Many Moves....But Are we Any Better?

Many Moves....But Are we Any Better?

Let's assume that the Yanks are pretty much done for the off season and we'll be going to war with the currently situated roster (including Andy as I still think that is a foregone conclusion). There is no doubt that we are a different team, but are we a truly better team? Many pundits and posts have forecasted that while the Yanks will be better, it will only be marginally so. Let's take a look at the new roster when compared with 2008 and see if we agree - 

2008 Line up-

Damon LF/DH

Jeter SS

Abreu RF

Arod 3B

Giambi 1B

Nady LF/DH

Cano 2B

Molina C

Melky/Gardner CF

Our 2009 version features the following substitutions-

Posada for Molina

Teixeira for Giambi

Matsui for Abreu

The worst swap here is Matsui for Abreu, which is likely a wash. The other 2 swaps are significant upgrades.

The 2008 rotation saw the following (# starts/ERA)-

Mussina (34/3.37)

Pettitte (33/4.54)

Rasner (20/5.40) 

Ponson (15/5.85)

Wang (15/4.07)

Kennedy (9/8.17)

Hughes (8/6.62)

Pavano (7/5.77)

Joba (12/2.60*)

Geise (3/3.53*)

Aceves (4/2.40*)

Igawa (1/13.50)

(*combined starting/relieving ERA)

Of the 161 starts in 2008, 50 (31%) were made by either Rasner, Ponson, Pavano, Geise, Aceves or Igawa; OUCH!

For the rotation in 2009, if we assume that CC provides only the same season that Moose gave us last year (though he should provide more), and that Pettitte is exactly the same (though I expect better without the shoulder strain), we would be replacing all of the non-Moose/Pettitte starts with an additional 15-20 from Wang and Joba each, and 30+ from Burnett/Hughes. 

I might be dumb, but it sure seems that this is a massive upgrade to me!

We won 89 games last year and have made significant upgrades to both our lineup and our rotation - anyone who is looking for less then 100 wins in 2009 is not paying attention!