Nick Brunner
Staff Reporter
The game’s biggest star admits to using steroids, a leftfielder who jumps into the stands to slap give high fives signs a $45 million contract, and Baltimore gets out bid for their prize free agent by New York. It can only mean one thing: It must be baseball season.
Another off season of outrageous spending by seemingly everyone but the hometown Orioles is over and the season is amongst us. Through the next several issues, I will examine several teams and shed light on possible names to add to your fantasy baseball teams that may be lingering on waivers.
Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays surprised the baseball world last year when they topped not only the Yankees and Red Sox, but the entire American League on their way to the World Series. The Rays made a splash thanks to a young nucleus of talented players who have developed through their farm system. Being a small market team, they have to spend their limited budget wisely and develop their young players in order to be successful. Their success last year, as well as the key to this year and the foreseeable future, was hinged on the success of young starting pitchers. A staff anchored by James Shields, Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza led the team by holding opponents down while their young offensive counterparts continued to develop confidence throughout the year. During the second half of last season rookie phenom Evan Longoria burst onto the major league scene and cemented himself as the franchise third baseman for a long time. The Rays biggest move of the off season was signing free agent slugger Pat Burrell. Burrell helped the Phillies end the Rays storybook season in the World Series last year. “Pat the bat” will bring more than offensive firepower to the club. His veteran leadership and experience will be very beneficial to his young teammates. If the young players continue to grow and develop chemistry with the veterans, this young team could be a force to be reckoned with once again this season. However, this year they won’t have the element of surprise on their side.
Boston Red Sox finished 2008 with a 95-67 record and secured the AL Wild Card playoff spot
The Red Sox have the best combination of experienced leaders, young established players, and young developing talent of anyone in the division. Their strength will be their dominating pitching staff which consists of bonafide studs like Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Along with newly acquired stars Brad Penny, John Smoltz, and Takashi Saito, the Sox have compiled a staff that rivals any other in baseball. In a division where dominating pitching is king, the Sox will still have their hands full if their hitters do not step up and provide this staff with consistent run support. On paper, the Red Sox have no real weakness in their lineup at all. Speedster Jacoby Ellsburry and reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia set the table for bombers like David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkillis, and Mike Lowell, and then the captain Jason Varitek, JD Drew, and top prospect Jed Lowrie turn the order back over to the top. But everyone knows this game doesn’t play out on paper, and many of the big stars the Sox will be counting on to come up big this year like “Big Papi” Ortiz and Mike Lowell are coming off of injury plagued seasons from a year ago. If the young guys play up to their potential and the veterans can return to form, coupled with the quality pitching the Sox will be able to throw out on the mound every day, opponents will have to bring their A game every night in order to compete with the boys from Boston. NEXT ISSUE: The Yanks, Jays and O’s.