NL East Standings Projections

Posted by Anthony Romano.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (100-62) 

MIAMI MARLINS (85-77)
ATLANTA BRAVES (83-79) 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (80-82) 

NEW YORK METS (75-87)

The Philadelphia Phillies have the best trio in the league when it comes to starting pitching. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels are in contention to win the CY Young award every year. In addition, they added World Series champ and established closer Jonathan Papelbon. But can these guys carry the Phillies back to the postseason? Chase Utley is still battling a knee injury and slugger Ryan Howard will start the season on the disabled list as he recovers from an achilles tear. As long as the pitching performs up to their standards, there is no question that the Phillies will be making noise deep into the postseason.

The Miami Marlins took a chance on oft-injured Jose Reyes by signing the shortstop to a 6 year deal worth over $100 million. If Reyes can stay healthy and Hanley Ramirez makes a smooth transition to 3rd base, while also staying healthy, this can be a sneaky Marlins team. With ace Josh Johnson expected to be at full strength at the start of the season and veteran Heath Bell closing out games, the Phillies better be watching their backs up until game 162.

The Atlanta Braves have no questions when it comes to their starting rotation and bullpen. Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens lead a young but established staff while Craig Kimbrel looks to repeat what was a career year in 2011 with the help of setup men Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty. The biggest issue for the Braves on offense is health. Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones, and Brian McCann must stay healthy for the braves to be able to compete. The Braves will not give up many leads after the 7th and 8th innings, but they need to build a lead in order to keep it.

The Washington Nationals revolve around one man, Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg only pitched 24 innings last year after recovering from Tommy John surgery. If those 24 innings are any indication, 2012 will be a scary year for opposing hitters. With newly acquired Gio Gonzalez coming from the Oakland Athletics and the bullpen being the strong point of the team, the Nationals look poised to make a statement in the NL east. The offense is the question mark and they are going to need a lot more production out of Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth if they want to make a statement.

The New York Mets have problems both offensively and in pitching. Outside of David Wright, there is not enough offense for this team to be dangerous. Johan Santana is a question mark heading into the season opener and there is no clear cut closer. The dimensions of Citi Field were made smaller, which may help the offense, but the Mets will need more than that if they are going to even think about being in contention in the tough NL east.