With the MLB's spring training in full swing, the regular season is only a few short weeks away and I for one am getting excited for another season of mediocre New York Mets baseball. However, my boss (I really don't want to call Zach my boss but I can't think of anything else to call him in this context. I'll hit up thesaurus.com later) is not so excited about the idea of having two writers talk solely about the Mets so I'm going to justify why they play in the best division in the NL.
1st place: Atlanta Braves
The Braves go into the season with a lot of optimism and I really like what they did over the offseason. After getting knocked out by the Cardinals in the new wild-card round, last season almost seemed like a disappointment even after a 94 win season. However, the Braves went into the offseason with an aggressive mindset acquiring brothers B.J. and Justin Upton in the outfield to play alongside Jason Heyward. The biggest questions are in the infield for this team, particularly who will fill Lawrence Jones's spot at the hot corner and in the lineup*. It looks as if Juan Francisco is the frontrunner to start but don't be surprised if Chris Johnson can win the starting job. Either way, this lineup is stacked and that's been proven by science. Moving on to the pitching staff, the rotation has a new look after trading Tommy Hanson and dropping Jair Jurrjens, but should still be solid. If Brandon Beachy can come back from Tommy John surgery, this rotation is strong from 1-5. The bullpen will be the best in the majors. Not should be, will be. In 2012, they had the second best ERA in the majors behind the Reds in addition to having the best WHIP in the majors. With Chapman moving to the rotation, the Reds' pen will take a step down and with the addition of Jordan Walden, the Braves will be even better. Also Craig Kimbrel is nasty and that's all I have to say about that. From top to bottom, this team should be as good as any in the National League.
*Even though I will admit that he's one of the best switch hitters of all time, I refuse to call him Chipper because he was kind of a dick naming his kid Shea after the Mets' old stadium. We get it, you have the most career home runs against the Mets. Get over yourself.
2nd place: Washington Nationals
This was tough for me because I really did want to put the Nationals as the best team in the NL East but I just think they are a little too young to perennially win the division. Having said that, it would not surprise me at all if they ended up taking the East because they do have the overall talent. Lets start with the rotation. Stephen Strasburg is an absolute stud. Dude just slays it on the mound and (health withstanding of course) is finally going to get a full season under his belt. Let's not forget about the rest of the rotation though. Jordan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez both had sub-3 ERAs and this could be the best 1-2-3 pitching combo in the majors right now. Dan Haren will hopefully bounce back after a below average year and Ross Detwiler is a fine 5th starter. So far, everyone's been talking about how great the Dodgers' rotation is but in my completely non-expert and pure speculative opinion, the Nationals have a deeper rotation and I'd take Strasburg (ERA of 3.16 ) and Gonzalez (ERA of 2.89 ) over Kershaw (ERA of 2.53 ) and Greinke (ERA of 3.48). The Nats bullpen will be stronger and thats after a top 10 bullpen last year. Storen is filth. Tyler Clippard looks like one of the people from to catch a predator but he can throw the crap out of a baseball. Rafael Soriano anchoring this group is going to be a plus and overall, there isn't much to complain about pitching wise in Washington. The lineup is solid from top to bottom and has a good balance of power and speed. If Bryce Harper can improve, and he probably will, they are going to be even better than last year. The thing with Harper is, we don't know what the ceiling for him can be this year. Remember he's still not even old enough to buy beer and he could go off the charts like Trout did last year. That's unlikely, but still possible. By the way, did anyone else know Harper is a mormon because I didn't. Not that its a big deal or anything but he can't drink, smoke, or have caffeine. He does have polygamy though so theres that. Anyway the nationals are going to be up there with the Braves and these two teams should wreck havoc on the rest of the NL.
You be the judge.
3rd place: Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies 2012 season was one of the most disappointing for the team in recent memory. After winning the division five straight years, and going to the World Series twice, the Phillies missed out on the playoffs after a slow start and the injuries to Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard, the team's late season push wasn't enough. Halladay had his worst season in years but the report out of spring training is that he is healthy and ready to go. If he can return to only a fraction of what he was before the injury, the Phillies pitching staff should have an excellent 1-2-3. The bullpen doesn't have much depth but Jonathon Papelbon, Antonio Bastardo, and Mike Adams will be strong on the back end. The biggest questions with the Phillies lies in their lineup. After acquiring Michael Young from the Rangers, this lineup has a lot of potential. However, much of the success of the offense will rely on the health of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Howard came back in the second half after his gruesome achilles injury to put up decent numbers, although his home runs were down. If he can return to form (lets say 30 home runs), the Phillies will be in great shape. Utley has more issues, however, with his horribly arthritic knees and has not been the same player since his knee problems began. He only played 83 games last year and put up decent numbers at second base (.256, 11 HR, 45 RBI). Extrapolate that to a full season and thats more than fine production from Utley. Having said that, they still need a full season out of Chase. The Phillies have a lot of ifs for the upcoming season but if they can stay healthy, they will have a strong chance to compete in the National League.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU4w9FaSZ5M
4th place: New York Mets
Finally up to the most insightful section of this blog. Look, I know the Mets aren't going to win the World Series, but I don't think they are getting enough credit for what they did over the offseason. So they don't have an outfield and traded their first Cy Young winner since Dwight Gooden in 1985. What they do have, though, is a core group of young players which could potentially make a surge at the big league level. Travis D'arnaud should be starting behind the plate before June and Zach Wheeler may be up even sooner. Both are top 10 prospects and could have major contributions in Flushing this year. Wheeler will add to an already strong rotation which was ranked 11th in ERA last year. Even with the loss of Dickey, this pitching staff should be a plus behind Santana, Niese, phenom Matt Harvey, Dillon Gee, and newcomer Shaun Marcum. The bullpen could be much improved this year as well. The signing of Brandon Lyon will add a proven closer into the pen along with newcomers Scott Atchison (1.58 ERA in 2012) and Latroy Hawkins (3.64 ERA in 2012). Bobby Parnell should be solid on the back end and if Frank Francisco can return to form, this bullpen has some depth. On to the lineup, Ike Davis is coming off of a 32 home run season in which he had the second lowest average for balls in play in the league, which generally suggests poor luck. Expect Ike to stay strong along with David Wright and his new contract. Daniel Murphy could be solid as well, coming off a year in which he nearly hit .300. Although the outfield is probably worse than most minor league teams' (and I mean that literally, each of their starting outfielders spent time in the minors last year), Lucas Duda has shown flashes of promise and before Mike Baxter missed most of his season with injuries, he still had a .365 OBP. Kirk Nieuwenhuis is probably going to have more strikeouts than hits this year but he does play solid defense and I won't lie, he's got some great lettuce. All in all, this season probably won't be too successful for the Mets but they could surprise a lot of people with some of their young players.
5th place: Miami Marlins
The Marlins are gonna suck this year. They are really by far the weakest team in this division and all four Marlins season ticket holders may not even show up. In all honesty, I feel bad for this team. They have an awful fan base, probably the worst ownership in professional sports, and to top it all off, they might have the worst team in baseball this year. When Ricky Nolasco is going to pretty easily be your team's ace, you know you've got issues pitching wise. At this point in his career, Nolasco is more like a 4th or 5th starter and the lack of depth behind him is just atrocious. Their bullpen was in the bottom third of the league last year and they haven't done anything to make it better. At least they have Giancarlo Stanton to look forward to. The guy can absolutely mash and also the only other person that I know named Giancarlo that I can think of is Giancarlo Esposito, aka Gus from Breaking Bad. As far as I'm concerned, Stanton would probably be better off getting involved in the methamphetamine business, at least for this season, and possibly getting blown up by a bitter cartel officer in a wheelchair. But that's probably not going to happen so expect him to hit upwards of 35 home runs. Honestly, I don't know what else to talk about with the Marlins. Logan Morrison has good tweets. Thats a thing I guess.
You can't make this stuff up
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