2009 NL West Preview

For the love of God my apologies for the lateness, i was taken down by the flu this past weekend and couldn't write. enjoy, written in order of projected finish.

San Fransisco Giants

Key Additions

The key addition this offseason to the Giants was without question Randy Johnson. The Giants have one of the best young rotations in baseball, with Jonathon Sanchez, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain all having impressive big-league resumes for such young pitchers. It was very important for the Giants to bring in a wily veteran who will be able to anchor this staff of youngsters and teach them some of the wealth of knowledge that he has learned over his long career. Johnson's major value with the Giants will come in his ability to tutor their young staff, but that is not to say that his on-the-field production will be nil, quite the contrary he may prove to be very productive in the weak hitting NL West.

Key Players

Tim Lincecum-The reigning Cy Young award winner and incumbent ace to one of the most impressive young staffs in baseball, Tim Lincecum will have enormous expectations coming into this season. Lincecum dominated last season, and the team's record showed it. In Lincecum's appearances, the Giants were 22-12, for a .647 win percentage, wheras in games that Lincecum did not appear, the Giants were 50-78, or a .391 win percentage. If Lincecum can have another Cy Young caliber season, expect the Giants to be serious contenders.

Pablo Sandoval- Pablo Sandoval is the Giants young catcher/3rd baseman who is heralded as some of the much-needed offensive relief that the Giants are expecting from their farm system. Sandoval is 37/81 so far this spring (a .457 BA) with 18 RBI, 3 HR, and 10 R. Sandoval also won the Venezuelan home run derby over the offseason. As a side note, Carlos Zambrano also entered said derby (that is not a lie). If Sandoval can come up to the big leagues and give the offense some much needed assistance (currently their best hitter is probably either Bengie Molina or Aaron Rowand) then the Giants can certainly compete for the NL West.

Player to Watch

Matt Cain has steadily improved his ERA, K's, and BB rate since his first full season in the majors in 2006. Despite his career record of 30-41, Cain's career ERA is 3.80, with a WHIP of 1.27. Cain needs to get over the psychological devestation of getting an average of 1 run per 3 starts (not really, but his run support is miserable) and continue to progress as a young pitcher, specifically with the aid of Randy Johnson, he will certainly make a fine #2 starter to the young ace Tim Lincecum.

Conclusion

Frankly I think that the San Francisco Giants will win the NL West due to their excellent pitching staff and improving hitting. The weak NL West should only offer the Dodgers as serious competition, due to the D'Backs hitting inadequacies, and I don't think that the Dodgers pitching will be able to hold together after the loss of Derek Lowe and the injury concerns to Chad Billingsley, and especially with the youth and big league inexperience of Clayton Kershaw. Expect the Giants to have the division won sometime in mid december.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Key Additions

While this is not necessarily a key addition, the key retention for the Dodgers is no one other than Manfred Ramirez. The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment since the Rock, Manny Ramirez will be without question the most important player in the NL West to any single team. Manny at the center of this offense turns a mediocre team into a legitimate contender, and it was essentially a move out of necessity that the Dodgers kept him, as a lineup without him is simply devastating.

Key Players

Chad Billingsley- It is sometimes easy to forget that Chad Billingsley is only 24 years old. Billingsley was the #2 starter on the Dodgers last season behind the incredibly consistent Derek Lowe. This year with his departure, the young (and possibly injured) Billingsley becomes the #1 starter. If he can take this added pressure and flourish in it, then he will help stabilize a rotation that has lost a lot of production this offseason, and if he can't handle the pressure, it should be a very long season for the Dodgers.

Manny Ramirez- I'm sure you're all very sick of hearing about Manny, but there's just no arguing the fact that he's the most important player on this roster. As Manny goes, essentially so does the Dodgers offense, and he is therefore without question the key offensive player on this team.

Player to Watch
Clayton Kershaw- Last season the Dodgers had a secure rotation, with the solid veteran Lowe at the top, the youngster Billingsley as #2, and Hiroki Kuroda at #3. This season, they have Billinglsey thrown into the #1 spot, Kuroda at 2, and Kershaw being thrown in at 3. It is incredibly important that Kershaw produces effectively, otherwise the entire rotation will be thrown off quite a bit.

Conclusion
As iffy as the Dodgers rotation will be this season, I still think their offense is good enough to get them 2nd in the division. If they intend on winning the division, they need both Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw to do pretty well.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Key Additions

Frankly, the Diamondbacks didn't make any significant additions, and the only player they lost was Brandon Lyon.

Key Players

Eric Byrnes- Byrnes signed a large contract after the 2007 season, a season that saw him bat .286 with 50 SB, 21 HR, 83 RBIs, and 103 R. Last season Byrnes played only 52 games, and batted .209 with 6 HR and 23 RBI. If the D'Backs want to succeed this season, they will need a healthy team leader in Eric Byrnes to help guide their team of young hitters.

Dan Haren- Haren is a consistent pitcher, and has some level of protection being the #2 starter behind perrenial ace Brandon Webb. Haren needs to produce significantly if the Diamondbacks want to win the division, as very good production from both Webb and Haren may be enough to beat out the Giants strong rotation.

Player to Watch

Max Scherzer-Many of you may remember Scherzer from his major league debut, when he pitched 4 1/3 perfect innings of relief, striking out 7 Astros. While he will be starting the season on the DL, he will most certainly make some noise when he comes back to the team.

Conclusion

The D'Backs have a lot of questions in their young lineup, and in their rotation after the #2 starter. If they're lucky they should be able to hold 3rd in the division, but if the Rockies start to get hot they may be able to take 3rd from them.

Colorado Rockies

Key Additions
Huston Street- Huston Street's numbers have steadily been on the decline since his incredible rookie season, but he is still nonetheless an important addition for the Rockies, especially with the loss of Brian Fuentes. Street will help bolster the Rockies' bullpen, and is expected to be the closer ahead of Manny Corpas. Look for him to play a key role in a losing campaign for the Rockies.

Key Players
Troy Tulowitzki-After a beastly rookie campaign, Tulowitzki faltered last year, batting only .263 with 8 HR and 46 RBI. It was apparent last season, however, that Tulowitzki got back into some kind of a groove late in the year, batting .330 in September with 3 HR and 14 RBI. It should be very interesting to see if Tulo comes back to his All-Star level, or if he continues to struggle without the lineup protection of Matt Holliday.

Player to Watch
Chris Iannetta- I'm going to be honest, I know very little about Chris Iannetta. The Cather position is one that fails to interest me particularly much, and I therefore lack knowledge of different catchers, but I've heard from a lot of people and news sources that Iannetta is a player to watch for this season, and his numbers seem to merit this. Last season he hit 18 HR and drove in 65 in only 104 games, so its certainly plausible that if he can play about 145 games, he can hit 25 HR and drive in 90-100, which is really impressive for such a young (25) player.

Conclusion

Without Matt Holliday, and without much in terms of pitching, the Rockies will get a 4th place finish at best, with a small but realistic chance that they slip to #5 in the division behind the pitiful Padres.

San Diego Padres

Key Additions

None, they added Duaner Sanchez and Henry Blanco. This team is so bad that even if they added Albert Pujols, it wouldn't be that key because it would improve them to a 70 win team.

Key Players

Jake Peavy- The only respectable pitcher on the Padres' staff (you can make an argument for Chris Young, but he has looked atrocious in spring training, with a fastball reaching 83 MPH). Peavy might be able to pull off a winning record this season if he keeps his ERA below 2.50, but even that's a stretch.

Hadrian's Wall Gonzalez- A decent fantasy steal for me no doubt, and the best offensive player on the most pathetic offensive team this side of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Player to Watch

I'm going to keep this relatively brief, there are like 3 players on this team worth watching. The most interesting will be Jake Peavy, as there will undoubtedly be trade rumors circling around him all season, so keep an eye on what he does, as his performance will certainly affect his trade circumstances.

Conclusion

This team has a legitimate chance of contending for the prestigious Worst Team of All Time title, a title currently held by that one Detroit Tigers team that lost like 120 games in 2003 or so.