Thursday, March 22, 2007

Opening Day Starters

Here's the list of Opening Day starters by team. If the starter hasn't been officially named yet, my guess is in parentheses; if the manager has written them in stone, then they're not.

Arizona Diamondbacks: (Brandon Webb. It's not been made official, but he won the Cy Young.... no way it's going to be anyone else).
Atlanta Braves: (John Smoltz. I suspect they'll go with his veteran mojo and reward him with the Opening Day start. Either that or Tim Hudson).
Baltimore Orioles: (Updating this to guess Erik Bedard instead).
Boston Red Sox: (Curt Schilling. As if it'll be anyone else. I don't think they'll choose Daisuke Matsuzaka over him just yet).
Chicago Cubs: (Carlos Zambrano. It's not announced yet, but it's pretty much a sure thing).
Chicago White Sox: (I suspect Mark Buehrle or Jon Garland).
Cleveland Indians: (C.C. Sabathia. Another sure thing that just hasn't been formalized yet).
Cincinnati Reds: (Aaron Harang. Bronson Arroyo is a close second, but I'm pretty certain that Harang will come away with the nod).
Colorado Rockies: Aaron Cook. It's been formalized by Hurdle, Cookie will be tossing the first pitches of 2007 for the Rox.
Detroit Tigers: (Kenny Rogers will probably come away with the start just because of his veteran savvy. Either that or Justin Verlander will be rewarded for his Rookie of the Year campaign, but I'm going with Rogers).
Florida Marlins: Dontrelle Willis, to nobody's surprise, will be opening the season for the Fish.
Houston Astros: (Roy Oswalt. With Clemens gone, there's no way it'll be anyone else).
Kansas City Royals: (Gil Meche. They'll waste no time in getting their putative "ace" out there for a look-see).
Los Angeles Angels: John Lackey. Manager Mike Scioscia formally announced the assignment for the 28-year-old righty today.
Los Angeles Dodgers: (Jason Schmidt - they'll want to trot their prized offseason acquisition out for his first pitches in Dodger blue instead of Giants orange, something which will no doubt solidify the newfound hatred for him among the Giants faithful).
Milwaukee Brewers: (It's almost certain that Ben Sheets will end up with the nod, if they don't surprise everyone and pick Chris Capuano instead. He actually had a better season, but Sheets will likely earn it on name value).
Minnesota Twins: Johan Santana. As if it would be anyone else. Another not-announced but no parentheses needed.
New York Mets: (Since Pedro's out, the honor will almost surely fall to Tom Glavine).
New York Yankees: (The decision seems to be down to Chien-Ming Wang, who went 19-6 last year, or the returning Andy Pettitte. Since I love Andy, I really hope he ends up with it).
Oakland Athletics: Danny Haren will be taking the ball on Opening Day versus the Mariners, lining up Rich Harden for the start in the A's home opener.
Philadelphia Phillies: (Jamie Moyer may end up with it, because he's, um, old. And, er, crafty? Either that or Brett Myers the wife-beater).
Pittsburgh Pirates: (Fairly certain that young Zach Duke will end up with the honors).
St. Louis Cardinals: Chris Carpenter. I've not bothered to put it in parentheses since it's such a sure thing.
San Diego Padres: (Jake Peavy is fairly certain to take the start, if ol' Greg Maddux doesn't accidentally weasel in there).
San Francisco Giants: (Moneygrubber Newcomer Barry Zito is almost certainly going to be getting the assignment for the Gnats).
Seattle Mariners: (Felix Hernandez will almost undoubtedly take the honors if Hargrove gets over his ridiculous hesitation to hand the inaugural ball to a 20-year-old. If not, the role will go to Jarrod Washburn, something that would really piss off Mariners fans).
Tampa Bay Devil Rays: To absolutely no one's surprise, Scott Kazmir will be kicking things off for the Rays in '07.
Texas Rangers: (I'm guessing it's Kevin Millwood).
Toronto Blue Jays: (Another as-good-as-announced assignment will be Roy Halladay).
Washington Nationals: (Gotta admit: I have no idea. That said, I'll tentatively pick John Patterson).

This is another clear sign that we need baseball to start already. Geesh.

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