Back to a somewhat competitive division, the NL East. Last year, the Mets had an utter collapse that led to them completely falling out of the playoffs. This year, I think things will be different…
1. New York Mets – The Mets look like the class of the NL. They have proven young talent mixed in with veteran sluggers like Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran. The acquisition of Johan Santana will push them over the top, especially if Pedro Martinez has anything left in the tank. Yes, the road to the World Series will go through crappy Shea.
2. Atlanta Braves – The Braves seemed poised to get back into the division picture this year, especially with the defending champ Phillies seemingly losing a step. Like most American League hitters that go to the National League, I expect Mark Teixeira to tear up the league and be a nice compliment to Chipper Jones (if he plays as well as last year), Jeff Francoeur, Kelly Johnson, and Brian McCann in pretty decent lineup that is still a notch below the Phillies. The pitching situation is going to be completely unpredictable. John Smoltz and Tom Glavine are blasts from the past that are clearly at the end of their careers, while Mike Hampton is more known for hitting homers than his pitching. They also have Tim Hudson, who has seen better days in Oakland. But you know what? These 4 guys have all been GREAT at different points in their careers, so they do have the potential to put something magical together. Oh, and bonus points to Hudson for the shaved head and wrist tattoos…which make him look like some sort of insane ex-con….adds to the intimidation factor.
3. Philadelphia Phillies – The Phillies probably aren’t going back to the playoffs, and it seems like a lot of it has to do with bad trades with the White Sox that seemed good at the time. Freddy Garcia has been an absolute bust, Tad Iguchi left for the Padres after playing stand in for an injured Chase Utley, and Aaron Rowand inexplicably left to go to San Francisco of all places after trading away Jim Thome to get him. I was never a huge Rowand fan when he was with the Sox, because I think his overaggressive play caused him to do stupid things instead of being helpful, but he really seemed to be the glue of last year’s Phillies team and is supposedly a good clubhouse guy. I think that will be missed in Philly and is badly needed in San Fran. Oh, and their pitching is pretty suspect.
4. Washington Nationals – This could be one of the weirdest rosters I’ve seen in a while. It almost looks like a fantasy team of someone that loves sleepers and had a whole bunch of injuries to his stars that he had to hastily fill with what was left of the free agent scrap pile. Look at this team…Dmitri Young, Paul Lo Duca, Cristian Guzman, Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, and Austin Kearns. Oh well, I still love the fact they went with the old Washington Senators curly W, now they just need to change their name back to the Senators….
5. Florida Marlins – Hanley Ramirez and uh…uh… Dan Uggla? will uh..uh.. Do they play in Vegas yet? But somehow, the only teams to win multiple World Series since the strike are the Yankees, Red Sox, and Marlins.
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