Whoa, there. We’re kicking off the 2008 baseball preview with 2007’s and likely 2008’s most competitive division. The NL West features a lot of young talent and good pitching, and all of the teams are located in cities that are a lot of fun to visit to catch a game (I’ve been to games in Colorado, Arizona, San Diego, and Los Angeles). Last year, the shockingly young D-Backs, with their great new color scheme, battled it out with Padres, until the Rockies came flying out of nowhere to eliminate the Padres from the division race with Arizona and then stealing the wild card from them in a one game playoff. The Rockies and D-Backs (especially with their annihilation of the Cubs) made last year’s playoffs a lot of fun to watch…well at least until the Rockies got a giant AL reality check in the World Series. On to the picks….
1. Arizona Diamondbacks – As I said above, the D-Backs surprised a lot of people last year and if you look at their depth chart, it makes sense they did. The only household name on their roster is Randy Johnson, who barely played last year. 6 out of their starting 8 position players were born in the 1980s, and I personally am older than 4 of them, but these are not your average prospects. Chris Young, Stephen Drew, Justin Upton, etc. are only going to get better, and they are backed by a strong pitching staff with Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Doug Davis with a bonus possibly healthy Randy Johnson. Like most NL teams, they won’t be spectacular, but they will be good enough to win this division
2. San Diego Padres – This was a tough call with the Rockies, but I’m giving it to San Diego. The Padres are all about pitching with Jake Peavy and Chris Young anchoring their rotation, and they can be downright scary if Greg Maddux has anything left in the tank and Mark Prior doesn’t try to “arm-wrestle Jesus” again. The question for them is where is the hitting? Adrian Gonzalez is their most dangerous hitter, and he’s nothing more than a generic .280, 30, 100 guy. They are pretty strong defensively, especially with the addition of Tadahito Iguchi.
3. Colorado Rockies – The Rockies are a lot of fun because they promise one thing: Ridiculous offensive numbers and a fantasy player’s dream. Who cares if t he humidor reduced the number of homers? They had to build that park with such huge dimensions to compensate for the altitude that it has become a haven for singles, doubles, and triples. I think the Rockies will have a winning record, but I think they really caught lightning in a bottle at the right time last year and their pitching won’t be as lights out as it was in that stretch.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers – The big spenders of the division, the Dodgers have done a good job of stockpiling guys way past their prime. See: Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, Andruw Jones, Brad Penny, Esteban Loaiza, and Derek Lowe. Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre are just not that impressive, unless you love stolen bases. There is hope though with Russell Martin, James Loney, and Matt Kemp, who have all looked impressive so far. I’ve heard that the Dodgers have some other good young players in their system, so if they push some geezers aside, they could make a run at the division.
5. San Francisco Giants – Forget the Royals, Nationals, or Tampa Bay Sun Rays, this could be the worst team in baseball this season. Wonder what ever happened to guys like Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel, Rich Aurilia, Dave Roberts, and Randy Winn? Long retired right? Nope, that’s your starting lineup for the Giants, and they got much younger by not re-signing Barry Bonds. Barry Zito hasn’t been himself in a long time and the rest of the staff is pretty bleh. It’s going to be a long season in the bay.
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