A Breakdown Of The National League 2008 Baseball Season

What I plan to do here, so long as my power doesn't blow out which has been happening a lot in this area lately, is to go through each team in order of how I think they'll finish in their division and highlight some of their key players. Now onto the National League.......

NL East

1. New York Mets - It was very tough deciding between whether I should put the Mets or Phillies in first place, especially after what happened last season. Though I think the Phillies squad is more reliable than the Mets' batters, I have to give it to the Mets because of that unbelivable piutching rotation of Santana, Martinez (if healthy), Maine, Perez, and Hernandez. Also, Wagner is still an excellent closer. However, though I pick the Mets to go to the World Series this year against the Tigers, they have the same problem as the Tigers. That is, their roster is filled with old players who either get hurt (Alou, Beltran, Martinez) or forget how to bat by the end of the season (Delgado).

2. Philadelphia Phillies - Again, it was tough to list the Mets as first and the Phillies as second and I admit you can make an argument to flip this around. Hamels, Myers, and Moyer are OK pitchers, but don't equal up to the Mets' pitchers. The acquisition of Lidge was a bad move because he isn't a great closer anymore. However, where the Phillies shine is in their big, scary bats of Howard, Burrell, Utley, Jenkins, and Victorino.

3. Atlanta Braves - My favorite team, the Braves, are now just a team of their past. I thought they were bad last year, well, they'll be worse this year with the loss of Andruw Jones and the acquisition of Tom Glavine, who is old, terrible, and led the Mets to their final defeat of the year last year. Again, like the Phillies, the Braves pitching rotation of Smoltz, Hudson, Glavine, and James are very good in their own right, in fact they are better than the Phillies' starting pitchers, but can't equal the Mets. However, the Braves' bullpen is just atrocious and a major reason why they lose. Their batting is still very good though, highlighted by Jones, Teixeira, McCann, Francoeur, and Johnson.

4. Florida Marlins - Like deciding whether I wanted to put the Mets or Phillies at first, I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to put the Marlins or Nationals in last. The Marlins starting rotation isn't worth mentioning nor is their bullpen spectacular. However, I like their hitting better than the Nationals, with Uggla, McPherson, Hermida, and Jacobs as highlights.

5. Washington Nationals - Their starting pitching isn't memorable and their bullpen is even worse, except for Chad Cordero. They have some decent hitting (Mo Pena, Milledge, and Kearns), but nothing amazing to speak of. The Marlins and Nationals are solely meant for teams like the Mets, Phillies, and even Braves to beat up on.

NL Central (Probably the toughest division)

1. St. Louis Cardinals - Their staring pitching (Wainwright, Looper, Mulder, Reyes) are mediocore, but Isringhausen is still a reliable closer. Their hitting is very powerful in the big bats of Pujols, Duncan, Glaus, and Ankiel. I believe the Cards will be back in first this year.

2. Chicago Cubs - Zambrano, Hill, Lilly, and Marquis make for a solid rotation, though their bullpen isn't all that great. Still they have the best leadoff hitter in baseball (Soriano) and the scary bats of Ramirez and Lee.

3. Houston Astros - The addition of Tejada is lovely, but still won't save this team. Oswalt and Backe are very good starting pitchers and Villarreal and Valverde are excellent in their bullpen, but their hitting is still poor, only highlighted by Tejada and Berkman.

4. Milwaukee Brewers - Eh. Sheets and Suppan are good starters, but that's about it. Gagne and Turnbow aren't reliable in the bullpen anymore and once you pitch around Fielder all the other batters are just so-so.

5. Cincinnati Reds - This team is very unpredictable, but I predict they'll do bad. Harang is their only good starter, but Cordero can save them in the bullpen. Their hitting is either old or inconsistent, but I would still highlight Griffey Jr., Dunn, Phillips, and Encarnacion has reliable hitters.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates - This team may surprise people, but I can't see it happening. I mean, Snell and Duke are young starting pitchers just waiting to break out, but they consistently are bad. Their bullpen is a bunch of bull. However, their hitting is at least mediocre, highlighted by LaRoche, Bay, Nady, and McLouth.

NL West (Another Tough Division)

1. Los Angeles Dodgers - All the work the Dodgers have put into this team should pay off. If the Mets don't go to the World Series, this team would be my next choice to represent the National League. Penny, Lowe, and Schmidt are still excellent starters, as is Saito in their bullpen. Their hitting is an excellent mix of pesky speed (Furcal, Pierre) and very good hitting (Kent, Garciaparra, Martin, Jones). Oh, and they got one of the best managers in baseball, Joe Torre. Man, the Yankees and their fans are harsh. Do they forget what how much good Torre did for the Yankees?

2. San Diego Padres - If any team in this division is going to give the Dodgers trouble, it would be the Padres. Peavy, Maddux, and Wolf can put up a fight with the Dodgers' pitching and Hoffman is still one of the best closers in baseball. Barrett, Greene, Giles, and Edmonds are their standout hitters, but their other batters are decent as well.

3. Colorado Rockies - Was last season a fluke? It had to be. Looking at this team I don't see what the big deal is. Francis is a great starter, but that's about it. Their bullpen (Fuentes, Vizcaino, Corpas) is actually pretty good and their batters (Holliday, Atkins, Helton, Torrealba, Hawpe) I'm sure are better known now after last season. Still, we won't see a repeat performance.

4. Arizona Diamondbacks - Again, the starting pitching (Webb, Haren, Owings) is very good and can face other pitching rotations. However, I can not say the same for the Diamondbacks' bullpen or hitting, with honorable mention to Drew and Byrnes.

5. San Fransisco Giants - The Barry Bonds controversy should be the least of this team's worries. Their starters are terrible with the exception of Lowry. Their bullpen is...well there isn't one. As far as hitting, Molina, Rowand, and Winn make this team look like an MLB team.

Major Transactions Happening In The MLB

In the middle of the football playoffs, people such as myself tend to forget that other sports exist. Still, major trades and acquisitions have been occurring in recent weeks in the MLB:

The St. Louis Cardinals have reached agreement on a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays that will send third baseman Scott Rolen to the Blue Jays for third baseman Troy Glaus, several major league sources said.

The deal is contingent upon the two players passing physical exams Monday, sources said.

According to a source with knowledge of the trade, the Cardinals only signed off on the deal after Glaus agreed to exercise his $11.25 million option for 2009. St. Louis management didn't want to give up three years of Rolen for only one year of Glaus, so Glaus had to commit to the option year as part of the deal.

Both players were also required to waive no-trade clauses.

A source told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that Toronto will be responsible for the three years and $33 million left on Rolen's contract, while St. Louis will assume the $24.5 million owed Glaus through 2009. Since no cash is involved in the trade, it appears that no approval from commissioner Bud Selig's office is required.

Rolen, 32, is a career .283 hitter and seven-time Gold Glove winner with Philadelphia and St. Louis. Only Brooks Robinson, with 16 Gold Gloves, and Mike Schmidt, with 10, have won the award more often at third base.

Rolen has struggled with shoulder problems the last two seasons, and had a well-publicized falling out with manager Tony La Russa that set trade talks in motion.

Glaus, 31, has 277 career homers in 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks and Blue Jays. He hit 20 homers and drove in 62 runs in 115 games with Toronto last season before undergoing surgery in September to repair a nerve problem in his left foot.

I love this trade because I'm a big Troy Glaus fan even though he has been slacking in the numbers lately. Here's some simple math: Albert Pujols + Troy Glaus = Major Power.

Also in the MLB (and this saddens me as an Atlanta Braves Fan), the Atlanta Braves have reached a preliminary agreement to acquire center fielder Mark Kotsay from the Oakland Athletics, filling the hole created by the departure of Andruw Jones. The deal will be finalized once Kotsay passes a physical for Atlanta, where he is expected to fly to on Sunday, and assuming the commissioner's office approves the cash negotiated to be exchanged in the deal, sources say.

In return for Kotsay, the Braves are trading pitcher Joey Devine, and Oakland will assume $5.325 million of the $7.325 million owed to the center fielder for this year.

Kotsay, 32, played in 56 games in 2007 after having back surgery, hitting .214 with 15 extra-bases hits in 206 at-bats. In 2005, before Kotsay began having serious back trouble, he batted .280, with 51 extra-base hits and a .325 on-base percentage.

He has rated highly as a center fielder, and the Braves are trying to find a temporary center fielder for at least the start of the 2008 season, or until they deem top-prospect Jordan Schaefer ready to take over the position permanently. Even still, c'mon, Mark Kotsay? Is that the best the Braves can do to replace the almighty powerful Andruw Jones? Now you know this team is trying to rebuild.

Jeff Kent Is In Favor Of Blood Testing

Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent told The Los Angeles Times on Thursday that Major League Baseball players should undergo blood testing to detect whether they are using banned substances, particularly human growth hormone.

Kent, praised in the Mitchell report for telling reporters in September that "Major League Baseball is trying to investigate the past so they can fix the future," is among the first players to suggest using blood tests. The Major League Baseball Players Association has been against it, citing unreliability.

In September, USA Today reported that MLB was eyeing the development of a mass-use blood test for HGH and would push to have it implemented for the 2008 season if a reliable test was available.

"If there is a valid blood test, I'm sure baseball will consider it," MLB spokesman Rich Levin told USA Today in September. Adding a blood test would be subject to collective bargaining between MLB and the players' union.

"I'd like to see every player take a blood test and have the samples frozen," Kent told The Times. "Not everyone in the game is using HGH, but I would bet it still is being abused.

"Why not have blood tests? If ultimately you want a clean game, then it needs to happen.

"They ought to be testing for drugs in the playoffs, too. They [MLB] never do that."

I feel like players such as Jeff Kent are delighted that big name all-stars are getting busted for steroids. It gives the lesser known players (possibly Jeff Kent for example) a chance to rise up. Of course players like Jeff Kent would throw his two cents in about steroid users. He will never become as great as the power hitters in baseball, but speaking out against steroids gives him a chance to throw his name out there and look good to the public. I mean, c'mon. Jeff Kent? Who is he anymore? That's a random player to speak out.

Jim Leyritz Started A Career In Something Other Than Sports

And that career is alcoholism...and it always has negative results....

Former Major League Baseball player Jim Leyritz was arrested Friday on charges of driving under the influence and killing another driver after his vehicle crashed into hers.

Leyritz, who turned 44 on Thursday, faces charges of DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage, said Detective Kathy Collins, Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman.

Leyritz

He posted the $11,000 bond and was released from the Broward County jail at 2:35 p.m. on Friday, according to Keyla Concepcion, a public information officer for the Broward Sheriff's Office.

It could not be determined whether Leyritz had an attorney.

Fort Lauderdale authorities got a call at 3:20 a.m. that a crash had occurred in the city's entertainment district, Collins said.

She said Leyritz was driving a 2006 Ford Expedition when he collided at an intersection with a 30-year-old woman driving a 2000 Mitsubishi. The woman was ejected from the car. She was critically injured and transported to the Broward General Medical Center, where she died, Collins said. Her identity was not immediately released.

Witnesses told police Leyritz, who lives in Plantation, Fla., had a red light.

Police believe alcohol was involved in the crash, though investigators are waiting for the results of blood alcohol tests, Collins said.

Leyritz refused a breathalyzer test, police said, according to Miami TV station WPLG, which first reported the story.

Leyritz bounced from team to team over his career, which ended in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he built a reputation as a clutch postseason hitter.

With the New York Yankees trailing the Atlanta Braves 2-1 in the 1996 World Series, Leyritz hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to tie Game 4 at Atlanta. New York won the game and the series, starting a run of four championships in five seasons.

He played an even bigger role for the San Diego Padres in their run to the 1998 World Series, hitting four homers and driving in nine runs in series wins over the Houston Astros in the NLDS and the Braves in the NLCS.

During the 2007 season, Leyritz traveled with the Yankees as a beat reporter for 1050 ESPN New York.

Leyritz, who signed with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1985, played 11 seasons in the major leagues for six teams including the Yankees, Angels, Rangers, Red Sox, Padres and Dodgers. He was a career .264 hitter with 90 home runs and 387 RBIs in 903 career games, primarily as a catcher and infielder.

Andruw Jones Signs A 2-Year Deal With The Dodgers

The Gold Glove center fielder Andruw Jones and the Dodgers reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday night on a $36.2 million, two-year contract that gives him the fifth-highest average salary in the major leagues. He will be playing under Joe Torre, who recently became the Dodgers manager.

Jones' $18.1 million average salary trails only those of the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million), Boston's Manny Ramirez ($20 million), the Yankees' Derek Jeter ($18.9 million), and the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano ($18.3 million).

Adding Jones was the first major move for Los Angeles since Torre replaced Grady Little as manager on Nov. 1. Jones will get a chance to work with Don Mattingly, who followed Torre to the Dodgers and became hitting coach.

Jones, the former Atlanta star who has won 10 straight Gold Gloves, is coming off one of the worst offensive seasons of his career. But if he rebounds, he could give the Dodgers a desperately needed boost in the middle of the lineup. They desperately need power hitting - someone to hit the long ball and drive in multiple runs - and they think Jones can rebound and be the man to do it.

Andruw Jones is still one of the best defensive center fielders in the game, and up until 2007 -- when he allegedly played with a hyper-extended elbow -- was good for an OBP near .350 and 30-40 homers every year. He's also about to turn 31, so he's still in or close to his prime as a hitter. Jones is a .263 career hitter with 368 home runs and 1,117 RBIs.

Torre Shows Humor in Press Conference

Here is the article from MLB.com's Ken Gurnick:

Brooklyn-born Joe Torre was introduced as the new Dodgers manager in a center-field press conference Monday morning at Dodger Stadium.

"Being from Brooklyn, I'd better get this out," Torre said in his opening remarks. "We had the Dodgers, the Giants and the Yankees. We were pretty spoiled in the East. I managed the Yankees and now I get to manage the Dodgers and I was a Giants fan. I want to apologize for that right now."

Torre, who replaces Grady Little -- who resigned last week after his second season -- was accompanied by his wife, Ali, and Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt as they strolled across the field to meet the media.

"When I think of the Dodgers, I think of efficiency, I think of pride, I think of a measuring stick," Torre said. "You always measured yourself against the Dodgers, because they always did everything right."

Joe Torre Offically Agrees to Manage Dodgers

Here is ESPN.com with the story about Joe Torre's new home:

Joe Torre was hired Thursday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers, taking the job two weeks after walking away from the New York Yankees.

Torre's contract is for three years and slightly more than $13 million, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports, citing a baseball official who has seen the deal.

Torre moved from one storied franchise to another, taking over a team that finished fourth in the NL West this season and last won the World Series in 1988.

"Joe Torre is one of the most respected men in the game of baseball," said Dodger owner and chairman Frank McCourt. "As a player, a broadcaster, a manager and in his life off the field, Joe is a winner through and through. As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles, we will again have a Hall of Fame caliber manager at the helm. Joe's dedication, desire and ability will help lead the Dodgers to our ultimate goal -- a world championship."