Last season: 75-87 (4th in AL West)
This season's prediction: 3rd in AL West



Just kidding, of course. Even I wouldn't pick a key player that isn't playing for the team. I just wanted to show off my gold parallel card of Crosby.

The real key player based on cards in my collection is Justin Duchscherer. Much has been made about the Ben Sheets signing, and how he provides a veteran presence in the rotation, but the A's already had a leader. What I want to know is, how will The Duke handle coming back from an absolute nightmare of a season last year? And how is his mental health? I hope, for his sake, he's got things under control. Because that's what's really important, not baseball.
The Bottom Line:
The Athletics good start should give them some confidence later on down the track. Of course, it needs to be said that their record was fattened by playing four games against the Orioles last week. But the four starters (Sheets, Braden, the Duke and Brett Anderson) are all off to a good start. I'd say a .500 (or better) season is in the cards.

Last season: 64-98 (5th in AL East)
This season's prediction: 3rd 4th in AL East



As the only Oriole in my 2010 collection (so far), Scott was an easy choice as key player. However, he's not a bad choice. Although he's listed as a DH on the card, Scott splits that duty with Nolan Reimold, spending the rest of his time in left field. I like this card, because I like to see Luke Scott celebrating. I hope he does a lot of it in 2010. But if I had to pick a real key player, it would be Brian Matusz. It's his first full season in the bigs - how will he adjust to big-league hitter that have adjusted to him?
The Bottom Line: The Orioles are still a couple of years away from breaking up the Yankees/Red Sox duopoly in the AL East, as reflected in my revised prediction for this year. Still, there are signs of hope in Birdland that the team's first post-season appearance since 1997 is not too far away. This year is about taking out the Tampa Bay Rays as the "best of the rest" in the East - something that the opening series shows is easier said than done. Let's just say I have my doubts that Mike Gonzalez is a big league closer.

Last season: 78-84 (4th in NL Central)
This season's prediction: 3rd in NL Central


I was on a website (and now I wish I could remember which one it was) that asked the question "is this the year that Brandon Phillips hits 40-40?" While personally I would love for this to happen, especially since he's the token Red on my fantasy team, I don't think it'll be the case. Still, I can't help but feel that as Phillips goes, so go the Reds. They both have a lot of pressure from outside forces on them to do well. How they live up to pre-season expectations will say a lot about any future success. I think both Phillips and the team will both do just fine.

Last season: 79-83 (3rd in AL Central)
This season: 2nd in AL Central

The Bottom Line:
The White Sox' big moves came last year, when they acquired Jake Peavy and, to a lesser extent, Alex Rios. This off-season was about plugging holes, with Teahan and Beckham an upgrade over last seasons Opening Day second and third basemen, Getz and Fields. The Sox need their new look outfield to come up big time - how much do Pierre and Jones have left in the tank?

Last season:  85-77 (3rd in AL West)
This season's prediction: 1st in AL West

Key acquisitions: Cliff Lee (trade, Philadelphia); Chone Figgins (free agent);  Milton Bradley (trade, Cubs); Brandon League (trade, Toronto); Casey Kotchman (trade, Boston)
Departures: Adrian Beltre (free agent, Boston); Russell Branyan (free agent, Cleveland); Kenji Johjima (free agent, Japan); Brandon Morrow (trade, Toronto); Carlos Silva (trade, Cubs); Bill Hall (trade, Boston)

The Mariners were amongst the more active teams in the off-season, as Jack Zduriencik picked up '09 Cy Young winner Cliff Lee from the Phils, as well as signing Chone Figgins from the Angels. That was a case of addition by addition and subtraction, since not only did the Mariners upgrade their roster, but weakened their main division rival's as well.

Of course, the Lee trade give the M's a potent 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation to go with King Felix. If Erik Bedard was healthy, that'd be a really strong top three. But it's Erik Bedard we're talking about here. He's not going to be healthy.


Key player (based on the cards I have in my collection): Ichiro

I've always been a big Ichiro fan. He filled the M's star player void in my mind after Junior left for the Reds. I never really warmed up to Alex Rodriguez, even before he became "Pay-Rod" and then morphed into the Blue-Lipped Cheater. As an aside, I was never surprised about the steroid revelations, ever since he tried to get away with swatting the ball out of Kevin Millar's glove in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. Anybody who would deliberately cheat like that, with so many people watching, on baseball's biggest stage...yeah, he'd take steroids, too.

Getting back to Ichiro, the guy is going for ten straight 200-hit seasons. He has to slow down sometime, right? Well, he's "only" 36, and since he lead the majors in hits last season, I don't think it's going to be this year. He racked up his 2000th major league hit in less than nine seasons, and has 3308 career pro hits. If he had been playing in the US the whole time, Pete Rose might not be the Hit King for much longer.

The bottom line:
Jack Z has remade the Mariners to leapfrog the Rangers and go straight at division leaders Anaheim. With Lee and Figgins, the team has upgraded in two positions, and the Kotchman acquisition is designed to counteract losing Branyan. I think the Mariners are going to be fired up with the perception that management is ready to go, and will respond well to the moves. Expect them to come out strong, despite their dismal spring performance.