Call to the Pen’s All-AL East team
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
As the Divisional Correspondent for the AL-East, it will be my pleasure and privilege to bring comprehensive coverage and analysis of “The Toughest Division in Sports” to the faithful readers of Call to the Pen. The defending World Series champ and offseason’s biggest spenders both lie in wait to reignite their historic rivalry, and with none of their opponents figuring to be much of a pushover, the road through the East looks as contested as ever.
The All-AL East team was voted on by members of the CTTP staff, ranking the players at each position within the division.
CATCHER
Brian McCann signed a lucrative and much publicized deal with the New York Yankees this offseason after spending the first nine seasons of his career as an Atlanta Brave. He’ll receive 85 million dollars in exchange for donning pinstripes for the next five years, and it’s no wonder why. His .256/.336/.461 line was good 20% better than the league average when adjusted for his home park, and coupled with his above-average defense at the position where offense comes at the highest premium, it’s no wonder that McCann was not only the most desirable catcher on the free-agent market, but also the most desirable in the entire division according to our staff. He’s hit 20 or more home runs in 7 of the last 8 years and he gets a good amount of walks without striking out too much.
Voting: NYY McCann, BAL Matt Wieters, BOS A.J. Pierzinski, TB Ryan Hanigan, TOR Dioner Navarro
FIRST BASE
Chris Davis ran away with this category, obtaining all but one first place vote. (it was mine) Going into the All-Star break, Davis was on pace to put up a season for his Baltimore Orioles that would have been close to or exceeding Roger Maris‘ former record 61 homer season. His 37 home runs in the first half of the season tied Reggie Jackson‘s all-time record and, though he cooled off down the stretch, he finished the year with a monstrous 53 home runs. He was a no-brainer for the All-Star team and he finished third in the MVP voting. His 138 RBI and 53 homers both led all of baseball, and his breakout season doesn’t appear to reek of any kind of bad luck. The power has always been there with Davis, but something clicked in 2013 that allowed him to make a lot more quality contact with the ball. If he can keep it up into 2014, he could conceivably challenge Miguel Cabrera for the title of the game’s best first baseman.
Voting: BAL Davis, TOR Edwin Encarnacion, BOS Mike Napoli, NYY Mark Teixeira, TB James Loney
SECOND BASE
Dustin Pedroia was the only position player to receive all of the first place votes at their position in the AL East. The gritty keystone man of the Boston Red Sox put up another stellar year in 2013. While playing premium defense at an offensively challenged position, his .301 batting average and .376 OBP were both 21st in all of baseball amongst qualified hitters. He played through injuries and helped lead his beloved Sox to another World Championship. He seems to be a force that any team would love to have both on the field and in the clubhouse, and though his power dropped off significantly in 2013, he made up for it entirely by raising his average and maintained a nearly identical relative level of production to his 2012. Ben Zobrist was the near-unanimous choice for second place, creating quite a wide gulf between the top two and the rest in the eyes of our staff.
Voting: BOS Pedroia,TB Ben Zobrist, NYY Brian Roberts, TOR Ryan Goins, BAL Jemile Weeks
SHORTSTOP
According to the points system that we used to aggregate the results, Jose Reyes of the Toronto Blue Jays and J.J. Hardy of the Orioles tied for first in the voting, however, Reyes received 2 more first-place votes, so we are going to consider him the winner by a hair. Though a sprained ankle caused him to miss over 50 games, he still managed 2.2 WAR on the back of a .296 batting average and .353 OBP. He hit 10 home runs in his limited action, though he was forced to scale back his baserunning resulting in a disappointing 15 steals. The Jays are clearly hoping for a rebound in 2014 (from more than just Reyes) to full health for their star shortstop. Hardy, on the other hand, generated 3.4 WAR, missing only three games all year. His always great defense, excellent track record of durability and surprising pop (25 homers last year) make up for his usually-below-average OBP, this year clocking in at a dismal .306
Voting: TOR Reyes, BAL J.J. Hardy, NYY Derek Jeter, BOS Xander Bogaerts, TB Yunel Escobar
THIRD BASE
The Tampa Bay Rays are the last team to have a player make the list, but he has a legitimate argument for being the best in the bunch. Evan Longoria had a phenomenal 2013, playing in 160 games and generating 6.8 WAR for the playoff-bound Rays. He hit 30 home runs and played his usual brand of spectacular defense, he maintained a strong OBP of .343 and essentially did everything you’d want from a third baseman. Add in the fact that he’s signed to one of the most team friendly contracts in baseball, and it’s no wonder that he ran away with this category as we saw it. Defensive wizard and rookie phenom Manny Machado took a couple first place votes in this category, but it appears his lack of a track record compared to Longoria prevented him from threatening to deseat the champ.
Voting: TB Longoria, BAL Manny Machado, TOR Brett Lawrie, BOS Will Middlebrooks, NYY Kelly Johnson
Next Page: Outfielders & DH
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
LEFT FIELD
After making headlines this week for signing a 4 year, 50 million dollar extension to stay in pinstripes, it’s clear that the Yankees see the same thing we did in their left fielder. Brett Gardner is the clear choice from this group, as his game changing speed and resultant elite defense would be a huge asset on any team. He put up a solid year in 2013, playing in 145 games after injuries stole most of his 2012, and though playing in left field instead of center significantly lowers his WAR-type value, no one can argue that a .340+ OBP is undesirable anywhere on the diamond. He may not see a season like his 6 WAR peak unless he returns to center, but his offensive line may still be more similar than that would make it appear. His 8 home runs were a career best by one, and though his stolen bases are down (25 last year, 49 in his last full season) he is still contributing solid value on the basepaths.
Voting: NYY Gardner, BOS Daniel Nava, TOR Melky Cabrera, TB David DeJesus, BAL David Lough
CENTER FIELD
Center field ended up being one of our tighter races for a spot on this team, with Jacoby Ellsbury narrowly edging out the Orioles’ Adam Jones. Ellsbury enjoyed the second best season of his career as he stormed to both a career and league high stolen base total of 52. His .298 average, .355 OBP and fantastic defense combined with the stellar performances of his teammates are the reason that Boston is defending the crown this year, and the New York Yankees have high hopes that their new center fielder will be as adept at beating up on his former team as he was at beating up on them when he wore the grey and red.
Voting: NYY Ellsbury, BAL Adam Jones, TB Desmond Jennings, TOR Colby Rasmus, BOS Jackie Bradley Jr.
RIGHT FIELD
Jose Bautista, in spite of spending parts of the last two seasons on the disabled list, appeared either first or second on every ballot submitted by our staff. Toronto’s powerful right fielder may not recapture the 50+ home run power that resurrected his career from bench bat to superstar, but the power is certainly still there. Even in limited action, the slugger has hit 55 home runs the past two years and been worth 7.2 WAR. He continues to maintain an elite walk rate with a well-below-average strikeout rate that sees him walk nearly as often as he whiffs; desirable traits for a power hitter and both should help the slugger age gracefully.
Voting: TOR Bautista, TB Wil Myers, NYY Carlos Beltran, BOS Shane Victorino, BAL Nick Markakis
DESIGNATED HITTER
Arguably the best designated hitter of all time had a phenomenal season in 2013 for the Championship Sox. (funny how a lot of their players are on here) Though he missed 25 games, his contributions when he was there more than made up for it. His .395 OBP was the 10th best in the game amongst qualified hitters, and his 152 wRC+ ranked eighth amongst that same group. He followed up his spectacular regular season with one of the most prolific postseasons of all time, culminating in an insane .688 batting average in the World Series.
Voting: BOS Ortiz, NYY Alfonso Soriano, TB Matt Joyce, TOR Adam Lind, BAL Nolan Reimold
Next Page: Pitchers
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
RELIEVER (NON CLOSER)
Steve Delabar‘s life is basically a movie. When his elbow exploded on a minor league pitching career and had to be rebuilt using screws and metal, it legitimately appeared that his career was ending before it could begin. He began coaching local pitchers in his spare time, and in trying to teach a new weighted ball program to them by first learning it himself, he was able to throw harder than he ever had before. Much harder. His mid-high nineties fastball and devastating splitter saw him quickly rise through the minors in Seattle before a midseason trade brought him North of the border. His is the kind of stuff that allowed him to rack up 12.58 strikeouts per nine innings, the fifth best mark amongst AL relievers, and Toronto is more than happy with their Cinderella story.
Voting: TOR Delabar, BAL Darren O’Day, BOS Edward Mujica, TB Joel Peralta, NYY Shawn Kelley
CLOSER
After a bit of a carousel at the position to start the year, Boston manager John Farrell settled on Koji Uehara as the team’s closer and rewarded his skipper’s faith by posting one of the better relief seasons of all time. He struck out 12.23 batters per nine innings and walked only 1.09. He generated 3.3 WAR by FanGraphs’ measure in only 74.1 innings and his .129 batting average against and 0.57 WHIP were by far the best marks amongst qualified relievers. He figures to lock down the closer’s mantle in 2014, and it’s no surprise our staff would take him over any closer in the division.
Voting: BOS Uehara, TB Grant Balfour, NYY David Robertson, TOR Casey Janssen, BAL Tommy Hunter
STARTING PITCHERS
David Price was the unanimous first place choice as the best starting pitcher in the division. He followed up his Cy Young winning 2012 with a shaky start, but overall finished with another very strong season in 186 innings. He lost a few strikeouts per nine, but nearly halved his walk rate at the same time, allowing him to accumulate an even better FIP than his career year. Rounding out the front of the rotation on our AL East dream team we’ve got Jon Lester of the Red Sox who saw a bounceback last year after looking like he was in the throes of decline, and CC Sabathia who has some of that bounceback stuff to do this year. At the back we have Boston’s fragile but brilliant Clay Buchholz and promising newcomer Masahiro Tanaka, the Japanese ace who signed a 155 million dollar contract with the Yankees without ever throwing a pitch professionally in the United States. Just missing the cut and relegated to the bench are the Rays’ Alex Cobb and Toronto’s ‘ace’ and 2012 NL Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey.