Jake's 2014 Arbitary Spring Training Preview - NL Central

[Giants]

Hope you all enjoyed the elite 8. Later start today then planned, Strap in.

Brewers

Strengths
Strasburg. Has this team ever had a strength other than Strasburg? That being said, when healthy Strasburg is pretty sweet. So is the rest of the rotation, with Cueto and Fister (insert immature joke here) if he is at all healthy. The bullpen is also pretty solid

Weaknesses
No joke, Matt Carpenter is the cleanup hitter here. The lineup actually isn't as bad as all that, but that's an interesting choice. Also, if the top 3 get hurt (and they are none of them the pictures of health), thats a problem.

Bottom Line
Really interesting pitching staff, lot of upside but lots of injury risk. Given that winning this division requires running through the JP buzzsaw this team is probably a year and a bat or so away, but keep an eye on them.

Cardinals

Strengths
Well, Aaron thinks he has a wild card contender according to his old lineup post, so confidence is good. I'm not sure I see it, especially if Oscar Taveras and Taijuan Walker are both slow to debut. AJ Burnett and Matt Holliday shoudl make nice trade bait. This team does have
a pretty good set up for the future but it might be a year early.

Weaknesses
Outside of Holliday and Christian Yelich I don't think there's a 2 WAR hitter in this lineup, and I'm really not a fan of Lance Lynn's, I don't think he has major stuff, so I think the rotation is a bit more of a bummer than it looks like on the surface. I was also kind of amused when I read a headline today that Quentin was going to start the year on the DL. In other news, sky blue, grass green

Bottom Line
There's a bit more feistiness in the NL than might be expected, so calling a wildcard shot might be premature. Another year of development for the big 2 prospects and another high first rounder and something might be cooking a little more next year.

Cubs

Strengths
This is a much better rotation than I was expecting. Kershaw, Gio, Lackey, Kuroda (at least via Zips), Santana might be the best 1-5 in the NL (what happened JP?). That's important given the park and how wide open this division is. Aaron Hill is sneaky good, and Sal Perez is a pretty solid backstop. Also, Gabe currently has 6 whole draft eligible players, that's pretty impressive for him.
Weaknesses
Lineup anyone? Adrian Gonzalez is in decline, Elvis Andrus is the kind of player who's much more valuable in real life than the sim, and counting on Eric Chavez is probably not realistic. Does anyone want the corpse of Ryan Howard?
Bottom Line
Depending on the health of the rotation this team could stay in wild card contention, but I don't see any upside beyond that for this year

Pirates

Strengths
The Trout/Longoria combo is this decades Pujols/A-Rod combo. Why do we play in a league that allows someone to have this again? Top to bottom this might be the best lineup in the IBC, and as always we're expecting Pittsburgh to have a great shot at cutting down the nets.

Weaknesses
Wainwright - Good
Cain - Goodish
Morrow/Haren/Martinez/Hellickson/Kelly? Really? That's the best we can do here?
With the lineup as it is this team probably still has enough, but this is definitely a concern.

Bottom Line
Just keep getting dem checks. See you in the World Series

Reds

Strengths
This might be the most boring team in the IBC. Everyone is pretty good, no one is great, no glaring holes, just kind of pretty solid.

Weaknesses
Nothing snarky for me to say, which means this is the least interesting write up. Sorry guys.

Bottom Line
Contend for the wild card, or don't. Wait, I've got one! This team is so boring (how boring are they?) They are so boring that they should be called the Beiges instead of the Reds! Sorry everyone. See what you've reduced me to?

Projected Standings
1. Pirates - WS Contender
2. Reds - WC
3. Cubs - Fringe WC
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4. Brewers - Top 20 pick
5. Cardinals - Top 15 Pick

[DBacks]

Also, Gabe currently has 6 whole draft eligible players, that's pretty impressive for him.

Franchise Record.