Arizona Diamondbacks

Just like the Brewers, this is a team on the rise, and this could be the year they breakthrough. Knowing that the young hitters were on the verge, Josh Byrnes brought in some veteran starting pitching to supplement the team. After Livan Hernandez joined the team last season, Byrnes traded for Randy Johnson and Doug Davis in the offseason. They join Brandon Webb and Edgar Gonzalez in a very good starting rotation. While Randy Johnson misses a few starts, Micah Owings will fill in. In the bullpen, Jose Valverde and his 12.6 K/9 from last year return to the closer's role. Setting him up in the pen are Brandon Lyon, Brandon Medders, the aforementioned Cruz, and Tony Pena. Teaming with the good pitching staff are the young position players. The only starter over 30 is Eric Byrnes at 31. The young offense is led by Chad Tracy, Conor Jackson, Chris Young, Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew, and Orlando Hudson. Throw in Miguel Montero and Chris Snyder behind the plate, and the Diamondbacks have a good offensive player at every position. Arizona is ready to take the leap to the top of the division.

Colorado Rockies

On the flip side of the Jason Jennings trade, I really like what the Rockies acquired. Jason Hirsh isn't far behind Jennings in terms of production, he's four years younger, and he's five more years away from free agency. Willy Taveras is probably best suited for a big park like Coors Field, where his speed can handle centerfield and take advantage of liners hit to the wall. Todd Helton has put on some weight to try to regain his power that he lost last season. Maybe it was due to age or maybe it was due to his illness that forced him to lose weight and time on the field. 2007 will let us know if he's back. With Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, and Garrett Atkins joining him at/in the corners, the Rockies have a few run producers in the middle of the lineup. Troy Tulowitzki and Chris Iannetta are a couple of young prospects looking to prove they belong in the majors, and I think they can. The lineup is good enough to put enough runs on the board, but the pitchers have to prove last year wasn't a fluke. It shouldn't take long to find out if the humidor is still affecting the game as it did the first five months of 2006. Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook should be quality starters, but the rest of the staff has something to prove. Between Rodrigo Lopez, Hirsh, Josh Fogg, Taylor Buchholz, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brian Lawrence, and Byung-Hyun Kim, three guys need to step up. Brian Fuentes, Ramon Ramirez, and Manuel Corpas are going to lead a bullpen that should be effective in the late innings. While they are finally recovering, the Rockies seem to be another year and a few more arms away from contention.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Like the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers have a couple quality position prospects that are ready to join the major league squad. Unfortunately, Ned Colletti is brainwashed to do things like his former team (Giants) have. He prefers veterans over prospects, but he should start using Logan White's farm system's results rather than trading them. This past offseason, Colletti re-signed Nomar Garciaparra and signed Juan Pierre instead of trusting James Loney and Matt Kemp to handle starting spots. James Loney is not only younger than Nomar, he is also probably better. The same goes for Kemp and Pierre. Juan Pierre is only highly regarded because of his value in fantasy baseball, which doesn't translate to the field. The J.D. Drew situation baffles me. Drew and Scott Boras could see the market inflation that was bound to happen, and they did exactly what Aramis Ramirez did. The Cubs quickly resigned Ramirez, but Colletti quickly mouthed off to the media about Drew's lack of loyalty. Going from Drew and Lofton to Pierre and Luis Gonzalez is very obviously a downgrade. Andy LaRoche is another young prospect that is ready for the big leagues after hitting .309/.419/.483 and .322/.400/.550 at AA and AAA last year. It would be best to give him the third base job right now, but it looks like that job is going to Wilson Betemit to start the season. The young prospects could be joining 2006 rookies Andre Ethier and Russell Martin to form the nucleus of their future along with Rafael Furcal. Jason Schmidt was also brought in to be the ace atop the starting rotation. The rest of the rotation is Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, and Brett Tomko. I'd prefer Chad Billingsley in the rotation instead of Tomko, but he'll start the year in the pen. Between Billingsley, Takashi Saito, Jonathan Broxton, and Hong-Chih Kuo, the bullpen will do a wonderful job of holding leads for the Dodgers. The Dodgers went out and signed several free agents this past year, but they're at least one quality outfielder short of winning the division.

San Diego Padres

All season last year, the Padres struggled to find an adequate 3B. Kevin Towers was able to find one this offseason in Kevin Kouzmanoff. Kouzmanoff is yet another young stud hitter at the hot corner. With the trade of Josh Barfield in order to acquire Kouzmanoff, he opened up a hole at 2B. After failing to agree to a trade for Marcus Giles, the Padres lucked out when the Braves did not offer Giles arbitration. With Marcus joining brother Brian in the clubhouse, the rest of the team should be scared. The Padres have an average or slightly above average player at every position on the field: Josh Bard, Adrian Gonzalez, Marcus Giles, Kouzmanoff, Khalil Greene, Terrmel Sledge, Mike Cameron, and Brian Giles. Jake Peavy had a rough year in 2006, but his peripherals (9.6 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9) remained strong. He should be back to being a productive ace. Chris Young and Clay Hensley were successful last year, and they will be joined by a couple of veterans in Greg Maddux and David Wells. Trevor Hoffman and the best changeup in baseball will be back in the closer role. Scott Linebrink and Cla Meredith return in setup roles. The Padres have made two straight playoff appearances and very well could be in line for a third.

San Francisco Giants

San Francisco's youngest position player is Pedro Feliz, who is 8 months older than Arizona's oldest position player (Eric Byrnes). Keeping the elderly employed has been the modus operandi of Brian Sabean and the Giants in recent years as they are trying to drag out the Barry Bonds era for as long as he keeps playing. The major free agent joining the Giants is Barry Zito, who like everyone this offseason was overly compensated for his expected production. Giants' fans have to hope his drop in K rate last year wasn't a sign of things to come. 2007 could be the only season that Zito is worth his paycheck as his salary jumps to $14.5M next year and $18.5M the following. The good news is that he joins a rotation three other competent starters: Matt Cain, Matt Morris, and Noah Lowry. Russ Ortiz has lost some weight and won the #5 spot, but 2006 first rounder Tim Lincecum is fully expected to take his spot around the all-star break. The bullpen is currently headed by Armando Benitez, but there are no lights out guys to get the ball to him. Going back to the ancient lineup, it still revolves around Barry Bonds. Word out of camp is that Bonds looks like an athlete again. If this means that he can play more than half the season, then the Giants could contend. The rest of the lineup is filled by Ray Durham, Dave Roberts, Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, and Pedro Feliz. Their place in the standings depends on the health of Bonds just as it has the last 14 years.

Projected Standings

1.      Arizona Diamondbacks, 88-74
2.      San Diego Padres, 86-76
3.      Los Angeles Dodgers, 81-81
4.      San Francisco Giants, 80-82
5.      Colorado Rockies, 77-85