Thoughts About AL East Lineups

One team from this division won the World Series last year. Another spent nearly $440 million on  big ticket free agents this off-season. If you want excitement and headlines, there's no better place to turn than the AL East. First up, your world champion BAHSTAHN REHD SUOHX!

This lineup doesn't look all that incredibly different than the one that many pundits predicted to finish in last place at this time last year. It might even look a little worse, with the losses of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stephen Drew (stay tuned) via free agency. However, the addition of A.J. Pierzynski and a full season from #2 prospect Xander Bogaerts should help the cause. Jackie Bradley Jr. flamed out after being in the projected starting lineup last year, and if he has a repeat performance (and if Grady Sizemore's comeback attempt fizzles), New Englanders might be seeing a lot of Jonny Gomes and Mike Carp while Daniel Nava does his best impression of a center fielder. With Mike Napoli's two-year extension, he's only two years away from the original five year deal he signed with the Red Sox last off-season, before a physical revealed his degenerative hip disease. Just ask his 23 homers and gigantic beard if that's slowed him down at all...

With a full season of Clay Buchholz and Jake Peavy, this rotation could look pretty formidable. Its overall depth took a hit when Ryan Dempster announced he would not play in 2014, but the BoSox brass quickly addressed that issue by signing Chris Capuano to compete with Felix Doubront for the fifth starter spot. My theory though is that Capuano, a New England native, will be doing plenty of long relief this year, and loving it. If you're concerned about Koji Uehara entering his first year at the top of any team's relief depth chart (last year he was behind Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey before injuries pushed him into the spotlight, where he spun a 1.09 ERA in 74.1 innings), you're not alone. Boston signed the Cardinals' ad hoc 2013 closer Edward Mujica in case the 38-year-old Japan native struggles with the pressure.

Hey look who's still at the top of Tampa Bay's rotation! It's David "I didn't get traded, because no team would meet the Rays' asking" Price! If this team wasn't in "win now" mode already, the non-move of holding onto former Cy Young winner Price did more to accentuate that and energize the clubhouse than any blockbuster trade could have. Note that I still put Jeremy Hellickson in the SP5 slot even though he just had elbow surgery and will be out for probably two months, which means we could see a competition between top prospect Jake Odorizzi and minor league acquisition Erik Bedard for his early replacement. I'm sure this will be one of the more fluid batting orders in the league, but I think it makes the most sense to put rookie of the year Wil Myers in the two-hole to maximize his plate appearances and let us see what he can do over a full season.

The two big changes in the Orioles lineup are the bulging biceps of Nelson Cruz in the middle of the order and the lanky inconsistency of Ubaldo Jimenez at the top of their rotation. Sneaking in and snatching up two of the more prized free agents on the market moments before the start of Spring Training ensured that no one would speak of Baltimore as a 2013-14 also-ran, while building some serious headline momentum. However, they have failed to conjure up a viable replacement at second base when Brian Roberts left via free agency, as they have failed to do for many previous seasons when Brian Roberts was unavailable due to injury. Ryan Flaherty is the prime candidate to make the jump from utility infielder, but he could have some competition from Jemile Weeks, looking to rediscover his rookie form from 2011 in Oakland, and from top prospect and Team Netherlands veteran Jonathan Schoop. The current rotation setup doesn't leave room for Korean All-Star Suk-Min Yoon, but extra pitchers tend to find a way to be needed over the course of a long season.

Let's do some math: 155 + 153 + 85 + 45 = 438. Now multiply those numbers by one million (1,000,000) and put a dollar sign ($) in front of it. That's how much money New York spent on their newest starting pitcher (Masahiro Tanaka), center fielder (Jacoby Ellsbury), catcher (Brian McCann) and right fielder (Carlos Beltran). Big spending like that has prompted oft-injured first baseman Mark Teixeira to conjecture that the Yankees have gone "back to being the Yankees." If he can get his OPS closer to .800 than .600 and if longtime shortstop Derek Jeter can play like he was 25 (or even 35) again, that'll at least make up for the suspension of third baseman Alex Rodriguez for the whole season. Again in the fifth starter uncertainty department (who doesn't have it these days?), if Michael Pineda doesn't get healthy enough to justify the 2012 trade of Jesus Montero, we can expect to see more David Phelps spot starts. David Robertson is the division's second middle reliever trying to make the jump to closer (along with Tommy Hunter of the Orioles), but he's the only one that will have to replace a future first ballot Hall of Famer. Outs in the ninth inning are just like outs in any other inning, right?

In a mirror image of the Red Sox's 2013/2014 outlooks, this lineup is very similar to the one many pundits predicted would finish first at this time last year. With no meaningful acquisitions (sorry Dioner Navarro), I don't see this team taking a big step forward, even granted that they'll have much lower expectations this time around without the blockbuster trades of last off-season. In addition to starting a rookie at second base (although Maicer Izturis is always there to drain at-bats for John Gibbons the same way he did for Mike Scioscia back in Anaheim), their fifth starter spot is also a mess. In addition to the underwhelming but probably most consistent choice Todd Redmond, there's also swingman Esmil Rogers, Twins castoff Liam Hendriks, and young right handers Drew Hutchison and Kyle Drabek. It looks like it's going to be a long, cold spring north of the border this year.