My predicted lineup with 2010 stats:

1. Ichiro - .360, 15 HR, 55 RBI - RF
2. Gutierrez - .295, 20 HR, 70 RBI - CF
3. Jose Lopez - .290, 25 HR, 95 RBI - 2B
4. Jason Bay - .280, 30 HR, 105 RBI - LF
5. Russell Branyan - .255, 30 HR, 95 RBI - 1B
6. Sweeney/Griffey - .245, 25 HR, 85 RBI - DH
7. Matt Tuiasasopo - .260, 10 HR, 65 RBI - 3B
8. Adam Moore/Dustin Ackley - .260, 10 HR, 55 RBI - C
9. Jack Wilson - .280, 5 HR, 55 RBI - SS

Bench - Dustin Ackley/Adam Moore, Bill Hall, Michael Saunders, Josh Wilson, Jack Hannahan, Sweeney/Griffey.

Staff:

1. Felix Hernandez - 20-6, 2.40 ERA
2. Erik Bedard - 16-10, 2.85 ERA
3. Rowland-Smith - 15-8, 3.30 ERA
4. Brandon Morrow - 14-10, 3.80 ERA
5. Ian Snell - 13-13, 3.85 ERA

C - Aardsma - 2.05 ERA, 45 Saves
RP - Lowe, Fister, Batista, White, Kelley/Messenger, Silva.

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Ideas - If can't sign Bay, trade Branyan for LF/3B. Don't re-sign/or trade Johjima, Beltre, Johnson. Possibly trade Bedard.

It's really not too farfetched to say we can reach 90-95 wins with this team. The stats aren't exactly unreasonable for each player.

Wild Cards:

- Branyan having the season he had this year.
- Ackley emerging as a star.
- Bedard/Jack Wilson staying healthy.
- Signing an offensive player. (Bay, Figgins.)
- Griffey/Sweeney?
- Aardsma having the season he had this year.

My prediction: Finish 2nd in AL West. 2 GB of Angels.

Final record: 92-70.

Seems like you're being pretty optimistic in your predictions.

I doubt Jason Bay ends up here considering his lack of defense ability and his overall cost.

Dustin Ackley isn't a catcher... he plays OF and 1B. Might not make the team until the following season.

I seriously doubt that both Sweeney and Griffey will be back next year if either of them. Sure the numbers they put up in the DH spot combined wasn't entirely awful, but using 2 players to get the stats that one DH should get is a waste of space. Especially when they have almost 0 use on the field.

In order for Bedard to get anywhere close to that record, he'd have to play in at least 26 games... which seems unlikely considering his prior couple seasons and recovering from injury.

RRS might be able to put up those numbers, but it seems unlikely.

Batista is gone as a FA.

Branyan is a FA.

Johjima and Johnson are still under contract.

Bedard is a FA.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm only laughing at your picture!!!!! bahahaha! that's AWESOME!

oh, and with a team full of numbers like that, we'd be world series champs for sure. mostly because of the pitching. but i like the way you think. i wish it were all possible, if not most of it possible

1. Felix
2. Bedard
3. Rowland-Smith
4. Morrow
5. Snell
Fister (when Bedard hurt)

CL: Aardsma
SU: Lowe
MRP: White, Kelley, Fields
LRP: Silva/Olson/Jak

RF: Ichiro
3B: Figgins
1B: N.Johnson
DH: Branyan
2b: Lopez
CF: Gutierrez
LF: Saunders
C: Johjima
SS: JaWilson

B: Langerhans, Hannahan, Johnson, Hall, JoWilson

"Seems like you're being pretty optimistic in your predictions."

You're absolutely right, I am. But given what they've done this year has given all of us the right to be optimistic.

"I doubt Jason Bay ends up here considering his lack of defense ability and his overall cost."

Very true, but also considering his home and with our chances next year, he might give us a good deal.

"Dustin Ackley isn't a catcher... he plays OF and 1B. Might not make the team until the following season."

Oh right what was I thinking? Yeah he probably needs a bit of time in AAA but then again, look at all our mediocre players who emerged from nowhere? I think he'll do quite well in Spring and we'll give him a shot at some starting time. If we don't have a position for him, we'll probably keep him there so he can play every day.

"I seriously doubt that both Sweeney and Griffey will be back next year if either of them. Sure the numbers they put up in the DH spot combined wasn't entirely awful, but using 2 players to get the stats that one DH should get is a waste of space. Especially when they have almost 0 use on the field."

Yeah I know that's why I had Griffey/Sweeney. If by some chance they are both here next year, I'd still prefer them both on the team.

"In order for Bedard to get anywhere close to that record, he'd have to play in at least 26 games... which seems unlikely considering his prior couple seasons and recovering from injury."

Agreed. We'll need him healthy and willing to give 100% if we want to win those extra 5-6 games to get us into centention.

RRS has that potential. As long as you can agree they're not completely unrealistic, that was my goal.

Yeah I know half our team is FA, so we'll sign who we have to.

It's a tough choice for me between Jo and Rob. It always seems like Rob is better behind the plate but Jo has an offensive advantage.

C :Johnson
1B:Carp
2B:Lopez
3B:Fields (trade from CWS)
SS:Hardy (trade from MIL)
LF:Jones (from FA)
CF:Gutierrez
RF:Ichiro
DH:Branyan

SP1:Felix
SP2:Bedard (from FA)
SP3:Washburn (from FA)
SP4:RRS
SP5:Snell

Fields for Fister (or French), Hardy for Saunders.
If they need more power, Trade Morrow for Prince Fielder as 1B.

Dustin Ackley will not be up with the big club next season. Perhaps in a year or so, but not next season.

read what I said to gotcha...

Sorry my mistake.

I like your prdiction and optimism....Im going to be a little more optimistic.....its gunna go a little somthing like this

RF-Ichiro
LF-Endy Chavez
2B-Lopez
1B-Prince Fielder
CF-Guttierz
DH-Branyan/Griffey
3B-Beltre
C-Jojo
SS-J Wilson.

1-Felix
2-Bedard(all season long)
3-Brandon Morrow
4-RRS
5-Snell

Bench. jo wilson, Hall, Johnson, griffey, saunders
Bulpen. Lowe, fister, Olson, French, Aardsma
Closer. Rafeal Sorriano

There's optimism, then there's just denying reality. Neither Chavez nor Bedard will be playing baseball before July of next season.

God I hate rosterbation threads.

I concur. Chavez had an entire destruction of his knee with both ACL/MCL/Medial Meniscal injured. He might never play again.

C - Mauer
1B - Albert
2B - Utley
3B - Wright
SS - Hanley
LF - Crawford
CF - Elesbury
RF - Ichiro
DH - Prince

SP Greinke
SP Lincecun
SP Felix
SP Carpenter
SP Wainwright

CL Broxton
SU Nathan
SU Baily
MR Aradsma
MR Bell
LR Halladay

Ya I would pay a nice amount for a ticket to a team with that lineup.

Jason Bay had 0 errors the entire year and was only the 5th regular OFer in MLB history to hit 30HR, get 100RBI while having 9 errors. Jason also led MLB OF's with 15 assists. You should learn more about him before you make accusations.

So what if he didn't make any errors in a season? Anyone should be able to catch a ball that's hit right at them. What he lacks, and lacks entirely, is RANGE. If you can manage to have a -13.9 UZR in a season, you're doing something wrong out there. And that's in the less than spacious OF of Fenway. Throw him out there in Safeco and it wouldn't be pretty. The fact that he has that many assists probably should tell you that people are running on him... and A LOT. Makes you wonder how many people he didn't throw out, that maybe someone with an above average arm would. Maybe it's you who should do a little learning...

For sure, I remember Manny led the league in OF assists when playing in front of the green monster.

Hilarious. Someone using RBI, assists, and errors to try to validate defensive talent is going to tell us we need to learn more.

This may sound unnecessarily jerkish but, how can Chowds be so dumb? You have one of the smartest run front offices in baseball, headlined by the intelligent Theo Epstein and the SABR guru Bill James, and yet I still run into members of the Red Sox Nation who couldn't do player analysis on a dead guy.

"There's optimism, then there's just denying reality. Neither Chavez nor Bedard will be playing baseball before July of next season."

Injuries can be so pivotal. Imagine, for example, had it been Gutierrez who had blown-out a knee ligament, and been gone until next July. How much would that change the landscape of the Putz deal? I guess what I'm saying is some injuries are more serious than others. The difference between Bedard and Jason Vargas is much greater that between Endy Chavez and, say, Ryan Langerhans. Guys like Chavez, you can work around. Losing an arm like Bedard, or losing a CF like Gutierrez, is much harder for a GM to work around.

Sure. Teams have to face this reality every season. If one of their more valuable players goes down, then the difference between the starter and the backup playing a majority of the season could be the difference between playoffs and not. As nice as it would be to have a Bedard like pitcher in depth, it just isn't realisitc. You're not going to have a team that's so good that a highly valuable pitcher is sitting on the bench. Thus, there's always a dropoff. Depending on how good said injured player is, that dropoff can be disastrous.

This is one reason why we measure value in Wins Above Replacement. If your replacement is a AAAA scrub, and that's all you have, then losing Evan Longoria is like losing 6 wins. Losing Zach Greinke is like losing 8 wins. Depth is important, but there isn't a realistic way to overcome it proactively. 95% of the time, the only way to fix a great loss is to go out and get a player who is close to that value. That means trading, and that usually gets expensive.