10 bold predictions for MLB in 2017

With just 37 days until the first group of pitchers and catchers report, here's how theScore's MLB editors see the calendar year shaping up with 10 bold predictions:

Trout forces Angels to trade him

The Angels may employ baseball's best player, but they're far from a good team with a weak farm system. That's probably making Mike Trout very angry on the inside, as he's got no help around him. Though he's highly unlikely to try and exercise a recently unearthed obscure loophole in California law to become a free agent, if Trout's tired of losing he could threaten to use it and pressure the Angels into finding him a new home. That's what he'll do behind the scenes as another losing season in Anaheim finally makes him snap, and by Opening Day 2018 - after he and his agents force and engineer maybe the biggest trade in pro sports since Wayne Gretzky moved to L.A. - Trout will be wearing a new uniform. - Sharkey-Gotlieb

Carrasco wins AL Cy Young

Bad luck contributed to Carlos Carrasco's absence from the Indians' World Series run after he was hit in the hand by a comebacker on Sept. 17. The 29-year-old will suffer no such fate in 2017, paving the way to his first AL Cy Young award. Since 2014, Carrasco ranks in the AL's top 10 in WHIP (1.08), K/9 (9.98), FIP (3.01), and WAR (10.1). Pitching for a contending team that added Edwin Encarnacion to its lineup, expect Carrasco to emerge as a force to be reckoned with. - Casaletto

A-Rod will play again … with the Marlins

Alex Rodriguez announced on Thursday he will not be playing in 2017, and instead will maintain an advisory role with the Yankees. That sentiment won't last, however, when the 41-year-old, who never officially retired, signs a one-year deal to continue his playing career with the Marlins, finishing out his historic run as one of baseball's best in his hometown. Rodriguez will give a boost to the team's ticket sales, help bring a certain swagger and confidence to the budding Marlins, and go out with an appropriate bang before finally calling it quits and riding off into the sunset. Or towards a job as an analyst. - Mcwilliam

Mariners win the World Series

Not only will the Mariners break the longest playoff drought in baseball, but they're going to cap off the season with a World Series title. As it stands, the team has enough superstars in Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager, and now Jean Segura to muster up a legit offense. But as the season goes on, the Mariners will continue to win and will be forced to acquire one or two more game-changers at the trade deadline. Whoever those players may be, they'll help the Mariners to the first World Series championship in franchise history. - Halim

Sandoval wins Comeback Player of the Year

He's skinnier, he's fresh - just three games played since Sept. 20, 2015 - and he's got a lot to prove. Yes, Pablo Sandoval is very likely going to be a major part of the Boston Red Sox in 2017, and he's going to come back in a big way. One thing that will help him stay healthy and productive will be a shift away from the field, as there's a good chance Sandoval will at least equally split time between third base and DH next year. He may not be David Ortiz, but Sandoval's still a good hitter, and at just 30 years old he's got plenty of baseball left in the tank. The Red Sox will benefit from the new-look Panda, and he'll finally start to show his worth at Fenway Park with an excellent and healthy reclamation season at the plate that will culminate in his being named Comeback Player of the Year. - SSG

Blue Jays hit the rebuild button

After losing a chunk of their offensive power in Edwin Encarnacion (and potentially Jose Bautista), the Blue Jays' impressive rotation won't be enough to keep them in contention in the AL East while they slip away in the wild-card race. Their aging lineup also complicates matters, with a core of Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, and Russell Martin all on the wrong side of 30, and with Donaldson also due a massive pay raise in arbitration in 2018. Rather than prolong the inevitable, Mark Shapiro and Co. will instead capitalize on the current high value of their stars in the hopes of fully stocking the farm for tomorrow's success. - Soveta

Greinke returns to the 'City of Angels’

After finishing the first half of the 2017 campaign in the basement of the NL West alongside the Padres, the Diamondbacks will close the door on Zack Greinke and ship him to the Dodgers in return for a package of prospects. With the Dodgers competing with the Giants and a budding Rockies for the division title, they'll add the right-handed complement to Clayton Kershaw they've been missing since Greinke departed for the desert before the 2016 season. -BM

'The Kraken' cracks 50 HRs in his first full season

The Yankees were in an awkward state of baseball purgatory in 2016, with the club not good enough to contend with bloated contracts, but still too talented to tank the season. With A-Rod and Mark Teixeira stepping away from the club, Gary Sanchez's freakish power emerged in the most timely manner. 'The Kraken' crushed his first home run last season on Aug. 10 and never looked back, mashing a total of 20 in the final 47 games of the year. In 2017, Sanchez will again destroy baseballs for fun, but with the possibility of playing 162 games in his first full season, the backstop will be the first to crack the 50 home run mark since Chris Davis in 2013. - JS

Backed by McCutchen, Pirates make the postseason

Despite his eight-year run with the Pirates almost coming to an end this offseason, a motivated Andrew McCutchen will return to form in 2017, leading an underrated Pirates team to the postseason. The club's starting rotation should improve with Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon pitching full seasons in support of a healthy staff ace in Gerrit Cole. With McCutchen providing more value - and talented players like Gregory Polanco, Josh Harrison, Starling Marte, and rising prospect Josh Bell still in the mix - the Pirates will surprise next season. - LC

Yankees finish below .500

The New York Yankees have a ton of talent in the farm, and some of them have already made it to the bigs - Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird - but the 2017 version of the Yankees won't be very good. So much so, the team will finish below .500 for the first time since 1992. New York doesn't have the offense, or the pitching to compete this season, and it's in a division that has quickly returned to being an MLB gauntlet. - GH

Bold predictions were made by theScore's MLB editors Lucas Casaletto, George Halim, Bryan Mcwilliam, Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb, and Jonathan Soveta.