I had wanted to do this over the weekend, but illness and laziness reared it's ugly head, so here I am doing it on opening day. I am just going to do a simple breakdown of each position and how they compare to each other. I am not going to bother weighting the position as the extra complexity will likely not add much value.
Hitting:
Catchers:
Phillies | Ruiz | 2.5 | Potential, but needs slg north of .430 to be good |
Mets | Schneider | 1.5 | Surprisingly only 32, but really not good at all |
Braves | McCann | 3.5 | Young and inconsistent, not going to hit .333 again |
Marlins | Treanor | 2 | First year as starter and is already 32 |
Nationals | Lo Duca | 1.5 | Average at best but likely to be much worse |
1st Basemen:
Phillies | Howard | 4.5 | Defense only negative |
Mets | Delgado | 3 | I think he bouncs back to around a .850 OPS |
Braves | Teixeira | 4 | In his prime but could be more patient |
Marlins | Jacobs | 2.5 | Average overall, OBP is weak |
Nationals | Johnson | 3.5 | Health always a concern, but good when healthy |
2nd Basemen:
Phillies | Utley | 4.5 | Best 2nd baseman in baseball |
Mets | Castillo | 2.5 | No more speed, but consistently gets on base |
Braves | Johnson | 3 | Good patience and decent power, entering prime |
Marlins | Uggla | 3 | Decent patience and good power, in prime |
Nationals | Belliard | 2.5 | Consistently average over career |
Short Stop:
Phillies | Rollins | 3.5 | Improving, but likely to regress to .830 OPS this year |
Mets | Reyes | 3 | Overrated, career .775 OPS, big steals and CS numbers |
Braves | Escobar | 2.5 | Last year inflated due to .326 BA |
Marlins | Ramirez | 4.5 | Young and improving, defense suspect |
Nationals | Guzman | 1.5 | Because he somehow put up an .846 OPS last year |
3rd Base:
Phillies | Feliz | 2 | Needs 30 homers to offset awful OBP |
Mets | Wright | 5 | If Mets make playoffs, MVP this year |
Braves | Jones | 4.5 | Aging, but posted 3rd best OPS of career last year |
Marlins | Cantu | 2 | Hit 28 HRs in TB in 2005?!?! |
Nationals | Zimmerman | 3.5 | Good, but not there yet |
Left Field:
Phillies | Burrell | 3.5 | Very consistent on a yearly basis but no speed and bad defense |
Mets | Alou | 2.5 | Alou injured and Chavez starting in left |
Braves | Diaz | 2.5 | Ridiculously high batting average and ZERO patience |
Marlins | Willingham | 3 | Decent power and patience |
Nationals | Dukes | 2.5 | Just injured and who knows with this head case |
Center Field:
Phillies
Victorino
3
In prime and speed helps him a bit
Mets
Beltran
4
Good, but inconsistent
Braves
Kotsay
2
Too old to get better
Marlins
Ross
2.5
An enigma in his prime
Nationals
Milledge
3
Young, but potential is there
Right Field:
Phillies | Jenkins | 2.5 | Better if he only faces righties |
Mets | Church | 3 | Decent, but not ypung anymore |
Braves | Francouer | 2.5 | Overrated, career .781 OPS |
Marlins | Hermida | 3.5 | Injured, but young with good potential |
Nationals | Kearns | 3 | In prime, power has been a disappointment |
Bench:
Phillies | Werth, Dobbs, Coste, Helms, Taguchi | 3.5 | |
Mets | Chavez, Easly, Clark, Anderson, Casanova | 2 | |
Braves | Miller, Gotay, Blanco, Prado, Infante | 1.5 | |
Marlins | Hoover, Andino, Wood, Amezaga, Gonzalez | 1.5 | |
Nationals | Flores, Boone, Young, Harris, Mackowiak | 2.5 |
Pitching:
Starting Pitcher:
Phillies | Cole Hamels | 4.5 | Young and getting better, needs to stay healthy |
Mets | Johan Santana | 5 | Best pitcher in the league, homers may be a weakness |
Braves | Tim Hudson | 4 | Good when he keeps homers down |
Marlins | Hendrickson | 2 | Career 5.01 ERA |
Nationals | Odalis Perez | 1.5 | ERA the last 3 years, 5.57, 5.64, 6.83 |
Starting Pitcher:
Phillies | Myers | 3.5 | Keep him out of the bullpen |
Mets | Martinez | 4 | Injury always a concern, but still good |
Braves | Smoltz | 4.5 | Old man is an injury risk |
Marlins | Olson | 2.5 | Another enigma who could be good or awful |
Nationals | Chico | 2 | Awful K:BB ratio |
Starting Pitcher:
Phillies | Moyer | 2.5 | When on is good, when off is really bad |
Mets | Maine | 3.5 | Very good K rate |
Braves | Glavine | 3 | Faltered down the stretch, but likely to be servicable |
Marlins | Miller | 2 | Young and good K rate, but no success so far |
Nationals | Bergmann | 2.5 | If he can repeat last year |
Starting Pitcher:
Phillies | Kendrick | 2 | Awful K rate, but good walk, last year may be a mirage |
Mets | Perez | 3 | Another enigma who is great or horrible |
Braves | Hampton | 2 | Hasn't pitched since 2005 |
Marlins | VandenHurk | 2.5 | Excellent K, bad walks and HR, but young |
Nationals | Redding | 2 | Going to miss the other park |
Starting Pitcher:
Phillies | Eaton | 1.5 | Can't be as bad as last year |
Mets | Hernandez | 2.5 | Injured and old, but still performs decently |
Braves | Jurrjens | 2.5 | Young, but good minors numbers |
Marlins | Nolasco | 2.5 | Meh |
Nationals | Hanrahan | 1.5 | Double Meh |
Bullpen:
Phillies | Lidge, Gordon, Madson, Romero, Lahey | 3 |
Mets | Wagner, Heilman, Feliciano, Sosa, Schoenweis | 3.5 |
Braves | Soriano, Boyer, Ohman, Acosta, Ring | 2.5 |
Marlins | Gregg, Tankerslym Lindstrom, Miller, Gardener | 2.5 |
Nationals | Cordero, Rauch, Rivera, Ayala, King | 2.5 |