The Boys of Summer Are Back Again - Part II

Prediction: 1st place NL East 98-64

As I mentioned above, the New York Mets are the team to beat right now. The Mets have incredible starting pitching with names like Martinez and Santana at the front of the rotation and Maine and Perez at the end. Also, New York has a great leadoff hitter in Jose Reyes and more than enough power behind him with David Wright, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran. The Mets also have one of the better bullpens in the league, with closer Billy Wagner coming on in the ninth to consistently slam the door on opponents. New York may have melted down last season, but this year certainly brings a lot more promise.

Prediction: 2nd place NL East 90-72

The Philadelphia Phillies were last year's NL East Division winner, but the addition of Santana to the Mets is going to be too much of an obstacle to overcome this time. Still, the Phillies will have a great shot at getting the wild card playoff birth because of their great balance on offense and pitching. Ryan Howard may have to most power at the plate in the entire league, but he's not the only threat on this club. Leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins, #2 hitter Shane Victorino, and #3 hitter Chase Utley all are major threats as well at the dish. Starting pitchers Cole Hamels and Brett Myers will have to carry Philadelphia's staff for most of the year. The Phillies should be able to get some quality starts out of the ageless wonder Jamie Moyer, but beyond him it gets pretty weak on the bound. Still, expect the Phillies to be in the playoff hunt right down to the end of the year once again.

Prediction: 3rd place NL East 87-75

The Atlanta Braves prepare to enter their first full season in a long time without Andruw Jones starting in centerfield. Some believe that the loss of Jones will set the club back, but I honestly don't think it changes too much for Atlanta. Jones never consistently hustled and has been on the decline at the plate. Still, the Braves middle of the lineup with Jones, Texieira, and McCann should provide enough offense to win games. When we look at Atlanta's pitching we start to see just how good this team can be. Tim Hudson, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine lead the rotation with Rafael Soriano closing games late. The Barves also have lefty Mike Hampton, but there's certainly a lot of questions surrounding him with past injuries. However, I like the Braves to make a push for the playoffs, but fall just short in the end.

Prediction: 4th place NL East 72-90

The Florida Marlins suffered two big losses this offseason when they traded superstar Miguel Cabrera and starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers. Cabrera was really the only consistent homerun threat in that lineup other than second basemen Dan Uggla. Fortunately, the Marlins have one of the most gifted players in the league in shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez is a real threat to hit 30 homeruns and steal 30 bases this season, giving Florida fans at least something to look forward to this year. On the mound, the Marlins have a solid closer in Kevin Gregg, but they may not have a single pitcher that another team would even consider a #2 starter. The one potential bright spot for the Fish is if lefty Andrew Miller (who they received in the trade with Detroit) can continue to develop into the big time pitcher that many believe he will become.

Prediction: 5th place NL East 68-94

The Washington Nationals are in for a long season. Washington's pitching staff is among the worst in the league, and their lone offensive firepower comes from third basemen Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman hit 27 homeruns and still managed to drive in 98 runs on an offense last season that wasn't any better than what he'll have to deal with this year. Closer Chad Cordero does do a pretty good job of closing out games when the Nats do actually have the lead, but there are so many other pieces that this team needs right now that it's just going to take some time before they all get there. Like the Royals, I'm probably being nice by giving this team 68 wins.

Prediction: 1st place NL Central 89-73

The Chicago Cubs are my pick to win the Central Division this season. I'm a huge Alfonso Soriano fan, so this pick may be a bit unfair. However, I look at the rest of the division and I just don't see another team that really stands out. In fact, I think this will be the most competitive division in baseball this season because I think by the end of the year the first four teams could be separated by as few as five games. Still, the Cubs have the slight edge at the moment not only because of strong starters Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly, but also because they're 1-5 hitters are about as good as any team in the league.

Prediction: 2nd place NL Central 87-75

If starting pitchers Ben Sheets and Yovani Gallardo can stay healthy all season long there is no reason why the Brewers can't win the Central Division. Milwaukee has two huge power hitters in the middle of their lineup in Prince Fielder (47 HR's) and Ryan Braun (45 HR's), but they'd love to see leadoff hitter Rickie Weeks take that next step and become a major threat every time he steps up to the plate. Weeks has the ability to become a 30-30 guy, but needs more plate discipline if he wants to become an elite player. All in all, the Brew crew will have the best team that they've had in a longtime play together for a full season, so expectations will certainly be high.

Prediction: 3rd place NL Central 84-78

The St. Louis Cardinals don't seem to be making any progress from their World Series title just a few short seasons ago. Instead, the Cards actually seem to be going a bit backwards with the recent losses of leadoff hitter David Eckstein tot he Blue Jays and injuries to both starting pitchers Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter. St. Louis should have enough offense to compete with Pujols, Glaus, and Ankiel. However, when you've got Kyle Lohse as your number two starter in the rotation you are asking for a beating. Expect another so-so season for the Cardinals in 08'.

Prediction: 4th place NL Central 81-81

The Cincinnati Reds have many analyst declaring them as the sleeper team in 08'. The Reds have always had plenty of offense, but the question consistently surrounding this club is the pitching staff. #1 starter Aaron Harang clearly knows what he's doing on the mound, but it's going to be up to guys like Bronson Arroyo and rookie Johnny Cueto to help out a bit more if they want to take this team to the next level. I do agree that the Reds have enough talent to find their way into the playoffs, but it's been 7 years since this squad has even had a winning season. Expect Cincinnati to hang around in the division race for awhile, but start to fall as the season progresses.

Prediction: 5th place NL Central 77-85

The Astros have one of the better 3-4-5 hitters in the league in Berkman, Lee, and Tejada. Unfortunately, their pitching staff has plenty of questions once teams get past ace Roy Oswalt. Houston's most exciting player, right fielder Hunter Pence is fresh off his stellar rookie season in which he hit 20 HR's, stole 12 bases and drove in 90 runs while batting .302. There's no doubt that Pence looks awkward when at bat, but somehow this guy managed to get it done in his first season. The Stros' will be fun to watch because of their offense, but we all know that it's pitching that truly wins in baseball.

Prediction: 6th place NL Central 73-99

The Pittsburgh Pirates' strength on their team is the pitching staff believe it or not. With names like Gorzelanny, Snell, Maholm, Morris, and Duke you wouldn't think that teams should have to worry about this staff. However, if you look a bit closer at their numbers you'll see that Pittsburgh has actually put together a pretty solid starting five. The bad news for the Pirates is their offense is still awful. Tehre's a couple nice pieces with left fielder Jason Bay and second basemen Freddy Sanchez, but for the most part this is a pretty weak lineup. I think the Pirates will improve on their 68 win season last year, but their starting five isn't that good that they can overcome an offense as thin as they're currently throwing out there.

Prediction: 1st place NL West 92-70

The San Diego Padres have one of the best pitching staff's in all of baseball and they're my pick to win the West Division. The Padres' offense is still a bit weak, but with Peavy, Young, Maddox, and Wolf alternating days it won't take much to get wins every night. The Padres also have an ace in the hole if by some miracle Mark Prior comes back healthy this season. Also, San Diego may have the best closer in history to shut down opponents late in close games with Trevor Hoffman. First basemen Adrian Gonzalez is the power supplier for the Padres. Gonzalez is still young, but could very well hit 40+ homeruns this season if he continues to develop as he has. I know the Rockies and the Diamondbacks were the talk of the West Division last season, but this year I think we'll be hearing about the San Diego Padres a lot more.

Prediction: 2nd place NL West 90-72

The Colorado Rockies had a magical season last year behind good pitching and a powerful offense. Matt Holiday, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and rookie Troy Tulowitzki make up a formidable lineup. There's no reason that the Rockies shouldn't put up the same type of offensive production again this season. The reason I picked them second in the division is simply because I believe that the Padres will be able to outpitch the Rockies when they meet head to head. However, I'm not saying that Colorado's pitching is bad. In fact, the Rockies have a pretty good pitching staff led by Jeff Francis. In the end, Colorado will be right there, but San Diego will prevail.

Prediction: 3rd place NL West 89-73

That's right, I have the LA Dodgers finishing third and not the Arizona Diamondbacks. Like the Central Division, the West is the only place where we could see the top four team separated by five games or less at season's end. The Dodgers' off-season improvements came with the hiring of manager Joe Torre and the signing of centerfielder Andruw Jones. Overall, as I mentioned above I think Jones is on the decline, but I think LA was in need of a player that can hit 30+ bombs and be a real threat in the middle of that lineup. Jones should be able to do that and the LA pitching staff should carry the majority of the load. Starters Brady Penny, Derek Lowe, and Chad Billingsly all have ERA's under 3.85. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dodgers win the division, but in this prediction I have them finishing just three games out.

Prediction: 4th place NL West 88-74

The Arizona Diamondbacks will go from the West Division winner to fourth place in my opinion. To hear that this team got outscored for an entire season and still won the division just shows how good they were when games were close and how bad they got blown out some games. The Diamondbacks have a lot of good young talent on offense in Young, Hudson, Jackson, and Byrnes. Arizona also has a solid pitching staff with Brandon Webb leading the way, followed by Randy Johnson and the new addition of Danny Haren. There's no doubt that this team has the pitching to win the division, but I'll just play the odds that they're too young on offense and they won't be able to win the West in back to back seasons.

Prediction: 5th place NL West 62-100

The San Francisco Giants have officially become the worst team in baseball with the departure of Barry Bonds.  It's not that Bonds made that much of a difference with the Giants, but I think his presence on that team certainly helped mask a number of problems with this club.  The Giants don't have a single player on their team who hit more than 19 homeruns last season, clearly leaving this squad with a massive lack of power.  The good news is that fans of the Bay Area won't have to watch 2-3 intentional walks given every game.  The bad news is that fans of the Bay Area will be lucky to see 2-3 baserunners every game for the Giants.  San Fran's pitching staff is actually decent, but it's going to hard to get wins when your team average's 1.2 runs per game.  The one pitcher that I would suggest people take a look at is Tim Lincecum.  Lincecum has a vicious delivery and throws gas.  Other than that, Giants' fans are in for a rough year.