Sunday, November 6, 2011

Best Moves for the NL West!

The Last two years have been weird for the NL West with the Padres winning for almost the entire year, but then the Giants surged past the Padres who were slumping big time. This Year the Rockies and Giants looked like they would battle for the NL West, instead the Diamondbacks surprised everybody and won. Next year it could be anybody especially with the Dodgers ownership situation likely becoming clear relatively soon.

Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers should be in play for Ramirez, Fielder and several other top free agents, but I doubt that their ownership situation will be solved in time for them to do almost anything but try and lock up Kemp and Kershaw. They will likely look for a deal in the Starting pitcher market and they are really only a few key pieces from running away with the division. Carlos Pena would be a good signing for the Dodgers, but the best fit would be Fielder if they can afford him.

Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks don't really have any area where they need to acquire someone but they have a lot of places where they could upgrade especially the middle of the rotation and 1st base. They could upgrade the mid rotation, but I suspect that they will leave 1st to Paul Goldschmidt and see what happens. They also should try and resign Aaron Hill who played well for them and they really should get a lefty who is not named Zach Duke.  The Diamondbacks will need to do something about the back of their rotation and they may look to trade Joe Saunders for a pair of lesser arms that can still eat innings. The D-backs had a constant cycle at the 5th starter spot and even if they do not trade Saunders they should be able to find someone who can make 30+ decent starts over the season. The team may try for starters such as Rich Harden, Freddy Garcia or Kevin Millwood.

San Diego Padres
 The biggest move for them will likely be trying to resign Heath Bell and they could try for a lower level impact bat and hope that their prospects develop like they want them to. I still don't understand why they declined Harang's option because now they will have to fill another rotation spot and Harang pitched well for the Padres.

Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are a weird team that always seems like they have too many good players to not win more, but they have some serious holes and really no starting pitching. I expect that the Rockies will try and find gold with some underrated Starting arms and try for either Ramirez or to trade for a third baseman like Michael Young or David Wright. They have a lot of replacement level players in the everyday lineup and need to change that before they will contend. Young would really be perfect for them as would an upgrade in Left Field with Josh Willingham. I expect them to take some chances on the free agent market for starting pitching and it will be a big part of how their year will turn out, some good players might be Roy Oswalt, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon or Paul Maholm.

San Francisco Giants
The Giants pitching is arguably the best in all of baseball but they have no offense. If they want to win the division they will need to retain Beltran, have a healthy Buster Posey and find a position for Brandon Belt. They also are going to need a shortstop and could pursue bay area native Jimmy Rollins or the big name free agent Jose Reyes. The Giants are looking to make some moves but they have $44 million tied up in bad contracts and will need to extend Lincicum and Cain soon. Signing Beltran and a decent Shortstop could be all they need to win if Buster Posey can come back healthy. A good backup catcher is key for the Giants and if they keep Beltran then they probably can just stick with an outfield tandem of Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz and Andres Torres in Left and Center field. If they miss out on Beltran its very possible they will go after Coco Crisp

The Only team I would count out of the Division title would be the Padres because any of the teams could end up winning if things go right for them.

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