It's that time of year for the preseason predictions to be rolled out. There's no east coast bias here. The Mets and Cardinals play the first game of the season Sunday, so the NL East and Central will lead things off.

Atlanta Braves

Entering their first season as non-division champs after 14 consecutive division titles, one thing has not changed: they will be led offensively by the Jones boys. Chipper Jones still has the injury question marks, but they've dealt with his annual DL stint for the past few years. Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus has an idea to help keep Chipper from the disabled list if Bobby Cox is willing to take a stand. As for Andruw, it could be his final season as a Brave. He's saying that he won't accept a hometown discount this time around. If they fall out of the race, he could be on the move at the trade deadline. On the other hand, if they are still in the race, it might be time to trade away catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. With Brian McCann's emergence and new contract (what a bargain!), Salty is expendable. Will they be in the race? They should be. Their offense, defense, front of the rotation, and bullpen are all pretty solid. 2006 All-Star Mark Redman will have to improve, and either Lance Cormier or Kyle Davies needs to take a step forward to make the back of the rotation respectable. If they can hold down the fort until mid-May, Mike Hampton can take over from there....if he's actually any better than them at this point. Other question marks can be found on the right side of the infield. Can Scott Thorman and Craig Wilson make up for the loss of Adam LaRoche? Is Kelly Johnson capable of playing second base everyday in the majors? If this team can stay in the race until July, a trade of Saltalamacchia could fix a hole at first, second, or the starting rotation. It will all depend on whether the team stays healthy, plays up to its potential, and Salty continues hitting at AAA.

Florida Marlins

The 2006 surprise team will almost surely regress from last year. 2006 was surely unexpected, but not by as much as the national media likes to convey. Anybody that starts with Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis has a good head start on most of the other 29 teams. They had a few good hitting prospects. So when Florida went through the second fire sale, they targeted pitching prospects and ended up with a plethora of young pitching talent. Coming into the season, their hitting and pitching prospects were expected to struggle, but they weren't exactly slouches either. Sure, no one expected Dan Uggla to do anything, but sometimes luck can solve your biggest problems. 2007 should prove a little more trying for the Marlins. Filling out the back of the rotation and the bullpen could be stressful as they cycle through the young pitchers, but they should find enough quality to survive. If they can finally make a deal for a centerfielder (Rocco Baldelli, anyone?), the Marlins will be solid at every position. It probably won't be enough to win the division, but this team could be interesting in the future. In 2007, the biggest question within the organization could be: will someone buy us a stadium?

New York Mets

Despite all of the media scrutiny, is the Mets rotation really that bad? Unproven? Definitely. Bad? We'll see. A wide range of outcomes is possible. Oliver Perez could re-discover his 2004 form. Then again, he more than likely won't, but can he actually be worse than the last two years? There are still those rare days that he is dominant. At least Pedro Martinez should be healthy for the playoffs this year...if they are fortunate enough to make it there. On the offensive side, everyone knows what Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and Moises Alou bring to the table. Catcher and second base are capably manned by Paul Lo Duca and Jose Valentin. If Shawn Green continues to show that he is no longer a major league regular, it might be time for Lastings Milledge to prove to his teammates what he can do on the field. Forget the showboating. It's time to produce. If Green does spring back, Milledge might be just what it takes to get another quality starting pitcher. The Mets are poised for another run. It's just a matter of proving it on the field.

Philadelphia Phillies

In a division where nobody else has five quality starting pitchers, the Phillies have six. The only problem is having to tell Jon Lieber that he's going to the pen. There are many camps out there with differing opinions on what to do with Lieber: trade him for a rightfielder, trade him for relief help, trade him for a third baseman, or keep him. I would most closely align myself with the last option. Nearly every team needs six or more starters to make it through the season. If you need relief help, just put Lieber in the pen until he's needed to start. If a weakness becomes glaring, then you can trade him once trading partners start to materialize. Shane Victorino's minor league numbers suggest that he should hit for more power than he did last year. Let him begin the year as a starter and see how he does. Wes Helms is a lefty masher. If you want someone to platoon with him, go out and get him, but you should get more than that for a quality starting pitcher. With Ryan Madson returning to a full season of bullpen work after a disastrous trial in the rotation last year and Tom Gordon coming off a 34-save season with a 3.34 ERA, the bullpen should be fine in the 8th and 9th innings. Until the glaring weakness forms (you've still got Aaron Rowand playing with reckless abandon in center, so you might need an injury replacement), put Lieber in the pen and deal accordingly when something happens. With this plan, the Phillies should be reasonably expected to contend for the divisional crown.

Washington Nationals

When Jerome Williams, Tim Redding, Michael O'Connor, Shawn Hill, Jason Simontacchi, Matt Chico, Joel Hanrahan, Brandon Claussen, and Jason Bergmann are battling for the fourth and fifth spots, it's acceptable. Not ideal by any means but acceptable. When they are competing for the 2 through 5 spots in the rotation, it's not just a problem. It's a catastrophe waiting to happen. Add in Cristian Guzman and Nook Logan as projected starters (Logan will start the year on the DL) and this team has almost no chance of making the playoffs. When you figure that it might be two to three years before they have a reasonable chance, it's just pathetic. There's only so much Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns, and Felipe Lopez can do. If only MLB hadn't destroyed their farm system when they owned the Expos...

Projected Standings

1. New York Mets (88-74)
2. Philadelphia Phillies (87-75)
3. Atlanta Braves (82-80)
4. Florida Marlins (78-84)
5. Washington Nationals (64-98)