Well, we're just over nine days away from Spring Training, and Baseball Fever has struck again!
Ironically, a fever is probably the cure most Red Sox fans need after the Patriots...underperformed...on Sunday.
But what's a sports season without speculation?
Who gets better? Who gets worse?
Who really overpaid for their prized player? How many Brittany Spears references can we get out there with six divisions to review? Well, let's get to it!
Side note: In a complete steal of a marketing ploy from Sean MC, we're embarking on the longest MLB Preview ever. However, in use of his marketing ploy, I'll plug his "Longest NFL Mock Draft Ever." His most recent entry was the Kansas City Chiefs.
This week: The AL East
Boston Red Sox (96-66 in 2007, First in AL East, World Series Champions)
The Red Sox didn’t do much over the winter months. They were listed as “in the hunt” for the Twins’ former ace Johan Santana, however it seemed that the package required to land the ace was a little too rich in the “young talent” department for both the Red Sox front office, and its fans.
The Red Sox are probably better off without Santana though. The rotation boasts veterans such as Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka (although he’s a veteran in age only), and Tim Wakefield, along with young studs Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Throw into that a bullpen that only lost Eric Gagne from the previous season (the only thing holding them back from 100 wins, as hard as that is for me to say), and the pitching staff is one of the strongest in the AL (and let’s face it-the acquisition of Santana may have created a distorted sense of loyalty, jealous, and hurt feelings in the Sox clubhouse-something the defending World Series champs need).
As far as position players, all of your favorites are back: Manny (who’ll revert back to a mid-2000’s Manny I believe), Big Papi, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, and Mr. Rookie-of-the-Year Dustin Pedroia. JD Drew will probably perform better than last year (although that grand slam may as well be the last one he hits in Boston because he’ll never top it), and Jacoby Ellsbury provides the team with a strong presence in centre field and the lead-off spot.
The only question with this team is at shortstop with Julio Lugo. If he can’t improve on his .237 average, the Red Sox may look elsewhere for a solution at short, or even fill the position from within using Argenis Diaz or Jed Lowrie.
2008 Record: 103-59, First in AL East
Toronto Blue Jays (83-79 in 2007, Third in AL East)
27 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
You should probably do research before writing an opinion piece on where the teams will rank. For one in the orioles section you mention chris ray as the bright spot in the bullpen which unless you intended to be a joke should have recognized that he will be out all season after having tommy john surgery and then there is the failure to mention jeremy guthrie who will likely be the number 1 starter on the team. In the Rays section you fail to mention their second best pitcher in James Fields but somehow feel the need to mention their losingest pitcher in Edwin Jackson. I know they are the bottom feeders in the league but at least get the info right.
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Sean Crowe about 1 year ago
Any column that has the Red Sox winning over 100 games and the Blue Jays finishing ahead of the Yankees is alright by me.
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Evan Knopp about 1 year ago
Losing Corey Patterson and replacing him with Luke Scott is a bad thing?
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
With Patterson it's a question of motivation-kind of like a poor man's Rany Moss. Scott's production seems to hinder on whether he wants to hit for average, or if he wants to hit for power. In 2007 he hit .336 with 10 homers, but last year, he gets almost 170 more at bats and his average drpped to .255, although he hit 18 home runs. In all honesty, I'm willing to take Patterson just because of his speed and the fact that he's a year younger than Scott-mostly due to the fact that I haven't liked what I've seen from Scott. That's not to say I may not be wrong, but as of now I feel that Luke Scott doesn't do much for the Orioles.
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Evan Knopp about 1 year ago
Thanks for the response. I dont think its really too fair to compare the two seasons. Scott was just on an incredible hot streak in '06,. he's not really a high average hitter. I got to see him quite a bit in round rock and hes pretty much just a power hitter. I think his minor league BA is something like .275-.280, but he hit over 100 HRs.
Patterson does close the gap with his speed, but his regression after all the hype around him was a little baffling.
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John McClory about 1 year ago
Although its only been a year, the time has come to pull the plug on Lugo's stint in Boston. He has hit his ceiling and then some. I'm fed up with holding my breath every time he's at-bat or fielding a routine ground ball. Let the Jed Lowrie era begin prematurely if need be.
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moira gannon about 1 year ago
I cant wait for baseball season 08!
Awesome article :)
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Keith Sevek about 1 year ago
Except you forgot about injuries. How will the Red Sox win 103 games without Curt Schillings 15 wins? I doubt very much if the Yankees will do much worse than last year. They are getting older, but the young guys are more experienced. The Blue Jays might be better this year... who knows? The Rays could end up in third place behind the Yankees and Red Sox. I only agree with the O's being in the basement.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
How can I forget about an injury two days before it's announced? The Rays COULD be third, but I only see that happening if Toronto is hit by monumental injuries again-even worse than last year. I see Toronto's pitching staff carrying them this season, buoyed by a strong offense. I think Toronto makes a very strong case for second.
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Sarah Braunstein about 1 year ago
The info on the Orioles is atrocious. Why would the losses of three catchers with no major league potential be damning to the O's? Why would the losses of three bad catcher hurt any team? Have you heard of our starting catcher Ramon Hernandez? He's better than all three, as will be our first pick in the last draft, catcher Matt Wieters. And Corey Patterson? He's still available and no one wants him, plus it's been nearly verified for days now that in the Bedard trade the Orioles will get Adam Jones, who has drawn comparisons to Andruw Jones, to start in Center. Of the players you mentioned who the Orioles did get, only Luke Scott has a chance to start. We did not pick up Quiroz or Davis to plug our holes. As far as O's pitchers, how could you not recognize Jeremy Guthrie, who was mentioned by many prominent sports writers as being a contender for Rookie of the Year. You might recognize him when he starts for the team on Opening Day. The idea that the team would trade Markakis is absurd, since he is the center of their rebuilding process. Simiarly, if we don't know how to rebuild, then why did we get rid of Tejada? Sure seems like dumping a veteran beyond his peak for five young players in a trade most people say benefited the O's more is rebuilding. And how do we trade away our best pitcher? Because we won't contend for two years, he hasn't pitched 200 innings in a season yet, and his trade value is highest the longer he has from free agency. In return we get George Sherrill, who will be a bright spot in a bullpen which will not include Chris Ray, since he is out for the season. Finally, here is a list of young pitchers in A and AA who we have to protect our young starters and rebuild properly: Tony Butler, Chris Tillman, Brandon Erbe, Chorye Spoone, Pedro Beato, Bradley Bergesen, Jason Berken, David Hernandez, Tim Bascom, Jacob Arrieta, Jake Renshaw. In addition to these arms, the following highly regarded players will be playing in Baltimore in one to two seasons if they aren't already: Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, Billy Rowell and Matt Wieters. It's very possible that the O's will finish in fifth this year, it's also possible that this article would have been good if you'd done any research at all.
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Sarah Braunstein about 1 year ago
A few more things:
Nick Markakis is universally recognized to be one of the best up and coming right fielders in MLB. He has a higher WARP than every right fielder in MLB except Nick Swisher and he's turning 24! He also led the O's in Average, homeruns, and RBI, and finished second among AL right fielders in RBI, hits and doubles and 3rd in HR.
Daniel Cabrera is not, has never been and is not projected to ever be, an ace.
Assuming Brian Roberts is traded...I am very unclear how you can assume this will happen, since no one in the news media has made such an outrageous claim.
Just to be clear. I recognize my team sucks. The only thing that bothers me more than that, is people writing about it who don't know what they are talking about.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
Brian Roberts has been rumored to be going to Chicago for months-and it's recognized that the thing holding it back is the Bedard trade. I said Markakis is the only player who could garner any interest because he is their only bright spot in the outfield. I want to see Adam Jones perform before anything is said about this. Your rotation is young, and for young pitchers to be successful, they need role models, hence the suggestion of adding a "David Wells-type"-the shot at rebuilding wasn't at how the Orioles have gone out and acquired youth, but how there's no one there to teach them HOW to win. Look at the Padres-they had a young starting staff, but even still they went out and acquired Greg Maddux last offseason, and it paid off in spades. I don't see how acquiring an experienced arm to anchor the young kids could have hurt. Ok, I missed Guthrie-am I the only person in the history of the world to miss a player? No. I admit I missed him, and I'm living with that-meaning I also messed up Daniel Cabrera. How was Bedard NOT your best pitcher? The guy was fourth in the league in strikeouts, was the only starter who had a .500 record or better after starting more than 15 games, and had a 3.16 era. With your "strong young pitchers" I'm imtrigued to see how many of those make it to the MLB. Although they are highly regarded, there is also the possibility that they could be flops, hence why I didn't refer to them at all.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
The list of teams Jeremy Guthrie beat last season: Tampa Bay twice, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle, Oakland, and the Yankees-one playoff team. Meanwhile, he faced 5 playoff teams (Cleveland, Boston, Colorado, LA. Angels, and the Yankees)-his record? 1-1, 10 no decisions, a 4.13 ERA, 60 hits, 28 earned runs, and a 1.23 WHIP.
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Steve Resnick about 1 year ago
First off, you contradicted yourself in the Yankees section saying that "All the Yankees have done this offseason is get older" and then saying "The Yanks have gotten younger this year...". The "older" Yankees, meaning Jeter, Posada and Rivera, had career years last year...with the exception of Rivera. However, that is not totally his fault. His BS:SO ratio was about the same as it has been, at least since 2002. Yes, his ERA was up...but it comes down to results and this W-L record wasn't really that much different either. The Yankees also have quite-possibly the biggest unproven star at first base: Shelly Duncan. He was great offensively last season (when he played) and didn't get to play first much as he did show a strong arm in the outfield. The Yankees could also throw Posada at 1B, as he was an infielder when he first started. The only real question mark when it comes to the Yanks is pitching. To say Wang is unproven is ridiculous. He was first in W in MLB in 2006 and 2nd last season...his career ERA over the past 3 seasons is 3.74, which is not that bad. Yes, he had a rough time in the playoffs, but all pitchers do. The starting rotation might be the youngest if it consists of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Wang and Pettitte, considering the median age would be at 25 and 6 months at the start of the season. Relief pitching is another story. Nobody really knows where Mussina will be when the season starts (relief or starting) or how anybody else, short of Rivera, will be pitching when it comes to the season. That's all I have on the Yankees.
The Red Sox are not starting off well at all. It came out today that Curt Shilling could be out the whole season with a shoulder injury...who will replace him? That only leaves Beckett as the one true SP on the Yankees...I'm excluding Matsuzaka because last season was his rookie and I think this season will really determine what kind of a pitcher he will be. If the starting pitchers at the beginning of the season do consist of Shilling, Dice-K, Wakefield, Buchholz and Beckett, then their median age is 31 and 8 months. Varitek will be 36 next season, Lowell will be 34 and Manny will be 36. Yes, the Sox have huge upside with Jacoby Ellsbury (24), Ortiz (34, but young considering he is a DH and doesn't really play 1B), Pedroia (24) and their young pitchers...but their all-stars are getting older.
The Rays are looking great...however, they are still a young team and will need to learn over the next season to play together. The future, finally, looks great for the Rays. They have a great mix of youth and experience and should have a great season and could very well contend in the near future.
I think the Jays and the O's are good teams...however, I do NOT believe that their talent contends with that of the Yanks or the Sox. Their pitching is not nearly as talented and they don't have as many all-around great players on their rosters.
The Yanks and Red Sox should finish 1st and 2nd (respectively) with the Jays finishing 3rd, the Rays 4th and the O's 5th.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
The shoulder with Schilling came out today-so I knew nothing about that until just now. As for the Yankees, I said that I wouldn't trust Wang in "big games"-he's 1-3 in the playoffs with a 7.58 era. As for the Jays pitching? They were second only to the Red Sox in the AL in ERA and opponent batting average, 4th in the AL in walks allowed second in the AL in quality starts,second in the AL East in saves, and 1st in complete games-I would think that's a quality pitching staff. Oh and I read that line about the Yankees-no one else pointed that out so good call. I've had three people edit this actually (believe it or not) and no ones picked up on it, so thanks.
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Sarah Braunstein about 1 year ago
I never said Bedard wasn't our best pitcher. All you asked was how we could trade him and I explained. The off-season isn't over and it's been well reported that the Orioles are looking into various veterans for their rotation like Bartolo Colon, Steve Trachsel and Kyle Lohse. None of them are good, just like the Orioles will not be good. But if you're going to report that supposed trades are definitely going to happen, you should report on all of them. You should also be careful. Just yesterday the Baltimore Sun, where real sports writers work, reported that the Orioles were talking to Roberts about an a contract extension.
As for Guthrie, he went 7-5 with a 3.70 ERA in 32 appearances, including 26 starts, finished second among AL rookies in ERA, strikeouts (123) and innings pitched (175 1-3). He was 6-5 with a 3.44 ERA as a starter. He finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year Voting. There is not a single person who writes about sports professionally who would ever use your system of judging a pitcher solely on the quality of the teams he faced. That's like saying Alex Rodriguez ins't good because of how he performs in the playoffs.
And as for your argument that "hey, I missed one," the whole point of this article is to use all information to create a worthwhile supposition about the upcoming year. You didn't just miss Guthrie, who by the way is a really important fixture in the O's rotation, perhaps their #1 starter amnd a great exmaple of the Orioles picking up good young guys in a smart way, you wrote about meaningless acquisitions as though they were important to the team, you mentioned two big trades without naming who the Orioles got in return, and you left out key components of both a rebuilding process and a young rotation, both things you claim hamper the chances of the team being good. This is such a totally biased representation of the team.
I just don't know how you can even talk about the 2008 Orioles without referring at least to their every day starters at each position. You didn't mention Luis Hernandez, Tejada's replacement at SS or Adam Jones, their new every day center fielder. Both at least played some last season and have numbers that people might want to know about.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Yea Sarah you tell him, sure the Orioles will most likely come in 5th place this year, and they will probably will lose 100 games, but Miguel Tejada is aging and past his prime, and Erik Bedard is not going to want to be with the Orioles after next season, if we waited till the deadline to trade him we might get a few prospect in return, but instead we got Adam Jones, between him in Markakis the Orioles will have one of the best outfields in the League in a couple of years assuming they can find one more player. And you make it sound like Corey Patterson is worth the uniform he wears, he was one of my favorite players for the O's last year, but he's 28 years old and cant seem to live up to his expectations, sure he's fast but he is a .258 career hitter. Oh and he's playing where next year? Oh right probably the independent league unless we can resign him.
Oh and we got Trachsel to play the whole veteran role, and we can probably dump him around the deadline again and get a few more prospects. So to say the Orioles don't know how to rebuild with the best up and coming outfielders and a top Catch prospect who will probably be ready in a couple of years, is dead wrong. And as Sarah already said the Orioles have a plethora of young pitching talent in the farm system, and with probably a top 3 pick after this season they can address some of those infield issues. Which will at least one will probably get addressed whenever Roberts gets traded. So now we are short a 3B, 1B, 1 OF and maybe a SS, Ok well it's called Nolan Reimold and Billy Rowell, two kids with some good power and leaving it to just 2 positions to find. And with Liz, Patten and Tilman all as future pitchers. Oh and by the way Luis Hernandez hit .290 at the end of last season and is all of 23 years old and can also fill in the OF. So to answer your question yes they do know how to rebuild.
And we have our insurance it's called Norfolk.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
Well a list of single and double A pitchers is certainly the way to go in defense of your performance THIS season. I took a look on the list of top 100 prospects. You have three. And they aren't rated all that highly either. I don't usually put a lot of stock into these rankings but seriously...there are three. Secondly, the Trachsel signing was done...let's see....February 11th. This was written February sixth. Do the math. Third of all, I would take Cory Patterson over Luke Scott ANY day because Patterson can be used in many different facets, I don't see Scott being as flexible. Also, Luis Hernandez has hit over .270 twice in the minor leagues. He also fielded .965 in his first Major League showing, a rather paltry showing from a player labelled as "all-defense".
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Alex Hondros about 1 year ago
Oh yea and I forgot to mention this is probably the best draft class for First Basemen in a long-time which will secure up another spot for the Orioles.
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Bryan Thiel about 1 year ago
Ok well you haven't selected a first baseman yet. It may be a good class but the Orioles still have to SELECT one first. That's like saying that the Blue Jays will have a solid starting rotation after the 2009 draft because it'll be deep in starting pitchers. Pick one and then talk about it.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
You are a KLOWN guy. A sample size of 4 games for Wang makes you automatically think he'll get shelled every time out? KLOWNNNNNNNNNN
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Divya Parmar about 1 year ago
The Red Sox will miss Schilling and Dice-K is still unproven, so they won't win a hundred games.
The Yankee have an under-rated pitching staff with Hughes and Kennedy, so that and the $210 million dollar payroll won't finish 3rd in the division.
The Red Sox still win the division.
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Divya Parmar about 1 year ago
By the way, have the Yankees done the WORST job ever with a $200 million dollar payroll. That is HORRIBLE use of $200 million dollars. Your second best pitcher is Mike Mussina, and your third best pitcher is Andy Petite.
And how is Jason Giambi working out? Great deal, huh?
And the best you could do at first base is Doug freakin' Mientkiewicz?
This team is a waste of money. Give Billy Beane $200 million dollars, and he would make a 10 times better team than this.
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Recliner GM about 1 year ago
OK - so I came up with a little bit of a ridiculous system to do my baseball predictions this season. I wanted to give each team a score from 1-100 by assigning point values to different aspects of the team. The most important was #1 starter (10 points), least important was minor league system (1 point). The entire system went like this:
http://reclinergm.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/baseball-preview-prep/
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
The Jays will rule in 08 finshing 2nd in the AL east the yankees having bad year finshing behind the rays maybe even behind the O's.
Al East predictions:
boston 103-59
toronto 93-69 wild card
tamapa bay 80-82
newyork 79-83
baltimore 55-107
!!!!!! GO JAYS!!!!!
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
loser get a life stop building all those other loser fan bases hope up the AL east as always will come down to the yankees and red sox, with the yankees i believe finishing in 1st and why would the yankees let a patheic team like the blue jays get ahead of them and only finish 2nd, tell the truth and stop letting your jealousy of how awesome and amazing the yankees are leads you into sounding like a complete IDIOT. i don't know what the season stats will be or how many games the yankees will win or will this be our world series sweeping of a national league team year in the world series but i do know this the blue jays won't beat the yankees nor the DEVIL rays or the o's. redsox nation yall know the deal know yall place when it comes to the yankees (second) no team matters to the yankees in the mlb except the yankees.but, red sox fans we are look forward to our meetings against one aonther this year considering you guys are our closes threat but just not close enough. God bless the stars in stripe.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I am a Toronto fan, but the only way a AL East team will win the wildcard is if the other 3 teams a get clobbered by the the two top teams.
Can you see the Yankees being below .500 this year? A pleasant thougth for some, but a reality? No.
The AL East will battle it out, all teams will take their hits, Boston will emerge at the top.
Sorry, the Wild Card winner will come out of AL Central or West.
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