After the tough pill to swallow that is the Madison Bumgarner injury (more on that in this post), we have to tread forward and we're going to try and get our minds off it for a few minutes by continuing our season previews. Last week we started with the NL East and today we'll be dissecting the NL Central. Without further ado, let's get to it.
1st Place, Chicago Cubs
Lineup:CF Ian Happ (S)
3B Kris Bryant (R)
1B Anthony Rizzo (L)
C Wilson Contreras (R)
| MVP Candidate Kris Bryant |
SS Adison Russell (R)
RF Jason Heyward (L)
2B Javier Baez (R)
Key Reserves:
UT Ben Zobrist (S)
OF Albert Almora (R)
Rotation:
LHP Jon Lester
RHP Yu Darvish
RHP Kyle Hendricks
LHP Jose Quintana
RHP Tyler Chatwood
Key Relievers:
CL Brandon Morrow RH
SU Pedro Strop RH
The Cubs should skate to a relatively easy division tittle as they have the talent and experience others in this division do not, but they aren't quite the powerhouse they were a couple years ago. They were able to replace the loss of Jake Arrieta with Yu Darvish, which is essentially a wash, but they lost Wade Davis and are heading into the season with Brandon Morrow as their closer, a guy who's never closed on a regular basis. They have enough bullpen depth though to where they should be successful no matter who's getting their last three outs. The lineup should be just as strong as ever, although they are a little top heavy. As dangerous as Baez, Heyword and Russell can be, they also are guys who won't hit much higher than .250 and all three will strike out over 150 times if given 500+ at-bats. Still though, they have enough talent and depth in their rotation to be major players once again in National League and if any need arises in season, you can bet that they'll address it before the trade deadline as they have in recent seasons.
2nd Place, Milwaukee Brewers
Lineup:RF Christian Yelich (L)
CF Lorenzo Cain (R)
LF Ryan Braun (R)
3B Travis Shaw (L)
1B Eric Thames (L)
C Manny Pina (R)
| CF Lorenzo Cain |
SS Orlando Arcia (R)
Key Reserves:
OF Domingo Santana
OF Keon Broxton
UT Eric Sogard
Rotation:
RHP Chase Anderson
RHP Zach Davies
RHP Jhoulys Chacin
LHP Brent Suter
RHP Yovanni Gallardo
* RHP Jimmy Nelson expected back mid-season
Key Relievers:
CL Corey Knebel RHP
SU Josh Hader LHP
The Brewers have the most outfield depth in the game, as Broxton and Santana would be starters on most teams yet will begin the year, at least, as backups. Due to that fact, it's a little surprising they went after both Yelich and Cain this winter, but they ended up with both and now have a very imposing front-5 of their batting order. Their rotation isn't great, but it's solid, and they will be getting last years ace, Jimmy Nelson, back sometime around mid-season which will essentially be like trading for a front of the rotation starter without giving up anything. They have the proven closer, but their bullpen has a lot of young arms, but they are live arms and seem to be up to the task. The Brew crew should very much be in the wild card hunt and in my opinion have more talent than the Cardinals. They gave the Cubs a late season push there in the Central last September and I think they'll again be on the Cubbies heels in 2018, although not quite at the point to overtake them atop this division.
3rd Place, St. Louis Cardinals
Lineup:CF Dexter Fowler (S)
RF Tommy Pham (R)
1B Matt Carperntar (L)
LF Marcell Ozuna (R)
3B Jedd Gyorko (R)
C Yadier Molina (R)
SS Paul Dejong (R)
2B Kolton Wong (L)
Key Reserves:
OF Tyler O'Neill (R)
UT Jose Martinez (R)
Rotation:
| Ace Carlos Martinez |
RHP Adam Wainwright
RHP Michael Wacha
RHP Luke Weaver
RHP Mike Mikolas
Key Relievers:
RHP Luke Gregorson
RHP Bud Norris
The Cardinals are definitely a flawed team. While they will run out a decent everyday lineup, their rotation isn't great, but it isn't bad. Their bullpen though, has as many question marks as any bullpen in the game. They have no set closer and will likely use a few people in the role until they find someone who sticks out and is their best option. Luke Gregorson seems to be the most logical fit but has some injury issues heading into the season. I see them as the epitome of a .500 team. Certainly some talent there but not a lot of depth in any area of their roster. For instance, if Carlos Martinez goes down, they're about as worse off as the Giants are without Bumgarner, and they really can't afford to lose any of the veterans in that lineup for any length of time. If some of their younger players breakout though, and their bullpen rounds into form, they could be in the hunt for a wild card spot, but it would take a lot in Chicago to go wrong and even Milwaukee, as well as a lot in St. Louis to go right in order for them to even think about taking the division.
4th Place Cincinnati Reds
Lineup:CF Billy Hamilton (R)
| All-Star Joey Votto |
1B Joey Votto (L)
2B Scooter Gennett (L)
3B Eugenio Suarez (R)
LF Adam Duvall (R)
RF Travis Schebier (L)
C Tucker Branhardt (S)
Key Reserves:
C Devin Mosoraco (R)
OF Jesse Winkley (L)
Rotation
RHP Homer Bailey
RHP Anthony DeSclafani
RHP Luis Castillo
LHP Brandon Finnegan
RHP Sal Romero
Key Relievers:
CL Raisel Inglesias RHP
SU Michael Lorenzan RHP
The Reds are still rebuilding, and have a lot of young players composing their 25-man roster. However, with a lot of youth comes a lot of potential, and the potential is there for the Reds to surprise some people in 2018. I still think there a few notches below the Cardinals heading in, but growth in the rotation and bullpen could help eliminate that space. We all know they can hit and will score plenty of runs, it's them keeping the other team off the board is what the real challenge will be. They're still a year or two away I think from really being competitive though, and will likely use 2018 as hopefully their last stepping stone before being competitive once again. I really like young closer Raisel Inglesias but they have too many unproven guys or question marks in the rotation and bullpen still. Again though, they're young, so if things click, they could be decent, but if they don't, they also could be very bad.
5th Place, Pittsburgh Pirates
Lineup:2B Josh Harrison (R)
| 1B Josh Bell |
1B Josh Bell (S)
RF Gregory Polanco (L)
3B David Freese (R)
LF Jose Osuna (R)
C Francisco Cervelli (R)
SS Jordy Mercer (R)
Key Reserves:
IF Colin Moran (L)
UT Adam Frazier (L)
Rotation:
RHP Jameson Taillon
RHP Ivan Nova
RHP Chad Kuhl
RHP Trevor Williams
RHP Joe Musgrove
Key Relievers:
CL Felipe Rivero LHP
SU Daniel Hudson RHP
Unlike the two teams ahead of them, the Pirates are in their first full year of rebuild mode, dealing away their two most valuable assets this offseason, sending Gerrit Cole to Houston and Andrew McCutchen to the Giants. Needless to say, they are left without a lot of recognizable names, although they certainly have some young bright spots on their roster already, led by closer Felipe Rivero. Their rotation is full of unproven guys and led by someone who's a back-end starter on most squads, although like with any young team, there's a lot of room for growth. The Pirates aren't contenders though and it's likely going to be a few years before they are back in the mix.
This post first appeared on The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants B, please read the originial post: here
