National League East Preview
Written by Bob Whalon, Sunday March 28 2010
The Phillies have won the National League Pennant the last two seasons, but the rest of the NL East hasn't been quite that formidable lately. The issues among the other teams ranged from injuries to salary constraints. The Phillies may just be the class of the entire NL this season and the rest of the NL East should also be improved.
Let's take a look at each team in the NL East. They are listed in order of their projected finish, with last season's record in parenthesis.
Philadelphia Phillies (93-69)
The Phillies won the NL East the last three years in a row and there is no reason to think they won't do it again in 2010. Sure they traded away Cliff Lee, but they replaced him with arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Roy Halladay. Halladay is a front-runner for the NL Cy Young award now that he is away from the hitters in the AL East with the DH.
The rest of the Phillies rotation is solid. Cole Hamels won the NLCS and World Series MVP awards in 2008, then never seemed to find his groove in 2009. He's developed a cutter and curveball this spring to add to his fastball and knee-buckling changeup. J.A. Happ was a finalist for rookie of the year in 2009 and Joe Blanton is the kind of innings-eater every staff needs. The #5 spot should go to Jamie Moyer. The effectiveness of the bullpen depends on how well closer Brad Lidge comes back from offseason knee and elbow surgery. Ryan Madson is a top-notch setup guy, but doesn't do well in the 9th.
The lineup is easily the best in the NL and possibly the best in all of baseball. The addition of Placido Polanco at 3B gives the Phillies the perfect #2 hitter that they lacked in the past. His high-contact rate is desperately needed in a lineup with too many strikeouts. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard have each won an NL MVPs and Chase Utley is sure to win one in the near future. All three outfielders, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez made the All-Star team last season, so you know this lineup is packed. Plus, Polanco, Rollins and Victorino all won Gold Gloves last season. They win the division by 7-10 games.
Atlanta Braves (86-76)
The strength of this team is their pitching. They had so much pitching that they traded Javier Vazquez to the Yankees for a package of prospects and Melky Cabrera. Vazquez was 4th in the NL Cy Young voting last year and they still have a great staff without him. Jair Jurrjens has ace stuff. Derek Lowe won 15 games and Tommy Hanson won 11 in only 21 starts in 2008. Tim Hudson is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery and Kenshin Kawakami had an ERA under 4.00 last season.
The Braves revamped their bullpen by bringing in Takashi Saito as the setup man and Billy Wagner as the closer. Both are an upgrade from last season.
The Braves batters are a mix of young an old. Super prospect Jason Heyward will start, but may have an adjustment period facing major league pitching. Cabrera and Nate McLouth round out the outfield. The infield features the face of the Braves over the last 15 seasons, Chipper Jones, and newcomer Troy Glaus, who is moving to 1B. Brian McCann is one of the top catchers in baseball, but overall, this is not a powerhouse lineup.
Bobby Cox is retiring after this season, so the Braves front office may be inclined to make a trade deadline deal if they're close in the division or Wild Card Race.
Florida Marlins (87-75)
The Marlins had the lowest payroll in MLB last season at $36.8 million. It is so bad that MLB demanded that the Marlins spend more money on their roster. The team responded by signing ace Josh Johnson to a four-year $39 million deal. In spite of the low payrolls every year, the Marlins have managed to win two World Series in their short existence. That's because they manage to obtain great young prospects when they have fire-sales every few years to keep that payroll low.
Johnson will be teamed with Ricky Nolasco, who could strikeout 200 this season. The problem is that the rest of their rotation is young and third starter, Anibal Sanchez has never started more than 17 games in a season. Leo Nunez saved 26 games last season and will be the closer again. The rest of the bullpen are guys you've never heard of like Renyel Pinto and Dan Meyer.
The Marlins are paced on offense by one of the premier players in the game, SS Hanley Ramirez. He sacrificed stolen bases to move into the 3rd spot in the batting order, but still managed to win the NL batting crown with a .342 average. He also had over 100 RBIs for the first time in his career. The other Marlins batters are young, except for Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu.
Somehow the Marlins always manage to be competitive, but they will most likely be close to the middle of the pack in the NL in 2010.
New York Mets ( 70-92)
The Mets used 117 different starting lineups (not including the pitcher) in 162 games last season. Injuries decimated the team, but that may have only saved them from choking for the third straight season. Jose Reyes is back, but Carlos Beltran will start the season on the DL after right knee surgery.
The Mets big offseason move was to sign outfielder Jason Bay. He will help the middle of a Mets lineup that had nothing beyond David Wright, in the worst statistical season of his career, in 2009. They will also need Beltran to return as quickly as possible. The biggest question for the Mets will be how well Jose Reyes bounces back from his injury-plagued 2009. It's not a good sign that a player whose whole game is speed had injuries to his legs. Reyes also regularly leads baseball in getting caught stealing, so he doesn't have much margin for error to begin with. The bottom half of the Mets lineup leaves much to be desired.
The Mets rotation is Johan Santana and not much else. Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Jonathon Neise and Oliver Perez are all average at best. The Mets bullpen also has question marks. Their biggest offseason signing for their bullpen was Kelvim Escobar, who has thrown exactly five innings in the last two seasons due to injury. He will setup Francisco Rodriguez, who does not have elite closer stuff any longer. He was the only pitcher in baseball who gave up two walk-off grand slams last season. That's hard to do.
The Mets simply don't have the talent to compete in 2010 in spite of their high payroll. Another lost season should finally be the enough to cost GM Omar Minaya his job.
Washington Nationals ( 59-103)
The Nationals will again be one of the worst teams in baseball in 2010. The only question is whether they will make it three 100-loss seasons in a row. The team knows that they won't contend, so the roster is filled with young players.
The biggest name on the Nationals is a player who won't even start the season in the majors. That would be pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who was the number one pick in the 2009 draft. Strasburg will get called up in May, so that his arbitration clock will be held back for one additional year and save the franchise some money. The rest of the rotation includes guys like John Lannan, Scott Olsen and free agent signing, Jason Marquis. Marquis is the only member of the rotation over 27 years old.
The Nationals bullpen had the worst ERA (5.02) in the NL last season. They signed Matt Capps from Pittsburgh to be their closer, but they still won't be very good.
The Nationals lineup consists of promising youngsters like 3B Ryan Zimmerman, CF Nyjer Morgan and SS Ian Desmond. They still have Adam Dunn to hit 40 HRs and 100 RBIs and they signed Ivan Rodriguez to be the catcher until 25-year old Jesus Flores is ready for a full-time role.
The Nationals won't hit and they're pitching isn't great either. hey will allow their young players to grow and start to build around them. Strasburg has a bright future ahead of him, but it won't be in 2010 for him or the Nationals.
Bottom Line
The Phillies win the division with ease. The Braves may contend for a Wild Card if they're a buyer at the trade deadline. Nobody is ever surprised anymore when a young Marlins team makes a run at the postseason, so that's always a possibility. And the Mets and Nationals will fight for the basement in the division.
Tags:
Recent Phillies Articles
- There's a Lot of Bull(Bleep) in the Phillies Pen
- Lee and Cain in Epic Pitchers Duel
- Philadelphia Phillies 2012 Season Preview
- National League East 2012 Preview
- Who's on First for the Phillies?
- "The Big Piece" of the Phillies Lineup
- Wild About the Wild Card
- No Hype for Phillies Pitchers This Year
- Did Ryan Howard Suffer a Setback?
- Can the Phillies Bounce Back in 2012?
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
2 comments
Please sign in to rate!
Drinking too much of the Mets Blue Kool-Aid there Kerri? The Mets are done. Half the team has been linked to that Canadian HGH doc, the pitching staff stinks and even if they don't all get hurt because they can't take PEDs anymore, they will simply choke again. But like you said, at least you'll finally be rid of the worst GM in professional sports.
Please sign in to rate!
The Mets will win 140 games. Well, no, but I do think they can contend for a Wild Card if their pitchers can step up. Hopefully, you will be eating your words. On the other hand, if one more year in the basement ensures the departure of Omar, it may be a trade I'm willing to make.