Filling the Holes: NL East

Filling the Holes will take a team-by-team look at what each team needs to address in the off-season. We'll look at this by division.

This episode of Filling The Holes is brought to you by a rubber stopper.

PHILADELPHIA (103-59, Division Champion): By know means is Philadelphia a perfect team, but there isn't a lot that they did wrong. Offensively, they have an all-world basestealer in William Saitou, three dominant power hitters. They have great balance in their rotation and a 50-save closer. Their weakness lies in their consistency from the plate. They are consistently inconsistent -- batting averages in their starting lineup range between .253 and .282. Only one Flasher had 160+ hits and they had just one player with an on-base percentage above .375. NEEDS: A reliable, Tony Gwynn-style hit machine. Singles aren't a bad thing when you have the McMasters-Wyatt-Takada-Martin quartet in the middle of the lineup.

BUFFALO (99-63, 2nd place, wild card): At first glance, the thing that stands out is Bernie Furcal. But, while you'd like more from a shortstop, you know that the right thing to do is give him time as he is rated to grow into the 70s. Otherwise, we're taking about a pretty well balanced team. A good core of hitters for average and power, Antonio Gao and his 58 home runs, three players with 30+ steals. The pitching is in good shape too, as it seems that Travis Price will recover from the torn labrum and shape out that rotation. All in all, not bad. NEEDS: I'd like to see them add another legit 40-home run hitter to protect Gao.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (89-73, 3rd place, eliminated from the WC tie): Their are threats all over this lineup, which signals to me that they were either tired out or just couldn't get the hits in a timely fashion. Johnny Costello, Moose Lewis and Manuel Valdes are stars and they have good power throughout. The starters were effective and the bullpen was good, but they both suffered from the same issue -- they gave up too many runs. NEEDS: Lights out starter. Lights out closer.

CHARLOTTE (77-85, 4th place): The pitching is solid. Yes, closer Howard Perry gave up too many runs and blew too many saves (6). But, for a sub-.500 team, the pitching is good. So what's the problem? A lineup that seems to be all style and no substance. They have average to good individual stats, but as a team it doesn't add up -- batting .264, a team OPS of .721 and only 699 runs scored. NEEDS: Devote some salary room to one, if not two, high-priced, hard-hitting vets. Firepower could be the difference between a playoff berth and last place in this division.

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