A.L. East Preview

A.L. East Preview    

It's baseball season again and boy, I could not be happier. As a native New Yorker, I am, of course, a Yankees fan. As such, I thought it would be fun to do an A.L. East preview, breaking down each of the five teams. I will try my best not to let any biased judgments pervade this assessment. We will look at one team a day; I will present them in the order they will finish in the division.

The New York Yankees--

Starting Pitching:

In a rather surprising move, (or lack thereof) the Yankees were relatively quiet during the offseason. The focus, it seems, was to improve the pitching staff, something all Yankees fans thought the front office accomplished with the surprise trade of catcher, Jesus Montero for young pitching phenom, Michael Pineda. While analysts and Yankees fans alike praised this move, our joy was short-lived. Pineda has been a disappointment from day one; he had a terrible spring followed by a stint on the D.L. before the season opener. Now we are being told his "injury" is more significant than previously believed, and manager Joe Girardi says he has no idea when Pineda will return to the team.

We also signed veteran pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda. Though 37, Kuroda has shown he can be a dominant pitcher and is a reliable, veteran presence in the clubhouse. So far, Kuroda, has been both brilliant and abysmal; let's hope this is a result of coming over from the N.L. rather than a sign of his age.

Like many retirees before him, Andy Pettitte (39), just couldn't stay retired, so the Yankees signed him to a one year contract. I'm not sure how I feel about the signing, but we'll have to see what Andy has left in the tank. I like him as a mentor to the younger guys on the staff, but not as an every day starter; keep him in the pen as a long reliever, a spot starter (when necessary), and someone the young guys can come to with questions, but I don't like him taking a spot in the rotation away from guys who are going to be your future.  Andy's presence has put pressure on the young guys, and two in particular have responded, one poorly (Phil Hughes), the other (Ivan Nova) in dramatic fashion.

C.C. is C.C. enough said. He'll win 18 games before all is said and done. Right now the weak links in the rotation are Hughes and Garcia. The Yankees will only go so far as their pitching so look for Pettitte and Pineda (if he can get healthy) to take these two spots in the rotation. If not, look for the Yankees to trade for someone.

Relief Pitching:

No worries here. Well, almost no worries. David Robertson is picking up where he left off last year, fanning guys left and right. Mariano Rivera is, and has been (for like a half century) the best closer in the game, despite his age. Logan, Wade, Rapada, and Phelps have been solid thus far. The one weak link has been Soriano. I just don't know if he can mentally be that guy in the seventh inning. Since coming over from Tampa Bay (where he was a highly successful closer) he has been forced to pitch behind Robertson and Mo which has been a tough transition for Soriano. I think he came in thinking he was the heir apparent to Rivera but, due to the fact that Rivera refuses to retire and that he has been out pitched by Robertson, Soriano can't make any headway in Joe Girardi's circle of trust. If he can get his head on straight and accept the role he's been given, Soriano can be a dominant relief pitcher, making for one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. If not, he'll find himself on the trading block so that the Yanks can shore up their woes in the rotation.

Offense:

Derek Jeter (37) is off to one of the best starts in his career. he mentioned earlier this year that if he didn't feel he had it any more, he would hang 'em up--well, it doesn't look like he's ready to retire, but don't look for him to keep up the torrid pace all year; right now he's fresh, but it's a long season! He'll have Jeter numbers, but Yankee fans need to reconcile themselves with the fact that the days of watching number 2 stride onto the field are fewer in front than behind.

Over the past few years, the big bats for the Yankees have been found in the hands of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. A-Rod has seen a fall in production over the last couple of years, but he has also been plagues by injuries and has been a bit consumed with his new Hollywood lifestyle. Look for him to have a turnaround year though; he won't hit forty homeruns again in his career, but he should come through with a respectable, .282 avg./26 long balls/101 RBI. As for Teixeira, a notoriously slow starter, things are looking up. His bat is coming around and we're still in April, which is a good sign. Look for him to post numbers in the area of, .271 avg./32 homers/113 RBI.

The real bright spots for the Yankees offense come from three guys: Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, and Nick Swisher. Cano is an obvious talent and people are talking about him being a batting champion some day; the Yankees certainly hope so. Cano, like the other 3 guys on this list is in a contract year and as we've seen time and again in baseball, that's a heck of a motivator! Look for Cano to go, .319/36 HR/121 RBI. Granderson is the real deal and he's also in a contract year. The Yankees front office has already said that they don't see how they are going to pay Cano and manage to keep Granderson and Swisher, but the latter two guys are going to make it tough on the front office. Granderson has the potential to be a forty (HR)-forty (stolen bases) guy and that kind of production just isn't easy to come by. Look for him to have numbers in the area of, .265 avg./36 HR/117 RBI. As for Swisher, I love this guy and the Yankees should do everything they can to keep him. He's a real clubhouse guy and a pretty decent guy off the field as well. He has one of the best eyes in baseball and has the most walks by any player in the past five years. That not only makes for a great on base percentage, but when you combine it with the fact that he'll smack 25 or more homeruns and get over 90 RBI's, he'd be hard to let go. He also has the potential to hit .300, a mark he's been flirting with over the last two years.

The rest of the offense is good. Gardener (as soon as he gets off the D.L.) is a pro-typical lead-off man and is good for almost, if not more than, 50 stolen bases a year. Perhaps this year he'll hit for a better average and learn to bunt for a single more than occasionally. Martin is a solid catcher and pretty good offensively as well. The old guys, Ibanez, Jones, and Chavez, make for a good veteran presence (Jones and Chavez have collected their share of Gold Gloves in the past and Ibanez and Jones know what it's like to play for a championship squad) and should be able to contribute somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 home runs and 90 RBI's collectively.

Look for the Yankees to win the division (if they can stay healthy) and post a mark of somewhere in the neighborhood of 96-66.