NL East Preview

Philadelphia Phillies

2008 Record: (92-70)

Key Arrivals: Raul Ibanez, Chan Ho Park,

Key Departures: Pat Burrell, Tom Gordon, Geoff Jenkins

Strength: The Phillies strength lies with their offense and with their closer. With a line up that has Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley runs with come early and often. Even with the likes of Jason Werth, Matt Stairs and Raul Ibanez the big guns don’t have to perform on a nightly basis to give the pitching staff support. Brad Lidge returned to form recording 41 saves and if that keeps up you can count on the Phillies taking their fair share of close ball games.

Weakness: The pitching staff has a lot of potential but is not that intimidating. Plus after a long championship run last season fatigue might catch up with the defending champs.

It’s going to be another interesting season in for the defending NL East champs. With the Braves beefing up there pitching staff and the Mets determined to reclaim the division, Philadelphia is going to be in tough to Repeat. Raul Ibanez helps fill the void of Pat Burrell and with Ryan Howard slimming down 20 pounds and rejecting to play in the World Baseball Classic the offence should stay ahead of the class. If the Phillies can get from starter to closer without any major hiccups from the relievers than they can re-capture their form from a year ago.

2009 Projection: (88-74) 2nd in the NL East

New York Mets

2008 Record: (89-73)

Key Arrivals: Francisco Rodriguez, J.J Putz , Tim Redding

Key Departures: Endy Chavez, Aaron Heilman

Strength: The Mets are a well balanced team, but the one strong thing about them THIS YEAR is, their Bullpen. Not only did they sign single season saves leader Francisco Rodriguez but they acquired J.J Putz from the Seattle Mariners. That gives them a deadly one, two punch in the late stages of ball games. They also added Ron Villone from St. Louis Cardinals to strengthen the middle rotation.

Weakness: It’s hard to focus on one thing to be a weakness for the Mets. What they need to do is win in September. Period.

There is going to be a lot of excitement this year for the Mets, they will open a new stadium and hopefully that will bring the Mets some luck. The last 2 seasons the Mets have choked late in the season and than missed the playoffs. Additions like K-Rod and Putz, help the bullpen dramatically. They have an offense that gives pitchers fits. With Jose Reyes bouncing around on the base pads and David Wright and Carlos Delgado taking pitchers deep into the New York night this could be a memorable year for Mets faithful.

2009 Projection: (91-71) NL East Champions

Florida Marlins

2008 Record: (83-79)

Key Arrivals: Scott Proctor

Key Departures: Kevin Gregg, Mike Jacobs

Strength: The Marlins Pitching Staff is Young and Talented. Rickey Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad showed flashes of greatness last year. If they can build on that then the Marlins will steal some games in the NL East

Weakness: After sending Kevin Gregg to Chicago the Fish have handed the closers job to Matt Lidstrom, who looked good in that roll late last season. If he doesn’t perform look for Royal Leo Nunez to pick up the slack.

They’re young, they’re the lowest payroll in the Majors but the Marlins are fun to watch. There are still tons of questions surrounding this team, Can they perform at high level all season? Will the young pitchers wear down late and Can the Marlins close out games consistently? , but they should still make the NL East an interesting race.

2009 Projection: 80-82

Atlanta Braves

2008 Record: (72-90)

Key Arrivals: Garret Anderson, Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami

Key Departures: John Smoltz, Scott Thorman

Strength: Pitching, what was once a rich tradition in Atlanta seems to be back. The Braves improved their starting rotation this off-season by adding Derek Lowe, Javier Vasquez and Kenshin Kawakami. Also, the in-field should help keep a couple runs off the board of the opposition, Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar are a deadly combination up the middle and with Chipper and Casey Kotchman patrolling the corners should make for some highlights in Hotlanta.
Weakness: Consistancy is going ot be the biggest problem for the Braves this season, its gonna take some time for the team to come together but they're on th right track to compete in sucha competative division.

2009 Projection: (82-80)

Washington Nationals

2008 Record: (59-102)

Key Arrivals: Adam Dunn, Kip Wells, Daniel Cabrera

Key Departures: Tim Redding, Chad Cordero

Strength: The Nationals need help but there pitching staff has improved, even though they lost Tim Redding, they added the likes of Daniel Cabrera, Kip Wells and Scott Olsen. This should help them win more than 59 games this season

Weakness: The Nationals need a lot more help than Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham to compete this season. Even though Dunn and Willingham are great pick ups the line-up is still looking weak.

The Nationals did a lot of upgrading over the off-season adding Adam Dunn , Josh Willingham, Daniel Cabrera and Scott Olsen. However, this will not translate in to a winning season. The Nationals will improve on the 59 win total they tallied from a year ago but they will not get out of the basement of NL East.

2009 Projection: 71-91

The NL East is going to be very competitive this year . Almost every team tried to upgrade their rosters so they can compete against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves and Marlins should keep the division close all year but the two real contenders if the division are the Mets and the Phillies. Judging by the last 2 seasons this should be one of the more interesting division races in the Majors.

NL East Standings

New York Mets 91-71
Philadelphia Phillies 88-74
Atlanta Braves 82-80
Florida Marlins 80-82
Washington Nationals 71-91

Nelson "Demon Seed" Swan