I went back and compiled all of our Bold Predctions from our 30 Teams in 30 Days series. A great series on what we thought was going to happen in 2011. Here are the predictions that have been spot on.
Brandon Phillips returns to form and goes 25-25 (not quite 30-30) but he hits .325 and finishes fourth in the MVP race. *He’s hitting .323 with 5 bombs and 3 SB.
Andrew Bailey will have a 4.67 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP and 22 saves. *The spirit of this post is that Bailey would have a disappointing 2011. He hasn’t pitched in the Bigs yet…
Chris Iannetta, with regular playing time, will hit .205 with 35 HRs. *He’s currently hitting .220 with 5 bombs. That puts him on pace for about 25 HR’s and considering balls fly out more in the summer months, I like his chances.
Cameron Maybin will finally check in on his immense talent and prove a serviceable Major Leaguer. *He’s currently hitting .264 with 5 bombs and 7 steals. Very serviceable.
Howie Kendrick will finally live up to expectations, making his first All-Star game. *.322 average with 7 HR. He’s on pace
Shaun Marcum will win 20 games. *He’s got 6 a quarter way through the season
Joe Mauer will regress further. He had only 9 HR a year ago but look for his average to drop to .310. *He’s played only 9 games but hit .235
Adam Dunn struggles moving over to the AL, hitting 25 HRs and having a sub .230 AVG. *He’s got 4 HR and is hitting .190
Chris Perez makes the All-Star game and pitches a perfect 5th inning. Perez has 30+ saves. *Perez already has 12-putting him on pace for about 45.
Jonny Venters will dominate hitters with a sub 1.20 ERA and get the save in the 10th inning of All Star game. *Venters currently has a 0.68 ERA
Jair Jurrjens will have a sub 3.00 ERA. *It’s at 1.80
Top 5 Cy Young finish for Josh Johnson
Josh Beckett has a major comeback year. 3.40 ERA, 18 wins, and 212 K. *On pace for 12 wins, 1,73 ERA, and 208 K’s
Ben Zobrist hits 24 HR. *He’s got 8 so far
We were pretty accurate with a few obscure predictions. Also, we included many trades, callups, and replacements to come by Mid-June or May. Considering we’re only to Mid-May, we should really wait to evaluate these predictions until the end of the year. It’s still fun to see just how much we know or how little we know despite how much we think we know. Hooray convoluted sentences! Max will give you a little idea about how off we were on some Bold Predictions in the next couple days. Hint: We had Manny hitting .298/.402/.487 with 24 HR and 93 RBI.
Stat of the Day: Mike Piazza leads all National League players for HR’s by a DH with 10.
-Sean Morash
