Yankees Still the Team to Beat in AL East

Special by The Bleeding Sports resident GM

I am sick and tired of these baseball idiots year after year saying the Yankees will miss the playoffs then switch over to the National League and pick the Braves every year because "You can't pick against them until they don't make it". The Yankees haven't missed the playoffs since 1993 (1994 was a strike year and they would have won the World Series) but every year since 2001 was supposed to be the year the Yankees miss the playoffs and the Red Sox win the division. Well that hasn't happened my friends because every year those idiots in Boston choke around the All-Star game and the Yankees over take them en route to another AL East Division title.

This year is no different with everyone picking the Red Sox on the basis of a pitcher from Japan who hasn't thrown a pitch in the major leagues let alone in the toughest division. I agree, however, that this could be the year the Red Sox win the division because of their starting pitching but don't even try to explain to me that their overall staff is so much better than the Yankees. Yes the Yankees have question marks in Mussina and Pettitte regarding their age and durability especially since Pettitte already has a stiff back and had elbow surgery in the past, but the Red Sox have these problems as well. Schilling and Wakefield, for example, are both 40 years old and have missed time the last few seasons due to injury. Wakefield was put on the DL last season and missed a month and a half because of back and rib cage injuries. Schilling is FAT and out of shape so who says this can't be the year he starts to show his age and hurts his ankle again due to his obesity.

The quality of each team's starting rotation becomes more apparent when you look at the other members of the staff:

Beckett vs. Wang - Red Sox have a very slight edge here for now because Wang will miss the first three weeks of the season because of a grade 1 hamstring strain and even though Beckett had a 5.00+ ERA last year he should be better than that his second time around. Wang, however, has a devastating 94 mph sinker that is un-hittable when he has his good stuff, he just needs to stay healthy.

Dice-K vs. Michael Kay Igawa - Dice-K has the edge here in the unknown of Japanese pitchers (reference Hideki Irabu, Hideo Nomo). All the scouts say that he is a front end of the rotation guy while Igawa is kind of a soft tossing lefty who might struggle to get his fastball by major league hitters.

Pavano (Clemens) vs. Tavarez or Lester - This is a toss up, Tavarez is an ace at punching walls and Lester is coming off chemotherapy so he wont make his '07 debut until the end of April or early May. I will not even address Pavano and his fake injuries and his crybaby attitude that the media created his problems in the clubhouse, but you better pitch well opening day or you will be utterly HATED by all Yankee fans.