"Baseball's strongest division," says Peter Gammons in his latest column about the American League East, and who could disagree

I think you could argue that the AL West is stronger. Texas doesn't weight the division down like the Devil Rays (I found it funny that there was no mention of them in the article), and the Oakland/Anaheim/Seattle combo is certainly capable of matching NY, Boston & Toronto.

I'm not saying they are better, just that you could reasonably disagree with the statement.

Gammons also misquoted the Jimi Hendrix song Spanish Castle Magic as he is travelling by his "Dragon Fly" not unicorn. I really am interested to see how this division plays out especially early in the year. I can see the Jays having a real shot at both New York and Boston and it will be interesting to see if Big Stein panics at all if New York should start off slowly.

As it's Groundhog Day, lets ask the question - Will the finishing order of the AL East finally change this year ? Or will it be deja-vu all over again ?

Personally I think Boston will win the division this year. I have however thought that before.

For baseball fans, it doesn't matter whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not. We know spring is arriving shortly after the pitchers and catchers report.

I've no sense at all how this season will play out. I do think that injuries and morale issues will play more of a role than they have in the last 5 years.

As it's Groundhog Day, lets ask the question - Will the finishing order of the AL East finally change this year ? Or will it be deja-vu all over again ?

It's gotta change...how often do you have a Friday the 13th occur in February on a leap year? ;-)

interesting to see if Big Stein panics at all if New York should start off slowly.

Not to tease my Yankees preview too much, but I have a sense of utter doom this season ... I fear utter and complete implosion.

Not to tease my Yankees preview too much, but I have a sense of utter doom this season ... I fear utter and complete implosion.

Well, I'm neither a Yankee fan nor a Yankee hater, but I would welcome such an implosion for two reasons:
1. (Obviously) It's to the Blue Jays' advantage, and
2. It would provide a tremendous amount of entertainment in the behaviour of the more hysterical Yankees fans and media.

Matthew, I think you forgot reasons 3 through 10: George Steinbrenner's reaction.

I was mentally counting that as part of 2.

Well, I'm neither a Yankee fan nor a Yankee hater

I would think that the only people who could truthfully make the above statement are non-baseball fans.

Well, my father's a Yankee fan and has been since the '50s, so on his behalf I can't be entirely displeased when they win. Besides, this Yankee team isn't particularly unlikable. I was actually happy to see New York win the first couple of World Series they won in the '90s . . . but I've had enough of that now, and am ready for the utter and complete implosion.

I'm taking some communications course in university right now, and I read this really cool article today about how an organization can establish a 'culture' to get the most out of its members. There are textbook established elements that can partially explain how such a phenomena can occur.

My article even went so far as to point to the 2002 twins and angels as examples of how psychology is such a big factor in organizations, and how leaders can really get the most productivity out of their followers or players in this case. Certainly, this is more than just fluffy cliches of "born winners" or "playing 110%"....

The most obvious numerical proof of what a winning culture can do is when one takes a look at the marlins pre and post Jack McKeon. I don't have any insight into the happenings within the clubhouse, but with this article I read a leader of an organization made his engineers beneath him feel more motivated by making each event seem more dramatic than it actually was. Making his key players lead the team on by example instead of perhaps establishing particular concrete guidelines for them to follow.

Other factors for how teams or organizations seem to establish this winning culture is by having a cast of diverse personalities with different specialties... maybe some people were cold and calculating and others could be warm and friendly.... Establishing a specialized list of 'in' terms seems to encourage each team member to feel more of a sense of "belonging"... Trying to make each piece of labour upon the field to seem more personal... i.e. thats not just a double produced by proper swinging mechanics, part of "me" is inside of that double.....

I don't claim to understand this kind of stuff completely.... and you can write my little ramblings here off as hokey or cheezy if you like, but this is how david beats goliath... It's these intangibles that coaches will often claim are the most challenging thing to establish... much more so than any numbers analysis, or any general strategy....

This is what immedietly came to mind after reading Gammons' article... School actually helped me realize something that matters for once :).....

Pistol, there's a whole paragraph on the Devil Rays in the Gammons article. Granted, it's not much, but they are mentioned...sorry if I sound picky or something, just pointing it out.

And that Franciso Quiroz remark is funny. Expect to see William Rios and Andrew Griffin as September call-ups.

AL EAST - 2004

1. Boston
2. Toronto
3. New York
4. Baltimore
5. Tampa Bay

...What leads me to think that Toronto will finish ahead of New York. I just have a feeling that there will be more than a couple of players that start to seriously decline in New York (starting with their pitching). Other than that, it's just a gut feeling.

I just have a feeling that there will be more than a couple of players that start to seriously decline in New York (starting with their pitching).

Which players are you thinking of? Other than Bernie, I can't see any serious declines. Lieber will likely have some difficulty recovering from his surgery and Contreras might never blossom I suppose but this is still a very good team.

Which players are you thinking of? Other than Bernie, I can't see any serious declines.

Well, here are a few possibilities:

Jorge Posada
Jason Giambi
Gary Sheffield
Mariano Rivera
Kevin Brown
Paul Quantrill

. . . just for starters. I wouldn't be surprised if any or all of the guys I listed had excellent, All-Star type seasons, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they deteriorated sharply.

Anything can happen, and I definitely believe the Jays will be very competetive, but the Jays have just as many supposed question marks as the Yankees, if not even more:
- Eric Hinske (Will he rebound from last season?)
- Josh Phelps (His first half last season was pretty bad)
- Kevin Cash (.142 in 106AB)
- Greg Myers (37 and coming off an uncharacteristic career year)
- Pat Hentgen (struggled in first-half last year, 5.25 first-half ERA)
- Josh Towers (Was September a fluke?)
- No set Closer

I do really like the team the Jays have put together, but objectively, Posada, Giambi and the rest of those guys have proven far more and are much safer bets than many of the Jays listed above.
(If it means anything, IMHO, I think Hinske, Phelps and Hentgen will have great seasons, but I don't feel too confident about Cash, Towers and Myers)

Robbie: You're right, but I'd like to point out one thing. The questions you list for the Jays are mostly about things going right that went wrong last year. The questions for the Yankees are about things going wrong that went right last year. If you assume that half of each list of questions gets a good answer and half gets a bad answer, the Jays gain on the Yankees.

I'm not a Yankee hater or fan, and I follow baseball so closely that it negatively impacts the rest of my life =)

I just find it very hard to intensely dislike any player or team. I cheer FOR guys, not against.