The East

Williams likes his everyday lineup the way it is, but he thinks he can get more from it by giving Catcher Gary Carter , who was behind the plate for 152 games last year, more rest. Williams also is moving Centerfielder Andre Dawson to the top of the batting order. Dawson hit .282 while winning the '77 Rookie of the Year award, but he fell to .253 last season and struck out 128 times. The change from a lower spot in the order should oblige him to be more selective.

Pitcher Ross Grimsley , who was 20-11, believes the Expos are as good as his former Baltimore team. "The difference is the Orioles knew how to win, and this team is still learning," he says. Another difference is pitching, although the Expos will be much better if accomplished righthander Steve Rogers fully recovers from last season's elbow chips and Scott Sanderson is as good as he seemed to be while winning four straight in September.

The St. Louis Cardinals were an absolute horror last season, finishing in fifth place with their worst percentage (.426) since 1924. The front office was so certain that the figure was a fluke that it did not make a single change in the starting lineup. According to Manager Ken Boyer , all the Cardinals want is for the players to do as well this season as they did poorly last year. "This is the nucleus of a heck of a club," he says. "We should win at least half our games by everyone having his normal season."

Last year better not have been normal. The Cardinals were ninth in hitting, 11th in scoring and particularly-harmless against lefthanders. The pitchers ranked seventh and contributed greatly to their own undoing by finishing near the top in balks, walks, wild pitches and hit batsmen. "The hell with last year," says Pitcher Pete Vuckovich , one of the few who did well. "Let the dead lie."

Chicago may have been third in the East, but the Cubs were not in the same league with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh , having lost 25 of 36 games to their two top rivals. The Cubs led the league in hitting (.264), but the hits did so little damage they were fifth in scoring. The offense will be more productive this year if First Baseman Bill Buckner (.323) and Leftfielder Dave Kingman , who hit .266 with 28 homers and 79 RBIs, can put in full seasons. Buckner should be better because he is healthier, and Kingman should be better because he is smarter. Kong cut down on his strikeouts and reached a career high in batting average, mainly because late in the season he finally started to hit outside pitches to rightfield.

The Cubs picked up three potential regulars in the deal that sent Trillo and reserve Outfielder Greg Gross to Philadelphia . They are Second Baseman Ted Sizemore , Outfielder Jerry Martin and Catcher Barry Foote. After hitting .219 in '78, Sizemore must prove he can still play, and the other two, who have been subs throughout their big league careers, must show they can play every day. If they can, the trade will be a big plus for Chicago .

Pitching is the Cubs ' biggest problem. Chicago ranked 11th in ERA with an unsavory 4.05, and Mike Krukow (9-3) was the only starter with a winning record. Unfortunately, everybody is back.

According to General Manager Joe McDonald , the New York Mets are "one year older and one year better." It is going to take more than such platitudes for the Mets to escape the cellar. New York was 11th in hitting and 10th in pitching in the league, and in the majors only second-year teams Seattle and Toronto had worse records. In an attempt to produce more offense, the front office acquired Hebner from Philadelphia to play third base and Manager Joe Torre is giving rookie Kelvin Chapman and erstwhile utility man Joel Youngblood shots at second base and rightfield, respectively.

The Mets ' hopes lie with the continued development of a still-young lineup, but no significant moves were made in the off-season to take care of immediate needs: depth in the starting rotation and, most glaringly for a team that lost 35 of 62 one-run games, relief pitching.