The recent interview I conducted with sports performance consultant Mark Noble was particularly fascinating to me, and I hope those of you that took the time to read the interview enjoyed it as well. The one thing that kept creeping into my head during and after the interview was "why don't more teams use this kind of resource?" Everyone has their favorite teams, and I'm sure a lot of people that frequent Perfect Game have their favorite young players that they root for as well, including many friends and family members. Unfortunately, as a fan, friend or family member we have also seen a lot of our favorite players fall to injury, with pitchers receiving the most attention when it comes to potentially career ending arm injuries.

Mark Noble's track record with the basketball program at Duke says it all to me. As he pointed out in the interview, in the 18 years he has worked with Duke, they have never had a player tear an ACL in his knee. I'm not a huge hoops fan, but I know Coach Krzyzewski is the best in the business, and he and the program obviously are smart enough to invest in such a resource to not only keep his players on the court, but to also get the most out of them.

Two questions come up for me: Is this an untapped resource, meaning, are teams just unaware of these practices? And two, if they are aware of these practices, is it a matter of teams possibly being too set in their ways? Baseball more than any other sport can fall victim to the "good old boys" network, and you will often see the "old school" or "old fashioned" label associated with coaches, scouts, etc. In today's modern age of science and medicine, I haven't seen anything that points to major arm injuries in baseball decreasing. Sure, more and more Tommy John surgeries are deemed successful, and while some pitchers come back better than ever, I still would bet most would agree that it's better to avoid complex arm surgery altogether. On top of that, no doctor has seemed to come up with the "Tommy John" surgery for shoulders. Labrum tears, frayed rotator cuffs and capsular shifts are all things no player, fan, family member or friends wants to hear about.

I have read that some teams practice different kinds of conditioning to help avoid such injuries. I believe the San Francisco Giants have been particularly successful at keeping their players and prospects healthier than most other teams. I would love to tell you why, but that information just isn't easily accessible. Not that anyone is hiding it, but it's probably hard to find because no one is asking about it. That doesn't mean the Giants are immune to such injuries, as Jesse Foppert stands out as one of their more talented young pitchers in recent years whose career has been derailed by a serious arm injury.

How do teams approach conditioning? Is there a difference between these approaches at the big league level and the minor leagues? Are big leaguers less likely to be open to new techniques to enhance performance and help prevent injuries, or as Mark pointed out, possibly avoiding prolonged batting slumps or hitting the wall at midseason?

I was quite serious when asking Mark if he has worked with or has been approached by any professional teams. This led into my question about the importance of a performance consultant, tied into the popular notion of the need for statistical consultants. I personally feel keeping the players you have healthier while maximizing their production is a huge factor in player development, one that apparently doesn't seem to be pursued as much as it should be. While this may be a larger financial investment, since teams are already putting so much money into signing premium draft picks and international free agents, wouldn't that extra step make sense to protect that investment?

Since I have so many questions on the subject, and I'm sure many of you may have some yourselves, I think it's pretty clear that we're talking about an aspect of baseball where some thinking outside the box may help produce better results. If I were a talented young ballplayer, or the father of one, I would be sure to visit either Mark Noble's venture or a business similar to it.

I invite you to email me at the address listed below, or visit the message boards here at Perfect Game USA to discuss some of these aspects in greater detail.

The NL East

With the Florida Marlins signing Carlos Delgado, the National League East officially became the division to watch in 2005, if it wasn't already. In fact, with some of the big name trades and free agent acquisitions, the NL East just might have made more noise than their AL counterparts. Time to take a peak at the division and make my early prediction as to whom will be crowned division champion come October:

Atlanta Braves

Acquired: RHP Tim Hudson (trade), RHP Danny Kolb (trade), LHP Gabe White (free agent), OF Raul Mondesi (free agent), OF Brian Jordan (free agent).

Lost: OF J.D. Drew (free agency), RHP Jaret Wright (free agency), RHP Juan Cruz (traded), OF Charles Thomas (traded).

Assessment: Hudson gives them a legitimate and unquestioned staff ace, even if he is in a contract year. The acquisition of Danny Kolb allows John Smoltz to move back to the starting rotation, where he, Hudson, Mike Hampton, John Thomson and Horacio Ramirez should form one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball. Kolb and Gabe White provide two solid arms for an already strong bullpen. Losing J.D. Drew will be tough to overcome, but don't write off Brian Jordan and Raul Mondesi. While they both might be better served in platoon roles, either one is talented enough to break out with the big season the Braves always seem to find. Other than the corner outfield spots, the rest of the starting lineup is solid.

Florida Marlins

Acquired: LHP Al Leiter (free agent), 1B Carlos Delgado (free agent), RHP John Riedling (free agent), RHP Todd Jones (free agent), RHP Antonio Alfonseca (free agent).

Lost: RHP Armando Benitez (free agency), RHP Carl Pavano (free agency).

Assessment: The Florida Marlins are a lot of fun to follow. They surprised a lot of people in the offseason two years ago by signing Ivan Rodriguez, who turned out to be a huge part of their World Series Championship team in 2003. This offseason the signing of lefty-slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado could have a similar affect for the 2005 Marlins, and looks to be a perfect fit within the Marlins lineup that already includes Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell, Juan Pierre, Luis Castillo and Paul Lo Duca. While they lost closer Armando Benitez to the Giants, they signed three free agent relief pitchers, and have handed the closing job to Guillermo Mota. Signing Al Leiter to take Carl Pavano's place may end up being a wash, and Leiter joins a still talented and young group of starters that includes Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Dontrelle Willis.

New York Mets

Acquired: RHP Pedro Martinez (free agent), OF Carlos Beltran (free agent), 1B Doug Mietkiewicz (trade).

Lost: LHP Al Leiter (free agency), LHP John Franco (free agency), OF Richard Hidalgo (free agency).

Assessment: No team made more noise this offseason than the New York Mets. For a team that finished as bad as they did in 2004 (71-91) the Mets have a lot of ground to make up if they want to catch the Braves, Phillies and Marlins, and as talented as Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran are, that's probably more catching up than those two alone are capable of. The starting lineup looks really good on paper with Beltran, Mike Piazza, Cliff Floyd, Mike Cameron, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Kazuo Matsui and Mietkiewicz. Not only do they look good offensively, but defensively (outside of Piazza and Floyd), this should be an extremely strong group. The starting rotation also looks strong with Pedro, Tom Glavine, Kris Benson, Steve Trachsel and Victor Zambrano. However, the bullpen stands to be a huge weakness.

Philadelphia Phillies

Acquired: RHP Jon Lieber (free agency), Kenny Lofton (trade).

Lost: RHP Kevin Millwood (free agency), LHP Eric Milton (free agency) RHP Todd Jones (free agency), Felix Rodriguez (trade).

Assessment: No team in my opinion has underachieved more than the Phillies in recent years. With the big-name acquisition of Jim Thome two years ago, not to mention the strong cast of supporting characters, the Phillies came close to making the playoffs as a Wild-card in 2003, but were beat in the long run by the eventual World Series Champion Marlins. Jim Thome, Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell anchor a deadly middle of the lineup, and follow some decent table setters ahead of them in Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco and the recently acquired Kenny Lofton. Mike Lieberthal is one of the best all-around catchers in the game, while David Bell and Chase Utley offer two more under-appreciated yet productive bats. Brett Myers, Jon Lieber, Vicente Padilla, Randy Wolf and Corey Lidle create a respectable staff, and with Billy Wagner closing, they're going to win more close games than not.

Washington Nationals

Acquired: A new home (Washington), OF Jose Guillen (trade), SS Cristian Guzman (free agency), 3B Vinny Castilla (free agency), RHP Esteban Loaiza (free agency), RHP Antonio Osuna (free agency).

Lost: Montreal, 3B Tony Batista (free agency), SS Maicer Izturis (traded), OF Juan Rivera (traded).

Assessment: With all of the big-name acquisitions within the division, the biggest news remains the fact that the Montreal Expos have finally moved. The Nationals actually stand to field a pretty good starting lineup with Guillen, Guzman, Castilla, Jose Vidro, Nick Johnson, Brad Wilkerson and Brian Schneider. They probably are still missing at least one, big impact bat, but they should still score their fair share of runs. The starting rotation was already strong with Livan Hernandez and Zach Day at the top, while Loaiza and a collection of John Patterson, Tomo Ohka and Tony Armas Jr. could make it better than average with a little luck and sustained health.

Overall

I'm going to miss the Montreal Expos. They always did a great job developing talent, even if that talent always ended up in other cities. The 1994 team will go down as one of the greatest teams that no one got to know. While they made some decent moves, new general manager Jim Bowden seemed to be making those moves just for the sake of doing so. Is Jose Guillen that much better than Juan Rivera? And should they have signed Guzman to a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal when Maicer Izturis seemed poised to prove what he could do at the big-league level after a huge year at AAA? While they have some solid talent, they just don't have enough to bridge the gap between them and everyone else. They still have enough talent to finish ahead of a team like the Mets or Phillies if they play with the same kind of heart they have shown in recent years.

Despite the Mets big-name signings, they need to win at least 25 more games than last year to garner the NL East crown, much less a wild-card berth, with so many talented teams in the division. Omar Minaya may be a fine general manager that is finally getting a chance to show what he can do, but he like so many of his predecessors might have gotten too caught up trying to keep up with their bigger-spending cousins across town. Expectations are high for the Mets, just like they have been every other time they've gone on an offseason spending spree. When teams are in this kind of situation, I tend to bet against them, and while Pedro Martinez is one of the best pitchers ever to play the game, the Mets will soon regret the 4-year, $53 million dollar contract they signed him to.

The Phillies biggest offseason move was to get rid of Larry Bowa. A fiery player during his glory days, Bowa's lack of confidence in his players made him anything but a manager that players rallied to play for. Restoring faith in the talent on the Phillies team might just turn an under-achieving ballclub into an over-achieving one.

I really fell in love with the Marlins in 2003. That was just an amazing team to watch, with a little bit of everything: Speed, power, clutch hits, pitching. You name it, they had it, and appear to still have it. I think the Marlins have one of the more complete teams in all of baseball, and likely will win the wild-card, but they will fall short from the NL East division crown.

Until the Atlanta Braves are actually knocked off from the top spot in the NL East (or even the NL West, back when they started their amazing run), I would be a fool to bet against them. How many years now have people been predicting that, "this is the year the Braves finally fall?" As much as I like the Marlins, the Braves are just too good. The Hudson acquisition is huge, moving Smoltz back to the rotation could be even bigger, and you know some unsuspecting player is going to step up and have a big year for them.

Mailbag (to come)

In the previous (and first) edition of "Crack of the Bat" I welcomed any and all people to email me, but I didn't mention that I planned to include some comments and questions shared within those emails here within this column from time to time. Basically, if I get an email or series of emails that is worth sharing, I plan to post those comments, with answers or counter-remarks, here. So, don't be shy, but if you don't want your comments and/or name to be shared, be sure to let me know.