Toronto and Oakland; early surprises in AL

The American League has had a few oddities in the first week of play. With a week into the season, there are many teams out of rhythm, including most of my picks. However, the struggling teams weren’t doing what they were capable of, and it hurt.

The Central division has the Tigers and Twins doing well, which was what most expected. The White Soc can’t say the same thing. After winning the opener, they lost four straight. The main reason was the offense. Out of 94 men who reached base safely, they only scored 10 runs. It is fifth to last in the American League, and many of these base runners were in scoring position.

The East division has the Yankees and Red Sox looking far from perfect, unless you count the CC Sabathia performance versus the Rays, but they are not in rhythm yet. The pitching is looking stellar for both clubs, and the new comers are fitting in well. The Blue Jays had the best start in the league so far.

The West is all out of sorts after one week. The Mariners and Angels, my picks for one and two in the division, are 2-5 and looking far from good. The Athletics are pitching better than expected, and the Rangers have been winning games against Seattle. If the Mariners and Angels want to be back in rhythm, they need to score runs. It is looking a little dismal early on.

So here are the top five for the week:

1.) Toronto Blue Jays- Great pitching and Vernon Wells has four homeruns and seven RBIs.

2.) Minnesota Twins- They may not be in first, but they are winning with pitching and timely hitting

3.) Oakland Athletics- They have won many close games so far, and they are doing it with a roster full of names most haven’t heard of.

4.) New York Yankees- The pitching is coming around, and the rest of the league should worry.

5.) Detroit Tigers- They are in first, but the pitching has struggled.

Spring is back, and the American League shows us what it is made of early on

The weather is rainy; the trees are budding; the days are getting longer. These events can only mean one thing; Major League Baseball is back in session.

It is the third day of action, and there are some key moments for teams in the American League. Let’s break down the 14 AL teams in a sentence or two.

AL EAST

Boston Red Sox – John Lackey looks good in his first start. Regardless of the time of year, they need to beat the Yankees in close games.

Baltimore Orioles- They have a chance to win game one on the road, but the young team makes a rookie mistake. Never run on contact from third with no outs.

Tampa Bay Rays- Carl Crawford gives the Rays a needed spark at home. They will need to win these games versus the bottom of the division.

Toronto Blue Jays- They blow a great pitching performance by Shaun Marcum. The bullpen cannot give games away in a tough division.

New York Yankees- The pitching isn’t quite there yet, but Andy Pettitte looked really good as a third starter. They have two early wins in Fenway, which is always nice to stockpile.

AL WEST

Seattle Mariners- The absence of power is imminent. If they don’t face a pitcher who allows stolen bases, it will be hard to score runs.

Los Angeles Angels- There is no lack of power here after losing Vladimir Guerrero. They have four in two games so far.

Oakland Athletics- Ben Sheets is no ace coming off of an injury. With it taking a minute and forty seconds to reach the plate, teams will be aggressive and cause problems on the base paths.

Texas Rangers- They have the offense, winning a come-from-behind game. The pitching has a little room for error because of the run production.

AL CENTRAL

Minnesota Twins- They can win in many ways, but the homerun has been absent. With the win yesterday, it looks like they may have some extra power this year.

Cleveland Indians- The walks are hurting them. They have 12 in two games.

Kansas City Royals- Bad sign for Zack Greinke: the Bullpen allows six runs in three innings after he allowed one in six.

Detroit Tigers- Can the Tigers hit? Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen had two hits apiece and combined to go eight for 19 with four RBIs and five runs scored in the opener.

Chicago White Sox- The White Sox are back to manufacturing runs in other ways than the homerun, and they will need to since they cannot hit for power in cold weather. Mark Buehrle looked really sharp.

Defending champions will have tough road to repeat; Red Sox pitching staff tops in East

Baltimore Orioles

2009: 64-98 last place

Key Players

Nick Markakis- RF .293 18 Hrs 101 RBIs

Brian Roberts- 2B .283 16 Hrs 79 RBIs

Adam Jones- CF .277 19 Hrs 70 RBIs

Brad Bergeson- SP/RH 123.1 IPs 7-5 3.43 ERA 65 Ks 32 BBs

Brian Matusz- SP/LH 44.2 IPs 5-2 4.63 ERA 38 Ks 14 BBs

Key Additions

Kevin Millwood- SP/RH

Will Ohman- RP/LH

Garrett Atkins- 1B

Miguel Tejada- SS

Millwood will give the Orioles a No. 1 starter for the first time since they have Mike Mussina. Will Ohman is signed to a minor league contract, but look for him to make the team out of Spring Training as a left-handed specialist. Garrett Atkins struggled with a .226 average and only 48 RBIs last year, but he has the potential to be a franchise player. He batted .301 with 101 RBIs in 2007, and he batted .296 with 99 RBIs in 2008. Miguel Tejada is still a great threat in the middle of the infield. He batted .313 last year with 86 RBIs.

Key Subtractions

Danys Baez- RP/RH

Brian Bass- RP/RH

Melvin Mora- SS

The Orioles will miss Baez and Bass in a bullpen that wasn’t very deep, but Atkins and Tejada are definitely improvements over Mora.

Stats breakdown

Pitching 2

Offense 2

Defense 2

Overall 6

The Orioles will be a, at best, a .500 team. They will get better by the end of the year will the young pieces in place, but they need to rebuild the bullpen and score more runs in order to contend. Look for them to play spoiler come August and September.

Boston Red Sox

2009: 95-67 2^nd place

Key Players

Josh Beckett SP/RH 212.1 IPs 17-6 3.86 ERA 199 Ks 55 BBs

Jon Lester SP/LH 203.1 IPs 15-8 3.41 ERA 225 Ks 64 BBs

Victor Martinez C .303 23 HRs 108 RBIs

Jacoby Ellsbury LF .301 8 Hrs 60 RBIs 94 Runs 70 SBs

Kevin Youklis 1B .305 27 Hrs 94 RBIs

Key Additions

John Lackey SP/RH

Adrian Beltre 3B

Mike Cameron CF

Lackey joins an already sound staff. He had 139 strikeouts in 176 innings for the Angels. Beltre is capable of offense if he stays healthy, and the Red Sox will need him to take the palce of Mike Lowell. Cameron will be the replacement for Jason Bay, so he will need to step up.

Key Subtractions

Jason Bay LF

Takasji Saito RP/RH

Bay will be a huge loss in the outfield, and his 36 homeruns were a huge part of the Red Sox success last season. They will miss his bat and protection he gave in the lineup. Saito was a set-up man in a strong bullpen, and he will need to be replaced for the end of the game to be as well executed as last year.

Stats breakdown

Pitching 5

Offense 3

Defense 4

Overall 12

Pitching and defense wins championships, and the Red Sox have both. They will miss Jason Bay in the middle of the lineup, but John Lackey strengthens the starting pitching, and they will be in the think of the race all season. They only committed 82 errors last season, third fewest in the American League.

New York Yankees

2009: 103-59 1^st place

Key Players

Derek Jeter SS .334 18 HRs 66 RBIs

Mark Teiexera 1B .292 39 HRs 122 RBIs

C.C. Sabathia SP/LH 230 IPs 19-8 3.37 ERA 197 Ks 67 BBs

A.J. Burnett SP/RH 207 IPs 13-9 4.04 ERA 195 Ks 97 BBs

Andy Pettitte SP/LH 194.2 IPs 14-8 4.16 ERA 148 Ks 76 BBs

Key Additions

Curtis Granderson CF

Javier Vazquez SP/RH

The Yankees upgraded at center field and added a solid pitcher to join a championship team with very few weaknesses. Vazquez will be more productive then Wang and help fill the gap at the end of the rotation.

Key Subtractions

Johnny Damon CF

Chien-Ming Wang SP/RH

Damon and Wang should be under key addition by subtraction, because the Yankees will not miss them at all.

Stats breakdown

Pitching 4

Offense 4

Defense 3

Overall 11

The Yankees will be an early favorite to repeat as champion, because of the upgrades. However, they aren’t much better than the other elite teams in the division. They will need the rotation to be consistent throughout, and they will need Granderson to live up to his hype (and handle the added pressure of playing for the Yankees).

Tampa Bay Rays

2009: 84-78 3^rd place

Key Players

Evan Longoria 3B .281 33 HRs 113 RBIs

BJ Upton CF .241 11 HRs 55 RBIs 42 SBs

Ben Zobrist 2B .297 27 HRs 91 RBIs

Jeff Niemann SP/RH 180.2 IPs 13-6 3.94 ERA 125 Ks 59 BBs

David Price SP/LH 128.1 IPs 10-7 4.42 ERA 102 Ks 54 BBs

Key Additions

Rafael Soriano RP/RH

Soriano adds a big arm in what was a pretty weak bullpen. He had 102 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 72 innings for the Atlanta Braves last year, and he will give stability in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Key Subtractions

Akinori Iwamura 2B

The only real loss for the Rays was injured most of last season. The lineup suffered, and the Rays top of the order was considerably worse off. The only good thing is the Rays learned to play without him for most of the year.

Stats breakdown

Pitching 3

Offense 5

Defense 3

Overall 11

The Rays have the best lineup in the division when healthy, especially if Upton returns to his original form. Upton will have to play like he did in 2008 or it could hurt the middle of the order. They won the AL pennant in 2008 because of pitching and defense. They are a good team, but the question becomes whether they can reduce the errors and pitch as consistently as they did then.

Toronto Blue Jays

2009: 75-87 4^th place

Key Players

Ricky Romero SP/LH 178 IPs 13-9 4.30 ERA 141 Ks 79 BBs

Vernon Wells CF .260 15 HRs 66 RBIs

Lyle Overbay 1B .265 16 HRs 64 RBIs

Adam Lind RF .305 35 HRs 114 RBIs

Aaron Hill 2B .286 36 HRs 108 RBIs

Key Additions

Kevin Gregg RP/RH

John Buck C

Alex Gonzalez SS

Gregg will be a veteran arm to try and hold the back end of the bullpen in place, and he may give them a little breathing room. Buck is a great addition at catcher. He is loaded with offensive potential, and he could help along the young pitchers. Gonzalez didn’t have a great offensive year in 2009, but he can play defense. He will need to hit better though.

Key Subtractions

Roy Halladay SP/RH

Marco Scutaro SS

The big departure is Halladay. He was their ace, and it is almost impossible to replace his stats. The young pitching staff will not have a key veteran to help them through, so they have to step it up. Scutaro was replaced by Gonzalez, and the stat lines look to be in favor of Scutaro. They will miss his bat and defense.

Stats breakdown

Pitching 1

Offense 2

Defense 5

Overall 8

The Blue Jays are in rebuilding mode, but they do have a few very young players who can be consistent all-stars. The pitching is the big question, now that Roy Halladay is gone, and the offense needs to make up for the lack of depth in the bullpen. Toronto also has to make the offense better by running the bases well. They only stole 73 bases last year, and they also grounded into 130 double plays.

Final East breakdown

Champion: Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees are the popular pick, because they are better on paper than they were last year. However, they still don’t have the best pitching staff in the division. Boston looks to be the best team in the East right now; and if they stay healthy, they should finish on top. It won’t be easy, however. The Rays are a very good team, and the Yankees can still win consistently. Look for this race to come down to the final few weeks of the season. Remember, the Orioles and Blue Jays will be the teams the elite must beat. If any one of the top three in the division lose to the bottom dwellers, they won’t be there.