2016 NL Preview

I interrupt your regularly scheduled madness now that March is over, even though there is still some left, to give you this very important message...

We did it! We survived another offseason and Opening Day is right around the corner! Every team is in first place and undefeated (Enjoy it while it lasts Philidelphia). The Kansas City Royals are the defending champions looking to be the first team to win back to back championships since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. Let's get right into it!

There are many storylines headlining the National League leading into this season. The Cubs broke the bank in free agency in order to build a dream team. The Mets have arguably the best young starting pitching rotation ever and look to defend their NL championship. It's an even year, so the Giants are a lock to win the World Series, right? On the flip side to all the winning, the Phillies, Braves, Padres, Reds, and Brewers could challenge the 2013 Astros as the worst team assembled in recent memory. These stories should lead to a very competitive season, even if it's competing for the #1 draft pick next summer. Let's go through each division to see how the season could play out.

NL EAST:

The New York Mets are head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in the NL East. It is a mediocre division, and the Mets have a team that can easily contend for a championship. They are lead by one of the best - if not the best - starting rotation in all of baseball. It consists of 5 young flamethrowers and the ageless wonder of Bartolo Colon. The pitching staff, as a whole, has 4 of the 20 hardest throwing arms in baseball and should see the strikeout numbers in bunches. Offensively, they bring back the same core as last year, minus Daniel Murphy and his post season heroics. If Yoenis Cespedes packs the same punch that he did after the trade deadline last season, then the Mets will have an offense that matches their pitching staff, and that is a deadly combo.

Really, the only competition the Mets have for the NL East crown is the Washington Nationals. However, every year, they fail to live up to their high expectations. The expectations are still there because they have arguably the second best pitcher in the game, Max Scherzer, and the second best bat in the game, Bryce Harper. Expectations aren't as high this year though after losing key pieces, Jordan Zimmerman and Denard Span, in free agency and replacing with in-house options. A lot of players are left though on a team that finished 3rd in the NL in runs and 7th in ERA. If Daniel Murphy can complete a full season with his postseason numbers from last year, then not only will the team have a great season, but you'll be witnessing the best offensive season in history (not likely).

The Miami Marlins seem to follow the same trend every year. They start the season hot with players blossoming into possible future starts, then get derailed by injuries and fall off into mediocrity again. I don't see this year being any different, but Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez, and Dee Gordon are all healthy to begin the season which gives the fans hope. With a healthy Fernandez, and free agent signing Wei-Yin Chen drastically improving the pitching staff, if the offense can replicate their 3rd ranked batting average in the NL on the road, at home in the $515 million offensive black hole known as Marlins Park, they could contend for a wild card spot.

There was over $3.5 billion spent in free agency this offseason (yes, that was with a B), but the move most talked about was the Atlanta Braves sending All-Star pitcher Shelby Miller to the Arizona Diamondbacks for last year's #1 overall pick, Dansby Swanson, as well as other top prospects and young talent. The Braves seem to be doing a good job of rebuilding (I am not a fan of the word "tanking") as they trade away talent to build a farm system that is now ranked 3rd, according to Baseball America, after being ranked 29th last season. There still are players that can compete on the roster with Freddie Freeman, Julio Tehran and Ender Inciarte (acquired in the Miller trade) that won't make the team competitive this year, but will help win some ball games once they start calling players up from the minors or can be used as valuable trade chips near the deadline.

I really feel bad for Philadelphia Phillies fans. These past few years have been miserable for them as they have been in limbo of not being able to compete nor are they rebuilding. The general manager has since been fired, and new management has taken over and the first thing they did was trade young flamethrower, Ken Giles, to the Astros for former #1 overall pick, Mark Appell, and other top pieces of the Astros loaded farm system. While there is little to no Major League talent on the roster, Maikel Franco and Odubel Herrera look to build on strong rookie seasons last year and blossom into future stars.

PREDICTION: The Mets win the division behind their dominant pitching even though the offense doesn't quite find the spark that they found after the trade deadline last year.

NL CENTRAL:

Of the $3.5 billion that was spent in free agency this offseason, the Chicago Cubs lead the Majors by spending almost $330 million. While on the surface it seems that they used that money to fill needs and add experience to a team already full of young starts, they poached division rivals, St. Louis Cardinals, for two of their most important players to last year's team in Jason Heyward and John Lackey. On paper, they have the most complete lineup, and if Hector Rondon can keep the bullpen stabilized, they have a shot at winning 100 games.

After years of being cellar dwellers, the Pittsburgh Pirates have enjoyed three straight years to the playoffs. Manager, Clint Hurdle, and pitching coach, Ray Searage, have been pitcher whisperers, resurrecting careers and guiding them to the 3rd best ERA in the MLB two of the past three seasons. Ace, Garrett Cole, and closer, Mark Melancon, lead one of the best combinations of starting and relief pitching that will keep them in every game. On offense, Hurdle is experimenting with putting perennial All-Star, Andrew McCutchen second in the order in order to score more runs to keep up with the pitching staff, but whether he is in the 2 hole, 3 hole, or batting 9th, the offense is more than capable of being competitive.

The Cardinals haven't missed the playoffs since 2010 due to having a strong veteran core, but last season they used a myriad of rookies and youngsters to have the best record in baseball. They accomplished this by having the best team ERA at 2.94, the first team to have an ERA under 3 since the 1989 Los Angeles Dodgers. While they lost veteran, John Lackey, to the rival Cubs, they get back ace, Adam Wainwright, healthy after missing last season. The offense is lead by the Matts (Holliday and Carpenter) and if they can stay healthy the offense will be one of the most consistent in the NL.

After the trade deadline last season, the Cincinnati Reds played an all-rookie starting rotation. Even with Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake playing for most of the season, they finished with the 3rd worst ERA in the NL. Cueto and Leake, along with Aroldis Chapman have already been traded away for prospects, but they still have a number of bats they can trade in their rebuilding effort. I feel bad for Joey Votto that his prime is being wasted away like this, but then I remember the $202 million he will make over the next 9 years, and don't feel so bad anymore.

This past winter, the Milwaukee Brewers hired former Houston Astros assistant general manager, David Stearns, to be their general manager. He proceeded to sign former Astros players Chris Carter, Jonathan Villar, and Alex Presley. Their farm system is now lead by former Astros prospects Josh Hader, Brett Phillips and Jacob Nottingham. These next few years could resemble the dark years of the Astros as well as they have begun the process of trading players away for prospects and still have pieces to offer at the trade deadline this year. This year will be rough for the Brewers, but if the Astros blueprint has shown anything it's that the tanking rebuilding process can pay off. I just wonder if manager, Craig Counsell, uses the same batting stance hitting fungo as he did as a player.

PREDICTION: The Cubs win the division, but don't run away with it as they hold off the Pirates in the last week of the season. The Pirates snag the first wild card spot getting to play at home for the one game playoff series.

NL WEST:

The San Fransisco Giants have won the World Series in 2012 and 2014 and have their eyes set on winning again in 2016. This goes beyond superstitions though, as they have a deep pitching staff and solid bats and defense to back them up. They finished with the best on base percentage last season in the NL, and added Denard Span to anchor the lead off position. They also finished with the 9th best ERA in all of baseball and signed top of the rotation pieces Johnny Cueto and Jeff Smardjzia (the Giants finished with the second most spent this offseason). Provided that the team stays remotely healthy (something they've had a problem with the two off years of winning it all) and Hunter Pence stays away from Stephanie Tanner, then they will have a solid chance at continuing their even year streak.

Although the Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball, they seemed to lose out on my of their top offseason targets, mainly to try and fill out the back of their rotation. Despite missing the big name aces, they were able to sign multiple quality arms to add to their already strong depth that gave them the 5th best ERA last season. In order for the offense to be successful this year, youngsters Joc Pederson and Corey Seager are going to have to carry it as veterans, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Howie Kendrick are no longer in their prime, but can still contribute in some capacity. Pitching-wise, they still have the best pitcher in the universe in Clayton Kershaw, so as long as everyone else in the rotation stays healthy it should carry the team to the playoffs.

The Diamondbacks shocked the world by outbidding the Dodgers for the services of Zack Greinke this offseason. In the second half of the season last year, the Diamondbacks lead the NL in batting average, but was coupled with a pitching staff that had a below average 4.04 ERA on the season. The additions of Greinke, who had a historic 1.66 ERA last season, the earlier mentioned Shelby Miller, and fan-favorite, MVP candidate, Paul Goldschmidt, could help propel this team into the playoffs. Diamondback fans just hope Tony LaRussa knows what he's doing as this year they have the highest expectations as a team in a few years.

The Colorado Rockies are known for their offense, and not so much for their pitching, and that will again be the case this year. Although the offense won't be as good as years past due to the trading away of Troy Tulowitzki and Corey Dickerson, and Carlos Gonzalez likely on his way out. But even after trading away premium talent like those mentioned, they haven't received much potential in the starting pitching department. They have former #3 overall pick, Jon Gray, ready for the Majors, but he's struggled in his trials so far. To be fair, it will be hard for him to have decent, consistent pitching until they move the fences in and get rid of one of the most spacious outfields of any Major League park and put the stadium in a humidor.

Last offseason, the San Diego Padres "upgraded" by signing big name free agents and trading for big contracts. That plan totally backfired as they finished below .500 and traded away their top prospects. They were expected to host a fire sale last trade deadline, but they finished with zero trades. The same was expected as soon as this offseason started and only Craig Kimbrel and Yonder Alonso changed teams. Their goal this year is to rebuild their farm system that has fallen all the way to 25th in the league. The best way to do that is find buyers for starting pitchers Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, and James Shields. Other than the top of their rotation, there isn't much talent to trade away or field a competitive roster, so all management can do is hope that someone like Wil Myers can make a transition to first or shortstop Alexi Ramirez has a big first half to increase their trade value.

PREDICTION: It is an even year, so the Giants win the division, with their eyes set on another World Series championship. The Dodgers hold off the Diamondbacks and win the second wild card spot hoping Clayton Kershaw's post season woes go away for the one game playoff series.

On deck, I take a swing at how the American League will play out. You will want to catch it! #BaseballPuns