Greek’s Pics – AL East

by BigGreek24

Monday March 8, 2010 

Now its time to look at the American League beginning with the home of the past three American League Champions(Red Sox, Rays, Yankees) and two of the last three World Champions (Red Sox and Yankees).   This quite possibly is the toughest division in Baseball.  Here is how I see 2010:

1. New York Yankees – The Yankees spent freely last season, bringing in Mark Teixera, C.C Sabathia and AJ Burnett and it resulted in their first World Championship since the 2000 season.  This offseason has been much different.  They made trades to get Curtis Granderson from the Tigers and Javier Vazquez from the Braves and in the process lost only Melky Cabrera from their roster.  It remains to be seen what Ian Kennedy will do in Arizona and how Austin Jackson will fare in Detroit.  The Yankees also shed themselves of DH and World Series hero Hidecki Matsui (Angels) and LF Johnny Damon (Tigers).  Nick Johnson was signed to replace Matsui, while Randy Winn and Marcus Thames were brought in to compete with Gardner for the LF spot.  The rotation is the same as last year, with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain competing for the fifth spot.  The ageless Mariano Rivera anchors the bullpen.

2. Tampa Bay Rays – The 2008 AL Champs got off to a tough start last season and didn’t recover in time.   Their pitching staff of Garza, Price, Nieman, Shields and youngster Davis is as good as any in the division.  They brought in Rafael Soriano to close which should be an improvement over last year.  JP Howell and Grant Balfour are the setup guys.  Offensively the Rays have Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria – two corner infielders who hit for power.  Ben Zobrist was a nice surprise as he stepped in when Iwamura went down and played a great 2b and also hit 27 homers and drove in 91 runs.  The biggest issue here is what to do with Carl Crawford, their All-Star Leftfielder who can be a free agent at season’s end.  If they can’t work out an extension, he could get dealt at the deadline.  If they can get him signed, then the Rays should win 90 or more games and get back to the playoffs.

3. Boston Red Sox – The Red Sox are in a tough spot.  They could win 89 to 90 games and not make the playoffs.  They shifted their forcus from scoring to preventing other teams from scoring as they brought in Adrian Beltre to play 3b and Mike Cameron to play cf, shifting former Blue Rock Jacoby Ellsbury over to LF where his arm won’t be as much an issue.  Marco Scutaro was signed as a free agent to play short stop.  The Red Sox are virtually the same every where else.  One other change will see Victor Martinez, acquired from Cleveland during last year’s deadline, doing most of the catching over Varitek.  Martinez is the better hitter and we’ll see how he works out behind the plate. David Ortiz is the DH and both he and the Sox are hoping that his struggles at the start of last season are behind him.  He did rebound to belt 29 homers on the season.  Pedroia is back at 2b and Drew is back in rf.   The pitching staff is led by Lester and Beckett.  Former Angel John Lackey will also be in the rotation as well as a healthy Dice-K.  Jonathan Papelbon is back to close.   Things are going right if Beltre is healthy and peppering the Green Monster and if Mike Cameron is playing Gold Glove calibur defense while hitting about 30 doubles and 25 homers.  Things are going bad if Ortiz is hitting below .200 at the All-Star Break.

4. Toronto Blue Jays – Toronto got off to a hot start last year and then fizzled out almost as quickly.   The biggest news they could generate after the All-Star Break was the inability to deal Roy Halladay (he has since been traded to the Phillies).  They also swallowed a bad contract in Alex Rios as they let him go to the White Sox last summer as a waiver pick.  Vernon Wells has also seen his best days behind him.  Ricky Romero, who won 13 games as a rookie despite allowing more than 13 runners per 9 innings last year will be the Opening Day starter.  Kevin Gregg, who couldn’t close a door last year for the Cubs, will be the teams closer this year.   Adam Lind had a great season last year, and Aaron Hill had a breakout season that most don’t expect to duplicate.  Expect to see Brett Wallace, acquired from the A’s, in the lineup sometime in 2010.  You could also expect to see the Blue Jays finish last if the Orioles can put it together this year.

5. Baltimore Orioles -   The Orioles haven’t been to the post-season since 1997, and although they probably won’t get there this year you can at least expect that the Orioles will improve upon last season and perhaps even get out of the basement in the toughest division in Baseball.  Kevin Millwood was acquired to anchor a relatively young staff that includes third year starter Jeremy Guthrie.  Guthrie had a nice year in 2008 but struggled last year.   Behind the two veterans the O’s have Brad Bergeson, super-prospect Brian Matusz, Chirss Tillman and Dave Hernandez.   Matusz is the best of the bunch, but not since the days of Palmer, McGregor, Flanagan and Stone have the O’s had this many potentially good young pitchers.  The lineup is a nice mix of youth and experience.  Markakis and Roberts are the lineup veterans, but the O’s have some great youngsters at key positions with Wieters behind the plate and Adam Jones in centerfield.  Nolan Riemold is the left fielder and although not spectacular, he is a solid hitter who plays average defense.   Miguel Tejada is back replacing Melvin Mora at third base and it will be interesting to see if he can not only match his numbers in Houston last year but also if he can handle third base.  This is a team that if they get their young pitching staff going in the right direction could actually finish at .500 and possibly climb into one of the top three spots.  Of course, they could also finish in last place as well.

Filed Under Phillies

Comments

One Response to “Greek’s Pics – AL East”

  1. Rick on March 8th, 2010 9:51 am

    I like the Orioles youth and think they ay least finish ahead of the Blue Jays. Other than that I think we will see another yankees red sox race. Yay, thats new stuff!

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