Preseason Picks Revisited: NL East
October 1, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Odds and Ends
Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:
And now for our latest installment…
- Mets – Only a historic collapse kept me from getting this one right. They were supposed to be the strongest team in the National League, and I had them losing to the Angels in the World Series.
- Braves – You wonder what might have been if they hadn’t traded away Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez and if Andruw Jones had shown up to play.
- Phillies – At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think they had enough pitching. I still don’t, but it appears not to matter. Running Cole Hamels out there every fifth day and having a bunch of guys beat the snot out of the ball in a tiny park turns out to be a pretty effective strategy. Who knew.
- Marlins – Clearly Joe Girardi was holding this club back. Good thing the owner got rid of him. It must be difficult knowing that too much success could force you to keep your team where it is.
- Nationals – Speaking of teams formerly owned by a certain art collector, vive Les Expos! I bought into the hype that said this would be one of the worst teams in big-league history; too bad they couldn’t even finish last in their own division. And forget Dmitri Young; I’d like to know how the Nats got anything out of Cristian Guzman.
My worst division by far. I got precisely zero spots correct. I’m okay with missing on the Mets, because a lot of smart folks blew that one, but I’d underestimated Philadelphia, and I need to figure out why.
The Nationals? I’m still blown away by their performance this year. They finished with a better record than their neighbors, the Baltimore Orioles, who spent far more money on salary (albeit rather stupidly).
I’ll still go by the fact, JS made the right deal at the right time. Sell High on Adam and get a bp arm in the process. Who knew that Gonzo was going to have to have Tommy John Surgery. I’d still take this trade.
The problem was handing the 1st Base job to Scott Thorman was a gamble that didn’t pay off in the least bit. And Craig Wilson wasn’t the answer either. Tex has already made the fans forget both Thorman and LaRoche. It’ll be nice to have Tex in the lineup for a full year come 2008.
You know what, you’re right. I should not judge the trade based on outcome but on whether it made sense at the time. It actually should have helped both clubs, but Gonzalez’ injury and Thorman’s inability to do anything really messed up the Braves.