Polaroid
I need a tittle
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- Jan 21, 2010
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Toronto Blue Jays
The best outcome for the Toronto Blue Jays most years is 3rd in the AL East and in those most years they had Roy Halladay. Without him, they're going to be battling all they can to avoid finishing last. They aren't even such a bad team, they just happen to be in the division where they have to play the Rays, the Red Sox and the Yankees (all predicted to have 90+ wins) a total of 56 times and that's just brutal. Even last year they reached the heights of 1st place in the division with a 3.5 game lead but that all evaporated once divisional play got into full swing. They haven't got the resources of Boston or New York, they haven't got the business acumen of Tampa and their prospects aren't at the same level as Baltimore so they are going to the the AL East whipping boys for the foreseeable future.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are like Toronto but two, possibly three years in the future - sadly, they are probably the same length of time behind Tampa at best. They have one of the best farm systems in baseball with a committed and pro-active front office but that still won't be enough this season. A year or two down the line, they have the potential to challenge for 3rd place and with a little bit (OK, maybe a lot) of upside maybe break the Boston/New York stranglehold for a season or two. Just not this year.
New York Yankees
You either love them or hate them but you've got to respect the Yankees. They may have a lot of money to spend but they generally do a heck of a good job of spending it. You just need to take a trip to the Mets to see how another team in the same media market and a similar level of resources can spend money so badly year in year out. After their World Series win last year, the prediction is that the Yankees will regress back to the mean in 2010 due in part that last year was somewhat of an over achievement but more importantly that some of the already old players are now a year older.
Tampa Bay Rays
After winning the AL Pennant in 2008, the Rays took a step back in 2009 when they finished 19 games back from the Yankees and 11 from the Red Sox but the predictions show that they will be back in the mix in 2010 - and 2010 may be a pivotal time for the Rays. After showing the rest of baseball how they can compete in the AL East at less than a third of the New York budget, they're facing a financial crossroads. With an opening day 2010 payroll of $70 million, an increase of around $8 million from 2009 largely due to the trade for of closer Rafael Soriano, even the Rays themselves have said that the current payroll is not sustainable. Despite having a team that would be an automatic contender for any division aside from the AL East, they still can't get the fans through the doors. And with Pat Burrell, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena as well as Soriano all eligible for free agency after this season (and potentially taking $36 million off the books) it seems like this could be the last time for the foreseeable future that the Rays will be able to make a push for the division.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox are a big market team that know what they are doing, in fact they're probably the best run big market team in baseball. They employ the Godfather of Sabermetrics Bill James as a Senior Advisor and when they passed up on Jason Bay due to the extra year the Mets offered, you can be pretty sure they did the right thing. And the offseason was a real transformation for the Red Sox despite making the post-season in again 2009. After suffering from a a poor defense in 2009, they snapped up free agent John Lackey which gave them options aplenty for starting pitchers. After having problems at shortstop ever since the departure of Nomar Garciaparra, most recently through the ineffective Julio Lugo and the injury prone Jed Lowrie, they signed Marco Scutaro to a two year deal. Then there is Adrian Beltre at third base and Mike Cameron in center to cap off a team concentrating on run prevention in 2010.
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