Breaking Down the NL Central - Baseball Tonight version

[RyDogg66]

I caught this as I was channel surfing last night. The heading at the bottom of the page was "breaking down the NL Central" and from what I could gather the analysts were picking who would win the Central outright. I only caught two answers, but they were provocative enough to relay here.

 

Eric Young's pick to win the Central as of June 11, 2009: The Houston Astros

Eduardo Perez's pick to click as of June 11, 2009: The Cincinnati Reds.

 

That is all.

[JonnyLungs]

Reds I could see for somebody going out on a limb. But the Astros? That is REALLY going out on a limb to the point of being downright stupid.

[yoyo49]

yeah, i caught that too. after the initial shot of the current standings, there was no mention of the milwaukee brewers.

[Brewtacular]

That is REALLY going out on a limb to the point of being downright stupid.

To be fair, predicting their next coherent sentence would be going out on limb for them.

[logan82]

Well, Richard Justice did say that the Astros have no holes.

[The Heartbreak Yid]

The thing about our division is there is no top dog. If the Pirates has kept Bay, Nady, and McClouth, they could very well be in contion. As it is now, aside from the Pirates, theres nobody who could win the division that would shock me.

 

-Brewers have a great, but inconsistant offense. The pitching staff has surprised many, starting and pen, but we'll see how long they keep it up.

-The Cubs "murderers row" offense has proved to be anything but. If were 5 games or less out when Ramirez comes back, I still think were the fav. Starting staff has been steller, and the pen, though shaky has looked great at times.

-Cards have the best hitter in the game, and one of the top 5 pitchers when healthy, and Adam Wainwright is great as well. Other than that, that team is not very good, and have been playing well above their heads most of the season.

-Reds are hard to tell. If that pitching staff can be productive, its great. Good closer, but the rest of the pen is mediocre at best aside from Masset and sometimes Weathers

-Astros have a very potent offense. Tejada, Pence, Lee, Berkman, Pudge is among the best in the NL. However, their pitching is not good(I guess the Cubs would try to tell you otherwise) aside from Oswalt and Wandy at home

-The Pirates are the Pirates. Right now, they dont have a lot of good players. When one of their players gets good, he'll be traded.

[Invader3K]

I saw this segment last night, but was too tired to post.

 

I noticed they basically didn't mention the Brewers at all, like yoyo said. It seemed like they were all assuming there was no possible way they can hold onto first place, and assume either the Cards, Cubs, or Reds would overtake the whole division. In fact, their little "desk graphic" didn't even have the Brewers logo, and showed the other three teams, though. One guy (sorry, forget who), was also raving about the Astros' defense. It was weird.

 

Does ESPN really just hate the idea of the Brewers making the playoffs again, or do they really think this team is just not for real at all, and will likely be in fourth place by August?

[Ennder]

I'd be shocked if the Astros or Pirates reach .500, neither team is very good. More shocked by the Pirates than the Astros though.

 

Any of the other 4 could realistically take 1st with a well placed hot streak though I'm a little less of a believer in the Reds than the others because I think their pitching is going to collapse and they don't have an offense that can survive that.

[TooLiveBrew]

Eric Young's pick to win the Central as of June 11, 2009: The Houston Astros

Eduardo Perez's pick to click as of June 11, 2009: The Cincinnati Reds.

 

Eduardo Perez has come across as a real knucklehead before (imo). I hadn't seen any of (what I'm sure is) EY's fine 'work' just yet.

 

That said, I recall Kruk picking PIT for some honor a year ago, and then coming out & saying he was told to make a controversial pick by the ESPN producer(s). He got really panned for it, so I trust that his answer as to why he made his choice is honest. Well, that, and ESPN sucks.

[Invader3K]

Kruk predicted on the air that by the end of a certain month (maybe last May?) the Pirates would be ahead of the Brewers. It was panned as a ridiculous prediction, and then in a radio interview a day or so later, Kruk admitted one of his producers forced him to say it.

 

The East Coast bias at ESPN and other places is quite real. They seem to often not have a clue of what's really happening outside the AL & NL East. I recall a radio interview Matt Vasgersian did not long ago where he said they really strive at MLB Network to cover all the teams, but even there they have to reign it in a bit.

[CheezWizHed]

Dumb question here, but is Eric Young the same EY that played for the Brewers? Shame on him....

[joepepsi]

Pittsburgh is over .500 when they aren't playing the Brewers.

 

The Brewers and Cardinals are the only teams that are of equal strength with both pitching and hitting. Cincy and Chicago have weak offenses, but good pitching so far.

 

I expect Houston to fall off a cliff in the heat of summer.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

Dumb question here, but is Eric Young the same EY that played for the Brewers? Shame on him....

 

Yeah, that's the same EY.

[crewcrazy]

I believe two years ago there was a bit of controversy, too, when the Brewers were left off a "wildcard contenders" graphic despite only being a game or so out of the wildcard lead at the time. The four-letter network overlooking the Brewers isn't really anything new.

 

They pretty much discounted the Brewers from the beginning of the year, when every team preview noted the loss of Sabathia and Sheets without adding much more. When Weeks went down they were the lead story on BBTN, but they basically threw the Brewers' season out the window at that point. Nothing would be sweeter than winning the division and forcing them to scramble to put together a bunch of "What an incredible story! They really came outta nowhere, huh!?" stories.

[Ennder]

Baseballprospectus hit ratings came out today. These are purely math based ratings that look at the statistical side of the game to come up with power rankings.

 

Cardinals came it at 8, Cubs at 11, Brewers at 12, Reds 15, Pirates 19 and Astros 22. The Brewers were up in the top 7 just two weeks ago but have fallen quite a bit.

 

Rockies climbed up to 14 with the back to back sweeps, White Sox are at 26 so hopefully we can beat up on them some.

[Patrick425]

Sometimes it's nice to be underated and fly under the radar.

Off topic - really need another "explain your avatar thread". I need to know what the heck Heartbreak Yid's avatar is all about....slightly disturbing.

[Invader3K]

Even last year when the Brewers won the Wild Card on the last day of the season, I remember right after the Mets lost, they showed a retrospective video of Shea Stadium and basically glossed over the Brewers actually winning a playoff spot.

 

crewcrazy: I vaguely remember something similar happening in either '05 or '06 I believe...they were showing Wild Card contender rankings toward the end of the season, and actually skipped the Brewers and showed the Cubs next on the list. It was really maddening. Yeah, everyone knew the Brewers only had an outside shot by that point, but to outright skip them was really embarassing.

[Glennron]

After John Kruck said Randy Johnson would win 30 games and Steve Phillips said Cliff Lee was the best lefty in the game ('06 or '07 maybe?) I have a hard time believing these guys are sincere with their 'predictions'.

[BrewCrewForever]

The Reds, yeah possibly. But the Astros? Uh, no.

[crewcrazy]

After John Kruck said Randy Johnson would win 30 games and Steve Phillips said Cliff Lee was the best lefty in the game ('06 or '07 maybe?) I have a hard time believing these guys are sincere with their 'predictions'.

Don't forget about Peter Gammons picking Bobby Crosby to win the AL MVP two years ago...that one's my personal favorite.

[Invader3K]

It really just makes me more and more mad, thinking about ESPN and their stupidity. I don't even watch that channel regularly anymore, and with good reason as demonstrated in this thread, I think.

[sheethead]

"Does ESPN really just hate the idea of the Brewers making the playoffs again, or do they really think this team is just not for real at all, and will likely be in fourth place by August?"

 

I think its a bit of both. ESPN is nothing more than a regional, east coast network that gives the occasional shout out to the rest of the country. All I can say is thank God for the MLB network. While they have some issues with talking heads, at least they cover all the teams.

[wildbobu]

ESPN wants its guys to say outrageous or stupid predictions to give them something to talk about. Kruk admitted a few years back when he picked the Pirates to win the NL Central that the producers wanted him to pick something else and he said no so they said okay then you're picking the Pirates to win the Central. So basically there is no reason to listen to who they think will win but they why is every once in awhile still informative.

[jjfanec]

Eric Young was on espn defending Milton Bradley and his three reasons to not blame Milton for his bad start.

1 - No protection in the lineup - I am sorry even when Ramirez was there he was terrible

2 - Just got a big contract and is pressing - Milton does not look like he is trying too hard. His effort is actually in question by Cubs fans

3 - All the day games at Wrigley mess him up - Considering he has on OPS .893 at home and one of .586 (in almost 100 PA) on the road I do not think that holds water. His line for day games is actually better than night Mr Young.

 

ESPN continues its great coverage.

[craigharmann]

Huh, I figured they'd pick the Red Sox to win the NL Central. Oh well.