Is your team a Contender or Pretender?
What is your team and what have they done in recent years? Are they near the top of the baseball world, near the bottom or somewhere in the middle? Do they have any playoff hopes next season or at least a chance for a winning record? If they are not very good, what needs to be done to get there? Are you happy with ownership or management and do they make enough of an effort to get the players they need to be successful?
I just wanna see the mind set of fans of certain teams.
Comments
my team is the Cleveland Indians and I have to say that they are defnitely contenders. They lost the World Series in 1995 and in 1997 but they got there, knocking out the Yankees in the process. They had a great run in the 90's and have recently risen to the top again. They played in one of the toughest divisions in baseball in 2007 and won it by playing some gritty baseball along with catching some breaks (both the Indians and the Tigers seemed to go on losing streaks at the same time). CC Sabathia was Cy Young winner and Mark Shapiro GM of the Year. People diss on them because they lost to Boston this year but there is nothing to diss on them for, really, as they are a good team. They also eliminated the vaunted NYY in the ALDS. They have Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez......just some really great guys to have on your team...and Casey Blake is good, too, but no household name, just a basic guy doing his job with no fanfare or glitter. Grady Sizemore is just a classic throwback - the guy goes all out no matter what the score or where we are in the standings. The Indians were a joke for decades but no one is laughing at them now and that feels good as an Indians fan - to know that they cannot be taken lightly, they are no walk in the park, nobody's whipping post. I was not happy with past moves by Mark Shapiro but this year he looked like a genius and he is probably one of the greatest GM's in baseball. It makes me proud to be a fan of the Cleveland Indians, knowing they are not viewed as the league creampuffs anymore and I can tell you all about their players...etc. I am not a fairweather fan and cheer for no other teams. My baseball season ends when Cleveland Indians baseball ends.
I think that the Red Sox are definitely contenders. They have a solid, well-rounded roster, containing both power and finesse pitchers; O.B.P. guys and home-run hitters; each of the starters can field his position well (including two Gold Glove winners); we even have speed from a couple of guys. For what more could you ask? I would definitely consider them a top-tier club.
In terms of being in contention for the pennant next season, I'm reasonably comfortable with the position in which the Sox have achieved. NYY is an amazingly good team and will always make winning the East / WC a tough go, but what victory is worth winning, if it's a cake walk? I would say, at this point, there are probably seven teams that have the legitimate ability to go to the playoffs next season, so the odds are good for the Sox.
I happen to adore the ownership team of the Sox! John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner front the organization very well. Tito has the luck of having players that are naturally gifted and work hard, every day. Theo is a great G.M. and makes the moves necessary to further the organization. And, while I don't approve of every decision that the front office has made in the past, I trust their decisions for the long-term (well, except for the Gag-me experiment... I never liked that one!).
Overall, I really love the Red Sox and baseball, in general!
My favorite team is the San Diego Padres. They are a good team that narrowly missed the playoffs on a questionable ruling on the game winning play at home.
They have been the frontrunners in the NL West until last season and they definetly have hopes for the postseason next year. The Padres have recently signed Randy Wolf, Mark Prior, Tadahito Iguchi, and those are all upgrades over last year. I think the Padres need to work out a trade with Craig S's Blue Jays for Alex Rios. They have also resigned Jake Peavy (thats pronounced B-E-A-S-T) and that is VERY GOOD.
Meh...the coaching staff is VERY GOOD. I am very happy with them. Our GM, Kevin Towers, does what he can with our limited payroll and our so called "pitchers ballpark" which makes big sluggers reluctant to play for us, if we can afford them in the first place. The Padres sucked with the previous owners, but with the Moores we are a playoff contender. But, most fans think they are horrible owners because they won't fork over the money. We don't need Yankee or Red Sox money, just a bit more.
Overall I am very happy with my team, I would be even happier if Fukudome had signed with us...but he signed with those Lovable Losers...
My Jays are a good team, but they're pretty much a pretender because they're stuck in a division with the Sox and Yanks.
I'd rate them in the top half of major league teams, and I think they'd contend in any other division. They should likely put together about an 85-to-90 win season in 2008, but that's probably not enough to come out of the AL East.
I think ownership puts forth a good effort, but needs to be more aggressive in going after some big names. With a strong Canadian dollar and Ted Rogers' deep pockets, this is a team that should be able to spend north of $100m if that's what it takes to build a winner. We'll have a top-3 pitching staff again next season, but we aren't likely to score enough runs to help us truly contend. With the Sox and Yanks, it's just awfully tough to win in that division.
My Minnesota Twins are a contrender every single years. Being a low market team like they are, I never give up on them and they will always win and win!
They've rose a Johan Santana, Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, and they are only going to get better and better.
Some people may say the Twins are pretender, but them winning 2 World Series Rings having little amount of money is great.
Go Twins.
individually i think of there Contenders, they have 3 great gamers on there team who avaraged over 20 factors in line with activity. The Boston Celtics will probably make it to the NBA finals. it's going to be stressful there are 3 different excellent communities. The Chicago Bulls, the Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavs, yet we are going to could desire to verify till the season starts off. Kobe Bryant could circulate to Chicago. he will circulate to the jap convention for confident. So we do not know. They extra good gamers different than the great 3. Eddie living house, James Posey, Glen Davis. I %. the Celtics to be interior the NBA finals in spite of if that's only too early to tell.
I love the reds and they have been at the bottom and not in the playoffs in 12 years. I never give up on them. They play in a weak division the nl central so they have as good as chance of any team in that division to win it. They have a new manager in Dusty Baker and have been making some moves to get more starting pitching and to improve themselves. I have high hopes for them in 2008.
The Yankees are always contenders
well the Yankees have gone to the Playoffs and gotten kicked out by the first round
,at the moment i think there in the middle
There the Yankees they always have Chance
Well The Steinbrenner sons have done so far has been good its just we need pitching bullpen help
Philles! They won their division last year, have one of the best infields in baseball, they made their bull pen stronger by picking up Lidge and getting Myers back into the rotation. The Phillies are a Contender!
Hopefully the Reds will be contenders. They have some skilled players in the minors. If the starters can go 6 strong they have Burton, Weathers, and Cordero as MRP, SU, and closers. I'm never too worried about the offense