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The only three teams left in the National League East: Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, and New York Mets. For the 2008 season, it should be a close race the whole year (until the Mets choke the last month again).
The Phillies haven't been extremely active this offseason but they did "add" a starter by adding a closer. And, they did re-sign a big part of their bullpen in J.C. Romero. Other than that, they let their all-star, gold-glove winning centerfielder walk accross the country to San Francisco and they managed to piss off their biggest star, Ryan Howard. The Mets didn't seem very active until recently. They did a lot of picking up options and re-signing people, but didn't go out for much at first. They let Glavine walk but with his age, it may be better to test their youth. They picked up the option for Moises Alou and they re-signed Endy Chavez and Luis Castillo. After letting Lo Duca go, they resigned Ramon Castro but decided to trade for Brian Schnieder from the Nationals so they still have a pretty respectable catcher. They finally traded for Johan Santana, who will most likely dominate the entire National League, but if he could carry teams to the championship, the Twins would be a dynasty already. Hopefully, the Mets choke on this like they did the end of last season. The Braves, however, have also had some good moves and I believe they will be in the thick of this fight. They re-signed old faithful Tom Glavine. They also went out and got Mark Kotsay for the outfield. They activated Mike Hampton from the disabled list as well as Willie Aybar. They signed Rafael Soriano, Matt Diaz, and traded for Omar Infante.
I am going to break it down team by team. First, Phillies to Mets. The only places you can say that the Mets are obviously better than the Phillies are in centerfield and at third base. David Wright will give you above a .300 average with about 30 homeruns and 100+ RBI every year. Then in center, you have Carlos Beltran who will put up almost 40 homeruns with over 100 RBI and he will also steal 30 bags a season for you while batting .280. But when they had injuries and they fell apart, the Phillies had depth last year and that is what pulled them through. Myers, Flash Gordon, Howard, Utley, and Hamels were all down at different times and the Phillies still won the division. With Santana in the Mets rotation, they are a little better but they dont have Glavine anymore and there is no guarantee Pedro will be even 75% the pitcher that he used to be. It comes down to who will do better out of Kedrick/Moyer and Maine/Perez. I would asume The Mets two might do better but Myers and Hamels can do the same damage as Santana and Pedro. The Phillies are beter fielders and better offensively whereas the Mets rotation was better last year before Santana. It will be close all year but the Phillies offense needs to show up against Santana because Howard and Utley, I assume, will be shut down by him.
Next up, is the Mets vs. the Braves. Where the Mets had an advantage at third against the Phillies, they no longer do if Chipper (or Larry) stays healthy, in my opinion. The Braves may 
have an advantage at Catcher with McCann over Schnieder, at First with Teixeira over Delgado, a slight advantage at Third with a healthy Chipper over David Wright, and Right field with Francouer over Endy Chavez and whoever is platooning out there for the Mets; but, the Mets rotation is easily better if they play like they did last year. If Smoltz can stay healthy the Braves will still have a respectable rotation with Glavine being a fourth starter and Hudson still being Hudson. Neither of their bullpens are anything to write home about and their second basemen are both pushes. I would fear the Mets more, unless Pedro gets hurt, and Maine doesn't play like he did last year. I give advantage to Mets, but it's not clear cut.
Finally, Braves vs. the Phillies. If Howard can reproduce anything close to his MVP season, then him and Teixeira are both solid first basemen so it is a push there but because they are both very good. Hands down the Phillies have the advantage with utley at Second and shortstop with Jimmy Rollins. Once again, I will give the advantage to the braves at third because if Larry is healthy he is one of the best players in the game. When it comes to the outfield it depends. In the case of Burrell vs. Diaz, if Burrell plays the way I know he can, he would have the advantage. he can be very patient at the plate and he proved that the second half of last season. He ended the season with more homers and RBI than Diaz but Diaz played 20 less games and had the same amount of hits. If you base it on that, you would assume that Diaz would be better but it is hard to tell when he did not play the whole season out there. The depth of the Phillies outfield gives them a better outfield over all with Taguchi, Jenkins, Werth, and Victorino all able to share time in right and Center field. Victorino will most likely be the everyday starter in center and should do well there. I give him a slight advantage over Kotsay due to Kotsay's uncertain health and the fact that watching victorino you can see he brings something else to the table besides talent. Again, I give Francouer the advantage over any one the Phillies toss in Right but if he were to become more patient, he might be one of the best in the league. The depth factor, like I said, makes the phillies outfield better over-all. The rotation is a tough one because if Smoltz is healthy and so is Glavine they are both great and then Hudson is always himself. If Hamels stays off the DL this year, that may make the Phillies rotation, minus Eaton, one of the most dangerous rotations in the league. This could be true if Eaton doesn't suck too bad, Moyer stays consistent, and you get something from Kendrick close to what he did last year.
Over-all, on paper I would give the Phillies an advantage but they will find someway to make it harder than it should be. Their biggest wall to climb over will be the fact that Santana is
absolutely disgusting and their two best players are left-handed. Unless Burrell steps up big, it will be a tough battle. The Phillies have a good chance to win this but, The Braves and Mets won't just let us step all over them. In the words of Jimmy Rollins, "We are the team to beat in the National League East." Let's keep it that way.
