Big teams on the outside looking in at the Playoff race

What do the  Phillies, Red Sox, Angels and Tigers all have in common? If the season ended today then none of them would make the playoffs and they rank 2-5 in payroll behind only the Yankees. If you look at their payroll and roster everyone of these teams should make the playoffs and at the beginning of the year all of them were projected by most people to make the playoffs. All year we have heard that the Tigers team was so much better than the White Sox that soon they would just blow by them and win the division easily  and you know what that hasn't happened. The same goes for the Angels, who many have said are better than anyone else in their division, but as of August they sit behind both the Oakland A's and the Texas Rangers despite what is supposedly a superior roster featuring Jerad Weaver, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. The Phillies were supposed to win the NL East despite the injuries because their pitching staff was just too good, but they sit 11 games under .500 and have been trying to move some of their bloated contracts. The Red Sox are in the same boat as everyone said their problems from last September wouldn't carry over and yet they have struggled all year and have been under .500 this season more often than not.Fans of everyone of these teams will cry foul and say injuries have hurt their season, but every team deals with injuries, the Yankees have lost Mariano Rivera, Michael Pineda, Andy Petitte, CC Sabathia, Brett Gardner and ARod and have still manged to have the best record in the AL.
My point in this is not to rip these teams as much as it is to point out that at a certain point you cannot keep saying this team will do better because of the talent on their roster or another team will slide and acknowledge that after 110 games these teams probably are what they appear to be. It is certainly possible that the Pirates or the Orioles could self destruct or the Tigers/Angels could go on an epic tear but that does not seem to be likely. The most likely scenario is that these teams keep it close toward the end of the season and we have a hard fought wild card race and some tight division races as well.

The rest of the AL East at the Trade Deadline

The All star break generally marks the unofficial halfway point of the MLB season with all teams having played more than 81 games. as of right now the standings are thus:

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	52	33	.612	—	25–16	27–17
Baltimore Orioles	45	40	.529	7	22–20	23–20
Tampa Bay Rays	45	41	.523	7½	24–19	21–22
Boston Red Sox	43	43	.500	9½	22–24	21–19
Toronto Blue Jays	43	43	.500	9½	23–19	20–24

The Yankees are a full 7 games up on the Orioles but the rest of the division is very close to one another and they all suffer from a lot of problems and only the Yankees have been over .500 the last 10 games. I talked about the Yankees necessary moves earlier.

Baltimore Orioles
The Fighting Showalters came out of the gate on top and their pitching had been decent which is a big step up from absolutely horrible which had been the norm. Their bullpen ERA still ranks as the second best in baseball but their starter ERA now ranks 26th with no starter being particularly good with Chen and Hammel having fallen back down to earth. Their offense hasn't fared much better as of late as they have fallen down to 19th. They traded for Jim Thome and have been linked to Zach Greinke, but quite frankly buying big pieces would be a bad idea for Baltimore. The Fighting Showalters have played way above their heads and their -36  run differential shows that. Dan Duquette has the right idea with investing in pitching but the team isnt one pitcher away they are three pitchers away from contending. The crap the Orioles throw out there for 3 out of five games is awful, Brian Matusz was the best of the three before being demoted and his ERA was 5.42! Their pitching is almost as bad as Boston and Toronto's and their offense is worse than Tampa Bays, you cannot win with that and I doubt it will get better. The Orioles should give every opportunity to their young players and maybe try and swing a deal for a starter who is under team control such as Matt Garza or Wandy Rodriguez. I'd love to see the Orioles make the playoffs but I think they finish .500 at best.

Toronto Blue Jays
I did not realize how good the Jays offense was this year until I looked it up which shows just how bad their pitching has been. The Jays are in the top three and Bautista and Encarnacion are both crushing the ball as is the rest of the lineup but that pitching staff has been devastated by injury and they relied too much on their internal pitching. The Jays have a real shot of making the postseason if they can assemble a decent pitching staff but like the Orioles they do not need one pitcher as much as they need three fifths of a rotation. Toronto is really close but I think what they need to try and do is extend Encarnacion and possibly Johnson and if they cannot then trade them. The Blue Jays have some really good pieces in Morrow, Romero and Alvarez but they need some solid inning eaters and should target some team controlled pitchers. Garza is a really good fit for Toronto as he has experience in the AL east and is a solid pitcher who eats innings and is a top of the rotation pitcher. Jason Vargas is another possibility and Alex Anthopoulos loves making trades.

Tampa Bay Rays
Unfortunately for the Rays they came into the year with a lot of expectations and alot has been going wrong for them. Pena has been mediocre, Longoria has been hurt, the signings of Luke Scott and Hideki Matsui have not worked well and to top it all off they are 29th in attendance which is just wrong. Sorry Tampa Bay, I know your stadium is crap and that it is actually in St.Petersburg but you have made the playoffs three of the last four years and if you don't go then you don't deserve an MLB team. The Rays are considering selling but they also have arguably the best rotation in the MLB and are still definitely in contention. Even on a down year the Rays could get a ton for James Shields but thst might also kill their chances of winning this year. The Rays need offense and they really can't solve that problem through free agency with their lack of fans. If the Rays want to win this season then they should try getting interesting with some trades, try getting the Cubs to pick up almost everything of Alfonso Soriano's contract for prospects or trade BJ Upton for a shortstop or catcher. Unfortunately for the Rays the team they match up with the best is probably the Toronto Blue Jays as they have both Catcher and Shortstop to spare and desperately need a solid starting pitcher who can eat innings and is under team control, which is James Shields to a T. Even without any moves the Rays should be in the thick of the playoff race.

Boston Red Sox
The thing that people in New York have the biggest trouble understanding is that in Connecticut we have non pink haters here who still think that the Red Sox are this gritty underdogs. The fact is that the Red Sox are a top-5 big market team and have the same pressure from their fan base to always win that the Yankees do. The Red Sox are in a situation right now where they do not have the money to pursue what they need which is a good starting pitcher and do not have the balls to make a big move. They made bad moves in signing Lackey and Crawford and now they are totally handcuffed by these moves. The biggest problem for the Sox is that they have a bunch of mediocre starting pitchers who are getting paid a lot of money and have no real depth behind them, just to point out Felix Doubront is their best starter with an ERA of 4.41. That being said this team is not hopeless but they do rank 27th in terms of starter ERA and have honestly been facing a lot of crappy teams. Fans seem to want to blow the team up and you could definitely get a big haul if you blow it up, but you need to improve that rotation and get some good bullpen pieces as that bullpen is not as good as it appears.  I seriously doubt that the Sox have the balls to make any big trades that shake things up, I mean it took them how long to trade their declining, soon to be free agent third baseman despite already having his replacement?

The end result is that every team in the AL East except the Yankees have giant holes that they need to fill with anyone of them being possible buyers or sellers at the deadline.

The 2011 Yankees and the 2012 Red Sox

Last year the Yankees lost in the ALCS, missed on Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte retired so they were gonna have to rely on Ivan Nova a relatively untested rookie and Phil Hughes who faded bad down the stretch. The ownership was so desperate for a move that they went over the head of Brian Cashman and signed Rafael Soriano to a three year deal. The Yankees pieced together a rotation with Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon making major contributions. People thought that the Yankees would make a deal for a starter, but they didn't have to and their copious amount of starting pitching depth meant that they did not need to worry about finding starters. That may not seem like a big deal but remember bad the Red Sox starters were in September, they had no starting pitching depth and that was the reason they did not make the playoffs. The Red Sox have the top three starters and they only need to fill in the rest of their rotation, that's why its not a big deal for them to try Alfredo Aceves and Daniel Bard because those two just need to be not terrible. However if one or both of those guys falters they have to rely on the Andrew Miller, Carlos Silva type and they cannot even keep  Carlos Silva and Aaron Cook in the minors past the end of April because of their opt out. On top of that Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz are major injury concerns, especially Buchholz who has only been able to complete a full season of starts once in the last four years and is recovering from a stress fracture in his back.  There is a chance that everything will go well for the Red Sox and Aceves and Bard will be effective and everyone in the rotation will be healthy. If somebody has to miss a start then Andrew Miller can step in but if one starter is going to miss some time then who is gonna pitch?
The problem for the Red Sox is that they can't add a starter at the trade deadline very easily this season as they would need to move some salary to do so and if they can't eat salary then it will be very hard to acquire a starter as most teams looking to unload a starter want prospects or salary relief and the Sox system is barren at the higher levels. The Red Sox chief problem last year was a lack of pitching and it does not seem like they have done much to rectify that situation and it prove costly for them.

Why we need Andruw Jones back

Anduw Jones

 In 2010 the Yankees had Marcus Thames as their primary lefty smasher, but his biggest fault was that he could not field the ball and he ended up playing DH more than OF. The Yankees parted with Thames and brought in former superstar Andruw Jones who we hoped could do close to what Thames did. Jones ended up exceeding Thames both with his hitting and ability to field the ball. In fact Jones actually did too well and now could try and sign with a team that would give him more than 190 AB, the fewest since he came up with the braves in August of 1996. The Yankees and Jones had expressed mutual interest in a deal, but talks have reportedly not progressed recently and Boston may look to Jones. The problem is that Jones fits with Boston even better than with the Yankees, as they look like they will have either Reddick or Kalish in Right Field and both of them are lefties, with Bostons primary lefty smasher being Darnell McDonald who Jones far outclasses.
So you see the need to keep Jones isnt so much that the Yankees can not possibily replace him its that we cannot let a commodity like Jones slip away. What I expect the problem is, is that Jones knows he will not get the number of at bats he wants so he wants more money that the $2 million he got last year. To be perfectly honest I would rather see the Yankees give Jones $3 million or two years $5 million than let him go to Boston. We have already provided the Sox with Alfredo Aceves and  former prospect Mark Melancon is their closer as of right now; I just don't want to see us fill out Bostons roster anymore than we already have.

Best Moves for the AL East!

The AL east is the best division in baseball and it has possibly the three best teams in all of baseball. In the last ten years an AL East team has won six American league pennants and three world series. With the exception of the Orioles all the teams are competitive and if the last four years prove anything its that any of these teams could wind up winners.

Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are really bad and they are years away from competing again. They have not posted a winning record since 1997 and it seems all of their top prospects have fallen short or been injury riddled. The Orioles office and fanbase must be distressed to see the success of the Tampa Bay Rays who have fewer resources but have been competitive due to building on excellent player development. The Orioles really could use a complete reboot, but the organization is such a mess that multiple people have turned down the job to be the GM of the Orioles. They now are going to be moving forward with Dan Duquette as the GM, who last was the GM for Boston from 1994-2001. The Orioles will be futile for the next few years and the better move for them would be to try and build on undervalued pieces much like the Rays did in the beginning and focus on drafting and player development because their current system has not worked for them. The Orioles will however again overpay for a DH like Vlad Guerrero or Johnny Damon and could target a big name free agent, which is not what they should be doing right now. Blowing it up could be an option but I doubt that will help, because the issue seems to be player development, not a lack of talent. The best move may be to try and trade for some pitchers who can eat innings like they did with Tommy Hunter. A good pitcher for them to target would probably be Wandy Rodriguez as he pitches a lot of innings and does so with a sub four ERA in the last four years. That's a much better idea for the Orioles than trying to sign Prince Fielder. This is a long term project, which is unfortunate considering their lack of winning in the last 15 years.

Toronto Blue Jays
 The Jays have a nice crop of young players in the majors and in the minors and they currently posses an above average offense that will be boosted with the additions of Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie over a full year. The Jays seem like a middle market team but they are actually a big market team on par with the potential to be on par with Boston and New York. The reason the Jays aren't contending right now is that they are not quite ready for prime time as their pitching staff after Romero is still developing despite a plethora of young talented pitchers. There has been a lot of talk about the Jays trading for Votto and while it is very enticing for the Blue Jays to have a pair of talented young Canadian players at the infield corners, I think that trading for Votto will be more of an option next off season. The Blue Jays could be a breakout team for this season but I think 2013 is a much more likely possibility for them, as this year should be focused on developing their starters and figuring out what they will do at Shortstop, Second base and Left Field. The Jays currently have Yunel Escobar at Shortstop, but they have Adeiny Hechavarria who is number nine on the top ten shortstops prospects in baseball. For this reason the Jays will likely try and resign Kelly Johnson to a one year deal before transitioning Hechavarria or Escobar to second. Some people think that the Jays will pursue David Ortiz but they are much more likely to stick with Edwin Encarnacion at DH due to Encarnacion being under contract for 2012 for just $3.5 million and Ortiz's production likely to decline in the next few years. The Blue Jays could be in the market for a mid level starter and left fielder like David Dejesus or Edwin Jackson, but the only big name free agent I see them pursing is a top flight closer like K-Rod or Ryan Madson, but they could end trying for a bounce back closer like Joe Nathan or Jonathon Broxton. If the Jays spend big it could very well be for a Japanese import and they very well could be the best suitor for Yu Darvish as they have the monetary resources and less pressure to succeed immediately as he would in New York. The Jays will likely be active on the trade market as they have been part of three big trades the last two seasons and their plethora of prospects haven't been diminished through any of them. The Jays have a protected draft pick due to failing to sign their 1st round draft pick and so signing a type A free agent is a possibility but its more likely they develop their prospects for a serious run in the next few years.


Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were the ultimate chokers last year as they completely fell apart in every aspect in September. On top of that their rotation is now full of question marks as is the bullpen who just lost Jonathon Papelbon to the Phillies before they even had time to make an offer. Even if they move Aceves to the rotation then they open up another hole in their bullpen and still need to add another starter. They also are reportedly pursing Carlos Beltran and while this isnt a good move it may be the best option for them. Signing Beltran would be risky and they may be better suited to putting Josh Reddick in Right Field, but I think they will feel the need to make a big splash and signing Beltran could be that move. Reddick could very likely prove to be a valuable trade piece especially since the Boston farm system was proven to be not nearly as good as Boston had been claiming. The idea of Reddick for Wandy Rodriguez has come up and it could be a very good one for Boston to make as Wandy has pitched at least 190 innings for three years and the Astros are looking to move him. The good news for Boston is that they do not need to pursue top of the rotation arms, but they need to find a pair of back of the rotation arms and build depth because they have zero depth options in AAA as last seasons collapse proved. The Red Sox AAA depth is so bad that if D.J Mitchell had been with them he would have been the best rotation candidate by far and its possible that he will not even have a rotation spot at the Yankees AAA this coming season. The Sox will be looking for a bounce back year from Carl Crawford and a healthy year from Kevin Youkillis but will need good depth because neither is guaranteed to happen and Youkillis's health is even more in doubt. The Red Sox will likely have Jed Lowrie and Marco Scutaro for Shortstop and infield bench help, so the focus will be almost entirely on their pitching. While the Sox could try and sign the top free agent pitches, it would probably be better for them to invest in several low risk High reward pitchers like the Yankees did with Colon and Garcia.The Red Sox will also need to hope that Buchholz and Becket can stay healthy because they really can not afford anymore losses to their rotation and they both had trouble staying healthy. The Red Sox will want to have a good year and make the playoffs or else they will be looked at the number three team in the division behind the Yankees and Rays.

Tampa Bay Rays
 The Rays have been able to build a consistent contender with a limited payroll, no fan support and a bad stadium. The Rays actually have too much pitching depth and will likely trade one or more starters to try and boost their offense. The Rays could sign a veteran DH like they did with Johnny Damon but a better option may be for them to trade for options offense rather than sign it. The best fit is probably the Kansas City Royals who have 1st/DH prospect Clint Robinson who really should be in the majors but there is nowhere for him with Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler blocking him. A trade of Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann for Clint Robinson would seem to be ideal to me as he would provide the team with six years of a cheap DH rather than spending $5 million a year on older players. Also as good as B.J Upton is the team will probably look to move him for prospects and the team that will likely be the most interested is the Washington Nationals who could prove especially enticing if the team does not resign Casey Kotchman as they can trade prospect Chris Marrero who would also be a young cheap player under team control for several more years. The Rays could try and lock up Kotchman but that would depend on their beleif that this was a breakout year for Kotchman and that he can hit for the average that he did this season over the course of the deal. It may be better for the Rays to take the money they would give to Kotchman and a free agent DH and instead focusing on trying to extend David Price and Matt Joyce. The one problem for the Rays if they do trade B.J Upton then they will need to decide if they trust Brandon Guyer as the everyday left fielder because otherwise they will be having Sam Fuld take a lot more AB then he should. If the Rays can improve their offense then they could easily be the division favorites with the best rotation in the AL East. The biggest concern for the Rays however will continue to be how to get people through the door as consistent contention and three playoff appearances in the last four years hasn't been able to do it.

New York Yankees
The Yankees won the division despite the nearly universal assumption that the Red Sox would win. The good news for the Yankees is that they have no real holes and instead will be focusing on upgrading their rotation and possibly finding a LOOGY. Several options have been raised for the Yankees rotation but the two best are probably signing Yu Darvish and/ or trading for John Danks. The Yankees have a plethora of back of the rotation arms and they should definitely let Noesi, Warren and Phelps compete with Burnett and Hughes for their spots in the rotation. The Yankees want a top of the rotation arm and either could be that option but neither is guaranteed. People tend to bash Asian pitchers but just because Kei Igawa and Dice-K failed does not mean you should forget about players like Hiroki Kuroda who has been great since coming over. Its also entirely possible that the Yankees could retain Freddy Garcia and stop there but that would be a little surprising for them to skip out on the top pitchers two years in a row. The Yankees also have a lot of trade pieces that they will likely try to move as they are starting to create a logjam behind the plate and in the AAA rotation. The Yankees will almost definitely try and move Austin Romine or Francisco Cervelli this off season and will have to either move somebody to the bullpen or trade them. They could end up trading for prospects, bench or bullpen help or make a big deal for Starter or a Right Fielder. The best move for the Yankees after adding a starter would probably be to put Burnett on a short leash and if he starts to consistently struggle to move him to the bullpen and give one of the prospects a shot in the rotation, it sucks but the Yankees shouldn't be putting out a bad pitcher every five games if they have a better option. I would also recommend letting Joba try starting again as he comes back from Tommy John surgery because the worst case scenario is he doesn't seem to have it and you move him back to the bullpen while he rehabs, but I do not expect the Yankees will do this.

There is no clear favorite for the AL East this season and as we saw last year being the favorite means nothing. That being said how much better will the Sox and Yankees be if Carl Crawford, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira can have better years? And how good will the Rays be with Matt Moore, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson and David Price all in the rotation?

Final Thoughts on the Red Sox Complete Collapse

On September 1st the Red Sox had just lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees in Fenway, but hey were still 1/2 a game up in the division and nine games ahead of the Rays. The Rays had a 1% chance of making the playoffs, but nobody thought they would be able to beat the Red sox for the spot. The Red Sox went 7-20 in September and they won ONE game where they scored less than 7 runs, they did not win back to back games the entire month and only once did they win two games in a three game stretch and that was when they won against the AAA Yankees on Sunday and then again on Tuesday 9/27 when they won 8-7 over the fighting showlaters. As of Wednesday morning the Red Sox were still favored to make it to the Playoffs and nobody in the national media seemed to think it was possible that they would lose as most of them had picked the Sox to win the world series.  It happened. Baseball fans never thought it would but the Red Sox blew a 9.5 game lead in the wildcard when they lost to the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees epically didn't care and let the Rays comeback and win in extra innings.
This Year wasn't supposed to be the Yankees year and many people said they were too old and would miss the playoffs all together. The fact was that all of us were blinded by the Crawford signing, the Cliff Lee not signing and the Adrian Gonzalez trade. Gonzalez didn't have the power that he was supposed to, Crawford was mediocre from the get go and a rejuvenated Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia as well as a better than expected Ivan Nova meant that the Yankees didn't miss Cliff Lee as much as they thought they would.
My pre season assessment of the Sox was very close to true but I still thought they would win the Division:
The Red Sox were already a formidable team that contends every year, but then they went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez who if healthy will be an absolute beast in Fenway park. The Red Sox, being the scrappy small market team that they are, were able to scrounge up some change and pay free agent Carl Crawford $142 million over 7 years. Last year the Boston bullpen struggled so the Sox acquired Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks to bolster their pen and possibly take over for Pappelbon if he proves to be unreliable. The Red sox have a great rotation, but after Lester every one of them has question marks as Beckett and Dice-K have had recent injury problems, Lacky suffered from being mediocre and over hyped and Buchholz stats suggest he will regress this year.Even if the Rotation has problems the Red Sox have good rotation depth and their offense should be able to overcome any pitching problems and win them games.
There were a couple things that we found out this year that blew these assumptions out of the water. Lackey wasn't as bad as he was last year he was worse, Adrian Gonzalez wasn't healthy, Jenks and Wheeler did almost nothing, Crawford was mediocre which nobody expected, The Sox Farm system got exposed as overrated as did their rotation depth. Now many Sox fans are calling for the heads of Theo Epstein and Terry Francona and don't be surprised if either some key Sox don't come back or the Sox go on another spending spree this winter. That being said I have gotten Four different reactions from Sox fans:
Reaction 1) We only lost because of Injuries: Adrian Gonzelez claimed that they lost because of Injuries/God (read here) and fans have claimed that if would have been different if Youkillis hadn't gotten hurt late then things would have been different. They also already pointed to their various injuries and one person I know even stated that the Yankees didnt have the same injury issues that the Sox did to which I smiled and laughed. Youkillis is your cleanup hitter and spent time on the DL but still played in 21 more game than our own cleanup hitter. The Yankees had more cumulative time on the DL than any other team. Stop bitching, great teams overcome.
Reaction 2) Numbness. With all the success of Boston and New England teams have come three big epic failures, Red Sox September 2011, Superbowl 42 and the Bruins losing in the playoffs after being up three games to none. As a Patriots fan I remember Suprebowl 42 and it was seriously 3 years before I could discuss it with people and even now I refrain from doing so in the same way I refrain from talking about 2004. Remember that numb feeling and just remind yourselves to never count your rings until after you've won them.
Reaction 3) Devastation: first of all as I said in the last reaction dont count your rings until you've got them. Second of all This sucks and there is no way around it but Boston and New England based sports teams have not only been in consistent contention every year for years but each major sports team has won a championship since 2004 and in total they have won 7 since Brady beat the Rams in 2001. You gotta get over it, it will suck but honestly San Diego, Seattle and Cleveland would all kill for one championship appreciate what you have.
Reaction 4) "your Yankees let me down" / The Yankees TANKED the game: Lets be clear YOU let YOU down, the Yankees contributed to your epic fail but if you had kept your lead against the Orioles then none of this would have happened, you had two strikes and two outs and blew it. Are you really trying to tell me that the Yankees who had literally NOTHING to play for should have brought in Mariano or Robertson to save that game when they play again in two days. I wasn't even that comfortable with Luis Ayala and Corey Wade pitching, I thought Proctor should have pitched the last two innings. Your telling me that with everything clinched the Sox would have brought in Papelbon and Bard to get the save in a meaningless game, no way. If our loss had kept you out even if you won that's different but it didn't, take responsibility for the fact that your number one offense in baseball could only score 3 runs off the Orioles worst pitching staff in the American league and your closer ,who according to some Sox fans is better than Mariano Rivera, couldn't hold the lead with two outs. Staying healthy was more important than winning games since they clinched home field advantage and if you had been in the same position you would have done the same. Keep in mind that this Sox team was the greatest baseball team in the history of the game as can be noted here.

First of all I want to say that if you haven't seen the video of the Orioles walking off you need to watch it, but also these two losses against the Orioles for the Sox provided two awesome Gifs.

$142 million Crawford Fail

Bellsbury

On letting the Rays come back I have to keep reminding myself that in an even remotely meaningful game the Yankees go to a least Wade after Ayala walks the bases loaded but I'm not as happy about the Rays coming back as I thought I would be. However you have to give credit to the Yankees offense and honestly I am not even sure why Ayala and Wade came in as opposed to Scott Proctor. I just hope this game won't affect the Yankees in the ALDS because they are really going to need it while facing Verlander and Fister. If anyone is concerned about the Yankees losing four before going to the playoffs just remember that the Yankees lost their last seven in 2000 before winning the world series including 3 to the Rays in Tampa. Also two things that hadn't occurred to me, The Red Sox haven't won a playoff game since 2008 and could this be the death of Pink hat Nation?

Mike & Mike's Red Sox Collapse Song

Mike & Mike's Red Sox Collapse Song

This is from Sliding into Home: A Yankees blog. I love the song I wish they would put it on itunes so I could play it for my friends who are red sox fans. Take a listen

Looking at the Red Sox collapse and how the Yankees came out on top in 2011

The Yankees officially cinched both a postseason berth and the AL East by sweeping the doubleheader from the Tampa Bay Rays in one of the best days of the season in a season that included Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit and Mariano Rivera becoming the all time saves leader. The 8th inning was key in both games as the Yankees took the lead on Robinson Cano's booming double that put the Yankees ahead after Eduardo Nunez had tied the game up on a solo shot off James Shields and in game two Posada pinch hit for Montero and broke the tie by hitting a solid two run single that let the Yankees clinch the division., interesting note Posada said after the game that he thought it was the 9th. This could not have been accomplished if the Red Sox had not been humiliated by the fighting show alters aka the Baltimore Orioles who out small market underdoged the Red sox who are the ultimate small market scrappy underdog team by taking 3 out of four from them. I thought the Yankees 2010 September was bad but the Red Sox have not had a quality start all month and are currently 5-16 with only 6 games left in the season and this is the team that somebody said would be the greatest team ever....back in January and again in august. Everybody and their cousin, including Yankees fans and all 45 ESPN writers ,I'm looking at you Aaron Boone, bought into the hype about the 2011 Boston Red Sox and the biggest question wasn't if the Red Sox would make the World Series but if they could beat the Phillies. I did however find an article written by Eric Wilbur from boston.com who wrote an article called "The Great Red Hype", its a great article especially in retrospect and back in march he makes the bold claim that not only is it too early to declare the 2011 Red Sox world champions and the greatest team ever but it may be too much to be ensured of at least 100 wins. He pointed out the taboo topic that the 2010 Red sox who won 89 games overachieved and he points out the real reason why the Red Sox ownership made these moves which was declining viewership that has become inflated by pink haters. He also brought up the question of whether or not the Sox can stay healthy and if they can be the bets team ever with 3 erratic starters in Lackey, Matsuzaka and Beckett, which is something that nobody wanted to talk about in March. I love what he wrote to end the artilce which was this:

"The Sox are re-loaded, but how much different are they really from last year? Instead of Adrian Beltre and Martinez, they have Gonzalez and Crawford. While Gonzalez is a perfect fit for this team and this ballpark, is Crawford? Or is he here mainly for flash and ratings? 
The bullpen is vastly improved, but what are the Sox going to get out of John Lackey, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka? Can the best team ever have a trio of erratic starters in its rotation? 
The team won 89 games last season, so popular thought is that with the returning players and the additions, 100 is an easy goal. Then again, you could argue that Terry Francona's team over-achieved last year; that they were more an 80-win team based on the Triple-A roster that spent much of the summer at Fenway Park.
But that's not what we've been sold. And in the end, World Series win or not, that's really all that matters. Just remember that hype can be an evil component.
Favorites? Sure. Best team ever? Just...stop."


Depth, Injuries and Offense, at the end of the regular season both teams had offense and injuries but only the Yankees had depth. Its surprising that we did not talk more about how despite the fact that the Red Sox had two starters who missed significant time in 2010 with injuries they only had Tim Wakefield as a starting pitcher depth option. That didn't seem to be effecting the Red Sox too much going through the summer but then Buchholz went down, Lester and Beckett both missed time and Lackey continued to be bad. Red Sox fans will likely blame the injuries as J.D Drew and Dice-K were lost for the season and numerous others including Youkilis, Lester and Crawford spent time on the DL. However the Yankees had more players spend time on the DL than any other team in the MLB and they were still able to win because they had depth. The Yankees lost A-rod and Eric Chavez and Ramiro Pena and they still had Eduardo Nunez and Brandon Laird to play 3rd. The Yankees had so much bullpen depth that injuries to Feliciano, Soriano and Joba while inconvenient haven't slowed them down as they acquired Corey Wade off waivers and they have acquired more depth over the course of the season in people like Brian Gordon, Buddy Carlyle, Aaron Laffey, Raul Valdes and Scott Proctor and more guys like Kevin Millwood and J.C Romero were let go by the Yankees and are now pitching with the Rockies. The Yankees acquired depth even when they didn't need it and were always prepared for somebody to go down which is why they sent down Ivan Nova instead of cutting Fredy Garcia and while that may seem trivial now imagine if they had and now that Hughes has back spasms and may not pitch before the end of the season they would have to go to a 3 man rotation or start Burnett in game 4. The Yankees have aggressively sought out depth and since Girardi came in the Yankees depth has gotten better each year especially in the bullpen and the rotation. The Red Sox had to make acquisitions at and after the July deadline and while Mike Aviles and Connor Jackson have been decent acquisitions, Erik Bedard has been effective when healthy but has only made 7 starts since he was acquired at the July deadline and only 2 in September. The Red Sox have wined about not getting enough off days but it seems even the media wont give them that one as the Yankees have managed to somehow win the AL East with only one off day in September and playing a double header and that crazy two days where they played 3 games over about 36 hours against the Orioles. The Red Sox spent big this off season with their attempts to upgrade their offense and bullpen while the Yankees biggest deal was resigning their veterans. The Sox assembled a team of all stars and hoped they would make it through the year okay and when they started to break down they just hoped that everybody would be healthy and the offense would carry them. They actually talked about this on ESPN baseball today and were straight to the point when they said "You can't spend 160 million and not have enough depth". If the Red Sox continue to slide and are overtaken by the Rays then the big name guys will take the heat and rightfully so, but not because of a disappointing Lackey or Crawford because the Sox overcame those, the real fault is with The Red Sox organization for failing to acquire any depth and for their farm system for failing to grow any real depth, especially pitching depth, in the last decade. 
The Yankees went almost the entire year without A-Rod and so everybody else picked up the slack especially Curtis Granderson who nobody thought would be as hot as he was closing out last season. Posada was a disappointment but he came through at some good times, which makes us forget all those times he didn't and the batting 9th issue that nobody is talking about anymore. Everybody thought Jeter would just limp to 3,000 but then he came back from the DL red hot and had a day that nobody will forget. Mariano broke the all time saves record and everybody had a big moment this season. The Yankees only big name signing was Soriano and he went down early and was replaced by Dave Robertson, Jesus Montero didn't come up until September and the Yankees didn't trade for a starter and in the end they didn't need to. Fans weren't enthusiastic about this year but the Big Bart, D-Rob, CC and the Grandy man helped us forget about all the flash of the Red Sox.
The Red Sox and Red Sox fans problem is that they keep trying to pretend that they are these gritty underdogs but the Sox and Boston sports as a whole expects championships now and having a good season is no longer just a season where you win more than you lose, you have to win it all. The Red Sox nation has been overtaken by pink haters who demand wins but try and still pretend that their team is somehow different because they play with heart and are underdogs. This year pink hater nation was hyped up as hell with the big signing and while they had a bad April they were kicking the Yankees around and dominating all summer and were debating who on the Sox would win the MVP. But the Yankees kept grinding and not just with evil home runs but with every facet of the game. Everybody on the Yankees stepped up at some point this year including disappointments like Burnett, Posada and Soriano. In 2009 the Yankees had the year of the walk-off and in 2010 it was the Grand Slam Year, this year is what? We did have 9 Grand slams including that 3 grand slam game, but we didn't walk off very much and in fact were awful in extra innings games winning only four, we just played the game and won. The Red Sox had their flash and dash but what do they have to show for it? their losing money, may not make the playoffs, probably wont go far in the playoffs if they do make it  and they really don't have any excuse for why they didn't make it this year.
The Red Sox collapse isn't complete yet and the Rays are still 2 1/2 games behind the Sox as are the Angels and anything can happen in the playoffs just ask the 2010 Giants but this team had so much hype and all its really done is expose both the Red Sox organization's terrible farm system and poor planning, as well as the fair weather Red Sox nation. The Curse was broken ,so whats the excuse now?

The Yankees like this September so far

I know its only been 5 days but what a September the Yankees have had so far especially compared to  September 2010 when the Yankees went 12-15 and scored 5 fewer runs than they allowed. Lets hope we continue the winning because last year we won the first 4 games and so we really went 8-15 after September 4th. The Yankees looked like they were trying to lose this game with Garcia giving up a season high 7 runs in just 2.2 innings as Garcia himself said "I got my ass whooped". The Yankees would have been really screwed if the Orioles pitching wasn't equally terrible with Matusz giving up five before Buck yanked him but then Jakubauskas came in and gave up Cano's grand slam Eyre, Johnson and Patton pitched the rest of the game with Johnson giving up two Home runs to Montero and nobody gave up anything else but the Yankees needed all 11 runs. After Garcia Scott Procter came in and pitched 2 innings giving up a game tying home run in the 5th to Robert Andino and Laffey actually did a decent job and got the two lefties out but walked hardy before Ayala came in and despite giving up a walk and a hbp he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings. Logan i guess retired the two lefties when he got Hudson to ground out and the Yankees got Nick Markakis out trying to advance to third on Dickerson's error. Rivera came in and had a very interesting 9th with two singles a HBP and 3 I don't give a fuck despite it being a one run game Stolen bases before striking out JJ Hardy. Mo is only 3 saves away from 600 and there is a decent possibility that he breaks the all time saves record this year.

Jesus is Loose

 The Yankees called up Noesi and George Kontos who has been very good out of the bullpen this year, Ramiro Pena and Greg Golson also got called up today. Brackman, Garrison and Whelan also have a possibility of getting the call but garrison or Whelan will likely get DFA for Kontos and apparently Cashman wants to get Betances up.
The Yankees started off the month with not a lot of hope, we were facing the Red Sox and John Lester and were sending out A.J Burnett who had not inspired confidence with an ERA over 11 in August and was looking like he would be the odd man out in the rotation. Russel Martin hit a double to put the Yankees ahead in the 7th and Mariano Rivera struck out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the to save the game. Come from behind wins would be a theme of this first week as only CC Sabathia's  Sunday start wasn't  a come from behind victory. Ivan Nova started the Series against the Jays with giving up two runs in the first and was only limited to two thanks to two big defensive plays from Brett Gardner. Gardner also tied the game with one of his rare home runs and Robinson Cano hitting a go ahead single in the 5th. On Saturday the Yankees knocked around the very good Rickey Romero behind a shaky Colon and Robbie Cano put the Yankees ahead in the 7th with a clutch double, but we got another clutch home run from Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli doesn't get cheated on his home runs as all three of his this year have been absolute bombs. On Sunday Carston Charles Sabathia went 7.1 and gave up just two to earn his 19th win of the season. Soriano tried to make it interesting in the 8th by giving up a home run to Bautisa but the Yankees scored 4 in the 8th with a 2 runs Swisher bomb and a captain 2 run single.
The Yankees have three more games against the Orioles with the Friday game being at Camden to make up the rain out from Hurricane Irene and then they head off to a west coast trip against the Angels and Mariners. The pitching rotation for this week will be Phil Hughes, A.J Burnett, Ivan Nova facing the Orioles and then Colon, Sabathia and Garcia. Hopefully the only bad start of this week was Garcias because the offense, especially Robinson Cano, have been great and we will need that when we play the Angels this weekend.

I think he knew

Remember how awesome the Red sox rotation was going to be? Well Josh Beckett sprained his ankle in his start against the Jays today and so now their next time through the rotation will be Lester, Wakefield, Miller, Lackey and somebody for Beckett. The Yankees need to pad the lead right now and with a great week they could get several games up. The Yankees need to keep their foot on the gas because they could pick the Red Sox in the rear view this week.

4/3 Yankees and other notes

The Yankees failed to sweep the tigers as Hughes and Colon both got roughed up by the Tigers 10-7. The two teams combined for 14 HR, with 7 of those coming in today's loss. Here are some notes on the Yankees:

• Burnett looked okay, but he was apparently sick during the game so hopefully that means he will be even better next time around as he should likely be facing off against Francisco Liriano and the Twins.
• This first series was utterly forgettable for Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter as both combined for 4 hits and those all came in Saturdays game. But it is only 3 games so should be nothing to worry about.
• After Eduardo Nunez's error in Saturdays game I already want Ramiro Pena back.
• Russel Martin is hitting .455, A-Rod .400 and slow start Tex has 3 HR and 7 RBI's after 3 games. (He had 9 RBI's all last April) check it out
• I know its one start and its one start against one of the best offenses in baseball, but I am really concerned about Phil Hughes. He looks like he did last year after the all-star break and his velocity is still down. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings. He could not put batters away racking up 1 K in 90 pitches.He needs to make a change NOW because his next start is against the Sox in Fenway.
• Bartolo Colon was a mixed bag with 5K's in 4 innings, but he gave up 4 runs and 6 hits in 4 innings. Mitre did better than that. However its only April, but I still would prefer Aceves.(who is in Sox AAA to start the season)
• The Sox got swept by the Rangers and while both teams offense's looked good the Red Sox pitching was very poor and their $142 million dollar man got bumped down to 7th today. Dropping Crawford in the order from 3rd to 7th really surprised me as its the 3rd game and they just payed him 142 million small market scrappy dollars and i wouldn't want to start off 7 years by dropping him down after two games.
• Bad news for the Rays as Evan Longoria was put on the DL for an oblique strain and he will miss at least 3 weeks according to Joe Madden. Also Manny and Damon have combined for a grand total of 1 hit and Damon was scratched today due to calf tightness.
• O's are in first, Toronto and the Yankees are both tied for second and the Sox and rays are on pace for 0-162 seasons.
• All that confidence that Brewers fans about this season was crushed by the Big Red Machine. Its only April, but the Brewers looked really bad in Cinncinati and so does my pick of them to win the NL Central.
• Matt Holiday had an appendectomy. Could the Yankees try and trade for Chris Carpenter?
• The Astros look awful. Is Brett Myers as good as that one start suggests and could the Yankees target him?
• The Yankees play the Twins for the teams only meeting in the Bronx this season. Lets hope the Yankees take over from where they left off in the ALDS.

2011 Prediction

I decided that the day before the Season began was the best time to do a prediction of the Division Winners and wild card team for each league.

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies are going to suffer from injuries all year long and like last year the healthy parts of the lineup will struggle to try and provide all the offense for the team just as they did last year. However in the end the teams pitching staff will allow them to win the NL East despite a valiant attempt by the Atlanta Braves. Even if Chase Utley misses the whole year the Phillies rotationis good enough that they will still be able to win the NL East. The only move i can see the Phillie making is  if Brad lidge continues to struggle or remain healthy then you could see the Phillies try and trade for someone who can fill in, much like the Twins did with Matt Capps last year.

NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
Most people seem to be thinking the Reds right now but Prince Fielder is in a contract year and the Brewers have their first legitimate rotation since Sabathia was one all by himself in 2008. I know that Greinke and Hart will start the season on the DL but if the Brewers can wait for these guys to get healthy then they could take advantage of a weakened NL Centrall and take the division away from the Reds. Plus this is an all or nothing year for the Brewers as Fielder will walk after this year and they have emptied their farm system to try and win now.

NL West: San Francisco Giants
This one is actually pretty hard as the Rockies will give the Giants a run for their money, but the Giants Rotation is arguably the the best in baseball . That being said their offense needs to step up and the Giants are probably going to have to look for a better solution at Shortstop than Miguel Tejada. If the Giants offense struggles then the Pitching staff can carry them, but only for so long and Buster Posey can't do it all.

NL Wild-card: Atlanta Braves
If it were not for the Phillies reacquisition of Cliff Lee then I think the Braves would be able to dethrone the Phillies and claim the NL East for themselves. The Braves took their already strong offense and added Dan Uggla for a utility infielder and a reliever because Jeff Loria (owner of the Marlins) is trying to see if he can completely destroy any chance of their being a fan base for the Marlins. The Braves rotation led by Derek Lowe is formidable, but not to the same level as the the Phillies and because of that they will fall short of the Division title, but they will capture the wild-card.

AL East: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were already a formidable team that contends every year, but then they went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez who if healthy will be an absolute beast in Fenway park. The Red Sox, being the scrappy small market team that they are, were able to scrounge up some change and pay free agent Carl Crawford $142 million over 7 years. Last year the Boston bullpen struggled so the Sox acquired Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks to bolster their pen and possibly take over for Pappelbon if he proves to be unreliable. The Red sox have a great rotation, but after Lester every one of them has question marks as Beckett and Dice-K have had recent injury problems, Lacky suffered from being mediocre and over hyped and Buchholz stats suggest he will regress this year.Even if the Rotation has problems the Red Sox have good rotation depth and their offense should be able to overcome any pitching problems and win them games.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox will finally be able to beat the twins and capture the Central division title. The White Sox upgraded their offense considerably by adding Adam Dunn  to their lineup who will crush the ball in U.S cellular park. The White Sox also have probably the best rotation in the AL central and I believe that the race will end up being between them and the Twins as the Tigers lack the necessary starting pitching depth to compete and will fade early. The biggest concern for the White Sox is their bullpen as the Sox were unable to bolster their bullpen and they will need to either hope it gets better on its own or they bolster it through trade if they want to be sure to get the division this year.

AL West: Texas Rangers
This is probably my most uncertain pick as i was trying to decide between the Rangers with their offense and almost no starting pitching versus the A's with their starting pitching and almost no offense. I was starting to lean toward the A's who went from no offense to almost no offense this off-season with their acquisition of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham and a great group of young pitchers. However I was swayed by Rangers owner Nolan Ryan who stated that the Rangers will upgrade their starting pitching and will not be afraid to make a trade like last years for Cliff Lee. The Ryan ownership group wants to win, while the Athletics want to move, the Mariners stink and the Angels are just trying to confuse people. The Rangers also improved an already potent offense by adding Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli and the Rangers lineup should be able to produce enough runs to keep themselves in games and the acquisition of a top of the rotation starter will enable them win the AL west again in 2011.

Al Wild-card: New York Yankees
The Yankees will look to stay in contention until they are able to acquire another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation  and their offense and bullpen should be able to keep them close to the Sox and ahead of the Rays. The Yankees will have to fight off the Rays, the Jays and the Fighting Showalter to keep themselves in second, but I have a feeling that the Yankees offense is going to keep pace with the Red Sox and their ability to score runs will hold off the non-Sox teams in the division.There is also the fact that besides the Rays I don't see any other team in the American League that could possibly beat the Yankees the wild-card and not win their own division. When the Yankees acquire a starting pitcher they will likely give the Sox a run for the Division but I doubt that they will be able to capture the Division.

2012: Payroll, the Sox and more

Before anyone says that its way to early to talk about 2012 when 2011 hasn't even started yet, I know and I also know that I already did a post on the future of the rotation. I got to thinking about this when I was listening to to RAB radio show and they talked about the Yankees payroll for this year which they think will likely come in at around $190 million which seems very likely and the only real factor left is who will get the 4th, 5th starter and long man job. My bet is that 4th and 5th rotation spots go to Colon and Nova while the long man job goes to Garcia and Mitre is DFA. The Yankees are looking for another quality Starting pitcher, but unfortunately so is half of the MLB and the other half doesn't really have anyone that they are either a) willing to part with or b) is any good. There are a few people that the Yankees may trade for and unless they are named Andy Pettitte they will likely be around in 2012. However pitching is really the only big question mark for the Yankees in 2012, but there does exist two small ones in shortstop and catcher. If everything goes well for Jesus Montero then 2012 will likely feature Montero and Cervelli behind the plate, while the shortstop question is simply if Derek Jeter can show he is still one of the top shortstops in the AL in 2011 and can carry that over to 2012. This could be Jorge Posada's last year in the MLB and/or as a Yankee but if he shows that he can still hit the Yankees may choose to bring him back in 2012 to DH once again and he is only 39 shy on 300 HR, but he would probably get about 7-8 million or less if he did. The Yankees likely will be shedding a lot of payroll as  Damaso Marte, Jorge Posada, Russel Martin and Rafael Soriano could all come off the books, but Robinson Cano is getting a $4 million raise in 2012 and Phil and Joba could get long term extensions this coming off-season. Despite all the money leaving after this year the Yankees will likely stay pretty close to where they are now in terms of payroll even before they look at free agents. Also don't forget that CC has his opt out clause and what he will likely do is work in either a raise or simply an extension and if he does opt out he will really only do it to get a better deal with the Yankees. The Yankees will likely target a starting pitcher this season and if they don't get one or if they get a rental pitcher that they let go after the season then they will have several options but the top two are that the Yankees sign Yu Darvish or one of the B's has a unbelievable year and joins the rotation. So don't worry the Yankees payroll will in all likelihood be back over $200 million in 2012 and possibly before that.
The reason that I started doing this post was because of the talk around the inter web of the possibility that the Sox payroll will eclipse the Yankees in 2011 and beyond. If the Red Sox payroll currently stands at around $165 million and that is before the Adrian Gonzalez extension that will come pretty soon, however his salary wont count toward the luxury tax even though he will be getting around a $16 million raise. Also after this year the Red Sox will be shedding a lot of payroll as J.D drew, Papelbon, Mike Cameron, Ortiz and more will all be entering free agency and unlikely to re-sign. I also doubt that the Red Sox will add anyone significant through free agency as Kalish or Reddick will likely move to RF and other than catcher there is no area that they will sign a long term free agent. If Adrian Gonzalez is 100% by opening day and stays that way he is likely going to run away with the AL MVP award, however shoulder surgery is huge and you never know what will happen. Also it is never good when the only person on your offense not added through free agency to play 150 games was Marco Scutaro and the only other people who played more than 110 games was JD Drew and David Ortiz.

Some guy who only played 75 games in 2010

Also in 2012 Bud Selig has said that he will step down as commissioner of Baseball and hopefully we will be able to get a commissioner who doesn't think that General Doubleday invented Baseball. However he wants to go and teach History at the University of Wisconsin which I find odd, not that he wants to do it at his Alma mater, but that somebody would have Prof. Selig former commissioner of Baseball as a Professor.

The Rest of the Division

Lets take a look at the rest of the American league East and how they did this off-season and how they hope to fair in 2011. Every team in the division made some big moves and signing this off-season and it looks like the east could become more and more competitive as time goes on.

Baltimore Orioles: Key additions- Derrek Lee, J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds, Vladimir Guerrero, Kevin Gregg, Jeremy Accardo, and resigned Koji Uehar.
Key Losses- Ty Wigginton, Kevin Millwood

With the late signing of Vlad Guerrero as well as the additions of Derrek Lee and Mark Reynolds the Orioles offense has made up for their loss of Ty Wigginton and added some real pop to the middle of their lineup. They have also improved their pitching with the addition of Kevin Gregg and Justin Duchscherer. Buck Showalter has really turned the Orioles around and while at best they will be contending for third place in the AL East, Showalter has been able to maximize production from the Orioles and he could do a great job developing the team  for the next few years until they are hopefully able to contend in the division. There are some negatives for the Orioles and the main one has to be that while the team improved its pitching and offense, they are still likely the worst team in the east in every category. Also by signing Vlad they take Luke scott out the DH role and so he will be competing with Pie and Winn for the left field spot and it seems to me that it should be more important for the young orioles to get as much playing time as possible than for them to sign Vlad, because the Orioles need to build a team that will compete in the future and signing Vlad for a year doesn't really seem to help them do that.


Tampa Bay Rays: Key additions- Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Peralta and a lot of other small pieces
Key Losses- Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Randy Choate, Joaquin Benoit, Carl Crawford, Matt Garza, Dioner Navarro, Chad Qualls, Carlos Pena, Dan Wheeler, Rafael Soriano


The Rays lost a lot of players and traded away Bartlett and Garza, but this team made some good pic ups and some very surprising ones by adding old superstars Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon to go along with their current superstars Evan Longoria and David Price. Some have said that the Rays will be able to contend this year and that remains a remote possibility, but the signing of Manny and Damon should show people what the rays are trying to do. The Rays new coming into this year that it would be very hard for them to compete this year if they did well or awful, I actually remarked to my friend (a sox fan) that the Rays would likely lose all their free agents and trade a starting pitcher no matter how they finished the year. The Rays picked up Manny and Damon in order to keep people in the stands and let their prospects develop more in the Rays fantastic farm system. The Rays have showed in the past that when everything is clicking they are one of the best teams in baseball, but when one part of their team struggles the team runs into trouble as a whole, keep in mind this team has been no hit three times since July of 09 and two of those were perfect games. The Rays don't have the payroll to keep their big time free agents and unlike the Royals they know that when they are building they need to keep their fans interested and that is what the Rays are trying to do this year as you can note with incentives in Damons deal.


Toronto Blue Jays: Key Additions- Frank Francisco, Rajai Davis, Octavio Dotal, Jon Rauch
Key Losses- Vernon Wells, John Buck, Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, Shaun Marcum

The biggest note from the Blue Jays was their dumping of Vernon Wells massive contract that had crippled them since 06. They got Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli from the angels and they promptly traded Napoli to the rangers and are looking to trade Rivera. They also traded last years opening day starter Shaun Marcum to the brewers for infield prospect Brett Lawrie. The Jays acquired Rajai Davis to take over in Center field and the rest of their additions are to try and keep their bullpen at the same level it was last year despite not having a true closer. Unfortunately they missed on Russel Martin and as a result lack an established starting Catcher, but they do poses J. P. Arencibia who is the top Cathcing prospect for the Jays and they failed to get a Starting 3rd Baseman so that they could move Jose Bautista to Right Field. With Vernon Wells Mega contract gone the Jays now have some financial flexibility and they showed that when they signed Bautista to a 5 year $65 million deal, which if he produces like last year will prove to be very team friendly. The Jays will be unlikely to be in the playoff race this year and at the trade deadline they could be looking to buy some cheap pieces to fill the holes. The first thing that the Jays are gonna want to do is get fans to the game which despite Bautista's 54 HR the average attendance actually fell by about 3,000 from 2009. Go to the game people of Toronto at the very least the Jays will hit a lot of Home Runs and its a lot more entertaing than watching the Maple Leafs suck year after year.

Boston Red Sox: Key Additions- Carl Crawford, Bobby Jenks, Adrian Gonzalez, Dan Wheeler
Key Loses- Mike Lowell, Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Bill Hall

Many Red Sox fans still think that they are underdogs to the Yankees which is laughable and all you Connecticut Yankees/non-Sox fans know especially well that Sox fans will forever operate under this delusion that they they believe themselves the constant underdogs no matter their payroll. The Red Sox failed to make the post season and their ratings dropped 36%, so ownership knew that they need to win to keep current sox fans happy. My friend the Sox fan has been trying to justify to me how the Sox are still the underdogs despite their $142 million 7 year deal for crawford. The Sox have put a lot of faith into Crawford being able to keep his speed until his mid 30's and only time will tell if that faith is justified. The other big deal that the Sox had was their Trade for Adrian Gonzalez, the Sox have put off signing Gonzalez to an extension to avoid more luxury tax, but they will have to and they will have to hope that he comes back 100% from his shoulder surgery and if he does he will be a monster in Fenway. The Sox also appear to have accepted that Papelbon will have another shaky year and so they acquired Dan wheeler and Bobby Jenks to assist Daniel Bard (who could have been a Yankee) in moving on from him. Despite the claims that this will be the best Red Sox team ever they have to hope that a lot of things go right. Last offseason the Sox signed Lackey for 5 years $86 million and extended  Becket for 4 years $68 million. Neither of these guys pitched well, Becket due to Injury and Lackey due to being overrated and sucking, but the Sox seem to think that both these guys will bounce back and be fine, but he never looked good after his May injury last year and face it Lackey was overrated. Dice K only had 153 inning pitched and posted an ERA worse than Ivan Nova's and he also has a history of Injury problems and so the Red Sox are looking at John Lester and Clay Buckholtz to repat their great 2010 seasons. I'm not saying that the Red Sox pitching staff is bad I'm just saying that Dice-K, Beckett and Lackey will sink the Red Sox but its a lot to say that they will just miraculously be better. The Red Sox offense also has a lot riding on speculation, Yes if Gonzalez comes back 100% he will be fantastic, but their is also the concern about Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Ellsbury all staying healthy and Ortiz being productive and Saltalamacchia and Ellsbury hitting above .200. If the Red Sox stay healthy then they could run away with the division but 162 games is a long time and if the injury bug strikes again they could find themselves playing golf again in October.

To top it all off not a single spring training game has been played and anything can happen during a season let alone before it even beings.

Alfredo Aceves

There is a report that the Red Sox want to sign Alfredo Aceves and needless to say that is bad. In case you didn't know Ace made his debut in 2008 and since then he has posted a 14-1 record out of the bullpen and is an extremely versatile bullpen asset, he unfortunately suffered a back injury in may and was never able to recover before being forced to have surgery in November for an unrelated injury. Many fans found it puzzling that he was non-tendered at the end of the season  and that since he has not been resigned. I trust the judgment of GM Brian Cashman, but I have to ask "Why hasn't Ace been resigned?" This question is especially significant now that Red Sox have shown interest and with the Yankees rotation problems Ace would seem a solid move even if he has to rehab for awhile in the minors. Maybe there is some behind the scenes action going on that we don't know about, but honestly i don't even know why you would not tender a guy like Aceves. Hopefully Ace is back in Pinstripes in 2011, at full power and still 100% bald.