1. New York Yankees
The poor (as in most of baseball) hate to see the rich get richer. The ’09 champs did just that by trading for a 30-30 guy in Curtis Granderson and acquiring Javier Vasquez. Subsequently, they lost Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Melky Cabrera, but their additions should outweigh their subtractions. Randy Winn was also brought in to fill the void in left field. Their pitching rotation is stronger than last year as they have six starters competing for five spots, with Joba Chamberlain vs. Philip Hughes for the last spot. Don’t surprised if Joba ends up in the pen and Hughes carries over his recent bullpen success into the rotation. It will be interesting to see what the front office does with the expiring contracts of Derek Jeter and Mo Rivera.
Key Move: Acquiring Curtis Granderson in a 3-way trade.
2. Tampa Bay Rays
Maddon’s club is hungry after almost swallowing a championship in 2008. This year B.J. Upton is healthy from the get-go, Pat the Bat kicked his neck injury aside, and they now have a closer in Rafael Soriano. They traded away Kazmir late last year but that just opened a spot for workhorse Wade Davis. Jeff Niemann is another young gun who had a successful rookie year by winning 13 games. Like the Yanks, they have depth in their rotation. Let’s also not forget about David Price, who should improve in his second full MLB season. The Rays have the quickest outfield in the bigs with Upton moving over to RF, Columbia grad Fernando Perez taking over in center and Carl Crawford in LF in his contract year. If Perez falters, Desmond Jennings will slip right in and not miss a beat.
Key Move: Acquiring Rafael Soriano for Jesse Chavez.
3. Boston Red Sox
I understand that pitching and defense win championships, but that doesn’t happen when the Yankees are in your division. The Sox signed John Lackey to pair up with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester to form a devastating trio in a short series. They lost Jason Bay and failed to replace his bat, though. They chose defense in the ancient, but still producing Mike Cameron. The move pushes Ellsbury over to left field. Adrian Beltre comes in to start at 3B with Billy Hall backing him up. This year’s Red Sox club doesn’t have the offensive thump they’ve had in years past, but don’t be surprised if they are just prepping a trade that will bring in Padres first basemen Adrian Gonzalez.
Key Move: Signing John Lackey to a 5 year $82.5 million contract.
4. Baltimore Orioles
Unfortunately they are stuck in the AL East, however, the O’s have made it known in the offseason that they will not be a pushover in ’10. They have a solid outfield with superstar Adam Jones prowling CF, slugger Nick Markakis in RF and Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie platooning in LF. Baltimore improved their infield corner spots by bringing back Miguel Tejada to play the hot corner and acquiring Garrett Atkins after an 0ff-year to play first base. Mr. Baseball Matt Wieters enters his second full season behind the dish and we all will be anxiously watching his progression. They added Kevin Millwood to the rotation and Mike Gonzalez to their bullpen but their best addition might be from within, Brian Matusz. The 23-year-old left hander is ready to start and make an impact with the black and orange.
Key Move: Solidifying the corners with Tejada and Atkins.
5. Toronto Blue Jays
This club is in disarray as they cleaned house and only have few highly touted prospects to fill voids. Second baseman Aaron Hill put together all of his talent and had a monster season, and Adam Lind did the same. Vernon Wells is back in CF for another year but should be dished to a contender close to the trade deadline. Their rotation is led by Shaun Marcum who found his niche in the league a couple years ago, but then had it halt abruptly due to Tommy John surgery. Aside from dishing Halladay, their most notable offseason move was trading reliever Brandon League to Seattle for former first round pick Brandon Morrow. Morrow just needed a change of scenery as he was buried in the bullpen with the Mariners.
Key Move: Doc for Kyle Drabek and prospects
Bold move placing the Rays ahead of the Sox. Why so?
Like I said, Boston doesn’t have the offensive thump of years past. The Rays have great depth this year also.
I can see the Sox winning the division by like 5 or 6 games. I really don’t think the Yankees upgraded that much this offseason. Vasquez was very dominant last year…in the NL!!! Let’s also not forget while yes adding Granderson is nice (even though he’ll probably only hit .260) the Yankees lost about 60 home runs in Matsui and Damon and I don’t think Granderson is gonna hit 60 bombs this year. However, I can see Beltre’s bat filling the hole left by Bay. Especially in Fenway. Plus the Sox also have 6 solid starters. No one has mentioned Wakefield alllll off season! This guy could have started the All-Star game last year and he’s the sixth guy!! This is one of the best rotations baseball has ever seen. The Sox are for real.
Eric let’s not get too carried away. You just said the Yanks upgraded… and they beat out the Sox by 8 games last season! I agree Boston’s staff is amazing, but is it enough to provide a 13-14 game difference? I don’t think so. If they are going to beat out the Yanks by 5-6 games, that means they need to win around 110 games. Now that’s insane.
By the way, I think my grandma said she saw Hideki and Damon in her bingo game last week.
I said I DON’T think they upgraded that much.
You must be on acid. Not upgrading “that much” means you still think they upgraded at least a little.
Desmond Jennings is for real. Lol I know this sounds retarded but my barber is a die hard sox fan and he even said they aren’t making the playoffs this year. I might have to agree with him because when you look at there team, they are getting old… kinda like the yankees were a couple years ago.
Eric needs to re-read what he wrote a couple times lol.
“I can see the Sox winning the division by like 5 or 6 games. I really don’t think the Yankees upgraded that much this offseason.”
Am I missing something? Lol.
Pitching and defense wins championships my friend, and the Sox have upgraded in both category! They are much better then the team last year who made the playoffs. Im not saying there going to beat the Yankees in the AL East but it will come down to the last week and they will for sure make the playoffs, to think there not is nuts. And lets not forget the great possiblity of Adrian Gonzalez being acquired before the deadline…and who is getting old on the team except for maybe Ortiz and Mike Cameron????
Yeah it takes both of those nick but the AL east is strong this year, stronger than its ever been…the yankees arent gonna let up anytime soon. the yankees just aquired a guy thats could easily go 30-30 in that ball park and a pitcher that will be at least a 13-15 game winner. and i think the rays deserve to be ahead of the sox. they have so much depth and now that they have a closer thats not 100 years old their gonna be in the running this year. and the rays have a pretty good staff this year as well with price, niemann etc. i think the yanks will win the division followed by the rays then the sox….(the spread) yankees
tampa bay 4 games back
redsox 1 1/2 games back