2015 NL West Preview

The NL West Champion is pretty clear with 162 games to go, it would take an act of God for the Giants to drop the division this year. Despite all of that, they still play the games, so anything can happen.

Only the Giants made the playoffs in 2014, with Arizona missing out after losing Goldschmidt for the end of the season. That won't be an issue this year with Arizona, Los Angeles, Colorado, and San Diego setting their sights on the future. Non-San Francisco NL West fans should hit up Baseball America or ESPN and bone up on the 2016 draft class, they are going to be drafting early.

NL West Projected Finish

#1 San Francisco Giants (100-62) : The Giants are simply loaded, again, and barring any injuries will be a favorite to win the World Series for a second time. The Giants wheeled and dealed this offseason to unload some contracts and got younger on offense. Chris Davis and Robinson Cano are gone in favor of Jason Kipnis, Rusney Castillo, and J.D. Martinez. They also added Felix Hernandez, who can replace David Price after he left for free agency. They have one of the most solid offenses in baseball and the deepest rotation, it looks like only the Cubs have the firepower to stop them from repeating as World Champions. They headed into free agency with $14.6 million to spend, but instead of spending on free agents they made some moves and brought in Miguel Cabrera.

Bumgarner could unseat Clayton Kershaw as the NL Cy Young winner. 

#2 Arizona Diamondbacks (76-84) : Faint praise, but the Diamondbacks might be the second best team in this division again. The gap in wins between #1 and #2 is going to be significantly wider than #2 and #5, and to be honest anybody from 2-5 could easily finish last in the division. The only thing holding this team up is having some high-upside hitting and starting pitchers. Paul Goldschmidt has MVP potential, and Yasmany Tomas could be a real surprise. An entire season of David Peralta and Chris Owings might just be enough to boost this team from worst to almost-worst. Gio Gonzalez should have a bounce back season, and Patrick Corbin might help after the All Star break, but beyond them this rotation is a real launching pad.

Will Goldschmidt finally lift the MVP Award?

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (72-90) : This is where projecting the standings gets hard, but the Dodgers get a small edge for having a slightly more complete roster. They still have a big name in Prince Fielder, but beyond that they are lacking in high end talent. Fielder will have to return from a lost 2014 season if the Dodgers are going to avoid a 100 loss season. The rotation is full, unlike San Diego, but it's mostly just warm bodies and bloated contracts. This team is very expensive, doesn't have a very high ceiling, and swap a bunch of talent for impact prospects.

Can Fielder return to All-Star form?

#4 Colorado Rockies (72-90) : The Rockies look like they are stuck somewhere between the Dodgers and Padres as far as roster construction goes. They have depth on offense and some decent pitching options, but they will need good seasons from guys like Ryan Howard to pass Los Angeles. Troy Tulowitzki is one of the best players in baseball, and will probably be in Colorado for quite some time, but he's alone in terms of high impact bats. James Loney, Will Middlebrooks, and Josh Reddick are decent players but hardly All-Star talent. Colorado has more pitchers than San Diego, but they don't really have a very good starting rotation at the moment. Their pitching strength comes from the bullpen with Eric O'Flaherty and Santiago Casilla holding down the setup-closer one-two punch, but that isn't going to help them break .500 this year.

It could be a long season for the Rockies' stars... again.

#5 San Diego Padres (70-92) : The Padres are extremely one-sided this season, and they will be desperate for pitching from game 1 to game 162. Their offense is actually pretty decent for a team projected to lose close to 100 games. Joe Mauer, Asdrubal Cabrera, Erick Aybar, Michael Bourn, and Curtis Grandserson give this team some pop. The bench is deep, but it's also full of guys about to come of the books. San Diego is in a race with Arizona to have the most money come off their salary after the 2015 season, and with over $60 million set to come off they are dominating the race. Their ace at the moment is Johan Santana, so they will basically be looking for their entire rotation to come from their MiLB system. It's going to be a long season in San Diego, but their farm system is stacked and looks to be a Top 10 system going forward.

Not even PetCo Park can save this pitching staff.

2015 Cactus League Evaluation

SCOTTSDALE - Nestled between McCormick Ranch Golf Club and the Talking Stick Resort sits Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the spring home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. While standing between a golf course and a resort hotel it's not a stretch to think Tony LaRussa managed to sign Yasmany Tomas and Yoan Lopez by showing them where they would be staying for spring training, but let's say they were more interested in actually playing baseball.

Another spring of Cactus League baseball and we have our 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks. The departure of Aaron Hill made a $6.8 million hole in the roster, but warm-body types like Blake DeWitt are happy to fill in. The long term infield solution might look completely different, with Yasmany Tomas looking like he will either start at 3B or get sent to the minors. Ultimately he may be sent to the outfield and Jake Lamb will be given an opportunity to grab the hot corner. Luis Sardinas is also looking like someone who could be an MLB mainstay at 2B with Chris Owings holding down SS, but for this season he's starting off in Reno.

The real problem for 2015 is behind the plate, the team's only options are John Baker and Rule 5 draft selection Oscar Hernandez, who broke a hamate bone recently. Unless Arizona rushes drool-inducing catching prospect Pete O'Brien, there is going to be an offensive black hole behind the plate. While all of these issues look bad, it's fairly obvious the Diamondbacks are not in a position to compete for anything this year and won't be making any drastic moves to change that fact.

Arizona Diamondbacks Depth Chart - 2015

• Catcher
• J. Baker

• First Base
• P. Goldschmidt
• L. Overbay

• Second Base
• O. Infante
• C. Owings

• Third Base
• J. Lamb
• B. DeWitt

• Shortstop
• C. Owings
• J.J. Hardy

• Left Field
• M. Krauss

• Center Field
• E. Inciarte
• T. Gwynn Jr.

• Right Field
• D. Peralta

• Starting Pitcher
• G. Gonzalez
• M. Cain
• M. Bolsinger
• T. Cahill
• J. Johnson

• Relief Pitcher
• A. Torres
• M. Reynolds
• K. Slowey
• E. De La Rosa
• C. Thielbar
• F. Cordero

• Closer
• J. Soria
• J. Johnson

• Designated Hitter
• J.J. Hardy

• Disabled List
• P. Corbin
• O. Hernandez
• T. Campana

With the depth chart in place and the season set to begin there are only a few subjects that will dominate team coverage this year. Conversation will probably be dominated by Paul Goldschmidt's run at NL MVP, but you can only talk about how good one player is for so long until things start to get stale.

Patrick Corbin (Again) - Attention turns back to Patrick Corbin, but this time it's going to be about his recovery from Tommy John surgery. With just about everyone from the 2014 rotation gone and Gio Gonzalez firmly seated in the Ace position, it's up to Corbin to show that he can get back to his 2013 form. There won't be much for the Diamondbacks faithful to worry about this season, the team could be one of the worst in the NL if not all of baseball, so Corbin is going to be the center of attention when he is scheduled to come back around mid-season. Sources say management dangled Corbin during the winter meetings, but few offers rolled in that interested ownership. If Corbin can't make a comeback, they will have lost out on any potential returns.

 Can Corbin make an impact in 2015?

Yasmany Tomas - The Cuban slugger has been compared to Jose Abreu and Red Sox signing Rusney Castillo, but in reality nobody really knows what Tomas is going to do in his first major league season. Modest projections have him as a 25HR slugger with some work to do in terms of his plate discipline, and his defense is a real question mark. He played 3B and LF during spring training, with the team settling on 3B to start the season, but most are just hoping he is league average as a defender. It's going to take the entire season for Arizona to see if they have the next Yasiel Puig, or if they are stuck with a dud for the next six years. As of right now the 24-year old slugger is the Diamondbacks' best 'prospect' to speak of, but he needs to be more than a prospect if the team starts him out in the majors.

 Tomas will likely start the season in Reno.

Prospects, Prospects, Prospects - Fans of minor league baseball in Reno and Mobile are probably more excited than Diamondback fans at the moment, and they might just have better teams to cheer on. The mass exodus of MLB starters filled up the Arizona affiliates with potential future stars, but at the moment all they are is potential. Guys like Jesse Winker and Austin Meadows are sure to draw fans and scouts alike, but they are not going to be called up to The Show anytime soon. A terrible season in the majors might bring more talent through the draft, like RHP Touki Toussaint, but they don't hang banners for high draft picks.

 The Diamondbacks' new marque prospect.