Second Half Predictions

Josh Hamilton will finish with under 150 RBI. I have seen people have close to the number of RBI that Hamilton had before the All-Star Break before, and Hack Wilson's single season RBI record has yet to be seriously challenged in my lifetime. Hamilton is a special player, but it won't happen this year. Not even close.

Chase Utley will win the NL MVP. The Philadelphia Phillies will get the hat trick of NL MVP's after Ryan Howard won in 2006, and Jimmy Rollins in 2007. Utley is one of the best hitters in the majors, perennially around .315, 30 HRs, 100 RBI, and 15 SB. This year is no different and it is only mid-July. Look for Utley to challenge 40 HRs if he stays healthy and take home the hardware in the National League.

Edinson Volquez will not win 20 games. Volquez was 12-3 prior to the All-Star Break, but this guy hasn't thrown the number of innings he is on pace for before in his career, so I am predicting a comeback to reality. Volquez has been absolutely spectacular this year, with an ERA of 2.23, and is striking out over a batter an inning. He has been lights out so far, but I can't see him continuing this throughout the rest of the season.

Grady Sizemore will go 40/40. This will be a tough one since Sizemore has never even hit 30 homers in a season before, and has only stolen 30 once in his career. However, he does sit at 23 homers and 22 steals on July 18^th, so if he continues this great season he is having, 40/40 might be in reach. He is on a horrible team that has nothing to play for, so he might as well swing for the fence all the time, and be very aggressive on the basepaths.

Rich Harden will not pitch in the playoffs. I haven't decided yet if this will be because he won’t be healthy enough to start, or that the Cubbies won't make the playoffs, but I'm more confident that this guy will be hurt. I have been advising fantasy owners away from Harden all year long, and so far I have been wrong, but I still see that black cloud coming, and he might leave you hanging when you need him most......the end of the season and the fantasy playoffs.

Robinson Cano will hit .300. This guy is way too talented for his beginning of the season to last until September. Going into today, Cano was under .250 so getting to .300 might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe he can do it. He and the Yankees will most likely come alive in the second half of the season, and expect this talented hitter to finish around .300/16/85.

Mike Mussina will win 16 games or less. Mussina won his 12^th game on the Yankees first contest after the All-Star Break, but this is another guy that I have been waiting for to crash and burn all season long. He is too old, and is too far away from his prime for this to possibly continue. Expect an ugly August and September from the Moose.

Erik Bedard won't start more than four games for the rest of the season. Bedard has been a walking, talking medical report this season, but unfortunately for him and the Mariners, the thing he hasn't been doing enough is pitching. He's on the DL again, and the tightness in his shoulder is not improving. I wouldn't be overly surprised if he didn't pitch again this season, as the Mariners are so far out of it, why should they push their huge disappointment….I mean off-season acquisition…..to pitch again this year?

Brett Myers will finish with an ERA over 5.00. He hasn't been activated back from the minors yet, but he is expected to be within the week. Myers ERA currently sits at 5.88, but he claims to "have his swagger back" since pitching in the minors. That's funny, because he was 1-3 during his stint down on the farm. To be fair, he did pitch better, as his ERA during that time is 3.00, but a three ERA in the minors doesn't translate all that well to the major league level.

Joba Chamberlain will win at least 10 games. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Mussina, I fully expect Chamberlain to become a premier pitcher in this league pretty much right away. He has been completely dominant at times, and at other times only really good. He has electric stuff and knows how to miss bats when he needs to, and should be good enough to win at least eight games for the rest of the year.

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