SERIOUSLY, WHO NAMES THEIR KID "BUSTER" ANYMORE?

I'm always looking to read good articles on baseball. The more I find the happier my day is. While 'good' is a subjective term, I am confident in saying that a good article on baseball can be a difficult thing to find. There are days when I can't find even one, and have to content myself with crap, like 99% of what is posted on ESPN.com these days. In that vein, I would like to continue in the fine tradition that was established way before my blogging time by such luminaries as Aaron Gleeman of the obscurely-titled aarongleeman.com, and talk about how crap-tastic Buster Olney is. Because I can't say it any better than this, I'm going to quote a friend of mine:

Let's continue to bash lazy hack Buster Olney. Exhibit B:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=1994416

I couldn't even finish reading this, it's so ludicrous. I don't even know where to begin to criticize this. Ranking the Yankees ahead of the Red Sox is shaky but justifiable, I guess. Ranking the Phillies behind Seattle (!), Cleveland (!!), Texas (?!!?), and the f**king Mets (!!!!!) is too preposterous to even imagine. Then -- get this! -- he's got the A's ranked three spots behind the Phils! Whaaaa!?!? Yeah, that's right -- last in the AL West, behind the Rangers!

The Tigers are ahead of the White Sox. The Devil Rays are ahead of the Nats. And on and on it goes...

What a godforsaken fool.

My response to this:

To address the specific points brought up:
 
1) Beating on the A's for trading Mulder and Hudson has been a staple of the mainstream press, and I'm not surprised that it's surfaced again in this lazy-ass 'columnist's' rankings.  Why can't they put this guy behind the iron 'insider' curtain and free rob neyer?  Theres a T-Shirt someone should have thought of before me: Free Rob Neyer!!!  Anyway, the A's have vastly improved their offense, their bullpen and their bench from last year's team that lost the AL West title by one game.  Let me repeat that: one game!  Yes, they traded Mulder and Hudson, two good pitchers, but look what they got from both of those guys last year.  The innings will be the toughest thing to replace, certainly not necessarily the quality.  I'm picking the A's to win the West this year.
 
2) Yankees ahead of Red Sox: again, a staple of the (non-Boston) mainstream press.  As he says, it's at least a defensible position to take, though I have to say I think the Yankees are playing with a lot of fire this year.  Pavano, Womack, no Beltran means more Williams, Giambi, Wright, and Randy Johnson who I believe is 4,000 years old, just to name a few.  Any one of these could blow up in NY's face, and it's not like they have anyone who they can trade to plug holes at the deadline. 
 
3) Seattle and Texas have very little pitching to speak of, and I expect their records to show it.  The best pitcher on either of those teams is Jamie Moyer who is Greg Maddux-lite + 3 Years. 
 
4) Cleveland could have a very good season.  It depends on how their young pitching comes around, because they can already hit a ton.  I'm not prepared to knock anyone for picking them to play well this year.  That said, I doubt they'll beat the Twins, who have not only more dependable pitching, but straight up better pitching as well. 
 
5) Everyone (again, mainstream press is what I'm talking about here) loves the Mets.  Pedro, Beltran, an ex-Yankee/minority as manager, an ex-scout/minority as GM.  These are all things that make a good story.  The Mets should be fine in the field, decent-to-good at the bat, and god-damn lousy in the rotation after Pedro, who I believe is going to have a monster season.  Their pen as currently composed won't be an asset. 
 
6) The Tigers ahead of the White Sox is probably the stupidest thing Olney has done.  This is like falling for the hidden ball trick twice in the same game.  Not only is he miss-identifying how good the Tigers will be (probably below .500 again) but he's miss-identifying how good the White Sox will be (they'll challenge the Twins for the AL Central title and they have a good chance at winning it).  If you get a moment, take a look at the Tigers starting rotation, and then take a look at the White Sox starting rotation, then have a hearty laugh at ol' Buster's expense.

Thanks for reading.