Brad Lidge<\/strong><\/em>. \u00c2\u00a0He was horrible again last season but is still penciled in as closer. \u00c2\u00a0Ryan Madson may well be the closer all year, but that would stretch a relatively thin pen. Danys Baez, JC Romero and Chad Durbin need to be effective after the team lost Clay Condrey–their best bullpen arm after Madson. \u00c2\u00a0Polanco cannot replace Pedro Feliz at third for defense making them weak at the corner infield spots.<\/p>\nOffense:<\/strong> Polanco will put more punch in the NL’s best offense. \u00c2\u00a0They scored more than 5 runs per game and only the Rockies, they of the light air, were even close. \u00c2\u00a0Ibanez and Werth cannot match their production from last year–neither will top 30 homers in 2010– so Polanco’s bat will be a welcome addition. \u00c2\u00a0Jimmy Rollins can play up a notch with the bat, so they should be about the same when all is said and done in the playoffs.<\/p>\nAtlanta Braves. Predicted Finish, Second<\/em><\/strong> (89-73<\/strong><\/em>). <\/em>It could be close between the Mets and Braves, but because pitching beats hitting the way paper beats rock, Atlanta’s young talent will out perform a healthier Mets lineup.<\/p>\nPitching and Defense<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Derek Lowe has been money for years, maybe too many, as his ERA ballooned to 4.67 last year. \u00c2\u00a0The 36-year old is just one of the many senior citizens on the team, but the most important will be 38- year old Billy Wagner. \u00c2\u00a0He replaces Raphael Soriano and Takashi Saito replaces Mike Gonzalez and it seems a risky business. \u00c2\u00a0Young pitchers Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hansen are the real strength of the staff. \u00c2\u00a0Their up-the-middle defense is a plus, but elsewhere old and slow.<\/p>\nOffense:<\/strong> Last year I was skeptical that Chipper Jones could carry an anemic offense. \u00c2\u00a0Player to Watch<\/strong>: Jason Heyward. <\/strong><\/em>He is needed to pump some life into all of the “senior” leadership that surrounds Bobby Cox. \u00c2\u00a0He is going to do it, but how much and when is all that is left to wager on. \u00c2\u00a0The Bobby Cox era will not end on a notable high note, but not on a sour one either.<\/p>\nNew York Mets. \u00c2\u00a0Predicted Finish: Third<\/em><\/strong> (84-78)<\/strong> Reyes is back, but how healthy is he and how well does David Wright bounce back. \u00c2\u00a0Jason Bay will help the Mets more than Polanco will help the Phillies, but the Mets have a lot of questions to answer. \u00c2\u00a0The pitching is weak after Santana and injuries could send this team back into contention with Florida and Washington.<\/p>\nPlayer To Watch: Jon Neise<\/em>, <\/strong>the 23-year old left-hander is the only thing resembling a pitching “prospect” the Mets have to step in behind Santana. His sinking fastball, a nice curve and plus change could add to the thin pitching depth.<\/p>\nOffense: <\/strong>Beltran is no longer young and Jason Bay may be more important to the lineup. \u00c2\u00a0Gary Mathews provides insurance if they don’t trade him for much needed pitching. \u00c2\u00a0The Mets offense will be better in 2010, but by not by that much.<\/p>\nFalling into Fourth: Florida Marlins. <\/em>(78-84)<\/span> <\/em>Josh Johnson set himself apart from the other Florida starters last year, which is better for Johnson than for the Marlins who were counting on Volstad, Nolasco and Sanchez to achieve similar results. \u00c2\u00a0The Fish are in trouble if the young pitchers continue to baffle only themselves. \u00c2\u00a0The bullpen is thin and the real question in South Florida is when do they pull the plug.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nPlayer to Watch<\/span>: \u00c2\u00a0Dan Uggla. <\/strong><\/em> How long does he have or will they trade Hanley Ramirez first? \u00c2\u00a0Any team run by Jeffrey Loria is in trouble and this year will be a rough one for the Marlins.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nHot at the Bottom: The Nationals. \u00c2\u00a0(77-85)\u00c2\u00a0If Florida implodes, Washington could squeak by them. \u00c2\u00a0Pecota has the Nats, Fish, and Mets tied at the bottom.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nPlayer to Watch<\/strong>: <\/span>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong><\/span>. \u00c2\u00a0He will not start the season in DC, but a lot depends on what he does when he comes up. \u00c2\u00a0The fantasy blogs rate him worth a draft day pick even starting in the minors. \u00c2\u00a0He looked very good in three spring starts. \u00c2\u00a0Washington could finish strong behind his arm.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nPitching and Defense: \u00c2\u00a0John Lannan and Jason Marquis are the only sure things. \u00c2\u00a0Garrett Mock, Craig Stammen and JD Martin are pitching well in Florida. \u00c2\u00a0They will fill in until Chien-Ming Wang, Stephen Strasburg, and Ross Detwiler are ready. \u00c2\u00a0Matt Capps hopes to have a bounce back year to close, but if not Brian Bruney and Tyler Clippard will move up a notch and Drew Storen will set up. \u00c2\u00a0Pudge Rodriguez will be a big help defensively.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOffense: \u00c2\u00a0Zimmerman and Willingham have been on fire in Florida, Dunn has a bad back–not good. \u00c2\u00a0Zimmerman needs his protection in the lineup. \u00c2\u00a0If Adam Kennedy plays anything like he did in 2009 and Pudge stays healty, the Nationals will score enough runs to push the Marlins by the end of the season.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who can beat the Phillies? \u00c2\u00a0The Braves have some of the best young talent in the game, but no one will catch them. \u00c2\u00a0The arrival in 2010 of young phenoms Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward will be highlights in the NL East. \u00c2\u00a0The ultimate story will be Roy Halladay as he carries the Phillies back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[472,471,462,480,484,473,591,478,483,475,607,476,456,468,461,482,594,479,590,477,463,457,593,464,466,5403,4517,469,465,470,481,608,362,474,124],"class_list":["post-2275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-anemic-offense","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball-america","tag-brad-lidge","tag-chad-durbin","tag-chipper-jones","tag-clay-condrey","tag-cole-hamels","tag-danys-baez","tag-denizens","tag-derek-lowe","tag-dl","tag-east-preview","tag-hamels","tag-jason-heyward","tag-jc-romero","tag-jimmy-rollins","tag-joe-blanton","tag-johan-santana","tag-leadership","tag-nationals","tag-nl-east","tag-pedro-feliz","tag-phenoms","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-photobucket","tag-polanco","tag-punch","tag-roy-halladay","tag-ryan-howard","tag-ryan-madson","tag-senior-citizens","tag-strasburg","tag-troy-glaus","tag-world-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}