American League Predictions

AL EAST
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

I am picking the Boston Red Sox as the clear favorite to come out of the AL East because of the acquisition of 1B Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez extends their lineup and makes it deeper. Barring injuries to the Red Sox like those of which they had to endure last season, I don’t see why the Sox can’t win 100+ games. I expect the Yankees to finish second based on pedigree. Their starting rotation will struggle with Ivan Nova learning to pitch in the majors for a full season and Freddy Garcia not being as effective has he has in the past. The Rays will compete all the way to the end, but with aging veterans in Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon and young pitching from Jeremy Hellickson will be their Achilles heal at the end of the season. I believe this year the Orioles will climb out of the AL East cellar due to off season signings of Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, Kevin Gregg, and J.J. Hardy. The biggest reason why this will be a better season for the Orioles is because of their skipper Buck Showalter. Showalter took over halfway through last season and had a record winning over .600. Showalter knows how to get the best out of his players and with a full season as the manager, don’t be surprised if the Orioles play spoiler and win 70+ games. The Blue Jays draw the short straw in this division. Last year we saw Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow mature and Jose Bautista blast 50 home runs, but there isn’t much else going on for the Blue Jays. The pitching staff still needs to develop, the bullpen lost their closer in Gregg and their lineup isn’t that deep past Bautista and Lind.

AL CENTRAL
1. Tigers
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Indians

Once again the central division will most likely come down to the last week of the season with the top three teams (Tigers, Twins, and White Sox) right in the mix of everything. The reason I put the Tigers at the top of the division is because of the free agent signings of Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit. I also strongly believe that Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer will have bounce back years. Both spent time in the minors working on their mechanics and pitches and both pitched effectively the latter part of last season. The Twins are very capable of taking this division, but the health of 1B Justin Morneau is a big question mark. If he doesn’t have a productive season, then the Twins will struggle for power in the middle of the lineup. Also, Carl Pavano won’t pitch as well as he did last year and Francisco Liriano has been talked about here and there in trade rumors. The White Sox are another team capable of taking down this division, but their question marks are the health of Jake Peavy and the closing abilities of Matt Thorton. But, with Adam Dunn hitting in the middle of the lineup now, it’s possibly, but can the starting rotation of Peavy, Buerhle, Danks, Floyd, Jackson keep it together for an entire season. The Royals will finish ahead of the Indians as the Indians do not have much going for them in either the hitting or pitching department besides catching sensation Carlos Santana (who is also coming off a major knee injury).

AL WEST
1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners

I chose the Athletics as my sleeper team this year and I am sticking by them. They will win their division and their starting rotation of Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson, and Braden will lead the way. All four matured a lot last year and now with another year of experience under their belt, expect them to soar. Also, the A’s bullpen is one of the stronger ones in the AL with Wuertz, Balfour, Breslow, Fuentes, and Bailey. Their offense also got a shot in the arm with acquisition of CF David DeJesus who had a nice year with the Royals last year before getting injured. Despite the Rangers winning the division last year, I think they will have a small fallout with the loss of Cliff Lee and trade rumor speculations of Michael Young. The Rangers tried to fill Lee’s spot with Brandon Webb but has not pitched since the 2009 season and is coming off shoulder injury/surgery. Colby Lewis won’t pitch as effectively as he did last season and Adrian Beltre won’t put up the same numbers as he did in Boston. The Angels are a tricky team to pick as it is hard to go against Mike Scioscia, but if you look at the team as a whole, some red flags pop up. The Angels outfield is aging with Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, and Vernon Wells. Kendray Morales will be starting the season on the DL and their starting rotation doesn’t go past three deep. Weaver, Santana, and Haren will pitch well and put up their expected numbers, but Scott Kazmir has struggled badly this spring and I expect it to continue into the regular season. The Mariners did not do much in the offseason to improve their team around King Felix and Ichiro Suzuki.

Predictions:

AL MVP: Evan Longoria
Going into his 4th season, Longoria should have a breakout year belting 30 + HR, 100+ RBI’s and bat above .300 as he has really gotten to know the pitching in the American League

AL CY Young: Justin Verlander
Even though Felix Hernandez won it last year with tremendous pitching numbers, I think the number of innings pitcher over the past couple years coming into this year will catch up with him and cause arm fatigue. Verlander pitched well last year and has electric stuff and this is the year he puts it all together to have a CY Young type of season.

AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson
This kid has excellent control, a lot of confidence in himself and his stuff. He possesses one of the better change-ups in the game already as a young pitcher. With Price and Shields to lead the way for him, I expect Hellickson to run away with the Rookie of the Year award.