International Men of Mystery

Vladimir Koman

In case you did not notice but this Tuesday and Wednesday there will be a number of friendly soccer matches between national teams, Hungary vs Bulgaria, Italy vs U.S.A., Spain vs Venezuela just to name a few. Lets take a deeper look at some of the players that are expected to play in these matches. Hungary will probably have 22 year old midfielder Vladimir Koman playing on the left side of the midfield. If you are not familer with the Hungarian language of with Hungarian names Vladimir is not exactly a common name found in the country that is in the middle of the Carpathian basin, the last name Koman could be Hungarian but that isn’t either, Vladimir was born in Ungvár which is in modern day Ukraine, to Ukrainian parents. The Koman family moved to Szombathely when the father Volodymyr was signed by Haladás in the Hungarian 1^st division. Koman grew up in Hungary and probably speaks better Hungarian then me.

Fabian Johnson

Let us take a look at another player, Fabian Johnson, Johnson is a 22 year old midfielder who is trying to gain a foothold in the U.S. squad. Now you might think what the big deal with Fabian is, his name seems to be American? Well Fabian Johnson was born in Munich, which of course is in Germany, to an American service man and a German woman. Johnson grew up in Germany and played for all the youth teams from u19-u21 but never for the Germany national team. Now one can argue that Johnson should not be selected for the U.S. team because he was not born and raised in the U.S. The way I figure the goal of every national team coach is to put the best team possible 11 players out there to win, then again you can also go over the top with it like the Italian national team did with Mauro Camoranesi who’s was born in Argentina, his grandfather was born in Italy. Camoranesi not only didn’t know the words to the Italian national anthem (one of my favorite anthems of all time) but barley spoke Italian. A couple years back the FIFA made a ruling that one squad switch the nation they played for as long as they never played in FIFA sanctioned event, basically if you only played in friendlies for your country and you felt that you were not getting the respect that you deserved you could switch to a country from where you also had a passport from. Because of this change the U.S. was able to get Jermaine Jones into their squad, Jones played three matches for the German national team and since 2010 played in 15 for the U.S. (he will not be playing vs. Italy because of an injury). Some Americans such as “The Professor” Jim Luby says that Giuseppe Rossi should be playing for the U.S. because he left America when he was 15. “The Professor” says that the U.S. should be choosing players that were not necessarily born in the U.S. but grew up in the American soccer system, this isn’t the 1980s or 1990s where the U.S. national team has to bring in foreign players because there is no one even close to playing a particular position at a professional level in the country. In the 90s the U.S. national team had players such as Thomas Dooley (similar situation as Jones and Johnson, military dad German mother), Prek (Yugoslavia), Earnie Stewart (Netherlands), Roy Wegerle (South Africa) and Fernando Clavijo (Uruguay).

Tiago Motta

The United States is not the only national team that has “nationalized” players who grew up in other countries, the English national team in the 2000’s had Owen Hargraves who was born and raised on Canada and the lived in Germany when he played for Bayern Munich, but I guess he was a subject of Queen Elizabeth II, Tiago Motta was born in Brazil and then moved to Spain when he was 17 and even played two matches for the Brazilian national team, he will be dressing today for Italy vs. the U.S., Pablo Osvaldo was born in Argentina and moved to Italy when he was 20 and has played in two matches for the Azzurri.

The “situation” with the Portuguese national team is similar to Italy’s. The defender Pepe was born in Brazil and moved to Portugal when he signed with Martimo at the age of 18, Danny was born in Venezuela, and the legendary midfielder Deco is also from Brazil, there are a number of players from Cape Verde such as Nani but Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal until only recently.

            The French national team on the other hand is a bit different, they have a number of players not born in France but in former French colonies and they either moved with their parents at a young age or when they were adults because of football. Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda was born in Zaire, and Patrice Evra Senegal (son of a diplomat).

Podolski and Klose

            The German national team I think is straight up funny, the Portugies and French teams get “import” players from their former colonies and the Italians mostly from Argentina, where a lot of Italians emigrated to. Before Thomas Müller came onto the scene I would always ask Germans if they could name at least one truly German striker on the national team, they of course would respond with either Lukasz Podolski or Miroslav Klose, Both Klose and Podolski were born in Poland and speak Polish to each other when they are on the pitch together. Next the German would say some one such as Gerald Asamoah (Ghana), Kevin Kuranyi (who’s father was born in France to Hungarian parents, mother from Panama, Kevin was born in Brazil), Mario Gomez (yes he was born in Germany but either way Gomez is not a true German name), or Oliver Neuville (Switzerland) they would most of the time have to go back to Oliver Bierhoff. Current German striker Cacau was born in Brazil.

            I am not saying that you should be able to get anyone you want to put your national team in a better position, but if you are not breaking the rules then try to find the best players possible. I would be also ok with players being selected that were brought up in that nations system.

Silver Screen Pros

Jackie Moon

Imagine a basketball starting lineup of PG Butch McRae, SG Jesus Shuttlesworth, SF Scott Howard, PF Jackie Moon and C Saleh., or a hockey starting lineup with Greg Goldberg in net the five skaters being John Biebe, Happy Gilmore Reggie Dunlop, Dean Youngblood, and Derek Sutton. If these name sound vaguely familiar to you or you know you have come across these names before somewhere then you are probably right. These are the names of characters from some the greatest sports movies all time, one that have cult followings or are award winners. Some of these characters were played by Hollywood greats other by actual professional athletes, but what are the greatest or top five sports movies of all time?

Below is a run down of the move and the actors that I have mentioned before

Teen Wolf

Butch McRae (Anfernee Hardaway)-Blue Chips        

Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen)-He Got Game

Scott Howard (Mickael J. Fox)-Teen Wolf

Jackie Moon (Will Farrel)-Semi Pro

Saleh (Charles Gitonga Maina) The Air Up There

Greg Goldberg (Shaun Weiss) Mighty Ducks

John Biebe (Russel Crowe) Mystery Alaska

Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) Happy Gilmore

Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) Slap Shot

Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) Youngblood

Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze) Youngblood

            I feel that you can categorize sports movies into three categories, kids movies (Mighty Ducks), movies based on a true story (Miracle) and ones that are based off of a book or a made up story (Blue Chips). There are some great sports movies that were originally targeted for a younger audience, these usually show the purity of the sport that is unaffected by money or steroids. I think that the best sports movie is based on actual events that accord, then something made up, in a made up story you are rooting for the team or the main character to pull through and win the game, match or race in the last second, of course in real life there is a chance that they don’t win and everyone goes home but in real life no one likes a looser. The only movie where they successfully pull off the loss is in Rocky when Rocky goes the distance verses Apollo Creed but Creed gets the win at the end. The footnote in the argument is that Rocky wasn’t even expected to make it to the end and in Rocky II he gets the win over Creed. Since there are so many sports movies that have been made since the birth of the film industry and I have not had the privilege of seeing them I have decided to mention only a couple of movies per sport.

Football

North Dallas Forty- Clearly I did not see this when in came out back in 1979 but I was just surprised at how much the conditions have changed in what pro football teams play in. I did find the partying scenes in the movie awesome.

The Last Boy Scout- I don’t know how much you can consider this a football movie but Bruce Willis and Damon Waynes are great together

Rudy- The only time in my life I have ever rooted for Notre Dame

Little Giants- Annexation of Puerto Rico, need I say more.

Varsity Blues- Showed what Texas high school football was all about before Friday Nights came out, and who doesn’t love a whipped cream?

Any Given Sunday- Probably the best football movie based on the actual play on the field and from what I have heard the off the field aspects are also relatively accurate.

Baseball

The Natural- In the film there is the Hollywood ending with a walk off home run, in the book there is more of a real life ending, he strikes out.

Bull Durham- The viewer gets a real taste of minor league baseball in the south.

Major League- I think its one of the best baseball movies from the actual product on the field to the off field camaraderie and locker room shenanigans, plus Charlie Sheen was on steroids.

Sandlot- You get a nice idea of what it was like to be a kid in the early sixties where all you had to worry about was not losing a baseball and being home in time for supper. Remember kids don’t try chewing tobacco, just stick with Bazooka Joe.

61*- Not that many people know what kind of stress Roger Maris went through during the summer of 1961 as he got closer and closer to breaking Babe Ruth’s homerun record.

Moneyball- One of those few sports movies that looks inside a sport and beyond winning but at actually how everything works. An in depth look behind the curtain of sabermetrics and statistical analysis in baseball.

Bobsledding

Cool Runnings- If you have never seen it then you are missing something, John Candy teaching Jamaicans a winter sport. Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, its bobsled time! COOL RUNNINGS!

Boxing

Rocky- One of the true underdog movies off all time

The Fighter- Just shows that sometimes your family doesn’t always have the best interest for you.

Soccer

Escape to Victory- Any time you have Sylvester Stallone playing and goal and Pele giving the motivational half time speech you know you have a great film.

Ice Hockey

Slap Shot- Paul Newman said that the filming of this movie was the most fun he ever had on a set. This is minor league hockey at its best, goals, fights and a lot of tin foil.

Miracle- The move has a great sound track and the on ice scenes are just as it happened in 1980 at Lake Placid. What was interesting about this movie was that they took hockey players and had then learn how to act as apposed to having actors learn how to skate and back check. The body double of Jimmy Craig was for NHL all star and Conn Smyth winner Bill Ranford.

 As you can notice I did not have a single documentary mentioned, this was because I could go one for 10 pages with all the great films that were made.

Gun Slinger or Huge Bust

Mark Sanchez

The NFL combine was conducted over this past weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The NFL combine is basicly a meat market for the top college players who intend to be drafted in the upcoming NFL draft. At the combine players are test, measured and timed in the 40 yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, board jump and have to take an IQ test. NFL teams also have a chance to personally interview some of the players that they are thinking about drafting and see if they would be a good fit for their organization. So this has got me thinking how often does a top rated high school recruit end up becoming a 1^st round NFL pick? To make it easy I thought that look at position that is the most scrutinized on the field, quarterback. For a sample size I have used the top three rated quarterbacks by scouts.com from the classes of 2002 through 2009. In this group of 21 one time elite high school gunslingers there was only ONE Heisman Trophy winner, four national champions (of the four one of them was a backup) and so far four 1^st round picks. None of them have yet to win a Super Bowl. What was surprising was that six out of the twenty one transferred during their college career. Two were kicked off the team for off field legal issues, one left because of a coaching change and one because of a Mormon mission, the last two were not getting the playing time that they had expected to have. The most shocking number is that only three of them have had success in their pro careers. Even if we take out the three guys that have not taken a snap in the NFL, 3 out of 18 is still not a great number. The four are Vince Young, Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford

Tim Tebow

Vince Young did have a very successful college career, winning a national championship with Texas and becoming a 1^st round pick of the Tennessee Titans. Young did have some success in the NFL before he had some personal issues; right now it seems to have gotten his life back on track and is the back up for the Philadelphia Eagles. Ok so Vince Young has not had the best career but I think he has still brought the minimum to qualify as a good pick. Tim Tebow on the other hand did everything that a college quarter back dreams of, he won two national championships at Florida and was the first sophomore to win a Heisman Trophy. He would go on to being the 1^st round pick of the Denver Broncos and lead them to a playoff win in his first season as a starter. Unless you were living under a rock or not from North America then you probably heard how Timmy Tebow keeps on winning even though he doesn’t have the mechanics of an elite QB or that he is just an athlete in charge of a high school offense. Matthew Stafford had a pretty good career at Georgia and would a 1^st round pick of the Detroit Lions, with the Lions he has been part of the great turn around they had this past season. This leads us to our third “successful” quarterback Mark Sanchez, he was the leader of an elite program at USC and would become the first round pick of the New York Jets. He has probably had the most successful NFL career of these three so far. Most of the other guys in the group of 21 have been practice squad players, NFL backups or Arena Football League players. Trent Edwards who was the number two qb behind Vince Young in 2002 would go on to Stanford and has started a handful of games in the NFL but has mostly been known as a back up. Mitch Mustain was the number one QB in the class of  2006 ahead of Stafford and Tebow, he would be named the starter at Arkansas as a true freshman and looked like he was going to have a great college career. After his freshman year Arkansas coach Houston Nutt left and there for Mustain transferred to USC were he never started a game. Granted USC at point or another he sat behind John David Booty, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley and Aaron Corp. Mustain right now is playing minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. Aaron Corp who in a similar situation as Mustain, being behind Matt Barkley, has transferred to Div. 1 AA school Richmond.

Joe Flacco

            We have just taken a look at the quarterbacks that coming out of high school were the best of the best but we can also take a look at the guys who at 18 were not the best but where still adequate enough to receive a NCAA DIV. 1 A scholarship and what they ended up doing with their careers. Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith was number 15 and has mostly been a backup in the NFL, and arguably the biggest bust since Ryan Leaf, Jamarcus Russell was number four in 2003. Also in 2003 Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan were back to back at 43 and 44 with both of them being 1^st round picks. Andy Dalton was the 73^rd recruit in 2006 and was drafted out of TCU in the 2nd round last year, 2006 was the senior year for Case Keenum who basically owns every career passing record in college football and is projected to be a mid round drafted was not even rated. 

            Taking a look at this years draft class none of them were among the top three recruits in their high school recruiting class, like I mentioned before Keenum was 73 on’06 Kellen Moore was 26 in 2007, also part of the ’07 class was Nick Foles 52, Ryan Tannehill 58. The top two signal callers in this years draft Andrew Luck was 7 and Robert Griffen III was 12. So can we predict which guys will be the next Dan Marino, Payton Manning or Tom Brady and who will be a Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell. Odds are pretty good that none of them will be a total bust, of course there is a chance that one or two of them will be a mid or late round pick that will bounce around from team to team as a back up and spend some time on the practice squad before they move on to the Arena League., but having those prediction are for another blog post.

And the Award Goes to....

Since the Academy awards are tonight I have deiced to finish out my series of preseason baseball posts with my own award show, so let just get right to it. The envelope please…

Cy Young Award

National League Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper OF Washington Nationals

American League Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout OF Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

National League Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle Pittsburgh Pirates

American League Manager of the Year: Robin Ventura Chicago White Sox

National League Cy Young: Cliff Lee LHP Philadelphia Phillies

World Series Trophy

American League Cy Young: Jered Weaver RHP Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

National League Most Valuable Player: Matt Kemp OF Los Angels Dodgers

American League Most Valuable Player: Miguel Cabrera 1B/3B Detroit Tigers

World Series Champion: Phillies over Yankees in 7

How the West was Won

The American League West will be a two team race this season between the Angels and the Rangers. Texas won the division last season but the Angels have made the proper moves in the off season to make a run at post season glory, the Angels only won the division only by 10 games expect that to be wiped away. The other two teams will just get to 70 wins.

American League West

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Texas Rangers

Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

Albert Pujols

Angels- The Halos made probably the biggest free agent acquisition of the off season by signing first baseman Albert Pujols, this should take some pressure off of outfielders Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells and DH Bobby Abreu. Howie Kendrick had a great season last year at second; look for him to build on it, the left side of the infield will have Erick Aybar at short and Mark Trumbo at third. Joining Wells and Hunter in the outfield in center will be Peter Bourjus. Yes the offense will have power but the real strength for the Angels will be their pitching staff that will be strong from one through four with Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana, the 5^th starter will probably be Jerome Williams. Mike Trout is the top prospect in all of baseball even ahead of Bryce Harper, Mike Scioscia will find him the needed at bats until he pushes Bourjus out of the starting lineup.

Rangers- Yes the Rangers are the defending American League champions and were a strick away from winning it all, in the offseason they lost C.J. Wilson and need not take the same large steps as the Angeles did to imporve thier lineup. The Rangers will send out a lineup this season that can handle the bats but their picthing got weaker over the offseason. Mike Napoli was probably the hottest catcher in the second half of last season and the playoffs, if Mitch Moreland struggles at first then Texas can move DH Michael Young to first. The rest of the infield will be string in the upcoming season with Ian Kinsler at second, Elvis Andrus at short and 3B Adrian Beltre completing the infield. Josh Hamilton who is struggling with some personal issues is expected back in leftfield with Craig Gentry in center and Nelson Cruz in right. The rotation has some spots that I don’t think was properly attended to during the off season Colby Lewis, Derek Holland and Neftali Perez are back with Japanese star Yu Darvish has been brought in to take Wilsons spot. Martin Perez has a chance make making the team out of spring training if not then he will be the first call up if there are any pitching injuries.

Mariners- There will be a very large gap in the standings between the Mariners and the Rangers. The difference between Seattle and Oakland is that the M’s have young talent and some experienced veterans. Seattle has one of the greatest hitters of all time in right field with Ichiro Suzuki joining him in the outfield will be Franklin Guetierrez in center and Mike Carp in left. The right side of the infield will have two young guys in Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley will the left side has veteran leadership in Brandon Ryan and Chone Figgins. The Mariners will have Miguel Olivio behind the plat and Jesus Montero as the DH. The pitching staff is the strength of this team with Felix Hernandez as the ace of the staff and getting support form Jason Vargas and Hisashi Iwakuma, Blake Beavan and Charlie Furbush will be rounding out the staff. Montero has a shot at taking home rookie of the year with James Paxton being called up to the top team.

Coco Crisp

Athletics- If you saw the movie Money Ball or read the book that the movie was based on well these A’s will not be winning like that anytime soon. They did bring Manny (Manny being Manny) Ramirez, I guess this is this seasons “David Justice” signing. Veteran Kurt Suzuki will be behind the plate for Oakland, Brandon Allen, Jemile Weeks, Cliff Pennington, and Scott Sizemore make up the most unknown infields in baseball. The star outfielder for Oakland Coco Crisp is frequently confused with a cereal brand will be in center with Josh Reddick and Seth Smith in the corners. Dallas Braden and Bartolo Colon are the only two known pitchers on the A’s roster. The Athletics have two very good pitching prospects who will be making their debut sometime during the season, Jarrod Parker and Brad Peacock.

Royal Blues

I don’t believe this year the Tigers will run away with the division as last year. The Twins have Joe Mauer back and the Royals are finally building a good young team through the draft. Detroit will still win the division but the rest of the standings will not be settled until the final weekend of the season.

American League Central

Detroit Tigers

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals

Prince Fielder

Tigers- Part of the reason that the Tigers had such a great season last year was because the rest if the division had an off season, the other was because a handful of players had break out seasons. It will be no surprise if some of these players take a step back. One of these players was catcher Alex Avila, offensively he will probably take a step back but on the defensive side he will take a step forward and be better at managing the game. During the off season the Tigers made a big move by picking up free agent 1B Prince Fielder, with him and Miguel Cabrera at the corners and Jhonny Peralta and Brandon Inge in the middle creating an infield that has power. The outfield also contains some big bats in Delmon Young and Austin Jackson, joining them will be Brennan Boescha and the DH will be Ryann Raburn. The pitching should be top of the line for Detroit with Justin Verlander being the ace of the staff. The Tigers have a number of pitching prospects that could make a number of starting staffs out of spring training but look for them to be moved for needed parts for the playoff push.

White Sox- The Sox have a shot at a wild card spot, but still lack some hitting, pitching and depth. Behind the plate they have the veteran leader and also voted one of the most hated players in baseball A.J Pierzynski, with Paul Kanerko at first Gordan Beckham at short Alexei Ramirez at short and finishing the infield off is Brett Morel playing 3B. The outfield is definitely lesser known then the infield with Alejandro De Aza in left, with Alex Rios and Dayan Viciedo in center and right respectively. The only big time pitcher that the Sox have is Jake Peavy, with Davin Floyd, Philip Humber, Chris Sales and John Danks joining him in the rotation. Hot shot rookie right hander Addison Reed will get a chance to show what he is made of.

Travis Hafner

Indians- Overall the Indians do have some power starting with their DH Travis Hafner, centerfielder Grady Sizemore and 1B Casey Kotchman, short Asdrubal Cabrera can hot for average. Behind the plate Carlos Santana is coming into his own with young buck second baseman Jason Kipnis and 3B Jack Hannahan completing a nice little infield. The outfield will have Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley with Sizemore. The pitching staff is were the Tribe is a bit on the weak side, yes they have Ubadlo Jimenez and Derek Lowe but after those two the talent drops a bit with Justin Masterson and Fausto Carmona or is it Roberto Hernandez this is all if he actually plays this season. Josh Tomlin is a good young pitcher. Nick Hagadone and Scott Barnes are two prospects that good come up and make some noise for the Tribe.

Twins- The Twins have their heart and sole back behind the plate this season in Joe Mauer, I think will Mauer being out last season hurt them more then they had expected it would. This isn’t the same Twins team that was making some noise a couple season ago however Justin Morneau is still at first base, the rest of the infield has been around a bit but are not as well known with Alexei Castilla at second and Danny Valencia at third with the veteran Jamey Carroll at short. The outfield has a nice mix of veteran experience and youth, Josh Willmingham and Denard Span in center and right with the 23 year old Ben Revere in left. Carl Pavano the man with one of the best mustaches in baseball will be the ace of the staff along with Francisco Liriano also helping in with Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn bringing what the have in the past couple of seasons in Minnesota. Joe Benson should make the team out of camp.

Eric Hosmer

Royals- The Royals are probably the youngest team in all of Major League Baseball with seven out of their nine starters under 25. This will be a team to watch in years to come, the two senior citizens are corner outfielders Alex Gordon and Jeff Francouer and they are 27 and 28 respectively with 25 year old Lorenzo Cain at center. I think the infield unlike the outfield can not go into a bar without adult supervision; catcher Salvador Perez has been strong in the first couple days in camp with corner infielders Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer ready to build on last season, with Johnny Giavotella and Alicdes Escobar up the middle, Billy Butler will be the DH. The pitching staff is very weak the only known name is Bruce Chen and they have one of the best young pitchers in Danny Duffy. Luckily for KC they have some hot pitching prospects ready to come up in Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Kelvin Herrera.

Other news

In case you missed it the U.S. has announced their squad for their friendly soccer match vs. Italy on February 29.

Keepers: Brad Guzen (19 caps) Aston Villa, Timmy Howard (72) Everton, Nick Remando (6) Salt Lake

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (100/12 goals) Rangers, Geoff Cameron (3/0) Houston, Timmy Chandler (8/0) Nurnberg, Steve Cherundolo (78/2) Hannover, Clarence Goodson (27/3) Brondby, Michael Parhurst (11/0) Nordsjælland, Jonathan Spector (33/0) Birmingham

Midfielders: Michael Bradley (63/9) Chievo, Maurice Edu (31/1) Rangers, Fabian Johnson (2/0) Hoffenheim, Jermaine Jones (16/0) Schalke, Jose Francisco Torres (14/0) Pachuca, Danny Williams (4/0) Hoffenheim

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (45/13) AZ, Terrence Boyd (0/0) Dortmund, Edson Buddle (10/3) Los Angeles, Clint Dempsey (82/24) Fulham, Landon Donovan (138/46) Los Angeles

Jurgen Klinsmann

Since this is a friendly match expect Jurgen Klinsmann to mix and match players trying to figure out the best option on the back line as well as what kind of midfield and forward combination to use. This is what I predict…

Howard-Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Chandler, Goodson- Donovan, Bradley, Edu, Jones-Dempsey-Altidore

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.