AL East

In his first outing this Spring, Phil Hughes looked closer to his 2010 form. After dropping some weight, Hughes was hitting 92-93 on the gun, according to scouts. 

Now these numbers aren't staggering, but for someone who was having trouble breaking 90 last year, this is a great sign. 

You never want to say a guy has a lack of velocity after the first start of spring training, but Michael Pineda has been known to throw much harder than what we saw in his debut with the New York Yankees.

According to a tweet from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, scouts were slightly concerned over Pineda's declined velocity from his first start of the Spring.

In the past week the Pittsburgh Pirates have extended outfielder Andrew McCutchen and the San Diego Padres have extended outfielder Cameron Maybin.

The Yankees dropped their first game of the spring today against the Phillies in Bright House Park.

Fans got their first chance to see the team's biggest offseason acquisition, Michael Pineda, in his start today against Joe Blanton.

Michael Pineda made his first start for the New York Yankees against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yes, it is only spring training and not a regular season game in New York, but he was impressive nonetheless.

Almost nobody questioned Pineda's pure stuff, but there have been questions about his mental status because of his big move to New York.

In his first start of spring training and as a member of the New York Yankees, Michael Pineda looked very strong over the two scoreless innings of work he put in against the Philadelphia Phillies today.

Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer of all time.  Any analysis I do of Rivera will open with that statement. 

However, he not the most dominating closer in MLB right now. Last season, I projected Rivera to save 30 games, and he pumped out 44. 

Heading into the 2012 season there are very few reasons to be excited if you’re an Orioles fan. But to be clear, there are still things to be excited about. 

Lineup

It would be misleading to characterize second base as a position of scarcity in 2012.

Yes, there are no certifiable facsimiles of Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, Rickie Weeks, Chase Utley, Ben Zobrist, Brandon Phillips or Dan Uggla after the first 60 picks of a 12-team, mixed-league draft.

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are tied for first place in the American League East heading into their series-finale on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. (ET) at historic Fenway Park.

Boston holds a significant 9-2 advantage over New York in the season series, including a 10-4 home victory on Saturday afternoon.