NL East Preview

Here’s my take on the teams of the National League East.

Atlanta – the two big questions for the Braves this season should come at 1st and 2nd base. At first glance giving up Andy LaRoche and his 32 HR for a reliever seems like a mistake but when you consider that LaRoche has Trot Nixon disease against lefties and had hustle issues – then a Scott Thorman / Craig Wilson platoon doesn’t look too bad. The bigger question will be at 2nd base where the Braves let Marcus Giles just walk away in order to save some money and in the hopes that Kelly Johnson can fill those shoes. The biggest moves may have been at the late inning reliever position where the Braves added Worcester’s Tanyon Sturtze (who will be valuable in late innings of blow out games to save the rest of the bullpen), Mike Gonzalez (who has closer stuff and who came in exchange for LaRoche from Pittsburgh), and Rafael Soriano (who also has closer stuff and who came in exchange for Horacio Ramirez from Seattle). I guess the idea here is to protect the lead from the 6th inning on with a stable of very good but not great relievers (Bob Wickman probably starts the season off as the designated closer but Atlanta has perhaps the closest thing to a true “closer by committee” set-up in MLB). How successful the Braves will be probably comes down to how well their lefty starters do. A lot is riding on Chuck James not having a sophomore slump and Mike Hampton successfully returning from injury.

Florida - the sophomore slump will be the biggest question for the Marlins. Will Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Annibal Sanchez, Josh Johnson and Mike Jacobs be able to duplicate their success from last year? Will right fielder Jeremy Hermida blossom this season? Will Dontrelle Willis post a better than a .500 record? Who will be the closer? Will another rookie make a big impact on this year’s team? Lots of questions surround the Marlins. This is a team that could be a really exciting young team competing for a playoff spot or they could suck or be anywhere in between.

New York – The Mets really needed to add a top starter this off-season but instead they basically only made a minor upgrade in left field going from the 34-year old Cliff Floyd to the 40-year old Moises Alou. In the starting pitching department Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and John Maine are the top 3 with the 4th and 5th starters being question marks (as if the top 3 starters weren’t question marks in their own right). Its lucky for the Mets that Glavine tends to get off to a fast start because they will need to hang around the top of the division until Pedro Martinez comes back around July in order to have a chance to make the playoffs. The starting pitching of course will be the big question but another question exists in right field where the plan is to platoon lefty Shawn Green with righty Lastings Milledge. Shawn Green is a question mark because of his age while Milledge is in danger of being labeled the most over-rated prospect in many years. As bad as the starting pitching situation appears – it will be difficult to bet against the Mets making the playoffs because they boast 5 true all-star caliber threats in their line-up (Wright, Beltran, Reyes, Delgado and LoDuca).

Philadelphia – How could the Phillies let Randy Wolf walk away? I know Wolf wanted to be on the West Coast but the Phillies could have made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Wolf can be a staff ace and it would have only taken Gil Meche money to keep him. Instead the Phillies went with Adam Eaton who will be a bust. In fact I’m willing to go on record saying that Wolf will double the number of wins Eaton gets this season. The Phillies do have two pitchers I will be interested in watching – Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer. It will be interesting to watch Hamels because he showed flashes of being something special whereas Moyers is quietly still being effective at 44-years old.

Washington – I’m still amazed that Jim Bowden still has a job. Seriously. Questions surrounding the Nationals include will Nick Johnson stay healthy for once? Will Ryan Church get a chance to play finally? Will any starting pitcher reach double digits in wins? Will Jim Bowden get fired during or after the season?