With the major league season set to begin with six games Thursday, four in the National League -- among them the Braves at the Nationals at 1:05 p.m., here are seven of the top stories in the NL entering the 2011 season:
1. Possible trouble in Philadelphia.
With the addition of Cliff Lee, and all the sky-high expectation of the Phillies rotation, the Phillies entered camp an easy favorite to take a fifth consecutive NL East title. Then came the revelation that second baseman Chase Utley, the heart and soul of their lineup, was battling a knee injury and concerns over their aging lineup were well-founded.
The 32-year-old Utley, a five-time All-Star, has missed all of spring training with patellar tendinitis, chondromalacia, and bone inflammation. A cortisone shot didn’t help, and the team is still weighing whether he should undergo surgery, which could keep him out four to six weeks.
The Phillies signed Mets’ castoff Luis Castillo at the end of camp to help fill the void at second base.
Utley has battled problems with his hand (2007), hip (2008) and thumb, which cost him 49 days on the disabled list last season. But this injury seems to concern him even more.
The Phillies overcame injuries to both Utley and third baseman Placido Polanco last season and got healthy in time to overtake the Braves in September. This time around they’re starting to rack up even earlier. Polanco (hyper extended elbow) and closer Brad Lidge (biceps tendinitis) have been slowed by injury this spring, but both say they’ll be ready Opening Day.
2. Impending free agency for Albert Pujols.
Pujols and the Cardinals started camp without reaching agreement on a new contract, which means the game’s best player will in all likelihood become a free agent at season’s end. The Chicago Cubs become the most intriguing suitor outside of St. Louis, in what likely will be a $300 million sweepstakes.
With the 31-year-old Pujols seeking a 10-year deal at an unprecedented $30 million per year, the Cardinals balked and offered him what is believed to be $200 million for eight years. That’s about twice their expected payroll for this season.
Some of baseball’s traditional big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies appear set at first base, but maybe that will change with such an impact player entering the market. Meanwhile, some find it hard to imagine the three-time MVP and nine-time All-Star would actually walk away from the only franchise he has played for, but 2011 could shape up to be Pujols’ farewell tour.
3. Cardinals' ace goes down.
Adam Wainwright was lost for the season to a torn elbow ligament almost before he had time to unpack for spring training. A former first-round pick of the Braves out of Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Wainwright is out for the next 12-18 months after undergoing elbow reconstruction surgery Feb. 28.
Wainwright has finished in the top three in the NL Cy Young voting each of the past two years. He won 20 games last season, second in the league, and was second in ERA behind Josh Johnson at 2.42. Wainwright led the league with 19 wins in 2009 and was fourth in ERA at 2.63.
The injury puts Chris Carpenter into the No. 1 spot in the Cardinals' rotation, and Carpenter, who turns 36 on April 27, threw 235 innings last year, his biggest load in five years. Right on cue, he missed two spring starts with a hamstring strain.
4. Zack Greinke's basketball injury.
The Brewers’ biggest offseason acquisition and scheduled opening-day starter, Greinke cracked a rib while playing basketball during spring training. He is expected to miss all of April, forcing the Brewers to scramble to find a replacement from within their organization and hope that three off days next month will ease the blow.
Prospect Mark Rogers was bidding to fill Greinke’s spot in the rotation, but his spring debut was delayed two weeks by shoulder soreness, and he was optioned to Triple-A. Last week Marco Estrada, a former sixth-round pick of the Nationals, emerged as a possible candidate.
Last winter, Greinke was one of the bigger names on the pitching market this side of Cliff Lee. The Brewers acquired him from the Royals, along with shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and cash, for shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain and two pitching prospects.
By playing pickup basketball, Greinke did not violate his contract, which will pay him $13.5 million in 2011, because it prohibits only “competitive” basketball, as in amateur leagues. Greinke won the American League Cy Young award in 2009, when he went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA. He fell to 10-14 with a 4.17 ERA last season.
5. The future of Brandon Belt.
The Giants showed off one of the hot young talents in baseball last year, riding rookie catcher Buster Posey of Leesburg and their vaunted rotation to a World Series win.
The Giants might be onto another one this year. If Posey is their Jason Heyward, Brandon Belt could be their Freddie Freeman.
The 22-year-old native of Houston, who is ranked the 23rd best prospect by Baseball America, pushed for a job this spring and had the Giants at least toying with the idea of moving Aubrey Huff to left field.
Belt has played only 13 games above Double-A, but in his one season in the minors last year, he hit 23 home runs and 112 RBIs combined at three levels. This spring he hit .264 with 10 RBIs in his first 22 games. He figures to open the season in Triple-A Fresno, but like Posey last year, he surely won’t stay there.
The Braves actually drafted Belt in the 11th round in 2007 as a pitcher, but he elected to play college baseball at Texas. The Giants took him in the fifth round as a first baseman two years later.
6. The financial saga of the Mets.
A trustee for victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme has sued Mets’ owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz for some $1 billion, forcing them to consider selling at least a 25 percent interest in the Mets. Reports have had suitors ranging from Donald Trump to Mike Repole, co-founder of Vitamin Water.
So what does that mean to the Mets on the field? A team that’s preparing itself for a sale, that also reportedly took a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball, is trying to shed payroll. With $50 million coming off the books next year, the Mets could trade Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes to facilitate the process.
With the sixth-highest payroll in baseball last year at $127.6 million, the Mets went 79-83 and finished 18 games out in the NL East, thanks in part to a rash of injuries. This spring, they have managed to neither cut payroll nor avoid injury problems.
Carlos Beltran’s knee woes have continued, and Johan Santana will start the season rehabbing his surgically repaired left shoulder. Also, the Mets released both second baseman Luis Castillo ($6 million) and left-hander Oliver Perez ($12 million) in spring training, but still are on the hook for their salaries.
7. The rise of Bryce Harper.
Strasburg mania showed us what Washington Nationals fans are capable of demonstrating. Their excitement over the arrival of No. 1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg last year was tempered only by his season-ending elbow injury.
So while Strasburg heals, which likely will take the bulk of, if not all of, the 2011 season, Nationals fans turn their attention to last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Harper. He’s 18 years old, the youngest player in any major league camp this spring, but still hit .389 (7-for-18) with three doubles and five RBIs. Harper was assigned to Single-A Hagerstown, but Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo hasn’t ruled out Harper's arrival in the majors this season.
(Harper is a question mark to play the season-opening weekend in Rome against the Class A Braves because of a sprained left ankle.)
Harper has been “skipping grades” for years. He was 16 when he made the cover of Sports Illustrated. He got his GED after his sophomore year of high school so he could go to junior college and enter the 2010 draft. The former catcher -- who once was clocked at 96 mph as a pitcher -- will start his professional climb as a right fielder.
Material from wire services was used in this article.
