AL East

Spring Training in Tampa, Florida will be very interesting to follow this year.

The New York Yankees are coming in after a disappointing ending to 2010 and a somewhat odd offseason.

Veterans and youngsters will all have opportunities to impress the Yankees staff and earn roster spots for the upcoming 2011 season. Up and down the roster, there are holes that can need filling, jobs that can be won.

The minute the final out was made in Game 5 of the ALDS at the Trop, Rays fans knew they had a long offseason ahead of them.

Some, like me, held out hope that they would be able to retain Carl Crawford or somebody, but that never happened; they even got rid of great players that they didn't have to.

With all the hype and hope the Blue Jays injected into their fans with their play of last year, there is one thing everyone is forgetting when looking forward to this year. The simple way of putting it: they are going to fail this year.

Generally, I'm one to stick to the team and players and project big years from all involved. However, it seems like the doom and gloom media and fans have all either had a change of heart with Anthopoulos' steady hand at the helm, or they have all finally given up.

Though among the league's worst last season, Kevin Millwood is among the top pitchers still available on the free agent market. He posted an atrocious 4-16 record coupled with an awful 5.10 ERA last season with the Baltimore Orioles. 

Aside from the previously mentioned facts, Millwood's WHIP last season was 1.51 and his 16 losses were the highest in the AL and tied for most in the majors with Rodrigo Lopez. 

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison to the other players.

Today, the series continues with a look at the shortstops.

The best player will earn 10 points for his team, with the remaining players being assigned points as follows: 7-5-3-1.

Collectively, the AL East was as busy a division as there was in baseball this offseason.

After focusing on pitching and defense the Winter before and then failing to make the playoffs in 2010, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein took a different approach this offseason.

At the Winter Meetings, Epstein seized an opportunity to add a pair of marquee hitters in Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. The moves have the Red Sox poised to return to the playoffs in 2011.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be publishing a series of articles on the Red Sox farm system, profiling a dozen or so top-tier prospects that have high potentials and will likely help the club as the next wave of homegrown talent. You can read part one on Ryan Kalish here.

My friend Shawn came out to Los Angeles on a business trip and while he was on the Left Coast, we got together in Malibu for lunch at Dukes.

We sat in the barefoot bar area out on the deck overlooking the ocean.

He had never been to L.A. before, so I figured a few libations and some dolphins swimming by wouldn’t be a bad way to introduce him to the laid back lifestyle Southern California seems to thrust upon its (totally willing) inhabitants.

While it's still cold out, and the ground is covered in snow wherever you are, a sure sign of better weather ahead is the start of Spring Training.  Pitchers and catchers for each team are set to report to camp on Monday, and the storylines will emerge soon after.

When the Red Sox traded one of their all-time best players, Nomar Garciaparra, they entered a state of turmoil with regard to the shortstop position.

The Red Sox acquired Orlando Cabrera in 2004, followed quickly by Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo. A combination of Lugo, Jed Lowrie, Alex Cora, Nick Green and Alex Gonzalez were used between 2007 and 2009.

Finally, the Red Sox signed Marco Scutaro, who started for the Red Sox in 2010. All in all, nine Red Sox started at least 50 games for the Red Sox since 2004.