Kuzul

With the first pitch of the 2013 regular season just 19 days away, there will surely be plenty of journalists making picks and prognostications for teams and players. In the American League, the Angels and Blue Jays have become trendy picks with the addition of Josh Hamilton in LA and Jose Reyes, R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, among others, in Toronto. I'm not convinced either team will have the success they are hoping for. In the National League, the Dodgers have eclipsed the Yankees as baseball's highest-spending team but I don't necessarily see their high payroll correlating to a high win total. On the opposite coast, I see a team from the NL East winning the most games in a season since the 2001 Mariners won 116. Instead of giving insight for each of the 30 MLB teams, here are my bold predictions for five teams whose records ...

It's been a quiet offseason so far for the New York Yankees. Brian Cashman and the front office only gave fans one new present for the holiday season in Kevin Youkilis (the rest, re-signing Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and Ichiro Suzuki, were recycled gifts).Yankees fans are going to have difficulty accepting the "Greek God of Walks" as part of Yankees Universe after his years as a member of Red Sox Nation. Here are three things Youk can do to endear himself to Yankees fans. 1. Come Up with a Good Roll Call GreetingOne of this Yankees fan's favorite parts of going to a game at the Stadium is participating or watching the Bleacher Creature's roll call of each player during the first inning. When Nick Swisher signed with the Indians over the weekend, the team lost the most enthusiastic roll call.The more flamboyant greetings generally come from outfielders, but ...

Of the four Division Series matchups, this one probably featured the most different teams.The Athletics exceeded almost everyone's expectations with rookies and other youngsters, while the Tigers were on the outside looking in for most of the season despite their high expectations with superstars like Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder on the roster.In Game 1, pitching ruled the day. Justin Verlander bounced back from a shaky beginning to strike out 11 in seven innings and Jarrod Parker gave up three runs in six and a third in his first career postseason start.Both bullpens were effective and the Tigers earned a nail-biting 3-1 victory in the first game of the best-of-five Division Series. Here are Game 1 grades for each team.Begin Slideshow

Nick Swisher is a good Yankee.In almost four full seasons, he has a .362 on-base percentage and 101 home runs. He's a decent right fielder and has proven his worth at first base in 2012 while Mark Teixeira deals with a calf injury. He's also a clubhouse and fan favorite.Unfortunately for Swisher, who has embraced New York, his days as a Yankee are numbered.He'll be a free agent this off-season and it's difficult to see him in the Yankees' future plans, given Swisher's postseason numbers and the Yankees' desire to decrease their payroll by 2014.Swisher has always been a streaky hitter, which partially explains the Yankees' inability to keep their division lead in 2012. Since Aug. 29, he's just 7-62 (.113) without a home run. He has his share of hot streaks, too, but I sense the team is getting tired of his extreme hot and cold stretches.One thing he's never ...

The non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone, and as has become the "Yankee Way," Brian Cashman and the Yankees' front office made a couple of minor moves without pulling off a blockbuster deal.Cashman made two small upgrades to his first-place team's roster, acquiring outfielder Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners for minor league pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar on July 23, and acquiring infielder Casey McGehee from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Chad Qualls just before Tuesday's deadline.Both deals are low-risk, medium- to high-upside moves that made sense. But the best moves the Yankees made at this year's trade deadline are the trades Brian Cashman did not make. July 23, Yankees acquire OF Ichiro Suzuki, Grade: A-This was a prudent move for the Yankees.After finding out the Brett Gardner would miss the duration of the season due to elbow surgery, the Yankees were looking at playing the final two months ...

Just before the 4:00 non-waiver trade deadline, the Texas Rangers made their biggest move by acquiring Ryan Dempster from the Cubs for two minor leaguers.The move came after the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim traded for Zack Greinke over the weekend and after learning that Neftali Feliz will have Tommy John surgery.The cost wasn't high; the Rangers only gave up a minor league third baseman blocked in the system by Adrian Beltre and Mike Olt and an organizational pitcher who isn't much of a prospect.Dempster has good numbers this year, and the Rangers needed a No. 1 or No. 2 starting pitcher, but Dempster was not the answer. Here are five reasons why.Begin Slideshow

Before the regular season began, I wrote an article examining the AL East contenders' April schedules and argued that, because the Blue Jays played a relatively weak schedule to open the season, they would have a strong first month. They've done well, but May will not be nearly as kind to them. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Yankees should breeze through a relatively weak May schedule, while the Orioles will run into some of the league's best teams over the next 31 days. Here are analyses of each team's May schedules, and arguments for why the Orioles probably won't be within a game of first place in the division when the calendar turns to June. Baltimore Orioles Opponents: at NYY (2), at BOS (3), vs TEX (4), vs TB (3), vs NYY (2), at KC (2), at WAS (3), vs BOS (3), vs KC (3) at TOR (3) Opponents' combined record (entering April ...