Pittsburgh Pirates:

2009 Record: 62-99; 6^th in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: Andrew McCutchen was huge in his rookie year.  He hit .286, had a.365 OBP from the leadoff spot and stole 22 bases (CS – 5) while scoring 74 runs in just 108 games.  28-year old rookie Garrett Jones had a great year as well.  In just 82 games he led the team with 21 HRs and a .293 BA.

2010 Needs: Everything; I’ll choose just one though.  Power hitter.  Granted Adam LaRoche was traded to the Braves and went on a tear but he didn’t hit homers for the Pirates.  Other than Jones’ 21 the next highest total was 12 by LaRoche and McCutchen.  Oh, and there pitching sucks too.

2010 Outlook: The Pirates are going to be a 90-loss team yet again.  The losses will be due to a lack of hitting and pitching the two essential things that make up the game of baseball.  It’s really sad how pathetic this team is and the fact that they have such a great stadium that NO ONE goes to!

2010 Prediction:  6^th in the NL Central

Houston Astros:

2009 Record: 74-88; 5^th in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: Wandy Rodriguez took over as the ace of the staff last year as Roy Oswalt struggled to pick up wins.  Wandy pitched 205.2 IP, picked up 14 wins and led the team with a 3.02 ERA and 193 Ks.  If Oswalt can return to form in ’10 they have a solid 1-2 punch in the front of the rotation.

2010 Needs: Starting pitcher.  The Astros rotation was terrible; Moehler, Hampton, Paulino and Ortiz all had ERAs of at least 5.30 and as high as 6.27.  The Astros offense is strong enough to compete with most NL teams but they really need pitching.  They should spend some money and go out and get Lackey.

2010 Outlook: The Astros are going to be contenders next year in the NL Central.  They always make that late season run and if they pick up one very good starter they will be there in September and October.  Almost all of their starters return pending they re-sign Miguel Tejada.

2010 Prediction: 3^rd in the NL Central

Cincinnati Reds:

2009 Record: 78-84; 4^th in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: Joey Votto is the catalyst to this team’s offense.  He led the team in HRs, BA, OBP and SLG.  Votto did find himself on the DL this year but still managed 131 games.  He is only 26 years old and will be a key player for the Reds for a long time coming.  Him and Bruce are their franchise players.  Nick Masset also played a big role this year in the bullpen.  He led the team in games (74) and bullpen IP (76) and his WHIP was just above 1.00.

2010 Needs: They need a whole group of guys who get on-base.  Out of the 5 players who played over 100 games the 2^nd highest OBP other than Votto was Brandon Phillips at .329.  The Reds OBP was 26^th in the Majors at .318.

2010 Outlook: The Reds aren’t going to compete in this division and I consider them the 5^th best team in the division if everyone plays to their potential.  The Reds always seem to hover around that 72-78 mark but I can see them proving me wrong and winning 82-84 games next year.  You have to remember Volquez only started 9 games because of injury; he was the ace.

2010 Prediction: 5^th in the NL Central

Milwaukee Brewers:

2009 Record: 80-82; 3^rd in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: Prince Fielder put up MVP numbers, yet again.  He hit 46 HRs and drove in 114 runs and had an OBP of .412 and a slugging of .602.  Fielder was 1 of 3 players with a 1000 OPS (Pujols and Mauer).  Another key player was the Brewers was Casey McGehee.  The Brewers needed a new 3^rd baseman after Bill Hall sucked it up  and was then traded to the Mariners.  McGehee filled that roll nicely.  He hit 16 HR and had 66 RBI in just 355 Abs.  McGehee will likely start next season at 3^rd base.

2010 Needs: They need better starters in the rotation.  Their starters were pretty reliable with Looper, Gallardo, Suppan and Parra healthy-wise with these guys making most of their starts.  The only problem was Gallardo was the only person with a sub-5 ERA (Gallardo 3.73).

2010 Outlook: Their second best pitcher Looper likely won’t be resigned and I don’t expect any great pitching free agents to sign there.  I never count out the Brewers though with Braun and Fielder on their team.

2010 Predictions: 4^th in the NL Central

Chicago Cubs:

2009 Record: 83-78; 2^nd in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: Just about the only positive not for the Cubs this year was Derek Lee.  Lee is getting up there in age, 34 years old, but is still producing like he is in his prime.  He hit 35 HRs and drove in 111 runs.  He led the Cubs in runs, HR, RBI, TB, OBP, SLG and AVG.

2010 Needs: They NEED to get rid of Milton Bradley.  He had a high OBP last year but compared to the year before where he led the league in slugging his sub .400 slugging was a joke.  He hit just 12 home runs and the fans HATED him and he hated showing up to the games as well.  If this team can stay healthy I really feel like they can win the division even if they lose Rich Harden.

2010 Outlook: I really feel like the Cubs will overtake the Cardinals for the division this year.  They had a great team ERA at 3.84 last year and if their offensive players stay healthy they are better than the Holliday-less Cardinals (if they don’t sign him of course).

2010 Prediction: 1^st in the NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals:

2009 Record: 91-71, 1^st in the NL Central

2009 Key Players: The obvious choices here would be Pujols, Carpenter and Wainwright but I’d have to say Matt Holliday was the Cardinals key player last year.  If they didn’t acquire Holliday at the deadline there is not chance they make it to the playoffs the way they played in September.

2010 Needs: They need to re-sign Matt Holliday or sign a big bat to bat behind Pujols and give him protection.  There pitching needs improvement in middle relief as well, then again whose doesn’t?

2010 Outlook: I’m not so sure they will be able to lure the big free agent bat and their offense will suffer enough to not make it to the playoffs this year.  Obviously this can all change once I see where the FA are going this year.

2010 Prediction: 2^nd in the NL Central