Predictions Re-Visited

Almost ten months ago, I gave you my predictions on the 2007 MLB regular season. I also gave some pretty good other "random" predictions. Let's revisit those, shall we, so that I can have an opportunity to pat myself on the back...

"Barry Bonds hits 30+ homeruns and thus breaks Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755."

CLOSE. Barry smacked 28 homeruns, which was indeed enough to make him the new All-Time Homerun Record Holder. He was also indicted.



"Bobby Cox hangs 'em up as Atlanta Braves manager at the end of this season when the new cheap ownership allows John Smoltz & Andruw Jones to walk. Smoltz signs with the Detroit Tigers & Andruw signs with the Boston Red Sox."

WAY off. Bobby's still going strong. Smoltz re-upped with the Braves. Andruw did walk, but not to the Sox. He's a Dodger now.

It was viable. Just didn't happen.



"Bobby's successor will be Joe Torre. Joe returns to Atlanta where he has formerly played & managed. He's not tired of baseball; just tired of the unreal Yankee expectations. He's attracted to Atlanta by his history with the franchise, the first-class front office headed by John Schuerholz, and the opportunity to teach young ballplayers. Another first-round failure in the playoffs marks Joe's final season in pinstripes."

Eh... so-so prediction. Torre did spend his last season in New York but not in baseball -- he, too, goes to the Dodgers.

Schuerholz gave up his GM duties. After having won so many division titles in a row & now having not even made the wild card two years in a row, something was going to have to change. Turned out it was John instead of Bobby.



"This is NOT A-Rod's final season in pinstripes."

Nailed it! Whenever you have a mole-hill, just remember that the media will be right there to make a mountain out of it for you.



"Torre's successor in the Bronx will be the overwhelmingly popular Joe Girardi."

Now we're rollin'! But should I really take credit for this? We all saw this coming a mile away, didn't we?



"Roger Clemens announces that he is returning to the Yankees around Memorial Day. Sometime around the middle of September, he will pull up with some kind of nagging injury and announce his retirement from Major League Baseball FOR GOOD. No one believes him, but 2008 comes and goes & Clemens fattens up and it becomes apparent that his retirement actually is for real. Three years following the retirement, some crafty investigative reporter will release a blockbuster, best-selling tell-all book that reveals an organized MLB cover-up of Clemens' 2007 positive test for steroids. This reporter chronicles how MLB didn't want another black eye & convinced Clemens to finally retire and avoid public embarassment. Forget the controversy over Mark McGwire; "The Rocket" becomes the new poster child for steroids in baseball as America finally wakes up to realize how more pitchers than hitters are users."

Wow.

Clemens busted? Check. Injured late in the season? Check. New poster child for roid rage? Check, with the picture being him throwing the broken shard of a bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series.

Blockbuster, tell-all by crafty investigative reporter? I'd imagine that Dan Shaugnessy or Mark Fainaru-Wada is working on it already...