The Echo Chamber Blog

After the dust has settled from the latest Yankees free-agent acquisition of Mark Teixeira, it got me thinking. Are the Yankees’ really that much better? Listening to the radio, watching TV, and reading the newspaper will have you believe that no one else in the league has a chance next season. But after looking at the numbers I’m not quite sure the Yankees’ are that much better then last year.

They essentially have replaced Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte with C.C. Sebathia and AJ Burnett. Here are the 2008 numbers for all 4 guys:

Mussina:

Pettitte:

Sabathia:

Burnett:

Petitte and Mussina combined to go 34 – 23 in 404.3 innings with a combined ERA of 3.96 which is not bad for a couple of guys past their prime. Meanwhile Burnett and Sabathia combined to go 35 – 20 in 474.3 innings with a combined ERA of 3.39. Obviously Burnett and Sabathia have more dominant stuff as their strike out and innings pitched totals proved. Sabathia pitched out of his mind in the last 4 months of the season for the Brewers but he was also pitching in the NL, which we all know is not the same as pitching in the AL East. Burnett, on the other hand, has pitched the last two seasons in the AL East and is quite familiar with all the teams—but does anyone really expect him to pitch a full season?  What it really comes down to after looking at all the stats and comparing them is they have to get 34 wins out of Sebathia and Burnett to equal what they got from Petitte and Mussina. How many more than that could they possibly get?

On the positional side, they have replaced Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu with Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira. Here are the 2008 stats for all 4 guys:

Giambi:

Abreu:

Teixeira:

Swisher:

Between them Giambi and Abreu accounted for 52 HRs, 196 RBIs, a combined OPS of around .860, and 168 runs scored. Swisher and Teixeira combined for 57 HRs, 190 RBIs and a combined OPS somewhere in the high .800 range, and 188 runs. Texieira is an obvious improvement over Giambi, especially on the defensive end—but how many times has Giambi killed the Sox over the years? It always seemed that when the Yankees got a big home run against the Sox, it was Giambi. Whether it’s a solo home run in a 1-0 Sox loss, in a game pitched by Tim Wakefield, or shot in the upper tank of Yankee stadium off Hideki Okajima to give NY the lead in the 8th; he was the guy to hit them. Abreu is a better player then Swisher but he is afraid of the wall and Swisher does provide versatility as he can play all 3 outfield positions and 1st.

Teixeria improves the infield defense, but he doesn’t improve Jeter’s range, and an outfield of Damon, Matsui, and Swisher is going to let a lot of balls drop in. Sabathia is going to save the bullpen when he starts but there are still plenty of holes in that bullpen; especially if Joba stays in the rotation. A healthy Chien-Ming Wang is going to make the rotation better, as much as the addition of Burnett but their biggest injury concern still has to be Jorge Posada. If Posada can’t throw the ball he is going to relegated to DH, forcing the light hitting Jose Molina and Kevin Cash into action as the Yankees’ catchers. As you can see, they still have plenty of holes on this team and of course they still have time to fill them.  So, are the Yankees dramatically better than last year’s team? As constituted right now I don’t think so, they are better, but not dramatically so.