Yankees, Red Sox and Rays: AL East Updated Status
As we cruise towards one month until Spring Training, the American League East has seen several signings that alter the rosters of main contenders.
In Tampa Bay, the AL Champion Rays have added a reliable power hitter in DH Pat Burrell, to their roster of young, homegrown Stars (3B Evan Longoria, LF Carl Crawford, CF BJ Upton), savvy Star (1B Carlos Pena) and role players (SS Jason Barrett , C Dioner Navarro, RF Gabe Gross/Matt Joyce, 2B Akinori Iwamura) and secured OF Gabe Kapler to be the 4th or 5th OF. C Shawn Riggans will continue to get plenty of reps.IF Willie Aybar and OF/IF Ben Zobrist will again supply utility innings.
On the hill…RH James Shields/LH Scott Kazmir/RH Matt Garza will be joined by LH David Price, they let RH Edwin Jackson and his 98 mph go to the Detroit Tigers for Joyce. That noise you heard is a huge celebration for AL East RH hitters losing Jackson and menacing RH Daniel Cabrera and HIS 98 mph from the Orioles, just ask Derek Jeter who had his hand absolutely CRUSHED by Cabrera mid-season, an injury that took him six weeks and 30 points of average to recover from, only to get plunked AGAIN in the last week of the season. RH finesse pitcher, Andy Sonnanstine and a cast from the minor leagues look to compete for the #5 slot in the rotation.
In the bullpen, stud RH Grant Balfour and his nasty stuff is the key performer, seemingly headed towards a closer role when and if, RH Troy Percival relinquishes the role. It will be interesting to see if soft-tossing sensation, JP Howell is able to duplicate his breakout season from ’08, if not, they will need more LH bullpen help
In Boston, the Red Sox have filled out their roster with a series of signings that seem to move their homegrown call-ups from late ’08 without a role in ’09.
To LF Jason Bay (career slugging .516), CF Jacoby Ellsbury (SLG.413, 50 SB’s in ’08 and RF JD Drew (SLG .502) the Sox have added OF Rocco Baldelli (SLG .443) and holdover OF/1B Mark Kotsay (.SLG 414) after trading away Defensive stalwart, Coco Crisp.
In the Infield, homegrown 2B Dustin Pedroia (SLG .459), 1B Kevin Youkilis (SLG .472) and SS Jed Lowrie (SLG .400) will once again be joined by 3B Mike Lowell (SLG .467), Kotsay will back up at 1B and, as of this writing, the Catching will be handled by Josh Bard (SLG .395), although Sox are in serious talks with Diamondbacks (Miguel Montero) and Rangers (Jarod Saltamacchia) over acquiring another young catcher, with veteran leader (and Captain, just see the ‘C’!) Jason Varitek, perhaps lurking in the picture as Andy Pettitte does with New York. Bad contract, Julio Lugo sits in the Utility role until someone can be enticed to take him off the Sox hands.
The KEY for the Sox offense will be the status of DH David Ortiz (SLG .554) the serious thumper who, along with Manny Ramirez, was the fulcrum that drove the Sox bus these past several years. The Sox need Big Papi to be healthy and hungry and have to hope to generate enough thump around him to avoid a Barry Bonds like situation where teams simply choose to clog the bases with Papi and let the others beat them.
Of all the signings, the ONE Free Agent who opponents fear is the one who drove this club, Manny. The Red Sox may eventually be better off without him, but they will do so beating teams who will have lost the ‘fear factor’ that a healthy Papi and Manny created. For all the ‘career’ years the Sox have seen from their RH role players, Lowell (’07), Youkilis (’08 and Pedroia (’08 ALL exceeding widely held beliefs about their potential upside numbers, the fact remains that Pedroia’s MVP season (17/83/.376/.493/.326) looks a lot like Manny’s WORST Boston year (’07 – 20/88/.388/.493/.296) and his career SLG of .593, dwarfs any other slugger in the AL East, including Papi (who has never been healthy in Boston when Manny was not there, so we don’t know what the ‘Manny Factor’ meant to him, other than the obvious alteration in his career path that occurred when it began), Alex, Tex, Pena, Longoria…he simply cannot be replaced.
The Sox will have plenty of baserunners and score runs once again, how they will hold up in terms of raw POWER will be hard to know until the status of Papi, Lowell and Baldelli becomes clear.
On the Fenway hill, Ace RH Josh Beckett, RH Daisuke Matsusaka and LH Jon Lester, are joined by perennial rotation performer RH Tim Wakefield, kid RH Clay Buchholz and new acquisitions, Veteran stud RH Brad Penny and HOF RH John Smoltz. The presence of tireless Wakefield should allow young Buchholz time to settle in and rehabbing Penny time to heal, as well as a light innings role for Smoltz, who, like Schilling in ’07 is targeted for September/October games rather than a 200 Inning workload.
In the Bullpen, Sox signed another veteran with proven ability from the Dodgers (tough to understand the plan in Los Angeles, wonder if Torre is wondering the same thing?) in RH Takaishi Saito who will join RH Justin Masterson, LH Hideki Okajima, RH Manny Del Carmen in setting up stud RH closer, Jonathan Papelbon.
In the Bronx, no updates to our recent re-caps. They continue to shop RH Xavier Nady (SLG .458 and SH OF/1B Nick Swisher (SLG .551), the results of which will determine the OF mix and the backup situation at 1B. If only ONE goes, look for him to start in RF alongside CF Melky Cabrera (SLG .374, 35 OF assists last 3 years) and LF Johnny Damon (SLG .435), if that one is Swisher, he’s take double duty behind Teixeira. If it is Nady, look to the Yankees to keep 1B Juan Miranda (SLG .400). If BOTH go, as we discussed, the Yankees are likely gunning to add Manny and rotate him with Damon and DH Hideki Matsui (SLG .478 at LF/DH, allowing each of the 35-36 year olds plenty of rest for the wheels, while insuring their vast Offensive skills man at least 2 slots each day. LH Brett Gardner will be the designated Speed Demon (DSD) and compete with Cabrera for CF, with Cabrera playing plenty of RF in a Manny scenario.
Teixeira will be joined in the Infield by 2B Robinson Cano (SLG .468, SS Derek Jeter (SLG .458 and 3B Alex Rodriguez (SLG .578, Jorge Posada , hopes to be back from his ’08 Shoulder injury and resume the bulk of Catching, Jose Molina and Francisco Cervelli will vie for backup AB’s behind the plate and utility man Cody Ransom will compete with former Rookie of the Year (’03, under Yankee coach, Tony Pena in KC) Angel Berroa for the last roster spot.
For New York, the key is Posada. The Switch Hitting Catcher was a different player in 2007, with the longtime Cranial problems for his son finally behind his family, he looked more relaxed and went an entire season without a streak of more than 9 hitless at-bats. Even the average Posada year would be a huge upgrade over the brutal Offense they received from Molina, Pudge and Chad Moeller in ’08. The shortfall in runs scored between the barrage of ’07 and the disappointment of ’08 came at 4 spots, 3B, where Alex fell dramatically from his MVP form to simply all-star levels, 2B, where Cano gave back 23 of his 97 RBI’s in ’07, CF where Melky dropped half of his 73 RBI’s and C, where Posada was hurt. Alex will be better with the divorce behind him and the addition of Teixeira’s thump, Jeter and Cano will be better with health (for Derek) and focus (Cano) in place. To field their best Defense, the Yankees need to play their kids in the OF and this is easier if Posada is thumping at C, too often in ’08, the bottom of the order featured slumping players from three spots.
The Bronx hill will have LH CC, RH AJ, RH Chien-Ming Wang (100% recovered from Lisfranc fracture), RH Joba Chamberlain and RH Phil Hughes, RH Alfredo Alceves and LH Phil Coke have been told to prepare as Starters, for a rotation role at #5 or as spot-starter/long-man, Coke was a revelation with his velocity surge to 96 and, if he maintains that form, will be hard to deny. 6’10” RH Andrew Brackman was back up to 97 in his second year back from Tommy John surgery and will be nurtured slowly in the minors, if he dominates and holds health, would seem to be a candidate for mid-season entry into the mix. LH Damaso Marte, RH Jose Veras, RH Edwar Ramirez, RH David Robertson and RH Brian Bruney all feature Strikeout stuff that, with Coke and Marte give the Yankees an entire pen of more K’s than Innings pitched, on the way to RH Closer, FBHOF Mariano Rivera, off a season for the ages (77 K/6 BB/0.67 WHIP). RH Jonathan Albaledejo, RH Mark Melancon, RH JB Cox and RH Ian Kennedy look for a spot to grab.
That’s all for now…
In Tampa Bay, the AL Champion Rays have added a reliable power hitter in DH Pat Burrell, to their roster of young, homegrown Stars (3B Evan Longoria, LF Carl Crawford, CF BJ Upton), savvy Star (1B Carlos Pena) and role players (SS Jason Barrett , C Dioner Navarro, RF Gabe Gross/Matt Joyce, 2B Akinori Iwamura) and secured OF Gabe Kapler to be the 4th or 5th OF. C Shawn Riggans will continue to get plenty of reps.IF Willie Aybar and OF/IF Ben Zobrist will again supply utility innings.
On the hill…RH James Shields/LH Scott Kazmir/RH Matt Garza will be joined by LH David Price, they let RH Edwin Jackson and his 98 mph go to the Detroit Tigers for Joyce. That noise you heard is a huge celebration for AL East RH hitters losing Jackson and menacing RH Daniel Cabrera and HIS 98 mph from the Orioles, just ask Derek Jeter who had his hand absolutely CRUSHED by Cabrera mid-season, an injury that took him six weeks and 30 points of average to recover from, only to get plunked AGAIN in the last week of the season. RH finesse pitcher, Andy Sonnanstine and a cast from the minor leagues look to compete for the #5 slot in the rotation.
In the bullpen, stud RH Grant Balfour and his nasty stuff is the key performer, seemingly headed towards a closer role when and if, RH Troy Percival relinquishes the role. It will be interesting to see if soft-tossing sensation, JP Howell is able to duplicate his breakout season from ’08, if not, they will need more LH bullpen help
In Boston, the Red Sox have filled out their roster with a series of signings that seem to move their homegrown call-ups from late ’08 without a role in ’09.
To LF Jason Bay (career slugging .516), CF Jacoby Ellsbury (SLG.413, 50 SB’s in ’08 and RF JD Drew (SLG .502) the Sox have added OF Rocco Baldelli (SLG .443) and holdover OF/1B Mark Kotsay (.SLG 414) after trading away Defensive stalwart, Coco Crisp.
In the Infield, homegrown 2B Dustin Pedroia (SLG .459), 1B Kevin Youkilis (SLG .472) and SS Jed Lowrie (SLG .400) will once again be joined by 3B Mike Lowell (SLG .467), Kotsay will back up at 1B and, as of this writing, the Catching will be handled by Josh Bard (SLG .395), although Sox are in serious talks with Diamondbacks (Miguel Montero) and Rangers (Jarod Saltamacchia) over acquiring another young catcher, with veteran leader (and Captain, just see the ‘C’!) Jason Varitek, perhaps lurking in the picture as Andy Pettitte does with New York. Bad contract, Julio Lugo sits in the Utility role until someone can be enticed to take him off the Sox hands.
The KEY for the Sox offense will be the status of DH David Ortiz (SLG .554) the serious thumper who, along with Manny Ramirez, was the fulcrum that drove the Sox bus these past several years. The Sox need Big Papi to be healthy and hungry and have to hope to generate enough thump around him to avoid a Barry Bonds like situation where teams simply choose to clog the bases with Papi and let the others beat them.
Of all the signings, the ONE Free Agent who opponents fear is the one who drove this club, Manny. The Red Sox may eventually be better off without him, but they will do so beating teams who will have lost the ‘fear factor’ that a healthy Papi and Manny created. For all the ‘career’ years the Sox have seen from their RH role players, Lowell (’07), Youkilis (’08 and Pedroia (’08 ALL exceeding widely held beliefs about their potential upside numbers, the fact remains that Pedroia’s MVP season (17/83/.376/.493/.326) looks a lot like Manny’s WORST Boston year (’07 – 20/88/.388/.493/.296) and his career SLG of .593, dwarfs any other slugger in the AL East, including Papi (who has never been healthy in Boston when Manny was not there, so we don’t know what the ‘Manny Factor’ meant to him, other than the obvious alteration in his career path that occurred when it began), Alex, Tex, Pena, Longoria…he simply cannot be replaced.
The Sox will have plenty of baserunners and score runs once again, how they will hold up in terms of raw POWER will be hard to know until the status of Papi, Lowell and Baldelli becomes clear.
On the Fenway hill, Ace RH Josh Beckett, RH Daisuke Matsusaka and LH Jon Lester, are joined by perennial rotation performer RH Tim Wakefield, kid RH Clay Buchholz and new acquisitions, Veteran stud RH Brad Penny and HOF RH John Smoltz. The presence of tireless Wakefield should allow young Buchholz time to settle in and rehabbing Penny time to heal, as well as a light innings role for Smoltz, who, like Schilling in ’07 is targeted for September/October games rather than a 200 Inning workload.
In the Bullpen, Sox signed another veteran with proven ability from the Dodgers (tough to understand the plan in Los Angeles, wonder if Torre is wondering the same thing?) in RH Takaishi Saito who will join RH Justin Masterson, LH Hideki Okajima, RH Manny Del Carmen in setting up stud RH closer, Jonathan Papelbon.
In the Bronx, no updates to our recent re-caps. They continue to shop RH Xavier Nady (SLG .458 and SH OF/1B Nick Swisher (SLG .551), the results of which will determine the OF mix and the backup situation at 1B. If only ONE goes, look for him to start in RF alongside CF Melky Cabrera (SLG .374, 35 OF assists last 3 years) and LF Johnny Damon (SLG .435), if that one is Swisher, he’s take double duty behind Teixeira. If it is Nady, look to the Yankees to keep 1B Juan Miranda (SLG .400). If BOTH go, as we discussed, the Yankees are likely gunning to add Manny and rotate him with Damon and DH Hideki Matsui (SLG .478 at LF/DH, allowing each of the 35-36 year olds plenty of rest for the wheels, while insuring their vast Offensive skills man at least 2 slots each day. LH Brett Gardner will be the designated Speed Demon (DSD) and compete with Cabrera for CF, with Cabrera playing plenty of RF in a Manny scenario.
Teixeira will be joined in the Infield by 2B Robinson Cano (SLG .468, SS Derek Jeter (SLG .458 and 3B Alex Rodriguez (SLG .578, Jorge Posada , hopes to be back from his ’08 Shoulder injury and resume the bulk of Catching, Jose Molina and Francisco Cervelli will vie for backup AB’s behind the plate and utility man Cody Ransom will compete with former Rookie of the Year (’03, under Yankee coach, Tony Pena in KC) Angel Berroa for the last roster spot.
For New York, the key is Posada. The Switch Hitting Catcher was a different player in 2007, with the longtime Cranial problems for his son finally behind his family, he looked more relaxed and went an entire season without a streak of more than 9 hitless at-bats. Even the average Posada year would be a huge upgrade over the brutal Offense they received from Molina, Pudge and Chad Moeller in ’08. The shortfall in runs scored between the barrage of ’07 and the disappointment of ’08 came at 4 spots, 3B, where Alex fell dramatically from his MVP form to simply all-star levels, 2B, where Cano gave back 23 of his 97 RBI’s in ’07, CF where Melky dropped half of his 73 RBI’s and C, where Posada was hurt. Alex will be better with the divorce behind him and the addition of Teixeira’s thump, Jeter and Cano will be better with health (for Derek) and focus (Cano) in place. To field their best Defense, the Yankees need to play their kids in the OF and this is easier if Posada is thumping at C, too often in ’08, the bottom of the order featured slumping players from three spots.
The Bronx hill will have LH CC, RH AJ, RH Chien-Ming Wang (100% recovered from Lisfranc fracture), RH Joba Chamberlain and RH Phil Hughes, RH Alfredo Alceves and LH Phil Coke have been told to prepare as Starters, for a rotation role at #5 or as spot-starter/long-man, Coke was a revelation with his velocity surge to 96 and, if he maintains that form, will be hard to deny. 6’10” RH Andrew Brackman was back up to 97 in his second year back from Tommy John surgery and will be nurtured slowly in the minors, if he dominates and holds health, would seem to be a candidate for mid-season entry into the mix. LH Damaso Marte, RH Jose Veras, RH Edwar Ramirez, RH David Robertson and RH Brian Bruney all feature Strikeout stuff that, with Coke and Marte give the Yankees an entire pen of more K’s than Innings pitched, on the way to RH Closer, FBHOF Mariano Rivera, off a season for the ages (77 K/6 BB/0.67 WHIP). RH Jonathan Albaledejo, RH Mark Melancon, RH JB Cox and RH Ian Kennedy look for a spot to grab.
That’s all for now…