Can the Reds repeat as NL Central Champions in 2011?
This could be the year folks. The NL Central Champ has not won a playoff game since 2006, when LaRussa led his boys to the promised land. 4 straight years of October broomsticks waving in their faces is bound to end this year, right?
The order below is according to their 2010 finishes. I think the Brewers will win the Central, but my name isn’t Tim Kurkjian so nobody really cares what I think.
Cincinnati Reds
2010 Record: 91-71
Projected 2011 Record: 89-73
The Reds are coming off of a season that featured a lineup that scored the most runs in the National League (790) and a defense that yielded the best fielding percentage in baseball (0.988) including three Gold-Glove winners in Brandon Phillips (2B), Scott Rolen (3B), and Bronson Arroyo (P). Despite impressive runs by young pitchers, the Reds ended the season with a lowly 4.01 ERA, the worst among NL playoff teams, and part of the reason the Reds found themselves swept out of the offseason.
Reds GM Walt Jocketty needed to add some sort of staple to a rotation filled with question marks if he wanted to take Cincinnati to the World Series like he did while working as GM of the Cards in 2006. Instead, Jocketty added lefty Dontrelle Willis and lost longtime ace Aaron Harang. Now the Reds are left looking to add solid starting pitching and a team psychologist.
St.Louis Cardinals
2010 Record: 86-76
Projected 2011 Record: 83-79
As if the whole Pujols fiasco looming over their shoulder for the whole season wasn’t going to be enough, the Cardinals now have to try and win the NL Central without the latter part of their 1-2 rotation punch. Although the Cardinals certainly have some impressive pieces on their roster, including 20-game winner Adam Wainwright, a catcher in Yadier Molina who has a streak of 7 straight gold gloves going, slugger Matt Holliday in left, and what could quite possibly be the greatest the player of all time in Albert Pujols at first.
With that said, I think the Cardinals have too many holes in their lineup to do much this year. Lance Berkman has an injury record long enough to make your body ache and the Cardinals aren’t helping his case by moving him from first base to right field. Ryan Theriot
Milwaukee Brewers
2011 Record: 77-85
Projected 2011 Record: 92-70
When he suits up for Opening Day next month, Ron Roenicke will become the third member of Mike Scioscia’s coaching staff to land MLB gigs, joining the likes of Joe Maddon (2006, Rays) and Bud Black (Padres, 2007). Brewers fans have reason for optimism with a potential impact manager joining the club as well as two workhorse pitchers joining the rotation with 2009 AL Cy-Young Zack Greinke (Kansas City) and 2011 13-game winner Shaun Marcum (Toronto). Ufortunately for the Brew Crew, Greinke thought he signed a pickup basketball deal, not an MLB contract. Classic mixup.
Houston Astros
2010 Record: 76-86
Projected 2011 Record: 72-90
Houston Astros fans are going to repeatedly hear the two worst words in any sports fans vocabularly thrown at them by analysts all year: transition phase. Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt both departed Texas at the end of last season with trades to the Yankees and Phillies respectively. Carlos Lee is the only pawn that GM Ed Wade still has to play with from the 2005 World Series team, but some youngsters on the team like Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn indicate that the future could be just beyond the horizon. The Astros won’t finish last in the NL Central, but that’s only thanks to the Pirates.
Chicago Cubs
2010 Record: 75-87
Projected 2011 Record: 89-73
Chicago received a dose of Tampa Bay this offseason with additions of starter Matt Garza and first baseman Carlos Pena. Quick, name all four Cubs with the first name Carlos: Zambrano, Marmol, Silva and Pena. Garza hopes to help a rotation that struggled mightily last year and lost Ted Lilly, while Carlos Pena needs to fill the shoes of Gold Glover Derek Lee who was traded to Atlanta last August after 7 seasons on the North Side. Bottom line for this Cubs team, the stars need to play like stars. Although the little things need to fall in place too, the reality is that the Cubbies will spend October on the links unless Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano perform like their contracts indicate they should. You can’t call a team with a payroll above a million dollars a dark horse; however, not many people are picking the Cubs and quite frankly they could surprise their skeptics.
Pittburgh Pirates
2010 Record: 57-105
Projected 2011 Record: 162-0
Just making sure you guys are paying attention there. The Pirates endured their 18th straight losing season in 2010 and will certainly not be #biwinning any championships in 2011. I’d like to sit here and write that they have a lot of young talent on their roster and could surprise some people this year. Realistically, the 2011 Pirates aren’t drastically different from the 2010 Pirates, who failed to produce a single player with a batting average above .300, a homer total above 25, an RBI total above 90, and here’s the kicker, no Pirate starter finished the season with double digit wins. I always feel sympathetic for Pirates fans, but then I pause and remember Pittsburgh has the Steelers and Penguins too.
Carlos Lee was not on 2005 Astros World Series team. He came to Houston in 2007.
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