Players to Watch, AL East
This is my second to last post in this series, as I’ll have a special one for the Yankees themselves up tomorrow before the game. You can find the other ones at the following links:
Starting with the Sawx, I’m gonna peg Clay Buchholz as my player to watch. He seemed to be putting it together at the end of last year, and should finally get an entire year in the Major League rotation. Will this be the year that he finally steps into the big shoes the Sox expect him to fill? He’s got the talent, now he just needs to come through.
Moving south, we should keep an eye on B.J. Upton. After a subpar 2009 (at the plate), we’ll have to see if Upton’s bat makes a return. While he had a fantastic 11.8 UZR/150, B.J. only hit for a .310 wOBA. His BABIP was down to .310 from .341, so we could expect a rebound. For the first time in a full season, Upton’s walk rate was not in double digits (9.1). His 27.1% strikeout rate was also very shabby, especially considering B.J.’s below average .132 IsoP. Considering his excellent defense, if Upton can just catch back up to his ’08 wOBA (.354), he’ll be back in the conversation for best all-around CF in the game.
Shooting back up north, the Blue Jays don’t have a whole lot to look forward to. Brett Wallace should be up at some point, though, and it’ll be fun to watch Kyle Drabek in the minors. At the Major League level, let’s watch out for Vernon Wells to see if he can start living up to that insane contract. Call it a hunch, but I think he’ll rebound from this awful season (.314 wOBA) and hit back at his ’08 level (.357). I know he’s definitely not as good as his 5.8 WAR season in ’06, but I don’t think he’s as bad as he was in ’07 and ’09.
Wrapping it up with the O’s will be my 2010 AL Rookie of the Year pick Brain Matusz. He shot up through the minors in ’09 and had a very respectable cup of coffee (44.2 IP in 8 GS, 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 2.71 K/BB, 4.08 FIP). Given a full year in the Majors, this high-upside lefty could emerge as Baltimore’s best pitcher by year’s end.
One Response to Players to Watch, AL East
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
-
LIKE TYA ON FACEBOOK
-
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
- From prospect to pitcher: The Ivan Nova story
- Montgomery = Robertson?
- Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
- Yankees getting extra strikes
- Yankees Too Old For The Young Royals, Still Win 8-3
- Game 44: Let’s Go Streaking
- Buck Has Orioles Flying High, but Can They Rule the Roost? (History Says Yes)
- For Hughes: Regression, or Improvement?
- Analyzing Hughes’ May Turnaround
- 2012 looking like 2010 for Swisher, excepting the results
Recent Comments
- on 2011 Yankees Position Preview: Second Base
- on Nova’s Curveball Key To Third Win
- bornwithpinstripes on Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
- bornwithpinstripes on Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
- on Is David Robertson really this good?
- on Pineda’s Torn Labrum, or Does the lemon law apply to baseball?
- KevinButler on Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
- Dave1955 on Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
- Eric Schultz on Yankees getting extra strikes
- Reggie C. on Mark Teixeira Is Still Powerless (And It’s Not OK Anymore)
-
Authors
Twitter
* TYA Twitter -
* EJ Fagan -
* Matt Imbrogno -
* William J. -
* Larry Koestler-
* Moshe Mandel -
* Sean P. -
* Eric Schultz -
* Matt Warden -
-
Most poker sites open to US players also provide online casinos accepting USA players. A good example of this is BetOnline.com, where you can play 3D casino games, bet on sports or play poker from anywhere in the United States.
-
Other Links
-
Blogroll
Blogs
- An A-Blog for A-Rod
- Beat of the Bronx
- Bronx Banter
- Bronx Baseball Daily
- Bronx Brains
- Don't Bring in the Lefty
- Fack Youk
- It's About The Money
- iYankees
- Lady Loves Pinstripes
- Lenny's Yankees
- New Stadium Insider
- No Maas
- Pinstripe Alley
- Pinstripe Mystique
- Pinstriped Bible
- River Ave. Blues
- RLYW
- Steven Goldman
- The Captain's Blog
- The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte
- The Greedy Pinstripes
- This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes
- Value Over Replacement Grit
- WasWatching
- Yankee Source
- Yankeeist
- Yankees Blog | ESPN New York
- Yankees Fans Unite
- YFSF
- You Can't Predict Baseball
- Zell's Pinstripe Blog
Writers
- Bats (NYT)
- Blogging the Bombers (Feinsand)
- Bombers Beat
- Buster Olney
- E-Boland
- Jack Curry
- Joe Posnanski
- Joel Sherman
- Jon Heyman
- Keith Law
- Ken Davidoff
- Ken Rosenthal
- LoHud Yankees Blog
- Marc Carig
- Tim Marchman
- Tom Verducci
Resources
- Baseball Analysts
- Baseball Musings
- Baseball Prospectus
- Baseball Think Factory
- Baseball-Intellect
- Baseball-Reference
- BBTF Baseball Primer
- Beyond the Box Score
- Brooks Baseball
- Cot's Baseball Contracts
- ESPN's MLB Stats & Info Blog
- ESPN's SweetSpot Blog
- FanGraphs
- Joe Lefkowitz's PitchFX Tool
- Minor League Ball
- MLB Trade Rumors
- NYMag.com's Sports Section
- TexasLeaguers.com
- THE BOOK
- The Hardball Times
- The Official Site of The New York Yankees
- The Wall Street Journal's Daily Fix Sports Blog
- YESNetwork.com
-
Site Organization
Categories
Tags
A.J. Burnett ALCS Alex Rodriguez Andy Pettitte Baltimore Orioles Bartolo Colon Boston Red Sox Brett Gardner Brian Cashman Bullpen CC Sabathia Chien-Ming Wang Cliff Lee Curtis Granderson David Robertson Dellin Betances Derek Jeter Francisco Cervelli Freddy Garcia Game Recap Ivan Nova Javier Vazquez Jesus Montero Joba Chamberlain Joe Girardi Johnny Damon Jorge Posada Manny Banuelos Mariano Rivera Mark Teixeira Melky Cabrera Michael Pineda Minnesota Twins New York New York Yankees Nick Johnson Nick Swisher Phil Hughes Prospects Red Sox Robinson Cano Russell Martin Statistical analysis Tampa Bay Rays Yankees -
Site Stats
Good stuff, Matt. I’m definitely high on Matusz too – a little scared as a matter of fact.