NL West Breakdown

[calsnowskier]

A quick breakdown of each team in the NL West (as of today)...


Giants

C - Posey
1B - Belt
2B - Panik
SS - Crawford
3B - Duffy
LF - Pagan / Blanco
CF - Span / Pagan
RF - Pence

SP - Bumgarner
SP - Cueto
SP - Samardzija
SP - Peavy
SP - Cain


Diamondbacks

C - Welington
1B - Goldschmidt
2B - Owings
SS - Ahmed
3B - Lamb
LF - Peralta
CF - Pollock
RF - Tomas

SP - Greinke
SP - Miller
SP - Corbin
SP - De La Rosa
SP - Anderson / Hellickson / Ray


Dodgers

C - Grandel
1B - Gonzalez
2B - Utkey / Hernandez
SS - Seager
3B - Turner
LF - Ethier / Van Slyke / Crawford
CF - Pederson
RF - Puig

SP - Kershaw
SP - Kazmir
SP - Maeda (?)
SP - Anderson
SP - McCarthy


Padres

C - Norris
1B - Myers
2B - Spangenberg / Solarte
SS - Amarista
3B - Middlebrooks
LF - ???
CF - Venable / Upton
RF - Kemp

SP - Ross
SP - Cashner
SP - Shields
SP - Morrow
SP - Rea


Rockies

C - Hundley
1B - Morneau
2B - LeMahieu
SS - Reyes
3B - Arenado
LF - Barnes / Dickerson
CF - Blackmond
RF - Gonzalez

SP - De La Rosa
SP - Kendrick
SP - Rusin
SP - Butler
SP - Hale / Flande / Lyles / Gray / Matzek

 

[calsnowskier]

Giants

Strengths - Top of the rotation, MLB-ready SP depth, infield, bullpen, BP depth
Weakness - infield bench, bottom of the rotation, OF
Outlook - Current favorite to win Championship (according to Vegas). Should be a serious contender to AT LEAST a WC spot.

Dodgers

Strengths - #1 SP, MLB-ready talent, SP depth, Closer
Weakness - #3-#5 SP (although they have LOTS of options), clubhouse, BP
Outlook - They had a rough off-season, but they were starting ahead of the competition. They should AT LEAST contend for a WC spot.

Diamondbacks

Strengths - Top of the rotation, defense, offense
Weakness - bottom of the rotation, bullpen
Outlook - Getting Greinke and Miller was HUGE. But the price they paid for both was high. They are all-in for 2016. They should AT LEAST compete for a WC spot.

Padres

Strengths - Um. Uh. Ross and Cashner?
Weakness - Front office, OF, Infield, SP, bullpen, ...
Outlook - This team is a mess. They dismantled the system last year to buy everyones expensive garbage. Now they need to sell everything just to try to get back pennies on the dollar, but the FO does not have the cache to be able to go into a full-rebuild mode. They will likely finish ahead of the Rox, but I would not be shocked if they earn the #1 pick in the '17 draft.

Rockies

Strengths - 3B, Coors Field
Weakness - Coors Field, pitching, Reyes' off-field distractions
Outlook - It really is hard for an outsider to gauge their lineup. Is LeMahieu a legit stud or a product of Denver? What about Blackmond? They MAY end up pushing for a 3rd place finish, but they might also compete for the #1 pick.

 

[SFGRTB]

The Padres added Alexei Ramirez at SS, and Jon Jay in CF. Middlebrooks was DFA'd and signed by the Brewers. Venable was traded last July. Morrow is a free agent. Drew Pomeranz is likely in the rotation. Solarte is likely at 3B.

The Rockies added Gerrardo Parra. Justin Morneau is a free agent. You could throw 4 random guys behind De La Rosa and you'd probably be right, but I'm pretty sure Kendrick is a free agent.

McCarthy won't be ready until May/June, likely Alex Wood/Ryu step into rotation.

 

[SFGRTB]

Giants

Strengths - Top of the rotation, MLB-ready SP depth, infield, bullpen, BP depth
Weakness - infield bench, bottom of the rotation, OF
Outlook - Current favorite to win Championship (according to Vegas). Should be a serious contender to AT LEAST a WC spot.

Dodgers

Strengths - #1 SP, MLB-ready talent, SP depth, Closer
Weakness - #3-#5 SP (although they have LOTS of options), clubhouse, BP
Outlook - They had a rough off-season, but they were starting ahead of the competition. They should AT LEAST contend for a WC spot.

Diamondbacks

Strengths - Top of the rotation, defense, offense
Weakness - bottom of the rotation, bullpen
Outlook - Getting Greinke and Miller was HUGE. But the price they paid for both was high. They are all-in for 2016. They should AT LEAST compete for a WC spot.

Padres

Strengths - Um. Uh. Ross and Cashner?
Weakness - Front office, OF, Infield, SP, bullpen, ...
Outlook - This team is a mess. They dismantled the system last year to buy everyones expensive garbage. Now they need to sell everything just to try to get back pennies on the dollar, but the FO does not have the cache to be able to go into a full-rebuild mode. They will likely finish ahead of the Rox, but I would not be shocked if they earn the #1 pick in the '17 draft.

Rockies

Strengths - 3B, Coors Field
Weakness - Coors Field, pitching, Reyes' off-field distractions
Outlook - It really is hard for an outsider to gauge their lineup. Is LeMahieu a legit stud or a product of Denver? What about Blackmond? They MAY end up pushing for a 3rd place finish, but they might also compete for the #1 pick.

I actually think the Padres will become more of the Padres of old. Their defense is much improved, but at the sacrifice of offense. That should help their pitching out immensely. They still don't have the talent they use to, especially in the bullpen. Should still be a bad team, but not the utter disaster of 2015.

 

[LHG]

The Padres added Alexei Ramirez at SS, and Jon Jay in CF. Middlebrooks was DFA'd and signed by the Brewers. Venable was traded last July. Morrow is a free agent. Drew Pomeranz is likely in the rotation. Solarte is likely at 3B.

The Rockies added Gerrardo Parra. Justin Morneau is a free agent. You could throw 4 random guys behind De La Rosa and you'd probably be right, but I'm pretty sure Kendrick is a free agent.

McCarthy won't be ready until May/June, likely Alex Wood/Ryu step into rotation.

Kendrick signed a minor league deal with the Braves.

 

[LHG]

A quick breakdown of each team in the NL West (as of today)...


Giants

C - Posey
1B - Belt
2B - Panik
SS - Crawford
3B - Duffy
LF - Pagan / Blanco
CF - Span / Pagan
RF - Pence

SP - Bumgarner
SP - Cueto
SP - Samardzija
SP - Peavy
SP - Cain


Diamondbacks

C - you mean Castillo?
1B - Goldschmidt
2B - Owings/Hill
SS - Ahmed
3B - Lamb
LF - Peralta
CF - Pollock
RF - Tomas

SP - Greinke
SP - Miller
SP - Corbin
SP - De La Rosa
SP - Anderson / Hellickson (traded to Phils) / Ray/Godley/Bradley


Dodgers

C - Grandel
1B - Gonzalez
2B - Utley / Hernandez
SS - Seager
3B - Turner
LF - Ethier / Van Slyke / Crawford
CF - Pederson/Crawford?
RF - Puig

SP - Kershaw
SP - Kazmir
SP - Maeda (?)
SP - Anderson
SP - McCarthy(out to July)/Wood


Padres

C - Norris
1B - Myers
2B - Spangenberg /Pirela
SS - Ramirez
3B - Solarte
LF - Wallace/Upton
CF - Jay
RF - Kemp

SP - Ross
SP - Cashner
SP - Shields
SP - Rea
SP - Despaigne/Villanueva/some Rule 5 draft pick


Rockies

C - Hundley
1B - Paulson/Reynolds
2B - LeMahieu
SS - Reyes
3B - Arenado
LF - Blackmon
CF - Parra
RF - Gonzalez

SP - De La Rosa
SP - Rusin
SP - Bettis
SP - Gray
SP - Hale / Matzek/whoever is invited to spring training

See my changes above.

 

[calsnowskier]

Just for the record...

I don't claim to be an expert of other teams.

Thanks for the assists, guys!

 

[LHG]

Just for the record...

I don't claim to be an expert of other teams.

Thanks for the assists, guys!

cal, you really going to let us out-nerd you?

 

[calsnowskier]

cal, you really going to let us out-nerd you?

It is like a dad letting his infant child win a race...

 

[SFGRTB]

Just for the record...

I don't claim to be an expert of other teams.

Thanks for the assists, guys!

At least you got one team right....

 

[calsnowskier]

If I got it all right, what kind of discussion would we have had?

Lectures put students to sleep. Excercizes energize them.

You all get an A for today's lesson.

 

[SFGRTB]

Overall, I think the NL West should be one of the tougher divisions. 3 probable contenders, and I think the Padres could possibly contend if things fall their way, and then the Rockies host one of the tougher road environments in baseball. I don't expect the Padres to contend, but I say they could because they look to shape up better than the bottom 5-6 NL teams and maybe some things could bounce their way.

I think the NL West vs. NL Central games should be pretty interesting this season. You could argue the 6 best NL teams come from those divisions. Looking forward to those battles.

 

[calsnowskier]

Overall, I think the NL West should be one of the tougher divisions. 3 probable contenders, and I think the Padres could possibly contend if things fall their way, and then the Rockies host one of the tougher road environments in baseball. I don't expect the Padres to contend, but I say they could because they look to shape up better than the bottom 5-6 NL teams and maybe some things could bounce their way.

I think the NL West vs. NL Central games should be pretty interesting this season. You could argue the 6 best NL teams come from those divisions. Looking forward to those battles.

I think the best the Pads or Rox can hope for us 3rd place. No way are 2 or 3 of the big-3 going to falter.

You may very well be right about the NLW and NLC. But the Mets and Nats are no jokes. Either COULD end up being the class of the NL.

 

[Mays-Fan]

Giants

Strengths - Top of the rotation, MLB-ready SP depth, infield, bullpen, BP depth
Weakness - infield bench, bottom of the rotation, OF
Outlook - Current favorite to win Championship (according to Vegas). Should be a serious contender to AT LEAST a WC spot.

Some friendly bones to pick with your assessments here:

"MLB-ready SP depth" - Heston, yes, although I'm concerned about his drop-off last year, and I hope he's not the next Ryan Sadowski. Re the others, I can say they aren't too well regarded in any of the ratings services, FWIW. Only Heston has any MLB experience.

I would add "overall defense" as a strength.

The weaknesses you listed are only on a basis relative to the rest of the team. Our OF is now quite good as long as we are healthy, compared to the rest of the league. The bottom of the rotation is quite good relative to the rest of the league, IMHO.

For a contender, a weakness of ours may be the lack of a dominating closer. Casilla/Romo are likely past their primes, and if they falter, I'm not sure we have anyone ready to step in as a closer. But I agree with the "depth" part. A real plus would be to see Ray Black have a great spring and contend for a major bullpen role.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

With Arizona, I'm curious to see how Tomas does. Looked good with the bat early, then the BABIP gods got their revenge and he just disappeared. Could be an adjustments thing where he will have his own adjustments and ready to of for 2016, but think RF is a ? mark, though imagine for now they feel good there.

 

[SFGRTB]

Some friendly bones to pick with your assessments here:

"MLB-ready SP depth" - Heston, yes, although I'm concerned about his drop-off last year, and I hope he's not the next Ryan Sadowski. Re the others, I can say they aren't too well regarded in any of the ratings services, FWIW. Only Heston has any MLB experience.

I would add "overall defense" as a strength.

The weaknesses you listed are only on a basis relative to the rest of the team. Our OF is now quite good as long as we are healthy, compared to the rest of the league. The bottom of the rotation is quite good relative to the rest of the league, IMHO.

For a contender, a weakness of ours may be the lack of a dominating closer. Casilla/Romo are likely past their primes, and if they falter, I'm not sure we have anyone ready to step in as a closer. But I agree with the "depth" part. A real plus would be to see Ray Black have a great spring and contend for a major bullpen role.

Clayton Blackburn and Adalberto Mejia are pretty widely regarded are MLB ready. 8 potential starters is great depth. Add in Vin Mazarro, who they just signed, and Mike Kickham, they have tons of options.

Team defense could be one of the best in MLB with Span aboard. Hopefully Pagan can transition to LF.

I agree that we don't have a dominant closer, but the Pen is deep in the majors and minors. We have a really good 6th inning guy, 7th inning guy, 8th inning guy and 9th inning guy. I'll take that over a dominant 9th inning guy (Yankees/Royals are a different story).

 

[SFGRTB]

With Arizona, I'm curious to see how Tomas does. Looked good with the bat early, then the BABIP gods got their revenge and he just disappeared. Could be an adjustments thing where he will have his own adjustments and ready to of for 2016, but think RF is a ? mark, though imagine for now they feel good there.

Yeah he'll be their wildcard. Their lineup can dominate with Pollock/Goldy/Peralta, but they need Tomas to be that $70M guy they paid for to forget about losing Inciarte.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Yeah he'll be their wildcard. Their lineup can dominate with Pollock/Goldy/Peralta, but they need Tomas to be that $70M guy they paid for to forget about losing Inciarte.

His power hasn't shown up, which is even weirder. Was profiled as lower average/big power guy and at his best, was hitting .300 with like 3-4 HR's.

 

[SFGRTB]

His power hasn't shown up, which is even weirder. Was profiled as lower average/big power guy and at his best, was hitting .300 with like 3-4 HR's.

Yup, then in the second half the average went away (expected), but the power never showed up. He has as much to prove as the D-Backs as a team have to prove that they're worth the investment.

 

[LHG]

Yup, then in the second half the average went away (expected), but the power never showed up. He has as much to prove as the D-Backs as a team have to prove that they're worth the investment.

No pressure there.