A Quick Look At The Rest Of The AL East

From London to Barcelona to Astana, everyone is well aware of Boston's emergence out of the dumps of baseball's cellar...so I thought a quick look at the rest of the AL East was in order:

The good news? While the Sox fell on their face to open the season, no AL East team is exactly setting the world on fire...

The Yanks: At 12-7, the Yankees sit atop the AL East, but everything is far from ok in the Bronx. While Curtis Granderson has been more productive in his first 20 games in 11' than the entire 2010 season, and ARod is hitting the ball well, there are holes throughout this team. Phil Hughes suffered a recent setback and has mysteriously lost velocity on his fastball (Manny Delcarmen syndrome). Their poor man's version Buchholz seems headed for a fairly significant DL stint. Jeter continues to throw up all over himself while raking in outrageous paychecks from the front office (worst...deal...ever)...and Nova has flopped thus far in his rush to the big league rotation. Of course the Yanks have the talent and resources to be successful, but it seems safe to say the door remains open on top of the AL East.

The Rays: despite their .500 record, the Rays seem to be getting the absolute most out of Crawford's replacement, our second favorite idiot (only to Millar, who reportedly still sleeps in his red sox uniform)Johhny Damon...and with Longo about to rejoin the club, they remain an underweighted factor in the ultimate race for the East....

The Bluejays: Jose Bautista is a straight up stud. He's absolutely raking right now. Just walk the man, I don't care if the bases are chucked. Walk him. If he can get any consistent offensive help, the young arms could continueto keep the Jays in the mix for longerthan we would all like.

The O's: they're likely still a few years away from playing with the big boys in the division (don't we say that every year?), but the bottom line is they have some talent, better coaching, and a young staff of arms who are not afraid to pitch aggressively. They're a muh improved team, and could possibly contend in weaker divisions. Just not this one.

Overall, despite the loud offseason by the top teams, there appears to be more talent from top to bottom in the AL East than ever. It's going to be an interesting summer.

PS: Is it bad that despite Boston's piss poor start, I'm already at the point where going into a game I fully expect to win each and every time? Go Sox.