Washington Nationals Preview
Win Total (5dimes)
Over 71 -110
Under 71 -110
The Nationals finished in last place in the NL East last year with 59 wins. They drafted pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg first overall and many are hoping to see him pitch for the Nats this year. Contending is out of the question this year for these guys but can they win 72 games?
Whats To Like: For some reason I think of bad, young players when it comes to the Nationals, but they have some proven veterans in there lineup and a couple budding stars in CF Nyjer Morgan and 3B Ryan Zimmerman. These two are here to stay and should both hit about .300, Zimmerman will give you 30+ homers and Morgan will run down balls in center and steal you about 50 bases. I really like these two guys.
Left fielder Josh Willingham is not superstar but you know what you are gonna get from this guy. He'll hit 20-30 HR's and drive in 80-90 runs if he stays healthy. 1B Adam Dunn wont hit .275 and He will strike out a ton, but you can pretty much pencil in 40 HR's and a .385 On Base %. Good or Bad, guy is one of the most consistent players in the game.
The Nats brought in 2B Adam Kennedy from the A's to play up the middle alongside SS C.Guzman. Both of these guys will put the ball in play and should have no problem hitting .285 or better.
The Nats have 2 guys at the top of their rotation that will give them innings and plenty of chances to win games in 2010. Jason Marquis and John Lannan are not household names but they know how to get people out and should both end up with double-digit win totals. Add a phenom (Strasburg) and a wildcard (Chien-Ming Wang, due back in May) and you might have yourselves a respectable rotation by the All-Star break. Ivan Rodriguez was brought in to catch, he can do nothing but help a rotation like this.
Whats Not to Like: The bullpen and back end of the rotation are as bad as it gets in major league baseball. This is how you lose 103 games. And when you see bad pitching, bad defense is usually not far away..
C.Guzman and Adam Kennedy will hit and that's nice but dont expect much of anything else more from these guys. They are both getting older and have limited range. You cant win too many games with bad defense, and corner outfielders J.Willingham and Elijah Dukes are not going to impress many with there gloves this year. CF N.Morgan and Pudge should help out a little bit though, so maybe they are looking to fix this problem.
Ivan Rodriguez should help this rotation but dont expect this guy to hit much, Jesus Flores may catch the majority of games when he returns.
Recap: There are things to like when you look at these guys. Everyone will be waiting to watch Strasburg and if Chien-Ming Wang comes back 100% these guys will have a legitimate rotation.
Their defense will be below average and the offense will be inconsistent..
Best Case Scenario: The rotation comes together, (Strasburg,Lannan,Wang, and Marquis) and they compete day in and day out in the second half on their way to 74 wins.
Worst Case Scenario: They bring Strasburg along slowly, Wang never regains his stuff, and they use 2010 as a year to let youngsters "tryout" on their way to 63 wins.
Either way its a no bet on the Over/Under of 71 games.
Win Total (5dimes)
Over 71 -110
Under 71 -110
The Nationals finished in last place in the NL East last year with 59 wins. They drafted pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg first overall and many are hoping to see him pitch for the Nats this year. Contending is out of the question this year for these guys but can they win 72 games?
Whats To Like: For some reason I think of bad, young players when it comes to the Nationals, but they have some proven veterans in there lineup and a couple budding stars in CF Nyjer Morgan and 3B Ryan Zimmerman. These two are here to stay and should both hit about .300, Zimmerman will give you 30+ homers and Morgan will run down balls in center and steal you about 50 bases. I really like these two guys.
Left fielder Josh Willingham is not superstar but you know what you are gonna get from this guy. He'll hit 20-30 HR's and drive in 80-90 runs if he stays healthy. 1B Adam Dunn wont hit .275 and He will strike out a ton, but you can pretty much pencil in 40 HR's and a .385 On Base %. Good or Bad, guy is one of the most consistent players in the game.
The Nats brought in 2B Adam Kennedy from the A's to play up the middle alongside SS C.Guzman. Both of these guys will put the ball in play and should have no problem hitting .285 or better.
The Nats have 2 guys at the top of their rotation that will give them innings and plenty of chances to win games in 2010. Jason Marquis and John Lannan are not household names but they know how to get people out and should both end up with double-digit win totals. Add a phenom (Strasburg) and a wildcard (Chien-Ming Wang, due back in May) and you might have yourselves a respectable rotation by the All-Star break. Ivan Rodriguez was brought in to catch, he can do nothing but help a rotation like this.
Whats Not to Like: The bullpen and back end of the rotation are as bad as it gets in major league baseball. This is how you lose 103 games. And when you see bad pitching, bad defense is usually not far away..
C.Guzman and Adam Kennedy will hit and that's nice but dont expect much of anything else more from these guys. They are both getting older and have limited range. You cant win too many games with bad defense, and corner outfielders J.Willingham and Elijah Dukes are not going to impress many with there gloves this year. CF N.Morgan and Pudge should help out a little bit though, so maybe they are looking to fix this problem.
Ivan Rodriguez should help this rotation but dont expect this guy to hit much, Jesus Flores may catch the majority of games when he returns.
Recap: There are things to like when you look at these guys. Everyone will be waiting to watch Strasburg and if Chien-Ming Wang comes back 100% these guys will have a legitimate rotation.
Their defense will be below average and the offense will be inconsistent..
Best Case Scenario: The rotation comes together, (Strasburg,Lannan,Wang, and Marquis) and they compete day in and day out in the second half on their way to 74 wins.
Worst Case Scenario: They bring Strasburg along slowly, Wang never regains his stuff, and they use 2010 as a year to let youngsters "tryout" on their way to 63 wins.
Either way its a no bet on the Over/Under of 71 games.