It's Crystal Ball Time

It's that time of year again. The Ides of March has gone by and April's opening day soon approaches. That means it is time to dust off the crystal ball and see what the coming year will bring. Gazing into the beautiful swirling colors, a number of images appear and here is what they are showing:

• Chapman and Strasburg will win at least ten games apiece. But Jason Heyword will win Rookie of the Year.
• Robinson Cano wins the AL batting title.
• Cliff Lee wins ten games or less and finishes with a 4.00 ERA or higher.
• Blyleven and Roberto Alomar will be the only two voted into the Hall of Fame. Bagwell will just miss in his first year.
• There will be at least one more bombshell in the revelations concerning PEDs. This one will shock few but will provoke at least one more negative column from Buster Olney and Jeff Passan.
• Joe Posnanski will write 810,000 words during the regular season. At least 80,000 of those will be directed toward the Royals.
• The Braves will go to the World Series and Bobby Cox will get the sendoff he deserves.
• Roy Halladay will post an ERA in the National League around 2.20
• Ichiro Suzuki will get 200 hits. Well duh.
• The Rangers will get off to a slow start and Ron Washington will be fired.
• The National League East will finish: Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Mets.
• The National Leage Central will finish: Cardinals, Reds, Brewers, Cubs, Pirates, Astros.
• The National League West will finish: Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Rockies, Padres
• The American League East will finish: Red Sox, Yankees, Bay Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays.
• The American League Central will finish: Tigers, Twins, Indians, White Sox, Royals
• The American League West will finish: Angels, Rangers, Mariners, Oakland.
• Evan Longoria will win the AL MVP.
• Justin Upton will win the NL MVP.
• Roy Halladay easily wins the NL Cy Young.
• Josh Beckett wins the AL Cy Young.
• Albert Pujols will finish .320/.430/.600 as usual.
• Mike Sweeney will get 100 more at bats in Seattle than Griffey.
• A blockbuster trade will send Joe Mauer to the Red Sox for Clay Buckholz, Daniel Bard and Victor Martinez.
• Carl Pavano will somehow win twelve games.
• Carl Crawford will be traded by the trading deadline.
• Dontrelle Willis will win eight games.
• Conner Jackson and Austin Jackson will both have great years. Austin Jackson wins Rookie of the Year.
• Russell Branyon will hit at least one homer for his new team continuing his amazing career Odyssey.
• Jim Thome will hit ten homers and then be released.
• Pat Burrell will be released.
• Randy Winn will be released.
• The Yankees will continue to have A. J. Burnett pitch to a catcher other than Posada.
• No pitcher will win 20 games and no hitter will hit 50 homers.
• Prince Fielder will finish higher in OPS+ than Ryan Howard.
• Ryan Braun will have a higher OPS+ than either of those two.
• Bounce back years will include Brad Penny, Jake Peavy, B. J. Upton and Tim Hudson.
• The Mets will fire their manager and then their GM by year's end.
• Lou Piniella will be fired.
• Buster Posey will have a fine year and come in fourth for Rookie of the Year.
• Adrian Gonzalez will be traded to the Chicago White Sox.
• The Padres will activate Jerry Hairston Senior for a game to play with his sons.
• Roger Clemens will make a plea deal for his perjury charge.
• The Braves will have a special day to honor Bobby Cox. Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Justice are all on hand and in uniform.
• The Twins new ball park will be freezing in April.
• The Nationals will be significantly better this year than last year as will the Pirates.
• Halladay will not face Holliday on a holiday.
• Jayson Stark will get his own program on ESPN2 called Stark Reality.
• Ian Kinsler will again make it to the 30/30 club and again, nobody will notice.
• After a prolonged slump, Boston's batting coach will finally convince Kevin Youkilis that his batting stance is ridiculous.
• The Royals will finish dead last in OBP and Slugging Percentage just ahead of the Oakland A's in both categories.
• And last but not least, the Fan will finally make it to Rob Neyer's Friday Filberts or Wednesday Wangdoodles this year.