Toronto Blue Jays
Being a Toronto Boy, every year we’re faced with the same dilemma here: How to catch the Yankees and Red Sox.
We don’t need to beat both, just one. The Jays are coming off an 83-79 season, finishing third; 13 games behind the Red Sox and 11 behind the Yanks. A slight difference between 2006 when the Blue Jays racked up 86 wins finishing second.
Problematic Troy Glaus was traded to the Cardinals for Scott Rolen, who hopefully can fill that gap at the hot corner.
The Jays also picked up David Eckstein from the Cards, who will fill the infield in nicely with Aaron Hill at second and Lyle Overbay at first.
Russ Adams, John McDonald, and Marco Scutaro provide a reliable bench.
Toronto boasts one of its strongest pitching rotations in a while with ace Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan, and Shawn Marcum, leaving Jesse Litsch, who is coming off an impressive rookie season and Gustavo Chacin, who has been plagued with injuries for the last two seasons, fighting it out for the last rotation spot.
A strong bullpen including Jeremy Accardo, Casey Janssen, Jason Frasor, Scott Downs, Brendan League, and Brian Tallet. If B.J. Ryan gets healthy by opening day or some time soon after that’s also a plus for the Blue Jays.
Vernon Wells, who is coming off his worst season to date, needs to step up if the Blue Jays want to play postseason ball. A shoulder injury last year is said to be the cause for this, so hopefully Vernon can show that he’s worth $100 million to Toronto fans this year and post some big numbers.
Alex Rios has been improving steadily every year and this could be his breakout year. Watch for big things from this always exciting player. Frank Thomas can still knock the ball around and Matt Stairs is always clutch off the bench.
The signing of former Jay Shannon Stewart has caused some competition with Reed Johnson for left field this season.
New York Yankees
The biggest change isn’t the Yankees landing another high-end player, it’s the change of leadership with Joe Girardi taking over from Joe Torre.
We’ll see how much of a difference he can bring to this team that’s definitely not hurting for talent.
Love him or hate him, Alex Rodriguez puts up massive numbers every year, so look for them this year also. Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, and Melky Cabrera fill out the rest of a lineup that no pitcher really wants to see.
Out of all this talent and muscle, watch for Cano to have a major year.
The Yankees’ biggest weakness is their pitching. Aging and, according to some government papers, steroid user Andy Pettitte is not who he once was. Mussina is also far past his prime, but these two are also the only veterans on an inexperienced staff.
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