2013 NL East Projections

Since
relocating to Washington D.C. from Montreal, Canada in 2005, The
Washington Nationals have been a work in progress as they have
consistently been doormats in The National League East. That has changed
under the watch of current Nationals manager Davey Johnson who has brought that same winning formula that saw him take The New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds,
and Baltimore Orioles to the postseason. The Nats won their first division title last
season since 1981 when the team still called Montreal home, but they are
not anticipating waiting another 31 years to become champions of The NL
East.

Aside from leading Major League Baseball with 98 wins in the
regular season for 2012, The Nats fielded a young and exciting team.
20-year old outfielder Bryce Harper made National League’s The All-Star
Team in his first season as he took home NL Rookie of The Year honors
after belting 22 home runs and 9 triples. Harper came to The Nationals
with a ton of hype. Harper lived up to it in 2012 and he has the potential
to be superstar. Harper is a five-tool player that is projected to be a
30-30 player in the near future.

24-year old starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg went 15-6 with 197
strikeouts and an earned run average of 3.16 before being shut down
after throwing 159.1 innings after recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The Nationals are expected to loosen the reins this season for a pitcher
in Strasburg that is expected to win 20 games and contend for The NL Cy
Young Award.

The Nationals starting rotation isn’t just defined by Strasburg as they
return four starters who posted double-digits in victories last season.
Left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez became a star in his first season with
The Nationals as he won 21 games. The addition of starting pitcher Dan Haren should solidify things at the back of the rotation for Washington.

The Nationals had 17 blown saves last season and to lessen that number Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo signed free-agent closer Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million contract. Soriano was a member of The New York Yankees last season as he filled in for an injured Mariano Rivera where he saved 42 games for The Yankees.

Washington is now in the catbird position in The NL East and with a ton of young
talent for manager Davey Johnson they should be up to the task to repeat as division champs..

After winning 94 games in the regular season last year, The
Atlanta Braves were unceremoniously bounced from the postseason in The
National League Wild Card Round by The St. Louis Cardinals, but hope
springs eternal for Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez and his team. 

Braves
general manager Frank Wren pulled off a trade with The Arizona
Diamondbacks to acquire two-time All-Star outfielder Justin Upton.
Earlier in the offseason, Wren signed Upton’s younger brother B.J. to a
five-year, $75 million deal to lure him away from The Tampa Bay Rays.
Now The Upton’s will team with outfielder Jason Heyward to give The Braves a trio
of young and talented outfielders.

One thing that The Braves organization has been known for lately is
their pitching and 2013 will be no different. Veteran pitcher Tim Hudson
went 16-7 last season as he is three games away from reaching the 200
victory mark for his career. Starting pitcher Kris Medlen was a surprise
last season as he went 10-1 as a starter and The Braves won 23
consecutive games that he appeared in. Relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel
saved 42 out of his 45 chances last year as he has one of the most
electric fastballs in The National League coming out of the bullpen.

The main thing for The Braves is to finish strong. After a collapse down the stretch in 2011, Atlanta was again destined for greatness in 2012 until they were derailed by The Cardinals. This team must find a way to make a bigger impact down the stretch this October.

Last year was a very difficult season for The Philadelphia Phillies,
but they still rebounded to finish with 81 wins which ensured the team’s
tenth consecutive non-losing season. Age is starting to catch up with
The Phillies as their core players consisting of infielders Chase Utley,
Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard are in their mid-30s. All three missed significant time last season due to injury, but Phillies manager Charlie Manuel is
hopeful to have them all healthy this season. Manuel and Phillies
general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. are happy to have acquired veteran infielder
Michael Young from The Texas Rangers. Young was a man that The Rangers
were looking to unload and at 36-years of age Young is out to prove
that he is still an All-Star caliber player.

The Phillies pitching staff wasn’t as dominant last season as it
was in 2011 when they led Major League Baseball with a team earned run
average of 3.02. The Phillies were slowed down by injuries to starting
pitchers Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee as it is now up to Cole Hamels to be the ace of the starting rotation. Closer Jonathan Papelbon was lights out for The Phillies last season as he converted 38 of his 42 save opportunities as his ability helps to ease the concerns of Manuel when he knows that he has a solid finisher on the mound in the ninth inning.

This is indeed an aging team, but The Phillies still will be competitive in 2013.

The
New York Mets were the talk of baseball for the first half of the
season in 2012 as they came out of the gate with a record of 46-39.
Reality hit them in the second half as they finished the season with
only 74 wins. Met owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon claim that the money woes
are behind them, but this team is still not close to contending. 

It was good that Mets general manager Sandy Alderson signed Mets
All-Star third baseman David Wright to a seven-year, $138 million
extension to keep him in Flushing. The Mets front office could not deal
with another public relations nightmare after allowing shortstop Jose
Reyes to walk in free agency in 2011.

For Mets manager Terry Collins he is hopeful that first baseman Ike
Davis can get off to better start this season after being slowed by
“valley fever” coming out of spring training last year. Davis hit 32
home runs last season, but The Mets are hopeful that he can get his
batting average up around .275. In the place of Reyes, Ruben Tejada hit
.289, but he never gave The Mets a legitimate threat to steal bases. A
healthy Tejada is expected to improve on his 4 stolen bases from 2012.

Since their inception in 1962, The Mets organization has had a deep pitching history and that is once again expected to be the story this season. 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey was traded by The Mets to The Toronto Blue Jays, but The Mets still have pitching depth. The Mets are hopeful that this is the season where starting pitcher Jon Niese breaks through to become a dominant left-handed pitcher. Niese has seen his workload increase in every season with The Mets as he has the potential to win 15 games. The Mets are high on prized pitching prospect Matt Harvey. Harvey debuted in late July and he struck out 70 batters in just 10 starts. After throwing the first no-hitter in Met franchise history last season, starting pitcher Johan Santana is entering the final year of his contract. Santana has been derailed by injuries since he joined The Mets in 2008, but Alderson is hopeful that Santana can get off to a fast start in order to trade him as The Mets will be looking at more potential prospects.

The Mets will fight hard for manager Terry Collins, but at some point this team will indeed run out of gas.

After
beginning 2012 with a payroll of $118 million, The Miami Marlins were
expected to contend. The Marlins were looking to usher in a new era of
baseball in South Florida as shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitcher Mark
Buerhle, and relief pitcher Heath Bell were all signed to lucrative
free-agent deals. The wheels began to fall off shortly after the season
started as Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen came under fire in Miami for
his comments about Cuban president Fidel Castro. Little by little trades
were made over the summer to reduce The Marlins to also-rans. By the end
of the season, Guillen was fired. Following the season, Reyes and
Buerhle were traded to The Toronto Blue Jays while Bell was sent to The
Arizona Diamondbacks.

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has come under fire in Miami as angry
fans and taxpayers feel that they were duped into agreeing to have a new
stadium built as they were expecting The Marlins to contend, but
instead they have witnessed a fire sale reminiscent of what The Marlins
did after winning The World Series in 1997 and 2003.

With the exception of All-Star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, The
Marlins will resemble a glorified minor-league team with a few aging
veterans. For first-year manager Mike Redmond, the only way to go is up,
but in a division that is quickly becoming more competitive, it will
not be easy.

X=Clinched Division

Source: Baseball-reference.com