each NL East teams 2019 Christmas list

Hey yall, how is everyone doing on this fine ass Christmas Eve Eve. So the big day is in two days. I don’t know about you but I sure as hell can’t believe it. God, where did 2018 go this year just flew by. While I am kind of upset 2018 is almost over I am excited about the upcoming MLB season. And with Christmas being right around the corner I thought I would talk about the one thing every baseball team wants for Christmas. I have covered all of the AL teams so now I am gonna discuss all of the NL teams. Starting off with the NL East. So enough chitchat how about we jump right into this. So without further adieu here are each NL East teams 2019 Christmas list.

1.  Playing well in April, May, June, July and August and not just in September for the New York Mets: Okay first team on the list are the Yankees crosstown rivals the New York Mets. The Mets are known for there subpar performances in the MLB season. And unfortunately, if you’re a Mets fan you rarely to never get to watch any baseball in October. Now the met have been dealing as of recently they traded for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz from the Seattle Mariners. They also signed outfielder Rajai Davis, catcher Wilson Ramos, and outfielder Gregor Blanco.

The Mets finished the 2018 season in 4th place in the NL East with a modest 77-85 regular season record The interesting thing about the Mets in 2018 was that they got off to such an amazing start in the 2018 MLB season finishing the month of April with a 15-9 record and even had a 9 game winning streak from April 3rd-April 13th. Unfortuatnetly for the mets there wins began to decrease steadily. In may they were 10-18, In June they went just 5-21, in July they were 12-12, in august they were an even 15-15 and in September they finished out the 2018 MLB regular season strong achieving an 18-10 record.

Now I think we can all admit that had the Mets not had the god-awful June where they won just 5 games that they had they might have finished the 2018 season with a much higher record. However, interestingly enough the Mets have always played there best baseball in the final month of the regular season. However, if they want to bring there record up in 2019 they are going to have to learn to play well in all months of the regular season.

 

2.  Being able to adjust without there superstar and face of the franchise Right Fielder Bryce Harper in 2019 for the Washington Nationals: Okay for the second team on the list I am talking about the one and only Washington Nationals. Before the Nats were the in Washington they were in Montreal as they expos The nats have come a long way since first becoming a team after relocating from Montreal where they spent a total of 35 years there from 1969-2004. When the Nats first started in 2005.

They had a lot of struggles. For Example in the teams first 8 seasons they only finished the season above .500 just once (in 2005). The Nats played so bad in there first 8 seasons that they had two back to back 100 loss seasons in 2008 and 2009. The Nationals last subpar season came in 2011 when they finished the season 80-81. The next season would mark the first MLB season of young and upcoming future MLB superstar Bryce Harper.

Bryce Harper was drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2010 as the first overall pick out of Southern Nevada Community College at the age of 17. On April 27th, 2012 Bryce made his MLB debut with the Nationals. That same season Bryce would not only be named NL rookie of the year but also would help lead the franchise to a 98-64 regular season record and there first postseason appearance as a franchise.

In Bryce’s 7 seasons with the Nationals, they have finished above .500 in each of them. A sharp contrast to how they were playing before him. In 2018 the Nationals finished the regular season second place in the NL East with an 82-80 record in the regular season. I don’t know how they are gonna do in their first season without him. But since it is strongly indicated that Bryce does not plan on resigning with them they will have to make do without him.

3. That the rookie phenom left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr will be able to stay healthy all year long in 2019 and won’t get stuck in a sophomore slump for the Atlanta Braves: Okay third team on the list are the Atlanta Braves. The Braves finished the 2018 MLB season in first place in the NL East with a 90-72 record in the regular season. They made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2013 but unfortunately lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the NLDS.

Overall the Braves had an excellent roster to work with. For pitching, they had starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz who finished the 2018 season with a 13-10 record and a 2.85 ERA. For hitting they had the Likes of first baseman Freddie Freeman who hit .309 in the 2018 season, right fielder Nick Markakis who got 185 hits, second baseman Ozzie Albies who hit 24 Home runs and finally left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr who was named the 2018 NL Rookie of the year.

Ronald made his MLB debut with the Braves on April 25th with the braves. In his rookie season, he got 127 hits, 78 runs, 26 HRs, 64 RBIs, 239 total bases, 56 extra base hits, 86 weighted runs created and 143 weighted runs created plus. Ronald also put up an amazing .293/.366/.552 slash line along with an equally amazing .917 OPS. As well as a solid .259 isolated power, a 6.3-speed score, a .352 BABIP, a 1.6 UBR and a .388 WOBA for the 2018 season with the Atlanta Braves.

Another important thing to mention is that Ronald only played in 111 games in 2018 with the Braves due to the fact that he was dealing with a mild ACL sprain in his left knee as well as a back contusion. If Ronald can force himself to stay healthy in 2019 and force himself to not endure the infamous sophomore slump he can definitely help out the Atlanta Braves greatly in 2019.

 

4.  That they will be able to bring out the big bucks and give a big fat contract to either top free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado for the Philadelphia Phillies: Okay second to the last team on the list is the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies finished the 2018 MLB season in 3rd place in the NL East with an 80-82 regular season record. The Phillies had a very decent season in 2018 finishing just below .500 with a .494 average for the 2018 MLB regular season. Not great but not bad either. 2018 marked a break out year from left fielder Rhys Hoskins who made his MLB debut with the Phillies the previous season on August 10th, 2017. Rhys would become the fastest player in Phillies franchise history to reach 30 career home runs on June 27th, 2018. reaching the feat in just 120 games.

Rhys would finish the season with 34 HRs, 96 RBIs, 137 hits, 89 runs, 277 total bases, and 72 extra base hits. Rhys also got a solid .246/.354/.496 slash line along with a .850 OPS in 2018. The Phillies also had a lot of talent coming from there Ace pitcher in there starting rotation Aaron Nola who not only made it to his first all-star game appearance in 2018 but also finished the season with an amazing 17-6 record, a 2.37 ERA, 224 strikeouts and a 0.97 WHIP for the 2018 season. Now the current offseason has certainly not been a quiet offseason for the Phillies.

They signed free agent Centerfielder Andrew McCutchen and they also traded infielders Carlos Santana and J.P. Crawford for star hitter shortstop Jean Segura from the Seattle Mariners. However, there work in the offseason is far from being over yet. There are still two players that they could try and go after. And those are top free agents Third Baseman/Shortstop Manny Machado and Right Fielder Bryce Harper. Now the Phillies do have Maikel Franco at third base.

and while he isn’t Manny Machado good he still is good enough to stay at that position so ideally, it would be best for the Phillies to put Manny up at shortstop. Now for Bryce Harper that is someone that they can hypothetically have a lot of need for in the outfield. They can put him at either center field or right field and have either Oduebel Herrera and Nick Williams platoon with him in 2019 in the Philadelphia Phillies outfield.

5. That they will be able to start putting up more runs up on the board in 2019 for the Miami Marlins: Okay last but not least for the NL East I am putting up the Miami Marlins on the list. The Marlins played atrociously in 2018 and finished in the last place in the NL East with a 63-98 record in the regular season. Going into the 2018 season the Marlins really cleared house. 2018 was the first season with New York Yankees icon shortstop Derek Jeter as the CEO of the team and he sure made some pretty questionable trades.

Such as trading away Second Baseman Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners, the 2017 NL MVP Left Fielder Giancarlo Stanton who led the entire MLB in HRs in 2017 with 59 to the New York Yankees. They also traded away another left fielder Marcell Ozuna who was an all-star with the team in 2017 and hit 37 HRs with them and had a .312 batting average in 2017 to the St Louis Cardinals. There final trade that would really come back to bite them would be when they would trade another outfielder Christian Yellich to the Milwaukee Brewers. To be fair Christian did have a pretty average year in 2017.

Getting 18 HRs, 81 RBIs, 170 hits, 118 runs. However in 2018 out of nowhere. He would end up having such an amazing season not only just making it to his first all-star game with the Brew Crew. But also being named the NL MVP, winning a silver slugger award, the NL Hank Aaron Award, being named the NL batting champion and hitting for the cycle not just once but twice in the 2018 season. So with all the trades, the Miami Marlins ended up being decimated in both power and talent. The one area they were most hurt in for the 2018 season was run production.

in 2017 the Marlins ranked 11th in runs with 778, 19th in home runs with 194 and 10th in RBIs with 743. Sabermetrically wise they were 11th in weighted run created with a 111 and 8th in weighted runs created plus with a 102 and were 12th in weighted runs above average with a 13.3 weighted runs above average in 2017. Now in 2018, the Marlins were dead last in, runs, home runs and runs batted in with 589 runs and 128 HRs and 554 RBIs.

The Marlins were also dead last in weighted runs created and weighted runs above average with 581 weighted runs created and -130.3 weighted runs above average. They were also ranked 29tth in weighted runs created plus with 83 weighted runs created plus in 2018. If the Marlins are going to go past there hideously awful 63-98 2018 record in 2019 they are definitely going to need to put a substantial increase of runs in 2019 then they did in 2018.