On The Wire: AL East Preseason

By Jim Higgins

With less than a week left before the regular season starts, it seems only fitting that I conclude my look at potential keepers for 2011 this week. We will leave off here in the Al East, a division that not only seems to have all the money in baseball, but some intriguing hidden talent as well.

Baltimore – Felix Pie – OF
This will probably be the last chance to get Pie while he is under the radar, especially considering the fact that he has beaten out Nolan Reimold as the starting LF. Now, Reimold is sitting because of some injury woes but after last year’s performance, all Pie really needed was a break to lock down consistent playing time – and now he has it. The HR, RBI, AVG and OPS have all increased with increased PT and in the middle of Baltimore’s lineup, there is another trend up waiting to happen.

Boston – Daniel Bard – P
I have tried to lock up Bard on a number of my teams this year and it seems to me that a lot of people realize this kid not only has the talent to help now, but could end up as a closer in the near future. The 3.65 ERA last year is a little high for a reliever but who can resist adding a P with a K/9 of 11.5? He probably walks a few too many guys right now (09 BB% of 4.0) but he still managed almost a 3.0 K/BB in spite of the high walk totals. As this guy further adjusts he should become more and more dominant, and he is surely displaying skills that will land him a more important bullpen role.

New York – Brett Gardner – OF
In the land of overpaid ballplayers, it is tough to find someone who is undervalued but Gardner is that guy. The Yankees seemed to send a pretty clear message this offseason when they let Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui walk and traded away Austin Jackson. Now its Gardner’s turn to return the favor. Gardner’s biggest asset is his speed and as long as he gets the ABs, he will produce SBs. Just look at his 09 numbers in which he stole 26 bases in 248 ABs – that’s a nice undervalued source of speed.

Tampa Bay – Sean Rodriguez – 2B
Rodriguez is one of those guys from the Adam Dunn-Russell Branyan school of baseball, and at 2B that can be a valuable commodity. At a position where SB and AVG usually dominate, Rodriguez gives you extraordinary power. But be warned, he also strikes out a ton. He has yet to get much of a chance in the majors but seems to have played his way onto the Rays this spring with 6 HR and a .439 AVG in 57 AB this spring. He has also struck out 14 times so the danger is there. Many analysts are calling him this year’s Ben Zobrist and that may not be a bad comparison. Grab him before his value shoots up like Zobrist’s did last year.

Toronto – Brett Cecil – P
The final player in this series comes from Toronto, where the Blue Jays are now trying to fill in the giant hole left in their rotation from the Roy Halladay trade. There are a lot of guys with a lot of interesting stories trying to make the Jays rotation but I think that by the end of the season the best starter in Toronto will be Cecil, a former first round pick. Cecil’s stats were hit and miss last year as he did post a 7-4 record, but it was with a 5.30 ERA and 1.65 WHIP. Looking under the surface though you see that Cecil posted an acceptable 6.7 K/9 and was really done in by the long ball (1.6 HR/9) and an unlucky BABIP (.338). Reverse those two and you should see marked improvement from Cecil. Add in that Cecil will only turn 23 in July, and it seems that he could easily break out.

That does it for this series, and hopefully there is at least one guy on this list that can help you build towards the future. If you have any other players you think will be future fantasy studs, share them in the comments section below. Good luck in 2010.

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