UCB Week, Day 1: American League Picks

It's time for the extravaganza that is United Cardinal Bloggers week.  All week, this group of bloggers will be taking their cracks at predicting the upcoming season.  Starting out with today, the entire American League.  Check out the other bloggers.  CardinalsGM already has his up, as does Redbird Ramblings.  You can also see The Redbird Blog.  Others as they come in.

OK, let's take a look at the American League East.

Boston
OK, personally, I'm tired of just about everything that comes out of the New England area.  That said, I don't see much way that the Red Sox don't win this division.  They have starting pitching, they have an offense, they have Papelbon shutting down teams in the ninth.  They aren't unbeatable, of course, but I think they are easily the strongest team in the East.

New York
They've got too much talent to fall farther than second, but there could be some rough times coming for the Yankees.  They are getting older, even with that youth infusion for the rotation.  How long will players like Giambi and Pettitte and Posada hold up?  Will those young guns like Chamberlain look as good the second time around?  And the Yankees have always had problems when the focus shifts to the Steinbrenners.  When they are off the stage or content in the background, the Yankees win.  Otherwise, not so much.




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Toronto
Toronto is a good team in the wrong division.  They don't have too much chance of passing both of the behemoths in the division, with their highest possibility catching one of them on an off year and finishing second.  Of course, Cardinal fans will keep a eye on the "St. Toronto Blue Cardinals", as I understand one shirt in Canada puts it.  Having former fan favorites David Eckstein and Scott Rolen up there will do that.  The health of A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan are the real keys to any kind of contention for this team.

Tampa Bay
The devil is gone from TB and the Rays are looking good.  Those years of high draft picks are finally paying off, when you think of an offense of Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton and Jonny Gomes.  If Kazmir stays healthy and Garza can give them a boost, this team should be able to make a run toward .500.

Baltimore
The Orioles are starting to look like the team they sprang from, the old St. Louis Browns.  They've traded off two of their top players with an eye toward rebuilding and retooling.  While the results of that may not be known for a couple of years, the growing pains will probably be fairly rough in 2008.

Moving over to the AL Central, we find...............

Detroit
Detroit was a strong team, then it raided Florida and became the odds-on favorite for a World Series berth.  Getting Miguel Cabrera and plugging him and Renteria into that lineup means they will dent the scoreboard very often.  The pitching staff could be stronger, but it is not a significant weakness and shouldn't keep the Tigers from the divisional crown.

Cleveland
The team that came very close to winning their way to the World Series returns fairly intact, though talk will swirl all year about C.C. Sabathia's contract status.  You have to figure Fausto Carmona will regress some, which may enough for the Tigers to pass them in the standings.  Still, with Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner, the Indians will score some runs and win a lot of games.

Minnesota
Even without Santana, the pitching staff has some promise.  Most of that promise is based in Francisco Liriano's return to full health.  If he's pitching close to how he did his rookie year, there will still be some excitement in the Twin Cities.  Joe Nathan will lock up any game that is close and the offense, while not one of the powerhouses in the division, is servicable with Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer (if he stays healthy) and new addition Delmon Young.  They aren't what they used to be, but the Twins aren't dead yet.

Chicago
The White Sox have falled a long way from their 2005 title.  They added Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera to help shake things up over the offseason.  They aren't embarrassing, by any means, with a rotation lead by Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko smacking the long ball.  They just play in a fairly tough division, which means that there is little room for error.

Kansas City
First off, if you are a Royals fan (and I know at least one), you have to bookmark Rany on the Royals.  That should help some during the long season.  Other than that, there's not a lot of help.  Alex Gordon should continue to improve and the Gil Meche signing has worked out, but it's still going to be quite some time for KC can legitimately hope to finish out of the cellar.

Finally, the smallest division in baseball, the AL West:

Seattle
Occasionally, you've got to play a hunch. On paper, it's tough to go against the Angels, but with Seattle's acquisition of Eric Bedard, I like the one-two punch that Bedard and Felix Hernandez gives them.  They've got the closer slot filled in J.J. Putz, so they should be able to win the close ones.  Ichiro is still there to start the offense, and Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre should help out.  It may be close, and I'm probably wrong, but let's go with it anyway.

Los Angeles
They have pitching: John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Jon Garland, Kelvim Escobar.  They have hitting: Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Gary Matthews, Garret Anderson.  They have a closer in Francisco Rodriguez.  There's really not much here not to like.

Texas
I'll admit, I'm not completely unbiased when it comes to the Rangers.  We get a lot of their games up here and I consider myself a minor fan of the group.  I was a big Mark Teixeria fan while he was down there, thought Hank Blalock was pretty slick at third, like what Ian Kinsler does at second.  Adding Josh Hamilton to the offense can't hurt.  The problem has never been the bats, though, and until they are able to overcome the bandbox park and get some solid pitching in there, they are never going to finish above third.

Oakland
Let's see, is there anyone still on the roster here?  Well, Rich Harden will anchor the staff....until he gets hurt.  (He burns me so often in fantasy baseball, and yet I'll probably draft him again.)  Cardinal fans finally get to see what all the fuss was about since Daric Barton will likely start the season in the majors.  (Everyone thought that was the major price in the Mulder trade....turned out to be Haren, really.)  Huston Street will still close games, at least until he's traded (maybe at the trading deadline?)  If you are big on young players, though, the A's are for you!

Tomorrow, the NL West.

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