AL North

Stretching previews out this late into the season is kind of problematic. Some teams make you look good (Nashville) while others make it hard to rate them as highly as you want (KC $@%#&^* Jayhawks.) Still, certain rotten starts aside, the AL North isn't too hard to handicap.

You're still the king until someone knocks you off your throne: the Erffdoggs are still the top dogs. It is hard to see them finish anywhere but #1 in the division for he 7th straight year, even though they may not get to that 100 win plateau quite so easily. Although they have pushed their payroll past $124M, they have had to shed a lot of salary the last couple of seasons, and the replacements are generally lower caliber. While this is not showing up in the offensive numbers yet, the pitching is slipping a bit. Like it matters. This team has always been about scoring. With a core of 1B John Yamamoto, 2B Ken Woods, DH Geronimo Marquez, C Juan Carrasquel and LF Tommy Webster, you can get by with some weaker bats at the other spots. All these guys can mash. In RF, a Glenallen Ward/Wayne Power platoon also provides a lot of fire power. Newcomers Brian Lee in CF and Diego Lira at 3B are each a pretty good combination of bat and glove, while Dwight Mullin is a premium defensive SS who adds little with the bat. The rotation is a little more stable with Ted Sheets, Stew Kingsale, Ronn Taschner and Jay Denham all returning. While none of them may be a traditional 'ace', all are solid and could be #2 guys on most staffs. Unfortunately, Sheets has been lost for the season, making wholck look very smart for adding offseason depth in Calvin Shibata and Enrique Quixote. Shibata was the reigning co-CY. Frank Hong is the closer. While he won't make Philly fans forget Phil Chang, he is solid. Taschner and Jason Gruber had been the primary setup men, but with Taschner needed back in the rotation, the pen is looking pretty shaky. Get the starter out early and go to town is the scouting report on the Erffdoggs.

The plan in KC was for this to be the season that the Jayhawks were ready to truly retake the division crown that they had worn for so many years. With the young players maturing and more help on the way from the minors and Philadelphia looking weaker, it was time to stop being satisfied with wildcard berths. In their glory years, the KC squad was always built on balance, with pitching and defense being valued just as high as scoring. That blueprint worked well for a long time, so why mess with a good thing? The strength of the team is the starting pitching. Jason Heyward, William Mathers, Danny Edwards, Carlos Tavarez and the newly called up rookie Santos Eovaldi are all 27 or younger and all but Mathers are making near minimum wage. They not only allowed the team to trade Calvin Shibata, they also let the Jayhawks convert another very good young starter Juan Veras into a standout setup man. The rest of a good pen consists of Norberto Lecuona, Jose Torres and Santo Mendez setting up closer Darren James. James has the stuff to be quite good at the job, but his stamina is so poor that the team has to keep a chair by the mound to let him sit and rest between pitches. He is reaching the end of a very short leash, and this may soon become a bullpen by committee. Offensively, the idea was to keep as much defense and onbase prowess as possible, while emphasizing power a little more. The OF is made up of Jorge Lunar in LF, Piper Manning in CF and Angel Jose in RF. All possess good power, and he latter two have Gold Glove potential. In the IF, all four players could have Gold Gloves in their futures. Yonder Rosado is another power bat, but is yet to reach his potential. This is also true of 2B Esteban Nieves. SS Stan Judd is a prime defender, who offers just enough offense to make him worth playing, and 3B Lyle Nichting is a good all around hitter. Catching is a platoon of GG winner Victor Alfonzo and Vin Blanco who is solid with both the bat and glove. Del Camacho is supposed to be getting seasoning in AAA to become the main man behind the plate for next season, but is making it hard to keep him down on the farm with his fast start. Brad O'Connor and Vladimir Rose platoon at DH, with O'Connor also backing up at the corners.

Hard to choose between Vancouver and Boise, but I will go with the more experienced GM and say that Boise finishes third. I'll start with the pitching, as it is like a brand new group. The rotation returns only one incumbent, Ryan Michaels, who was a long reliever/spot starter last year. He is a wild man out there, but has enough talent to get by with it. FA lefty Todd Quinn is an aging, but still high quality arm. Groucho Donovan is the #3 man, another FA, and an adequate SP. Oswaldo Duran and Mark Comer bring up the rear, and are mostly uninspiring. The pen is a strong point. Former SP Wayne Cintron and FA signee Paul Hoover have been exiled to long relief for now, but I have to believe they will eventually reclaim spots in the rotation. Closer Jesus Gutierrez, and setup man Julio Polonia were two key offseason acquisitions to go along with holdovers Kenley Roth, Lou Donald and Greg Jacquez. CF Michael Palmer is the star of the team offensively and defensively. Great speed and range, very good power, and a good overall hitter. His OF mates are Ricky Mercedes (Don't be fooled by the fact that he looks like he has full-blown AIDS. He can still hit.) and Alving Ibanez, both solid players. Juan Peguero and Douglas Valentin share catching and DH duties. Both have terrific bats and usable gloves, especially Peguero. Walt Smoak is also available as a great fielding late inning guy. The IF consists of a fading Al Atkins at 3rd, Emil Olmeda at 2nd and Jordan Byrd at SS. Olmeda, another off-season acquisition is an indifferent fielder, but posts a good enough OBP to be a good leadoff man, while rookie Byrd is above average with the bat and little below average with the leather. Valentin gets a majority of the time at 1B, although Tris Fitzgerald may start challenging there. He has a pretty good bat, but an odd skill set for playing the field. His best position is probably LF.

Last year I called Vancouver (then Montreal) an offense first team. Turns out they were actually pretty balanced looking at the numbers. They were 7th in the AL in WHIP and 7th in OPS. This year they seem to be following my script a little better. A slow start has left their offense below average, but their pitching is the worst in the AL so far by most metrics. So lets check the pitching a little closer. They actually have a very good and young rotation. Sadie Miller, Nelson Jordan, James Huang and Carlos Polanco are all quite good and are second within the division only to KC's starting rotation. Albert Gonzalez has one of those bizarre skill sets that only HBD can dream up: Superb changeup, very good fastball and curve. Great control and even better velocity. Keeps the ball down. Simply can't retire RH batters. Not the worst 5th starter in the world, but he'll throw several bad games for every good one. Dioner Ortiz gets his first extended chance at closing and has been good so far. Orval Little has talent and a rubber arm, but cannot locate the plate to save his life. Youngsters Felipe Garza and Bailey Chapman are just a little short on stuff, while wily vets Francisco Cervantes and Henry Mirabelli can still get guys out with guile. Rule 5 pitcher Buddy Carson could develop into a useful RP. Offensively, this team does have star power. 2B Alfredo Payton is good at just about everything: great fielder and base runner, very solid and balanced in all phases of batting, and can play nearly every day. Much of the same can be said for CF Adrian Hendricksen except he comes up a little short on durability. Count C Jason Fuld in that camp too. He has been both a gold glove and silver slugger....a rare commodity behind the plate. Esteban Belliard at DH has unworldly power, and could play catcher on a lot of teams. At the OF corners, Vicente Carrara is another fine hitter and Cla Service is a (ahem) servicable hitter. The rest of the IF consists of Ross Greenwood at 3rd, Jimmie Russell at 1B and a Andy Clark/Dan Creek platoon at SS. Greenwood doesn't have the power a lot fo teams want at 3rd, but has been a good top of the order hitter for a long time now. Jimmie Russell is another big stick and Creek is a fine fielder with a suspect bat, while Clark is a better hitter, but not so good with the glove.

This is one of the stronger divisions top to bottom. Look for Philadelphia to win it one more time, KC to settle for another wildcard and Boise and Vancouver to both be competitive.