Former Philadelphia Phillies star says they're the top team in NL East after great offseason: "Those boys can go out there and beat everybody"
The Philadelphia Phillies entered the postseason as the third-best team in their division, 14 games behind the second-placed New York Mets. They made a stunning run to the World Series and had an excellent offseason.
Former Phillies star Jimmy Rollins, now an advisor to the team, believes these moves and the talent the team already had make them the team to beat in the National League East ahead of both the Mets and division-winning Atlanta Braves.
Phillies legend and Baseball Hall of Fame candidate @JimmyRollins11 tells @JoelSherman1 & @JonHeyman that the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East. Watch The Show on the @YESNetwork app.
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Rollins said:
"That's tough. You know what? I am ready to say that. Who's to prove me wrong? I'm not on the field. Those boys can go out there and beat everybody. If they believe like we believe, especially with the move bringing in Trea and some of the arms are big, they're just as good as anybody in that division."
Despite the seemingly large distance between the 2022 Mets, Braves and Phillies, Rollins believes Philadelphia has turned the tide.
That's not to say that the Braves and Mets had a bad offseason. Quite the contrary, as the Mets had perhaps the best offseason of any team.
They added Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga and re-signed Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo. The Braves added Sean Murphy, too.
Nevertheless, the Phillies' additions of Trea Turner, Gregory Soto and others make them a real contender. Whether or not they've surpassed the Mets and Braves remains to be seen.
Do projections believe the Philadelphia Phillies are the team to beat?
Following a miraculous run to the World Series, it's easy to consider the Phillies as one of the top contenders. However, that run makes it very easy to forget that they only won 87 games last year.
The projections model from Fangraphs didn't forget, though. Here's what the NL East looks like based on their expectations:
- Atlanta Braves, 93-69
- New York Mets, 92-70
- Philadelphia Phillies, 85-77
- Miami Marlins, 80-82
- Washington Nationals, 69-93
It should be noted that these projections are extremely conservative. The Braves' record is projected to be the best in all of baseball. The chances of no team winning 100 games is pretty slim.
Nevertheless, the Phillies have their work cut out for them to prove Rollins right.