NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
NEW YORK METS (77 – 85 in 2021)
The New York Mets had a very disappointing campaign in 2021. Give credit to the new ownership, though. Steve Cohen didn’t wait around hoping to see improvement year over year. Instead, he pretty much put a brand-new team on the field with new management in place as well. Buck Showalter and Billy Eppler stepped in as the new manager and general manager respectively. Both are proven leaders and should make a big difference in the way the Mets approach the game. This was quickly evidenced by the on-field changes. Out are Michael Conforto, Marcus Stroman, Javier Baez, Rich Hill, Noah Syndergaard, Jonathan Villar, Kevin Pillar, Brad Hand, Jeurys Familia, and Aaron Loup. In are Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Chris Bassitt, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and Adam Ottavino. This gives the Mets one of the most expensive rosters in Major League Baseball this season, something generally reserved for that other New York team. It all starts with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer and their huge $contract$. Sure, they are 33 and 37 respectively, but both are still scary good at what they do. Chris Bassitt is no slouch either. The idea is to get into the playoffs. With those two taking the mound in a short series and Bassitt waiting in the wings, the Mets would probably be clear favorites against almost anyone. Adding the bats of Marte, Canha, and Escobar doesn’t hurt their chances either. The Mets should definitely be considered the big dog east of the Rockies.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (82 – 80)
The Phillies already had the reigning National League MVP in Bryce Harper. They also had an underrated Rhys Hoskins. Now they’ve added Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, and one of the best hitting catchers in the game in JT Realmuto. These guys are going to score some runs. The rotation is underrated. Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler are pretty decent one-two combination. Ranger Suarez has had an up and down career, but you have to be impressed with the 1.36 ERA he posted last season. With all this going for them, their biggest issue is going to be a porous defense that is going to cost them some games. The question is whether or not the offense and pitching can overcome the defensive lapses? The Phillies haven’t made the playoffs in 10 years. This team may not win the division, but they’ve got a good shot at a wild card slot. The only question is, how far can they get in the playoffs before the wheels fall off?
ATLANTA BRAVES (88 – 73)
The Atlanta Braves were the World Series Champions last year despite the fact they only won 88 games during the regular season. In fact, they played sub .500 ball most of the season. When Ronald Acuna went down late in the year with a season ending injury everyone wrote the Braves off. Without Acuna they were toast. But it became a situation where management made all the right moves, bringing in the right combination of players (Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall) and the team got hot at the right time. I doubt that momentum will carry over into the 2022 season. There is also the fact that no team has repeated as a World Series champion in 21 years. The Braves seem one of the least likely teams to break that streak. They lost Freddie Freeman to free agency but replaced him with Matt Olsen, not much of a downgrade really. They also added Kenley Jansen to a very good bullpen but, otherwise, they mostly stood pat. That could be a problem when both the Mets and the Phillies made substantial upgrades this past winter. Also, Freeman was the heart of this team. While Matt Olson is comparable player on the field, it remains to be seen how much the loss of Freeman will affect team chemistry. I see Atlanta finishing in second or third place. For the purpose of this blog, I’m going to put them in third, missing the playoffs in 2022.
MIAMI MARLINS (67 – 95)
The Marlins have four very good pitchers, Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Trevor Rogers, and Elieser Hernandez, all of whom are age 26 or younger. This group would appear to have a bright future in Major League Baseball. Whether or not that future will be in Miami remains to be seen. If Miami is going to contend, they’re going to need more offense and it may cost them a pitcher or two to get that offense. The likes of Jorge Soler, Joey Wendle, and Avisail Garcia can only carry this team so far. After finishing 28 games below .500 last season, just winning 81 games would be a big step forward. I see them improving on those 67 wins, moving close to, but not quite 81 wins. They are still a sub .500 team.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS (65 – 97)
About the only thing the Nationals have going for them is Juan Soto. At age 23 he is a player they can definitely build a team around. I’m not convinced, though, that 41-year-old Nelson Cruz, signed as a free agent, is going to make that much of a difference. Soto and Cruz alone don’t transform a team that lost 97 games last season into a playoff contender. By the time management figures that out and actually starts to build this team Cruz will be long retired. And, if management doesn’t get it and the Nats don’t start to build this team in the next couple of years, Soto is almost a sure bet to test the free agent market in 2025 at age 29, heading into the prime of his career.
Hey gang, that’s four divisions down and two more to go. In the next couple of days I will take a look at the National League Central and finish up with the Western division early next week. Probably do one more blog about how I think the playoffs might go. After that I’m looking at a blog on real estate for all my investor friends out there. I have a property in escrow right now that I want to share some history with you guys. Also, if you didn’t catch it on Facebook, I fell off my diet when I went to a Dodger game last Wednesday. But hey, it was the Dodgers and the Giants and we won 9-1. And, for anybody that is interested, when I went into the hospital on March 13th, I weighed 248 pounds. As of this morning, I was down to 213. That’s 35 pounds down in just under eight weeks with another 25 to go. In my defense, I think I earned those nachos. So, as always, swing for the fences. I certainly have been for the last eight weeks.
