| Douglas Benton. 31st March, 2007 - 12:32 pm
 The National League West has seen a revolving door of division winners in recent seasons. Since 2002, every team but the Colorado Rockies have finished first with the San Diego Padres being the only team to win the division more than once. This creates great excitement in a division race with an inordinate amount of possibilities for the final standings in 2007.
Here are the projected finishes:
1. San Francisco Giants:
Two moves this off-season put the Giants squarely in the picture for winning the division. The signing of pitcher Barry Zito and bringing in Bruce Bochy to be their manager are the two vital moves. They did lose long-time staff ace Jason Schmidt, but Zito pairing with young phenom Matt Cain create a great top of the rotation with Matt Morris and Noah Lowry filling out the bottom half. This pitching prowess will set up their offense to be able to win games late with timely hits.
Outfielder Barry Bonds is in his final years, but he still has the respect of all pitchers and with shortstop Omar Vizquel in front of him and third baseman Pedro Feliz, who is ready for a breakout season, behind him, the Giants are ready to make it back to the playoffs. With so many veterans on the roster, the chance of breaking down is higher than most, but it is their experience that will carry the Giants to their first division title since 2003.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers:
The Dodgers might be the most talented team in the division on paper, especially in the rotation after the signing of Jason Schmidt. He will team with four other really qualities arms, like Derek Lowe and the prize of the rotation in Chad Billingsley.
Offensively, they also have a good amount of talent, but they do have a few more questions with second baseman Jeff Kent, first baseman Nomar Garciaparra and outfielder Juan Pierre. However, it is the younger hitters who will decide how far the Dodgers go this year and two of the bigger names in this discussion are catcher Russell Martin and third baseman Wilson Betemit. I think both players will continue their development, but it won?t be enough to get the Dodgers the division title or to pull out the wild card in 2007.
3. Arizona Diamondbacks:
The Diamondbacks are scary young and this youth can either be their greatest gift or a playoff hindrance. The line-up will be paced by the ?Baby Backs? like shortstop Stephen Drew, first baseman Conor Jackson and outfielders Carlos Quentin and Chris Young. All of these players have shown flashes of brilliance in the minor leagues and spot duty in the majors, but it will be interesting to see how they do over the course of a full season.
The rotation though could be the answer as to how far they go this season. After ace Brandon Webb, there are big questions in Randy Johnson and his health and Livan Hernandez and his conditioning. If both of these pitchers can stay healthy and be productive, the Diamondbacks will surprise many of people in baseball. If not, 2007 will just be another year in their precisely constructed rebuilding plan.
4. San Diego Padres:
The Padres have scrapped by the past few seasons and they will have to do much of the same in 2007. They looked poised to be a dominant pitching staff with starters Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux and Chris Young, a very good young pitcher, and all of these pitchers will be working to get the ball to closer Trevor Hoffman.
It is the offense though that will hamper this team because they will be terrible scoring runs. Outfielder Brian Giles and second baseman Marcus Giles, as well as first baseman Adrian Gonzalez give the Padres some pieces to work with, but it won?t be enough and the Padres can expect to struggle in the first year under new manager Bud Black.
5. Colorado Rockies:
This franchise dodged a major bullet by holding onto first baseman Todd Helton as they look to turn the corner as an organization. Helton teams with outfielder Matt Holliday and newly-acquired outfielder Willy Taveras to create an above average offensive attack.
While the offense is not mid-1990s good, they are still good enough to compete if their pitching staff can hold down opponents with any consistency. The Rockies have done a good job of developing pitching, but they have a ways to go in this department. Pitcher Jeff Francis appears to be a future star and Taylor Buchholz could be the surprise member of the rotation. They also have a top closer in lefty Brian Fuentes who will make sure the Rockies win the close games this season. It won?t be enough though as the Rockies are in a very tough division and appear ready for another last place finish this season.
Douglas Benton can be reached at Douglas.Benton@RealGM.com |
