2007 Predictions for the Rays

[raiders_umpire]

My shot at some predictions for the 2007 season.

Team MVP--Carl Crawford
Best pitcher--Scott Kazmir
Most home runs this season--Ty Wigginton edging out Baldelli
Most steals--BJ Upton edging out Crawford
Most RBIs--Delmon Young
Biggest suprise--Upton proves he can play in the bigs and becomes the stud that everybody thought he was a few years ago. I think he will play in several positions including 2nd, 3rd, and CF.
2nd biggest suprise--Ben Zobrist is actually pretty good at SS. He will play very solid defense and prove himself capable with the bat as well.

Midseason shockers
2007 MLB Draft--The Drays select Matt Wieters C instead of David Price. Some Drays fans will be upset we passed on another pitcher, but the reason behind this is the young guys in minors pitching so well.
Most important midseason callup--Jeff Niemann. He is our 2nd best pitcher and we will need him to prove it this year in the bigs. If we have any chance to take on the big boys in the East, Niemann has to really step up.

Disappointments
Akinora Iwamura--His defense is stellar, but he is never able to prove himself with the bat. He will be in a huge battle with Longoria next spring over the 3rd base spot.
Dionoer Navarro--He is never able to turn himself into the catcher that most thought he would be. This is another reason why Wieters is our choice this summer.

Final 2007 record
74-88

Still not .500 but we finally get out of the 90 loss seasons.

[BooksRnot4U]

Team MVP: C.C.

Best Pitcher: Scot Kazmir

Most HR: Wigginton

Most SB: C.C.

Most RBI: flyer here with Baldelli

Biggest Surprise: Ben Zobrist as well might give us .300 BA with 5-15 HR and 50-70 RBI with 5-15 SB not bad at the end of the lineup ((or 2nd lol))

2nd Biggest Surprise: Elijah Dukes batting .300 playing DH ((I hope so bad

3rd Biggest Surprise: Chad Orvella becomes closer and gives 25+ Sv, sub 3.50 ERA, sub 1.40 WHIP, 2+ W, and does just a really good job for us.



Midseason Shockers

2007 MLB Draft: I don't want to say we'll be going C until we see Navarro play this year so I don't want to say anything

Most Important Mid-Season Callup - Niemann, agreed. Unless he gets injured

2nd Most Important Mid-Season Callup - J.P. Howell. I do beleive he gets called up at some point either to be a SU man or a SP and I think he will accel at either



Dissapointments

Fossum: Has been being worked deeping into outings although he is getting out of the situations who knows if that keeps up. Might leave room for Howell to come up.

Projected Record: 72-90 ((damn our division DAMN YOUUUUUu!!!!!)) if we were in the NL West about 81-81.... but for now lets just wait and see we might be past our 90 loss days hopefully but this is a team that in 2-3 years will be ready to compete in this tough division, not quite yet

[deerayfan072]

Team MVP--Carl Crawford-- Is there any doubt
Best pitcher--Scott Kazmir-- I think that Shields will be close
Most home runs this season--Delmon Young
Most steals--Crawford with Delmon Close behind
Most RBIs--Wiggy
Biggest suprise-- The Pitchers. Everyone complains about the pen and the starters, but i think with Hickey these guys wil turn it around and they will keep us in games.
2nd biggest suprise-- Totally agree with Raiders that Zobrist is going to shock some people. He has great D and dood can get on base.

Draft
We take Dave Price-- You can never have enough good pitchers

Midseason shockers
The Rays are actually in contention at Midseason. Dukes has not gotten into any trouble and and is playing well


Most important midseason callup-- I am going to go against the grain and say Mitch Talbot. He looked better than Niemann in camp and he doesn't carry the injury risk


Disappointments:
Aki's offense. He is great defensively, but i am not sure he will adjust offensively and he was our big offseason acquisition.

Final 2007 record
80-82 so close

[jlm53089]

MVP- CC
Pitcher- Scotty K
HR- Delmon
RBI- Crawford
SB- Crawford
Suprise- EJax wins 10 games and has an era below 4.
2nd suprise- we have more then one all-star

midseason draft- david price.

call up- joel guzman or juan salas.

dissapointment- aki. he hasnt had a good spring and he is going to make time to adjust it depends all on him.

record- 73-89

[raiders_umpire]

Pssst. His name is David Price out of Vanderbilt.

[BooksRnot4U]

Aki has raised his batting average from .67 to .187 over the past two weeks meaning he has had a .273 BA to make that go up which is very decent. He is improving. I truthfully beleive he gives us a high OBP with around a .280 BA and around 12-17 HR with 60-80 RBI with 5-10 SB and just amazing defense over at the hot corner.

[deerayfan072]

Pssst. His name is David Price out of Vanderbilt.

I hate my typos

[deerayfan072]

So it looks like our biggest disappointment is wrong so far

but i happy that i am wrong

[deerayfan072]

At the half:

Team MVP: James Sheilds (CC made the All-Star game, but without Shields god only knows where we would be)
Pitcher: Shields
HR: Pena
RBI: Pena
SB: CC
Surprise: Harris/Pena
Draft : Price
Disappointment: Navarro/Rocco

[scr]

Mid-Season Awards:

Team MVP: BJ
Team Cy Young: Jamie Shields
Biggest Disappointment: Tie: Blowpen/DRO handling of Dukes situation
Rookie of the Year: Delmon
Biggest Surprise: Tie: Aki/Reyes/Harris
Comeback Player of the Year: Pena
Best All-Around Player: CC
Worst All-Around player: St. Pete's Times