Play Ball! - 2nd Half Predictions

Now that the All-Star game is over and all the "drama" that surrounds the event is in the books, the baseball races and trade rumors will start to heat up. It seems that at least 20 teams are still in their division races and weird things could happen. The trade deadline is July 31st and most teams will wait until a few days before that date to assess their team's chances of making the post-season. A lot of stuff will happen this off-season and since this blog loves speculation and opinionated banter, here are some of my predictions of what will happen in the 2nd-half this season.

- Mark DeRosa will bat under .200 for the rest of the season with the Cardinals.

- Albert Pujols will hit 60 homers this year.

- The Cubs will end up with 90 wins this season, but will not win the NL Central.

- Freddy Sanchez will be trade to the Cubs for Sean Marshall

- Joe Mauer will only hit 4 more homers the rest of the season.

- The Detroit Tigers will win the AL Central

- Matt Wieters will hit over .300 and hit 12 homers in the 2nd-half.

- Eric Wedge will be fired by Labor Day.

- Boston will edge out the Yankees in the AL East, but New York will win the Wild Card race.

- Jerry Manuel will be fired after the last day of the season.

- The full list of failed steroid tests will be leaked during the playoffs, thus putting the actual product on the field out of the spotlight.

- The Phillies will land Roy Halladay in a trade for Kyle Drabek and two other prospects.

- Pedro Martinez will have an ERA over 5.00 and will make less than 8 starts for Philadelphia.

- Tim Hudson will come back at the end of the season and win 4 games.

- Stephan Strasburg will sign with the Washington Nationals by September 15th.

- Raul Ibanez will hit 55 homers this season.

- Jimmy Rollins will hit under .210 in the 2nd half this year.

- Alex Rodriguez will hit 35+ homers, but his average will be below .245

- C.C. Sabathia will lead the AL in innings and win 20 games.

- Carlos Quentin will come off the DL and hit 10 homers the last 2 months of the season.

- Jason Schmidt will only make two starts for the Dodgers and end the season on the DL.

- Texas will win the AL West and make it to the ALCS.

- Tommy Hanson will edge out Colby Rasmus for the NL Rookie Of The Year

- Rick Porcello will have an ERA over 4.50 in the second half.

- The Mets will become sellers by July 31st.

2009 Un-All-Star Team

Last year, I did my 2008 Un-All-Star Team post in early May. A lot of my team ended up turning things around and a few of them actually ended up with career numbers. I wanted to do this year's post a little deeper into the season. They are currently about 70 games in right now and some great players are looking like they need some extended spring training to regain their usually consistent form. About this time of year you can throw out the term "slow-starter" and begin using "bad year."

Some of these players do have some power numbers, but I'm looking at average mostly. If you are still floating around the Mendoza Line and it's almost July, you are having troubles. A few of these players have been trying to play through injuries (Alfonso Soriano), but his season isn't living up to expectations.

Here is my list of the 2009 Un-All-Star Team sorted by position. The number next to the position players is their batting average as of today and the number next to the pitchers are their ERA.

Catchers
Kelly Shoppach .194
Dioner Navarro .218
Geovany Soto .222

First Base
Conor Jackson .182
Carlos Guillen .200
Chris Davis .200
Jason Giambi .212
Lance Berkman .241

Second Base
Alexi Casilla .180
Dan Uggla .216
Howie Kendrick .231
Kelly Johnson .227

Third Base
Garrett Atkins .205
Alex Rodriguez .212

Shortstop
Mike Aviles .183
Khalil Greene .213
Jimmy Rollins .223
Orlando Cabrera .235

Outfield
Ken Griffey Jr. .220
Grady Sizemore .223
Alfonso Soriano .229
B.J. Upton .229
Ryan Ludwick .234
Pat Burrell .236

Starting Pitchers
Chien-Ming Wang 12.30
Oliver Perez 9.97
Scott Kazmir 7.69
Fausto Carmona 7.42
Ricky Nolasco 7.15
Andy Sonnanstine 6.60
John Lackey 6.10
Francisco Lirano 5.91

Bullpen
Brad Lidge 7.27
Troy Percival 6.35
B.J. Ryan 5.71
Manny Corpas 5.40
J.J. Putz 5.22

If anyone has any recommendations for the 2009 Un-All-Star Team let me know.

I'm sorry if you found this post in hopes of trying to find shirtless photos of Grady Sizemore of any other of our players. It's kind of a running joke on this blog, since it seems like I get a lot of hit from google from people trying to find shirtless photos from players from Grady Sizemore and Ryan Braun to the confusing duo of C.C. Sabathia and Prince Fielder.

Designated Hitter
David Ortiz .207