NL East

As spring training winds down with under two weeks to go, the Phillies 2011 roster is starting to come into focus.  The chart on the bottom right is a look at 24 of the 25 available roster spots as they may unfold.

The list right now has 12 pitchers, although the Phillies could add David Herndon and go with 13.  Kyle Kendrick has not had a good spring, but the Phils are paying him too much to send him back to Triple-A.  It could happen, as Herndon has been pretty good, but it is unlikely.

News of Chase Utley's tendinitis in his right knee has spread around the baseball world over the past few weeks. While Utley doesn't look like he'll need any serious treatment, he's already received a cortisone shot in the knee, but it didn't have any effect.

He's rested and stayed off the knee as much as possible, but that was to no avail. He's even suggested that he could receive either a steroid injection or lubricant injection to speed up the process, but neither are certain as of yet.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

New York Mets (2010 record: 79-83)

The NY Mets had what is widely considered to be the worst offseason among all of Major League Baseball’s 30 clubs…maybe it was a case of “lesson learned.”

Led by 23-year-old David Wright and 22-year-old Jose Reyes, the Mets were one win away from the 2006 World Series. With young core players like Wright and Reyes, the Mets looked to have a very bright future, many feeling that they would make the playoffs for years to come.

However, one Yadier Molina home run and one wicked 12-6 Adam Wainwright curveball later, Carlos Beltran and the Mets went down looking. The Game 7 loss to the Cardinals in the NLCS was the last time New York played a playoff game.

As Phillies fans, we have all shared times of pain and futility.

If you are unfortunate enough to remember the '84 to '92 years, or more recently, the '94 to '00 seasons, then you've experienced as much heartache as any Phillies fans in history.

Thank goodness, we've been fortunate enough to experience quite a bit of team success on our times as well. 

I began my journey with the Phillies as a six-year-old in 1979, and I've been very lucky to see my team come away with five NL Pennants and two World Series Championships.

One down and one to go for the New York Mets.

The Mets did the inevitable on Friday and cut second baseman Luis Castillo. New York will eat the remaining $6 million on Castillo’s contract.

Washington Nationals (2010 record: 69-93)

The addition of free agent Jayson Werth speaks volumes about the Nationals’ growth in terms of the perception of the team as it continues its journey towards baseball relevance. The trade-off from Adam Dunn to Werth may or may not make an impact on the field in terms of wins and losses, but it makes a clear statement about the possibilities for the future.

Every season I rank the Philadelphia Phillies top 10 prospects for the upcoming season. While the Phillies farm system has been ravaged the past couple of years thanks to trades for Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and most recently Roy Oswalt, it does not mean there isn’t great talent still left.

According to the Palm Beach Post's Joe Capozzi, the Marlins have begun discussions on bringing back former Marlin great Luis Castillo, who was recently released by the New York Mets.