Philadelphia Phillies Outlook

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The Philadelphia Phillies are expecting to “reload” this season. Last year, the Phillies had a record of 73-89. The team finished fourth in the NL East. Their most standout players were Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Jimmy Rollins. These four players will all be returning this season.

During the Phillies’ offseason, they made a two-year, $16 million deal for Marlon Byrd. Also, general manager Ruben Amaro re-signed veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz. Another player re-signed is 35-year-old Utley. This took some people by surprise because of his age. He missed a huge chunk of last season due to a chronic condition in his knees.

A weakness in the Phillies has been hitting. Featured columnist for bleacherreport.com, Alec Snyder, predicts that Ben Revere and Utley will lead off in the batting order. They have been strong hitters in past years.

-Laura Camera

Milwaukee Brewers Outlook

After coming in fourth in the NL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers are focusing on making a comeback.

Rickie Weeks and Scooter Gennett will be fighting for starting second baseman. Weeks has acted as the main second baseman over the past nine years. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke hasn’t determined who the frontrunner will be, but he’s hinted that Gennett will get some playing time.With signing Matt Garza, the Brewers hope to take pressure off the young pitchers. This is a part of the Brewers’ plan to throw off their competition and change up their line-up. 

In a recent interview with MLB.com, starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy said the team’s optimism and health will hopefully lead them to a winning season. However, outfielder Logan Schafer attributes the Brewer’s future success to the team’s “quiet confidence.”

-Jasmine Foster 

Chicago White Sox Outlook

Ask most White Sox writers and fans what the outlook for the upcoming season looks like, and you’ll probably get the same answer — not good. Most believe that the White Sox will finish in the cellar of the AL Central again this season, but there is some hope to be had. Realistically, for the White Sox to finish fourth again, the team would have to have some pretty overwhelming bad luck.

First basemen Jose Abreu and pitcher Chris Sale, who have recently signed contracts with the team, would have to be season-long let downs, and the team would probably have to lose some pitchers to injuries to mirror the results of last season. But the chance of all three of these factors not panning out is pretty unlikely. If anything, Abreu should be worth his big contract by making an immediate impact this season to emerge as one of the more productive first basemen in the AL. Aside from Abreu, Chicago has a decent number of other prospects who are showing signs of potential during spring training.

The White Sox, who shipped young closer Addison Reed last season, have found two decent options in Nate Jones and Matt Lindstrom to fill Reed’s gap as the team’s closer. However, both players have had some injury concerns. Jones missed a few days with a left glute strain, but is now back to work. Lindstrom, though, is currently held up with an oblique strain with no real timetable for return yet.

–Gavin Lindahl

Houston Astros Overview

Jose Altuve finished the season strong, leading the AL in batting average (.357) and the Majors in hits (41) in September. These 41 hits were the 3rd highest total for the month in franchise history. Altuve had four, three-hit games and one, four-hit game in September as well.

In October, the Astros made some changes to the coaching staff. Brent Strom as pitching coach, Pat Listach as first base coach, Craig Bjornson as bullpen coach and Ralph Dickenson as assistant hitting coach. Dave Trembley is returning as the club’s new bench coach. Eduardo Perez is also returning as the new third base coach, and Dan Radison has been named a special assignment coach.

From May 29-June 3, the Astros were 6-0 on a six-game road trip. This trip marked the first time an Astros club had gone 6-0 or better on a road trip since going 7-0, Sept. 3-9, 1999. The Astros 6-game road win streak was their longest since winning six straight, July 18-22, 2005. Overall, a successful journey for the Astros.

-Maggie Munley

Baltimore Orioles Outlook

The Orioles are hot on a comeback trail. Last season, they tied for third with their rivals, the Yankees, in the AL East. Star first baseman Chris Davis set an MLB record for RBIs with 16 in just the first four games last season.

Pitcher Dylan Bundy is looking like the key player for the Orioles this season. Unfortunately, Bundy is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will not be available to the Orioles until mid June, almost halfway into the season. The Orioles are not losing hope yet. Spring training starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen took the team to victory against the Yankees on Tuesday night, making the Orioles feel a bit more comfortable starting the season without Bundy.

Since 2012, the plan for the Orioles has just been to be optimistic. Coming from a 14-year losing streak, there is not much more to do. So far the plan has brought the Orioles up the ladder and they aren’t changing it for this season. The team may be missing some key players but its spirits are still just as high.

~Madeleine Faircloth

San Diego Padres Outlook

Although the San Diego Padres didn’t play well last season, their attitude is positive for this season.

With their newest pickup Josh Johnson, an ace pitcher in the past, they believe their pitching staff has improved. Bud Black, manager for the Padres, expressed this feeling to the Padres media staff.

“Knew we needed to bolster starting pitching. Priority no. 1 was to get a starting pitcher. Did that in Josh Johnson.” Bud Black and the Padres believe Johnson is their last piece to the puzzle of success. Raimundo Ortiz, writer for sportsworldnews.com, projected for the Padres to be the surprise team this year. “They have the tools to be this year’s shocker playoff team.” Ortiz predicted confidently.

The Padres still have their three sluggers in Jedd Gyorko, Carlos Quentin and Chase Headley. If those three are healthy this year, San Diego will be successful, especially now they improved their pitching with Johnson.

There is a positive outlook for this season due the padres acquiring Johnson, keeping their best hitters and having the confidence from outside perspective.  Bud Black said this quote to the Padres media staff, which summed up the attitude for this year. “There’s a really quiet confidence going on. They know the expectation. We expect to play well, to compete.”

                                                                                                                       – Zack Buckwald

Cincinnati Reds Outlook

With the 2013 season in the past, the Cincinnati Reds are processing some of their off season personnel changes.

Shin-Soo Choo was let go as a free agent and signed to the Texas Rangers for this upcoming season, making a large concern for the Reds whether or not the 23-year-old Billy Hamilton can step up and show strength in the major leagues.  His minor league speed is impressive, and the Reds are hopeful that he will be able to replace 31-year-old Choo’s speed.

Bryan Price, the pitching coach, replaces Dusty Baker, after six years of his management, when promoted to team manager. The Reds hope that this change will be what the team needs to get past the NL Central playoffs and into the NLCS round.

Cincinnati, a force when it comes to the NL Central, usually battles the Cardinals for first. The Pittsburg Pirates showed their unexpected strength against the reads during the 2013 post season for the first time. For the 2014 season, the Reds are hoping that the Pirates strength has diminished since the previous post season. Otherwise, the Reds are in for some unforeseen competition.

–Riley Eike

Cleveland Indians Outlook

After a long hard fought 2013 season, the Cleveland Indians were able to make the post season for the first

time since 2007. They played the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1-game playoff for the wildcard seed in the American League. They lost by a score of 4-0. After fighting all September long to gain the wildcard spot, they came up just shy against the Rays to make it to a series against the Red Sox.

However, that was last season. That is the great thing about baseball, there is always tomorrow to go out and win.

Last year, the team was able to muster up 92 wins with no sign of Cy Young Pitching, MVP Hitting, or anything really of that caliber. They came together as a team, scored some runs, stole some bases and won the games they needed to in September.

This year, however, the teams focus should be on solid offence. Their top offensive player last year was Jason Kippnis (Second Basemen). He hit a respectable .284, with 160 hits in 564 ABs. He also had 17 HRs and 84 RBIs to give himself a pretty decent season. The team should hope for more of the guys to hit like Kippnis and possibly get more production out of everyone.

Nick Swisher has had a couple of average seasons since being with the Yankees. He has the ability to hit .275 with at least 75 RBI’s and 20 HR’s. Look for him to bounce back this season and give the Indians an extra push offensively.

With the addition of John Axford in the pen, the closer job could be filled after releasing Chris Perez at the end of October in 2013. John Axford did not have the season he was looking for in 2013 with the Cardinals, but will look to rebound with the Indians this year.ive him a pretty good year. However, on a team that does not have many All-Star notables, it would be in their best interest to find some offensive power going into the 2014 season.

A key player that you should keep an eye on is Michael Bourn. After missing 52 games last year due to injury, he only was able to steal 23 bases. IF he has a full healthy season, as one of the fastest guys in the game, he could look at between 35 and 45 stolen bases this season. This would lead to having more chances for the meat of the order to drive in some more runs.

Although the Indians had a successful 2013, it is tough to say whether or not they will make a playoff run. They will have a good chance if their starting pitching performs like it needs to, and if the team continues to hit the gaps throughout the season.

— Daniel Cowan

Oakland Athletic’s Outlook

Prior to the 2012 baseball season, the A’s were viewed as the laughing stock of the MLB, unable to make the playoffs since being swept in the ALCS in 2006 and failing to win a playoff series since their World Series win in 1989.  Now it’s the boys in green and yellow who are atop the always powerful A.L. West, and it appears the A’s have acquired the escape plan from the basement of the division for years to come.

 

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Going into the 2012 season it seemed the Texas Rangers were the clear cut winner-to-be of the division, after loosing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series after an unbelievable clutch performance by David Freese; but 2012 was a whole new year.  The A’s took the league by storm in 2012, winning the West on the last day of the regular season, resulting in a first round exit to the eventual American League champs Detroit Tigers.

Things were finally looking up after 2012, and in 2013 the A’s claimed the West title again, this time being the only team from the division playing October only to see the same result as the previous year.  The A.L. West has seen a big overhaul this offseason, but if the A’s continue the strong play they’ve shown the last two years, they could be in perfect position to make a deep run into the playoffs.

The 2013 A’s team success was drawn from their talented young pitchers headlined by the veteran and former Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon. 2013 also proved the A’s could provide run support for their youngsters with the emergence of Josh Donaldson and  by signing the marquee free agent slugger Yoenis Cesepedes.  Though the 2014 offseason has seen the departure of Bartolo Colon and the trading of their oft injured up and coming ace Brett Anderson, there is plenty of things to be optimistic of.

GM Billy Beane worked his magic again this offseason, giving A’s fans a reason to forget why he didn’t bring back the 18 game winner in Colon.  Beane’s start to the offseason began with him exercising the $7.5 million option in Coco Crisp’s contract.  Beane made some minor additions to the offense by first signing the thirteen-year veteran infielder Nick Punto to a one-year deal, who will not only fill the A’s lack of depth in the infield, but will also provide some veteran leadership for a young team.  The next significant move for the A’s offense came when they received Craig Gentry in a trade with their division rivals the Rangers in exchange for Michael Choice.  The significance of Gentry will only be determined once the season starts, but the team feels he is the perfect fourth outfielder to rotate in after coming of a year where he hit .280 to go along with 24 steals.

While there has not been any drastic changes to their offense,  Beane showed his true inner-GM genius when he made the trade for the A.L.’s leader in saves the last two years Jim Johnson.  Beane traded away the once highly regarded prospect Jemile Weeks, who had become more and more unfavorable with the organization, for a perennial all-star and elite closer.  The A’s further bolstered their bullpen when they traded utility man Seth Smith to the San Diego Padres for one of the leagues premiere set up men Luke Gregerson.

Going into 2014, the A’s will have one of the most feared bullpen’s in the MLB after the respective trades to along with the already successful relievers Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle.  In order to complete their rotation after Colon’s departure, the A’s handed a two-year contract to the once dominant lefty Scott Kazmir who proved to the MLB world he still has something left in the tank after a good year with the Cleveland Indians.

If the A’s can pick up where they left off last year, there is no reason they can’t reach the ALCS or even the World Series.

–Matt Gazzola

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Outlook

 The 2013 season was not a very pleasant one for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  Last season The Halos ended the season six games below 500 and finished 18 games back from their rivals the Oakland Athletics, who won the division. The season was a major disappointment for both players and fans who believed the team was going to be World Series contenders.The major reason for the Angels mediocre finish was the lackluster performance from their superstars, who they paid a small fortune to acquire. Poor play from Josh Hamilton, Albert Puljos, and pitcher C.J. Wilson caused the Angels to severely underperform down the stretch.

In the off-season the Angels made a few noteworthy acquisitions but did not make a very big splash in. Their biggest pickup  was former World Series MVP David Freese ,who was acquired when they traded center fielder Peter Bourjos to the St. Louis Cardinals. Their other notable acquisition was 41 year old free agent Raul Ibanez who has proved to be very efficient on both sides of the ball throughout his 17 year career.

The player to look out for during the 2014 season has to be 22 year old center fielder Mike Trout who has finished as the runner up in MVP for each of the last two years. This  phenom  has amazed  both fans and fellow players with his spectacular play at such a young age. He is widely considered the most promising young player in baseball. After two All-Star worthy season in 2012 and 2014 we can only wait and see what he does in 2014.

— Ryan Conaghan