i cant see the Astros pitching staff holding up well enough to win 85 games. they do have a murderers row in the lineup, but that can only take you so far. the back end of that rotation looks pretty weak. the Astros bullpen is going to be under siege this year.

The Reds will be hanging around as well Jay. Harang and Arroyo are two above average starters (even though Arroyo's record was dismal last year due to run support). I'm a big Brandon Phillips fan and if he can have a similar year to last year, the middle of the lineup with Dunn and Griffey (until his yearly injury bug hits) will be formidable. They need a bounceback from Ryan Freel who was bad last year fighting through injuries. They will be asking alot of Joey Votto but with Dusty at the helm, he will go back to Hatterberg quickly if Votto struggles out of the gate.

The pen will be much better with adding Cordero. Even though David Weathers saved 33 last year, he was very beatable late. Putting him into the 8th will shore up the rest of the pen. They desperately need a left hander though.

thats why the central is so odd. everybody sucks, but theyre so bad that no one can lose 100 because they play each other to much

I love bashing NL ball and especially the Central but I dont think they are that bad really, I wouldnt say everybody sucks. It seems to me that the NL is very weak overall, but the Mets and the Cubs, possible the Phillies, have the two best teams on paper, and after that its tough. I could absolutely see the Brew, Reds, Astros, and Cards being better than people thought. I think any of those four would get spanked in any AL division, but in the NL I can see them being competitive.

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The Cards have some injury issues that will change that 3-5 soon enough. Matt Clement, Cris Carpenter and Joel Piniero will probably all start on the DL.

damn i completly forgot about chris carpenter. isnt he supposed to be back in june?

Carpenter is unlikely to return before the All Star Break. Carpenter wants to return in mid July, but recently started throwing so it might be more like August.

Carpenter will probably not really be starting until 2009, when Morris came back from Tommy John surgery like 5 years ago LaRussa eased him back into the bullpen.

I would not be surprised if Mulder never came back...

Really, other than Boston, Arizona... Dodgers, and [draws blank] MAYBE Anaheim and Detroit, who really has more than 2 proven big league starters?

This is why Lilly is making 10$mil a year and Marquis 7mil... nobody has starters.

what about the mariners. felix hernandez and erik bedard

I do like Rich Hill, but he hasn't completely won me over just yet, and that 4 and 5 is, like the White Sox, a big concern to me. We already know Jason Marquis stinks - he may get off to a hot April, but by June, he'll have his usual 5.00 ERA. Dempser is sort of the wildcard.

The NL Central is bad. The Cubs and Brewers are the class of the division, the Reds may improve, but I don't have much hopes for the Pirates, Astros and Cardinals this season.

If Gallardo comes back healthy, that's a potential top of the line starter. Very good young pitcher.

Their payroll is still relatively high as well. They seem to have really messed up that team. I see a 75 win team here at most.

To be fair, we don't know what Dempster will actually do as a starter. We do know that Marquis is bad (outside the first month or two). Hill should be as good as last season, hopefully better.

im hoping that marquis starts out strong, and they can deal him when his value is high. they didnt bring leiber on board to rot in the bullpen. this would be dependent of course on the other cubs starters performing reasonably well.