The hardest division in baseball will once again be the hardest to win. This off-season was quiet for both the Red Sox and Yankees, which is hard to believe. After an epic collapse down the stretch the Red Sox allowed Theo Epstein to head to the Chicago Cubs and fired coach Terry Francona and replaced him with the ever popular and animated Bobby Valentine. The Tampa Bay Rays pretty much will field the same team as last year with the inclusion of pitching phenom Matt Moore. Here is the break down of the AL East.
New York Yankees
The Yankees went into the off-season with some question marks in the rotation. They quickly made a few moves in signing Kuroda and trading for Pineda from the Mariners for prospect Jesus Montero. The Yankees traded away a great piece to the Mariners for Michael Pineda. Big question marks are on this trade. How will Pineda do in the largest market in the country and with that short porch in right? Will his velocity go up or down? Major question marks also go to Kuroda. He was sneaky good last year, just didn’t get wins. But, that was in Los Angeles, NY and the AL East is a completely different ball game. Yankees are good, with CC leading the staff and Cano/Tex leading the offense the Yankees will be good, 90 win good? I think so. Player to watch: Michael Pineda, can he repeat his first half last year?
The Yankees went into the off-season with some question marks in the rotation. They quickly made a few moves in signing Kuroda and trading for Pineda from the Mariners for prospect Jesus Montero. The Yankees traded away a great piece to the Mariners for Michael Pineda. Big question marks are on this trade. How will Pineda do in the largest market in the country and with that short porch in right? Will his velocity go up or down? Major question marks also go to Kuroda. He was sneaky good last year, just didn’t get wins. But, that was in Los Angeles, NY and the AL East is a completely different ball game. Yankees are good, with CC leading the staff and Cano/Tex leading the offense the Yankees will be good, 90 win good? I think so. Player to watch: Michael Pineda, can he repeat his first half last year?
92-70
Tampa Bay Rays
What can be said about the best run ball club? They just keep pumping out solid players, next up is Matt Moore. Is he going to be good? YES! This kid will be the ace of the staff within the year, better than Price even. The Rays bring in controversial veteran Luke Scott and brought back Carlos Peña. The Rays are a great team. They have what it takes to win and win big. But, with Moore most likely on some type of pitch count and James Shields coming down to earth I think the Rays will just barely miss the playoffs. Player to watch: Matt Moore - Can he be as dominant as advertised?
90-72
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were so quiet this off-season on the player side of things. Mentioned above they have a new GM and coach but on the player development they didn’t do much. This team struggled so bad down the stretch, partially due to injuries and partially due to egos. The Red Sox bring back pretty much the same team as last year with the exception of Jonathan Papelbon who left via free agency. The Red Sox re-tooled in the closer department and brought in injury risk Andrew Bailey to handle the job. They have Mark Melancon ready for when Bailey goes down. The Red Sox also got rid of Jed Lowrie and Marco Scutaro, which makes me scratch my head. It is looking like Nick Punto who with his putrid offensive skills will be manning the middle. The Red Sox have a lot of injury risks with Carl Crawford still on the mend and Youk coming off a bad year. They should rebound, no question. But the Yankees and Rays are better. This will be a fine tuning year for the Red Sox. Player to watch: Can Jacoby Ellisbury repeat as the MVP caliber season last year?
88- 74
Toronto Blue Jays
What to say about the Jays? They have the offense in the bank with Jose Bautista clearly on his way to jack under 40 + bombs. They have Bret Lawrie who is clearly capable of a 30 + home run rout. They have two amazing catchers in Arencibia and d”Arnaud. The Jays should get a healthy Adam Lind back as well. This team clearly has the offense to boot. However, a lot of question marks in their rotation. Will Morrow and Litsch be injury risks? Will Drabek get some command under his belt? How does Santos fit in? This team is better but in the toughest division in baseball they fall short again. Clearly though, they are on the right track. Player to watch: I would say it is Brett Lawrie.
What to say about the Jays? They have the offense in the bank with Jose Bautista clearly on his way to jack under 40 + bombs. They have Bret Lawrie who is clearly capable of a 30 + home run rout. They have two amazing catchers in Arencibia and d”Arnaud. The Jays should get a healthy Adam Lind back as well. This team clearly has the offense to boot. However, a lot of question marks in their rotation. Will Morrow and Litsch be injury risks? Will Drabek get some command under his belt? How does Santos fit in? This team is better but in the toughest division in baseball they fall short again. Clearly though, they are on the right track. Player to watch: I would say it is Brett Lawrie.
86 – 76
Baltimore Orioles – Awwww, the Orioles. This team just seems to always fail and fail hard. Bank on these story lines to come out of the Orioles camp this year, Brian Roberts will miss over half the games, Mark Reynolds will hit 37 + home runs with an average in the low .200s, Chris Davis will struggle once again in the bigs, Brian Matusz will show signs of promise but have trouble keeping the ball in the yard, Nolan Reimold will tease us with his promise but be nothing more than a bench player. The Orioles have some talent but once again just won’t be able to put it together. Another lost season in Baltimore. Player to watch: Chris Davis, this kid shows so much promise but just hasn't been able to put it together in the bigs yet.
69 - 93
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