30 Teams in 30 Days: Dodgers win West, O's worst team in MLB

The guys at Home Run Derby will be breaking down all 30 MLB teams throughout March. There will of course be an emphasis on the long ball, but it's a fun read and gives you a quick look at the competition.

You can check them out at Home Run Derby or check back here each week to get the latest...

Click here to read about the Royals, Twins, Nationals and Angels.

First up, the LA Dodgers. There are two major story lines coming out of LA right now. 1) The Nomar vs Loney 1B battle. 2) Too many outfielders (Jones, Pierre, Kemp, Either)

The Nomar/Loney battle has cooled off as of late with Nomar nursing an injured wrist (surprise!), but he is said to be in the cage again with wrapped up. Meanwhile Loney is having a excellent spring batting .314 with 4 doubles and a triple.

Andruw Jones is a Gold Glover with 40+ HR potential, but he's as pudgy as ever and had his worst year ever in 2007: .222 BA, 26 HR, 94 RBI. He pushed speedster Juan Pierre to left and the guys from the Dodger round table don't seem to thrilled about that move, since it will cut into the playing time of youngsters Matt Kemp and Andre Either.

My guess is Jones spends more than a few days on the bench or DL this year, giving the kids more time that expected...

Bottom Line: I think the pitching staff is the real story in LA. Look for Chad Billingsley to challenge Brad Penny for the title of team ace this year. And with Lowe, Schmidt and Loaiza rounding out the staff, I think this team will make a run at NL West title.

Ding Dong the steroid using, media roller coaster, clubhouse cancer is dead.

Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are the story this year for the Giants. Aaron Rowand is a nice addition and he's the Trot Nixon of the West, but without any help in the lineup, I expect him to take a step back offensively, and so does Nick.

Bonds hit 28 dingers last year to lead the team. Pedro Feliz had 20 and was the only other guy with 20 or more. And Molina was the ony guy with 80+ RBI... Rowand won't fix that alone.

Bottom Line: When you're starting 9 has SS Omar Visquel (41, and hurt already), 2B Ray Durham (37), 1B Rich Aurilia (37), OF Dave Roberts (36) and OF Randy Winn (34) in it, you know you're in trouble.

This exchange sums up the St. Louis Cardinals situation beautifully:

Daniel: What do Cardinal fans know that the media doesn’t? Well, thanks to people like Erik, I think Cardinal fans know that the minor league system is not a bereft as some would make it out to be. We know that Colby Rasmus is going to be fun to watch. We know that Pujols has played in pain just about every season. And we know that there’s no place better to spend a summer afternoon than watching the Cardinals.

Erik: The mainstream media has started to picked up on it weeks after we’ve all known it- Albert Pujols will need Tommy John surgery, and possibly some time this season. I think is the “why” to your first question. I don’t expect the Cardinals to be in contention, and should they perform they way the projections like PECOTA expect them to, Pujols could succumb sooner then later. The medical team says they are more then OK with Albert playing, but this is the same group of quacks that green lighted signing Matt Clement, fed us a lines of crap about Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter’s health, and many players such as Scott Rolen have sought treatment elsewhere. I could get into litany of stupidity we’ve experienced, I’ll spare you from that. They already look to be mediocre at full health and they look much worse without the Big Guy.

Rich: If Pujols goes down, this team is going to compete with the Royals for the worst MLB team in Missouri. They might just do it with Prince Albert in the lineup.

The other big debate is centered around Rick Ankiel. He hit 43 bombs between AAA/MLB
in 2007, but is he a 30+ HR guy or was that a fluke? He spent most of his time (122 AB) in the 2-hole last year, so if Albert goes down, Ankiel will not see alot of good pitches... I say fluke.

Bottom Line: The Cards will stink, the Cubs will be better than some people think and therefore, Pujols will go under the knife before the season ends, putting the final nail in the Card's coffin for 2008.

In a strange twist of fate, the folks in the Maryland area will be forced to watch two of the worst teams in baseball this season. Nick's already taking some crap for labeling the Nats, but in reality, the Baltimore Orioles "rebuilding project" will have them in the gutter as well.

The O's have a few strong points in Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts (for now) and SP Jeremy Guthrie. Not to mention rookie OF Adam Jones.

But after that, you're only hope for entertainment will be Kevin Millar's shenanigans.

Nick has his fellow Greek Markakis winning every award possible, and I agree, he is the real deal. But it will be interesting to see how well he plays after getting burned by the organization with a measly $55K raise from $400K in 2007.

Bottom Line: When you're hoping for Daniel "Wild Thing" Cabrera to be a solid No. 2 behind Jeremy Gutherie, you know you're in trouble. Roberts and Markakis form a small nucleus to build this team around, but the "Roberts to the Cubs" rumors are still buzzing... if that goes through, O's fans better think about moving North.

As as a fan of the game, you'd think I could find something worth talking about when it comes to the Pirates.... but I couldn't.

Even the HRD guys haven't posted the round table discussion. They say it's coming, but my guess is they're making one up 'cause the actually discussion went like this:

HRD 1 - "So, who's gonna have a break out year for the Bucs this season?"

HRD 2 - "I don't even know who's on this team... wait Freddy Sanchez was a batting champ once, right?"

HRD 1 - "Yeah. But he's a .300 hitter, that averages like 5 dingers a year. This site is called "HOME RUN DERBY!"

HRD 2 - "Right. Okay... Ummmmmm. Oh! Jason Bay! He was in the actual MLB Home Run Derby once. There you go. He'll hit 30+ this year. HA!

HRD 1 - Fair enough. So what else do we have on the Pirates?

HRD 2 - ........

HRD 1 - Hey! How about them Cubbies!

(I wrote this before reading HRD's Orioles post... where Nick used the same joke. Great minds think alike I guess...)

Bottom Line: Nick's "Best Case Scenario" has Gorezelanny and Snell winning 15 games and Matt Morris and Zach Duke each hitting double digits. Gorz won 14 last year and Snell did the year before, but this offense is pretty useless and you need runs to win games. Oh... and the closer/bullpen situation is far from solidified with Capps (18 SV) as the closer and a list of nobodies in the pen.

Click here to read about the Royals, Twins, Nationals and Angels.