The Common Man's 2011 Predictions

The Common Man revealed his picks in last night's podcast with Bill and Larry Granillo, but for those of you who are too lazy to patiently listen to the whole thing, here's TCM's predictions in written form:

Click to embiggen.

These picks were made about a month ago, but TCM won't change them.  If he made them today, he'd probably change the following things:

1. The Rockies would move down.  The more he thinks about that team, the less potential TCM sees. 
2. Correspondingly, the Giants and Padres would move up, and based on the Giants decision to play Brandon Belt, TCM would probably put them as division winners.
3. The Brewers would finish behind the Cubs or the Reds for the NL Central, as the Greinke injury has the potential to linger.
4. The Phillies would end up finishing behind the Braves, but will still win the Wild Card.

And since TCM has little to nothing in the way of scruples, he's going to blatantly rip off Bill's idea and give you 11 random predictions of his own.  To his credit, TCM is coming up with 11 different predictions than Bill has, so we'll see who has the most right at the end of the season:

Random 2011 Predictions

We talked rather extensively last night about our predictions for the 2011 season, in terms of final standings, postseason awards, that sort of thing. Something I did last year, though (and it actually came out rather well), was rattle off a bunch of random things (eleven of them) I thought would happen and put them in a post to check back on in six months or so. So here are my 11 random things for '11:

1. John Lackey will have a better season than Clay Buchholz.
2. This will be the year Justin Upton breaks out -- 35 homers, 25 steals, something like 6.5 WAR.
3. Joe Mauer will hit more than 16 home runs, but fewer than 23.
4. The Yankees will have traded for or otherwise acquired another veteran starting pitcher by June 10.
5. Joba Chamberlain will post a sub-3.00 ERA.
6. Adrian Beltre will have a better season than Alex Rodriguez.
7. As in 2010, one pitcher from each league will win 20 games or more. This time, both will win the Cy Young Award.
8. Adam Dunn will fall short of the 50 homers some are predicting, but will hit 41 or more for the first time since 2004, leading the AL.
9. The following players will no longer be regular starters for their contending teams by the end of this season: Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt; Twins shortstop Alexi Casilla and/or third baseman Danny Valencia;  Yankees catcher Russell Martin; Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia; and (gulp) Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
10. Max Scherzer will lead the majors in strikeouts.
11. Hate to say it (even though he's on both of my fantasy teams), but: Derek Jeter will rebound nicely from his worst career season, batting over .290 with more than 15 home runs and a WAR close to 4.

Back to enjoying opening day...

Epic Season Preview Podcast

By The Common Man
Good news for those of you wanting even more baseball today, or who can't stand listening to Michael Kay, history's greatest monster.  Last night, The Common Man, Bill and Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospecuts put on an epic podcast that lasted almost two hours breaking down each division race, making predictions, and generally holding the feet of the Twins and Angels to the fire.  Also, who fails to make the playoffs in the AL East, the Red Sox, Yankees, or Rays?  Can the Phillies and Brewers overcome their injury problems?  And The Common Man passionately defends the San Diego Padres somewhere in the 2nd hour.  Give a listen after the jump: