Shaking Up the AL East
I will never count my baseballs before they hatch so all I'm going to say is that things in the Al East look far from settled for the upcoming season and as an O's fan I am feeling good.
The Red Sox supposedly have one of the strongest starting rotations, but they're interested in Armando Benitez because they can't seem to fill the role of the closer. The Blue Jays have that all lined up but their starting 5 are not superstars. The Yanks pitching looks good, and I'd take Pettite and Clemens for my team, no doubt. But for a team with that kind of money, they're not as intimidating a foe as they could be. And of course, the Devil Rays will continue to struggle, and recent reports indicate that Seth McClung may not be their closer of choice anymore.
What does all this mean for the birds?
Combine the youngins on the mound pitching their way to a top five spring training ERA and an $84 million dollar bullpen including a good closer by the name of Chris Ray and suddenly things in Charm City don't look so bad.
While other teams are worrying about their dynamics and who won't be at Jeter's slumber parties, we've got our core guys signed through 2009, including Brian Roberts' new two-year 14.3 million dollar deal.
We've rid ourselves of the bad karma (Palmeiro, Sosa, J. Lopez, R. Lopez, Chen) and we've accepted some guys with baggage, Wright and Traschel, hoping they can turn things around in a more welcoming environment then New York.
All in all, I feel about a million times better about this season then I did last year.
Go O's!!!!!
The Red Sox supposedly have one of the strongest starting rotations, but they're interested in Armando Benitez because they can't seem to fill the role of the closer. The Blue Jays have that all lined up but their starting 5 are not superstars. The Yanks pitching looks good, and I'd take Pettite and Clemens for my team, no doubt. But for a team with that kind of money, they're not as intimidating a foe as they could be. And of course, the Devil Rays will continue to struggle, and recent reports indicate that Seth McClung may not be their closer of choice anymore.
What does all this mean for the birds?
Combine the youngins on the mound pitching their way to a top five spring training ERA and an $84 million dollar bullpen including a good closer by the name of Chris Ray and suddenly things in Charm City don't look so bad.
While other teams are worrying about their dynamics and who won't be at Jeter's slumber parties, we've got our core guys signed through 2009, including Brian Roberts' new two-year 14.3 million dollar deal.
We've rid ourselves of the bad karma (Palmeiro, Sosa, J. Lopez, R. Lopez, Chen) and we've accepted some guys with baggage, Wright and Traschel, hoping they can turn things around in a more welcoming environment then New York.
All in all, I feel about a million times better about this season then I did last year.
Go O's!!!!!
