The Sports Brewery

MLB – NL East preview

Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 at 3:00 am by Meerkat in Baseball, MLB Baseball

2009 NL East

1. Philadelphia 93-69
2. Florida 87-75
3. Atlanta 86-76
4. New York 70-92
5. Washington 59-103

Philadelphia Phillies

Defending 2009 NL champs.  World Series champs in 2008.  The Phillies roster stays mostly intact for 2010.  Which should scare the daylights out of the NL.  The Phillies are walking around this spring as a team that has been there before and a team that expects to be there again … “there” is the playoffs, in case you did not figure it out.

The major changes from 2009 are Placido Polanco at 3rd and Roy Halladay as the ace.  Pedro Feliz’s bat never materialized at CBP as a legit threat, but his glove will be missed.  Polanco was brought in to at least bring a better avg to the 3B position.  And peanut Polanco (that’s what I call him, just check out the dude’s skull) should be a better option for the two spot in the lineup.  Placido is a better contact hitter and a nice fit for the spot between leadoff and Chase.  So who is leadoff?  Rollins, only because he’s leader on the team.  I’d prefer my boy Victorino, but that’s okay, I don’t argue with Uncle Cholly’s decisions anymore — he brought a title to Philly.

On the pitching side, “Doc” Halladay is a small step up from Cliff Lee.  Cliff was the man last year … Phillies fans fell in love with his game.  But Doc is the best in the land.  If you are working on your fantasy draft cheat sheet now … move Halladay up right now, the dude is gonna dominate NL hitters.  20 wins easy.  So the questions are … Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge.  Cole and Brad had dreadful 2009 seasons.  And it cost the Phillies in the World Series.  Surely, nobody expects Brad to copy his perfect 2008 season, but at least get that slider confidence back for 2010.  The Lidge slider is close-to-unhittable and is needed for another WS victory.  Ryan “the-bridge-to-Lidge” Madson should be expected to grab some saves if Brad struggles again.

Hamels reported to camp this spring in great shape.  He was very disappointed in his performance in 2009 and is setting up 2010 as his redemption season.  With Doc’s legendary workout regime being whispered around the Phillies clubhouse all spring long, ain’t no doubt all of the other Philly pitchers will step up their game to keep up and impress in 2010.  JA Happ, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer or Kyle Kendrick will be the guys holding serve after Doc and Cole.  If they pitch .575 baseball, the Phils will be on pace for another NL East pennant.

No need to chat up the Philly lineup.  All I gotta do is just say Jimmy, Chase, Ryan, Jayson, Raul, Shane.  Best in NL.  Oh yeah, they are all pretty good with the glove as well.

Florida Marlins

There are two teams that the Phillies need to worry about … the Braves are one, the Marlins two.  Why?  Because youthful teams like Florida don’t know no better than to just play and let the chips fall where they may.  Seriously, that is how they won two World Series titles before in 1997 and 2003.  Young ballers that went out each day and busted ass with good pitching.  That same recipe for success could be in the works in 2010.  Starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are set to be the guys that blaze the Marlins back into the playoff picture.

Superstar Hanley Ramirez will be leading the charge from the offensive standpoint.  Ramirez does absolutely everything and will have plenty of opps this season to knock in 2009 ROY  Chris Coghlan, who looks to be locked in at leadoff and LF.  Shaky gloved Jorge Cantu seems to be back at 3rd only because he can hit.  Dan Uggla and Cody Ross will be providing deep ball skill in the RBI spots.  Gabby Sanchez is playing well enough to hold 1B, it’s his job to lose.  The Marlins can get on base, they were 4th in NL OBP (.341) last season.

What will push Florida into a wildcard spot will have to be quailty starts from the 3rd & 4th pitchers.  Anibel Sanchez and Chris Volstad have to raise their game this season or they can expect somebody like Rick VandenHurk to take their spot.

Atlanta Braves

Ahhhh … good ol’ Bobby Cox.  The dude is a lifer.  Well Bobby just might have a playoff squad this year.  If any team is gonna challenge the Phils for the NL East pennant it will be Atlanta.

Chipper Jones had a weak 2009 — maybe Larry has gotten long-in-the-tooth?  The Bravos only hit 149 HRs last year, so they are welcoming with open arms super-rookie Jason Heyward.  Heyward is gonna be a fixture at RF for quite awhile.  He’s got power, speed and mature enough to fit right in with the vets.  Heyward completes an outfield of Melky Cabrera and Nate McLouth that will have a nice blend of pop and quicks.  Steady bat McCann is back behind the plate and I swear that dude is a Phillies killer, his bat is always alive when he sees red pinstripes.  Troy Glaus, playing 1B, is gonna be the guy that takes this squad to playoff good, the dude is clutch and I expect him to win some games David Ortiz style this summer.  2B Prado and SS Escobar are solid avg guys with speed.  This lineup is gonna be dangerous.

The pitching staff has a nice mix of youth and vets.  The wise men, Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson will be good workhorse examples for the rest.  There have been whispers of Hudson returning to old form for 2010.  That is scary considering Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson had ERAs under 3.00 last year.  There are worries about Jurrjens pitching a whole lot of innings the past few years (215 IP ’09), his arm could tire out this summer.  Billy “ass-clown” Wagner moves in as the Bravo closer, this should be interesting.

New York Mets

Hahahahaha … the Mets!  The poster boys for the Heimlich maneuver!  As much as I’d like to sit here and drain a gallon of piss on this part of the post … I shall restrain.  David Wright and Johan Santana are serious players on this squad.  Unfortunately, the rest of the roster  might be a little short of playoff potential.  SS Jose Reyes is strugglin with hamstring issues … not good for a guy when his game is based on speed.  And what about Beltran?  The Mets expected him to be “the man” when they signed him away from Houston, but he has been splashes of offense since … I believe this is the year he makes due or gets dealt to a contender if NY falls behind in July.  Daniel Murphy takes over 1B and they are hoping for offensive improvement from him.  Jason Bay comes over from a stint in Beantown, his bat won’t have the same punch as it did in Fenway.  Jeff Francouer, the “anti-walk”, will play opposite of Bay in RF.   Luis Castillio is a nice avg guy at 2B.

NY’s pitching needs to get better this year if they wanna contend.  Johan and Francisco Rodriguez (35 SVs ’09) are nice anchors, but it’s guys like Mike Pelfrey (5.03 ERA ’09) and Oliver Perez (6.82 ERA ’09) that are the ones making the wheels wobble.  They are gonna need John Maine to pitch better than .500 ball as well.

Washington Nationals

Seriously, do I really need to chat up the Nats?  It’s like a veterinarian doing stool analysis on a client’s dog.  Not exciting at all.  But fine, I will.

If not for super-stud-to-be Stephen Strasburg, how many ballers can you name on this squad?  Strasburg is the golden boy, yes.  But he won’t be taking this group to the promised land in 2010.  Washington won 59 games last year, worst in MLB.  And I don’t see a worst-to-first story coming out of Washington this year.

Also last, was the Nat’s ERA (5.00) and SOs (911) in the NL .  And worst in BB (629) and H (1533).  Check out this rotation: John Lannan, Jason Marquis, Garrett Mock, Craig Stammen, Scott Olsen.  Who are these guys?  Alright, John Lannan was decent in ’09 and Marquis is an okay vet, but these other dudes don’t give much hope.  Stammen could improve upon his ’09 5.11 ERA … let’s see if Mock (5.62) and Olsen (6.03) can as well.  Doubtful.  Does anyone care about relief pitching, didn’t think so.

Hot corner dude Ryan Zimmerman is the lunch pail guy and, I guess, star of this team.  Zim will blast over 30 and be a rock on the field.  Adam Kennedy and Josh Willingham at 2B and LF have nice sticks but do K quite a bit.  SS Ian Desmond is having a nice spring and just might keep the job out of camp.  Adam Dunn is known for his monster jacks as much as his monster whiffs.  Out in CF, it looks like Washington is hoping Nyjer Morgan, acquired from Pitt in ’09, becomes their speedy SB guy.

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2010 NL East

1. Philadelphia
2. Atlanta
3. Florida
4. New York
5. Washington

Yeah, not to creative with the prediction, the only difference being the Braves and Marlins switch spots from 2009.  The Mets … hahaha … will make a couple waves here and there … but will fizzle out eventually.  I feel for David Wright, the kid is player, but his team just has bad chemistry.  Maybe NY can make a mid-summer deal to shake things up and make them playoff legit once again.

The Marlins and Bravos will be scrambling for the wildcard spot in September.  I believe Atlanta will grab it, their lineup and staff look solid.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Philly is stacked for another WS push.  The Bravos might give them some trouble, but the Phillies swagger will be the difference after the All-Star break.

Tags: atlanta braves, Baseball, florida marlins, MLB, new york mets, nl east, philadelphia phillies, Washington Nationals