When Cueto went to the DL on June 5th, the Reds brought up Pedro Villareal from Louisville to fill the spot of Cueto. The only reason Villareal was brought up was due to the 5th being his normal day to start. On the 7th, Villareal was sent back to Louisville and Henry Rodriguez was brought up so the Reds could have an extra bat to come off of the bench. Then on the 11th, Tony Cingrani was brought back up from Louisville to make a start against the Chicago Cubs.

Cingrani is still with the Reds and Cueto, as mentioned earlier, is set to start today’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Cingrani is definitely the top pitching prospect in the Reds organization and many believe that he will be in the starting rotation in 2014.

The situation becomes even more interesting with the news from yesterday that Jonathan Broxton was placed on 15-day DL. This presents an opening in the bullpen for a left hander, and Villareal was called up to take the place of Broxton. However, there are many that believe the Reds should send Villareal right back down to Louisville and have Cingrani in the bullpen until Broxton is ready to come off of the DL.

The reasons stated by many as to why Cingrani was sent back to Louisville after his first time with the Reds still has not been addressed. These reasons were that Cingrani didn’t have a secondary pitch that he could consistently throw for a strike, his pitch efficiency was not where it should be and that he would have a better opportunity to work on these things down in Louisville.

This writer believes that moving Cingrani to the bullpen will delay his potential as a starter. In Louisville, Cingrani will be able to pitch every fifth day, have more of an opportunity to work on a secondary pitch in game situations and work on his pitch efficiency. These are things that cannot be worked on at the Major League level.

It is understandable the Reds have to think about and do what is best for the team in the short term, but they cannot forget about the long term.

Let’s think about this innings wise, in the bullpen in Cincinnati for two weeks he might get in for maybe an inning every other game, or maybe he would just come in for one batter in a game. In Louisville, he would start every fifth game and in Louisville this year he has averaged 5.2 innings per game. So if he would start three games in that two week span, he would get in 17 innings of work but it would be safe to say that the organization would like see him pitch deeper into games while with Louisville. It is pretty obvious he would get more work while in Louisville, and that is what he needs at this point in his development as a pitcher.

Sure it would be great to have Cingrani in the bullpen because he is a terrific arm, but the possibility of stunting maybe two weeks worth of growth that Cingrani could get in Louisville does not make much sense.

When digging into the stats of this Reds team, you will see that so far they have been very good, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Brandon Phillips has 52 Runs Batted In through 66 games, which ranks him second in that category. Joey Vottohas a .328 batting average and a .446 On Base Percentage. Shin-Soo Choo has 18 hit by pitches and a .430 OBP. Votto’s .446 OBP and Choo’s .430 OBP have them ranked first and second in that category, respectively. Votto also has 80 hits on the season, ranking him tied for third. Jay Bruce has 20 doubles and that puts him second in that category. As a team, the Reds have scored 307 runs, which is third in the NL, a team batting average of .254, which is seventh, and a team OBP of .335, which is tied for second in the NL. It is safe to say that the offense has definitely not been a problem so far in 2013.

After looking at the offense, the next logical step is to look at the pitching.

Let’s start with the starting pitching. The starting pitchers for the Reds have an Earn Run Average of 3.13, which ranks them second in that category in all of the MLB. They have pitched 416.1 innings so far, which ranks first in all of baseball and is very good thing for the bullpen. They have recorded 346 strikeouts which is fifth most in baseball and second in the NL. They also have a WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) of 1.14 which ranks third in baseball and second in the National League. The crazy thing about these team pitching stats is that the St. Louis Cardinals rank first in almost all of those stat categories. Probably one of the more crazy stats coming from the Reds pitching staff is that Mike Leake has an ERA of 2.76 and that ranks him 19th in MLB. If you don’t follow the Reds, Leake is the No. 5 starter in their rotation. Homer Bailey has 83 strikeouts and that ranks him 15th in MLB.

Now let’s take a look at the bullpen. The Reds bullpen currently has an ERA of 4.07 and that ranks them 10th in the NL and they have lost 13 games which is third most in the NL this season. The bullpen also has 12 wins which is tied for fourth most in the NL. Aroldis Chapman has a 2.17 ERA and has 17 saves so far this season, to go along with 50 strikeouts in 29.0 innings. Another bright spot for this bullpen has been Sam LeCure. LeCure has an ERA of 2.49 and batters have an average of .189 against him.

Even though Chapman and LeCure have had solid seasons so far, it looks like, after looking at the stats, that the bullpen has been the biggest issue for this Reds team. Having 13 losses by a team’s bullpen is way too many for a team that wants to compete for a World Series.

One of the bigger issues has been the injury issues with Sean Marshall. Marshall has only appeared in 11 games and a grand total of seven innings. Now you can’t blame an entire bullpen’s struggle on just one arm, and there have been other guys that have not performed up to what they did in the 2012 season. Logan Ondrusek has had some real issues this season and was recently sent down to AAA Louisville. Jonathan Broxton was set to be the closer for this team coming into Spring Training, but the Reds decided to continue to use Chapman in that role. Broxton has had some struggles this season and currently has an ERA of 4.10. Another guy the Reds were thinking would have a bit of breakout season was J.J. Hoover. Hoover has really struggled this season with an ERA of 5.40 and a record of 0-5. Yes the record of a reliever is very dependent upon the situation that the reliever comes into. However, to have a record of 0-5 and an ERA of 5.40 is bad.

The bullpen is the area that this Reds team can improve upon and make this a better all-around team. How do you improve a bullpen? Some would suggest a trade will need to be made to improve it, but looking at the pieces that the Reds have left after the Choo deal and the Mat Latos deal there are not many pieces left that they are willing to part with. Others would suggest that the team should just stick with the bullpen the way that it currently is and see if they can return to their 2012 forms and become one of the best bullpens in baseball. This writer believes that the latter is the way to go for now but if it continues the way it has been then a move might be necessary.

On Sunday in a game against the Chicago Cubs, Johnny Cueto threw a pitch to the Cubs David DeJesus late in the game that sailed over the head of DeJesus. Cueto was warned by the home plate umpire and DeJesus laughed about the pitch.

On Monday in a game against the Cleveland Indians, Aroldis Chapman threw a wild pitch that sailed all the way to the backstop, but caused Nick Swisher, of the Indians, to stare at Chapman until he was ready for the next pitch. The next pitch that Chapman threw was very high and tight and caused a bit of a dust up with the Cleveland Indians.

Chapman vs Swisher

The incident on Sunday would not have been talked about any more after the game, except when the Cubs Matt Garza when asked about the incident by the media after the game, he said that Cueto is “immature” and “needed to grow up”. This sparked Reds Manager Dusty Baker to say that the two should have just ended it with a fight. This comment has made its rounds in the media and has caused a lot of debate.

The incident between Chapman and Swisher has caused quite the uproar as well.

The first pitch that Chapman threw was very high but right over the plate. This pitch caused Swisher to stand still in the batter’s box and stare at Chapman. As any that follows baseball knows, you try to show up a pitcher and chances are very high that the next pitch is coming right at you. The difference here is that the person throwing these pitches has thrown the ball 105 MPH during his career. The next pitch was in fact thrown at Swisher, but the problem was that it was thrown very high and very tight at 100 MPH. The second pitch had the Indians that were in the dugout up in arms, at the top step of the dugout and Swisher having a few words with Chapman. The at bat ended with a long fly ball to left field and Chapman and Swisher exchanged words again when Swisher was heading back to the dugout.

With these two incidents in mind, are the Reds becoming the Bad Boys of baseball?

At this point, it is too early to tell. If they have a few more games like the ones on Sunday and Monday, then maybe. This Reds ball club is good and they are starting to show signs that they know it too; and that is a dangerous combination.

This team is also very close, and Baker is a manager that the players rally around and the pitching staff is very confident in what they do. These three reasons tend to grow a ball club that isn’t afraid of anyone and can lead to incidents like the ones that we have seen against the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.

With the end of May in sight, a quarter of the season is over and now would be a good time to look back and look forward. The Reds have had a tough start to the season, not only have they had to deal with a tough schedule but they have also had to deal with some injuries to a few key players. Johnny Cueto was out for a month and a week, and Ryan Ludwick and his backup Chris Heisey have been out since Opening Day and April 29th respectfully.

Even with the tough schedule and injuries, it is safe to say that their 29-18 record is very respectable and has lived up to the offseason hype. Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Votto have been among the Top 5 hitters in the NL,Brandon Phillips leads the NL in RBIs and Mat Latos and the rest of the rotation have been among the top pitchers in terms of ERA through the first quarter of the season.

All of that, though, is in the past and the look ahead to the All-Star break of July 14th-18th has begun.

The Reds will play 49 games between May 22nd and July 14th, and of those 49 games, 23 will be played against NL Central opponents. This stretch of the season could turn out to be extremely important when it comes to the final standings in the NL Central. The Reds will play five series against teams that are currently in first place in their divisions and nine series against teams that currently have winning records. This Reds team will need to be continued to be led by Cueto and Latos on the pitching side of the ball, and Choo,Votto,Phillips and Jay Bruce in order to continue their high winning percentage and finish out the rest of the first half of the season strongly.

With all of that being said, there is still a lot of baseball to be played before the All-Star break and the Reds can make moves to separate themselves from the rest of the NL Central. Or they can falter or possibly succumb to injuries and fall back. The evidence in the beginning of their season shows that even with injuries the Reds can continue to win no matter their circumstances, so look for them to continue pressing on as they have done all season long.

Leaving Spring Training, the roster and the rotation looked like they were both pretty much set in stone. But on Opening Day, Ryan Ludwick injured himself on a hustle play while trying to reach third on a hit. He has been on the disabled list ever since. The Reds then turned to Chris Heisey to fill the void that was created by Ludwick’s injury. However, Heisey injured his hamstring in late April and has been on the DL since being injured. Now the Reds are searching for answers in left.

Derrick Robinson, Donald Lutz and Xavier Paul have all seen time in left field since the Heisey injury. If you are asking yourself, “Who are those three guys?”, you are not alone. Robinson and Paul both started 2013 with the big league team, but neither of them were expected to contribute to this team except in pinch hit duties and spot starts. Lutz started the season in Double-A with the Blue Wahoos in Pensacola, and although he was considered a top prospect for the Reds, he was still a few years away from being called upon to be a full time outfielder in Cincinnati.

Ludwick will be out until at least the All Star break. Heisey started his rehab assignment on May 13th, but he has since tweaked his hamstring again. At this point, it is not clear how much it will set his timeline back.

However, when Heisey returns from his injury, will he be the answer in left? Heisey is a solid player, both in the field and at the plate, but with the recent play of Lutz and Paul, it seems like they may be more suitable options to stay in left even when Heisey comes back.

The next question that has been raised about what to do in left field is the option of trades. This seems highly unlikely as the Reds probably do not have the farm system pieces to trade away that would bring back enough of an upgrade to justify the trade. The trades for Mat Latos and Shin-Soo Choo have taken a bite out of the Reds’ farm system.

There is one trade possibility that could turn into something. It could come from the emergence of Tony Cingrani. Cingrani has been very productive since being called up to fill the void of Cueto going to the DL. This could allow the Reds to be flexible with how they handle Mike Leake and Cingrani when Cueto comes off of the DL. The question still stands though. Would Leake or Cingrani be enough to bring back an upgrade big enough to fill the hole in LF or will the Reds stick with what they have?

Please check out http://www.buckeyestatesports.com to see this article there as well.

Could it have been avoided? Absolutely and it should have been. Let’s take a look at the situation before the incident.

The score was 2-1 in the 6th inning. With that score and that inning there was no way that Greinke would allow a baserunner to reach base. Some will look at where A.J. Ellis is set up and say that he is expecting the pitch to be down and away and to just miss up and in doesn’t seem like “just a miss”. That’s an ok argument but sometimes the ball just gets away from the pitcher. It happens.

Another thing wrong with this brawl was that Quentin had plenty of opportunity to just walk down to first base.

By the time I did the screenshot of this picture Quentin had taken two steps. He had plenty of time to get over the fact that he got and will continue to get hit with the stance that he has at the plate. He broke the record for Hit By Pitch for the Padres organization last year. Quentin said last night that while he was walking toward Greinke that Greinke said something to him and that what he said was the final straw. I’m sorry but this shows me even more that Quentin might need to grow up a little.

This where some of the blame of the Greinke injury in the brawl falls on Greinke’s shoulders…see what I did there.

With Quentin charging at Greinke at full speed, the last option in Greinke’s mind should have been to brace himself. You have to know at that point that you are going to take a pretty hard hit. He had a lot of options in this situation. Move to the right, move to the left, and push him aside as he charged him.

There was a moment earlier in the game that people have been talking about that could have been a precursor to this brawl. Matt Kemp came up in the first inning and was brushed back off of the plate by a pitch that was very close to his head. I don’t think that the pitch by Greinke was retaliation for the Kemp pitch like I said earlier I think that this was just a bad pitch by Greinke.

Now where this situation gets extremely out of hand happened after the game. It has been reported that Matt Kemp seeked out members of the Padres after the game. I understand Kemp’s frustration on the field but to go after opposing teams players makes absolutely no sense and is actually pretty embarrassing.

To add even more to this brawl, these two teams will play again Monday through Wednesday in L.A. It will be very interesting to see how this upcoming series goes and to see what kind of punishment will be handed down to Carlos Quentin. I can’t help but to think that Matt Kemp will have some kind of punishment as well.

Now that we have gone through all of the divisions and how they will look after 162 games have been played, I am going to go through how I see the postseason playing out.

We will start with the American League. I think the two Wild Card teams will be the Oakland A’s and the Chicago White Sox. When it comes to one game, I believe in the Oakland A’s a bit more than I believe in the White Sox. The White Sox have the better pitching staff from top to bottom but the A’s have the much better lineup. So I will give the AL Wild Card to the Oakland A’s.

Wild Card winner: Oakland A’s

The next matchup will be Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles. This might be the best matchup in the 2013 postseason. Both lineups are stacked from top to bottom and both have solid pitching staffs. For the O’s, the difference makers will be Matt Wieters and Adam Jones. For the Angels, the difference makers will be Josh Hamilton, Jared Weaver and Mike Trout. In a series, I have to give the edge to the Angels.

ALDS winner: Los Angeles Angels

The next AL battle will be the Detroit Tigers and the Oakland A’s. In a series, I think this is an unfair challenge for the A’s. The Tigers pitching staff is too dominant for the A’s lineup and the Tigers lineup is too potent for the A’s pitching staff.

ALDS winner: Detroit Tigers

The AL Championship Series will be played by the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels. Wow. I think the Tigers will end up winning the series with the Angels. Again, I think that the Tigers pitching staff will be too much for this ridiculous Angels lineup. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer will have a great series and will keep all momentum with the Tigers.

ALCS winner: Detriot Tigers

The Wild Card game for the National League will be between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves. The Braves lineup with the Uptons and Freddie Freeman will be too much for the Giants to handle.

Wild Card winner: Atlanta Braves

The first National League Division Series will be the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals. I think that this series will come down to pitching. I will give a slight edge in pitching to the Reds with Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, and Bronson Arroyo over Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman.

NLDS winner: Cincinnati Reds

The second National League Division Series will be Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves. If the Dodgers stay healthy and are healthy in the playoffs, I think that the Dodgers will be too strong in all aspects of the series especially on offense with Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp.

NLDS winner: Los Angeles Dodgers

That makes the National League Championship Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the L.A. Dodgers. I think this will easily be a 7 game series and be completely back and forth. I think that the Reds pitching staff will keep them in the series. The Reds offense will have a hard time against Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke but I think that Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto will be too much for the rest of the Dodgers pitching staff.

NLCS winner: Cincinnati Reds

That makes the 2013 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds. What a matchup this will be! Both teams have really good pitching staffs. The Tigers have Verlander, Scherzer, Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello. The Reds have Cueto, Latos, Arroyo, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake. I have these two staffs as equals so it will come down to offense and both teams have really good hitters. The Reds with Votto, Phillips, and Bruce and the Tigers with Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez. I think the deciding factor for this series will be, for lack of a better term, “role” hitters. The Tigers will be looking to Torii Hunter, Austin Jackson and Alex Avila while the Reds will look to Todd Frazier, Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Hanigan. I think the Reds “role” hitters are better than the Tigers “role” hitters.

This would make the 2013 World Series Champions the Cincinnati Reds.

Houston Astros

The Astros finished last season with an awful record of 55-107. It was an extremely tough season for the Astros but I think this year will be even worse for them. Last year, they were in the NL Central but this year they will be in the AL West. I believe that the four teams in the AL West from top to bottom are better than the four teams in the NL Central. There are very few bright spots on this team that I can see right now and they are the Astros middle infielders. Jose Altuve, the Astros second basemen, had a really good 2012 campaign and I think that he will continue his success into 2013. I don’t see Altuve finishing the season with the Astros as they look to continue to rebuild from the ground up.

Los Angeles Angels

Finished last season with a record of 89-73 and finished in third place in the AL West. A lot of the Angels had a rough beginning to the season but none more than Albert Pujols. Pujols didn’t hit his first home run of the 2012 season until May 6th. Even with his rough start he still hit 30 HR and had 105 RBI and a .285 batting average. The home run numbers and batting average were still down from his normal but I will count that to the slow start of the season. Things started to turned around for the Angels when they called Mike Trout up from Triple-A in late April. I really think this would have been a playoff team if they had gotten off to a better start. This offseason the Angels made even more moves by bringing in Josh Hamilton. This Angels lineup is going to be crazy good and they have a pretty good rotation as well with Jared Weaver and CJ Wilson being their top horses.

Oakland Athletics

The biggest surprise of the 2012 season was the Oakland Athletics who won the AL West with a record of 94-68. This team came out of nowhere in 2012. The season that Yoenis Cespedes had really jump started this team and got them on their winning ways. The rookie Cespedes had 23 homeruns and batted .292. Can the 2013 Athletics duplicate their 2012 season? They have kept the core of the 2012 together and kept the mix of youth and veterans. If I were to give you a couple player to keep an eye, the first one I would say that you should watch Josh Reddick. It will be interesting to see if he can do what he did in 2012 with 32 homeruns. The next one I would say is Chris Young. He was pretty productive in Arizona so it will be fun to see if he can carry it over to the AL. Brett Anderson is the next one to keep an eye on. He came back toward the end of last season after Tommy John Surgery and pitched really. If he can be the ace of this rotation then I believe the A’s can be just as good as last season.

Seattle Mariners

Finished in last place in the AL West with a record of 75-87 but they won’t have to worry about being in last place in 2013 now that the Astros are in their division. (Too soon?) On paper, this actually looks like a decent team until you look at the rest of the division. Any team that has Felix Hernandez as an ace will compete you would think. They have brought in Kendrys Morales, Raul Ibanez, and Michael Morse to go with Dustin Ackley. I think this team will have a similar season that they had in 2012 though.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers were able to get into the playoffs through the Wild Card with a record 93-69. This will be an interesting watch in 2013. They lost Josh Hamilton but they kept a lot of the core in tact. I think that Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler will have pretty big years as will Yu Darvish. I actually think that they will improve on what they did in 2012. The big acquisition of the offseason was A.J. Pierzynski and possibly big one was Lance Berkman. I think that A.J. can bring a bit more life to this lineup and Lance could provide some pop as long as he is healthy.

End of the Season Predictions

1) Los Angeles Angels (Division Winner)

2) Oakland Athletics (Wild Card)

3) Texas Rangers

4) Seattle Mariners

5) Houston Astros

I think that Los Angeles have too much fire power in their lineup to finish out of the top spot of the division. Not only does their lineup have a ton of fire power but their rotation will be really strong this year too. I think the true battle will be for second place in the division and the winner will get a Wild Card spot. I think overall the Athletics have a better team than the Rangers in 2013.

Now that I have gone through the AL East, it is time to move west and take a look at the AL Central. I think that there could be a couple of very interesting teams in this division and one of the two AL Wild Card spots will be taking by a team in the AL Central.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox finished last season with a record 85-77. I would say that the White Sox had a bit of a surprising 2012. However, I think it was a little less surprising when you look at the rest of this division. There were two keys players that help the White Sox to 85 wins. On the offensive side of the ball, Alex Rois really broke out in 2012. He had 25 homeruns, 91 RBI’s and had a .304 batting average. On the pitching side, Chris Sale really stepped up. He finished the season with 17 wins and an ERA of 3.05. They will need strong performances from these two, Jake Peavy, Paul Konerko and Alejandro De Aza to build off of their 2012 season. 

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers lost in World Series to the San Francisco Giants and finished the regular season at 88-74. I think I can boil this preview into two names. Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. Ok done. Just kidding. This is a powerhouse of team and they will only get stronger in 2013 with catcher/ designated hitter Victor Martinez coming back off of injury. The Tigers lineup is stacked from top to bottom. Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Martinez will be the studs of the lineup with Omar Infante, Jhonny Peralta and newly acquired Torii Hunter helping out. The pitcher staff will be anchored by Verlander and will include Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello. I think the one question mark I see is the closer. Right now, the depth charts on ESPN.com and the Tigers website lists hard throwing rookie Bruce Rondon as their closer. However, if Rondon struggles earlier the Tigers have veteran relief pitchers, like Phil Coke, Joaquin Benoit and Octavio Dotel, ready to step into the closer role.

Kansas City Royals

With a record of 72-90, the 2012 season was an interestingly enough an ok season for the Royals. When looking back at their stats in 2012, you will see that Billy Butler led the team in every category. I was surprised to see that he had a .313 batting average. Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar had very good years as well. I think how well this offense does in 2013 will revolve around how good Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas are at the plate. The Roayls starting rotation has the potential to have a sneaky good year. It’s weird to say this about the Royals but look at the names they have a pretty decent starting five. James Shield will be the ace but look for Ervin Santana, Jeremy Guthrie, Bruce Chen and Wade Davis to have at least a decent 2013 season.

Cleveland Indians

The Indians struggled all season and finished with the second to worst run differential in 2012 at -178 and 68-94. The Indians made a lot of moves this offseason all of which were very interesting. One of the major moves that I think will help this team the most is the hiring of Terry Francona as the new manager. Let’s start in the outfield, the Indians acquired two starting centerfielders in the span of about 2-3 weeks. They acquired Drew Stubbs from the Cincinnati Reds for Shin-Soo Choo and then they acquired Michael Bourn through free agency to go along with Michael Brantley who had a decent 2012 season. It is tough to imagine many hits landing in the gaps against the Indians. They also acquired Nick Swisher and Mark Reynolds during the offseason. I think we will be seeing these splitting time between 1st base and DH throughout the season. The one place I thought the Indians would address this offseason was their starting pitching but they didn’t. They will continue to lean on Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson to get them through the season.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins struggled most of the 2012 season with a some injuries and ended the season at 66-96. I just can’t see too many bright spots for this team going into the 2013 season. You can count on Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer to have a solid season as long as they can stay free of injury. Another possible bright spot for the Twins could be Josh Willingham. He had a good 2012 and I think that he has the possibility of carrying that over to 2013. I think the starting pitching on this team will be pretty weak and so will the bullpen.  

End of the Season Predictions

1. Detroit (Division Winner)

2. Chicago White Sox (Wild Card)

3. Cleveland Indians

4. Kansas City Royals

5. Minnesota Twins

The Detroit Tigers will walk through this division in 2013. They are head and shoulders above the rest of the AL Central. The surprise in this division will be the Cleveland Indians. I think that they will have a chance at making some noise in AL Central and possibly finishing ahead of the White Sox and grabbing a Wild Card spot. The race to clinch the division won’t be very exciting but it will be fun to watch how 2-4 in the division play out during the season.

Now that I have gone through the three National League divisions and broke down each team, I will get into the American League and will be starting in the AL East. I feel more comfortable talking about National League teams since my favorite team (Cincinnati Reds) are in the NL but it will be a lot of fun exploring more of the AL, especially now that there will be a lot more inter-league play this season.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox finished the 2012 season in the cellar of the AL East with a record of 69-93. It was very different season for the Red Sox last year. It mostly began during the offseason when Theo Epstein left to be the new General Manager for the Chicago Cubs. Once that move was made, everyone on the team had their futures in question. The big move came later in the season when they traded Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to the LA Dodgers. This move handicapped the team for the rest of the 2012 season but it gave them some salary room. However, during the offseason, the Red Sox made a series of moves that, I think, will make them competitive in this division this year. They signed Ryan Dempster, Joel Hanrahan, Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, and Jonny Gomes. While none of these names alone would make a huge difference, I think that as a group they have a chance make some noise in this division. I think that Jacoby Ellsbury and Will Middlebrooks will both have outstanding years to go along with Dustin Pedroia and all of the signings that they made this offseason.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays had a respectable 73-89 record in 2012 in a very tough division. The Blue Jays benefitted the most this offseason from the Miami Marlins salary dump and acquired Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio, Josh Johnson and Mark Buerhle via trade. The Blue Jays did not stop there though, they also traded for the 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey and signed free agent Melky Cabrera. Just like the Red Sox, this team is now dramatically different in 2013 than they were in 2012. It will be interesting to see how this team comes to together. On paper, they look like a really solid club but we will have to see how they play on the field during the season to see if all of these moves will pay off for Toronto. I like their balance of speed with Reyes and Bonifacio and pop with Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Cabrera in the lineup. Their starting rotation will be strong with Dickey, Johnson, Buerhle, Brandon Marrow and Ricky Romero. The one part of this team that I see as weaker spot is their bullpen. As of right now, Casey Janssen is slated to be the closer for this team but he is a bit unproven and coming off of an injury.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off a very good season that saw them finish at 90-72 and finishing third in the division even though they were missing Evan Longoria for a lot of the season. I’m slightly confused by this team. On one hand, I see them having a good year and being in the division race for most of the year with Longoria being healthy at the start of the year, Desmond Jennings, James Loney and David Price. On the other hand though, I just don’t see them being better, talent-wise, than the Blue Jays or the Red Sox after the offseason that those two teams have had. Can this team compete for the division? Possibly but that can be argued for everyone in this division. I think this team will go as far as the pitching will take them. Of course they will get a great year from David Price, barring an injury, but can the Jeff Niemann and Alex Cobb be solid back end of the rotation guys. The Rays have a solid setup man, Joel Peralta, and closer, Fernando Rodney but just like the back end of the rotation the middle of the bullpen has some questions.

Baltimore Orioles

This team isn’t winning anything this year. I’m kidding! This team is coming off of an incredible season that came a bit out of nowhere. They had a record of 93-69 and they finished second in the division. I think this team is poised to have a really great 2013. The core of the 2012 team is coming back and they are young so they will have even more experience under their belts for this season.  I think the most intriguing player to keep an eye this year will be Manny Machado. He was called up in August and it will be fun to see if he can make the big league team and then see how he does during the regular season. If Machado can make the Opening Day roster, this team will be very deep. They will look once again to Chris Davis, Matt Weiters and Adam Jones to provide some pop in the lineup and Jones to add some speed as well to the base paths. One of the biggest concerns I see with this team is the tail end of the rotation. If Jair Jurrjens can bounce back and have a productive year and Chris Tillman can repeat his 2012 then I see this team being extremely good.

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees won the AL East in 2012 with a record of 95-67.  I have a hard time seeing a repeat of last year. They have already been hit in a major way by the injury bug. Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch in Spring Training and broke a bone in his arm and he will be out for at least a month into the regular season. This week Mark Teixeira suffered a strained tendon in his right wrist that will have him out for 8-10 weeks and the Yankees could be without him until May. They are also with Alex Rodriguez until possibly the All Star break but there is a possibly that he could miss the whole season while recovering from hip surgery. I haven’t mentioned the fact that both Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are coming off pretty serious injuries suffered last year. I already thought that this team would fall back a bit from last years record just due to the age of the team but with these three injuries I have a hard time seeing them do much in the division this year.

End of Season Predictions

1)     Baltimore Orioles (Division Winner)

2)     Boston Red Sox

3)     Toronto Blue Jays

4)     New York Yankees

5)     Tampa Bay Rays

This division is truly completely up in the air. I am not saying the Orioles will win the division because I am writing this for a Baltimore blog. I truly believe that the division is theirs to win or lose. Second through fourth will be a complete crap-shoot, any team that I have listed in those three slots could finish anywhere in those three positions. I like what the Blue Jays did during the offseason but I like what the Red Sox did more plus they will have more money and power to make a move during the season to secure the second spot. I have the Yankees low but as everyone knows they could easily make a few trades and moves during the season that could put them in the second spot in this division.