NL East Projections Summary

Over the past week, I have been going position by position to examine projections for the 2012 season. I now have completed all the position players. I will not go into doing the pitchers just yet.

What we are doing today is we are going to grade each teams position players and see if one team has a significant advantage over another based on the projections. We will do this by grading each position. The top players at each position will receive 4 points, second best 3 points, third best 2 points, and fourth best 1 point. Let us go ahead and get started.

According to the catcher projections, this is what we have:

1. Brian McCann: 4 points
2. Carlos Ruiz: 3 points
3. Wilson Ramos: 2 points
4. Josh Thole: 1 point
5. John Buck: 0 points

According to the first base projections, this is what we got:

1. Ike Davis: 4 points
2. Gaby Sanchez: 3 points
3. Freedie Freeman: 2 points
4. Ryan Howard: 1 point
5. Adam LaRoche: 0 points

According to the second base projections, this is what we got:

1. Chase Utley: 4 points
2. Dan Uggla: 3 points
3. Danny Espinosa: 2 points
4. Omar Infante: 1 point
5. Justin Turner: 0 points

According to the short stop projections, this is what we have:

1. Jose Reyes: 4 points
2. Jimmy Rollins: 3 points
3. Ruben Tejada: 2 points
4. Ian Desmond: 1 point
5. Tyler Pastornicky: 0 points

According to the third base projections, this is what we have:

1. Ryan Zimmerman: 4 points
2. Hanley Ramirez: 3 points
3. David Wright: 2 points
4. Placido Polanco: 1 point
5. Chipper Jones: 0 points

According to the left field projections, this is what we have:

1. Martin Prado: 4 points
2. Logan Morrison: 3 points
3. Michael Morse: 2 points
4. John Mayberry: 1 point
5. Jason Bay: 0 points

According to the center field projections, this is what we have:

1. Shane Victorino: 4 points
2. Jayson Werth: 3 points
3. Michael Bourn: 2 points
4. Andres Torres: 1 point
5. Emilio Bonifacio: 0 points

According to the right field projections, this is what we have:

1. Mike Stanton: 4 points
2. Hunter Pence: 3 points
3. Jason Heyward: 2 points
4. Lucas Duda: 1 point
5. Bryce Harper: 0 points

Next we will add the points up and see how each team did:

1. Philadelphia Phillies: 19 points
2. Miami Marlins: 18 points
3. Atlanta Braves: 17 points
4. Washington Nationals: 14 points
5. New York Mets: 12 points

These projections are just for fun and a look at how each position player stacks up. These projections are not predicting that the standings will look like this at the end of the season.

Looking at the totals, the results are around what I expected. The Phillies, Marlins, and Braves are very tight. Marlins and Braves each had two positions where they had the worst player, which cost them some points. The Phillies had none. The talent in the NL East is dispersed pretty well. The Washington Nationals are not too far separated either. The New York Mets have some talent on their team, but it will not be enough to compete in what looks to be the toughest division in all of baseball.

I will start looking at the individual projections for each Marlin position player starting tomorrow.