Projo Sox Blog

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Season after season, the Tampa Bay Rays were the cellar dwellers of the A.L. East.

Slowly, however, their young talent matured. Their remaining prospects played and pitched with confidence.

So when the Rays surged to the top of the A.L. East standings in 2008, it wasn't a fluke. Tampa Bay won the division and beat the Red Sox in the ALCS to advance to the World Series.

It's safe to say it wasn't a one-and-done deal for the Rays, who now have a sense of belonging in one of the toughest divisions in Major League Baseball. And now it's clear the A.L. East will have three of the best teams in baseball in the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees.

"These three teams, on paper, look pretty damn good," said Red Sox owner John Henry.

"It's a challenging division, and I think we relish that," added general manager Theo Epstein.

Challenging is right. The last two American League champions (Tampa Bay and Boston) came from the Eastern Division. Since 2000, the division has had three World Series champions (2000 Yankees, 2004 Red Sox, 2007 Red Sox); only one other division has more than one (the N.L. East, with the 2003 Marlins and 2008 Phillies). A.L. East teams have qualified for five of the nine World Series since 2000 . . . and, if you go back farther to include the late 1990s Yankee dynasty, those numbers increase to 8 of the last 13 since 1996.

"You can't just be a very good team to make the playoffs [in the A.L. East]," said Epstein. "We have to be an outstanding club and avoid a lot of valleys throughout the season. I think every year we talk about how tough this division is [and it] seems to be getting stronger and stronger [with each passing season]."

Which isn't necessarily a good thing, jokes manager Terry Francona.

"It's a little easier to respect it or enjoy that aspect of it sitting on the picnic table [during spring training in Fort Myers], as opposed when you're having that road trip through Tampa, New York and Toronto," said Francona. "Our division is really difficult."

But you know the old saying about that which doesn't kill you making you stronger.

"If you're good enough to get through it, I think it bodes well in the postseason," said Francona. "I think we've shown that . . . [There] are some advantages.

"But when you're playing teams that are that tough, it takes a toll on you."

And it doesn't figure to get any easier this season.

The Yankees missed the postseason last year for the first time since the strike season of 1994, and they're sparing no expense to get back to the playoffs. Red Sox president/CEO said the Yankees went out and spent more money than the "U.S. Congress" this past offseason.

They needed pitching, so GM Brian Cashman went out and got it with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. New York needed a slugging first baseman with Gold Glove caliber defense, so the Yanks signed Mark Teixeira. In total the Yankees spent almost a half-billion dollars this offseason.

The Rays -- who won the pennant with a payroll of only $43 million last year -- also improved themselves, at a much lower cost. The emergence of starting pitching prospect David Price made Edwin Jackson expendable, so Tampa Bay traded Jackson to Detroit for Matt Joyce, who may wind up being the starting right fielder. The Rays also signed Pat Burrell, giving them the powerful right-handed bat they lacked last season.

So how do the teams match up?

On paper, all three have solid pitching staffs. The Red Sox have more organizational depth in this area, which means they can dip into development system in an emergency basis or use in a trade to fill a possible void later in the season.

All three clubs are good offensively, but New York gets the nod, with Boston second, because of explosiveness throughout the lineup at the plate.

On defense, Tampa Bay is probably the best of the three, with the Red Sox second. The Yankees? One of the reasons they signed hard throwers like Sabathia and Burnett was to increase the team's number of strikeouts and decrease the number of plays their fielders have to make.

"We are a bad defensive team," Cashman was quoted as saying by Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, "so a guy that prevents the ball from being put into play is a good thing for us."

The battle begins early as far as the Red Sox are concerned. They open the season against the Rays on April 6 at Fenway Park, and will play 15 of their first 32 games against New York and Tampa Bay. There's no easing into the race for the Sox this season.

How tough will it be?

"That remains to be seen," said Epstein. "You have to prove [yourself]. It doesn't matter how good you look on paper."

But if the Red Sox, Rays and Yankees come anywhere near how good they look on paper, the A.L. East will have quite a race in 2009.

 Tags  A.L. East Rays Red Sox Yankees

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