In this post, we'll be taking a look at the AL East division, or "The White Flag Of Surrender Now Has Pinstripes On It."
AL EAST:
Baltimore Orioles - After losing 30 more games than they won and being used mainly as a punching bag for the rest of the division, the O's were slightly rejuvenated down the stretch by old hand Buck Showalter joining them as manager. They began to play pretty well, beating teams they hadn't all season, but 34-23 doesn't pull you into first when your record prior to that was 32-73, so the Orioles securely held onto last place. However, with the addition of infielders Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy, and Derrek Lee, plus power hitter Vlad Guerrero in the DH spot and righthander Justin Duchscherer on the mound, there's a good chance they could make a legitimate run for 4th place, or even 3rd, in the East this year.
Boston Red Sox - 2010 was certainly a year the Sox would like to forget: they were riddled with injury, couldn't seem to hold on to 1st or 2nd place for very long, and missed the playoffs entirely for the first time since 2006 after being eliminated in the final week or so of September. With most of their injured players (Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Cameron) healing nicely and trying to bounce back, things began to look up for them. And then, the Red Sox managed to pull off the stunner of the offseason: they acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego, a move that meant switching Kevin Youkilis to 3rd base and closing the door on the return of Adrian Beltre, and signed Carl Crawford, one of the speediest free agents this year. As long as their pitching staff can hold up and avoid injuries as they were prone to last season (their bullpen can help; they added Bobby Jenks from the White Sox to assist existing closer Jonathan Papelbon), many are projecting the BoSox to take the East by storm in '11.
New York Yankees - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. It seemed like my Bronx boys would make a strong showing to possibly repeat from their 2009 championship, but halfway through the season, it became apparent that they might have to settle for the Wild Card. They tussled with Tampa Bay for most of the second half, but around the middle of September, the Red Sox were eliminated from playoff contention, meaning the Yanks would be playing in October no matter what. Still, it would have been nice to win the division, but I digress: they swept the Twins in the LDS, but lost 4 games to 2 to the Rangers, effectively ending any chances of a World Series repeat. They failed in their heated pursuit of Cliff Lee this winter, so their rotation is in disarrary (even more so, now that Andy Pettitte officially announced his retirement), aside from the signing of closer/setup man Rafael Soriano, who's clearly pegged as Mariano Rivera's successor come 2013. Other than that, the Yanks added a few players past their prime (Andruw Jones, Bartolo Colon, Eric Chavez) to a lineup that they didn't really need to help. 2011 isn't looking terribly bright with their pitching, but CC Sabathia's a sure thing, Phil Hughes may surprise everyone, and A.J. Burnett may start earning the money he's making.
Tampa Bay Rays - I almost feel bad for the Rays: through trades and free agents unsigned, they lost a huge part of what made them a championship-caliber team the past 3 years. Even though they handily kept the Yankees out of the top spot and won the division by a few games, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual AL champion Rangers. They failed to resign Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, and Joaquin Benoit, and traded Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett, depleting an infield, outfield, rotation and bullpen that made them so fierce. Sure, they still have Evan Longoria, David Price, Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton, and their big acquisition this year was to add Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, two good older players, but I highly doubt this means they'll rebound easily and be a dominant force in 2011. They've got a great farm system, from what I hear, so maybe in 2015 or 2016 they'll be back, but I find it hard to believe they'll finish higher than 3rd place in the division this year.
Toronto Blue Jays - 1993 seems so long ago for the once-great Bluebirds. Even though they were boosted by Jose Bautista's highly surprising 54 homers this season, and they managed to gain a winning record of 85-77, that was only good for 4th in the division. With that kind of record in any of the other 5 divisions in the MLB, that could be at least a 2nd-place team; unfortunately for the Canadians, they're stuck with the Yankees and Red Sox. Losing the insanely good Roy Halladay certainly didn't help them this year, but trading outfielder Vernon Wells to the Angels this winter, along with catcher John Buck to the Marlins early in the offseason, can only hurt their chances of improving a floundering lineup. As far as their rotation goes, they sent Shawn Marcum over to the Brewers, but they've still got Brett Cecil and Ricky Romero, their main hurlers, to help strengthen their defense. It's tough to say if they'll do any better this season than they did last season, but they seem to have gained just as much as they lost.
Projected 2011 AL East Standings:
1. Boston Red Sox - move 2 spots up
2. New York Yankees - stay the same
3. Baltimore Orioles - move 2 spots up
4. Tampa Bay Rays - move 3 spots down
5. Toronto Blue Jays - move 1 spot down
Next, we'll take a look at the AL Central division.
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