2013 NL West Preview: Can Someone Step Up and Surprise or is this a Two Team Division Race?

 

 

Final Standings

 

San Francisco Giants 87-75

 

Los Angeles Dodgers 84-78

 

San Diego Padres 76-86

 

Arizona Diamondbacks 72-90

 

Colorado Rockies 66-96

 

 

The NL West will never be confused as the best division in baseball even if the San Francisco Giants are the current, reigning, and defending World Series Champions. This year will be no different as there are only two teams who can realistically make the playoffs. The Los Angeles Dodgers robbed some banks and continue to both take on a lot of money and throw a lot of it around. The San Diego Padres are still a year or two away but there is a lot of promise and hope for the future. Arizona will look a lot different on offense but it won’t help them much, and the Colorado Rockies will be fighting mightily to wear the championship belt for the worst team in baseball.

 

 

1. San Francisco Giants (87-75)

 

 

When I think of San Francisco there are three things that come to mind. Those things are Full House, Rice-a-Roni, and pitching. When your staff is headed by the righty-lefty combination of Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner there’s good reason to fear facing the Giants. In addition to these two there’s also the criminally underrated Ryan Vogelsong, and fourth and fifth starters with three Cy Young Awards between them. Granted, Lincecum and Zito are not the pitchers they were when they took home the hardware, but unlike most other Cy Young winners there is no pressure on them to carry a staff. Whatever contributions they make are just the cherries on top of an already awesome sundae. Add in a fantastic bullpen to this equation and you’re making even Einstein think long and hard on how to solve it.

 

In addition to being World Champions, San Francisco is also home to the reigning MVP Buster Posey. It’s scary to think that Posey only made his debut in September 2009 and he already has two World Series rings, a batting title, and an MVP award, all while missing most of the 2011 season after fracturing his fibula and tearing ligaments in his ankle in a horrific collision at home plate. Accompanying Posey in the San Francisco lineup is the Kung Fu Panda himself, Pablo Sandoval. The switch hitting Sandoval, who was the hero of Game 1 of the World Series after his three homer performance is the definition of a hit or miss player. He will go through stretches where no matter what you throw at him you won’t be able to get him out, but conversely he will go through stretches where he’s swinging wildly at pitches and making you scratch your head. With all that said, he has cemented a place in the hearts of the San Francisco faithful as they will often wear the panda hats or headgear to games. The rest of the lineup is filled with great complementary players such as Hunter Pence, Marco Scutaro, and Angel Pagan, making this team very dangerous and a threat to repeat as both National League and World Series champions.

 

 

 

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (84-78)

 

Los Angeles has done a whirlwind job in acquiring talent, money be damned, but they still lack talent in some positions, and unlike San Francisco, this team hasn’t had the opportunity to play with each other for a number of years and there will be some growing pains for them to go through. With the injury to Carl Crawford they will be lacking a capable left fielder along with having guys at second and third who aren’t exactly the type of players other teams are lighting up the phone lines to acquire. The offense will be carried by arguably the best all-around player in baseball Matt Kemp. Kemp is a perennial 40-40 threat, capable of hitting 40 home runs in a season along with stealing 40 bases. Only four other players have accomplished this feat in baseball history. Three of them are Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds, and given what has come to light about them it should put into perspective just how hard this feat is.

 

The Dodgers, like the Giants, boast a pretty good righty-lefty combination in Zack Greinke and the best left handed pitcher in baseball, Clayton Kershaw. The rest of the rotation is filled with question marks, but if they perform to their potential the Dodgers will be switching places with their heated rivals in the final standings. Josh Beckett is a pitcher who some may question whether his best days are behind him, but moving to the National League from the American could be just what he needs. Chad Billingsley is a pitcher capable of winning 15-18 games in a season but he just can’t seem to put it all together and do it. The fifth starter is as big a question mark as there is since he is a South Korean import who has never pitched in the majors. This could work to Hyun-Jin Ryu’s advantage in the beginning as hitters will need time to figure him out but once they do it’s up to him to do whatever he has to in order to keep them guessing. The Dodgers are hoping for a lot more Hadoukens from Ryu than shellings.

 

 

3. San Diego Padres (76-86)

 

The future is bright in San Diego and Champ Kind will have plenty of time to report on the Padres winning ways, it just won’t be this season unfortunately. They still need another year or two of experience and one more front line starter but the rest of the pieces are there. The offense is led by Chase Headley who had a career year in 2012. Besides finishing in the top 5 in MVP voting Headley won a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger Award, and won the National League RBI title finishing with 115, which is astonishing because offense is considered a dirty word when it comes to San Diego. Helping out Headley on offense aren’t any guys one would consider All Stars or great players but they are young, serviceable players with all the potential in the world. If Carlos Quentin can stay healthy and have a productive year the Padres should trade him as the deadline approaches and get more pieces to build for the future. Evereth Cabrera gives the lineup a speedy stolen base threat who led the National League with 44 swipes last season. If he can become a better contact/slap hitter this team can put some more runs on the board.

 

Edinson Volquez and Clayton Richard anchor a starting staff that isn’t much to write home about in spots 3-5. Volquez benefits from playing in such a pitcher’s park he just doesn’t benefit from much run support. He finished the year with a 2.95 ERA at home but only had a 6-5 record. His numbers on the road need to improve in order to be considered an ace as there should never be such a disparity in the numbers with a top notch front line starter. At 29 years old there isn’t much time to figure these things out and have a good number of productive years. Clayton Richard is another guy with very eye opening home and away splits. The spacious Petco Park is any pitcher’s best friend but again, in order to be considered a contender and take that next step, the pitchers need to pitch better on the road. Until that happens, San Diego can keep looking up at the competition in the standings.

 

 

4. Arizona Diamondbacks (72-90)

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks were one of the most active teams this offseason but the moves they pulled off won’t end up helping them much this year. I feel they are in a weird situation where their young guys are too young and inexperienced, and the veterans they signed are role playing complementary pieces that won’t make strong contributions. Miguel Montero is a suitable enough player but he isn’t someone you should look to build a team around. Paul Goldschmidt has power and could turn into an all-star caliber player if his development continues as it has. The outfield is the biggest question mark as they have five players competing for three spots and brings to mind a thought process of too many options means no good ones. Gerardo Parra, who won a Gold Glove last year, and is arguably one of the best defensive outfielders could lose his starting job because his bat doesn’t bring the same abilities to the table as his glove. This would be fine if any of the options other than Jason Kubel were seen as superior options to Parra, and maybe Adam Eaton will turn out to be, but signing Cody Ross and moving Parra to the bench is a reason this team will be in the position it is.

 

The pitching staff is anchored by former 20 game winner Ian Kennedy who fans are hoping turns in a season more like his 2011 campaign and not his 2012 campaign. The move to the National League and out of New York did wonders for Kennedy and he has proven his worth as a front line starter. He is followed by Trevor Cahill, another player whose transition to the National League should have helped his numbers, but for last season at least it certainly didn’t. Rookie of the Year runner up Wade Miley will look to build on his strong debut season and Brandon McCarthy will be making his comeback after his season ended abruptly last year after taking a comebacker off the head. McCarthy ended up seriously hurt, and even required emergency brain surgery so it will be great to see him back out on the mound.

 

 

5. Colorado Rockies (66-96)

 

As stated above, I believe Colorado will be in a yearlong fight for the worst record in baseball. Luckily for them, the Marlins also exist so they shouldn’t win the fight, but other than that there really is not much to look forward to with this team. The offense should be able to put up some runs playing in the thin air of Colorado and Coors Field and the combination of Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez will do as much as they can to carry this team but it just won’t end up being enough. The biggest problem this team faces is its pitching. There is not a single pitcher on this team that any batter would be afraid to face or think they couldn’t get the best of. Pitching in Colorado is bad enough but when you don’t have that mental edge over a hitter it makes things so much worse.