Darth Vader vs. Darth Vader

The American League East is always comes down to the two “Evil Empires” of baseball turning the race for the pennant into an arms race that rivals the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. This past off-season has been relatively slow compared to years past and the hottest bat in the division isn’t on those two rosters or even the hot shot Rays’ roster but the Blue Jays.

American League East

New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Bluejays

Baltimore Orioles

Yankees- George Steinbrenner would be spinning in his grave if his Yankees are not picked to at least win the division. The Yankees every season go into spring training as one of the favorites to going all the way and this season is no other. In the past the Yankees have always traded their youth away for big time all stars, they would throw money at the problem, and this year they went out and traded for a 23 year old pitcher by the name of Michael Pineda of course the ace of the staff C.C. Sabathia is back but this season the Yanks have some depth and talent on the mound, some of the names that you will be pitching in pinstripes are Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia, Joba Chamberlain and of course the greatest closer of all time Mariano Rivera. The Bronx Bombers would be nothing with out the bats of A-Rod, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson. With Rodriguez and Teixiera at the corners the Yankees will have legendary Yankee Derek Jeter at shortstop and Robinson Cano at second with Russell Martin catching. The outfield will be rounded out with Brett Gardner in left with either Raul Ibanez or Andruw Jones as the designated hitter. Don’t expect the top Yankee prospects to actually make their MLB debut with New York but if they do it will be Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances.

Red Sox- The Red Sox are the other evil empire in this division, everyone knows that Boston just like the Yankees throw money at their problems. The reason that New York gets the edge over Boston is depth; the Sox are lacking depth off the bench as well as in the bull pen. Boston has a great catcher behind the plate in Jarred Saltalamacchia, the rest of the infield looks good as well with Adrian Gonzalez at first, Dustin Pedroia at second and Kevin Youklis as third with Mike Aviles at short. Aviles might seem like a no name player but that was only because he was playing in Kansas City. The Sox have some talent in the outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Darnell McDonald, with David Ortiz as the DH, a lot of people are waiting for Crawford to put up the numbers that were expected of him when he signed. The Red Sox have one of the best starting rotations in the American League in Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buckholz, and Daisuke Matsuzaka, they would have a sold 5^th in John Lackey but he will be missing the season because of Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox top prospects are all stuck behind young players that are expected to be in Boston for some time. Unless there is a major injury don’t expect to see them till the end of the season or at all in a Boston uniform.

Tim Beckham

Rays- This is not the team that made it to the Fall Classic however they can still make an outside run for the wild card slot. The Rays have some talented young stars on their team in 3B Evan Longoria and CF B.J. Upton as well as pitcher David Price. Joining Price in the starting rotation will be James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, and Matt Moore. Tampa also has some veteran players to mix with the youth; the Rays will have Carlos Pena at first, rounding out the infield will be Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist in the middle. The outfield will have Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings along with Upton and Luke Scott as the DH. If former first over all pick Tim Beckham blows up in AAA then Tampa Bay will be forced to find a spot on the diamond for him.

Jose Bautista

Blue Jays- Jose Bautista has been the hottest hitter in the past two seasons, and he has not been associated with steroids either. Bautista has bounced around the league with a couple of teams playing a couple of positions and no one noticed that all they had to do was start his swing earlier to unleash the beast that has lead the majors in homers the past two season. Aside from Bautista Toronto’s lineup does not have that much punch, the rest of the lineup isn’t bad except that the Jays need at least one more power hitter to do some damage Jose can’t do everything by himself. Colby Rasmus has the potential to have a big season, 2B Kelly Johnson can hit and so can DH Edwin Encarnacion. J.P. Arencibia will be behind the plate with Adam Lind at first, Yunel Escobar at short and Brett Lowrie at 3B, Eric Thomas will be filling in the last spot in the outfield. Another reason that the Blue Jays will not be making a serious run at a winning record is because of their rather very pedestrian pitching staff, and none of their pitching prospects are expected to make the roster until 2013 at the earliest.

Orioles- The Orioles have changed the logo of the bird on their caps from an actual bird to the cartoon one of yesteryear. The problem is that that is probably the only thing that will change for Baltimore. Baltimore has about four guys on their roster that should actually be in the majors, luckily for them one is a player that has had a bright future projected in catcher Matt Wieters. J.J. Hardy and Brians Roberts combine for a scrappy middle infield that will try to keep teams from running up the score on them, joining them at the corners will be Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds. The outfield likes like this: Adam Jones flanked by Nolan Reimold and Nick Markakis. I won’t even mention the pitching staff. Unless one of the prospects pitches lights out none of them will be making the roster out of spring training.