The AL East round table is up over at The Baseball Analysts and I was lucky enough to partake, here's a small teaser:
R.J: This really comes down to the health of their top three arms, if Halladay, Burnett, and McGowan stay healthy I can see them sneaking into a wild card spot. Accardo will fill in for Ryan for a while, and we’ll how the bullpen shakes out with Downs and Brandon League, but I don’t see much of a reason – barring the injury bug turning into a goddamned cthulhu - to think the Jays are the one legitimate threat to the Yankees and Red Sox finishing first-second, just as they have been for a few seasons now.
I’m a big John McDonald fan, so you can imagine my reaction when I saw they signed David Eckstein. A team that has Marco Scutaro, Russ Adams, Aaron Hill, and McDonald will have the defensively average at best Eckstein playing? That’s sure to hurt the amazing range the Jays had at their disposal up the middle.
I'd like to thank Rich, Patrick, and the rest of the BAn. staff for having me, it was a pleasure to take part.
Also check out the newest long-term Ray in a warm-up session, hat tip to Jason Collette, go check RotoJunkie for more of him.
Dan Wheeler's slider (via ucfmj)