With opening day upon us it is the perfect time to take a look inside the American League East, which has been the most entertaining division to watch over the past five years.
The Tampa Bay Rays, last year’s A.L. East champions, will present the most altered lineup of the A.L East. They acquired Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez two players, which some say are past their prime, that have a great potential to be dominate forces at minimal cost for Tampa Bay and already have expereince within the division.
The Rays have some talented young players that will play important roles for the team this season as well. One of them being Reid Brignac, who will try to fill Jason Bartlett’s shoes at shortstop. It also looks as if Sean Rodriguez will be getting the nod as the everyday starter at second base.
The reason why the Rays will be a young team this season is because they lost some of the most coveted players from the previous year’s team this offseason. They cut ties with Matt Garza and Carlos Pena yet the person who will probably be missed the most is Carl Crawford.
The Rays will have to fight hard to make the playoffs but if any manager can get them there, it is Joe Madden, the manager who brought Tampa to the 2008 World Series in a year where no one gave them a chance and was named A.L. Coach of the Year.
Crawford left the Rays for the A.L. East rival Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox may have made the most improvements this year. Along with Crawford, they also acquired Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego. These two left handers could have a field day at Fenway Park with the short left field fence.
Last year, Boston was hit with the injury bug and ended up finishing in third place in the division, missing the playoffs. With all of the injured players getting healthy and the major offseason additions, Boston fans have already cued the duck boats.
Not so fast. The Red Sox have lost a key player in Victor Martinez and will be starting the young and inexperienced Jared Saltalamacchia. This, along with Boston’s agiing pitching staff, could lead to major struggles for the 2007 World Series Champions.
The New York Yankees’ season ended last year with a loss to the Texas Rangers in the playoffs. With that loss came the assumption that the Yankees would be getting free agent Cliff Lee to revive their pitching staff. Lee surprised many and signed with the Phillies for less money than what the Yankees had offered him. Maybe Yankee fans should not have harassed his wife during last year’s playoffs.
The Yankees also lost Andy Pettitte to retirement and have replaced him by signing Freddy Garcia.
Even though their pitching staff has many question marks, their lineup is still one of the best in baseball. Anchored by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, who has been working hard this offseason (trust me I saw him running on our track twice), New York can still be a dominate force in the A.L. East.
Even though both the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles have been irrelevant over the last few years, both teams have improved this offseason.
Toronto had a surprising 2010 season and were only ten games back in the division. They did trade away Vernon Wells, but they still have last year’s homerun king, Jose Bautista who could have another outstanding season.
Two players that had major struggles last season were Aaron Hill and Adam Lind who both batted in the low .200’s. Both of these players are not that bad and are motivated to bounce back this season.
The Blue Jays have very young starters but Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero could anchor the staff and help the youngsters mature quickly. This is going to be a very fun team to watch in 2011.
Baltimore struggled last season and finished in last place in the division. Even with a poor 2010, they have the potential to have a good season and finish over .500 for the first time in 14 years.
They added Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero this offseason and also have some promising young talent. This might be the year that Brian Matusz steps up and can win the close game against the other power houses in the A.L. East.
One of their most talented young players is Adam Jones. Jones has played very well over the past few years and could hit over 20 homeruns this season. Another young player is Matt Weiters who in my eyes, is one of the top five catchers in the MLB.
Manager Buck Showalter may have some tricks up his sleeve and could surprise many people this year.
The American League East is sure to be one of the most entertaining divisions to watch in 2011 and it would not be surprising if one of these teams was playing in the World Series.
Joe Beaudoin can be reached at jbeaudoin@spartans.ut.edu.