GW2 AL East Preview: Season 1

The AL East is an early contender for the worst division in GW2. Two of the teams are openly rebuilding and the other two appear to be mediocre at best. Here's a look at how the division should shake out.

Augusta Whitewash

Unhappy with the talent at the ML level, GM sickchangeup went about unloading some of his best players, trading Hal Price and George Bailey for prospects. But Augusta hasn't completely blown up its big league team, and the Whitewash made a savvy trade for Jose Belliard while also signing discount deals for Steve Sweeney, Corban Thompson and Tracy Gaillard.

While the Whitewash won't be contending for a playoff spot, the team isn't completely devoid of talent. The rotation has three quality starters in Richie Wolf, Andy Reagan and Thurman Brown, though none of them will be able to shoulder a ton of innings. The back of the rotation will be more problematic and the bullpen is a two-man show, with Belliard and Paul Wanatabe.

The lineup has only one complete hitter: DH Ed Howell, who likely will spend the first 20 or so games of the season in AAA. 2B Barry Peterson is a nice hitter for his position and could grow into a true star. Outside of that, the team will rely on flawed sluggers like Luis Pizzaro, Andre Fitzgerald and Eric Witt. And you don't even want to consider how bad a hitter CF Virgil Wright is going to be.

Augusta has pockets of talent here and there, but probably not enough to be even average on either side of the ball.

Prediction: 68-94

New York Yankees

The Yankees didn't have an overly active offseason, although they did make a few moves. They traded away a couple talented players in Charlie Moran and Frank Chen and acquired a nice starting pitcher in Ray Hall, and they also signed a couple minor free agents.

Hall joins the clear strength of the team: a starting rotation that also includes Antone Hill and Bert Hughes. Even the back end of the rotation isn't terrible with Kenny Bollea and Gene Doyle.

The bullpen also has several promising pitchers in it, including Javier Romano, Kirk Relaford, Luther Brock and Wilt Root.

The starting lineup has strong hitters where you would expect them: 1B Orber Johnson and DH Vic Javier. But it has serviceable hitters, at worst, throughout the rest of the field and the defense seems competent as well.

All in all, the Yankees should be an above average pitching team and maybe average or a bit above on offense.

Prediction: 86-76, AL East champions

Tampa Bay PoisonArrowDartFrogs

Tampa Bay's biggest moves in the offseason were to trade away one of its better hitters in Jesus Arroyo and to sign a decent aging OF in Lucas Hunter.

Hunter, despite his diminished range, appears to be the team's starting CF. The defense will be much better in the middle infield with Paul Bang and Juan Lee. The team lacks a true star hitter, though, as corner outfielders Miguel Alcantara and Jeffrey Morgan are merely OK and 1B Johan Bates and Arnold Abbott both have flaws that will detract from their obvious strengths.

The rotation is fine at the top with Hideo Tamura and Randy Thurman, and even Zeus Webster and Greg Levis have the potential to be serviceable. Carlos Silva, however, is a disaster waiting to happen in the fifth spot.

The bullpen has a couple respectable pitchers in Troy Anderson and Willie Sierra, but not a lot else.

Depending on how much they can limit Silva's innings, the PADFs could be a solid pitching team with a just below average offense.

Prediction: 77-85

Trenton Dirty Jerz

Trenton had one of the busiest offseasons of any team in the league. The Dirty Jerz traded away some of its best players, including J.P. Alonso, Rob Kirby and Cliff Carter and traded for solid but unspectacular infielders Pedro Perez and Louie Cabrera. They also made a whole slew of discount free agent signings: Cristobal Sanchez, Allen Hamilton, Jesus Rivera, Dee Butler, Ricardo Posada, Louis White, Art Newson and Carl Moran, each for less than $2.5 million a year.

The end result isn't pretty, but it shouldn't be the worst team in the league either.

2B Chan Dong is far and away the best player on the team and the only really good hitter. Of the players above who were acquired in the offseason, Newson, Perez, Cabrera, White and Hamilton all figure to find their way into the starting lineup.

The rotation features just one quality pitcher, and he's still in AAA at the moment: Justin Brooks. It gets ugly quickly after that with the above-mentioned Sanchez, Jack Barry, Pete Wilkerson and an as-yet-unknown fifth starter.

The bullpen's just as big a mess, with Keith Moss probably the only decent pitcher out there.

Trenton can expect to be significantly below average on the pitching side, and just slightly better offensively.

Prediction: 64-98