The Philadelphia Phillies made arguably the biggest splash in the off-season. The Phillies brought in Roy "Doc" Halladay, the best right-handed pitcher in the game. The lack of a top right-handed pitcher was the Achilles heel of the Phillies in 2009. The Phillies also brought Placido Polanco for a second tour of duty and promptly moved him to third base and placed him second in the batting order. The Phillies have featured one of the top lineups in the bigs for the past few years and in 2010 it will only be stronger with the addition of former Silver Slugger winner Polanco. The Phillies pitching rotation is full of questions at the moment. Will Hamels regain his 2008 form? Can Happ build off the success of his rookie year? How much longer can Moyer last? The weakness of this powerhouse team is in their bullpen they are lacking solid left handed relievers and have a closer (will not be named) who is a bit of a head case.
Key Additions: Roy Halladay, Placido Polanco
Key Departures: Cliff Lee, Pedro Feliz
Team Prediction: Philadelphia wins its third NL pennant in a row. Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge share NL Comeback POY.
Doc has a Ph.D in strikeouts2. Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves and legendary manager Bobby Cox are going to be singing their swan song together this year. So not to disappoint, the Braves went out and reloaded in the off-season. They brought in closers Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito. The Braves also brought in a solid infielder Troy Glaus to play first base. The Braves rotation is packed with talent from young gun Tommy Hanson to legendary hurler Tim Hudson. Then throw in Jair Jurrjens and Derek Lowe. Pretty nice right? A plesent surprise came to the Braves during Spring Training, it was Jason Heyward. He basically showed up with a large rake and said "I am the goddamn man!" Sorry Melky, looks like you wont be a starter again... The Braves are very solid team and are very balanced in all aspects. The only major weakness that I can see with them is they have a lot of injury prone players or players that have suffered from a serious injury recently such as Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson, and Billy Wagner.
Team Predictions: Atlanta makes a serious push for the NL Wildcard. Jason Heyward wins NL ROY.
Key Additions: Billy Wagner, Takashi Saito, Troy Glaus, Melky Cabrera, Jason Heyward*
Key Departures: Javier Vazquez, Rafael Soriano, Kelly Johnson
Studly.The Florida Marlins are that sneaky team every year. They feature a tiny payroll but they always seem to come together and play really good baseball. Well this year the Marlins up there in payroll a tiny bit. With the extra money they locked up stud pitcher Josh Johnson and signed Dan Uggla to a one-year deal. Along Josh Johnson, the Marlins rotation features Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco, I think, is about to break out and even be mentioned in the Cy Young race at the end of the year. The Marlins also really need Dan Uggla produce like he did in 2006. Hanley will always produce. Chris Coghlan also needs to build off the success of his rookie year. This Marlins team is very well rounded. I don't think they will finish much higher than third but they will be in for the wild card until the very end I think.
Team Predictions: Florida will be in the thick of the Wild Card race. Ricky Nolasco will be a Cy Young candidate.
Key Additions: Nate Robertson...
Key Departures: Jeremy Hermida
Dan Uggla really isn't all that bad. Look, Hanley likes him...4. New York Mets
The New York Mets added Jason Bay this off-season looking for him to contribute the way he did for the BoSox a year ago. The Mets also brought in Gary Matthews Jr. to patrol center field while Carlos Beltran heals up from the surgery he had in February. Even with these nice additions the Mets are a huge pretender. Their starting rotation is a joke outside of Santana. Every other starter in their rotation had an ERA over 4.00. That is not going to get it done, especially in a division that features some of the most potent lineups in the National League. Their line-up is pretty solid and will only become better when Beltran returns to the line up. Though a lot of the success of this team relies on Reyes and Beltran performing as their top level after injury plagued seasons in recent years.
Team Predictions: Mike Pelfrey will improve but not enough to help this team. Carlos Beltran comes back eventually....
Key Additions: Jason Bay, Gary Matthews Jr., Rob Barajas...
Key Departures: Brian Schneider
Starting Pitching = This GuyThe Washingon Nation— or should I say Ryan Zimmerman with some other guys that kind of play baseball. The Nationals actually have pretty strong line up that has a good balance between speed, average and power. Outfielders Nyjer Morgan and Josh Willingham will continue to improve and, I believe, have very successful years. Adam Dunn as much as he strikes is a very good power hitter and does what he needs to; 38 homeruns and 105 RBI... not too shabby year after year. Back to Ryan Zimmerman, the man is easily the best third baseman in the National League. The Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards from last year attest to that. Now you have the joke of a pitching staff that the Nationals put on the field. There is absolutely no one to look forward to in my opinion. Also Strasburg is exactly where he should be in the minors, he still needs to work somethings out and there is no point in rushing him... it's not like the Nats are going anywhere soon.
Team Predictions: Washington will suck. Ryan Zimmerman will have a good year.
Key Additions: Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez , Jason Marquee, Livian Hernandez, Chien-Ming Wang...
Key Departures: Probably no one important
Don't get used to this.
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