New NL Central Faces - Ramirez, Latos, Beltran

At the beginning of this offseason it seemed that the National League Central was ready to lose some big names. They have done just that with Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder departing for the American League. However, recently the division has been adding some names, let's take a look.

First, the Brewers signed Aramis Ramirez to compensate for their loss of Fielder plus the more than likely 50 game suspension for Ryan Braun. I wrote about this move extensively here, so check that out for more about Ramirez.

Next, the Reds made a big move and signed Mat Latos. I also wrote a post specifically about that move, you can read that one here.

There was also a trade made in the division when the Reds sent pitcher Travis Wood to Chicago for reliever Sean Marshall.

Now, the Cardinals have made a splash as they are clearly trying to tend the wound that Albert Pujols left when he signed on with Anaheim. Just this week, the Cardinals signed Carlos Beltran. St. Louis gave Beltran 2 years and 26 million dollars, which is nothing compared to what they would have had to give Pujols. Obviously, Beltran's bat isn't quite at the Pujols level, but he will certainly help their offense.

Beltran is 34 years old and has had some injury issues in the past. Despite those factors, he had a nice 2011 season while playing 142 games. He hit .300/.385/.525 with 22 home runs and was named an all-star. That was a nice bounce back season from 2010 when he hit just .255/.341/.427 and convinced a lot of people that he was just about done for his career. Beltran bounced back enough with the Mets in 2011 to get a big-time return for them when he was traded to San Francisco midway through the season.

So how much will Beltran help the Cardinals? Their offense is still going to be worse than last year, especially with the age they now have. Lance Berkman and Matt Holliday will join Beltran in providing the majority of the offense, and all of those guys are over 30 (Holliday is 31 and Berkman is 35). The division is pretty weak, so the Cardinals still have a great shot at taking the title and going to the playoffs to defend their World Series title, but they are certainly a worse team now than they were last year.

The National League Central is bouncing back from a couple of tough losses, but what I'm expecting us to see is still a much weaker division in 2012 that the Pirates could actually compete in.