Know Your Enemy - Let's Talk About The AL East

[Darnell's Son]

Each day this week the .com will be previewing one of the other teams in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays are up first, written by yours truly.

The Rays rotation will once again be led by Chris Archer. The righty was able to increase his K/9 from 8.00 in 2014 to 10.70 in 2015, while dropping his BB/9 from 3.33 to 2.80. If he’s able to maintain those rates, then the future is bright for the veteran ace of the rotation.

Jake Odorizzi took a step forward in 2015 as he cut down on his BB/9 (3.16 to 2.44) at the expense of his K/9 (9.32 to 7.97), but saw an overall improvement in performance as weak contact led to more outs.

So are the Red Sox going to once again be looking up at the Rays in the standings at the end of the season?

 

[Darnell's Son]

Today, Lisa Carney previews the Baltimore Orioles:

The re-signing of Chris Davis and improved health of the also re-signed Wieters ensures that the ball-crushing legacy remains intact and Mark Trumbo will fit right in with the power brigade.
It make sense to build a deep lineup when competing in the thunderous AL east and the Orioles look ready to go line drive for line drive with the big bats in Toronto, New York, and Boston.

It seems like their pitching staff won't have what it takes to compete with the big boys, but their offense will likely be a pain all season long.

 

[VORP Speed]

Very nice write-up on the Rays. I'll blame your inherent SoSH biases for the obviously incorrect 4th-place finish prediction!

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

Great overviews.

TB's bullpen is underrated with no-name depth (Colome, Geltz, Farquhar, Cedeno) even after trading McGee.

And while eight weeks' recovery time for Boxberger is realistic his effectiveness coming back may be optimistic. Justin Verlander returned from similar injury before the 2014 season after six weeks, and his 2014 stats were terrible. [Whether that also had to do with age and mileage is hard to say].

I don't think TB is kneecapped if Boxberger's not the same when he gets back, and wouldn't be surprised if he's not the closer even when he comes back if someone else steps up.

Edit: After the news on Miller's wrist, which is still TBD, it's looking like TB's pen might be deeper than any in the AL East come Opening Day.

 

[Darnell's Son]

Thanks for the kind words, gents.

Very nice write-up on the Rays. I'll blame your inherent SoSH biases for the obviously incorrect 4th-place finish prediction!

I blame James Loney.

Next up is the Evil Empire, and Snodder wrote this entry:

That said it is going to take a cavalcade of decline and injury for this lineup to not be one of the better offenses in the game again. Especially with the additions of Castro to the starting lineup and the depth added by dropping Hicks and Dustin Ackley onto the bench. Castro has proven he can hit and at barely 26, he is at an age where hoping for him to put it all together isn’t unreasonable. The change of scenery from Chicago to New York should do him some good, as will the consistency of knowing his position from day one.

 

[Darnell's Son]

JimBoSox9 wrote today's preview, and it's the 2015 division champs:

Bracketing the two heavyweights are question marks of a different kind in Donaldson and Tulowitzki. Donaldson posted OPS of .687, .883, and .798 in three years with Oakland before his MVP campaign at age 29 last year. It’s clear he’s a quality hitter, but was that last step up to a .900+ OPS a breakout to a new level of performance, or a career year for an otherwise very good player?