2020 Pre-Season Profile: Baltimore Orioles

#30

I wasn't planning on writing my baseball preview articles this season.  I didn't think I was going to have the time (and I didn't).  Then the whole world shut down with a pandemic, and the baseball season was indefinitely postponed.  Needless to say, I all of a sudden have some time on my hands.  So to celebrate the week the baseball season was supposed to start, I am instead starting my slightly delayed look at the season that will be ... whenever we get around to it ... if we get around to it.  (My money is on Opening Day being the 4th of July.)

It is so disappointing to see this season delayed because there were so many fascinating storylines to follow.  Two of the biggest brands and best teams in baseball got even better by each adding one of the best players in the game.  Speaking of the best players in the game, the undisputed #1 of that list finally got a formidable right hand man.  Then there are the teams mired in controversy after a cheating scandal that led to year-long suspensions and references to Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe.  There are a couple superteams and a handful that are in the middle of a full rebuild, but you also have over 20 teams you could legitimately argue are serious playoff contenders.  No wonder rumors are flying to expand the playoffs (a plan which I love, but I don't think it will actually happen until baseball expands to 32 teams).  Even the rebuilding teams are starting to have some reasons to be excited as the stockpiling of prospects are starting to hit the big league field, however this delayed and most likely truncated season will hold back the development of a lot of young talen.  It is going to be an exciting season ... whenever it gets started.

With all that said, we are starting at the bottom and looking at the teams that really have the least to be excited about.  The Baltimore Orioles have been in full rebuild mode for several years now, finishing in the cellar three straight years and bottoming out in 2018 when they lost 115 games.  Last season saw a new GM and manager, but it also saw another 100 loss season.  Will 2020 bring a noticeable improvement or more of the same?

2019 Predictions

#30 - 5th in AL East

MIH: Chris Davis

MIP: Alex Cobb

PTW: Dillon Tate

FP: The Orioles will pick in the top 5 in the MLB Draft for five straight seasons.

2019 Results

#29 - 54-108, 5th in AL East

The Orioles waited way too long to start their rebuild which almost guaranteed they were facing some ridiculously lean years for quite some time.  The players I predicted their success would be dependent on failed miserably.  Chris Davis followed up the historically bad 2018 with a slightly better but still really bad 2019.  The pure power hitter hit below .180 for the second straight year while also failing to top the 20 home run mark, finishing with a -1.2 WAR.  Entering his age 34 season with three years left on a historically bad 7 year, $161 million deal, he is untradeable and probably uncuttable.  As far their Most Important Pitcher, Alex Cobb only pitched in three games before the rest of the season was lost to a hip injury.  He is also entering his age 34 season and signed through 2022, although on a slightly more bearable deal.  Even my pick for their Prospect to Watch floundered as Dillon Tate, once a highly-touted prospect, could only get 21 innings in.  He is barely staying in the top 30 of Baltimore's prospect list.  There was very little to be excited about in 2019 for the Orioles.

Additions / Subtractions

The Orioles also did not do much over the offseason to excite their fan base.  Their best hitter in 2019, Jonathan Villar, was traded to Miami for a minor leaguer.  The pitcher who had been touted as their ace of the future (although never fully living up to the hype), Dylan Bundy, was traded to the Angels.  Coming in were only veteran placeholders like shortstop Jose Iglesias and starting pitcher Wade LeBlanc.

Most Important Hitter

Hanser Alberto

Last year, I said the Orioles' most important players were the guys that could build trade stock so they could bring back some value.  They don't really have any of those anymore like I already said.  It is now time for the Orioles to take a true step forward, and that means players like Hanser Alberto need to continue to develop into potential stars.  Alberto's success last season allowed for the Orioles to trade Jonathan Villar and make Alberto their everyday second baseman.  He was definitely a bright spot in 2019, hitting over .300 with 12 homers and 51 RBI's.  If the Orioles are going to be better this year, players like Hanser Alberto, Austin Hays, and Anthony Santander need to prove they are ready to be daily contributors and possible stars.

Most Important Pitcher

John Means

If Alberto was a bright spot among the hitters, John Means was definitely the bright spot in the pitching staff.  The Orioles' lone All Star in 2019, Means had a great season, posting an ERA+ of 131 and finishing 2nd in the Rookie of the Year vote behind only Yordan Alvarez of the Astros.  Now with Dylan Bundy gone and Alex Cobb coming off injury, Means will be looked at as the ace heading into the season.  If he continues to develop, he is up to the task and could be the anchor a young team like this needs to move forward.

Prospect to Watch

Ryan Mountcastle

The Orioles have four prospects in the top 100, with last year's #1 overall pick Adley Rutschman topping out at #4.  However, Ryan Mountcastle is the one closest to the big leagues.  A former first round pick in 2015, this first baseman has hit at every level, even winning the AAA MVP last season and the Orioles Minor League Player of the Year award.  At some point in 2020, the Orioles will give up on Chris Davis, either by permanently benching him or cutting him and eating the money.  Either way, he will not block Ryan Mountcastle from making the big leagues for long.  He is a future cornerstone the Orioles will try and build on.

2020 Prediction

5th in AL East

This year will be another year of disappointment for the Orioles.  They seem to be on the trajectory the Astros took at the beginning of the 2010's.  Be really bad for 3-5 years and build up draft picks and prospects that will hopefully lead the team to the promised land at some point in the next 10 years.  The Orioles have already bottomed out, but they aren't ready to get better yet.  Look for this to be the third year in a row they earn a top five draft pick.

Fearless Prediction

The Orioles will cut more payroll than is earned by the rest of their 25 man roster.

Chris Davis is set to make $23 million this year and still has $69 million on his contract.  If he gets cut, those numbers very easily could be greater than the rest of the roster.  If Alex Cobb gets cut too (which is possible if he doesn't bounce back from his injury), then the Orioles will definitely be paying more money to players not in uniform than they will for players that are.  It is never a good thing, but it is sometimes necessary to take the steps forward a franchise needs.

2019 Pre-Season Profile: Baltimore Orioles

#30

Today might be Oscar Sunday in the movie world, but this weekend also started Spring Training games in baseball!  This is one of my favorite times of year.  The longest, most grueling season of all the sports brings about optimism and hope for all 30 teams.

Spring Training comes at the end of a wild off-season that saw two of the game's superstars change teams (well, one isn't quite settled yet).  Let me wrap up the off-season in one sentence.  The news of the off-season was more about how there was very little action once again as the market slowed to a halt waiting for the big names to sign while the big names had an epic stare down waiting to see who would sign first so the other could ask for more money and so many teams were interested they didn't want to sign anyone else until they knew for a fact they wouldn't be getting the superstars so many solid players are still sitting unsigned even though camp has already opened for all 30 teams.  That's the story of the 2019 off-season in one big run-on sentence for you.

Each season, I walk through the league and give a preview of each team's upcoming season and how they will fare.  This season feels a little more unpredictable than most with so many teams showing they are ready to compete.  We will go through the league from the bottom to the top, ending with my prediction for this year's World Series champion.

Starting at the bottom means starting with my predicted worst team in the league this upcoming season.  It may just be the same as the worst team in the league last season.

2018 Predictions

4th in AL East

Manny Machado, Adam Jones, and Zach Britton will all end the season on the Orioles' roster.

2018 Results

47-115, 5th in AL East

I knew the Orioles were on the decline heading into 2018, but 2018 was an all-out failure of epic proportions.  The 2018 Orioles had the 15th worst season in baseball history, and outside of the 2003 Tigers that lost 119 games, they had the worst winning percentage of any team since the 1960's.  It was an all-time horrible season.  Only two players on their team posted a WAR above 2.0, and both of those players (Manny Machado and Kevin Gausman) were traded at the Trade Deadline.  That leads me to my other prediction for last season.  The Orioles held on way too long before finally deciding to try to rebuild.  I thought they were going to continue to live in denial and refuse to trade their top players for the prospects needed to start over.  However, when you are that bad, it is hard to live in denial.  Machado and Britton were traded, along with Gausman, Brad Brach, and (surprisingly) Jonathan Schoop, who they gave up on after one disappointing season.  That helped start the rebuild of a lackluster farm system.

Additions / Subtractions

When a team like the Orioles opt to tear down and re-build, especially after that awful 2018 season, the subtractions far outweigh the additions.  In addition to the crew traded mid-season last year, the O's also said goodbye to infielder Tim Beckham and Adam Jones, the face of the franchise for most of the last decade.  The other notable subtractions bring about the most notable additions.  2018 saw the end of GM Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter.  Replacing these two old school baseball guys are two new school thinkers, new GM Mike Elias and new manager Brandon Hyde, formerly the bench coach for the Cubs.

Most Important Hitter

Chris Davis

Although the rebuild has started, the Orioles have a few bad contracts on the books with some underwhelming veterans that they would love to move.  The biggest of these is Chris Davis.  Davis had a historically bad year in 2018, hitting only .168 while striking out 192 times.  His strikeouts actually were higher than his batting average.  If that isn't an MLB record, it should be.  To top it off, he got paid $23 million for this production, which resulted in a -2.8 WAR, and is signed thru 2022.  This may go down as the worst contract in baseball history.  At this point, the only way Chris Davis can be valuable to the Orioles is play well enough to give him any sort of trade value so they might be able to get a prospect or two for him instead of just releasing him and eating all that money.  Davis's production (or lack of) will be one of the more interesting stories to watch throughout the Orioles' season.

Most Important Pitcher

Alex Cobb

Alex Cobb is in a similar position as Chris Davis.  Cobb signed late last offseason with the Orioles for 4 years, $57 million.  It seemed like a decent deal considering his production up to that point.  However, he was one of many disappointments in Baltimore.  Also, his signing was strange as they should have been working to rebuild, not sign veteran starters that won't be around long enough to be relevant.  Cobb needs a bounce back season so he can build up some trade value and be moved for pieces that will impact the Orioles' future.

Prospect to Watch

Dillon Tate

This season is not going to be a good one for the Orioles, however they have the potential of being pretty exciting come the second half of the season.  Six of the Orioles' top eight prospects are either scheduled to be ready for the big leagues in 2019 or have already had a taste of big league ball.  I was tempted to go with one of their top prospects here, like outfielder Yusniel Diaz (acquired in the Machado deal) or third baseman Ryan Mountcastle (2015 1st round pick), however they probably won't see the big leagues until 2020 to save some service time.  Instead, the player worth watching is going to be Dillon Tate.  At one point, Tate was the 4th overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Rangers and was thought to be one of the top power arms in the minors.  However, some struggles with injuries and inconsistent velocity have led to two different trades in his short career; first going to the Yankees in 2016 for Carlos Beltran, then to the Orioles last year in the Zach Britton deal.  If Tate can stay healthy and recapture what made him such a touted prospect, he could be a pleasant surprise for the O's in 2019.

2019 Prediction

5th in AL East

There are a lot of unknowns coming up in the 2019 season.  However, one of the safest bets of the upcoming season is that the Orioles will finish in the AL East cellar.  Denying the thought of rebuilding for so long and refusing to build for the future has left a below average farm system and a less than competitive major league roster.  They are going to be bad, and it might end up worse than last year.

Fearless Prediction

The Orioles will pick in the top 5 in the MLB Draft for five straight seasons.

This is a long term rebuild in Baltimore.  It is going to take them awhile to be competitive again.  Also, being historically bad to build up a farm system has been proven to work (look at the Astros and Nationals).  That is what the Orioles need to do.  They already have the top pick this year.  They have a good chance at losing their way to the top pick in next year's draft as well.  Their prospects will start to work their way to the big leagues in the next couple years, but this farm system has little elite talent.  It is going to take a couple waves of prospects to get them back to being competitive, especially in that division.  Look for the Orioles to be one of the worst teams in baseball for the foreseeable future.  Trust the process!

2016 Pre-Season Profile: Baltimore Orioles

For the past few years, the Baltimore Orioles have been stuck one step from the top.  In 2014, the made it to the ALCS.  In 2015, they missed the playoffs.  What will happen in 2016?

Last Season

My 2015 Prediction: 3rd in AL East

2015 Result: 81-81, 3rd in AL East

I got their spot right on last season.  They entered the 2015 season without making any moves to move them forward, and they ended up stalling for the whole season while other teams passed them up.  Everyone saw this coming.  They needed to do something to improve their roster and didn't.  That was the result because of it.

2016 Additions / Subtractions

It was going to be really interesting to see if they did anything different this offseason after a quiet offseason last year cost them a chance to do something special.  They lost guys like Wei-Yin Chen, Steve Pearce, and Gerrardo Parra to free agency.  However, the biggest thing they did this offseason was re-sign first baseman Chris Davis.  Then they did actually bring in some outside help this offseason also, trading for Mark Trumbo and signing Pedro Alvarez and Yovani Gallardo.  They aren't blockbuster signings, but they definitely fit in what the O's are all about and will help the team out.  The Orioles also were a part of the weirdest story of the offseason, signing Dexter Fowler only to have the whole thing fall apart and Fowler end up back with the Cubs.

Most Important Hitter

Matt Wieters

Matt Wieters, along with Colby Rasmus and Brett Anderson, made history this offseason by becoming the first players to ever take their qualifying offers instead of testing free agency (I think some others are wishing they had done the same ... Dexter Fowler and Ian Desmond to name a few).  Matt Wieters needs a bounce back season.  From 2011-2013, he made two All Star Teams, won two Gold Gloves, got some MVP votes, and hit 20+ home runs each season.  Then he had Tommy John surgery and has yet to return to that form since.  He only played in 75 games last season after playing almost double that in each season in that earlier stretch.  Not only are the Orioles counting on a return to past glory, but by accepting the qualifying offer, it shows Matt Wieters is hoping for the same thing so he can get his big pay day next offseason.

Most Important Pitcher

Chris Tillman

The one consistent member of the Orioles pitching staff over the past four or five seasons has been Chris Tillman.  It shows just how much they believe in him to be the only cog that hasn't been a revolving door in that rotation.  However, last season was pretty rough for Tillman.  With Wei-Yin Chen moving on to Miami, Tillman is being counted on to be the ace, even with Yovani Gallardo in the fold.  He has to pitch like he did in 2013 and 2014 for the Orioles to have success in 2016.

Player to Watch

Dylan Bundy

It feels like Dylan Bundy has been the player to watch for Baltimore for 5 years now.  Well, that's because he has.  After being taken in the 2011 draft 4th overall, he made his big league debut in 2012.  Then, a series of injuries kept him from playing much since.  Now, because of those two games he played in 2012 at the age of 19, he is now potentially facing waivers if he does not crack the Opening Day roster.  His story is similar to Danny Hultzen, second overall pick by the Mariners in the same 2011 Draft.  His arm issues have held him back in the same way.  The only difference is Hultzen never made his debut so his service clock hasn't started yet.  It will be very interesting to see if Bundy makes the Orioles' roster, most likely in the bullpen if he does.  If he doesn't, there is a good chance he is not Oriole property when the season starts.

2016 Prediction

4th in AL East

Yes, the Orioles have made improvements to their roster, however if you really look at it, they really just replaced what they already had with comparable pieces.  Trumbo replaces Parra, Alvarez replaces Pearce, and Gallardo replaces Chen.  Those are comparable, if not inferior, replacements for every position (and Gallardo was a late addition).  I see them in the exact same spot as last year.  They are still good, but everyone else around them is getting better, and they will continue to fall down the standings of the AL East until they commit and make a splash.

Fearless Prediction

Manny Machado will be playing shortstop by the end of the season.

Manny Machado has become one of the best third basemen in the league.  However, his natural position is shortstop.  He came up as a third baseman because of how well J.J. Hardy had played at short.  It has always been in the back of everyone's mind that eventually, Manny Machado would end up at shortstop, the onl question was when.  Last year, J.J. Hardy had a terrible season as his age looked like it might have finally caught up with him a little.  If he struggles at all this season, look for him to be traded to finally clear the path for Machado to shine at his natural position.

2015 Pre-Season Profile: Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles worked through injuries and disappointing seasons in 2014 to top one of the most competitive and discussed divisions in baseball.  Do they have the talent to repeat in 2015?

Last Season

96-66, 1st in AL East, lost to Royals in ALCS

The 2014 season for the Baltimore Orioles had to be considered an incredible achievement.  They finished the season with the second best record in the American League, swept their way through one of the best pitching staffs in baseball by beating the Tigers in the ALDS, and if it weren't for the buzz saw that was the 2014 Kansas City Royals, they win the pennant and maybe the whole thing.  It's pretty impressive on its own, but even more when you consider what the O's had to endure.  First, All Star catcher Matt Wieters missed most of the season with an injury.  The same could be said for third base phenom Manny Machado, who at least played half the season.  The breakout star of 2013, first baseman Chris Davis, showed his performance that year may have been a fluke as he finished with a batting average under .200 and a home run total that was cut in half.  On the pitching side, Ubaldo Jimenez, the only starter with any history of success, struggled again, and closer Tommy Hunter needed to be replaced mid-season due to lack of production.  When a list like this can be made for everything that went wrong, it's amazing they didn't finish in the cellar.  However, thanks to the emergence of guys like Nelson Cruz, Steve Pearce, Chris Tillman, and new closer Zach Britton, the Orioles dominated.

2015 Additions / Subtractions

After such a strong 2014 season, many people said the Orioles were only a few pieces away from being the World Series favorites heading into 2015.  However, instead of making those few moves, the O's were disturbingly quiet.  They let Nelson Cruz, their most productive hitter in 2014, sign with the Mariners in free agency.  Team leader, Nick Markakis, left to sign with the Braves, and they let one of the best setup men in baseball, Andrew Miller, sign with the division rival Yankees.  As far as additions to replace the lost offense or help sure up an inconsistent rotation, they signed Travis Snider to play rightfield.  So ... they basically did nothing.

Most Important Hitter

Manny Machado

One of the reasons (I'm assuming) the Orioles didn't feel a need to fill what appeared to be big voids in their lineup left by Cruz and Markakis is they are expecting to have healthy, productive seasons out of some of their stars that underwhelmed last year.  The brightest of those stars that need to step up is Manny Machado.  Heading into this season healthy, the O's are expecting him to be back at the level that made him an All Star and Gold Glove winner while leading the league in doubles at the age of 20 in 2013.  He needs to show that he is back to that level of play, if not better, while also showing he is future leader and face of the franchise.  That is quite the load for a young 22 year old.

Most Important Pitcher

Zach Britton

Last year, when Tommy Hunter started the year struggling, Zach Britton came out of nowhere to finally show some of the promise everyone was expecting to see out of him from the beginning as a highly-touted starting prospect.  2014 saw him earn his first save (ended up with 37 of them) and have his first ERA that didn't hover around 5.00 (1.65 ERA in 2014).  The question going into 2015 is did this highly-talented kid finally figure it out and put it all together, or, like his burly teammate Chris Davis, did he just catch lightning in a bottle for one great year and will go back to being mediocre.  The Orioles are counting on the former being the case.

Player to Watch

Dylan Bundy

It feel like the Orioles have been waiting for the arrival of Dylan Bundy forever.  As the 4th overall pick in 2011, Bundy made his big league debut in 2012 at the age of 19.  After missing a year with Tommy John, he was working his way back to top form in 2014.  Now, it looks like the O's top prospect is on the verge of being the star they have always hoped he would be.  Look for him to pop up sometime around mid-season in their rotation.  A guy with the talent of Dylan Bundy could explain why the Orioles didn't feel the need to go spend on a big time free agent for their rotation.

Prediction

3rd in AL East

When it is all said and done, the Orioles just don't have the firepower to be competitive, let alone dominant, in 2015.  With the loss of Cruz, Markakis, and Miller, too many things have to go right.  Matt Wieters has to be the guy that looks like the best catcher in baseball right away.  Chris Davis has to go back to being his 2013 self.  Steve Pearce has to continue to play above his talent level.  Zach Britton has to follow up his career year with another one.  Guys like Chris Tillman and Wei-Yin Chen have to continue to lead the pitching staff and not have a down year.  Lastly, Manny Machado needs to be an MVP candidate.  The O's had the talent to lose players of that caliber, but now their margin of error is so much smaller.  Everything needs to go right for them to be great, and in a 162 game grind, that rarely happens.  Look for the Orioles to take a couple steps back this year, and then maybe they will try something (anything!) next offseason to actually improve their team.

2014 MLB Predictions: AL East

It's that magical time of year again.  I firmly believe that baseball Opening Day should be a national holiday so everyone can spend the day enjoying our National Pastime.  With the long grind of 162 games ahead of them, every team is optimistic that this year could be the year.  This off-season, big names were on the move while young top prospects won jobs on the big league rosters.  How will the final standings look when October comes around?  I know I'm a little late getting these predictions out, but they were all made before the season started.

Let's start our look at the 2014 MLB season by previewing the most unpredictable division in all of baseball: the AL East.  For the last few years, this division has had the ability from year to year to legitimately be in any standings order at season's end.  This is shown by how wrong my predictions were last year.  However, one thing I had right was that every team in the division would be good, predicting that the cellar team would still be within 5-10 games of .500 (Blue Jays finished 14 games under .500).  This year is no different.  Every team has seemed to re-load for yet another run with one of the greatest players of our generation making his final tour around the league.  Let's see what could happen.

1.  New York Yankees

The pinstripes always have to be in the mix.  Last year, they did finish in fourth, but were still 8 games over .500 with a seriously depleted roster due to injuries.  They went out in free-angency and made some big splashes.  Even though the biggest splash of the off-season was Robinson Cano leaving the pinstripes, the Yankees added one of the top lead-off hitters in baseball in Jacoby Ellsbury from the rival Red Sox, possibly the most productive offensive catcher of the last decade in Brian McCann, a player so clutch it only makes sense he's a Yankee in Carlos Beltran, and the biggest name on the pitching market in Masahiro Tanaka who is starting the season as their 4th starter.  They spent more money this off-season than the Rays will spend over the next 5 years.  Add that to the fact that they now have a healthy Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, and this team has to be the favorite in the division.  Now last year I predicted the Blue Jays would win the division because of the huge blockbuster deals they made over the off-season.  That didn't quite work out, but the Yankees are not the Blue Jays.  They have an experienced coach in Joe Girardi, and all the pieces they added are proven veterans that know what it means to win.  I expect them to rise to the top and send Derek Jeter out in style.

2.  Boston Red Sox

There is a constant debate in baseball right now between the old school and new school thinkers.  Can baseball be managed and predicted strictly on statistics, or are things like chemistry and attitude still valuable?  No argument for the old school way of thinking would be more convincing than the 2013 Boston Red Sox.  In 2012, they were in the cellar and sold off most of their top players.  Last year, they got a new manager, added a couple "clubhouse" guys (a term sabermatricians cringe at), and went from worst in the division to winning it all.  A sabermatrician would say this doesn't make sense.  However, it happened.  This year, it's a very similar roster.  They lost Ellsbury and are replacing him with a rookie (Jackie Bradley, Jr.) and a veteran making attempting a comeback (Grady Sizemore).  However, as long as they have guys like David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia leading the way (without a manger that gets in their way), they will be at the top of the league.  Them being in second has less to with what they lost and more to do with what the Yankees gained.  The Yankees ad Red Sox back on top ... all is right in the world.

3.  Baltimore Orioles

I bet the Orioles wish they could switch divisions.  Baltimore has been one of the strongest teams to not go anywhere over the last couple years.  Sharing a division with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays makes this an impossible division to break through in.  They have a great young core led by Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, and Manny Machado.  They made some big moves in free angency, adding Nelson Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez.  They have a great chance of making a splash.  They would be poised for a deep playoff run if they didn't have to play in this division.  They will instead be fighting for a wild card spot and fall just a little short.

4.  Tampa Bay Rays

In another case of "How the heck do they do what they do," we the Fighting Joe Madden's.  This team has looked very similar to teams that usually are found in the cellars of divisions.  They have solid pitching, but the offense is average at best, embarrassing at worst.  No team has been no hit more recently than the Rays.  With the shopping spree of the Yankees and the emergence of the Orioles, this Wild Card team from last year will drop back a couple notches in the best division in baseball.

5.  Toronto Blue Jays

When thinking about the biggest additions and subtractions of each team entering this season, the biggest subtraction I could think of for the Blue Jays is expectations.  Last year, they went all in, buying and trading for All Stars and Cy Young candidates to build a superpower to rival their divisional foes.  Well, that did not pan out as some players were injured while others simply underwhelmed.  The biggest highlight of the season was discovering that they have the biggest character in all of baseball.  Yes, he is Japanese.  They didn't really lose any of the major players, but this year the expectations are just much lower.  With the strength of everyone else in the division, this is the consensus cellar dweller of the AL East.  However, would it greatly surprise anyone if they made a run at a wild card spot.  Not at all.

There is the AL East.  Stay tuned for more.