. Ian Kennedy had a breakout year as a SP for the Arizona Diamondbacks (who ended up winning the NL West last year under manager former Tiger Kirk Gibson) with 21 wins and only 4 losses with a 2.88 era yet only finished 4th in NL Cy Young voting.
Edwin Jackson has since floated from team to team from the White Sox to the Cardinals to now recently the Washington Nationals. As for our Tigers now, Max Scherzer won 15 games and only lost 9 but still recorded a ERA last season of 4.43. Now as for Austin Jackson's season he finished with a batting average of .249 down from his rookie average of .293 but his home runs went up from 4 in his rookie season to 10. That brings to speculation perhaps in his rookie season he was just hitting for contact and now he have been hitting for more power in his second season. Funny thing is a former Tigers CF by the name of Curtis Granderson (I think you see where i'm going here) wouldn't even hit as high as an average Jackson hit in his rookie season until his 4th season as a Tiger when he batted .302 and hit 23 homers.
The point here is if it took Granderson 4 seasons to get towards his prime then perhaps with the rookie season Jackson had there's a chance that his 2nd season might have just been a sophomore slump. One thing that hasn't changed for Jackson though these seasons is his fielding whether it'd be from robbing homers, triples and doubles to gunning runners down at the plate, and his ability to get on base and steal, stealing 22 times but only got caught 5 times last season. Not to mention again he did hit 6 more homers than he did in his rookie season and if we were to compare him to Granderson the way Granderson progressed in hitting home runs for the Tigers it should be a good sign. As Granderson didn't really become a full time starter till his 3rd season and went from 19 to 23 to 22 to 30 homers over those seasons, Jackson became a full time starter his rookie year. Another thing to consider right now is Austin Jackson is only 25 and still progressing as a MLB player, Granderson at age 31 is just now entering his prime.
With all this being said I'm willing to make a bold prediction that Jackson cuts down on his strikeouts and hits a career high 20 home runs this season, I believe his power his truly developing and we'll see it this season. So far he's batting .284 in Spring Training with 2 home runs and yes 20 strikeouts, however as Jhonny Peralta proved last season don't put too much stock into Spring Training as he had a .197 average in ST yet a .299 average in the regular season, funny how things can change. I've at times been wrong and I've at times been right for example I felt that Granderson playing in that new Yankee Stadium to his benefit could hit 40 homers if he stayed healthy all season he did, he hit 41. So at age 25, Tigers fans it's not time to give up on Jackson quite yet especially since he did have that one hot stretch in August, early September before Detroit went on to win their first AL Central division title. Anything is possible.

Lions Draft Analysis and A Possible Solution(s) To Their Problems

Last season despite the Detroit Lions going 10-6 in the 2011 season to clinch a wild card playoff spot, they were ranked 23rd in the league for points allowed with 24.2 per game. Their defense was also ranked 22nd against the pass with 239.4 yards allowed per game, not to mention ranked last in the postseason with 459 yards allowed per game (even though they only played one game obviously, that number is insane). Excuses have been made saying the defensive line didn't play as well as they should have and that anyone would lose to the Saints the way the Lions did in the Wild Card round. Now all of that may be true however you could make an argument that perhaps building a solid secondary would make things easier for the defensive line, good coverage giving them more time to find the trenches and attack the QB. The secondary could definitely use a boost especially when a backup QB (i.e. Matt Flynn) puts up 480 yards, 6 TDs on your team's defense....
Despite being Mossed by Devery Henderson in that Sunday Night game vs the Saints last season, Eric Wright numberwise was a solid corner (67 tackles, 7 assists, 16 pass deflections, 4 interceptions and one forced fumble) and now has left the Lions for the Bucs a move that possible might make the Lions secondary worse than it was last season. From the position where the Lions are drafting a couple corners come to mind that might be available at the 23rd spot. With Alabama CB Dre Kirkpatrick to South Carolina CB Stephen Gilmore though either falling to the Lions could be unlikely as well, leaving them in a tough position. Lions GM Martin Mayhew has lately been using the "take the best player available scenario" (for example, taking DT Nick Fairley over CB Prince Amukamara last season to pair up with DT Ndamukong Suh). With that being said if Kirkpatrick or Gilmore are both off the board at 23 it would make it harder to find a corner they could use since Janoris Jenkins CB out of Northern Alabama would be considered a "reach" at that point since he's expected to be a high 2nd round pick at least (Todd McShay has him going to the Panthers with their 40th overall pick in his latest mock draft). Sure the Lions could make a trade for Eagles CB Asante Samuel for a 3rd round pick to help address that secondary, there is only one problem....the limited amount of cap room they have available this season.
In other words the Lions could make an acquisition for him but still would have to pay him...so with that limited cap room the Lions have, the probability of this move happening is pretty much impossible. Sure at the 23rd overall pick the Lions don't necessarily have to address the secondary if the right player isn't available, the Lions could address the offensive line instead, either or. However last season Detroit's offensive line only allowed 36 sacks last season good for 17th in the league, only allowing 8 and 4 more than last season's Super Bowl finalists, the Giants and the Patriots. So with that being said their offensive line wasn't that bad, at least not as bad as the numbers the secondary allowed, just like Jay-Z once said "Men lie, women lie, numbers don't." But despite the recent resigning of offensive tackle Jeff Backus, the thing to consider is he is 34 and isn't getting any younger so the Lions might want to start setting up our future to reboost the offensive line. Then again with that being said the Lions could address that in the 1st or 2nd round depending what player is available in either round whether it's offensive guard Mike Adams out of Ohio State or Jeff Allen offensive guard out of Illinois.
The Lions could start rebuilding the offensive line this season or next season or both, for example in the 2nd round this season and the 1st round next season. With teams within the division making moves, particularly the hated Chicago Bears with the acquisations of WR Brandon Marshall, RB Michael Bush and QB Jason Campbell to backup Jay Cutler (to keep their playoff hopes alive, something Caleb Hanie couldn't do when the impossible happened to Cutler for the Bears to collapse and the Lions to make the playoffs, sad but true), there are no more excuses for GM Martin Mayhew to not make a move(s) to fill up holes that their franchise may (desperately) need. With that being said Chicago now has something they didn't have last season a top notch WR and a backup QB, so nothing is guaranteed that the Lions can win as many games as they won or even win as many as last season unless impact move(s) are made. Now with WR Calvin Johnson extended through 2019 and LB Stephen Tulloch resigned for 5 years, the only player left to resign for a long term deal is DE Cliff Avril. However if Avril is asking for too much money, a possible solution may be to have him agree to a sign and trade that brings the Lions either a solid young CB or pick(s) (depending if a 1st rounder or high 2nd rounder is included in the deal). So in conclusion either the offensive line or secondary could be addressed with their 1st round pick, depending on best player available, yet if a deal is made (Avril example) for a CB or high pick(s) perhaps their needs of CB, OG and LB could all be addressed, surprise the fans Mayhew.

Rajon Rondo to get dealt, the possibilities

Despite the Boston Celtics remaining in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference possibly due to point guard Rajon Rondo's average of 14.2 points, 5 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game. The questions that come up for this situation that come to mind is can Boston get a point guard in return? At least somebody young and promising? Can they make the playoffs without Rondo? or will the team collapse? ala the 2008-09 Detroit Pistons after Billups was traded to Denver for Iverson. Chances are he'll get traded to a contender. I see 4 possibilities:

Philadelphia 76ers: Philadelphia has Jrue Holiday or Lou Williams they could give to Boston to replace Rondo. The suggested trade in this situation would be to trade Lou Williams and Andres Nocioni to get Rondo, the 76ers already have a pretty good defensive team, it'd be even better with Rondo.

Los Angeles Lakers: The Los Angeles Lakers need a point guard but don't have a lot of pieces to get one, though their best bet here might be to trade Pau Gasol. Also along with parting with rookie point guard Darius Morris who hasn't seen much playing time this season and add a first round pick that might intrigue Ainge enough to make a deal with their bitter rivals as crazy as that sounds and the Cs will have to add O'Neal and Wilcox to make that deal work.

Miami Heat: Whether you like it or not, Miami definitely has the pieces to make a deal to get Rondo as scary as it sounds. They have a promising young point guard in Norris Cole (averaging 8.7 ppg and 2.5 assists off the bench) who might possibly be already better than their actual starter Mario Chalmers. Therefore Cole could be dealt along with Chalmers and Mike Miller to turn Miami's Big 3 into a Big 4.

Orlando Magic: Do the Magic want Dwight Howard to stay? Then they have to go get him pieces, the perfect opportunity is on the table for them with Rondo on the trading block. Adding Rondo to the Magic could make the players around him better even Dwight himself, it's a move that could definitely make Dwight considering staying. If I was the GM of the Magic I'd try dealing Jameer Nelson along with Earl Clark (a young 6'10 forward the Cs might be interested in since they need another big man) to get Rondo.