Spring training is upon us. The Red Sox have been busy this offseason. The Yankees, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically quiet. How could the New York Yankees make noise this offseason with a payroll of over 200 million dollars? Yes, even the “Evil Empire of New York” has limitations on how much they can spend.
This article will break down the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry as it stands today and forecast what the 2011 season may hold for each team and/or their players.
Looking at the resurgence of the Boston Red Sox this offseason by means of key acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, one has to wonder, will the Red Sox push the Yankees around in 2011? Are they better than the Yankees?
When Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman was asked if he agrees that the Red Sox are better on paper today than the Yankees, he said,
“I would agree because they have a deeper starting rotation. I’m not saying they’re going to beat us. We’re not conceding anything. But if somebody asked me right now, they might be a finished product. We’re an unfinished product,” he said last night at a charity event.
“But you don’t win championships in the winter, you win them in the summer. We’re looking forward to going head-to-head with everybody and anybody.”
“That does not discount anything I have got here,” Cashman said. “It’s just that I have more work to do. I might have the answers right here in front of me. I like what we have coming. Is it ready right now or not yet for an American League pennant race? We’re going to find out and weigh that vs. what becomes available over time. But what I do have, I’m very proud of. And what I do have is going to compete for that title. Can I make it better? I can make it better.”
His opinion that, as of now, the Red Sox are better is shared by most in baseball. There are of course exceptions, including Hank Steinbrenner.
On Tuesday, Hank Steinbrenner had this to say about Brian Cashman’s comments and where his team stands heading into the 2011 MLB season..
“I think we’re the hunter. At the end of the day, listen, no one’s conceding anything. No one’s conceding anything. But as I described the other day in full force, if this was the start of a race..from their winter, they (the Red Sox) qualified for the pole position. Their pole position right now is better than ours because of the winter that they had compared to the winter that I personally had.”
“When you guys are looking at me straight-faced in the eye and (say) what did you think about their winter and where does that put them compared to you, I think they’re the hunted, we’re the hunter and that’s as simple as that and I don’t think anybody would disagree with that,” Cashman said.
“You can make with it whatever you want, I don’t really care, but that’s not selling us short. I like our talent. I like our talent a lot. I give myself an incomplete. Simple as that. If you want to insult anybody …I’m insulting myself. It’s as simple as that. I have more work to do.”
Brian Cashman also was quoted as saying, “We have a lot of talent here because they (the Steinbrenners) allow us to go the extra mile to try and find as much as we can to put us in position to succeed,” Cashman said.
“We almost got back to the World Series but almost obviously is not good enough in our market, so every now and then, a healthy reminder of what comes with not crossing the finish line, that’s going to happen. Why we fell short, how we fell short, the bottom line is we fell short.”
Now that we have heard the sentiment from around the league, let’s now analyze for ourselves which team is better. A good place to start is by looking at the projected opening day lineups. Next, an assessment of the two team’s defenses and pitching staffs will be in order. Lastly, every team is only as good as the coach(es) behind it, so we will take a look at each team’s coaching staff.