As we continue our look ahead to the NL East in 2015, today, we focus the spotlight on the second base position. When you take a look at this position in the NL East, it has been one of the positions on the diamond that has experienced the most change in terms of likely Opening Day starters.
For one, the Washington Nationals made a trade with the Oakland Athletics to acquire Yunel Escobar, who was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays, in exchange for reliever Tyler Clippard. Escobar is likely to get the bulk of the playing time over Danny Espinosa as long as Ian Desmond is the shortstop.
The Miami Marlins acquired Dee Gordon from the Los Angeles Dodgers via a trade at the Winter Meetings. Last season, second base was played by many players on Miami, with Donovan Solano getting the most games at that spot (73). As for the Atlanta Braves, they are going to have a new second baseman after trading Tommy La Stella to the Cubs. La Stella played 93 games in Atlanta, hitting .251 with one home run and 31 RBI’s.
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When you think about the second base spot, Chase Utley still is the constant for the Phillies and Daniel Murphy has now been the second baseman with the Mets for the last three seasons.
At first analysis, this looks like a position that has a clear cut best player for the spot, but you can make a case for any player in the two thru five of the list.
So without further adieu, here are my top five NL East second baseman for 2015:
Next: Number Five ?