Time For Predictions

With less than a week to go before opening day, I guess I’d better make some unsolicited, unnecessary predictions that are sure to make me look bad in October.  I’m not doing hardcore analysis here, just what I think. So here’s what the  NL East will looks like at the end of the season:

1. Mets
2. Braves
3. Phillies
4. Nationals
5. Marlins

NL East Ratings, Part 2: The Pitching Staffs

Yesterday I went over the entire starting rosters of each NL East team, and after giving 5 points for having the best player and 1 point for having the worst, I came up with this score:

SCORE: Phillies (29), Mets (26), Nationals (26), Braves (20), Marlins (19)

It leads me to believe that the Nats lineup aint so bad. Let’s see what happens when we keep going. On to the pitching staffs!

In terms of what number a starter falls under,  obviously that is something that can be debated ad nauseum. It’s clear who the #1 is for NY and Philly, but the others are up in the air. Lannan is starting opening Day for the Nats, Nolasco was the most consistent last year, and Lowe is listed first on the depth chart. Blah blah blah. I’m going with what I think they would list as their depth chart for each team, aided by ESPN.com, MLB.com and cbs.sportline.com’s depth charts.

#1 STARTER

1. Mets – Johan Santana
2. Phillies – Cole Hamels
3. Braves – Derek Lowe
4. Marlins – Ricky Nolasco
5. Nationals – John Lannan

Rating the NL East, By Players

(3/25/2009) – For this years, click here

With all the WBC talk here, you’d think this wasn’t a Nats site. Well it is, you shouldn’t think such things. As I’ve mentioned before here, I owe alot of inspiration to Steven Goldman’s Pinstriped Bible. So once again, I will blatantly rip him off by previewing the teams in the NL East position by position. The point of this is to see who has the best pieces to make a team. It’s quite simple – there are 5 teams in the division, so if someone has the #1 player at a position, they get 5 points for it. If they have the worst, they get 1 point. Overly simplifying a complex sport? Of course! But it’s fun to look at, so let’s start with the position players:

CATCHER

1. Braves – Brian McCann
2. Nationals – Jesus Flores
3. Marlins – John Baker
4. Mets – Brian Schneider
5. Phillies – Carlos Ruiz