NL West Champs

[LAGmaniac]

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I'll take any avatar bet for the Giants.

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[touchfaith]

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I'll take any avatar bet for the Giants.

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I cee that Avatar wager and raise a flattering signature towards the winners team!

Bring it!

HUMM BABY! and Duck the Fodgers! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[WillMagic]

It will be close.

The Dodgers have a slight edge in the bullpen. (this isn't a huge edge since the Giants picked up Benitez and the Dodgers don't have Mota.)

The Giants have an edge in the rotation. Both rotations have 2 mediocrities - the Giants have Rueter and Williams, the Dodgers have Weaver and Lowe. The Dodgers might even this out if Penny and Odalis both come back from injury and have strong years AND Tomko doesn't carry over his success from the second half of last year AND Lowry doesn't pan out.

Catcher is a wash - Matheny and David Ross are both awful.

1B is a wash. Both Choi and Snow are high OBP, low HR, good fielding first-basemen.

2B is a slight edge for LA, with old Kent being slightly better than old Durham.

SS is a wash. Izturis and Vizquel are both good-fielding bad OBP guys.

3B is a significant edge for the Giants. Alfonzo/Feliz may not be great, but Valentin has a .287 OBP.

OF depends on when Bonds comes back. At the moment it is a significant edge for the Dodgers, as Drew/Bradley/Whoever is better than the geriatric Grissom/Alou/Tucker. But if Bonds comes back it immediately switches to a significant edge for the Giants.

Personally I like the Giants.

But I'm biased.

Anyone else going to opening day?

Will

[Jack of Arcades]

I was responding to your point that the Dodgers offense will be horrible. It won't be, they have plenty of above average bats.

Furthemore, the guys I listed are all competent-to-great defenders, save for maybe Choi. Depodesta and the Dodgers have put a lot of effort into their defensive evaluations. Kent, Drew, and Valentin are some of the top at their position.

The Giants, on the other hand, have a horrible defense, the bright spots being Matheny, Snow, and Durham. However, when it comes to their spacious outfield, they have three statues patrolling it.

[jesusarenque]

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I was responding to your point that the Dodgers offense will be horrible. It won't be, they have plenty of above average bats.

Furthemore, the guys I listed are all competent-to-great defenders, save for maybe Choi. Depodesta and the Dodgers have put a lot of effort into their defensive evaluations. Kent, Drew, and Valentin are some of the top at their position.

The Giants, on the other hand, have a horrible defense, the bright spots being Matheny, Snow, and Durham. However, when it comes to their spacious outfield, they have three statues patrolling it.

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The Giants are being seriously overrated. This year will prove just how great Bonds has been over the last few years. The Giants are not a good team at all, but they have managed to stay in contention the last few years on the back of Bonds (and Schmidt). If Bonds misses significant time this year, things will get very, very ugly for the Giants.

[Jack of Arcades]

This is a bad way to evaluate a team's advantage over another yet it's the most common way. A few quibbles.

Matheny is historically bad, he'll have a very bad season next year. Ross shouldn't be embarrassing.

Jose Valentin had a down year last year, but was still about an average hitter for his position. He'll be switching to 3B but should be around an average hitter while being a great defender.

[Ianco15]

You have the Rockies above the Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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