Kuzul

After going two decades without making the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Pirates have cracked the postseason in each of the past two seasons. Maybe it’s not completely accurate to call them a team “on the rise,” but they have the pieces to become a perennial powerhouse in the National League for years to come.

It is no secret that pitching wins championships, and in a few years, the Bucs will have one of the most dominant rotations in the league.

Gerrit Cole is only 24 years old, and he is already building the resume of a proven big league ace. He has a 3.45 ERA and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings in his two major league seasons. The first overall pick in the 2011 draft, Cole possesses a fastball that sits in the mid-to-high 90s as well as a filthy curveball and slider. He has the talent to be a tremendous pitcher and could easily reach elite status in the next three years.

Francisco Liriano, who was named the Pirates’ Opening Day starter earlier this week, signed a three-year, $39 million contract this past winter. He has had two consecutive outstanding seasons and should be a reliable starter for the life of his contract.

And there are plenty of reinforcements on the farm, especially the two players who most publications rank as the Pirates’ best prospects.

21-year-old Tyler Glasnow and 23-year-old Jameson Taillon, both hard-throwing right-handers, are two of the most highly touted pitching prospects in the game. 

Glasnow battled a back injury at the beginning of last season but was still able to finish the year with a sparkling 1.74 ERA and 157 strikeouts in only 124.1 innings. His command is still raw and he needs a few more years of development, but once he’s ready, he will be filthy.

Unlike Glasnow, Taillon did not have the chance to star in the minors in 2014. He had Tommy John surgery last April, and he was told Thursday that he will report to Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season. It shows how much confidence the Pirates have in the guy that they would put him on the doorstep of the big legaues without even making a spring training appearance as he recovers from surgery.

Here is part of MLB.com’s scouting report of Taillon:

Taillon is a classic power right-hander, mixing good size with a mid-90s fastball and a hard curveball. His changeup has also made strides, giving him a chance for three above-average pitches. Taillon‘s fastball has good sinking action, but it tends to flatten out and become easier to hit if he leaves it up in the zone.

If a pitcher of Taillon‘s stature and velocity has three above-average offerings, he has a chance to be great. I think he will be a quality MLB pitcher in the next three years, and after a few years of getting accustomed to big league hitters, he could be terrific.

Nick Kingham, another promising pitching prospect, is no slouch himself. He was committed to Oregon out of high school, but he chose to become a professional in 2010 when he was given a hefty bonus as a fourth-round pick. According to MLB.com, he has three “Major League average or better” pitches and could make his debut in 2015 if everything falls into place for the 6’5″, 220-pound righty.

Mark Melancon and Tony Watson will anchor a bullpen that is consistently strong. Pittsburgh ranked ninth in the league in 2014 in bullpen ERA, and there is no reason they shouldn’t be solid again this year.

It’s safe to say the Pirates are loaded in the pitching department, but it is the offense that could be potentially scary as early as this year.

With an outfield comprised of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco, they have one of the youngest, most exciting trios in the league. They are all ultratalented and will stick together for several years if the front office can sign them all to long-term contracts.

All three are legitimate five-tool players. McCutchen is one of the top three or four all-around hitters in the league, Marte is a burner on the basepaths and in the outfield, and Polanco has loads of power and speed packed into his 6’4, 200-pound frame.

In a recent column by Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, he makes a compelling case that they are the best outfield in the MLB. They could all be All-Stars soon, and all three are under team control until at least 2018. The Pirates should enjoy their success for several years down the road.

There is plenty of talent around the diamond too. Josh Harrison had a breakout campaign in 2014, slashing .315/.347/.490 in his first MLB season of playing at least 105 games. He can play basically anywhere on the field. He played five different positions in 2014, mostly third base, and also made an appearance on the mound in 2013. A player who can hit so well in addition to possessing that type of defensive versatility is an incredible asset for a manager, especially one as creative as Clint Hurdle. 

Pedro Alvarez is one of the most powerful hitters in the league, and he should be able to return to his All-Star days now that he is moving from the hot corner across the diamond to first base, a less strenuous position. He should be able to focus more on his hitting and could easily hit 30 or more homers in 2015.

The Pirates’ keystone combination is plenty good as well. Second baseman Neil Walker’s 23 round-trippers were tied with the Twins‘ Brian Dozier for the most homers by a second baseman in 2014, and Jordy Mercer is an above-average defensive shortstop, according to Baseball-Reference’s defensive metrics.

Russell Martin was a pivotal part of both playoff teams, and he will definitely be tough to replace, but Tony Sanchez, a former top prospect, has been on fire this spring training.

He is currently hitting .529 with two home runs and two doubles, and Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette thinks that Sanchez has a chance to be the starting catcher in 2015. He obviously has the talent, and if he can find a way to put it all together, he could be a breakout star.

And don’t forget about recent top picks Austin Meadows and Josh Bell, who are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the Pirates’ farm system per Baseball America. Both possess tremendous tools at the plate, and the only question is whether there will be room for them to contribute on Pittsburgh’s roster.

Simply put, the Pirates are loaded. They have a surplus of talented youngsters, which is definitely a good problem to have.

Sure, the Buccos have made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, but they have failed to advance farther than the National League Division Series in both cases. They have the pieces to become a perennial pennant contender, and I think they will.

It is safe to say that the team will raise the Jolly Roger plenty of times in the future, maybe even once or twice in a World Series atmosphere.  

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With the production of the film Moneyball back in 2011, Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane became a nationally known figure.

Since that outstanding movie’s release, the A’s have been even more successful and Beane has been even more daring.

The Athletics have made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons—two American League West titles and one Wild Card Game appearance—which is the most consecutive postseason appearances under Beane.

Even though they have failed to advance to the next round in any of those years, it’s hard to argue with that kind of success in a frugal environment like Oakland.

Not only is Beane very smart, but he is also so innovative that it’s incredibly hard for the rest of the game to keep up.

Moneyball mainly outlined the importance Beane placed on patience and getting on base, but now he is adjusting his philosophy a bit to concentrate on getting maximum production out of all 25 roster spots. In other words, he feels that loading up on platoon players is the most efficient way to allocate the meager resources he is given.

Joe Lemire summed it up nicely in an article he wrote last year for the Wall Street Journal:

Part of Oakland’s motivation was to maximize all 25 roster spots in a contending season; platoons are a cost effective way of generating production, as two part-time players tend to cost less than one full-time regular. 

Beane was already revered as a genius, and he could have stuck with his notion of getting on base and would still be considered among the best executives in baseball. But he is never satisfied, especially without a ring, and that is why from now on the A’s will always be legitimate contenders.

Because Beane won’t allow them not to be.

How often can a team trade, over the course of 14 months, three Baseball America Top 100 prospects in Grant Green, Michael Choice and Addison Russell, trade an All-Star outfielder in Yoenis Cespedes, trade away one of the best third basemen in the game in Josh Donaldson, fail to re-sign All-Star pitchers Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija, and still have a legitimate chance to compete in arguably the toughest division in baseball?

Not often at all, but in Oakland it is just another day at the office.

The A’s have 16 players on the roster who weren’t with the club at all last year, including eight pitchers according to ESPN.com’s Christina Kahrl.

This offseason, the Oakland front office has pursued plenty of different faces. Ben Zobrist, Billy Butler, Brett Lawrie and Ike Davis were among the club’s major hitting additions, while Jesse Hahn and Tyler Clippard should contribute to the pitching staff.

While they don’t have any true superstars anymore, they definitely have a slew of above-average players who have the potential to be a very good team.

Baseball Prospectus projects the A’s to win 84 games, finish third in the AL West and make the playoffs as the second wild-card team. Fangraphs is even more optimistic, predicting Oakland to be good for 88 wins.

How a team that overhauled most of its premier players from last year can even be close to competitive is a miracle, and the fact that the A’s have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs is simply remarkable.

I am going to say that they will make the playoffs. I think the Zobrist addition and the host of other platoon options gives Bob Melvin the most flexibility of any manager in the league.

The pitching will be solid, especially in cavernous O.co Coliseum, and they will score just enough runs to win games.

Also, maybe most importantly, if the A’s are in the hunt when the trade deadline comes around, Beane will do everything in his power to add any pieces necessary to win.

Beane has never overseen a World Series victory, and he maybe never will, but the way he is able to maximize his team and keep them toward the top of the standings seemingly every year is absolutely phenomenal.

I’m not a gambler, but if I were to put money on how the A’s will do in 2015, there is no way I could bet against Billy Beane. 

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Kris Bryant has been labeled a future star ever since his college days at the University of San Diego. He crushed a nation-leading 31 home runs in his junior season, and that incredible production made him the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB draft.

His effectiveness at the plate has not decreased as he has risen up the professional ladder. As hard as it is to believe, it has improved.

He led all of professional baseball with 43 home runs in 2014 and won a host of honors, picking up the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award as well as recognition from MiLB.com, ESPN.com, USA Today and Yahoo Sports.

Those ridiculous power numbers, coupled with all of those awards, resulted in him being named the top prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America and ESPN.com’s Keith Law. 

It’s safe to say that expectations are sky-high coming into only his second career spring training. The Cubs have said from the beginning that Bryant will start 2015 in the minor leagues no matter how well he does in the preseason, and so far, they are sticking to their guns.

Several people think that Bryant deserves to be on the big league roster when Opening Day rolls around, including former top prospect and current Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. 

The major reason that the Cubs want to keep him in the minors as long as possible is to buy another year of contractual control before he is eligible for arbitration and ultimately a free agent.

However, Bryant is making a compelling case to be not only on the major league roster but to be the Cubs’ starting third baseman. It is safe to say that he is not letting the hype and expectations get to him.

To this point in spring training, Bryant leads the league with six home runs, per MLB.com, which is double what any other player has. He also leads the league in RBI with nine. His 1.400 slugging percentage and 1.922 OPS also are league highs.

He is batting .450 in 20 spring training at-bats, and he is once again proving that his power is the real deal.

On Saturday, Bryant was scratched from the game due to fatigue in his right shoulder. Nonetheless, he came off the bench and hit two home runs, and the Cubs beat the A’s 3-1. It was the second time in three games that Bryant has homered twice in the same game.

Even Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein couldn’t help but be a little effusive in his praise of the 23-year-old slugger.

“Spring training is spring training,” Epstein said via Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. “But he’s putting on a show.”

From the front office’s perspective, Bryant’s placement is going to be a tough call.

Sure, holding Bryant back will give the organization a benefit in the financial department, but if he clearly is the team’s best third baseman and will give them the best chance to win, wouldn’t it make sense to name him the starter?

Whatever they decide to do, it is hard not to be giddy at the potential of the future Cubs lineup, especially with premium prospects like Javier Baez, Jorge Soler and Addison Russell ready to play in addition to Bryant.

They gave a sneak preview of that lethal heart of the order last week, as Soler, Baez and Bryant hit back-to-back-to-back home runs. All of them were no-doubters, too, and those three will surely hit plenty of home runs when the games actually count.

How the Cubs handle Bryant as the start of the season nears will undoubtedly be one of the most closely followed storylines in all of baseball. Everyone will have an opinion on what the best course of action will be.

But no matter what happens, Bryant is going to continue crushing baseballs deep into the bleachers.

He has shown he is pretty good at handling the hype.

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Houston Astros outfielder George Springer made his anticipated big league debut on April 17 last year. Springer, Houston’s first-round pick (11th overall) in 2011, was thrown into the fire immediately and struggled a bit from the start.

He hit .182 with no home runs in the 14 games he played in April, but when the calendar flipped over to May, Springer seemed to get comfortable facing big league pitching and started to thrive.

He hit .294 with 10 home runs in May, then added six round trippers in June and four more in July before he missed the remainder of the season with a left quad injury.

Overall, it was a wild success for Springer in his rookie season. He showed off the light-tower power that made scouts drool from the time he was mashing balls in college at Connecticut, he displayed all five tools and he was just an exciting player to watch.

Coming into his sophomore season, expectations are even higher. A writer for the Astros’ Fansided website, Climbing Tal’s Hill, predicted recently that Springer would hit 37 home runs and finish ahead of Mike Trout in the 2015 AL MVP voting.

While that notion may be a bit far fetched, maybe it isn’t impossible.

Springer dedicated the winter to getting stronger, which is hard to believe considering he looked to already have a chiseled frame last year. He reported to camp at 225 pounds, 10 pounds heavier than last year, and it’s all solid muscle.

He detailed his training changes to Evan Drellich of The Houston Chronicle, explaining a new, intense workout program called JEKL. Springer already had a vicious swing last year that sent pitches deep into the seats, and he might have even more power this year with that added muscle.

He also said that his new routine and diet will help his body sustain the natural blows that occur over the course of the long season. If he can find a way to stay on the field for at least 150 games, the sky is the limit for Springer, who was ranked the 23rd-best prospect in baseball by MLB.com’s 2013 Prospect Watch.

According to FanGraphs, Springer’s 127 wRC+, a sabermetric that measures how many runs a player creates for his team, is well above the MLB average of 100. To put that 127 in perspective, Josh Donaldson and Adrian Gonzalez can be found very near that on the list of league leaders in that category.

Had Springer played a full season, he surely would have improved on his 20 home runs and 51 RBI. It is impossible to extrapolate his stats for the rest of the season due to the small sample size, but he may have topped the 30-home run club and would have had a shot at being the AL Rookie of the Year.

Which is why, coming into 2015, folks are so bullish of the 25-year-old outfielder.

The Astros are one year away from contending for an American League playoff spot, if not this season, and Springer is a huge reason why. He fits the mold of a Mike Trout- or Bryce Harper-type of player: big, fast, athletic, power hitter who effortlessly does everything on the field well.

Another thing that will help Springer drastically is the improving cast around him. With Jose Altuve coming off of a breakout 2014 season in which he got on base at a tremendous .377 clip, the emergence of Chris Carter as a legitimate home run threat and the additions of power hitters Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus, the Astros have a chance to become one of the most potent offensive units in the league.

With more runners getting on base in front of him and more sluggers offering protection behind him, Springer should see plenty of good pitches to hit. Expect him to have loads of opportunities to score runs as well as drive them in.

FanGraphs’ Steamer projects Springer to hit .236 with 29 home runs and 79 RBI while scoring 77 runs. I think he should be able to maintain a higher batting average than that—he hit .300 in his minor league career—but his high strikeout totals are undoubtedly a source of worry.

He racked up 114 strikeouts in only 78 big league games in 2014, and he didn’t show any signs of slowing down throughout the season.

But that’s the way the MLB is transforming. Power hitters, or any hitters for that matter, are sacrificing strikeouts for homers.

If Springer decides to cut down his swing a little with two strikes and focus on putting the ball in play, his average should creep up.

Ultimately, whatever he decides to do, he is going to be an intimidating presence whenever he steps to the plate. He has unlimited talent and potential, and 2015 is his year to unleash on opposing pitchers.

Trout exploded in his second year in The Show, and Harper had a solid sophomore campaign as well. Springer had a more impressive first season than both of those aforementioned studs, so he should have no trouble amassing monster numbers.

I’m not as optimistic as Climbing Tal’s Hill, but I think Springer will have a tremendous season. I predict him hitting around .250 with 30 home runs and 85 RBI.

He will be one of the most exciting players in the league in 2015, and he will be a key cog in the middle of a productive Astro lineup for years to come. And if he can cut down on his strikeout total, he may be a legitimate MVP candidate in the near future.

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Turn back the calendar only two years, and Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun was one of the premier hitters in all of baseball—if not the best.

From 2007 to 2012, Braun’s first six MLB seasons, he averaged more than 33 home runs and 107 RBI. That kind of production is off the charts, and Braun was more than just a power hitter. He hit .313 over that span, didn’t strike out a ton and reached 30 steals in two of those seasons.

However, Braun’s reputation and stats plummeted when he vehemently denied using PEDs—only to admit to using them in August 2013. His confession earned Braun a suspension that forced him to miss the remainder of the 2013 season.

Then he ran into more trouble—this time physically. Braun was ailed by a nerve injury in his thumb in 2014, and his production slowly but surely worsened as the season wore on. Not only did the injury get progressively worse, but it also robbed the slugging 31-year-old outfielder of most of his power.

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney published a column last July outlining just how much Braun’s power decreased in 2014. The discoveries were mind-boggling.

Braun didn’t pull the ball much last year, and a career-high 46.1 percent of his hits were to the opposite field. Also, Braun’s batted balls traveled an average of 17 feet shorter than they did in 2013.

It is unknown whether the thumb is entirely to blame for these numbers, but it surely hampered him in some way.

So what are some realistic expectations for the former Miami Hurricanes third baseman in the upcoming season?

Most importantly, it’s going to come down to whether he is completely healthy. Braun had a cryotherapy procedure done on his thumb over the offseason, which applied extreme cold in an attempt to freeze out the lingering nerve issues.

According to news coming out of the Brewers camp, per Fox Sports Wisconsin’s John Pesetski, Braun is feeling great:

So far it (the thumb) feels great. Everything so far has gone as well as I possibly could’ve hoped. I don’t think I’ll be limited or anything. I’ll have to be conscious about how many extra swings I take. But aside from that, I’m able to do everything.

That is very encouraging news, and Braun did not shy away from portraying plenty of optimism.

“I feel good. I’ve always felt that as long as I’m healthy, success is inevitable,” Braun told Fox Sports. “The better I play, the more I am going to help the team. I expect to go out there and be one of the best players in the league.”

If he truly feels that he can return to being among the best pure hitters in baseball, it is definitely a possibility.

FanGraphs‘ Steamer projects Braun to hit .276 with 24 home runs and 78 RBI. While those numbers would be a slight improvement over 2014, they don’t do him justice.

Braun is one of the best players in Major League Baseball when healthy, and he has what it takes to return to that prestigious group in 2015. If his thumb can stay healthy for the duration of the season, he will be an All-Star-caliber outfielder.

I am going to go out on a limb and predict that Braun will hit at least .285 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI.

He is still a premium talent, and his numbers will reflect his tremendous ability in 2015.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The New York Yankees have a ton of question marks heading into spring training. It will be the first time in a long time without Derek Jeter at shortstop. Alex Rodriguez will likely lead the league in publicity, but he may or may not hit. And there is no clear-cut choice to start at second base.

But the biggest concern might be ace pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.  The Yankees signed the Japanese star to a seven-year, $155 million contract last January, and even though he pitched wonderfully in his first 20 starts of big league action, a huge scare jolted the organization when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in July.

After throwing his first bullpen this spring, a 21-pitch session at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa Bay, he said he feels better than ever.

“I actually feel a little bit better than last year,” he told ESPN.com. “My overall body and health is better.”

When healthy, Tanaka is an absolute beast. He is already one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball, and he makes opposing pitchers very uncomfortable by repeating his delivery and mixing his pitches with tremendous efficiency.

Last year, he used his fastball, splitter, slider and curveball with impeccable variety.  But the thing that makes him to most effective is his ability to repeat his delivery.  He threw his fastball 40.6 percent of the time and his splitter 25 percent of the time, according to Fangraphs. Those two pitches have about a five mph difference, and when the batter cannot tell what pitch is coming until it is out of the pitcher’s hand, it is nearly impossible to hit.

But even if he comes back and pitches similarly to how he did last year, will the Yankees even be able to contend?

On the surface, it looks like 2015 will be a bleak year for the Bronx Bombers. In Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA rankings, the Yankees are projected to finish fourth in the American League East with a record of 80-82. But they do have some talent on the roster, and manager Joe Girardi has shown he is willing to be creative if it will help the team win.

There is a chance the Yankees start the season with a six-man starting rotation.  Pitching coach Larry Rothschild hinted at that possibility to reporters last Wednesday, per Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News.

While it is definitely unorthodox, teams generally use five starting pitchers, and it actually makes a lot of sense for the Yankees because the rotation has a history of injury.

Tanaka is coming off of surgery, CC Sabathia is coming off of knee surgery, and Michael Pineda spent time on the disabled list last year with a strained back muscle. 

The Yankees acquired Nathan Eovaldi in the offseason in exchange for Martin Prado, and the hard-throwing righty should be ready to contribute immediately in the upcoming season. Adam Warren and Chris Capuano are two quality arms that would likely thrive out of the bullpen, but if management decides to go with a six-man rotation, one of those two would be the sixth starter and the other would be the club’s main long reliever.

That rotation, although injury prone, has the potential to be among the league’s best. Tanaka is an ace, Sabathia used to be an ace, and Pineda still has his better days ahead of him.

Sabathia has been brutally ineffective in the past two seasons, but one scout is confident that he has what it takes to resurrect his career going into his age-34 season. The scout, quoted in an article written by Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com, feels Sabathia is smart enough to be successful even though he doesn’t have the dynamic arsenal he once did.

“When a guy gets into their 30s, they have to have a second career,” the scout said. “I always felt CC could do that because he really knows how to pitch.”

If Tanaka returns from injury fully healthy, Sabathia has a good season and Pineda builds on his excellent 2014 when he went 5-5 with a 1.89 ERA and a phenomenal 59-7 strikeout-to-walk rate, the Yankees will have one of the best starting rotations in the American League.

In the bullpen, things look bright as usual.  While former closer David Robertson opted to sign with the White Sox in the offseason, the Yankees were able to lure Andrew Miller to the Bronx.  Miller will pair with breakout star Dellin Betances to form one of the most formidable late-inning reliever duos in the MLB.

The offense, however, does not look nearly as promising as the pitching staff. 

The Yankees finished 13th out of 15 American League teams in runs scored last year, and the starting lineup is filled with players who are past their primes.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner are both solid, speedy outfielders at the top of the order, but after that, Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann, Chase Headley, Alex Rodriguez, Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew are either unproven or over the hill.

It’s not entirely hopeless, though. 

Beltran is only one year removed from hitting .296 with 24 home runs in his age-35 season with the Cardinals. He is a good enough hitter to continue to produce even as he ages.

Teixeira struggled last year with a career-low .238 batting average on balls in play, according to Fangraphs. He was one of the best power hitters in the game as recently as 2012, and while he might never hit over .230 again in his career, he could easily hit 30 home runs in 2015.

Catcher Brian McCann faced big expectations when he signed with the Yankees last offseason. His powerful left-handed swing was supposed to result in huge home run totals in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, but he struggled mightily all season.  However, he told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that he expects to have a huge bounce back in his sophomore season wearing pinstripes.

Third baseman Chase Headley is a steady third baseman, great defensively and a solid hitter, but he is not the type of player who can anchor a lineup. He is a nice complementary piece, but if he is forced to be the go-to guy in the middle of the order, the Yankees are in trouble.

And then there’s Alex Rodriguez. He will undoubtedly command a huge crowd when he arrives at spring training, but if he can hit, nobody will care about his questionable past. Despite the fact that he has been arguably the most criticized player in sports for the past few years, he is still a gifted hitter. If he can get in a groove, he could have a decent season playing as the designated hitter.

Finally, Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew are good defenders but don’t provide much with the bat. Rob Refsnyder may have a future at second base, but it is unclear whether or not he will have an opportunity to crack the big league club in 2015.

All in all, the roster does not look intimidating. The Yankees have the potential to be a good pitching team and a decent hitting team, especially if Tanaka comes back strong from surgery. He is the key.

If Girardi can count on Tanaka every fifth (or sixth) day to flummox the opposition with his filthy fastball-splitter mix, the Yankees will be in a good position. But if Tanaka shows some of the ill effects of elbow surgery and the Yanks are forced to rely on Sabathia and Pineda, it could be a long year.

The Yankees likely won’t make the playoffs. They are just too old, and there are too many questions regarding the team.

But with the way the postseason now works, with two wild-card spots, anything can happen. Last year seemingly every team had a chance to make the playoffs until the final days of the regular season. The Yankees have a chance to be one of those teams, and a healthy Tanaka would drastically improve their chances.

And if the Yankees did find a way to qualify as a wild-card team, a healthy Tanaka would ideally pitch the one-game playoff in an attempt to take the team to the ALDS for the first time since 2012. 

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In late 2013, shortly after the Detroit Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs in the ALCS, they traded Prince Fielder to the Rangers in exchange for Ian Kinsler.

It was a huge blockbuster at the time, and analysts immediately started predicting how potent the Rangers lineup would be with Fielder and powerful third baseman Adrian Beltre hitting in the middle of the order.

Beltre was so confident that Fielder would thrive in his new environment that he told the media that Fielder would be the 2014 AL MVP.  It seemed good at the time; Fielder would bat third in the order, meaning he would finally have a chance to be protected in the order as opposed to doing the protecting, as he did with Ryan Braun in Milwaukee and Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

Unfortunately, Fielder was never able to put it together in his new home park.  Instead of taking advantage of hitter-friendly Globe Life Park, Fielder had a hard time hitting the ball in the air.  His 50.4 percent ground-ball rate, via Fangraphs, was a career high, and he hit only .247 with three home runs and 16 RBI in 42 games before having season-ending neck surgery.

However, 2015 is a new season, and Fielder has drastically changed his personal life in a way that should yield positive results on the diamond.  In a very insightful article by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, one can see that Fielder is making a genuine effort to have more fun playing baseball as he did when he was mashing home runs at a high rate early in his career.

If he goes back to hitting like the Prince of old, he could easily return to being one of baseball’s premier power hitters.  He averaged more than 36 homers and 111 RBI from 2007-2013, and last year was the first time he played fewer than 157 games.

And this offseason, Fielder got surgery on his neck very similar to the surgery Peyton Manning received during the 2011 NFL season.  It is anybody’s guess if Fielder will return to being his former stellar self, but he has already been cleared to participate in spring training and says he feels great.

He was especially optimistic at the team’s award dinner on January 23.

“I’ll play a pickup game right now, I’m ready to go,” Fielder said, via the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com).  “I’m good, I’m 100 percent, whatever it was before is back.”

So all in all, if he says he is completely healthy, his doctor says he’s healthy and he is transforming his attitude on the field, then that’s good enough for me.

Fangraphs‘ The Steamer predicts Fielder to hit .279 with 23 home runs, 83 RBI and a .847 OPS.  I think those projections are a bit conservative, and if you have a chance to get Fielder in your fantasy draft, I would recommend pulling the trigger.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fielder hits at least 30 home runs.  The fact that he is changing his attitude toward baseball cannot be overstated, and if he is fully healthy, he should be able to feast on American League pitching all season long.

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The Detroit Tigers have become a perennial powerhouse in the American League in the last few years, winning their division four years in a row and repeatedly making deep playoff runs.

They have done this thanks to a deep starting rotation and a powerful lineup.

However, it looks like the Tigers might not have either this year as spring training approaches. The most recent bad news to hit the Tigers camp is that Victor Martinez has a torn meniscus in his left knee and will miss at least six weeks.

Martinez had arguably his best season in 2014, hitting .335 with 32 home runs, 103 RBIs and a league-leading .974 OPS. His uncanny ability to draw walks and get on base resulted in an outstanding 1.67 walk-to-strikeout ratio—which is almost unparalleled territory as most hitters are sacrificing strikeouts and batting average for power.

His outstanding season netted him a four-year, $68 million contract.

Unfortunately, that was one of the few moves the Tigers front office made this offseason, and the absence of Martinez adds yet another question to the already-spotty roster.

Miguel Cabrera had ankle surgery in late October, and Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reported that it is still unclear whether or not the two-time MVP will be ready for the start of spring training. Even if Cabrera is healthy, it is uncertain whether he can return to his usual stellar self.

The Tigers did acquire outfield slugger Yoenis Cespedes from the Red Sox in exchange for Rick Porcello. While he should provide some power in the middle of the order, it can’t be forgotten that Cespedes hasn’t hit above .270 since his rookie year in 2012—and he doesn’t get on base that often, either.

The rest of the lineup is filled with question marks as well. J.D Martinez had a nice year in 2014, but he cooled off down the stretch and it isn’t hard to believe that he may return to being the underperforming outfielder whom the Astros released before the start of last season.

Third baseman Nick Castellanos wasn’t too impressive last year and is not in position to carry any type of significant burden on his back.

Jose Iglesias will return at shortstop after missing all of last season with a shin injury. And while Iglesias is an exciting young player with phenomenal range at short, it is unknown whether or not he can be even a league-average hitter.

Center fielder Anthony Gose possesses game-breaking speed, but unfortunately you can’t steal first base in baseball. He hit only .226 with nearly nonexistent power in 2014, and he hasn’t shown any signs of improvement in that regard in his three-year career.

The lone bright spot of the order might be Ian Kinsler, who has entrenched his name in the conversation of the best second basemen in the game. He hit .275 with 17 home runs and 92 RBIs in his first season in Detroit.

But there are even risks with him. He accumulated those numbers hitting in front of Cabrera and the two productive Martinez sluggers. If those guys have off years, which wouldn’t be a huge surprise considering their ages and injury history, Kinsler may struggle to replicate his 2014 numbers.

The pitching staff is similarly questionable. The Tigers have David Price to anchor the starting rotation, but after him it is not nearly as deep as it has been in years past.

Anibal Sanchez is an ultra-consistent pitcher when healthy, but he only logged 126 innings last year due to injury. But at least then the Tigers had Max Scherzer as well. With Scherzer now a Washington National, the cupboard is pretty bare after Price and Sanchez.

Justin Verlander is no longer the ace he once was—his ERA was 4.54 last year—and the only pitcher the Tigers added this offseason was Alfredo Simon. And while Simon did have a mini-breakout season last year, he struggled in the second half of the season and will have a hard time matching last year’s 3.44 ERA.

Even worse, it’s not like the team can expect an influx of young talent to come to the big league club anytime soon. The Tigers have the worst farm system in the league, and it’s not close. In other words, the future does not look good in Detroit.

Ultimately, the Tigers need way too much to go right to even have a chance to compete in 2015.

They need Cabrera to return from ankle surgery and have an MVP-caliber season. They need Victor Martinez to overcome a second surgery on his left knee and be the stud he was last year. They need J.D. Martinez to follow up last year’s breakout campaign with another strong season.

They need Sanchez to play an injury-free season, Verlander to return to Cy Young status and the bullpen to hold a lead every once in a while.

It’s way, way too much to expect, and there is almost no way the Tigers make the playoffs. The Royals will come into 2015 with confidence after their run to the World Series, and both the White Sox and Indians improved this offseason.

Detroit is losing its grasp on the AL Central, and it could easily miss the playoffs this year.

And it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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Last week, my Bleacher Report colleague Jason Catania wrote an article laying out the perfect 25-man roster.  In his slideshow, he made it clear that he was not just putting together a team full of All-Stars, but a team with a solid blend of superstars and role players.  

After reading his list, I had the idea to make my own team.  However, I am not making the same stipulations.  This is an All-Star team with no limits.  

This team is my predictions for who will be stars four years from now.  There will be plenty of young prospects but also a few veteran players who will still be performing at a high level in 2019.

In this ranking, I will take into account the player’s talent as well as their prime years.  I can only include so many players, so please comment with any suggestions or ideas.

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Ever since Max Scherzer turned down a $144 million offer from the Detroit Tigers last March, speculation has been rampant about which team he would sign with and how much his contract would be worth.  Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported in early December that Scherzer’s asking price was around $200 million, but throughout the free-agent process, he stayed in the shadows.

But his agent, Scott Boras, came through again in a big way late Sunday night, as Scherzer inked a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals.

That he signed with the Nats is a bit surprising due to their already-loaded starting rotation.  Last year, they led Major League Baseball with a 3.03 staff ERA.  The prevailing philosophy is that you can’t have too much pitching, but if anyone is tiptoeing that line, it’s the Nationals.  With Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez, Washington has one of the best five-man rotations in recent memory.

The rotation is so good that Tanner Roark, who had a terrific season last year with a 15-10 record and a 2.85 ERA, will likely be moved to the bullpen.

However, the Nationals have made it known, according to Morosi, that they are willing to deal Zimmermann or Strasburg if the price is right.  While they would undoubtedly be able to receive a talented prospect package in return, I think it would be best to keep this quintet intact.

Nationals owner Ted Lerner and has made it known he wants to win, according to his son, Mark, via The Washington Post‘s Barry Svrluga.  It is for this reason as well as long-term considerations that he opened the checkbook for Scherzer.  Scott Boras seems to prefer negotiating with ownership, as opposed to management, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, and he must have convinced Lerner that Scherzer gives the team the best chance for a ring.

It would be hard to argue with that logic.  Even before the Scherzer signing, the Nationals’ roster was loaded.  Now with Scherzer toeing the rubber every fifth day, they are the best team in professional baseball.

The offense, led by Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond, will score plenty of runs, and the dominant pitching staff will be nearly impossible to score on.  It’s a recipe for success, but having the best team on paper does not mean a championship is on the horizon.

Health is supremely important in all sports, but especially in baseball.  It is very rare that a team will go the entire 162-game season without losing a significant piece, and Harper, Werth, Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman have all battled injuries in the past.

Unfortunately for the Nats, the World Series is not won on paper.

Both the Dodgers and Angels have drastically increased their payrolls and substantially improved their rosters in recent years, yet neither has won a championship in that time.

But while there might not be a way to secure a playoff spot or deep playoff run before spring training has even started, Washington is doing its best.  There are still some questions looming, most notably whether the team can keep all five dominant starting pitchers.  Also, the Nationals need to improve their bullpen.  They are not expected to re-sign last year’s closer, Rafael Soriano, and they traded setup specialist Tyler Clippard for Yunel Escobar.

Drew Storen is expected to be the closer after he finished 2014 with a flurry, not allowing a single earned run in his final 20 innings pitched.  A deep, talented bullpen is almost a necessity to continue playing deep into October, and adding a few relievers should be on top of general manager Mike Rizzo’s to-do list.

So while the Nationals are the favorites to win it all this year, at 6-1 odds according to Odds Shark, it is impossible to crown a champ in January.  But the Nationals have done enough to be serious contenders, and if they find a way to keep their starting rotation together while also adding a few consistent relief pitchers, they are my choice to win the 2015 World Series.

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