{"id":850,"date":"2007-02-21T21:39:33","date_gmt":"2007-02-22T02:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=850"},"modified":"2019-11-27T08:06:19","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T12:06:19","slug":"jetnation-fantasy-baseball-preview-nl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2007\/02\/21\/jetnation-fantasy-baseball-preview-nl\/","title":{"rendered":"JetNation Fantasy Baseball Preview (NL)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Dietrich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to the first installment of the JetNation fantasy baseball column.\u00c2\u00a0 I have been playing this for over 20 years and would like to share my knowledge and experience with everyone at JetNation.\u00c2\u00a0 In our first article we will review the players to watch for each National League team in spring training.<\/p>\n

New York Mets<\/strong>
\nAll of the position spots are filled but take a look at the young pitchers (Perez, Pelfrey, Humber).\u00c2\u00a0 Their stats will matter since they are competing for a spot in the best offense in the N.L and could provide cheap value.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Phillies<\/strong>
\nWatch the catcher competition (Rod Barajas or Carlos Ruiz).\u00c2\u00a0 Whoever gets the job will be a great source of cheap power in their home ballpark.\u00c2\u00a0 Shane Victorino has put up great numbers in small doses and could be productive in this environment.<\/p>\n

Atlanta Braves<\/strong>
\nThey have two open spots in the lineup at 1st and 2nd base.\u00c2\u00a0 The Braves want Scott Thorman and Kelly Johnson to win these jobs but Thorman has a possible platoon partner in Craig Wilson behind him and Kelly Johnson has never played 2nd base.\u00c2\u00a0 Watch the box scores.<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals<\/strong>
\nChristian Guzman is coming off major surgery and they just signed Ronnie Belliard and could move Felipe Lopez to SS to accommodate him.\u00c2\u00a0 Also keep an eye on Nook Logan who could get 50 steals with an everyday job.<\/p>\n

Florida Marlins<\/strong>
\nAlfredo Amezega is a dark horse for the CF job.\u00c2\u00a0 He came through in a part time role with 20 SB\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last year.\u00c2\u00a0 Jeremy Hermida was a preseason ROY before last season.\u00c2\u00a0 He had a bunch of injuries but it is way too early to give up on him.\u00c2\u00a0 Monitor his health.<\/p>\n

Houston Astros<\/strong>
\nBrad Lidge (5.28 era) had an awful year so watch his outings and if he looks the same, watch Dan Wheeler who could end up being the closer.\u00c2\u00a0 Morgan Ensberg should bounce back and regain his 2005 form, keep an eye on his power numbers<\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs<\/strong>
\nThe closer situation is interesting. Ryan Dempster (4.80 ERA 1.51 WHIP) was average at best last year and now Kerry Wood if healthy, and that is a big if, could be a dominating closer.<\/p>\n

St Louis Cardinals<\/strong>
\nThe health of Jim Edmonds and Juan Encarnacion is key to their whole outfield.\u00c2\u00a0 Also watch Jason Isringhausen, if he does not bounce back, Adam Wainwright showed last year he can be a dominant closer.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Pirates
\n<\/strong>The closer situation is up in the air with Solaman Torres or Matt Capps being the favorite.\u00c2\u00a0 Having a closer on a bad team is still good for 30 saves so watch this battle.\u00c2\u00a0 Chris Duffy is another low average speed guy trying to win a job.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Brewers<\/strong>
\nThey have 2 outfield jobs open but I see Corey Hart as a 20\/20 starter and a platoon between Kevin Mench and Geoff Jenkins producing 35 HR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00c2\u00a0 Dave Bush is a great sleeper since he ended the season on a high note last year and had a great WHIP (1.14).<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Reds<\/strong>
\nThey do not have a closer with Eddie Guardado being out until midseason.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep an eye on Todd Coffey who pitched pretty well in that role last year.\u00c2\u00a0 Ryan Freel is also one of the top base stealers who would flourish with 500 at bats.<\/p>\n

Arizona Diamondbacks
\n<\/strong>Chris Young in CF has the job to lose.\u00c2\u00a0 He is a future 30\/30 player unless he flops in the spring.\u00c2\u00a0 Also Stephen Drew at SS was a top pick a few years ago but might be a year away.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers<\/strong>
\nThe RF spot is up for grabs between Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and James Loney.\u00c2\u00a0 Ethier is the favorite but all are very good prospects.\u00c2\u00a0 Also the closer Saito is 37 years old and Jonathon Broxton is waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n

Colorado Rockies
\n<\/strong>Kaz Matsui revitalized his career and could finally fulfill his expectations in a pressure free environment at 2nd base.\u00c2\u00a0 Also keep an eye on Jason Hirsh who could blossom and pitchers in Colorado are now draft-able due to the humidor.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants<\/strong>
\nThe Giants are pretty set at all positions but Armando Benitez is older and more fragile.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep an eye on Brian Wilson and Kevin Correia<\/p>\n

We will be back next week with a look at the American League.\u00c2\u00a0 Discuss this in the JetNation baseball forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike Dietrich Welcome to the first installment of the JetNation fantasy baseball column.\u00c2\u00a0 I have been playing this for over 20 years and would like to share my knowledge and experience with everyone at JetNation.\u00c2\u00a0 In our first article we will review the players to watch for each National League team in spring training. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-baseball"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-dI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47118,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/47118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}