AL East Preview

The American League East is loaded. There is a good possibility that a 90 win team from this division will be left on the outside looking in in October. The back end of this division isn't bad either with the young Orioles and always consistent mediocre Jays.

AL East

The (Devil) Rays are the defending champs. Interesting to say that but you have to hand it to them. They have quality pitching with Kasmir, Garza, and Shields in the top three spots as well as David Price lurking in the minors. The bullpen was more than solid last year but the trend in the majors has always been that the bullpen takes a hit after good years due to the amount of innings pitched. The Rays obvious strength is their lineup. It is dynamic with speed and power in the form of BJ Upton. Hopefully they can get the Upton who seemingly launched home runs every at bat last post season. Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Pena provide a balanced offensive attack. Throw in Maddon's crazy managing decisions and the Rays can beat you in a variety of ways.

The most likely division winner is the Red Sox. Every year I think these guys are getting older and have to fall apart at some point. However, their roster this season is pretty impressive. The rotation of Beckett, DiceK, Wakefield, and Lester can eat innings and give them a chance to win every day. The wildcards in the rotation are going to be Brad Penny and Clay Bucholtz. The bullpen really staged a coup by getting Smoltz. He's an All Star closer in the setup position. This solidifies the back end of games and can even provide Papelbon with some days off to keep him fresh for the post season. I'm pretty sure I don't have to talk about an offense that boasts Big Papi, MVP Dustin Pedroia (can't hit high and inside), Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, and Kevin Youklis.

The Yankees are the Yankees. The keys to their season are CC Sabathia's psyche and the weathering of A-Rod's injury. Sabathia's recent success with the Indians and Brewers stems from his ability to control his emotions. Early in his career he used to get hotheaded in certain situations and just start throwing heat instead of pitching. This led to control trouble and games going from bad to worse. Xavier Nady and Mark Teixera will have to pick up the slack for A-Rod's missing bat. Nady is a good player who has a chance to get into the All Star Game with Rodriguez out. The question for the Yanks is their rotation. While it could be very good, there is no guarantee. Joba was inconsistent at best last year and Pettite is getting old. Burnett is the definition of injury prone and his bad elbow usually costs a month every season.

The Orioles/Blue Jays are in the same boat fighting for fourth place this year. The Orioles have a great young offense but their pitching is a few years from coming out. To be honest I haven't heard of any of the guys behind Jeremy Guthrie in that rotation. But the offense with Huff, Markakis, and Roberts should be solid to compete for mediocrity. The Blue Jays have Roy Halladay and thats about it for starters. Their bullpen is average and BJ Ryan might not even keep his closer job for the season. Reports indicate that his velocity has dropped to about 87 or so for a fastball. That's Joe Borowski territory. I'm glad I drafted him in my fantasy league.

Call: I'm going to go with the Red Sox to win the division and the Rays to pick up the wild card. I'm not sold on the Yankees making it through this competitive season without their best hitter. Jeter is hitting leadoff. He can still get on base but his speed is diminished and his defense has been suffering a lot recently (see WBC). Him and Cano really are a liability up the middle on defense. I don't see Burnett pitching the entire season and Wang is a crapshoot because he's a groundball pitcher with below average defensive middle infielders.

AL Central Preview

Remember last year? Remember when I predicted that the Tigers would lose 100 games (the almost did!) and that the Rays would win the East (you'll hear this a bunch more, I promise) and that the Red Sox would get the Wild Card? Remember that? You should because they were great predictions. The Rays prediction was probably the greatest prediction of our generation. If Villanova wins the tournament, then The Rays would have to be pushed down to second...but that is a different story for another time.

I'm going to make an admission right now. Baseball predictions are like a crapshoot (obviously a waiver of my potentially shitty picks for the upcoming year). This season seems especially tough seeing that the AL East is stacked, the AL Central is stacked with mediocrity, and the AL West is....well...the AL West. Well, here goes:

AL Central

Well, this division went from being the up and coming powerhouse to the powerhouse of 80 win teams. I'm not sure what is going to happen this year. Obviously I was going to pick the Indians to win this division on pure talent alone, but their starting pitching has been atrocious this spring with Cliff Lee getting lit up almost every start. There's no way he can repeat the success of last year. Carl Pavano...well, whatever. The only bright spot is that Carmona looks like he's ready to return to form after an injury plagued season in 2008. However the bullpen should be better with the addition of Kerry Wood taking pressure off Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, and Rafael Betancourt. There should be less blown leads this year.

The Twins look mediocre as usual and are probably poised to overacheive as usual. They have Liriano back from elbow injury and he's been looking very good this spring. He should anchor a solid rotation which can hold games for the outstanding bullpen. They also have the best clutch hitter in Joe Mauer and perennial MVP candidate Justin Morneau in the lineup. The keys for the Twins are going to be Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young in the outfield. These guys need to get on base and use their speed to create runs to support that pitching staff.

The Tigers and White Sox don't really concern me because they are getting old and seem to be on the way out. The Tigers will maintain a pretty good offense even though they just cut Gary Sheffield, but their pitching is garbage. I mean Edwin Jackson as your #2? Their season rests on Dontrelle Willis' arm and that's probably not a good bet. The White Sox are too old to do anything this year. I think they'll fall behind early and have too much ground to make up as the saeson goes on. Watch out for Alexei Ramirez though. He reminds me of Alfonso Soriano but better defensively.

The Royals are in the same position the Devil Rays have been in the past few seasons. They are a perennial loser with high draft picks and great prospects just waiting to break out. I mean wasn't Zach Greinke supposed to be a Cy Young winner by now. He's still pretty young considering he's been in the majors since he was 18. But he has great stuff and should be the ace for this rotation this season that includes the dynamic Kyle Davies (finished the season strong last year) and Gil Meche (perennial fantasy add/drop). With Coco Crisp batting leadoff and improving the defense, David Dejesus (.307/12/73 last year) can bat either second or third and make an offensive impact. The key for the Royals is how Teahen, Gordon, and Butler step up. They've been on the cusp for a few seasons now and it remains to be seen whether or not they can live up to the hype.

Call: Kansas City with a breakout season. The Indians and Twins can win 90 games but they are flawed. The division is open for the Royals to surprise.

Tomorrow, I'll look at the AL East and probably pick the Rays to win it again.