MLB American League Teams' Holes to Fill in the 07/08 Offseason

The Red Sox are world Champions for another year. The "hot stove" rumor mill is heating up? Which free agents will re-sign with their teams? Which will go somewhere else? What trades will be made? What rookies will come from the minors and be next year's Dustin Pedroia or Troy Tulowitzki? Each team is going to try to knock the Red Sox off their pedestal, but they all have holes to fill to improve themselves.

Baltimore Orioles

Hole 1--The Orioles need to get a bat at a corner position. Right now they have Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora, both are 36 years old, and their production has been dropping for two years. The only other person for the position is Aubrey Huff, and his production has been up and down since leaving Tampa Bay.

Hole 2-They need to improve the bullpen. The team ERA for the 7^th inning on was 5.48, and an overall team ERA of 5.17.

Boston Red Sox

Hole 1-The Sox filled a major hole by resigning Mike Lowell. But they have a potential problem with the starting rotation. Things look good with Beckett, Schilling and Matsuzaka as long as they stay healthy. Schilling is getting up there in age and has started more than 32 games only three times in the last ten seasons. Matsuzaka started to tire as the season wore on last year. This year he should be more used to the five man rotation. They may need another arm.

Hole 2-Trade Coco to get bullpen help. Coco Crisp earned $3.83 million in 2007. That is a lot of money for someone to be a bench player. Now that Torii Hunter is off the market there are teams looking for a centerfielder. The Red Sox should be able to get some fairly good pitching for him.

Chicago White Sox

Hole 1-The White Sox are in desperate need of a centerfielder. Right now the only experienced outfielder they have is Jermaine Dye. They can get help by signing a free agent or trading one of the third basemen, Josh Fields or Joe Crede.

Hole 2-The White Sox are also in need of bullpen help. They struggled in the late innings. From the 7^th inning on their ERA was 5.55. They need the middle relief that will get them to Bobby Jenks.

Cleveland Indians

Hole 1-For the most part the Indians are in pretty good shape. They need to make sure they sign their talent before they can get away via free agency. They do need to make a decision on left field. Right now it's between David Dellucci and Jason Michaels. Michaels hit .270 in 105 games and Dellucci hit .230 through 56 games. Do they want one of these guys or do they want someone else. They don't need to get a top tier guy to be out there. They still have a lot of pop elsewhere in the lineup.

Hole 2-This issue isn't a team issue unless they want to change things. Joe Borowski needs to improve. Yes, it was great that he had 45 saves, but in 2006 he had 36 saves with a lower ERA, 3.75 (compared to 5.07 in 2007), in three more games.

Detroit Tigers

Hole 1-The Tigers need to make a decision about their closer. They were set to let Todd Jones test the free agent market when they found out the future closer, Joel Zumaya, could be lost for the first half of '08. Zumaya injured his shoulder moving boxes getting ready to evacuate his house because of the wildfires. He ended up having reconstructive surgery and the club doesn't expect him back until July.

Hole 2-Probably more of a decision than a hole. Do they want to make room for Mike Hessman. Who??? Hessman, who plays third base, hit 31 homeruns and had 101 RBI for Toledo last season. Brandon Inge has seen his batting average and on base percentage drop for three consectutive seasons.

Kansas City Royals

Hole 1-- Hitting. Hitting. Hitting. The Royals need to get a big bat. They hit .261 as a team, which isn't that bad, but only hit 102 homeruns for the season. They do have the possibility of moving up Craig Brazell, who hit 32 homeruns for Triple-A Omaha. But do you put in at 1^st base in place of Ross Gload who hit .288 with 7 homeruns and 51 RBIs? Maybe you put him at DH in place of Billy Butler who hit .292 with 8 homeruns and 52 RBIs.

Hole 2-They need a lefty or two. As of right now the Royals have one lefty starter, Jorge De La Rosa, who was 8-12 with an ERA of 5.82. They also only have three possible lefties in the bull pen, Jimmy Gobble, John Bale and Neal Musser.

Los Angeles Angels

Hole 1-The Angles filled a major hole with the signing of Torii Hunter. The next hole that they have is to decide whether or not Erick Aybar or Maicer Izturis is the answer at shortstop. One thing they may do is move rookie Sean Rodriguez in. Rodriguez hit 17 homeruns and had 73 RBIs while playing for Double-A Arkansas.

Hole 2-They need to get healthy. Third base could be a problem if they don't. Both Dallas McPherson (back) and Chone Figgons (wrist) are recovering from surgeries.

Minnesota Twins

Hole 1-The Twins have a huge hole in centerfield. They lost Torii Hunter to free agency. But they lost not only the pop of his bat and the gold glove defense; they also lost the leadership in the clubhouse.

Hole 2-- They need to find a third baseman. Right now the starter is probably Brian Buscher. Buscher hit .244 in 33 major league games last season. The Twins are going to have to look outside the organization for this position since they don't really have any third basemen ready to step into the major league lime light yet.

New York Yankees

Hole 1-The Yanks need to resign their free agents. The talking heads of sports TV and sports radio were talking about all of the free agents leaving. That isn't going to happen but they need to keep as many as possible. The two big ones to resign would be Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

Hole 2-The Yankees are going to need starting pitching. If Andy Pettitte does decide to retire it is going to really hurt the rotation. Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina are pretty solid but the rest are either shaky or untested. They need to go get some lefties. Right now Kei Igawa is the only lefty starter.

Oakland A's

Hole 1-Oakland needs to stay healthy. Losing Rich Harden, Kiko Colaro, Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez for significant times last year killed them. They didn't have the depth to compete with the Angels when push came to shove. Since the season has ended Chavez has had three surgeries. One to each shoulder and microdisectomy surgery on his back

Hole 2-Get some outfield help off the bench. The starting outfield looks like it's going to be Travis Buck, Mark Kotsay and Nick Swisher. Other than that they don't have any experience coming off the bench. Maybe go after Andruw Jones or Mike Cameron and move Buck to the bench.

Seattle Mariners

Hole 1-The Mariners need a starter or two. Felix Hernandez is a stud, but is he ready to be the ace of the staff. The next two, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Bautista, are shaky. This isn't a great year for free agent starters but Bartolo Colon and Kenny Rogers are available.

Hole 2-The Mariners need anther bat. Right now they have Jose Vidro at DH. Yes, his .314 batting average and .381 on base percentage is pretty good, but he only hit six homeruns and knocked in 59 runs. One option may be Adam Jones. He has been at Triple-A Tacoma for the last two seasons and hit 25 homeruns this last year in only 101 games.

Tampa Bay Rays

Hole 1-The new look Rays should go out and get themselves a big bat. They need to improve the offense. Ideally they should get a shortstop that can hit. That would solve two of their problems. The top of this season's free agents class has got to be David Eckstein. Putting Eckstein into that lineup would make things very interesting. It's also time to bring up Evan Longoria. The Rays could move Akinori Iwamura to shortstop and put Longoria at third. That would get the Rays fans excited.

Hole2-- Starting pitching. Tampa Bay had a MLB worst 5.53 ERA. After Scott Kazmir there isn't much. James Shields had an ok season going 12-8 with a 3.85 ERA. After that there wasn't a starter with an ERA under 5.76, OUCH.

Texas Rangers

Hole 1-The Rangers need another bat. If they could get a hitter that would upgrade centerfield that would be great, since Marlon Byrd's stats are inconsistent and he hasn't played in more than 109 games since 2003. They can't go into the season with Jason Botts at DH. Do you bring back Sammy Sosa or go after something cheaper?

Hole 2-- The Rangers need to go after starting pitching, seems like we say that every year. Only one starter was in double digits for wins last season. Kevin Millwood went 10-14. Their top three inning eaters, Millwood, Kameron Loe and Vicente Padilla, all had ERAs over 5.00.

Toronto Blue Jays

Hole 1-They need some bench help. If Troy Glaus gets injured they don't really have anyone on the bench to play third. Glaus has played in 150 games only once in the last five years.

Hole 2-They could use an upgrade or solid back up for Gregg Zaun. Zaun is still an effective defensive catcher but his offensive numbers are low and he will be turning 37 in the first month of the season. They are going to have to outside the organization since there really isn't anything in the minors.

Every team has holes to fill going into next year. Part of the beauty of baseball is that you might be able to get that career year out of someone, and they could carry you. Take a look at Carlos Pena, he hit 46 homeruns and .282 for the Rays last season, both were career bests. Or maybe you'll find that diamond in the rough that comes from the minors and helps get you to the promise land. Jacoby Ellsbury was a late season call up and hit .353 in the last 33 games. He ended up starting in centerfield in the World Series.