NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks –

Season Outlook – Welcome to the best division in the National League Well, except for the D-Backs that is. Arizona was supposed to be a team of the future about three years ago. Guess what Arizona? The future is here, and your team still sucks. I will forever be grateful to the Diamondbacks for knocking the Cubs out of the 2007 playoffs, but I can’t say much good about this team. The starting pitching is abysmal. Ian Kennedy is the ace of the staff. Wow. The infield is not very good outside of Stephen Drew and Kelly Johnson, who are both good but not great. The outfield shows promise, but Justin Upton is still trying to really live up to his potential, Chris Young can be real good, but just never is, and Xavier Nady is on his 35th team in 5 years, and is still Xavier Nady. Not going to be a good season in the desert.

Pros – Upton, Drew, the hot tub

Cons – Pitching, hitting, Eric Byrnes once played there and he is annoying

MVP – Justin Upton. Upton is the guy this franchise has put all of its hopes on. He needs to be the stud they thought he was.

MIP – Ian Kennedy. He is the number one starter. I guess.

X – Chris Young. Young can be a very good center fielder, and some people keep holding out hope he will put it together, if he does, then Young and Upton is a nice core of outfielders. If he doesn’t, he may run out of time to figure it out.

Best Thing – The best thing about the D-Backs is the hot tub in the outfield. I would like to watch a game from there.

2010 Record – 65-97

2011 Prediction – 63-99

Colorado Rockies –

Season Outlook – Usually the Rockies come out of nowhere every few years and go on a 15 game winning streak to be put in the same breath as the other playoff contenders. This isn’t the year. I like the Rockies in 2011, but the rest of the NL West will have too good of pitching for this lineup to win that many games. Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki are both possibly the best player at their respective positions. Yes, I think that highly of Gonzalez. I saw him play in Cincinnati and Philadelphia last year, and he is awesome in person. He can do everything, and his arm is unreal. I saw him throw a runner out tagging up for third, from deep, deep right field. A real stud. The problem for Colorado is that the rest of the lineup isn’t very good. Dexter Fowler and Seth Smith are both about .255 hitters. Same can be said for Ian Stewart and Jose Lopez. Todd Helton is getting old, and Chris Iannetta hit on the Carlos Pena line last year (.197). The good news for Rockies fans is the pitching staff is good. Everybody knows about Ubaldo Jimenez, but Jhoulys Chacin could be just as good. The guy has nasty stuff. He went only 9-11 last season, but he did it with a 3.28 ERA. Very low for someone pitching a lot of his games at Coors Field. The rest of the staff (Jorge De La Rosa, Jason Hammel and Esmil Rogers) are not on the level of Jimenez and Chacin. They still have Houston Street closing, but it is only a matter of time until he is hurt again. The pitching will be good, but not good enough.

Pros – Jimenez and Chacin, Gonzalez and Tulo, When the mountains turn blue

Cons – Infield, 3-4-5 pitchers, When the mountains are not blue

MVP – Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo needs to stay healthy all year. He could be the best shortstop in baseball if he puts a whole season together.

MIP – Ubaldo Jimenez. Ubaldo tailed off during the second half of last season. He needs to find his grove like he was in for the first half of last season.

X – Jhoulys Chacin. If he can pitch like I think he can, the Rockies could have one of the better 1-2 punches in baseball.

Best Thing – The best thing about the Rockies is Coors Field. It makes me happy when I see one of my fantasy players has a game in Coors.

2010 Record – 83-79

2011 Prediction – 81-81

Los Angeles Dodgers –

Season Outlook – My upset pick to win the NL West. Everybody is riding the defending World Champs, and why not, but I like the Dodgers. Their lineup is better than San Fran, and their pitching, including the bullpen, could be better. As far as the outfield goes, Tony Gwynn Jr. is suspect. He has to be better than the .204 he hit last year. The other two outfielders, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are as talented as any outfielders in the league. I think Kemp will have a huge year this year. Just got a feeling. James Loney and Casey Blake still man the corner positions, and Rafael Furcal is joined by Juan Uribe up the middle. The catching position is now occupied by Rod Barajas, which isn’t that much of a downgrade from the non-effective Russell Martin. The pitching is what is going to carry the Dodgers in 2011. I love the starting rotation. It is headlined by Chad Billingsly and Clayton Kershaw. Both struggle at times, and at other times look unhittable. Ted Lilly and Hiroki Kuroda are more than competent three and four starters, and Jon Garland as the fifth starter is awfully good. The bullpen could be back to what is was in 2009. Speaking of 2009, what the Hell happened to George Sherrill last year? He was awful. Anyway, Jonathan Broxton should return to form this year, and if he doesn’t, the Dodgers have two fall back options in Hong-Chih Kuo and the youngster, Kenley Jansen. I expect big things from the Dodgers under new coach Donny Baseball this year.

Pros – Pitching, bullpen, outfield

Cons – Tony Gwynn, ownership issues, late arriving fans

MVP – Matt Kemp. Kemp has the talent to be an elite outfielder. I think he puts it together this year to compliment Andre Ethier nicely.

MIP – Chad Billingsley. If you remember, Billingsley was almost left off the post-season roster two years ago. He is expected to be the number one starter for L.A. this year. I expect at least 17 wins form him.

X – Tony Gwynn. If Gwynn can hit like his dad the Dodgers might win it all. I don’t expect that, but an average somewhere around .275 sure would help the Dodgers.

Best Thing – the best thing about the Dodgers is the history. Dodger Stadium reminds me of simpler times. The books about the old Brooklyn Dodgers are always interesting. The throwback Brooklyn uniforms they are wearing this year are sweet. I just like the Dodgers.

2010 Record – 80-82

2011 Prediction – 93-69

San Diego Padres –

Season Outlook – Last year, I thought the Padres were going to be the worst team in the majors. They proved me wrong, due mostly to starting pitching that was surprisingly good. They are already off to a bad start in 2011 as Mat Latos is already on the DL. Tim Stauffer is slated to be their number one guy, which isn’t great. He is not a bad pitcher, but he is not an ace. He is followed by Clayton Richard, Aaron Harang and Dustin Moseley. Not real eye-popping. The lineup will miss Adrian Gonzalez greatly. Brad Hawpe takes over at first base. He is joined by Orlando Huson, Jason Bartlett and Chase Headley in the infield. The outfield is manned by Ryan Ludwick, who defiantly isn’t the same without Pujols protecting him, Cameron Maybin and Will Venable. Not a great lineup. Not a great pitching staff. I think the Pad’s win total from last year decreases greatly.

Pros – Decent starters, Heath Bell, Latos

Cons – The Camo Uniforms, bad hitting, loss of Adrian Gonzalez

MVP – Ryan Ludwick? Apparently Ludwick is looked to for the power in this lineup. Yikes.

MIP – Tim Stauffer. He needs to step up in Latos’s absence and be the ace this staff needs.

X – Cameron Maybin. Maybin is still young. He can still be the outfielder the Marlins thought he was when he was coming up in their organization.

Best Thing – The best thing about the Padres is that they only wear the Camo uniforms a couple times a year. I understand they are honoring the troops, but man, are those things awful.

2010 Record – 90-72

2011 Prediction – 78-84

San Francisco Giants –

Season Outlook – The defending champs are still a very good team. The starting rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner and Barry Zito is the best rotation in the majors outside of maybe Philadelphia. I am still not wild about their lineup though. Yeah, Buster Posey is really good, but that’s about it. Aubrey Huff hit .290 last year, but he is 34 years old and getting older. Freddy Sanchez is good at second, but I don't love him. Their big addition was Miguel Tejada at shortstop, but Tejada only hit .269 last year in Baltimore. Pablo Sandoval didn’t hit too well last year, nor did Pat Burrell. Cody Ross was a waiver pickup and had a huge postseason, but only hit .269 last year. Andres Torres hit .268. Basically, outside of Posey, Sanchez, and Huff, the Giants have a lot of hitters that hit between .250 and .270, and don’t hit for a lot of power. I still think they get the wildcard, but it will be close. The sooner Brian Wilson comes back, the better for the Giants.

Pros – Pitching, Posey, Pac Bell

Cons – Not much power, Wilson’s injury, aging infield

MVP – Buster Posey. Posey went from starting 2010 in the minors to being the second rated fantasy catcher in 2011. Quite a jump. He needs to avoid a sophomore slump for this lineup to score runs.

MIP – Jonathan Sanchez. Lincecum and Cain are consistent. Sanchez can be erratic at times. They need him to control his pitches and be the guy he was in the playoffs.

X – Freddy Sanchez. Sanchez was the table setter in the post season last year. When he gets on base, the Giants are a much better team.

Best Thing – The best thing about the Giants is Brian Wilson. I didn’t know if he was hilarious or annoying at first. I decided on hilarious.

2010 Record – 92-70

2011 Prediction – 91-71