To start - I am a Yankee's fan that grew up in NYC. I moved to Michigan after meeting my wife and have been following the Tigers.
With the interesting trades the Tigers have made acquiring D. Willis, Renteria and Cabrera; do you think they are the favorites in the AL? They did give up a ton of young talent in Jurjens and others. I still think with the Yankees staying neutral they are #2, with the (hated) Red Sox #1 and the Angels #3. I put the Tigers #4 because they now (on paper) look better than the Indians, but I still favor the East teams.
What is everyone's take on this?

Detroit certainly put their future on the line for glory and they're the favorite in their division. Don't forget it takes a while for NL players to adjust to the AL, especially the pitchers. I was gonna rip on you for saying the Sox are hated but I see you're a Yankee fan so I guess I won't go there. Tigers (IMHO) are #2 in the AL but if the Sox get Santana then there's no chance for them. Even without Santana they still got the advantage. Boston sports teams are just on fire there's no fighting it.

This is shaping up to be Boston (New England's) year. The Pats are almost there, the Celtics look awesome (I hope they beat the Pistons in a few days) but the Bruins still stink on ice!
The Red Sox with Santana would be a guaranteed World Series win barring catastrophic injury. From what I see, the Santana deal is still between the Sox and Yankees.
And just to mention this - I am not a fan of A-Rod. I will root for him to break the current Home Run Record, but not for anything else.

Forget the Bruins they don't count anyways, this is still New England's (MA specifically) year. Santana would be a nice addition but he's a free agent after this year so their is some craftiness that is at play. I don't wanna give up Ellsbury in the package for Santana but if that crushes the heart of thousands of pink hat wearing Red Sox fans then so be. Good pitching beats good hitting in the long run.

2007-2008 Sports Year is definitely the Boston year. There may be some hope for the Bruins to get the 8 seed in the East. Not sure how they'd do though. Whoever would get Santana in the East would be the favorite. J. Ellsbury is freakin' awesome though. But my favorite kid is Lester though. He is going to be good...probably better than Buchultz (when all is said and done).
Whats your take on Joba? He apparently has only used 2 pitches of his 4 pitches available. He may be used as a starter as well as a set-up man.
And good job getting rid of Gagne...he stunk.