Noah Feingold
02-24-2011, 01:02 PM
The Rest of the NL East
By Staff Writer Noah Feingold
The Phillies will be entering the season as the favorite to win the NL East, but don’t tell that to these teams.
Atlanta Braves (91-71 in 2010):
The Braves have a very complete team. The addition of Dan Uggla gives them another bat with power to add to an already respectable line up. The core of their line up will now consist of Brian McCann, Uggla, Heyward and Chipper Jones. I don’t know many pitchers that would want to face these guys in a row. However, after these four their offense faces some questions. While Martin Prado has been very solid hitting over .300 the past three years, the Braves will be starting a rookie at first in Freddie Freeman, and the better of Nate McLouth and Alex Gonzalez’ career averages is .252.
The Braves also have a very strong pitching rotation. Their top guys might not scare teams as much as facing Halladay and Lee, but they still have depth and a rotation that most teams should be jealous of. Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Derek Lowe, and Jair Jurrjens are all very capable starters that will give the Braves a chance to win every time they take the mound.
As with any team health will be a factor, but the bigger question for the Braves is how they will play when their manager hasn’t been ejected from the game. For the first time in the life of Jason Heyward, the Braves are starting a season without Bobby Cox (the all time ejection leader) managing them.
The Braves look to be the biggest threat to the Phillies chances in the NL East.
Florida Marlins (80-82 in 2010):
The Marlins as always have a lot of young talent. I don’t know if Hanley Ramirez can still be considered part of their youth as he is entering his 6th season in majors and could be infringing on veteran territory. Regardless, they have a lot of young talent. Their starting outfield has a total of 4 years played in the majors. However, they shouldn’t be taken lightly, Chris Coghlan in center was the rookie of the year in 2009. Mike Stanton struggled at times last year, but still showed incredible power, and the potential to be a great baseball player. Lastly, their right fielder Logan Morrison performed very well in 62 games last year hitting .283 with a .390 OBP.
The Marlins staff meanwhile features Josh Johnson, followed by pitchers that historically have not been consistent. Nolasco, and Vazquez both have the potential to be productive, but could just as easily struggle to get hitters out and keep their ERA below 5. Also, Annibal Sanchez showed he had no hit stuff in his rookie year, but has since bounced between the minors and majors.
The Marlins have a lot of young talent, and because of that they have potential, but they probably don’t have enough pitching as it stands to be able to compete with a healthy Phillies or Braves team.
New York Mets (79-83 in 2010):
The Mets want to forget about 2010, and maybe more than that. They have spent a lot of money and have had almost everything that could go wrong, go wrong. Not only with injuries on the diamond but even losing money to the Bernie Madoff scandal. However, so much has gone wrong for the Mets, maybe they are due to have things turn around and have things go right this year.
If the Mets are able to have a healthy season, they certainly have the talent to be successful. With all-star caliber players in David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay in their line up, as well as Johan Santana leading their rotation and K-Rod finishing out games, the Mets have the potential to compete.
Still, it is unclear how strong their rotation is after Santana, and chances are (based on recent history) that the Mets won’t stay healthy. If they do stay healthy, don’t be surprised if they compete for the wild card or division.
Most likely, however, it seems that the Mets will be fighting with the fish for third place in the East.
Washington Nationals (not very good in 2010):
I hope Strasburg is able to come back healthy because he was a lot of fun to watch pitch last year. Other than that, there isn’t much the Nationals have to offer. Zimmerman and Werth are solid players, but can’t really support a line up. Bryce Harper also is an intriguing player, but there is a good chance he won’t see the big leagues for a year or two. Now I kind of wish I hadn’t chosen to end this article with the Nationals, talking about them is a little depressing…
Oh right, I should mention the Phillies have Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee… much better.
By Staff Writer Noah Feingold
The Phillies will be entering the season as the favorite to win the NL East, but don’t tell that to these teams.
Atlanta Braves (91-71 in 2010):
The Braves have a very complete team. The addition of Dan Uggla gives them another bat with power to add to an already respectable line up. The core of their line up will now consist of Brian McCann, Uggla, Heyward and Chipper Jones. I don’t know many pitchers that would want to face these guys in a row. However, after these four their offense faces some questions. While Martin Prado has been very solid hitting over .300 the past three years, the Braves will be starting a rookie at first in Freddie Freeman, and the better of Nate McLouth and Alex Gonzalez’ career averages is .252.
The Braves also have a very strong pitching rotation. Their top guys might not scare teams as much as facing Halladay and Lee, but they still have depth and a rotation that most teams should be jealous of. Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Derek Lowe, and Jair Jurrjens are all very capable starters that will give the Braves a chance to win every time they take the mound.
As with any team health will be a factor, but the bigger question for the Braves is how they will play when their manager hasn’t been ejected from the game. For the first time in the life of Jason Heyward, the Braves are starting a season without Bobby Cox (the all time ejection leader) managing them.
The Braves look to be the biggest threat to the Phillies chances in the NL East.
Florida Marlins (80-82 in 2010):
The Marlins as always have a lot of young talent. I don’t know if Hanley Ramirez can still be considered part of their youth as he is entering his 6th season in majors and could be infringing on veteran territory. Regardless, they have a lot of young talent. Their starting outfield has a total of 4 years played in the majors. However, they shouldn’t be taken lightly, Chris Coghlan in center was the rookie of the year in 2009. Mike Stanton struggled at times last year, but still showed incredible power, and the potential to be a great baseball player. Lastly, their right fielder Logan Morrison performed very well in 62 games last year hitting .283 with a .390 OBP.
The Marlins staff meanwhile features Josh Johnson, followed by pitchers that historically have not been consistent. Nolasco, and Vazquez both have the potential to be productive, but could just as easily struggle to get hitters out and keep their ERA below 5. Also, Annibal Sanchez showed he had no hit stuff in his rookie year, but has since bounced between the minors and majors.
The Marlins have a lot of young talent, and because of that they have potential, but they probably don’t have enough pitching as it stands to be able to compete with a healthy Phillies or Braves team.
New York Mets (79-83 in 2010):
The Mets want to forget about 2010, and maybe more than that. They have spent a lot of money and have had almost everything that could go wrong, go wrong. Not only with injuries on the diamond but even losing money to the Bernie Madoff scandal. However, so much has gone wrong for the Mets, maybe they are due to have things turn around and have things go right this year.
If the Mets are able to have a healthy season, they certainly have the talent to be successful. With all-star caliber players in David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay in their line up, as well as Johan Santana leading their rotation and K-Rod finishing out games, the Mets have the potential to compete.
Still, it is unclear how strong their rotation is after Santana, and chances are (based on recent history) that the Mets won’t stay healthy. If they do stay healthy, don’t be surprised if they compete for the wild card or division.
Most likely, however, it seems that the Mets will be fighting with the fish for third place in the East.
Washington Nationals (not very good in 2010):
I hope Strasburg is able to come back healthy because he was a lot of fun to watch pitch last year. Other than that, there isn’t much the Nationals have to offer. Zimmerman and Werth are solid players, but can’t really support a line up. Bryce Harper also is an intriguing player, but there is a good chance he won’t see the big leagues for a year or two. Now I kind of wish I hadn’t chosen to end this article with the Nationals, talking about them is a little depressing…
Oh right, I should mention the Phillies have Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee… much better.