- Yankees
- Red Sox
- Orioles
- Blue Jays
- Rays
Yankees
AL East Yankees Red Sox Orioles Blue Jays Rays The AL East will be the most fun it has been in the past few years in my opinion, as there are 3 teams I can realistically see winning. With the bottom 2 teams still being good enough to where I think both can finish at or around .500 or better. Starting off with the big bad Yankees who lost one of the biggest pieces of their offense, and a major spark plug in the middle of the lineup in Juan Soto to free agency. He has one of the best plate approaches of anyone ever in baseball history and I was lucky enough to watch him hit batting practice in Milwaukee a couple years back when he was with the Padres. Man was that something special.
Even though the Yankees lost out on Soto, I still think they are in a good position to win. Acquiring two veteran bats in Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger will be very good for the depth of the lineup and being able to get Judge as many at bats as possible. Along with those veteran bats, I will be interested to see if Jasson Dominguez lives up to the hype and is able to make the Soto departure feel like nothing. They are anchored by a very good pitching staff.
Gerrit Cole looks to get his second Cy Young while Max Fried joins the rotation from Atlanta looking for his first. Defending AL Rookie of the year, Luis Gil, will look to keep improving from a stellar season last year. The final two to round out the pitching staff will be Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt who should be able to get the Yankees the number of innings they need to succeed. I hope for Yankees fans that Marcus Stroman will not be needed.
Red Sox
Boston had a great offseason. Getting one of if not the best pitcher on the market in Garrett Crochet, one of the best hitters on the market in Alex Bergman, and also getting rid of Nick Pivetta who is not bad, I just am not a fan of in any way, shape or form. If Walker Buehler can show signs of the old him in the middle of that rotation, this could be one of the better Red Sox seasons we have seen since 2018. It may be hard for them to top their 2021 number in 92 wins, but with their lineup it’s definitely possible.
While I think this rotation will be better than last year, and good overall, with them playing as many home games in Boston as they do, I will be staying away from the pitchers when it comes to fantasy.
Even though the pitching staff was a big question mark heading into the offseason, I think the Alex Bregman signing was the best the Red Sox made. I think Bregman will hit around 30 home runs this season for the Red Sox and be an absolute killer at home. That ballpark favors his strong-pull swing a lot. It will be interesting to see the role of Rafael Devers this season, as there has been some questions as to what position he will play once the season rolls around. If the Red Sox want their best chance to win, that would include Bregman at 3rd and Devers in the DH spot. Devers is one of the worst performing fielders we have seen in baseball over the last 5 years or so and is a liability out there. Offensively, it’s hard to find someone to match his production, especially against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees.
Orioles
Youthful studs is the theme of our next team, the Orioles. With how promising and young this lineup is, there is a chance it could be my last time picking them lower than 2 for a few years here. That is if they can get some more pitchers in free agency or through trades. I like Grayson Rodriguez, but other than that it is a lot of innings eaters. They will need Tomoyuki Sugano to have a season similar to that of Shota Imanaga of the Cubs last year in order to finish any higher than 3. Picking up a veteran arm in Charlie Morton will be good for eating up quite a few of those innings.
Tyler O’Neill was signed to take some of the workload that will be absent with Anthony Santander going to Toronto, and while I think he can do a good job at it, he has rarely been more than a platoon guy. With that, I think there’s a chance he gets streaky with his monthly splits.
Gunnar Henderson will look to return to his form from the last two seasons when he hit 28 and 37 home runs respectively. Jackson Holliday also looked like he added quite a bit of muscle this offseason so, we will see if that translates to him wanting to launch the ball instead of being an on base guy for the Orioles. The last two teams I will be brief on.
Blue Jays
The Blue Jays return with a similar lineup, with the addition of Anthony Santander and Andres Gimenez. Santander was a very good signing in my opinion as it gives another much-needed big power bat alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Max Scherzer was signed as well, so it will be interesting to see if he can get back to some of his older days. This lineup could end up looking like the best offense in their division at times, but a lot of their hitters tend to be streaky.
Rays
The Rays added some important pieces through free agency. One being Ha-Seong Kim, their best signing, who will begin the season on the IL. Danny Jansen fits well here and could be similar to that of Mike Zunino, who had a stellar year with 33 homers in 2021 for Tampa Bay. Their biggest thing for this season is to get Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe, Christopher Morel more at bats which will lead to more confidence at the plate. Shane McClanahan will also be back after missing all of last season with a Tommy John surgery. If he can get back to 2022-2023 form, he could be in the Cy Young conversation again. Whether or not that is possible after his injury and surgery, that will be for the future to decide.