New York baseball preview

Had to write this up for my school news paper, sure its not as in depth as most of the stuff, but writing for a general audience can be tough. Anyways enjoy....


There is something about baseball’s opening day that is not like anything else. It’s a tradition steep in history, it’s a sign that warmer and better days are coming and on the first day of the season everyone is even with a record of 0-0.



It has been a long off season but Americas past time kicks into full gear on Thursday March 31st when six games will be played to start of 2011. One of the teams that will be on action on the 31st will be the New York Yankees. It has been a long winter for Yankee fans since Alex Rodriguez struck out to end game 6 of the American League Championship Series, last October.

It began with missing out on top free agent Cliff Lee, the Yankees had made a major mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket, waiting for Lee while other free agent were gobbled up by other teams. Eventually Lee spurned the Yankees and the Rangers, the team seem as a major threat to the Yanks chance to sign Lee, to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. This left the bombers searching for pitching, they would go and sign a bunch of low key free agent pitchers, many coming off bad seasons or injury prone ones.

But just when things couldn’t get any worse for the Yankees, it did. Andy Pettite, the third most winning pitcher in the franchise’s history, opted to retire instead of coming back for one more season, leaving the Yankees rotation in shambles. Pettitte, said at the time that he rather stay home with his family, then try and push himself through one more season, a reason that in the eyes of many fans is completely expectable.

Without Pettitte and Lee, a huge void was left in the rotation, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman tried his best to fix the hole, by building a strong bullpen, grabbing all star closer Rafael Soriano, to be the set up man to Mariano Rivera. But the starting rotation is the major issue. C.C. Sabathia is as consistent as any pitcher in the majors, but he is coming off knee surgery and has thrown over 230 innings each of the past four seasons. One injury to Sabathia, and the Yankees season is virtually over. A.J. Burnett is set to be the number two starter, but he is as inconsistent as they come. Last year Burnett would have stretches during the season were he looked as dominant as any other pitcher in baseball, and then he had stretches were he looked as if he belonged in the minor leagues. Phil Hughes had a great season in 2010, winning 18 games, but his second half was sub-par having an ERA above five and he gave up too many home runs. This season Hughes is somewhat of a question mark because in his fine 2010 season, he increased his innings pitched by 90 innings, and often young pitchers that increase their work load by that much have a tendency to get hurt. The fourth and five starting jobs were won by Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova. Both serviceable pitchers, but concerns can be raised that Nova is young and inexperienced, and struggled when the opposing team’s line up faced him again last season. Garcia is known for being a work horse, eating a lot of inning, but has lost a lot of velocity over the years.

The Yankees line up didn’t change at all, they will still be one of the top offense clubs in the majors, even with an older Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both of whom I expect to bounce back. A major concern for the Bronx bombers is that the teams around them got stronger, especially the Boston Red Sox. The BoSox fell short of the postseason in 2010 but don’t expect similar results in 2011. They went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez, one of the best offensive players in the game. They also spent a lot of money to improve the bullpen and pick up superstar left fielder Carl Crawford. Combine the fact that last season the Red Sox were without Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka for a large part of last season, this year’s Red Sox team looks to be the favorites in the American League East.

The Mets last season missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season; the Mets faithful shouldn’t get too excited for 2011 since it looks like the Mets will make it five straight years without a postseason berth.

Ace pitcher Johan Santana is expected to miss the start of the season, and is out until at least after the all star break. That leaves Mike Pelfrey and R.A. Dickey as the top pitchers on the staff, both are very good, but won’t be able to fill the void left by Santana. After Dickey and Pelfrey the rotation begins to get choppy, Jon Neise had a nice season last year, but is a young pitcher, so expect a lot of ups and downs. Chris Young and Chris Capuano are both respectable pitchers when they are healthy, especially Young, who was a CY Young candidate just a few seasons ago. But neither pitcher has proven that they can stay healthy, and if they get hurt the Mets don’t have much depth behind them.

The Mets lineup looks good on paper, but once again injuries are a major issue. Carlos Beltran hasn’t played a full season since 2008, and has already suffered injuries to both knees in spring training. Jason Bay looks to return after a disappointing season, Bay was struggling before being sidelined for the season in late July. Bay is expected to rebound, but Mets fans should realize that Bay will not be the same player he was in 2009 with the Red Sox, because he showed in 2010 that Citi Field zapped him of some of his power. Jose Reyes might not even finish the season out with the Mets. A free agent after this season, Reyes should expect a big pay rise if he stays healthy and has a productive season. With the financial issues that the Mets have, don’t expect Reyes to be back next season, instead the Mets may look to trade Reyes for prospects and players that can help in the future.

At least Met fans can look forward to an exciting season with new manager Terry Collins, a no nonsense type of guy. Also throw in the fact that Luis Castillo won’t be dropping pop ups and Oliver Perez won’t be on the Citi Field mound, this upcoming season is already to jump for joy.

The season may be just starting up, but some predictions for the division winners.

In the AL East, he Red Sox outlasts the Yankees, but the bombers make it into the playoffs, winning the wild card. The Rays will stick around for a while but they just don’t have the pitching, and eventually fall out of the race.

The central will be a tough division Minnesota Twins hold off the Chicago White Sox, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have bounce back seasons, but the Twins still lose in the first round of the playoffs. The Tigers could also be a team that surprises a lot of people, and make a push to knock the Twins off as the best team.

In the west, the Oakland Athletics surprise everyone and win the division. They have a young pitching staff and a stacked bullpen. With the “Money Ball” movie coming out this season, based on the A’s franchise, expect a fairytale finish for the Athletics.

In the National League, expect a down to the wire fight for the NL East between the Braves and the Phillies. While the Phillies are the popular choice especially with their starting rotation, the Braves are a well rounded young team. The big question mark remains if Chase Utley will return for the Phillies and will he stay healthy.

Once St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright went down for the season with an arm injury, the Milwaukee Brewers became the team to beat in the central division. With three big starters in Zach Grienke, Shaun Marcum and Yovani Gallardo the Brewers have the best rotation in the central, and have a line up full of power. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Brewers deep in October.

The San Francisco Giants shocked the baseball world, when they won the World Series, but in 2011 expect the Colorado Rockies to shock the Giants and win the NL West. But don’t count the Giants out completely as they still make it into the playoffs thanks to their pitching as the wild card team.