By Timothy Boatman

The New York Mets once again are in an underdog role with not too many expectations. Mets GM Sandy Alderson made some headlines saying that he believes the Mets can win 90 games this year. This is a big number considering the past two years the Mets have gone 74-88 the last two years, and haven’t put up 90 wins since their amazing 97 win 2006 season where they were one game away from reaching the World Series. So this statement for the Mets to reach 90 wins is a statement that makes even the biggest Mets fans uncertain. With their ace, Matt Harvey, out for the year due to Tommy John surgery, there is clearly a big hole in the starting rotation. To help fill this role, the Mets signed free agent Bartolo Colon. Obviously it will be extremely difficult to recreate Harvey’s numbers, but if Colon can put up 10-15 wins, the Mets would be pretty happy with that. Pitching prospect Zack Wheeler showed what he is capable of and may become the Mets ace for the year. Acquired in the R.A. Dickey trade a couple years ago was pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. He impressed in Spring Training and could get the call up to the show at the end of the year. The 1-2-3 punch of Harvey, Wheeler, and Syndergaard should be enough to make any team scared of the Mets in the coming years, but until then, Mets fans will have to wait. The Mets have a sneaky-good rotation and could surprise some people. Other holes that the Mets had was their outfield and their shortstop position. For their outfield, they signed Chris Young and Yankee’s slugger Curtis Granderson. These signings have drastically changed the outfield for the better because last year the outfield was one of the worst in all of baseball. There were speculations that the Mets would sign shortstop Stephen Drew to help fill the shortstop role, but the signing never occurred so it seems as if the Mets will rotate between Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada. First base may be a problem as well, but if Ike Davis can perform like he is very capable of, the Mets may surprise some people this year. I do not know if they will reach the 90 win mark, but I do think they may be able to make a run at that coveted second wild card spot!

The Miami Marlins are the Miami Marlins.  They are a never ending circular of prospects and players.  The Marlins got a shock last year when they sent 20 year old prospect Jose Fernandez who had never seen above LoA to the majors out of camp and did he light up Miami.  Fernandez went 12-6 last year with 187 strikeouts and posting a 2.19 ERA with an injury plagued Stanton last year Fernandez was the life of the Marlins.  The Marlins also seen stints for some of their youth talent Ozuna, Yelich, and Marisnick. Ozuna and Yelich made the team out of camp this year but Marisnick was sent down to AAA-New Orleans even though having a monster spring.  The Marlins also, went out and made a few acquisitions this off season acquiring Casey McGehee, Rafael Furcal and, Jarrod Saltalmacchia all via Free Agency.  Furcal will see second base duties after having to undergo Tommy John surgery last year. Saltalmacchia was acquired after the World Champion Red Sox released him.  McGehee was a interested sign when he came back from playing a year in Japan along side new Yankee pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. With the young talent of the Marlins don't be surprised if they are making strides this year and could be ready to compete for the NL: East 2015 or 2016.

The Phillies are coming off one of their worst years in almost a decade.  The Phillies ran the table of the NL: East for most of the 00's but with time comes age and that is what has hit the Phillies.  The Phillies just gotten plain old. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Cliff Lee and, Carlos Ruiz are all over the age of 35 and the Phillies farm system doesn't have much going for them either.   The Phillies did get a perk last season when Dominic Brown finally reached his peek level they expected of him. With saying all that if Brown can repeat what he did in the first half of last year and the newly acquired A.J Burnett can put up the numbers he put up with the pirates then the Phillies should put up a good fight with the Mets for 3rd place in the NL: East. 

The Nationals had a shockingly down year last year when they missed the post season after falling 10+ games behind the Atlanta Braves.  The Nationals are already loaded as it is and they went out this offseason by trading Utility man Steve Lombardozzi to Tigers a lot with some prospects for pitcher Doug Fister. Fister when 14-9 last year with 156 strikeouts for the Detroit Tigers.  Fister will solidify this young pitching staff and should help the Nats reach post season again. 

The Atlanta Braves came up huge last season finishing 10+ games ahead of the next opponent in the NL: East.  The Braves would go on to lose though in the NLDS to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Braves went into the Offseason with a lot of questions and concerns and the filled a lot of them and made some pretty big news this offseason for their future.  The Braves started off this offseason by losing veteran catcher Brian McCann and pitcher Tim Hudson. The Braves then went out and picked up a couple of small pieces in Galvin Floyd and Ryan Doumit but  what the Braves did next was unexpected.  The Braves went out and signed Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel, Jason Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, Julio Tehran and Kris Medlen all to multi-year deals.  The Braves also, announced they would be getting a new stadium this offseason that would be a multi million dollar facility.  Once the Spring started the Braves got bit hard by the injury bug.  After the departure of Tim Hudson the already young pitching staff got even younger when they lost two starters Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy to Tommy John surgery.  This surgery will be the second surgery for both pitchers the braves also have not seen much of Mike Minor who is dealing with a urinary surgery. So to fulfill those injuries the Braves went out and signed veteran pitcher Ervin Santana and Aaron Harang.  Both Santana and Minor are expected to go to extended spring training where they should be ready by mid April.  With saying that the first 3 pitchers in the braves rotation will all be under 24 and all have less than 2 years MLB experience.  It will be interested if the Braves can go out and win with this very young but talented pitching staff and other questions come up such as will they see a reemergence of B.J Upton and Dan Uggla.  We will find all this out in just 5 days!