Up next in my season preview is the NL East, a division full of talent both hitting and pitching. I ultimately feel that this division is going to come down to one thing and one thing only... How healthy can the Phillies starting rotation stay? If they steal healthy, the division is theirs if not look out for Atlanta to swoop in with the steal.
1. Philadelphia Phillies - Plain and simple the Phillies have the best rotation in baseball. But to win the East they and the rest of the team need to stay healthy. Chase Utley, Brad Lidge and Domonic Brown are all starting the season on the DL and Placido Polanco has been banged up already. Losing Jayson Werth is huge for this team as they're mostly a left handed lineup now and might need to trade for a right handed bat at some point. The saying is though, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not and the Phillies have good pitching.
Key additions: LHP Cliff Lee and 2B Luis Castillo
Key losses: OF Jayson Werth
2. Atlanta Braves - The Braves can contend for this division crown much like they did last year but this year's team has some questions. How well will Chipper Jones and Martin Prado play this year both coming off of season ending surgeries. Can Nate McLouth return to form, will Jason Heyward hit the sophomore slump, can Jonny Venters or Craig Kimbrel be effective as a first time closer and can Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor pitch well in the back end of the rotation? If yes is the answer to a majority of these questions we could have a tight race like we did last year. Dan Uggla was the biggest move the team made in the offseason and is coming off a career year which saw him hit 33 home runs.
Key additions: 2B Dan Uggla, LHP George Sherrill and RHP Scott Proctor.
Key losses: Bobby Cox, LHP Billy Wagner, 1B Troy Glaus and UTL Omar Infante.
3. Florida Marlins - They still have Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez which is bad news for both of those players because they traded away Dan Uggla. The Marlins are going to play a lot of games in front of crowds around 10,000 people or less because this team is still a bit away from contending. They do have good players like: Josh Johnson, Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton and Chris Coghlan but still have holes elsewhere. Maybe once their new stadium is finished the ownership will spend some money on talent but for now the Marlins finish third in the race for the cellar of the NL East.
Key additions: RHP Javier Vazquez, UTL Omar Infante, C John Buck and RHP Edward Mujica.
Key losses: 2B Dan Uggla and OF Cameron Maybin.
4. New York Mets - The Mets are going to rely on pitching heavily this year to win games and the bad news for them is two of key pitchers from the bullpen are gone(Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi). They have plenty of talent but are for whatever reason so dysfunctional that they can never seem to put it all together at the same time. With new management they could maybe put it together and surprise people, then again maybe they won't and they'll finish fourth again.
Key additions: RHP Chris Young and LHP Chris Capuano.
Key losses: LHP Oliver Perez, 2B Luis Castillo, LHP Pedro Feliciano and LHP Hisanori Takahashi.
5. Washington Nationals - Yes they signed Jayson Werth in the offseason but Ryan Zimmerman and he can't save this franchise from the cellar. Bryce Harper will probably make his debut sometime in June much like Strasburg did last year. But without Strasburg this team lacks starting pitching and boasts a not so strong bullpen. It'll be a rough year in DC once the Capitols make their exit from the NHL Playoffs. On the plus side, look for left fielder Michael Morse to have a good year.
Key additions: OF Jayson Werth.
Key losses: OF/1B/DH Adam Dunn, OF Josh Willingham and OF Nyjer Morgan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment