Red Sox-18
Yankees-21
Rays-31
Orioles-31
Blue Jays-34
Starting Rotation:
Red Sox-4.5
Rays-9
Yankees-13.5
Orioles-18
Blue Jays-22.5
When I started looking at this area, I was debating between placing Boston or New York at #1 but obviously changed my mind. The Red Sox are behind at the ace spot (Lester versus Sabathia) but are stronger at the 2/3 spots (Beckett/Lackey) versus (Burnett/Pettite). The biggest question mark in the Red Sox rotation is Dice-K but I think they get more out of Bucholz than the Yankees will with whatever their 2010 version of the Joba Rules are.
The Rays don't have a full on ace pitcher (which is why they don't get the 1-spot) but they have greater depth in the back of their rotation (Davis/Niemann) who while they may not be as familiar to baseball fans as Javier Vasquez (no way he repeats his 2009 performance) and Joba Chamberlain (not sure what the Yankees will do with him this year but whatever it is is likely to backfire)
Overall, the Blue Jays/Orioles rotations are nothing to write home about. I don't see Millwood repeating his strong 2009 performance....there's no way Guthrie would be the #2 starter for a contender. On the same token, nothing really excites me about the Blue Jays rotation. The Orioles avoid the cellar because the young pitchers they have (Bergesen/Matusz/Tillman) have more talent/potential than the Blue Jays starters and there's a solid chance at least one of them (either Matusz and/or Bergesen) are on the cusp of a breakout season.
Bullpen:
Yankees-4.5
Red Sox-9
Rays-13.5
Orioles-18
Blue Jays-22.5
Who would you rather have with the game on the line.......Rivera or Papelbon? That's a very, very tough question. The Red Sox and Yankees have the back of their bullpen anchored by two of the elite closers in the game, this one is a toss-up. The arbitrary factoid that gives Rivera the nod as tie breaker: He enters the game to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. That also happens to be the ringtone on my cellphone.
Final Standings:
Red Sox-31.5
Yankees-39
Rays-53.5
Orioles-67
Blue Jays-79
Thanks for ranking the Sox first in your preview.
ReplyDeleteRivera's prospects this year are stronger than Papelbon's, more so than you think. Yankees fans see him as a sure thing, and meanwhile the fact that Jonathan epically Papel-blew the last game of last year's ALDS will be ominously hanging over his every save appearance. If The Curse were still in place, he'd have been run out of town and on the first train to Idaho. Fans will forgive because he won a ring three years ago, but they won't forget. Tough situation for him.
I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on this season of Lost. "All questions will be answered... but we'll take our sweet-ass time doing it."
It's been an interesting season of Lost. The Alpert-centric episode went a lot slower than I thought.....the Linus-centric episode was my favorite...seriously they should just do Locke/Linus centric flash-sideways they are by far the most interesting characters......Jack's story has been overkilled....The contrast of Sawyer between con-man and cop was interesting....I wonder if Widmore is still a bad guy in the side universe of let's pretend the last five seasons never happened...looking forward to an epic two hour Tuesday block of Lost and V back to back
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