Never Too Early for a Preview

As all baseball fans know, the baseball season is right around the corner. It's never too early to take a quick look at the teams. It was a pretty active offseason this year which means a lot of teams feel they are now poised to make the playoffs. Let's start with the NL East tonight. First, here are the 2009 results.

Philadelphia Phillies 93-69
Florida Marlins 87-75
Atlanta Braves 86 - 76
New York Mets 70 - 92
Washington Nationals 59 - 103

Let's quickly look at some interesting thoughts and questions for each team.

Phillies

- Roy Halladay is finally out of the AL East and will be pitching for a team focused on making their third straight World Series. Most believe the AL is tougher to pitch in, so can Halladay actually put up even better numbers now in Philly?

- Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge were not very good last year, but have had success in the past. Was last year a fluke season for them or a trend?

- Can the big three hitters (Rollins, Utley and Howard) stay healthy as they quietly creep up in age and wear and tear? This is a big year for the Phillies, because their window is closing a bit to try and win another World Series.

Marlins

- Hanley Ramirez is still improving? We'll see, he can definitely improve defensively still but hitting wise I'm not sure if he can improve.

- Will this team somehow find a way to stay competitive again like they do every season?

Braves

- The Braves are a pitching team again. They have a solid rotation and Wagner and Saito in the bullpen. However, Jair Jurrigan is already supposedly feeling some pain in his arm. Can they all stay healthy?

- Will Heyward play enough in 2010 to become a force at the plate for a team in need of more bats?

Mets

- I guess you have to start with health. Beltran will start off injured, but otherwise everyone else should be healthy...for now.

- Can David Wright and Jose Reyes put together a season everyone expects them to almost every season? They have all the potential, but haven't done it entirely yet. They now have Jason Bay as well to help carry the offensive load.

- Anyone know a Mets pitcher not names Santana or Rodriguez? Isn't that a problem?

Nationals

- Not much to say, except this team is still trying to load up on talent. Strasburg might pitch this season, and they could very well draft Bryce Harper, but still this team isn't ready.

- Will Ryan Zimmerman be around to see the other talented players?

- Can Chien-Meng Wang actually help keep this team competitive by returning back to form?

Those are just a few of the things I am wondering about this season in the NL East. It should be an exciting year in this division, but I expect the Phillies to continue winning. The only team I think who could challenge them is the Braves, but I still think they are a bat short of competing for the division.