FanSided’s All-NL East Team: Rotation and Bullpen

A little while back, I posted up FanSided’s NL East bloggers’ picks for the All-NL East team position players. Today, I’ll briefly post the starting rotation, setup man, and closer for the team.

Starting Rotation, NL East team

1. RHP Roy Halladay, PHI
2. LHP Cliff Lee. PHI
3. RHP Roy Oswalt. PHI
4. RHP Josh Johnson, FLO
5. RHP Tommy Hanson, ATL

I feel safe caliming that this is the best rotation that could be boasted by any of the other divisions. There simply is no other set of five starters who could compete with the starting five the NL East boasts. Three of the starters ended up being from the Philadelphia Phillies, though there is debate as to whether the third inclusion should have been Roy Oswalt or Cole Hamels. My preference would have been Hamels. The two non-Phillies were excellent choices; Johnson is likely a top-five starter in baseball right now when healthy, and Hanson is extremely talented and among the best pitchers in the game even with his 2010 struggles.

Setup man: RHP Ryan Madson, PHI

Closer: RHP Francisco Rodriguez, NYM

The votes actually came down almost in favor of Ryan Madson being the closer, and that is something I wholeheartedly approve. Madson is the best reliever in the NL East by a healthy enough margin; any claims that he cannot “handle the pressure” of closing are simply ridiculous. If I were managing the team, I would certainly have him closing over K-Rod, who is on his last legs as a legitimate pitcher.

So here is the NL-East team:

C Brian McCann, ATL
1B Ryan Howard, PHI
2B Chase Utley, PHI
3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS
SS Hanley Ramirez, FLO
LF Mike Stanton, FLO
CF Jayson Werth, WAS
RF Jason Heyward, ATL

RHP Roy Halladay, PHI
LHP Cliff Lee. PHI
RHP Roy Oswalt. PHI
RHP Josh Johnson, FLO
RHP Tommy Hanson, ATL

RHP Ryan Madson, PHI
RHP Francisco Rodriguez, NYM

Now you can vote on which of the three teams of the NL’s divisions are best. I have to say, the NL East’s team is an extremely impressive bunch, but here you can vote for yourself!