While the NL West might well be the widest open of all the divisions in the National League the East isn’t going to be a one horse show this season.  The Mets, Braves and Phillies have all taken steps to elevate their game in order to compete this season, while the Nationals are building a foundation and the Marlins are just rebuilding (again).

Atlanta Braves:  Make no doubt about it, the Braves are a good team with a lot of potential, but how they compare with the offensively dynamic Phillies or the New York Mets is a big question.   The three names at the top of the Braves rotation - Smoltz, Hudson and Glavine embody a lot of experience and a lot of wins, but age and ability to go deep into a game, especially for the 42 year old Glavine and the 40 year old Smoltz have to be a concern.   Behind them are more question marks - Chuck James with a rotator cuff tear and Mike Hampton with every injury under the sun, don’t exactly inspire confidence.

With Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann centering the lineup the team should still be able to score plenty of runs.   They finished 3rd in runs scored (behind the Phillies and Rockies) last year, without much contribution from Andruw Jones in terms of batting average, but they’ll miss his 26 home runs and 94 RBIs.   The real question is just how much they’ll miss him.

Florida Marlins:  The Marlins are in a rebuilding phase and this team won’t be doing much at all this season.  They could lose 100 games and avoiding that should be the main goal of this franchise.

New York Mets:  After last year’s incredible collapse the Mets have gone out of their way to slightly retool and prepare for 2008.  The key addition was superstar pitcher Johan Santana who elevates the team’s pitching to a whole new level.   With a rotation of Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and either Mike Pelfrey or Orlando Hernandez the Mets have arguably the best rotation in the east.

For the Mets the question isn’t about the pitching, their difficulties will more than likely be the offense, the age of their players and the injury bug.  Key offensive stars Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou, not to mention starters Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez are in the twilight of their careers and age is beginning to show.  Injuries have sidelined six of their eight starters in spring training - and newcomer Ryan Church has never been an everyday player coming into this season.

The Mets’ bullpen fell apart last season and doomed the team during their ill-fated September run - mainly because they were exhausted from supporting an aged staff (notably Glavine who was a six inning pitcher). The Mets hope that by adding the younger arm of Santana that pen will be less strained this season.  Regardless, the return of Duaner Sanchez and the addition of Matt Wise should steady the bullpen.  That’s enough to make them the favorites in the division.

Philadelphia Phillies:  They can hit, but can they pitch?  There is no question that the Phillies can put runs up on the board - this team screams offense and led the NL in runs scored last season. But as good as they were with the bats, they were almost as bad with the pitching; they ranked 13th in ERA in the league.

Instead of going out to acquire a top notch starter the Phils are gambling that closer Brett Myers can make the transition back to a top notch starting pitcher.   To take over the closing duties they have brought in Brad Lidge, a closer who has struggled the past two seasons but was once one of the greats in the NL.  It’s a dicey proposition, but if it pans out the Phillies will be a better pitching team than they were last year - and even a slight improvement should add up to more wins.

Washington Nationals:  The Nationals come into 2008 with a new stadium, a solid core of youngsters, a veteran presence and all the potential in the world.   While they have a lot of talent, they don’t match up well against any of the contenders.  For this team a run at .500 will be a very satisfying conclusion as they look towards the future.

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