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Not that much has happened since we last checked into these numbers over the last 3 weeks. The biggest jump on the board was the Giants going to favorites of the NL West after the Johnny Cueto signing.
The Dodgers have since countered and are making this race for the NL West that much better again. It wasn’t long ago that the Los Angeles NL franchise were the favorites to win the entire World Series.
I think it is almost a dead heat right now between San Francisco and LA – and could come down to the transactions that are done in the next 8 months.
New York did pick up Aroldis Chapman but are still only listed as the 3rd favorite in the Division. New York has the best Bullpen, the Jays the best offense – and Boston might be the best overall club in the AL East.
If you believe the Yankees will continue to spend $ like Washington is printing it everyday should they contend this coming season, that +200 for the Division is a good odd.
The Mariners went through a serious Bullpen (Benoit, Cishek, De Fratus, Scribner, Bass – exit Wilhelmsen, Smith, Farquhar and Beimel and Starting Staff revamp (Miley + Karns, exit Elias) and also added Leonys Martin from the Rangers, Nori Aoki (FA), Chris Iannetta (FA) and Adam Lind from the Brewers (via trade) to add depth to the offense. The sum of these transactions should equate to a big improvement in 2016. Will it be enough to contend for the 2016 AL West?
Both the AL West and AL Central are pretty fairly handicapped, however there is some value with the Seattle Mariners now – having inked Hisashi Iwakuma to a new deal, and recently having traded for Adam Lind.
Robinson Cano should also be better in 2016 – and Chris Iannetta would have to be perform horrific as a backstopper for the production to be as bad as it was with Mike Zunino and Jesus Sucre.
Seattle has a definite punchers chance in that Division, and with adding Iwakuma at the last minute, and reeling in a stockpile of pitchers in trades recently, there could be some more upgrades coming down the pike if necessary.
The gap seems to be widening in the AL Central in with the Division not exactly being a bevy of transactions for all clubs. Kansas City could almost win this by default.
Detroit is the most interesting team, although if the White Sox make one more big move to add with the Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie deals, than they could be vastly improved.
Cleveland did sign Veteran 1B/DH Mike Napoli to split time doing the duties at those two positions with Carlos Santana. Love the move – and it could reverse the Free Agency curse the team has had with Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn and David Murphy in recent seasons.
ODDS courtesy of bet365.net
Bad Value – Red Block
Good Value – Blue Block
AL East
Boston Red Sox +175
Toronto Blue Jays +180
NY Yankees +200
TB Rays +450
Baltimore Orioles +500
AL Central
KC Royals +125
Cleveland Indians +260
Detroit Tigers +270
Minnesota Twins +310
Chicago White Sox +325
AL West
Houston Astros +160
Texas Rangers +175
LA Angles +225
Seattle Mariners +225
Oakland A’s +700
NL East
NY Mets +150
Washington Nationals +160
Miami Marlins +320
Atlanta Braves +800
Philadelphia +900
NL Central
Chicago Cubs +140
St. Louis Cards +155
Pittsburgh Pirates +280
Milwaukee Brewers +800
Cincinnati Reds +1000
NL West
SF Giants +140
LA Dodgers +170
Arizona D’backs +190
SD Padres +900
Colorado Rockies +900
*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***
A Big thanks goes out to our chief writer Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s feature post.
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