AL East Spring Training Previews

I am not going to go through all of the teams in baseball, I will do that before the season starts but I do want to look at the AL East teams briefly and where they stand opening up camps this week. New York Yankees: World Champions led by manager Joe Girardi who is in his third and final season under contract. Training Facility: Legends Field, Tampa, FL 2009 Record: 103-59 Key Additions: Javier Vazquez, Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson,Randy Winn Key Losses: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Chien-Ming Wang,Melky Cabrera First Workouts: pitchers and catchers on Feb 18th, full squad on Feb 24th Boston Red Sox: lost in first round of playoffs last season after winning the Wild Card finishing second in the division. Led by manager Terry Francona who is in his 7th season with the team. Training Facility: City Of Palms Park, Fort Myers, FL 2009 Record: 95-67 Key Additions: Mike Cameron, John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre Key Losses: Jason Bay, Rocco Baldelli,Alex Gonzales First Workouts: pitchers and catchers on Feb 20th, full squad on Feb 24th Tampa Bay Rays: Missed the playoffs in 2009, finishing in third place. Led by manager Joe Maddon in his 5th season with the team. Training Facility: Mosaic Field at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, FL 2009 Record: 84-78 Key Additions: Rafael Soriano, Kelly Shoppach, Dan Johnson Key Losses: Akinori Iwamura, Gabe Gross, Chad Bradford First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 19th, full squad on Feb 24th Toronto Blue Jays: Missed the playoffs in 2009, finished 4th in the division. They are led by Cito Gaston who is in his third season but remember he took them to back to back titles in the 1990's. Training Facility:Dunedin Stadium, Dunedin,FL 2009 Record: 75-87 Key Additions: John Buck, Alex Gonzalez,Kevin Gregg, Brandon Morrow Key Losses: Roy Halladay, Rod Barajas, Kevin Millar, Brandon League First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 22nd, full squad on Feb 26th Baltimore Orioles: missed the playoffs in 2009 finishing last in the division. They are led by manager Dave Trembley in his 4th season. Training Facility: Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, FL 2009 Record: 64-98 Key Additions: Miguel Tejada, Garrett Atkins, Kevin Millwood Key Losses: Melvin Mora, Danys Baez,Chris Ray First Workouts: Pitchers and Catchers on Feb 18th, full squad on Feb 23rd.

No Rival to Red Sox in 2000s -- MLB FanHouse

I know this is a couple of days old but I didn't get a chance to get to this. This article comes from Ed Price of Fanhouse. I just don't get how someone can even think of saying the Red Sox had no rival in this past decade. It is fine if you want to try and make the argument that they are the team of the decade but the Yankees obviously have to be in the discussion. The New York Yankees only missed the playoffs once which was in 2008 and they won 4 pennants and 8 division titles to go along with their 2 bookend World Titles. The Boston Red Sox won 2 titles also, no other team won more then one. The Red Sox also missed the playoffs 4 times in the decade, they won 2 pennants and 1 division title. Please take a look at this article and let him know what you think. No Rival to Red Sox in 2000s -- MLB FanHouse