National League East

I know opening day has come and gone but I would like to submit my projections for the rest of Major League Baseball Divisions and what I expect to happen.

New York Mets
The Mets had a ton of problems last season trying to close games at the end. The Mets did not mess around any longer as they signed the AL Cy Young Award runner up and single season Saves Record holder in K-Rod to multi year deal, and also traded for Mariners closer J.J. Putz to fix the bullpen issues. They did not do much on the offensive side of things which is understandable. Carlos Delgado had a rebirth last season and they still have the best left side of the infield in the National League in David Wright and Jose Reyes. I look for Johan Santana to continue his dominance in the NL and Oliver Perez to step up after a big contract to help out the rotation. The Mets in a new ball park should win this division, ironically because of their bullpen.

Philadelphia Phillies
The defending World Series Champs are back and have much the same roster as they did from last years team. Reliever J.C. Romero will miss the first 50 games with a steroid suspension, but Brad Lidge still has not blown a save in a Phillies' jersey. Cole Hamels will have to prove that the WBC injury will not affect him and come back to his dominant self in the post season. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins will carry the offense as they have over each of the last three plus seasons in Citizens Bank ball park. I like this team to compete with the Mets all the way until the final couple of days or weeks but end up bidding for a Wild Card spot in the NL.

Florida Marlins
A team always in the bottom of the payroll scale in baseball, but this team always has amazing young talented ball players that nobody knows entering a season. Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla will carry this young team with the leather and at the dish, they will defiantly put up some tape measure shots as well as steal some bases. The Marlins also have a bunch of young arms that will be vital if they plan on being in the playoff run until the end of the season. Josh Johnson a contender for the Cy Young will anchor the young staff and try and take down the giants of the East in New York and Philly. Big things to come from this team as they will move into a new ball park next season.

Atlanta Braves
After failing to make the playoffs for the first time a over a decade the Braves are in a bit of rebuilding mode, but still have an upside of competing with the front runners. The acquisition of Derek Lowe to be the ace of the staff to take pressure off of Tim Hudson to carry the load all by himself and help mold some of the younger arms. Chipper Jones had his best year in Batting Average last season flirting with .400 for much of the year will be added by Brian McCann's much improved bat from behind the plate. They have a nice looking rookie center fielder as well in Jordan Schafer. I see the Braves finishing 4th in a very competitive NL East.

Washington Nationals
The Nationals tried to get in on the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes but like the hometown O's lucked out. They did however bring in Adam Dunn, so they will get some long balls leaving the yard in their nice stadium. Other than Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman working at the hot corner not a lot of expectations to come of this season for the Nats. Maybe in a couple of years they will be competitive but as of now they do not have a promising supply of younger players in their farm system to work with in trading for players and in a tough economy they may be better off in saving those younger players and build for the future. I see the Nationals throwing in the towel early this season and hoping that next year arrives sooner rather than later.