Vote Now for Best AL Roster

Voting has begun at Call to the Pen for the best AL Divisional roster. Feel free to vote for whichever roster you feel is best, but Birds Watcher is obviously pulling for the AL East. With the AL East being viewed as such a powerhouse division you would think they would have the best roster. However, if you look at all three divisional rosters (which you can do at Call to the Pen), it isn’t so clear cut.

The Orioles are only represented by Matt Wieters, but if you look at the lineup and pitching staff, I can see Orioles players representing the AL East in future seasons.

I think the AL East has the best setup/closer combination, although it irks me to say it because the Yankees have both players. The rotation is strong, except I think the AL East drops off a bit after Lester in the rotation.

Starting Rotation
– C.C. Sabathia
– David Price
– Jon Lester
– Clay Buchholz
– Ricky Romero

Set up Man
– Rafael Soriano

Closer
– Mariano Rivera

Obviously as an Orioles fan and blogger I wanted to choose an Orioles pitcher to represent the team. However, none of the Orioles pitchers have been good enough yet to make this team.

The only spot that came up for debate when choosing the pitching staff was between Ricky Romero and Josh Beckett. For me, only the last rotation spot was tough to decide. I actually went with John Lackey with my vote for the final rotation spot despite a tough 2010 season. Before 2010 Lackey had put up five straight sub 4.00 ERA seasons while pitching in the AL. In addition, as rough as last season was for him, it was still a lot better than Beckett’s 5.78 ERA he posted last season.

I tried to make an argument for Jeremy Guthrie in my head after his strong 2010 season. Despite a poor 2009 season, Guthrie has put up solid numbers since being with the Orioles. I also think you can make an argument Brian Matusz has the potential to good enough this season to be given consideration, but we will have to wait and see. Hopefully for the Orioles and their fans, Matusz and a few other members of the cavalry will be garnering consideration for this rotation come next season.

Go on over to Call to the Pen now to see the final teams for each AL Division and vote for which division you think has the best team!