Morning Notes, April 7, 2026 - Minor League Ball

Morning Notes, April 7, 2010

by John Sickels on Apr 7, 2026 8:00 AM EDT Comment 30 comments

Wednesday Notes, April 7, 2026

**I'm in Washington DC on SB Nation business this week. I should return home Thursday night, and the minor league season begins in earnest this weekend. Stay tuned, we have some really cool stuff coming up for you this year. You may have noticed a more aggressive posting schedule, going from one a day to three or four. That will definitely continue, but is just a foretaste.

**I want to wrap up the Community Projection Project on Friday, so please get your entries in for Brian Matusz, Austin Jackson, and Stephen Strasburg. They are off the front page now, so here are links to the Matusz Projection Thread and the Jackson Projection Thread.

**Here are my predictions for 2010. Feel free to post yours in the comment thread. My major league predictions are never right, but they are fun to do.

AL EAST: Boston Red Sox
AL CENTRAL: Detroit Tigers (Twins and White Sox finished tied for second, one game behind)
AL WEST: Texas Rangers
WILD CARD: New York Yankees
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Oakland is in first place on June 30^th, but fades down the stretch as the Rangers pick up steam.
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Twins struggle in the first half, rally but fall short.
PLAYOFF WINNER: Boston Red Sox
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
AL CY: Justin Verlander leads league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.
AL ROY: Brian Matusz

NL EAST: Atlanta Braves
NL CENTRAL: St. Louis Cardinals
NL WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers
WILD CARD: Philadelphia Phillies (finish one game behind Braves)
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: San Diego Padres finish second behind Dodgers in a tightly-bunched division
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Giants finish in last place
PLAYOFF WINNER: Atlanta Braves. No one figures out exactly how they do it. They somehow win 94 games but with a Pythagorean W/L of 86-76.
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL CY: Adam Wainwright
NL ROY: Jason Heyward

WORLD SERIES: Red Sox crush the Braves, four games to one.

0 recs | Comment 30 comments | Add comment

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Mine

AL East:
Boston Red Sox
Tampa Bay Rays (Wild Card)
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central:
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals

AL West:
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics

NL East:
Atlanta Braves
Philadelphia Phillies (Wild Card)
Florida Marlins
NY Mets
Washington Nationals

NL Central:
Cincinnati Reds
St Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates
Houston Astros

NL West:
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Diego Padres

AL MVP: Evan Longoria
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
AL Rookie of the Year: Brian Matusz
NL MVP: Justin Upton
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward

World Series: Mariners over Braves

The AL and NL West could really finish in any order (along with the top half of the AL East). If the Mariners can come out on top, I really like the Felix/Lee tandem in a short series.

People seem down on the Tigers this year. I guess that they’re expecting the Granderson loss to be a big factor, but I think the team is better with Scherzer and Jackson (assuming Scherzer is healthy). A top 3 of Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello should be fantastic.

I may be a year too early on the Reds, but there’s a lot of talent on that roster. I am concerned about Dusty though, especially considering that he left Drew Stubbs out of the Opening Day lineup.

by jar75 on Apr 7, 2026 9:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm with you on the Tigers

I think they’re the favorite in that division. I really think the White Sox are going to suck far more than people think (like, they could easily be in 4th place…maybe even 5th with an injury or two).

www.zekeishungry.com

by thejd44 on Apr 7, 2026 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you could shoot the starting pitcher of your choice along with gordon beckham

and they’d still have ten more wins than the royals.

by larry on Apr 8, 2026 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll only focus on the NL, since that is the league I watch more often

NL East:
Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves (Wild Card)
NY Mets

NL Central:
St Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers

NL West:
San Francisco Giants
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers

POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: The Pirates hitting carries the team for a while
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: The Dodgers pitching never comes around

POSITIVE SURPRISE PLAYER: Garrett Jones makes an MVP push!
NEGATIVE SURPRISE PLAYER: Adrian Gonzalez has a subpar year, making a trade for him anti-climatic.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward

by unspider on Apr 7, 2026 10:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How are the Giants going to beat out both the Dodgers and Rockies

when they cannot score runs?

by lakersdodgersyankees4life on Apr 7, 2026 6:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Basically by continuing what they've been doing so far this season

Getting Renteria healthy and Huff and DeRosa being upgrades from last year.
Sandoval having one year more experience.

Schierholtz, Uribe and Ishikawa being competent role players instead of plugged in as starters.

Does it mean they get lucky with Rowand, Sanchez and Bowker as regulars? Sure. But that’s completely impossible either.

by unspider on Apr 7, 2026 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

re

AL EAST: Yankees
AL CENTRAL: Twins
AL WEST: mariners
WILD CARD: Red Sox
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Whitesox (they did finish below .500 last year)
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Rays (back to mediocrity)
PLAYOFF WINNER: Yankees
AL MVP: Derek jeter (wins 1st and only of career)
AL CY: Josh Beckett
AL ROY: Brian Matusz

NL EAST: Phillies
NL CENTRAL: Cardinals
NL WEST: Diamondbacks (wishful thinking maybe)
WILD CARD: Dodgers
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Reds, Mets
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Giants, marlins
PLAYOFF WINNER: Cardinals
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL CY: Doc Halladay
NL ROY: Jason Heyward

WORLD SERIES: Yankees 4-2

by ScottAZ on Apr 7, 2026 11:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Obviously I'm a homer and I understand picking them to miss the playoffs

but what would lead you to predict the Rays back to mediocrity?

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Apr 7, 2026 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't read too much into it

He has the D-Backs making the playoffs.

AL West

Oakland 90-72
LAAA 88-74
Texas 83-79
Seattle 77-85

By: Josey Wales

by Drew062682 on Apr 8, 2026 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

in the NL West...

Look at our roster and then go look at everyone elses. Tell me who is better on paper. ONLY team that can be said is the Dodgers.

And you should talk, the A’s haven’t had a winning record since 2006 and you’re picking them to finish 1st in the AL West….. right…. just don’t question my picks chief

by ScottAZ on Apr 9, 2026 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rays

I think that all the turmoil surroundign the team’s contract situations will wear the team down. Answering questions about Crawford leaving, Pena leaving, etc, and the deep AL East has me thinking they will finish around .500 instead of the 95+ wins it would take to win the east

by ScottAZ on Apr 9, 2026 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

two votes for Giants as negative surprise, one vote for the division?

put me down as the third vote for negative surprise. and I’m a fan of the team’s.

by wcw on Apr 7, 2026 11:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Aubrey Huff is gonna be a real negative surprise for Brian Sabean

“Its our window!” - “Huff will bat cleanup!” Might as well hang a sign around your neck that tells everyone you’re incompetent.

Mercifully, I think this is the year he gets fired.

Bullpen Banter
www.bullpenbanter.com
twitter: @alskor

by alskor on Apr 7, 2026 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would have agreed with you in the offseason

But it looks Renteria’s injury last year was legit, Huff and DeRosa are upgrades (to what extent remains to be seen), and Uribe batting eight (for now with Sanchez out), isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The starting pitching won’t be as good as it was last year, but still good enough, and the bullpen is really solid, until they get overworked.

So, winning the division might be a fantasy, but they’re a good enough team to beat out the Dodgers for second in the division.

by unspider on Apr 7, 2026 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guaranteed wrong or your next pizza's free:

AL EAST: Boston Red Sox
AL CENTRAL: Minnesota Twins
AL WEST: Los Angeles Angels
WILD CARD: New York Yankees
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Baltimore will finish within 2 games of 3rd place in AL East
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Done in by pitching, Tampa Bay will finish distant third in AL East, barely edging out Baltimore.
PLAYOFF WINNER: Boston Red Sox
AL MVP: Kevin Youkilis; .300+ BA, .400+ OBP plus, most important to voters, lots of RBIs and gritty clutchiness, barely edges out Kendry Morales.
AL CY: Felix Hernandez
AL ROY: Brian Matusz

NL EAST: Philadelphia Phillies
NL CENTRAL: St. Louis Cardinals
NL WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers
WILD CARD: Colorado Rockies
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: NY Mets don’t finish the season 1-161
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Atlanta misses the playoffs, finishing third behind the Phils and the Fish, causing Craig Calcaterra’s head to asplode.
PLAYOFF WINNER: Philadelphia
NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki (voters tire of handing Pujols the award, vote Tulowitzki after 950 OPS, Gold Glove season. Keith Law accused of having a bias towards the Cardinals when he puts Pujols first and Tulo third.)
NL CY: Roy Halladay
NL ROY: Jason Heyward

WORLD SERIES: Red Sox over Phillies, 4-2

by ThomasG on Apr 7, 2026 11:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Law

Funny comment there on the NL MVP - I can assure you that Keith Law will never be accused of having a bias towards the Cardinals.

by vpuckett74 on Apr 8, 2026 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Al east: Boston
Al central: Minnesota
Al west: Seattle
WC: New York
MVP: Longoria
CY young: Lester
Roy: Matusz
Positive surprise team: Baltimore
Negative: New York

Nl east: Philadelphia
Nl central: St.Louis
Nl west: Colorado
WC: Atlanta
MVP:
Bk central: St.Louis

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 12:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Clicked post to early, sorry. I’ll continue.
MVP: Pujols
CY young: Halladay
Roy: Heyward
Positive: Reds
Negitive: Dodgers
World Series: Red Sox beat Phillies

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

AL EAST: Tampa Bay Rays
AL CENTRAL: Chicago White Sox
AL WEST: Texas Rangers
WILD CARD: Boston Red Sox
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Cleveland comes up with enough offense to stay in the hunt through the All-Star break
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Anaheim tumbles from the top in the West
PLAYOFF WINNER: Boston
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera
AL CY: Matt Garza
AL ROY: Justin Smoak, thanks to an injury to Vlad

NL EAST: Philadelphia Phillies
NL CENTRAL: Cincinnati Reds
NL WEST: Arizona Diamondbacks
WILD CARD: Florida Marlins
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Florida
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: St. Louis, who fall apart when Pujols’ back sidelines him for 50 games
PLAYOFF WINNER: Arizona
NL MVP: Hanley Ramirez
NL CY: Roy Halladay
NL ROY: Mike Stanton, who does an uncanny Miguel Cabrera 2003 impression after a late May promotion

WORLD SERIES: Boston over Arizona, 4-2. V-Mart gets the Series MVP.

by AntonSirius on Apr 7, 2026 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

AL EAST: Yankees
AL CENTRAL: White Sox
AL WEST: Angels
WILD CARD: Orioles
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Orioles
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Red Sox bats disappoint the great rotation though Twins, Mariners are right there with them
PLAYOFF WINNER: Yankees
AL MVP: Derek Jeter
AL CY: John Lackey
AL ROY: Brian Matusz

NL EAST: Phillies
NL CENTRAL: Cardinals
NL WEST: Rockies
WILD CARD: Dodgers
POSITIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Marlins though Pirates will have better pitching than most think.
NEGATIVE SURPRISE TEAM: Braves, Brewers, D’backs, Cubs, Brewers…Take your pick
PLAYOFF WINNER: Rockies
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL CY: Dan Haren though Hamels comes close after racking up a ton of wins.
NL ROY: Mike Leake ousts Jason Heyward

WORLD SERIES: Yankees over Rockies 4-1 MVP Brett Gardner

by sjkqw on Apr 7, 2026 1:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Gardner? Really?

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I guess in his scenario they face a NL team with an all righty rotation...

Bullpen Banter
www.bullpenbanter.com
twitter: @alskor

by alskor on Apr 7, 2026 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I guess. Its not like Gardner can hit anyways.

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nothing special

But better than I thought he would be. Still a 4th OFer to me.

Bullpen Banter
www.bullpenbanter.com
twitter: @alskor

by alskor on Apr 7, 2026 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He’ll never be more than that. I like Melky Cabrera better.

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why not?

Can’t a player get hot during a 5 game stretch. It’s not like for the entire season or even the entire playoffs. Just against the Rockies

by sjkqw on Apr 7, 2026 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How could he win World Series MVP when the Red Sox are in the World Series?

Join the NLL community at http://www.nationallacrosseleagueblog.blogspot.com/

by bestbostonsports on Apr 7, 2026 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Loving The Verlander Love.

Hey guys, I run a music blog. alternative, powerpop, punk, electronica, screamo, etc etc, check it out. http://muzikdizcovery.blogspot.com/ artist interviews and many other stuff. free cookies! (not really, but still) :D

by cwhitman412 on Apr 7, 2026 7:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs