Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies thinks his rotation for 2007 is the best in the NL East. You know it’s hard to argue with him. With the recent trade to acquire Freddie Garcia from the White Sox, the Phillies do have a formidable starting five. In addition to Garcia, the Phillies have signed Adam Eaton and resigned Jamie Moyer. Plus they will have Cole Hamels and Brett Myers coming back and Hamels has the potential of being the ace of the staff. No question that the 2007 campaign is very likely not going to be a cakewalk for the Mets like last season.
And who thinks for a minute that the Braves have suddenly become the doormat of the NL East? Last season the Braves bullpen in the first half of the year was in total shambles. That pen blew a ton of leads. The Braves got themselves into a hole they just couldn’t get out of. But they played a lot better the second half as John Schuerholz re-cobbled the relief core. Recently the Braves acquired right hand relief pitcher Rafael Soriano from the Mariners and signed Tanyon Sturtze to bolster the pen. Bob Wickman is the closer whom the Braves traded for last season from the Indians. They still have John Schmoltz and Chuck James as very capable starters and next season Mike Hampton will be coming back from surgery and should be healthy. Plus they have several young pitchers they can use to fill out the rotation. There have been a lot of rumors regarding Andrew Jones but he’s still on the Braves and is certainly an offensive threat and there is no question he is the best defensive center fielder in the National League.
The Marlins will certainly be better next season especially with that young and very talented pitching staff. It’s unlikely they will contend for the division title, especially with the firing of Joe Girardi who did an outstanding job in motivating his young club. Even so the Marlins will be competitive and are not going to roll over for anyone. The one team in the division who do not look to make much of an improvement is the Washington Nationals, especially now that Alfonso Soriano was signed away by the Cubs. The only move of note they have made so far was selecting Jesus Flores, a catcher, from the Mets in the rule 5 draft.
The Mets in my opinion still have the best lineup in the National League, maybe the Major Leagues. They have one of the best closers in Billy Wagner and Omar was able to make some deals and free agent signings to bolster the bullpen that is now missing Chad Bradford, Darren Oliver, and Roberto Hernandez. The latter two will not be that hard to replace but certainly Bradford’s departure created a hole that Omar hopes he filled with the trade that brought Ambriorix Burgos over from
The Mets are mum about when and if they will attempt to sign the left hander. Randolph and Minaya publicly admit they would like to have Zito on the staff but they are not going overboard. I’m sure they do not want to appear desperate especially with Zito’s agent being Scott Boras. But I’m thinking behind closed doors the Mets are desperate. They do not want to go into the beginning of the 2007 season with Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez as the only veteran starting pitchers on staff; after all Glavine is 41 years old and El-Duque is--well you tell me. Tom will be fine and Hernandez can be dependable too but the latter has been prone to injuries the last couple of years. After those two pitchers you are looking at 4 young pitching candidates to fill slots in three starting roles. They all have talent but are unproven regardless of what a couple of them did under October pressure. With Zito stabilizing the rotation, the Mets would get a proven winner moving to a more pitcher friendly league and in a more pitcher friendly ballpark then any of his other suitors play in. The Mets know they will have to over pay and over pay they will. It’s simple, the Mets were one game away from the World Series last season, they have a new network that is working successfully and construction of Citi Field is well on its way. There is no way the Mets want to take a step back. I said all along that Zito will go to the highest bidder but honestly I didn’t think that would have been the Mets. Now that there options have diminished I think the Mets won’t only sell Zito on playing in
