Agreed, but I feel the Sox will make it further in the Playoffs than the Chokes.

redsox
rays
jays
orioles
yanks

Red Sox 93 wins
Rays 88 wins
Yankees 85 wins relief pitching will hurt them
Jays
Orioles

No wild card from ALE

In three short years, the AL East has gone from the league's weakest division to an incredibly loaded division.

On paper, the Tampa Bay Rays should be the favorites with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees close behind.

I see the Baltimore Orioles as the darkhorse.

Tampa Bay experienced an unlikely drop in team ERA from 5.53 in 2007 to 3.82 in 2008. If Baltimore can miraculously experience a similar drop from their 2008 team ERA of 5.13, the Orioles could be competitive.

Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora and Luke Scott return for Orioles, who have an impressive corps of young hitters and defenders in Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and, as of today, Felix Pie.

As it stands now,
1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Jays
5. Orioles

But a lot can happen between now and april & between April & Sept.

Someone has to dethrone Tampa. Tampa is good and they got better this off season. I dont see them as a flash in the pan:
1) Rays
2) Sox
3) Yanks

Red Sox 91-71
Rays 91-71
Yankees 91-71
Blue Jays 80-82
Orioles 73-89

All the Sox need is health and they should win the division. 2007 seasons from Beckett, Lowell, Papi, the same 08 seasons from everyone else and hitting on at least 2 of the 4 FA's (Penny, Smoltz, Saito, Baldelli) and we're golden.

CC/Burnett/Swisher and Teixeira had #'s barely better than Mussina/Pettitte/Abreu and Giambi. The Yanks pen should be problematic. Posada and Matsui are just as big injury concerns as Lowell and Ortiz.

It will be a grinding bloodbath of a division and wild card race (whoever suggested the wild card will not come from the AL East has got to be joking).

Going to be fun, tense and a long, long summer. Sox have the best chance to add players by the deadline as well. Better farm than NY and more cash than the Rays.

1. sox

2. rays

3. jays

4. yanks

5. baltimore

YANKS TEAM SPEED AND BULLPEN WILL KILL THEM.

[Quote]Orioles -
Also, their IF stinks![/Quote]

As of today, here is the Baltimore infield with each player's OPS+ from 2008:

1B Aubrey Huff 135
2B Brian Roberts 117
SS Cesar Izturis 67 (but +19 on the plus/minus fielding system)
3B Melvin Mora 114

The Baltimore infield has its shortcomings, but it does not "stink."

By the way, here are the 2008 OPS+ numbers for the Red Sox infield (which included players who finished first and third in the voting for AL MVP):

1B Kevin Youkilis 143
2B Dustin Pedroia 122
SS Julio Lugo 78
3B Mike Lowell 103

I'll concede that the Boston infield is better defensively.

As it stands now,
1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Jays
5. Orioles

But a lot can happen between now and april & between April & Sept.

The rays are scary good. This new kid Price slots as #2 on the their already exceptional staff. They are the only team in the division where a year older is BETTER. They are hungry. They are fighters (literally and figuratively) and have proved that they won't give up. They have upgraded. Remember their bullpen? One great arm after another.

Sox and Skanks fight it out for the wildcard

Upton is only out 1 week

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3834557

*bump*

[Quote]Baltimore. Mora is on the downside of his career. Roberts is always a threat plus in a contract year. Luke Scott? Someone please tell me what he has done ever. Cesar Izturis... For some reason I don't feel threatened by him.[/Quote]

Melvin Mora may be on the downside of his career, but in 2008 his downside was not as down as the downside of fellow thirdbaseman Mike Lowell's career. Here are their 2008 numbers:

2008 Lowell 58 R, 17 HR, 73 RBI, .274 BA, .338 OBP, .799 OPS, 103 OPS+
2008 Mora 77 R, 23 HR, 104 RBI, .285 BA. .342 OBP, .825 OPS, 114 OPS+

Luke Scott has a career OBP of .353, an OPS of .850 and an OPS+ of 119. As a point of reference, Kevin Youkilis, who is less than one year younger, has a career OBP of .385, OPS of .857 and OPS+ of 119.

The slick-fielding Cesar Izturis (+19 in the 2008 plus/minus system) may carry a light bat, but he'll still give Baltimore more production than the Orioles got from the shortstop position in 2008.

The Baltimore Orioles will go as far as their pitching will carry them ... which probably won't be too far.

NYY
Rays
Jays
Sox/Balt

Upton might be a week or two late but is not gone for the year as Jazon = DeweyBoston=Law2005 like to infer. Gabe Kapler is on TB as an extra outfielder.

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

This Red Sox fan since Yaz' rookie year believes the Sox have given up on '09, and are planning on '10. Pathetic offseason moves, with gaping offensive holes.

WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR!

Fizsh's suggestion was that there would be a three way tie in the AL East...what's the tiebreaker? Has that ever happened before? Do they have a 3 way playoff? Do they go according to certain records? What if the wild card does or doesn't come from the East? How does that change the situation? Very interesting...of course highly unlikely, but interesting.

Yankees
Rays
Sox
Jays
Balt

Red Sox have way too many "if he stays healthy". Pitching depth is only depth if pitchers stay healthy, not a good sign, signing three pitchers coming off of major injuries. Those risks are fine if you don't have a Beckett in the rotation, guy can't stay healthy. No really sold on any of the three teams at this point but Yankees with the addition of Pettite can be dominant 1-5.

IMO for the Sox to take first or second spots, they will have to squeeze every possible drop out of their pitching and defense. They've made their bed, now they gotta lie in it. But if their pitching and defense do hold up, I'd put them in the top spot. If it doesn't, I'd go with the third spot.

1. Sox
2. Yanks
3. Rays

or

1. Yanks
2. Rays
3. Sox

Here's hoping Lowell and Papi are healthy enough to produce.

I think the Rays pitching is some where between where it was in 2007 and 2008. I think their pitching takes a step back. The Yankees have the worst bullpen, bench, outfield, and back of the rotation of the three. The are a team with a lot of hype and really only signed three players.

[Quote]
Fizsh's suggestion was that there would be a three way tie in the AL East...what's the tiebreaker? Has that ever happened before? Do they have a 3 way playoff? Do they go according to certain records? What if the wild card does or doesn't come from the East? How does that change the situation? Very interesting...of course highly unlikely, but interesting.
[/Quote]

The tie-breaker will be a playoff, as has always been. New this year, however, is that there will not be a coin flip to determine who gets the home field, but it will be based on head-to-head. That is fine for a two-way tie, but if it is a three way tie, I am not sure how the seeding would go. In the past, in the event of a 3 way tie, two teams would play, and then the winner would get a home game vs the third team. So, would they let the team with the best head-to-head only have to play one game, but a road game, or would they make them play 2 games, but both at home? Would they give them a choice? That, I do not know.

1)REDOX
2) RAYS
3) BLUEJAYS
4) YANKMEES(12 GAMES OUT!!)
5)ORIOLE

The yankees as currently constituted, are a third place team to the sox and rays. NO Cf, and no catcher. No depth in the pitching department. They will need to improve if they want to compete for the division.
Rays have improved. Adding another bullpen arm and two outfielders will help. They have a studly starting staff. If this team gets injured in their rotation, they will be out of it quick.

Red sox have the best team they have ever fielded, imo. They are the favorites.