It's close, but it looks as if the Red Sox have
slightly outdone the Detroit Tigers in the race to be the American League team to dominate the off-season. The
Motor City franchise made some serious improvements to their benighted bullpen with
Francisco Rodriguez and shored up their rotation with the addition of
Jordan Zimmermann and
Mike Pelfrey. And while
Cameron Maybin is a very nice player, it was the acquisition of
Justin Upton that
really moved the Tigers into Central division contention. On the other hand,
The Carmine Hose finally got a Number One starter in
David Price—which completely transforms their rotation. Also, the pathetic 2015 bullpen has been overhauled—with
Craig Kimbrel and
Carson Smith taking pressure off
Koji Uehara,
Junichi Tazawa, and
Robbie Ross. All in all, the Sox win the
American League Hot Stove Crown.
