I try to keep most of my posts factual and today I will add a little more than the usual amount of opinion. Feel free to comment, speculate, respond, etc.
The Phillies 5th starter will be Jamie Moyer, if not to start, it will be absolute by May. Kendrick is better suited as a middle reliever. He gets a lot of groundballs with that sinker but he is still predictable and therefore hittable. Moyer is still as saavy and smart on the mound as he has ever been. He will be there until he decides to retire.
Scott Mathieson will not be with Lehigh Valley long. Although the Phillies management has stated he needs more innings in the minors, with Brad Lidge’s “issues” and the question marks surrounding Baez… Mathieson will be up sooner rather than later in the season. Expect to see Madsen, ineffectively, pushed to the closer role until this happens.
If Brandon Pickney and Brian Bocock are assigned to the Ironpigs this season there is a chance to see them at SS and 2B. As our friend Decal referenced, “Pinckney & the Brain,”
could be the Pig’s double play combo in 2010. For those who don’t remember the cartoon Pinky and the Brain, well, look it up. It should prove for some amusement this summer.
Stephen Strasburg will not pitch in Coca Cola Park this year. The Nationals are eager to groom him at AA and pull him up at the first glint of contention. I see the Nationals finishing above the Pirates and Mets.
The Kansas City Royals will be this year’s biggest surprise sleeper. They have young talent and they can’t get any worse, can they? They might not win their division but they will be turning heads.
Mike Cervenak’s first game back at CCP he will go 0-5 with 3 K’s. Ok, that’s just a guess but if it happens I can claim genius…
20 days…
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
If we know Schaffer/Provence, they’ve picked up on this already…
1. Agree with you that Jamie Moyer will be the 5th starter to open the season. His performance against the O’s a few days ago basically locked that in I think. Unless he gets hurt, or shelled in final spring training tune-up’s, I think he’ll be the guy.
2. I disagree with you that Kendrick is better suited to be a middle reliever. It’s just my personal preference, but I think the meaningful guys in the pen have to throw hard, which is something that Kendrick just doesn’t do. To me, his major league future is that of the 4th/5th starter or a 7th guy in the bullpen who eats innings in blowouts. I just don’t see them bringing him in the game with runners on in the 7th inning. I think he’ll end up starting the season with the Pigs, just because they’ll want him to continue to pitch.
3. I think Mathieson will end up spending most of the year with the Pigs, just because he really needs to work on his secondary pitches. He’s been successful in throwing the gas, but it’s pretty straight. Remember Jerry Spradlin with the Phillies about a decade ago? He threw 95-98 consistently, but got lit-up because he didn’t have any secondary pitches and threw his FB straight. Throwing gas works in the minors, but not in the majors if you can’t keep the hitters off balance.
4. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Strasburg pitch in AAA (whether he actually makes it to CCP or not I’m not sure). If he starts the year on fire at Harrisburg, I could see him moving up to AAA in June, and then eventually to the majors in August. I think the Nationals really don’t want to ruin this kid, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pitch the whole year in the minors.