Make your pick - Which MLB team(s) will be the biggest flops & biggest surprises

[RedsManRick]

AL Biggest Flop: Blue Jays -- everybody is crawling in to their jocks because they spent some money, but they still have an average offense and a shallow bullpen. I think they're entering Orioles territory, not Sox or Yankees. (84 wins)

AL Surprise: A's -- not sure if you can call them a surprise, but I'm going out on a limb and picking them as the AL rep in the World Series. (95 wins)

NL Bust: Braves -- This is the year... They won't always get all-star performances from their rookies, the pen is very shaky, and Smoltz is on borrowed time. This year the Mets dethrone them. (85 wins)

NL Surprise: Brewers -- Everybody is picking them to bust out, but I think they bust out much more quickly than anticipated. They take it down to the wire with the Cardinals and end up nabbing the wild card. (92 wins)

[westofyou]

IMO it's a bit early to pick surprise teams, just look at the standings in the AL East on 6-15-05 to see a great example.

However, the Brewers have the luck of getting better on both sides of the ball in a divison that has seen the top two teams face off with age and a return to the mean.

[Heath]

I kinda agree with woy on the predictions, but Street & Smith has been doing this for years now.

I still have a copy of the 1985 S&S season preview with Pete Rose on the cover. Inside they predicted that the day Pete Rose would hit his 4192nd hit (sometime in August) and where the Reds would end up (20 games out)

He did it in September & the Reds finished 2nd.

back to 2006 - I'll take a stab for fun -

AL - Surprise - Devil Rays. They'll not finish in last.
AL - Bust - Yankees. At somepoint, the bell tolls for them.

NL - Surprise - Colorado - No one else is giving them a shot (besides McClain), so if they finish .500 that would be a surprise.
NL - Bust - Mets - They try way too hard to be Yankees lite. It never works.

three other observations

1 - The Braves will win the division - again.
2 - The White Sox, overlooked as defending champs, will win 100.
3 - The A's will be an after thought again and will finish last in the AL West.

Bonus - Allan Baird gets fired by the Royals - Paul DePodesta gets the job.

[Johnny Footstool]

Bonus - Allan Baird gets fired by the Royals - Paul DePodesta gets the job.

Baird getting fired wouldn't be nearly as big a surprise as the old-thinking, "no-walks-or-strikeouts" Royals organization doing a 360 and hiring DePodesta.

[KronoRed]

Padres will surprise and run away with the west.

The white sox will be in 3rd in the central.

[Betterread]

Pleasant Surprise: The Reds - I will start the year with belief in the potential of their young employees.
Unpleasant surprise: The Astros

[Maldonado]

"AL - Surprise - Devil Rays. They'll not finish in last."

I completely agree with you here, as I think they'll show just how much talent they have. The Rays have the 2006 top young prospect with Delmon Young, Carl Crawford is just coming off a career season, and they have rising star Jorge Cantu. Round this out with .300 hitting good fielding shortstop Julio Lugo, and the fact that everyone is solid. Pitching of course will be THE issue, and it will keep them from being contenders. However, the days of them being consistently the worst in the Majors are over.

"AL - Bust - Yankees. At somepoint, the bell tolls for them. "

Agreed. They're chock full of aging big names, some of whom are on the edge of retirement, with apparently no one in the farm system to replace them. People seem to be optimistic about Sheffield, but I think ability to consistently run without pain will be a problem for him this year. Johnson may be done this year. A Rod can't carry the team.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Except Nugget, Nugget has a low opinion of the A's... it's like a nervous tick that can't be hidden.

Right Nugget?

Nope - I just think they get hyped at the start of the year and never get close enough to deliver. They have always had good - great starting pitching yet have been a bit like the Braves - always the bridesmaid. Plus the thread is on who will be the biggest flops. Accordingly, with the amount of hype they get even a third would be a flop but I'm hoping the Mariners make something of themselves this year by at least being third.

Plus I have a soft spot for the Mariners who have to be the most excruciating team to support.

[westofyou]

Plus I have a soft spot for the Mariners who have to be the most excruciating team to support.

Why's that?

They are loved here, all you have to do is talk to a native PNW and you'd see that they are pretty well received OTOH the A's fight for table scraps in a crowded Bay Area marketplace while one of the best players in the history of the game plays actoss the Bay.

Despite that they have the 3rd best winning percentage in MLB since 1999, yet still get treated like the red headed stepchild at the family reunion.

Also quite humerous is the dig they have to take for having great starting pitching.

Isn't that the goal?

[Nugget]

That's the goal but I would say that even with the pitching - which they also had last year they are always there or there abouts but aren't able to make it to the top. If there not there or there abouts this year then they will be a flop.

When I say that the Mariners are excruciating to watch they always seem to make a big run have the franchise players but never seem to be able to hold on to them. In the space of a couple of years they lost Junior, A Rod and Johnson. Plus they have never even made it to the WS which the A's have.