J,J, Putz will be the new set-up man for K-Rod, and the question really is, does Putz have everything going well enough to be that man? He came off of surgery from 2007 and at times showed an inability to throw strikes. Simply because of the lack of rotation depth and bullpen help, I still see the Phillies winning the NL East thanks to Brad LIdge and that incredible bullpen. In the NL Central the Cubs will walk away with this one yet again, and to think they couldn’t get any better? It seems the Cubs are the only team still in the running for Peavy which would give the Cubs one of if not the best rotations 1-5 in baseball.
The NL West becomes the hard division to secure, I think it will come down to the Dodgers and the D-Backs. The Dodgers as of now do not have Manny coming back and even though they did sign Blake to a new 3-year deal, he didn’t fare to well post-All Star break for them.
To switch to the AL, I am taking the A’s in the West, simply look at that batting order 3-6 and with the possibility of adding Giambi, they could very well be next year’s Rays. In the Central I see the Twins winning it, partly because the White sox have lost quite a bit of talent through trades and free agency, the Royals still are missing that key player or two, the Tigers have some big time pitching problems and the Twins have all 5 starters returning, with Mauer, Morneau, Span, Go-Go Gomez and hopefully one more bat for these exciting Twins. In the AL East will go to the Rays, they have the pitching depth along with a good offense which seems it will only get better. The AL and NL wildcards will be the either the Angels or the Yankees, while the NL will be the Mets.
MLB Blog Writer: Brandon Walzer