Unless you have been living under a rock or trying to stop your best friend from Boston from jumping into the Harbor, you have missed some big news. Alex Rodriguez, the best baseball player alive on the planet right now, is a New York Yankee.
When this deal was made a little less than two weeks ago there were cries of the Yankees solidifying their title as the “evil empire,” and they were busy buying another championship. But there is more to this situation than meets the eye and here are a few points to remember as we approach opening day
1) Attention Red Sox Fans, this is your team’s fault A-Rod is now a Yankee! How easily people have forgotten that it was the Red Sox who had the first crack at A-Rod and they could not seal the deal. They could not get the deal done because Sox ownership did not want to give up any more in players or money than they had proposed. Think about it, if the Red Sox would have been willing to pony up another $13 million and another player, say Trot Nixon, the trade would have probably happened. The Yankees are only paying A-Rod $16 million, pretty good for the best player in the game.
2) Boston still had the better off-season than the Yankees. It is hard to ignore the fact that the Yankees picked up some great players in the off-season. What the Sox did was not only improve their starting pitching (Curt Schilling), they also brought in one of the best closers in baseball (Keith Foulke) and a very good second basemen (Pokey Reese). All these pieces combined with a very strong club from last year, will help the Sox win more games than last year’s 95.
3) The Yankees will not win the World Series (Neither will the Red Sox). This is not a true Yankees team. The team that was winning championships a few years ago was a real team, with many homegrown talents who played as a team. This Yankees squad is the polar opposite of that team. Players who understand the team is more important than self (see last year’s Marlins) are on the best teams. This Yankee teams screams “Me, Me, Me!!!” Of course the Red Sox won’t win because well … they are a cursed team. Sorry Sox fans.
More to the point, have you seen the Yankees name on the championship trophy recently? No, and every year they have not won the World Series, they lost to a team with better pitching and defense (Arizona, Anaheim and Florida). This team will probably score over 1000 runs, but their starting pitching has many unanswered questions. Can Ken Brown make at least 35 starts? Definitely not. Can Javier Vasquez pitch in New York? Maybe. Can you win the World Series without a left-handed starting pitcher? The odds are against you on that one.
The fact of the matter is that pitching and defense win championships. Until I see Kevin Brown and Jon Lieber stay healthy, Boston has a better pitching rotation. The defense is not as good as it should be with A-Rod playing third base and Derek Jeter at shortstop. And in the outfield only Hideki Matsui is a true Gold Glove contender, with Bernie Williams and Kenny Lofton past their prime and Gary Sheffield, who has never impressed with his defensive skills.
So while the Yankees will be good, don’t look for another championship in the Bronx. In fact, the top five teams in the majors are, in order, the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies.