* – indicates new to team
AVG – Batting Average
ERA – Earned Run Average
HR – Home Runs
RBI – Runs Batted In
SV – Saves

1. Boston Red Sox
They’ve built a solid foundation to say competitive for many years.
2. Tampa Bay Rays
Their pitching is solid, but their lineup needs to score more runs.
3. New York Yankees
A lot of spending, but losing Rivera will be their downfall.
4. Baltimore Orioles
It’s a solid lineup, but their bullpen has a few weak spots.
5. Toronto Blue Jays
Standing pat this offseason might have been a mistake.

Player to Watch: SS Derek Jeter New York Yankees
All eyes will be on Jeter for his farewell tour. It’s amazing to think that in this day and age that a player of his caliber would stay in one place. Money wasn’t going to be a problem while George Steinbrenner owned the Yankees, but it is remarkable that he wasn’t even the highest paid player of his generation. The consistency was there his entire career. It could be a while before another Yankee is labeled ‘captain’.

Best Acquisition: P Masahiro Tanaka New York Yankees
They had already spent over $250 million on just Ellsbury, McCann and Beltran alone. So what was another $150 million, posting fee included, for a guy like Tanaka? He probably will be worth every penny for the Yankees and if New York should not be contenders during his tenure he could opt out after the third year of the seven year contract. He’s only in his mid-20s and has the edge as far as familiarity is concerned with opposing hitters. Every start will be compared with Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish’s first season in the majors. Aside from that it was hard to pass on signing him.

New Kid on the Block: SS/3B Xander Bogaerts Boston Red Sox
Whether he will play full-time at shortstop or at third base won’t matter. He is here to stay after his impressive showing during the Red Sox Postseason run to the World Series and eventual title. That was a major reason why Boston declined to bring back starting SS Stephen Drew and only offered him a one year qualifying offer. Bogaerts is an excellent hitter and could put that into consistent .300 and 20 home run seasons. He probably profiles more as a third baseman, but he will be the primary shortstop as long as Will Middlebrooks performs at the plate.

Red Sox Lineup

1. RF Shane Victorino
.294 AVG 15 HR 61 RBI
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia
.301 AVG 9 HR 84 RBI
3. DH David Ortiz
.309 AVG 30 HR 103 RBI
4. 1B Mike Napoli
.259 AVG 23 HR 92 RBI
5. C A.J. Pierzynski*
.272 AVG 17 HR 70 RBI
6. LF Jonny Gomes
.247 AVG 13 HR 52 RBI
7. 3B Will Middlebrooks
.227 AVG 17 HR 49 RBI
8. SS Xander Bogaerts
.297 AVG 15 HR 67 RBI (AA and AAA stats)
9. CF Grady Sizemore*
.224 AVG 10 HR 32 RBI (2011 stats)

Bench

OF Daniel Nava
.303 AVG 12 HR 66 RBI
C David Ross
.216 AVG 4 HR 10 RBI
1B/OF Mike Carp
.296 AVG 9 HR 43 RBI

Rotation

1. Jon Lester
15-8 3.75 ERA
2. Clay Buchholz
12-1 1.74 ERA
3. John Lackey
10-13 3.52 ERA
4. Jake Peavy
12-5 4.17 ERA
5. Felix Doubront
11-6 4.32 ERA

Setup

Edward Mujica*
37 SV 2.78 ERA

Closer

Koji Uehara
21 SV 1.09 ERA

Rays Lineup

1. CF Desmond Jennings
.252 AVG 14 HR 54 RBI
2. LF David DeJesus
.251 AVG 8 HR 38 RBI
3. 2B Ben Zobrist
.275 AVG 12 HR 71 RBI
4. 3B Evan Longoria
.269 AVG 32 HR 88 RBI
5. RF Wil Myers
.293 AVG 13 HR 53 RBI
6. 1B James Loney
.299 AVG 13 HR 75 RBI
7. DH Matt Joyce
.235 AVG 18 HR 47 RBI
8. SS Yunel Escobar
.256 AVG 9 HR 56 RBI
9. C Ryan Hanigan*
.198 AVG 2 HR 21 RBI

Bench

INF Logan Forsythe*
.214 AVG 6 HR 19 RBI
INF/OF Sean Rodriguez
.246 AVG 5 HR 23 RBI
C Jose Molina
.233 AVG 2 HR 18 RBI

Rotation

1. David Price
10-8 3.33 ERA
2. Alex Cobb
11-3 2.76 ERA
3. Matt Moore
17-4 3.29 ERA
4. Chris Archer
9-7 3.22 ERA
5. Jake Odorizzi
9-6 3.33 ERA (AAA stats)

Setup

Heath Bell*
5-2 4.11 ERA

Closer

Grant Balfour*
38 SV 2.59 ERA

Yankees Lineup

1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury*
.298 AVG 9 HR 53 RBI
2. SS Derek Jeter
.190 AVG 1 HR 7 RBI
3. RF Carlos Beltran*
.296 AVG 24 HR 84 RBI
4. 1B Mark Teixeira
.151 AVG 3 HR 12 RBI
5. C Brian McCann*
.256 AVG 20 HR 57 RBI
6. DH Alfonso Soriano
.255 AVG 34 HR 101 RBI
7. LF Brett Gardner
.273 AVG 8 HR 52 RBI
8. 3B Kelly Johnson*
.235 AVG 16 HR 52 RBI
9. 2B Brian Roberts*
.249 AVG 8 HR 39 RBI

Bench

OF Ichiro Suzuki
.262 AVG 7 HR 35 RBI
INF Brendan Ryan
.197 AVG 4 HR 22 RBI
C Francisco Cervelli
.269 AVG 3 HR 8 RBI

Rotation

1. C.C. Sabathia
14-13 4.78 ERA
2. Hiroki Kuroda
11-13 3.31 ERA
3. Masahiro Tanaka*
24-0 1.27 ERA (Japan)
4. Ivan Nova
9-6 3.10 ERA
5. Michael Pineda
2-1 3.32 ERA (A, AA and AAA stats)

Setup

Shawn Kelley
4-2 4.39 ERA

Closer

David Robertson
5-1 2.04 ERA

Orioles Lineup

1. RF Nick Markakis
.271 AVG 10 HR 59 RBI
2. 3B Manny Machado
.283 AVG 14 HR 71 RBI
3. CF Adam Jones
.285 AVG 33 HR 108 RBI
4. 1B Chris Davis
.286 AVG 53 HR 138 RBI
5. DH Nelson Cruz*
.266 AVG 27 HR 76 RBI
6. C Matt Wieters
.235 AVG 22 HR 79 RBI
7. SS J.J. Hardy
.263 AVG 25 HR 76 RBI
8. LF Delmon Young*
.260 AVG 11 HR 38 RBI
9. 2B Ryan Flaherty
.224 AVG 10 HR 27 RBI

Bench

INF/OF Steve Lombardozzi*
.259 AVG 2 HR 22 RBI
INF Jonathan Schoop
.278 AVG 14 HR 52 RBI (Rookie, A and AAA stats)
OF Nolan Reimold
.195 AVG 5 HR 12 RBI

Rotation

1. Chris Tillman
16-7 3.71 ERA
2. Ubaldo Jimenez*
13-9 3.30 ERA
3. Miguel Gonzalez
11-8 3.78 ERA
4. Bud Norris
10-12 4.18 ERA
5. Wei-Yin Chen
7-7 4.07 ERA

Setup

Darren O’Day
5-3 2.18 ERA

Closer

Tommy Hunter
4 SV 2.81 ERA

Blue Jays Lineup

1. SS Jose Reyes
.296 AVG 10 HR 37 RBI
2. LF Melky Cabrera
.279 AVG 3 HR 30 RBI
3. RF Jose Bautista
.259 AVG 28 HR 73 RBI
4. 1B Edwin Encarnacion
.272 AVG 36 HR 104 RBI
5. DH Adam Lind
.288 AVG 23 HR 67 RBI
6. CF Colby Rasmus
.276 AVG 22 HR 66 RBI
7. 3B Brett Lawrie
.254 AVG 11 HR 46 RBI
8. C Dioner Navarro*
.300 AVG 13 HR 34 RBI
9. 2B Ryan Goins
.257 AVG 6 HR 46 RBI (AAA stats)

Bench

INF Maicer Izturis
.236 AVG 5 HR 32 RBI
OF Moises Sierra
.262 AVG 11 HR 54 RBI (Rookie and AAA stats)
C Erik Kratz*
.213 AVG 9 HR 26 RBI

Rotation

1. R.A. Dickey
14-13 4.21 ERA
2. Mark Buehrle
12-10 4.15 ERA
3. Brandon Morrow
2-3 5.63 ERA
4. Drew Hutchison
0-4 4.84 ERA (A, AA and AAA stats)
5. J.A. Happ
5-7 4.56 ERA

Setup

Steve Delabar
5-5 3.22 ERA

Closer

Casey Janssen
34 SV 2.56 ERA