Pete

Whether it's the Giants, Reds, Braves or Padres, it doesn't look like they stand a chance against Phil's Big 3 (Halladay/Hamels/Oswalt) and their AL style lineup. As a fan of one of these 3 teams, can you really get excited about facing the Phillies in the playoffs?

Lineup:

1 Iwamura 3B

2 K. Matsui SS

3 Ichiro RF

4 H. Matsui DH

5 Choo 1B

6 Fukudome CF

7 Johjima C

8 Tad Iguchi 2B

9 So Taguchi LF

Rotation:

SP1 Dice-K

SP2 Wang

SP3 Kuroda

SP4 Hong-Chieh Kuo

SP5 Kawakami

Closer: Saito

Setup: Okajima

Setup: Chan Ho Park

How many games would they win in a 162-game season?

that your favorite team contend every year but never win the WS (kind of like the Yankees this decade) or stink most of the time but win the WS every 5 or so years (kind of like the Marlins)?

Will he take the "Andy Pettitte" route or pull a "Roger Clemens"?

the Dodgers:

Furcal SS

Ethier RF

Martin C

Loney 1B

Kemp CF

Dewitt 2B

Blake 3B

Pierre LF

P

the Rockies:

C. Gonzalez CF

Tulowitzki SS

Helton 1B

Atkins 3B

Hawpe RF

Iannetta C

Stewart LF

Barmes 2B

P

or the D-backs:

F. Lopez 2B

C. Young CF

Drew SS

Jackson LF

Tracy 1B

Reynolds 3B

Upton RF

Snyder C

P

Do you think it's the D-backs:

Webb

Haren

D. Davis

Garland

Scherzer

the Giants:

Lincecum

R. Johnson

Cain

Zito

Sanchez

or the Dodgers:

Billingsley

Kershaw

Kuroda

Wolf

TBD

That would slide Millwood to #2, then followed by Padilla, Feldman and McCarthy as 3-4-5. It's not great but not terrible either.

With their awesome offense, could they finish ahead of the A's and maybe even challenge the Angels for the division?

Per 162 game average,

Player A:

124R 200H 42HR 128RBI 6SB .334AVG .425OBP .624SLG

Player B:

127R 191H 44HR 127RBI 22SB .306AVG .389OBP .578SLG

Also can you guess who they are? They are both ACTIVE players.

...if it doesn't work out with Varitek? Pudge had better numbers last year (.276/.319/.394) than Varitek (.220/.313/.359). And Pudge is still a good defensive catcher.

I think they should go with:

1 Theriot SS R -- .307BA .387OBP

2 Lee 1B R -- no longer a #3 hitter

3 Bradley RF S -- the best overall hitter when healthy

4 Soriano LF R -- the biggest slugger

5 Ramirez 3B R -- will protect Soriano

6 Soto C R

7 Fukudome CF L(against righties) / Johnson R (against lefties)

8 Fontenot 2B L(against righties) / Miles S(against lefties)

9 P

Team A:

Hamels

Myers

Blanton

Moyer

Kendrick

Team B:

Lowe

Vasquez

Jurrjens

Kawakami

Campillo

Team C:

Santana

Maine

Oli. Perez

Pelfrey

Redding

Which is the best and the worst?

After losing Teixeira, they're missing a big left-handed bat in the middle of their lineup. Would either Dunn or Abreu look good batting cleanup between Guerrerro and Hunter?

Oakland has added Holliday and Giambi in the offseason, and all the Angels have signed is Rivera. I think they would need another bat (preferrably left-handed) to get them back to the postseason.

I know they're located in Orange County, but they changed the name to include "LA" to get more fans? Did this work?

Will any of these guys eventually make it to HOF?

The Braves are close to signing him. I'm sure he wasn't as good as Dice-K in Japan, but was he at least as good or better than Hideki Kuroda of the Dodgers?

He's about to sign with the A's. What is your best guess on his:

# of games played, batting average, HRs, and RBIs.

Also, should he bat in front of or behind Holliday?

With the imminent Giambi signing, I thought about their possible lineup for this year. What do you think of this?

1 CF R. Sweeney L

2 C Suzuki R

3 1B Giambi L

4 LF Holliday R

5 DH Cust L

6 2B Ellis R

7 RF Buck L

8 SS Crosby R

9 3B Chavez L

I tried to break up all the lefties...

All offseason, there's been a big deal made about re-siging Furcal and Manny. But what about pitching? Right now they have only Billingsley, Kuroda and Kershaw penciled into the rotation.

Who will be the #4 and 5 starters? Can they win the division with this rotation? It seems the Giants and D-backs clearly have better starting pitching. Should they try to sign someone else?

If you could have one of the two (in their primes) to be your team's ace, who would you choose?