Season previews: Each major league team’s lingering issues and X factors.
Division preview by Maureen Mullen
Baltimore Orioles
Lingering issues: Is it now or never for the Orioles? They have several key players — including Adam Jones, Manny
Machado, Zach Britton and Brad Brach — who can become free agents after the season, and the contracts of executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter also will be up then. But Britton will miss at least the first two months of the season after having surgery on his right Achilles tendon, and slugger Mark Trumbo (right thigh) will begin the regular season on the disabled list as well. X factor: The addition of right-hander Alex Cobb near the end of spring training was a huge boost to the rotation. The additions of Andrew Cashner and Chris Tillman, joining Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman, give the Orioles the possibility of a legitimate, major league starter each night.
Manager watch: Showalter is in the final season of his contract. He’d like to stay, and the feeling is the Orioles would like to keep him. But will he move to the front office?
Boston Red Sox
Lingering issues: The Red Sox start the season with just three-fifths — Chris Sale, Da
vid Price and Rick Porcello — of their expected rotation. But Sale, who left his last exhibition start after getting hit in the left hip by a line drive, and Price, returning from an elbow injury, were brought along slowly in spring training to protect them later in the season. Drew Pom
eranz and Eduardo Rodriguez will start the season on the disabled list, and Steven Wright will serve a 15-game suspension for an offseason domestic violence incident. Closer Craig
Kimbrel returned to Boston for several weeks during the spring for his infant daughter’s heart surgery.
X factor: Boston acquired free agent slugger J.D. Marti
nez, whose 45 homers ranked third in the majors last season, to fill the void left when David Ortiz retired after the 2016 season. Some players have not adapted well in their first year in Boston. How will Martinez respond? Manager watch: Signed to a three-year contract, Alex Cora enters his first career season as a manager. Cora, who espouses analytics and communication, is likely to face some rookie manager adjustments but will be given plenty of room by the front office.
New York Yankees
Lingering issues: The rotation should be a strength but has questions. At 24, Luis Se
verino is the staff ace but is entering just his second full season. Masahiro Tanaka is coming off his worst major league season but rebounded in the second half. CC Sabathia will be 38 in July but had his best season in years (14-5, 3.69 ERA) and was a Boston slayer (4-0, 1.04). Sonny Gray had a difficult adjustment after being acquired at the trade deadline (4-7, 3.72 ERA in 11 starts). The Yankees lost first baseman Greg
Bird for 6-8 weeks when he needed surgery to remove a bone spur from his right ankle at the end of spring training.
X factor: With Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton leading the way, the Yankees are expected to clobber opposing pitching staffs. But catcher Gary San
chez could be the key — at the plate as well as behind it. Sanchez hit 33 homers in just 122 games last season. Manager watch: Aaron
Boone, signed to a three-year contract, enters his first career season as a manager. Boone figures to get time to grow into the job.
Tampa Bay Rays
Lingering issues: The Rays plan to use a four-man rotation — Chris Archer, Blake Snell,
Jake Faria and Nate Eovaldi — throughout the season with a bullpen game for the fifth day. The idea is to limit the workload on the starters, but the result could be highly taxing on the bullpen. The Rays will have to find a balance between how deep they allow starting pitchers to go into a game and how early in a game they go to the bullpen. A short outing by a starter will essentially mean two bullpen games in five days.
X factor: The Rays are going back to their old run-prevention philosophy, formerly a cornerstone of the franchise, with an emphasis on a more athletic defense. If that works, they won’t have to score many runs to win. Manager watch: Kevin Cash is signed through the end of 2019 and has almost an entirely new coaching staff this season. Management has not pinned any of the team’s failures during his tenure on him.
Toronto Blue Jays
Lingering issues: Righthander Marcus Stroman, expected to start the fourth game of the season, made just two official spring starts because of a right shoulder injury. Right fielder Randal Grichuk missed most of March because of a strained rib cage before returning for the last week of spring games. Shortstop Troy Tulo
witzki likely will miss the first two months because of a bone spur in his right foot. X factor: Right-hander Aar
on Sanchez was limited to a career-low eight appearances last season because of a blister issue. But the Blue Jays know he can be an elite pitcher, evidenced by his 3.00 AL-best ERA in 2016.
Manager watch: Toronto likely is headed for a full rebuild if it doesn’t contend this year, and John Gibbons could be on the hot seat if the Jays get off to a slow start.
“I don’t have a whole lot of padding anywhere on me, but if I’m going to get hit, somewhere in the hip or the butt’s going to be the place to go. Better than a rib, arm, hand, even the face. So this was best-case scenario.” Chris Sale The Red Sox left-hander, after he was hit by a line drive in his final Grapefruit League start. He had a bruised left hip.