2011 Preview - National League East

This is the fourth installment of the six part 2011 baseball preview. Today is the first of the National League divisions, the NL East. The teams are listed in the order of their anticipated finish.

1. Atlanta Braves: The Braves may have built themselves another dynasty. Their offense, already solid, was improved with the acquisition of Dan Uggla from the Florida Marlins. Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman add youth to a lineup with several veteran bats. Chipper Jones returns for another year, and is looking good thus far in spring training. The pitching staff is solid and deep, with Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrgens atop the rotation. Top prospects Julio Teheran and Mike Minor headline a crop of young pitchers that are making their way towards the majors.

With the acquisition of Uggla's bat, the Braves also traded for his glove - or lack thereof. While Uggla is not as bad as Brooks Conrad was for the Braves during the 2010 postseason at second, he's not vastly better either. Craig Kimbrel and Johnny Venters, two young hard throwing relievers, are vying for the closer position vacated by the retired Billy Wagner. Whether or not either will be able to be effective as the closer will be a major question. Also, for the first time since 1990, the Braves do not have the familiar presence of Bobby Cox in the dugout. His hand picked successor, Fredi Gonzalez, takes over this talented club as he tries to lead them back to a perpetual postseason berth.

The Braves are very well set up for 2011 and beyond. They may not have another 14 year run of postseason appearances, but they will be making October appearances for the foreseeable future.

2. Philadelphia Phillies: Ye Gods, this rotation is stacked. With the surprise acquisition of Cliff Lee via free agency, the Phillies can trot out four legitimate aces, as he joins Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels in the rotation. Joe Blanton, their number five starter, would slot as a number three on the majority of teams in baseball. The rotation is backed up by a solid bullpen, as a reborn Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson set up Brad Lidge. Lidge bounced back from a terrible 2009 to post his typically solid season, holding hitters to a .194 batting average, significantly down from the .301 he gave up the year before.

The offense, by name value alone, is solid, despite the loss of Jayson Werth. However, last season the Phillies scored either one run or were shut out in 34 of the 162 games played. Home runs decreased from 224 in 2009 to 166 in 2010. While the age of the lineup is certainly a factor, the Phillies big hitters (Utley, Victorino, Howard, and Rollins) are also seeing fewer fastballs. As batters that do most of their damage on the heater, this trend severely limits their ability to produce.

The rotation should be enough to ensure that the Phillies win majority of their games. But the offense is going to need to rebound in a major fashion for them to win the NL East.

3. Florida Marlins: The Marlins two biggest moves were to trade Dan Uggla for Omar Infante and Michael Dunn, and to sign Javier Vazquez. At first, these moves would not cause excitement. However, Infante has proven to be a solid bat, and he solidifies the defense in the middle of the diamond. Dunn was added to a much improved bullpen to help the Marlins protect any leads. Vazquez has historically pitched much better in the National League, and in the NL East in particular. With a rotation fronted by the under appreciated Josh Johnson, and a lineup featuring Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton, and some good young talent, the Marlins may be a lot better than people think.

The key for the Marlins will be whether or not the younger players perform up to their potential. Stanton hit 22 home runs in 359 at bats in 2010, and is expected to improve upon that number. Logan Morrison and Gaby Sanchez had solid rookie seasons, but need to improve for the Marlins to compete. John Buck was brought in as a free agent to solidify the catching position, however he is also a question mark after coming off of a career year in Toronto.

The Marlins will surprise some people in 2011, as long as the young players perform up to their potential. It would not be any surprise if they find themselves ahead of the Phillies at the end of the year.

4. Washington Nationals: The Nationals improved their offense with the signing of Jayson Werth, and also announced their intention to actually build a competitive team at the same time. While they may have overpaid Werth, teams like the Nations have to spend more than market value to attract free agents - look at how the Tigers acquired Ivan Rodriguez. Bryce Harper and the injured Stephan Strasburg headline a crop of elite prospects that will help to improve the Nationals in the next couple of season.

Aside from Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, and Ian Desmond, there is not much to like about the 2011 major league roster. Majority of the roster would either be bench pieces or be in AAA for clubs that are expected to compete, and even some that won't. Livan Hernandez is expected to lead the rotation, at age 36. If Jordan Zimmerman and Chien-Ming Wang can come back and pitch as well as they had before injury, the pitching staff would look a lot better. Until that time, there just is not a lot of talent here.

The future looks good in Washington, but the 2011 season will still be bad. They will improve over last year, but they are still a couple of years away.

5. New York Mets: To call the New York Mets a train wreck would be disrespectful - to train wrecks. They are much, much worse than that. With the situation involving the Bernie Madoff pyramid scheme, the Mets were financially hog tied and unable to make moves. Aside from David Wright, the only positive for the Mets involves expiring contracts. The mistakes known as Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo run out after 2011, as does 2012. Even though the Wilpon's needed to borrow $25 million from Major League Baseball this offseason, they have $36.5 million dollars off the books next season. Should the option on Francisco Rodriguez's contract not be triggered, that number jumps up to $50.5 million.

This team was a complete disaster, and that was even before the news that Johan Santana may be out for the entire season. Injuries, under performing free agent signings, and a lack of talent permeate the Mets. Jason Bay provided a total of six home runs for the 4 year/$66 million contract he signed. Jose Reyes cannot stay healthy. The rotation, minus Santana, is headed by either Mike Pelfrey or R. A. Dickey. This is what a team with over $133 million in payroll obligations has to look forward to? Really?

The Mets are flat out awful. As much as it would be best to just avert the eyes and ignore this disaster, the perverse interest in watching carnage is the only thing that makes seeing a Mets game worthwhile.