The
first half of the Red Sox season was filled with excitement with multiple
walk-off homers, lots of exciting one-run games, and 58 wins (before the
All-Star break).
My
predictions going into opening day were some of the worst I have ever
made. I predicted that the Blue
Jays would win the American League east division. The Jays are currently 13.5 games out of first place and
struggling to find light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. This year is turning out to be one of
those years where you can make your predictions and the division turns out to
end up completely the other way around. So with all that said, it’s time for me to re-assess
my 2013 MLB predictions.
I’m
going to pick the Rays to win the division this year. If pitchers David Price, Matt Moore, and Jeremy Hellickson
continue having the years that they are, the Rays will come out on top. The
only thing that scares me about the Rays from here on out is the lack of power
in the middle of that lineup. They
don’t have the pop that Baltimore does.
That will make for a very hot race towards October.
I think that the Red Sox will end
up with the wild card and face the Oakland A’s in the wild card playoff
game. Sports Illustrated predicts
that the Red Sox will go down against the A’s, but SI is known for its bad
predictions. I think that the Sox
will get by Oakland in the wild card round and once it’s playoff time in
October (or Soxtober if you will), anything can happen.
Behind
the Sox in the AL East I’m going to take the Baltimore Orioles. The Birds have the bullpen depth to get
through the season. Many doubted
that they were the real deal after they won so many one-run games last year but
they seemed to prove themselves this year. I expected them to fall back this season, but they are still
very much in the race for first place in the east. The Orioles have to step it up in the second half and if
they do, watch out.
Behind
the Orioles I put the New York Yankees.
The Yanks finally got what they were asking for by signing big name
players in their prime. Texeria is
down, A-rod may be done for the year, Jeter has suffered many setbacks,
Granderson is still out, Jason Nix, Davis Phelps, Kevis Youkilis, and the list
goes on. I don’t think that the
Yankees will end up being in contention once October rolls around.
The
big question so far this year is why is a team that everyone predicted to
finish in last place – the Red Sox -- leading the division right now?
The answer is the depth that they
have in their system. Look at the
situation right now with starting third baseman Will Middlebrooks. Middlebrooks
stopped hitting well and they had three guys knocking on the door as soon as he
went down. Xander Bogarts appears
right now to be one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball. He is tearing things up in triple-A,
hitting .252 with 23 RBIs. The Sox
also have Brock Holt and Brandon Snyder to fill in at third. That’s the kind of depth that wins
games because not everyone is going to be healthy all year long.
The one place where the Red Sox
might be lacking depth is out in the bullpen. The middle relief could definitely use another arm. They got Matt Thornton from Chicago
which I think is a good move, but they still don’t have enough out there. Now that Koji Uehara is the closer,
they don’t have him as a middle reliever.
With the trade deadline rapidly
approaching on July 31st, I would expect the Red Sox to make some
sort of move regarding a pitching addition. Much has been made of a possible trade to get all-star
pitcher Cliff Lee from the Phillies or Matt Garza from the Cubs. If Theo Epstein and the Cubs are are
asking a lot for Garza, than I wouldn’t make that move. Cliff Lee, however, I can get excited
about. I don’t think that it would
be a good idea to give up a top prospect to get him but he can be a huge
addition for the Red Sox going down the stretch.
I’ll
also point out that I wasn’t the only one whose predictions ended up being a
flop. Sports Illustrated had the
division completely upside down, and had to reassess their predictions as well. I may not be 100% on how I predict the
division but one thing is for sure, it will be a hot race this year in the AL
East.
Follow Jasper Goodman on twitter: @Jasper_Goodman
Check out Jasper’s
blog:
www.goodmansports.blogspot.com
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