NL West

NL West

1. Rockies
2. Giants
3. Dodgers
4. Padres
5. Diamondbacks

Alright, here is my first curveball. Everyone and their mother has already cemented the Giants’ place in the NL Championship but I think they fall back a little bit this year. And the Rockies should be right there to pick up the slack. As long as Troy Tulo and CarGo haven’t spent the last few months since getting their huuuuuuge deals snacking on hundreds of Rocky Mountain oysters, the offense for the Rox should be real good, mostly because it is so balanced. Power, average, speed. They got it. They’ve also got 3 good starters in Ubaldo, De La Rosa, and Jhoulys. I also think Jhoulys breaks out a real nice season this year. Hopefully by May I will know how to pronounce his name. Wild Card: Todd Helton. To solidify this upset, the Rox are really going to need more from Mr. Rockie than the putrid .256/8/37 he put up in 400 ABs last year. If he doesn’t have it anymore, Jim Tracy needs to pull off the band-aid and install Ty Wigginton at first.

Now, stop your yelling. Here are the current World Champs. The Giants pitching should keep them in the mix for the wild card but it is damn tough to repeat. Last year they were a scrappy bunch of overachievers. Now they are the champs with a bullseye on their backs. I’m not sure they can be dominant over a whole season mostly because they’re offense is not that great. Sure they played well in the playoffs but can you really trust Pat Burell, Cody Ross, and Aubrey Huff to still have quality seasons at this stage in their career? Also how did the Champs “upgrade” the left side of the infield? Bringing in Miguel Tejada. When in the last 5 years was that a good idea? Dude could be anywhere from 36 to 60.  But they still have good pitching, Buster Posey is awesome and Brandon Belt should make an impact if he gets a call-up this year so they should be A-OK. Wild Card: Pablo Sandoval. I read yesterday that he lost 40 pounds over the off-season. 40 lbs. Holy hell. I have no idea how that would affect a ballplayer. Is his power gone? Does he have more range at 3^rd? Is he still a panda? However, if he brings them the all-star quality bat of 2 years ago, the Gigantes may just leapfrog the Rockies.

Nothing like a team being stuck in the middle of a nasty divorce proceeding. Marital strife of millionaires aside, the Dodgers have some nice pieces. Kemp and Andre Ethier are talented, young outfielders and a rotation of Kershaw, Billingsley, Ted Lilly and Kuroda is decent (mostly Kershaw and Billingsley though. It makes me shiver thinking Ted Lilly might be thought of as decent.) But with a decent rotation like that you need way more offense than a lineup of Jay Gibbons, Marcus Thames, Casey Blake, and James Loney are going to provide. With a couple more pieces, this team could be officially “frisky” but as is they are strictly 3^rd place material. Wild Card: Don Mattingly. Donnie Baseball gets his first shot at managing. If he grows back the ‘stache and cuts those damn sideburns, he could inspire the Dodgers all the way to the top.

What can you say about the Padres? Their pitching isn’t bad. They lucked out by having the ‘triple a’ diamondbacks in their division. But, man, they are gonna miss Yo Adrian Gonzalez. I am not sure who is gonna drive in runs for this team. At the “power” positions (1^st, 3^rd, LF, RF), they’ve got Brad Hawpe, Chase Headley, Ryan Ludwick and Will Venable (Will who?) Ugh. Total HRs for this bunch last year? 50. For reference, the Rockies power guys had 91. Yankees? 106. So I just don’t know who is going to actually hit. I know that they were right in the thick of the NL West race until the end of the season last year but a lot of that was because of Yo Adrian so I am not expecting a repeat. Besides they live in San Diego. It is 80 degrees and sunny every day. To have a good baseball team as well would be unfair.  Wild Card: Anthony Rizzo and Casey Kelly. Might as well bring up the prospects they got for Adrian. They won’t help this year but might as well see if they can play.

It’s going to be a long summer in the desert for the Diamondbacks. Ian Kennedy, Barry Enright, Joe Saunders, Aaron Heilmen, Daniel Hudson. No, that’s not the accounting team of your local H&R Block. That’s the D-backs rotation. Not good. On O, they’ve got Justin Upton and Stephen Drew and not much else. OK I’ll give you Montero as a better than average catcher option but Melvin Mora starting at third? Really? Is this 2004? And how about Juan Miranda at 1^st? Yes, “who?” is the appropriate response to that.  Hilariously he is listed on espn as a DH. That should really help out the D-backs a lot. But don’t worry they have Brandon Allen backing him up. Yep. Don’t know who that is either. Why they traded Mark Reynolds I have no idea. This team’s season is already done. Just enjoy the heat. It’s a dry heat. So it’s OK. Wild Card: Daniel Hudson is the only pitcher they have that can be anything more than average. He should be their Ace by 2012.

   (I'm guessing Amar'e ain't rockin the D-back hat anymore. Closet full of Yankees gear. I can tell.)