2011 MLB preview: NL East

by Steve

Holy smokes baseball season starts in like no time. Here is the annual preview starting with my favorite division the National League East

Philadelphia Phillies
The out and out class of the division. The four armed monster that is Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt almost certainly guarantees a fourth straight division title.

Then again 2B Chase Utley has a bum stick, SS J-ro is 32 and coming off a terrible year, Ryan Howard is 31 and has consistently lower power numbers the last five years, 3B Placido Polanco is at least 35 and LF Raul Ibanez is 38. They're getting old. They will be relying more and more heavily on pitching as the offense continues to decrease. Good thing they play in that sand box that is Citizens Bank Ballpark.

prediction 95-67

Florida Marlins
This team is still pinching pennies while simultaneously reloading with solid young talent. I am a huge Larry Beinfest fan even with the tight budget but he needs to starting winning ball games, especially with the new ballpark opening next year. Han-ram is a 100% stud, 1B Gaby Sanchez needs to build on a solid rookie season, Infante at 2B brings veteran experience and little else. Little known 3B Donnie Murphy is meh at best and should be platooning with Emilio Bonifacio if he can ever figure it out.

Who is Edwin Rodriguez? Does he have the managerial acumen to make a wildcard run? The pitching staff has a lot of question marks behind stud ace Josh Johnson, Javier Vazquez is shoe horning himself into the starting rotation if he can keep young buck Alex Sanabia at bay. Anibal Sanchez finally took a step last year and just needs to prove he is legit, Ricky Nolasco has averaged 185 innings the last three years but isn't distinguished and Chris Volstad may be his clone plus added height. Don't sleep on the final year of the "Florida" Marlins though because this team can play.

predictions 87-75


Atlanta Braves
Chipper Jones still exists? Bad news for Mets fans. Don't sleep on young stud Freddie Freeman, he may be the next Jason Heyward starting at 1B right out of the gate in 2011. 2B Dan Uggla was an underrated pick up for the Bravos this past offseason. He has no defense and strikes out a ton but he can hit for power and average. Having Alex Gonzalez to his right picking up the slack defensively doesn't hurt either.

Their outfield with Martin Prado, Nate McLouth and Heyward may be set in stone for years but don't expect Prado to get much better if not decline a bit this season. B-McC behind the dish may be the best in the game; but he has his hands full with a rotation of young guns like Jurrjens, Beachy and Hanson and wily vets Hudson and Derek Lowe. Freddi Gonzalez could be a really good manager but don't discount Bobby Cox' genius. That wealth of knowledge vanishing is almost certain to hurt this team at times in '11.

prediction 87-75


Washington Nationals
That Jason Werth contract was an albatross. This team can not spend their way out of the cellar of the NL East(the Wilpon law suit is already doing that). The great hope Stephen Strasburg in all likelihood is out for all of 2011. Furthermore the next big thing Bryce Harper probably won't see the bigs until September at best. And there isn't much else but a bunch of fill-ins, has beens and whoooo???s.

Ok ok we do know Pudge behind the dish, Zimmerman is beyond solid at 3B, Rick Ankiel has had success (with Pooj batting near him), some may know Adam LaRoche as "one of the LaRoches" and of course the golden boy Werth. But quick who is Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa or Mike Morse (who I some how knew used to play for SEA)? The pitching staff is worse. And this team is going to win more games than the Mets? Ouuuuch.

prediction 70-92

New York Mets
Full disclosure they are my squad. Flushing NY is burning folks. The ownership problem is going to hang over this team all season. David Wright even admitted it would be a distraction, "Any time you're talking about something other than baseball, it's somewhat of a distraction," oof.

The aging ace Johan Santana won't be around until June at the earliest, Jason Bay is good but paid to be great and will never be, Angel Pagan has usurped Carlos Beltran as the starting CF (which is more of a testament to Beltran's diminishing skill than Pagan's emergence) I have no idea who Brad Emaus is. Jose Reyes needs to get back to '08 form ASAP or go down as a 3 year flash in the pan. On the positive Josh Thole may be a really good catcher for the next 5-7 years

Taking a flyer on Chris Capuano and Chris Young may be win win. True Caps has had two Tommy John's and Young lost his labrum but both were cheap and have had success in the National League. Jon Neise had a nice season last year and is still only 25 but is a #3 at best. Will Ike Davis avoid a sophomore slump? Can D-Wright shutoff the distractions and build on a solid '10 bounce back campaign? Who will k-rod beat up in the club house this year? Hopefully retread manager Terry Colllins has these answers or it will get real ugly real quick @ Citi.

prediction 69-93