NL East Preview

With Football season officially in the books, and Brady adding yet another Lombardi Trophy to his collection (surprise surprise), it’s finally time to look towards the upcoming MLB season. With no shortage of offseason moves being made this Winter, what better place to start than the NL East. Let’s take a look at how the team’s stack up heading into the 2021 season:

Atlanta Braves

There is no secret to the Braves success. Their farm system has managed to develop multiple perennial MVP candidates in Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr. Not to mention players like Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, and Ian Anderson to name a few, all of whom have shown the ability to produce at the big league level. The Braves were one of the favorites heading into last year’s playoffs, finishing first in the division with a 35-25 record, however, their World Series hopes got cut short after a 7 game NLCS against the eventual champion LA Dodgers.

In 2021 the Braves will look to build off of last year’ heartbreak. Their young core now has much needed playoff experience and they’ve made some big moves in free agency. They brought back Marcell Ozuna who after a shaky couple years in St. Louis had a huge resurgence in Atlanta last season batting .338 with 18 HRs and 56 RBI’s both of which were the best on the team. Pair that with the addition of Charlie Morton, who has been dominating big playoff games the past few years, and he immediately improves a pitching staff that was already on the rise. Slot him at the front of the rotation with Max Fried who was 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA last year and 22 year old Ian Anderson who finished 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA and the Braves look to be heading in to yet another season as the top contenders coming out of the NL East.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins outperformed expectations last season finishing with a 31-29 record which was good for second in the division. While they may not tote the same star power as the other teams in this division, their young core stepped up in a big way last year. Brian Anderson in particular emerged as one of the more productive 3rd baseman in all of baseball finishing in the top 10 for league ranks in runs, hits, home runs, rbi’s, and batting average. Last season also brought the long awaited debut of the young flamethrower Sixto Sanchez who was acquired a couple years back in the JT Realumuto deal. The 21 year old punched out 33 batters in 39 innings of work en route to a 3-2 record and a 3.46 ERA for the season. Not the most eye popping stat line, however, tac on a complete game, then consider that this was his first taste of MLB competition and the future is certainly looking bright for who the Marlins hope can become their future ace.

So what does 2021 look like for the Marlins? Despite them showing signs of interest, the team declined Brandon Kintzler’s club option for this upcoming season and the 36 year old has begun drawing interest from other teams though he still remains a FA for the time being. This poses serious questions for the club as no other player recorded more than 3 saves for the team last season. So not only is the back end of the bullpen now in question, but there are still plenty of concerns regarding their infield, particularly at first base. Currently listed on the depth chart are Jesus Aguilar, Garrett Cooper, and Lewin Diaz. Aguilar and Cooper split time last year between first base and the DH spot and both managed to be fairly productive. Aguilar batted .277 and was second on the team with 34 RBI’s, while Cooper hit .283 with 20 RBI’s. However, the franchise see’s a lot of potential in Diaz who at only 23 years old got his saw his first big league action with 39 at bats last year. Many have speculated that the team may look to move one of the three this year, especially if the universal DH rule is no longer in play. Regardless, it will be interesting to see if the team can sustain the success they saw last year for a full length season while keeping a close eye on the progression of some of their young talent.

Washington Nationals

As the Nationals proved to us in 2019 though, stats and projections aren’t everything. Fresh off a World Series title, the Nats finished dead last in the division last year with a record of 26-34. It’s easy to see that and think that the magic may be gone, but take a look back at that 2019 season. In late May, the team was 12 games under .500 and 10 games out of first place before going on a 28-11 run heading into the All-Star break and they never looked back. So it’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back now with a full season again.

The Nats haven’t made many moves this offseason as their core is locked down for the most part. Their pitching staff is as dominant as ever still anchored by Max Scherzer, they’ll be getting the 2019 WS MVP Stephen Strasburg back after missing most of last year, not to mention Patrick Corbin who will be looking to live up to the big contract he got heading into last year. Their offense will continue to build around their young all-stars in Trea Turner and Juan Soto who are both coming off of monster years at the plate. Turner hit .335 with 41 RBI’s, Soto hit .351 with 37 RBI’s. With that in mind, the few moves the Nats did make in free agency this offseason appear to have bolstered what was already a strong team. They dramatically improved their bullpen by signing Brad Hand who had 16 saves and a 2.05 ERA last year, along with Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber, who despite having somewhat down years last season will both add a lot of pop to that lineup. If the Nats can stay healthy, they are yet another team in this division poised to make a run at the playoffs.

New York Mets

One of the biggest storylines this offseason was the blockbuster trade that sent Francisco Lindor to New York, and no not the Yankees like most expected, but instead the Mets. The team, now under new ownership, were linked to just about every big name free agent this offseason, including last year’s NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer before he eventually ended up signing with LA. The Mets finished last year tied with Washington for the worst record in the division at 26-34 so they’ll be counting on their newly acquired players to step in and make an immediate impact.

While Lindor was the biggest name acquisition, he was far from the only addition for the Mets this offseason. In fact, Carlos Carrasco came over in the very same trade, and when you add him to a staff that already includes Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and eventually Noah Syndergaard again, that’s a nice looking starting rotation. But starters are only part of the game, which is why the Mets also went out and signed Trevor May to add some depth to a fairly inconsistent bullpen. May did a little of everything for the Twins last year appearing in 24 games, he ate up 23.1 innings while punching out 38 en route to a 3.86 ERA that also saw him notch a couple of saves as well as a win. With an improved pitching staff, the attention shifts to the offense. New York knows they have a star on the rise with Pete Alonso, but a few other players have also stepped up as well in the past few years. With players like Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, JD Davis, and Brandon Nimmo all proving to be valuable contributors at the big league level, add Lindor to the heart of that lineup and suddenly the Mets are as well rounded a team as they have been since they went to the World Series back in 2015. As always health will be something to keep an eye on for this team but if they’re fully healthy, they certainly have the potential to make some noise in the NL East this year.

Philadelphia Phillies

It took longer than most fans would have liked, but the Phillies got the band back together this offseason. They re-signed arguably the best catcher in the league JT Realmuto as well as Didi Gregorious who not only led the team with 40 RBI’s last year, but also finished with the second highest batting avg. on the team at .284 behind rookie Alec Bohm at .338. The 23 year old NL Rookie of the Year runner up played in 44 games last year leading the team with 11 doubles along with a few clutch moments along the way. The team finished third in the division last year at 28-32 despite a historically bad bullpen that finished at the top of the league for combined ERA and blown saves, which is why they also went out and signed Archie Bradley to a one year deal. The 28 year old picked up a couple of wins along with 6 saves out of the bullpen while finishing with a combined ERA of 2.95 as he was traded from Arizona to Cincinnati in late August. The team also acquired a much needed left handed arm in Jose Alvarado from a three team deal with the Rays and Dodgers.

Pitching will be key for the Phillies in 2021. The bullpen concerns are obvious, but the starting rotation has some holes of its own. Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler were great for Philadelphia last year, both tied for the team lead with 71.0 innings pitched. Nola finished 5-5 with a 3.28 ERA and 90 k’s, Wheeler finished 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA. Those two will undoubtedly be expected to lead the way for the team this year, but after that, there is some cause for concern. Zac Eflin seemed to take a step forward last year but we’ve yet to see him stay consistent for a full season. Spencer Howard showed some promise in 6 starts but still has some adjusting to do at the major league level. From there you’re looking at Vince Velasquez and Matt Moore who haven’t been the most productive. Luckily, despite a tough year for Cutch and Scott Kingerey still not finding his swing the offense still looked strong in 2020 which Joe Girardi and the team will undoubtedly look to build off of in their first full length season together.

Written by: Jonathan Abbott