"Dont forget that Suppan is more likely to regress than he is to get better so thats a couple of games at least as well." Why is he more likely to regress than get better? He was hurt for some of last year. I don't know he'll necessarily be any better, but I don't expect him to be worse. If he is worse, there's no way it's bad enough to cost them a couple games. That's a huge impact from the performance of one player. "Regressions by Cameron and Kendall will also play big parts." I could just as easily claim that Hart, Braun, Fielder, Weeks and Hall will be better than last year. "No closer will hurt as well." So Hoffman's out for the year? Guess I missed that. My opinion is that while the pitching will definitely not be as good, the offense will be better, and possibly much better. Hart, Fielder, Braun, Hall and Weeks all fell well short of their projections for last season. All the projections for those players are to be better than they were last year.