Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images[/caption]It is getting closer and closer to the beginning of the 2013 MLB regular season. Currently, all of the excitement is all towards the well-known World Baseball Classic. Everyone is talking about the WBC and the players from the MLB that are participating in it.
Personally, my focus is mainly on what unexpected teams are in for possibly a breakout year. Right before the season takes off, I like to take a look at each team's roster and come up with players that will have either a breakout season, or at the very least, have a better than season than projected.
When we talk playoffs in baseball, generally the main teams that are heard are the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Washington Nationals.
The fact remains that baseball has so much parity that really anyone can win it all. There is really no clear-cut "best team" in Major League Baseball. There are teams that look good on paper, but they still need to get it done on the field.
With that being said, here are my top under-the-radar teams that have the potential to have an impressive season.
Kansas City Royals
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Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]I really believe in this team. They have a complete roster now with the additions of James Shields and Wade Davis. The main thing that the Royals lacked in the past was a balanced rotation.
They have always seemed to have decent enough hitters to produce runs, but the pitching staff failed to produce well. The Royals current pitching staff is improved, to say the least, and this is how it looks:
- Shields
- Davis
- Ervin Santana
- Jeremy Guthrie
- Bruce Chen
If all is well with the main pieces with their lineup, the Royals should contend in the AL Central. By "main pieces", I mean Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon. If those four guys all produce the way they are surely capable of doing, then the sky is the limit for this ball club.
With those hitters who all have the potential to hit .300-plus, and 20-plus home runs, they can beat anybody they want to. It would be nice to have a little more pitching on the staff, but they have enough to make the playoffs at least.
Every year you see baseball writers/journalists saying the Royals will break out, but they never do. However, possibly this is the year.
Boston Red Sox
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Jim Rogash/Getty Images[/caption]For the past few years, the Red Sox have been in a"rebuilding" process, but they are moving along with that process quickly and many people didn't expect for them to improve so much and so fast.
The trade that started the rebuilding process was the blockbuster trade that featured Boston sending Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in which they shaved $275 million in future payroll off the books. Then, the day after the regular season ended, the Red Sox fired former manager Bobby Valentine.
Many people feel that Valentine's successor, John Ferrell, will have the respect from the clubhouse that Valentine seemed to lack. The team itself has had trouble getting production from their picture staff.
Last season, the Red Sox lost John Lackey for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Also, Clay Buchholtz and Jon Lester had the worst years of their careers.
The Red Sox at least attempted to address that problem this past off-season by signing former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster and also replacing their former closer Jonathan Papelbon with former Pittsburgh Pirates star closer Joel Hanarahan.
Taking the focus off of pitching, they also improved significantly with their lineup by signing Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and Stephen Drew. All three of those players can make an impact and make an impact fast.
For the most part, it will be up to the veterans of theteam such as David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury to solidify this lineup and take this team back to the postseason, which they haven't done since 2009.
Cleveland Indians
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USA TODAY Sports[/caption]Many people feel that the Indians quit on manager Manny Acta, but the real issue there was he was working with limited talent. It is just unfortunate for managers that are not given a chance to improve the team and are fired early in their contract.
On the other hand, for the Indians case, it is a business and Acta didn't have the best relationship with his clubhouse and Cleveland decided to let him go based on that.
New manager Terry Francona is a great one and should win this clubhouse over and fight for a playoff-spot. Cleveland has made major improvements on their roster by trading for Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs and signing Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn.
They now have a "good" lineup. As long as Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson stay healthy, they will be fine. They also signed Jason Giambi and Daisuke Matsuzaka to minor-league deals, but everyone knows they will eventually be in the majors.
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Christian Peterson/Getty Images[/caption]The Mariners are a very underrated team. Ever since they traded their former franchise player Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees, they have been in rebuilding mode.
Losing a player with the caliber of Ichiro can be difficult to replace, not only in the aspect of hitting. Also, they lose one of the game's top defensive outfielders and a more than reliable lead-off hitter.
The Mariners do now have more power in their lineup than they have had since 2001 when they had Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez. In the past 4-5 seasons, the Mariners have had trouble scoring runs as a team and now that issue seems to be addressed.
Seattle is indeed showing improvement on the field, as they seemed to last year, but still finished last in the American League. The biggest improvement for the Mariners is their outfield. Offensively, the Mariners have an outfield who can all hit 20-plus homers this season and for seasons to come with the addition of Raul Ibanez.
Seattle’s strengths will continue to be defense and pitching. Led by shortstop Brendan Ryan and center fielder Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle had the division’s best defense in 2012. That’s the perfect complement to a solid staff that includes one of the league’s top starters in Felix Hernandez.
The Mariners will be an "under-the-radar" team that could be one the teams nobody expected to be great. I compare this year's Seattlle team to last year's Oakland Atheltics team. The Mariners just have the depth on their major league roster that other teams do not and that may be the one thing that makes them tough to beat.
Pittsburgh Pirates
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Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]In 2012, the Pirates made noise in the NL Central for a second consecutive season, but for a second consecutive season, they lacked the stamina to remain in contention beyond mid-August. As a result, the franchise's streak of consecutive losing seasons reached 20.
Last season, thanks to strong starting pitching and the offensive exploits of center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates at least sidestepped 90 losses for the first time since 2004. On Aug. 8, they were 63-47 and only 2½ games out of first place, but they then embarked on a 16-36 spiral and finished fourth.
There is a bright side, as Pittsburgh drew more than two million fans for the first time since 2001 and only the second time since 1991. The payroll also climbed to a franchise-record $62 million. Pittsburgh has shown a 22-game improvement since 2010, the last of four consecutive sixth-place finishes.
Arizona Diamondbacks
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Christian Peterson/Getty Images[/caption]Many people may think that the Diamondbacks are in trouble after making noticeable blockbuster trades this off-season. In three independent deals, they shipped out three of their “future cornerstone” players in Justin Upton, Trevor Bauer and Chris Young, to be replaced by established but risky veterans like Brandon McCarthy and Heath Bell.
Upton was dealt to Atlanta in January (where he coincidentally joined his brother), with Arizona taking back Martin Prado and Randall Delgado, among some other prospects.
Bauer, a very high-ceiling starting pitcher, was moved to Cleveland in December in a six-player deal, with Bauer easily being the biggest name.
Young, who struggled all season, was ousted to Oakland, where the D-Backs acquired Cliff Pennington, who’s slated to be their starting shortstop come Opening Day. They also received infield prospect Yordy Cabrera in the deal, who they then flipped to Miami for Bell.
The team as a whole now looks very good and could really contend in the NL West with the reigning World Series champion Giants. Personally, I feel that the trades they made made their team more of a contender and gave them more players to look forward to for the future.
Ian Kennedy will lead this staff and it will be tough to score runs on this ball club. The Diamondbacks have one of the most unrecognized pitching staff now, but soon everyone will know what they can do.
