TheDude's NL Central picks

1.) Cubs
The perennial powerhouses of St. Louis and Houston are no more. St. Louis through age and injury is a shadow of its former self, while Houston addressed its lack of offense after the demise of the triple B's by sacrificing its vaunted pitching. Its the Cubs division to lose as they have a solid all around team. The starting pitching goes a very strong 3 deep, and they boast a trio of underrated all-stars in Ramirez, Lee and Soriano. The bullpen is a question mark, but won't be enough to derail the Cubbies, and Kerry Wood may just be the answer there.
W: 84-90

2.) Brewers
Braun, Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Hardy....talk about a solid young core. Too bad the Brewers didn't stay in the AL as they have two bonafide DH candidates in Braun and Fielder, but there is no denying they can hit. The good thing about the Brewers is we just don't know what their ceiling is as a team. The pitching is full of talent, but it's doubtful they can all put it together in the same season, and the same can be said about the young offense. I wouldn't be surprised to find them 10 games out of first or have a 10 game lead going into september. Regardless of this seasons outcome the Brew Crew have something going for them for at least the rest of this decade.
W: 80-90

3.) Astros
The Miguel Tejada signing makes them contenders for this year, but this is a case of a team caught in between rebuilding and going for it, and that doesn't work. They lost too much pitching with the departure of Clemens and Pettitte, and they just don't have the parts to make the rotation work. They will stick around until the all-star break, but in order to compete the entire season they need to address that starting rotation.
W: 75-80

4.) Cardinals
Pujols needs to carry the offense and....Wainwright the pitching?!? The only chance they have is to rally around the emergence of Wainwright as a true Ace hold out until the break and hope for a triumphant return for Carpenter.
W: 70-80

5.) Reds
Another team caught in between rebuilding and contending. In the end they'll be pretenders again, and the Dunn and Griffey trade rumors will fly. They will play spoilers I'm sure, but that couldn't have been the organizational goal when they signed Griffey all those years back.
W: 70-76

6.) Pirates
Ugh...if the Steelers serve the Ben Rothlis"Burger" then the Pirates equivalent would be the Adam La"Roach Turd Sandwich" or Ryan "Three Week Old Dunkin" Doumit. I recommend staying away from both the Pirates and the food.
W: 62-67