American League East Preview
1. Boston Red Sox
Despite the same personnel, Boston’s lineup should improve. David Ortiz is healthy. Manny Ramirez is healthy and in a contract year. Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew can only do better than last season’s performance. Ellsbury certainly upgrades Crisp, the third worst hitting outfielder in baseball last season. Even with Lowell’s likely lowering the team will likely score more runs.
April showers would be swell for the Red Sox who need some time to get healthy. The long run rotation should be Beckett, Matsuzaka, Lester, Buchholz and Wakefield, which is solid. They also should have Schilling and Colon to swoop in like Fat Batman and Robin come August.
The bullpen should prove strong as well. Papelbon is one of the best in the game. Okajima, Delcarmen, and ever-steady Mike Timlin can take care of the setup duties. They may need to bolster with an extra arm or two, however.
I may be a homer, but I was right last year.
2. New York Yankees
The Yankees should score in spades. They have the statistical stud Alex Rodriguez in the middle, joined by a contract-year Bobby Abreu and Matsui. New York also has good table-setter guys like Jeter, Cabrera, and Cano to get on base for them. Posada will plummet down to earth. His OPS last season was .109 above his career average. He is 36 and has caught 137 or more games every season since 2000. Damon does not look any younger and Giambi is a giant question mark.
World Series were won in New York with dominant pitching, once again they will go without. Wang is a very good pitcher, but hardly a top of the rotation ace. Mussina must be running on creeks and cobwebs. Pettitte will not have overcome his heart-wrenching Roger Clemens breakup. Hughes and Kennedy are young and gifted, but unproven and on pitch counts.
The bullpen is stellar at the top with future hall of famer, Mariano Rivera and heir-apparent Jaba Chamberlin. But it slides downhill steeply from there. Middle relief will be crucial for the team to reach the playoffs, necessitating that Farnsworth or Hawkins stands up.
3. Toronto Blue Jays
If Wells bounces back from his terrible ‘07, the trio of him, Thomas and Rios can put up some numbers. Maybe they can get something out of Scott Rolen. Most importantly though, they got David Eckstein to show off his championship rings, scrap and be a great character guy. That’s guaranteed to put the Jays over the top.
As always, the Jays need Halladay and Burnett to be both productive and healthy. Even if they both have Cy Young-caliber years, it may not be enough for Toronto to contend.
The bullpen is a bit of a question mark. The big money man B.J. Ryan was injured and ineffective last season. Accardo closed well in his absence, but the rest of the crew are mediocre.
They need to get rid of those black uniforms and go back to red and blue, hideous.
4. Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena could form the nucleus of a quite decent lineup. After classily demoting Evan Longoria for a month to squeeze an extra year of service from him, they can be even better. Cliff Floyd may thrive after mercifully moving to the American League and a cozy DH spot.
Tampa has three decent young starters with Shields, Kazmir and the newly acquired Matt Garza. Three more than they have had for much of their existence.
After taking a year off in 2006, Percival was nearly unhittable in limited action with St. Louis last season. He has always been one of the better closers in the game, except for his one year in Detroit. It’s not unthinkable that he can do a job for Tampa this season.
Is it (Sun) Rays or (Sting) Rays? I actually thought Devil Rays was a decent name, they just have bland uniforms and a craptastic stadium.
5. Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles’ clubhouse was the performance enhancing drugs equivalent of Studio 54 and they couldn’t hit then. The only sight to see will be youngster Nick Markakis, unless you like helpless flailing and shanking balls 20 feet foul – making Millar your man.
Who needs Eric Bedard? The Orioles have Steve Trachsel, bitches! Loewen may suffer from being rushed too soon. The rest of them aren’t worth much.
The bullpen isn’t particularly great. Sherrill has been a competent reliever, but has never closed.
The Orioles will struggle to fill seats in the Summer, when they aren’t playing Boston. They have no problem with recovering steroid users. They need some offense. Barry Bonds come on down!
