NL East

On Sept. 13, 2008, Rodriguez broke Bobby Thigpen's saves record for a single season with 58. The following day, I jumped onto YouTube to watch a video of the record-breaking moment and couldn't help but look at some of the comments people had written.

Many of the comments were along the lines of, "K-Rod is the best closer in Major League Baseball." As a huge Joe Nathan fan, I was a little ticked off. I rattled in my head a number of players who I thought were better, such as: Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, Brad Lidge, and Joakim Soria.

Now that I've had a few days to unwind from my spring training travels, I thought I would share one of my better stories from my trip.

Last Monday, at the Orioles vs. Mets spring training game, my brother, Evan, left Tradition Field with a pair of Carlos Delgado's game-worn pants.

It's been a long time since the Washington Nationals have been shown any real respect by the media, though to be fair, they really haven't deserved any.

Halfway through the team's inaugural season in Washington, the Nationals were atop the National League East with a 50-31 record.

PIRATES 6, PHILLIES 5
at Clearwater, Fla.
Friday, March 13

Pirates on the mound

Left-hander Zach Duke threw the ball well in 3.2 innings. He allowed just one hit and one walk and struck out two. He got into a bases-loaded jam in the fourth after a leadoff single to Eric Bruntlett, a two-out walk to Ryan Howard, and an error from third baseman Andy LaRoche to load the bases, but left-hander David Davidson took over and got out of the inning without a run scoring. Daniel McCutchen allowed five runs in 1.1 innings.

Until opening day, in celebration of the coming 2009 baseball season, we will be previewing all 30 teams over the next few weeks. 

With team-by-team divisional breakdowns, season projections, and playoff predictions, come October we'll all look back fondly and laugh wholeheartedly how wrong and how off-base our prognostications.

National League East—Philadelphia Phillies

After a 2007 campaign in which the Braves saw their bullpen compile the NL's second-best ERA (3.58), 2008 was a year that saw some of the 'pen's best arms (Gonzalez carried over from last year, Moylan, and Soriano) miss significant time due to injuries.

Add to this the futile rotation, and the team's second-tier arms (Acosta, when he was healthy, Ohman, who is gone for 2009 due to free agency, Boyer, and Bennett) saw extreme amounts of time that hurt their ability down the stretch (or what can be called the "stretch" for a 90-loss team)

On any Major League Baseball team, all 25 players are important. However, there are always players who are counted on a little more than others. Here are my top 5 essential players for the Atlanta Braves.

5. Garret Anderson

The Braves tried desperately to find an outfielder with power. They finally landed Garret Anderson after a long search. Anderson is a proven veteran who still has some talent left. However, he lacks the power that the Braves need.

Last December, the Mets shipped out Endy Chavez, Joe Smith, and Aaron Heilman in exchange for J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and Jeremy Reed.

With spring training halfway done, we are that much closer to baseball season again. The New York Mets, a team that collapsed down the stretch in each of the past two seasons, have made a few great additions.

Two key additions for the 2009 season are Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez and JJ Putz. They fill the biggest need for the Mets—their bullpen.

The definition of collapse is "to break down". That is exactly what the Mets did, especially at the end of games. 27 BLOWN SAVES...that is wayyy too many.

When the Nationals traded Emilio Bonifacio, P. J. Dean and Jake Smolinski to the Florida Marlins last winter for Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham, a couple of things seemed certain.

First, Olsen would become the Nationals No. 2 pitcher; second, Josh Willingham would become a sorely needed offensive weapon for the team, likely in left field.

Over his career, after all, the 30-year-old has been a solid hitter. Since joining the Marlins in 2004, Willingham has averaged .266-25-85 over a 162 game season.