Atlanta Braves
Management: GM – Frank Wren; Manager – Bobby Cox
Notable Additions: Jair Jurrjens – SP, Mark Kotsay – CF
Notable Losses: Octavio Dotel – RP, Edgar Renteria – SS
Down the Road: Brandon Jones, Brent Lillibridge, Charlie Morton, Clint Sammons, Zach Schreiber.
Projected Starters:
C – Brian McCann
1B – Mark Teixeira
2B – Kelly Johnson
3B – Chipper Jones
SS – Yunel Escobar
LF – Matt Diaz
CF – Mark Kotsay
RF – Jeff Francoeur
SP – John Smoltz
SP – Tim Hudson
SP – Chuck James
SP – Mike Hampton
SP – Buddy Carlyle
CL – Rafael Soriano
Vegas Over/Under (Wins): 85.5
2008 Outlook: While I wouldn’t go so far as to say the Braves are beginning to make “questionable” moves in the wake of John Schuerholz’s departure, I will admit this is one of the first years in recent memory where the Braves did not get better in the off-season. Andruw Jones was mostly lost to them last year, which makes Mark Kotsay a serviceable replacement for Jones’s 2008 numbers. The problem with the Braves, as it’s been for the last few years, is their bull-pen and their aging starting pitching. John Smoltz will star the season on the DL. Mike Hampton, thus far strong in Spring Training, is a solid sneeze away from another season off. Tom Glavine is just old. The Braves seem to be sticking in a holding pattern until the last of their contracts from the dynasty run fall off the books. Almost all their veteran contracts (Chipper, Hampton, Kotsay, Glavine) fall away or are in option years in 2009, freeing up about $50 million to do silly things like try and sign Teixeira and bring in pitching to make the team younger. That said, the Braves are not quite as good as really good NL teams, but they’re not as bad as the really bad ones. 85 wins are just a hair too much.
Florida Marlins
Management: Manager – Fredi Gonzalez
Notable Additions: Luis Gonzalez, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller,
Notable Losses: Miguel Cabrera – 3B, Dontrelle Willis – SP
Down the Road: Cameron Maybin.
Projected Starters:
C – Mike Rabelo
1B – Mike Jacobs
2B – Dan Uggla
3B – Jorge Cantu
SS – Hanley Ramirez
LF – Josh Willingham
CF – Alejandro DeAza
RF – Jeremy Hermida
SP – Andrew Miller
SP – Anibal Sanchez
SP – Scott Olsen
SP – Ricky Nolasco
SP – Sergio Mitre
CL – Kevin Gregg
Vegas Over/Under (Wins): 69.5
2008 Outlook: With the new stadium deal in Miami, it remains to be seen if the owner of the future Miami Marlins is going to start opening the coffers to sign a bit of talent. The current indication is “no” as he shipped his two best players off to Detroit for a couple extra sacks of magic beans. The Marlins payroll is coming in at around $14 million this season and they’ll be surprisingly competitive, but it is likely you will see this “rebuilding” era continue until opening day 2010 when they open their new stadium. They’ll continue to play games in embarrassingly empty parks.
New York Mets
Management: GM – Omar Mineya; Manager – Willie Randolph
Notable Additions: Ryan Church – RF, Johan Santana – SP, Brian Schneider – C.
Notable Losses: Carlos Gomez – OF, Phil Humber – SP, Paul Lo Duca – C, Lastings Milledge – OF
Down the Road: None.
Projected Starters:
C – Brian Schneider
1B – Carlos Delgado
2B – Luis Castillo
3B – David Wright
SS – Jose Reyes
LF – Moises Alou
CF – Carlos Beltran
RF – Ryan Church
SP – Johan Santana
SP – Pedro Martinez
SP – John Maine
SP – Orlando Hernandez
SP – Oliver Perez
CL – Billy Wagner
Vegas Over/Under (Wins): 93.5
2008 Outlook: Books will be written about what happened to the Mets last year. Two things came out of that choke: 1) Lastings Milledge cashed in every chip he had with the Mets’ fan base by taunting a dead Marlins team who then came out and destroyed Tom Glavine. 2) Tom Glavine, always in a shaky, I’ll-trust-you-as-long-as-I-have-to relationship with New York was allowed to be sent away with no argument at all. The Mets got replacement Shawn Green and replacement Paul Lo Duca back for Milledge, so it filled two needs and was arguably helped by subtraction. From all reports, Milledge rubbed a lot of guys in locker room the wrong way. They drastically improved their starting rotation by replacing Tom Glavine with Johan Santana and re-inserting Pedro Martinez into what was already a good rotation. Lots of people down on Pedro this season because of his stacked up injuries but no one is really mentioning the fact that Pedro has basically had a year off. After taking all of 11 months off following his surgery, he was built up slowly by the Mets’ training staff. He made it back to the league in late August, pitched what turned out to be a few exhibition games, and took another six months off. Pedro’s body has had a long, long time to heal: something it never had before. He’s on a great team with the guy who has taken the “best pitcher in baseball” moniker from him, he’s in a walk year, and he’s not going to have a good season? Does that make sense to anyone?
The Mets’ gaping hole is their age and their bullpen. If last year’s statistics are any indication, the Mets have, without question, the best 4-5 starters in baseball in 15-game winners John Maine and Oliver Perez and, arguably, the best starting rotation in baseball. What the Mets can’t afford is to have quality starts by any of those guy go for naught. A shaky bullpen destroyed them at the end of last season. They can’t have it happen again.
Philadelphia Phillies
Management: Manager – Charlie Manuel
Notable Additions: Eric Bruntlett, Pedro Feliz, Brad Lidge,
Notable Losses: Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary,
Down the Road: Greg Golson, J.A. Happ, Scott Mathieson, Zack Segovia.
Projected Starters:
C – Carlos Ruiz
1B – Ryan Howard
2B – Chase Utley
3B – Pedro Feliz
SS – Jimmy Rollins
LF – Pat Burrell
CF – Shane Victorino
RF – Geoff Jenkins
SP – Cole Hamels
SP – Brett Myers
SP – Jamie Moyer
SP – Kyle Kendrick
SP –
CL – Tom Gordon
Vegas Over/Under (Wins): 87.5
2008 Outlook: Once could argue that the Phillies have the best 1-5 in the National League. In fact… I’m pretty sure someone will make that argument based on the last two years’ worth of MVP voting. Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, and Burrell are probably going to generate a ton of runs this season based on ballpark alone. If Lidge comes back healthy and the change of scenery helps him get over Screamin’ Pujols Syndrome, the Phillies will have a pretty solid 8th/9th inning bullpen. The problem for the Phillies is that, save for Cole Hamels, they’re starters aren’t all that great. However, they’re way better than the Braves and ridiculously better than most of the division. Over 87.5, Wild Card.
Washington Nationals
Management: Manager – Manny Acta
Notable Additions: Lastings Milledge,
Down the Road: Collin Balester, Adam Carr, Ross Detwiler, Justin Maxwell, Garrett Mock.
Projected Starters:
C – Johnny Estrada
1B – Dmitri Young
2B – Ronnie Belliard
3B – Ryan Zimmerman
SS – Felipe Lopez
LF – Wily Mo Pena
CF – Lastings Milledge
RF – Austin Kearns
SP – Shawn Hill
SP – Matt Chico
SP – Jason Bergmann
SP – Mike Bacsik
SP – Tim Redding
CL – Chad Cordero
Vegas Over/Under (Wins): 71.5
2008 Outlook: If the Nationals had one or two starters I’d ever heard of and a little bit of bullpen help, they’d be a pretty good team. Unforunately, they don’t. That’s really all that you can say about them. Cordero will likely be gone some time in the next two years. They don’t have one pitcher that you can honestly say you rely on. They have put together a decent line-up but there’s almost no way to predict how many runs they’re going to give up. They’re also in an awfully hard division where, at best, they’re the fourth best team. Under 71.5.
Projected Finish
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies (WC)
Atlanta Braves
Washington Nationals
Florida Marlins
