| Douglas Benton. 29th March, 2007 - 1:54 pm
 The standings just didn’t look right at the end of the 2006 season. The Atlanta Braves weren’t on their customary top perch, but rather thrown rudely off by the ever-explosive New York Mets. In 2007, will the Mets continue their dominance and create a new streak or will the old social order be put back into place.
Here are the projected finishes:
1. New York Mets:
They don’t have the pitching depth expected from a contender with the injury to starter Pedro Martinez last season, but they have Tom Glavine as their ace to carry the load. It is the younger pitchers though like Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez who will decide if the rotation can build a consistent bridge their deep bullpen headlined at the end by the nasty Billy Wagner. Pitching will decide how far the Mets go in October, but it is their offense who will make sure it’s two straight division titles for New York’s other team. The line-up has no holes on the surface and players such as shortstop Jose Reyes, outfielder Carlos Beltran and third baseman David Wright give the Mets a good deal of athleticism to go with their power. This creates an explosive and balanced offensive attack, which should be expected to pound their National League counterparts all the way into the playoffs.
2. Atlanta Braves:
The Braves as a franchise are at a crossroads as they begin to usher in the next generation of franchise cornerstones. Third baseman Chipper Jones is on the downside of his career with injuries, but the offense is still in great shape behind the ever-young outfielder Andruw Jones to go with outfielder Jeff Francoeur and catcher Brian McCann. Pitching though doesn’t have quite as good of answers after John Smoltz, who is at the top of his game, but can’t be counted on over the next five years. Tim Hudson was supposed to be the man, but his struggles in 2006 have raised questions whether he is a true staff ace. With a spring training injury to Mike Hampton, the Braves will rely even more on their best pitching prospect, Chuck James, to make the rotation one of the team’s strengths to go along with a retooled bullpen. The bullpen, behind new additions Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano, won’t be an anchor for this team going forward like it was in 2006, but all of this won’t be enough to take the division back from the Mets.
3. Philadelphia Phillies:
Philadelphia did an excellent job of addressing their pitching issues this past winter with the trade for starter Freddy Garcia and keeping Jamie Moyer at the end of the rotation. However, they didn’t add any help to their three core guys of first baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley and shortstop Jimmy Rollins. The Phillies have a lot of outside expectations heading into the regular season and when you don’t meet those goals in a city like Philadelphia, it can be very rough. They have been in the situation before and failed miserably under high expectations. This team doesn’t have a solid leader to rally around and with a below average manager in Charlie Manuel, an early slump will doom the Phillies again in 2007.
4. Florida Marlins:
The Marlins came out of nowhere last summer as they rallied behind rookie manager Joe Girardi. The path back to respectability took a sharp turn though as Girardi clashed with ownership and was replaced by another rookie manager in Fredi Gonzalez. The young talent is there on offense with shortstop Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Dan Uggla and third baseman Miguel Cabrera, who is already a proven star. Ramirez is also well on his way to become a perennial All-Star in the mode of the Mets’ Jose Reyes. The staff is led by Dontrelle Willis, who is primed to win a Cy Young any year now, and a wealth of another quality arms. This includes Anibal Sanchez, who threw a no-hitter last season. Inexperience though in concert with the ever-present “sophomore slump” will derail this team and leave them competing with the Washington Nationals to stay out of the East cellar.
5. Washington Nationals:
It is tough to tell fans of a last-place team that they are doing well, but the Nationals are. They hired a great man in Manny Acta to be their manager. They have a nice core of batters in first baseman Nick Johnson, shortstop Felipe Lopez and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who may just be the best third baseman in the division. They also have a solid closer in Chad Cordero, but it is the rotation that will derail the Nationals. When your staff ace is John Patterson, you are going to struggle in containing opponents and without a dominating offense to lean on, it will be a long year in the rebuilding process for the Nationals.
Douglas Benton can be reached at Douglas.Benton@RealGM.com |
