Preview/Prediction

February is almost coming to a close, which means America’s Pastime is beginning to dawn on the hearts and minds of fans, players and coaches alike.

For the Houston Astros, they enter 2010 Spring Training with many questions and a new-look squad; along with a new skipper by the name of Brad Mills.

While the Philadelphia Phillies have been a hit first, pitch second type of team the last few years, the gap might hinge just a bit closer in 2010.

Originally published at TwinsTarget.com.

One of the stories around baseball during the early parts of spring training has been Johana Santana claiming that he is still the top pitcher in the NL East despite the Phillies' acquisition of Roy Halladay.

It is hard to argue with Johan's confidence but Halladay does make a very good case for top pitcher in the division as well. An intriguing question is, who comes after them? There are great pitchers scattered throughout the NL East from the big right hander down in Florida, Josh Johnson to the slender California kid of the Phillies, Cole Hamels.

Officially, pitchers and catchers were to report Sunday at the Indians' complex in Arizona.

Unofficially, just about the entire team is already there. With the report date for everyone else not until Wednesday and the first full-squad workout not until Friday, the new era of Indians baseball is underway early.

Manny Acta is pleased with the fact that some of his bigger stars in Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Asdrubal Cabrera have already been in Goodyear, but now he has to get to work.

Franklin Gutierrez stepped it up last year, hitting .283 with 85 runs, 18 HRs, 70 RBI, and 16 SBs.

He turned 27 yesterday, so continued progression is likely.

However, I’m not sure he has a 20/20 season in his future.

The bulk of his stolen bases—seven, to be exact—came when he was hitting out of the two-hole. Newly acquired Chone Figgins figures to occupy that spot in the order, meaning Gutierrez will hit fifth.

He hit nearly half (eight) of his HRs in the fifth slot (in 21.9 percent of his ABs). He only stole two bases there though.

The Jonathan Broxtons, Mariano Riveras, and the Jonathan Papelbons of the world are going to go early. You can chase along by adding some other elite closers (click to see top 15 closer rankings ), but if you want to address other needs, here are some closer options you can get later on.

An exciting NL Wild Card race notwithstanding, the 2009 pennant races seriously lacked intrigue; that is until the Minnesota Twins sprang out of their coffin right before the last nail was driven in. The Twins came from 7 games behind in early September to beat the dysfunctional Detroit Tigers in a classic extra-inning one-game playoff (or if you're John Church, just some game back in October you keep trying to forget ever happened).

If I told you that you had to fill 34 starts throughout the course of a season and offered you the choice between the following stat lines, which one would you take?

11-7, 3.23 ERA, 214.1 IP, 178 H, 24 HR, 58 BB, 160 K, 1.101 WHIP, 24 Quality Starts

14-7, 5.22 ERA, 194.2 IP, 226 H, 39 HR, 64 BB, 100 K, 1.490 WHIP, 14 Quality Starts

Is there even the tiniest little chance that you'd select line two? I suppose that if you were selecting a starting pitcher for your chief rival, you might go that way.

My last article looked at the Texas Rangers' rotation. I gave their group a C+ overall, dragged down mainly by a D rating for Colby Lewis.

Next up is the Los Angeles Angels' rotation, an interestingly balanced yet unspectacular group.

At the end of this article, I'll compare the Angels to the Rangers and see who has the better rotation.

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