Today’s post is the first of a six part division-by-division baseball preview, starting with the National League West. The NL West was disparaged last year as being one of the worst, but due to the division’s young talent look to see a leap in its overall performance as these players continue to improve.  As a result  I see the division producing this years National League Wild Card winner.

Los Angeles Dodgers (92-60, Division Champs)

Last year the Dodgers were galvanized by the acquisition of Manny Ramirez into winning the division.  Despite a drawn out negotiating period, Manny’s return to the team will help it to improve on its 84 wins of a year ago.  While there are some question marks about the depth of the pitching staff, the lineup should be markedly improved with a full year of Manny, and development by Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Russ Martin.  The rotation is anchored by 24-year-old Chad Billingsley but after that has a number of question marks: can Jason Schmidt return from injury? Can Clayton Kershaw improve upon his rookie performance? Can Hiroki Kuroda replicate his form despite having only 5.6 strikeouts per nine innings last year?  Can young pitchers like James McDonald and Scott Elbert make a significant contribution?  Including Randy Wolf the guess here is that the Dodgers will have enough pitching to capitalize on having the clear cut best offense in the division.

Team MVP: Manny
Player to Watch: Clayton Kershaw

Arizona Diamondbacks (89-63, Wild Card Champs)

After getting off to a scorching 20-7 start last year, Arizona finished the season at a paltry 62-73 clip as the teams offense came off the tracks.  Despite all of this the team was almost able to hold off the Dodgers to win the division.   Expect to see youngsters like Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Justin Upton, Miguel Montero and Conor Jackson take large steps forward.  Being anchored by All Stars Brandon Webb and Dan Haren, the rotation has the potential be as strong as any in baseball.  There are some questions about the rotation’s depth including about Jon Garland’s continued viability as a starter after having a WHIP of 1.5 last year; however, he should have an easier go of it facing the offenses of the NL West rather than the AL.

Team MVP: Stephen Drew
Player to Watch: Chris Young

San Francisco Giants (80-82)

San Francisco’s projected improvement is based solely on its rotation as its offense will not likely show significant improvement over last year when it scored an anemic 640 runs, good for second last in all of baseball. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez are as good a reason to be optimistic about San Francisco’s ability to improve this year as anything.  Lincecum was a right-handed version of Johan Santana last year on his way to winning the Cy Young.  Along with the siging of Randy Johnson, the Giant’s young threesome should be able to overcome the fact that Barry Zito will be starting every fifth day.  As stated, San Francisco’s Achilles heal is the offense, when Bengie Molina is a middle of the order bat, you know your team is going to have problems.  The Giants do have some exciting young talent coming up through their system such as Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Angel Villalona and Conor Gillaspie, but until their offense markedly improves the Giants will be unable to seriously contend.

Team MVP: Tim Lincecum
Player to Watch: Pablo Sandoval

Colorado Rockies (73-89)

Despite making it to the World Series in 2007, the Colorado Rockies’ promising core of talent has essentially evaporated as players have seriously regressed or been traded away due to contract concerns.  While expectations were likely a little unrealistic for 2008 after the team won 21 of 22 games to make the playoffs and then the World Series, injuries to Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton, Jeff Francis and Franklin Morales derailed their ability to defend the NL championship before the season really got going.  The Rockies will need to see breakthrough years by Tulowitzki, Chris Iannetta, Ubaldo Jimenez, Ian Stewart and Carlos Gonzalez, as well as rebound years by Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe and Francis.  If everything goes right, the Rockies could contend, but there are likely too many questions on both sides of the ball.

Team MVP: Troy Tulowitzki
Player to Watch: Ubaldo Jimenez

San Diego Padres (63-99)

San Diego picks third in this years draft, but expect them to pick even higher in 2010 as the Padres have the potential to be the worst team in baseball.  Beyond Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez the team appears to be lacking any type of impact position players or pitchers.  In addition, there is mass speculation that Peavy will not be finishing  the year  in Southern California.  The Padres do potentially have some more talent on their roster if Chris Young can regain his health or if Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff can live up to their potential; however, this still would not be enough to get  the Padres close to contention.

Team MVP: Adrian Gonzalez
Player to Watch: Jake Peavy

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