AL South Preview

Kansas City Royals

Success for year 4 will be measured by a World Series Ring, everything else is failure for the Royals.

Off Season big decision was to trade year 2 MVP Jack Meadows or keep him for his last season of his contract. Offers were low ball so Meadows is back for a Championship run. Kansas City will always attract pitchers but batters like Meadows will want to move. He would be crazy great in parks like Colorado.

Last year failure may have been only having Lefties in the pen so FA signings of Magglio Jose and Anthony Lansing will give better options.

The other improvement will come from training. Big off season for Edgardo Javier moving from a 75 to an 81. His second year could be his breakout to all star form. Also, KC starting pitching has further improved with Jonnie Donovan and Pedro Coronado's youth have moved into prime time and Last season's Cy Young winner Dale Nathan all return

Tampa Bay Rays

Key FAs added - Tuck Thompson and Kip Johnson
Key FAs lost - Milt Duncan
Transactions - Brought in Sun-Woo Zhang and Stu Morgan through two separate trades.

Rookies - Alex Jung and two Rule 5 picks: Woodie Maurer and Karim Biddle Review - The Rays were able to keep their core players intact and bring in a few veterans to help the cause.

After winning 94 games last season, which was only good for 3rd in the division, the goal this offseason was to get better overall. By trading for Morgan, we were able to replace Duncan, who brought us two 1st round picks in free agency.

We then gave up our own 1st round pick to acquire Johnson who will be our closer this year after moving Phillip Price in the trade for Zhang. The Rays look to stay consistent and hit the 90 win mark again this season.

Texas Rangers

Key Players Added : None
Key Players Lost : None

Key Transactions : None

Rookies expected to contribute: RF Dustin Malone.

We made big moves last season when we acquired Michael Tatum and Joe Bowman, who finished the season as our first and second SP. Marino Barajas also came in those trades and was our closer. We think these three guys will lead the pitching staff to a better season than last year.

On the offensive side, the same guys are back, SS Ezdra Ayala(.325,46 HR and 156 RBI), CF Miguel Picasso(.305, 18 HR, 84 RBI and 75 SB), 3B Ramon Masato(.305, 23 HR and 109 RBI) and rookie DH Ralph Cameron(.295, 39 HR and 113).

Our goal is to made the playoffs..