hey folks, today i'll breakdown what is by far the most brutal division in the MLB: the american league east.
Eastbound.... and UP
2010 final standings: 1) Tampa Bay Rays: 96-66 (division winner)
2) New York Yankees: 95-67 (wild card winner)
3) Boston Red Sox: 89-73
4) Toronto Blue Jays: 85-77
5) Baltimore Orioles: 66-96
2011 outlooks:
>Tampa Bay Rays- the rays retooled this offseason. they lost some big time production players from last season; carl crawford (boston), carlos pena (chicago cubs), rafael soriano (new york yankees), joaquin benoit (detroit), and traded shortstop jason bartlett (san diego) and starting picher matt garza (cubs) to cut costs. they still have the cornerstone of the franchise in evan longoria playing 3rd base and they still have a very solid rotation of david price, james shields, jeremy hellickson, and jeff niemann. this team is going to have to rely on young players, such as reid brignac and desmond jennings, to play to their potential. the rays did make a couple of interesting moves bringing in veterans manny ramirez and johnny damon, reuniting a couple of the "idiots" from the 04 red sox.
>> 2011 prediction for the rays: 84-78. 3rd in the division, not a great year but not a horrible one either. i really like the prospects in this organization but with all the loses they had this past offseason its hard to envision them making a lot of noise in this brutal division. they lost key pieces from their great bullpen of last year and i see this years bullpen blowing a lot of late leads.
>New York Yankees- this offseason the yankees were up to their old tricks in pursuing the top free agents available, cliff lee and carl crawford. but in a very surprising fashion lost out on both of them. the one big move they did make was bringing rafeal soriano, last years allstar closer for the rays, to come in as the 8th inning setup man for the always dominant mariano rivera. the yanks also resigned captain derek jeter after a bit of a dispute. these guys have some question marks in their rotation. yes c.c sabathia was a 20 game winner last year but aside from him and phil hughes, coming off a breakout season, there is a lot of uncertainty. andy pettitte is gone (retirement) and a.j burnett has been unpredictable lately, ivan nova seems like he'll be part of the starting 5 but he is unproven and there is no clear cut #5 guy. the only other position in question is catcher where it is a battle between newly acquired russell martin and spark-plug francisco cervelli. prospect jesus montero is also competing for the backup spot if not push for the starting nod. jorge posada is still here but he is making a permanent move the the DH role.
> >2011 prediction for the yanks: 90-72. 2nd place in division. the rotation like i mentioned is a huge question mark but with this offense and the guys in the back end of the bullpen all the starters have to do is not get lit up like christmas trees. these guys should make a push for the wildcard again this year.
>Boston Red Sox- wow, what an offseason for the bo-sox. not only did they sign carl crawford to play left field, they also traded for perennial all star adrian gonzalez. there were a couple of major losses boston though, victor martinez (detroit) and adrian beltre (texas) to free agency. this lineup is loaded with MVP candidates, and the starting rotation is extremely talented with jon lester, clay buchholz, josh beckett, and john lackey. they added bobby jenks to help bolster a bullpen that includes fireballers daniel bard and jonathan papelbon. kevin youkillis will slide to 3rd base to make room from gonzalez and jacoby ellsbury will move back to center so crawford can play against the green monster in fenway park. only question that i have is, who's catching? looks like their going to go with jarrod saltalamacchia starting and jason varitek backing him up.
>>2011 bo-sox prediction: 99-63. 1st in division. as long as everyone on this team does what they are known to do, which is dominate, then they should find themselves battling for a world series title. enough said.
>Toronto Blue Jays- the blue jays were a huge surprise last year. the offense put up ridiculous power numbers. --side note: saw them play here in AZ last year, and before the game our very own Nate "the fantasy guru" Gomez told me, "watch i bet they hit at least 5 bombs (homeruns for those of you that dont speak baseball) today"... sure enough the jays belted 5 homers that day-- the one guy who did a lot of damage by himself was jose batutista who smashed a MLB leading 54 big flies! (also another word for homerun) the offense looks to duplicate the offensive output they had last season while the pitching staff looks to put things together. they lost ace shaun marcum (traded to brewers) and the young guns look to prove themselves in the big leagues. ricky romero is set to lead this young staff and watch out for prospect kyle drabek to put up some numbers this year.
>>2011 blue jays prediction: 82-80. 4th in division. i doubt these guys can put up the same type of offensive numbers, but they do have some young hitters that can really swing the bat. i am very suspect of the entire pitching staff but that's only because their young and unproven, but they have big potential.
>Baltimore Orioles- the o's had probably the busiest offseason in the league this year. they added a few big time players to a very talented core group of guys. baltimore traded for local fan favorite mark reynolds and j.j hardy. they also brought in derrek lee, vladimir guerrero, and justin duchscherer via free agency. add these veterans to guys like brian matusz, adam jones, nick markakis, matt wieters, brian roberts and the o's should be much more competitive then years past.
>>2011 prediction for the o's: 74-88. 5th place in division. yes they'll finish last but lets be real they play in the A.L east where wins will be hard to come by. but manager buck showalter certainly is changing the mindset here. he has the youngsters playing hard all the time and it's great to see. these guys will be big time players in this division... just not this year, maybe in a couple of years.
>stay tuned for next time when i breakdown the american league central for you
---Nick Garcia
*sorry for it being a little long. but i hope i was able to inform you.
P.S. <---this is what part of the alphabet would look like if you removed Q and R :-)
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