We checked in earlier tonight on how things are shaping up for last year’s American League division winners as get set for a new season. Let’s do the same here for the three Senior Circuit clubs that won division titles in 2019…
NL West – Dodgers (106-56; won division by 21 games)
- It’s hard to assess the Dodgers’ roster without knowing if their planned Mookie Betts acquisition will go through. There are many moving parts involved in that deal, as a Betts pickup would send fellow outfielders Alex Verdugo and Joc Pederson, not to mention righty Kenta Maeda, to different teams. Regardless of that, and regardless of what wasn’t an especially active offseason for the Dodgers before the Betts swap, they’re in line to take home their eighth straight division championship in 2020. That said, they’ll face more competition from the Diamondbacks and Padres. Those two teams have enjoyed impressive offseasons, though it’s still difficult to imagine either toppling the juggernaut Dodgers in 2020.
NL East – Braves (97-65; won division by four games)
- The Braves lost a few key free agents in Josh Donaldson, Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran, but they still look like a rock-solid club when considering the talent on hand and their new additions. Ronald Acuna Jr., Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and Mike Soroka continue to headline their core, and they’ve picked up Will Smith, Marcell Ozuna, Cole Hamels and Travis d’Arnaud in free agency. There’s little doubt the Braves will be very good again in 2020; problem is that they’re stuck in a division with two or three real challengers. The Nationals, last year’s world champions, as well as the Mets and Phillies have done quite a bit of tinkering with their rosters this winter. Even the Marlins have tried to better themselves. All things considered, the NL East is shaping up to be a dogfight this year.
NL Central – Cardinals (91-71; won division by two games)
- Like the NL East, the NL Central should be hotly contested in 2020. The Cardinals ruled by a thin margin last season, but they’ve since had a pretty low-key offseason. For the most part, they’ll be relying on their talent from 2019 to nab another title this year. Luckily for the Cardinals, neither the Brewers nor Cubs look demonstrably better (they’re arguably worse) than they were last season, and the Pirates’ roster is a mess. The Reds have been one of the offseason’s busiest teams, though, and look as if they’ll have a chance to jump from 75-win team to playoff-caliber club in 2020.
The Cardinals rotation might be the best rotation in MLB right now
Not close
I’m a pretty big cardinals fan and I don’t think that in no way…the cardinals have depth…besides Flaherty, if a pitcher in the rotation goes down the cardinals usually have the depth to overcome it…I know the cardinals haven’t done a lot this offseason but really it’s just playing chess…if and when the Dodgers gets Betts…I think it best to hold on to your young talent for a future run…cardinals might as well see what they got in their young talent and plan accordingly from there before spending more money
Cards81—-Unfortunately I do agree with you!! I’ve been a huge Cardinal fan since the 50’s. I’ve been very frustrated of the long term deals Mozeliak has made for mediocre players. Even though I’ve been a huge Carpenter fan of his past heroic’s. His 2 year 36 million contract was a gift for his past underpaid years of leadership. Dead “Big Dollar” contracts have the Cardinals in a bind. I do hope Schildt plays his best players each day. Not the highest contracts each day. The heat will be on Shildt by the owners and Mo to play their highest contracts as their starting line up. Play The kids for 2 years until the aged contracts run out. Your right Cards81!!!
I agree with both of you the cards spend enough money just not wisely the young outfielders could be really good. I think O Neil can have Ozuna numbers and I think Schildt will play the contracts first but will have a fairly quick hook if needed
What?? Nationals have a better roation and proved it
all rotations are 0-0
Not even best in the division. Reds rotation is far better. Cardinals have a better number one, but Reds too them 2-5, and their top back up, Mahle, would likely be in about half the league’s rotations.
Do what? After Flaherty, these are the Zips projections:
Mikolas-2.3
Hudson-1.6
Wainwright-1.2
Rest-1.8
Oof
I’m a cards fan and I don’t think they have the best rotation in mlb by far. Flaherty is good but after that are all question marks. How do you say they’re better than Washington or LA? They only have a couple decent bats. O’Neill is WAY overrated, Fowler was a bad contract, Carp can only do one thing at a time (pull the ball) Goldy went in a funk and got homer happy. There is some talent in the farm system but it’s a few years away. This team hasn’t been really shrewd in the FO since the Jocketty years. But they just played above their heads and went to the NLCS so it buys the DeWitts an excuse to not spend any more money.
Cardslefty Played above their heads!! Seriously! It amazes me some of the dumb comments that people make!
Flaherty, Mikolas, Wainright, Hudson, ?. That’s not even a good rotation.
Not saying the cards rotation is the best in baseball but I think they are above not good. They are young minus Waino, in 3 years I will say they will be the best if kept together.
I’m excited to see if Martinez can bring back his great numbers from the past if not Gombers, Poncedeleon and Gant are serviceable arms.
Washington might have something to say about that.
They don’t have the best rotation in the division
I think the Cardinals will trade for Bryant next week.
Dylan Carlson and Jack Flaherty for Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward is fair. Also gives the Cardinals an outfield boost.
the cards are gonna add 40 million in payroll?
lol tf?
Baez for PTBNL, done.
Not a chance. Flaherty alone has more value than Bryant.
Not gonna happen, not ever.
Never, ever going to happen.
Remember how Bryant already alienated the Cards fans by his comments about St Louis (the city)? Or, even bigger, remember how the Cubs and Cards are battling for first the last half decade?
cards fan are quick to forgive and I can see Bryant in LF but when was the last time the Cubs and Cards made a deal?
Cards would laugh in the cubs face on that one. Just like they laughed after that 4 game sweep against the cubs at raggly field.
He’s trolling, geniuses.
Tf the cardinals are not going to give up their ace who is what like only 23
Do you even follow baseball? You’re predicting a same division trade that would have cardinals give up top, controllable talent for an overpaid outfielder and 2 years of Bryant? Go back to the drawing board on this one. There is absolutely zero chance this is even discussed, let alone happen.
Lol
Uh no thanks. You can keep Heyward. Bryant isn’t worth Flaherty and Carlson. Lol.
That is the dumbest offer I have seen on this site ever. Flaherty is an ace and top 10 pitcher in the league and most likely top 5 if he continues his ways in the second half of last year. Bryant and Báez still wouldn’t get it done.
You’re dreaming. Jack Flaherty going no-where.
The Cardinals will not trade Flaherty – for anyone. And they’d never trade him within the division, especially to the Cubs. The only third basemen the Cardinals are interested in is Arenado and that’s only if the price is right. Flaherty wouldn’t be in that deal either.
The Dodgers, having depth that most can’t even fathom and certainly don’t understand (unless you’re a serious die-hard of that team), could possibly stay competitive, if not WIN, the NL West with their AAA team alone! I haven’t seen a team with such a dearth of talent like the Dodgers have since those mid to late 90’s Yankees squads. It’s insane.
It’s all about depth…cardinals might not be as rich but they have plenty of depth and that’s their MO
The Cards “MO” is the dope in the front office.
Trading depth for Mookie Betts is the pinnacle of what Friedman has been building.
I don’t think “dearth” means what you think it does. Quite the opposite, actually.
You beat me to it.
Haha I’m well aware it says dearth, but appreciate your clear deep love of perfect spelling & grammar. The world desperately needs more leaders like you. You’re working hard to make the world a better place and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you again sweet man. ✊
And your passive aggressive comment contributed to make the world a better place how?
Someone’s insane no doubt. A 3A team beating padres and dbacks lolz. You can only fathom that if you’re a delusional dodgers fan
I’m no Dodgers fan, but decided to finally do some research on their organization after the Betts-Price deal was agreed to. And it is a bit of an exaggeration (only a bit though). We hear a lot about Dodgers fans wondering why Friedman doesn’t swing more trades with all of the high-end talent in their system that they could use in exchange for established big leaguers… If you include the young players that made their Major League debuts last season, they have 3-4 pitchers that would be the Ace or #2 starter on both the Padres & D-Backs (Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Josiah Gray, Dennis Santana, Jimmy Lewis, Mitchell White — all of them) C: the Dodgers have two catchers (Smith/Ruiz) that are better than any catchers on the Pads/D-Backs. 1B: think the Pads are happy with that horrific Hosmer contract? They’d swap Hosmer & that contract for Dodgers AAA 1B slugger Edwin Rios on a rookie deal in a heartbeat. 2B: Just about EVERY GM in the league would take Dodgers’ Gavin Lux over whoever they’re deploying at the position. Now that he’ll be the Opening Day starter, Michael Busch moves to the top of Dodgers 2B prospects SS: Pads/D-Backs win there, but Dodgers SS Jeter Downs is climbing everyone’s Prospect Rankings faster than just about anyone. Dominican sign Alex De Jesus is full of power. 3B: Padres get the W, but at $300 mil for .280/35/90 production; Max Muncy type numbers. LA’s 2018 1st Rounder Kody Hoese would get his call-up in 2020 if the Dodgers weren’t so deep, with Justin Turner obviously on top. This kid they signed out of Cuba, Miguel Vargas, is right behind him. OF: their outfield prospects are all monsters, loaded with power, led by their top OF prospect DJ Peters, whose 6’6” 240 lbs. w/ speed that’ll get the call in 2020. Dodgers latest international signing, Venezuela’s #1 Prospect, Luis Rodriguez. Dominican slugger Carlos Rincon should spend the season in AAA and put up 25+ HR’s…
Sorry pal, you must be a fan of the D-Backs or Padres, which obviously has been tough, and will only continue to be for many years to come. Andrew Friedman really is a genius and all of his work, right now, is being done in the Minors. The Dodgers are light years ahead of both of those teams in both the Big Leagues and now, the Farm, with so much depth of better-than-average players at every single position… I’m really in awe of what that management team is doing out West. And the real fruits of their labor have yet to come, which is scary.
Blabbering non sense. Hope u sobered up from last night.
My god. Chill man
If every prospect performed to his potential, then every team’s AAA team could beat major league teams.
But they won’t. That’s why they’re called prospects.
Wow they have like 65 good players but they’ll face some team in NLDS
Kershaw who will go 18-5 in regular season will get rocked and they’ll loose in 5 to the Mets or Reds
Sound familiar yea cause it happens almost every year when they choke
Not inclined to agree with you. Firstly, the DBacks are one of the teams that wouldn’t trade their 2B situation for Lux, as Marte is locked in an affordable deal buying out all of his Arb years, one of the most favorable contracts in MLB right now. Next, pretty much all of the DBacks top prospects play OF and are superior to the the Dodgers OF pipeline in almost every way (Robinson is the only one trumping Peters in power, but Thomas and Carroll put him to shame in hit, speed, and Fielding tools with some plate discipline). DBacks are better set up at SS for the future with Perdomo pushing his way up the ladder. At C, Kelly was better than Ruiz or Smith, so while they have more potential, they’ll have to show that they can put up more production than Kelly (who makes it possible to play Varsho at other positions, Varsho also capable of providing value as soon as 2020). Rios may have higher upside at 1B, but I’m pretty sure the DBacks are comfortable with having Walker there with Cron and Beer for depth. There’s not much to say about 3B, the Dodgers definitely have them beat there. I’ll admit that May is good, but it’s a stretch to say that anyone after him would contend for the Ace position on the DBacks or Padres staffs (Gallen showed real promise and Weaver did as well before is injury, Bumgarner isn’t bad as a #2/3 regardless.) I’d say the DBacks aren’t too worried after this season, and I’m not familiar enough with the Pads prospects, but I know they have a better collection than AZ, so they’re probably not too worried either.
Dearth being the opposite of what I think you mean, I do agree. They are a very talent laden organization at the present time.
And the Dodgers have won 0 titles. Been hearing the same old store for 3-4 years now.
They have probably the best run franchise in the MLB. To have that much talent on the roster and still have a great farm system.
While they do have great depth, OKC had a losing record in the PCL last year, so I don’t think they could win the NL West. And also, just FYI, dearth means scarcity. Maybe you were looking for “wealth” there?. They do have a lot of guys in backup roles that would likely be starters on other teams though. You could maybe argue that a team of their backups combined with minor leaguers could win the NL west although that’s still a stretch.
Haha good looking out. “Such a depth of talent”**
Surprised autocorrect put dearth, as I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in my life… It was also a bit of an exaggeration for sure, but after looking at their 40 Man, as well as some of the names coming up from A ball up through AAA, I was blown away they’ve been able to put together all of that talent; and kept it… They’ll be good for many years to come.
I go out to allot of Lake Elsinore Storm and Inland Empire 66ers games when the Angels are out of town and the last couple years the players on the Quakes have looked bigger and more advanced than what I’ve seen on the Storm or 66ers. I hate the cross town rival but got to say you’re pretty accurate with your assessment
Interesting take, especially being able to see their youngsters live. Really does seem like they have the best scouts in the game… Thanks for the input.
Only one of these is a lock
Indians were a lock in the AL Central before last season started. No such thing.
Yes there is, it is called the LA Dodgers. Even without the Betts trade, it would take one of the most injury ridden, badluck collapses in the history of baseball for the Dodgers not to win the NL West..
Every other NL West team is playing for a Wild Card spot, AT BEST!! Technically, anything is in fact possible, but I would bet every thing I own that the Dodgers will win the West by more than 10 games..
Their depth is absurd, and they’re consistently acquiring, developing, and debuting new talent each and every year, player after player.
Yes, it is in part due to their absurdly large budget, but just that alone doesn’t immediately lead to this kind of success. Right now, they have the best ran organization, top to bottom, in all of MLB. The Dodgers winning the NL West this year is a lock and a sure thing. I cannot even imagine a scenario they don’t win, and to even start to imagine one, such an amount of injuries and regression from their players is impossible…
Heck, even a team led by their backups and their #’s 3-7 starters would likely end up giving the D-Backs and the Padres a strong run…
The sheer amount of talent and depth they have put together is just flat out absurd, so in most cases I would agree. In this case, this isn’t just any normal team, the Dodgers are a well oiled machine that’s oozing talent at every position..The NL West is a done deal, end of story..
All first place again in 2020
Only dodgers are a lock. Cardinals and Braves actually could both finish 4th.
Braves won’t finish 4th, they’ll finish 1st. As usual.
Nah. Braves could finish 1-4 this year.. they aren’t a lock for anything
the mets will finish fourth, not the braves.
The Mets could finish 4th.. but so could the Nats Braves and Phillies. It’s ok I’ll know you’ll cry again when the stankees spend 300 mil for cole and don’t win a WS
Metsfan, you are right. I am sure you view the Braves as the favorites to win it, but no one should be surprised if the Mets, Nats or Phils win it. All four are good teams.
Yes Braves have to be favorites bc they just won back to back… but I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they finish 4th.. all are very close imo
I completely agree, and countless fans/analysts are sleeping on the Phillies. They are a solid team, just like the Nats, Braves, and the Mets. If the Mets have fixed their bullpen issues, then they’re a legitimate threat.
It is going to he a tough and tight race from the beginning to the end, and should be one of the best and most fun divisions to follow!!
I wish it would be over then the Brockstar will return!! But seriously, the RS need NIT trade for another hurt pitcher when it’s payment for Mookie n Price. They got taken in the Pom Pom trade but they didn’t give up a player like Mookie.. Bloom needs to be very careful or they will run him outta Boston. Please don’t trade for someone hurt without getting more compensation. As for the Dodgers vend, that guy has some off the field issues, which I can live with as long as the RS get another prospect…..from ANYONE!
*checking in on the Braves*
still terrible!
The Braves aren’t terrible. They have one hole in the rotation and ?? at 3B. Other than that, they’re solid.
not good enough to win the WS = terrible!
If that’s the same philosophy you have towards life, then good lord you must have one miserable existence..
I feel sorry for you..
They also have a hole at manager.
I think the East is the has been the toughest division the last couple years with one major flaw: The Marlins. However this year they have drastically improved and I think the rest of the league is still really strong. Phillies have improved a lot, Gnats still look really good even with Rendon gone, and even the Mets can be good. I just wish my Braves got JD. I think that’s the only link that’s causing me to say “well, our team didn’t exactly take a step forward….”. Bullpen is much improved, Ozuna can be good for us. Idk … hard to say we improved overall. Good division nonetheless
Last year, I thought the Braves and Nationals were very evenly matched. This year, both clubs made a lot of additions and both teams lost star third basemen. Perhaps, the progression made by Riley and Kieboom will go a long way in determining the fates of the two teams.
You doubt David Stearns at your own risk! (Although a real third baseman woulda been nice.)
If this is the Cardinals starting line up for the entire 2020 season, as mentioned above-highest paid players start, the Cardinals have a small chance as repeating as Central Division Champs.
Carpenter – 3rd Base
Fowler – RF
Goldschmidt- 1st Base
DeJong – SS
Wong – 2nd Base
Molina – C
O’Neal -LF
Bader -CF
If that’s the apparent starting Cardinal line up for 2020, look for records to be set in offensive strikeouts and defensive errors. Just my opinion.
That lineup is putrid.
The lineup looks bad but the defense would be solid. They were the best defensive team in the national league last year with that same roster, except oneill who is a better fielder than ozuna. Poor hitting and lots of strikeouts I agree, but you are way off on the defense
There is a zero percent chance that Tommy Edman is not a starter. You took out their most productive hitter after he was brought up just to make a point
I agree with you “Stan Lee”. However, those are the highest paid players on the Cards roster. In my opinion, that’s who the Front Office and more importantly, Bill DeWitt Jr. It was obvious, the second halves surge in wins was spark plugged by the appearance of Tommy Edmond on the scene!! But……for some reason, the Bosses still see miracles in a bottle out of O’Neal. Only highlights he’s showed so far to me has been decent defense, ability to hit home runs if he makes contact. That also comes with 150+ strikeouts and very few walks.
I hope Matt Carpenter can bounce back…
Really starting to feel like the Betts trade could be dead. When this happens, it is usually resolved within 24 hours. Seems like all sides are digging their heels in and won’t budge. With ST starting next week, rosters need to be solidified by now. It’s going to be really awkward for Price & Betts to have to report to Ft Myers for Red Sox spring training but it really could happen.
Also, Boston might be able to get more for Betts (alone) at the trade deadline. Look what Chapman got for the Yankees (4 players headlined by Torres). If a contending team needs a stud player in July, Boston will do quite well with the return. They just have to accept they will pay the CBT tax this season again.
Idk, I feel like Boston got some backlash from their fanbase, so now they’re just posturing trying to make it look like they held out for the best possible return…?? Maybe, idk..Just a thought, but if the Twins are offering another top 20 prospect, why not just agree to add said prospect and call it a day..??
Could Graterol’s physical really have been that troublesome??