American League East 2013 Lineups

by Bernie Fallon

These are the starting lineups for the American League East. Each team is looking strong. Initially, I looked to check out the Yankees roster. For me, seeing the Yankees roster came on the heels of writing about the Diamondbacks roster.   Thus, the Yankees is looking pretty good! It does show me how average the DBacks roster is. 

Speaking of good rosters, the Red Sox are looking good too!  With that decent roster and new management, I think the Sox will have more pep in their step.  And the Blue Jays look great. From top to bottom that is the best offense in the division.

Potential Opening Day Lineups

	Yankees	Blue Jays	Rays	Red Sox	Orioles
1	Ichiro Suzuki	Jose Reyes	Desmond Jennings	Jacoby Ellsbury	Nate McCluth
2	Derek Jeter	Melky Cabrera	Yunel Escobar	Shane Victorino	J.J. Hardy
3	Robinson Cano	Jose Bautista	Ben Zobrist	Dustin Pedroia	Nick Markakis
4	Mark Teixeira	Edwin Encarnacion	Evan Longoria	David Ortiz	Adam Jones
5	Curtis Granderson	Brett Lawrie	Matt Joyce	Mike Napoli	Matt Wieters
6	Kevin Youkilis	Colby Rasmus	Luke Scott	Will Middlebrooks	Chris Davis
7	Eduardo Nunez	Adam Lind	James Loney	Stephen Drew	Wilson Betemit
8	Austin Romine	J.P. Arencibia	Sam Fuld	Jonny Gomes	Manny Machado
9	Brett Gardner	Emilio Bonifacio	Jose Molina	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	Brian Roberts

I would probably pick the division like this.

1. Yankees
2. Red Sox
3. Blue Jays
4. Rays
5. Orioles

The Red Sox beat out the Blue Jays because of that pep in their step.  I know that, on paper, the Blue Jays are the best. They are so talented. Brett Lawrie should have a year which puts him as a top 15 player. Melky is a nice number 2 hitter. Reyes can do a lot. Bonifacio is a wonderful 9 hitter. And, who knows? This could be the year that Rasmus does something. The Blue Jay pitching staff is probably the best, on paper. The Yankees have some serious "ifs". Will Phil Hughes pitch average? They can't have average.

For now, check out the starting rotations.  Again, the Blue Jays look good! 

Potential Starting Rotations

	Yankees	Blue Jays	Rays	Red Sox	Orioles
1	CC Sabathia	R.A. Dickey	David Price	Jon Lester	Jason Hammel
2	Hiroki Kuroda	Josh Johnson	Jeremy Hellickson	Ryan Dempster	Wei-Yin Chen
3	Andy Pettitte	Brandon Morrow	Matt Moore	Clay Buchholz	Chris Tillman
4	Phil Hughes	Mark Buehrle	Jeff Niemann	Felix Doubront	Miguel Gonzalez
5	Ivan Nova	Ricky Romero	Alex Cobb	John Lackey	Jair Jurrjens