Rankings/List

Yesterday, I graded each National League team on their offseason. Today, I will take a look at the American League.

Like with the NL, I will use a standard A,B,C, etc...grading format.

Minnesota Twins: Grade: A+

I thought the Twins had a phenomenal offseason. They started by stealing JJ Hardy from the Milwaukee Brewers and it only got better from there.

Many people have New Year's resolutions. As a Phillies fan, mine this season was to better learn the minor leagues. I know the Phillies obviously, but I wanted to really learn everyone else's minor league system. I figured the easiest way to do that was to compile a Top 10 Prospects list for each major league team.

During the 2009 postseason, the New York Yankees rode their top three starting pitchers to a ring. The defending champions added depth to their rotation during their offseason while the arch rival Boston Red Sox added another ace to their starting five. The AL East is well known for its high-power offenses, but the teams chasing the Yankees and Red Sox will need pitching if they hope to have any shot of getting by the two.

Do the AL East also rans have the rotations to do it? Who has the better rotation, the Yankees or Red Sox? Look inside to find out.

The Braves franchise has had its up and downs since its inception in 1876. The Braves have won three World Series since then and at least one player from each of those teams is represented on this All-Defensive team. I wonder if that is a coincidence?

The Braves have had some great defensive players from Andruw Jones and Dale Murphy in the outfield to Glenn Hubbard, Felix Milan, and current shortstop Yunel Escobar in the infield.

Originally published at TwinsTarget.com.

The Twins’ scouting department had a down year in 2003, drafting just three players who eventually reached the Big Leagues. Of those three, just Scott Baker is putting together a solid career. Here are the more notable picks in the 2003 draft.

Now that every major free agent has signed and most teams have their roster set, I think it’s now time to hand out some offseason grades. I will go with your standard A,B,C, etc. grading format and I will start in the National League.

St. Louis Cardinals: Grade: A

I love the fact that the Cardinals stepped up and re-signed Matt Holliday. They also brought in Brad Penny to replace Joel Pineiro, who is overrated.

The Tampa Bay Rays organization has established itself as one of the best-run systems in major league baseball.

The scouting and player development have been especially top-notch over the past five years, which has allowed the Rays to put together a very talented young ball club despite limited resources.

Even with the plethora of young talent that has been brought up in recent years and the failure to sign their top two picks in last year’s draft, the Rays farm system is still loaded with talent.

The game of baseball has been around since the 1800s but in the 1980s, a new way to play America’s favorite game was invented. 1985 saw the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, an 8-bit way for kids to have fun. Many games were released for the gaming console, the most famous probably being Super Mario Brothers.

After the NES there was the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo, the Playstation, the Nintendo 64, Playstation 2, Game Cube, and Xbox…and the list goes on and on and on.

With these new gaming systems came a broad variety of baseball games.

Any attempt at creating a list of "the best" anything is very difficult. The good part is that no matter who you pick (most of the time), some will like it and some will think it sucks. That, my friend, is the nature of the beast.

Full Name
Keith Anthony Phillips

DOB
April 25, 1959

College
None (Roswell High School, Roswell, GA)

Drafted
1978, First Round, 10th pick, Montreal Expos

MLB Seasons
1982-1999

Tiger Seasons
1990-1994

Career Stats
.266 Avg, 160 HR, 819 RBI, .374 OBP, .763 OPS, 1319 BB, 109 OPS+

Career Leader Board
All-Time: 35th in Walks (1319)