American League East grades
Red Sox are the cream of the crop; Yankees, Blue Jays spiraling down
Despite a slow start from superstars Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the Red Sox still have a significant lead over the Yankees, Blue Jays and Devil Rays.
Here is the first-half analysis for the American League East baseball teams:
- 1) Boston Red Sox - The Sox are cruising right now despite relatively average years from the best 1-2 punch in baseball. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz aren’t having their usual dynamic years, but the Sox have an 11.5-game lead on both the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, and things don’t look like they’re going to change much in the AL East. However, if the Sox want to make the World Series, they might have to add another starter and another strong arm in the bullpen. Curt Schilling’s dead arm should be alarming to Red Sox fans and who knows if Josh Beckett will make it the whole season without blister issues. Julian Tavarez will surely drop off of his torrid pace, leaving just Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield.
- 2) New York Yankees - The Yanks are 11.5 games back and they are not going to catch the Red Sox. Roger Clemens helps a little bit but is not the solution to their overwhelming problems in the bullpen and with the rest of the rotation. Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte are both aging fast and won’t be able to go past the sixth inning very often. And Clemens won’t be the dominant pitcher he once was in the dangerous American League. The Yankees will not make the playoffs.
- 3) Toronto Blue Jays - Every year these guys want to play up with the big boys, but every year something seems to go wrong. When the Jays acquired A.J. Burnett to accompany Roy Halladay it looked like they had something going for them, but an injury to Burnett and a lack of talent throughout the rest of the rotation put Toronto in dire straits. With the bats they aren’t much better. Alex Rios has been a pleasant surprise, but Frank Thomas and Troy Glaus are old and injured most of the time and won’t carry a team through any sort of playoff run. Trouble is ahead for the Blue Jays, and they are destined for cellardom again.
- 4) Tampa Bay Devil Rays - Their offense has some spectacular talents. Carl Crawford is probably the best athlete in Major League Baseball, Carlos Pena is having a breakout year, Akinori Iwamura is a hidden gem who can hit and run and shortstop Brendan Harris has proven his worth at the major league level. But the pitching staff is a disaster again. Scott Kazmir is the pride and joy of the rotation but he has had nowhere near ace-like stats, and while James Shields has been extremely impressive he will not produce consistent wins without a bullpen behind him or a staff around him. Tough luck again for the Devil Rays.
- 5) Baltimore Orioles - The Orioles are a catastrophe once again. And it’s too bad for that fan base, because there isn’t a better place in the country to watch a game than Camden Yards. The Orioles keep trying to spend and spend and spend, but money is no good if you don’t know how to use it. The Orioles haven’t had an ace since the early Mussina days and the bullpen hasn’t been much better. They have a significant stopper in Erik Bedard right now, but the bullpen and the rest of the rotation isn’t good enough to compete against some of the best hitters in the major leagues with Boston and New York.
The copyright of the article American League East grades in Major League Baseball is owned by Rob Greenfield. Permission to republish American League East grades must be granted by the author in writing.
