National League East: 5 Questions
5 Questions Facing Mets, Braves, Marlins, Phillies, and Nationals
Mar 29, 2007
1. With the Mets pitching staff taking a bit of a hit this year, who will step up and have a big season?
John Maine goes into this season as the Mets' third starter and is primed to have a solid season. He came up big in the postseason, beating Chris Carpenter in game six of the NLCS last year and went through July giving up only five earned runs. With a pitching staff that consists of two old pitchers (Tom Glavine and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez), one extremely inconsistent pitcher (Oliver Perez) and a rookie (Mike Pelfrey), the Mets will have to count on Maine to give them 30+ starts. On a staff filled with many questions, Maine is one guy the Mets should not have to worry about.
2. Can the Phillies finally have a first half to match their typically strong second half?
They might not be able to start quite as well as they finished last season (45-30 after the All-Star break), but this is a more confident team now and the starting pitching is much more of a certainty. Brett Myers is an ace and seems to have put his off-field troubles behind him. Cole Hamels has the all potential in the world (if healthy) and and has already shown the ability to blow hitters away with his fastball. Jamie Moyer is a veteran presence who pitched well after being dealt from Seattle. And Freddy Garcia has been an All-Star. There's nothing to worry about with the offense, which includes MVP Ryan Howard and possible future MVP Chase Utley, and led the league in runs last season. The Phillies should get out of the gates quicker and compete with the Mets for the NL East crown all season.
3. You can never count out of the Braves, but is there really enough there to compete for the division?
For the division? Probably not. But don't count out the Braves for the Wildcard. Winning the division would mean they would have to better than both the Mets and Phillies, two teams which are more talented than them. But finishing ahead of one of them is not out of the question. Pitching, which was the staple of the Braves reign in the 1990's and into the 2000's is the biggest issue facing Atlanta this season. After John Smoltz, who can still dominate as he nears age 40, there is not a whole lot there. Tim Hudson is trying to at least approach an average season after a poor 2006. Then it's a pedestrian group, which includes Mark Redman, Kyle Davies, Lance Cormier and Mike Hampton (if he could ever stay healthy). The bullpen is actually pretty good. The problem will be how many runs the opposition will have on the board by the time a reliever is brought into the game. The lineup is solid and Bobby Cox has gotten results from less talent anyway. The Braves can win 85 games this year, which may or may not be enough to get into the playoffs.
4. Can the Marlins build off last year's second half success?
Absolutely not. The last thing a young team like the Marlins needed was the firing of first (and only) year manager, Joe Girardi. Now, a team that finished strong last season must start this season with another inexperienced skipper. Fredi Gonzalez inherits a young and hungry team that somehow won 78 games last year, including a winning record at home in front of about 5,000 fans each night. Dontrelle Willis is an elite pitcher, but can Scott Olsen and Ricky Nolasco be as successful now that the league has seen them for a year? Hanley Ramirez has been a highly touted player for years and lived up to it, but what about Dan Uggla? Can he duplicate what he did last year at second base? After what Florida did last year, the bar has been set a little higher than it should be for '07. It will be a tough transition without Girardi.
5. What can there possibly be to look forward to about the Nationals? At least last year they had Soriano.
Indeed, the Nats will be will tough to watch this season. But it's all about Ryan Zimmeran right now. As long as Washington can hold onto him, there is a lot to look forward to about this 22 year old third baseman. He's got some Gold Gloves coming to him in the future and the 20 home runs from last year should increase. When this team can finally start winning again, it'll be largely because of Zimmerman and the hope is that he can be part of it for years to come.
