First
Look-NL Central
Chicago Cubs:
Pitching: Where do I start with
this teams pitching staff? There
are some shining points to this rotation with Jeff Samardzija and Travis Wood
but neither would be better than a 3rd starter on other teams though
both are very competent pitchers.
Jason Hammel is a decent pitcher but much like Samardzija and Wood’s
he’s a 3rd or 4th starter on other teams. After these 3 though its just bad with
Edwin Jackson, a pitcher who’s seen better days, and a battle for the fifth spot
between spot starters. The bullpen
is just as bad, actually its worse.
Again they have talent in Jason Veras as their closer and as good as he
is Veras isn’t a closer on most teams.
Pedro Strop has talent but last year wasn’t his best season and if he
can have a bounce back season he could be a future closer, he has shown the
talent to do so. Overall this
teams staff is bad, I mean very bad.
There’s not much that this team can do to improve its staff but with a
team this bad a bright future through the draft is in the future.
Batting-As bad as the pitching is
the batting is way worse, there are 3 guys that are even not worthy. Josh Vitters is a young prospect that
has talent and if he can capitalize on that potential he could be a great
hitter one day. Anthony Rizzo has
shown himself to be a legitimate power threat in the majors. Rizzo needs to learn to take a walk and
lower that strike out rate down he could be a perennial 30 HR guy but he
doesn’t have the ability to hit for a high AVG. but he can hit about
.260-.265. Starlin Castro is a
mystery as to what he will be next year, he has talent but lacks focus and that
causes laps in his defense and not concentrating at the plate. He’s not a power hitter but could hit
10-13 in a year and if he stays focused he could be a .300 hitter. Overall this team has massive holes but
like the pitching they do have the luxury of being one of the worst teams
meaning they’ll have a high draft spot.
Milwaukee Brewers:
Pitching- There are good pitchers
here but there isn’t a lot of them.
Kyle Loshe and Matt Garza lead the way as the best of the bunch and they
are good pitchers. Garza is a
number 3 pitcher but has number 2 talent when he’s pitching well. Loshe is pretty much the same pitcher
as Garza, a 3rd starter but with 2nd starter talent when
he’s on. After that it’s a quick
fall with Marco Estrada, was a big sleeper pick last year to have a decent
season and he did but Estrada is a 4th starter nothing more. Rounding out the top 4 we have Yovani
Gallardo and what a fall from grace its been for him, once thought as a top ace
in baseball and now is barely holding his own as a 4th starter. Declining control over his pitches and
a decrease in velocity is a bad sign for any pitcher. The bullpen actually is pretty talented, not tops but
decent. Jim Henderson was a nice
surprise for the team when John Axford lost his control last season and lead
the team in saves. Francisco
Rodriguez is a good surprise for the team along with Brandon Kintzler and Tyler
Thornburg. Overall this team has a
decent or average staff and a surprising bullpen, could actually give some
teams some problems and win a few games.
Batting- They have some problems
but a lot of talent too. Ryan
Braun isn’t the same Braun we’ve seen over the years; power is there and his
ability to hit for a high average but his speed is gone. Jean Segura is a dark horse here, if he
can pull it together he could be a major star in the majors but he has a lot of
work to do staying consistent in hitting for AVG. Last year ended with him hitting .143 during the second half
of the season so that needs to change.
Carlos Gomez is a defensive wizard and is one of the best gloves in the
game and can hit for a decent average and slightly above average power. His speed is game changing in both the
field and at bat where he can use that speed to beat out the infield ground
ball. Jonathan Lucroy is a very
underrated catcher who’s defense is very solid and his hitting is well above
average. Overall this offense has
a lot of potential but it has holes; it needs to have some of the young guns
step up and this team could be a problem.
Cincinnati Reds:
Pitching- High talent and a very
big strike out club. Johnny Cueto,
Homer Baily and Matt Latos lead this very talented staff and all are very good
pitchers. Cueto has the most
talent but injuries have plagued him the last two years limiting his time. Baily and Latos are both coming into their
own and starting to really become the aces they were thought to be. Mike Leake and Tony Cingrani will
battle for the 4th and 5th spot both are deception
pitchers and have success fooling batters but they can be hit every once in a
while. Bullpen is not as strong as
rotation but when you have Aroldis Chapman it’s a good start. Jonathan Broxtan has seen better years
but he is better than most. Sean
Marshall is an underrated pitcher that doesn’t get the credit he deserves as
one of baseballs best LHP’s.
Overall the team has a strong staff and decently strong bullpen that is
going to give most lineups major trouble.
Batting- This lineup is major power
but also lacks consistent OBP and AVG guys to supplement that power. Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips are the
main face of this problem. Bruce
has improved over time but he’s still not a big AVG or OBP guy; he’s improved
his skill but still needs work.
Phillips skills are starting to decline over time and now it’s getting
pretty bad now, his age is making it so he isn’t improving any time soon. Joey Votto is defiantly the best play
on his team though he isn’t the power hitting type that we thought a few years
back but he’s the best overall hitter on the team. The rest of the team has similar skills to Phillips, has
some power but cant take a walk.
Overall this is a dangerous lineup but it can be limited with good
pitching.
Pittsburg Pirates:
Pitching- Last year this team won
with pitching and I don’t see this changing that much this year. Losing AJ Burrnett is a blow but with
Gerrit Cole showing himself to be a potential ace for this team in the near
future; being young is going to be his big challenge since he doesn’t have much
experience. They will also need a
repeat performance from Francisco Liriano if they want to succeed and I
personally think that’s a lot to ask but he proved he could do it last year so
we shall see. Wandy Rodriguez has
come a long way from being a Astros rookie to now a very stable 3rd
or 4th starter but much like Liriano they will need him to pick up
the slack of losing Burrnett.
Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke won’t kill them but they aren’t going to
become lynch pins in this rotation.
The bullpen is quite strong headed by stellar vet Jason Grilli who
finally got his chance to close and ran with it. While his stats do lean towards the luck side he is still a
very good pitcher. Vin Mazzaro and
Mark Melancon were good surprises for this team since both have come into their
own and have become essential parts of this bullpen. Overall this is a good staff but a good 3rd
starter is needed I think and 1 more good bullpen are would sure it up.
Batting- This team has a ton of
power bats and balances it with good OBP guys. Andrew McCutchen is a MVP player and is one of the top 5
players in the game and is a major 5-tool player. Pedro Alvarez is a legit 40 HR guy but isn’t much of a AVG
or OBP player; if he could hit .250 this year he could be an major threat. Sterling Marte is an interesting player
just to see what he becomes this year.
He needs to be able to take a walk and hit a bit more consistently to
become an above average OF. Neil
Walker and Russell Martian are good OBP players and really balance out the
players like Alvarez. Overall this
team is very balanced in hitting and could be a major player for a playoff spot
this year.
St. Louis Cardinals:
Pitching- What can I say about this
staff? Really its very tough since
all of them are so good! Adam
Wainwright is the ace of this staff and that’s a big accomplishment considering
this is a team that also has Michael Wacha in the minors and he is a legit ace
in the making. Shelby Miller
proved himself to be a fantastic pitcher last year but the season proved to
long for him and he seemed to drop off, not worried at all about that and look
for him to be the 2nd pitcher on the staff. Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn will once
again provide good inning eating and be very solid pitchers for this team. The bullpen I just as strong as the
rotation if not stronger; Trevor Rosenthal really showed himself and now took
over the closer role from Jason Motte who got hurt last year but is back and
will really help stabilize this bullpen.
Carlos Martinez and Kevin Siegrist are both very talented pitchers and
add more strength to this already strong bullpen. Overall this could be the best in the majors, the only thing
to watch for is health, which many of these pitchers get hurt often, and age
since this is a young staff.
Batting- This is a very balanced
lineup full of players that can hit for power and average. Losing Carlos Beltran will sting a bit
but Matt Holliday will lead this team with his very solid bat and still hit
about 25 HR’s and have a .290 AVG to boot. Matt Adams will get his chance to play 1B this year and try
and prove his talent with top prospect Oscar Taveras waiting for his chance to
take over and run away with the position.
Allen Craig will most likely head back to RF and join what looks like a
very strong OF with Peter Bourjos taking over CF. Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina looks to build on their
fantastic seasons last year and with Jhonny Peralta taking over SS this team’s
infield gets a big boost at the plate.
Overall this is one of the best lineups in the league and arguably the
majors, they should easily make it to the playoffs if all goes well.
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