That Time of Year Again!

Time for some fearless predictions for the 2011 season, so without further ado...

NL West: Giants, Rockies*, Dodgers, Padres, D-backs

NL Central: Reds, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates, Astros

NL East: Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Mets

AL West: Rangers, A's, Angels, Mariners

AL Central: Twins, White Sox, Tigers, Royals, Indians

AL East: Red Sox, Rays*, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles

WS: Giants over Red Sox

* Wild Card

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Phillies

NL Rookie: Freddie Freeman, Braves

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, Mariners

AL Rookie: Jeremy Hellickson, Rays

NL All-Stars: C - Buster Posey, Giants; 1B - Albert Pujols, Cardinals; Chase Utley, Phillies; SS - Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies; 3B - Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals; OF - Ryan Braun, Brewers; Matt Kemp, Dodgers; Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies; SP - Roy Halladay, Phillies

AL All-Stars: C - Joe Mauer; 1B - Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox; 2B - Robinson Cano, Yankees; SS - Derek Jeter, Yankees; 3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers; OF - Carl Crawford, Red Sox; Josh Hamilton, Rangers; Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners; SP - Felix Hernandez, Mariners

Catching Up, Again

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for Opening Day on Thursday!

A lot has happened in past five or six weeks since Spring Training started.

So let's catch up, just a little.

Jon Garland, Vicente Padilla, Casey Blake and Dioner Navarro all appear to be DL-bound to start the season.

There goes the rotation depth, for now, anyway.

Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly and Hiroki Kuroda are the starters.

Aaron Miles, Ivan De Jesus and Mike MacDougal are all but set to have made the team.

Lance Cormier (out of options) was asked to accept a Minor League assignment but refused.

Barring any last minute changes, Cormier will be granted his release before Opening Day, paving the way for Scott Elbert to make the team.

Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Matt Guerrier, Kenley Jansen and Blake Hawksworth are the other relievers.

Ron Mahay was granted his release yesterday.

De Jesus will get most of the playing time at second with Juan Uribe at third with Blake out.

James Loney and Rafael Furcal are the other infield starters with Jamey Carroll joining Miles as a utility infielder.

Still no word on who the everyday, or at the very least, Opening Day, left fielder will be.

Marcus Thames, Jay Gibbons, Tony Gwynn and Xavier Paul will all split time in the outfield with Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier holding down the center and right field gigs.

Hector Gimenez (out of options) will be the back-up catcher over A.J. Ellis with Navarro disabled.

Billingsley agreed to a three-year extension today, buying out the last of his arby years.

And last but not least, Dodger Hall-of-Fame great Duke Snider passed away last month. Snider played 16 of his 18 season with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A. from 1947 to 1962. During that span, he belted a franchise-best 389 home runs with 1,271 RBI and was a member of the 1955 and 1959 championship teams. Snider was 84.