Washington Nationals
The Skinny: The Nationals are still in the full rebuilding mode following their 2019 World Series. They showed signs of life last season when they won 71 games. The trio of Jeimer Candelario, Lane Thomas, and CJ Abrams had phenomenal seasons. Those three kept them afloat and brought their win total up 16 games from the season before. Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore, while Hunter Harvey continued to be valuable coming out of the bullpen.
I’d say that the Nationals outperformed their expectations last year in a year where they were obviously in the “grow your young guys and don’t care how much you loose” phase. Their pitching was was poor, ranking among the worst in the MLB. The offesnse was a little bit better, but they really lacked power and struggled to produce big innings and runs. The offseason didn’t bring much in the terms of splash signings, but they did add some power in Joey Gallo. Along with him, Nick Senzel, Dylan Floro, Eddie Rosario, and Richard Bleier signed on as well.
The Bottom Line: The season will be interesting, but I believe bringing up their top prospects James Woods and Dylan Crews will bring some excitement to the roster. This team is in full-rebuild mode. If they survive the season at less than 100-losses, this team will be happy. The young stars will get a lot of playing time, and it looks like the organization is depending on their growth to get them out of the NL East basement. I project mid-60 wins in Washington.
New York Mets
The Skinny: The 2022 season for the New York Mets was in one word, disappointing. The Mets quickly blew up the roster with getting rid of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadline. The batting lineup was fine, Lindor was great, Alonso was better than average, Brandon Nimmon was a really nice surprise, and the trades of Tommy Pham and Mark Canha really set the lineup back.
The pitching staff was tough to watch, Verlander, Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco, and Jose Quintata were not great. All-League closer Edwin Diaz missed the season after a tragic injury in the WBC. The Mets had one of the worst defenses in the majors, and went into the offseason in shambles. They fired Buck Showalter and brought in Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza. They made some moves that barely moved the needle, adding Sean Manaea and Luis Severino to the starting rotation. They added Harrison Bader, brought back Adam Ottavino, and added Jake Diekman and Michal Tonkin to fill out the bullpen.
The Bottom Line: This team could potentially make a run at the playoffs if some things go right. They’ll need Alosno and Marte to get back to form, along with Senga returning to the rotation. The lineup is in a really weird spot where they have a lot of high end talent and a lot of “who?”. This season will be a test for the Mets and they need to pass it. Mets fans are really fed up. If they struggle this year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Alonso walk in free agency and team start from scratch with Lindor as the focal point. I think the Mets have a small revival this year and actually play some good baseball. I see mid-80 wins.
Miami Marlins
The Skinny: The 2023 Marlins were not expected to do a while lot in terms of winning baseball games, they bolsered an incomplete roster but had some intriguing names. Guys like Sandy Alcantara and Jesus Luzardo in the rotation and Jorge Soler and Luis Arraez in the lineup had potential to be the cornerstones of this teams. Well, some of that turned out to be true. Alcantara ended up having his worst season since becoming apart of the rotation and ended the year by getting Tommy John, albeit he was still pretty solid when he was healthy. Luzardo was phenomenal and Brazon Garrett was solid enough. A lot of solid arms came out of the bullpen which helped the rotation significantly.
Offensviely, things were not as clear. Arraez was who we thought he’d be, but everywhere else there was a lot of struggles. Yuli Gurriel, Jacob Stallings, Joey Wendle, and Jean Segura all were pretty bad despite getting a ton of playing time. Their inability to produce runs lead to a lot of close victories where the bullpen held it together late. To start the offseason, the team brought back both of their midseason acquisitions in Jake Burger and Josh Bell. Other than the addition of Tim Anderson, the team was pretty quiet.
The Bottom Line: While not adding many players in the offseason is pretty normal in Miami, losing one of their best players in Jorge Soler was a bit of a shock. They’ll probably contend this year and be alive late into the season, but I just can’t see this team making a real run at it. They arguably have a bottom 10-roster and there just is not enough talent laying around. I think the rotation will perform, but the lineup will not do a lot to get them over the hump unless we see revivals from guys like Josh Bell, Yuli Gurriel, Joey Wendle, and Josh Bell but I think that’s asking a lot. I see this team falling in the high 70’s for wins this year.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Skinny: The Phillies are coming off another strong campaign that brought them all the way to the NLCS. They managed to shake off some pretty severe injuries and finally built momentum in June after struggling out og the gate. The Phillies were led by Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler in the pitching rotation, and they were supplemented by a strong bullpen. Bryce Harper was the dude in the middle of the lineup while Trea Turner got hot late. Schwarber was what Schwarber is as he batted .197 but put up 47 bombs from the leadup spot. Role players like Bryson Scott, Johan Rojas, Ranger Suarez and Taijuan Walker helped hold the Phillies afloat in the rest of the roster.
The offseason was mostly the Phillies trying to keep together their core as they resigned Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler to solidify the top of the rotation for years to come. Outside of this, Whit Merrifield and Spencer Turnbull were the other two brought in.
The Bottom Line: This team will have another strong campaign in 2024. They brought back all the same dudes from 2023, along with adding some useful veterans to fill out the roster. With the outfield of Castellanos, Marsh, Schwarber, and Jake Cave is one of the best hitting outfields in baseball. Trea Turner, Jake Bohm, and Stott make a phenomenal infield, while catcher JT Realmuto is a former all-star. If they can stay healthy this year, I think this lineup can be one of the more feared ones in baseball top to bottom. The pitching staff is solidified at the top and has some reliable arms to fill out the back end along with the bullpen. The Phillies are primed to be better than last season in my eyes. I find it hard to believe that Turner will struggled like he did last season, and Realmuto is a candidate for a bounce-back year in his own rights. I have this team winning in the low 90s this year.
Atlanta Braves
The Skinny: The one thing stopping the Atlanta Braves from making another sprint to the postseason, is the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were the best team in baseball in 2023, and only got better this offseason with the addition of Chris Sale. Ronald Acuna Jr had one of the best seasons in team history, while Matt Olson finished fourth in MVP voting after leading the majors with 54 homers. Atlanta also had the likes of Orlando Arcia, Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna, and Micheal Harris to round out the lineup. Along with Sale, the Braves added power outfielders Adam Duvall and Jarred Kelenic.
The pitching rotation has Charlie Morton, Max Fried, and Spencer Strider along with guys like AJ Minter at the back end of the bullpen. This team is the most talented team in baseball, and it may not even be that close.
The Bottom Line: This team is the best team in baseball. They’ll have to compete with a talented NL East, but I can’t see that really holding them back. They’ve struggled in the playoffs the last two years, losing to the Phillies twice. They need to get that monkey off their back while they still have this core, because this is a roster that should be winning multiple championships. With the additions of Sale, Duvall, and Kelenic at positions of need, this roster only got deeper this offseason. I have them north of 100-win again this year.
OVERALL FINAL STANDING PROJECTION:
Braves (102-60)
Phillies (93-69)
Marlins (82-80)
Mets (79-83)
Nationals (75-87)
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