Alright, I did my NL East pitching preview, and what's follows is the "Everyday Eight" preview. Same format as before, only this time, the Nationals are actually more than decent.  Catcher Brian McCann, Braves Jesus Flores, Nationals Brian Schneider, Mets Carlos Ruiz, Phillies John Baker, Marlins McCann is in a class by himself and depending on the health of Joe Mauer, could be the best catcher in all of baseball this season. I have a feeling he is going to be killing us for … [Read more...]

We will start off the NL East preview with the starting rotation. Pitchers are much harder to project than hitters because they are struck by injuries far more often and decline at a faster pace. I'll rank each position 1-5 with a summary of what my thinking was.  If you are looking for my evaluations of each Phillies players, please check out my 4-part Phillies preview here. #1 Starter Johan Santana, Mets Cole Hamels, Phillies Ricky Nolasco, Marlins Derek Lowe, Braves John … [Read more...]

Well, I've gotten through 25 of the 30 MLB teams in my preview, and well as parts one, two, three and four of my Phillies preview, and now, we are down to just the NL East teams. Since 72 of the Phillies games will come against the Mets, Braves, Marlins and Nats, I'm going to do this a little differently, comparing the teams position by position throughout this week leading up to Sunday's opener.  However, even though I won't be doing individual team previews, I wanted to get all the "quick … [Read more...]

explanation of rankings and other team previews here 2008 Record: 95-67 Offseason Additions: John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Ramon Ramirez, Rocco Baldelli Offseason Subtractions: Coco Crisp, Mike Timlin Ranks (MLB): Line-Up - 3rd Rotation - 1st Bullpen - 2nd Defense - 1st tier (out of 5) Baserunning - 2nd tier (out of 5) KEY PLAYER: DAVID ORTIZ                                                     It's no secret that Papi had a down year last year, but was that … [Read more...]

explanation of rankings and other team previews here 2008 Record: 89-73 Offseason Additions: CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, A.J. Burnett, Nick Swisher Offseason Subtractions: Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina Ranks (MLB): Line-Up - 4th Rotation - 3rd Bullpen - 8th Defense - 2nd tier (out of 5) Baserunning - 3rd tier (out of 5) KEY PLAYER: MARK TEIXIERA                                                     When Mark Teixiera signed on with the Yankees, … [Read more...]

explanation of rankings and other team previews here 2008 Record: 86-76 Offseason Additions: Matt Clement Offseason Subtractions: A.J. Burnett Ranks (MLB): Line-Up - 24th Rotation - 21st Bullpen - 4th Defense - 3rd tier (out of 5) Baserunning - 5th tier (out of 5) KEY PLAYER: VERNON WELLS                                              The Blue Jays opened their wallets and signed what they believed to be a true franchise player in Wells to a 7 year, $126 … [Read more...]

explanation of rankings and other team previews here 2008 Record: 84-78 Offseason Additions: Randy Wolf, Orlando Hudson, Guillermo Mota Offseason Subtractions: Derek Lowe, Chan Ho Park, Takashi Saito Ranks (MLB): Line-Up - 7th Rotation - 17th Bullpen - 1st Defense - 4th tier (out of 5) Baserunning - 3rd tier (out of 5) KEY PLAYER: MANNY RAMIREZ This is an easy one. With Manny on their team last year, the Dodgers were a completely different squad. They needed some offensive … [Read more...]

 explanation of rankings and other team previews here 2008 Record: 74-88 Offseason Additions: Jason Marquis, Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, Greg Smith Offseason Subtractions: Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Willy Taveras Ranks (MLB): Line-Up - 11th Rotation - 13th (rated prior to Jeff Francis injury) Bullpen - 9th Defense - 4th tier (out of 5) Baserunning - 5th tier (out of 5) KEY PLAYER: TROY TULOWITZKI                                                   … [Read more...]