Breaking down the NL West

The Philadelphia Phillies are the top team in the National league, and got even more dominant when they traded for Roy Halliday. St. Louis re-signed Matt Holliday to solidify the fourth spot in their batting order behind Albert Pujols to make another run in the playoffs. I think you can put the Rockies in the mix now when talking about the top teams in the National league. They didn’t make any major off-season changes to their team. They re-signed some key players in the bullpen and signed some veteran help off the bench. The Dodgers had a quiet off-season and didn’t make any major moves that would impact their team, but instead like the Rockies the Dodgers are relying on their young talent to prove they are still a top team in the National league. But the Phillies will easily win their division, as will the Cardinals. The NL West is again going to be the division to watch because of all the talent. In the end it’s going to come down to the Rockies and Dodgers for the division winner, but Arizona and San Fransisco will factor in as well with San Diego in a re-buliding year. The Giants will be taking a step back this season because they didn’t answer their number one priority this off-season which was offense. They acquired Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa to try to lift this team on the offensive side. But in a ballpark like AT&T park I don’t think these two are going to factor into what the Giants really need. Huff’s 33 years old and isn’t the middle of the order bat that the Giants needed, Huff had a decent season with the O’s last year hitting .241 15hr 81rbi but a major downfall compared to 2008 where he hit .304 32hr 108rbi. As a Giants fan you would have much rather had them go after Adam Laroche instead, and DeRosa is 35 years old has lost a couple steps on the defensive side so he won’t be playing much in the middle of the infield so its hard to see him putting up numbers like he did last year .250 23hr 78rbi. I just see the Giants taking a step back this year because the Dimondbacks have improved on the defensive side will additions like Kelley Johnson and Adam Laroche. Laroche is a huge upgrade for them at first base, they have the offense to compete in this division with guys like Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton and adding Laroche. The major question with the dbacks will be a healthy Brandon Webb atop their starting rotation. I see the dbacks finishing third in front of the Giants with or without Webb. But with Webb they will compete with the Rockies and Dodgers, remember in 2007 they finished with 90 wins. By seasons end the Rockies and Dodgers will be competing for the division title and I see the Rockies finishing first atop the NL West for the first time in their history. They Rockies have a more talented, and deeper bench then the Dodgers. They don’t have as many question marks in their rotation. The Dodgers might have a better bullpen by a small margin. But overall I see the Rockies starting off strong and finishing strong unlike 2007 and 2009,where they started off slow and finished strong. This team is not happy with the wild card and want to make another appearance in the World Series. Rockies win the NL West!