There are five teams in the Major Leagues that have payrolls of $100 million or more. They are the New York Yankees ($198 million), the Boston Red Sox ($120 million), the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ($103 million), the Chicago White Sox ($102 million) and the New York Mets ($100 million). Look at these five teams. What has happened to these teams this year? You have a loss in the first round of the playoffs (Yankees) and a pending loss in the second round of the playoffs (Mets). The other three teams lost their divisions and didn't make the playoffs. Thats pathetic for $100 million plus payroll teams.
     Lets look at who did make the playoffs: Los Angeles Dodgers ($99 million), St. Louis Cardinals ($86 million), San Diego Padres ($68 million), Detroit Tigers ($82 million), Oakland Athletics ($62 million) and the Minnesota Twins ($63 million). Big difference, right? So why don't the teams that do have big payrolls win and the teams that are under $100 million (though the Dodgers are fairly close to $100 million) win? Well, to put it simply, spending. The teams with big checkbooks spend thriftly buying all the best offense they can. The teams with lower payrolls spend wisely and buy up the cheap offense to go along with their personal big bopper creating a balanced lineup and quality pitchers to put in the rotation and the bullpen. What? I didn't say pitching for the big spenders? Maybe for a reason? Yeah, for a reason. Look at the Mets, the Yankees, Red Sox and Angels. They have no pitching staff. Only the White Sox have pitching, and they have a lot of it. The Yankees have two pitchers that collect Social Security after every start (Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson) as do the Mets (Tom Glavine). Then, they fill their bullpen with over priced and washed up pitchers, the same with the back of their rotation. Pedro Martinez was good in 2004 and hasn't been since. Maybe these teams that spend money on offense need to buy some quality pitching.
     I got into an argue with my brother a few months ago. I kept telling him the American League is a pointless league because they buy up all the talent they can and don't care about their spending. He told me the National League does the same. Then I spat into his face with this comment: Name 5 teams, other than the Mets, that have enormus payrolls. He had no answer. Then he came up with this: Take out the top spender and lowest spender in each league and see what the average payroll is (so the number isn't skewed by the Yankees or the Florida Marlins). So, I'll do it now. Here is the average payroll for the American League (excluding the Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and the National League (excluding the Mets and Marlins):
American League Average Payroll 2006: $78,056,695 million
National League Average Payroll 2006: $73,708,125 million
     Now, at first look you say, "haha, you were wrong! There is only a $5 million difference!" Well, that may be true. I would respond with, "How many teams are in the AL? The NL?" True baseball fans would know this right away. There are 14 teams in the AL and 16 in the NL. Then, you figure I took off two teams from both leagues, that leaves 12 in the AL and 14 in the NL. Thats right, the AL has a higher average payroll without the Yankees and three other teams.
     Knowing all of this, you can now understand why the NL loses in the All-Star game and in the World Series. You also know that the AL is stacked with teams that want to win so badly, they'll spend as much as they can to do it (and the Marlins were in the Wild Card chase till a late fade with a $15 million payroll. Food for thought there). Enjoy this new found knowledge!
*All numbers for payrolls were rounded up to the nearest million except in figuring the average. The numbers were taken from Espn.com. Thank you ESPN for the information!*

     The St. Louis Cardinals have Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter. That's what most people say. For us Cardinal fans, we say differently. Sure, we have the reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winners, but we also have Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, Yadier Molina, David Eckstein and Juan Encarnacion. There is, however, one more thing that has been added to that list and that is the bullpen. The past two years we've had the best bullpen in the majors. This year, everyone knew the Cardinals bullpen wasn't as good as it has been. Without Ray King and Julian Taverez, it shouldn't be. Instead, the Cardinals started from scratch. They started with Jason Isringhausen, Randy Flores and Brad Thompson. They filled the spots with Ricardo Rincon, Josh Hancock, Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper. Now, Rincon and Isringhausen are gone because of injuries. Now, they filled those two roles with Josh Kinney and Tyler Johnson, both rookies. Lets break down the young pen and show you how they are doing it.
     First, lets start with the guy that was there last year and did great, started bad this year and finished good: Brad Thompson. Thompson has got a sinking fastball, groundball pitcher. He doesn't over dominate you, but he'll get the job done. He gets mostly grounders to get you out, and he does it well. He started the season good but in the middle became really rocky when the bullpen fell apart. He was sent to Triple A Memphis to be a starter and work out the kinks, which he did. Since coming back up, Thompson appeared in 10 games in the regular season (the end of August and all of Spetember and October) and had a 1.13 ERA. In the postseason so far, he's appeared in two games and pitched one inning combined for a 0.00 ERA and one strikeout and one walk. Not bad. Thompson, before last year, was thought of as a future number 5 starter come 2007. Now, I don't think Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan want him pitching every fifth day because he's become so good out of the bullpen. This is one pitcher that has the bright lights of fame in front of him.
     Adam Wainwright is the new closer for the Cardinals. He started the year in Spring Training competeing with Sidney Ponson and Anthony Reyes for the fifth starter job. Wainwright was considered a long shot. At the end of Spring Training, Ponson was the number five starter, Reyes was at Memphis and Wainwright was in the bullpen. The bullpen? Wasn't this guy considered a long shot? He was a long shot, but the Cardinals needed help in the bullpen, and Wainwright got the job over Reyes because of Reyes' lack of warming up in a hurry and if the Cardinals needed Reyes for the rotation, he'd be ready by starting at Memphis. So, Wainy was in the pen working some good innings and pitched great. He pitched in 51 games before Spetember and had a 2.84 ERA. Thats impressive. Espically for a guy who'll be in the starting rotation next year. When he was still pitching in relief, then moved to being a setup man then moved into the closer's role in September, he posted a 2.79 ERA over 10 games and was 2 out of 2 in saves. In the postseason, he's gone four and a third innings over four games and is 1 out of 1 in saves and has yet to allow a run. Way to go Wainy!
     Tyler Johnson was a nasty lefthander that was taken in the Rule V draft in 2004 by the Oakland Athletics. The Cardinals knew he would taken because he was so good, but they didn't have room for him on their 40 man roster. The Athletics though returned him and the Cardinals then added him to thier 40 man roster because they didn't want to lose him again. When Rincon went down early, it was Johnson that got the call, not Carmen Cali (who is now basically done in the Cardinals organization). Johnson pitched ok to start with, then got rocky and then pitched amazing. He ended the year with a 4.95 ERA over 56 games. In the postseason, he's showed why he's so good. Todd Walker of the San Diego Padres said his slider (his best pitch) is the nastiest thing he has ever seen. He also has a very good fastball and can get the lefties out in a hurry. He can also dominate the right handed batters if he comes in with that slider. He is key kog to this revamped bullpen.
     Last, but certainly not least, is Josh Kinney. First off, let me say Kinney pitched at Quincy Unniversity during his college years and QU is my hometown's college, so I like Kinney more than anyone else (Josh Rabe of the Minnesota Twins also played at QU). Kinney was pitching with an independent league team a few years ago when the Cardinals found him. They persuaded him to come into their organization. He did, and he's flourished. He wasn't at Spring Training and he has bounced around all over the Cardinals organization, but has finally made it. He is the setup man to the new closer Wainwright and has pitched well since his recall from Memphis. When he first came up, he had a 4.97 ERA over his first 10 games and was sent down. When Spetember came along, he got recalled and proved he was better than what he showed in July. He pitched in 10 games and had a 1.97 ERA in Spetember and October and has pitched extremely well in the postseason so far: 3 games, 0.00 ERA, 2 Ks, 2 BB in 3 innings. Not bad at all.
     Now that you know how good these four have been, think about next year. Hancock and Looper will be back and Isringhausen will be healthy. Johnson and Flores will still be the dynamic duo against lefties and Kinney will be out there as well. Wainy will be in the rotation. That's six guys. Know what that means? They can either sign a veteren (maybe Kerry Wood? Great fastball, former starter. He could be a good setup man) or callup Mark Worrell. The possibilities are endless right now.

     Now that the season is over, we can finally start making real predictions for all of the awards. Now, there are so many hard picks, this will not be easy; however, I'll do my best. Before I start though, I will only say who wins and why they do. Then I'll do a little blurb after the winner on who was passed up with the place they finished in after their name in (). Ok, MVP time. The National League goes first because obviously the National League is better than the American League.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER 2006
NATIONAL LEAGUE: ALBERT PUJOLS, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
This is a no doubter folks. Who lifted the St. Louis Cardinals into the playoffs? Albert Pujols. Who didn't? Ryan Howard. Who ended a possible third eight game losing streak for the Cardinals? Albert Pujols. The guy is obvious pick. Sorry Philly fans. Ryan Howard does deserve the Most Outstanding player, no doubt; however, the Most VALUABLE Player is the guy that carries you into the postseason, not carries your luggage to the terminal for a flight home.
SORRY TO: Howard (2nd), Carlos Beltran (3rd)
AMERICAN LEAGUE: JUSTIN MORNEAU, MINNESOTA TWINS
There is no denying that Morneau wins the MVP for the AL. Without him, the Twins never would have won the division (or go to the postseason for that matter). The guy made the Twins go. Sure, say Johan Santanna made them go, but he led the pitching staff. He led the pitching staff last year too and and "made them go" home. So, obviously Santanna can't do it alone. This is where Moneau came in and won the MVP award and stole it from other deserving players.
SORRY TO: David Ortiz (2nd), Derek Jeter (3rd), Frank Thomas (4th), Santanna (5th), Jim Thome (6th), Jermaine Dye (7th)

CY YOUNG AWARD 2006
NATIONAL LEAGUE: CHRIS CARPENTER, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Yes folks, it's a clean sweep for the Cardinals again. Carp was very dominate all year long. Sure, he had some struggles along the way, but he did towards the end of the year last year. This year, though, can be blamed on a inconsistent bullpen. Because of that pen, Tony La Russa was forced to leave Carp out there on an empty tank at the end of the year and his numbers suffered. Although, a 15-8 record and 3.09 earned run average is pretty damn good.
SORRY TO: Roy Oswalt (2nd), Brad Penny (3rd), Carlos Zambrano (4th)
AMERICAN LEAGUE: JOHAN SANTANNA, MINNESOTA TWINS
Another sweep, this time for the Twins. Santanna carried the Twins pitching yet again. He was the MLB leader in all three pitching Triple Crown categories (ERA, Wins and Ks). This guy is dominant and when he took the mound, you know you were gonna win.
SORRY TO: Barry Zito (2nd), Justin Verlander (3rd), Kenny Rogers (4th)

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
NATIONAL LEAGUE: JOE GIRARDI, FLORIDA MARLINS
It's a shame what happened to Girardi. Get stuck with a bunch of rookies, be predicted to win less games than the Kansas City Royals and end up with a 78-84 record then get fired because he strained relations with the front office? Thats gotta blow. Girardi, though, gets the last laugh. He'll be interviewing for jobs left and right and has the Manager of the Year award for 2006 to put on his resume. The Marlins were foolish to let him go, and they'll more than likely regret it. The question is though: How long will Gonzalez last in Florida?
SORRY TO: Charlie Manuel (2nd), Grady Little (3rd), Bruce Bochy (4th), Phil Garner (5th), Tony La Russa (6th)
AMERICAN LEAGUE: JIM LEYLAND, DETROIT TIGERS
In his first year in Florida, he won a World Series. In his first year with Detroit, he almost pulled of the greatest upset: win the division and knock out the White Sox. Part 2 came through, but they didn't win the division. Thats ok though. Mr. Miracle came through and guided the Tigers to their first playoff berth in 19 years and did it while everyone was telling him his team wasn't good enough. Who's laughing now?
SORRY TO: Ron Gardenhire (2nd), Ken Macha (3rd)
NOT SORRY TO: Joe Torre (30th)

And there you have it folks, your 2006 awards. I only did these three because they are the most important, and the MVP has had a lot of debate behind it this year. So, there you go and I hope you enjoy!

     Let this be known right away, I am not a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan. I cannot stand the American League East, or the American League for that matter. So don't think I'm a homer. Since that is now known, I can finally type my story. Theo Epstein has an ok team in front of him, but he really needs to do something else. He needs to address about every part of his roster this offseason. Here's what the Red Sox need to do in order to keep pace with the Yankees next season. Some of these moves probably won't happen, but they can work.
     ANDRUW JONES: The Braves want to resign. Jones wants to stay a Brave. Does this mean this will happen? No. Could it? Yes. The Braves don't really have enough money to reisgn Jones after this season, and if Jones goes to Beantown, he could make a lot of money. Plus, the Braves could benefit a lot from a trade of Jones. They could trade Jones to Boston for Coco Crisp (to play left field and leadoff), Mike Lowell, Kason Gabbard and Manny Delcarmen. Now, you ask why trade a center fielder for a left fielder? Simple, the Braves need someone out in left that is good. Also, Crisp could be their leadoff man (or Edgar Renteria could take that spot). They just need to bump Marcus Giles from the leadoff spot. He's not comfortable there, and everyone knows it. This could also be beneficial because that will allow the Braves to sign Torii Hunter (if he's a free agent) to play center. Their lineup would get a big boost. Gabbard could be in the rotation for the Braves in the second half of next season (starting at Triple A) and all of 2008. Delcarmen could be out in the bullpen and help out their to bridge the gap to Bob Wickman. Lowell would be good for Chipper Jones. Jones and Lowell are getting up there in age and their play is starting to show it. If you platoon these two, their injuries could be done and both could impact the club.
     For the Red Sox, they get a great hitting center fielder whose bat has finally come alive in recent years. Jones is also a super defender and is a big boost over Coco Crisp and anyone else that they put out in center.
     BARRY ZITO: The Red Sox have an ok rotation. They'll have Josh Beckett (inconsistent), Curt Schilling (old and inconsistent), Jon Lester, Jon Papelbon, Matt Clement and Tim Wakefield. All of those pitchers are either young, old, consistent or a combonation of some. Thats not good enough to compete with the Yankees offense (they have a pitching staff other than Wang and Johnson?). They need to add a boost. That's where Zito comes in. Zito can fit in nicely in this rotation as the number one starter. That'll put these pitchers following Zito: Beckett, Schilling, Paplebon and Lester. This lets the pitchers know where they stand in relation to their peers so they can pitch better. If you're told you're the ace of the staff, that can mess with your head if you've never been one before. Schilling can't carry this staff anymore and Beckett is Beckett. Zito is needed to keep this rotation together. This also makes Wakefield and Clement expandable to trade off for some pitching help. They really don't have a closer, unless Keith Foulke or Craig Hansen and take the duty. Look at this bullpen: Foulke, Hansen, Mike Timlin and Julian Taverez. Is that threatening? Not really. They really need to add some people. They can look to teams that have a lot of youth coming up, that way they don't care if they give up some veterens. They could also look to signing Joe Borowski to help build a bridge, maybe even be the closer. Eric Gagne will be available, maybe they could go there. No matter what they do, they need to stock the bullpen along with adding Zito to help improve this offense.
     GARY SHEFFIELD & MARK LORETTA: Yes folks, Gary Sheffield. Sheffield is getting old, but based on the other night, the guy can still hit when healthy. To help keep him healthy, the Yankees moved Sheffield to first. Well, the Red Sox just traded off Lowell. Remember? The Red Sox really want to move Kevin Youkilis back to third, and thats why they traded Mike Lowell. This allows them to move Youkilis to third and sign Sheffield to play first. Look at that, their defense is almost completed. They just need to resign Loretta. They did have a middle infield combo coming up in Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia, but they traded Ramirez. This leaves Pedroia, who has and can play second and short. This is big. They can move him to short and keep Loretta to play second and their defense has taken a big leap. Also, their offense has as well. We have one more move, then I'll show you the updated lineup.
     GEOFF JENKINS: Yes folks, Jenkins. Sure, he's not great anymore, but neither is Trot Nixon. Thaats why I'm letting Nixon go and I'm trading two Single A players to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jenkins. Jenkins, en turn, will play in a platoon with Wily Mo Pena and Manny Ramirez. Pena is good enough to play everyday, but he needs to be kept fresh. With this platoon, he'll play about 100 games (three out of five games he plays) and Jenkins would play about 62 games in right. Then, he'd also be used to give Ramirez a day off. Meaning, he'd play about 20 games in left. He could also be used in the DH spot as well, once in a while.
     Ok, so here's the new lineup that I would put out there everyday:
SS  Pedoria
RF  Pena/Jenkins
DH  David Ortiz
LF   Ramirez
CF  Jones
 C   Jason Varitek
1B  Sheffield
3B  Youkilis
2B  Loretta
Thats a pretty good looking lineup right there. Speed and on-base percentage at the top, then comes a very good power supply with the 2-5. Then comes some good hitters with the 6-8. Then, it's your second leadoff man in the ninth spot to get it back to the top of the lineup.
     Now, that sounds like a very productive offseason. What do you think?

     So, now that there's only a week left in the regular season, it's time to get down and dirty with the playoff predicitions. Now, only two divisions have been clinched, two more will be clinched in three days or less and the other two will go down to the wire, along with the Wild Card races (of both leagues). So, I'm going to show you my predicitions below, and all the teams I have in are the teams I think (or all ready know) will be in the playoffs.
     First, the best league out of the two, the National League. This is how the National League side will break down:
NEW YORK METS vs. LOS ANGELES DODGERS
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS vs. SAN DIEGO PADRES
The Dodgers will be the Wild Card team and the Padres won the West. The Cardinals blow out the Padres, again, in a three game sweep. The Mets, with their pitching lacking, get beat by the Dodgers in five games. The Mets have a great offensive team; however, you need pitching to help you win. Ask the Boston Red Sox what all offense and no pitching gets you. Sure, the Mets have Pedro Martinez (who is very inconsistent and still a little injuried) and Tom Glavine (inconsistent) and Steve Trachsel (enough said). That's it though. Oliver Perez is a joke, ask the PITTSBURGH PIRATES! If you get sent down by the Pirates, and then traded, you're pretty much useless. Sure, he has pitched ok in New York, but only ok. In retrospect, he pitched ok in Pittsburgh too. John Maine, a guy that hasn't smelled the postseason. You want to count on him? Good luck with that. The Dodgers, though, have a proven force of attack. They have three starters with World Series rings (two coming in the last three years), a pitcher who won 15+ games a year for more than a decade who is also a 300 game winner and a very good, hard throwing rookie. Their rotation is much better than the Mets and thats what will stop their offense. The Mets' pitching staff will not be able to halt the Dodger's offensive enslaut and they will end up winning the series.
     The Cardinals will sweep the Padres. I know I'm a Cardinal fan and everything so my answer is kind of bias, but still: Cardinals have a better team. The Padres have two good starters and a starter with a good postseason history (whose numbers are flawed because he pitched with the New York Yankees in their World Series run). The Cardinals have the regining (and more than likely repeat) Cy Young Award winner, a starter who has been nothing short of dominate in the second half, and two vets that can eat innings. The Cardinals have a balanced offense with David Eckstein back and three guys that have put up a combined .291 AVG, 60 HR (Juan Encanracion needs one more to be the fourth Cardinal with 20 bombs this year) and 211 RBI behind the regining (and more than likely repeat) Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols. In June, the Cardinals missed his bat a lot and these players (Encarnacion, Chris Duncan and Scott Rolen) didn't step it up to make up for Pujols' bat, proving they need him in the lineup to win. Now that Pujols and Eckstein ar ehealthy, and the three backing up Pujols are having decent seasons (Duncan by the way doesn't even have 300 at bats yet and has 20 homeruns), the Cardinals can blow the Padres out of the water.
     The next series, the League Championship Series, will be a tough one. You have the well balanced Dodgers who just beat the best National Leagaue team during the regular season and the Cardinals, who have been the best team in the National League the last two years. This series will go all seven games, most definently. The Cardinals will come out on top, but by a slim margin. The Dodgers have three great starters and then a so-so starter, whereas the Cardinals have one great starter, a good starter and then two so-so starters. If the Cardinals get their way and have Jeff Suppan and Chris Carpenter start Games 1 and 2, then get Jason Marquis and Jeff Weaver to start Games 3 and 4, they'll be in good shape. With the Dodgers being the Wild Card team, the Cardinals would have homefield advantage and Carp and Supp have pitched better at home and vice versa for Weaver and Marquis. Game 5 would belong to Anthony Reyes so Carp and Supp could pitch at home, if needed. The Dodgers would throw Greg Maddux in Game 1 against Carp, Derek Lowe in Game 2 against Supp, Brad Penny in Game 3 against Marquis and then Chad Billingsley in Game 4 against Weaver. This is where the Dodgers need to be creative. They could pitch Maddux in game four and save Billingsley for Game 5, and then pitch Lowe and Penny in the final two games. This would also assure Maddux to be ready for Game 1 of the World Series (if they make it, which won't happen). This could also assure the Dodgers a better suited matchup for an important Game 4 and it lets Billingsley pitch against a fellow rookie. I'll stop myself from my rambling to move on and say the Cardinals are in the World Series.
     Tune in on Thursday for the American League AND World Series Matchup blog!