Tag: Rafael Soriano

National League East Predictions

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Over the next month I will be writing previews for every team and division in Major League Baseball.  I will break down each team and predict the winner of each division.  Today I will start with the National League East.  Here is a look at how each team finished last season:

2012 National League East Final Standings:

W  L

Washington Nationals: 98-64

Atlanta Braves:              94-68

Philadelphia Philles:     81-81

New York Mets:             74-88

Miami Marlins:               69-93

The Miami Marlins had very high expectations last season.  Everyone crowned them NL East Champions before the season even started.  However, the Marlins greatly underacheived.  They took their projected record and flipped it upside down.  So what did the Marlins owner do?  Exactly what we all would have done (haha).  Can anyone say FIRE SALE?!?!  Everyone is criticising the Marlins owner for dumping his entire roster just one year after building a brand new stadium in Miami.  I say to those people, wake up and smell the coffee!!  This is the third time in Marlins franchise history that they’ve done this.  I don’t know why anyone is surprised.  Anyway, outside of Giancarlo Stanton this team is pretty much awful.  I do like Justin Ruggiano’s potential, but he needs to get out of town before it is too late.  I see the Marlins having a long frustrating season, finishing with a putrid record of 65-97.  Sorry Miami.  Hang tough though, in 5 years you’ll probably win another World Series.

What can I say about the New York Mets that hasn’t been said already?  I love New York, and I try to root for every New York team even if they’re not my favorite team.  But it is hard to root for the Mets.  How long can they be downright awful for?  It’s almost like being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you just know they are going to be bad every year.  I hope they turn it around in the near future, but the near future is not going to be 2013.  The Mets, like the Marlins, have a couple of nice players and the rest are essentially Triple-A ballplayers.  I like David Wright and uh yeah only David Wright.  Anyone else on the roster with potential to be great is injury prone.  It would be a miracle if Shawn Marcum, Daniel Murphy, and Johan Santana last the entire season.  I do actually like Jonathon Niese to be their best pitcher this season, but unfortunately they don’t have enough to compete in this division.  The Mets will be slightly worse than last season, finishing with a record of 71-91.

The Philadelphia Phillies are no longer a great team.  They proved that by finishing a pedestrian 81-81 last season.  The majority of the problems are a result of injuries and aging players.  Roy Halladay should bounce back from last season’s poor performance, but at 35 years old he doesn’t have any CY Young Awards coming his way.  The additions of Michael Young, Delmon Young, and Ben Revere are all solid moves, but I don’t think it’s going to land them in the playoffs this season.  They still have a very good pitching staff in Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Doc Halladay, but they like the Mets are also injury prone.  I see a slight improvement from last season to the tune of an 87-75 record.  This will leave them just outside the playoffs.

The Atlanta Braves were the first wild card in the National League last season.  In the new playoff format that was put in place in 2012, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in a one game playoff.  With the addition of the Upton brothers, the Braves have certainly improved their outfield and added some power to their lineup.  The upton’s can both run also, so while Michael Bourn will be missed, they might actually steal more bases than they did in 2012.  Without question the Braves have the best closer in baseball; Craig Kimbrel.  As long as their starters can carry a lead through the 8th inning, the Braves will win A LOT of games.  The Atlanta Braves have a decent pitching rotation that is headed up by old-timer Tim Hudson.  Tim has remained very good even as he enters his late 30’s, and he will need to continue to pitch like a #1 starter if the Braves are going to make the playoffs this season.  The rest of their pitching rotation is filled with younger guys with plenty of potential.  These young guys bring about plenty of questions.  Is Kris Medlen as good as the pitcher we saw last season, or will he regress?  Is Paul Maholm the pitcher we’ve watched struggle for years in Pittsburgh, or is he the consistent pitcher we saw last year?  What can we expect to see from Mike Minor and Julio Teheran?  These questions make the Braves rotation a wildcard.  Their success will be predicated on the rotation and will be the reason the Braves either return to the playoffs or falter and miss out on the party in October.  I believe they will regress slightly from last year and finish with a record of 86-76.

Last season the Washington Nationals finished with the best record in the National League.  They had a very successful season which was highlighted by their phenomenal pitching staff.  Unfortunately, the Nationals weren’t able to win a playoff series and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 5 games in the Divison Series.  This season the Nationals are primed and ready to make a deeper run into the playoffs.  The silly innings limit has been officially lifted from Stephen Strasburg, and I believe he will be the best pitcher in baseball this season.  The advantage gained by being able to pitch Gio Gonzalez against #2 starters from other teams can’t be overstated.  Jordan Zimmerman is also looking to build on a solid 2012 season.  The addition of Dan Haren to the rotation should help bolster the back end of their rotation.  It should also be a nice change of scenery for Haren, as he looks to get back to winning ways after a poor 2012 season.  You’d be hard pressed to find a better pitching rotation in all of baseball than the Washington Nationals.  They also added Rafael Soriano to an already impressive bullpen.  Handing the ball to Soriano, Tyler Clippard, or Drew Storen (if he can stay healthy) is a nice luxury to have and should help shorten games.  They also brought in Denard Span who is a nice baserunner and fielder when healthy.  Oh yeah, they also have this rising star you may have heard of named Bryce Harper.  He is the youngest player in the Major Leagues and is only going to improve.  The Nationals are a very good team who from top to bottom have the potential to be the best team in all of baseball.  I see them finishing with a very similar record as last year, only this season they will get over the hump and win at least one playoff series.  The Washington Nationals 2013 Regular Season Record will be 99-63 and they will win the National League East.

2013 National League East Projected Final Standings:

W  L

Washington Nationals: 99-63

Philadelphia Phillies:     87-75

Atlanta Braves:               86-76

New York Mets:              71-91

Miami Marlins:               65-97

2013 National League East Projected Winner: Washington Nationals

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Who Ya Gonna Call?? No, not Johnny Damon. Call the Ghostbusters.

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 6 Comments

Something big is happening in New York.  It’s not what you’d expect, and personally I’m terrified.  New York used to be the example of greatness.  We used to be the place that all others tried to model themselves after, but now we are the example of mediocrity.  Don’t believe me?  Okay, I’ll prove it.  The Islanders are one of the worst hockey teams in the world, the Jets are well the Jets (enough said), the Knicks are having a nice year, but they’re not winning any titles, and the Yankees are not the Yankees of the ’90’s anymore.  As sad as this is to say (I love the Yankees), the Yankees are not that good.  When Johnny Damon is the answer to your prayers, you know you’re in trouble.  For those of you who don’t know, Curtis Granderson broke his arm yesterday, causing mass hysteria here in New York.  Some of the media outlets here are suggesting that the Yankees sign free agent Johnny Damon to help fill the void.  A thought like that makes me wonder what really goes through peoples minds.  Do people enjoy living in the past?  Do they really think that veteran’s will bring intangibles to the team that the youngsters can’t?  Who in their right mind would think that the Yankees resigning Johnny Damon would be a good idea?  Everyone wants to talk about how old the Knicks are, but those same people obviously haven’t taken the time to look at the Yankees roster.  Let me run down the list of some of their ancient artifacts.  The Yankees have a 37 year old A-Rod who is probably not going to play this year or ever again, a 38 year old Derek Jeter who is recovering from a broken ankle, a 38 year old Hiroki Kuroda on the mound, a 39 year old Ichiro, a 40 year old Andy Pettite, and a 43 year old Mariano Rivera coming off major surgery.  Mark Teixeira (32) and Kevin Youkilis (33) are no spring chickens either.  With all the talk surrounding Robinson Cano’s contract negotiations (which are a year away), and Granderson going down, the Yankees season is already in disarray and it hasn’t even started.  Man, I’m really glad Steinbrenner made all of those off-season acquisitions this year.  Oh, yeah that’s right, they didn’t make any moves whatsoever.  Good idea Hal.  Quick side note: I’ve always said that the death of George Steinbrenner was the worst thing to ever happen to this franchise.  Clearly not everything runs in the family, because his kids have no clue how to run the most successful sports franchise in the world.  Anyway, with an aging roster and below average pitching staff, you’d think that the Yankees would have made a flurry of big moves to bring in some young talent during the off-season.  Instead, they let Russell Martin walk leaving the Yankees with literally no catcher.  They let Nick Swisher and Raul Ibanez walk as well.  They also decided not to negotiate with Rafael Soriano due to the devil’s (I mean Scott Boras’) demands.  Hey Hal, do you know why the Yankees won 4 World Series in 5 years in the late 90’s and early 2000’s?  I didn’t think so.  It’s because you had a transition from a great closer (John Wetteland) to another GREAT closer (Mariano Rivera).  As much as I love Big Mo this is clearly going to be his last season, and great closers don’t exactly grow on trees.  But hey, I guess little Steinbrenner wants us to be excited about the signing of Travis Hafner.  Newsflash, the long ball doesn’t win Championships by itself (Exhibit A: last season)!!  Without any substantial additions to the Yankees roster as it is presently constructed, they will finish in 3rd place in the American League East and MISS the playoffs.  They need a pleasant surprise from someone already on the roster, a big trade, or they need find some talent from their Farm system to compete this year.  Otherwise, I think they are in big trouble.  Nobody loves the Yankees more than me, I am just calling it like I see it.

As for the Granderson situation, I have a solution that they should have been trying for about two years now.  Move Eduardo Nunez to the outfield.  Nunez has blazing speed but has not proven to be a consistent enough fielder at shortstop.  He makes far too many errors from one of the most important positions on the field.  If you keep Brett Gardner and Nunez in the order at the same time you will put speed on the base paths and be able to play small ball (a recipe for success that I’ve been begging for for years now).  And hey, if it doesn’t work you can always slide Nunez right back into his utility role.  It’s not like he’s ever had a set position and you would somehow be disrupting his rhythm by moving him to the outfield.

With Spring Training upon us, we are entering the best time of the year.  March Madness is on it’s way as is beautiful Spring weather.  Undoubtedly, the best part of the year is the start of Baseball season.  Stay tuned for my full preview of the Major League Baseball season including division winners, playoff and world series predictions, and player projections.