National League Predictions

Ahh Opening Day, the day when even the Pirates are a five hundred team. The day were everyone has there slate cleaned and teams begin there what have you done for me lately type approach to winning ball games, but enough nostalgia and lets get on to my picks in the National League this season as we have already heard from Rich.

NL East

Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals

Can anyone argue against the Phillies in the long run? I mean Wilson Valdez and Ben Fransisco are not going to be everyday starters all season long and in the National League with that pitching staff you can win a lot of ball games without scoring a lot of runs. The Braves are a team that got an offensive upgrade with Dan Uggla but may have lost some consistency in the bullpen with the loss of Billy Wagner and Michael Dunn the other part of that Uggla trade. There going to be putting a lot of pressure on their young closer Craig Kimbrel and it will be interesting to see how the young kid responds to the pressure. The Marlins are thought to be a better team in areas after the Uggla deal and it has been said by people on this blog that they are the team that's going to surprise people in this division. I disagree simply because they haven't proven anything to me in a while, Anibal Sanchez, Rick Vandenhurk and Leo Nunez are unproven commodities as much as people like to believe in them they haven't put together a good season at once. In addition to the Nolasco and Johnson need to remain healthy and Nolasco needs to avoid losing another double digit games. The Mets need to get healthy, they are clearing in a rebuilding stage and they need to do so at the bottom of the standings. If they can be above 500 when Johan returns ill feel a little bit better about this team. The Nationals are simply a year or two away from relevance.

NL Central

Reds
Brewers
Cubs
Cardinals
Houston
Pittsburgh

Yeah I know people, who picks the Reds? I do. Cincinnati is a team that simply gets overlooked by everyone. Let's not forget that this team did lose Harang from the rotation but that's about all they lost. They return guys like Votto, Bruce and Stubbs. Those are young guys with a lot of talent. The Brewers were probably the most active team in the off-season out of this division other than maybe the Cubs, but the Brewers went out and acquired a front line starter in Grienke and a quality number two or three in Marcum. There offense was pretty good last year and I would expect it not to be all that different. The Cubs went out and got Pena and Garza from the Rays, now all they have to hope for is that Pena sees a lot of fastballs and Garza keeps his fastball down. The Cardinals are too hurt to contend this season in the Central, the loss of Wainwright will really hurt them and Carpenter has shown the ability to get hurt as well. Houston and Pittsburgh are two teams that are seemingly just treading water.

NL West

Giants
Dodgers
Rockies
Padres
Arizona

The Giants are the reigning World Series Champions, until otherwise they will be my selection to win the West. The Dodgers and Rockies could switch places here and I wuld be ok with it but I will lean towards the Dodgers finally realizing the amount of talent on this team and not have the distraction of Manny Ramirez in Left Field. The Rockies will be a year older and a year wiser and hopefully with them Jiminez will figure out how to pitch a full season rather than having the best first half ever and the disappearing. The Padres will be crushed by the loss of Adrian Gonzalez and the Diamondbacks just didn't do enough this off-season to change my opinion of them.

NL MVP- Buster Posey. This kid is one of the best up and coming players that I have ever seen. He handles a pitching staff every given night, and maintains a great approach to the plate. In his second full season he will undoubtedly flourish. Other people who could win this award are Carlos Gonzalez, Albert Pujiols, and Joey Votto

NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum. The "freak" will get back to his ways and dominate once again. After an "off-year" last season he picked it up in the playoffs and will no doubt pick up right where he left off. Others who may win: Ubaldo Jiminez, Clayton Kershaw, and Doc Halladay

NL Rookie of the Year: Brandon Belt. The Giants rookie first basemen impressed enough in camp to make the team right out of the gate and he will take over the duties as an everyday player this year and get lineup protection from Posey who will be hitting above him. Others who may win: Freddie Freeman (Braves), Craig Kimbrel (Braves) and Matt Dominguez (Marlins)