CTOD: Washington Nationals

Upon reviewing the outlook for the Washington Nationals for the upcoming season I was instantly filled with regret for saying the Mets could compete with them for the bottom of the NL East this year. Perhaps it is the prospect hype, with Strasburg last year and then Harper this year, or else the high profile signing of Jayson Werth in the offseason, or Ryan Zimmerman emerging as one of the games best players, but I seem to give the Nats more credit then they deserve.

CTOD: Philadelphia Phillies

Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels. I think we have all heard enough of the hype and are ready to see what this rotation is capable of on a daily basis. For those of you who can't get enough of the Phillies super-rotation, then I highly recommend Curtis Cleveland's best rotation of all time article found here.

There were few surprises on the hill last season for the Phils. Halladay mowed through NL hitters for a spectacular 250 innings. Hamels pitched almost exactly the same way he has for the past 3 years, with #1 stuff, and his ERA came back down to near 3.00 after an unlucky 2009. Oswalt wasn't just lights out for his second half stint with Philadelphia, he was as good as he has ever been, posting his best K rate since his rookie year. Add Cliff Lee and things are looking mighty difficult for NL lineups this year. However, with the exception of Hamels, no one on this super-staff is a spring chicken. Doc-Lee-Roy are all north of 33 and it wouldn't be unreasonable to except any of them to start to decline or miss time with those nagging injuries that afflict older pitchers.

CTOD: Atlanta Braves

If the Mets are the most tumultuous team in MLB then the Atlanta Braves may be their bizarro world counterpart. Although every team faces questions and concerns going into the regular season, the Braves, like in years past, seem like beacons of consistency.

On offense, it is difficult to find players whose performance is more consistent over the past few years than Brian McCann, Dan Uggla, and the under-appreciated Martin Prado. Jason Heyward was as amazing as advertised, aside from an injured thumb in June and July, and showed he is capable of MVP caliber play. Add a healthy Chipper Jones, who is absolutely raking this spring, and the Braves lineup looks as balanced as any in the NL.

CTOD: New York Mets

In the course of one year the New York Mets have gone from perennial playoff contender, slash September choke-show, to a team drowning in a sea of turmoil. 2010 was an entirely forgettable year for the Metropolitans and an off-season where ownership was paralyzed by personal financial troubles does little to raise the hopes of their embattled fans.

Indeed, very little went right in 2010.  Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana all suffered significant injuries and missed time. Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and Jose Reyes continued to perform far under expectations. K-Rod beat up his girlfriends father. David Wright rediscovered his power stroke but saved his whining for the umps as he watched his OBP plummet to a career low. On the positive side, off-setting this mammoth list of disappointments were the emergences of Ike Davis and R.A. Dickey; the latter featuring an insane knuckleball and thus becoming one of the few must watch pitchers in the league on a start-to-start basis.