AL '09 Rookie Preview - AL East

Who will be this year's Evan Longoria or Alexi Ramirez? While there may not be a player of Longoria's stature or someone who comes out of nowhere like Ramirez, there are plenty of good first year players to compete for this year's rookie of the year honors.

We start out today by taking a look at the rookies in the AL East.

AL East

Yankees

With All-Stars and/or veterans at nearly every position, you won't see a rookie make an impact in the Bronx, outside of the bullpen, this season. And even then it would probably only be in a long man role. Al Aceves, Anthony Claggett, or Mark Melancon could be that guy, but none will be in the rookie of the year running.

Red Sox

Like the Yankees, Boston has put together a veteran team, with a sprinkle of younger players. But none of the youngsters are rookie eligible. Japanese import Junichi Taweze could have an impact in the Red Sox search for middle bullpen men.

Rays

You already got a glimpse of the favorite for the AL ROY in last year's post-season. David Price showed baseball fans what Rays fans have been drooling over since they selected him as the first overall pickout of Vanderbilt in the 2007 amateur draft.

Big, left-handed, and throws hard; that all spells intimidation. Price dominated Double-A hitters before struggling at the Triple-A level. However, a recall to the majors didn't prove to be a problem. Price posted a 1.98 ERA in 14 appearances (all but one of which were out of the pen) and then won one game while saving another in the ALCS. Price then threw 3.1 innings in the World Series to bolster his resume and confidence.


Blue Jays

Outfielder Travis Snider is one of the top prospects in baseball and a bona fide ROY candidate. He hit .301-2-13 in a 24 game call up late in the season. The just-turned 21-yr old is only three years out of high school, but he's quickly moved up the organization's depth chart.

Snider had a fabulous year at 'A' ball in 2007, belting 16 home runs and driving in 93 runs, while batting .338 and posting a .902 OPS. He built off of it last season, playing just 17 games (4 HR, 7 RBI) at high 'A' before a promotion to Double-A. While his batting average dipped (.262) and he had the usual young hitter's strikeout problem (116 K's in 362 ABs), he earned a promotion to Triple-A with 17 HRs, 67 RBI, and an .818 OPS in 98 games.

The Blue Jays came calling after Snider hit .344 at Syracuse with 2 HR and 17 RBI in just 18 games. That gave him a combined minor league season of 23 HR and 84 RBI.

With the departure of A.J. Burnett, 22-yr old Brett Cecil has a chance to join the Blue Jays starting rotation. Like Snider, Cecil played at three levels last season, spending most of his time at Double-A New Hampshire. 129 strikeouts in 118.2 innings pitched opened GM J.P. Riccardi's eyes and Cecil has a legitimate chance to go north with the Jays if he can prove himself this spring (He won't have to wait long; he's got the starting assignment for Toronto's first spring training against the Yankees on Wednesday.)

Cecil was a closer and full-time reliever at the University of Maryland, but has made more than a smooth transition to starter. But just like a young hitter has a tendency to strike out, young pitchers tend to walk hitters. That wasn't the case for Cecil at Single- and Double-A, but he issued 16 free passes in just 30.2 innings for Syracuse.

Orioles

Everyone in the Orioles organization as well as their fans is awaiting the arrival of catcher Matt Wieters, last season's minor league player of the year. Not since Joe Mauer has a catcher brought such expectation to the game. That's what will happen though when you hit 27 home runs, between 'A' and 'AA', and post a 1.054 OPS.

Wieters is likely to start the season in Triple-A, but is expected to be called up by the All-Star break. Wieters only has one year of pro ball under his belt, but he destroyed college pitching for three years while at Georgia Tech. Wieters has gotten good marks for calling games and handling pitchers. He's quickly become a team leader and is great with the fans. This guy is just what the Orioles organization has needed for a long time.


Ranking the AL East ROY Prospects

1. David Price
2. Matt Wieters
3. Travis Snider
4. Brett Cecil

The Pennant Race - 8/19

CC Sabathia just keeps rolling along. Another complete game victory last night for the Brewers to up his record to 8-0 since the trade to Milwaukee. You do have to be concerned though with how Ned Yost is using him. He knows Sabathia won't be in Milwaukee next season so he obviously doesn't care. Already up 9-3 over the Astros, he not only had Sabathia bat in the eighth inning, but had him go out for the ninth as well. The big lefty ended up throwing 130 pitches.

Milwaukee sits 5 back of the Cubs, who had the night off.

The Mets bullpen imploded once again. Starter John Maine struggled, but still left the game after five innings with a 2-0 lead. Brian Stokes immediately blew the lead in the sixth, and Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez got touched up for three runs in the eighth to lose it, 5-2. Maine has allowed just 1 run in the 14.1 innings he's pitched since returning from the DL, but he has walked nine hitters.

The Phillies (1.5 GB) and Marlins (4 GB) both had the night off.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks both were off so they remained tied for first place. There were interesting development in the NL West last night, though. For one nigh,t anyway, the Giants' Barry Zito looked like a pitcher. He tossed seven scoreless innings and only walked two batters in a 5-0 win over the Braves.

Jason Bay homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox over the Orioles 6-3. Much has been made about Manny Ramirez's offense explosion in LA, but Bay hasn't been doing too badly himself. He's hitting .348-3-16 in 16 games with a .972 OPS. He's also 3-3 in stolen bases.

The Sox couldn't gain any ground on the Rays though, as Tampa defeated the Angels 6-4. Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd went deep and Dan Wheeler picked up his second consecutive save in place of the injured Troy Percival. Hinske's home run was his 19th, the most he has hit since he belted 24 in his 2002 rookie campaign.

The White Sox pounded the Mariners 13-5. The Chisox couldn't work out a deal for Jarrod Washburn, so they blasted him for 8 runs in 4.1 innings pitched. Alexi Ramirez has quietly put together a very good rookie year. The soon-to-be 27-year old has played both middle infield positions as well as centerfield, and has driven in 51 runs in 98 games, including four last night. He's also batting .308 with 13 home runs. Carlos Quentin hit his major league-leading 35th home run in the game.

The White Sox are now in sole possession of first place in the AL Central after the A's beat the Twins 3-2. Justin Duchscherer had to leave the game in the third inning with a hip injury, but Kirk Saarloos and the A's pen did the job the rest of the way. Joe Mauer, looking to win his second batting title, moved into the AL lead at .325.

The Pennant Race - 8/19

CC Sabathia just keeps rolling along. Another complete game victory last night for the Brewers to up his record to 8-0 since the trade to Milwaukee. You do have to be concerned though with how Ned Yost is using him. He knows Sabathia won't be in Milwaukee next season so he obviously doesn't care. Already up 9-3 over the Astros, he not only had Sabathia bat in the eighth inning, but had him go out for the ninth as well. The big lefty ended up throwing 130 pitches.

Milwaukee sits 5 back of the Cubs, who had the night off.

The Mets bullpen imploded once again. Starter John Maine struggled, but still left the game after five innings with a 2-0 lead. Brian Stokes immediately blew the lead in the sixth, and Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez got touched up for three runs in the eighth to lose it, 5-2. Maine has allowed just 1 run in the 14.1 innings he's pitched since returning from the DL, but he has walked nine hitters.

The Phillies (1.5 GB) and Marlins (4 GB) both had the night off.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks both were off so they remained tied for first place. There were interesting development in the NL West last night, though. For one nigh,t anyway, the Giants' Barry Zito looked like a pitcher. He tossed seven scoreless innings and only walked two batters in a 5-0 win over the Braves.

Jason Bay homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox over the Orioles 6-3. Much has been made about Manny Ramirez's offense explosion in LA, but Bay hasn't been doing too badly himself. He's hitting .348-3-16 in 16 games with a .972 OPS. He's also 3-3 in stolen bases.

The Sox couldn't gain any ground on the Rays though, as Tampa defeated the Angels 6-4. Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd went deep and Dan Wheeler picked up his second consecutive save in place of the injured Troy Percival. Hinske's home run was his 19th, the most he has hit since he belted 24 in his 2002 rookie campaign.

The White Sox pounded the Mariners 13-5. The Chisox couldn't work out a deal for Jarrod Washburn, so they blasted him for 8 runs in 4.1 innings pitched. Alexi Ramirez has quietly put together a very good rookie year. The soon-to-be 27-year old has played both middle infield positions as well as centerfield, and has driven in 51 runs in 98 games, including four last night. He's also batting .308 with 13 home runs. Carlos Quentin hit his major league-leading 35th home run in the game.

The White Sox are now in sole possession of first place in the AL Central after the A's beat the Twins 3-2. Justin Duchscherer had to leave the game in the third inning with a hip injury, but Kirk Saarloos and the A's pen did the job the rest of the way. Joe Mauer, looking to win his second batting title, moved into the AL lead at .325.