NL power rankings
April 1, 2012 at 11:38PM
With injury woes comparable to Minnesota's last year, they still won 86 games. Now, Buster Posey & Co. are healthy, and this team has added depth.
2. DIAMONDBACKS
Jason Kubel's new team could duplicate last year's success, especially if top pitching prospects Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer blossom.
3. PHILLIES
The names -- especially Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee -- still are impressive, but this is an old, brittle team that could nosedive this year.
4. NATIONALS
Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez top an impressive rotation. This team has everything it wants, except a center fielder/leadoff hitter.
5. CARDINALS
Albert Pujols, Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan are gone, and Chris Carpenter is injured, but Adam Wainwright had a great spring coming back from Tommy John surgery.
6. MARLINS
New ballpark, new uniforms, new manager (Ozzie Guillen), new players (Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell, Carlos Zambrano) and some huge, new expectations.
7. BREWERS
They'll hope Aramis Ramirez replaces some of what Prince Fielder gave them. Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf are pending free agents.
8. BRAVES
They have plenty of young pitching to make Chipper Jones' last season memorable, but Jayson Heyward needs to pick up his offensive game.
9. REDS
With Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols out of the division, the Reds went for it, adding Mat Latos, Ryan Madson and Sean Marshall, but now Madson needs Tommy John surgery.
10. PIRATES
A potential sleeper. They added A.J. Burnett, Erik Bedard, Clint Barmes and Rod Barajas to a team that was 56-50 before finishing 16-40 last year.
11. ROCKIES
Michael Cuddyer's new team has a nice lineup but big pitching questions. Ex-Indians Drew Pomeranz and Alex White need to take the next step.
12. DODGERS
Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp were spectacular last year; Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe were not. If all thrive at once, they could contend.
13. METS
Without Jose Reyes, they look even more awful, but Terry Collins somehow coaxed 77 wins out of 2011 squad, and Johan Santana didn't even pitch.
14. CUBS
Theo Epstein's rebuilding project is underway. Among new faces: manager Dale Sveum, outfielder David DeJesus and pitchers Paul Maholm, Chris Volstad and Travis Wood.
15. PADRES
Look like a non-contender and the jury's out on how much talent they acquired trading away Adrian Gonzalez and Mat Latos the past years.
16. ASTROS
The only team worse than the Twins last year, they'll be young and awful again in their final year before moving to the AL West.
After an incredible 25-year career that saw him become MLB's all-time stolen bases leader and the greatest leadoff hitter ever, Rickey Henderson died Friday at age 65.
