2008 1st Half Progress Reports

[BonusCantos]

Like last year, I'm starting this thread early. So the All-Star Break is a few days away...technically, the season's over half-way done, anyway.

Let's see your opinions on the baseball season to this point. Fans of any team may participate.

Best Team:
Worst Team:

Biggest Story This Season:

Biggest Surprise Team(s):
Biggest Disappointment Team(s):

AL MVP:
NL MVP:

AL CY:
NL CY:

Yankees MVP:
Yankees CY:

Biggest Yankees surprise:
Biggest Yankees disappointment:

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):

---
Mine:


Best Team: Chicago Cubs
Worst Team: Washington Nationals

Biggest Story This Season: The Rays in first place

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Tampa Bay Rays (even better than I thought), Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Lance Berkman

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Edinson Volquez

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Giambi/Mussina resurgence
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Offensive inconsistency

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): The Yankees, despite their yo-yo offense, are still alive and kicking in September

[BonusCantos]

OK, no one cares this time.

At least I posted again so this won't be one of the "Lonely" threads at the end of the month.

[TheDynasty26]

I like these threads, im down.


Best Team: right now...Rays....for the whole year Red Sox :-(
Worst Team: Nats or M's

Biggest Story This Season: Rays in first, up and coming young players (Bruce, Hamilton, Volquez, Joba, Lincecum etc.)

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians, Mets

AL MVP: Hamilton
NL MVP: Berkman or Chipper

AL CY:Joe Saunders, Cliff Lee,
NL CY:Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Giambi
Yankees CY: River, Moose

Biggest Yankees surprise: i trust you mean surprise in a good way, since dissapointment is below...so....Mussina pitching well
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Hughes, Kennedy, and injuries

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): Its better than the first half

[swityak11]

Best Team: Red Sox
Worst Team: Nationals

Biggest Story This Season: The mutual success of the Hamilton/Volquez trade.

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Tigers

AL MVP: Ian Kinsler
NL MVP: Chase Utley

AL CY: Justin Duchscherer
NL CY: Edinson Volquez

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Giambi
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Hughes/Kennedy

[YASS]

I'm not going to answer all the questions, but I do have an opinion about the Yankees 1st half MVP.

Johnny Damon has 25 multi-hit games. In those 25 games, the Yankees' record is 20-5. He, more than any other member of the lineup, makes that offense go. If he doesn't hit, or if he's out of the lineup, the offense struggles. That's the very definition of Most Valuable, IMO.

[BroadwayBomber55]

Best Team: Tampa Bay Rays
Worst Team: Seattle Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Rays in first place in the AL East, up and coming players

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays, Minnesota Twins, Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Lance Berkman

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Tim Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Jason Giambi
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera, Moose

Biggest Yankees surprise: Giambi/Moose resurgence
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Injuries and offense inconsistency

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): A NL West team will win the division with a sub-.500 record

[Hellsing]

I'm not going to answer all the questions, but I do have an opinion about the Yankees 1st half MVP.

Johnny Damon has 25 multi-hit games. In those 25 games, the Yankees' record is 20-5. He, more than any other member of the lineup, makes that offense go. If he doesn't hit, or if he's out of the lineup, the offense struggles. That's the very definition of Most Valuable, IMO.

Once a Red Sock, always a Red Sock?

Damon has been absolutely incredible. If you like Win Shares, Damon has 15.

The much maligned Alex "Material Girl" Rodriguez has 14.

FWIW...If Damon keeps this up, I would move him to the '2' spot in the lineup. (Jeter 1st)

[YanksFan1992]

Best Team: Cubs
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: The Tampa Bay Rays

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Chase Utley

AL CY: Mariano Rivera
NL CY: Edinson Volquez

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Giambi
Biggest Yankees disappointment: The offense's lack of production.

Who Makes The Playoffs:
AL East Winner: Red Sox
AL Central Winner: Tigers
AL West Winner: Angels
Wild Card Winner: Yankees

NL East Winner: Mets
NL Central Winner: Cubs
NL West Winner: D'Backs
NL Wild Card Winner: Brewers

[sabermet prospectus]

Best Team: Red sox
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Rays

Biggest Surprise Team(s):Tampa, Chi sox, Twins
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians, Rockies, Tigers

AL MVP:Kinsler
NL MVP:Berkman

AL CY:Cliff Lee
NL CY:Ben Sheets

Yankees MVP:Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY:Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise:Mussina, Giambi
Biggest Yankees disappointment:Jeter, Cano, Hughes,Kennedy,Cashman

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):
Red sox will win the east and Im hoping the yanks win the wc but right now I see the rays winning it. Cubs- Brewers nlcs Red sox -Rays (hopefully yankees) alcs. Cubs - Red sox ws and the Cubs win it.

---

[mBiferi]

Best Team: Chicago Cubs
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Rays

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays, Twins
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians, Mariners, Tigers

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton or Kinsler
NL MVP: Lance Berkman, Utley... even Burrell

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mussina

Biggest Yankees surprise: Mussina
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Cano, Hughes, Kennedy.

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): Bonds doesn't sign with anybody.

[southernNYYfan]

Best Team: Cubs
Worst Team: M's

Biggest Story This Season: The Rays climb to first

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays, White Sox, Cardinals
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): The whole NL West, M's, Tigers (recently they have picked it up)

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Chase Utley

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Edinson Volquez

Yankees MVP: Jason Giambi
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Mussina picking up 11 wins before the break
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Offensive inconsistency

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): The Rays will fade down the stretch

[RYMASTER or Ryan_Yankees]

Best Team: Sadly, Red Sox
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Josh Hamilton

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Chase Utley

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Edinson Volquez

Yankees MVP: Mo
Yankees CY: Mo

Biggest Yankees surprise: Mussina, Giambi
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Cano

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):

Best Team: Cubs
Worst Team: Mariners

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Cano finishing at .290
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Melky staying around .245

Playoff teams:
AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Yankees

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Brewers

[allybear]

Best Team: Cubbies
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Youth - can't pick one between most of the Rays, Hamilton, Volquez, Joba, etc. and so on

Biggest Surprise Team(s): The former Devil Rays - I guess the exorcism worked!
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Seattle - weren't people picking them to win the AL West?

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP:

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Tim Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Giambi
Yankees CY:

Biggest Yankees surprise: How many people would have been happy if the cranky old guy won 11 games all year?
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Continued impatience at the plate by all the young players and a fair amount of the ones that should know better.

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject): The Rays are not going to stay in first place all year, but I do see them winning the wild card.

[BroadwayBomber55]

I'll add my manager of the first half, rookie of the first half, and my playoff team predictions

AL Manager of the First Half: Joe Maddon, Rays
NL Manager of the First Half: Lou Piniella, Cubs

AL Rookie of the First Half: Evan Longoria, Rays
NL Rookie of the First Half: Edinson Volquez, Reds

Playoff Team Predictions - 2nd Half

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Yankees

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Marlins

[JDPNYY]

Best Team: Cubs
Worst Team: Mariners

Biggest Story This Season: Something Brad wrote, his posts are always long... or TheoSchmeo, he can go on and on.

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Man United
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Tigers

AL MVP: Hamilton
NL MVP: Burr

AL CY: Halliday
NL CY: Kyle Lohse

Yankees MVP: Damon
Yankees CY: Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Melky at bat
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Melky at bat

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):

Cano will bat over .300
The Rays will finish in 3rd place.
Hughes will dazzle the last month of the season.
The AL will win the World Series 4 games to none.
A team with a sub .500 record will make the playoffs.
Torre will retire.

[Hooligan Tavarez]

Best Team: Red Sox
Worst Team: Nationals/Mariners/Padres/Giants/Rockies are all at pretty much the same level of absolute suck

Biggest Story This Season: Hamilton's emergence as a superstar.

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians

AL MVP: Ian Kinsler
NL MVP: Lance Berkman

AL CY: Justin Duchscherer
NL CY: Tim Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Johnny Damon
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Hughes and Kennedy

[CallOfTheCrow]

Like last year, I'm starting this thread early. So the All-Star Break is a few days away...technically, the season's over half-way done, anyway.

Let's see your opinions on the baseball season to this point. Fans of any team may participate.

Best Team: Tampa Rays
Worst Team: Colorado Rockies

Biggest Story This Season: Josh Hamilton

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Tampa Rays (Adding Garza to the rotation turned out to be a great move & Longoria is awesome)
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Yankees (in terms of what they SHOULD be doing & aren't)

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Lance Berkman or Chipper Jones

AL CY: Cliff Lee
NL CY: Edinson Volquez or Tim Lincecum

Yankees MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera

Biggest Yankees surprise: Jose Veras' dominance
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Cano + injuries to nearly everyone

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):

Done.

[dpinzow]

Best Team: Chicago Cubs
Worst Team: Seattle Mariners

Storyline: The emergence of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Storyline 2: The renaissance of Josh Hamilton

Surprise Teams: Devil Rays, White Sox, Twins, A's, Marlins
Disappointments: Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Rockies, Padres

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton
NL MVP: Chase Utley

AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb

AL ROY: Evan Longoria
NL ROY: Geovany Soto

Yankees CY: Mariano Rivera (is there any question?)
Yankees MVP: Johnny Damon

Biggest Yankee surprise: Mussina's resurgence
Biggest Yankee disappointment: Hughes and Kennedy

[spyglass]

Best Team: Chicago Cubs
Worst Team: Mariners, Padres

Biggest Story This Season: The emergence of the Tampa Bay Rays

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays, White Sox, Rangers (playing MUCH better than I expected at least)
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Mariners, Padres, Rockies

AL MVP: Hamilton
NL MVP: Utley

AL CY: Halladay
NL CY: Volquez

Yankees MVP: Damon or Matsui. Our offense has struggled HORRIFICALLY without them.
Yankees CY: Mo

Biggest Yankees surprise: Resurgence of the Moose and Giambi
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Cano, offense in general, Hughes/Kennedy, INJURIES

2nd Half Prediction (optional; on any baseball subject):
A sub-.500 team from the NL will make the playoffs. Most likely from the NL West.
The AL will win both the ASG and the World Series
Yanks will make the playoffs

[swityak11]

NL Rookie of the First Half: Edinson Volquez, Reds

Not technically a rookie as he had more the 50IP with the Rangers.

[Bronson'sCornrows]

Best Team: Chicago Cubs (best run differential in the majors), though perhaps in an inferior league and division to the AL East.
Worst Team: Washington Nationals (worst record, worst run differential, lowest team OPS+, etc.).

Biggest Story This Season: Rays in first place for so long.

Biggest Surprise Team(s): Rays, Cardinals, A's, even the Rangers for being above .500.
Biggest Disappointment Team(s): Indians, Diamondbacks (they looked good to me on paper!).

AL MVP: This isn't as clear cut for me as it is for all of you. Am I a homer if I consider Drew? He really kept the Sox offense going through some otherwise tough patches, though he got an assist from Youkilis. I'd also have to consider Kinsler, Bradley, Mauer, Dye, Damon, and look more deeply into the effect Giambi has had on Yankee games.
NL MVP: Chipper Jones. The dude's getting on base almost half the time he comes to the plate, he's hitting for power, and he plays good D at the hot corner. Berkman is close, but puts up his numbers from first, and Utley plays a tougher position, but is behind in OPS+ by over 40 points.

AL CY: Duchsherer. Lowest ERA in the American League, but with a WHIP of 0.865? As a starter? That's Pedroesque. He's the best in the league and never will be again, so let him have it. 2nd vote for Lee, 3rd for Halladay (leads AL in K/BB, BB per 9).
NL CY: Haren. His ERA+ is lower than Volquez, but his peripherals are much better. He leads the NL in WHIP, BB/K, and BB per 9. Volquez will win plenty of CY's if his control improves and he stays healthy, which I can see happening for him.

Yankees MVP: I'm not sure. A-Rod has the best numbers for sure, but my outside perception is that Giambi has had more effect on the outcome of games, along with Damon. I'd have to more deeply analyze the numbers and facts to know for sure.
Yankees CY: Rivera. The best closer in the history of baseball reclaims his throne as the best currently playing after an absence of a few years... and this time it isn't even close.

Biggest Yankees surprise: Mussina's resurgence, without a doubt. Everyone thought he was done. I'm not nearly surprised by Giambi's resurgence; he's proven to me he that can still put up great numbers without PEDs, and last year was just a fluke rough year that most great hitters have.
Biggest Yankees disappointment: Again, from an outside perspective, Jeter is a disappointment this year; he defense isn't above average, and his value lies in his offense and leadership. The offense has been lackluster so far, leaving only the leadership (see also; Varitek, Jason). I'd also note the struggles of a lot of the younger players (Hughes, Cano, Kennedy, Cabrera, etc), but from the outside that just looks like bad luck to me and not much more. For what it's worth, both the young struggles and Jeter's offense look like a fluke to me, and I wouldn't expect it to continue next season.

2nd Half Prediction: A Yankees resurgence, but that's kind of a safe limb to step out on. I'll also predict a Twins collapse, an Indians resurgence that brings the club back over .500, and that the Mets winning streak was a fluke and they'll plummet back to mediocrity after the break.

For stuff like MVP and CYA, I'm going with people I think should win and not who I think will win. I think Kinsler and Berkman will win the MVPs and Lee and Volquez will win the CYAs, just not necessarily that they deserve it. Also, if the Yankee stuff looks weird (again, outside perspective), I could replace it with Sox Disappointment/Surprise/etc. What do you think?