Baseball Preview - NL

Completing my take on the National League, with the East. Starting down south in FL and working my way up the coast.

The Fish went through another of the periodic firesales a couple years back, but have been surprisingly competitive nonetheless. Lots of talent here, led by big bat 3B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Dan Uggla, and speedy SS Hanley Ramirez. They have some arms as well, with engaging lefty Dontrelle Willis, Scott Olsen, and Ricky Nolasco leading the rotation and recently acquired Jorge Julio now closing. If some additional young talents develop, like 1b Mike Jacobs and LF Josh Willingham, they could surprise. Now if they could only get a new owner...

The Tomahawk people suffered their first non division title last year in fifteen years, and made some winter moves that should allow them to challenge their rival teams in the East. The Jones boys, Andrew and Larry, continue to carry the team offensively, although young C Brian McCann could wind up being the next Javy Lopez. A number of youthful bats complement, among them 1B Scott Thorman (supposed to be so good they let go Adam LaRouche to the Bucs for lefty RP Mike Gonzalez) as well as OF Jeff Francoeur and Ryan Langerhans. John Smoltz, Tim Hudson and Mark Redman lead the rotation with Mike Hampton trying to recover from a rib muscle injury. The big moves have been in the bullpen, with Bob Wickman closing, and Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano setting up.

On to the nations capital, where the Nats surprised everyone last year by actually being competitive. Probably won't happen this year, however. The youth movement is spearheaded by 3B Ryan Zimmerman, who has quickly become the franchise's poster boy. The biggest sticks on the club power wise is likely former Cincy OF Austin Kearns, along with 1B Dmitri Young, who steps in for former Yank Nick Johnson, recovering form a broken leg. John Patterson is the staff "ace" and you've never heard of anyone else on the staff (OK, maybe former Cubbie Jerome Williams -if you watch WGN) with the exception of closer Chad Cordero, who is likely to be trade bait at the deadline this summer. On the plus side, the team is getting a new stadium and the uniforms look pretty cool. On the minus side, they will almost certainly lose more than 100 games, if not 110 or more.

Moving on to the City of Brotherly Love, the Phils feel pretty good with returning NL MVP Ryan Howard at 1B. SS Jimmy Rollins, 2B Chase Utley, and LF Pat Burrell are proven impact players, and the club thinks CF Aaron Rowand and RF Shane Victorino might become so as well. Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Adam Eaton and crafty old lefty Jamie Moyer are on staff, along with injured Freddy Garcia and also injured John Lieber, so one if likely to be traded for anything the club needs at the break if they can get healthy. Tom Gordon continues close, probably keeping the seat warm for closer in waiting Ryan Madsen.

In the Big Apple, the second best team in the city enjoyed a long overdue takedown of the fellas in Georgia last year, but think they should have made the series last year and will go for it again. These guys have a ton of sticks, with 3B Dave Wright, SS Jose Reyes, 1B Carlos Delgado, and CF Carlos Beltran being among the best at their respective positions in the game. Other notables include OFs Shawn Green and Felipe Alou's little boy Moises (now 40 years young), C Paul LoDuca, and 2B Jose Valentin can also go deep. Tom Glavine leads the staff, with El Duke and Oliver Perez in the rotation as well, awaiting the return of Pedro. Closer Billy Wagner is lights out, with Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis setting up.

Stupid as they are, the Metropolitans should take the division - meaning they probably won't. I see the Phils doing the deed this year (finally) with their superior (and deep) staff making the difference, with the Braves and the Fish being somewhat competitive as well.

Fearless predictions: East - Phils, Central - Cubbies, West - Dbacks, WC - Cards. Mets go home early, and the best team in NY laughs thorugh October and the off-season. (OK, might be some wishful thinking here, but hey, it's a fearless prediction).