The Big Lead: An Interview with ESPN.com Baseball Writer Keith Law

Thanks to Zitoast, for pointing this out…

Q: We want a few sleepers from you: A team that will reach the postseason that won fewer than 80 games last year, a Cy Young candidate in each league who won fewer than 10 games last year, and a budding star who nobody’s really paying attention to right now, but could be a household name come September.

Most likely team to go from < 80 wins to the postseason: Cincinnati. But I think Dusty will screw it up. He already is with this Corey Patterson fetish.

Cy Young candidates from < 10 wins: The Cy is all about win totals, so I’ll take two guys on teams that will provide plenty of run support: Yovani Gallardo (expected back by mid-April) and Philip Hughes. If you let me cheat, though, here are two 12-win guys who’ll contend for the award: Chad Billingsley and Dustin McGowan.

Budding star: Is Rickie Weeks still under the radar enough? I’m completely sold on his bat. His glove … less so, but who cares if he’s -5 or -10 at second base if he hits like he’s going to? Howie Kendrick is another candidate.