NL East Preview

The NL East was arguably the most competitive division in baseball last year with every team finishing at .500 or better. Will the Braves continue their strangle-hold on the division title, or will Philly or the Mets finally figure out how to get over the hump? Could the Marlins possibly lose over 100 games this year and did Joe Girardi just get the biggest screw job of any first year manager? Theses are just a few questions that will be playing out this year in the NL East along with the drama that is Alfonso Soriano.

ATLANTA BRAVES - Last year - 1st (90-72)
Comings: Edgar Renteria. Goings: Rafael Furcal, Julio Franco
Why they'll win: The young bats stay hot, the old bats stay healthy, and the pitching continues to dominate despite Leo Mazzone's absence. That and they're the freakin' Braves and they always win.
Why they'll lose: Francoeur and Langerhans can't get it done, Reitsma falls apart as a closer, Renteria plays like he's a Red Sox still, Chipper's body betrays him, and Smoltz finally realizes he's been way to good for way to long.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES - Last year - 2nd (88-74)
Comings: Aaron Rowand, Tom Gordon, Arthur Rhodes. Goings: Jim Thome
Why they'll win: The Phillies could have one of the most dominate offenses in the game with Abreu, Howard, Burrell, Rollins and Utley. Also, as long as age hasn't caught up to them, Gordon and Rhodes should anchor their bullpen nicely.
Why they'll lose: The starting pitching is suspect. Lieber is quality, but he's definitely not an Ace and I'm not sure I totally trust Myers strong year last season to be repeated. Throw in Lidle, Franklin, and Madson and you're not scaring a lot of teams.

FLORIDA MARLINS - Last year - T-3rd (83-79)
Comings: A bunch of AAA guys. Goings: Juan Pierre, Luis Castillo, Juan Encarnacion, Todd Jones, A.J. Burnett, Alex Gonzalez, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, etc. etc. etc.
Why they'll win: Let's be honest here, they're not going to win. Too many young question marks. This team could have a top 5 Cy Young candidate and a top 5 NL MVP candidate and will still finish last.
Why they'll lose: Because the ownership dismantled the entire team and hung Girardi out to dry. You just know Willis and Cabrera are going to be demanding trades by the All-Star break.

NEW YORK METS - Last year - T-3rd (83-79)
Comings: Xavier Nady, Billy Wagner, Julio Franco, Carlos Delgado. Goings: Kris Benson, Braden Looper, Mike Piazza.
Why they'll win: A superior collection of talent compared to the rest of the league. Omar Minaya is officially the Latin Steinbrenner in my book. They have an Ace pitcher, a dominant closer, and three of the better hitters in the game with Beltran, Delgado and Wright.
Why they'll lose: Pedro's toe, Glavine and Wagner's age, and if Beltran continues to struggle in NY. Also, just because they're the Mets and they always seem to find a way to screw things up. They're like the little sisters of the Yankees. They try to be like big brother, but they cannot quite fill his shoes.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS - Last year - 5th (81-81)
Comings: Alfonso Soriano, Ramon Ortiz. Goings: Brad Wilkerson.
Why they'll win: Really this team needs to stay healthy to have a shot. Guillen, Vidro, and Johnson have all spent some quality time on the DL. Also, the starting pitching needs to continue to suprise and atleast one of the young guys needs to have a strong year.
Why they'll lose: If Cordero isn't the real deal, Vidro really isn't healthy, the pitchers realize they're really not that good and Soriano can't deal with the move to LF.