@orb: Your fantasy team sucks.
Anyway to actually add something constructive to this thread, lets talk about the one division we actually haven't discussed in a long time, the NL West. Right now, I think the Padres, Dodgers, and Rockies have way too many holes to legitimately contend (sorry Matt Kemp/Clayton Kershaw, things are going to get a shitton worse before they get better). That leaves the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants. Of the two, the Giants are the more "polished" team but have a lot of injury concerns, while the Diamondbacks are somewhat unproven but have a pretty high ceiling. The key to who wins the division will come down to the rotations imo: will Kennedy/Hudson/Cahill keep up with Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner? In addition, will Buster Posey come back completely healthy? What does everyone else think about the NL West?
My thoughts are that the Giants are the clear team to beat in the NL West, with no one even close. Lincecum, Cain, Bumgardner and Vogelsong cause such a huge match up problem in a game set. Their bullpen is now better than the Padres and it will be hard to score on them late in ballgames.
Their backstop Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez are going to be healthy this this year and that is going to have a major impact on the lineup. So will the addition of Melky Cabrera if he can post similar numbers to last year. They have the all important youth in Belt and Crawford as well.
The D-Backs are no doubt going to regress a bit, as Ian Kennedy and Ryan "Tat Man" Roberts are most likely not going to top their production last year. They also have some holes in their starting rotation. LAD's pitching is utter shit, and their lineup is pretty stale in the back end despite some high quality talent up top. I mean for fucks sake, Mark Ellis is so old he should be dead, Juan Uribe is a fat ass bumb, and James Loney couldn't hit more than 10 home runs off of High School pitching. Colorado is rebuilding it's pitching and does not even have a MLB ready number 1 or 2 pitcher to call on. The Friers also took a hit in the SP department with the Latos trade and are more offensively challenged than Seattle, but their youth
could step up and push them to a playoff berth. I doubt it, but they have so much young talent that they could contend. I mean, the other four teams in this division are so weak that they have the best chance of catching fire.
Honestly, the winnier of this division will be the one who goes and solves their problems at the trading deadline. I don't see anyone in this division getting out of the first round of the playoffs, but if a team is willing to go all in then they have the chance to win this sorry excuse of a division. My odds of winning the division right now would have to go as follows:
San Francisco Giants (55.0%)
Arizona Diamond Backs (20.0%)
San Diego Padres (10.0%)
Los Angeles Dodgers (7.5%)
Colorado Rockies (7.5%)
