Fukodome.

Joey Votto. He is better than Headley or Soto and he will get a head start on Bruce, Rasmus, and Maybin.

would be my guess

FUKUDOME!

i have no idea what to make of Soto, but his "for-real" side ISN'T being fantastic/repeating last year.

Headley has a genuine shot (though I just read somewhere that he'd start in the minors -- not sure if it's true).

Rasmus, Bruce and Maybin will NOT be good in the majors this year, even if they do end up with a significant number of at-bats, so dismissing them is a no-brainer.

This time, I'm not even being contrarian (if still inevitably right) taking the field.

I think my personal favorite would be Votto, then Fukudome (who will undoubtedly get fewer votes than he deserves because of stubborn sportswriters). But my vote would still go to [unnamed darkhorse who emerges from nowhere and may or may not have a career of any note].

Or I could just dream about it being Clayton Kershaw, after another 3 inning, 1 H, 1 BB, 6 K performance tonight. (Not really, of course. His innings will be too low, even if his performance were good -- unlikely in and of itself. But I still wanted to talk about Kershaw's outing)

Just a hunch but I think Jurrjens will surprise.

bc

I'll take my odds with Towles, Fukudome, Cueto, JJ, Votto and the rest.

Manny Para!

I'm going with Jay Bruce. He'll get called up earlier then everyone expects and bat low enough in the order where he will see excellent pitches. Hitting at GAB will allow his homer totals to soar.

Uh, I meen FALSE

I think therre should be one vote cast for a guy who has been sensational all spring.

I think he'll spend all of 2 weeks in AAA and hit.286 with 24 homers...at Petco.

He's my pick.

I agree with an earlier post. Soto has all around game...Good hitting catcher with defensive ability and on a team that will contend this season. He will win it this season.

MLB will change the eligibility rules during the season to accomodate him, and Tim Lincecum will win.

Justin Upton

Race is too wide open to pick otherwise.

My darkhorses are Manny Parra and Stephen Pearce.

After the Phils take control of the division, their arms start to fail. They reach down to triple A and pull up JA Happ from Lehigh Valley. He pulls a Kyle Kendrick only better, and leads the Phils to WS victory.

Okay, so it's a stretch but there's my $.02.