2012 MLB Predictions: Teams Who Will Fall from Grace

The Milwaukee Brewers lost Prince Fielder, and the San Francisco Giants signed ace Tim Lincecum to an extension on Tuesday.

Both of these teams will disappoint in 2012.

The Brewers and Giants join one other team as former contenders who will fall in 2012.

3. Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers didn't get to the NLCS in 2011 because of Fielder alone. But his loss will nonetheless hurt, and it's hard for me to see them making it to the World Series again, let alone going deep in the playoffs.

Losing a player of Fielder's caliber can cause a devastating drop-off in one season's time. The Brew Crew have the pieces to get back on track, but I think Fielder's absence at first base will be too much to overcome right off the bat in 2012.

2. St. Louis Cardinals

Not only have the Cardinals lost the best hitter in baseball, Albert Pujols, they also have an injury-prone outfielder in Carlos Beltran, and their top two pitchers—Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright—are injury liabilities as well (Carpenter is simply getting old).

The Cardinals have talent, but it's hard to see some of their stars making it through most of the season.

1. San Francisco Giants

Coming off a championship, the Giants finished four games back in the race for the Wild Card in 2011.

Part of this was because of catcher Buster Posey's season-ending injury. The other part was because players like outfielders Andres Torres and Cody Ross simply fell off the face of the Earth.

The Giants replaced Torres with Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan in 2012, and they will likely rely on second-year pro Brandon Belt to fill in at left field. There are just as many questions about this offense as there were last season, however.

Cabrera looks like a one-year wonder to me—he's a career-.275 hitter, and the most home runs he had hit in a season before his contract year in 2011 was 13.

Pagan was good, but not spectacular last season.

The Giants will need players like Belt to step up in 2012 in order to be a threat, but I'm skeptical about this offense scoring enough runs in the end.

Unless, of course, they pull off another miracle with timely hitting.