The UCB have anointed today as NL East projection day.

Check them out.

National League East

1. New York Mets Willie Randolph
2008 Picks: 93 wins
The faces of the team: David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, Brian Wagner, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine
Looking at them: Play solid defense. Don’t collapse in September. Ride the arm of Santana. They have to be concerned about the age of Delgado.

Overall: With the addition of SP Johan Santana the Mets have to be considered the odds on favorite to win the NL East. With the pitching the Mets have, it seems it would take another unexpected collapse to ruin this season.

2. Philadelphia Phillies Charlie Manuel
2008 Picks: 89 wins
the faces of the team: Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge.

Looking at them: Kyle Kendrick will help but Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton are aging some and not fulfilling their game.The team ERA needs to come down a little bit.

Overall: There will be little room for error with the Mets addition of  Johan Santana. Some form of production near the bottom of the order (OF Geoff Jenkins, 3B Greg Dobbs, and C Carlos Ruiz) could help this from being an every-other-inning type of team.

3. Atlanta Braves Bobby Cox
2008 Picks: 79 wins
The faces of the team: Mark Teixeira, Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, Tim Hudson

Looking at them: Here’s 3 things to start with: 1) Jeff Francoeur needs to deliver either a higher BA or more HR’s, 2) How good will SS Yunel Escobar be this season? and 3) Can Brian McCann improve his BA and HR’s?
Overall: One thing to say about the Braves is they aren’t just packing it up and giving up on the division. After 11 straight division titles, the Braves have hit a rough patch, but they added Teixeira late last season and they brought back  Tom Glavine this year. But, whoa, the Braves rotation is old. Glavine (42 by opening day) and Smoltz (41 in May) make Chipper Jones (36 in April) look young.

4. Washington Nationals Manny Acta
2008 Picks: 77 wins
The faces of the team: Ryan Zimmerman, Chad Cordero.

Looking at them: They need to just get games to their bullpen. With Chad Cordero and Jon Rauch this RHP-RHP combo can by itself squeeze out a few wins.
Overall: The 2 best pitchers on the team had surgery last September. This makes it difficult to expect the team to get much momentum going right out of the gate. They do have some surprising power bats through the middle of the order in Zimmerman, Johnson, Kearns, and Wily Mo Pena. The Nationals may sneak up a spot.

5. Florida Marlins Fredi Gonzalez
2008 Picks: 73 wins
The faces of the team: Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Anibal Sanchez.

Looking at them: Injured Anibal Sanchez needs to come back quickly and pitch lights out for the Marlins. Mike Jacobs and Jose Castillo need to provide stability and consistent performance.
Overall: The Marlins have a list of great up-and-coming bats. The anchor of the line-up is lead-off hitter SS Hanley Ramirez, who’s already established himself as one of the best overall fantasy baseball players. The keys to success will be the performance of Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida. They will miss Dontrelle Willis.

By: motle on Mar 5th, 2008
Tagged as: MLB Banter

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