5. San Francisco Giants: 68-94

Bye Bye Barry: The best player ever to wear a uni may never wear a uni again. Barry Bonds, like him or not, steroids or not, is/was the best player ever to play Major League Baseball. The proof is in the stats. I'm not here to argue about the most argued about athlete in American sports history. That is the past. A young, new team is in San Francisco's future. Unfortunately, too young and new to win many games in 2008. With 25 of their 40 players on the current roster born in the 80s, they are now one of the youngest teams in baseball, when just a few years ago w/ guys like Bonds, Alou, Galarraga, and Santiago they were one of the oldest teams. Whether old or young, it is hard to win w/ a high turnover rate. Teams sometimes take a couple seasons to gel as a unit.

Negatives: other than being too inexperienced to win, they have other problems which will lead to them losing many a game. You'd think Barry Zito moving from the American League to the National League would have helped his game. It didn't. He had his worst year to date. If you look at his numbers, though, the only thing that really stands out is his ERA, which was a full point higher than his career mark. We know that the other Barry will never have another 2002, where he went 23-5 w/ a 2.75, but I would be surprised if his ERA is near the 4.53 mark of a year ago. Once again in 2008, Zito will not receive much help from his team in run support. Another negative and the biggest part of why this team will be bad is their offense, or lack thereof. Randy Winn is their best hitter and he probably wouldn't even start on most Major League teams. I would not be surprised if nobody reaches the 80 RBI mark for the Giants in '08.

Positives: this team will be terrible to watch at some points during the season, but there are a few bright spots. Matt Cain went 7-16 last year, which means he isn't a very good pitcher, right? Wrong. Dude had a 3.65 ERA and only gave up 173 hits in 200 innings. He only gave up 14 HRs and had a 2:1 K to BB ratio. Put him on a good team and you can reverse his record to 16-7. This year he will strike out more guys and walk fewer than last year, but it won't matter. Now he knows what Ben Sheets went through for several years in Milwaukee.

For those of you who have never seen Tim Lincecum pitch, get with the program. He is one of the few reasons to watch any Giants games in 2008. If Bonds fans are looking for a new jersey to buy, this is your guy. With a windup like Hershiser and stuff like Pedro, Lincecum hides the ball well and throws hard for a small guy. If he stays healthy, he could strike out 200 and have a nifty 3.00 ERA. Put him on the Mets, Yankees or Tigers, you got yourself a 20 game winner. Too bad he's on the worst team in the majors and will have a tough time winning 12. The only thing he has in his favor - he will probably be the #3 starter behind Zito and Cain. Not too many teams in the NL have a #3 as good as Tim Lincecum.

Surprises: Tim Lincecum. Not a surprise to baseball purists, but most of the country has never heard his name.

Overall: this team is bad and could easily lose 100 games. Luckily they play in a very big ballpark and with a team that has fairly good pitching and not much power, that may be the only thing in their favor in 2008.