ESPN has just released its initial MLB power rankings for 2012. No real surprises at the top -- Yankees, Rangers, Angels and Tigers are the top four. The highest-ranked NL team is the D-Backs at #7, with the Phillies, Cardinals, Giants and Marlins following directly behind, all just a noodge ahead of your #12 Blue Jays.  The Rays are #5 and the Red Sox are #6, so 12th in MLB translates here to fourth in the AL East. Bringing up the rear at #30 are your (dreadful?) Houston Astros. Let's go 'stros!

Who looks, to you, to be ranked too high or too low?

My take ...

We kick off our three-part Jays preview with a look at a couple of offense-related questions.

Feel free to chime in with your own opinions in the comments.

This one'll test your memory.

In case you missed it in today's Star...

 

The minor league season starts next week, around the same time as the Blue Jays start. The rosters were announced to the players this morning and Batters Box has received a copy.

Most assignments were well known: d'Arnaud, Gose, Sierra and Hechavarria to AAA. McGuire, Jenkins, Hutchison and Jimenez to AA. And Marisnick, Crouse and Knecht to Dunedin. But there are a few surprises.

Wow. At 49 he has made the Rockies rotation and will start the 2nd game of the season for them.

Okay, let's get this out of the way ... I preview the Bronx Bombers every year for Da Box, because I am the roster's/editorial staff's designated (and reviled?) Yankee fan. Since 2004, every year, I have pretty much picked them to win the AL East and to win the World Series. Lots of times, I am right, or at least half-right. Sometimes, I am wrong, evil triumphs and those mudblood Red Sox inexplicably wear rings, which is a fashion (I still think of as) out of style, really, since about 1918.

These various previews have varied in length and style and approach, but I really have found the best and most interesting thing to do is to analyze the Yankee roster through a game of "Better Get to Know the New York Yankees" through use of the brilliant, brilliant "Similarity Scores" indexing on the greatness of BaseballReference.com.

So let's get on with this groundbreaking edition of Better Know the 2012 Yankees ...

When the Blue Jays came a purler in the 2009 season, turning in a disappointing year where a strong one was expected, it basically destroyed all of my long-term hope for the Jays.

Ten years, ten winning records for the Red Sox. The difference this year is that for the first time in ten years Theo Epstein is no longer at the helm. Of course, that won't make much of a difference for this year's version, which was mostly assembled by Epstein, and I'm not trying to suggest the Sox' fate will necessarily change for the worse with Ben Cherington at the helm, especially since Cherington has actually been with the organization since before Epstein arrived and has had plenty of experience observing one of the best decision-makers in the game (and probably contributing positively towards many of the Sox' moves over the years), but it will certainly be interesting to see what direction the new front office takes when it comes time to make some big decisions.

Regardless of the future, though, the 2012 team is very good. Let's dive in.

Casey Blake was cut by the Rockies on Tuesday. Suffering from nagging injuries and nearing 40, it might be the end of the line for him. So, it’s time to pay a little bit of appreciation to a man who deserves to be known as the man who was traded for Carlos Santana

Seems to be Prediction Day here at the old corral. Step right up and put your pride on the line.

It's that time again! The results for last year's contest were just posted a couple weeks ago, so go check them out if you haven't seen them, then come back here and make your predictions for this year!

Edit: removed my predictions so as not to influence others... a little late, but whatever.

The Mariners knocked off the Athletics, 3-1 in 11 innings in Tokyo this morning; the win was engineerd in part behind the four-hit performance of -- who else? -- Seattle's new #3 hitter, Ichiro Suzuki.

Brandon league is leading the Majors in saves and is on "pace" to nail down 162 this season, while the inimitable Ichiro's pace will shatter all records as he knocks out a remarkable 648 base hits.

It's time for the annual survey, and I'm hoping you guys work your magic once more.

http://www.tangotiger.net/survey/

With the regular season opener in Japan between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics, the POTD looks back at a noteworthy accomplishment from baseball's best Japanese import at the Dome two years ago.