Sports 5

MLB preview: three teams to watch this season

Brady Stark
Team Member

Wi the MLB spring training camps
starting to ramp up, it’s time to start
predicting.

New York Yankees:

We start with the most notorious
team in all of sports. Hailing from the
Bronx, the Yankees are easily the team
with the most change and question
marks coming into this season.

The return of Alex Rodriguez from the
year and a half suspension for using and
distributing performance enhancing drugs
will be at the center of the controversy.
Will A-Rod be able to fit into the new team?
How will the predictably poor reception
that he will receive from every stadium
the Yankees visit play into his on field
performance? Even though Rodriguez is
no stranger to pressure, the length of a full
182 game schedule might take a mental
toll as he tries to rebuild his legacy.

The next question about the Pinstripes is:
how will they manage without arguably

one of the best shortstops of all time? Last
year Derek Jeter played his swan song as

he retired for the game of baseball after 21
seasons with the Yankees. The Yankees did
do some major damage control in response
to losing their iconic shortstop by making a
deal in December to acquire 25-year-old Didi
Gregorious from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Gregorious is a far cry from the talent that
Jeter was, but scouts have said that the
young man has great potential. According
to George King from the New York Post,
Gregorious has the best defensive skill of
any young shortstop in the MLB. The one
glaring weakness that will be the biggest
hole left by Jeter is his consistent hitting.
Throughout his career, Jeter had a career
batting average of .310. Having such a hole
in the batting lineup will give opposition
pitchers the ability to select the batters they
want to face and which they want to walk.

Prediction: If the Yankees can increased
production from their pitching rotation, they
will definitely be able to capture a wildcard
spot in the American League conference.

Toronto Blue Jays:

The Toronto Blue Jays epitomize
underachiever. They spent over $100 million
dollars on free agents to start the 2014
campaign. Unfortunately, the Jays played to a
mediocre season going four games above .500
and missing the playoffs for the 20th season
in a row. General Manager Alex Anthropoulos
had a busy off-season trying to change the
fortunes of this struggling Franchise.

The Jays made the biggest splash in the
off-season by shipping out Brett Lawrie,
Sean Nolin, Kevin Graveman, and Franklin
Baretto to the Oakland Athletics for all-star
third baseman Josh Donaldson. Donaldson
appeared in 158 games last year driving

in 98 runs and hitting the ball out of the
park a total of 29 times. The Jays wanted

to go out and get a reliable third baseman
instead of relying on Lawrie, because
Lawrie had been hampered by injuries the
last couple of seasons. With some stability
on the defensive side of the ball and some
added power with the bat, the Jays can now
concentrate on stringing some winning
streaks together. The other trade of note
came a few days later when the Jays sent
underachieving pitcher J.A. Happ to the
Seattle Mariners for outfielder Mitchell
Saunders. Saunders had played all of his
first five seasons with the Mariners. With
the change of scenery, the Jays are hoping
that being in the middle of the batting
rotation and change of outfield position
(from center to left) will spark the potential
that saw him be drafted in the 11th round.

The Jays did a little tinkering in the off-
season when the free agent market opened
up, snatching up on big name in the
catching position. Russell Martin is aname
that Canadian baseball fans have come to
know in the past few season as he has made
significant impacts on teams such as the

Dodgers, the Yankees, and the Pirates. Martin
signed a five year, $82 million contract with
the Jays in the hopes that he can continue

to be one of the best catchers in the league.
The Jays are hoping that Martin can provide
some offense in the latter half of the batting
order, as well as having the ability to catch
star pitcher R.A Dickey’s Knuckleball.

The biggest head scratcher of the last few
seasons is: why are the Jays sticking with
John Gibbons as the manager of the team?
Gibbons has a record of 462-472 in 6 seasons
as the manager. The Jays brought Gibbons
in to replace John Farrell in the 2013 season
because he had a modicum of regular season
success from 2004-2008 with the team.

The Jays found out that Farrell was not the
problem, as he managed the Boston Red
Sox to a World Series Championship the
very same season. The Jays are not likely

to dramatically improve if they continue

to give Gibbons chance-after-chance to
turn the team around. Gibbons is on thin
ice to start the season as Anthropoulos

will be looking at the first sign of trouble

to change to the managerial staff.

Prediction: Unfortunately for the Blue Jays,
they are in one of the toughest divisions

in baseball with the likes of the Yankees,
Rays, Red Sox, and Orioles. Don’t expect

the Jays to make the promised land of

the post-season. You should likely expect
the firing of manager Gibbons partway
through the season with Athropoulos
being canned at season’s end.

Seattle Mariners:

The Seattle Mariners are a struggling
franchise. The Mariners finally put together
a winning season after going the previous
five season with below .500 records. There
are two keys to seeing whether the Mariners
are playoff pretenders or contenders.

The Mariners are in the enviable position of
having a star on either side of the baseball.
On defense, Seattle has one of the best
pitchers in baseball. With a record of 15-6,

Felix Hernandez has quickly become of the
best stories in the majors. Hernandez gives
the Mariners a weapon to go to when they
need the other team’s bats to be silenced
for the night. King Felix, as the fans at
Safeco Field have dubbed him, set records
multiple times this past season with the
most notable being a record that was set in
1971. In 1971, New York Mets pitcher, Tom
Sever, set a record with 13 straight games
with going more than 7 innings of work and
only allowing 2 or less runs; Felix Hernandez
went 16 games. The other workhorse

that the Seattle Mariners have is on the
offensive side of the ball. Robinson Cano is
the team’s second baseman with a canon
for a bat. His career batting average is an
astounding .310 with 1,832 hits in 9 seasons.
The Mariners signed Cano in last year’s
off-season for a mind-blowing 10 year, $240
million dollar deal. Cano did not disappoint
the fans and organization as he lead the
Mariners offense in every notable category.

Like every team in the MLB, the Mariners
used the off-season to fix their lineup,
trying to plug any holes in their game that
was exposed in the previous season. Gone
are the likes of Justin Smoak and Michael
Saunders to the Toronto Blue Jays. In their
place is Baltimore Orioles slugger Nelson
Cruz and pitcher J.A. Happ from the Jays.
Cruz is known for the long ball, which can
be very advantageous in a short ballpark,
like Safeco. Cruz is a fantastic short term
solution for the loss of Michael Saunders.

Prediction: The Mariner’s will likely be
fighting for a wildcard spot again this year.
However, look for the pitching rotation
and the plethora of strong bats to lead
the way into the post-season. Oakland
has gotten a little weaker with the exits
of Donaldson and Cespedes, while the
Astros are never a threat and the Royals
will not have a repeat performance.
Now is the time for Mariner nation to
cheer for a long run into the playoffs.

All in all the season is looking like an
exciting one. I can’t wait to watch!