First
Look-NL East
Florida Marlins:
Pitching-This team makes the Astros
look World Series contenders and the pitching is where it starts. Jose Fernandez is a amazing pitcher and
will be the ace of this club and could easily be the ace of a lot of
teams. This is the 2nd
year so his innings limit will be lifted a little and we’ll see how he does in
his second season. Jacob Turner is
good pitcher but young and we need to see how he does in the rotation full
time. After that the pitching is
just bad and many of the people are barely note worthy since there’s no real
rotation that could change last year.
The bullpen has a few more weapons like Steve Cishek but the rest are
just average pitchers in general.
Cishek is a decent pitcher but the only reason that he’s a closer is the
fact that there’s no one else, he’d be a good relief pitcher on other teams
don’t get me wrong but he’s no closer.
Overall this staff is terrible, it will win games but it won’t compete
any time soon.
Hitting-There’s more talent here
and it’s a decent enough lineup but nothing that will rock the world. Giancalo Stanton is a very good player,
big time power and a good fielder makes him a rising super star and the heart
of this lineup. Rafael Furcal is a
good hitter but his legs are getting older and his bat is losing pop, he will
help no doubt but he isn’t the Furcal we all know. Christian Yelich is young and untested but he has a lot of
talent and could be a big help for this team moving forward. Overall the offense is weak but it has
some bite, you can never truly count Stanton out.
New York Mets:
Pitching-A rotation that has
strength but took a major hit with Matt Harvey going down to Tommy John
surgery. Bartolo Colon is a good
signing and the move to the NL East will boost his stats but having to bat is a
new one for him and I question if he can stay healthy. Dillon Gee is a good pitcher and will
help the team win a good few games but he’s no ace. Zack Wheeler has a lot of talent and this year could be the
year we see him pull it all together.
Last year being his rookie season so we could see him become a big time
ace. The bullpen is not very deep
but they do have Bobby Parnell though he reminds me of Steve Cishek where he’s
closer only because he’s the best of a bad situation. Overall it’s not much better than the Marlins but the
rotation is better and could be really good if Harvey hadn’t gotten himself
hurt.
Batting-It has some talent but this
lineup isn’t going to trouble the better pitching in the league. David Wright will always be a threat to
any lineup; while not as fast Matt Carpenter or having the power of Evan
Longoria Wright has a great eye and a legit .340 AVG and will be a tough out
for every pitcher. Daniel Murphy
has a David Wright ability to hit for a high AVG but not to his extent and will
be another tough out. After them
there is a serious decrease in talent falls fast; Curtis Granderson and Ike
Davis are cut from the same cloth all power and not much else. The big question is how well can Travis
d’Arnaud can hit, while catchers tend to develop their hitting skills last so
we shall see what happens. Overall
it’s a lineup that needs help and it needs help now. It needs only a few pieces to make it a good lineup but none
are easily available.
Philadelphia Phillies:
Pitching-The Phillies have some
skilled pitchers but they’ve seen better days. Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels are both fantastic pitchers and
will continue to show their skills this year as the 1-2 punch at the head of
the rotation. A.J. Burrnett is a
good pitcher but I question if his move to the Phillies will be a good one for
him or the team, he relied on the spacious surroundings of PNC Park and a very
strong defense behind him to succeed and he doesn’t have that now. Roberto Hernandez and Kyle Kendrick
round up the last spots and both are serviceable pitchers but nothing to
special. The bullpen is decent but
not as good as others. Jonathan
Papelbon will start the season as the closer but we shall see how he does being
another year older and his skills starting to decline. Mike Adams, Phillippe Aumont, Antonio
Bastardo and Brad Lincoln are all very good pitchers but beyond Bastardo and
Adams they aren’t as tested but are both good nonetheless. Overall it’s a good staff but an older
one and one that can fall hard if things don’t go right.
Batting-In a word weak; this team
has a lot of holes starting with Ryan Howard who is so bad against LHP that
they are considering platooning him which is the first sign of bad news when
your “power” bat is a platoon player.
Chase Utley is still the best hitter on this team but his skills and
health are both on the decline and injuries could be his downfall. Dominic Brown had a great season last
year but history is against him and we have to find out if he is what he did
last year or year’s prior. Ben
Revere is a great hitter but no power; then again when you’re as fast as he is
you don’t need power. Revere is
probably this teams 2nd best hitter, which is saying something. Overall this team has issues and these
issues come in multiple forms; injuries, age and ineffectiveness are the big
and real worries for this team.
Atlanta Braves:
Pitching-The pitching staff is
pretty much what kept the Braves afloat last year after such a hot start and
they hope to keep that up. Mike
Minor finally had that break out season we had expected for quite some time now
and almost recorded 200 K’s while Kris Medlen recorded a very strong season so
the Braves have that going for them.
The big question marks are on Brandon Beachy getting healthy and Julio
Teheran reproducing what he did last year. If all comes to what they hope this staff will fight with
the best teams and be one of the more feared rotations. The bullpen guys are no slouches
either; Craig Kimbrel has securely put himself as MLB’s premier closers in the
game. Jordan Walden finally had a
strong season after his trade from the Angels and looks to be one of the better
bullpen guys out there, along with Jonny Venters who looks to have a comeback
season. Overall the staff is
strong but needs to keep up the pace set last year to really succeed, one bad
injury and the cogs could come off easily.
Batting-What a disappointment this
lineup was last year and they need to do better this year or they’ll never
catch up to the Nationals. Don’t
get me wrong this team has massive potential to score some big time runs with
guys like Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward at the helm. Justin Upton and BJ Upton are what they
are and I don’t see why we keep thinking so high on them anymore. Justin in particular has never reached
that level of glory we put on him back in AZ and when he has its never been for
a complete season. Chris Johnson
brings a good contact bat to the lineup and Andrelton Simmons isn’t the best
bat in the game but he’s learning fast and with that defense he plays could be
a top tier SS sooner rather than later.
Dan Uggla and Even Gattis are the same type of player; big time power
but K’s to make Mark Reynolds (broke the single season strike out record…3
times) laugh. Overall this team
has a good amount of upside and just as much downside. The big question is can they limit the
K’s enough to make the lineup work; with players like the Upton’s, Gattis and
Uggla being regulars I highly question this.
Washington Nationals:
Pitching-The strong kept being
strong; this team has some of the best young arms in the game and a good amount
of veterans to balance it out.
Steven Strausberg had a down year by his standards, which is to say he
was fantastic but not to his liking.
Jordan Zimmerman is easily the most underrated pitching in baseball
mainly because he’s surrounded by some of the most talented strikeout pitchers
around and he is a pitch to contact and strikeouts when he can. He wont win awards for his pitching but
he is needed. Gio Gonzalez also
had a fine season and almost having 200 K’s with a 3.36 ERA is not bad, he
still has control issues at times but he’s improving at a good rate. Doug Fister is much like Zimmerman, not
going to stand out but is going to get the job done and in the process make the
team stronger. The bullpen is
quite deep as well; Rafael Soriano returns as the teams closer and looks to be
solid as closer. Drew Storen and
Tyler Clippard add a lot of depth to this bullpen and can act as closers if the
need arises. Overall there is a
lot of talent here and if I talked about each one in depth id be doing scouting
reports on them. The staff is
strong but needs to keep focused and not let things get out of hand. Last year was a bad year for them but
picked it up at the end so they have to keep that focus to stay sharp.
Batting-Much like the staff they
built this team with a lot of depth in mind. Having 4 starting OF guys always helps and especially when
it’s Jason Werth, Denard Spann, Nate McLouth and Bryce Harper. The last of whom is easily one of the
most talented hitters in the game, every year were going to be holding our
breath till he finally breaks out and hits 40 HR’s, also he’s 21 so he has
time. Ryan Zimmerman is probably
one of the more overrated 3B out there but that’s not to say he’s bad by any
stretch. Zimmerman is very solid
defensively and a very strong bat but he’s no .300 hitter with 30 HR’s we used
to tag him with. Ian Desmond is
that special breed of SS where he hits well enough to justify a .298-.305 OBP,
personally I don’t think anything justifies this but I’m not a GM. Though having a SS that is a 20 HR
threat and can still hit .270 is a rare gift so you have to take the good with
the bad I guess. Wilson Ramos is
quietly become one of baseball’s most dependable backstops, he hits well and is
great with pitchers. I expect this
is the year we put him up there with guys like Rosario and McCann as one of the
best in the game. Overall this
lineup has the basics covered but they have to stay consistent and lessen the
K’s, last year there was a point where they had almost 30 to 1 K/BB ratio,
which will lose way more games then win.
If they do this watch out, this is one of the deadlier lineups in the
game.
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