AL East: Yankees vs. Red Sox
OK, OTM has seemed dead lately, save maybe the discussions about who has the best rotation in the majors. I thought I'd write something that we could all comment on, agree and disagree. So I decided to compare the line-ups and rotations of the reborn Yankees and the Sox. I stole this idea from over here, when Dewey Finn wrote about the Rangers and Athletics prospects, except this will be about the Major-league roster.
Red Sox Yankees Advantage
SP Josh Beckett CC Sabathia Yankees. Rematch of the 2007 AL Cy Young. I'm feeling CC will be able to adjust to the AL again in time to have at least a 15-18 win season.
SP Jon Lester Chien-Ming Wang Red Sox. I have a feeling Lester will have a breakout year, finishing in the top three in Cy Young voting.
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka AJ Burnett Red Sox. AJ is a major injury risk, as we all know, and Daisuke has been improving every year. If he lowers his walks, then he will also finish high in Cy Young voting.
SP Tim Wakefield Joba Chamberlain Yankees. NG: Tim Wakefield is washed up, IMO!
SP Brad Penny Phil Hughes Red Sox. Penny is only 30, remember. And he is two years removed from a 16-4 season.
And now the line-ups....
C George Kottaras Jorge Posada Yankees. As of now.
1B Kevin Youkilis Mark Teixeira Yankees. Barely.
2B Dustin Pedroia Robinson Cano Red Sox. Is this one even close? Didn't think so.
3B Mike Lowell Alex Rodriguez Yankees. A-Rod resides over the injured vet.
SS Jed Lowrie Derek Jeter Yankees. Jed-I is not ready to dethrone Jeter.
OF Jason Bay Johnny Damon Red Sox. New guy wins over traitor. Non-biased.
OF Jacoby Ellsbury Melky Cabrera Red Sox. Jacoby will bounce back.
OF JD Drew Xavier Nady Red Sox. Ehh. Close one here. If JD stays healthy, then he'll get it.
DH David Ortiz Hideki Matsui Red Sox. Ortiz stays healthy, no signs of that wrist injury... it's all good.
So, final score:
Red Sox 8
Yankees 6
Call me biased, that is my opinion. Feel free to agree (or disagree, that is more fun) and give examples of what you would change.
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I take Beckett either tied or over CC because of playoff usefullness. It’s awfully nice to pitch well during the reg. season, but the playoffs are for the real players. Also, change Andy Petitte to Phil Hughes as while they may resign him, not yet…Chamberlain, I still agree that he may have the edge on Tim’May, but I don’t know enough about him as a starter. I think that Theo is learning from Hank’s mistakes by keeping Masterson in the bullpen for now. Chamberlain doesn’t throw enough strikes and can’t keep the velocity long enough to be a starter at Yankee Stadium; he’d be much more dangerous as a set-up for Mariano. But time will tell.
"We're not going to give up," It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."
George Kottaras
may be alot better than we all think. He did hit twenty dingers last year, and I’ve heard that since the David Wells trade he’s strictly been focusing on defense. But like revigik said, time will tell on that one. And I’m being comepletely serious when I say “push” for the first base position. One of the reasons I really hope Tek comes back is because he works so well with Dice-K, hopefully if he comes back another year Dice-K will feel even more comfortable to where he can easily pitch to anyone.
Youk vs. Texeira
I’d say that’s even. And I think the Jed vs. Jeter matchup is really close, Jed did surprisingly well defensively, and although Jeter wasn’t as bad with the glove as he normally is, he still was below average.
by Gnick on Jan 2, 2009 11:14 PM EST reply actions
Jeter vs. Jed
Jeter has tunred into a singles hitter, and is in the decline. He is still better than Lowrie, but not by a whole lot. If Lowrie’s nagging injury impacted his performance last year, it’s possible that the day he surpasses Jeter could come in the next year or two, as he improves and Jeter ages.
The biggest questionmark for the yanks right now is a tossup between posada/jeter maintaining their ability to hit and CC being healthy after how many innings he’s been pitching over the past several seasons. If CC remains healthy then I’d give him an edge over beckett, but he’s going to break down at some point, and this could well be the year. If Youk can put together a year like last year, and teixeira’s numbers don’t improve to what he had a few seasons ago, then I’d honestly say that one’s a wash.
I agree for the most part with everything you wrote but,
I have just a few issues. Penny pitched 95 innings to the tune of a 6.27 era and a 1.62 WHIP in the weakest division in baseball last season. There’s a reason he could only sign a 1 year 5 million dollar deal. Pettite is a horse who has pitched at least 200 innings in 10/13 years he’s been around. He’s an AL east vet whose peripherals last year were much better than his 14-14 record would indicate.Technically howeve,r andy isnt even signed so you would win by default, but I think Pettite should beat out Penny, and it really shouldn’t even be close. I’m on record saying I think Lester is a phenominal young pitcher, but his large jump in innings between 07 and 08 could be cause for alarm. Wanger was a back to back 19 game winner and well on his way to another good season (8-2) until his Lisfranc ligament was cruelly torn from his foot in a malicious attack by the astros’ basepath. Shit,, bobby abreu’s wall phobia (kind of humorous because the fenway RF fence is what 3 feet tall?) robbed him of a possible no hittah in beantown way back in april.
I also think that alot of the matchups are difficult to nail down due to weird circumstances. Dice-K had one of the luckiest seasons in the history of baseball last year which led to an awesome record. Is this a repeatable skill? History says no, but he could very well be a japanese houdini.. Burnett is another one thats hard to predict. I assume the yankees think his elbow problems are behind him and 08 was an indicator that he is fully healthy and ready to rock and roll. History however is not on his side either, hes only had 3 200Ip+ seasons out of 10 in the majors and two have conveniently come in contract years. My hope is that his elbow is fully healed from all those TJ complications, but we really wont know until the game are played. Youkilis is another tough one to try and predict. Stellar glove work is his card (that and the fugly ass goatee but ill leave that alone.. jk) but he had a breakout year with the stick in 08. A dramatic increase in both average and power, was it a fluke? a career year? the tip of the iceberg?? again, a tough guy to try and predict considering he will be 30 on opening day. Whats up with Robbie Cano? Contended for a batting title in 06, had a good but not spectacular season in 07 signed a bigass contract and was pretty crappy in 08. Supposedly he retooled his swing this season back down in the dominican and should be poised tor a comeback but talk is cheap. Dusty was obviously The Man in the AL this year, now he signed a big contract, probably won’t effect his play but it’s worth thinking about.. Anyway, it’s getting late and I’m rambling on very intriguing post though, 09 is gonna be a helluva season.
Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
He's a Yankee fan.
We can’t expect too much out of him.
Clutch: A measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/glossary/
FYI
you end up looking more foolish for that poor attempt at an insult than I do for neglecting to put my rant into proper paragraph from.
Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
Not an insult.
Just an observation.
Clutch: A measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/glossary/
Also a reference to this:
http://www.overthemonster.com/2008/12/15/692567/how-to-be-a-yankee-fan
Clutch: A measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/glossary/
My apologies for offending OTM's unflinchingly rigid devotion to proper grammar
I agree for the most part with everything you wrote but, I have just a few issues. Penny pitched 95 innings to the tune of a 6.27 era and a 1.62 WHIP in the weakest division in baseball last season. There’s a reason he could only sign a 1 year 5 million dollar deal. Pettite is a horse who has pitched at least 200 innings in 10/13 years he’s been around. He’s an AL east vet whose peripherals last year were much better than his 14-14 record would indicate.Technically howeve, andy isnt even signed so you would win by default, but I think Pettite should beat out Penny, and it really shouldn’t even be close.
I’m on record saying I think Lester is a phenominal young pitcher, but his large jump in innings between 07 and 08 could be cause for alarm. Wanger was a back to back 19 game winner and well on his way to another good season (8-2) until his Lisfranc ligament was cruelly torn from his foot in a malicious attack by the astros’ basepath. Shit,, bobby abreu’s wall phobia (kind of humorous because the fenway RF fence is what 3 feet tall?) robbed him of a possible no hittah in beantown way back in april.
I also think that alot of the matchups are difficult to nail down due to weird circumstances. Dice-K had one of the luckiest seasons in the history of baseball last year which led to an awesome record. Is this a repeatable skill? History says no, but he could very well be a japanese houdini.. Burnett is another one thats hard to predict. I assume the yankees think his elbow problems are behind him and 08 was an indicator that he is fully healthy and ready to rock and roll. History however is not on his side either, hes only had 3 200Ip+ seasons out of 10 in the majors and two have conveniently come in contract years. My hope is that his elbow is fully healed from all those TJ complications, but we really wont know until the game are played. Youkilis is another tough one to try and predict. Stellar glove work is his card (that and the fugly ass goatee but ill leave that alone.. jk) but he had a breakout year with the stick in 08. A dramatic increase in both average and power, was it a fluke? a career year? the tip of the iceberg?? again, a tough guy to try and predict considering he will be 30 on opening day. Whats up with Robbie Cano? Contended for a batting title in 06, had a good but not spectacular season in 07 signed a bigass contract and was pretty crappy in 08. Supposedly he retooled his swing this season back down in the dominican and should be poised tor a comeback but talk is cheap. Dusty was obviously The Man in the AL this year, now he signed a big contract, probably won’t effect his play but it’s worth thinking about.. Anyway, it’s getting late and I’m rambling on very intriguing post though, 09 is gonna be a helluva season.
Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
Indents? Maybe just spaces?
now I’m kidding. But its just hard to read something that covers so many subjects and is presented this way.
As for your content, I agree that there are a lot of question marks on both teams. While Dice had a lucky year, Beckett had an unlucky year. Don’t forget Lowell and Papi, our two best hitters in 2007, never showed up last year. You could do this all day for both teams, but the point is that anything can happen this year and I’m already itching for it.
You left out some important aspects.
And those are the bench and the bullpen. Here’s how the BPs compare.
Red Sox: Papelbon, Masterson, Okajima, Ramirez, Delcarmen, Lopez.
vs.
Yankees: Rivera, Marte, Bruney, Albaladejo, Veras, Coke.
Sox have a big advantage in that category. As for the benches, the Red Sox haven’t really figured theirs out yet. I’m going to operate under the assumption that we resign Tek to play with Bard. Benches:
Red Sox: Bard, Bailey (?), Lugo, [4th OF, TBD]
vs.
Yankees: Molina, Swisher, Ransom, Gardner.
It’s hard to compare without knowing who the Red Sox might add. There has been talk of Baldelli, Byrnes, and some others. Time will tell, but at this point, Yankees have the advantage off the bench.
The main reasons I didn't do the bullpens and benches is
1. I don’t a whole ton about the Yanks’ bullpen and bench and
2. The Red Sox (or Yankees?) are likely not done with trading and signing and whatnot, expect the Sox at least to sign a 4th OF and others.
Well, I'll appreciate for you to keep my zingers outta your mouth!
Byrnes
That would be so awesome! Except for the fact that we’d be paying our outfielder what? $20M? But it would be good to get rid of Lugo and Byrnes would fit in with guys like Papelbon, Pedroia, etc.
Without reading through all this drivel I'm pretty sure you left a team off your headline
Hint they have a better 1-5 rotation than your team, and they beat you in one of the better series in a while last season.
Anyway, as I was lying in the puddle, I think I may have found a way for us to get Bonds and Griffey, and we wouldn't have to give up that much.
~George Costanza~
Season Series
When is the last time the Red Sox have beaten the Yankees in the season series?
Last year the Yankees were 9-9 against the Sox and 11-7 against the Rays. We finished in 3rd place. IN THE BEST DIVISION IN BASEBALL. You can finish in third place in the AL East and be the third best team in the league. Which they were. Without Wang, without Joba pitching every 5th, without C.C., and without Posada. We improved on defense, got younger, and gave up nobody! Yeah I think we might be able to hang.
I see things you don't see.
"and gave up nobody"
How about Giambi and Abreu, your 2nd and 3rd best hitters last year? Forget about those guys? You replaced Giambi with Tex, an upgrade, but who is starting in the OF? Can Posada catch every day? there are a lot of questions left about your team.
Well, now you know how the Patriots feel....
Well, I'll appreciate for you to keep my zingers outta your mouth!

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