With games starting as Sunday night when the newly minted American League Houston Astros host their cross-state rival Texas Rangers on Sunday night, the 2013 Major League Baseball season is upon us. No more talk about the Hot Stove, no more trade or free agent speculation, just baseball. Pure and simple.

But we still have a few days left before the first pitch is thrown and the long, arduous season is underway. That means we have a few more minutes to make some predictions and assumptions about how things will play out and who will be wearing the crown when the dust settles.

Today, we'll work on the American League, and then we'll follow that up with the National League tomorrow. So let's get started, shall we?

American League East

1.) Toronto Blue Jays

2.) Tampa Bay Rays (WC)

3.) Boston Red Sox

4.) Baltimore Orioles

5.) New York Yankees

No team in baseball did more to improve their overall team than did the Toronto Blue Jays. Adding three quality starters (R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson) to their starting five and then securing two solid top of the order hitters (Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera) and a pair of universal infielders (Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio), the Blue Jays may be the deepest team in baseball. They will beat teams on the mound, on the basepaths, and in the batter's box. Some pundits worry about how the team will gel, but the players acquired are all professionals of the highest order and that shouldn't be an issue. The AL East, in a weakened state, should be their division to lose.

Tampa will take second place and one of the two wild-cards in the American League. The Rays have the one thing all teams envy, and that's a deep pitching staff that will keep them in any game, and help them win quite a few. Unfortunately, the line-up outside of Evan Longoria is at its most barren and Tampa will again struggle to score runs. That may improve once the team bites the bullet and promotes Wil Myers, but they'll need to wait three weeks before that happens.

I may shock some people by picking the Red Sox to vault up to third place this season, and then again some will think this is a homer pick. That said, Boston did a lot to improve themselves throughout the order, adding Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, and Ryan Dempster. Furthermore, the pair of Clay Buchholz and Lon Lester have looked great this spring and they'll have a healthy Will Middlebrooks back. The only question mark is David Ortiz, but the team is deeper and may be able to withstand a short-term loss of Big Papi.

The final two squads could easily flip-flop in the standings. As much as I appreciated what the Orioles did in 2012, I think they overachieved and are in for a market correction. Baltimore did little to improve on a squad that managed only a +7 run differential and won more games with their bullpen than any other team in the American League.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are going to struggle to overcome the injuries to Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. They may have a solid starting five, but they'll lose more offense than any team in baseball for the first three months of the season, and an aging Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells, and Lyle Overbay are not going to be the answer the Yankees need.

American League Central

1.) Detroit Tigers

2.) Cleveland Indians

3.) Chicago White Sox

4.) Kansas City Royals

5.) Minnesota Twins

The AL Central is likely going to be a brutal division in 2013. The Tigers are still the toast of the town and should be better than the 88-win team that won the division in 2012. The addition of Torii Hunter and the return of Victor Martinez should make the line-up even deeper and the pitching staff should be solid, with Justin Verlander topping the rotation and a full season of Anibal Sanchez to add to the mix. Closer is a concern, but the role is overrated anyway.

The Cleveland Indians have flirted with respectability each of the last two seasons, but stumbled in the second half of both. The front office reloaded by bringing in Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Mark Reynolds, and Brett Myers, but we should all keep an eye on Scott Kazmir. If Kazmir can be a shadow of what he used to be, this could be a very entertaining team to watch.

The White Sox have a lot of good going for them, but they are still only a third place team at best. Chris Sale and Jake Peavy are a solid 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five has its question marks. Will Tyler Flowers be able to carry A.J. Pierzysnki's weight? Will Adam Dunn ever get himself away from the Mendoza line? Can the starting outfield avoid regressing in 2013? That's a lot of questions to answer to make a two-team jump for the division title.

I really like what the Kansas City Royals did this winter. The front office finally said "we need to win", and they went out and traded their top prospect (Myers) to Tampa for James Shields and Wade Davis, and acquired Ervin Santana from the Angels. Still, will it all be for naught when these markedly better Royals squad still has to jump three other teams in the division? Will they regret losing a talent of Myers' proportions?

What can you say about the Minnesota Twins? This is a still a team that revolves around Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but their window of opportunity has passed and the team seems to be set on building for the future. The fans will be treated to a talented rookie in Aaron Hicks and the team will likely turn to other young building blocks as the season progresses. The lack of a solid pitching staff and a young line-up likely means that the Twins will make more noise at the trade deadline than they will in the standings. Expect Morneau and Josh Willingham to be shopped extensively when the Twins fall out of contention in early June.

American League West

1.) Los Angeles Angels

2.) Oakland Athletics (WC)

3.) Texas Rangers

4.) Seattle Mariners

5.) Houston Astros

To me, this is the toughest division to pick. In the end, I went with the Angels taking the title, as they are just a dangerous team to have to face consistently. The addition of Josh Hamilton to a line-up that already contained Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, and Mark Trumbo will be devastating for even the best rotations to face. Jered Weaver is a solid ace at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five is made up of number 4 starters at best, and that's giving Joe Blanton a lot of credit. Still, the team's offense should carry them.

Oakland is my runner-up, but could very well steal the division again. The starting rotation is as deep as they come, and Billy Beane's teams always seem to have another arm waiting in the wings, which they may need if Brett Anderson continues to struggle with his health. Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick will likely continue to improve and are solid offensive building blocks. The addition of Jed Lowrie is another good buy-low move by Beane.

What were the Texas Rangers doing this winter? A team with so much to gain just by retaining their top offensive weapon, Texas instead let Hamilton walk to a division rival and did nothing to replace him. They have the best prospect in the game in Jurickson Profar, but no place to play him, so why they couldn't swing a deal for Justin Upton with Elvis Andrus as a center piece, I don't know. The combination of Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison at the top of the rotation is solid, but losing out on Greinke is going to hurt them.

The Seattle Mariners, like the Royals above, did a lot to improve their team, first bringing in the fences, then bringing Kendrys Morales and Mike Morse to help an anemic offense support one of the most underrated pitching staffs in baseball. Still, they face an uphill battle with the Rangers, A's, and Angels still having stronger rosters to fall back on. The presence of Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Mike Zunino, and Nick Franklin gives the Mariners a top-5 prospect list to be envied by any organization.

Moving from the NL Central to the AL West was the right move for the Astros and will help them create a natural rivalry with the Rangers. Unfortunately, they have a few years of building a roster ahead of them, especially after dismantling the current one. There is something to be said about building a winner by losing on the field, but entertaining is not one of them.

Time to mourn and later a time to vent and MLB. This and more in this solemn edition of This and That.

As we morn the lost of innocent people from Newtown, Conn, we should reflect on life and how precious it really is. It is a painful moment for this Nation and in particular for the City of Newtown, Sandy Hook Elementary School and their families.

It is not a time to vent your frustrations on what needs to be done. Let the souls of those who died have the respect of a burial and for their loved ones a time to grieve and the Nation to pay their respect.

I won’t say anything on this matter until next month.

RIP to all that passed away.

What’s with Rob Parker??

Did he go to far??

Rob Parker an ESPN commentator has been suspended for racially charged comments about RGIII. Parker, who appears regularly on several ESPN television and radio shows, played the race card on ESPN’s First Take on last Thursday.

“Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” Parker wondered. “"He's not real. Okay, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else. We all know he has a white fiancee. There was all this talk about how he's a Republican.”

After those comments Rob was suspended until further notice.

RGIII’s dad says "I wouldn't say it's racism. I would just say some people put things out there about people so they can stir things up. Robert is in really good shape on who he is, where he needs to get to in order to seek the goals he has in life ... so I don't take offense."

My take is:

“Anyone, of any race and creed should be allowed to be anything they want to be without having to hear Bullcrap from people of their own race.”

On Wednesday, Rob Parker issued the following apology, part:

"I blew it and I'm sincerely sorry. I completely understand how the issue of race in sports is a sensitive one and needs to be handled with great care. This past Thursday I failed to do that. I believe the intended topic is a worthy one. Robert's thoughts about being an African-American quarterback and the impact of his phenomenal success have been discussed in other media outlets, as well as among sports fans, particularly those in the African-American community. The failure was in how I chose to discuss it on First Take, and in doing so, turned a productive conversation into a negative one."

" ... I've contacted his agent with hopes of apologizing to Robert directly. As I reflect on this and move forward, I will take the time to consider how I can continue to tackle difficult, important topics in a much more thoughtful manner."

I can’t understand the Met’s. They could not come up with $25 million for million to retain R.A. Dickey???? Do they think they have better pitchers on the team??? Oh well, the Mets loss is a major gain for the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mets traded Dickey to the Blue Jay’s for catching prospect Trevor d’Arnaud, pitching prospect Noah Syndegaard, Wuilmer Becerra and major-league catcher John Buck

It looks like Toronto is the team to beat in the American League East.

Congrats to Jim Boeheim on winning his 900^th game as head coach of Syracuse. He joins a list that is very short, with only Bobby Knight and Coach K are in. Jim’s 900 wins are the most by any coach who has been with his team their whole career.

Til Next time

Scott

There is an old saying that with two left feet, it is tough to walk a straight path. And if there is a man in baseball with two left feet, it is Commissioner Bud Selig.

That said, the path in front of Selig is certainly not a straight one. With the monster trade agreed upon by the Marlins and the Blue Jays, there is certainly going to be a blowback.  That much has been made certain by the fact that Selig has to review the deal.

However, none of this is of concern over what the Blue Jays are acquiring or what Marlins are acquiring in return. Both teams actually did extremely well in the deal, with the Blue Jays becoming not just contenders in the American League East, but in all of baseball, and the Marlins picking up some of the best prospects in the game and some cogs that can immediately be inserted into the line-up. Justin Nicolino, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Jake Marisnick are superb prospects that the Blue Jays were reluctant to give up for any trade, yet you don’t get the chance to acquire Jose Reyes, Mark Buerhle, and Josh Johnson in the same deal every day.

No, this blowback is about the perpetuation of a lie. The Marlins and Major League Baseball somehow convinced the city of Miami and the state of Florida that things had changed, that a new ballpark was going to mark a new period of ownership under Jeffery Loria. Instead, the charlatan simply went back behind the curtain and pretended to be the wizard again.

This trade simply pulls that curtain back and shows that despite the shiny new surroundings, the wizard is indeed still a con man.

So this review by Selig will likely not rescind the trade. If he let the deal between Boston and Los Angeles go through, he’ll allow this one to pass. The difference there being that the Boston Red Sox found a taker to help them out of a mistake, one that they will probably make again as they reload this winter, now unencumbered by albatross contracts.

The Marlins have shown time and again that they are not the Boston Red Sox.

Selig’s review is completely about what the Marlins, specifically Loria, are doing with the team. Taking his payroll down to $32.5 million in 2013, Loria is doing one thing and one thing only; watching his bottom line. He can stump all day about his desire to field a winner and escape a last place finish from the season before, but it is nothing more than a dog and pony show. He had the components to field a winner, the Marlins just needed to see what would happen with one season out from under the thumb of Ozzie Guillen.

If Loria is convinced that he has to do what is in the best interest of the Marlins, then Bud Selig needs to do what he feels is in the best interest of Florida baseball. Selig needs to storm into Loria’s office and demand to know what the Marlins plan to do in order to put a competitive team on the field, what free agents they will chase, and what they will do to fix the perception that this ownership group has Major League Baseball and the city of Miami in its best interests.

Short of a good answer to those questions, Selig needs to force Loria out in the same manor that he forced Frank McCourt out in Los Angeles. There is no room in the game for an owner that has no interest in earning fan loyalty.

It will be a tough decision for Selig to make, but it one he will have to make nonetheless. It is a path made for men with two left feet, one where you need to stray from the straight line and think of how the decision impacts everything surrounding it.

Let’s just hope that Selig’s ass-kicking foot is his left!

Should the Miami Marlins trade of Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and John Buck to the Blue Jays for "prospects" be blocked?

And no matter your answer to that...Should Marlins ownership be investigated after they had the city pay for most of the $500 million+ cost of the new stadium...Then signed a boat load of talent to back-loaded contracts, just to trade off all that talent in less than a year for role players and prospects?

We are now roughly 1/5^th of the way through the Major League season and this season has been full of surprises, ups and downs, and general mayhem. We’ve seen perfect games, no-hitters, 4 home-run contests, appearances of top prospects, and intentional plunkings.

I love baseball!

But what I love most about the game is the parity. Sure, there are some teams that always seem to be near the top, but at this time of the year, there are also a handful of surprise teams making improbable, and sometimes short-lived, runs to the top of the division.

With that in mind, I thought I would take a look at some of the teams I am buying and selling at this stage of the season; the over-achievers, the under-achievers, and the real deal teams of the league.

Washington Nationals – Selling

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Nationals and the way they are playing the game. And yes, I’m watching the Bryce Harper show the same way I used to enjoy the “Tiger Watch”. Their pitching is absolutely phenomenal, with Strasburg, Detwiler, Gonzalez, and Zimmerman all showing the talent that makes them one of the best young rotations in baseball. That said I’m selling because I don’t think this offense can do enough to sustain the momentum. You cannot rely on pitching every night of the week and a team that ranks 27^th in runs scored and 24^th in average is not going to be there to bail out the pitcher when he fails to carry the load.

This is a good, young team, but they are still a year or so away from contending for the long haul.

Los Angeles Angels – Buying

At 14-18, the Angels have been one of the most disappointing teams in baseball, and with Texas having such a solid start to the year, they have dug themselves a big hole to start the season. Still, this is a team that is underperforming more than any in baseball and the signs are pointing to them coming out of it, as they have won 7 of their last 10 games. Remember, this is a team whose best hitter, Albert Pujols, is swinging the bat to the tune of .198 with just 1 home run and 11 RBI. They also can expect better things out of rotation stalwarts Ervin Santana and Dan Haren, both of whom have been inconsistent but have shown flashes of brilliance during the year.

You just can’t keep a team with this much talent down.

Boston Red Sox – Selling

Well, it appears that the Red Sox have figured out a way to beat the new MLB Draft slotting system, as they are bound and determined to secure a high pick after a 12-18 start. They have the second worst ERA in all of baseball and the struggles of their top three starters (Lester, Beckett, and Buchholz) are not showing any signs of getting better at this stage. You can tell that times are desperate when fans start looking forward to the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka from Tommy John surgery to stabilize the rotation.

The offense is doing its job, but when you have to consistently score 7-8 runs to stay in a game, there is something else offensive going on.

Cleveland Indians – Selling

Sometimes it is hard to justify selling on a first place team, but the numbers do all the talking for me with the Indians. Despite ranking 18^th in team hitting and 21^st in team pitching, this team has managed to place itself atop the mediocre American League Central division. That said, is it just dumb luck that Cleveland is holding on to the division lead or is it more of a bi-product of the disappointing season thus far for the Detroit Tigers?

I’m more apt to believe the latter and banking on Detroit making a similar run to the one they did to close out 2011, while Cleveland flirts with the division title, but fades by August.

Toronto Blue Jays – Buying

If there is a team that has been dying for the chance at a division change or an additional playoff spot, it is the Toronto Blue Jays. This is a team that has been on the cusp of contending only to suffer because of the division they play in, getting leaped by the Tampa Bay Rays along the way. Still, there is a lot to like in Toronto, with some electrifying young players (Brett Lawrie, Eric Thames), Edwin Encarnacion having a career year, Jose Bautista set to get back to being Joey Bats, and a top quality, young pitching staff coming into its own, the Blue Jays are poised to snap up that extra wild card slot.

Los Angeles Dodgers – Buying

Remember when people were trying to argue that Matt Kemp should have won the MVP award over Ryan Braun a year ago, and that was before the PED controversy? Well, Kemp is out to prove them why by going out and playing as the MVP this year. But the Dodgers are so much more than Kemp. Andre Ethier is one of the more exciting young bats in baseball and is in a walk year. The top four starters in the rotation all have an ERA under 3.32, and have the third lowest starters ERA in the majors.

And now with new ownership decided, the team can focus on winning games and winning back the Los Angeles market share back from the Angels.