With Spring Training starting up its time for TheCheek20 to give his baseball preview. We start out with the NL East where a lot happen in the offseason. This has been regarded as the toughest division in the National League, if not all of baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies won the division last year despite the Atlanta Braves leading it most of the way. Now the Phillies and Braves should both make the playoffs again this year just like last year but whether they will be able to is going to be tough cause the Washington Nationals, New York Mets, and Florida Marlins are not the average three through five teams that are just going to lay down and quit. So expect this division to be tough all throughout the baseball season and not decided until the final month. Without further a due here is how the NL East will turn out this year:
1. Philadelphia Phillies- They got the biggest pitching free agent in Cliff Lee during the off-season. There rotation now from top to bottom includes Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton. This is easily the best starting rotation in the MLB. The bullpen is not too good but not the worst either led by closer Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson. When it comes to batting the Phillies are no slouch either with Ryan Howard and Chase Utley leading the way. Those two right there give them a top ten hitting team, not to mention Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Placido Planco. The key player for the Phillies to get where they want would be Brad Lidge, he has to be better at closing games. So from top to bottom the Phillies deserve the number one spot in the NL East and all of the National League.
2. Atlanta Braves (wildcard)- The Braves are losing a top five manager of all-time in Bobby Cox but Fredi Gonzalez has already come in and make an impact and many of the experts believes he is just like a Bobby Cox type of manager. The Braves are also digging into their farm system for a first baseman. Freddie Freeman came up for a couple of games last year to fill in but was still a year away from being the elite rookie he could be so this is the year they will expect big things from him and if he is able to produce the numbers like Jason Heyward then the Braves should be a top team in the National League. Speaking of Jason Heyward, the Braves need him to produce higher numbers since Chipper Jones is declining and being in the third or fifth spot they need him on base so Brian McCann can get him in. The pitching staff is solid with Tim Hudson, Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson, and Mike Minor. Billy Wagner retired so now Craig Kimbrell will be the new closer.
3. New York Mets- Just by the talent alone they land here but can they finally put it together and contend for at-least the wildcard. Carlos Beltran is moving from center field to right field for the first time in his career. Their pitching staff is woeful to say the least. Once you get past Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey then no one really scares anyone. They got argueably the best left side of the infield in the National League with David Wright and Jose Reyes, two of the best younger talents in baseball period. Outside of them and Carlos Beltran the rest of the Mets bats done really intimidate and is almost obsolete. The Mets are a mess but by talent alone they should finish here third in the NL East.
4. Washington Nationals- They lost Adam Dunn in the off-season but welcome Jayson Werth from division rival Phillies and Adam LaRoche. Ivan Rodriguez is still at catcher and i believe he turn sixty in the offseason but he is still a quality catcher but you can not talk about the Nationals without mentioning Ryan Zimmerman. He is the best young third baseman in the MLB and if he was in any line-up he would be penciled in the third slot and be the best hitter on the team as well. Just like the past couple of year the Nationals have great young talent but still need to grow up some until you can take them seriously. Last year when Stephen Strausburg came up from the minors many people saw what the future could entail but he will not play this season due to tommy john surgeory so Livan Hernandez will be their best pitcher in a dismal rotation. Two years from now the Nationals might be able to contend for the division but we still have to see how Bryce Harper will turn out to make that decision.
5. Florida Marlins- Where to begin about this squad. They have the lowest pay roll in baseball and then they fire their manager Fredi Gonzalez who got them to a winning record one year, which is a miracle in itself. The Marlins are always that team you are not quite sure about but this year they will struggle to win sixty-five games cause the only player they have is Hanely Ramirez even though they added Omar Infante from the trade with the Braves. The only problem with the trade was that they traded Dan Uggla, the best power hitting second baseman in the game and not only did they trade him but traded him to a division rival. The Marlins have some good young pitching in Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco but not enough for them to feel confident.
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